I made that.

I have needed an entertainment center, of sorts, for a while. My DVDs were just sitting in a line across the ground in front of the TV. My video and stereo components were just stacked on each other. I looked for a pre-made one, but couldn't find one that matched my needs.

SO, I did some planning, and went to Home Depot (which I HATE), and bought seven 1"x4"s. And about an hour later I had this:

 

Holey moley, I'm a carpenter! Who knew?

Flutter by.

Also at the Bronx Zoo, I visited the Butterfly House. They were cool. Here's some pics from there that I like a lot!


 


 


 


 


 

The monkeys' pose.

The college sponsored a trip to the Bronx Zoo while I was on vacation last week. $10!! That included the bus and admission as well as some of the premium areas. One of the areas we got to go to was the Gorilla Congo area. While I was there, two of them posed liked this:


 

AMAZING! If there was a third with his hands over his eyes, people would think I altered it.

Although the "Speak No Evil" gorilla looks almost like he's doing "Smell No Evil". But that's OK, too.

I love the zoo.

Crazy Cricket

I had a huge cricket in my house while I was on vacation. HUGE. This thing was a monster. An insectiod beast.


 

I scooped him up in a tissue and brought him outside to take pictures. I was feeling crawly and oogy the whole time. Look at those spiky things coming out of his butt! Yeeps.

Two more weeks off.

There has been a dearth of Blog entries recently. I apologize. AND....

....I'm taking the rest of this week and all of next week off.

Official Blogging Vacation begins....




.......NOW.

I thought I had seen every episode of The Simpsons, at LEAST once. Last night, there was an episode with David Byrne! It was wonderful. David Byrne is pretty nifty.

But! The real point of this is I heard one of my favorite quotes on the show EVER.

Homer had written a song about hating Ned Flanders. It was overly catchy, and got played and replayed and overplayed so many times that it completely drove him nuts.

At one point Homer says, "I've come to hate my own creation! Now I know how God feels."


The Simpsons is the best.

The Cranium folks have a new game!

ZIGITY!

It's a card game. It's way fun. Super fun. The cards are clear plastic, which is pretty crazy.

Unlike other Cranium games, you don't have to do stuff. No drawing, sculpting, singing, acting, or anything of the sort. It's just a card game. The top card of the discard pile tells what you are trying to accomplish. Each card has 4 icons-of-sorts in the corners. One corner has a letter, one a number, one an instrument, and one a PIECE of an icon.

You may be trying to spell a word with the cards in your hand, or have cards that add to 11, or you may need to match the instrument, or you may need to complete all the pieces of the icon. The top card of the discard pile must be included in whatever you are doing.

So, if the top card of the discard pile is a "Spelling" card, and it has the letter W on it, you must spell a word that has a W in it. If you have an S, O, R, and D, you can play "SWORD", and put all 4 of your cards down at once. Now, whatever top card you just played determines the next person's action.

It's really dynamic and quick and a blast to play. I think you can only buy it online or at a Starbucks. I've had it for about 3 days, and I've already got my money's worth.

I was trying to go to bed at a reasonable hour last night, but it was pushing 11:00 pm so I HAD to watch the Daily Show. I had convinced myself that I would NOT STAY UP for Tough Crowd. I wouldn't. It was TOO LATE and I was TOO TIRED.

Right before the Daily Show ended, during their last commercial break, there was a spot for Tough Crowd. It was just a little kid talking about who was going to be on the show. It was actually a little freaky. I was a bit confused.

But he said, as if he was talking right to me, "C'mon, stay up a little later for Tough Crowd. You'll sleep when you're dead."

Good point! I was convinced.


Today, I'm tired.

Last night in the kitchen, there was this groovy looking moth buzzing around my kitchen. He sat still and let me get a bunch of good pictures of him.




Moths are cool.

A fun little online game.

It's called Constellations.



It's basically a free-form 'connect the dots'. Obviously (if you know me) I have an astronomy connection to a game called constellations. But there is a geometry element, as well (I'm an astronomy geek AND a math geek).

You see, there are some dots scattered around the board, and you have to connect them together with lines exceeding a certain length. The length increases at each level. You cannot cross a line you have already drawn, and you can only use a dot once, so you have to plan ahead. Sometimes you are provided with brighter dots which can be used twice... these often are the key to finishing.

The boards are random, so it's very replayable.

So far, my highest score has been: 134699.

