It was a productive weekend.

Let’s see: working on a freelance project (a private blog of all things!) that is entirely home grown in ASP. Had some isssues with the reliability of the host‘s email last week though. Stupid Windows mail queues and SMTP services. Shoulda been PHP.

Finally got to the post office yesterday. Mailed off some comics for sale. One an ACME Novelty Library. One a Peanuts comic from the 1960s. Pretty awesome sales.

Have I mentioned that I have comics for sale? I do.

This morning sort of burned the breakfast (egg and toast and banana) for Leah and I.

Learned about our sprinklers on Saturday. Leah worked up a storm as well, and we now have a lawnmower.

What else? Two kid’s baseball games on Saturday, that was pretty cool.

Last Friday saw Sin City – graphically amazing, but too violent and graphic. Leah walked out and saw A Lot Like Love (I think that’s the title). Worked out okay, but I wish there was something we could have seen together.

Saturday night was a cool Birthday Party in Santa Monica for a friend of ours. Buca di Beppo. Always a tasty and filling place to eat.

My workday is about to begin.

Is today the day for me to shave this full beard? Perhaps it is. Perhaps it is.

Many today was nothing if not busy.

Highlights were two bits of grooming:

1. I shaved my bushy bushy blonde (not really) beard off. I had elaborate ideas about doing a stop-motion film of my beard slowly evaporating by taking shots with every stroke. I haven’t the patience!

2. I mowed the lawn! Yep, we’re definitely renting a house now.

And with those paltry pronouncements, I proclaim posting permanently performed.

(For today).

Back tomorrow with less alliteration.

Sad. I dig Tony and the busblog. I even bought a copy of his book.

Tony’s excessive sometimes, but sometimes excessive is just right.

Oatmeal!, eh? Adding the exclamation point makes it sound like a broadway musical.

The stage hit… Oatmeal! — yeah, that’s the ticket.

Anyway. Drowsy morning here. I made oatmeal for Leah and myself. She drank green tea, I had mint cocoa. Checking on some online forums, some email, things are good.

Turned on the TV — The Falcon and the Snowman is on. An underrated movie from the 1980s about a guy who started feeding information to the Soviet Union. Great little movie with Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton. I remember buying the single of the pop song from the movie — by David Bowie. It’s called This is not America. I can’t exactly recall, but I think there was a remix of it as well. Wild.

Last night with the kids was pretty great. Ty had a great game, even slid into home. Tight game too, his team had a grand-slam home run against them and yet they came back.

I find myself not always compelled by these baseball games. I wish I could unreservedly enjoy the game on the basis of supporting the kids, but truth be told, I’m not as excited as I might be. Now, maybe if the kids were painting or drawing or programming or working on websites or something I regard as creative for me, maybe it would be different.

But maybe I need to expand my definition of creativity, no? I think that’s something I want to work on.

School! Hey, did I mention I’m starting back at school — Moorpark College — in the summer. Not entirely sure what class(es) I’ll be taking, but I’m so there.

Yesterday I was driving Tony home and we were riffing on uses of the word “rock” — rock it, rock on, rock-a-bye baby — I brought up Rock Lobster — which made Tony laugh. I let him know that that was a real song! Remind me to play it for him next time he’s over.

Here comes the Manta Ray! Here comes the Narwahl!

I chuckle now, even thinking of it. The song itself, and riffing word combinations with Tony.

Okay. 8:36am. Time to start my day.

Onward.

_from Leah, via IM_

note: i think it’s safe to say that leah only likes fruit yogurts. like with berries or whatever. but not flavored yogurt with lime, pina colada or lemon.

I get furious at these things. If you use a service like this, and you send *me* an email, and expect me to reply, you’re not getting a reply from me. Don’t *email* me and then expect me to put up with your stupid filters.

Andre, I’m not getting your email. Bummer dude!

Hello this Andre’ thank you for your email.
——-
Due to large amounts of Spam…I need Your Help!

I regret I don’t have your email address in my contact list. Would you be so kind and verify your email… it’s easy.

By quickly clicking on the link below, I’ll verify it’s you, then add you to my list, and that’s it. Best of all…

You’ll only have to do this ONCE!

