Sunday, March 19, 2006

Bagpipes, et cetera....

Adding to the list of "Surreal Events I've Experience in Wichita" was the greeting I enjoyed upon getting out of the car after work earlier this week: a man was practicing his bagpipes in the park across the street. I listened to him from the porch for a few minutes then went inside and opened the windows to continue enjoying the music. I think I am in the minority that enjoy bagpipe music and this guy played respectably well. I haven't seen him since then but that might have something to do with the fact that....

... it is once again cold in Wichita. The winter we didn't seem to get is trying to squeeze in a few days of cold before spring officially starts. Earlier this week it was warm enough for the bagpipe player to enjoy his time outside. The past few days the high has been in the low 40's (Fahrenheit for all you foreign readers) and rainy. This has been a bit of a problem since...

... my electric radiator heater broke. I have it on a timer in the bathroom to help combat the cold tiles. Getting out of the shower wet into a room that is 50 degrees is no fun. I've had the heater for a month or so and then on Tuesday is emitted the "electrical smell of death" (all you EE lab rats know EXACTLY the odor to which I am referring) and ceased functioning. I opened it up and found the part that had obviously failed. A quick on-line tour showed the part was available only in China. Based on the price of the heater, this is no surprise to me.

Oh, and I'm getting married in 13 days. I think that's pretty neat.