taste

weird. i was sitting here watching a movie and suddenly i have sense, like a memory or something. it's a taste and texture and but with no picture and so I think about it a little more and it's like trying to remember a dream. then I realize, it's a strawberry, fresh from the vine and a little hard. i don't know why that thought just came to my mind. completely random.

I found it...

In case anyone's looking for it.  The sun is shining on Fox Hollow, east side of Spencer's Butte. In fact, if you climbed to the top it would be sunny all over.

the turkeys are out in force

I saw two groups today within a 10 min span. These guys were on Willamette... and so were the others.  It's a long street.

4-Way Audio/Video Selector Switch

Went to RadioShack the other day. The culmination of my living room A/V improvement venture. This is way better than: 1) pulling the bookcase out from the wall 2) pulling the video wires out of one machine and plugging them into another 3) pulling the audio out of one and into another 4) pushing bookcase back and re-centering the projector screen. Now I just have to push one button! Gadgets are fun.

Don't swap cables, just press a button! 

Simplify your TV-audio/video source selection with this 4-way selector switch... RadioShack

beautiful aaaaaaaaaaall day

• sun!
• warm
• big blue sky
• shorts
• sandals
• convertible

Nonstop weekend!  And it just keeps getting better.  This feels like three Saturdays in a row. And we still have sunday, tomorrow, which is lookin like it's gonna be nice too. I took the top off the Lotus and went cruising around ;-)  I came back and txted Leah that it was nice out.  Apparently it's thirty-something in CT.  brrr.  

Skype! 
Someone mentioned video phones (like the Jetsons) to Leah and she was asking me about them. I told her SKYPE! It's free. 

Me: Skype!

Leah: Download...? (confusing, hard, abort, abort)

Me: Just try it. I'll send you the link.

Leah: Ok.

Me: Got it?

Leah: Yeah, what now.
Me: What does it say on the screen.
Leah: (reading)
Me: yeah, do that.
Leah: what next?
Me: what does it say now?
Leah: (reading)
Me: yeah, do that.
Leah: Ok, it's done. What now?
Me: what's it say?
Leah: create an account.
Me: ok, do that.
Leah: now what?
Me: Sign In.
Leah: Coooooooool!!!!! Video! 
Me: Ok, gotta go, the sun is going down.  

The top is still off the car from earlier and I cruise down Beacon where I snap the above shot while sitting in the Lotus at a stop sign. No roof = easy access. Then a car pulls up behind me so I take off. 

Usually when there's not a lot of clouds in the sky is makes for a more subdued sunset, but this was not that way at all. I could see beams of light projecting into the sky like search lights. Insane. Love, love, love it. Oh and the sliver of moon... 

I drove around with the top off and watched the stars come out. I had my warm NWMA hoodie on. 

I have a newfound respect for what a hood can do. Maybe it was just living in So Cal for so long, or maybe it was having hair (lol), but I never realized the benefit they could produce. Not until several weeks ago when I walked into a cold night with two hoodies on. It felt like it wasn't that cold out.  So I got in the car and started home.  I pulled the hoods off and felt this sudden cold envelop my head! Yikes. I pulled them back on and wore them all the way home. Ever since that I've realized the benefit of the hood and have been making good use of mine. Especially in the cold with my shaved head.

When I got home I skyped Leah again who I had abruptly ditched for the sunset. I gave her a walking tour of my house by caring around the laptop with the built in webcam.  Then we discovered a great use for video calls: practicing ASL! Yeah!!!!!!!!! We did weather words today.

turkeys on willamette

Today I saw 8 turkeys crossing the road... very slowly.

