The New Game at whysoserious.com

OK, I am confused as to the nature of the current scavenger hunt going on at the whysoserious.com site. The gist of the puzzle seems to be that a ransom-note style message is being assembled from pictures taken of various letters.

There are clues posted giving people who live in various major cities slightly cryptic instructions on how to find the letters. Each clue leads to a letter located somewhere in North America, or something that looks like a letter (one of the letters is a park bench which, when photographed from the side, makes an "L")

Here's the thing, though. It doesn't look as though the average web-citizen can participate in this Game. there are "tape" marks on the game screen where the letters go, and a few (16 out of 50, if i am guessing right) of the letters are already in place. Each of these letters, when clicked on shows a small portion of the letter's picture (one is the "E" from the sign on this hotel). Each of the clues also has a "Found By" attribution.

At first I kind of wondered if this was a game specifically for participants in the original whysoserious event at comic-con, and that they were getting special instructions at that event. With the reference to "Clowns", It would make sense. (the original website was setup as a recruiting site for "Clowns".) But now I am thinking that the "Found By" attribution is for the clue. The "Clowns" were instructed to find the letters in their various hometowns, and the clue is to lead other folks to these 50 points throughout the continent where there is...

what?

People in costumes? Free candy? it IS halloween, after all.
So far the note says:

-t- --e o-l ----ns-b-e -------- ----- -n t--- -----
w-- --d ---- tho -- t-ru--s

If you figure anything out that I haven't, let me know!

Update: I was using someone else's computer to look at this site who was not cool enough to have Firefox with the Google Searchbar, so I didn't notice the new windows that were popping up underneath my existing window. I would never have missed the clues leading to three of the letters in Atlanta (Just a cold 8 hours away by motorscooter) if I had been using Firefox 2!

and now the note says:

t-e onl- s-ns-ble -a- -o l--e -n t-- -- w-rld
i-- tho -- t-ru-es

Predators go down in Flames!

My streak survives! I definitely need to miss a few Pred's games. They are making me depressed!

You know whose anniversary is the day after mine?

Pete Weber's!

I know this because he read my post about MY anniversary (after the google blogsearch engine sniffed out his name in it), and sent me an email! How cool is that?

Frank –

Glad to read you celebrated your wedding anniversary with Terry and me from San Jose – sorry about the result. The next day (21st) was my wedding anniversary!
All the best,

Pete Weber

Technically speaking, that game was so late at night that it actually was his anniversary in most of the U.S. by the time it was done. Having to work on your anniversary is a bummer. Although having to go to work watching a hockey game is not so bad, I guess. Unless your team loses terribly, continuing a losing streak, which is what happened.

Well, I am going to go join my buddy Pete again, in a little more than an hour to watch (or possibly only listen to) the Preds take on the Calgary Flames. So far this season I have missed every game that we won, so I would like to break my losing streak as a spectator.

So, What's The Latest On The Dark Knight Movie?

Glad you asked!

Well, last time I updated you on the status of the Dark Knight Viral Marketing Campaign, The Candle in the Jack-o-Lantern on the whysoserious.com site was burning down. Seemingly pointing to a Halloween event of some sort. Now we have a clue as to what the Big Reveal, this time around, will be. The Pumpkin is starting to rot... On one side. This is giving it the appearance of a famous bat-villain who happens to be my favorite. To find out who it is, take the number of Faces you have, and multiply it by Two.

(If you get the wrong answer then I am very sorry for you, because you are either badly deformed or very bad at math.)

The Big Reveal at the end of the first Online Publicity Stunt was our first look at the Heath Ledger's Joker. Could we be hours away from The Big Reveal of Aaron Eckhart's TwoFace? I think we are!

I'll keep you posted! See you in... A day and a half!
That's it for the Post-A Palooza! I'll try and keep things a little more even from now on, and not regurgitate 5 posts at once onto you.

So, How's That Home Remodel Coming Along?

Slowly but surely.

My In-laws keep coming down, every weekend, to chip away at fixing up our fixer-upper. Drywalling the kitchen has been their main project, and it has, so far consumed three weekends and 8 sheets of Drywall. Apparently the supplies were paid for courtesy of my Grand-In-Laws, so it seems that extreme generosity runs pretty far up the Carter family tree. Only one sheet of wallboard more is needed to complete the kitchen ceiling, and with a few more applications of Tape, "Mud", and Paint, we will have a beautiful, steeply vaulted ceiling with some old, rough-sawn, oaken rafters exposed beneath it. I will try to have some Before, During, and Further During pictures up pretty soon. If I don't take the pictures in the morning, while the Sun is still in the East, there is not enough light to take a good picture of the room.

The Ceiling will be painted, but as for the end wall and sink backsplash area, Ma Carter, the Stoneware Artisan, has got big plans for a piece of art in the medium of tile. She has brought over little color swatches and samples of glaze finishes and things, and I have heard that a Mural-y, Mosaic-y depiction of an aerial landscape might be in store. I am not sure exactly what it will end up being, but I have not seen any of her artwork that has failed to impress me, so I know that whatever we get will be the kind of thing that makes visitors go "oooh!", and "aaaah!".

Kind of like our Hand-crafted, Four-poster Bed that Pa Carter made us for our wedding present. I take it for granted nowadays, but in the rare instance that we have visitors, that bed gets oooh'ed and aaah'ed over, every single time. The Posts on it are tree trunks about 4 - 5 inches in diameter, and still have the bark on them. I can't remember if it was intentionally themed after "Where The Wild Things Are" or not, but that is certainly the look it has.Speaking of "Where The Wild Things Are", there is a live-action film version coming out sometime next year. Maybe we can get some life-sized Monster cardboard cutouts from a local theater's promotional display, and do up our bedroom in a real "Wild Things" Theme.
<--These Wild Things...Not These-->


Speaking of movies coming out next year, What's the latest on The Dark Knight Movie? Well, I'm Glad you asked, because that is the next (and likely Final) post in today's Post-A-Palooza!

So, How's That Drought Thing Working Out For You?

Not so good, but Thanks for Asking.

The Headline on the Fabulously unprofessional newspaper, The Cumberland View, this week was this:

State Tells Monteagle - Your On Your Own!

