Saturday, November 27, 2004
¡Bloggin' from Cuzco!
And because of Blogger's new feature that selects your display language based on region, my welcome page is showing up in Spanish.
Just a quick note here to let anyone who cares know that I survivied the Inca Trail, woo hoo! Killing some time this morning, getting my camera's memory card downloaded to CD before I head out horseback riding this afternoon. Back in a week!
1 comments
And because of Blogger's new feature that selects your display language based on region, my welcome page is showing up in Spanish.
Just a quick note here to let anyone who cares know that I survivied the Inca Trail, woo hoo! Killing some time this morning, getting my camera's memory card downloaded to CD before I head out horseback riding this afternoon. Back in a week!
1 comments
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Monday, November 15, 2004
In-joke
Maybe it's just me, but whenever I see one of those Earthlink commercials - the ones where one of the characters has a small white ball orbiting his head, I imagine the dialog running something like this:
First Guy: Bob, what's that thing circling your head?
Second Guy: I'm the new Emperor of Dragaera, Jim. Get with the program.
It's probably just me...
1 comments
Maybe it's just me, but whenever I see one of those Earthlink commercials - the ones where one of the characters has a small white ball orbiting his head, I imagine the dialog running something like this:
First Guy: Bob, what's that thing circling your head?
Second Guy: I'm the new Emperor of Dragaera, Jim. Get with the program.
It's probably just me...
1 comments
Saturday, November 13, 2004
I went out to Usery Park and did my last hike before Peru, Pass Mountain Trail. It's a pretty non-strenuous trail, at least if you follow the book I was using and take it deosil, but at 7.7 miles I think I got some good exercise. Then back to Sprouts for a chair massage. I also made what I hope is my last run to REI - had to buy a new pair of convertible pants, which were luckily on sale, when the zipper on my old pair started coming apart. This is when I discovered that I'm back down to a size 10. Not that this was a goal; more a pleasant side effect.
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From the dearth of recent posts, this blog might give the impression that I'm slacking off on Stardust County; this is only halfway true. The rest of my life has been getting in the way recently. Progress on Stardust County Line has been slow partially because of other obligations (like my day job) and partially because I'm just getting tired of churning out piano music. Next arrangement I tackle will be one of the songs with no piano if I can help it.
The problem is, this whole project has taken on overwhelming dimensions. The more sheet music I churn out, the more I'm starting to realize that the number of recording sessions we have sketched out is not going to cut it. The schedule as a whole is on hold due to Jeff's current state of limbo, which is probably just as well given that half the arrangements aren't done yet. Stardust County's release date has always been "when it's damn good and ready", but I did have a tentative date in mind to correspond with a major convention, and I'm thinking now that that's not going to happen.
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From the dearth of recent posts, this blog might give the impression that I'm slacking off on Stardust County; this is only halfway true. The rest of my life has been getting in the way recently. Progress on Stardust County Line has been slow partially because of other obligations (like my day job) and partially because I'm just getting tired of churning out piano music. Next arrangement I tackle will be one of the songs with no piano if I can help it.
The problem is, this whole project has taken on overwhelming dimensions. The more sheet music I churn out, the more I'm starting to realize that the number of recording sessions we have sketched out is not going to cut it. The schedule as a whole is on hold due to Jeff's current state of limbo, which is probably just as well given that half the arrangements aren't done yet. Stardust County's release date has always been "when it's damn good and ready", but I did have a tentative date in mind to correspond with a major convention, and I'm thinking now that that's not going to happen.
0 comments
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
I should have noted in my last post that if you go looking for tepary beans at Native Seed SEARCH, you need to look under the "Food" category. Otherwise you might buy a small packet of beans for planting in your garden, instead of a large bag for cooking.
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Tepary Bean Stew
(a co-worker asked for this after our Hallowe'en potluck, so I'm posting it here too.)
1/2 c. dry tepary beans
3 fresh basil leaves, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 c. broken wild rice
1/3 c. black barley
1 lb small white boiling potatoes, cut into chunks
1 large tomato, large dices
1 large carrot, chopped into chunks
1/2 onion, large dices
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 to 1 tsp salt, to taste.
