-Sempervivum-

Remember When I Used to Have a Blog?

2008-03-12T17:32:00.002-04:00

a) Ha! 6 months + 1 day since my last post.

b) I am once more a resident of Maryland.

c) Unemployment would be a lot more fun if I knew what/when/where my next job would be.

d) It turns out that a lot of the things I would like to do with my time while unemployed cost money.

Alas.

On the other hand, it seems to be Spring down here in the south land.

Which is nice.

Political Snark

2007-09-11T21:46:00.001-04:00

Firstly, for the Buffy fans out there -- take a look at this recent AmericaBlog post. Is Freddie Thompson a Gentleman?

And then read this little snippet from Digby:

I do realize that I loathe Bush on a visceral level and always have, so I can't say that my impressions of him as person are particularly objective. He is a personality type I can't stand --- his privileged, macho arrogance and nasty, sophomoric social game of primitive dominance are about the least appealing characteristics I can think of in a man. Even if he weren't a complete idiot, which he is, he'd still be an asshole.

Sums it up for me quite nicely.

Oh yeah, things are okay in planty land these days....

Treacherous = Worthwhile

2007-05-21T18:56:00.000-04:00

For good pruning leads to good flowering.

Treacherous

2007-05-02T18:38:00.000-04:00

In which I do my spiderman impersonation whilst pruning the Wisteria floribunda.

Actually, there is an incredible amount of stuff in bloom right now. You should all come and visit me. And I suppose I should be posting photos, or something. We'll see.

Mooninites

2007-02-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

Mostly this whole thing made me laugh.

But I am now forced to revise my previous opinion of Boston Mayor Menino.

Actually, I had no previous opinion of Menino.

But I do now.

What a douche. A tremendous douche. Money quote:

“It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme. I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today’s incidents. Boston will look to coordinate our efforts going forward with Cambridge, Somerville and any other affected agencies.”

Deval Patrick is smelling a little douchey too.

Best commentary I've seen comes from August J. Pollak.

If you're all lucky there will be another post in the next three months.

Hey, I made it in less than two months this time...

2006-11-09T18:55:00.000-05:00

Also, it goes without saying: Elections. Hooray.

Also, I made it in less than two months this time.

ha.

More Important Things To Do?

2006-09-26T21:20:00.000-04:00

You can usually tell that I have something more important to do when I do the things that normal people do all the time.

If Gimpadelic is doing the dishes, he probably ought to be doing some research.

If Gimpadelic is folding the laundry, he probably ought to be writing an essay.

And if Gimpadelic is blogging, he probably has a plant quiz he ought to be studying for...

But let it not be said that I am dead, mute, incarcerated, or otherwise incapacitated. And most of all, let it not be said that I am no longer a blogger.

Life Updates

2006-07-18T19:16:00.000-04:00

Well, first and foremost, I have gotten my lappy back!

Yes, I got it back, with a brand new motherboard, at no cost (including shipping).

The best part, however, is that my hard drive was intact with no files missing! Phew! Rest assured, I have already started backing up all my files onto cds. Won't make that mistake again...

Perhaps now I will do a slightly better job of returning "the emails, the emails..."

So what have I done with my pretty little self since Bonnaroo? Wellllll... I've seen some more good shows, as a matter of fact. I saw a double header of Phil Lesh & Friends and Trey Anastasio & Mike Gordon. Trey played most of a set with Phil, and even sang on Candyman and a few others. I felt like I made up for the Superjam I missed at 'roo. A week later I was at Radio City Music Hall with the girl. We saw Ratdog and String Cheese Incident. I'd never seen either band before, though I'd heard great things about them. For starters, lets say that RCMH is a hell of a great place to see a show - some of the best acoustics I've ever heard at a rock show. String Cheese? I'll definitely be seeing them again. And Ratdog? Let's just say I no longer mind that I never saw the Greatful Dead before Jerry died.

CheeseDog was followed by the bizzare though fun occasion of my cousin's wedding. Russian Orthodox wedding. The short version: funny hats! monotone blessings! relics = bones and fingernails! saints with 6-pack abs but no nipples! Strangest wedding reception ever! I think I ate tongue! Wedding-related videos were interspersed with shakira and 50 cent! There is more, but I really couldn't begin to describe it right now.

The day after that, my 'rents finally came by and visited the garden. They were suitably impressed. I was, however, a bit disappointed I didn't get the chance to introduce them to more of my coworkers.

I've also been learning more plants, and doing more planty things, and thinking about the future, and buying whatnots I can't really afford to buy. Typical gimpadelic stuff, really. Hopefully I'll get my first Rich Planty Goodness post up in forever in the next few days... watch for it - there will be slab gardens and enormous fragrant flowers. Flowers like this:

'roo

2006-06-21T20:57:00.000-04:00

I went.

About 1700 miles, round trip.

I'm back.

I saw a lot of really good stuff.

I missed a lot of really good stuff.

Favorite bit? Oysterhead:

So now I'm back at work. It's actually just fine.

Now to get my compy fixed...

Past Land Use Hints at Current Difficulties

2006-06-04T10:13:00.000-04:00

If you review the history of the Hudson Highlands, you will find that their was a booming mining industry in the region from the early-mid 1800's to the turn of the last century. In fact, most of the Union artillery guns and ammunition in the civil war was manufactured at a foundry in Cold Spring, New York. The foundry was "fed" almost entirely by iron-ore mined in the surrounding hills. The hills that I live and work in today.

What's the relevance of all this?

Stonecrop is on a mountain peak which is largely surrounded by lower lands. Stonecrop is on a mountain peak which is largely made of relatively iron-rich rock. So when severe weather comes through the area, I happen to be living on a giant lightning rod. Lightning strikes are, apparently, common enough that their are lightning rods on all the buildings, and in fact, there are two lightning arrestors on top of the gatehouse and adjacent to the conservatory, with it's large, aluminum frame. These look like little balls on top of very tall poles - I think it's something like a reverse VanDerGraff (sp?) generator. In any event, the lightning hits those instead of more important things. They work so well that in an electrical storm you can watch sparking and arcing on top of those poles.

Yes, lightning strikes are quite common at Stonecrop...

What, you may ask, is the relevance of all this?

It's all a very complicated way of saying that a lightning strike on Thursday knocked out our alarm system, some of our phone lines, and, oh yeah, my laptop...

No, it wasn't plugged into a surge protector.

No, I never did get around to backing up all my files.

Yes, "all my files" includes every cd I own ripped into itunes, as well as every digital photo I've taken in the last three years.

I can't even check the ol' emails in the Stonecrop office, because their DSL modem was fried in the same event.

Not that any of this makes a lot of difference to you, the readership, most of who were owed emails from me 3 years ago, when I had internet access.

But 48 hours without the net, and I'm a junkie looking for a fix. I nearly salivated when I arrived at my overnight hosts' house with their sexy sexy cable modem.

So, um, waah, and my emails will only be checked sporadically until further notice. Those of you who are waiting of email replies can instead await return phone calls instead.

Oh yeah, the job is good, too.

Aw crud.

2006-05-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

We're no longer exaggerating. It's been a month. I don't know quite why I lost my blog mojo, and I'm only doing this now as I really really really ought to be studying for my second Plant ID quiz tomorrow.

It seems that every post is a mea culpa.

mea culpa.

(for those of you not in the midst of a latin education, "mea culpa" is latin for "i'm a jackass")

Well, hopefully more to come. In the meantime, this sums things up pretty well:

One thing I'll say for him, Jesus is cool

2006-04-08T22:08:00.000-04:00

Attention Jesus Christ Superstar fans.

You know who you are.

