Mountain Views of Madness
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
3diff's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 | | 5:09 pm |
flying saucers/daughter I happened across the page for the Universo-O-System ( http://www.chester.zdrowemiasto.pl/universe/). One really can't make up such crackpots, they have to be naturals. Even more interesting, though, was the suggestion in a news report that this guy's test flights in Chicago in the 40s and 50s may have helped start the flying saucer craze - see http://www.leechvideo.com/video/view719365.html. And, for those who don't read ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sichling's journal - we had a daughter on the 11th. Her name is Razielle Phoebe Y., and she is doing just fine. | | Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 | | 2:29 pm |
co-sleeping: the negative side
A vomiting toddler just does not make a good bed companion. Admittedly, after the second time he threw up, we put down towels. But by the fourth or fifth batch, changing the towels was getting old too. Poor lad. | | Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 | | 10:43 pm |
latest
Pluses:
- My mother is doing somewhat better, gaining confidence in being able to live by herself on one hand, while also facing the realities of living with a ruptured disc in her back. We might not have to go back to CT for a bit.
- I'm feeling reasonably healthy myself, as opposed to the bad cold I had a few weeks ago (while trying to take care of my mother) or the intestinal bug I had over the weekend.
- I'm doing some reading again, and I think that is helping my general mood. Even if it is only Judge Dee and Miss Seeton, that is better than playing lots of Civilization. And William has been showing interest in books again, since he sees me reading them.
Minuses:
- Well, the house is still a bit of a wreck.
- akatlas is in London, til Friday.
- We still need some names for the coming addition to the family...
- Anthology project needs either attention or abandonment.
On the whole, could be worse.
Current Music: Pentangle, Pentangling | | Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 | | 2:17 pm |
That was creatively stupid...
...putting a 9-volt battery in the same pocket as my keys. Suddenly there was this funny smell, and I reached into the pocket and burned myself on the arcing battery, while it was busy burning a hole in my pocket. Gack! | | Thursday, January 24th, 2008 | | 1:08 am |
Coincidence?
Barbarians are large guys with heavy metal weapons who demand large bags of gold and leave your city in ruins. Contractors are large guys with heavy power tools who demand large sums of money and leave your home in ruins. Historians claim that barbarian invasions actually meant useful cultural exchange and renewal. We hope that our contractors will improve our home. | | Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 | | 3:56 pm |
ah, the business hotel!
We are staying in Madrid at a brand-new business hotel (the "High Tech Nueva Castellana") in a brand-new office park, with possibly the ugliest hotel lobby I've ever seen. It is pretty small; the center is occupied by two 5-foot ceramic vases, one black and one white (except they are actually plastic, of course.) Over the vases is a complex and vaguely neat wooden chandelier-like thing. To the right is a large dog silhouette, and 3 life-sized plastic dog statues, which stick out from the wall 90 degrees. Near the elevators in the back are two tall white fabric-sculptures-cum-lamps (which never seem to be lit, so they are really just thingies.) It is almost indescribable. | | Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 | | 2:59 am |
the Stewarts of Transylvania?
There is a special holiday issue of some Martha Stewart publication on the magazine racks at the moment, with a photo of Martha Stewart on the cover dressed as a vampire. It's just so wrong... and yet it's just so right! | | Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 | | 8:52 am |
breakfast can be exciting
A few days ago I was particularly groggy around breakfast time, so I decided to have some tea. I got a tea bag and a mug and put them in the microwave. A minute or so later, things started smelling funny, and I realized the crucial element that was missing: water. Tea bags burn very nicely, but they leave kind of a funny smell behind. | | 8:42 am |
The Mackerel Pudding Plan
The funniest book I have picked up in a while: "The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan: Classic Diet Recipe Cards from the 1970s". Each card has a picture of the menu item; they usually look completely unappetizing, and the author contributed some snide comments on the side. But you don't even need much snide to go with something like "Crown Roast of Frankfurters" (and why was that considered appropriate for a diet?)
I got it for $4 on the bargain table at Borders. | | Friday, July 13th, 2007 | | 11:46 am |
William does a review
Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
This CD amused me for a good 10 minutes. First, there were two interesting sides - red and black, and shiny. Second, the shape was interesting - round, with that hole in the middle I could poke a finger through. Thirdly, when I threw it down, it made interesting clinking noises, depending on where I dropped it, and (a big bonus) sometimes it rolled! Fascinating! On the not-so-good side, it isn't very interesting to chew on, and it doesn't flex as nicely as a good laminated card (my personal favorite). On the whole, William says, "Check it out!" - Will, age 10 months | | Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 | | 1:08 pm |
update
We are slowly getting things organized here in Massachusetts. There are fewer boxes and more household goods piled around the place. Our cars are in Massachusetts, and with luck I might pick one up this afternoon. Tomorrow our new mattress will arrive (since the old one didn't make it up the steps ("You Won't Get it up the Steps!") The helpful relatives have departed (although they will be replaced with less helpful ones next week. Moving... don't do it unless you have to. | | Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 | | 2:24 pm |
Are we sheep?
