So, for a variety of reasons, I'm in Utah.
For another variety of reasons, I drove with Mother Bunny to Price City, Utah. Price is more than 3 hours and a gnarly canyon away from Chez Mother Bunny, and she was iffy (long story, not necessary) about driving alone.
I'm not sure exactly how large of a town Price is, but the business loop is 2 blocks. Mother Bunny is doing work for the Price City government for the next few hours, so I am left to occupy myself. I found the public library and free internet (which looks to be provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation - rural internet grants perhaps?). I actually came down to Price back in my youth for debate camp, and no, nothing has changed.
The public library is right next door to the College of Easter Utah Prehistoric Museum!!! (Three cheers for Dinosaurs. Yeah, yeah, yeah.) I may find myself some crayons and take advantage of the color your own dinosaur - Kentrosaurus feature on the museum webpage. {Kent puts his name on his license plates. My mother does the same thing with my underwear. Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?}
Anyway, I'm going to use as much internet as they let me, check out the Kentrosaurus and then maybe do some homework. Life in the big city is very glamorous - I know you're jealous.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Back to my roots - Orange JELLO
The job I had before the job I have was for a small little lobby shop in downtown DC. It was such a tiny little shop that we had to live within a pretty big PR Firm. It was a nice way to live, all the comforts of a big office (supply room, big copier, rockin softball team). It was such a cool place that they had a variety of social functions, including International Day. International Day was an annual lunch where everyone brought their favorite dish. There were a fair number of folks from different parts of the world, among my favorites were the bread pudding care of a very cool girl from India and the best sweet iced tea from a lady from Georgia. It was tasty!!
I brought orange Jello with shaved carrots. Exotic isn't it. Utah isn't really another country, but it was the only Utahesque thing I could think of to bring other than Mormon Muffins. or funeral potatoes.
After folks got over the randomness of the jello, they realized it was kinda good - which it is in sort of an odd, jello kind of way. Someone asked me why Utahns have such odd food. I told them it was because Utahns like most people have dysfunctional families, but don't drink. I guess shaved carrots take the edge off.
Leo Tolstoy wrote "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." A friend of mine has combined dysfunctional families and Utah food in a theatrical setting. Funeral Potatoes opens thursday night and runs through the 14th of February. It's a one woman play and apparently you are served actual funeral potatoes during the production.
Sounds like a grand time.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Inauguration
I haven't posted anything about Tuesday because, frankly the actual event was very frustrating and disappointing. We all headed down to the Mall (Blue Tickets) at 6:30ish. To make a long and painful story short, we never got in. We watched the swearing in from my office. However, there is fairly substantial silver lining: Obama is the President.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Baby Killing Women, Porno Freaks, Sport Nuts, Drunks, Homos, Jesus Mockers, Mormons.
On the Route to the Concert, the Day's Joyous Vibe Goes Off-Message
By Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 19, 2009
"You feed the rest of your world with your filth!" screamed the man with the bullhorn.
It had all been going so well.
Tens of thousands of spectators were bundled up and making their way to the Mall for the inaugural concert when their joyous pipeline of humanity ran smack into -- how should we say this? -- a contrarian spirit.
Four men who called themselves street preachers had taken up occupation at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, a strategic location for maximum impact. They used a bullhorn to shout to the passing crowds.
"Obama, he's only a human," said one of the preachers. "Don't make a human being your lord and master. Your messiah. It's very simple. You return to the Bible or you return to the jungle."
Come to Washington and expect a decent demonstration. But this was theater of the highest order, and not even the opening scene of Robert Altman's "Nashville" measured up to the tableau. The glory and absurdity of free speech: While soprano Renée Fleming prepared to take the stage at the Lincoln Memorial, one of the street preachers pushed the button on his bullhorn and let it rip: "You get excited over Obama! You never get excited over Jesus Christ!"
He held a sign that simply listed the guilty. "Baby Killing Women, Porno Freaks, Sport Nuts, Drunks, Homos, Jesus Mockers, Mormons."
