MARRIED FOR FOUR GREAT YEARS!!!

KillyAndOhCarolina, originally uploaded by trudeau.

technically

but the reality is - killy and i believe that our marriage actually started the day my parents gave us their blessing to live together - so that in the eyes of god we wouldn't be living in sin - that was sometime in july of 1996 - so then this would make today just any other day - except for the wonderful scene that was our wedding - this day four years ago that friends and family gathered to watch my husband give his life away to me and i got to wear a pretty dress

also - killy and i were already common law married anyway since we'd been living together - with my parent's blessing - for four years before we got hitched
AND
the main reason we actually got married - killy says it was for revenge - i say it was because i wanted to honor my mother and father - also because i never had MY day - i mean - i'm a mexicana and i never had a quinceanera - so this wedding celebration was MY day to be a princess

underneath all of this folderol - killy and i are married - truly married - because we have have the blessing of those who love us who can see that ours is a strong union - furthermore - they understand that there is nothing that can separate us - that any problem or any obstacle will be overcome by the great love we share - and in killy's case - by the desire for revenge

so what did i learn during these four years - that the things about my husband that drive me crazy are also the very qualities that have made my home and my life a comfortable place for me - that no matter how much he wants to better himself - he will never stop biting his fingers - that his socks can be found all over the house in secret corners and nooks and crannies - that he eats with gusto - damn - you bet - that he has a green thumb and an electric touch and he really and truly is a handyman - that he is a wonderful father and loving husband and a truly selfless man

so what makes our marriage successful

i believe that the spiritual part of marriage is born by the strength of our love - that the social union that is our marriage is embodied by those who love and care for us - and finally that the legacy of our love will be kept alive in the memories that our children will have of their parents who continually love one another no matter what

i look forward to growing old with my husband - i will stay healthy and strong so that i can continue to pick up his socks from whatever corner they land in - i will celebrate my love for my beautiful husband every time he chews on his finger and i will patch up the bleeding with a bandaid

TRIP TO LOS ANGELES

IF ANYONE IS IN TERESTED, I AM TAKING A BIZ TRIP TO L.A. TO SEE THE CHIVAS SOCCER TEAM PLAY ON THE 16TH OF OCT.

I WILL BE THERE 13-16, ANYONE WANNA GO?

WTF!?!

Maybe this is not an astonishingly racist statement, but I'll let you make up your own mind. From Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy - Los Angeles Times:

Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss cited telephone breakdowns as a primary cause of reporting errors, but said the fact that most evacuees were poor African Americans also played a part.
'If the dome and Convention Center had harbored large numbers of middle class white people,' Amoss said, 'it would not have been a fertile ground for this kind of rumor-mongering.'

Beat The Heat With A Tasty Beverage

Beat The Heat With A Tasty Beverage

Yesterday I took one of the most refreshing beverages I have ever had: an agua fresca made with cucumber and lime.

It the was perfect drink on an 107 degree day.

Evacu-cating.

My sister and her husband lived the horrid tales of the Hurricane Rita evacuation. Over 24 hours in a car, worrying about gas, sleeping in the car, nothing real to eat, only warm water and record high temps. Brian and I, on the other hand, had a really easy time because we left when all of the weathermen and city officials were telling everyone, "now is the time to shelter in place."

Our under-five-hour trip was uneventful except for a little cat yowling.

The best part of the trip was arriving at Amber and Adolph's to see my sister sitting on the guest bed drinking coffee, finally able to relax after a very long and uncomfortable ordeal. It was also good to see Ethan and Kathy and I wish they could have stayed but I understand that it was rather cramped quarters.

The other best part was walking across Guadalupe and getting Thundercloud Subs for lunch and then taking a nap.

My parents, who live in Pasadena, didn't leave. They didn't leave because they don't have friends in other cities who could take them in, except for family in Wichita, KS and California and Washington. This made me appreciate Amber and Adolph's hospitality that much more. We had somewhere to go, to be safe, to take our pets, so nothing would worry our minds.

Thanks also go to Ryan, who I only barely know, for lending his futon mattress so Brian and I could sleep well. And Todd and Paul for bringing it over.

I missed ACLFest because I was told not to cover it, which is fine. Those record highs sort of made me grateful that I wasn't there.

I got back to work today and very few people were downtown, but the Starbucks in the tunnel was open, so we rejoiced and had lattes.

