| Relocating |
[Jun. 12th, 2004|12:56 pm] |
I don't have any more plans to post on lj anymore. I've created a feed on livejournal that you can add to your friends list: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) gnumatt. That feed pulls from my personal site.
I will continue reading and periodically commenting on people's posts though. |
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| "Who the hell comes missionary anymore?!" |
[May. 21st, 2004|07:46 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | The Deed - Grails | ] |
Now here's a blog with refreshing honesty about why they're drawn to public service. I have a "glamour job" on the Hill. That is, I could not care less about gov or politics, but working for a Senator looks good on my resume. She is, or rather was till today, an aide for Republican Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio.
It's mostly about all the sex she had or wanted to have. This includes apparently getting $400 for a "long lunch." I thought this entry was a gem:
I am done with W, for real this time. A man who tries to fuck you in the ass when you are sober does not love you. He should at least take you out for a few drinks to spare you the pain. Now I know that W does not care about me, only my asshole.
See it works on two levels. One is the literal about her date with some guy. Then you have the second symbolic level of George W. Bush and the American people. :) |
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| And we're doomed to repeat it... |
[May. 18th, 2004|12:44 am] |
After a particularly pusillanimous, groveling letter from the leadership of Atlanta to stop destroying their city Sherman sent back what must have been a devastating reply. His response to the people of Atlanta seems to capture a much more complex person than I ever came to understand in my US History classes.
( Here is an excerpt from that letter ) |
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| Burn it all down. |
[May. 18th, 2004|12:16 am] |
I watched Sherman's March (1986) tonight. I have no idea how this ended up in my queue. I think it was mentioned in a green cine newsletter. A documentary filmmaker sets out to explore William Tecumseh Sherman, the Union general who waged total war on the South's civilian population.
Instead he spends a lot more time documenting his ailing love life, talking to a number of Southern women, his fear of nuclear holocaust, and trying to get Burt Reynolds on film. At two and a half hours I was a little concerned that this foray into his mostly trivial and mundane life would be tedious. I quite enjoyed it. Luckily he gets some really good characters like his sister (who's getting plastic surgery), a flirtatious, exercise fanatic wanna-be actor named Pat and an old teacher who desperately wants him to get married. Along the way he takes little breaks to talk about Sherman.
It should have been awful, a tedious exercise by a self-indulgent documentarian. A Michael Moore without any grand ambition or humor but I was pleasantly entertained the whole time. I think part of it is laughing at trends from the late 70s and early 80s. Another part is how things are the same now as they were in the movie, or even during Sherman's time. |
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| My dogs are barking |
[May. 15th, 2004|06:41 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | exhausted and happy | ] |
I suck. I didn't make it to Decatur. I made it to the Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church at 7565 Greenbrier Rd. in Madison, AL and walked up to I-565 to get a ride back. I saw trains every hour and a half. I even hopped on one and rode it for a few seconds imagining a hobo life. I blistered my right pinky toe, and the backs of both heels within the first hour. I guess the Salomon hiking shoes I used still need some breaking in. I saw lots of dead opossum, or at least their bleached skeletal remains. I saw a cool looking copper colored snake. I picked up a plastic bag with envelopes sealed inside labeled "Haz Mat" with other numbers written on it. I think it fell off one of the trains. I saw a little tent village under one overpass next to the tracks. I had diarrhea and forgot to bring toilet paper. I saw lots of grafitti extolling the virtues of being "High Till I Die" or just getting stoned out of your gourd.
Most cool of all is that I reached a point where I didn't know exactly where I was. Figuring out where I was may have been easy but it was still fun feeling like I was off the map for an hour or two.
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| Finding Resolve |
[May. 14th, 2004|05:54 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Monuments Burn Into Moments - Porcupine Tree | ] |
 Tomorrow morning I'm taking off on a walk around 8am or 8:30am. I'm walking from my house to the nearby town Decatur via the Southern railroad line. I just want to get to the L&N Railroad junction in Decatur. It's around 26 miles by car. It's a little harder to estimate the distance by walking along the train tracks. I'm hoping that I'll see some new sights along the way since I'm bringing my camera.
