I saved another bird today. The story begins miserably with a rather unsuccessful attempt to go fishing from the shore. I tried two spots that were off the beaten path. At the first spot, where I had never been before, I broke one of my rods in half. The water was way too shallow there anyway, so I moved on. The second spot was a hidden pond that I haven't been to in 10 years. It's located way back in the woods behind one of my regular lakes. If I had remembered how far it was I would have worn better shoes and probably not have lugged my entire tackle box. I also forgot my hat so the biting insects in the woods had a field day on my shaved head. To add insult to injury, when I finally reached the little pond it was all overgrown with weeds, trees, and thorn bushes. I returned to my truck blistered, bitten, scraped up by thorns, and sweating profusely.

To try to salvage the trip I decided to give the main lake a few casts before leaving. I'm glad I did, because I noticed a Canadian goose across the lake flapping his wings and swimming frantically trying to stay with his flock, only he wasn't moving anywhere. I asked the two other guys near me if the goose looked stuck and they agreed, so i said, "I'm going to try to save him." The one guy asked if I was going to go swimming. "We'll see," I replied.

I went around to the other side of the lake and sure enough the poor thing was stuck, probably on some old fishing line. There were a few people over there were visibly concerned. I tied a jigging spoon with a treble hook to some 20 lb test braided line and watched to see which way the goose was tring to swim. I cast behind him and let the lure sink, then reeled it in and was able to snag the old line. I figured my braided line had to be stronger than whatever line was under the water, so I wrapped my line around the reel mount and started pulling. The old line started to give way and for a moment it appeared as if I was trying to land the goose with my fishing rod. Soon after, the tension on my rod released and the goose swam away to rejoin his flock as the people across the lake cheered. I didn't even lose the lure. :-)

Despite the miserable fishing trip, the experience with the goose made the whole trip worth it. I wish I had some pictures of these birds but there never seems to be a good time to snap a photo in these situations. I'll just have to rely on my memories, and since that's not a very safe bet I'm glad it's all written on the ol' blog.

I've never appreciated having electricity more in my life. On Tuesday evening, an electrical storm blew through our neighborhood in New Jersey and sent a major surge through our power lines. The lights went out and we immediately smelled smoke, which was coming from the power supply in my media center PC. We fired up our flashlights, listened to the radio, and burned candles all night. The next morning, some, but not all, of our power was restored. I had never seen before. Only half of our outlets worked and they seemed a little weak. I powered up the essentials like the fridge by running extension cords from the bathroom and bedroom. Finally, after two and a half days, full power resumed this morning and I was able to assess the damage. Almost everything in the house still worked except for a few missing bars on the LED display on the microwave. Oh, yeah, and my freaking main computer won't power up! It turns out the power supply on my main computer was also damaged and now shuts itself off after about a second, even though that computer was protected by a battery backup surge protector. Yeah... I have no idea either. I hope that's the extent of the problem. I'll know when the replacement power supplies arrive on Monday. Until then I've just got my little laptop to keep me sane.

Tocci Ponders: If the word horrific means full of horror or horrible, how come the word terrific doesn't mean full of terror or terrible?

In other news, my sister turned 29 in style last weekend. She gets excited about her birthday and always takes the opportunity to throw a party. Then the next day we went to a graduation party for Jenny's Uncle E, who recently graduated from mechanic school after deciding to leave his previous career as a biomechanical engineer behind. I think it's great that he can follow his passions like that and I wish him the best of luck in his new profession.

Tocci Ponders: Today the manager at a restaurant called some patrons "folks". You don't hear that particular synonym of "people" in many contexts these days, but one that comes to mind is "folk music". So my question is, if "folks" means "people", then "folk music" really means "people music"... as opposed to... "animal music"? Isn't all music folk music?

Of course, what would a blog entry be these days without some mention of bass fishing? I caught six bass last Friday, which may be a personal best. I also caught a pickerel. The most memorable part of the day, however, came early when I heard a flapping noise coming from a bush near the bank. I didn't think much of it at first but it started again. Looking closely, I saw an animal hanging upside down from a branch flapping its wings. Bats freak me out so I was reluctant to get much closer. Then I realized it was a bird. The poor thing had gotten its foot entangled in some old fishing line. I pulled the boat up on shore, cut the line with my pocketknife, and the bird flew away without injury. I'm glad I decided to hit that particular lake that day.

I had some photos and some links to post with this entry but they're on my other computer. :-( They'll have to wait.

Jenny and I have been happily married for a whole year now. Time flies. I can clearly remember standing on the beach in Hawaii saying our I do's. I made the mosaic here on the computer from a selection of our wedding photos for Jenny's anniversary card. If you put your mouse over it you can see the original. It clicks through to a large version where you can see the pictures in the individual tiles.

Tocci Ponders: If you fold a fancy piece of writing paper into a paper airplane and it flies across the room, is it still stationary?

I've been trying to get out on the boat at least once a week and so far I haven't been skunked yet. In fact, a week and a half ago I caught a 5 1/2 pound bass! That pretty much made my year. I actually got her to bite twice. The first time I barely hooked her on a senko but she put shook her softball sized head out of the water and got off. She was under a bridge by a drain pipe so I figured she was still relating to that area. I tried tempting her with other senkos after that but she wanted no part of them. Eventually I flipped in a jig and chunk trailer and got a reaction strike out of her. She couldn't throw the hook that time and before I knew it I had a monster in my hand. I was alone at the time but there was a guy fishing from land nearby so in my excitement I popped the trolling motor into high gear and dragged my anchor over to the bank. Hey, I only have two hands. He was nice enough to snap a couple photos for me with my camera. Then I let her go and she swam back to her little nook under the bridge to get even bigger.

Tocci Ponders: How does my credit card company know that I have outstanding balance? Would they know if I tipped over a lot?

This blog entry will self destruct. Go go gadget links!

• Office Worker Goes Absolutely Insane - I've heard of losing it in a stressful environment, but this is ridiculous. What amazes me most is how long it goes on without the man calming down or anyone stopping him. If this had happened in America that guy would have been jaw jacked after he threw that first monitor. Here's another angle with sound. Thanks, Jeff.
  
• Marketing IQ Test - Everyday we're inundated with advertising. Let's see how much you've retained. Thanks, Sis.
• Cubescape - Create landscapes by dropping 3-D cubes on a big grid.
• Cubecraft - Speaking of cubes, if you need some toys in a hurry and all you have is a printer, you can fold up some cute little cube characters.
• Boarding a Train in China - And I thought the New York subway got croweded. Thanks, Chris.
• Seven Innocent Gestures That Can Get You Killed Overseas