Looking back on the holidays

Well Mom got on the plane back home this morning. Quite the holiday season here chez Whiting.

6 days without power after a big wind storm
Mom comes 3 days earlier than I anticipated
Lisa was kind enough to host to weather refugees at her house
Azalea had an open house on the 22nd
The Evil Ex- abducted the kids over Xmas in defiance of parenting plan
I hosted dinner for 10 Christmas night
I got sick through it all
I'm now suffering from persistant hiccups. Don't laugh, it's almost 24 hrs now

Hanging out with Mom was great. She got quality time with the two youngest. My eldest even made an appearance Christmas Day. Significant given that I saw him on my birthday 12/12 for the first time since early Aug.

Lessons learned from Holiday Season '06? Family is everything. Lisa's the best. Next year's gonna be even better.

Office camping

Yep. That's what my neighbors accused me of when they saw me schlepping into work at 8 with a sleeping bag, pad, and luggage. Again. Why? Cuz I ain't got no 'lectricity at home. Still. The storm was Thu night. It's Wed. The utility workers I spoke to down the street from my house confirmed my worse suspicions. I live on a ridge with a great view. Why? Cuz I live above a two block long, two street wide green belt. A green belt on a steep hill covered with blackberries. They can't get a truck anywhere near the pole and lines. Probably won't for 2-3 days. Unless tonight's storm causes more damage.

Oh. Did I mention that my 82 yr old mother came into town Mon morning? Three days earlier than I thought. God bless my sweetheart for hosting us for a couple nights. And arranged for us to spend the holiday week at her daughter's house.

Christmas '06? Yeah, that was the year I office camped.

The Square Egg

Make has a piece on square hard boiled eggs.

It looks like they've been reading old versions of JetCityOrange.

Oh Santa...

This is both funny and clever. And so timely now that the holidays are upon us.

My question: will they keep it around til next year?

Birthday surprise

Good thing I checked my spam folder. What do I find but email from my oldest son inviting me to his therapy session today. Significant because a.) I haven't seen him for 4+ months and b.) today is my birthday.

Speaking of which today, 12/12, is my birthday. I, who was born in '53, turn 53 today.

Shaving

While updating my List of Links I came across this video. Funny yes but slightly disturbing as well. I quickly add I'm old enough not to apprciate the current style of shaved nether regions. This goes for the Hitler soul patch too. Bush. Gimme bush. Well, at least not in the White House.

48° 6' 57.96" -123° 12' 0.36"

Yes, I've stood at the corner of Woodcock & Kitchen-Dick. Felt good too.

Where was I you ask? Sequim WA 98382. Where else?

The 666 Key

I was just thinking to myself that this blog has been mighty text-heavy of late and could use a bit of photography. And what does life hand me but the perfect picture. Makes me think of 666, the mark of the beast.

Speaking of sex...

I don't care if it's in German or not, ya gotta read this product announcement. A spray-on condom. Whodda thunk?

Speaking of sex and protest, have you heard about global orgasm? No perv, it isn't about Russian brides, hittin' on foreign stewardesses, or white slavery. PC nookie!

How to live one's life.

We're born alone. We die alone.

How you live during the interval is all that matters.

Is it almost time for metric?

Cory & I were talking on the ride to Vancouver and a thought occurred to me: will the neverending stream of immigrants into the US push us into accepting the metric system (finally)? Millions of these New Americans were raised on the more logical metric system and have to master inches, pounds, and gallons along with American slang, HOV lanes, shopping malls, and the in's & out's of the electoral college.

Try teaching a child to add fractions of inches. That's the homework I really hated.

The holidays are here. Again.

The holiday season is upon us once again with something for everyone: Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, my birthday.

Please take a moment during the hustle and bustle and think of others. No, not just your family and friends. Strangers.

Become the light that shines into the dark corners of someone else's life. Give of yourself. Donate to a cause you believe in. Consider making the simple act of giving part of your life 365 days a year.

Regardless of your faith and beliefs, making the world a better place for all is core to our human existence.

Happy holidays. Om mani padme hum.

I have mixed feelings on this one

Usually I detest rock'n'roll, good rock'n'roll, being used to market shit in TV ads.

