My Archives: August 2005

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

I'm having trouble finding stuff to blog about. The news from New Orleans is widely available elsewhere. So let's look back. One year ago I started using putty and SSH instead of telnet. Telnet is insecure, so I hope no one is still using it.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:36 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Sunday, August 28, 2005

I've actually posted a journal entry! Plus a picture of myself with a new look. Please pardon the broken navigation -- I've got notes for some entries for earlier in this month that I want to go back and fill in. Jack keeps saying, "Just use your livejournal!" but I like doing it this way; it's what I'm used to!

Posted by Anita @ 08:59 PM PST [Link] [2 comments]

Wow! Jim Blizzard tells the tale of how he and his son were attacked by a pit bull while scuba diving. Is nowhere safe? "Attack! Something smashed into me with a powerful force. Suddenly I was being shaken from behind. What the hell?!? I tried to stand up and heard snarling right by my ear. I could feel a weight on my right side. It was a pit bull! It had swum into the water and had attacked one of the high pressure hoses on my regulator! Inches from my right ear! I yelled F*CK!, dropped my other fin, and dove under the water, hoping it would release its grip. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't put my regulator in my mouth because the pit bull had the hose in its mouth. I didn't have my mask on, so I couldn't see very well. But I could see shapes."

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Posted by Anita @ 04:45 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Saturday, August 27, 2005

The berries are ripening on the invasive Himalayan blackberry canes that infest the Northwest. Paghat has the straight dope: "The Himalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacus (often but mistakenly given as R. discolor, R. fruticosa & R. procerus) is an invasive large-fruiting gigantic briar that has become quite a pest throughout the Pacific Northwest from northern California to southern Alaska. As a child we called them English blackberries, but there is nothing English about them. [...] it's hard to forgive this thing. Light, shade, poor soil, rich soil, damp conditions, droughtiness, it can adapt to most anything. Its humongous root systems & extravagant briar production chokes out all native flora in its path. They are the first plants to appear after forest fires, birds pooping new seeds into the ash-enriched soils, & the briars interfer with the natural restoration phases of a burn which should start with lichens & small herbs, followed by shrubs, then saplings becoming trees. The blackberries hold their areas too darned well, hindering Nature's recovery process."

Be vigilant about keeping them out of your garden and any wilder ground you feel responsible for. But do go blackberrying when the fruit is ripe.

For more on invasive species generally, check the Invasive Species Weblog.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:46 AM PST [Link] [1 Comment]

Friday, August 26, 2005

Via Steve Rubel, Mike Kaltschnee has started a new blog called Tracking Trader Joe's, all about Trader Joe's, natch. Mike's credentials are good since he's the author of Hacking Netflix.

I do love TJ's and was irate that the Capitol Hill location didn't open until after I moved. I was sad when they discontinued the cheddar-bacon dip I loved so much. I'm still fond of the Trader Zen cleaning spray with cedar and clary sage scent.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:27 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Thursday, August 25, 2005

At last week's weblog meetup a reporter from the Seattle P-I was on hand. Athima Chansanchai has filed her story, and it ran today (with a photo in the online version -- is it in the hard copy also?). The meetup she attended was abnormal in some respects -- a smaller crowd due to August vacations, and I wasn't feeling up to attending -- but I think she got a good sample of our usual attendees and a few new people.

We may have over three hundred members, but most are inactive. I'd say we have a core group of thirty or so regulars with other folks attending now and then. I do like it when visitors from out of town drop by. Seattle is the bloggers mecca, you know!

Always-quotable Jake of 8bit Joystick was quoted the most.

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Posted by Anita @ 07:47 AM PST [Link] [6 comments]

The Vinegar Boy saga starts as a tale of dealing with crazy customers (the author worked the graveyard shift at a gas station / convenience store) -- funny but not too unusual. But it ends up as an uplifting saga of employee empowerment. This is long, but worth the read! "About 2 pm today, in stormed this woman who started going totally apeshit on me and screamed incoherently while waving around a half-full bottle of malt vinegar. I had no idea what she was on about and, before I could find out, the police arrived - but I hadn't called them! Now, I know nearly every cop within fifty miles of my site (I call them all often enough), so when they come in, I greet them by name and they do the same back and tell me they've been called here because of allegations I've poisoned a small child. Wuh?"

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Posted by Anita @ 04:10 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]

Monday, August 22, 2005

Saturday a bunch of people dear friends worked with Jack on cleaning and packing at my Capitol Hill apartment. I made myself scarce over at Luke and Jane's house since grandson R---- needed to be out of the way and seeing all my stuff packed up made me cry instantly.

Sunday the three of us went to the Northwest Railway Museum! This group runs a railroad between Snoqualmie and North Bend. R----- was in ecstasy! See the train! Touch the train! Ride the train! All aboard! They have train cars you can climb up on and examine closely, and a good gift/book shop. A great excursion! This train trip was part of a Cacophony event some years back where we took a non-stop bus from downtown to Snoqualmie.

