Tag Archives: books

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9019 – wed

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Nice simple, rustic dinner tonight – Deviled eggs and salad (both egg salad and salad-salad). yum.

Speaking of simple and Rustic – Watched “The F word” with Gordon Ramsey… it’s out of rotation… just isn’t compelling at all. Kitchen Nightmares UK is the best of his lot so far, I think.

Happy Birthday, Pac-Man!

A bare trickle of rain tonight… cool weather tomorrow?

Washington DC’s Pedestrian Master Plan – good thing, given about 700 pedestrians a year are hit by cars in the District, which factors out to about two a day.

Book meme – Don’t hold these to me too tightly – “favorite” is a tough word regarding something as vast as literature.

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
Paperback – portability… I’d even prefer e-book format over that, if the reader is comfortable.

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…
Salmagundi or Argosy

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury –

It was this then, the mystery of man seizing from the land and the land seizing back, year after year, that drew Douglas, knowing the towns never really won, they merely existed in calm peril, fully accoutered with lawn mower, bug spray and hedge shears, swimming steadily as long as civilization said to swim, but each house ready to sink in green tides, buried forever, when the last man ceased and his trowels and mowers shattered to cereal flakes of rust.

4. The author (alive or diseased) I would love to have lunch with would be…
Ray Bradbury… about 35 years ago.

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…
Some sort of large compilation volume, if I were to go against the spirit of the question. Just one? Robinson Crusoe might be a too ironic choice. Actually, I think I’d prefer to take a blank book, and as many writing implements as I could.

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…
Had a decently sized screen and was comfortably portable.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…
back wen I worked a the library… hiding spots among the deep stacks in the 780s.

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be…
I’ll have to lead with Doug in Dandelion Wine, again.

9. The most overestimated book of all times is…
Joyce’s Ulysses would be high on that list, at least for me.

10. I hate it when a book…
holds its own just fine, and then the author (or worse, some other author) writes a really terrible sequel… or series of sequels. see: Ender’s Game or Pern Series for example.

1 year ago – BHK back, Danny plans, bro invisible, google bought youtube, elephant crackup (long article), sure ’nuff yes I do, YOP!

2 years ago – leeches, reclusive, aoe3, bear-cave, W&G thoughts, halloween movies, scotto needs/wants, red hot riding hood, faking depth of field in photoshop, tom cruise – corinthian, things about me list, yahoo podcast search, shy street penguin

3 years ago – long bets, ‘ween, dark victoria, Frederik Ruysch body part dioramas, google translator

4 years ago – Newt bips me, penis snatcher beaten up, hulk closes for a while, and a nice chat. palm drawing

5 years ago – scary dreams, palm drawings, I’m 2 degrees from Kevin Bacon, moon pies 100 years old, starry night, From Beyond

6 years ago – egg recipe, dorkgirl sends me treats, recherche / chichi, evil news, me no likey xp, birding talk with hala

7 years ago – doc trip, duck echoes, Rhino crackheads, sea chantey, memes, shel silverstein Geotarget

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9007 – sun

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Newt hears migrating birds outside, and raids the window. Pye was soon to follow. Newt’s pooch there isn’t a big tummy, just fur.
0929070834.jpg
Brisk weather outside – lovely stuff, helps my breathing quite a bit. I could actually see my breath the other night when we picked up last minute gift bags for Tina’s party last night…we’re hitting my seasonal weather of choice. I’m looking forward to wearing a jacket.

Dashed off to the Giant with BHK – we bought some cold cuts and cheese to make ourselves some picnic lunch outside… sat on the bench and made each other sammiches. Best meal I’ve had in a while – I’d rather eat stuff that fresh and enjoy the weather than go to a big restaurant. I really preferred it to tonight’s spaghetti dinner, in fact. Louise is renowned for for her spaghetti sauce, but I’m more of a fan of (Gordon Ramsey alert) Simple / Rustic style of cooking. In fact, BHK and I both have been found using that as commentary on food (and whatever else) these days. Like calling Marco Polo out… if one of us says Simple there is bound to be an echo of Rustic not too far behind. Hey, it’s better than picking up his swearing habit, I guess.

Louise’s sauce and pasta was supplemented by Tina’s new beau Matt’s meatballs, which I hear were pretty tasty, especially the beef. The turkey ones looked good, but maybe a bit dry. His sauce looked decent – I wonder how it mixed with Louise’s?

The in-laws brought salad, and BHK made the birthday cake – carrot, with autumnal colored sprinkles in the cream cheese frosting. it was pretty darn tasty – somehow, still warm after our meal.

Tina got a lot of jewelry as loot – we gave her 1001 places to see before you die , some pedicure knickknacks and a necklace with a pearl and a pink shell motif. Louise did pearls for her too.. very similar to those she got BHK for her b’day. In-laws got her a heart necklace and earring set in sterling (I think), and some nice black gloves. I don’t know what Matt got her.

I won our game of apples to apples (that’s what we picked up last minute earlier – it was that or play boggle… and not a lot of folks have the scrabble / spelling ferocity or Carcassonne bent that BHK and I do) – since there were 7 of us (Adam had to bail early for his church group) we played to 5 victories best answer was Larry’s “wood chipper” to “sappy”.

1 year ago – robot post while I’m elsewhere, actors, locusts, pogo-legs, moot-b-day

2 years ago – Lost season 2, remixed movie trailers, 2l issues, white lines by bush, okcupid test, selfports on newtcam, puppy eats a knife, pervwatch, mistaken abduction

3 years ago – School Training at a library, Auntie’s, Spicy Sancocho recipe

4 years ago – Hoom! maps, Monkey Heaven, Robyn goes Psychic on me, Private William D.Huff, Tumbless things, palm doodle, BK breakfast, monochrome=sleepy buspics

5 years ago – landlord a/c, Dorky dinosaur, art ljs, audio books

6 years ago – minor panic, Oyl Family, Red Dog the Pirate Guy, blackjack, mush,revised beliefs, Laundry, freeflow, nosey lj-poll, Newton’s Nightmaregame, love poem

7 years ago – apple jacks, chores, bday, CPAP Geotarget

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9004 thur

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OK, enough of this mess – I’ve gone to the doctor – the muscle aches have mercifully abated, but it’s even harder to constrict my throat than before… head is pounding, and I’ve been laying down so much that my back was starting to really hurt. Now I’m on Amoxicillin 500mg 3x a day for a week… that should slap this bug on the butt.

