Casting Crowns

Dentist said I needed a crown, should take about 40 minutes. Except I'm very special. Normally she gets the casting done in one take; about once a year, she needs two tries. She couldn't recall ever having needed three tries, until me. The "40 minute" procedure took a bit over two hours, and when I got to my office, first thing on walking in the door was to grab the bottle of acetaminophen. Fun.

D Day

In 1944 on this day, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50 mile stretch of German-occupied France.

In 1918, the United States Marine Corps took its heaviest day of casualties, in the Battle of Belleau Woods.

And in 1984, Tetris was released.

Mysterious radiation burst recorded in tree rings

Mysterious radiation burst recorded in tree rings : Nature News & Comment:

Eel

Walking the mutt down by the river and saw two guys fishing there. Nothing unusual in that, except that one of the guys had just caught an eel, about two feet long. It hadn't occurred to me that we might have eels in the Lynnhaven River, but we do.

Lock

I removed the old, battered lock set from the front door and installed a new set. This turned out to be a more arduous process than I'd bargained for. Schlage's instruction sheet was unintelligible; I could cope with that--indeed it seems to be standard on instruction sheets any more--but it also failed to mention that the installation required a 5/16" drill bit and a 1" hole saw. That meant two trips to the hardware store. Had to drill out one of the screws holding the old handle in place, and hacksaw off another part. Metal shavings all over. The most frustrating part, though, was trying to figure out the right place for the strike plate to go in the door jamb. Eventually I realized it was okay in the left-right axis but needed to slide down a pinch, so I got out my trusty chisel (which looked almost exactly like a flat head screwdriver) and chipped away. But now we have a shiny new lock.

Love

"Love is its own thing," he said, shaking his head in helpless wonderment. "And it, uh, really messes with the dice."

--Clay, Erfworld: Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower)

Hampton Pirate Festival

I went to the Pirate Festival in Hampton as a way of getting out of the house. There were about thirty vendor tents, ranging from face painting and tee shirts, to The Leather Lair (with their $375 vests and $600 coats--I was tempted to get a vest but resisted), up to a couple of small sailing ships.

Quite a few people were in costume. A couple of guys clearly were looking to Jack Sparrow, and some of the costumes were more steampunk than piratical, but nobody ever said they have to be strictly historical; it's a chance to wear some fun clothes that you don't get to wear to the office, so why not?

I stayed an hour or so and saw all the area by the waterfront; there were also supposed to be some skirmishes in the street, between pirates and militia, although I didn't stay long enough to see any. Plenty of people but not overly crowded, and I accomplished "getting out of the house".