Random Drivel

I’m not kidding.

Pilot Finds Snake Stowaway Inside Cockpit

Monty Coles was 3,000 feet in the air when he discovered a stowaway peeking out at him from the plane’s instrument panel: a 4 1/2-foot snake.

Coles was taking a leisurely flight over the West Virginia countryside in his Piper Cherokee last weekend and was preparing to land in Ohio when the snake revealed itself.

“Nothing in any of the manuals ever described anything like this,” said the 62-year-old Cross Lanes resident.

But advice given 25 years earlier from his flight instructor sprung to mind: “No matter what happens, fly the plane.”

Coles attempted to swat the snake but it fell to the pilot’s feet, then darted to the other side of the cockpit.

While maintaining control of the single-engine plane with one hand, Coles grabbed the reptile behind its head with his other.

“There was no way I was letting that thing go,” he said. “It coiled all around my arm, and its tail grabbed hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling.”

The next step was to radio for emergency landing clearance.

“They came back and asked what my problem was,” he said. “I told them I had one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane. They cleared me in.”

After a smooth landing, Coles posed for pictures with the snake, then let it loose.

“That snake resides in Ohio now,” he said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/03/ap/strange/mainD8I0MHUG0.shtml

A Snake. On a MotherF**king plane. Samuel L. Jackson is going to be a millionaire.

The computer I built two years ago, the HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer), was built with a DVD burner. Yesterday I burned my first ever DVD on it. Of course, that was after a week of not being able to do it, because of some firmware crap. I had to upgrade past 4 versions of old firmware (yeah, more proof that I never used the thing) before it would let me use it.

So anyway, I backed up My Docs and My Pictures, both of which came to somewhere near 8 GB so that took two disks. I also backed up Season 1 and 2 of Lost, which took 5 disks (It would have been only 4 disks, but Season 1 was 50 MB too big! So I split it into three equal disks).

I don’t feel like backing up my music, becuase I don’t really care that much. I was finally able to put that 3rd hard drive back into the computer because I drilled new holes into the drive cage to make it fit. Maybe i should buy a new hard drive, like a 200 or 300 GB one.

This is what happens when you’re at home for a few weeks and have plenty of free time. Also, it rains a lot in Oklahoma. I still find myself using Portable ShitBox (the laptop) more than HTPC because I can just leave it on my bed and use wireless. And all the stuff on HTPC can be accessed over the network, anyway.

Saturday, 27 May 2006, I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. I also earned a Minor in Spanish Language. It is quite a relief to be done with school, but the world out there is a big place and I’m going to have to take some time to adjust.

I drove over 2000 miles in ten days, from Rose to Tulsa, back to Rose, to South Bend, and back again, and now I’m in Tulsa. It is 2042 miles from Rose-Hulman to Bakersfield, CA. I’m not sure what the point is, other than that place is far away from where I consider “home” right now.