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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 03:04 pm
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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 12:36 pm
And ONE: 
and...
,,,
...
TWO:
take care...
and...,,,
...
TWO:
take care... 
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 12:58 pm
Raspberry season has arrived!
Time to stockpile more raspberries so we can make more of that delicious raspberry sorbet.
This garden bed is known as the BBQ Garden, because it originally looked like it used to be the site of a barbecue grill. Our lease explicitly says we can't have a barbecue grill, so instead we've got the BBQ Garden. A good, full-sun location:
The tomato, basil, and pepper plants in the BBQ Garden have really taken off over the past month, to the point where S figured we could roll up the chicken wire fences for the year. These tomato plants and the ones in the half wine barrel seem to be doing better compared to the tomato plants in the main garden bed.
Oh, here's what's at the other end of that rope:
In the meantime, the Dark Dahlia is getting big, and the lavender makes me happy every time I look at it.
And the porch herbs and smaller fig are pretty satisfying, too.
Overall I think we've reached a pretty good state with the garden and house plants. S would really love to take out all of the burning bushes on this property, which is understandable. But it isn't my top priority, because this is a rental house, and I've got too many other projects to work on in the meantime.
Time to stockpile more raspberries so we can make more of that delicious raspberry sorbet.
This garden bed is known as the BBQ Garden, because it originally looked like it used to be the site of a barbecue grill. Our lease explicitly says we can't have a barbecue grill, so instead we've got the BBQ Garden. A good, full-sun location:
The tomato, basil, and pepper plants in the BBQ Garden have really taken off over the past month, to the point where S figured we could roll up the chicken wire fences for the year. These tomato plants and the ones in the half wine barrel seem to be doing better compared to the tomato plants in the main garden bed.
Oh, here's what's at the other end of that rope:
In the meantime, the Dark Dahlia is getting big, and the lavender makes me happy every time I look at it.
And the porch herbs and smaller fig are pretty satisfying, too.
Overall I think we've reached a pretty good state with the garden and house plants. S would really love to take out all of the burning bushes on this property, which is understandable. But it isn't my top priority, because this is a rental house, and I've got too many other projects to work on in the meantime.
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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 06:53 pm
bob marley tribute show yesterday was so fun!!! very positive vibes & summer night with friends<333333
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 09:41 am
Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Since this is what I did most of last Sunday, I'll talk about how much I love baking. I love to bake. It's something I've done since I was a child. My mom was the one who taught me, with box mixes and canned frosting to begin with, before I moved on to making cakes from scratch. I remember taking a whole tray of cupcakes for a surprise party our class planned for our teacher in elementary school (okay, it was the girls. I vaguely remember us thinking the boys couldn't be trusted to keep their mouth shut so we left them out. I think we were, like, 10 or 11?). I also remember making birthday cakes and father's day cakes for my dad. I remember taking things for all sorts of class parties throughout the years really. When we had a project in elementary school on teaching the class "how to do something", I chose baking a cake and I remember switching from mix to wanting to do a scratch cake. My dad carefully measured out the ingredients in the morning before school so it would save me time. So much of my baking memories are tied to my family.
Baking is something that calms my mind. There's a precision to it that I appreciate. I'm someone who likes really exact instructions, which is why even though I have learned to like cooking, I do like baking more. You stick to a recipe and outside of mild variables, like the oven timing, it should come out right. And I like the results too! I have a sweet tooth, but I do like when people around me enjoy my baking. I am not great with taking compliments, but I like hearing them (who doesn't, right? lol)! I do like pretty things so it's been fun learning and practicing decorating as well.
