October 2004
This month: Mona Smiles . . . When Superman dies . . .
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Fall Wind Falls posted: 10-22-04
Worker Go Home!
I showed up for work this morning (Friday) only to discover, after about half an hour into my shift, that I had been placed on vacation. Although he wouldn't acknowledge it - I'm convinced my supervisor accidentally put me in for a vacation request on the same days as another tech (22nd & 23rd) - when I had only requested the 26th. Oh well, after confirming that there was not a manpower shortage today - I did go ahead and accept - what turns out to be a 5 day weekend.
Sometimes I wonder - if there is some kind of compassionate benevolence looking over me; or maybe a harmony; a synchronicity? - from within or without - or all together - from a universal consciousness?
On my way back home this morning - I stopped and had a nice big breakfast at Village Inn. I even flirted with the waitress ever so lightly. I didn't mean it as a romantic "flirt", but - having recently changed my work schedule - I've been trying out a weekly routine of going to Village Inn for breakfast before going to the laundro-mat. My impression is that this waitress (Lorie?) seemed like a nicer person than some of the other waitresses (some seemed a bit tough - even caustic). So, I asked her to "adopt me" as one of her regular customers and asked what station she usually worked. I'm not sure how many of her customers are this direct, but I'm sure that she recognizes that customers - especially the lonely ones - will often develop a relationship with a waitress - strictly workplace. The movie As Good As It Gets just came to mind as an extreme example - but not so far off from realities such as mine. In this good film - Jack Nicholson's obsessive/compulsive character could only handle having a certain waitress wait on him (played by Helen Hunt). As I finished my meal - Lorie told me she would be glad to be my waitress.
As I sit down to work at my computer - the windy cold front that moved in over night - begins to tap its wet fingers at my window, but those cold fingers can't touch me today.
Plenty To Do
I'm hoping to not be too sloth-ful in this windfall time off. I'm still working on running power, coax, cat5 and phone out to my detached garage via underground poly. Its been slow going - in part - because I've been unsure of a couple hardware / connection techniques. One challenge was how the entrance thru the wall of the garage would be managed. After sleeping on it a few nights, I finally woke up a couple mornings ago with a little "brain-storm" idea and a way to implement it. So, I have no excuse or design hurdle to prevent me from finally completing this job - this week.
Oh yes, and yet another example of how this windfall vacation is a perfect timing. As of today, I'm out of my meds. I need to refill the prescription, but I can't find my insurance - pharmacy card (never used it). I called company about ten days ago and they said it would be mailed out in 2 weeks. Well, I haven't seen it - but I was told I could have pharmacy confirm over phone my eligibility? Having Friday off will help with working thru this bureaucratic sludge.
Latest Web Project
I'm excited about a new concept I've been working on for a web based business. My several previous ideas lost steam as I realized various obstacles - each concept had promise, but they were impractical in some ways - at least for now.
With out going into it to much right now - my latest domain acquisition is : Coin-Wash.com . The hyphen is a slight drawback, but the name is so short and catchy - and the concept so "clean" - that I think I may actually have something that I can bring to fruition over the the next couple years.
superman is dead posted: 10-11-04
Long live his memory and spirit
"Christopher Reeve, the chiseled, strapping "Superman" of celluloid who became another kind of hero as a force for spinal cord research after a devastating horse-riding accident, has died at 52." - The Associated Press
Updated: 5:18 p.m. ET Oct. 11, 2004
msnbc.msn.com/id/6223386/
" After graduating from high school, Reeve studied at Cornell university, while at the same time working as a professional actor. In his final year of Cornell, he was one of two students selected ( Robin Williams was the other) to study at New York's famous Juilliard School of Performing Arts, under the renowned John Houseman."
www.imdb.com/name/nm0001659
When Superman Dies
When George Reeves, the superman of my childhood died (under circumstances questioned to this day), I was nine years old.
It was an incongruity; an irony - that was strange to fathom.