And yes, I know, it should have been "you're on your own", but proofreaders are for those folks who don't have enough courage in their convictions to pick a spelling and stick with it. I am not positive I got the headline exactly right, but the website wasn't any help. It hasn't been updated since September, and the "Past Issue Archives" haven't been updated since 2004. (A.D., I think)

Anyway, the meat of the article was very informative, which was basically to say that the State government will soon be cutting off our supply of water. Yep, you heard me right. Unlike Georgia and Alabama, where the Governors have declared State Emergencies, Tennessee's State Government has effectively told the cities "Tough it out, quit whining, and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps". Businesses here are expected to be forced to close in just a couple of weeks. I can only assume that a period of Martial Law will follow. (That last sentence was a joke. I hope. Unfortunately, the Sentence before it wasn't.)

The City of Orme, TN has attracted a bit of national coverage due to their rather dire situation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last Sunday featured on their front page a picture of the Mayor of Orme turning the municipal water source on for the city's allotted 3 hours of water a day! Their city well has run dry. 3 hours is about as long as it can run, before needing the other 21 hours to "recharge". The City of Orme is about 20 miles south from Sewanee, where I am currently sitting, and blogging.

(Update: I am currently sitting and blogging in Monteagle. After that last sentence, the power went out in the Library where I was working. I avoided going to the Airport because there might be distractions. So instead I went to Lorena's in Monteagle, where My Next-Door-Neighbor, Ted proved to be a monumental distraction. Sorry Ted, But it's true!)

I talked To Ted about My Recent Home Building Adventures, which Brings us to the next post: So How's That Home Remodel Coming?

Frank Cannot Read a Map (and has no sense of scale)

OK Readers, I Have no-one but myself to blame, But I will blame you all anyway, because you allowed this to stand. NOT a ONE of you corrected the rather large error in my Last post about The Great Southeastern Drought.

Atlanta does not have a population of 8.8 million people. GEORGIA has a population of 8.8 million people. Atlanta has a population of less than half a million people. And Georgia is the 15th largest State in the nation, Atlanta is not the 15th largest City in the nation.

It's the ninth.
Wait... What?
How can a city with a measly 400-something thousand people be the 9th largest in the nation?

Well technically it isn't.

Are you confused yet? Good, because this is confusing. It turns out that the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Area is the 9th largest Metropolitan Area in the nation, with a Population of a little over 5.1 million, which puts it in the league with the metro areas of Houston, Miami, and Washington, DC.

So, if you look at the actual City-limits, full time, official population of the City of Atlanta all by itself, My initial claim of 8.8 million people and 15th largest city in the U.S. was WAAAAY off. Even Memphis,TN has a larger population than Atlanta, if you use those statistics, and they don't even have a Football team. Anymore. (Nelson laugh -->) HA!HA! Go Titans!

But, If you look at Metro Areas, which include surrounding counties with significant economic relationship to the city center, Then I was a bit high on the 8.8 Million (actually 5.1M), but I was actually LOW on the 15th largest city factoid. It is actually 9th!

For Comparison's Sake, since most of my readers are in or Familiar with Tennessee, The Nashville/Davidson County/Murfreesboro/Franklin Metro Area clocks in at 39th in the nation, with only 1.45M, while the Greater Memphis area is almost right behind it with 1.27M

So are you all just not paying attention, or are we all that bad at geography? (I am compelled by the Laws of Topical Comedy to mention Miss Teen South Carolina's now infamous answer to American Geography Deficiency Syndrome. Seriously, it's just funny all over again every time you watch it.)

So the NINTH largest Metropolitan Area in the country is about to run out of water, which leads me to the next Post in today's Post-A-Palooza; So, How's That Drought Thing Working Out For You?

So, Frank, How Was Your Anniversary

It was Good. The Best Anniversary Celebration I've Ever Had...

'Cept fer the Darn Sharks.

We went to the Tennessee Aquarium, in Chattanooga. After a Beautiful, Scenic drive up Highway 41, (during which we listened to a podcast of some guys discussing why they are afraid of going in the water because of sharks,) We went to the Ticket booth and got our tickets to Both the Aquarium and the IMAX 3D show.

The Tennessee Aquarium is comprised of two buildings The Original building is called "River Journey" and the new Expansion is "Ocean Journey". We had been to the original building nearly a decade ago, but hadn't seen the three major acquisitions since then, namely Seahorses, (in a basement expansion of the "River Journey" building, even though they live in the ocean.) Penguins, and Sharks! The Seahorse exhibit, the first one you see upon entering the Main Building, was pretty awesome. I took a picture of the most unbelievable creature in that exhibit, the Australian Sea Dragon. That is not its official name, but it is a sea dragon, and it lives in Australia. There was also a Tasmanian Sea Dragon, which was slightly less awesome. This one, which lives in kelp beds, looks just like kelp, making it the aquatic version of the terrestrial Bug-that-looks-like-a stick. (also not an official name.)

Yep, that's a fish, not a plant. The pic on the right has three of them. You can't tell scale in these photos, so I'll tell you; these dudes are about 10-12 inches long.

Anyway that is the only critter I photographed, because I started noticing all the other tourists looking at every single exhibit through a camera, and realized that they looked like jerks, and then I remembered that John Mayer song, "3X5", and I realized that if I insisted on photographing every single interesting thing in a museum full of interesting things, I was going to be giving myself a really long and tiring day. So if you want to see the rest of the Tennessee Aquarium Critters, Go to Choo-Choo City and buy yourself a ticket. It's worth it, I promise.

The Rest of the aquarium was awesome, Except for two things. The Penguins, located over in the New Ocean Building, were disappointing for me. There was ONE room full of penguins. About 40 (maybe more) of the little guys all in a room smaller than my garage. That was on their side of the glass. On the warmer, human, side of the glass, were an even larger number of children who had all recently seen the movies "Surf's Up" and "Happy Feet". The room was packed, on both sides of the glass, and I, who felt a need to leave, felt really bad for the penguins, who could not.

As soon as I left the penguins, there were the sharks. And about 900 other varieties of very edible looking smaller fish. We had the really good fortune of showing up at feeding time, when about 20 reeeaallly long handled shovels, full of what I have to assume was Romaine lettuce, were lowered into the Enormous Saltwater Tank. The tank was built to duplicate the living conditions of a coral reef. There might have actually been some living coral, I don't know. But there were 11 foot long Sandtiger Sharks! Maybe half a dozen, maybe less, maybe more. Upon seeing these large beasties, I was ever more eager to see their Greater, Whiter cousins for a comparison.

