Monthly Archives: January 2005

Of Snow, Ice, Snowmen, and Blizzards

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Saturday, snow. Sunday, more snow overnight. We went Saturday and encountered a kind of weird snowmobiler who, muffled all up in his helmet like Kenny, seemed to be offering to set track for us.

We skiied along the treeline for a while, and when we ran out of trees, ran right into the teeth of the blizzard. About 10 seconds into that, and we decided to turn around and head back. We got about 40 minutes’ worth of skiing out of it, so not bad, but not really great conditions. Maybe next time we’ll try one of the places with groomed trails – turns out there’s a perfectly good list of sites.

Also Saturday: two birthday parties to attend. One up in Vernon Hills at an ice rink for niece Naomi, and one down in St Charles at a private home for friend Katie. The blizzard was really, really coming down as we headed north – there was a surprising amount of traffic on the road, but all the idiots were staying home and it was just the people who drove snow-capable vehicles, or who knew how to drive in it. Both cameras got hauled along. We made it just as all the kids went out on the ice, and David started taking pictures. He got some really good ones, but I can’t find where he’s stashed them online.

We cut out of the one party early so we’d be able to get to the second one in time for the surprise. To our astonishment, the sun was (sort of ) shining and the clouds were gone, but the wind was blowing the fine snow around so much, it was occasionally causing white-out conditions wherever trees or a building didn’t block the wind.

For some reason, I took a lot of photos out of the window of the car, because it was just so beautiful, but also there was no way I was getting out.

We did make it for the surprise… and the house was still in full holiday decor mode, with a whole lot of winter snowmen. Festive and cozy, and great food, but a whole lot of craftsy snowmen. I mean, a LOT. In every room. Even more than Timmy has.

I actually own a couple of craftsy snowmen, and as I put them away tonight (finally) I thought briefly of separating them in different boxes. So they wouldn’t breed, you know. Because once you get winter holiday snowmen, you get more and more in a mysterious process, and the snowmen (and presumably snowwomen) only smile enigmatically when you ask them what they’ve been doing all year, cooped up in the Christmas box.

Anyway.

Sunday: Church, complete with snow and sled. I took a few pictures. There was a meeting afterwards that went on for a long time, and the annual meeting is in a week or so.

And that’s really all I’m going to say about that for now. Because it’s bedtime, and my eyes are itching from wearing my contacts for the first time in a long while. So good night.

Alzheimers’ Reversed In Mice

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BBC NEWS | Health | Alzheimer brain damage ‘reversed’

That’s all very well for people named Mickey and Minnie, but at least it’s progress.

The US team used an antibody to remove the build up of potentially damaging deposits from the area of the brain responsible for memory and cognition.

The treatment reversed the nerve cell damage in days, Washington University School of Medicine researchers said.

Hmm. I think that’s a friend’s alma mater. Must discuss later.

3 Column Fluid

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No, it’s not a particularly tall drink, it’s a way o of putting web content in 3 columns in a way that might load better no matter what web browser you use. A conversation with my mom-in-law makes me think I might have to come up with a better, more fluid layout for the (cough) somewhat speed- and display-challenged setup she’s currently using. So here’s a new 3-col layout via CSS method to check out.

Found at culturekitchen

Hi, Leah!

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I just took this picture of my husband David drinking a companionable glass of wine a short time after I finally arrived home. There was lots of snow, and thus a lot of slow, careful traffic. It was one of “those” days at work, also. So the wine was very welcome.

And hey presto! I’m in a much better mood now.

David’s mom is learning the joys of websurfing. I thought she might like to see her son in almost real time.

Superhero Help Wanted

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David and I had a discussion very much like this just the other day.

This surprises me — not at all, reading the requirements. They want a combination half-time researcher, half-time developer, half-time sysadmin, half-time web designer, half-time project manager, half-time librarian, and half-time information architect. That’s just a few too many halves; of course they didn’t find anybody! That’s the kind of job somebody grows into, if it can be done at all by a single person (and I’m not sanguine, not sanguine at all). The kind of person they want — if she exists, she isn’t unemployed, I guarantee it.

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Look! Out in the stacks! It’s a hummingbird! It’s a supersonic bookworm! It’s Super Librarian!

I’ve been pulling a lot of overtime lately for this very reason: Too many hats, not enough heads. It’s better, but I have to constantly be doing about 3 things at once, which of course makes quality suffer on everything (viz. a goofy error I made last week; stress and fatigue contributed). And I can be derailed, as I was last night, by people who call in relatively late in the day with detail-rich travel needs. It’s easier to put off a project than a person, so the person takes precedence.

Which means, of course, that ongoing projects keep getting shuffled back on to the “to be done” pile and not open and active on my desk.

In spite of all, yesterday I was able to knock off a satisfying number of open items on my “To Do List” and make a start on a few more. So the “To Do” pile (and its companion list, “Emails what must be dealt with”) has gradually gotten down to a more manageable size.

And hi ho, hi ho, it’s that time again.

Yet Another Blog

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Things have been… rather busy at work. And I can’t really blog during the day, not really, shouldn’t do it.

