weekend and beyond

This last weekend I went hiking with Kurt and Thrasher and we found an abandon mine. Our only light sources were a keychain LED and a nearly dead minimag. This limited us to exploring only the first 50 feet or so until it branched. Going further would have put the entrance out of sight making an exit difficult if our lights failed. At the split is a pool of water so still I nearly stepped in it without realizing. The pool leads down to a vertical shaft dropping off into murky obscurity. The mine splits off into at least two other tunnels, and something that looks like a third area goes upward. We plan on returning before long with better equipment.

Vikki and John's wedding was on Sunday. For a last minute wedding it was pulled off fairly well. That makes the second wedding so far this summer, several more to come. On Monday Terra, Nat, and I saw Goonies at the New Beverly theater which is not very new anymore. What if you changed a theater's name to keep up with it's age? The Old Beverly theater. And for a while it would have been called the Middle-Aged Beverly theater. And if it was bought out by different owners it would be called the Second Hand Beverly theater. Or, perhaps the Pre-Owned Beverly theater.

I bought a flashlight today with the most ridiculous piece of advertising on its packaging. "Photon tube reflectors increase brightness" When translated from pretentious-advertising-speak this reads, "it has a mirror, you probably know how that works." The description on the back talks about how the flashlight was designed by two German scientists as if Einstein and Planck had taken a break from quantum mechanics to work on camping gear. The package also informs you that the flashlight contains "optoelectronic technology" which is an antiquated way of saying that it has an LED. I think it's kind of silly for advertisers to describe their products in the most obscure and esoteric terms possible. This doesn't make the average consumer more informed. And are people really more likely to buy a product covered with pseudo-scientific terms that they don't understand? I hope not.

On a somber note, my blog received a comment from the cousin of a Marine who died this week in Iraq. Like mine, his name is Ryan Cox. I found a few articles about the incident. It was eerie to read them, like reading about my own death. Somehow it makes the whole war feel closer and louder. It makes me glad I'm not in the military. It makes me miss Marty. A heavy price is paid for war. And it's paid not by the leaders and decision-makers, but by the young men and women with good intentions dedicated hearts. My sympathy and prayers go out to Ryan Cox's family.