Category: general

Categories
general

gavin the cockroach

My ninja-like reflexes intercepted something crawling around in my bed this morning. Half-awake, in the pitch black* of the early morning, I sensed it – reached, grabbed (heard slight crunching noise) and threw. As I gradually became properly conscious, I noticed there was a cockroach leg on my bed sheets. I brushed it off, and turned on the light, and looked over to the wall, where a half squashed cockroach lay upside down, dying. That’ll teach it to make me feel like I’m leaving in some sort of ghetto slum.

(* poetic licence may have been invoked, it’s never dark in DC)

Categories
general

doggies

And the reason why the police dog was outside my window, sniffing a tree, was because he was on his way to the Doggie Happy Hour held at the hotel down the road. Yes, that’s right, I live in the middle of a yuppy enclave. Everyone here owns a dog. You can’t wander outside morning or evening without fighting through swathes of residents out walking their dogs – during the day you’re more likely to come across the professional dog walkers. Shops have bowls of water out the front, the local jogging paths have water bowls built into their bubblers. Dogs of all shapes and sizes, heaven forbid you should have the same breed of dog as your neighbour.

Camera update: Sony H1 ordered and on it’s way apparently.

Categories
general

even police dogs need to sniff trees

 

police dog

 

Categories
general

good news, everyone! i’ve taught the toaster to feel love!

I may or may not have just ordered a new camera. My old camera may or may not be covered by my travel insurance, but at least I won’t have to pay the excess. And I may or may not have enough money in my bank account to pay for a camera this afternoon, as the United States seems to have no concept of electronic banking, so every month, in order to get paid, I have to fill out forms, and then go into the University to collect my cheques, which I then have to take to the bank to deposit. Pah.

Categories
general

endearing

I usually get a lift to and from work with my supervisor, seeing as we live in the same area. One of his more unusual traits is his tendency to become obsessed with ideas, and be able to talk about the one idea for most of a car ride, and then return to that idea time and time again (for example, the ‘inside lane theory’).

One of his more endearing obsessions is his desire to buy a horse, and ride it to work. Despite the fact that most of our drive to work is along a major freeway, he’s quite convinced that if only he can find a way to get the horse over the bridge, it would be a fantastic idea to ride the horse along the grassy verge that’s sometimes at the edge of the road. His plan is to hobble the horse while it’s at work, leaving it to wander around eating in the patch of wilderness across the road from work (hence he shouldn’t need to buy much extra feed for it). And it will live in the 6 by 6 foot backyard of his townhouse – which, being built in the 1800s, has a ponywalk, which is what inspired the whole idea. Which is why scientists should be safely locked up in their workplaces and not allowed to interact with the rest of the world.