Long time since I updated, sorry about that, things have been really crazy here, I do apologize.  The weather has been pretty good up here.  Hot and humid though.  We finally got some more rain today, which was much needed.  We had a nice layer of dust over everything, which got washed away thankfully.

Things have been really stressful lately, but it comes with the job I suppose.  We did pass national inspection, the sixth year in a row with a perfect score.  Our banner is hung and we’re all official.  Hooray!  My fingers are pretty sore and cut up from all the work, but it comes with the territory I suppose.  I also have to say that Excel has this awful way of closing all instances of itself when you try to close one by using the trop toolbar, not the one right below it.  We’re also using Microsoft’s SharePoint software, and I’m getting the hang of it.  It allows us to share documents and information, and is generally a good program, it would be nice if we could get the camps to have it as well, but maybe in the future if we have the money and time.

Jeff found a box turtle at Ohiopyle, he named it Roadie since he found it on the road, now it lives at Freedom Eco-Con.  And speaking of names, we’ve named our copier Konnie, our printer Huey and my computer “The News.”

In other animal news, I saw the white buffalo last weekend.  One in ten million is supposedly born that way, and it is a sign of peace and unity.  I headed up to the zoo here on the mountain to see it, and of course, took lots of pictures which I’ll upload at a later date.  It was a bit strange through because there were so many white animals in the zoo, seemed a bit coincidental…or maybe suspicious.

I then headed into U-town with some friends, we walked around the mall for a bit (I looked for the next book in the series I’m reading, but Borders didn’t have it).  One of my friends ended up walking out of the mall with a very nice picture frame for opening a Zales account.  I talked with the sales clerks about getting people to open charge accounts and how much it sucks.

Some more news coming out of U-Town: I will occasionally pick up the construction workers on our green channel here at camp, which is interesting, seeing as they swear a lot, and our radios on that channel are around scouts.

We had a group of Israeli scouts stop by here last week on their Friendship Caravan tour.  It wasn’t as educational as I had hoped it would be, and I was hoping we would learn more about the culture, but it was a huge hit, so that is good I suppose.  The troop of five guys and five girls did a series of dances and songs, like what you would see in music videos I suppose.  A lot of the songs were Disney covers, and Spongebob was in the mix too.  They did do a traditional wedding song, and explained the cultural significance of that, which was good.  Camp Freedom was presented with a neckerchief for their dining hall, and afterwards, they went out to Lonestar with a friend of mine, who witnessed them experience gravy for the first time (they really didn’t like it).

I would also like to report that the trading post this year is stocking 3 Musketeers at my suggestion (I’ve made a couple other marketing suggestions, including doing a “lucky plate day” version of nacho baskets and a 20/20 promotion to get rid of some of the 20th anniversary books).

I visited one of my Packs while they were up here.  They had a blast, and were really complimentary of the whole place.  I’ll be helping them out in the fall with a recruiting night, so that is good, and everything else seems to be fine with them, so I’m happy to see that.

Matt was up this week, I actually had dinner with his troop tonight (I’m Central CQ so I figured I could get this writing done), which was very nice.  I hung out with a lot of people and had some good food.

I watched Bruce Almighty the other night, and it was amazing.  I want to see it again, and highly suggest it.

In news from the interwebs my camera is today’s Woot! deal (I highly suggest it, it’s a good camera, and you get the dock as well).  Also, I read a story discussing how San Francisco will be banning bottled water for its employees, stating that they could save a ton of money if their employees drank tap water, which is just as good as bottled water.  I’m very glad for this decision, not only will it be a huge money saver, but really, tap water is just as good.

And in some personal news, I finished (or at least reached my 20,000 word count) my script for Script Frenzy!  I’m an official “world premier” winner!  I think it’s amazing that I could do that in a month while getting Heritage open for the summer.  So here is my official winner’s badge:

Ok, that’s it for now, I’m off to the infirmary to sleep and read for the night (and answer phones, radio calls and take care of emergencies), catch everyone later – I’ll be home briefly this weekend, give me a call!

