"I've been working here so long I can recognize the sound of some women's urine streams from the next stall."
.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
TvDetective Quote #13
Me: I love looking at other people's kids from a distance.
TvDetective: Yeah. They're awesome. It almost makes you wish you wanted them.
TvDetective: Yeah. They're awesome. It almost makes you wish you wanted them.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Airplane permitted items
According to the TSA website , "Realistic Replicas of Explosives" are not permitted aboard airplanes. They don't say why.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Clinton Interview on Fox
Here's the first half of the interview Bill Clinton did on Fox News. Watch it.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Fishy Quote #18
"Yanno, I don't mind this job so much if I'm actually doing something that doesn't involve being annoyed by people."
Friday, July 14, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
Hell's Kitchen -- Lesbian Style
Am I the only one who sees a lesbian thing going on between Heather and Rachel on Hell's Kitchen? Of course, Rachel got kicked off tonite, so oh well.
Security Signs in Chestnut Hill, PA
After a pleasant experience at Chestnut Hill Coffee Company on Sunday, I decided to walk around and take some photos. I usually just walk up and down Germantown Avenue, so today I decided to walk off the beaten path and hit some of the side streets instead.
Chestnut Hill is the sort of place where houses like these don't look out of place:
People have things like birdbaths and little ceramic animals in their yard. Everyone has beautiful flowers planted in their front lawn. At least one family even planted orchids. In West Philly, where I live, you're lucky to see geraniums, let alone lillies and orchids.
But every bit as plentiful as the flowers, I discovered, were signs for security companies. (those companies that install alarms on your doors and windows, and then they monitor activity from their remote office. If someone breaks in, they call the police for you.) It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that nearly every house had a sign out front. And even *more* amazing than that was that almost no two houses used the same security company!! Apparently so many people out here use these services to guard their homes that the area can support a veritable shitload of these companies! (This is very different from West Philly, where you see stickers on the front door of some houses, but you pretty much assume they're all fake, designed to scare burglars away.) It also made me wonder about status symbols. Clearly, HAVING a company (or at least a sign) wasn't a status symbol, because *everyone* has one. So i wondered if some of these companies were more "presigious" (read: expensive) than others? There were more ADT and Vector signs than the others, so I assume those are the cheap, low-end companies. Here are the signs I found:
TWENTY FOUR DIFFERENT SIGNS?!!! And that's just in the short time I walked up and down a few short side streets. Imagine if I'd explored the entire neighborhood! Oh, and for the "poor" people in Chestnut Hill who can't afford a security company, there are signs around the area that let you know that "this area protected by Neighborhood Watch." I took a pic of one of them, but forgot to upload it.
Oh, and not just security signs, but *fence* signs. I mean, there's a fence there, so you can't see how beautiful the actual yard is, right? so at least I can impress you by letting you know what company made my fence:
Chestnut Hill is the sort of place where houses like these don't look out of place:
People have things like birdbaths and little ceramic animals in their yard. Everyone has beautiful flowers planted in their front lawn. At least one family even planted orchids. In West Philly, where I live, you're lucky to see geraniums, let alone lillies and orchids.
But every bit as plentiful as the flowers, I discovered, were signs for security companies. (those companies that install alarms on your doors and windows, and then they monitor activity from their remote office. If someone breaks in, they call the police for you.) It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that nearly every house had a sign out front. And even *more* amazing than that was that almost no two houses used the same security company!! Apparently so many people out here use these services to guard their homes that the area can support a veritable shitload of these companies! (This is very different from West Philly, where you see stickers on the front door of some houses, but you pretty much assume they're all fake, designed to scare burglars away.) It also made me wonder about status symbols. Clearly, HAVING a company (or at least a sign) wasn't a status symbol, because *everyone* has one. So i wondered if some of these companies were more "presigious" (read: expensive) than others? There were more ADT and Vector signs than the others, so I assume those are the cheap, low-end companies. Here are the signs I found:
TWENTY FOUR DIFFERENT SIGNS?!!! And that's just in the short time I walked up and down a few short side streets. Imagine if I'd explored the entire neighborhood! Oh, and for the "poor" people in Chestnut Hill who can't afford a security company, there are signs around the area that let you know that "this area protected by Neighborhood Watch." I took a pic of one of them, but forgot to upload it.
Oh, and not just security signs, but *fence* signs. I mean, there's a fence there, so you can't see how beautiful the actual yard is, right? so at least I can impress you by letting you know what company made my fence:
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Chestnut Hill Coffee Company. Mmmmmmm.
After an *INCREDIBLY* frustrating morning of traffic detours, I finally made it upto the top of Germantown Avenue to the Chestnut Hill Coffee Company. This place makes the best freaking coffee in town, rivaled only by my regular morning coffee hangout, La Colombe. I tried to get here last weekend with Fishy, but we ran out of time. I am generally reluctant to share my favorite places like this with other people, for fear that they'll become too popular and crowded and expensive and I won't be able to enjoy them anymore, but since nobody reads this blog anyway (well, three people do, but they already know about this place, and none of them ever come to Chestnut Hill anyway), I figure there's no danger of that happening.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that there were three people at the counter--a man and two women-- who all had their attention focused on me. That's really different from what I'm used to. (At La Colombe it's always a madhouse at the counter, and everyone working there is rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off because the line is out the door.) It kind of caught me off guard, but it was really nice and totally changed my mood after my frustrating morning.
I had a brioche with my coffee first, which I have to say was not as good as the brioche at La Colombe. I followed that up with a chocolate croissant (or pain au chocolat for you snooty French types), which also was not as good as the ones at La Colombe. It's too dense and heavy, and a little greasy, which is everything a croissant shouldn't be. Both were made by "Cake," which must be a bakery somewhere in town. Most of the pastries here, though, are made by Miel, which is in center city, just south of Walnut, I think on 17th, and I can tell you from experience they're delcious. It's one of the few places where even Fishy will spend money on dessert. (Fishy and TvDetective and I went there once and Fishy bought us a sampler tray of tiny versions of all their desserts and we devoured the entire thing. Mmmmmm.)
The atmosphere here is very nice, although slightly chilly from sitting too close to the air conditioner. (It reminds me of this...refrigerated train car I rode in when I was visting my sister in Gabon, semi-delirious with sickness from drinking the local water. It was so cold, and I kept saying, "Je suis climatise," ("I am air conditioned") which sounds every bit as strange in French as it does in English, btw) At least today, early on a Sunday afternoon, it's nice and quiet, too. Just a few people upstairs, all of us alone, reading books and typing on our laptops. As far as I'm concerned, that puts it above most of the other coffee shops I've been to in the city, which tend to be noisy and crowded. Last time I was here, though, it was much more crowded. Packed, really. I think that must have been on a Saturday, when I was here with Fishy. They're playing the Beatles "Revolver," which is one of my fave albums, and it's just the right volume, not too loud, not too soft.
IshDontThinkSo (Hey, I had to think of a nickname for you!) asked me to buy some coffee for him while I'm here so he can try it out, so I'll pick up a half pound on my way out for him. Personally, i don't make coffee at home anymore. Yes, it's cheaper. A lot cheaper. But somehow it never tastes as good as when you drink it at the cafe it came from. Take La Colombe, for instance. Nobody makes La Colombe coffee as good as La Colombe. Maybe it's the atmosphere. Maybe it's the expensive equipment they use. Maybe it's the fact you don't have to go through the hassle of making it yourself. I don't know the scientific explanation for it, but drinking it at the cafe makes it good.
I've had two cups of coffee now, so I should be good for a while (I've learned that one cup just isn't enough). It still pisses me off that I didn't get here until almost noon because of the detours. I should have been caffeinated hours ago, but at least I had a nice time while I was here.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that there were three people at the counter--a man and two women-- who all had their attention focused on me. That's really different from what I'm used to. (At La Colombe it's always a madhouse at the counter, and everyone working there is rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off because the line is out the door.) It kind of caught me off guard, but it was really nice and totally changed my mood after my frustrating morning.
