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| Sunday, December 27th, 2009 |
antoniseb
|
11:46p |
Atlanta Trip
 I'm in the hotel in Dunwoody GA. The trip went well and was uneventful. Here are pictures and a video. Unrelated: - I haven't taken my Chondroitin in a week, and yesterday my knuckles started stinging. I've resumed taking it. - I have a plan to visit some SCA friends tomorrow or the next day. |
siderea
|
4:10p |
[movie review, feminism] Brief note re "Ultraviolet" (2006)
So I finally saw Ultraviolet courtesy of Netflix. In short, it was a hot mess, with a bunch of inspired cinematographic moments, some Waterworld-bungie-cord moments of fight choreography (we all know of "suspension of disbelief", but these indicate a related-but-different "suspension of mirth") and lots of ravishin architecture shot up by a well-built woman. The villian was deliciously megalomaniacal but I successfully guessed his Big Secret in his second scene. But my purpose here isn't to review the whole movie, but address one small important part of it that I picked up on and would like to praise. ( This requires major plot spoilers. )This isn't a reason to rush out and see this movie, or anything. I'm not recommending it or anything. Just commending it for not getting one particular thing wrong. P.S. I also appreciate that they made the protagonist reasonably paranoid about even her co-conspirators, in a useful way, such that she reasonably anticipates what they're going to do when she tests them and preemptively takes action. She sometimes comes across as emotionally messed up, but never stupid about people for the sake of increasing plot conflict. P.P.S. If you are going to rent this, see it on the biggest screen you can manage so you don't have to squint at the pretty violence. |
| Saturday, December 26th, 2009 |
antoniseb
|
11:04p |
Boxing Day
 Here are a bunch of pictures from today. Andy and Jess came over, and gave the younger kids some presents. Then they helped me do some more work on the green-screen area (pictured in this set... note it is not yet green). Then they went to the common house and set about playing Titan. Eventually, they left, and we ended up with fourteen or fifteen people playing Apples to Apples. Fun game. Tomorrow I fly to Atlanta. |
roaming
|
4:34p |
High Tea in Boston or nearby?
So, I've wanted to take Tom's mom, sister, and her daughter out for high tea for a while. I guess I can google "high tea, boston" but if any one has any suggestions off the tops of your head, lay them on me. I'm trying for tomorrow afternoon. . . . LATER EDIT: The Bond Restaurant at the Langham Hotel won out this time -- though the Ritz is sort of "traditional' around here -- because right now for the holidays the Ritz has ONLY mini cupcakes to serve. No real food. The Langham has scones and clotted cream, ham, salmon, caviar, lobster, chocolate dipped strawberries, tea cakes: i.e., more what I had in mind for a "traditional" tea.  ( And, while perusing the 'net, I found THIS about high vs low tea (who knew?): ) |
jducoeur
|
2:42p |
High Tide
[Actually yesterday's post. Dad is the IT department for the Pointe Santo complex, and was rather chagrined to discover last night that most of us were unable to connect to the Internet. He got to spend the morning tracking that down to a problem between the DHCP router and the new complex-wide industrial-grade Wifi setup. But with those mundanities out of the way, and the all-important connectivity restored, on to my usual impressionistic posting about my vacation...] I'm standing on dry(ish) ground: sand that is just damp. Suddenly, we're up to our knees in water, and the cold splash comes all the way up to our shoulders. We jump a bit. The roar of the breaker is quickly replaced by the carbonated hiss of the receding waters, full of popping bubbles. Shelling on Sanibel isn't like other places. Huge iridescent dark shells as big as my outstretched hand litter the shore at the high tide mark, so common that one little boy has built his sandcastle mostly out of the ones nearby. We dicuss what they might, inconclusively, along with wondering about the papery tubes littered all over. Big clam shells are so common that you could outfit the Carolingian Cooks Guild with flour scoops just from the ones found along a few feet of shoreline. Birds abound, looking for their meal among the bivalves. A posse of little terns huddle and strategize just above the tide line. As the wave washes out, they walk along with it; as the next one splashes in, they run back up to the safety of the seaweed. A pelican floats lazily, a couple dozen feet out, unperturbed by the way he is rising and falling four feet every few seconds. One realizes that Sanibel is shells, an eight-mile-long sandbar of them, and nothing more. Every few dozen yards, we encounter a stretch of shore that is made of nothing but small shells -- I can reach down, scoop up a handful, and come away with half a dozen small but elegant perfect shells that would be a prize on most beaches, but which aren't even worth the dime a dozen here. A bit further on and it is entirely made of fragments and shards a millimeter in size, not really shells any more but not quite willing yet to surrender to sandy senescence... |