Seagull Manager

Seagull Manager

Seagull Manager - A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, shits over everything and then leaves.

link

I am crying.

The idea of it being 9 pm tonight and still being in the 90's makes my soul hurt

Today, in Austin, is the Most. Hottest. Day. Ever.

Today, in Austin, is the Most. Hottest. Day. Ever.

Game 3 Versus the Austin Fire Monkeys

Game 3 Versus the Austin Fire Monkeys

Game 3 was a tragedy. An absolute tragedy. The game was like the Battle Of Issus, only we (the outnumbered, but heroic Greeks) were ultimately unable to drive the Persians from the field. Though we were down 2 men (and thus had no subs), and faced a full squad with substitutes, we managed to totally dominate the game--yet, on each of our 5 chances on goal, instead of the ball sailing gloriously into the net, some anti-miracle would happen and the ball would hit a post, or a sudden gust of wind would carry it over the net, or lightning would strike the ball. Clearly the Gods were involved.

So we lost 1-0. In three games we have yet to score a goal.

all rammed up

thanks to Pablo the Generous i now have a whopping 768Mb of ram and fewer spinning beachballs of impatience. i think i may take this thing on the road and see how much of an improvement it really is.

2005.09.22 - Love in the Time of Hurricanes

2005.09.22 - Love in the Time of Hurricanes

Today is carol's birthday and the same day that we decided that it's probably best to leave town. Rita is churning in the gulf and inches closer to it's seemingly inevitable target: us. Carol filled up the car on Tuesday afternoon at the Shell station on the corner of Westheimer and 610, so on nearly a full tank of gas we left at 6:24 in the morning.

On taggart's suggestion i printed out the ms150 ride map with the intention of taking the winding back roads of 529 lall the way to austin. We packed up what we could fit in the trunk and pulled out of the driveway with a soundly sleeping toddler in the back.

43rd street was nearly empty: few people behind us and no one coming from the west. As we approached 290 i could see the yellow lights that lined the top of an eighteen wheeler hanging still as stars in the dark morning. We sailed under the freeway without a problem and continued over the crooked tracks the run along Hempstead. Traffic began to tighten around the beltway, but broke up again as we approached Fry Road.

We were turning onto Fry just as the morning was getting started. the sky was just beginning to brighten. About halfway to 529, we were suddenly at the back of a long line of cars that were obviously all planning on turning onto 529. The line only took up the left, so being the aggressive driver that i am, i immediately jerked into the right lane and continued forward towards the intersection.

As an aside, people were painfully proper at the beginning of this trip. Everyone was waiting dutifully in line: no cutting in line, allowing fellow drivers in ahead of you - an attitude that went right out the window later on that day as gas tanks began to empty and the sun melted the street beneath us.

As i moved closer to the intersection i was at last confronted with the scale of what was happening: 529 from left to right was solid car to car. At the end of an exhaust pipe a front bumper would begin. It was almost overwhelming. Gawking at this, i missed an opportunity to sneak into the turning lane. Instead, i continued across the intersection and made an immediate u-turn. It was these types of maneuvers that only fooled you into believing that you were making progress. Yeah, i avoided a nearly 1/4 mile long line of cars in a turning lane, but i was confronted with a 160 mile line of cars that was moving at a speed slower than my cars idle speed.

we endured it. every now and then a break would happen and we would get up to 15 mph for maybe a 100 yard stretch, then stop again. in the relatively cool morning, the windows were down and we could smell the dry texas grass. there was a slight breeze opon which love bugs floated into the car. adolfo saw dragon flies and bumblebees, silos and clouds.

i turned off the engine and pushed the car the inches when the line ahead of us would crawl forward. as the day wore on, this became unbearable. the asphalt began to soften with the intensity of the sun. as the cars crept slowly forwad you could hear the wet tar being pulled away from the street.

the opposite lane was empty, but no one dared cross over. from time to time a lonely car would pass us by in the opposite direction.

adolfo's head began to sweat. his hair stuck to his scalp and his face began to redden. driving without the a/c was no longer an option. the windows went up and the a/c blasted into the car. we cooled down and continued.

