Have you ever built your own Darth Vader hot air balloon?
[Via Boing Boing via Twitter Vader.]
Month: April 2007
-
The premier fan site of Heckler & Koch firearms, some of the finest in the world.
-
“A new OpenType family brings the 1920s and 30s in to the 21st century.” Me like very much.
For my Blades of Glory homies, the Ninja interviews Jon Heder and Will Ferrell. Boom!
-
Dick Kramer is well known in the law enforcement and military communities for his outstanding artwork.
Unlike the Texas Rangers, our softball team isn’t at the bottom of our division, but we’re close, being in third place out of four teams. We dropped another heartbreaker yesterday, losing by two runs.
The game found us opposite Faith Lutheran, the undefeated squad in our group, and it was certainly the best game we’ve played against them. Yet again, I believe if we would have had time for one more inning, we may have been able to stage a comeback.
Our defense was much tighter, even with some of the mental errors made. I was guilty of committing one of these; I could have turned a double play and failed to do so. I was playing at short, with a runner on first. The ball was hit to my side of second base, and I jumped on it, coming up toward the bag. I could see our second baseman moving to the base, and I thought she might get there before me, so I tossed her the ball.
She, on the other hand, figured I had everything in hand, so she was surprised to get the ball. We got the runner out at second, but her throw to first was too late. If I had just committed to making the out at second myself, we could have pulled off the double. I’ll know better next time.
As a team, we were much more patient at the plate, and that helped us with getting on base enough to keep the score close. I was two-for-three at the plate, and if I been a little more patient myself on that third at-bat, I may have gone for a thousand on the day. As it were, I did get one run in off of my second single, though my first hit, leading off the second inning, was my best of the day, a shot over the pitcher into center that dropped in front of the outfielders.
I think the fact that team was simply playing better as a unit made this loss a little easier to swallow. Again, winning more would be nice, but it’s great to get out to the ball field for an hour or so and play, sharing time with friends and neighbors. One advantage of playing the same teams over and over again is that you get to know your opposite numbers, which leads to fun and interesting on-field banter. Here’s hoping the weather is as great this coming Sunday as it was yesterday.
Earlier today Brian twittered about Patrik Stenberg’s “curious covers”, and I listened to them all. My favorites are “Break-up” and the “Rock Medley”.
Nearly three months since it was ordered, I received my Valentine’s Day gift today. (Thanks again, sweetheart!) The original Star Wars trilogy on DVD; not just the Special Edition versions, mind you, but the original theatrical versions as well, something Star Wars purists have been clamoring for for well over a decade.
In honor of my revisiting the film which made such an impact on me as a child, I decided to note the first words spoken by major characters in Star Wars: A New Hope, in the order in which they appear. Enjoy!
First words of the movie, spoken by C3PO: “Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure! This is madness!”
R2-D2: (Responding to C3PO) Whistling chirps.
Darth Vader: “Where are those transmissions you interecepted? What have you done with those plans?”
Princess Leia: “Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you attacked a diplomatic…”
Luke Skywalker: “Doesn’t look like we have much of a choice but I’ll remind him!”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Hello there.”
Grand Mof Tarkin: “The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I’ve just received word the Emperor has dissolved the council, permanently. The last remnants of the old Republic have been swept away.”
Chewbacca: (soft grunts, responding to Kenobi) “Mmm. Mmm.”
Han Solo: “Han Solo. I’m captain of the Millenium Falcon. Chewie here tells me you’re looking for passage to the Alderaan system.”
No, the title doesn’t refer to this blog. (Though I’m trying.) It refers to the publication I’m proud to be a part of, About This Particular Macintosh, and comes from Claire Rottenberg’s Quality Mac Websites:
ATPM is a professional, interesting and well-written and edited magazine. It has a large variety of content, ranging from short news bits to in-depth articles and product reviews, so there is something for everyone in each month’s issue. Take a look at the latest issue and I’m sure you’ll find something worthwhile in it and, like me, will become a regular reader of ATPM.
Kudos to the great volunteers we have on staff at ATPM, and thank you, Claire, for the kind words.
Okay, campers, we’re in the home stretch, and I’m way behind.
As we all know, my wife has the high-earning friends, so with just a few people, she can rack up quite a lot of donations. That means that I need a lot of you to donate to the March of Dimes for this year’s WalkAmerica.
I’m $195 short of the goal of $400 I set to raise this year, and about $350 behind my beloved. While it would be nice, in the spirit of our loving competition, to catch up to her, I’d be pleased if I were just able to reach the $400 goal.
Five hundred thousand babies are born prematurely in the United States each year, and the March of Dimes is at the forefront of research that helps many of them survive. Our son was among that number in 2003, so we know firsthand the good things this organization does, and this is why we participate each year in WalkAmerica.
My deepest thanks to those of you who have already donated, and for those readers who have not, please consider a donation before this Wednesday, the 18th. The walk is next Saturday, the 21st. Thanks, all!
Late last night, I learned that Lee Child’s next Jack Reacher novel by will be released on May 15th. Bad Luck and Trouble is the 11th novel featuring the former Military Police officer turned drifter. I’ve been reading the Reacher novels since the beginning, and I’m anxiously awaiting this latest from Child.