Amazing few months. No blogging.

Some updates:

House-hunting in Moorpark — some good leads!

Thanksgiving: wonderful, great turkey

Movies: The Incredibles, I Heart Huckabees – loved; Bridget Jones – hated it

Classes: quite good, but busy. In C++ I’m one of the last 6 people left. Spanish – doing fine. Technical Writing, really enjoying it.

Weather: cold! too cold!

Activity on San Diego Blog — nearly none. Sad, yes. But it takes a second banana role to everything else.

Leah is taking care of business — her job in LA is set for January 3. We will move soon.

Did some cleanup on this website. I’m looking for work in the LA area – specifically in Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley. Anyone have leads? Check out my Resume and Portfolio.

Did I mention it’s cold?

Give a Holler if you see any terrible errors with the new design.

Take care.

Onward.

At one time I was quite the night owl. Used to love working nights. Now I’m up at 12:45am and all I want to do is sleep.

Or maybe do some programming. Heh.

Good night y’all!

I should have gone to bed. In composing an invite list for a party this month (the 18th) I accidentually sent the list in composition to half the list, with nary an explanation.

Now that is a breach of netiquette.

So for those of you I confused, I apologize.

And if you want to come to a happening pre-marital, pre-moving, pre-post-san-diego shindig on the 18th, drop me a line.

I’m obviously incompetent to draft a guest list at 1:45 in the morning.

Good grief Charlie Brown!

Leah and Sky in 2002 x 2 Originally uploaded by artlung.

Have I mentioned that we’re gonna get married? No? Well, we are, in Las Vegas, on the 21st.

Partnerships rock.

Lots more site changes happening. Pages removed, some redirects set up. You can still get to older stuff on the excellent web.archive.org, specifically by going to the archive of artlung.com.

There’s been so much stuff I’ve put up here on the site for so long, and it’s time to put this house in order.

The portfolio is still changing and being added to, and I moved pictures of my former cat in the photos area.

Some of the more recent posts are older content that had no home, so boom!, they get sucked into the blog.

It’s raining now, just a little. Appointments and class today. I’m keeping busy.

Thanks for the well-wishes, all. Leah and I are pretty excited!

Okay, onward.

Where I was baptized a Catholic
Originally uploaded by artlung.
I don’t often think of it, but I am a Catholic.

I am also a Buddhist, an Agnostic, and a Freethinker.

But I am definitely a Catholic.

What does that mean?

Well, that’s part of the ongoing struggle, right? To embrace spirituality without abandoning reason. To embrace religion without succumbing to the tendency to judge others. To be part of a community without walling oneself off from those who think differently than you.

It’s a strange feeling to have lucked into living a mile away from where I was baptized at a time when I was in spiritual turmoil. There’s some meaning there that I can’t quite escape, despite my highly skeptical tendencies. I’m very happy about the happenstance. Kismet, you might say. Karma, perhaps. The Hand of G-d, maybe.

Big wheel keep on turning.

My folks are flying into town Friday night for the 60th (with a SIXTY) Anniversary of my Dad’s parents. It will be great to see them, and to celebrate this great achievement.

Okay, the day needs to start now.

Be well, all.

Leah summarizes our life right now perfectly.

That girl, she makes me laugh.

Over on San Diego Blog, you can now easily suggest a site via the new, dedicated form.

I really liked the movie Ray. What an American story!

Thomas P M Barnett is a great thinker about geopolitics.

Bruce Schneier is a great thinker about security.

Mark Cuban is a raucous thinker about business.

Pre-marital aka couples counseling was a great experience for Leah and I.

Want to listen to some great authors talk? Wired For Books has the hookup. [via]

I intend at some point to purchase Tony Pierce‘s book, How to Blog.

Want to listen to some Stew for free? KCRW has the hookup.

