Movie Seat Review

April 23, 2014

That’s right: We’re reviewing the seat, not the movie.

There’s a movie seat that rocks and rolls according to what’s on the screen, supposedly to give the viewer a more complete experience of what the characters are going through. One of the local movie theaters has a couple of chairs in the lobby that you can check out while you watch some movie trailers.

Here’s the thing: The chair does move, but it’s mostly a side-to-side action, and it generally seems to be tied more to when the soundtrack gets loud than to what’s actually happening on the screen. So it seemed like even if the ocean was heaving or an earthquake was happening, you wouldn’t actually feel anything unless the sound was going great guns. (Dear Mr. Hitchcock: Since you made “Lifeboat” with no soundtrack, you’re out of luck on getting us to feel the boat move on the ocean.)

So at this time I’m giving the chair a thumbs-down. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try it again in a couple of months, just to see if I didn’t give it a fair shake (pun not intended, but it wasn’t bad, either).

We Finally Got One

April 17, 2014

In April 2011 I wrote that there was no such thing as that mythical perfect spring people kept talking about: The one with the warm, sunny days with the pretty blossoms, etc. Most of the springs I remember were rainy and chilly, with the occasional nice day thrown in to make us feel good.

Well, this spring is breaking all the stereotypes so far. At least here in the Treasure Valley, most of the days have been warm and sunny. There is some wind, of course, but overall this is the most perfect spring I can ever remember.

We finally got one.

The Grass Is Always Greener In The Garden

April 9, 2014

Gardening tip:

If you see something lush and green growing in your garden...


Pull it up. Chances are it doesn't belong there.

A Little White Lie

April 2, 2014

You know that old saying, “Tell the truth and shame the devil.”? Well, I guess it’s situational. 

The Old Testament reading on Sunday was 1 Samuel 16: 1-13. The Lord tells Samuel to go find a new king, and Samuel says that if Saul finds out, Saul will have him killed. The Lord doesn’t thunder, “Tell Saul I told you to do it!” He says, “Take a heifer and say that you’re going to make a sacrifice.” 

I found it to be kind of interesting that even the Lord practiced a little subterfuge every now and then. (Yeah, I know He used to come down in disguise and hang out with Abraham and Lot, but in those cases it wasn’t because He was worried that they’d get the better of Him. This makes it seem like He was actually shilly-shallying.)

That's OK. It makes the rest of us seem not quite so cowardly when we fudge the truth a little. 

(By the way, I got quite a few words out of “subterfuge” during the sermon.)

I'm Practicing What She Preaches

April 2, 2014

A few months ago I bought a book called The Penny Pinchers Club at the library’s used-book sale. (Naturally, the title appealed to me.) It’s a novel about a woman who has about 6 months to save $13,000 by cutting her budget. (This woman obviously lives pretty high on the hog.) So it’s full of good tips on how to slash your electric bill, get rid of the 5 TVs you don’t use, and cut down on the Gucci purchases; as well as tips like saving the plastic liners from cereal boxes to use as waxed paper or as lunch bags, and making your own home cleaning products instead of buying expensive store brands. (See? There’s something for everybody, even us everyday types.)  

The list price for this masterpiece on frugality was $33.95. I got it for a buck.

I hope the author would be pleased.