olderthaniam

Resurrection

2009-02-05T03:56:00.000-08:00

Every night I stay up a little bit later. I used to get tired around 2 am, now its 2 minutes of 4 am, and I feel wide awake. Its finally raining, I just paused and noticed it. It has been a dry winter, though I think they call it winter only out of convention. Its more like a few months of bearable weather, with a chance of rain.

A few weeks ago I got back in touch with Alex, whom I used to play CS with late at night when I lived on Fell and Fillmore St. in San Francisco. We would play for hours, wearing our headsets and keeping up a steady banter while we went about the business of fantasy violence and struggle, part of a strange and invisible subculture that I won't try to explain.

I'm living somewhere else now, he is too, and after a year of this and that we have begun to get together again. We are playing a new game now, with new names and new rules, but underneath it is the same. Mostly young men, sitting alone in quiet houses late at night, looking through that glowing screen at a little world made just for them. And as I sit alone in my quiet house, awake when all others are sleeping, I am grateful for the company.

Quote of the Day

2008-08-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

"...your inability to imagine true love manifesting between two members of the same sex almost classifies you as retarded in my mind. It’s not even a moral issue."

Our neighbor.

2008-08-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Go(ing to) Fish

2008-08-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

Today, the plan is to get in touch and hopefully meet with my old boss Jen who I will be working for again. When I lived here last time, I got a job at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in Saint Helena. Cindy’s is one of three restaurants owned (with the help of investors) by Cindy Pawlcyn, somewhat of a celebrity chef in northern California. Cindy’s was behind Main St. in downtown St. Helena, across the road from the railroad tracks on Railroad Avenue. It is in a two story white building with many windows and several dining rooms. At one point it was a hotel for railroad travelers. One of the little stories that we servers would feed our customers to add depth to their experience at the restaurant was that the fig tree that reaches over the patio where they were eating was at least 150 years old. This is especially exciting to hear when it is fig season and we can tell them that the figs on the plate once dangled above their table like the uni-ball Jim once claimed to Val that I was born with (or without if you prefer).

Go Fish, the restaurant that my old boss currently manages is an aesthetic opposite of Cindy’s. It is a large single story building on the outskirts of town, clearly more modern and more purpose built as a restaurant. It has a cavernous main dining hall, divided by a large hanging artwork in the center of the irregularly shaped room. Skylights dot the high ceilings and modern pendant lighting dangles over the tables and the angular zinc bar where you can order stellar sushi (or shoo-see as a little boy once called it to Colleen and I) and cocktails with some promise.

I was offered a position as a manager in training, or MIT for you DASAC people. I would be paid an hourly wage as opposed to making tips, and this would likely often mean less dollars per day, but the chance to get a foot in the door at a successful and well managed company seems well worth it. Optimally, I would get a chance to have a few nights as the barman at Cindy’s, should any openings arise.

Brunch at the H&O!

2008-08-03T07:50:00.001-07:00

We ran into a bunch of nice friends at the ho for brunch.

2008-08-03T07:45:00.001-07:00

Quote of the Day:

2008-07-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Erin: "I put that up so we could snuggle."

Adam: ""I put it down because I hate you."

(said in the theater, regarding the armrest, after Erin chose to
occupy the very same seat Adam wanted.)

How about a state that offers citizenship but not residence.

2008-07-27T00:45:00.000-07:00

How about a state that offers citizenship but not residence.

Imagine a globalized city, with actual physical resources, an economy, citizens, institutions, and cultures already in place. Now suppose that the citizens of that soverign city extended citizenship to every person on this planet, sharing all rights, laws and economies they enjoy with all. Every child, from central Wyoming to Tokyo, would guaranteed access to the laws and economy of this city. In the city, they would have to right to a fair trial. No matter where they lived, they would be guaranteed the right to participate in the markets of that city. What would not be guaranteed, however, would be the right to physically occupy space in the city. Though the freedoms offered could be described as non-corporal, their implications (access to a fair and balanced legal system, access to globe spanning markets and access to the entire world’s culture) could safeguard, elevate, and set free the souls of all people.

There are complications and downsides. This will be for next time, naturally.

Its been a few days...

