Month: May 2003

Now this is a hell of a shot! I think I’ve linked to the main page before, but if you haven’t visited it already, you should. It’s chock full of QuickTime panoramic images that are well worth visiting…

I’ve added a Message Board to serve as an area to discuss ‘80s lyrics, pop culture, and whatever else comes to people’s minds. I’m hoping that this will make it easier for people to get their questions answered, as it will be a more central place for discussion, and it will allow for people to help each other while reminiscing, ranting, and conversing. Please participate and let me know what you think!

Now that the power has been reconnected we did our walkthrough yesterday, and everything seems to be working properly, not that we were too worried about that. One set of new neighbors came over to introduce themselves, which turned out to be quite a surprise. When I opened the door for them, I immediately thought that the guy looked familiar. It turns out that he and I both graduated from the same class at the University of Maryland (‘96 aerospace engineering), and we both work at Pax River, although I already knew that from the previous owner. How cool is that?

PIA, the new cat, seems quite traumatized and hid the entire time we were there. I hope she comes around. I was worried that our cat Ozzie would have problems adjusting (and he still might), but seeing how scared this cat was, I’m wondering whether she’ll be able to deal with Ozzie, and not the other way around.

Things aren’t looking too good for the airshow here at Pax River this weekend. I keep seeing different reports, but in general they all contain varying degrees of rain, so it could be another wash. Missing the one at Andrews Air Force Base last week due to the weather was bad enough, but I wasn’t too disappointed, secure/hopeful in the knowledge that this weekend will probably be better. Oh well. 🙁

Like the buttons I’ve added on the sidebar? Well, you can download the originals here or create your own here. I’ve been meaning to make a nice banner or button graphic for the site for a while now, but sometimes the minimalist approach is kind of cool, too. What do you think?

These poor cats…

Visit this site and print out the form once you’ve decided on a time and place to return to from the future. This way, we can show everyone that time travel is (will be?) possible. Seriously, though, this particular argument is perhaps the most convincing proof that time travel is impossible; I think Stephen Hawking said that the main argument against the possibility of time travel is that we haven’t had any time travellers from the future visit us. Or have we?

This Washington Post article continues our previous discussion of our French “allies”. Apparently, the Pentagon is not ready to start playing nice, “disinviting” France from participating in Red Flag exercises (the USAF version of Top Gun) next year. Also, U.S. aircraft will not perform aerial demonstrations at the Paris Air Show. Best quote from the article: “A defense spokesman said yesterday that slots for foreigners in Red Flag…in which France has participated annually since the 1980s, ‘are going to be reserved for those with whom we will likely be participating in operations in the future.’”

As of an hour ago, Ulana and I are now proud new homeowners, a fact that daunts me and hasn’t quite sunk in yet. We have moved from St. Mary’s County to Calvert County, MD and are now Lusbyans (insert obligatory joke here). Looking around at all of the things that still need to get packed and moved in the coming week or so, I’m a little overwhelmed at everything that needs to get done, but I think we’ll manage, especially with the help of everyone that has graciously offered to come down and help us in our move. For those of you that haven’t seen pictures of the place, I took some crappy digital pictures way back when we were first looking and made a web page of them here.

Besides buying such a beautiful home, we have also inherited a new member of the family, another black cat named PIA (short for Pain In the Ass; lovely name). It looks like for now I’m destined to not have the typical cuddly lap cat, because this cat is even more timid than Ozzie, our somewhat rotund cat that suffers from asthma. Hopefully the two of them will get along OK; if not, PIA will need a new home…

Anyway, I’ll post any interesting news and stories about the new house in the weeks to come, but for now we need to get packing!

The Commodore 64 and 128 hold a special place in my heart, as they were one of the first computers I really worked on, although I had also played around with such icons as the TRS-80, Ti 99, Apple ][, ZX-81 and others. Still, the Commodore was not only easy to use and program, but it also had a hell of lot of cool games in its time, and I still get a hankering for some of them every now and then. The Commodore Curiosity Page has some interesting ads and tidbits of information; click on the picture at right to see a larger version of the fairly bold 1985 ad that Commodore came out with. Obviously (and unfortunately, IMNSHO), their plan of domination failed, although their follow-on computer, the Amiga, made some revolutionary breakthroughs that still linger. I keep forgetting to grab that C128 from my parents’ house so I can play some of those cool games again on the real thing, as emulators just don’t cut it…

Curious what would happen if Lisa and Milhouse had children? Then visit this page and see some of funny, bizarre combinations they came up with.