HKC

Go there!

2008-08-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

So, while HKC is remaining shuttered, there's a new blog in town - WalakaNet Annex. No, it's not the artsy-fartsy new blog I started, it's a new presentation of the same stuff you liked so much about HKC. A guess a leopard can't change its spots - it can only rename its blog. Go check it out and change your bookmarks and RSS feeds. We're back in business, baby.

Millennial Post

2008-08-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 1000th post to me!

I've been a long time blogging and now it's time to mark this milestone! Herewith, HKC proudly presents a compendium of features selected or saved especially for this occasion!

ANIMANIAHKCS!

We kick things off with an example of that perennial favorite, the animated gif! This fine example was made by Lizzie in The Couv after she read the announcement that this benchmark was nigh:

I think that captures the spirit of this blog completely!

Current Events

Did anyone catch the Olympics opening ceremonies on Friday night? This photograph of one of the dancers in the artistic presentation has become my new desktop wallpaper:

Click the image for more wonderful photos.

Photorama

Speaking of photos and computers, since I bought this MacBook laptop at the end of last year and began using the built-in camera and the Photo Booth feature to take pictures, a copy of every photo has been automatically saved to a special file. I wanted to make an animated gif that riffed though all 99 of them really quick, but my skillz were not mad enough, so here's a slide show that's a bit more laid-back.

(Note: the quality of this video is really crappy, and I blame You Tube - I've uploaded it three times now. If you just can't live without seeing a nice, crisp, clean version, ask me the next time you see me.)

HKC Top Ten Posts

In honor of this 1,000 post, here are the top ten posts from the past three and a half years, ranked by number of comments generated:

#10: This invitation to attend the Fremont Solstice Parade was the first post to break double-digit comments back in June of 2005. (10 comments)

#9: My announcement of my tenure-track position in May '07 drew a lot of support. (10 comments)

#8: This "What're Your Politics" test generated a bit of discussion in November '05. (11 comments)

#7: The discussion following this Movie Round-Up created more heat than light in January '06. (11 comments)

#6: This collection of photos and links led to an unusually high number of responses for no discernible reason in May 2006. (11 comments)

#5: A post from January 2006 makes the top ten for the second time with this call for de-lurking. (12 comments)

#4: The most recent high-response post was the cannibalism quiz from January of this year. (12 comments)

#3 A third entry from the chatty month of January 2006 was the Find your Daemon quiz. (16 comments)

#2 Just two weeks later, in February 2006, this discussion of Google ethics tied the daemons' comment total. (16 comments)

And the number one comment-getting post in the history of HKC is....

This one!

C'mon, don't make a liar out of me now! Leave a pithy remark (or two)!

Random Image

I've been looking to post this image for a while: it's a depiction of all the main female characters from DC Comics - it was poster they used at the NYC ComicCon. How many can you name? (Hint: the central figure is Wonder Woman.) Even if you can't name any, it's still a great picture.

(Oh yeah - there are some artistic/symbolic clues in the picture, too.)

The Surprise Ending

So, I guess the big news on the occasion of this 1,000th post is that I am shutting down HKC.

I have had a real ball keeping up this blog. Over three and a half years, I have averaged more than five posts per week, and lately I have been posting every day. I have enjoyed playing with words in my own small way, I have enjoyed building a continuity of community, and I have enjoyed sharing links that might have been illuminating, fun, or otherwise engaging. What I have liked most of all, however, was when I got to list who did what and what fun we had together in real life; putting down those silly aliases in bold face, making someone "almost famous" for a brief moment and documenting my friendships, was the best part of all. But I think I am done now; my friendships are still as important as ever, but this particular expression of them seems less so.

Fear not, if you really want to keep reading my deathless prose: I have started another blog. Walakanet is my new site over in the WordPress universe. I imagine it will be a place for a different kind of writing; no more diary posts and funny links, a bit more exploration and contemplation. And no more daily entries; I need to get back to writing some more complex pieces, which will, by their nature, take more time, so posting will be an occasional thing. I'm still not quite sure of my audience (an awful admission for a writing teacher to make); perhaps I am more interested in the process than the product right now. Still, I hope you drop by and check it out from time to time.

I'll keep this site up, for a while anyway, but perhaps not all the ancillary sites that it has spawned. (On a related note, I Summer Humpdays may also go on hiatus for a bit; more on that via email.) I'll try to keep the links updated, too.

So, thank you, dear readers and fellow bloggers, for all the support over the past few years. When we started building this little corner of the blogosphere, it was new and exciting and we really didn't know what we were doing; now it seems blogs and blogging have become routine parts of our daily lives. I love the connections we have built, particularly with friends who are not local to us, and I hope never to lose that; nonetheless, the time has come to cover the furniture with sheets, turn off the utilities, fasten the shutters, and lock the doors of this particular structure.

The Last Post, for the record

The highlight of yesterday (besides tea with Dingo) was a visit from The Goddess and DeeDee, in town from The Couv. It was great catching up with them again and talking higher ed gossip and gamer geekishness. Before taking a walk around Fremont and coming to the RD to see the townhouse, we went to Silence Heart Nest for lunch. I had the Neat Loaf sandwich (hold the mayo), with a side of cashew gravy for my home fries.

Bye-bye

And to send us off in style, here's none other than that Swedish songbird, Miss Ann-Margaret Olsson:

Cheers, all.

Breakfast on Neptune

2008-08-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Otis had a morning appointment, so I am once again camped out at the Neptune in Greenwood. I just had a breakfast sammich, and it was good, but very garlicky.

Yesterday in the daylight was hella quiet. After walking around the lake, Otis and I each settled in to creative endeavors: she with her art and me with some other stuff (which you will see soon). As the sunlight waxed and waned and wind picked up and died down, we each set to our tasks for most of the day, with few interruptions aside from meals.

After dinner, we headed up to LFP, ostensibly to have an evening with Mater and Pater watching the Olympic Games opening ceremonies. It turned into a bit of a tumult, what with some malfunctions of medical equipment and an unscheduled visit from a home nurse and whatnot. Things eventually settled down, and we did watch some spectacular performances and part of the Parade of Nations together, but Otis and I left before the end.

Otis and I caught the end of the show at home, and then things turned into a late night for reals. First, Selkie caught the heebie-jeebies and gave Mountie a mild case, too, so we had our hands full with them. Then the upstairs smoke detector started beeping, and we practically had to erect scaffolding to get up to the pitched ceiling to deal with it. (It was a persistent little bugger, too - even after it was unplugged from the electricity and the back-up battery was removed, it was still chirping! I had to bury it in a file cabinet drawer downstairs.) The upshot was that we didn't get to bed until almost 2:00 am.

Nonetheless, I managed to get my morning turn around the lake in today before I had to to take off - even though it was raining, I dragged my sorry butt up and headed out. It actually felt pretty good. Maybe that's a sign it's becoming a real habit.

I had always heard that lightning actually strikes from the ground up, but could never visualize it satisfactorily. Well, apparently there's this Italian guy who likes to take high-speed video of lightning, and you can see it perfectly. I think this is the coolest clip, but he's got more on his YouTube channel.

Found and lost

2008-08-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

I reported about a week ago about having lost my keys, and my gut feeling that they were somewhere in O's house. Well, a few days ago, she called to tell me that she had found them: in a manner not unusual to my custom, I had placed them high - this time on a picture rail that runs along her living room wall. So, yay, they're back, and now I have a complete second set as a spare.

Of course, to remind me of my increasing mental decrepitude and keep me from getting too cocky, the fates arranged for me to leave my phone up at LFP yesterday. So, if you have been trying or are planning to call me, I will be without the miracle of wireless telephony until tonight.

I did get a turn around the lake in yesterday, after which Otis and I had a spectacular lunch out courtesy of my Subway free lunch points. The we spent the afternoon running errands and heading up to LFP for our visit. After dinner, we watched Deep Core, a dreadful on-the-cheap sci-fi thriller that merely ripped off the key elements of Armageddon without any grace or style whatsoever.

Follow-up department: Dingo passes along the latest episode in the Saga of the Kilted Mailman, originally posted here last week.

Accounting woes

2008-08-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, so after doing some reconciliation, I have determined that this is not the 1,000th post on
HKC.

Believe it or not, I had two posts on what would become HKC way back in December 2003, but they were just content-free tests, back in the day when Blogspot didn't play well with Macs. There was another post in January 2005 that was just a test-link to Flickr, but posting in earnest didn't begin until early March 2005. (I think Wheylona was tinkering with Viva! at the same time, and I went public about two weeks before she did.)

Anyway, I have deleted those early proto-posts, so this is actually post number 997. You'll have to wait a few days for the big celebration. (Wheylona is at 996, so perhaps she'll have some fireworks soon, too.)

Yesterday wound up being the first day in a long time that I didn't get around the lake. What with Otis's schedule, and then recovering the Spectrator, and then heading to LFP to welcome Pater home from hospital, and then the Humpday Dinner's running really late, we just never got out there. It's much better to get it done early in the day, so I will be heading out in a little while, during Otis's morning appointment.

I don't know how it reflects on his qualifications for holding public office, but watching Al Franken draw an accurate map of the U.S. freehand is at least a pretty impressive party piece.

Oopsdate 11:33 am: I forgot that last night some folks requested a rerun of the pirate-monkey-ninja-robot quiz. So here it is!

A shop so nice I blog it twice!

2008-08-06T09:47:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted the picture-of-where-I-am-blogging-from for a while. I have left the house this a.m. so Otis can focus on a two-hour appointment, and wound up here in Greenwood at Neptune Coffee, a totally cool place that I discovered through a free-wifi website. In addition to the usual coffeehouse goodies, they have a more extensive menu and also serve beer and wine - and even have events, like Friday's Flight of the Conchords Trivia Contest. This may become a regular stop!

Yesterday did include a trip to the hospital; Pater had not yet had the procedure when we visited, but we got reports later in the day that it went off well.

I did go around the lake with O yesterday afternoon, and it was pretty darn hot. Johnbai came down to the hood a little later and we hung out before transporting the Big Wall Spectration Unit over to O's for a dry run of the Summer Outdoor Spectration that Little Spark has planned for a few weeks from now. It all went well, and as a collateral benefit, we got to eat a truly delicious O dinner: currant-tomato-cheese crustini, stuffed peppers and squash, corn pudding, and green beans.

Editor's note: I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I saw it was one of the best meals I have ever had, clearly in the same league as some hella expensive meals I have had in restaurants. I feel lucky to be able to enjoy this food, and OLC should, by all rights, be an enormous meteoric success, and we can all say we Knew Her When.

Oh, and to top it off, we not only had the BEST. RASPBERRY. SORBET. EVAR. but also O's SIGNATURE BLACKBERRY-CHAMPAGNE SORBET. Mmmmmmmmmm...

We didn't stay for the screening, but just made sure that the equipment was working, so I still haven't seen Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Today, Pater should be released from VM, so we may be heading up to LFP for a while in the afternoon. The Summer Humpday dinner is going off as planned, although we haven't received any RSVPs, so it may wind up being a diner intime for Otis and I.

Fellow travelers: Dingo comes back from the East Coast tonight, and we get the pleasure of her company for a weekend or so before she's off again! Neds comes back from Europe tomorrow after too long a broad abroad.

Check this interview with astronaut Peggy Whitson and tell me that this woman doesn't have The Right Stuff. She's my new hero. Talk about yer sangfroid...

Okay, so the Blogger computer tells me this is my 999th post. What is in store for the millennial? You'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out.

Short shrift

2008-08-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

If you were sitting opposite me and happened to look up, this is the vertiginous view of the ~~ugliest building in town~~ award-winning downtown library that you would have.

As you probably know, yesterday was mostly filled with hospital stuff. Today will likely be filled with more hospital stuff on top of Otis's work stuff and my staying-out-of-the-way stuff, although I do have the promise of a lake walk with O later today (we're waiting until it gets its hottest out).

More soon, or sooner or later, I suppose.

Post-poned

2008-08-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

So, Pater had a bad night and early this morning headed back into VM for the day. Otis and I drove in and were there all day; I just bussed home a little while ago and she is still there. Mostly it is a case of trying to respond to some immediate discomfort (to put it blandly). There was a procedure already scheduled for the morning that should ameliorate the situation somewhat, but it appears that More Needs to Be Done. We'll probably be on the DL for a little while.

Gray again

2008-08-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Although it did get sunny yesterday, didn't it?

I wound up walking back home so I could have lunch with Otis between her appointments, and then taking of for O's to spend some time geeking with Johnbai. It was a groovy visit, and Otis even joined us when she was finished, but the jaunt led to a bit of difficulty: I can't find my keys.

When I got up to leave O's, I did my habitual pocket-pat (wallet, phone, keys) and there were no keys to pat. They didn't appear to be anywhere around. I thought I might have left them home (even though I would normally have checked when I left there) but couldn't find them at home, either. We checked each location several times before giving up. My gut feeling is that they are at O's, accidentally moved or buried under something. In any case, I'm getting a new set made today. After I pay for new keys, the old keys will likely make themselves known.

Otis and I spontaneously decided to go see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in the afternoon. It was as delightfully cheesy as I expected, suffering only a bit from overdone CGI-army bloat (and with some wonderful CGI yeti that were inexplicably left out of the trailer). If you like Brendan Fraser in his light movies, there's plenty enough to watch here; Maria Bello takes over the Evelyn role with vigor and John Hannah is still one of my favorite character actors. But the Big Deal is Jet Li as the emperor and Michelle Yeoh as his nemesis - and any movie that has a showdown between those two (too terribly brief!) gets a thumbs-up from me. Oh, yeah, and there are a couple of kids in it, too. Great to watch if you like swashbuckling pulp adventurers versus super-powered undead warriors- and who doesn't?

A nice touch at the Oak Tree: before the coming attractions, there was nothing, No funny commercials, no trivia contests, no fake entertainment news shows, no nothing. I had almost forgotten the especial pleasure of sitting in a darkened theater in the few minutes before a film, listening to the rustle of popcorn bags and the whispered murmurs of other patrons, and nothing else. I don't now if it was a choice or a malfunction that caused this circumstance, but I'd like to see more of it.

Afterwards, I cooked up a little dinner, and we took a little walk, and did a little shopping, and settled in for a quiet evening.

There was a total solar eclipse on August 1 in some parts of the world; here's a striking image from northwestern China. Click the pick for informative linky.

Gray weekend

2008-08-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday: quiet. Nice. Otis spent most of the day at VM with the family, joining Pater at an extended appointment, so after my morning walk around the lake, I came home and alternately read and did house stuff all day. When Otis got back in the afternoon, we did a little shopping and then headed up to LFP to fix and early dinner for her parents and spent the evening there.

Today: a little busier. Otis had two appointments today, so I am wandering around on foot, having made it to the Wallingford Tully's so far. Who knows where I'll wind up? It's not a bad day for a walk, and the sun is supposed to come put later.

Department of barking up the wrong tree: A few days ago, we got a copy of Field and Stream magazine in the mail, addressed to Otis. The cover proclaimed it the "accuracy issue" and, next to the image of a hunting rifle, said "never miss your deer again." Then yesterday we got a copy of Maxim magazine in the mail, also addressed to Otis. The cover featured a picture of a bikini-clad woman who apparently is "Pineapple Express Bombshell Amber Heard." So, did somebody screw up the mailing list in the free sample department? Or do you think something else is going on?

Doggie day one

2008-08-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Man, am I creakin' this morning. Last night, I went over to help CC Rider move out of her place on Cap Hill (fourth floor studio apartment in an old building with a cranky elevator) and over to her new place in Wallingford (Craftsman bungalow shared with some other folks). This particular move was characterized by the malfunctioning elevator, the presence of someone else moving at the same time, the use of several vehicles in lieu of a big truck, and, of course, the rain. It was a tough job, but we got 'er done, with particular yeomen assistance from Yohanna, the Mensch B, and, in a cameo appearance, Johnbai. I shifted a lot of mass, and my body is reminding me of that this morning; my usual physical routine is being delayed pending some abatement of discomfort.

