Free Cone Day!

It's FREE Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's! I know where I'm going when I get home from work.

SawStop

I wish this was on the saw I'm using.

Mortal Peril?

The Cummings were kind enough to lend me their table saw. I'm planning on cutting a ton of masonite with it. I was going to start tonight but everyone and their dog seems to know a table saw horror story. Now my head is full of terrifying tales of severed digits and kicked back boards causing internal bleeding and death. Now I'm feeling a little nervous. So nervous that I even watched a couple table saw safety videos on Youtube. Unfortunately searching "table saw" on Youtube also brought up some pretty grisly results so I don't feel too much better.

More Bike Fun

DC is about to unveil its new bike sharing program called SmartBike. I believe it will start up next month and is similar to the Parisian program Velib. When I read about Velib it made me want to buy a ticket to Paris. I mean, Paris is dreamy enough and now you have the chance to pedal through the city? How can you beat that?

The nice thing about DC is it's not too far away. I like the idea of pedaling through the mall. You can get around much faster than walking, don't have to worry about parking and don't look nearly as dorky as those segway tourists. About 4 years ago I got to try it out, the biking Not the segwaying. Aaron met me at the airport and brought two bikes. We rode along the Potomac as the sun set, cut across the grassy lawn and admired the monuments among flickering fireflies. It was basically the most romantic night of my life. I think it might be fun to try to recreate the experience, maybe with a little help from SmartBike.

Today I rode my bike.

Today I rode my bike. Very fast. As soon as I got home from church. It is Sunday, and I don't usually ride my bike on Sunday, but I really needed to blow off some steam. If you don't know I work in the nursery at church. Currently the class has about 12-14 kids. I have had two "assistant's', read co-sufferers, who made the two hour stretch bearable and do-able.
When I came to sacrament meeting this morning I found out both of them had been released and NO ONE was called to fill their place. I felt like leaving and going back to bed, but instead I did my duty and walked into my packed nursery class to face a dozen crazy 2 year olds ALONE. Thankfully a friend was angelic enough to help me out and a sub was pulled in too, but it was not a happy Sunday. I had heard that they might release the help I had, but I told them they needed to be sure they called someone new first. Well, that didn't happen and I dread going back until I get some additional help.

War and Peace

I've started reading War and Peace and I'm really enjoying it so far. Tolstoy is becoming one of my favorite writers. One of the perks of liking Tolstoy is that when I really enjoy a book I find myself wishing it would never end. Tolstoy seems to have appreciated that sentiment as his books have a habit of going on and on. I can read 500 pages and know I have that much more ahead of me to enjoy.
Isn't this a great picture? I hope I can someday convince Aaron to grow a beard like that.

Broad Winged Hawk

It looks like spring has truly come to Charlottesville. It's gorgeous today. I was out walking this morning and I saw a fair sized bird fly over the law school. I noticed it was carrying something and as it came closer I realized it had a very long snake in it's talons. The bird flew directly over me with the snake still wriggling, trying to get away. The bird has these beautifully sharp black and white bands on its tail feathers and was lightly colored underneath so I'm pretty sure it was a broad winged hawk just like in this picture. It was amazing to see and I think I'll take it as a good omen as Aaron's last final season begins.