OTRSS/Log/2003e

CINEMA
10-SECOND FILM SCRIPTS

ORDERS
(Closeup of alien face, camera pulls back:) TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER, EARTHLINGS!
(Camera pulls back more, shadow falls on alien:) I said... NOW COME BACK HERE!
(Godzilla reaches down for alien.)

TURNSIES
(Camera pans left-to-right, from 1st alien to 2nd alien to Ghidra:)
I ABDUCTED AND RAPED AN EARTHLING LAST TIME. NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!
(Camera pans back to 2nd alien:) Uh-oh.

NEIGHBORS
(Aliens move in clusters past the Modem/CDRW, phone, fax.)
(After 7 seconds: )THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

WORLDS
(Morph moonshot sequence into shell-in-Moon's-eye pic)
(Diminishing overlaying text:) LUNA / IS / A / WORLD / TOO
(Fast morph into moonlet-striking-Earth pic:) OOPS

ENVY
(Fast cuts of faces/bodies, barf in 8th second)
I USED / TO WANT /TO BE YOU / BUT YOU / WERE BUSY

RECRUITING
(1/4 second cuts, flipping: M16; penis; AK47; penis; Army logo)
This is my / my weapon / This is my / my gun
This is for / for killing / This is for / for fun
Be all you / you can be

Techniques: Haiku as ani GIFs (fixed frame rate) imply 70 frames, 7 frames per sec, 4 frames per syllable - silent, or with with async MIDI audio track.

THOUGHTS
ONE-PARTY STATE

GOP campaign strategy: absorb all possible contributions (bribes), leave none for others.

GOP political strategy: deny access to all non-GOP lobbyists and interests.

GOP gerrymander strategy: redraw districts to eliminate electoral base for non-GOP pols.

The result: even though GOPs lack majority support in the US, they'll use democracy to subvert democracy and accrue total power.

The result: a one-party state. Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Communist USSR and China and Cuba, Baathist Iraq and Syria, PRI Mexico, GOP America - a very select club, eh?

THEMES

JUST YOU

I used to dream of the end of the world
Meteor showers, nuclear war
Volcanoes and earthquakes, fires and floods
Epidemics, starvation and more
I used to dream of the end of the world
Now I only dream of you

I used to think about Apocalypse
Satan's triumph, God's holy wrath
Exploding planes and crashing ships
Meltdowns and aliens and all sortsa crap
I used to think about Apocalypse
But now I just think about you

I used to look for the big big picture
For rips in the fabric of reality
For omens and for unholy creatures
For breakdowns in causality
I used to look for the big big picture
Now I only look for you

VAMPIRES IN MY HEAD

I lay awake at night
Under the candle light
Somewhere there's a flight
Of vampires in my head

They're oh so luminescent
And almost incandescent
I feel so adolescent with
The vampires in my head

I creep into the kitchen
I haven't got a stitch on
They're really pretty bitchin'
The vampires in my head

Out under the full moon
I never come too soon
There's always lotsa room for
The vampires in my head

My thoughts are sucked away
I don't know what to say
I'm blaming my decay on
The vampires in my head

NUDE SURFING IN RIGA
SHE SQUATTED TO PEE
WANNA BE A MONSTER 2
WHICH WAY TO GO?
A THIN HARVEST
SEVEN SCROLLS
SHOOT THE FOCKERS
BLACKOUT BLUES

FINDINGS

I am more compatible with Cindy Crawford than is Bill Gates. But is it a good thing to be intellectually 100% in synch with her? Is that scary?

Alone forever. How sad. Or maybe that's best.

I love panoramic maps. Panoramic maps love me. We all live in the world panoramically.

The California coastline is still quite gorgeous. For now, anyway.

What if the Kingdom of Hawai'i declared independence and no mainlanders even noticed?

In a past life I was likely pretty boring, else you'd have heard of me. As for what a future life holds, I haven't a clue. Do you?

Paul Krassner was always my hero, although I hardly dared admit it.

You've never seen a bureaucracy quite like the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency and you never will again.

You probably don't know much about ancient Celtic computers. That's because the Druids valued their secrecy. Especially Vortigern.