Then Victoria's Secret started using Hendrix's Red House. Not only do they use our barcodes, it's Jimi.

Do I hate the corporate propaganda more than I love classic Jimi? Not to mention the babes...

Seeing a man 'bout a horse

I find myself in Boston. Usually that's a good thing: one of my favorite cities, lived here for 7 hrs & visit often, old friends, know my way around without a map, etc.

This day-after-Election-Day sees me here after a JetBlue redeye outta Seattle, meeting a potential business partner at the Concord Starbucks at 11, and home again tonight. Cross country in less than 24 hours; no hotel involved.

Not to mention that I was just in The Bay for a long weekend leading up to this. Road warrior, that's me.

If nothing else it looks like the GOP got spanked last night. Now if only the Dems grow a spine...

Speak up if you drink Starbucks coffee

Starbucks loves to brag about how socially responsible they are. I'll admit that they're less slimey than the average corporation. Reading this makes me think that there's more they could be doing. What do you think???

Ahhhh.... barcodes. Warms me heart they do.

There's something deeply satisfying about bringing a new barcode web site to life. Doubly so when one is about Code 128 barcodes. Know what I mean?

Home Ec

I never learned how to sew, but this article makes me wish I did.

Never too late, ehhh?

Good Advice From OakTown

Black Panther Party reunion in Oakland

We had a great weekend in Oakland. Spent time with my brother David. Iguana Joe was in from Boston. Saw both Craig and his brother Mick. Dropped by to see Pirkle in Mill Valley.

The trip centered around a number of events surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Black Panther Party. We went to a book signing and banquet dinner Saturday night. There was a photo op on the Alameda County Court House steps Sunday morning. I took lots of pictures Sunday. Pretty darn good pictures if I may say so myself.

Coleman and Bryan were truly inspired, as were we all.

Barcodes: once jargon, now slang

I collect photos of barcode tattoos, barcode graffiti, , graffiti t-shirts, etc. No surprise given that I own a barcode software company.

I've written a white paper, "Barcodes: once jargon, now slang" (PDF). Summary: barcodes have been part of our collective visual vocabulary.

Now go read it.

It's that "life" thing again.

Or maybe I should say that "living on this planet, in this corner of the universe" thing. I do hope someone explains when it's all over. Or during the commercial break between incarnations.

Shouldn't I never see this?

Someone tell me why oh why I should ever see this dialog box. The check box is checked.

Jackass Number Two Trailer

Go Number Two on September 22nd

...one more thing Santa

As long as we're talking about wood (no, not that kind perv), Santa can ya git me this too.

You the man, Nick.

Dear Santa

Santa, I've been a good boy this year. Soooo, would you entertain something like this as a holiday reward? You don't even have to read Japanese to appreciate how hip this is.

Pleeeeease...

Jones Soda

It seems like forever since I've had a photo of mine grace a bottle of Jones Soda.

So I'm back at it again.

HHDL Vancouver webcast et al.

Seminal event. That's the best way I can describe seeing HH The Dalai Lama in Vancouver a couple weeks ago. You can read the books but there's nothing like being in his presence.

Just to make sure I wasn't fooling myself I listened to his talk again via this webcast (Cultivating Happiness, skip to :50). Yep. He's the real deal.

Bryan and I watched Kundun last night. Whoa. Great compliment to Little Monk, an HBO documentary we saw about a young monk.

I've been sitting since March. I've gone as far as I can. I need a teacher. (That's me asking the Buddha.)

BTW, HHDL is coming to The Bay in April07.

engadet does gizmodo

Is it me or does the newly redesigned engadget bear a suspiciously striking resemblence to Gizmodo?

You be the judge.

Teen-aged boys

It's been over 6 weeks since my 17 yr old hit me. Needless to say, I've never gone this long without seeing any of my kids. Number one son is hiding at his mother's house or should I say "behind his mother's apron".

Some women recognize what's going on, almost all men grok it in fullness.

1a: karma is real
1b: payback's a bitch
1c: now I know how my father felt (tho I never smacked him nor spent time in juvy

2: as a Buddhist who believes in reincarnation, I realize it may take while before Michael grows up and learns the lesson(s) at hand

3: while my other two are watching their older brother, I pray they at least make their own (different) mistakes

This may take awhile.