9/27-11/8
BHK picked up our pottery! Her mug is amazing… I must put pictures up of how it turned out – the green and purple tones are perfect. I’m also very pleased at how well my little volcano board / icehouse stash box turned out, too! The colors got a lot more vivid, post-firing.

On the way home, spied a new neighborhood kitten – maybe 2-3 weeks old… the mama was right around the side of the house, but it took all my might (in my already weakened state) to say no to a pickup of a little black and white tuxedo before we spotted her.

Today is my Brother’s 35th birthday. We’re sending him a copy of Fluke, which I think that he’ll enjoy quite a bit. I wanted to send him some pin-up type goodies too, but that may or may not get his whole shipment confiscated.

Watched the season Premieres of My Name is Earl, Ugly Betty and The Office. Also watcher the mockumentary Werner Herzog – Incident at Loch Ness… not so great.

Also saw the Bionic Woman… I have a long-time fondness for the old one, and this new one by comparison was pretty weak.

Personal Biases against –

  • I don’t like nanobots as a plot device. Boring.
  • Too much pseudo-Matrix type combat
  • Terrible dialogue
  • inclusion of obligatory hacker-character
  • “Pleasantly goofy” factor is gone

Possible Pluses –

  • I like the “Prototype Bionic Loon” part
  • Maybe Bigfoot? Unlikely.
  • No Lee Majors Crossovers. Probably. Though I’d be for it if he wore a red track suit and a cheesy 70s moustache.
I’m pretty impressed with LJ’s new snapshot link (Third part of this entry ) – it works especially well with wikipedia links. Interesting that you can see “similar searches” … not sure where current hurricane conditions in the Atlantic have to do with hello kitty, but who can say why a person clicks somewhere? It works especially well with art/scan communities that post links for dial-up folks… just hover and peek – spares a lot of lj-cut effort.

1 year ago – 2 nights/28 days, Legion, CW merger of WB and CBS?, cracking walnuts, Gilmore girls, FL/MD walkabouts, Citgo Venezuelan

2 years ago – bro 33 skipout, condo, newspaper poll, 3 irritations, 3 pleasures, $-boost

3 years ago – Post Jeanne patio-pix, leftover reptile-ness, free-flow, Greek/roman souls, more Rice rant, Warhammer PC game, 3 week power outages

4 years ago – flyme & prop2 on the way out, planet-eating star, Levi-Strauss no longer in the US, wedding spite, metamorphosis

5 years ago – gravity / electromagnetism effects, dial tones, headlines, PG freaky looking, Seattle whores, fires and ladders, brain as symbiotic parasite, Issues with the Finn, dead net, friday 5, WC, cloud and rain,The Gnome

6 years ago – Velveteen Rabbit, neoteric , lighthouse walkies, WS-41st sonnet, dream, warning myself

7 years ago – squids!, work, last meals, hidden post, bro 28 Geotarget

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8984 – fri

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Tasty Falafel last night, despite BHK not feeling well.

Took her out tonight, glad that she’s up to it… maybe a little cheeburger cheeburger and a road time will jump start her to feeling better for the weekend!

After a tasty garden-cheeburger, frings and cherry chocolate shake, we swung by the store and got her some new jeans, before making a very brief visit to eyeball Comics and Games and Stuff. (Courtesy of The Looney Labs store finder )

Dropped 12 for 3 very inexpensive games – Change! , Cosmic Coasters, and The Very Clever Pipe Game. All of which should be wonderful additions to our games closet, and are pretty small and portable, should we decide to take ’em with us somewhere.

Speaking of new, portable games, Eryx wrote us and mentioned that he’s sending us a copy of EcoFluxx as a wedding present! Thanks Eryx! We need to steal him from the UK and have him visit sometime. 🙂

Also the Labs have recently produced Twin Win, an Icehouse game suitable for use while waiting in line.

Glass and a Half Full Productions – fun ad by cadbury (via ze) What can I say? I like apes.

3,000-year-old beehives unearthed in Israel

Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.
My immediate living area’s population has doubled by a person and a cat since a little over a year ago. I like it much better that way, as I adore them.

If want to make myself angry, I picture a pregnant woman smoking.

Author Madeleine L’Engle died last night in Connecticut, at the age of 89. Best known for her 1963 Newbery Award winner A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, L’Engle was the author of more than 60 books for adults and young readers.

Stolen Catalytic Converter from one of our accountant’s truck from our company’s parking lot.. . certainly not an isolated issue – seems to be happening all over MD and VA

Thieves are targeting fleet vehicles parked overnight in secluded parking lots. Their target? Catalytic converters.
The theft of catalytic converters is a growing crime trend happening throughout the country. For instance, on May 30, Comcast discovered seven catalytic converters stolen from work trucks parked outside its office in Gambrills, Md. This wasn’t the first time. Earlier, on July 18, the same Comcast location reported the theft of 18 catalytic converters. On May 28, Adscom reported 16 catalytic converters stolen from new Chevrolet and GMC cargo vans parked behind its building in Glen Burnie, Md.

These crimes are not restricted to just large fleets. Smaller fleets are just as vulnerable. Dreisbach Florists in Cincinnati reported to the police that catalytic converters were sawed off three of its vans. Nor is this a problem restricted to the U.S. The BBC reports an increase in catalytic converter thefts in the U.K.


Precious Metals Inside
Police first began noticing catalytic converter thefts about eight months ago. Thieves aren’t interested in the catalytic converters themselves; they’re interested in the precious metals inside, which are easily recycled. The average catalytic converter contains one to two grams of three precious metals – platinum, palladium, and rhodium. That equals about 0.07 of an ounce, meaning 14 or 15 converters are needed to equal one ounce of the metals. However, the commodity rates for these metals have skyrocketed in the past two years.

For criminals, catalytic converters are as good as gold. Actually, better. In comparison, gold prices reached $670 per ounce in June 2007. According to online commodities Web site www.kitco.com, the price of rhodium has shot up in the past five years from $900 to almost $6,000 per ounce in June. Palladium rose from about $189 per ounce two years ago to a high of $371 in June. Between June 1, 2005 and June 1, 2007, the price of platinum rose 67 percent, from $870 per ounce to $1,295.

A quick perusal of the Internet reveals that hundreds of recyclers across the country are buying catalytic converters for the precious metals. Catalytic converters need to be sent to a recycler that has the equipment to perform the chemical process necessary to extract the metals. Metal recycling companies will pay anywhere from $25 to $150 apiece for catalytic converters. A search of the Web reveals a wide range of catalytic converter buying and selling activity across the United States and overseas. There are Web sites that describe how to collect and sell catalytic converters to the right buyer. One site includes photos of the tools to use, such as electric saws, hydraulic jacks, and portable generators.

