Yesterday I suddenly realized I still have nine vacation days left to take in my current service year before my anniversary of August 13 (I'll have been in this particular servitude for ten long, looooong years), and I can only carry over five into my next year, and I have to be in the office every day this week (including Friday, when I'd had medical procedures scheduled that my boss made me change, so it'll now be another couple weeks before I can continue to narrow down the causes of the pain in my left hip/back/groin area). That leaves only next week to take the other days or lose them. So I decided to take the entire week, which my boss (who leaves for Europe again this weekend) has now approved. I have no idea what I'm going to do; go on interviews, if I'm lucky. You know whose fault this all is, that I can't take vacation when I want to and have to wait to get my medical problems straightened out? My boss? Don't be absurd. It's the gays getting married, is what it is:
Video via Diane.
Monday, July 30, 2007
This One's for Robin
The only reason he'd have wanted to be at San Diego this year:
Yes Rob, it's a YouTube video, you can't see it via RSS...
Well, the narrator's no Morgan Freeman but the music's spot-on. I hope someone tries something like this for San Diego...
Sunday, July 29, 2007
The Vast Left Conspiracy Strikes Again
Rob and I did indeed venture into Manhattan in the mugginess to meet with Vastleft and his son, shown below:
Why is Vastleft on the right, and Euphemism on the left? Those wacky hippies and their crazy names and seat positions! Anyway, we had a lovely time at Monster Sushi in Chelsea on their last open day; we really lucked out as we'd had no idea they'd be closing tomorrow through Labor Day for a complete renovation. I can only hope their Theater District location will remain open! Justin regaled us with all sorts of stories, and the one I found most fascinating given my theory of my life as a Venn diagram was the fact that he used to be roommates with Paul Dini and Richard Howell. The world is, in fact, quite small. Especially from the vantage point of a sushi restaurant about to undergo renovations.
How Does Your Garden Grow - Update 1
The basil, chives, cilantro and dill are actually starting to come up; I haven't killed them!
Not shown are the pots with the mint and rosemary seeds, where I've yet to see a single sprouting.
Plugging a Number of Good Causes
I had no idea yesterday was the annual Blogathon until Eszter mentioned it. I have weird memories of participating in Blogathon a few years ago, at which I point I realized I was definitely too old to stay up all night any longer. Congratulations to the bloggers who participated this year! By the way, this is also a great way to find new bloggers; just about every one of the bloggers listed is new to me. I think I'll go check some of them out now...
Silly Site o' the Day
Today I'm fulfilling an O'Blog-ation as Robin and I take the bus-then-subway into NYC to meet Justin Fielding & son for lunch. (By the way, Justin's going to be more or less wrapping up his own blog in favor of posting at the group blog Corrente, so I've adjusted my sidebar accordingly.) I'm looking forward to meeting Justin, whose blogging I've followed since the beginning (a little over two years, I believe), as I was one of the people to whom he wrote for advice when he was first starting out. Depending on how well I can walk and how tired I am (I can't start physical therapy until a week from Monday when my boss is back in Europe, and yesterday's driver improvement course was more draining than I'd anticipated) we may also take in some of the Del Close Marathon, which is also today's Silly Site, muchly in honor of Phil Proctor whose birthday was yesterday (hi Phil!)...
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Okay, it's sponsored up the wazoo (the whole site's a series of viral ads for Ask.com) but it's still amusing -- Ask a Ninja (via Scott).
Laundry day today, which means two-tiered kitties!
Thanks for snapping this one, Rob!
Silly Site o' the Day
Part of me (the part that's not terribly mobile, which is to say most of me) rather prefers reading about the San Diego con from afar to actually being there. Hope my ComicMix colleagues are having a great time and, in response to one of them, I've decided what you can buy and bring back for me: an R2-KT figure. Just look at this photo that Bully took of it:
As usual, Bully does the best con reports; check out his Day Minus-One review! Lots of folks are videoblogging this time, including Heidi of course (here are her firsttwo reports) and Val D'Orazio. Looking forward to getting caught up with everything on Sunday, as I have work today and my defensive driving course (which I take every three years for the car insurance discount but which has really taught me a lot anyway) tomorrow. Meanwhile, how about another round of applause for R2-KT?