antoniseb
|
8:05a |
Great Old Song
Here is a slow acoustic version of a song Elvis Costello did. When this song came out, I imagined that Costello (AKA Declan McManus) had taken a step up and was about to become the next person to fill John Lennon's niche. The song was written by Costello's producer Nick Lowe, who performed it here on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. I recently saw Lowe perform on Spectacle with Elvis Costello. Season's Greetings. |
| Friday, December 25th, 2009 |
antoniseb
|
12:45p |
Water Flowing Underground
 Letting the days go by, water flowing underground... I went out for a short walk earlier and took a few more pictures. This time the thing that caught my eye most was flowing water in the little brooks around our part of town. The camera doesn't really capture it well, since the thing that excites the mind in what you see in the water is both moving and low-contrast. Later today we're going to Acton to visit someone who was a daily playmate of mine when we were ages 0 to 2 years, and stayed as a regular friend and contact for the next twenty or so years after that. He tracked me down on Facebook a few months ago. |
antoniseb
|
8:44a |
Christmas Morning
 Here are a few shots from the grand opening. It was (as always) a happy time. Josiah got a Rozorwing scooter with some assembly required. I am delighted to say that I handed him the Allen wrenches and the instruction booklet, and after only a little help on my part he did a credible job assembling it. Maybe he's going to be a hardware guy. Up till now I wouldn't have guessed he had the attention span required. Another thing he got was a Star Wars brain-alpha-wave reader toy, but it doesn't seem to work during the calibration phase. I got Piper a couple of Futurama shirts. She also got a computer and some photoediting software. Denise got an electric base guitar. I got a Jon Lester autographed baseball. A fine haul for all! |
| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 |
antoniseb
|
6:53p |
Low-key Christmas Eve
 This afternoon Anna and I went to see Up In The Air. There were so many beautiful shots from the sky looking at the ground or the clouds. Fantastic. It is a film about a man who travels too much, and explores an almost numb place where the soul usually never goes. He doesn't quite hit the mental health wall that the narrator of Fight Club faces, but he explores trying to enjoy the single serving lifestyle. After the film I hung out getting the house ready for tomorrow. Denise was busy making dinner. Based on her suggestion I pulled out the tripod and took some pictures using the delay-timer mode on the camera. While I was at it I tried using the multi-shot mode too. Here are the pictures from that batch. Nothing Earth-shaking, but some fun was had, and now I'm prepared for similar kinds of shoots later. We're currently watching VH1s top Hard-Rock songs of all time. Thankfully the kids aren't asking questions about the condom commercials. |
roaming
|
1:44p |
hey, guess what I got for Xmas?
I'm babysitting a 4 mos old black kitten. (So my friend who's travelled to her family in NJ/PA through next Tuesday doesn't have to kennel her.) She's adorable, as all kittens are. She adores being cuddled. Lay on the floor and she comes up and snuggles right down next to you, purring her heart out. What fun! (sorry, no pics. She's little, and all black. And loves to knead you.) |
antoniseb
|
11:56a |
Short Topics
 Happy Birthday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) onix62 - I had my annual physical today. I'm healthier than I thought. I also got my H1N1 shot. BTW, it turns out that it is very hard for me to schedule an appointment for a physical, given my schedule, and the HMO's desire to schedule physicals several months in advance. When I got there for my appointment, I found out it had been canceled (back in October), but since I hadn't updated my phone number with them I never knew. To there credit, they grabbed an urgent care doctor and gave me my appointment anyway, just an hour later than originally planned. Yay Harvard!
- The stool sample kit says I shouldn't eat broccoli or parsnips for a week before collection. I asked the doctor, he says they give false positive for blood... but that I don't need to collect a sample this year.
- When I visited my Brother and his family earlier this week, I realized that I didn't have than many pictures of Josiah. There are several not so great shots of him in this batch, including a strange one with red-eye in only one eye.