It turns out there actually is a gospel according to Judas...

Stonecrop Expressions

2006-03-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

Since I arrived at Stonecrop, I've been hearing a lot of funny expressions and words. Specifically, there are a lot of British terms in use around here. Which is understandable, considering that the gardens bare the indelible mark of the director, who is British, and has been at Stonecrop for more than 20 years. I guess I had just always thought in the back of my head that my encyclopedic knowledge of Monty Python and Black Adder meant I knew oh-so-much about English culture. And I suppose that compared to most people around me, I did. Anyway. Funny terms. Some may be British, some may just be Caroline. Some of the terms are funny, or confusing, and some have obvious meanings, and are just odd to hear in common usage by everyone here, not to mention their presence on signs and garden literature. Anyway, without further ado:

bits & bobs = bits & pieces
bothy = the gardener's cottage (on the lord/master's estate)
carpark = parking lot (The signs here actually say carpark!)
(dog) cookies = dog biscuits
crisps = potato chips
faffing = detail work (though I think faffing more properly is the doing of unimportant minutia that prevents one from getting "real" work done)
fire = portable heater (or possibly any heat source)
heavy on the sausage = heavy on technical/scientific detail (this is my favorite so far)
kitchen roll = paper towel
loo = bathroom (The signs here actually say loo!)
queue = line
rotor = rotation (as in "weekly chores rotor") skeleton = outline
slippers = socks (a sign meaning take off your shoes says "slippers only")
strike = scrape (we use "striker-offers" to scrape/level soil in pots)
torch = flashlight

herbs pronounced "hurbs" instead of "urbs"
pets with honorifics (two of the cats here are Mr. President and Ms. Kit)
"...followed a rubbish cart because he thought it was a wedding" = "When you assume, you make an ass of u and me"

How many of these did you already know?

Other random observations:

I still enjoy going to work every morning.

I am the tallest person at Stonecrop.

This is the first place anyone has ever complimented me on my handwriting.

Whatnot

2006-03-21T00:10:00.000-05:00

Had a good weekend, mostly solitary. I needed the break from people anyway. So I did a little of the shopping - and have acquired Roadside Geology of New York, and 50 Hikes in the Lower Hudson Valley. Also have some trail maps for my area on order. A little research has indicated that I'm once again surrounded by state parks. In this case, Hudson Highlands and Fahnestock State Parks. There are hundreds of miles of trails for me to explore - including two hikes that are going to kick my ass - Anthony's Nose, and Breakneck Ridge. Both of these are steep and treacherous, and give commanding views of the Hudson Highlands - supposedly better than those from Hook Mountain (behind my old place in Valley Cottage). So if I can tear myself away from the plants - there's a lot to see and take in around here.

The rest of my Saturday involved a geology field trip in the area around Poughkeepsie. It's not that I'm missing my old career (hell, it's not like I was doing much geology as a geologist) but we've run out of slate to topdress alpines with here at Stonecrop. Usually Mr. Cabot brings it back from Alberta, or someplace similarly far away. Geo-Gimp to the rescue! In any event, I found a great outcrop of "Hudson River Shale" aka, the Austin Glen member of the Normanskill Formation. These are Ordovician roacks, 440-510 million years old. I collected some shale for Stonecrop, and also found a nice looking fossil. Or possibly a very pretty pseudofossil. Okay, it's probably a pseudofossil. I can dream, can't I?

Eurypterid or Coincidental Fractures?

The real heartbreaker is that I picked up another fossil that was definitely a fossil. A trilobite. First one I've ever found. There was not doubt in my mind it was a fossil. I set it down while I looked at another rock. Then I couldn't find it again. And I still didn't find it after half an hour of poking through rock fragements. Sigh. At least I brought home some shale and saw a really neat metamorphic series, too.

Sunday involved hiking around the Stonecrop grounds - and I mean the grounds, not the gardens. I had been meaning to do this since I got here. There are a lot of big trees, and a nice bare rock hill top, covered with outcrops, glacial erratics, and some scraggly trees. That is to say it was beautiful. I particularly liked seeing a windswept Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). It had a great bonsai sort of feel to it.

Then it was home to brew a batch of Pale Ale, and then off to bed. What a productive little lad am I.

George Clooney is the Man

2006-03-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry, this is going to be another political post. Sorta. I just wanted to say that I really like George Clooney. Good actor, smart man, wise politics. He blogs, ever-so-periodically, at Huffington Post. I really liked what he had to say in his Oscar speech, but what I really like is what he recently wrote about the namby-pamby democrats. I think it applies equally to our snoozing, Bush-coddling press:

In 2003, a lot of us were saying, where is the link between Saddam and bin Laden? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11? We knew it was bullshit. Which is why it drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, "We were misled." It makes me want to shout, "Fuck you, you weren't misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic."

Full text here. It's not very long. And while I'm at it, three cheers for Senator Feingold (D-WI), first for coming forth with a call to officially censure President Bush for his lawbreaking, second for calling out the cowering Democrats:

I’m amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president’s numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide. … Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004. In the face of this, they’ll say we’d better just focus on domestic issues. … [Democrats shouldn’t] cower to the argument, that whatever you do, if you question the administration, you’re helping the terrorists.

Also, witness the predictable, pathetic response, compliments of Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), who declared in a Fox News (where else?) interview that Feingold was "siding with the terrorists".

Oh, and Vance? You didn't look at Rich Planty Goodness, did you? I did a massive post about the Philadelphia Flower Show over the weekend. Pthbbbt!

The Planternship Thus Far

2006-02-28T22:03:00.000-05:00

It’s been really cool, starting a truly new job for the first time in oh, 9 years or so. Oh, and it has been quite refreshing to actually look forward to going to work in the morning. So here’s the rundown:

I live with two other interns in a furnished apartment. There are four bedrooms, with two shared baths. As the Intern gender ratio is MM F, I share a bathroom with Maurice, who is in his late thirties, and comes to Stonecrop by way of the NYBG. The other intern is Tara, a 20 yo who was an assistant manager in a retail nursery’s perennial section. There was (reportedly) some friction between Tara and Maurice before I got here, but I haven’t seen much of it. Generally we all get along and keep our stuff out of each other's way. I am having to be vigilant about my mess - T and M are both pretty neat people.

All of us are really eager to learn, all of us have our strong points. I know rock garden plants and alpines, a wee bit of latin, but not much common garden material. Tara knows all the common garden perennials, but doesn’t know the rock plants. Maurice knows a lot about the plants he does know, especially trees, both forest and landscape, but doesn’t know any rock garden plants. We are all learning. There is a hell of a lot to learn.

The director and the head horticulturalist here are both Brits. The director, Caroline, has a masters degree from Kew, the Royal Botanical Gardens. Kew is the Harvard of horticulture. They both say a lot of funny british things (uh, that's paper towel, not kitchen roll) and sometimes I wonder if I'm learning to pronounce latin with a british accent. There are a number of other full time staffers, including 1 full time and 5 part time gardeners, 2 maintenence guys, and an office manager.

I work from 8:00 to 5:00 M-F, with an hour for lunch and a 20-minute coffee break (coffee break? what the hell is that?)

Inside the alpine house, Summer 2005

Everyone has rotating assignments for watering and monitoring certain greenhouses or portions of the collection. Also in rotation are opening and closing, periodic weekend duty and “loo-duty.” I’m on the loos this week, but I won’t have a weekend for a while yet – I’m insufficiently trained. Other things I have done a lot of in my 2.5 weeks include grooming alpines, (Primulas in particular), raking, sowing seeds, taking a field trip to a tropical nursery, cataloging, mispronouncing Latin names and my GOD have I potted up a lot of rooted cuttings.

