The wide world of Walaka

My Blogger connection is still slow and I still can't figure out why..

What a Fourth! Breakfast in Fremont, a picnic in the park, a heartland vegetarian dinner, a movie, and the company of cats: who could ask for more on a sunshiney Independence Day? It was good to see the Putnams before they headed off to Hawaii, and the gang at Volunteer park was huuuuge - and seemed to keep growing as the afternoon passed. We split fairly early to come home for a quiet evening. The cats weathered the fireworks without any major trauma.

We watched Deja Vu with Denzel Washington after dinner. Otis thought it was a straight crime drama until the time-travel elements started creeping in. Overall, I thought it was pretty well done. We may have to do a series on these time-a-kilter films - The Lake House was interesting, too, and there's that other Sandra Bullock thing, Premonition, coming out soon - and some Nick Cage movie, too, no?

In the meantime: links!

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Clark Kent


Superman

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Since people liked the butterfly palettes so much:



... here are some masterpieces.

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This is a great little movie that a pal sent me. The sound is important, so have the volume set right.

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Mingle2

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Weekend Collage

First of all, is anyone else having Blogger issues? I’m getting a delay between my typing and the letters showing up on the screen, and it’s so annoying that I am composing in Word instead and pasting over when I’m done. Is this happening to anyone else?

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I had bought these totally geeky-cool sunglasses at the start of biking season – ones that fit over my regular glasses, so I don't have to swap glasses when getting on the bike or the scooter. They really streamline getting on and off the bike. I wore them home from the Crest on Wednesday evening, and when I went to put them on Thursday, one lens was missing. I have no idea where it went, and can't find it in the house. I think polterguys took it, and it’s a bummer, man.

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After a quick but delicious chana masala dinner at home, Otis and I transported carless Johnbai up to the Oak Tree so we could meet Stella and all experience the banality that was Fantastic Four 2. Dingo was right (and let us know about it when she met us for afters): the movie was awful. But we had expected it, so the shock was not as great. Jessica Alba had transformed into some hideous Barbie-monster, but the rest of the flick was stunning in its mediocrity: acting, effects, everything. As a matter of fact, even writing about it is boring.

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Here's a deliberately messy flash game. It's poetry. It's art. Try it.

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Kudos to A-Wo and Kay-Kay: they were not as optimistic as I was about sidewalk space on the Solstice Parade route and showed up early; it was only through their offices that we got a good spot staked out. Stella and Sairey carpooled with us, and the group grew to include Sachet & her buddy, Dingo and New York Alex, Sylvio and his bro, and Kris-10 and Rye-N, so we needed the space, too. The parade seemed a little low-energy compared to last year: it was fine, but there was less music and political street drama than last year’s parade. There was no dearth of naked bikers and bared boobies, but some élan or brio was missing, and the delays seemed especially long. Maybe we were just tired.

Some of us walked after the parade to Wallingford for lunch and happened to meet up with JagGirl and Dvd lunching at Ma’s with a pal. There's always time for some tasty Thai.

The parade was exhausting. How can sitting and watching other people walk make you tired? Afternoon naps were the order of the day.

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Last evening, we went over to Cal and Merry’s to join them and their pal Canuck for the premiere Big Time Screening ™. We saw Duma, a sweet movie about a boy and his cheetah cub. It was full of good will and struggle and triumph and all that (as well as a motorcycle with a sidecar!), and we had a great time watching from the big seats in the little theater, and having some great conversation afterwards as well.

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We rode the scooter home in the rain last night. Chilly!

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I think this is my favorite political cartoon evar:

Wrapping up the week (and putting a bow on it)

Shortly after the last transmission, J-Force dropped a hat and came out to the Tully's to meet Otis and I for an impromptu evening, and we closed the joint down, as they say. Nice flourish on which to end night, it was.

Friday was a floaty sort of day. I had that noon teaching business that keeps us from any big projects, but there were all sorts of little stuffs going, like weeding and things. I did stop by to lunch with Dingo at her work, which is about three blocks from NSCC. Otis has also been attending to her art - framing and prepping her pieces for the Art Walk next week - so we are doing a little of the ol' embracing chaos around the house for a while.

The evening held a soup-tasting event at Johnbai and O's; also in attendance were Sachet, Dingo, Eryk, and Sylvio. If the butter bean and zucchini pesto soups are any measure, those Full Belly diners this summer are going to be leaving Cap Hill mighty satisfied. (Note to O - why not add some Full Belly Lunches - a bit of your soup could raise a lot of money!)

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Since I haven't publicly celebrated the fact - Hooray! Wheylona is coming back for visit!