Speaking of family, I had a great trip home last week. Spent lots of time with Mom, who's doing incredibly well after 2 breast cancer operations in 6 weeks. The unexpected joy was spending mucho quality time with my brother. As in 3 meals in three days. Not to mention is seemingly normal new girlfriend. Big shout out to Bruce'n'Barb as well. Ahhhh, Cleveland. Land of my birth.

HHDL in Vancouver

Lisa and I saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama today in Vancouver. He's here for the opening of a new center.

Tears streamed down my face though his speech was what I called "Dalai Lama Lite". Lovely enough but not a spiritual talk per se. I've been reading a handful of his books lately and I guess I had my hopes set a bit too high.

Being in his presence and hearing his voice was a joy. A true joy.

Perhaps the most touching moment was when he entered the room and his two RCMP escorts clasped their hands together and bowed to him. F*cking secret service agents wouldn't have done that. Oh yeah, it was qualatatively different being in Canada seeing him.

I promise to work harder for the enlightenment of all sentient beings. Each and every day.


Om mani padme hum.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Lisa and I are on our way to Vancouver BC today to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak tomorrow.

First time. I could use the inspiration about now.

Altoids tin pocket shrines

While I admire those that re-use Altoids tins for DIY electronic projects, I use them to make pocket shrines.

Mints, gum, smalls, you name it, I'm shoving something into it.

I finally completed enough to warrant a web gallery of my Altoids personal shrines. Still working on several more so I'm looking forward to posting new pix as I complete them.

This one is for the older guys out there

I've got three sons who I love dearly. Three teen-aged sons. Starting to get the picture?

I always suspected that this upcoming school year was going to be a "challenge". I'm going to have a 12th, 9th, and 7th grader. Two in high school, one in middle school. Come Feb, the oldest turns 18 and God willing graduates in June.

Getting there is proving to be a trip. I have to laugh at myself because we've all gotten along so well this far, that it shouldn't be a surprise how quickly it's fallen apart.

When I relate stories of my rebelling 17 yr old, my male peers stop me midsentence and remmind me what it was like for us. Whether we knew each other back then or not. One of those Universal Truths.

So he's pushing off from Dad, discovering himself, making his own mistakes, living at his mom's, and probably hating me with every fiber of his being.

I'm trying to pace myself given that I have two more to go.

Fatherhood. Wouldn't given it up for anything. <sigh>

One's employess

I was renting a DVD at Blockbuster yesterday. The clerk was trying to get me to sign up for their online deal. Hey, I'm a Netflix junkie.

Anyway the thing that struck me was he kept saying "they're desperate to have people sign up". Hello... You work for them. You should be saying "we/we're".

Note to company owners everywhere: make your employees part of the corporate family. Duh...

Hawks beware!

Hats off and a big thanks to the voters in CT for dumping Lieberman. I dunno from no Lamont but I have to laugh at Lieberman for not quitting but transmuting into an independent candidate.

Are the rest of you politicians listening?

Thoughts, random thoughts

Sometimes things you plan backfire; unintended results abound. The real tradegy is when we don't learn from past experiences. Even worse when we drag others into our drama.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama tells us to love those who cause us pain. The paradox is that those we already love are easy. It's those that we have trouble loving that provide us with our hardest lesson(s).

I've been coasting on the belief that things worked out so well. Coasting blindly. Now it's coming to a crashing halt and my eyes are being forced open. Open to confront that which I didn't want to see.

And I promised myself that I'd never blog like this again. You now, the personal stuff. Yet I'm doing it. I can't help myself.

What a challenge. Definitely something to meditate about/on.

JetCityOrange, the web site

As many of you know, this blog is the companion site to JetCityOrange the web site. And over at JCO, things have been hoppin'.

I put together a quick'n'dirty page the day NPR aired a story about the "mosquito ringtone". Little did I know that it would get 63,000+ visitors who've listened to the 17KHz sound 123,000+ times! Whoa!

Another pleasant surprise has been the growth of my barcode tattoo photo gallery and my barcode art gallery. So far only two people have denied my request to allow me to post their photos and others have volunteered theirs out of the blue.

