In other news, I’ve joined BritBlog.com. So if you’ve clicked through from there, then cheers. I have a guestbook you know… It’s been fun skimming through other UK peeps’ blogs.
And finally, I found a fantastic program online where you upload a photo, and it delivers you a rasterized version in as many sheets of paper as you want that you then assemble into a full size poster. Klem’s poster fell down, but pictured below is Sita in front of Lulu’s makeshift shrine:
Looks like autumn’s here. It’s been raining for nigh on 24hrs, I’m trying not to see it as an omen for my dental appointment. My first blog entry must have been 6 months ago, since that was the last time I had my teeth cleaned (by someone else…). So it’s an anniversary of sorts…
Sita’s off to San Jose tonight to see her mates from her undergraduate days at UCSC, so as long as there’s electricity I’ll be at home watching Family Guy or some such.
It was nice to see the Swedes have returned to this page, doubtless eager for more news on my teeth. Well, you’ll be happy to hear that i have another incipient filling and there’ll be more crown fun come February…
Me Mum mentioned about an item in the Guardian where well-intentioned Brits are writing to voters in a swing county in Ohio to get them to vote Bush out, the replies from the state range from offensive to downright obstreperous, have a butcher’s here of the Guardian article entitled Dear limey assholes.
and this weekend we bought tickets to see Courtney Love playing in the Catalyst in Santa Cruz next week. Probably read about it here…
I exchanged the video card at circuit city and am again revelling in dual-monitor-livin’-in-the-future type computing. Looking forward to being able to have music/radio/video while working on other apps, it ties up much less RAM so I can multitask more easily.
Other news… We have a guest at home, another world-renowned sociomolologist, arrived yesterday, leaving tomorrow. Had an impromptu barbecue in her honour. Bunnies are still well. Sita’s got all kinds of important grant applications finalised thanks to her incredible catholic work ethic. Me Mum’s coming over in November. New job’s learning curve appears to be lessening. That’s sort of it for now, might manage a review or two this weekend. I’m just finishing Al Franken’s “Why Not Me?”, another book which pays off after a slow start.
On Monday I bought meself a new graphics card and it was working lovely, I had one computer going with dual monitors, ie. you move the mouse off the side of one and it appears on the other, it was a wonder to behold……so when I came home on Tuesday and it had died on me I wasn’t best pleased and am back with the one computer-one monitor until I get a chance to go and argue my statutory rights at Circuit City.
Yes it is. I had my first 13 hour day yesterday and I have four meetings to attend today at the last count. Definitely won’t be many new book and film reviews for a while…
Judith and Carlos’s wedding was something to behold.
I’m glad I took a few photos so I’d remember the later stages of the afternoon… They’ll be along in the usual place in a couple of days. I’ve never seen so many people go from zero to full-throttle dancing in so short a time. Fair play to the mariachi and the banda. I’ve got a 15 second video from me camera with a blast of banda- it’s like a trip-hop beat coupled with a full-on brass section, amplified, and fronted by a smiley Mexican man who is the only one who doesn’t get to wear a pink shirt. I almost danced too, but chickened out at the last second. Again. I’m looking forward to hearing who, among the anglos, actually made it to the end of the evening. Sita & I sheepishly retreated at the grand old time of sunset. Judith’n’Carlos are off to Maui tomorrow I think, best of luck to ’em. Judith knows how to plan a party…
I tried phoning me family in Blighty, but no-one’s home so I’ve resorted to the interweb again to spend a while catching up on the news 6000 miles or so away. Naturally, I soon got distracted and found myself on this here site: www.infinitecat.com Recursive felines, just what you need on a bright and sunny Saturday morning.
I didn’t catch all of the presidential debate last night, but in the half hour i did see I got to see Bush shouting like a spoilt child at the moderator and talking about the Internets (sic). A search on the new engine www.a9.com has a snapshot of the front page of Gwynunlimited with the bloke with the “Bush is crap” banner from the peace march in SF last year, which tickled me, probably better than the Easter Rabbits one. Anyroad, there’s no chance of me ever getting to vote in the US, but at least I managed to register to vote in Somerset in my short stay over last month.