Next stop - Wonderful invertebrates. Jellyfish that illuminated, cuttlefish that flickered, man-o-war type critters with really long, lazy tendrils, and ...HOLY $#@%! what are those things!

Those things were Giant Spider Crabs, and they looked like the bad guys from Starship Troopers. Did I mention this section of the museum was in very low light, to simulate the dim conditions where the various deep-water creatures live? In the dark (Okay... dim), when you have just been gazing at beautiful Sea Nettles, drifting like clouds across the black water, the last thing you want to turn around to see is a giant spider crab two feet away from you. These things looked the size of Dobermans, and were clicking up against the glass like they couldn't wait to escape and have their vengeance on the puny humans in the room.
<--crabs-- --aliens-->

After regaining my composure (and a quick check-up in the men's room), we moved on to..

A different view of the big coral reef tank again. OK, been there done that, where are the Great Whites? I want to see Jaws, Dangit! So we moved on, downstairs to...

The UNDERNEATH view of the same gigantic coral reef tank. That was pretty cool, I have to admit, but I kind of hurried through it, eager to get on to...

The EXIT? Wait, where are the Great White Sharks! Where's Jaws, and the Cello Music, and.. the Exit? The Gift Shop and the Exit? After seeing all that awesomeness, I felt a little ripped off. I don't know if they HAD great whites, on temporary loan, at some point in the past, or if maybe they never had them but they just advertised Big, Dangerous, Man-eating Sharks!, and I just assumed Great Whites. But they don't have any Great White Sharks in Chattanooga, Just FYI. Sandtiger sharks were cool, but would it kill you to put some fricking LASER beams on their fricking heads, would it? I mean, come on, throw me a bone here, People!

After The Aquarium, and the IMAX 3D show, and Lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, Becca and I secured our hotel room (A nice one, at the Hampton Inn, Because I am picky about hotel rooms nowadays) and went to the Comedy Catch. The opening act was a juggler/comic with an immensely long beard, who was pretty funny, but also pretty annoying at the same time. Right at the beginning he asked who could juggle, and pulled me up onto the stage to prove it to everyone. I made several drops before finally getting them going, and after making fun of me for about 5 or 6 minutes, he offered to buy me a drink for being a good sport.
"What are you drinking tonight?" He asked as I walked back to my seat.
"Water, So far!" I said.
"Aw, You don't even have any excuse, then!"

The Headliner was funny, but still doing the exact same routine she was doing 4 years ago. And rushing through it like she had somewhere more important to be. We had a good time though, I I got this picture before the show started.

So later on we were making use of the Free Cable that came with the hotel room, and we'd had a busy day, so we were both really tired, when Becca flipped past Fox Sports Network, and I heard the Dulcet tones of Terry Crisp and Pete Weber announcing a Predators Game was on the Air! The Predators were playing in San Jose against the ...

SHARKS!

We caught the broadcast as it broke for commercials, and I asked if Becca would mind leaving it on that channel until I could check the score. When they came back from the break, the puck dropped and the game began. Becca tossed the remote to me, rolled over and turned out the lamp. She was out like a light 10 minutes later.

I on the other hand stayed awake to the bitter end. And I do mean Bitter. The Preds didn't score at all the whole game, and then with 6 seconds left to go, down 2-0, they allowed a final goal on their empty net. It was embarrassing. Although not nearly as embarrassing as the next game they played, against the Los Angeles Kings, a couple of days later.

So having slept not much, the next day I was a little cranky, and when we got home to find Becca's Parents (The Drywall Fairies) still at our house, I walked straight in to my bedroom and unceremoniously (and probably rather rudely, now that I think about it) dropped off to sleep until the late afternoon.

So, except for the Shark-based disappointments, The 6th Anniversary was the best one yet!
I love my wife, and I'm ready for 6 more years. After that, of course, the contract will be up for re-negotiation ;)

You may remember me talking about how wasteful Aquariums (or Aquaria? Aquarii? Darn Latin Correspondence Course!) are in the past, in my post entitled "Beyond the Shadow of a Drought" well it turns out I made some large Factual blunders in that post. To find out what they are, check out Post-A-Palooza Entry Numero Dos, entitled: Frank Cannot Read a Map (and has no sense of scale)

Post-a-Palooza!

Did you miss me? Well, I Missed You! In the last 10 days many things have happened, and I have not shared them with you, my wonderful friends and readers.

We-ell... That's about to change! It is 9:10 AM Central Standard Time on October 29th, and Post-A-Palooza is officially ON!

I am going to try and catch TDBotD up to speed, however many posts it takes... Are you ready for a massive overdose of Info-cational Edu-tainment? I thought Not. Well you're getting it anyway! !

Warning: Pregnant women and those with Back, Neck or Brain Injuries, Yeah that's Right, Brain Injuries, are Strongly Encouraged to seek milder entertainment elsewhere. This might sting a little. And now... Post-A-Palooza Post #1!

I basically haven't posted since I went out of town for my Anniversary. How was it? Why Thanks For Asking!

The Good News Is, It's Raining!

The Bad News is...

1. Our Airport Cat, Isis, got hit by a car and died today.
2. Southern California is on fire
3. The Nashville Predators could get beat by a girls' little league team.

Whysoserious.com UPDATE:

If you read yesterday's post, after getting all excited about the bix upcoming IMAX prologue in December, I threw in at the bottom that the Whysoserious.com page had changed again. Instead of forwarding you to the rent-a-clown.com site, which features photos of Fanboys (and Fangirls) in varying levels of atrocious Joker makeup, it now features a flash-animation of a Jack-o-Lantern.

And that's all.

Just a Jack-o-Lantern, sitting there with a flickering candle in it. Nothing to read, nothing to click, no clue as to what it means...

But Today, if you go back to the site you will see a slightly shorter candle! The candle is burning down - like a wax hourglass, or a lit fuse, counting down to something that will almost certainly happen on or around Halloween. (The Joker's favorite holiday, only he goes "trick-or-tricking")

The modus operandi of this viral marketing thing has been to put up key bits of super-coolness for 24 hours or less, and then pull them off the web, so if you don't check this site out on the day the release happens, then you have to get it secondhand. Like from The Daily Blog of the Day, for instance!

As always, I'll keep you posted!

Help me write A Joke!

Ok... I have a setup for a joke in need of a punchline. I submit to you, my readers, the following question:

We all know what the stereotypical "Mid-life Crisis" looks like. The Man, who has worked to build a career and a family over the last 20 years or so, when his hair starts thinning and he needs Viagra, suddenly blows his savings on a sportscar and starts having an affair with his secretary.