Every day after lunch I pick a plant from the collection as my “Plant of the Day” (POD), and do a brief write-up of it. The write-ups consist of determining specific epithet and plant family, the etymology of the specific epithet (Latin, Latin, Latin, Greek, Latin, some dead guy’s name, Latin), common name, location in the collection, habitat, cultivation requirements, descriptions of the flowers, foliage, and habit, an explanation of why we like the plant, and sources. I frequently do brief sketches of the plants too, if there is time. We’re only supposed to take fifteen minutes. I’ve been working hard to keep it under 25.

The POD is, like many things here, a little frustrating because I’m never sure how thorough a job I should be doing – I feel like they want me to find too much info in only 15 minutes, but I also know that once I know more Latin and more plant families, this will go much quicker. I have already learned a lot doing these PODs – I’m cramming Latin in left and right, I’ve been surprised to find very different looking plants in the same family, and learned that Sagina boydii, a choice form of pearlwort suitable for the alpine house, was collected in the wild in Scotland in the 1850’s… and has never been found in the wild again!

Sagina boydii (Family Caryophyllaceae)

Well, I have to save things for future posts, and posts over at Rich Planty Goodness, so I'll leave you with installment one of "Secrets of Correct Latin Pronunciation For Those Who Never Took Latin":

You can probably get away with saying the first syllable or two, mumbling, and then “eae". And people actually know what you mean. So Mesembryanthemaceae becomes Meh-sem-brhmhmrmnhm-see-ay.

Much more to come. Some redundancy at Rich Planty Goodness, and hopefully a lot of new content. We'll see how it goes. The alpine house is about to explode into bloom and the bulbs are poking up all over the place. Just a few more weeks...

Aloinopsis schooensii (Family Mesembryanthemaceae)

At Last

2006-02-13T23:20:00.000-05:00

After much sorting, worrying, hemming, hawing, trashing, complaining, driving, delivering, loading, unloading, donating, packing, carrying, lugging, figuring, and kajiggering...

Stonecrop Gardens

Population: Me.

Am I a Political Junkie?

2006-02-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I'd have to confess to being one. But thanks to Tom Tomorrow I now know there may be a deeper meaning.

Check this out.

As Of Today...

2006-01-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

I am officially unemployed.

and
it
feels
GREAT!

"...and it was everything I thought it could be."

iPod Meme

2006-01-27T15:18:00.000-05:00

Like Moxie, I have been exposed to many a meme, but I never posted one. Until now. This is the coolest one I've seen. So iPod meme (though I don't have an iPod, I do use iTunes...)

iPod (iTunes) Meme

Total:
7070 songs,
21.7 days,
28.62 GB (though I do have some duplicates)

Sort by Song Title
First: 'Round Midnight John Coltrane
Last: Zona Mona - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones

Sort by Artist
First: Love Among The Ruins - 10,000 Maniacs
Last: Tush - ZZ Top

Sort by Album
First: 'round About Midnigt - Miles Davis Quintet
Last: You've Come A Long Way Baby - Fat Boy Slim

Find "Sex" - How Many Songs Show Up?
37

Find "Death" - How Many Songs Show Up?
4

Find "Love" - How Many Songs Show Up?
246

Find "Peace" - How Many Songs Show Up?
38

Find "Rain" - How Many Songs Show Up?
84

Find "Sun" - How Many Songs Show Up?
68

First Ten Tracks on Shuffle:
Jumpin' Jack Flash - Rolling Stones
Dogs Of War - Pink Floyd
Take It Up - World Party
Shameless - Po' Girl
Mr. Oysterhead - Oysterhead
Kalifornia - Fat Boy Slim
Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing - Stevie Wonder
At The Wall - Dane Cook
Naima - John Coltrane
Planet of New Orleans - Dire Straits

Consider yourself tagged...

Hoooo-Boy!

2006-01-27T00:54:00.000-05:00

a. I just siphoned off a glass of hard cider from the carboy. It will definitely improve with age, but it's a rip-snorter even in it's youth. You're all in big big trouble.

b. I'm retired. For a little while. Sorta. This is the longest period of time I haven't worked since I was in college (three weeks!).

c. Disposed of: three giant contractor bags. Three tubs of recyclable bottles. Four boxes of mixed paper. There are two big boxes of stuff going to goodwill.

d. I'm going to see Keller this weekend.

e. We can ill afford another Klendathu.

f. My house is a mess. Good thing I've got company coming over to keep me honest.

Twice in one week. Who woulda thunkit?

2006-01-19T15:28:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this graphic for quite some time. I've always been a fan of Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World. But I feel he's found the most succinct summation of our fearless leader I've ever seen.

And thanks to the miracle of cafepress, this graphic is now available on mugs, bumperstickers, and ladies underpants. Tom also posted a quick joke today that, while a groaner, still really made me laugh:

Just had a brief power outage. Couldn’t get any information on my little battery radio. So as I sat there in the dark, with absolutely no idea what was going on outside my front door, I thought to myself, “Wow–this is what it’s like to be a Bush voter.”
Ba doom boom.
I’ll be here all week. Tell your friends.

Next up, more tales of plants.

Meals to Die For. Literally.

2006-01-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I had intended to post about all kinds of stuff, and it just hasn't happened. But finally I find myself inspired. Calanctus and I went into DC last night for dinner at David Greggory RestauLounge. The reason?

Chef Greggory Hill's Aphrodisiac Bacon Dinner.

That's right, I said Aphrodisiac Bacon Dinner.

And everyone knows that bacon is my favorite spice, right? Well, it's a good thing I'm taking the cholesterol drugs nowadays. Peruse this 6-course menu:

Appetizers

Wrapped Shrimp w. Burger's Country Peppered Bacon (Missouri)

Bacon Tasting:

Gatton Farm Father's Hickory Smoked Bacon (Kentucky)

Petit Jean Trail Ozark Natural Hickory Smoked Bacon (Arkansas)

Legns and Cooter Semillon, '03 (SE Australia)

---------------------------------------------------------

Dinner

Caramelized Onion, Tomato and Carlton Dry Cured Bacon (Oregon) Tart

Clos Clare Riesling, 2004 (Clare Valley, Australia)

----------------------------------------------------------

Seared Salmon w/Gatton Farm Father's Hickory Smoked Bacon (Kentucky)

Valencian Rice and Salmon Roe

Legns and Cooter Sparkling Shiraz, NV (SE Australia)

---------------------------------------------------------

Scott's Hog Jowl Bacon (Kentucky) Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Roasted Potatoes and Cabbage

Marquis Philips Cabernet Sauvignon '04 (SE Australia)

----------------------------------------------------------

Summerfield Farm Cured Bacon (Virginia) and Braised Pork Belly

Smokey Spinach and Shiraz Glaze

Marquis Philips Sara's Blend '03 (SE Australia)

----------------------------------------------------------

Dessert

Roasted Pear and Edwards Brown Sugar Cured Bacon (Virginia) Cobbler

Lilly Pilly Noble Blend (Australia)

If anyone was wondering how to make a happy gimp, this is a pretty good start. All of the food was great, but the Tart and some of the wine pairings were the most interesting. Also, I had never had (or even heard of) a sparkling red wine before. Funky. They were also kind enough to send us each home with some swag, a catalogue featuring many delicious gourmet foods (and lots of bacon) as well as a pound of "artisinal" bacon for home consumption.

In the immortal words of Dr. Katz: "Let's never do that again. Tomorrow morning."

