Vacation Funnies

Visiting with the relatives in Orlando today was a barrel of laughs. The first hilarious incident was when my brother, aunt, cousin, mom, and I were playing tennis. Mom, being the tennis expert among us, was leading us through warm-up drills. We were all doing alright but my brother was really hustling to get every ball. He was doing very well. After we’d done a few exercises mom suggested that we do some cardio. My cousin, aunt, and I were not breathing hard or sweating yet when we heard my bother say, “THIS ISN’T CARDIO?!” Everyone turned to look at him – he was red-faced, breathing hard, and covered in sweat. It sounded like he was going to die if he had to work any harder. I laughed so hard I was temporarily blinded but I heard everyone else laughing too.

After tennis we went to the poolside to have lunch. Mom and her sister cut up the lemon slices that came in their water so that it looked like teeth. It was pretty special. When we went to Outback for dinner, they did it again. The waiter said he had never seen anyone do that before. I don’t find that surprising at all. When my family gets together no social norm is safe.

Later that night my cousin said that she was going to get her hair cut the next day. My uncle said “You’re going to get your hair cut shorter?” Before I knew what was happening I heard myself say “No she’s going to get it cut longer.” I was doing so well, too. He told me it was too bad we didn’t work in the same office because one of us wouldn’t be going home. I know about an office full of people who feel that same way!

New Retrofit Defiant

My new Defiant is awesome. It has more weapons than the original and it cloaks. It’s a killer. It won’t cloak during combat but you can choose where to decloak if you’re attacking someone by surprise. I haven’t tried it with a tractor beam yet, but it should be awesome to choose the shield facing to punch through first. The picture is of the Lionheart cloaked at Sol with Earth (North and South America visible) and Spacedock in the background. One may wonder why I’d be cloaked at Earth since there are no enemies around. Well there are so many vagrants around Earth in the 25th century that staying cloaked makes getting in and out much easier. Plus if you accidentally hit one nobody can see who did it.

*THUMP*
Navigator: Sir, I think we just…
Captain: Nevermind! Just keep going! And disintegrate that cardboard sign.

Las Vegas – Friday – Paris Buffet, Mac King, and Matsuri

Friday morning was spent playing Starcraft 2 and fasting for the Paris Buffet. The buffet was great. All kinds of different French foods including lamb and duck. Quiche Lorraine was my favorite I think. After the buffet we went to Harrah’s for the Mac King comedy magic show. He is both talented and funny. They were selling his books there, but they’re a lot cheaper on Amazon.   

 

 

We had a couple hours between his show and Matsuri at the Imperial Palace so I walked down past Treasure Island to the mall while everyone else watched the floor shows at the Imperial Palace. The mall has way more levels than are necessary. I think there are two escalators involved just to walk across one level.

 

 

On the way back I was able to catch the show in front of Treasure Island. It was pretty neat the way they blew up the buildings behind the ships and sank the one with red sails. I don’t know how the people right next to the ships kept their eyebrows when the pyrotechnics went off.

 

 

 

 

I liked Matsuri a lot. It was like a Japanese Cirque Du Soleil. The costumes weren’t as complicated but the gymnastics were just as good. Except for the part with the jump ropes. They must have just added that because the performers made several mistakes in that segment.

After Matsuri we went down to the Freemont Experience. We got there just in time to see a show and discovered that parts of the screen run all the time now, showing music videos and commercials. They only turn the casino and street lights off for the hourly shows. When we’d had enough amazement we went back to Tahiti Village to rest up for my departure in the morning.

Las Vegas – Thursday - Elvis

The morning was David going to Starbucks for an internet connection even though I get one through my phone. Go figure. Then he got on a plane to go home. We went to the famous In-N-Out Burger for lunch, then to the Elvis show. It was as much a concert as a Cirque show. Some of the music was extremely loud and several of the numbers had no gymnastics at all. Still it was a very good show.

