Love lost and found

I'm surprised that my post about going to the doctor's with Lindsey is now officially my most popular post ever, getting a record six comments from six different people (plus one reply to each of them from myself). Apparently falling in love is a great topic for conversation!

I started this blog at a low point in my personal life. My first two posts were about a woman I had dated for a short but significant time, and re-reading those posts now, I can see that I was trying to capture both the good and the bad, the ups and the downs of our relationship.

One of the many themes here has been, for me, the search for a connection. I've looked in some unlikely places... wait, I can't say that, when I know that the "unlikely place" I'm referring to is strip clubs. Strip clubs may not be mainstream and it's common knowledge that one should not fall in love with a stripper... but many people (men and women both) have figured that they were special enough to beat those odds.

Little do they realize that the best dancers have become "the best" by learning how to make you fall in love with them, even a little bit. I learned a long time ago what the rules are in the clubs, and I learned it the hard way, long before I started this blog. So hopefully my posts reflect that sense of knowing I need to keep my distance, but enjoying the moment and the fantasy. So while I've looked for a connection at the tip rails and during the couch dances... I've known enough to keep it all mostly in the club.

But that's not the only place one can make a connection. I've found it on MAX trains and buses, in coffee shops and diners and pizza places and music stores, just out doing the day-to-day chores that make up our lives. I've looked and found it online.

But except for brief flashes, usually, the connection is momentary. It doesn't last.

It rarely lasts. I reach out, I take a chance, I talk to strangers, I put a little piece of myself on the line. I get in return, a conversation, a date, maybe two dates. And a story, which has, always come to an end after all-to-short a time.

...or I should say, it rarely lasts. All but one time. This one time. This one time, now, that I'm going through. Lindsey and I have met, and we feel we share a connection, that we are continuing to explore but which surprises both of us with its depth.

And considering the theme of my blog, and how often I have reached out for that sense of connection, feeling it now, with Lindsey... I have considered that this particular arc of my life may be over. I think: is it time to close this blog and move on? Was my "Needles" post the denouement of the story that opened with a broken connection with my previous girlfriend?

Don't worry, I haven't run out of topics to write about. And I'm not ending this. But in a very tangible way, I feel as if I have finished a chapter in my life and am moving into a new one.

The connection has been made, and now I get to find out what comes next. • 9:11 PM 2 comments

This is my no-post this morning

Last night I spent with my girlfriend, and later this morning, at work, I've got an all-day training, and it's not even a training in something fun, it's a training called "Getting the work done as individuals and teams" (how fun does that sound? Not very! Am I right?) so I don't have a new post for y'all this morning.

I'll try to find something funny from this all-day training to share later. Or, y'know, something. Be patient.

Thanks for reading me. While I'm stuck in this all-day training, why don't you talk amongst yourselves?

I'll give you a topic: Obama's first 100 days. What do you think? Good? Bad? A mix of good and bad? Don't care?

My take in 50 words or less: I wish he'd move faster on getting us out of Iraq, I like his picks for Secretary of Labor and Health, and the Attorney General and other Justice appointees, he's giving all our money away to Big Finance and I wish he'd stop, and he's just as bad as Bush on "national security" (surveillance and torture and executive power) issues but I think we can push him via direct activism and through Congress, particularly the House which is the more progressive body. I'm certainly not going to stop pushing on those issues.

...or pick a topic of your own. Just play nice. I'll respond when I get back; if for some reason I get a ton of comments here, I'll probably just have one long reply. • 6:19 AM 2 comments

If you see this, nevermind

If you can see this, nevermind the rest of the post.

If you can't see this, then what I'd like you to know is that my main web server, Eggers appears to be down (so that link I just took the time to put in this post? It won't work), and that I'm working on it as best as I can, and that I have temporarily switched over to my backup web server, and soon everything will be groovy once again.

But of course, if you can't see this, then I won't be able to let you know all that. So you might be worried. Don't be worried, though, because I'm doing what I can to fix things.

I'll let you know when it's working again. Which will be, of course, after the point when it will matter. So I understand your confusion. • 10:30 AM 0 comments

Random Questionnaire, First in a series

1. If you were a tree, how hard would you photosynthesize?
   
   
2. There are two trains leaving Chicago; one is traveling at an average speed of 65 MPH, the other is traveling at an average speed of 45 MPH.
   
