…there is anyone in the world who still believes George W. Bush is not completely out of touch with reality, I give you this: A serendipitous convergence of stories on the America Online news page:

Got my plane in the air today!!!

Yep, that’s right, it actually flies. 🙂 It was a serious hassle, and required far too much work–got out to the field and discovered the radio receiver wasn’t wired correctly, the prop nut flew off (twice), the engine doesn’t want to idle, but… it flew!

Yes, I’m a complete novice…and yes, I’m quite enjoying being a novice for a change. I love learning things.

A bit of work to do and it’ll be ready to go again.

(Yep, that’s kellyv‘s car behind the plane–it’s that big.)
more pics here

The full, unedited text of an email in my inbox today:

Prezados Gentlemen.

Good night will be that they had not tired to send email the same every day and various times still? Therefore I will go to order them all in return for the Gentlemen if not to stop. They want to order notice, all good, but the same email some times per day “NOT”. E nor orders email in MIME. Until more. Thank You
Edyr Maria

What in the name of God and all that is holy is this person trying to communicate?

No file attachments, it’s not a virus that uses a random text generator…

kellyv just asked me “Who are you, and where the hell is my husband?” I’ve been up since 9AM this morning, for no reason save that living with bandage for two weeks has completely upset the natural order of things and destroyed my sleep schedule. Ordinarily, I try to get out of bed at some time around noon on weekends.

And speaking of weekends…

Heading down to the flight field soon for the RC airplane club meeting, going to try to get my plane in the air today. It’s been ready to go for quite a while, but I haven’t been able to find a flight instructor, or the time, or both.

The new Matrix movie is almost here! Yesterday, Shelly bought tickets for herself, me, kellyv, her roommate, and our friend J. kellyv and I are taking the day off work Thursday so we can watch it again. Oh, the pathetic geekness of it all…

There are, at last count, six billion people and change all sharing this grand ol’ planet with one another, and the breadth and depth of the human condition is vast almost beyond comprehension.

And even knowing that, there are still some things I find entirely inexplicable. Like THIS.

I don’t get it. I just. Don’t. Get. It. I’m wondering what the encore will be…something involving a blender? 🙂

I’m about to leave to pick up kellyv from the airport. Big grins… 🙂

Shelly just told me I walk like a geek. And not just any geek, but specifically an electronics geek.

I’m confused…

Last week, I introduced Shelly and my friends K., E., and K. to oneof my all-time favorite games, Mao.

Mao is named after Mao Tse Tung, the one-time Communist dictator of China. It’s a card game with a simple premise: The players (except the dealer) are not allowed to know the rules of the game before they play, and the players are punished for not knowing the rules.

Kind of like life in China, really.

The dealer can’t win the game. The dealer is the only person who knows the rules when play begins, and players must learn the rules by being punished when they break those rules. If you’re a good player, you strive to learn from other people’s mistakes.

It’s a great party game. There are thousands of varieties, with new ones cropping up all the time, so that players who’ve played before can still enjoy (if enjoy is the right word) Mao. Varieties exist which are drinking games, stripping games, sex games, or all three, though the basic version of Mao involves none of these things.

Just in case you want to inflict this game on those you know and love, here’s the variant we played:

Rules for Mao

…and indeed it has been. This has not been a day for Getting Things Done.

Five more days…

…until kellyv gets home. She’s been visiting her folks in Virginia for over a week, and the bed isn’t the same without her in it.

Lions and Tigers and Hyenas, Oh My!

Shelly and I went to Busch Gardens on Saturday, and stayed until an hour and a half after closing. We didn’t realize the park had closed, see, and we had to be escorted out by security…

…oops.

I haven’t been to Busch Gardens–a local theme park and wild animal exhibit, for the non-Floridians out there–in quite a number of years. I used to go there often, once upon a time, with an old friend of mine named Robin; our relationship ended on a very bad note, due in no small measure to my own poor behavior, and I haven’t returned much since then. It’s changed dramatically in the past eleven years.

Shelly got the once-over from a very large lion at a very close distance (think four inches here) who no doubt thought she might be about as tasty as I find her; that was kind of fun.

Peace and quiet, sunshine, and pornography

Sunday brought a trip to Lettuce Lake Park, the place where kellyv and I were married. It’s a gorgeous nature preserve on teh edge of the Hillsborough River. Shelly and I though it’d be a nice place to get away from the computer for a while.

Have I ever mentioned that I have a poor sense of direction?

I live near the part. I was married in the park. I had to call kellyv for directions to find the park.

Yes, I’m lame.

It was a beautiful day, though, and we had a wonderful time nonetheless, observing the tranquil splendor of wild animals devouring each other with ruthless, pitiless determination in the eternal struggle to survive.

Afterward, it was time to make some pornography. With a large, steel battle axe.

The idiocy of the Patriot

Been spending a fair bit of time lately with my friend J., who is in the middle of a nasty divorce from her husband. Said husband is fighting for custody of the kids, despite the fact that he has a past record of…er, abusing the kids.

Apparently, this doesn’t matter much to the judge involved in the case, a man with a line of reasoning that goes something like “Well, I see you serve in the military, and everyone in the military is a good person…and I think people deserve a second chance. So I’m going to give you the kids for a while, just don’t abuse them this time, okay?”

Where do people like this come from? Do they spontaneously generate from clogged toilets in City Hall? I don’t get it.

…it’s 10:17 in the morning, you still aren’t dressed, and already you’ve done the electronics assembly for two remote controlled sex toys and hired an outside salesman.

Soldering naked is an…er, interesting experience.

I should get dressed now.