Les and Melissa are off to New York now, and they're surely having fun. Rather
than problems from the blackout, they'll likely not encounter anything more
troubling than some anecdotes. Well, I say that in light of news reports which
seem almost dejected about the lack of mayhem. Headline: New Yorkers Pull Together
During Massive Power Loss -- Tagline: Citizens Take Advantage of Rare Opportunity
to Drink Beer and Smoke in Public.

I do hope they're careful about parking however. Seventy-year-old average Joes
directing traffic in the streets while the Brown Shirts issued parking citations,
seems to be the main controversy. Funny to a degree yes, but given the nature
of bureaucracy it was neither ironic or surprising. For Les' part one can take
it as read he used the occasion as an opportunity to negotiate better rates
from the travel agency. Oh, here's a GeoSat picture of the blackout.

A total lack of light pollution probably made the outage mildly enjoyable for
amateur astronomers. Mars is the focus of attention for them right now, ringing
in at an apparent 27+ arc seconds. Yes, it's the closest Mars has come to us
in a bujillion years, but let's keep this in perspective. Every so often Mars
gets close to us and just a few years ago in 1998 it was an apparent 25+ arc
seconds across. That's not enough to resolve the polar ice caps any better in
your Sears Celestron telescope. It is big enough to make it worth the trouble
though. And it's the first thing other than the Moon I've been able to resolve
in my own tiny Celestron. I'm a better shot with a camera - and those projectile
throwers of which Les is so recently fond. But I just don't grok telescopes
for some reason. Sad really, because I love star gazing.

Before my first missive here comes to a close, I want to say a couple words
about Les and Melissa. You ought to know what sort of folk it is behind this
blog. You ought also to know that BloggerPro's spell checker doesn't recognize the word blog. But I digress. I've known Les for several years, since our days at U.S. Internet. And
I've known Melissa since they started dating. That seems forever now because
as practical people they had an extended courtship. Melissa is an extremely
outgoing person, who brings humor and happiness wherever she goes. She's a nice
yin to Les' yang - with him being quieter - heh - and at times a bit mysterious.
But that's only part of the tale. The wedding was great evidence of the rightness
of their match. Melissa carried herself as an elegant bride. She managed to
sweep one of those romantic and impossibly long trains behind her without falling
once. Hey, I've been to a lot of weddings; not falling down is no mean feat.
Her dress swept dramatically as she descended from the horse-drawn carriage,
and moved towards the gazebo, wherein were spoken the magic words. "Do
you Les Jones, agree before these witnesses assembled, to become the chattel
property of Melissa from now unto perpetuity?"

Something like that. I can't remember it exactly.

It all went off without a hitch. Les and Melissa put on quite an event. There
was more than enough drink and prandial delights to keep everybody happy. And
this is really saying something because since they're in their 30s (actually
Melissa is something like 14 but that's legal in Tennessee) they had to pay
for it all themselves. The usually frugal Les obviously went all out, spared
no expense. And he made sure that by 1:00AM we were all getting gloriously glassy
on the very same Jonesborough porch that Andy Johnson drank on a century and
a half ago. "Hey honey..." I said to my own wife Melissa "We're
gettin' drunk on the porch of the Three Sisters hotel just like the Pie-Yo-Neerz!".......Near
to this point she decided it was time to ferry me home.

Les and Melissa are good friends to me, and to many people I know. I am proud
to count myself as their friend - honored I should say - because they are two
of the most decent people you will ever meet. Decent, dependable and patient;
They'll make great parents. And that of course is the next chapter in the story.