The best science related story I have read in a while:

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

More details at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Multi-parter coming up.

Part 1: Cairo, GA
I reached Tallahassee on Tuesday. The drive to Cairo took half an hour longer than expected (Damn you, bad-directions-Enterprise-car-rental) and spent most of the day working. Wednesday. Work. Thursday we went to Crystal Seafood for some much needed dead animals and I ate like a king. A very hungry king. Alligator tails. Lobster tails. Shrimp. Baked potatoes. Hushpuppies. Cheese grits. Corn-on-the-cob. A very hungry king indeed! And to top it all I spent the rest of the day at the bar of my hotel where they were having karaoke night. Small town (Pop. 9,239) bars are fun! Everyone knows everyone else. Except you! And you spend all night making new friends.

The journey back was interesting. I was on four flights! Tallahassee - Orlando, Orlando - Greenville, Greenville - Cincinnati, Cincinnati - Madison. Sadly, only on the Tallahassee - Orlando leg did I have any company in the plane - C! I got home at 10:30 in the night. Said hi to Katie who was staying over at Ms. Non Sequitur's and plopped into a deep slumber in bed.

Part 2: Six pubs. No idea how we got there.
Saturday. Me, Ms Non Sequitur, Katie - go! Stadium Bar? Church Key, Paul's Club, Piano Bar, Paradise, Madisons.

Part 3: A surfeit of Y.
Sunday was spent lazily. I got Katie and Ms. Non Sequitur hooked on Y: The Last Man. New converts to the graphic novel club! Ice cream at Micheal's for dinner!

Part 4: Bonus Monday!
It began nice and lazy with phone calls to desh. And a lot of Chuzzle. (Warning: Do not click on that last link unless you want to be horribly addicted. I dream of Chuzzles and it is not funny!)

Then it was me and Ms. Non Sequitur. Lunch at Noodles. 28 Weeks Later at the Orpheum. Half-price Margaritas at Frida's. Knocking on Cousin Qs door! (There's a story here ;) Renting Little Miss Sunshine. Becks, where Cousin Q and BF N joined us. Becks has the most awesome jukebox ever. I just walk over and there are free credits in there! I love drunk jukebox patrons!!

This was such a boring weekend. Not.

Friday was the Hoofers Social which was on the lake front! Saw a lot of people in daylight for the first time. I was relieved that they didn't burst into flames under direct sunlight. No vampires! Met Sailor M after a long time. Challenged her into eating a double scoop of ice-cream on a waffle cone at the Union. She struggled but finally finished it! Then I browbeat her into buying me a glass of wine at Barriques.

Saturday begin with sailing on a Colgate 26 with Jerry and Joy from Hoofers. It was a race! My first race and we won! (We won because we were the only boat in our class but let's not get technical.) After spending a couple of hours hiked up (and losing one my brand new gloves to a wayward swinging boom,) my back was a little sore.

Nothing a little beer can't fix! It was a graduation party for Ms. Non Sequiturs cousin RaHa and her friends Bri and Ann. It's a little hazy now but there was a half-keg of Coors Light involved and some Red-Headed Sluts! And a lots and lots of food. Reached home at 1.

Sunday was a chill day at home, spent nursing the sore back due to the sailing.

Tuesday, I'm back in Florida on another involuntary vacation!

I got a cold and a bad one too
It made me sick like Winnie the Pooh
But the doctor, he made me fit
By prescribing antibiotics

Yeah, clearly my poetry skills have deteriorated along with the lining of my throat. This was a bad one though, and it kept me in on Friday. I watched Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music (The Director's Cut) and what a great documentary that was.

Saturday, after spending the whole afternoon at home, moping and ripping CDs, I went out and watched Spiderman 3 with Little A. A little Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon at Barriques Wine Cave finished off the evening. Spiderman 3 is a must watch if you are comic geek. And it's a must watch even if you aren't. And before going to bed, I sipped a warm cup of Theraflu which knocked me unconscious.

Sunday, I was feeling much better, and spent most of my day bugging the crap out of KT and Ms. Non Sequitur who were trying hard to get their papers done. I'm now half a music educator and half a PhD in development studies. I need to leverage this unholy knowledge somehow and make more money. I also spoke to Gary who said she was sick and sleepy and had had a 36 hour shift. Doctors work way harder than engineers. And finally I watched Salaam Bombay which I had never seen before. I miss Bombay.

And Tall Mike has movie night tonight, where we shall watch the last two episodes of Dexter Season 1! Serial-killer cops rock!

Kissing was invented in India!!

Another weekend, another post!

Friday was a tossup between the Hoofers social and an Indian classical performance. Gary said on chat that I should go for the Indian classical. Well, I was too late for the Indian classical, and seeing as how I had a big Saturday coming up, I decided to spend a quiet Friday evening at home. Wow! Haven't done that in a while have I?! So Friday began at the comic book store, followed by a quick trip to the library for some music. TV on mute - check. CD in player - check. Sofa clean and comfy - check. Falafel sandwich - check. Comics - check. Quiet Friday evening - check.

Saturday began with some party stuff shopping. Hats, streamers, Happy Birthday banners, party poppers. Book in Indian cooking for the birthday girl. The birthday girl was R and the surprise party was organized by her boyfriend J and Ms. Non Sequitur. The party was at their beautiful house (I need a house now...) Lots of people, a keg of Leinies, lotsa wine, tons of food, damn this was a great party! And it was only the beginning of Saturday!

After the party, it was a night of karaoke at the Karaoke Kid with my buddy KT and her coworkers. KT had long islands and I stuck to my default whiskey-cokes. Yes, as usual I sang - Bohemian Rhapsody and With a Little Help From My Friends. A funny thing happened too with the second song. I asked for the Beatles version. Of course they had to pull the switcheroo on me, and play the more famous Joe Cocker cover which I had no idea how to sing! What do I do? Nothing much, I sing like a maniac anyway with KT doing the scat bits (Can we call them the scat bits? What do you call the bits of lyrics sung not as part of the main melody? Ms. Non Sequitur?) and me the choruses etc. Yeah, I could tell people thought I was a little crazy after that little performance. And then we did sake bombs!

Finally, I walked (read dragged) KT home and got her into Ms. Non Sequitur's apt. Hangovers galore the next morning!

Sunday. No hangover for me. I think I'm just blessed. Breakfast at Mickey's with these two crazy women (KT and Ms. Non Sequitur.) Fafafel and gyro sandwiches from Campus Biryani for lunch. Right now I'm listening to Dave Matthews Band and listening to KT tell me to finish this damn post already so she can read it. Ok, done.