6 Friday Fragments (news, sports, books, life, gifts, funny)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Bruins

My husband learned to never go to bed early while the Bruins are playing. They were down 4-1 under 10 minutes to go, in game 7 of the playoff round. He thought (1) the Bruins had no chance, (2) was disgusted, (3) had to get up at 4:15 a.m. so missed their amazing comeback to win in overtime 5-4! He was so happy!!!

 

Missing Children

Three girls were found alive a decade later that were held captive in a house that is on a street that my bus passes. There were lots of cars around, gawkers taking pictures of the house where they were found. Our Pastor mentioned on Sunday that there are 92 missing children in Cleveland! Here is a link to a news article with more detail if interest: Police: Amanda Barry, Gina DeJesus Found Alive.

A Page-Turner

I was reading Lisa Gardner's thriller, Touch and Go yesterday in the library garden on my lunch hour. I got so absorbed in it that I forgot to check the time and got back late! It was such a beautiful day I just lost track of the time. Oh well, that's what personal time is for.  The link will take you to our reviews--this is one that my husband and I both loved!

Good Things

7 a.m. Wednesday sky on my way to work-beautiful day!

Last week I posted about things going wrong and not working, but then I also made a list of nine things that are going well! Just wanted to let you know, there are good things happening too.

(1) Get to go to an Indians game for free during work Monday;

(2) My Twitter account has been re-instated,

(3) we got our G-tech vacuum cleaner replaced,

(4) Will be getting a $50 cashback bonus from Discover Card,

(5) got two gift cards ($25 Walmart and a $50 Target),

(6) got computer speakers now at work so can hear my email notification sound,

(7) both our baseball teams are doing well and the Bruins are still in the playoffs,

(8) we are feeling well, enjoying our new porch furniture,

(9) loving the warm sunny days we had lately!

(If you missed my post about my Twitter account being suspended, it's my v-log post:  What Bothered Me This Week?)

Mother's Day Gift

My Mother's Day gift arrived: an Indians Jersey with my name on the back with a sweet card from my wonderful husband!

Funniest Post

I have to share the funniest post of the week with you that I found over at The Junk Drawer: All That and a Bag of Chips.

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Table Tennis Exhibition--Very Interesting!

I went to a Table Tennis exhibition at Parma Heights Baptist Church last weekend and learned several things I didn't know about it.  The main difference between Table Tennis and Ping Pong is the speed of the ball.  In Table Tennis at the Olympic level, the ball makes approximately 8,000 revolutions per minute as opposed to two or three in ping pong.  That is a huge difference!  Here is a list of some of the other facts I found interesting:

• There are as many as eight different spins you can put on the ball.  They gave the spectators an opportunity to try to return the serve from one of the second top-ranked player in Ohio, Keith Pech.  Several tried and one was actually very good.  I didn't because I didn't want to make a fool of myself.

• Table Tennis has passed up soccer as the number 1 sport with the most participants in the Olympics.

• A game used to consist of 21 points, but it's been changed to 11 to make it more interesting to the spectators.

• Another change is that instead of serving five balls in a row, it is now just two in a row.

• Colleges now give scholarships for Table Tennis and the top ranked player who also is a Table Tennis Coach/Instructor charges $55 for an hour lesson but guarantees his students who take lessons from him four years will be able to get an $80,000 scholarship.

• In singles, you can serve the ball anywhere on the table and from either corner.  He said you should serve from the left corner of the table if you are right handed so are in position to return the shot with a forehand stroke.

• They can call time outs to dry their hands off and some players wipe them off on the table near the net.

• Players at this level recover their paddles once a month.

•  In tournament play, players must wear a shirt that is a different color from the ball.

•  Every so often, the players switch sides like in tennis, but I don't remember how often they do that (I took notes in my head so I'm relying on my memory here).

• To determine who serves, they do not p-i-n-g and hit the ball until someone misses.  Instead, they used one of these ways:  (1) flip a coin, (2) rock-paper-scissors, or (3) on player hides the ball in one hand and the other guesses which hand it is in.  If he guesses right, he gets to serve, if wrong, the player hiding the ball gets to serve. 

• A person burns approximately 700 calories an hour at this level of play (varies depending on weight).

It was an entertaining demonstration.  I really enjoyed it and regret that I didn't go to the actual tournament the next day for at least some of it.  It was fun watching these guys.

Hope you learned something by reading this post.  Now I feel like playing some ping pong.