Las Vegas – Wednesday – Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon Skywalk

Brother and I wanted to go see the Grand Canyon and the new Indian Skywalk so he found us a bus tour. Our first stop was Hoover Dam because the bus drivers get a kickback from letting people out to shop there. We tourists just get pictures. It’s a long ride out to the Grand Canyon. I sent dad a dam picture so he could enjoy the view with us. The porta-potties there were like reverse Tardis – they were smaller on the inside.

The bus drive out to the place was interesting. I’ve never been in a bus full of dust before. The kids in the back breathed it all in so we were OK. The bus shook so bad on the unpaved road that I thought one of the TVs was going to fall off. After locking all our possessions in the lockers so we wouldn’t “scratch the glass” we went out on the Skywalk. I think it has more to do with them wanting to sell you a $30 picture.  It was several hundred feet to the next rock ledge. I’m not sure it’s something I’d do again, but it was a good trip and well worth going once. We had a nice lunch that the Indians provided, too.

Las Vegas – Tuesday – Lions, Tanks, and Starcraft 2

At the beginning of the day Tuesday we went over to see the lions at MGM. They’re one of our favorites. We were just a little bit early for them and like us it didn’t look like they’d been up long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The enemy armament training facility was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It’s for our soldiers to become familiar with the equipment they’re fighting against so you can crawl all through the tanks and armored personnel carriers. The only thing you aren’t allowed to climb on is the fire control computer with the radiation hazard sign on it. Half my trip pictures were from this one place.

This is my favorite picture. I wonder if the sledge was for if the door got stuck or for when you run out of bullets. Every door had a sledge hammer holder on it but this was the only one that was filled. I’m reminded of Armageddon when the Russian astronaut beat their computer until it started working.

 

 

On the way back we stopped in Walmart to see about getting a Droid X. Apparently there weren’t any in the state of Nevada. They did have StarCraft 2. This game does not disappoint. The awesome graphics and varied missions were well worth waiting for. 

Las Vegas – Monday – Aria and Pets

I love Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast; it held me over until dinner. Our first tourist stop was the Aria where we got our Elvis tickets and an Elvis beanie baby. We were a bit early for the room tour so we hung out for a while at one of the restaurants. We had a view of this lovely sculpture. I call it canoe wreck. David is standing under it. After our tour of the highly automated rooms we went over to the V Theater to see a pet show. Popovich was an amazing juggler and has a lot of impressively trained cats. The other animals didn’t always do what they were supposed to but it was an amusing diversion.

Diving Ginnie Springs

Diving the caverns at Ginnie was pretty cool. Something to check off that you’ve done, anyway. The main cavern was neat – you get to swim up to an iron grate that water is gushing out of. I don’t have a strobe for this cheapo camera yet so the light is from my dive light.

After Ginnie we went to the Devil Springs area we found this sign. Rick enjoyed the risk of death so much that he wanted to be included in the picture of the sign. In this area divers aren’t allowed to take dive lights unless they’re cave certified. That meant that we didn’t go very far into anything as the sunlight faded quickly. That suited us just fine though. Shawn was the only one who ever expressed interest in the possibility of suffocating in the dark. One of the most surprising things to us was the snake Pico found between caverns. Pico said he saw a snake and Rick and I thought that it was too cold and too crowded for a snake to be hanging around. But when it started slithering towards us we had to admit it was a snake.

After the dive a few of my friends met me to hang out. The first thing I told them about was the snake we saw in the spring while we were diving. Matt just stared at me and finally said that he couldn’t believe I just said that. Apparently he’d just spend the last two hours explaining to the two girls how there were no snakes in the springs and then I went and ruined it. What can I say? It’s a gift.

Scout Funnies

Another scout meeting, more scout funnies.

Scout: Neither of our leaders are here. You run the meeting.

Me: Oh I don’t think so.

Scout: What are we going to do?

Me: Sit here and look at each other until someone steps up and takes charge of the troop.

Another scout: I’ll do it!