All right, quick blog post here for you.  Keystone Kelly came up on Sunday, and we hung out for a while.  It was nice to see her again and catch up.  Also a bit strange, seeing as so many of the old Office Managers have either been on property, or are here currently.  A bit funny though.  We’ll hopefully get together again this summer, and we’ll definitely get together at the end of the season to discuss the job (and decompress a bit).

Speaking of the job, it’s been going well.  Some of the reports/numbers that I need are a pain in the butt, mostly because people will give me multiple numbers or question the numbers that I am given, but I can’t do anything besides believe the numbers I am given.  And of course the occasional micromanage/sudden and sever interest in my work which usually catches me off guard, but it all comes with the territory I suppose…that and the fact that everyone loves to use my stapler.  Which at this point I find quite amusing.

A bunch of us watched “Thank you for Smoking” the other night, which was wonderful (again).  Very witty as always.  A group went out to see “Knocked Up” tonight, and sadly I couldn’t go as I had to stay here to do some work, but hopefully next time I can go.

The photographer showed up, he is a friend of Kevin’s working on his Master’s Thesis, taking pictures of Scouts.  It’s cool to think that the Scouts here on the Reservation are going to potentially be part of an art show in New York and part of a Master’s Thesis.

And of course, since I’m at camp, I’ll talk some more about the various animals I’ve seen.  When my parents came up and we went to Lonestar, we saw a fox (which was ironic as there was a fox at the house they rented on vacation), I’ve seen a raccoon, the bear, a lot of hummingbirds, lots of deer (including the ones behind Ranger Jim’s house that he has named) and a bear was spotted in Chalk Hill crossing Route 40.  Fun time in the animal kingdom!  And I’ve expereicned this a few times, but forgetting to write about it, we’ll have clusters of small white bugs that fly around, and every now and then, I’ll be walking and they will travel with me, I feel like I’m in Eder Gira and Eder Kemo in URU, it’s an awesome feeling!

Garfield turned 29 today, so happy birthday!  I always liked Garfield (especially Odie), even though sometimes the humor has gotten repetitive and predictable.

The third and final WOMBAT exam is closed, I totally missed it.  But that’s ok, everything was all messed up with my access codes anyway, but I’m still a bit bummed that I missed it.

It’s finally raining a little bit here, which was much needed.  I rode out to Freedom and Liberty, and the dust was awful.  I got to drive back though, so I’ve now driven the Trading Post Van (formerly the CMV and then the Medic-mobile) and the RT van.  We’ve gotten some rumbles of thunder, but nothing like the storms we see forming on radar or the storms we get reports of from Pittsburgh.  Crazy weather as always on the mountain, but if it stays somewhat cool, a little less humid and without the crazy, end of the world weather, it would be a good thing.  And on a related note, I convinced the Reservation Trading Post Manager and Business Manager to stock Three Musketeers this year, which is I believe a first.  I’ll have to let my brother know, he’d be very proud of me!

That’s all for now, catch everyone later, have a great one!

Opening staff week has come to a close, crazy times indeed.  Friday was insanely busy, this just after the day when four different vendors showed up at the same time to deliver their goods.

The opening banquet was amazing, the food was great.  It was set up picnic style (well, as much as it can be in a dining hall I suppose), with steak sandwiches, wings, fruit, cheese and crackers and ice cream.

Other than that, things chug along as always, I’m pretty much set in the office, or at least I think I am.  I’ve been playing phone tag with Pittsburgh a lot, but that is normal.

So far though, technology has hated me.  I’ve run out of ink (or in one case film) on two different faxes (both are refilled and we have one hooked up and working now though), and the office radio wasn’t working, so it’s off to be repaired while I borrow someone else’s in the meantime.  It all reminds me of the fax machine from “Office Space,” see the title of this post above.

While making nametags for the reservation staff, which I think turned out excellent, I noticed that one of the staff members has a last name of Garrison, which of course, reminded me of URU: I laughed for a while at that one.