Anyway, best of luck to CC in her new digs! As I told her, she's now closer to us - and to O's cooking!

Earlier yesterday, the highlight had been a social call from NatDog. Otis and I caught up with her over drinks, chips, and salsa in a great afternoon diversion. The only other activity of the day that was nearly as significant was my doing laundry.

I may crosspost this to my comix blog, but I thought it was funny enough to put here as well:

via videosift.com

The one who killed Miles

2008-07-31T08:16:00.000-07:00

Up a little late today - we stayed up after the humpday dinner last night working on projects 'n' stuff. I'm having morning tea before heading the lake today - Otis is off to LFP in a little while anyway.

Yesterday, we stopped in to visit J-Force. We was ensconced (enthroned?) in T-Square's living room, looking pretty damn good for someone with three broken bones. We socialized for a while, and Otis did some energy work and some PT exercises. It was great to see her, and I think we can expect her back in the timestream pretty quick.

After the visit, we grabbed a bite of lunch and then caught the early show of Dark Knight at the Neptune. Otis loved it; while it wasn't the character I know, and not the Batman movie I eventually want to see, it was a well-crafted film and story in its own right, and I liked it a lot. Heath Ledger is absolutely compelling, but I thought the whole cast and the story hung together as well.

We had just enough time for Otis to fit an afternoon appointment before heading down to Fremont for dinner.

UPDATE 11:11 am

I guess it is worthy of note that midnight marked the halfway point of the 92 Days of Summer. That's right, 46 days of my summer vacation have slipped away... only six and a half more weeks of indolence or industry remain before my time is no longer all my own.

As John Lennon said, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, and while a lot of life happened in this first half of my first summer off, it bore little resemblance to any plans I might have had. Nonetheless, I'm pretty satisfied with the way things are going, and I have a few more surprises up my sleeve before fall quarter rolls around again.

I hope everyone else, working or no, is have a great summer season as well, and I want to thank everyone who has helped make my vacation grrrrrrreat!

The website for the design firm that produced this table seems to indicate that it represents dripping paint, but I'm not so sure about that. I thought it would look great in Soapy's living room. They have other groovy stuff as well.

We haven't had a kilt-related piece in a while, so here's an article brought to our attention by NatDog. It's actually a local story, and talks about an idea that I have thought of many times as I have watched the mail carriers on their routes.

A.M.R.D.

2008-07-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a turn around the lake. We're out of orange juice so I am having limeade with my toast. You would think it would be a pretty good substitute, but it's not nearly the same thing, actually.

Yesterday we were all bidness. Selkie went back to the vet for a follow-up, not willingly and not cheerfully, but he went. The upshot was that "his pee is beautiful" and his shots are now current.

While Otis had a mid-day appointment, I ran down to south Seattle to get rid of some old electronics. It was slick and easy and cost less than I thought it would. It feels good to have the stuff gone, too.

There was some grocery shopping and cleaning and stuff, and after Otis's evening appointment, we headed downtown so she could buy a back-up massage table she found on Craig's list. She is going to leave it at LFP so she do regular work on Pater more easily.

Then Johnbai and I lured Otis into some late-night nerdcore with the promise of animal love. She ate it up. The pint of 8% Belgian ale Johnbai poured her helped, too.

The grayness of the days, yesterday and apparently today, too, is a bit of a downer but we're trying to stay sunshiney anyway. We should be able to handle a midsummer slump, eh?

Late Monday for Tuesday

2008-07-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

So, there wasn't really a Monday morning post, except for that cool wheelman picture, but by the time I got around to blogging, it was kinda late for a morning post, but I'm going to be busy again Tuesday morning, so I am writing this Monday night, and it counts for Tuesday, although it includes content that should have appeared Monday. Got that?

So, Sunday: Otis had her writing workshop to prepare for, so I bailed out of the house early to get out of her way and let her focus. I made the usual round of teahouses, comic book stores, and coffee shops, laptopping and bopping along, until I met up with Johnbai after his softball game and we engaged in some serious nerdcore activity (still top-secret). I delivered him back to the RD when Otis was free again; she and I had planned to attend Toni-Tony-Tone's summer soirée, but Otis was so spent from facilitating we just had a quiet bite to eat instead. In addition to missing out on the festivities, we also missed a chance to see J-Force, who is out of the hospital recuperating from her spill and still only making limited public appearances, but Otis was just too fagged out. We did walk across the alley to O's later in the evening for some homemade dessert, which turned out to be the BEST. RASPBERRY. SORBET. EVAR. I mean in the whole world, and prolly most of the inner planets, too. No, I'm telling you, seriously, this stuff was wicked good.

So, Monday: We were up and at 'em fairly early. Otis moved up her regular writing date to accommodate her going to an appointment at Northwest Natural Heath with her dad at noon. For my part, I jumped in the saddle and pedaled my way up to Bothell, because Scotty Tuxedo needed a reference letter and I had no college letterhead at home. I hung out on campus for a bit, and then made my way back, winding up heading all the way down to the University Bridge and then coming back up Eleventh. (That makes the ride longer but avoids the Ravenna hillclimb.) At 32 miles, it was my longest ride this season. (This is what Scotty was referring to in is comment on the wheelman post.) After we both made it home in the afternoon, we spent the rest of the day reading and writing, eating some of O's leftover stuffed yellow peppers for dinner, walking to the library, and reading and writing some more.

So, Tuesday: I have to get up and stuff Selkie into a box to take him into the vet for a follow-up appointment, so I won't be able to do a morning post.

And that's where I came in!

Today's video is actually just audio, although I guess you can watch the record spinning around if you like. Here's Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest singing I'll Buy That Dream, the only pop song I know of that mentions an autogiro.

The return of the wheelman

2008-07-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Post coming later - must roll now!
I'm off to Bothell for the morning.

Busy and stuff

2008-07-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was pretty much a pretty busy day. Otis had been having a very active weekend, and yesterday was full of prep for a surprise party that she was helping to expedite and for her workshop, which will be going on a few hours from now. Me, I just tagged along and helped as I could with all the chopping and cooking and cleaning and copying and whatnot. We did manage to squeeze in a walk down to Wallingford, just to unwind the muscles.

The surprise party was for Otis's old pal Kris-10. Her sweet hubby Rye-N set her up well: she thought she was walking into a business meeting at her partner's house until she got to the back deck an found it full of very familiar-looking pirates!

"Where's the meeting?"

"Aaaargh!"

Did you know Rye-N used to be a model? Kris-10 is not so sure of his vamp...

The Buccaneer Twins

I had a good time

Of course, when life opens a door, it closes a window. In order to help Otis out and to go to this party, I needed to miss another: my old pal DeeDee turned forty yesterday, and The Goddess, his wife, was setting him up for a big surprise as well. I had totally planned on being there, but with all the craziness this week it just didn't work out; on the happy side, I am sure that he was surrounded by friends and well-wishers anyway, and we might be able to get together in just two weeks or so anyway. In any case, I want to commemorate the happy day:

Happy Birthday, Dee!

And best wishes for many happy returns of the day!

Today I have been banished from the house: after my morning exercises and walk, I came back to Hurricane Otis cycloning through the house putting the last finishing touches on her workshop prep. It seemed prudent to absent myself from the situation, so here I am at Teahouse Kuan Yin, laptopping it and planning for a peripatetic day.

Videorama!!

I saw this on Will Shetterly's blog and thought it was cool punky anthem. Then I clicked though to see who the rocker grrl was and I was surprised. I still dig it.

This is a seriouser one: it made me think of Stella and a lot of the work she does with our students.

And finally, this BBC advert for their Olympics coverage should become an ongoing series starring the Monkey King (a traditional Chinese character recently used to good effect in Gene Yang's prizewinning graphic novel American Born Chinese).

(Okay, let's start fighting over who gets to play who in the GURPS adaptation...)

The wheel of karma spins

2008-07-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

So, a few months ago, our hot water pipes started squeaking whenever we ran the water. It was kind of annoying.

Jules and Lon, in a neighboring unit, said they had had the same issue, and that after they had turned off the water main for some other purpose, the whine disappeared when the water was turned back on.

So, we turned the water main off for a while and then turned it back on. This seemed to do the trick.

But then, something weird happened. All of a sudden, we started getting cold water out of the hot water tap -- unless we opened two taps at the same time. If we wanted to wash the dishes, we would have to run the upstairs bathroom sink as well, to get it started. If we wanted to take a shower, we needed to run the bathtub faucet, too. Odd.

I consulted with our owner, Jim. He came out and we both stared at the heater for a while, but couldn't come up with any ideas. We decided to delay any action for a while to see what might happen next.

Well, the shoe dropped the other day: we had no hot water at all! Yikes - the whole unit was cold, all the outlet pipes and the tank. A tech came out and pronounced it dead. Bad news: this unusual unit, which also serves as a pre-heater for the furnace*, is hard to find and might take two weeks to get. Bad!

So, Jim came out yesterday and looked at the unit again. This time, he removed the plate and checked the pilot light**. It was out. We re-lit it. Success!

Now, not only do we have hot water again, but it comes out of the tap when you open it, just like it is supposed to! No more goofy haunted-house business. Yay!

Of course, the whine is also back. But this time I think we'll leave it alone.

So, most of yesterday was spent waiting around for a return visit from the hot water tech, who never came. Otis was busy with family stuff and errands, but I don't think I got further from the house than the mailbox all day.

We did host Johnbai, Dingo, Mr. X, and Soapy for GURPS night, with special guest star The Crocodile. While we were meleeing, Otis and The Angel took off for babysitting duty. We all had late nights, leading to a slow morning, at least for me.

For your non-text content today, we have Natalie Portman starring in a faux-Bollywood music video for her boyfriend, the Venezuelan-American indie-folker Devendra Banhart.

Well, then. have a nice day

Notes on the hot water situation for the technically inclined:

*The water comes out of our heater at 160 degrees and cycles through the furnace, doing something efficient in there. When it comes out, it has to go though a mixer that puts cold water back into the flow to bring the temperature down to 120 degrees, the standard tap temperature. The tech guessed that it might have been a malfunction in this t-valve that was causing the water-weirdness - we weren't getting any hot at all, just the re-mix cold, unless two taps were open to increase the flow. Sounds plausible - but this is the guy who didn't check the pilot light, so who knows?

**The day before we lost hot water, Otis smelled gas in the house. I checked the fireplace and saw that the pilot light had gone out. I closed the gas supply to the fireplace and the smell went away. I even checked the hot water tank room, and there was no gas smell there, so I presumed everything was all okay and the misfire was limited to the fireplace. Well, it seems that the hot water heater has a failsafe mechanism that automatically turns off the gas flow if the pilot light goes out, so that was why there was no gas smell, even though interruption in the gas supply probably made both pilot lights go out. All of this just reminded me what used to be second nature back when I was a cop: there is no such thing as a coincidence. If there was something hinky with the gas flow one day and the next day your hot water heater stops heating, the two incidents ARE related, even if the evidence seems to indicate otherwise. (For the record, Otis had it pegged.)

In the fullness of the day

2008-07-25T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was packed with relaxing!

I met FarmerScott in Bothell for breakfast, and we had so much to talk about that we stayed in he restaurant until people were ordering lunch!

Then I had to hustle down the Mukilteo Speedway and catch a boat to Whidbey Island so I could put my feet up on the deck of Doctor Burn's spread and pass the afternoon in idle conversation, in the company of good folks. That's what it's all about.

The traffic gods smiled on my return trip, and Otis and I had time for a nice walk after dinner before settling in for the night.

While settled in, I found this groovy site that turns any text or website into a word cloud. Here's this blog:
The bigger words are those that appear more frequently. (I think it's just looking at the last page displayed, not the older posts.) Here are some more samples from our blogroll - whose are these? (I let the program pick colors and formats at random.)

I think you can learn sometimes surprising things about a text from this method. Here's the Declaration of Independence, for example:

Try it yourself!

Time travel

2008-07-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Past: Yesterday fit the usual rhythm of summer, even though the weather wasn't in high gear for it: Otis and I walked around the lake early in the morning, and then she took off for a midday meet with a pal while I stayed home and wrote and read. And dealt with the painters, who were finishing up. And dealt with the water heater guy. And so on. The afternoon had more of the same, and some ukulele practice, and a walk-to-coffee, before we headed down to the Summer Humpday dinner.

Present: The kitties have decided that 4:44 am is the perfect time for all sorts of activities: barfing, fighting, romping, racing, eating, whatever. Today's festivities were enlivened by the addition of the smoke alarm going off for no apparent reason. Then, by about 5:20, everything settles down again, Mountie goes back to sleep, Selkie cuddles up next to me, and we get another hour and a half or so of peace. Weird.

Right now, I am waiting for a big pot of water to get hot so I can refill the bathtub so Otis can take a bath since our hot water heater has not yet been replaced. Maybe later today or tomorrow they will come with a new one.

Future: Today is jam-packed: brekkies with FarmerScott and then a trip to Whidbey Island to see Doctor Burn, the famous supervillain.

Summer break

2008-07-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

As in, a break from the summer. For the first time in I don't know how long, I wore a black T-shirt because it wasn't all sunny and warm. It was cloudy most of the day, and the intarweb says the temperature never got past 65. I guess every day can't be paradise.

Nonetheless, I made my now-daily walk around Green Lake during Otis's morning appointment. She had a busy day, with several appointments spread out, making things a bit stop-and-go around the townhouse.

Speaking of the townhouse, the painting of the property is about done - the crew is just chasing the final details. But now, it appears our hot water heater has crapped out. Technician should be here today. And so it goes.

One of my chores yesterday was to head up to Group Health Northgate to pick up some prescriptions for Otis. Just for the heck, I took the bus up - piece o' cake, the 66 runs right by it. Got there, got back, no sweat - and had the added bonus of a phone chat with Johnbai while I was waiting. Now I feel all green and stuff.

One of the things Johnbai and I talked abut was D&D. This site has a very complex survey to determine a person's character class and core abilities. Might be an interesting way to start a game.

Speaking of links, here's a follow-up to the BBC article on American accents. Click the audio box to hear some Brits doing their versions of an American accent.

See ya tonight!

Union membership assured

2008-07-22T08:22:00.001-07:00

After a nice morning walk yesterday, I passed most of the day reading, first some books from the library and then some books on comics that were delivered from Amazon. Otis was working in her office most of the day, and we had to hang around anyway, since the crew painted our doors (which required removing the locks and all). We took another walk in the evening, down to the library for more books. Later, we watched Swingers, Jon Favreau's breakthrough work. We thought it was pretty good and a lot more heart than we had expected it to.

Just two links, but they are substantial:

Since Neds is back in Iberia, here's a little cartographic slice of Spanish history.

And this story from Auntie Beeb is mostly for Jon of Monmouth, not least because it echoes one his perennial complaints in its opening.

Mornday monding

2008-07-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

What a groovy day yesterday was!

It started out with brekkies at a sidewalk cafe on the rambla (actually Green Lake Bar & Gill) and it was so pleasant that afterwards Otis and I walked around the lake in the morning sun.

We took care of stuff at home, and after lunch took a bike ride up to LFP so Otis could find some books for her workshop and we both could get new August-to-August calendars.

Then it was time to head down to Gasworks Park for the birthday celebration for CC Rider. Under a tent by the lake (Union, this time) we congregated and celebrated and conversated. Neither Johnbai nor O nor Dingo could make it, but Sylvio was there and we got to reconnect with Yohanna as we scarfed veggie burgers and yummy sweets.

At home afterwards, we were both terribly productive, Otis with art and me with GURPS, and I had a nice long phone call with ScottyMagic, who is once again on the cusp of a new adventure.

Wow! And today has already had a morning walk through the Ravenna ravine! Any more of this, and they'll throw me out of the lazy guy union.

Pictures and stuff

2008-07-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday had a lot of low-key happenings in it. Otis had a morning appointment, so I walked around the lake during that. Afterwards, she headed up to LFP for lunch and a visit, and I was designated stayer-at-home for the Painting of the Doors (which requires them to stand open for four hours). It worked out just fine, me having lunch and reading and stuff while the cats were barricaded upstairs, except that the crew didn't paint the doors. Dur. They sort-of said they would do it today, but I haven't seen them yet.

