Rhombitruncated Icosidodecahedron

It's OK if you don't get what this is doing in my blog. Let's just say it's an enduring fascination of mine to do with 30 regular square faces, 20 regular hexagonal faces, 12 regular decagonal faces, 120 vertices, 180 edges, two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. At least the first part of that.

Thanks, Roxie - that, at least, has stuck all these years!

Swiss Army Knife Of Doom

Is it any wonder why I subscribe to ThinkGeek's mailing list? A mere $999 gets you this three pound, 85-tool special edition knife - there's not a tool available on a Swiss Army knife that can't be found somewhere on this sucker.

Technology-enabled clothing

How freakin' cool is this?!?

WiFi is all around us. My cell phone has built-in WiFi, and if I forget and leave the switch on when I leave home, it's not long before I'm alerted to the presence of the many home and business networks I drive past.

This is a good thing. I've happily mooched WiFi where I've been able to mooch it, lots of times. When I was moving into my new home a year ago, I remember pulling up to a hotel in Janesville that shall remain nameless, just to be able to pull in their guest broadband signal and grab my e-mail. I'm always delighted to turn on my laptop at a restaurant, cafe, or other public space and find an FM path to the Internet shimmering in the ether all around me.

Problem is, it's hard to know where you're going to find the smiling wireless countenance of a high-speed signal. And it's a pain in the rear to have to fire up the laptop, just to find out. Many people (OK, not many, but a some... OK, not some, but a few geeks) have key chain fobs to let them know when they are in the presence of WiFi bliss. That's fine for yourself, but what about all the masses around you who are fobless? How will they know that there is Internet in the air, beautiful Internet, if only they could detect it?

If only there were a garment which could detect WiFi signals with ease, and convey their strength at a glance.... such a garment would be invincible...

Enter the the WiFi-detecting shirt: With this shirt, you can become the prophet to the fobless masses. Just like the Baptist pointed people toward the Good News that in Jesus, God was present, you can proclaim to everyone around you the nearly-divine presence of WiFi (and also, how many bars of signal your shirt is receiving). It's not geeky - it's a public service! It's not hopelessly lame - it's performance art! People should be paid to wear these things!

The WiFi-detecting shirt: a beacon of hope for the digital masses. ;)

Postscript: "...how many bars of signal your shirt is receiving..." Isn't the ability to say that reason enough to buy this shirt right this very minute? :D

Sweetest Day

I'm loved by the most wonderful woman in the world... who ever saw that coming? *happy sigh*

Despite all the craziness of her last few weeks at school, Gretchen made a surprise trip to Wisconsin last night in order to visit me a little early for my birthday. It also turns out that "Sweetest Day," (a manufactured holiday, yes, but still fun to celebrate with your sweetheart) is today, making it doubly nice to be with her.

Gretchen even made us an awesome dinner tonight, and left me the leftovers. At the Pig while we were shopping, one of my parishioners passed us in the checkout and asked if I was cooking tonight - when I said nope, Gretchen's making dinner, he said I was a lucky guy. True that! But a happy tummy isn't even the start of it. =) To be marrying someone who's beautiful, talented, a darn sharp cookie, and my best friend on top of all that... "lucky" hardly seems to do that justice. Blessed beyond all reason, beyond all sense, beyond all hope or expectations... those come a little closer!

It was a short visit, of course (every visit is too short), but we had a great time just being with each other. A movie, some Red Robin, cruising the mall and Michael's, and a lot of laughter also made the hit list. Next weekend (if the weather is good), maybe we'll fly one of the model rockets Gretchen got me! Wheeeeee!

It's exhausting being so in love with someone. ;) Happy Sweetest Day, love, and thank you for coming up to visit me... I can't wait to see you again!

(I should create a new blog category - "mush"! *LOL*)

Birthday greetings

Today's the birthday of my awesome Aunt Nancy - a round of applause, please! =) Hope your day is as great as you are, Nance.

Evansville gets a hotel

The rumors that have been circulating for some time have panned out - Evansville will be getting its first hotel next summer. From the sound of it, it will be a very nice property, with LCD TVs in every room and free WiFi - even four suites with jacuzzis. Although the original downtown location was unworkable, there's plenty of room on the east end of town where it's being built.

It's fun to see the development around town - this is a welcome addition!