One Whole Year... Later

One Whole Year... Later, originally uploaded by CherryVega.

Best love story EVAHHHH!

Click the photo and read the description and then follow the links.

I think maybe there are no coincidences.

I hold out hope. :)

overheard

mom (after i call to see how she is doing): thanks for caring, though.

me: well, i love you.

mom: i know. that's the nice part.

me: what's the not nice part?

mom: well, i'm not saying.



snort. i'm the tough daughter.

singled out

singled out, originally uploaded by emdot.

She is hard on herself.

I mentioned to her that her New Year's Resolution should be to practice more self-kindness.

And I knew what was going on in her head. She should learn to be kinder to others first. Or that focusing on herself in that way is somehow selfish. She should focus on others.

So, then I said, "You know how the airlines always say in case of a loss of cabin pressure parents should put their oxygen mask on first before helping their child? It's the same with self-compassion. You gotta put on your Oxygen Mask of Self Compassion before you can help someone else."

"Is this a buddhist teaching?" she asked me.

"Yes," I said, "yes it is. The Dharma of the Oxygen Mask of Self Compassion. Bodhi svaha."

so right, so right

[ from Apis.ca's web page about What makes a good web site. ]

I'm creating an educational presentation that explains what makes a good web site. I believe that you need to educate decision-makers so that they can make wise decisions, so they can understand your strategy and reasoning for approaching web design a certain way. If nothing else, it gets them away from drooling over the bells and whistles that satisfy nothing else but their egos.

I love this diagram. So basic. So obvious. And so often overlooked.

family

family, originally uploaded by Cam B..

why i love flickr.

waiting

waiting, originally uploaded by emdot.

offline for an undetermined amount of time

Folks, I'm losing the Internets for a few weeks, so won't be able to upload to my blog or Flickr or answer email on a dependable basis. Hopefully re-up and running come 2006, but I'm not necessarily holding my breath.

If you need to get a hold of me and have my numbah, gimme a ring. If not, hello Mr. Postman. :)

Sending best thoughts into the ether....

Pure Genius

Pure Genius, originally uploaded by JenniferWoodardMaderazo.

yea! ricky gervais is doing a daily weekly podcast this week month for the guardian.

check it out!

goose egg

so this weekend is all about cleaning up and clearing out. time to do some reorganizing and decluttering.

this includes my ~500 CDs which have been in no specific order for the last two years. i moved their location, took them all out and alphabetized (yes, i know, not the best system, but better than nothing) and began to put them on their shelves, which is two cd cases stacked on top of each other. and i got them all shelved and was feeling good.

and then i found a small stack that hadn't been shelved. so i begin to put them in their correct space, and in my enthusiasm (i blame my enthusiasm), the top case began to wobble.

whoops i thought. that's not so sturdy. so was even more careful and then (i was sitting on the floor, reaching up) the whole thing begins to rock and then crashes (CRASHES!) on my head. 250 sharply cornered cd cases and the wooden rack all pummelled down on me.

ouch.

so i've just sat quietly for the last 25 minutes with a bag of frozen peas on top of my head. but i'm pretty sure this will turn into a sizeable lump no matter. waaaah.

AND NOW I HAVE TO RESTACK THOSE SUCKERS.

grrrr.

Searching for the Source...

Searching for the Source..., originally uploaded by Mr. Greenjeans.

this. photo. is. killing. me. :) and so i share it with you. :)

dorky newscasters

I swear to god the local newscaster person just said,

"and rob will be here to tell us how in just a day we abruptly went from summer weather to fall!!"

it's november 25th. i doubt there is anything drastic about switching into fall by now.

overheard

mar: have you guys heard about "turducken"?
bret: what is it?
mar: it's a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey and served on thanksgiving. that? that is disgusting.
bret: sounds fowl.

sigh, that bret. always ready for the pun-liners.

each day begins anew

, originally uploaded by JanXVI.

this photo gets me in the gut. in the heart. in my hopes.

i'm a sucker for mornings because they are a brand new start on a daily basis. this photo, with the spider web, reminds me that in every hardship there is a dawning.

thank god for that. thank god for that.

photo by jan in belgium. one of the most gifted photographers on flickr. he certainly does not post enough.

Mrs.D

Mrs.D, originally uploaded by YardSale.

Happy birthday Derrek! Happy anniversary D&M. I'm very bummed I missed this party. Photo courtesy of Dan.

overheard: i'm awesome! you're awesome!

overheard: i'm awesome! you're awesome!, originally uploaded by emdot.

i had a great window seat and sometimes a reflection

i had a great window seat and sometimes a reflection, originally uploaded by emdot.

me on the train, heading south and looking at the beautiful pacific. life is good.

day in the life: 6:45 am & heather's train pulls away

day in the life: 6:45 am & heather's train pulls away, originally uploaded by emdot.

this'll be me (well, inside the train) in an hour. i haven't taken the train in about ten years, and this one meanders along the coast all the way to SoCal, so am looking forward to it.

i'm pulling my other posts. not because they don't ring true for me but because i'm not sure i expressed myself correctly. befuddlement often leads to befuddled writing.

and apropos of nothing really at all, just sitting here drinking my coffee and thinking holy hot damn, me? i make a mean cup of coffee. seriously.

from now on when people ask me what i like to cook, i'm gonna tell them coffee. :)

dilo june 2005: short skirt and a looooooong jacket

dilo june 2005: short skirt and a looooooong jacket, originally uploaded by emdot.

i got carded today. genuine real-deal bonafide carded. at the grocery story. for a bottle of wine. she asked for my ID at the very end of the transaction and i thought it was for my card.

"really?" i asked. "my id?" cuz if you have a store card they already have your identification.