2 Tbsp. olive oil
dab of butter
Water as needed
Rinse and soak the tepary beans overnight or all day in a medium saucepan or casserole. Discard the soaking water, and cover with enough water that they can move around when it boils. Add basil, bay, and rosemary. Bring beans to a boil; cover and reduce heat to simmer. After about 1 hour, add the wild rice and barley. Cook for an additional 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
In a skillet, saute the garlic and carrots together in a dab of melted butter for about 5 minutes, then add to the saucepan. Don't use too much butter, just enough to barely coat the skillet. Separately saute the onion and potato and add to the saucepan. Add the diced tomato, olive oil and the remaining spices. Stir, cover, and cook for another 20-30 minutes. The beans should be tender and the rice should have split but still be firm.
The only place I know to get tepary beans is Native Seed SEARCH in Tucson.
Broken wild rice is available at Indian Harvest, and probably some grocery stores.
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(a co-worker asked for this after our Hallowe'en potluck, so I'm posting it here too.)
1/2 c. dry tepary beans
3 fresh basil leaves, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 c. broken wild rice
1/3 c. black barley
1 lb small white boiling potatoes, cut into chunks
1 large tomato, large dices
1 large carrot, chopped into chunks
1/2 onion, large dices
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 to 1 tsp salt, to taste.
2 Tbsp. olive oil
dab of butter
Water as needed
Rinse and soak the tepary beans overnight or all day in a medium saucepan or casserole. Discard the soaking water, and cover with enough water that they can move around when it boils. Add basil, bay, and rosemary. Bring beans to a boil; cover and reduce heat to simmer. After about 1 hour, add the wild rice and barley. Cook for an additional 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
In a skillet, saute the garlic and carrots together in a dab of melted butter for about 5 minutes, then add to the saucepan. Don't use too much butter, just enough to barely coat the skillet. Separately saute the onion and potato and add to the saucepan. Add the diced tomato, olive oil and the remaining spices. Stir, cover, and cook for another 20-30 minutes. The beans should be tender and the rice should have split but still be firm.
The only place I know to get tepary beans is Native Seed SEARCH in Tucson.
Broken wild rice is available at Indian Harvest, and probably some grocery stores.
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Monday, November 08, 2004
No time for witty and sparkling posting tonight, so instead I give you links:
Tired of the standard red/blue map of the election? Try these on for size.
VeggieGuide has added Udupi Cafe to their listings, even if AZVegan can't seem to quite get around to it.
Some computer voting screwups that they caught. I say it's time for the gov't to knuckle down and hold evoting vendors to the same standards of process and certification as defence contracts.
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Tired of the standard red/blue map of the election? Try these on for size.
VeggieGuide has added Udupi Cafe to their listings, even if AZVegan can't seem to quite get around to it.
Some computer voting screwups that they caught. I say it's time for the gov't to knuckle down and hold evoting vendors to the same standards of process and certification as defence contracts.
0 comments
Sunday, November 07, 2004
hurrah! Omega's appetite is already improving with those rotten teeth our of his mouth. I gave him 1/2 can of food tonight and he ate it all - something he hasn't done in at least a year! Maybe the poor skinny thing will get some meat back on his bones now.
I drove out to Peralta trailhead yesterday morning, but instead of the usual hike I tried the Dutchman Trail to Miner's Peak and back. It's a nice leg-stretcher through an area with tons of cacti, but nothing challenging. I took a long time on the leg out because I was trying to see how many photos I could take with my new digital camera before a fully-charged battery runs out. (Turns out I can fill the memory card - 277 pictures.) Since I got a late start, I had just enough time to shower afterwards before heading out to dinner at Peruanitos with the gang. Good Peruvian food. And a flan that kicks other flans' butts.
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I drove out to Peralta trailhead yesterday morning, but instead of the usual hike I tried the Dutchman Trail to Miner's Peak and back. It's a nice leg-stretcher through an area with tons of cacti, but nothing challenging. I took a long time on the leg out because I was trying to see how many photos I could take with my new digital camera before a fully-charged battery runs out. (Turns out I can fill the memory card - 277 pictures.) Since I got a late start, I had just enough time to shower afterwards before heading out to dinner at Peruanitos with the gang. Good Peruvian food. And a flan that kicks other flans' butts.
