Anyone care for a No.2?

Things to do with your pencil.

By Andy Lemiere

1. Pencil behind your ear. A classic. Whomever invented this is probably a millionaire.





2. Pencil in your pocket. (No, I'm just happy to see you!) No protector required.





3. Pencil in your hat. My preferred method, especially for coaching.





4. Pencil pinch between your nose and top lip. I do this a lot in meetings to look interested, or uninterested.





5. Pencil twirling. Back in 95' there was an exchange student from Thailand at Kelso named Nate. He was AMAZING at this and he could do it in his sleep. I will never forget Nate Kamploplatanaa, or whatever your name is.





6. Pencil drumming. I do this frequently, but hate it when others do it - like in class.





7. Test taking. Can't take a standardized test w/o a yellow No.2.





8. Pencil breaking. A universal sign of frustration is the snapping of a pencil.


9. And the classic Magic Pencil - place pencil in between thumb and index finger and wave up and down giving the appearance that the pencil is made of rubber. (special thanks to Mills for reminding me of that one)

• The first people who started numbering pencils (#1-4 on the hardness of the graphite) was Henry David Thoreau and his dad. They made pencils.





• The word "rubber" actually came from eraser tips - because you rub it on paper.





• The metal connector of eraser and pencil has a name: ferrule. It's a combination of 2 Latin words meaning small iron bracelet.





• It's been a few hundred years since pencils used actual lead.

You are very welcome.

I got Dash a new hat (and some other clothes). He loves it. Have you ever heard the phrase "Look good - feel good"? When he wears this hat, he exudes that phrase. It's almost like he struts a little. Everybody always says, "Oh I love your hat!" to him so why not? He even naturally wears it off to the side a little.

In the last 12 hours, Dash has set an all-time record for number of times he's told me he loves me. And it's not even close. For some reason, and I don't even care why, he's been all about the love. I love it. Don't stop buddy.

My mom has been taking Dash to the library on Thursday's (Kelso library

is now down at the 3 Rivers Mall). They have a "kids day" there where they can read, color, use the computers, etc. Sounds cool. Dash really likes it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Drive all the snakes out of your yard, or wear green, or drink a beer, or what ever suits you best for today.

I actually posted this on the 17th, not the 15th.

Matters.

Be Mine

Happy St.Valentine's Day today. With a quick search on Catholic.org and wikipedia I can safely say that little is known about who (or how many) Saint Valentine is or what he did. He's supposed to be the patron saint of young people, love and happy marriage. So with that, bless your other today, or everyday really, and though flowers and chocolates are nice, the more specific you can be with your other, the better the response.

If you're feeling particularly sappy, I encourage you to look at http://kissssing.blogspot.com It's got cool old pictures and quotes from people, movies and songs dealing with love. For example:

"When you're in love you never really know whether your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love, or if it attributes them to her; whether the light which surrounds her like a halo comes from you, from her, or from the meeting of your sparks." - Natalie Clifford Barney

And for any of you sans boyfriend/girlfriend, try this hilarious website out: www.pickuphelp.com