People have made jokes about me starting a bakery in the past, and while there are many reasons I wouldn't, I do just like some thing just being an enjoyable hobby. And I will keep doing it. It's a nice way to spend an evening or a weekend. Doing what I love and sometimes, for the people I love. Because they're the reason I learned to do this in the first place. :)
( cupcakes )
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 06:08 pm
Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
My favourite sumer food probably sounds very boring, but if one takes care to use the best quality possible, it’s delicious. Boiled white fish with new potatoes, clarified butter and chopped hard-boiled eggs. When I was a child the fish we used was northern pike, which my father or grandfather had just caught, but nowadays we usually buy fresh cod. The new potatoes come from the garden. The clarified butter must be real butter, and organic eggs taste the best. One can mix the butter and the eggs, but we prefer to keep them separate, so each can take after taste.
Also, for me this tastes best eaten outside the summer house, on dishes called “Grön berså” (green bower) by the Swedish designer Stig Lindberg in 1960.
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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 11:57 am
Asked where I lived, was concerned that the answer is "Staten Island". FFS, it's not Siberia!
I need to start telling people I'm moving in with a friend in Tribeca. Just straight up lie.
I need to start telling people I'm moving in with a friend in Tribeca. Just straight up lie.
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 08:01 am
It's rare to get a cloudy morning this time of year so I'm wallowing in this one. I can have the shades up and watch the world go by or watch my little tiny bit of it anyway.
Night before last, I slept like crap. I made up for it last night. When I woke up this morning, most of my quilt was just as it was when I crawled in. I not only slept but, apparently, didn't move.
Today I have nothing on the agenda at all. Nothing. Which is luxurious.
I had to call Key Bank today. The aim of their 800 number is to ensure no one ever ever ever calls it twice. They are, I'm sure, extremely successful. I know I won't be doing that again. I have a CD which matures in two weeks. I got a notice telling me to call with instructions unless I wanted it to roll over. I do not. So I called. I had to enter the last four of my social. Then I had to enter my 10 digit account number (which took me 3 tries) then I got a woman who wanted to know my name and what I wanted. She put me on hold twice. The hold music is volume 25 and includes a chipper voice telling me shit I do not care one single bit about. I got it twice. Then she transferred me to some dude who had the same chipper voice and I had to go through the whole thing again - name, what I wanted. Then he, in 3 paragraphs of words that were not at all needed and included his personal vacation plans(????), told me I had to call back after the maturation date. Yeah, no.
Key Bank is my backup bank. They have two physical branches here and have actual money at the branches. I figure some day that might come in handy so I keep the account open. When the CD matures, I will go into one of those branches and close the CD and find out exactly how much they want on deposit to starve off account fees and then move the rest to my main account at BECU which also has a branch here in town but that branch has no $.
I've made all my Amazon Prime Day purchases except 1 and I'm still thinking about it. No more shopping needed. And I'm caught up on returns.
The Phillies play at noon and I'm having chicken teriyaki for lunch again.
I might cut my hair this morning. Or at least take a little off the top.
Night before last, I slept like crap. I made up for it last night. When I woke up this morning, most of my quilt was just as it was when I crawled in. I not only slept but, apparently, didn't move.
Today I have nothing on the agenda at all. Nothing. Which is luxurious.
I had to call Key Bank today. The aim of their 800 number is to ensure no one ever ever ever calls it twice. They are, I'm sure, extremely successful. I know I won't be doing that again. I have a CD which matures in two weeks. I got a notice telling me to call with instructions unless I wanted it to roll over. I do not. So I called. I had to enter the last four of my social. Then I had to enter my 10 digit account number (which took me 3 tries) then I got a woman who wanted to know my name and what I wanted. She put me on hold twice. The hold music is volume 25 and includes a chipper voice telling me shit I do not care one single bit about. I got it twice. Then she transferred me to some dude who had the same chipper voice and I had to go through the whole thing again - name, what I wanted. Then he, in 3 paragraphs of words that were not at all needed and included his personal vacation plans(????), told me I had to call back after the maturation date. Yeah, no.
Key Bank is my backup bank. They have two physical branches here and have actual money at the branches. I figure some day that might come in handy so I keep the account open. When the CD matures, I will go into one of those branches and close the CD and find out exactly how much they want on deposit to starve off account fees and then move the rest to my main account at BECU which also has a branch here in town but that branch has no $.
