So it's 80 degrees out and I can't open my window. The reason? ANTS. Somehow, they've decided to invade my bedroom via the window. I noticed them last week scouting my bedroom's walls and ceilings. As a result, I baited them with a RAID food that they'd take back to the colony and die. Unfortunately, I think they're dying too quickly. What's remarkable is that they've started to retrieve their dead, dismember them, and return THEM as food! Crazy stuff. I just want them gone.

Took some time to remove the old heads, replace the new ones, and clean the set up a bit. It's been in the basement for a while and therefore has collected a nice film of sawdust and spider webs. I don't understand how the spiders actually survive the pounding of the drums, but they seem to enjoy it quite a bit. Anyway, the toms should, with any luck, be here tomorrow and I will mount them as soon as I can.

How do you ship drum heads? Apparently in individual, oversized boxes. Amazon decided to split my order into three separate shipments. While I didn't have to pay individual shipping on them, I'm not all that happy with the amount of cardboard and packing paper used to ship them. Either way, it's my first excursion into Aquarian drum heads. Bass drum and snare heads arrived today. Toms still on their way.

There's no way two flat tires could be coincidental. I guess it's possible if it wasn't for the fact that it occurred in the same week. After some probing, I found the cause. These look like chestnut thorns, embedded into the tire, piercing the tube. Needless to say, in the meantime, I think I'll be taking a different route to work. Need to replace the tube, yet again.

I decided to get another fish. I haven't named him yet. He's a delta-tail Betta. Looked the most lively of the bunch at Petco. He responds to people next to the bowl and isn't fearful of anything.

I've been throwing around the idea of a new bike for quite some time. I spent a few weeks researching available parts and upgrade paths for the M200 but came to a brick wall when looking at brakes and shifting levers and parts. The M200 is 16 years old and still works fairly well. But it was time to secure a more long-term solution.

Read on for more pictures including the country's largest bicycle frame.

Autumn in State College is always interesting. This time, the crows came to poop all over the cars, make a whole lot of noise, and cause people to pull out their cameras.

It's been about seven years since I bought the drums. Drum heads have been changed. Sticks broken. I've had an original set of Zildjians since I learned to play back in 1996 that are still in one piece, still going strong. The set that came with the set seven years ago has started to crack. Not only that, my double bass pedal had its first major failure with a seized universal joint.

More pictures inside...