2008-07-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Heather and Colleen left for San Francisco Monday afternoon, after toast and coffee on The Lanai, culminating a weekend of cooking, eating, and a little bit of Singstar.

After the reunion brunch, the three Kings and one Derrig went to Sunshine Market to provision for what would become an epic culinary adventure. An incomplete list must include: local smoked trout and grilled corn filled ravioli with a sage and butter sauce, build your own turkey Reubens, an heirloom tomato and blue cheese tart, 2 kinds of ice cream (Saffron/Rose and Apricot/Raspberry), grilled flatbread with hummus, grilled eggplant and corn...

Heather was amazing in the kitchen. I knew it was going to be fun when I asked her if 8 eggs were enough and she gave this, "Hell no." kind of response. We ended up using nearly 3 dozen over the 2 nights she and Colleen were here together. I've been aware of Heather's food savantery from the times years ago that she and Colleen would come to my Mom's and my house to make christmas cookies; I remember her making ganache (which I looked at as a dark (he he) art at the time) for some chocolate cookies she was working on without batting an eyelash. Over the course of the weekend, she would get up off the couch and say something like: "I'm going to just throw together this souffle."

I've not needed a dinner much larger than cheese and crackers since the weekend.

Heather is here!

2008-07-19T15:22:00.001-07:00

The plan was that she was going to blast down here from Mendocino
early this morning but as things turned out she didn't make it until
about noon, which turned out to be perfect because I was not feeling
the get up early and make breakfast vibe. Instead Deb and I went to
Calistoga and bought a flat of organic strawberries and some amazing
smoked trout from the farmers market. By the time she got here the
pancake batter was half made and we all sat down to a nice late
breakfast.

A Dream

2008-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

I just woke up from a dream in which I was watching a broadcast of President Bush make another tired and hollow claim about defending the world from evil and Terror. It was on television and was being presented by a famous news anchor, Dan Rather I think. Along with the anchor there was a thin vaguely Asian man with white hair and odd teeth. He had the air of a sign language interpreter about him, but he was speaking and as I listened I realized he was speaking a soft, stylized English.

After the president's speech, the anchor and the white haired man stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the people in the television studio with their arms around each other. The speech had just ended and in the wake of the twisted logic and doublespeak of our leader, these two men did something extraordinary. They began to sing.

It was a variation of our national anthem but instead of a poem about "That glorious fight," they sang instead of a fragile hope that we might deliver our selves from the grasp of fascism and empire coming from our own leaders and take back our freedom and good name in a time of madness and evil.

I found myself sitting next to my mother in front of the television and when the new words of anthem came up on the screen, karaoke style, we sang along.

Porta Potty, Zeitgeist

2008-07-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

North Beach Lunch

2008-07-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

The Cuz' and I have wandered down to San Francisco for a little big city outing. After a late lunch at Caffe Delucchi in North Beach the plan is to walk up to the Coit Tower and take in the sights of this hilly little town. Colleen was here once before with her sister, Cousin Heather.

In a few hours we are going to meet up with my good friend Ryan from my Zazie days.

Okay, the little side salads are here so it's time to go.

The things you see in real life

2008-07-14T23:19:00.001-07:00

So I was on the way to see WALL-E in Napa with Deb and Colleen when we spotted this highly alarmed goat standing in a cage in the back of a truck. She was bleating (or is that what sheep do?) up a storm and was wide eyed and clearly not psyched about the mode of transport, nor I imagine being in the middle of a busy intersection far from her home.

I doubt she was going to see a flick.

Its an active lifestyle, it's not for everyone.

2008-07-14T11:41:00.001-07:00

Day Old Quote of the Day: Two for One Sale!

2008-07-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Colleen: "If I ever meet someone from Cheyenne, I'm going to say, "Nice! I had the worst taco of my life in your town.""

Rachel: "People with Morton's Toe are better in bed than other people. Its like, don't be repulsed by me, I give good head."

A Longer Leg

2008-07-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

We made it from Lexington Nebraska to Logan Utah on Wednesday, leaving behind the perfect flatness of central Nebraska for Wyoming’s rolling brown hills and strangely huddled Black Angus Cattle, most of whom (like us) seemed to prefer to huddle tightly together rather than spread apart upon the vast landscape.