The hope is that I can get ready for a hike from Huntsville to Dallas in late September. Beyond that I'd love to be fit enough to tackle this new Coast 2 Coast route. Although my mind and body can't imagine exactly how hard a 30miles/day pace for 9 months over 7,700 miles truly is. |
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| It's Playtime |
[May. 12th, 2004|07:53 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Robot Soul - Cosmo Vitelli | ] |
Had great fun in the 2004 24 Hour Video Race. We got our short in 9 minutes before the midnight deadline. We had to build a 5 minute or less short film around the following four things: (1) Location: Playground (2) Prop: Ladder (3) Theme: Easy Money and (4) Line of Dialogue: "You can have it."
I found out last night our video made the finals.
You can download the video [15MB] or the outtakes [15MB]. You may need the 3ivx codec to view it.
Keep in mind that none of us do this for a living, and that 24 hours is not very much time. :) |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 6th, 2004|07:46 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Bombay Vindaloo - Dream Theater | ] |
Today David and I head to Dallas for the 24 Hour Video Race. I am very much looking forward to seeing old friends. While I'm there I'm adding a new server to my co-located servers.
Have fun graduating this weekend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mariapapita. |
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| Mumbai Dreams |
[May. 1st, 2004|05:47 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Quiet Victories - Shipping News | ] |
Grabbed a new 802.11g wireless router for the house hoping it would make the new powerbook happier. I have to configure the Internet connection w/new router.
Crap. It didn't work the first time.
( Cliche phone support story... ) |
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| The rash |
[May. 1st, 2004|12:17 pm] |
I was a bit foolish this week and didn't really take any precautions from the sunlight. I even spent about 45 minutes underneath a cloudy sky eating lunch on Friday. It caught up with me.
Yesterday afternoon on into the evening left my forearms and neck broken out in that old familiar rash. My lips have gotten in on the action too. Although since moving back to Huntsville one part of them seems to be in permablister mode any way. Another new twist is the right side of my face around my eye. This showed up after enduring sandstorms in the Moroccan Sahara. I guess the sand blasting removed some protective layer of skin around my eye. My hands aren't having any problems. I guess they've completed their Spring "molting" from the semi-constant exposure to sunlight.
It's all so embarrassing not looking like everyone else. Thankfully right now it's not that bad. I can venture out into public without too much anxiety. It just burns and itches and irritates as my clothes rub against my skin. |
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| "Give me your tired, your poor..." |
[Apr. 27th, 2004|06:20 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
I get up at seven, yeah. Go to work at eight*. I got no time for living yeah. I'm working all the time. They call me the Working Man.
I think this is just a fact of my body. Getting up at 7 in the am has never worked for me. I slept through school. I sleep through work. I just can't get the amount of rest I need by 7am. I need that extra hour of sleep in the morning. I can go to sleep at 10pm or 1am and still not feel rested with this 7am wake-up time.
I can unequivocally state that my most productive years have come when the work day began at 9am.
Are late sleepers a protected class in discrimination cases? Can I point to an institutionalized bias that has deprived me the full benefits of my citizenship because they left me tired? |
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| Sir, contain yourself |
[Apr. 25th, 2004|07:56 pm] |
I've given up on Huntsville having the movies or DVDs I'm interested in. I've accepted the lack of a decent movie theater. (Although the Film Coop's new monday movie thing is exciting) Half the time I can find the book I'm looking for, but Barnes and Noble is quite expensive. I miss having a quality used book store like Half Price in Dallas.
I've accepted Huntsville's modest offering of locally owned non-BBQ/soul food restaurants. The ones it does have I quite enjoy. I'm resigned to driving/flying to other cities to see the exhibits, artists, or cultural events that interest me since they annoyingly shun Huntsville, AL.
What I am currently finding absolutely ridiculous is that I can't find a place that sells archival quality storage boxes. Does nobody store things here?
Perhaps I'm just lazy in this instance. Do people here cut down a tree, strip the bark, pulp the wood, put together a box and treat it with special buffering agents to neutralize migrant acid and atmospheric pollutants? |
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| Take What You Like: April 2004 |
[Apr. 25th, 2004|04:42 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | White Turban (The Traveler) - Bardo Pond | ] |
I'm trying something new here and listing out the mix cd contents. If anyone is interested in a copy, and doesn't already receive one, email me your address and I'll mail one.
( Take What You Like: April 2004 )
For those I already send them out to this batch goes in the mail Monday. |
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| Living behind the tape delay |
[Apr. 25th, 2004|04:27 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Two World's Collide - Inspiral Carpets | ] |
I've been unpacking the personal history stuff that's filled up my living room since October. I break it down by person and then file it away. This included keys to two different girlfriend's places. Both have since moved at least twice.
