Whimsy 99

Super bowl commercials

2012-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Personally, come game day (what game day, even tho’ it’s in my hometown and aren’t they excited), I’ll be taking a walk or fast-forwarding through the puppy bowl. Still, if I DO turn on the tube, I’ll be fast-forwarding to these….

http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2012/01/31/super-bowl-ad-power-rankings-enter-the-soup-nazi/

Third post for Don

2012-02-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

After work, I think I going to dig out all my old Funkadelic records: http://youtu.be/4supWXaFgbc.

A dance line

2012-02-01T08:35:00.001-08:00

A dance line, for example: http://youtu.be/lJ5iuWotw3M

RIP Don Cornelius

2012-02-01T08:33:00.001-08:00

RIP, Don.

He certainly enlivened many of my Saturday mornings over the years. Let’s all form a dance line this very second.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/don-cornelius-dead-soul-train_n_1246642.html

2012-01-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

What's on your mind in a 3 am wake-up?

For me, last night: 1) coughing; 2) thinking left-field thoughts: of our Chemex from the 70s and the light reflecting in its curves, of my grandmother's soft inner upper arm (she must have been about my age now), of the flat fields of the farm; 3) then hearing the broken ice maker dumping its 12th daily load of filtered cubes—it won't turn off and seems too expensive to fix. So we have bowls and bowls of ice everywhere.

More photoshop, less plastic surgery.

2012-01-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Even though we had to work hard to get those wrinkles, right? Memento mori: Kodak at less than $1 share.

Go Get TAFFY

2011-11-30T19:39:00.000-08:00

Found on my post-Thanksgiving recovery walk, a water-spattered composition sheet with a hard-to-make-out-scrawl: "Tell Karen I am Really Happy she works with me. She always has my Back whether asked or not [over a good job?]. Give her a little salt water Taffy and Say Thank You. GO GET SALT WATER TAFFY."

Hooray, scallops

2011-11-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

I love it that scallops have 40 to 100 eyes circling their mantle; however, this now means I probably won’t eat them anymore. Recommended for science heads: Evolution's Witness: How Eyes Evolved (Schwab), out Oct 2011.

http://www.amazon.com/Evolutions-Witness-How-Eyes-Evolved/dp/0195369742

Decorative contact lenses

2011-10-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

The scary part about a Halloween costume shouldn't be the eye damage it leaves behind.

http://www.geteyesmart.org/eyesmart/eye-health-news/scary-lenses.cfm]

2011-10-11T12:24:00.001-07:00

http://yourwordsworth.blogspot.com/

Part of my uphill loop in the neighborhood...

2011-10-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Am I blue? As I walked down Columbus through North Beach, a Blue Angel jet flashed by about 50 feet overhead, scattering pedestrians and pigeons alike. Part of practice for the weekend show. Years ago in a Chanel commercial, Catherine Deneuve’s beautiful self would murmur, “Come close. Come closer….” “No, no” we would shriek, “noooooooo that’s too close. ” Yes indeed, Angels too close. Loud and thrilling, but do we have budget for that, really? Over the weekend, I was fleet-less in bucolic Oakland. Yay, Oakland…

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/10/08/fleet-week-draws-1000s-to-san-francisco-waterfront/

2011-09-21T06:27:00.001-07:00

Not much of whimsy has struck my fancy, as of late. However, this just in:

"For example, sales records show that bananas with Pantone color 13-0858 (otherwise known as Vibrant Yellow) are less likely to sell than bananas with Pantone color 12-0752 (also called Buttercup), which is one grade warmer, visually, and seems to imply a riper, fresher fruit."

Being primed by brands at the grocery store--it's enough to make me stick to homegrown everything, but then all we'd be eating, for the new few weeks anyway, is tomatoes, chives, and jalapenos.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1779611/priming-whole-foods-derren-brown

Thrift store art

2011-07-29T16:29:00.001-07:00

Paint by numbers, too...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1960176245069&set=a.1897458797172.2096872.1262693524&type=1&theater

Counting Crows

2011-07-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

I've been noticing more crows than mockingbirds , so I turned to the "big brain" to investigate. Landed on this page:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101118075931AArB2P9 . Became intrigued by the idea of a "Christian Factory."

Which do you prefer

2011-07-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

Which do you prefer? We are surrounded, all of a sudden.

2011-06-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

Around 6:30 am I wandered groggily down the hallway, past the back door. I looked out to check the fog (nada) and looked down to see a fluffy baby skunk sipping water out of the basin by the faucet. It was about 8 inches long with a tail that stood up about a foot. It was adorable. So glad I didn't startle it. 'll keep the camera close by in case he/she comes back in the morning.