As we left this land of ranches, mines and oil wells behind and climbed almost imperceptibly over the mountains I was surprised and pleased to see that the wind farms that Deb and I first saw a year ago on our way back to Massachusetts have grown much larger and in one instance we saw rows of partially assembled units, sections of their cylindrical towers lying on the ground.

It was about an hour and a half drive up from Salt Lake City, winding between orange and brown cliffs looming over either side of the road, studded with solitary conifers and swiss cheese-like rounded mini caves that I imagined were inhabited by coyotes and wierdos.

Progress:

2008-07-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

72 miles from Utah.

Progress

2008-07-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

Mile 386 I-80 west, Wyoming.

Nebraska Stench Inspires

2008-07-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Me: "Ohh, that stinks!"

Colleen: "Yeah, its pretty hellish."
(pause)
"That wasn't us, unless you know how to fart tar eggs."

Recorded near mile 376 on I-80 west.

Dietary variations

2008-07-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ricecrispy-treat wrapped waffle cone anyone?

Quote of the Day

2008-07-07T22:43:00.001-07:00

Me, "I feel like I'm finally an adult because my pits smell as soon as
I get out of the shower."

13 miles to Illinois.

2008-07-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Day

2008-07-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Colleen, "I have my oen name for stretches. I call this one the
Superman."

Henry's Van: The First Day

2008-07-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

I finished loading up your van yesterday morning and met some friends and family at Hope & Olive to have a final brunch before my cousin Colleen and I started driving out west. We ended up leaving town around 2 in the afternoon after we went to the co-op to get some snacks for the highway. It is really hard to find nice things like carrots and nuts and apples on the highways.

After a few hours Colleen and I made it to the middle of New York, where we stopped to get gas and stretch our legs.

Then it was time to drive again.

Prelude to Exodus: Finishing Up

2008-07-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

My blog got into the weeds a few days ago as I tried to get my possessions packed and my apartment at the Weinstein's empty and presentable. The objectives seemed simple enough: go through my stuff and get rid of things that I didn't want anymore or that wouldn't fit in the MPV, pack the good stuff and get rid of the crap and then attempt to stuff it into the minivan and leave the apartment looking nice for Jacob who I think is arriving within the week from India. It was a lot of work (though not as much as when I still had 3 couches, 2 beds, a few kitchen tables and more).

I wasn't worried about this because I had over 2 months to get this all done... right up until last week, when I realized that all that time had been frittered away and I was about to blow my departure date. This was a panicky feeling. I was rescued yesterday by my mom who cleaned as I packed and fretted.

I reached that mercenary point where if it wasn't packed in a box, it was packed in the trash.

Henry's Van

2008-07-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Its loading time for your van Henry. I'm filling it with everything I
own so I can move with all my stuff all the way across the country.

When I pack the last box and basket and clean my house for the last
time, your van and I will drive for days and days.

Behold

2008-07-06T12:29:00.001-07:00

The oddity of modern life (yes they are both mine).

Quote of the Day

2008-07-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Me, "Great! Now my head smells like kitty litter."

Quote of the Day

2008-07-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

"These days, the slightest task makes me have to pee."

Quote of the Day

2008-06-27T11:37:00.001-07:00

Colleen, who is celebrating her 30th birthday has this to say, "I've
never done it in the kitchen, but I've never been with a foodie. "

I love this.

2008-06-27T10:47:00.001-07:00

Mystery Solved

2008-06-27T09:38:00.001-07:00

So I've been wondering who bumperstickered my car last week and assuming that it was one of my Hope and Olive coworkers. Assumptions are usually a bad idea, and as it turns out I was barking up the wrong tree. A few days ago Johanna (my landlady and good friend's mom) knocked on my door to apologize for the stickers, which she revealed were planted by her nephew Eben. This was a good turn of events for several reasons, and funnier as well. First it was good to know who had done the deed and secondly it released me from feeling like I had to keep the stickers on until the joker (again an assumed coworker) got a chance to see them when the restaurant reopened a week from BumperstickerNacht. Also, it meant that Eben had gotten the "message" I left for him (I set his homepage in Safari to goat.se) and was responding in kind.

