Photo taken on walkies…I just liked the color, and how it was sticking way out of the ground. I don’t know if the sand fell away or if some goombah installed it badly. It looks better full-size, and brings to mind the song “no parking on the dance floor” somehow.

alton brown has a new rant… and it shows once again how I can be a fan of his cooking show.

Lately, in my own arena, getting complete stories to stick to the page has been like trying to tattoo my signature on the belly of a crazed weasel; it’s leaving me with wounds and I’m not sure the weasel looks much better for all the effort. The best I can hope for is a few “illuminated scenes”. The first act and the resolution of a story can be the most difficult parts for me to write… I think that my style sometimes is stuck in a sort of journalistic feel… plot progression has always been one of my weaker story points.

I don’t know if it’s just the images I’m tripping over, but the LALJ bash people look maybe a little too rowdy for my tastes… I don’t think I’d be crazy about doing body shots off of people I knew were married. Maybe just more folks are into swinging than I’d realized before. Yuck, in my opinion. There seems to have been a lot of tacky stuff happening, but I imagine that it was nice to meet up with some folks there, too. I wonder what the final tally of ljers was?

I still want to make a wooden elephant toy for my sweetheart. Maybe I’ll hit the hobby store this week, when I go to breakfast with Dan on Thursday.

That’s my baby‘s sound is slightly off, so it appears that I’m watching something dubbed from another language. I like the effect. I half expect the infant alpacas to do some kung fu. There’s one baby that seems to have chia-hair… fungus / mold? Also, the giraffe (Geoffrey) from the new Toys ‘R’ Us commercials sounds like Tom Hanks to me.

Finally, from Salon, this cracked me up –

Halle Berry made history last night, not so much for being the first African-American woman to win an Oscar in the best actress category, but for freaking horribly, uncontrollably out and making the worst, most hysterically rambling, discomfiting and liquefied acceptance speech in Oscar’s 74-year history, and I thought Julia Roberts was going to hold that title for a long time. I know it was a big deal for Halle, who claimed her award for All Black Women Everywhere Ever, but her acceptance tantrum had such an alarming cringe factor, I had to leave the room. When they tried to pry her off the stage, she made that screeching Bilbo Baggins monster addiction-face when he Wants the Ring. It was a heavy, strange, grand-mal meltdown. America squirmed.

hmm… freaky “batman villian angle” on that one. Mostly uneventful day at work, discovered a few new ways of doing things. That clear sky popped out about 10 minutes before I decided to head into work… Looks like Maryland is getting the rain we had earlier…showers through wednesday.

Looks like Danny’s getting spring break just in time…I suspect his burnout is hitting a new high. well, he’s got until thursday, then a week and a half oof, then another month and a half to summer vacation. he needs to get out of the high school arena, and into college, and quick. I’ll be going out to breakfast with him Thursday, before he goes on the road with his wife… I hope he gets to decompress, and doesn’t get wound tighter by being trapped in the car for a week (I suspect the latter, sadly).

from – A geek, a cat, and way too much time I enjoy the profile shots for image recognition.

My mood, right this moment –

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Gyre and gimble in the wabe
Where Alph the Sacred River Ran
Through caverns measureless to man,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

found via … can asians think? in salon.

it’s a study of two mental universes. I feel the title is a bit inflammatory, but it fits that person’s beliefs…an interesting interview.

also digging the new llamas in ‘s journal. so sweet!

That’s my baby is the one with the lab & the x-rays…it’s very neat to see 8 puppies in skeletal form in the mom. The ultrasound is nifty, to, but there’s less sharpness. They give up the dog for 6-7 weeks while the babies are born and weaned…I don’t know how I’d feel if Newtie had to spend two months away from home. I’d miss him so much! I sort of think the term “brood bitch” is funny, in a juvenile way. Watching the babies being born is fascinating…I’m sure most women are happy that a brood of 8 or so isn’t the norm for them…or would it be easier, because the kids would be smaller, and more easily passed through the birth canal? Listening to the baby pups squeal is melting my heart. aww…

It’s spring break in South Florida. there are parts that you don’t want to visit now, until Easter passes…unless you want to be in a “Girls gone wild” video, or worse, a “Drunken Dumb Fratboy gets arrested” video. Great of the kids to bring businesses money, but I’ll be happy to see them go, too. Surprisingly, the kids are better tippers than the fully-grown Quebec visitors, on the whole. (They look better in revealing bathing suits, too.) Harder to get cabs this month, unless you’re on the beach. Evening rides home would be nearly impossible from the zone I’m in, if I didn’t know a few drivers personally. (Yellow cab totally stinks down here… city cab or central are superior in every way. much smaller fleets, but they’re more timely.)

I don’t remember last night’s dreams… I woke up very groggy, and showered any remnants of the evening down the drain.