Sounds of Summer, Part II

2011-06-20T09:04:00.001-07:00

I don’t love the sound of gunshots, about 2 blocks away. The teens had a melee Sunday afternoon. One of our neighbors found out, “There were at least 4 squad cars present yesterday between 4 and 6 pm placing numbered cards wherever stray bullets were found lying on the ground. There were at least 30. School hasn't even been out more than a couple of days, so it looks like we're in for quite a summer.” Some injuries to participants. Crazy behavior. I’d prefer the sound of chickens and mowers, thank you very much.

Summer

2011-06-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Fog finally burns off around noon these days. Love the sound of the lawnmower and chickens--as long as they are about half block away.

I'm stuck

2011-05-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Anything I e-mail post to my blog http://yourwordsworth.blogspot.com/ goes to my facebook wall, with partial text and and missing photos I may have attached. I'm buffaloed. May have to start all over. Again.

Uh oh, I was insensitive

2011-05-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

My casual commute involved a conversation with a chatty fun person, a teacher who absolutely adores her job teaching elementary school in the Tenderloin, an area of SF whose reputation is less than stellar. Yes, I said, I feel the same way about Oakland: a little jewel. Oh, really? Then she told me how folks were shot in front of her house (about a mile away) and people keep breaking into houses around the block and her house is underwater and won't emerge for at least 10 years, and she and hubby are thinking of simply walking away. To Florida? I feel sheepish.

Choking arty

2011-05-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Anyone experienced with growing artichokes? My first plant is now 3 feet high and 3 feet wide, with 3 or 4 little chokes emerging. Yum. News and film at 10.

Wouldn't you know it

2011-04-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

From a text I’m working on: “The pathophysiology of chronic post-traumatic headache is believed to be due to a combination of organic and psychological factors. Post-traumatic headache may be more common in patients with pre-existing psychopathology. In addition, financial incentives also seem to increase the rate of disabilities among patients with post-traumatic headaches.”

Jeer Review

2011-04-19T10:48:00.001-07:00

Maybe only editors will laugh, but Harper’s magazine made me do it and led me to it:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02394.x/full

My personal favorite? Perhaps the last on the list: “The writing and data presentation are so bad that I had to leave work and go home early and then spend time to wonder what life is about.” Or a runner-up, “The biggest problem with this manuscript, which has nearly sucked the will to live out of me, is the terrible writing style.”

Collections in the garage

2011-04-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature is mad, the president still looks sad (but he's oh so articulate), and I have a ridiculously minute (my newt) problem: whether/how to transfer my excellent record collection that's been moldering in the garage to MP3. To transfer to MP3 my excellent record collection that has been melting, baking, fossilizing in the deep subconscious morass that is our garage ...whoops, editorial moment. Supposedly the sound of MP3 is questionable, to the fine-tuned ear, but I can't hear that well anyway, so pulling the usb turntable out of the box would be one step farther toward whittling collections and possessions.

The lament of giant fingers

2011-04-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

I’ve been passed 2 Smart phones to play with, should I wish to get back on the tech train. All abooooooooard. But ah, my fingers seem to belong to a giant man, not to me. Jolly Green Me.

Exuberant flowers

2011-04-05T18:39:00.001-07:00

We seem have a nasturtium field in the back 40. No flowers yet, but some leaves are 10 inches across. Yowsa. The old-world impatiens are about choked out...every year or two something new takes over. At least the fennel, kudzu, blackberries, ivy, and bamboo are giving it a break.

Dancing at the Desk

2011-03-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Whenever I hear “In Motion” by Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross, why, I just start bobbing and bouncing. Reflex. Kind of like my grumpy cat J. used to do whenever she heard Balinese Gamelan on the Nonesuch Sampler. Pavlovian. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yczul_609Gg

Transcription Part 2: eating cheating also

2011-03-28T20:29:00.001-07:00

Another fine message transcription of a voicemail: "Hi Mr., well all game. He said we probably will but with afternoon 81888 or you used to see if you've eat 218123 you would let him know one these listening to these things on bed rest for the they still, they close up the building. I'm been busy probably a woke up so anyway tell him I need to be eating cheating also, you know I love you. Please call me back at 2121 and I see you there at 1:00. Okay well call them 3415. I would with you. Okay. I wouldn't really important. Thank you. bye bye"

Voice Mail

2011-03-22T12:19:00.001-07:00

Why humans are still better than machines at transcription (my latest Vonage delivery): "Hello Kim ...I saw a question about how putting your mother and the knowledge and so I have her in there is no loader in the learner and I know that I almost the lowest Arlene. I was having. Yes I think it's like but anyway yeah. So anyway I don't know how they didn't get in and because I've been anyway. Kiss me a call because that was the last. It's the last thing I pay. I think and we'll figure that out and didn't you the interest that way you could get that video to them tomorrow. So I hope you're having a good time up in Southern Moon my night. He has some graduate on the 18th."

