Friday, March 27, 2009
Well, it's official...
I've been offered a six-month contract pressing buttons in East Syracuse, NY, and since I don't have anything better to do, I'm going to take it. (I will be leaving just before Opening Day and returning around the playoffs, grumble grumble, but for $5/mo I can get Bob Uecker on XM radio, and they're paying me well enough I don't have to give up my Bratwurst Bobblehead Day tix, muahahaha). So, if you see a fat woman in a Brewers hat, puffing around the Finger Lakes or Lake Ontario with a camera on a Sunday afternoon, do say hello. :-P
I'm bummed I'll be missing the last half of my German class, and the Tax Day Tea Party in Madison, but I'm kind of excited about having a new region to explore, even if it doesn't have bratwurst.
Erie Canal at Seneca Falls, from my 2005 trip to the area:
I have a much better camera now. Muahahaha.
I'm bummed I'll be missing the last half of my German class, and the Tax Day Tea Party in Madison, but I'm kind of excited about having a new region to explore, even if it doesn't have bratwurst.
Erie Canal at Seneca Falls, from my 2005 trip to the area:
I have a much better camera now. Muahahaha.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
PSA
Don't forget! Hour of Power is this Saturday!
Graphic from The PeoplesCube, who recycle their tips from last year. Tim Blair has a roundup of world events: "For some reason, Chicago’s South Side isn’t often mentioned in Earth Hour previews."
Don't forget to call the pizza guy before the Hour begins. May as well make your meaningless hypocritical gesture in comfort. I guess that's why they do it close to an equinox and not in the dead of summer/winter...wait, you don't have to turn off your air conditioner, just your lights. Hell, this year you don't even have to make the supreme sacrifice of turning off your computer. Don't forget to tell your Facebook friends you're sitting in the dark by yourself because you care!
I'll be ironing some fabric while watching a DVD (which is probably what I'd be doing anyway), and baking cookies (with evil non-locally-grown chocolate!). I could drive around the east side noticing that none of the yuppie-hippie types have shut off their outdoor security lighting, but then I wouldn't get fresh cookies. My priorities are in order.
Graphic from The PeoplesCube, who recycle their tips from last year. Tim Blair has a roundup of world events: "For some reason, Chicago’s South Side isn’t often mentioned in Earth Hour previews."
Don't forget to call the pizza guy before the Hour begins. May as well make your meaningless hypocritical gesture in comfort. I guess that's why they do it close to an equinox and not in the dead of summer/winter...wait, you don't have to turn off your air conditioner, just your lights. Hell, this year you don't even have to make the supreme sacrifice of turning off your computer. Don't forget to tell your Facebook friends you're sitting in the dark by yourself because you care!
I'll be ironing some fabric while watching a DVD (which is probably what I'd be doing anyway), and baking cookies (with evil non-locally-grown chocolate!). I could drive around the east side noticing that none of the yuppie-hippie types have shut off their outdoor security lighting, but then I wouldn't get fresh cookies. My priorities are in order.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Just what you've all been waiting for...
For all your quilting and home decorating needs: Barry O cotton fabric.
I need a bigger picture to determine if that's a Nazi salute, or if he's pointing out Superman. But the vignette where he's posed as a bobby-soxer dreaming of himself, that's priceless.
Ironic: Cranston is one of two, maybe three fabric finishers left in the U.S., after the EPA sent them all to SE Asia. Textile production needs energy, and Barry's going to do his damnedest to make sure they can't get it at a reasonable cost.
In a few months, if I find some on clearance somewhere, I will take great delight in denegrating this particular religious iconography, a la Shawn Quinlan, whom I respect for his use of fabric, despite his tired cliches and hackneyed leftoid talking points. But I'm not willing to pay new fabric price right now.
I need a bigger picture to determine if that's a Nazi salute, or if he's pointing out Superman. But the vignette where he's posed as a bobby-soxer dreaming of himself, that's priceless.
Ironic: Cranston is one of two, maybe three fabric finishers left in the U.S., after the EPA sent them all to SE Asia. Textile production needs energy, and Barry's going to do his damnedest to make sure they can't get it at a reasonable cost.
In a few months, if I find some on clearance somewhere, I will take great delight in denegrating this particular religious iconography, a la Shawn Quinlan, whom I respect for his use of fabric, despite his tired cliches and hackneyed leftoid talking points. But I'm not willing to pay new fabric price right now.
