The Treehouse Blog

For the year. Actually, it might be my last “First Day of School.” You never know 😉

Since I don’t have homework yet, I’ve been trying to do some of the things that should have been done over the last few weeks. That includes this article, which isn’t about what Doug would have guessed.

Well, that makes the third rattlesnake I’ve seen this year, and this time, there are pictures. Chris and I walked up to the Gunter Valley Dam tonight, and this was on the bridge over the spillway. The road now bears the signs and rules of the State Forest Service, which probably means that they now own it.

Maybe Doug‘s right about pipelines… Walking down the some one we did that night, only this time in the opposite direction and in daylight, I encountered two rattlesnakes (yes, one rattled), and had a little slip-and-fall resulting in a stiff hand and a sprained (that is, hopefully not broken 😉 toe. Other than that, it was a pretty enjoyable hike. The mountain vistas were quite clear, giving an opportunity for the new camera to hopefully show its worth.

Other than that, not too much happening. Still sorting things from the LAN party. Also reading… Chris lent me his Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide, and I’ve been reading it, uncovering many references I’ve heard elsewhere. Realizing that no work on NetMRG has really happened this summer, I’ve also started hacking at that…

School is looming ahead, only next week at this point. Pam (the math department secretary at Ship) added me to the class I was hoping to get into, which should bring me to a 14-credit semester. Things are still looking on-track for a Spring ’05 graduation. I still need to do the math on my schedule, see if Ian and I have any lunch overlaps, and plan the rest of my time.

John Harvey Alleman, my great uncle, passed away on Saturday August 7th 2004. I can’t say I know most of my great aunts and uncles very well, but John was an exception. He visited us often, usually weekly, sometimes more often. I’d be surprised if none of you had noticed his green Festiva parked at my house at least once. He will be missed.

Despite my mother unplugging the phone line before the storm got very close, my newer ISDN TA got fried hard. The old one is back in place at the moment, all quirks included. I was driving home when it was storming, and a lightning strike was visible directly ahead of me (probably in the field, maybe half a mile away). A second or so later I briefly smelled unhappy electronics smell in my car… nothing seemed unhappy though, hopefully it was the cables along the road. We didn’t have any power problems (except blips) at home, but AT&T had at least one nearby site down most of the evening. Doug called after the storm had passed to say that they had lost phone and power, a good while after the storm had passed them. The tornado potential kept the local news on the air until 8PM.

Despite what Doug says, I really enjoyed most of that hike! Well, except the part about wondering if the road was actually a river. It’d be good if DCNR put out some maps where mountain-sized hills aren’t displayed as two elevation lines. Besides, Ian, Isaac and Chris all have similar stories and I don’t hear them complaining (well, very often, anyway) :).