Thanks again

Andre’

Click here to verify your identity

P.s. I should mention, when click on the link your browser will open, fill in your name, and let me know it’s you in the “reasons for contacting me” box.

One other thing, I need to here back from you within 2 day(s) otherwise the mean software I use will automatically deleted your messages in the future.

Lets avoid that. Click and get through now.

Remember, you contacted *me*. I already proved _that I exist_. Don’t make me jump through hoops.

Shall we talk about the government?

Yesterday was rainy and wet. Gray and green were the colors of the day.

Today, the sky has a lighter cast.

And onward toward the weekend. Nifty.

Did you know that tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day? I haven’t bought a comic in ages, but I want to take the kids tomorrow. Though really, they’re much more interested in _Manga_ than comics, I suppose like all 21st century kids. 🙂

Morgen is Dev’s default greeting in — basically short for “Guten Morgen” in German. Kinda funny. Reminds me a bit of the kid from Breaking Away. He spent several of the first years of his life in Germany so it’s a part of his identity.

Let’s see. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and additionally my Mom’s Birthday. That’s pretty cool. I have a pile of stuff to send her for various combined missed holidays. Yikes!

We have the kids this weekend. Shh… — we’re going to try and do something nice for Leah. Can’t tell you what, because Leah may read this before tomorrrow.

Breakfast was good. I made oatmeal for the crew. I’m thinking I could enjoy the househusband thing. I suppose this is not a particularly masculine thing to admit, but it’s quite true. I have plenty of online projects to keep me busy, and working from home suits me at this stage in my life. Also, college is close, which is nice. The critical question is balancing all these things in a way that makes mental health, financial, and spiritual sense, right?

Hey, music. Right now my Police stuff is playing on the iTunes box. I think I want to play some Smiths next. The lyrics I woke up with were:

Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
*It says nothing to me about my life*
Hang the blessed DJ

I think that’s the key line in the song for me. “It says nothing to me about my life” – Music really needs to do speak to you, you know? It has to say something. So much pop music is really piffle. I enjoy myself some piffle sometimes, but not always.

Have a great day, and to all you Mom’s out there, or to those of you who are like Mom’s to someone… Happy Mother’s Day!

Dude. Just finished up assembling the bunk bed for Dev & Ty. Very sturdy, very heavy, and very awkward to put together. But Dev and I got it together — with much assistance with Tony (extra muscle), Leah (extra consultation) and Ty (miscellaneous lifting and adjustments.

We didn’t even have too many extra screws and dowels left over.

Not really. But there was a bad wreck this morning out on the main trunk road to the freeway — which I came upon because I had some errands to run this morning.

Rain can be nice, but this morning I wish it had waited till this afternoon.

Yesterday was grand. Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all those Moms out there, including my very own wife!

And a special note of Happy Birthday and Happy Mother’s Day to my own Mom.

Have a great week!

Yesterday morning I was making breakfast, as I always do for Leah and myself. The eggs were perfect, golden yellow in the frying pan. Scrambled lightly with some soy milk and some grated cheese. Yummy looking and tasting, they were a perfect picture of breakfast bliss. _SPURT_, went the ceiling, dropping some kind of fluid directly into my frying pan!

Aghast, I cursed the ceiling, which I now noticed had a drip coming from a vent above the stove in the kitchen. I was quite offended, to say the least! Dripping ceilings get the day off on the wrong foot.

Had I been posting about this yesterday you would have seen a much less measured tone than I can manage this morning.

Luckily, I called our landlord and he came yesterday evening to fix the toilet which was leaking. Yes, there was toilet water (pre-use) in the eggs yesterday. Luckily I was watching just as it happened, and it was localized enough that only half the eggs were ruined.

I had made enough for Leah’s breakfast, my breakfast, and Leah’s lunch — and now there was only enough for breakfast. Ugh! Actually, maybe I can muster up some anger now. _Feel the burn_.

I suppose that ended happily, more or less. Which is to say — I’m grateful that the whole ceiling did not cave in on me. There are worse things than ruined eggs.