Milo

2011-03-13T14:24:00.001-07:00

Our kitty Milo passed away last Thursday night, and I'm sad. We rescued him from a spa in Calistoga in oh, about 1998. He had been failing for a few months. Our senior kitty boys seem to suffer from kidney problems eventually, no matter what we try. I just returned from the midwest and I'm having a heck of a time adjusting to the time change.

Tiptoe Tuesday

2011-02-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

The tulips are poking through; some of the daffodils are in full bloom. But oxalis dominates. Squirrels are raiding the bird feeders, as usual.

2011-02-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

Ruth said I could use her sighting. Each year about this time, down on MacArthur, a tax outfit takes up residence in the old video store next to Subway. Each night in the thick of the commute time a kid dressed as Lady Liberty stands and jiggles and twirls a sign, aiming to lure in tax neophytes as he (and it has always been a he in our neighborhood) dances. Recently she passed by and noticed the police taking down the latest Lady Liberty, who knows what this child did. He was spread-eagled. he pointy foam crown on Lady Liberty's head askew. Just sayin'....My husband gets upset when I suggest he could get a job--any part time job-- to help meet the current gap,including doing a Lady Liberty stint. I envision that I'd sell my body, if times were excruciating (depending on pt of view), but who would want it? Comes to mind. Just sayin'....

2011-02-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better...Daniel Handler plays the ACCORDION:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_xY4Gto7EY&feature=related

A friend at work, Diana, and I are working out way through the Lemony Snicket series of unfortunate adventures. Oh would that I had these gloomy tomes to read as a kid.

Hail, Bopp

2011-02-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

Twice it hailed today, a harbinger of pagan rites ahead?

Puppy Bowl

2011-02-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Just when I think I can't get it any better, Puppy Bowl VII has chickens for cheerleaders...

quote of the week

2011-01-31T12:53:00.001-08:00

““The Swarmatron is a gateway drug to other Dewanatrons.” Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/01/24/110124ta_talk_paumgarten#ixzz1CeGGUM5W

2011-01-28T15:52:00.001-08:00

Many years ago, these cabins were $25 a night. Now they're $110 and nearly impossible to get via the State Parks System. But we snagged one night, for the start of a (gulp) milestone birthday. http://picasaweb.google.com/wordsworth99/SteepRavineCabins

Kindling

2011-01-22T12:20:00.001-08:00

Halfway back on the tech train I am. My new Kindle has on it Scrabble*, The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Oxford Dictionary of English, How to Camp Out, The Possessed: Adventures of Russian Books and People Who Read Them,* The Emperor of all Maladies,* Everyday Foods in War Time, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Autiobiography of a Yogi, and the New Oxford American Dictionary. (*=purchased) There's a lot of free words out there, especially from the 1940s and earlier. CONS: no paper turning, no paper corner folding, no good back button functionality, hard to prop, cool tactility vs warm, easy to lose. PROS: easy to take along, can make type big, can highlight stuff, share highlights via facebook etc, thin and small. Audible feature that reads text to you in a mechanical voice I find vaguely hypnotic. Ben Franklin's description of monitoring his habits is very entertaining. The dictionaries aren't particularly browsable; 'tis a shame.

Loud shoes

2011-01-11T09:10:00.001-08:00

No doubt about it, the women with loud boots always seem to be right behind me as I huff up Columbus, from Market St. on my way to work. I cross over, they cross over. Grr. Now I know why my father used to tip me cash money to not wear Dr. Scholl’s around the house.

Shuffling to the bus

2010-12-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

Looked up from my shuffle to the new temp terminal to see a pickup alongside. All hail the three giant Doggie Diner heads. Darn, no camera, once again. And my lo-tech phone doesn't have one; I stepped off the tech train for a while. But apparently these dogs get around: http://laughingsquid.com/doggie-diner-dog-heads/

2010-11-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

Brrrr. Dug out the big sweater. I am grateful for warmth and taps that open to deliver clean water. Oh, and cornmeal pancakes.

2010-11-11T14:50:00.001-08:00

Here’s a job I might consider, if I could do it part time: mortuary transport driver. Two years ago or so I cajoled H. into letting me drive a hearse to Illinois, bearing someone on their next to-last earthly journey. It was an honor, really. Plus we stopped on the way back and ate fried walleye, back in the days I was eating more of that kind of stuff.