"for the wine," she said and my tone totally changed cuz this was no pity carding. no sympathy carding. she was really asking and really asking me to pull out that damn id already.

i think i hopped in place a couple of times cuz i was so excited as i fished out my drivers license.

"oh!" she said when she saw my year of birth, but i did not care.

igotcarded igotcarded igotcarded igotcarded.

the thing is is, i know i don't look 21. but they gotta card you if you look under 30 and baby thatisgoodenoughforme!

the other thing is is, i actually dolook over thirty. however, i think my personality is hovering somewhere over age five (or is it fourteen) and that aura can confuse checkers.

and lemme tell you, i love every last confused one of them. dearly. with passion.

want.

a million little pieces

a million little pieces, originally uploaded by emdot.

I typically don't read Oprah's book club books, but I am a sucker for "recovery" books. (No, no, I myself am not an addict -- I just love the realness and rawness of recovery books).

The lovely sweetdogk, who is also my next-door-neighbor (but only for a few more weeks --tears--), heard about it and picked it up. She's a big reader and she said, "you can read it when I'm done. It's about an addict, so I know you'll love it." And I clapped my hands in anticipation. Good writing and addiction? Purr purr purr.

Then my mom picked it up and devoured it. She picked it up and read it because she heard someone say "I usually hate Oprah book club books, but this one? I couldn't put it down!" And my mom was thinking how much she typically hated OBC books, too and went out straight away and bought it and consumed it and licked her lips and then her fingers still loving the taste of the perfection of the book and then passed it on to me.

I began it late Saturday night. Sunday morning and early afternoon was spent with my good friend Heather, down from Berkeley, but the afternoon was thisbookonly. (Okay, did take breaks to upload bee picture and to watch Curb and Extras).

This morning I took advantage of my extra hour by reading another 60 pages. Only 40 left, but I must go to work.

Anyway. If you like addiction/recovery true story books, don't miss this one.

Take Off

Take Off, originally uploaded by Catherine Jamieson.

ways i am not fun

1. Probably missing the Jackson Browne concert that I have a free ticket to
2. Halloween? I really can't be bothered

strange things i love

1. Corvids of any nature
2. The smell of skunk (well, from a distance at least)
3. Doing the dishes

things that feel overwhelming

1. Keeping up with photographs and photographers on flickr
2. Dealing with my gmail inbox
3. Making plans in advance

recent fun things

1. Lunch with Ingrid from Sweden and she went over the many weird Swedish sounds with me
2. Yelling at the many Apprenti with my friends on TV night
3. Doing some unexpected graphic design
4. Designing web sites. I am geeking out
5. Amazing talks lately with each of my parents

please, no, stop

1. Aaron Neville

please, yes, more

1. Connick, Marsalis Celebrate New Orleans Roots
2. White House Indictment
3. An awakened mind that expresses itself in compassionate action to alleviate suffering
4. Getting Unstuck

the postcard project: san luis obispo, california.

the postcard project: san luis obispo, california., originally uploaded by snowdeal.

yea!

my postcard to little odin got posted to flickr. :)

Two Poems

poppies and morninglories, originally uploaded by emdot.

Two poems that have meant a lot to me over the years.
maybe they will touch your heart, too.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

— Mary Oliver

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

— David Wagoner

sock it to me

i want this book.

much more to blog (or so it feels like), but now i must go over to kb's house so we can yell at the tv set while watching martha's apprentice.

two horoscopes

Monday morning Rebel sent me this:

...I decided to put together a horoscope for you today....here goes ;)

Who knew you were so damn good at drawing with your toes baby? Or figuring out how to caulk holes without any caulk? Be surprised by some of your hidden talents today lover! You're ready to make constructive changes right now, and to make them quickly! Try harder than usual to manage your time wisely, 'measure twice and cut once.' Do it right the first time sugar!

As to the romance bit.....The best romance is a fun romance -- don't forget to play. Seriousness is overrated.

Bottom line is...the universe has set you up with nothing but lovely green lights. Take advantage of it quickly hawchie chawchie! It don't get much better than that!

And oh, yeah...I FUCKING LOVE YOU!

Now I couldn't tell if she had really found that or had made it up on the spot. Either way, there seems to be a trend in the stars as the following came from Brezny:

It's high time for you to lose control—in the most constructive way possible, please. You can no longer afford to be as tightly wound as you've been lately. To get yourself in the mood for breakthroughs that will prevent breakdowns, consider carrying out some of the following acts. Fingerpaint on your TV screen. Dance on your bed, imitating a black bear that has drunk a bottle of vodka. Ask an intimate friend to use lipstick to write "I am inscrutable" on your belly. Have dinner with a person who makes you uncomfortable in an interesting way. Buy a bull penis walking stick at Bumsteer.com and use it on a stroll to the corner store. Write candid confessional letters to people from whom you've been hiding an important truth, but don't mail the letters.

*choosing to ignore the walking stick suggestion. but besides that one, you gotta admit, good advice.

Shadowy striker tickles the balancing blue dribbler from behind.

Shadowy striker tickles the balancing blue dribbler from behind., originally uploaded by ahmedzahid.

happy little photo for a tuesday morning smile break. what is cuter than this? and i love the shadows of the children out of the shot.

currently reading: garlic and sapphires

currently reading: garlic and sapphires, originally uploaded by emdot.

Reading: books

I heard the former NYTimes food critic interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air last year, talking about her latest book Garlic and Sapphires. And while I didn't look up the book then, it must have stayed with me because when I saw this book returned and sitting in a cart to be reshelved I snatched it up immediately.

