Yikes, a whole month without a post. Tsk tsk, what a shame.

Going on holiday soon, will try to write with a dispatch each day and maybe some pictures too.

As many of you know, I make handmade soap for Christmas gifts. I used to sell it under the name Sudz Soap for a short while before I decided to give it away as gifts. I only make one type now– lavender. It sold the best and I've perfected the method after so any tries. Want to buy some soap as gifts? Let me know.

We've had FIOS internet service from Verizon now for about 3 months. I have to say that it's turned out to be a really reliable service. I haven't once had to power cycle anything on my network because of an unresponsive connection as I've had to do in the past with IDSL and cable. The speed is very nice as well (image to left from Speakeasy.net which is representative of our 15M down, 2M up service), faster than Comcast but at the same price as their lower tier service. The only draw back is that most people don't have access to this service yet, but that will change eventually. New cabling has to be trenched into your neighborhood which is a chore in some places. It also makes for angry neighbors when the grass dies.

Link to Verizon FIOS.

I recently had some stickers cut for my car. They're 5.25″ floppy discs. You can download the .PDF here.

I found this bug on one of my tomatoes in the garden. I'm not sure how I avoided touching or knocking it off one the way into the house. It's really small but brightly colored and highly detailed. Looks like some sort of caterpillar to me.

An exquisitely choreographed display of Diet Coke and Mentos set to music using over 100 bottles of Diet Coke.

Link. Thanks, Alice!

Kings Dominion has launched a new roller coaster called the Italian Job Turbo Coaster named after the 2003 movie. Using linear induction to reach 50 mph and pulling four Gs it hurls 3/4 scale model MINIs around a helical track.
Link. Thanks, Jeff!

The FJ Cruiser has been here for almost a month now. Jim hasn't wasted any time with it, having already taken it off-roading at a park in New Jersey the first weekend with it, pictured left. He's also replaced the tires with BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A's.

My car has hit 1,000 terrific miles so far! We're having a blast!

BTW, the MINI's official name is Nigel.

A funny video of a guy named Daniel Chesterfield performing some, err, umm, magic.

Link. Thanks, Al!