Say What?

So here's a fun game--try and describe something like cold. Or hot. Or what about red? If you met someone who, somehow or other, had no concept of what cold was, how would you do it (without sticking their hand in a freezer)? I can't, off the top of my head, come up with a good way to do it. It's just assumed that people know what cold is. Or red.

One definition I found for cold: "having a relatively low temperature; having little or no warmth"

Well, I guess that works, but it doesn't get into the nitty gritty of what cold really feels like. I suppose you can use words like "sharp," or "biting," maybe, but even those don't seem to help all that much.

It's possible, nay likely, that I'm making a bigger deal out of this than need be, but it's still kind of interesting what happens when you take for granted that everyone knows what something means.

Or maybe the recent cold snap has frozen too many of my brain cells.


Dave

Pop Right In

Things I can do without: commercials for stool softeners. I don't care how you market it, it's still icky.

Things I can always do with: popcorn. Especially when I pop it myself. Somewhat more satisfying that way. And it's interesting, to boot: a minute or two of nothing, telling the corn to get going, and then....one pop, followed by another, and another, and so on and so forth. It's a very unique thing, culinarily speaking.

So I'm feeling nerdy, gimme a break.

So what else is new around these parts?

-I got a laptop, and his name is Ator. No moon boots were included.
-I came home from work today and noticed a rut in my driveway. And from there it took
me a good two minutes to notice that there was a tree missing in my backyard. Ah-ha!
-Dave is not tank.
-City Museum. Good place. Dangerous if you aren't careful, but fun.
-I have a photo display going up at HQ this week. If you happen by there, stop in for
a look.
-Another show is going up in June. More details later.

I think that's it.


Dave

The Flickering Flame

Most of the time, I'm quite happy with the state of my professional life: I get to take pictures, and I have a lot of flexibility in what I can do. I get the chance to be a little silly sometimes, which is always nice. So between the library and the Journal, I really can't complain.

But every once in awhile, the thought of yet another author to shoot, or a fairly dull Journal assignment can get to me, and I have to wonder where the excitement is. I need a spark or something to keep myself into what I'm doing, or the pictures are going to turn out looking like I don't care.

Such was the case yesterday. I had just left BJ's, after getting some shots for a story the Journal is running. And I was a little disappointed, because I didn't feel like the pictures I had were all that good. But I wasn't....feeling it, I guess, when I was shooting. And if I can't get into a shoot, nothing is going to work. I can't force myself to take great pictures. And what made it more annoying is that I had really pushed to get this story through. So I felt as though I hadn't held up my end of the deal.

Then I remembered a couple things: one was an idea for a photo story I had (the ferrier who comes to Diane's every so often to change the horse shoes). The other was that I had, somehow or other, just received 4 free rolls of film from Kodak. So why not use the film for this shoot? Which is what I'm gonna do, once it gets warm enough for the horses to need new shoes. I'll follow the ferrier around for a day and see what I get. Don't know what I'll do with the pictures yet, maybe look into a show somewhere, but it should be a good way to keep the flame going.

Or at least go visit Diane.


Dave

Totally Plowed

This morning, anyways. The roads last night were certainly not plowed, making my midnight commute home down 270 a most exciting affair. I have to admit I kinda like driving in the snow (sans father in the passenger seat), probably because it's a real test of all your driving skills, and it makes you really pay attention to what you're doing. I'm not saying I don't normally, but the extra...well, having the snow makes it more interesting. But I can't, for the life of me, figure out why the people who own the big trucks and SUVS, vehicles designed to handle this kind of thing, are all driving slower than me, in my Lumina. And it's not like I was driving like a bat out of hell, either. I don't think I broke 35 the whole way home. And all these big clunkers are poking along at 25 or so. Weird.

I got a bug in my head to look into heading off to Stamford, Connecticut this March for the annual Crossword Puzzle Tournament. But it's bit expensive for me to be planning this close to the event. So I'll save up and go next year. That said, there's an 'absentee' version I can do: they'll mail me the puzzles and I can send them in and see how I rank with everyone else. And for only $20, it's not a bad deal.

