time to play b sides

In between sets, in Vegas

2008-12-02T22:40:00.001-08:00

Who needs a computer?

2008-07-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

When you have index cards?

Signs of Summer

2008-05-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Good news abounds in the back yard, in spite of our neglect.

Star jasmine. Smells yummy.

Pineapple sage. Smells like... pineapple!

Larkspur? It's a volunteer from the past.

Our volunteer hybrid sunflower is cruising:

I'm still walking, so I'm sure that I can dance.

Ms. Frizzle

2008-05-16T23:35:00.000-07:00

In honor of
The Magic School Bus Inside The Earth by Joanna Cole

Runnin’ For The Texas Line

2008-05-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Rio Grande is runnin’ deep

How I love to let it sweep me down
Flowin’ with the oak leaves pushin’ south

I got some friends in San Antone
They always open up their home to me
Send me up the road with a good night’s sleep

Lace your boots up tight
Tomorrow we’ll be one day older
Rain or shine
Tonight I want to run for the Texas line

Well the southern sun is mean
But there’s hollers in between the hills
When the wind flies through the trees
It cools yer heels

Lace your boots up tight
Tomorrow we’ll be one day older
Rain or shine
Tonight I want to run for the Texas line

There’s a rhythm in the land
I can feel it in my hands and feet
And it lives in every note and every beat

Lace your boots up tight
Tomorrow we’ll be one day older
Rain or shine
Tonight I want to run for the Texas line

(Written by Jeff Berkley)

Sunflower

2008-05-04T17:24:00.001-07:00

You're doing it wrong

2008-02-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

Wrong

2008-02-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

moar funny pictures

Holidaze

2008-01-01T12:32:00.001-08:00

This is from our November trip to Texas. These are Jim's nieces Elyssa and Lainey. We had to run around behind Elyssa to get this picture -- she would not come sit with us. We basically tricked her. She's about 25 months here I think. Lainey is about 5 days and very sweet.

This is from last week in Arizona. Elyssa was trumpeting randomly and I said "oh you have a Doot Dee Doot!" I took one and trumpeted "Doot Dee Doot". She took it up immediately, so I told her to go show her uncle Jim. 30 seconds later I heard Jim say "oh you have a Doot Dee Doot!". I looked at Jim's brother and said "I know what Jim likes." (I'm holding Angel, see more below.)

"**yawn** it's three in the morning, why are you taking my picture?"

These people know how to party. They go to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass (some of us napped instead) and then open presents, and then eat. We sat down at the table at 3:10 am.

Then the real "party" is Christmas night when a hundred or so people wander through. I got to do a Lot of baby wrangling as mom and dad were busy. Angel didn't like that hat much. She's Jim's brother's brother-in-law's baby. Or something. Anyway this is her house and these are *her* toys and we had a good time. That's Elyssa (Jim's niece) again, and a 5 year old visitor who was very interested in the baby.

Later that night we've lost the hat. If you look really closely you can see me falling over sideways under Angel. I'm not really sitting on top of Elyssa, although eventually Angel starting body surfing.

"Okay, you kept us up until 4am the other night and now you're taking us hundreds of miles to sit us in the snow. What is up with you people?" This is Angel's dad Johan. He and I spent a lot of time bonding over Angel. He's a very nice guy and doing a great hands-on-Dad job.

I really didn't think I'd ever see Jim in snow. Oh yeah and that's the Grand Canyon in the background.

Speaking of cold and snow, we are both sick. Back to the couch with me. Happy New Year!

Getting My Ducks in a Row

2007-11-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

How'm I doing? Just ducky:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/11/16/i-likes-u-ducky-1-i-eat-u-last/

My classes at Miramar are going very well. I carried out my first "lesson plan" last week. I went over to their child care center, and for five or ten minutes I led them through "Heads shoulders knees and toes," some stretching, and some jumping.

I tried to invent a game for the stretching... "look, it's a bird in a tree! can you reach it?" but I think the "guy in the bunny suit off to the side who wanted to high five us" was too much for the tallest boy, who said very politely, "excuse me, I don't want to do this stuff anymore" and I told him "Okay, that's fine, you can go" and he fled to the playdoh. I bet he wished he was jumping with us, though.