Indiana Recycling, another try

2010-11-01T19:54:00.001-07:00

What to do with all those old toilets hanging around--a BIGGER version. No, they're not in my back 40. Southern Indiana, last week.

Indiana Recycling

2010-10-31T15:35:00.002-07:00

What to do with all those old toilets hanging around the back 40.

Indiana Fair

2010-10-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

Green screen comes to the carny aisle...

Vikings vs Italians

2010-10-12T08:30:00.001-07:00

More tales from the commute: boring, I know, but it was SO EASY yesterday. Ah, Columbus Day. B. picked me up at the bottom of the hill at the end of the day and I started in rhapsodizing about the rather traffic-free ride over. Not too many raging drivers. "Well, it is Indigenous People's day," I commented. He slammed on the brakes and said GET OUT OF THE CAR. Then I remembered he's half Italian. "Well," I sniffed, "The Vikings were actually visiting North America long before he made his way to the Bahamas." I'm a mongrel Norwegian, so I had to speak up. He was just kidding. We had spaghetti, meatballs and some kind of Chinese green for dinner. Then I watched Austin & Santino make dresses for 2 ladies in Asheville, NC--another great city, but I digress...

2010-10-12T08:16:00.001-07:00

Little did I know what Disney Radio has been up to. But I know now, thanks to my ride in this morning, in a Honda tricked out with Mickey and Minnie seat covers and redolent with the lingering memory of old take-out. The girl singer was shrieking an aqueous buzz, I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH real HARD I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH I SHAKE MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH. At least half of the 8.5-mile span (approach to approach).

Andy enterprises: run, run, run

2010-10-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, an Andy show to visit in Indianapolis when I'm there in 2 weeks. There was a flash mob to kick it off.

Hug a comma?

2010-09-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today is National Punctuation Day. Perhaps you'd like to cook a meatloaf in celebration.

At the Smog Station

2010-09-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

This morning starts with a visit to the tune-up place on E. 14th for a smog test. Leafing through grungy car sale tabloids, I come across a note written in the margin next to an ad for a 1991 MBZ ($10K): Some people will always hate you for the old person that you were, but they will hate you even more for the better person you have become. Is this a twisted birthday toast, or a therapy group confession? Older person that I am.

Tomatoes

2010-09-20T11:33:00.001-07:00

The heirlooms suffered in the summer cold; the plum, yellow, and cherry tomatoes went wild. A cure for the common cold: slice plum in half lengthwise, lay out in pan cut side up. Brush on olive oil; add salt/pepper and dried oregano. Roast in slow oven (250) for several hours, until all is soft and carmelized. Slather on sliced baguette. Be glad. Very glad.

Choice

2010-09-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

The choice of which vaccum cleaner to get to replace the beat-up one is making me insane.

Road Trip

2010-08-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Just back from a 2-week road trip. One in the car, back roads across the Plains, the other in Indiana. Petroleum unfriendly, I know I know. Fed bees. Fed hummers. Fed folks. Surrounded by tomatoes, and even more greeting me know. Pictures later.

The water's fine

2010-07-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

...New tank, old sunflowers. Now, today, if only the fog were to burn off.

Galvanized trough

2010-07-21T20:38:00.001-07:00

Now we have a pool or a planter: a "seconds" galvanized trough from Santa Rosa.

2010-07-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Graffito of they day

On the back of a small sign on the freeway exit ramp: PLEASE STOP POURING SALT ON ME. It’s a friendly enough request, don't you think?

2010-07-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Fourth

Be safe, out there. . . .

Curiosa

2010-06-20T15:14:00.001-07:00

Quite the collector: Curiosa. I found a copy at a favorite bookstore, Copperfield's. Along with the new books they always have an odd collection of remainders that I find irrestible, every time I go to Calistoga. T&R and I went in search of wine and galvanized tanks, but not a soak. SCORE.

Houses for Weight Loss

2010-06-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the back 40 could use this—I certainly could.