by noon, (nearly six hours on the road) and we were still nearly 15 miles outside of bellvillle. the previous hour we had driven only seven miles. with the a/c becoming less and less effective and our gas tank nearing the halfway point, i began to get nervous. a caravan of trucks was driving on the empty opposite lane - i told carol i was going to follow them and get us out of there. carol and i switched places and i fell in behind them. as a car approached us head on we would all pull far into the shoulder and then continue once it passed. as we slowly passed drivers i could see some people shaking their heads and i began to justify what i was doing in my own head: i have a toddler, i'm not going to make it unless i do what i have to do; i'm going to stall in the middle of nowhere with no one the help me and my family; i have to make something happen; i have to move. a certain self-preservation had kicked in. i was going to do what i had to do to get to my destination.

for a while this worked great. i felt as if i was making progress. and was under the very misguided impression that i was going to eventually make it past the 'bottleneck' and get to austin lickety split.

hills and bridges. it became dangerous. more people began to follow us. problems began when instead of moving into the shoulder at an approaching car, people would try to force their way back into line. the system was breaking down. fair-minded people in the line were pulling out into the street to keep those of us driving on the wrong side from continuing. (would todd have done this?) we simply pulled into the shoulder and contined past them at first, but then seeing that things were getting out of hand, i pulled back into line in an open gap and was again stopping, and inching, and stopping and inching.

(Adolph: do you remember that house along the ride - it's on your right hand side - that has their fence painted like a texas flag? Well, that house had a sign out front: "USE OUR RESTROOM" Carol had to go, so we pulled in and she ran into their garage to relieve herself. I am going to go back to their house after this is all over and thank them personally.)

Carol got back into the car and we contined.

About 200 yards past the free restroom, 7 hours into our trip, and 2/5 of our gas tank i turned to carol, "We aren't going to make it."

I was woozy, carol had a headache, adolfo was fidgety, and whining. Even with the a/c on we were sweating in the car. "We have to turn back."
"Okay", replied carol simply.

I turned the car around and made my way slowly back home. Cars were coming towards us and i patiently allowed them time to move out of the way. Emergency vehicles came speeding behind us, others were already tending to people at cars along the side of the road. At one vehicle it looked like an older lady had collapsed; another was attending to a crying toddler. Carol was broken hearted. I was frustrated and a dull thud was developing behind my eyes.

Cops were now at intersections where there were none before. There were cars everywhere, on every road as far as the eye could see. It was the craziest shit i had ever seen.

Carol had to drive us home. We traded places. My eyes felt swollen and dry. The dull thud had turned into a full on migraine-like aura. adolfo had fallen asleep. we were worried cause the smell of gas fumes on the road was overpowering.

It took us one hour to get home in a nearly uninterrupted drive.

We got home, carol fed me two excedrin migraines and i pulled the mattress from the hallway (we had plaed it there on top of two boxes) and closed my eyes. I would like to say that i fell asleep, but all i could see were the lines of cars behind my eyes. I was still in complete awe of what i had seen.

my sleep was fitfull, the pain in my head was not something i had experienced before. carbon monoxide. carol was woozy. adolfo slept for a bit, but once he realized he was back home clamored for attention. carol, my wonderful wife, stayed up with him until later that night when he finally went down for a full night of sleep.

a couple of hours later i tried to eat something. it was difficult. i had a nausea that would not go away. i took a few spoonfulls of soup and began to plan how we would hunker down for hurricane Rita. I would pull the loose fenceboards and cover the windows with them. I would start first thing in the morning after a good night's sleep and breakfast. Carol had alrady begun to bottle water in everything she could. Claire, who had evacuated to austin earlier than we had, offered us the supplies left in her house: batteries, a radio, and large jugs of water.

Carol came into the room while i was chatting with you guys. "Adolfo just freaked me out," she said with her eyes wattering.
"What did he say?"
"Well i asked him is he was tired, and he said, 'No mama, i'm not tired. I'm sick'"
"You're sick, baby? Where does it hurt?"
"My stomach hurts mama."
"Why does your stomach hurt?"
"Because i dropped my daddy. He's flying. I want to fly and mama wants to fly too."

By this time carol's eyes are red and scared. I hug her and reassure her that things are going to be okay. "We're going to be okay ...(insert regurgitated weatherman speak here)..." I detail our plan, and she calms down.

We lay down to bed. The phone rings.
"The nine o'clock news says that the storm is headed back this direction. We are in Victoria, 59 is totally clear. We're on our way to the valley, " said Maru. Carol hung up and looked at me and told me what they said. "We have half a tank of gas, carol. We can make it to Corpus Christi at least. They're bound to have gas there."