"Wait a minute," a young guy in the crowd said to his buddies. "Sports nuts?"
Gays and fornicators received the brunt of the fury. "Homo Sex Is a Threat to National Security," one of the signs said.
"You're an abomination," a guy in a black leather jacket yelled.
"Be tolerant, you homo," one of the street preachers yelled back.
Things started heating up between the black leather jacket and the preacher as they got in each other's faces across a concrete barricade. Just then a demure-looking woman stepped in and began singing "Jesus Loves Me" in a falsetto.
"You will be cast into the lake of the fire!" the preacher told the black leather jacket.
The crowds thronged by and pushed forward, some ignoring the scene while others could not resist. "Have you ever eaten shrimp?" a man in a derby asked one of the preachers.
The preacher, wearing a ski cap and goatee, knew what was coming. "Why?"
"Because it's a sin, the Bible says it," said Justin Paglino, from Guilford, Conn. "Because . . . it's in Leviticus. You're going to hell for eating shrimp."
Standing a few feet away was a very thin man with a long beard, three suitcases and a blanket. A guess would be that he is homeless. Every few minutes during the shouting he would pipe up with a comment.
"Truth is the light," he said.
A blue-eyed teenager tried to talk to one of the preachers -- Ruben Israel, 47, who said he lives in Los Angeles and had come to Washington with about 20 fellow preachers to protest the inauguration of Obama. "You guys need to grow up," said Colleen Wilde, a high school senior from Great Falls. "You think Jesus supports this? Today is about love and our country."
A military helicopter swooped over the bare trees, for an instant drowning out the shouting. The homeless man spoke again: "Deceivers."
Thousands continued to pour by. A couple of young women in creamy ski hats and skinny jeans and Ed Hardy boots bounced by one of the preachers and smiled for an iPhone camera.
But the scene wasn't entertaining to everyone. A 17-year-old walked up to one of the preachers but was unable to speak. He wore an Obama button and a rainbow cuff. He was trembling. His name was Victor Eilering and he was a high school exchange student from the Netherlands. "What is the problem?" he finally asked the preacher, quietly. "We did nothing to you."
The homeless man spoke again to no one in particular. "Chapter 54. Isaiah. The pale horse."
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
OUCH
I woke up this morning and went to the gym. All seemed normal.
But by about 8:15 my head hurt so bad I wanted to scream. I figured I could just be still and not talk and all would be well.
I was wrong.
The first indicator was walking to my office through the long marble halls of the Rayburn building. I think I walked down the entire length of the hall with my eyes closed. That sort of helped. I walked into my office and was the first one there from the back office. It was dark and I was seriously considering bribing my office mates to please, please, leave the lights off. I sat there for about 5 minutes and decided that I needed to find a really dark place to hide. I promptly left work five minutes after I got there and ten minutes before it was even supposed to start.
I came home, went to my room, shut all the blinds, got in bed, put my head under the pillow and stayed there for nearly 4 hours.
My head is feeling a little better, but I still feel like crap (to be said with a Scottish accent). I've never had a migraine before - guess I can check it off my 40X40 list.
OUCH.
But by about 8:15 my head hurt so bad I wanted to scream. I figured I could just be still and not talk and all would be well.
I was wrong.
The first indicator was walking to my office through the long marble halls of the Rayburn building. I think I walked down the entire length of the hall with my eyes closed. That sort of helped. I walked into my office and was the first one there from the back office. It was dark and I was seriously considering bribing my office mates to please, please, leave the lights off. I sat there for about 5 minutes and decided that I needed to find a really dark place to hide. I promptly left work five minutes after I got there and ten minutes before it was even supposed to start.
I came home, went to my room, shut all the blinds, got in bed, put my head under the pillow and stayed there for nearly 4 hours.
My head is feeling a little better, but I still feel like crap (to be said with a Scottish accent). I've never had a migraine before - guess I can check it off my 40X40 list.