I had a brioche with my coffee first, which I have to say was not as good as the brioche at La Colombe. I followed that up with a chocolate croissant (or pain au chocolat for you snooty French types), which also was not as good as the ones at La Colombe. It's too dense and heavy, and a little greasy, which is everything a croissant shouldn't be. Both were made by "Cake," which must be a bakery somewhere in town. Most of the pastries here, though, are made by Miel, which is in center city, just south of Walnut, I think on 17th, and I can tell you from experience they're delcious. It's one of the few places where even Fishy will spend money on dessert. (Fishy and TvDetective and I went there once and Fishy bought us a sampler tray of tiny versions of all their desserts and we devoured the entire thing. Mmmmmm.)
The atmosphere here is very nice, although slightly chilly from sitting too close to the air conditioner. (It reminds me of this...refrigerated train car I rode in when I was visting my sister in Gabon, semi-delirious with sickness from drinking the local water. It was so cold, and I kept saying, "Je suis climatise," ("I am air conditioned") which sounds every bit as strange in French as it does in English, btw) At least today, early on a Sunday afternoon, it's nice and quiet, too. Just a few people upstairs, all of us alone, reading books and typing on our laptops. As far as I'm concerned, that puts it above most of the other coffee shops I've been to in the city, which tend to be noisy and crowded. Last time I was here, though, it was much more crowded. Packed, really. I think that must have been on a Saturday, when I was here with Fishy. They're playing the Beatles "Revolver," which is one of my fave albums, and it's just the right volume, not too loud, not too soft.
IshDontThinkSo (Hey, I had to think of a nickname for you!) asked me to buy some coffee for him while I'm here so he can try it out, so I'll pick up a half pound on my way out for him. Personally, i don't make coffee at home anymore. Yes, it's cheaper. A lot cheaper. But somehow it never tastes as good as when you drink it at the cafe it came from. Take La Colombe, for instance. Nobody makes La Colombe coffee as good as La Colombe. Maybe it's the atmosphere. Maybe it's the expensive equipment they use. Maybe it's the fact you don't have to go through the hassle of making it yourself. I don't know the scientific explanation for it, but drinking it at the cafe makes it good.
I've had two cups of coffee now, so I should be good for a while (I've learned that one cup just isn't enough). It still pisses me off that I didn't get here until almost noon because of the detours. I should have been caffeinated hours ago, but at least I had a nice time while I was here.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Teke and pronunciation: revelling in my linguistic nerd-dom.
I'm catching up on my X-Men comics, and I noticed that Marvel (and perhaps other comic book companies) has started using the word "teke" to refer to telekenesis, as in "Jean Grey picked up the car and threw it at him with her teke." (I just asked Fishy and he says they've been using it for years, but I just noticed it.) It took me a while to figure out what the hell they were talking about. I'm like, what's this 'teke' thing that Psylocke has?
Are they trying to create a new slang for their universe? Or perhaps it makes it easier on their letterers. Or saves more space on the page for the drawings.
For you non-geeks and other people out there too lazy to look it up, telekenesis (also known as psychokinesis) is the ability to move things with your mind. My question (and I'm sure one of my thousands of regular readers will have an answer for me) is: How do you pronounce it? Here are some obvious choices (sorry. I'm too lazy to use the IPA today): teekee, teckee, teckeh.
Fishy, who is fairly insistent that his way is correct, added: tee kay (t.k.) which I hadn't thought of previously. And Rogue (my friend, not the comicbook character) pronounces it "teek," which is a good one. Jesse said he uses the same pronunciation. And I suppose "taykay" isn't unreasonable, especially if u speak a Romance language.
Here's the list, in order of my preference:
teek
tee.kee
teck.ee
teck.eh
tee.kay
tay.kay
teek.eh
Of course, another possibility is that it's supposed to be pronounced "telekinesis." There are abbreviations we use in writing all the time that we don't pronounce the way they're written. Some examples:
"The room was filled with misc. toys from my childhood."
"The library has newspapers like the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, etc."
"Mrs. Vasquez baked me a cake."
We would never pronounce the above as "misk," "ets," or "murz". We just know when we see them to pronounce the full, unabbreviated words they represent. So maybe "teke" is just another space-saving abbreviation and should be pronounced "telekinesis." Admittedly, teke is different than the above in that it doesn't have a period marking it as an abbreviation, and so far, I've been unable to think of another such abbreviation that doesn't include a period. Still, the possibility remains.
My problem with "teek" is that, although it's a perfectly reasonable pronunciation of a word spelled "teke," it's entirely unobvious how it would have evolved from "telekinesis." The only decent etymology I can come up with is for telekenesis to become "t.k.," which is Fishy's pronunciation, and to go from "tee.kay" to "teek." But I don't remember Marvel ever using "t.k." in their comics in any systemitized way. (update: Fishy has informed me that Marvel does or at least did indeed use "t.k." so maybe "teek" is the winner after all.)
"teh.keh" really makes the most sense. The problem is that it sounds really dumb. Surely teh.keh would have evolved into "tek," if for no other reason than that it sounds so much better.
Any comments or help from out there is much appreciated!
Are they trying to create a new slang for their universe? Or perhaps it makes it easier on their letterers. Or saves more space on the page for the drawings.
For you non-geeks and other people out there too lazy to look it up, telekenesis (also known as psychokinesis) is the ability to move things with your mind. My question (and I'm sure one of my thousands of regular readers will have an answer for me) is: How do you pronounce it? Here are some obvious choices (sorry. I'm too lazy to use the IPA today): teekee, teckee, teckeh.
Fishy, who is fairly insistent that his way is correct, added: tee kay (t.k.) which I hadn't thought of previously. And Rogue (my friend, not the comicbook character) pronounces it "teek," which is a good one. Jesse said he uses the same pronunciation. And I suppose "taykay" isn't unreasonable, especially if u speak a Romance language.
Here's the list, in order of my preference:
teek
tee.kee
teck.ee
teck.eh
tee.kay
tay.kay
teek.eh
Of course, another possibility is that it's supposed to be pronounced "telekinesis." There are abbreviations we use in writing all the time that we don't pronounce the way they're written. Some examples:
"The room was filled with misc. toys from my childhood."
"The library has newspapers like the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, etc."
"Mrs. Vasquez baked me a cake."
We would never pronounce the above as "misk," "ets," or "murz". We just know when we see them to pronounce the full, unabbreviated words they represent. So maybe "teke" is just another space-saving abbreviation and should be pronounced "telekinesis." Admittedly, teke is different than the above in that it doesn't have a period marking it as an abbreviation, and so far, I've been unable to think of another such abbreviation that doesn't include a period. Still, the possibility remains.
My problem with "teek" is that, although it's a perfectly reasonable pronunciation of a word spelled "teke," it's entirely unobvious how it would have evolved from "telekinesis." The only decent etymology I can come up with is for telekenesis to become "t.k.," which is Fishy's pronunciation, and to go from "tee.kay" to "teek." But I don't remember Marvel ever using "t.k." in their comics in any systemitized way. (update: Fishy has informed me that Marvel does or at least did indeed use "t.k." so maybe "teek" is the winner after all.)
"teh.keh" really makes the most sense. The problem is that it sounds really dumb. Surely teh.keh would have evolved into "tek," if for no other reason than that it sounds so much better.
Any comments or help from out there is much appreciated!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Restoring your Thinkpad after installing Linux
I'm really posting this in case someone else finds it useful. I have a Thinkpad x60s (which I love), and awhile back I installed Ubuntu Linux as a dual boot with Windows XP. Then, two nights ago, Windows contracted a particularly nasty virus. I did my best to get rid of it, but i decided I could never really trust the laptop again (email passwords, banking, credit card numbers, etc.) unless I reimaged the machine and restored it to its original factory condition, an option which IBM / Lenovo makes available by including an extra partition on the hard drive you can do "Rescue and recovery" from. So I did it.
I chose the option to wipe out all the other partitions (incluing the Linux partition) and restore the drive to its original fresh-from-the-factory state. I didn't really have anything important stored on the Linux part anyway, so I wasn't losing much.
But then, when my laptop rebooted, I got an error! And it wouldn't finish booting! The error was something like:
To make a very long story short, here is the solution I ultimately found on the web. It involves booting from a floppy disk (which I was fortunate enough to still have a few of lying around), but I don't see why you couldn't do it with a CD or USB hard drive or flash drive:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-54483
You just make the floppy disk per the instructions on the webpage, boot to it, and follow instructions. You can get an external, USB floppy drive really cheap at a computer store, but we had one at work I was able to use. It takes a while to run, so be patient.