Carol repacks the car; although, not as full as we had it last time. We pulled out the car seat and set up a bed in the back seat for adolfo. Before i knew it we were back on the road. The night was moderately cool. The windows were down and the a/c was off to conserve gas. The freeways were eerily empty at 11 p.m. I cruised at 55 mph out of houston.

As we left sugarland i had counted just over 30 (31) stalled and abandoned cars on the side of 59. By the time i got to the valley, i will have counted well over 50. True to her word, 59 was clear as a bell. No one was on the road. Not all her words were true, though. She said a gas station was open in El Campo. It was open, but it had no gas. As a matter of fact as you came up on towns along 59 there were large playwood signs with "NO GAS" spraypainted on them. We nervously continued.

"There is a gas station in Refugio (65 miles south of Victoria) that has just gotten a truck of gas," maru reports on her next phone call.

I look nervously at my gas level. Outside of Victoria i am at 1/4 tank. I'm going t o make it, i think to myself. There aren't very many cars on the road, and according to Adolfo IV's "Tonka Tanker Truck" book, a tanker truck holds nearly 11,000 gallons (of milk). Assuming that on average each vehicle will fill up with 15 to 20 gallons of gas, they can fill up maybe 550 vehicles. I set the cruise control to 57 after doing this crude and tired math in my head. I am nervously counting the cars that pass me. Some vehicles have large plastic gas tanks mounted to the top of the car.

We roll into Refugio on fumes and make it to the gas station on the far end of town. TXDOT is on the scene getting everyone in queue. We get in line about 25 cars back. I ask the officer (who, incidentally, was MUCH younger than i was) what their capacity is. "Last i head, about 4,000 gallons. There's plenty for everyone here, but they're about to stop accepting cash. How are you paying?"

The cash-only people are herded to teh front of the line. The line i repeat to various panhandlers echoes in my head, "...i'm sorry, i don't carry cash"

Standing in line for gas, is a surreal experience, everyone with expectant and desperate faces. Straight out of MadMax.

The belly of my car went 'WHOOSH!' when i opened the gas cover. The sound of gas spilling into your vehicle is a beautiful thing.

I was starving. I hadn't really eaten properly since Wednesday night after i had gotten home from work. I had a bowl of cereal after working late to prepare for our Practicing Radiologist Conferece in SanAntonio. As of then, it hadn't been cancelled. Kellly, my boss, had gotten onto I-10 with a carload of AV equipment for our conference at the same time i had gotten on the road to Austin with a MDACC laptop with the entire conference on it. If he couldn't make it, maybe i could was the theory behind that.

Once we had turned around, I called him. "You got to do what is good for you at this point." The conference was officially cancelled later that afternoon. He called from I-10 after having received a call from the organizers. Turns out they had to wait for a certain declaration of emergency from the governor's office or else they would have had to have ponied up the $20,000 dollars to the resort where the conference was being held. With the declaration, they were released from liability.

Every Whataburger on 77 (even in Corpus Christi!) was closed. I was very cross. We stopped at a Circle K convenience store where i spoke with a gentleman who had been on the road for nearly 24 hours. He made the mistake of leaving earlier thursday. when i told him i had left just a few hours earlier he was flabbergasted. I bought Carol a birthday scratch lottery ticket that we're going to scratch later tonight.

We passed through King's Ranch and took the backroads behind Raymondville through crops of sugar cane, which will be burnt for harvesting in October/November. Since college i have promised myself i would return for photograph the harvesting of the sugar cane, but have never followed through. (Taggart, would you like to join me if you're not busy?). As i have done since my first year of college, i turned off my headlights and drove for a distance down the black blue road. It was 5:14 a.m.

We rolled into Edinburg at 6:15 and got to my sister's house at 6:30 where we threw ourselves down for a short sleep till 11. We got up starving and headed out to Las Crucitas (sp?) on Closner for a breakfast of pancakes, huevos rancheros, beans, coffee, homemade flour tortillas.

Just ten minutes ago, i called my sister (4:15, Thursday) who told me that the hurricane seems to have taken a sharp turn for Louisianna. The winds had picked up a little, but she doesn't seem worried. She is confident it isn't going to be bad at all, which is fine with me. With that news, i gues we'll head home tomorrow evening (saturday evening) and try to beat all the returning traffic. I plan on buying my own red plastic gas tanks to strap to the roof my car.

