Journal entries for December, 2007

The tap in my large-sized refrigerated water filter tank, fondly known as the Brita Keg, has a slow, steady leak. The tap only drips once every few minutes, so I usually forget all about it unless I put something cardboard under the Brita Keg that turns up wet the next day.

But I moved to this new house a few months ago, which meant adjusting to a new fridge, and this one has developed an interesting quirk.

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Today I got to experience my first ever DUI test!

I often turn off my headlights (leaving only the parking lights) if I'm the first car in line at a stoplight, to keep from blinding the cars waiting on the other side of the intersection (and I wish other people would do the same — especially people in tall SUVs and pickup trucks). Apparently, though, the police are not so impressed with my thoughtfulness. Tonight as the light turned green I turned my headlights on and started driving, only to have the car behind me turn his blue lights on. I pulled over once we were through the intersection, and I saw five other cop cars pull to a stop all around me. I'm always impressed when the police devote those kinds of resources to stopping me. It's kind of flattering.

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I realized that, now that I moved out of my apartment and into a proper house, I can get more creative with my Christmas lights this year. But as I looked at other houses in the neighborhood for ideas, I realized that all of the common things you tend to see, like lighted snowmen in the front yard, light "icicles" hanging from the roof, etc., don't really appeal to me at all. Then today I realized that I can take my lighting inspiration from another part of my life.

Since so few of my friends are pilots, I suppose I should explain that it's supposed to be runway lighting. White lights mark the sides of the runway, green is the start of it, red is the end, and blue lights delimit taxiways. I ransacked the internet trying to find a good, clear picture of real runway lights to offer in comparison, but they're surprisingly rare. I guess it's pretty hard to take a good picture at night from a bumpy light plane. Here's the best I could find (originally from this page).