However, I feel this need to monitor feeds and watch for breaking news. It’s a post 9/11 thing. So I’ll be using the free, simple blogging tool provided with Bloglines to add links and a few short words to Blogula Clips .

They’vre recently updated the little “clip/blog this” form to add more functionality,and I have the ability to use images now, too.

Mostly, though, it will just be links. I don’t even have to leave the main Bloglines interface, so it’s very quick and… unobtrusive.

Iraqi Chiaroscuro

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On the eve of the Inauguration of the man that went to war and took as all with him, an Iraqi family was shattered by a tragic misjudgement by US troops, who shot at an approaching car that failed to stop. It turns out it was full of children. The parents were killed in a hail of bullets that started out as warning shots. The children emerged from the car, covered in their parents’ blood and with wounds of their own.

A photographer from Getty Images, Chris Hondros, was there to witness and document what happened with a series of horrifying and compelling images in a story at Newsday.

This image looks deceptively peaceful, doesn’t it? The bright splashes of color are the flowers on her dress, and the blood on her face. She is old enough to know that her parents are suddenly, horribly dead.

The gallery of all the images is here.

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BoingBoing notes of this image “Iraqi Girl Appears Unhappy After Parents Slain In Iraq”

Does she not want the freedom we bring to her and her parents?

I’m sorry, but we should not be there, and never should have been. And now the peope who are paying for it are not enjoying the gala Inaugural balls.

Frankensense and Mirth

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AAR is broadcasting live from Washington DC today. Their website notes:

Bush Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon
Amid the most biggest (Ed.: hee!) security lockdown ever for an inauguration, a new CBS/New York Times poll shows that President Bush has the lowest approval rating at the start of a second term since Richard Nixon. Bush’s 49 percent approval is below Nixon’s rating of 51 percent in January 1973 and Bush trails Bill Clinton’s 60 percent and Ronald Reagan’s 62 percent at similar points.

Every time an administration official repeats the words “mandate” and “majority” let’s just remember that approval rating, shall we?

And when they say “freedom and democracy” backed with “the protesters (in DC and along the parade route) are aligned with the terrorists” let’s just remember the words “free speech” and “totalitarian state” don’t play well, shall we?

Bone Swar!

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Here you have a travel agent’s lunch if ever I saw one: an Asian plate lunch with a vaguely Asian green-tea beverage, and a funny travel book written by a flight attendant/humorist. The book’s called Plane Insanity, by Elliott Hester. Guess I have to add it to my Bookqueue now, since I’m officially reading it on my lunch hour. It was kicking around the office and was about to be thrown out in the general purge before the visit of the new VP of our section.

Everyone was a little nervous. Was he going to be a harsh taskmaster? A neat freak who demands that all blinds be ruthlessly level in the halfway up/halfway down position? A germophobe who would demand that all surfaces be scrubbed and disinfected (making us all telephone sanitizers, second class)? We’ve had veeps like this before.

No, about the only thing we knew about him is that he is French. Dunh, dunh, DUNNNHHNNHN!

The other day, he arrived. We were in a closer approximation of business casual than usual, meaning no jeans or sneakers (we were having a blizzard, so I compromised and wore ankle high walking shoes with a good tread). It was yet another in a long string of long days – I’m more loaded up with tasks than before, plus more regular res work to come. Once again, I was there long after hours, finishing things up and feeling a bit grumpy. I thought maybe the new VP’s visit had ended earlier in the afternoon. The TLs walked him past us worker bees at one point; he looked nice enough, with a big engaging smile and a strong resemblance to Roberto Benigni.

There’s a light that’s right over my head that’s controlled by switch a support room behind me (ticket printers, copiers, express-delivery supplies). Quite often the cleaning crew going through emptying wastebaskets will swing out of there, turn off the light, and leave me in the dark – and I’m sitting right there! I have to jump up, stifle the urge to say something naughty in Spanish, and turn the light back on.

That night, there were people in and out of the room behind me, making copies. I didn’t much notice who it was. Suddenly, the lights went out. Thank GOD I didn’t curse… I just said loudly “OOP!! Light! Need the light, please!” and got up to go slap it back on with some irritation (building staff have turned the lights out on me about 3 times in the past 10 days). I looked up to see the new French VP walking away with copies in his hand, but looking back with an apologetic grin on his face. My instinct for trying to speak foreign languages to people who actually speak them did not fail me, but my vocabulary and pronunciation as always falls a little short.

“Oh!” I stammered. “Ah…. bone swar!” (yes, yes, I know it’s “bon soir!”) “Sorry, I need the light on for a while.”

He chuckled and waved an apology, and I went back to swearing (very, very quietly) under my breath until I got my late-breaker project done.

NO More Ugly Hats!

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At last! Jonathan and Victoria were eliminated through their own failure to read the clue, and in spite of getting Adam and Rebecca to Yield Freddy and Kendra.

That’s the last ugly hat we’ll ever see, and the last time Jonathan will strip his shirt off for no reason. Unfortunately, he stripped down to his bright red bike shorts for a mud-related task. And that was way too much man package than I ever wanted to see, frankly.