Speaking of, I made an observation about how my one friend Kyle likes to get the menu item A4 (some sort of noodle dish if memory serves) at his favorite Chinese restaurant and A4 is the basic paper size in England, a bit smaller than 8.5 x 11.  I was making this observation out loud on Friday, during the pandemonium, and it elicited a laugh from several people, probably because it was so random and left a few others speechless.

Writing for my script is coming along nicely, I’m a bit behind, but I’m hoping to catch up later tonight and tomorrow.  I was central CQ last night and got some writing done, also finished my second book since I’ve been up here.  The bed was uncomfortable, because it was so soft (I like a firmer mattress), but other than that, it wasn’t too bad, just a bit boring at times.

I’ve met a staff member who was a lone scout at one point, two who go to Gateway and two from Seton Hill, so it’s been quite an exciting time in terms of meeting new people.  I’m hoping that the two from SHU will join me for Homecoming at SVC this year (although we’ll be playing W&J).

The other big news is somewhat related to my parents and their vacation.  Apparently there is a fox living in the bushes near the house they rented for the week, and two days ago I saw a bear on reservation for the first time.  He was rummaging around in the dumpster and we went over to watch it, grabbed some pictures (but I don’t think they came out, it was too dark), and Ranger Will and his grandsons came over as well.  He was a really brave bear, he let us get fairly close, then we scared him off property.

Well that’s it for now, I think I’m heading into U-town tonight to get off property for a bit, catch everyone later!

Ok, first post from the mountain.  I wanted to post this about three days ago, but I’ve been real busy, so sorry about not writing in a while.  Lots of things going on, which will take presidence in these posts, instead of the normal mix of events, links of interests and funny things from the web.

On the way up to camp for the season, I stopped at the scenic overlook for the first time in all the years I’ve come up here.  I took some pictures, so look for them when I get home and have the time to format them for a gallery.  I stopped to grab a geocache (there is one on the way down the mountain too which I’ll get at a later date), and in the process, found a steak knife in the grass.  Odd, yes, but not totally out of place I guess.

Moving into the house was fine, I didn’t change a whole lot in my room, it’s cozy, and very functional, which is the most important thing really.  Again, I’ll take some pictures and post them when I’m home and have the time to format them for a gallery.

Speaking of which, I’m hoping Joomla! 1.5 comes out soon.  I did some beta testing of it, and I like it a lot, although there were of course a few bugs.  But the sooner it comes out, the more widespread it can be used/tested which will provide more support.  So hopefully it is released soon, everyone learns how to use it and updates extensions, then I come home and can update the site to 1.5 with minimal problems (and hopefully update the gallery software as well).  We’ll see, chances are it won’t happen that way, since it would be most beneficial to me.

Speaking of other technical problems, the last day before I came up to camp, I wanted to pop into URU to grab this month’s calendar spark…and of course, things blew up in my face.  The new GameTap client decided to delete all my game data, and when I tried to redownload URU, it downloads it and then promptly deletes it.  It is a problem that has been around for a while it seems, and I was talking with tech support for hours with no solution in sight.  I’m actually pretty upset about it, and still haven’t heard back from the tech supervisors.  Not that it would do me much good, I’m not at my computer anyway.

I’m not sure if I wrote about it before, but I helped my mom pack up at Evergreen, which was a lot of fun, I’m getting good at covering bulletin boards with large sheets of paper quickly.

Anyway, back to camp life: The first night I was here, Kevin took us out to dinner, which was very nice.  We went to a place I hadn’t been before, Kurt’s I believe, it’s right before Lonestar if you’re traveling down route 40.  Another first: I got to ride in the Escalade yesterday.  I had incorrectly thought it was my first time inside a Cadillac, but then I remembered Mr. Rataic’s car.

I was helping to clean out the Pathfinder Trading Post, and a bird got inside while we were loading the van.  We eventually got it down to the game room, which has three doors to the outside, so I trapped it in there while we opened the outside doors.  I kept flying around and almost dive bombing me each time it made a loop, I felt like I was “The Birds.”

