How did S. Africa beat us to this!

I like to stroll through Wikipedia from time to time to check out the picture of the day, read the daily facts, and history, and sometimes actually look something up.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this little fact regarding a holiday in South Africa! Jeeze, why couldn't we have come up with that?

This holiday "is started according to a design to solemnize women's independence and power in all facets of life, from their careers to their relationships to their own destiny." Now that's what I call rationalization!

Bravo, South Africa. Bravo.

Weekend Fun

In addition to visiting my friends, Jim and Kelly last weekend, I took Katie out to the park early Saturday morning for a stroll and a swim. I don't think she strolled a bit. It was like watching a 2 year old running everywhere she went. I gave her some off-leash time, and she behaved herself quite well.

Tina wanted some before and after pictures Saturday, when she got her hair cut. I like this picture, especially the red and green contrast. While she was getting her hair done, I took Tess up to Mitchell's Tavern for the prime rib dinner. One of these days, I'll get Tess on the back of my bike, and go for a nice ride through the metroparks. It's going to be sunny and warm tomorrow....


This picture was taken after her haircut. I know... you're all thinking: "Nice hooters!", and "Haircut?...she has hair? I didn't notice." I like her hair straight, but I don't know if it's worth sitting in a chair for 4 hours. Tina is going through a mid-life crisis right now. She'll be 45 in a few weeks, and she feels old. I'm not really concerned about growing old, so I can't comiserate with her. It's not like I'm an overflowing well of emotions anyway. In 100 years, we'll all be dead, so why worry about it.

This is absolutely the best picture of Katie I've ever taken. I had to post it. Besides, she gets jealous of Tina (and vice-versa), so I had to post 2 pictures of each of them to stay out of trouble. I will probably be in trouble with Tina anyway, for talking about her boobs. It's a daring life I lead...

The 5 year science project

My friend Jim (the wise fella who often posts sage advice as comments on this blog) has been working on a project for awhile. He's got it nearly complete, and far enough along to look good.


Yes, it's an arcade game. "Which one?" you ask. Why, it's all of them! With the magic of Linux, MAME, a soldering iron, and imagination, my friend has built the ultimate home arcade gaming experience!

Nice workmanship! It still needs a bit of tweaking, but we had fun playing old games last night. The graphics, the sound, the crappy animations. Ahhh. It was like being back in the 80's again.

There it was in the corner of the bar.
I tried to run, but I didn't get far.

BTW, this is the guy who wrote his first game for the Apple II + in Hex codes. For you non-computer geeks out there, that would be similar to cutting down a tree with a knife. It works, but takes a LOOONG time, and there are other, quicker, tools available, such as a compiler. OTOH, there is a wayyyy-cool factor there. I wrote programs in Assembly Language, and I thought that was hard. Writing out the progam in Hex is one step above using ones and zeros!

Great xkcd today!

See how long it takes you to get it. It took me about 30 seconds, and three re-reads.

Day Game

Few things are as enjoyable as playing hooky from work... I've been working at the Cleveland Clinic for the past two weeks, but left at break time on Thursday.


I've seen this sculpture time and time again while driving down Chester Ave., and often wondered, "What the heck!!??", so I stopped to check it out. It's called The Politician: A Toy. It was created by Billie Lawless in 1994. It looks like it could use a little TLC now. The paint is peeling, and the mechanics aren't working, with the exception of the single wheel which still turns.

I ate breakfast at Sal's on West 25th Street. Crystal has gone blond now, and I think I hurt her feelings when I said she looked good as a redhead. She quickly corrected me. Sal made me a fine western omelet! Then I headed to Hoopples for a warm-up beer. I got there early, but the cook was happy to get me draught Dortmunder until the bartender arrived. My buddy got there shortly after I did, and we talked shop for a bit. The advantage of arriving early is that all the beer is really ice cold! His bud froze once he popped the top off.

Then we headed off to the main event! Cleveland Indian's vs Detroit Tigers at noon. It was a great game, which the Indians won 9-4. I was thinking of my friends, hard at work, while I drank beer, ate peanuts, and watched Grady Sizemore hit his 27th homerun. Poor Bastards!

After the game, we stopped at Gallagher's to see Daneen. She was smokin' in a tank-top and camo pants. Shaggy and Jimmy 1450 met up with me after work (they came to see Daneen too, not me) and we had a few more beers and shot the shit. Afterwards, I went to Mitchell's for wings and icewater. It was a fun-filled afternoon, just what one needs to do once in a while in the summer.