Magic dragons

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.

When I was in kindergarten, I spent a lot of time at my best friend's house. Her dad is a folk singer and he used to sing to us sometimes when I visited. I think of him every time I see a Peter, Paul and Mary special on PBS, but there are two songs that I distinctly remember him singing to us: "Mares Eat Oats" and "Puff the Magic Dragon".

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name.

Listening to the lyrics then, I believed that Puff and that little boy really did have great travels together. I vividly pictured the kings that bowed to them and the pirate ships that cowered when they passed.

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

But soon my best friend and I were in different classes, and then different school, and I forgot about Jackie and Puff...

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.

Until I discovered the magic of downloading music in college (legally, of course!). Now I have "Puff" on my iPod and I think of my best friend and her father every time it comes on. The magic of the internet also put me back in contact with my childhood friend, so I can admire the unique and amazing woman she grew up to be. But it wasn't until today that I realized that Jackie and Puff's adventures may have been through Jackie's imagination… but they'll always be real to me.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Wrong way

About a week ago I was walking to my office when I saw a car pull across the yellow line, not realizing that traffic there flowed in both directions. A car behind it started honking, staying back so he could wave the car back into the correct traffic lane. Thanks to quick action on the part of that driver, the incident was quickly resolved without any negative consequences.

This morning a car did the same thing, ending up facing opposing traffic to attempt a left hand turn. While the pedestrians all turned and stared at the car, none of the other cars on the road made any attempt to correct the situation. The driver facing opposing traffic was either oblivious to the stares of the surrounding pedestrians and cars facing him or so cool under pressure that he gave absolutely no indication he was in error. Thankfully the facing cars waited for him to complete his turn and traffic immediately returned to business as usual.

Like the driver this morning, I feel that I've committed myself to a path, at least for the next month or so. Unfortunately I can't see the yellow line from where I am, so I can only hope that a kind driver behind me will wave me over if I'm headed in the wrong direction.

How would you know that?

Brother: Did you know that Jessica Simpson's perfume line tastes like stuff?
Me: Yeah, I'd heard that.
Brother: Well, my friend Hilary has her frosting perfume. It smells like a baby prostitute, but it actually tastes like frosting!

You know you're an angineer when...

...you're surprised that your iPod plays two songs by the same artist back to back when it is shuffle mode--and then you estimate what the probability of that is.

In case you were wondering, in this case it was less than 1 percent.

Testing 1.2.3.

They're doing the annual test of our fire alarm and it sounds like an army of angry gnomes with whistles. Why gnomes? I don't know, that's just what it sounds like.