My monitor on my desk is really awesome, it’s on a swivel base, so I can turn it very easily without any problem.  Maybe I’m just easily amused, I don’t know, but I like it!

I’m getting the hang of the phone system.  There are still a few quirks, but I’m getting it.  I’m also generally getting more comfortable with my job.  I’m still nervous, since there is a fair amount that has changed since I worked here last, but I enjoy the work, and I love the people I live and work with, so that makes all the difference.

I did have a steak today, which is very strange for me, seeing as I usually only have steak at the Vigil Steak Breakfast at Spring Ceremonial, but it was dinner.  We’ve had all kinds of fresh fruit, and lots of steamed broccoli, so I’ve been happy.  I also had a great bowl of oatmeal this morning.

Ok, one quick news story of interest: MIT has developed a way to transmit power wirelessly, even with obstructions in the way.  It’s only about 40 percent efficient, and the materials needed take up a lot of space, but it is becoming a reality!  There are news stories floating around about it, check it out.

Tonight is Chaplain Jeff’s birthday, so happy birthday to him (in case he’s reading)!

Ok, that’s it for now, I’m heading back into my script writing for Script Frenzy, I’m trying to stay on track, but I have a feeling I’m going to keep falling behind until the first week of program is behind us.  Have a great one everybody!

A few weblinks, an update, and some fun videos, enjoy!

A really cool shower, it has a waterfall and rain setting!  I really liked the shower from V for Vendetta, the one that pours straight down, and I think this would be close to it, but still very modern and functional.

Unclutterer has a short article posted about using your stairs as storage space.  Pretty cool, but I don’t know if it would be really practical to change your current stairs, it may not be worth all the effort that would be required.

There will be Russian Satellite Navigation receives on sale this year.  Russia has launched satellites to provided positioning signal, competing with the US’ GPS signals and Europe’s forthcoming Galileo system.  It will be interesting to see how it works, and how it compares to the other two systems.

I thought this was pretty ingenious: shoes with hidden compartments to hold you valuables.  So when you go for a walk or even to the beach, your stuff is safe and secure, without weighing down your pockets.

A new way to capture video, Screencast-O-Matic has popped up.  I think it could be useful, and looks fairly easy to use, and would hopefully use less ram than other programs out there, we’ll have to keep an eye on it.

I finished the wedding invitations today, and one of the songs in the ceremony is Canon in D, I happened upon this video of a guitar remix of it

And one of my favorite commercials right now, the Traveler’s Insurance ‘lucky rabbit’s foot’

This year is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.  The history channel ran a really good program looking at the historical, political, spiritual and religious influences on the saga, it was a great program, and if it replays, I’d highly suggest watching it.

Star Wars is also the name of a segment that 100.7 runs every night, where two songs go head to head in a battle, and last week during the last night R.E.M. was in the competition, they played my vote on the air!  It was the first time I was on the radio, so it was very exciting for me.  I happened to be in URU, exploring Minkata and I tried calling in (usually it is busy and I can’t get through), but sure enough, I cast my vote for R.E.M. and a few minutes later, I heard it over the airwaves!  So of course, I go into Neighbor chat and tell everyone because I was so excited!  It was also a bit strange to be exploring Minkata (a desert) while in an air conditioned house…just felt odd.

The other day I was going to sit in our desk chair downstairs, and sometimes when you wheel it to you, it will bounce off your heel or shoe.  Well, this time it decided that it was going to destroy my heel and took out a big chunk of skin and it’s still heeling (healing/heeling…get it, it’s a pun!), so that is kind of crappy, but funny when I look back at it.

A Harry Potter area is going to be opening at Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, as well as a Simpson’s Area.  More reasons for me to go, besides the fact that I’ve never been there.

