Killing Time
Although your Mountain Times staff is always hardworking (even when we’re not), there are times in between when we can only sit and wait – like when expecting return calls from politicians, or waiting for flip-flops to become less fashionable again so one can purchase a pair for less than $50. Either requires time, and, quite often, time requires killing. Here are a few of our favorite ways to kill time in the High Country.

Frank Ruggiero – The Book Game

When time seems to drag like Dustin Hoffman in “Tootsie,” my friends and I partake in a game of wit and literacy – The Book Game. While its earliest manifestation involved book-throwing and subsequent bruising (bookmarks, if you will), the game has evolved into something educational, yet amusingly whimsical.

Each player takes a book – any book – and holds their own in a conversation among players, using lines from the book as dialogue. The concept seems simple, but the process can grow increasingly difficult as the books grow increasingly odd. As an example, I’ll use three books: The Wankel Rotary Engine: A History by John B. Hege, Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce by Abigail Trafford, and Disco Dressing by Leonard McGill.

“General Motors was not candid about their reasons for giving up on the rotary.”

“It was a control battle. My sense of control was completely violated. My best friend? My rage was more directed at her than at Cal. I really felt betrayed by both of them.”

“Maybe it’s just because I see so many skintight pants…”

See? Isn’t that fun? Or, as John B. Hege would say in Wankel, “Figure 53. The four rotor engine of the C111 produced nearly 400 horsepower.”

Caroline Monday - Stuff on her cat

Constant access to high-speed Internet has proven to be both my making and my demise, especially when it comes to work.

If I am writing a story and I’m not sure about how to spell a name or need to find information that might otherwise require a trip to the library, I can just Google it, because Google is a verb now. I can’t imagine how time-consuming parts of my job would be if I didn’t have the power of the World Wide Web at my fingertips.

On the other hand, along with all that useful information, the Internet offers innumerable ways to waste time. My favorite time wasting Web site is stuffonmycat.com. I mean, why work when you can look at funny pictures of cats?

Stuff On My Cat (SOMC) is kind of genius. It is based on the simple premise that cats are so lazy that, if in the right mood, you can do just about anything to them and they will lay there and take it. SOMC fans send in pictures of their cats with stuff on them, and some of the pictures are pretty amazing; most are just down right hilarious.

For a cat owner like myself, the appeal of SOMC is two fold. I love looking at the pictures of cats with stuff on them and I check the site everyday to see if the pictures I sent in have been posted. So far, I’ve had no luck.

However, the beauty of working for a newspaper is that I can subject thousands of unsuspecting readers to my obsession. So, please enjoy this picture of my cat Bianca, and candy corn.

Jeff Eason - Guitar Chords and Tomatoes

Ah, to have more time to kill! These days it seems as if most of my time is spoken for. But when I do have a little bit of free time, I like to take walks through my new neighborhood off of Poplar Grove Rd. We’ve got some interesting (and steep!) walking paths and horse trails near my home and they are always good for an afternoon of exploring.

I don’t too much Internet surfing, but when I do I like to check out some of the more exhaustive guitar sites that have chord charts. If there’s a song from the radio that I can’t get out of my head, I’ll look up the chords on www.chordie.com or www.tabcrawler.com and learn how to play it! Of course, most of the chord charts are submitted by amateur guitarists, so you sometimes have to tinker with them to make them sound correct. The last song I looked up this way was the Doobie Brothers’ “South City Midnight Lady.”

When my wife Leslie and I kill time together we usually do it over a game of Trivial Pursuit or Scrabble. This past month we’ve killed a lot of time looking for canning recipes for our overabundance of garden-fresh tomatoes.

Mark Mitchell – Parkway Pick-a-nic

There are no shortage of options one has when faced with a little free time up here in the mountains, but there is only one option when it comes to my favorite ... a picnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The supplies are simple: one comfy blanket; smoked Gouda cheese; macadamia nuts; fresh fruit; sliced turkey; a beverage of choice; and as a married man, my wife of course.

Armed with these supplies, Mother Nature provides the rest. The canvas is a patch of green grass on the ground, beautiful mountains with a fast-approaching sunset on the horizon, and a rich, blue sky with puffy, white clouds above. With these elements on your side, a peaceful, memorable experience is most certainly in your future.

Melanie Davis on Napping

My favorite way to kill time? Hmmm... That is a tough one. There are too many options. As a procrastinator, I am a professional at killing time, but to pick a favorite...

I think if you want to truly kill, or waste, time that requires a nap, preferably in a hammock outside. Unfortunately, the weather is changing and I have had to bring the hammock back in. I suppose my swinging lazily is over in the winter. The couch will have to serve as a substitute.

There is nothing better than waking up after a nice 20-30 minute nap, refreshed and ready for the rest of the day. I like the “I’m just going to rest my eyes for a few minutes” excuse.

Napping only becomes a problem when you lie down at 7 p.m. and nap for three hours. After that, the day is done. At that point, I must accept the fact that I am just going to bed for the night at 7 p.m.

Naps are ideal for Saturday afternoons, though there is nothing wrong with squeezing one in after work.