The dumbfounded question of the week: "What do you mean, there was a miscommunication and Sprint disconnected the wrong T1 line?"

End result? Radio silence for me, and most of my friends, for the past two days. Almost all of us have email accounts and websites on the same machine (omnipotent.net, all hail Gareth!). The techops, dconsecurity, dragoncontv and Huntsville locals mailing lists were all down as a result.

I will have more coherent thoughts on this subject later, but I wanted to share this photo with the world sooner, rather than later. This is a real billboard. It is currently in place near the junction of I-565 and Memorial Parkway. Kat and Sean spotted it first, and told us about it last night. I'd planned to wait a few days to photograph it, but when Jeff and I went for lunch today, we saw a camera crew from a local TV station taking footage of the sign.

Saturday afternoon. The day's rains were half-completed before we ventured out. Ask anyone who has lived here long enough and they'll tell you it's true: it never rains just once in Alabama summertime. Always twice. First time it comes down as rain, and the second time it comes back up as steam.

Homeowners with sense have all their outdoor projects completed before the onset of June, because the heat and humidity have a persistence and insidiousness that can hand you heat exhaustion before you're done with your work.

Welcome to Huntsville, your location for prime, newsworthy weather activity! In order to get the most out of your time in Huntsville, you should consider making or purchasing what we in the unofficial tourism board call an Experience Huntsville! kit.

Experience Huntsville! kits have been available for some time at local retailers, but due to popular demand, are probably currently sold out†. Chances are good, though, that you - the average Huntsville visitor - probably have most of the individual components of an Experience Huntsville! kit already in your garage or attic:

Huntsville street names have a disturbing fluidity that I've never seen in any other town. Roads randomly change names at intersections, as they cross highways, or when the urge struck the builders. How else to explain that University and Pratt are the same roads, just on different sides of Memorial Parkway? Or that Zierdt Road is Shelton Road, and that Madison Boulevard is the old Highway 20, and Rideout Road is now Research Park Boulevard?

Greetings from Huntsville, your latest source of American workplace shootings.

Pass the chicken.

There's nothing quite like waking up one morning to learn that your adopted hometown is the news event of the day. "Four men dead in workplace shooting; police say that the gunman is holed up in some..." ... unnamed apartment building that's apparently over on my side of town.