P.S. No comments about the lack of artistic ability.
Just think of it as interpretive.

cooking dreams

Someone woke me up by calling this morning and in the middle of the conversation (who knows why) I suddenly remembered what I was dreaming about. Cooking!! I think it stemmed from a conversation I had with Jemma the the night before.

thanksgiving dinner: round 2

I have to say that my jacket now smells like thanksgiving dinner.
I wonder how long that will last.

thanksgiving dinner: round 1

• gave Cade a ride in the Lotus: 2nd cam at 6k rpm = fun
• showed Cade and Con some jiu-jitsu, also fun

today I saw...

• wild turkeys roaming in the fog on Willamette
• crazy people wearing t-shirts and no jackets
• the sun
• $1.99 gas

it's dark already?

Maybe I should not read National Geographic at 4 in the morning as it does not make me fall asleep. Turning the phone off has been really helpful though. This was the first "night" I slept completely through... till 1:16pm. You could say that i missed most of the daylight, and I did. But was only gray out there anyway so it wasn't a big loss. Actually the sun did peak through into by backyard in the late afternoon. It never does that early. But staying up till 5 seems too late/early. I need to figure out a way to make myself sleepier at night. I guess I will just make myself get up earlier, that should make me more tired the next day. It totally seems like the moring to me, at least to my body. It's a strange dichotomy when I look at the window. Off to bjj now.

way too easy

Staying up late is way too easy. I don't feel tired at all, but i'm going to go to bed anyway. I think I got into the habbit of staying up later when I went to bed at 6 twice last week. I'm pretty sure I went to sleep at almost 5 last night. It's a good thing I turned off my phone cause there was a voice mail and a text when I turned it back on. Ok, so now I will stop typeing and turn this thing off so I will go to bed. Not really cause I want to but it just seems like the most sensible thing to do.

fire

Captured the blast thanks to the autoshoot function on the camera. If you click on the picture below you can also see the red glow of the fire just starting to come out of the revolver.

finished!

Got all my jobs done. Very satisfying. Especially getting that last javascript after 2.5 hours... since I don't actually know javascript ;-)

This time I'm leaving my phone off while I sleep. Yesterday three people called me while I was trying to sleep. Don't call before noon people.

You're not my mother. Oh, wait...

Hysterical instant message conversation in which I think I'm talking to my Aunt Susie (Susan) when I'm really talking to my mom (also Susan) ...

[7:12:10 PM] Susan says: Are you going to come to Thanksgiving on Thursday? We're just trying to plan.

[7:12:33 PM] Annie says: no, i'm going to my moms. and then later to my friend jill's

[7:12:58 PM] Susan says: your mom's?  I thought I was your mom.

[7:13:12 PM] Annie says: crap, confused. I thoght you were susie. lol

[7:13:27 PM] Susan says: I admit to having been a little puzzled there.

[7:13:35 PM] Annie says: i was talking to her yesterday and she just came online before you im'd me

[7:13:42 PM] Susan says: oh.

I guess I need to pay a little more attention to who I'm talking to before I respond.

listening while I work

Getting caught up on all my work = aaaaaaaaaah :-)

Listenting while I work makes the boring stuff interesting.  I liked the story in last weeks This American Life about this person: 

When she was in kindergarten, Jennifer, along with her brother and mother, was held hostage by an armed gunman for four days. Their father was a drug dealer and had disappeared with a bunch of cocaine that belonged to someone else. The gunman had been sent to hold the family hostage until he returned the drugs. But the gangsters didn’t count on Jennifer’s mother being so tough—frightening enough, in fact, to almost make the guy leave. And not only that: her mother was so composed, that Jennifer and her brother never even knew they were being held hostage.

inbox

Inbox currently at 30 emails, down from 80.  Clean, relaxing, organized. Nice.

...

This is my favorite picture. I like it so much I'm putting it on both my blogs. And it's the desktop background on my computer.

Brilliant

I went up Spencer Butte just for the hike. I took the camera along just in case. I'm so glad I did. Although, on the way down in the dark (but with a flashlight) it did cross my mind that it might not be the best idea to be hiking down in the dark alone. Whatever, I love this picture.