The solution came from here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Rescue_and_Recovery,
and most helpful was this comment toward the bottom of the page from 217.146.157.238. For the record, although he did not find the first method to be successful, I did, so try it first :
Anyway, I hope someone else finds this useful at some point.
I chose the option to wipe out all the other partitions (incluing the Linux partition) and restore the drive to its original fresh-from-the-factory state. I didn't really have anything important stored on the Linux part anyway, so I wasn't losing much.
But then, when my laptop rebooted, I got an error! And it wouldn't finish booting! The error was something like:
I quickly discovered that the problem had to do with the master boot record (MBR), which I know nothing about except that I'm not supposed to touch it or it might mess up my computer, and all of the discussions online of possible solutions to my problem were too technical for me to follow, plus they were all followed with caveats of "...but don't try this solution unless you're familiar with GRUB and MBRs, etc." which as I stated, I am not. At this point, I was on the brink of depression.
Grub loading stage 1.5
Grub loading , please wait
Error 22
To make a very long story short, here is the solution I ultimately found on the web. It involves booting from a floppy disk (which I was fortunate enough to still have a few of lying around), but I don't see why you couldn't do it with a CD or USB hard drive or flash drive:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-54483
You just make the floppy disk per the instructions on the webpage, boot to it, and follow instructions. You can get an external, USB floppy drive really cheap at a computer store, but we had one at work I was able to use. It takes a while to run, so be patient.
The solution came from here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Rescue_and_Recovery,
and most helpful was this comment toward the bottom of the page from 217.146.157.238. For the record, although he did not find the first method to be successful, I did, so try it first :
I have tested the Recovery repair diskette on my T43, which was not booting the Rescue and Recovery partition anymore. I have successfully created and used the disk with an USB floppy drive. Everything works now again the same way it used to when the laptop was shipped. The tool on that floppy will offer two different major options:
"1. Repair the current master boot record" and
"2. Replace the current master boot record.".The first option did not fix the problem with the Rescue and Recovery partition on my system. When selecting the second choice, there were three new "sub-options":
"A: Supports the newer IBM Rescue & Recovery ...",
"B: Supports previous versions ..." and
"C: Supports only the main operating system environment.".For my system the choice A was successfull.
You'd think IBM / Lenovo (and they are aware of this issue, BTW) would include fixing the MBR as part of the Rescue and Recovery process.
Anyway, I hope someone else finds this useful at some point.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Depressing Moment
I just had a depessing moment. I got the letter from my employer that tells me how much my new salary will be for the coming year, and I thought I'd already been making that much. But then, we're used to moments like that where I work. Sigh....
The Four Responses
There are exactly four standard responses that Fishy has. Every time I do or say something, he does one or more of the following:
1. Shakes his head
2. Rolls his eyes
3. Sighs
4. Gives a "no" response. (ex. "No, you can't." or "No, you won't."
It reminds me of that opening scene in Dead Poets Society, when the principal is addressing the student body, and he asks them in that booming voice of his, "Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?" And all the boys stand up and respond with, "Tradition, honor, discipline, excellence." Only in my version, he asks, "Gentlemen, what are the four responses?" And they come back with "Shaking his head, rolling his eyes, sighing, and saying 'no'."
I actually told Fishy about this yesterday. He responded by shaking his said and saying, "No I don't."
The prosecution rests.
1. Shakes his head
2. Rolls his eyes
3. Sighs
4. Gives a "no" response. (ex. "No, you can't." or "No, you won't."
It reminds me of that opening scene in Dead Poets Society, when the principal is addressing the student body, and he asks them in that booming voice of his, "Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?" And all the boys stand up and respond with, "Tradition, honor, discipline, excellence." Only in my version, he asks, "Gentlemen, what are the four responses?" And they come back with "Shaking his head, rolling his eyes, sighing, and saying 'no'."
I actually told Fishy about this yesterday. He responded by shaking his said and saying, "No I don't."
The prosecution rests.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Bookmarklet for one-click tagging in del.icio.us
One click "read later" del.icio.us bookmarklet.
I often come across webpages that i want to read later, but I don't really have time to tag and describe each of them properly. So have a del.icio.us tag called xyzpdq (some people use 'toread' or 'to_read' or 'unread' etc.) that i use to tag pages to be read when i have more time. But even that takes longer than I want it to. I have to click on the "post to del.icio.us" bookmarklet, then click in the "tags" box, then type "xyzpdq," and then click save. Too much work. It should be easier. I mean, all I want to do is mark it to be read later, right?
I looked all over the web but couldn't find a bookmarklet that did this in a single click. Some came close, but usually required an additional click or two at least, and that's exactly what i was trying to avoid. Others automatically tagged the page with del.icio.us's suggested tags, and I don't like the idea of using tags that aren't my own or that I might disagree with.
So I've put together a bookmarklet that accomplishes my goal with ONE CLICK. I just click on it and continue working while del.icio.us does it's thing in the background. Basically, when I click on the bookmarklet, a window pops up behind the current browser window (so it doesn't get in your way), posts the page to my del.icio.us account with the 'xyzpdq' tag, and then closes the popup window a few seconds later, all without any additional input from me. I freaking love this bookmarklet!!
You can customize it by replacing xyzpdq in the code with a tag (or tags, separated by spaces) of your choice.
And you could have several of these bookmarklets if you wanted to. I often want to mark pages that I think my boyfriend, Fishy, would find interesting. So I could have a 2nd bookmarklet where I've replaced 'xyzpdq' with 'for:Fishy'sUserName'. Or with any other specific tag or tags you use frequently.
Here's a bookmarklet you can add to your toolbar (don't forget to change USERNAME to your own username):
bookmarklet
Here's the actual code snippet, broken into multiple lines for easier reading:
javascript:void(child_win=open('http://del.icio.us/api/posts/add?
tags=xyzpdq&user=USERNAME&description='+encodeURIComponent
(document.title)+'&url='+window.location.href,'delicious','toolbar=no,
width=500,height=150'));setTimeout(%22child_win.close()%22,5000);
window.replace(-1);
Understanding:
It assumes you're already logged into del.icio.us. Otherwise you should be prompted to do so.
If you have previously tagged the page, this bookmarklet will replace all of the tags for that page with the xyzpdq tag. If this is a concern to you, you can add (without the quotes) "&replace=no" right after the xyzpdq and before the word 'description', which will cause del.icio.us not to change your existing tags for that page and not to add the xyzpdq tag. I would much prefer to simply append xyzpdq onto any existing list of tags, but i can't figure out how to do that, so if anyone else does, please lemme know.
The popup window closes 5 seconds after it opens. That's just a safeguard built in to allow enough time to contact the del.icio.us server, but i've never had problems even when I didn't have the delay built-in. You can adjust the delay time by changing the number 5000 at the end of the code. (5000=5 seconds, 10000=10 seconds, 500 = a half second, etc.) Since the popup window is behind your active browser window, it really doesn't matter that it's hanging there a few seconds before disappearing.
This bookmarklet was inspired in part by the lazy sheep bookmarklet, which is worth checking out, although it really doesn't do what i wanted it to, and it has the additional disadvantage of relying on a third-party server. But I did examine the javascript when I was creating the oneclick bookmarklet
disclaimer: i do not know javascript. I pieced this together (with some additional help from Fishy) from other bookmarklets out there. I've only tested it on Firefox 1.5.0.4, but I don't see why it shouldn't work with other browsers.
I hope you find it as useful as I do!
I often come across webpages that i want to read later, but I don't really have time to tag and describe each of them properly. So have a del.icio.us tag called xyzpdq (some people use 'toread' or 'to_read' or 'unread' etc.) that i use to tag pages to be read when i have more time. But even that takes longer than I want it to. I have to click on the "post to del.icio.us" bookmarklet, then click in the "tags" box, then type "xyzpdq," and then click save. Too much work. It should be easier. I mean, all I want to do is mark it to be read later, right?
I looked all over the web but couldn't find a bookmarklet that did this in a single click. Some came close, but usually required an additional click or two at least, and that's exactly what i was trying to avoid. Others automatically tagged the page with del.icio.us's suggested tags, and I don't like the idea of using tags that aren't my own or that I might disagree with.
