Dear credit card companies,

Please understand that the very last thing I would ever want is a Disney character on my credit card.

Thank you.

P.S. Offer Toad, and we'll talk.

OK, just one more thing about PATD: You should also listen to the song below. It's the "harpsichordy" one I mentioned the other day. The harmonies are very pretty, and the whole thing just has a sweet feel to it. The embedded video below is just a still with music, so don't worry about not being able to see anything.


Next item of business: Can anyone recommend a good dinner cookbook? I dislike traditional cookbooks, because I don't like dishes divided into categories. Part of the reason I'm fond of Rachael Ray's recipes (and, no, I've never seen her cooking shows -- no cable -- so I don't really have a sense of why she's considered so god-awfully annoying) is that she just does whole meals -- not an appetizer here, a dessert there, a veggie there, etc. I'm just too lazy to put 3 recipes together and turn it into a meal, so I'd prefer that someone else do it for me.

So, anyway, I'm looking for other good cookbooks that focus on putting meals together rather than recipes divided into 1 of 18 categories. Holler if you can recommend one.

Anyone remember the Apple II game, Below the Root? It was only my all-time favorite computer game when I was a kid!

Released in 1984, it was also one of the most complex adventure games around, grooming my taste for later games such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Nowadays, you can download a C64 emulator and play the original Below the Root in all its colorful and musical glory. Also, the world of play is enormous for its time.

Tonight I discovered a user on YouTube who has videotaped himself playing the game, narrating as he goes. It's essentially a Below the Root tutorial/walkthrough, but since I've only watched parts 1 and 2 so far I'm not sure how far he goes. Some of his comments are kind of lame, but he actually does a pretty good job explaining the world, the premise, how items are used, how to use your skills, etc.

Below the Root: Part 1

I'm listening to a new CD right now: Panic at the Disco's second album, titled "Pretty. Odd." From the 2 or 3 songs I had heard on the radio from their first album, they came off as musically interesting but kind of, well, snotty -- forgivable, since they were teenagers just out of high school at the time. If not for the recognizable voice, I might have thought this second album was the product of a completely different band. The songs move in directions from rock to folksy to a very harpsichordish ballad. I am particularly fond of tracks #1, #2, #5, #8, #13 and #15 (that's a lot, I know, but they're good!). I highly recommend it as somewhat eclectic rock. These kids are talented; I hope to hear more from them in the future.

Listen to "Nine in the Afternoon"


In the world of literature, I've just finished Colleen McCullough's The First Man in Rome. This hefty tome (896 pages) of historical fiction details the military and political career of historical figure Gaius Marius (157 BC - 86 BC) alongside the history of Rome during his lifetime. It sounds dry, but it was actually quite fascinating. It just took me ages to get through because there is so much detail -- not to mention learning Roman naming conventions, which are at first very confusing, and keeping track of the many, many characters. I think I've just learned more about ancient Rome than I ever learned in school -- which isn't difficult, since it was probably nothing. Although I've finished the body of the story, I'm still working my way through the 94-page glossary (slightly dry, but it is helping to round out my understanding of the Roman world). Oh, and there are six more books in this series, so yeah. Wish me luck.

I recently completed a project I called “365 Days of Julia." Between April 13, 2007 and April 12, 2008, I took a photo of myself each day*. It actually turns out to be 366 because of leap year, but who’s counting? Would you like to have a peek? You can view a composite poster or the photo set on Flickr. Viewing all the thumbnails side by side now makes me feel like a bit of a nut, but I'm pleased.



Seeing the project to its end has seemed like a feat in itself, and it is with relief that I remind myself the past few days that I no longer have to take a photo! Some additional thoughts about the project:

It’s harder than you might think not only to take a photo every day (I think I forgot about 6 times, so I took 2 the following day), but also to be inspired to take a new, different photo every day. *Some days I cheated and used a photo that someone else had taken of me. 365 done well means a lot of different poses, facial expressions, locations, etc. Many of my photos are simply a face from arm’s length, and a number of them are clearly uninspired, but on the other hand a few have become some of my all-time favorites.