This is just a short clip of their warm-up before they played a game.  See how far away from the table they are?  That's because the ball is moving so fast.

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What Bothered Me This Week? (Vlogging Workshop)

It not only bothered me that my Twitter account was suspended, but that I did actually violate one of the guidelines!  I just forgot about that one because when I first opened my Twitter account, I wasn't aware that I could even automatically send tweets with links to my blog posts when I posted them.  Bloggers beware!  I am choosing to look on the bright side of this though, if they do not re-instate my account, it will just be one less thing for me to do.  (Maybe I could open a new one?)

(Related post:  The other things that bothered me are listed in my "What's Not Working Now?" post from yesterday.  Oh, and today I discovered Lumosity automatically renewed my account, charging my credit card for $79.95!  I HATE automatic renewals!!!!!!!!  Haven't used that site in months, they better give me a credit!!!!!)

Find more vlogs or link up yours at Mama Kat's Vlogging Workshop.

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A Rant: What's Not Working Now?

I am so tired of things not working. We have a whole list of things here and it just keeps growing every week:

(1) Kitchen towel rack: It keeps falling down every couple days or so--duct tape is only a temporary fix but it's been up now for over a week now.  

 (2) TV:  Our Westinghouse living room TV wouldn't give us a picture when Gerard tried putting on the news one morning, just kept saying no signal like it always does because the power saver is on.  But when we hit the "info" button, then the picture comes on.  By evening it worked when I tried it--it's just moody I guess.

(3)  Vacuum Cleaner:  Our new wireless Gtech vacuum cleaner quit working two weeks ago. We just had it about a month and a half. While I tried to find what was wrong, I discovered one of the air filters was missing. I have no idea how my husband could lose it without seeing it fall out. It must have happened when he was emptying it one day.  Gtech kindly sent a new battery and a replacement filter but it still doesn't work.  I returned it at the store for a new one last night.



(4) Computer:  Even at work my computer keeps crashing at the end of the day, very frustrating.

(5)  Poster Hanger Goop:  Got home from work and saw my poster was down--the sticky stuff that's supposed to hold it up didn't but now can't get it off the wall!

(6) Cell Alarm:  My cell phone alarm didn't go off, who knows why; then the next day it did.

 (7) My '98 Van:  The back hatch door on my van gets stuck and either won't close or open.  Right now I finally got it closed but am afraid to use it.  The left door rubber is loose again so I don't use it because the rubber comes up and keeps the door from closing.

(8)  Basement laundry tubs:  Friday morning the water from the washing machine wouldn't drain (the drain was blocked by something so was able to fix that at least).

(9) Shower:  The basement sliding shower door that my husband uses keeps coming off the track.  My upstairs shower used to be set so the water always came out from the top, but after the carpet guy used the bottom part to fill his bucket, I have to keep re-setting it every time.

(10) Twitter:  To top it off, Saturday morning I found out my Twitter account got suspended!   (I am vlogging about this one tomorrow but am pleased to report that yesterday my account was re-instated.  Thank you, Twitter!)

I am thankful that this is my biggest problem.  It's just annoying and frustrating, especially when you spend money on something that doesn't work shortly after buying it.  We really like the Gtech vacuum cleaner because it is so small, light, easy to empty and there's no cord to fuss with; however, at the moment there is no power either!

What things aren't currently working for you? 

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Aww Mondays: Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day Card from My Cats

 Here is what the Mother's Day card said that came from my two cats:

the outside:
I just want YOU to KNOW that I LOVE being your CAT.
That goes EXTRA for the times you are FEEDING me or petting me.
I want you to KNOW that just because I ignore you sometimes
and throw up on your stuff other times doesn't mean that I don't CARE.
I really ENJOY getting your attention, which seems EASY to DO
just by walking across your face while you sleep.

Inside says:
As a Cat, I know I'm entitled to the BEST, and although you have yet to buy me
that 4-tiered CAT perch I've had my eye on,
you're still the BEST MOM we could ever ask for.

Happy Mother's Day,
Spunky Doodle and Manny

Then from the dog, I got this one that plays "Bad to the Bone":

Card from Abby

The inside says:

AWESOME.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Abby

I love that my husband loves our pets too and helps them pick out cards and gifts for me to show me special love on Mother's Day!  He's sweet! They got me a present too but it is still in transit.  My husband said I'll never guess what it is so I'm curious and looking forward to it.

Joining in with Aww Mondays and Pet Pride.

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