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From the “why didn’t I think of that” category, check out this origami site.

OK, when I was trying to find a place to unload the sod from our backyard I ran across an intersting Yellow Pages ad:

[see the full ad]

Why Yes, That is a Coin in My Pocket…
Then yesterday I received one of those bulk mailers with checks, yard products and one special item from the Fairfield Mint:

Be sure to look at the full spread (so to speak). I particularly like the “hand carving” and the caption. I feel lucky just getting the ad.

High school is so much cooler today than when I was there. Check out what students at Sarah’s school get to do.

Remember everyone, today the world ends: An inside look at the Panawave Laboratory cult as they make their preparations for the end of the world, predicted May 15 (now postponed until May 22). [From Photot Essay section.]

It was a fairly nice weekend, just nonstop. Friday night I did dash off to see Matrix: Reloaded. Overall I liked the movie, but I was a little disappointed – I think mainly due to my own internal hype. One things for sure, I need to see it again.

I did look up one bit of symbolism: feet. (If you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about.) There are a couple of interesting things. First, according to Jung, it confirms our direct relationship with the earth, and it has frequent phallic significance. The more interesting image of the foot (according to Diel) is that it is a symbol of the soul. In Greek legends, lameness is often equated with some spiritual defect (Hephaestus, Wieland the Blacksmith and Mani all had deformed feet). And don’t forget Achilles, Sigurd and Krishna who were all vulnerable via the heel. Finally, there is some funeral implications to the foot (think Beatles’ album). (All of this comes from A Dictionary of Symbols, J.E. Cirlot. Dorset Press, 1991.)

On with the weekend: Saturday began the busyness. I was up fairly early, picked up another rental truck and proceeded to get four loads of top soil (about 3 yards) for the backyard. Sarah and I got it all unloaded, spread around and graded. I have to say it looks pretty good and the whole yard has been raised nearly 2″ now. Let’s hope that’s enough to make an acceptable yard. It’s going to have to because we’re done playing with it.

Once we got cleaned up, it was off to Ann Arbor for the wedding party dinner at John and Kristen’s. We all had a very good time and I think the Virgin Islands is going to be a great trip. This was the first time all of us had really meet and had a chance to talk. Most of the discussion centered around dirty monkeys…. A big thank you to John and Kristen for having us over; I’d say the party was a success.

Sunday was again busy as Sarah’s mom is in town. We meet downtown for lunch at the Tiger Den in Comerica Park then watched the Tigers lose to Seattle. After the game it was off to Grandma’s for a quick game of cards with Sarah, her mom and grandma. Then off to Papa Vinos for dinner with the four of us and Sarah’s aunt, her daughter, and her uncle and his wife. Oy. We finally made it home around 8:00 pm. I’m actually looking forward to relaxing today.

And don’t forget, the world is suppose to end on the 22nd.

By the way, the world was suppose to end yesterday. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to wait until the 22nd.

OK, since everyone’s jumping off of the bridge, here to go I. I’m not going to bother with all of those silly little images from Quizilla, et. al. Instead, the synopsis:

I am:

• Palm OS
• Oberon
• Agent Smith, or Neo (I changed my answers, see below)

And, I am somewhere between 37-42 on Kristen’s latest quiz (You all see me as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting . . . kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who’ll always cheer them up and help them out. Or possibly sensible, cautious, careful & practical . . . etc. I think my waffling on a couple of answers speaks more clearly though.)

Also, in Dante’s Inferno, I have reached Level 2 – Lustful. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Forgive me father for I have sinned. It has been one week since I last blogged.

Wait, I’m not Catholic. Heck, I’m not religious.

For those that care, nothing has happened with the backyard. The stormy weather has let up a bit, but we’ve still have enough rain to keep the yard a mud pit. It looks like next weekend might be nice, but of course we have plans. I’m hopeing that we can squeeze in some dirt hauling before we head to John & Kristen’s for dinner on Saturday. Sunday I think we are meeting Sarah’s mom downtown for a Tiger’s game.

The weather, however, has not stopped me from making some good progress on the race car. I’m pretty satisfied with the wiring and have begun to wrap things back up. I have to solve one small problem with the oil tempurature gauge – like it isn’t working properly. I’m not in a huge hurry for that since everything else works, plus I want to pick up a voltmeter to install as well. Next up, clean out the interior and reinstall the dash pieces and driver’s seat. I’m also considering pulling the oilpan off and trying to fix the pesky little drip – it’s not bad, but it’s there.

Finally, yesterday was a pretty good day. Since Kristen was gaming John came by. We haven’t seen each other in a while so it was good to catch up in person. Sarah cooked a nice dinner then John and I headed over to Slapsticks for a few rounds of drunken pool. (I’d say billards, but really it was pool – we aren’t good enough to use the *b* word.)

Oh, and I can’t believe this hasn’t made it into my blog yet – we saw X2 on opening night. Yes, it rocked big time. Far better than the first movie and perhaps the best superhero movie to date. My assesment – X-Men was the cartoon made into a movie, X2 was the comic book turned movie. I’m really glad that they didn’t try to explain every single person in the movie (ala Batman 2, etc.). You simply took it for what it was, suspended disbelief and all that and enjoyed the show. Thank you.

OK – that’s it for now.