King Rat

Another eye thing

2008-07-03T15:45:13Z

The thunderstorm made it up here about 6 hours later than it did my friends. Which is about 6 hours too late. Because around 5 o'clock, some pollen that I am allergic to go into my eye again. Not quite as bad as last friday, cause only one part of my eyeball swoll up this time. I do not look pretty today.

Message to Keenan

2008-07-02T17:39:15Z

Email is bouncing cause of some DNS error.

I will be in town. No party. You are welcome to stop by though. I just can't deal with organizing.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled inanity.

Exercise goal

2008-06-29T05:34:59Z

By September I want to look fantastic for my 20 year reunion on September 5th. I was at 23% BMI on Friday. Before the reunion I will be at 21% or less.

As motivation, I am putting up my signed China Miéville books. If I don't make the goal they will be run through the dishwasher.

The best George Carlin blog tribute I've seen so far

2008-06-24T03:53:23Z

From The Unapologetic Mathematician:

George Carlin is dead at 71. Since any appropriate words would be inappropriate here, I’ll just say “good riddance”. I think he would have, too.

Polka Floyd

2008-06-23T05:08:19Z

I am listening to a polka version of Pink Floyd's Breathe/Time. Kind of intriguing. I might buy the rest of the album...

Guinevere

2008-06-21T22:33:48Z

Guinevere is home. She's not happy. I'm getting the silent treatment.

She's all stitched up though. In another couple of weeks she'll have forgotten all of this.

Abscess

2008-06-20T23:48:12Z

I noticed Guinevere limping on Wednesday evening. Yesterday not so much but still a bit. So I made an appointment for today. Turns out she got bit (I think maybe a week ago), and has an abscess. They are keeping her overnight and she will undergo surgery tomorrow morning.

She should be fine, but she's about 17 years old.

Astral projection?

2008-06-20T19:11:29Z

Really? How can you expect me to take anything you say seriously when your web site is all about astral projection?

Faster Fox

2008-06-18T07:30:46Z

Dang the new Firefox is fast. I suspect the Javascript engine has been improved. Also, so much better with the memory.

I just need my Tab Mix Plus extension to be updated...

Hay fever

2008-06-17T00:26:36Z

My hay fever can just fuck right off.

Some people's cats escape outside

2008-06-16T23:12:56Z

Some people have to watch their cat to make sure it doesn't run outside when the door is opened.

My cat won't go more than 3 feet off the porch. I closed the door cause I wanted her to get some exercise. She's freaking out now, desperate to get inside now that she's spent a whole 30 seconds in the big wide scary world.

Broccoli and salmon

2008-06-13T19:31:02Z

I've eaten a lot of broccoli salad this week. Every day. Salmon too. Every damn day.

Repost of a peeve: passive aggressive

2008-06-13T05:40:04Z

I'm sure I've posted this before, but I'm a gonna do it again.

"Passive aggressive" does not mean "avoids confrontation." Nor does it mean "disagrees with me." Nor does it mean "disagrees with me but doesn't fight about it." Nor does it mean "disagreeing in a way to avoid being the bad guy."

It does avoid confrontation, but it's a very particular kind of avoidance. Passive aggressive is when a person disagrees but says they agree, and then actively but secretly tries to undermine the purported agreement.

For instance, your girlfriend wants to go to Maui on vacation, but you want to go to Miami. Leaving a long-winded letter to her saying you don't want to go, or posting to LiveJournal that you don't want to go, and then avoiding the girlfriend for a month so she can't disagree, that's not passive aggressive. It's passive. It's non-confrontational. But not passive aggressive. Telling her you'll go to Maui, but then fixing it so you "have to work" or "losing your tickets"... that's passive aggressive.

If the person disagrees with you such that you know they disagree with you, it's probably not passive aggressive.

This is mostly directed at the Stranger writers and SLOG commenters, but I see it on my friends list on occasion too.

Baby!

2008-06-13T02:25:30Z

Baby, if you were in my game I'd give you an eighteen Charisma!

Now Reading

2008-06-12T18:52:35Z

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Pretty solid writing, but I'm only 100 pages in to it so far. But it's chock full of geek references. In a passage about Oscar Wao's mother's adolescence:

But before Beli could bring her colossal cleavage to bear — her very own wavemotion gun — Wei, blushing deeply, ran over and buttoned her up.