"If women ran the world, there wouldn't be any war. Nations would tease each other until they developed eating disorders." —Nancy

Friday 1 August 2003, home.

Keyboard all night, sleep all morning, work in yard early PM, then swim (not too long, temp only about 80°f), etc. Exciting find: TEN-SECOND FILMS which contains exactly that. Haiku, short tales, gimix - ideal for short-attention-span folks. I'll have to work up some of these. Silents, with captions, at least until I get flickwarez working. Meanwhile, a skunk stalks outside. Whew.

Health: I forgot to mention that 1) whatever is in Maureen's thyroid very likely isn't cancer now, and 2) I'll have to redo the heart monitor thang, but don't know when. Bother. At least we don't feel too bad.

Saturday 2 August 2003, home.

Early morning: Keyboarding all night. Thunder and rain drags in the morning, rain like warm tears from the eye in the sky, rain like a subtropical echo. Afternoon: Go to Shenandoah Valley Winery to see slideshow by Galen Rowell's daughter, many images and tales relating to her father. Fine. Day remains cool, cloudy. What-ho tomorrow?

Tuesday 5 August 2003, still home.

Late night: The quarter-moon is shining bright, somewhere.
Saturday: A tasty dinner at Buscaglia's, which slid right thru me.
Sunday: Lay around, rest, websurf. Decorate inside and out.
Monday: Up fairly early, drive over brilliant Sierras thru sluggish South Lake Tahoe to Carson City & Reno to shop: food, computer, no chair or clothes.

Why drive 2 hours to shop? 'Cause it's better there. Hot (90s) during day, then near dusk a great storm blew in from the east, wetting the eastward peaks but then jogging north of our South Reno wanderings. Drama departed from the Virginia City route, so we climbed Mt Rose to North Tahoe. At Incline Village: an old Pachinko machine tossed out as rubbish. Why? Then down east shore and back under a quarter-moon. Ah.

Tuesday: Set up new computer, gotta do the network next. Swam under cool skies (mid-70s) and fast scudding clouds. New computer is named Goliath (humungous hulking hotrod). Will name others Gertrude (cranky old Compaq, stodgy & dodgy) and Gorgon (monstrous mystical Monorail) and Ginome (small sleek Sony, fast & not too bright). Hook'em up.

Wednesday 6 August 2003, Hiroshima Day.

To Jackson for PT and chores. Cool swim. Didn't nuke anybody. Nuked some tortillas this morning. Not the same thing. Yawn. Am reminded of my early days when I proposed hooking massive capacitor arrays to (big) appropriate power supplies and targets - the eventual cataclysmic power release would have devastating consequences. But I never managed to really blow up anything. Ratz. Maybe next time. With a govt grant.

Late night: Still getting Goliath whipped into shape - this may take some time. More than just all night. Downloading sound recorders (must rip many cassettes and LPs), researching video inputs (must rip many videotapes), and I haven't even rooted around for network stuff yet. Oy.

Friday 8 August 2003, St. Dominic Day.

Thursday, late: Work all night, sleep late, work some more, cool swim, work some more, dine, sleep. The work: struggling with Goliath (the new Toshiba). Can't find net hardware, might still be in box in storage shed, have to root around out there. Bother.

Friday, early: Even with updates, Goliath doesn't want to burn DVDs. Bother. Well, I'll chug away all night-morning and try to FORCE it to. On the schedule for this PM: down to Jackson again for PT and chores, then swim, then host B&B for dinner (pizza) and cards. (Oops, gotta put the minestrone in the crockpot.) And from Tuesday we may be gone for a week, or maybe not. Meanwhile, MAB just sent me this quiz (flash). How's your score?

Saturday 9 August 2003, Nagasaki Day.

From Political Science: "Boom goes London / and boom Paree / more room for you / and more room for me … Let's drop the Big One now … " But I digress. Today we putter, slightly upgrade the interiors and exteriors of the house and RV, or at least prepare to. I struggle more with Goliath. Otherwise relax, ready for tomorrow's twists and turns. Avoid thinking about artichokes. Remember the relleno omelet! NOTE: Take more pictures of food/prep.

