Random Access

Tuesday
I have no idea why the workdays seem to be going by as quickly as they are, but I’m not complaining. More site-to-site hopscotch. And, I finished the book that I was listening to just before the end of my shift. Must remember to transfer a new book to the laptop.

Congratulations to and on their new jobs!

NPR/PRI Programming

• Talk of the Nation – The first hour was about Beer.
  

  Summer is here….the air is warm, weekends are lazy and in America, the beer is good and plentiful. What’s your favorite summer brew? Are you a fan of the mega beer or the micro-brew? Does the beer you drink say something about you? Does America’s love of beer say something about the nation? The social history and current popularity of beer.¹

  This was a rather in-depth segment. It wasn’t just an hour of Homer Simpson-like “Mmm. Beer;” they talked a little about the history of beer in America, how beer is made, and a few of the differences between “beer” here and in the rest of the world.

• The World
  • U.S. police officers getting anti-terrorism training from Israeli police units.
  • A new musical based on the life of the late Brazilian entertainer Carmen Miranda. This musical is apparently drawing favorable reviews… despite the fact that Brazilians were embarrassed by the stereotypical image that they thought that she projected.
  • Coda The last segment of the program highlights a musical group; each one is roughly five-minutes long. It has been interchangeably known as the “Musical Closer” or “Global Hit.” Last night, I wrote an email suggesting that they change the name to “Coda.” I figured that since it is a musical segment and the last segment of the show, the name “Coda” seemed more appropriate.

    This morning, I awoke to an email from one of the associate producers saying that the show’s producers liked the suggestion and would take it under consideration. This afternoon, Lisa Mullins, the show’s host, used it! I was shocked! Amazed! Flabbergasted, even!

• All Things Considered – Looking for the perfect gift for the person who has it all? Well, almost all. It seems that one of the prototypes for the Russian space shuttle is up for auction on eBay. Asking price: $75,000 (USD)

That’s it. Yes, that’s definitely it. There is no more. Move along, there’s nothing further to see here.

Peace.

¹ From the Talk of the Nation website

Monday
Yet another fast workday. This could be habit-forming.
A little bit of site-to-site hopscotch for the first half of the day. No biggie. Stayed in Seattle letters for the rest of the day… which made it easy to let Julia listen to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with me.

NPR/PRI
News items of interest…

• Talk of the Nation
  • India-Pakistan – and : One of the guests was Devin Hagarty from UMBC; he’s an assistant professor of Political Science. Do either of you know (or know of) him?
  • Mountain Climbing – This topic came up in light of the deaths of climbers on Mount Hood and Mount Rainier. They asked a few interesting questions here, such as: “Should new/inexperienced climbers have to take some sort of training before attempting a climb?” and “Should irresponsible climbers be charged for being rescued?”
  • Christopher Swain – Mr. Swain on Tuesday (04 June) will begin a six-month swim of the Columbia River, from the head of the river to the Pacific Ocean. He is doing this to raise awareness about the pollution of this (and other) rivers.
• All Things Considered
  • As part of Lost & Found Sound’s Sonic Memorial Project, All Things Considered features the people and stories of “Radio Row,” the neighborhood that was demolished to make room for the World Trade Center in 1966. The six-square-block area in lower Manhattan once formed the largest collection of radio and electronics stores in the world.¹ An interesting thing about this segment was hearing the nostalgic tones in the mens’ voices as they talked about their pre-WTC shops and neighborhood.
  • P.C. Police – Commentator Jake Tapper is outraged by two recent excesses of the P.C. (that’s political correctness) Police: the New York Regents English exam censorship of certain literary passages, and the decision by the producer of the new Tom Clancy movie, The Sum of All Fears, to replace the bad guys in the book, which included a fanatical Muslim Palestinian, with Neo-Nazi bad guys.²
• The World
  • Nepal Massacre Report – People in Nepal are marking a grim anniversary all this week. On June 1st last year, 9 members of Nepal’s royal family were gunned down by a young prince, who later shot himself. Among the dead were the gunman’s parents, the king and queen of Nepal. The traumatic events of a year ago have left a deep scar on the Himalayan kingdom, as the BBC’s Daniel Lak reports from Kathmandu.³
  • Afghan Women Interview – Women are hoping to play a role in shaping Afghanistan’s future, after years of living under the repressive laws of the Taliban. But despite some support from the country’s political and religious leaders, the equal rights movement in Afghanistan still faces serious obstacles. Recently, a mullah from Kabul’s biggest mosque announced he’s against giving equal rights to women. His statement reflects the country’s ambivalence towards gender issues, according to Marina Matin of the The Revolutionary Afghan Women’s Association or RAWA.⁴

And that’s the news from Lake Saline where the women climb mountains, the men don’t wear burkhas, and the children are swimming in the rivers. Goodnight, everybody! Thanks for tuning in!

