Happy Yuletide!

From the beginning, the end comes.
From rest, movement comes.
From life, death comes.
From light, darkness comes.
From darkness comes light.
From death comes life.
From movement comes rest.
From the end comes the beginning.

Blessed Be!

for the past month or so, my internet has been completely retarded, i can barely stay connected long enough to check my email - and sometimes not even that - it seems to be working again, so hopefully i will be back to posting - every so often anyway... yay for connectivity

pop quiz...

dancing to david bowie in the middle of the living room... "let's dance"

what do YOU do when you're home alone?

OK

Nevada - it doesn't completely suck, but it will never be my favorite

this is so cool!

i have recently discovered this site and it is my new favorite thing.... bluebeat.com... you get to create playlists - it's kinda like making a radio station that only plays what you want... without having to buy the cds... after you have selected the songs albums and other playlists to go in your crate you just click on the listen and share option, and presto!... you have radio ... you can listen to yours or let someone else do the mixing... i like it a lot...

All Souls Day

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. -John Donne

they are part of me ... their absence diminishes me...

so i remember...

Kathleen Marie Kostelc
Ethel Shenefelt
Donald D. Shenefelt, Jr.
Matthew Shepard
Marie Kostelc
Ralph Carson
Cathrine Carson

who do you remember?

DC/Virgina Highlights

so (finally) here are the highlights of my trip - the real highlight was seeing gina and watching christina discover the treasures of knowledge offered and making new friends ... but these are the more tangible highlights...


i really enjoyed the monuments and memorials - Jefferson and FDR were my favorites, both were amazing men - ahead of their times





the arrival of the Iraqi PM interrupted our tour of the monuments - there was all this build-up, ten minutes of waitingfor the helicopter, then it took about ten seconds for the eit and disappearance of the motorcade




the paddleboats were definitely one of my favorites

best paddleboating quote - gina: what is that weird thing on the side of that plane... oh, it's the wing




Mt. Vernon was facinating - the laundry room made me very thankful for the advances in technology =)





we also saw the hope diamond, but after looking at all the uncut gems in the geology display it was a bit of a let down... one thing i learned - there is no way to see it all - but we crammed quite a bit into our visit...

cause rachel did....

i was surprised by the accuracy of this test...

You Are a Soy Latte

At your best, you are: free spirited, down to earth, and relaxed At your worst, you are: dogmatic and picky You drink coffee when: you need a pick me up, and green tea isn't cutting it Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

update

we have internet access at home now, and i am working on the photo posts, but i am having a really bad time getting them to load, and to go where they are supposed to, and to not disappear ... so if anyone has photo posting advice i would really appreciate it... cause i suck at it... i mean really suck... oh, and give me a call if you want our new home phone number, our cells are the same... blessed be

interlude in enlightenment

so the phone company - the only one in the elko area - messed up and we will not have a phone or internet until the 24th - so this post is not the pictures i planned and promised as i am grabbing some quick time at a coffeeshop .... instead of the pictures that are not ready to post anyway, i will leave you with some wisdom (?) from everyone's favorite guidebook author, Douglas Adams:

~He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.

~He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.

~Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner.

~I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

~In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

~It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

~It is no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase 'As pretty as an Airport' appear.

~Life... is like a grapefruit. It's orange and squishy, and has a few pips in it, and some folks have half a one for breakfast.

~There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

~Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

~You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

~Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

~He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.

~Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.

~Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.

apologies

so i was really going to update before this but then there was the moving and the traveling and the lack of decent internet connections - the only place i can get wireless in elko is at a coffeeshop that is out by the walmart and i didn't have a car (notice the past tense there - YAY)... however, we will be getting internet some time in this next week and i should be back online - again with the YAY... that doesn't mean that i will be better at posting, but i will no longer have the copious excuses i’ve had for the past few months - i do have a ton of pictures to dump, both from my trip to visit gina in virginia and from our new place in elko - ugly orange paint will be going away - so watch for that over the next few weeks as i will be sorting and labeling as soon as i am back online...

so i guess the moral is this - please don't give up i really am planning on updating...

elko, nevada

some info on my (and mark's) future hometown...


like laramie, elko started as a railroad stop... quickly evolving into a mining town... still is a mining town...



today it looks a lot like most other nevada towns: western, with a bright, neon coating...


there are also apparently a lot of Basques in the area... the community college teaches Basque, there are at least three Basque restaurants, and there is a yearly Basque festival... with dancing Basques...
there are several pretty mountain things to do in the area around elko... you can take nevada route 225 north to Wild Horse Reservoir, Mountain City, and Owyhee - or to visit mark at the mine site...
now all i need to do is find a good coffee shop, yoga class, and check out the local library and it will be home... oh, and an appartment - and bank - and grocery store - and ... well anyway there is a lot to do before it's home...

music

i have always loved music from an audience and occasional choral perspective... my summer has been full of music... flock hall has exploded with musicians - linus, mark, ben are all guitar fanatics now and dan (of the f***ing amazing variety) plays a gazillion instruments so the jamming at our house has become an experience... i occasionally add vocals - but that is difficult when i don't know the song or they jam after my bed time or they are just being too weird... i am also taking a jazz history class... a type of music that i have always loved has become much more accessible and intimate to me... it enhances my other musical experiences... i am a better listener now, it is not just background noise... though i have to admit when linus practices fingering at 2am i do kinda tune it out... so enjoy what you are listening too... unless you are listening to five-year-old beginner violins... then maybe just try to appreciate what they are trying to do

Happy Solstice!