OUCH.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
When did rounding up people we don't like and putting them in CAMPS get a bad name???
Blah, blah... diverse state...er... I can't remember... blah, Maverick is a gay bar??? Karma is a bitch. Watch and laugh.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
This man makes a mockery of the institution. I am ashamed.
Politico.com
Chaffetz’s First Order of Business: A Shower Tote?
Don’t you just love new members?
They’re so, so, so new. Adorably new. Yesterday, Rep.-elect Jason Chaffetz was seen walking through the halls of Longworth with a cot in tow and being followed around by news crews from ABC and NBC. Turns out the 41-year-old Republican from Utah is making his splash and has decided to sleep in his office, joining the ranks of the frugal.
He’s sleeping in his office, according to a source, to prove that he’s living what he’s preaching. (Again: Adorable.) Who needs to waste $1,600 on housing?
It’s a large cot, we hear, that fits perfectly within a hallway in the congressman’s office. And he does have a bathroom. But, sadly, no shower. (Here’s a tip: Get some pointers from Rep. Dan Lipinski, a Longworth neighbor who also has an affinity for an office cot.)
At first people thought it was strange, apparently, but now they find it respectable. Chaffetz’s big go-to quote regarding this whole sleeping-on-a-cot-in-his-office scenario is that he is “going to do more with less, just like everyone else.”
Again: Adorable.
That - and he's a media slut.
Chaffetz’s First Order of Business: A Shower Tote?
Don’t you just love new members?
They’re so, so, so new. Adorably new. Yesterday, Rep.-elect Jason Chaffetz was seen walking through the halls of Longworth with a cot in tow and being followed around by news crews from ABC and NBC. Turns out the 41-year-old Republican from Utah is making his splash and has decided to sleep in his office, joining the ranks of the frugal.
He’s sleeping in his office, according to a source, to prove that he’s living what he’s preaching. (Again: Adorable.) Who needs to waste $1,600 on housing?
It’s a large cot, we hear, that fits perfectly within a hallway in the congressman’s office. And he does have a bathroom. But, sadly, no shower. (Here’s a tip: Get some pointers from Rep. Dan Lipinski, a Longworth neighbor who also has an affinity for an office cot.)
At first people thought it was strange, apparently, but now they find it respectable. Chaffetz’s big go-to quote regarding this whole sleeping-on-a-cot-in-his-office scenario is that he is “going to do more with less, just like everyone else.”
Again: Adorable.
That - and he's a media slut.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
DIY Framing
I was buying food for the kitties on 8th Street, SE near Barracks Row and there happens to be a frame store right next door. I had some things to frame so I took them on in.
I walked in and handed the nice man my two items. One is a poster I bought in Alaska, a water color-ish print of a seal with a lovely vibrant background in blues and purples. The other item is a tiny little landscape watercolor I bought in Florence, Italy while I was touring the country side with Mother Bunny two Octobers ago.
So, we picked out the mats and the frames and the nice guy is typing everything into the computer. We get to the price part and he says, it will be $$$$ if we do it, and $$ if you do it.
Eh?? If I do it???
I have many talents, but to the best of my knowledge, framing isn't one of them. Dude tried to talk me into it, and I relented on the poster. But the watercolor is irreplaceable, so I told him that I wasn't confident in my framing cap-o-mobilities, and he had to do it. We had a good laugh, and he rung up the charge.
So, this Saturday I get to go in and frame my lovely poster from Alaska. The nice guy promised me that I would not be allowed to leave the store until my piece was a-ok.
We shall see.
I walked in and handed the nice man my two items. One is a poster I bought in Alaska, a water color-ish print of a seal with a lovely vibrant background in blues and purples. The other item is a tiny little landscape watercolor I bought in Florence, Italy while I was touring the country side with Mother Bunny two Octobers ago.
So, we picked out the mats and the frames and the nice guy is typing everything into the computer. We get to the price part and he says, it will be $$$$ if we do it, and $$ if you do it.