   
   1. On one of these trains is a young child who is taking his first trip out of the city, going to a rural farm to spend the summer with his cousins. He will adopt a small puppy, and beg to bring it back with him to the city, but his parents will refuse. He will eventually forgive them, but he will remember that puppy for the rest of his days. Name the puppy.
      
      
   2. On the other, is a beautiful woman in a red dress, her long brunette hair falling gently over her face and covering one eye. She adjusts the hem of her dress to demurely cover her knees, then glances pensively out the window at the passing scenery. A short man in a dark double-breasted suit will watch her from behind a newspaper for the entire trip. What is the headline on the newspaper? Bonus question: How does the man know the woman?
      
   
   
3. Considering the lyrics: "She packed my bags last night pre-flight. Zero hour nine a.m. And i'm gonna be high as a kite by then. I miss the earth so much i miss my wife. It's lonely out in space. On such a timeless flight." - What did he have for lunch that day?
   
   
4. Finally, for extra credit: In 25 words or less, practice war no more.
   

• 6:24 AM 2 comments

The Twenty-first Century

How's this for living in the future:

At home, using the built-in camera on my portable dual-core computer¹ to scan and look up every CD I own from an online database of product information.

Oh, I downloaded the program I'm using² to scan the CDs and purchased it without ever having to touch any physical product.

Once I figured out that the program could help me list and sell those CDs to any buyer around the world³, I sent a thank-you to its creator, and got a nearly-instantaneous response, despite us not knowing anything about each other prior to that, using a free communications service⁴ and a free program⁵ that makes use of the communication services' public Application Programming Interface (API).

While scanning CDs, I'm picking songs to listen to via my cell phone⁶. I can see every song in the library, with artist and album information, and album cover art. I can queue up songs for later, or have the songs played immediately. I can search the library for artist, album or song title, which is handy because there's almost 5000 songs in there. The songs are played from another computer the size of a stack of 5-6 CD jewel cases⁷, which is plugged in to my stereo and displays artist, song, album information, along with a graphic display of the album cover and some nifty visual effects⁸, on my TV. And I don't even have to have line of sight to the computer or the stereo to do this; it makes use of my wireless network, so I can do it from the other room.

---

¹ A MacBook Pro 15" dual-core with iSight (and many more features).
² Delicious Library 2, a wonderfully-designed program that seems to exemplify the Apple approach to doing one thing, beautifully.
³ Amazon Marketplace.
⁴ Obviously, I'm talking about Twitter, the public short message site.
⁵ The still-in-beta Nambu.
⁶ Duh, if you haven't been paying attention, I'm talking about my iPhone.
⁷ An Intel-chipped Apple Mac mini.
⁸ Another Apple product - iTunes. • 6:38 AM 0 comments

Needles

"This is my boyfriend, Brian," Lindsey said, introducing me to the blonde nurse whose name I have forgotten¹ and Phyllis, the older nurse who has been caring for Lindsey since she was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis three years ago.

Lindsey was at the clinic for an infusion of Tysabri, a monthly treatment that helps prevent recurrence of symptoms of MS sufferers. I was there to help entertain her and as moral support.

And, also, I was there because I care about her. But I believe today was the first time she has referred to me as her boyfriend.

It's a new relationship. She and I are still noticing many "firsts". I very much like it.

As the blonde nurse helped Lindsey get settled in to her reclining chair, got her some pillows and a blanket, I stood out of the way. The infusion would take about an hour or so, and then she had to wait an hour or so after to ensure that she did not have a reaction to the drug. Today was her 13th infusion. I mugged for her and smiled and blew kisses at her.

I thought about the last time I was in this hospital, last summer, when my sister was having a gall bladder attack and had to have emergency surgery to remove it. It was serious, and her life had been in danger, and our immediate family had rallied around her while she recovered. She had been here for almost a week, and eventually recovered, but that episode had reminded me that hospitals are places that will always be associated with loss, both potential and realized.

Lindsey's monthly infusion helps her deal with her disease. But it is not a cure. I am aware of that, today, in this room, more than ever. I feel Lindsey's bravery and strength and I hope that I am that strong, too, because now that I have met her, I would very much like to get to know her even better. Ours is the kind of relationship I haven't had in a long time; one that makes it easier for me to think of future things.

