Tvindy

Weekly Buzz

I had my final wisdom teeth taken out last Wednesday. Having had two oral surgeries in my teens and a wisdom tooth extraction last summer, I've actually become accustomed to the procedure. In fact, in the middle of the operation, I recall thinking to myself that, if I were offered a full-time job having my wisdom teeth taken out (in other words, forty hours a week every week), that would definitely be something I could do. Unfortunately, no such jobs exist, and I'm out of wisdom teeth. The hard part is the recovery. I experience excruciating pain whenever I eat or drink or move my tongue. What fun. Oh well, it should help me to lose more weight. So far I'm down 26 pounds.

Today after watering my outdoor plants, I went inside and had an itch on my leg. When I scratched it, the itchy area started buzzing, and then I felt a stabbing pain. The was a bee in my pants. As I struggled to remove my pants as quickly and as gently as I possibly could, my cell phone went off. I got it on the fourth ring. It was Lowe's calling to make sure I was happy with my new dishwasher and to make sure I knew about the one-year warranty.That was kind of annoying but not nearly so much as what's on my voicemail. (I swear I don't know any of those people, but I'm thinking I may have to take out a restraining order on Ashley White.)

Anyway, I found the bee. It was dying, since it had expended its stinger, which was really a shame. If it had lived, I would have set it free. But how on earth did it wind up in my pants? The whole thing was a bit scary, since I had never before in my life been stung by a bee, and, for all I knew, I was horribly allergic. Apparently I'm not, since I'm still okay.

An Entry with a Picture of a Sunflower

I've had a fairly uneventful week. I'm still in the process of getting my house ready to be rented out, which is a very expensive process. I'm having a new furnace installed in a few days, and that's going to set me back $3300. I could have gone with a cheaper one, but it's an old house and needs all the heating power it can get.

In terms of weight loss, I've pretty much plateaued somewhere between 20 and 25 pounds. In other words, I've definitely lost over 20 pounds but most certainly have not lost 25. My guess is that this is where my weight will be staying, which isn't too bad. My goal for the summer was 32 pounds, but more than 20 is nothing to sneeze at.

I've somehow managed to get way behind on my blog reading. (I doubt that Bakerina and Orionoir even remember me anymore.) My strategy for catching up is to read ten entries every day. Currently I'm hacking away at Youngest of One. Honestly, you people are way too prolific. Why can't everyone be like me and just post once a week? (Or, better yet, be like mg and blog never.)

Now for some links.

For those who liked last week's cultured meat story, here's something else that is equally weird and controversial.

Ever wonder where digital photography is heading with all the improvements to resolution? Well, check out these images taken with a 4-gigapixel camera.

Tim over at Reality Sandwich has been having a much more eventful life than I. First his blog gets mentioned in the New York Times. Then, just eleven days later, he gets married.

Dick Tracy sells out. (from Mike)

Art Cat

It would appear that I'm just not going to be blogging on a daily basis this summer. In fact, I seem to only be posting about once a week. I'm sure that, once I get back to Oregon, I'll be posting with my regular frequency. In the meantime, I'll try to make every entry count by seeing to it that each one is chock full of quality. Let's see; what can I cram in here?

Well, for starters how about another picture? This is my parents' cat admiring the two photos I entered in a local gallery exhibition I mentioned a few weeks back. No one was interested in buying, so I got to keep my work. Actually, from what I hear, no one there managed to sell a single piece of their work, so I don't need to feel too bad about it.

Okay, now how about some more links? Here we go:

Scientists are working on cultured meat, in other words, meat without animals. I wonder if this could be considered vegetarian meat. It would also be cool to grow human meat, so I could practice cannibalism without all the guilt.

Leo claims to have big news, about Call for Help but won't yet say what it is. It looks as though the show may go back to being aired here in the US. Let's hope.

A helpful pamphlet for everyone who blogs: What Everyone Should Know about Blog Depression (And if things get really bad, there's always The Layman's Guide to Suicide.)

A Few Links

Feline Aerial Maneuvers

Scientists Detect Bad Vibes

Islamic Fast Food Restaurant Opens in Paris

A New Use for Piercings

Microsoft Wipes Apple off the Map

West Bank Graffiti

Elevator Hacking

My Run

Sorry for my dismally infrequent entries. I guess it's time I finally got around to writing about my 10-mile jog from last week.

There is a running and biking trail located just over a mile from my house, so, to run ten miles, I jog to it, run four miles on it, and then turn around and go back. I go in the early morning (around 3:30 am), so I don't have to contend with traffic and other runners. This also lets me watch the sun start to come up.

On this particular jog, I experienced a couple of interesting incidents. The first happened about a half mile into the trail. I noticed a police car parked at the side of an old warehouse. The car was empty, and the driver's side door was ajar. This struck me as a bit odd and even disturbing. As I continued on around a bend, I heard a voice from behind shout, "Okay, you can start making your way back here now." As I continued on for a few more steps, I pondered what to do, since I didn't know if the voice was coming from a police officer or even if it was directed to me. I finally shouted back, "Are you talking to me?" and heard "Yes, I am." So I turned around and slowly jogged back to find one of Muncie's finest standing over the trail. He looked me over and said, "Oh, you're just someone out for a jog". "Yeah", I replied as my heart rate alarm started going off, helping to confirm that fact and also alerting me that I needed to pick up the non-existent pace. "Okay, you're fine", he informed me. Of course I was 99% certain he was telling me I could be on my way, but, unless you're 100% certain of this fact, it's not advisable to turn from an officer who has detained you and start running. Seeing my dilemma, he added, "Have a good run tonight . . . er . . . good morning." "Good morning!", I shouted back as I ran off into the sunrise. If I hadn't been so pressed for time, I would have suggested to him that, the next time he summons a passerby from a hidden location in the darkness, he really should identify himself as a police officer. Anyway, despite the annoying delay, I actually managed to more than make up the lost time, and miles six, seven, eight and nine set new records for me this year.

Several miles further on, there was another incident. The trail goes behind the backyards of many houses, and apparently some of the residents do not like joggers going behind their homes before sunup. As I passed behind a row of homes, a car in a driveway started up and shone its headlights on me. As I continued on, it backed slowly out of the driveway in such a way that it kept its headlights lined up on me as it backed out and angled into the street. Then it followed me along a parallel street and met up with me at a nearby intersection so it could blind me even more effectively from close range. I really wish people wouldn't do this.

Despite the interference, it was a good jog. I just hope that, as I become a more familiar nighttime sight, people will start letting me jog in peace.

Wet Web

I will write a post about my latest jog soon. I'm a bit sleepy now, so I'll just post an unrelated picture for today's entry.