Go Aggies!

Am I a slacker or what? It's been a long time since I posted. It's been an even longer time since I've posted anything with any meaning. Don't expect that to change too soon, though.

Just an update on what's going on: I currently out of town for business. Not far out of town, and not too heavy on the business. Every winter we have a conference in Logan (I can't figure out the timing, either). It's always a pretty good week. Good classes, good food, etc. This is the first year, though, that I would have been glad to miss it. It's tough leaving Annie home alone, even if it's only 150 miles away.

In related news, I just bought a USU game day shirt to work out in. I'm hoping that people just though I was a student and not some old, weird guy hanging out in their gym. It might have helped to take the tag off the shirt.

Not much else going on, really. Just sitting here in the hotel lobby waiting for the bus to take us to dinner. Looks like it just arrived.

I'll try to be more informative in my next post. Until then, this is all you get.

Letterboxing 101

See how I did that? This is post #101, and so I used that number to give a basic tutorial on Letterboxing. Clever, eh? (I've been waiting 30 posts to do this.)

Now, I hate to write about things that only interest me and a select few other people. But, in an attempt to make all of my readers (both of them) interested in the things I'm interested in (so I can write about them without feeling bad), I've decided to walk you through the process of letterboxing.

What you need: Very little. Here's a list of everything you need to get started:

• Internet access (if you're reading this, you've already got it)
• A pen (if you need one, swipe one from your cashier the next time you go to Costco)
• A Logbook - An empty notebook or journal (I guess it doesn't even have to be empty, but the stamps look better if they don't have words underneath them). A book without lines on the pages works best.
• A Signature Stamp - This can be a little trickier, but it doesn't have to be. You can use any stamp to start out, and over time you'll get a better feel for what you want your own personal stamp to be. You can use stamps from your scrapbooking supplies, or just ink up your fingers and make designs. If you really can't come up with anything, just draw a little picture.
• An Ink Pad - Helpful, but not always necessary. Well, okay, fine, in Utah it's pretty much necessary. The pads dry out too fast here, so it's best to carry one with you. You can get them at a craft store for $2 or so.
• A Sense of Adventure - Okay, you don't really need this, but it helps.

Start your search by checking out www.letterboxing.org or www.atlasquest.com to find clues. Do a search for your area. On Letterboxing.org things are divided up by state, region, and county. On AtlasQuest, you can do a variety of searches, including searching along interstate highways.

Select a letterbox from the list and look at the information about it. I'll refer to AtlasQuest because it provides the most information. You should see a page like the following:

The name of the letterbox is at the top, followed by a few pictures. Those pictures help you easily identify the characteristics of the box. The hand means that there's a hand-carved stamp, the little girl means that a kid can figure out the clue. This box is a pet-friendly, bike-friendly, drive-by urban letterbox, according to the pictures.

In the box at the bottom you can see when the box was last found. If it's been awhile, you might not want to go too far out of your way to find it. You can click on "Show Finds" to see the entire history of everyone who has found the box.

Click the "Click here for clue" to get the clue. It will look something like this:

Follow the directions to the starting place. Some boxes are more mysterious and you have to figure out clues to know where to start; some have puzzles that have to be solved; and some just tell you exactly where to go.

When you get to the starting point, follow the clues.

After you find the box, stamp YOUR stamp into the little book you'll find in the box. Stamp the stamp from the box into YOUR logbook. Write a little note in the little book in the box, and write the name of the box nexst to the stamp in your book. Maybe even write a short note about how much fun you had finding it.

Rinse and repeat.

100

Believe it or not, this is post #100. Sure, there were a couple posts that didn't make the cut, so I've really only posted 97 or so, but I've written 100.

So, you might ask, what are you going to discuss on this all-important milestone of a post? I dunno. I have a great idea for #101, but #100's going to be pretty lame.

One idea that's been going through my mind lately is -handedness, as in right-handedness or left-handedness, or even both-handedness. I've been intrigued by this for some time. In high school I decided that the only difference between me (a righthander) and a left-handed person is that a left-handed person uses their left hand. So I started doing everything with my left hand.

It was pretty amazing how quickly I was able to use my left hand for things: eating, writing, 'rithmatic. But no matter how much I used my left hand, and no matter how good I got at using it, it still never felt comfortable, and that's what I'd like to talk about today.

You might be surprised at how many things there are in your daily life that you do with one hand or the other; or, really, one side of your body or another.

For example, I'm completely unable to hold the phone up to my left ear. No matter how long a conversation goes or how sweaty my right ear gets, I can't make the switch. I can hear just fine with my left ear, but for some reason my brain freaks out when it's asked to listen to a phone on the left.

Another example: cutting a steak. For some reason, I always switch my fork to my left hand and cut with my right hand, then switch hands to eat the piece of steak. Call me a freak. Really! I'm a freak. Why shouldn't I be able to cut a steak with my left hand?

Playing the guitar. Not only can I not play a guitar left-handed, but I can't even HOLD a guitar left-handed. It just feels so wrong.

Folding my arms with my left hand on top. I don't have any trouble interlocking my fingers with my left thumb on top, but I can't fold my arms with my left arm on top. I don't even think I could do it if someone put my arms in place for me.

Zipping a zipper. Can't do it with my left hand; it just gets stuck.

Cutting my toenails. I can cut the fingernails on my right hand with my left hand, and usually do a pretty darn good job, but I sure can't cut my toenails with my left hand.

Pour. Seriously, it's really hard to pour things with my left hand. I guess my body figures my right hand can do it just fine, why teach the left? I'm pretty sure I'd spill all over the place if I tried.

Use a mouse. Okay, so I AM able to use a mouse with my left, but the results are never pretty.

Use most tools. Word of advice: don't hold a nail for me if I have to hammer left-handed. I also can't turn in a screw with the driver in my left hand. I can use pliers with my left if it can just stay in place.

Every day I notice something else that I do with my right hand for the simple reason that I have just always done it that way. I hate to think that I do things out of habit, but I do. I've been trying to change those tendencies, often with comic results. Have you noticed anything that you do with one hand or the other when it could just as easily be done with the other? Will you now?