What I Learned This Week - 1/10/14

1.  A full size Legolas cardboard cutout in a bedroom will have a teenage girl giggling for at least a week.
2. When you have a sinus infection, your life centers around mucus control.
3. I am strangely addicted to the You Tube video series of “Red Hot Nickel Ball in <insert object here>”.  I’m particularly fond of “Red Hot Nickel Ball in Giant Gummy Bear”.  
4. An Indian Trail Town Council member in North Carolina submitted his letter of resignation written in Klingon. I’m filing that away for future use.
5. I can describe the explosion of my loader's seat suspension system in a way that make guys who routinely work on them say, "Dude, woah!"
6. If you blow your nose in a moving vehicle, hit a bump and accidentally close both nostrils mid blow - your ears will pop and stuff will come out of your eyes. Your headache will also be that much worse. 
7. There is no reason an airport parking lot needs to be plowed better than the roads getting to the airport during a snowstorm.
8. One of the simplest pleasures in life is crawling into bed after a long day.
9. The first bite of a meal is one of the most satisfying things in the world when you are starving.
10. Mountain Dew Flavored Cheetos go on sale in Japan this week - yet another reason for me not to go to Japan.
11. In a battle of the Batmobiles street race, the original Ford Futura concept-car-based Batmobile beat the 1989 reboot's custom GM-chassy Batmobile by 0.37 seconds in a quarter mile.
12. Mosquitoes would have a much better name if they sucked fat instead of blood.
13. According to a coworker, “Smirting” is the practice of smoking and flirting outside public places where smoking is prohibited.
14. Even though it has been over three months since my lab ran face first into the closed sliding glass door, she still has to check the door is open every time she passes through it. Her process is look at me – paw at the air where the door should be – look back at me and then hesitantly pass through it occasionally turning her head bracing for impact. I'm fairly certain the mystery of glass will forever haunt her.
15. A full size Legolas cardboard cutout placed in the game room of the basement will scare the crap out of little girls every time they enter the room.
16. Few things make little girls happier than their dream haircut.
17. Every year I learn a new weather word I had no idea ever existed. I’m pretty sure they are making things up. “Polar Vortex”……really? I love that it inspired this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnjfYrE7xYQ)
18. Cicada 3301 made another puzzle quest for the genius hackers/code breakers of the interwebs this week.  I am not one of them, but I'm following the threads in pure amazement.