What does your pee smell like?

This may venture into the TMI area..but thanks to eating Golden Crisp this morning, I was reminded of it when I took a trip to the bathroom a couple hours later. My pee smells like Golden Crisp. Or Super Sugar Crisp, if you are old enough to remember that name, before the marketing people at Post wanted to hide the sugar content from fretful moms.

And apparently I am not alone. Searching "pee smells like Golden Crisp" brings 87,000 hits on Google. So what's going on? I clicked on the link for one of them, and found this.

Yes, this can happen. What's happening is that your body can't digest the chemicals responsible for the smell and so it basically throws them out, intact, via the kidneys and urine, making the urine smell like cereal. Some artificial dyes will stain your urine funny colours for the same reason, and asparagus is really bad for making your pee stink (but apparently not everybody can smell it). Edit: and yes, it can be strong enough that you can smell it from a good distance.

Oddly enough, the author that I stole the above from mentions asparagus. That is another food that makes my pee stink horribly. This is an even odder topic, from a scientific point of view. Apparently not all people can smell "asparagus pee". As an aside, there are 384,000 hits to "asparagus pee" on Google, so it is even more common I guess. Anyway, apparently 50% of people cannot smell the compound created that ends up in urine after eating asparagus. It's called "Specific Anosmia". So if you eat asparagus, and don't smell anything, you probably have specific anosmia.

HERE is a great article describing the phenomenon regarding asparagus.

I can't think of any other foods that do that to me. What about you, feel free to comment?!?!? In a future post, maybe I'll get in a discussion of what drink mass amounts of purple Powerade does to me.....

Where would you take a football visit?

With all the recruiting flurry going on with the Cyclones, I got to thinking. If I were a 4 or 5 star football player, where would I want to take my 5 official visits?

If you were some HS senior 4 or 5 star, and you basically could choose anywhere in the country, where would you choose to take a visit? (and I suppose it would depend on what position I played, so that might change matters, but here goes)

I still have my Cyclone blinders on, so of course I would want an official to ISU.

I also have my Thundering Herd blinders, so I'd want to go to Marshall. Winning tradition, and if I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond, in a community that lives football.

I don't consider myself a fan, but I would have USC at the top of my list. I can imagine anywhere I would rather play than at the Coliseum vs UCLA. That is, at least on TV, my favorite college setting. And then to be in SoCal with the nice weather (and those cheerleaders!)

I respect the heck out of Bill Snyder, and the job he has done. I'd probably do a K-State visit.

And it might be a political move, but I'd probably take a visit to a B10 school with my 5th visit. And maybe it is my partiality to State schools, but I might go to Michigan State. I like what they have done, and I would like sticking it to Michigan.

What say you?

Merry Christmas from The Donald

Got a Christmas card today from Donald Trump. Just thought I'd share.

Die Hard is a Christmas Movie

So a family fight will happen on Christmas. I will watch the movie Die Hard. And Vicki will complain about the violence and shooting. But there is no doubt, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Rather than retype a bunch of stuff, I'm gonna steal some of the below from another blog.

Christmas quotes throughout. a) Holly, "We'll see what Santa and mommy can do?"

b) Difficulties getting into the vault? Hans reassures, "It's Christmas Theo. It's the time for miracles."

c) TRIVIA: What dies Theo say when they finally open the vault? "Merry Christmas"

d) "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring EXCEPT... the 4 assholes coming in the rear in standard 2 by 2 cover formation. "

John delivers a Christmas joke in an elevator. "Now I have a machine gun. HO HO HO!" And the corpse is wearing a Santa hat!

The bad guys await the cops about to enter a back door. Bad guy looks down at the vendors snack bar. Jingle Bells plays.

To set up the climactic ending of the villian Hans, (spoiler alert) McClane uses Christmas wrapping tape to tape a gun to his back.

The end credits roll to the holiday classic, "Let it Snow" and during the open, there is the song "Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC

And of course, John's wife's name is "Holly".

Good ol' John McClain is just trying to get together with his family for Christmas. And of course he does. Good triumphs over evil. So that is a proper message, Christmas Season or not.

Doh! A Deer

Third time was a charm for our 2009 Chevy Traverse. Two previous deer hits were "no harm, no foul". But last night Vicki pasted a deer just south of the Gilbert road on R38/County Line Road. There is a creek running through there with a bunch of timber. We've seen deer in there many times. Last night, one decided to go head to head with the Chevy. Here is the damage.

So about a year ago, one ran into the side of the car, and bounced off, causing no damage. About 2 years ago, I was driving down I-35, saw one coming, put on the brakes, and just tapped him, causing no damage. So indeed, 3rd time is the charm. The car is still drivable, Vicki and Paige are fine, so that is good.

But I endorse a good deer hunt. Those stupid rats with horns are really annoying and cost a lot of money.

Flight Aware

One of my favorite websites in FlightAware.com. It is a way to track flights. If you know the flight number, you can go that way. You can search by airport, or by airplane type and so on. What I like best is seeing what is above you. Am I the only person that does that?

I look up and see a contrail and wonder, "Where are they going?" On a grander scale, you know there are, depending on the type of plane, 50-400 people up there, each with their own story of why they are going somewhere. Maybe it is for work, maybe it is for a funeral, maybe to go on vacation. Everybody has got a story, and they are whizzing 6 miles over my head at 500MPH.

A while back I had a post a Facebook about some fun I had with searching planes. Normally, I see planes going east/west here in flyover country. Rarely you see planes with contrails going north/south. You will see planes going to MSP, but they are typically lower (if you watch enough, you can tell). But I saw some way up there. Turns out, for planes to Dallas and Houston from Europe and the Middle East, because of the winds aloft, is more efficient for them to go "up and over" the planet, and fly over Iowa. Seems odd, but a flight from Saudi Arabia to Houston is efficient flying over us. They don't have to fight headwinds as much. On the way back, Eastbound, they don't fly over us, because they can get a tailwind and fly more straight east.

So HERE is a link, to what is over us in Iowa. Scroll your mouse over a plane. It will say the

Carrier, flight number, and type of plane

How high they are and their speed in knots

Where they are from and where they are going

You might need to search the site for some of the lingo, but here is one about to fly over me as I post this

DAL 1854 A320, 340 397, KDTW KDEN

That means it is a Delta Airlines, Flight 1854, and an Airbus A320 (picture below), it is at 34000 feet, at 397 knots, flying from Detroit to Denver.

The icons for planes are kinda what they look like. You can see the "heavies". Those are the widebodies, like 767s and 747s. Fun stuff!

Death By Design

Been studying my lines for the dinner theatre I will be in on Feb 19-21. I am playing the part of Walter Pearce, member of the British Parliament in the show entitled "Death By Design". It is similar to many murder mystery dinner shows. There is an odd assortment of characters, somebody gets murdered, and the remaining people all have a motive.

So I have recorded my lines, with the help of my lovely wife Vicki, and have been practicing while I drive around for work.

Here is a promo shot from some other acting troupe that put on the show. I presume my character is the dude in the middle. When I get our promo shots, I'll post some here.