Racquetball Class
Is over. I may take it again sometime soon. I did well, and got good workouts. My ankle still hurts but has improved. Work is fine. Preparations continue apace for Christmastime. Found some older mouse droppings the other night. Bas smelled them, and with luck is primed to take action should he find the creators of said droppings. Though we’ve had no signs of mice for a while.
Still very busy now. I look forward to peace and quiet of vacation/holidaytime.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2003.
Snapshots of the Yuletide season
- I gave blood today.
- next time I give blood I’ll drink more beforehand.
- I’m still loving Quicksilver.
- I have purchased some Christmas gifts.
- I have more to purchase.
- Going to Mass tonight.
- Going shopping tonight.
- I’m wearing an ankle brace.
- The weekend was great—Leah and I had her kids.
- The cat is slowly recovering from the traffic levels.
- Reflective heaters ROCK!
- I prefer too hot to too cold.
- I like the game Go.
- itsyourturn.com is nifty.
- My iBook is a useful, versatile tool.
- I reorganized some books last night and found some mouse droppings. Old ones. The cat found them before I cleaned them up. I hope Bas understands to associate that smell with “KILL!”
- I enjoy french toast.
- The Ukes of Hazzard are charmingly funny and silly.
- Leah makes tasty french toast.
- Old Christmas Content on ArtLung.com: Merry Christmas in other languages.
- Target during Christmastime is busy.
- Possible plans for New Year’s include a trip to Utah.
- More as it happens.
News of the Day
Aljazeera.Net – Saddam Hussein captured has the best coverage at the moment of giving the full story. CNN (on TV) had President Bush giving a speech, but little in full details of how he was captured, and the context of same.
I watched Three Kings, one of my favorite movies, with Leah’s two older boys last night. I suppose this is the endpoint for one of its’ plot points, Saddam himself.
So the question is, what changes for the Iraqi people?
UP AND AT THEM
I played my first racquetball in 2 weeks since I sprained my ankle. My ankle still hurts. The game was more like chess—with limited mobility, shot selection and placement is more critical. It makes me wonder if wearing really heavy shoes would be an interesting discipline while training. It was good to play, even if I did not do as well as usual.
Afterwards I bought an elaborate lace-up brace at Sports Chalet in Point Loma. I think keeping off it, and stabilizing it can only be good for the ankle.
Leah’s kids are here, though her youngest is ill. I am presently tired and lying in bed due to racquetball and because I happened to stay up till 4am or so working on some freelance. Yesterday’s timing of events and responsibilities was not optimal. I stayed a bit late at work, no problem.
But my Grandma asked me about getting one of my cousins’ varisty football games to show up on her computer. The archived games were available, but there was no video. Well, her Windows 98 machine had an older version of Windows Media Player (these were .asx files), so I advised her to upgrade WMP to version 9.
This of course produced only confusion on her part, and asked me if I could do it.
Under the circumstances, I decided sure, I can totally do this!
The downfall, of course, is that my Grandparents are on dial-up. So the 14 megabyte install took an hour and change to download.
Actually, it was cool to just chat with my Grandma for an hour about the holiday season, about helping her buy a gift for my Uncle (a computer guy), I showed her the photos of Bas on Leah’s site, she talked about having lots of cats when she was a girl. We talked a very little bit about Church. Last Sunday Leah and I went to St. Joseph’s Cathedral downtown, and I can’t think of any reason for me to have gone there with anyone other than her. So it was like a little oasis of a conversation in a hectic day. I feel lucky to have some Grandparents who are still around. She talks about how embarassed she is about having not such good control of her right arm. Twenty years ago she had a terrible stroke, which she has survived with grit and determination. But it changed her life utterly—she had been vibrant and active, and losing her right side catastrophically meant she could no longer drive, write, type, walk the way she once could.
I have a hard time seeing how I could do much better than she has considering she lost so much mobility and dexterity. She’s a marvel of energy and mental strength. Sometimes I even see myself in her. Or should I say, sometimes I see aspects of her when I look at myself.
So now I’m listening to Virgin Radio UK on iTunes. They played The Rolling Stones’ Undercover of the Night, a song I like. Ty brought me hot cocoa. Today we’re taking it easy. Chilling out in this 1892 house. Playing games, blogging, having cocoa, and soon I’ll be napping.
I like today. It could be a morass of stress, especially considering it’s the holiday season—presents to buy, lines to be in, and all of that—but today is good.
Hurrumph
Lots to say. Much stuff happening. Wait for the weekend for more info. Here’s a word I didn’t know much about before I started reading Quicksilver: papist.
No really, more this weekend. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to burst with links and news, and this is one of those times. But not right now.
And You May Remind Yourself
Remind me to listen to this NPR piece about Talking Heads when I get the chance.
Good Newsletter
M-THEORY MUSIC does a nice job with their online newsletter. I don’t think it’s on the web, but it’s a nice personal flavorful bunch of nuggets of opinion, new music, and local flavor. Kudos to them.
And if you’re in San Diego, you should check ‘em out.
Cat Update
He growls.
He growls off into the kitchen, at unseen and unheard forces. Bolt upright, and growling quietly.
“We have our very own guard kitty,” says Leah.
She whispered it, lest he growl at her.
Some Links For A Sunday Morning
- My sister sent me the link for videos from The Darkness. She said: “Watch the video for I Believe in a Thing Called Love. It’s amazing.”. I have. She’s right. Unashamed 70’s Power Pop. Reminds me of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody merged with the Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic.
- A plugin for PGP for Mail.app: GPGMail
- I’m alarmed to find out that the open eye racquetball goggles I want so much do not work: Open (Lensless) Eye guards Fail Testing; Racquetball Eye Injuries
- United States Marine, Artist
- The amazing history of Frank Zappa and Louie Louie
- The story of the Frank Zappa statue in Vilnius. And, The statue itself.
- Elizabeth Shin tragedy: comment by Philip Greenspun
- What is this about SCO and SAMBA source code?
...
Leah and I went to a more solemn Catholic Mass this evening. Fulfilling. This has been a mellow weekend. My ankle is feeling better, too. Though we went to the store to buy an ankle brace and when we got home the box was empty. Oops. That makes me feel dumb.
It was a good day. I trust it will be a good week too.
My first and only cease and desist letter was some time back. When I got this GTM had been defunct for some time. Never mind that I had had a verbal agreement with my supervisor at GTM for permission to show the logo as part of my portfolio online.
They gave me “fine” business days to remove the page. I think they meant “five” Heh. Crazy lawyers!
Here’s the text of the letter:
Global Telecom Media
December 9, 1997
Joseph A. Crawford
3375 Manning Ave. #14
Los Angeles, CA 90064A search of VOAA through YAHOO turns up the site //home.earthlink.net/~artlung/logos5.html, apparently your site. An examination of of that site turns up work done for our company (to wit; a VOAA logo and artwork for GTM.NET.) This work is the property of Global Telecom Media and is not to be reproduced without our permission. Please remove it immediately. If it is not removed within fine(sic) business days of this letter being posted, we will have no alternative but to turn this matter over to counsel.
Cordially,
James A. Leecc. P. Campbell, Esq.
GTM023.DOC
9713 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite 218
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 273-7760
(310)273-8860
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