My 2010, as told by my tweets/Facebook statuses. Ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs.
Happy New Year all!
does not like the head cold he got for New Year's. Hoping a short run will shake it loose.
Piccolo is not eating. Diarrhea is back, and vomiting. :-( We are off to the vet this afternoon.
Very bad news. Piccolo's kidneys are shot. No treatment options.
Checking Piccolo in at Falls Rd. Animal Hospital. Long shot, but we'll give her every chance.
Call from the vet. Piccolo's status unchanged, they're going to try to push more fluids to flush her kidneys. At least no decline overnight.
Trixie Little & the Evil Hate Monkey @ the Ottobar
News from the vet: Piccolo is not responding to treatment. :-(
Piccolo news: blood tests show small improvement but she's still in very bad shape. More tests in the morning; then I'll have to decide.
Piccolo's still fighting. Standing up today, and bloodwork slightly better. Little hope. But as long as she's fighting, I'll back her.
License renewed. Even a decent photo.
Anybody wanna join me for a beer tonight in Ellicott City?
thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, and the support while Piccolo is sick. (Want to help with bills? http://bit.ly/6hvZWA )
Piccolo's still not eating. We're going to discontinue the aggressive care, bring her home for a few days of peace until she's ready to go.
Piccolo is home. We found one thing she will eat a bit of: Fritos. Come on by for the party tonight and give her a scratch behind the ears.
Thanks, from me & Piccolo, to all who came out last night. (She actually ate some crackers and cereal today - weird dog food, but whatever!)
Piccolo is not improving. Barring a miracle, the vet comes tomorrow for a final housecall. Grateful so many friends visited past few days.
RIP Piccolo the Wondermutt. 1996(?) - January 20, 2010. She'll be laid to rest in my back yard, next to her son Chewbacca.
had forgotten what it's like to wake up smelling of secondhand smoke. Yuck. Smoking hipsters, my message to you: http://bit.ly/6CXJBi
Friend of a friend of my brother has a black lab who needs a home. I'm going to meet the dog Sunday...we'll see.
Kiva @ New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt.
The family with the black lab is going to keep him; happy for kids who get to keep their dog. The right one will come for me.
383 pages, double spaced. It's a book! Must verify one last footnote (amazon.com, ship my order!), and I can declare the first draft done.
Ringo the dog: http://unreasonable.org/node/3291. It's Sara's fault.
"Is it bitter or is it sweet?"
Just wanted a frozen pizza for dinner...now I'm stuck in pre-snow panic at the Safeway.
is sad to hear that Ellicott City's "Backpack Ed" died. Didn't really know him, just a nodding acquaintance, but he was a local character.
SnOMG! 23" around 10am, and it's supposed to continue all day.
Preliminary results: BWI snowfall, 24.8 inches, a new record, just edging out the 24.4" from Feb. 2003. http://bit.ly/9h11L8
Day 2 of shoveling. County plows have forsaken my block, but we're chipping in to pay an out-of-work neighbor with a snowthrower.
~4 mile run on roads. Dear driving fools: peds have right-of-way. Older man who stopped, let me go by & gave thumbs up: you are a tzadik.
heartily recommends apple brandy as a treatment for the way-too-much-fscking-snow blues.
Big "thank you" to the folks running the snowplows -- I was able to get out of my neighborhood!
Put in new spark plugs. Feeling very Homo habilis.
UPS, why must you always disappoint? Weather delays, ok, but don't tell me my package is out for delivery and then not deliver it!
Next time trails are snowed & I must run on the street, taking baseball bat & smashing mirrors of cars that don't respect peds right-of-way.
is experimenting with fire. Bwah-ha-ha.
Thanks to Telesma for letting me help out with the big show. I got to *touch* an Alex Grey painting...
Baltimore cops harass attendees of visonary arts show/concert. I'm sure that's great for the local cultural & economic scene.
91% isopropyl alcohol actually makes a fine fuel for fire poi for indoor performance.
Dog tore up stuff on my altar/meditation table. I am not pleased. But opportunity to consider what's sacred -- living being or mere objects?
Muddy backyard + puppy = big mess.
Late night experimenting with Linux laptop music: Hydrogen drum machine and SooperLooper sampler. This could be interesting.
How does a pair of needle-nose pliers look like a dog toy? How? (Caught him before any harm done, but still...how?)