Yes, I've signed up. Like I have enough minutes in the day or something. Good lord, Twitters have RSS feeds too? Geez, that's scary... now I'll have to make a new Bloglines category too.
Silly Site o' the Day
I hate days like this. Right now I need to be about two feet away from my computer to focus on the screen. I can see it okay from the bottom part of my bifocals, but not from the top. Maybe it's just lack of sleep. Unless this improves, I'm going to have to tilt my head up the entire workday. I can't even play games properly (today's being Speedy Bubbles, courtesy of Wayne, but it got verrrry slow about five minutes in so I suspect more malware...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
It seems that most of my friends are heading to San Diego today or tomorrow. My boss is going back to Europe for three weeks earlier than expected (a week from Friday), which brings him back earlier than expected. Not much time to job-hunt, but enough time to get my physical therapy taken care of, which I suppose is more important. My column is up on ComicMix; please comment on it there if you're so inclined. It was supposed to be about the difference between falling behind and being left behind, but turned into something else as these things are wont to do.
Maybe we'll go to the movies this weekend; I want to check out the cinemas at the Palisades Center, and of course the conveyor belt sushi place across the way. Say, did you know that smoking is now one of the things the MPAA takes into consideration when assigning movie ratings? It's true. Wouldn't want it to be too glamorous or persuasive, would we? I actually don't mind that it affects ratings, as long as they don't decide to censor it or something. I don't touch the stuff myself, but, well, I guess parents might want to know if the big "S" is involved in a movie, and after all it is a drug even though the government refuses to admit same because they subsidize it so heavily. Cigarette pack generator via Gerard. Now back to work; the next week is not going to be a fun one.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Light posting continues with my boss in the office and the Huge-Ass Project firmly into Phase 2. Medical stuff has been seen to for the moment, and there's forward movement again, although not literally because I'll have to start physical therapy for pain management and I can't do that until-- oh, never mind. The job situation not only causes the physical discomfort, it prevents me from being able to do too much about it. Here, have a Windows Dreaded Blue Screen error generator, customizable and everything (via Gerard).
Aaaand it's back to the work grind. Here, have another fun time-wasting game. Wish I had the time to waste here. Tilox was brought to my attention by Augie.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
A Sense of Linky Accomplishment
The herb garden seeds are planted and sunning on my kitchen windowsill; the bottom three shelves of the linen/utility closet in the hallway have been cleaned and straightened out so we can actually find stuff in there now; my ComicMix stuff is written; I'm caught up in blog reading; my new combination GPS/Bluetooth works beautifully and I've now removed everything from the car's glove box, front seat storage bin and trunk that doesn't need to be there; we found decently-priced and comfy sheets that match our living room decor to use as covers for our recliners; I made terrific pasta and meatballs yesterday and omelettes this morning and the washing up is already done; and my arthritis (that's what the x-rays on my back showed, a touch of the ol' osteoarthritis which at this point I'm assuming accounts for the frequent pain on my left side these last few months) isn't even acting up that much. I'm in a good mood, so why not spread the joy?:
• I won't be seeing Aquaman #54 until it arrives in our comp box, but Laura passes along that it's the issue featuring a character who's a tribute to my late best friend Leah Adezio.
• Val D'Orazio locates her boyfriend rather shaken in the midst of the New York steampipe rubble, and is amazed at her calmness.
• Chris Clarke presents his blog-specific abecedary. When I read that stuff in Hebrew in shul it used to be called an acrostic, lots of Jewish liturgical stuff is acrostic. I think this would make a great blog game if we could spread the word. I'm not volunteering to do my own contribution yet, though.
