Today is Single-Out Day.

TV land
Dean and I had to move the furniture around to make room for the 25-inch TV that Marco graciously sold us at a low, low price (because he recently purchased a 29-incher for himself, the tech whore!).

It was high time, really, since we had been surviving with the same TV that Dean had bought way back before he and I were even a couple. This would make it a minimum of 12 years old, which I'm told is an exceptionally long life span for a television-- apparently TVs age in dog years or something. The poor thing had gotten to the point where the sound would simply cut out from time to time-- you'd have to get up and thump the set to get it working again-- and last week, the picture abruptly disappeared for ten minutes or so.

Hence the new set. It certainly is a change to be able to watch TV with the volume set to twentysomething, instead of in the high forties, as had become necessary with the old one. The television proved to be too large for our old bookshelf/TV stand in the living room, so now it lives in our bedroom atop my great-grandmother's Chinese teakwood trunk. This meant we had to move our bed to the center of the room instead of in one corner, which is odd because I now feel like I'm sleeping on the wrong side of the bed. On the other hand, we're much closer to the window and electric fan, so it's cooler, which I love and Dean probably hates.

But the most important thing is that I can now play with my PS1 again, since little girls will no longer be able to wander by and wrest the controller from out of my grasp. (She still has the old TV in the living room for watching-- shudder-- Barney, as well as her morning kiddie shows and evening telenovelas with the nannies.) And technology marches on...

Trivia Quiz
What happens to a boiled egg if you spin it on its side?

answer to Tuesday's question
The test I know about involves placing an egg in water about an inch deeper than the egg is long. If the egg lies on its side at the bottom of the water, then it's good and very fresh. If it lies at an angle, it's three or four days old; still good, but not so fresh-- the air inside the shell has expanded a little bit. If the egg stands on its end at the bottom of the water, it's about ten days old-- you can use it for baking, but it won't taste so great on its own. If the egg floats to the surface of the water, then it's already rotten and you should trash it.

I knew nothing about Jovan's spinning test, which turned out to be inapplicable, but interesting enough to merit its own trivia question. As for Jason's snake test, I still don't know if it works, but I'll give Jason cred for it anyway because it's just too cool. However, it's probably not too practiceable for most households-- do not try this at home unless you are on good terms with a snake or happen to be one.

eggs-traordinary: Katrina, Ariel, Dean, Jonette, and Jason