Right after my nephew learned how to walk (or maybe as he was learning…), I taught him how to skank. When he gets old enough to read, he can hone his skills thanks to the Ska Workshop: Skanking 101, kindly pointed out by the good folks at RandomWalks. I once won a skanking contest here in Athens. I was in a tiny club watching the excellent Johnny Socko. Athens isn’t much of a ska town, so I was the only one dancing for all the songs. Had such a great time dancing that I didn’t even visit the bar. When they announced me as the winner, I went on stage to collect my prize: a vintage pack of early ’80s Michael Jackson temporary tatoos. I was overjoyed, and to show my appreciation, I moonwalked on stage. The held out a microphone and I gave my best MJ squeal. But then I moonwalked over some cords and fell backwards into the cymbals and off the stage. They laughed at me and made comments about how drunk I was and started the music back up. And I went back to skanking. I haven’t opened the tatoos yet. They’re a prized posession, sitting on my desk alongside my M&M-pooping; R2D2.

For future reference: Internet Gardening, a handful of interestingly looking gardening links.

Pretty much everything we’re planning on growing at the farm is at risk from predators. The chickens are tasty treats for the neighborhood dogs and the vegetables are in high demand by the deer. They’re repeat customers, sure, but they don’t pay the going rate. There’s a solution, though: eletric fence netting. There’s a lot of things to buy for the farm, but we have to wait for the first of the year so we get the tax deduction. This fencing is at the top of the list.

I’ve been known to enjoy the occasional Nestle Crunch bar. There’s something about that milk chocolate and crisped rice combination that I like. So I was mighty pleased when one of my co-workers received in the mail today a “Shaq-sized” Nestle Crunch bar from his girlfriend, a Nestle insider. The thing is a bit larger than a standard-sized bar. It weighs 9.25 pounds. We’re literally using a hammer and chisel to whack off bits to eat.

This has to be the strangest bit of spam ever to come my way (it should be noted that I do not have a “feedback form”):

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by Frank Young (webmaster@eti.com) on Saturday, December 15, 2001 at 06:00:04

The future of personal transportation is here today: Megway Transporting Human (presented by 0sil8). Cities will be built around this thing, just you wait and see.

The Visor came in today, and I’m trying to update this weblog from it. We’ll see how it goes…

The Handspring I really wanted was the Edge. It’s nearly half the thickness of the Platinum I ordered, it has a flip cover to protect the screen (the one weakness I’d read about the Visors), and it had a built-in rechargable battery pack rather than using AAAs. It cost a hundred dollars more though, which I couldn’t justify. So, the Platinum it was. So when I got an email today announcing the Edge was cut by $50 and included both free overnight shipping and a zip-up leather case, I changed my mind. I’ll be taking advantage of Handspring’s 30-day no questions asked return policy on the Platinum, which may arrive after the Edge. And the phone’s still free.

Through a quirk of the new mortgage company, we didn’t have to make a payment this month. Most of the saved money is being rolled into household items, but I’m spending a little on something I’ve wanted for a long while now, a Handspring Visor, now selling for cheap. And, coinciding with Chris’ wishes that I have a cell phone, I’m taking advantage of their offer for a free phone module that plugs right into the Visor. Assuming the thing works as advertised (cell coverage can be spotty out here), I’ll be able to update this page no matter where I am. Among many other, more useful, things. It should get here early next week.

Fourth row seats. Penn and Teller. January 10th. In Athens. I’m psyched.