The catastrophe at Virginia Tech is awful. One of my thoughts afterwards, perhaps not a very charitable one: why didn't people stop this guy? I mean, throw a chair at him, rush him, tackle him... According to one account I heard, he basically just walked into this classroom, shot the teacher, and then went around shooting people for upwards of a minute. And Virginia Tech has a military cadet corps! Are Americans all sheep? If this guy is walking around the classroom killing people, and you are lying on the floor, and he's getting close, I don't see much downside to yelling, "Let's get 'em!" | | Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 | | 1:42 pm |
Not another one... Yes, I know - it's hard keeping track of all the Bush administration scandals. Abramoff, Tillman, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Patriot Act misuse, the district attorney firings... Well, here's another one, which only the San Francisco Chronicle seems to have picked up so far. Imagine a bunch of high-level government employees in a videoconference in which a White House political operative talks about the upcoming election and they are asked by their boss, the head of the GSA, to think about how they can best help elect Republicans. If you are having trouble imagining that, read http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/26/MNGIVORLOF1.DTL the SFGate article. Edit: Actually, it looks like the story started in the Washington Post. Their most recent coverage is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501048.html And the GSA chief, Doan, is scheduled to testify tomorrow... | | Monday, February 5th, 2007 | | 2:46 pm |
a meme for a change 1. Grab the nearest book. (Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.) 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions. "She had finished wiping the blade (far more thoroughly than it required, and on the hem of her own peplos) and had knelt to blow on the embers, pretending to pay very little attention to what I was saying. 'I asked her. I told her I couldn't shoot a bow, but I can ride as good as anybody, and you'd need everybody to protect you if you were going to steal King Kotys. ...' " This is from p. 123 of Gene Wolfe's "Soldier of Arete"; it isn't a great favorite of mine, but I reread it recently because I am working on a review of Wolfe's recent addition to the series, "Soldier of Sidon" (which I liked rather better). This meme is courtesy of chaiya. | | Sunday, February 4th, 2007 | | 12:15 am |
translation
Being a parent, I now understand how the whole Lassie thing worked. The baby is crying. "You're tired? Hmm.... No, you're wet. Hmm... no... hungry? Oh, I get it! The smugglers have Lassie and are holding her hostage in the old mine in the hills!" (Well, I don't have it quite down yet, but I'm working on it.)
Current Music: William, crying a bit | | Saturday, October 28th, 2006 | | 11:06 am |
hometown art project You know those municipal art projects where artists decorate statues of cows or elephants or something, and they put them all over town? Well, my home town of Granby, CT, population around 11,000, did one using horses. Here is a link to some pictures of the horses taken by a friend of my mother's - they are kind of cool - http://picasaweb.google.com/bgrass2/GiddyUpGranby02. | | Sunday, September 10th, 2006 | | 8:25 pm |
fatherhood Sorry to leave folks hanging for a few days - we didn't have much in the way of internet access at the hospital. Anyways... William Irving Youmans (8 lbs 1 oz) was born by c-section (darn it!) Friday Sept. 8th at 7:03 PM. Alia and Will are doing well; we will all be home from the hospital tomorrow, barring any unforeseen developments. So far, fatherhood consists of changing the baby, holding the baby, and fetching water for the thirsty breastfeeding mother; not so bad, really. Pictures will be posted in a day or two, probably to somewhere on www.suddenlypress.com. Current Mood:  tired | | Thursday, September 7th, 2006 | | 10:02 pm |
impending fatherhood
Alia has been having contractions, but they don't seem to be very serious, so far. So, tomorrow morning we will be going into the hospital and (for good reasons) the doc will break Alia's water and otherwise induce things, such that sometime tomorrow, we will be parents. I will try to post things as soon as I have access to computers and good news to give out.
(Eeep!!) | | Saturday, August 26th, 2006 | | 6:10 pm |
Our government strikes again
An article in the San Francisco Chronicle today is about how our government is protecting us. Specifically, they are protecting us from two American citizens, Muhammad and Jaber Ismail, a naturalized Pakistani and his American-born son, who have been living in Pakistan for the last several years. In Hong Kong, on their way back to California, they were told that they would not be permitted to enter the US until they have talked to the FBI in Pakistan.
Their lawyer says that the son had talked to the FBI at the US embassy in Islamabad, but had refused to be interviewed again without a lawyer.
[These people are close relatives (brother and cousin) of another Lodi, California father and son pair recently prosecuted, with mixed success, by federal authorities; the son was convicted, mostly by his own statements during a very lengthy interrogation, of attending a terrorist training camp; his father was prosecuted for having knowledge of this and having visited the camp - also as a result of statements during a lengthy interrogation - even though his description of the camp failed to match his son's and was pretty obviously made up on the spot (it was in a cavern underground, people were running around with ninja swords - that sort of thing.) The father's prosecution failed.]
So... Even if these people ARE terrorists or sympathizers - wouldn't it be easier to talk to them in the US? Assuming they have passed security checks... what are they going to do? Hijack the airplane with their mysterious Al Qaida powers? Or, gee, maybe the US government would rather deal with them abroad, where they have less access to those pesky rights of American citizens? (By the way, neither of them have Pakistani citizenship - they both hold only US citizenship.) | | Thursday, August 24th, 2006 | | 10:52 am |
been a while
It has been too long since I posted anything here. Here is a quick update.
- Still waiting for the baby. Our lives will change sometime around Sept. 8th.
- New car: Prius Hybrid, red. Nice. Not that I've gotten to drive it yet... :-)
- I have been volunteering at a place called "History San Jose". For a historical society, it is a pretty big operation - they have a place called "History Park" with a bunch of historical buildings open to the public (sporadically) and an archive with lots of old county and city records. It was kind of cool to send someone who had made a genealogical inquiry the records of the coroner's inquest on their great-grandfather. (He dropped dead of a heart attack while chasing a runaway steer, in front of his wife and daughter, so the inquest was in large part their account of his death.)
- It's been cooler. That's nice. We had about a week or so of real hot weather, but since then... not so much.
- The anthology. Sigh. Haven't been pushing it. Looks nice, but not much for sales.
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: a morning chorus of leaf blowers |
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