2010-06-10T18:15:00.001-07:00

MX-80 in Pandora's Box

So I visit pandora.com to see what kind of "MX-80" like music they would like to decode for me as attributes, genomically speaking. Here's what I get: electric rock instrumentation . punk influences . a subtle use of vocal harmony . extensive vamping . minor key tonality . a vocal-centric aesthetic . electric rhythm guitars. Heatmiser, Cop and Speeder, Disappearing Ink: http://www.pandora.com/music/song/heatmiser/disappearing+ink

I also get the Norwegian sextet, Kaizers Orchestra http://www.pandora.com/music/album/kaizers+orchestra/evig+pint

who resides "in the gray area between Scandinavian death metal, traditional folk, and Tom Waits-inspired Tin Pan Alley pop. Their second full-length, Evig Pint, is the soundtrack to a nightmarish carousel that refuses to let off its 12 terrified children. Those 12 tracks are fueled by a sinister pump organ, alley-can drums, and a brutal horn section that sound like a klezmer group on the banks of the river Styx."

All I can say, is, Yikes.

2010-06-02T18:48:00.001-07:00

We're goin' to a weddin' soon

We're going to a wedding soon in Monterey, staying by the bay (so deep!). But what to get them youngins"? I don't know the happy couple, personally, but I will soon. Their registry has so many choices. SPOILER ALERT: I'm going for the $150 toothbrush, I think. They'll appreciate it when they hit the 40-year mark and still have sparkling teeth. Or a set of grapefruit spoons. Citrus is always in fashion. Hope politics in Thailand clear up right away.

2010-05-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Buying Books
About the only venues I buy books these days are garage sales and airports--I'm not quite to the e-reader stage. Last week's scores, en route to Indiana: Predictably Irrational, the Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and The 4 Day Diet (Be thinner by Friday!!!). Let's face it, I like to read about brains. But what did I read on the plane? Some tabloid, from the seatmate, that spilled the guts on the next-to-final episode of Celebrity Apprentice I missed. Silly TV, but I've tried the winning Snapple drink. Not as good as homemade root beer, but drinkable.

2010-05-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Mother and I visit the Indiana Medical History Museum in Naptown

At one time, 1800 folks lived at Central State, including "difficult women" brought by their husbands. Seeing a doctor what: once an hour once a month? The therapy was "moral"--gardening and insulin shock, not lobotomy. Today, the grounds include the pathology lab , retirement home for police horses, city storage buildings, medicinal plant garden, and wide open empty space. A lot has changed in 100 years. After our visit, we went to Mug 'n Bun for homemade root beer and onion rings. "Eat however you want!" #3 of 1200+ restaurants in Indianapolis, say some. Fabulous brew, rings not so much.

Magic Number

2010-04-28T18:49:00.001-07:00

Ah, my magic number, marking an escape from the corporate world. What is it!? I need your advice.

World Saxophone Quartet

2010-04-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

Now here's quite the school convocation....I''m impressed. As I recall, we had the country's fastest typist. At the time.

Even more Moondog

2010-04-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

Try this. Minimalist, avant, I like it....

Volcano Travel

2010-04-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

From the NYT: "The British actor John Cleese, finding himself stranded in Oslo, hired a Mercedes taxi to take him the 932 miles from Oslo to Brussels, where he hoped to get a train to London, said one of his agents, Dean Whitbread. Three drivers took turns at the wheel, stopping only for bathroom breaks and a ferry crossing, said Mr. Whitbread; the fare came to about $5,000." Now that's a road trip. I still want to go to Iceland sometime.

2010-04-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

Two nights ago this word came to me while I was *asleep*: synecdoche. sin-eck-doche. syn-ek-da-kee. Don't think I'd heard it ever, and no, I hadn't seen the Charlie Kaufman film of the same name by any stretch. I learned this on further research. "To receive, understand. A part of speech by which a part is put for the whole (50 sail for 50 ships), the whole for a part, the species for the genus, the genus for the species, the name of the material for the thing made." Makes my head hurt. Last night, all the dreams were of loss, water, compaction, unanswerable phones, lost luggage, flirting, buying oddities (jalapeno cotton candy)...and running from mean squirrels. Rise and shine!

2010-04-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

Some say the Wii fitness games can be hazardous to adults, but generally not this way: Dale in Berkeley was Wii bowling, wound 'er up, let go, and accidentally threw the controller through the 46-inch TV. Well, of course it was accidental. If someone had to do it, the kids were glad it was her and not them. ThatTV is dead for good.

2010-03-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

This week's work projects involved 60 hours of wrangling with words, Word, crashes, and recoveries. My nature isn't used to it. The body still can do it, kinda, and even a little yoga helps. But one deadline's done, and 3 days at the Holiday Inn 60 seconds from my office, courtesy Priceline, soothed the back-and-forth travel. (Yes, it did, but too bad it was spring break on 1 floor.) Best lines of all, in the middle of the crunch: "You're wonderful." "Can I get you a latte." "Did you know your extension is the first three notes of Three Blind Mice?" (No, I did not know that.) Now, back to marigold planting and watching dust motes float in the sun.

