Yackety Schmo...

I am reminded today, in these patriotic times, of Calvin and Hobbes' pledge:

I pledge allegiance, to Queen Fragg,
And her mighty state of hysteria.
And to the reporters,
with delicious hams,
One nation, under bob, indefensible,
With quibbling and lettuce for all.

Now rise - Judge Woppner presiding...

Oh wait, I got confused.

So, London is now back to more civilised temperatures, after a week of sweating it out in the low 90s. This may not sound like much, but in a place that declares a heat emergency when the temperatures go above 30 (about 88), it is not a pretty thing. At the first hint that there may not be rain for a period of more than five minutes, the grass turns to straw, the trees get grumpy, and people start appearing on the street in clothing that should probably be illegal. London doesn't do hot and gross very well, to say the least. In Hackney, it also seems to bring out the wierdos, and in a place that is just crawling with them on the best of days, that usually doesn't count as a GOOD THING.

Today's big and exciting project was figuring out how to lighten the colors (colours) in a TIFF map file in a way that could be replicated and automated for many different files. Wow - that's pretty exciting. Actually, and perhaps scarily, I really enjoy spending the day nerdifying over something like that - makes my brain feel like it might have a purpose - I even had to remember algebra. Now if I could just find something that actually used calculus, I'd be over the moon... I will refrain from holding my breath.

We're having a 4th of July BBQ tomorrow - Robin is threatening to put up posters of George III. We still have boxes of fireworks left over from Guy Fawkes day, so we're going to shoot those off the roof at 10 or 1030, once it gets dark - just late enough to really piss off the neighbours (but not late enough to get past the 11pm no-fireworks rule!). Off for a bike ride (probably Cambridge) on Sunday, and then next week is my big exciting ride up to Scotland, from Newcastle - can't wait!

Anyway, I should probably go. The gym beckons, and then I have to head off to the gas station to get more propane for the BBQ. £28 for 5kg - not cheap.