I've made all my Amazon Prime Day purchases except 1 and I'm still thinking about it. No more shopping needed. And I'm caught up on returns.
The Phillies play at noon and I'm having chicken teriyaki for lunch again.
I might cut my hair this morning. Or at least take a little off the top.
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 11:21 pm
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flashexchanges is running size difference flash, a multifandom flash exchange featuring size differences. Nominations/sign-ups close on July 9th, 11PM UTC.sedoretuex, an exchange dedicated to celebrating the sedoretu (a specific organization of a poly marriage created by Ursula K. Le Guin), is accepting nominations until July 12th, 11:59PM EDT. More info, including the schedule/FAQ can be found HERE.raremaleslashex, a multifandom fic/art/podfic exchange focused on rare m/m ships, has opened sign-ups until July 13th, 8PM UTC.relationshipping, a gift exchange for incest ships (ships that are not canonically related are welcome for incest aus too), is open for nominations until July 13th, 9:59PM EDT.enemiestoloversex, a multifandom gift exchange focused on the "enemies to lovers" trope (though all ships are welcome, not just ones fitting that dynamic in canon), is accepting nominations until July 14th, 10PM UTC.austenexchange, a fic exchange focused on Jane Austen works, is open for nominations until July 15th, 10PM UTC.dreams_mayhem is running Hodge Podge, a multifandom challenge where each week players will fill prompts to score points by writing fics, creating poetry, or making graphics. Sign-ups are open until July 19th.fallingforyoufallexchange, a fall multifandom freeform exchange centered around ships getting together, is open for nominations until July 21st, 8PM EDT.scaldinghotcibingo is running Consent Issues Mini Bingo. Claims can be made until January 4th, 2026.Tags:
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 10:01 pm
Shade cloth project is coming along but is not finished. Here is a little walk through the garden.
The little fig tree is, well, little.
The little fig tree is, well, little.
( Pictures )
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 10:01 pm
Another successful ride on Firefly with my friend Kim riding Raja. I was a little worried, the wind was blowing, coastal fog (rare this time of year) had cooled things off, and Firefly was objecting to everything from being groomed (normally she loves this) to having the bridle put on. I walked for the first 1/2 mile of our "ride" because it was all downhill. Downhill invites faster speed and that isn't what I wanted. Uphills usually follow downhills, so I mounted up and we went up for the next most of a mile, which calmed things down a lot. She was never "bad" just a little snorty at first. We worked on confidence, she did great, and only once needed Raja to take the lead and show her that the scary downhill with an eroded trail was perfectly safe. We also worked on refining our cues. The times that I have to use big gestures and insist on where I want to go are getting fewer and the times I can give a tiny squeeze of leg, or tightening of my fingers are getting more frequent. At one point I leaned over a little, grabbed a gate and pushed it open a little further. It took some pressure to push, and I could see Firefly thinking hard about what was going on, but she stood perfectly still. Oh, and we picked up trail ribbons from April's event. Firefly only once looked scared of the ribbon, and that was a big 3 color one with 18" streamers. Like usual she thought about it, sniffed it and relaxed. If I can ride, at least a little, three or four times a week, we will make really fast progress. Sorry, snuck out before M took any pics, but here is one of Firefly today being very, very serious about eating her evening meal.
P.S. Yes, she has changed colors again. In my last post, on June 19th, she was dark grey.
P.S. Yes, she has changed colors again. In my last post, on June 19th, she was dark grey.
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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 10:39 pm
I have no idea where the time is disappearing to but it's making me anxious.
Today I got a hair cut. I'm not too sure about it but my hair was such a mess I had to get rid of it. Don't get me started on the color. It WAS violet and last week it turned this color...for the second time with two different purples from two different companies. My hair dresser said well you can get color safe shampoos with violets and then it dawns on me, omg I think MY color safe shampoo is auburn. gah.
