To remember all the good things about our life when we are awakened by a car alarm indicating that Russell's truck has been broken into and the DVD/TV is missing (along with sundry other items).
The cops aren't even going to try to find out who did it. They merely took a report for insurance purposes. We'll be parking in the garage from now on. And here I thought it was because people wanted their cars to stay cool.
The dogs? Not a peep until I leaped up and ran to the door. Nice.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Slack-be-gone
I start my new job on Monday. Here. I'm pretty stinkin' excited and more than a little nervous. I'm starting out as a supervisor, and I don't know the people or the stores! I'm very happy about being back around people again, and not sitting behind a computer all day. And just look at the place. One of my favourite shops. They don't sell music, but I'll get to listen to canned jazz and world music all day long. How happy am I? Of course even with a slight raise over my salary in OKC, I'll be bringing home less money, as I will get 25% off store goods (excepting food/wine)! Oh, and there is a Pier One on one side of us, and a Nordstrom Rack on the other! We'll never be able to afford a Mini. *sigh*
And the odd and surprising fact that now that I will have less free time, I'll get a lot more done. It's a strange fact of life for me that my productivity is in direct dis-proportion to the amount of free time I have. i.e: The more I have to do, the more I get done. I will bitch about not having free time anymore, and I'll mourn the lost days of slackdom, but deep inside I'll be thriving on the constant running and exhaustion of being a honey, a momma, a breadwinner, a housekeeper, a cook, and a chick (and whatever other roles are presented!).
So. This is my last weekend of real freedom before retail holiday hell ensues. I want to play some WoW and then we're going to rent Van Helsing. It's quite nice out; perhaps I'll get motivated and take Bucket for a bike ride!
And the odd and surprising fact that now that I will have less free time, I'll get a lot more done. It's a strange fact of life for me that my productivity is in direct dis-proportion to the amount of free time I have. i.e: The more I have to do, the more I get done. I will bitch about not having free time anymore, and I'll mourn the lost days of slackdom, but deep inside I'll be thriving on the constant running and exhaustion of being a honey, a momma, a breadwinner, a housekeeper, a cook, and a chick (and whatever other roles are presented!).
So. This is my last weekend of real freedom before retail holiday hell ensues. I want to play some WoW and then we're going to rent Van Helsing. It's quite nice out; perhaps I'll get motivated and take Bucket for a bike ride!
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Nostalgia
It's windy today and slightly cool, and I was waxing nostalgic for Oklahoma. Yes, that's right. Wind in the desert, however, is slightly different. It has the consistency of sandpaper. So while it is tousling your hair and wreaking havoc with the lawn ornaments, it is also abrading the very skin from your bones.
It hasn't rained yet, although it's supposed to. I should tarp the rocking lawn bench we looted from the neighbour's trash. I'm sanding it down with high hopes. Probably oughtn't let it get wet.
It hasn't rained yet, although it's supposed to. I should tarp the rocking lawn bench we looted from the neighbour's trash. I'm sanding it down with high hopes. Probably oughtn't let it get wet.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Levity
Try this recipe. Sounds atrocious. Isn't. Sounds super easy. Is. These cookies are so good!
I've made them twice. They never come out as pretty as the picture, but they sure are tasty. I use vanilla extract instead of almond. You can use whatever tickles your fancy.
Oh, and Bucket is learning to run alongside my bicycle. He's only nearly killed me twice. Good boy.
I've made them twice. They never come out as pretty as the picture, but they sure are tasty. I use vanilla extract instead of almond. You can use whatever tickles your fancy.
Oh, and Bucket is learning to run alongside my bicycle. He's only nearly killed me twice. Good boy.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
I like Dan Brown
Here are some things I really dug from Angels & Demons:
"Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. in the end we are all just searching for the truth, that which is greater than ourselves."
Regarding the ongoing battle between Science and Religion (the camerlengo speaking to scientists):
"You have won. But you have not won fairly. You have not won by providing answers. You have won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable. Religion cannot keep up. Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opesn doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control. The rift between us grows deeper and deeper, and as religion is left behind, people find themselves in a spiritual void. We cry out for meaning...we see UFOs, engage in channelling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests--all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are unashamedly irrational. The are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by it's own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology.
