Sunday, October 31, 2004
It's degenerated to this.
It's now de reguer for the local candidates to preface their misleading attack ads by whining about their opponants' misleading attack ads. I'll be sooo glad when this election is over. My stomach can't take much more.
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It's now de reguer for the local candidates to preface their misleading attack ads by whining about their opponants' misleading attack ads. I'll be sooo glad when this election is over. My stomach can't take much more.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Fun Games to Play With Your Cat
1. Guess which object you own would make exactly that noise crashing to the floor and flying to bits. Partial points for correctly guessing which room the noise came from.
2. On your hands and knees, go over the floor with duct tape to pick up all the tiny little pieces of glass that were too small to sweep or pick up by hand. See how far you can get without slicing your finger open.
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1. Guess which object you own would make exactly that noise crashing to the floor and flying to bits. Partial points for correctly guessing which room the noise came from.
2. On your hands and knees, go over the floor with duct tape to pick up all the tiny little pieces of glass that were too small to sweep or pick up by hand. See how far you can get without slicing your finger open.
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Drove down this weekend to visit Ann and Marty in Willcox for the annual out-of-town Holt meeting. It always amazes me how quiet it is down there. And their neighbor has llamas!
On the way down I stopped at Picacho Peak to have a go at Hunter Trail. The first leg, the mile or so up to the Saddle, I did pretty well I thought, considering that the trail is considerably steeper in places than any trail around Phoenix - hence the occasional cable guides. Although I started out alone at 9:15, by the time I reached the Saddle I'd caught up with a couple of young guys. However... Right after the Saddle, there's a section where you descend nearly vertically 300 feet, mostly on your butt over bare rock, clutching a cable in one hand and holding onto a rock overhang with the other. The trail after that is what the park brochure terms "primitive": not well marked, and with a lot of scrambling up rock faces. It didn't take long before my knees tactfully vetoed going on to the Peak.
Then it was on to Tucson for the fruit and cheese plate a Delectables, then to Ann & Marty's hot tub.
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Finished up - finally! - Flight of the 1045 Express on Friday and shipped it off to Jeff. I'm working on Stardust County Line now.
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On the way down I stopped at Picacho Peak to have a go at Hunter Trail. The first leg, the mile or so up to the Saddle, I did pretty well I thought, considering that the trail is considerably steeper in places than any trail around Phoenix - hence the occasional cable guides. Although I started out alone at 9:15, by the time I reached the Saddle I'd caught up with a couple of young guys. However... Right after the Saddle, there's a section where you descend nearly vertically 300 feet, mostly on your butt over bare rock, clutching a cable in one hand and holding onto a rock overhang with the other. The trail after that is what the park brochure terms "primitive": not well marked, and with a lot of scrambling up rock faces. It didn't take long before my knees tactfully vetoed going on to the Peak.
Then it was on to Tucson for the fruit and cheese plate a Delectables, then to Ann & Marty's hot tub.
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Finished up - finally! - Flight of the 1045 Express on Friday and shipped it off to Jeff. I'm working on Stardust County Line now.
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Saturday, October 16, 2004
Cold Snap
The long summer is over! This morning at about 7:30 the thermometer on my front porch read 62 degrees. It can't have been any warmer yesterday morning at the Desert Botanical Garden plant sale. They started the members-only preview at 7:00 this year, which made the opening crowd a bit less insane but still substantial. I got some more basil and some penstemons to replace the ones that died over the summer; also my usual ton of plants that I didn't intend to buy and now have to find a place for. Most of them are going on the patio.
(Actually, I'm ver good; I limit myself to what can fit in my little red wagon plus one plant-in-hand.)
I've gotten used to startling birds when I step out the back door; the doves and mockingbirds in particular are drawn to the little water feature that I call the pond. I am not, however, used to finding a huge ol' Coopers hawk leaping out of the bath when I come onto the patio. It perched in the neighbors' eucalyptus until it got tired of me gawking at it, then flew off to the southeast. Peaseblossom, meanwhile, was eagerly peering out the screen door. This is why domestic cats are not fit for survival in the wild. They see a bird that size, and think dinner! Trouble is, the bird is thinking the same thing.
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The long summer is over! This morning at about 7:30 the thermometer on my front porch read 62 degrees. It can't have been any warmer yesterday morning at the Desert Botanical Garden plant sale. They started the members-only preview at 7:00 this year, which made the opening crowd a bit less insane but still substantial. I got some more basil and some penstemons to replace the ones that died over the summer; also my usual ton of plants that I didn't intend to buy and now have to find a place for. Most of them are going on the patio.
