Family Chat Time #1

The text from a recent chat with my brother Wes in San Diego, CA:

[10:06] Wes: Where's the least likely place you'd think you'd have a fire?

[10:07] GeoffNascar: in the bathtub

[10:07] Wes: Try again.

[10:07] GeoffNascar: swimming pool?

[10:08] Wes: Refridgerator.

[10:08] GeoffNascar: I have some pretty old stuff in mine. Some of it smells flamable

[10:09] GeoffNascar: So yours was a torch?

[10:10] Wes: I was making scrambled eggs last week and kept smelling paper burning. I usually scortch my arm hairs while cooking, but they never smelled like that. I checked the bottom of the pan, but couldn't find any paper stuck to it.

[10:11] Wes: After eating, the smell hadn't gone away even though I had opened the windows. Kim and I had a hard time trying to locate it.

[10:11] Wes: She kind of gave up and opened the fridge door to find something to eat, and smoke came billowing out.

[10:12] Wes: I thought it was the motor, so I pulled out the fridge and unplugged it. But when I opened the door again, the smoke seemed to be still building. (It wasn't just sitting there, it was climbing).

[10:13] Wes: Closer examination showed the paper egg carton burned entirely in two and still glowing at the ragged edges.

[10:14] Wes: I'm not sure exactly when it caught fire, but obviously it wasn't an inferno when I carried it to the fridge.

[10:15] Wes: The inside wall has a spot where the heat bubbled the plastic. But, otherwise, the only damage is the smell of smoke that continues to linger.

[10:15] GeoffNascar: I'm getting ready to make breakfast, but now I'm trying to get the smell of scorched arm hair out of my head.

[10:16] Wes: Luckily, I didn't go to bed (and Kim was still home). Otherwise it probably would have continued to spread.

[10:17] Wes: It was a duece to find because the fridge seal did an almost perfect job of containing the smoke.

[10:18] GeoffNascar: So I'm guessing you set fire to the egg carton on the stove and then put it back into the fridge?

[10:18] Wes: That's my guess, too. I'm not sure if it caught when I lit the stove, or when I picked it up and passed too close to the fire, or what.

[10:19] GeoffNascar: So when does the video hit YouTube?

[10:19] Wes: It would have to be a reconstruction. I don't vid tape my life like some people.

[10:21] Wes: (I'm thinking to the vidoe on AFV where the guy is shooting POV and lights the wrong stove burner with a newspaper sitting on it.)

[10:21] Wes: And then he contines to shoot while trying to put it out.

[10:21] GeoffNascar: I'm thinking of putting in security cameras just for that purpose. We gotta have some blunders around here that are AFV worthy.

[10:22] Wes: Hi def video? Or convenience store quality?

[10:24] GeoffNascar: There are some nice new little HD video cameras which write to SD cards and come in bubble packs.

[10:25] GeoffNascar: I'm thinking my old DV tape camera may be a dinosaur.

[10:25] Wes: It would be better to feed them to a central location, so you'll have a clear video of the guy that steals them.

[10:26] GeoffNascar: Get any thing noteworthy for Xmas? I only wanted one thing and got it. An iPod Touch. Very nice little device.

[10:27] Wes: Not really. Pat kept asking me what I wanted for Xmas and I would say "For it to be over".

[10:28] Wes: I'm going to bed, now. I've got one more night before my "weekend". You enjoy your burnt hair breakfast.

[10:29] GeoffNascar: Thanks. G'nite.

[10:29] Wes: Speaking of burnt hair ... it reminds me of the final scene it Ghostbusters. "Smells like burnt dog."

[10:30] Wes: Speaking of Ghostbusters, I saw a link to a video of the fairwell scene in "Broken Flowers". Someone enhanced the sound until they were able to make out what Bill Murray whispered to the girl.

[10:32] GeoffNascar: Never heard of it. What did he say?

[10:33] Wes: Sorry ... it was "Lost in Translation".

[10:33] Wes: Broken Flowers was a different Bill Murray movie.

[10:34] Wes: In "Lost", when Bill is leaving Japan, he says to the girl "I have to be going now, but I won't hold it between us. Okay?"

[10:38] GeoffNascar: We just saw the girl in another movie this week. "A Love Song For Bobby Long" with John Travolta. Really nice movie. Wonder why I don't remember hearing of it either.

[10:39] Wes: Speaking of things seen on the web ... in the same page of blurbs that had the "Lost" info, there was an entry from Neil Gaiman's blog. He was commenting on the recent find in Jakarta of giant rats (you may have heard about it (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/17/giant.rat.ap/index.html ). Neil's take on it was ... "Giant Rat near Sumatra". He must be a Firesign Theatre fan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Giant_Rat_of_Sumatra).

[10:41] Wes: See ya!

[10:42] GeoffNascar: Ta;ta