Chris and I went to the drive-in theater over the weekend. It was the first time for both of us in many years. We saw Rat Race, and both of us enjoyed the extreme silliness. It was nice to see something besides the devestation on nearly every TV channel. This drive-in is closing soon, but unlike the rest which are vanishing, this one is being replaced by a new two-screen drive-in theater a bit further up the road.

I am, and always have been, a sky gazer. I have been known to peer into the night sky for hours, taking in the bredth and beauty of it all. This drive led to my pursuit of a degree in astrophysics, so I could make sense of it all. In my thirty years of gazing, there has been one constant: airplanes. My Missouri childhood home was close enough to St. Louis to see quite a bit of traffic. The New Mexico desert skies were less populated, but the planes were there. When I moved to Georgia, I was amazed by the amount of traffic. The first night I spent in a cow pasture watching for meteors, I quickly gave up on the showers to count planes. At one time, I counted fourty planes in my field of view at the same time. But tonight, for what is likely to be only time in my life, the sky is silent. It is eerie, when you realize what is missing. The silence of jet engines is louder than the scourge of crickets we currently have on the farm. It is eerie.

We’ve been warned for years that things like this would happen eventually, no matter how strict we made things. To actually watch it happen is staggering. The next few days are going to be rough, indeed.

This is the best explaination of how to play cricket that I’ve ever seen. It’s written for an American audience, and it answers all the questions I’ve ever had about the game. I used to watch cricket games going on in college (played entirely by foreign students), and never completely understood what was happening. I want to play now. (Thanks, Brennan.)

One of my all-time favorite personalities, Justin Wilson, has passed away. When I was young, I memorized many of his rambling cajon stories are repeated them, with accent, for the amusement and the annoyance of my friends. Perhaps tomorrow will be cajun night in memory – crawfish pie and a bunch of wine for dinner!

The White House Web Site is sporting a fresh new look, and includes the First Lady’s online diary. Oh my!

If you are at all into Elizabethan Renaissance gowns, you’ve got less than a day to snatch up one of the best I’ve seen. Right now it’s going for a bit over $1000, and the material alone almost cost that.

Since tomorrow begins my birth month, it’s vitally important that the first words out of my mouth after midnight is rabbit, rabbit. Vitally important.

There’s the beginnings of a vibrant online Wiz War community. I probably spent more time in college playing Wiz War than any other single activity. Here, they’ve got the rules and cards on-line, a discussion board, and a few other things. Check out the pictures section, where you can see a fabulous home-made board and cards.

Yes, at first he politely laughed at us (“Well, at least my belly’s full,” was the quote), but then things got better. It’s still a long shot, but we’ve established a dialogue and he knows exactly where we’re coming from. We’ll continue talking over the next few weeks, and we may yet strike a deal. He wants the land to be used for what we want to use it for, and while he’s been making his money from real estate, he’s more interested in the use of the land than the money he’ll make, for this particular piece of property. All the extraneous factors are in our favor, but the money gulf may be a hard one to jump.