Eh?? If I do it???
I have many talents, but to the best of my knowledge, framing isn't one of them. Dude tried to talk me into it, and I relented on the poster. But the watercolor is irreplaceable, so I told him that I wasn't confident in my framing cap-o-mobilities, and he had to do it. We had a good laugh, and he rung up the charge.
So, this Saturday I get to go in and frame my lovely poster from Alaska. The nice guy promised me that I would not be allowed to leave the store until my piece was a-ok.
We shall see.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Welcome to my City!!!
District Welcomes Obama as One of the Capital’s Own
New York Times
By IAN URBINA
January 2, 2009
WASHINGTON — Presidents come and go from this city. Hosting inaugurations is nothing new. But for residents here, over 92 percent of whom voted for President-elect Barack Obama, his inauguration this month is special.
“Voters are not looking for categories. They’re looking for results,” said Adrian M. Fenty, the mayor of Washington, a predominantly black city. Mr. Fenty, like President-elect Barack Obama, won an election as a more liberal bi-racial candidate who relied on a populist message.
The day ushers in hopes and expectations for a president who speaks to local residents and brings with it the excitement of a predominantly black city welcoming the nation’s first black president.
With the inauguration scheduled for the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the timing also strikes a chord for a city that was racked by riots after Dr. King’s assassination.
“For D.C., this inauguration is less like hosting a visiting official and more like throwing a homecoming party for a family member,” said Ronald Walters, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland.
He added that normally, the inauguration is an exclusive black-tie affair. “This time,” he said, “it feels like the city has taken ownership of what is becoming a people’s party.”
At Ben’s Chili Bowl, one of the city’s oldest and most famous restaurants, the inauguration offers a certain historical reconciliation.
“It took about 40 years,” said Kamal Ali, the owner and son of the restaurant’s founder, Ben Ali. “But in terms of race relations, the celebration that day will bring this neighborhood, this city, full circle.”
In April 1968, four days of race riots after the King assassination left 12 people dead here. Huge swaths of what was then called Black Broadway for its concentration of black-owned clubs and theaters were destroyed. Ben’s Chili Bowl was one of the only restaurants along U Street that was not burned or ransacked.
“What happened here along U Street on election night when Obama won was the exact inverse of those race riots,” said Mr. Ali, recounting how on Nov. 4 the streets filled with racially diverse crowds who were initially kept out of traffic by a large and somewhat jittery police force. Eventually, the police opted to close down the area and let the partiers celebrate freely, he said.
Across the Anacostia River, in one of the city’s poorest sections, Thomas Thorton, 82, sat waiting for a bus.
“For us, for this side of the river, the inauguration is personal,” he said, standing in front of the hilltop Washington View Apartments, not far from the home of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Mr. Obama’s message of renewed possibility resonates in Washington, he said, because this city, like few others, embodies extremes within inner-city and black America.
Washington has some of the highest incarceration and infant mortality rates in the country, yet it also has one of the largest populations of college-educated and upper-income African- Americans of any large city.
“It’s one day when all the folks in this city really can really come together and share something,” Mr. Thorton said of the inauguration. “We can think about how much has changed.”
Washington’s mayor, Adrian M. Fenty, reflects that change.
In choosing Mr. Fenty two years ago, residents here bucked the candidate selected by the party machine and opted instead for a younger, more liberal bi-racial candidate who relied on a populist message and a massive grass-roots effort to straddle the city’s racial and class divides.
“Voters are not looking for categories,” said Mr. Fenty, who, like Mr. Obama, is the child of a black father and a white mother. “They’re looking for results.”
Mr. Fenty added that the city was especially hopeful that Mr. Obama would help deliver voting rights for the city’s nearly 600,000 residents, who have no voting representation in Congress.
More than any prior presidential candidate, Mr. Obama has supported changing that, and with a Democratic majority in Congress, there is a real chance the city could win those rights.
