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.