Maybe we'll get to the Lake Whatcom Railway sometime this fall.

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Posted by Anita @ 05:26 AM PST [Link] [1 Comment]

Friday, August 19, 2005

My sister B---- who lives in Delaware is being very helpful to us in dealing with the complications, paperwork, investigations and so on relating to my cancer. She'll be visiting soon, as well. But she still wants to do stuff! So I've been getting a bunch of packages delivered to me recently.

The most surprising was a big box of candy from Hometown Favorites! I think it's a collection of 60s or 50s favorites. Since I'm type II diabetic I won't be eating much of this myself, but I couldn't resist the Cherry Mash bar. I did recognize things from my childhood, like the gold nugget bubble gum that came in a small cloth bag. You don't see candy cigarettes often nowadays. I'll offer treats to the friends that are helping with grandson R-----.

Speaking of little boys, B---- has also gone nuts on eBay with regard to vintage Fisher-Price Little People. The Little People suffered a sad decline when the choke-safety standards were implemented -- the newer designs weren't as fun and had less play value as observed by both my sisters with their boys. Sister M---- had donated the Sesame Street clubhouse, a van, a car, and five little people (to fill the van) to R---- (and kept a selection at her house for visiting). But whenever one of the people took a trip under the couch or hid away somewhere there were comments about someone being "missing! missing! missing!"

So now we have lots of people and places for them to play. I'm going to have to save some for later, or for special occasions.

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Posted by Anita @ 05:34 AM PST [Link] [3 comments]

Thursday, August 18, 2005

I wasn't feeling quite up to going to the weblog meetup, so I sent Jack along as my representative. The crowd wasn't big (a lot of folks were out of town, I do believe) but there were some new folks, and a reporter from the Seattle PI working on a blog article (so lots of meta discussion about blogging). Those who signed in:

Posted by Anita @ 04:52 AM PST [Link]

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

I have a new favorite TV show! Last night I laughed heartily at Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. (Discovery calls the sites they build for their own programs "fansites," surely a misnomer.) Host Mike Rowe is sent off to do various jobs that are dirty or unpleasant -- last night's episode included chick sexing, various brewery tasks, and oystering. The ones that really have it tough are the camera operators! They included shots of the cameraman's legs sliced by oyster shells. The Dallas Morning News likes the show, but Newsday doesn't care for the host.

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Posted by Anita @ 05:05 AM PST [Link]

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Jack wrote a short update about my stuff in his Antigravitas journal. I'm feeling slightly better each day since last Thursday's chemo, so I hope to actually update my own journal with details RSN (real soon now). Friends are helping with grandson R----- and food and such. Thanks for all the good wishes!

Posted by Anita @ 04:19 AM PST [Link]

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Next Wednesday, it's the Seattle Weblog Meetup! Location is Ralph's Grocery and Deli, 2035 4th Ave (map) in Seattle's Belltown (kittycorner from the Cinerama theater). Time is 7 pm. Local and visiting weblog folks get together to eat, drink, and talk. Look for us in the deli area (there will be a sign). Parking can be tight in the neighborhood but I usually find a space on Sixth.

Posted by Anita @ 03:49 AM PST [Link]

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Are you reading the Thoreau Blog? It's Henry Thoreau's journal posted on a (usually) daily basis. From today's entry: "He [Alcott] had offered his services to the Abolition Society, to go about the country and speak for freedom as their agent, but they declined him. This is very much to their discredit, they should have been forward to secure him. Such a connection with him would confer unexpected dignity on their enterprise. But they cannot tolerate a man who stands by a head above them. They are as bad—Garrison and Phillips, etc.—as the overseers and faculty of Harvard College. They require a man who will train well under them. Consequently they have not in their employ any but small men,—trainers."

Posted by Anita @ 06:28 AM PST [Link]

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

This is a tough post to write, but it needs to be done.

The cancer I had a few years ago (October 03) has recurred, and spread. I'll be doing chemotherapy; my first treatment is this Thursday, August 11. If the treatments work, I'll also have radiation and hormone therapy.

Right now I'm not feeling bad, but there are a raft of side effects from the chemo that I'm preparing for -- hair loss, fatigue, pain, constipation (!). There are other drugs to help with most of those, plus coping strategies. Sasha the oncology nurse says that folks who are doing 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day tolerate chemo better and have better outcomes generally than those who don't, so I need to go back to Curves and do DDR when I can't get there.

Family and friends will be helping me with grandson R----. My friend Luke McGuff will be coordinating that.

Jack has been great! I know this is very hard for him. Fortunately he is able to work at home sometimes, and make up hours on the weekend. I'll probably put most details on my journal as they happen (equivalent of lj cut).

Posted by Anita @ 04:44 AM PST [Link]

Friday, August 5, 2005

TDavid describes a ride on a Turbo Drop from his recent vacation, with pictures. Fortunately it wasn't literally eyepopping, but it was eyeglass-lens popping!