So I've put together a bookmarklet that accomplishes my goal with ONE CLICK. I just click on it and continue working while del.icio.us does it's thing in the background. Basically, when I click on the bookmarklet, a window pops up behind the current browser window (so it doesn't get in your way), posts the page to my del.icio.us account with the 'xyzpdq' tag, and then closes the popup window a few seconds later, all without any additional input from me. I freaking love this bookmarklet!!
You can customize it by replacing xyzpdq in the code with a tag (or tags, separated by spaces) of your choice.
And you could have several of these bookmarklets if you wanted to. I often want to mark pages that I think my boyfriend, Fishy, would find interesting. So I could have a 2nd bookmarklet where I've replaced 'xyzpdq' with 'for:Fishy'sUserName'. Or with any other specific tag or tags you use frequently.
Here's a bookmarklet you can add to your toolbar (don't forget to change USERNAME to your own username):
bookmarklet
Here's the actual code snippet, broken into multiple lines for easier reading:
javascript:void(child_win=open('http://del.icio.us/api/posts/add?
tags=xyzpdq&user=USERNAME&description='+encodeURIComponent
(document.title)+'&url='+window.location.href,'delicious','toolbar=no,
width=500,height=150'));setTimeout(%22child_win.close()%22,5000);
window.replace(-1);
Understanding:
It assumes you're already logged into del.icio.us. Otherwise you should be prompted to do so.
If you have previously tagged the page, this bookmarklet will replace all of the tags for that page with the xyzpdq tag. If this is a concern to you, you can add (without the quotes) "&replace=no" right after the xyzpdq and before the word 'description', which will cause del.icio.us not to change your existing tags for that page and not to add the xyzpdq tag. I would much prefer to simply append xyzpdq onto any existing list of tags, but i can't figure out how to do that, so if anyone else does, please lemme know.
The popup window closes 5 seconds after it opens. That's just a safeguard built in to allow enough time to contact the del.icio.us server, but i've never had problems even when I didn't have the delay built-in. You can adjust the delay time by changing the number 5000 at the end of the code. (5000=5 seconds, 10000=10 seconds, 500 = a half second, etc.) Since the popup window is behind your active browser window, it really doesn't matter that it's hanging there a few seconds before disappearing.
This bookmarklet was inspired in part by the lazy sheep bookmarklet, which is worth checking out, although it really doesn't do what i wanted it to, and it has the additional disadvantage of relying on a third-party server. But I did examine the javascript when I was creating the oneclick bookmarklet
disclaimer: i do not know javascript. I pieced this together (with some additional help from Fishy) from other bookmarklets out there. I've only tested it on Firefox 1.5.0.4, but I don't see why it shouldn't work with other browsers.
I hope you find it as useful as I do!
Friday, June 16, 2006
Jamón serrano
Last night I had to go to the post office to send off some stuff I'd sold on ebay. And once i'd walked that far, I figured I might as well head down to DiBrunos and get some dinner. When i got there, my the Jamón serrano in the deli case caught my eye. (By all accounts the Jamón Iberico is infinitely better--and more expensive--but to my knowledge it's still unavailable in this country. If someone knows otherwise, LET ME KNOW!) I slyly looked in both directions, and then asked the nice man behind the counter for 5 oz., which he expertly sliced and wrapped in a nice little package for me. I took that and about 6 oz. of Garrotxa cheese home, thinking I'd have a nice little snack before dinner. By the time i got home, both the cheese and the ham were room temperature, which was perfect. I wasted no time unwrapping them. I sliced the cheese and slowly began nibbling away as I listened to Terry Gross on NPR (honestly, tho, I don't even remember who she was interviewing becuase I was so focused on the food). Every few minutes, I'd say to myself, "well, I'll just have a little more," thinking I'd save the rest for the next night when Fishy came home. (He's a picky eater, but how could you not love this stuff??) By the time I was half-way through the food, I remember thinking to myself, "Who am I kidding? I'm going to eat this whole thing." And I did. As i crumpled up the packaging the meat and cheese had come in, I was stuffed. It was definitely more than I should have eaten. But I'd do it again.
Monday, June 05, 2006
New Trance Podcast
I just started listening to a new Trance music podcast called “Trance Rotation,” and so far it’s awesome. You can google it on iTunes. (whoa. did I really just type that? more on that later.) Anyway, it’s great for blocking out the two annoying Penn co-eds sitting next to me here in the café, who are talking so loudly and quickly and non-stop that they could easily replace the actress in T-Mobile’s chatty cheerleader commercial. (well, my ER-4’s obviously don’t hurt, either.) Great music, too, if you like trance, and (thankfully) with a minumum of vocals. Hats off and much thanks to DJ Addison.
I'm listening to episode #10 now. (2 hours of music!) Here's the playlist if you're interested:
01) John O'Callaghan vs. Mike Foyle - Shipwrecked (Club Mix AvB Intro Edit)
02) Viet - Sky (Magik Muzik Remix)
03) Tim Hornsby - Protect You (Dub Mix)
04) Kyau Vs. Albert - Kiksu
05) Sunlounger - White Sand (DJ Shah's Original Mix)
06) Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel and Dresden Mix)
07) Jose Zamora and Damian DP ft. Paleday - Transatlantic (Andy Moor Remix)
08) Allende - Retrograde
09) David Forbes - Answers
10) Nitrous Oxide - Frozen Dreams
11) Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor - Air For Life (Mirco de Govia Mix)
12) Sean Tyas - Pacifier
13) Emphased Reality and Spherical - Realsphere (Static Blue Remix)
14) John Askew - All or Nothing
15) Marc Dawn - Random Walk (Nu Nrg Remix)
16) Avanto - The Flute (Orkidea Remix)
17) Underworld - Born Slippy (Paul Van Dyk Mix)
18) Matt Darey - Eternity (Second Sun Mix)
I'm listening to episode #10 now. (2 hours of music!) Here's the playlist if you're interested:
01) John O'Callaghan vs. Mike Foyle - Shipwrecked (Club Mix AvB Intro Edit)
02) Viet - Sky (Magik Muzik Remix)
03) Tim Hornsby - Protect You (Dub Mix)
04) Kyau Vs. Albert - Kiksu
05) Sunlounger - White Sand (DJ Shah's Original Mix)
06) Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel and Dresden Mix)
07) Jose Zamora and Damian DP ft. Paleday - Transatlantic (Andy Moor Remix)
08) Allende - Retrograde
09) David Forbes - Answers
10) Nitrous Oxide - Frozen Dreams
11) Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor - Air For Life (Mirco de Govia Mix)
12) Sean Tyas - Pacifier
13) Emphased Reality and Spherical - Realsphere (Static Blue Remix)
14) John Askew - All or Nothing
15) Marc Dawn - Random Walk (Nu Nrg Remix)
16) Avanto - The Flute (Orkidea Remix)
17) Underworld - Born Slippy (Paul Van Dyk Mix)
18) Matt Darey - Eternity (Second Sun Mix)
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Loud Bastards
In the immortal words of a good friend and colleague of mine: “You know what my problem is? I hate people.” It’s a feeling I can occasionally relate to. And by “occasionally,” I mean *right now*. I’m at La Colombe, as I am every morning, and there is a group of men next to me who are talking so loudly and so non-stop that I want to slap the living crap out of them. And to make matters worse, the group keeps growing. It started with two guys. Then someone else came in and (loudly) joined them. Then *another* guy came in and (loudly) joined them. Then one left, but not unlike cutting off the head of the hydra, he was replaced by two more. And now they are just continuing to loudly talk in a very loud--
HOLY SHIT! ANOTHER ONE!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, SOME KIND OF CONSPIRACY!!! EVEN AS I SIT HERE TYPING THIS, THEIR LARGE LOUD ANNOYING GROUP HAS JUST GROWN LARGER, LOUDER, AND MORE ANNOYING! The new guy just asked me if he could take the empty chair from my table. I politely smiled and said, “no problem,” but what I really wanted to say was, “Depends. Are you going to SHUT THE HELL UP?!” Damn my pleasant demeanor and good upbringing!