----- Original Message -----
From: larry
To:   ric@sonic.net
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 7:15 PM
Subject: Okay read the Journal

Well I didn't really read it all but (scanned it sort of ),,, was looking for the part about the Toshiba p-25/s 487 ... Some of the reading was very intertaining, some was funny , but mostly... was not really in the loop for most of the jokes... Who's Maureen? Anyway, did you end up with the computer. I need to purchase a good notebook and with so many choices I just can't. I did see the above mentioned one at Costco as well and thought it looked cool. So if looks matter I am sold. Any feed back? Regards, Larry www.flybyfoto.com

WEDNESDAY 13 Aug 2003: Two long days driving the RV: to Marin County for medical stuff; to Pollock Pines in the Sierras to camp (between highway and dump); around Sac for more medical bothers. Stopped in Ione for mail. Got jammed against a new pickup truck. Cop told me to not block traffic and to wreck the pickup. Yessir.

TUESDAY 19 Aug 2003: Hot time probing the Airfloat coach with camera, tape deck, tape measure, Sweated like a ~~pig~~ gerbil. Was glad to jump in B&B's pool, swim, vegetate. Head-under-water is good for meditation. Did many laps face-down with snorkel & goggles as subtle solar patterns played off vinyl tile surface. Groovy. Didn't swallow too much chlorine, not this time, nor did my eyes burn much.

FRIDAY 22 Aug 2003: Finally finished the Airfloat trailer page (first cut). See it here. In a few days I'll maybe list it on eBay. Buy it! Meanwhile, I've got some networking up but Goliath still doesn't burn DVDs. Warez woes still abound. Gotta get this resolved in a month or so, before we're ready to wander the continent.

Meanwhile we talked with various endocrine-intern-surgeon folks, and Maureen's decided that it's probably best to have her thyroid removed, but when? Better than cancer. More info, more thought, then a decision. The surgeon sez we should fret more about my heart than her thyroid. What, me worry? I'll get a 24-hour monitor again next week and we'll maybe see what's up.

Computer health: Oldest laptop barely works now, but with a Linux brain transplant (and new peripherals, like a complete keyboard) it might regain sentience. First I must extract its memories. A painful process.

----- Original Message -----
From: BandBsun@aol.com
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 19:23:31 EDT

I am alive and well and living in New York. Mom called and said I didn't respond to your mail after the blackout. I didn't receive your mail. The electricity in Valley Stream was only out from 410 p.m. till 2a.m. the following morning so it wasn't bad at our house. However where I work in Brooklyn it was not so good. That day when I left work I just noticed the traffic lights were out. Not too unusual. But for all of them to be out for miles was odd and a pain in the rear. My Jeep radio went out also but I didn't relate the two incidents. Got to a big intersection in downtown Brooklyn and people were out of their cars and passing info. I heard one A.M. station was working and tuned to that station. That's when I heard about the big picture. I got home ok. Bill was already home because he gets home about 3 p.m. Gus called later from a land line cuz the cell phones were out. He had to walk home from Quark at 36th Street. That was a 3 mile walk. Good thing he likes to walk. His Jodie had to walk a bit farther. The news tried to propagandize good will and good neighbor things were going on and that is probably true but looting and other bad stuff was occuring also.

SATURDAY 23 Aug 2003: Laid around house being useless all day; plan to do same tomorrow. No, that's not right - today SONIC migrated their email servers and all email, and no SPAM (nor anything else) has gotten thru at all. But it looked like my old mail computer (1997 Compaq) had crashed, so I attempted many fixes that only worstened the situation. Bugger all. Tearing my remaining hair out. An ugly sight.

SUNDAY 24 Aug 2003: Still struggling with email. Can't migrate old mail off old Compaq, it keeps crashing. Will try direct connect with serial cables - move 90 MB of data over a 128k link. HA! Oh well, at least I got the office-studio straightened out while endlessly waiting for reboots. Meanwhile, I've started writing my torrid memoirs, as if anyone gives a good rat's ass. But I feel impelled. So sue me.

