Superfly lives! Way to go!

Meanwhile, I am trying to deal with a rubber rat that is intent on eating my brain.

Why does this always happen on a Friday?

What a good day. I get to work and find THIS has come in the mail.

My Godzilla Firewire Hub!

Well, they can't actually call it a "Godzilla" Firewire Hub for obvious copyright reasons...but everyone KNOWS it is a Godzilla. I mean, c'mon..just look at it, for chrissakes.

This baby is great. He's prehistoric! He's High Tech! He's everything!

And the bright blue LED shoots some seriously bright light out of his mouth. Perfect for blinding enemies...or oneself (see pic).

Sorensilk, as for why the keyboard numbers are arranged like that...well, I believe it's *intentionally* designed to drive you mad. It's so deviously simple...I wish I had thought of it.

Finally, to everyone who was *forced* to try and drive a car in this snow, I wish you all the best. I realize that some people have little choice regarding driving an automobile, and given these deteriorating driving conditions I hope everyone makes it to their final destination safely.

That having been said...DESTROY YOUR CAR TOMORROW! START WALKING! YOU WILL BE HAPPIER!

And go ahead and destroy your TV while you're at it, too.

These sanity tips have been brought to you by the letters C and Z.

What a good day. I get to work and find THIS has come in the mail.

My Godzilla Firewire Hub!

Well, they can't actually call it a "Godzilla" Firewire Hub for obvious copyright reasons...but everyone KNOWS it is a Godzilla. I mean, c'mon..just look at it, for chrissakes.

This baby is great. He's prehistoric! He's High Tech! He's everything!

And the bright blue LED shoots some seriously bright light out of his mouth. Perfect for blinding enemies...or oneself (see pic).

Sorensilk, as for why the keyboard numbers are arranged like that...well, I believe it's *intentionally* designed to drive you mad. It's so deviously simple...I wish I had thought of it.

Finally, to everyone who was *forced* to try and drive a car in this snow, I wish you all the best. I realize that some people have little choice regarding driving an automobile, and given these deteriorating driving conditions I hope everyone makes it to their final destination safely.

That having been said...DESTROY YOUR CAR TOMORROW! START WALKING! YOU WILL BE HAPPIER!

And go ahead and destroy your TV while you're at it, too.

These sanity tips have been brought to you by the letters C and Z.

Snow snow snow. I love it.

Walking through the Boston Public Garden today, it was a winter wonderland.

All the people at work today who commute via car were grumbling, while all the people who commute via public transportation or their feet (like me) were smiling and saying things like "oh, it's so beautiful outside!"

This solidified my feeling that cars are evil and should be avoided at all costs. Driving cars will taint your view of the world and human beings, give you ulcers, and cloud your ability to feel simple joy.

Just my 2 cents...

P.S. The rat was gone today. My plan aparently worked. Excellent.

OK, maybe I got a *little* carried away with the whole rat incident...

So.....to help counter my recent blog entries containing gut-wrenching drama and graphic depictions of violence and death (and to show that I'm not a complete psycho), here is a genuinely nice picture of two stuffed animals in my apartment.

No, they do not belong to a girlfriend. They belong to me. I bought them because I like them. Just don't tell anyone.

Cute lil' guys, eh? Two of my favorite Japanese anime characters. :)

Yep. Walking home tonite, and the rat is still there. Wow.

In my attempt to make people *see* this thing, I took my "anti-Somebody Else's Problem" sign (see pic), attached it to a sharp stick, and stuck it into the body. Well, stuck it *under* the body. Since the critter is frozen solid as a brick. Now the yellow sign sticks up like a bright yellow flag. Impossible to miss.

And for good measure, I walked over to the statues of the ducklings and snatched one of the sickly cute tiny santa hats. Put the hat on the rat. Well, put it where the rat's head should have been, had it not been deleted.

Let's see what happens now.

"Oh look...how adorable! Someone dressed up a cute stuffed animal like a little santa's helper! Oh wait. No...that can't be.....what's that red chunky stuff.......OHMYGOD!!!!!!"

Heh...

Today on my morning walk to work through Boston I saw that the rat I noticed yesterday is STILL THERE. Untouched.

And thanks to the fact that it is about 15 degrees outside, it is perfectly preserved and still looks fresh killed.

I can't believe it. I thought for sure that someone would have complained and that park services people would have removed the body.

The only explanation I have is that someone has set up an SEP (Somebody Else's Problem) Field around the rat. If you are familiar with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you know what I mean. If not, here's a definition:

"An SEP Field is used to hide something in plain sight. This phenomenon works on the principle that the human brain will filter out impossible objects and situations so as to preserve the sanity of the owner of the brain. When an impossible object or situation is encountered the brain decides that it is somebody else's problem and promptly deletes it from its perception of reality."

I know I'm not crazy. It really is there. I've seen it. You've seen the photos. And if that rat is still there when I walk home tonight, I am going to attach a sign to it. See above pic.

Heh...good point. But this rat was HUGE. The size of a small bunny.

I can't imagine any cat willingly taking on such a super-sized rodent.

On the other hand, I've seen small hawks take out very large prey.

Of course, the other possibility I didn't even mention. Human predator.

Ick. :P

** Season of the Hunt **

Walked to work today in Boston. Chilled to the bone...snow and ice on the ground, wind whipping, temperature around 20 degrees.

My daily walking commute takes me through the Boston Public Gardens. Nearing the entrance, I noticed something a bit...strange.

Apparently, some predator had attacked a large rat and dumped the body on the top of one of the pillars right at the entrance to the gardens.

The body was completely ripped apart with some viscera lying around (most of it gone...eaten) and the head was missing. Looked to me like some bird of prey's handiwork. There are hawks in Boston and they typically prey on pidgeons and rats.

But the interesting thing about this tableau of carnage was the fact that people made a huge effort NOT to see it. I stood nearby for 15 minutes, just watching people walk through the entrance. Nobody batted an eyeball. Because of the cold, the creature was frozen solid soon after the time of death, so the blood was still bright red (not oxidized brown). IMPOSSIBLE to not notice while walking through the gate. Almost at eye level.

It's amazing to me how people will immediately stop and gawk at automobile accidents or scenes involving human violence or injured humans, but it seems they totally ignore any such similar sights involving the animal kingdom. Roadkill. Dead animals. Animals eating each other. Scenes of slaughterhouses. In my experience, people shun these images or pretend they are not there. I wonder why.

I couldn't resist and took a number of pictures. Upon walking outside the park, I saw that someone had put little Santa hats on the bronze statues of the ducklings. Awwww. So cute. Nice and cheerful. LOTS of people were looking at them and taking pictures. A completely unreal image of winter wildlife, neatly anthropormorphized.

The reality is that in the winter, animals have to hunt and kill each other to survive. Nothing morbid about it. It's reality. But I guess we prefer the cute idea of birds wearing human hats in the snow.

I almost took one of the hats to put on poor ol' ratty, just to make his final scene on earth a bit more cheery. Too bad he didn't have a head to put it on. I guess it's the thought that counts.

Dinner and a show.

Albino Burmese python: 1

Rat: 0