Still no sign of Smacky.

Well, my neighbor, Old Barfy, did stop by tonight to tell me that last night, when he was going through the trash at the townhouses across the street, he did see a black cat that seemed to want attention, but attacked his hand. OB said it looked like a pretty big cat, which doesn't sound like Smacky (he was only about 9 lb.) but the behavior seems to fit. OB admitted that he doesn't see too well in the dark, though, and he was probably drunk. Hey, thanks for keeping an eye out, though, Old Barfy.

It's nice that he's looking but... y'know... huh. Digging cans out of the trash? Really? • 9:46 PM 1 comments

Jef Raskin, interface super genius and the man most responsible for the original Macintosh (yes, even more than Steve Jobs), has passed away of pancreatic cancer.



Another intellectual hero of mine is gone. The world will be the poorer for it. • 9:34 PM 0 comments

It's now been over 24 hours since I last saw Smacky.

I went out for a run yesterday afternoon. The weather was nice, warm, sunny. I'd been inside most of the morning, setting up my new computer, cleaning up the apartment, doing laundry, and playing with Smacky. I wore him out. I'd been in such a good mood all day and he helped. As I told him, he's got basically two jobs around the house:

1. Make me laugh;
   
2. Catch the bugs.

He was doing great on the first one, not so good on the second one, lazy bastard. I had to catch some of the bugs myself. But I'm not bitter about it.

He was curled up in the computer room when I last saw him. I got up from my desk, went into the bedroom, changed into my running clothes, went outside. I didn't see or hear him wake up, so I didn't pay any attention to whether or not he came out of the computer room when I opened the door. I normally watch for him, since I don't want him outside - especially now that he's got sutures from the operation earlier this week.

One thing I did that I don't normally do is left the front door unlocked. I didn't want to carry my house keys along with my iPod., and I figured I wouldn't be gone that long.

My run was uneventful and I felt tired and slow. I was only going to go for about 2 miles, just down to the park and back, so I thought I'd push myself and go faster. Ha! That just tired me out.

When I got back, he didn't come to the door. I called for him, but he's not a cat that comes when I call him (yet; I always wanted to train him that way). I was tired and sweaty, poked my head in the computer room but he wasn't there, wasn't in the kitchen when I got some water, wasn't in the bathroom while I showered.

That, along with the living room, pretty much is the entire apartment.

I figured he was hiding. But that would be unusual for him. I worried a little bit, then when I was clean and dressed again, I went over the house top to bottom. I opened cupboards, closets. I looked in the washer and dryer with a growing sense of dread and fear (I had been doing laundry; couldn't he suffocate in there? Could it happen in the time it took me to go for a run and return? Had I left it running?) I looked in the refrigerator and oven.

He wasn't there.

I can't think about it even now without feeling stupid and sad and angry. I left the door open and sat in the living room hoping he'd turn up. I kept looking out back, and checking the windows. I would jump up at the slightest squeak or whistle hoping it was him. I walked around the block several times, looking for that telltale black. Oh, who was I kidding? He'd be almost impossible to spot, especially if he wasn't moving. Like he was asleep. Or. Yeah, stop that.

I'm not close to my neighbors. I tend to keep to myself and don't talk to them often. They're, all of them, like me, single older men (I'm not the youngest but close, I think) and mainly they all sit around and drink. They may or may not be employed. The loudest is the one I call "Old Barfy" because, almost every single morning, he's throwing up, hacking and coughing, in his bathroom. I used to live so that my bedroom shared a wall with his bathroom and his regurgitation would wake me up. I moved, downstairs, primarily to get away from that sound. I can still hear it, faintly, sometimes, but it's much lessened, like a dog barking in the distance. He's in his 60s, tanned and bald and thin like leather, with a voice that can cut through steel, sharp and loud. I don't like him because of all I've described plus his manipulative behavior when he first moved in, trying to get me to make his complaints for him to the landlord.

One time, weeks ago, he called out to me in a tone of voice that creeped me out, "That shore is a cute little kitten you've got there." I ignored him. I thought he might try to eat Smacky or something.

I sat for an hour and a half, hearing Old Barfy call out to other folk in the neighborhood, drinking beer on the upstairs walkway with another, quieter bachelor. I couldn't bring myself to go out there and ask for help from someone I feared and hated.

But as the minutes passed I knew that I had to do everything I could to make sure Smacky got back to me.

I went out and asked Old Barfy if he'd seen my cat. Hardest thing I've done in a long time. From the way I'd treated him in the past I had no right to expect any help, but he did, in a small way. He went around to some of the other tenants in adjacent apartment buildings, the ones who already had pets or had kids likely to bring home a stray, and asked them if they'd seen my cat. No one had, but it was a nice gesture. I made sure to thank him.