On Being Prepared

2010-03-13T09:54:00.001-08:00

H dreamed that California experienced an 8.2 shaker. Though I'm being selfish to say so, I hope that we DON'T have a big earthquake here--we're not prepared at all. I'm thinking the following would help instill a sense of security for the 5 of us in the immediate compound, however false that sense might be or assuming that we could all make it to the compound: 50 gallons of water, 50 cans of tuna cat food, 50 cans of tuna people food, 50 rice-in-foil packs (like Indian food), 50 monster-lo-carb energy drinks (double size), 20 chocolate bars, a case of generic beer with the word BEER on the can (even a bottle of vodka + seltzer, in case cocktails seem therapeutic), 20 boxes of vegetable stock, 10 bags of dried fruit, 10 bags of trail mix, self-winding flashlights, a swiss army knife, a pad of paper, some pencils, a bottle of aspirin, lots of clean underwear, a book on identifying edible weeds. Am I forgetting anything? Heck, that might even be enough to barter with. Throw in 20 pounds of flour and a few packets of yeast, for a wood-burning oven pit? I'm assuming bedding will be accessible somehow. And R will have her nurse bag with the good stuff. What about guns 'n ammo, my spouse wondered.

On Being Handy

2010-03-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

This morning I am off to look for baskets and hinges, if I ever get dressed. Maybe a new Kitchenaid mixer--or not. The expensive one I bought for B a few years ago broke during my watch, when I was making calzone dough. Apparently, I learned on the inet, this is a common problem when making doughs, and I don't know if I have the energy to try to fix it (here's a funny story about a woman who did). Just knead the dang dough yourself is a point of view I may return to. I managed to half-fix the vacuum because I don't really feel like spending $400 on a new one (eg, it works well enough on a certain setting but the high-power carpet thing is spotty, but we only have 1 carpet so that's OK).

Alpha Poem--dark version

2010-02-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Insomnia game: write a poem with every letter of the alphabet. So here goes....(articles don't count)

A bomb came down, elevating fire, gouging hopes, injuring the just, the knowing. Like-minded nomads opened paths, quietly racing, searching to unearth v w x y zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Record holders

2010-02-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

I need a new hobby. Which record shall I try to break?

The greatest number of standard beermats ever stuffed in to the mouth?

Trampoline to trampoline bouncing?

Letters to editors?

Most paintings completed in 25 hours (medical art)?

Fran Capo is certainly on a roll: highest book signing, most chiropractic patients, deepest book signing, fastest talking, fastest song to nationally syndicated radio broadcast.

Casual Commute

2010-02-02T18:39:00.001-08:00

So for today's casual commute, I jump into a Celica with a postal worker driving. Or at least he has the uniform on (the shorts, and in this weather!). Are you working at the post office in SF I ask. Well, no, I just stole this uniform for its fashion factor, he tells me. Snickery boy. There was method to my madness; the hubby retired from the Laurel Post Office about 50 feet from the pickup, and that would be a lot closer than the post office in The City (South SF, to be exact). But he thought Oakland was just not the place for him, except to save on rent. Send more letters with stamps, would you be so kind . . .

2010-01-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

*My* word of the day: chatoyant

Dictionary.com: –adjective. 1. changing in luster or color: chatoyant silk. 2. Jewelry. reflecting a single streat of light when cut in a cabochon. -noun. Jewelry. a cabochon-cut gemstone having this reflected streak, as a chrysoberyl cat's-eye

Webster's: to shine like a cat's eye: having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light

2010-01-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to me. Thanks, Ange.
I am SO pegged as a cat lady... a
shout out to Milo, Cooper, Huey,
Moochie and up front Ink and Spot.

2010-01-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

Word of the day

Palinopsia (Greek: palin for "again" and opsia for "seeing") is a visual disturbance that causes images to persist to some extent even after their corresponding stimulus has left. These images are known as afterimages and occur in persons with normal vision. However, a person with palinopsia experiences them to a significantly greater degree, to the point where they become difficult or impossible to ignore. This often results in mild to severe anxiety and/or depression (Source: wikipedia) (a true medical condition)

Oh nooooooooooo here we go again. I’m just sayin’… I thought she left …

2010-01-02T07:50:00.001-08:00

Eleven degrees outside. Over leftover New Year's corn beef and a spot of eggs, Harry tells me about rabbits, hunting, Amish, the WPA having men build a brick road in downtown Winamac that's still there, how their folks lost their farm but came back, truck gardening, and heavy hens. Driving'
around, he came across a farm sale, friends of his, where the daughter was just selling off everything, including the animals. So six heavy hens he bought, and they threw the two roosters in, too. He knows how to cook them. A heavy hen is a hen that has stopped laying and in farm life, you know what's next. In the preparing, some had very soft eggs in them. This gave me pause but snapped me back to the moment. Here I am, still cluckin' around, accumulating ideas and dreams and aiming to get out from under the cluckin' clutter. Picture: stolen from the ether.

