If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.
I'm looking to rent a cabin for a cozy weekend with my girlfriend early next year. I'm open to different areas, (ie pacific coast, San Juan, Olympics, Cascades) but would like a nice cabin, hot tub, nearby hiking, etc. Anyone have any suggestions, or know where I can find good listings for such cabins, hotels, etc?
Thanks!
Thanks!
solarbird
“Charlie Horse” is a fun ditty in no small part because it changes keys, which is unusual for a Great Big Sea song. So in order to accommodate the key change and the key they recorded it in, I had to figure out what would work best for chord transcription. This led me to do two sets of chords, a set with the capo on 3 and modulating from D to E in the chords, and a set with the capo on 5 to modulate from C to D. Persons way more comfortable with the key of F than I am could go completely capo-free, since the ultimate goal here is to get from F to G.
Anyway, here are some chords! Enjoy!
Mirrored from annathepiper.org.
Thing I said yesterday: "Don't worry. My workout of descending from floor 29 to floor 24, then climbing to floor 44, then descending to the first basement level may have caused me abdominal cramps that made me wonder if I was starting my period early, but I'll take it easy tomorrow!"
Thing I said today: "Hmm. My cats could use some canned food, and it's a nice day out."
Things I did:
1. Slung twelve pound bike chain across my torso
2. Took bike and chain down to the street and rode to the 9th Street light rail station
3. Rode the light rail to Port Imperial
4. Took a route of approximately 4.9 miles from the light rail station to the Edgewater Whole Foods market (this is about a mile longer than a straight line drive in a car, but there is this thing about bicyclists where we don't all want to die, so I took a lot of detours and side trips to stay on the Hudson riverwalk wherever possible rather than be anywhere near motor vehicles)
5. Chained up bike
6. Went grocery shopping
7. Loaded up three reusable tote bags (two of which I brought with me, one of which I had to buy on the scene) with three 16-ounce glass bottles of tea, one 15-ounce bottle vitamin water, half a gallon milk, a quart of chicken broth, two fifteen ounce cans of bean stuff, a quart and a half of vanilla chai, a box of corn starch, a box of mint and mate' teabags, a pound of rice, a couple of oranges, three pounds of pasta, a pound and a half of beef, half a pound of crispy onion bits, some cheeses I'd wanted to try, a couple of other random items, and twenty-four cans of cat food (you get a three cent discount per can if you buy 24 because 24 is a full case)
8. Rode a slightly altered route back to Port Imperial, resulting in a total distance traveled of around 10.5 miles
9. Took the light rail to 2nd Street
10. Rode home
11. Took everything up the stairs in two trips
12. Did not die.
So, um... taking it easy, maybe not so much. But at least there wasn't as much stair climbing.
Thing I said today: "Hmm. My cats could use some canned food, and it's a nice day out."
Things I did:
1. Slung twelve pound bike chain across my torso
2. Took bike and chain down to the street and rode to the 9th Street light rail station
3. Rode the light rail to Port Imperial
4. Took a route of approximately 4.9 miles from the light rail station to the Edgewater Whole Foods market (this is about a mile longer than a straight line drive in a car, but there is this thing about bicyclists where we don't all want to die, so I took a lot of detours and side trips to stay on the Hudson riverwalk wherever possible rather than be anywhere near motor vehicles)
5. Chained up bike
6. Went grocery shopping
7. Loaded up three reusable tote bags (two of which I brought with me, one of which I had to buy on the scene) with three 16-ounce glass bottles of tea, one 15-ounce bottle vitamin water, half a gallon milk, a quart of chicken broth, two fifteen ounce cans of bean stuff, a quart and a half of vanilla chai, a box of corn starch, a box of mint and mate' teabags, a pound of rice, a couple of oranges, three pounds of pasta, a pound and a half of beef, half a pound of crispy onion bits, some cheeses I'd wanted to try, a couple of other random items, and twenty-four cans of cat food (you get a three cent discount per can if you buy 24 because 24 is a full case)
8. Rode a slightly altered route back to Port Imperial, resulting in a total distance traveled of around 10.5 miles
9. Took the light rail to 2nd Street
10. Rode home
11. Took everything up the stairs in two trips
12. Did not die.
So, um... taking it easy, maybe not so much. But at least there wasn't as much stair climbing.