MONDAY 25 Aug 2003: Burt rebuilt the kitchen cabinets - warranty service. Maureen went to town for PT etc. I slaved over icky keyboards, may have email back tonight, tomorrow?

Then a hot swim with electric koi but no snorkel, the sky a Smurf-blue backdrop for circling raptors. Tissue-white heat clouds slipped down from the Sierra crest, the Nevada desert beyond. Only 95°f now, brisk out of the water, shivering. And more deer clumping thru this neighborhood and our neighborhood and along the roads and everywhere, clumsy and noisy more than graceful and silent.

Reality: That's how it SHOULDA gone, but the get-the-heart-monitor effort was a total balls-up, so I gtta go back next week for it. Sheesh. Ended up driving far for nada, then returning home for chores. At least we got to swim away the heat. All this is very tiring, mind-numbing. Have I had a lobotomy yet? Sure feels like it. And networking failed again. Arrgh.

Sharon: Skvet, skvet!
Me: Russian soup - skvetch?
Sharon: No, skvet (repeat a few pronunciations)
Me: Pork and lamb and beef …and sauerkraut?
Sharon: …and beef and sauerkraut, in a beef broth.
Me: Right.

[note: could be SHCHI, kraut+stuff soup]

Transcribed Notes: We Haven't Left Yet	<< BACK << (( INDEX )) >> NEXT >> CONTENTS NOTES: August Slithers In The Letters, Already! August Middles Along Truth of the Blackout August Slobbers Out Ongoing To-Do List CINEMA: 10-Second Movies THOUGHTS: One-Party State THEMES: Just You Vamps In My Head FINDINGS: ACCOUNTS JOURNALS index Guatemala Journal Eat It! Food News Ridge Rat News River Rat News Desert Rat News SkeptiLog: Sightings Recall/Candidates Recall/TheBabes CINEMA 10-SECOND FILM SCRIPTS ORDERS (Closeup of alien face, camera pulls back:) TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER, EARTHLINGS! (Camera pulls back more, shadow falls on alien:) I said... NOW COME BACK HERE! (Godzilla reaches down for alien.) TURNSIES (Camera pans left-to-right, from 1st alien to 2nd alien to Ghidra:) I ABDUCTED AND RAPED AN EARTHLING LAST TIME. NOW IT'S YOUR TURN! (Camera pans back to 2nd alien:) Uh-oh. NEIGHBORS (Aliens move in clusters past the Modem/CDRW, phone, fax.) (After 7 seconds: )THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD. WORLDS (Morph moonshot sequence into shell-in-Moon's-eye pic) (Diminishing overlaying text:) LUNA / IS / A / WORLD / TOO (Fast morph into moonlet-striking-Earth pic:) OOPS ENVY (Fast cuts of faces/bodies, barf in 8th second) I USED / TO WANT /TO BE YOU / BUT YOU / WERE BUSY RECRUITING (1/4 second cuts, flipping: M16; penis; AK47; penis; Army logo) This is my / my weapon / This is my / my gun This is for / for killing / This is for / for fun Be all you / you can be Techniques: Haiku as ani GIFs (fixed frame rate) imply 70 frames, 7 frames per sec, 4 frames per syllable - silent, or with with async MIDI audio track. THOUGHTS ONE-PARTY STATE GOP campaign strategy: absorb all possible contributions (bribes), leave none for others. GOP political strategy: deny access to all non-GOP lobbyists and interests. GOP gerrymander strategy: redraw districts to eliminate electoral base for non-GOP pols. The result: even though GOPs lack majority support in the US, they'll use democracy to subvert democracy and accrue total power. The result: a one-party state. Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Communist USSR and China and Cuba, Baathist Iraq and Syria, PRI Mexico, GOP America - a very select club, eh? THEMES JUST YOU I used to dream of the end of the world Meteor showers, nuclear war Volcanoes and earthquakes, fires and floods Epidemics, starvation and more I used to dream of the end of the world Now I only dream of you I used to think about Apocalypse Satan's triumph, God's holy wrath Exploding planes and crashing ships Meltdowns and aliens and all sortsa crap I used to think about Apocalypse But now I just think about you I used to look for the big big picture For rips in the fabric of reality For omens and for unholy creatures For breakdowns in causality I used to look for the big big picture Now I only look for you VAMPIRES IN MY HEAD I lay awake at night Under the candle light Somewhere there's a