Beware the Hair!

The company for which I work sent out a severe weather alert via email earlier today. It included the following ominous warning:

The NWS Doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing up to one inch diameter hair and damaging winds up to 60 mph.

One inch diameter hair???

I've heard of storms that rained frogs, and storms that rained fish. Even storms that rained snakes. But I've never, ever, heard of a storm that rained DREADLOCKS.

Global warming sure is doing scary things to our weather patterns!

Net Neutrality Rejected by the House

Via BBC Online...

US politicians have rejected attempts to enshrine the principle of net neutrality in legislation.
Some fear the decision will mean net providers start deciding on behalf of customers which websites and services they can visit and use.
...
The rejection of the principle of net neutrality came during a debate on the wide-ranging Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (Cope Act).

Among other things, this aims to make it easier for telecoms firms to offer video services around America by replacing 30,000 local franchise boards with a national system overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
...
An amendment to the Act tried to add clauses that would demand net service firms treat equally all the data passing through their cables.

The amendment was thought to be needed after the FCC ripped up its rules that guaranteed net neutrality.

During the debate House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, said that without the amendment "telecommunications and cable companies will be able to create toll lanes on the information superhighway".

"This strikes at the heart of the free and equal nature of the internet," she added.
...
Prior to the vote net firms worried about the effect of the amendment on their business lobbied hard in favour of the amendment. They fear their sites will become hard to reach or that they will be forced to pay to guarantee that they can get through to web users.
...
The amendment was defeated by 269 votes to 152 and the Cope Act was passed by 321-101 votes.

The debate over the issue now moves to the US Senate where the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will vote on its version of the act in late June. The debate in that chamber is also likely to centre on issues of net neutrality.

If you haven't already signed the Save the Internet petition, please do so soon, before the Senate votes on the COPE act. Calling or writing your Senators wouldn't hurt either.

While you're at it, why not contact AT&T and Verizon, and tell them what you think of their opposition to net neutrality. AT&T's corporate contact for Federal Regulatory/Legislative issues is Mike Balmoris, who can be contacted at michael.balmoris@att.com. Their contact for Corporate Issues is Larry Solomon, at larry.solomon@att.com, and for Consumer Issues, is Sue McCain, at smccain@attnews.us. (I'm nothing if not thorough!)

For Verizon, contact David Fish in Federal Regulatory/Legilative Issues at davis.m.fish@verizon.com, Jim Smith, Director of Products and Services at james.albert.smith@verizon.com, and Bobbi Henson, Director of Broadband and Internet Services at bobbi.henson@verizon.com.

Yes, it's slow at work, and I'm bored. So, I'm killing time by digging up the information you need to harrass corporate executives. Have fun!

New Job

Congratulations, Fritz!:-)

Birthday, Weekend

Friday was my 31st birthday, which is hard to believe since (it seems like) just yesterday I was posting about my 30th. Oh well. My 30th year was definitely eventful, it included a new job, new friends, a new boyfriend, the losses of a grandparent and two pets, new hobbies, and new adventures. Not necessarily in that order. Overall though, a good year. I look forward to seeing what my 31st year will bring.

Yes, but what did you DO for your birthday, you may be asking. Well, Friday night after work, Fritz presented me with my birthday presents, one of which would come in VERY handy that night (no it wasn't one of those kinds of presents; get your minds out of the gutter!). Actually, his first gift arrived with him Thursday night, a giant jar of my favorite Garden Fresh Gourmet salsa from Costco, which was timely since I'd finished off my previous supply a week earlier. Friday night he gave me a jar of wonderful raw honey from the Ypsi food co-op, a wooden pizza paddle (so we would never again have to relive the tragedy that occured a week earlier when we dropped one of the two pizzas we made face-down on the floor), and the Camelbak water bottle I'd been drooling over at REI the previous weekend. And two bars of Scharffen Berger chocolate. For dinner that night we made pizza, and thanks to the pizza paddle, both pizzas came out of the oven completely uninjured. We ate one of them, and saved the other for dinner the next day.

Saturday we headed out to the farmer's market, where I picked up fresh strawberries (yum!), zucchini, sweet onions, garlic, and asparagus. For lunch, we went to my favorite Middle-Eastern restaurant, Jerusalem Garden, where I had chicken shawarma and Turkish coffee. After lunch we stopped by Running Fit where I picked up a (badly needed) new pair of athletic shoes, then went hiking in Nichols Arboretum, the first time I'd been there. It's beautiful, and we had a great hike; I definitely want to go back. After hiking in the Arb, we headed to Bubble Island for cold bubble tea, the first time I'd ever had it. It was very tasty, and really hit the spot after our hike. For dinner that night we had the pizza we hadn't finished the night before, and just hung out and relaxed, because Fritz had another half-marathon to run the following morning.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early at 5:30 am so Fritz could run in the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run half marathon. The running conditions were almost perfect, and Fritz shaved 15 minutes off of his previous time from the Trail half-marathon. Congratulations, Fritz!:-)

It was a fun-looking event, and I think next year I'll enter it myself, not for the half-marathon, but perhaps the 10K run and fitness walk. Fritz suggested that since I want to do that next summer, I might be interested in entering the Crim later this summer. I'm seriously considering it. There's a 5K walk and an 8K walk, both of which I could easily do. I used to love competing in track and field in high school, and accompanying Fritz to his races has reminded me how much I miss it.