Hey, didja hear the even bigger news, or am I the only one who knows? Here's a hint: Neds and marriage!

And I know I just had a link farm, but this one was too good to pass by, even if it came in late. here's you go, Johnbai.


(click through the image for more)

Catch-up and link-farming

This is Walaka Hopsack, coming to you live from the Wallingford Tully's with this round-up of tit-bits and whatnot.

Teaching is winding down, blah-blah-blah. Oddly enough, I have no end-of-quarter crush this year; I have spaced out the assignments better and the final responding / grading / posting process is actually pretty light. I had the pleasure of lunching with O on Tuesday and having a little mutual work session at 3PB-R - it was an excellent diversion, and I got some papers done. Wednesday was the last day of the quarter at Cascadia and Antioch - it's all over but the shouting.

Other work-related stuff: the bad news is that even though my full-time contract doesn't start until September 14, I am required to attend some training and orientation sessions beginning September 6, so my "vacation" after summer quarter will be negligible. The good news is that since it is all pre-contract, I will get paid the community service rate ($34/hr) for all the sessions.

We did squeeze in a viewing of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers on Tuesday night. It was an interestingly-made biopic, but Sellers actually became a less sympathetic character as he moved through life - or at least through this movie - and there never seemed to be a point of redemption or enlightenment to cap off the narrative. John Lithgow turns in a bravura performance as Blake Edwards, and Emily Watson, who I had never heard of two weeks ago, and who I have now seen in three consecutive movies, was as enigmatically appealing as ever as the first Mrs. Sellers.

Otis is still feeling her cold - it has hit her harder than it did me. She was feeling so poorly that she ac canceled some appointments because of it; she did not, however, cancel Wednesday night out at the Tractor Tavern with Dingo, Johnbai, O and Soapy to celebrate Soapy's Birthday and to watch / listen to The Handsome Family (highly recommended by Dingo and Johnbai) and Rosyvelt (fronted by a pal of Johnbai and Soapy) and The Maldives (um, completely unknown to us). It was a swell, multivalent evening: we celebrated Soapy, we hung with pals, we heard good music, and we helped raise money for a good cause though Noise for the Needy. I have to admit that we didn't make it to the end of the show; Otis and I left shortly before midnight, but not because we weren't having a good time.
Today's highlight was huge grocery shopping, which we haven't done in weeks and weeks, after which we had leftovers for dinner, feeling all kinds of frugal. Otis even put together a menu for the week, not that we'll be any competition for the Full Belly project:

Le Menu d'Otis

L’Italian Vegetariana
You’ll never return to cow flesh again with Walaka’s savory tomato“veatball” ragu! Served on a tangled bed of whole-wheat linguini noodles. Enjoy a crisp garden salad with fresh tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers, and a rustic vegetarian antipasto.

Down-to-Earth Split Pea Soup
Yellow split peas, russet potatoes, and carrots form the hearty base for this robust and creamy vegan soup. This soup is accompanied by an anchovy-free Caesar salad with home-style garlic-pepper croûtons.

“I’m So Sari” Supreme
Make up with your sweetheart with this semi-spicy northern-style chana masala made with the finest chickpeas, potatoes, and Indian spices. Served with herbed basmati rice and a side of sautéed peppery green beans and slivered almonds.

Middle Eastern Picnic
Take your falafel on the road with this summertime meal! Fill your whole-wheat pita pockets with savory falafel patties, sweet Vidalia onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes for a healthy sandwich in a flash. A side of cool quinoa salad with fresh cucumber and tomato provides a tasty flourish to your picnic.

Auntie Otie’s Peanutty Asian Bowlies
Pearly brown rice, steamed to perfection, serves as the base for these Asian peanutty bowls. Stir-fried tofu, carrots, pea pods, ginger, and secret spices are drizzled with Auntie Otie’s award-winning peanut sauce. Served with supple vegetarian pot stickers and soy-sesame dipping sauce.

Finger-Lickin’ Dogs
Vegetarian hot-dog-stand-style frankfurters are served with organic, humanely-treated tomato catsup and caramelized onion topping. Served with Boston-style vegetarian baked beans and Rising Sun Farms yellow corn on the cob. Kosher dill pickles garnish this finger lickin' meal.

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Now, some links:

I think this little French stop-action animation is just captivating.

Maybe if I followed these butterfly color schemes for my blog, I wouldn't get complaints. Dingo should use one when she re-activates Myrna. (I'm partial to the Mr. Green.)

Okay, I have only seen six of these movies - how about you?