One project I wish I could devote more time to are photos for the Google Pack Screensaver. Hey, there are only so many hours in the day.

Speaking of time constraints, new video camera aside, you don't see me joining the YouTube Generation. Yet...

My kinda car

a.) my father drove a Mustang. Several of them in fact.
b.) the new Mustangs look pretty fun.
c.) Steve McQueen's Bullitt has one to the best car scenes ever.
d.) Steve did his own driving. In a Mustang.

Now you see why I snapped this photo when I parked behind this person today. Sorry it was on my Sidekick's camera, not my Oly.

In the news

So we're up to our eyeballs in two Middle East wars (remember Afghanistan?). Israel is using a kidnapped soldier as a flimsy excuse to try to oust Hamas. Or should I say "the democraticly elected government of Palestine"? Less than a week after things come to a head, Britain and the US are evacuating ex-pats (what do they know they aren't tell us?). And diplomacy seems to be a four letter word to Bush.

The US will stand by Israel no matter how egregious their actions. They must have the bomb or their enemies would have pushed them into the sea by now. Meanwhile the price of gas is going down at the pump while crude is over $70 a barrel. During the summer when folks taking vacations. Drving vacations.

Will someone explain even half of the above to me? Please??

Whadda ya wanna bet that when Condi the Hun goes to the Middle East next week, "cease fire" and "peace talks" won't be in her vocabulary? Why not send Jesse Jackson over? It worked before.

Mmmmmm...

When I cook garlic is an ingredient, not a spice.

Chatter

It's said that I watch as many movies as I do because it's one of the few ways I can quiet myself. Too many neurons firing most of the time. That's why meditation is such a challenge for me.

Petrol

I have a stick. Gas is expensive. Therefore I coast a lot more than I used to.

Clyde sez I'm jealous

It all starts with this video

The Top 10 Reaons Why This Video Makes Me Nuts

10.) at first, seeing the Kellog's logo put me at ease. it was all downhill from there.

9.) even though i can't understand japanese, hearing the guy's inflection gives me goose bumps

8.) at least i *hope* they're goose bumps

7.) obviously some folks have waaaaay too much time on their hands

6.) is this the first take or how often did they have to repeat this sucker?

5.) are you SURE the japs don't have The Bomb? cuz if they do, the west coast is fucked. seriously fucked.

4.) shouldn't someone check just to be sure? like with geiger counters and shit?

3.) HEY, i swear i saw clyde's hand in there somewhere. here, watch it again in slow mo...

2.) and the schmucks who did this wonder why their wives left them. six months ago. and none of them have noticed yet.

1.) excuse me but didn't the japanese INVENT the microwave? what up wit dat dawg????

Bore de France

You hoped it happened in football. Everyone acted surprised when it came to light in baseball. Basketball? Who knows. And golf, well, in spite of Tiger they just aren't hip enough.

Doping has ruined the Tour for me this year. I just don't care. I sure as heck ain't gonna get up early to watch it live. Simply put, I don't care who wins. And it's not just because Lance is retired.

Junkies on two wheels.

Knee High By the 4th of July

Well. For once I did it.

Today is 04jul06 and the Zea mays in my front yard extends above my patella.

My wish list item for Vista

It's gonna suck. It's Windows.

The only thing I want from Vista is a Ctrl-Z shortcut in Solitaire.

Note to self: try this!

Don't cha just wish you'd thought something like this up yourself? Kinda lends itself to other "creative" applications.

A Double Reprieve

I'm giving thanks twice today. Both for Michael, my oldest son.

For reasons unknown, he's been obsessed with enlisting in the Marines when he graduates high school next year. The attempts of those of us who love him to dissuade him have fallen on deaf ears. Methinks it's the only way he, as the oldest son, can possibly rebel against a radical father. Long story short, he found out today that he needs to be seizure-free for five years before they'll take him. It's been less than 6 months.

There was a horrific car crash on the West Seattle Bridge early this morning. It was closed from 2:30 to 11 this morning. The fire was so bad they couldn't tell what kind of car it was let alone who was inside. It was 3 of Michael's homies. Yesterday was the last day of school. Everyone was at Alki partying, so much so that the police had to break things up at 11:30. As fate would have it, Michael didn't go with his friends, the friends that died hours later. My heart goes out to their families.

