Winter garden

another week, another storm

I'm happy to be attending Pensacola Junior College and I think I can get a good, worthwhile education there, but that school definitely has its moments of disorganization.  Last night was my first night of class for the fall semester.  My Monday class is called Electronics for Technology and for its grand beginning we learned that we don't yet have an instructor.  We didn't get a syllabus and, because of Labor Day, we won't be meeting again until September 8.  I wonder if we'll get a 2 week discount on the class.  Oh well.  I didn't really have money for the textbook yet, anyway.

There's a hurricane in the Caribbean.  Great.  Its name is Gustav and it's headed for Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.  Then it's supposed to move into the Gulf of Mexico.  Forecasters aren't sure what it's going to do from there but they are describing it as a major hurricane.  The Pensacola area just dodged Tropical Storm Fay.  Now we have to keep our eyes on Hurricane Gustav.  I hope it doesn't hit us but the problem with that line of thinking is that it means I indirectly hope the storm wreaks havoc and destruction on someone else.  It's going to do serious damage to someone, somewhere.  I just don't want it to be me.  I don't want it to hurt anyone, but if it comes down to you or me...  Keep track of Gustav and his incipient siblings at the National Hurricane Center.

Early mornings are no time for moral dilemmas.  Time to return to the comfort of Gizmodo and beyond.

survival of the luckiest

This is why you don't play around outside, especially with wind-driven devices, during tropical storms.  The story linked below is a story of stupidity and courage.  I wonder if the wind-thrashed man will end up making a bunch of money from it.

Wind Blows Kite Surfer Into Bldg.  

a pin drops, mobile broadband users hear it clearly

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are merging.

From a Sprint press release:

Sprint and Clearwire to Combine WiMAX Businesses, Creating a New Mobile Broadband Company

Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks to Invest $3.2 Billion in Combined Company, at Target Price of $20.00 per Share

Formation of New Company Brings Together the Nation's Leaders in Communications, Technology Innovation and Entertainment

New Company to Speed Deployment of First Nationwide Next-Generation Mobile WiMAX Network

Transaction Designed to Unlock the Potential of Clearwire's and Sprint's 4G Assets

New Company to be Led by Seasoned Management Team from Clearwire and Sprint's XOHM Business Unit; Board of Directors to Include Leading Wireless and Cable Executives

Google's involved?  Cool.  That means the new company (which will be called Clearwire) will be easily accessible by the widest range of devices possible.  It'll make it easier to use the phone you want and it'll be easier for hardware and software developers to create cool new devices and applications.

Another partner in this deal that caught my eye is Bright House Networks.  Who the #@%* is Bright House?  I did a little googling and was surprised to learn that Bright House sells cable, phone, and internet service as nearby as Cantonment and Defuniak Springs.  Who knew?

Will next year's NASCAR season be dubbed the Clearwire Cup Series?

Here's to Us

Whoever knows how many minutes ago my phone lit up and played Blind Melon's No Rain, one of my favorite songs and the ringtone assigned to my lovely ladyfriend, the love of my life. She hesitantly inquired if I would deliver a drink to her, as she'd forgotten one. My first reaction was total panic. I was truly freaked out at first. All the trauma of 12+ years of public schooling poured over me like an avalanche of upside-down port-a-potties. Rage. Hate. I didn't want to go anywhere near that school.

Then I thought of my girlfriend, the greatest girl of my life. Almost as fast as the disarray swept over me it was gone and ordered was restored. The object of my affections is drinkless. I must save the day. It is my duty. I love her.

And the Hellfire scene subsided and was replaced by beauty, reason, truth, and love...nebulous, but altogether good, sensations of inner warmth and clarity...a mission.

The sky is that glorious shade of blue that keeps me stuck right here in Pensacola FL, happily. I love that stuff, this air, these breezes, the light, the warmth...

Here's to the lovers out there, and here's to Us.