Checking it Twice

With the holidays well underway, we've been surrounded by scrumptious food for about two weeks now. I'm really glad I take a multivitamin, because I'm not sure you can actually get all your requisite nutrients from cake.

The other night, DH was sad because there was only one present under the Christmas tree, so we went out to remedy the situation. We passed the greater part of the evening finding all sorts of fun gifts for the grandkids.

Christmas shopping is one of those activities that tends to reveal our different personality types. See if you can determine who's predominantly Type C / Cautious and who skews Type-D / Dominant:

TS: (calling DH on cell phone) Hey--where are you?
DH: I'm in the back right corner of the store. I've got a basket full of stuff.
TS: (later) Wow--what is all that stuff?
DH: Well, look--I got two of these, and a couple of those--
TS: I picked out two coloring books. Oh, sweetie, this toy in your basket is for 12 years and up.
DH: Oh, I didn't see that.
TS: And this one's for ages 6 and up.
DH: Close enough. Our grandkids are advanced, anyway, aren't they?
TS: Wonder if anybody else has ever said that.
DH: Hey, look at this. Is this good for The Fred?
TS: OMG, it's perfect!! And it's pink!! But where's the--
DH: Don't even look for it.
TS: But I'm turning the box all around, and I still don't see a--
DH: We're done. Let's go.

90% Chance of Absurdity

We've had some pretty strong storms in the state lately (it's spring, after all--flowers blooming, sirens screaming), and Pappy called this evening to inquire about the weather. Last night's thunderstorms had knocked out their power, and although that had been restored, they didn't have their cable back on and wanted to know whether to expect Round 2 tonight.

Since AT&T is our ISP, we suffer from frequent Internet outages in tandem with the abysmal customer service, so I had to turn on the Weather Channel to get the info. TWC had a little more punch than it had the last time I visited.

Back in the day, you got a nice lady or gentleman standing next to a weather map, with occasional video of people in windbreakers being blown sideways. But on duty tonight were cute triathlete Mike Bettes and excitable former cheerleader Stephanie Abrams.

Stephanie used large sweeping motions with her arms to show how the winds rushed down out of the thunderstorms. She added, "It's helpful to know the name of the county you're in, as well as names of the counties surrounding yours, because if a storm is in a county near yours, it could be heading into your county next."

Hoo boy! Quick--how do I find out the name of my county (especially if my Internet connection isn't working)??

Mike was describing "gravity waves" and "wake lows" as we viewed images of fallen trees in the Atlanta area. "Wow!" exclaimed Stephanie. "I think you just got the ladies all hot using that terminology. . . not me, of course, because I know what they mean."

Later, the pair used a jump rope to illustrate how a "wake low" behaves, and they both kept a straight face. Then, and I am not making this up, an older meteorologist proceeded to jump rope.

I'm not quite sure what to make of all this personality in my TV weather, but at least now I know where to turn for help when a storm is brewing in an adjacent county whose name escapes me. And I hope Pappy and the fam are having a quiet evening.