BRIAN HIMES

I like the rain. There is nothing more soothing than the pitter patter of rain against my bedroom window while I’m warm in my bed. Unforunately, I had to get out of my bed to come to work this morning but if I had had the option you can probably guess where I’d be.

For me, rainy days are a time of quiet reflection. There is just something peacfull about it, something rejuvenating. I wish it rained more often. Maybe I should think about living somewhere other than Southern California… but then again I think I like the sun too.

Let me tell you about my recent run-ins with fire and you can judge whether I should be concerned or not.

Last week I was informed that we would be having a fire drill where I work either on the 12th, or the 13th.

Yesterday when I got home my wife asked me to toast a tortilla for her in our toaster oven. I proceeded to forget about it until it was pouring out smoke. Our house still smells like burned tortilla and our toaster oven will forever have some battle scars from that incident.

Last night on the Office, which is a pretty funny show if you haven’t seen it, the building was evacuated because someone left the toaster oven on in the kitchen. Funny coincidence huh?

Today, my building was evacuated for some unknown reason. Oddly it wasn’t because of the fire drill we are supposed to have. It was actually a real emergency.

And still yet to come is that fire drill that’s supposed to happen today or tomorrow.

This morning I was surprised to learn that one of the recent top searches on Yahoo is for a news story about a 13 foot Burmese python that swallowed a six foot alligator. The incident occurred in Florida’s Everglades National Park. Neither the python nor the alligator survived but apparently it provided some entertainment for the internet crowed, including myself. It makes me wonder, though, what the repercussion of the introduction of pythons to alligators in the Everglades will have on both species, and the surrounding wildlife. This story could provide a hint.

I’m no animal expert but I don’t think Burmese pythons are natives of the Everglades. According to what I read, scientists attribute the rising population of pythons to owners who dropped off their pets after they grew too big or became unwanted. I guess the question that raises in my mind is, as humans are we damaging the food chain that God created and thusly causing more potential problems for our future?

With two top-of-the-food-chain predators there will be less small animals, which means less animals that eat insects and other small creatures. These pet owners who drop off unwanted pythons could be inadvertently causing a rise in mosquitoes, and we all like mosquitoes, right? But seriously, is it our responsibity to make sure the food chain is balanced?

In Genesis 1:26 God said,

Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

Apparently we are charged with ruling over the animal kingdom, but does that give us permission to rule unwisely as seems to be the case in the Everglades? I think it’s a responsibility, one that we haven’t been taking to seriously.

There’s a word I like to use to describe the way I feel right now, and the word is “meh.” What is meh? Well, it has many uses but if I was forced to define it I would say it’s usually one of a few things either the quality or condition of feeling indifferent, the state of lacking interest or concern, or the state of feeling neither good nor bad but somewhere in between leaning towards apathy.

To help you understand its use in the English language I will explain a little further. When asked what ones dinner preference is for the evening, said person can reply with a simple “meh” and a slight shrug of the shoulders. When asked how ones day went, said person can reply with “meh” and again a shrug of the shoulders. In keeping with the spirit of the word, meh is used as a one word answer to such questions. Rarely will you hear it used in conjunction with other words in a sentence. Meh is a sentence all to itself.

I hope this has proved useful, and I fully expect this word to be adopted into your vocabulary.