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Mon. May 31, 1999
Good times-a-million
Plans were made for Erika and I to join Jeff for a day of daytime astronomy and kite building. First, the astronomy. We hiked back atop the roof of Neven's Hall and got out an 8" Celestron scope. A filter muzzled the end of the telescope so we could star straight into the Sun. And stare we did! In this season of increasing sunspot activity, we saw numerous black specks on old Sol that could easily dwarf the Earth. One was even large enough to see when I looked through the filter with my unaided eyes.
Without a thought the three of us soon loaded into Jeff's Saturn (how appropriate) to get supplies enough to build a box kite on this windy day. With a stop to Michael's craft store we got tissue paper, plastic, and some scissors. In the same complex as that store was a rather Barnes & Noble type of place called Books-A-Million. This was our base. As I sipped a frosty mocha-type drink and chiseled my chocolate-covered Rice Krispee treat, we began construction of the kite. Numerous patrons of the store glanced with confusion at our project but, with Jeff at the helm, we didn't let up. We strung strand of string after strand of string through straw after straw to construct the frame. Then, after a coating of tissue paper, the little pyramids were tied together. After a couple hours, we had our kite. Midway through the process, we picked up another unsuspecting worker named Renee. She's a teacher at the high school that Jeff teaches at.
We drove to a nearby schoolground to give our box kite a chance to prove itself to the world. The kite took a nosedive every time we tried to shove it into the sky. It was no use. The newly coined Entropy I was a failure. Possibly due to the frame being made from bendie straws. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board. We got new straws, constructed Entropy II, and watched the Sun set outside the windows of Books-A-Million. Now we were hungry.
Jeff, Renee, Erika and I then went to a chain restaurant/greece-house called Zaxby's. Jeff treated Erika and I to the meal. I got a plate of chicken wings (hot). They weren't hot. We did enjoy ourselves though and our conversation led us past the establishment's closing. Catching my ear over the outdoor speakers was a blues band of most impressive calibre. Letting the pulse possess my body, I excused myself to ask someone inside what group it was. The cook was the only one still there and I inquired about the music. "Government Mule," he answered, "That shit's bad." Needless to say, I'll be setting out sometime to buy that bad $#!+.



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