The kids' teacher praised me for my presentation, and was glad it was so active.

It was fun. I go back tomorrow, and we will mix up plain yogurt, bananas, strawberries, squeezed oranges and limes, cherry juice, and honey. I'll pretend to teach them some stuff about vitamins and we'll eat :)

For each ten minutes with the kids, I take a few hours of vacation time from work. Totally worth it :)

Jihad Joe

2007-10-11T09:36:00.001-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A5339-2002Mar22

whimper

2007-10-05T23:21:00.001-07:00

Jim's out of town. Normally I can't get myself to go out by myself, but one of my favorite bands was playing. I didn't think I could do two bands, so I skipped the opener and went late.

I was "just in time" except... the wrong band came out. And the lady in front of me said "this band is older than the other band". I had a bad feeling so I asked... I MISSED IT!

It was way crowded and the music didn't grab me much right then (through my bitter disappointment of course) ... so I left.

Whimper.

The band names are in equal type, the other band first, and the band I wanted to see, second... but now I see the tiny tiny picture in the ad is of the other band.

Well, I tried. And if I had not tried, I wouldn't know this would have happened, and would have felt bad for not going. Argh.

Use Your Ipod, Go to Jail

2007-10-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

http://changingway.org/2007/10/03/sony-seems-set-to-sue-us-all/

Motivating what?

2007-09-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

At work, to celebrate the new world order, they took down, in the mailroom, all the pics of people who have worked here over the last 30 years, and their kids, at picnics and stuff... and put up "motivational" stuff, for example, a pic of a DOG POOPING. Yay.

(It says "are you straining for your next (whatever, I forget)?")

Summer Vacation: the Main Event

2007-08-16T14:31:00.001-07:00

We took our now annual pilgrimage up north, for a weekend of hot and cold running hippies, kids, bluegrass, rock and roll, and good food.

On the way up, we stopped at Gilroy Gardens. It has a lot of rides for kids and a lot of cool plant stuff. It's a bit pricey at $40 but worth it at least once. More often if you were local and had kids.
This tree was created with grafting techniques that supposedly have never been duplicated.

Imagine spending decades to create something like this. There are several dozen of these in different shapes around the gardens.

Thursday morning we drove up to Campbell to spend an afternoon with my brother Robert. "Tall Barbara", who also lives in San Diego, joined us. On Friday we went to SF to a music store called Lark in the Morning.

Here is Barbara in her new Matrix, at Fisherman's Wharf:

They had lots of strange and cool instruments at Lark in the Morning. Jim bought a dulcimer stand and Barbara bought some percussive fruit.

Then we escaped from the city around 3pm and missed the worst traffic.
From there we went to Hank's to commiserate on his not joining us this year (he'll be back though!) and spend the night. In the morning we picked up "Movie Barbara". When we walked in to her place there was much gasping and exclaiming at the view.

We drove on up to the music festival and got our favorite camping spot...

...right next to our friend Juice, who we've been seeing here since 2005. His is the ginormous tent behind ours. Here is Juice, settling in with some Sox and Violins.

To me, this is heaven, right here:

As if the beautiful location, fantastic music, and great food were not enough, there were fun activities. I'm told they originally thought Tie Dye would be for the kids. Hah! :)

Here's my effort:

The music was Totally Fantastic as Usual. (Even if Joe's dad was not there this year. I did put his CD on top of the pile for sale, though :) One of these days I have to learn to jig. These bluegrass Dead cover bands go back and forth between "hippie dancing music" and "jig music"... at which point my blood says "you should KNOW THIS" and my body starts jumping up and down like a demented monkey.

My favorite band of the weekend and in the whole world at this moment, is Hot Buttered Rum. I finally learned their name. When they came out, Jim said "this is the skinny bass band" and I said "oh THESE guys, I LIKE THESE guys!!"

(As Country Dick Montana once drawled to me in the Belly Up Tavern, I have a shaky grip on reality. Too bad I didn't know it was him, till ten years later when someone filled me in!)

Within a few songs I was up front, having so much fun that tears were coming out of my eyes... That band is trying to kill me with dancing. But it will be totally worth it.