He had everyone vote to decide what game they wanted to play since we couldn’t play the normal outside game due to inclement weather.

Leader: OK, who wants to play four corners?

Five people of twenty raise their hands.

Leader: Good, that’s what we’re playing.

Group: Wait what about all the other choices? We didn’t vote on those!

So he didn’t get away with hijacking the vote but it was close. They did wind up playing four corners anyway. During the presentation, one of the scout’s parents started plinking around on one of the pianos in the back of the room.

Scout, yelling: Really poppy? Really?

That was all it took to restore order.

Death is all I have to look forward to LOL

One of the scouts in the patrol I work with suggested it would be really fun if I came and worked cub scout day camp with him. He's right, obviously, camp counselor is my True Vocation but I pointed out that I would have to be working at my day job and wouldn't be able to go.

Scout: You mean you don't get summers off?

Me: No, I have a regular job now.

Scout: So all you have to look forward to is death?

Scout Shenanigans

You just never know what's going to happen when you put a bunch of middle schoolers in a room together. This episode is from last night's scout meeting.

Scout 1: Take the F out of way

Scout 2: There is no F in way. Even if you spelled it whey there still...

Leader 1: I think you missed the joke buddy.

Scout 2: Ohh...

Leader 2: You've got a bat in the belfry.

Scout 2 rubs his nose

Leader 2: You got it.

But when we looked on the floor there was a chunk of pineapple or something that looked like a big booger. We started laughing.

Scout 1 walks up: What? Did something fall on the floor?

Leader 1, laughing, nods.

Scout 1: Where is it? I'll eat it.

Leader 1, still laughing, shakes his head.

Scout 1: Yes I will! I'll eat anything. Unless it's a booger.

Leader 1, still laughing, nods and motions in the direction of the thing

Scout 1: Eeew!

Later we were practicing our edge training technique with snorkeling skills and we had one scout laying on 3 chairs demonstrating the dolphin kick. A couple of the other boys started recording him with their cell phones. He said if it wins money we can all split it. The younger scouts demanded exorbitant fees from $1 to $100 if we won the $10,000 prize. The swimmer wanted $5,000 which makes me think he's the only one who got the math.

Bluetooth headset number seven, action!

Lately I’ve been going through Bluetooth headsets like popcorn. My motorola flip one wore out, the replacement for that got run over by a car, the next one got eaten by my house I think, and now there’s this one. I like it a lot for its voice features and I think this is the way that future headsets are going to go as well. It reports its status by speaking to you, “call terminated” for example, and it also lets you give it voice commands such as “check battery”. As much as I like it I need more time to get used to it. Either it has trouble understanding me in noisy environments or I can’t remember what the correct phrasing of the voice commands are. When I say something it doesn’t understand it just chooses a random command and does that. I keep having to cancel calls as it tries to dial people. Everyone I’ve talked to so far says the sound quality is great and the wireless quality is essential for my Palm Pre. Since the Pre eats battery so fast I often keep it plugged in and charging. Trying to move around the house with wired headphones and having the thing plugged into a power source just was not working for me at all. It also works well with the PS3. I sure do hope this one lasts a while, I’m going broke buying these things! 

Bok Tower Gardens

Today Mom and I celebrated a bit more mother’s day with a trip to Bok Tower Gardens. I really like the place because of its many varied flowers, shady paths, interesting wildlife, and peaceful atmosphere. We walked about a mile and a half but there were quite a few trails we left untraveled. There is also an estate on the property that I am told is very nice, but we had neither the time or money to spend on it. I noticed upon my return that most of my flower pictures were from only one angle and many were overexposed in one spectrum or another. On my next flower photographing excursion I’m going to try to be more creative and monitor the camera’s technical readouts more carefully. Still, the photos did come out pretty nice. The one on the left is one of my favorite flowers because it looks so alien, but nobody has been able to tell me what kind it is.