The author's virtual meeting today didn't go well for me. I couldn't concentrate. My total word count is what I usually write in a 25 minute session. Sigh. But hey if you write chillers or thrillers and want to join PM me and we'll talk (ditto if you'd like to join my by email writers critique group)
So it's Fannish 50 tuesday and I'm back to the women of fandom. I'm now going back to my older fandoms in no particular order. I'll be starting with Fullmetal Alchemist but it's SO hard to pick one female from all the great ones in this, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell, Izumi Curtis, Olivier Armstrong Gracia Hughes just to name a few. Riza and Winry are probably the two more or less main characters and the best well rounded (along with Izumi)
I'm going with Riza for this because a) she was my favorite b) even though this was written by a woman, Winry was written for the male gaze and had a lot of that loud screamy nonsense as part of her character. (I still can't believe this started over 20 years ago. My god!) A lot of Winry's traits were very common back then when targeting the main audience teen boys.
Riza on the other hand is quiet authority. She is amazingly competent and loyal and smart. That she is deeply emotionally intimately entwined with Roy is clear in all the things she does (and she is not blind to his faults). I DID want more out of her back story with her father and why she follows Roy into the military. I wish she had had time to give Riza's back story more flesh.
It's clear that the rest of Roy's men know to obey her, that she's the default secondary ruler of their little group. Riza's hand gun expertise is pretty cool but on the other hand she barely has a life outside of work and that is sad. Arakawa said in an interview somewhere that Roy and Riza would never get the chance to be together and that's pretty sad too.
Even sadder, Bing brought up like ONE picture of Riza that wasn't fan art (okay okay I know it's old but really?) Google had a few more. I chose this one with her and Hayate.
I miss writing her. I miss the heyday of the Roy/Riza communities
Today I got a hair cut. I'm not too sure about it but my hair was such a mess I had to get rid of it. Don't get me started on the color. It WAS violet and last week it turned this color...for the second time with two different purples from two different companies. My hair dresser said well you can get color safe shampoos with violets and then it dawns on me, omg I think MY color safe shampoo is auburn. gah.
The author's virtual meeting today didn't go well for me. I couldn't concentrate. My total word count is what I usually write in a 25 minute session. Sigh. But hey if you write chillers or thrillers and want to join PM me and we'll talk (ditto if you'd like to join my by email writers critique group)
So it's Fannish 50 tuesday and I'm back to the women of fandom. I'm now going back to my older fandoms in no particular order. I'll be starting with Fullmetal Alchemist but it's SO hard to pick one female from all the great ones in this, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell, Izumi Curtis, Olivier Armstrong Gracia Hughes just to name a few. Riza and Winry are probably the two more or less main characters and the best well rounded (along with Izumi)
I'm going with Riza for this because a) she was my favorite b) even though this was written by a woman, Winry was written for the male gaze and had a lot of that loud screamy nonsense as part of her character. (I still can't believe this started over 20 years ago. My god!) A lot of Winry's traits were very common back then when targeting the main audience teen boys.
Riza on the other hand is quiet authority. She is amazingly competent and loyal and smart. That she is deeply emotionally intimately entwined with Roy is clear in all the things she does (and she is not blind to his faults). I DID want more out of her back story with her father and why she follows Roy into the military. I wish she had had time to give Riza's back story more flesh.
It's clear that the rest of Roy's men know to obey her, that she's the default secondary ruler of their little group. Riza's hand gun expertise is pretty cool but on the other hand she barely has a life outside of work and that is sad. Arakawa said in an interview somewhere that Roy and Riza would never get the chance to be together and that's pretty sad too.
Even sadder, Bing brought up like ONE picture of Riza that wasn't fan art (okay okay I know it's old but really?) Google had a few more. I chose this one with her and Hayate.
I miss writing her. I miss the heyday of the Roy/Riza communities
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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 05:29 pm
I had to present on my work for my team and some other people this morning, and it felt impossible to pitch it at a level that would reach both the people who know next to nothing about the work I lead on and the people who have been most intimately involved in doing it with me.