In the afternoon, we headed up to Harborview to pay a little visit on J-Force. She seems to be recovering nicely, and was cheery even in her temporary quarters in the corridor, while she waited to be transferred from room to room. She's almost famous, too - a Ballard newsblog covered the story almost immediately.

After our visit, we left the hospital but not the hill, meeting The Angel and The Crocodile in Cal Anderson Park. We had a bite and a cuppa and passed a few hours shooting, how they say, the breeze. Good times.

So, in light of anything substantive, here's are some pictures from over the past week or so:

Me at the park the other day - this is what summer looks like!

O & Johnbai, Mr. and Mrs. Softball

TomCat!

The Angel, skeptical

The Crocodile, attentive

Otis, dramatic

God-sib

2008-07-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Since yesterday's post was so late, no real diaristic news here. Otis and I had some take-out Mexican for dinner and passed a quiet evening, which I topped off by watching a little bit of a late showing of That's Entertainment on PBS, full of the movie-musical goodness that Johnbai loves so much.

But that doesn't mean there isn't news, and the biggest news is not so good: on Wednesday, the scooterific J-Force lost a contest between her front wheel and a rut in the road. The end result was a little asphalt surfing, followed by a trip to Harborview. Reports from Dar-Dar and T-Square tell us that she's looking at a broken collarbone; there was surgery yesterday and recovery at present. T-Square said that it all looked good, at least in context. Otis and I are going to head up for a visit today. Send whatever good karmic energy you can muster J-Force's way, to speed her recuperation!

In cheerier news, Neds has arrived on the Continent and has resumed blogation. Check it out, but bring your calculator.

Any Dark Knight expedition has unraveled a bit. I think Johnbai and O went last night; Dingo has chosen to let the opening weekend go by; Yojimbo, Farmer Scott, and the Bellevue Posse are going to see it in Alderwood late this afternoon (Soapy might want to check that out); and Otis and I still don't know what we want to do (although today is looking pretty unlikely). Its getting great reviews and apparently broke the records for midnight showings, so I imagine it'll be in theaters for a while, eh?

Impressions

2008-07-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

My walk around Green Lake yesterday morning was interrupted by a short spell of watching the wildlife. A raccoon was climbing a tree, and I watched him grapple his way up one limb and down another and then back up again until he was thirty-five or forty feet off the ground. All the while, several crows were cawing at him and harassing him a bit, just shy of dive-bombing him. I think he was just looking for someplace to sleep, but those crows didn't like him there one bit. He was mostly ignoring them, and when I left, he was still there, settling down in a fork.

A little later on, I saw about a dozen ducks bobbing in the water just a few feet from shore, and maybe because it was overcast and cooler they were getting a late start, but each of them had their head tucked under a wing. The looked like a bunch of footballs floating in the lake.

Further on, I came up behind a mother walking her two daughters. She looked like a crunchy-granola hippy-girl, with long straight hair and a tattered-hem skirt, carrying her infant in one of those snuggle slings. The other daughter, a towhead about six or seven years old, was wearing a full-on old-school yellow and blue Wolverine uniform. She was stomping along, waving her arms, and proclaiming over and over "Wolverine means business! Wolverine means business!" As I passed, the mother managed a small smile that was part tired and part embarrassed.

I finished The Curious Case of Sidd Finch during the day while Otis had some appointments, and our socializing for the day was to meet up with The Angel and The Crocodile, who are in town from Boston and have taken a place up on Cap Hill for a while. Over soygurt and pineapple, the gals reminisced about their old days and the guys geeked out about RPGs. We hope to see them again, since they have a pretty long visit this time.

Today I was at campus all day and tonight should be filled with not-playing GURPS and not-seeing Dark Knight.

We interrupt this vacation...

2008-07-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have to head into campus today for a meeting. NatDog is going to pick be up in a little while, so no post this morning. I'll be back later today.

Ugh

2008-07-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Man, after the late humpday dinner yesterday evening and several middle-of-the-night cat combat incidents that caused sleepus interruptis, I feel like a couple miles of bad road this morning. I got through my exercises but I'm still movin' slow. Here's the Wednesday checklist:

Green Lake: Walked around.
Magnuson Park: Ate lunch in.
Yojimbo: Had coffee with.
Humpday Dinner: previously mentioned.

Fill in around the highlights with some creative projects and readings, and you have a summer day.

It's a gas

2008-07-16T07:30:00.001-07:00

Well, between the fumes from the primer being slathered on the house by the painting crew and the off-gassing of the new rug in the living room, I am sure that there are enough fumes floating around here to kill a canary. But we endure.

The new stuff looks pretty good, but it's a little hard to tell, since the house is in a bit of disarray from our having had to move all the exterior stuff, some of which came inside, for the painters. I gotta tell you, the front yard* looks a lot better to my eyes with all the potted plants and cat stuff removed; maybe we'll be re-thinking our exterior design somewhat.

Yesterday evening, we took a post-prandial walk up to the library to (a) pick up materials and (b) join J-Force for some ice cream! It was a perfect time to walk on the grass of the park in the sunshine and watch the summer go by.

Speaking of the summer going by, Otis still has room in her Writing from Your Body workshop, so if you were thinking about it (or know someone who might be interested), let her know! Check out the updated announcement.

When I wrote this sentence, I first used the term "areaway" instead of "front yard," because that's what we called the fenced space in front of our house when I was growing up, although we pronounced in "airy-way." It was always concrete and enclosed the basement windows and door (which was usually under the stoop**). Here's a picture from about three blocks from where I lived:

But then I looked up the definition in a coule of dictionaries, it doesn't sound at all like that, and I thought that y'all would be more confused than anything else, so I edited it out. But I still wanted to talk about it, hence this sidebar. The space in front of my townhouse is an airyway in my mind, and always will be.

**I don't have to explain a stoop, do I?

Splurge and purge

2008-07-15T14:30:00.001-07:00

Wow, things sure got cranking here! I'm posting as I listen to an interview on KIRO Newsradio with Neal Adams, one of the coolest figures in the personal pantheon of my youth. (Hat tip to
Yojimbo for giving me the heads-up!)

Yesterday started out slowly; Otis had a writing group so I puttered around the house until she got back. Then we had to head up to LFP for some TCB at the Putnam Compound and to have a chance to get together with Stella for a little bit. We swapped out Renty Red for the minivan for our airport run later in the evening to get Otis's folks. That "later" wound up being pretty late - we went townhouse to airport to LFP and back to the townhouse for bedtime about 1:00 am.

We jumped up at the crack (aided by the kitties) and headed out to have a bon voyage breakfast with Neds down in West Seattle. Fueled by taters and eggs, we braced ourselves for an expedition to IKEA. We got out with goals met and little collateral damage - some (replacement) occasional furniture, frames, and a new carpet. Of course, we had to put it all together (well, not the carpet) and clean up and stuff, so we're just slowing down now.

Busy this morning!

2008-07-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Busy morning! Heading out! Post later!

Sultry Sunday

2008-07-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Once again, the highlights of the day are nothing more than a walk (around the lake for me, through the ravine with her pal Dot for Otis) and a movie (Road to Perdition on the Big Wall - it was better than I had thought it was going to be, and more thoughtful than brutal). The rest of the day was passed in quiet TCB and relaxation.

Quick bits:

J-Force's Honda is back on the beam with only trivial adjustments, so she will be the Scooter Force for the rest of the summer.

The painters who are working on the property haven't made a while lot of progress. After about three days work, the back face of our building has been scraped and primed. Considering there are three more faces of the same size and four more that are slightly smaller, I think they are going to be here a lot longer than a week.

The paint all piled up in the back kinda stinks, too, and the supplies and equipment take up all the parking spaces.

Soapy was going on a bit about absinthe when it was getting legalized in the U.S. again. Here's a little report form Slate about the subject. One commenter on another site discussing this said that the best party drink might be absinthe plus champagne plus Red Bull. And I have no response to that.

If you can imagine it, there is a website: here's one dedicated to tattoos with literary themes.

Hellacious

2008-07-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not as hot as hell, but yesterday may have been as hot as the hinges of hades (as dear Lynn would have it). I took a walk around Green Lake before the temperature was its highest, and it was still plenty hot enough to leave me wet and wilted and the end of the circuit. I even made a stop at the library to see J-Force and tinker a bit with her motorbike, which is acting up a little. Besides that, most of the day was filled with quiet activities, such as reading and sweating.

In the evening, after Otis got home from Whidbey Island and we had a little dinner, we headed into the bowels of downtown to catch Hellboy II: The Golden Army with Soapy, Neds, Mr. X, Johnbai, O, and Dingo. The movie was a little goofier than the first one, but delivered both the whiz-bang effects and creatures and the smaller aw, shucks moments. The afters was problematized by an inability to find a place that was open past 11:00 and wasn't a bar; Otis and I headed home and I have yet to find out the upshot of that search (obviously).

Urgle-murgle mumble

2008-07-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

So, when I got to bed after GURPS last night, it was about 3:00 am. I got up at about 7:20 am and even at that, we overslept: I needed to deliver Otis to Phinney Ridge by 8:00 so she could ride with Hi-Lai to a creativity retreat on Whidbey Island. We got her there right on time, and I pointed Renty Red back home (and found my same parking spot). I debated going back to bed, but had to talk to the painters for a little bit, and then slammed a window shut on my finger, so I decided to just stay up and take a nap later.

Yesterday was kind of busy. Otis had work, we went out to lunch and compared our schedules, worked on projects in the afternoon, and before we knew it, it was time to start prepping for the RPG crowd. The game ate up the last six hours of the day, and a couple of the first of this one. It was good to have Otis back around the house again, but it will hard to tell today that she even came home!

Watching the cats this morning, I have decided that much of the time when Selkie chases Mountie around, he's just playing. But sometimes he's not. Unfortunately, Mountie can't seem to tell the difference, and always responds as if it is serious, which sometimes escalates Selkie's play into a real fight. I wish we could all just get along.

I mentioned parking and painters above. The townhouses on the property are all being repainted; right now the crew is in the scraping mode. A genie lift and a scissor lift are parked out back, and the remaining parking spaces are taken up by painting supplies, so the residents all have to compete out on the street for a while. We also have to keep our windows shut while the painters work on each of our units; right now, they are on the back of my place, so we get the fun of no cross-ventilation. The work is not supposed to last much more than a week (although I think that is optimistic), and then we'll have nice, new, pretty paint.

Well, it looks like the Pluto lobby has been tirelessly working behind the scenes since 2006, when the former-ninth planet was demoted. Those wacky guys and gals of the International Astronomical Union Committee on Small Body Nomenclature have proposed, and the full organization has accepted, the naming of trans-neptunian bodies that meet certain criteria as plutoids. As currently defined, this august category includes just Pluto itself and Eris, the planet who, going under her unofficial name Xena, stirred up the whole controversy in the first place by seeming to become the "tenth planet" when she was discovered in 2003. As we now know, not only didn't Xena/Eris make the cut, but she took Pluto down with her, both getting assigned as "dwarf planets," leaving us with only eight proper planets.*

It's a small comfort to us plutophiles, but it's nice to see the little guy back in the limelight again, if only briefly. All of us here at HKC send Pluto and Eris our best wishes for continued success together in the new endeavors, and remind them that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

*Ceres is another dwarf planet but it isn't a plutoid because it's not trans-neptunian, it's in between Mars and Juptier. Yeah, go figure.

Otie's back!

2008-07-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

After a long travel day and bit of a delay right at the end just to make it interesting, Otis returned to the mainland late last night. Kitties exulted, brief festivities ensued, and now, Selkie and Otis are still sleeping while only Mountie and I are up to enjoy the morning breeze. No rest for the wiki, though - Otis has a client coming this morning!

The homecoming capped a day that was by turns social and contemplative: change-of-plans Stella came by for lunch and catch-up, and then NatDog stopped in to share a smoothie, so there was a festive break from my agenda of reading and catching up on correspondence.

Late morning post

2008-07-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

It was such a beautiful, sunny morning that I decided to go for a walk around the lake immediately after finishing my toast. Funnily enough, it started clouding up right as I approached home; I expect it will get bright again soon.

Yesterday was pretty much a replay of the day before: a little biking, a little reading, a little messing about with other stuff, including a long phone conversation with Jon of Monmouth. I did make a run to a couple of stores looking for frames for a project I have cooked up, but no luck there.

The big difference yesterday was, of course, the Humpday Dinner, which this time included coffee-an' afters, up on Cap Hill. It was nice to get out and be social!

Today will likely be close to the same, although dinner will be with Stella (who is at a conference at UW). And then Otis comes home late tonight. Yay!

Last Hawaii Picture:

Just like old times

2008-07-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday felt like a day out of my grad school summer, when I was living a pretty solitary life in Cheney while finishing my thesis. I took a walk around the lake early, and a bike ride to Office Max in the afternoon, and a walk to the library in the evening, but spent the rest of the time at home. The only conversations of substance I had were with J-Force for a few minutes at the library and with Stella and Otis on the phone. The rest of the day was passed in reading (I finished off The God Delusion) and writing stuff. Today will likely pass the same way, at least until the Humpday dinner; it was supposed to start out foggy, but the skies are blue and I expect it will be hotter than they initially predicted.

In the midst of this summer daze, we have let Jon of Monmouth's birthday gone unmarked. I mentioned earlier that we seem to have lost the blog-habit of birthday celebrations, so here's another (belated) attempt to resurrect the practice! (You can check out the festivities on Jon's own blog.)

Happy Birthday, Jon!

Here are today's Pictures of Paradise from Otis:

poets in the sand

ooooh...

aaaah...

I don't know what the heck this is about

Tea and sympathy

2008-07-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have my tea, I could use some sympathy. After a late night last night, I woke up at 5:30 and had to deal with the cat, and taking out the garbage and recycling, and moving the car to a legal spot. I went back to bed for an hour and a half or so, and got up feeling beat up, worn out, and hay-fevery. I'm going to try to get myself together and walk around the lake and turn into a functional critter.

I rode my bike to Bothell and back yesterday, and my knees felt every mile of it. It wasn't until after I had returned my library book that I realized I could just have gone to Suzzalo at the main campus, but it was nice to see Vee and the other librarians for little visit anyway, and it sure was a great day for a ride.

After quotidian enterprises, the beautiful day was bookended at the other side by a session with the GURPS gang. Soapy, Dingo, Johnbai, Neds, and Mr. X arrived with armfuls of deli and heads full of adventure, and we ate them both all up. Selkie spent a good deal of the evening on the couch listening to the escapades of five picaroons with various neuroses and/or psychoses alternately argue and hack 'n' slash their way across New Amsterdam. Good times.

When the dust and black powder had cleared, and the players were dispersed, and the dishes done, and the evidence hidden, I had a chat with Otis on the phone and finally got myself to bed, happy with the fullness of life.

Today's Daily Dose of Paradise Pictures:

the paradisical photog

Big Ed

pacific

you're a kitty!

nice

This will melt the hardest heart (and raises a lot of questions about what we "know" about animals):

Here's a left-brain link.

A real summer Sunday

2008-07-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

What I did yesterday:

Rode my bike to Ballard and back to the UW campus.
Stopped in at the Fremont Sunday Market.
Talked to Stella on the phone.
Had soup and salad for lunch.
Got GURPS ready.
Read about half of The God Delusion.
Practiced the ukulele.
Played with the cats.
Had a sandwich and salad for dinner.
ichatted with Neds.
Took a little walk.
Talked to Jules in the front yard.
Did some laundry.

What I did not do yesterday:

Spend any money at all.
Start the car.

Not too bad.

Here's today's Picture of Paradise from Otis:

The Sunday paper

2008-07-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

News:

List found
Some months ago, I encountered a slip of graph paper in my files; it contained a hand-written list of book titles. I apparently wrote it who knows when back in the day; my best guess would be somewhere about 1994 (I feel a vague association between this list and my tenure at the Green Lake library). I thought it was a curiosity, and threw it back into the data stream, as it were.