I've made up a flyer that I'm going to post in the neighborhood. I thought about offering a reward. Am I bad that I'm not offering one? Does that reduce the chances of me getting him back? I'm just not made of money. More guilt. I'm sad but I don't know that what I could afford would be enough to entice a stranger to return a cat.

I'm glad I got Smacky chipped, but I don't know how well that's going to work now. I have doubts. Do all vets scan for the chip? Smacky didn't wear a collar so there's no outward sign of him being owned and not a stray. Well, no outward sign except for the fact that his claws are trimmed and he's recently been neutered. Wouldn't someone notice that?

I'm sad. I have very little hope of getting him back. I feel intense guilt every time I leave the house, to go get food or even take a walk, being sure that he would come back when I'm not around to hear him at the door. I slept most of the night on the couch so I might have a better chance of waking up to his faint, squeaky meow. I left the front porch light on (like he'd notice something like that). I checked out all my windows before going to bed.

And for only the second time since I got him, over 5 months ago, I woke up alone in the apartment again. • 3:40 PM 0 comments

Standing in line at the corporate coffee shop, waiting my turn, the barista was working ahead and asked me what I was going to order. I told him (soy chai latte, mmmmmm) which he proceeded to make for me. I still had to pay, though, and sipped it while the person ahead of me paid for their order. While I stood there, though, the barista, a tall shaved-head, goatee-sporting guy, spotted the blue wrist band I was wearing.

"Hey, that's cool," he said, "I had one of those, and I tried to wear it to work. But my boss said," and here he adopted a mocking-authority voice, "'that's a political statement and we can't have you wear that here, you might offend some people,' blah, blah, blah."

"Yeah," I said, "I've run into that before." I was thinking of the time Caleb and I were handing out flyers for our political site and ran into this particular policy in corporate-owned stores. The funniest times were when the employee, obviously sympathetic to our cause, would tell us to set them out while they looked the other way, circumventing the policy.

"Yeah," he mused, then suddenly came to a decision. "In fact, get out of here!" He waved his grease pencil at me.

"What?" I was confused. He seemed in cahoots with me one minute, then he was tossing me out?

"Yeah, I'm buying your drink. You're one of the good guys!" he said, beaming. "Get out of here!"

Cool. Thanks, Mr. Barista! Your bosses get to hold back some of your pay and I get to enjoy a delicious soy chai. I'm pretty sure I came out ahead but don't think I don't appreciate it. • 1:44 AM 1 comments

I GOT MY MAC MINI TODAY!! And as much as it pains me to say it, Apple is sometimes (how shall I say this?) somewhat less than perfect. Their setup wizard allows me to transfer over my home directory, applications, and OS settings from a previous computer -- like, say, my iBook.

But the wizard transfered over ALL my laptop settings; like the Airport card, which doesn't exist on my MM, but now I have a non-functional icon on the toolbar which I'm not sure how to remove. Or the fact that my desktop computer thinks it has a battery that doesn't exist. But I could live with those things.

It's just... frustrating

Argh. Brand-new computer and I have to reinstall the OS. I got it at 9 AM and I broke it before lunch.

I guess on the bright side I get to fire off some rant-y email to Apple. "Fix your damn wizard! It's supposed to JUST WORK -- PROPERLY!" • 6:32 PM 1 comments

Smacky update:

Smacky's doing fine. He was a little groggy when I first brought him home, but that only lasted about a half-hour or so. After that, he was all over the place. He made it a point to do all the things that I've been training him not to do: jump up on the kitchen counter and the kitchen table; he attacked my feet several times; he chewed on the cords behind the teevee/stereo; pushed around his water dish and spilled water all over. But he didn't do it with gusto. He just seemed to do it out of a sense of duty, as if he were saying, "Let's get this out of the way so we can let the healing begin."

Or something.

I'm exagerating, just a little bit, probably out of guilt. Certainly I hate to be castrated, although mine was always virtual and not actual, so I'm projecting onto Smacky.

This morning he was his normal self, lounging outside the bedroom door when I got up, being underfoot, waiting outside the shower to attack my feet when I got out, and sitting on the bathroom counter waiting to lick up the saline that fell when I put my contact lenses in. Is that strange? Aren't all cats strange, though? I guess I'm asking if that's strange for a cat which puts it on a whole 'nother level. • 7:35 AM 1 comments

Dave Eggers being interviewed by The Onion. What could be cooler?