Happy Irish Pride Day!
It has been many years since I banged my head hard enough to raise a bump and still hurt hours later. Ow. Got to dig out the dit da jow.
Going to the prom -- http://unreasonable.org/node/3323
Bean Hollow has the air conditioner on. In March.
Going to DC to say, "Money for health care, not for war." http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=M20_homepage
If you want to march and save the world, please don't litter while you do it. Thanks.
Sudden unexpected bittersweet wrenching of the heart. Part of the price of love. Still, a bargain.
notices how the yahoos who claimed snowmageddon disproved global warming (which is wrong) have been silent about this oddly warm March.
Alison's roommate guessed my age at 22. Heh. Hope that's due to my youthful vigor (and it being too dark to see the grey), not immaturity...
Wikileaks opens governments -- and the U.S. government doesn't like that. http://bit.ly/cX8C3M http://twitter.com/wikileaks #wikileaks
"I'm gonna crack my knuckles and jump for joy, I got a clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy." Er, Dr. Sandy, that is.
Left deltoid still aches like an SOB from the tetanus (DTaP) shot Wednesday. Sure, beats fatal infections, but still -- ow! ow! ow!
America when will you be angelic?
is pleased to report that the kale I planted last year survived Snowmageddon and is putting out fresh leaves. Mmmm, kale.
14 hours of hacking old code into shape, only to find it does something so weird my plan won't work. Can kludge around it, but still...fsck!
Does not like being awakened by early morning phone calls telling him that the web site is broken. No sir, I don't like it.
"Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free health care. You're thinking of Jesus." - John Fugelsang (Thx Angela!)
Torch & solder & leaking pipe in downstairs bathroom is fixed. Grateful to Mr. Wolfe for that "Technology in the Home" class in high school.
Good day to drive around with the windows down and Chuck Berry on the stereo.
My allergies don't usually kick in until the end of April, but lots of rain + record warm weather = early start on sneezing. :-(
Holding in my hand the first printed copy of the first draft of "Why Buddha Touched the Earth". Just a comb-bound printout, but still...
Read that new bone formation increases after head injury, (http://bit.ly/kfmJ0) I see a new amusing treatment for osteoporosis. Bonk bonk!
will be presenting workshops at the Free Spirit Alliance Beltane festival: http://www.free-spirit.org/Beltane/bios.php#team00001
Is rendering on to Caesar what is Caesar's. Money is a creation of the state, after all.
Gallery 788 -- music, art, a cool crowd. C'mon down.
Packing for Beltane. Festival season begins.
is not happy to find the tent damaged. (Mice got at it?) Repaired with gaff tape for now; after Beltane we'll see if REI has repair service.
went from Beltane to the Bmore Intertribal Pow-wow, where I helped drag out one crazy guy and deal w/ one E freak-out. Life is interesting.
Internet is up and down like a yo-yo. Sprint points at Clearwire, Clearwire has no idea who I am. Grrr.
Sprint's "4G Desktop Modem" plan is a good deal; sadly, their customer support folks are clueless on it. Much time wasted w/ them today.
Apparently it's "Monty Python status day", so: Hello, and welcome to the middle of the film.
Nothing like a cold rainy spring day to make a man melancholy.
Watching the original (1970s) Battlestar Galactica on Netflix streaming. Sci fi cheese fest nostalgia. By your command.
Headed to Sonar to help set up for the big Visionary show tomorrow night.
Sonar. Visionary art and music. If you're not here, you're missing out on the event of the month.
If drugs were legal and regulated, I wouldn't have had to hold some stranger's head thru a seizure from bad stuff. Not fun. I smell of piss.
Congrats to Kate and Aaron!
is sorely tempted to hunt down the original author of this hideous mess of C++ code, and administer a severe beating.
Second chances, maybe later; here and now, the breeze on my face.
No time for meditation/whatever makes you spiritually fulfilled? That's when you most need to do it, or your "mundane" work will suffer too.
Helped direct the burning of a sculpture. Went up nicely. Socially sanctioned playing with fire -- always a good thing.
Geek pride! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerd_Pride_Day
Nerd heroes: Americans voted MacGyver as the fictional hero they would most want to have around in an emergency. ( http://bit.ly/b1KJLY )
Does not like it when his date for the evening gets a bunch of work suddenly dumped on her and has to cancel. Boo on bosses who do that.