"Choice" of tires

I was thinking about choices after listening to that podcast, specifically the experiment where they had people choose a free poster to take home. There was a group of people that just choose a poster and took it home. And there was a group who had to choose a poster, tell why they choose it and then take it home. Then they were asked 6 months later how they felt about the poster. The people who had to tell why they choose a specific poster ended up not liking the poster they choose. People who didn't have to say why ended up liking their choice.

So did people just choose something that would be easier to explain? Weird how having to explain ourselves can make us change our choice. Makes a good case for anonymous voting.

Then there was the apple example where having too much data made choosing a type of apple more confusing the longer you took to choose. 

This is how I felt about my tire choices. Lots of opinions, lots of varaibles, lots of recomendations... but somehow not very helpful, mainly because everyone's situation is differnent. How much you wanted to pay, how hard you were going to drive the car, road conditions. Everyone's situation was different. The best choice as far as fun factor is not the same as the best choice for road conditions (wet & cold) and both of those have the price/value factor on top of them, which is very subjective.

I looked at lots of threads (www.lotustalk.com) about what people thought about various tires, but all it really told me is that I would have to decide for myself because everyone's situation is a little different.  

The tires I got were on the shortlist of tires that some people liked. There was really too much information, which in a way was not enough information. Weird how that works out. So in the end I kind of just went with what was convenient. These these tires happened to be available in the sizes I needed (some other options you have to go with different sizes than the wheels were made for because they just don't make them in that specific size) and they happend to be in stock, so I could just go down and get them installed right away.

Right away sounded good because the chord was showing though on one of the tires so I couldn't really drive it around till I got new ones. And while the bronco is a fun change of pace for a while, it's not that fun. I can feel the weight of it with every move (it does weigh more than twice as much as the Lotus).  Accelerating - slow, trying to drive up a hill - slow, trying to stop - slow, trying to go around corners - slow.  Slow, slow, slow.  I'm tired of slow.

I took the Lotus for a drive today (awesome clounds) and it was soooooooooooooo much more satisfying. Yeah for the Lotus. Best purchase ever.

RadioLab !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm on my iPhone listening to the latest eppisode of RadioLab. It's so freaking awesome! I love this show. It's entertaining, informative and laugh out loud funny, IMO.

P.S. It's fun to blog from my phone ;-)

http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2008/11/18/choice/

Side effect - windshield wipers that work

Apparently as a side effect of getting the ECU replaced in the bronco the wipers now work - all the time!!! That's as opposed to only working when you didn't need them, which is how they seemed to work before. The harder it rained, the less they worked - if at all. No longer!

Kumho ECSTA ASX

So I got some of these. It's true, they don't ride as hard as the AO48's. It feels like there's this new layer of smooth on the road. That part is ok. It feels different when I steer though too, more round if that makes sense. The other tires felt like there was more of an edge. Maybe it's because the sidewalls are stiffer on the other tires. I don't like this round feeling as much. 

Although the tires are still new so I should probably reserve judgement untill I've put a few miles on them and worn them in.

And it did cost less for an entire set of these than it would have to replace just the rear tires with a stock pair.

And they will probably hold a lot better in the rain. And they'll last a lot longer. So we'll see how it goes.  I saved the fronts that were on the car since they have a lot of life left on them. I can always go back to AO48's in the summer if I want.

Between Two Worlds

Just finished reading this book: Between Two Worlds

Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam

"When I was growing up in Iraq, people used to refer to me as the 'pilot’s daughter'. I hated that term. I still do. It stole from me my very identity, everything I wanted to be. It defined me in terms of my father, and defined him, in turn, by his passenger: a despot millions of Iraqis feared … Because of a chain of events Saddam Hussein set in motion, I found myself stranded in America by the Gulf War. For very good reasons, I had come to trust no one, not even my mother. I had just turned twenty-one, and I found myself all alone for the first time as fresh new fears were heaped on all the old ones. I did what I needed to survive, though it was not nearly as simple as I make it sound: I erased the pilot’s daughter and started over. I creased my life down the middle like the spine of a book when you bend the pages back very hard. You could read the first half of the book of my life, then read the second half, and not know they were lived by the same person. I wanted it that way. I needed it that way."