It was fun to find out that I had some humor in common with Avi's cousin, whom I've seen from time to time since I started being friends with Avi in first grade or so.

ps. Those of you who know what goat.se is, good for you. For the rest of my (3) readers, if you haven't heard of goat.se, you probably don't want to look it up, its pretty gross. Suffice to say, goat.se is an image that was used in a classic (meaning at least a year old) internet meme, where you would send someone a link that you said would lead them to something they wanted to see, like a family photo album or Paris Hilton's tits but would instead take them to this very unsavory image instead. Look up "RickRolling" if you want to see a funny (and non-disgusting) and more current version of this joke.

WTF?!!?

2008-06-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

I came back to my car after seeing "Get Smart" with the Cuz and didn't
recognize it for a second. Apparently the "Less Bush More Trees"
sticker had spawned a host of Leftern Massy sentiments.

Foul play? Or just the ghost of Osgood street?

Why I love my iPhone

2008-06-21T13:25:00.001-07:00

So I'm halfway along the "Dutch and Mary Barnard Trail" at the High
Ledges and I was wondering if the trail looped back or if I should
turn around at some point. So I did a little google search and stuck
the phone back in my pocket for a minute, checked it and found this
handy map if the area, showing me that it is in fact a loop, and I'm
on my way to the ledges.

I should buy some Apple shares.

http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/images/maps/highledges_trails.gif

Tenacious Fly

2008-06-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

I dropped Max (the young ruffian that my dad hired to help him out this summer) off in Charlemont after work yesterday because it was on the way to Johanna's retirement party. As I crossed the Deerfield river and turned west onto Route 2 I noticed his fly was hanging on to my window, on the outside. Its wings were perfectly still as I approached fifty miles an hour and then, just like that, it lost its grip and went flying up the windshield and over the van (I hope).

Poet's Seat

2008-06-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Colleen and I went up to the tower this afternoon. She offered to take me to see the platform where we could see the crack pipes and needles, but when I learned that it was a mile away it became less compelling. I'll just watch an episode of "The Wire" or something.

2008-06-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Evelyn and August

2008-06-15T12:41:00.001-07:00

Its Father's Day, and Jim's family has dropped by during the in
between time.

Its nice to go out once in a while.

2008-06-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

I got to go out for dinner with Clayton and Tiffany a few weeks ago. We met up at the community gardens in Greenfield, where they were working on their plot, weeding and watering their beans, carrots, and potatoes. They had done some reading about gardening (something I've never done) and it was interesting to hear some garden theory, like planting low stuff next to tall stuff or sun loving stuff so it provides shade for the more heliophobic members of the garden.

We also discussed the relative merits of fertilization, especially compost vs manure:

After the gardening we went to Ristorante DiPaulo. It was a yummy meal, though I'm not sure they have changed their menu since I was last there a few days before Thanksgiving.

Past Due Posting

2008-06-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

So there are several things that I've been planning on posting about, but you know how it is (maybe you super-actualizing people don't) with getting things done. Speaking of getting things done (which I'd prefer to do at the moment instead of getting them done) I have a growing list of things to accomplish before I head out west for my 4th cross country drive in two years!

Get the new van checked out and inspected.

Arrange for the clearing on my property to get mowed so it will still be a clearing when I get back.

Save a ton of money (not looking too good on that front).

Plan our route out west, and get in touch with friends or family that we may try to stay with.

Consolidate all my music on the laptop so we can replenish our iPods while we are on the road.

Do something about the mullet that is growing down my neck.

and the list continues...

Are you kidding me?

2008-06-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

I just read this abstract from a medical study of the linkage between cigarette smoking and Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease. It looks like they are saying that people who have quit smoking are at higher risk for recurrence of the disease (in the case of Ulcerative Colitis) and even that smoking reduces the chance of needing surgery. Weird.

Drive By!

2008-06-04T20:52:00.001-07:00

So me and Cousin Colleen and Jim and Jen were leaving the Sex and the City movie when we heard a loud muffler and as the noise passed us and I felt this smack on my side and a splash. I had just been drive by water ballooned! It wasn't a hate crime though, some teenage girls around the corner were standing around their just ballooned car with a big puddle next to it. We all shared a chuckle about it as we walked past.

Some of my coworkers:

2008-06-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

This cricket lives in the sewing and cutting room. It has a lot of
friends, but you'd think I was the I.N.S. if you saw them scatter when
I came in the room.