And speaking of theme parks, I thought I mentioned it here, but I looked back and didn’t see it: China is opening a Bruce Lee theme park in 2009, complete with Bruce Lee robots that walk around and interact with the patrons and do stunts, all controlled from a giant, central statue of Bruce Lee.  Sounds a bit creepy to me.  I also wonder how the workers will get into the giant Bruce Lee statue…

Currently it’s the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Festival.  And we know what that means…monsoon season!

Saturday at the mall, MTV and Journeys put on this huge barbecue, with about 2000 people showed up for the concert, free food and celebrities (some skaters on a new show), so needless to say, it was crazy at the mall.  But I did get to see the Mall Security Officers yell at a bunch of kids for skateboarding through traffic.

Ok, I think that’s it, I head up to camp on Wednesday.  I’ll be writing over the summer, but really don’t know how often I’ll be able to post.  If push comes to shove, I’ll end up backdating the entries when I can, but I’ll do my best to keep this updated.  Have a great one, and send me mail, I’ll write back!

A quick update to clear out some of the things I wanted to mention:

Google may be tracking in-game behavior soon. It would be interesting to see if this pertains to URU or not, I know a lot of explorers were, and still are, wary of a corporate advertising presence in the Cavern ever since URU first launched, so we’ll have to see how this develops.

Bill Gates showed off the new computer table, which looks pretty cool and could open up the door for some cool applications, especially if the table was rotated vertically 90 degrees and instead of using a keyboard and mouse, we use the table technology to interact with our next computer. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I meant to mention it before, but during the Heroes season finale, when Nikki/Jessica was hitting Sylar with the parking meter (including the bone crunching, squishy sound), it reminded me of the season five finale of Buffy where Buffy is beating Glory with the troll hammer. I didn’t know if anyone else noticed this.

If you haven’t, check out green.yahoo.com. They have some cool ideas to make your house more eco-friendly, saving you money in the process.

I watched an episode of National Bingo Night, and I expected it to be bad, but not as bad as it was. The editing was horrible, and the "commissioner" was just plain annoying, especially with his stupid little hand wave when he proclaims "no bingo."

I’ve been reading a lot lately about a new trend: micro-housing. It seems a bit drastic, although could be interesting for some sort of retreat house/cabin to get away from everything for a bit.

I’ve been sent to see this video a few times, and finally did. It’s interesting to say the least, although a lot of what it’s saying has been said before about web 2.0, not that I don’t agree with it, but it’s a fun and new way to see things, using web 2.0 to explain web 2.0.

Ok, that’s it for now, I’ll try to update at least once more before I go for the summer. Updates will probably be fewer and further between, and most likely posted exclusively at my website for the summer, so check it out.

Ok, here’s goes. Like I said, I was actually pretty pleased with the speech and most of my comments have to do with the news coverage since I couldn’t be at graduation itself.

That being said, thumbs down, boos and two scoops of sadness to President Towey and his insistence to drag politics into the day. His introduction of President Bush was the only politicing I really noticed the whole day and in my mind put a damper on the whole thing. He has previously stated that the reason Bush was there was just for publicity, which in my mind made it even worse: instead of getting a speaker who would deliver a good commencement speech and help the graduates reflect and look forward (which Bush did), Towey wanted the notoriety. Towey commented, among other things, about how pro-life SVC is. And yes, there is a very strong Pro-Life club and they are very active, but it was again, polarizing, and of course, one of my favorite bumper stickers "You can’t be pro-life and start a war." (more…)

It’s been a while, and I apologize.  Tomorrow marks the two week anniversary of President Bush’s commencement speech at SVC, so hopefully I’ll get all my comments into an entry (although to be hones, a lot of the article will be discussing the media’s coverage of the events, as it was a decent speech).

I was at Hallmark the other day and a small girl had on wheely shoes…and decided that she didn’t need to walk, she could lean back and her father could drag her.  He promptly told her to knock it off (which I was very happy to see) and she started to move her legs.  I’ve never seen kids with wheelies do that before, so that was weird and sad, all at once.

