Skepticism
AI: The “A is quite impatient, watching a boiling pot” edition
This Thursday, Maria is coming to visit. I’m excited, I won’t lie. Then, on Saturday, Amy & her hubby are coming to join us too! The anticipation is making me head-asplodey.
What do you do when you’re stuck watching a boiling pot? I need help people!
The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear daily at 3pm ET.
I usually like to to read a good book to pass the time. Or comment here. Uh…
Drink and or masturbate
I listen to the rushing sound the water makes as it’s heating up. That’s the sound of thousands of microscopic bubbles forming and collapsing on the hot metal.
Then as the bubbles grow larger you can actually see them forming, collapsing and reforming. Occasionally one will manage to stay alive long enough to break free and shoot to the surface.
As you watch you can see more and more bubbles rise to the surface until suddenly you realize that the water is, in fact, boiling
Sometimes I’ll drop a little salt in early in the process. The grains are nice seeds for bubbles to form on. So you get a nice little rush of bubbles before the salt is quickly dissolved.
Does that help?
Read a book, watch a movie, read newsfeeds, drive my friends crazy talking about whatever it is I’m waiting for.
See if my nascent power of pyrokinesis will help speed things up…
I clean.
Sudoku!
Or hulu.com
Or read
Or shop
Or actually write a blog post.
@Gabrielbrawley: I have a hard time doing both at once.
I rarely have that problem as I suffer from an chronic case of ADHLATK – Attention Deficit Hey Look At The Kitty.
@Kaylia_Marie:
I love you
I generally either read a book, or watch my roommate’s cichlid swim slowly around his tank.
Sleep. In fact I may do so now, even though I’m at work, where I watch a lot of progress bars. /me snores.
get naked and dance to the song “Goodbye Horses”.
@Kaylia_Marie & @Elyse: Hey, you can make it a team effort together!
I’ll take pictures for my… I mean, your scrapbooks…
Speed up time, alter the harvest, or teleport off this rock…
Wait that’s what to do if you’re application ot to the Imperial Academy is delayed another season sorry, never mind.
two words: frog tossing.
My answer is pretty much the same answer I have for everything: “read, of course!” That, or drink.
@Gabrielbrawley: But if what I’m waiting for is my vibrator batteries to recharge?! WHAT THEN!? :)
@Zapski: We need progress bars for real-world events. Then a.real.girl could set one up for the time until Maria shows up and another for Amy’s arrival, and then while away the hours watching the pixels tick by. I’m surprised there isn’t “an app for that”.
I sit wonder if Russell’s Teapot is any faster.
you could always hop onto galaxyzoo , one can easily sink hours into that site :)
I do timed assignments. Writing ( 20 minutes) then cleaning (10 minutes), get one thing done from the to do list (20 minutes) have a snack (10 minutes) and suddenly, an hour is gone!
@Gabrielbrawley: Tomorrow, after work, I’m leaving for vacation, and I’m totally excited. But, I got a 10-hr work day, and I really can’t do either.
oh, BTW, @Gabrielbrawley: -COTW!
OMG I am so there with you. My problem (and yours too, I suspect) is that I am horrifically busy this week. But I have *no* desire to actually do any work. Just want to GET THERE!
But, at least work is a distraction. Sort of :)
I have my own soup pot I’m waiting for! A certain someone might come into town for a certain party at the end of this month and I can’t wait to see her!
Let me know if any of these suggestions actually work for you.
Take my dogs for a walk, clean, or look at icanhazcheezburger.com. Lolcats are the greatest time waste invented.
Make macaroni?
But seriously, I can usually distract myself well enough if I just move (cleaning, walking, chasing my bunnies, pacing).
@Kaylia_Marie: Ha! I love it.
@Pinkbunny: I also like worth1000.com!
@Kimbo Jones: Take matters into your own hands.
Like they did in the old days before some guy wondered what would happen if you stuck an unbalanced axle on an electric motor.
@Kimbo Jones: Think of me and let your fingers do the rest.
@infinitemonkey: Thank you for the cotw nom.
I get distracted by something else and then the pot boils over.
@Kaylia_Marie: You just need more practice.
@Gabrielbrawley: “Think of me and let your fingers do the rest” was the advertising catchphrase for the telephone directory when I was growing up!
@Elyse: :)
@Gabrielbrawley: Practice makes perfect right?
@russellsugden: That reminds me of an old email fwd that went….
“What if -fill in the blank corporate company- made condoms? Would they change the slogan?’
AT&T: Reach Out and Touch Someone
Nike: Just Do It
KFC: Finger Lickin’ good
(and so on)
@faith: That is a GREAT idea! The next time I’m waiting for a pot to boil, I’m pulling out my idea jar and going to work. I used to get some great pieces under pressure…
I go out to the forest and listen for falling trees.
Usually I watch TV.
Once, though, I went to play World of Warcraft. Six hours later, I smelled something funny, followed my nose to the kitchen, and found the pot empty of water, red-hot on the bottom, and melting and warping in disturbing ways.
I quit WoW shortly thereafter for entirely unrelated reasons.
@Kimbo Jones:
You don’t have a set of spare batteries?
How ill-prepared of you …
@exarch:
This conversation reminded me of this episode of Coupling (British version).
Ok, this is it, I’ll be rolling out for vacation at 7:00 PM EDT. I won’t be posting for about 2 weeks. Try to keep the zombie hordes at bay while I’m out.
I’ve been so busy I didn’t even get a chance to read this post. Ha! Can’t wait to visit you A! So super excited. I hope we can find some other San Diego skeptics to pal around with and Smash things! (he he he) … and I have been passing the time by painting tiny, shiny, skeptical things.
@russellsugden: Well heck, here I thought I was being witty and original.
This probably sounds dim but, what do the letters “AI” stand for at front of the skepchick articles?
@Benshums: Afternoon Inquisition.