Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Dude, I'm getting a Dell!
After months of flaky behavior, my Pavillion has pulled of the Information Superhighway on the exit to Hose-up City, and I'm admitting that it's time to offload all my data before it's irrvocably lost in a non-bootable brick, and upgrade to a new machine. Thank the Holy Ones I've been doing all my Startust County work on a quaranteened laptop. The timing for these shenanegans is pants - I need to be getting ready for Consance - but I can't install new programs or change settings on the old ones because the Registry has become corrupt. I blame Hollywood.
On the bright side, inbetween cloudbursts I've been dashing out to the garden, and transplanted the tomato seedlings outside. I put a shade cloth over to keep the rain from beating them up as they're still pretty fragile. I also planted some corn, one variety called "early and often" and the other a red variety whose name escapes me.
This blog will probably be pretty inactive for the next couple weeks until I finish the migration, but barring disaster I should still be picking up email.
1 comments
After months of flaky behavior, my Pavillion has pulled of the Information Superhighway on the exit to Hose-up City, and I'm admitting that it's time to offload all my data before it's irrvocably lost in a non-bootable brick, and upgrade to a new machine. Thank the Holy Ones I've been doing all my Startust County work on a quaranteened laptop. The timing for these shenanegans is pants - I need to be getting ready for Consance - but I can't install new programs or change settings on the old ones because the Registry has become corrupt. I blame Hollywood.
On the bright side, inbetween cloudbursts I've been dashing out to the garden, and transplanted the tomato seedlings outside. I put a shade cloth over to keep the rain from beating them up as they're still pretty fragile. I also planted some corn, one variety called "early and often" and the other a red variety whose name escapes me.
This blog will probably be pretty inactive for the next couple weeks until I finish the migration, but barring disaster I should still be picking up email.
1 comments
Saturday, February 19, 2005
What's cute, Japanese, and located 2350 meters above sea level?
Machu Pikachu!
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I put together a new cabinet today for my office supplies; the English on the instructions was pretty good up until the last page, where it lapsed into a kind of bizarre Walt-Whitmanesque poetry that only requires exclamation marks to complete the illusion:
Through the holes of the Back Panel(H) to rotate Screws(P) into Panel(C) and Left/Rigt Side Panel (A/B) and Bottom Panel(I) and Stand Panel(E)!
Through the holes of the Left/Right Door (F,G) to rotate Screws(O) into the holes of the Knob(N)!
I love the holes, because they are beautiful!
OK, I made that last sentence up.
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Hey, I thought this storm was supposed to be not as wet as the last one! According to my backyard rain gague, we got an inch here just overnight, and it's been raining off and on all day.
1 comments
Machu Pikachu!
------------
I put together a new cabinet today for my office supplies; the English on the instructions was pretty good up until the last page, where it lapsed into a kind of bizarre Walt-Whitmanesque poetry that only requires exclamation marks to complete the illusion:
Through the holes of the Back Panel(H) to rotate Screws(P) into Panel(C) and Left/Rigt Side Panel (A/B) and Bottom Panel(I) and Stand Panel(E)!
Through the holes of the Left/Right Door (F,G) to rotate Screws(O) into the holes of the Knob(N)!
I love the holes, because they are beautiful!
OK, I made that last sentence up.
----------------
Hey, I thought this storm was supposed to be not as wet as the last one! According to my backyard rain gague, we got an inch here just overnight, and it's been raining off and on all day.
1 comments
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Super-frantic-nonproductive-nothing-legislation
Ok, I stole that from Mark Russell. But what better way to describe the latest efforts from our wacky yet beloved state legislature?
Exhibit A: a proposed new law to allow people to carry guns into bars, which none of the bar owners wants. The proposed law would make it illegal to actually drink in a bar while carrying a gun - so now you can be the designated driver and ride shotgun at the same time!
Exhibit B: a proposed new law to permit pharmacists to refuse to fill legal prescriptions on moral grounds, which the pharmacists don't want because they say this law already exists. Well, the AZ gummint has never let facts get in its way before...
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Today's my birthday, and I narrowly escaped having to fly to New Jersey tomorrow, which means I can go to Cavalia after all. My wall is now finished and it looks great. And Eric Idle is on John Stewart tonight, hurrah!
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Ok, I stole that from Mark Russell. But what better way to describe the latest efforts from our wacky yet beloved state legislature?
Exhibit A: a proposed new law to allow people to carry guns into bars, which none of the bar owners wants. The proposed law would make it illegal to actually drink in a bar while carrying a gun - so now you can be the designated driver and ride shotgun at the same time!
Exhibit B: a proposed new law to permit pharmacists to refuse to fill legal prescriptions on moral grounds, which the pharmacists don't want because they say this law already exists. Well, the AZ gummint has never let facts get in its way before...