...
"Science, you say, will sve us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species moving down the path of destruction.
...
"Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea.
"To science, I say this. The church is tired. We are exhausted from trying to be your signposts. Our resources are drying up from our campaign to be the voice of balance as you plow blindly on in your quest for smaller chips and larger profits. We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clong living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do.
...
"Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes and look to the heavens, and tell me now there could not be a God!...You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God's hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?
"Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith...all faiths...are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable...With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth."
If you know me, you know that I am NOT a church goer. I have serious issues with organised religion...primarily Christianity and its need to force everyone to believe that there is only one God and every other religion is crap. However, I do have to believe that there is something greater than me out there. Dunno what it is. Not sure if I want to know. It's enough for me to have someone to talk to.
At any rate, I really like what is being said about science here. They are thoughts I've often had, but have difficulty expressing. There is another book by Daniel Quinn called Ishmael that puts forward the same notions...that science, despite all of the wonderful things that come of it, is progressing too quickly and errantly. He likens our path to that of a bicycle being peddaled off a cliff. At first we feel like we are flying, because in those few seconds before gravity really catches hold, we certainly are...but then the inevitable downfall commences, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop or even slow it. Our civilisation, Quinn says, has just left the cliff's edge on our little bicycle. We are thrilled with the gifts technology has given us and feel as though we can do anything and go anywhere. The universe is our oyster! Science proceeds with little thought to the implications. The whole X Prize thing scares the hell out of me. Just what we need--a bunch of rich tourists zooming around in space. Who knows what kind of pollution that will generate. What will it do to our atmosphere?
Gravity.
Anyway. Just thought I'd give you something to chew on since I'm usually spouting drivel. (And yes, I'm well aware of the irony of me writing this treatise against technology on a shiny new laptop while sitting in my airconditioned hom and broadcasting my thoughts to a world of strangers over the World Wide Web!)
"Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. in the end we are all just searching for the truth, that which is greater than ourselves."
Regarding the ongoing battle between Science and Religion (the camerlengo speaking to scientists):
"You have won. But you have not won fairly. You have not won by providing answers. You have won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable. Religion cannot keep up. Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opesn doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control. The rift between us grows deeper and deeper, and as religion is left behind, people find themselves in a spiritual void. We cry out for meaning...we see UFOs, engage in channelling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests--all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are unashamedly irrational. The are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by it's own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology.
...
"Science, you say, will sve us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species moving down the path of destruction.
...
"Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea.
"To science, I say this. The church is tired. We are exhausted from trying to be your signposts. Our resources are drying up from our campaign to be the voice of balance as you plow blindly on in your quest for smaller chips and larger profits. We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clong living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do.
...
"Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes and look to the heavens, and tell me now there could not be a God!...You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God's hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?
"Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith...all faiths...are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable...With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth."
If you know me, you know that I am NOT a church goer. I have serious issues with organised religion...primarily Christianity and its need to force everyone to believe that there is only one God and every other religion is crap. However, I do have to believe that there is something greater than me out there. Dunno what it is. Not sure if I want to know. It's enough for me to have someone to talk to.
At any rate, I really like what is being said about science here. They are thoughts I've often had, but have difficulty expressing. There is another book by Daniel Quinn called Ishmael that puts forward the same notions...that science, despite all of the wonderful things that come of it, is progressing too quickly and errantly. He likens our path to that of a bicycle being peddaled off a cliff. At first we feel like we are flying, because in those few seconds before gravity really catches hold, we certainly are...but then the inevitable downfall commences, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop or even slow it. Our civilisation, Quinn says, has just left the cliff's edge on our little bicycle. We are thrilled with the gifts technology has given us and feel as though we can do anything and go anywhere. The universe is our oyster! Science proceeds with little thought to the implications. The whole X Prize thing scares the hell out of me. Just what we need--a bunch of rich tourists zooming around in space. Who knows what kind of pollution that will generate. What will it do to our atmosphere?
Gravity.
