Stuff

[solarbird]

I haven't updated in a while, mostly because I haven't done that much interesting lately. Today I planted a plum tree sapling that I rescued from a demolition site in the neighbourhood - another house is being torn down to replace it with a new house in the same location. Again, fortunately, it's a case where I don't hugely mind; there are a lot of nice houses here, but this wasn't particularly one of them. It had some slap-together funky charm, but it was a lot more "slapped together" than "funky" - you can kind of see what they were going for, but you can also see that they didn't make it.

It's a seriously fucked up February for gardening. It hasn't rained in days and there's no rain in the forecast. That's very bad. We're going to have a water shortage this summer. I was watering outdoor plants today - and not just the tree I was watering in, either. That's just broken. It should have been raining all month, and it just hasn't been. It's been sunny. And warm like you might expect in April. Everything's a good month ahead of schedule - plants and birds alike.

Still, it's pleasant, as long as you don't think about it too much. I guess my expectations of weather are so ingrained that it feels like we're in the calm before a storm... though I suppose the graduate school (big change) and political reality all fit in there a bit too! Still, the politics in particular are kind of a constant battle - cyclic, but not on the same sort of rhythms.

At the same sale, I got a great huge wooden chest I'll use to store garden tools in inside the garage. I like it, it's very rustic, which is to say, beaten up. It's wood, not plastic, and has large metal gate hinges. What more could you want? Maybe I'll build in a shelf or something. I could, since it's actually made of actual wood.

That's the kind of stuff I've been doing. I have had to cut the political survey to three times a week, and set it off-limits the rest of the time - it was just too brutal. I mean, seriously - I couldn't handle the stress, doing it daily. Fortunately, most action items are spread out over several days.

Though it's not like it's all that completely avoidable. Today was a no-politics day, but I couldn't not notice that the Pope declared that I'm part of an 'Ideology of Evil.' (And the church isn't even the most anti-queer player. Guh. Right. Later.)

I set up a free credit union account and got it confirmed and everything, so now it's time for "you don't take paypal and even though you said so in the auction I'm not paying" guy to pay up or get his ass smacked down. I'm expecting the latter, but I always hope to be pleasantly surprised. All the other eBay stuff is moving pretty well. This is handy, because yay walking-around money. Also, yay getting rid of stuff I don't actually want. A bit of a cleanout purge has been overdue, I think.

My stuff for Norwescon is mostly on track - I've got to come up with this year's daily newsletter, and I'll have to do a lot of printing stuff out to fill the racks - people just don't send in 'zines anymore. I'm handing that job off next year - I haven't had any new ideas for a while, and I'm just not really into it any longer. I hope someone takes it over. Know anybody who thinks fanzines are neat, and wants an easy way to volunteer for Norwescon in a way that doesn't take up much time at the convention itself? This is that job.

Also, I need reporters for the daily newsletter, whatever it ends up being called. I want people who can write up party reports, who will go to the P.K. Dick awards, stuff like that - people who will go dig up stuff to bring back and print. So if you're going to Norwescon and are interested, talk to me.

Hm. Sleepy. Also vaguely bored.

I miss fishiethegecko.


You are 'Gregg shorthand'. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more.

You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Comments

[banner.livejournal.com]

Try Rich Chandler, he might want to do it.

[banner.livejournal.com]

And oh:


You are 'programming in QBASIC'. This programming
language (of which the acronym stands for
'Quick Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code'), which is so primitive that
it cannot easily be used for any purpose
involving the Internet nor even sound, was
current more than a decade ago.

You are independent, in a good way. When something
which you need cannot be found, you make it
yourself. In writing and in talking with
people, you value clarity and precision; your
friends may not realize how important that is.
When necessary, you are prepared to be a
mediator in conflicts between your friends.
You are very rational, and you think of things
in terms of logic and common sense.
Unfortunately, your emotionally unstable
friends may be put off by your devotion to
logic; they may even accuse you of pedantry and
insensitivity. Your problem is that
programming in QBASIC has been obsolete for a
long time.


(http://quizilla.com/users/deadword/quizzes/What%20obsolete%20skill%20are%20you%3F/)



Sadly I think they might be right...
Sadder still is I think I still -known- QBASIC

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I've been noticing just how little snow is on the Cascades, and it has me rather worried. :-(

[catwingz.livejournal.com]

I have to say I was very excited to read about the real wooden chest you found. My parents have one in their room, and it stores all the ancient clothing we've had since I was a baby, maybe even before that (we unearthed my great-grandmothers old petticoats from it). I love real wooden chests like that.

[solarbird]

Yeah - there'll be water restrictions this year for sure. There's just nothing up there. It's disturbing!

I try not to worry about it since I can't do anything about it, even though, you know, you kind of can't not. It's just wrong!

[solarbird]

I wonder a little if I ought to clean it up a bit. It's not in too bad shape, but there are paint-can-sized rings on the top and stuff. And I'd have to replace the casters, they're all rusty.

But I bought it for garden stuff, so it's garden stuff for now!