2008-06-04T12:44:00.001-07:00

This is a Pony clamp. It is good for holding fabric to the cutting
table or to a framework.

2008-06-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is Max. He works with us a few days a week.

Ars Awnica

2008-06-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

Fold down two inches. Sew down sides before spline pockets. Repeat.

Casualties are all around me.

2008-05-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon I found this bird lying on its back in the dirt at the edge of the driveway between the awning shop and my grandparents' house. Its eyes were open but its neck was at a weird angle and it seemed only able to move its feet a little bit. I thought its neck might have been broken, but I couldn't really know. It was clearly dying.

I picked it up as gently as I could and held in in my cupped hands. It was so light and soft and it looked at me and blinked and panted with its little dark beak open. I carried it over to the big oak tree in the middle of the yard and put it in the middle of a tuft of grass so it could die somewhere better than on the rocky dirt of the driveway.

I considered killing it, but I decided that killing it would be selfishness cloaked in mercy because I didn't really know what it wanted. I wanted to protect its right to witness its death on its terms, so i left it alone and didn't tell anyone it was there.

I went back to my sewing. An hour or so later, I returned to the lee of the tree where I had put down expecting and kind of hoping (again for selfish mercy's sake) to find it dead, but it was taking deep urgent breaths and its eyes opened when I knelt down and looked at me. So I left it again and we all went to lunch.

It rained while we ate and I checked on the bird when we got back from work. Its breast feathers looked disturbed by the rain and it was breathing in measured gasps, but it opened its eyes again as I looked at it. So I left it alone. When we finished work at five, it was still breathing.

I looked for it yesterday, but it was gone without a trace.

Some folks we know

2008-05-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Dylan and Colleen hung out with me after work 2 weeks ago.

Thats me in the picture. I mean, thats a picture of me I'm holding in this picture. Its a school photo I think 5th grade or so. Now its taped on the ice machine in the server station behind the dining room, embellished with a mustache and eye patch.

Ars Awnica

2008-05-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of my time at the awning shop making straight lines, cutting with the hot knife, a German hand tool that melts the synthetic fabric we use most of the time. The fused edge of the cut eliminates the need for hemming the fabric.

Breaktime

2008-05-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to give Andy Goldsworthy a run for his money.

1 Cousin, 3 screens

2008-05-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

A yummy good morning

2008-05-17T08:33:00.001-07:00

Waiting for lunch.

2008-05-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

On the wait list at Cafe Martin. Roger is standing right next to the
service station in the way of the servers. I prefer to wait outside.

Every time I see this...

2008-05-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

I saw these guys working on the floor at a Gamespot in Santa Rosa earlier this week. When I see some crack in public, I'm always compelled to look for a pen. Because I want to avoid bodily harm and embarrassment, I usually just try to snap a secret picture instead.

The Robin Nest

2008-05-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

The eggs in the grapevine above my porch have hatched. I hold my camera up and take pictures instead getting my head up there, hopefully this is less alarming to the mom and dad shrieking in the trees.

We went, we ate, we had foodbabies.

2008-05-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Come and get me Pa Predmore!

2008-05-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Late Breakfast

2008-05-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

After getting back from some early morning time at the Cafe (don't ever charge for WiFi, it makes you look stupid and greedy BTW), and after a little nap, I made myself some breakfast: Dry cured bacon, fried eggs, iced coffee, and granola with fruit and yogurt. It was great.

I'm reading "A Canticle for Leibowitz"

(I had to look up "canticle," it means a song based on a Psalm from the bible. I feel so secular.). It is a post apocalyptic story about southwestern monks who preserve what writing and knowledge they can protect in the dark ages after an atomic holocaust. I'm realizing it spans a much greater time than I thought when I began to read, and is turning out to be rather gripping.

Recovery

2008-05-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was sick with a cold. It came on the night before at CC Blue, a sushi joint here in St. Helena. I wanted to blame the Sakehito (a sake mojito served up), but as it progressed from headache to feverish runny nose party, I had to accept the truth.

I borrowed Deb's car and drove down to Napa looking for some suitable clothes for our big meal, some cat items and some Sand Dabs.

