The baby cat on her Christmas present:

Just went to try to pick up a Nintendo Wii for a little cousin. Her mom is kicking herself for not pre-ordering from Amazon, but who knew to expect this artificially-induced Wii insanity, inanity. I drove by several local retail stores, and you can imagine what the scene was like: gamer upon gamer in camp chairs and tents. Gamers were camped outside Target and playing baseball in the parking lot outside Best Buy. The guys at Fry's actually looked a bit like the evil undead; Fry's had the shortest line, but I assume this was because of some sort of Darwinian struggle in which the weakest were quite possibly eaten. Or perhaps sacrificed to dark gods, uncertain. Even Amazon is sold out, and disgruntled and frustrated people are writing negative reviews of the Wii to blow off steam after several hours of refreshing their browsers to see if Amazon miraculously had more Wii in stock. I wasn't interested in waiting in line, but it was intriguing to see the frenzy in action. I'm curious to see how much Nintendo is going to try to manipulate the market and how long before they ship additional units. The La Mesa Walmart had only 20, which seems a small number for a major retail outlet. Someone was reselling a Wii on Amazon for $800 and it's already been purchased. Sheer madness.

Some days, it seems that my inbox fills itself...

Have been doing some hiking and walking, quite often with Gosia, we went to law school together. Today, we went to Mission trails, and I took a photo of the Mission Dam:



The Mission dam is California historical landmark #52, see http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21478 for details.

Found some Halloween merchandise on sale today. Ended up getting a foam pumpkin, so that I could finally use a pumpkin carving design I found last year. I'm pleased with the result, although it needs some smoothing work on the edges (the foam crumbles a bit).

A few weeks back, I received a postcard from a very old and dear friend. We knew each other when I lived in Mastershausen, Germany. He sent me a postcard celebrating the town's 950th Anniversary. I used to live very close to the church shown on the right. What memories it brings back!

Visited the Stephen Birch Aquarium. Ended up becoming a member. Here are some pics.

Leafy Seadragon




Weedy Seadragon


Misc Fish

Inspired by an online contest to "interpret" the name of an epiphyllum hybrid, I used Djali as a model...his entry is going to represent either "Buccaneer," "Pirate" or "Ostrich Feather."

Just saw the Da Vinci Code. Cheesy, but enjoyable on a very basic level. This is a movie that will make you feel really smart, as the movie presupposes the audience has the knowledge of a bunch of inbred three year olds raised by gazelles. The characters’ amazement when these puzzles are figured out is pretty entertaining. It seems I’m smarter than a cryptologist, a British scholar, a Harvard professor and scores of law enforcement officers – they all missed those websites, video games, books and TV shows about the sangreal, I guess.

For instance, they surely did not see websites such as the one belonging to Roslyn Chapel (it has cheery Scottish music on its main page: http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/), which contains a link to a website about Templars in Scotland. As if that weren't amusing enough, that link leads to the international Templar website: http://www.osmth.org/ At least they admit they’re not directly descended from the original, simply stating that their organization is based on shared values with the original Templars (taking Jerusalem?).

Looking at the website, the organization does indeed promote Christianity in the Holy Land: their goals are “to improve the Christian presence in the Holy Land…and perpetuation the Christian spirit and ideals that impelled the early Templar Knights to dedicate their lives to similar causes.” Uh…yeah…”similar.”

Have you ever noticed that EVERY decent and lengthy conspiracy theory involves the Templars at some level? Not just the Masons or other ostensibly secret societies, but the _Knights Templar_ themselves, if only you dig deep enough.

Okay, here is the take home lesson: It AIN’T a secret organization if it has a website talking about it...linked from a website for a chapel well known in grail mythology. They’ve even trademarked their logo! Although, of course, if one were so minded, I suppose one could argue that such a commonplace exterior would be the perfect cover...sigh, now I'll have to keep watch for the black helicopters.

Here is the list of membership requirements: http://us.osmth.org/ I can see the posters: “Are you ecumenical in thought? Do you deport yourself in an honorable and chivalrous matter? If so, we need you!” I'm intrigued by the thought of "secret" society that wants a copy of one’s resume to determine if one qualifies. What should it list? Prioress, secret society (name withheld), 1977-Present? At least they apparently accept women. Maybe I should submit a resume...

To quote Father Ted's standard answer to visiting bishops on any questions involving faith, "That would be an ecumenical matter."

What do you mean, it's not a punch card ballot?

Ladybug baby.

One of my flowers bloomed yesterday, an epiphyllum hybrid named Fruehling's Gold.

The bud right before it opened.
And the flower. Very fragrant, the scent filled my entire balcony.

Went to the Wild Animal Park to look at the epiphyllums, which are now starting to bloom. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

I like the flower, and I like how the sparse stamens emphasize the shape of the flower.
I like the play of light through the white petals.
Interesting color combination.
Beautiful color.
Don't the stamens look like a fountain, or fireworks?

Finally made it to the Wild Animal Park for this year's Butterflies and Orchids exhibit.

Butterflies...






And some paphs...


And the epiphyllums are just starting to come into bloom...

I’d say when a principal can’t tell the difference between a nuclear attack and a student walkout, the school district is a dead loss: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/17/immigration.classroom.ap/index.html

Fighting the printer demon:

Gypsy and the baby....Gypsy isn't horribly enamored of the baby, but will tolerate her when she's not being active.

Freedom pastries!

A friend of mine mentioned an amusing tidbit regarding the furor over the Danish cartoons. It seems they have the Danish (the pastry kind) in Iran. I found that rather surprising, nasty, gooey things that they are (the pastries, that is, not the Iranians or Danes). That they’re also called Danishes in Iran amused me even more (perhaps the concept was imported from the US during friendlier times? I don’t know that they’re called Danishes anywhere but the US and, it turns out, Iran). So…Iran is now planning to officially rename the Danish. Freedom pastries! Nah, not really, but their suggestion is just as foolish. They want to rename Danishes after some sort of flower called a “Mohamadi.” That sounds pretty enough and relatively benign, but heavy handed social dictates are rarely effective. Does anyone say "freedom fries" except as a joke?