Writing date with K

There is more to be said than I would've imagined for writing to The Arcade Fire while drinking grappa-spiked coffee. The fresh morning sun streams through the windows and the rest of the day beckons from a long distance, but writing is suddenly more compelling than it's been in a long while.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 08:33 | link | comments |
dissertation, the good parts of life

Boring plant update - who needs chamomile?

The plants are taking over. We inherited bamboo and its growth habit is changing. Where before the stalks that grew up were spindly and light green, they're now emerging from the ground like spears, with frighteningly thick dark green stalks that are sheathed with thin brown "bark" and spouting these ridiculous tufts of palm-tree like leaves at the top. It looks like a totally new type of bamboo, the kind that supported the figters in the  House of Flying Daggers, although it could just be the second or third growth cycle of the spindly type. Either way, it's kind of scary in that it looks like it would have no hesitation in punching through concrete or water pipes or whatever. There's a lot of it, and although it's pretty, I think we're going to have to take protective measures soon.

The raspberries are going completely out of control. It's fun to tickle them off their canes directly into the bowl. We've been a bit slack on watering them, but they don't seem to care. I can't imagine how luscious they'd have been if we'd taken care of them! Perhaps it's for the best, since raspberry shortcake is a pretty addictive breakfast that I'd probably better not get used to having.  It will only last until the current batch of shortcakes are gone, so I'm going to try to just enjoy the moment.

The other discovery is the rash of chamomile we inherited. This is the benefit of inactivity - they looked like weeds at first, but the time just got away from me and now, a ton of chamomile awaits harvest. My plan is to do so either this evening or tomorrow morning, since the flowers are at their peak. The weather's going to be in the high 90's for the next few days, which makes for delightful evenings but hellacious sleep-reduced nights. Fortunately, chamomile can be brewed fresh. I'll be ending my evening with a homebrewed tisane of chamomile and lavender, and then crossing my fingers...

posted by: schoolsmelt at 14:27 | link | comments (3) |

Upson Downs

Yesterday: Great seminar during the day, interesting talk at night, made a good connection with a kind of Bill Gates of the web, had an optimistic discussion about future work prospects, got excited about new project, was told that I belonged at one of the top schools in the nation rather than the one I'm at, was invited to participate in a local conference, generally felt excellent and on top of things.

Today: multiple miscommunications with several people, hurt feelings, panel discussion I'd planned for the weekend snafu'ed - participation withdrawn,  friend's mom very sick, and generally feel like an oversensitive and total screwup.

I'll be embracing Annie's theme as I go to bed tonight.

Link: Go find something that you want to learn more about here.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 23:00 | link | comments (1) |

How we spent Saturday afternoon

My car has been out of commission for a while – I haven’t actually driven in since late March, because the battery died for no discernable reason. Pique, perhaps. In any case, today was going to be the day that we got the car running, and then cleaned out and vacuumed both cars.

We cleaned one of the cars, got everything else set up and flipped the vacuum switch. A strange clicking, far above our heads, ensured. Further investigation showed the clicking to come from a security light fixture that we’ve never liked, can't reach with our tallest ladder, and don’t know how to dismantle.

You know, I’m totally bored even writing this all down, so here’s the short form:

• Vaccuum cleaner trips light in some weird way that we can’t reach or fix.
• That same fuse also powers the garage door opener, which remains open, showing our disordered clutter to one and all who pass. Humiliating, but what can you do?
  
• I start cleaning out the dead battery car, and I find the Nalgene bottle I've been missing for a while, which contains about three swallows of cloudy brown liquid.
  
• I don't remember, and I don't want to know.
• I also discover unaccountably moist objects, and powdery mildew growing in odd places.
• Investigating further, I find about an inch of standing water in the wheel well. WTF?!
  
• I bail that out, then mop things up a bit.
  
• We get the car jumped, which was one of the original intents of the day.
• Preparing for a battery charging drive, I put in a cassette tape that I’d discovered in the other car, a relic of the previous owners which is intriguingly labeled Beginning and End. I like the first 30 seconds of what I’m hearing, get excited about having found a treasure, and then the tape catches and snags and breaks. Fine.
  
• As I reverse out of the driveway, the grating sound from the front wheel wells is discovered to be the fault of two fairly flat tires.
• I maneuver the car to a parking place on the street without event, although an unmarked police car was leaving the parking lot across the street (the car’s registration expired in April).
• I breathe a sigh of relief about that, pick up the spare tire to put it back in the car, and get slimed by the crud that was growing underneath it. Of course.
• I’m done.
• After seventeen (!) years of ownership, I think I’m finally ready to say goodbye to the Mighty. Even if it does get about 40 MPG. 

So long, Fester.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 17:14 | link | comments (2) |
downside, ugh

An Inconvenient Truth

Completely worth seeing, even if I don't much feel like talking about it right now. The movie's site is here.

posted by: schoolsmelt at 22:59 | link | comments |