Om Mani Padme Hum

Look where JetCityOrange showed up

Every once in awhile, JetCityOrange escapes this blog and the web site and is spotted out in the wild.

The Mosquito Ringtone

Now that NPR blabbed about it, everyone knows about the mosquito ringtone, not just kids. Only the young can hear high frequency sounds. Some bozo invents a device to scatter loitering kids. Kids use high frequency ringtone to hide text messages from teachers.

Me? I make a 17KHz tone WAV file. (WAV files don't use the same lossey compression MP3 files do.) Beware that most cell phones probably can't reproduce a 17KHz tone anyway.

Enjoy!

Nashville

Nashville for a week. Never been here before. Visiting old friends and attending a barcode conference that began on 06/06/06 (as in "666"). In Dixie.

Nashville is an art town. Met lots of artists and musicians courtesy of Paul who's been here for years. Blaine drove over from Macon for the long weekend. The three of us together again.

Late flight and lost baggage balanced with a free upgrade to a minivan. Came in handy when I found myself hanging an art show on Sat. A CD release party complete with belly dancers.


Learned about mockingbirds first hand in Linda and JQ's yard. Saw TN's largest Oak tree at someone's house who went to school in Seattle (Cornish no less). Learned that Nashville has the world's only full-sized replica of the Parthenon (went twice)and the largest community of Kurds outside the Middle East.


Love the homes. Love them. Old, individual, beautiful, set far apart (by Seattle standards), and lots & lots of brick. Great yards and porches. Magnolias everywhere. Still haven't had any local BBQ. Yazoo Brewing Co rocks in spite of their hours. Their rye is a classic. Fireflies and crickets at night too.

And I took pictures. Tons of pictures. Some which will undoubtedly turn up as Windows wallpaper images and Google Pack Screensaver collections over on JetCityOrange.

I could go on but won't. Suffice it to say, I'm comin' back.

Why God Made Bandwidth

This is why we have 1's and 0's: to push content like this around the globe. Watch this...

Dixie

I'm in Nashville. First time. Hanging in Franklin. Artists and musicians. Hanging with Paul and Blaine.

Plane was late. They lost my luggage. Free upgrade to a minivan.

Hangin' (other's) art. Hangin' out. In Dixie. Below the Mason-Dixon. Walking among Civil War ghosts. Past statue of Klan co-founder. Stories of rebel flag. It's a Southern thing. I'm not sure I understand, this Yankee Black man.

Haven't had the BBQ yet. Not enough pictures taken. Fireflies though!

It's a Google world after all

Google and Dell get in the bed the same day eBay saddles up to Yahoo! Bill and Steve both must feel left outta the party.

Lay and Skilling get what's due and Blair and Dubya continue the lies. And we have a military puppet running the CIA. I feel better now.

Have camera, will cause trouble.

I finally got around to making a new photo collection for the Google Pack Screensaver

I love the Azalea Bud wallpaper

Summer looms before us.

The 3, count 'em, 3 R's

This recent posting on craigslist proves that our children ain't learnin' no math: "3/4 pitbull....1/3 lab.........FREE>>>>>"

Back in the day

Back in the day I remember how magnets were something to avoid or at least something to be isolated. Why? Because they screwed up floppies.

Remember floppies? My laptop doesn't even have a floppy drive.

Floss

Corn on the cob, mango, salmon, and chicken. All well worth the floss they require.

Bikes? Did someone say bikes?

So I'm riding my bike again. and then this site pops up.

Coincidence? I think not.

Bored?

If you're bored, watch this.

Thank you Easter Bunny. Thank you!

Imagine my surprise when I opened my basket this year...

Someone with too much time on their hands

Clyde turned me on to this incredible video. Just when you think you've seen something wild, the next one blows it away. Something tells me knowing what the text says would only diminish the experience.

Timelessness

Lesson learned: if you stay at home on a cloudy day listening to ambient music, you lose all sense of time.

Not necessarily a bad thing.

Spam

Spam seems to come in waves. Sometimes stuff appears to be from one country or another. A couple months ago I noticed a lot of stuff seemed to have no date and Outlook put it at the bottom of my mail list. The latest twist is spam with my real name in the subject line.