Kayaking Weedon Island Preserve

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Greg had been wanting to go kayaking at Weedon Island and he was kind enough to invite me to go along. The first leg of the trip was getting from the boat launch to the actual course. That was about half a mile of paddling. Once we found the course we navigated it backwards. We arrived at the park as the tide was rising so we needed to let a bit more time go by so we could get through a shallow area by marker 12. Navigating the course was a bit tricky at the beginning (actually the end) as the signs weren’t always visible from the previous marker. We passed several docks that looked almost identical. If I didn’t have the GPSr I would’ve suspected that we were coming up on the same dock. The best part of the trip was the mosquito trenches through the mangroves. In some places it was too narrow even to use the full length paddles so we just pulled ourselves along. We also saw a baby raccoon among the mangroves. He was really cute. The roots of the trees were covered with little black crabs. They made good projectiles for a certain person who kept running his kayak into mine. They had the desired effect but they bounced off the hull of the boat. Next time I’ll try to find some armor-piercing crabs. The paddle back from the course to the boat return was upwind all the way. It was tough going. Afterwards we went to Wendy's for lunch. Great trip.

Venice Beach Shark Tooth Dive

Pico and I went to Venice beach on a trip with Diver’s Supply yesterday. Even though the water was a chilly 65 degrees, it was a fun dive. It was way more relaxed than the ones from the boat and I didn’t really have a buddy to keep up with per se. Pico couldn’t sink the first time out so I just dug around for a while by myself. The second time I lost him within a couple minutes of diving.

Though we were there for shark teeth, I apparently don’t have the eye for it. I wish I had taken my camera with me because I saw some neat wildlife. I saw a really crazy white blob thing straight away the first dive. It was spherical but with split ridges that ran around it with what looked like some tentacles in the middle. That was my favorite. My second favorite thing was a translucent anemone with light purple spots on the tentacles and little white tentacles with red tips in the very center.  The others found an artificial reef where they had some luck. When we went out the second time Pico had some more weight on him but I still lost him within the first couple minutes. Visibility was about four feet. I just popped up occasionally and swam over towards the dive flag. I spent a lot of time looking at interesting sea life. I saw a couple of sea urchins, lots of hermit crabs, a few fishes, tons of mollusks, corals, and some kind of tube worm with tentacles that look like stringy snot. They withdrew the tentacles when disturbed. I am really glad stuff like that doesn't get as big as we do.

New Phone – the Palm Pre

Well this is a nifty little device. I like it overall. I used to use a Palm Treo 700p but when Verizon started giving away the Pre and the wireless hotspot plan that goes with it, I just couldn’t resist.
The Good:

• Lots of neat gadgets. It has GPS and will geotag photos itself.
• It will allow you to find geocaches on the spur of the moment instead of downloading the geocaches for the entire state at home or trying to predict where you’re going to be when you get a chance to geocache.
• The WiFi hotspot feature is awesome. It couldn’t be any more simple to use.
• The phone will also use other WiFi networks that are around when you want to browse the web or check email. It’s better than using the cell network and it doesn’t count against the 5GB data cap.
• It runs lots of apps at the same time and it’s easy to switch between them while one is thinking or downloading.

The Bad:

• You can’t search calendar appointments! You can pretty much just start typing anywhere – tasks, contacts, memos, app launcher, google maps, pictures - and it will automatically start searching, but not in the calendar.
• All these gadgets suck battery power. The Pre has almost 2/3 of the battery capacity of the Treo 700p. I drained the Pre in about 3 hours 30 minutes of continuous use talking, texting, emailing, mapping, and app downloading.
• The antenna is weak – my 700p got much better signal than the Pre does. The signal is pretty lousy where I work. The Treo 700p could deal with it but the Pre runs down flopping between networks. 
• The GPS took forever too get its first fix. More than 15 minutes. It finally locked in after I clicked on VZNavigator but that might be a coincidence.
• While the Pre will geotag photos, it does not record the time and date the photo was taken in the EXIF information. It only records “date modified” on the file. If it doesn’t have a good GPS fix it will use Google location services to get a fix which is likely to be half a mile or more off.
• The camera on the phone takes pictures that are too big to send via MMS.
• The video editor makes malformed mp4 files. They don’t report the correct video size and have white space in them. They also won’t upload to youtube.