Just HOW many ugly hats did this guy pack? He had a new one every week! And this week he busted out (I swear) a totally naff African knit skullcap, in the typical black/red/green colors. Maybe he was buying them at the airport gift shop while waiting for a departing flight?

It’s disturbing to think that a trail of discarded Jonathan toppers now litter the world from Iceland to Norway to Sweden to Senegal to Germany to Hungary to Corsica and France and now to poor Ethiopia.

And I have to say… what was the deal with Victoria’s face right at the end?! She was crying a lot and her eyes were red and swollen earlier, but she was wearing a billed cap that shaded her face at the Elimination (ah! Be still my heart!) and I swear to God it looked like she had a big shiner on one eye. I hope it was a shadow.

Anyway, good riddance to bad rubbish, Jonathan. One of my co-workers will be irked tomorrow, because he had $20 on them to win the leg. Hee!

For once, he actually worked at the Detour task (mixing mud and straw and applying it to an Ethiopian hut), but he still should have done the Roadblock task and not leave it to Victoria. I will say that Victoria, alone of the female (and sketchily dressed) Roadblockers borrowed a kid’s green shirt to go into the church.

And yes, she got a hand injury, but Freddy’s was bleeding much, much worse. Freddy almost broke down in tears and exhaustion when he successfully completed the Roadblock task, which involved matching a simple cross pendant to one worn by a chanting worshipper at St. George’s Church (the one hewn out of solid rock). He clasped the man like he’d just saved his life, hugged him, and kissed his hand… kind of like when a bishop visits and you kiss the ring. Was that what he was thinking? Anyway, the man seemed to think it was quite all right – he was smiling.

Strange, but they’re starting Season 7 off only 3 weeks after the end of Season 6, according to Zap2It. There are some who’ve argued that the quality this season has suffered from the presence of Jonathan, Victoria, and Kendra, but at least this week Kendra was slightly less condescending about poor black people when she first arrived in Addis Abbaba. By the end of the episoded, she was actually enjoying herself and treating people kindly. Imagine that. But I do wonder if the quality will suffer with such a fast turnaround, because editing and music cues and post-production tweaking take time, people.

In fact, everyone seemed very charmed and taken by the Ethiopian people, who were lovely and gracious to all the Racers. I hope that tourism increases to Ethiopia soon, because its people are very welcoming and the scenery is spectacular. It may appear to be a poor country, but it is rich in resources, one of which is its people. They certainly seem to have a good education system, though its probably run on a shoestring. All the kids seemed to speak quite good English, although most of the adults had a nodding acquaintance with it. That tells me that there are a lot of unsung hero and heroine teachers in the schools there.

There were many funny details this week, and plenty of editing goodness: probably the most satisfying was when J/V took off from the staging area with only one donkey,and the camera panned around and did a close up of 1! 2! 2 donkeys! Ah ah ah ha ha ah ah ah ahhhhh!

There was plenty of just plain confusion on the part of some Racers. Adam – what? What? He left the area of the church and wandered off, because some kids thought he wanted to go to the Pit Stop next, and Rebecca couldn’t yell out and stop him because, yep, sacred place, no yelling.

Lori walked up out of the buried church, too, but figured it out on her own. I’m not sure if her muttered “stupid, stupid, stupids” were a commentary on the task or her own bonehead maneuver, but she got out all right in the end.

Hayden took the Roadblock task and was almost completely overwhelmed by it and enjoyed it very much. Gee, she’s much nicer to watch when she’s not screaming and whining.

Kris and Jon – love them. They struggled a bit to find a cab to get away from the Corsican Pit Stop, but they got to Nice and off to Ethiopia eventually (note to Bolo: it’s not nice to misprounounce Nice, which is pronounced exactly like “niece”).

Adam’s new-found maturity was all used up overnight, apparently. He and Rebecca had a very public private scene. Sad, I guess. But by the end of the episode, they had enough left to just barely beat out Jon and Victoria, thus proving Rebecca’s remark that “there only has to be one team behind us” to keep going. Freddy and Kendra, in spite of his hand injury and taking a nasty spill at the church, passed them up because Freddy found his new best friend so quickly.

Guess it would have made more sense for J/V to manipulate Adam and Rebecca into Yielding themselves, eh?

Winners: Hayden and Aaron, who went from last and mugged to first and hugged.
Losers: Jonathan and Victoria. God, I love typing that.
Most improved: Hayden and Aaron, and not just in their Race standings.
Most fragrant: Lori and Bolo. Phil remarked on the funk emanating from them, and when Lori offered to hug, declined with his nose all wrinkled up.
Least likely to win friends and influence people: Adam and Rebecca
Most injuries or mishaps: Freddy. Get some disinfectant, stat!
Best “I do my own stunts” stunt: Bolo, who tripped, logrolled over his pack, and somehow ended up on his feet.
Most interesting new accessory: an Ethiopian rug with the Amazing Race logo was spead over the timer mat the teams step on to stop the clock.
Most donkey-related jokes: Tie between Kris/Jon and Adam/Rebecca
Biggest, assiest ass: Jonathan

Oh, my GOD. Tarflies already has the episode gallery up. I know which one I want for the top of this entry…