I missed a section, even with notes, which I think could've made it make a lot more sense. But also my line manager sent me a message immediately to say I spoke very well? I don't get it but I hope she's right!
Tags:
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 11:56 am
The business meeting of this year's Westercon, last weekend, passed a motion to retire Westercon, to put an end to a nearly 80-year sequence of annual science-fiction conventions. It will need to be ratified next year, and any seated conventions will still be held, so unless it's rejected next year, the last Westercon will probably be no. 80 in 2028. I wasn't at the meeting, but you can read about it and, if you're really a glutton for it, watch a half-hour video of the whole thing here.
How have the mighty fallen. When I was active in fandom in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, Westercon was the king of the west coast convention calendar, behind only Worldcon in importance to fans in the area. It was large, maybe 2000 people, full of activity and a great place to expect to meet friends. There were plenty of other large regional conventions around, but Westercon was a centerpiece. Like Worldcon but unlike most other convention series, it moved from city to city each year, so nobody had to carry the entire burden of responsibility for running it. But, once shared, the responsibility was welcome. For instance, Portland had a big annual local convention, Orycon, in the fall. But for nearly 20 years, every five years or so they'd also hold a Westercon, in July. It wasn't too much of a challenge.
Westercon had grown to meet a need. It was in 1948 that LASFS, the LA club, had decided to hold a one-day event to assuage the needs of those who couldn't afford to attend the Worldcon on the east coast. After a few years it got bigger and longer, and started to be hosted in other cities, but for 20 years or more, Westercon served this role of a substitute. When the Worldcon was held on the west coast, no separate Westercon was held - there was no need for it.
But by the 1970s, Westercon had begun to exist for its own sake. 1972 was the first year there was both a Worldcon and a separate Westercon on the west coast. They were both in the LA area. Around the same time, local conventions began growing up: Loscon in LA (starting as a revival of the original format of Westercon), Orycon in Portland, Norwescon in Seattle, Baycon in San Jose, all began in the 70s or early 80s. But Westercon flourished along with them.
But sometime after the year 2000, Westercon began to diminish while other conventions continued to prosper. I'm not familiar enough with the fannish milieu of the time to understand why, but Westercons became much smaller and more obscure. I went to a couple in this period and was really surprised by how the atmosphere had changed.
In recent years it's been suffering from organizational ennui. Every Westercon but one (Tonopah in 2022) since 2014 has been co-hosted with another convention, usually as an add-on to a better-established partner. And for three consecutive years recently there was no qualified bidder, and a special committee had to figure out how to get the convention held. Maybe, Kayla Allen suggested in proposing the motion, there just isn't a need for our product any more.
But as mentioned, what I don't understand is why this has happened. Ben Yalow and Michael Siladi, also experienced conrunners supporting the motion, both suggested that the rise of other regional/local conventions on the west coast has sapped interest away from Westercon, but as Ben pointed out, that phenomenon dates back to the late 1970s/early 1980s, and Westercon was still flourishing in that period. The decline came later. What happened?
How have the mighty fallen. When I was active in fandom in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, Westercon was the king of the west coast convention calendar, behind only Worldcon in importance to fans in the area. It was large, maybe 2000 people, full of activity and a great place to expect to meet friends. There were plenty of other large regional conventions around, but Westercon was a centerpiece. Like Worldcon but unlike most other convention series, it moved from city to city each year, so nobody had to carry the entire burden of responsibility for running it. But, once shared, the responsibility was welcome. For instance, Portland had a big annual local convention, Orycon, in the fall. But for nearly 20 years, every five years or so they'd also hold a Westercon, in July. It wasn't too much of a challenge.
Westercon had grown to meet a need. It was in 1948 that LASFS, the LA club, had decided to hold a one-day event to assuage the needs of those who couldn't afford to attend the Worldcon on the east coast. After a few years it got bigger and longer, and started to be hosted in other cities, but for 20 years or more, Westercon served this role of a substitute. When the Worldcon was held on the west coast, no separate Westercon was held - there was no need for it.