Odd cuz almost no one calls me "Elmer".

Big Love

I admit, I'm hooked on Big Love, HBO's new Sunday night polygamy hour. I have HBO on Demand so I've caught all three episodes in real time and invited Michelle and Drew over to watch the first two which they'd missed.

I see I'm not the only one weighing in on this either.

I don't watch TV (my big screen is for movies) but Big Love has me hooked. Why? Most TV shows are one of a handful of basic plots (cops, funny families, doctors'n'nurses, etc.). This one is different. Way different.

How different? It hits up against taboos. Strong taboos. Non-traditional family structures, non-mainstream faith, cults, pedophiles, to name a few. Several people I've talked with find Big Love genuinely disturbing. And for that alone, it qualifies as non-trivial TV.

I gotta say I'm having the time of my life shooting photos for the Google Pack Screensaver. Great little screensaver that rotates between the photographs in a designated folder. What's great about the Google screensaver is that it "tosses" the photos down at random locations and angles, just like you're tossing real photographs on the table.

So far I've done photo collections of Alcatraz, poker, and neon signs among others. I'm having fun planning these collections than anything I could be printing. And that's what digital photography means to me: digital (as in non-print) output.

Works for me.

My current Marfas (79843)

Big Love on HBO. As if handling one woman is do-able. Three? Puh-leeze. Not that I'm not hooked...

The Bay as second city. And I always thought it would be Vancouver or Boston.

Now my oldest wants me to do acupuncture on him, not Miki. Silly me, I thought he didn't want it at all. Guess that answers the question about me wanting to treat my own kids. Guess I don't have a choice after all.

Psychoacoustics, binaural beats, and the Schumann Resonance. As MP3 now, podcast later.

And flower essences. Bach Flowers of course but others too. Botanicals, always back to botanicals.

As much as I love movies, I haven't been in a theater for 4 or 5 months. Long live Netflix.

It looks like I'm gonna have to learn QuickBooks. Great. In my spare time.

Herbal liquors. Way beyond Jagermeister. I'm collecting nips, mostly from Ledger Liquor in Berkeley.

And lastly, I spoke with Les Blank on the phone last week. Big cultural hero.

Make sure you know what you're looking for so you'll recognize it when you see it. This implies keeping your eyes open as a way of life.

I'm sitting once or twice a day. Time to clear up my karma. Good for the kids. Mom wants to come for a month.

[sigh]

Back home again

I'd like to think that Oprah has had a positive effect on book consumption and literacy in general. Don't know; don't watch her. But when I stumbled across this in the Austin airport I had a hard time believing that it's progress. Towards what? Further growth of the Oprah Empire? And why won't she marry the man??

Is there a pricetag on happiness? How valuable is pursuing one's passion? Will I recognize a genuine rite of passage when it drops in my lap? Is it time to step back and do something else? Is a business meeting on your Mom's birthday significant? 1:30 tomorrow will tell.

And it has nothing to do with Oprah.

Austin rocks!

Finally, finally I have something good to say about Texas. Austin Rocks!

I'm here for work. I dreaded coming and put off registering for this conference until the last minute. My previous TX experiences have left me runnin' for the border. But everyone sez Austin is the jewel of tex-ass.

I'm hooked. Why? The downtown architecture rocks. People look you in the eye and talk to you. To a person: old, young, women, men. With sincerity. Once, twice maybe. But it's prevalent all over town.

It's the only place this northern urban black boy feels comfortable around people wearin' cowboy boots, driving pickup trucks, and drinking like, well, cowboys. Only it ain't a cowtown like Fort Worth.

I told Lisa I'm bringing her here. Austin rocks!

Dad

I'm such a dad. Everywhere I go, I still grab napkins and stuff them in my pockets, backpack, bike bag, etc. It's a habit leftover from when my kids were young.

I can't help myself.

The kindness of strangers

The boys and I are in SF for mid-winter break. We're having dinner in a small Japanese restaurant (Grandeho's Kamekyo if you insist) sitting at the table by the door. A gentleman leaves, pauses, and says to the boys "Listen to your Dad. He's a good man."

