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| Monday, January 22, 2007 |
| Snow, part 2 |
OK, snow in general is now one of my favorite substances on the planet. Not only did it convey the overall mirth that was last night... but Tucson just had a snow day.
That's right -- school is out, because of snow, in Tucson. And as a teacher, well, I'm more excited than I can properly describe right now. |
posted by Steve @ 9:07 AM  |
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| Sunday, January 21, 2007 |
| SNOW |
Egad, it is snowing.
Not just kinda-sorta snowing... it is REALLY SNOWING. Hard. White ground. Kids throwing real snowballs. A three-foot snowman. It's soft and light and fluffy and Rachel throws a snowball at me.
I'm a photographing fiend. We walk around the complex. We snap more photos. The only reason we even notice is because a neighbor we hardly know knocks on the door and tells us to come out and play. Kids are everywhere. They are learning to roll the snowballs, and I have never seen anything like this.
We walk to the quieter parts of the complex. There's about 2-3 inches of snow everywhere. We go back inside and I warm my hands under the sink; I can't feel my fingers at all anymore. I eventually go back outside to start my car to jettison the snow from the tailpipe, and to cover it right afterwards. I take some photos of my strangely covered vehicle.
A while later, after we've come inside and I'm drinking hot tea and Rachel's drinking hot chocolate, I notice that the neighbors have built a 5-foot snowman with bagel eyes and a cucumber nose and sprout mouth.
I let the cats out and they are very confused. Caliente is walking strangely and I pick him up. He seems glad to be off the ground, and puts his paws down on my forearm to warm his toes. Springsteen is more furtive, and seems to be fighting his normal routine of rolling around on the ground. We come inside, eventually.
Makes me wish this happened more often. |
| posted by Steve @ 10:56 PM |
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| Recent obsession |
Some of my latest obsessions.
I've begun to try to finish my U2 collection. This is a long time in the making, going back to when I bought my very first CD: U2's Rattle & Hum album. Since then I've gotten every album and a considerable amount of the singles.
The thing about the U2 catalogue is that it is almost impossibly vast. The boys in that band are never at rest, I swear. Over their 30-or-so year career, they've written about a thousand songs, and participated in innumerable others.
And I'm enough of an idiot to try to collect them all. I've actually got the majority of it, but there are certain kinds of things that stump me pretty well, such as ultra-obscure remixes of the Goldeneye Theme, (the Bond movie theme) that Edge and Bono wrote.
My want list is here.
In addition to that particular obsession, I've been designing a dream home with my wife for quite some time. Ironically, it's been the source of roughly 2/3rds of our arguments in the last year or so. I'm the dreamer and nutcase that comes up with all sorts of crazy things I'd like to see in our home. She's the one who brings me down to reality and tells me whether or not the idea is practical or just insane.
Today, I think we've managed to get the basics down except we're still not sure what to do with the washer/dryer...
RecentLabels: collection, mp3, obsession, u2 |
| posted by Steve @ 10:55 PM |
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| Sunday, January 14, 2007 |
| I Wish |
After a few years of deliberation, I've decided on my personal answer to the childhood question: If you had three wishes, what would they be?
I didn't allow for 'wish for more wishes' or 'world peace' because I doubt the wish-giver would give more wishes, and world peace probably won't last or happen for real until the Apocalypse. And I'm not wishing for the Apocalypse, thanks.
First, I'd wish for the ability to stop time relative to me (or slow it to the point where it's almost imperceptable). The rules? Well, since it's a wish and has no bearing on reality. In other words, I would speed myself up so much that, to me, the world has basically stopped. I'd specify that I'd (inexplicably) be able to move objects and myself without breaking the sound barrier every time I did, and that I could 'tap' people to join me in this state.
I would have a fighting chance of getting everything I'd ever wanted to do done. I'd also be able to have Rachel join me in on this, too.
Second, I'd wish for perfect memory. Every word, every image, everything; even if I didn't notice (or care) the first time I looked around. I suppose this makes my powers of observation effectively perfect, as well.
