On the plane. Wait. “We have an oil leak.” Off the plane. Wait. Nurse another sinus infection. Wait. Only three more hours. Enjoy!

After the fact: It was five more hours when all was said and done.

Seen above the frozen taquitos: The Stew Leonard’s Animatronic Holiday Show, one of many shopping entertainments.

Today was Drive to Connecticut to Visit Michelle, Alan, Cameron, and Garrett Day.

(The purple hair you are seeing in these pictures appears to be a handy feature of my cell phone’s camera.)

Jake and the trucker hat look.

(Thanks to Steve R. for the inspiration for the title.)

This is Catherine spinning fire on her roof. Shhh! It’s illegal!

Today was MoMA day. Yummy!

From the Wexler Reichert Natkins (and one Lekowicz).

This is my new invention, Bead Air Hockey. Yes, it’s as messy as it sounds.

Say hi to some of the folks I’m spending Thanksgiving with.

In the vein of things getting too serious, I offer you …

Lucy.

I have so much to say on the recent posts, but first, something funny! Yes, the atmosphere at The Wren Forum has been getting pretty serious as of late. This is perfectly fine. But I think some humor is now in order.

Enjoy, if you will, Triumph the Insult Dog’s skewering of Star Wars nerds. It is old, but hilarious.

(I also saw an SNL “skit” on Steve Jobs and the iPod, but it was barely funny. Typical SNL waste of time. I am providing, as a time-saving service today, no link to it.)

Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, all kill their inspiration and sing about the grief.

It seems my job has been the source of 90% of my anxieties for the past year. (The other 10% are caused by imagined physical ailments, sexual tension and concern that we have not seen Vicky from The Love Boat in far too many years.)

Three weeks ago to this very day, I received a completely unexpected phone call from a professional acquaintance who offered me a job. He did not say, “I am interested in getting you down here,” or even, “Would you be interested in talking with us?” He said, “I want you to work for me, and I want to pay you (this much). Yes or no?” Of course, the answer was not that easy, and a great deal of time in the past three weeks has been spent hearing the offer, negotiating terms for possible acceptance, and contemplating the prospects. It was a very good deal. Today, I turned it down.

My current employer has also offered me more money — replete with more responsibility — to stay here. Meanwhile, there is a third prospect that remains active, but which shall not yet be discussed here.

I have never in my life been in a position where I was being sought for a job rather than seeking one, or in the position to request considerations from my current employer. It’s unusual. It’s not as pleasant an experience as I would have imagined. When you are in one job and actively apply for another, you hope you will be chosen, but since your employer does not know what is happening, if things don’t pan out you can remain gladly in your present capacity. In my situation, everything (well, almost everything) has been done in transparency with my employer. They know there are other offers. They know I have choices. The other would-be employers know I’m in a good situation here. Essentially, I’ve found people fighting over me, and I always imagined that must be a wonderfully flattering thing to have happen.

It’s the biggest stress-inducer I’ve ever experienced.

Aside from tripping in Spanish class in 10th grade and having to endure taunts for the rest of my days in that class. Which is why I ditched it so frequently.

Another quick post, this time from Engadget: “Tip to Counterfeiters: Don’t Send Printer Jammed with Fake Money Out for Repair.”

I link to Engadget because they are, like usual, very witty. Click their “Read” link to read the full news item.

Here is a quick but fitting post while I run off to help Ken set up his iMac at home, and after just taking pictures of our dismantled G5 (which will be posted for your pleasure later on).

It’s some fun info about the famous “1984″ commercial that introduced the Macintosh.

… I am still here.

Today, I canceled my Friendster account. It took me a little while following the spam incident in part because it was hard to delete the kind and funny testimonials people had written about me.

Well, in all the time I was on Friendster, Matt had begged me to write a testimonial for him. I just couldn’t. Our relationship was/is too complex for me to capture in any sort of sprightly, forced, or off-handed manner. I knew any testimonial for him would have to include elements that he might not like. So inspiration never came.

Of course, today, after my account is gone and I can not post something about Matt, I get my spark. I am posting this without his approval, so I hope he doesn’t get mad at me. But here it is, Matt: Your extra-Friendster testimonial.

Matt is like an unusual-tasting dish. You’re not sure at first if you get him, but you like him right away. His abrupt disavowal can leave an unpleasant taste in your mouth, until you hear him laugh and the flavor then returns. You can recognize him on the outside, but once you dig in, you realize there’s too much going on inside for you to comprehend or distill. You may devour him and shower him with praise while he remains oblivious to your hunger, and when you stop eating, he looks over with the cutest face and wonders where you went. Sometimes you can’t get enough of him, and several servings can’t satisfy you. Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for the complexity. You think you can live without him, but when you get a hint of his bouquet, you need some of him right away. And as surprising as if such an exotic dish were to become animated off the plate, if he responds and embraces you in return, you blink, curious, and then melt.

Yes, what you are seeing here was shot, written, and posted from my cell phone. Is it any wonder I’m single?