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Fly Like An Eagle

12.15.2003

Saturday was our company Christmas party, in which I learned that I have the best boss in the world. Thanks to a suggestion from longtime personal friend Jer, the boss got me one of those things I've always wanted - no, this is legal - in this case a radio controlled helicopter! Luckily he had picked out a beginner copter for me - an Eco Piccolo.

Part of me wanting a helicopter for so long is that along the way I've heard how hard these things are to fly. I've been flying flight sims on the PC for years and have gotten the hang of how a helicopter is supposed to work, but actually trying to fly an RC one can suddenly be a little intimidating, especially considering how I tend to fly RC planes into trees. Repeatedly. With that in mind, I've been trying to track down some online flying tutorials for the Piccolo before I fly/crash mine. I wonder ifthese tutorials are going to help? I'll let you know after I give actual flught a try.

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Home Surprises

12.12.2003

I had 2 surpirises awaiting me when I got home after work yesterday. The first was my lack of a mailbox at the roadside. When my mailbox usually sits, along with 2 others, were 3 poles, looking like they were pushed down to about a 10° angle. They weren't bent, broken, or mangled, just... resting. As I pulled into the garage, I found the acrual mailbox sitting in front of the door, with the mail in it. No dents. Looking at the bottom, it didn't even seem to have been ripped off thepole. Makes me wonder just what's going on.

Surprise number 2 came as I was tossing clothes into kitchen hamper. I turned on the heel of my shoe and heard a squeak. I took off my shoes, turned on my heel, and heard another squeak. Granted, the back of my jeans were under my heel, but that shouldn't squeak. Then I remembered how cold it had gotten, and that if life was following last years routine, the field mice may have found their secret passage back inside. I still had asticky pad left over from last year in one of the cabinets, and as I opened the cabinet I saw that the sticky pad had fulfilled its usefullness. It had caught a mouse.

For those of you that think of mice as cute cartoony animals, I set it free to where it could frollick with its little mouse family, enjoying life in the wild. For those of you who are more realistic, I plopped mouse and sticky pad in the garbage can in the garage and let the little bastard freeze.

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