I should be in bed right now. I have a very long day ahead of me. instead, I’m writing about some of life’s little amusements that have crossed my path these last few days.

Like my horoscope this week at The Onion:
Aries: (March 21—April 19)
Give yourself a well-deserved treat by mixing incompatible drugs and having an ill-advised sexual encounter. You owe it to yourself for the week you’re about to have.

Or the bumper sticker M. and i saw last night:
WWJD?
Who Wants Jelly Donuts?

Or the bumper sticker I saw on my way to work Friday:
“Dog is my co-pilot.”

After a great deal of experimentation and a lot of trial and error, I’ve finally figured out how to do aerial photography from a kite!

Yesterday, M. and I went to Fort DeSoto Park, and tried a test-flight of a radio-operated kite-mounted camera. The camera is a cheap $19 Vivitar 35mm automatic point-n-shoot; it was mounted to a double-delta kite with tape, and a small servo from my radio-controlled plane was used to trigger the shutter.

Result:

Ft. DeSoto is an old Civil-War era fortress used to defend the western coast of Florida from navel attack. In these pics, you can see the canon that would fire on incoming navies:

The southern side of the fort:

Florida beaches:

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do this for a VERY long time…

Looks like it’s going to be a long three weeks of McDonald’s food and an empty house.

kellyv has gone to visit her parents for three weeks–a trip that began under shadow of a curse. She was supposed to leave by Amtrak Autotrain yesterday, but did not, because Thursday, the train she was supposed to be taking derailed and crashed north of Tampa. Several people killed, hundreds injured, no service for the forseeable future.

It was a scramble to find plane tickets. Note to self: Never try to buy plane tickets 24 hours in advance of the flight. Note to self #2: Put lacaba down for a Medal of Honor for service above and beyond the call of duty; she was of great help in finding tickets that cost less than three years’ pay and our firstborn.

So. She leaves Saturday morning. Note to self #3: Never, ever, ever fly Delta.

Delta’s marketing slogan should be: “Delta Air Lines: Where service is something we have heard of.”

An hour and fourty-five minutes to check in. Self-service ecommerce kiosks out of order, because Delta knows less about maintaining their equipment than they do about service. A lack of organization that would make Aeroflot blush.

But she’s away, and safely in Virginia.

Note to self #4: Learn to cook.