And roly-poly crap, they mention monkeys straight off.

Monkeys! Which are always funny. Always.

Go read it or somethin'. • 7:36 AM 0 comments

Random updates:

I feel great this morning, physically, at any rate. I'm still feeling the energy from my run last night. Running feels great once your body gets used to the stresses. When I'm running it feels like almost my entire body is working in concert. My senses are alert, scanning around me for obstacles or other things of interest; arms pumping and providing balance; back and stomach keeping me upright; legs doing their thing, keeping rhythm, feet pounding the ground; heart and lungs feeding the rest...

It all comes together in a continuous action. I feel like I could go running right now.

The house felt much quieter this morning. It's finally time for Smacky's "snip 'n' chip". I dropped him off at the vet last night and they're going to do him today. I missed having him around, although I'm happy I didn't collect any new scars from him pouncing on my feet as I get out of the shower while blinded with water and soap in my eyes. (Warning: do not attempt to diagram the previous sentence)

Yep, Smacky's going to be "chipped", which means he'll be a cybercat. How could a geek like me resist the opportunity to electronicize my animal companion? Much more geeky than a tatoo.

It doesn't look like my Mac Mini will arrive today, after all. I jumped the gun a bit when I saw that it had "shipped" but apparently that only means that the finished building it and left it on the dock for someone to pick up, which didn't happen yesterday. The page shows that it's still on the dock this morning, if I'm reading the Fed Ex tracking page correctly. Of course, that page shows local time, so that might have been yesterday. I don't know. All I know is that the tracking page doesn't show a delivery date yet. *sigh* And I was so excited. • 7:15 AM 0 comments

It felt good to go running tonight. For a lot of reasons.

It felt good to be running at all -- my last run was last Saturday.
It felt good to be running in my neighborhood again.
It felt good to be running on asphalt, grass, trail instead of a treadmill.
It felt good to power up the hills.
It felt good to coast along the top of the bluff and see the city lights.
It felt good to have wind and trees around me.
It felt good to have the silver full moon shining down on me as I ran.
It felt good to be able to do the full 3.5+ mile loop without collapsing.

But best of all it felt good to have music in my ears to help motivate me.

Yay, iPod shuffle!

I named it "ShuffleSexy".

Music and running are a great combination. • 8:58 PM 0 comments

Yay! Got the email this morning: My Mac Mini (with SuperDrive DVD-burnin' schweet goodness!) is shipping today!

I'll have it tomorrow!

And my iPod Shuffle comes today!

Yay! Brand new infusion of Apple Crack © ™ ! • 6:15 AM 0 comments

Walking home from the bus stop tonight, just about 15 minutes ago, I saw a falling star. Very bright, looked like a fast-moving airplane at first but faded quickly.

I was listening to a little Blues Traveler and was in the right mood to make a wish.

For a materialist atheist I'm inappropriately romantic/sentimental/superstitious sometimes.

No, I am not going to tell you what my wish was. • 10:40 PM

Awful. Awful.

Hunter S. Thompson has apparently shot himself tonight.

One of the world's best journalists is dead.

I'm doing a couple of shots of tequila in his memory. • 9:02 PM 0 comments

I have a Whoo-HOO!! and a complaint.

My iPod Shuffle, that I ordered weeks ago, shipped out today. Yay! I'll get it next week. Finally...

However, ghoddammit, I paid for overnight shipping. And I feel like I paid that extra amount for nothing. It's shipping on a Saturday? A Saturday of a three-day weekend, no less. I won't be at work on Monday, nobody will, which means I'll have to wait for it until Tuesday. Which means my "overnight" shipping will take four calendar days.

Also, still no word on my Mac Mini... waiting... waiting... • 5:10 PM 2 comments

Thought about posting this on the political blog but decided it was just a bit too theoretical so I'll post it here. Just some thoughts on the media and how that is different than journalism. A small point. This idea was cut from my not-yet-posted review of "All The President's Men" because it's already running pretty long.

It concerns how standards have slipped in what, exactly, constitutes a denial.

It's something that struck me as I was reading Woodward and Bernstein's account of how they went about investigating. They would talk to some sources, put together a story based on those sources, many of whom, because of the seriousness of what they were talking about, wanted to be anonymous. And rightfully so; the sources knew the stakes in the game they were playing, and a lot of them knew that they were accusing the most powerful men in the country, and possibly the world, of very damaging things.

And, in the course of reporting these things, the reporters would contact the accused person and ask for a statement, which they would include in the story. And, time and time again, after hearing the vague "statements" that the accused would offer, Woodward or Bernstein would conclude, "That's not a denial" and then write into the story something like: "When asked for a statement, Mr. Accused did not deny the allegations".