But by the 1970s, Westercon had begun to exist for its own sake. 1972 was the first year there was both a Worldcon and a separate Westercon on the west coast. They were both in the LA area. Around the same time, local conventions began growing up: Loscon in LA (starting as a revival of the original format of Westercon), Orycon in Portland, Norwescon in Seattle, Baycon in San Jose, all began in the 70s or early 80s. But Westercon flourished along with them.
But sometime after the year 2000, Westercon began to diminish while other conventions continued to prosper. I'm not familiar enough with the fannish milieu of the time to understand why, but Westercons became much smaller and more obscure. I went to a couple in this period and was really surprised by how the atmosphere had changed.
In recent years it's been suffering from organizational ennui. Every Westercon but one (Tonopah in 2022) since 2014 has been co-hosted with another convention, usually as an add-on to a better-established partner. And for three consecutive years recently there was no qualified bidder, and a special committee had to figure out how to get the convention held. Maybe, Kayla Allen suggested in proposing the motion, there just isn't a need for our product any more.
But as mentioned, what I don't understand is why this has happened. Ben Yalow and Michael Siladi, also experienced conrunners supporting the motion, both suggested that the rise of other regional/local conventions on the west coast has sapped interest away from Westercon, but as Ben pointed out, that phenomenon dates back to the late 1970s/early 1980s, and Westercon was still flourishing in that period. The decline came later. What happened?
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 02:23 pm
Probably because it has been weeks since I slept more than a couple of hours a night and months since I had what would be medically termed a good night's sleep, I spent at least ten hours last night unconscious enough to dream and it was amazing. Under ideal circumstances I would devote my afternoon to reading on the front steps until the thunderstorms arrive. Under the resentful circumstances of realism I have already devoted considerable of my afternoon to phone calls with doctors and will need to enact capitalism while I have the concentration for it. I may still try to take a walk. I have a sort of pressure headache of movies I managed to watch before I ran completely out of time and would like to talk about even in shallow and unsatisfactory ways. I heard Kaleo's "Way Down We Go" (2015) on WERS and am delighted that the video was shot in the dormant volcano Þríhnúkagígur. I will associate it with earthquake-bound Loki. My brain thought it should dream about nonexistent Alan Garner and what I very much doubt will be the second season of Murderbot (2025–).
[edit] Taking a walk informed me that the sidewalk of the street at the bottom of our street has been spray-painted with a swastika, visible efforts to scrub it out notwithstanding. The sentiment is far from shocking, but the placement is rather literally close to home.
[edit] Taking a walk informed me that the sidewalk of the street at the bottom of our street has been spray-painted with a swastika, visible efforts to scrub it out notwithstanding. The sentiment is far from shocking, but the placement is rather literally close to home.
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 09:02 am
House cleaning day. And another trip to UPS for Amazon returns. But, I might hold off on that one as I have an order coming in today that might need to go back out. Hopefully not. But, no sense in making two trips if one will work.
I was out working on the puzzle yesterday when my neighbor Jim came by and showed me a photo. He has 2 full bathrooms, one of which only guests use and he hasn't had a guest in a month or so. Sunday night, he was watching TV and hear a very loud noise. Like a boom. He looked around the apartment and didn't see anything amiss. Then Monday, his house cleaning day, his cleaner said 'do you want me to clean up the mess in the bathroom?' He was quite perplexed so went to look. The glass shower door in his spare bathroom had shattered into a million pieces!!! Yikes on a stick.
Once word of this gets out, there will be repercussions and lots of discussions. I was telling my friend Steve about it and now he's REALLY looking forward to his Operations Committee Meeting this week. I'm going to keep using the showers in the gym. Nice, soft curtains there.
But it's early access to prime shit like this that keeps me working those puzzles.
