Fire

A power line came down on our front lawn today at work. It made a nice little fire, and scorched the heck out of a good size patch of grass. And of course it left us mostly without power for about half the day. I had a lot of fun trying to hook up computers to the AC outlets that were still working, so we could get some critical payroll stuff done.

The best part, though, was when one of the PSE&G guys had to take a leak, and decided to do that right on the side of his truck, in full view of anyone who might have been looking in his direction. And a lot of people were, since they were looking out the windows gawking at the fire.

Grave of the Fireflies

In honor of Memorial Day, I decided to watch Grave of the Fireflies. This is an animated film about two kids who lose their mother and their home in a firebombing during World War II. I’ve had this DVD sitting on my shelf for about six months. I really hadn’t been in the mood to watch it until today. It’s a very sad, elegiac film. Aside from just giving you a different perspective on WW2 that you won’t usually see, it also makes you think about pride, responsibility, perseverance, and the difference between children and adults.

There are a lot of extras on a second disc that help put everything in perspective — an overview of the movie by Roger Ebert, an interview with the director, and a historical overview. There are a few interesting comments on the movie over at IMDB, although there are also a lot of bone-headed ones.

Bennington Dunkin Donuts

Cool! I just noticed that the first shift supervisor from the Bennington Dunkin Donuts left a comment in my guest book asking why I have a photo of their store on my web page. He left the message a couple of weeks ago, so I guess I must have accidentally trashed the e-mail notification on it or something.

For the curious: Back when I was in college, at RPI, it was a bit of a tradition in my fraternity to take pledges on little road trips, and Bennington was a common destination. Part of that tradition involved stopping at the nearest Dunkin Donuts, and having everyone involved sign a Dunkin Donuts napkin, as a little memento of the trip.

So, the photo is a little in-joke for any APO/EZ brothers visiting this page. Hope that satisfies anyone’s curiosity! Oh, and this page is the 17th hit if you search for Bennington VT Dunkin Donuts at Google.