Grandfather Mountain, Linville Falls, pals in Boone

Disclaimer:

Blogger does not deal well with photos. In the "preview", these all lined up perfectly with my text.
Not any more though.



Views from top of Grandfather mountain.

Howling winds up there. We got earache in about 10 seconds.











































The mile high swinging bridge was emitting a creepy high pitched singing. I think someone who made the movie Contact came here and used a version of it as the basis for the sound when Jodie Foster walks out on the gantry amidst the spinning rings.




















The drive back down G mountain. Gotta wonder how many goobers die going over the side on this road.

No crash barriers anywhere.








Next stop: Linville Falls

Perfect weather, temperature, no crowds, no bugs yet.
















































Then we did an hour along the Blue Ridge Parkway to admire the view and the lack of traffic.

Even with no traffic, it's still a tiresome drive though.







Then onto visit friends in Boone, who have a hot tub. Bummer.




















They live in this amazing old house rescued and built around the leftovers of an 1800-n-something log cabin.

Proud to be incompetent myself!

Humbled by a lawnmowing service guy

Last year, I planted some elephant ears. This year, they are coming back up. But, a couple of feet away in several directions, more elephant ears are coming up.

Either they are putting out underground runners or the bulbs got shifted by critters.

Today the lawn mowing service hired by the landlord showed up. I race outside to request that he not mow over the top of my elephant ears, which I've tried to mark with little rocks and sticks.

He's on an industrial mower, so is about a foot off the ground, racing around, shouting at me not to worry and hey, by the way, lady, you missed one.

About 10 feet away, in the dandelions, is one 2-inch tall elephant ear sprout. How he spotted this I cannot imagine. Eyesight of a hawk. I gave him much praise and he shrugged. I was humbled. Awesome.

I'm selling the Pleo

It's beginning to gather dust. The new software update is fun, what with the coughing and singing and all, but the novelty has worn off and I figured I'd get a decent amount for him still and recoup some of the expense.

I've taken him out in public once and the amount of anthropomorphizing I witnessed was fairly depressing. Applause to Ugobe. They did their job brilliantly designing this guy to be adorable.

If you're a single guy looking for a chick magnet, this would be the one. Go take this to some outdoor seating cafe and you'd get no solitude. It's better than a puppy.

Even the dolphins at Sea World fell in love. Video done by Pleo fan "Siren".

Online dating grins

Show of hands? Who has moved on from a personal ad after glancing at the photo, not because of the date's appearance, but because of something unbearable in the background?

Me! Me!

A blogger I ran across started a collection of the horrors he noticed, then photoshopped the guilty parties out of the photos, and published a book of them. A sample is on his website, here. I just bought his book.









While you're over there, glance at Joan's Monets. Aunt Joan thought the Monet calendar was boring, so she spiced it up with kid's stickers. These make great desktop wallpapers.

Wow. It's been a good week for justice.

The NYPD were acquitted. Yay.
Wesley Snipes was not. Yay.
A local 21-year-old first time drunk driver is facing felony charges for hitting a cyclist who died hours later. Yay.
Lawsuits against Nifong and Brodhead in the Duke rape hoax conspiracy are being permitted to continue. Yay.

Every one of these events is tragic and appalling, but in each case, a verdict the other way would have set horrid precedent. It's not okay to run down an officer in your car and then plead police brutality. It's not okay to get conned into a religious tax evasion racket, move to Africa, and plead ignorance of tax law. It's not okay to get smashed on your birthday and kill a cyclist. It's not okay to frame young men guilty of nothing more than rowdiness and poor judgment and use them for political gain.

God bless America and a court system that often does the right, but unpopular, thing.

Grand-ducklings!

The manager of the middle grade ancillary project that's complementary to the headache I'm managing informs me that the ducks I raised have produced the first batch of 2008 squeakers.

Woo hoo!

Took Eric horseriding

I thought we were fighting a mild flu bug but we wanted to go anyway when it was quiet. The only two other rides showed up late, then insisted that they had to pop home to change their clothes (what???). We left without them. Nice non-typical trail ride through privately own dense woodland, lots of creeks and stream crossings, very hilly, so the horses gone in a few moments of picking up speed and making Eric squeal. It was misty with rain the entire time so my camera got all messed up. All the photos are very out of focus.