My question is: What do poor people, who can't afford a sportscar, and don't have secretaries, do for their Mid-Life Crises?

Keep in mind this is a joke, so I am looking for funny answers to this question...

Any Ideas, Humor Consumers?

See You In December!

Finally, some more movement in the The Dark Knight Viral Marketing campaign. I caught everyone up to date on what I knew back in August, but since then the "See You In December" threat has loomed over the legions of Geekdom without explanation. See what in December? What are we gonna see in December? Is it gonna be cool? Will I Be able to see it? Will it hurt? WHAT, WHAT WILL WE SEE IN DECEMBER!!!

Turns out, a Seven Minute-Long preview will (sorry, not will... might) be released in December.

In IMAX.


I am So THERE!

I had heard that this movie was being partially shot in IMAX, and let the news roll over me. I love me some IMAX, but the only Theatres are pretty far away, and expensive, and.. yadda yadda yadda... I had resigned myself that I would probably see the flick in a normal, mortal, multiplex screen...

But now, I get to see seven uninterrupted minutes of Batman/Joker Goodness Half a Year Early, AND in beautiful, full Framed IMAX Splendor? OH, JOY!

The Batman Super-Preview is expected to show along with other (far less buzzed about) hero film I am Legend, which stars Will Smith in the tile role alongside Charlize Theron. I don't know anything else about I am Legend except that I am going to see it, and I am going to see it in IMAX. In December!

So there will be a scene from the movie shown in IMAX theaters in December along with Will Smith's Perennial Holiday Action Blockbuster. OK, is there anymore info you can give, Frank? What will we see? Do we get to see the Joker? The Batmobile? Two-Face, Maybe?

Well 4 scenes were shot with IMAX cameras for this film. Obviously, the scene would be one of them. And of course, you probably won't be seeing the dramatic climax of the film, so probably an early scene, something designed to set the stage, whet the appetite. A.. "Prologue", so to speak...

This is directly from the IMAX press release about TDK (The Dark Knight)....

The first of the scenes, including a prologue that introduces Batman's arch-nemesis The Joker, was shot in April, several weeks in advance of the actual start of principal photography. Additional selected scenes are being filmed with IMAX cameras during the course of production on "The Dark Knight."

So, They shot the prologue earlier than the rest of the movie, eh? Possibly because they planned to release it earlier than the rest of the film? I think it is a safe bet that this is the scene that you will be able to see in December. Here is a picture, released along with the IMAX press release, from the filming of that scene. For a larger version, and another Imax Shot, follow this link.



Everything about this is couched in rumor and hearsay. The possibility of the 7 minute preview
was first released/leaked/invented? on the Portuguese-language Site Omelete. Those wanting to verify the original source of the rumor had better know Portuguese. Of cours Viral marketing is all about creating mystery and rumor, and these guys have done masterfully.

So will we have to wait 'til December to find out anything more about the Caped Crusader? Possibly not. Halloween plans might be in store too, because the whysoserious site has changed again. I will keep you posted, until then....

See you in..October?

Some Thoughts on "Dailiness"

Starting Today, I am adopting a new posting schedule... Whenever I Freakin' Feel Like it!

I Started this Blog as part of a one-month resolution to write something every day. That was in July. I have (with a few exceptions) posted something every day since for 3-1/2 months. Now it is time to try something different.

I am a Big Fan of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" (Although I did NOT name my blog after it, I swear!) I recently realized that the Daily Show is only broadcast 4 nights a week! And, come to think of it, Nightly, not Daily! Well, if they can cheat on their "Dailiness", then so can I.

So, you are not going to see so much of me on Sunday and Monday (the days I have been most beating myself up to get a post out) , however, you might see MORE of my thoughts on the other Five Days of the week. I have actually skipped over several interesting bits of Info-cational edu-tainment that might have otherwise been brought to your attention because they did not fit in with the thread of the day's single post. I have been stretching myself to post EVERY day, and simultaneously limiting myself by (mostly) posting only once per day.

This has led to what could be good, easily circulated posts about one topic being diluted with other info (usually about my personal life, which let's face it, the general public doesn't care that much about) on unrelated topics.

So... Hopefully this will lead to a shift in Quality versus Quantity. Hopefully Quantity will not decrease as much as quality will increase, but if it does, I'm OK with it. If you, my readers hate the new schedule with a hot, fiery, purple passion, then just let me know. I strongly feel that this will be a change for the better, but if I turn out to be wrong, I am counting on "youse guys" to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Gotta Run, See you... when I See you!

Beyond the Shadow of a Drought...

Late Tuesday Night, October 16th: Remember way back when I posted about it actually raining here in Tennessee? Well, it is now raining again. I hope it keeps it up, we need it.

UPDATE - Thursday, October 18th: It is keeping it up, It has rained again this Morning. Thunderstorms dumped, if the forecasters I heard were right, about 1/4 of an inch of rain on us. We are seventeen inches below average, though, so we need... wait a minute while I calculate... 67 more thunderstorms of the same strength to bring us back to normal.

Yesterday, My Fair City made the Morning Radio Headlines due to the fact that our municipality is now MOWING the GRASS on the bottom of the lake which is our city's primary source of water. Our little Podunk Town is small potatoes, though, compared to the really frightening drought-related news.

Atlanta Georgia, the 15th largest city in the United States, and home to, according to the most current Atlas I could find, over 8.8 million people, has an estimated 3 month supply of water left in their municipal reservoir. In completely unrelated news, next month will mark the second anniversary of the Georgia Aquarium's grand opening.

According to their website, the Georgia Aquarium is home to "more animals than any other aquarium in more than eight million gallons of water."[emphasis mine] That is almost one gallon of precious, life sustaining, water for every person in the city. Unfortunately 6.3 million gallons of this are salt water, thanks to the addition of nearly 2 million pounds of sea salt.

Playing Catch Up

Hi, Guys, did you miss me?

A variety of factors have conspired to keep my blog posts from appearing in this space. The weekend was occupied with hard labor in the Drywall Mines, and I found it very difficult to recuperate, both mentally and physically, over the 48 hours following. Verizon's network was down on Sunday night/Monday morning, and when I posted something on Monday night/Tuesday morning, The folks at "Mobile Blogger" chopped off nearly all the text, so all you got were the pictures.