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Posted by Anita @ 04:16 AM PST [Link]

Thursday, August 4, 2005

Sugarfused's photo of honeysuckle blossom makes me think of tasting the sweet flowers that grew on our backyard fence when I was a child. Lonicera japonica is an invasive plant, but we didn't know that back then.

Jessica Amanda Salmonson says that Japanese honeysuckle isn't so rampant here in the Northwest (at least not the selected cultivars that she grows -- 'Oakleafed Aureoreticulata' and 'Purpurea'); our colder winters keep it from going nuts.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:51 AM PST [Link]

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

All About Romance has short interviews with two of my favorite writers: Carla Kelly and Laura Kinsale.


Says Kelly: Where to begin? Last summer, I was merrily plugging ahead with Beau Crusoe, when Harlequin dropped its little cow pie [they were eliminating retail sales in the U.S. of the Harlequin Historicals line] – whereupon I promptly stopped writing. I had some other things I worked on that haven't panned out. The upshot was, I was left without a book to finish, and no money from that. The editor at Harlequin (and in fairness, I don’t think she knew about the decision to stop the historicals, either) when I signed originally, had said some rosy things about a future with Harlequin, etc. When the picture changed, I realized I didn't have a future with Harlequin, or anyone, for that matter. When my agent called in November to announce that the book was back on again, I really wasn't in an accommodating mood. I’m having a few trust issues with Harlequin, I suppose.

I've enjoyed Kelly's traditional Regency novels so much. (What is "traditional Regency"?)

Says Kinsale: Since I didn't want to write under a deadline for this book, I completed it without a contract. The process of finding a publisher is now underway, so I can't really say when it will be published yet. After spending a long time on a very intense book, Shadowheart, I wanted to give myself a break from that and revisit some of the lighter styles I've used in the past – what I think of as hedgehog humor: a whimsical sort of story where any absurd thing can happen. So this book, tentatively titled The Lucky One, is a bit of Regency froth in honor of all the enjoyment I've gotten over the years from Georgette Heyer's wonderful novels.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:46 AM PST [Link]

Tuesday, August 2, 2005

Like SJ (author of I, Asshole) I have tasted the Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that are a merchandising tie-in with the Harry Potter universe. Some are indeed yucky. But I never did a systematic tasting like she did. Reminds me of some of Rob Cockeyed's projects. "I looked at the back of the box and discovered that the beans were Jelly Bellys gone culinarily, evilly, wrong: earwax, booger, vomit, and earthworm were some of the available flavors. We acquired two boxes on the principle that every flavor may not appear in every box. Plus, they were two-fer-three bucks. When we arrived back at the Offices of I, Asshole, my scientific proclivities and reasoning overtook the usual urge to Open Candy and Narfle. We prepared ourselves thusly: we got out a cutting board to lay the beans out on. My lovely assistant arranged them by color in order of the chart on the back of the box. We were dismayed (sort of) to see that no 'soap'-flavored beans were extant."

What happened next: cries of "nasty!" and "DEATH!" There are pictures.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:21 AM PST [Link]

Monday, August 1, 2005

My old officemate Geoff Duncan lost a lot of weight a few years ago due to a nasty bout of pneumonia, and clothing has been problematic since then. "I'd been putting off replacing items because I didn't know what size I'd be. If I bought clothes which seemed like they fit -- you know, assuming I got lucky in my random, hurried, ignorant selection process -- they'd probably not fit as soon as that weight started coming back, and I'd just have to replace things a second time. That seemed like a waste, especially since I hate the whole clothes-buying process anyway. So I waited. After four-and-a-half years, I've come to realize that weight may not be coming back, and my clothes have been passing from well-worn to worn-out. So I've kinda been looking for new clothes. And it's every bit as insane, frustrating, embarrassing, and idiotic as I remember!"

I love his recent encounter with a tailor.

The tailor looks up, quickly looks me up and down, and says No luck, eh?

"Uh, no," I stammer. "I, um, can't tell if anything fits."

A moment, please. The tailor touches my shoulder, turns me about a quarter turn, and looks me up and down. Mmm. I can see why. Unless you have clothes made for you, you may never have worn clothes which fit properly.

"Excuse me?"

Yes, you see, your shape is not good for off-the-rack clothes. He steps forward, raising one of my arms. Your waist is narrow, but only front-to-back: side to side it is normal. Belts and pockets will not sit properly. More appraisal. Your chest is medium, but your shoulders are large while your arms are somewhat short. Your neck and head are unusually large. Any shirt which fits your shoulders and neck will be too big everywhere else and will be a balloon tucked in. Any shirt which fits down here, he gestures to my stomach and hips, will be too tight upstairs.

During all this, the tailor does not so much as touch his measuring tape. I guess when you've been doing this long enough, your eye gets pretty accurate.

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Posted by Anita @ 04:56 AM PST [Link]

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