There Are 137,000 Stories In The City

SkyscraperThese are 25 of them.

We drove up to the state capitol this morning with the intentions of getting about a half dozen of the Destinations listed for the Moss Motoring Challenge. We struck out on 2 different WWI monuments/memorials. Our Main Street photos from downtown Columbia were crummy and the Brewery that was on that Main Street had no real sign, so we missed those opportunities as well.

We made it to the Riverbanks Zoo, but opted not to drive to the main entrance to photograph the main sign there as there was a line to get in because it was about opening time on a sunny spring Saturday. Instead we looped a quick u-turn and stopped at a smaller sign at the corner. I got out, backed up a few steps, took a photo and when I got back the car to show Donna the results a cop car pulled up right next to us and asked if we were OK. I said yes and he zoomed off. When I got back in the car to leave I noticed that right behind me was another patrol car. Yikes, but he just sat there as I drove off. The picture was kind of crappy, so an early Sunday morning return trip is needed. The botanical gardens sign at the other entrance to the zoo wasn’t very photogenic either.

The trip wasn’t a total wash as we did get the Skyscraper photo. The Capitol Center, at 25 stories barely qualifying for the Challenge, is the tallest office building in the whole state of South Carolina. I can’t be sure, but that may be the tallest gamecock in the state too. We photographed the Tunnelvision mural and are going to use that for the Tunnel destination. On the drive home we took a picture of the sign for the thriving metropolis of Gilbert and just because we happened to be passing by, the Aiken County Farmer’s Market here in our fair city.

Sometime before the little town of Gilbert the Emperor passed the 137,000 mile mark.

When The Cat’s…

…away, the mice will play.

For the past couple of days, some of our company’s key folks, my department leadership and our Industrial Engineer have been away at a seminar/work session about a piece of our business software. They finished up this morning with the afternoon being earmarked for a round of golf as a fun wrap up of the event. So, a little before lunch, one of our our fabrication engineers received a text from the IE (the tall guy on the left) with the following photo attached:
Golfers

While those in the photo would tell you that the picture was meant as an indicator that their work was done and their smiles signified that much was accomplished. Those of us stuck at work covering for them, thought it more than likely that it was meant as a neener-neener. The Fab Engineer, myself and the CNC Programer (Hi Mark!) decided that this deserved some return fire. Our first plan involved standing outside on the back lawn of the plant in similar poses, but couldn’t come up with a work related substitute for the golf club. Our second idea was to get the cleaning person to open our boss’s (the guy in the middle above) office and we could all put our feet up on his desk. Or playing cards. Then the ideas started flowing. We could use the Engineering Conference Room. Put something up on the TV like we were watching ESPN. Hey put their photo on the screen. Here is what we came up with:
Sports Center

The playing cards came from Google. I grabbed large sized images of ace-high straight flushes in three different suits off the net, printed them out and then trimmed them down for us to hold. I didn’t think to print out the back of a five card hand, so in the large original photo you can see that I’m holding my cards so everyone can see my hand. In this low resolution image it looks like the back of a deck of cards because the clubs printed out in a blue-ish tint. The money on the table is real.

The Emperor’s Triumphant Return

Picked up the Miata from Panic Motorsports today. Drove all the way home and then later back out for a Kroger run and it never stumbled once. I am now learning to use the clutch like a normal person again.

The fix, a used set of spark plug wires…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1304

Oh, No!

Today’s brief Orphan Black update:

Subj: [Clone Club] Season 3 in Jeopardy!

All,

Tatiana Maslany was injured in an auto accident in the early morning hours Tuesday. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Ms. Maslany was a passenger in a white Ferrari belonging to Justin Bieber that left the road just outside Mr. Bieber’s gated community in north Los Angeles County. Mr. Bieber was uninjured, but Ms. Maslany was air lifted to USC Medical Center with serious injuries. – News Story

Brian

Tomorrow I’ll sent out a “real” Clone Club email.

Opening Day Part I

A beer company and an ex-ballplayer attempted to turn baseball’s opening day into National Holiday recently. Donna and I both thought, “Great, another holiday we won’t get off.” And it turns out about 100,000 internet crazies were for it, but getting anything actually done required Congress, so it didn’t happen.

And, even if today had become a holiday there would have been no celebration here in Dunbarton Oaks, as the FRS lost their first game of the season to the Baltimore Orioles 2-1, thereby laying claim to last place in the division…

Dunkin Donuts saved the day though, they gave anyone who asked, a free small iced coffee in Tennessee, Virginia, Northwest Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas all day on March 31. Apparently South Carolina wanted to play along too, because I got one on the way home from work. I can even get another free small iced coffee tomorrow, but we will have to drive a little further to get it, as it is only being offered in northeast Ohio.

Opening Day Part II

Barack and Michelle are at the White Sox baseball game, sitting in the first row with the Secret Service seated directly behind them. One of the Secret Service agents leans forward and says something to the President. Barack stares at the agent, looks at Michelle, looks back at the agent, and shakes his head.

The agent then says “Mr. President, it was a request from the team owner who is a big campaign contributor, and the fans will love it!” So, Barack shrugs and says “Well, if it will help my poll numbers.” He gets up, grabs Michelle by her collar and the seat of her pants and drops her right over the wall into the field.

She gets up kicking, screaming & swearing. The crowd goes wild; cheering, applauding, and high-fiveing. Barack is bowing and smiling, and leans over to the agent and says “You were right, I would have never believed that!” Noticing the agent has gone totally pale, Barack asks what was wrong.

The agent replies “Sir, I said, they want you to throw out the first ………PITCH!!!”