Let’s see, all kinds of things to talk about, a few fun stories and some updates.

I ended up sitting outside with some friends one night last week, talking late into the evening, and we had dried hibiscus flowers.  It was a very odd texture, they were a bit chewy and stringy, and I thought they looked like small crowns, or maybe flames from a fire.  Not something I would eat again, but I’m glad I tried them.

We had the A/C on the other day, and it was freezing!  Granted, it was freakishly hot and humid outside, but I ended up having to turn it down, and then eventually off.  I did however get a package, which is the first one of the summer that I’ve gotten.  Since I’m the one who sorts all the mail, it’s always kind of depressing seeing all the packages coming in for other people (and massive amounts of things to sell), but it comes with the territory I suppose.  Anyway, one of my old camp directors used to always get me little dollar store toys to keep me entertained in the office, and he packed up a huge box and sent it to me.  It was filled with silly putty, a Frisbee, foam disk guns, silly string and a ton more, it was very exciting.  Sadly, I’ve been too busy to open them up and play with them, but I’m hoping that soon I’ll be able to.

Also last week, we were able to figure out how to get a conference call between three or more people going.  Granted, we were testing it on the three phones in the main office, but it was still cool nonetheless to get it working.  Now I’m kind of hoping we need to use it in the future!

A few random news stories: Trampoline boots are a reality, GearLive had an article about these large boots with “personal trampolines” attached to them, allowing the user to bounce anywhere.  Sounds cool, but also dangerous!

Sony announced a $100 price drop in the PS3 and Microsoft announced a new 80 gig and a Halo-themed Xbox 360, all to very little excitement and fanfare.  E3 was very toned down and spaced out this year, but sounded like fun nonetheless, Nintendo announced its Wii Balance Board and Zapper.  I’m still waiting for Wii Music and the diving game, and of course, the release of Smash Bros. Brawl, announced for sometime in early December (I forget the exact date at the moment).

Speaking of Nintendo, they have a cool new service available at the Seattle Mariners stadium (the team is apparently owned by Nintendo): if you have your DS and pay a fee, you have access to their fan network, showing you replays only shown on TV, statistics, trivia games and allowing you to order food and drinks from your seat and have it delivered.  I don’t really enjoy baseball that much, but I know a few people who do and I know they would love this (mostly for the replays and the quick access to statistics), hopefully it is something that could be expanded to other stadiums and sports.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that Ragnarok was coming to the DS as an MMORPG, well apparently, new details have surfaced, and that isn’t really the case.  It will be a single person game with some online features.  Oh well, not that I was interested, it just got my attention because a friend used to play the game on the PC.

The new seven wonders of the world were announced (on 7/7/07), and sadly, Neuschwanstein (probably spelled that wrong…) Castle was not one of them.  It was my favorite and I was sad to see that it didn’t win, but I understand.  If I remember correctly the pyramids were the only repeat from the seven wonders of the ancient world, and nothing from the U.S. made it, which is fine by me, but I guess some people were very upset over this fact.

The pope is making headlines again, he re-released a document which he wrote in 2000, although I’m not really sure why it was released again, possibly to add more validity to it with the title of pope attached, or maybe just as a reiteration.  But either way, it comes across as extremely offensive to the rest of Christianity.  The document basically stresses Rahner’s “Anonymous Christian” theme, but as “Anonymous Catholics.”  What also baffles my mind is how someone can bluntly say that a specific denomination (or all but a few in this case) does not offer a “salvivic path,” but gets people close enough to Catholicism to provide that salvation, but still encourage open dialogue.  Seems a bit two faced to me, and downright offensive when you read the text, but I know that it can be read in other ways, so I try to stay open to those interpretations (of the interpretation of the council).

This goes back to camp a bit, but it is so strange sometimes to take a step back and realize how dependant we all are on the Internet and e-mail.  I get so many questions about cell phone coverage, access to e-mail and wireless internet, that sometimes I think we should just open up a computer lab.  And it’s kind of sad to realize that so many people can’t even spend a week with their son without feeling like they are getting hopelessly behind at work or missing something important in their e-mail.

Well, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out very soon, and I’m planning on putting up a special post with some of the theories and some of my predictions.  I don’t really expect any of them to be correct, but I’d like to at least discuss it a bit.  Ok, I think that’s it for now.  I’m planning on hiking the Courage Trail this weekend and taking some pictures so I’ll have a bunch to put up when I get home from the summer, so look for that as well!  Have a great one!

Hi again everybody, back again.  A couple news items, a few observations, some fun things from camp; usual stuff.

It was reported that a falcon from the Cleveland area attacked the falcon nest on the Cathedral of Learning.  The falcon from Pittsburgh ended up killing the one from Cleveland, which was poetic in a mother-nature/NFL sort of way.

I also read that the Palace Inn is planning renovations, and is applying for a resort slots license.  I can only imagine what it will be like if that is approved, but it would be good for the area, just crazy in its implications.

I also read that Ragnarok will be coming to the Nintendo DS.  A friend played it before, which is why it caught my attention, although it’s interesting that a MMORPG is coming to a handheld gaming system, so we’ll have to see how that works out.