Well, since I have this little summer self-improvement project that involves a lot of reading, I decided to dig it out and perhaps use it a structure for my reading. Of course, I couldn't lay my hands on it - it wasn't in any of the "current project" folders that I keep. Its absence was a niggling loose end.

Last night, with Swing Years on the radio, I launched a major file clean-up. I went through the four drawers of my file cabinet and three boxes of "to be filed" paperwork, purging old lesson plans, paper copies of class records, old utility bills, birthday cards, old ads and other stuff. About six inches from the bottom of the last stack, I found the list. (I also found some other neat stuff which may turn up here later.)

It's an oddly apt list on a number of levels. I wonder what impelled me to compile it, and what kept me from reading my way through it. It's a bit bracing to think that I could have spent so much time and effort on something -- it's very neat handwriting, for me -- and have never followed up on it at all. I'm not sure that it is the the list for me, who I am today, but it looks like a pretty good place to start.

(Click pic to embiggen. And yes, I see the error in the Campbell title.)

Scooter scene seen
As I was walking down to the U-District yesterdayto meet Dingo for a GURPS conference, I encountered a veritable horde of scooters proceeding en masse down Ravenna Boulevard toward U-Village. The sight of all those scooters, all different colors and makes and models, made me sigh for the recently departed Ruby. I don't think I would ever have joined such a party, but it would have been nice to be eligible.

Oddly, I have encountered a couple of people recently who are considering a scooter as their primary or secondary transportation mode, and they are running into the same barrier that I have found when considering replacing Ruby: the damn things are just too expensive. The Craig's List offerings seem to be priced 20-30% above last year. The invisible hand of the market makes itself felt!

Cats are weird
I don't know if it was the weather or what, but all the cats I had to deal with yesterday -- Sage, the cat-sittee, as well as the two who live here -- were all acting oddly, either overcharged or lethargic. At least Selkie appears to be back to normal, healthwise.

Travel section:

Pictures from paradise
More photographs from Otis, enjoying her time in Maui:

Otis and brah

C'mon, are you at all surprised?

Words are superfluous

Automotive section:

VW 100 miles-to-the-liter car
This is the first car that I have seen in twenty years that would make me actually consider getting a car loan. It reminds me very much of an independently-designed concept car that I saw back in the eighties; I think it was called the Aerostar (it predated the minivan) and it had the same tandem design, albeit with a less high-tech look (it looked more like an airplane fuselage sitting on the chassis of an old-school formula-one care). I can't even find any information on that one; this new VW version looks cool, though.

(Click pic for link.)

Entertainment section:

Punk rockers are still ~~relevant~~ alive?
Perhaps Jon of Monmouth can give us an informed response to this trailer, since he was once, briefly, a member of the Sex Pistols (although Wikipedia seems not to mention him for some reason). Apparently, this proposed ten-part television series has not yet found a home...

(Click pic for link.)

Funnies:

Just because it's relevant to our lead story, here's Alison Bechtel's recent graphic essay on reading the stuff we're "supposed" to read.

(Click pic for... ah, you've got it by now, no?)

A^2 + B^2 = C^2

2008-07-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

The sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse - we all remember the Pythagorean Theorem, right? This geometry axiom came into play yesterday: I wanted to buy a tablecloth for our new table, which is 54" square, and the only candidate was a 70" round (the rest were too-small squares or too-large rectangles). The diagonal across the table from opposite corners - the hypotenuse of a right triangle formed by two 54" sides of the table - can be determined by that formula, and is the minimum size a circle must be to fully cover a square. I didn't do the math, but guesstimated instead, and figured it would fit.

It didn't. When A and B each equal 54, C= 76.5 - close, but no cigar.

Well, the ride out to the Ballard Fred Meyer was fun anyway, and now I have a reason to do it again today: returning the tablecloth.

Other than misadventures in word problems, the holiday passed quietly, at least until the boom-boom of the mortars for the fireworks shows. There were some pop-pops of local fireworks throughout the day and night, not enough to be really annoying but enough to keep the cats in.

I spent the evening over at O's for a casual pot-luck bbq, with Johnbai, Dingo, Mommo and Beau, and Bran for just a little while. Nice, low-key fun included a walk to the park for a turn around the playground before dessert.

Today is gray and threatening rain, but for some of us, sunshine is on the daily menu. Otis sends these pictures from Hawai'i:

this looks like it must be the condo

I recognize the exotic salsa from a favorite place, Maui Tacos

Otis and Pater at what I am guessing is the Hula Grill

picture postcard perfect

Independence Day

2008-07-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

I was going to find some some quotations regarding freedom and security as reflections for this day, but it was way too depressing. Here's just one, from Hillaire Belloc:

Never could an increase of comfort or security be a sufficient good to be bought at the price of liberty.

So, let's celebrate the freedoms we have, and protect the liberties that seem to be slipping away.

Otis made it off to Maui is encondo-ed nicely now... yesterday was another lazy day for me... I did see Neds for coffee in the afternoon... and visited the gardening O and Dingo in the evening... time to cycle and cat-sit today!

Lazy day and stormy night

2008-07-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, Wednesday daytime and Wednesday nighttime were as different as ~~night and day~~ two other things that are really different from each other.

Daytime held vacation laziness: Johnbai (also on vacation for a while) and O (self employed) came over in the morning and we walked down to meet Soapy (between gigs) at the Metro for a noontime movie. Alas, the theater had changed its schedule without telling the internet, so the movie was not to be seen. O, in a burst of industry, went home to work, while the boyz hung out at a pizza parlor and a comic book store while wending our way home in the sunshine. We left enough of the afternoon for us all to take naps before the Wednesday Humpday happy-hour dinner on Green Lake. There followed more hanging about of the Walaka-Soapy-Otis type until we met Johnbai and O for another try at the movie, The Fall, at a late-night showing at the Varsity. It was a wonderful, exotic, and affecting story, beautifully shot and composed, and well worth the wait. Of course, with this busy schedule of indolence, I got absolutely nothing else done all day.

Nighttime held atmospheric violence: We had seem some sheet lightning and heard a little thunder during our walk along Green Lake in the afternoon, but when we got home from the movie a little after midnight, the real show started. Brilliant flashes of lightning and loud cracks and booms of thunder made it truly a "dark and stormy night." The storm started in in earnest at about 2:00 am, at which time I went through the house closing windows against the driving rain. At about 3:30 am, the cats decided that they wanted to be out in the storm, so Otis put them outside. At about 6:00 am, a particularly loud thunderclap woke us up, so I checked for the cats and they were nowhere about. I got up as usual at 7:30 am (I love sleeping in on my vacation!) and the cats were back, a little wet, but otherwise fine. In all these periods of wakefulness I did the count-the-seconds-between thing, and put the storm at no closer than a mile and as far as three miles away. It was a cool feeling to be snug in the house while the elements cracked and crackled around us.

This morning the very air is still wet, not to mention the sogginess of the environment all around us. Otis will have a dramatic departure for the Sandwich Islands this afternoon!

Super Tuesday

2008-07-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Wow - was it just yesterday morning that I was at campus? It seems so long ago...

I met Otis for lunch at Thai One On in Lake City - it wasn't bad! We went home to medicate Selkie, went out again for a little shopping, and got back in plenty of time to relax a little before cooking a sumptuous dinner:

Stir-fry barbecue-marinated tofu and shoestring potatoes

Broiled porcini mushroom with fresh mozzarella and thyme
Kohlrabi and cucumber slaw
Rustic artisan bread

(This is what happens when I go to the Farmer's Market and a party with four gourmet cooks on the same day.)

What was the occasion for this feast? A visit from Yojimbo!

We had the pleasure of his company before he headed into town for a sleep-study overnight slumber party. Whatever the excuse, it was great to have him over for a meal again.

See? Otis looks pleased by the whole affair!

Shortly after Yojimbo left, I headed down to 45th to meet up with Johnbai, who is enjoying his own vacation this week. We stopped at Araya's (where Johnbai learned the difference between tofu and bean composition) and then walked back up to the RD to hang out while he waited for O to be finished with work. (Maybe we are just the centralized holding area for our friends or something.)

So, another full day in which I didn't get much done!

I thought this was pretty clever:

This article about food expiration dates made me think about our own practices.

Poodle paws

2008-07-01T08:54:00.001-07:00

Selkie's back!

He was doing so well under treatment in the hospital that the vet released him early.

He's eating!

He's peeing!

He has poodle paws!

Good news: it took fewer Benjamins than we thought to make him better.
Bad news: I have to give him one-and-a-half pills, one capsule, and one squirt of liquid meds, twice a day, for a week.

Yesterday was another great day in which I didn't get enough done because my schedule got all cattywampus. I saw Kris-10 in the morning when she came over for writing time and had a serendipitous encounter with NatDog on the way to the comc shop. Otis and I got an evening walk in and watched Hellboy at night (so she would be up to speed). Other than that, we were just generally beating the heat.

I'm actually coming to you from Bothell, because I hitched a ride with the ubiquitous NatDog to campus so I could tie up some loose ends. I think Otis and I will be meeting for lunch in beautiful downtown Lake City.

Summer linkorama

2008-06-30T07:26:00.001-07:00

Okay, so yesterday we didn't set any records, but it was hotter than the day before. We luxuriated in the heat (slowly).

We took a drive out to the Lake Washington beaches, but both Magnuson and Matthews were so jam-packed that actually going into the parks, unless you were planning a day-long expeditions, wasn't even worth it. Now, if only I had a scooter, we could have found plenty of places to park...

We did visit Selkie in the animal hospital - he was in high, head-butting spirits, crunching his food and purring, even with one of the stupid cones around his neck, an IV rig on his leg, and a tube (taped to his tail!) leading from his butt to a Foley bag. The vets said he was progressing very well and should be released late today to come home tonight.

A showing of WALL-E at the Oak Tree provided an opportunity to beat the hottest heat. It was absolutely splendid.

The cool, cool, cool 0f the evening was filled with writing of various sorts - including some stuff mentioned below!

(You can let this play while you read the rest of the entry.)

Critical mass has been achieved in blogation:

The comix blog has a new entry.

The First-fortnight of Freedom entry is up on the 92 Days.

There's another Summer Humpday coming, and that means another dinner!

While you're over on the sidebar, check out the blogroll and web links - I have updated them again.

I usually stay away from politics on this blog, but this Rolling Stone article on John McCain cuts to the heart of many of my problems with this so-called maverick senator.

This is so totally cool that I hope it's not a hoax. The site where I found it (via Neatorama) looks pretty authentic, anyway. This could lead to a while new Hitchcock series for Mattel: The Lisa Fremont Breaking and Entering Barbie; The Jo McKenna Passing Out after Being Sedated Barbie; and The Marion Crane Brassiere and Suitcase of Money Barbie. Hmmm. Maybe LNTAM could do this better.

After reading this Wired article, I have been thinking about getting one of these, but I haven't yet, so maybe I'm not really concerned, or maybe I'm just lazy.

Have a great Monday, everybody!

Highs and lows

2008-06-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, according to the internet box, yesterday we tied the record of 91 degrees for the high temperature on June 28, and it looks like we are within striking distance of the record for today as well. Yay! Summer is well and truly here, at least for a while. I am sure old pal Jon of Monmouth is just broiling, since they usually seem to be just a tad (ten degrees or so) hotter than us. Sum-sum-summertime!

In honor of the passing of Ruby Scooter, here is a little portfolio of

Walaka's Motorbikes through the Ages:

Circa 1990: Honda C-70, technically a motorbike but it looked like a moped. I scooted a lot from Queen Anne to the downtown library. I once went downstairs, chipped ice off the speedometer, took off, wiped out, realized that if there was ice on the bike there was probably ice on the road, and decided to take the bus. Got it up to almost 50 mph on a long, empty, straight stretch on Vashon Island. Now owned by J-Force and recently restored to its former glory!

Circa 1993: Honda CX-500, a nice, but heavy, shaft-drive bike. Commuted to Green Lake regularly, then moved to Portland/Vancouver and rode it down there while teaching EFL, during my cowboy boots and Hawaiian short period. Made an aborted attempt to attach a Velorex sidecar in 1995.

Ruby: a Honda CH-150 Elite, picked up in Vancouver in 1999 for a song. Used to put "Campus Security" markings on it and drive it while working the Fourth of July festivities. Parked it while in grad school, then brought it up to Seattle in FarmerScott's truck (along with a bunch of other junk), where it has been adjunct transportation and summer fun. Until two days ago.

R.I.P.
Walaka's Motorbike Days
1990 - 2008

Kitty blues

Yesterday, Selkie had a bit of relapse: the ameliorative effect of the treatment on Thursday seemed to have reached its limit, and he was once again in distress. We took him down to the animal hospital, where it was determined that his prescribed dosage was incorrect: it is not fistfuls of cash, but rather buckets, that will make him all better. So, he is in kitty ICU for the weekend, with tubes and stuff in him, undergoing a fairly aggressive protocol to nip this thing in the bud. It seemed like a really cool place and the people were great, so it's about as good a thing as it can be under the circumstances. Let's just hope this settles it for good.

We passed the evening at a wonderfully splendid and spectacularly fantastic barbecue/garden party at the home of O and K-K (the "new roommate," at least from a certain perspective) just down the street from us. There was a veritable boatload of great and amusing folks all around, whom I won't even begin to try enumerating, and the food was, of course, incredible. The combination of weather, people, and comestibles was just about perfect. A special shout-out for NatDog and TomCat, who were so graciously included in the celebration by O and who so gracefully made themselves part of the festivities. (No pics cuz we didn't bring a camera.)

The First Fortnight actually includes today, so news on the tomorrow.

Flashback blog collage

2008-06-28T09:35:00.001-07:00

While Otis has a morning appointment, I have walked down to the U-district to hang out and do a little shopping at the Farmer's Market. I stopped in here at the Cafe Wannabee and as I did so, I was immediately transported back to my trips to Europe. Maybe it was just the influence of the old photo that Dingo showed me yesterday, but something about the relatively early hour, the heat, the quality of the light, and the aroma of the coffee shop gave me a sense similar to deja vu, just not that I had been exactly here before, but rather that I had been in a place like this at a time like this many times.

Yesterday was quite a rigorous day, a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for more than one person in my ken. Whenever we find ourselves experiencing the times that try men's souls, it's good to remember to reach out to one another for support of any kind. That's the real stuff behind moovie nights and D&D and frisbee in the park. I'm glad it's part of my life. Peace and strength to everyone.

Speaking of RPGs, the GURPS session last night had drama both inside and out. Despite a number of false starts and interruptions, the party really started to pull together and the mood and tenor of the piece is starting to reveal itself. It's pretty cool.

This is what combat would be like if our GURPS game was set in feudal Japan instead of in Renaissance North America:

Cartoon courtesy of the extremely talented Kate Beacon.

Selkie seems to be maintaining and progressing after his treatment and on his diet. I sedated him again yesterday, and when he's stoned, he's pretty cool, but he seems to freak Mountie out. That scaredy-cat looks at Selkie real wary-like, and growls a little, and then takes off for the outside. I wonder if under the influence of the drugs Selkie's true warrior nature is even more apparent, no longer hidden by his deliberate behaviors. Sort of like when Lord Greystoke lost control, the Tarzan underneath came out. It's a fun theory, anyway.

Is this brilliant or what? I have no knowledge of this group, Cibo Matto, but this video is just extraordinary:

Speaking of brilliant, check out this great clock! I just downloaded it as my screen saver. And it tells me I should be getting over to the market!

I'll do a First-Fortnight of Freedom post tomorrow.

Not the day I had planned...

2008-06-27T07:44:00.001-07:00

Thread #1: So, yesterday began not just with clouds but with our observation that tough-guy Selkie appeared to be in some distress with regards to his internal plumbing. Without having recourse to a level three diagnostic, we opted to take him into the veterinary clinic in the morning for observation and treatment. It turns out that he has a common but mysterious cat disorder, known as FUT or FLUTD, which involves the build-up of struvite or oxalate crystals in the urinary tract (I'm not making that up). It can be fatal, but is usually managed by throwing fistfuls of money at the veterinarian and switching to food that is apparently made of platinum. In any case, he seems to be doing fine, and is on some sedatives that make him rather dopey and even more amusing than usual.