I'm about halfway done and the chapters are a study of the sensuous -- what food looks like, smells like, tastes like, and feels like in the mouth. It makes me want to greatly rethink how I make my food choices and call up an exboyfriend who is quite the gourmand to go out for a fine meal.

Reading: email

In an email from a friend regarding a recent personal challenge I went through:

People have weird ideas about being tough and about bravery. But you can't be brave unless you're really scared, and you can't be tough unless you have something to overcome. That you managed as well as you did for as long as you did...well, brave and tough. There it is.

Words I will treasure for quite a long while.

local and tasty

local and tasty, originally uploaded by emdot.

Found from Kottke.org (my home away from home; I rarely check boingboing anymore), a wine professional makes a list of the bottles she'd buy if she was down to her last $10. I'm thinking this page needs to go into my del.icio.us and pronto.

» Tight Wine (for under $10)

october 5: wallace stevens crazy day

yesterday shall be remembered as the day of the wallace stevens coincidences.

• first, i get an email with a stevens line in the subject and a few more stevens lines in the email.
  Beneath every no
  Lays a passion for yes that has never been broken.


• then i get a stanza in a comment stream in flickr


• THEN i read caterina and she has a stevens stanza and story in her blog

That's a whole lotta Stevens coincidences for a short 24-hours, I must say.

souper star

souper star, originally uploaded by emdot.

three favorite words:
- bittersweet
- kittycorner
- lazybones

(i think i like compounds)

meanwhile, from brezny:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In his "MuseLetter," Richard Heinberg writes that Jesus "taught renunciation of ephemeral desires, fearless and carefree public behavior, and contempt for riches." This happens to be a precise prescription for those of you who hope to put yourself in maximum alignment with cosmic rhythms in the coming week. I suggest you suspend your pursuit of the relatively trivial goals that soak up an inordinate amount of your attention, and instead intensify your devotion to your single most important reason for living. This should help you lose your unnecessary inhibitions. It should also free you from any delusions you might have that greed is normal or that you need *more* than enough of anything.

Doctor, Doctor 705

Doctor, Doctor 705, originally uploaded by lorenzodom.

Really fun, short slide show from lorenzodom of a guy dancing in Central Park. Set the slideshow interval to one second for best effect.

» Little Central Park Boogie

i love dr. john

And so should you. Tonight when I shoulda been putting myself to bed I decided to listen to a little Fresh Air (yes, I'm a bonafide NPR geek. and proud.). Specifically, the Fresh Air show from my birthday, cuz I realized I hadn't listened to it yet. And since my birthday was closely after Katrina became the name we shall not speak in the south, the show was all New Orleans for sixty beautiful minutes.

I say I love Dr. John, but it's not like I own CDs. It's not that I don't want to own CDs. Actually, I don't understand why I don't have his CDs. I will remedy this week. Anyway, I'm doing the tangent shuffle. Let me tell you why I love Dr. John.

In SLO County we have this thing called the Blues Festival which takes place every Memorial Day weekend (specifically, the Sunday before Memorial Day proper) in Avila Beach. It is fun. It is sunny. It is on the beach. There is booze. There is blues. And there is dancing.

The first Blues Festival I went to featured Dr. John as the headline act. And I couldn't sit down if I had willed my body with all my collective brain power. Dr. John rocked the house and I gotta be honest: the Blues Festival has never been as much for me since.

He's just a bad ass. Plain. Simple. Dr. John? Bad ass. And his music is perfect to dance to. Lopey. Jumpy. Mellow in hip moving groove. Carefree and passionate at the same time. Perfect for sunshine. Perfect for smoky bar time, too, I bet. Perfect in its weird voodoo perfection. And that sums up New Orleans too, doesn't it? Cuz NOLA is perfect in its weird voodoo perfection as well.

Listen to the Fresh Air interview and pronto so you will agree with me and fall in Dr. John love as well.

» Dr. John on Fresh Air

JARVIS

JARVIS, originally uploaded by defekto.

jarvis was a well-read and polite dog.

nigel's back

steve crane from south africa sent an email to daveworld letting us know that one of our former selves is back online. nigel's sites used to be some of my favorite. i'm looking forward to seeing what he's got up his sleeve (or in his camera bag) this time.

» nigel campbell

i love sweden

And everything about Sweden. Except, maybe, the darkness in the winter and the fact that I can't understand what they are sing-songing saying. :) No, I like that too. (But still am wary about the darkness.)

Meanwhile, Andrea Scher, the internet's own superhero jewelry maker, put up a link to Virtual Sweden, a site with many 360-degree photos and panoramas. As soon as I'm done writing this post I'm sending the link to Steffe and Anders (who is visiting Russia right now).

» Virtual Sweden
There are photos from other country's as well.

i take it back about the swedish winter darkness

Blomorado Nightly View, originally uploaded by Steffe.

Okay, I take it back, what I said in the last post about perhaps the only thing that I don't like about Sweden is the long hours of darkness in the winter.

Last winter Steffe took a series of beautiful glowy photos of greenhouses in the dark. ILOVETHESE.

» More Swedish Greenhouses

utata'd

Yea! One of my photos made the Utata blog! ;)

» Emdot on Utata

Kayaks

Kayaks, originally uploaded by Matt (mistergoleta).

I had to share this gorgeousness. Mr. Goleta, ironically, takes many photos in SLO County. Maybe he should change his name to Mr. Tri-Counties or something.

overheard, part one

Today I had lunch with my friend D. Gregg who is a professor of City and Regional Planning.

Mar: Where are you from?
D. Gregg: I grew up in Suburban Phoenix — which is redundant.

We went on to have a fabulous conversation about our passion for the em-dash. D. Gregg said that he always goes over the hyphen and the em-dash with his classes.