flight Of vampires in my head They're oh so luminescent And almost incandescent I feel so adolescent with The vampires in my head I creep into the kitchen I haven't got a stitch on They're really pretty bitchin' The vampires in my head Out under the full moon I never come too soon There's always lotsa room for The vampires in my head My thoughts are sucked away I don't know what to say I'm blaming my decay on The vampires in my head NUDE SURFING IN RIGA SHE SQUATTED TO PEE WANNA BE A MONSTER 2 WHICH WAY TO GO? A THIN HARVEST SEVEN SCROLLS SHOOT THE FOCKERS BLACKOUT BLUES FINDINGS I am more compatible with Cindy Crawford than is Bill Gates. But is it a good thing to be intellectually 100% in synch with her? Is that scary? Alone forever. How sad. Or maybe that's best. I love panoramic maps. Panoramic maps love me. We all live in the world panoramically. The California coastline is still quite gorgeous. For now, anyway. What if the Kingdom of Hawai'i declared independence and no mainlanders even noticed? In a past life I was likely pretty boring, else you'd have heard of me. As for what a future life holds, I haven't a clue. Do you? Paul Krassner was always my hero, although I hardly dared admit it. You've never seen a bureaucracy quite like the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency and you never will again. You probably don't know much about ancient Celtic computers. That's because the Druids valued their secrecy. Especially Vortigern. "If women ran the world, there wouldn't be any war. Nations would tease each other until they developed eating disorders." —Nancy
August Slithers In... Friday 1 August 2003, home. Keyboard all night, sleep all morning, work in yard early PM, then swim (not too long, temp only about 80°f), etc. Exciting find: TEN-SECOND FILMS which contains exactly that. Haiku, short tales, gimix - ideal for short-attention-span folks. I'll have to work up some of these. Silents, with captions, at least until I get flickwarez working. Meanwhile, a skunk stalks outside. Whew. Health: I forgot to mention that 1) whatever is in Maureen's thyroid very likely isn't cancer now, and 2) I'll have to redo the heart monitor thang, but don't know when. Bother. At least we don't feel too bad. Saturday 2 August 2003, home. Early morning: Keyboarding all night. Thunder and rain drags in the morning, rain like warm tears from the eye in the sky, rain like a subtropical echo. Afternoon: Go to Shenandoah Valley Winery to see slideshow by Galen Rowell's daughter, many images and tales relating to her father. Fine. Day remains cool, cloudy. What-ho tomorrow? Tuesday 5 August 2003, still home. Late night: The quarter-moon is shining bright, somewhere. Saturday: A tasty dinner at Buscaglia's, which slid right thru me. Sunday: Lay around, rest, websurf. Decorate inside and out. Monday: Up fairly early, drive over brilliant Sierras thru sluggish South Lake Tahoe to Carson City & Reno to shop: food, computer, no chair or clothes. Why drive 2 hours to shop? 'Cause it's better there. Hot (90s) during day, then near dusk a great storm blew in from the east, wetting the eastward peaks but then jogging north of our South Reno wanderings. Drama departed from the Virginia City route, so we climbed Mt Rose to North Tahoe. At Incline Village: an old Pachinko machine tossed out as rubbish. Why? Then down east shore and back under a quarter-moon. Ah. Tuesday: Set up new computer, gotta do the network next. Swam under cool skies (mid-70s) and fast scudding clouds. New computer is named Goliath (humungous hulking hotrod). Will name others Gertrude (cranky old Compaq, stodgy & dodgy) and Gorgon (monstrous mystical Monorail) and Ginome (small sleek Sony, fast & not too bright). Hook'em up. Wednesday 6 August 2003, Hiroshima Day. To Jackson for PT and chores. Cool swim. Didn't nuke anybody. Nuked some tortillas this morning. Not the same thing. Yawn. Am reminded of my early days when I proposed hooking massive capacitor arrays to (big) appropriate power supplies and targets - the eventual cataclysmic power release would have devastating consequences. But I never managed to really blow up anything. Ratz. Maybe next