Speaking of cool stuff to listen to — if you’re into technology, you could do worse than IT Conversations, despite the fact that some of the regulars (I’m looking at you, Gillmor Gang!) are too obsessed with blogging and podcasting and RSS and Dave Winer. But the tech gossip is good. It’s where I first heard Thomas Barnett.

Leah has paintings for sale. We can keep them with us, but maybe they’d like to go to good homes?

Those who chortled at the death of Yassir Arafat make me cringe. The man was a human being.

Kynn has totally changed his life around. Made the transition from homeowner to RV-owner.

Matt Haughey, the fellow who first told me I should be blogging, will be a father. That is so cool.

School is both easier than I remember and harder than I remember. Time management remains the bane of my existence.

Everytime I hear Richard Ben Cramer speak about his book How Israel Lost, it makes me want to read the book more. I think this interview on npr with Cramer highlights what’s funny and sad about the whole conflict. I think that conflict, particularly the history of Lebanon, holds lessons for us about Iraq.

I love the card game Mao — which I’ve rediscovered after years of un-use. I intend to put the rules up on this site at some point.

I’m delighted that if you google for bruce sterling art center I’m the first site. I look forward to some public speeches and maybe seminars I can wiggle my way into.

I still like reading Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, and now they have blogs, both of them: Bruce and Bill.

I think that’s good for now. Have a great day y’all!

So we’re sitting and vegetating a little bit, watching some TV.

Leah goofily says “we’re getting married” — with a big ol’ grin.

“Everybody says so.”

And I reply: “that’s right.”

We’re a bit giddy right now, it’s true.

Davenetics checked the alphabet with the new Google Suggest. I had to check the numbers out.

1 – 1
2 – 2004 Election
3 – 3m
4 – 411
5 – 50cent (hollah!)
6 – 60 minutes
7 – 7th Heaven
8 – 89.com (which seems to be some kind of porn portal — likely an oversight)
9 – 911
0 – 02

And even the period gets into the act:
. – .com

Other characters like comma, percent sign, and dollar sign and pound mark (sometimes known as “hash”) didn’t do anything. Google Suggest just laid there like a dead fish.

And slashdot got dissed: “/” brings no suggestions. Poor /.

Good, if busy day today. Multiple projects on multiple fronts.

My folks left this morning (early!) for Virginia.

It was great to see them, even if briefly.

The party for the 60th Anniversary for my Grandparents was awesome. Poker til late. I lost money but had fun.

Poker game names are bewildering. So much to learn for a novice (which I am not, but this does not prevent me losing). Texas Hold ‘Em (of course, what with the fad for it on TV); Baseball, Change-The-Daiper; Low Hold Card Wild; Stud Poker: 7 card stud, 5 card stuf; Spit in the Ocean; Lowball; and many others.

School, the last week of it, is this week. I’ll be ready for it soon enough.

I’m actually doing some Flash work these days, er, yesterday. I’m coming back to it pretty well.

Also I’m exercising my ASP skillz lately. Yes, for skrillz.

My favorite Frank Zappa song is “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution” — manic instrumental.

It was foggy last night, but not too cold. We got home late.

Electric blankets are awesome.

It’s cold again tonight.

Had some fun working and visiting and stuff with a good friend today. Excellent to combine work and play, sometimes.

Don’t be afraid of bologna.

Hot carrots are tasty and hot. And carrots.

Be well.

Joe & Jean Crawford 60th Anniversary
Originally uploaded by artlung.

That’s so impressive. Check out Leah’s Photo Site for more.

Sixty years dude!

I get the neatest email. Here’s one about Christmas around the world:

May God bless you keeping an interesting page of Merry Christmas in all languages on your website. This efforts praise worthy and I appreciate it.

Please permit me to suggest one very small improvement on
your page: https://artlung.com/smorgasborg/international_xmas.shtml

It says in Hindi, Christmas Greetings would be: “Bada Din Mubarak Ho”. It should be corrected to “Shubh Bada Din”.