Keys Trip in review

I went down to Key Largo this weekend and my friends were gracious enough to let me stay with them. Friday I went scuba diving at Molasses Reef. Some people are better off not scuba diving in the morning and I’m one of them. Still I got to see a lot of wildlife – eels, sea turtles, fishes galore, Portuguese  Man-o-war, and a big stingray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday we went to Key West Naval Air Station and watched the Blue Angels perform. We had a bit of an issue at breakfast because all the air ran out of one of the Jeep’s tires. Joel changed the tire with the skill of someone who’d had to do that before. When we got to the base we walked around all the static displays, watched some performers, and Kim recruited medical people for camp. The UV index was 11 which evidently is high enough to fry sunscreen right off you. I wish I’d remembered my hat!

Sunday we had a potluck at the church and went sailing before evening services. After services Chris arrived and we played Super Smash Bros. Brawl until we couldn’t see straight. Another victory for Das Ubermousen! It was great.

 

 

Monday I heard a strange noise like someone building a bridge outside. When I got up and looked out the window I saw I was wrong – they weren’t building a bridge, they were building the river. I figured that was as good a reason as I needed to play some more smash bros. They had a nice steel plate they laid over it so cars could get by.

 

Pew of Pain

I went with my friends to the local church for worship Sunday. They’re nice people there, all ten of them. We had a potluck after morning services that was very good. They had some amazing marinated pork dish that was very tasty. The one thing I don’t like about going there is the medieval torture pews. There is a line of wood that goes across the pew and is very uncomfortable when you lean back on it. The pews must have belonged to a Catholic church in the past or something. Our Lady of Perpetual Discomfort would be my guess. I suppose it does cut down on snoozing during the sermons though. :P

Scuba diving in Key Largo

One of the sea turtles I saw on my dive at Molasses Reef in Key Largo. The new underwater camera, an Intova IC-10, really seems to do video better than it does still pictures but I haven't yet tried using manual white balance so there is a faint glimmer of hope. It wouldn't make the cut as an above-water camera. On this dive we saw rays, man-o-war, turtles, eels, and numerous fishes. Our first dive was at the wench on Molasses Reef, the second was near Fire Coral Cave. We didn’t go in the cave, but I did get to swim under a rock with very low clearance. They were both very good dives.

Backpacking Oak Ridge

This is one of the groups of scouts I was helping with their map and compass work Saturday. Every group made at least one wrong turn because they weren’t using the map and compass like they’d been taught. I think they learned to take those skills a little more seriously as many turned their two mile hike into a five mile hike. I suppose the exercise didn’t do me any harm. The new scouts packed heavy and weren’t too happy about the situation at the end. Along the trail a few of the older scouts had used a moulage kit to create fake injuries on themselves which the younger scouts had to treat. They also had to read the coordinates off their maps to give their location to the 911 operator. Thank goodness they build GPS into cell phones now.

Blue Angels at MacDill Airfest 2010

I took this picture during the Blue Angels’ practice session Friday before the airshow. I was on a boy scout campout this weekend and so did not get to see the show Saturday. Sunday the weather was inclement and I figured they wouldn’t be flying. Kelton was disappointed that he didn’t get to see the Angels but maybe we can catch the show in Key West next month.

Checklists, rehearsal, and rain pants

At the council “36 hours of rain” camporee in December 2009, I was the only adult leader who was warm and dry because I had waterproof layers, most notably rain pants. I made mention of them as often as possible (which was quite often) until the indelible impression was upon everyone’s psyche. Another thing I’ve been harping on lately is how much easier it would be to remember to do everything and to stay on track if the boys used checklists. Mr. Steve, one of the assistant scoutmasters, often says his favorite things are checklists and rehearsal.