Travel.
I caught the tail end of this today (the AM band in my rental car was already tuned to the station that aired Rush--convenient!) on the way to an airport.
Changed flights at DTW, which smelled like a yak soaked in dog piss--I assume a fault in the climate control, since I can't find any news articles about shaggy bovines loose in a terminal--and featured stadium-sized screens of Airport CNN, which seemed to have Dear Leader's stand-up routine on a loop. There were smaller screens everywhere except the ladies' room. I finally found a dank corner where the screens were too far away to read the text--and the sound was being piped out of a speaker directly above my head. Thank God I had earplugs.
The young man seated next to me on my flight into MKE was a member of the WI National Guard returning home after graduating from basic training. He seemed tired, so I did not pester him with too much chat. His wife met him at the baggage claim and they were adorable. Heartening, somehow.
LEVIN: The statist creates nothing. The food Obama has was created by capitalism. The suit that he wears when he does these press conferences, he can thank capitalism, not a single bureaucrat. The car that he drives or that's driven for him -- the helicopter, the jet he takes -- all of it is a creation of capitalism.Did not drive off the road.
RUSH: The teleprompter.
Changed flights at DTW, which smelled like a yak soaked in dog piss--I assume a fault in the climate control, since I can't find any news articles about shaggy bovines loose in a terminal--and featured stadium-sized screens of Airport CNN, which seemed to have Dear Leader's stand-up routine on a loop. There were smaller screens everywhere except the ladies' room. I finally found a dank corner where the screens were too far away to read the text--and the sound was being piped out of a speaker directly above my head. Thank God I had earplugs.
The young man seated next to me on my flight into MKE was a member of the WI National Guard returning home after graduating from basic training. He seemed tired, so I did not pester him with too much chat. His wife met him at the baggage claim and they were adorable. Heartening, somehow.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Whatever You Like.
Have been avoiding blogging because there's not really much I can say except "we're toast, we are so toast" (only usually with a string of profanity in two languages that makes the cat blush), everytime I read anything in the news. I should probably start avoiding news altogether, but I don't want to become the sort of low-information dimwit that gets talked into voting for people like Barry O 'cause they don't know any better...
I'll be offline for a couple of days at an interview in a different time zone (bonus: I'll miss Dear Leader's monthly television address to the serfs) and maybe I'll have something to say when I get back and maybe I won't.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Milwaukee Mystery Photo Revealed
Chinese Stone Lion, one of a pair that guards the entrance to the Zeidler Muncipal Building. They were a gift from the city of Ningbo, China.
Never noticed them until I walked by with a camera.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Milwaukee Mystery Photo
I took this yesterday, somewhere between the lakefront and Water Street. Feel free to leave guesses here or at Flickr.
One of those things I'd walked by a half-dozen times and never noticed until I walked by with a camera in my hand...
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Dreams from my TelePrompter
*laugh*
I made a bitchy comment over at Ace of Spades yesterday about Barry O is getting half a million dollars so someone can abridge a book with his name on it (I'm sure the House of Representatives won't demand he send 90% of it to the Treasury, either...), which memed around the Intertubes until Mock Barack! created an excellent mockup of the cover:
Conservative bloggers are hereby given express written permission to use the phrase as they see fit; late-night liberal "comedians" need to send a check first. Heh.
I made a bitchy comment over at Ace of Spades yesterday about Barry O is getting half a million dollars so someone can abridge a book with his name on it (I'm sure the House of Representatives won't demand he send 90% of it to the Treasury, either...), which memed around the Intertubes until Mock Barack! created an excellent mockup of the cover:
Conservative bloggers are hereby given express written permission to use the phrase as they see fit; late-night liberal "comedians" need to send a check first. Heh.
I love Wisconsin.
If I had known there was a Cheese Championship with a Cheddar Lombardi, I would have taken a drive today.
It's like the Combine Demolition Derby--why can't I ever learn about these things before they happen?
It's like the Combine Demolition Derby--why can't I ever learn about these things before they happen?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
PSA
Have you successfully avoided foreclosure? The Journal Sentinel is looking to talk with consumers who have taken steps to keep their homes.
If you made a down payment, took out a conventional loan, only borrowed an amount you could repay with your actual income, read the "instrument" before signing it, or even just bothered to make your mortgage payments on time, give them a call. Heh.