And it piqued my interest. Certainly what the text said sounded like a denial to me. So I had to figure out what was missing.

And what was missing from the non-denial denials was... facts. Something that could be checked out. Something, anything, that would directly counter the statements made.

Let me give you an example. Say there's a reporter doing a story on me, and she's dug up some source somewhere that claims that, during Labor Day weekend last year, I was in New Orleans with some redhead who was married to someone else. And the reporter, before printing this allegation, called me up to ask for a statement. After due consideration, I provide the following statement:

I did not travel to New Orleans, or anywhere, with a married woman.

Sounds like a denial, right? But what if I did spend Labor Day weekend with a woman? But we took separate planes? And it wasn't in New Orleans? And she wasn't really married, just dating someone, but it was kept secret from her boyfriend? My statement is true, as far as it goes, and it certainly sounds like a denial, I mean, it's emphatic enough, but, see, it's not, really.

In order to counter the allegations I need to provide some backup, not a qualified statement. I would want to provide some documentation, like a plane ticket to Las Vegas, perhaps. Maybe some witnesses, or a picture of me riding the roller-coaster at New York, New York, things like that. Of course, if those pictures or witnesses showed me with the woman in question, then I'm sunk. But that's part of the problem; denials of the facts almost always have flaws. They don't hold up.

Nowadays, however, the media simply accepts and prints the denials they receive from targets of their investigations without digging into the facts of the matter. They rarely follow up the request for a statement with more investigation. They just print the "he said/she said" and call it fair and balanced. Somewhere along the line, they've lost their courage to dig deeper.

And that's part of the difference between journalism, and the media. Journalists dig; the media simply records and reports.

The loss is gianormous. • 7:30 PM 0 comments

John the Morning DJ over at KEXP, sends out an email every day after his on-air duties are over. The bulk of it lists what he's played that day. Plus he includes emails from listeners, information about upcoming shows, things like that. It's an interesting read.

He also lists some of his favorite music. Here's two of the lists:

============================================
JOHN'S FAVORITE SONGS EVER-AN OPINIONATED WORK IN PROGRESS
============================================

1.Pixies "Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)"
2.Jesus and Mary Chain "Just Like Honey"
3.Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
4. Sugar "Hoover Dam"
5. Stone Roses "I Wanna Be Adored"
6.Echo and the Bunnymen "The Killing Moon"
7. Ride "Vapor Trail"
8. The Clash "Police and Thieves"
9. Jeff Buckley "Hallelujah"
10 Radiohead "Let Down"

============================================
JOHN'S EVEN MORE COMPLICATED LIST OF MUST HAVE FAVORITE ALBUMS
============================================

1.Pixies "Surfer Rosa"
2.Radiohead "OK Computer"
3.Nirvana "Nevermind"
4.Sugar "Copper Blue"
5.Pixies "Come On Pilgrim"
6. Massive Attack "Mezzanine"
7. Chemical Brothers "Exit Planet Dust"
8. My Bloody Valentine "Loveless"
9 DJ Shadow "Endtroducing"
10. The Clash "London Calling"
11. U2 "Achtung Baby"
12. The Cure "Disintegration"
13. U2 "Joshua Tree"
14. Jesus and Mary Chain "Darklands"
15. Depeche Mode "Violator"
16. Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy"
17. Radiohead "Kid A"
18. Pixies "Doolittle"
19. Radiohead "The Bends"
20. Jeff Buckley "Grace"
21. Smashing Pumpkins "Gish"
22. Pearl Jam "Ten"
23. Jane's Addiction "Ritual de la Habitual"
24. Morcheeba "Big Calm"
25. Underworld "Dubnobasswithmyheadman"
26. Unkle "Psyence Fiction"

My emphasis added

So, among all his other favorite music, he likes Radiohead. That's a good thing.

...and yet, if he likes Radiohead so much, why, why, WHY hasn't he played any Radiohead at all this week???

I sent him an email pointing this out, and as of 8:59 AM today, he has corrected that error. • 9:09 AM 0 comments

Ran like a rock star tonight.

At the gym (of course), did a warmup mile at a slow pace (around a 10:55 pace; don't really know, just set the speed at 5.5 MPH), then stopped, stretched a bit, and then turned up the speed to 6.3 MPH, or around a 9:31 pace, and just kept going for 2 miles, then slowed back down to the warmup/cooldown pace for another mile. Don't know if I could have kept going at the faster pace but I was impressed at the total mileage. Yay, me!

