Category: Commercial plug
Saturday roundup
The fourth building block of circuitry built and tested.
Chipper sent that link.
Defining atheism – harder than it sounds.
Stuffed bats. And other plush toys. From one of my LJ buddies.
Sleepy bear. Sorry about the commercial first. And the Nepalese demonstrators getting truncheoned afterwards.
How mad was this guy? Mad enough to buy his adversary’s company’s name as a domain name and post a lot of really angry, and quite justified, comments. For anyone who’s ever been screwed in a used car transaction……
I have conquered an ongoing, crazy-making, recurring low grade bacterial issue with a simple household substance. Given that it’s been bugging me for 18 months and I got rid of it in 48 hours, I am REALLY HAPPY. No, I’m not going to provide details, but believe me, you would be happy too.
Daughter Katie made a date with me to see the next Narnia film when it comes out.
Paul and Keith here last night. Paul dropped off Ginger Chicken (which is funny, because I was talking about it at the lunch table yesterday) and we all watched The Name of The Rose which we quite enjoyed. They went home after the movie around ten.
Raining buckets…. Eddie woke me up at 5 yowling on the back deck.
My back really hurts. I want to go walking someplace today, but see previous paragraph re rain.
Today I have to go get a new bank card, and do some other boring bank stuff, put away laundry, try to find my tax stuff, shove some things into boxes for the storage locker, restring my guitar, itsy bitsy oddsy sodsy stuff.
One Leg West
Please note I have added my buddy Dave’s new (and fracking FANTASTIC) professional photography website to my blogroll. If you’re into karate CHECK THE SPORTS PHOTOS. They are awesome. For those of you who have been in my bathroom, Dave’s the guy who gave me “Our Dumb World” which will provide hours of amusement to those requiring entertainment while in the room of easement.
various
- The Willie P Bennet Memorial event went off hitchless, magnificent, and a credit to the participants. Goddess bless the James Bay Coffee House and all who frequent it! Paul and I got through the set without embarrassing ourselves and Paul received praise for his fingerpicking.
- Peggy showed up the second we cleared the door of the coffee house. I hugged her twice, I was so happy to see her. And she crashed her at my folks’ and then I got her to the ferry for the 7 am (which was the reason she crashed here, because if she’d stayed at Pondside that would have been somewhat harder logistically).
- Yesterday after we made town I saw the Pondside crew and met a small horde of Devon Rex cats. I didn’t understand their charm until I met them. I nearly kidnapped Spice; what a cat! Suki recognized me and sucked up to me something fierce.
- I gave Juliana a copy of the Interfilk auction video I took in January. w))t! No, you may not see it. Private. Also screechingly hilarious. Ha.
- John introduced us to the Blue Nile, an Ethiopian Buffet restaurant on Head Street in Esquimalt. Man, the food was AWESOME and I am so glad to have had njera again. That is some seriously great bread.
- My folks are doing famously and we and Paul are going to head to Granny’s place and have lunch with her today, and then leave for the ferry from there.
- All in all so far this weekend has been a spectacular success and I wish I could put the feeling I got when I saw Peggy in a bottle and uncork it whenever I feel sad. I thought my heart would burst with joy when I turned and saw her with her best mischievous expression.
- Peggy brought Tom’s blackberry jelly, two jars. Loki pronounces himself well satisfied with a house guest who only appears to deposit blackberry jelly on his kitchen table (he didn’t see her as we were in late and out so early).
- Did I mention the Willie P memorial was a rousing success? That was, after all, the point of the exercise. But it seems that we may weave extra happiness into our days by availing ourselves of the fleeting opportunities as they pass, and by feeling grateful. I know that I’m very, very grateful right now. For my health, my family, my job, my friends…. and frankly, screw the weather. You can’t have everything.
Ikea has moose pasta
I think it would be great for pasta salad.
Ha! My first ad offer!
Hi Allegra,
I was looking at your page on stupid criminals (some people just don’t think!) and I’m interested in paying you $30 to place a text ad on http://allegrasloman.com/?p=1594. The ad will link to a site offering online criminal background checks.
I can pay you immediately via paypal or check once the ad has been posted. Please let me know if you are interested and I will send you the ad. Thanks!! 🙂
Best,
Suzy Leonard
DIMACC
It’s too bad I’m not commercializing my blog anytime soon, but this made me smile, and they appear to be a reputable company, so here’s a little plug for them anyway.
Geeking out
Honest to god, Kung Fu Mike wasn’t through the door at the new place an inch before he and Jeff were geeking out. Mike and I hung around for a Few Days in September and a single beer, and then I got a lift home. A pleasant evening hanging around and watching a movie and shooting the breeze.
Earlier Mike and I went to Kathmandu Cafe. Small menu but everything we ate was delicious.