I still like listening to KGO Radio (AM 810 San Francisco) but on there they still make a big deal about having a traffic helicopter and a team that covers traffic. Every day they put on air someone caught in traffic too, mostly on the Bay Bridge, to report how long it takes him to drive from SF to Oakland, among other places.
This job skill is dying very quickly, according to the Associated Press. Why? Well, you only need to see Waze, a new crowd-sourced traffic app for mobile phones, to see just how lame this method of reporting the traffic is.
Here, let’s go for a ride around Palo Alto with Waze’s .
I’ve been using it and already I’ve found that the reports I’m getting are more complete than others (including the traffic reports in my 2010 Toyota Prius that I pay a lot of money every year to receive) and even include things like speed traps. Why? Because they are reported by other drivers on the ground. This system is even better than the Google Maps traffic on my Android phone (which is better than my iPhone).
This is a VERY disruptive company and one of my favorites to use. Get it now, it’ll save you a lot of time driving around. We’ll have to figure out something else for those traffic helicopter pilots and reporters to do, though.
So, let me get this straight: the most popular series right now is some vaguely high-school yurilicious show about a human railgun?
Okay, then.
Okay, then.
- Mood:
amused - Music:Xenosaga III OST, Hepatica
A bit of garden maintenance has been done this week, despite the un-promising weather. I did abandon a hedge-pruning exercise on Friday when the wind got blustery and my step-ladder started to feel more than usually precarious, but today quite a bit of tree and shrub pruning got done, and some leaves also got swept up. There's always more to do, of course, and I expect there'll be a trip to the dump in the not too distant future.
Thursday evening was an astronomical society one, this month given over to talks by a couple of our members. One was technical, on the subject of noise in digital images, and included much talk of sums of squares and the like. The other was about the various meridians running through the Greenwich Observatory, each one defined by a transit instrument of some sort. Some of the anecdotes had a topical ring. One candidate for Astronomer Royal refused to accept the position unless the previous incumbent's Deputy was sacked first. Allegedly, under the Deputy's direction the computing personnel had been allowed (or been encouraged) to adjust the raw data in order to fit the desired results. The Deputy got the sack, but, presumably, he'd rendered several years' worth of results worthless. We were left wondering whether enough of the original raw data remained to allow accurate results to be re-computed.
Friday evening's gaming involved Vikings. We played two games, the first using the basic rules and the second using some of the available extra complications. I won the first game, and Lissa the second, but we finished within four points, which was surprisingly close, considering.
Thursday evening was an astronomical society one, this month given over to talks by a couple of our members. One was technical, on the subject of noise in digital images, and included much talk of sums of squares and the like. The other was about the various meridians running through the Greenwich Observatory, each one defined by a transit instrument of some sort. Some of the anecdotes had a topical ring. One candidate for Astronomer Royal refused to accept the position unless the previous incumbent's Deputy was sacked first. Allegedly, under the Deputy's direction the computing personnel had been allowed (or been encouraged) to adjust the raw data in order to fit the desired results. The Deputy got the sack, but, presumably, he'd rendered several years' worth of results worthless. We were left wondering whether enough of the original raw data remained to allow accurate results to be re-computed.
Friday evening's gaming involved Vikings. We played two games, the first using the basic rules and the second using some of the available extra complications. I won the first game, and Lissa the second, but we finished within four points, which was surprisingly close, considering.
