one of those days

OY

Here is how it goes sometimes. Came in to my office at 8 am for a meeting to discover I should have been here at 7 am instead, but failed to note properly.

Then, at our 8 am meeting, I discovered that the project file I worked on for 5 hours yesterday got corrupted somehow when I sent to my boss last night. So when he opened it, it looked like I'd done no work. To his credit, he tactfully said,

"I don't quite understand this file."

And then it turned out that about 1/2 of the assumptions I needed to make in creating the project file last night were overturned or invalidated in that 7 am meeting. Which it turned out I myself had scheduled in the first place, telling the Austin team cheerfully, "Oh I have no problem with early morning meetings."

How do I de-doofus my day?

Where is the "re-do" button?

silliness from P

I removed ones that were just boring results or too much personal info:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Charlie CRV (hmmm, not very catchy)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Cherry Garcia Ginger Snap

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Pink Dog (I don't think I'd hire a detective named Pink Dog, personally.)

4. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),
The Green Americano (bleah! gross!)

5. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),
Dwight Warren (or Warren Dwight) Funny how that matchs P's, eh?

6. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Burberry Brit Hot Tamales (wee hoo - I may have to legally change my name now)

7. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),
Wait, I can't tell you or else you'll find me when I enter the program!

8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),
Houston Hartford (I can't remember who my fifth grade teacher was, isn't that sad? So I went with my fourth grade teacher, who I adored.)

9. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).
Winter Agapantha (Not sure how incognito I'd be with that moniker...)

10. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Tangerine Blousey

11. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Banana Shake Coastal Oak (grooooovy)

12. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather + “Tour”),
The Painting Thunderstorm Tour

Well, I'm sure the time I spent on this forwards world peace, so I can rest easy that I'm not just putzing about.

Dudes of 1975

My dear friend Stacey sent me this gem, a page from a 1975 JC Penney catalog. Wow, too much sexiness all in one place!

more muppet magnificence

My Triangle - muppets at a rave??

Speaking of mojo pirates

OK, so my last post was about my buddy Carl in Napa and his story of how the computer stole his mojo. I have since been thinking a lot about that and feel like I can confidently state that the television has either already stolen my mojo or is trying to.
I had a little funny moment this morning when I was actually thinking that, boo hoo, someone who's had her mojo sucked out by the television was also thusly incapable of mustering up enough hutzpah to call Comcast and say "turn it off!" Sad, sad. Oh the limpness.

I think this must be where drugs are actually helpful. Drugs, in my case, being Peet's coffee, which I am now able to enjoy again in moderation after 6 months of quitting all coffee. I had a nice big mug of this wonder beverage and then actually did call and tomorrow at 8 pm, the television will be kaput. They don't even have a term for "undoing just the TV part but leaving on the Internet and phone" at Comcast because, I assume, they really don't want to think about that reality.

The thing that sent me over the edge (in addition to the coffee) was finding myself searching out places to go travel and get away from "it all." The prices were not what I wanted and I didn't want to spend time in a car or a plane to get to anywhere, not matter how lovely. And then I realized that I could create a perfect vacation replicant at my own home if I gave myself the breathing space to read a book and the permission to eat grilled cheese sandwiches. So that will save me several hundred dollars as well as that nagging 'rat race' feeling.

Free time, computers and mojo

I'm starting to think that 'being rich' for someone who wants to do lots of art is equivalent to having loads of free time, not necessarily loads of cash. At least that's how it feels at the moment. Nearly everywhere I look I see an idea for a project that I don't have time for and feel frustrated. I guess that's better than not feeling inspired.

What I did have time for was to plan out a new "traveling journal" using a Ning group (and inspired by an existing Ning Project called Artbook Coalition.) So far, I have signed up 3 friends to participate via Ning invite and 1 friend via good old-fashioned word of mouth. In fact, this friend was very funny about it. I was asking him if he'd like to take part and if I could contact him via email. He said,

"Oh no! The computer stole my mojo. So I gave it to the Salvation Army." I laughed and told him I'd get him the traveling artbook by hand.

"I do have my mojo back, by the way," he said.

"Oh, that's very clear. We can all see the mojo," I said.

We also agreed, sadly, that the television is also a bad mojo destroyer, but I am having a hard time getting to the "atom bomb of step one" around TV watching.

my personal DNA

brit wit

I have a word of the day for you! I have been listening the news
about the release of journalist Alan Johnston. His fellow journalist
was interviewed about how much Alan was enjoying talking with his BBC colleagues just after his release (after having no one to talk to for 4 months of solitary confinement) and that he was still the same humble, funny and mordant conversationalist.

Ok, so sad mental note #1, can you imagine an American journalist using the word mordant in normal discourse?