Okay. More posts will be forthcoming, possibly to include the topics of marines, the holidays (remember them?) and moving shenanigans. Also, you should all be thinking about which of my plants and or belongings you might choose to steal, as the opportunity will be coming along shortly...

mea culpa

2006-01-04T00:58:00.000-05:00

i have been quiet

big things are afoot

many (most) of you are owed letters, cards, gifts, emails, and/or information

but things are still a bit hectic

soon, i tell you, soon

(you've heard that before)

from the land of digital camouflage...

-gimp

Good News and Bad News

2005-12-30T16:27:00.000-05:00

First, the bad news:

I leave on Monday to go to Camp LeJeune for two weeks with the Marines.

Next, the good news:

Quote:

"We would like to offer you, without reservation, the internship."

Anyone need some furniture? It seems I'll be moving to New York at the end of the month. Here come the troughs:

More on Stonecrop in the future.

Old Farts

2005-12-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

For your amusement: a photo unearthed from the extensive portfolio of momma and poppa gimp:

Featuring, from left to right: The Baggy one, Gimpadelic, and Calanctus. Circa March 1993

If memory serves, we were busy bogging down Mossy's new Mac Classic with burps, farts, and various humorous clips ("electronic sausage", "the comfy chair", and "icky-icky-ptang-ni-wom-zowie" spring to mind).

Please note the lack of hair where this is now hair, and the places where hair once was, but is found no longer. Also, bags has puffy face, while gimp and calanctus have skinny face. These situations have reversed themselves in the last 12 years or so.

First thought on seeing this picture: "So THAT'S why my dad was constantly telling me to cut my hair..."

For Your Pleasure

2005-12-14T16:37:00.000-05:00

If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History

Okay, now that the laughs have been taken care of, here are some random thoughts.

There is a squirrel that loves hanging out on the ivy-covered ledge outside my office window. Every time I move it spooks him and he runs away, only to come right back again a minute later. What a wuss.

Finding Christmas presents that don't suck is very hard sometimes. Also, what do you get for your grandmother(s) who don't need or even really want much of anything?

I finally disconnected my land line and have commenced with my new hipster lifestyle.

Okay, there is no hipster lifestyle. But I am going to save $32.44 a month.

I have batches of Hard Cider and India Pale Ale maturing in my dining room. Don't worry, I can assure you that is the only maturing that ever occurs in my house. Anyway, I may have to have a party so that everyone can help me consume the aforementioned beverages.

I may or may not send out some christmas cards this year. I'm feeling like I should, and could even come up with the energy to do so. On the other hand, that would just elevate everyone's expectations for next year...

My father had his sinuses "scraped" today. Gross. On the other hand, in addition to improving his breathing, he may even be able to taste his food.

There are many other things that I could write about. But I won't. It's time to go make dinner for the girl.

On anonymity

2005-12-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of back and forth about all of this.

I admit that the idea of remaining anonymous is a little silly. Yes, people have used my first name a number of times. And I am referred to as Gimp, which is short for Gimpadelic. Neither of these particularly bother me. Yes, it's odd to stay hidden, if for no other reason than I think I know almost everyone that ever comments on this blog, though I have no idea of course about who may be reading and lurking without posting.

Soon I may abandon this concept, if for no other reason than so my parents can read about my exciting planty adventures.... But nonetheless, anonymity (or do I really mean plausible deniability?) is what I'm going for right now.

So those of you who do know me, please refrain from using my full name; thus freeing me to post about my speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, grand larceny, voter fraud, my importation of unregistered antiquities from third-world countries, my crack habit, the graft and corruption I presided over while head of Indian Affairs, and of course my status as a covert intelligence officer.

Thank you, and goodnight.

Next Step

2005-12-05T13:43:00.000-05:00

Having completed the phone interview, I have been asked to come up for a 2-day working interview...

=)

Ahem

2005-12-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

You are all weenies for not offering copious commentary on my sister's excellent writing.

Guess who has a phone interview on Monday?

I'm going to see Phil & Friends tonight w/girl and her friend. I think it will be very cool.

And finally:
Have a good weekend.

Birding Excitement

2005-11-29T23:17:00.000-05:00

And now I will introduce you to an experimental side project, wherein I blogged up my sister's latest dispatch from tomato. I mean Tobago. By "blogged up" I specifically mean that I took her writing unaltered and posted it with googled photos, just to try to visualize the potential. I'm not sure where, if anywhere, this project will go. But I think it has legs. Especially if Mossy gets herself a digicam. What do you think?

Adventures in Ornithology

It has the ring of truth, no?

2005-11-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

Somehow I should turn this cartoon into my blogger profile pic.

Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. More to come.

Mmmm, transcendentally...

2005-11-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Washyourface... anddrivemetoferenze

2005-11-18T11:01:00.000-05:00

Boy.

Man.

God.

Shit.

Okay, anyway... Here is a list of things, most of which you already know:

Girls mess up my head. But I really like them anyway.
I like plants.
The two strongest forces that influence my life: Inertia and Anxiety.
I am an unapologetic geek.
Other people go to church. I go walking in the woods.
I am not good with conflict or confrontation.
If I am blogging, emailing, or IMing, I should probably be working instead.
Bacon is my favorite spice.
I have been suffering from a severe case of iPod envy lately.
I wish my life had a soundtrack. I'm pretty sure I could find a good song for just about every moment.
I can be remarkably perceptive about some things, and painfully obtuse about others. It's really not intentional.
I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm a lesbian.
My misanthropy is based in my arrogant (though probably correct) belief that I am smarter than most people.
When it comes to Talking (note capital "T") about things, I am just about all or nothing. I can keep my mouth, or I can get into all the stoopid details, but I have a very hard time with anything in between.
I have no idea why I started writing this list. I had just intended to write a little note that said "sorry there haven't been more notes".
If there was cholesterol in beer or coffee, I probably wouldn't live past 40.

Lastly, the following is the funniest thing I've seen all week (thanks moxie).

*actually, I don't think Bush has done anything impeachable. I just think he's an arrogant fucktard who thinks he smarter than most people. hey, wait a minute...

More to come.

Are You All Happy Now?

2005-11-12T21:32:00.000-05:00

Today I am shampooed the carpet*.

*I stand by my typo. Besides, if I admit to making a mistake, the terrorists have already won.

I've been waiting five years for today.

2005-11-01T22:28:00.000-05:00

Bill Frist got bitch-slapped by Harry Reid today. And Bill Frist cried like a little girl.

(graphic via atrios)

I was beginning to think the democrats didn't have it in them.

Rove indicted friday, and the republicans were already trying to move the media on to: The democrats and their damn liberal anti-italian-american bigotry. And the blah blah blah bird flu...

And my pal Harry Reid smacked it down. A Fighting Dem! I was beginning to think they didn' exist any more. I actually called his office tonight and left him a message thanking him and telling him to keep up the hard work. I've never done that before. For a great synopsis of all the reasons Harry Reid kicks ass, check this piece on kos.

As bartcop is fond of saying:

Do Your Earholes a Favor

2005-10-28T10:01:00.000-04:00

Go see Yonder Mountain String Band the next time they're in your town.

I saw them Wednesday night in Baltimore with G and the girl.

These guys are a lot more than a talented bluegrass band. Perhaps they're a bit newgrass. I don't know. They combine the instrumentation and skill of a bluegrass quartet with the energy and hippy-vibe of a jam rock band. I believe the term for that is Jamgrass. Ass-kickin' jam grass.

As an aside, this was the first show I'd been to at Ramshead Live. It's a really nice venue, and I look forward to seeing more shows there. The only thing disconcerting is that it looks like it was designed by the same people that did the Student Center at Colby.