Mr. Fenty said that early in Mr. Obama’s candidacy, he told Mr. Obama that he wanted to support him but that voting rights was one issue Mr. Obama needed to get firmly behind.
“He promised he would,” Mr. Fenty said.
In an early test of Mr. Obama’s commitment to follow through on that promise, the City Council last month sent him a letter asking him to put district license plates that bear the phrase “Taxation Without Representation” on the presidential motorcade.
President Bill Clinton used the plates. President Bush did not, opting for different district plates without the phrase.
Asked if she thought this inauguration would be different than previous ones, Alice Mukabane, the co-owner of Safari DC, a Kenyan restaurant on Georgia Avenue, laughed.
“Of course, and not because of race,” she said.
Behind her a collection of posters and photographs of Barack and Michelle Obama hung on a wall in an area she calls the “Obama Corner.”
“Obama came from a home with just one parent,” Ms. Mukabane said. “He worked as a community organizer. He has ties to inner-city Chicago. He can relate to real people like those who live here.”
Like so many tourists, foreign dignitaries and Capitol Hill staffers, presidents are transients here. To them, the city consists only of an eight-block radius around the White House. Beyond that is hostile territory.
The hope among residents, however, is that Mr. Obama, already at ease in big cities from his years in Chicago, will get out more than Mr. Bush, who rarely ventured beyond official Washington.
“This city considers Obama as one of our own, and I think that will show on inauguration,” Ms. Mukabane said. “But after the inauguration, we’re also hoping he will see the city as his own.”
From the ceiling of her restaurant hung a large white banner filled with well-wishes written by customers.
Four squares remained empty, reserved for the first family’s signatures.
New York Times
By IAN URBINA
January 2, 2009
WASHINGTON — Presidents come and go from this city. Hosting inaugurations is nothing new. But for residents here, over 92 percent of whom voted for President-elect Barack Obama, his inauguration this month is special.
“Voters are not looking for categories. They’re looking for results,” said Adrian M. Fenty, the mayor of Washington, a predominantly black city. Mr. Fenty, like President-elect Barack Obama, won an election as a more liberal bi-racial candidate who relied on a populist message.
The day ushers in hopes and expectations for a president who speaks to local residents and brings with it the excitement of a predominantly black city welcoming the nation’s first black president.
With the inauguration scheduled for the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the timing also strikes a chord for a city that was racked by riots after Dr. King’s assassination.
“For D.C., this inauguration is less like hosting a visiting official and more like throwing a homecoming party for a family member,” said Ronald Walters, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland.
He added that normally, the inauguration is an exclusive black-tie affair. “This time,” he said, “it feels like the city has taken ownership of what is becoming a people’s party.”
At Ben’s Chili Bowl, one of the city’s oldest and most famous restaurants, the inauguration offers a certain historical reconciliation.
“It took about 40 years,” said Kamal Ali, the owner and son of the restaurant’s founder, Ben Ali. “But in terms of race relations, the celebration that day will bring this neighborhood, this city, full circle.”
In April 1968, four days of race riots after the King assassination left 12 people dead here. Huge swaths of what was then called Black Broadway for its concentration of black-owned clubs and theaters were destroyed. Ben’s Chili Bowl was one of the only restaurants along U Street that was not burned or ransacked.
“What happened here along U Street on election night when Obama won was the exact inverse of those race riots,” said Mr. Ali, recounting how on Nov. 4 the streets filled with racially diverse crowds who were initially kept out of traffic by a large and somewhat jittery police force. Eventually, the police opted to close down the area and let the partiers celebrate freely, he said.
Across the Anacostia River, in one of the city’s poorest sections, Thomas Thorton, 82, sat waiting for a bus.
“For us, for this side of the river, the inauguration is personal,” he said, standing in front of the hilltop Washington View Apartments, not far from the home of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Mr. Obama’s message of renewed possibility resonates in Washington, he said, because this city, like few others, embodies extremes within inner-city and black America.
Washington has some of the highest incarceration and infant mortality rates in the country, yet it also has one of the largest populations of college-educated and upper-income African- Americans of any large city.