I guess they aren't really "keys" anymore, just key shaped pieces of metal that don't do anything. What is a key that doesn't unlock anything?
With all the stuff I've saved from people over the years the things that have thrown me for the biggest loop today are a couple of notes and cards from Leia. Reading them now they come across as sincerely loving and heart warming. I wish I could have recognized them as such back then. I read them today, practically for the first time, and was genuinely touched. Just two years to late.
I was, and still am, stingy with my affection. I tend to lavish it on either people that aren't around or nature and the arts. It's as though my life would be too harsh in real-time so I experience it with a nice safe, tape delay. |
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| Thrills and spills |
[Apr. 24th, 2004|12:56 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Tokyo - The Books | ] |
I'd forgotten the thrill of posting a comment on some completely new person's website and getting a personal response back from them.
Got some past due sysadmin stuff done tonight. New toys coming in. A 1u rackmount server on Wednesday, and a 15" powerbook on Monday. I'm surprised Mac Resource is giving me $550 for my g3/500 dual usb ibook.
I spend a ridiculous amount of time working on my servers and playing with net widgets. It's hard for me to imagine a life where I didn't have servers to take care of that other people count on 24/7/365. |
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| Now *that's* humor |
[Apr. 24th, 2004|12:53 am] |
Somethingawful.com has posted a pitchfork parody that is quite funny. It overdoes it with the Radiohead humor but I liked this snippet from a "review":
Discovering a new Radiohead release is like staring into the eyes of Jesus Christ and feeling the eternal stream of love and awe that flows from Him.
Pitchfork has funny stuff on their own like their review of Metallica's St. Anger. |
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| Happy and Aloof |
[Apr. 22nd, 2004|12:52 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Don't Die In Me - Mirah | ] |
I've been on a hot streak with music purchases recently. The Unicorns, Halley, The Books, Modest Mouse, songs from Xiu Xiu and Four Tet and the new Mirah have all kept me enthused about music.
Today it's the new Mirah that's put a smile on my face. Five songs in and they all match Cold Cold Water in production, lyrics and the raw anthem like power. The simple, solitary quiet and playful lyrics that dominated her past two albums seem gone.
Talked to a friend about her guy problems today. I wonder what purpose the great dance plays. "I want you." "I don't." " I want you again."
I was put on the spot during lunch to come up with an embarrassing date/ask-out moment. The two anecdotes I shared revealed more about the other person than myself. I feel so aloof sometimes. |
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| The story of chicken little |
[Apr. 18th, 2004|10:13 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Jerusalem - Mirah | ] |
According to this study Moroccans not only don't like America they look on Osama bin Laden more favorably. These results are from the month after I was there, March 2004.
| Favorable | Unfavorable |
|---|
| America | 27% | 68% |
| George W. Bush | 8% | 90% |
| Osama bin Laden | 45% | 42% |
I can't believe that almost half the people I interacted with thought favorably of Osama bin Laden and looked down on my country. I've never been treated with greater hospitality by strangers. I would put Bush and bin Laden as unfavorable but bin Laden is more unfavorable by an order of magnitude.
Surely this poll is a repudiation of the neocon New American Century? Why oh why can't we get thoughtful analysis injected in policy debate? Real military folks at the Defense and the National Interest website have been writing great stuff. Those essays are so good I can't believe they are freely available. |
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| Coming up short |
[Apr. 18th, 2004|09:42 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Tokyo - The Books | ] |
I want to write with the same charm, candidness and brevity that teaweed manages on a regular basis. (To use a word I learned today) I feel that my thoughts come out like some shrill, hebephrenic harpy. Reading her two most recent entries left me thrilled that I'd had the opportunity to read them.
My friendship with her while I was in Dallas left me frustrated and terrified at times. Frustrated because I could see shades of the fascinating and complex person within but I didn't know how to reach it. This is despite her openness and being one of the most honest and forthcoming people I've known. Terrified because I've found myself coming up short when the opportunity was there. |
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| Millennium Actress |
[Apr. 18th, 2004|09:21 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Crank Heart - Xiu Xiu | ] |
I must be getting soft since my favorite movies this year have been love stories: Show Me Love, Mansfield Park and now Millennium Actress directed by Satoshi Kon.
( Quick thoughts on the movie )
It has an emotional heft to it that I had been missing from animated films since the Iron Giant said "Superman." |
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