Thread #2: I got a call in the morning from Dan the Scooter Man with bad news about Ruby. Like Janis Joplin, someone took a little piece of her heart: a part deep inside her engine, one that helps create the spark, broke. The part is no longer manufactured, and the process to replace it, even if one were found, is more trouble than the bike is worth. Dan suggested that Bent Bike might take the scooter off my hands; I called them, and lo and behold, they offered me just enough to pay what I owed Dan for picking it up and taking a look at it! He offered to deliver for me, so I drove up to Kenmore and dropped off the title with him. I even submitted the report of sale and told my agent to cancel the insurance. So now, like Janis, Ruby is no longer with us; unlike Janis, she will be parted out and live on in a series of undoubtedly crapped-out, bestickered motor scooters putt-putting around the Puget Sound area.

Thread#3: Early in the morning, we got a call from old pal JayCee, who will be the featured guest artist at Otis's next show in August. She was in the neighborhood and wanted to have a cuppa and talk about the show and stuff. Well, I was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, of course, but Otis went from snoozing to shmoozing in just a few minutes, leaving her a bit shell-shocked, especially since she made the ride to the vet right afterwards. It took a little while for her system to recover, but ti was a conversation worth having and it was good to see JayCee again.

Thread #4: As I was en route to see Dan in Kenmore, I got a call from NatDog, who was just leaving campus after her summer class. The timing was right for us to meet at 3PB/LFP for lunch, so we did. We had a long, leisurely meal, reveling in the unbearable lightness of summer (even for those teaching one summer session course). After NatDog moved on, I tried to sell some books to 3PB, but they didn't want any of them; I did get a ten-percent-off coupon, so the paperback I had found to buy was nineteen cents cheaper.

Thread #5: We spent the evening watching Selkie stumble around and had time to watch The Shadow, Alec Baldwin's 1994 superhero turn. It wasn't a bad adaptation, although much more mystical than its source material ever was; the cast included Johnathan Winters in a straight role, Tim Curry overdoing it, and Peter Boyle wasted as Shrevvy. Nice period sets, though.

The sun was shining this morning, and we are looking forward to a less eventful day!

Summertime blues(kies)

2008-06-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, after a number of fine days in a row, the skies have not been all that promising this morning. But the radio-man says that this cloud cover will burn off and we'll be back to seventy-two-and-sunny by this afternoon, so I'm keeping the faith. I'll just plan for a bike ride during Otis's afternoon appointment.

I did bike over to Ballard yesterday to deal with the scooter, and later got a confirmation call from Dan, so that process is underway. It make take some time, since Dan is a one-man operation, but he has a tendency to under-promise and over-deliver, so we'll see.

Another benefit of the ride was the chance to have a long conversation with Jon of Monmouth, via the miracle of wireless telephony. It seemed fitting that we chatted while I stood at the official start of the Burke-Gilman trail, i.e., the Fred Meyer parking lot.

Otis and I spent the sunny afternoon in our local park, lying in the grass, sipping tea, and reading. A little RC helicopter was buzzing about the scene like an oversized dragonfly, only adding to the lazy feeling.

And last night, the first Summer Humpday Dinner kicked the program off to a great start!

We'll put this one in the win column, then.

Now ain't that a stick in yer spokes

2008-06-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was marked by two surprises.

After brekkies, a walk around the lake, blogging, and such typicalities, Yojimbo stopped by to pass an afternoon between in-city engagements. It was good to see him again, especially since his Friday visits have been curtailed by the advent of the RPG era. He brought us up to date regarding Life on the Rock, and left with promises of more visits over the summer.

Yojimbo was there to see Ruby the Scooter roar into life as Otis and I set off on a Ballard adventure; what he was not there to see was Ruby sputtering and conking out at a stoplight on Market. Le sigh. The scoot is legally parked over there now, awaiting pickup from the Amazing Dan the Scooter Man, who will, no doubt, set her all to rights.

We did not let the conk-out deter us from adventuring, however. We walked our way into Ballard town, had pho, visited the locks, and came back in time to catch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls at the Majestic Bay theater. (We both felt that you couldn't say much against the film, but that you couldn't say much for it, either.) We checked on Ruby and then bussed it back to the RD.

So, life goes on. My bike ride to Bothell today becomes a bike ride to Ballard instead, and I may be scooterless for a little while, but the weather is still great and I'm still on vacation. Yee-ha!

Blogger in the sun

2008-06-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

That's the view of Cowan Park from my curbside seat at the Cowan Park Grocery and Cafe, where I have ensconced myself while Otis toils in her massage room. Although to be completely honest, I'm mostly in the shade of an umbrella.

Yesterday was a splendid day. I took a little bike ride to pick up some hardware; it was sort, but it took almost exactly to the third-highest point in Seattle, just up the road a piece (and it is indeed up). It was a great workout getting there.

I used the hardware to finish fixing up Ruby the Scooter, which required me to first stop by O's in the afternoon to borrow Johnbai's drill. It was a nice surprise to find Dingo there gardening! With drill and hardware in hand, it was short work to re-install the grille.

Otis and I were going to make our inaugural ride after that, but I couldn't get the engine to turn over before the battery wore out. This is not uncommon after a long, dormant winter, but it was still a bit of a disappointment. I have charged the battery and we'll try it again today.

Johnbai himself showed up at our place in the evening to share some cupcakes, but I forgot to give him his drill back.

I also tried a zen experiment yesterday. One of the principal notions behind a zen approach is experiencing mindfulness by attending to only one thing at a time: if you are eating, just eat; if you are chopping wood, just chop wood; and so on. So, when I sat down to my top ramen for lunch, I didn't open a book or my laptop. I just sat and ate, and tried to be very conscious of the act of eating and of the food itself.

I found that the greatest barrier to attaining focus was a tendency to narrate the proceedings in my head. Instead of just experiencing an act, I am almost simultaneously analyzing it, editing it, and preparing it for communication to others. In other words, I was writing this blog entry at the same time I was eating the meal! It was most annoying, but I couldn't seem to stop, except for one moment, close to the start of the meal, when I heard the sound of the broth dripping from a pea pod and just experienced it without internal comment. of course, the more I tired to move toward that focus, the further away it slipped; I finally let my mind go and wound up writing a GURPS script in my head and missing part of the meal.

I would appear that I have some way to go on this journey.

This is for Soapy, so he can see all the stuff he's missing by not drinking.

Izzit Monday?

2008-06-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

I guess so, only because there's a really noisy garbage truck in the alley. But it didn't wake me up. Mountie, the usually mellow-in-the-morning cat, did that hours ago, unleashing the full force of his Incredibly Annoying Meow® while walking all over me. (Selkie, the usually annoying-in-the-morning cat, ~~flung himself off the balcony~~ let himself out today.)

Yesterday was another pretty good day, weather-wise and otherwise. Here's the highlight reel:

I rode my bike down to the Fremont Fair, but I forgot the bike lock, so I could only walk through, getting in people's way, and didn't stay for very long. I did stop at the Sound Transit booth to find out that the light rail line between the RD and Cap Hill won't be operational until about 2012. Dang!

I had a nice long iChat with Wheylona as she sat in the midnight dark and I lounged in the afternoon sun. There appears to be a lot of cool stuff on her horizon this summer, too!

I did the laundry and cleaned every single stitch of clothing I owned, save for the shorts and t-shirt I was wearing. Then I did a T-shirt inventory, since my stock has exploded over the last 18 months (thanks in no small part to Johnbai's Librapalooza obsession). I culled out some really old one that now were almost as much hole as shirt, since I have so many cool new ones to replace them.

Big Announcement!

Otis and I are going to start a weekly go-out-to-dinner thing. We figured that since we go out to dinner so much already because ~~we are lazy~~ ~~we never have food in the house~~ it just seems to work out that way, we might as well make it a social event, especially trying to include those folks we don't see regularly. We'll be sending out a regular email invitation, but, of course, the concept has its own blog.

Just a cuppa joe...

2008-06-22T08:09:00.000-07:00

...to help me get started, y'see, cuz one kitty wanted out at about 3:30 or 4:00 am, and the other kitty wanted out at about 5:00 or 5:30 am, so that when I actually got up at 7:30 am, I hadn't had seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, I'd had, like, four, and then one-and-a-half, and then two. Kinda like sleeping on a train. That's how it goes sometimes.

Right now, the kitties are both back in bed sleeping, and I'm having a cup of coffee.

Yesterday turned into one of those on-the-edge, muggy days that doesn't know whether it is warm or cool or sunny or cloudy or nice or not-so-nice. Otis and I went up to LFP and had lunch with Mater and Pater, but other than that stuck pretty close to home, forsaking the crowds of the Solstice Parade for the first time in several years. I took the opportunity to add another notch to the bookcase: I read Thud! by Terry Pratchett, the latest (I think) in his discworld novels. (That's two down, now.)

We also watched Children of Heaven, a sweet Iranian movie from 1997 about two poor siblings sharing one pair of shoes and their attempts to fix the situation. As one review I read mentioned, the film has all the elements of a Disney movie, but is presented with unblinking realism in place of the usual sentimentality.

Speaking of movies, I have always found Ferris Bueller's Day Off to be a bit problematic. While others have celebrated its anarchic celebration of individuality, freedom, and the sense of adventure, I have always seen it as the deconstruction of a vain, manipulative, and self-serving little bastard, mostly because I never got the sense the Ferris cared about any of his "friends" as anything other than an audience. I felt that Cameron was particularly ill-used.

Innyway, I came across this YouTube mashup that I think captures the true psychological subtext of the movie, if not my exact analysis. It's the best trailer re-edit I have seen since Shining a few years ago.

Summertime geeks

2008-06-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

So, it was a pretty spectacular day yesterday, eh? We had the house wide open as we gave it a good spring cleaning (finally!) and I sure worked up a sweat, but we still had a chance to take a walk down to the lake and enjoy the weather.

The evening time brought Soapy, Dingo, Johnbai, Neds and Mr. X over for an RPG night. We launched a new campaign (alt-history colonial North America) using a new game system (GURPS instead of D&D). Things went pretty well, considering we were all new to the system and some new to RPG altogether. In any case, much laughter was laughed, too much food and drink was consumed, and we may even have generated a new catch phrase or two.

Dingo, Walaka, and Neds playing roles gamely

After a late night to bed, Otis and I were awakened pretty early by some guy practicing his kung-fu in the alley, so we made a good start on the day. We have already taken a power-walk around the walk, and we'll see what else this first full day of summer holds. I guess the "solstice moment" here was actually yesterday at 4:59 pm, so the days are getting shorter now, baby - make the most of them!

Neither fish nor fowl

2008-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

So, this is supposed to be the daily diary blog, but I missed last night; now, what does than make this post? (Yeah, I know: late.) Also, I'm on vacation, but this morning I was assessing portfolios, so that's not right, either!

e-xxxubxxw

Innyway, yesterday turned out to be pretty busy and social! Otis had an early massage client and then an appointment of her own. For my part, I went shopping with NatDog, after which we both met Otis for lunch at Nana's. Dee-lightful.

We tried to get out in the sun in the afternoon, and spent some time outfitting the kitties with new flea collars, since it looks like we might actually have a summer after all.

After Otis's evening appointment, we headed up to JagGirl's place for a truly sumptuous dinner. It had been a while since we'd seen Jag, and she pulled out all the stops, feting us with lasagne and garlic bread and fresh strawberries and all sort of other delicacies. Yum-oh! We had a chance to relax together and catch up and to visit with Spencer, the foster-dog, too!

The work I did this morning means that Spring Quarter 2008 is 100% done: my independent study students from Antioch submitted their final portfolios for the comics course, and I have submitted the assessments. (The work was quite good, actually.) With that, my association with Antioch has come to an end, and I will be a singly-employed person for the first time in four years. Yay, me!

So, here's looking at enjoying this timely summer weather, although there's a mess of chores to get done before the RPG gang shows up tonight.

And to close, here is some incontrovertible scientific evidence that I do know what the heck I'm doing when I snooze.

Pilgrim's progress

2008-06-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

e-xx(r)ubj(a)w

So, good times today!

I finished The Ten-Cent Plague this morning; one down, thirty-eight to go!

Otis and I walked down to the Metro to see The Incredible Hulk. Otis loved it more than she liked Iron Man, and possibly even more than I liked it. (I think she's crushing on Ed Norton.) I have to say that it was a well-made, well-paced, well-acted, and well-written movie. I couldn't ask for anything more; even the CGI was pretty good this time around.

I stopped in at Zanadu and picked up Jessica Abel & Matt Madden's new book, Drawing Words and Writing Pictures. It is a self-contained 15-week course on creating comics, with lessons, exercises, and homework. I think the a in scrubjaw just had an identity change: I am going to try to finish the course, or most of it, over the summer. I'll post my homework as I complete it!

And on top of all that goodness, we actually got to take a walk in some honest-to-goodness sunshine today! Who knew?!

And now I am going to try to look at the imaginary giant moon.

Okay, enough with the numbers already

2008-06-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

e-xxxubjax

So, I'll knock off the countdown/countup/whatever and get back to regular blogging. I will be posting artifacts from the summer projects here, if you care to take a look.

Today I slept in until 7:30! Ya-hoo! Otis and I tried to have a vacationy day, even though it was rainy and cloudy; I'd say we were mildly successful, moreso if you think shopping at Trader Joe's is a leisure activity. I spent the evening up at Johnbai's, putting the last touches on the house version of the GURPS game mechanics; it was a very productive session.

This is mostly for Soapy, but I can think of some other folks who might get a kick out of it.

This one's mostly for Wheylona. It's a bit too long, but it still brings the funny.

This photoset is mostly for Dingo, but I think it's cool, too.

The 92 Days of Summer: Day 2

2008-06-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

e-scrubjaw = e-xx(r)xbxxx

Okay, so today I was not much of a Jay Gatsby, but instead, Otis and I had a chance to participate in a fiasco. Well, maybe not a fiasco, but a misadventure for sure.

After making arrangements for the boys (thanks NatDog and O), Otis and I headed out fairly early this morning for what was supposed to be three days and two nights out on the Long Beach peninsula, enjoying a beach house and a couple days of taking in the ocean air to kick off the summer.

We had heard that it was supposed to be a beautiful day in Seattle, and, sure enough, it was clear and sunny as we headed into the end-of-morning-rush I-5 traffic. The great weather lasted all the way until Olympia, and then when we cut west to head out through Pacific County, the skies covered up and it became as overcast as it gets.

Sigh.

We continued on through Raymond and South Bend, with no blue sky in sight, getting to Long Beach a few hours earlier than our "check-in" time, in time for lunch. We drove up and down the strip looking for a place that was (a) open and (b) looked like it had decent food. We picked Chico's Pizza, only to find out too late that it only met (a). Canned mushrooms on the veggie pizza and iceberg lettuce as the only salad bar greens should sum the place up; just add a lot of signs telling you what you can't do (get refills, go through the salad bar twice, &c.).

Le sigh.

To settle our stomachs, we went and got some tea at the local coffee shop, the only place around with wifi. It actually was pretty decent, except for the guy who picked up the house guitar and started practicing his riffs.

Me, as usual

Otie, doin' something mystical with her brew

So, we headed down to the house, and it was... a house. Just a house. Not cute, or cozy, or rustic, or beachy, or comfy, just a three-bedroom house that might be fun to fill with friends for a sleepover but which was just a cold empty place to us. A fine house, but just nothing that said "relaxing getaway" to us.

Yeah, this is... great.

So, we had also been told that the house was five minutes from the beach. It is - if you drive. If you walk through the neighborhood, it was closer to twenty minutes. I think our townhouse is actually closer to Green Lake than this place was to the Pacific Ocean. But, we made the trek and took a nice, long beach walk in the bright afternoon gloom.