This site has another game called "Gravity", which I enjoy, too, but not nearly as much.

They have a bunch of games, but these are the only two I really ever play.

I got a new toy!


I had a dinky little Dean Markley jamming amp since college. It made all sorts of horrible noises that were not related to the guitar at all. It buzzed and hummed and groaned and popped and sputtered.

But all that's changed. This little dude is the best thing ever. It's a Fender Frontman. It's bigger than my old one, but still pretty small. The clear tone is awesome, the reverb is awesome, the buzzy gain is awesome.

I am a rock and roll star. At least in my own apartment in my own brain in my own little world.

As a person who speaks loudly for a living, having a sore throat just stinks.

Last night, I went outside to find a pair of geese with two babies. The goslings were terribly, terribly cute. I had to get some pictures. I actually took about a dozen.




This morning, they were back by the docks! I went down to get a couple more pictures, when I heard a rustle in the trees at the edge of the property. A big adult goose came out, followed by what appeared to be a clown-car full of babies. I count SEVENTEEN.



Too cute. Although, there is goose crap EVERYWHERE.

Not that I update this much, but I should mention that I will be away from technology for at least 10 days.

See you in June!

There's a game called Pig Pile.

I've played it a bunch of times now. I attend a regular game night, and it seemed to pass the harsh game night crowd standards! I've also played it with family and friends, and we all seem to find it fun. I know I do.

It basically a card game that looks an AWFUL LOT like a standard card game called Palace. You can play a card on top of another if it has a value equal to, or greater than the card that is there. If you don't have a card to play, you must pick up the ENTIRE discard pile and add it to your hand. There are some cards face down in front of you that you have to work towards. First one to ditch all cards wins, and gets 3 pig points. Next one out gets 2 pig points. Everyone else gets 1 pig point, except for the person who has the most cards.

You actually keep track of the score with little pigs. And that's the best part -- collecting the little pigs. And setting them up in odd formations.

And, for some of us, sticking them in our ears. This is someone who will only be referred to as "The Colonel" (his actually identity will remain hidden for his own protection!!) enjoying those pigs.




It's a good game. Not too expensive. Quite easy to learn. Looks like a keeper.

PICTURES!! PICTURES!!

Ok, I am so happy now.

First -- I'm getting used to the new Blogger interface. I knew I would. There are still some issues I have, but I'm sure I'll get over.

Second -- and, oh so much more importantly, I can use the "Hello" program to post pictures! And host pictures!! This is awesome and amazing and free and makes me SO MUCH happier. There are many times that I've wanted to put pictures, but couldn't. I use Yahoo, but they scramble their web addresses, so you can't put a permanent link to them.

Hello lets me include the picture!

I needed this. My day has been sucking so far, and there is a decent amount of suck left to go. I am a smidge happier now.

This is a test to see if I can use "Hello" to post pictures to my Blog. This would be good. I could take the pictures of the Planetarium web site -- I'm sure I'm breaking a rule or 2. 

SO FAR I do not like the new Blogger interface. It takes more clicks to do the simplest things, and makes it harder for me to see the things I am used to seeing (like recently updated Blogs).

It won't stop me from Blogging, but if it looked like this when I started, I probably wouldn't have stayed with it long.

Sorry, Blogger folks. If you could change some stuff BACK I would be thrilled. The old panel of posting and publishing was nice. I did a LOT of test posts before I published before. Doesn't look like that's even an option anymore. Oh, wait. Maybe it is "Save as Draft".

Urf. I am not in the mood for change.

I'm sure I'll come around.

I was in a restaurant this weekend, and I overheard part of a conversation. It went like this...

"...because you see, fish don't have legs. Chickens have legs."

I have been haunted by this since. I really, really want to know how that could possibly fit into a conversation.

It's been a couple weeks since I've been over here. Sorry about that. Not much time to write, really.

But I needed to take time out of my busy schedule because I stumbled over the craziest thing. This is for dog owners everywhere: The Pet A Potty.

Check it out -- you don't have to take your dog out anymore. It's a patch of grass you keep in the house. Seriously. You have to mow it. You still have to scoop, but the pee dribbles through to a pan you have to clean regularly.

Don't have enough crap in the house?? Get a Pet A Potty. Their website has a video/slideshow preview that actually shows dogs 'in the act'. I thought it was fake at first, since the pictures showed some dogs with a turd half out. Crazy.

With the wheels and sod and everything, it can be yours for the low, low price of $270.