Anyone want something from the valley while i'm down here?

My Grandfather, Mi Abuelo, My Hero

My Grandfather, Mi Abuelo, My Hero

My grandfather passed away today. He was fighting cancer. I loved him very much. I am glad that he is finally at peace.

Double Edged Swords

One of the big news points right before or during Hurricane Katrina was voter ID cards:
Voting Reform Is in the Cards - New York Times

Most important, we propose building on the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to develop an accurate and up-to-date registration system by requiring states, not counties, to organize voter registration lists and share them with other states to avoid duplications when people move. The lists should be easily accessible so that voters can learn if they're registered, and where they're registered to vote.

When I saw Jimmy Carter and James Baker on TV together agreeing, I knew something was seriously wrong. Seeing this today, my first thought is "if the government starts maintaining this list of people and where they live, will it be a secret list, or will it be the ultimate spam-list?"

Google Secure Access on Mac OS X

This is pretty interesting. I'm not sure how useful it is. Sure people around you don't see your traffic, but Google certainly can.



Google Secure Access on Mac OS X

No Flash IDE

No Flash IDE

Soon the dream will come true:

While I had my coffee this morning, I decided to write something like an introduction to swfmill. In this document I try to explain how, together with the MTASC compiler, your editor of choice and swfmill, you can completely avoid the Flash IDE. The focus is on importing assets into the library of a newly created SWF, but the document also explains some other features, like placing movieclips on the stage. The basic idea, by the way, is to write an XML file swfmill can turn into an SWF.

Checkout the swfmill and the mtasc projects. They kick ass.

Happy Be-lated Birthday To Carol!

Happy Be-lated Birthday To Carol!

It was the yesterday, no?

The giant rabbit is expected to remain on the mountain side until 2025.

The giant rabbit is expected to remain on the mountain side until 2025.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1541732.html

Print Your Images From Flickr

Print Your Images From Flickr

Print your images from flickr

Now if I could only get my family to use flickr, all would be well.

DSHS Issues Health-Related Evacuation Tips

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has issued the following checklist of health-related items people evacuating ahead of Hurricane Rita should take with them. 

• Birth certificates
• Immunization records for children and adults
• Driver license or other photo ID
• Social Security cards
• Health insurance cards and policies
• Prescription medications and containers
• Any unfilled written prescriptions
• List of medications taken by family members
• Three- to five-day supply of water (one gallon of water per person per day)
• Three- to five-day supply of canned and other non-perishable foods
• Special foods for diabetics and others with special dietary needs
• Baby food, formula, diapers and other supplies for infants
• Fruits and vegetables
• Manual can opener
• Water-purifier, such as unscented chlorine bleach or iodine tables
• Soap, toothpaste, tissue and other personal hygiene supplies
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Disposable cleaning cloths or wipes
• First aid kit
• Extra eyeglasses, contacts and solutions
• Sleeping bags or blankets, sheets, pillows

       

DSHS officials also are encouraging people to honor any evacuation orders.

4

At our weekly meeting my boss began to talk about having to leave his cat (miss kitty)and i thought about the blog conversation a couple of weeks ago. I really feel for sara and my boss having to make the choices that she will have to make before this weekend comes.

This weekend, my boss and i are going to a fairly large conference in san antonio that, regardless of the storms intensity, will not be cancelled. my boss has opted to leave miss kitty at home with access to the upper floor of the house.

update: The Willimas Tower and the businesses within are closed tomorrow and friday.

Houstonians: what's the word?

So it looks like no ACLFest for me. Then again, who cares if I see Wilco if Houston is being battered by a storm? I understand this.

We're talking about where my cats should go and why in the world I live in an apartment with 21 windows. Yes, 21 windows. There isn't a room without a window. Most have four or more.

My landlord says the neighborhood didn't flood during Alison, which is good news.

I feel like everyone is freaking out and maybe I should be freaking out, I don't know. I'm worried most about my cats. I want to make sure they're in a safe place.

Sigh. The end of the world must be nigh.

Netflix Woes.

Netflix Woes.

So last week I screwed up and lost my Red Envelope. I had to borrow someone else's. This week I dutifully mailed back the DVD...but I just realized that I forgot to put it in the White Envelope. Yarg! I am a stupid cow!

there be rockets!

there be rockets!