It was really interesting to learn how things were in Iraq from this unique perspective. 

seriously?

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/19/autos.ceo.jets/index.html

the big room

really appreciating the newly cleaned & redecorated big room. not that much has really changed besides removing the pvc furniture and moving the weight bench. but it's made for a much more open feeling. i can walk to the projector without having to squeeze between my bike and the weight bench. i can walk behind the couch all the way to the other side of the room. less clutter.

tires, tires, tires

What tires should I try on the Lotus? I've read lots of reviews (lots). Everyone has different opinions. Except that that the expensive tires are way better. We'll I don't want expensive tires right now. I want cheap tires. Just to try. From what I've ready I'll probably be pleasantly surprised in the "comfort and ride" category - but this is a Lotus. That's not the point of it. But oh well, I drive it all the time. And it's winter, so it will probably be safer to drive it with cheaper tires.

Ah well, I'm done researching. I'm just going to get something and stick them on. We'll see how it goes. I can always take them off if I don't like them.

silk clouds and silhouettes

How can it be?

I got the Bronco fixed last month but hadn't really driven it much since then (once, and it was only because I felt like it was a dog that needed a walk).  Then I took it out this weekend to pick up the shelf thingy from Target that I used to upgrade the big room.

I've driven it a couple times since then, for two reasons. 1) The lotus needs new tires. No really, there's spots with no rubber left. 2) I've run a few quick calculations and it's costs approximately the same to drive the Lotus or the Bronco. Why? Back to the Lotus tires - which cost more per mile than gas does. Really.  Actually it's a tiny, tiny bit cheaper to drive the Bronco!!!!!!!!!!! Although clearly the Lotus is more fun... unless you're driving in the snow or trying to tow something or want to carry more than two people, then the Bronco wins ;-)

Here are the stats for 42k Miles on each vehicle:

'05 Lotus Elise

4000 - Tires (one set of front and 5 sets of rear)

3885 - Gas

840 - Oil Changes

Total: $8,725 (or 21 cents per mile)

'92 Ford Bronco

445 - Tires (one set)

7560 - Gas

168 - Oil Changes

Total: $8,173 (or 19 cents per mile)

Anyway, I now feel better about driving the Bronco around because it's not actually costing my any more than driving the Lotus (sadly). Although I'm currently thinking about trying some new tires on the Lotus. It is winter after all so now would be a good time. Less chance of being disappointed considering whatever cheaper tire I get will probably inhibit performance (read: fun). Blah. But I can't go tearing around the corners on the tires I have now in the winter either. I actually got stuck in leaves the other day. The tires were spinning like I was stuck in the mud and I had to gently coerce the car into getting a grip.

North Eugene Automotive

I took the Bronco out the last two mornings and the engine was making this loud whistling sound that I found pretty annoying.  I drove over to North Eugene Automotive, so I could have them take a listen and see if they could tell me what was causing it and if I might need bring it in again. The guy there had me pull it up and listened to it for a bit. Thought it might be the fan belt so he took some brake cleaner to it and poof - it's quite again.  He said to give it a couple days and see if the sound comes back.  The belt looked ok but I could get it changed if I wanted to get rid of the sound. 

I just dropped in, no appointment, and he looked at it for me (and maybe fixed the problem) for no charge. Good service over there! They filled my scooter with gas one time when I ran out over there too. I was brining the Bronco in for something at the time, but they're pretty friendly and helpful over there. Thumbs up from me.

to the paper boy

Dear paper boy (or girl),

It's very disconcerting to have the paper hit your door at 5:30 in the morning.  It makes a loud bump that makes it sound like something large has just fallen in the house. Quite confusing. Please adjust your aim. 