Yes, it's more Obligatory Canadian Comics Content. If you'd like to see a preview of some of Robin's work on Outsiders: Five of a Kind #2, it's up at Newsarama. And if you'd like to see an interview with the writer of Robin's current assignment, the new Suicide Squad miniseries, Bob Greenberger says that Wizard Magazine spoke with him and John Ostrander (who is also my ComicMix colleague and friend) along with others who worked on the original series. Goodness knows why Wizard didn't celebrate the miniseries by talking to anyone else working on, you know, the miniseries. Maybe you can ask them at San Diego. No, we're not going, we'll both be working during that time. No, I'm not bitter, and you'll see why in my Wednesday ComicMix column.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Potter Mania
Well, I waited for years but I finally did it.
No, nothing to do with That Book.
I finally took the first step toward having an indoor kitchen herb garden. I've had the seeds for months. I also had three plastic pots and got three clay ones from my coworker on Thursday, and yesterday Robin and I went to Home Depot to get terra cotta bases and dirt. Today we actually planted the seeds (basil, chives, cilantro, dill, mint and rosemary), set the pots on the kitchen windowsill to get the western sun and I did my first watering.
I've never, ever managed to grow any plant successfully. Wish me luck.
Silly Site o' the Day
Like Karen says, Do Not Click Here. Don't say I didn't warn you. No, it's not a Harry Potter spoiler (I won't even be buying the book until it's out in paperback in England sometime next year).
Another nice closeup, as Datsa jumps up on my recliner looking for a cat treat:
That's my shirt in the foreground. Yes, of course he got the cat treat.
Silly Site o' the Day
Slowly but surely Bloglines is catching up with the LiveJournal feeds; as of now all but five of my LiveJournal subs have updated. Also a few Typepad ones and even Blogger ones have multiple reposts, so it looks like I have far more unread posts than I do until I scroll through 'em or hit "read" for the third or fourth time. The latter is not a complaint, I'd rather have reposts than no posts at all! Meanwhile, I got a clean bill of health yesterday as far as Icky Female Stuff goes, but am no closer to solving this mysterious pain I have around my left hip and groin area, which prevents me from walking and getting other exercise, and naturally the PT place now needs another referral and I don't know when I can get there anyway considering I have to stay later than usual when my boss is around. Le sigh.
No sooner do I set up all my LiveJournal feeds on Google Reader amid complaints that they're no longer updating on my preferred newsreader than, presto, many of them start working on Bloglines again. Even this own blog's alternate LJ feed is now operational. Coincidence? In any case, I'm not abandoning Google Reader yet, but it's nice to have LJ feeds back on Bloglines...
Silly Site o' the Day
If I correctly inserted the code into my template, my icon should now be showing up in browser windows and such (it's just a little picture of me I made using MyAvatar), but who knows? You may still be seeing the Blogger B. Oh well, at least my Google Reader feeds are working well with the LiveJournals to which I subscribe (Bloglines take note!), so I was able to read how Julia works right near that burst steampipe in Manhattan yesterday (she's okay, and even added "All I know is that five minutes later the streets were filled with perfectly calm people rubbernecking."). Ken Houghton was around there too, by the way, and got quoted in the NY Times. I only hope the next round of torrential rain holds up until after my doctor's appointment this afternoon. And speaking of games nobody wins, try a round of Bush Missile Defense, courtesy of Bob Geiger.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
LiveJournal is Dead to Me?