The beach access road

One of the few shadows we saw all day

The desolate and majestic beach

I point out the desolation and majesty, in case you missed it

Otis honors the ocean with "limping crane" pose (or something)

Actually, the ocean is always cool, even if the weather is crappy

Innit?

Still not a lobster.

When the wind chill got too much for us, we returned to the house for a little sit-down and relaxing. Even with the heater on, it was a little chilly in the house, but Otis snuggled under a blanket and fell asleep. I read, and then joined her.

The day was rapidly losing its charm. We decided to give Long Beach one last chance to amuse us, by going to the local Thai restaurant ~~because~~ even though it described itself as both Thai-tastic! and Thai-licious! in its ad.

We should have known better. Bland curry, sweet-ketchup pad thai, and a table next to a crowded fish tank with one goldfish who had literally gone belly-up.

That did it. We decided to cut our loses, abort the mission, and just come home. As a diversion, I decided to cut across to Longview and come up the freeway from there, rather than driving through the soggy bog country again. Just a short 14 miles down 101, this is what we saw:

You see that bright spot on the other side of the Columbia River? Do you know what that is? That is Astoria in the sunshine. In the 30 years that I have lived in the Pacific Northwest, do you know how many times I have seen Astoria sunny? NEVER, that's how many. It was beautiful. All of Clatsop County was beautiful; we had returned to the sun.

Looking back at Pacific County from Oregon

Entering Rainier

The drive up was wonderful, sunny and warm and pleasant. I called the catsitters, both of whom confirmed that we had missed a gorgeous day on Seattle. So, six or seven hours of driving, fifty bucks for gas, a couple of bad meals, just to leave great weather for crappy weather - actually, I've had much worse days.

Okay, so now my vacation can really begin!

Us.

The 92 days of Summer: Day 1: e-scrubjaw

2008-06-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

(two posts today cuz I'm trying to do the diary posts at night on the day under discussion)

Well, I haven't exactly roared out of the gate on this summer plan, but I'm moving along. Wheylona has pointed out the almost-a-real-word acronym of e-scrubjaw for my daily do-list, so I am going to use that an report each day in shorthand: the word will get the appropriate letter for anything I did, and an x for anything I didn't do. Today's word is e-xxxxbxxw.

Hmmm. Lots of eckses in that. Well, it is the first day, and it was also Father's Day, so we spent a lot of time in LFP. And I had to pick up Mater at the airport. And the sun was in my eyes, the grass was wet, and I have a new glove.

No matter. Excelsior!

The 92 days of Summer: Day 0

2008-06-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, so that's a bit confusing. Today, Sunday, June 15, is actually Day 1; since I had to attend commencement yesterday, that wasn't part of summer vacation. But I haven't done much of anything yet today, so this post is actually about yesterday. Whatever.

Commencement was pretty good. The speakers were short and generally engaging, the students were in a great and festive mood, the hall wasn't uncomfortable, and everyone had a decent time. Afterwards, a gang of faculty adjourned to the Canyons in Mountlake Terrace (woo-hoo!) where I had a swell time and a really lousy veggie burger. Otis picked me up there and we spent the late afternoon and evening in LFP with Pater.

So, that's it for school! Today the sun shone brightly on the first of 92 consecutive days of summer vacation. As I mentioned earlier that I would, I have spreadsheeted the future, and it is spelled: ERSCBUJWA! That's not one of Zatanna's magic words' it stands for:

Exercise every day.
Run, for aerobics, or
Skip rope (or both, I guess).
Cycle somewhere.
Book, as in read one.
Ukulele, as in practice it.
Juggle (either ball or clubs or both),
Write (something besides a diary-post on the blog), and
Art - as in draw something, dammit!

(I wish I could have gotten all that to spell something clever, but no such luck.)

Beside those daily goals, I have some landmarks: biking 1000 miles again (I feel really good the summers I bike a lot), read 39 books (that's three a week), see 10 movies, and see 10 live performances.

There are also some project-type goals. A partial list:

1. Fix Ruby the Scooter up.
2. Clean out the shed.
3. Clean out my closet.
4. Clean out my file cabinet.
5. Take a bunch of stuff to Value Village (see 2 & 3 above).
6. Do a shredding/bonfire purge (see 3 & 4 above).
7. Audit Otis's books and set up some (say it with me) spreadsheets for her.
8. Contact University of Stirling Centre for Textual Culture about a Ph.D. program.
9. Run a successful GURPS campaign

So, we'll see how this goes. Putting this stuff out publicly makes it feel real, but I am well aware these are merely goals and that it is the journey that matters more than the destination. It is in that spirit that I embark up my first summer vacation in thirteen years. Here's hoping that this morning's weather is a sign that we will have a summer for it this year!

It's all over but the commencing

2008-06-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday morning I caught a ride into campus with NatDog, settled in at the office, made my way though the last stack of portfolios, and uploaded all my grades for spring quarter: I am done for a ducat! Today, after I attend the graduation ceremony in the beautiful Lynnwood Convention Center, my contractual obligations all will have been discharged, and I will be on Summer Vacation.

(Of course, nothing is ever so simple as all that, is it? I have two surviving independent study students at Antioch, both of whom have told me that their portfolios will be late - quelle surprise! - so I will have a wee bit of assessing to do when Otis and I get back from the beach.)

I bussed it back from Bothell in time to see Otis before we went our separate ways for the evening. She had an appointment, and then a dinner date and a woo-woo-workshop. For my part, I wandered around and

Hung with Neds at Vivace,
Hit the comic shop,
Had a beer and a giant baked potato at Murphy's,
Cruised the Half-Price Books,
Did a little grocery shopping,
And, even though he was late - encore, quelle surprise! - hung out with Johnbai after his dinner.

Not a bad start to the weekend of the last work week. Let the summer games begin!

Two down, one to go

2008-06-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

I had my absolutely last class of the quarter this morning and already I've got about 2/3 of my grading finished! Yay me!

It actually got sunny and warm for a little bit this afternoon! Yay us!

Otis and I watched Barb Wire tonight. I can't be the first person to realize that it's Casablanca with silicone boobs and automatic weapons, can I?

L to R: Ex-lover, anti-hero, ex-lover's new spouse who is Important to the Cause

L to R: Ex-lover's new spouse who is Important to the Cause, ex-lover, anti-hero

It's uncanny!

No, really, it is. It has a dieselpunk setting with T&A (including a way-too-long softcore-porn opening sequence), Triumph motorcycles, and lots of guns, but it also has analogues for Rick, Ilsa, and Victor Laszlo (all gender-bent), as well as Sam, Louis, Strasser, Ferrari, and Ugarte, and most of the plot points and set pieces of Casablanca, including the final scene at the airport. There's even a variation of the final line: "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" becomes "I think I'm in love."

What it doesn't have is any good acting, any real excitement, or any reason at all to watch it. It truly does suck, and I wouldn't have even mentioned it were it not for this blatant ~~hommage~~ rip-off.

Nothing to report

2008-06-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

So here's an animated gif of a Buddha for some serenity:

Never too busy for this

2008-06-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

We're coming to you live from Caffe Vita. We just had a great dinner at Pho Cyclo with Dingo, Johnbai, and O, and then Dingo took us on the Tour of Attractive Homes of Capitol Hill as we wended our way to a quick visit at the Value Village. We're going to hang out here for a bit and then make our way through the increasingly cold and windy June-uary evening back to Renty Red, parked back on t'other side of the hill.

Today was another last-week-on-campus day: grading until class and then student presentations. A nice way to slide into the summer vacation - and I am on track to be done with everything by the end of commencement (at noon on Saturday), so that's when it'll start.

I have mentioned, I think, that this is going to be The Summer of Walaka: it will be the first time since I became a part of the higher education establishment in 1997 that I will be taking a summer off.

Some folks (cough *jon* cough) think that I should embrace indolence; doing nothing should be my goal. But I have other plans.

Over the past four years of teaching, I have taught as much as a full-time instructor usually teaches in six years. In trying to balance all this overtime, what has fallen out of the equation has not been sleep (I can always fit that in) or socializing (my friends are too important to me) or even relaxing (that is almost hexis at this point), but rather self-improvement.

I almost never read for pleasure anymore.

I bought a ukulele two years ago and haven't learned a song yet.

My juggling balls are gathering dust.

My daily RCAF exercises have plateaued at the standard for my age.

Last year was a crappy biking season.

My skipping rope is still stiff.

I need to do some creative writing.

And so on.

So, this will be a Jay Gatsby summer of reinvention.* I plan to have full, full days that lead me to exhausted and satisfied nights sleeping the sleeping of the just.

Yeah, it's ambitious, and still a little amorphous at this point, but don't you worry, I'll have a spreadsheet by the end of the week and then we'll be on track, you betcha. I've got some tentative goals - 33 books read, 1000 miles biked, and so forth - and some major projects - an audit of Otis's business accounts, for example. Since I'll have forty suddenly-empty hours a week, I feel I can take on a big chunk of activities and still have as much playtime as I have now, except all my daily efforts will be on my own behalf, not my students'.

One of the things that I thought I would take out of the mix was this blog; I need to do some other kinds of writing, and I wondered if this blog might not be bleeding off some of that creative steam. After consideration, I decided that my Pepys Gene is way too dominant and that I must continue to feed the diarist in me, so I think this site will continue. It may, however, become a membership site (like Jon's), so be on the lookout for that, if you care.

In the meanwhile:

If you have a book suggestion, let me have it.
If you want to go on a bike ride, let me know.
And like that.

And wish me luck (and no broken toes!)

PS: I am going to see some movies for sure, too, if not on opening night. At least:

July 4: Hancock
July 11: Hellboy
July 18: Dark Night

*He opened it at the back cover and turned it around for me to see. On the last fly-leaf was printed the word SCHEDULE, and the date September 12, 1906. and underneath:

Rise from bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00 A.M.
Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling . . . . . . 6.15-6.30
Study electricity, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.15-8.15
Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.30-4.30 P.M.
Baseball and sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.30-5.00
Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it 5.00-6.00
Study needed inventions . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00-9.00 ”

GENERAL RESOLVES
No wasting time at Shafters or [a name, indecipherable]
No more smokeing or chewing
Bath every other day
Read one improving book or magazine per week
Save $5.00 {crossed out} $3.00 per week
Be better to parents

“I come across this book by accident,” said the old man. “It just shows you, don’t it?”

“It just shows you.”

“Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that. He told me I et like a hog once, and I beat him for it.”

He was reluctant to close the book, reading each item aloud and then looking eagerly at me. I think he rather expected me to copy down the list for my own use.

From The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hatten down the batches!

2008-06-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

Man, the wind is blowing! When Otis was up at LFP, it blew the big patio umbrellas onto the lawn - and when we got home tonight, it had repeated the trick, knocking down ours! The rose bush outside the window is whipping back and forth and it feels like we're in for a storm. I guess we may as well have one - Steve Poole has as much as said that this is the crappiest spring since 1917, so bring it on!

I got lots of work done on campus today - and a student let me have a look at the new player's handbook for D&D 4.0. Pretty cool. Oh, and I got to see Yito! And Stella! I guess that all counts as a good day, eh?

Last night, Otis and I watched Fahrenheit 451, with Oskar Werner and Julie Christie. IMDB says this was Truffaut's first color film and first English-language film - I just know it's a darn good film. Otis liked it, too, although she fell asleep before the end and had to rewatch part today. And we both thought Soapy would love the dragon-themed fire-trucks.

The last Sunday evening

2008-06-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

I just realized that this is the last time that a working Monday morning will follow Sunday night for me until the middle of September. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

So, we didn't go out after Otis got home last night. What a couple of party poopers. We did head out to the Varsity this morning for breakfast, and afterward we planned to take the scooter out to put up flyers for Otis's new workshops, but the battery was dead, so we took a walk instead. We took another walk in the afternoon, when the SUN CAME OUT for a while, and in between walks, we took naps. Isn't that what a Sunday is for?

Oh yeah, and I didn't get any work done, so I'm going in early with NatDog tomorrow. Might as well close out the final Monday in style, eh?

Another swingin' Saturday night

2008-06-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

So, tonight Otis went up to LFP to hang out with her folks; I was feeling a little geeky-creative, so I stayed home to work on some stuff. I did some crafty things (like with gluesticks, not slyness), read a little, wrote a little, and updated my comics blog. Now I am sitting here in the dark with Amanda Wilde playing music for me. Yeah, life's pretty good.

Last night, Otis and I hit The Garage for Soapy's birthday celebration. We took first shift, participating in the Food Fest (complete with red velvet cake, courtesy of O) but leaving before the Poolapalooza and the Bowlarama. Soapy should be in the Mall of America now, on his birthday trip, but I'll let him report further on that.

Speaking of birthdays, when we all started these internet web logs of ours, we used to make a bit of a fuss of people's birthdays. We seem to have slipped away from that practice, so I'll attempt to revive it a little here:

Happy Birthday, Soapy!

Happy Birthday, Erico!

After the party, Otis and I stopped by the Orange Splot Gallery in Fremont to briefly join Neds at Mr. X's show and artist reception. It was cool beans, even though we only stayed for a minute.

When we got home, we took a little time to clean up the garbage strewn all along our alley by some People who Don't Know How to Get Along with Others Very Well. Better to light one candle and all that - I felt much better when I was doing the dishes early this morning and didn't have to look at the mess.

Today was a pretty mellow day: I got my bike back, hung out with Johnbai twice (once because he had to flee O's and once because I had to flee our place), cleaned up, and like that.

Otis just came home, so maybe we'll do something adventurous, like go out after ten!

DM of the Rings is a little webcomic that's pretty funny, at least if you like/hate/know either D&D or LotR or both. This link goes to a particularly amusing episode; if you like it, go back to the first and read through. Neds in particular should get a larf.

Ridge runner

2008-06-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

Yo-yo-yo! After another rainy day on campus (not so long - just prepping and meeting) I'm up here in Greenwood hanging out while Otis is at a writing group. A little laptopping is in order before I TCB up here on the ridge in the time before we head down to Soapy's bowlarama tonight.

We got Renty Red back from the body shop today, so the rearmost 14% of the car looks brand new! (The rest still looks pretty much the same.) I should pick up the bike tomorrow.

I had dinner with Dingo last night - it was a lovely evening spent just catching up and hanging out. She pulled out some old photos she had found in her archives - pictures from Back in the Day. Here they are:

Cowabunga, dude!

This one I know for sure is from 1989 - it was taken during the three-day SPL centennial celebration.

Mousse in the housse

This one must be from about 1992 or 1993 - that's Bungee the Budgie nibbling at my ear.

Byronesque?

This is from a trip to Europe in 1995 - on the Rhine.

And just to close the circle, here's right now:

Man, Father Time is a right bastard, ain't he?

In it but not of it

2008-06-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Man, so yesterday was a pretty long day. I did sleep in until seven or so, since it had been such a late night at D&D, but I still went into work earlyish and taught until eight at night, catching the 8:30 bus for home.

Less than twelve hours later I was back on campus at another meeting! I have to stay here until another meeting later this afternoon.

But all of this will end soon; I have taught (qua taught) my last class; the remaining sessions of the quarter next week will comprise student presentations and course evaluations. Of course, I have three stacks of portfolios to grade, but I already have two stacks in hand, and hope to get them done quickly, during this last week.

Then The Summer of Self-Improvement and Self-Indulgence can begin!

We've had loooong discussions within the gang about surviving the post-apocalypse zombie invasion (skin lotion, anyone?) and here's a suggestion from Wired magazne for a vehicle choice in that context. Fun fact: I actually owned one of these cars - it was the only new car purchase I have ever made! Can you guess what it is?

This counts as Tuesday

2008-06-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

So, rain. There it was when I got up. And there it was just about all day. I taught in the rain. I attended meetings in the rain. I watched the construction crew take down hundred-foot fir trees in the rain. I commuted in the rain. A few minutes ago, I poured about a quart of water out of each garbage can before I put the lids back on and put them away - it had been raining, you see. About the only time it stopped raining was that brief minute when I got off the bus downtown and waited for Otis to pick me up in the car - lucky break, that.

