Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Scam Alert!
There are a bunch of spams being circulated now by slime molds hoping to make money off the Katrina disaster. Don't be scammed! This FEMA site has a list of legitimate rescue organizations you can donate to. Make sure your money actually goes to help the victims.
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I've seen some news articles recently critical of the proposed Iraqi constituion because it doesn't protect women's rights. None of these articles has mentioned that the U.S. Constitution doesn't explicitly protect women's rights. Most readers of this blog are old enough to remember such an amendment was drafted in the 70's - then beaten to a bloody pulp by alarmists who claimed that it would lead to, horror of horrors, unisex bathrooms.
Witchcraft and lesbianism may also have been mentioned.
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I love the new Wisconsin quarter. It has a cow, an ear of corn, a big wheel of cheese, and a scroll bearing the slogan, "forward". Wow.
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There are a bunch of spams being circulated now by slime molds hoping to make money off the Katrina disaster. Don't be scammed! This FEMA site has a list of legitimate rescue organizations you can donate to. Make sure your money actually goes to help the victims.
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I've seen some news articles recently critical of the proposed Iraqi constituion because it doesn't protect women's rights. None of these articles has mentioned that the U.S. Constitution doesn't explicitly protect women's rights. Most readers of this blog are old enough to remember such an amendment was drafted in the 70's - then beaten to a bloody pulp by alarmists who claimed that it would lead to, horror of horrors, unisex bathrooms.
Witchcraft and lesbianism may also have been mentioned.
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I love the new Wisconsin quarter. It has a cow, an ear of corn, a big wheel of cheese, and a scroll bearing the slogan, "forward". Wow.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Saturday, August 27, 2005
This is my last photo of Omega, taken at the end of May right before his decline.His "urn" arrived from Ashes in Stone yesterday. It's actually a cast-stone statue of a sleeping cat, with a chamber for the ashes. After I'd filled the urn there was some residue in the paper bag, which I sprinkled over the garden just outside the bedroom window. Fittingly, there's a rosemary bush right there.
I'd really never thought about what to do with his remains; when the time came I chose individual cremation because mass cremation didn't seem right, and burial in my caliche-ridden back yard would require explosives.
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I got my Deep and Peak Performance dives done at Lake Pleasant today, so now I'm officially a PADI Advanced Diver, woo hoo. Not quite as nice as it would have been in San Carlos; visibility for the Deep dive was about one foot, the most interesting thing being how freaking cold it got starting about 40 feet. Visibility for Peak Performance, which involved swimming through PVC hoops, wasn't much better.
I tried ankle weights today and the difference was phenomenal - no more floaty feet! I don't know if it was related or not, but my air consumption was ridiculously low: 800 psi for the Deep dive and 700 psi for the slightly longer Peak Performance.
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Friday, August 26, 2005
Swimming with the Fishes
& Feeding the Fishes
Went down to San Carlos with the El Mar bus trip last weekend to see about getting my Advanced Diver certification. The weather was beautiful Sunday morning; we went out to "the island" to get barked at by the sea lions. I got my Boat and Navigation dives in, and took some pictures of all the angel fish that I'll post if they turn out. We also did a Night dive; no lobsters this time, but lots of hermit crabs and my first experience with bioluminescence. When you're out on the water with no lights around but the boat the stars are pretty amazing.
Monday morning it got really choppy at the anchorage for the first dive, and I got too sick to go under. (I'd cut my Patch in half to reduce the nasty side effects, and apparently the lower dose wasn't enough for the chop.) So I'm back to Lake Pleasant this coming weekend to get my Deep and Peak Performance dives in for my certification. Oh well. I enjoyed getting away for a few days. We went to an amazing seafood restaurant in Guaymas the last night - I think it was called Los Arbolitas. Yummy garlic shrimp.
