Geese in flight...

Taken yesterday at De La Salle Beach.

Photo taken by me.

Spider & web...

On my back deck today....

Photo taken by me in my backyard.

Tramp Genius...

Posted on b3ta.com: (a UK humour site & ezine)

Oxford, a hot summer's Day in 2002

I'm sitting on a wall having a can of coke, when a scruffy little Irish chappie comes and sits next to me.

He was obviously down and out and living on the streets, so I was a bit weary when he engaged me in conversation.

'Hullo there - are ye a student?'
'Yes, I am'
'Ah, right. Lucky lad - it's a very good university, so it is'
'Yep.'
'I was student meself, y'know?'
'Really?'
'Aye - University of London and then Cambridge.'
'Really?'
'Oh yeah - was doing my doctorate and everything, but they got rid of me, the bastards.'
'Why's that?'
'Well... I solved physics, and y'know, well...they didn't like that one bit.'
'You SOLVED physics?'
'Yes. But they got rid of me. Think about it: If someone solves the whole bloody thing - there's no jobs for all the scientists any more, are there?'
'Suppose not.'
'Aye, well... I've come here to try and find a physics student so I can get my ideas to the Faculty. Maybe if there's someone more trustworthy here, I can get it all published.'
'Right'
'You're not a physics student, I suppose?'
'Afraid not.'
'Ah, never mind.... have you got £1 for the bus?'

And, reader, I gave him a pound, because either he was a very good beggar, a nutcase, or a physics genius driven out of the academic establishment by a cabal of self-interested scientists worried they could be out of a job.
(SnowyTheRabbit, Thu 27 Aug 2009, 14:40, closed)

Gotta love the tramp's originality....

Scenes from my oral surgery...

Two weeks ago I had oral surgery to correct an abscess within my gum from a tooth that I have had two root canals performed on. I was given the option of this surgery, which is at best 88% successful in stopping all future infections or problems with the tooth, or to simply have the tooth removed. I opted for the surgery seeing as I have already invested in the root canals & crown for the tooth.

The surgery was quite painless - lots of freezing and pain meds - but it involved opening a flap on my gum, cutting through the jaw bone to expose the root of the tooth and removing a tip off the end of the root, as well as sucking out all the abscess gunk. The surgery was successful and I have no lingering after effects.

Throughout the surgery the doctor was taking digital photographs of his progress. He has a high end dental photography set-up that hovers over his shoulder and an assistant remotely snaps a picture when he tells her to. It was pretty cool. He got a kick out my asking him to send me some shots and said he would. He was good to his word....

Below are some amazing, albeit a tad bloody, shots from the surgery.

Just before cutting my gum open to begin the process.

The gum cut open and the bone cut away to expose the root of the tooth.

Working on the exposed root. The doctor did a lot of this work while looking through a high resolution microscope.

All stitched up and ready to go home. One week later I returned to have the stitches removed.

Pretty interesting experience to go through. A little discomfort but I was eating steak the next night so I can't complain. Hopefully I'm within the 88% that has no further problems....

1 down 2 to go...

Helped my daughter move into residence for 1st year university today. She said she was feeling both excited and terrified. Kinda how I felt too, not to mention feeling old. My first born is legally an adult. Yikes.

We planned for this day for a long time but actually having it arrive seems almost surreal. But in a good way.

The only downside of the day was that someone else moving in mistakenly walked off with a hat box of hers full of personal items, including her iPod & cell phone chargers, and as of this writing they haven't return it. Lets hope they do....

Best of luck Boo, I know you'll do great.

Now onto the boys....