I think I may finally have figured out why I haven't been able to read LiveJournal feeds properly in at least a month. I believe it's the combination of Bloglines and Firefox. My Bloglines subs aren't flagging new posts from any of the LiveJournals on my sub list (including my own LJ alternate feed) no matter which browser I use. However, when I try to open the pages themselves, I can't do so on Firefox but they open in Explorer, at least eventually (after taking a very long time to load). I might do some more experimentation at home with another RSS reader. This is really frustrating, I have at least two dozen LiveJournal subs and want to be able to keep up with new posts without having to click on each blog separately... Update: LiveJournal feeds (both RSS and Atom) seem to update perfectly in Google Reader (well, except for the Pen-Elayne LJ feed), which in turn works fine in Firefox. I'm moving all my LJ subs from Bloglines to Google so I can finally keep up with my LJ friends!
Silly Site o' the Day
This morning's commute was not a heck of a lot of fun. I knew I was in for trouble when I heard the thunder approach around 7 AM. It took me almost two hours to get in (it's normally a half-hour commute). Lots of local roads are flooded and blocked off. Many of the feeder highways are closed. Just too much water in too short a time. Finally got in at about 10, then for the next couple hours did non-stop stuff for coworkers and especially my boss, who found a way to blame me for something else that was his doing. Le sigh. At least by this point the rain's stopped so presumably the drains will be able to catch up making the homeward-bound commute a bit easier.
My column at ComicMix is up; please comment there if you can, it means a lot to me to get comments on that site. And my posts from yesterday have finally shown up on my main site feed. I'm not so sure the Livejournal one (http://penelayne.livejournal.com/data/atom) even works any more. Livejournal is so screwed up anyway, I still can't see any of Julia's posts. But now Blogger's Atom feed appears to be slowing down as well. Maybe it's an Atom thing? Anyway, know that I pretty much post every day so, for future reference, if you don't see a feed show up for me just click over to my blog once a day and you'll be rewarded, such as it is, with new content.
Continuing the Harry Potter theme, Pointless Waste of Time presents Hide Your Potter! No, it's not what you think, it's actually a bit lewder. But quite funny. First saw it on Progressive Gold.
• The Daily Intelligencer keeps digging that hole a little deeper. First they bitch about local West Village vendors wanting to declare a city block Little Britain, Then they get letters and issue a correction, then more letters and another correction is issued. Geez, why don't they just ask an actual Englishman, or his wife? This all amuses the heck out of me because the English seem to be notorious in NYC for disappearing into the background. Robin's never been able to find an enclave of fellow Brits around here.
• Christie Keith has pictures and interviews from the Human Rights Campaign gala in SanFran. Both George Takei and Lucy Lawless look lovely.
• Kate and Thorn have decided to collect people's "scare stories" about fatphobic medical practitioners for a new informational blog they're starting. My ob/gyn appointment has been moved from today to Thursday, when I'll be seeing a colleague of the doc I usually visit, and I'm hoping the colleague isn't fatphobic because I'm just not in the mood to deal with that when I'm in pain. Just, y'know, figure out what's wrong with me and save the "lose weight" preaching for someone who falls for that crap...
• Soy it ain't so, Susie! As with a lot of other articles of this ilk, the conclusion I drew was "everything in moderation." Going nuts with soy products is about as dumb as going nuts with any other food to the exclusion of others. Except sushi, of course.
• Speaking of food, looks like the Food Network's having a contest for a fifth Iron Chef. I hope Traci Des Jardins gets it, and that they rethink the show's opening and change it to reflect five people standing on their podia at the beginning.
• Ezra Klein concludes that, for the Wall Street Journal, newly bought by Rupert "everything he touches turns to shite" Murdoch, what goes around comes around: "It has been Journal gospel for decades that the market provides, and takeovers are healthy, and companies should not be protected from acquisition for reasons of sentimentalism and undue attachment to their old way of business. But it turns out that when it's their jobs, and their standards, and their home on the line, suddenly the will of the market might be getting it wrong in this one, little case. What would the national discourse on capitalism, competition, and globalization look like in this country were the elites who drive the conversation even minimally exposed to the ills they so often dismiss?" Perhaps we're about to find out.