Speaking of wheely shoes, on a sadder note, Wheely Engberg died on Tuesday surrounded by mysterious circumstances.  Wheely is a character in Myst Online: URU Live, the daughter of one of the members of the DRC.  It made for compelling and very engaging drama as the rescue effort unfolded (and other events happened elsewhere as well).

URU changed to episodic conent, so instead of a small stream of new content throughout the month, one week is packed full of events, content releases and storyline elements.  I think it’s been going very well (this episode is entitled "Scars"), although the lag is horrible when groups gather (which is odd, other MMOs have no problem with hundreds of people in one area, but then again URU is very advanced graphically) and Cyan needs to come up with some way to "echo" the action to all the instanced city and hoods, so things can be experienced by more than 60-150 people at once.  But otherwise, I think it was good, we’ll have the rest of the month (at least until more content comes out) to explore Minkata (and anything else that may come out), which will be nice for me.  I did however have to miss the first few days of the episode due to Spring Ceremonial.

Ceremonial was pretty good, tiring as always.  Things seemed unorganized, work projects weren’t assigned until the work meeting, which meant there was lots of standing around waiting for volunteers.  And the vigil was really short, which was disappointing, by the time everyone got in place it was probably 1:30ish and we ended around 5: so just around 4 and a half hours for some of the candidates.  The ceremonial ring got new benches (much needed) and during the Brotherhood ceremony, the candidates (who were doing very well until that point at following directions and being smart), forgot to put their name in the obligation and "repeated after Allowat Sakima."  Chuck and I laughed a lot, but it was deserved.  There is a new staff adviser, and the lodge adviser (who has a recent, unfounded hatred of me) finally waved to me Sunday morning after a weekend of being blatantly rude.

But the highlight of the weekend had to be when Matt and I were hiking down the road from the ring back to my car when Ranger Ken passed us and told us to wait up for him when we got to our car.  We got to Commodore and waited and when he came back, the three of us lamented things being so crazy, unorganized and we all shared sighs and wishes to go hide places.  We knew that we had made it when Ken asked us to wait so we could all bitch a little bit. /happiness!

Tom’s graduation party was a lot of fun.  I went over the day before and helped set up and construct a fence.  A bunch of us stayed around until about 1:30 in the morning just catching up.

For mother’s day we went to the Radisson’s brunch, which was very nice.  There were flowers, ice sculptures and really good potatoes.  Then we went home and had ice cream cake!

I planted flowers here (and at my grandmother’s house), since I have the greenest thumb in the family (at least I think) and because I love plants.  I’ll post some pictures, but we are trying something different this year, planting Martha Washington geraniums in the large pots.

Heroes, Survivor and Lost all finished their seasons with great finales.  I can’t wait until the fall (or February for Lost)!  You can watch Heroes (and I think Lost, and at least clips of Survivor) online, so check out their respective sites (Lost: abc.com  Heroes: nbc.com  Survivor: cbs.com) to watch.

So after our commissioner meetings we usually go to Kings on 48 in North Versailles.  The waitress is wonderful, as we ask for her section and leave a large tip since we visit often.  She made for me and others (even though it’s not on the menu) a piece of apple pie with melted sharp cheddar cheese, vanilla (or cinnamon) ice cream and whipped cream with a cherry.  It was wonderful and she was a lot of fun.  Conversely, the Kings in Monroeville (also on Route 48) had horrible service when Cat, Brad, Alandra and I went out.  We only saw our waitress twice and even when the manager came by, he only stopped when I asked for more water, even when we were all out of water and he was halfway past our table by the time he finished his question.  Sad, but also because the two restaurants are on the same road, maybe 15 minutes away from each other.

Ok, that’s it for now, long update I know.  Special entry coming hopefully tomorrow, have a great one!

Quick update, look for another one later this week, as well as a special political/media report on the commencement speech at Saint Vincent College.

I finished Christopher Buckley’s new book, "Boomsday," and it was wonderful (as all his books are).  I’ll have a review up shortly, but definitely pick it up (remembering that it is political satire).