So, to catch you up on Frank's life (for them that cares), I will impart to you the following Info:

• My Worm Bin is now Two trays high, and tray two is inhabited by lots of BABY worms! (they look like maggots, only they have a red blood vessel in their middle that makes them look pink-and-white striped)
• Marbles has made a few prolonged appearances at the house, although she and Toot still haven't shown the slightest inclination to get along.
• Speaking of Toot, her miserable appearance when she first showed up was not due solely to her weight and coat. She has been eating Science Diet's "Sensitive Stomach" Highly Digestible cat food for weeks now, and has gained more weight, and a sheen to her coat as well. She looks, when resting, like a fairly normal, healthy, but small, cat. But when she moves, she moves like she either has Arthritis or some musculo-skeletal disease. She has some tiny "tics" from time to time, little twitches and spasms that indicate that not all is well with our little black Halloween decoration.
• Saturday was NOT a repeat performance of Friday's wonderful night at work. I made far less than half of Friday's haul on Saturday.
  
• This Weekend is my 6th wedding Anniversary It's the "Candy" anniversary (or "Iron", for some reason.). I think my in-laws will be over to my house being "home-renovation fairies" while I go see the Tennessee Aquarium and Tracy Smith at the Comedy Catch in Chattanooga.

So, that's all the news that's fit to print... 'Til next time, gentle readers, Shalom!

My New Ceiling

Before...

My Inlaws Return!

Ma and Pa Carter are due to be at my house in thirty minutes. I am not sure what we/they have planned for today, but I think it will involve my kitchen. If we do any more terrible damage to my house, I will post photos.

Last night was the best night I have ever had at the pizza joint where I am a server. After splitting my tips with the folks who helped me out, I walked away with over 80 bucks! But the best news was how smoothly everything ran to get there. Usually if we do that much business, I am tearing my hair out at some point. Not last night though. Everything went smooth as silk. Hoping for a repeat performance tonight!

Toot and PC hung out together on the bed last night. Toot has been gradually warming up to sharing her living quarters with other quadrupeds, but until last night she hadn't truly relaxed within three feet of another cat. As prevoiusly mentioned, PC is fine with things, but Marbles now only comes in the house to grab a bite to eat and boogie back out the catflap.

Well, I'm off to go do innovative things with a table saw... so, ciao!

Another FGARF Success Story!

Okay, actually I had very little to do with this one, but the Sewanee Airport and Unwanted Pet Drop-off Point has successfully placed another pet into a loving permanent home.

On Tuesday, I arrived at the Airport to be greeted with "Have you seen the dog?" I hadn't seen the dog. I was told it was in one of the hangars, so I went to go have a look-see. The hangar was open, and though I looked in all the corners, I saw no dog. On my way out, though, I was greeted by what appeared at first glance to be a full-fledged Timber Wolf weighing in at about 140 pounds.

After re-swallowing my heart, I approached the dog, who was walking with an arthritic gait, bending his back legs very slowly and carefully with each step. Despite being in obvious ill-health, I was still aware that he could remove any one body part of mine that he chose before I would even have a chance to scream about it.

On a second glance, the dog's belly was obviously out of whack. He almost looked pregnant, with a distended belly flopping around with each step. I wondered whether he was a Siberian Husky, or an Alaskan Malamute, and how to tell the difference, and popped inside to the computer to do a little research on the matter. The internet was surprisingly unhelpful in this regard. Every attribute listed for one breed could be applied to the other. (According to the vet we eventually got him to, he is a Malamute, though at 130 lbs., an unusually large one.)

Over the course of the next few days, several great people chipped in to get this doggy into a better place. I myself did almost nothing to help. I hate to say it, but I was not sure the dog was capable of being helped, or worth it. It seemed odd, given the fact that I am a total sucker for dogs and all other manner of four-legged furry things, that I was the only one who seemed to be fully and totally aware of the fact that interacting with an unknown, possibly injured, carnivore that weighs nearly as much as you do is something to be handled with EXTREME caution, if at all. Maybe It was the fact that my new 5.6 pound cat, also an airport castoff, had put a hole in me just earlier that day. If an animal that I could throw over my house could do that kind of damage to me, I shuddered to think what would happen if I accidentally found out which one of White Fang's ribs was the broken one.

(That being said, there were plenty of indications that he is quite a big softie. The Airport is permanent home to two cats, and when one of these little 8-pounders arched her back and hissed at Cujo from about 6 feet away, This Mike Tyson-sized dog took a couple of steps back!)

Anyhow, with a lot of TLC from my wife, Becca, as well as her aviation colleague, Catherine, and her employee, Geoff, the big guy has been to see a veterinarian, where he was diagnosed with, in addition to a number of parasitic problems which are to be expected with any stray, a Kidney infection. This is what was producing the painful belly-gas, which was causing him to do the funny walk. (Think about it, if you have really painfully bad gas, do you really want to go jogging?) It is unknown at this time whether the pooch's kidney problem is going to go away with treatment or turn out to be chronic, but he is getting it looked at, and is in the care of a loving couple of people whose pet Husky recently ran away, and who are ready to take care of this big guy.

Not So Sleepy Anymore!

I got to sleep around 5:30 to 6:00 PM last night, and woke up when Becca got home around 8:00. We hung out for a little while, and she went to sleep around 9:30 or so. I was actually a little wired at that point, so I went to the Sewanee Pub, to watch The Daily Show, Colbert, and Mythbusters. People have told me I look like one of the guys from Mythbusters (Adam, I think), and I suppose I can kinda see it. Anyway, I love all of those shows, and with no cable at the house, I enjoy my Wednesday night outing to the pub for some Fried Cheesesticks and two hours of public couch potato-ing. I returned home a little after 2am, and slept a SOLID 12 HOURS! I finally rolled out of bed this afternoon at nearly 3 PM.

And it felt Good!

I also did something else worth mentioning this morni...sorry, afternoon. I turned on the HEAT at my house. Today gets marked as the first truly, get-out-your-jacket, cold day of the coming winter. The Seasons have officially begun to trade up, and if you are a plant, it's going to be downhill from here through November. I harvested a Watermelon and three Bell peppers out of my garden in the last week, and it's hard to think that in just a few more weeks the leaves will all be off the trees, a chill will be in the air, and it will begin to look a lot like... Christmas, Sooon the Bells will start, But the thing that'll make them Ring, is the Carol that you Sing, Right Withiiiin yoooour Heaaaart!

Ahem, sorry about that. Got a little carried away. Cold weather will do that to me. I love it!