It amuses me that one of my most immediately recognizable dream-genres is the Escape from Dystopia Dream. Sometimes they're nightmarish. Sometimes they aren't. Generally, I find them more interesting than the vast unwashed masses of my dreams (I love enjoy am fascinated by dystopias, so it's really very generous of my subconscious to generate them for me), and sometimes, as a bonus, they give me story ideas.
This one was clearly YA lesbian SF noir.
Behind the cut is, not so much the dream itself, but some maundering about how I'd make that dream into a story.
( click if you're interested )
And there. It needs more Cool Shit, worldbuildling, and general SFnality, but that's the bones of a story.
Not, of course, that I have time to write the flesh.
---
*Notice that while my subconscious--on the basis of a dream earlier this month--cannot tell the difference between Minnesota and Switzerland, it's quite clear on the geography of Detroit, particularly wrt Canada.
This one was clearly YA lesbian SF noir.
Behind the cut is, not so much the dream itself, but some maundering about how I'd make that dream into a story.
( click if you're interested )
And there. It needs more Cool Shit, worldbuildling, and general SFnality, but that's the bones of a story.
Not, of course, that I have time to write the flesh.
---
*Notice that while my subconscious--on the basis of a dream earlier this month--cannot tell the difference between Minnesota and Switzerland, it's quite clear on the geography of Detroit, particularly wrt Canada.
AmericaBlog turns us on to one of the stupidest arguments against health care reform yet:
Do any of these people ever look at anything in a way that doesn't involve bottom-line, short-term monetary profit?
... Let's just not pretend, as some healthcare reformers would have us do, that we can easily get more equality without paying the price in efficiency.Because goodness knows efficiency is so very much more important than the health of your workers and their being able to enjoy some leisure time. I mean, it was right there in the Declaration of Independence -- "illness, wage-slavery, and the pursuit of efficiency".
Put simply, the healthcare reform bill would make the United States more like western Europe. That may mean more security about healthcare, but it also means that future generations of Americans will likely spend more time enjoying leisure.
Do any of these people ever look at anything in a way that doesn't involve bottom-line, short-term monetary profit?
Religious Freedom in Viet Nam
Target:EU, US & ASEAN governments and UN High Commissioner, Human Rights
Sponsored by: Friends of Thich Nhat Hanh
Please sign this petition addressed to the European Union, the United States government, ASEAN governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to ask the Vietnamese government to formally recognize the Plum Village practice of buddhism. By joining the petition and the group of 100,000 people asking for religious freedom, you will make a great measurable step towards global human rights in Southeast Asia.
The Bat Nha community has been under severe violent governmental pressure to cease activity in Viet Nam. The monks and nuns were forcefully expelled from Bat Nha monastery and are been persecuted in their place of refuge, Phuoc Hue temple, Bao Loc, in Lam Dong province. These monks and nuns are practicing in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and continue his tradition in his homeland.
Our initial effort and petition to protect the Bat Nha monastics was recognized by EU and U.S. leaders, which in turn caused the Viet Nam government to ease pressure on the Bat Nha monastics for the last three weeks of Oct 2009. But on Nov 2nd, the Chief of the Province Lam Dong summoned the Abbot who is currently hosting the 400 refugee monks and nuns, and demanded he force them to leave by the first of December.
The strong harassment and intimidation of this community continue with attempts to disband them from Phuoc Hue and other temples where they have sought refuge. They also are threatening to draft the young monks into the army within a few weeks. We need your help to bring an end to religious persecution in Viet Nam with this new petition to ASEAN, European Union, United States governments and the High Commission for Human Rights to continue diplomatic pressure.
Read more and sign petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/religi
Target:EU, US & ASEAN governments and UN High Commissioner, Human Rights
Sponsored by: Friends of Thich Nhat Hanh
Please sign this petition addressed to the European Union, the United States government, ASEAN governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to ask the Vietnamese government to formally recognize the Plum Village practice of buddhism. By joining the petition and the group of 100,000 people asking for religious freedom, you will make a great measurable step towards global human rights in Southeast Asia.