Thanks

P.S. Avoid the windows too.

i see you

and I like who you are. keep being you.

rabbid racoons... who knew?

Act One of this eppisode of This American Life features a rabbid racoon... and the perils of bureaucracy all in one.  

Who knew that a 115 lb person would have trouble holding off a racoon and needed two other people to help take it out.

Crazy!!

kinda like this, only better

Willamette & Camas is really the best place for sunsets in Eugene, unless you count the top of Spencer Butte, then that wins.  But you can get here quick whereas it takes longer to climb the Butte. Not that it's not worth it, but you don't always know how good it will be before you go up. This you just have to drive by and try to keep your eyes on the road. Or just pull off which is my preferance.

success

it's so, so nice out!

And if it will just stay this way a little longer the grass will dry enough that I can cut it ;-)

MUCH better

I finally got around to replacing the entertainment center (and I use the term loosely) that I've had for the past year and a half. It was constructed of PVC pipe, plywood and a blanket that was draped over the top. I really should have had a before picture but I didn't think of it. Anyway, here's the after shots...



Way cleaner, much more space and not ugly ;-)

Oh, oh, oh... and as I was adjusting the display for the projector I came across the setting to reset the "please clean filter" notice that kept coming up when you first turned it on!

escapeism

http://12minds.com/article/623/studying-for-finals

yeah for...

yeah for talking to random people and having fun interactions... and yeah for my laptop, cuz i'm typing on it now. and yeah for lists and organizing and maybe even yeah for furniture in a box - the final verdict will come on that later today.

AWESOME view at Spencer's Butte

The view was actually better in person, but it's fun to be able to take pictures anyway. I should really get a tripod. I keep saying that so I'm sure it will happen soon. It's hard not to move when you're standing on rocks after hiking up a large mountain. Took a flashlight this time because I anticipated it would be dark on the way down. This was the 3rd time I've been down the butte in the dark and the 1st time I haven't gotten lost. So congratulations to me... and maybe Elenah too ;-)

Zen Garden

If you're interested in CSS (cascading style sheets, not the band) then this is pretty cool: http://www.csszengarden.com/

Sunset today...

yeah for...

• the sun
• cool clouds in the sky
• learning things
• making lists
• long conversations with friends
• being alive
• and lots, lots more

convertible

I took advantage of the nice weather and went on a drive with a friend in the Lotus - with the top off - in November! It had been raining so much I had almost put the hard top on. Good thing I didn't. It's getting cloudier now but I'm glad I took advantage of the warm weather and sun while it was there. Totally fun ;-)

it's nice out?

Last night I went outside around midnight. I went into the back yard to see the sky.  Everything looked so bright I wanted to see where the moon was.  It was pretty much right overhead, very round and very bright.  There was a thin layer of clouds that you could see the wind was moving them along underneath it at a fairly rapid pace. My socks got soaked though just from standing on the patio.  It wasn't raining then but has been quite a bit lately.

This morning I was surprised when I woke up and the sun was out. I could tell though my drapes which usually are pretty good at making it seem like it's always dark out ;-)

So I went out to the living room and opened the front door to pick up the paper and it was ... warm?  Yep!  I'm not kidding.

It may not stay this way but I have two windows open right now letting the fresh air circulate through the house.

The wind is still pushing the clouds across the sky at a speedy pace. If I still had a hammock I might lie in it and watch them, except it would probably be pretty wet. That is how the ground looks.

fashion in the late 80's

...looking through old pictures is fun ;-)

Who took this picture? It looks like they were more concerned with getting the back of the car in the shot in than all the people.

blink

Went to Target this weekend to look for a cable for my hard drive. Really I was just wondering around and didn't expect to find one there. But it was late and the other stores weren't open so I thought I'd just go there. I was walking past the books towards the electronics area when I randomly decided to walk down the book isle and see what they had. Honestly I've never bought a book from Target before. They don't have a very big selection so I wasn't expecting to find anything. But I did: Blink, by Malcom Gladwell. 

