I was watching "The Matrix Reloaded" last night and I noted how in the scenes that took place in "Zion City" reflected the racial diversity that one might expect to see in the USA in the next 100 years. Most sci-fi movies are dominated by white actors so I found it interesting that the movie's creators had the foresight to include so many different and diverse actors. I say it all the time but here it is again, my favorite thing about living in the USA is the diversity. A lot of people are afraid of it, but I think increased diversity is the only way the USA will remain competitive in the face of growth in Asia, South America, and some day Africa.

The fact that the words "seven" and "heaven" rhyme is useful if you are a song writer.

If you want an easy, clean way to make omelets, go to Target and look in the cookware section for a Nordicware omelet tray. It is a plastic tray consisting of two semi-circular halves hinged so that it folds over. You mix your eggs and stuff and pour one half of the mix in each side. Microwave it for three or four minutes and out comes a tidy omelet. Easy.

I've been hauling scraps of wood out of my basement and burning it in a chiminea I've got on my front deck. This violates Minneapolis housing code. My house is clad in fiber-cement siding so I am not worried about it catching fire, and I keep an eye on things while it is burning. Anyway the fun part is that I cook kabobs or bison burgers over the flame. Somehow I get a kick out of burning parts of my house to make dinner. Most of the wood is miscellaneous stuff that I've pulled out during remodeling or 2x4's and boards that were used in the basement for shelves. The house is 90 years old so the wood is really dry. It flares up like paper when you put a match to it.

That reminds me, a couple of years ago there was a rental property in Minneapolis over by the U of MN that went up in flames. Three students died in the fire and the neighbors reported that they didn't know there was a fire until they started hearing windows breaking and screams of pain. That sounds so horrific. It got me to thinking, however, about how 100 years ago dying in a fire wasn't so unusual. Houses these days have fire detectors and flame-retardant materials and fire crews can make it to the scene much more quickly. An old house like mine would go up in flames pretty quickly, so I had expanding foam insulation blown into the walls and flame-proof fiber-cement siding installed. I have a monitored security system in place so if a fire does break out, the fire department will be notified the second the smoke alarms go off. My parents' house had a fire in it years ago while no one was home, but the family dog died of suffocation. That is a large part of why I am so careful of protecting against fire. The cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion of some rags my dad had used in finishing some of his woodworking pieces. There's another lesson, spread out chemical-soaked rags in a well-ventilated area or outside if possible.