For his birthday, I would like to get Soapy a turn on this, because someone has clearly seen into his soul.

For Yojimbo: It was 32 years ago today.

Where's Mungo Jerry?

Cuz it sure feels like summertime - according to the internets, it's 78 right now! Lots to catch up on - the activity seems to have increased with the temperature.

Yesterday: The fifty-minute workday is really weird.

Cat-astrophe: After work, I took Selkie into the vet (up in east Shoreline) for a checkup and shots. He weathered the trip and the visit well, but when we got home he started having an adverse reaction to the vaccines (of the unpleasant bodily fluid kind) so we had to run him back for a cortisone shot, which somehow ameliorates the nasty side-effects (and they cleaned him up good, too). So, a brief errand turned into an hours-long escapade, but all was well in the end and he seems fine now.

A great new place to eat, part one: Last night, Otis and I went out to dinner with Kris-10 and Rye-N to celebrate the completion of K's application for a big NIH grant. They took us to a cool place on Market in Ballard, La Isla, a Puerto Rican restaurant. Great stuff - we all had empanadillas with beans and rice and shared a platano medley for the appetizer. If you are looking for some new tastes, check it out. Here's their site. (The social part of the night was great fun, too!)

Only one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five and a half miles to go: I rode my bike to school today.

News from the People's Republic of Wisconsin: While at my "office" waiting for my fifty-minute workday to begin, I got a phone call from old pal JJ, who had the day off from library service for some sort of Xtian holiday. She sends her best wishes to one and all, and reports that she is settling in nicely.

It's scooterrific: Yesterday, I de-tarped Ruby and she started right up, so this afternoon, Otis and I motored out to Golden Gardens. Looking at the place, you would have thought it was the Fourth of July: there were scads of people there, many in bathing attire, some playing volleyball, a few brave souls trying to go in the water, others firing up barbecues. We stretched out on the sand and I had a nice midday nap.

A great new place to eat, part two: On the way to Golden Gardens, we stopped to eat lunch at Snoose Junction, a cool new pizza place, also on Market in Ballard. I had super NY style pizza, Otis had a great panini, and the house salads were generous and fresh. The place is really comfortable and the furnishings are totally funky: the benches are made from old bleachers from Ballard HS, the tabletops used to be alleys in Leilani Lanes, and the doors are salvaged from an old courthouse. It's way cool, and another place to check out. Here's their site.

Fortune-telling: Johnbai just called and it seems that he has recovered enough from his grief over the demise of Ze Frank's The Show to want to do something tonight. Otis is in with a client, so negotiations will commence a little later.








I've got a La Isla sticker on my scooter now, too - I think they look pretty cool.

Still on vacation?

Wow, it's still a bit slow around here. I've been sleeping in until about eight each morning - I can't seem to convince myself that spring break is over and the quarter has actually started. I have finally finished the last of my beach books, and maybe since we're out of weekdays and into the weekend I'll be able to shift my attitude. I have a little bit of homework to do, but there are no papers to grade yet, so it's all under control anyway.

We wound up not going to the theatre last night. Otis has come down with sort of head cold type thing and was deep into a healing nap right up to curtain time, and I let her sleep. We had some soup for dinner and watched Bend It Like Beckham before heading to bed. (It was not as profound a movie as I had been led to believe, but it was a lot of fun.)

For Neds and Wheylona: Here are some driving directions home; check out step 40.

Mostly for Otis: This video is almost too cute:

It's Billy de Wolfe time again

I am working my way through my list in anticipation of the end of the quarter and the upcoming trip to the Sandwich Isles Kingdom of Hawaii. Between school and house stuff, it looks like posting got squeezed out!

Sunday was sweet: shortly after my remote post, a wet and sweaty Stella showed up and we shared a coffee and some catch-up. Then we swung back to the RD to hook up with Otis and swing down to Thai-Ger to meet Dingo for lunch. There was a bit of a dicey moment when it seemed I might not get my corn fritters, but the incident passed without crisis and lunch was letter-perfect.

The great lunch was just a prelude to a great movie: Jean Renoir's 1939 The Rules of the Game, which managed to be both entertaining and funny as well as intellectually rich. The trailers quoted Robert Altman as saying this film was one of his influences; seeing it, you can discern Renoir's fingerprints all over Altman's Gosford Park.

We had a chance to ponder this (and many other things) at Cafe Trabant over tea and cider.

Monday was work all day, morning class and afternoon assessing, until Stella came for an appointment with Otis and stayed for dinner.