And yes, that's The Rock behind the segaKidz.

Hacking Digital Cameras

One might forget that JetCityOrange purports to be a photography blog. Sometimes other things get in the way or I lose my way or whatever.

Let's reaffirm what we all know to be true: yes, this is a photo site. With that firmly in mind, may I direct your attention to a site aptly named Camera Hacker. And with this link may I re-establish once and for all, JCO's primary identity.

Speaking of weird fotographee I had my implant work wrapped up today. Long story, big bill. The oral surgeon has this really kewl office complete with a panoramic digital xray setup. Stand on these footprints on the floor, bite down on this thingie, and this widget rotates around your mouth in an arc. No darkroom, no chemistry, and the xray shows up on a screen in your treatment room. Big shoutout to Dr. Chin in Bellevue. (yes, it's a classic aptronym.)

We now resume our regular programming...

Valentine's Day

I'm no V Day believer myself but I just posted this page on dating for those of you who do. Or for anyone interested in The D Word (dating, not divorce, though we all know that there's a connection).

Hunting anyone?

If you go ahuntin', don't go with Cheney. Dead eye Dick hunts for Quayle.

Funny how the story was suppressed Sat nite so it didn't make the headlines Sun morning. Ahhh, the power of spin.

Random rants'n'raves

Valentine's Day, amnesty for those who aren't romantic the other 364 days of the year.

Your kids spend all day every day figuring out how to get you. It's their job.

Snapshots vs. photographs. Do you know the difference?

Guantanamo Bay

Camp xray is a national embarassment. These are POWs our draft dodger chickenshit of a president won't cop to. The courts are abandoning these poor bastards in the name of "national security". I don't know about you, but I feel less and less secure every day.

Let's see, there never were any weapons of mass destruction & the White House boldfaced lied about it, Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before but they sure are now, Islamics hate us the world over, Hamas won in a landslide yet we won't reach out to them, Isreal continues to paint itself in a corner and drag us alongside, the NSA has been wiretapping us illegally and the NY Times kept their mouth shut about it for a year, and Bush is still an asshole.

Yeah. I feel more secure.

Magic

I saw Crash again tonight. I cried more the second time than I did the first time.

Crash should be a double feature with Grand Canyon.

It's amazing that such films come out of Hollywood. All the shit they pump out and two gems like these sneak out.

Further poof that there is a God.

Photography in a police state

This sad news from down under is similar to the NY ban on taking photographs of bridges. Any half-assed terrorist isn't going to whip out a tripod and take pictures in broad daylight. Misguided totalianarism.

As misguided as the Capitol police arresting Cindy Sheehan for daring to wear an anti-war t-shirt to Bush' state of the union speech.

Now this is something The Man don't want us to know about. Talk about fotographee...

Tim Eyman

Tim Eyman, your 15 minutes are up. It's time for you to die now. No, really.

Flowers & Printing, Printing & Flowers

Anyone who knows me or knows my photographs knows that I love flowers and taking pictures of flowers. But this is a bit over the top, even for me.

Good news! (and bad)

Both my house number and street number are prime, though my ZIP code and phone number aren't. You have no idea how happy this makes this number freak.

Does a little to offset the horrid day I had yesterday. Four grand mals between my two oldest. Michael's first in 17 months, leaving Coleman to suffer three in 24 hours. We all cried, Bryan included. Hats off to our neighbor Rebecca for stepping in.

East Coast first

My recent trip to the East Coast (Boston, Dogfish Head, DC, NYC) included a first: my first AARP discount. Avis to be exact. Felt good.

misc. thoughts

"Misc. thoughts"? Those are the only kind I seem to have these days.

Why have a tachometer in a car with an automatic transmission?

I cut my ponytail off a month ago and it's just now that I've retrained myself not to pour out a glob of shampoo out of habit.

I like the stop lights in Washington DC because they have a count down that tells you how long it'll stay green before turning to red. Tells me just how much I have to speed up to make it. Very handy in school zones and near nursing homes.

Ordering a schooner of beer outside of WA and OR will often yield unintended results if not outright confusion. Bartender at a DC brewery didn't want to admit he didn't know what I was talking about so I ended up with an imperial pint, not a 12 oz or half pint glass. Fortunately it was an oatmeal stout. Not that the boneheads in the kitchen could serve up cornbread with their chowder despite promises to the contrary.

