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WEEK 35 2004

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Saturday 28 August 2004

Saturday - well, the fair was nice. Something old, something new. This year's motto was "Ewe don't want to know". Or maybe "Ewe ain't seen nothin' yet". There was definitely a Ewe in it...

The buildings were laid out differently than before, but the displays inside were nearly identical to the old. It seemed like more concrete and asphalt than before, but also like more grass and tree areas as well (though the trees were still too small for much shade). Despite opening a year later than planned it isn't completed, many venues still being held in tents. But it'll be nice when finished, I think.

The headliner bands for Friday night were REO Speedwagon and Styx. Heh, I didn't even know they still existed, but there they were, free on opening night. The line was huge. I didn't go, they really aren't my favorites... There was a least one other free music area - at one point someone was butchering a Ringo Starr tune from the stand. Bad kareoke, audible even over the "pop....pop....pop pop" of the nearby 'hit-n-miss' engines.

The 4H and FFA were in a smallish tent off to one side (this fair started as an 'Alfalfa Festival'), but the antique farm equipment and antique engine display was bigger and better than ever. My friend had questions about an old mechanical belt driven pump bought off Ebay and this was just the place to get answers!

Small boys were along, and after being forced to look at art and craft displays for a time, were banded and released into the wild. Off they went, to the joys of carnival rides, daring each other to take the scary rides.

Friday 27 August 2004

Friday - "So", you ask, "What did you see in the image from Wednesday?"

Well, what I saw was somebody screaming, looking out and up at me with arms outstretched, outlined in radiation like the id monster in Forbidden Planet. Make of it what you will.

Another underwater shipwreck, this of a Cromwellian warship. (via Ghost of a Flea)

Tonight the country fair starts, and we'll be there; though planning to arrive fashionably late (as my friend put it) to avoid the ribbon cutting ceremony at the new fairgrounds.

Lileks is also going to the fair, in Minnesota...
Here we are again: 10 days of grease and bees, corn dogs and cow barns. Hail the midway: Prizes won and lunches lost. In the morning, a fresh, dew-flecked city full of promise; by late afternoon, a cross between a cut-rate Disneyland and a refugee camp; come the night, the land of enchantment, with bright wheels plowing the sky.

Thursday 26 August  2004

Thursday - not a lot to say, just working on various things.

At lunch time I stopped by at a friends and picked up her son to watch for the afternoon. First we went to Crazy Otto's and had BIG hamburgers, then over to my place where he entertained  himself by watching some cartoons and playing online games. I'd hoped to do something more interesting, but work interfered.

Later, when taken back to his own home, no one was there just yet and the house was locked. So we waited outside for a few minutes, laying on the lawn and looking up at the clear blue skies. It's a very peaceful thing to do, and something people probably don't do enough of.

When I was a boy we lived in the country. I spent many days wandering about the fields and orchards near our house, and exploring up and down the nearby creek. With it's occasional deep pools, trickling shallow areas full of tadpoles and fascinating crumbled dams it was a boy's dream world. I  feel richer for the experience now, and wonder about those who never had that wonderful chance to ramble about, on their own, as children.

Wednesday 25 August 2004

Wednesday - not a lot to say, I've been busy.

Sort of a Rorschach test. What do you see in this enhanced silicon image of an exploded star?

Book News
I wanted to look at the 'Unfit for Command' book in Barnes & Noble, probably not to buy but to just glance through, but they were out of stock. They had a LOTof books bashing Bush, however, prominently displayed on a special table in the center aisle of the store. (Which, admittedly, is where I would stock such books during a hot presidential campaign.) So, the questions are (1) is the B&N management part of a vast left wing conspiracy? Ans: Probably not. (The management is apparently a big donor to the Democratic party, though. Tinfoil hat alert! Tinfoil hat alert!) (2) is the 'Unfit for Command' book just so dammed popular they can't keep it stocked? Ans: Probably.

Hey - maybe the Bush bashing books were there because no-one wants to buy them.

People do want to buy 'The New Soldier', Kerry's book, but he has refused to let it be republished. So now a bootleg version is on the internet. Heh. (via Dean Esmay)

Tuesday 24 August 2004
Tuesday - still trying to get a handle on a CFD analysis. Things are complicated....

Someone else has taken up the gauntlet of  Kerry Campaign Follies it seems.

Monday 23 August 2004

Monday - back to work...

Sunday 22 August 2004

Sunday - not a lot to say. I went down and visited my friends near the beach. It was such a nice warm day that we just stayed at his house and swam in the pool rather than use up a 70F+ day at the cool and windy beach. Hey, we can do that anytime!

Picture of the Week

A view from Edinburgh Castle, with a pet cemetary in lower foreground
Photo Notes: I was visiting a friend. We got to talking about dogs, and their getting a new dog, as their old friend passed away a year or two ago. That, and last weeks Chester post, caused me to remember this, the little graveyard for the garrison's pets at Edinburgh Castle. Complete with gravestones.

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