I've been jonesin for some chicken teriyaki for a while. I've tried a couple of places around here that were ok but not fabulous. Then it popped up on the lunch menu this week so I tried it yesterday. Perfection!!! I may have it every day this week.
I was out working on the puzzle yesterday when my neighbor Jim came by and showed me a photo. He has 2 full bathrooms, one of which only guests use and he hasn't had a guest in a month or so. Sunday night, he was watching TV and hear a very loud noise. Like a boom. He looked around the apartment and didn't see anything amiss. Then Monday, his house cleaning day, his cleaner said 'do you want me to clean up the mess in the bathroom?' He was quite perplexed so went to look. The glass shower door in his spare bathroom had shattered into a million pieces!!! Yikes on a stick.
Once word of this gets out, there will be repercussions and lots of discussions. I was telling my friend Steve about it and now he's REALLY looking forward to his Operations Committee Meeting this week. I'm going to keep using the showers in the gym. Nice, soft curtains there.
But it's early access to prime shit like this that keeps me working those puzzles.
I've been jonesin for some chicken teriyaki for a while. I've tried a couple of places around here that were ok but not fabulous. Then it popped up on the lunch menu this week so I tried it yesterday. Perfection!!! I may have it every day this week.
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 08:05 am
ONE: 
and TWO:
Have a blessed one!
and TWO:
Have a blessed one!
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 10:26 am
Sometime soon I am hoping to start on the project of refinishing a lot of the rowing club's oars. On some of the blades, the surface has worn down to the point where we're starting to scrape through the fiberglass layers. Other blades have chips and cracks. Not good. Those things ain't cheap!
Certain things clicked into place during a conversation with teammates about how to honor one of our teammates who has just moved down to NYC for three years while his fiancee undertakes a pediatrics fellowship there. P mentioned the idea of giving J a map of our section of the Hudson River, with our usual landmarks illustrated, so J would remember his rowing roots. When searching online, he wasn't able to find anything of the sort, but that all gave me Ideas.
Here's the original dirty old blade I worked with, one of a bunch of blades I salvaged when teammates wanted to throw them all away as Useless Boatyard Junk:
After sanding the blade down and coating it with primer, I put the first layer of paint on with a bristle brush, and quickly concluded I didn't like that application method, for reasons such as what can be seen here:
I switched over to a foam brush for the subsequent layers, which worked well enough for this purpose. Oar blade painting is almost as stressful as putting on coats of varnish, except at least oar blades are much smaller and easier to reposition. When it comes to repainting the oars the club uses, I'll mix in a couple of paint additives that a teammate recommended based on her prior efforts to repaint oars about a decade ago.
I used SignPainter's One Shot for the major design elements:
Then some Sharpies and more One Shot for the finishing details. Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out! I don't know how durable the SignPainters One Shot is, but hopefully durable enough?
As I told J, I'm now hoping that he can convince his future father-in-law to come up with a good method for mounting the oar for display, since his future father-in-law is a really good woodworker. And if the FFiL does...maybe additional ones can be made for the other 5 blades in the pile? That has been one of the aspects of Art Oars that I just don't really want to deal with.
I should point out that I've been carting around one of the oar blades in the pile since the Texas days, so it might be another decade before I'm struck by inspiration again, heh. Still - these are nice materials to work with for the sake of making display/art items for rowers.
----
Project 2 came from thinking that my research students and I should make something to commemorate our summer of research work. Just based on our personalities, I came up with the idea of some sort of "Easily Distracted by Ants" concept. One of my research students is artistically inclined, and agreed to create a design based around that concept. After working on it, she got inspired to make a second design featuring the name of the ant species we're working with.
Once I showed the designs to S, he asked if we would like to do DIY screenprinting if supplied with a screen, ink, and squeegee. But of course!
On Sunday I picked up a stack of blank shirts at Goodwill, and yesterday I got additional shirts from 2 of 3 students, to print on.