Anyway. Just thought I'd give you something to chew on since I'm usually spouting drivel. (And yes, I'm well aware of the irony of me writing this treatise against technology on a shiny new laptop while sitting in my airconditioned hom and broadcasting my thoughts to a world of strangers over the World Wide Web!)
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Still
Love this blog.
Though not as much as I love my honey Russell who is nothing but a bright shining bit of my life right now. I've been so depressed and glum and he just keeps cheering me on and telling me how everything will be fine. I honestly don't know how he does it.
We took a Mini Cooper S Convertible on a test drive yesterday and I'm more in love with them than ever (although still not as much as I love Russell). The S has quite a bit of pep, and handles very well--I got to test out the great response when we were nearly broadsided by a guy turning through his light. Apparently they are hard to come by--there is a "call list" (NOT a "waiting list", and don't you forget it) for when they come in. We want specifics, though so we're toying with ordering one. Hell, by they time it comes in I might actually have a job, hey?
Really, though, Russell's boss hooked us up with a friend of theirs who runs a Nissan dealership, so we might check that out for some inexpensive wheels.
Arizona ate my truck battery! We bought a new one yesterday and it seems to be working fine now. Sigh of relief that it wasn't the alternator, which was the big fear. But still. It's time to turn in the Sonoma. He's served me well and I'm sure we'll find a nice pasture for him.
Next on the dog and pony show: Excepts from the great book I just finished.
Though not as much as I love my honey Russell who is nothing but a bright shining bit of my life right now. I've been so depressed and glum and he just keeps cheering me on and telling me how everything will be fine. I honestly don't know how he does it.
We took a Mini Cooper S Convertible on a test drive yesterday and I'm more in love with them than ever (although still not as much as I love Russell). The S has quite a bit of pep, and handles very well--I got to test out the great response when we were nearly broadsided by a guy turning through his light. Apparently they are hard to come by--there is a "call list" (NOT a "waiting list", and don't you forget it) for when they come in. We want specifics, though so we're toying with ordering one. Hell, by they time it comes in I might actually have a job, hey?
Really, though, Russell's boss hooked us up with a friend of theirs who runs a Nissan dealership, so we might check that out for some inexpensive wheels.
Arizona ate my truck battery! We bought a new one yesterday and it seems to be working fine now. Sigh of relief that it wasn't the alternator, which was the big fear. But still. It's time to turn in the Sonoma. He's served me well and I'm sure we'll find a nice pasture for him.
Next on the dog and pony show: Excepts from the great book I just finished.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Toys
Todd McFarlane is opening up a shop in Tempe. It's more of a showroom, so he says, but it is open to the public, and purchases are allowed and probably encouraged. The grand opening is tomorrow, so put that on the To Do list alongside of 1) Test driving the Mini 2) Getting the alternator of my truck checked and replaced OR buying a new battery 3) Going to the Laundromat even though we are SUPPOSED to have a functioning washer here at the house (long story) 4) Accompanying Russell to work for a bit 5) Seeing "Team America".
I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
I'm in trouble
Some days are better than others, and this is definitely one of the more down-trodden. I need to check my charts, because I'm pretty sure there is some sort of Mercurial mis-alignment going on. It started a couple days ago with me dropping everything I touched. The big thing was dumping nearly an entire pot of pasta in the sink as I tried to drain it. I've spilled two cups of tea in the last two days, tossed a few bags of groceries around, and fumbled more than my usual share of random household items.
Today it all came to a head as I got in my truck to begin the final leg of of my trip home. I've been working a temp job for the past couple of days, and I had stopped on my way home tonight for some grocery shopping. I managed to get all three of my bags (laden with frozen and refrigerated goods, of course) into the cab without any spillage, and put the key in the ignition. Instant death. Nothing going on in this engine. No spark. No rumbling. Nothing. Russell is in a business meeting and really can't get away. I call sister Kristy who, unbeknownst to me, is in Washington DC for a week. bzzt. Sister Cindy is home but volunteers the services of her honey Roger, who is on his way home. He'll need to stop for some cables, but he'll be by to save the day. He did. At least temporarily. The truck started with a jump, but when I turned the lights on, instant death again. Another jump, this time including the lights, and I'm back in business. I actually made it all the way home at least, but as soon as I turned the key off I knew I was doomed. We are told that Arizona eats car batteries, and we're hoping that's all it is. In the mean time, we are going to have to carpool in the morning, and don't ask me how excited I am about trying to wake Russell up in time for that! :P
Anyway. I got home all KINDS of pissed off and frustrated and after rescuing the muttleys from the horror of 11+ hours in their crates all I wanted to do was play WoW for a bit and have a little escapism. Wasn't it just the icing on the cake to find out that the servers are down until tomorrow evening?? Jeesus.
