Greenhouse Microirrigation

Greenhouse Misters

First Place: 30-39 Year Old Men (out of 2 finishers)

Keyed Garage Opener Switch (left of the downspout)

Craftsman style coffee table of cherry and finished in a blond shellac.

Update: here are some photos of the jig I put together to guide the table top on edge in order to cut the underside bevels.

Aunt Mary’s is THE place! Where else can you order some delicious Yummy Fun Bags, have an ice cold PBR or tasty glass of wine, hear an awesome band, find the perfect gag gift or birthday card, relax on the most comfortable sofa anywhere, visit with locals and out-of-towners alike at the new counter/bar, and even get to tell Adam and Josh that they truly suck at Whilrwind? Where else? That’s right, this is the ONLY place on Earth. No, there is no other place. You’re an idiot if you think there’s another place like this anywhere. An idiot! Now go visit Aunt Mary’s!!! (Oh, if you’re not 18 years of age, Rocky won’t let you in)

[Edit: it turns out that Aunty Mary's actually IS right around corner - see comments below. Everything is real, even Oz! Or am I just dreaming?]

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seats of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. The offspring of ideology and theology are not always bad but they are always blind. And that is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts.

I’ve been receiving way too much recently from this site’s contact form. In an effort to combat this unfortunate trend, I’ve added a couple of requirements to the form. However, instead of a boring and annoying CAPTCHA solution I instead opted to create a somewhat fun and annoying Vocabulary Quiz solution. "Vocabulary quiz?!" you may exclaim. Well, this one is not so serious. I pulled all the definitions from the somewhat humorous Foolish Dictionary which is freely available on Project Gutenberg. So go ahead and study up, then take a quiz or two. You can practice without sending me an email by simply leaving the message field blank. Of course if you are so inclined, by all means fill in the message and tell me what you think.

Ok, that is the visible part of the solution. Behind the scenes I utilize a simple yet effective thing called a nonce. All technical cryptography blather aside, a nonce is basically a single-use ticket. When you visit the contact form, a nonce is issued which is good for answering that specific quiz once and only once. Often, a spammer will submit their garbage to the same form over and over. Using nonces in this case forces spammers to go through the extra steps of requesting a new quiz, parsing out the definition and choices, looking up the correct answer, then submitting their garbage. I am hoping that at least for a while no one will be all that interested in jumping through so many hoops just to blast little old me.

P.S. If you are a pet lover interested in fighting web form SPAM, you may be interested in reading about CAT CAPTCHA!

Today I found a new hobby: mining YouTube for Bollywood song-and-dance videos. It is a treasure trove for known favorites and for uncovering new prospects for your movie queue. My picks from Dil Se…

It doesn’t get much cooler than this: dancing on top of a train traveling across beautiful mountain countryside. Beware of those swiveling hips, SRK! Chaiya Chaiya

This video pulled me in with its haunting melody and amazing cinematography. Don’t miss the burning tree followed by the reversed flowing silky garments! Satrangi Re

Interested in this project? Join us and Say Shava Shava!

Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three.

So enough will all the 4-counts. We must remember restraint and not lose respect for the golden number, three.

Three jobs I have had in my life:

1. Heating, AC, and electrical assistant (aka crawlspace monkey)
2. Wal-Mart pet’s department stocker
3. Computer field technician

Three movies I would watch over and over:

1. Big Lebowsi
2. Ghost Busters - not that I particularly love it, but after 100 times or so why stop?
3. A Clockwork Orange

Three places I have lived:

1. John Hinkle Place (Bloomington, Indiana)
2. Hillside Drive (LaGrange, Indiana)
3. Wiley Hall (W. Lafayette, Indiana)

Three TV shows I love to watch:

1. Northern Exposure
2. The Simpsons
3. Are You Being Served?

Three places I have been on vacation:

1. Vermont
2. Oregon
3. Tobacco Root Mountains - Judson Mead Geologic Field Station

Three web sites I visit daily:

1. Yahoo Finance
2. Google News
3. Homestar Runner (ok, this is a site I’d like to visit everyday but it is important to regulate one’s self)

Three of my favorite foods:

1. Bagels
2. Macadamia nuts
3. Vegetables

Three places I would rather be right now:

1. Glacier National Park
2. Francesco’s gelato freezer
3. Svalbard

Three friends I am tagging that I think will respond (on their blogs or here in comments):

1. chenb
2. topher
3. l. claude

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Of course I managed to botch the very last line and read lisp instead of lips. Oh well - despite my efforts the ceremony proceeded beautifully and Sandy and Ben were at last officially wed. The reception afterwards was fantastic with exquisite Italian dishes prepared by Sandy’s brother. It was a treat to see and talk to faces I hadn’t seen for over three years. Thank you, Sandy, for including me in your celebration. It was wonderful!

On Sunday we started the hot day off at Michael’s Uptown Cafe with some baked French toast drowning in maple syrup. The intense sugar rush powered a stroll around town where I picked up a bag of yummy nostalgia from the Bloomingon Bagel Company. Continuing our walk through Indiana University campus, I led my family into the Memorial Union and found what appeared to be a little used stair case. Up we climbed and with each of the 9 stories the temperature must have increased by 2 degrees fahrenheit. I found a men’s room on floor 7 and since this was probably the highest men’s room on campus, I fealt compelled to check it out. To my delight, there was a window with arguably the best view of campus. I loved the irony and vowed to return with my camera. Click through to check it out:

The other highlight of the weekend was visiting the Sahara Mart in order to stock up on dark chocolate covered raisins and dive into their 20-some barrels of olives. I hadn’t been to bloomington in over 2 years and the store has nearly tripled in size. I was quite blown away by all the new products including a great selection of micro-brews. Imagine my excitement as I spied the very micro-brew that I had combed all of Corvallis last year looking for in vain. Low and behold, the coveted Gonzo Imperial Porter by Flying Dog Brewery was sitting right before me in all of its Ralph Steadman illustrated glory! I greedily snatched up a 4-pack and slipped it into my basket with a grin on my face. Then it hit me: I was in Indiana and the day was Sunday. While it would have been perfectly acceptable to go into a pub and sip on a brew to escape the scorching sun, it still remains illegal to sell alcohol in any market on a Sunday. I gingerly placed the porter back on the shelf, and resigned to conjuring up schemes of remotely enlisting my Bloomington friends to snatch the spoils and somehow send it safely across the country into my greedy clutches. At least I had my bagles, olives and raisins to keep me sane during my flight back to Oregon. All in all, it was an incredible weekend!