(Actually, I'm ver good; I limit myself to what can fit in my little red wagon plus one plant-in-hand.)
I've gotten used to startling birds when I step out the back door; the doves and mockingbirds in particular are drawn to the little water feature that I call the pond. I am not, however, used to finding a huge ol' Coopers hawk leaping out of the bath when I come onto the patio. It perched in the neighbors' eucalyptus until it got tired of me gawking at it, then flew off to the southeast. Peaseblossom, meanwhile, was eagerly peering out the screen door. This is why domestic cats are not fit for survival in the wild. They see a bird that size, and think dinner! Trouble is, the bird is thinking the same thing.
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Wow, I must've been tired when I wrote that post last night - it was Goomer, not George, who attacked my Indian food. George has been staying at the vet's since he got into a fight with Bailey--
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OK, now that's obnoxious. RealMedia Player just popped up a window saying that RealMedia Player is not my default media player. Well duh. But get this, the only options it gave me for getting rid of the window were "OK" - meaning set RealMedia as the default - and "Remind Me Later". Whatever happened to "NO, go away and stop bothering me!"
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I just had a chat with Jeff. It seems they may be moving to the Bay Area by the end of the year; if that goes through then we'll need to push out the schedule for Stardust County a little. We'll know soon. I'll be getting together with Larry and Paige next week to talk some more about the packaging, enhanced CD etc. Right now I'm working on the new arrangement for 10:45 Express. Inspiration hit me in Prescott, I talked to Lon and came up with an idea that will work with the song and showcase his strengths as a storyteller.
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OK, now that's obnoxious. RealMedia Player just popped up a window saying that RealMedia Player is not my default media player. Well duh. But get this, the only options it gave me for getting rid of the window were "OK" - meaning set RealMedia as the default - and "Remind Me Later". Whatever happened to "NO, go away and stop bothering me!"
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I just had a chat with Jeff. It seems they may be moving to the Bay Area by the end of the year; if that goes through then we'll need to push out the schedule for Stardust County a little. We'll know soon. I'll be getting together with Larry and Paige next week to talk some more about the packaging, enhanced CD etc. Right now I'm working on the new arrangement for 10:45 Express. Inspiration hit me in Prescott, I talked to Lon and came up with an idea that will work with the song and showcase his strengths as a storyteller.
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Monday, October 11, 2004
I couldn't make this stuff up.
It's official; this poll confirms that Britons are more afraid of spiders than terrorists.
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Still dogsitting for Pete and Donna this week. I stopped by the new vegetarian restaurant, Udupi Cafe, to pick up dinner for myself on the way; George got so excited about the smell he broke through the baby gate, and while I was rescuing the makni kofta and aloo paratha, he went with his doggy tongue for my rose lassi. Yuk!
I submitted their (the cafe, not the dogs) info to the AZ Vegan restaurant listing to get them some customers and make sure they stay open. All-veg restaurants are not thick on the ground in Phoenix, and a nice sit-down vegetarian restaurant with a huge menu is something you want to hold on to.
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It's official; this poll confirms that Britons are more afraid of spiders than terrorists.
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Still dogsitting for Pete and Donna this week. I stopped by the new vegetarian restaurant, Udupi Cafe, to pick up dinner for myself on the way; George got so excited about the smell he broke through the baby gate, and while I was rescuing the makni kofta and aloo paratha, he went with his doggy tongue for my rose lassi. Yuk!
I submitted their (the cafe, not the dogs) info to the AZ Vegan restaurant listing to get them some customers and make sure they stay open. All-veg restaurants are not thick on the ground in Phoenix, and a nice sit-down vegetarian restaurant with a huge menu is something you want to hold on to.
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Sunday, October 10, 2004
Gah.
This has been an afternoon of small exasperations. I packed some slob's beer cans and discarded batteries out of Peralta Canyon, only to discover there's no trash can at the trailhead parking lot - so I had to take his stinky garbage back home to throw it out. At home, I discovered a huge sugar ant colony when I went to move a planter to continue laying stones for the new patio, so that work has to wait until the Orkin guy re-schedules my appointment. Finally, I discover that Lamps Plus sold me the wrong-size lightbulb yesterday, despite the markings on the box being the same, so now I have to drive, again, way the hell north to the worst-designed shopping center in Arizona, i.e. the Scottsdale Pavillions. Hint: Make sure the lighting fixture you buy doesn't require exotic lightbulbs before you take it home.
