Stuff

Which state of matter expands to fill the entire volume that contains it?
a. solid
b. liquid
c. gas
d. stuff

When we first got married, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment. And all of the stuff we had between the two of us didn't fill up the space. That included all the shower gifts we would never use, all our clothes, and the bits of furniture we had picked up here and there. Ah, the simple days!

After about six months, we moved to a three-bedroom house. Oh, the space! And that's when our stuff began to grow. I think maybe different bits of our stuff would secretly get together when we weren't home and reproduce. Or maybe it was just simple fission - one thing splitting to become two separate things. Or mabye the All-Powerful Stuff Wizard would pop in and grant us more stuff. Whatever the reason, the quantity of our possessions grew.

It wasn't all bad. We did enjoy all the things we ended up with. And we still had room for it all, although as the years went by, there wasn't as much extra room as there had been before. Things began to get a little more cluttered than they had been. Things like dusting and vacuuming took a little longer, because there was more to work around. And then there started to be the possibility of having to give up some stuff to make room for more! Gasp!

You realize just how much stuff you have when you have to move it all. Such was the case for us after six years, as we moved to a new house. Slightly more room in the new house than in the old house. And then we did get rid of a little bit of our stuff, just so that we wouldn't have to move it. And of course, once again our stuff has grown.

Some days, I want to get rid of most all our stuff, keeping only the essential things. Surely it could be done. People of the past, and even people today, have made it without anywhere near as much stuff as we have. I think we could, too. But then I see some new CD at Best Buy that I just can't live without. Or some new gadget to do this or that. Gotta have it. More stuff! But I keep trying to do better.

So you can see why I believe stuff expands to fill the entire volume that contains it. At least that's the case in the Baldwin household.

Nuts!

Every year at Christmas, I get a gift at work of a tin of mixed nuts from one of the salesmen that stops by here. And now, the nuts are gone.

Well not exactly. You see, I mainly just go through and pick out the cashews and pecans, leaving the almonds, Brazil nuts, and those other little nuts they put in there. Okay, so I do occasionally eat an almond or two, and maybe one of the others, just to make sure that I still don't care as much for them as for the others.

So now I'm left with a tin of nuts that I won't eat. What's a guy to do? In a way, I feel guilty about just throwing them away. I thought about taking them home and dumping them out in the yard for the squirrels and whatever other animals might want them. But I would think they probably don't need all the salt that is on there, and whatever else they might use to dress them up.

And then I would also feel guilty saying to the salesman, "Hey buddy, next time just bring cashews. Or even just a jar of salted peanuts!" Can't really complain, because then he might not bring anything at all. Or even worse, he might switch to fruitcake. Then I'd really have a problem!

Brrr!

Not to start out on a grouse, but here goes anyway.

Talk about cold! The heat has been out at the office all day. Bummer. It is hard to type when it is 56 degrees in the office. My fingers don't want to move like they should. A couple of penguins came in and asked if we had any ice.

Fortunately, I have a small space heater. It has been heating our large space all day. And it is now just about bearable at 71 degrees. But this room is the warmest one in the building by far.

The wonderful people who run things were hesitant to call someone to look at it. "Let's wait and see," they said, "and maybe it will start working again." I'll remember that next time one of their light fixtures goes out, and they want it replaced.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this has happened. Every time we have a warm day followed by a cold day, the heat doesn't work on the cold day. Something about the warm day throws everything off.

Someone is on the roof working on our unit now. Now that it is time to go home. And I can tell someone is up there by the cigarette smoke smell working its way down through the vents.

Yes, it's a great day indeed!