------------------
Today's my birthday, and I narrowly escaped having to fly to New Jersey tomorrow, which means I can go to Cavalia after all. My wall is now finished and it looks great. And Eric Idle is on John Stewart tonight, hurrah!
0 comments
Monday, February 14, 2005
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I did a little bit of cleanup over at StardustCounty.com; spiffed up the front page and updated my schedule for 2005.
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Gah!
This has been a disconcerting day. I had a plumber out to replace the faucet where my veg garden irrigation is attached, so now I don't have to put a bucket under it anymore. It took longer than expected, which turned out to be a good thing, because there was another miscommunication with the guys putting up my block fence. Somehow or other, when I said I wanted the 8-foot wall from the backyard extended, it didn't get across that I also wanted a right angle to the house so the side yard became part of the backyard. So we had more dealmaking over the price for that and they're going to start work on it tomorrow. I really should've caught this when they poured the fittings.
Then at work, one of my teammates called a pow-wow to discuss a discouraging trend; apparently our new section manager doesn't believe in promotions. This really sucks, because I've been working on promotion since about this time last year and that's my stated career goal for this year. The reason she doesn't believe in promotions is that higher-grade people cost more, which doesn't bode well for this spring's merit increases.
The really freaky thing happened around 5:30. I'd been seeing flyers from the Arizona Museum for Youth all around the office, and it occurred to me I hadn't talked to Larry Warner in a long time - so I called his work number to chat.... and got a recording saying that he was leaving the Museum as of the 14th! Holy cats! Have I been that out of the loop?
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Archeologists recently confirmed that the legend of Romulus and Remus is true! Well, actually what they confirmed is that Rome was founded at about the same date as said in the legend. Funny, though, whenever an archaeological site lines up with some Biblical description, scholars are quick to claim it proves the literal verity of the whole collection of books.
1 comments
This has been a disconcerting day. I had a plumber out to replace the faucet where my veg garden irrigation is attached, so now I don't have to put a bucket under it anymore. It took longer than expected, which turned out to be a good thing, because there was another miscommunication with the guys putting up my block fence. Somehow or other, when I said I wanted the 8-foot wall from the backyard extended, it didn't get across that I also wanted a right angle to the house so the side yard became part of the backyard. So we had more dealmaking over the price for that and they're going to start work on it tomorrow. I really should've caught this when they poured the fittings.
Then at work, one of my teammates called a pow-wow to discuss a discouraging trend; apparently our new section manager doesn't believe in promotions. This really sucks, because I've been working on promotion since about this time last year and that's my stated career goal for this year. The reason she doesn't believe in promotions is that higher-grade people cost more, which doesn't bode well for this spring's merit increases.
The really freaky thing happened around 5:30. I'd been seeing flyers from the Arizona Museum for Youth all around the office, and it occurred to me I hadn't talked to Larry Warner in a long time - so I called his work number to chat.... and got a recording saying that he was leaving the Museum as of the 14th! Holy cats! Have I been that out of the loop?
------------------------
Archeologists recently confirmed that the legend of Romulus and Remus is true! Well, actually what they confirmed is that Rome was founded at about the same date as said in the legend. Funny, though, whenever an archaeological site lines up with some Biblical description, scholars are quick to claim it proves the literal verity of the whole collection of books.
1 comments
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Despite the rain this weekend, I managed to get a few things done. I did my taxes & mailed them off; got the last of my Peru photos printed, labelled, and ordered into albums; baked cookies; finished scoring "Pieces"; and when the sun finally came out hiked Siphon Draw up to the basin to see if the waterfall was running. It was. Quite a bit of the trail had running water issues and I slipped and fell on my butt at one point. The whole of Lost Dutchman Park is incredibly green. It's going to be awesome in another week or so when all those brittelbushes explode into bloom.
Next on my to-do list: head on over to Stardustcounty.com and clean out some cobwebs!
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Next on my to-do list: head on over to Stardustcounty.com and clean out some cobwebs!
0 comments
Monday, February 07, 2005
Oh yeah...
My question for the day is, why can't I get a decent avocado in this town? I thought I'd have a nice avocado on toast for breakfast, but after over a week "ripening" in a paper bag it was haard as a rock, and every bit as tasty. The first time this happened, I figured it was because it was a Chilean avocado, but this one was supposedly from California! I am disgruntled.
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It turns out that the water we supposedly lost from the Verde River chachement for want of more reservoirs wasn't wasted after all. We have a treaty to supply Mexico X amount of water yearly, and as the Salt River conveniently flows in that direction, it means Arizona doesn't have to release any water from Lake Mead to meet that quota.
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Interesting nooz lynx:
The New Zealand Herald with its view on whose idea the Iraqi elections were.
How to hack the vote.
May the starch be with you.
Yeah, but.... fondue?!!
