7:34P ET

I don’t know if you can imagine this, but try:

Muggy spring weather gives way to downpour and sweet petrichor, which comes in through the open windows and rustles the papers on your desk (alias: kitchen table). From four blocks away, church bells start chiming in celebration like Jesus Christ has showed up in person to deliver the homily on this otherwise unremarkable Tuesday evening.

That’s what’s happening here at this very moment. It’s kind of awesome.

Iowa High Court Legalizes Gay Marriage in State

From the AP:

“We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective,” the Supreme Court wrote in its decision. “The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”

Proud to be from Iowa today, as always.

[image via Chris Glass; apologies for the redundancy for those of you who read both of my blogs.]

I’ll Take One in “Kicking Attack Pose,” Please.

I found what I want for my birthday. Better start collecting your coins!

[via]

In His Own Handwriting

On a day when I really wanted D around, he managed to find a way to be here. In an old-fashioned, handwritten letter, just like I like it. Love that man.

5 Hours of ABBA

Holy crap! So I was catching up on my Coudal Partners feed and watching a few videos when the video, 238 Miles: A long day’s journey out of Iowa, caught my eye (for obvious reasons).

I clicked on the link and there staring back at me was an old writer’s workshop classmate of mine, named Steve Delahoyde. In this particular video, Steve drives from Iowa to Chicago (en route to visit his girlfriend) listening to one song and one song only: ABBA’s Dancing Queen. Steve is crazy.

Anyway, by the Google search results, Steve’s got his hand in a handful of honey pots. It’s fun and inspiring to see a classmate doing great, creative things. His journey and three other stories are on CP’s Copy Goes Here, which I’m probably going to have to buy.

Kudos, Steve! Keep up the fun, entertaining work.

Don’t Make Me Facebook-Stalk You

Two days without the intarwebs, and boy do I feel out of touch. Good thing I can follow your every move on Facebook to get caught up. (Kidding. But seriously.)

So what have you been up to? Anything fun?

I’ve moved out of the bachelorette pad and have taken up residence with Cassie, her brother, her cousin, their dog, (a german shep by the name of Haley), and, in a couple of weeks, their friend Katie. It feels a lot like college without all the raucous behavior and lewd sounds from my occasional-meth-taking roommate’s chambers. (L Boogie, are you with me?)

It’s been fun so far; I’m officially hooked on The Tudors, and last night at the gym I saw what my ass is going to look like when I’m 80. And this morning I slipped on the snow and biffed. Then I managed to empty the entire contents of my coffee mug into my cup holder. At least it makes for easy cleanup.

The move is part of a larger transition to take place (tentatively) next month. More details on that to come.

So that’s what I’ve been doing. What are you doing? Listening to anything good? I’m really digging “Skeleton Man” by the Evangelicals. The Like also has an acoustic track on their MySpace page (I know, I know) called “Release Me” that I’ve been digging for awhile. Let’s hope they put out a new album soon.

Avalanche Airbags

Snowpulse is an airbag designed for winter sport enthusiasts at risk for being caught in avalanches.

As you can see from the photo, Snowpulse is a backpack with an airbag inside, which deploys when you get pummeled with snow. It protects your head and thorax against shock (responsible for up to 20% of avalanche-related deaths), and the bright color helps rescuers find you faster; the room the deployed airbag creates around your head also helps rescuers dig you out faster.

Pretty awesome innovation for those who can’t stay off the mountains during avalanche season. Or for those of us who are paranoid as all hell about getting caught in one. I may buy one just to wear in the car.

[via]

Top 8 Most Amazing Tree Houses

There are three things I was totally enamoured with as a kid and remain so to this day:

1. Secret passageways
2. Space and time travel
3. Tree houses

Here are 8 of the coolest in the latter category.