The downtown rendezvous was on the way to Johnbai's for our last D&D session of the campaign with Soapy and Neds. When I suggested on a lark that Johnbai run a dungeon delve in honor of Gary Gygax's death, I had no idea that it would become such an elaborate enterprise on our parts. Well, three months later, I can look back on a heckuva lot of good times because of this little endeavor, and I want to thank the whole gang for making it a good experience. And I'm not ashamed to admt that I now have my own set of dice!

El tren subterraneo

2008-06-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

I packed myself a nice lunch for today, and then left it in the fridge, so I am coming to you from the campus Subway. Mmm-mmm, Veggie Delite!

So, I was posting yesterday morning from World Cup while Otis had a long appointment. Johnbai didn't get his sorry butt out of bed in time to join me there for some laptopping, but made it over to hang out at our place later, while O showed her place to a potential roommate.

Otis had an afternoon appointment as well, and then we went for our traditional earlybird dinner, this time at Julia's, the new Indonesian restaurant on 65th. They have a mini-rijsttafel, which I just love despite its colonialist underpinnings. This bitty version included white curry tofu, peanut-soy tofu and tempeh, and corn fritter. It was great!

Last night, we watched C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, a contemporary mock documentary from an alternate history in which the South not only won the Civil War, but turned all of the former U.S.A. into a slaveholding state. It was well-done, with realistic fake commercials and news and archival footage providing jarring juxtapositions that were sometimes all too real. It's well worth a look if you come across it.

This morning, Otis and I took Renty Red into car hospital, and Otis is now driving a black Pontiac G5 with tinted windows. I think she's out looking for Soapy right now to challenge him to a drag race.

A last thought: people often ask me if I miss New York, and whether I wish I had stayed or ever will go back. I have very little sentimental attachment to The City, probably because during my formative years, it was likely in the worst shape it was in during the twentieth century. This photoset illustrates the tone and mood that comes to my mind when I think of New York.

Sunday in the cafe with Walaka

2008-06-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

So, Stella's move was stellar! We had plenty of bodies and, even though I seemed to have screwed up the U-Haul deal, plenty of vehicles. We descended on the old place like locusts, cleaned it out, caravaned to the new place, unloaded it all and installed some of it, and had a delicious cookie reward, all within the space of two hours or so. Yay, us! To wit:

Della
Miss T.
Otis
Soapy
FarmerScott
Yito
Dandy
Dingo
Johnbai
CC Rider

The rest of yesterday was spent hanging out with Soapy, napping, goofing off, working, cleaning, writing, and listening to The Swing Years. Man, I love that show. We were so time-disoriented in the afternoon that Otis and I took a walk to clear our heads and had another look at the live/work space that we can't afford.

Otis left Renty Red unlocked last night. Someone rifled the glove box and took some Canadian money that I had stashed there in case we took an impromptu trip. I have alerted the Border Patrol; I'm sure the culprits will be caught soon.

In other Ford Contour news, Red goes into car hospital tomorrow to get the damage from our fender-~~bender~~ smasher repaired. I should also hear tomorrow from the bike hospital about the diagnosis of the damage to my bike, too.

Here's a video from Ira Glass to inspire all my creative-type pals out there; I think it is pretty awesome. Watch it until the 2:00 mark for the general discussion; after that, it's pretty broadcast-specific.

And here's a little musical clip that caught my eye, especially since many of us have been reveling in a bit of geekosity lately:

Oh - and Otis' s brother Robb is about to complete his MFA and has a new website to display his work as he establishes his new identity as a working artist. Check it out.

Up and at 'em, Atom Ant!

2008-05-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we got home from Johnbai's about five and a half hours ago; we head out for Stella's in a little over an hour. Time for a post!

Thursday night, Otis and I watched The Andromeda Strain, the 1970 sci-fi thriller that introduced that storytelling machine Michale Crichton to the movie-going public. Surprisingly effective (albeit a bit dated in some of the language), even Otis was entranced by the old-school high-tech suspense. *

On Friday, NatDog and I headed up to campus for some meetings, stopping on the way to drop Otis off in LFP to hang with her family. It was a short and productive day, and we were all home in time for some afternoon sunshine.

The evening up at Johnbai's was totally cool. Although we got started late, we had a rousing good time, and the DM presented us with an episode that got to the core of what chaotic and lawful alignments really mean. It was a killer combination of philosophical debate and ass-kicking that was challenging, exhausting, and totally cool.

And which, as I say, didn't end all that long ago. Time for a little more Folger's, baby.

*(LNTAM Memorial Asterix): In the bonus feature, Crichton quotes director Robert Wise as telling him "We're going to make your movie and nobody's in it." While that may have been an accurate (if glib) remark from a marketing standpoint, it belies the talent that the cast of Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid, and James Olson brought to the endeavor. Hill, in fact, has a small moment that is one of my favorite in all of film.

What a whirl, what a whirl

2008-05-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm feeling a little dizzy! Tuesday night we D&D'ed until late, and Wednesday, while Otis had a Family MRI Day, I worked an eight ay-em to eight pee-em day, with a sojourn in the middle to help Stella with a little moving and with arrangements for a lot more, and then today I had class and then a three-hour (!) training session on Second Life, and now Otis and I are up on Cap Hill doing the laptop thing, and I have to go onto campus tomorrow for a meeting, and then we D&D again, and the next morning is the moving party for Stella! Holy frijoles!

Besides all that, I got nuthin'!

Table the discussion

2008-05-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Monday: drove to LFP, swapped Renty Red for Pater's Big Truck, drove to Lynnwood, picked up the New Table, drove to the RD, unloaded and set up the table (had to take the legs off to get it upstairs!), drove the truck back to LFP, had lunch (first corn of the season - yummy!), swapped back into Renty Red, drove down to Lake City, stopped at the Value Village 50% sale, came home, did laundry, hung out, had pizza with Soapy, and retired.

Today: well, back to normal. Work 'n' stuff. At least it's nice out!

Oh, and is it really the end of the world as we know it?

I must be on one of those Martian days...

2008-05-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hey, so the official first weekend of summer is behaving accordingly! Although I wimped out and took the bus instead of the scooter yesterday, the threatening clouds never did more than glare and glower, and the afternoon turned out to be fine indeed.

Otis headed out to Carnation for some woo-time with a pal, so I mass transited downtown to meet up with Neds and Mr. X, new to the gang (but soon to get a full immersion courtesy of the mechanism of GURPS). We broke fast, had coffee, ate donuts, and generally geeked it for a while until I caught the bus back for the RD.

In the evening, Otis and I made a semi-impulse buy to help stimulate the economy: we bought a pretty fancy dining table from Craig's List. Or at least we secured it; today, we will be getting it back to the house.

And it looks like it will be another fine day for it.

Last year on this day I wrote these words:

Let us honor on Memorial Day all those who gave their lives in service while doing their duty, and let us hope that our country never squanders the sacrifice that so many are willing to make.

It saddens me that so many more service personnel and civilians have been sacrificed in our current misadventure, and I hope someday soon this day of memorial reflects only upon the losses of the distant past and those of not last week.

Man, whatta weekend

2008-05-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is turning out nicely.

On Friday Otis had a morning appointment, so I went out to do some work and take care of some errands. I made us a quick lunch before Otis took off for Family Chemo Day with her Pater and Mater. That gave me some more time for TCB until Soapy showed up at about 4 pm for what would turn into eleven hours of RPG stuff, between Soapy and I doing some preliminary work on the upcoming game, the regular meeting up at Johnbai's with Neds and Otis, and then the after-hours bull session with Johnbai, Soapy, and me until 3:00 am!

Nonetheless, I was up at about 7:45 today, even before the cats, ready for this beautiful day. When Otis got up a little later, we went out to breakfast on the way to cat-sitting duties. We enjoyed the sunshine in our little yard cafe and then visited Dingo and Johnbai at O's; Johnbai and I got my scooter roadworthy as well.

In the evening, we headed up to Lynnwood to visit Gweekers and Mikey at Sarry and Warry's place, and to enjoy the first barbecue of the season! It was a festive evening full of kids and dog and food and fun.

Since returning home, I have rescued a bird from its demise at the hands of our warrior, Selkie, and we have dealt with a visit from the raccoon bandit. I'm wondering if there will be any further wildlife adventures before the evening ends!

Still time for me to listen to some Swing Years tunes and to work on some projects, before grabbing the gusto again tomorrow. I think I'll try to scooter between the thundershowers!

Twixt fantasy and reality

2008-05-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

My head is swimming with ideas for the upcoming Clockpunk and Cavemen game, I'm making arrangements for character creation sessions, Johnbai is scheduling extra session of D&D, I've gotten some geek-ware in the mail, and so on, and so on. But I thought that I wouldn't talk about that stuff tonight, but rather about something real.

Some weeks ago, I was returning from my evening class that ended in Belltown at about 9:30, and stopped by the Safeway to pick up a few items on the way home.

Checking out, I noticed that it was rather busy for a late night in the supermarket; several checkout stands were staffed, and all of them had lines. I, of course, joined the one that had some sort of problem ahead - something about a refund, or a card that wouldn't read, just one of those things that makes an otherwise simple transaction take four or five times longer than it usually does.

As we other customers waited in line, the fellow behind me began to get agitated. He was a few years older than me, a bit scruffy in his motorcycle jacket, and had apparently had a few drinks prior to coming in to purchase the single twenty-ouncer of malt liquor that comprised his shopping. The delay was frustrating him; he was muttering and complaining - "Come on!" and "What's going on here?" and "These people can't even run a store!" - and shuffling his feet, looking vainly for another faster or shorter line to jump to. I was pretty cool with waiting, and I started to to think about formulating a response to this guy, who was making himself very present and looking as if he might go off at any moment.

I could remember a time when I would have been right there with him: "Yeah, man, what is up with this place? Can't they even check us out?!" I think it has been a while since that was my default response, though.

I could remember a time in the past when I would have confronted him: "Hey, pal, give it a rest, willya? We're all just trying to get home and we don't need you flapping your gums." I would be looking to exert moral authority over someone who was breaching the peace; what right did he have to mess with a perfectly peaceful night? I realized that down that road lay, as it usually does, no productive outcome.

I thought about these things, and decided that the best bet was to let neither the delay itself nor my linemate's poor attitude ruin my evening. I ignored him and stood there wrapped in my own ataraxia, letting (or trying to let) any sense of frustration or impatience with the entire situation wash over, through, or past me. I think, for the most part, it worked.

I was reflecting on this experience the next day, when it struck me that there was actually an even better way to respond to this situation: I should have offered this fellow my place in line. I mean, it was obvious that for whatever reason, getting that beer and getting out of that store quickly was important to him, while another few moments wait would not have mattered to me. What would I have lost by letting him go ahead? Nothing. What would he have gained? An incremental advance toward his goal and maybe a sense of some little victory. And what would I have gained? A more peaceful wait on line.

It seemed like a good outcome all around, as long as I let go of any sense of investment in the process of checking out and the "rules of the line," which are ultimately arbitrary anyway. It was only in that imaginary realm that I would have "lost" anything. And the more I thought about it, the more I felt that an agitated, solitary guy who really, really needed a beer at 10:00 pm on Tuesday was probably in a lot worse shape than I was, in more ways than one; why not give him this small boon?

I was discussing the matter with Johnbai the next day, and we considered the possibility that the offer would have been interpreted as sarcastic or insulting, leading to precisely the kind of pointless conflict and agitation that I had been seeking to avoid. How could this be avoided? We decided that the only chance would be if the offer were made genuinely, authentically, and without any guile. Only then would the honest person-to-person contact actually be made.

So, the big question then remains: how do I become a person for whom this sort of response is genuine, authentic, and automatic, and not an intellectual consideration of the next day?

I don't know if the answer lies with Epicurus or Bodhidharma, but I think I'll keep looking.

Chop wood, carry water.

In the meanwhile, there's some hit point calculations I need to make for some NPCs, and I need to check for some cheap d6 online. Catch you later!

Just work, so...

2008-05-21T22:30:00.001-07:00

Was up at the crack grading, and spent the day in conferences or class, so here's a little movie instead of actual content:

Rain with gradual clearing

2008-05-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Man, this morning was a bit of a surprise after the weekend, wasn't it? Still and all, it turned into a nice day later, and I got to take a walk through the U District this afternoon in the sun, so there's not too much to complain about. (I took a severe hit to my geek cred, though - I was wandering around looking for the Wizards of the Coast game store, which even Otis knew had moved out long ago...)

I've tried to update the blogroll and linkage a little bit. These are all on the sidebar, but let me point out some changes, additions, and deletions:

The Full Belly Project is now Little Spark. New name, same great mission from Johnbai and O. Check it out for the latest.

Reality Mom Zine has been added to the linkage: this is the zine run by Otis's pal RealityMom (and thank you, Capt. Obvious). If you have little one, or are thinking of having little ones or just like to read about moms and dads and kids, this is a spot for you.

Also new on the link list is Juliet Anderson, Architect, for all your, um, architectural needs, I imagine.

There are some missing links - I think Soapy has a couple of photography sites that aren't here (I finally got around to deleting striped fries) and I might have missed some others. Just lemme know, okay?

I added a few blogs from members of the gang and absent friends, and deleted some cobwebsites, too (where have all the tramps and spivs gone, Scotty?)

I attended a great training session yesterday, perhaps the best in-service I have done in a long time, if not ever. Michelle LeBaron from UBC came down to lead some activities on conflict management - which is how she terms the actuality that we face whenever we try conflict resolution, since many conflicts are not resolved, but merely dealt with.

In the limited time that we had, we explored her concept of the layers of conflict. Many conflicts start out at a material level - a competition for scarce resources, for example. We tend to respond to these with creative thinking and problem-solving skills, which work - as long as everyone is on the same page.

As these approaches frequently don't work, we have realized that often the problem is actually transactional - that is, although the conflict may be resolvable, our communication around finding the solution has become the actual or immediate problem. This is when we apply those skills like active listening, using I-statements, and so on: to try to get past the confounding communication difficulties so the underlying conflict can be addressed.

But what LeBaron has identified is a tertiary layer of conflict, the symbolic. This is the case of a disconnect in the basic perception of reality between two parties creating or exacerbating conflict. When the very metaphors we use to make meaning of the world are at cross-purposes, or when our concepts of our own identity become entwined in a struggle with another, or when the grand narrative to which we adhere tells a different story that someone else's - those conflicts cannot be resolved with creative problem-solving or communication skills. It takes some kind of shift in perspective - some kind of a-ha moment that lets you really see things from someone else's point of view - in order to even recognize what the conflict truly is, much less take any steps to manage it.

What I may see as a simple struggle for control over resources, no big deal, nothing personal, may in fact be very important to someone else in a way that I can't imagine. When I want to re-load the dishwasher to pack it more efficiently, my narrative may be merely "I am better at spatial relationships so I should do this." I cannot even understand why it might create a conflict, because I can't see that someone else's narrative may be "I need to prove myself as capable of simple domestic chores." Only if I really understand that perspective can we begin to manage that conflict.

I think I got so much out of this training session because it fed into concerns and questions I have been trying to address in my personal life, specifically, seeing the world in a different way and trying to make situations I encounter better rather than just winning or proving myself right. Oddly enough, my character change in our current D&D game reflects this preoccupation of late; I'm trying out in the game approaches that I think might actually be valuable in the real world.

So, here's to all of us having both the wisdom and the fortitude to manage our conflicts wisely and well.

Yummy!

2008-05-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well, after heatwave Saturday we had a Sunday that was almost as hot and every bit as pleasant. After my Tullification in the morning, Otis and I went down to Magnuson Park to eat our lunch in the park. What lunch is that you, ask? Well, our yummy lunch - from...

It was actually pretty decent.

We also took my bike into REI; I'll get it back early in June (sheesh). I bought a summer belt for my kilt with my member dividend, so the trip did have some instant gratification.