One problem though, with the cold weather, is too-many-pockets syndrome. When you start wearing a coat on a regular basis, You start putting things in the pockets of the coats. Then you switch coats, and you don't have your stuff. Car keys get lost a lot more in the autumn.

That's it for today, Blogophiles! Catch you on the Flippy-Floppy!

seepy... so.. seepy...

I had appointments at two places today. An appointment to take Toot to the vet, and a appointment to get the oil changed in my car. The oil change appointment was at 3:00pm, the vet appointment was at 9:00am.

The highlight of the veterinary appointment was that Toot bit me. I don't mean a little "love nip", I mean a serious attempt to remove flesh from my hand, and thus, my hand from her body. She likes to sit in laps, but hates to be held, and I had to put her back into her carrier before a dog got into the waiting room where we were. As a result, I now have a tooth-sized wound on the middle knuckle of my right hand. By the way Toot's a lot more healthy now, but that's only good news if she isn't trying to kill you

I work overnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, so I had to stay up a really long time to make that vet appointment. Then I got home and got a couple hours sleep, and had to get up to take the car to the place... By my calculations, I have had 11 hours sleep in the last 3 days...

I SO SEEPY..!

I needa gessome sreep, i....i... so tired! shoodn be up and doin, ann.. want the thing to be in the thing withteh fethers, the mattressss-BED!! Want the bed, to be in it with the pillow, and sleeping sleepy sleeps...

so tired... bye now, goodnites!!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................

For Everything There Is A Season...

Since I started this blog in July, A lot has changed. I have Paid Off all my Medical Bills, Taken a new Job, Acquired a Hobby or Two, a Pet or Two, and Re-mounted The Red Devil. (that's my motorscooter, for those of you who missed that post.)

The Blog itself has changed too, from a random, off-the-top-of-my-head, article every day, to a systematic sort of thing, with recurring features, including the ill-fated "Toonament", And recently back to a more random thing, although with a lot more pictures and video, now that I have a camera phone. The past three months have been an interesting "honeymoon phase" to my becoming an entrenched blogger.

I will continue to try out new things in this forum over the next few months too, and hopefully you readers will stick with me. Remember, also, folks that the Internet is a two-way street, and if you want to see something, or want to not see something, or just want to say something, use that comment page! Or drop me an e-mail!

And now for something completely different....

I recently attended the City of South Pittsburgh's City-wide Yard Sale! I bought a croquet set! Now I just need to learn how to play croquet!

Also at the yard sale, there was a guy selling antiques, he had a few things I was sorely tempted to purchase just for snarky irony value, including these....



Fans of the Zach Braff/Natalie Portman movie Garden State might recognize these as "Operation Desert Storm" Trading Cards. Still in the original packaging, very valuable. I didn't ask the guy what he wanted for them, for fear that he would mistake the question for legitimate interest and tell me, and that I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face very far into the conversation that might ensue.

Happy Stupid Lost European Explorer Day!

I have goofed off and wasted most of today's available blogging hours, so I only have time to wish you and yours a happy stupidest federal holiday in existence!

Grammar Correction Nazi - On the Move!

Okay, readers, It's been a while since we heard from the Grammar Correction Nazi, but I have come across a few examples of sign-printing idiocy lately that I want to share.


For starters... What are those "quotation marks" doing on this sign? Who is it quoting?

And, lest we blame it on a one-time fluke, this other, differently type-set, sign is two "parking spaces" down...

This is something I see in rural areas all the time. Is it just in the south, or do people "from other places" overuse and misuse quotation marks as well? It is especially funny in some instances, when people tend to use them on signs in lieu of italicization or underlining, strictly for emphasis. You end up with signs like,

Try our "Delicious" Food!

or even worse,

Try our Delicious "Food"!

Then, yesterday, I saw this sign in one of the small cities around the foot of the plateau. I had to stop my car, stop laughing, turn around, park, get out, and stand in the middle of the street to capture this wonderfully wrong sign. I am used to seeing misspellings and grammatical errors on hand-written, painted, or home-made signs, or on those marquees, with the movable lettering, but this sign was official, done by the government, and, I would assume, double-checked by at least one person with a supervisory role of some sort.

Here it stands, though... uncorrected, right in between Eleventh Street and Thirteenth Street...

Let the Vermiculture Begin!

I got my composting worms on Thursday morning. I went over to Wilson's Worms + Veggies (aka Amy and Allen Wilson's house), to pick them up. 45 minutes and 20 dollars later, I was home with my wigglers, ready to start throwing rotten (or soon-to-be rotten) food at them.

Want to see them? Too bad, cause they (like mogwai) don't like light, and they won't sit still for pictures. I tried any way, though, so... want to see a box full of dirt? Good! here it is!

In the lower left hand side of the picture you can see the open top of my bin, into which I am placing the worms. The "Vermicompost Manufacture and Containment Apparatus", or, more succinctly, "bin", is full of specially prepared "bedding", which is simply shredded biodegradable matter, a tiny bit of dirt, and enough water to get it damp all the way through.


Want to see what "shredded biodegradable material" is? It's the unwanted credit card, insurance, and "warranty extension" offers I (and probably you) get in the mail several times a week. The same day I got the worms, I happened to get a bunch of junk mail.


So I shredded it....

...And put it in the worms' "in" box. The system I got, the "Worm Factory" from www.greenculture.com , is a three-tray system (also available in four and five tray varieties), so the worms initially go in the bottom (and only) tray, and as they eat up all of their bedding, and are increasingly living amongst their own poop (which is, the worm experts assure me, no better for them than it would be for you and me), then you add another tray right on top of them. The trays are all basically big, flat-bottomed colanders, so the worms can wriggle right on up into the new, cozier setting, and start eating up the food and bedding in that tray.

While they are working on tray two, their poop, and the very tiny bits of organic material, and the excess moisture (the "worm mucus", really beneficial - if you are a plant) filter down into the bottom tray. Then a third tray is added (your worms can multiply super-rapidly to take advantage of the available space and food), and the processing continues above.

Then you take the bottom tray out when:

1. You need the tray to re-use on top of the stack.
2. Most of the worms have moved out of it, into the upper trays, after being "Trickled-Down" upon by their more "Upwardly Mobile" brethren.
3. You want to use/sell the resulting nutritious worm-poopy goodness that it contains.

So here's the next tray, currently being filled with my junk mail (which I generate a lot of), and my (non-meat) food scraps (which I don't generate so much of).


