The snow has disappeared for the second time after we had a new coating on Saturday night. Karen is getting hyperactive about wanting to place up birdfeeders with poles; I told her to wait until sometime in April, which reminds me I should plant the New Jersey Tea plants whose seeds I have placed in the refrigerator in order to scarify them.
I completed Juvenal's 16 Satires this morning on the bus; I think I might take a stab at composing one; perhaps an addendum in the style of him. I discussed this once in a drunken revelry at one of the Oregon brewfests to one of my friends. It would be his 18th Satire (the 16th is not complete, but he could complain about that, implying that the Christians were responsible for its absence and a 17th one when they destroyed the Library of Alexandria in the 4th Century (?) AD.) The 18th would be situated from his grave with his dust complaining about his current state and death; even in death he could find complaint.
I saw a car today waiting at the bus stop that had a personal license plate that read "44EVER." Brett's acolytes still exist.
My listening selections from today on my iPod: T. Rex (Electric Warrior), The Clash (US version of 1st album).
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
March 27, 2009
After work, Karen and I went to visit some friends who I had met when working at Union South around 1989/1990. The two are married after having met at Union South.
Speaking of Union South, we drove by it. The entire area surrounding is blocked off, and many of the buildings around it are now fully razed. The north side of the building is serving as a dumping point for all the scrap being pulled out of the building; it looks very surreal, seeing this huge pile scaling the building to its third floor with the areas windows removed; soon the entire structure will be gone.
Our friends have a beautiful town house on Franklin Street, which is not far from the Capitol. We stayed for a few drinks, caught up on some old business - to which I must relate that I thought one of the University Miscreants - Tunnel Bob - had recently passed away. He has not, as I saw him lurking around a bus stop near the University; he looks the same, sort of like a skinny version of James Taylor (now that's skinny). Same old clothes: plaid shirt, baggy cargo pants, scrofulous, pock-marked face. I am not sure if he can get through all the University tunnels anymore as there is so much construction going on at the University.
We finished our drinks at the townhouse and went to an Indonesian restaurant named Bandung, after a city in Indonesia. The food was excellent, and gave me a new appreciation for green papaya, which I have always relished in a salad. We then sallied forth to the Essenhaus to have a pint of beer, and reminisce on Union South and talk about their experiences when they lived in London and Singapore, but followed their hearts back to Madison. We each drank one Hofbrauhaus Maibock, 4 total ($20). I love German beer but even more so when it is out of a tap, and the Essenhaus has over 40 German beers on tap at any one time.
Our friends have joined another population of all our friends in allying themselves to iPhones as their primary phone. I have always tried to stay away from cell phones, as I do think they become intrusive, to paraphrase Thoreau 'we do not use cell phones, cell phones use us.' (His item was railroads.) But, they are very seductive in their design and overall functionality; I dunno . . . theses little devices could be the start of squelching my Luddite tendencies.
Speaking of Union South, we drove by it. The entire area surrounding is blocked off, and many of the buildings around it are now fully razed. The north side of the building is serving as a dumping point for all the scrap being pulled out of the building; it looks very surreal, seeing this huge pile scaling the building to its third floor with the areas windows removed; soon the entire structure will be gone.
Our friends have a beautiful town house on Franklin Street, which is not far from the Capitol. We stayed for a few drinks, caught up on some old business - to which I must relate that I thought one of the University Miscreants - Tunnel Bob - had recently passed away. He has not, as I saw him lurking around a bus stop near the University; he looks the same, sort of like a skinny version of James Taylor (now that's skinny). Same old clothes: plaid shirt, baggy cargo pants, scrofulous, pock-marked face. I am not sure if he can get through all the University tunnels anymore as there is so much construction going on at the University.