I managed to stammer out some kind of adoration to Nat Keefe later and he was extremely nice. I couldn't believe I spoke at all. If it had been Bryan Horne I would have probably fainted :) I love the Bass instruments, did you notice? :)

It's so cool though, these guys just hung out and ate with us'ns.

Nina, bless her heart, managed to keep up her "second set person" reputation and still go home before sundown. Here are Jim and Nina, in their "natural environment" to quote Jim:

We were glad to see her, and got a group shot:

From the left: Movie Barbara, Karen, Jim, Tall Barbara, Nina.

On Monday, Jim gave a little mini-concert on the dulcimer for those of us packing up.
In the background, you see Mike, getting out of his car with a look of wonderment on his face, thinking "what does Jim have there?" Jim got quite a lot of attention. The kids were entranced and the parents were right there with them.

Mike is from Northern California, but we first met him and his friend Harriet, who is from Orange County, in Tennessee, at Bonnaroo, in 2004. Jim walked up to this lady in the food line, and said "You are a Fat Head!" and Harriet said "why yes, I am!" We have been seeing them all over, ever since. (I guess it was the t-shirt :)

Some things are universal, I suppose. Music, and perhaps, Tractor Fluid.

After the festival was over, we went to Mendocino Coastal Gardens:

and another branch of Lark in the Morning. Then we went back to Movie Barbara's.

The next day, Tall Barbara left. Jim and I took over the living room and played music.

We also watched An American Werewolf in London, and went to her favorite local haunt for Pizza, beer, shots, and finally....

Grand Marnier Souffle.

Mmm...

Be Here Now

2007-08-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm in the right place, at the right time.
This morning I woke up feeling bad, and decided to come to work late.
On my way in, while driving in scenic, traffic-free Sorrento Valley at 11am, I heard "Burning For You" by Blue Oyster Cult. That's where "time to play B sides" comes from. It's one of my favorite songs.

I try to enjoy moments like that and take heart that I might be on some "right path". One that involves coming to work at 11 am. :)

I don't know how to explain all these other moments though...

How I spent my summer vacation, part 2

2007-07-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

My brother Robert came down from Northern California, for a track meet at Cal State San Marcos. He fit right into our household, and took over most of the web surfing duties while he was here.

Here he poses in his track uniform, in our living room, and at the field, with some of his teammates:

Here's a bit of levitation. I saw a lot of this; they were all doing it!

The next day, we went on a VIP tour of the Wild Animal Park, for Aaron's birthday. This was WAY COOL, the absolute best and fun time.

Here are some of us visiting with a Frogmouth, which is not an owl. Aaron knew what this was, and our guide was *extremely* impressed.

Do not look at Lazr Kitteh with remaining eye:

These are California Mule Deer, which moved themselves in with the Rhinos. They are squatters:

Oh yeah and I dyed my hair burgundy.

She's no fun, she fell right over

2007-07-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

I was moving some dirt around in the back, so that I would not fall over when hanging some laundry. So my back spasmed. It was weird, it didn't actually hurt but it was a definite spasm.

I hit the dirt... well actually I gently sat down in the dirt. The dirt was hot and soft and nice, and I tried to calm down the muscle. I eventually hung up the laundry and went about my day.

But now... I gotta say... ouch. It's quite sore.

I guess now I don't have to worry about moving any dirt around for a while. Drive or bus, that will be my hardest question for a few days.

Ouch.

How I spent my summer vacation, part 1

2007-07-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

People were yelling FREEBIRD.......

No wait I mean, yesterday we went to a museum.
A few weeks ago we went to a similar museum.

A week or so ago we had visitors.

Somewhere in between we had other visitors but
somehow all we took pictures of was socks.

More and funnier later.

Welcome to Summer

2007-06-21T13:04:00.001-07:00

And just to prove it, after today I'm not coming back to work for 5 days.

Over the weekend we're going to this:
http://www.ctmsfolkmusic.org/festival/Solstice/default.asp
where Jim will get his third lesson from his East Coast Hammered Dulcimer teacher. I'm bringing my acoustic electric bass in case they have a workshop for me or something. Probably it will just get a nice car ride and I'll get some tunes.