Due to the fact I’m working about 4 different jobs right now, blogging is going to be a little more sparse from now on. There’s more meetings than you can shake a stick at in my near future, so whilst relishing the chance to get to know the movers and shakers in the Santa Cruz non-profit world, I may be a tad too busy to publish pictures of me in pumpkin fields… but you never know… anyroad, just wanted to let “y’all” know about how life’s going round my way. There’ll definitely be pix of Judith and Carlos’s nuptials next weekend, Mariachi and all… Cheers, gwyn
But I can’t find a satisfactory gallery program to put them on. I downloaded a free trial of one, but this is the result and it can only deal with 12 pictures. It’s a little “de trop”, non? So pix’ll be along soon in their usual form by the looks of it, but enjoy the flying pumpkins in the meantime… cheers
We’ve been gourd shopping, check in on the gallery pages in a couple of days to see if I’ve had a chance to put up the ANo Nuevo, Davenport and Hallowe’en Central pix with Martin, Sally and Sita…
online tests that intrigues me, but I submitted this blog to an online good/evil calculator based on the ancient teachings of Madonna and the Kabbalah. and here are the results:
Went to a conference today about an hour away, near the bridge thing on the way to San Francisco. Pretty informative, PAPAS appears to be doing it right on helping get dads involved in their families and got a few ideas about how to recruit more families… “Door hangers” is one strategy used which i’m presuming is adverts you put on door knobs on people’s houses, like in that episode of The Simpsons where Bart delivers flyers in a Matrix stylee, and also asking for help from rotary clubs, who’ve been generous enough to Musgrove Hospital Children’s Ward in the past.
One speaker was a little scarey, going on about Wedlock and Marriage and God whispering into the baby’s ear in the womb. He was, rightly, heckled afterwards, but we’d had to hand in our evaluation forms before he graced the stage which was a tad annoying. His grand finale was a little too close for comfort to David Brent’s “Simply the Best” exit. I saw him skulk away from the building afterwards… Granted, we share the same ideas about helping dads who want to be more involved get more involved… but the door should definitely be open for parenting help for father figures in general, non-biological fathers, same-sex couples and all kinds of non-conventional family structures. Hmmm. Well, you can pick and choose what you take away from these things even if you have to put up with a lot of conservative crap along the way. Nice dessert, mind.
Anyroad, just got back and Sita’s nowhere to be seen and her folks are arriving in a few hours so I shall busy myself for a bit around the homestead. Ooh, and while I remember if anyone can recommend me some episodes of This American Life to download I’ve got a long car journey coming up soon and would be glad of advice, cos you get the occasional crap one… comments welcome.
See you later, or “Vi ses s?nare” as they say in Sweden,
Cheers, “Gywn” (according to my pre-printed conference name sticker)
Sita just pointed out that we were in the midst of an earthquake. A couple of tequila bottles were wobbling on the shelf. The bunnies didn’t notice anything though, so there goes that theory… Anyroad, i’ll check online to see if anyone else reported owt and post a link if something happened. Ah, life on the San Andreas fault. I’m glad I’m not still teaching, the earthquake drill was never properly explained- it’s all duck and cover under desks and then if you think it’s stopped then go outside. How you decide this was never fully explained… Update- 10:30am : It was a 5.0 near Paso Robles again about 200 miles south of here…
Puff and Merlin’s mum came to collect them. Sita is vaguely threatening acquiring our own guineau pig, but i’ll do my utmost to avoid that one coming to pass.
In other news, I had my second interview today for the project manager position, but I won’t find out till early next week what the outcome is. This is the space to watch for news… We organised a social event for the PAPAS families last night, click that link to have a look at the pictures (only broadband for now, dial-up version coming soon…). I still faintly smell of burger fumes from barbecuing a hundred or so.
Off to celebrate (co-worker & friend) Judith & Carlos’ pre-wedding at Bittersweet Cafe tonight, tis quite a posh place so i’ll let you know if they let me in or not.
Me mum’s talking about a visit to Santa Cruz in November, which is rainy but has plenty of whale watching opportunities and that, and to meet the grand-rabbits, is the main objective. Looking forward to that, like.
That’ll be all for now, hoping to see a film or two this weekend, and I’ve still got to review House of the Spirit Levels properly before it fades from memory, so that may be it fow a few days.
And Ms.Manatee, if you’re reading this, i hope the lack of activity in your blog over the past few days is because of too much fun, or cakes, and not hurricane related. Alrighty, cheers for now, all the best, gwyn
