Edward Teller croaked. I met him about 15 years ago when I was working on the Relativity project. I refused to talk with him or shake his hand. He pretty much invented the hydrogen bomb. As a scientist, it didn't matter much to me. If he hadn't been there to do it, it would've been somebody else. But I really didn't want to be involved in a photo op with the dude. Photos have a way of losing context. I was thinking far ahead. A photo of me shaking hands with the creator of mankind's deadliest class of weapons could easily be taken out of context in some kind of political revolution.

Rental season is winding down. I held out longer than I anticipated. Ran out of saxes and trombones yesterday. I've got one flute left. Interestingly enough, I've got several clarinets and trumpets left. Go figure. Usually those are the number one and two instruments of choice. OK, the guitar is the number one instrument of choice, but they still aren't doing much with that in the schools.

But the real shocker is looking at the bank account. I've got a lot of stuff to replace - but the preliminary math says that there's going to be a bit of money left over. Whoopee. My first real paycheck in two years. Looks like just enough to pay the (now lower) mortgage. A break even month - finally.

Should I make a comment about Bush's speech the other night? That would be the 87 billion dollar speech. What a friggin' mess he's got us into. That's 87 billion this year. In retrospect, I wonder how much it might have cost if instead we had just bought the country outright.