Here's the farm so you can see how nice it is.



View Larger Map

My horse was very responsive, didn't get too irritated if you took if off the trail a bit, understood that I'd ridden before. Eric's did only what it felt like doing, which was follow the tail of the leader.

Least blurry photo here:

Came home sore and achy and laughing, pretty muddy, grabbed lunch, settled down to work, and realized I was dead tired and achy in places I shouldn't be. I went to bed and slept for 18 hours.

Buying generic inkjet ink -- a success story

I bought a Lexmark inkjet printer on a holiday sale for about $20. The replacement ink cartridges cost $30 and don't last long.

So I was recommended to http://www.4inkjets.com

They sell replacement ink for $22. Nearly a third cheaper. Okay, worth it, but also I don't care for this racket of bullying the customer into buying namebrand ink by putting chips in the cartridge. Why can't you make either a better product that will sell itself, or price your printer to make you a profit? It doesn't feel honest to me, so I don't feel like being loyal to Lexmark.

So I ordered some ink, it came, the ink in my printer finally ran out, I put in a generic cartridge and it didn't work. So I called 4inkjets customer service -- no waiting on the 800 number, by the way. Well done! The guys had a menu of typical suggestions. Turn off the printer and wait, reseat the cartridge, make sure the ink was flowing using a paper towel, reboot computer, blah blah. Nothing. Every time I got an offensive message saying the cartridge was incompatible with my printer. Snakes.

So 4inkjets said, no worries, we guarantee our cartridges. We'll mail you 3 more and a shipping label. Send us back our duds. Today the 3 more arrived, and the first one definitely works. Now I get "this cartridge is out of ink" messages, which they warn you on the box you can ignore. A couple of those popups go by, despite your agreeing "Yes, don't show me this crap again" and then you get another warning label that you appear to be using a cartridge that is not Lexmark ink, and that if you continue, a singularity will destroy your house, someone will kill a kitten in Japan, and the terrorists have won. Oh, yeah, and we've detected trace amounts of anthrax in this ink cartridge. Are you totally sure you wish to proceed?

Ok, I exaggerate.

The printout is gorgeous full color, thank you very much. The guys at 4inkjets rock.

Tell 'em I sent you.

My dog's vet is ripping me off

My dog's vet sent a postcard to remind me that I'm overdue for the 6-monthly heartworm test.

So I went to wikipedia and started reading up on heartworm.

First, since NC has a winter, for at least a couple of months of the year, I can skip the heartworm meds altogether. The vet never volunteered that.

Second, if you are conscientious about the meds the rest of the year, an annual heartworm test is completely unnecessary. 99% of dogs that get heartworm get it from being on no drugs or owners that forget to give the meds for several months at a time. I have it on Google Calendar, thank you. I don't forget. The annual heartworm test is an unnecessary moneymaker, and to demand it twice a year is an utter ripoff.

And that reminds me of something else I've never verbalized. Every one of the patient rooms at the vets office is wallpapered with these awful posters with horrible photos of heartworm. It's scare tactics and it's unethical.

The last straw was a couple months ago when the heartworm meds were running out and I requested a refill but refused the annual physical. The vet assistant told me they would sell me just one six-month supply of pills, but no more. That they "weren't allowed" to prescribe it without an annual physical. That annoyed me. So when I came home, I called a brand new vet whose flier showed up in my mailbox. They said that was bull. Anybody can get heartworm.

I'm switching vets.

The local paper recently ran an article about ripoff vets, and referenced an article here to read about canine vaccines. If your vet is insisting on annual shots, you're being ripped off, was the bottom line. Wow. So guess what else I didn't need to pay for. Bordatella annually, rabies annually. Thanks a lot.