High Clearance Vehicles at Greater Risk
The catalytic converters are usually stolen from high-clearance vehicles. Most thefts occur at night. A thief can slip under a vehicle and, with a battery-operated saw and metal-cutting blade, make two quick cuts and remove the catalytic converter. Some vehicles have catalytic converters that are bolted on, which are the easiest to remove. The theft can take as little as five to 10 minutes. With some models, thieves use a reciprocal saw to cut the catalytic converter from the exhaust systems underneath the vehicle. Other models require thieves to use an acetylene torch to remove the catalytic converter. Recovering stolen catalytic converters is virtually impossible since they are not inscribed with serial numbers that can be used to identify them.

Often, catalytic converter theft is by drug addicts. Many of those arrested for stealing catalytic converters are heroin addicts. It’s a quick crime for a drug addict to get cash. There are also more sophisticated thieves who know exactly what they were doing and already have buyers lined up for the stolen catalytic converters. Many are shipped to recycling companies in Poland, Canada, China, and Latvia, where they undergo a carbochlorination process that extracts the precious metals.

Securing Vehicles After Work Hours
Fleets victimized by this crime must spend anywhere from $600 to $1,400 to install a replacement catalytic converter. The theft results in immediate downtime for the vehicle since it is illegal to drive without a catalytic converter. It is also extremely dangerous, since the hot exhaust blowing from sawed-open exhaust pipes could heat the nearby fuel tank to the point of exploding, if driven long enough.

Doodles… I think that I like flat lines more than pseudo-airbrush textures. .

A Dragon, The Little Prince , and a flurfy tree

The Little Prince reminds me of things I sometimes forget –

“On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur, l’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux”
(It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye).

dragon. prince.tree

um, yikes. I’m surprised… not by New Orleans or Detroit… but by the fact that there’s no New York or Miami on there. I wonder how many murders go unreported?

1 year ago – jojo again, Chase is a creep, acim scuttlebutt (RS came back and left since then),

2 years ago – First notice of SNAKES ON A PLANE, smokin’ with Newt and Firpo, morning pre-work report, interdictor shenanigans, ADP and RI duke it out, second life free

3 years ago – Broward PSA, hurricane doodles, freeware

4 years ago – Harvest moon, auto-cashiers, acim two-level split, lynching, cluster move, gender genie, newt-bounce

5 years ago – Sleestaks and Oatmeal, Sculpey and Fimo, Bewitched, cave photo, bad prefixes, dog snoods

6 years ago – lj drama regarding cheaters,lovely long chat where blackie burped, thescents of rose, lavender, gardenia, violette, and muguet (burts bees),Skeletor, Back in 1997, there was an exorcism performed on MotherTeresa, saints.

7 years ago – poopy day, Suzy, Walt Whitman, American Cannibals, Mush, interests, overheard, jail visits Geotarget

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8979 – tues

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Poor BHK is feeling a little under the weather, and my headache is fading from the stabbing noggin-ache to a dull oceanic roar in my skull.

Tonight we had veggie-loaf with corn on the cob, potatoes and the last of our garden’s zucchini. Hopefully we’ll get to planting another batch for an autumnal harvest. The in-laws were over to watch the tennis semi-finals, but I wasn’t really into it… so I thumbed through the books BHK grabbed for me at the library.

The World Without Us is pretty neat. (I was first nudged there about this time )

From the Inside Flap

A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human Earth

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity’s impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.

In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe.

The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York’s subways would start eroding the city’s foundations, and how, as the world’s cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dali Lama, and paleontologists—who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths—Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.

From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth’s tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman’s narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn’t depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has.

via the Science blog & springheeljack –

If you eat the right grains for breakfast, such as whole-grain barley or rye, the regulation of your blood sugar is facilitated after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was previously not known that certain whole-grain products have this effect all day. This is due to a combination of low GI (glycemic index) and certain type of indigestible carbohydrates that occur in certain grain products. The findings are presented in a dissertation from the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University. The dissertation shows that even people who have had a breakfast low in GI find it easier to concentrate for the rest of the morning.

1 year ago – flickr maps, out with TW and saw Pirates, no putt-putt, Rope swing for Danny, It must be love, words that make me laugh, cherry-chocolate milkshake

2 years ago – Katrina new orleans satmaps, on call again, cookies for genetic goodies, big rock candy mountain, elephant prosthesis

3 years ago – More Frances, Dan Snores, Newt Pics, observations.

4 years ago – neurologist, giant lizard in Beirut, grizzlies, Y-chromosome vanishing, work drama, Cathi’s dad gets’ trach, Egyptology, Ft. Laud ghosts, Scientology

5 years ago – freaky temple, edbook’s llamas, Bush behaves a bit, bad dream, Friendly street light.

6 years ago – contretemps , liverish, Rhinestone Cowboy, social lubrication, spiritual/paranormal/xenobiological poll (fascinating results), stopping b/w theft, Anne Heche a loony

7 years ago – No Norton, Supers Gaming, interests, met twinstar & estokes Geotarget

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8961 – Mon

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H.P. Lovecraft’s Birthday again, is it? 117, at this point.

Have a fistful o’ links sngged from an eldritch hobbit –

* For those of you who use iTunes, Lit2Go from the University of Southern Florida offers a number of free, unabridged audiobooks from the likes of Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, the Brontë sisters, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and H.G. Wells, among others.

* The Guardian reports on which books 2,000 readers have chosen as the Greatest Love Story of All Time, based on a poll sponsored by the UKTV Drama Channel.

The Top Ten list looks like this:

  1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, 1847
  2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813
  3. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, 1597
  4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, 1847
  5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, 1936
  6. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, 1992
  7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, 1938
  8. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, 1957
  9. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence, 1928
  10. Far from The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, 1874

Marin Kettle responds in The Guardian with “If Wuthering Heights is a love story, Hamlet is a sitcom.”

Wonderfully cool today – sort of surreal for August. 66° F outside – Hard to believe it was feeling like 110 just a few days ago.

Think of it as Autumn Training Day. I’m looking quite forward to more weather like this.

BHK’s birthday is this weekend, same day as the Ren-Fest starting. I suspect that we won’t go the first weekend…. a little party with family on Saturday, and dinner at Tina’s on Sunday. I hope that Chris can get Louise to come and bring some good wishes to at least one of those events.