The nurse whose name I have forgotten prepped Lindsey's arm for the needle. Lindsey has learned that her right arm is better able to take the needle; trying to get a vein in the left arm hurts and is rarely successful. She's learned that the hard way. So today she is clear and direct about which arm is to be used. The nurse cleans the arm, locates the vein she will use, and pulls out the sterile needle and tube and blue connector to which, later, the tube that leads to the clear baggie of Tysabri will be screwed into. The IV. Intravenous.

Lindsey turns her face away, and closes her eyes.

I think of all the times I have given blood, and how I can't watch as it enters my own arm. The quick sting and the sudden warmth, and how the warmth of the blood flowing out of my body and through the clear plastic tube laying along the skin of my forearm feels so strange.

I watch Lindsey's face, eyes closed, and I have to turn away. "I can't watch," I say, trying to put a joking tone into my voice.

"Neither can I," Lindsey says. "You know they do this every month, right?"

"I know. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch." I reply.

"He's got that empathy thing goin' on," the nurse whose name I have forgotten says, and Lindsey opens her eyes and looks at me. I smile. I like that. And it's true.

I love her.

---

¹ Lindsey informed me, after reading a draft of this post, that her name was Julianne • 6:49 AM 12 comments

New Comment Policy

As a way of getting more conversation going here, I've been thinking about a new comment policy. Here are my thoughts:

• As before, I reserve the right to delete or mock any anonymous comments. An anonymous comment is one that doesn't have a profile associated with it, whether that's a pseudonym or actual real-world identity. Note that a pseudonym is not the same as an anonymous comment - I'm known on the internet as Lunar Obverse, and have been for a long time, and tracing that pseudonym back to my real-world identity is fairly easy, so it's as good as my real name.
  
• Likewise, if the comment appears to me to be spam (selling something, or just linking to a site that is not connected to the post or my blog at all), I will delete it. I reserve the right to mock it, but I'm more likely to just make it gone.
  
• I will make every effort to respond to any non-anonymous comment left on my blog. Every single one. I'll try to reply within 24 hours.
  
• I'll use this post to mention that you can track the conversation here: you can get an RSS feed of the all the comments posted here by opening the "All Comments" feed in your RSS reader thingamajig.
  
• If you have a Google account and use it to identify yourself when you comment, you get an option to have follow-up comments on a specific post you've commented on emailed to you.
  
• When I figure out what tag I need to add to my template that enables it, you'll have the ability to follow comments on a specific post via RSS feeder without having to comment. But of course I encourage you to comment, anyway. 'Cause I want more discussion 'round here.
  
• Feel free to use my contact form to email me about stuff you don't want posted publicly, but again, posting a comment that everyone can see can help inform many more people. Just sayin'. And I reserve the right to post any email I get from that form if I think it will be entertaining, informative, or it would give me a warm glow of satisfaction.
  

Finally, let me throw this open to my readers. If you've never commented before, introduce yourself and give me some feedback. What do you like? What don't you like? What would you want to see more of? Less of? How did you find this blog? Do you have a blog of your own - feel free to pimp it out in this thread!

Labels: meta

• 10:32 AM 6 comments

Timing

Having not heard from Ken yet that morning, I decided to give him a call.

He picked up immediately but I heard gravel in his voice.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked.

"Did you not see my email?" he asked in return.

My inbox had been empty all morning. I brought Outlook to the front, and, sure enough, there was an email from Ken saying he was calling in sick.

The timestamp on the email was 7:22 AM.

According to my system clock, it was currently 7:21 AM.

I resisted the urge to say, "You mean the email you're going to send in a minute?" and just apologized for waking him and got off the phone to let him rest. • 11:32 AM 2 comments

Behind but still here

I haven't watched any TV this week. Of course, it's only Wednesday. And I haven't blogged, either. I am so behind on the internets; I feel out of touch.

Are pictures of cats with captions in little-kid-speak still funny?

Are Hollywood starlets still showing off their panties and boobies while climbing in and out of cars?

Are people still downloading all the free illegal music that's out there? Are there still middlemen who have managed to insert themselves between the artists and the fans still complaining and using the legal system to extort both ends of the creative chain, too?

