Category: Life

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Aries

You were born in the year of the Dragon, during the month of the Dragon. You are a Double Dragon. Thus, your life will be like a terrible Allisya Milano film vehicle: badly written and full of kung-fu. aries.gif

Your birthday today was a symbolic rebirth. The snow falling on the Northeastern states was a baptism. You will awaken tomorrow and find that your apartment has been cleaned, you’ve learned Icelandic, and you can sing Etta James without cracking the final key-change.

A month has passed, Aries, since you re-framed your life. As the weeks go by and your brain reboots, put your trust in the words of Walter.

This is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

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True friends will gut a pig for you.

Yesterday during a convergence of April birthdays and near-birthdays, I attended a large party.

The Large Party was held in honor of Lexie (who has turned a bewitching 30) and somewhat less so, myself who will turn a similar age in a few days.

Attendees were numerous and varied, and ranged from dog to human, and (often) back to dog.

An entire pig was roasted.

The pig, we are told, led a happy life. He went to the best schools, enjoyed daily trotter-massage, and had a healthy skincare regimen.

Lexie’s wife Marguerite shot him between the eyes and hung him from a tree in the backyard.
He was delicious.

Wishing you good friends with sharp knives,
-Erica

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Wardriving: Owego

I’m in a parking lot in Owego, NY (an actual place!) borrowing bandwidth from an anonymous linksys router. Upstate connectivity sucks. There’s a German Shepherd dog asleep in the back seat. Her name is Fiona. I borrowed her for the trip. I just bought this car. One problem solved.

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but a version of Katamari is coming out for the Wii. Hope you aren’t doing anything this summer.

I’m reading Guns Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years. It gives an excellent overview of the evolution and intersection of human cultures. I’m not far into it, but it’s pretty captivating so far, like taking an anthropology course from Oliver Sacks.

Miles to go before I sleep. Woof to everyone.

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Amish Pony Cart and a Premature Deploy

Today was big and full. I’m tired, so here’s a list for you. Bullet points are less intimidating.

  • I crashed our application today by accidentally deploying to Production rather than my localhost. Oops. But then I fixed it and felt all cool with my mad Linux skillz.
  • I’m staying out at my friend’s farm, and this morning I woke up to giggling girls downstairs, local organic bacon and fresh bread, fresh carrot/ginger juice, friendly German shepherd dogs, showtunes, and the nicest snowy upstate NY vista you could hope for.
  • Within 12 hours, I asked for and got $5000 from my bank for a new car. Frightening.
  • I helped my friend’s daughter watch Sesame Street.
  • I helped my employer research how to sell animal sounds for Second Life folks. Advice welcome.
  • I drove out to Amish country in a veggie oil-burning truck and saw a tractor museum while helping my friends pick up a forklift that they bought on Ebay.
  • We got pulled over for speeding, but were let go because the cop liked the veggie oil truck.
  • I waved at Amish children playing in the street with a Shetland pony cart.
  • I watched the sun set behind as a mile-long V of migrating geese flew overhead.
  • My cow-orkers grilled outside at lunch for the first time. Someone brought venison. Fun was had.
  • The pond outside my work window froze last night, and dozens of geese spent the day sliding on the ice with huge leathery feet.
  • I received a kind text message.
  • I set up my new laptop.
  • I helped make a timeline for an NSDL grant.
  • I patronized a 4-H bake sale and volunteered to do a beekeeping talk.
  • I learned that rolling back to a previous version in Subversion is a pain.
  • I stopped taking pain meds and the Frankensteinian curved laceration on my right shoulder has proven to be no trouble at all.

Goodnight. More adventures tomorrow as I travel to Pennsylvania to pick up a car and my motorcycle learners permit.

Stay tuned.

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Hellasnow

bendoverbackwards.jpgOne more blizzard. One last blizzard. There have been storms since I returned, in one form or another. The snow is a fact. The storm is a fact.

Un-ignorable when you need to drive/shovel/haul wood.

By blizzard, I mean: Sideways snow total-white zero-detail pixelation of horizon, foreground, sky, and earth.

By shovel, I mean: The taller-than-me pile of shoveled/plowed effluent framing the driveway.

By haul wood, I mean: To keep the house warm.

By drive, I mean: My sexy rental car. To replace the Nissan I slid into a guardrail during the LAST blizzard.

I’m going to plunge into the snow for a few hours, shovel it into submission, and face the evening. Wish me luck.

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Signifier, signified

“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation, can that which is indestructible be found in us.”

Unknown Pema Chodron (1936 – ) western Buddhist nun (thanks Dwayne!)

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Adventures of the Mouse in the Furnace

Short story, actually.

This morning we woke up to a loud noise and burning smell. A mouse had climbed into our furnace motor blower, got cozy, and met his doom when the heat kicked on. We had to call in the furnace guy to pry him out.

I’m not sure if this counts as a win for the fat lazy cats, or as a Pyhrric victory for Team Mouse.