I'm thinking of doing some hills tomorrow night. Or maybe just an easy 2 1/2 to 3 miles. Not sure. Probably should go easy since today was basically my long run for the week.'

Was soooo tempted to celebrate by going out to eat but came home and had some frozen pasta-and-chicken thing. Oh, well. Saving money is glamorous, right? • 7:14 PM 0 comments

This week I've made a resolution to eat every meal at home. No going out to eat for me. It was sink-or-swim time. I was going to determine, once and for all, just how much money I can save by preparing my own groceries.

I'm doing OK so far. Well, I have bought some Diet Pepsis this week (and I'm on a winning streak when it comes to the Pepsi/iTunes contest, too; it's real easy to win when you can read the winning codes through the bottle) and I met a friend for coffee today and bought a delicious soy chai latte. Besides those (oh, and the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate bar I bought) I'm perfect for eating meals I prepared.

Last night, I wanted to have some ramen (I didn't say I was learning to prepare gourmet meals) but wanted some protein to go with all those carbs. Digging around in the back of my cupboard, I found a couple of cans of chicken, bought probably a year ago, back when I had my last "save money/eat at home" kick). Cans of chicken don't go bad, do they? I looked all over for an "expiration date" but, finding none, I figured it was good to eat. I mean, the can wasn't bulging with botulism or anything, there's no holes or leaks, so it's good, right?

But when I opened one... well... it smelled bad. Even I could tell that something wasn't right. Ew. It all looked fine. It was the color I expected, not green or red or anything but normal white-meat chicken colored. I couldn't quite bring myself to taste it, though.

So I called Smacky over. Set it on the floor. It's chicken, right? And he's not going to eat something that's obviously bad for him (I realize that's a dumb thing to think. I realize that now), right?

He sniffed at it for a second, then jerked his head away like it smelled... well... worse than his normal food, which smells horrible to me.

That clinched it. If it smells too bad for even Smacky to turn it down... it ain't goin' in my belly. • 5:09 PM 0 comments

Quick lunchtime update:

I know, the silence this week has been deafening. Been working on a couple of longer posts, one for here (musings about the illusion of mind and body being separate; maybe a bit dry but it's a topic on my mindbody lately, especially considering the strange dreams I've been having) and one for the political blog (a review of "All The President's Men" that's turning into a fairly long critique).

So, hang in there and I'll be back. I've also been slowly working on the site re-design but I don't want to jinx myself by announcing anything yet.

Also the constant sleep interrupted by nightmares kinda take a toll.

I'm going running tonight and will more than likely post about that, too. Funny: I keep reading in Runner's World about how beginners shouldn't start "speed work" until they've been doing "tempo runs" for a while. For instance, a recent article says that a runner should be comfortable running for 45 minutes at a stretch before beginning speed work.

I thought I understood what "tempo running" was -- I thought it was mixed fast and slow running. Makes some sense, right? "Tempo" is a synonym of "rhythm"...

But this week I decided to actually go looking for a definition; and it turns out that a "tempo run" is just sustained running at around what I would run in a race, sandwiched between shorter, easier, warm-up runs. That's, um, what I've already been doing, although I haven't been pushing myself for more than 30 minutes at a time. That's a bit difficult (but not impossible) because there's time limits on the treadmills and it's been too freakin' cold to go running much outside lately. At any rate, I'm going to to try (availability of treadmills being the primary factor) tonight to do a 35-minute "tempo run". • 11:35 AM 0 comments

Added RSS (well, technically, Atom) feed support to Lunar Obverse.

Firefox users should now see an orange icon in the toolbar in the lower right-hand of the toolbar. Other RSS- or Atom-feed savvy users can use this link.

More about RSS (a.k.a. Really Simple Syndication) here. • 2:57 PM 0 comments

Apparently Blogger has changed the way it handles comments: No longer is a Blogger account required for your name to be attached to a post, for instance. This change happened over the weekend.

Another change they implemented (but I haven't decided to turn on yet) is to let comments appear in a popup window. Comment on whether you prefer it or not...

Here's the details for those who want them.

(Hint: please leave a name on any comments...) • 6:51 AM 1 comments

Site update notes:

• First, I rearranged the pictures in the picture gallery, which probably broke a bunch of links back in the archive. Sorry. Maybe someday I'll get around to updating all of those. After I move the site to Blogtastic, maybe.
  
• Speaking of Blogtastic, (a blogging program developed by Caleb) I intend to spend this week working on the final design for my new site design and to get it moved over. I'll still post here; all my development is going to be done at brian-moon.com (as I post this there's nothing there. I'll throw up an index so at least there'll be something to look at).
  