Schedule

2008-06-12T16:31:28Z

FYI I will not be in Seattle tonight. I will be arriving tomorrow. I have no specific plans for the day. Saturday I will be attending Chief Sealth graduation and plan to go out Saturday night (Noc Noc most likely).

Long day

2008-06-09T06:20:52Z

It's been a long day. Today was the 80th birthday for my grandmother, and my mom and aunt hosted a party for Gram. The party doubled as a 60th wedding anniversary for my grandparents as well.

The drive down went pretty swimmingly. We took my car because it has angled headrests. Dad drove. I sat behind Mom and flipped the suction device on and off when she needed it.

The ALSA provided a tilting wheelchair for mom to use at the party. Mom used it when she was in my grandparents' apartment, but we never really were able to get the headrest adjusted to Mom's satisfaction. That was frustrating. So at the party itself, she used her brace.

This was also the first time in 4½ years that my entire immediate family was in one place. Dan cam and brought Brenda and Victor. Elaine and Brian came. Joe and Sara came. As Sara put it while watching mom walk around with Victor, Your mom is stupid happy to see him.

Drive back was tougher. Mom was worn out. Her ibuprofen wore off, so we had to stop on the way to give her something stronger. Also, the piece of cloth holding her head in place to the headrest kept slipping off. And a muscle in my back cramped up something fierce. But we made it back.

I have about 8 pounds of food left over from catering. Two bags of salmon. One of chicken. One of potatoes. Two of a broccoli salad. Dad has a few bags too. And so does my cousin. They planned for the right amount of people, but it was mostly old folks who ate like birds.

Now, I finish my book and sleep.

Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens

2008-06-08T15:14:32Z

With whom did I see Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens at Re-bar a couple of years ago? Like 4. Help me internet memory.

Back in Bellingham

2008-06-07T02:53:13Z

I will be going out tonight to see The Crying Shame tonight.

Hillary Clinton

2008-06-06T17:13:04Z

I still don't understand the hate for Hillary Clinton. What is it about people that causes them to hate on her?

Note, the question is not what is it about her? The question is, what is it about the people who hate?

Bacon, onion, and gruyere grits

2008-06-05T06:23:57Z

Cut up 5 or 6 slices of bacon and fry the pieces 'til crispy
Set bacon aside on paper towel
Cut a large (Vidalia) onion in half and slice very thinly
Fry the onions on medium-low in the bacon grease, covered, until golden.
Bring 4 cups milk, ¼ cup butter, and ½ teaspoon salt to just before a boil on medium high.
Stir in one cup quick-cooking grits and return to boiling lowering heat if necessary. Cook about 2 minutes longer until thickened.
Stir in bacon.
Stir in onion.
Stir in a dash of hot sauce.
Stir in one cup shredded gruyere, until cheese is melted.
Spread grits mixture in 2 quart greased baking dish.
Spread ½ cups shredded gruyere on top.
Spread 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan on top.
Bake uncovered in 350° oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Tasty tasty tasty...

Teeth

2008-06-04T16:16:59Z

Canned Bacon

2008-06-04T01:48:02Z

You know you want to buy some

Condominium association

2008-06-02T18:35:36Z

Well, my condo association annual meeting is Tuesday and I won't make it.

I asked a fellow owner to vote for me. Let the building manager know I was doing this.

Got a call from him just now, trying to get me to give my proxy to someone else. I am amused. It's like high school.

Spin Cycle

2008-06-01T05:51:10Z

Bellingham Fitness recently put up signs on the door of the classroom at the facility. No spin shoes! There's a spin class there following my boot camp class. How they do spin class without spin shoes, I didn't really know.

Actually, what I didn't know what spin class was. I kept picturing people doing exercises on sit and spin like contraptions. Or twisting on the floor. Or that it was some sort of Tai-Bo kind of thing that I missed somehow.

One of my boot camp classmates yesterday informed me that it's a class on stationary bikes.

Why it can't be called stationary bike class, I do not know. I don't feel dumb for not knowing. I do feel dumb for thinking of people spinning on their asses. Though there are exercise crazes that are actually that dumb.

Side note: you can come in with me to class on Monday. It's all about bringing friends! Plus, you get 10% off if you sign up for the next boot camp class if you sign up Monday! Any takers? Bueller… Bueller…