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Friday, April 30, 2004

 
2:50 AM: nothing but the moon and the star she was wearing [#] [0]

yesterday was becky-from-csusm's birthday & so i emailed her a brief hello. because we hadn't talked in a while she said: "I picture you running through wild flowers in some field with the sun shining through distant trees. I guess that's what I think freedom from here (CSUSM and Southern California) would be like." she's not far wrong. :) which reminds me, only 3 weeks before we can celebrate a whole year of not working for csusm!

tonight michaelmas, sven & i went to a susan mckeown concert at lola's room. i snuck sven upstairs to see the crystal ballroom: if you're in the building, you -have- to see it! the concert was okay; i've seen better performances by her (the first concert michaelmas & i ever saw together was susan mckeown, in fact, while we were visiting neil in new mexico, and she was really good).

btw, 306 is niiiiiiiccceeeeee! it's the kind of place i would have wanted to move into when i first moved here. michaelmas does his big move on sunday: we'll go early to take care of the cat and to pick up book trucks from the library. as for my move, we've got less than a load of stuff to remove now plus the bed. where it lives over here, though, is still a mystery. :)

at 12:30 a.m., sven grabbed the small ladder and the flashlight and we popped the access hatch open in the elevator and watched the mechanics and counterweights and floor doors rush by us. only once did we run into anyone else, and it was obvious they thought we were freaks. to celebrate, i took us to the roof despite all the signs which say there is risk of injury & death because they're painting the side of the building and have some of the safety fencing down, which turned out to be a very good decision because the staircase leading to the boiler room roof is usually locked, but today it wasn't. it's so high up and unprotected at that point that it feels like there's absolutely nothing between you and the moon.

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

 
8:07 PM: i wish the weather would make up its mind. oh, wait. no, i don't. [#] [0]

learn something new every day: apparently, "the [credit card] rate charged to the merchant varies depending on a number of factors such as whether the card was present at the time of the transaction (versus online or phone), whether it was swiped versus imprinted, whether it was validated online at the time of the transaction, etc." (thanks, carl zetie!) i think it's interesting because i never thought of using something like that to encourage changing technologies, like from imprinted to swipe cards, or from stored to real-time online transactions.

in other news, michaelmas got his keys to 306 today! :D and plans have been finalized for the tuscon trip may 11-17 (sven's brother shield is graduating from the university of arizona on may 15).

Sunday, April 25, 2004

 
11:13 PM: ghost in the machine [#] [0]

i just scored a 1930s remington noiseless portable typewriter from freecycle! i've been looking for a working manual typewriter for ages! (i bought a different old typewriter at an estate sale when i was in california and it promptly lost the ability to feed paper.) it's so old it doesn't have a key for the number "1," because you were expected to use a lowercase "l," and it doesn't have an exclamation mark because you were expected to overprint an apostrophe over a period. no "return" key, either. it does, however, have the all-important fractional characters 1/2 and 1/4. it's in frighteningly excellent condition, and as far as i can tell, just needs a new ribbon. i got it from a gruff metal artist with a texas accent.

 
3:45 PM: working & playing [#] [0]

working on psu report; helped leopoldo with yard work; the full circle clothing sale (where i found a killer tango dress and a newish pair of the reeboks i wear!); a snuggle party.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

 
10:33 AM: unconscious collective exposed! [#] [0]

we've finally got the unconscious collective films online! (and when i say "we," i mean "sven.") commentary still to come! and because they're all mp4s, i hope you use quicktime or another player which recognizes that codec.

in other news, i got myself a gmail account, but it doesn't work in safari, so what's the point?

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

 
8:03 PM: missing the comets [#] [0]

there's going to be two comets visible next week and i'm living in the wrong hemisphere to see them!

 
10:06 AM: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! [#] [0]

the burning man tickets came yesterday! i have held them in my hands! they're now living on the refrigerator! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Sunday, April 18, 2004

 
8:22 PM: the view from hear [#] [0]

learned about the bread & puppet festival today; went to the last day of the pdx experimental film fest with sven & laura from the unconscious collective. apparently there was a contest last night and one of the winning filmmakers had brought 400 view-masters and a little slide story for each one! i immediately bought one, but i'm forcing myself not to look at it until this week's maggie work is done, so that i don't get sucked into this potential subculture. but it delights me to know it exists! (and did you know view-masters were invented in portland? neither did i!)

in other less filmic news, sven drove trixie today for the first time. and last but not least, we got notice that the burning man tix have shipped! eeeeeeeeeee!

 
12:53 AM: itunes never has what i want to buy, episode #190 [#] [0]

itunes doesn't have the donnie darko ("....did you mean lonnie dark?") soundtrack, because otherwise i would have bought its version of "mad world." and for the record, sven apparently doesn't like "creepy" movies. [update 04.23.04: dan put a copy on his server for me! thanks, dan! and both he & leopoldo wrote about donnie darko on their blogs. weird meme.]

Saturday, April 17, 2004

 
7:27 PM: dental delerium [#] [0]

doh! michaelmas just pointed out that i used the wrong insurance for my dentist appointment and at the moment, isn't covered. i hope she takes ods traditional (plan 1806?), which is apparently what i was supposed to be using!