Dang. www.nasa.gov has got some swell flash animation describing the proposed solution for the how-do-we-get-to-the-moon-in-12-years question.

All Healed but very creepy.

you are HEALED, but sorry about your face.

iConquer

iConquer

So, playing iConquer was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed being able to communicate in secret with allies and enemies. But I did not enjoy having the game crash after 2+ hours of play, right when things were really getting interesting...

So what alternatives are there?

Subtle Beauty

Subtle Beauty
Originally uploaded by killy.

A big thanks to Amber for putting on such a wonderful gathering for adolph's 2005 birthday. Adolfo, Carol, and i had a super blast. Plus, it was great excuse to see my newly UT'd sister.

FatBits: Inside the Revolution controller (maybe)

This post from Arstechnica's John Siracusa has some interesting speculation about how the new Nintendo controler may work. Imho, this is the most important human technology story of the week, if not the year. Human-technology interaction is one of the major stories of humanity. In the chapter about computing devices, the revolution controller may rank up there with the keyboard, and mouse. There are precursors similar to it, but the execution sounds very interesting.

Todd and Pablo Split The World!

BRING YA'LL TO MY WORLD

IFN YOUS WANNA PEEK OF MY HOOD

GO TO THIS PLACE

http://WWW.SUBPOP.COM/scripts/main/bands_page.php?id=355

IT'S "THE SHINS" HOMEPAGE, ONCE THERE CLICK ON THE QUICKTIME FOR THE VIDEO "NEW SLANG"
IT WAS SHOT IN THE BLOCKS SURROUNDING MY HOUSE.

THE RUSTY BOAT, WE HAVE WATCHED OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS THIS GUY SLOWLY WORK ON THIS MONSTER. THEN THE LAND WAS SOLD AND HE WENT INTO FAST FORWARD, ONE DAY IT WAS PAINTED, THE NEXT IT WAS DOWN AT THE DOCK IN THE RIVER, NOW IT IS GONE FOREVER.

THE BAKERY IT SHOW IS WHERE I GO TO BUY DOUGHNUTS WHEN WAITING TO CATCH THE BUS FOR WORK.

C.

For the children.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/16/tv.record.ap/index.html
I think setting himself on fire would be a better way to raise
awareness of suffering children.

Kurt Vonnegut On The Daily Show? Nice!

Kurt Vonnegut On The Daily Show? Nice!

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml

things and stuff

first off, happy birthday mr. Trudeau. i hope you enjoy it. and let us all know about the 34th Street Cafe experience.

so, it has been a busy day. i completely overhauled this site because i had an edit to make and it was easier to redo the whole mess and make the edit than to just make the edit. (it was also kinda clunky and code-bloated).

and, thanks to the javascript genius of pablo and adolph, i soft launched this monster. well, i launched that tuesday, but not everyone has seen it. still not happy with the colors.

after listening to hours and hours of the john roberts hearings i realized that besides being pedantic, generally unfunny and long-winded, senators are very avuncular. they have that borderline paternalistic tone, everything they are telling is 'very imporant' and probably 'good for you'. they know they are not your dad/mom but if that person has not told you what they are they should have. moral tales, life lessons, it's all there. i either need to get a book on uncling or to watch more cspan.

Who is the jolly good fellow?

Who is the jolly good fellow?

Adolph is!

Happy Birthday to the Adolph! From all of us in Pablo's head.

Shopped or Not? You Decide!

Shopped or Not? You Decide!

I may need a bathroom break zoomed in version

If it is shopped, a better caption would read "I may need a potty break.."

ISTOPMOTION -

HEY YA'LL,

THANKS FOR THE RESPONSES.
I TOLD THE PERSON I WAS HELPING THAT I HAD SOME GOOD FRIENDS THAT WERE NERDS.
BRAIN-E-AK RESPONSE TEAM UNITE!...THANKS YA'LL.

Disaster Preparedness: Pets

Some people don't get pets, aka the human-animal bond. I have to admit that I don't totally get it sometimes. However, if the choice was a boat or leaving Chloe, I'm not certain if I would say, "Chloe, let's dog paddle together," but I'm kind of tearing up thinking about it.
PostWatch: About Those washingtonpost.com Columnists...