Are people still arguing about politics? Religion? Star Trek vs. Star Wars? Good, good. Good to hear.

Are people still booking their own flights to far away destinations like Hawaii, London, Bakersfield?

Are the poor saps who have legitimately figured out how to enlarge penises and boobies still completely unable to get their message out via HTML-based poorly-formatted email? Man, those guys have it rough. They're right up there with the folk who want us all to love (their) God or country or armed forces and have only the email system and every email address in their contact list to do it with.

In fact, I'm so out of it, I can't even think up any more internet memes right now. I think I'll go tweet that. • 11:46 AM 2 comments

Back

I'm back from my mini-vacation. Just sayin'.

I'll be back to posting at least once a day Monday through Friday, with optional posts on the weekends, I promise, at least until I stop doing that.

Even though my surfing levels were greatly depreciated over my vacation, I did still notice some bits of this and that on the internets. Here's a few to help kick-start this sunny, warm, spring Portland morning¹.

• I've had, in draft form, a five-part series on "what constitutes evidence of God?" for months now. I may dust it off and finish writing it someday, but in the meantime, Deacon Duncan is starting a series on the similar topic of examining the positive evidence against God. Should be fascinating.
  
• Via Kottke comes an article from The New Scientist that examines 13 scientific anomalies, which are fascinating. Please note, though, that none of the 13 things on this list are evidence of the supernatural - mainly because, when we find out what's going on in each case, we will be using rational thinking, logic, and the scientific process to find out, and almost certainly each answer will be natural, not supernatural.
  
• I'm continuing to use twitter (as "lunarobverse", and, at least for the past day, Nambu, while still in beta, is performing really well and not being crash-y and giving me the ability to collect my follows into smaller groups. Kinda awesome.
  
• I love Penelope Trunk and the fact that she says stuff that people think but rarely say in person, like how she thinks of dating as a way to improve her online brand and how that's not different from what some women have done throughout history.
  
• Political activists The Yes Men are saving the world again.
  
• President Obama addresses the grave dangers of Wild Things, and Where They Are:
  
  
  

¹ Your morning may vary. • 11:43 AM 0 comments

My email to President Obama (a series)

Is it OK for an ordinary citizen to escape a trial for a felony (e.g., murder, armed robbery, rape) in Federal court using the same rationale that the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, is using to avoid its positive obligation to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by the United States government; to wit, that we must look forward and not backward, and that any investigation into such crimes and attempt to uphold the law of the land is simply angry revenge-seeking?

How far do you think an ordinary citizen would get with that defense in Federal court? Why does the Obama Administration feel that that is an adequate defense for obvious war crimes like torture, indefinite imprisonment of non-combatants, and pre-emptive war? Why is such a defense allowed only for a few in our free society? Surely a citizen accused of a most hateful crime would be willing to affirm that the crimes that had taken place shall not occur again, if they could be relieved of the obligation to face the consequences of their actions? Surely anyone can justify a past action to be in their own best interest, or the best interests of society as a whole? Of course anyone could view the judgment of a jury and court of law as "a force to divide us" or simply an action taken in "strong views and emotions", instead of, you know, the price of disobeying the law.

In fact, even having to make that argument in court, before a Federal judge, means that the ordinary citizen has a greater burden than the civil servants, appointed officials, and elected political leaders, that have designed, justified, implemented, and carried out detention and interrogation schemes that violate international treaty and our own laws. Detention and interrogation schemes that were in fact denounced by military leaders and civilian intelligence agents, in addition to being denounced by Senator Barack Obama, candidate for the United States Presidency, campaigning on a platform of hope and change.

As a side note, by what legal rationale are non-military civilian employees of the CIA allowed to adopt the defense that they were "only following orders" when it comes to acts that, if pursued by any other world government, would be considered torture and a violation of our international treaties and our own country's laws? I'm just curious.

Labels: lettertoObama

• 6:16 AM 0 comments

Island time

As of 4:00 PM last night, I am officially on vacation from work. I plan to do almost nothing but spend some time with Lindsey and not think about work.

I am, in fact, not thinking about work and spending time with Lindsey even as I type this. We're sitting on a comfortable couch, each with our laptops (she an HP and me on my new sexy thing), drinking coffee and sharing funny things we find.

She just brought me coffee. 'Cause she's awesome like that.