This is all of the mail I had to throw away... the little plastic windows off of the outer envelopes


I am personally a big fan of the "upward migration" setup I described here, but there are plenty of other really good single-bin systems out there, too. You can even convert one of the Rubbermaid-brand storage bins available down at your local department store, if you have a drill to put some air holes in it with.

Then all you need is

1. Some ripped up paper. (newsprint is the best, and a shredder helps, but pretty much any paper that will absorb water will do.)
   
2. Some food garbage. (Meat, grease, milk, eggs, and salad dressing will cause nasty odors, but just about any other food will do nicely. Breads, Pastas, Pizza Crusts, Fruits and Veggies, Jelly, Nuts, Seeds, Cake, Gravy, Whatever!
3. Some "Red Wiggler" Worms. There are one or two other species that make okay composters, but I can testify that these little dudes really "chow-down" on some garbage.
   

In a couple of months I will probably have some for sale, too! (or for free, if you know the right people!)
If you pay for your garbage pickup, or, like me, have to haul your own garbage to a local pick-up center, you might want to consider an investment in a worm bin.

Even More Gooder News!!

I just went to the hospital cashier's office, and found out I owe them NOTHING! The 455 dollars not paid by my health insurance was paid by my motorcycle insurance! I have become a lot less cynical over the course of the last 48 hours.

Good News, and More Good News...

First Good New... RAIN!

We had a nice little soaker here in Monteagle this afternoon, which is very desperately needed. Monteagle is located on top of the Cumberland Plateau, 1000 feet above the surrounding lakes and rivers of Tennessee. We have a few small lakes up here that act as water reservoirs, but without rain, they go dry. and we have not had much rain for a long, long, time. That "rotating low pressure system" that flooded Texas so badly a few months ago had all of our rain in it. We have been struggling to catch up since. We had a little relief right after the last tropical depression moved through, but not nearly enough. And it's been dry since.

The City of Monteagle has imposed legal sanctions on Washing Cars or Watering Gardens or Lawns. They have also closed the public Interstate Rest Areas on either side of the city due to lack of water, and have forced the town's Car Wash to shutter its doors until further notice. At the moment, to the best of my understanding, Monteagle is getting all of its water from the neighboring town of Sewanee, which is almost at crisis level itself. A clause in the co-municipal water-sharing agreement allows Sewanee to cut off water delivery to Monteagle in the event that Sewanee experiences their own water shortage, which is about to happen any minute now. We have already had one "Fish-Kill" this season, which is a situation where a body of water evaporates completely, leaving behind suffocating fish in the mud or gravel left behind. As you can imagine, a "fish kill" is not something you want to be within smelling distance of on a hot summer day.

So, even though it is not nearly enough, we did get rain today, and that's good news

Good new number 2 - Hospital Bills!

I spent March 27 through March 30 in the hospital, after suffering a compound fracture to my left elbow. It hurt... a lot.... but what added to the pain was the worry that I would eventually have to pay large, large, gigantically enormous amounts of money to the nice people who fixed all the bits I broke.

Well I received a bill the very next week or so for over 28,000 pre-insurance dollars. The bill's Amount Due was zero, as it was being billed to insurance, but I knew that successful insurance companies are mostly in the business of handing out as little money as possible, so I the fact that I had insurance gave me no assurance. Then I got the bill for the X-Ray department... And the Anesthesiologist...and the Ambulance.... and the X-ray guys, again... and The Emergency room "Attending Physican", who did absolutely NOTHING to treat me whatsoever as far as I can tell, and demanded nearly 600 dollars for doing so.... And the Surgeon, and the follow-up office visit, and the one after that....

and on, and on, and on... BUT, that initial bill, the one for the massive 28,000 bucks, lingered in insurance purgatory, like the sword of Damocles hanging over my head. (Yes, I know I just mixed Christian and ancient Greek afterlives in the same metaphor, get over it.) Due to a hang-up with my Motorcycle insurance, the very first bill that I received was the very last one to be filtered through the various insurance claims departments.

It came today, over 6 months after the accident, and thanks to the wonderful, wonderful, "maximum out-of-pocket" clause in our policy, the 28 Grand that the hospital wants will only cost Becca and me 455 simoleans. That's right, Four Hundred and Fifty Five dollars and some-odd cents. Whew! Soon, then, we will have this whole personal-injury ordeal behind us, and will be able to put our money into other things, like fixing up our fixer-upper of a house.

And you can bet that we will be very careful not to injure ourselves while doing that.

Weight ,Weight, Don't Tell Me...

I have been increasingly aware that I am fat lately. This is mostly because I am increasingly fat lately. Not only fat, but out of shape. I suppose I can blame some of my recently acquired girth to recuperation from my scooter crash, during which I was even more sedentary than usual (although not really by much, now that I think about it), but the fact is, I have been slowly building up to this weight ever since I got married. (Not that I am blaming my wife or anything, but honestly, have you tried her blueberry pie? Seriously, it's awesome.)

From 8th Grade, through my third year of College (that's 8 years, for those of you who didn't do the math), every single time I stepped on a scale, I was found to be 160 pounds, regardless of whose scale it was, what I was wearing, or what I had just eaten. Every... single... time. Not 161, not 159, but 160 - on the dot. For eight years straight.

Then one day it was 165. No biggie, 5 pounds, who cares? I'm still svelte and in shape, right? then at the point when I had a Gym membership back in February '06, I was regularly right around 175, trending toward 180. At that point, my attempts at exercise were mostly for Becca's sake, both to give her a "Workout Buddy", because she was concerned about maintaining her own figure, and to keep her from nagging me, because she was concerned about my health as well.

But the concerns were all hers, not mine. As far as I was concerned, I was in a lot better shape than a lot of folks I knew, and was still comfortable with my own appearance, with only an occasional "Gut-Suck-In" maneuver required. She has continued working out, though not as often as she would like, but she has largely given up on me as a "workout buddy". I am not coordinated enough to do the choreographed video workouts along with her. Watching my attempts could cause death - from laughter, to the point of major organ failure, or at least loss of bladder control. And when it comes to running for exercise, I have longer legs, and a much faster sprint than she does, so our runs could only marginally be considered "together".

Well, As previously reported, I recently acquired a pedal-powered two-wheeler, and my first attempts on it were frighteningly awareness-raising. Then, a little over a week ago, I inadvertently tapped the digital scale at the airport, and it blinked its red, luminous, zero at me, enticing me, no begging me, nay, DARING me to step atop it, and be judged.

