"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer." - Robert Frost

Microwaves have a soul. Some are evil, some are kind and good. A very few fall somewhere in between. (Note: this applies to microwaves with a rotating plate. Those without are both plateless and soulless.)
To find out which you own simply put an ordinary coffee cup or mug in and start it up. It doesn't matter what's in the cup or how much time you enter into the keypad. Fifteen seconds, ninety seconds, whatever you want.
When the microwave is done - they all make the most annoying noise, so don't jump to any conclusions on that basis - open the door and take out the cup.
WAIT!
Which way is the handle pointing? When you put it in the handle was pointing out, directly at you. A kind, benevolent microwave will return it to roughly the same position. An evil one will torture you by stopping with the handle to the back. No matter the amount of time it ran, the handle WILL be to the back.
We've had both. Our current microwave is good. Sometimes the handle points to the right or to the left but it's always easy to grab. Our last microwave in Michigan was pure wickedness in a 30"x16"32" box. Never failed to torture me.

Oprah had the original cast of The Sound of Music on her show today and I missed it! How did that happen?? I nearly wept when I read about it.

We went to Caedon's T-ball practice tonight. Entertainment like that usually costs a lot of money.

32 miles at an average speed of 17.3 mph. Now that I've decided not to do the race. Whassup with that?

Today I read an article in TIME making the case for pouring more of our national resources into the largest metropolitan areas. The author had statistics showing that a disproportionate percentage of our GNP, our exports and our technological advances come from the biggest cities. As a country we idealize and romanticize rural life, but it's the cities that make our country prosperous. He concluded the article with several recommendations - things the Federal and local governments could do to enhance the big metro areas and further increase their competitive advantages in a global economy.

I've lived in small rural and large metro areas, and done so happily. I (we) was (were) happy because we knew God had (has) work for us to do there. Same now. Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country. But if he didn't have anything for me to do (yeah, I know) I'd choose rural every time. Let's say, for the sake of discussion, that what is true about large metro areas and their relative prosperity applied to me personally. I'd still go rural.

When are we going to figure out quality of life and prosperity are not connected? I understand that a lot of people prefer the pace and the activities a metro area provide. More power to 'em. But I'm more than willing to trade pace, activities and all that metro prosperity for a vegetable garden, a few chickens and watching fireflies from the front porch. Neighbors who wave even though we've passed each other a half dozen times already that day, a postal carrier who stops to chat and community pancake breakfasts put on by the volunteer fire department.

Don't get me wrong. As I told a colleague in another city yesterday, I'm having a blast. I love my job and the people of Pathway. If someone offered me a house in the country complete with coup I'd turn them down. But as I read that article I thought to myself, "This guy has never lived in the country, or he'd understand that keeping up with China is not the most important thing in life."

Where would you live - city or country - if it were entirely up to you?