Some things...

Well, I'm busy working on the presentation for my defense (as you can see). That'll be Friday at 2:00, so the end is very near. I actually have to present it in front of Mylroie tomorrow and a few other times this week, to work out the bugs. Or at least the obvious ones. It's getting there.
Anyway, I'm proud of myself because I rebuilt my rear wheel all by myself. Mike gave me plenty of tips, but I did it all with my own two hands. All new spokes and nipples. It's not the first wheel I've built (I built several for my trials bikes), but I think it's the best job I've ever done. Got the tension really high, and it spins perfectly true, with only a barely perceptible hop. So yay. However, I forgot to get a rim strip, so I haven't ridden it yet. Not that I have time to.
So Spring is moving along quite rapidly down here. Most of the leaves are out now, and it's starting to get hot already. I haven't had to turn on the AC yet, but I did have to have the fan on for a bit yesterday. Though, now that I think of it, I had the dryer going, which definitely heats things up a bit upstairs. This time of year, there are these pretty purple flowers than grow on vines around here. They are quite nice to look at, and they smell wonderful. Our old apartment was surrounded by them, and Kristen and I always enjoyed them. There's some out front growing up a telephone pole here too. Here's what they look like. Too bad I can't replicate the smell...

Also, came across this the other day. It cracks me up... This is really cool too.