Of Hobbits and Orangutans, part I

My weekend was fantastic, the result of a strange and wonderful set of random events occuring in the world and a unique set of people that somehow were all in Dallas at the right time.

Let me start with 2 people:

• Alex is one of my oldest friends. A tall, lanky, red-haired fellow who has roots in Argentina, speaks excellent Spanish, and has penned many a hilarious/insightful/bizarre writing in his day. Somehow manages to survive on a diet missing crucial components such as eggs and cheese. Has traveled throughout the world, has fascinating friends (myself included), is quite bright, and will likely be a billionaire someday. Quite the Simpson's fan. An excellent tree climber and hiker extraordinaire.
• Kevin is also among my oldest friends. Sandy haired, lean, with surprisingly long arms for his height. Eschews shoes whenever possible, and is a fount of energy. Difficult to keep him in stasis for longer than a few minutes. Can tackle most physical obstacles with astonishing ease, and clever enough to solve intellectual puzzles as well. Oftentimes difficult to locate given his penchant for disappearing into the wilderness in search of adventure, and a distressing habit of losing his cell phone in rivers, streams, and oceans.

Now for a few interesting natural events.

• The Aurigid meteor shower was predicted to peak shortly before 0637 CST on September 1st here in our part of the country. This particular shower is apparently unpredictable in exact timing and intensity, but has been known to produce blue-green fireballs in the past.
• Some crazy Texas spiders decided to put together a 200 yard long communal web in Lake Tawakoni Park in East Texas (about 45 minutes from Dallas). Not completely unique, but weird and unexpected enough to draw visitors from all over the place and start intellectual squabbles online. Neat!

I'd already been excited about the meteor shower a couple of weeks ago, but little did I know that my friend Alex was going to be coming through Dallas this weekend, and he digs stargazing as well, kick ass! I had also been trying without success to find someone who wasn't arachnophobic to drive out to the lake, and suddenly here he was. I was invited to dine on Friday night at a vegetarian restaurant known as the Cosmic Cafe with a group of his friends (and some of their friends, I met a bunch of cool new people in the last few days, I tell ya) and Kevin was present and accounted for among the number. Excellent. This could only get better.