Where did we get the name “toilet” from? Kind of sounds French doesn’t it?

“Toil”. My dictionary says that toil is a struggle or labor. The “et” is a diminutive, just like cigarette is a diminutive of cigar. So, I guess that a toilet is a place of small labors or struggles.

My wife can testify to the validity that a toilet is a place of struggle.

It snowed last night.  We got 11 inches.  Very pretty.  I am working from home today.

Some friends of ours have 4 children. Three of them turned out normal but the 4th has been nothing but trouble all of his life. The troubled child was adopted.

This seems to be more the rule than the exception. And even though these children were adopted shortly after being born and raised in normal households, they turned out to be nothing but trouble for their parents.

Is it genetic? According to Dr Laura, it is. And there may be something to be said for that. After all, there are certain biological traits that are passed on from you to your off spring.

But according to Freakonomics, a book that I am reading, the solution is much simpler than that. The solution is prenatal care or lack of it.

It seems that these mothers didn’t not want their babies in the first place so, they made no special effort to care them before they were born. And since they knew that they were going to put their child up for adoption, they continued in their usual lifestyle which may have been harmful to the baby’s development.

Therefore, it could be the lack of prenatal care that causes adopted child to be problems and not genetics or the environment. But, I doubt that we will ever know for sure.

The other night, my cell phone rang. When I looked at the caller ID, I saw that it was from my daughter Rachel. When I answered it, she did not say anything. Instead, I could hear her talking the back ground.

Since she didn’t say anything to me, I assumed that she accidentally called my cell phone. So, I tried to get her attention but I didn’t have any luck. Finally, I just hung up.

The next day, I got a text message from her saying that some times her phone just makes calls on its own using her speed dial list. What a way to loose minutes. Rogue phone.

The mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, is in trouble. It seems that he lied in court about having a sexual relationship with one of his staffers. When questioned about the affair, he cited President Clinton as his role model.

His staffer may have gone down on him but I suspect he is going down because of her.

I was in Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) the other day. They were setting up their barbecue grill display. I guess that they were anticipating an early spring. Either that or they were anticipating a big run on super bowl parties.

But, you can get a great deal on an electric heater.

Everything is closed today.  There is a snow storm in progress.  And, it is the worst kind.  A noreaster.

A noreaster is a snow storm that comes in out of the north east.  Actually, the storm rotates counter clockwise so that the bottom end of the storm picks up warm moisture and then dumps it when it rotates to the north and gets cold.   And while this storm moves from the south west to the north east, it is the rotation of the storm that gives us that storm which blows in from the north east.

Usually, noreasters give us a lot of snow very quickly.  Who knows what today will bring.

When you spend as much time on the road as I do, you see a lot of strange things. And, in the winter time, you see a lot of tracks in the snow from hapless motorist who lose it and wind up in the ditch.

So, one wintery evening, I noticed a tire track headed down into the median. Since there was only one tire track gradually going down into the median, I assumed that the other was soon to follow. But no, there was only one tire track.

This was most unusual; a single tire track rolling along in the median. Then, after about a 1/4 of a mile, a single tire laid in the snow and the track ended.

How did a single tire manage to roll down into the median? Very strange. Then, on down the road, I saw it; a pick-up truck missing a rear wheel.

It must have been a strange feeling to see your rear wheel passing you in the median. Oh well.

Last night, it was 45 degrees outside.  Today, it is 5 degrees outside.  Michigan is known for such sudden shifts.  Fortunately, it doesn’t happen very often.

It started out raining, then it got cold and the rain froze.  Then, it started snowing and blowing.

Everything is closed.   It is too icy to go outside.  Cars are sliding off the road all over the place.

Salt doesn’t work much below 20 degrees.  That is why it is nice to have an outside thermometer on your car.  If it is above 20, chances are goof that the road will have salt on it.  If it is below 20, chances are you are drive on ice.

We only have about 8 more weeks of winter.

Senator Carl Levin recently announced that he has endorsed a candidate for president. Unfortunately, he is not telling anybody who that might be. I guess that makes it a secret endorsement.

What a novel idea! If you don’t tell anyone who you are endorsing, then you can always say “sorry you lost. I endorsed you, you know.” This is the original “win win” situation. In fact, not only can you endorse all of the loosers, you can also endorse the winners!

Carl is such a brilliant man!