Regrets? Foremost, I regret working on another 365-type project simultaneously. Many days, photo-taking became a chore, and I was not able to set aside time enough to compose a decent shot. I also wish I had better skills with composition and lighting, especially when compared to other 365 projects I’ve admired on Flickr. I would consider this project again, but only if I learned more about photography and felt I could truly improve on the first project.

[Edited to mention that I do recommend this to anyone who thinks it looks like fun. You'll never forget it, for better or worse, and when you're done you have a pretty cool visual log of a year of your life.]

This entry title could begin a whole series of meditations on items found in library books, but I'll just mention what I found today: A laminated bookmark for an organization called OC International - Decision/Spain, which seems to be a fund-raising group to promote evangelism in Spain. Spain? Yes, Spain.

The bookmark presents 3 bulleted points intended to get my attention:
* 7000 people abandon their Christian faith in Europe every day.
* Islam has grown in Spain, half a million believers in ten years.
* Spain is the country of the western world with the lowest rate of evangelicals per inhabitant.

These three disparate sentences are clearly intended to instill fear (OMG) in a god-fearing person. I always wonder why fear is a preferred method of proselytizing, but anyway. Let's discuss the points:

7000 people abandon their Christian faith in Europe every day.
Of course, my first thought is, "Hooray!" *grin* Seriously, though, this isn't news. Excluding the US, the western world is abandoning religion left and right. However, I suspect this point was included because it's perceived as a threat. Puzzling.

Islam has grown in Spain, half a million believers in ten years.
Oh, I get it now! Following point #1 to point #2, I think they are slyly suggesting that those abandoning Christianity are all converts to Islam! Now that's just silly. Islam has increased in western Europe because of immigration, and not because 7000 Christians are converting daily.

Spain is the country of the western world with the lowest rate of evangelicals per inhabitant.
I'm not sure why this is threatening or even noteworthy. Everyone knows that Spain is historically Roman Catholic. But listen further: This organization's goal is "planting an evangelical church in every un-reached town in Spain by 2012." Wow. Just imagine for a moment that the funds used to build churches each year were used to, say, further education. Instead, it's being flushed down some gilt and bejeweled toilets. Heartbreaking.

FSM save us!

Secularism isn't threatening or injurious -- quite the contrary:
“Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom are among the least religious societies on earth. According to the United Nations’ Human Development Report (2005) they are also the healthiest, as indicated by life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate, and infant mortality. The United States is unique among wealthy democracies in its level of religious adherence; it is also uniquely beleaguered by high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and infant mortality. The same comparison holds true within the United States itself: Southern and Midwestern states, characterized by the highest levels of religious literalism, are especially plagued by the above indicators of societal dysfunction, while the comparatively secular states of the Northeast conform to European norms.”

Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation

I'm only 16 days behind in getting photos uploaded to Flickr. I can't remember the last time I've been that close. This means, of course, that I have the first 2 days' worth of California up!

Day 1 begins here, and day 2 begins here.

That's enough for tonight, I'm sleepy and still can't stop coughing.
*hack* *wheeze*

Remember the SVH/size 6 business I posted about a few weeks ago?

It turns out that the series is being rereleased, with updates to reflect the tastes of 21st-century teens.

And guess what? Oh, I know, you've already guessed: The twins are now a "perfect size 4."

There are now 5 men working in my building out of a total of 36 people, which I believe is an all-time high. Gosh, I can hardly keep track of them all!


In online entertainment news...
First there were the LOLCats.
Then came the LOLCat Bible and LOLTheist at seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum.

It was only inevitable that we now have LOLCats can has science.

( Here are a few of my favorites: )

Several of my colleagues recently attended a health care conference and have published some of the information they learned in our union newsletter. Interestingly, the state of health care in this country is no surprise, but it is quite another thing to actually read and compare real numbers:

Contrary to most Americans' beliefs, we don't have the best health care in the world -- just the most expensive:

* USA spends more on health care than most other western countries.
* USA has fewer doctors and hospital beds than most other western countries.
* USA hospital rate is 40% more expensive than in most other western countries.
* USA out-patient services cost 36% more than in most other western countries.
* USA prescription drugs cost 27% more than in most other western countries.
* USA administration costs are 82% more than in most other western countries.

