There are a number of things that have crossed my mind as blog-worthy over the past week, but none of them warrant their own post. So, this is a post of varia.
Item 1: Carleton is somewhat obsessed with internet/phone security. My frickin’ voicemail password needs to be 8 numbers. This strategy backfires: since almost all internet passwords need to be alpha-numeric, none of my current passwords easily transfer to a phone code (and, no, I’m not taking the time to figure out the letter-number correspondence of my standard passwords to use on the phone). The result? My voicemail password will be 12345678 — now you can all access my office voicemail next time you’re hanging out there unattended. Take that Carleton.
But that annoyance is a pittance compared to the rules that govern internet passwords, which have to be 16 characters. Memorizing a 16 character password is bad enough. But get this: they make you change it every three months. So all you puzzle people out there: give me a good algorithm.
Item 2: Someone down the street from us flies a Cape Breton flag. We’ll have to go talk to them.
Item 3: It turns out the song* is telling the truth: you really can save big money at Menards.
Item 4: Ice-cream in Northfield is really really cheap. Most nights we walk downtown after dinner for ice-cream. Yummy.
Item 5: I expected MN drivers to be better that IL drivers. Nope. More people drive stubbornly in the left hand lane than in IL and more people are likely to aggressively tailgate the people that drive slowly in the left hand lane. We stay way back.
And, finally, I leave you with another dialogue, this time featuring both Lucille and Aubrey. Three urban Jews are driving through farmland trying to figure out what the non-corn crop passing them by is (they can identify corn). It turns out that it’s soy crop, which looks like this. Note that it looks nothing like grapes.
Aubrey: What is that crop?
Lucille: I think it’s grapes.
Daniel: No it’s not grapes. Definitely not grapes.
Aubrey: No. It’s not grapes. That doesn’t look anything like a vineyard. Oh I know. It’s alpaca!
Daniel: Uhh, I’m pretty sure it’s not alpaca.
Aubrey: Yes, yes, it’s alpaca.
Lucille: Alpaca is a kind of sheep Aubrey. [They're actually a kind of camel].
Daniel: Sigh.
Of course, Aubrey meant alfalfa. At least one hopes he did (we didn’t ask). Pictures of various kinds coming soon.
*This is the best I can do I’m afraid.
Take your favorite song lyric and make it an acronym. That way, until it becomes second nature, it’ll at least be easy to remember. For instance:
ouatiwfil,niofateoth
= “Once upon a time I was falling in love, now I’m only falling apart. Total eclipse of the heart.”
And no, this is not my password.
Hi Daniel and Emily! Dorothy has arrived and the first thing she did (after unpacking the various rations purchased in the string of airports she traversed) was to show my mom and me your blog. Perfect timing as work today has been very slow and I had plenty of time to read all the posts. Looks like you’re fitting in with Minnesota well, the older I get the more I love it there. In fact, I’m heading out next Friday to visit the family in Bloomington. Perhaps I can meet Ellie?
Daniel, for password help, try these hints from Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2223478/