• For John Rogers, the future ain't what it used to be. And I want to take this opportunity to say "You're welcome" to Robin as I know he won't be able to get that Steinman song out of his head now.
This is a boss-in-office day so posting will be light to non-existent whilst I continue to work on the Huge Ass Project. I highly (pun intended) recommend this video from the Drug Policy Alliance, via Mark at BoingBoing. Silly but effective.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
I kept meaning to blog today, but other stuff got in the way. So now my checkbook's balanced and the shopping's all done and the dishes are washed and dinner's been eaten and my next ComicMix column half-written already and my email seen to and I only have about 300 blog posts left to read... but, as I say, I almost forgot to blog. And naturally, I have another addictive game to pass along, via Susie -- Troyis. Lots of fun. Oh, and one of my favorite bloggers, Zuzu, now has her own blog, Kindly Póg Mo Thóin, so of course she's been added to my reading list and sidebar blogroll. G'night!
So sous me, it's Bastille Day. It's also, not coincidentally, Blogswarm for Impeachment day, but unfortunately it's not like the people have the power to make that happen if Congress isn't willing, so I've opted against wasting my breath blowing at that particular windmill (love me them mixed metaphors) and instead uncheck some "keep as new" posts from the past week:
• What? Wil worry? It's not that it hasn't been said before by many liberal bloggers, but it bears repeating, just as the powermongers' scare tactics are constantly repeated.
• Barbara O'Brien is currently on vacation but before she left she finished up her Wisdom of Doubt series, and I found Part V particularly well done.
• Guest poster Thorn at Shapely Prose has written an absolutely devastating series of posts about how fatphobia killed her mother and how ignorant relatives added insult to injury at the funeral, no less. Grab a box of tissues and read them all: Part One, Part Two, Part Three.
• One of the music stations to which I flip during my morning commute when ads are on the other stations is WCBS-FM, which had been hiJacked. It's now been freed. Read Dean Landsman's incisive post about this, from the POV of an old radio vet.
• More group bloggie goodness on my Bloglines subs but not yet on my sidebar because, hey, at this point I have almost 1000 unread posts in my Group Blogs section. Anyway, welcome to the blogosphere, Girl Wonder's GWOG! and the Group News Blog (in memory of Steve Gilliard) and Open Left (the new venture by Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers of MyDD). Don't know when I'm gonna have time to read y'all but it's good to know you're out there.
Speaking of time, I'd best get to those undone errands...
Silly Site o' the Day
A silly video with a serious message. "When can you use offensive terms without being offensive?" Hope this embedding works, it's an AOL-type video so one never knows...
I'm celebrating! Turns out that Phase I of the Huge-Ass Project (™ nobody in particular) was all my boss wanted done by his return, and he's quite pleased with my progress. And my boss' wife apologized again for her abruptness yesterday. It's nice to go into the weekend in everyone's good graces. Even kitties, who posed for me as usual.
Amy peeks 'round the corner.
Datsa gives me a lovely closeup. Tonight's celebration was Indian food, which isn't sitting as well with me as it did back when I used to eat it all the time in my 20's. Ah well, more time to catch up on my blog reading whilst waiting for my tummy to settle.
Silly Site o' the Day
Happy Friday the 13th! I've already had a black cat cross my path a number of times, looking for his breakfast, so between that and my boss' first in-office day I'd say my day was shot anyway. Hey, why not look at How Friday the 13th Works? And here I always thought it was the inventive human need for superstition...