And slightly cheery mental note #2, at least we have the Brits.

mordant

Pronunciation: 'mor-d&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French, present participle of mordre to bite, from
Latin mordEre; perhaps akin to Sanskrit mrdnAti he presses, rubs
1 : biting and caustic in thought, manner, or style : INCISIVE

My buddy Beth's comment (on receiving the above in email this morning):

Speaking of mordant, especially after such a painful ordeal, he said
he immediately got rid of the haircut with "that just-kidnapped look."

wee mee

i love joe strummer

I always forget how much I love everything he ever created. Somehow listening to his tunes the past couple of days has been saving my sanity at work, which is still quite weird.

Johnny Appleseed is the one with the most "juice" right now. Brings out that kick-ass confident eight-year-old in me.

But I also appreciate his ability with language (poetry!), his humble attitude, his sense of humor.

Check out these lyrics, for example, off the Global A-Go Go album:

Bhindi Bhagee

Well, I was walking down the High Road
And this guy stops me
He'd just got in from New ZealandAnd he was looking for mushy peas
I said, no, we hadn't really got 'em round here
I said, but we do gotBalti, Bhindi, strictly HindiDall, Halal
and I'm walking down the road
We got rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without - with it or without
Bagels soft or simply harder
Exotic avocado or toxic empenada
We got akee, lassi, Somali waccy baccy
I'm sure back home you know what tikka's all about - what tikka's all about
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
You can get inspiration along the highroad
Hommus, cous cous in the jus of octopus
Pastrami and salami and lasagne on the go
Welcome stranger, there's no danger
Welcome to this humble neighborhood
There's Balti, Bhindi, strictly HindiDall, Halal and I'm walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
So anyway, I told him I was in a band
He said, "Oh yeah, oh yeah - what's your music like?"
I said, "It's um, um, well, it's kinda like
You know, it's got a bit of, um, you know."
Ragga, Bhangra, two-step Tanga
Mini-cab radio, music on the go
Um, surfbeat, backbeat, frontbeat, backseat
There's a bunch of players and they're really letting go
We got, Brit pop, hip hop, rockabilly, Lindy hop
Gaelic heavy metal fans fighting in the road
Ah, Sunday boozers for chewing gum users
They got a crazy D.J. and she's really letting go
Oh, welcome stranger
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
Well, I say, there's plenty of places to eat round here
He say, "Oh yeah, I'm pretty choosy."
You gotBalti, Bhindi, strictly HindiDall, Halal, walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-raShrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
Let's check it out
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods, neighborhoods
Check out all thatPor-da-sol, por-da-sol
Walking down the highroad

Michael Tolliver lives!!

Armistead writes another love letter to San Francisco! How exciting!!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/11/DDGVKQBQGR1.DTL&hw=maupin&sn=005&sc=257

little beach

A couple of times now, I have taken Lulu out to a very tiny beach near my house. So few people go enjoy this little park. It's a shame, but it's nice to have the place largely to ourselves.

In penance for letting Lulu off-leash, I bring out a plastic grocery bag and fill it with trash I find on the sand, in the rip rap and seaweed. I hope for fascinating flotsam or jetsom worth keeping, but so far no big finds, just sea glass.

Now that Lulu is a swimmer, I had the wonderful experience this morning of tossing a piece of driftwood out into the gentle surf and watching her go eagerly out to get it. This dog is just divine.

All the walking I'm doing with her is also reaping good benefit too.

Swimming! Egret stalking!

Today Lulu finally made the leap from wading to full-on swimming as she went for a tennis ball in the canal at Point Isabel. So exciting. Oddly, none of the folks hanging around there were the least bit friendly about my excitement. I have really had a culture shock coming from the fabulously friendly Allston Park in Napa to the markedly reserved souls at Pt Isabel. I'd say about one in every 50 people actually returns my smile or 'good morning.' I seem to be breaking some protocol. Too bad, cheer up you East Bay people, relax and just say hello, it won't kill you. Maybe someday the attitudes at Point Isabel will match the setting and features, which are extaordinary and energizing.

Soon after Lulu started swimming, she spotted and gave big chase to an egret. An egret! Lulu was in heaven and I was a little worried she'd have such static in her brain due to bird lust that she'd follow the dang bird out into the ocean. Luckily she heard me and swam back, albeit quite reluctantly.

funny? sad? logo kerfuffle

A tempest in a teapot? You decide. The new, controversial logo for the 2012 London Olympics is gaining many critics.

More Lulu

bff

According to doggie day care, Lulu has a 'bff' (best friend forever) in Matilda, another all-black young energetic dog who started at Every Dog at about the same time as Lulu.
Very cute. This morning, the Every Dog staffer told Lulu,
"OK, Lulu, Matilda's already here and she's got your whole morning figured out for you, let's go!"

videos of Lulu

here is basic cuteness at Point Isabel with Lulu

here is Lulu enjoying the bay breeze in her face, doing a sit beautifully when asked too!

Lulu loves the water too

Weekend "make" projects from Make Magazine

this is a great one:

nice little video about Point Richmond