Speaking of words, I have 2 new words I can try and throw into my vocabulary: xebec and twiner. Xebec is a type of ship, and twiner is, um, well, some variation of twine. The dictionary wasn't too helpful in telling me what it actually meant. But it got me big points in Scrabble.

And did you know 'set' has the longest entry in a standard dictionary?

How wonderfully nerdy.


Dave

-Title Removed by Author-

If you really want to know what I was going to title this, head down to the bottom of the post.

I did something a bit unusual before turning in last night: I grabbed a book and read for awhile. Normally I grab a crossword and work on that. But in an effort to get the creative juices flowing (lyrically), and to get through all the stuff I need to read, I figured I'd switch things up a bit. I started with The River Why, which I'd actually started a few months back and promptly forgot about. From there I may tackle Three Nights in August, and if I'm feeling up to it, The Silmarillion. Since they were both gifts, i figure someone might appreciate it if I actually, you know, read them.

Important lesson learned today: if you talk loud enough in the bathroom, people out in the hall can hear you! I stopped by a water fountain at work today, and from a nearby lavatory, I heard some gal discussing a recent, um, diahrrea situation. Fun! Then she came out and I had to keep a straight face. All the more reason not to talk whilst in the bathroom.

The washer? Oh it's fine. Naturally.


Dave




So I was going to use the title "Let it Flow," which just seemed a bit too much. But it's okay down here!

You're Soaking In It

There are times, such as, say, when one is hosting a Godzillathon, that owning a house is a nice thing. I mean, cramming 7 people and two cats into, say, an apartment, would be kinda tricky. So it's nice to have a living room to work with.

Then we have those times when this whole house thing sucks eggs. The washing machine decided to go on the fritz today. Apparently it doesn't like water anymore and decided it would be better off on my basement floor. Alas, it didn't consult with me on this, as I would have given a firm 'no' on that idea. But, considering the washing machine is older than me(!), I guess it has seniority.

All this is a roundabout way of saying I have to have a repairman come out tomorrow. Granted, it means I can stay home from work, but still. Mom was kind enough to point out that the washing machine has had less maintence in its 26 years than me in my 25. It is a Maytag, after all.

And my branch! Oh I wish you could have seen it when it was splayed across the gap between the tree and my roof, just laying there over my power and cable lines. Thanks to my neighbor, though, we managed to seriously trim it back. As soon as time allows, I'm up on the roof* to finish it off. The tree from whence it came is all but dead, drowned out by two larger trees. So another service call was put in to have someone estimate how much it'll take to bring it down.

Houses. They're a blast!


Dave





*Yes, I was damn close to going up on the roof Saturday, ice and all, to take that damn thing down. I had no desire, after surviving an ice storm with my power intact, to have some stupid hunk of wood knock out my lines. Thankfully, my neighbor talked me out of it.

This Can't Be Right

I woke up this morning, as I tend to do most mornings, and noticed something strange: I had electricity. Now, this is usually a commone thing for me to notice. In fact, I don't usually notice it at all: it's just assumed. But we had a respectable ice storm last night. And, as faithful followers of this bit of web space may recall, any time a major storm of any sort rolled through the past year, I was always out of power. Remember Death Storm? Icy Death/The Cold Shoulder? I was always among the powerless. But today was different. Just down the street from me was out, but I'm still on as of this writing*.

True, I probably just jinxed myself, but I'm going to revel in it all the same.

And I can't lose power now, Godzillathon '07 is tomorrow night! Many people are coming! BJ's pizza is on the line here, people. That is not something nature should be messing with. No no no.

I'm going to order myself a laptop shortly. Very exciting. It'll have a DVD burner, which means I can transfer the 10gb of U2 DVDs off my hard drive and burn them. Obsessed? Me? Nah.


Dave



*Well, duh.

Digging In

It's interesting what can happen after you're in a relationship long enough---you get used to a lot of things and you don't have to really worry about many of the general ins and outs of being with another person. But when you have to start over, all you knew gets thrown out the window, and you have to relearn a lot of what you started doing as second nature. And it's all silly stuff, too, like "how often do I call?" and "is it possible to sound like you're nagging about getting together after so long?"

