Masterful

Just when I start to get bored with YouTube, and think that the world’s urge to create and publish cool stuff has waned, along comes something else that’s just marvelous. Funny, sweet, and very well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWWKBY7gx_0

Thanks to NM for IM’ing me the link.

How cool is this?!

I didn’t think it was possible to get simultanously any nerdier and cooler than the ascii-art Star Wars (http://www.asciimation.co.nz/),  but it turns out I was wrong.

What I Did Over Christmas Vacation « Miss(ed) Manners

Wow!

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So far so good

It’s been a fairly quiet year thus far, to which I have to say: whew. I’ve spent a lot of time, and even more mental energy on work stuff, but hopefully that will settle into more of a routine soon. Stuff around the house has kinda stalled, as I’m just about at the point where regular upkeep on the parts I’ve gotten cleaned up and organized takes all the time I’ve wanted to devote, so I haven’t been doing much about continuing to make it the way I want it - whatever that is. Or perhaps that has more to do with the fact that basically every next step is hard, either mentally (go through all those miscellaneous papers in my office) or physically (move some heavy furniture).

On the other hand, I have managed to have a few dates (!) with a couple different women, and it’s been nice to get out. And I got together last week with S&K for dinner at the Slanted Door (about which: Wow! - I feel like I should write a review for Yelp, because half the people on there clearly don’t get it), and we finally exchanged xmas presents. I gave KR a sampler pack of gluten-free baking mixes from Made by Mona, since she was so recently diagnosed with celiac (?) disease, and those folks seem to be well regarded. I hope they turn out well. For SD I got a pair of Carcassone-related t-shirts courtesy of meeplepeople.com, which has a lot of fun stuff. SD is always hard to buy for, since he has enough discretionary income that if he wants it he tends to have it, so one has to find the thing he’s never heard of but would want if he had. But from them, from them, oh! They got me a copy of the Bouchon cookbook by Thomas Keller, which is really the best thing. Keller is an absolute maniac, of course, but this food is at least theoretically approachable, compared to say the French Laundry Cookbook. What’s interesting is that his whole purpose is to *perfect* all the dishses, not just make them. So the technique is amazingly precise and, ok, let’s be frank, anal. But just reading it (cover to cover, and slowly - I just got into the main dishes) I am learning a lot. So I’m digging it. Especially since I got a copy for AF for her birthday a couple years ago, but from Amazon, so I had never even actually seen the inside.

Oh yeah, and I wrote a new tune at the piano last week, and completely reworked an old one, which went from frankly sentimental and rather trite to something quite bittersweet, and much more interesting. This was a pleasant surprise, as I’ve been otherwise unable to get any real practicing done this year. Although that perhaps has something to do with my new netflix subscription. Before the trial period was over, I had almost 200 items in my queue. I think they are going to be good for me.

Xmas Eve. Also, fucking ants!

So after my distress of the previous day, I was concerned that I’d be really morose on Xmas Eve, not having any particular plans. But AA came over in the afternoon so we could exchange gifts, and we went out for a nice Pho lunch, and that was ok for me, although she got very sad and weepy. But I felt ok, although I was wondering what to do with myself, not particularly wanting to sit around the house.

But at 7:30pm or so I realized I’d better make certain I had all the ingredients for the apple crisp I’m bringing to dinner - yeah, not the fanciest of desserts, but the wonderful almond cake I’d planned to make went out the window when my hostness emailed on Saturday with a note that one guest is deathly allergic to nuts. So: apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, flour, all good. What am I missing? Salt! When AA moved out I kept the kosher salt and gave her the Morton’s table salt, because I use the kosher all the time, but only need the regular kind for boiling pasta or potatoes, which I haven’t had a need to do since then. And the only other thing you need it for is….baking. Sigh. OK, it’s 7:45 - no problem, Draeger’s is just down the street and they’re open till 8pm. Whoops, closed at 7 today. OK, over to Safeway, uh-oh, empty parking lot, lights dim. Gulp, well maybe Mollie Stone’s, which ditto. A-ha! And thank god for Walgreen’s, which solved my problem. Although I admit to being surprised at the number of people who were apparently finishing their Christmas shopping there.

Finally….

For those who might be reading and not have the backround, let me briefly provide some context, which is that at the end of October, my wife and I decided to separate after 16 years of marriage. Or more accurately, she decided we should separate, and I went along, not having much choice when you get down to it. Now, I wasn’t remotely keen on the idea at the time, and spent most of the next day alternately grieving and trying to figure out what I could do to change her mind. But after talking with a few friends both old and new, most especially the profoundly insightful and helpful MD, and her brother PR, I started to see how this was a good thing, and how what’s always been the most important thing between us (that is to say, my wife - AA - and I) has been our friendship. And since we are in so many ways very different people, both living together and the compromises that marriage require had been putting a heavy strain on that friendship for quite some time. And I started to feel a lot better, and very accepting, and a few days later I wrote up a list, titled “What I won’t miss”, and at that point I decided I’d be ok.

iscribe.com apparently rocks!

I hadn’t really planned on starting this blog with a web link, but if this thing lives up to the demo (and the review excerpts seem to say that it will), this might be the single coolest “Web 2.0″ app I’ve ever seen. Watch the video!

Welcome to Scrybe

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One more blog

As I have tried to get in touch with various folks around the country over the past couple months, it’s become clear that life would be easier (at least for me) if I start blogging again, at least a little. I’ve been putting it off for months, really, but as I was ordering a Murakami book as a present for a friend, I came up with the title, and that was it.

And if you’re wondering why you didn’t get that Murakami book on your wishlist, well, maybe it wasn’t for you, or maybe it was backordered and it won’t show up for weeks.