ArtLung Blog

I'm behind on email and posting. Here are some nuggets.

Six Rules for Contractors. Old and excellent.

Ontology is Overrated by Clay Shirky.

What looks like a good book about project management: The Art of Project Management.

Leah's Blog was a bit broken with regards to RSS and Atom syndication feeds. They work now. Also, I added some new categories today. Highlights: Wedding Interviews In The Car Kids Blessings Movies TV

Interesting and depressing and inevitable about outsourcing and the global village: Indian call staff quit over abuse on the line.

A few days ago, Al Abut was interviewed by the small WORLD podcast, and he mentioned me and San Diego Blog as blogs he reads. It's a tiny mention in this mp3 file.

I cooked a broccoflower tonight. It was not very impressive. It's very much like half-a-broccoli and half-a-cauliflour. So... what's the point? Not terrible, there's but not much to recommend it.

Speaking of cooking. I have been doing some of it. Highlights: sloppy joe's _(natch)_, killer scrambled eggs _(featuring cheddar jack, soy milk, and water)_, oatmeal, baked custom sandwiches, breakfast burritos-to-go _(featuring leftover scrambled eggs)_, and miscellaneous goulashes. I enjoy doing shopping. And things I dig having in the pantry -- dates, jalapeño slices, cheese-crackers-and-peanut-butter. Oh, and frozen turkey sausage patties are pretty cool.

Also, _Gilmore Girls_ has been on lately here in the house. Alex and Leah watch it together. Very Mother/Daughter-y.

Leah and I have a list of shows which we will never watch, ever. When they come on the screen whilst channel-surfing, we must change the channel immediately. We started with _That 70's Show_. We added _That's So Raven_ recently. We're considering adding _Blind Justice_ as well.

I came across this essay on sales technique while searching for instances of the phrase "Coffee is for Closers", a line from _Glengarry Glen Ross_.

That's all for now kids. More another day.

Who replied to that annoying chain letter music thing?

Several people! And they rock, and I thank them for their indulgence. Very cool listings:

Binary Wolf
Chuck Hartley
Kelly Abbott
Leah Peah
Meg
Sassy

Who will win?

Che:

Bas:

As Jason Kottke commented, _this is what the internet was made for_.

*Update:* Fixed those links

Star Wars: Databank | Chewbacca

Chewbacca was played by Peter Mayhew, who donned the suit in all three classic Star Wars movies and would again wear the Wookiee wool for a number of notable television apperances. In 1978, Chewbacca returned to Kashyyyk to visit his family in the rarely-seen "Star Wars Holiday Special" television extravaganza. The heavily dated artifact of the late '70s has only aired once, and is unlikely to ever surface again. (emphasis added)

"Unlikely" is profound understatement, assuming you go through official channels.

I grabbed one back in 2001.

That Lucasfilm will not let you see or sell you a copy of the thing should tell you something. They apparently have the stomach to sell you a Darth Vader Sprinkler and even Darth Vader Cheezits, but the Star Wars Christmas Special is practically an _unperson_ in the Star Wars Merchandising Cavalcade.

_Happy Life Day!_

Andrew Phelps has passed me the music baton:

*Total size of music files on my computer:*

I work on three computers consistently, and I have iTunes libraries on all of them: the iBook has 18.17 GB of music, the Mac Desktop: 36.68 GB, and the Windows Desktop: a bit less than the iBook, but I'm too lazy to go look at the moment. Leah would say it's all Frank Zappa. When we put it on Random play, there's a whole lotta FZ, but it's only 4.82 GB.

*The last CD I bought was:*

Eric Lindell - _Tragic Magic_
at the record release party in Hermosa Beach

I mentioned this before. It's good stuff, but not really representative. On my shopping list are the latest Beck and Ben Folds, but not for a few more paychecks. Budgets are my friend!

*Song playing right now:*

Roxy Music - _Flesh + Blood_

In the mornings I like putting on Stew/Negro Problem. It's good morning wake-up music. I like working to Ben Folds or Frank Zappa. Sometimes They Might Be Giants. Occasionally I'll put on mixes, I guess more properly called "playlists," I already made in iTunes.

*Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:*

Beck - _Tropicalia_ - free and fun and foreign
Ben Folds - _Army_ - man, that is some angsty regretful music
Frank Zappa - _The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution_ - musically, this fires my neurons
Stew - _The Great Leap Forward_ - the emotion in this song, the ennui, is really powerful
Morrissey - _Sing Your Life_ - hopeful, wonderful, optimistic - "any fool can think of words that rhyme"

Five Seven people to whom I’m passing the baton:

Al Abut
Binary Wolf
Chuck Hartley
Kelly Abbott
Leah Peah
Meg
Sassy

I realize that's actually seven. I'm worried nobody will answer, though I would really dig it if they answered.