Tonight's movie.: Star Wars. Original edition. HAN SHOT FIRST, dammit!
Was going to sit in Bean Hollow and write, but was chased out by excessive air conditioning. Setting the AC at 70 on a 75 degree day -- WTF?
First road trip with Ringo, out to Cunningham Falls State Park for Sara's graduation party. Many new people and dogs -- big puppy adventure!
Dancin' in the street at the Sowebo festival. Why aren't you here?
Found a *nice* bonus in my pay envelope. It'll mostly go to pay down debts run up this past winter, but still, good news!
Need a Windows person who might be able to help my friend Jodi out with her system. (Virus? Dunno, I'm a Linux geek.) $/barter? Contact me.
Stymied by the inability to find one litte bit of hardware, an ethernet crossover adapter. Know it's here somewhere, dammit!
Found it! Apparently tweeting about lost objects has magical powers to bring them to you. Who knew?
Watching a old man pour cream into his wife's coffee w/ shaking hands, my heart is seized by love for them both & for the beautiful moment.
will be presenting at Starwood this year. (My first e-mail got lost in cyberspace; resolved now.) Which classes TBD, but I am on the list.
Sometimes I think about cutting down that mulberry tree. Now I see it full of fireflies at midnight & am thankful for my sloppy landscaping.
2 or 3 mile barefoot run this morning -- and a bareass run. Ancient Olympian style. I <3 clothing-optional campsites.
Honest communication. Accept no substitutes.
After 10 hours sleep, is recovering from an FSG that featured bobats, snakes, dangerous Segways, heat stroke - and spiritual transformation.
When even I have to give in and turn on the air conditioning, you can safely say that it's too damn hot.
will present "Zen Paganism (Why Buddha Touched the Earth)", "Self-defense as a Spiritual Practice", & "Zen & the Art of Love" @ Starwood.
please save me from the crazy people. please save me from the crazy people. please save me from the crazy people. please save me from the cr
Watched the Doctor Who season finale. Damn! I laughed, I cried. Now headed to Leadbetters for beer and music.
Actually got carded. At Leadbetters. Heh.
Had several students do tameshiwari (board breaking) for the first time tonight. Much fun.
Later than planned, but I' on the road to Wisteria/Starwood! Thx Jodi for house/dog sitting.
Arrival. Ready to be high in the middle and O-ing at both ends.
I am camped next to a guy who plays the harp. Lovely music for lunch. Campsite selection = win.
In Athens, OH, groovy little college town, to buy a new air mattress and find a place with good WiFi so I can log into work for a bit.
We had Squishwood and Squishwood II up at Brushwood when Starwood had lots of rain and mud. This year at Wisteria - Scorchwood. Hot hot hot!
Nothing like a pit bull puppy's welcome home.
New tires & tubes, chain cleaned & greased, back on the road for 1st time in far too long. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike
Today's fascinating fact: you had an anus before you had a mouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryological_origins_of_the_mouth_and_anus
http://iwl.me/b/d7939cdb says I write like David Foster Wallace -- whose work, outside one short piece, I've never read. What do you think?
Has apparently fallen thru a time warp. There are breakdancers here. Just please tell me I don't have to re-live the Reagan years.
Love it when I take something apart & reassemble without really fixing anything - but now it works. Sort of "more magic": http://bit.ly/K8Da
has found Robotech on Netflix streaming. 1st anime I got into. Angsty teenagers piloting mecha. 85 eps - I might not be out for a while.
Had a close encounter with an owl this morning while trail running. Blessing from Athena? Message from Hogwarts?
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable / I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." -- Uncle Walt
"Always something there to remind me."
Inter-library loan rocks my world.
Regarding Google AdWords' support pages: When I have to lie in order to ask for help, that's mighty poor website design.
Long day at the dojo! Congratulations to everyone who promoted today.
Rubber chicken nunchucks. Good to know the world still holds surprises.
Ringo tore up a book. I am **NOT** happy about this. Rather have him bite me, that'd heal up. (Fortunately not a rare one, can replace it.)
It's fun to wait at the MM-V-A...ok, maybe not...
99,560 words. 2nd draft of "Why Buddha Touched the Earth" is complete. Just about ready to start contacting potential publishers.