Farming for Bees: Guidelines for providing native bee habitats on farms. –

The paper version is $10, but you can download a PDF version FREE at that page!

Don’t have a farm? There’s still lots of great information there, including bee forage plant lists, how to build homes for native bees, and pesticides to avoid. And–beautiful photos of native bees and their nests.

1 year ago – mr jones, fort lauderdale happenings / movies, walkabout basics, the shield, nose buttering in comments.

2 years ago – dinner out, hee haw, chitty chatting, Kong SE, gun-related homicide in the workplace, monkey and duck picture, weatherbonk

3 years ago – ADP hammers another nail in her on-call casket, supes & robot doubles, past Halloween costumes, drunkie-bear, Todd Fatta, RIP

4 years ago – virus PSA, Zombie Sim rework, the current gig, candy poll, monty python toys, 2-headed baby, magic egg, witches, sentinel cam, work observations (turned out correct), Pam pings me, good/evil evaluation

5 years ago – megaliths, interviewing, super manatee, giant grasshoppers, weathercams, miss cleo in trouble, landlord- no fans, Finn issue

6 years ago – writing – invisible, words of the day, tattoo & misocainea, MS kills NS plugins, griegstein

7 years ago – empty Geotarget

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8948 – Saturday

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Yesterday, I forgot to mention that I received Martian coasters, filler colors of icehouse stashes, and other ordered loot. I’m looking forward to playing them with BHK at our earliest convenience.

Awoke early – about 6:45 on a Saturday. EM was up at about 6:30, I think.

Read in bed:

  • Olivia – classic. Olivia would be Eloise, if Eloise were a pig. She is good at singing 40 very loud songs and is very good at wearing people out. And scaring the living daylights out of her little brother, Ian, particularly when he copies her every move. She is also quite skilled at reproducing Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm #30” on the walls at home. When her mother tucks her in at night and says, “You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway,” Olivia precociously pronounces, “I love you anyway too.”
  • Ain’t gonna Paint No more – pretty spiffy, good rhythm, color and song.
  • 93 in my family Now *that*’s a fun kids book. Reads well, stuff to look at on every page, terribly cute, and gives a message that’s neat, too. Plus, a carsick hamster named Ed. We need more like this one.
  • Where Have The Unicorns Gone? – Lovely Art, poorly written – it just doesn’t flow.

BHK was tuckered out, and fell back asleep about midway through Olivia, so Em and I got up after reading and made necklaces with wooden beads and string from Em’s kit – very pretty stuff.

Played some simple stacking and lining up games with dominoes and red & blue icehouse pyramids with Em while BHK slept – may have developed the seed of a new game! Stacking Pyramids on top of a domino board to collect points. Needs a little work, but if I can teach the basics to a 4-year-old and it’s challenging to me, there could be a fun concept waiting to burst out.

Once BHK woke up, we all got cleaned up and headed out to take care of TM’s kitties (see picture in yesterday’s post ).

After many kitty snuggles, we all went to the marine museum to see the otters and the stingrays – it was also a Cradle of the Invasion day – folks dressed in garb of 1812, WWII, and modern style, showing how Marines in wartime lived and worked in the area. pretty neat. Apparently, in the 30s-40s, Tropical chocolate was mixed with paraffin wax so it wouldn’t melt… the K rations had basically a chocolate candle to eat along with government supplied cigarettes. Lots of items about amphibious warfare that didn’t interest Em too much, but I’d like to go back next time and spend a little while talking to the folks and getting some perspectives on things. My Grandfather on my mom’s side was a Marine during WWII, and he never really talked too much about it, short of taking me to the VFW and hanging out with other vets. (That’s where I got my first Shirley Temple.)

[edit – I forgot that we went to the amish market, and saw ducks and geese and chickens and goats and puppies and horses, and amish folks, and bought gingerbread and blueberry jam, and lemon meringue pie for Larry, and shoo-fly pie for us, and peppers to stuff with yum! – Sakes, we were busy]

Getting close to Lunch, so we headed off to Burt’s [Edit – dang, why do I always call it Fred’s?] for veggie burgers (em got popcorn shrimp) – good stuff, but I suspect the kids meal had more food than our veggie burger platter! We got puzzle place mats and crayons so we could color while we waited for our food.

Went to Aardvarks to pick up Early American Chrononauts (and ice cream – Play-doh is still my favorite… vanilla ice cream dyed bright yellow with red and blue chunks of sugar cookie dough mixed in. ) I suspect that I like Early American more than standard Chrononauts.

Chris and Larry’s for Dinner – Hot Dogs on the Grill, beans, slaw, and all sorts of yum. BHK had to duck out and tend to Tina’s Kitties again while Chris, Larry, Em and I hung out and chitty-chatted. Emily was very well behaved, and barely persnickety or bossy at all. She played very nicely with Tigger for hours.

Quote of the night was by Em – “I would never hurt beautiful Uncle Scott!”

Full and happy we all came home and crashed out.

Before I bail: a meme from Tarpo –

THE RULES:

1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random.
Whatever you like.

2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.

5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

Mine were –

1) Where did you meet your girl? Livejournal, actually – Sixish years ago, at least, when I was dating someone else. I think that I traded up nicely.

2) Is Newt still a vicious man-eater? He can be pretty aggressive to some folks, and a love to others. He hasn’t seen any Newfs lately, but he still attacks most smokers with great vigor.

3) Recommend 3 fairly cheap 2 player, easy to learn, fun games that are outside the normal Milton Bradley/Hasbro line. Well, you already know about Fluxx and Carcassone, so I’ll toss out Treehouse at about $10, you can’t go too far wrong (see links above) (which is a gateway drug to other fun games, too) and Chrononauts, also linked above, a little bit more pricey at $20, (with both games the more the merrier, but two can play handily.)

4) Without sounding offensive and I hope you don’t take this in the wrong way at all.. Has anyone ever mentioned that there is more than a slight resemblance between my Ex Wife and your Current Wife? Short of this question, nobody has… From what I can recall of her face, I don’t really see the resemblance! Eyes, nose, facial shape, hair and skin all seem pretty different to me!

5) Suggest something for a future DoWhatIDo
How about a picture of a favorite item, like a toy or book?