At any rate, I may not be posting much 'round here until vacation is over. No promises.

I will probably be Tweeting, so feel free to catch up with me over there. • 11:24 AM 0 comments

Sombrero

Lindsey and I had dinner at the Iron Horse Friday night with Hollie and Jeff. Hollie is Lindsey's and my mutual friend; Jeff is Hollie's boyfriend.

It was fun, especially because Hollie wasn't entirely sure what Lindsey's and my status is: friends, dating, what? She was surprised and happy for both of us when we confirmed that we are dating and "a couple".

I will have much more to say about Lindsey in the future, but for now, it is sufficient to say that I am very happy that she and I met. Very happy.

Hollie was the spark that led to Lindsey and I meeting; she saw us spending a lot of time talking back and forth on Twitter and basically told us to get a room.

In another sense, it was Twitter that brought us to together, which makes us the first Twitter couple that we're aware of. Hollie was impressed with that, too, Friday night at dinner.

But the highlight of the night for me was when we each took turns wearing the sombrero.

Hollie noticed the sombrero sitting in a corner. I mentioned always wanting to bring one back from Mexico but never having enough room. I forget who mentioned going to get it and wearing it but when Lindsey and Hollie wondered if Jeff or I would go get it, I replied "Oh, I'd just ask our waiter to bring it over."

When Richard, our waiter, came over later to ask if he could bring us anything else, Hollie asked about the sombrero and at the same time I said, "Yes! Can you bring us the sombrero, please?"

Richard was confused for a moment until we pointed it out, on a shelf in the corner. He brought it over, and showed it to us. "I have been photographed wearing this while naked." Suddenly I was a bit unsure about wearing it myself, but, hey, it was on his head, not... anywhere else.

It went first on Hollie's head, and out came the camera phones. It went around the table, each of us mugging and taking pictures in turn.

Yes, there are pictures. No, you can't see them.

OK, just mine:
• 12:40 PM 6 comments

Memory test

After the topic turned to classic Star Trek episodes, Kevin and I sat around, remembering.

First we remembered the Star Trek fight song, as heard in "Amok Time", also known as the "Spock gets horny" episode:



Kevin said, "When would they use that song?"

I replied, "Oh, that's easy. Whenever they would fight Klingons."

Kevin searched his memory. "But I don't remember any specific episodes with Klingons."

"Well," I said, "there's 'Day of the Dove'."

"What's that episode about?"

"That's the one where the Enterprise blows up a Klingon ship and takes all the Klingons aboard as prisoners. Then, unbeknownst to them, an energy being shows up and releases the Klingons from the brig, and makes everybody fight. Because it feeds off the anger and hatred from when they fight. Kirk figures it out and they have to try to drive off the creature with laughter and love."¹

"Oh, right," Kevin said. "I remember another episode where they were in a cafeteria-type setting, and there were Klingons on one side, and the Enterprise crew were on the other, and they had a fight."

"That was in 'The Trouble With Tribbles'! Universally acknowledged to be the funniest classic Star Trek episode." I said, then added, "intentionally funny, I mean."

"Ah, yes! That was a funny episode! And the one with the flying vomit things..." Kevin said.

"Right. 'Operation - Annihilate'" I said. "It's so funny how many of those old episodes' titles I remember!"

"You. Are. Amazing!"

"Thanks! I have committed an awful lot of memory to classic Star Trek. It's what I did when I was younger instead of making friends."

"You know," he said, "I've never see the Khaaaan! episode. The original one."

"'Space Seed'" I said, confidently.

Kevin laughed. "You could be telling me any random words and I would have to believe you. It's not like I can check you."

"Seriously, I really do remember a lot of them! I could write a blog post and link them all, and you'd see. C'mon, try to stump me."

"OK, let's see... There was one with a square robot thing... and he was doing something to the crew, looking for something..." Kevin held his hands up to indicate the shape and size of the robot thing."

"Sure!" I said, "that was 'The Changeling'. It was very similar to the first Star Trek movie, actually: a space probe gets damaged, and repaired by an advanced machine intelligence and sent back out. The probe finds the Enterprise, and is now artificially intelligent, and mistakes Kirk for his creator, Jackson Roykirk."

"Ohhh, he got confused."

"Right! Because his memory banks were damaged and they didn't put him back together right."