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
The last two hours have not been fun. My boss' wife is in the country, and has now apologized for yelling at me when I did the right thing re: her transportation. Before the apology I'd actually summoned up enough self-esteem to decide to quit, salary or no salary, healthcare or no healthcare -- this job is, after all, about 90% of the reason I have pre-existing conditions, and I'm really not fond of being driven to an early grave. In any case, five resumes are now sent out, and I'm not going to stop looking just because they're back from vacation. But since the apology I've felt very lightheaded, as if someone jabbed an adrenalin needle into my heart and I'm suddenly coming off it. I'm kind of crashing with giddy relief, and I can't stop coughing. Work-induced stress -- as I say, not fun. More importantly, Robin's just finished inking the first issue of the Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag miniseries, so we're raising our own flags tonight and celebrating with sushi. We are, after all, adherents to the First Church of Sushi (via Hanan)...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Didn't stay up late enough last night to see the National League get its final run in last night's All Star Game, but the AL win was kind of a foregone conclusion anyway, at least if you listen to the idiot announcers. And to think, McCarver used to be my faovirte play-by-play guy. Seriously, I learned more about the game from listening to him than to anyone else. Now I learn more from the ads than from McCarver. Speakingo of which, did you know Geico has its own game site where you can play online baseball? Oh, and my ComicMix column is up, and it's about baseball, more or less.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
It's a good feeling transitioning back from the personal assistant work for which I was never hired (and with which I am still decidedly uncomfortable) into the exec. admin. work for which I was. This morning I caught up on this year's expense reports and updated my boss' calendar in anticipation of his return on Thursday. Still have to put together the family's medical expense chart, which is probably PA stuff but I can talk myself into thinking it's EA stuff; that'll probably be finished tomorrow along with my remaining filing. Phase II of the Huge-Ass Project has begun and of course I'm way behind in that since he wanted all three phases finished by now, but that's because of all the interruptions (his PA requests, stuff for my coworkers, etc.). Hey, how's about another game? Here's one called SameGame, also via Eszter. Hope this one doesn't put all sorts of malware and adware on my computer the way Tower Blaser did...
Monday, July 09, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Sometimes a site isn't silly in itself but reveals the silliness of others. Take CNN's campaign to name the Seven New Wonders of the World. Via Andante at Collective Sigh, the votes are now in and the wonders have been named -- but it's not even official! Says the article, "The new wonders campaign hasn't been universally recognized. The United Nations' cultural organization, UNESCO, issued a statement saying it has 'no link whatsoever' to the vote." You know when you have a UN organization issuing an official press release to dissociate themselves from your latest American Idol-like meaningless poll, you're being very silly. Not "universally recognized," indeed. Fess up, you really meant to say "not recognized outside of some website."
• Speaking of which, Charlie Anders has written a piece on said feminist comics blogosphere for the new issue of Mother Jones. It's not this one about the liberal political blogosphere by Daniel Schulman. Charlie hasn't yet responded to my request for an exact URL. Mother Jones' site is a bit confusing. I'd been anticipating this piece for awhile so it's frustrating not to be able to read it online.
• The new Indiana Jones has been filming in Tom Tomorrow's New Haven neighborhood, and he has pictures.
• At my mom's we were talking about TV chefs we like, and her favorite happens to be one of mine as well, Lidia Bastianich. Members of Lidia's family often appear on the show with her, and one of my favorite moments came when her son Joe was helping her make something, she prompted him to do it her way, and he muttered "I can see there's no room for personal expression on THIS show." Turns out Joe isn't just a sommelier, he's Mario Batali's business partner. The things one finds out on food blogs.
• Speaking of food, it may be a week late to mention this but the piece is timeless -- Kai Chang on family memories of dim sum. Yummy!
• I haven't watched all of the Live Earth stuff yet, but I thought the segments with Harry Shearer as a polar bear were quite amusing. Shearer is a true Renaissance entertainer whose career I've followed on and off for about thirty years now, and I adore his writing as well. Here's his lovely reminiscence of the late Joel Siegel.
• Hey cool, there's a Del Close marathon coming up at the end of the month!
• Last but not least, John Mayer has a time machine (scroll down to last Tuesday). Can he go back a bit and invent himself some permalinks, or is he still waiting for the world to change?
Now that those links are unchecked, it's back to the thousand or so posts left to read in my three News+Views sections...
