The constant rain and cooler temperatures of the 3.75 Marches we had this year have wreaked havoc on the tomatoes. The three pepper plants I lost were due to wind gusts from the maelstrom of rainstorms knocking them down and uprooting them - even as they were staked.
So, next year - what to do to guard against this? I will have some work to do.
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I bought a 4GB usb flash drive from Newegg on Tuesday. I haven't received it yet. Here's the tracking chart:
8/7/2009 6:05 PM ET LEHIGH VALLEY, PA, US SHIPMENT ACCEPTED BY USPS
8/6/2009 7:10 AM ET ELKRIDGE, MD, US TENDERED TO USPS
8/6/2009 12:49 AM ET ELKRIDGE, MD, US ARRIVAL DESTINATION DHL GLOBAL MAIL FACILITY
8/5/2009 9:48 AM ET RUTHERFORD, NJ, US DEPARTURE ORIGIN DHL GLOBAL MAIL FACILITY
8/5/2009 1:48 AM ET RUTHERFORD, NJ, US PROCESSED
8/4/2009 11:45 PM ET RUTHERFORD, NJ, US ARRIVAL ORIGIN DHL GLOBAL MAIL FACILITY
8/4/2009 7:00 PM ET EDISON, NJ, US PICK UP
The item came with free shipping and, boy, it sure is shipping. Another funning thing is that Edison is only about 50 miles from my house. According to Google Maps, Edison to E. Rutherford to Elkridge to me is 399 miles.
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Letter to the editor, in today's Express-Times:
If life deals you lemons, sue, sue, sue
Original article: http://bit.ly/10bE7n
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I did a one hour run this morning which should be good for 5+ miles. Another mental and physical obstacle overcome; I rule!
Our team has registered for the Lehigh Valley Marathon. I am running the second leg, the second longest, which is six miles.
Less than a year ago, the thought of running had never entered my mind. I thought I couldn't do it. Well, I can.
No excuses. No bull. Just do it. More people need to take that old Nike slogan and fuse that into their brains and bodies.
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"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
--John F. Kennedy
Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs
25 May 1961
"... There he is, there’s a foot coming down the steps. ... So there’s a foot on the moon, stepping down on the moon. If he’s testing that first step, he must be stepping down on the moon at this point. ... Well, look at those pictures. It’s sort of shadowy, but we sort of expected that in the shadow of the lunar module. Armstrong is on the moon — Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old American, standing on the surface of the moon, on this July 20, 19 hundred and 69."
--Walter Cronkite
20 July 1969
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Still posting to Twitter as the novelty hasn't worn off yet. It's kind of fun in a way and maybe a little addicting. As a bore the world with what I'm doing (or at least those who follow me), I also read in kind those who do the same. It is interesting, and very gossipy, to follow what others are doing. Some post what they are doing or have recently done or will do soon, and others post short commentary and opinion, sometimes with links. It's yet another piece of Web 2.0 that has everyone contributing, for better or for worse*.
*worse == S-P-A-M
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http://twitter.com/bws53
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Yes, that's right. From today's Providence Business News:
Cold, rain cut N.E. electricity demand
Since AGW causes cooler temperatures, rain, and pretty much anything that used to naturally occur (hence the need for the repackaging of the terminology to Climate Change as a CYA; when something doesn't sell, repackaging sometimes helps), we can logically conclude that global, er, Climate Change has cut electricity consumption in N.E.
However, it may cause my electric consumption to increase. Given that it was 74/54 yesterday (avg. is 83/62), I may have to start turning on the heat at night.
Where Has Summer Been?
Since June 1, Boston has only seen four days above 80F. Wow. Locally, we're a little better; three so far in July and eleven in June; June 16 is the first day where the average high should be 80 and we've only seen 80 or better eleven days since.
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FOUND
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Although not technically cyberpunk, even though it does meet many of the criteria, Stephen King's novel Cell has given me interest in the that genre. The campus library doesn't have any books by Neal Stephenson, a "god" as one of the characters (a kid) in Cell says, so I checked out Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling. If I like it, I may continue on with cyberpunk. Being somewhat of a technophobe, I may like (or may not, lol) some of this stuff. I've read a good bit of classics over the years and now I it looks like my reading may shift gears a little.
My technophobia is necessarily not a fear of technology (I would not characterize myself as a Luddite) but rather a fear of what people, average people and people in power, including, governments, will do with it and the inevitable overdependence people develop. And, yes, I know, I myself am guilty - I like the Internet, computers, electricity and running water to my home, automobiles, etc. That being said, I don't own a GPS device (a cell phone is close and can track you but not like GPS although many have that feature available now) because it's all too creepy and completely unnecessary; at least for most average people. Maps and a basic knowledge of the US highway system are good enough and, well they used to be at least, idiot-proof. Ok, I'm going off on a tangent too much here. This topic best served for another day.
By the way, Cell is the first Stephen King novel I've read. It's an easy read and does pretty well in the horror category.
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...but not entirely. A bout of bursitis has sprung up below my left kneecap. It's not painful to walk or bike nor to even run but it is painful to kneel. But, when I do run, it jiggles a little and both irritates me and irritates my knee a little. Listening to and feeling your knee "flap" is difficult to overcome when running. I've still been biking and did an 18-miler last week and biked to school two days too and fit another 12-miler in there for about 53 miles on the bike for the week. Maybe I should take it easy a bit but that's difficult to do. I hope to start running again soon as I have some longer races in mind in September and October.
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For the second time in three years, a lightning strike near (as very damn close), my house took out my home telephone, cable modem, and a router. I wasn't home but one neighbor said it appeared to hit in the field behind my house and another neighbor said he saw a bluish light as it struck. The strike occurred Saturday and they came today to fix the phone and replace the modem.
This time, it also took out a laptop PC and the PCI slots on the motherboard of my main PC along with the NIC. Good cards no longer work in any PCI slot so now I have to to use the onboard LAN. Of course, everything, save the router, was plugged into a Belkin surge protector, which still works. The router shared an outlet with my PC speakers, which still work too. Lightning is funny and I don't mean ha-ha funny.
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