Toast for Brekkie

Ma famille

I'm feeling particularly loved today and wanted to give a shout out to my family. Where else can you find a Portugese-studying sister who sends you a magazine article about Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio or a mother who sends cookies and welcome mats in the mail? I love y'all!

Hello World

Hi everybody! Say hello to Elvis. Out of the box, up and running, connected to the internet and software updated in a breezy 1.5 hours. Still have some file transfers, installations, and registrations to take care of, but thought I'd take him for his introductory spin on the blog. Big shout out to Seth and Dan!

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Chi-town strut

So. I'm in my favorite American city. Watching turtles swim. Just wanted to give a shout out to all y'all that there won't be anything new on flickr at least until Monday. I'm away from my archives. Lay-c and I are headed downtown to take photos, with actual film cameras. Wow. How long has it been since I've done that? And never with anything but a point-n-shoot, so I'm excited! Anywho, I digress. If you're reading this and you're in Chicago, call me! I have four days to play, and the party's already rockin'! Come join us! I kiss you!

Life changes

Oooh, this updated version of Movable Type that lay-c hooked the fam-i-lay up with is so shiny and new! It's so nice I almost forgot what I wanted to blog about. Nah, not really.

All joking aside, I have some very serious news. Some of you are aware that for a while now I've been considering converting. I have received guidance from many friends on the topic which has been indispensable. In my typical fashion I have been stalling for some time in a futile effort to gather all the facts on the subject in order to make as informed a decision as possible. Sometimes, though, you just gotta go with your gut. It's something I'm still learning how to do, having functioned within a specific framework for so long. It also helps to get a hard nudge from a friend. But it's out of the box now, the cat's out of the bag. I've made a major life decision, and I figured all the world should know.

I got a Mac.

Actually, I didn't purchase it. And no, I didn't steal it either. Remember how I said it took a nudge from a friend? Well, in this case, it took a great friend with some eBay savvy and a good heart. My buddy Seth and I had been talking about how old lappy is getting and of course I'm always complaining about it here. He also knows that my house payment precludes any large purchases. Which reminds me, has anyone seen "Thank You For Smoking" yet? Watch it and you'll have a whole new appreciation for mortgage boy. Anyway, as I was saying, I get home today only to find a certified box on the kitchen counter (my rooms had picked it up from the door). "What could this be, I thought?"

Over the course of the new few moments I grew more and more astonished as I carefully opened the flaps to reveal a pristine white box. It had an Apple logo. Surely not, I thought. But surely yes, here it was, a brand new iBook G4 staring me in the face. I was agog.

I called Seth immediately.

"Seffertoooooon," I intoned incredulously. "What is this?"

"Well, remember how you were talking about having to borrow your roommate's computer to flickr and you couldn't afford a new one? I knew you wanted a Mac and I'm in a pretty good spot, so I found a great deal on eBay and sent it to you. It's brand new."

"Yeah, I know! But whatever did I do to deserve this? Thank you!"

"Aw, it's nothin' man. I figured you needed it and I could help. Just send a little something back my way when you get in a better financial situation."

This from the man who singlehandedly built my racing seat, paid for it himself, and brought it down to Florida. Man.

I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow (hurray!) so I really should be sleeping. Or at least packing. Anything but thinking about how I'd love to boot up the new Mac and learn what it means to be a disciple of Apple. Vince, you were right all along. I haven't even powered it on and I know I'm a Mac man. Oh, and your assignment, kids: help me come up with a name for the little guy. He hasn't named himself yet like Tyrone did, so I'm open to suggestions. But I guess I know it's male, somehow?

Time to snuggle up in bed and enjoy visions of candied apples dancing in my head. But not before I give props where it's due. There is nothing I could do to deserve a friend like Seth, people. Thanks dude. I love you, man.

Human Timeline

So I wasn't planning to stay up to blog tonight, but events have forced my hand. I really couldn't let the 25th anniversary of the first Shuttle mission, STS-1, go unheralded. Check out Florida Today for the highlight reel.

What other events? How about a couple of recent finds in archaeology: 9,000-year-old dentistry and another link in the chain of human evolution?

We've come a long way since flint drills drawn by bows, baby. Check out the future: human exoskeletons, robots that walk like dogs (you have to see the video, it's creepily real), mind control, and robomechs.

Man, it's an exciting time to be a human.

P.S. Over a hundred new photos up on flickr. Check it out.

Notes from the riverside

Ok, so this is random, but are there any people out there who are fans of both Ween and Tom Petty? I was thinking about Petty's latest album, the Last DJ, today and lo and behold if Ween doesn't pop up on pandora. The song was "Tried and True" from their 2003 album, quebec. The guitar riff is the exact same, note for note, as the opening progression on The Last DJ's title track. Anyone? Petty's album was out in 2002, and I highly doubt Ween ripped him off. What are the odds?

Next up: a must-read article passed along to me by Uncle Billy. The entire passage was like a catalyst for the precipitate of ideas my brain held in solution, but could never amalgamate. Let me know if you're as blown away by the revelation as I.

On a totally inane note, a forward I received at work:

On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. That won't happen again for 100 years.

Woo hoo! Hooray for the random alignment of our arbitrary calendar system! Let's celebrate it like 2000!

And finally, I managed to upload a handful of photos to flickr before my roomie needed his computer back. Behold the royal results.

The foolery of April

So I have a quiet moment (read: a quiet few hours) to myself to try and upload a few hundred photos, and wouldn't you know it, flickr's acting all wonky. Check the forums, they know about it, but it's certainly inconvenient. All cropped up and nowhere to post.

I played paintball today for the first time. Thought of you, Seth. It was so much fun. Light years better than Halo. No pictures, though; I didn't wanna take Tyrone into the fray. I conserved rounds and stretched 500 paintballs for five hours. Over twenty ten-minute rounds. Captured the flag and took it to the enemy's base once. Successfully rounded up all the cons in a S.W.A.T. raid. Single-handedly switched off three of the four sirens to secure my team's win in preventing "nuclear meltdown." Oh. And shot lots and lots of people with high-speed projectiles filled with paint.

My very first hit of the day was the best. I managed a 20-yard tag through a four-inch slit that was 10 yards from both me and my opponent. I was repaid for my marksmanship in the next round with with a paintball to the face, my very first death. I was unfortunate enough to have my mouth open when it struck the slotted mask and got a mouthful of (non-toxic water-based) paint. Tasty. I was spitting yellow for ten minutes.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the last time I was hit today was in the abdomen, leaving a nice raised welt. By the same dude, the only dude, who had been successful in shooting me all day. Thanks, Shelby. In the game, with adrenaline pumping, it doesn't sting that much. But after five hours of running, ducking, aiming, sliding, and rolling around in the sand, dirt and sawdust, I was exhausted, sore, and covered head to toe in dirt and paint. Glorious.

It was a gamble trying a new (and potentially dangerous) sport so close to my upcoming ski trip, but it paid off. I understand the popularity of paintball now. And Orlando Paintball was running an annual free day today for April Fool's: we only had to pay for our paint. Rentals, air, and coursetime was free.

Props to Christy for getting out there with the boys and holding her own, then waiting for me as I went through all my rounds (we had the same amount, I just wasn't quite as trigger happy). Sefferton, when you come down next time, bring your gun. We're going paintballin'.