Tuesday was a long day again: morning class, then a meeting at Antioch, then afternoon class in Bothell, and then replacing the usual evening class with staying late in Bothell and prepping. I only made it home in time for a late dinner and later run to Target for some trip-related stuff. Good news: I got to have lunch with the Dollwoman, and it had been too long. Bad news: I managed to miss a conference call with Liam and my old HS gang.

Today holds morning classes and work-until-it's-done on my Antioch stuff - no split shift today! I hope to be done by dinner so I can have the evening for more house stuff.

I love getting ready for vacation!

Bonus link for all my linguistically-inclined buddies: A comprehensive look at the great U.S. pop-soda divide. (Check out the county-by-county map.)

Current Distractions

Follow-up to Monday: The raccoon did come back. This time, Otis shooed it away, and Selkie went after it. I intercepted him and avoided a Selko-Raccish war. Mountie watched it all with little interest.

Tuesday: Y'all know there ain't no Tuesdays on this blog.

Today: I went downtown between morning and evening classes, to run some errands (including dropping off applications for the last three of the eleven teaching positions I am shooting for). It had been a long time since I was downtown; it actually seemed less crowded than I thought it would be. I was not 100% successful in my missions, but I did make it home in time for a leisurely lunch.

Tonight: I got some work done, but mostly got distracted by household stuff. I did manage to fix the toilet paper dispenser in the master bathroom, using one of the mollies that Johnbai had bought to effect repairs after the Great Banister Disaster.

Anti-intellectualism? I found it odd that I received these two links separately but almost simultaneously: a review of a book by a Paris University professor on how to fake having read a book and an article about the decline of the American college education.

Snow day? Man, who knows anymore. The north end did look pretty bad today, at least according to the news; we'll see what Bothell does tomorrow.

Not a day of rest

Boy, I sing this song so much that even I get tired of the tune: I sure have a lot of responding to do today. I really am looking forward to working only 100%, rather than 140%. I guess my attitude was not helped by projecting out my teaching schedule from April through September; while it'll be nice to have the money coming in over spring and summer, seeing all those days will little red symbols on them was a bit daunting.

Innyway...

Yesterday was a pretty good recovery day. Dingo delayed dealing with her car issues, so we didn't have to mess with jumper cables and such; we'll do that today. Otis had one massage appointment, and I got some work done during the day as well, but mostly it was pretty low-key. We went out for some pizza for dinner, and watched a movie (that I reviewed over on my comics blog) when we came home. Life in the fast lane.

It seems a bit odd not to be getting the house ready for a big Oscar party tonight. Some of the edge was taken off the decision to skip the event this year by the fantastic turnout for Flapjack Friday; maybe the gang just has a migratory urge this time of year. My apologies to anyone who was counting on the affair; remember, there's always next year!

Bits and Bobs:

Given their recent posts on the same theme, here's a challenge for Yojimbo and JustJon: find one of these.

I think that Shutdown Day is a great idea, but it's easy for me to talk: we'll be in Hawaii then.

Half a long weekend is better than none?

Yesterday turned out be a swell day, cold or no cold. We started out in the morning with a turn around the lake for some fresh air. It was such a sunny and warm day that the path was just full of walkers, runners, dog-walkers, and even some dog-runners. We even ran into Invisible Adam, taking his constitutional and rockin' out to some tunes (or listening to a talking book).

Otis had plans to spend some time around lunch with her mother, so I fussed around a bit, cleaned up the office, had Chinese leftovers (Gung Hay Fat Choy!) and made my To-Do list for the weekend. Composing the list was about as far along on my work as I got; I managed to get things a bit squared away and ready, but then Otis and I went out for some errands (like the comic book store) and generally found more fun things to do than work. We watched Sullivan's Travels after dinner (you can't go wrong with Preston Sturges) and even though we texted out to see what others were doing, we got involved in a hot game of double-nine dominoes to end out the evening. Yee-ha!

So, today it will be brekkies and then work all day - I have stacks of responding to get though, and two more apps to mail on Tuesday. No classes on Monday, so I can repeat the process then.

Maybe we'll sneak out for a movie tonight.

Oh, and I changed my mind - I think what I really want is one of these.

Over optimistic

So, this is apparently one of those sneaky little colds, the kind that lets you feel good by mid-morning, so that after lunch you're all "Hey, I'm getting better" and you start to perk up but then you can hardly keep your eyes open during dinner and then you fall asleep early but can't get any rest because you're stuffed up again and keep waking up.

That kind.

Well, it's still better than a lot of other ways to feel, right?

So, if you want content, go read JustJon's post on Valentine's Day, or either of Johnbai's last two posts. I'm saving what I got for tonight.

