Some nostalgia

I was trying to remember something.  It was a commercial about a guy whose scarecrow wasn't getting the job done, so he built a new one.  After some searching, I finally found it.  It's a Vault energy drink commercial.

Even after all these years, I still love the idea of a farmer building a robot scarecrow.

Feels like July

It's been unseasonably hot.  Weeks without rain and temps in the mid nineties.  The soil is baked hard, and the lawns are already starting to discolor.

Saturday will be cooler.  High is only supposed to be 85.

We need some rain, though.

On the plus side, the evenings have been very pleasant.  It's nice to sit outside at dusk and listen to the cicadas buzz and the bullfrogs croak while watching the lightning bugs blink on and off and smelling the aroma from the gardenia flowers.

It might be blazing-hot summer already, but summer still beats winter every time.

Back in contacts

It's nice to be able to see again.

I should probably get Lasik or something.  The problem is that I'm really not comfortable with having a laser beam shot into my eye.

You know what would be ideal?  I pill that improves your vision.  Some sort of retrovirus thing, perhaps.  I don't know.  But there's got be a non-invasive way of doing this, even if it's just theoretical at this point.

In the meantime, I'll count my blessings.  For most of history, people with poor eyesight simply had to live with it.  I have the luxury of corrective lenses, and it makes a world of difference.

Accidentally stabbed my eyeball again

So frustrating...

All I was trying to do was put my contact lens in.  But something went wrong, and the lens went in edge-first.  Now my eye has a mild stinging sensation, and I'm stuck with wearing glasses for the next few days while the cornea repairs itself.

This isn't the first time this is happened, and it won't be the last.  But it still sucks.

To all you people who have naturally perfect vision: don't take it for granted.  It's a gift.  A marvelous one.  Always be thankful that you don't require corrective lenses or laser surgery like so many of the rest of us do.

One day more

One more day until Game of Thrones reaches its conclusion.  One more day to guess who--if anyone--will sit on the Iron Throne when the end credits roll.

One day more!

Crossbows

After watching that Euron "Bowmaster" video, I sort of want a crossbow now.

Amazon offers a large selection.  I have no idea what I'd prefer, though.  There are shoulder-fired crossbows, but also pistol crossbows, and I can see the merits of both.

It also occurred to me that I could go to Home Depot, get some lumber and fasteners and some rope, and maybe build my own ballista.  The problem with that is that it might be too big to fit through a door, so I'd have to leave it outside, I guess, and that's not very appealing.

I suppose I could build my own crossbow.  I'd have to use metal springs instead of flexible bow arms.  Of course, a really fancy crossbow would be a repeater.  Sort of like a revolver, except with bolts instead of cartridges.  I found this instructable for a repeating crossbow, but it uses a stack magazine that sits atop the thing, and I'm not really crazy about that design.  I'd prefer a mag under the firing level.  A rotary mag, a left-side cocking lever, and a forward bullpup-style pistol grip would be the bee's knees.

I probably won't get a crossbow, or build one, but it's fun to muse about.

This is funny

Spoiler alert: contains images from the recent Game of Thrones episode.