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Friday, November 05, 2004
Peaseblossom is in a stinky mood today. She keeps hissing at Omega, who spent all day yesterday at the vet getting his teeth cleaned - and two of them extracted. Turns out one of them had a huge cavity, which is probably why he lost so much weight this year. So now I have a bottle of stuff to squirt on his remaining teeth, plus I may need to up his prednisone dosage because his bowel is flaring up (believe me, one thing you don't want in your house is a cat with an inflamed bowel). And yet they keep telling me he's in amazing health for a 16-year-old.
Right now he's sitting on the sunny windowsil, looking only mildly groggy.
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Right now he's sitting on the sunny windowsil, looking only mildly groggy.
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Thursday, November 04, 2004
Is it just me, or has the news of the world become Pythonesque all of a sudden? Yassar Arafat is not dead yet, and Pantomime Bin Laden has been spotted in New Zealand.
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Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Suck it up, soldier!
I am really disgusted with the defeatist tone of some of the blogs I read today. So you worked hard, and your candidate lost. No US president has ever been unseated in wartime. Coming within a 3% margin of the popular vote, with a candidate whose primary appeal was not being the incumbant, is pretty damn good. Maybe next election the Democrats will give us a real candidate.
In the meantime, there are still people out there fighting oppression, fighting injustice, fighting povery, and they need your help, whether it's a librarian standing up to the USA-PATRIOT act, a volunteer at a food bank, or a women's clinic worker putting her life on the line by going to work each day. They may even surprise you by belonging to the "wrong" party or the "wrong" religion. What cause that was worth fighting for was won in a single year? There's plenty of work to be done, and you could fill a lifetime with it.
Or you could sit on your butt and complain. Your choice.
2 comments
I am really disgusted with the defeatist tone of some of the blogs I read today. So you worked hard, and your candidate lost. No US president has ever been unseated in wartime. Coming within a 3% margin of the popular vote, with a candidate whose primary appeal was not being the incumbant, is pretty damn good. Maybe next election the Democrats will give us a real candidate.
In the meantime, there are still people out there fighting oppression, fighting injustice, fighting povery, and they need your help, whether it's a librarian standing up to the USA-PATRIOT act, a volunteer at a food bank, or a women's clinic worker putting her life on the line by going to work each day. They may even surprise you by belonging to the "wrong" party or the "wrong" religion. What cause that was worth fighting for was won in a single year? There's plenty of work to be done, and you could fill a lifetime with it.
Or you could sit on your butt and complain. Your choice.
2 comments
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
One final word on the election
I just spent half an hour googling to get info on the candidates in the non-partisan races. I'm talking School Board, Central Arizona Water Conservation District, Maricopa County Special Healthcare District, etc, because there's no publicity pamphlet distributed for these races and few of the candidates do publicity beyond roadside signs, if that.
People, people, people. I realize some of these positions are unpaid, but commandeer the family's website for one month, or scrape together the 19.95 for a cheapo internet account, and get your name, photo, and position statement OUT THERE!
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I just spent half an hour googling to get info on the candidates in the non-partisan races. I'm talking School Board, Central Arizona Water Conservation District, Maricopa County Special Healthcare District, etc, because there's no publicity pamphlet distributed for these races and few of the candidates do publicity beyond roadside signs, if that.
People, people, people. I realize some of these positions are unpaid, but commandeer the family's website for one month, or scrape together the 19.95 for a cheapo internet account, and get your name, photo, and position statement OUT THERE!
0 comments
Monday, November 01, 2004
Happy New Year!
I'd planned yesterday to go to the DBG's dia de los muertos event, but after running around doing stuff for three days I decided instead to just wrap up some things around the house. This meant cleaning the back patio and front porch and writing a bunch of checks for bills, memberships, charities, subscriptions, etc. that had piled up on my desk. Not much, but I felt oddly relieved after taking care of them; it brought a nice close to the year.