The Bat Nha community has been under severe violent governmental pressure to cease activity in Viet Nam. The monks and nuns were forcefully expelled from Bat Nha monastery and are been persecuted in their place of refuge, Phuoc Hue temple, Bao Loc, in Lam Dong province. These monks and nuns are practicing in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and continue his tradition in his homeland.
Our initial effort and petition to protect the Bat Nha monastics was recognized by EU and U.S. leaders, which in turn caused the Viet Nam government to ease pressure on the Bat Nha monastics for the last three weeks of Oct 2009. But on Nov 2nd, the Chief of the Province Lam Dong summoned the Abbot who is currently hosting the 400 refugee monks and nuns, and demanded he force them to leave by the first of December.
The strong harassment and intimidation of this community continue with attempts to disband them from Phuoc Hue and other temples where they have sought refuge. They also are threatening to draft the young monks into the army within a few weeks. We need your help to bring an end to religious persecution in Viet Nam with this new petition to ASEAN, European Union, United States governments and the High Commission for Human Rights to continue diplomatic pressure.
Read more and sign petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/religi
We got up very early to take Tim to the airport. We're finally getting some winter rain. In fact, it's pouring, and in the distance the mountains are covered with snow far down their sides. We hit some heavy rain on the way to the airport, along with some pretty impressive lightning, and saw no less than five cars spun out or overturned by the side of the road and a two-car collision. Folks, you've got to slow down!
Great visit with Tim. He'd met Jackson as a pup last Christmas, but they hadn't seen each other since. J did some initial barking, wuffing, and skulking, but was won over very quickly and soon up in Tim's lap, bringing him toys and socks. It was good to see. Apart from his trust/shyness issues, he's such a good, friendly, playful dog. On the show Dogs 101 they did a segment on English Mastiffs. Jackson may not be a purebred, but he sure takes after that side of the family in face and temperament. Hopefully he'll stay on the runty end of the weight spectrum. Still well under 100 lbs. but he's only a year old. Emma was her usual canine velcro self and spent a lot of time in Tim's lap, soaking up attention. Tim even coaxed Oscar the Garage Cat in for some visiting. Oscar is his cat, whom we are cat sitting until Tim gets a place that allows cats. Could be never. Oscars nice, but pees in the house. Hence the garage accommodations.
Back now, sitting by the fire trying to decide the day's tea, or at least day's first tea. I seem to be craving Tie Guan Yin, after reviewing an especially fine one the other day, from Norbu Tea. I just ordered some for my own private stash, along with an interesting pu ehr baked and aged in sweet bamboo. It's very sweet and light, without some of the damp earth flavor of a more traditional pu ehr.
I also need a Yixing pot to dedicate to TGYs, and have been looking for a long time. Finally settled on this cute and funky one, from sensationalteas.com, made by Xiao Ma. The colors come from different colors of zisha clay inlay.
Good excuse to sort through the TGYs I have lying around, and cull out the old and inferiors while I wait for the Diamond Grade to arrive and spoil me for everything else.
Friends coming over tonight for a "Thanksgiving left overs" potluck.
Great visit with Tim. He'd met Jackson as a pup last Christmas, but they hadn't seen each other since. J did some initial barking, wuffing, and skulking, but was won over very quickly and soon up in Tim's lap, bringing him toys and socks. It was good to see. Apart from his trust/shyness issues, he's such a good, friendly, playful dog. On the show Dogs 101 they did a segment on English Mastiffs. Jackson may not be a purebred, but he sure takes after that side of the family in face and temperament. Hopefully he'll stay on the runty end of the weight spectrum. Still well under 100 lbs. but he's only a year old. Emma was her usual canine velcro self and spent a lot of time in Tim's lap, soaking up attention. Tim even coaxed Oscar the Garage Cat in for some visiting. Oscar is his cat, whom we are cat sitting until Tim gets a place that allows cats. Could be never. Oscars nice, but pees in the house. Hence the garage accommodations.