We got to the new place and Jeff had already set up the tvs. He described how he got everything moved – I was stunned because that stuff is super awkward when you’re by yourself. Mike drooled so hard on the tv (and why not) and examined it closely for burnt out pixels. Then they geeked out some more (Jeff moved through part of a scenario in Assassin’s Creed.) Happy sigh. All in all a thoroughly satisfying evening, and I even got enough sleep!! No packing, of course….
Oh, and Gizmo ran away earlier and came back while Mike and I were visiting. Then he demanded to be let out again, and I told Jeff to let him. (He showed up, guzzled some food, and demanded to be let out again…. welcome to having a teenager, I said.)
Busy day
I HOPE I didn’t catch what Tammy had. She was not exactly deathly ill while she was here, nor was she knocked much out of her usual cheerful demeanour, but man, she was sick, and I am really glad I could put her up where she’d get some TLC. I got the car around 9 and drove her to the airport. We had an extremely long and involved conversation on the way out there – and Tom L. tried to run me off the road in HIS Prius, which was amusing after I stopped cursing at this bozo who couldn’t stay in his lane.
I dealt with the flat (total props to Joe at the Shell at Main and King Eddy) and then thought f*ck it, I’ll call ScaryClown and ask him what he’s up to, seeing as how he lives about ten blocks from where the tire got fixed. He was sitting with Tyson and Luke, two buddies of his, in the Starbucks at Main and 14th, and then we had a late brekky at the breakfast joint on the south side of the intersection. His buddies (whom I have heard MUCH about, mostly positive and somewhat in relation to alcohol consumption, life threatening illnesses and mischief making) were funny and sweet and entertaining and it was a remarkably successful lunch given I’d never met them before. ScaryClown had of course said much about ME, which gave me pause, but it must have been mostly positive because they seemed disposed to like me.
Got a call from Kopper saying that I need to do something political soon, and I agreed, smiling at the notion that given what an absurd bunch of clowns we have on council in Burnaby anyway, why not have a comedian run for office? So I will be supporting same. Updates as events warrant.
Then I paid the March rent for the new place, crossed the alley and tried my front door key for the first time, and in a burst of energy, unpacked the kitchen so that when Jeff gets there in about three hours there will be one room of the house (besides the bathroom) that isn’t a complete disaster. Then I called him and gave him an update.
Sigh. Unpacking is way more fun than packing. I have now reassessed how much room will be in the new place and I will be storing every stick of furniture I have except my bed and dresser. I literally won’t have room for anything else. Oh, and I must have been taking colour blindness pills when I looked at the kitchen. The kitchen is red white and green. Yup, I have a red (REDDDDD!!!! RED RED RED counters) and white (trim and cupboards) and SLIME GREEN (remember slime green???) kitchen. The slime green is going to get buried under eggshell white as soon as I have the paint, the energy and the buy in from brother dearest.
Tammy was all upset on my behalf that Jeff is getting the lion’s share of room for stuff, but I think we’ll both be reassessing things after we’re in, and his furniture’s way nicer than mine anyway.
I am SO excited. My life is about to drastically improve, and I’m already thinking of ways I can improve the shining hour during my commute.
Blogging at the Con
So, last night, Jeff Hitchin did not one, not two but THREE filks of the Tapioca Song. One was in Spanish, one in Japanese, and one was about Oxycontin. I surreptitiously took a picture of him while he was about it. Jeff is a fabulous performer and great raconteur; I am honoured above my worthiness.
All hail the Con Committee. They planned for 80 and there will easily be 120 attendees. Runnerwolf – whose idea the whole thing was, enthusiastically endorsed by everyone in earshot, including, as I recollect, me – was looking a bit glazed but really happy when I met up with her at the reg table yesterday.
Met up with Lady Miss Banjola and Dr. Filk with no difficulties AFTER I got into my shared room; Shaddyr (I will refer to her & Runnerwolf by LJ names as it ‘s easier) gave up her room passkey from last night so even though I hadn’t seen the principals I had a place to stash my stuff.
I did some of the driving down from Vancouver, but long about supper time I started getting visual disturbances (I still feel kinda wonky today, although that may have something to do with my lack of cafFiend) so Peggy did the driving from there.
Open Filking last night was great; I heard many filk classics old and new, and which included a madrigal zombie filk, Jonathan Coulton’s “Eat Your Brains” ably performed by Tony Fabris, the funniest parody of Danny Boy Ever…. and I debuted “You Try Being Buffy’s Mom” a capella as I have yet to write it down, although LMB has an MP3 of it up on her website (v raw, being recorded the day I wrote it).
Anyway, I’m being a jackass hogging one of the two public internet access points in the hotel, so I’d best fly. I’m here, I’m settled, and apart from once aGAIN failing to bring earplugs, I’m doing great. I’ll post pics later; I remembered to bring my USB cable and this computer has a USB port, can you believe it?
Scaled Composites does it again.
Space Ship II going for a ride with White Knight II.
Power shop
Pic is of me and Patricia at the party. Hey nautilus3, recognize that jacket??? (honk, tweet, snicker).