2009-12-04T18:06:00.000-08:00

Waisted.

Once I was a locavore, so perhaps I shall be again. West Sixth Street, Bloomington. Twenty-degree bedroom in the winter, and a forlorn gospel church just off the top of the backyard. Carrots, peas, asparagus, sunflowers. Ah, I realize yet again, I miss my waist!

2009-11-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

Smells like teen spirit

Or as Bernie said, smells like something, all right.

April Winchell has vastly expanded our Nirvana covers collection. Go, Erdmöbel! Links are hers...

Erdmöbel (5.5 MB)
Opium Jukebox (9.77 MB)
Lullaby Version (5.07 MB)
Ituana (5.93 MB)
386DX (1.6 MB)
Abigail (3 MB)
Dokaka (3.2 MB)
Gregorian Chant (3.5 MB)
Paul Anka (2.5 MB)
Polka Version (3.5 MB)
Ragnar Bjarnason (1.6 MB)
Rumal Noorkuu (3.1 MB)
Scala (3.9 MB)
Smells Like Electro (3.5 MB) B
Smells Like Teen Booty (Soulwax) (3.1 MB)
String Quartet (3.6 MB)
The Bad Plus (5.2 MB)
Espiritu Adolescente by Mandragora Tango Orchestra (unreleased demo) (5.3 MB)
Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain (2.4 MB)
Weird Al (3.4 MB) Still the best

2009-11-20T15:15:00.002-08:00

I love my new mino.

But I have to work on my voice. And my steadiness.
We have rain, we have lemons, we have guard cacti...

2009-10-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Go Forth and Rebuke
From the Chron' social column (Garchik) today, someone "...was flying on Southwest Airlines from Salt Lake City to Oakland with a passenger who was extremely loud and rude to not only fellow travelers, but 'also a very patient male flight attendant.' Near the end of the flight, when this was particularly noticeable and annoying, another woman aboard stood up and told her she was the most rude person she had ever met, and then, 'Stop, stop stop!!! In the name of the angel Michael, I rebuke the demon in you!' It was a showstopper and the woman kept quiet for the rest of the flight, 'while the rest of us cowered in our seats." Heh. So I now have a phrase I can use with Bob, but no more than once a month, he says.

2009-10-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

Cakes Gone Wrong, Continued

Thanks to the New York Times for sweetening my afternoon, with a slide show (lifted from another blog) about cakes gone wrong. Herewith, my own purloined contribution, from the Indiana State Fair. Sad woman with green hair.

2009-10-04T18:48:00.001-07:00

Brittle. I was feeling brittle, now a bit more resilient. Went to the Young Scandinavians House and stayed over the weekend, in Lake Tahoe. Met several folks, including a Swedish diplomat and his wife. He once worked in a shampoo factory and one liquid went into all of the same bottles: whether for dry hair, normal. He was livid and funny. They were all friends, but though I was on the fringe I didn't mind. There was snow. Plus Christine and I convinced ourselves that hiking 5 miles at 900o feet in the high wind was a good thing. I didn't have the right clothes, wrapped tee shirts around my neck and looked silly. Oh well.

2009-09-28T20:46:00.001-07:00

Here is the ironing board that the raccoons like to knock over every night, rousting from a sound sleep those of us just on the other side of the wall --that would be Bob and I (diagram that). Those raccon fellows are FAT. Just the guys? I cannot say.

2009-09-28T20:44:00.001-07:00

Now, for being "of a certain age" (in her 80s), my mother looks a heck of a lot more with it than I feel, many days. So true. Lake Michgan, September 09.

Cooling Towers

2009-09-28T20:43:00.001-07:00

I have become curious about cooling towers: a failed engineer, I?

Work fashion

2009-09-16T20:28:00.001-07:00

Perhaps not for the standard 9 to 5, but how about this work corset inspired by Carhartt Work Clothiing. The elegance of a corset, the durability of a work belt. Go, burning man.

2009-09-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

The Bay Bridge Opens

Meant to take the ferry this morning, from Jack London to San Francisco. Heading that way by car, a rare experience, I saw a sign that the Bay Bridge was OPEN, earlier than expected. It had been closed since Friday, all of Labor Day weekend, with many things done to it, including a span move and repair to an old something-or-other that cracked. So I jumped on, at 6:30 am, getting to work far too early. But still, quite the traffic treat.

