Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.
- Henry David Thoreau
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.
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