It’s been awhile since new words made their way to the ol’ blog.  The two main reasons are due to being swamped with some new projects around the homestead (foreshadowing upcoming “operation” posts) and quite frankly there has not been a lot of interesting observations as of late.  I am not sure if that is because people are becoming boring, people are becoming more “normal” or my observation skills are on the fritz.  The jury is still out, but the current thinking is putting the blame on me.  The good news is the post processing work has been done on about 40 pictures which are now awaiting upload to our photography site.

But, it’s 10/10/10 (or the answer to the universe day – #42 for all you fellow geeks out there) and I didn’t want to miss a post on this special day.  One potential content option was a recent experience with a mole in my backyard.  Once again, they have breached the defenses and were wreaking havoc.  That is in the past tense due to a bizarre scene I stumbled upon.  Some small holes showed up one morning in and around a pretty large tunnel system one of those demon spawn had decided to taunt me with.  From the evidence, it looked like some animal with paws had engaged in a digging activity resulting in the holes ranging from 2 to 3 inches in diameter.  In all there were about 5 holes at various locations.  Following the line of holes, I eventually came to a dead mole laying on top of the ground.  It was very dead, but there was no obvious blood or physical trauma.  On closer inspection, there looked like tiny indentations in the fur around the head.  What animal has come to my aid?  Any opinions would be greatly appreciated… I might have to get a few to keep around the house!  The only guess at the moment is it was a cat.  One showed up the night of our Halloween Party and proceeded to settle in with the guests for the rest of the night.  This might have been a present for us much like the dead mice a neighbor’s cat (Arnold the female cat) used to leave on my doorstep back in my apartment days.  I had a bunch of stuff to do that day so didn’t bother heading back to get the camera.  I am sure you are disappointed not being able to see another dead mole on this blog!  Anyway, that mole had met its match.

However, the original intent of this blog was to comment on an experience a friend of mine had at a local Chinese restaurant.  Pakage is in his 40’s (think a year behind me) and definitely gives Techno-Bob a run for his money.  He is always showing up with the coolest technologies including the latest gaming units, mp3/video players, the geekiest toys off of ThinkGeek and nifty gadgets like network hotspots.    One day he was at the register of the restaurant and happened to put his Zen down on the counter.  This resulted in the following response from the Asian lady behind the counter, “It’s So HUGE”.  Now, in other circumstances this might actually be considered a flattering compliment (think about it..).  But in this particular situation, it had the exact opposite effect.  Essentially the woman was making fun of his “large electronics” in relationship to today’s sleek new gadgets.  I liken it to the transition days when the cool people had the smaller form cell phones while the not-so-cool people were still lugging around 5 pound bricks with antennas on their belts.  What made this so funny to me is Pakage is the exact opposite of her first impression.  He had been profiled based on an MP3/video player he was currently using while his sleek and techno-sexy-spectacular iTouch was getting fixed at the factory for about the FOURTH time.  To his credit, he did try to explain this to the lady, but I’m guessing he had already been labeled as techno-illiterate.  I forgot to ask him if he was going to put a bright red ‘A’ on all his shirts now to honor the “Analog” era.

Anyway, thanks to Pakage for letting me in on his experience… oh, and hand model I am NOT.