The first design, which also went on the front of all the shirts:
Design on the back of all the shirts:
Shirts waiting while they dry:
I am SO PLEASED with these. There are definitely going to be more rounds of shirt-printing in the future.
So now you have some idea of some of the things that have been keeping me busy lately.
Certain things clicked into place during a conversation with teammates about how to honor one of our teammates who has just moved down to NYC for three years while his fiancee undertakes a pediatrics fellowship there. P mentioned the idea of giving J a map of our section of the Hudson River, with our usual landmarks illustrated, so J would remember his rowing roots. When searching online, he wasn't able to find anything of the sort, but that all gave me Ideas.
Here's the original dirty old blade I worked with, one of a bunch of blades I salvaged when teammates wanted to throw them all away as Useless Boatyard Junk:
After sanding the blade down and coating it with primer, I put the first layer of paint on with a bristle brush, and quickly concluded I didn't like that application method, for reasons such as what can be seen here:
I switched over to a foam brush for the subsequent layers, which worked well enough for this purpose. Oar blade painting is almost as stressful as putting on coats of varnish, except at least oar blades are much smaller and easier to reposition. When it comes to repainting the oars the club uses, I'll mix in a couple of paint additives that a teammate recommended based on her prior efforts to repaint oars about a decade ago.
I used SignPainter's One Shot for the major design elements:
Then some Sharpies and more One Shot for the finishing details. Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out! I don't know how durable the SignPainters One Shot is, but hopefully durable enough?
As I told J, I'm now hoping that he can convince his future father-in-law to come up with a good method for mounting the oar for display, since his future father-in-law is a really good woodworker. And if the FFiL does...maybe additional ones can be made for the other 5 blades in the pile? That has been one of the aspects of Art Oars that I just don't really want to deal with.
I should point out that I've been carting around one of the oar blades in the pile since the Texas days, so it might be another decade before I'm struck by inspiration again, heh. Still - these are nice materials to work with for the sake of making display/art items for rowers.
----
Project 2 came from thinking that my research students and I should make something to commemorate our summer of research work. Just based on our personalities, I came up with the idea of some sort of "Easily Distracted by Ants" concept. One of my research students is artistically inclined, and agreed to create a design based around that concept. After working on it, she got inspired to make a second design featuring the name of the ant species we're working with.
Once I showed the designs to S, he asked if we would like to do DIY screenprinting if supplied with a screen, ink, and squeegee. But of course!
On Sunday I picked up a stack of blank shirts at Goodwill, and yesterday I got additional shirts from 2 of 3 students, to print on.
The first design, which also went on the front of all the shirts:
Design on the back of all the shirts:
Shirts waiting while they dry:
I am SO PLEASED with these. There are definitely going to be more rounds of shirt-printing in the future.
So now you have some idea of some of the things that have been keeping me busy lately.
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 09:30 am
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The trade paperback of Usurpation will be released on October 21, 2025. If you haven’t read it yet, this is your chance to get a good price — and to buy more books from your other favorite authors!
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 12:00 pm
- 1. 7 Engineers Suspended After $2.3 Million Bridge Includes Bizarre 90-Degree Turn
- (tags:architecture design epicfail India )
- 2. Edinburgh Airport liquid limit increased from 100ml to two litres
- (tags:airport security Technology )
- 3. The Time Someone Plagiarized Calvin & Hobbes and Nobody Noticed or Cared
- (tags:comics plagiarism history art ai )
- 4. Turns out a great way to get children to want to learn their times tables is to set them to pop songs
- (tags:numbers video music )
- 5. Employers to be banned from silencing harassed or abused staff
- (tags:regulation abuse work UK law )
- 6. Some English children are living in 'Dickensian' poverty, says commissioner
- (tags:england poverty children OhForFucksSake )
- 7. Electricity from large solar arrays with batteries now cheaper than from fossil plants in Germany
- (tags:electricity solarpower batteries germany GoodNews )
- 8. O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics
- (tags:music hearing words illusion funny video )
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