Grr. Snarl.

oh dear god, not another funny dog video on youtube

However, this one made me ache from laughing. Though I think the description, from K9 magazine's website, made me laugh too:

Like some people, there are certain dogs who could probably start an argument with themselves in a phone box. Not bothered by a sole in the world, left to his own devices to enjoy a toy this dog still can’t settle. There’s a vanquishing to be done. A dog can’t enjoy a chew when there’s an errant foot trying to steal the fun away…

Teach a man to banana and you feed him for a lifetime

I just read a history/popular science book about the banana empire. Depressing stuff. Countries overthrown, workers paid to spray lethal pesticides, and now an estimated 5 to 10 years left until we run out of bananas altogether.

Amazing. Almost all the bananas eaten on the planet right now are genetically identical, clones, and you'll notice, seedless. Which means that when a pathogen comes along, as it has, they will all be wiped out, as is happening. So why don't we breed a better banana? We have been trying, for decades, and the banana we eat in 2008 is a whole different variety than the one served 50 years ago.

What's really grim is that millions of people depend on bananas as their staple. The countries that don't make the news for Farm Aid handouts are the ones with a banana plant in every yard. And that's about to change. Because of the number of years it takes for a new crossbreed of plant to produce fruit, at current rates, we won't breed a new variety for another century. Could we speed up the process? Sure. That's called genetic modification, and the EU and popular paranoia has gagged the research. Even though, in the case of the banana plant which cannot reproduce on its own, stupid Frankenfear ideas of mutant plants running amuck simply couldn't occur.

Typically, the banana empire used marketing to boost sales, often unethically. You can't refrigerate bananas. Really? Says who? The same people who ship bananas to you by the gross ton in refrigerated tanker ships and want your bananas to overripen on your counter so you go buy more.

A Popular Science article based on the book is here. The book is good reading, though I skimmed a fair amount of the minutiae of which rebel groups in which Central American country were and were not assisted by the CIA in overthrowing either union leaders or plantation owners, depending on the decade.

The book is on Amazon, here.

Free pet pythons for all

According to this article from Gene Weingarten, pretty soon everybody will have a free Burmese python, whether they want one or not. But, hey, the feral cat problem will be resolved. And I bet burglary home invasions would go down as well.

I find it curious that throughout my 18 years with the python, people have routinely assumed that I'm a drug dealer, and have been oddly ingratiating. No one in my recollection ever assumed that I was a stripper. I'm hurt.

One belly dancer friend did come visit once to meet Louise and evaluate whether she'd want to incorporate a snake into her performance. I talked her out of it. That whole liability insurance thing was a bit offputting.

In other news, the geeky blogs picked up a curiosity that the Kremlin ordered 3200 live mice.

Any day now, I expect the Feds to come hammering on my door to interrogate me about those very suspicious dry ice crates of rabbits I receive twice a year from Rodentpro.com.

Nice April 1st humor from NASA

"In a surprising and potentially troubling request, the new space station robot known as Dextre demanded that astronauts refer to it in the future as Dextre the Magnificent."

Fantastic image from Nasa. The rest of the silliness over here.

Sir Smashem Uppe

My mother was required to memorize one poem from a volume for school, sometime in the 1930s. This was the poem she chose and she recited it when we were stuck waiting somewhere. So I memorized it too.

SIR SMASHEM UPPE, by E. V. Rieu
from The Flattered Flying Fish and other poems by E. V. Rieu

Good afternoon, Sir Smasham Uppe!
We're having tea: do take a cup.
Sugar and milk? Now let me see --
Two lumps, I think? ... Good gracious me!
The silly thing slipped off your knee!
Pray don't apologize, old chap:
A very trivial mishap!
So clumsy of you? How absurd!
My dear Sir Smasham, not a word!
Now do sit down and have another,
And tell us all about your brother --
You know, the one who broke his head.
Is the poor fellow still in bed? --
A chair -- allow me, sir! ... Great Scott!
That was a nasty smash! Eh, what?
Oh, not at all: the chair was old --
Queen Anne, or so we have been told.
We've got at least a dozen more:
Just leave the pieces on the floor.
I want you admire our view:
Come nearer to the window, do;
And look how beautiful ... Tut, tut!
You didn't see that it was shut?
I hope you are not badly cut!
Not hurt? A fortunate escape!
Amazing! Not a single scrape!
And now, if you have finished tea,
I fancy you might like to see
A little thing or two I've got.
That china plate? Yes, worth a lot:
A beauty too ... Ah, there it goes!
I trust it didn't hurt your toes?
Your elbow brushed it off the shelf?
Of course: I've done the same myself.
And now, my dear Sir Smasham -- Oh,
You surely don't intend to go?
You must be off? Well, come again.
So glad you're fond of porcelain!