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It's an eight-hour bus drive between Phoenix and San Carlos, and the in-flight entertainment consists of whatever DVDs people bring along, so here are my reviews of movies that I didn't pay to see in the theater:
Hitch
Will Smith is so good in this movie. It's a rare bird, an intelligent and genuinely funny rom-com that they guys on the bus liked as much as the gals. I wouldn't put it in the same class as The Philadelphia Story, but the two couples have real chemistry and it's entertaining. I would actually have paid to see this movie.
National Treasure
Once this movie sets up its silly premise, it stays consistent to its own internal logic.
Swordfish
...is, if not the stupidest movie ever made, the stupidest one I've ever seen. Realize that the body of work I have for comparison includes a 90-second film from 1925, Gus Visser and His Singing Duck. Apart from plot and characterization, what makes Gus Visser and His Singing Duck superior to Swordfish? Well, the director doesn't have Gus Visser announce to the audience at the beginning of the film his vision to make a modern, "more realistic" version of a classic singing duck movie. And the duck has a more comprehensive grasp of computers and cryptography.
Along Came Polly
& There's Something About Mary
Three days later, I can't keep these two straight in my head. The characters and situations are pretty much interchangeable. One of them has a funny bit about a scuba instructor.
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& Feeding the Fishes
Went down to San Carlos with the El Mar bus trip last weekend to see about getting my Advanced Diver certification. The weather was beautiful Sunday morning; we went out to "the island" to get barked at by the sea lions. I got my Boat and Navigation dives in, and took some pictures of all the angel fish that I'll post if they turn out. We also did a Night dive; no lobsters this time, but lots of hermit crabs and my first experience with bioluminescence. When you're out on the water with no lights around but the boat the stars are pretty amazing.
Monday morning it got really choppy at the anchorage for the first dive, and I got too sick to go under. (I'd cut my Patch in half to reduce the nasty side effects, and apparently the lower dose wasn't enough for the chop.) So I'm back to Lake Pleasant this coming weekend to get my Deep and Peak Performance dives in for my certification. Oh well. I enjoyed getting away for a few days. We went to an amazing seafood restaurant in Guaymas the last night - I think it was called Los Arbolitas. Yummy garlic shrimp.
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It's an eight-hour bus drive between Phoenix and San Carlos, and the in-flight entertainment consists of whatever DVDs people bring along, so here are my reviews of movies that I didn't pay to see in the theater:
Hitch
Will Smith is so good in this movie. It's a rare bird, an intelligent and genuinely funny rom-com that they guys on the bus liked as much as the gals. I wouldn't put it in the same class as The Philadelphia Story, but the two couples have real chemistry and it's entertaining. I would actually have paid to see this movie.
National Treasure
Once this movie sets up its silly premise, it stays consistent to its own internal logic.
Swordfish
...is, if not the stupidest movie ever made, the stupidest one I've ever seen. Realize that the body of work I have for comparison includes a 90-second film from 1925, Gus Visser and His Singing Duck. Apart from plot and characterization, what makes Gus Visser and His Singing Duck superior to Swordfish? Well, the director doesn't have Gus Visser announce to the audience at the beginning of the film his vision to make a modern, "more realistic" version of a classic singing duck movie. And the duck has a more comprehensive grasp of computers and cryptography.
Along Came Polly
& There's Something About Mary
Three days later, I can't keep these two straight in my head. The characters and situations are pretty much interchangeable. One of them has a funny bit about a scuba instructor.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Cascadiamania
Just got back from San Carlos, checking my email, discovered the CascadiaCon committee put me on a ton of program items - most of them at times I said I won't physically be there. Well, it is a preliminary schedule...
Writeup on the dive later. So sleepy.
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Just got back from San Carlos, checking my email, discovered the CascadiaCon committee put me on a ton of program items - most of them at times I said I won't physically be there. Well, it is a preliminary schedule...
Writeup on the dive later. So sleepy.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Illness has a way of making dreams interesting. Last night I had another attack of the intestinal bug with no cause. By around 1:30 I was hallucinating that the pain in my gut was the Colorado River, and I was part of an early Grand Canyon expedition scaling the Canyon walls to try to escape a flash flood. Later in the morning (I wound up staying home from work), I had a long, convoluted, and confusing series of dreams that culminated in my encountering Emma Bull scuba diving in a swimming pool that was located in a candy store in a small Arizona town.