Eventually, it all evens out, but it's weird having to do all that again. But I'd rather have to do this than not at all, if you catch my drift.

Kind of like getting back on a bike, which I did last night*. I got an itch to go riding, so I went out for awhile after dinner. I think it was the first time I'd been on a bike since July or something crazy like that. And it was pretty good. A little chilly, but nothing unbearable. I'm glad I stopped when I did, though, because as soon as I got off, my legs went all Jello on me. It was like being drunk, only I was out of breath and sweaty instead of completely disoriented and incoherent.

Godzillathon '07 is this Sunday. I don't know what amaze me more: that I've managed to do this 4 years in a row, or that I've got a group of people who keep coming back for them. Scary, really. I do enjoy them, though. Everyone seems to have a really good time, and we get to eat lots of pizza. Works for me. I even have somewhere between 2-4 new people coming this year, so I'm really excited. And watching the movies on TV now that I can get sound from grandma's old speakers should be even better.


It seems like it's Engagement Season** lately, as I've had 2 friends get engaged in the past two weeks, and a total of 4 in the past 3 months. Crazy! Mum tried setting me up with someone she works with who happened to be engaged ("Does she need a photographer?"-me), and Dave's brother just got engaged (being recommended as a photographer). Whew.

That's all, that's all.

Dave



*What a segue!

**Generally regarded as the gap between the end of the NFL regular season and the start of Spring Training^

^Only about a month!

Another Round

I think, in the Grand Scheme of Things, that enough dance/party songs have been written to fill four hours worth of time. Wouldn't you agree? So why is it then that some DJ would feel it necessary to play the Electric Slide twice, while ignoring plenty of other worthwhile candidates? I mean, really, anything would be better than that. Or maybe it's just me. I can never be bothered with that dance, so maybe I'm missing some phenomenal secret that is only revealed upon doing said dance.

That's probably it.

I made a really big, important, and potentially life-changing decision last week: the next time the Foo Fighters are on tour, I will go see them, no matter what it takes. Yes, I realize the possible ramifications of such an undertaking, but the rewards should outweight the risks.

Sigh.

This post is pretty lame. It's what I get for not posting for a few days and for trying to make a post first thing in the a.m.


David Moore

or: devo maid

Gut Chex

I don't think shopping is all that hard. Granted, I've had no choice but to do it the past 3+ years, but even if I was just starting out, the basic concept is pretty darned easy: find out what you need, write a list, go to the store, and buy said items. Look for sales. If you need cereal, find something on sale, and then pick from those options. Etc., etc.

So why do people need to call their significant others on the cell phone to double check? Do they not trust their own judgement? Do they think the wife/husband back home doesn't trust their judgement? Come on! It's just cereal, for God's sake! Just grab a box and go! I know there may be kids to consider, but just stop and think before going about what they do and don't like. Not that hard.

There. I feel better now.

Me? I will admit to grabbing a box of Honey-Nut Chex only to go back a little later and swap out for a box of the rice variety. Easier to deal with in the a.m., and a bigger box for the same price. Good deal all around.


Dave

Ring In

So here we are in 'ought-seven. And, if today is any indication of the rest of the year, I plan on being pretty laid back. To wit: I've yet to put on anything resmbling real clothing. I'm currently clad in a white t-shirt and red penguin lounge-type pants. I went to bed in them around, oh, four a.m., and got up in them around eleven or so. And I'm perfectly alright with this. Lest you think I've slugged around all day, let me say that I have done some useful stuff: washed the dishes and did an hour or so of painting. But I had to stop because the stomach was telling me to eat. So more painting later.

Last night/this morning was lots of fun. Nothing terribly stand out, but a good solid time of fun, which is all that really matters. If I learned anything last night, it's that sloppy joes are more appealing to some people than steak and potatoes. And we made hats! If dad didn't have my camera right now, I'd take a picture. But rest assured, it's a thing of beauty.

This should be an interesting week ahead. Odds are good enough may (or may not) happen to set the tone for the early part of the year. Should be fun.


Dave