Back now, sitting by the fire trying to decide the day's tea, or at least day's first tea. I seem to be craving Tie Guan Yin, after reviewing an especially fine one the other day, from Norbu Tea. I just ordered some for my own private stash, along with an interesting pu ehr baked and aged in sweet bamboo. It's very sweet and light, without some of the damp earth flavor of a more traditional pu ehr.
I also need a Yixing pot to dedicate to TGYs, and have been looking for a long time. Finally settled on this cute and funky one, from sensationalteas.com, made by Xiao Ma. The colors come from different colors of zisha clay inlay.
Good excuse to sort through the TGYs I have lying around, and cull out the old and inferiors while I wait for the Diamond Grade to arrive and spoil me for everything else.
Friends coming over tonight for a "Thanksgiving left overs" potluck.
- Mood:
thirsty
What kind of day has it been:
12:13 Finished the main story of Assassin's Creed II. Now I can free roam to finish side quests and collect treasure. #
16:11 Sister visiting in December with baby niece in tow. Anyone in Singapore can loan me a pram and playpen for a couple of weeks? #
17:59 now has North by Northwest, the most iconic of Hitchcock movies, on Blu-Ray. #
21:39 is pretty sure he's not the only one who found himself humming the John Williams theme while reading Superman: Secret Origin #3. #
Automatically stabbed through your living brain by LoudTwitter- 03:23 @ptitoiseau You saw Macy's?!?! I have been talking about it all week! :( #
- 03:54 Cornbread-stuffed onions, chili-lime sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, green beans w/toasted almonds, cranberry sauce, #
- 03:55 and apple pie, plus sort of crossing another thing off the bucket list. Mmmm Thanksgiving... #
- 04:06 ...my father just thanked me for proving the existence of God to my non-American friends by explaining the first Thanksgiving story to them. #
Twittering as jackwilliambell.
- 12:40 They just called boarding for Tokyo/Narita. I'm off for a week of work abroad. #
- 12:41 @jay_lake I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a fontal lobotomy! #
- 12:52 Me in travel mode. Note the vest of many pockets. twitpic.com/r7gzo #
- 00:26 On the ground in Narita. Customs now exits in a different spot, so I was turned around for a little while. Next: Train to Tokyo. #
- 03:08 Checked into my hotel in Ueno (part of Tokyo). Lost my coat on the plane, dammit! About to go in search of food and beer. #
I don't know who coined the term "Black Friday," but it's a sinister name for a bad idea. I mean, it might just mean that the stores are going into the black after the Friday, but I tend to think more along the lines of stormy weather and the amount of ink used to write in one's checkbook.
Pretty much every year I've chosen to not participate. At least not in person. Oh, I sometimes buy something online because someone waved a coupon under my nose, but more often than not, I was planning on buying the item and decided to wait to see if I could get it at a discount. This year I got my Christmas shopping done by October. I've done that in previous years and it's a good thing.
To be honest with you, I should be working towards making more money and not spending money. I've got plenty of work to get done and I've been slacking because of the season being what it is. With the various vet bills and whatnot, the work is welcomed. But things get busy and I don't get quite as many articles written, and so, I try to ramp up. I feel pretty good when I get 3 articles done a day until I hear about those who do close to 10 a day and make a ridiculous amount of money. Then, I sigh and realize that even though I am prolific, I'm nowhere near as prolific as they are. I figure I write about 30 to 40 short articles a month, on top of the other work I do. Not bad, but then, just when you think you're prolific, someone shows you up.
It is the way of things.
Current work:
10 articles for various clients
Finish Editing Samurai Son
Evaluate 3 pet books
Work on Siberian Husky Book
Restart working on WolfSongs 2
Finish writing Exiles of the Chi'lan
Hmm, I guess I am busy.
