Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, November 26, 2019

  • And to think I thought it was impossible to fit ‘MURICA in a bottle or to actually taste freedom.
  • The kids are out of school all this week for Thanksgiving break. I think when I was a kid we only got Thursday off and years later the following Friday. BoyGeeding walked into my home office yesterday and asked, “Dad, what do you do on the computer all day?” He knows is that I work for the government but doesn’t really understand what I do. I’m not good at breaking things down for a child to understand.
  • I saw one offensive drive by the Baltimore Ravens last night and was taken back at the speed and quickness of several of their players, it’s insane how talented they are.
  • If the Cowboys are forced to wear white and choose not to wear their standard uniforms, they deserve to lose. And yes, Epstein didn’t kill himself.
  • I feel like every year, a week before Thanksgiving, there’s a story about how bad weather may ground the iconic balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s not a full-fledge conspiracy theory, but there’s a part of me which thinks it’s something Macy’s like to say just to drum up some free publicity. What they should do state that during the parade, one random balloon will break apart, kinda like the Barney one years ago.
  • Thank you, Congress and Mr. President – President Trump signs animal cruelty bill into law, making it a federal felony
  • I think these will make a nice Christmas gift (No, WifeGeeding, I’m not hinting I want these.) The US Mint is selling commemorative coins to celebrate the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary. Prices start at $31 for an uncirculated half dollar, $60 for a proof silver dollar, $230 for a five-ounce proof silver dollar, and a $463 for an uncirculated $5 gold coin. One side features a moon bootprint on the lunar surface on the coin’s obverse is the iconic ‘Buzz Aldrin on the moon’ photo.
  • There’s a lot to dissect about this tweet.
    • The agency he was the head of was the one he wanted to abolish.
    • “Happy Holidays” – That sounds like liberal speak, why didn’t he fit in a “Merry Christmas!”?
    • He’s dressing like Trump, notice the red tie and oversized blazer. It’s a different material than his pants, which means he’s not wearing a suit. I would have thought he’d always wear a suit to the White House, especially on his last day. Maybe the jacket is oversized because he’s lost some weight. If that’s the case, it’s time to start a conspiracy theory about his health and that’s the reason why he’s leaving his post.
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Bag of Randomness for Monday, November 25, 2019

  • I eat my Nutter Butters like I eat my Oreos, some are eaten like a sandwich and some are split apart.
  • One big gripe I have about Disney+ and something I can’t believe wasn’t implemented at launch is a “Continue Watching” feature. Parents and kids start, stop, leave, and come back to viewing apps all the time.
  • The TICKET morning show broadcasted from KidZania on Friday morning in anticipation of their grand opening over the weekend. I never heard of it before but decided to research it, and upon doing so, I decided to take the family.
    • Admission was $40 a child (ages 5-14) and it was supposed to be for a four-hour pass, but we stayed for about six and there was no sort of notification system we were aware of to tell us when our time was up. The price is well worth it when you consider the quality of the facility and experience, IMO. However, a parent must also purchase a ticket for $20 if they want to attend. Somehow only WifeGeeding had to purchase one and I was given some sort of visitor pass for free which allowed me to hang out for the entire time.
    • KidZania is located in Stonebriar Mall Center in Frisco. Outside the entrance is the front of a real airliner and a pretend airport facility. See, to get to KidZania, everyone must “fly” there. Just as in real life, you buy a ticket and go through security, but you don’t have to remove your shoes.
    • Inside, the whole thing reminded me of the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. There’s no sunlight, no way to see outside, but the ceiling is painting in cloudy blue skies.
    • When tickets are purchased, kids are given some KidZania currency, which is printed on it’s on high-quality paper. Kids can spend the money on goods and services. If kids want more money, they have to get a “job” and work for it. Some jobs are simple, like being a mail carrier delivering packages from one business to another using a map, or window washing with a rolling water bucket, squeegee, and paper towels. Other jobs require training, like becoming a police officer, firefighter, doctor, dentist, bank teller, fitness instructor, and a bunch of other stuff. Most of the businesses are sponsored, like Planet Fitness runs the mini-gym, Colgate for the dental business, WFAA for media, and Texas Health for the hospital and prenatal facilities. The medical stuff was pretty impressive with very lifelike learning dummies. Jobs run about $4 per task. However, kids went to college and obtained a bachelor’s degree (in this case, from SMU), they are paid an extra $2 per task, and if they obtained a masters, they got an extra $4 a task. BoyGeeding decided to go to college but DaughterGeeding decided not to. Kids also got a chance to buy insurance and do their taxes.

    • In this particular job, DaughterGeeding was taught how to count money, verify if it was fake, what to accept (some currency was torn and damaged in other ways), and to deposit it in a vault.
    • One of the cooler experiences was training to be a pilot and the kids get a chance to use a pretty realistic flight simulator. In this pic, well-mannered BoyGeeding was raising his hand to ask a question.
    • Several restaurants were inside, such as MooYah’s and Pie Five Pizza. Their registers were down (opening day problems) so all food was free. The prices aren’t jacked up like at a theme-park because you are trapped inside, but that was a pretty good saving when you consider we had four meals and two snacks total.
    • Another cool experience was a scenario in which the local match stick factory caught on fire. To the kids playing police had to cone off the area while the kids riding in a mini-fire engine arrived to put shoot real water a pretend fire.


    • We kept running into a filming crew and a few times told we were “in their shot.” At one point they deployed a drone and it was pretty darn interesting how many people never noticed it fly overhead.
  • LeBron James son (LeBron James Jr.) and one of Dwyane Wade’s sons (Zaire Wade) are teammates on a high school basketball league.
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