On Sat, 9 Nov 1996, Rob Menke wrote:

> Hello?

Yes, yes, I am still alive.

Sorry about the numerous delays. Bug-catching, moving stuff in storage, automobile class, hiking. Hopefully you’ll forgive.

1. Photos that Dan already scanned: I think he has still flaked so far.
2. Taking Ming & Flash photos: I’ve flaked so far. Sorry ’bout that. Bonus excuse: wanted to see how the night-shots of the Super Saver Cinemas sign (taken at various film speeds) came out before using similar techniques again.
3. Getting photos developed: All photos taken so far will be ready and I will pick them up Nov 13th, approximately 5:05 PST.
4. Scanning photos of the ejectable wheel, etc.: once photos are picked up (point 3 above) I’ll get Dan to scan them ASAP. Which will probably end up being Friday evening if I’m willing to go over there and practically do the whole thing myself.
5. Uploading sound clips: I’m out of excuses by now. I really do mean well, but let’s face it—I flake a lot because it’s one thing I’m good at and consistency for consistency’s sake is in itself a good thing sometimes. On the other hand, I’ll try and stop flaking on this soon.
6. Safe (well-shielded), compact, ecologically responsible Fusion Reactor that runs on banana peels and empty root beer cans: I’ve also been flaking on the development of this promising future alternative power source for the Smogmobile. Will keep you posted if anything begins to move forward on this matter. (pun intended.)

Other points on Paul’s life:

1. Currently have more audio cassette tape debris littering the room than at any previous time in my life, and the level continues to rise. Next to door is a de facto seismograph composed of no less than 3.5 vertical feet of empty tape boxes stacked in three columns.
2. In Automotive Fundamentals class: studying and working on transmissions. Primarily rear-wheel drive, and definitely manual trannies only. Darn, since SM2K™ is a front-wheel-drive automatic.
3. In Biology (‘bug’) class: need to key out my collected specimens to Order and Family. For optimal class grade, need 10 Orders and 50 Families represented. To achieve this, I most likely will need further specimens. May go on additional field trips therefore. Even aside from bug class, I definitely will continue periodic hiking in Santa Monica Mountains.
4. Will distribute some not insignificant portion of my 34.5 million dollar recent lotto winnings among my longtime friends. This is of course to be done after I buy a factory that makes 120-minute blank audio cassette tapes.