This past Sunday when I was attending University Lutheran Church in East Lansing for Pentecost, the children’s message was about birthdays.  One of the questions the pastor asked the children was “what was their best birthday gift?”  One of the kids said theirs was a cupcake maker, which sounded neat to me, but also got me thinking about what the best birthday gift I ever got was.  I couldn’t, and still can’t, really think of any gift, good or bad, that I got on my birthday.  This doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate them, just that I don’t remember them.

What I do remember for my birthdays is the people I spent them with.  I remember the birthdays we had with our family and one friend where we’d go bowling (or any activity we wanted, but always chose bowling) and have dinner.  I remember my friends from college coming to the U.P. to celebrate my 21st birthday.  I remember my co-workers decorating my cubicle and bringing in food.  I remember my parents taking me to a restaurant for my birthday and almost everyone in the restaurant singing “Happy Birthday” to me.

This just goes to show what is truely important in life – family and friends.  So next time you wonder what to get someone for their birthday – remember the best thing you can give – is yourself.

Who knew that taking a quick trip to a gas station could be so exciting?

I had a meeting at WKAR today at noon, and it got done a bit earlier than I expected so I decided to take the time to run to Speedway to get gas, buy some food for lunch, and buy a lottery ticket – great use of a few spare minutes.  I get to Speedway and I pull into the driveway and I see a pump that’s open (which is good since this tends to be a busy gas station), I wait for a car driving across where I need to go to get to the pump and after they cleared I pulled up to the pump.  As I get out of my car I hear the guy who just drove past where I was going say to me “I was going to back in to that pump.”  I apologized and said I thought he was driving through and then proceeded to start getting my gas.  A little later he had opened his door or window and said “you should wait to see what people are going to do.”  I just ignored it because I’m not going to stop in the entrance to a gas station and wait for all cars to be done moving to see where they are going before continuing.

So I finish filling my tank and I hurry into the store, since now someone else is waiting behind me to use the pump I used – waiting patiently as far as I could tell.  I quickly get the items I want so I can get back to my car to free up the pump.  I take my items and go to the checkout and tell them I had gas on pump 4.  I slide my Speedy Rewards card and my payment card and take my receipts while he gets my lottery ticket and rings that up and I pay for that as well.  I gather my items, go back to my car, get in, and leave so I can free up the pump.  I always write down my gas purchases, but decided to wait until I got back to work so I wasn’t blocking the pump.

So I get back to work and go to write down my gas purchase and I look at the receipt to get the amount and gallons bought, and it wasn’t on there.  The clerk either didn’t hear that I said I had gas or didn’t get it entered.  So (being raised the way I was) I decide to call the station wanting to make sure I don’t get turned into the police or something.  I call excepting them to thank me for my honesty and tell me not to worry or take a credit card number over the phone.  Nope – they ask if I can come back to pay for it – I tell them I could after work.  Not sure what they would have done if I said I couldn’t make it back.

So, after work I drive back there (out of my way mind you) and go in to pay for it.  They take out their “Drive Off” book to see how much it was and I pay for it.  I get back to my car and realize that because of how they rang it up – it didn’t credit me my Speedy Rewards points – so now I have to try to get those points!

Once again – being honest and trying to do the right thing turns out to be a lot more hassel than it was worth.  They didn’t have my license plate or even a very accurate description of my car, I probably could have just ignored the whole thing and had a free tank of gas.

I’m on Twitter now – which I’m going to try to update more frequently than Facebook and definately more frequently than this blog.  So follow me @cmumathwhiz or twitter.com/cmumathwhiz and if you are on twitter too – let me know so I can follow you!  You can also see my most recent tweets to the left here.

What is twitter you ask?  Time to rely on a past Website Wednesday to help you out – check out the basic introduction from Common Craft at http://www.commoncraft.com/twitter

Pending only the signature of the president, the mandatory end of analog OTA TV (except for translator and low-power stations) has been delayed until June 12.  In my opinion this is a bad move on the part of our government.  Mainly because this delay only delays the date that analog broadcasts must stop, it still allows stations to turn off analog anytime between now and then.  Some stations have already turned off analog, others will turn it off 2/17/09 anyways, and others will turn it off between now and June 12.  Also, some stations are not currently on their final DTV frequency and still need to switch to that frequency.  This means there is no orderly switching of frequencies now and consumers will need to rescan their digital equipment more often and who knows what days this will need to be done to find their DTV stations.  This also impacts some stations’ coverage area (including WKAR) who are not broadcasting on their final frequency and/or power levels and can’t reach all their analog viewers.  WKAR can’t switch to their final frequency until other stations in the area complete their transition.  Big, big mess in my opinion – but then again – government does what they do best!

As always, if you have questions about the DTV transition, please let me know.

Did you know that there are certain elevator rules?  Well there are – or at least some I’ve created 🙂  So next time you use an elevator remember these rules:

1. Let those on the elevator off before you try to get on.
2. You must be traveling at least 2 floors to use the elevator (for 1 floor – use the steps!) – exceptions include those unable to use steps or those carrying large or heavy items.
3. Once on the elevator, press your floor button and step away from the button panel or ask others entering the elevator what floor they need.

So they world will be a better place if we all follow these simple rules!