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May 11th, 2013
 | 11:45 am - Suddenly There Was a Total Eclipse of the Sun
Totality for the Eclipse of August 12th, 2045 will pass 4 kilometers south of my house. Now, to be fair, that is a long time away. As of writing this it is 32 years, 13 weeks, one day, 22 hours, 53 minutes away. Approximately. So it is not exactly a pressing question as to if I will travel south to any number of places where I could see the total eclipse. After all even though I will, on that day, only be 68 years, 17 weeks, two days, one hour, and 28 minutes old, but any number of unfortunate accidents could befall me between then and now. However, it is an interesting intellectual question as to if seeing a nearly total eclipse in your own back yard is more or less fascinating than seeing a total eclipse in some scenic location.
Less fascinating, but somewhat more useful, I managed to mow down what might charitably be called my front lawn and shortly I will go have a beer with friends new and old at a nearby brewpub.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/578776.html.
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May 10th, 2013
| 08:50 am - Red Envy
I often notice women wearing red wool coats. They look incredibly good in them and I often have the thought, "I would be incredibly hot in a red coat like that. It would be like that scene in Lord of the Rings with Galadirel going, 'All shall love me and despair' only with more of a scarlet color scheme instead of a pale green one."
Yesterday I did something about it, for values of doing something that involve asking a question and then doing a google search. I asked a woman wearing her blazing red pea coat what that article of clothing was generally described as and then I searched for 'red wool pea coat men' and there were actually results! I was amazed because so often men are incredibly boring in their color choices all earth tones, gray scale, and blues. It is like men are all secretly depressed or think that we might need to hide behind trees to fight off a colonizing great power. Heck, men's outerwear almost never run to even green, much less a bright color like red. And I am enough of a guy that I would not want to wear a bright cherry red, but a red with a name like 'cranberry', 'wine', 'rust', 'crimson', or 'brick'? Yes, please! But now instead of fearing that such a thing did not exist I am instead wondering if I am sane in considering any of the options I found or if I should wait for perfect to come.
One on Ebay is not actually wool, but instead an inexpensive polyester fleece that is intended to look like a wool jacket. The cut is pretty much exactly what I could wish, but I fear that it might be a brighter red than I want or that it would look tacky in live action.
A second on a web retailer appears to be exactly the color and material I would like, but it does not have the nice cut in at the waist that makes tubular men like me appear to have shoulders and it is not long enough, alas. Still, very nice... shame there are not more measurements listed.
A Third on Ebay is rather 'Vash the Stampede' in its collar, but otherwise pretty much what I could wish. Still do not know about the color.
A Fourth on Ebay is the right material, apparently the right color, and the right skinny cut, but is not long. Tempting, though...
I am still thinking about this. I think I shall come back to it this evening after cutting my lawn and cleaning. Right now I am going to finish my tea and oatmeal.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/578429.html.
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May 3rd, 2013
 | 12:32 pm - May Snow
I did not take any photographs on the morning of May 2nd. I might have been expected to as the snow was approximately an inch deep around my house, but other than the nature of the date there would have been nothing particularly extraordinary about such pictures. I could just as easily take a picture on the 38th of October and call it a May 1st picture plus my home is not actually terribly picture worthy as of late. Had I put in my garden very neatly and been able to take a picture of rows laid out with care under a spring snow I might have done that. Or if I had spring blooming bulbs in, but I do not and so I left it up to people with more photo worthy yards to document the event in pictures. I expect this will be the last for now and so I will actually get out my hoses and start watering my trees this week so they hopefully do not surrender to the undoubtedly hot and dreadful summer that will push spring out of the way in less than a week.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/578104.html.
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May 1st, 2013
| 10:05 am - Spot On Fan Video by Andrew Orton
I should have posted about this earlier. It came up randomly when I was searching for information about Journey of the Sorcerer and I have made almost everyone I know watch it.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/578035.html.
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April 27th, 2013
| 12:01 pm - Oh Dreadful and Unwelcome Change Like an Unexpected Owl
For at least the last seven years I have had almost exactly the same thing for breakfast on about 300 out of the 365 days of the year. This may be coming to an end and I am as upset as a koala bear being offered something other than eucalyptus leaves (or succulent human flesh) to eat. I like extra thick rolled oatmeal because it has more texture and chew than regular or, fate save me, quick oats. I think that quick oats are about as palatable as eating flour paste and the only conditions I will eat them under is that of a fishing trip when speed of getting out on the lake is paramount.
Fortunately for me I have a wonderful resource here in Denver, a store that has offered bulk foods and spices as low prices without any sort of brand name and in fact their name has of recent years been the rather generic "Natural Grocers" with their old name "Vitamin Cottage" tacked onto the end using "by" as conjunction. My cheap (not thrifty, frugal, or those other soft names for meanness with money) soul deeply loved getting a two pound bag of organic oatmeal for a little be more or a little less than $2.00. When I went in recently to pick up my usual 12 pound supply I was shocked to find that the price had risen to $3.60 for the extra thick rolled oats.