I have a good book to read (Dan Brown's Angels & Demons), and Russell surprised me with Chubby Hubby ice cream and an appointment to test drive a Mini on Saturday, so all is not lost.
Today it all came to a head as I got in my truck to begin the final leg of of my trip home. I've been working a temp job for the past couple of days, and I had stopped on my way home tonight for some grocery shopping. I managed to get all three of my bags (laden with frozen and refrigerated goods, of course) into the cab without any spillage, and put the key in the ignition. Instant death. Nothing going on in this engine. No spark. No rumbling. Nothing. Russell is in a business meeting and really can't get away. I call sister Kristy who, unbeknownst to me, is in Washington DC for a week. bzzt. Sister Cindy is home but volunteers the services of her honey Roger, who is on his way home. He'll need to stop for some cables, but he'll be by to save the day. He did. At least temporarily. The truck started with a jump, but when I turned the lights on, instant death again. Another jump, this time including the lights, and I'm back in business. I actually made it all the way home at least, but as soon as I turned the key off I knew I was doomed. We are told that Arizona eats car batteries, and we're hoping that's all it is. In the mean time, we are going to have to carpool in the morning, and don't ask me how excited I am about trying to wake Russell up in time for that! :P
Anyway. I got home all KINDS of pissed off and frustrated and after rescuing the muttleys from the horror of 11+ hours in their crates all I wanted to do was play WoW for a bit and have a little escapism. Wasn't it just the icing on the cake to find out that the servers are down until tomorrow evening?? Jeesus.
I have a good book to read (Dan Brown's Angels & Demons), and Russell surprised me with Chubby Hubby ice cream and an appointment to test drive a Mini on Saturday, so all is not lost.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Funkytown
I am sinking in the mire.
I think I'm going into a post-move depression. Or maybe it's just girl stuff. Yeah, that's probably it, honestly. But the fact of the matter is that I am simply unmotivated to do anything, I want to sleep all the time, and I'm feeling rather down about the job prospects here. I find it difficult to believe that someone with my maturity and job experience doesn't have folks beating down her door.
I always do this--start out feeling very confident and excited about finding a new job. The world is my oyster and I can do anything! Then after about the 10th resume/application I start to question my self-worth. Most places don't even bother to call me back. Every now and then I'll get a postcard or email saying "Thanks, but no thanks." This week it was the American Heart Association (hiring a Project/Event coordinator) and a place called CapPlus Technologies (hiring a front office/admin...but hey, they're *really* close by). The bottom line is that I want and need a job, and although I am fantastic, I can't find a job. This upsets me.
Give me about a week or so, and I'll probably still be unemployed, but my mood will be much better. :P
In other news, our little man Bucket has had The Operation. He is now officially an "It". I will never again refer to him as such, but it is true that he has been neutered. I was running errands Tuesday and came across a clinic for low-cost spay/neuters...we'd been meaning to have him done for a while now so we jumped at the chance. He's handling it surprisingly well. The hardest part is keeping him from playing and acting crazy; he feels well enough to roughhouse, but that's a strict no-no. I've been trying to occupy him by teaching him how to hold a treat on his nose. It's not a tug-of-war, but it seems to wear him out just the same.
and with that, I'm off.
I think I'm going into a post-move depression. Or maybe it's just girl stuff. Yeah, that's probably it, honestly. But the fact of the matter is that I am simply unmotivated to do anything, I want to sleep all the time, and I'm feeling rather down about the job prospects here. I find it difficult to believe that someone with my maturity and job experience doesn't have folks beating down her door.