Plus, they sold me a sweet looking poster:

Giddy With Antici....

2005-10-26T10:07:00.000-04:00

Fitzmas may be as soon as today!

Also, occasionally, even the sheep-like american public (you remember them, the ones who thought Saddam was responsible for 9/11...) has a pretty good idea what's going on, at least according to this poll.

Wouldn't it be lovely if Mr. X went down along with the others?

okay, i really just wanted an excuse to post these two political cartoons.

back to work.

Blog Slacking

2005-10-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

So I've been away from home a lot the last month or so. And I've been working in the field for almost all of that time. Strange how the combination of not being in front of a computer all day and dial-up access at night seems to lead to extremely minimal blogging. Alas. So there have been many things that could have been extended posts all their own, and instead they will be mushed in here.

The project in CT is actually really nice. My only real complaints are the poison ivy, which I've gotten twice, once horribly all over my forearms, and now, convenienty on my right eyelid and the bridge of my nose, both of which have neccesistated trips to the doctor for steroids. On the flip side, the job site is a defacto nature preserve, with lots of big old trees, lots of deer including a few enormous ten-point bucks, a beautiful lake filled with interesting birds (and reportedly some nice bass, though I haven't dropped a line yet). It can actually be hard to get work done because I'm so busy checking out the wildlife. Like the wood duck in the previous post, or the numerous woodpeckers of numerous varieties. Or my favorite, the turkeys, as seen above. I bet you've never seen turkeys sitting on a wire like songbirds, have you?

So, here's the brief updates. In the last month, in addition to the silliness in Bridgeport, I've:

Gone shooting with the lads. (This one probably will be a blog post all it's own eventually, but slack happens.) I'll try to come back to it, I promise.

Went to the Maryland Rennaisance Festival with the roomie and a bunch of the coworkers from Cville.

Did a few wee posts on the ol' Rich Planty Goodness.

Met up with the lady a number of times.

Saw Brazilian Girls at 9:30 Club (w/lady).

Got (just yesterday) the new Robert Jordan novel, Knife of Dreams. I wanted to get the new George RR Martin as well, but it turns out it won't be released for another two weeks or so. Review once I finish the damn thing, which might not be for a while...

Eagerly read my news and political blogs, in anticipation of the downfall of our current corrupt regime. Is it Fitzmas yet?

Officially decided to pursue the internship at Stonecrop. Still havent' finished that resume. That's why I'm blogging right now, because I am a master-procrastinater. I swear so help me, I'll finish the thing today. Still haven't figured out exactly what taking this internship will mean for me, career-wise or girl-wise. Or what I will do job-wise if I DON'T get the internship. Too many balls in the air right now.

Anyway. Let us hope for more blogposts in the coming days. In the meantime, I have work to do. There are plants to be attended to, and the resume has proven it won't be writing itself...

Why is the future scary?

2005-10-06T00:01:00.000-04:00

Sometime very soon, my boss is going to want to talk to me about my intentions.

I'm still not sure what my intentions are.

In order to assist my meditation, I will focus on this wood duck I saw at work.

Damn. Still don't know my intentions.

I love Barney Frank. But not that way. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

2005-10-04T19:46:00.000-04:00

Were you aware that Roy Blunt was not the first choice floated to replace Delay?

From Suburban Guerrilla:

Reporters were asking the openly gay congressman Barney Frank if David Dreier was denied DeLay’s leadership position because he was too moderate – or because he was gay. Frank said it was because Dreier was too moderate, and then quipped, And I’m going to a moderate bar after work tonight.”

And now, a moment of gloating.

2005-09-28T20:45:00.000-04:00

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!

After I win the lottery, this is where I will spend my days

2005-09-27T21:16:00.000-04:00

I had a good week, though it got off to a late start. Beautiful early fall weather. Cool at night, warm in the day. Got some sun. Worked hard. Ate well. Slept soundly. Obsessed about plants. Obsessed about life (but not enough). Didn't catch any fish (to speak of). Felt like I left two seconds after I arrived. Cried my way from Ossipee to Portsmouth.

Back at work.

Reality bites.

So think about the good stuff.

Reflections of Oma:

Two bird-nerds and a plant-geek on the ledges:

The view of Big Dan Hole Pond and Roland Park from The Ledges:

A windy afternoon's fishing spot in Spring Cove:

I will have more pictures to share. But for now, a few quick observations:

1. Photoblogging on dialup sucks ass.

2. I slept very well in NH

3. I'm not sleeping well in CT.

4. So I better get to work on that. Goodnight.

ha

2005-09-16T14:02:00.000-04:00

We've all seen variations on this birthday card before, but never have I seen one with a variation so suited to me:

Inside: "Those rocks would be perfect for landscaping my yard."

Thank you Moxie...

Weekend Update, belated.

2005-09-14T11:37:00.000-04:00

Yes. To the best of my knowledge, a splendid time was had by all.

Democrublican didn't just lend a hand, he lent four or five. Don't ask. Suffice to say there were numerous guests who commented on the cleanliness of the house. And commented on the fact that it have never been so clean before. Or something like that.

Inspired by my friend Fink the chef, We had a vaguely churasscaria (sp?) style feast. We kept the grill hot and made up some delicious treats including:

Tuscan-style Ribeye
Peppercorn-Garlic Pork Tenderloin.
Wild Boar Sausage
Chicken Breast in Vinagerette
Swordfish (oops, apparently we're not supposed to eat swordfish)
Tuna in Soy-Lime glaze
Spicy Grilled Shrimp (w/paprika and garlic - orgasmic)
Portabello caps with marinade
Various grilled veggies.

And did I mention beer?

Anyway, a splendid time was had by all.

And now I am old.

And as birthday gifts go, how about dad, who is making me a fly rod. Not buying for me, making for me. Pretty cool.

Though this was pretty cool too:

Here's a first.

2005-09-14T10:54:00.000-04:00

This would explain the pig I saw flying by my window when I woke up this morning.

Edited to add this quote (via Talking Points Memo) from John Kerry, who remains a smart and observant man, even if he was a terrible presidential candidate:

"The President has done the obvious, only after it was clear he couldn’t
get away with the inexcusable."

I'm not hungover

2005-09-11T13:19:00.000-04:00

I'm just exhausted 'cause I was up all night drinking.

Plant Update

2005-09-09T15:48:00.000-04:00

Bonsai post is finally up at Rich Planty Goodness, after numerous snafus and Blogger eating 4/5ths of my post when I was almost done...

Not only does the emperor have no clothes... he's ugly too.

2005-09-08T23:47:00.000-04:00

Highly Peeved

2005-09-07T15:47:00.000-04:00

Dammit, I have work to do. But this just really puts me off my bacon.

FEMA is preventing journalists from entering certain areas, presumably because of their desire for no photos to be taken of the deceased during rescue operations (they already refused to allow journalists to accompany rescue operation boats, even if they were in separate boats... with the very same explanation that they didn't want photos taken of bodies.)

Link.

Jesus Christ, they really are going to try to treat this the same way that they have Iraq. Thank you, oh blundering frat-boy doofus in chief! Please do your best Nero impersonation again! You know, Nero, that guy you didn't bother to learn about in school... oh, nevermind.

Maybe if we made W go personally fish corpses from the river, he'd finally wipe the smirk off his face.

Miscellaneous Complaints

2005-09-07T13:50:00.000-04:00

Ah, how I love living under the "Words Speak Louder Than Actions" administration. To quote Billmon:

I guess this is what Bush was talking about yesterday when he called himself a "problem solver." But one of these days he and the Rovians really ought to take a stab at trying to solve other people's problems.

