Some More Random Bits from Greg

• I've been doing a lot of balloon sculpting in the past couple months. Besides after the magic show that I wrote about earlier, I also volunteered to do balloon animals at an elementary school for their Halloween Carnival the week before Halloween. Somehow I ended up in the local paper:
  

• As a direct result of the school appearance, I got a call to go provide balloon sculptures for a birthday party yesterday. This was my first paid gig for a complete stranger. I've entertained at birthdays before, but usually it's been for family and friends.
• Unrelated to balloon animals, I received a growth promotion at my job last week. I've moved from what they call a "level 3" engineer to a "level 4." What does this mean? I get a raise and a bigger desk. Now I can go from a 4-man cubicle to a 2-man. Lucky me! And of course, the raise always helps.
• As part of my current position doing Enterprise Architecture work at Lockheed Martin, I've had to travel quite a bit. Since last November, I've been on at least seven business trips: the UK, Washington DC, Tampa FL, Dayton OH, Marietta GA (twice), and Atlanta GA. Before the year is out, I may have several more. I'm not a big fan of travelling, but it's interesting to occasionally get out and see things.
• This last week I was in Atlanta Georgia for a user's conference for Telelogic. (I use their System Architect software at work.) I had a free afternoon and went to see The Center For Puppetry Arts in downtown Atlanta. They had a special exhibit that just opened up on Jim Henson, featuring Muppets that he specifically performed including Kermit, Rowlf, Ernie, the Swedish Chef, Dr. Teeth, and several others. They also had on permanent exhibit several other Muppet items including a full-body Skeksis (from "Dark Crystal"), a goblin from "Labyrinth," and the two male Pigs In Space Muppets (Link Hogthrob & Dr. Strangepork).
• Visiting that museum made me want to create a web-site called "Geek's Travel Guides" which would point out all the cool geeky places to go see in various cities. After searching around, it's a niche that definitely hasn't been exploited yet. I know I'd certainly like to have it.