Podcasts
Today, I go all narcissistic and give you a list. Here are the podcasts that I currently listen to: History According to Bob, in which a history professor talks for ten to twenty minutes about some odd or unusual or interesting bit of history. Sometimes it’s about a specific event (The U.S. Presidential Election of 1796), other times about an aspect of a larger event (prostitution during the American Civil War). He’s great to listen to, […]
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
On Sunday, I had my parents over for the afternoon. We chatted a bit about various things; had a good time. I was re-amazed that I have such a good relationship with my parents. Not that they don’t deserve it; they’re great people. But I know so many people who don’t get along with their parents. I’m blessed. We then went to the Leesburg Flower Show. Booths stretched up […]
Poetry Revitalization Project
Imagine a website/blog that posts really good poetry, and pays good rates to poets for that poetry. And that writes about the poetic form. And that points people towards good poetry. And that sells collections of good poetry. And that sponsors poetry-writing contests. In other words, imagine a poetry portal, though a non-proprietary one. A website that gets people talking about poetry. Imagine RSS feeds of good poetry. Imagine getting […]
My Saturday
So I spent Saturday with Mandy, in D.C. We met at the metro, then stopped off at the Holocaust Museum to pick up tickets for later in the day. We then poked our heads through the Natural History Museum and marvelled at the prehistoric animals. We spent a few minutes in the Museum of Fine Art before heading back for our appointed times at the Holocaust Museum. And that was almost too much to bear. A large amount of the exhibit […]
…Did Kubla Khan a Stately Pleasure Dome Decree
I’ve been listening to audio recordings of Open Tech 2005 (previously known as NotCon). As seems to often be true, about half the presentations are uninteresting, dully presented, or so poorly recorded as to be unintelligible. The other half are fascinating. In particular, I listened to a talk given by a distinguished-sounding gentlemen, explaining that his view of computing is different from probably everyone else’s in the room, and how he’s been using computers for decades, […]
Anime Musings
Been watching a lot of anime recently, and it’s been instructive in its own way about the state of the anime industry and how folks in the anime industry have changed lately. A good example is The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, the story of an extremely odd, extremely energetic high school girl who starts her own club. The entire first episode consists of the terrible video project that they put together as a project; there are […]
Resilient and Alive From All Sides
Stayed up until 12:30 last night, then tried to get up at 7:15. I clearly need to make a few adjustments to my “workload.” Which probably makes me sound like I’m stuffing my evenings with busywork. Here’s the thing: When I get home, I have four broad ways to fill my time: maintenance work like checking my truck’s oil or dusting the house, creative work that feeds my desire to build things (like […]
Feeling Good
I had a great day at work today, and I’m feeling good this evening. I have all the energy I need to get stuff done. Which means I need to slow down and not burn through all this energy and go into another boom-and-bust cycle, probably. I’ll try to do some relaxing tonight, and see how that goes. Comments: Saalon Actually I disagree. We can’t control when we feel ready […]
Sunday, April 9, 2006
I went out on Friday night to Blues Alley, where I and a date watched Jack Jones perform. Boy, was I nervous. Felt ill all day. Freaked out at the idea of taking a date in to Washington, D.C. and into an alley where we’d be in a blues club. Very, very much outside of my regular comfort zone. And I had a wonderful time. Jack was great, my date was great, and I just had a great time eating chocolate […]
My Beef With Relaxing
Following on to some comments I’ve made here recently about resting and relaxing and not getting too much of it in, here’s the beef I have with relaxation: I don’t mind relaxing. Especially taking out an hour or so to do something fun (read a book, watch a TV show, putter around in the garden; whatever). But I think that “boom and bust cycles” usually signal that something is wrong. If I have […]