just wanted to let everyone know that i will be going out of town starting Saturday July 23 and will be returning on the following Saturday. i will be camping, which means no phone, no internet,no communications (excluding smoke signals )

if anyone has anyquestions for me please do so before i leave. as for everyone who has puzzles on order, it doesnt look like i will finish any of them before i leave.

one more thing i will also be going to US Nationals from Aug 3- Aug 7. those days i will also have no communications.

Ooh, camping is the best! Have fun, and watch out for pixies (they have a vicious bite)!

If by pixies you mean scorpions, mosquitos, ticks, mites, flies, wasps and other such nasties, then yes, pixies have a vicious bite.

Ever met a Scottish Pixie Jin? they are nasty

No, but I had run-ins with large amazonian pixies when I was living in south america that hurt me for weeks. Not fun stuff.

Egyptian ones hurt a little too.

No, no, no! Pixies! Proper pixies! They have blue skin, big eyes and wings like dragonflies...
Okaaaaay, time to lay off the Harry Potter films for a while...

Wait...I think I saw some of them when I went camping last weekend.

oh i didnt know there are pixies. i dont know if i can go now. ok just joking. i am extremely alergic to mesquitos so i always have to be careful.

also thanks Jin for telling me about all of those other wonderful things.

I am allergic to wasp stings, if it's any consolation.

wierd though im not alergic to bee stings. i was stung last weekend on my big toe while playing American football

I'm not allergic, but I found out last summer just how painful wasp stings are! It was my own fault for trying to trap it in a glass of lemonade with my hand, I guess...

I once got stung on the earlobe by a bumblebee which wouldn't stop pestering me. The earlobe felt hard and without sensation for almost two months before it finally felt fine. Damn bumblebees!

I thought bumblebees don't sting. Anyway, while golfing last year, i was walking down a small hill and then all of a sudden, i got stung on the leg by some absolutely huge bee. They had a nest in the bunker of the last hole. I still don't know what kind of bee it was, it was about 1.5 inches long and was black and orange, and they made their nests underground. Upon getting stung, i fell forward, rolled down the hill, lost all my clubs out of my bag. Got up walked to my friends, and birdied the hole. It hurt like no ones business though, and i had a half inch wide brown circle on my leg for about a month afterwards.

They can sting, but they generally don't because they die when they sting, unlike wasps.

Sounds like a hornet.

Which make sense about the big brown ring.

i made it back yesterday. camping was fun but tiring. we actually came home early due to the heat, and my girlfriend got sick. it was 109 where we were. we were at Kern River in California. the only thing we could do was hang out at the river and the creeks. it was too hot up there. just like everyone said look out for the bugs. we had alot of flies and a bunch of bee and yellow jackets trying to get to our food. anyways i am back.

Welcome back!
You haven't missed much, except Tony has a new puzzle.

Ok, did I miss something?? What is Tony's new puzzle?

I think he means the truncated octaminx.

Yer...nothing new really.

really i only missed 5 days of being on the internet. i didnt miss out of much. although i did have 54 emails to go through.