• There is no third thing.
  
• Fourth thing is, I wanted to warn everyone that when I do update my site, it looks like I'll probably lose all the past comments. So if there's something you're particularly attached to, I don't know, save it and email it to me or something.

• 6:28 AM 0 comments

Did the weekly grocery shopping tonight.

Standing in the cookie aisle (gotta have snacks and goodies) I saw Mother's Hawaiian Chocolate Chip cookies.

"Wha? Hawaiian? What makes them 'Hawaiian?'"

The package spelled it out: chocolate chips... with a hint of coconut!

Ooooh...

And, yes, they're delicious. • 7:40 PM 0 comments

Ran today. Wanted to run outside, on the Three Parks run, which is around 3.5 miles, but it was raining.

So I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. 3.5 miles, 34:12 total time, for a 9:46 pace. My longest and probably fastest run of the year so far. Yay, me.

I'm glad. Really. I'm going to be very ready for the Shamrock Run 5K this year.

In other running news, I asked Caleb what he thought of my toe, and Caleb's response was "I don't know." Neither one of us is sure that I'm actually losing a toenail, but we're reasonably sure that whatever it is has been caused by running. Maybe I should post a picture? Since I just paid over $200 for an office visit that did not get applied to my deductible, I don't exactly want to go back in just to have to pay through the nose for a toe. • 6:36 PM 2 comments

Sitting at lunch this week with an old friend that I hadn't seen in a long time, I finally got a word in edgewise while she caught me up on all she's been up to. She'd been rattling on about how much she remembered about me (more than I remembered about her, I'm afraid), paused to take a breath...

...and I leaned over and tapped the large gold band encrusted with diamonds on her left hand ring finger. "Is this for real," I asked with a smirk, "or is it just to scare guys off?"

She looked down at it, laughed, embarrassed, started turning it around on her finger. "Yeah, it's just to scare guys off" she admitted. "Well, plus, I've been filing. I normally wear it on this hand," and she pulled it off, transferred it over to the ring finger on her other hand, "but it gets in the way."

I leaned back and smiled knowingly. "Some guys" I sighed and shook my head in disbelief. "From what I remembered of you, you didn't seem like the marrying kind."

Score one for a direct question. I do learn, eventually. • 6:49 PM 0 comments

Yeah! I'm losing a toenail!

They said this would happen when I started running. But... they said it would happen when I ran a marathon or something.

Maybe my shoes are too tight. Or... I dunno. Something. • 6:24 AM 0 comments

Music I want to actually pay for:

• The Wedding Present, "Take Fountain" (due out 2/14/2005)
  
• new Sage Francis, "Healthy Distrust" (I'll probably buy this at his show later this month)
  
• LCD Soundsystem (due out 2/15/2005)
  
• new ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, "Worlds Apart"
  
• Louis XIV, "Illegal Tender" (their song, "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" -- It. So. Good.) (playing Feb. 22 at The Meow Meow with Hot Hot Heat
  
• Ray LaMontagne, "Trouble"

Hmmm... any more suggestions? Comment away, commenting mofos!

Sorry, I keep updating this post with new stuff as I remember. Technically, I should be adding them in the comments myself, but it's my site and I'll do as I please...) • 6:50 AM 1 comments

Intersection of two of my favorit-est things: Jhonen Vasquez and Penny Arcade.

Tycho and Gabe went to the Emerald City Comic Con last weekend, and Tycho (with whom I have exchanged email (about The Long Winters)) writes about the portent-filled meeting thusly:

The convention was pretty entertaining overall, though we had less visitors the next day. It seems like the set of people who attend comic conventions and the set of people who crave the Super Bowl (which I guess is basically the best bowl out there) would be fairly small, but I haven't actually done a study. At any rate, I will tell you that the set of people who crave the Super Bowl (see above) and the people who crave Jhonen Vasquez is practically nonexistent. The man projects a line where no line existed - he sits down, and immediately the line goes woawrown. It was pretty interesting to hear stories from readers about monstrous things he's done and his beastly acts toward them, and then a half an hour later to have him come over and ask us if we want shirts and hang out for like twenty minutes talking about videogames and Strawberry Shortcake. Of course, if he's rooted in one spot for very long, there's the woawrown again, and he has magically grafted his line to the front of our booth which gave us a real prestige. And there was this this sort of angelic autumn princess that would follow him, which made me follow them, just so I could hold the hem of her gossamer cape and think about decay.

