Earlier today during a last-minute jaunt to CVS pharmacy for some dry goods before Hurricane Frances hit, I picked up a kite just for a laugh. Spending $1.99 on a 31-inch "Buzz Kite" in the shape of a wasp seemed like a bargain to me where amusement was involved.
So I brought it back to the newsroom and used a marker to adorn it with the name VIPIR 9000 NEWS KITE, in honor of the VIPIR radar system used at our sister TV station. (A photo of it can be viewed to the right in the moblog thumbnail. Click on it to enlarge the photo.)
(An aside: Last night we were so bored that we were joking about VIPIR - pronounced VIE-per, like a snake. We declared that since they were insistent on naming it VIPIR instead of VIPER, that it should be pronounced "vipper." We then commenced to singing, "Theyyyyy called it VIPPER! VIPPER! Quicker than liiiiightninggggggg.'' I know. We were bored.)
Anyway, I hitched up the VIPIR 9000 News Kite and took it to the fourth floor of the News Center here in downtown Tampa. Assisted by Kim, a woman who works in our computer department, I braved the wind and the rain of the eye of the storm and held the plastic device aloft on the fourth floor porch.
It performed wildly in the wind as I let about 20 feet of string out. It also buzzed like an insect because of a "buzz bow" device that vibrated in the wind. It darted and weaved and bobbed.
And then the string broke and it took off in the gust. I had visions of it flying over the railing and into the Hillsborough River.
I chased it, lassoed that puppy back to the string and set out again.
Same result. Boy lets out string, wind takes kite, string breaks from kite, boy chases kite.
All in all, I'd have to say it was a pretty good result. I didn't lose the kite, it flew - albeit temporarily - and I lived to tell the tale.