I was gonna cook the Sand Dabs up last night, but I was too pooped. Deb made us some lovely asian-y noodle stuff with sauteed vegetables and lots of nice spices. I'm crediting that, and our old roomate Christine's 800mg ibuprofen for my near total recovery over night.

In other, very intriguing news someone other than Kitty had a little sleepover last night... I'm all ears.

A little wine tasting

2008-04-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a couple of wineries in a little loop from St Helena to Healdsburg (home of Bear Republic brewery for all you Racer 5 lovers and Hope and Olive folks) and on to Santa Rosa before heading home. We stopped first at Alexander Valley Vineyards, which is owned the family of one of my old peripheral friends from the days of hanging out with the day students at Deerfield Academy.

The guy behind the tasting bar, Andy, was genial and tasted us on a good 8 wines (to paraphraze Bill C. "I sipped but I didn't swallow"). Tastings with people in the industry, like Deb, are fun because they not only know a lot about wine but they (and sometimes their friends) are treated to complimentary tastings (it used to be free out here, but it became big business at some point along the way, and now people expect to pay $10-20 for a couple of pours). I also learned something cool and very sensible that I didn't know before, tasting rooms will trade equally valued bottles with people in the industry so you can bring wine from your place and trade it for another winery's product (one of the perks of working for wineries is that they usually give their employees a fair amount of free product, or at least steep discounts).

We went for a brief walk around Healdsburg looking for food (we were really hungry) but it was the quiet time between lunch and dinner when everyone in town was closed. After finding a suitable snack we went on our way to J Winery (which makes some lovely bubbly).

I had to risk an accident here and take a picture while driving of this guy:

Being in California is kind of like going to a very strangely familiar but totally alien planet, where guys drive around in rigs like this crazy patchwork Bronco that doesn't even have a roof and of course he is talking on the phone. Its really hard to see, but the icing on the cake with him was that he had one of those long armed monkeyish stuffed animals, pink and fluffy, dangling from his dashboard. Awesome.

At the J tasting room we got this young dude (I'm guessing about 22) Jeff behind the bar. He had just finished an internship in the cellar and had moved out to the front of the house. We were treated to a bunch of tastes and ended up buying a ton of yummy stuff, including a very exciting pear liqueur and a magnum of 2001 Brut for her Deb's birthday dinner.

"How will we get this huge bottle of bubbly chilled down in just an hour?" (by filling the sink with ice and cold water)

The triumphal return

2008-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Kitty Ann Derrig touched down at 8:15 pm local time in Sacramento Ca.
When we got to the car, we let her out and she happily munched some
food while I ate some Sushi that Debbie brought me.

Kitty joins the mile high club.

2008-04-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well she will in a few minutes anyway.

Rollin...

2008-04-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

I helped Randy get his car to the mechanic on Tuesday. I showed upat
his house in my little white truck but he was washing off his
beautiful 196? Buick Wildcat for me to follow him to the mechanic in.
The thing is a giant, 18 feet long & 6 feet wide, with some kind
enormous engine. Driving along with its delicately thin wheel in my
hands, and deep breathy motor in front of me, I must admit to feeling
rather cool.

2008-04-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

My mom called me as I was driving to work with a tech support question re: her new iMac that Andre and I bought her. The way she went about describing her problem (by telling me what she had been wanting to do and what program she had opened and what option she had chosen and then what had gone wrong and then what the dialog box that kept popping up had said and then...) pushed some kind of instant irritation triggers in me that got me highly annoyed. I wasn't so annoyed that I lost sight of the fact that this was not really at all her fault, and a detached aspect of myself began to try to understand why this had happened... as I asked her to tell me what, generally, this technical problem concerned before she gave me any more details.

It turned out that she wanted to force quit Adobe Illustrator, which had gotten stuck in a loop where it couldn't do what she asked, but wouldn't let her cancel her request. We went through the usual akward back and forth as I tried to direct her to the key combination needed, while brusquely suggesting the omnipresent help menu for future reference. It occured to me that we essentially had become meat modems, as I tried to operate her GUI machine through a analog, voice interface where I imagined the state of the machine then directed her to manipulate it.

It felt like a generational thing. I could have happend to her if her great grandmother had called her up with a car problem: "I wanted to get to visit Willis in Tulsa, so I got in this metal box with doors and windows and sat down in there and shut the door and now I'm looking at this wheel in front of me and behind it there are a bunch of dials that say......."

