Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Wind and Weather
Wednesday
May 10, 2006
It appears that I'm one of 10,000 finalists for the Google Da Vinci Quest contest that has been going on for the past three weeks or so. The game, which has involved an ingenious series of riddles and puzzles (all designed to promote the forthcoming movie The Da Vinci Code), concluded today.
There's a "cheat site" out there that had some helpful tips for the times where I got stuck (usually when the puzzle makers decided to go really obscure with things.) Someone noted on there that the last video (utilizing Google Videos -- how very cross-promotional!) was likely about Sophie. So I went to Google Videos, did a search for Sophie Da Vinci, and voila, there it was. Of course, the video was pointless without knowing the questions. And they ask some random ones, so it's not like you could figure out obvious answers by seeing it. No, this contest was smarter than that.
But whatever the case, I managed to be one of the first 10,000 to finish and register, at least if my understanding of it was correct. I suppose I'll know for sure when/if I receive a Da Vinci Code cryptex ($30 value!) in the mail, which is part of the final contest. Unfortunately, there can be only one winner among the final 10,000, and while I can do pretty well at these sorts of things... I know that winning is highly unlikely, since the final puzzle is going to be something ridiculously difficult. Unless the crpytex code is balls, a la Beavis and Butt-head stealing Michael Jordan's ATM card and using that word to crack his passcode ("How'd they know I was a pro?"), I somehow doubt that I'll be able to get it open and win. But, hey, free cryptex.
For once, my timing today was impeccable. I went to get some lunch a little bit past 12:30. I pulled some cash out of the ATM, then came right back to the office. This was a wise decision, as a massive storm system came rumbling through soon thereafter. I typically keep the garage door to the warehouse open, but it started raining so hard that it became unwise to do so, lest I allow for water to begin raining into the warehouse like crazy.
|  | This was the second of three big weather bands to pass through my area today.
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It got very dark outside as the storm clouds gathered overhead. I called over to my bank (I had to talk to my rep there about something), and she noted how it had started raining hard over at the bank as well. I gave her the bad news about the severe storms that were on the horizon, heading west from Mississippi.
The rain built up pretty quick here in the industrial park where my office is located. There's land that is being cleared for development, and the rain tore through the light dirt, bringing it into the small creek that accumulated around the buildings that make up the buildings that my business is part of in the business park here in Alabaster. It was like a shallow moat, or a dirtwater border for the perimeter of the property. When truckers drove through, it caused actual ripples in the water, which was rather interesting.
To be sure that there weren't any tornadoes heading my way, I kept a browser minimized to the website of the NBC affiliate (WVTM), which was broadcasting its weather bulletins online. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
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