It’s not really their fault. They’re not really doing anything wrong. I mean, that doesn’t make me hate them any less, but they’re just hanging out (loudly) in a café where everyone hangs out. And the whole café is loud, but what’s annoying is the fact that they’re sitting so close to me that I can hear their individual words and sentences instead of just the generic loud hum that people generate when they’re not sitting so damned close. Also, I just can’t relate to wanting to sit in a large, loud, annoying group and talk in a loud, annoying way. I like to sit alone, or maybe with a friend, and hang out in a quiet way. I don’t understand this philosophy of, “Hey! Look! Another person who can join us and talk loudly! Hooray! The more the merrier!” As far as I’m concerned, it’s “the more, the annoyinger.” How come nobody ever sits next to me who just wants to read a book or work on their laptop? How come it’s always loud bastards?
HOLY SHIT! ANOTHER ONE!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, SOME KIND OF CONSPIRACY!!! EVEN AS I SIT HERE TYPING THIS, THEIR LARGE LOUD ANNOYING GROUP HAS JUST GROWN LARGER, LOUDER, AND MORE ANNOYING! The new guy just asked me if he could take the empty chair from my table. I politely smiled and said, “no problem,” but what I really wanted to say was, “Depends. Are you going to SHUT THE HELL UP?!” Damn my pleasant demeanor and good upbringing!
It’s not really their fault. They’re not really doing anything wrong. I mean, that doesn’t make me hate them any less, but they’re just hanging out (loudly) in a café where everyone hangs out. And the whole café is loud, but what’s annoying is the fact that they’re sitting so close to me that I can hear their individual words and sentences instead of just the generic loud hum that people generate when they’re not sitting so damned close. Also, I just can’t relate to wanting to sit in a large, loud, annoying group and talk in a loud, annoying way. I like to sit alone, or maybe with a friend, and hang out in a quiet way. I don’t understand this philosophy of, “Hey! Look! Another person who can join us and talk loudly! Hooray! The more the merrier!” As far as I’m concerned, it’s “the more, the annoyinger.” How come nobody ever sits next to me who just wants to read a book or work on their laptop? How come it’s always loud bastards?
Saturday, June 03, 2006
The Day of Insects, or How I Leared to Love the Bugs
It's days like today that make me wish I had a 105mm macro lens. Sigh... one day...
I was outside a lot today, mostly because of the recent rain. I discovered that the drain spout in the front of my house was clogged, and the rain water just poured off the edge of the roof onto the porch below, no doubt damaging the wood. And my back yard flooded yesterday, which I discovered was due to the fact that the drain in my yard was clogged with all sorts of nasty gunk.
So I went out on the roof this afternoon and cleared out the spout. As I climbed back in the window, I decided to put the screens down instead of the storm windows, and let some air into the house. Well, as I lowered the screen, a whole bunch of small green spiders fell down too, maybe 10-20 of them. They were all dead. I've never seen them before, and I don't know what kind of spider they are. Here's a photo of them (click to enlarge):
I wiped them all up with some Windex and a paper towel, in case they planned on coming back to life later on and infesting my living room.
Then I went to the back yard. I never have a need to go into the back yard, especially all winter long, so it's always a mess out there, covered with leaves twigs and over grown ivy and stuff like that. And that's what usually clogs up the drain. While I was out there, I found all these red bugs on the lid to the garbage can that's been sitting out there since last July. Here are a couple photos:
Yes, they really are that red. And they were all huddled together one that one spot, leaving the rest of the lid bare. I suppose they were probably doing it for warmth. (today was the coolest it's been in a couple weeks) I don't know for sure what they are, but a few minutes on google trying variations of "red bugs" eventually brought me to Oncopeltus fasciatus, or the Large Milkweed Bug, which, if not identical, still looks remarkably similar.
While I was out in the back yard, I saw a very interesting mosquito. It had stripes. I didn't think too much of it except to note that I'd never seen a striped mosquito before. I usually think of mosquitos generically. That is to say, I don't think about there being different KINDS of mosquitos. A mosquito is a mosquito is a mosquito, right? Wrong. I googled "striped mosquito" which brought me to Aedes albopictus, aka the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Apparently it can transmit both Dengue Fever AND some forms of encephalitis. Oooh. fun. So I'm off now to catch an example of this striped mosquito. I didn't think much of it before, but now that I've read about the ATM, I'm a little concerned, so I think I should verify what kind of mosquito it is that I just saw biting me.
I'm back! (that was fast) I put on some jeans and a long-sleeve tee and I took a tupperware container outside to start looking for mosquitos. It's amazing how there's never a mosquito around when you need one. I was out there 15 or 20 minutes and still couldn't find a thing. And then I was like, "if you let me catch you and take your photo, I promise I'll let you go when I'm done." And I swear, not 5 seconds later I caught a mosquito. But I wasn't sure it was the right kind. I took it inside and looked at it in the light through the tupperware and decided that it didn't look very striped after all. But all of a sudden, there in my kitchen, was ANOTHER mosquito! I quickly got another container and a couple minutes later I had 2 mosquitos in my posession. And the second one was striped!
How ironic is that? You know that song, "Ring Them Bells," where the woman "travels 'round the world to meet the guy next door"? Well I had to wander through my back yard to catch the striped mosquito in my kitchen. But I digress...
Here are the photos of the striped mosquito, and there's not a doubt in my mind that it's the Asian Tiger Mosquito:
It's really quite beautiful. The photos don't do it justice. I really wish I'd had a good macro lens to take better photos of it.
Just so you know, I kept my end of the bargain and let both mosquitos go outside, and then I ran back in before they could swoop around and attack me.
I was outside a lot today, mostly because of the recent rain. I discovered that the drain spout in the front of my house was clogged, and the rain water just poured off the edge of the roof onto the porch below, no doubt damaging the wood. And my back yard flooded yesterday, which I discovered was due to the fact that the drain in my yard was clogged with all sorts of nasty gunk.
So I went out on the roof this afternoon and cleared out the spout. As I climbed back in the window, I decided to put the screens down instead of the storm windows, and let some air into the house. Well, as I lowered the screen, a whole bunch of small green spiders fell down too, maybe 10-20 of them. They were all dead. I've never seen them before, and I don't know what kind of spider they are. Here's a photo of them (click to enlarge):
I wiped them all up with some Windex and a paper towel, in case they planned on coming back to life later on and infesting my living room.
Then I went to the back yard. I never have a need to go into the back yard, especially all winter long, so it's always a mess out there, covered with leaves twigs and over grown ivy and stuff like that. And that's what usually clogs up the drain. While I was out there, I found all these red bugs on the lid to the garbage can that's been sitting out there since last July. Here are a couple photos:
Yes, they really are that red. And they were all huddled together one that one spot, leaving the rest of the lid bare. I suppose they were probably doing it for warmth. (today was the coolest it's been in a couple weeks) I don't know for sure what they are, but a few minutes on google trying variations of "red bugs" eventually brought me to Oncopeltus fasciatus, or the Large Milkweed Bug, which, if not identical, still looks remarkably similar.While I was out in the back yard, I saw a very interesting mosquito. It had stripes. I didn't think too much of it except to note that I'd never seen a striped mosquito before. I usually think of mosquitos generically. That is to say, I don't think about there being different KINDS of mosquitos. A mosquito is a mosquito is a mosquito, right? Wrong. I googled "striped mosquito" which brought me to Aedes albopictus, aka the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Apparently it can transmit both Dengue Fever AND some forms of encephalitis. Oooh. fun. So I'm off now to catch an example of this striped mosquito. I didn't think much of it before, but now that I've read about the ATM, I'm a little concerned, so I think I should verify what kind of mosquito it is that I just saw biting me.
I'm back! (that was fast) I put on some jeans and a long-sleeve tee and I took a tupperware container outside to start looking for mosquitos. It's amazing how there's never a mosquito around when you need one. I was out there 15 or 20 minutes and still couldn't find a thing. And then I was like, "if you let me catch you and take your photo, I promise I'll let you go when I'm done." And I swear, not 5 seconds later I caught a mosquito. But I wasn't sure it was the right kind. I took it inside and looked at it in the light through the tupperware and decided that it didn't look very striped after all. But all of a sudden, there in my kitchen, was ANOTHER mosquito! I quickly got another container and a couple minutes later I had 2 mosquitos in my posession. And the second one was striped!
How ironic is that? You know that song, "Ring Them Bells," where the woman "travels 'round the world to meet the guy next door"? Well I had to wander through my back yard to catch the striped mosquito in my kitchen. But I digress...
