Social Experiments 3 & 4

Experiment 3: "The Superman Truck Test"

The Test: I have a toy Superman monster truck that a good friend gave me. I began working at my current occupation a year and a half ago. The day after I was hired I displayed this truck in an upper shelf by my desk. In that timeframe to my recollection not one time has anyone ever touched that truck. I moved the truck from its usual resting spot on my upper shelf to the side of my desk and wanted to see if there would be anyone who would play with the truck.

Expectations: I have a work friend who had conducted a similar test the week before, so I automatically expected the results to be skewed because some people would know exactly what I was up to. I expected 1 or 2 people to pick up the truck while discussing work matters with me.

The Results: Despite some of my colleagues being privy to what I was doing, I still had a solid showing. I expected for some to casually hold it but many of my colleagues started conversations centered around the truck. One colleague took a piece of paper and pretended to drive the truck up the paper. I definitely helped encourage the behavior. It was a fun and successful experiment.

Experiment 4: "The Hi Test"

The Test: Not too long ago a group of my colleagues and I decided to eat downtown in the underground tunnels. On the way there I was being myself and saying I am going to say hi to everyone and see how many people return the gesture and how many ignore the gesture. One of my colleagues suggested that I take it a step further and say hi the way I would normally say it (cheerfully) ten times and do it straight faced another ten times.

The Expectations: I expected for people to react to the cheerful response with courteous smiles and then to move on, maybe a few to say hello back.

The Results: When I said hello in my normal tone 7 out of 10 people said hello back. I was really happy with this number. When I said hello in a monotone and did not act happy to be saying hello 3 out of 10 people said hello back. This confirmed something that I always believed to be true. People react to your attitude, whether it is good or bad, and we have a lot of control on determining if someone is going to have a good or bad day. This is a test I would love to see conducted in different states to see what the different results would be

I am filling up the pipeline with ideas for my next social experiments, so if you have an idea shoot it my way and I'll see if I can accomplish it.

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Location:Red Oak Dr,Choctaw,United States

My Lawn (The Lighter Side)

The last 3 weeks or so I have been fertilizing like a mad man trying to get some green grass to grow. I am proud to report in most places of the yard my efforts have not been in vain. Dark green grass is starting to become evident all throughout my yard. There is one exception to this green grass taking hold and it has been driving me bonkers. All that changed Saturday.

I have a sprinkler system that has made by job much easier. I did start to notice that one place in my back yard was not getting any greener, as a matter of fact it was becoming more yellow. I started watching the spray patterns of my sprinkler and to my chagrin I realized that my entire right hand side of my yard was receiving no water. I started to hand water the area, but to be honest it was still not getting the water it needed in this crazy 100+ degree weather we have been having.

At some point last week my beautiful wife pointed out that there was a sprinkler head that didn't seem to be coming up. I was thrilled because I didn't even know there was a sprinkler there. I tried to see if I could fix it, but since I have no freaking clue what I was doing I was pretty useless. I called my dad and told him about the situation. In my head I theorized that this sprinkler head would hit the entire section that I had been missing. I asked him if he knew of anyone that may be able to fix the broken sprinkler head. He responded by saying he knew of two capable men that could fix it and wouldn't charge me a dime. That sounded too good to be true. It was. I soon realized he was talking about me and him.

We got to work on the project early on Saturday. I pointed out the sprinkler that was the problem to my dad. I thought if I could just get a new sprinkler head we would be good to go. Dad wanted to test out the sprinkler system though. When we arrived at the zone that the sprinkler resided at I noticed something interesting. I heard a gurgle sound directly across from the sprinkler. I walked across the yard and found that there was a hole that had become filled with water. My thought was that this hole was the result of water that could not flow to the sprinkler head because it was broken. My thought was also wrong and Dad knew it.

He said that we needed a new sprinkler head. I agreed and we headed off to get one. What was interesting to me was while we were there he was picking up supplies I wasn't sure what their use was for. He picked up some adhesive and an elbow of PVC pipe and a cap and some nylon string. At the point I am utterly confused about what is about to happen. We get back to my house and he goes to the hole that the gurgling noise came from earlier. By now evaporation has set in and there is no water left in the hole.
I can clearly see now there are 2 pipes. The bad news is that both pipes run directly into the cement that was laid when a fence post was dug out. Dad pointed out that whoever had my fence built broke the water line and knew it. Instead of fixing it or doing anything about it they just poured cement on the top of it. He gets out the nylon string and wraps it around the pipe and starts rubbing the pipe with the string until the pipe snaps clean across. At this point I still have no clue what my dad is thinking and now I am freaking out a little in my head. then he takes adhesive and starts rubbing it on the cut he just made in the pipe and asks for the sprinkler head. This whole time I was under the impression the sprinkler head was not for this hole, but instead to replace the sprinkler head that Amy discovered. I reluctantly handed him the sprinkler head and he glued it in place. After a few minutes he says OK lets go try it out.

My thought is if this works I will have 2 new sprinklers I did not have before, which I would have been more than please with. He turns the station on and both sprinklers started to work! Then I get another surprise. Three (yes I said 3) other sprinkler heads popped up and start hitting the areas that I was having trouble with. I had no idea they were even there! I was thrilled to say the least! So I started the day thinking I will have 1 more sprinkler at the end of the day and instead I ended up with 5! We still had to fix up the other pipe that was broken by capping it off, but it was great news all the way around. Just goes to prove you're never too old to learn something from your old man. Thanks Pop!!



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My Lawn

About a month ago I looked at my lawn and I realized I am not taking care of my lawn the way I should. As a matter of fact I realized that even though I thought I knew about keeping up a yard, I didn't know the first thing about lawn care. My grass was starting to turn yellow and it was crunchy, there were even ruts where no grass was growing at all. The last straw for me was when my niece came over and walked in our backyard barefooted. She questioned why our grass hurt her feet and was not soft like theirs was. I was distraught about the situation. A lawn is supposed to be the man's domain and he should be proud of it. Here I was purposely neglecting my lawn because I was too lazy to do anything about it. I started making changes. I started reading about lawn care. Turns out I didn't know the first thing about lawn care. For instance, I didn't know that lawn blades needed to be sharpened, I didn't even know that oil needed to be changed in a lawnmower. There were a lot of things I had no idea about. So I am starting over, Im mowing every week now. I read about and study how I can care for my lawn better than I used to. I am consulting with people that know much more about lawn than I ever could like my dad and my brother-in-law. I would love to say that now my lawn is a plush green, but changes like this take time. The good news is that even though I still feel places where my lawn is crunchy I can see patches of green coming in.

I think is symbolic of what has been going on in my personal life and my Christian walk. I had become consumed with selfishness and was just becoming lazy. Other than reading a powerpoint slide of scripture on Sunday I had neglected reading the Bible. I could see that my relationships with the people that meant the most to me were suffering as a result. Much like my lawn I could see the ruts and dead places, but I was too lazy to do anything about it. When I did things that were selfless it was usually not done with a cheerful heart, rather it was done with disgust. The crazy thing was, even though it was all out of selfishness and you would think I felt great, I was a mess. Im trying to make changes now. I have changed my daily routine, I wake at 4 rather than 6:30 as I used to. I read scriptures, pray, give thanks at what I have been blessed with rather than think about what I don't have like I used to . I take the dog for a walk in the morning and read stories that I would have previously done throughout the day. This gives me more time to concentrate on my family. Like my lawn, the ruts are still there but the green is starting to come through. I hope very soon to have a plush green lawn and a newfound love and apprection for what the Lord has given me. Next time you see me, ask how my lawn is.

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