1 year ago – thread tracking, mallah/brain, sistine ceiling full view, 330 mpg car under $20k, hardest geometry problem in the world,

2 years ago – Delirium box, laundry good deed, matches, chain reaction game, Friday 5, autostitch pic, 200 e Broward pic

3 years ago – hr tag abandonment,Doug / tony memory trick, factoids about me, elevator breaks

4 years ago – Neverwhere, childhood memories circa ’74-75ish – lunch and Tonka toys,linked to hulk’s blog, bro stuff, Elvis & his prosthetic limb factory

5 years ago – Spanish TV, broken links, new he-man cartoon, mark quits FMM before he’s caught stealing, puppy pictures and palm doodles.

6 years ago – Soylent Green Tea Ice Cream at the Frieze in Miami, after seeing Kiss of the Dragon with my bro, cavort, first exp w/ Samurai Jack, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

7 years ago – saw the hollow man, and played Everway, day before sleep study Geotarget

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8934 – Wednesday!

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So, it’s August… only a couple of weeks until BHK’s birthday, Father in-laws birthday, and we’re looking to have Emily over in a weekend – and then the all of the Newsoms over perhaps two weeks after that. Emily is about 5 years old now, and she reminds me of little bit of Wendy, way back when 9even though Wendy was maybe twice that age. I still remember acting like a monkey with

[info]graypumpkin

 for her, over a decade ago. Ook ook, extend the upper lip, scratch the noggin and the armpits, do a bowlegged walk… still brings a giggle to the young ladies. I doubt the Wendy would as be amused these days… she’s got to be 21 by now? maybe 22? She’s probably into more “grown-up” pursuits. I wonder how she and Marty are doing?

Thoughts for Emily’s visit.. Baltimore Aquarium, Blink (maybe try Uno?), Walking on the Boardwalk / Beach, Playstation, Fireworks, and the Candy Store. None of those are set in stone and there are other possibilities, too.

Hey, it’s August first! Happy Lughnasadh, the holy day of Lludd!
(If you celebrate it… I don’t generally do so myself, but do like to say the word Lughnasadh. )

To celebrate, here’s an agricultural pic from our garden, taken just this week.

Pepper pic from the garden – looks better large-wallpaper size.
DSCN5893

No relation to the holiday, but also recently seen –

Also seen – Dump trucks while I was riding the subway at about 60mph
DSCN5895

Been busy, have some game and book links, dear journal!

New joystiq review of Icehouse (also Enemy Chocolatier ), and as a result, found a place to play games online in real time.

You’ve got to download a small Java app (gamut ) (though they are working on an HTML implementation), but it’s clean, quick and fun if you can find folks to play with.

Back to reading on my ride in the subway…until I find some tv show that BHK doesn’t want to watch to put on the PSP. just finished Red Nails – getting my pulp fix on. Plenty free and legal to read here. Just scroll down to Howard,( Robert E. )

via uncert

  • “Turning Heat Into Electricity Through Sound”: pretty much what it sounds like. A group in Utah has made a gadget where thermal gradients drive air currents that produce sound waves, which are turned into electrical signals by piezoelectric transducers.
  • “All-Optical Magnetic Recording: a Dutch group has written information onto a magnetic material using polarized light rather than the usual magnetic heads (like in a hard disk). This could potentially allow faster disk writing on smaller scales than can be done with magnets. Just think how small your next iPod could be…

1 year ago – sharks don’t have knees, boiled eggs, yoga, map issues, Dave nose-operation, 4-sec frenzy, Theoi project, FOLEDs, grammar rock, man tosses a car, hungry ghost month, TS Chris

2 years ago – peaceful Sunday, Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, PB-J time, Grizzly Golf Attack is true, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

3 years ago – Rob Shea Quote, appropriate for E-journals everywhere, I played with mercury, JL meme, music, Dave, Rain, Social entity, first hints at Mike-drama, search shortcuts, albinos of the 19th century, echolocation alarms

4 years ago – crazy dreams, Kate Bush, starmark poops but new gig, writing systems, non-castaways on gilligan’s isle

5 years ago – istockphoto, dead links, Shitou Xiqian, smiled at, fortune cookie, walkerbot, Liver Eatin’ Johnson

6 years ago – hungrybaby, New Apes movie lame, wiseacre, Champions stats for the Shadow, Dwayne Dibley?, Poul Anderson passes away, LJ moves in space

7 years ago – Everway character- wanders the storm pathGeotarget Geotarget

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8924 – sun

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Best word about current media frenzy – Potterdämmerung. That is *perfect*. I figure that I’ll get around to reading it eventually, but I’ll blaspheme by using the public library (or if BHK wants to own a copy, I’ll read hers when she’s done.) I don’t really care who lives or who dies, but I am interested in seeing how it all wraps up. I’m almost more interested in knowing what the “next big thing” will be, now that this is essentially all over; not counting the remaining movies, spin-offs, comics and whatnot.

We had a nice, luxuriously casual post-party day.

Originally, we intended to brunch with Cyn, but it seems that Joss doesn’t have a Sunday brunch… besides, we’re all sleepyheads anyhow. (Plus, Cyn was shaking off the effects of her prior-night’s festivities.)

Instead, we opted to head to the new Jasper’s (sort of a Bennigan’s-type place), and munch some lunch. It was a mixed bag, but mostly good, I think. The bar area has 12 hypnotically eye-attracting TVs… even if just golf is showing on-air. I was more distracted by the pseudo-southwestern-indian rhino-sculpture with the bright red tail. Unfortunate choice of color for that region, as Cyn’s first thought was urzbeeubvq, and mine was nany svfghyn. Hover over the text or use rot-13 to translate.

Apparently whenever we three get together, there’s a common conversational theme that tends to crop up. I will not be linking to the terms Filthy Sanchez, Tony Danza, Cleveland Steamer, Dutch Oven or Satchmo… but if you do search for them, I’ll just say it’s not safe for work. (see the prior paragraph’s last six words or so for a starter concept.

The food varied in quality – the veggie burger was probably my favorite, after the sweet potato. Crab dip was not the best, and that’s going to be tough for ’em, given that this is crab country. The partner visited our table and asked how everything was…. and we gave a lot of compliments and a fair amount of criticism. I think that he appreciated our input, and that they’ll do very well.

Since I haven’t uploaded the rhino picture yet, here’s a honeymoon photo of me in touristy-black socks & shorts, golfing with a gorilla, and BHK being beautiful in St. Augustine. I love that pic of her… it just makes me smile every time I look at her.

