Flipper

A couple friends went shrimping near Hilton Head on Saturday. As they made their way towards the spot where they planned on fishing, a dolphin showed up alongside the boat and followed them. When they stopped and took out a fish to bait the net, the dolphin stood on its tail begging, so they tossed it a fish. Pretty soon it was eating out of their hands.

After a while another boat showed up so they stopped feeding the dolphin (it’s illegal.) Once they stopped feeding it, it swam over to the other boat. Promptly the folks in the other boat started feeding it too. This dolphin had either escaped from Seaworld or found out on its own that begging from fisherman is easier than chasing fish.

When our friends decided to go back to shrimping they realized they had to go back and get more bait. They had feed all theirs to the dolphin.

SPCA

The other day on our trip home from work, we were cruising along just fine about a half a mile from home when all of a sudden the car in front of us beeps their horn and slams on the brakes. We were far enough back that we were in no trouble of hitting them, so I touched the brakes to slow and waited to see what happened next.

Leading up to the sudden deceleration neither one of us saw any reason for it, no joggers, cyclists, dogs were in any where to be seen and we were still 30 yards from the next stop sign. It was then that the squirrel ducked out from the front of the car and finished crossing the street.

The driver must have been a member of the Squirrel’s Preventative Cruelty Association or SPCA.

Ahhh…So

Stopped for some oriental food on the way home from work today. We can personally vouch for the deliciousness of the Tangerine Beef at the Red Bowl in Aiken. And if it is possible, the seared pot stickers appetizer outshone the entree.

The fortune in my cookie read: You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.

Hoping to score some brownie points I said, “Well, this must be a past cookie as I have made all the changes I’m going to make.” Donna, without missing a beat says, “Its talking about your Fantasy Football team, dummy, you need to make some changes.”

Buoy Oh Buoy

Boy-o-boy. At one point the score was 102-22 and right now it is not too much better at 112-56. With the 6 of my players that have finished I have 55 points, with just two of my opponents players, Michael Vick and C.J. Spiller, he has 51 points. Add in any one of the other 5 players that have finished and I’d be trailing by a minimum of a touchdown. The predicted final score after tomorrow night’s game is 140-80. If I do end up with 80 I’ll consider myself lucky. The only reason I’ll be able to sleep at all tonight is that the score of another game stands at 116-54.

For my birthday I ordered a custom printed football jersey with my name on the back and everything. It is already in production, so it is too late to cancel it, but if the Purple Whales keep playing like this, I’ll have to think up a different Christmas gift…

Auto Matters

Last Sunday when we returned from our northeast trip, I parked the Purple Whale. Monday night I washed all the gunk off of it, that had accumulated in the 2,772.7 miles we drove it. Today was the first time we got back in it since then. The weather has been positively autumnal here, so we drove the Miata to work and home with the top down all week.

With nearly all of those trip miles on the highway, our average mileage for the trip was 32.6 MPG. We bought gas before we left and then again when we got back. On the trip we filled up 5 times and averaged $3.81 per gallon. Of those seven fill ups the cheapest was $3.21 here in Aiken and the most expensive was $4.10 in New York.

Kilt Friday


left to right: Cousin Susie, Cousin Duncan, Donna, Me, Cousin Jimmy, Cousin Laurie, Howard.

For several years now I have been wearing a Hawaiian shirt to work on Fridays. I have tried to convert members of my department and even folks throughout the rest of the plant with limited success. The number has varied from 2, Mark & I, to 4 to three and now it is back to just the two of us. Hawaiian Shirt Friday runs from sometime in May until Labor Day. After the first week in September folks break out their favorite college or pro football team gear.

Way back in June when I first saw this Bloomberg Businessweek article, Why Pixar Employees Wear Kilts on Fridays, I have teased both my boss and my wife that I would wear a kilt on Fridays.

When we visited the Scottish games in Virginia on vacation I went shopping. Yikes. Quality kilts start at a C-Note and go up. Then you need the belt, the Sorran, the high socks, the shoes, etc. Turns out it is a major investment and one I’m not willing to make just to raise a few eyebrows on Fridays.

The photo above was taken by a friend of Duncan’s with her smarty pants phone. There were 3 taken all told, but I like this one because if you look quickly I look like I’m wearing a kilt…

Heads Up

The western side of Monhegan is where the “town” is, as that is where the natural harbor is. It is also relatively flat. The center of the island rises up sharply from sea level to around 100′ and the houses thin out. The western portion of the island is all nature preserve, pine forest and rocky cliffs to the sea. From south to north:


Burnt Head (125′)


White Head (135′)


Little White Head (105′)

I missed taking a photo of the tallest cliff called Black Head because I was too busy scrambling up the rocky trails…