I’m not dead!

In fact, I have a new toy. A staple from my childhood that’s actually even more fun than I remember.

Pattern blocks are little wooden blocks (about 1 cm thick) that come in the following shapes:

• Equilateral triangle, side length 1 unit (green)
• Rhombus, angles 60-120-60-120, side length 1 unit (blue)
• Hexagon, side length 1 unit (yellow)
• Trapezoid, half of a hexagon (red)
• Square, side length 1 unit (orange)
• Rhombus, angles 30-150-30-150, side length 1 unit (white)

The only really fundamental shapes are the triangle, square, and white rhombus; the blue rhombus, trapezoid, and hexagon can all be built from triangles. Having them handy makes the patterns attractive, though.

(The link and the pattern therein does not do them justice. There is also a linked Java applet that really shows a tiny fraction of the neat things you can do, because of limitations as to where the pieces will snap to. Try using the white and green ones together and you’ll quickly see.)

Anyway, I highly recommend them as a gift for everyone you know, especially kids in grades 1-3 and adults that remind you of me.

If you get some, try this riddle: How many (different, rotationally symmetrical) ways can you make a regular dodecagon (12-sided polygon) of side length 1? I was a little surprised to find you can do it at all, but have found at least 3 different ways already. I guess you can do this riddle even without the blocks in front of you, if your spatial/geometrical imagination is much better than mine…

It has come to my attention that occasionally my figures of speech get lost on people who don’t know me all that well. For instance, I sometimes use the phrases “XYZ says I have a really great personality” or “RST thinks I’m a really great friend.” The untrained Robspeaker might believe that XYZ and RST enjoy my personality and friendship.

In fact, both of these phrases indicate rejection, that XYZ and RST want nothing to do with me, in reference to the line that inevitably follows: “but I’m not interested in dating you.” This can be used semi-sincerely in the case actual of romantic rejection, or facetiously for a submission, application, request, etc. “GMT Games got back to me about my submission. Turns out they think I have a really great personality.” It can also apply to other people. “Did you hear back about your job application? Oh, they love hanging out with you and think of you as a really good friend. Sorry to hear that.”

(Should you actually need to communicate the literal meaning of one of these phrases, it needs to be recast or have context added. “XYZ and I get along well together.” “RST and I have been friends since that party back in ‘05.”)

I was led to believe that freezing grapes would result in a fun and cool snack for August.

I was deceived.

If the thought of eating wet, cold cardboard with a slight grape-y flavor appeals to you, by all means, freeze yourself some grapes. Otherwise, stick with the basic plan: freeze water, refrigerate grapes.

New rule!

You are not allowed to complain, whine, or base all or part of a “comedy” routine about the following aspects of Starbucks, or similar coffee shops:

• The price
• The fact that you cannot get “just a cup of coffee”
• The complicated multi-word nature of the drink anyone, including the guy in front of you, gets
• The nonstandard names of the drink sizes

If these things bother you, you have entered the wrong store. The fault is yours. It is like complaining that at Nordstrom, you cannot get “just a t-shirt and jeans.” What the heck were you doing at Nordstrom when you should have gone to Wal-Mart? If the concept of a raspberry latte cappuccino offends your delicate blue-collar sensibilities, what were you doing in Starbucks? You should have been in Dunkin’ Donuts, which caters to exactly the people who don’t want Starbucks. Or Denny’s, Waffle House, or IHOP, any of whom will sell you enough caffeine to make a lab rat burst into flames for less than $2.