"One brings things together and the other sets things apart," said D. Gregg and I was completely floored because I have never met a person before who really spoke my hyphen/em-dash language.

He wasn't that familiar with the en-dash, tho, so I told him the difference between the en-dash and the em-dash and felt quite chuffed indeed.

overheard, part twootytoot

After work I ran into Melanie and I was really excited to see her. I've been thinking of her and Derek a lot since Live Oak, but, well, you know me: I suck at getting in touch with anyone. Everyone. I'm the Equal Opportunity Not Getting in Toucher.

Big news = Melanie is preggers and due some time in March 2006 (2006 = the year of the dog). My first question was "oof. no booze?" (i was kidding, people) (but of course so ecstatic for the two of them because they are a truly fabulous couple; i adore them) while most everyone else's first question has to do with the gender of the baby.

Most everyone else: Do you know what you're having?
Melanie: Yes, a Pisces Dog.

See, it is responses like that that let you know you really, truly and totally admire somebody.

new discoveries: footwear

Since working in a library I have realized that I have three different types of shoes.

1. Quiet Shoes
2. Loud Shoes
3. Clippity Cloppity I'm a Clydesdale Shoes

The problem of course being that the Clippity Cloppity Clydesdales are my favorites.

I will buy new shoes this weekend.

an amazing day

ohmigod. it is beautiful outside and it is only morning. hot even. yeah — i'd say it is hot outside. for people on the east coast, that might sound terrible. but there's no humidity, just a bonafide perfection to the beginning of Indian Summer. and hallelujah as most of september was not all that.

i am late for work so none of this makes sense

I should NOT be writing in my blog right now. I should be on the road to work. BUT I had to write.

There are a few universal truths in the world.

One of them is that I should not be allowed to own scissors.

How on earth it is that I think that I should cut my hair myself — after it is already dry and when I am kinda slightly running late for work — is a mystery that I don't think anyone could solve.

I can't even STYLE my hair on my own. So cutting it? Really, that's like me thinking because I can sometimes climb Bishop's Peak that Everest is a damn good idea. I should climb it. Before work. I'm sure I could be back in time.

window shopping

Some photos are meant to be viewed together. Check out Myla Kent's Window set and prepare to be dazzled.

Myla pointed out in one of the photos that it is the unexpected person who winds up in your frame when you are shooting "street" that really makes the photo. I totally agree. Those random occurrances breathe life into still life.

I don't know Myla except recently through flickr but she really makes me smile. She's got one of those very generous souls that is quick to share a friendly word. People like that are to be cherished, even if you only know them though the internets.

I know I recently just blogged another Myla photo, but whatareyagonnado? You gotta blog what moves you.

» View Myla Kent's window set as a slide show

the keri smith phenomenom

I can't explain this. I really can't. But there is something about keri smith's blog wish jar journal that makes me want to cry. not in a sad way. in a ... god I don't even know. In a... soul connection way. Does that make you roll your eyes or tsk tsk me? Please don't. I think it is that Keri lives her life really close to what is true for her. And she blogs about that. And there is a part of my soul (hey -- no eye rolling!) that identifies with it and kind of -- oh god, lame -- mourns the fact that I don't do this as much as I should. Argh. So lame, I know, but it is the truth for me.

"We are fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."
— Japanese proverb

She and her husband (and another friend?) have recently made a movie about dancing in public. Read the story. It's a good one. And three cheers to Keri and Jeff who seem to live life completely true to themselves no matter what. You gotta admire that.

» Wish Jar Journal

to all my friends

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive.
— anäis nin

Myla Kent's photostream has been a special place for me on Flickr. If you aren't familiar with her, I recommend going there when you have about 30 minutes to spare. Sit down with a cup of coffee and browse Myla's photos and read the quotes that go along with them.

» Myla Kent on Flickr
» Myla Kent's photoblog

things i've read and loved

• this is why i read dooce
• i loved this quote found on caterina.net:
  Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas,
  Ease after war, death after life, does greatly please.
  — Spencer, The Fairie Queene
• explanation of why floaty things (like cheerios) gravitate towards each other (from kottke.org)
• article about introvertism (also from kottke)
  i am an introvert, tho few people believe me. i need a lot of alone-recharging time and sometimes being with people really drains my batteries. not that i don't like these people. i typically love them. but i just need time to regroup. recharge. etc.

or maybe you are more in the mood to listen to something

• Lucinda live in concert
• living with a.l.s. (warning: heartbreaker)

harrumph!

(and bah humbug, too).
Today's horoscope.

"Take the time." Weak, transient effect: Today during the day you will meet some sort of challenge to the structure of your daily life, that is, your home life, intimate relations, routine daily contacts and so forth. All of us have hidden tensions that cause us to operate in ways that we do not understand. The effect of this influence is to bring these tensions to the surface. Thus you may feel ill at ease within yourself and have a bit more difficulty in getting along with others, particularly with men. Now several small areas of your life may simultaneously reach a crisis that forces you to pay more attention to what is happening. This is especially likely to happen with situations or persons that you have been taking for granted. You should take the time to correct little problems as they arise and give them the attention that they require.

This would have really helped if I had read this before getting out of bed today. Or at the least, before going to work. No, no, at the least-least before calling my friend whom I was veryupsetwith and being very verbally upset and then making matters that much worse. Today sucked.

And for once I actually reached out (which I never do, but know I should) and nobody was around. It makes me sad to even think about it. So my downward spiral just accelerated. I felt pretty uncomfortable and just plain weird all day. And even now still.