Here are the photos of the striped mosquito, and there's not a doubt in my mind that it's the Asian Tiger Mosquito:
It's really quite beautiful. The photos don't do it justice. I really wish I'd had a good macro lens to take better photos of it.
Just so you know, I kept my end of the bargain and let both mosquitos go outside, and then I ran back in before they could swoop around and attack me.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Dog People
I’m at La Colombe in my normal seat, and some woman left her dog tied up outside, and it kept barking. Not in an angry, aggressive way at first. More like a pathetic “where are you, master? Where did you go? Why did you leave me here?” sort of way. Then it started barking more aggressively AND jumping up at people as they left the café with food and coffee. And it’s not like the lady tied it up to run in for a coffee-to-go. No, siree. She got a mug of coffee and SAT DOWN at a table with a friend and left her dog outside. Why did she BRING the dog if she was just going leave it outside, tied up?At some point I realized that there was a second, almost identical dog out there with it, but not tied up. We actually have leash laws in this city, u know. I so wanted to call the city dog catcher (do we still have one of those?) except that punishes the dog more than the owner, since it’ll end up being killed, prolly. She went out once and gave them a good talking to, and scratched them behind the ears. Yeah, THAT’ll teach ‘em, lady. That worked for about 60 seconds, and then it started up again. People had to hold their coffee up high to keep the dogs from getting to it. I was about to go over and say something to her. I wish Noddy’d been here. She’d’ve backed me up. Finally the woman and the guy she was with got up and left. Dog people, I’m telling ya.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Fishy Quote #16
When we were in Atlanta, Fishy sighed at one point and said, "I have a lack of indecent proposals in my life."
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Atlanta
Fishy and I are in Atlanta for vacation.
First of all. Atlanta: gayest city I have ever been to in my life. And I've been to some pretty gay cities. I swear, everyone here is gay. Even Fishy, who always compl
We got here Wednesday night after some thunderstorms delayed our flights.
Thursday for lunch we drove to the Little Five Points area. We ended up eating at a place called "Savage Pizza." We decided to split a 12" pizza, which was NOT enough food, but we figured we could always get a snack later in the day, which we did. It's decorated with all sorts of comic book related art, action figures hanging from the ceiling, paintings of comic book covers, and the bathroom is literally wallpapered with pages from various comic books. All-in-all, a very satisfying decorating scheme. We walked around that area for a while after lunch. There are several cool stores there, and they have a really nice little natural foods store called something like "Sevananda," where Fishy bought some tasty vegan blueberry crisp for us to share.
Savage Pizza in Little Five Points
After we left that part of town, I was dying for some caffeine, so we went to this nice little gay bookstore/coffeeshop I'd read about on the web called Outwrite, on Piedmont Ave. (It was there that we saw our first Asian in Atlanta. How ironic is it that the first Asian person we see here is also gay??) Anyway, I had a coffee and Fishy & I split a piece of Chocolate Raspberry Cake. Fishy mostly just liked the frosting and left the rest for me.
Outwrite Bookstore
After coffee, we walked around a bit to see what else was in the area. We came across Piedmont Park and went in. It's absolutely beautiful. Although that was mitigated somewhat when we saw this woman take her dog over to a water fountain, and let it not only drink from the fountain, but slobber all over it and lick it everywhere with its big ugly wet dog tongue. Fishy stood motionless for a moment, in shock at what we had just seen, and then said, "I *WAS* going to get some water from that fountain." WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING?!!! She then proceeded to let her monster-sized dog run free as she passed a sign that said "Leashes Required For All Dogs." (This is the problem with dog people. They think these things are completely acceptable. Cat people would never be so rude.) I wish I had her name to print here plus a better shot of her face so that everyone knows what a bitch she is. "A bitch with a bitch," we joked.
The rude bitch who let her dog slobber all over the water fountain
As we walked through the park, I took some photos that I hope to turn into panoramas. We'll see how they turn out. It's a very peaceful park, with not many people (at least during the workday on a Thursday). At one point, we came across the Atlanta Botanical Garden. They had these really cool, colorful scuptures inside that had caught our eye through the gate, so we walked around (there was a lot of walking today) to the entrance and decided to go in. Despite our initial hesitation at the $12 entrance fee, it turned out to be totally worth it, (even for Fishy, who as you all know is a cheap bastard) and we spent the bulk of our day there. The Niki de Saint Phalle outdoor sculpture exhibit is the largest ever of its kind, apparently, and they brought the sculptures in from all over the world, including the 8-ton La Cabeza from San Diego. (It was this huge, colorful skull. And you could even go inside it, which was lined with mirrors, and look out at the garden through the teeth.) The grounds are quite large, and include a small Japanese garden, a frog pond, green house, orchid house, aquatic plant pond, rock garden, a small woods, a children's garden, and more. I used up almost half of the memory card on my D70 there (I love taking photos. Have I mentioned that?), and we still have 2 more days left in this trip! Fishy took a bunch of photos, too, but wasn't very happy with how a lot of them turned out, unfortunately. I wish he'd buy a Digital Rebel like he's wanted for so long. He'd enjoy it so much. Right now he has a very tiny little camera that literally fits inside an altoids tin. It's great for basic photos, but when you start wanting high quality photos in low-light, it just doesn't do as well as he'd like. And it's not like you can jack up the ISO on camera like that.
Fishy bought some really pretty stones at the gift shop for his mom for Mother's Day. Even I was surprised at how inexpensive they were. In Philly, they would have cost a dollar or two a stone. But he ended up getting like 20 for $5. He's never been one to turn down a bargain, after all. :)
For dinner we went to Atlanta Underground. Or is it Underground Atlanta? Anyway, we were remarkably unimpressed. I told Fishy, "I have never seen a more touristy place in my life." He replied with two words: "Fisherman's Wharf." I stood corrected. Anyway, we ate at one of those asian places in the foodcourt that sells bourbon chicken. The place as a whole reminded us both a lot of the Gallery mall in Philly (that's not a compliment), with mostly low-end stores selling cheap things, and lots of those carts that sell things like mugs with your child's photo on them. The high point of our underground experience was that I was able to get Fishy two of those pressed pennies he collects, the kind where you put two quarters an a penny into a machine and turn a crank and your penny comes out flattened with a design on it. I always get them for Fishy when i can.
Atlanta Underground
We got back to our room around 9pm and never went out again. To tired, and not really in the mood for a gay bar, despite the bathing suit contest going on at the Compound. So we watched Keith Olbermann on MSNBC til 1am and then went to sleep.
Friday, May 12.
I had breakfast while Fishy remained in bed. I was *SO* tempted to get the buffet, except for Fishy's warning as I'd left our hotel room: "NO OMELETTES!" So i got only an English muffin, a coffee, and then an OJ for Fishy. And still he sighed when he found out. Sigh... (See, Fishy?!! I can sigh too!!) I sat in the booth at the hotel restaurant surfing the web and checking my email as I drank my coffee. I overheard one of the waitresses saying, "I gotta get me one of those laptops too!"
The Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium was the one vital part of this trip. If we did nothing else in Atlanta, we were going to be sure to make it to the Aquarium. When we got there, though, the lines were outrageous. If you go, be SURE to buy your tickets ahead of time. Tickets are sold for a certain time of day, and they sell out because they're still so new and popular, so get them online. We got there at 12:45 and had to wait until 2pm until we could get in. Fishy was clearly frustrated by it all, and I felt really bad for him. But time flew pretty quickly (in hindsight, at least, and we kept Fishy's blood sugar ramped up with half of a chicken pesto sandwich we'd sneaked past the guards, so that kept him less grumpy than usual.)
The aquarium was pretty great, but extremely crowded, mostly with small annoying children. They need to have "adult swim" hour or something for people who don't want hoardes of unruly school children surrounding them like gnats on a humid summer evening in a swamp. But I digress.... We were really impressed with the fish. Our favorite was the Ocean Voyage, which has this HUMONGOUS tank that contains thousands of fish, several schools of manta rays, and two very large whales, Ralph and Norton. We spent more time there than anywhere else in the aquarium complex. Second to the whales, my favorite part was the small-but-impressive jellyfish exhibit, and the leafy sea dragon, which must be seen to be fully appreciated. Oh, and they had another pressed penny machine, so I got Fishy 4 more pennies (aquarium-themed) for his collection.