Will be doing poetry & music next Tuesday at Mixers, 6307 Belair Road. Open mic @ 8; I'll be on later, when I get there after karate class.
RIP Issac Bonewits, 1949-2010, respected Pagan Elder.
(musical cue) Runnin' in the rain with Ringo...runnin' in the rain with Ringo the dog...
Today I wrote software, gave a shiatsu session, taught karate, and performed music and poetry. "Specialization is for insects." - Heinlein
Fixed the burner on the mosquito trap. Playing with fire + reducing mosquitoes in my yard = made of win.
Tonight's movie: Heavy Metal. Animated (rotoscped!) sexy sci-fi sword & sorcery fun. Last time I saw it was a midnight show at the Hoff...
Dude in an SUV w/ a "Choose Civility" bumper sticker, leaning on the horn after barreling around a corner & almost causing a crash -- nice.
Renn Fest!
"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."- MLK
*breathes a sigh of relief*
I have conquered the re-write of our PayPal and Google Checkout integrations, & will reward myself w/ red wine & a PB&J.
Red goes to positive. Safety tip for jump starting - or, do it backwards for pyrotechnics.
Idiot flying Confederate flag in southern PA: may I introduce you to the Mason-Dixon line?
Serendipity: same day I wrench my back, a massage therapist friend calls me to come hang out.
Second jerk I've seen this week flying the flag of the terrorist organization that called itself the Confederate States of America. Shameful
You ought to be able to make a citizen's arrest if you catch someone littering. Or just smack them in the face, either would be fine by me.
When Hui-k’o cut off his arm, which hand held the knife?
For a few seconds, the moon behind the clouds made a dollar sign. Or was is it a Rod of Asclepius? Greed? Prosperity? Healing? You choose.
When the rose guys nod greetings at you like a old comrade, you're Fells Point regular.
Frank Zappa Day in B'more!
"The bodhisattva who strives for enlightenment must therefore first heal the afflictions of the body." -- Gandavyuha Sutra
From sitting zazen one night, to Pagan debauchery the next...
Spent the weekend spreading Sacred Chaos and teaching people that if they don't want to do it, they don't have to do it. Hail Eris!
"It's really hard to be me. But it's really hard to be you too." -- Jim & Melissa's three-year-old son Arden. Can I study Zen with him?
Wondering why L.L. Bean sent me the "L.L. Bean Woman" catalog, considering that I've never bought stuff from L.L Bean, nor am I a woman.
With last minute ticket, will head to Playa Del Fuego this weekend, at least for Sunday's art burn -- be there Saturday if all works out.
Love that my earring and long hair, combined with confident masculinity, still occasionally messes up some little kid's gender ideas.
And so Playa Del Fuego draws to a close, and with it the festival season. Fellow freaks, pagans, burners -- see you in the spring.
Tonight's movie: D.O.A. Classic film noir.
Boo -- the USPS for repeatedly bungling delivery of a certified letter. Cheers -- the USPS employee who spent over an hour tracking it down.
When a rope is tangled up, sometimes it's knotted and sometimes it'll pull clear. Which way my heart is tangled remains an open question.
Won the FSA presidental election...what am I getting myself into?
And the Xmas crap is out on display at Sears already. Do not want.
After hours of frantic searching, found misplaced paperwork for massage therapy CEUs. Whew. Without it, 21 hours of training would disappear
CPR class. Annie, Annie are you ok?
Bagpipe and drum corps outside Howard County's Fire Station 3. Why? I don't know. But it gets my Celtic blood flowing!
Ok, seriously, how did I pull a muscle in my back while running? Knees, hips, ankles hurting after a run, ok; upper back, that's just silly.
Tonight's movie: The Men Who Stare At Goats. Surprisingly touching. And check out the real 1st Earth Battalion: http://bit.ly/bC5mxZ
Greenbelt metro station is *completely* clogged. Zillions of people want to rally for sanity. Great but might not be able to make it down...
A sea of people, and we're only at the Archives stop. Amazing.
Good news: Baltimore is so crime-free now they can send cops to bust up Halloween parties... Lame.
Today I voted Green, Libertarian, Democratic, & yes, even Republican -- & wrote in None Of The Above a few times. Vote! http://bit.ly/c11w7Z
Roasted squash, sweet potato, & beet...sauteed spinach, mushrooms, & pepper...a bottle of wine...the company of a lovely lady. A fine night.
