Almost through the month of April!

Let's see:

• I got the taxes done (and got our refund).
• I wrote an article for an accounting magazine.
• I've been turning out lectures for the students every week (which has been about 8 hours/week just to do that).
• I'm being productive at my yob, getting foundational stuff written on this project I'm on.
• I've been hitting the gym pretty regularly. Even trying a new arm set that's doing pretty well and adding some bulk.
• I'm past that cold we've all been getting.
• My office is even reasonably clean.

My biggest complaint this morning is that I pulled a muscle in my neck yesterday so I'm keeping my head very, very straight so I don't cause myself pain. I should get an ice pack from the freezer in a while and reduce the swelling.

All in all, I'd say "Not bad!"

Almost through the month of April!

The incredibly cheap GPS system

I love it. :) It's yet another great cartoon from www.xkcd.com.

The Incredibly Cheap GPS System:

The incredibly cheap GPS system

The fair island of San Seriffe

This little nugget showed up on April 1st some 30 years ago. It's a fantastic deep finesse. There are even ads from real advertisers.

The fair island of San Seriffe

Gym ratting

I've been working out fairly regularly for a month now and I'm having a great time. I'd had a cold for the week before my birthday and then I wasn't able to get in all last week, but I finally made it back in to the gym on Saturday and did a full body workout. Normally, I alternate upper and lower, but it'd been 2 weeks with the cold and just not having a couple hours to get away, so I did the whole set. I have been thinking constantly about getting back there and doing more. I'm really pleased with how it's going.

But even now, at 11:20pm, I'm thinking of popping over there and pumping iron. I could do it, you know; this Gold's Gym is open 24 hours during the week.

Gym ratting

Fun trivia: James Whistler

Why was artist James A. McNeill Whistler kicked out of the West Point Military Academy as a young man?

Answer: For misconduct. Assigned to draw a bridge in an engineering class, he drew two little boys fishing from it. Ordered to remove them, he drew the boys fishing from the riverbank. Again ordered to remove them, he drew two little headstones near the river.

Fun trivia: James Whistler

Origami master

Brian Chan does origami. It's really quite amazing.

No, it's beyond amazing. A lot of these pieces you look at and are deeply impressed by, then you see that they're done out of a single sheet of paper and you wonder how he ever thought of this in the first place. It's truly dazzling.

Origami master

Observation

To all my friends who in 2007 sent me best wishes or promises of good luck on the condition that I forwarded something, these did NOT WORK.

For 2008, could you please just send either money, chocolate, or gasoline vouchers? Thanks.

Observation

Knowledge vs. wisdom

Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit. Wisdom is not adding them to the fruit salad.

Knowledge vs. wisdom

All-purpose disclaimer

I think this covers most eventualities.

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All-purpose disclaimer

Thought du jour

The chain that can be yanked is not the true chain.

Thought du jour

A bit of trivia about "The Prisoner"

When I was young, I was passionately fond of The Prisoner, a British TV show starring Patrick McGoohan. When my ex, I, and a couple of dear friends all romped off to England, I was determined to see the place where the show had been filmed.

The Prisoner was filmed at Portmeirion an odd but attractive resort in North Wales on the coast right near the town of Pennrhyndeudraeth. (It's very easy to say; give it a try!) Portmeirion was the brainchild of a noted architect and designer, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. Patrick McGoohan was there often; he enjoyed getting away from the city and spending time there relaxing.

I was there in 1986 for an afternoon and it was delightfully strange to walk up and down the streets that I'd seen on the toob so often. The cottage that was #6's home is a Prisoner tourist shop. I bought an album of Prisoner soundtrack music done by Ron Grainer and a Prisoner t-shirt, which has the Ordinary logo on it. I fully expected to see Rovers bouncing slowly up the streets. All the interiors were done at Borham Wood studios, though, so #2's Green Dome (which was closed for repairs inside) is actually rather small.

To get to Pennrhyndeudraeth and Portmeirion, we drove across from Ruthin (on the Northeastern border of Wales) and then back again in a day. It was a longish drive, made worse by the fact that North Wales is what Tolkien used as his model for the worst parts of Mordor. It's all slate rubble, there are no trees, and the only natural vegetation is this ugly, scraggly orange weed. The towns are made of polished slate, so they're all black, too. It was misting, so everything looked blacker still, greasy, and unpleasant. What could have made it any worse? Well, as it happens, that was the very day that Chernobyl exploded, so we were being bathed in fallout and didn't know it. One day's difference and we would have missed it. Alas.

A bit of trivia about "The Prisoner"

A Blessed Solstice to All!

Cece, a friend of mine in Tucson, uses the following as her sig. I love it:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand,
wine in the other, body thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and screaming
"WOO HOO, what a ride!"

A Blessed Solstice to All!