may 2004
Work photo #2: G5
We just got the new Apple G5s in at work, and today I was configuring one. They really are quite beautiful, and photogenic, as the photo above (which I took yesterday) shows. And heavy. I’ll have to open one up and see what’s inside.
26 may 2004 ~ 23:35 
Alien life form
I found the creature pictured above on the sidewalk on 63rd Street yesterday. It looked so weird, I just had to stop and take a photo. It resembled a cross between a cicada and a lobster. You can’t tell from the picture, but it was about five inches long.
I was later informed that it might be a crawfish - if so, I sure am glad I’ve never eaten one. That’s just freaky looking!
25 may 2004 ~ 21:57
Sweatin’ with the oldies
As BullPlop writes, last Thursday was a jolly good night out. The garlic butter was indeed heavenly (I detected horseradish in there too), the tapas delicious, and the company stellar. But I’m not sure who he is referring to when he says that one of those present was “too sick to go to the gym” the next day. Wasn’t me. Oooooh no.
By an odd coincidence, I have in fact started going back to the gym recently, after an absence of a few (coughninecough) months. One of the main reasons (among many other feeble excuses) I stopped going last year was that the university gym gets way too crowded - when I started having to wait in line to get on an exercise bicycle, I knew things were getting bad. So, as soon as I moved into this new house, I joined the nearest gym, which happens to be only three or so blocks away, is brand new, and costs only $13 a month for unlimited access. You can’t beat that.
I like it there so much, I’ve been going almost every day. I’m struck by the differences between the SDSU gym and my new one. At SDSU, practically everyone in the gym is under 20 years old, very fit, and gorgeous. At the new place ... well, I’ll just say that the contrast is staggering. And that’s absolutely fine by me, as now, instead of being faced daily with the unattainable, I now stare at reminders of what I hope not to become as I run on the treadmill or perten up my thighs on the StairMaster®. It’s a bit like sticking a photograph of a really fat person on the freezer door to make you restrain yourself every time you reach for the Butter Pecan ice cream. At the gym, I force myself to look at the person on the elliptical trainer in front of me, repeating to myself like a mantra: “I will not become a wheezing 400 pound woman with an arse the size of an overstuffed armchair.”
Works for me, anyway.
24 may 2004 ~ 21:15
Catching up
The last couple of weeks have been such a blizzard, I hardly know where I am.
There was the last week of school, with the inevitable crush to get papers in on time. At the same time, I was moving house. Since arriving at the new place, I have been sorting through mountains of stuff, trying to find places for it all to go. It’s like trying to get toothpaste back into the tube. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with it all.
And yesterday I had to make a speech at the graduation ceremony (even though I’m not actually graduating after all - ever the glutton for punishment, I’m going to take some extra classes before I leave). I get very nervous before speaking in public, and although the fear dissipates as soon as I set foot on the podium, I never have any idea what I’m talking about. Yesterday, for example, I announced that I was going to talk about something, then talked about something completely different, and forgot to come back to my intended topic. Of course, I didn’t realize that until about ten minutes after I had finished. Oh well, it’s over now.
On a happier note, Morrissey’s new single, Irish Blood, English Heart, entered the UK singles chart at number 3 yesterday, his highest-charting single ever, either solo or with the Smiths. Amazing. And the album, You Are The Quarry, is released tomorrow in the US. I’m heading off in a moment to an in-store listening party and midnight release, so I’ll come home clutching a copy in my sweaty paw before the night is through. Not that I have to have the real thing tonight; I’ve actually had an unofficial copy of the entire album for about two weeks, and I have to say that it is absolutely his best solo album, and way up there with anything the Smiths ever did. I could go on for ever, but I’ll just say that my favourite tracks are I’m Not Sorry (beautifully understated, with an incredible vocal), I Have Forgiven Jesus (in terms of melody and production, one of the very best things the man has ever done), and Let Me Kiss You (this song - which has also recently been recorded by Nancy Sinatra - is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious: “I’ve zigzagged all over America, and I cannot find a safety haven. Say, would you let me cry on your shoulder? I’ve heard that you’ll try anything twice”).
With any luck, it will be number one in the UK this week. Fingers crossed.
17 may 2004 ~ 22:44
Work photo #1: Stapler
I was messing around with my new(ish) digital camera at work, and took this picture of an ordinary, $10 stapler using the macro feature, which can focus on objects as close as two inches from the lens. It’s fascinating that unremarkable, everyday things can become quite beautiful when viewed from an unusual angle.
5 may 2004 ~ 12:53
Spam with brains
On April 19, I made a blog post entitled “Car trouble” on this very site. The next day, I received a junk email with the subject line “Car troubles seem to happen at the worst possible time.” Spooky. Is that a coincidence, or is spam now being targeted based on the content of blog posts? If so, that’s pretty darn clever (but still annoying).
5 may 2004 ~ 12:49
Boxed in
I’m still nowhere near being done with the packing, and it’s already difficult getting from one place to another in the house, with all the boxes everywhere.
The photo above shows just one area of the house, the dining-room. The boxes there are stacked five high, four wide, and three deep. That’s just a fraction of the amount of stuff that has to be moved this coming Sunday. There’s also a ton of disassembled furniture, a lot of clothes still hanging in the closets, and loads more unpacked stuff.
I think I’m going to be busy this week!
3 may 2004 ~ 12:41
Back again
Phew! Finally, some free time to get this site back up. I’ve been working on a redesign, but haven’t had time until now to actually get anything uploaded. It’s only four o’clock in the afternoon, but I’ve already put in about eight hours of packing and hauling, as I’m moving house a week from today. The amount of stuff in the house is quite phenomenal - I’ll take some photos and post them later in the week.
I haven’t finished testing the new design for cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility, so if you see anything obviously wrong at your end, please give me a shout - thank you. Also, I’m just getting a few pages up for now, and will work on getting the archives converted over the next few days.
Guess I’d better get back to it. Now where did I leave the packing tape?
2 may 2004 ~ 15:57