I read it this weekend, all of it, half that night and the rest on Sunday, 276 pages total. It's pretty interesting. I want to read it again so I can remember the parts that I thought were interesting, because there were several.

If you want to know what it's about click on the link above.

Installing a secondary SATA hard drive

Installation of my new SATA 400GB hard drive... which became necessary when I tried to copy some files from a CD for a client and got a message telling me that I only had 314MB of disk space left. Oops!

Step 1: Order hard drive (www.newegg.com)

Step 2: Receive hard drive (UPS)

Step 3: Install hard drive (me)

Currently my new "E:" drive is being formatted ;-)

There were a few road blocks on the installation but they were easily overcome.

• The first issue was that I ordered a hard drive and did not order the necessary cable to connect it to the computer.  Honestly I didn't even know I had to.  This is probably the 2nd hard drive I've installed and the other one was a long time ago.  This was a SATA drive so when I opened the computer I realized that it didn't connect with the "normal" cables.  In fact I wasn't even sure if I could hook this hard drive up to my computer.  But upon closer inspection I realized that the CD-ROM drive connected in the same fasion.  So there was an extra power adapter available and I just needed to get a SATA cable.  There were even three available ports on the motherboard for the SATA cable.  So I was ready to go.
  
• Conveniently DELL had included an extra set of those green strips that go on the side of the unit so it can slide into it's new home.  It's nice that they include those or I would have had to order some and wait and that would have been annoying.
• I then hooked up the two cables and closed the box and plugged everything back in.  I restarted the computer and hit F2 for setup while the OS was loading, following these instructions that I googled.  The instructions said: "instruct the system to auto detect your new drive",  Which meant that I scrolled and click on various keys looking for whatever it is that I might need to do to make the computer "recognize" the drive.  There were three differnet options (matching the three available SATA ports).  I turned one on, saved and exited.  It came back and told me there was no drive there.  So I turned that one off and turned on the 2nd one.  No message and the OS loaded so I assumed I picked the right one.
• I checked "My Computer" and the new drive wasn't listed so I googled again to find out what I needed to do next and found these instructions, which were very helpful.  I had to initialize, partition & format the drive.  

This turned out to be a really good learning experience because I really had no idea what to do going in, I just assumed (or hoped) I would be able to figure it out.  I ran into several snags but they were all easily overcome - I just needed to buy a cord and google for some instructions, which turned out to be easy to find and easy to follow. Thanks to Seagate for their helpful support articles.

a dozen peacocks

Today I saw a dozen peacoks hanging out ;-)

is it just me?

Canadian Sign:
The deer looks like a
panicked uncoordinated
teen leaping for his life,
not sure he's going to
make it over whatever
obstacle he's trying to
jump and not sure of
where he's landing.

US Sign:
The deer looks majestic and
powerful in it's leap.

i love to-do lists

I crossed the last thing off my to-do list tonight.  The last two things, which were washing the kitchen floor and putting the laundry away, most likely would not have happened if there were no to-do list.  

Plenty of things just don't happen if you don't make a point of doing them. For me, lists are a good way to make that happen.

Thanks for voting

I went to jiu-jitsu last night and you could hear the election coverage next door at Cosmic Pizza. There were intermitent bursts of loud, very exhuberant cheering. 

On the way home I saw fireworks in the sky, big ones, the illegal kind. People are really excited. I am too. 

If you have drawn any energy or inspiration from this election, do something with it. Nothing gets done from people cheering on the sidelines and then going home. 

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." - Andy Warhol

rainbows anyone?

california girl

little me ;-)

My favorite jacket @ 4yrs old

cade & con

If you ask Con to dance for you, be prepared.  He will be dancing exhuberantly for hours!

smile for the camera

fox hollow

I know, more sky and clouds... I can't help it.