After we left the aquarium, on our walk back down Baker Street to the car, we came upon a 70-ish year old man, who saw my camera and started talking to us about taking pictures. Well, his english was OK, but he was still very confusing. We also weren't sure whether he was crazy, or just lonely and talkative, or what. From what we could make out, he was Polish, and had spent time in a concentration camp. He also seemed to be talking about a concentration camp right there in Atlanta, where Olympic Village was. And he talked a lot about the Jews. At first, we thought he was Jewish, but later he said that it was the Jews who'd put him in a concentration camp in Poland, but that he never knew why. He talked about how Hitler's original last name was Frankenberger and that he was Jewish, and how other Nazi officials were Jewish. Then he told us that President Clinton was actually Jewish. As I said, hard to tell. And something about a woman doctor at a nearby clinic who had previously been at the concentration camp. He seemed like a nice man, though, regardless of his other possible insane or anti-Semetic flaws. As Fishy said, it might have been that he saw two young(ish) people who hadn't lived through the "World War Second" like he had, and saw it as an opportunity to pass on his knowledge. He said that he'd written hundreds of pages about his story, and that now he'd add his conversation with us to his writings. If I'd been a little more sure that he wasn't potentially dangerous, I would have taken his picture, hoping that someone out there reading this might know more about him, because he was a very interesting person to listen to.
Next came East Atlanta. For our afternoon coffee, we went to Joe's Coffee House, where we arrived just in time before a huge crowd showed up. I got a coffee/chocolate frappe and Fishy got a raspberry italian soda. We split a piece of German chocolate cake. We walked around the area for a bit (small, but nice) before getting back into the car.
Krispy Kreme
Saturday
The day started with lunch. We ate at a place called Joli Kobe Bakery, a Japanese-owned French bakery that had wonderful pastries. We had brunch there before heading on our way. Good food. Recommended.
Today's main event was the Fernbank Museum. It was highly reminiscent of The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly. Or the Franklin Institute. It was smaller than we'd imagined it would be, but we had a really nice time there, even though it's clearly intended primarily for children. We also saw the "Amazon" IMAX film, which we hadn't seen before. They also had two amazing dinosaurs in the main gallery. I think it was an Argentinosaurus and a gigantosaurs.
Part of any good visit to a new city includes a search for the best cup of coffee in town. According to the websites I visited this morning, Aurora Coffee was the place to go. Interestingly, more than one person commented on the rude service there, but we had no problem. Unfortunately, their only real non-coffee drink was expensive "Fresh Samantha"-like juice, which Dan didn't want to pay for, so I drank my (very tasty) cup of coffee while Fishy read a comic book left over from Free Comic Book Day last week.
I knew Fishy was hungry (because Fishy is always hungry), so we headed up the street to Belly General Store, which was supposed to have good cupcakes. Fishy got a vanilla one, which was quite moist, but which he thought was undercooked and smelled funny. I had to agree about the smell, which was vinegaresque, or perhaps even slightly moldy. But the cinnamon raisin bagel I had, we both thought, was delicious.
Jelly General Store
Afterward, we walked around the shops there, in the Virginia Highland area. Fishy got a mother's day card at CVS (with hours to spare), we both tried some free samples at an upscale food shop (the kind of place that sells a small bottle of lemon pear marmalade for $8), and we bought a "mini-cone" of Geranium flavored gelato for $1 at an ice-cream parlor where the salesgirl was the most non-friendly person we've encountered so far on this trip.
Oh! And we met Jesus Christ. Well, that's how she introduced herself, anyway. A pretty woman sitting on a bench saw my camera as we walked by and asked,
"What are you taking pictures of?"
"Everything." I responded truthfully, smiling.
"Tell me! Tell me!" she said. "Do you want to take a picture of Jesus Christ? Here I am, the genuine article."
At this point, I was still unsure whether she was just really friendly, or whether she was also crazy. Then I got a whiff of her and realized she was probably crazy. It was that I-haven't-bathed-in-three-months kind of smell. But she was indeed very friendly, and we talked with her for a few minutes. She showed us the stuff she'd been writing, and drawing. She even drew a picture of "the spirit" of "one of her personalities" while we watched, and she labelled it "Atlanta." I guess she is the spirit of Atlanta, perhaps? Anyway, I took a few photos of her (she especially wanted her photo taken with her Evian water, which she said was her favorite), and we eventually said good-bye.
The woman who called herself Jesus Christ
We walked around a bit more and ultimately ended up at Soul Vegetarian restaurant for dinner. It was Fishy's suggestion, which was more than a little shocking given that he'd specifically said he wanted "meat" for dinner. It was a medium-sized place, run by African Hebrews (or at least African-American Hebrews in this case), and the food, although vegan, was delicious. And the service was very friendly. The best part, we both agreed, was the vegan Mac & Cheese.
Soul Vegetarian Restaurant
We ended the evening back at Krispy Kreme again, where I got two hot, and Fishy got two Strawberries-and-Cream donuts before driving back to the hotel for an early bedtime, since my plane leaves tomorrow morning.
First of all. Atlanta: gayest city I have ever been to in my life. And I've been to some pretty gay cities. I swear, everyone here is gay. Even Fishy, who always compl
We got here Wednesday night after some thunderstorms delayed our flights.
Thursday for lunch we drove to the Little Five Points area. We ended up eating at a place called "Savage Pizza." We decided to split a 12" pizza, which was NOT enough food, but we figured we could always get a snack later in the day, which we did. It's decorated with all sorts of comic book related art, action figures hanging from the ceiling, paintings of comic book covers, and the bathroom is literally wallpapered with pages from various comic books. All-in-all, a very satisfying decorating scheme. We walked around that area for a while after lunch. There are several cool stores there, and they have a really nice little natural foods store called something like "Sevananda," where Fishy bought some tasty vegan blueberry crisp for us to share.
Savage Pizza in Little Five PointsAfter we left that part of town, I was dying for some caffeine, so we went to this nice little gay bookstore/coffeeshop I'd read about on the web called Outwrite, on Piedmont Ave. (It was there that we saw our first Asian in Atlanta. How ironic is it that the first Asian person we see here is also gay??) Anyway, I had a coffee and Fishy & I split a piece of Chocolate Raspberry Cake. Fishy mostly just liked the frosting and left the rest for me.
Outwrite BookstoreAfter coffee, we walked around a bit to see what else was in the area. We came across Piedmont Park and went in. It's absolutely beautiful. Although that was mitigated somewhat when we saw this woman take her dog over to a water fountain, and let it not only drink from the fountain, but slobber all over it and lick it everywhere with its big ugly wet dog tongue. Fishy stood motionless for a moment, in shock at what we had just seen, and then said, "I *WAS* going to get some water from that fountain." WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING?!!! She then proceeded to let her monster-sized dog run free as she passed a sign that said "Leashes Required For All Dogs." (This is the problem with dog people. They think these things are completely acceptable. Cat people would never be so rude.) I wish I had her name to print here plus a better shot of her face so that everyone knows what a bitch she is. "A bitch with a bitch," we joked.
The rude bitch who let her dog slobber all over the water fountainAs we walked through the park, I took some photos that I hope to turn into panoramas. We'll see how they turn out. It's a very peaceful park, with not many people (at least during the workday on a Thursday). At one point, we came across the Atlanta Botanical Garden. They had these really cool, colorful scuptures inside that had caught our eye through the gate, so we walked around (there was a lot of walking today) to the entrance and decided to go in. Despite our initial hesitation at the $12 entrance fee, it turned out to be totally worth it, (even for Fishy, who as you all know is a cheap bastard) and we spent the bulk of our day there. The Niki de Saint Phalle outdoor sculpture exhibit is the largest ever of its kind, apparently, and they brought the sculptures in from all over the world, including the 8-ton La Cabeza from San Diego. (It was this huge, colorful skull. And you could even go inside it, which was lined with mirrors, and look out at the garden through the teeth.) The grounds are quite large, and include a small Japanese garden, a frog pond, green house, orchid house, aquatic plant pond, rock garden, a small woods, a children's garden, and more. I used up almost half of the memory card on my D70 there (I love taking photos. Have I mentioned that?), and we still have 2 more days left in this trip! Fishy took a bunch of photos, too, but wasn't very happy with how a lot of them turned out, unfortunately. I wish he'd buy a Digital Rebel like he's wanted for so long. He'd enjoy it so much. Right now he has a very tiny little camera that literally fits inside an altoids tin. It's great for basic photos, but when you start wanting high quality photos in low-light, it just doesn't do as well as he'd like. And it's not like you can jack up the ISO on camera like that.