It's funny how sometimes horoscopes can be so completely on the money. This one was from astro.com.

dilo: coffee and css

Make no mistake: as a rule, I make a kick-ass cup of coffee. Seriously, few things can rival my version of French Drip with an inch or so of half-and-half. So, I'm a fairly confident coffeemaker. But this morning I made The Worst Pot of Coffee of All Time.

Did I drink? Hell yes.
Did I like it? Hell no.

Meanwhile, morning spent trying to boost myself from css beginner to css middler. Progress? The jury's still out and wrapped in competing span and div tags. Rzzl frzzl.

dilo: work music

» Morning Becomes Eclectic with Nick Harcourt.

dilo: driving to work music

I still love Uncle Tupelo after all these years. For this morning's commute (which takes less than 10 minutes from doorstep to parking spot) I played Graveyard Shift twice. A great song to kick start a day.

» Uncle Tupelo
» Anthology

day in the life: dilo: breakfast at linnaea'

In honor of DILO, KB and I decided to have breakfast together before work. What better place that Linnaea's where you can get tasty breakfast burritos and waffles and the town's best double-tall latte? The problem was that I couldn't get my act together and wasn't quite awake until the end of breakfast. Oh well, nice start to the day, even if I wasn't the best convo companion for miss KB.

BTW, KB updated her blog (SweetDogK)last night, so check it out.

» Linnaea's Cafe
» SweetDogK

day in the life: dilo 09.22.05

Today is Day in the Life on Flickr. Instead of just doing photos for the day I decided to blog as well. Photos will get loaded up later in the day, but I thought I'd go ahead and put my blog entries in. At the end of the day you should be able to come back and see all the photos with the posts.

DILO happens four times a year — each time on the first day of the new season. This is my fourth DILO (dec 04, mar 05, jun 05 completed) and my first at my new job. I gotta say, I think DILO is easier and more interesting when you aren't in an office, but we'll see how it goes.

Check out the group and you'll see DILOs from people all around the world. From the everyday to the completely exotic.

» DILO on Flickr

overheard on tv

person interviewed: i'm a terrible procrastinator! but i got this done in january, so it is all done!

- - - -

grrrr. obviously not a terrible procrastinator. look, i don't mind having many people in my procrastination tribe, but i do not appreciate those posing to fit in. getting things done in january removes your "procrastinator" elibility FOREVER.

AND how dare she mock us that way. (using the royal us, here)

look who i found on flickr!

IMG_0984.JPG, originally uploaded by jijnes.

Flickr strikes again, this time getting me back in touch with my old friend Jijnes (pronounce Jigness). Jig and I worked together at IPTech about 50 million years ago and He. Is. The. Best! And recently married and doing well and just moved back to Cali after three years on the East Coast.

Being able to catch up with an old friend through a couple of Flickr pages... that is pretty cool.

lunch-time blogging

The tri tip. How do you know that you live in the Central Coast? If tri tip is a major food group. I just grabbed a tri tip sando for lunch (and it was DELICIOUS) and marvelled how this is not a common food in other parts of the nation, much less the state. In fact, I think that unless you are a vegetarian, you are required by law to eat tri tip once a week at a minimum. Pshaw. Like we need to be mandated to do that. It's so tasty and filling and satisfying and perfect. And there is a great tri tip sando on the Cal Poly campus for $5.25. Worth every penny.

Listen up. This is important. Easy Rider is playing tomorrow night at the Fremont. Do not miss that.

it had to be posted

[ photo missing: charismatic fowl ]

This has been cracking me up since I saw it last night, and so, it had to be posted.

the photographer who took it said

you would have cracked up a bit more had you been there too. it was just too crazy. i saw this big thing jump out of the [seahawks] van after parking, and start jogging up swiftly, so i had to get the camera ready for when it came up to get a candid, but as soon as the bird saw me, it *immediately* stopped and mugged! then went right back on its way into the building, never to be seen again. it was pretty hilarious.

take a favorites holiday

3000 favorites, originally uploaded by emdot.

If you need a little brain break today, take five minutes and sit and watch a Flickr slide show. Not sure where to go or what to look out? Check out my favorites. They are FABULOUS if I don't say so myself.

"Favorites" are the photos of others that you see on Flickr and "star" them so that you can see them again and again and again. Flickr stores your favorites in one spot so that you can look at them whenever you'd like. You can click on them randomly or watch them as a slideshow.

» Watch my faves as a slide show

something new in the neighborhood

daisies, originally uploaded by emdot.

I've been wanting to do a redesign of emdot for a long time now. I'd say months, but even that wouldn't be true. For a year or so, I'd say.

Today I started with a template makeover (or atleast a cut and color) which you can see here and well as on the index page. I haven't done any of the other pages, but look for that in the upcoming weeks.

Another thing coming soon: total revamp of several sections. From bio to links to slotown. Emdot's going in for the overhaul. It had to be done. I found I wasn't even blogging anymore because I was so unhappy with the same-old same-old.

So, here's to a step in a new direction. I'm hoping to get comments installed, too. So any chatty cathy's out there will have that to look forward to.

If you see any problems with the current layout (I wasn't able to check it on all browsers), please drop me a line. I know I need to fix the rollover on the images (try it — you'll see a dotted underline show up and make the photos bounce). Also, typos do not count. ~smile~ My email is at the top right.

alpacas on vacation!

VR Alpaca, originally uploaded by Polo_Proudfoot.

american gothic, revisited.

SHOTS86-06schwartz%20
Originally uploaded by seekandhd.

or what would you name this photo?

This photo came courtesy of FlickrSocial, a group I admin on Flickr. Fant had posted a link to it in a thread called what i learned today in flickr (paraphrased name). I love that thread. I've seen some funny photos through it.

Anyway, this photo. Can you not get enough of it? It cracks me up!