And traffic is worse in NYC than ever before. Don't get me started. I did get to ICP and ABC Home. Didn't have time for a Harry Callahan exhibit because I chose to walk through town. Soho next time on foot.

R.I.P.

What do Nikon and now Konica Minolta both have in common? Venerable camera companies who've recently announced they're abandoning the film camera business. Sign'o'the times...

Have fun, wish you were here.

Now this little ditty, while not available yet, is a novel idea. Of course, the question is how long before pornographers latch onto it?

A new personal record

Yesterday I drove from Cambridge to DC. Nothing particularly remarkable about that except it set a new record for the number of states I been in in one trip: MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC. Whether one counts the District as a "state" or not, 7 states is till my personal best. 8 makes it only moreso.

And yes, I got to Fish Brewing. The Mother Ship of Beer. In fact, I met not one but two couples who were also there on a Beer Pilgrimage. Both implored me to abandon plans to push on to DC and stay the night drinking with them. Turns out one couple just moved from Seattle. In fact, the woman (also African-American) lived in West Seattle! Against my impaired judgement I set out for DC anyway. We did exchange contact info so there's a really good chance we'll meet up again. I did walk away with a bottle of their vodka and rum. Saving them both for Seattle sampling. Mmmmm...

Some don't age well

No, I'm not talking about me (though I am unsettled about having to select such an "old" category in surveys). Barley wine.

For those of you not familiar with this high-alcohol content malted'n'hopped beverage think high octane with a murky/musky growl. OK, just try it.

The reason age and barley wine are on my mind of late is that Lisa and I have tapped several from my cellar of late only to be disappointed by how poorly most of them have stood up against the ravages of time. (Again, unlike moi.) To date, offerings from smaller brewers have bombed almost unanimously. I have a couple from Fish Brewing and Lagunitas awaiting trial.

Salvation may be at hand: I'm on the East Coast right now ready to descend upon Dogfish Head tomorrow. Not only one of my all-time favorite brewers but rumor has it they're also doing microdistilling, now have two establishments, tomorrow is their monthly brewer's dinner, and they close the DE facility Tue for remodeling. Wish me luck.

Meanwhile the spirit shopping in Beantown ain't that bad. I finally caught up with a bottle of Tito's Vodka only to have the cashier gush over how good it was and tell me to ignore the VT and Nantucket.

Oh yeah, I caught up with some blood orange bitters and imported rose water too. Given the rain in Seatown, I may never go back!

DIY mouse scanner

No, we're not on the lookout for rodents. Rat season isn't for another couple of months. What we're talking about here is someone hacking their optical mouse into a ghetto b&w scanner.

DVD annoyance

You know what bugs me? What sets me off disproportionate to the event? Starting up a DVD and having it display subtitles. Then I gotta stop the movie, go to the menu, turn subtitles off, and start it up again. Shit...

Fotos anyone?

Got a minute? Read this.

No more marked socks.

Tyler's dad is also into the 'matching your white socks' thing. He uses colour! What a concept.

Funny how "dating" in one's fifties is so different from high school puppy love. In a good way.

Blogging this time isn't about internet self-publishing personal angst. I'm not sure just what it is but it ain't what I was doing 3 or 4 years ago. You can count on that.

So now it's 2006.

It's aught six. I've even written my first check. And didn't mess up the date either.

New Year's Eve was as mellow as Xmas Eve. Both spent in Mukilteo. A pleasant time was had by all. Low key, private, and intimate. Slept like a dead man. Near catatonic sleep for hours on end. Quick, put a mirror under his nose. Is the body still warm?

The kids need to check back in to school. I need to finish moving into this house. I need to think about where next. The juicer needs to make a reappearance.

I've looked at dictionary.reference.com and m-w.com and I still stand by my use earlier of the word "volatile".

All said and done, it should be a great year. Not just a good one, a great. Going to Boston, DC, and NYC 13jan-19jan. Yes, a much needed solo East Coast road trip. Lots of photo exhibits and a trip to beer mecca, Dogfish Head!