We finished our drinks at the townhouse and went to an Indonesian restaurant named Bandung, after a city in Indonesia. The food was excellent, and gave me a new appreciation for green papaya, which I have always relished in a salad. We then sallied forth to the Essenhaus to have a pint of beer, and reminisce on Union South and talk about their experiences when they lived in London and Singapore, but followed their hearts back to Madison. We each drank one Hofbrauhaus Maibock, 4 total ($20). I love German beer but even more so when it is out of a tap, and the Essenhaus has over 40 German beers on tap at any one time.
Our friends have joined another population of all our friends in allying themselves to iPhones as their primary phone. I have always tried to stay away from cell phones, as I do think they become intrusive, to paraphrase Thoreau 'we do not use cell phones, cell phones use us.' (His item was railroads.) But, they are very seductive in their design and overall functionality; I dunno . . . theses little devices could be the start of squelching my Luddite tendencies.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
March 26, 2009
On my way home from work, I picked up some assorted items from the store, including a 6-pack of Old Chub from Oskar Blues Brewery, located in Lyons, CO. Canned beer can be good, and good for you. It was nice, a bit sweet, though, but by the second can I don't know if I noticed much of anything, given the 8% ABV.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
March 25, 2009
We have a 'squatter' on our land, a little bunny rabbit that has decided to hang out in our yard around 630PM for the past two nights.
Our other 'squatters' of Asian lady beetles living inside our house have seemed to dwindle down now; they must have left our house due to the warming temps outside. Robins are now everywhere rummaging around in the grass, plucking out worms.
I have begun to read one of my favorite books, Juvenal's 16 Satires. One of my favorite lines from Satire II:
- cum tot abortivis fecundam Iulia vulvam solveret et patruo similes effunderet offas -
"His niece (Domitian's), a fertile creature, had her row of abortions, and every embryo lump was the living spit of Uncle."
Our other 'squatters' of Asian lady beetles living inside our house have seemed to dwindle down now; they must have left our house due to the warming temps outside. Robins are now everywhere rummaging around in the grass, plucking out worms.
I have begun to read one of my favorite books, Juvenal's 16 Satires. One of my favorite lines from Satire II:
- cum tot abortivis fecundam Iulia vulvam solveret et patruo similes effunderet offas -
"His niece (Domitian's), a fertile creature, had her row of abortions, and every embryo lump was the living spit of Uncle."
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
March 24, 2009
It rained pretty much all day.
After work I installed a new printer/fax/copier/scanner ($150), as our older one pretty much was affected by the move, and officially passed on to printer heaven on Sunday. So, now there are 2 things that were affected by the move, the other being Karen's print of New Milford, CT, which had a cracked glass frame now being replaced at the same frame place that is doing the Bridges of Portland framing. Only 2 things of note, though, damaged by the move. Chuck, Carl, and I did a great job packing; all those years of Tetris really did help in fitting rectangular boxes together and such.
Elliott is beginning to trend in mass to the area of 220-225 grams. That is about 90% of what his average mass should be for his species. He is doing so well, and is back to being challenging and assertive with both Karen and I; he is such a hit at the UW Vet Hospital; coinciding with our move here, the UW Vet School is conducting a study on his disorder, so he gets free healthcare, and mixes with the young lady Vets; the guy has only been here a handful of months and he is attracting the eyes of all the young ladies more than I ever did - it figures.
I watched some of the President's news conference tonight. I don't know if I would like being at such an event, what with all those bright lights and cramped spaces. It must get real hot in there, and probably very smelly when all those press people and their coiffed hairdos, special little facial hair patterns, and freshly dry-cleaned apparel become mixed with their sweat; maybe with the extinction of newsreporters there will be less of their bodies in that room, perhaps someday the President will attend a conference room with just iPhones in the seats.
After work I installed a new printer/fax/copier/scanner ($150), as our older one pretty much was affected by the move, and officially passed on to printer heaven on Sunday. So, now there are 2 things that were affected by the move, the other being Karen's print of New Milford, CT, which had a cracked glass frame now being replaced at the same frame place that is doing the Bridges of Portland framing. Only 2 things of note, though, damaged by the move. Chuck, Carl, and I did a great job packing; all those years of Tetris really did help in fitting rectangular boxes together and such.