Sunday afternoon we went to the Cynnabar-Talonvale revel in Grass Lake, which was a good time. The park where it was held is beautiful, and I had a nice time hanging out and relaxing. During Court, the Baronness pointed out that Friday had been my birthday, and had everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me. I'm sure I was blushing furiously, but it was fun!:-) That night Fritz and I made pasta for dinner, relaxed for a bit, and headed to bed a bit early. Overall, it was a pretty great weekend.

Three Days, Three Parks

This past Memorial Weekend was very, very nice! For the first time in quite a while, the weather was actually nice for the unofficial start of summer. Saturday, Fritz and I went to the farmer's market in the morning, where I picked up flowers for my flower bed and hanging pots, and mint for making mint tea this summer. Early in the afternoon, we headed to Kensington Metropark to have a picnic and go rollerblading. We ate a light lunch, then rollerbladed the 8-mile hike/bike trail which winds around the lake. It was my first time on rollerblades this summer, and I felt those eight miles for the rest of the weekend! It was a LOT of fun though, and Kensington is a beautiful park. After rollerblading, we ate a little more, then waded in the lake for a bit to cool our feet. Later that night, we had homemade pizza for dinner; a nice summery artichoke, sundried tomato, and black olive pizza with five cheeses. Yummy!

Sunday was fencing practice, once again at Island Park in Ann Arbor. It was another beautiful day, but very hot, so we stuck to the shade for most of practice. Some of the other fighters brought food for snacking and cooking out, and some non-fighting SCAdians came out to work on projects and just hang out. That night Fritz and I grilled hamburgers for dinner, then went to see X-Men III. It was a good movie, definitely worth seeing. It wasn't quite as good as the first two movies, but it did the series justice.

Monday Fritz and I went for ice cream in Depot Town, then walked around Riverside Park for a while before stopping by his brother and sister-in-law's to drop off a present for his nephew. It was another beautiful day, but definitely the hottest of the weekend. We had a nice time on our walk, but were happy to return to the comfort of air conditioning afterwards. Fritz left early in the afternoon, and while I had planned to plant my flowers from the farmer's market in my flower bed after he left, I ended up parking my arse on the couch and watching a Deadliest Catch marathon on the Discovery Channel instead. By that time, I was exhausted from all the activity of the weekend, and couldn't get motivated to go back out in the heat. (I did get the planting done this week, though.)

It's interesting, this was my most active weekend in a while, but also my most relaxing. I'm realizing that it's easier for me to relax if I tire myself out with vigorous activity beforehand. Of course, the gorgeous scenery and great company didn't hurt either!

Three Days, Three Parks

This past Memorial Weekend was very, very nice! For the first time in quite a while, the weather was actually nice for the unofficial start of summer. Saturday, Fritz and I went to the farmer's market in the morning, where I picked up flowers for my flower bed and hanging pots, and mint for making mint tea this summer. Early in the afternoon, we headed to Kensington Metropark to have a picnic and go rollerblading. We ate a light lunch, then rollerbladed the 8-mile hike/bike trail which winds around the lake. It was my first time on rollerblades this summer, and I felt those eight miles for the rest of the weekend! It was a LOT of fun though, and Kensington is a beautiful park. After rollerblading, we ate a little more, then waded in the lake for a bit to cool our feet. Later that night, we had homemade pizza for dinner; a nice summery artichoke, sundried tomato, and black olive pizza with five cheeses. Yummy!

Sunday was fencing practice, once again at Island Park in Ann Arbor. It was another beautiful day, but very hot, so we stuck to the shade for most of practice. Some of the other fighters brought food for snacking and cooking out, and some non-fighting SCAdians came out to work on projects and just hang out. That night Fritz and I grilled hamburgers for dinner, then went to see X-Men III. It was a good movie, definitely worth seeing. It wasn't quite as good as the first two movies, but it did the series justice.

Monday Fritz and I went for ice cream in Depot Town, then walked around Riverside Park for a while before stopping by his brother and sister-in-law's to drop off a present for his nephew. It was another beautiful day, but definitely the hottest of the weekend. We had a nice time on our walk, but were happy to return to the comfort of air conditioning afterwards. Fritz left early in the afternoon, and while I had planned to plant my flowers from the farmer's market in my flower bed after he left, I ended up parking my arse on the couch and watching a Deadliest Catch marathon on the Discovery Channel instead. By that time, I was exhausted from all the activity of the weekend, and couldn't get motivated to go back out in the heat. (I did get the planting done this week, though.)

It's interesting, this was my most active weekend in a while, but also my most relaxing. I'm realizing that it's easier for me to relax if I tire myself out with vigorous activity beforehand. Of course, the gorgeous scenery and great company didn't hurt either!