- I plan to see the movie Up In The Air this afternoon with a Camelot neighbor.
- The avatar I used for this post is because it is a new avatar, not because there is some censorship issue in my life right now.
|
roaming
|
2:51a |
Beowulf: "dead"line averted, for now
Finally got an email from Michelle, the person running the Blind Dog Rescue Beowulf is at. She hadn't responded to many people the past two days -- which led to the rumor, which I unfortunately spread :-< -- that this might be some kind of scam. But she's been inundated with 400 emails: some offering to foster or adopt; some attacking her for the notion that Beowulf might need to be euthanized; and some just to say "Gee, sorry I can't help, he's sooooo adorable I'll pray for him blah blah" (which to my mind is THE most unhelpful thing to clog someone's inbox with. Apparently Beowulf has issues other than being blind/deaf: he can be aggressive with other dogs, and when anxious tends to "scream." There's more, but not important. These issues weren't noted in the original post about him, so it's not just a matter of adopting a handicapped dog: these behaviors alone make him hard to foster/adopt, he'll need specialized training to become a good companion. As he's only 7 months old, the hope is that he can learn to be more socialized, which obviously he hasn't been in whatever situation he came from. Michelle's made arrangements (potentially/hopefully) to get him taken in this Saturday at the Alaqua Animal Refuge in FL. IF anyone really wants to help Beowulf but can't foster/adopt, donations to either the Alaqua Refuge or the Blind Dog Rescue would be greatly appreciated. It's expensive work. As I said in another post, I've learned a hard lesson about jumping the gun and not knowing all the facts before posting. Won't do that again. People get really worked up about these things. |
| Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 |
siderea
|
9:37p |
|
roaming
|
4:17p |
Be careful out there, people (The Beowulf Saga, Part II)
So, a number of people on LJ and on FB and on Petfinder have volunteered to either foster or outright adopt Beowulf, a blind/deaf Catahoula breed dog who urgently needs to get out of his current foster. (Reasons not given. I'll try not to be arrogantly Urban East Coast and guess.) But the only contact email given does not respond to anyone. Some people apparently have gotten hold of a person, and suggestions that this dog might be being used as a scam to get money for transporting him are circling. Apparently that happens on the 'net. Color me shocked. (Well, actually, I am. But not surprised.) And I stepped right into it. Maybe. No way to know ANYTHING for sure yet. The only thing anybody agrees on is that wherever this dog is, he need OUT badly. And now. Meanwhile, too many cooks, non response from the only contact email given = clusterfuck. Luckily, the mod on the Drive for Life LJ community is a seasoned rescuer, with real time contact. She's our Abby/Penelope, and is on the case. ( She posted: ) |
antoniseb
|
12:33p |
Politics and Religion Shouldn't Mix
This is very sad. The fact that people can regard themselves as Christians and believe that their prayers could have such a diabolical effect... and worse that they can imagine that they worship such a fallible God that he could somehow get the wrong Senator. James Inhofe, the victim of God's bad aim? Here is the article that pointed me to this. |
corwyn_ap
|
11:25a |
|
antoniseb
|
9:48a |
|
roaming
|
3:27a |
Just sayin'
FaceBook is a real pain in the ass. Limited word count, bizarre way things show up, or don't. You can't edit a post (though I guess you can delete it and start again). Not WYSIWYG. And unfriending is a p.i.t.a. too. (I made the mistake of friending some animal rescue folks: now all I see are "HELP! URGENT! RESCUE THIS DOG NOW OR IT DIES TOMORROW!" Can't take it anymore. I love LJ. |
roaming
|
2:42a |
The warriors of winter
give a cold triumphant shout and all that stays is dying I'm very bipolar about Xmas. On the one hand, I resent the expectations. And of course the pressure of the commercialism, which everyone hates, no big news there. And I've come to think that since we can give our loved ones gifts anytime we please during the year, and on their birthdays, that THIS "season of giving" should be about giving to those without. Charities, homeless shelters, animal rescues. Period. Usually I boycott the season. Refuse to do anything "expected." Never send out cards. (Lately I've been sending e-cards, since I found an artist in England who makes lovely ones that move and have music and are interactive. Much more fun than just paper. Though I haven't sent this year's yet: the magic of e-cards is they get sent immediately, no waiting four days for postal delivery.) Then again, I like the notion of lighting a candle against the dark. Red and green, together be seen, in the dark time of the year. And making the house sparkly with ooooh shinnney. And I love Christmas carols, and Gregorian chant, even though I'm an atheist. The only thing I hate now about this season is that while I'm cozy in my bed, I'm up with insomnia worrying if there are any lost cats or dogs freezing out in the cold, maybe even in my own neighborhood -- I read the "Lost" notices on the posts, see the quick dark streak of a four-legged little one in the shadows -- and I can't help them. Current Mood: conflicted |
| Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 |
antoniseb
|
12:49p |
Visiting My Brother
 My younger brother Pete is four years younger than I am. He and his wife Charmaigne, and son Daniel (and two dogs) live about 35 miles South of Atlanta in a little town South of Peachtree City. They have a nice place. I don't see them often enough. Among the things we discussed is what we need to do with our Mom, who is getting increasingly elderly. No conclusion reached.
