Randy Hemingway's Blog

Or maybe it is…

So, this morning, I was sipping the sweet nectar of sleep in the 9 minutes I have from when my alarm first goes off and when the snooze timer runs out. All of a sudden, I start having this whacko dream about something and then I realize that the person, whom I work with, that I’m talking to is Jim, from the TV show, The Office. I don’t think I even realized it until I woke up, either. It was so weird. I don’t even watch The Office that much. *shrug*

Anyway, that’s NOT the subject of my post. What I really wanted to tell was what I was thinking while I was getting ready this morning. I don’t listen to music in the morning or anything so it’s just me and my thoughts while I’m getting ready.

Now, I’m going to back up a little here for the heretofore uninformed. I have a God-given propensity for calculating somewhat large math problems in my head, and doing it very quickly. When I was getting towards finishing 5th or 6th grade, I started practicing my times tables in my head. Then, I wanted to go beyond the times tables they teach in those grades and learn more. So I did. Eventually, I was coming up with and doing math problems in my head to occupy my mind when I had nothing else to think about. I guess I never had much to think about. Now, with that being said, back to my story.

You see, what follows here is just an extension of what started in elementary school. While I was getting ready, I started thinking (for whatever reason) about the decimal equivalent of 1/81, which is 0.012345679 repeating. (Yes, I know that off the top of my head) Then, I started thinking about the decimal equivalent of 1/111, which is 0.009 repeating. Then, I started figuring out what number you came up with if you subtracted the one from the other. Eventually, I came up with 0.003336670 repeating. I had no idea which fraction that corresponded to, so I decided to figure it out. My next thoughts went something like this, following the same routine for adding or subtracting fractions that we all learned in our tender, formative years:

1/81-1/111 = 37/2997-27/2997 = 10/2997

Voici! The answer to my problem! the new decimal I’d come up with was 10/2997. Therefore, 1/2997 must be 0.000333667 repeating. Then, to weird you out even more, I remembered that the decimal equivalent of 1/297 (not 2997) is 0.003367 repeating. At this point, I was struck with the similarity betwween 1/297 and 1/2997.

So, if you’re ever wondering what in the world I’m thinking, it’s probably some weird math problem that has no relevance to anything going on around me. Oh, well. That’s just how I think. Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this insightful post into how I think.

Note: some of the decimal equivalents may need trailing zeroes. Let me know if they do.

UPDATE: It was late at night when I added that note. It’s not true.

Namely, my brother, Andrew Hemingway. He is in the process of raising funds to run for Congress. He comes from the state of New Hampshire. Why should you help support him? Because Andrew loves America, loves God, and will stand for the freedoms of this generation and generations to come. How can you support Andrew? Well, I’ll let Andrew answer that for himself. The following is the text from a fund-raising e-mail I received from Andrew today:

Dear Friend,

This letter may be the most important one I have ever composed. Contained herein are a call to action and a call for help.  I have an overwhelming burden for our country.  The current direction Capitol Hill has taken places our freedoms under constant jeopardy. We must have leadership in Washington honoring the solemn promise to uphold the Constitution.  Our President took such an oath of office and yet has been enacting crucial policies that directly oppose our constitutional freedoms.  Far too many in Congress do not understand, nor do they conduct themselves within the limits placed on their power by this same Constitution. Will we allow this mindset in Congress to continue unchallenged? We must not!

I have the deepest respect for the Constitution. And I will enter the fight to uphold the principles of freedom that this document lays out for all men. I believe in the right to life, and that all life should be respectfully honored as a gift from God. I believe in limiting the power of our government so that the individual may rise as high as he desires…and achieve all he may dream.  I believe in encouraging the great people of this country to live in freedom as intended by God and our Founding Fathers. I also believe in providing for our children a future that is bright, that they may enjoy even greater freedom than we have experienced as we open to them the wonders of a free market, fully allowing them to prosper within it. I believe in America.

You may understandably ask, “How can a Congressman from New Hampshire assist me in Virginia, or Texas, or North Carolina?” Congress is presently voting on federal laws, and these very laws will directly affect all citizens. Recently an enormous spending bill was passed. And it did so with three votes, two of those crucial votes from Maine. This legislation will affect you and your family for generations.

There is a necessity to announce my intentions at this early date for two reasons: 1) to gain the necessary “name recognition”, and 2) to discourage others from running. A candidate, who has substantial financial support, while coming out of the gate strong and secure, will discourage others from entering the race. This will prove to be a fiscally wise strategy, saving our offensive large expenditures in defeating competitors further into the campaign season.

