Put graffiti on any web page you want. Warning, naughty words and content are available.

t-minus 20 until suppertime.

Font choice is important

cool word of the day, inspired in part by the sixth picture in sirenity‘s entry here.

Nephelococcygia (Noun) – [ne-fê-lê-kê-‘si-jee-yê]

Definition 1: (Literally, “Cloud-cuckoosville”) Interpreting the shapes of clouds.

Definition 2: La-la land, a dreamland cut off from reality.

Usage 2: Nephelococcygia was dreamed up by Aristophanes for his comedy, “The Birds” (414 BC). In this play, two characters turn into birds and immediately begin planning a city (never realized), which they decide to call “Nephelococcygia.” Capitalize the word if it refers to the imaginary city. The adjective would be “nephelococcygic,” as in “Fred is suffering nephelococcygic delusions.”

Seven syllables. Perfect for center placement in a haiku.

I find some fascinating shapes in clouds, fire, wood grain, paint whorls, puddle reflections and Newton stripes….

On a more pleasant note, thanksgiving is here; I’ve got a 4-day weekend ahead of me. Hopefully, there’ll be plenty of time for hanging out with my sweetie, outdoor recreation (Scouting for pictures), playing with the Gnoot, maybe a game of mage knight or two with Dave and / or Dan. I know my sweetheart has a *full house* today on her end, and I hope that it goes without a hitch.

I would *love* to have a house like this one. Perfect for the cold war, or when zombies roam the earth. (or, if you don’t want to be bothered by noisy neighbors!)

Yesterday would’ve been my father’s 57th birthday, were he still alive. He passed away a little over 14 years ago. I still think about him frequently.

Things about my Dad at 33, to the best of my memory. The year was 1978. He had two boys, aged nine and five, recently celebrated his 11th wedding anniversary, his wife was a hairdresser, and was rapidly approaching getting her RN. He still had the green Chevy duster, but the corvette stingray was swapped out for a cream-colored Mercedes four door. He still rode his motorcycle a lot with both of his boys. They swapped off every time he went out to pick up a gallon of milk or pipe tobacco at the store. He’d actually shuttle the kids home one at a time from school that way, too. He started really enjoying hunting and fishing, I think because it got him closer to nature, and it fed his family for a lot less than going the grocery store. (He fished or hunted at least every other weekend) I think that year we ate more meat and fish through his gun and hooks than the grocery store. We had a roomy three bedroom, two bath home. I’m pretty proud of him for that. The kids joined him on his trips about half the time… always fishing, but only sometimes hunting. I remember him liking the Deer Hunter that year, (I much preferred the Superman movie that year… still do, honestly.) He was really interested in reruns of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and Wild Kingdom. He’d finally weaned himself from cigs, but was smoking cherry tobacco in a pipe. We still lived next door to Sally and Bill. The family had a small, but very close-knit group of friends. It was his last year in Virginia; we all wintered in his father in law’s trailer on Marathon Key, Florida. Those were good times. He was in excellent shape from a lot of physical activity, and had Medium-short hair, no moustache or beard. He was an engineer, and did some construction on the side. He had 9 years left to live. He was very blessed.

Thinking about me at 33, as far as I know. The Year is 2002. I’ve got Newt at three years old. I’ve been in a relationship for over two years now, and love her with the full depths of my heart. I’m living in a large efficiency apartment, a smaller place than before, but I have the benefit of living right next door to my little brother, which is a huge bonus. I commute by train, bus, cab and bicycle… there’s no place I need to go to outside of those routes, and am a hop skip and a jump from the beach or city proper. Best Movie that I’ve seen this year is probably Lord of the Rings (oddly enough The Lord of the Rings Cartoon was released in ’78) I don’t watch much TV lately… but the same sort of Documentaries / Nature shows appeal to me. The only extended vacation that I’ve taken lately is a week or two off this year for my back… but now that I’ve had an epidural I’m feeling really good, and getting in better shape daily. I have a small group of friends, a couple at work, and Dan, Dave and my brother outside of the company. My Current goof around stuff is reading, biking around town, taking pictures, writing prose, painting minis, playing mage knight, and goofing on the computer. I have hair that goes down to past the bottom of my shoulder blades, and a goatee. I don’t smoke, and rarely drink. I get all of my food from the grocer, though I’m considering growing something edible in a window box. When I go on rides around town, I’m frequently alone in body, though I’m paired nicely in spirit. I live in this apartment year-round. These times are good for me, especially with loved ones in my life. I’m a programmer / MIS guy, and do some web stuff on the side. I have no idea how much time I have left. I’m very blessed.