Rumors abounded. One urban myth, spun from the hushed suicide story, was that he jumped from the window of a skyscraper.
My nine year old intellect knew he couldn't fly. But, I suppose a part of me - the part where Easter Bunnies and Santa Clauses once danced - - finally closed - never to re-open.
George Reeves - as Superman - was one of my childhood heros.
The reality of his life was far less than heroic.
www.imdb.com/name/nm0001660/bio
Heros are important.
Mr Reeve lived a full and rich life.
When tragedy struck - he fought back - just like Superman would.
Christopher Reeve - - - was a "SUPER MAN" - a superhero - a true inspiration.
Your Very Own Stamp posted: 10-03-04
Stamp it "CANCELED"!
In my post titled "Lick Your Own" last month I wrote,"I don't know if this is legal - seems to me the post office people who make collectible stamps would try to block this.". Well, for what ever reason, this service has been discontinued.
photo.stamps.com
In a statement from PhotoStamps: "The PhotoStamps program was available to the public under a market test with authorization by the US Postal Service. We have now ceased taking orders in order to allow the Postal Service to conduct its review of the program."
photo.stamps.com/thankyou
a Favorite Quote
"The only thing needed for evil to prosper
is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke
(1729-1797)
"ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to EDMUND BURKE, but never found in his works. It may be a paraphrase of Burke's view that 'When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.' (Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents - Vol. i. p. 526, April 23, 1770).-Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed., p. ix (1980)."
www.bartleby.com/73/560.html
http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Burke.htm
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=7597
Humor
Painting
Mona Lisa
Leonardo Da Vinci, Musee du Louvre
"Leonardo may also be credited with the most famous portrait of all time, that of Lisa, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, and known as the Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre). An aura of mystery surrounds this painting, which is veiled in a soft light, creating an atmosphere of enchantment. There are no hard lines or contours here (a technique of painting known as sfumato-fumo in Italian means "smoke"), only seamless transitions between light and dark. Perhaps the most striking feature of the painting is the sitter's ambiguous half smile. She looks directly at the viewer, but her arms, torso, and head each twist subtly in a different direction, conveying an arrested sense of movement. Leonardo explores the possibilities of oil paint in the soft folds of the drapery, texture of skin, and contrasting light and dark (chiaroscuro). The deeply receding background, with its winding rivers and rock formations, is an example of Leonardo's personal view of the natural world: one in which everything is liquid, in flux, and filled with movement and energy.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is one of the most intriguing personalities in the history of Western art. Trained in Florence as a painter and sculptor in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488), Leonardo is also celebrated for his scientific contributions. Leonardo's curiosity and insatiable hunger for knowledge never left him. He was constantly observing, experimenting, and inventing, and drawing was, for him, a tool for recording his investigation of nature."
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/leon/hd_leon.htm
"Leonardo da Vinci was a Florentine artist, one of the great masters of the High Renaissance, who was also celebrated as a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. His profound love of knowledge and research was the keynote of both his artistic and scientific endeavors. His innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his death, and his scientific studies-particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and hydraulics-anticipated many of the developments of modern science."
http://sunsite.sut.ac.jp/cgfa/vinci/vinci_bio.htm
I confess - I'm not a great admirer of this painting, but I am a great admirer of Leonardo da Vinci.
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a Favorite Film
Pennies from Heaven
http://imdb.com/title/tt0082894/
"It's easy to see why Pennies from Heaven flopped upon release in 1981, despite effusive praise from no less than Pauline Kael, the grande dame of American film critics. Steve Martin fans expecting a reprise of The Jerk were put off by his dramatic performance as Arthur Parker, a needy and selfish dreamer. And while this gorgeously shot and designed film boasts dazzling musical numbers, it was ultimately too dark and heady for mainstream audiences weaned on more traditional musical fare. Yet if any film deserves a second look, it would be this marvelous adaptation of Dennis Potter's BBC series, which originally aired in 1978. . . . . "
From a review by: Tim Knight
www.reel.com/movie
