There’s a rumor that the Homeland Security Threat Advisory System of colors and threat levels will be discontinued.

I’m sorry to announce that, should that prove to be the case, the Persistent Illusion Magical Lucky Charms level will also cease to be.

Requiescat in pace.

Gauri Nanda, an MIT graduate student, has invented an alarm clock that requires getting out of bed to find it. After one push — or in my case it would be slap — of the snooze alarm, Clocky falls to the floor and rolls away. To turn the thing off, one must get up and find it.

Nanda is currently developing a prototype and hopes to begin testing it soon with future world marketing in mind. Judging from the amount of interest Clocky has generated, it will probably be a hit.

Clocky features a built-in computer chip that causes it to roll a random distance, guaranteeing that it will end up in a different place each time. It has rubber wheels and is covered in carpet to help cushion its fall to the floor.

“My parents had amplifiers that looked like they were covered in carpet,” she [Nanda] said. “I went with it because it’s unconventional looking and gives the clock a playful personality. Maybe it’ll even make the user laugh.”

In my checkered youth, I possessed stereo speakers covered with shag, so I would feel right at home with Clocky.

But the real question, of course, is…

Would it get #1 Son out of bed?

It’s Monday. It’s the Monday after the switch to Daylight Savings Time.

I hate the Monday after “springing ahead.” I just get used to waking up in the light, and I have to get up in the dark again. My body doesn’t want to.

This morning when told #1 Son “time to get up now,” he said, still mostly asleep:

What are you talking about!

That’s about the way that I feel, too.

But, on a good note, the strawberries and roses I planted yesterday are still there. I’m a competent gardner, but for some reason I’m always pleasantly surprised when the things I stick in the ground don’t immediately curl up and die.

The upgrade to WP1.5 is officially “done.” (I hope!) I’ve added a few new tricks, like live preview for comments.

A few of the newer skins have been converted to themes, so please feel free to pick a different look and feel if you don’t like this one. I’ve even left Kubrick (the WordPress default) as a theme choice, so PI look like 3/4 of the other blogs out there.

I’m hoping to add a spell checker. I’m waiting to hear back from my host regarding and executable I need for that.

In other news, I received three roses yesterday from Canada: An Apothecary’s Rose (R. gallica ‘Officinalis’ ), Jude The Obscure and Eyepaint. The Apothecary’s Rose is one of the oldest roses, having been in cultivation since before 1500. Jude is the only rose that I know of that has my name in it. And Eyepaint is my favorite rose ever.

I was not able to find either Jude or Eyepaint anywhere locally — or even in the lower 48 — thus the order from our northern neighbors. There is a place in North Carolina who promised to grow an Eyepaint for me. I expect to hear back from them in a year or two. But that’s not nearly instant enough gratification.

I also had lunch with M yesterday, and she brought me 8 strawberry plants from her yard. Her strawberries originally came from my yard, and she was returning the favor.

So today, I planted.

Pics of the roses when they bloom. The berries I’m keeping for myself. 🙂

I’ve completed the WP 1.5 upgrade. The default PI skin has been converted to a theme. The plugins have been reactivated. As far as I can tell, it all works.

If you run across anything that’s broken or looks whacked, please let me know!

Well… I’m at WP 1.5 now. It looks pretty whacked, but hopefully I’ll have the default layout back soon.