Big Al's My Pal

from wales to cali
Originally uploaded by emdot.

Big Al who lives in Wales, but was vacationing in Cornwall, knew it was my birthday. He had ten of these puppies made up, got me a great birthday card, decorated the envelope with many of my nicknames and sent it to SLO Town while he was vacationing in Cornwall.

How cool is that? I was so surprised and floored. And then gleeful and silly. The nicest gesture — meant the world. ;)

happy birthday to diana!

another, for the sake of my sister's request!!!, originally uploaded by dianah_.

the trib features nick and elaine and their nola family

nick and elaine
Originally uploaded by emdot.

for all of you living in slo town, you may well know nick and elaine. i first met them eight years ago when i worked at iptech.com.

elaine is one of the coolest people you could ever meet -- and so different from anybody else you'd meet here in slo town, and that is cuz elaine's from new orleans. it means that she calls you "child" and "cher" and "baby" and it sounds as natural as anything. it means you are always welcome in her home. it means she can swear like a sailor and it sounds like the sweetest words you've ever heard. it means there is always a mardi gras party at her house every year with a real king cake and real jambalaya and gumbo. it means she has a great accent. and it means her door is pretty much always open.

her family has been evacuated and rescued and some have come to live with her and nick and her kids.

» our local paper ran an article on them.

overheard

whilst reminiscing with my sister about her fun wedding in hawaii...

mar: and i was reading the best book that week, Le Divorce.

- - - - - - -

It was a good book. A much better book than the movie. Which is what everyone says, but for this one, very true.

- - - - - - -

Dinner tonight at the Crepe place with Tom. That is one of my favorite restaurants right now, tho I never order the crepes. I order their most delicious roast beast sandwich. Very tasty.

being poor

for those of you who don't read boingboing (or who might have missed it between the katrina posts), here is a blog post about what it means to be poor.

» john scalzi, being poor

heavy sigh

Rails
Originally uploaded by publicenergy.

what's to say in your blog when there is such a national tragedy?

what's to say in real life when there is such a national tragedy?

i've found my foot in my mouth on more than one occasion, but only realizing it later. thinking i have an opinion only to realize, who am i to have an opinion on this? it is so sad. fingers are pointing in all kinds of directions. i think people (leaders) need to be held accountable, but first people need to be helped. (see -- i only have the most obvious things to write.)

how can i help? i'm 3,000 miles away. i guess all you can do (here) is sending money. you could donate blood, too.

other things i want to say but they sound arrogant, uninformed, and preachy:

to have compassion -- real compassion -- for the people who are suffering so much;

to have compassion for the reasons they were left in new orleans; while there is no blanket reason for everyone, most were left behind because of poverty. i hope this opens middle-class america's eyes that real poverty exists on a huge scale. sometimes i think we think it doesn't really exist; that it's not that bad; that people choose to be poor. hopefully we will understand more about poverty and want to help these people and communities.

-------

this photo is from one of my favorite flickr peeps, publicenergy. he lives in nottinghamshire in the UK.

written at the blood bank

so last night was a series of unfortunately events. i haven't decided if i'm going to write about it here or not, simply because it could be easily misunderstood. so let me just say, that it was a GREAT day until 10:15 PM when I got pulled over for a traffic violation and blah blah blah it sucked. i'm looking at a big fine that i can't afford and a series of going to this agency and then another to clear things up. no i wasn't speeding or doing harm or endangering anybody. it was more of a beauracracy issue that was misunderstood by the guy who pulled me over. it's not a big deal, but it's a big fine and it's frustrating. and depressing (because of the fine).

i was rattled by the time i got home. and frustrated. and this morning i woke up and thought about just staying in bed a while longer. you know that feeling? but my mom and i had twin appointments at the blood bank and i was overcome with a need to help someone else.

i have found that when you suffer from a series of unfortunate events -- or even just one -- the universal healer is to go and help someone else, preferably with no expectations. this makes blood donations ideal -- you get to give your blood and no one needs to thank you. you'll never know who you helped and they won't know you. BUT you will know that you helped.

and sometimes it is that feeling of knowing that you are helping, that you are contributing, that you can point a finger to an action to say "see i'm a good person" or "see i care" that can make you feel better.

i'm sure in buddhist terms that makes me pathetic. but it is what it is. and is a big reason i am here today, donating blood. i hope it goes to someone who really needs it.

meanwhile, the blood bank has computer monitors! yea! so i surfed flickr and started blogging. i was only able to give a whole blood donation (but wanted to give R1 -- but the R1 machines were booked). my mom is giving R2 -- that means they will be taking two pints of blood from her, separating the platelets and then replenishing her system with fluids. it is a very cool procedure.

the woman who interviewed me before the donation was awesome and really funny and we just laughed a lot during the procedure. the woman who took my blood was really nice and chatty and just the person you would want to take your blood.

i am an EPIC blood donor. i'm in and out in like five seconds flat. i'm also not afraid of needles and it doesn't seem to hurt. so, it's a very easy procedure i can do to help someone else. and i'm glad to.

you should donate blood, too.

Tips for Being a Good Donor
Whole blood donation
R1 donation
R2 donation (aka double rbc donation)

you could save a life. you could make a huge difference to a sick person. you could make a difference.

DSC01948

DSC01948
Originally uploaded by digitalverve.

interior abstract

Whenever I see photos show up like this one in my contact's streams, I always feel as if they were taken or posted for me. Even when I know full well they weren't. Do I think that digitalverve knows how I feel about this type of interior abstact? Nope. But does my heart feel an instant kinship? Yep. So, I'll just pretend it was for me. ;)

Boats on the back bay, fog ruling the roost

Boats on the back bay, fog ruling the roost
Originally uploaded by emdot.

overheard (well, in email from J.J.)

