Jamie Burnside

A little bit of the old 'Car Trouble' in Automotive JoeUser Forums

Two days ago my family had an interesting day with cars. I went to the bank during lunch time to make a deposit. After finishing up, my car wouldn't start! I had to call a tow truck to bring my car to a garage. It seems that my alternator had broken, and was taking charge out of my battery. So I got that fixed... The interesting thing about this story is that when my wife was leaving the house to bring me home from work, she noticed that she had left her headlights on all d

Something that probably drives nurses nuts. in Misc JoeUser Forums

Yesterday my son and I went to the flu shot clinic at the medical center in our home town. There were all sorts of people there lining up to get their shots. It was certainly the place to be! While we were there, I overheard numerous people proclaiming how they "hate needles." There were many people who were making quite the deal out of getting a little shot. I bet that it makes the nurses cringe every time they hear that (unless they're already numb to it.) I think tha

Orchard trip in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

Yesterday, my family took a trip to an apple orchard in Buffalo, MN. At the orchard there are apples, a petting zoo, wagon rides, pumpkins, and a nice little store. I had gone there earlier this year with a group of kindergardeners, and I thought that my son would get a kick out of it too. Kenny liked the donkeys. <IMG style="WIDTH: 323px; HEIGHT: 228px" height=230 alt="" hspace=0 src="http://www.geocities.com/chipperprime/orcharddonkey1" width=424 align=baseline b

Family Camping Trip. in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

This weekend is the "Minnesota Education Association Convention" weekend. Schoolkids have a four-day weekend, and it is a reasonably big travel weekend in Minnesota. (Do they have a four-day convention break in other states?) My family spent part of the weekend on what should be our last camping trip for a couple years. (New baby coming...) This time out was our son Kenny's first camping trip. (He had a REALLY good time, but kept mom awake most of the nig

Reply to The New Bond in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

There were multiple Bonds in "Casino Royale". If you want to include that stupid movie, there would be a lot more than 8. For the sake of continuity, they should just dye the blonde guy's hair. Of course hair oil would make it look darker too.

Ever had one of those dreams? in Misc JoeUser Forums

I am sure that this has happened to everyone who at one point in their life has had either a stressful, or a repetitive job. You go to sleep, end up dreaming about your job, wake up, and then realize that you have to go to work. It is like working two consecutive shifts! The other day I experienced kind of a variation to that dream. For a good part of the night, I dreamt that I was having a hard time going to sleep. As soon as it seemed that I could finally get to bed, something el

A funny fill-in-the-blanks in Misc JoeUser Forums

Yesterday Vicki -my student teacher- was going over a vocabulary worksheet with one of our fifth graders. It was one of those fill-in-the-blanks activities designed to help familiarize students with upcoming vocabulary. I was doing something in some other part of my classroom when I heard Vicky say this: "Listen to this. You wrote: 'My brother went on a slave trade to Mecca last year.' Is that right?" I got a real kick out of that. The original is number 2. <I

School Picture in Misc JoeUser Forums

When you're a kid, every year you can expect a new professional photo of yourself. Once school is finished, that's all done. Now that I teach at a school, I once again receive annual portraits. Two years ago I was happy with my pictures. Last year they weren't so good. My pictures this year weren't so bad. Here they are. <IMG style="WIDTH: 120px; HEIGHT: 180px" height=1641 alt="" hspace=0 src="http://www.geocities.com/chipperprime/schoolpicture" w

Liz Phair's latest CD in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

One of my favorite singer/ songwriters is Liz Phair. Whenever she puts out a new CD I tend to buy it, and I look forward to seeing her music videos. Since she has recently put out a new CD, I bought that one yesterday. What one seems to find in most Liz Phair releases is a mix of her "pop" songs, and those where she adheres to her own "indy rock" style that she's developed over the years. (Her personal style is kind of an acoustic folk-rock, with her voice tendi

Reply to My cutie Patootie! in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

Looks like you when you were a baby.

