Dare I say it...

Actually, today was yet another warm and toasty day, with the temperature in my office reaching 86, I think--it may have been 87 by days end. I discovered that it is far too difficult to stay awake at work at such temperatures, but, alas, I don't really have much choice.

I had new tires put on my car tonight. I am planning a trip to Portland because my brother will be there with his family, so it is a good time to go, but I needed some basic stuff on the car as well. Next will probably be the rear brakes. I was told the struts might also need to be replaced, but that new tires may delay that repair for a bit.

Dinner tonight was two slices of leftover artichoke pizza (with a white sauce base, rather than red), and a tomato, bean, and fried basil salad. The latter I was trying for the first time, and I think I need to work on it a bit more. It was tasty, but I don't think I cooked the basil long enough. I still have some, which means I will find out if it tastes better for having sat longer.

Dave, my best friend who has provided photo fodder, asked me to read "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction" by Wallace Stevens. My impressions after reading the first section, "It must be abstract" are that in the poem supreme fiction equals poetry, but not poetry divinely inspired, as "Phoebus is dead, ephebe." There is also an indication that poetry should celebrate the abstract, rather than the concrete. I have only read the first section, so I am my impressions are likely to change. If I am lucky, I will manage to avoid reading any criticism online, which might very well affect my perceptions.

Hot Sunday.

My best bud was kind enough to give me a disk of photos from our vacation together back in '04. This particularly disturbing mannequin seemed all the rage in a certain Sarajevo Boutique, as they had at least three of them, though I don't recall if all of them were missing limbs. I was trying to make the perceived expression a little more bizarre, but I couldn't manipulate the image enough to make it odder than in the original.

Today was actually another warm day where a late lunch/early dinner in an air-conditioned restaurant didn't seem a bad idea, so I had a beer and a chipotle chicken calzone at Olympia II. The food was tasty.

I don't have much to write today. It has been warm. I have gone to the gym, did a bit of puttering around the house, read a bit more of "The Communist Manifesto," and bought some (more) blueberries. If I am not careful, I will become much like Violet Beauregarde, though I won't have to wait until they work out the kinks with dessert.

Another Hot Day....

Today is supposed to be in the 90's again. A bit unusual for Seattle, but nothing impossible. Last night I went to the Mariners game and watched a rather painful 4-5 innings before the Mariners were able to score something and make the final score look like a real game rather than what was more like a home run derby for the Red Sox.

I don't know what is on the schedule today. Probably just hanging out a bit and going to the gym.

One great discovery I have made this week, after owning my pc since November '05, I finally decided to try and connect my cam and scanner, and to my dismay, neither are supported by their manufacturers for XP. Just a few more dollars I need to spend that I hadn't planned on spending just yet, but that is life, and it just makes my move that much more expensive--at least I have a few pictures stored digitally to manipulate when bored.

The Internationale

After watching Chico Marx play the "2nd Movement of the Beer Barrel Polka" I noticed in the related videos a music video for "The Internationale" A quick warning if you click though, it seems "The Internationale" "may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community." I guess the flag is for people easily offended by anthems? Perhaps it is just to advise you to react intelligently upon hearing the song, rather than going bonzo anti-red ballistic on the poster. Don't know, don't particularly care, but it does seem that such a notice is perhaps over-blowing the threat posed by such a song.

Saturday's (Non) Events

Last Sunday I was out at the farmer's market on Ballard Avenue and bought a bunch of mixed berries. Nothing quite like fresh blue, black, and raspberries. So, after freezing a bunch and giving some to my neighbor, I used some yesterday to improve a Jiffy Muffin Mix. Yesterday, half the muffins were gone, and I need to report the disappearance of the other half this morning. After making muffins, I went to the gym, and did a leg workout and cardio--so much fun there. Then, thinking to use my new grill thing, I made a quesadilla with bacon, eggs, cheese and salsa. Quite the mess, but rather tasty. When I unpacked my grill I discovered it had no cleaning device with it, so I had to call the store and ask if I needed to bring the whole thing back to trade in, or did they have one of the cleaning things handy. At the time, all they would tell me is that I didn't need to bring the whole thing back, and they would check to see if there was one in the other box. Turns out there was(either in the other box, or laying around somewhere, I didn't ask), so later in the afternoon I managed to go and get it. Anyway, after eating my quesadilla, I decided it was far too nice a day to hang about in the house so I walked over to Fremont, the Center of the Universe, to check on my friend Lenin and look about some of the stores there. I did suffer a minor disappointment during the afternoon when I couldn't get a fun pair of shoes, but that is life sometimes. The reason for not getting the shoes is that one was just barely too tight and the other felt too big, and they were both the same size according to the shoes' markings (I couldn't locate them online to create a link). Never before had the difference between left and right been so apparent. After returning home, I had the message to go fetch my cleaning thing for the grill, as well as a message, apologizing for missing my call yesterday, but asking if I wanted to go over for dinner, from Brad & Steve. Steve is a good cook, so I went over for dinner. The two of them are great company, so it was a good food/good conversation sort of thing. After dinner, I had extant plans to meet someone at a bar I had never been to. Of course I gave myself far too little time to get there and find it, so I was late, but it was a nice sort of dive bar and I played some pool, not losing too spectacularly, which was suprising since I hadn't played in a while. After a few beers there, I came home and went to bed. Perhaps not the most exciting day, but it was full, and it was pleasant. Today I am off to Mitch's for a birthday/croquet party for Mitch. The invitation didn't specify croquet, but considering that seems to be the primary purpose of the lawn, I have a hunch it will be on the days events.

Sea Planes

In Chicago virtually everyone lives in a flight path. Ten miles from the airport and I could see the planes heading in for landing most nights, directly above my apartment. Here in my new place in Seattle, I am not in the flight path, but rather have a view of the flight path, and I have to say, Sea-Planes seem to be louder than jets, though I do know the things are closer to me as well. It was kind of cool initially, but with most kind of cool things, the novelty has worn off.

My weekend aside from that observation has been uneventful, though I have managed to get to the gym I joined Friday three times, which for me is a good record, and a percentage I will be surprised if I manage to maintain.