It's that last that boggles the mind. 82%?

At what point did it become OK to allow the entire health care industry walk all over us? Other countries have proven that it is possible to provide effective -- even better -- health care to their citizens without robbing them blind and padding the pockets of the health care and pharmaceutical industry.

I got home from Cali on Sunday night. I still have a lot of entries to write and backdate, so stay tuned for that. Boy, it was easy to forget I even had a job. I'm really good at completely letting go while traveling. That's both an advantage in aiding in true, stress-free relaxation, and a disadvantage when it's over. Coming home is kind of deflating.

Anyway, one of my oldest friends got married in a hip, stylish, 1950s wedding poolside at the retro Del Marcos Hotel. I wore my fabulous new dress (photos to follow when I eventually get my act together on Flickr) and had an awesome time.

The newlyweds, Elizabeth and Micah, are now honeymooning indefinitely in their 1958 Yellowstone trailer, Pixel Dust, complete with original appliances and furnishings. Did I mention Liz is heavily into the 1950s? They are mapping and blogging their adventure, so check it out: Pixel Dust Post.

Some highlights from my California vacation:

* Toured the Getty Villa, modeled after exact specs of an excavated villa in Herculaneum, buried in the Mt. Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD. This coincided uncannily with reading The First Man in Rome, which I honestly didn't plan, so I was feeling a strong connection to ancient Rome.

* Found an oceanside geocache in Malibu, before combating midday L.A. traffic to get out of town.

* Sundaes at a McDonald's in Riverside.

* Tea and a Crate & Barrel gift card at an outlet mall in Cabazon.

* Checked into our Palm Springs hotel, the Doral Desert Princess Resort. Very nice, and for cheap, thanks to the wonders of Priceline.

* Dinner and beer at Shakey's Pizza. I wanted to go here for two reasons: 1) There are no Shakey's in Minnesota anymore, and 2) I thought I had a photo of myself having my 2nd birthday at Shakey's back in the day. It turns out I was wrong, and the photo of my 2-year-old self is at Sambo's (wherever the heck that is), but Shakey's pizza was still good.

Day 5 photos start here.

Some highlights from my California vacation:

* Visited the Los Angeles Farmers Market. First we purchased iced tea from "T" (a tea shop): Hibiscus for Jonas and ? for me (can't remember). Then we sat down diner-style at The French Crepe Company. I had Waffles Sorbonne (bananas and chocolate syrup on top), and Jonas had crepe #7 (L'Opera). Num.

* Drove up to the Griffith Observatory where we explored the fascinating astronomy museum, watched a planetarium show and watched another show about the museum itself. We grabbed a quite expensive lunch in the museum cafeteria, The Café at the End of the Universe (ha ha), and finally found a geocache outside in Griffith Park.

* Visited the Getty Center and gazed at some art, including a work by Artemisia Gentileschi, about whom I read a book last year. Didn't manage to get through half of the buildings before they closed for the day, but enjoyed some great views over Los Angeles, including the panorama shown here, a composition of several photos.

* Bought Jonas some hot dogs at Pink's, which seems to be a neighborhood icon. We had noticed a line snaking down the block the previous day and figured they must know something we didn't. I wasn't feeling well and didn't have an appetite, but Jonas had a 10" Stretch Chili Dog and a Chicago Polish Dog. The latter was so spicy his forehead started sweating.

* Back to the hotel, where we watched "The Mist" on the in-room movie system.

Day 4 photos begin here.

Some highlights from my California vacation:

* Breakfast of pastries and other baked goods at the La Brea Bakery. We had to stop here because I'm really fond of the La Brea artisan bread shipped to my local grocery.