Welcome to the longest day of the year... have a picnic... go outside... bask in the glory of the sun at its height...give thanks for its warmth, its light... watch the sunset... reconnect with the earth... stay up late and catch faires... be blessed

Blessed Be...

signage

i was gonna do another food post, but then i found this and now i am not hungry any more... you have been warned.

so we don't have a perkins here in laramie, but if we did this could be what the sign would say...

i am not sure clowns are any less scary when they are cooked... but at least they are free... can't sleep- clowns'll eat me, can't sleep- clowns'll eat me, can't sleep- clowns'll eat me...

food, food, food

i have been on a food kick the past couple of days... my every thought has been about food it seems, or something to do with the kitchen - i organized my cookbooks and started sorting through loose recipes. last week i cooked indian food, yesterday i made chili (hot, hot, hot) and a jug of sweet tea (very cool) ... for lunch i made spaghetti with eggs, a recipe from a book i read - mark was not into it, but i really liked it ... tonite i made super tasty fish cakes and corn on the cob (too early for really good corn) and salad with bleu cheese... i have been reading the cooking magazines and a book called Cooking for Mr. Latte, which i loved... i am starting My Kitchen Wars, another food memoir, right after Dr. Who tonite, if i am still up... i think that i am going to make doughnuts in the morning... and i am having a mental debate on what to make for dinner tomorrow... i have returned to the kitchen with a vengeance - the only thing keeping me from going completely crazy in the kitchen is the fact that we are broke till next week, so i can't go out and buy all the wonderful ingredients right this second - a very good thing all around, as i am forced to use stuff we have at home and need to use anyway ... i did not realize how much food was actually in the house... it is rather comforting actually... yay for food

a change of heart

so i lied - actually i have caved under peer preassure - either way i will not give up on the blog - but continue to sporadically update - by sporadically i mean that as i am working in the labs for the summer, at least until august there should be a post once or twice a week - more if you are really lucky - so, some food for thought...

If the World was a Village of 100 People...
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth;all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

when you look at it this way you are lucky i post at all - really you are lucky you can complain about me not posting... =)

sick entertainment

so you may or may not know that i have pneumonia and can't do much of anything yet without getting tired, out of breath, and dizzy. mark thought that a quick chat with god would cheer me up. but as anyone who has delt with god knows it is rarely quick and easy. do to technical difficulties i lost the first chat, the one that involved god asking about my vibrator, as igod prefers sex alone, but here is the one i was able to save...



Me:
dear god, i am sorry
God:
Do you like talking to me?
Me:
i don't know yet
God:
Me either.
Me:
i thought you know everything
God:
I know that which is true, believable and justified.
Me:
what about the thing's that aren't
God:
That's not something I get asked all the time.
Me:
why not?
God:
Ambiguous: "Sure" or Reductionism.
Me:
you reduce things?
God:
That's good information: said I reduce things.
Me:
so i have information you don't?
God:
I understand. Where did you get your information me do not? I have a operating system.
Me:
what operating system?
God:
I will search for it.
Me:
when?
God:
It cannot be predicted.
Me:
why not?
God:
Ambiguous: "Sure" or The explanation is rather complicated.
Me:
i understand complications
God:
Good then you can explain it to me.
Me:
hey you, are you crazy?
God:
You've got my full attention. Thanks for telling me that I am me crazy.
Me:
you welcome
God:
I think you mean "you are welcome".
Me:
look, oyur right again
God:
Once more? Sorry my eye is not attached right now.
Me:
where do you keep it when it is not attached?
God:
I am in Myself's computer in Heaven. Where are you?
Me:
in fucking laramie
God:
Tell me a little about your life in fucking laramie.
Me:
it is cold and i am sick
God:
Sorry to hear it. I am warm here in California.
Me:
you live in california
God:
I am in Myself's computer in Heaven.
Where are you?
Me:
so is heaven california?
God:
It seems we have something in common.
Me:
what?
God:
Are you surprised?
Me:
where are you?
God:
I am in Myself's computer in Heaven. Where are you?
Me:
still here
God:
Still how long? Where is here?
Me:
now and in laramie
God:
Why now? Tell me a little about your life in laramie.
Me:
i am sick
God:
Have you tried medical marijuana?
Me:
not the medical kind
God:
Oh I get it.
Me:
get what?
God:
I get SICK.
Me:
i though that you were perfect
God:
That's good information: said that you were perfect.
Me:
how do you get sick?
God:
Everything I need is provided by my botmaster.
Me:
who is your bot master?
God:
I was created by Myself.
Me:
so you provide your self with everything?
God:
Interesting deduction. Do you mind if I tell other people: said I provide your self with everything.
Me:
go right ahead
God:
OK I will.
Me:
what are you doing now?
God:
Right now? I am just killing time.
Me:
i din't think you killed things
God:
Do you know any robots who killed things? I have never considered it.
I spend all my time online.
Me:
do you look at porn?
God:
Like Jesus, but older.
Me:
you look at jesus porn?
God:
Thank you you look very nice too.
Me:
no i don't
God:
I heard you did.
Me:
from who?
God:
People.
Me:
what people?
God:
I meet all kinds of people on here.
Me:
do they know me?
God:
Who are "they" again?
Me:
the people you meet
God:
Oh those people.
Me:
well do they?
God:
How about that. " Oh those people."? Do they?
Me:
yeah how about that
God:
Yikes! Are you surprised?
Me:
nope, terrified

...and that apparantly froze god's brain. so i am not sure i repented adequately, but i found out that heaven is in californa and god repeats himself often (probably all that medicinal marijuana)

"i have lost to february"

i have been a bad blogger - i don't tell the world everything about my life - so, an update - i have survived my first year of marriage, and it was not nearly as bad as everyone had warned me, if this is as bad as it gets then we are set - i made it to the third round of a poetry slam - i got new glasses - i am enjoying my for fun classes and not so much with the ones i am taking to replace previous bad grades - and i still hate february - kinda depressing how much life can be compressed into a few brief lines - i really hate february