Annoyed by your neighbors that have those unsightly satellite dishes on their homes?  I especially find those large condo buildings with balconies humorous...you have to laugh when you see every other balcony with a dish, complete with wires hanging all over the place.  My favorite, however, was a suburban home I once saw with a 50 foot pole sticking out of its backyard, with the dish placed on top.

Of course, it could be worse.  Just be glad you don't live next to this guy!  Wonder how much his property value drops with each new dish he adds?  And, exactly how many of those 5000 channels does this guy really watch, anyway?  Hope he's got a bunch of Tivo's (and even more time on his hands!)

In the off chance that anyone is still paying any attention to this blog, you may have noticed its been rather dark lately.  Bear with me...I've recently transitioned from one client to another, and surprisingly, my new client has ACTUAL WORK for me to do!  Yeehaw!  Of course, that means that my blogging time has been almost completely cut out of my schedule, and I find myself catching a few posts here and there and then marking all my subscriptions as read.  So sad :-(

I do hope to find some time to post here as often as possible, so hopefully you will begin to see more activity in the coming weeks.  Funny...I am getting some pretty interesting Google referrals coming through, so that has kept me motivated.  Who the heck is the Australian that has been Googling my name?  And WHY would someone be doing a Google search on "Chicago Tribune Pumpkin Scones"???  Bizarre...

Some of you are aware that I have spent time building homes for Habitat for Humanity in 2 African nations - Ghana and Tanzania.  In both locations, I was astounded by the incredible amount of effort required at the beginning of the day in order to collect the water necessary to mix morter.  This task was especially arduous in Zanzibar, where each team member (and many locals) carried a 5 gallon bucket (or any other type of container to be found...Africans are VERY resourceful) over 500 meters to the closest well, then hauled it back to the site.  Keep in mind that 5 gallons of water is very heavy, and us white folk had not quite attained the skill of carrying the buckets on our heads, as our clever African friends did, which lead to very calloused hands. 

Enter the Hippo Water Roller.  What a PERFECT idea!  This bad boy can haul 200 gallons of water and requires little effort on someone's behalf.  Hopefully these things can be mass produced at prices that will allow even the most hard-off nations the ability to afford at least one per village.  I know the people of Kiombamvua would appreciate one!