I always do this--start out feeling very confident and excited about finding a new job. The world is my oyster and I can do anything! Then after about the 10th resume/application I start to question my self-worth. Most places don't even bother to call me back. Every now and then I'll get a postcard or email saying "Thanks, but no thanks." This week it was the American Heart Association (hiring a Project/Event coordinator) and a place called CapPlus Technologies (hiring a front office/admin...but hey, they're *really* close by). The bottom line is that I want and need a job, and although I am fantastic, I can't find a job. This upsets me.
Give me about a week or so, and I'll probably still be unemployed, but my mood will be much better. :P
In other news, our little man Bucket has had The Operation. He is now officially an "It". I will never again refer to him as such, but it is true that he has been neutered. I was running errands Tuesday and came across a clinic for low-cost spay/neuters...we'd been meaning to have him done for a while now so we jumped at the chance. He's handling it surprisingly well. The hardest part is keeping him from playing and acting crazy; he feels well enough to roughhouse, but that's a strict no-no. I've been trying to occupy him by teaching him how to hold a treat on his nose. It's not a tug-of-war, but it seems to wear him out just the same.
and with that, I'm off.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Addendum
David--can I call you David?--I always love reading your comments, because you challenge me. I don't always feel up to the task, whatever it may be, but I'm feeling punchy tonight, so before I slip off to dreamland I thought I'd respond to request or two.
Dooce? And my aspirations? She is clever, amusing, and concise. I enjoy reading her blog, like yours, although I have no connection to her in real life whatsoever. Something in her words connects with me. I want to have that effect on other people.
Spongy bike? Yes. I've ridden a rigid for ages, and my body takes a beating for it. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the type of riding about which I write! I'm not liesurely peddling through the neighbourhoods. I'm battling streams and drops and 12% climbs. I'm hopping logs (well, boulders now that I live in a place bereft of trees). I have padded bike shorts, and I have ridden with a gel seat, but when you are being jiggled to bits by the likes of some golf-to-softball sized rocks beneath your tires, it becomes more sensible to go for shocks. I have been a purist for 14 years now. I'm old. I want suspension!
The rocks here are interesting. Perhaps not in the same way as the business cards you photographed. And it's probably illegal to pick up rocks from the desert here. At any rate if I did decide on some sort of interactive art project with them, I'd be hard pressed to engage passerby...because there are no passerby in the desert! I am going in a moment to rescue the digicam from Russell's truck. At some point expect to see photos of these most interesting rocks. Little shiny ones, large smooth round river rocks. Lava-looking rocks. There really is an astonishing array of stone around here. I used to marvel that folks back home used two or three different types of grass in their yards for effect. Now I catch myself noticing the same tendency in rock usage here. Strange world.
And with that, goodnight.
Dooce? And my aspirations? She is clever, amusing, and concise. I enjoy reading her blog, like yours, although I have no connection to her in real life whatsoever. Something in her words connects with me. I want to have that effect on other people.
Spongy bike? Yes. I've ridden a rigid for ages, and my body takes a beating for it. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the type of riding about which I write! I'm not liesurely peddling through the neighbourhoods. I'm battling streams and drops and 12% climbs. I'm hopping logs (well, boulders now that I live in a place bereft of trees). I have padded bike shorts, and I have ridden with a gel seat, but when you are being jiggled to bits by the likes of some golf-to-softball sized rocks beneath your tires, it becomes more sensible to go for shocks. I have been a purist for 14 years now. I'm old. I want suspension!
The rocks here are interesting. Perhaps not in the same way as the business cards you photographed. And it's probably illegal to pick up rocks from the desert here. At any rate if I did decide on some sort of interactive art project with them, I'd be hard pressed to engage passerby...because there are no passerby in the desert! I am going in a moment to rescue the digicam from Russell's truck. At some point expect to see photos of these most interesting rocks. Little shiny ones, large smooth round river rocks. Lava-looking rocks. There really is an astonishing array of stone around here. I used to marvel that folks back home used two or three different types of grass in their yards for effect. Now I catch myself noticing the same tendency in rock usage here. Strange world.
And with that, goodnight.