Pretty much every year I've chosen to not participate. At least not in person. Oh, I sometimes buy something online because someone waved a coupon under my nose, but more often than not, I was planning on buying the item and decided to wait to see if I could get it at a discount. This year I got my Christmas shopping done by October. I've done that in previous years and it's a good thing.
To be honest with you, I should be working towards making more money and not spending money. I've got plenty of work to get done and I've been slacking because of the season being what it is. With the various vet bills and whatnot, the work is welcomed. But things get busy and I don't get quite as many articles written, and so, I try to ramp up. I feel pretty good when I get 3 articles done a day until I hear about those who do close to 10 a day and make a ridiculous amount of money. Then, I sigh and realize that even though I am prolific, I'm nowhere near as prolific as they are. I figure I write about 30 to 40 short articles a month, on top of the other work I do. Not bad, but then, just when you think you're prolific, someone shows you up.
It is the way of things.
Current work:
10 articles for various clients
Finish Editing Samurai Son
Evaluate 3 pet books
Work on Siberian Husky Book
Restart working on WolfSongs 2
Finish writing Exiles of the Chi'lan
Hmm, I guess I am busy.
- Mood:
exhausted
Returned our Zipcar to find a ton of police swarming the area, details showing up on the news sites now:
http://www.komonews.com/news/76870887.h
http://www.komonews.com/news/76870887.h
- 05:37 The weekend could start early for you with the Moon in your 5t... More for Sagittarius twittascope.com/twittascope/?sign=9 #
- 06:12 Up beyond the point of early. Not looking forward to this long ass shift on Black Friday. #
- 07:24 Its wayyy too early to be up and moving right now. Working at 8 for a 9 hour shift. Oh God help me. Damn you Black Friday! #
- 22:28 Photo: icanhascheezburger: tumblr.com/xjg4axjz9 #
- 22:57 Photo: tumblr.com/xjg4aya0h #
- 22:58 Photo: tumblr.com/xjg4ayb7r #
When Salesforce copied Facebook a week ago and put social information into its service with a new service called Chatter it got me to look around at what else was out there for Enterprises. Companies like SocialText, Jive, Yammer and others are out there. But Blogtronix was showing up on my Twitter feed a lot and people told me to take a fresh look at the company’s offerings, which had been updated in the past week too.
So, I invited Blogtronix founder Vassil Mladjov over for a chat about what’s happening in the enterprise space. We spend 30 minutes talking about the competition and getting a look at Blogtronix’ latest offerings. Good chat about how the way we’re working together is changing quite a bit thanks to innovation in the consumer space from Twitter and Facebook.
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sarekofvulcan- Garrett Fitzgerald
- Vulcan Space Central
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someposifeed : [Super Stupor] Thanks? [+2] ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
seattle :: emunctory : Quiet, cozy cabin suggestions? [+10] - annathepiper : Songs about horses falling through ice! [+3]
- camwyn : (no subject) [+0]
- scoble_wp : Dying career: traffic helicopter pilot [+0]
- elfs : Anime's Silly Season [+6]
- hrrunka : Stars, gardens and games [+2]
- truepenny : I made it in my sleep. I wonder what it does. [+4]
- misspamela : Man, it HAS sucked. [+4]
- filkertom : Well, We Can't Have That [+31]
- otterdance : Help Support Religious Freedom In Viet Nam [+1]
- otterdance : Rainy Day and Tea [+3]
- khaosworks : Khaotic twitters [+0]
- adespota : today's tweets [+0]
- jackwilliambell : Shouting into the wind [+0]
- shadowhelm : Black Friday Mayhem and General Conundrums [+0]
- seattle :: livecoder : Somone shot and killed near St. James [+12]
- angelicrbowgirl : (no subject) [+0]
- pegkerr : (no subject) [+0]
- scoble_wp : The rush to socialize the Enterprise continues with Blogtronix [+0]
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