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Actually, I did go in to work for about 3 hours late afternoon. I've been scheduling and re-scheduling this review meeting for almost a month, and when I finally find a day everyone can attend I get sick. So, I went in, and managed not to throw up during the review.
Feeling better tonight; ate an apple and some tomato soup.
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Actually, I did go in to work for about 3 hours late afternoon. I've been scheduling and re-scheduling this review meeting for almost a month, and when I finally find a day everyone can attend I get sick. So, I went in, and managed not to throw up during the review.
Feeling better tonight; ate an apple and some tomato soup.
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Sunday, August 14, 2005
Blind Nude Pool Volleyball
The Holt Anniversary party may have been more sedate last night than in years gone past - no fire dancers and no body-painting - but I enjoyed just sitting around and talking with old friends. The food wasn't bad either. (I was pleased at how the felafel mix I was trying for the first time turned out.) Barry was there with goodies, looking good considering his recent illness. Do I know anyone who's healthy anymore?
As things were starting to wind down I headed over to Chris' place for the end of a relaxed and rather silly housefilk. It was 1:30 when I got home, the latest I've been out in a long time. Miraculously, Peaseblossom let me sleep in to a fairly obscene hour this morning.
Peasie on the 'Nip
Her attitude has improved significantly since I dug out some toys on Friday. One of them is this huge catnip-stuffed rat, almost as big as she is, that both cats ignored when I bought it years ago. She doesn't so much play with it as occasionally go over and bite it with a good shake. She's also discovered the 'nip-infused scratching pad that had beome Omega's domain. Yep, nothing like drugs to help you through an emotionally difficult time.
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The Holt Anniversary party may have been more sedate last night than in years gone past - no fire dancers and no body-painting - but I enjoyed just sitting around and talking with old friends. The food wasn't bad either. (I was pleased at how the felafel mix I was trying for the first time turned out.) Barry was there with goodies, looking good considering his recent illness. Do I know anyone who's healthy anymore?
As things were starting to wind down I headed over to Chris' place for the end of a relaxed and rather silly housefilk. It was 1:30 when I got home, the latest I've been out in a long time. Miraculously, Peaseblossom let me sleep in to a fairly obscene hour this morning.
Peasie on the 'Nip
Her attitude has improved significantly since I dug out some toys on Friday. One of them is this huge catnip-stuffed rat, almost as big as she is, that both cats ignored when I bought it years ago. She doesn't so much play with it as occasionally go over and bite it with a good shake. She's also discovered the 'nip-infused scratching pad that had beome Omega's domain. Yep, nothing like drugs to help you through an emotionally difficult time.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Peaseblossom has been trying to take over Omega's duties as computer cat, but she doesn't have the technique quite down. For example, when she sits in my lap and kneads, she leaves her hindquarters on the desk.
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A reminder, the Arizona Filk Page has moved to this URL: http://www.patrickconnors.org/filk/ .
If you were getting automatic mailings from the Phoenix Filk Circle mailing list, you need to go there to sign up again.
If you're hosting a filk circle or have another filk event to add to the calendar, the new page now has an easy form for submitting it.
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2-1/4 inches again last night. If you're keeping track, that means in my little microclimate at least, we've had more than half the average annual rainfall within what, two weeks? One? Ever seen pictures of some Midwestern floodplain, with the mud and debris everywhere? That's what my back yard looks like this morning - without the rowboats or neighbor's shed having floated in, although that's what I'm expecting next.
What I want to know is, why was there a lake on McKellips between Country Club and the river crossing yesterday? You'd think that, since the river bed is lower and, you know, a river bed, that the water would have flowed downhill. Instead it congregated in front of the auto body shop and whatever that drive-through burger place is and threatened to set all vehicles in the right and center lanes afloat.