(I'm successfully avoiding foreclosure by paying my rent on time. Yes, I'm a chump.)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Can they even get started for $91M?
This seems unnecessary:
Congress authorizes "downtown streetcar loop"
I can walk from one end of downtown to the other in about half an hour if I don't dawdle with my camera. But even on Friday nights, I can park sufficiently close to my destinations for less than Portland charged for two (I assume most people don't dine out and go to shows alone) all-day streetcar tickets. Usually for free, since I don't mind walking six blocks.... Why would anyone drive downtown and pay twice?
About 6% of Portlanders--they of smug self-congratulations about their eco-awareness--actually use the light rail and street car on a regular basis. And it goes well past their downtown into other parts of the city.
But, $91M? Seems like just enough to fund some "feasibility studies" done by political supporters.
Congress authorizes "downtown streetcar loop"
I can walk from one end of downtown to the other in about half an hour if I don't dawdle with my camera. But even on Friday nights, I can park sufficiently close to my destinations for less than Portland charged for two (I assume most people don't dine out and go to shows alone) all-day streetcar tickets. Usually for free, since I don't mind walking six blocks.... Why would anyone drive downtown and pay twice?
About 6% of Portlanders--they of smug self-congratulations about their eco-awareness--actually use the light rail and street car on a regular basis. And it goes well past their downtown into other parts of the city.
But, $91M? Seems like just enough to fund some "feasibility studies" done by political supporters.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
"Conceptual clarity is not mobthink's strong suit"
Armchair psychology is dangerous, especially among the untrained, but I don't think you need to be Dr. Sanity to see unhealthy, damaged people projecting their own distorted realities onto others in this article about being harassed for donating to the Prop 8 movement. If you seriously believe some woman you've never met has personally denied you your "single chance at happiness"* by supporting a political movement, seek professional help.
(I also like her collages.)
* OK--it's fun to the melodramatic center of the world from time to time and I've indulged in it myself. But if the condition persists and you don't start taking care of your own business instead of blaming everyone else, your misery is your own damn fault. Filed under "things I wish I would have figured out about fifteen years before I finally did."
(I also like her collages.)
* OK--it's fun to the melodramatic center of the world from time to time and I've indulged in it myself. But if the condition persists and you don't start taking care of your own business instead of blaming everyone else, your misery is your own damn fault. Filed under "things I wish I would have figured out about fifteen years before I finally did."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
I love winter.
Wind off Lake Huron pushes ice onto shore (and not for the first time...):
Some actual information, which the CNN page doesn't give you.
Note to self: don't build so close to the water.
Some actual information, which the CNN page doesn't give you.
Note to self: don't build so close to the water.
Heh.
I got a call today from a staffing organization named after the protagonist of an Ayn Rand novel gaining new relevance in 2009. OK, he was a genius electromechanical engineer. But I really don't see him accepting an hourly rate to make money for some corporation for 6-12 months, with or without an option to go full-time upon completion of his contract. I admit to skimming through the 60-page monologue after the first five or six pages, but I think he'd already made his point...
They're a "certified woman-owned business." I'm trying to figure out why the practice of governments differentiating "women-owned" businesses irritates me. Perhaps because I resent being seen as a va-jay-jay to meet an affirmative-action quota rather than as a competent candidate, so I don't appreciate the world being encouraged to view me in that fashion with an official government seal of approval.
(Contra other women, I've never liked Brad Pitt, either.)
OK, back to the phones. Just got a good laugh out of it: professionals are talking about "going Galt" to avoid Pelosi-Obama's tax hikes on wages and businesses, and this "Galt" wants earn business income hooking me up with work (in one of those high-tax high-government coastal states I'm told is superior to any state in the Midwest...not that desperate yet). Bizzaro World.
They're a "certified woman-owned business." I'm trying to figure out why the practice of governments differentiating "women-owned" businesses irritates me. Perhaps because I resent being seen as a va-jay-jay to meet an affirmative-action quota rather than as a competent candidate, so I don't appreciate the world being encouraged to view me in that fashion with an official government seal of approval.
(Contra other women, I've never liked Brad Pitt, either.)
OK, back to the phones. Just got a good laugh out of it: professionals are talking about "going Galt" to avoid Pelosi-Obama's tax hikes on wages and businesses, and this "Galt" wants earn business income hooking me up with work (in one of those high-tax high-government coastal states I'm told is superior to any state in the Midwest...not that desperate yet). Bizzaro World.
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