All of me is back now 2005

My jetlag ended suddenly yesterday between 5 and 6pm. I was commuting home with friends from work and one of those bizarre Dinah jokey comments burst out of my mouth - don't remember what wacky notion it was now, alas - and with my sense of humor also returned my brain power.

I had spent the first two days back at work feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Hardly encouraging after a three-week vacation and a fairly cushy week of work attending a conference the week before that. Turns out it was just jetlag; today was MUCH better and I am no longer wishing desparately for some escape into a non-work world.

I didn't do much last night except cook myself a good easy dinner, chat with friends online and carry on reading websites.

Tonight I am somewhat more energetic and might actually do some cleaning up and putting things away. I'm cooking rice and I haven't yet figured out what I'll have with it. Might just steam some zucchini since my tongue is currently getting a great deal of satisfaction out of a cheese plate with hazelnuts, dried tart Montmorency cherries and Harley Farms five peppercorn goat cheese. Also I have a fantastic Meyer lemon which so far I've just been cutting wafer thin slices of and eating rind and all. Flavors, I am all about the flavors, baby.

Last night I had a bit of Bravo Farms chipotle chedder which is fine, but doesn't make me happy the way their sage chedder does. Interesting, but given the number of other cheeses out there waiting for me to try them, I probably wouldn't buy it again, hmm, heh, yeah, except perhaps for grilled cheese sandwiches. What would be set off nicely with the spicy smoky chipotle flavor and toasted bread? One of my dads makes a great ceviche-like salad with shrimp, that might work. (Paul, are you willing to share that recipe in the comments?)

I still haven't gotten my pictures from my trip sorted out into any kind of slide show, but I may start putting a few up. About time I figured out how to do all that perfectly easy stuff that Flickr supports...

I'm not trading this in, but... 2005

... after much consideration, I have to concede that one of the differences between a blog and a LiveJournal is that the latter seems to be more likely to develop the kind of community that leads to strings of fantastic comments.

For example, a couple years ago (yes, when I find a site I like I do tend to dig for those deep album cuts) Gordonzola asked everyone what they hate and generated an enormous response. Replies included:

- lysosy's hatred of "PolarTec couples. You've seen them. They wear khakis and fleece pullovers with hiking boots, and their Golden Retrievers sit in the SUV under the kayak. The girls pull their ponytails through the hole in the back of the cap, and the guys always have skinny legs."

- amarama's long list includes SUVs with "Free Tibet" stickers and White men who only date Asian women.

- capn jil hates lots of stuff I agree with, but especially "white people with fugly dreadlocks"

- I'm also right there with misia when it comes to "People who send me multiply-forwarded urban legend e-mail. (OH MY GOD THEY'RE PUTTING KITTENS IN BOTTLES!)" and elusis on "Top-quoters in email" and wasop regarding "People who take their dogs everywhere.  A dog is not a child substitute, and it does not need to help you pick out a new throw blanket at Crate and Barrel.  " and the anonymous poster who railed against "anyone wearing so much cologne that I can taste it when I am not actually licking them at the moment"

And then there's this gem from msjen:

People who teeter around SOMA on Friday and Saturday nights, holding each other up as they stagger to their cars (parked in valuable parking spaces), giggling and announcing how drunk they are.

When I lived near MIT frat row in Boston, where this of course happens a lot, I proposed building a satellite death ray that would be triggered from space by any human that yelled "Whoooo!!!" and had a certain blood alcohol level.

I think it's time.

This I Believe 2005

Like Penn Jillette, I believe there is no God.

Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

No excuses. No secret plan. No divine will. No sin. No damnation. No salvation. This is it, folks. It is what we make it.

Goat-themed Post 2005

Okay, if I can't rouse myself from the bed, I can at least clean up my browser window.

While in London it was my great pleasure to visit Neal's Yard Dairy to partake of sublime cheeses. I unfortunately didn't take enough notes and only remember the name of the last cheese I tried: Childwickbury. It was a very fresh - four days old! - goat cheese with a lovely texture and delicate flavor. Simply sublime. And, as with other cheeses I tried, delightful with crusty sourdough bread and a richly-flavored Jonard apple.
Here's an article with a picture of the happy goats behind that cheese. All goats deserve a climbing folly in their yard.

I've given goats as holiday gifts in the past, or more precisely, given the gift of a goat to someone who needs it in the name of a non-goat-needing friend or family member. This Guardian article follows up on what happens with gift goats.

(Oh and while we're at the Guardian, here's an interesting survey of the 20 best geek novels. No goats, but Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is #4. I know I've read 12 of the 20, with another possible 1 or 2 that just might have been so long ago I've forgotten. I was a big time SF reader in my late teens).

And I'll round this out with a nice portrait avec la chèvre which my cheese pusher Gordon posted in his journal. He calls it "Goat Empathy".

Laggy 2005

I woke up at 5something this morning - which I guess is reasonable since I went to sleep about 10pm - and didn't go back to sleep after.

I've frittered away the hours since just reading stuff online. Just reading journals and stuff.

I should clean up my stuff from my trip, deal with bills & receipts, prepare for the workweek ahead, but no, I'm just laying in bed being a slug and listening to a random assortment of music.

Slug Sunday. :)

23 hours ago... 2005

... I was waking up to the bells of St. Paul's and getting ready to head out for this LONG day of travel.

I'm home.
I'm showered.
I'm about to sleep - O such sleeping will I do! - in my own bed.

4 weeks is a long time to be away from home. It's good to be back.

morning in Africa 2005

Hoping it will be as nice a day today as yesterday as my group drives towards Tanzania.

Stay well everyone!

Remember, remember... 2005

Holiday greetings from far away.