Like weasels in the back yard!

I was working away here in the home office yesterday, 10am — 3 hours since the leak event — of course the ceiling was still dripping away. All told we collected about 8 ounces over the course of the day. _Drip. Drip. Drip._ I have a window that looks out on part of the backyard, and suddenly along the fence line I see a little creature running! He was about a foot long, reddish, with a racoon-like black mask! I yelled out loud *WEASEL!* — which I had no idea if it was — but it looked sort of like the creatures from _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_ who hung out with the Judge. Yeah, so most of my natural history education comes from animation, _what of it?_

I was still in my robe, having foregone a shower to that point on account of not wanting to use the upstairs plumbing and exacerbate the drips; but like the fellow in _Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas_ aka “Twas the ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…” I leapt to my feet and went outside, to do… what exactly? It’s not like I was going to attempt capture… but I was mostly thinking of Leah’s newly planted vegetables in the side yard.

He kept on running and disappeared into the ivy.

Later, I was on the phone with a friend and she said that based on my description, it was more likely a ferret. Ferrets are against the law to keep as pets in California, or so I’ve heard, and I’ve no idea if they are native to Simi Valley — but what I think I saw was a wayward, illegal, pet ferret running through the yard.

I have not seen him since then, or this morning. The new seedlings and plantings remain undisturbed as far as Leah and I can tell, but I’m on the alert for illegal mammals.

And that was just the first few hours of yesterday.

Truly, I never know what’s going to happen next.

In contrast to the other day, when my eggs got messed with, today’s breakfast was excellent. Eggy cheesy soy-milky goodness. Oh and salt and pepper.

We had the kids yesterday afternoon/evening. It truly felt like not enough time. But such is life in joint-custody-land.

So Meg and Jukebox made some excellent comments about ferrets, and they actually got me to feel sorry for the little guy.

I wish I could adequately describe what the little fellow (lass?) looked like running — sort of twisted into an “S”-on-its-side shape that expanded and contracted as he ran. I have not seen him since. I hope he or she okay.

On the right hand side of the page I have reinstituted my blogroll. Some familiar names there, and perhaps some unfamiliar ones to you. Anyway, I hope perhaps you enjoy the list. It’s not meant to be a complete list, how could it be? But if you have suggestions for blogs to take a look at and add, please do let me know.

Later taters!

It looks like it’s going to be a nice day here in Simi. Let’s get to it.

-licious and -tastic, are suffixes of the day.

So… it’s Fridaylicious!

Or, it’s Fridaytastic!

Feh.

I thought I had the energy to be clever here today. Sadly, I do not.

Have a wonderful weekend y’all!

Effective immediately, my cell number is 805-857-3951.

The old 619 number is no longer in service.

I’m not too pleased with zero transition — but you blog readers now know, I need to update my resume online and such, and send notes to family about the change.

I meant to post these some time ago, but never managed to. They’re a series of BBC shows about the power of fear and nightmares.

part one: the power of nightmares

part two: the power of nightmares

part three: the power of nightmares

You can read about it more here.

This morning we awoke late because we got in late last night.

We got home at 1:30am or so, after having come home from a record release party in Hermosa Beach. The club was Club Boogaloo, a funky restaurant slash bar slash live music venue. We dug it.

Astute readers of ArtLung Blog and Leah Peah will note that we’re not wont to attend record release parties willy-nilly. We attended this one because the brother of a friend of ours is the drummer. That’s so cool. Oh, you’re wondering what the name of the band is, ain’t you? Eric Lindell, who is described on the Boogaloo site as a New Orleans Soul & R&B man, which is accurate enough. They played roadhouse rocking blues in a sort of Stevie Ray Vaughn mode. Very guitar driven, but not overbearing with the solos. They got a pretty sweet sound out of a three-piece. On one song Eric’s son played the trombone. This boy was no older than about eight or nine. Kinda fun.

In other news, I will head to Moorpark College this week to see about a summer class or two. Wish me luck navigating whatever paperwork I need to. It seems simple enough.