On Monday, we're picking up my mom, bringing her back, and ditching her while we go to House of Blues to see Hot Tuna. She says she wants to hang out alone since her house is too crowded. I'm not sure she Really understands we don't have TV. I don't think she'll be willing to run the computer to watch DVDs or Daily Show episodes on the net but we will see.

Tuesday I'm staying home and hopefully some folks will bring some babies over and distract my mom.

I think we're ditching her on Wednesday night for a Humphrey's show, as well.

She'll be staying until she gets bored and gets on the train home. If anyone else wants to come by and distract her, please let me know. I'll be in the back yard digging to China.

By the light of day

2007-06-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

everything looks just as messy, only brighter.

new photos here

I Has a Shovel

2007-06-16T20:53:00.002-07:00

This is progress?

Badger Badger Badger

Badger Badger

Badger

Badger

Badger Badger

Badger Badger Badger!

Meanwhile, in the Front Yard, I started re-excavating the sprinkler system so Jim can fix it. This is where the pine tree roots grew around the pipe and snapped it:

This break is what started this project.

Jim planted a little garden in the front yard. Awwwwwwww:

This is the view of it from the sidewalk. This is after I cleaned up the yard a bit, and added the little rock border:

I dug this section out, with some help from Cousin Steven, yesterday and today:

I used my NEW SHOVEL that Jim got me. He's so nice. It fits me and does not give me splinters.

I HAS A SHOVEL okthxbye

Me, too

2007-06-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/06/14/this-is-mah-job/

Changes

2007-06-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

My department is getting reorganized. All around me, people are anticipating changes, having meetings, making plans.

As far as I can tell, none of it has anything to do with me. Some things never change... Although sometimes they seem noisier and/or more boring by comparison.

If anyone wants to share any work gossip with me, feel free.

Manual Labor is fun

2007-06-10T14:51:00.002-07:00

We recently had all our trees removed, including this poplar tree.

We waited until it was really ugly to have it taken out:

It was nice for shade and privacy, but the roots were getting into the garden:

And under the house:

Meanwhile, the ex-living-xmas-tree in the front yard:

was eating the sprinkler system:

It took months and finally it took friends of friends since grade school to get someone to give a decent quote and then return our phone calls for scheduling.

We paid them an extra couple hundred bucks to dig some trenches for irrigation.

We have been excavating large poplar roots from the remaining cement-like dirt and boulder combo, using a 20 pound digging bar, a shovel, and my fingernails.

In the picture above, the top shows the width of the trenches they dug. For the bottom part, we widened their trench until we got to the cement patio.

We were already digging out the root system below, when we gave up on the garden because of the need to have the trees out. We were really tired of pulling happy poplar roots out of the garden every year, after initially digging out all the rocks, and putting in real dirt.

Triumphant!

Serverhenge waits patiently:

We used to have a third poplar tree. I took it out with shovels and hand saws, and made a bench out of it, that no one will sit on but me:

Which way should we go next?

You can see even more photos here:

Before tree removal:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeemshome/sets/72157600005508789/

After tree removal:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeemshome/sets/72157600056539276/

"You can't just cut down a poplar tree":
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeemshome/sets/72157600332736332/

Red Eye

2007-06-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, I had regular bloodshot eyes, as a result of two nights in a row out til 11 **gasp** for Humphrey's by the Bay concerts. There was one particularly red patch in my right eye.

I noticed this as I was leaving. There was a bottle of Visine 'gets the red out' right there, so I put some in and waited a few minutes with my eyes closed.

When I looked in the mirror again, it looked as if I had a big drop of blood in my right eye on the right side. It would not spill out of my eye. it was like a bubble, something liquidy with a really high surface tension. And it looked like red liquid. When I looked to the left, it stretched out and looked almost normal. When I looked to the right, it compressed right up against my iris but no further.

I went out and tried for quite a few minutes to get the attention of my boyfriend, who was on the phone with a client. Mostly I wanted to know if I could use the computer keyboard that was in his lap, to email in to work. I was like that kid on Youtube who yelled "blood! blood!" while his parents laughed and videotaped. But I didn't yell, cause he was on the phone with a client. I just pointed at my eye a lot. So he smiled and waved. So I took off my glasses. And so on.

