Yarr!

No, I'm not jumping on the "pirates are cool" bandwagon. I'm on (as I always have been) the Nerd Wagon.

Weekend before last, Lisa and I decided to drop by the North Carolina Museum of History, which was pretty full of cool stuff. For no reason I can think of, I'm a big fan of skull iconography, so when I saw this flag, I had to take a picture. 'Twas the flag of Blackbeard, of whom you may have heard -- a variation on the skull and crossbones, the skeleton with the hourglass in one hand and the heart-stabbing spear in the other meant "your time is running out. You're going to die."

So, you know, Blackbeard had that going for him. Which is nice.

As my tattoo artist can tell you, I'm a big fan of symbol language, and this particular symbol message by an illiterate, drunken privateer was just too cool not to take pictures of.

Also, no snakes. You're welcome, Mom. :)

Note the look of concentration.

Can someone explain to me how it is possible to not look silly riding one of these things?

Lisa and I were downtown for breakfast on Saturday morning (part of the three-day fourth anniversary celebration). We'd noticed a few weeks back when my folks were in town that there was a Segway store that had recently popped up, but we had no idea they would give tours. When we walked by on the way in to breakfast, it looked like there was a Segway training class in session. I can only imagine what the "trainer" must have been saying: "Now, when you're riding this thing around, you may hear a sound like perfect strangers laughing at you. This is totally normal, and it doesn't mean anything is wrong with your Segway."

If it seems to you that I have just a little too much hatred for the Segway, you're probably not wrong. The things are just ri-goddamned-diculous to me. I mean, either walk or ride a scooter or something. These things make you look retarded.

Don't mind me, chief.

The wife and I were out for a walk around the neighborhood night before last, and came across this guy just leisurely slithering across the road. I'm still up in the air on how well the picture shows it, but he's really, really long.

This one's a rat snake, a thankfully nonpoisonous constrictor. I actually correctly identified the snake before we got home (Lisa: "Googling 'Snakes of North Carolina' actually takes me to 'snakesofnorthcarolina.com.' That's convenient.") It was a lucky guess, though, and kind of good for us, as we stood around like idiots for about 15 minutes watching a potentially lethal (though not really) snake slide across the street and into the neighboring apartment complex.

This post really served no purpose other than, "Look, a snake!"

This is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen.

Really, there aren't words.

I was in Nebraska for my pal Nate's wedding (congratulations again, you crazy kids), and I saw this while out walking (not in the pouring rain, as I had covered that earlier in the week). I can still look at it and it makes me laugh, even days and several sleepless nights later. Good on you, random vandals.