I may be going geocaching this weekend with a friend, as well as wandering around the flea market on route 40.  We’ll see how things go, I’m excited to go caching, as well as to the flea market, although there is also a Central Staff day at the Waterfront, which I’d like to go for dinner.  And I’ve also been invited to a friend’s place for the weekend, so I really don’t know what is going on, I think I’ll be playing it by ear.  The original point of this paragraph though was that I found out my boss and his wife also like to geocache, although they have the same feelings about it, “I love it, but don’t get to do it enough.”

During opening staff week and week 1, there was a lot of inclement weather that was hitting Pittsburgh, so a lot of friends and family would call to warn me.  After visiting his units this week, Irv did the same as he was driving back to Pittsburgh, which was very nice, and for once, the weather actually came our way (when people called before, it would always end up missing us).

The furries are back in town again with their annual convention.  I never realized just how big of an event it is, it brings over two million dollars to the local economy, which is great, if not a bit awkward.

We had some locally-grown corn the other day at one of the meals and I got three of the wooden crates in my room now.  I really like how they look, although they are a bit flimsy, and they hold some of the random items that were just cluttering up the place.

Currently I’m listening to the soundtrack to the Buffy musical, which I haven’t listened to (aside from a few tracts) in a while, and it’s nice to hear it again.  It (to many) surprisingly has a very wide range of musical genres, as well as some great singing and instrumentation.

I’ve also had a very successful couple of days reading.  I finished up “How to Survive a Horror Movie,” which coupled with being at a camp and having the power go out, was a bit interesting and creepy.  I also finished “The Headmaster Ritual,” which was excellent.  I’ll have lots of book reviews to add when I get back home, I promise.  I’m still reading “The Silmarillion” as well as “Infinite Jest,” and I hope to start either “Bloodlines” or “Battle Royale” soon.  But of course, I’ll probably put those one hold when “Deathly Hallows” comes out, so we’ll see how things are going then.

All right, off I go for now, catch everyone later!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day. I ended up going out to Nemacolin’s fireworks show, which was pretty good. It was a bit short, but fun nonetheless. We were up on top of a hill, the wind was blowing and there were lots of people. I also got to see the Nemacolin Castle for the first time from a fairly short distance. It is beautiful and gigantic, I want to go back and take pictures of the property sometime, but I don’t think they would be happy if I did that.

A fun new product coming out on the market is the ability to add falvored water to a faucet or pitcher. I believe Brita is doing it, and it should hit retail pretty soon. Pretty cool, although I like the idea, I tend to want a variety of flavors, not just one at a time, but it seems really cool nonetheless.

Apparantly Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opened early in Pittsburgh for a special sneak peek, which was available via myspace. Pretty cool, I’ll watch it when I’m home next at the end of the month.

Speaking of myspace, there is a band, “The Karl Hendricks Rock Band” which was recently featured in the Post Gazette. One of the band members was wearing a Heritage Iron Man shirt, and I was trying to get in touch with him. It took a lot of tracking down, but I found them on myspace, and finally made contact (thankfully, I had a myspace profile from a while ago, I still have yet to really do anything with it, I’d rather just stick to facebook). It turns out he got the shirt at a thrift store, and had no idea what Heritage was. He was interested though and was very pleasant, which was nice.

Although I did get a small reprise on Tuesday: the power went out on the whole mountain. Our phones worked for a while, but soon enough their battery backup went down and I could do just about nothing. So I sorted the mail, pulled some things out, cleaned a bit and then just relaxed on the porch until we had power again.

In other gadget news, a company in China is releasing a device that detects seismic activity and alerts those around it. You only get about 30 seconds warning, but it’s still better than nothing. We have what we call the ThunderChicken (it’s really called a ThunderBolt, but it squawks) which alerts us to nearby storms, so it’s kind of like that, and could be very useful in places like California.

When I was home last weekend, I saw a great sign at the Taco Bell in on 22: “Best Chicken in Miracle Mile.” The Chick-Fil-A is set to open right next to it, and I think Taco Bell is feeling the pressure.

I also got to try out Big Brain Academy at E.B. Games, which was really fun and a bit addicting. My brain got a C++ rating (I kid you not, although I don’t know the language), but to be fair, a couple walked right in front of me while I was playing, blocking my wiimote from interacting and it wasn’t very good at giving instructions, I’m sure if I went through again I could do better.

I also headed over to Ken’s (from Liberty, not the Ranger) house the other night, which was a nice time. He needed to pick up some stuff and wanted some company. The ride was a lot of fun, Emmeline went as well and we just went there and back, but it was nice to be off property for a bit.

I think that’s it for now (I have one other note written down, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it means, so it will have to wait for now), I have a second list all filled up in the office, so hopefully there will be another entry soon! Have a great one!

A quick post to wish everyone a happy Independence Day!  I have a list of things to write about (and a started second list), but it’s at my house, so it will have to wait for a bit (hopefully tomorrow though).

I’ve been trying to have a quiet night reading and turning in early for about a week, but with no luck, but maybe tonight it will happen.  But then again, I want to see the fireworks at Nemacolin tonight, so I’m not sure what to do.

Oh well, I’ll keep you posted.  Catch everyone later, have a great one!
 

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.