06/09/2012

The new office is finally complete.

Yesterday the glass was frosted, and that finishes the series of contractors I’d hired to do various things. Now all of the office walls have a four-foot-high frosted strip, with regular glass the rest of the way up.

There’s been some joking about no-pants days, since you will no longer be able to see beneath everyone’s desks.

The break room has the fridge and some nice tile. We moved the foosball table in there because we needed room for the ping-pong table, and also because the acoustics are much better. When you slam a ball into the goal it echoes very nicely and sounds appropriately awesome.

And the conference table– all twelve feet of it– is pretty sweet. It doubles as a “duck and cover” fallout shelter in case of nuclear attack, because it’s the single heaviest thing in the office.

All in all, I’m really happy with the way things turned out. It was a tedious (and expensive) process but it’s a great work environment.

06/09/2012

By now most of the internet has heard of the Orvillecopter. Some guy had a cat named Orville (named for the Wright Brother) and sadly Orville passed on to the Great Litterbox in the Sky. Some pet owners would bury their cat. Others might have him stuffed so they could always be reminded of their fond times together. But this guy turned Orville into a helicopter.

Working with a taxidermist, he inserted a bunch of model helicopter parts into Orville. His four paws are splayed wide, with a rotor on each one. Landing struts hang from his belly. And yes, he does fly.

Of course there are many people who are thoroughly upset about this, claiming that it’s disrespectful and exploitative. Whatever. I think it’s hilarious, and tons more fun that a plot in the back yard or a stationary stuffed cat to tuck in the corner and gather dust.

06/07/2012

Roger invited me to join him at Lyons Pinball, a little dive in the nearby town of Lyons which– surprise!– specializes in pinball games. They have maybe forty or fifty pinball games, ranging from “classic” all-mechanical ones which probably have vacuum tubes behind the scenes to fancy new ones with lots of machinery and “missions” and LED displays. We made the rounds and had a great time. After an hour I had to head out to a meeting, but I’ll definitely be back. Zack heard about it and wants to head up there. And at the end of the night I’d spent less than five bucks in quarters: not bad for an evening’s entertainment.