T.S. Eliot never lived in SF,that's fo' sho....
April aint shit, August is a bitch...
The sun and the moon have been hiding all month.....
Summer swallowed up by the pacific....

quick sum up

from email i sent this morning

It's New Job Monday, which would explain me getting email and checking flickr before 6:30 in the morning. Must feed the addiction, and all.

Happy Monday. Cue Boomtown Rats and/or the Bangles (no! no! never cue the bangles!). :)

m.

p.s. current favorite emdot song: "pony" by kasey chambers. i listened to it 45 times over the weekend AND learned it on my guitar. ;)

Other stuff...

- My friends continue to battle some heavy stuff (tragedy and untimely death has affected their lives). Life is hard. My friends are strong. That is good, but my heart still goes out to them.

- Wizard memorial last night. Organized by Jenn and Jillian, two amazing girls. Jenn blows my mind on a regular basis. How does one person get to be so balanced, funny, light-hearted, productive, and easy going? It boggles the mind.

- R.Bean and Ezpei in town. Amazingly good to see them. I forgot how being with Bean is just one belly laugh after the other. Big big laughs are like commas and periods to her spoken sentences. She's something else.

- And did I mention the pony song?

- Oh oh. New camera and I can tell that story later (thanks Becca and Albert). But... I noticed that I'm all of a sudden quite clumsy with my picture taking. Crossing my fingers this is just a learning curve.

- Did you cue your Monday morning music? C'mon people. Today's a big day.

Brett Dennen Fans — listen up

from email

Brett is going to be on national radio this coming week — Aug 23rd he’s going to be featured on World Café, an NPR show — a live performance they recorded in July at WXPN studio in PA. Fans can also catch World Café on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 108 at 9 p.m. EST, or they can listen online at 2 p.m. EST. Check their website to see if the show is playing on a radio show in your listening area. We welcome your help getting the word out to your friends about this, and World Café would love to hear by email what you thought of the show (check the World Café site for the email address.)

flower of lotus

flower of lotus
Originally uploaded by tamaki.

Best thoughts to KB

For Kristin who's suffered a huge loss. KB, I love you. You are a treasured friend. My heart goes out to you.

me and wizard

me and wizard
Originally uploaded by emdot.

once more, for old time's sake

A recent photo of me and le Wizard.

Wizzy and the Sculptures

Wizzy and the Sculptures
Originally uploaded by emdot.

Wizard has left the building

The day has come. Well, it came. Last Saturday. Dearest, most cantankerous, and crusty-headed Wizard has passed on to the great arm-chair with the sunny spot in the sky.

Dan called last night to tell me.

Michael called this morning.

Michael: Yep, so it was Saturday.
Mar: What a shocker...
Michael: Yep.
Mar: Well, not so shocking.
Michael: Yeah, not shocking at all. What's shocking is when he'd still be around every Christmas.

How old was Wizard? It's anyone's guess. I remember him hanging out at the Establishment in 1989 and by then he was already a full-grown cat of about two. That makes him born around 1987. Which would make him about 18.

The last few years when friends would come in from out of town and see Wizard laying in the sun or walking down the street, you could hear them suck in a little breath and then say "Wizard! I was afraid to ask about you."

Wizard didn't have nine lives. He had 29 lives. He was bold, he was brash, he was bossy and he was consistently cool. In fact, cool is the operative word for Wizard, even in the last few years when his legs lost their bounce and his fur lost it's temptation for petting.

Wizard, I loved you a lot my little four-legged friend. You were one of the best cats I've ever known. One of the most funny and interesting. And I will forever fondly remember you heading butting my door, your way of letting me know you wanted in.

» Old post about Wizard from 2001

three boys in the rain 007

three boys in the rain 007
Originally uploaded by lorenzodom.

for a guaranteed smile

Check out Flickr person Lorenzodom for a guaranteed smile. His set Three Boys and Lemonade Stand (which also features Three Boys in the Rain) would be in my favorites, if you could fave a set.

» Three Boys and Lemonade Stand/in the Rain

i took a shot at it, too

i took a shot at it, too
Originally uploaded by emdot.

tragic

So I'm going to try to tell this story without using names. Not because anything is embarrassing or personal, but because it is so real. And raw. And respect is needed.

I don't even know where to start this story. So maybe I should just cut to the chase.

Last night one of my dearest friends was the first person at the scene of a horrific car accident. The car was wrapped around a pole as if someone had snipped it in two. My friend heard the screech of the brakes, the skid of the tires, and then the awful impact. He was two blocks away on his bicyle heading home.

Immediately he turns his bike around and heads to the accident. He's the first one there. Another person shows up. The two of them begin CPR and mouth-to-mouth. There is blood. A lot of blood.

He knows her. My friend knows the girl in the car. She's been to his house for parties. She is good friends with his next-door-neighbor. My friend and this other man work their hardest, waiting for the ambulance, for the paramedics, for help. Minutes slow down to the point of miliseconds feeling like they themselves pause under the surreality.

A crowd gathers. The paramedics arrive. And the firemen. And the police. Eventually my friend is relieved of his duties.

The girl dies.

What do you do? What can you do? Life looks so deceivingly resilient, but is incredibly delicate and fragile.

I feel like I shouldn't write about it here, because I don't want to exploit my friend's experience. I don't want to exploit the death of this young woman. I wasn't there. But I see how rattled he is. I see my friend very, very shaken the next day and spend four hours with him at the walk-in clinic.

My heart pours out for him. What are the right words? Maybe silence is best. The entire experience, heartbreaking.