Finally I got his attention and sent the email and laid on the couch for a while with a little mirror in my hand, constantly checking to see if my eyeball had exploded.

By this time Jim had gotten off the phone. He was concerned and wanted to call the doctor. I had decided it was probably the Visine doing something weird, and that it wasn't getting redder and that it was mostly reflection of the regular bloodshot eyes. I got him to settle for me laying on the couch. It was Boring.

I stayed home all day due to bloodshot eyes. That's a new one for me.

This evening, I told Jim "I never want to put Visine in my eyes ever again" and he said "I wouldn't". We decided to throw away that bottle, anyway.

I went in there and before I threw it away, I checked the expiration date.

JUNE 2001

GAH

Glad I'm not blind.

Strange Coincidences

2007-04-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

I get strange coincidences in life a lot. Sometimes I am afraid to read certain books, because things often happen in "real life" that coincide with my reading material of the moment.

I recently checked out a book from the library, by Gregory Maguire, called "Mirror Mirror."

I had enjoyed his "Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" which Jim had borrowed from Elinoire. I initially tried to get "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister," but after I requested it, the library decided it was lost. "Mirror Mirror" came from another library in the circuit. I'd never tried requesting a book from outside UCSD, so I decided to try it. So this was a fairly randomized choice, all told.

"Mirror Mirror" features Lucrezia Borgia. I had to look her up on Wikipedia, having no real idea who she was, but knowing I had heard the name before.

I finished "Mirror Mirror" and started reading another book I checked out at the same time, by Carrie Fisher, called "The Best Awful." I found this book by searching the library records for "Humorous Fiction", so it was another fairly randomized choice.

In "The Best Awful," the main character has a name for who she becomes when she goes off her medication... guess what it is... Lucrezia Borgia.

I think the universe is warning me that there is a Lucrezia Borgia in my life. All I can say now is this would be someone to avoid at all costs.

Am I Fired Yet?

2007-04-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

riaa-lawsuit-matrix.jpg

Just Another Bloody Sunday

2007-04-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

When you believe in things
That you don't understand
Then you suffer...
Superstition ain't the way
--Stevie Wonder

I guess 'cause god is on our side it makes us mighty
Yeah might makes right
Yeah might makes right
They say that god is on our side I don't believe them
--Camper Van Beethoven

"my face hurts" "yeah it's killing me"

2007-03-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

Split, bleeding lip, plus cranky mood = cross between Mona Lisa, and Elvis.

Vonnegut

2007-03-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

I checked out a very old book from the library, and I read this essay yesterday.
Sadly, it seems quite timeless. It's online:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/28/lifetimes/vonnegut-torture.html

Oddly, if you google it you can go right there, but otherwise you have to register. It's free.

Internet Radio in Jeopardy from the RIAA

2007-03-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

The US Copyright Office has released their new set of rates for the payment of royalties by Internet Radio -- royalty rates so high that they will put RadioParadise and every other US-based independant webcaster out of business.

http://www.saveourinternetradio.com/2007/03/04/the-view-from-paradise/

As I heard while eavesdropping, "the music industry is the new Mafia".

Maybe we should all just make our own tunes.

Epiphany

2007-03-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I thought of another way to avoid those cholesterol drugs.

Just Say No.

I mean, it's not like I really care if I have high cholesterol.

Almost time to go back for another test. We'll see... I'm not going back to gnawing on a stick of butter on the way to work every day.

Good thing it's free... and some other stuff

2007-03-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today, I got to the bus stop 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave the stop before mine. 20 minutes later I was sure something was wrong. The bus comes about every 30 minutes. 10 minutes after the next bus was due, it showed up. It was crowded, and got worse, with all the people from the previous bus, which had broken down. And then of course that bus driver wasn't really sure how to work the wheelchair lift, so that made us even later...

The lady I was sitting with hadn't ever considered that the bus might break down. I wasn't that surprised, myself, since the other day the driver turned the bus off and back on, and then called out "we just lost our lights for a little while".

-=-=-

Yesterday was my brother's birthday (the brother I grew up with.) That is one of the 4 to 6 times per year I usually talk to him and/or my mom. So I called at 7pm, and the teenager that lives there answered. She told me he was asleep, said "I'll tell him you called, bye" and that was that.