I used Freecycle the other day and got a cookie jar. I drove to Fillmore to do it. The drive was scenic, lots of orange groves back here. Sadly, the ceramic teddy bear did not make it all the way home. I managed to drop the thing and so now I have a teddy head. Dang. I really wanted a cookie jar.

Have you been to 20q.net. It’s a quasi-AI/expert system designed to guess what you’re thinking of. It asks you questions and spits back an answer.

It’s mildly addicting, which sounds like an oxymoron, but it is apt.

So let’s think of a “newspaper” and see if it can guess it in 20 questions or less — shall we? (what follows is the output:)

1. It is classified as Mineral.
2. Is it heavy? No.
3. Would you give it as a gift? No.
4. Does it go in your mouth? No.
5. Was it invented? Probably.
6. Is it made of metal? No.
7. Does it fold up easily? Yes.
8. Is it colorful? Sometimes.
9. Does it have writing on it? Yes.
10. Is it used to record an event? Yes.
11. Does it come in a pack? No.
12. Could it be found in a classroom? Probably.
13. Does it open? Yes.
14. Can it cheer you up? Sometimes.
15. Does it have cash value? Yes.
16. Is it used for communications? Yes.
17. Is it pleasurable? Yes.
Q18. I am guessing that it is a newspaper?

So it guessed right in under 20 questions, and so it wins. Clever clever.

It’s Sunday evening now, and Leah is doing a little gardening. I think she’s planting some cherry tomatoes and some jalapeños. I dig her green thumb.

This week Revenge of the Sith aka Episode III comes out. It’s the culmination of 30 or so years of my enthusiasm for Star Wars. I’m not sure what quite to think. I hope it will be good, though Episode’s I and II were disappointing.

I did very much enjoy the Clone Wars animated DVD, which I think I mentioned before.

Leah and I did laundry today. Not as un-fun as you might think.

Yesterday we saw (soft and base)-ball games deaturing Tony, Ty, and Alex. They did pretty well. Tony got two sweet line drives in his game.

Friday night Leah and I went and saw the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – which we both enjoyed. I still enjoy the TV series best of all. Well, and the novels of course.

I remember seeing a piece of the TV show when I was in maybe 8th grade, just seeing the title in the TV listings, the reception was fuzzy. I heard somewhere it was also a book, and I remember purchasing a copy of Restaurant at the End of the Universe — or perhaps it was my parents who purchased it for me — when we took a trip up to Stanford from San Diego. My Dad was doing a fellowship I think, and was away. We went and visited him and on the way back I got that book in some bookstore in the Stanford area. Or maybe it was further south, on the way home? I could be imagining this memory, but it seems like I had seen the fuzzy Restaurant sequence on the TV show, went as I always did to the Science Fiction section of the bookstore, and it caught my eye.

I’ve been watching a lot of music videos on our cable. I have no stomach for long-form (like, 1 hour) shows, but I can get behind some music video. Leah is a bit in awe of my ability to spout trivia about various artists we see. Like I see a Raphael Saadiq video and I instantly recognize him as the lead singer of Tony! Tone! Toni!. Or maybe it’s The Tubes, or Todd Rundren or De La Soul and where in their career they were when that song came out, and which version of the song it is, or even who directed the video or produced the record.

The dispassionate side of me has no problem thinking about going into a record store, even a large one, and thumbing every single CD in the place. For Leah this would be information overload, but it sounds like quite a bit of fun to me.

But my emotional intelligence looks at this thought with a bit of revulsion. Like — this is not a “normal” kind of desire to have. Both things are true. I think the ability to take in vast sums of information, shallowly and come up with something like knowledge is something I must be using in my work. I used to get called “Google on Legs” at work — which is sort of a scary thing to imagine, really.

I’m getting tired. I think I’ll have a fresh cherry and or strawberry we bought at the roadside in our travels today. That could be quite tasty.

Leah and I got our library cards from the Simi Valley Public Library, part of the Ventura County Public Library network.

I listened to the audiobook of Scott Turow’s Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty. I admit that this is not the funnest thing I could have checked out, but it was pretty good.

I dig the unabridged audio books as work and driving accompaniment.

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.

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.

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_?

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.

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.

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!_

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

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.