Weekend Wisdom

An additional perk of my Saturday/Sunday bagel shop excursions includes getting a diet Snapple to wash it all down.  Add to that the little bits of information Snapple places under each lid, “Real Fact” as they call it, and you have one very satisfied customer.  I enjoy it so much that I now leave the bottle water at home, opting for the Snapple instead.  The drink itself is alright for being “made from the best stuff on Earth”, but I buy it to see which new fact is waiting for me under the lid.

Sharing is caring, so I’ll forward some “Real Fact”(s) over to you:

“Real Fact” #878 – Only male fireflies can fly.

“Real Fact” #911 – A cubic mile of fog is made up of less than a gallon of water.

“Real Fact” #688 -Flying fish can leap out of the water at 20 mph or more, and can glide for over 500 feet.

I had a few other caps, but somehow misplaced them in the middle of a hurricane, i.e. my room.  They’ll be added to the list at later date.

Update:  Found them.

“Real Fact” #869 – Theodore Roosevelt had a pet bear while in office.

“Real Fact” #710 – A tankless water heater uses half the energy of a standard model.

“Real Fact” #751 – Flamingos can only eat with their heads upside down.

“Real Fact” #926 – George Washington was the only unanimously elected President.

“Real Fact” #857 – Louisiana is home to over 80% of the world’s crayfish.

“Real Fact” #770 – Pistol shrimp can make a noise loud enough to break glass.

“Real Fact” #750 – The common garden worm has five pairs of hearts.

Fish out of Air

For the past week I have been a cross between Rip Van Winkle or a drowning person with all the yawning and gasping for air I’ve been doing.  You could also imagine taking a fish out of water and seeing its eyes bug out as the mouth and gills frantically search for any aqueous substance.  Put a dark brown wig on that little fishy, substitute water for air, and…gasp, you now have an accurate picture of how I feel/look.

I once read that a person yawns when his/her brain is not getting enough oxygen.  Supposedly sleepiness sometimes triggers yawning because the expenditure of energy is drastically reduced during rest.  The actual yawn, as I understood it, is the body’s way of telling the person it is ready to stop expending energy and rest already.

I’m not sure if that is what my body is saying, but after a chest X-ray, spirometry test, and blood work nothing seems to be obviously malfunctioning.  Everything is normal, everything except for the fact that I can’t breath without needing huge gulps of air and am easily winded by simply talking.  If sleepiness really is the culprit, I’d much rather nod off or have trouble keeping my eyes open.  It’s a little more obvious and a little less scary.

Put me to bed or pull me out of the water, ’cause I’ll do whatever it takes to get my breathing back to normal.  Allergy medicine was suggested.  Tried it.  Still can’t breathe.  What gives?

Until I get it figured out, this sleepy little fish will be dreaming about large, oxygenated bubbles ready to fill her lungs with copious amounts of air.

Upper

While waiting for the analysis of my genetic sequences I hit up the videos on MSN for a respite from boredom. I found Suryia and Roscoe. They’re absolutely adorable.

The Orangutan and the Hound
The Orangutan and the Hound

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.