Nathan's Occasional Blog

OK Go – Here It Goes Again … on treadmills

Have I mentioned how cool You Tube is lateley?  🙂

I’ve been thinking to myself (and now the world at large) lately that we’ve finally reached the point where it would be cheaper to have a car that runs on MILK instead of gas.  A gallon of gas where I usually tank up is going for $3.36/gallon right now (for 89 octane).  A gallon of milk, as advertised at my local Safeway, could be purcased for about $2–$2.50 (more for organic).  Heck, the Safeway website just told me I could get a weekly special of 2 gallons for $3.96 at the store in North Bend!

Of course the nerd in me quickly jumps to the conclusion that this kind of technology would totally screw with the economies of the dairy market and we’d be even more hosed in the end.  I’d wager we use way more gas than milk here in the US, so as more people use milk for energy instead of food the price would skyrocket.  Plus you get into the same issues ethanol has like short shelf life, difficult to transport, and a staggering amount of resources (grass, farm equipment, energy for the farm equipment) to bring the product to market.

BUT, if you put on your “suspension of disbelief hat” for a moment, you know – the one Hollywood made for you when you were a kid, you’d be able to save some serious MOOO-lah!  [sorry, couldn’t resist]

Anyway, given all these wonderful thoughts clogging my brain I got a great laugh when I saw Autoblog’s Honda’s Heifer Hybrid post.  Alanis, THIS is ironic.  🙂

I’ll have to settle for the little things, like my car suddenly getting 4 mpg better on the last two tanks than it ever has in the year I’ve had it.  Not going to complain there!

Courtesy of Thomas Hawk’s Zooomr photostream

I just came across a great article on Blogging Baby about how a parent’s reactions and communications during painful medical procedures (like immunizations) affects the child receiving the procedure.  It turns out our instincts are wrong: don’t reassure or comfort.  Distract!

This quote from a children’s book captures the idea well: “If an adult tells you not to worry and you weren’t worried before, you better hurry up and start because you’re already running late.”

I have to say that I’ve seen both sides of this with our daughter.  I think it was her 9 month checkup and she needed to get some shots.  I held her a played with her and (without really consciously making a decision to) used a distraction technique.  There was a small whimper and a single crocodile tear, but that’s it.

At her 12 month checkup she had to get some more shots, and this time Alicea and I played the part of normal soothing parents.  BIG FUSS at that one.  Same with her 15 month checkup when the doctor was examining her (no shots) and we were totally in “it’s okay” mode.

Guess the clown nose will have to come out more often at the doctor’s office!