Peace.

¹,²: From the All Things Considered website.
³,⁴: From The World website.

I have the coolest parents in the world.

Cool Site of the Day: Today, we actually have two, that’s right – TWO, sites that harken back to the lazy days of youth.

• Yesterdayland
• LUGNET (Lego Users Group Network)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled LiveJournal reading.

And so, the last Battlestar, Galactica, leads a ragtag, fugitive flee…..
No, that wasn’t how I meant to start this. Let’s try again.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far…..
Dammit. That’s not it, either.

Space, the final fronti…
BAH!!!

Screw it. No introduction. Just entry. That’s it. Nothing else.

• Went to lunch with Jess, Peggy and Angie.
• Saw Undercover Brother with Peggy and Ang, after Jess went to work. Funny movie. It is like a blaxploitation version of Austin Powers. And with Neil Patrick (Doogie Howser) Harris, to boot. And he was funny, too.
• Went to Peggy’s to see Sadie (Peggy’s daughter) and Andy (Sadie’s bf). We watched the 4^th quarter and OT of the Lakers-Kings game. Andy cracks me up; some of the comments that he made during the game…. *chuckles*. I must have him around when I’m watching football this fall.

  We also caught the tail end of Bachelorettes in Alaska. Heaven help us. This show is like the mutant bastard offspring of Survivor, Elimi-Date, Change of Heart, Blind Date, Dismissed, and 3^rd Wheel. Stick 5 women and 9 men in the Alaskan wilderness and let ’em pair off. Then, have them pick who they want to attempt to start a relationship with…. oh, yeah… and who they want for a back-up. This is yet another indication that civilization is (this close) to circling the drain.

Quote of the Day: I told Andy that I wanted him around for football color commentary. His response: “You bring the beer and I’ll bring the stupidity!” Have I mentioned that he cracks me up?

Now I’m off to find something to waste more time!

Peace.

Sunday
Rainy mornings are ideal for sleeping.

…unless, of course, you have cats who like to jump onto the windowsill and peer out through the closed blinds. Or chase each other through the apartment. Or fight under the bed. But, it’s hard to stay mad at them when they jump on the bed and look at you, as if to say: Pet me!!! You know that you want to pet me! PLEEEEEEEASE!

Adam and Dad called shortly after this, so I got a bit of family chat this morning. Rana will be home next week for a two-week visit. We aren’t going to make the trip, but we’ll see her at Christmas. This also means that we’ll miss Adam’s graduation (BAH!!), but he will be going to Oklahoma State, so we may fly him out here for a few days this summer.

I have no idea what I’m doing for the rest of the day. Bike ride? Utter laziness? I think that I’ll head to B&N and do a llittle drawing after Jess goes to work. Who knows…?

Peace.

Midday light, the earth jump started
lying in a bed
No burning arms, no shivering back
there’s nothing in my head
The world revolves so fast around
don’t let it in the way
The gift that morning light has brought me is
just another day¹

Slept in this morning (and part of the early afternoon). Well, not entirely; I woke up around 11:00, because someone called. I stayed up for about 30 minutes, decided that it wasn’t worth it and went back to bed for a couple of hours. Why? Because, like Bobby Brown sang: “It’s My Prerogative.”

One short – but refreshing – shower later I’m ready to… to…. hmm. Well, I’m ready. I’m feeling rather lazy, but I am ready. For something. I guess. *shrug* That’s what weekends are for. Of course, now there are high winds and grey skies about. Perhaps this is the ideal day for being lazy.

Peace.

¹“Judas” by emmet swimming, from the CD dark when the snow falls

Friday
The end of “The Fastest Work Week in History.”
Let the revels and debauchery of the weekend begin!

NPR/PRI Programming

Talk of the Nation – Science Friday spent the first hour talking about the discovery of sub-surface water (ice) on Mars. While scientists are not sure exactly how much there is or how deep it goes (the probe can only scan to a depth of approximately 1 meter), they think that roughly 40-60% of the surface mass/volume contains water. A guest with a differing opinion said that he doubts that there is/was actually H₂O but liquid CO₂ (carbon dioxide).

During this entire segment, David Bowie’s “Is There Life on Mars?” kept playing in my head. Go figure.

Miscellany
I went to Borders tonight and did some drawing. While I was there, one of the clerks was putting away books, magazines and newspapers. She was about to shelve one paper when she realized that she wasn’t sure where it was supposed to go. She asked Charlie, the Cafè clerk: “Is The Washington Post for Washington, D.C. or Washington state?”