About 10pm, my brother called, talked for 5 minutes, and then said the 8 year old who lives there was waiting with a cake. So... so much til my birthday in June, I guess.

Free Ride

2007-03-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get used to the bus. It's kind of nice to have a bit of a routine, rather than dealing with parking as a new crisis every day (park off campus and ride my bike? park in two hour zone? pay $6? lay down and die from inability to make a simple decision?)

Today, it's not raining, so my feet are not cold. The stupid thing is, the last 20 yards into the building here are next to impossible to navigate in the rain w/o getting soaked... totally bad drainage... big flat cement slabs with puddles.

So the bus is nothing. Parking and walking in from the lot will get you just as soaked as standing under an umbrella for an extra 7 minutes at the bus stop.

My friend W on the IRC said: "if i lived in the city i would take public trans because i like to talk to people and i am not into driving..."

No one talks that much... I space out with my Ipod and a book. I'm starting to like it. It's like sitting and staring only things are moving past the window and it's a little bouncy. And the corners are fun. But mostly it's nice not to have to decide whether to deliberately crash into the cars that piss me off.

Another one rides the bus

2007-02-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

Number of times I've ridden the bus to work (it's free!) this week so far: 3
Number of free parking days I received from the pedal club this quarter: 10
Number of free parking days I used so far this quarter: 10
Amount of money I've spent on parking this quarter: ZERO

Number of non-English speaking people I've shared my umbrella with at the bus stop: 1

Number of times I had to move due to Body Odor: 1
Number of times I had to move due to Perfume: 1

Number of times the driver restarted the bus to unjam the wheelchair lift before taking the wheelchair owner's advice, which advice then worked like a charm: 5

Speaking of that guy, I am so glad not to see him on the bus on rainy days.
That would just be too much. As it is, that guy makes me feel like a HUGE WHINER.

Here Comes the Sun

2007-02-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

People think that in February, the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) should get better, but I find that it's at its worst then. Since I don't have anything better to do and I'm starting to get used to certain other DEPRESSING aspects of my life, I'm trying to figure this out.

Best I can figure is, I start to "wake back up" a little, look around, consider the last few months, and get extremely irritable...

Usually I see a messy environment, an out of shape me, and no one else much around cause they all gave up long ago. Except Jim and he is the reason I even lived through it these past few years.

I'm not sure what happens next. I think I generally pull myself together during the spring, and go see live music all summer. Looking forward to certain annual camping events helps me through this.

In the meantime I'm taking the bus to work cause I'm too depressed to drive. So... it's good for the environment.

SAD

2007-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

SAD

cholesterol

2007-01-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctor for a regular checkup... well not so regular, as I had not been to a doctor since around 2002. That doctor's office irritated me, so when I was done with my meds (to quit smoking) I just went off them quietly and quit going back.

This new doctor didn't irritate me yet. However, he did give me four months to get my cholesterol down, or else go on medication. Since I'm not fond of side effects, and am bad at refilling prescriptions, I decided to avoid this if I can.

hammered acoustic electric bass guitar???

2007-01-20T22:34:00.000-08:00

What will Jim think of next.

Germs!!!!

2007-01-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

I work in a public place. Every time I go out or come back in, I have to touch doors touched by hundreds of germ-ridden undergrads.

Not to mention whiny alumnae who say "I'm so mad I had to come in here, and I have a fever and I have a doctor's appointment today and you people messed up my computer the other twelve times I came in here" at which point I close my door but it is TOO LATE because she TOUCHED EVERYTHING right before I came back in here.... aaauuuuuughh....

(Not to mention that she should give up using computers completely, by the sounds of the rest of the conversation that I could still hear after closing my door.)

That was yesterday. Today I feel like I'm coming down with something. Even more than I did last week when one of the students had bronchitis. And I never did get sick that time. And I put things off because I didn't want to spread the germs.

At this rate I will never find a time to go visit brand new twin babies.

Maybe I should wear gloves and a mask and carry a can of lysol.

Happy Bees

2007-01-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

Just one more...

2007-01-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

I figured out that this was a series about 5 minutes before I read Elinoire's comment about the series. I'm a "moon child" (aka Cancer) so I suppose it makes sense.