I need three things from those of you who agree that something must be done: 1) I need your prayers; 2) I need your financial support; and 3) I need your commitment to tell your friends and family about me, asking them for their support as well.

The political race on which I am embarking will take two million dollars to complete. A quarter of this must be achieved by the end of June 2009.  I believe that we can raise this money. And I believe it will send a message that will resonate around the country as other Conservatives may be encouraged to run for office.

Here is how we do it:

1)Go to my website www.AndrewHemingway.com and donate $25!
2)Please call and write emails to every freedom-loving American you know and ask them to donate $25 to our campaign.
3)Encourage others to be involved in the political process every opportunity they have.

My campaign must raise $50,000 in the next 30 days. Only 2,000 people giving $25 will accomplish this.  I appreciate whatever you can do to help us. If you cannot give financial support, your commitment to pray for the Lord’s guidance, blessing, and wisdom in our efforts is as essential.  Please forward this to every American who loves our country, serves our God, and will contend for our freedoms.

Visit www.AndrewHemingway.com and contribute today!

Thank you,

Andrew Hemingway

Look what I made for supper tonight!

Yummy! Yummy!

Yesterday, I was at a gas station, and the ChemLawn truck was there. The first thing I noticed was that, on the back of the truck is a big picture of a Dalmatian. Then, right next to the dog, they’ve got a yellow box that says, “Do you want me to treat your lawn?” The first thing I thought was, “No, I’ve already got a dog to treat my lawn.”

But that’s not the point of this post. While I was pumping gas, the ChemLawn truck was driving slowly around the gas station property with a garden hose-type thing coming out the back. A guy had the nozzle end of the hose and was walking along behind the truck, spraying some sort of liquid onto all the tall bushes and flower-beds around the station. Now, I don’t know what was in that stuff that they were spraying everywhere, but the guy had his face turned while he was spraying so he wouldn’t get it in his face. But, he wasn’t wearing a mask or anything. Also, they were spraying really tall bushes that grow along a fence. Now, anybody could have been walking on the other side of that fence.

I don’t know. That all struck me as very strange. The liquid obviously contains chemicals of some sort. Why are they spraying it around where a lot of people are? I can’t imagine it can be good to breathe the stuff. And why did that guy not have a mask on or something? He has to breathe it all day! It was just one of those things that makes you stop and think, “Something about this just looks really, really unhealthy.” *shrug* Just something I noticed.

Well, I had a pretty good Easter. Hope you did, too. At church, we had a big ol’ breakfast, then Sunday School, and then the morning service. After the aforementioned big ol’ breakfast, I helped move chairs and tables and table-cloths and such to get the Sunday School rooms set up. What I didn’t notice is that, when I left the basement, my jacket (holding the car keys) did not leave the basement with me. It wasn’t until we were walking out the door to go home that I realized I didn’t have the keys!

Running back inside, I started searching for my jacket, expecting it to be flung over a chair or something. However, after a good 15 minutes of frantic searching, I (and several others) could not find my jacket anywhere. There’s only so many places in that little church where it could have gone, and my jacket was in none of those places.

Pretty soon, we started getting a little frantic, since we needed the keys, not only to start the car, but also to open the house! Our pastor’s wife suggested we pray and ask the Lord to help us find the keys, so we did. Then, we kept looking.

After another couple minutes, Pastor suggested we pray again, so we did. Not thirty seconds later did our Pastor’s wife come running down into the basement, saying that we should check the linen bag. Unfortunately, the bag with the dirty linens had already been taken. However, fortunately, our Pastor’s mother-in-law was the one who had taken them, answered the phone when our pastor’s wife called, and confirmed that my jacket was in with the linens!

Praise the Lord! If that jacket hadn’t been in there, I am really not sure what we would have done. Well, that made for an interesting Easter afternoon. Again, all I can say is, Praise the Lord for helping the pastor’s wife think of that!

Hope your Easter was a little less eventful!

It’s the word of the future, so you should probably start using it, when appropriate, as soon as possible. Just a suggestion, but a good one, nonetheless.

The last couple days, Faith and I have gone to Gold’s Gym and submitted ourselves to un-necessary amounts of discomfort. Actually, it hasn’t been that bad. I’m not to push myself too much, since I haven’t done much exercising for quite a while. Today, I decided to speed up my running a little it, but quickly decided to slow down when my heart rate got up to 180. Looks like I’m going to have to ease myself into this exercise thing.

Proof that I do still visit my own site, Exhibit A: the twitter sidebar. Enjoy! I have to get back to work.