2009-09-05T07:43:00.001-07:00

Corn's in Season: Back home again in Indiana, heading for great lake waters. On the way back, on quiet state roads, comes a scene I have never seen in my long life: a tall, flat-bed corn picker moving quickly along the row by the roadside, drawn by five horses, three in back and two in front. Leading was a strong-looking no-nonsense fellow, with two little boys standing alongside, holding on to a vertical bar. There are different lives out there, some in the US minus electricity and oil, by choice. No stopping for a photo, I, perhaps respecting Amish culture.

Hello, Oven? It's Phone. Now Let's Get Cooking!

2009-08-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

My favorite headline of the month, so far, about a man whose cell phone kept turning on his oven, incinerating the stored contents. “……He laid the phone next to the stove. They dialed it. Suddenly, the electronic control on the stovetop beeped. The digital display changed from a clock to the word ‘high.’ As the phone was ringing, the broiler was heating up.” Certain Maytag models are vulnerable. Thanks, NYT.

2009-08-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

Man receives cornea transplant; can’t stop housecleaning. This fine Monday morning my RSS feed at work brings the following. “A British man who had a cornea transplant jokes that he must have received the ‘cornea of a woman.’ His partner used to pester him to do housework but he says, ‘Because of my new eyesight I now notice every speck of dust and dirt and immediately want to clean it up. There is a reason why men don't clean normally and I think it's because we just don't see the dirt. But since the transplant I now see it wherever I go. I'm always hoovering, dusting and washing.’ Dr. Mathew Raynor, consultant ophthalmologist at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital where the surgery was done, puts it in perspective: ‘Organ donation really is the ultimate gift.’” I don’t know if the person who gets my corneas will be as inspired. Full story from The Sun. One of their other news stories of the day: Two couples went back to the Stone Age for double Flintstones-themed wedding. Weekly World News is back?

2009-08-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Blogger Boing Boing is more prolific than I. Still, I keep my favorite posts from time to time, as in this list (click to enlarge, or is that common sense).

2009-08-15T17:01:00.001-07:00

To St. Vincent de Paul: 5 books, 3 pairs pajamas handsewn by my Aunt Nancy when she was watching the OJ trial (can't squeeze in), flavia coffee maker, 1 jacket, 10 t-shirts, 5 plates, 2 faucets, 1wooden candle holder from Holland Michigan, including 30-year-old cloves in drawer. From, for $5.50: paper-thin plastic (oxymoron?) plates; The Book of Common Prayer, A History of New Orleans, Brick Lane, The Bone People, The Kite Runner, Accordion Crimes, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water,The American Book of the Dead, and Ortho's All About House Additions (I wish). Not bad.

Chef's Survey

2009-08-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

And it's 2 blocks from my office . . .

Ah, a cheeseburger, fries well done, and a diet coke: once a quarter, why not? If it's good enough for this guy, it's good enough for me: "It's the perfect example of classic American fast food. It satisfies my craving for meat, crisp fries, and their special sauce." Thomas Keller, The French Laundry, Yountville, California and Per Se, New York City." Via Esquire

2009-08-07T18:06:00.001-07:00

Mission Control

Thanks to boingboing.net, I learned that somafm.com, home of smooth streaming fm, has a Mission Control station. I, along with a hundred or so other listeners, was pulled in and attached all day to NASA Mission broadcasts and live shuttle coverage combined with electronic ambient music (donate! donate!). Quite the fuel for detailed work. Of course, one thing led to another (after work hours, naturally), and I began to randomly lose myself in web stacks to reach all kinds of NASA archives. For example, take Project Red Socks (Jet Propulsion Labs, 1957). The objectives of the project were "1) get photos, 2) refine space guidance techniques, and 3) impress the world" with a series of nine rocket flights to the moon. Didn't fly. You will have to search to learn more; it's all in the river of history that by now has reached some sort of sea. I love the project name, though. Image credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

2009-08-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

August 1, there's French music in the background, Jean Sablon singing in the 30s about rhum and coca cola and ces petits choses, these little things. The flies are buzzing, and Huey likes to eat them. All is right with Huey.

2009-08-01T14:37:00.001-07:00

I like my house. No, I don't want to sell it. But thanks for asking, in your handwritten and mailed note. But alas, I won't be calling.

2009-07-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

When I work at home on Fridays (which is most Fridays) the radio that fuels my efforts streams from iranianradio.com. Traditional Persian sonati. There's just something about it . . .