Monday, October 04, 2004
dooce!
Again I have to thank Novidavid for a new, brilliant read. I believe my new goal will be to write things up to par with dooce. I went to see how things are with Novidavid and noted a link to her site. I think the "Now with more cowbell" line is what really caught my eye. Then I just read. And read. And read. It's good stuff. You should too.
So, yeah.
It's a vengeful Monday morning, complete with a call from the washing machine repair place informing me that the tech that was scheduled to come out suddenly has the flu and they will have to reschedule for tomorrow. After heaving a sigh of relief that I did most of the laundry at the 'Mat last night, I forced him to agree to send his guy out to our house first thing on the morrow. After all, I stayed home for this!
My butt is sore today because after months of sloth, I finally took my bike out yesterday morning. Imagine my thrill when I discovered not only a wealth of utility access roads in the desert behind the house, but an actual TRAIL! I even passed two other cyclists. Fantastic! I was only out for 30 minutes, which was plenty--for 8:30am it was grotesquely hot. Plus the aforementioned sore butt thing. It will take some time to de-sensitize the area. And a full-suspension bike is definitely on my wish list now. Here it is not a luxury, but a necessity. Gone are the smooth single track trails of hard pack and the occasional rock. Arizona is brutally rocky, sandy, and gravelly. Arizona is HARD. Woe is me the first time I take a fall. I'll miss falling on a pine cone or oak branch. When my butt is full of cactus spines I'll be crying for the rose rocks of Oklahoma. Definitely taking it slow out here.
Another interesting phenom of the Arizona desert: I was fooled into thinking that every inch of my initial path was strewn with bits of glass. Knowing that I need new tires at any rate I tried not to stress over it; it was more that I was astounded at the sheer volume of shattered glass in the middle of nowhere. And then it hit me. The rocks have quartz in them. Or something. The rocks were reflecting the morning sun! How relieved was I!
And my tip of the day for you? Go see Shaun of the Dead. Easily one of the funniest movies I've seen in ages. Clever clever. Those crazy brits, you know. And if you are a fan of The Office, you'll see some familiar faces. ;)
Since I don't have to sit around all day waiting for the washer fixer guy, I think I'll get busy looking for a job and playing happy homemaker.
Bye now
So, yeah.
It's a vengeful Monday morning, complete with a call from the washing machine repair place informing me that the tech that was scheduled to come out suddenly has the flu and they will have to reschedule for tomorrow. After heaving a sigh of relief that I did most of the laundry at the 'Mat last night, I forced him to agree to send his guy out to our house first thing on the morrow. After all, I stayed home for this!
My butt is sore today because after months of sloth, I finally took my bike out yesterday morning. Imagine my thrill when I discovered not only a wealth of utility access roads in the desert behind the house, but an actual TRAIL! I even passed two other cyclists. Fantastic! I was only out for 30 minutes, which was plenty--for 8:30am it was grotesquely hot. Plus the aforementioned sore butt thing. It will take some time to de-sensitize the area. And a full-suspension bike is definitely on my wish list now. Here it is not a luxury, but a necessity. Gone are the smooth single track trails of hard pack and the occasional rock. Arizona is brutally rocky, sandy, and gravelly. Arizona is HARD. Woe is me the first time I take a fall. I'll miss falling on a pine cone or oak branch. When my butt is full of cactus spines I'll be crying for the rose rocks of Oklahoma. Definitely taking it slow out here.
Another interesting phenom of the Arizona desert: I was fooled into thinking that every inch of my initial path was strewn with bits of glass. Knowing that I need new tires at any rate I tried not to stress over it; it was more that I was astounded at the sheer volume of shattered glass in the middle of nowhere. And then it hit me. The rocks have quartz in them. Or something. The rocks were reflecting the morning sun! How relieved was I!
And my tip of the day for you? Go see Shaun of the Dead. Easily one of the funniest movies I've seen in ages. Clever clever. Those crazy brits, you know. And if you are a fan of The Office, you'll see some familiar faces. ;)
Since I don't have to sit around all day waiting for the washer fixer guy, I think I'll get busy looking for a job and playing happy homemaker.
Bye now
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