Little Trees, Big Plays and Hobbitses

Yet another random place I'd like to visit someday. I tell ya, pictures like that really do something for me...

The sun is slowly dipping toward the horizon as I type this; in about a half-hour, I shall walk the hill, as I have for the past couple days. I'm going to see how many times up and down the hill it will take to listen to the whole book of Psalms on my iPod. I'm at Psalm 50 after two trips (about an hour total).

Gee, ain't that fascinating!?!?!

Have you ever been typing something, say in Facebook, or in, like, a blog post, and you realize as you're typing just how boring what you're saying is? Wow! Dave's going to get off his duff and actually see if his legs will work! Wowza! Soooo captivating!

Moving right along...

Thanks for all the positive feedback on the last comic strip I posted. On a whim, I sent a link and a quick note to Pat Rothfuss, about his cameo in the strip, and he wrote back to me today, saying thanks for the nod, and that his beard is a lot bushier now than it was in that picture of him I used.

Yeah, I interact with famous people like that all the time, see...

And now, a bonsai Apple tree...

A Bonsai Apple Tree! Are you kidding me!?!?

Those little apples are edible - so says the tree's creator, a gentleman named Walter Pall, from Colorado. Apparently, Mr. Pall is quite a big deal in the world of Bonsai... he even has a bonsai Sycamore Maple whose leaves change color with the seasons...

Here's a couple more killer trees from this article.

There are more cool pictures in the linked article. Hey Abbie, your dad might get a kick out of seeing those trees, since he's into bonsai as well...

Ah, I almost forgot... hang on, you're not going to believe this... brb...

OK, so I was playing a game of Scrabble against the computer the other day on my iPad, and I was getting creamed, as usual... the CPU routinely plays ridiculous, obscure words that no one in their right mind would know, and usually has its way with me. I have to play it on the hardest setting, since the other settings are not challenging to me, and I easily beat them all the time. Part of me doesn't mind losing to the computer, since I try to use it as an opportunity to learn new words...

Anyway, the only way I can beat the CPU is through a series of power moves, which rely on luck as much as skill. HOWEVER, I destroyed the CPU in one play, dropping a bingo, not just across two Triple Word spots, but one of the Triple Word spots I hooked it so I could use it a third time...

Ironically, I spelled the word FORTIETH, and scored an amazing 173 points on the play. Check it out.

All those weird words on the board? Yeah, that's the CPU. VIDEOTEX? Are you kidding me? So OTALGY and ACHOLIA were already there. I just hooked onto them... like a boss! 173 points baybay! BOOM!

Oddly, that's not my biggest play ever. I played BLOOMIER one time for a staggering 198 points. That's my all-time high. But 173 is certainly impressive... to my invisible friends, I mean...

And now, a kid with crazy skills at... uh... whatever this thing is called...



Um, yeah.

I have more to cover, but I have to go on that walk that I captivated you about earlier, so I'll end here, and jump back in once I return. Oh, the anticipation! If I don't return, assume I got hit by a bus or something...

Dave the Pedestrian

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EDIT

There and Back Again; A Hermit's Tale, by Davebo Baggins...

Yeah, I'm back. I didn't get hit by a bus, or any other vehicular variation. And I can't even tell you how many more Psalms I listened to, since I discovered the tracks aren't in order. Yeah, when it went from Psalm 51 to 59 and then to 62, I knew something was up...

So I failed to get hit by a bus. I failed to accurately track the Psalms. And the air was clear, so I failed to encounter Smaug... I mean, smog...

OK, the Hobbit references aren't working, so I'll stop the nonsense now...

Well, actually... speaking of The Hobbit, they announced the names of the two Hobbit films that Peter Jackson and crew are making. The first is called An Unexpected Journey (Dec 2012), and the second is called There and Back Again (Dec 2013). According to this article, they seem to be finding a way to bring back most of the cast from the LOTR films, for better of worse. I mean, I understand Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Gollum... but Sauroman? Frodo? Legolas? And "old" Bilbo? Come on... it's bad enough we have to watch them in 3D, but to have to see these guys shoe-horned in where they don't belong?

Ah, well, worse problems to have, I suppose...

My good pal Carey D is celebrating his birthday this weekend, and so I'm joining him Saturday for an evening at the Barona Indian Casino, for better or worse. Not much for gambling, personally, but he assures me he always wins, so maybe some of his luck will transfer to me through some bizarre form of vice-related osmosis or something. Well, at least I'll get a good buffet out of it. Can't beat a good buffet...

If you didn't see Logan's or Josh's posts from today, you might check them out when you get a moment. Both well worth reading, for entirely different reasons.

I suppose that's it for now. I trust your week has been a good one. Have a fun weekend! That's an order!

Dave the Whatever