6 of my karate students promoted today -- so a good day, despite that flat tire I was unable to remove from the car...deal w/ that tomorrow.
When your car repair task involves a four pound sledge hammer, it will be an interesting day. Stuck tire removed, patched, and remounted.
"We can never make a statement about the cosmos itself...only about how our senses...detect it & about how our...languages symbolize it"-RAW
(looking up at the sky, speaking to the divine) Oh, very funny, Lady Eris, very funny indeed. Glad these jokes on me amuse you. Kallisti!
Gallery 788. Instant Gratification. Art, music, spoken word., photography. If you're not here, you're missing out.
Don't know the details here; but in general men who don't treat smart, beautiful women w/ respect don't deserve to date such women, desu ne?
"New York City really has it all." Including me, for the next 36 hours or so.
Dinner in the Village - a natural food restaurant full of gay couples, like a living sterotype, a social conservative's nightmare. Love it!
Having a drink at the Stonewall Inn. Toasting all warriors for equality and justice.
Madison Square Park, lunchtime entertainment - a squirrel sits on my lap while I watch a guy get a private kickboxing lesson.
Again, Eris, very funny. Ha ha.
B'more bound. Got kicked in the head by an errant ukemi earlier, & what tonight did to my heart is...complicated. But a good weekend in NYC.
Stunned and deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Erica Hinson Denny, a bright light in the B'more art scene. http://bit.ly/gqFJMT
"Ah, THIS is *IT* too!" -- 3 seconds of satori in the Ft. McHenry tunnel. (In the future everyone will be enlightened for 15 minutes.)
Happy Buy Nothing Day! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day
would very much like this virus or whatever to stop swelling up his throat and sinuses, please.
Spent today shopping on-line for new mobo, CPU, & memory. Hardware's changed a bit: 1987, 640kB 8MHz "Turbo" PC; 2010, 4GB 3.1Ghz 3-core CPU
Running in the rain? Sure. Running with a cold? Done it. Running in heavy rain with a cold? Screw it, I'll go running tomorrow.
Vitamin C from lime juice, electrolytes from salt, the antiseptic power of ethanol. Yes, a margarita is an excellent way to chase off a cold
I should take antiemetics before I work on this old C++ code, because it always makes me want to vomit. Ugh.
Gassho to the memory of my favorite Zen Pagan, John Lennon. Imagine.
In the words of the immortal Reverend Horton Heat, "It's Martini Time".
"While there is a lower class I am in it, & while there is a criminal element I am of it, & while there is a soul in prison I am not free."
Xmas bonus, oh yeah :-). Just in time, since my wireless router seems to be on its last legs...off to Staples in the morning for a new one.
Dear Thanatos: Please feel free to take some time off. Your work is vital, but you've been focusing on people around me a bit much. Thanks.
Tim Gurklis, you get better soon, dammit. I'm not having anyone else leave for a while. Uh-uh. Not happening. Heal, little brother.
Said it before, I'll say it again: Equally empty, equally to be loved, equally a coming Buddha.
Also worth repeating: "Some say he is a holy man. Others say he is a shithead."
And one more that bears repeating: "It's really hard to be me. But it's really hard to be you too." -- Arden Brewster (age 3)
If you beat someone about the head with a copy of K&R hard enough, would the knowledge of writing non-broken C code get into their brain?
Tonight I'm holding vigil until I see the sun's first rays, holding vigil in honor of those lost this year and in hope for those on the edge
"You know you could just dance to the rock and roll station. And it was all right." -- Lou Reed
From daycare center's list of "I want Santa to bring me": "the thing that makes rainbows in my room". Dunno what that is but I want one too!
Tonight's movie: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Classic weirdness.
Something I wrote a few years back & like to dust off this time each year: "Merry Yule: on Santa Claus and pantheism." http://bit.ly/e3QDxV
Not looking forward to driving across town in the a.m., picking up my dad, and driving him to the VA hospital in DC - but it's health care.
At the VA hospital in DC while my dad gets not-very-fun tests done. Very grateful that he's able to get care. Wish all Americans could.
Has no New Years Eve plans. Who'd like to invite me somewhere interesting and fun?
All that snow in NYC kept someone very special in Bmore long enough to get together. NYC: thanks for taking this hit for me, I owe you one.