I was in the mood for a bicycle ride, so I went to the riverside park, because the cops usually don't come over here, and I doubted they'd chase down bicyclists and make us seek shelter. I'm really glad I did. The sirens went off, and the city grew quiet. I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach. It's actually a very frightening sound. After a while, some turbo props took off from Songshan Airport and were quite loud. The last thing you want to hear during an air-raid drill is an actual aircraft flying over the city. The trails were very quiet, and in fact, the city was very quiet. All cars stopped, all trucks stopped, no scooter noises could be heard. I ran into some other bicyclists and we chatted while drinking water. I told them in Mandarin: "Listen. There aren't any cars, no motorcycles, just birds." Of course, my Mandarin failed me, and instead of birds, I said ?? qi'e, which is "penguins". No wonder they looked at me like I was insane as I pedaled away. :-P After 30 minutes, the all-clear signal sounded. Within seconds, the city sprung back to life and the sounds of cars, people and construction filled the air again.

I recently finished my ugly/upright drum smoker, and am smoking a tri-tip as my first endeavor. The smoker is pretty much what you see on the Pickled Pig forums. My minor differences are that I just drilled holes for air at the bottom, and use magnets to control the air flow, and I used four 3/8" stainless bolts as the grill supports. I have a 6.5 pound bag of lump mesquite burning in it, with some soaked cherry wood chips for flavor. It seems to be holding steady at about 225 degrees with two of four holes closed.