Silly Site o' the Day
Home from Mom's, watched baseball and collapsed, so sorry this is so late, and sorry in general that I haven't been posting more (either here or on ComicMix). Ever since my mobility problems, Dad's death and the assignment of the Huge Ass Project, I haven't felt the same. What little creative energy I can summon up is being expended on my weekly CM column. My most recent search for a new job resulted in one interview and a subsequent rejection letter, so I don't see anything changing workload-wise for the foreseeable. I just have to make sure I stay as healthy and pain-free as I can for the moment so I can leap at the possibility of change. I have great faith in the possibility of change. Except with some games, like Cool Condoms -- decidedly Not Safe For Work -- where you're given one partner and have to pick the partner that "fits" that sexual position. It won't let you pick a same sex partner. Boo. So of course I got a minus and a corrective "Duh" on every try. Thank goodness real life has far more diversity.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Watching the Live Earth streams for a bit in another window (haven't bothered seeing if they work with Firefox, but I'd imagine not) before taking the laptop to Mom's to watch more there and check out the Yankees' Old-Timers Day festivities. Somewhere in there I'll find time for a shower, putting away laundry and leaving our downstairs neighbor a note about feeding the cats and such, since we'll be on an overnight (allowing me the 2-hour drive home tomorrow morning after a good night's kitty-less sleep). I asked Robin to find me an appropriate Silly Site for the day, and we're not sure this fits either of today's twin themes of conservation or luck (yes, I've set this to post at 7:07 AM deliberately) but he's been laughing out loud over Live Human Tetris. From Japan, of course.
Gah, what I have to do sometimes to get them to look at the camera. But it's worth it.
Datsa yesterday.
Amy a few minutes ago.
Silly Site o' the Day
Got an abusive email from my boss [redacted 'cause you don't need to hear about this again]. They're back a week from now, when this particular stress turns into a whole 'nother kind of stress. Isn't there anyone out there in Manhattan willing to interview on a weekend and hire a damn good executive secretary? And ignore the mosquito bites on the side of my neck, ow ow? And to top it off, I'm still addicted to the Tower Blaster game I wrote about on Wednesday and really have no time in my life for the Set game site (via Laura)...
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Very bad day at work. Suffice it to say it took me until after 1 PM to get my chest pains under control. I do not like these people for whom I work. I do not yet have any choice other than to quit and hope I find a job before I need more medical care. So I stick it out, knowing that however bad it gets I'm still better off than so many others, and half the time I could probably control the physical overreaction and anger if I really tried. Of course, that would probably exacerbate my current medical problems, of which stress is the worst. Okay, enough of that. Here, this will calm us all down (via Skippy)...
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Finally finished my blog catch-up during the Yankees game. Possible linkfest to follow, but I need to finish up a bit of job-work and rest up before the Mets game. Of course, I'm always easily distracted by online Flash games, like Tower Blaster (via Eszter)...
We Hold This Truth To Be Self-Evident
The Peace Train is celebrating its first blogiversary with a blogswarm invitation: "Help us celebrate our birthday by posting for peace on the Fourth of July. Our challenge this year is to reflect on 'Where we came from and where we are now.' This, of course, can mean many things, including but not limited to, the following questions:
* What is our individual responsibility in our eroding democracy? What do we need to do individually and collectively to restore our democracy and American values?
* Within our own borders, how do we create peaceful, violence-free communities?
* How do we create a language of peace, where our words and actions mesh with our values?
* Reflecting on our birth as a nation and the Declaration of Independence: How can we declare our independence from the domestic terrorism that our nation has helped to spread through the world?
* How do you see the role of the blogging community in forging a new standard of peace, both nationally and globally?"