time. With a govt grant. Late night: Still getting Goliath whipped into shape - this may take some time. More than just all night. Downloading sound recorders (must rip many cassettes and LPs), researching video inputs (must rip many videotapes), and I haven't even rooted around for network stuff yet. Oy. Friday 8 August 2003, St. Dominic Day. Thursday, late: Work all night, sleep late, work some more, cool swim, work some more, dine, sleep. The work: struggling with Goliath (the new Toshiba). Can't find net hardware, might still be in box in storage shed, have to root around out there. Bother. Friday, early: Even with updates, Goliath doesn't want to burn DVDs. Bother. Well, I'll chug away all night-morning and try to FORCE it to. On the schedule for this PM: down to Jackson again for PT and chores, then swim, then host B&B for dinner (pizza) and cards. (Oops, gotta put the minestrone in the crockpot.) And from Tuesday we may be gone for a week, or maybe not. Meanwhile, MAB just sent me this quiz (flash). How's your score? Saturday 9 August 2003, Nagasaki Day. From Political Science: "Boom goes London / and boom Paree / more room for you / and more room for me … Let's drop the Big One now … " But I digress. Today we putter, slightly upgrade the interiors and exteriors of the house and RV, or at least prepare to. I struggle more with Goliath. Otherwise relax, ready for tomorrow's twists and turns. Avoid thinking about artichokes. Remember the relleno omelet! NOTE: Take more pictures of food/prep.
The Letters, Already! Inquiries By Email Somebody actually READS this stuff! At least three guys this week! And I have the emails to prove it! Larry in Washington wrote me, and I replied: ----- Original Message ----- From: larry To: ric@sonic.net Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 7:15 PM Subject: Okay read the Journal Well I didn't really read it all but (scanned it sort of ),,, was looking for the part about the Toshiba p-25/s 487 ... Some of the reading was very intertaining, some was funny , but mostly... was not really in the loop for most of the jokes... Who's Maureen? Anyway, did you end up with the computer. I need to purchase a good notebook and with so many choices I just can't. I did see the above mentioned one at Costco as well and thought it looked cool. So if looks matter I am sold. Any feed back? Regards, Larry www.flybyfoto.com Hi Larry: Responses in sequence: 1) I'm outa the loop on some of my jokes too, so join the club. 2) Maureen just said that she's my best friend and greatest aggravation. 3) Yah I got the Toshiba and I'll go into some detail here. I got my last computer at CostCo a couple years back, a tiny Sony Vaio PCG-SR33, weighs 2.8 lbs, perfect for daypacking (like on our recent Guatemala trip). Sure, it has minor problems. The Toshiba P25-S487 is at the other end of the spectrum, weighs 10 lbs and will only be transported by motor vehicle, like our upcoming RV trip. And the main problem I have so far is that I can't get it to write DVDs, which was a major reason to buy it. Luckily CostCo's return policy gives us 6 months to work things out - maybe it's just a software problem, maybe new drivers will help. We'll see. If you google for TOSHIBA P25 you'll likely find some user comments, like about some screens not being perfect. If you get one and find any physical problems, just exchange the sucker. I haven't noticed anything pathological yet, except for one eensy teensy thang: it is thick (I call it Goliath), so sits on my desktop at an uncomfortable level. Not the most fun to type on, but I'm sure I'll adjust. Overall, having run Goliath for about 4.5 days, I'm pretty impressed with it. Great for watching video on too! Stay tuned to my journal, I'll undoubtedly have further comments in upcoming days. Cya --Ric Carter And ~~two~~ three other guys sent emails, asking if the trailer is still for sale and yes, it is. Is it collectable? I'd better research that. Whoever gets here fustest with the mostest, gets it, eh? Or maybe I'll eBay it. Damn, guess I'd better start reading my email more regularly, stop playing with Goliath. Later: OK, I finally replied to my sister Barbi. Still a big backlog of unanswered stuff. I'm so bad... And I AM (probably) going to eBay the trailer. But not for a few days... And then there's the journey note from Sharon on the Baltic.
