Probably no post tomorrow.

In case anyone is reading this, I will be travelling tomorrow night to Boston; I most likely will not be doing any posting until Friday.

A wandering mind is a dangerous thing.

Ever since I visited India and saw monkeys in the "wild", I've been obsessed with the thought of feeding a monkey a donut, easily one of the funniest imagesI can think of. It's not like it would be the worst thing someone has done to one of these animals (outside of Mumbai, I watched as a boy went up to a money sitting on a railing and give it a good smack.....predictably, it went nuts and started lunging at people, howling and baring it's teeth). I may even go to hell for doing this, but if you're going to be damned, it's important to have a good reason.

Well, it turns out I wasn't the only person with this idea....

http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0025-0507-3112-0725.html

If I were to do this, however, I wouldn't be charging anyone nearly $300 for a copy of the photo. No sir-ee, I'd distribute the photo for free, sharing my vision with the world, helping make children smile and the infirmed forget their condition. Also, I wouldn't use a spider monkey; observation of this species at the local zoo has revealed that the females possess grotesque genitalia (i.e. an almost prehensile vulva) that would really detract from any comedic effect. A monkey such as the macaque (what I saw in India) would be much funnier. Also, a gem donut just doesn’t cut it....it has to be a full size donut, maybe a plain cake donut or a French cruller. I like donuts with coconut sprinkles, but I think monkeys like to keep clean and I always get coconut all over myself.

Here is a link to a Japanese donut chain, Mister Donut (pronounced mis-ta donatsu in Japanese);

http://www.misterdonut.jp/index.html

I must say that the donuts look mightily delicious here; the Japanese seem to have surpassed us in yet another critical technology, perhaps with the aid of “just-in-time” supply of pastry fillings, or with special donut-producing robotic devices (I believe the Krispy Kreme donut machine utilizes only mid-20th century processing expertise). An especially funny variation of the feeding-donuts-to-a-monkey fantasy: when in Japan next year, rent a monkey (anyone have a lead here? Maybe my guidebook will have some pertinent listings…..), enter a Mister Donut, and yell at the donut serfs “Saru wa donatsu ga tabetai! Ima donatsu ga motte kitte! (translation: Monkey wants to eat donuts! Bring donuts now!). Maybe I’ll have to settle on a stuffed monkey toy, but come to think of it, that might be even more insane……..

A slow day

Nothing too exciting happened today, but in the interest of keeping up the habit of updating my blog on a daily basis, I'm going to make a power tool recommendation......

http://www.milwaukeeconnect.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product3_27_40027_-1_284262_281137_189333_362

With 8.0 amps of power, you'll find that this 1/2" drill has plenty of torque for any job around the house. Yet at only 5.4 lbs, the well-balanced design won't leave you with a sore arm (unless the large-diameter hole saw you're using binds up, in which case you may find your arm nearly broken....I speak from experience).

An aside: From now on, use the word "Frinkahedron" instead of "cube". It's a Simpsons refererence, from the episode where Homer enters the 3rd dimension; Prof. Frink uses the word to describe the geometric object that you get when you extend a 2D square along the z-axis, named after the man who discovered it.

So I'm a nerd......

This evening we had a wicked (rainless) thunderstorm that blew out the power in my neighborhood (although the Bingo hall down the street was unaffected......I guess the city managers have their priorities). After sitting in the dark for a few minutes, I realized it was still light outside and so left for an hour or so. After returning, the cable was still out and so I was unable to catch “Star Trek: Next Generation”. I hate to admit this, but I may be a latent Trekkie. I’ve never been to a convention, and I’ve only ever watched “TNG” and the original series (although a strike against me is the fact that I can name all of the other shows……”Deep Space Nine”, “Voyager”, and “Enterprise”), but self-described Star Trek fans have commented on my extensive knowledge of the show, and I do hold show-based opinions of strength normally reserved for TV-related debates such as “Mary Ann vs. Ginger”, “KITT vs. the A-Team van”, or “Alf: television’s most underrated sit-com?”. For example, in “NG”, there’s just way too much talking about feelings. I really think that if man achieves the dream of interstellar travel, there’ll be better things to do besides use our warp capabilities to enable interpersonal drama. Also, for all the advancements in special effects between the original series and "NG", the technical feel of the latter really isn't that much better than the 60's version.

As a related aside, if you haven't seen the "Twilight Zone" episodes with William Shatner, you're missing out. Also, if you haven't heard, Matt Damon will play Captain Kirk in the new "Star Trek" movie.....

Very first entry.....

OK, after months of procrastination, I've finally taken the plunge and started my own blog (thanks to P. for the shove). Hopefully I can use this medium to relate some of my minor (and maybe major?) day-to-day adventures as well as witty commentary of everday life. My only two rules: no politics, and nothing that will damage any realtionship with friends, family, or potential employers. Well, maybe a bit of the latter, but hopefully nothing too serious.

This week will be a busy one at work....I need to finish a paper or two before I head off the Boston this Thursday for my friend Kerry's 40th Birthday. It should be a good time....lots of good people will be there (and by good, I mean entertaining). Sean will be with his family in Connecticut, and will drive over to Boston for Saturday night; I'm sure that many a bottle of Plymouth Gin will fall. The Silvertone (the place of the celebration) makes a mean martini, but I've always thought that they filled the glass too full. A critical factor in drink quality is that of temperature. If the drink is too full, the drink becomes warm before you can finish it and it doesn't taste good. Gin definately needs to be served cold.