“It’s one day when all the folks in this city really can really come together and share something,” Mr. Thorton said of the inauguration. “We can think about how much has changed.”
Washington’s mayor, Adrian M. Fenty, reflects that change.
In choosing Mr. Fenty two years ago, residents here bucked the candidate selected by the party machine and opted instead for a younger, more liberal bi-racial candidate who relied on a populist message and a massive grass-roots effort to straddle the city’s racial and class divides.
“Voters are not looking for categories,” said Mr. Fenty, who, like Mr. Obama, is the child of a black father and a white mother. “They’re looking for results.”
Mr. Fenty added that the city was especially hopeful that Mr. Obama would help deliver voting rights for the city’s nearly 600,000 residents, who have no voting representation in Congress.
More than any prior presidential candidate, Mr. Obama has supported changing that, and with a Democratic majority in Congress, there is a real chance the city could win those rights.
Mr. Fenty said that early in Mr. Obama’s candidacy, he told Mr. Obama that he wanted to support him but that voting rights was one issue Mr. Obama needed to get firmly behind.
“He promised he would,” Mr. Fenty said.
In an early test of Mr. Obama’s commitment to follow through on that promise, the City Council last month sent him a letter asking him to put district license plates that bear the phrase “Taxation Without Representation” on the presidential motorcade.
President Bill Clinton used the plates. President Bush did not, opting for different district plates without the phrase.
Asked if she thought this inauguration would be different than previous ones, Alice Mukabane, the co-owner of Safari DC, a Kenyan restaurant on Georgia Avenue, laughed.
“Of course, and not because of race,” she said.
Behind her a collection of posters and photographs of Barack and Michelle Obama hung on a wall in an area she calls the “Obama Corner.”
“Obama came from a home with just one parent,” Ms. Mukabane said. “He worked as a community organizer. He has ties to inner-city Chicago. He can relate to real people like those who live here.”
Like so many tourists, foreign dignitaries and Capitol Hill staffers, presidents are transients here. To them, the city consists only of an eight-block radius around the White House. Beyond that is hostile territory.
The hope among residents, however, is that Mr. Obama, already at ease in big cities from his years in Chicago, will get out more than Mr. Bush, who rarely ventured beyond official Washington.
“This city considers Obama as one of our own, and I think that will show on inauguration,” Ms. Mukabane said. “But after the inauguration, we’re also hoping he will see the city as his own.”
From the ceiling of her restaurant hung a large white banner filled with well-wishes written by customers.
Four squares remained empty, reserved for the first family’s signatures.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
If I only had more time... ok, you get one extra second.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Always short of time? Not enough moments in the day? Tonight you'll get an extra second to enjoy 2008. Use it wisely; perhaps an extra long smooch is called for.An extra second will be added to 2008 to align clocks with variations in the Earth's time.
Immediately before midnight a leap second -- the first for three years -- will be added to atomic clocks around the world by official timekeepers.
Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at Britain's National Physical Laboratory, said the Earth's erratic rotation meant an extra second needed to be added.
"The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year's Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008 and revelers... will have an extra second to celebrate."
Traditionally time has been based on the passage of the Sun across the sky -- a modern version of this is still used by astronomers to track distant stars and spacecraft.
However, since 1967, an atomic timescale -- the extremely accurate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) -- has been the world's official clock and is used for broadcasting time signals across the world.
The accuracy of UTC is essential for the smooth running of the Internet.
By comparison, the Earth is far less reliable. It does not rotate at a constant speed -- it can even wobble -- and disruptions to its core, extreme weather, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can influence the length of a day.
Therefore, leap seconds are occasionally added to align atomic time with astronomical time and ensure that the Sun remains overhead at noon.
Whibberley told British media anyone sober enough and who had a digital clock that picked up leap second information from a reliable source, would see the final seconds of 2008 as 57, 58, 59, 60, 00 -- with 60 being the extra second.
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