Well, at least the British have their priorities straight.
0 comments
My question for the day is, why can't I get a decent avocado in this town? I thought I'd have a nice avocado on toast for breakfast, but after over a week "ripening" in a paper bag it was haard as a rock, and every bit as tasty. The first time this happened, I figured it was because it was a Chilean avocado, but this one was supposedly from California! I am disgruntled.
---------------
It turns out that the water we supposedly lost from the Verde River chachement for want of more reservoirs wasn't wasted after all. We have a treaty to supply Mexico X amount of water yearly, and as the Salt River conveniently flows in that direction, it means Arizona doesn't have to release any water from Lake Mead to meet that quota.
---------------
Interesting nooz lynx:
The New Zealand Herald with its view on whose idea the Iraqi elections were.
How to hack the vote.
May the starch be with you.
Yeah, but.... fondue?!!
Well, at least the British have their priorities straight.
0 comments
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Dancing About Architecture
The arrangement for "Less Than a Hero" has been coming along nicely - despite all my spare time suddenly vanishing for no discernable reason. This was the most troublesome song in the opera when I first wrote it; originally I'd toyed with the idea of yodelling, then happily discarded that idea, then came up with the three-verse semi-recit form, tossed the original verses in disgust, and finally came up with the version that went into the completed piece. The problem has always been that the song has a lot of information to get across, in a circuitous way that fits the Juggler's character while keeping the magical system of Stardust County sufficiently vague that it doesn't turn into a cookbook world. The music has to be sufficiently unobtrusive that it doesn't distract from the words, but doesn't become monotonous. With that in mind, I threw out the piano part that I hadn't started, and kept the accompaniment to guitar, fiddle, tambourine, and castanets. Underneath the verses I wrote an interesting fiddle part, then started paring it down. When I had my first sketch done, I tested out the segue into "Thunder-Grey Horse" using Sibelius' playback feature. Oops! the end of LTaH was stronger than the beginning of TGH! Exactly the opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish with this song pairing! So I had to go back in and rewrite the intro to "Thunder-Grey Horse". Much better now - got rid of some chord changes I was never really comfortable with.
This is why I don't write more about the creative process. I don't know if any of that even made sense.
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I'm getting a block-and-iron wall (3 foot, relax) put up around my front yard, and I'm annoyed about it. There are other parts of the house that I'd much rather be spending this kind of money on. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the cost is more than my trip to Peru. It's a matter of, after 10 years, getting tired of the traffic across my yard and the damange done to the landscaping. And girl, is it hard to get a contractor out to your house in this town! I've had a few communications problems with the contractor I finally went with, but he's always made an effort to put things right so hopefully I made the right decision.
0 comments
The arrangement for "Less Than a Hero" has been coming along nicely - despite all my spare time suddenly vanishing for no discernable reason. This was the most troublesome song in the opera when I first wrote it; originally I'd toyed with the idea of yodelling, then happily discarded that idea, then came up with the three-verse semi-recit form, tossed the original verses in disgust, and finally came up with the version that went into the completed piece. The problem has always been that the song has a lot of information to get across, in a circuitous way that fits the Juggler's character while keeping the magical system of Stardust County sufficiently vague that it doesn't turn into a cookbook world. The music has to be sufficiently unobtrusive that it doesn't distract from the words, but doesn't become monotonous. With that in mind, I threw out the piano part that I hadn't started, and kept the accompaniment to guitar, fiddle, tambourine, and castanets. Underneath the verses I wrote an interesting fiddle part, then started paring it down. When I had my first sketch done, I tested out the segue into "Thunder-Grey Horse" using Sibelius' playback feature. Oops! the end of LTaH was stronger than the beginning of TGH! Exactly the opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish with this song pairing! So I had to go back in and rewrite the intro to "Thunder-Grey Horse". Much better now - got rid of some chord changes I was never really comfortable with.
This is why I don't write more about the creative process. I don't know if any of that even made sense.
----------------
I'm getting a block-and-iron wall (3 foot, relax) put up around my front yard, and I'm annoyed about it. There are other parts of the house that I'd much rather be spending this kind of money on. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the cost is more than my trip to Peru. It's a matter of, after 10 years, getting tired of the traffic across my yard and the damange done to the landscaping. And girl, is it hard to get a contractor out to your house in this town! I've had a few communications problems with the contractor I finally went with, but he's always made an effort to put things right so hopefully I made the right decision.
0 comments
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
OK, this is more a LiveJournal sort of thing, but I'm too insoucient with ennui tonight to write a real post:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal...along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.
"The andrakhi lamb chops ($12) arrive sizzling and juicy, so tuck in."
2 comments
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal...along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.
"The andrakhi lamb chops ($12) arrive sizzling and juicy, so tuck in."
2 comments