Never much of a post on Tuesdays

This article helps illuminate why.

Winday, not Sunday

(Because it was windy, not sunny... get it? Hunh? Get it? Oh, never mind.)

I got up early today, before the sun, fed the cats and soaked in the mood of the rainy morning while trying not to get literally soaked. It was actually quite nice, in a spooky and miserable sort of way. I guess any weather is better than the non-committal, sort of Phantom Zone grey days we have so often in winter.

Otis and I took a walk around Green Lake after lunch. It wasn't raining then, but the wind was blowing to beat the band: there were actually waves in the lake and spray shooting up onto the walking path, as if we were on a beachfront promenade instead of circling a big man-made puddle. It was invigorating, to say the least.

Dingo called with some good news: her computer woes were on the milder side rather than of the fatal kind: burned out RAM (easily replaced) and likely no data loss. Now that she'll be connected again, maybe she'll be once again a presence in the blogosphere.

The rest of the day was filled with work and naps; next week is a full work week, after all: all five days, all schools in session, and all classes going full steam. I'm tired already. But if I ever think that it's really too much, I just have to read this piece from Carl Sagan to realize how little it really is.

Television is bad for your mental health

Apparently, Otis saw part of an Oprah today that was concerned with how much bacteria there is in the average kitchen sink and how many dust mites live in the average bed and so forth. So now she is on her knees in the hallway, vacuuming the stairway carpet, after having cleaned the bedroom, kitchen, and hall closet already.

More weirdness: Dingo offers up this new year's gift from China: fluorescent green pigs.

Pic: I found a 3-D Bummerman. Johnbai, he's all yours.



Today: More teaching. I guess this trend will continue for another ten weeks or so.

Grunt

Man, it's hard getting back into gear this quarter. I guess I needed a break that was either longer or shorter than it was. I need to figure out my transportation issues, too - this splitshift stuff is going to be (more of) a pain otherwise. Ah, well.

Hey, check this out:



According to the original YouTuber, it is a "four and a half minute compilation of every Ray Harryhausen animated creature in feature films, presented in chronological order." Here's a website that will let you confirm that for yourself!

I want a dymaxion, too

This super-streamlined version of Bucky Fuller three-wheeled car comes courtesy of the Arthur Radeaugh exhibit at the Palace of Culture virtual museum.

Here's a link to a short movie showing the actual prototype, and here's another, both from a PBS special.

The perfect transport if the weather is too rough for my personal blimp.

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Classes started up again today. Once again, I am teaching overloaded: five classes at three campus. Tuesday is mega-day this quarter: morning at NSCC, afternoon at CCC, and evening at AUS. On the good side, three of my five classes should have only about a dozen students, so my reading and assessing load should be lighter. And so it goes.

Bits and bobs to begin the year

New Year's Eve:
Otis and I passed a quiet evening at home, watching the original miniseries of the Battlestar Galactica reboot before participating in the traditional countdown. Ever since Yojimbo lent us season two, Otis has been hot on this show. Go figure.

Two observations from the night: Dick Clark is frakking amazing; you can't tell veggie pigs-in-a-blanket from the meat kind. Mmmmm.


Click the pic for home movie silliness.
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I SO want one of these:

The Personal Blimp

Check out this article or the company site.

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New Widget:
Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

Wonder Woman 80% Spider-Man 75% Supergirl 70% The Flash 60% Iron Man 60% Superman 60% Green Lantern 55% Robin 45% Catwoman 45% Hulk 40% Batman 25%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test


Nice to know I'm wonderful. Check yourself out.

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We have apparently run out of sports:

Competitive plastic-cup-stacking.

Apparently, it's big. I have no idea what to think. Here's the association and an equipment dealer.

Updates, abundance, and links

NEWS: We have a new address!
You will need to update your bookmarks, RSS feeds, etc.

The score so far:

Grading/assessing: 19 down out 33
New quarter prep: 1 down out of 13

Yeah, the goal posts got moved. But I'm still on track.

So, a door closes and a window opens and all that: it turns out that new registrations are running so high at Antioch that I will have two sections of Academic Writing in Winter. That helps to balance the budget a little bit, especially since it looks like I'm going to have a light spring. I'm back to 24 credits next quarter: five classes, four preps, three schools. Sheesh.

Linkin' logs:

Hey, Stella dialed in by remote with this great historical website. Check it out.

Here's a holiday classic, courtesy YouTube via Raincoaster.

This is sort-of comics, but it's also Jack Chick, so here it is, instead of going on that other blog.