I said, loud enough for Charlie, and the people in the Cafè, to hear me: “Washington, D.C.” He relayed that to the other clerk… who didn’t seem to register it: “Huh?” So, he repeated himself. This may be a case of Mid-Atlantic snobbery (I don’t think so, though), but I was stunned that no one knew whence the Post originates. Stunned, I tell you! I am Ivory Soap® sure (99.44%) that most people, however, would have looked at the front page to seek some sort of clue. Again, I said “most people,” not “everyone.” I’m not so far gone as to make that kind of an assumption. Oh, well. C’est la vie.

Mars needs women….. (Pump up the volume!)
Mars needs women….. (Pump up the volume!)
Pump up the volume!
Pump up the volume!
Pump up the volume!
Dance! Dance!
Bonus points to those who remember who did this… and when.

Peace.

Thursday
Day Three of “The Fastest Work Week in History!”

I’ve been listening to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for the past couple of days; I think that it’s one of the reasons that the days have gone by so quickly. Here’s a helpful hint when transferring mp3s from one computer to another: Make sure that you transfer ALL of the mp3s for a given book from Computer A to Computer B. Hearing the entire story makes a book so much more enjoyable. *gah* Fortunately, I also transferred another book (from the Harry Potter series) to the laptop at the same time, so I wasn’t completely book-free. UNfortunately, HGTTG doesn’t seem to be on the server any longer… so, I may not be able to get the rest of the book. BAH!!!

The first hour of Talk of the Nation talked about the restructuring of the F.B.I. Someone actually asked “What kind of F.B.I. do you want?” Julia and I cracked up at this comment.

• Me: “Just what I’ve always wanted. MyFBI.”
• Julia:“Suit. Notebook. I.D. Shades. I am an F.B.I. of one.“

Tomorrow is Friday. Well, I guess that technically today is Friday. And that is definitely something to be glad about. Unless you have to work weekends. But it’s still Friday. Hoo-AH!

Peace.

Wednesday
Another workday that was over far more quickly than I had anticipated.

Talk of the Nation spent the first hour talking about the upcoming World Cup tournament. The primary focus was: Why hasn’t soccer caught on in the U.S. as it has in (most of) the rest of the world? The callers and guests made a few interesting observations/comparisons.

• One likened soccer to poetry, as opposed to the prosaic nature of baseball.
• Someone else said that soccer’s pacing and tempo reminded them of jazz.
• Another observer said that soccer had one attribute that made it stand out from many, if not all, other sports: Anyone can play. Unlike basketball (tall is good) or football (big and/or fast) or boxing (BIG), one does not have to have a certain body type to be able to play soccer.

I just finished watching the anime Metropolis. It was interesting, to say the least. It was set “in the near future,” but there were parts of it that seemed quite retro. And, in an unusual twist, it had a jazz and ragtime-ish soundtrack. It also featured Ray Charles’ version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” which caught me totally by surprise… but integrated seamlessly (and rather poignantly) into its scenes. This definitely merits another viewing… or two. In fact, this has renewed my desire to watch the 1927 movie of the same name (different plot) again.

Peace.

Tuesday
First day of the work week. And it was over pretty quickly. Three more to go.

NPR/PRI
There was a story on The World about a research team in Australia that wants to reintroduce the Tasmanian Tiger. Here’s a little background: The animal is actually a marsupial (think kangaroo, wombat or bandicoot) – it carries its young in a pouch.. And, I think that I should also mention: It’s extinct. That’s right, boys and girls, extinct. And it has been that way since 1937.

It seems that they have found DNA from the remains of a female tiger pup. Now, they want to genetically (re-)engineer the animal using this DNA and DNA from two males. Assuming that the DNA is viable, this is now a scientific possibility. The one thing that flashed through my mind when I heard this was: Didn’t any of these people read Jurassic Park or see the movies?!

If God, Mother Nature and/or Darwin decided that the creature had served its purpose, why do these scientists think that it needs to be brought back for an encore presentation? Seriously, what purpose does bringing it back serve? Julia also mentioned that viruses remain in their hosts if they are not eliminated. Thus, if it was a virus that destroyed the Tasmanian Tiger, it could potentially be recreated and reintroduced if the animal is created. If the virus has survived preservation and survives the cloning/genetic engineering, what’s to say that it wouldn’t destroy the host? Can you say “Possible Catch-22,” boys and girls? I thought so.