Reply to American Idol Season One Retrospective in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

Ryan Star appearred on VH1 Surreal Life. AHA! That's where I saw her. I have seen that show a few times. The only episode that I saw completely was when Chyna's boyfriend (Sean Waltman) came to see the group. Peter Brady was the voice of reason.

American Idol Season One Retrospective in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

Yes it is true. This weblog entry was written in October, 2005. If you are a somewhat regular reader of my weblog, you may know that I devote a lot of space to American Idol while the season is on. I assume that this year won't be any different with the fifth season starting soon. Please visit often to see what I have to say. Today while shopping at a discount store, I ran across a season one r

Reply to Prescriptive English Grammar. in Misc JoeUser Forums

Thus the grammatically wrong "there is" becomes easier to say and easier to follow, and since it fits so neatly as a verb for "there", the sentence with "there is" sounds more correct. That reads like proximity principle to me.

Prescriptive English Grammar. in Misc JoeUser Forums

I ran into this sentence today: there is a green car and a motorcycle on harriet street Students are supposed to read it, and then correct it for errors. The correct answer is: There are a green car and a motorcycle on Harriet Street. In prescriptive grammar, this compound subject (two singular nouns linked by "and") requires a third-person plural to-be verb in order to maintain subject

Translated version of this website. in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

If you want to read this website in Japanese, please click here. The translation isn't perfect, but it might help you to understand better. There is a link to it on the right too. Let me pre-empt some of the "Well I don't speak, read, or write" comments that I may get. HA-HA.

Reply to Dumbya Is Getting Hammered in Politics JoeUser Forums

Come on man, you know that poll ratings are meaningless unless they're favorable to President Stupid.

Chocolate Cookie in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

At the grocery store, each kid gets a free cookie from the bakery when they come with their parents. Our little boy REALLY looks forward to getting a cookie. Usually we try to give him a (relatively clean) molasses or sugar cookie. Once-in-a-while he gets a chocolate one.

Carl Sagan's Cosmos in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

Last night as I was flipping through the channels, I found a rerun of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" on the Science Channel. I stopped flipping, and watched it. That was interesting. I don't think that I've seen any of that show for years and years. I defy anyone to watch that show for more than five minutes and not end up trying out their own Carl Sagan impersonation. During a commercial break I found myself walking around the living room chanting "BILLIONS and BILLION

Reply to How come I cant post photos? in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I use geocities, and post all sorts of photos. The only caveat is to just make sure that you don't exceed your transfer capacity.

Mo Rocca in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

Who the hell is Mo Rocca? Why is he on my television, and... Why do I care what he thinks about anything?

Reply to How come I cant post photos? in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Get an account on geocities.com. Then download your photos, and keep track of the http address that corresponds with each picture. It should be something like this: http://www.geocities.com/your site's name/ the name of your picture Then click the picture box in your compose area, and paste that address in there.

Corn maze visit. in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

Today Kazuko, Kenny and I went to the Sever's Family Corn Maze with our friends Andy and Chialing (and their little girl.) That was fun! We enjoy going to the corn maze every year. That is one of the highlights of our fall. At the corn maze there is: (of course) a corn maze, corn to eat, exotic animal petting zoo, pony and camel rides, a jug band, a corn "sandbox", and pig races. Kenny was especially excited about seeing the animals (especially a zeb

I don't get Bob Dylan in Entertainment JoeUser Forums

Okay, so recently PBS played a two-part documentary on Bob Dylan. I didn't watch the show, but it seems to be the "talk of the town" on the streets, on local radio, and on TV. Most of the talk that I hear about Dylan on the radio is from callers and hosts gushing about Dylan's "greatness." Granted, Dylan has to be reasonably talented to have gathered and held on to such a following. He has done a lot, and has had a long career. I just don't get him. He

Reply to Dumbya out of control in Politics JoeUser Forums

Bush would pep up for a while if he went back on cocaine.

Reply to Dumbya out of control in Politics JoeUser Forums

Nevermind...