Oh well. The cacti are fat and happy, and the rain sage are bursting with buds. And I've got a zillion little weed seedlings to pull.
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What I want to know is, why was there a lake on McKellips between Country Club and the river crossing yesterday? You'd think that, since the river bed is lower and, you know, a river bed, that the water would have flowed downhill. Instead it congregated in front of the auto body shop and whatever that drive-through burger place is and threatened to set all vehicles in the right and center lanes afloat.
Oh well. The cacti are fat and happy, and the rain sage are bursting with buds. And I've got a zillion little weed seedlings to pull.
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Friday, August 05, 2005
Tom came over last night to learn some basic HTML and give me a much-appreciated massage, and as I was getting pummelled and we were gossipping, I realized that hey, if our show at Fidd's in late September is coming up, that means CascadiaCon is coming up even faster! Which means I've got to get off my duff and start practicing, especially getting something worked up on piano since their filk liason & I made noises some time back about my borrowing a keyboard. AND I owe the folks at Concertino a return email. AND my webpage has needed updating with many things since the Flagstaff Folk Festival back in June.
Not to mention that I've got to start on the bookwork for my Advanced Diver certification, two weeks from today. Egad.
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Cousteau has gone off to live in a two-storey apartment with one of Keith's co-workers, so though I'm sad to see him go, I know he'll be happy in a home without a hissy growly thing following him around. It's too bad Peaseblossom had to be such a poo-head.
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Walking out to pick up the mail this evening I noticed how badly some of my neighbors have been hit by the past few storms. One neighbor's saguaro blew over, and the apparently sustained some roof damage because there's a bright blue tarp over it. My neighbors to the north lost a bunch of shingles, and their olive tree is looking more and more like a lost cause. Those puppies are high maintenance, and they haven't done diddley with it since they moved in. Fortunately I haven't seen any damage; even the shade cloth Pete & I rigged up on the south side of the house it still holding.
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BTW, Tom was complaining that he hasn't been getting any new filk CDs to review for Connotations, so if you've got something you want some cheap publicity for, send him a copy!
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Not to mention that I've got to start on the bookwork for my Advanced Diver certification, two weeks from today. Egad.
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Cousteau has gone off to live in a two-storey apartment with one of Keith's co-workers, so though I'm sad to see him go, I know he'll be happy in a home without a hissy growly thing following him around. It's too bad Peaseblossom had to be such a poo-head.
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Walking out to pick up the mail this evening I noticed how badly some of my neighbors have been hit by the past few storms. One neighbor's saguaro blew over, and the apparently sustained some roof damage because there's a bright blue tarp over it. My neighbors to the north lost a bunch of shingles, and their olive tree is looking more and more like a lost cause. Those puppies are high maintenance, and they haven't done diddley with it since they moved in. Fortunately I haven't seen any damage; even the shade cloth Pete & I rigged up on the south side of the house it still holding.
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BTW, Tom was complaining that he hasn't been getting any new filk CDs to review for Connotations, so if you've got something you want some cheap publicity for, send him a copy!
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Anyone else have a lake in their back yard last night? I sure did. 2.3 inches, according to my rain gauge. Wow.
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Well, this sucks.
Peaseblossom has unequivocably declared that she wants to be an only cat after all, so I have to keep Smudge shut in the spare room until Carrie can pick him up on Friday. If you know anyone in the Phoenix area who has room for a really great cat, please point them to me. (Or to Carrie and Keith.)
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Peaseblossom has unequivocably declared that she wants to be an only cat after all, so I have to keep Smudge shut in the spare room until Carrie can pick him up on Friday. If you know anyone in the Phoenix area who has room for a really great cat, please point them to me. (Or to Carrie and Keith.)
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Monday, August 01, 2005
Experiencing a distinct lack of domestic tranquility here. Peaseblossom seems to feel genuinely threatened by Cousteau, despite his total absence of agression towards her or the universe at large. Carrie says it takes about a week for cats to get used to each other. It's gonna be a long week.
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