Kevin held his hands up, palms outward, fingers spread apart. "What about... the suction cups?"

"...suction cups?"

"The monster with the suction cups." He was still wiggling his fingers and curling them like claws. Claws or suction cups.

"Ohhhhh... you mean the salt monster!" I knew the episode... but the title wasn't coming to me.

Kevin watched me, his eyes getting wider. His smile grew, too. The pause in conversation lengthened as I said... nothing.

"Ah-ha!" Kevin stood up and thrust his hands in the air. "I win!"

"...annnnnnnnnd that's how my blog post will end - with me getting bested."²

---

¹ I did that from memory last night. Here's a summary; how did I do?
² By the way, the episode was 'The Man Trap'. • 12:32 PM 0 comments

Libertarian Co-Worker has some funny ideas

When there was a lull in a team meeting today, while Ken was writing something on the white board, our Libertarian Co-Worker (LCW) decided to make a statement about how we, the people, could get out from under the "crushing debt" that our political leadership is imposing on us.

All the states should secede from the Union.

See, it's perfect, because it sticks all the Beltway folk in the Federal District of Columbia with all the trillions of dollars of debt! And all the individual states could then carry on our merry way, free and clear and able to achieve our own, individual manifest destiny! SEE??

I replied, "Yes, because, obviously, everyone going their own separate way is how humanity has achieved so much in such a short amount of time, from science to social progress to art and literature and music. I mean, duh."

He fum-fuhed in return, and sputtered out something about how Sen. Wyden and Rep. Wu had no authority to saddle him with this crushing debt. Before I could point out that whole "representative government" thing, LCW said, to my utter astonishment,

"Well, Ron Wyden or David Wu haven't ever come and asked me my opinion about the things they've voted on. That gives them no authority in my eyes."

...and he was apparently completely sincere when he said it.

So just because the Congressman hasn't come to personally ask him which way to vote invalidates the votes they cast?

Whoa. That's some major-grade crazy right there. • 6:21 AM 2 comments

No topic

I don't have a topic in mind for this blog post. I'm just writing, and hoping that something will happen.

Is something happening yet? No?

There's a bunch of stuff happening, but nothing I'm ready to share with the entire world (or the small subset that reads my blog) yet. Because those things aren't just about me. They're my friends' events, and as much as I have thought about them, I can't figure out a way to just talk about my own feelings and not reveal things about my friends that is not my business to reveal.

So there's me. What have I been doing lately? Not a lot that doesn't involve my friends. I've been running, every other day, like normal. I ran in the Race for the Roses 5K last Sunday, and did OK (My chip time was 0:28:57, for an average mile pace of 9:19), nowhere near a PR but better than my training runs lately. And it was a beautiful day for a run!

In fact, the weather the past few days has been a mood-brightener for sure. I feel like it's been years since I've been warm. Even today, with a temperature of 54° F, feels better than the cold that seems like it's been here forever.

I just want to be warm.

Luckily, for the most part, I have been happy with life lately. I have good friends, I have my health (except for these stupid allergies), and things are warming up. • 9:39 AM 0 comments

Poster boy

The "poster frame" of a video is the picture you see when the video hasn't been played yet. It's what you see when it's not moving or playing. Sometimes it's the first frame of the movie; sometimes it's an image specifically chosen to represent the entire video.

If you go to KGW's The Square page today before around 7:00 PM, the video embedded on the page has a most peculiar poster frame.

Yeah. It's me!

Very fun to see my own face on TV last night. About 2.3 seconds after that segment aired, my dad called, laughing and asking me if I'd seen it. My dad normally watches MSNBC but had seen my earlier post and tuned in.

I had, in fact, watched the show last night to see how my quote turned out. I didn't realize my voice sounded like that, but Steph assures me that I sounded great.

I'd love to embed the video here for all eternity but KGW (or more accurately, Belo, their corporate overlords) apparently do not allow such Web 2.0 shenanigans so here is a link to last night's show (sorry there's an ad before it). • 8:55 AM 0 comments

Stuff for sale

It's Spring and that means spring cleaning and a garage sale!

Sadly, my apartment has no garage but thankfully the internet can do anything, so I'm posting these things here to give my blog-friends and blog-snarkers alike a shot at these amazingly valuable items¹.