He was really nice to us, by the way. Oh! And His name is pronounced Jonen, not Zhonen or Yonen or however the fuck I kept saying it when I was there. Eventually I realized that I had fucked it up ("That's now how my name is pronounced") but then I had to stick to it just to prove I was dedicated. It's like, look Frenchy. I don't know what the fuck kind of sound a J and an H make, okay? You're rocking some Russian consonant activity.

He gave me an armful of Fillerbunny merchandise, and I was happy to give him everything his tubercular frame could support. I was particularly happy to hand over the Obsidian Spur, as even when I was writing it I thought the notion of a gothic line dancing troupe might appeal to him. Indeed, he might be the only person alive for whom such a concept has appeal.

Ah, thank you, Tycho; I've always wondered how to spell the sound a lightsaber makes. I need waaaaaaaay more practice making onomatopoeic words.

Not only does Tycho's writing make me laugh, he reminds me that I still need to pick up the third Invader Zim DVD...

In related news, Jhonen Vasquez's official site is both unfinished and very funny. But you probably knew that already. • 6:14 AM 0 comments

I went to the Apple Store out in Washington Square and they actually had floor models of the Mac Minis. I played with them for a bit to compare their performance to the Dual 2.5 GHz PowerMacs and the iMacs. The Mac Mini is, um, slower.

They really really are just a bit bigger than 5 or 6 CD jewel cases stacked up. TINY. In fact, when I walked up, I thought it was the power brick for the 23" Apple Cinema Display it was connected to!

If I wasn't jonesing for a DVD burner, I'd have cancelled my order and bought one on the spot. (SuperDrive is a build-to-order option only, more's the pity).

I made sure and asked every sales person I saw if they had any iPod Shuffles in stock. The looks I got from the staff were priceless. • 12:17 PM 1 comments

Those who follow this space closely (which is all of you, right?) will realize that my "Picture of the Week" has been the same for two weeks.

Normally I change it on Saturday or Sunday. But I haven't changed it for a while because there's some controversy over how it should work.

I haven't made any of the suggested changes yet, but I wanted you all to know that I will be changing the picture. It's going to work the same as it's always worked.

Also, I can't keep up with Friday Night Cat Blogging. Just too much stuff going on on Fridays for that. • 6:33 AM 1 comments

Running update:

I ran. I ran so far away.

I ran at least 3 miles, three times this week. I ran at around a 10:00 pace, not great, but there you have it. I'm trying not to keep track of pace and just run in whatever my "aerobic zone" is, or keep time with the music (I'm loving the running with music and will be happy when my iPod Shuffle shows up and I can run outside with a soundtrack), but when I'm running on a treadmill it's hard not to keep track since there's a damned timer right there in front of me. Did I say "dammit" already?

I'm working on distance more than pace right now. Although this month's Runner's World talks about incorporating speedwork once per week. Maybe I'll do that.

As a side note, there are so many great ideas in Runner's World each and every month, and each and every month I read the articles and think, "Yeah, I should do that." And then I think about it, and maybe try it a couple of times, but before I know it next month's issue arrives, with a completely different new idea, and the cycle starts anew. So hard to just stick to one idea for a while.

It'd be cool if I could have "side notes" actually appear over there on the side. Y'know, considering how often I use the phrase "side note" (A search turned up four posts where I've used it on this blog but I'd swear there were more). Maybe I'll implement "side notes" in Lunar Obverse 2.0. Which I am still working on, I promise. • 3:40 PM 0 comments

In my mail this morning was a brand-new credit card, from Direct Merchants Bank. I thought they couldn't send out cards like that anymore? Oh, silly me, I forgot. We have a Republican in the White House.

Don't they know I'm trying to pay these things off? Sheesh. It's like they feed off my attempts to strengthen myself. Evil.

I looked over the terms: starting me out with $600 credit limit. No annual fee; that's nice. And after searching through the paperwork thoroughly (why do they bury that stuff) I found that it's got no interest for the first 3 months, then I start paying a 16.74% variable APR after that.

That might seem high to some folk, but it's actually better terms than my other MasterCard, my one from Household Bank. My Household MC has the same credit limit, but a $59.00 annual fee and an 19.99% variable APR.

What's interesting is that I had, in the last month, sent Household an email asking for a better interest rate and for them to waive the annual fee, since I had just completely paid off the card. I was going to use my miniscule amount of leverage to either get rid of them or get a better deal. But the answer came back; no dice. Take it or leave it.

My choice, then, was clear.

I'll dump the worse card. Or at least try to talk them into matching the terms.

