Fall!

Fall is here, and for the last few days, it actually felt like it, with cool mornings and afternoons that are just warm enough to be "warm" and not unpleasantly hot. Saturday I went with a friend to the Red Bull Flugtag that was taking place nearby, and I can certainly think of worse ways of spending an afternoon than sitting beside a lake and watching homemade "airplanes" (using the term very loosely) splashing into a lake after mostly ineffective attempts to fly (I think there were only a couple of teams who managed anything that looked more like flying than falling). In between launches, there were lots of boats on the lake to look at, as they were renting kayaks and paddleboats and giving gondola rides. We even got to see the fire department boat rescue a kayaker.

Here's the one picture I got (my camera only has an LCD screen, which isn't much use in sunlight, so taking pictures is pretty much a guessing game. That explains the tilt). It was a tribute to Big Tex burning up at the state fair last year, so it was a cowboy hat that started spewing smoke as it launched. As you can imagine, an airplane shaped like a cowboy hat pretty much just fell off the ramp instead of flying.

This morning, I walked to the Indian market to restock on tea, and since the last pound of tea I bought, that shopping center has changed. They've remodeled the grocery store and now there's also an ice cream shop in the center. I got the impression it was an Indian ice cream shop, since almost every other business in the center is Indian-related and since part of the sign on the window said something like "we'll take you back home." Is Indian ice cream different from other ice cream?

I may find out, as part of my plan for the fall is to force myself to mix work with fun. I still want to get some work done, but I also want to make time to enjoy the season. One of the things I'd like to do is explore my neighborhood by visiting these various little shops and restaurants. We've got a big variety, including Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican and Chinese. I'd have to drive to get to the Nepali restaurant, though.

Today's task is delving into iMovie for a secret FenCon project (if it succeeds, it likely will make its way to YouTube). I last did video editing when I was working on my broadcast journalism degree, and things have changed a lot since then. We didn't use computers then. We had a machine with two tape decks. One recorded and one was the source. You set your start and end points for the clip you wanted to use, and then it would record it over to the other tape. Then you'd find another clip and stick it on. If you wanted to change something, you started over. Now it looks a lot easier, but I haven't tried it yet. Once I learn, I may become a menace. I'll be making movies about everything. I may also delve into using the computer for sound editing. That I learned how to do with reel-to-reel tape, a grease pencil, a razor blade and splicing tape. Maybe I'll take up podcasting or writing "radio" dramas. Because I need more hobbies.