It really seems clear that job one for the administration is circling the wagons, covering their ass, and looking good, rather than seeing to the health and safety of the victims. There are numerous reports of Shrub's various visits being a string of staged photo ops, with rescue workers and equipment either delayed from or being pulled from rescue and recovery operations for all the president's pretty pictures.

Also, Barbara Bush is an incredible bitch:

"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overhwlemed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them."

We always heard that W takes after his mommy, not his daddy. Hell, Richard Nixon admired her for being a "woman who knows how to hate".

Also, here is a joke (admittedly in poor taste) that I heard from MeanG by way of Wonkette:

[paraphrasing]

It turns out Rehnquist actually died five days ago, but FEMA only found him yesterday.

And last but not least, the single best summation of the current political situation is offered by none other than Jon Stewart of the Daily Show:

Was there bureaucratic bungling? The short answer is: yes. The long answer is: YEEEEEESSSSSS!

Watch the whole Clip Here. It's brilliant. I just hope that the media stay awake and continue doing their jobs for the first time since 9/11.

I wonder if this terrible tragedy will FINALLY get the citizens of this country to notice that their arrogantly simple-minded emperor has no clothes?

Forgive me if I don't get my hopes too far up.

Odds and Ends

2005-09-06T16:26:00.000-04:00

First, how embarassed am I about my earlier post about abandoning New Orleans? Not that I don't stand by it, because I do, though as the crisis has unfolded and appeared worse and worse every day, it becomes more clear that now isn't exactly the time to bring that up. But truly, the embarassing thing to me: I wondered if any politician would have the balls to suggest it publicly. And one did. But of all the politicians, did it have to be Dennis Fucking Hastert? I guess I should count myself lucky it wasn't Tom Delay. I'll still stand by the gist of my earlier statement though, and I'll admit that I agree with Denny about something (god help me). If we must rebuild in the exact same place, we need to do it in the same mindset of cities like San Franciso and Los Angeles. We need to assume that this will happen again, and we need to plan for it, or more importantly, engineer for it.

Second, the coolest picture I have ever taken, which I previously mentioned , is this one:

I have no idea why this picture came out so well, particularly since my digital camera doesn't autofocus very fast... hey ladies, as far as I know, he's single at the moment...

Great Falls

2005-09-06T16:07:00.000-04:00

A fine weekend. There was an insufficient volume of "work" accomplished at the homestead, and I did almost nothing with the plants. But I still managed to do a lot of sorting and organizing in my basement, though it still looks rather cluttered. But things are making their way into piles and boxes, where they will live in little gated communities (or boxes, as some people call them) of stuff. There will be no fraternizing of sandpaper with model paints, and no commingling of scrap wood with scrap glass.

But I did manage to go out with the woman again. She gave me some shit via email for asking on short notice if she had plans this weekend. I was a little peeved at the tone, but oh well. Then, lo and behold, she called when her other plans fell through. After I returned shit to her regarding my status as backup, we met up and saw The Aristocrats. No, no, DEFINITELY not the Disney film The Aristocats. The tag lines says it all: "No Nudity, No Violence, Unspeakable Obscenity". I thought it was quite funny, but be forewarned, you should not see this movie with your: mother, grandmother, child, dog, or self. After the movie we went and had a few at DuClaw Brewing Company, which I will happily rate as the best chain/corporate brewpub I've been to. Much conversation, quite a few laughs, and a teeny something at the end of the evening that put a big smile on my face. There are a world of things I could write about this current situation, but I'll keep them under my hat for now - I'm trying not to think to much about the whole thing, because my brain has a tendency to ruin things like this before they get started.

Monday found me at Great Falls in Maryland with the Gay Bee. Great Falls is the series of rapids and waterfalls on the Potomac River about ten miles northwest of Washington, DC.

The falls occur at the "fall line", where the Appalachian Piedmont gives way to the coastal plain.

During the last ice age, when sea level dropped several hundred feet, the water quickly (on a geologic time scale) eroded a gorge through the metamorphic bedrock.

Which leaves us rock-scrambling along "The Billy Goat Trail" between the historic C&O Canal and the river. And watching some bad-ass kayakers do there thing in the rapids. After our hike, we met up with Mean G and had delicious food in Old Town Alexandria. Then home, then sleep. And another week is upon me. Tasks: firming up my plans for this weekend (Collosal Drunken Roar?) and for a few weeks from now (Roland Park, here I come).

interesting

2005-09-04T02:58:00.000-04:00

This girl could be trouble.

Plants

2005-09-01T14:06:00.000-04:00

Part 1 of the blogging of the Arboretum is up at Rich Planty Goodness.

My Friend, my friend...

2005-09-01T10:14:00.000-04:00

My friend and cousin recently posted this testimonial about me:

[Gimpadelic], Bobert to his friends, is a scholar and a gentleman. Having nearly scaled the heights of Mount Shaw, having almost swum across Little Dan Hole Pond, and after much lamenting, didn't quite pick a pint of blueberries, he has been quietly accepted as a funny guy by his large and hippyish family.

Cracked my ass up. I had no idea my cousin had this creative streak in him. Cuz also has the distinction of being the subject of one of the coolest photos I have ever taken. Which he has chosen to use in his profile pic on at least one webpage.

Okay, I'll say it.

2005-08-31T16:28:00.000-04:00

I'm sure we won't know for weeks yet exactly what the damage to New Orleans is really going to be, or how much it will cost to repair. And I'm a tad wary of expressing my opinion based on the response to some of Democrublican's recent posts that danced around the subject of humans living in inadvisable locations, whatever the reasons. But a certain book has been on my mind a lot since I first heard about Katrina's predicted path last week. If you haven't read it, immediately find yourself a copy of John McPhee's Control of Nature, and read the section on the Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River. It will explain a lot of where I'm coming from, and may explain a lot about where I presume Democrublican is coming from, if not his actual comments.

But I'll go ahead and state it anyway, as a geoscientist who understands the principles of geomorphology, as someone who has worked with the USACE, as someone who has never been there or known anyone there, and most importantly, as an uppity know-it-all with an overly high opinion of my opinions.

We should abandon New Orleans.

Let it fill with water and leave it.

It was a stupid place to have built a city in the first place, and it has only gotten more precarious as the levees were built higher and higher. This was bound to happen sooner or later, and is bound to happen again.

Even if the costs of rebuilding are not as great as I fear they will be, perhaps we should take this as the opportunity to get out now. We've been raising the levees for years because "we're already there, and sure it wasn't a great idea in the first place, but there is a city there now, and we can't just abandon it" (sounds remarkably similar to a lot of the current justification for our presence in Iraq). We could spend the reconstruction money on grants to the former residents so they can live elsewhere. If we do rebuild, the next catastrophe will be even worse. It may take hundreds of years, but it will happen sooner or later. Eventually, Ol' Man River is going to shift into the Atchafalaya River, despite the best efforts of the Army Corps of Engineers. Or the next hurricane will stay at category five and strike just to the west of N.O.

I wonder if any of our politicians or pundits on the right or left will have the cohones to put forth this idea in public. I haven't heard a peep on the subject yet.

Okay. All that said, I'm going to go send some money to the Red Cross, and I wish the best of luck for the unfortunate souls that are caught up in this mess.

Busy Weekend

2005-08-29T09:17:00.000-04:00

A busy weekend without as much slacker or chore time. But I did lots of things, so the laundry/dishes/vacuuming/filing/sorting will just be delayed for the millionth time. In addition to spending a lot of time sweating my future, there was a bunch of other stuff...

