The Games of the 161st Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Everyone is welcome to play along...answer on your own blog, then add your link to the party.  Here are my answers to this week's questions-

1. Are we always responsible for our actions? Are there any exceptions?

I think healthy adults are always responsible for their actions. This is one of the reasons parenting is such an enormous responsibility, and cannot be equated to backpacking across China. Oops...that was last week's debate.  

I suppose this notion of responsibility becomes a little grayer when we're talking about the mentally handicapped, and also those individuals with serious mental illness, the kind that impedes judgement. 

2. Has anyone from your home town become famous?

If by 'home town' you mean the place I spent most of my growing up years, then yes. I had no idea until I googled it (don't you just love the Internet??!), but evidently Cristin Milioti ( How I Met Your Mother, Wolf of Wall Street) and Ali Larter (she's been in a lot of things, but I know her from Legally Blonde) are both from my home town. 

3. January was National Slow Cooker month. Do you own a slow cooker/crock pot? Did you use it last month? What's a favorite dish you make using a slow cooker or crock pot?

I use my crock pot about once a week in the winter months, sometimes more. In fact I used it just last night to cook a pork roast which was delish. My favorite thing to prepare in the crock pot is beef brisket, which has loads of flavor and is so tender. 

My biggest complaint about most crock pot recipes is they're often a little bit bland, and so many of them call for cream soups, which are not boot camp approved. I don't use the crock pot as much in summer months since the meals I prepare the slow cook way are heavier, and we tend to eat lighter in warm weather. 

4. How do you feel about private companies collecting data about you?

Well, it's 2014 so I'm not sure how I feel even matters. Pandora's box has been opened, and I don't see us going back. I don't really mind the advertising geared towards my interests on Facebook...it's only mildly creepy.  Actually I don't pay a lot of attention to advertising on Facebook, blogs, etc, but I guess it's effective because companies continue to market that way.  I suppose the bigger issue for me is can we trust corporations (and our government) not to misuse the data? 

5. The Games of the 2014 Winter Olympics kick off with their opening ceremony this coming Friday...will you be watching?  Which Winter Olympic event would you most like to see in person? Have you ever been to Russia? Any desire to go, Olympics or otherwise?

I'll be watching, maybe not the whole thing, but a big chunk of it for sure. I'd like to see the ski jumping in person. Absolutely terrifying!  

I've never been to Russia, but I'm pretty much up for seeing the whole wide world, so why not?  Hubs has been...his brother and sister in law and their daughter lived in Moscow for a while, and hubs has been back there for work since then. Incidentally, the man in the photo with hubs is not his brother, but he is a friend of his brother's so he's our friend too. 

6. Share a good or bad sports related memory from your childhood or teen years.

I think I've made it clear that I am not now, nor have I ever been, much of an athlete. A sports related memory from my childhood would be running the 600 yard dash every year in phys ed. Is it a bad memory or a good one? Hmmm...I remember being happy to finish-ha! 

Is dance a sport? I have fun memories of taking dance my Junior year of high school. We could choose which phys ed electives we wanted and I chose dance. The teacher was an older man who was also the school's golf coach, and he had himself some rhythm! He was a nice man, and made the class really enjoyable, which I think is the secret to getting kids moving.  

7.  What's a must have song for you on a work out play list? If you don't work out, run, bike, swim, walk, or anything else that could be construed as 'exercise', then what's a song that at least motivates you to get up off the couch?

I have David Crowder's Undignified on my workout playlist, and no matter how slow I'm moving, when that one starts playing I feel a renewed sense of energy, and always pick up the pace.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I love this P & G ad they're running for the Olympics...



I'll be thinking of those moms in these next two weeks!