So, between 12 and 2 today, I:
Booked the car and ran downstairs and threw a bag of to-be-recycled clothing in it; drove to Planet Bachelor (having phoned and ascertained that Paul wasn’t there and Keith was) and hung with Keith for about 20 minutes, also unloading two books of Paul’s that ended up over here, taking back Katie’s bag and cleaned clothes and Harry Potter VI and VII AND her volume 2 Strangers in Paradise and a couple of free movie tix for Keith AND Paul’s mickey of Ron Superior which I picked up for him in Santo Domingo; then went over to Highgate to the Liquor Store and picked up Saint Ambroise Apricot (I had no idea it was still available), Stella Artois and Lion Winter; dropped off the clothes at the Value Village on Edmonds and picked up a 20% off coupon; went into the store and picked out 4 dresses and bought 3 (all very frou frou, and one is Allegra brand, so that was a giggle – I had wanted to buy it in Costco 4 years ago and here it was for 6 bucks….), then drove like the hammers for the Bay where I ran up the escalator, located a coffee maker to replace the one I broke (set it on a stove burner and turned the wrong burner dial on, quelle morone), paid for it (and some unscented laundry detergent as an impulse buy at the checkout) and drove home. I really don’t think all that in two hours is too shabby.
Last night’s party continues to resonate. They said “eat first” but there were boatloads of food, all really nice substantial appies. Katie K and I wandered around the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit – the party was at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She was a remarkable artist, and a remarkable woman, and I think I’m going to look around for a decent bio of her. I think of all the stuff I saw last night that it was her cityscapes which I found most compelling. I have been trying to think of a word for her style, but I’ll have to use two words instead of one: recklessly beautiful.
Snide note. That fecking DJ couldn’t sync a beat worth beans.
The weather today is simply glorious. I was thinking of continuing cleaning, but I think I’ll go for a walk instead.
Tonight, orchestral music at the Orpheum. Katie K keeps exposing me to Kultur, and I trot meekly behind, trying like hell to look intelligent or keep up. Here she is at the party looking glamourous.
Dalai Moose
Yes, it’s a copyright picture. However, it’s too good not to repost.
Aislin ROCKS!
More Deadwood
Last night I watched some more Deadwood, which has bounced to the top of my addictions list. How serious is it? I’m OUT OF BEER. I have been for multiple days. One scene between Seth (Tim Olyphant) and Alma (the radiant Molly Parker) I pulled a Dru on about fifteen times. The first five times, I just watched Molly. The second five times I just watched Tim. Then I noticed that the light was completely screwed up (when the camera was hard by Molly, there was no natural light except what was reflecting off buildings, and when the camera was hard by Tim, there was tons of natural light) so I watched the scene about another five times to try to figure out if it was a continuity error or whether it was deliberate. I came to the conclusion that it was a continuity error, but it worked with the scene so they left it. Then when I got to the end of the disk I watched again, because it has to be one of the best scenes ever in terms of dialogue and reaction shots. It’s subtle, well scripted, adult and funny as hell.
The guy who plays Swearingen is a Machiavellian menace / Disney sappiness combo that continues to astound. He gets multiple lines in every show that most actors would kill to get once, and when he gets the Gimp to fetch him a new brush to get the bloodstains off the floor I sat with my mouth hanging open, trying to figure what the hell would motivate him to do something so demeaning. When I figured out his motivation I left my jaw to dangle.
Pulling a Dru, by the way, is from the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dru watches somebody get fried and she says, “Do it AGAIN! Do it AGAIN!” in a particularly childlike way.
Time to get going on the day.
I’ve had 123 views on the Tapioca Song. I actually ran into Dances with Sheep in the parking lot the other morning and he said, “I was humming it in the car” and I said, “Yeah, try being the poor woman who wrote it.” Because when I get the Tapioca Song stuck in my head, it’s because I’m working out a mass arrangement for Chor Leoni. Grandiose…. Foolish…. and entirely unpreventable.
Sundry and various
Being: A stop motion cardboard box race taking place in a university library.
Being: A brief, briefly surreal ad about why you should adopt a dog.
Being: An ad for ‘anti-gravity boots’. Accurate if the ‘anti-gravity’ involved is how people will smirk when they see you wearing these…
Being: A man sets up a neighborhood speed trap with a hair dryer, and records the results. I should have seen the punch line coming.
Being: Further proof that a picture is worth a thousand words. You don’t need to speak German to ‘get’ this site.
Being: Johann Lipowicz deconstructing a Paul Young song in mime. A lot funnier than it sounds, especially around 3:09.
Being: How Australians deal with stupid tourist questions with joie de vivre.
Social Suicide – a brand to watch for
In spite of everything you might think you know about me, I prefer the subtler ones. The one with an image of the queen in pearly buttons totally yanked me, though. I thought I’d provide some good news out of England for a change.