We have lift off

OK, not so much lift off as graduation . . . The Best Friend's brother's daughter is graduating from Baylor with a B.S. in Fashion Design and a minor in Business Administration.

Way to go, kiddo!

Dust in the wind

Windshield dust used to be reserved for the ever popular "Clean me!" Not so anymore. Check out this album.

Mammatus clouds

This photo is from Brno in the Czech Republic and this photo is from Hastings, Nebraska.

Sunspots

Horus & Izzy

Spider-Man 3

The first trailer is up - http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/spider-man_3/.

Let me just say, "Oooh!"

;D

Aeon Flux

I just finished watching this film. I was pleasantly surprised because I actually enjoyed it. There was more to it than watching Chalize Theron romping about. And the fact Marton Csokas was in it didn't hurt either.

I've never seen the Aeon Flux graphic - I hesitate to call it a cartoon even though that is what it was - but I did know of it. Since I can't compare the two, I don't know whether that lack had any effect on my perception of the film. Because I enjoyed it, I'm going out on a limb and say it didn't have any effect whatsoever.

The movie is definitely worth the price of a rental in my view.

Star Trek: Re-Boot the Universe

Star Trek: Re-Boot the Universe - http://bztv.typepad.com/newsviews/files/ST2004Reboot.pdf

This is a Trek that would have been immensely watchable. Sometimes sacred cows need to be put out to pasture so another generation has a chance to shine.

Brobdingnagian

Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

I can honestly say I've never heard anyone use this word in the course of normal conversation. I am also almost willing to bet I've never read the word in any of the types of books I'm prone to reading. And, no, I've never read Gulliver's Travels. It just never appealed to me much. I can't tell you why. It's just a reaction I have to some books or some authors.

I felt the need

. . . to redecorate my little corner of cyberspace. It's been a bit over a year since the last time I did it so my little space has been overdue. I'm not sure how long this scheme will stay up. I think there's a little too much pink involved for my taste. But, who knows, it may grow on me.

On the way home

Peachy keen

Pretty in pink

Darwin's tortoise dies

Driving home from work today

Normal-ish day

I had no problems making it to work or getting home from same. We had a bit of rain today but not much. It turns out not many people made it in to work yesterday.

I'm off to work

It looks like things have calmed down enough that I can make it in to work this morning. The weatherman is predicting rain but nothing like what happened yesterday since the low has moved. However, the whole area is still under a flood watch.

Anyway, gotta run.

It's raining, it's pouring

Well, actually, it's not pouring but it has been raining. Off and on - mostly on - since about 6:15 p.m. There isn't any flooding here but that's more to do with the mainly light rain we've gotten. The weatherman is still predicting rain overnight so I don't know yet whether I'll make it to work tomorrow or not. Guess I'll see when I get up tomorrow.

Offhand I'd say we've caught up on and surpassed what should have been our average rainfall to date.

Houston is under water

According to the news, it's been raining all night in the Houston area with no relief in sight. There is serious flooding which won't abate as long as the rain keeps falling. It appears some of the hardest hit areas are on the south and southeast side which is, of course, the area I need to get to for work. Since I can't tell whether or not I'll be able to get to work, and since I have no great desire to be stuck on a freeway with no way off and no way home, I've decided to stay home until and unless someone can tell me I can actually make it in to work without flooding out my car and getting stranded.

As for the old homestead, we've had rain off and on but there isn't any flooding here . . . yet. The weatherman predicts the low that is dumping rain on Houston will drift south along the coast which means we'll get dumped on and have our own flooding issues to deal with later.

Yep, the more I think about it the more staying home sounds like the best thing to do.

Marine Sees Child’s Birth Via Video

Sometimes, modern technology is good for something.

Wherefore art thou Romeo?

For those of you who hate Shakespeare, that question is not a request for his location but a query as to why he has to be Romeo, the son of a rival family. All of which has nothing to do with this post.

It's just I've added 728 names to my names database tonight and I've managed to update A through H in the Names section of this site.

Enjoy!

The bloom is off the rose

OK, well, maybe not so much the rose as it is the magnolia tree. The one in my front yard has been in bloom and I meant to take pictures of those gorgeous white flowers. But you know me . . . procrastinator extraordinaire. So instead of full white flowers, you get . . .

This is what happens

. . . when the people who had the house before me do a bad patch job and the critters in the attic romp over night . . .


The Prodigal has promised to roam about town looking for new home construction so he can snag a couple of small pieces of drywall to make a repair. Until that happens, it will be a plastic trash sack tacked to the ceiling that keeps the critters out and the cool in.

Oh, in case you can't tell, this is above the vanity in my room.

B.C.

Gotta love B.C.!

A tiny bit of excitement

The house two doors down from mine had a fire in it last night. It wasn't very bad. It was just a very smoky kitchen fire that was quickly put out by the fire department. I'm not sure if the folks are back in the house already or not, but from the front it looks like nothing is amiss. The Prodigal and I went out when we first realized there was aught amiss, but we didn't stay out for very long. There were plenty of other people standing about gawking.

An Alaskan Volcano Erupts

Vader on vocals and Chewie on the drums

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5VCWJVvE0Fk

I think I'm more of a slushy

You Are Iceman

You tried to live a normal life, but it just wasn't possible A bit of a slacker, you rather tell jokes than cultivate your powers Powers: turning self and others into ice, making ice weapons, becoming nearly invisible

Which of the X-Men Are You?

Normally normal . . . blah

You Are 65% Normal (Really Normal)

Otherwise known as the normal amount of normal You're like most people most of the time But you've got those quirks that make you endearing You're unique, yes... but not frighteningly so!

How Normal Are You?

Select your orc candidate(s)

~ giggle ~

That was the subject line of an email I got today from my D&D gal pal Raelerin. That's not a subject most people would expect to see on correspondence but it's about par when we're talking about the game. She sent me a list of orcs who'd be willing to travel with our group while we adventure about. I emailed Raelerin my pick of the three I would rather have with us. I can't really explain why I picked the three I did. It was partly their names, which I rather liked, and partly their better balanced overall statistics. I suspect the two boys in the group will go for the mindless killing machine orcs. Boys will be boys.

I finished another book today. Solstice Wood by Patricia A. McKillip. I rather enjoyed this one. It wasn't really a deep thinker story like some of her works are, but it did address what happens when someone else's prejudices and fears form the basis for our beliefs.

I've also been working on an afghan I'm making for a co-worker's baby shower next week. I'd first thought I wouldn't get it done by next weekend because I thought I would do three repeats of the colors, but I think I'm just going to do two repeats. Three will make the afghan unnaturally long while two aren't quite long enough. But I think I'd rather have it a bit short. I can do some fudging with blocking it.

Work is work. Sometimes interesting. Sometimes not. I still like the drive in the morning and hate the drive in the afternoon.

I've recovered from my tooth problems but the hole is still distracting. I haven't tried chewing on the right side yet, but I'm sure one of these days I'll forget to be careful and do it without realizing.

Well, that pretty much catches you up on my life. I lead a really interesting one, don't I?

;D

I hate yellow!

discover what candy you are @ quiz me

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . .

NASA - Droids on the ISS

June 1, 2006: Six years ago, MIT engineering Professor David Miller showed the movie Star Wars to his students on their first day of class. There's a scene Miller is particularly fond of, the one where Luke Skywalker spars with a floating battle droid. Miller stood up and pointed: "I want you to build me some of those."

So they did. With support from the Department of Defense and NASA, Miller's undergraduates built five working droids. And now, one of them is onboard the International Space Station (ISS).