Ahhhhhhh!

Bitch!

Use of the term "e-mail"

Ok, this is one of my biggest pet peeves. It is the use of the term e-mail. I am no grammar expert or English expert, but the use of the plural form of the term e-mail absolutely drives me bonkers. That is, when someone say "I received twenty e-mails while I was out today." What upsets me is that it is accepted. Let me see if I can break down why it drives me crazy.
Let us start by breaking down the term. E-mail is derived from two words, electronic mail which were shortened to form one hyphenated word. This is evident from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition "a means or system for transmitting messages electronically (as between computers on a network) ... messages sent and received electronically through an e-mail system ." (*1)
This said, let us look at the second word that makes up the hyphenated word, mail. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines mail as "material sent or carried in the postal system ... a conveyance that transports mail." (*2)
The word mail is already plural. "I received my mail" could mean I received 1 piece of mail or twenty pieces of mail. Why do we insist on saying "I recieved my e-mails"? If the word mail is both singular and plural, why would e-mail be any different? Yet we naturally accept it's use in our language. In fact, some online dictionaries such as Answers.com include e-mails as the plural form of the word. (*3)
If you want to make the statement that you received more than 1 e-mail, the proper use would be that you received multiple e-mail messages. Just like letters received through the mail, or letters received as mail, the e-mail system delivers messages. You could state "I received 20 e-mail messages today." Next time you catch yourself using this term incorrectly, think about my skin crawiling, or maybe just correct your usage.

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*1. "e-mail." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008.
Merriam-Webster Online. 29 August 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/e-mail
*2. "mail." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008.
Merriam-Webster Online. 29 August 2008
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mail
*3. "e-mail." Answers.com 2008.
Answers.com. 29 August 2008
http://www.answers.com/topic/e-mail

Running, Situps & Pushups

For a while before Savannah was born I was doing well, losing weight, working out everyday, watching what I eat and starting to look good. Then as Linda got more uncomfortable and sleeping less, I started sleeping less and stopped getting up in the morning. Since then I haven't been getting up as early and therefore don't workout in the morning. Than has led me to gain the majority of the weight back, and right around the mid section. So, this past Monday, I am starting all over. I'm not going to be as anal about the food, but I'll try to choose better selections. The main part will be running, situps and pushups. The schedule is this for now; run morning and evening on Monday, morning on Tuesday, evening on Wednesday and both morning and evening on Thursday and Friday. If possible, run once Saturday and/or Sunday. Prior to each run I'll do a set of Situps and Pushups. Right now it's only a mile, which I can get through (couldn't make the whole thing on Monday morning, but made it Monday night). The goal is to get back into a bit of shape sticking to the one mile lap until I can do it without being quite as winded. Then I'll stretch it into a mile and a half. After I get that one down, I'll jump to a 3 mile route which is where I was when I stopped running a year and a half ago. Little steps. Right now I just want to get back into shape and shed the extra weight.

Just as I suspected

Well, just as I suspected, this stupid head cold kept me from some of the Bachelor party activities this weekend. We all went shooting out at Blackhawk. There were 8 of us, which was a lot of fun. Then we came back to our house to fry fish. We had crappie from our spring fishing trip. They were GREAT. So after the fish fry we all went home to take showers and meet back up at 7:00. Well between the sun, the fried food, the beer and this head cold, I was done for. I called the guys as 8:00 and threw in the towel. I felt like crap. I think my head hit the pillow at 8:10 and I was out. Slept right through to this morning. Sounds like the guys had a lot of fun. Now I MUST kick this cold before next weekend. I don't want to feel crapy at the wedding (that's crapy not crappie).

Today the wife and I are just hanging out at the house. Watched a little bit of the ass kicking the Cardinals were receiving from the Mets. Our wonderful darling daughter is being a little bit of a pain in the butt, however, she is stuck inside with us today and I think we are all getting a little stir crazy. Thus why I'm writing this. Here's to Baby Einstein! See ya.

The Summer Cold

DAMNIT!!! I am getting a summer cold. Started yesterday with that little sore spot in the throat. You know, right were the sinus drains into the throat. I thought to myself Maybe I just scratched my throat or something. But no... that's not the case. Drained all night and now it's continuous. I just don't want the rest of the family getting sick, and I don't want to be sick for the festivities this weekend and next. Here's a Denison Law for ya. If there is a big event that you really want to go well, something will happen to spoil it. Yeah, the story of my life. Like our honeymoon. Linda was sick the first half, and I got a head cold on the second half. This kind of stuff always happens. Oh well, as long as it's gone before we hit the river again. I've already missed enough of the river for this year.

A Hole in the Water...

Into which, you poor money... I worked on the boat on Saturday. Just a few things that needed to be fixed. The built in depth finder wasn't working and the horns (as usual) weren't working. Of course one thing leads to another which leads to another. When I went to start work on the boat, I found that the No. 1 battery was shot. It lasted a couple years, but would not hold a charge. So up to Walmart to get a new battery. Next I took the dash apart to get to the horn switch and the back of the depth finder. The depth finder was easy (or so I thought), the in-line fuse holder had broke, thus cutting the power to the unit. Easy enough, buy a new fuse holder and be done with it. But, being wiser in my older age, I moved on to the horns before going shopping. My thought with the horns was that they weren't getting enough power to make them work. They were replaced last year, so I figured the horns were good. When I tested the switch I found they were getting plenty of juice, so I pulled my little 12V battery out of my fish finder and ran a straight wire to the horns... Nothing. I was pissed. I have to replace these horns every year, and every year they quit. So up to the store I go, I need a horn and a fuse holder. As I am looking at the horns, the replacements for the trumpets are $120. So I ask the guy at the store, Do these things fail frequently? I have to replace them every year. He looked at me kind of funny and said, Every year? Maybe every few years, but not that often. When I told him that I had finally put them on a quick disconnect he laughed. Needless to say, there is now a plastic $20 horn under the dash like every other boat on the water. So the horn is fixed and the in-line fuse is replaced. Out on the water we go. Only to have the depth finder come on and off continuously during our trip. There must be a loose wire at the connection points. So, there is one more thing that needs to be fixed. There is always something that needs to be fixed, especially when the boat is 18 years old. The good news is (knock on wood) the boat is running, almost everything is working and the water is down far enough that we can enjoy it.

The Canada Post

I've gotten a lot of crap about my Canada post and that it's not very interesting and that no one cares that I was 30 feet off a bank, etc. Well, I did write this each night as a journal with no intentions on blogging it. But after it was done, I didn't really feel like doing something different on the blog, so I just posted my journal which was written so we could go back to the place we were and we could remember what we caught when.