I've chosen to pass along this invite rather than participate with an essay, because I don't know that peace has ever truly been with us. It's just so much easier to destroy than to create, and the human tendency is always to go for the easy way out; therefore, testosterone-driven warlike tendencies have so far always won out over sensible nurturing ones, at least on the societal level. Heck, we can't even get past envisioning peace as a starting point for prosperity, rather than an end-goal justifying warmongering means. Until the mindset about peace changes, I don't see much point in overly pontificating about a Utopian possibility so self-evident to me.
Kobayashi Marooned
Congratulations to Joey Chestnut (if that's not the perfect Sopranos character name, I don't know what is) for dethroning 6-time defending hot dog eating champ Takeru Kobayashi at the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Hope it brought more attention to the Coney Island area, soon to be changed forever again for the umpteenth time.
Absolut Despots
...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government... when a long train of abuses and usurpations... evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security...
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans. Don't forget to slip 1776 into your DVD player if you have it. I hope I don't need to tell you whence the above quote originates (hint: no, it's not Keith Olbermann). As an American citizen I'm feeling a bit reduced, myself. Are we going to do our duty soon?
My Independence Day ComicMix column is up. It's my contribution to the Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm. I don't know if I succeeded in expressing my belief in belief itself exactly in the way I wanted to, but hey, who do you think I am, Thomas Jefferson or something? My ComicMix colleague Glenn has excerpted parts of the Declaration that are scarily relevant today, but what I'm really looking for that I haven't been able to find in the liberal political blogosphere (with which I've finally caught up except for the intimidating Group Blogs category) is an actual updating listing the crimes against American ideals perpetrated by the current (Boy) King George and the people who pull his strings. Does anyone know of such an update? Please respond in the comments. Update: Athenae at First Draft comes close, quoting sections of the original with links to current abuses.
Back after the Yankees game (or during if it sucks overly)...
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
I've been poked and prodded and x-rayed and x-amined to within an inch of my life today, and I'm not that much closer to figuring out what's up with the pain in my back-hip-leg-whatever. The physical therapist has pretty much ruled out sciatica and thinks it might be bursitis, but he wants my ob/gyn to do an MRI on part of my Icky Female Plumbing first to rule out any other possibility. Considering my Icky Female Plumbing history that's probably wise, but my ob/gyn appointment isn't for another two weeks so I'm toughing it out until then, playing around with the latest officially sanctioned Simpsons Movie celebratory avatar maker with which everyone seems to be having fun and which I first saw on Shakespeare's Sister (by the way, Shakesville is back up). Oh, and Phase I of the Huge Ass Project is almost done, just another hour or so of data input and I move into Phase II. Of course, my boss wanted the entire 3-phase project completed by his return and that's just not going to happen, but what's the worst he can do?
Monday, July 02, 2007
Jim Capozzola, RIP
Just read about this on Susie's blog. I'm in shock. Just a few days ago I was wondering why Jim hadn't updated his blog in so long; I had no idea he was even ill. My god, I'll miss him. He was the impetus behind the first big blogger gathering I ever attended (here's my overview), and for that I'll be eternally grateful.
Silly Site o' the Day
Well, the majority of billing is done, and I think I'm finishing Phase I of the Huge Ass Project tomorrow, which is all I can hope for at this point. Dinner is cooking and I'm 2-3 paragraphs into my ComicMix column, so it's time to remember I actually have a personal blog as well, and pass along a wonderful utility, via Dave Johnson, for anyone who desperately needs that blank sheet of paper. You just know you want it!
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
White Rabbits! Here's the latest from Angry Alien, Die Hard in 30 seconds as performed by bunnies! Not doing too much blogging today, watching the Concert for Diana as well as cleaning up the kitchen -- the stovetop's finally clean again, I really need to do that much often. Also need to write my next ComicMix column, my contribution to Blog Against Theocracy, but probably not until the evening. And tomorrow's billing day so any blog activity will be a minor miracle, then I have more medical fun between my physical therapy and doctor-advised x-rays and so forth and so on and I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Ah, the ballet portion of the Concert for Diana, best go do the washing up...