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Atlanta Botanical Garden
Fishy bought some really pretty stones at the gift shop for his mom for Mother's Day. Even I was surprised at how inexpensive they were. In Philly, they would have cost a dollar or two a stone. But he ended up getting like 20 for $5. He's never been one to turn down a bargain, after all. :)
For dinner we went to Atlanta Underground. Or is it Underground Atlanta? Anyway, we were remarkably unimpressed. I told Fishy, "I have never seen a more touristy place in my life." He replied with two words: "Fisherman's Wharf." I stood corrected. Anyway, we ate at one of those asian places in the foodcourt that sells bourbon chicken. The place as a whole reminded us both a lot of the Gallery mall in Philly (that's not a compliment), with mostly low-end stores selling cheap things, and lots of those carts that sell things like mugs with your child's photo on them. The high point of our underground experience was that I was able to get Fishy two of those pressed pennies he collects, the kind where you put two quarters an a penny into a machine and turn a crank and your penny comes out flattened with a design on it. I always get them for Fishy when i can.
Atlanta UndergroundFriday, May 12.
I had breakfast while Fishy remained in bed. I was *SO* tempted to get the buffet, except for Fishy's warning as I'd left our hotel room: "NO OMELETTES!" So i got only an English muffin, a coffee, and then an OJ for Fishy. And still he sighed when he found out. Sigh... (See, Fishy?!! I can sigh too!!) I sat in the booth at the hotel restaurant surfing the web and checking my email as I drank my coffee. I overheard one of the waitresses saying, "I gotta get me one of those laptops too!"
The Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium was the one vital part of this trip. If we did nothing else in Atlanta, we were going to be sure to make it to the Aquarium. When we got there, though, the lines were outrageous. If you go, be SURE to buy your tickets ahead of time. Tickets are sold for a certain time of day, and they sell out because they're still so new and popular, so get them online. We got there at 12:45 and had to wait until 2pm until we could get in. Fishy was clearly frustrated by it all, and I felt really bad for him. But time flew pretty quickly (in hindsight, at least, and we kept Fishy's blood sugar ramped up with half of a chicken pesto sandwich we'd sneaked past the guards, so that kept him less grumpy than usual.)
The aquarium was pretty great, but extremely crowded, mostly with small annoying children. They need to have "adult swim" hour or something for people who don't want hoardes of unruly school children surrounding them like gnats on a humid summer evening in a swamp. But I digress.... We were really impressed with the fish. Our favorite was the Ocean Voyage, which has this HUMONGOUS tank that contains thousands of fish, several schools of manta rays, and two very large whales, Ralph and Norton. We spent more time there than anywhere else in the aquarium complex. Second to the whales, my favorite part was the small-but-impressive jellyfish exhibit, and the leafy sea dragon, which must be seen to be fully appreciated. Oh, and they had another pressed penny machine, so I got Fishy 4 more pennies (aquarium-themed) for his collection.
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The Georgia Aquarium
After we left the aquarium, on our walk back down Baker Street to the car, we came upon a 70-ish year old man, who saw my camera and started talking to us about taking pictures. Well, his english was OK, but he was still very confusing. We also weren't sure whether he was crazy, or just lonely and talkative, or what. From what we could make out, he was Polish, and had spent time in a concentration camp. He also seemed to be talking about a concentration camp right there in Atlanta, where Olympic Village was. And he talked a lot about the Jews. At first, we thought he was Jewish, but later he said that it was the Jews who'd put him in a concentration camp in Poland, but that he never knew why. He talked about how Hitler's original last name was Frankenberger and that he was Jewish, and how other Nazi officials were Jewish. Then he told us that President Clinton was actually Jewish. As I said, hard to tell. And something about a woman doctor at a nearby clinic who had previously been at the concentration camp. He seemed like a nice man, though, regardless of his other possible insane or anti-Semetic flaws. As Fishy said, it might have been that he saw two young(ish) people who hadn't lived through the "World War Second" like he had, and saw it as an opportunity to pass on his knowledge. He said that he'd written hundreds of pages about his story, and that now he'd add his conversation with us to his writings. If I'd been a little more sure that he wasn't potentially dangerous, I would have taken his picture, hoping that someone out there reading this might know more about him, because he was a very interesting person to listen to.
Next came East Atlanta. For our afternoon coffee, we went to Joe's Coffee House, where we arrived just in time before a huge crowd showed up. I got a coffee/chocolate frappe and Fishy got a raspberry italian soda. We split a piece of German chocolate cake. We walked around the area for a bit (small, but nice) before getting back into the car.
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Joe's East Atlanta Coffee Shop
Saturday
The day started with lunch. We ate at a place called Joli Kobe Bakery, a Japanese-owned French bakery that had wonderful pastries. We had brunch there before heading on our way. Good food. Recommended.
Today's main event was the Fernbank Museum. It was highly reminiscent of The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly. Or the Franklin Institute. It was smaller than we'd imagined it would be, but we had a really nice time there, even though it's clearly intended primarily for children. We also saw the "Amazon" IMAX film, which we hadn't seen before. They also had two amazing dinosaurs in the main gallery. I think it was an Argentinosaurus and a gigantosaurs.
Dinosaurs at the Fernbank Museum
Part of any good visit to a new city includes a search for the best cup of coffee in town. According to the websites I visited this morning, Aurora Coffee was the place to go. Interestingly, more than one person commented on the rude service there, but we had no problem. Unfortunately, their only real non-coffee drink was expensive "Fresh Samantha"-like juice, which Dan didn't want to pay for, so I drank my (very tasty) cup of coffee while Fishy read a comic book left over from Free Comic Book Day last week.
Aurora Coffee
I knew Fishy was hungry (because Fishy is always hungry), so we headed up the street to Belly General Store, which was supposed to have good cupcakes. Fishy got a vanilla one, which was quite moist, but which he thought was undercooked and smelled funny. I had to agree about the smell, which was vinegaresque, or perhaps even slightly moldy. But the cinnamon raisin bagel I had, we both thought, was delicious.
Afterward, we walked around the shops there, in the Virginia Highland area. Fishy got a mother's day card at CVS (with hours to spare), we both tried some free samples at an upscale food shop (the kind of place that sells a small bottle of lemon pear marmalade for $8), and we bought a "mini-cone" of Geranium flavored gelato for $1 at an ice-cream parlor where the salesgirl was the most non-friendly person we've encountered so far on this trip.
Oh! And we met Jesus Christ. Well, that's how she introduced herself, anyway. A pretty woman sitting on a bench saw my camera as we walked by and asked,
"What are you taking pictures of?"
"Everything." I responded truthfully, smiling.
"Tell me! Tell me!" she said. "Do you want to take a picture of Jesus Christ? Here I am, the genuine article."
At this point, I was still unsure whether she was just really friendly, or whether she was also crazy. Then I got a whiff of her and realized she was probably crazy. It was that I-haven't-bathed-in-three-months kind of smell. But she was indeed very friendly, and we talked with her for a few minutes. She showed us the stuff she'd been writing, and drawing. She even drew a picture of "the spirit" of "one of her personalities" while we watched, and she labelled it "Atlanta." I guess she is the spirit of Atlanta, perhaps? Anyway, I took a few photos of her (she especially wanted her photo taken with her Evian water, which she said was her favorite), and we eventually said good-bye.
The woman who called herself Jesus ChristWe walked around a bit more and ultimately ended up at Soul Vegetarian restaurant for dinner. It was Fishy's suggestion, which was more than a little shocking given that he'd specifically said he wanted "meat" for dinner. It was a medium-sized place, run by African Hebrews (or at least African-American Hebrews in this case), and the food, although vegan, was delicious. And the service was very friendly. The best part, we both agreed, was the vegan Mac & Cheese.
Soul Vegetarian RestaurantWe ended the evening back at Krispy Kreme again, where I got two hot, and Fishy got two Strawberries-and-Cream donuts before driving back to the hotel for an early bedtime, since my plane leaves tomorrow morning.
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