Its about internalization. My mom's great grandmother, living out her twilight years on a farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl may not have been exposed to automobiles until well into her adulthood, and in a way they always remained unfamiliar to her, something to translate into another frame of reference, unable to separate the relevant information (the thing won't start) from the irrelevant details.

So it is between my mother and I, the machine she uses in her house is virtualized inside of me thanks to childhood exposure, while for her it is a thing, to be respected, feared, and misunderstood

Sara and Maggie are going to Montreal

2008-04-19T20:46:00.001-07:00

But where to eat?

The thumb.

2008-04-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Friday night casualties

2008-04-18T19:03:00.001-07:00

We had a busy night at the bar. The rest of the place was quieter, but Val and I were running about all night.

It was a good time until I slammed my thumb against a shaker and my thumbnail separated: the nail went outside the shaker, the meaty part went down inside the shaker and into the drink.

Hello Woodstar

2008-04-09T06:01:00.001-07:00

Its been a while.

Everytime I see that car...

2008-04-07T07:36:00.001-07:00

First flowers!

2008-04-07T07:35:00.001-07:00

Good morning spring.

A busy weekend.

2008-04-06T01:19:00.000-07:00

After a slow few weeks, business has been booming in the restaurant.
Last night, we served over 200 people, and tonight we came within 10
people of breaking our record (2% less than the record isn't that far
off).

It was Val's 50'th birthday (though I have a hard time believing it)
and she was in with a bunch of her friends. When it was time to sing
to her, I was kind of in the weeds but I jumped away to sing.

Later somebody got pulled over in front of the restaurant, but I don't
think they were coming from us because no one had left for a while.

Oliver, who is our mascot and cracks us all up with comedy gems too
numerous to count, was obliging enough to participate in a left over
cake glamour shot at the bar after hours.

I have no idea.

2008-04-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

So we are almost done with a Solair Retractible installation in Noho
and all we have to do is set the electric motor so it knows when to
stop rolling out and in.

We only do this kind of installation a few times a year, and I always
have to look in the book to figure out how to set those limit
switches. I tried to set them a few times until I got pissed off and
started to say nasty things to the motor and Roger said something
like, "Watch out for Jay when he starts getting sarcastic."

Since we couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, we decided to
take apart the switch. Of course we have no idea about electrical
work, my feeling is that anything invisible that can kill me is better
left to sweaty guys with low waistbands and their proteges.

It looks like a circus canvas

2008-04-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

But it is actually Margaret's new awning for "Ollie's Down Under"

Taking a break

2008-04-02T08:39:00.001-07:00

Its sunny in town today where Roger and I are putting up a retractible awning for a restaurant that was damaged by the fire this winter. Yesterday felt like the first real day of spring, but today its really windy and it feels like late winter again. The
Yankee life is always interesting.

I ate at work on a day off.

2008-04-01T16:23:00.001-07:00

Eggplant poppers with a roast red pepper coulis and peanut ginger
sirloin tips.

The older generation

2008-03-31T18:26:00.001-07:00

Atlantic Connections

2007-07-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

Soon Pete will be camping up on my land, perhaps as the beginning of a larger project.

Across Puffers Pond with a noodle

2007-07-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing holds you like air!

2007-07-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Giant with Beer

2007-07-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Pete came by last night and ate with us. We had BLTs and a nice black bean and corn salad with lovely purple scallions from McCuskers. We were talking about our experiences moving back to the valley (Pete, Deb, and I all got back here on the same day about 3 weeks ago) and how we were surprised at how challenging it was. As Deb and I were getting our lives in California packed away and preparing to move back here, I expected everything on this coast would be a cakewalk, but it hasn't been. Finding work hasn't been as easy as I imagined, and I fear losing the small amount of headway I've made toward personal improvement. Sometimes, it feels dangerously comfortable here.

Other times though, like last night, everything is just fine. Although Pete hogged all the beer...

I think we may need to talk about an intervention, friends.

Don't judge me

2007-07-20T16:37:00.001-07:00

Just because the first post is a cat.

We were worried that Kitty would have a hard time adjusting to a three thousand mile move. Obviously, she is doing fine.