. .

Newton looks so awesomely huge after playing with little kittens.

Newt’s 20x the mass of them. They weigh less than a can of soda-pop each… or 12 ounces. Newt’s like 17 pounds. I love my big solid boy!!

Interesting email… Actually decent pay for links, and they knew that my name is Scotto.

more info

Hmmm..

It would not be overstating the case… much… to say that this article explains why certain people are the way they are. What can be done about it?

Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments

Straight Dope on how modern Thanksgiving was invented.

Thanksgiving as we know it today–at least on the scale we know it–is largely the creation of Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, one of the first women’s magazines. Mrs. Hale spent 36 years browbeating public officials high and low before finally getting Thanksgiving declared a national holiday in 1863.

Continue reading Wampanoag is a cool-sounding name. →

Newton comes a-runnin’ for the fresh, delicious taste of pre-processed chicken-parts.

Coded like a man possessed today. The day went by like the dickens as a result.

My headlight went very dim on the bike home tonight… I wonder if there’s an energy-efficient way to charge my light batteries via the pedal power used while cycling? Would an alternator work effectively? I’ve got the batteries recharging in the bay as I type this.

Oh, that my brother had an Amazon wish list. It’d make shopping for him so much simpler.

Kellie-Bellie, you might want to try what I did…Free Chex mix

Good Morning, Dear Journal!

Random doodle picture from Yesterday’s trip home. I was tired. I don’t know what it means.

Dreamt last night that I was fighting some guy in a mock up of an arena, surrounded by onlookers. He was vaguely defined.. I knew that he was a bad guy, though… and needed a good trouncing. I was wearing my Superman boxer shorts, white T-shirt and brown socks…My Sweetie was in the audience holding the Kitties, and somehow I knew that Superman himself was out there, too. I don’t remember who won or lost, but I didn’t get any superpowers or anything and the fight was bare knuckles… the framing element is all that I recall. I *really* have no idea why I was wearing brown socks.

Interesting coincidence? Not really irony. Dork Tower on Web Logging

Illuminated manuscripts (miniatures) from the 12th to 16th centuries

Reflecting on my sweetheart and henna tattoos. I’m smiling… got good reviews on Treasure Planet.. Kev went to see it last weekend, and was quite impressed. I’ll probably go catch it over holiday weekend sometime. I also want to hit IMAX to see the Ancient Egypt Documentary…(Speaking of Which…Ark of the Covenant: in Ethiopia? )

The Martian and the Moron.… from here. People I deal with frequently fall into one of the three categories of Martian, Moron, and Devil Puppeteer.

It looks like my brother and I will be going to mom’s for thanksgiving, but I’m not planning to stay for very long. Just long enough to be sociable, and then head on homeski.

Newt was a sweetie-boy this morning… he woke me up at sunrise as normal, but instead of wanting to run around and play, we had more muted “attack the hand hiding under the blanket, and run when it fights back” sort of morning. He woke me with a nose in my right tear duct this morning rather than his patty-pats. Just in a cuddly mood. Nothing wrong with that.

Lovely morning, not as brisk as yesterday, but still clear and comfortable. A pleasant breeze surrounded me with a honeysuckle-like scent (I think from the sweet alyssum) when I poked out of my mole-hole for a gauge of the day. I think tomorrow morning I’ll take pictures at Holiday Park. So far, I only have two pictures from there…. a squirrel (from late July) and the mage knight game last weekend. I’d also like to see if I could get a couple of shots of manatees.

I’m back to drinking coffee… I have an on-again, off-again relationship with it. I go through phases of really enjoying it, to just being indifferent to it, to actively not wanting any. With an Einstein’s bagels right up the street, I can get a cup pretty much at will.

Random history factoid – When two acquaintances in ancient Rome met on the street, the typical greeting was “Ave!” and “Salve!” (“Hail,” and “Hope you’re well,” respectively). Friends often followed this by a kiss on the cheek. People who presumed to be a prominent citizen’s friends also kissed or tried to kiss them in public, much to the target’s dismay. After an exchange of pleasantries, the Romans departed with “Vale” (“Good luck”) as goodbye.