Elliott is beginning to trend in mass to the area of 220-225 grams. That is about 90% of what his average mass should be for his species. He is doing so well, and is back to being challenging and assertive with both Karen and I; he is such a hit at the UW Vet Hospital; coinciding with our move here, the UW Vet School is conducting a study on his disorder, so he gets free healthcare, and mixes with the young lady Vets; the guy has only been here a handful of months and he is attracting the eyes of all the young ladies more than I ever did - it figures.
I watched some of the President's news conference tonight. I don't know if I would like being at such an event, what with all those bright lights and cramped spaces. It must get real hot in there, and probably very smelly when all those press people and their coiffed hairdos, special little facial hair patterns, and freshly dry-cleaned apparel become mixed with their sweat; maybe with the extinction of newsreporters there will be less of their bodies in that room, perhaps someday the President will attend a conference room with just iPhones in the seats.
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 23, 2009
It was absolutely brooding outside today; all dark and gloomy and rainy; at least Antiques Roadshow was a new episode from Wichita, KS.
I am not sure how I would do on that type of show; I mean look at some of those people who are handling the precious things (or not so) of your household or ancestry. I am sure some of those items and the appraisers begin to smell under heat of the bright lights, especially that one tubby guy who likes toys, not to mention some of the people there.
I am not sure how I would do on that type of show; I mean look at some of those people who are handling the precious things (or not so) of your household or ancestry. I am sure some of those items and the appraisers begin to smell under heat of the bright lights, especially that one tubby guy who likes toys, not to mention some of the people there.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
March 22, 2009
It was sunny and warm again, so I worked on cleaning the upper floor's windows today. I don't think they have been cleaned for at least a year, so it was a real chore getting the windows out and placing them back in.
I watched the WI/Xavier basketball game nearly to the end. I can't say I was too disappointed as the badgers put up a good fight, it's just those Catholic boys know how to expend the energy when needed with such amazing reserve. Could it be due to their God commanding them not to touch themselves? I wonder.
The chipmunk was back at our window feeder again; several times. They must gearing up for a family as each time the cheeks were full of food. We tried chasing them away, but you have to physically get at them in order for them to run off; I suppose if you have hungry little mouths to feed you will do anything to satisfy that need.
I watched the WI/Xavier basketball game nearly to the end. I can't say I was too disappointed as the badgers put up a good fight, it's just those Catholic boys know how to expend the energy when needed with such amazing reserve. Could it be due to their God commanding them not to touch themselves? I wonder.
The chipmunk was back at our window feeder again; several times. They must gearing up for a family as each time the cheeks were full of food. We tried chasing them away, but you have to physically get at them in order for them to run off; I suppose if you have hungry little mouths to feed you will do anything to satisfy that need.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
March 21, 2009
Today we went to have our Portland Bridges print framed. This print was given to me by my former co-workers at The Standard, all sweet people.
A chipmunk has taken all the seeds from our window birdfeeder, storing them in his mouth as he gathered them.
The victory last night of WI over FSU still looms in the mind; hopefully they can beat Xavier, but you never know as those Catholic teams have God on their side; at least most of the time.
It reached 67 degrees Fahrenheit today. Let's see 73 last week, and now this? I like it, but am worried this is some trend like all the climate-warming kids talk so seriously about.
For lunch, we ate our leftover Pizza ($15) from last night. For dinner, we had take-out Thai ($28).
A chipmunk has taken all the seeds from our window birdfeeder, storing them in his mouth as he gathered them.
The victory last night of WI over FSU still looms in the mind; hopefully they can beat Xavier, but you never know as those Catholic teams have God on their side; at least most of the time.
It reached 67 degrees Fahrenheit today. Let's see 73 last week, and now this? I like it, but am worried this is some trend like all the climate-warming kids talk so seriously about.
For lunch, we ate our leftover Pizza ($15) from last night. For dinner, we had take-out Thai ($28).
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