DSCN1468 DSCN1598

BHK and I watched Apocalypto across three houses, due to assorted cat-sitting duties for Tigger, Kiki and Chai – and polished off the last of it in our living room while munching on leftover party food. I really liked it. The story was really secondary to the setting and activity inside. The costume designer did a phenominal job, and if you get the dvd, check out “the making of” section. There were some moments that could’ve been scripted better, but the visuals were absolutely beautiful. I really liked that all of the actors were unknown to me – it made it much easier for me to take the characters as they were, rather than “that’s the Rock, and Robin Williams, and Robert DeNiro!” Definately the best art direction that I can remember seeing in a film recently.

We never did get around to playing lunch money or Chez goth – we’ll learn with Amy tomorrow! (if she doesn’t prefer to play pirates, or video games) – I hear she’s got a giant shark to trot out for our next battle.

New games BHK and I have or will be getting in the near future, in a loose order of when we’ll be playing ’em:

(I’ve also started a freebie account at superdupergames – mainly to try out online ice house sprawl – maybe BHK will start hitting it like we did with pente.net lots of stuff to choose from!)

  • We may get a treehouse die depending on how we get our pyramids.
  • you can play with a regular d6 – 1 tip, 2 swap, 3 hop, 4 dig, 5 aim, 6 wild
  • Stonehenge (5 games), and If I dig it.. (and why wouldn’t I? Check out the production diary) the Stonehenge Expansion (3 more games)
  • Polarity (thanks to keethrax)

    • 1 year ago – postcard, tiny Tarzan, MW network, golden age red tornado, Stevie wonder sesame street , comic book eras

    2 years ago – Books added to palm, Australian link, Bus station security, Apollo Mission, HTML cleaner, Google lj friend map, geek quiz, looking forward, Friday fine

    3 years ago – Mango, Spyware, Pi Approximation, Look out, Ghost tour

    4 years ago – Sam Jack, Ghosts, MRI, filters

    5 years ago – dreams, sounds, guns, action comics #1, hello kitty stress test, bike named, infinity

    6 years ago – Cohort, fwap, morning speech quiz, coloring game, kitty cookies,sunflower bread, web indexes, English language, Olestra conspiracy

    7 years ago – X-men with Dan, Robb’s Radio, went to Hops, April reading my LJ Geotarget

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    8878 – taxes and memes and comics, oh my!

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    Google may digitize Michigan State University’s Comics and Pulp Library. (via beaucoup kevin )

    With more than 150,000 items, the Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection is a major scholarly resource for the study of popular culture from the 19th century to the present. The initial emphasis was on American popular culture, but materials from other countries are now collected as well. While not the largest of its kind in the nation, MSU’s popular culture collection is one of the most usable because of its early adoption of coherent planning that focuses efforts on a limited number of areas. Prominent in those plans are comic art; popular fiction including dime novels, story magazines, pulps, juvenile series books, detective fiction, mystery fiction, science fiction, western fiction and women’s/romance fiction; popular information materials including almanacs and etiquette manuals; and print materials relating to the popular performing arts. Collection parameters evolve to follow trends in popular fiction, recently expanding to include gay and lesbian pulp fiction. Noteworthy elements of the collection include a nearly complete set of Deadwood Dick dime novels and substantial numbers of Tom Swift and Horatio Alger books. In addition, the Comic Art Collection is a research collection of more than 200,000 pieces serving national and international scholars. The strengths of the comic art collection are U.S. comic books, European comic books, U.S. newspaper strips and works on the history and criticism of comics. Less extensive collections are maintained for African, Asian and Latin American comics; fotonovelas; animation; cartooning; Big Little Books; and comics tie-ins. Materials held include the Yellow Kid beginning in 1895 and the Famous Funnies No. l comic book from 1934. The emphasis is on graphic storytelling in the newspaper comics or newsstand comic book tradition to present a complete picture of what American comics’ readership has seen, especially since the middle of the 20th century.

    Why don’t poor people save more money? Because they’re better off not to! At least according to a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis. The LA Times reports :

    Low-income households face “astronomical” penalties for saving, according to the report by the National Center for Policy Analysis. For example, each $1 saved by a single mother earning $15,000 a year could cost her $2.60 in higher taxes and lost government benefits.

    I escaped from Starbase Scottobear!

    I killed Ambassador Jennylee, Ldy the Dalek, Christin the space pirate, Applelard the awful green thing, Uberbastard the medibot, Inkygypsy the tribble, Suigeneris 56 the awful green thing, Za Pick the psychic agent, Za Distro the tribble, Za Links the cargobot, Hulk Smashy the cargobot and Ambassador Kevin Church.
    I salvaged an Evandorkinian artefact, an Acoolsecretaryian artefact, the Log of the USS Creepcake, an FUZZYBUMBLEBEE-160 phaser, an ILLUMINATION-30 plasma rifle, a HERBS-8800 supercomputer, Myid8myego’s commbadge, an MNEWSOM-70 phaser, an FALLENTOAD-60 phaser, an Edbookian deathblade, a Chandraian raygun, a Sedefendendo screwdriver, an Intrepidite screwdriver, a PARKS-9200 supercomputer, Kat78731’s commbadge, the Log of the USS Za Moon, the Log of the USS Fivefootmayhem, a fantasygoatlithium crystal, the Log of the USS Sebab and 331 galacticredits.

    Score: 1071

    Explore Starbase Scottobear and try to beat this score,
    or enter your username to generate and explore your own space adventure…

    I’m kind of digging this interactive paper concept.GeotargetVisitor Map

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    8867 – mon

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    A learned person gently comes, steps carefully.

    – Shimizu Hiam

    Gave my 2 weeks notice at the County today – Starting on the 18th, I’ll be at my new, non-temp gig. I’m really looking forward to it… a few HR things to iron out beforehand – what sort of insurance to choose, etc. I’m looking forward to having my own office again. The commute to Calverton doesn’t seem to be as horrid as most folks make it out to be. I commuted for 90 minutes back when I was in Fort Lauderdale. I’ll miss the gang at the county… really nice crew. I hope my new team is as nice.

    Grilled up veggie burgers and dogs for BHK, in-laws and TM tonight.. it was true potluck – BHK did salad, including peppers form our garden, TB brought chips and buns, and the in-laws did the doggies and brought a big ol’ watermelon for dessert. Everyone was nicely full to the brim at the end.

    Newest Reads are Fluke and Jamestown – from the cover –

    Set in the indeterminate but not too distant future, JAMESTOWN chronicles a group of “settlers” (more like survivors) from the ravaged island of Manhattan, departing just as the Chrysler Building mysteriously collapses, heading down what’s left of I-95 in an armor-plated vehicle that’s half-schoolbus, half-Millenium Falcon. They are going to establish an outpost in southern Virginia, look for oil, and exploit the Indians controlling the area.