I'm sure this is not written well and probably doesn't make sense. But neither does life. I wish life didn't end. I wish life didn't end. I wish life didn't end.

start start start

start start start
Originally uploaded by emdot.

start start start

I suffer from Writer's Block. Or Starting Blocks. I'm stuck in that silly start of the race position. The gun goes off, everyone else bursts forth, and there I sit, fingers in the dirt.

Yesterday I got a great piece of advice. It went like this:

Pick one of the openings and start putting words in a row. You're not writing on parchment, after all. You can always redo it.

Okay. So that is what I'm going to do.

every cat dreams

every cat dreams
Originally uploaded by emdot.

to sleep, perchance to dream

Via del.icio.us I found this great article on sleeping from Harvard magazine. (244 other people found it interesting, too.)

I'm one of those people who wishes I could get by on five hours of sleep. Okay. In all honestly, I often get by on just five hours of sleep. But my aunt? That's all my aunt needs. I'm pretty good with 7+.

According to this article though, eight hours of sleep boost our immune systems, make us more productive, and thinner.

I know that when I don't get enough sleep I need to eat more.

I am a sucker for staying up late. I think my perfect schedule would have me hitting the hay somewhere around 1AM and getting up around 8:30. But come on, that's not really feasible in the (get out your quote fingers) "real world."

So instead I tend to tuck myself in between 1 and 2 and wake up around 7:30. Probably not on the road to Health and Wellness, hmm?

So... I'm going to try to get more sleep. Starting tomorrow night. Of course.

» Read the article Deep into Sleep

Something you should know about me

Originally uploaded by emdot.

Something you should know about me

I am pretty crappy when it comes to toughing it out through low blood sugar. And in fact, it can sometimes hit me by surprise. Today I crashed in about fifteen minutes. I had yogurt and cereal for breakfast around 10. I had a latte around noon. And around 2:30 I hadn't realized I hadn't eaten and started to feel tired. But within, I swear to God, ten minutes I was fully bonking (suffering from low blood sugar): I could barely keep my eyes open; I could have gone to sleep immediately at my desk; I couldn't focus. And I think it would have been a very bad idea for me to drive myself to get a sandwich.

All those people who can skip meals? I envy them. Those that can just have a bit to eat here and there? I envy them too.

Me? You'll find me acting loopy right before my head hits the desk.

_____

I almost got into a car accident today. It was the first time a close call completely pissed me off. I was entering a parking lot. A Ford F250-type of truck was parked on the street, past the parking lot entrance. As I entered, he kicked his car into reverse and floored his truck. He obviously hadn't looked into his rearview mirror. He missed me by inches. I stopped my car and my heart was beating and it took all my willpower not to follow that guy and say "you almost hit me!!" I've never reacted like that to something. I'm glad I had my wits to just keep going.

----

I can't tell you why by parts of our county are having a skunk epidemic. There's one at my office. Skunks are natural carriers of rabies, so everyone is trying to catch the skunks and then they are put down. Poor skunkies.

sweetdogk's lucky cat

sweetdogk's lucky cat
Originally uploaded by emdot.

I really should be on the road by now. I need to get to work. I've got a lot of things on my plate and less time, it seems, to get them done.

But. This morning. This morning I feel a bit blown over by life -- I don't mean by what I need to get done. I mean... by the delicacy of life. I've had tears in my eyes twice this morning. Not sad tears... how to explain? Just those recognition tears of how all of this is so damn delicate. And resilient. And open and raw and so sharply beautiful.

God, I'm such a chick. And I'm glad for that.

This weekend was fun. Ozomatli on Saturday and the Wallflowers on Sunday. Dan's friend Dave was in town and Dave is one of those cool cats who has something interesting to say and lives his life to ... not just a different drummer... to a whole different instrument. So we all went to Ozomatli (cannot type it without hearing the chant Ohhh Zohhh Mahhht Li) (with SloGrl, too) and boogied up a storm. Busted out a bottle of champagne and toasted my new job. It was fun. Sunday was hanging out with Matt who I haven't seen in forever. There is a nice, quiet ease there; the type that comes from knowing someone from way back when.

Okay, now? Now I must get to work. I hope some magical faeries come to my house and clean it while I'm gone. Am crossing fingers in hopes that they strengthen the probability of said faeries showing up. I'm sure that will help.

A sea of flowers

A sea of flowers
Originally uploaded by angelocesare.

I just have to share with you this most amazing photo. I have had to go back and look at it four, five times. Man. Are there even words to describe this kind of photo?

Kids these days...

Kids these days...
Originally uploaded by AnomalousNYC.

This photo makes me just smile and smile back at my computer monitor. Will you look at that goat's face? Now look at the guy's face. Now look at the goat's smile.

Man. I could spend a good deal of time just looking and looking at this.

First Fez on the Man

First Fez on the Man
Originally uploaded by Big Al Davies.

Big Al on the Radio

Listen up Chickies and Chicklets, Big Al is taking the Welsh radio waves by storm in less than two hours. And you can hear it LIVE today online.

So, set your computer's radio dial to gtfm and get ready to hear the Welsh King of the Fez and Lord of the Ukelele.

Added bonus: It's his birthday.

Added question: How much do you love big al?

Bonus hint answer: A lot! You love him a lot!

xoxo Al. Happy birthday my friend.

Full moon in Positano

Full moon in Positano
Originally uploaded by mcsixth.

Just a quick chance to share with you a photo that just makes my heart pump.

I want to go here. I want to go here. I want to go here.

So much going on in this photo -- cliffs, edge of a continent, full moon (that was eclipsed moments before), the ocean, and then oh those lights.

I could get lost in this photo. In this place.