August Middles Along Sun 10 Aug '03: Many home tasks, then Kitra's birthday party. Mon 11 Aug '03: Hot, many more home tasks, then a warm swim. Tue 12 Aug '03: Dash: Novato; shop: Sac; crash: Pollack.Pines. Wed 13 Aug '03: Medical around Sac; cream a PU in Ione; home. WEDNESDAY 13 Aug 2003: Two long days driving the RV: to Marin County for medical stuff; to Pollock Pines in the Sierras to camp (between highway and dump); around Sac for more medical bothers. Stopped in Ione for mail. Got jammed against a new pickup truck. Cop told me to not block traffic and to wreck the pickup. Yessir. Thu 14 Aug '03: Hot, many more home tasks, then a warm swim. Fri 15 Aug '03: Dash around Jackson & Ione, then a warm swim. Sat 16 Aug '03: Hot Hot! More home tasks; avoid responsibility. Sun 17 Aug '03: Start rebuilding office; drive up to fire lookout. Mon 18 Aug '03: Hot! More office rebuild & home tasks; swim. TUESDAY 19 Aug 2003: Hot time probing the Airfloat coach with camera, tape deck, tape measure, Sweated like a ~~pig~~ gerbil. Was glad to jump in B&B's pool, swim, vegetate. Head-under-water is good for meditation. Did many laps face-down with snorkel & goggles as subtle solar patterns played off vinyl tile surface. Groovy. Didn't swallow too much chlorine, not this time, nor did my eyes burn much. Tue 19 Aug '03: Home tasks; survey Airfloat trailer; snorkeling. Wed 20 Aug '03: Medical around Sac; don't hit any more vehicles. Thu 21 Aug '03: Ditto. To & from Folsom in clouds & thunderstorms. Fri 22 Aug '03: Home tasks; to Jackson for PT again; more chores. FRIDAY 22 Aug 2003: Finally finished the Airfloat trailer page (first cut). See it here. In a few days I'll maybe list it on eBay. Buy it! Meanwhile, I've got some networking up but Goliath still doesn't burn DVDs. Warez woes still abound. Gotta get this resolved in a month or so, before we're ready to wander the continent. Meanwhile we talked with various endocrine-intern-surgeon folks, and Maureen's decided that it's probably best to have her thyroid removed, but when? Better than cancer. More info, more thought, then a decision. The surgeon sez we should fret more about my heart than her thyroid. What, me worry? I'll get a 24-hour monitor again next week and we'll maybe see what's up. Computer health: Oldest laptop barely works now, but with a Linux brain transplant (and new peripherals, like a complete keyboard) it might regain sentience. First I must extract its memories. A painful process.
eMail from Barbi The Truth About The Blackout Sister Barbi is a security supervisor on the New York subway system; her husband Bill also works security there. Her son Gus sells hi-tech security hardware, and his girlfriend Jodie is a student. Valley Stream is a suburb just east of JFK Airport. New York is... well, interesting... ----- Original Message ----- From: BandBsun@aol.com Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 19:23:31 EDT I am alive and well and living in New York. Mom called and said I didn't respond to your mail after the blackout. I didn't receive your mail. The electricity in Valley Stream was only out from 410 p.m. till 2a.m. the following morning so it wasn't bad at our house. However where I work in Brooklyn it was not so good. That day when I left work I just noticed the traffic lights were out. Not too unusual. But for all of them to be out for miles was odd and a pain in the rear. My Jeep radio went out also but I didn't relate the two incidents. Got to a big intersection in downtown Brooklyn and people were out of their cars and passing info. I heard one A.M. station was working and tuned to that station. That's when I heard about the big picture. I got home ok. Bill was already home because he gets home about 3 p.m. Gus called later from a land line cuz the cell phones were out. He had to walk home from Quark at 36th Street. That was a 3 mile walk. Good thing he likes to walk. His Jodie had to walk a bit farther. The news tried to propagandize good will and good neighbor things were going on and that is probably true but looting and other bad stuff was occuring also. So there you have it: Besides people walking all over, and those "good will and good neighbor things... going on," still we learn that "looting and other bad stuff was occuring" and nobody reported it! And in New York City, of all places! Time for another investigation, eh?