* Visited the La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum. In this location tens of thousands of years ago, incredible numbers of animals were entrapped in pools of liquid asphalt (oil) seeping up from the ground. Excavations have been going on here since the early 1900s, and the Page Museum displays some of the well-preserved fossils retrieved from the pits. This is a must-see if you're a fan of natural history museums. The coolest thing is that the oil is still forming pools on the museum grounds. It's a bit surreal to watch it bubble up next to you while you're standing in the middle of urban Los Angeles.

* Completed a strenuous, 4-hour hike in 90°F+ sunshine up in the Hollywood Hills. The first portion of the hike was an extremely steep ascent. Quite honestly, in the heat and sun beating down I did not think I was going to make it (and I consider myself in reasonably good hiking shape!). Once up on top, trekking across the ridgeline was a piece of cake, and we found two geocaches on the way to the famous Hollywood sign.

* Treated ourselves to a nice Italian meal at Ca' Brea Restaurant. I had salmon and risotto, and Jonas had spaghetti with shellfish.

* Arrived back to our hotel exhausted, sore and full of pollen.

Photos from day 3 start here.

Some highlights of my California vacation so far:

* Jonas brought up a few items to the room from the bakery in the adjacent shopping mall for breakfast. Muffins, yum.

* Drove out to Santa Monica and found a few geocaches, including one where we had to say the password, "The geocache flies at midnight," to some bike rental attendants in order for them to give it to us. :)

* Walked out to the pier, people-watched and soaked up some sun.

* Walked down the street to El Texate, which was yum yum yum.

* Strolled further down the beach to Venice, where all of the things not allowed on Santa Monica's pristine beachfront (street vendors, smoking, etc.) are permitted and even encouraged. Venice is prime for people-watching.

* Tired after all that walking, we popped into Laemmle's Music Hall to see The Counterfeiters.

* Picked up some In-N-Out Burger to eat back at the hotel.

Some highlights of my California vacation so far:

* Our 7:35pm flight out of Minneapolis was delayed about three hours. We spent about an hour on the tarmac alone, getting de-iced. That's OK, I've had worse travel experiences.

* Arrived at LAX around 12:30am local time and retrieved our luggage.

* Picked up our rental car, a silver Jeep of some kind. Good thing they're open 24/7.

* Found our way downtown to the Sheraton and managed to get to sleep around 2:30am, which felt like 4:30am to our bodies still on Minnesota time.

* The hotel had really comfy beds! I love you, Priceline!

I'm having a technologically challenging evening.

First, I bought a new pedometer. Turns out it DOESN'T WORK!

Second, my iPod crashed. It's stuck in pause mode, but no pressing of buttons (no, not even Play+Menu for 10 seconds) will reset it. I have to just sit here and wait for the battery to run out and hope that fixes it.

Third, crashed iPod caused my computer to grind to a halt.

Fourth, iTunes crashed while in the middle of downloading a CD. I tried to restart the program and suddenly "a file needed to run the program is missing." WTF? So I just reinstalled iTunes.


I'm just trying to get my gear in order and packed before I leave tomorrow morning. Calgon, take me away!

That is just about the funniest thing I've ever seen. What's more, nobody seems sure who created it or whose side it's on!



Anyway, it probably helps if you recognize most of the people in it. Darwin raising the roof just about kills me.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get in for a pedicure, because Friday is VACAY!

Haha! I love this site, for e-cards "when you care enough to hit Send." Unfortunately, I can think of very few people I know who would immediately appreciate the humor if one of these sentiments just randomly showed up in their inbox. Dammit.

'Tis the season for robins! I noticed the first one yesterday. Then, this morning while reading in bed I heard all kinds of twittering outside my window, and looked out to find one sitting on the roof calling to another that was on the ground below. That means spring is finally here!

I ate too many dried apricots for dinner tonight. My stomach said WTF?! Urp.

Oh, something cool. I keep several change cups around the house to drop coins into when cleaning out pockets. This weekend we ran all of the contents through the coin sorter. I had $132 in change lying around! How about that?