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This has been an afternoon of small exasperations. I packed some slob's beer cans and discarded batteries out of Peralta Canyon, only to discover there's no trash can at the trailhead parking lot - so I had to take his stinky garbage back home to throw it out. At home, I discovered a huge sugar ant colony when I went to move a planter to continue laying stones for the new patio, so that work has to wait until the Orkin guy re-schedules my appointment. Finally, I discover that Lamps Plus sold me the wrong-size lightbulb yesterday, despite the markings on the box being the same, so now I have to drive, again, way the hell north to the worst-designed shopping center in Arizona, i.e. the Scottsdale Pavillions. Hint: Make sure the lighting fixture you buy doesn't require exotic lightbulbs before you take it home.
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Saturday, October 09, 2004
I am sorely disappointed. Archie McPhee no longer sells its bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeballs in the large economy-size tub. What am I going to give the trick-or-treaters this year?
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Thursday, October 07, 2004
Gods and little fishes, the pile of mail on my kitchen table! Most of it is junk, of course, but I still have to plough through it.
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I'm now thinking that wasn't Venus I saw Tuesday morning, because yesterday morning it was in the exact same position, and I think Venus travels faster than that. Saturn, maybe? It seemed brighter though.
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This close the border stuff has gone too far. First the U.S. bans Cat Stevens; now Canada is trying to deport Rocky the Flying squirrel.
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I'm now thinking that wasn't Venus I saw Tuesday morning, because yesterday morning it was in the exact same position, and I think Venus travels faster than that. Saturn, maybe? It seemed brighter though.
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This close the border stuff has gone too far. First the U.S. bans Cat Stevens; now Canada is trying to deport Rocky the Flying squirrel.
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
From Balmy MSP
There are business trips where you wander around aimlessly, wondering what happened to the people you travelled all this way to talk to, and then there are trips where you're in one meeting, working on something else on your laptop, being pulled off to help someone else, and trying to figure out how to cram in one more meeting before your flight leaves tomorrow.
I have to admit that I prefer the second type of trip.
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My hotel window faces east, over the airport Park-n-Fly. This morning before dawn, all I could see in the sky was Venus, right next to the lower of two stars that lined up exactly veritcally. Very weird - it seemed artificial.
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Pete and Donna are off in the hinterlands of Spain. Pete offered to pick me up abottle of wine, which I reluctantly had to turn down because of my acid reflux. "You don't drink, you don't drink coffee, you don't smoke," he said; "no wonder you're hiking!"
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There are business trips where you wander around aimlessly, wondering what happened to the people you travelled all this way to talk to, and then there are trips where you're in one meeting, working on something else on your laptop, being pulled off to help someone else, and trying to figure out how to cram in one more meeting before your flight leaves tomorrow.
I have to admit that I prefer the second type of trip.
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My hotel window faces east, over the airport Park-n-Fly. This morning before dawn, all I could see in the sky was Venus, right next to the lower of two stars that lined up exactly veritcally. Very weird - it seemed artificial.
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Pete and Donna are off in the hinterlands of Spain. Pete offered to pick me up abottle of wine, which I reluctantly had to turn down because of my acid reflux. "You don't drink, you don't drink coffee, you don't smoke," he said; "no wonder you're hiking!"
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Sunday, October 03, 2004
Just got back from the Prescott Folk Festival; enough time to turn around an re-pack before I head off to MSP tomorrow for work. Prescott as always was beatiful, and refreshingly cool. Saturday morning I played hookey from the Festival and went off to hike Thumb Butte Trail. Though my source listed it as a "moderate" hike, it's actually pretty easy -- unless you ignore the instructions saying to go counter-clockwise around the loop and take the deosil route instead, which takes you up the steep switchbacks of the east side. You can see the damage done by the bark beetles, but there's still a lovely smell of pines all the way along the trail and great views of the Prescott Valley.
At Sharlott Hall Musuem they've spruced up the Exhibit Hall venue; gone is the irregular room lined with cases of stuffed animals. The room's been enlarged and a quarter-circle stage put in one corner and a sound system added. It was great fun doing the songwriter's circle in the new room, and I could feel the audience with me for all of my songs. My favorite "new to me" band from the Festival: The Kiwanis Jug Band.
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At Sharlott Hall Musuem they've spruced up the Exhibit Hall venue; gone is the irregular room lined with cases of stuffed animals. The room's been enlarged and a quarter-circle stage put in one corner and a sound system added. It was great fun doing the songwriter's circle in the new room, and I could feel the audience with me for all of my songs. My favorite "new to me" band from the Festival: The Kiwanis Jug Band.
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