August Slobbers Out SATURDAY 23 Aug 2003: Laid around house being useless all day; plan to do same tomorrow. No, that's not right - today SONIC migrated their email servers and all email, and no SPAM (nor anything else) has gotten thru at all. But it looked like my old mail computer (1997 Compaq) had crashed, so I attempted many fixes that only worstened the situation. Bugger all. Tearing my remaining hair out. An ugly sight. SUNDAY 24 Aug 2003: Still struggling with email. Can't migrate old mail off old Compaq, it keeps crashing. Will try direct connect with serial cables - move 90 MB of data over a 128k link. HA! Oh well, at least I got the office-studio straightened out while endlessly waiting for reboots. Meanwhile, I've started writing my torrid memoirs, as if anyone gives a good rat's ass. But I feel impelled. So sue me. MONDAY 25 Aug 2003: Burt rebuilt the kitchen cabinets - warranty service. Maureen went to town for PT etc. I slaved over icky keyboards, may have email back tonight, tomorrow? Then a hot swim with electric koi but no snorkel, the sky a Smurf-blue backdrop for circling raptors. Tissue-white heat clouds slipped down from the Sierra crest, the Nevada desert beyond. Only 95°f now, brisk out of the water, shivering. And more deer clumping thru this neighborhood and our neighborhood and along the roads and everywhere, clumsy and noisy more than graceful and silent. Tue 26 Aug '03: Struggle w/net & email: SUCCESS! Talking again. Wed 27 Aug '03: To Roseville for heart monitor, to mtns for cool. Thu 28 Aug '03: Return monitor, shop circa Folsom, and hot swim. Reality: That's how it SHOULDA gone, but the get-the-heart-monitor effort was a total balls-up, so I gtta go back next week for it. Sheesh. Ended up driving far for nada, then returning home for chores. At least we got to swim away the heat. All this is very tiring, mind-numbing. Have I had a lobotomy yet? Sure feels like it. And networking failed again. Arrgh. Fri 29 Aug '03: To Jackson for PT again; then cleanup, cleanup. Sat 30 Aug '03: Fred+Sharon arrive, visit; we host big dinner. Sun 31 Aug '03: Blatting & chatting, then St.George Hotel feed. F&S talk about their Baltic cruise & tours of Moscow & Petrograd. And about the Russian food, better than might be expected. `Sharon:` Skvet, skvet! `Me:` Russian soup - skvetch? `Sharon:` No, skvet (repeat a few pronunciations) `Me:` Pork and lamb and beef …and sauerkraut? `Sharon:` …and beef and sauerkraut, in a beef broth. `Me:` Right. [note: could be SHCHI, kraut+stuff soup]
More Stuff I Shoulda Done Already Ongoing To-Do List Finish scanning the CALICO PRINT covers and other DRSB material - upload. Find out why Goliath ain't burning DVDs. Print some Guatemala pictures. Check Frys and all over for digicams; for a powered antenna for the Ericsson cellphone; for a NTSC-FireWire video grabber (maybe a Pinnacle MovieBox). And get a hearing aid. Get a bicycle setup for myself to ride; setup TV & audio in the media room; find the antenna tuners. Lay out gear & power supplies for the (hopefully upcoming) extended trip; gather all the manuals & hookups, make sure everything works. (I've just come across some to-do lists from about a decade ago. Some of those tasks are still in the current list. Sigh.)

Journals: 2003(6)

Transcribed Notes: We Haven't Left Yet

CONTENTS

ACCOUNTS

THEMES

August Slithers In...

Friday 1 August 2003, home.

Saturday 2 August 2003, home.

Tuesday 5 August 2003, still home.

Wednesday 6 August 2003, Hiroshima Day.

Friday 8 August 2003, St. Dominic Day.

Saturday 9 August 2003, Nagasaki Day.

The Letters, Already!

Inquiries By Email

August Middles Along

eMail from Barbi

The Truth About The Blackout

August Slobbers Out

More Stuff I Shoulda Done Already

Ongoing To-Do List