The Great Bow of '06

As cool as our flooded parking lot was, check out the rainbow that appeared after last night's thunderstorms :





























I was telling a Baraboobian coworker about it this morning, and apparently he'd already seen it on the morning news. But as Kevin said, after I remarked how fortunate I felt for having noticed it, "it's seeing the rainbow that is the real pot of gold".

A Challenging Day

Kevin just called to tell me that each of the three things he set out to do this morning has backfired. 1. Pick up new frames for glasses: Clinic office is closed. 2. Purchase new bike tire: Forgot to take tire measurements. 3. Cash checks: Forgot to bring checks.

And while he's been driving around town gathering frustration, I've been sitting here for an hour and a half with my own dilemma. I'm ordering a cake for my sister's bridal shower next weekend, and there needs to be something written on the cake. I've googled, asked Jeeves, searched TheKnot, Brides, Party411, and Weddings, and even brought out Kevin's thesaurus ("happiness, n. 1. cheerfulness, gladness, gaiety, gayness..." 'Wishing you gayness' ? Nah.). Then I took ten minutes to think about the very idea of writing on cakes. An evil concept, to be sure. I ate lunch, then figured that if I'm stuck for words, surely a blog post would help clear the synapses. Either that, or I'll buy some colorful sprinkles and dump them on the top of the cake at the last minute to cover up my inadequacy. Sigh.

I would also like to note proudly that twice this week, I woke up on an entirely different planet. Kevin, having another one of his 'notions', as I call them, has been waking up at 5:30 am. I'm usually up around 6:15 and Kevin follows around 7 after much prodding and tempting with food and tea. But twice this week at 6 am I encountered Kevin in our living room, fully dressed, humming along to a concerto and folding laundry.

Deserving Of A Separate Post

Also today, we saw the film An Inconvenient Truth. Go see it - it's very important! Global warming is not a political issue, and Al Gore has not gone off the deep end. Want to see that much-anticipated WTC memorial before all of Wall Street is submerged in salt water? Watch the film and then go do something!

This message is sponsored by the Organization of Grapefruit Lovers For Tree-Hugging.

Fishes, As Promised... And Some Other Stuff

The trip to Atlanta went pretty well. I attended a technical conference there for a certain company that sells Business Machines, Internationally. I passed a certification test for a set of software that I use at work, which will help me get another job when we leave Madison. We also met up with a former coworker of mine who now works for said company, who asked if I'd be interested in coming on as a consultant. This could also be a cool option for my next job, but lots of travel. We'll see.

But more importantly, I visited the Georgia Aquarium. Wow! Whale sharks! Hammerheads! Saw-sharks, leaf sea-horses, big crabs, beluga whales, seals, sea otters, and oh, the little jellyfish! I would just as soon be attending the Georgia Aquarium Technical Conference than the one I was at. See!






























Also, Kevin & I bought our very own neti pots this afternoon after hearing such good reviews. Overall, a strange experience, but I'm feeling pretty clear right now so I'll keep it up and see how things go.

The Ice Cream Party

Here is a bit of conversation from work today, held over lunch. We had been discussing homemade ice cream. Personally, I like to pour espresso on a bowl of plain vanilla ice cream. But the conversation takes it's usual strange turn, as it does when you work in IT:

Me: Yep, just regular vanilla with a shot of espresso poured over it.

Boss: I love rootbeer extract mixed in with vanilla ice cream. My kids love it.

Coworker1: You know, I actually bought a blender attachment that goes on a drill.

Me: Wow, I bet you could make a lot of mixed drinks with that. (pause)

Coworker1: Well, I figured I could get some cream, fruit, and some liquid nitrogen and whip up some ice cream pretty quick. (everyone else nodding in general agreement) It's just that once you use the liquid nitrogen, you can't really put the ice cream in a regular blender, or mix it by hand or anything.

Me: Oh. Right.

The conversation continued with everyone talking about their favorite local supplier of liquid nitrogen, and their favorite containers for transporting it. Then,

Coworker1: This sounds like the makings of a good department outing. An ice cream party? We can all bring our favorite fruit!

Me: And I'll bring my camera.

Boss: I bet I could get permission to do it right here in the cafeteria...

Coworker2: I doubt it.

Boss: (indignantly) I can easily get permission to hold an ice cream party. I just won't mention that we're making it ourselves.

And so, probably before the end of the summer, this idea may well come into being. I will, as I said, bring my camera and do my best to explain how it actually works. I'm sure you will all want to try it out yourselves.

Birds and Fishes

I went for a short bike ride this afternoon because I was still craving sunshine after I played tennis this morning. Alongside Wingra Creek (as I rode waaaay on the right edge of the bike path!) were ten adult geese and dozens of little ones of varying sizes nestled beneath some shady trees. The babies were all fast asleep, spilling out onto the bike path and also down towards the water, and about half of the parents were awake to threaten unsuspecting bikers. The bike path was caked with smelly goose droppings, and still I thought "... how beautiful".

I'm only half looking forward to my trip to Atlanta next week for work, but I was recently informed by a certain bug-picking friend that the world's largest aquarium is located not far from the Hilton where I'll be staying. It is the only aquarium outside of Asia to house whale sharks, the largest fish in the world. I'll be sure to post some pictures when I get home.