Today was work-breakfast-bus-work-class-training-conferences-home. Although I tried to pretend it was still summery - Tevas and all - it wasn't.

One of us is working

2008-05-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

NatDog and I are down at the Wallingford Tully's. One of us is grading papers - who might that be? Otis prolly had the best idea of all - she's running though Ravenna Park!

The photo to the left is just to show that I occasionally do physical labor and to announce that yesterday's Garden(ing) Party was a huge success! Otis has sent out a thank-you to all y'all (and you know who you are) who donated all that you did to help out. The day was hot but the crowd was cool!

Now, it's time to TCB a little and then get out into this day! I'd love to take a bike ride, but it's more likely that if the bike is in the picture today I'll be taking it in for repairs.

oops!

2008-05-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

When I was writing this morning's post, the sun must have been in my eyes, because I got distracted and forgot to report the big news!

Just before the D&D session, Neds was opening her mail and discovered that she has received her diplomas from Open University. We can now announce that Neds is now officially a BABA! If I can get this right, she has earned one B.A. in Classical Studies and another B.A. in Something Equally Obscure. I think she got distinctions or something, which is like cum laude, too! (I invite her to use the comments to correct any minor inaccuracies in that summary of her academic excellence.)

Here are some extra special graduation wishes!

Go Neds, go Neds!

Johnbai is right!

2008-05-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Regardless of what the calendar says and for however long it lasts, it's summertime! The weather is absolutely fabulous for the Garden(ing) Party today.

NatDog and I had to go to campus for some meetings yesterday, but we kept the day as short as possible and drove both ways with the sun roof open. She dropped me at LFP on the way home so Otis and I could do some gardening prep; then we played around in the afternoon on this and that. When we met up with Soapy and Neds and Johnbai's place, the D&D session was held with wide-open windows, and almost felt like we were in a gazebo. We once again went to bed too late, but it was quite a great day.

Wheyona has posted what I consider to be the quintessential self-marketing video. This little YouTube clip is focused on a writer, but with all the independent operators I know trying to establish themselves in diverse fields of art and commerce, I think its truths are approriate for a lot of us.

So, is this a clever idea, or just another sign of consumerism triumphant? (I can get sixty of these with my stimulus check!)

See some you later!

Ministry of funny walks

2008-05-16T07:04:00.001-07:00

Did you ever walk with someone and try to get in step with them, so you do this little step-step-hop-step thing, but their legs are longer than yours or something and gradually you get out of step again, and you have to do it again?

Sometimes I feel that way about daily blogging. I blog every evening for a bunch of days in a row, and then I miss one, so the next day I blog in the morning, so now I'm on a morning schedule for a while, until I miss one of those and I'm back to evenings. Step-step-hop-step, you always wind up missing one.

Thursday was a class-work-meeting day, with a NatDog Trifecta. We carpooled and had lunch on campus, and then she stopped by after work for some kitty-love and to hang out with Otis and RealityMom in the beautiful afternoon sunshine. Yay, sunshine!

In the evening, Otis and I watched Mirrormask, the Neil Gaiman-Dave McKean fantasy. It was visually beautiful and had an engaging lead, but I found it ultimately shallow and unsatisfying.

It seems that most everyone else I know has received their stimulus checks - because they had direct deposit. Otis and I must not have checked that box - although I have no idea why we wouldn't - so I think we have another two weeks before our participation in the redistribution of resources and the re-energization of our unsustainable consumer economy. I can wait.

Now, it's time for morning exercises and getting out into this gorgeous day!

This isn't exactly blogging about cats, but it's close:

Mostly work this time

2008-05-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yep, just a day of that kind of stuff. I'm with Otis at 3PB/LFP for some tea and wireless after classes and prepping and the usual (although because of some morning snafus I did miss a meeting I was supposed to attend - shucky darns!).

I'm looking at figurines for the upcoming GURPS campaign. I haven't found anything quite right; I was thinking perhaps of ordering these:

If you ignore the official designations, there's a pretty good variety here, and it gives you the flavor of what we're going for.

Let's focus on the good stuff

2008-05-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

On a rainy, gray workday like today, we need to pay attention to any rays of sunshine that we can find. Here's a few of mine:

It appears that neither Otis or I was hurt in the fender-bender yesterday. Bike wheels are easy.

I didn't mention yesterday that Otis's mother had her memoir accepted by a publisher! She should get a contract soon and the book will be out within a year.

The weather is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous for the Garden(ing) Work Party up in LFP this Saturday in support of Otis's father. If you haven't received an email with the details, let me now and we'll clue you in!

I had a great time with Dingo and Johnbai tonight while Otis was at an art workshop. We did some alpha testing of a new GURPS module that I have developed, and even though there were a few curves, it ran pretty darn smoothly. I'm looking forward to real, live play action.

Now that's not a bad list!

Mostly bike news

2008-05-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Silence Heart Nest is very busy on Mother's day, even early in the morning. In case you were wondering. And the Fremont Sunday market is still there.

So, this morning I continued on my Bike-to-Work Month biking. I tooled up the B-G mid-morning, and just about at Log Boom Park I came upon a colleague from Cascadia, who has been participating in Bike-to-Work Forever. It was a nice change to spend the last five miles cruising with him and chatting. He showed me the shortcut he takes - fewer miles, fewer hills, but some traffic - so my numbers were 14.6 miles in 1:03 for 13.9 mph.

Otis was in LFP for dinner, so she picked my up and we threw the bike on the rack. Well, wouldn't you know it, as we were driving south on Bothell Way at NE 170th, someone ran into the rear of Renty Red (she thought that traffic was moving through the intersection more quickly than it actually was). We're fine, but the rear bumper is toast, and my poor bike was in the way:

Looks like I need a new front wheel, at least, but I'll have to take it into the shop to have it checked out anyway. No biking for me for a while!

More coolness

2008-05-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday tuned out to be a fairly decent day, weather-wise, which was groovy, because the main event of the day was the Garden(ing) Party at O's new place. It seemed like the whole gang was there or passed through for part of the day, and in support of Erico's manic dedication to the Platonic ideal of a garden and Johnbai's chain-gang work ethic, the scruffy backyard was transformed into a brick raised-bed vegetable garden, and a good start was made on the ornamental. Otis and I moved in and out of the activities - she had Work and I had work to do - along with Sylvio, Andres2, and Moll; Dingo and Court2 were there for the long haul.

(Oh, yeah - I skipped the convention. See Yojimbo's comment on the prior post.)

At the end of the day, O provided a typically sumptuous and thoughtful meal, the perfect close to the daylight portion of the day. I think Sylvio has pictures of the event and the handiwork; we'll link when we can.

Back at home, Otis and I worked on creative projects long into the night.

I can't belive the internets have been so dull that I haven't linked to anything in a long time. Here's a picture of the what the new building on the Cascadia campus is supposed to look like. I think my current office is about even with those people on the walkway, so I should have a great view of the activities. Groundbreaking is scheduled for about a week or two from now, and they expect the building to be in January 2010.

Freaky Friday

2008-05-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

Man, yesterday was tight!*

Otis had a morning appointment, so I went out fairly early and settled in a World Cup for a while. I did some work, but also wrote for while on the backstory for the upcoming GURPS campaign. It was cool to write for myself for a change - it has been too long since I have done that.

I trotted home in time to join Otis and NatDog for lunch. We hit the buffet at India Bistro and then did a little shopping in the neighborhood.

A little later in the afternoon, I bussed it up to Cap Hill to hang out at the Caffe Vitta while Otis was at a writing group. I did some more research and writing and started to feel the project really coming together. I had extended some invitations for company, but no one wound up joining me, so I got a lot done.

Then it was time for D&D - Soapy, Neds, Otis and I all converged on Johnbai's apartment in the evening, together as a party for the first time in three weeks. We had a rousing adventure as Johnbai guided us through troglodyte caves and into pitched battle in a boxed canyon. I got to put my new character through his paces (rolling one critical success with spectacular results) and we all got to work together again. It was great, especially the part when Neds fell asleep.

We got home late and didn't get to bed until after 1:00 am. The best bit was that the cats let us sleep in today! When I got up a few minutes ago, they were both asleep on the foot of the bed. Either there were no pre-dawn attacks, or we were both too tired to respond to them.

Now I just have to decide whether I am actually going to the Emerald City ComiCon today, or if twenty bucks is too high a tariff for hanging around with a bunch of fanlings. (What I need to do is check the actual programming and see what's happening.)

Here's to a swell weekend, one way or the other!

*Definition #7.

More in a row!

2008-05-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

Carpooled with NatDog to work : bussed back the U-district : hit Zanadu and got a comic I had been waiting for : met Otis for dinner at Chaco Canyon : watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle on the big wall (it was crude, but clever in places).

Here's a picture of Otis and Selkie for no reason other than it's cute:

Quadrophenia

2008-05-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

It's laptops galore here in the RD! While O is waiting for connectivity, she and Johnbai are here getting wirelessed, having brought tiramisu and wine along just for fun. Selkie doesn't know what's up.

Last night I wound up having just a short meeting at Antioch and then hanging out at Wayward Coffee up on Phinney while Otis was at her book club. It is pretty cool, with a Firefly theme going on.

Today I biked again, and improved my going-in time to 1:04 for 15.2, for an average of 14.25 mph. Not as much fun today as Monday, but clouds and gray will do that, won't they?

Is it Toozeday or Tyuseday?

2008-05-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

We have achieved bikation! I rolled up the B-G to Bothell yesterday, doing 15.15 miles in 1:06, for a respectable first-ride-of-the-season speed of 13.8 mph. It was an absolutely beautiful day for it, and I felt much stronger than I usually do on the first ride - maybe those RCAF exercises every morning are having an effect after all.

Coming home was another matter - my last class gets out at 8:00 pm, so I tried riding the bus to around Northgate and biking down LCW/Roosevelt from there. Not so happy, that, so maybe I'll try a different strategy tomorrow. As the days get longer it will become easier.

Otis and I had a nice surprise last night - O stopped by to use our wifi to research which ISP she wants. It's so cool having a close neighbor-good pal combo!

Today was an early-in, early-out day at campus. (This time, I gave NatDog a ride, so I guess it does count as a carpool now. ) That gave me time to have my business meeting this afternoon; it remains to be seen where that is headed.

Johnbai said he liked the tea-rap, so here's another one, very NSFW:

Ready, steady, go

2008-05-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Wow - what a weekend, just jam-packed with goodness. Yesterday, Otis and I took a nice long walk in the sunshine, through the neighborhood and the park, with a nice hill thrown in for good measure. I did some grading, and then we spent the afternoon wandering around as well - and I can tell you, Golden Gardens was as full as the Fourth of July. Give 'em a nice sunny day and Seattlites come a-runnin' outside, shucking off clothes and pretending it's California. (It was especially fun to watch the kids romping in the water, which must have been, what, all of fifty degrees?) We stopped for dinner and some laptopping in Fremont, and then joined the gang downtown for a thoroughly enjoyable screening of Iron Man at Cinerama.

This will be a fairly full week: in addition to my regular classes and a session with my independent study students, I have some meetings on campus as well as a meeting for some moonlight work. A former student recommended me for some grant writing work, so I'll be talking with those folks tomorrow.

Oh, and in the by-the-way department: You will recall that I put on my suit for the second time a couple weeks ago, but I got word during my conference last week that there will be no move to West Seattle in the offing. No worries; I didn't think it was in the cards anyway.

But the the biggest deal today is that I need to get the bike out of the shed and drag my sorry butt up to Bothell. My personal biking season has traditionally started on April 1, but thanks mostly to the weather, we have had a delayed opening this year. In an attempt to avoid the total fiasco that was last year (after two good seasons in a row), I have signed up for Bike-to-Work Month this May. Because of the conference, today is the first day I can participate, and the weather is cooperating, my first class isn't until 1:15 pm, and there's no excuse. Wish me luck!

(Clockpunk bicycle-parts orrery courtesy Cabinet of Wonders.)

Obama wins Guam!

2008-05-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

I heard this headline on NPR and actually thought for a minute it was some kind of joking commentary on the supersaturation of election coverage into the popular culture, but alas...

My rainy-Saturday predication held true for yesterday: it turned out to be a mostly low-key, low-energy afternoon around the RD, filled with such excitement as balancing my checkbook.

We did head out in the evening to grab a bite of pizza and attend Arts West Presents Seattle Playwrights Studio Sixth Annual Showcase in West Seattle. The evening comprised performances of four one-act plays and one excerpt from a full-length musical. All of the pieces were works-in-progress which were still being workshopped; nonetheless, the entertainment value was still pretty high. We went primarily to see Penny Loves Butchie Hartog, a compelling monologue from the perspective of a girl in juvenile detention, which was written by one of Otis's writing group parters. The other playlets were clever and intriguing as well; only the musical, an extended dramatization of the Vicki Lawrence hit The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia, needed a lot more work before it was in any way ready for an audience. (I used the time to write one of the scenes for our next RPG campaign.)

When we came home, I put on the old-time radio and stayed up until past midnight cleaning up my office and clearing stuff out to take to Goodwill. Do I know how to have a good time, or what?

Blogging from Mongolia

2008-05-03T10:13:00.001-07:00

Otis is off to a massage appointment, so she dropped me off here near Fisherman's Terminal to hang out until she is finished. It's a nice little coffee shop, but somehow Caffe Appassionato just seems a little too enthusiastic a name for a mellow, rainy Saturday morning.

So, I had a nice brekkie bagel and I have a cup of hot tea to hand, and I'm ready to TCB - Take care of Blogness.

Speaking of tea, here's a goofy little video (with a vaguely steampunk vibe) swimming against the coffee culture current:

Yesterday was all up and downs - hit some last sessions at the conference (bleh), took off early (yay!) for a long drive home (bleh), Dingo called to say Iron Man was sold out (bleh), we got home early (yay!) and were graced with a Friday visit from Yojimbo (yay!) and Johnbai stopping by (yay!) to see O in the middle of moving in down the street (double-yay!).

Today will, I think, be the traditional rainy Saturday.

Waitin' for the coffee

2008-05-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

I'm downstairs looking at the not-yet-set-up breakfast bar for the last day of the conference. I want some grub!

Yesterday was predictably long: plenary session, session, lunch, session, session - none of them terribly memorable - and then skip out to meet with Gweekers and The Marmot Queen! We hung around the hotel for a bit, and then decamped to an Italian restaurant for dinner with the spouses (and a whole herd of tweens coming to see High School Musical at the opera house). Fun stuff.

After dinner, I hit a local game and comic store for a browse and then had a relaxing evening reading until folks started filtering back from being out, when I reconnected with some of my peeps.

Here's hoping today will be a more profitable exercise - and that were out of here on time!

Good morning!

2008-05-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

I left out the best parts of last night - I got to spend a few hours in the company of Gweekers, catching up some more and deconstructing the tenure track. Good times! And I was video chatting Otis while I was posting in the lobby - cool, high-tech silliness. I wasn't nearly as cranky as that post sounded, and I'll be in an even better mood in a few minutes, when I'm outside of a good breakfast.

Otis sent me a psychedelic picture of her furniture re-arranging project, too:

Lobbyist

2008-04-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Coming to you from the lobby of the Spokane DoubleTree. We got here about 5:30. Stella just came by, but head out to the airport. NatDog is nearby. Everyone keeps asking to borrow my laptop. I left my glasses on my desk. Not an auspicious start, eh?

Spokane eve

2008-04-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Nice, powerfully short day today. I went in early with NatDog - traffic was so bad we cut from Lake City Way over to I-5 and went all the way up and then down the 450. I got all my morning work done, taught one class - observed by a bunch of Husky grad students - and then blew back home for a late lunch. Otis and I frittered away the afternoon, and then I scooted out here to World Cup while she took an evening appointment.

And lucky me - in the middle of this post, I got Skyped by Jon of Monmouth, and had a chance to chat a while!

Tomorrow I head up to campus and then van it to The Spoke with some colleagues. I'm sure I'll figure out something to do online from there.

Here's the graphic for today: a decision tree we all might do well to follow.