NYARRGH!

Gah, everything is pissing me off lately. I've been hiding in my office at work mostly, because seems like when I interact with co-workers, they get under my skin. Blame it on the heat, or blame it on myself?

Anyone miss Wegmans?

I got your backs covered!

Sweet, sweet technology

Yes, I've posted my first photos to this blog - one of my house, one of my cat. I had to download Hello and Picasa to do it. I think I did it right. There's got to be a way to upload more than one picture to a single post. But maybe not. I guess I'll have to muck about with it, because I just ordered.... A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!!!! (studio audience applauds and hoots) Sometime next week, I'll get my new camera. Should be pretty fun. Like I said, bear with me - it's my first day on the internet (hurr hurr).

Casa de Me

This is the old (new) Koshykar homestead. Newly sided this spring. Pretty swank, I guess.

Mysterious house pet in the picture window

Here's Katrina - my cat, sitting in one of her favorite positions.

Zoom! Whoosh!

I did manage to go to the air show on Sunday. The weather was absolutely miserable. I almost didn't go, because less than an hour before I told my friend I would get there, it was pouring rain. But the rain passed and gave way to - unbelievably oppressive humidity. This made it difficult to see the planes in the hazy sky.

But I made it in time for the Thunderbirds show. They do all sorts of crazy stuff that I would never, ever do - like fly upside down and pass within a couple feet of each other's wings. Then the show was cut short due to a potential for another thunderstorm. Ah well.

I still managed to get a little bit of sunburn on my face and neck.

And no, they did not play "Rock You Like A Hurricane." I can't help but be a little disappointed by that.

Hott

Yes, summer has arrived here. Ick. I'm caving in and buying an air conditioner after work today (yes, that's right, I'm posting at work - take that, the Man!). I'm going to put it upstairs, because my upstairs is really stuffy. I have ceiling fans, but I'm still hot, so I'm going to excercise my right as an American consumer, dammit. Each room upstairs only has one operable window. Two rooms (my bedroom and the spare bedroom) have a second, half-sized window that doesn't open. One of my co-workers says this is some sort of a unique Rochester thing - he's never seen these little architectural details (useless, if you ask me, except to let some light in) in houses in other cities. They are both on the north side of the house. Wonder if that means anything?

In other news (and there hasn't been much - hence the week plus without posting anything), I've managed to get a free ticket to the air show on Sunday. I've never been to an air show. I hope I can resist the temptation to say "vroom" and "whoosh" as planes buzz over my head. It should be pretty decent, I think. Better than doing yard work. I whooped my yard into some kind of shape, and it's still bearing me weeds. Alas. At least the roses are starting to get buds and blossom.

Yee ha!

- RK

Memorialized

Hey there. Hope this Memorial Day finds you in good form. I had a very busy but productive vacation. Lots of work got done around the ol' homestead, with the help of my parents. I have two shiny new storm doors, a motion sensor light over the garage door, and an overhauled and cleaned up front yard. Now, the little weed patch term really only applies to the back yard. I spent the afternoon at an alpaca farm, hanging out with a friend from Cornell and some other assorted people. True story.

So, back to the office tomorrow. Damn. I'll try to resist the temptation to post at work (again).

- RK

Do this I must

Yeah, I must blab a bit about Star Wars. I very much enjoyed Episode III. The weaknesses were pretty much the same as the weaknesses in the other two prequels, but less flagrant. The new trilogy improved with each installment, but we should have not expected it to be as revered as the original trilogy. It's hard to duplicate success once, much less five times. One thing kind of bugged me though - Yoda's reference to Qui-Gon at the very end. Was this stuck there as an explanation of the "blue ghosts" of old dead Jedis that come to talk to Luke in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi? Or was it just a "surprise!" moments stuck ungracefully at the end, when there was no time to elaborate, just so the audience felt like it got its money's worth? Most people I've asked seemed to think it had to do with the blue ghosts. I'm not convinced. I think it's more of a tacked-on surprise, and it didn't work. I mean, all the reviews are correct: there wasn't much that fans of Star Wars didn't know going in to this one. Anakin becomes Darth Vader, Yoda and Obi-Wan are forced into exile, and Palpatine is behind the whole stinkin' thing. But did the Lucas team really need to put some ill-explained surprise in at the last minute? I don't think it helps. Also, I was moderately disappointed in two other things: 1) Sam Jackson not being enough of a bad-ass (who would have ever thought?), and 2) Count Dooku biting it so early in the film, because more Christopher Lee is always good. Also, it was a long movie (the longest of the Star Wars films?), but that probably only bothered me because of the time of day I saw it (late afternoon on Saturday).

OK, enough complaining. Overall, I enjoyed myself very much. There were great space battles, some genuinely tense moments, and several little nuggets for the fans. Star Wars may be over, but we're left with six very entertaining films, a couple of which come very close to being great cinema. Stupid Lucas control-freak issues aside, it's good that they went out this way. No dancing Ewoks celebrating the end of this trilogy. But hey, the Ewoks were cool when I was 7. And isn't that what Star Wars is all about - kindling that childlike sense of "wow?"

- RK

Still getting used to this consarned contraption

Yes, it's true. I am not the world's best blogger. But I'm getting used to this malarkey. First off, I've enabled open comment posting, so you don't have to be a Blogger member to post (thanks to long-time jug bander and all-around mensch Mike Gray for pointing that out). Also, I'm using one of the canned templates because I don't know CSS for nuthin'. Learning basic HTML back in 1995-96 came in handy for a while, but it doesn't really cut it in today's go-go world, does it? Ah well. Anything else you want to point out, don't be afraid.

Note to Sebastian: don't you know I'm not a big fan of popcorn? I mean, I'll eat it if I'm hungry, but it's not my favorite food. But I'm happy that the Spirit of Corn hath moved you so, my son.

So, how's by me? My house has been resided and it looks sparkling neat and clean. I promise I will post before and after photos, once I have digital photo capability, and once I can kick one of our students off the terminal here at the library that has a scanner attached (this would be for the "before" photo). Enjoy Star Wars Episode III, all you lovely geeks, you.

- R

Where have all the corn stalks gone?

Yeah, I haven't done squatola with my blog since the day I set it up. Still working on that digital camera. I might actually buy one this weekend. Otherwise, things have been dull and busy. Dusy. Or Bull.

Hello and welcome

This is my first attempt at a darn blog. Blog blog blog. Heh. What a dumb word. Still, I'm just interested in trying this out. Over the years it's occurred to me that most of my friends are scattered all over. As I've moved about, so have my friends become more distant from me. So, more than anything, this is my sad little way of keeping in touch with folks. Well, that and a place to discuss the virtues of corn. Nutritious and delicious! More will be coming in the future. But first, let me set a few ground rules:

• I promise not to whine too much
• I'll keep the actual corn discussion to a minimum. It's just a silly name
• I hope to soon acquire a digital camera, so that I can share photos of my scintillating life with the world. But, until then, there probably won't be much here.
  
• Corn

Well, that'll get her started. Off to plow the fields,

- R