189 pounds, its red numbers shone up at me. 189 is practically 190. and 190 is a hop, skip, and a jump from 200! Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

But weight... There's more! (Simply a bad pun, or a Freudian typo? Only I know for sure!)

Last Sunday, my wife and I were part of a group outing to a "ropes" course, or challenge course, In the far reaches of our neighboring county. To "warm up", the group played a little elbow tag. After nearly three minutes of being "it", and chasing a teenager around a field, I was bending over double, winded and sucking for air. So, not only am I weighing more, I am actually getting physically wimpier, too.

Well, that night I rode the bicycle the easy .8 miles to work. After clocking out the next morning, I decided to make a real go at the whole exercise thing, and bike the 4 or so miles to the airport. It was tough, but I made it, and after walking around the tarmac for a cool down, and checking my e-mail, I took the car home, leaving Becca and the bike behind. That afternoon I retrieved the bike, and rode it the 5 miles home.

On the way home, after the scale reminded me I was overweight, and after the game of tag reminded me that I had no endurance, I was issued another reminder. The final straw, if you will.

As I hunched over the handlebars, huffing, and puffing, and pumping those pedals, my cellphone was dislodged from its place on my belt clip, and went clattering to the gravel on the roadside. What caused the phone to be forced from its holster? Why, it was on account of the pressure being exerted on it by my LOVE HANDLES overhanging my belt!

As of yesterday, I am officially on a "Health Kick"

I've Got Worms!

Boys and Girls, the Daily Word of the day today is... Vermiculture!

My worm Farm arrived in the mail yesterday. I assembled it (easy) ..."built" some dirt for about an hour, (fun)... and set it in a corner of the rec room to await my one pound of eisenia fetida, more commonly known as "Red Wigglers", even more commonly known as "Redworms", even more commonly known as "worms", and occasionally known as "Eww, Gross! Get it away from me!" (I lied in the title; I am actually getting my worms tomorrow)

I have been interested in composting for a long while, and have always admired families and institutions who made it a part of their lifestyle. The concept, at first blush, seems pretty straightforward... Take the organic, vegetable material that you would throw in the garbage, and instead throw it into its own container/bin/heap outside, where with a little attention, Elton John's great "Circle of Life" will break it down into wonderful, rich, soil which you can use to grow your ficus plant, or rosebushes, or whatever...

It's that "With a Little Attention" part that's the killer. Starting a compost heap is kinda like adopting a Mogwai - You need to pay attention to the rules. (you do need to keep it away from light, but feeding it after midnight is okay, and water is a must!) If you don't get it right, instead of nice rich soil, you end up with a weed infested patch of rotten smelly crap. Our attempts at compost in Tennessee, where August the temperature is 105 degrees and in February its 13, have been pretty bad. Temperature, Moisture, and Airflow are all important factors in building up the beneficial bacterial cultures that do the, aha, dirty work of breaking yesterday's Eggo waffle into tomorrow's rhododendron.


Worm composting, or Vermicomposting for those who need a five-dollar word, is (I really hope) a lot easier, mostly because it takes pace indoors, in your very own climate-controlled home. Worms like the same range of temperatures people do. Running at full tilt, my worm farm should eat up 5 to 8 pounds of garbage per day! They will eat anything from dryer lint, to newspaper, to Jello pudding, to grass clippings, to Junk mail from GEICO, to pizza crust, to sawdust, to the Fruitcake that Aunt Gretel gave you for Christmas in 1997. And they turn it into

1. worm poop you can sell/give to local gardeners
2. worms you can sell/give to fishermen.

So, I will keep you posted, and let you know if it's as easy as it is supposed to be. I won't be naming any of the worms Stripe though, just to be on the safe side.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Photodump! - Bathrooms, Burros, and Balloons!

Hello, Blog-Appreciators!

I have seen a great many things this week.

I have seen Tiny Donkeys, Toilets Overturned, and Giant Bags of Gas ascending into the Atmosphere. (These items were all completely unrelated, though it would be funny to combine them all in a single story!)

For starters, I have now re-mounted my motorscooter, which has earned the name "Red Devil" after its attempted Frank-slaughter back in March. (It has since tried to kill someone else, but I strongly suspect that he was being a jerk and probably had it coming. It is a long story, which won't be told in this forum.) My arm is healed, and my psyche as well, and even though scootering is not as fun without the sense of invulnerability I previously possessed, it is still very practical, allowing me a bit more freedom of movement during the day when Becca is at work.

I take the back-roads on the Red Devil whenever possible, So I can go slower, without anyone (metaphorically) breathing down my neck on the highway. On one such backroad, I saw these guys.


in the picture on the left there are a Dog, a Donkey, a Horse,and a number of Goats, all of which are approximately the same size! I have only occasionally before ever seen these "Minis", but gosh, they're cute! actually I think the Dog, a Great Pyrenees Sheepdog, is actually the largest animal in the field!


Also, I put up a picture with yesterday's post, but my cellphone would only let me send one. I didn't actually take any "Before" pictures, (they probably would have been too gross anyway), but I did want to put up my collection of "During" and "After" photos. Here are a Few.

This is "Pa" Carter, either taking rotten flooring out of our bathroom, or putting a great big hole in, depending on your point of view.

This is my lovely wife Becca, taking time off from her busy schedule to vacuum up debris from around the newly formed "Cavern o' Plumbing" (located right next to Ductwork Falls, off exit 72!)


Two views inside the "Cavern o' Plumbing"! It's a Spooky Adventure for the Whole Family!!!


And here is the "After" picture. Not quite "after" the job was all done and cleaned up, but "after" bedtime, and "after" a long, hard, day of serious work by my parents-in-law. Thanks a lot!

Note to self: When photographing bathroom, avoid odd combinations of items (like monkey wrench and Vaseline) in the foreground... Somebody is sure to make a joke, sooner or later.

I also, completely by accident, saw a Hot-air Balloon launch late Sunday afternoon. It brought back some good memories, because just about two years before, Becca and I took off in that same balloon from that same spot! It is fun, but not for those inclined to be nervous about heights.


I also got video of the event, or rather had Becca get video of it. I think that maybe she forgot she was also getting audio, because she is having some odd, unrelated conversation while she shoots. Just ignore that. She is a busy lady, and can't show her face at the airport without something needing her attention.