Crofton, Md.: Hi Marc -- Question about human behavior (mine). I am horrified at the destruction along the Gulf Coast. I see bodies in the water and felt terrible but sadly not half as bad as I feel when I see a dog, cat, etc., dead or in distress from the storm! Am I hopeless? I can look at CNN and watch coverage of body removal but I immediately turn the channel when it is an animal! Why?

Marc Fisher: Beats me. But then again, I cannot fathom why all these folks who stayed behind to take care of their pets would risk their lives for an animal that they could easily replace at any pet store.

Quark and Scottish Arts Council Merge

Useful Software: Free Ruler

When I upgraded my OS I lost my OEM license for Art Director's Toolkit. I had thought about buying a license for the new version, but the only feature that I want of it's two-dozen or so is the pixel ruler. My wait has been justified by Free Ruler, a ruler application. It is a far superior screen ruler to the one in Art Directors Toolkit in every way except that it doesn't appear to support the rulers as a window that floats in front of every other application. Also, the rulers are not collapsible, which is no problem since they don't float in front of every other application. I think this app will be running just about 24-7.

Marfa,TX

T
Originally uploaded by Taggart & Elizabeth.

This place is awesome.
I am trying to get a camping trip together to come back the weekend of Oct. 9th
The Chinati Foundation is having a open house and Yo La Tengo is putting on a free show here at the Thunderbird.
Will talk more about it when I return.

mac question please respond

Okay ya'll,

I am trying to help a friend get their animation program to work with their camera.
They are using Istop Motion and have a PowerShot A75.

When the program opens it does not recognize the camera, also the camera does not mount on the hard drive when it is plugged in.

WHAT THE HELL IS PTP MODE.......SHE HAS BEEN TOLD THAT HER CAMERA NEEDS TO BE IN PTP MODE but even the manual says nothing about this.

maybe this is a shot in the dark.

howdy ya'll.

c.

A few of you might like this.

Brian and I clicked through this flickr tag the other night. It's time well spent. If you're a dork.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/dragoncon2005/

Good as New

Good as New

Today, my Acomdata 160 GB Hard Drive was delivered back to me good as new. Actually, it IS new. For such a monumentally screwed up drive, the only option was to swap it out for a new one. Now, all I have to do is transfer all the data i pulled off it and onto the server at work back off of the server and back onto the drive. The guys at acomdata formatted the drive (Mac OS Journal HFS+) for me, so i'm kinda hesitant to plug it into a windows box and transfer it directly. Is my apprehension justified?

In Other Apple News

iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 Battery Exchange Program

[B]atteries . . . sold worldwide from October 2004 through May 2005 for use with the . . . : 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4. . . . The recalled batteries include those with model numbers A1061, A1078, and A1079 and serial numbers that begin with HQ441 through HQ507 and 3X446 through 3X510.

¡feliz cumpleaños!

Happy birthday there Mr. Chavez. what are you now, 28, 29?

Outrage!

Outrage!

"But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government.

(emphasis mine)

From a press release issued by U.S Senator Mary Landrieu. Found here (The Daily Kos)

My god.

Germany World Cup 2006!

Germany World Cup 2006!

The United States just qualified for World Cup 2006 en Germany by beating Mexico 2-0! Way to go guys!

The Big Disconnect

The Big Disconnect

I don't find this sort of thing surprising, considering all the bullshit we've been fed for years now.

Manuok On iTunes Music Store!

Manuok On iTunes Music Store!
Originally uploaded by Pablo Mercado.

My brother just informed me that his album is for sale on the iTunes Music Store! Neat-o Burrito!

ari

ari
Originally uploaded by shanedenson.

and of course ari didn't want to be left out of the passport-photo fun!

shane

shane
Originally uploaded by shanedenson.

This is the picture I turned in with my application for a scholarship from the German National Educational Fund. Now honestly, wouldn't you give this guy money to write about Frankenstein films? Well, we'll see...

karin

karin
Originally uploaded by shanedenson.

That's my wife Karin. She just started teaching full-time at a school for children with special needs in the areas of social and emotional development. Right now she teaches nearly all subjects to primarily 2nd graders. Her specialties, though, are art and a subject (Sachunterricht) for which I have still yet to find an equivalent in the US educational system. It's primarily natural science, but it includes all kinds of other stuff too. In Germany, you have to attach a picture any time you apply for a job or just about anything else. This was her application picture.