Difficult choice. But a major contender is definitely Mahnsanto

She's got a memory glitch
He's got a needle that skips
Everybody aughta have a mother or a brother who will take 'em on to a magical trip
To Disneyland in winter
To Disneyland in winter
When everybody else is gone
Take a ride a million times
Ain't nobody standin' in lines
Everybody aughta have a daddy or a daughter who will take them to a magical time
To Disneyland in winter
To Disneyland in winter
When everybody else is gone

Mahnsanto come back to me
I'll wait there
I'll wait there
Mahnsanto come back to me
I'll wait there
I'll wait there

Other contenders are Lime Green Sweater and Club Girl's Terrain:

She's entertaining when complaining about her life;
a picture as that hipster rich guy's compellingly neurotic wife.
But until they meet, she's in the street with the monkey boys,
scream in a punk rock band with vintage guitar toys

Phone numbers on match books and the stamps upon her wrist,
and a memory of a bad four day affair
with a drummer who wore essence of Al's bar cologne
And slept all night in chairs.
You thought he looked cute and beyond blame,
Stranded on the club girl's terrain.

Another pill then drink your fill of the empty night.
I know it kills you to put panties on this pointless socialite.
But when we get dentures and adventures are behind us,
The private invectives are paid off to never find us.

Phone numbers on match books and the stamps upon your wrist,
And the memory of a bad 6 day affair.
And in our glove compartment there is always
A fresh change of underwear.
Venus of the wandering insane.
Stranded on the club girl's terrain.
Stranded on the club girl's terrain.
Stranded on the club girl's terrain.

Today was an odd mix.

I awoke to an odd sound - it sounded like a knock at the door - and I was a bit _off_ all day since then. Work was fine -- a mix of HTML, graphics, JavaScript, and even a bit of Flash. I had a PB&J for lunch. After work I got groceries -- including wonderful items such as a jar of jalapeños, pinto beans, and soy milk. I also picked up some basketball inflation nipples. We have two basketballs and a football that need inflating. _Now in which of the boxes in the garage is the bicycle pump?_

I'm feeling a bit funky. I think I'm tired. There's also a nagging feeling that I'm missing something. I think I need to get back to counseling. I wonder if I can find a good one. I've got good stuff going on two cylinders -- but I think I need a tune up. The key thing is to take care of _me_. I've taken the time to take care of the house and the home and work things to the best of my ability -- but I think I need to do more to figure out what my own short and long term goals are. Signing up for school and getting into the local Library (thanks Greg for the comment, by the way -- I'm impressed by the library as well -- I already have some things coming from the Camarillo Library!) is a big part of getting that done. We've been so busy what with the move and the seemingly endless process of unpacking boxes and creating a home -- I need to remember to do those things that contribute to my own mental health. Some biggies that have been missing: exercise (swimming and racquetball in particular), working on my own projects, and reading.

This week I intend to take some photos in the house to share here publicly. With luck we'll help you guys get a mental picture of our environment and whatnot.

It's nearly time for bed. And hey, when was the last time I wrote...

_onward_?

I awoke early this a.m. I could have sworn that there was a knock at the door at 5 am. But then, that makes no sense.

So I'm up anyway, and beginning the day.

Huzzah! I think I'll put together a breakfast for Leah.

The following are some notes I took last year on Christmas Day. I guess this may turn into a longer narrative about our wedding. We'll see. Until then, these cryptic notes will have to do. Some comments from now are in _italics_.

It’s now December 25th. I’m writing this in the living room of my new in-laws. Leah, I and the kids are having a wonderful time.

Married.

New Name: JARC: Joseph Arthur Roberts Crawford _still have not done this_

4 New Stepchildren. Wow! _yeah, my reaction is still "WOW"_

I’m now an uncle.

I’m now a great-uncle.

Drive: intended to leave

Some recaps:

*20 December 05:*

·New clothes for the kids _we got the kids some new clothes for the event_

*21 December 05:*

·Resize Ring _yes, the ring I initially bought did not quite fit_

·Intended to leave by 9am

·Left by 1:30 p.m _love that_

·On the road _I actually did some audioblogging here_

·Arrive in Vegas at 8:05 p.m.

·License at the Marriage Bureau of Clark County _the line was not too long_

·Kids stay with the cars

·Comment about the long hair in my driver’s license _my license has an old old picture, like 10 years old. In it, I have long hair and a beard_

*23 December 05:*

·Luau & Christmas Singing with the Family _words cannot describe_

*24 December 05:*

·Honey’s Jubilee: Central Mart _dude, small towns!_

·Dollar Store run

·Santa Duties

*25 December 05:*

·Brother-in-Law passes kidney stones in the middle of the night _OUCH!_

·Turkey dinner

·Scriptures

Where the value of N varies depending on where you measure it.

Well, I'm not sure what part it actually is. I started at San Diego Mesa College, then City, then CHRV College of Health Sciences. And I took that one class at Virginia Western Community College. Then there was an extended drought of classes. Then I was back to California had aborted stays at Art Center College of Design and Santa Monica College. And a flurry of classes at UCLA Extension. Then another drought, then back to San Diego City College.

Today I enrolled in a Summer course at Moorpark College.

Today was a good day.