Hold That Thought

Hey, if there's anyone left reading this, hold on tight for a few days. I'm brainstorming ways to make this blog more interesting. I hope to be back soon.

"The absent are always in the wrong."— English proverb

Home Again, Pt. 2

And once again I am safely returned home. My stay in North Carolina, though brief, was quite a lot of fun. I am very glad I went and wish that I could have stayed longer. However, I understand that a lot of visitors will be descending upon Raleigh and it's probably good that I cleared out when I did.

I know that I frequently shortcut these posts by not explaining my relation to the people mentioned. That's probably needlessly confusing. So, regarding this trip, my brother is Jeff, his wife, my sister-in-law, is Denise, and their two children, my niece and nephew, Christina and Austin. They're all wonderful people and if you get the opportunity to meet them, I encourage you to do so.

So that's who I was with.

Monday was much the same as the previous days, capped off by going to see a rehearsal of Christina's latest extracurricular drama production, a short musical based around several songs from Schoolhouse Rock. That was the first time I got to hear her sing, and she has an absolutely beautiful voice! I'm not just saying that as her uncle either.

Afterwards we drove across Raleigh to try out a Brazilian BBQ. It should come as no surprise to readers of my Florida closed-restaurant adventures to hear that when we finally got to the restaurant we found it closed for a private party.

The flight home today was unremarkable except that my layover was in Salt Lake City, and Salt Lake City was in the middle of receiving a snowfall. The captain came on the intercom several times to say that our flight was on time but also to hedge his bet by telling us that the runways were being plowed, etc. In the end, though, we did land on time. Everywhere you looked out the airport windows it was white— and quite delightful to myself who was excited to see snow. About the time my connecting flight took off, the sun seemed to be breaking through.

Wel, I had a couple other things to report on, but I'm tired and can't seem to string sentences together tonight. Rather than labor on, I'm going to retire.

"There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror."— Orson Welles

Sunday Funnies

I'm actually getting to this blog a little early tonight because everyone went to bed early. I may even have DS time before nodding off.  :)

Shortly after I got up, my friend Perry picked me up for lunch. Perry is a good friend whom I haven't seen in a few years. I met him when I was regularly performing stand-up. We hit it off and always enjoyed talking whenever we happened to meet at a show. The last time I saw him, I had scored some free tickets to see Dana Gould at the Irvine Improv. I went with both him and my friend Laura (mentioned a few weeks ago in this blog). Immediately afterwards, Perry moved away and ended up in the Raleigh-Durham area. It was a great pleasure to catch up with him, and we discussed some script ideas that we may collaborate on.

After arriving back home, it was time to put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house. Jeff and I worked on the tree while Denise and Austin worked on the house. Before the lights went on the tree, I was sitting looking at it and I had an unusual idea for "spray-on lights". Picture a small LED light with bristly hooks on either end and a small battery and circuit board. The whole thing could be made for less than a nickel each be no bigger than a junebug. Now put 500 or a 1000 of them in a cannister with a spray wand, like a garden pesticide dispenser. Use a little RF clicker to tune the cannister of lights to a specific frequency, then simply point the wand at the tree and spray tiny lights all over it. The RF clicker turns them all on and turns them off again. Instead of untangling your lights every year, replacing bad ones, and then draping them around your tree, in a few minutes you could have a tree covered with tiny lights!

We finished off the day by having dinner and seeing a comedy show at Charlie Goodnight's. We all had a good time and enjoyed a lot of personal attention from the comics.

Only one more day here in Raleigh and then I have to go home.  :(