- Here are a few pictures.
-
- Tonight I will fly home. I'm returning to greater Atlanta next Sunday evening, and will hopefully get together with some folks from South Downs.
- Traffic in Atlanta is as bad as they say.
- Hertz doesn't put scrapers in the cars down here... I used a credit card.
- I saw pictures of me from just before Katrina with Texas relatives (Pete took them). I looked much more slender back then.
- I'll be interested in hearing how Daniel like the geeky Christmas present I got him.
- I'm transporting gifts back for Piper and Josiah.
- I'm starting to see blog-posts from right-wingers complaining that Avatar was too tree-huggy.
|
siderea
|
2:02a |
[curr ev] Iran Update
(Thank you NYT and BBC) 1) Montazeri has died. 2) In Qom. 3) And the seventh day after his death, the traditional day for a funeral correction: the second of a series of three mandatory traditional Shi'ite post-burial mourning rites falls on Ashura. (12/27 this year) I... I just... Whoa. Whoa.....I see no way in which this isn't like dropping a match in a gallon of gasoline... in a fireworks factory. |
siderea
|
12:32a |
[pshrinkery, MA] LMHC Regs Change FYI
Via MaMHCA, and right off The (Massachusetts) Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professionals web site, for anyone else in MA pursuing the LMHC: As of January 1, 2010 all licensure applications must include two professional references on forms furnished by the Board for such purpose. All applications will be updated to include the required form and instructions in the coming months. As a professor of mine once observed, "It's not like they're ever going to make it any easier to get." I wonder if they have delimited "professional references" usefully. Yep. "Remainder of form to be completed by Approved Supervisor". This is what the form asks the reference, after getting the reference's name and license info: Length of time the reference has known the applicant: From____ To_____
Extent of knowledge of applicant's professional and ethical behavior:
[]Thorough []Moderate []Limited
Based on my experience, to the best of my knowledge, the applicant is an individual of good moral character: []yes []no.
(if no, please explain on a separate sheet)
Quality and extent of endorsement: []Without reservation []With reservation []No recommendation []I am cos
(If "with reservation" or "no recommendation", please explain on a separate sheet.)