    The story is of course based on the actual accounts of the first ten years of the Jamestown settlement from 1607 to the death of Pocahontas in 1617. Set against a cataclysmic backdrop, the book features the historical characters—John Smith, Pocahontas, her father Powhatan, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and John Rolf—but in an act of wild re-imagination, akin to Baz Luhrman’s re-interpretations of Shakespeare (the great playwright of the Jamesown era!), Powhaton is half-Falstaff, half-Henry V (with a psychiatrist consigliere, Sidney Feingold); John Martin gradually loses body parts in a series of violent encounters, while John Smith is a ruthless and pragmatic redhead continually undermining the aristocratic leadership; and Rolf’s and Pocahontas’s romance is conducted by text-messaging, IM-ing, and ultimately telepathy.

    Despite the grim sounding circumstances and large quantity of spilled blood, it’s a romantic book, a meditation on history and interpretation, told in language that is endlessly delightful—the jokes, the rhymes, and the rimshot dialogue throw the story’s bleak underside into brilliant relief. It’s a big book—a cross between the terrific maximalist novels of Barth and Safran Foer and the minimalist magical satire of George Saunders.

    So Far, Fluke is the more well-written and interesting of the two. However, I’m less than 25 pages into both.

    Comparisons of Baltimore vs DC … I do need to make a trip to the Yabba Pot sometime soon.

    1 year ago – on call, giza pyramid, bunny hop pic, finger people, cosmos animations, fallentoad song, fantastic

    2 years ago – full vs goatee, bro & PO, vs & rr try to hook me up

    3 years ago – Local con, ADP fix it, free wifi, bro issues, Crew north, Cartoon stuff, rain, bad case

    4 years ago – bro goes to ER, Tony & Caroline bad news, pt issues, brothel free to troops, pirate doodle, kraft offer, FIA hoverboats

    5 years ago – fumigation drama, pelican preference, cricket magazine, Google labs

    6 years ago – life roles, evil news, Paranormal investigation teams that I’d join, Allen Walton, hobo names, $10 webcam, classic Scotto lunch, nice dreams, mammoth riding.

    7 years ago – figured out how to hack the info kiosk as the mall of the deadGeotargetVisitor Map

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    8865- sat

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    I forget where I found this picture of a psycho rodent, but I love it.

    Nice long day of doing not too much – BHK and I spent the bulk of the afternoon sipping iced sun tea and reading our books – I polished off both Farewell Summer and Gavagan’s.

    Farewell Summer was a nice re-visitation to the Dandelion Wine realm, but not nearly as great. I’d give it a 7 out of ten, which is still pretty dang good, with moments of fives and eights. Very minimalist text, and an ending which fits the story, but is still rather lackluster for me. I’m all for the bits about birthday cake.

    Gavagan’s was idea-rich, solid centers but with a lot of weaker endings. Some really cute concepts, and one or two really good stories.

    It was nice to spend a day of true rest. Our only trip outside the house was to get some rice for dinner – BHK whipped up some thai-style veggies in red curry. Good stuff. Photos to follow, most likely. TD will have to visit sometime soon, so we can make more. We drove by the boardwalk to listen to the live music, but my favorite sensory assault wasn’t on the ears, but on the nose… funnel cake was cooking up a storm… I couldn’t bear to eat any regular or tiny-pony brain type, however… the key lime bars had already saturated my powdered sugar tolerance for a while.

    Danny got quite a boost as a result of his most recent teacher of the year award… a more than 35% pay raise, for one thing. Looks like he will be coming up to visit us sometime either this or next month for a week. I look forward to taking him out and about to DC and other hangouts, but especially to just being able to goof with him in person again.

    Speaking of Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 misinterpreted.

    Something I can use at the new gig – Flex-based SQLAdmin for Google Gears ( Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs: – Store and serve application resources locally, Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database, Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness)

    DocMorph, from the NIH, converts files into PDF, TIFF, text, or synthesized speech through a Web browser. Or download MyMorph software to convert multiple files.

    Top 100 Network Security Tools

    Readymechs are free, flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5″x11″ page and printed with any printer. You’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time.

    1 year ago – mom and wilton project, a year without cable tv, o fortuna, castles, mr rogers rocks, friday 5, susp

    2 years ago – June 3 is Free doughnut day, fog of war, one word movie (still fun!), blood, mp, I read to newt, bro telemarketing, book review, sloth defeats gluttony, killed comcast!, poor at philosophy, solar powered recharge backpack, deepest sender works, newt pic

    3 years ago – pikachu combat icon, Weather, transit of Venus, GP call, Cult TV, tree, journal remix

    4 years ago – First use of Thing as Blackbeard, Character Studio, My first hint of Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow, bro gets a new phone after a bike crash, photo-Friday “transportation”

    5 years ago – Apartment Shopping, world’s smallest website, markers defeatcdprotection, sum of all fears, coming home fumigation, smile creators

    6 years ago – SWAT Team visits my apartment, prompting me to move. (No-nose flips out, cam pictures, too)

    7 years ago – newt recovers from Fritz’s Parasite, and I discover Imood.com

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    8842 – sunday

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    Mother’s Day went well – Called my mom up and went out to breakfast with BHK, LB and CB for blueberry pancakes. Amongst things discussed was the Gaia hypothesis, which I adore. I like the fact that LB is so pragmatic about the earth continuing on, despite her ailments.

    After, we went home and read on the shady part of the porch while we drank sun tea. That was probably my favorite part of the weekend. I suspect that was the only alone-time BHK and I had together all weekend long. The book I started was L. Sprague de Camp’s Tales from Gavagan’s Bar. After that brief solitude, We went back to the in-laws for a little cookout with them and TM. The spread was quite plentiful – Grilled hot dogs (meaty and veggie) with all kinds of fixings – chili, slaw, kraut, dill pickles, deviled eggs, teriyaki green beans, cake from the bake sale on Saturday (tasty yellow with chocolate icing), and who knows what else. Plenty of leftovers for Monday and Tuesday’s lunches!

    JD’s b’day party this weekend – going to try to go if I can, sounds like a great time – 2 bands, lots of people looking to have some fun.