I was over at Cat and Brads about a week ago and my jaw cracked insanely loudly, it really hurt.  What amazed me the most though was that everyone could hear it crack, usually just I can.  Thankfully it hasn’t done that since, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Looking for a free, public bathroom in Pittsburgh…how about Antarctica?  Hey, it’s always good information to know.

I was not a computer science major, but I do know a few, and apparently google has a student ambassador program where they buy pizza for study groups as long as the ambassador wears the supplied google gear and does a few other things.  It’s a great program for students and google, so if anyone knows any current (or soon to be) CS or related students, send them to this link.

My brother got a new cat, her name is Willow.  She’s acclimated well to the other two, so that is good.  I really liked playing with her when I was over there.  Hopefully she won’t pick up the desire to go after the fish from one of the older cats.

Like I said earlier, two new blog entires coming soon, new book reviews and hopefully a new skin for summer.  Catch everyone later!

Lets see, lots of cool links and articles to pass on and some cool stuff has been happening as well.

Script frenzy is starting up, we get to start writing on June 1. As of right now, I’m going to do a stage play that is a mix of The Cat in the Hat and Beetlejuice/Death to Smoochy. We’ll see how it pans out.

Joomla, the CMS I use for my website is entering into beta2 for the new version, 1.5. I’m been testing it out, and it’s really cool, some of the new features are great. Chances are (if it’s ready), I’ll change over at the end of the summer. Between now and then, however, look forward to a new site skin, probably a dark gold.

So there is a new lawnmower robot, kind of like the roomba (the one that sweeps your floor). It looks like it follows the same kind of pattern as well, mowing until it hits the border, picking a new direction and going. Also, it does banks (up to 27 degrees) and doesn’t require oil or gas and knows when it is too wet to cut the grass (it returns to its charging station and waits until its next scheduled time I guess). And on top of all that, it mulches the grass, putting the clippings back into the ground where they can decompose and release nitrogen into the soil. Sounds cool to me, but still a bit (read: a lot) pricey.

Volvo’s The Hunt has started up. It’s fun to play along with up. I had to go out to the Volvo dealership in Greensburg to get a map, but afterwards Brad and I stopped at Barnes and Noble and looked around for a while. I asked a sales associate if they had a water fountain…and apparently I shouldn’t have. She was all snippy with me, but I found it anyway.

A new survey found that Apples iPhone will be facing an uphill battle when it debuts later this year. The article talks about the survey and sounds a little fishy in terms of sample size and getting a random sample, but we’ll see. It looks cool, especially with the touch screen, but I’m happy with my phone and Verizon, so no switching for me!

I’m very excited for Shrek the Third…and so is Chia Pets!

It seems a bit small, but there is an aquarium that hooks up to your computer through a USB to provide total remote control, video monitoring and optimum settings for your fish. If it was bigger I think it would be something I’d be interested in, who knows, maybe there will be more sizes in the future.

I happened up a great outdoor grilling set up: check it out here.

I went and saw an opera at the Andy Warhol museum: The Sound of a Voice. It was in English, which was weird in a way. Opera is one of those things that seems unattainable and so far off, but to hear it in English (especially them singing about normal, everyday things, like being hungry and offering rice and vegetables) was a bit disconcerting, but still made me glad that I could understand it. The set was awesome, and I volunteered as an usher, which was fun, I would do it again (and I may if they need more help, especially for The Marriage of Figaro).

I was awarded the Arrowhead Honor. It’s an award for commissioners, basically for doing their job. That was really nice (a unexpected, I didn’t think I had enough tenure yet, but I guess I did). Here’s what it looks like (amazingly…like an arrowhead):

I replaced the broken blind in our basement, replacing it with this paper, roman blind:

These last two entries, I feel like I’ve been repeating myself. And I’ve looked over past entries, and I don’t think I have, just feels like it. Anyway, after this marathon update, I’ll catch everyone later!