Daily Report: Blown

I see that Egypt has finally succeeded in their revolution. That went well, all things considered: No military crackdown (imagine the reaction to "American tanks and American helicopters and American guns" (note)(In the Middle Eastern Press, only in small print would it add "operated by the Egyptian military".) engaging in a Middle Eastern version of Tienanmen Square), and extra-importantly almost no "intifada" stuff seen anywhere. Think about it: A revolution in the Middle East and not a single person exploded into little pieces. Impressive, no?

The new microwave has gone wrong: It trips the circuit breaker. The old stove hood exhaust fan lead that the microwave is now plugged in to is on the same electrical line as the rear two bedrooms of the house (where an additional 1200 watts of computers and stuff are running). So the 1,100 watt microwave added to the existing 1,200 watts going through a 14-amp fuse equals "pop!" (I didn't know any of this... I got my lesson in Home Electrical Systems 101 from Stepdad-übernerd-engineer Paul, who — having designed parts on the experimental fusion reactor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — can easily suss out a blown fuse. Unfortunately, the wire on the circuit is the wrong thickness, so we can't upgrade the fuse, which means... inevitably... drilling holes in things to get the new microwave connected to a "proper" electrical source.

I did a bit of shopping today. I bought some frozen fruit bits to make smoothies... specifically strawberry/pineapple/banana with orange juice from the tree in the back yard. It will be my late-night after-work treat, a smoothie. It's my effort to cut back on the alcohol a bit: The martini at cocktail hour is fine... but the 2 beers / glasses of wine / margaritas / alco-whatevers I drink after work every night in addition to that martini is a little much. (And yes, my party-hearty friends in Thailand, I know what you are going to say; we were much younger and wilder then.)

I'm going to drive across Florida in 2 weeks to see the shuttle launch. I'm told that it is actually possible to see it standing in front of this house, 200 miles away here on the West Coast of the state, but (a) since I'm nearby, (b) since shuttle launches are going away soon, and (c) since I've never seen one before, I'm going to take the day and go see it. My cousin, Uncle Bob's daughter, lives just south of Cape Canaveral, so I'll pop in to see her in the process.

Mike Bird (my "second-cousin-in-law"... my wife's mother's cousin's daughter's husband) was here working in Florida, up by Orlando, for a month. I kept trying to get him to come down for a day but time never permitted. Then, apparently, the work went away and Mike is now off to greener pastures up north... and rather bitter about the entire State of Florida. Interesting how Mike and I got polar opposite opinions regarding the people of Florida. All of the things he commented upon, I have never seen here, and all of the things I have ever mentioned, he had never experienced. But then, I think Florida exists in 2 parts: The retired and the working. I'm in one, Mike was in the other. That might explain things.