So. Saturday, I went gaming with the geeks. Arrived a bit late, missed the beginning of the first game. Played a bunch of Magic. Got stuck in a game that went on forever. Missed the start of the next "big" game. Played more magic. Left, Baltimore to make it to A's for a scrabble date(?). I am beginning her education as a scrabble player. First goal: Get her to stop pishing away all her S's. Second goal: get her to kick her mom's ass. Third goal: Figure out where this train is headed. This would be a lot easier if she wasn't easy on the eyes. Or the most interesting conversation I've had in months. Or a mother of two.

Home very late.

Sunday: Up very early. Met up with MeanG and GayBee (as well as my niece, Rosie) at the National Arboretum.

Highlights included the water gardens/koi pond, the Capital Columns, the little trees, and the Gotelli Dwarf Conifer collection.

I think the Arboretum really needs a rock garden. I wonder who the appropriate person to talk to about that would be...

Alas, if only I had the time, money, inclination, and property to do amazing things with plants at my house. Anyway, more Rich Planty Goodness from the arboretum this way.

Home late in the afternoon. Futzed about the yard. Worried about my housing/life situation. You know, the usual.

Watched Rome. I suppose the boobies should be enough to get me back for next week. Though I'm not sold on the show otherwise. Yet. It did look good though. But will it be good enough?

What to do... What to do...

2005-08-26T19:56:00.000-04:00

All of a sudden my plans just got a lot more complicated than trying to figure out what to do for my birthday.

DingleG, my roommate of 1 year and coworker of the last three is moving to NY. The work will be less fun but the promotion/buckets of cash offered are too good for any mere mortal to pass up.

I will (eventually) be given a new kid to work with. Or something like that. I also will need to find a new living arrangement. I can, in the short term, keep this house by myself. But I can't keep that up for very long, and frankly, it would be rather silly to do so.

The real stress here is that I've been thinking about other things to do with my life for some time. And doing a lot of hemming and hawing. It is me, after all. But if I'm getting out, nowish would probably be a very good time to get my shit together.

But my shit is ever-so-untogether.

*worry*

It's easier to write about plants

2005-08-23T23:11:00.000-04:00

The rich planty goodness flows out of me. Or something. Perhaps I should remember the lesson of my educational career: I only apply myself to things that I enjoy. Or something.

Anyway, being planty does cause a certain degree of observation of the detail of the world around me. Or the yard around me, as the case may be.

me take good pictures! see pretty butterfly?

So I got that going for me.

But here are my thoughts of the moment:

a) Charlie & The Chocolate Factory: Quite good, really. Excellent Oompa Loompa songs, not just lyrically, but musically. I'm not sure portraying Willy Wonka as quite that bipolar/OCD was neccesary though.

b) I like toast. It is crispy and warm and is excellent with jelly on it.

c) I am suffering from outrage burnout. Nothing our president or his cheerleaders in the punditocracy do of late seems to really piss me off. I wish I could say that it is because they've hit bottom. Alas, I'm quite sure they can sink far far lower.

d) I'm turning old soon. I feel like I ought to do something to celebrate the occasion, but few of my ideas are truly exciting me. Though a beer-b-que would be nice. But do I really feel like doing the work?

e) Girls are confusing.

That's all I got. My goodness, what a thoughtful and coherent post.

bluh

2005-07-25T22:04:00.000-04:00

I'm tired of not being at home.

I really didn't appreciate the last chunk of time I was home.

It's so much easier to maintain my social calendar when I'm actually at home.

Strangely, all evidence suggests that it is just as difficult to maintain my already shoddy correspondence.

What the hell does bluh mean, anyway?

This is What Happens

2005-04-26T00:55:00.000-04:00

When I have work to do at work.

I have many things I'd like to be blogging about, and perhaps I'll get off my ass and do some of them. But most importantly, here is what has gotten my ass back in the game.

The Best Reason To Get a New Computer.

Bite my shiny metal ass.

I love Bender.

I named a cat after him.

He is currently the front runner in the contest for my (very) hypothetical tattoo.

Yes. More on beer and plants and sex and bugs and rock and roll.

g'night

Various

2005-03-18T14:57:00.000-05:00

The plants have gone here.

Maybe the beer will go nowhere, for now. It's not like I try that many new beers on any given week.

Excitement: On incredibly short notice, my friends J and M, have come down from Boston for the weekend. J has just gotten a new government job in DC, and will be moving down here in the next few months. It will be very excting to know more people around here. They can introduce me to all the hot nerdy girls that I know are out there that I have utterly failed to meet.

Hmm.

Also, the geek squad is coming to my house on sunday to geek out to the extreme. We will play Magic, possibly some sort of role-playing game, and hopefully, a round or two of my new favoriate game, Settlers of Catan.

Okay, back to work.

Overwhelming

2005-03-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

Wow. So many things I wanted to do with this blog that I ended up doing none of them. These things really are work, aren't they?

I've been having a lot of trouble accomplishing a lot of different things in my life lately.

I've had trouble getting work done at work, because the work hasn't been that important, hasn't been time or deadline dependend, and the work I've had to do has been something I strongly dislike: marketing and business development. Although last night I went to a professional meeting and met some people, and it really wasn't that bad, once I got some liqour in me, anyway.

I've had trouble getting anything done in my life, actually, because the world has been conspiring against me.

Okay, maybe not. But sometimes it feels like all the shit hits you at once. I am of course speaking of philosophical shit, and not any actual real-world responsibilities. But it's hard to keep your mind focused when you do all of the following in a short period of time:

-Saw Stacey, felt good, but by the next day felt like utter shit,
-Talked to her the next day about how hard it is when you're still in love, which I embarassingly had to admit to her, because I can't lie, and she was being obtuse while I talked around it.
-Got pity-sympathy for not having moved on.
-Got a chatty/i'm bored/lonely because our mutual friend has moved away email less than a week after her saying she'd leave it in my court and I should contact her when I felt ready to.
-Had a present from her mom left on my doorstep, which was thoughtful and really well-intentioned, but ended up being another painful reminder...
-Actually got flirty with an old love interest, and chatted with an internet personals person (my first time) - only to feel like I was cheating on my now non-existent gf.
-Had some "current events" bring back a lot of painful memories of a heartbreaking job experience, you know, that one I have often referred to as "killing the last of my childhood innocence". One that has disturbingly similar parallels to my love situation.
-Heard further disturbing details of an old friend's marriage cracking up due to - that' right - a shitty self-absorbed partner who cheated.
-Found myself thinking, over and over, how I could have kept her if I'd just tried a little harder.

I can't keep doing this. I don't even want to think about how many times in the last few days I have either found myself crying almost out of the blue, or had to choke the crying down because I had things that were too important that I had to deal with, and couldn't afford to be crying right now.

Thank god I'm alone in the office right now. At least when you're alone there is noone to "keep it together" for. Hell, reading about Bush's daily assaults on reason, reality and the whole world made me feel sad and impotent instead of angry.

I'm so fucking sick of being tired and sad and lonely and rudderless. Where is the bottom? Have I really hit it yet? I thought I was there a long time ago, and had moved on. Maybe there are a lot of bottoms to hit.

Why does she get to move on and be happy? Why does she get to be better off without me?

Why do I have to feel so humiliated and pathetic... to have to admit to myself not just that I still love her, but that I still love her today every bit as much as I did 10 months ago when she moved out, every bit as much as I did almost two years ago when I told her I wanted to get married, every bit as much as I did when she went off the deep end, every bit as much as I did when I first fell in love with her. Despite her flaws. Despite her insanity.

When I talked to her the last time, I told her I missed her. She told me she missed me, too. The difference is, I think, that she misses her friend. Okay, fine, she misses her best friend. I miss my best friend, lover, soulmate, and love of my life.