Ever since then I've been looking for chances to take more pictures of the moon, but things like lack of batteries, lack of moon, clouds or lack of camera have been thwarting me.

I keep thinking of ideas for blogs when I'm in the backyard, and then forgetting them. I was told I could blog from my cellphone. Imagine that! But I don't have a cellphone.

I talk on the phone for work every couple of weeks (aside from notifying customers that their computers are ready.) I talk on the phone for nonwork about once every few months. I talk to my mom 4 times a year whether I need to or not... I don't think I need a cell phone?

Jim had one for a while but he never carried it except when traveling. And we lost it on our trip in December.

We don't have Caller ID. Because we get so many junk calls, we screen with the answering machine. I have a feeling there are people I don't know anymore because they won't talk to an answering machine.

Oh well just to reward you for reading this far, here's a picture of something I made. In the spirit of all these crafty bloggers...

And here's a thing that is blooming in our backyard, right now:

Myself, I'm not blooming. I'm thinking of hibernating. I've been feeling like I'm coming down with something for days but it's not quite happening. Could be the weather, could be... January.

Moon through the fennel

2007-01-07T13:39:00.000-08:00

Moonrise over Serverhenge

2007-01-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

New photos

2006-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

We upgraded Jim's flickr account, so he can do all the work, and I can just point:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeemshome

He may be uploading older pictures gradually.

Also, a friend from a gardening chat room has some really cool stuff here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coloredglass

Today, I'm getting reacquainted with my electric bass guitar.

Best wishes to all

2006-12-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, Jim and I went to Phoenix to spend time with his father, who lives in Tyler, Tx, as well as his brother, John, John's wife, Shamali, and their 15 month old daughter, Elyssa, who live in Dallas. Shamali's family lives in Phoenix. Every Christmas they have a huge party attended by everyone in the area who came from Sri Lanka, along with a lot of other neighbors, friends, and family. The food was fantastic and took several days for Pat and Dudley to prepare. They were busy the whole time we visited, and so we have no pictures of them. They are both doctors, I believe.

Jim took most of these pictures. He took a whole lot more pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeemshome/sets/72157594447610726/

Jim is on the left, John is in the middle with Elyssa, and Grandpa Stan is on the right:

I found a new friend:

John watches as Grandpa Stan turns over a new leaf:

On Christmas Eve, everyone went to Midnight Mass except Elyssa and her Aunt Lilith (Shamali's sister), who for some reason we don't have a picture of.

On Christmas day, we went for a really nice brunch at a Hilton. Elyssa was a very good baby. She makes this little squeak sometimes when she's frustrated. I mentioned to her dad that the cute thing about it was that I knew it could be So much louder. He agreed. Of course, five minutes later she proved that it Could be louder. But as soon as she was carried around to investigate all those interesting strangers she quieted down. So her father won't be feeding her to the dogs. This time.

On Christmas night, the party really got going. With hundreds of people wandering through the house, bringing gifts for Elyssa, posing in front of the tree, kids running every which way, well, right about then I decided, finally, to ask a personal question. We were immediately interrupted and I let it go. About 20 minutes later Shamali answered as if no time had passed, and the gossip session began. Tanya occasionally leaned in, and added to the conversation. Especially if it was about her.

Shamali is on the right, and I am in the middle. At the left is Tanya, who is carrying Pat and Dudley's second grandchild. (Elyssa is the first on both sides of her family!)

Tanya seems pretty cool. Later on, I was able to bond with her, over things like my barely managing not to stand up and shout in protest at various points during the Mass the night before.

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The next morning we said goodbye and got in the car to drive home to San Diego. Jim said "let's go to Tucson" and I said "sure!" so we did. We got there in time to buy an annual National Parks pass, wander a nature trail, and join about 100 people taking sunset shots at one turnout over the desert.

The next day we went to a very cool place, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. They have kitties:

Kitties sleep in the strangest positions:

I guess I won't go shuffling through the sand dunes unless I'm wearing very good boots:

We tell people we are going to the desert, and they ask why. Well:

That's why.

But at last we did head home:

Time for a rest after a good vacation.

2006-12-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

They really ARE hiring them younger!