I'm not posting a price here since the idea is to get rid of them, and make some beer money. Any reasonable offer takes them (but keep in mind I have some idea what these go for on eBay or Craigslist, so don't expect to get them for free).

I've linked the leather jacket to pictures of the actual jacket; all other items are linked to a product or specification page since I'm bein' lazy. I'll put more work into it if I have to actually post to Craigslist or eBay; like I said, y'all get the first shot at these so you also have to deal with my not wanting to take lots of pictures of all this crap - er, fine merchandise. :)

• M-Audio Keystation 61es This is a USB MIDI keyboard, perfect for use with Garageband or similar programs for making music. Sale pending on this item.
  
• Trailblazer (no-name) 18-Speed Mountain Bike (I don't have a link for this because I can't find this brand-name on the internets.) It's a good first bike and comes equipped with the softest, most incredibly padded gel seat I have ever seen in my life.
  
• M. Julian (Wilson's Leather) brown distressed leather coat, size XL
  
• Belkin Wireless G router A superfluous wireless router I no longer need.
  
• Irregular back issues of 2600 (A Hacker Quarterly), going back to Vol. 13 (Summer 1996) Re-live the early(er) days of the digital underground!
  
• Vintage Macintosh Portable (non-functioning, but includes power supply, all manuals and "carrying" case) Museum-quality! ...if that means it doesn't have to power up or, y'know, do anything. This has been sold.
  
• Star Wars trilogy Widescreen VHS Box Set - Own the ORIGINALS - before CGI and before Greedo shot first! This is the box set released in 1994.
  

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¹ Items' value may vary depending on the individual. • 6:49 AM 0 comments

Who says Twitter is useless?

After grabbing a bite to eat for lunch, I wandered over to Pioneer Courthouse Square, a.k.a., Portland's living room, to grab some free cake. The Square is celebrating 25 years of existence today, but since brick public spaces don't eat cake, there was plenty for everyone else.

Several people from Twitter said they were going to be there, so after posting a picture of my free cake (I got a corner piece! Score!), I wandered around looking for other Twitter-enabled folk.

And, of course, the Queen of Portland Twitter, Steph Stricklen, was there, so I stopped to say hi. We'd met last month, in person, anyway; we also know each other from Twitter. Steph is a force to be reckoned with, someone who has fallen in love with the connections that using Twitter can bring, and someone who treats everyone she meets as a long-lost friend. Which is nice!

But then she had her cameraman (whose name I did not get! I'm embarrassed) turn the lens on me for a question: what's my favorite thing about the Square? That was her question for today's Live @ 7 show. That's less nice! I hadn't shaved today and probably still had cake frosting on my face and my allergies are bugging me... All those thoughts went through my head while I thought up an answer.

I like peoplewatching at the Square, so my answer reflected that. I love seeing all the different kinds of people - people in business suits, punk rockers, everyday casual Portlanders, the evangelical Christians, the hacky-sack players... all of 'em, in one place, day in and day out.

Twitter has now gotten me an inside look at a TV station, an amazing new friend, and free cake. Which makes Twitter the best thing ever. • 12:55 PM 0 comments

Communal

As we talked, and enjoyed each other's company, in the open, crowded dining room of Andina, she and I each picked away at our fried yucca: tasty, a starchy potato-like plant fried and served with a mint salsa, in lieu of bread, as part of the restaurants' gluten-free menu.

The two ladies at the table next to us had asked what they were, and Lindsey had explained. She was on a gluten-free diet, and I had ordered from the same menu so that we could share if we wanted to.

The yucca was delicious, but filling, and as our main course continued to not arrive, our towers of yucca sticks, stacked Jenga-like on our plates, grew shorter and shorter, until I said, "I should stop filling up on these."

Lindsey pushed her plate away - and towards me. "I know, I need to stop eating them and save room for dinner."

My plate had fewer total yucca sticks on it, but then I was running a 5K the next morning, so I rationalized it as gluten-free carbo-loading. Still, I didn't need that many carbs.

"I wonder if those ladies would like to try them?" she had suggested, and I agreed. We piled all the remaining sticks onto one plate, and she called out, "Excuse me?"

The women looked startled at this protocol-breaching event, but quickly warmed up when it was clear Lindsey was offering food.