DVDs seen recently

Michael Clayton -- finally, somebody figured out how to write a character study thriller. George Clooney's character is understated, complex, and brilliant. The very creepy Tilda Swinton is cast as an equally conflicted character holding it together while her world goes to pieces. I was transfixed. And you have to think to figure out what happened. I like a movie that doesn't spell everything out like you're a child. Nicely done. This one's a keeper. A movie about lawyers without a single courtroom. Also about the best and most terrifying portrayal of a completely violence-free murder I've seen. The killers' cold professionalism gave me nightmares.

Jane Austen Book Club -- unwatchable chickflik drivel. Four women who all subscribe to the theory that they should give away nothing of what they feel to the poor man and make him do every step of the work of figuring out what in hell they want while they go to enormous lengths to be mysterious and deceitful. That he bothered to stick around for this game makes him a schmuck. I found it unbearable and gave up in disgust halfway.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium -- This is a demo tape for the special effects company with a thread of plot pasted on top. Every single frame is visual overload. The characters are cardboard cutouts. Shame on Hoffman and Portman for sinking to this. Also unwatchable.

Triple spaceship sightings TONIGHT only

The Jules Verne, the shuttle, and the ISS are all gonna be visible tonight March 25 only for many of us. For exact times of sightings, go here and type in your location.



Three spaceships! Go check it out.

Math Humor for Easter. This is wonderful.

Thank you Foxtrot.

(click to see comic full size)













And take 60 seconds for the most beautiful, artistic, heartbreaking, deranged, perverted cadbury chocolate egg snuff film you'll ever see. Then tell me
- what take was this?
- how much blood was spilled setting this up?
- how many people resigned during the cleanup?

I read a book cover to cover in one sitting

Wow. Been a long time since I did that. 10pm till about 3am, with a break for cheese and crackers about 2am. The book is Blowing My Cover : My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran. A very upbeat and blunt and funny description of the 5 mostly rotten years she spent in the agency. Probably required reading for anyone who had aspirations of ever being a spy. Like her, I was raised on James Bond movies and spy novels and resented being told as a kid that girls couldn't be spies. She proves they can. I also like that she's a self confident woman who doesn't flinch at describing the things she rocks at and doesn't have any qualms about describing what she sucks at. Why anyone would stick this out is beyond understanding. The incessant loneliness would get to me. I suck at being isolated. However, reading the book I realized there's a bunch of things I've experienced that didn't faze me at all: having a gun pointed at me, being the target of a bomb threat, leaving a plane at 13,000 feet. I guess I'll continue to save the panic attacks for noisy restaurants.

My favorite giggle: her description of the Feds showing up at her college dive during her application process, questioning the neighbors, and freaking out the halfway house across the street, from which all the residents could be seen fleeing.

Book is available at Amazon, here. I bought my copy used for a buck.

Wonderful Cross Cultural Moment

I had lunch at my favorite Middle Eastern deli. The staff describe themselves as "Persian." Their food is Halal so I assume they are Muslim, and if I'm hopelessly wrong, please correct me. Regardless, the manager wished me a wonderful Friday, when today is Thursday. So I expressed my confusion. He pointed out that tomorrow is Good Friday, which I hadn't really internalized yet, though maybe the "pose with the Easter Bunny" booth just down the mall should have given me a clue. Duh.

Regardless, it struck me as glorious that the Muslim should be explaining to this atheist why he's wishing me a wonderful Good Friday. I thought it was charming.

And speaking of general bewilderment, I just received a birthday card. I guess that means I have a birthday coming up. Last year I knew because my Yahoo home page sent me a cheery email. In general, you know you're working too hard when you are out, need to write the date, ask the clerk what it is, and notice after you've written it that hey! that's my birthdate!

sigh