For the past couple years, I've given out bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeballs to the trick-or-treaters instead of candy. This year, to my chagrin, I found that Archie MacPhee no longer sells bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeballs in bulk, and buying them by the six-pack would be prohibitively expensive (I get anywhere between 60 and 100 kids on Hallowe'en - mine is a trick-or-treat magnet neighborhood). Well, no problem; it's Hallowe'en and I should be able to find a suitable subsistute like rubber bugs just about anyplace that sells holiday stuff, right? .......well, after extensive search I was finally forced to go to Wal-Mart (yeah, I know; I sent an extra donation to Oxfam in penance) to get some packs of plastic snakes, lizards, and toads. Went over really well with the kids, except for one girl who looked about 4 or 5, who remembered my house from last year and had been raving to her dad about getting another bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeball. Ouch.
For all the blah blah about people not celebrating Hallowe'en on Sunday, there was a respectable turnout; they just petered out earlier than usual, and at 8:30 I was able to shut down and head off to Chris & Elizabeth's new digs for their Samhain ceremony. It's kind of odd being the only coven-trained Witch in a circle of solitaries; you find yourself automatically giving the ritual responses when no-one else is, because they're used to practicing alone.
Two pet peeves of mine reared their ugly heads again, since 'tis the season: (1) Gratuitous use of the phrase "self-proclaimed Witch" in the press. Of course we're self-proclaimed! If you let someone else proclaim your religious affiliation for you, you've got problems, bud. (2) TV shows about Samhain and/or Wiccan beliefs, where the producers find it necessary to present an "opposing viewpoint" by some non-Wiccan badmouthing our religion. Do holiday specials for Rosh Hashanah or Chanukkah feature appearances by noted anti-Semites?
Oh well. It's a new year, the weather's cold and clear and fine, and in one more day we'll be rid of campaign ads aimed at voters with the IQ of a portobello mushroom. Huzzah!
3 comments
I'd planned yesterday to go to the DBG's dia de los muertos event, but after running around doing stuff for three days I decided instead to just wrap up some things around the house. This meant cleaning the back patio and front porch and writing a bunch of checks for bills, memberships, charities, subscriptions, etc. that had piled up on my desk. Not much, but I felt oddly relieved after taking care of them; it brought a nice close to the year.
For the past couple years, I've given out bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeballs to the trick-or-treaters instead of candy. This year, to my chagrin, I found that Archie MacPhee no longer sells bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeballs in bulk, and buying them by the six-pack would be prohibitively expensive (I get anywhere between 60 and 100 kids on Hallowe'en - mine is a trick-or-treat magnet neighborhood). Well, no problem; it's Hallowe'en and I should be able to find a suitable subsistute like rubber bugs just about anyplace that sells holiday stuff, right? .......well, after extensive search I was finally forced to go to Wal-Mart (yeah, I know; I sent an extra donation to Oxfam in penance) to get some packs of plastic snakes, lizards, and toads. Went over really well with the kids, except for one girl who looked about 4 or 5, who remembered my house from last year and had been raving to her dad about getting another bouncing glow-in-the-dark eyeball. Ouch.
For all the blah blah about people not celebrating Hallowe'en on Sunday, there was a respectable turnout; they just petered out earlier than usual, and at 8:30 I was able to shut down and head off to Chris & Elizabeth's new digs for their Samhain ceremony. It's kind of odd being the only coven-trained Witch in a circle of solitaries; you find yourself automatically giving the ritual responses when no-one else is, because they're used to practicing alone.
Two pet peeves of mine reared their ugly heads again, since 'tis the season: (1) Gratuitous use of the phrase "self-proclaimed Witch" in the press. Of course we're self-proclaimed! If you let someone else proclaim your religious affiliation for you, you've got problems, bud. (2) TV shows about Samhain and/or Wiccan beliefs, where the producers find it necessary to present an "opposing viewpoint" by some non-Wiccan badmouthing our religion. Do holiday specials for Rosh Hashanah or Chanukkah feature appearances by noted anti-Semites?
Oh well. It's a new year, the weather's cold and clear and fine, and in one more day we'll be rid of campaign ads aimed at voters with the IQ of a portobello mushroom. Huzzah!
3 comments
