I am CuTRis

I took these photographs at the Minnesota State Capitol yesterday. My wife teaches art, and some of her students work was being shown there.

I've had my Mr. Coffee, coffee grinder for 20 years or so. It stopped working almost a year ago, and I took it apart and got it to grind again! On Saturday, Mr. Coffee ground its last cup of coffee. After finishing, when I tapped it to get the last grounds out, the whole thing fell apart in pieces! It reminded me of the Blues Brothers Car ! Even though I was able to get it put back together, it would not stay together. Eventually, I was forced to throw it away. Back almost a year ago when the Mr. Coffee, coffee grinder first showed evidence that it might stop working, I searched for a new grinder and found a ProctorSilex coffee grinder. This one works really well and was pretty cheap. It also has a great retractable cord feature. I wonder if this one will last 20 years?

In my earlier blog entry , I hadn't considered a viewpoint I saw in today's St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper. That is, that the Democratic party gets significant support from labor unions. Thus, if the Republicans can "cripple" organized labor, they are essentially doing away with the opposition.

Right now there is a push by a group of conservative Republicans who are trying to take away the collective bargaining power of labor unions . The main battle-ground so far has been in Wisconsin , where Governor, Scott Walker , has not budged in his quest to destroy organized labor's power--despite the fact that unions have already agreed to concessions to wages and benefits. Democratic senators have fled to Illinois to prevent passage of this bill that would send workers' rights backwards more than a century. Remember this when you vote next time. Do you want the rich to get richer and the bulk of Americans to pay for it?

We got over a foot of snow again on Sunday and yesterday. I'm getting tired of shoveling!

At a safety training I learned that back pain is the number one pain affecting people at work. Interesting to note, pain-in-the-ass is number two.

Cutris Loses Super-Powers in a Bet UnAssociated Press February 16, 2011 Cutris has apparently lost his Super-Powers. Sources say that an evil troll bet him that he couldn't build a full-size replica of the Taj Mahal in less than 12 minutes. Cutris did it in 13 minutes, 27 seconds. Cutris was unavailable for comment at the time this story was printed.

Cutris Gets Super-Powers UnAssociated Press February 16, 2011 It seems that Cutris may have gotten Super-powers from eating some "poisonous berries." Here Cutris is shown taking a five-minute break from building an entire house. The entire job from start to finish took him less than half-an-hour! Here is the finished house that Cutris built out of a matchbook and a piece of string, in 28 minutes.

Curtis May Have Eaten Poison Berries! UnAssociated Press February 16, 2011 Sources today claim that Cutris may have eaten poison berries. No further information is available at this time.

I set this bowl down on the counter the other night and it spun around for almost half a minute! I did it again with the same result. Then I grabbed my camera and did it this third time! I just think it is kind of cool how long it goes.

If you are in charge, and your behavior has made at least two people that you are supervising cry--in the same day, you may want to consider reviewing your communications or decision-making strategies.

This little package from my wife was waiting for me when I got home yesterday. It was obviously for Valentine's Day which wasn't for five more days! I couldn't wait, so I opened it. Then, I thought maybe I should have waited until February 14th!!! So I re-wrapped it and left a note. Somehow, my wife seemed to know that I had opened it! Apparently it was okay that I did open it, but she didn't seem to "buy" the excuse on the note that said I hadn't opened it yet...

Once on I think it was Columbus Day or some lesser holiday, we were denied use of a coupon at IHop . Here IHop is advertising Valentine's Day dining coupons. Here I circled the disclaimer that might prevent you from using the coupon on Valentine's Day ...

Listening to a corporate consultant today, who was using acronyms and such, I came up with my own. In my opinion, Whims and Mismanagement are the biggest wasters of time and money. I think I will share that one with him tomorrow.

The game was good! Both teams played well and it was close. The Packers just played a little better than the Steelers . The half-time show was pretty bad. I was not very impressed with The Black Eyed Peas . There certainly are much better musical performers! Finally, the singing of the National Anthem by Christina Aguilera wasn't very good--and oh yeah, she forgot the words! I do have a suggestion (and I do sing lead for my band so I have some knowledge of this). One syllable words do not necessarily sound better when you make them into three syllable words! That might also be why Christina lost the flow and forgot what the words were supposed to be.

Work can be so stressful! So many of the problems (others have that) I have to "fix" are self-made. Honest scientific answers are not appreciated...