Signature_________________ Date_______________ I am grimly amused to see the point of the exercise is to handle the "good moral character" clause of the M.G.L. establishing the Board's authorization to issue licenses. I am dying to know the story behind them suddenly (it being 20 years later) needing to have a formal way of establishing that. Looks like someone got sued. |
| Monday, December 21st, 2009 |
siderea
|
11:42p |
[MA, transit] Let me tell you about my commute today
Incorporating new mail into inbox/mbta... 2173+U 12/21 06:23 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line experiencing 10- 2174 U 12/21 07:02 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line experiencing 10- 2175 U 12/21 10:11 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line experiencing 10- 2176 U 12/21 10:45 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line experiencing 10- 2177 U 12/21 10:47 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line experiencing 10- 2178 U 12/21 12:00 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line service is on or 2179 U 12/21 17:10 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Attention Red Line custo 2180 U 12/21 18:20 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line service is on or 2181 U 12/21 18:29 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Attention Red Line Custom 2182 U 12/21 18:39 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Attention Red Line Custom 2183 U 12/21 19:17 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line service is exper 2184 U 12/21 19:40 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Attention Red Line Custom 2185 U 12/21 20:39 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Attention Red Line Custom 2186 U 12/21 20:56 "T-Alerts Notific Red Line Alert<<Red Line service is on or For the record, my morning commute is typically 10am-11am or so, and I leave the office around 7pm or so. It's like it can tell. |
jducoeur
|
4:35p |
Down in beautiful not-quite-warm Florida
So it occurs to me that I haven't posted in ages. A quick update (initially f'locked until we get home): We're currently down at Sanibel: it's the bi-annual trip where Dad puts the whole family up. The trip was blessedly smooth for us, thanks to Sheer Dumb Luck: I'm paranoid about connections, so I went for a direct flight to Ft. Myers, which turned out to route through Orlando. The other options we had had all involved stopping in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Newark, or other places that were lovely, white and non-functional on Saturday. As it was, we apparently beat the storm out of Providence by just a few hours. Southwest has a "business class". Who knew? It was the only tickets I'd been able to get, having procrastinated a bit too long in arranging them. This turns out to means that you get (1) a free cocktail, and (2) cutting rights to the front of the line. Not really worth the extra money, but we were happy to be able to grab the exit row and its extra legroom. Weather down here is very cold by local standards, which means that it's not *quite* what I would call "balmy", but close. I finally gave in and bought a sweatshirt for biking around, but other than that it's quite nice. Finally got to see the new condo that the family bought a couple of years ago. It was reasonably nice to begin with, but Dad and Sandy spent months decorating it, and it is to die for. Not common for me to rave particiularly about the countertops, but they outdid themselves this time: they're this cool rare form of granite, flecked with iridescent blue, so they're the most eye-catching thing in the place. Photos to come, mostly of improbable Christmas decorations. (Eg, Santa's sleigh being pulled by eight inflatable dolphins...) |
ladysprite
|
4:27p |
In Praise Of People
My world is truly filled with wonderful people. I have amazing and incredible friends, whom I really ought to enthuse about more often, but recently I have had more than my fair share of amazing and positive encounters with Just Random Folks. Part of my being terminally organized is making weekly menu plans and grocery lists, and doing weekly grocery shopping runs. This means that either I, my husband, or both of us are at the same grocery store every week. And since part of the meal plan is sandwiches for me to take to work for lunch, we usually have to stop at the deli counter for cold cuts. While we don't always see the same people working there, over the years we've gotten to know at least a handful of the staff. There's always a rotating pool of high-school and college age part-timers, a pair of terminally energetic and cheery old men, and the Deli Lady. The Deli Lady has always confused me somewhat, mostly because, according to my husband, she's usually curt and rather grumpy with him, yet she goes out of her way to be pleasant with me. I've never had any particular idea why; goodness knows my husband is quite easy to get along with. I just assumed she didn't like big, imposing-looking men, and was otherwise a cheerful person. Her chatter was always friendly but vague - asking how my day was or, when I showed up on crutches, what was wrong. Nothing particularly exciting or unusual. So today we were out running errands and grocery shopping while I wound up in the middle of an atrocious mood collapse. Anxiety and depression and misery all somehow came pouring down on my head between the car and the front door of the store, leaving me a little puddle of failure-to-cope for no comprehensible reason. I spent most of the trip hiding behind the grocery cart, until we got to the deli counter. And while one of the rotating pool of college kids (subspecies Redhead-With-Piercings) measured and sliced out my husband's order, the Deli Lady came out, took a look at my husband, and promptly asked 'What, just the one of you today? Where's your wife?' And she looked around until she saw me, and grinned like I'd made her day, and continued to chat with me about holiday planning, the weather, her daughter's impending visit, and goodness knows what else until we were done with our business and had to move on. It's such a little thing, when I write it down like that. But at the same time... being recognized and remembered, by someone who doesn't have to - when I'm that far into the throes of my own personal crazybrain, feeling like I'm not sure whether I exist or not, or whether anyone wants me in their world - it was enough to short-circuit a miserable mood swing that otherwise could have lasted all day or more. So thank you, Deli Lady, for being cheerful when you didn't have to be and for prying me out of a deep blue funk without even recognizing you were doing it. I think, if I have any cookies left over after I deliver all of my holiday gifts to friends, I'm going to have to bring her some..... Current Mood:  okay |
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