Quotes of the Day:

• Dee and Harmon worked Monday. At some point, they were talking about a diet that Dee is starting. It is based on the diets of the rather long-lived residents of a village in China or Japan.

  Harmon: I wish I had a Chinese name, like…. Fond Ling Dong.

• 3^rd Rock from the Sun
  • Dick: Nina, do you think I’m whipped?
    Nina: You…? Whipped…? By Doctor Albright?!
    ::: both laugh :::
    Dick: Hilarious, isn’t it?
    ::: both laugh :::
    Nina: You are wrapped around that woman’s finger like a yo-yo… and she’s always walking the dog.

  • Dick and Harry: (back and forth) You da man! No, YOU da man!
    Dick: Dammit, Harry! I’m the High Commander! If I say ‘You da man,’ then You da man!!!

And, that wraps it up for tonight.

Peace.

Monday
Another nice day. Again, the weather was pleasant.
I hope that everyone’s Memorial Day was safe and enjoyable.

• Slept in. This is (almost) always a ‘good thing.’
• Had a missionary from ‘The Church’ come a-knockin’. *shrug* Utah has a distinction that I believe is unique: One can simply say ‘the Church’ and it is tacitly understood that the person is referring to the LDS Church. Kinda like a spoken shorthand.
• Went to Sandi and Jim’s for a little cooked-out chicken goodness.
• Came home.
• Gettin ready to go bowling.

Time to get outta here and get a little pin and projectile exercise. Later!

Peace.

Sunday
Nice day. Perfect weather. Nothing on the “must be done today” agenda.

• Went for another 5-mile bike jaunt this afternoon. I discovered something after I got home: Riding, even though it makes my legs a little achy on the uphill stretches, is not that bad. In fact, it’s fun. Especially when the endorphins kick in and I get that “Let’s go another mile-and-a-half” feeling. The thing that is bad is having to carry the bike back up the damned steps after riding. Oh, well.
• Went to lunch with Jess before she went to work.
• Went to Wheeler Farm again. Walked around a took a few pictures.
• Went to B&N and had a cup of frozen mocha goodness while I sat in the cafè and drew.
• Came home.

We have Cottonwood trees here. In the Spring, they bud and produce cotton-like… spores, I guess… which blow all over Creation. (Here’s a simple way to visualize them: If a dandelion grew to the size of a tree, the “cotton” would be the puffy spores.) “Cotton” is ALL over: In the air, on the ground… everywhere! In fact, it is so prevalent around here that it looks like it is snowing.

Take a look at this story by . Make sure that you give her lots of feedback!

“That’s all I have to say about that.” – Forrest Gump

Peace.

Saturday
It was a fairly uneventful day. That is always a nice way to start a long weekend.

• I talked to my uncle and Kris, my youngest sister, today. Kris is ready to get back to campus for summer school – she says that it is “too boring” at home; home being in a rural N.C. community. *twitch*
• I’d tell you how bowling was, but we didn’t go. We were all set to go, but the manager-on-duty decided to close up early “because there weren’t enough people to warrant remaining open.” According to our friend who works there, plenty of people showed up. BAH!!!
• We (Jess, Julia, Mary, Shawn, Larry, Adrian and I) went to the Village Inn instead. A short while later, the after-the-bar crowd came in. There were more victims of fashion faux pas and bad hair than I care to remember. Tonight was also Jaysin’s last night at V.I.; he will be working at the Olive Garden now.

  Shawn showed us a copy of a picture that was up during the Olympics. It was of an ice hockey goalie; a fabric “blow-up” of that picture was hung from one of the buildings downtown. I wish that I had gotten a better picture of it when I was taking shots of the area: The goalie is Shawn. For a (tiny) glimpse of the picture, click here. I’ll look for a better picture or get a scan of the ones that Shawn has.

• Home.

I seem to be winding down, so I think that I shall fall into the gentle oblivion that is sleep.

Peace.

Friday
The end of the work week is upon us! Let the three day weekend begin! Work wasn’t bad; I had six or seven hours in flats, too. That helped the day zip along fairly well.