I did pretty well on the oscar pool…I made into the top ten, anyhow. (top 6, if you go purely by score) did poorly…came in 30th. (of 50 players!) what happened to his mighty guessing skills? And poor scored even lower! (I won’t mock her, though, because she wasn’t bragging all over the place beforehand.) For the record, I didn’t watch the show… sort of a yawny thing to me. got first place! you go girl!

full scores below

Looks like next week’s weather is going to be rainy and sleepy. I was planning on restarting my walkies tomorrow morning, but perhaps that’s going to have to be postponed for a little while. We’ll see how grim it looks when I get up.

I wonder if my sweetie is still sleeping off last night’s gabfest and flu-bug… I, myself slept a solid 12 hours last night. That’s unheard of for me, unless the body’s sick. I’ve been puttering a bit today, fiddling like a dilettante with art programs and writing a little. working on a new, silly icon. Newton and I will live on for another 500 years, at least.

This is possibly the oddest thing I’ve seen in the RC hobby: Flying Steam Engines. You’ve got to admire the engineering skills involved.

I give you: the Color Schemer. Pick a color and view a selection of 16 harmonious hues. Then, read up on what it’s doing. found while seeking out another form of generator (more of those wacky title / location / plot creators) The superhero name generator is fun enough. 🙂 Just call me the Karate Thief! They’ve got generators for books, sentai stories, and other silly things.

looking for clip art for my web page…. and discovered stuff here

a few other things here and there

The Little Red Riding Hood Project has an archive containing sixteen English versions of the fairy tale that’s fun to look through if one immediately skips past the sparse-looking “Hello, I was made in 1995” looking home page, and starts with the text and image index. Interesting reading.

I don’t think my “7” rating should be as high, or my “8” so low. go figure. I think 3 does belong at the bottom of the list, though, and suspect that I ‘m more of a 4 than a 9. five is pretty accurate though, I think.

take free enneagram test

similar minds test results

• http://www.abandoned-places.com/
• http://www.xydexx.com/modernruins/
• http://www.wogan.com/
• http://www.acme.com/jef/photos/archaeology.html
• http://www.lostamerica.com/lostframe.html

Spent all night tonight gabbing with my sweetie, watching cartoons and doing some spring cleaning. Had a lot of fun talking like anime and documentary hosts…she’s the only person I know that’d play a running gag like that as far with me. Had a good time, but the dear heart is suffering from some nasty flu symptoms. The poor gal is going to sleep late tomorrow!

I think I might want to draw a few icons for here, and get a feel for my revised website going soon. I need to transcribe my story stuff from writeen page to electronic form, if for no other reason than a safe archive.

I’m craving some sweets. A doughnut, milkshake or ice cream sundae. (my cravings usually go towards savory or salt.) I wonder where my sweetie got herself off to today… I’m just chillin’. Got my chores done, and will do my laundry tomorrow.

Absolutely Innocent According to Way He Explained it, but Judge Was Doubtful.

The other evening a man of the burglar type stepped up to an old gentleman and, handing him a piece of paper, said:

“Sir, would you be good enough to read me the writing on this piece of paper?”

The individual addressed consented and, moving toward the rays of a convenient gas lamp, read the following words:

“If you utter a cry or speak a single word I shall shoot you. give me your watch and chain and your purse at once then pass it on.”

Completely taken off his guard, the gentleman handed over the articles asked for and walked off. A few steps brought him to a policeman, and, relating his story, the pair proceeded in pursuit of the stranger, who was not yet out of sight.

Next morning, before the magistrate, the vagrant was called upon for an explanation.

“Your honor,” he said, “I am not an educated man, and, therefore, can neither read nor write. Last evening I picked up a piece of paper, and, it striking me that it might be of some importance, I took it to the first person I met and asked him to decipher it. The gentleman read it quietly to himself and then, without saying a word, handed me his watch, chain and purse and walked off without giving me time to recover from my surprise or ask him what it meant.”

Minnetonka Record, January 23, 1914

Some Outside Reading…

• Project Gutenberg
• The Internet Archive
• NewspaperArchive
• The Long Now Foundation
• American Memory
• The Obscure Store & Reading Room

some test results

Best shot I could get of newt this morning…he was all snuggled up close, and I reached over to grab the camera… he picked up on the photo-vibe, and made a run for the litter-box. (I’m not into kitty-scat photos, so that ended that.)

When I come back from the dead, I want a halo.

Kind of unusual. These appeared during the night, as I slept. I think I have an idea who did it, but I’m not sure. I did like getting a random howdy, though.

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 01:15:57 -0800 (PST)
(f:redheadgurl)kute icons!!!!! im a redhead 2.

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 01:18:34 -0800 (PST)
(f:god)i think you forgot to wipe your ass when you were on the toilet just now

Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 01:23:30 -0800 (PST)
(f:god)mensa just called, they wanted me to tell you you’re too creepy even for them

I wonder if they’re totally random, or from someone on my friend’s list. I actually had to think back, and see if I was on the potty at that time. I wasn’t, but it’d have been bonus wacky if I had been.

Hee… the Scotsman is keen. I love his peg-leg that doubles as a machine-gun.