Called the number for Household on the back of my card (hey! it's a local number; area code 503), after navigating through the voice mail maze, I finally reached Tammy. After she pulled up my information she asked me how she could assist me today.

I explained that I was looking to cancel my card, and when she asked me why, I told her about the great new card that I was already holding in my hands with which I would replace theirs.

(Side note: I also told her about asking the bank for better terms through email. Her reply was, "The online folks don't have the authority to waive annual fees."

"Oh," I said, "Then wouldn't it have been better if they had just said that?" She demurred, "Well, they were just telling you what they could do for you."

I don't know; you be the judge:

Dear Brian Moon,

We understand your concern regarding this matter.

Unfortunately, we are unable to remove the annual membership fee from your account. According to your Cardmember Agreement and Disclosure Statement, an annual fee will be billed to your account on the open date and on the anniversary date each year the account is open. This fee allows us to continue to provide quality service to our customers.

We have also received your request for a reduced annual percentage rate; however, a lower rate is not currently available.

If you wish to close your account, please call the number on the back of your credit card to reach our Customer Care Department.

Thank you for using our online services.

Sincerely,

Email-monkey
Household Bank Customer Care

So, she messed around on her computer for a bit, looked at my account (perfect payment history for as long as I've had the card), and offered to credit my account with half of the annual fee. I pointed out, again, that the new card has no annual fee, ever. She typed some keys again, and then said that she would be able to waive the annual fee entirely for the current year. When I pressed on the interest rate (which, considering my goal of paying it off in full every month, is less important but still a good thing to ask for) she said that she would not be able to change that.

Looks like I'm no longer a Household Bank customer. I did give them a chance to retain my business, though. Buh-bye. • 10:29 AM 2 comments

Elevators have taken on a whole new meaning for me lately.

Lots of people insist that there's a pattern to life, that, over time, you can see how events that seemed final and long ago can take on new meaning, or even recur, just twisted a bit. Or people that you only associated with a time that has passed will show up again, in almost exactly the same way that the ocean tosses up an old shipwreck. And, yes, that metaphor is perfect... trust me.

Damn, a while ago I made a brief post about having arguments in my head with people long gone. And then, this week, someone shows up, a person who defines the phrase "person long gone" in a very personal way. A face and a voice that I haven't seen in a span recorded in decades, traveling in a body that does not show much wear and tear for all the miles between then and now.

And what's more important, she remembers all the same stories I do. And in her laugh I see that she remembers them fondly. It's almost too much to ask for.

But all the best stories share a setting: lounging in a darkened bar, after hours, with all the other customers sent home, while the barmistress counted out the till and the rest of us drank the boss's beer for free (at least until the boss called to say he was coming in).

I spent money like water. I spent money that wasn't mine, actually. I broke some hearts but mostly ended up mending mine. I made friends, and lost them.

Or so I thought. Apparently friends don't just vanish in the night. They show up when least expected.

I'm not sure if that's good...

I'm the wrong person to judge if I'm different now. I can string a story from that point to this point, and it all seems to make sense, each event leading into the next one into the next one all the way to where I type this out. I know, however, that I have learned a lot, and lived a bit, just a bit, since then, and my reactions now to those events would be different. Far different, I hope. But it doesn't make a lot of difference, now, does it? I chose poorly then. I choose poorly now, too, it's just that it's a different kind of poorly.

To be sure, I choose wisely now a little bit more than I did back then. But, being human, I think I dwell more on the poor choices than the wise ones. You gain something with a poor choice. But what you gain from the poor choices makes the good choices possible.

All I'm saying is that it'll be interesting to see how time has changed an old friend. It'll be difficult, though, for me to see her as she is now. That's the challenge; the person I remember is somewhat stuck in my mind in a specific context. I'll need to be alert to seeing the woman she is now.

Is the pattern there? Is there some other consciousness (I mean, other than mine and hers) layering the pattern on top of the events in my life? I'm inclined to disbelieve that. More likely my own brain, struggling to make sense of random events, is the one supplying the pattern.

Even so, it makes for interesting stories. • 8:46 PM 0 comments

My new favorite music to run to:


The Blues Brothers original soundtrack.

Elwood Blues: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake Blues: Hit it!

Formerly my "traditional road trip starting music". • 6:34 AM 1 comments

They use the word "disambiguation" on the front page of the English version of the Wikipedia.

The word links to an article explaining how and when to disambiguate. • 2:20 PM 0 comments

If Rite-Aid advertises something as "2 for 99 cents", you really have to buy two of them to get the sale price. They won't let you have one for 48.5 cents. • 6:25 AM 0 comments