Out in the parking lot, I almost stepped on an Onion headline. I wonder if whoever passes out literature on global warming realizes that it will only end up as litter. All those resources have gone to waste…

I had a quick thunderstorm pass through here tonight. It probably only lasted about twenty minutes or so. There was one lightning strike that must have been extremely close. I hear this *BOOM* boom boom boom boom. And the power goes out briefly. I tried looking outside to see where it might have hit but the rain was rather intense and I didn’t see any fires.

So, I am heating a small pan with water and some oil in it. It is at a rolling boil when the oil starts popping. But then it moves to a state that I haven’t seen before. The oil would pop up above the water and then explode (probably from the flames around the pan). Like fireworks were going off. It was an strange mix of scary and interesting. Note to self: This is not a safe cooking method….

During the past two cycling trips I have had this unexpected problem. Its been rather hot out (after all it is Texas and it is Summer). My arms are covered in sweat. And that sweat flows down the arms to my hands where it drips off. And drips and drips and drips. For the whole trip. So at the end of the ride, my hands are rather pruney. I guess I need to try out some wrist sweatbands…

I recently saw Stranger Than Fiction and was pleasantly surprised. It was the first Will Ferrell movie where Will Ferrell didn’t really suck and make the movie painful for me to watch. The story was interesting. There were big name actors in it where they played toned down roles. Except for Emma Thompson who was a suitably neurotic writer. And don’t forget Maggie Gyllenhaal who was a cute anarchist baker.

With all of the rain falling in central Texas this summer it is no surprise that some opportunistic fungus will sprout up. Quite a strange looking ball if you ask me.

I walked over to try out the Kona Grill over in the Domain. It looks like they are finishing up the new road that will connect to Burnet.

It looks like they are using rocks dug up during excavation to block off unfinished parts of the road. And, being the pedestrian hating town that it is, there are no sidewalks lining this road.

I don’t know what they are doing to these poor trees. Trying to save them I guess. The saran wrapping probably keeps in water.

Oh, and the restaurant? So so food and a bit over-priced.

Hi,

I am interested in advertising on your web site, specifically on your page:
http://www.hamzy.info/blog/archives/2007/06/airport_ordeal.html

The ad would be for a airport parking web site, and would consist of a 2-3 lines of text with links
to the site. I can pay you $35 for the ad, and send it via PayPal, or check.

Would you be interested?

Bruce Armstrong

I received the above unsolicited email today. Somehow they tracked me down to another email. It doesn’t even really apply to the URL. And I do not think that my readership would even appreciate having to read advertisements along with my drivel.

Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery

I had my first playing of this new game today. It was billed as a somewhat meaty game with game mechanics from Struggle of Empires, Caylus, & Puerto Rico. But it didn’t really combine those mechanics into something more interesting than the sum of the parts. I think that this is what gave me a negative impression during my play. I kept thinking fondly on those other games and wanting to be playing them instead.

Also, it was quite long for what it was and it took us 3 hours to play the game after the rules were explained.

After returning the car (and getting a better rate when the receipt was printed out), I went to the airport. I was a little worried that the problem at the airport in Scotland would cause delays. So I arrived early. But there were no problems with security at all. Too bad I did not have a putter and a golf ball.

I was hoping that somehow today would be different. There would be no problems. However, I was wrong. My flight to Dallas was delayed by 45 minutes. Fortunately I had a little extra time for my connection. Dallas was definitely having problems today. We had to wait a little bit before the plane was able go into the gate.

Walking down the concourse I saw some really tall Chinese basketball players. To bad the lighting was low enough so that I couldn’t take any pictures…

I got to my next gate in time. But was then told that flight was at a different gate (which was somewhat close). And at this gate I could see my plane waiting for some baggage handlers to arrive about the time we were supposed to leave. Sigh…

During an afternoon thunderstorm, I spied a Heron standing on top of the bird feeder getting rather drenched.