The room started to spin, my heart palpitated, and about 300 years of Scottish ancestors jumped up and down in the back of my head screaming about travesty and people who did not know the value of pennies. I did buy some anyways, but not nearly as much and really only to tide me over while I started to hunt for the best alternative. I suppose what I should do is to finally figure out how to properly prepare steel cut oats in my microwave as those are a great deal more available and interchangeable than thick rolled oats and I really do not give a fig one way or another for the whole organic thing. I just want inexpensive oatmeal the way that the gods intended.
And once I am settled into eating steel cut oats I suppose I will not ever have to change since they are a product that has changed little in centuries... Cue disaster that entirely deprives me of oatmeal just as I am about to be deprived of Google Reader. Also the owls have mostly eliminated the koala infestation at The Cup and Eagle, but have brought their own problems. More on that later and the state of my joints.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/577789.html.
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April 25th, 2013
| 10:36 am - The Snow in Denver Falls On...
Every city, province, and state has the same 'joke' about the weather; if you do not like it wait an arbitrary short unit of time and it will change. Of course, it is true, because on the whole that is why it is called weather and not certainty... or possibly geography.
In the previous three or four weeks, late March into mid April, it has repeatedly been very clement with wonderful spring smells interspersed with driving wet snow and temperatures well bellow freezing. I would complain except that this is normal Colorado spring weather and I suspect normal for many other places not buffered by nearby ocean currents. Still it has annoyed me because every single time has coincided with a need for me to drive to Boulder from Denver. If you are not local this is rather like driving from Boston to Lowell or from Birmingham to Stafford. Or the commute from Faerie to one of the posh communities of West Hel if you are more familiar with that. Added to the misery is that currently the main road, the one between Denver and Boulder which is called a Turnpike even though it is not, is currently being reconstructed so it is narrowed down so that if a vehicle were to lose traction and start sliding the only possible results are striking another vehicle or a concrete barrier as there is no longer any verge to slide into. Except in this one section where there is a drop down a steep 20 meter ditch sort of thing.
So far the predicted weather for my next trip to Boulder is still nice without even rain in it, but this is Denver so.. oh damn.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/577406.html.
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April 23rd, 2013
| 09:57 pm - I Am So Dread Pirate Roberts
Except prettier! Today consisted of a lot of, "Oh hello, Pain, come to try again have you? You know your friend Tinnitus never got very far in trying to stop me, right?"
"Many brave men, many strong men, have said such things, but I can bring them all low."
"True, I know any man can be brought low with enough, but I am pure of heart and... wait that is not it; I am about as pure as flea market gold. What was that quality the one that makes me insusceptible to pain? Think, think, think, oh yeah, easily distracted!"
"Hey pay attention to me!"
"Gosh my hip hurts today, were you trying to get my attention?"
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Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/577273.html.
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April 16th, 2013
| 09:09 pm - Not Joining This Either
In order to make the series of emails, postcards, and website experiences more interesting I have recast them as a door to door solicitor named "Nextdoor.com". This is an awkward name for a humanoid, but it fits for him since he's a 40 year old guy wearing black horn-rimmed glasses and very dark blue jeans in order to look friendly, yet cool. The effect is rather spoiled by the fact that his voice has a rather nasal quality that makes one think of a somewhat self absorbed middle manager rather than someone you actually wish to be friends with. So here I am at home starting a load of laundry when I get a perky knock at my door. Nextdoor.com stood there with a clipboard in his off hand and his right extended in expectation of giving me a hearty handshake, "Howdy, neighbor."
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Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/576843.html.
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April 12th, 2013
| 01:34 pm - On Middle Age
My life is literally half over. I think that means I should have a beer tomorrow. I do not know if I shall go out tonight, but I am doubting it right now. Of all the places I could go I think most of them would only remind me of how solitary I am most of the time. How I wish I had the easy bonhomie that allows some people to make friends whenever they enter a room.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/576557.html.
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April 10th, 2013
 | 08:33 am - Blackface, Really You Are Going THERE?
Calling Big Bang Theory "Geek Blackface" only makes geeks look bad. It will not actually convince anyone who likes it to change their minds. It may make geeks look like a bunch of whiners who think that the disapprobation of nerds is equivalent to the oppression of slavery, but no sane person is going to say, "Oh that sounds right, I should stop watching that show". If you hate Big Bang Theory go right ahead and hate it with the fiery passion of a gay activist loathing Will and Grace. Before it went down into the memory hole it was actually hated by a lot of gay activists for its stereotypical portrayals of gay men and only one onscreen kiss during its whole run. Hate away, as after all the emotional center of geekdom is hate, hating the new actor in a beloved role, hating the bad physics in a sci-fi movie, hating popular sports, and hating popular people. Hate away young Darth! But I am going to give you the stink-eye every time you compare yourself to the oppression of blacks and if someone makes a Holocuast comparison I might actually lose my shit all over them.
Crossposted from Mishalak on Dreamwidth. This entry was originally posted at http://mishalak.dreamwidth.org/576452.html.
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