Wii Sports/Lebowski Mashup
Quickie from YouTube:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcv6fPszAZY]
Add comment June 29th, 2007
Archive for June, 2007
Gratefulfest 2007
We’re getting pumped up to head out to Nelson Ledges next week for Gratefulfest. We’ve bought most of our provisions, just need to make a last minute stop for food and such. One of my big decisions is how the hell I’m going to drink with a no glass rule. Will I drink cheap canned beer? Mini-keg of Oberon? Pour some Goose into a plastic bottle? So many questions… Also going to need to put some new strings on my guitar and mandolin, and get them spruced up.
Dark Star Orchestra headlines, with:
- Umphreys McGee
- Keller Williams
- The Greyboy Allstars
- Kimock’s Zero
- JGB Band
- David Gans
- Ramblin Jack Elliott
- Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet
- New Riders Of The Purple Sage
Add comment June 28th, 2007
Blogging Greyling, Part Two
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPcksWSJle4]
The second blackhawk ride…
Add comment June 28th, 2007
Blogging Greyling, Part One
A few weeks ago I gave you a heads up that I’d be spending a day with the National Guard in Michigan. The trip was great, I’ll get right to the super-awesome-blowing-stuff-up parts. The day started with a debriefing here in Columbus at the Rickenbacker Air National Guard base. We were treated to a retired general giving us the history of the Guard, the new challenges faced in a post 9/11 wartime environment, and their outlook for the future. We loaded up into an Air Force troop transport plane and had a nice hour and a half flight to Michigan. After we landed at the airstrip, we were led in teams of 4-5 to our awaiting Blackhawks. F-ing A.
The UH-60′s flew us to Camp Greyling proper, where we were greeted by citizen soldiers waiting to take us to the first firing range. What did we fire, you ask? The Mk 19 grenade launcher, natch (these are the launchers usually mounted on top of Hummers in Iraq). A very quick briefing and we were trudging up a hill and getting set to fire. I ran off about 20 automatic rounds at a parked APC downrange, and had a 100% hit rate. Did I mention I didn’t have to aim? I thought so. The APC’s lit up from the phosphorus rounds, and I was prepped for destruction.
Another Blackhawk ride, this time with the doors open. I was strapped into a 4 point harness, teetering on the egde of the chopper. I’ll get around to posting the whole set of pictues I took, but here’s one I’m proud of:
I’ve got to run, but I’ll continue with part two in a few days.
Add comment June 27th, 2007
Prepping For Grayling
Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Crawford County, Michigan for a day at Camp Grayling with the National Guard. One of my employees was kind enough to sign me up for an employer appreciation day or “boss lift”. I’ll be flying on military planes and Blackhawk choppers, spend time with the Guardsmen and women, firing off a few rounds from a variety of automatic weapons, and eating with the soldiers and officers. I fall into the “Love my country, proud of our military, hate this war” camp, so I really do appreciate this opportunity. I’m waiting to hear back from the SFC who will be assisting me to see if I can bring a camera, but expect a blog post one way or the other.
Add comment June 13th, 2007
The Wonderful Wizard
It’s a sad day for me, as one of my childhood heroes passed away today. Don Herbert, AKA Mr. Wizard, died at home in California today at the age of 89. If you don’t remember Mr. Wizard, you’ve just proved to me that I probably should not sell you alchohol or tobacco products. Mr. Wizard was the proto-geek way back in the day (his first shows aired in 1951). When I was a kid, there were exactly three things I would wake up at 4:30AM for:
- Fishing
- Hunting (reluctantly, but none the less…)
- Mr. Wizard reruns on Nickelodeon
I just realized that all three of these things have a common thread: my Dad. I’ve known for a long time that my appreciation of nature can be directly traced back to him, but only recently have drawn the connection from Dad to my own geekiness. We would watch Mr. Wizard together as he was getting ready to work. Mom would make oatmeal, and when the show was over, we would often spend a few minutes talking, debating, and sharing real world examples of what we had just viewed. His old issues of Popular Science put a lot of big ideas in my head, and I am still in awe of his immaculately well kept tools. And when I got older and helped him in the garage, our conversations about electricity, energy and physics would often culminate in one of us remembering “that one episode” where Don Herbert (I didn’t know his name then, I’m sure) had first gotten my wheels turning about the subject at hand. Come to think of it, I guess my Dads kind of a geek, too.
We’ll both miss you, Don. I’m sure the afterlife will be a hell of a lot more interesting with you.
Super mega happy fun time bonus!!! Mp3 interview with Mr. Wizard on The Sound of Young America.
Add comment June 12th, 2007
Heartland
We spent the past weekend in glorious Batesville, Indiana spending time with T’s family. My night was cut short by a gnarly little bug, but I had a lovely day walking around town with the dogs. After my self guided tour, we hopped in the car to see T’s sister at work. She’s doing some really positive work with sustainable agriculture in Indiana, namely running a plot of organic produce and flora on a nearby farm. She worked hard to sell the idea to what passes for a venture capitalist in Batesville, and had everything up and running when we arrived. I’m not sure what kind of details to share with you, readers, but she’s cranking out lots of peppers, tomatoes squash and the like with a heavy slant towards organics. The land isn’t certified, but she’s doing everything right to get it there. With summertime here, and my thought shifting to eating locally, I’m glad to have a family member who’s helping to make it possible. Obligatory pictures (which are pretty kick ass if you click through for a full gander at em’):
Add comment June 12th, 2007
Columbus Underground
Is really cool. Really. But why, why don’t they have an RSS feed? It just seems silly to me…
Update: Once again, the intertubes have pointed their collective fingers at me and yelled “Reeeeetaaaard. Lisa (who writes one of my favorite local foodie blogs, Restaurant Widow) pointed out that CU poops right up in Google reader. I prefer Firefox Live Bookmarks, but this’ll have to do for now.
2 comments June 8th, 2007
Picasa
Since I lost my Flickr pro account, I thought I’d give Picasa web albums a try. I use Picasa on my local machine anyway, and it seemed like an easier way to get my stuff on the tubes. My only complaint so far is the way links are offered. Everytime I blog a pic, I have to clip the href blah blah blah from the URL so wordpress understands it. Or I could not be a retard. I was pasting the code into the WYSIWYG editor. Dar… Anyway, here are some photos that I particularly liked on this saturday afternoon.
This moth was at least 5 inches tall from thorax to wingtip. The thorax alone was as big as my thumb. Identify, anyone?
Add comment June 2nd, 2007
