Mountain Clams

Yukon Cornelius Syndrome

Yukon Cornelius is the name of the prospector from the 1964 "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" Christmas special. Throughout the show, he gets a funny feeling that overcomes him and he just has to stop whatever he is doing, throw his pickaxe into the air with a wild "WAHOO!" and let it land in the snow. He retrieves it and tastes the tip that had landed in the snow. After a few moments of smacking, he concludes: "Nuthin'."

There is a pretty strong parallel here to the addicted way people check their email. (1) That feeling comes over them, like "I know something's going to be waiting for me - someone sent me something and it's important!" and they have to stop whatever they're doing, go to their computer and open their email program or web site. After a few moments of smacking, they conclude: "Nuthin'."

It's a good thing Yukon Cornelius never found Vegas.

Side note: I had no idea that YC was looking for peppermint, not silver and gold as Burl Ives would have us believe. Apparently there is a scene deleted from the end of the oft-broadcast version - the version I know - where Yukon discovers a "peppermint mine" somewhere near Santa's workshop.(2)

(1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/28/email.addiction explains how checking email is like pulling the handle on a slot machine.
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon_Cornelius actually redirects to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, where it talks about YC and the deleted scene that validates his existence. Now I'm wondering how long he stayed with the peppermint mine he found. After all, he's a prospector, not just a miner. This is probably why, when the rest of the group comes across him, he's alone. Then again: "Bumbles bounce." That line suddenly sounds sexual.

Labels: funny

posted by Brett @ 1:37 PM 0 comments

It's after 7...

On the occasions when I get out of bed after 7, like today because I'm getting over whatever illness I had, I have to go check to see if my son is still here. He's not really good at getting up and going on his own. The first indication that he did get up would be every light upstairs being left on. They weren't.  The second indication is that the front door is unlocked. It was!  The third sign that he's on his way to school, like he is supposed to be, is that he's not in his room. Ah, but he was in his room. I just forgot to lock the door last night.

He just asked me for a ride to school. No, of course he isn't actually ready to go or anything.

Labels: life

posted by Brett @ 2:07 PM 0 comments

Furniture

I took a vacation day on Friday because I felt like I was desperately behind on getting ready for the game on Saturday (among other things). I spent that time getting the rest of the furniture I had acquired from Freecycle and stacking it on my front porch and in my garage. All told, I probably spent about 8 hours disassembling, carting, loading, driving and unloading various heavy wooden office furniture with occasional help. Thank god I have a hand truck. Sure, it's all free, but it was still costly in terms of spending a full day moving stuff in 100-degree weather before a game weekend.

In the process, I got a nice cut on my sternum (where the corner of the falling desk drawer hit me), several down my shin (where I scraped it against a metal desk leg), and one little one on my forehead (where I leaned too close to the keyboard drawer). There was only one piece I was unable to take - a desk that basically fell apart when I tried to take it apart. Now I have to figure out where I am going to use this furniture. It's nice stuff, but I doubt I'm going to need it all. This will take some time.

Labels: home

posted by Brett @ 3:21 PM 0 comments