Tonight after the meeting:

Scoutmaster: I just don’t feel like he understands the scope of what he’s supposed to be talking about.

Me: You know what would help?

Scoutmaster: Checklists.

Me: And rehearsal.

Scout: And rain pants!

Back to SCUBA

This is a picture of me on the dock at Blue Grotto. A buddy from work and I went SCUBA diving there. We didn’t go all the way around it because he wasn’t comfortable under so much rock but we did go down about 80 ft. One of the things I liked best about it was turning upside down and watching the bubbles flow up the rocks. Chasing the catfish was fun, too. The next thing I’m going to have to buy is either an underwater digital camera kit or a case for my D300. It will probably be the kit since I don’t really want to spend $1500 or more for a case. On the way back we saw some accidents on the interstate that were pretty cool because they looked like they'd been caused by the gusting wind. We saw one car-carrier in a ditch, minus one of the cars which was across the road; and we saw another tractor-trailer that had a tow-truck trying to pull it sideways out of the ditch it was in. Lucky for us they were both on the northbound side.

Rear Admiral Fleet Escort

So now that I’m an Admiral I got another new ship. The USS Seraphim looks pretty mean. It doesn’t turn quite as fast as the Defiant class, but it does carry more guns, which I like. Now I get to go fight the Borg though I have not had a solo Borg encounter yet. The cruiser handled it pretty well but I’m not sure an escort has the hull points for it. We’ll see… I also did more scout web pages and went to a crossover ceremony for our newest scout. If I do enough other things it shouldn’t seem like I’m obsessed with this game.

I also bought a cruiser just for fun. I haven’t named it yet but I did take it for a test drive. It will take a lot of punishment.

Crossover Funnies

Eric and Kyle met me at the cub scout crossover ceremony to welcome our newest scout to the troop. After I made all the proper introductions, I decided now would be a good time to hike back to my car which was parked in a random campsite down the road and get my jacket and chair.

Eric: Mr. Troy! You missed it!

Troy: That figures. What did I miss?

Eric: There was a rope from the tree to the fire pit and they shot a flaming towel down to light it.

Troy: That sounds really cool. Ah well. I’ll just set up my chair and be comfortable.

Less than a minute later I had to stand up because our scout was the first to cross over.

Eric mentioned to me that he really liked the cup holder on the 5 gallon cooler. It had MacDonald's cups in it. After the crossover ceremony while we were standing around the fire waiting on the food to be served, Eric decided he was going to go over and look at it. Meanwhile I was talking to the kid tending the fire and found out that it was his cooler and cup holder.

Troy: Eric, this is the guy who owns the cup holder.

Eric: Really? It it for sale?

Scout: Yeah, I’ll give you $50 for it.

Eric: OK! $50 please.

Troy: LOL I think you meant to say you’ll take $50 for it.

Scout: Oh yeah.

Troy: You gotta be careful about that. Especially around Eric.

Eric: It would’ve worked if you hadn’t explained it to him!

First, I don’t think it would’ve worked. Second, Eric didn’t even offer me half to keep my mouth shut.

After the crossover I had to take Kyle to meet his mother at Burger King. On the way back to the car Kyle crushed the soda can he’d been drinking out of.

Troy: Why did you bring that with you?

Kyle: Because it still had drink in it.

Troy: Drink that’s now going to drip all over my car? I don’t think so. Throw it away. Is there a trash can around here? [The campsite in which I parked was far away from where we knew there was a trash can.]

Kyle: [After looking around] No.

Troy: I’ll drive you back to the campsite and you can throw it away. Just make sure it drips on you and not on my car.

Kyle: Oh that’s nice.

Troy: What? You are easier to clean than my car is.

Kyle: You know this is a one-way street right?

Troy: Oh yeah. I’m glad you said something before I started driving that way! LOL Well as we drive out look for a trash can.