Other things …

• On All Things Considered, there was a segment about Gay Athletes. Here’s the summary from the ATC website:
  

  Liane Hansen talks to Wall Street Journal sportswriter Stefan Fatsis about homosexual athletes in team sports. Earlier this week, a New York Post gossip column intimated that a star on the New York Mets baseball team is gay. Mike Piazza, the team’s catcher, held a press conference after the report’s release to say that he was not gay — and that he would not care if a teammate “came out.” (4:00)
  

  This segment irritated me. Why? Quite simply because I feel that a person’s sexual orientation is their and their partner’s business. Period. They brought up the point of sponsors, fearing some manner of public backlash, possibly pulling an athlete’s endorsements. Have we taken a giant leap backwards? This reminds me of the problems encountered by African-American athletes attempting to (and finally succeeding in ) break the color barrier in sports. The thought that someone would not back a certain team or athlete because of sexual preference makes an interesting parallel to Hank Aaron approaching and surpassing Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1973; there were MANY people who didn’t like the idea of a black man breaking (not to mention setting) records. Yet, today, there are kids of all ages and races who “want to be like Mike” (Michael Jordan). This instills me with hope. Maybe, just maybe, people will stop judging others based on their sexual preference and judge them on the content of their character.

• Angie, Julia and I hung out for a while this evening. That’s usually fun; tonight was no exception.
• I like Steve Harvey; he was a guest on the Conan O’Brien show tonight. He canceled his last scheduled appearance on the program because the RCA Building, where the show is taped, was being evacuated due to an anthrax scare. When Conan jokingly asked why he had canceled, Steve replied: “I was at Comedy Central, taping another show, and I looked at the TV and saw all these people [at the RCA Building] running around in space suits; I have a suit, it doesn’t look like that! I’m from Cleveland. This show doesn’t mean THAT much to me! I canceled.”

  When asked about his thoughts on the current problems facing the Catholic Church, he declined to make a comment about the clergy. He said that, as a whole, a number of good things had been done for the laity by priests and that he would not make light of them because of the transgressions of some of their number. He did, however, have a few comments about the man who claims that he was molested until he was 23. He thought that this was merely a case of someone coming ‘out of the woodwork’ to get some attention and anything else they can from the publicity: “You were 23… 23! You weren’t molested… brother, you were dating! You may have been crying about what was going on, but you were crying while you were driving over there.”

Today’s Quote of the Day comes, once again, from Dee: “If my ass had an ass, this place would suck that ass.”

It’s early and I have to get up later, so I think that I will stop here.

Peace.

Thursday
Work was pretty much cake today. I even got some time in flats processing to help speed the day along. 32 down and 8 (assuming I make it for the full shift) to go…

I finished listening to Piers Anthony’s On a Pale Horse, Book One in his “Incarnations of Immortality” series. The series proposes that there are seven “Incarnations” who represent Death, Time, Fate, Nature, and War, Good and Evil. On a Pale Horse follows the life (and semi-afterlife) of Zane, the new Incarnation of Death; we meet him just before he assumes that role. Readers accompany Zane as he learns what it means to be Death and as he learns the ins and out of his station. As if that was not enough, we also discover a masterful and insidious plot that could threaten to upset the balance between Heaven and Hell. It’s is also of note that Zane, well… more specifically, Death… is caught in the middle of this power play.

Being something of a sci-fi and fantasy fiction fan, I found this book to be a fun reading listening experience. It has been quite a while since I have read anything by Piers Anthony; he did a great job with the characters and their characterizations. This story also reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman series from DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. That series featured the seven members of The Endless: Dream, Delirium, Desire, Despair, Destruction, Destiny and Death. (Note: For those of you who are unfamiliar with this title, I suggest that you go, posthaste, to your favorite bookstore and pick up a copy of “Preludes and Nocturnes,” the trade paperback that reprints the first eight issues of The Sandman; the entire series has been reprinted in this format which collects entire storylines under a single cover.) As I listened to Pale Horse, I recall drew many comparisons to The Sandman. “Many favorable comparisons,” I should say.

NPR/PRI Programming
Talk of the Nation had their Annual Summer Reading List segment during the first hour. Four guests, along with callers and emailers, offered their ideas on books to enjoy over the next few months. Click here to see the list of books that were suggested, if you choose not to listen to the segment.

The second hour dealt with Vietnam Now and how the country has changed over the last thirty years. This segment piqued my curiosity, as I have no recollection of events (i.e.: news) during the Vietnam War era; I was roughly five years old when the last of the American troops were pulled out of Vietnam. I know that my father was stationed there, but I haven’t thought to ask him about what he did. Another item of note was that they had Adrian Kronauer, who was ‘portrayed’ by Robin Williams in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam, as a guest for the last portion of this segment.

Quote of the Day: Tonight’s quote comes from an episode (“There’s Something about Dr. Mary”) of Frasier. Kim Coles made a guest appearance as Frasier’s new engineer/producer… who drove him up the wall. Soon after starting, she began making comments and suggestions to the callers of the show, which infuriated Frasier. When she started calling herself “Dr. Mary,” that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back!

• Frasier: A cat can have kittens in the oven, but that don’t make ’em biscuits!

Peace.