 
5:11 PM: do you ban tango? [#] [0]

sven, leopoldo & i went tangoing last night! reed hosted a milango, an argentine dance. i had trouble capturing the attention of boys from across the room, but with the high ratio of girls to boys, sven & leopoldo had active dance cards. merr! and i danced with some girls who were waiting to be danced with; it turns out the two best leads i had, in fact, were both girls (and i was told more than once i was both a good lead and a good follower). however, i would have appreciated some sort of identification stickers: "i'm new to tango!" or "i'll dance with anyone!" or "i'm only dancing with the person i came with." i had a really lovely time. everyone should bring two dance partners with them. :)

and i had never been to reed before, though i have some vague recollections of the area as a place rob & i used to pass when he lived in that direction. so at 1 a.m. i got to have a personal tour (swings! bridge! the windy thing!), though truncated by cold and rain.

before the tango, sven & i went to another series of short films at the pdx experimental film festival. sven liked "gestalt," a 3d metal extravaganza; i liked "tape 5925: amy goodrow," because of its juxtaposition and dynamics (and, i suspect, because it was one of the least abstract ones).

Thursday, April 15, 2004

 
11:09 PM: a meager update [#] [0]

we have ants. :( i thought i moved away from ants in the house when i moved from california. sven & i went to the pdx experimental film festival tonight (persons, places & things); they all seemed more like little documentaries rather than experimental films. after some initial panic about dsl issues, jalex has left for california for a month.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

 
10:36 PM: rich for a moment [#] [0]

i just filed my taxes (thanks for the use of turbotax, leopoldo!): $680 + $1970 = $2650! alas, i think it will mostly if not all be rolled into my credit cards. but whoo! what a rush! must be how stockholders in newly-IPOed companies feel. :)

Thursday, April 08, 2004

 
12:03 PM: wagon train to norwescon [#] [0]

in a few hours i'll be on my way to norwescon w/ leopoldo for 2.5 days of geeky goodness. yee!

passover seder was very interesting but i had no idea it would be so long! we were there from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.! my dentist appointment went well: no cavities! my doctor appointment went well: still waiting for all lab results. my time w/ maggie at psu went well: she said, "this is why i wanted you to work on this, because i knew you'd have good questions to ask and you'd make me rethink the process." sven & i stopped by to see michaelmas at the library afterwards, but he was at lunch. but michael's boss was there and actually walked with us down to honey's rice bowl to see if he was there.

Monday, April 05, 2004

 
12:09 PM: crumbs of death [#] [0]

yesterday i brunched w/ michaelmas and then napped. this cold is really kicking my ass.

last night i got to participate in a bidikat chametz; after cleaning the house all night, jalex hid pieces of bread for me, sven, michelle & brian to find. at the end she had to give us hot/cold hints and three gelt chocolate coins for our efforts. then we came back to watch part of prince of egypt before i had to go to sleep. did i mention this cold is really kicking my ass?

tonight there is a seder at jalex's.

Saturday, April 03, 2004

 
11:30 AM: new band name -- the sick soda plants [#] [0]

jalex brought over the coolest soda ever last night! it's an asian soda w/ a marble as a sealant: you push it into the bottle to open it, and it rolls around in the neck while you drink it. ee!

we bought plant stuffs! having liberated two lamb's ears now and having a hyacinth in the house makes me all gardeny, one of the few things i miss from living in southern california.

still sick. before dawn this morning i was coughing so hard and frequently i was waiting until the fred meyer opened so i could get cough syrup (why isn't stuff open 24 hours here?). fortunately, managed to fitfully sleep before that time came. would rather be reading and loafing than working.

Friday, April 02, 2004

 
1:26 PM: space: the final frontier [#] [0]

so i took a look at the studio space available at the hall gallery last night; not bad for that price if what you wanted to do was work. as artist's way workshop space, though, i'm not so sure. thinking out loud:

pros:
fairly cheap (most expensive space=$150/month); sinks; bathroom; freight elevator; 24 hour access & alarm; good energy (being surrounded by art & artists felt good to me); month-to-month (no lease, low risk); letterpress artist right next door (ee!).

cons:
the ceilings don't go all the way up (privacy & noise concerns); bad bad lighting; no phone in building; no temperature control (on the cool side).

one session of artist's way is 13 weeks, which is about four months of rent ($600@ $150, or $500 at $125). it would take at least three participants per session to break even just on rent. if i did it, what would i be investing other than the rent? what would i store there vs. storing here? how much more money would i be investing in making the place comfortable & usable?

back to our regularly scheduled blog: no game night tonight; mph & al got a little nervous after witnessing the accumulated hacking & sniffing of leopoldo, sven & i last night.

Thursday, April 01, 2004

 
1:42 PM: a sick april fool [#] [0]

still sick. meh. don't even know if i'll go to firefly tonight. bah!

packetwarp dan found the best faux-manufactured device for april fool's day: an ez-bake pc drive! as he says, if only...

there's much drama here about the landlord and whether he's going to use pesticides on the lawn, which, in all honesty, looks pretty bad. but jalex has a little garden out back and doesn't want the runoff to contaminate it. she already got them to spread bark dust in the backyard, though i think it just gave the weeds a soft space to hide under until they poke through, stronger than ever (and in my opinion, bark dust is no fun to spend time on. we spent almost an hour picking splinters out of sven's foot when he ill-advisedly walked out there w/o shoes). so i'm ambivalent: i want her to keep the garden, i don't care much about the front lawn which we never use, but wish we had the back lawn back.