wow!

One of the guys at work has a cottage in Maine that he rents out. For two couples, a group of friends, or a large family, his rates are pretty reasonable, and it's a terrific location (admittedly a 9-10 hour drive from here, but I used to spend the summers I wasn't at a lake in CT on an island off the coast of Maine, and summer in rural New England is really lovely).

(no subject)

I've been out of the loop lately in more ways than biking. I feel as if I've somehow just missed a couple of months of some of the things I normally do, as if my days somehow got shorter. I've completely fouled up a couple of gaming commitments, I've not yet mailed some things I need to mail, I've allowed my 'sort these papers out' pile to become immense, I've not been keeping up my journal, and I've been missing out on communications with others. I'm going to try to fix that all, though it will take a while.

First of all, gr_c17 mentioned that he had heard from Da Grrlz recently, and it prompted me to check (as I had been meaning to do) and see if they had posted anything from Slovenia or Ireland yet. They're having difficulty getting good Internet access in rural Ireland (somehow not surprising :-), but they had loaded a lot of information about their travels in the former Yugoslavia that are really worth reading about and a lot of beautiful pictures that you shouldn't miss.

Most of all, the account of their hang-gliding exploits had me both scared and envious--I don't think I would ever be brave enough to try it, but it sounds wonderful, and the shots that the intrepid and ever-photographing Melissa took are amazing! If they were 'just' photos taken by a pro from a plane they would be beautiful. That one of my friends took them while hanging under a giant sail makes them (to me) astounding and truly awe-inspiring. Check them out by going here and clicking on 'paragliding'. And don't forget to read Chris's evocative description, The Day We Got To Be Birds. What wonderful, adventurous friends I have! :-)

(no subject)

If you're entertained by people wringing their hands, shrieking at The Man, and getting ridiculously worked up, by all means go read this thread.

I started reading it, and then I realised how much of my life I had just wasted.

People, get a life. It's a bag of junk food.