When is it my turn?

When?

Life Updates

2005-03-14T09:27:00.000-05:00

I was in Charlottesville most of last week, so no updates.

I'm still a little unsure of exactly what I'm doing with this blog. I set out to do beer, or beer and plants. Maybe a touch of the political. And links. I need links. Is it really a blog if there are no links? Or is it just a live journal? And maybe some stream of conciousness writing, which is about what I'm doing right now.

But the problem is that I want people to be able to look at the beer and plants, and less so the personal stuff. But I think I would benefit from writing out a lot of the personal stuff. I suppose what I really need is three separate blogs - the beer, the plants, and the personal. The real trick is that I need to decide who may or may not be reading this stuff. Oh sure, it's all published on the web and available for anyone to read. But you know my parents are never going to find it on their own. You also know my parents would read this all the time if I told them about it. Does Glen read Moxilicous? Would she care if he did? Do her parents? Ugh.

I want the credit for writing my whatever I'm writing, but I need to seriously consider the audience. Do I want Stacey reading this blog? My parents? Relatives? Friends? If so, which ones? All I know is that at the moment, my readership probably consists of myself and Moxilicious.

More later. I did a bunch of planty and beery things last week/weekend...

Graduation Killed the Radio Star

2005-03-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

At the moment I am listening to old cassette tapes from college. Specifically, I am listening to recordings of my own show on good ol' WMHB. They seem to span much of my dj career (of 4 years...). I'm pretty sloppy in the earlier ones, fairly polished in the newer ones, as one could expect.

At least all the music is (fairly) good.

A taste of the Peter Church Show (with your host Gimpadelic): From sometime late in the fall of 1993:

In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
Teen Angst - Cracker
Stripped - Depeche Mode
I Dream of Jesus - Dead Milkmen
Want to Get High - Cypress Hill
Boys Don't Cry - Cure
Skankin' to the Beat - Fishbone
Within Your Reach - Replacements
Plush (acoustic) - Stone Temple Pilots
You Can't Blame the Youth - Bob Marley
Head Like a Hole - NIN

How's that for a lineup?

Anyway, it's very weird to hear one's own voice on tape. Especially on tape from ten years ago.

RIP

2005-03-05T15:19:00.000-05:00

Ilex crenata 'Dwarf Pagoda'

I may need to go to the MD home & garden show today or tomorrow. Featuring native and exotic plant show.

My geeka-tude knows no bounds.

More Plants

2005-03-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

By god, I'm going to make a trough this weekend. Due to the cold weather and my lack of masochism, I'm going to do the grout-over-foam style, since it can be accomplished in my laundry room. I've got to try experimenting with this sand and the grout, as well as perlite and vermiculite, to see if I can come up with a more natural, rock-like texture for the troughs. And my latest sketchings make me pretty excited for landscaping in my yard. If, of course, I ever actually own my yard.

News:

I found the coarse sand that Willy had - it is in the construction materials (cement, etc) and is labeled "medium sand".

Even more crocuses are popping out all over the place. The snowdrops are so tiny that they are lost out in the beds. I will probably try to transfer them to a trough this summer.

My smaller nepenthes is starting to grow a pitcher!

One of the pitchers (Drosera sp.) is putting out a big flower stalk. So is a venus fly trap.

I added a cobra lily to the terrarium - like a pitcher with a big curved hood on top.

Inspiration: find some kind of house plant I can use to grow "fur" through my abandoned wire frame cat shaped cd rack.

I should really be doing research on transplanting alpine seedlings, but that's a lot less fun than getting your hands dirty.

Ok. Coffee time.

More Beer

2005-03-05T09:18:00.000-05:00

Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA

Starts with a nice hop aroma and a tangy bite on the first taste - which is the best part of this beer. Has a sweet taste with notes of citrus. Minimal mouthfeel. Continues with a nice hop finish. VERY bitter aftertaste, although it may have been something I ate... This IPA is good, quite drinkable. One of the best Flying Dog beers I've had. I wouldn't make this a "primary" beer unless the price came down, however.

Who would have guessed?

2005-02-27T12:45:00.000-05:00

Who would have guessed that this is what it would take to get my ire up?

Betrayal didn't do it.

Giving up on the relationship didn't do it.

Hooking up with someone else didn't do it.

Having a real relationship with someone else didn't do it.

Her crappy job of not flirting and not "crossing the line" didn't do it.

All the sad moments of self-loathing and general loss of self-confidence didn't do it either.

But:

"It'll happen for you too, you'll see. You just need to meet someone else."

Pity?

FUCK her and FUCK her fucking pity.

The Plant Diaries...

2005-02-23T11:47:00.000-05:00

If I start a beer journal, I suppose I should also do the same kind of recordkeeping for my plants.

Here's what's growing right now:

Outside: There are a mess of crocuses popping up through the front lawn. I saw one single snow drop in the front corner bed under the dogwood. I'm quite sure I planted 20 or so snowdrops in this area, so I'm hoping there will be more later. A number of daffodils have started to pop up, but nothing is close to blooming. The father reports that a number of my NARGS seeds have already sprouted, including draba, several types of sempervivum, and a saxifrage. I guess the 50/50 mix of potting soil and sand worked.

Inside: All of my plants in the plant room are flourishing under the new flourescent lights. It looks weird from outside at night, but since when do I care what the neighbors think. My calamodin orange is blooming like crazy, and may finally return to the state in which I purchased it two years ago - with 15 or so fruits in various stages of ripeness - and smothered with blooms at the same time. The carnivores need some pruning, having finally started coming back from their winter rest. I also need to think about repotting the lithops, and pruning the larger of my two jade trees. A number of succulents could probably go into a small trough, and a second terarrium for my nepenthes (hanging pitcher plant) wouldn't be amiss.

Good Intentions: Make more troughs, possibly with my pops. I have the supplies to make several grout over styrofoam types, as well as regular hypertufa. I'd really like to experiment with adding perlite to the sanded grout. I also need to set up a cold frame with my new fancy piece of curved greenhouse glass (thanks fink!).

Tasks actually accomplished: I watered the house plants. I updated the map of the yard. I've daydreamed about things to do to said yard.

Looking For: Coarse sand like my dad found. Dark, fine gravel, such as crushed bluestone. Helianthus 'Low Down'.

The Beer Diaries

2005-02-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

So I thought about it a lot, and I figure I'm enough of a beer snob that I should be keeping a beer diary.

So here's how it starts:

Right now I'm planning on brewing an IPA. I'm going to follow a generic recipe, but I want to aggressively dry hop it in the secondary fermenter. I'm looking for something like Smuttynose IPA.

Now drinking: Wild Goose IPA. Made outside Baltimore at the Frederick Brewing Company. Wild Goose consistantly has good beers, and they are all readily available in my area. Most importantly, I can get this microbrew at $20/case at my local liqour store. Hoorah. Gery and I have gone through at least four cases of this beer in the last month or two. This beer is clean and crisp with a nice bitter aftertaste and a reasonable hop aroma. It's not superhopped, but it's a good, all-around drinkable beer.

Going to California.

2005-02-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

Or not.

Just learned that I have been left out of my company's plans for a job in California. Which wouldn't bother me, if not for the fact that noone bothered to tell me, and could have a number of days ago. Oh, and I was originally considered for the job. Oh well, it ain't that expensive. And I'll be seeing Vance sooner or later... And many games of super-blaggle will be played. And it will be good.

Blog Ahoy

2005-02-08T18:07:00.000-05:00

Yes. This is the thing that I am doing to be cool like the other cool people.

Isn't Moxilicious inspiring?