It says in Urdu, Christmas Greetings would be: “Naya Saal Mubarak Ho”. It should be corrected to “Bada Din Mubarak Ho”

—

Diwali is like Christmas for Hindu’s. We say “Shubh Diwali” or other greetings are “Shubh Labh”. Hindu’s being Shubh should always comes first and then comes the rest. Shubh means benefit and betterment of everyone used for in a very auscipicous and religious way. It is important for Hindus and in a Hindu way of life is to always put “Shubh” as word and in thoughts before everything else.

Nothing bad, just that to Hindu/Hindi speaking, it would look like a Superman, you know like a man wearing underwear
over his pant! 🙂

Mubarak is a word for noble blessings more associated with Eid, which is like a Christmas for them. They say “Eid Mubarak”.

Thank you, kindly.

Thank you, Nitin. You are a fascinating character and I have made the changes you suggested!

Namaste,

Joe

Three bloggers I regularly read, Andy Baio, Matt Haughey, and Jason Kottke, all linked to this: Too much of a good thing?.

The central thesis of this blog entry is there is so much good stuff in the world and it’s depressing not to get to it, and maddening to not get to it.

I agree with this thesis, but the problem is the entry makes it seem as though this is a new and unique problem.

The idea seems to be that with digital acquisition the problem gets magnified and makes the problem unique. Wrong. Libraries present the exact same challenge.

I remember as a kid going into the library and being wowed by the number of books there. I further remember, as a teen, working in San Diego’s big Central Branch library and being even more wowed by my options. Big art books, biographies, more science fiction than I could ever imagine reading, rolls and rolls of old newspapers, magazines bound together forming (literally) tons of potential reading and viewing material. That’s one library. And I’m not even mentioning all the record albums, CDs, cassette tapes, books on tape.

Many libraries now lend out DVDs and VHS movies as well. More and more content, and also still free in the service of the public good.

So many books, so little time, right? Well, sure. But instead of looking at this as a problem, think of it as an opportunity to make choices. In making our choices we define our lives, we define the time we spend. We are making our own culture, for ourselves. If all we’re doing is rushing through what we read and look at, what kind of enjoyment do we get out of those things? How do we let that culture inform our lives?

I would argue that taking your time with the media you consume serves your self-interest more than trying to make sure you acquire each and every digital product out there and never getting to them.

Take the time to stop and the smell the roses, eh? A hoary cliché, to be sure, but good advice.

So…

If you have previously been to our home for a party, been invited but were unable to show, or think you should have been and did not receive an invitation for our holiday/wedding party Saturday night … like, tomorrow dude… please call or email Leah and/or I for more information.

Due to our extreme suckitude, we may have screwed up the very simple process of emailing out invitations to our friends and family.

Please accept our apologies, call us, and come.

Turnout was great. People were great. Tired this morning.

Wonderfulness.

Marriage ETA: 54 hours.

ONWARDS TOGETHER!

Today I get married.

There’s a possibility that technical difficulties will get in the way, but I set up an audio blog over on the right there for developments.

Leah and I, and the kids, are all going to Las Vegas, and then on to Utah for the Holiday.

Things are good.

Blessings abound.

I can’t possibly mean it more today: Onward.

I got a nice note from our friend Susan about our wedding, and I thought I’d share it…

I almost forgot that today is The Big Day – congratulations!!! How nice that you’re getting married on the solstice. A good omen, as
this marks a new phase in your lives with the promise of warm sunny days ahead. And — bonus — you’ll be able to remember your anniversary!

xoxoxoxoxo

Thanks Susan!

Before I left I made some changes over on San Diego Bloggers, leaving it broken visually.

Sad.

But fixed now! Check it!

The incredible tsunami last week is something I’ve not mentioned at all so far. It’s an astonishing event by any measure.

Oso wrote several posts about it for San Diego Blog. On the waxy.org videos thread I found a link to the excellent wikipedia article to catch me up to speed, as I’ve been busy with other things.

My heart goes out to those affected by the disaster. If you can, here’s a list of places you can help.