Sharing food with strangers made it feel even more like a communal dining experience. • 6:22 AM 3 comments

Parting

Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend. Here's something funny Lindsey sent me. Maybe it'll make you smile as it did me.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures • 9:17 PM 0 comments

Run away

Everyone dreams of running away. Don't they? I'm not sure I'd understand someone who didn't have stray thoughts of just chucking it all and high-tailing it out of here - wherever here may be: this town, this job, this humdrum, boring, gray, grindstone-filled world with wheels that require shoulders and finishing lines that need eying.

I'm sure people exist who are always happy where they are. There may even be many of them. And more power to them! But for me there's always a little voice in the back of my head wondering if there isn't someplace better to be.

Don't worry; I've got a job, I like my neighborhood, I've got my family and several good close trusted friends. I'm not going anywhere. For now.

I do have dreams, though, of places that might be nice to run off to. Many of them warm, most of them known for their attractive people and delicious foods. Some of them poor, in need of someone with a strong back and a bit of cash, someone who could do some good by the simple act of building a home or working in a field.

Back in 2004, as the presidential election drew near, while most progressives were joking about running off to Canada if #43 won, I dreamed instead of running away to Brazil. It's an elected democracy, the fifth most populous in the world. It values citizenship; voting is compulsory. It's a country that is based on the social value of labor - about the most progressive idea ever. And it has the benefit of not having any extradition treaty with the United States. I actually looked up how to become a citizen there: basically, have money or capital totaling US$10,000 or more and be willing to set up a business, and you're in like Flynn. And, of course, it's a warm, tropical country, filled with beautiful people.

Of course, I don't have to give up my citizenship to run away. I have written before about my love of New Orleans. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I considered moving there to help rebuild; a dream, an idealistic one, but one I did not carry out. But Crescent City, the Big Easy, has to this day a pull on me. It's a fair distance from Portland, and could not be more different; full of music, friendly people, amazing food everywhere, and a deep history and striking architecture. On my very first visit to the city, as I sat in a bar with my friends near the end of Rue Bourbon, I looked across the street and saw a sign saying a room was for rent. I wondered aloud at what it would take to ditch the job and move in above this amazing street. My friends assured me I would soon get tired of the nightly drunken revelries. Perhaps, I thought, or perhaps it would inspire me to write that great American novel that to this day resides in my heart.

I am sure that my dad infected me with the dream of running away. When I was a kid, the road trip was our family's preferred weekend adventure. Pile in the car, maybe mom would make some sandwiches and maybe we would find food in some cafe or diner out there, and we were off. Down to the Pacific, up into the mountains, along some upper branch of the Clackamas or Sandy rivers... away we would go.

In my heart and mind, a little piece of me will always be out there looking for the next best thing. • 6:51 AM 1 comments

Fashion

Sorry for no new post this morning. Here's a little picture to tide you over.


Last night I picked up my new glasses. Whatever happened to "new glasses in an hour?" Mine took two days.

Immediately after getting them I took a couple of quick pictures and posted them on the internet. I'm Web 2.0 like that. Plus, friends were clamoring to see them.

I particularly like how I managed, without trying, to get Nordstrom's name in the background. • 6:44 AM 4 comments

Simple logic

From a computer training I'm taking today:

"Error messages will only appear after the LCD has been initialized. If the LCD is initialized, this is an indication that the base system is working properly."

At first glance, this appears to be reducible to: error messages will only appear when the base system is working.

You might think that makes no sense, but what you would be forgetting is that statement includes the word "base" - the base system is working. Silly computer tech, things can still go wrong, even wildly wrong, even though the base system is working.

That's what separates logicians and untrained techs from the best and the brightest. • 9:33 AM 0 comments

Mistaken Shared Identity

Waitress: Has anyone ever told you, you kind of look like David Sedaris?

Me: ... No. No one has ever told me that.

Waitress: It's true. You look like David Sedaris.

Me: Thank you.

Waitress: At least... you have the quiet, calm demeanor that I associate with him.

Me: Didn't David Sedaris kill himself?

Waitress: I... I don't think so.

Me: Then who was that? Author. Recently killed himself.

Waitress: I think you mean David Foster Wallace.

Me: ...who I do not look like. Or looked like. • 6:46 AM 0 comments