The word shit entered the modern English language via having been derived from the Old English nouns scite and

the Middle Low German schite, both meaning “dung,” and the Old English noun scitte, meaning “diarrhea.” Our most treasured cuss word has been with us a long time, showing up in written works both as a noun and as a verb as far back as the 14th century.

Scite can trace its roots back to the proto-Germanic root skit-, which brought us the German scheisse, Dutch schijten, Swedish skita, and Danish skide. Skit- comes from the Indo-European root skheid- for “split, divide, separate,” thus shit is distantly related to schism and schist. (If you’re wondering what a verb root for the act of separating one thing from another would have to do with excrement, it was in the sense of the body’s eliminating its waste — “separating” from it, so to speak. Sort of the opposite of today’s “getting one’s shit together.”)

My uncle forwarded me this email and I thought it was pretty interesting….

Manure : In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.
It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by-product is methane gas of course. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.
Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction ‘Stow high in transit’ on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.

Thus evolved the term ‘S.H.I.T’, (Stow High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

You probably did not know the true history of this word.
Neither did I.

I had always thought it was a golf term.

If anyone is reading this, I’d like to hear their opinion on how they see live sports coverage in the future, whether it be through cable, existing avenues, or other options yet to be available. Gracias.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2010. That’s about 3 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 28 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 29 posts. There were 74 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 189mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 25th with 46 views. The most popular post that day was Mount Everest.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, youusedtobealright.com, mattmayer.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for chinese orange chicken, mount everest, potala palace tibet, surf city marathon, and chinese food orange chicken.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Mount Everest July 2010
2 comments

Look what I got myself into September 2010

My Own Sandwich(No Mayo) January 2010
1 comment

The Google Phone and the Power of Apple January 2010

Dunhuang July 2010
3 comments

By reading the above mentioned words, one might ask, “Does he do anything else besides run?”. Here is the rest……..
Life Update
1) Although not happening so quickly, my job search is primary thing going on with me. I’m putting in the work each day, staying optimistic, and eventually things will work out.
2) I am starting a very small side business selling balancing wine holders. Sales begin at the beginning of December and they make great personal, holiday or business gifts at a reasonable price.(Also makes a really good piece to display a wine at a restaurant or small wine shop)
3) Continuing my mandarin twice a week. I did not want to forget everything I learned, and I know it’s worth the time to keep at it. It’s a good thing my teacher is a stickler for tones because I have some bad habits ingrained in my pronunciation and it takes a lot of work to change it.
4) The weather is beyond amazing and one of the reasons why I am able to do all these running things. Although home is definitely not as happening as Shanghai, there are more than enough things going on here to keep me busy.

Other Updates
1) I’ve been given confirmation by various sources. After 10 months, the Bryan Special has taken down from menu at Sarnies. Not going to lie, but I wish it stayed up longer. It had a good run, but who knows it might be possible to order it by special order.
Enjoy this sandwich related Curb Your Enthusiasm clip
2)There is a Xinjiang Restaurant in Los Angeles called Omar. This is the first restaurant of its kind to my knowledge in Southern California, and I will be trying it out this Saturday.
3)Oregon Football is #1. It’s almost hard for me to fathom the current situation. Although I am a USC alum, I have been a lifelong Oregon fan , so I am beyond excited to see their success this season. While I cannot get too excited and need to take each game at a time, there is no doubting the Oregon Football is a far cry away from the days of people being satisfied with a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Air Force(Yes, I did attend the 1997 Las Vegas Bowl(Oregon 41 Air Force 13) and it was my first time in Vegas.)

Last night I registered for the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach in hopes of getting below 3 hours 10 minutes 59 seconds to qualify for Boston. Previously, my fastest marathon was 3 hours 22 minutes and 21 seconds so I have a lot of work to do, but I’m encouraged by my 1 hour 32 minute performance at the 2009 Shanghai Half Marathon with not much training.

I have lots of work ahead of me, but I am confident that I can make this happen. Wish me luck. I’ll try to post some updates as the training starts.

Not used to seeing this sign in the US

The Line

Ajisen Ramen(A Japanese noodle place all over Shanghai(including the Expo and the Airport) that I occasionally frequented for lunch. I only expected to see this 85 C in shopping center, so I guess I got lucky.

Tous Les Jours- A Korean French Bakery Chain that I used to go to when I lived in Beijing.

I went to see 85 C and I ended up passing a few other familiar chains from my time in China. I wanted to see what all the hype about this 85 C and everything seemed pretty similar, except this is the sole location in the US, while there are 63 in Shanghai alone.