As we were driving back to the gate we called his mother to tell her that we were navigating our way out of the park. Kyle spotted a trash can so I stopped, he jumped out and threw the can away. We then drove up to the gate.

Troy: Well we may be a little late… the gate is locked and they didn’t give us the combination. Kyle, go make sure the gate is really locked and it doesn’t just look like it’s locked.

Kyle’s mom: I think I have the number for the cub scout leaders. Hang on and I will call them and find out what the code is.

Troy: OK

Kyle reported that the gate was indeed locked. As we sat there we saw a car approaching the gate from the other side.

Troy: I hope that’s a camper that knows the gate combo, that way we can escape when they come in.

It turned out to be the ranger. He told us he’d lock the gate back after we left.

Kyle’s mom: I got hold of them.

Troy: Actually, the ranger just showed up and opened the gate for us. We’re on our way.

Kyle’s mom: OK, see you soon.

Troy: Kyle, what was the gate combo?

Kyle: 1 2 3 4

Troy: What?! You didn’t try 1 2 3 4? Sounds like the combination an idiot would have on his luggage! You should always try the obvious things first. Like when you don’t know a password you should just try “password”. You’d be amazed how many times that works.

Set Phasers to Roast!

This is my Defiant class ship, the USS Lionheart. What an awesome ship! It works just like in the show, too, with its phaser cannons blowing up ships in one flyby. The space on the left is where all my desktop icons sit. <g> But lest you think this is all I do with my time, Saturday I spent teaching wilderness survival at a scout camp and hanging out with Kelton. Sunday after services I did troop leadership training for the newly elected/appointed boy scout leaders. I also worked on photo album web pages and watched a movie. I’m not addicted to the game! I can quit whenever I want!

Awesome places

Star Trek Online has some amazing scenery. This is my ship flying through the Badlands near Bajor. I love being able to fly around in all the places you see on the TV shows.

My heavy escort

I have since renamed it the Tai Lung. I'm almost ready to be promoted to Captain and then I'll have my Defiant.

An above average day

Today at work there was a sausage biscuit and a 2 liter of mountain dew waiting for me when I arrived. Later I found on my desk a check made out to me for $200. It was an above average day!

As if I need another addiction

Now I'm a Star Trek online junkie. My Ship the "Sheng Li" (it means victory in combat) flying around Deep space 9.

President's Day Paintball Massacre 2

Today was our traditional federal holiday paintball outing. Hillsborough schools weren't out for the holiday so some of the young attendees were absent but the games were still great

Backpacking in the Withlacoochee state forest

Me and the gang after backpacking about 12 miles around Croom last weekend. I really need to drop some cash on lighter gear. If you are planning on going yourself, it is a very nice walk. Know that there are hills and pack accordingly. I wish I had!

Fun with lasers

I recently got a cool green laser pointer from Dino Direct.com (don't be in a hurry if you order from them) and just to see what it would look like I used my camera to take this pic of writing my name on the wall.

What an incredible smell you've discovered!

When my coworker and I came back from lunch we discovered this orange tentacle thing growing out of the ground. I naturally thought It was a space octopus or something that had fallen to Earth and was planning to take over. I accidentally broke this specimen when I was poking it with my leatherman. You can see the spongy internal structure and some of the spore goo on the  pieces. When I brought my camera down to take pictures of it I got a lot of funny looks from people as I knelt over it. I typed a description into Google and discovered it is a type of stinkhorn mushroom, Clathrus columnatus. Apparently the horrible smell of the things attracts flies to distribute the spores. The thing I found most amusing was not the space octopus idea but the fact that this thing was in a location where people are supposed to be aware of their surroundings but I'm the only one who noticed the bright orange tentacle growing out of the green grass.

free gift

The green laser pointer came with some free little beads. After laughing with friends about how poorly the instructions were written I put them in a glass of water. A few hours later they had grown 50 times their original size! I liked the colors so much I wanted to see what it would look like with a flash for a backlight. After showing the picture to a coworker I learned all about super absorbent polymer and its many applications.