Third, the ability to comprehend almost-instantly anything that is logically comprehensible and either presented in a logical way or deducible from what I know. Ideally I could also temporarily give this gift to others.
I figure with these gifts, I will be as able as possible to learn and do much more than is even theoretically possible in the world. I'd use them to bring about as much awesomeness - art, writing, peace on Earth - as is possible. Imagine being able to sit two heads of state down and knowing everything you could possibly know about their history and the ability to argue them into a peaceful solution. I wouldn't really want to rule any countries myself - if any kind of peace I helped create will last, it would have to last outside my control.
Plus -- I'd have a lot of fun. |
| posted by Steve @ 11:44 AM |
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| Monday, January 08, 2007 |
| Regrets and memories |
Drivl.com | Drivl Answers Slate Magazine's Unanswerable Questions
So, the to-do list didn't get finished. I don't think I even did half of it. That's OK. Didn't really think I was going to, but it was worth a shot. I did well this holiday season - got some cool stuff, saw the whole family, paid some debts, and rebuilt some bridges that had been neglected (or burnt).
Sad to say that the majority of the photos I took did not come out. I am hoping to get a photography gig that will bag me a much better digital camera: a Leica D-LUX 3, a Canon PowerShot G7, or a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2.
Christmas was good. I somehow managed to see all of my relatives, which is a feat, considering there's four sides to go to living all over Prescott and Phoenix. I will try to make a good, full write-up tomorrow with the photos. |
| posted by Steve @ 9:58 PM |
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| Monday, January 01, 2007 |
| Things to do before the 8th |
This is a list of things I need to do before I go back to my 12-hour-a-day jobs. I wanted to start in on them last week, but spent most of it working or being with my family. Set up the stereo so that it has a line going to the bedroom speakers, for night-time music as well as wake-up music.
Finish sorting paper. I have a box full of mostly financial files that need to be sorted and filed. Finished in May
- Find a new host for my homepages.
Empty out the 401k from my old school.- E-Mail and/or find a bunch of people I've lost touch with:
Marla, Stephanie, Dave, Eric, Jen, Chris, and Joe at the least.
Do some credit card balance juggling. Yay?Call PrivacySource; they have good services (relating to one's credit rating) but they charged a full years' service at once when they said they'd do it in increments. Turns out it's because of the way I signed up - but they were very nice and arranged to have it set up in payments and to refund the money. Yay for corporations that take care of their customers!Update and/or dispute various information on my credit report. Done in May
Re-enter a few years' worth of financial data from the Discover card into Money. Done in May.Look into getting the truck's gas tank cleaned. Performance Radiator does it for $85, but I'll have to detach it myself. 3-5 day turnaround.
Fix Leelu's clutch cable and starter.- Record the vocals for the song Caravaggio.
- Record the vocals for the song Heathen.
Pick up the basketball game and holiday photos from Walmart.
Make a maintenance schedule for both vehicles: when to replace, fill or otherwise maintain everything in both cars (brakes, oil, as well as a list of all pertinent phone numbers such as tow numbers, insurance, et cetera). Finished in June (!)
- Post and sell/give away our
filing cabinet, ceiling fan, printer, and monitor. Sold!
- Record our old cassette tapes into the computer.
- Sell the cassette player, refurbished chest, small white chair, and large blue chair to Bookmans.
Use Bookman's trade to buy Rachel's computer.
Put on the VW's white seat covers.
- Get at least 90% of my homepage set up.
Get my Impulse Designs page set up.
Update Outlook to include my friends' and relatives' birthdays.
- Go through the boxes of sentimental stuff in the closet and purge.
Wash and waxbothvehicles; they haven't had a good wax in forever.Leelu
Make a cathouse for the kitties out on the patio.
Clean the patio.Do the dishes.Do some serious grocery shopping.Vacuum the apartment.
Do the laundry.Post my previous blogs to this blog. Finished in June (!)
Labels: cars, chores, credit, friends, homepage, money, music, To-Do |
| posted by Steve @ 9:17 PM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
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