    1 year ago – fp with kev, rain, Pelosi kma, goofy armor, stairway to heaven backwards,

    2 years ago – work related, friday 13th, mood poll, zombie hunting, phone-sleeping, book meme, mp3, scientology vs fictionology

    3 years ago – fam stuff, toe socks

    4 years ago – recycling into fuel oil, kitty quiz, PT, Apathetic Online Journal Entry Generator, potty poll, perfect toast

    5 years ago – answer to oil dependency, iespell, memory of being a little kid w/ vampires, goofing around, dani postcard, 334, rain week

    6 years ago – nonpareil, “hamburger helper, antibacterial”, family hangout, old coversheet, daydream, dead guy in living room, watermelons, a basic truth, lj-smell poll, cleaning up oil using human hair (and you don’t even need Superman to do it!)GeotargetVisitor Map

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    8838 – Ice and sugar is amazing stuff.

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    Pictures from the day. Steve the Caterpillar is missing, Lime vanilla Ice, Kitty hugs, and green leaves.

    lime vanilla ice.have you seen steve the caterpillar?kitty hug!kitty hug in motiongreen leaves

    Have you seen Steve the Caterpillar?

    Tuesday was pretty straightforward – work, come home, feed the birds, water the plants, have a nice dinner with BHK and the in-laws.

    Things that made it a little different from other days –

    Lime-vanilla ice (and a maui-wowie ice)

    Re: the significance of same, see chapter 28-29 of Dandelion wine.

    A brief recap for you cliff’s notes versions at home.

    Chapter 28-29 (The Swan) — Bill Forrester, with Douglas at his side, orders lime-vanilla ice at the soda fountain. His unusual request catches the attention of ninety-five year old Helen Loomis who invites him to visit her house tomorrow. Bill complies, and he and Helen start a friendly conversation about the appearances people keep up for each other, that soon diverges into Loomis acting as a “Time Machine” similar to Colonel Freeleigh to transport Bill into the pyramids of Egypt . Bill comments on how comfortable he feels talking to her, and Helen replies by reminding him that she’s only an old woman. While lounging in his chair, Bill attempts to envision her as being young again; he succeeds for a moment in seeing “the swan,” which he unintentionally says out loud, strangely disquieting Helen.

    Bill continues to visit Helen every day for two and a half weeks, but only on the last day does he tell her what motivated him to visit her in the first place: a photograph taken of her when she was twenty. He had seen the picture in the newspaper for the town ball and intended to go to the ball to seek the beautiful girl it showed, until someone told him that the picture had been taken a long time ago and had been used by the newspaper every year since then to advertise the ball. Helen replies with an overview of a young man she once knew in her youth who was handsome but wild and reckless; he left her, but when she saw Bill at the fountain that day, she was strongly reminded of him — almost as if he was a reincarnation of her former companion.

    Some time later, Bill finds Helen writing a letter addressed to him. Helen explains to him that she will be dead in a few days, and that the letter she is writing will come to him then. When Bill attempts to protest about the lack of time they have had together, Helen says that she believes that they will meet again sometime later — possibly in reincarnated forms. She tells him to marry and live happily, but says that he has to die before the age of fifty in order to ensure that when they are reincarnated, they will be of the correct ages and be able to meet and fall in love with each other.

    Two days later, Bill receives the letter. Inside it is a note reading, “A dish of lime-vanilla ice.”

    I’m glad that BHK and I got our time worked out this go around.

    —

    Additional – BHK makes a really yummy lasagna.

    —

    1 year ago – allergies, ultraman, money scans, feng-shui phone, map thingie

    2 years ago – little scotto, work, spanish, bimini boatyard, hot dog water, missed free comic book day, Carnivale, rufus, tv, dan and kev scarce, blood donation factiods/excuses, sweater fashion, work form

    3 years ago – MD, Nat’l Lampoon, RPG database mail (never came to fruition), Celestia, DIE DUCKS, added by kscare

    4 years ago – owie sleeps, There Quest victory, telecommuting, clear channel hubbub, Hala finished Portalzilla, CitizenX closed down

    5 years ago – cleanup, and milk crate shelf, did new code that’s all over Ramada,playing with Newtie, real estate invaders. newt pics I need to locate and rehost

    6 years ago – menstrualhut grows rapidly, journal types, mp3s in rotation, illegal confessions (feel free to keep adding to it.)GeotargetVisitor Map

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    8808 – sat the 14th

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    Annapolis !

    Had a nice little day out and about, BHK picked up the original SSX (snowboarding) for the PS2 and I got WTF (work time fun) for the PSP. WTF is a very appropriate abbreviation of the game, and I look forward to playing it for quite some time. Swung to Potbelly’s for some sammiches and enjoyed ‘em quite a little bit. The primary objective of our day was the B.I.G. book sale at the old tobacco warehouse – I think that I got more books than BHK this time around. We got there early (after going to bed at about 3am, post-Grindhouse) and the book dealers hadn’t attacked it too roughly yet. I scored a lot of good fill-in Bradbury stuff, and a smattering of Dashiell Hammett and about four of Ian Fleming’s 007 titles. Not found were any of the Harry Dresden books, but I did get the novelized version of the Buckaroo Bonsai movie. Lots of misc from a fundamental magic trick book to Wally Wood / Chas Addams collections of art to a nifty old tome on word origins, as well.

    We also saw llamas, and a slug.

    DSCN4656DSCN4653DSCN4651DSCN4650DSCN4660

    or, According to BHK – my journal in a nutshell:

    I tell you my day….
    I get up early.
    I buy book.
    Book by Martha Stewart.
    She have red baboon butt.
    No matter I like her books.
    I try to read book but book have big words.
    I no know what a hors d’oervereere is.
    I no even know how to spell it so I eat book not read it.
    It have tasty pictures.
    I still hungry.
    I ate sub.
    It good.
    It very good.
    I folllow wife ’round home goods store and try not show butt to other shoppers.
    I accidentally show butt in excitement over flying monkey display.
    Wife beat me with stick.
    We go home and I fling poo.
    That um my day.

    1 year ago – hanging out at murphy’s, dan plans, music sharing, quizzes, good friday, commander usa

    2 years ago – work, club visit, poorhouse, Tomi visit, mai kai tiki torch night, figa, aliases, admiration meme (999 entries ago)

    3 years ago – memory sparks, adp issues with new hire

    4 years ago – jkg, stikfas, pictures

    5 years ago – library cats, vending machine art, The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, & Body Language Cues, plants, middle earth poll, poop

    6 years ago – touch of evil, dsl, love, spermGeotargetVisitor Map