Another Pink World

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May 31, 2005

on ze air

on the air tonight from 8-10pm. 88.7fm locally or wxdu.org non-locally.

also check wxdu.org for a link to my online playlist. just click the "now playing" link.

i feel reeeeeeeally tired right now but i usually perk up after i get on the air. here's hoping.

:|:

permalink to this week's playlist

Posted by lisa at 07:00 PM

to be filed under....

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 11:55 AM

May 30, 2005

grindgrindgrindgrindgrind

there's a meditative quality to sanding a very large object, and something deeply satisfying about seeing a fine powder fly from the sanding wheel. one forgets about the vast job ahead and focuses on the moment.

nevertheless, it is strangely physically taxing.

i look at the van every time i go to the garage and think, "this is going to take forever." i'm pretty patient, though.

Posted by lisa at 10:28 PM

May 29, 2005

alias

due to a Startling Revelation Cliffhanger ™ at the end of the last Alias of the season, i have been having an Alias season one marathon this weekend. i have two observations:

one, someone in the production department digs european vans. it being a spy show, they use a lot of vans for skulking about with loads of equipment. so far, in addition to the bare metal van that i believe i mentioned in an earlier blog post, i have seen a citroen van, a spiffy new vw eurovan, and, oh yes, a lovely blue vanagon! and nary a boring american minivan, white panel van, or black suv in sight.

two, they have this little tiny spray bottle that knocks people out. you just puff a little in their face and down they go. i wonder if something like that actually exists? i totally want that.

Posted by lisa at 08:57 PM

queen bee is rockin'!

queen bee!

i have a great queen bee handbag and wallet that i get compliments on all the time. i've also found that having a somewhat hip and edgy bag that is mostly silver vinyl is also very useful wardrobe-wise.

well, the bag is starting to wear out a little-- one of the handles is starting to separate from the body. i keep thinking about buying another queen bee bag, but up until now i haven't found the new designs and color combos compelling enough to make the high price tag worth it.

now yes, the prices are high, but hell if i'm going to put $70 into my wardrobe, i'd just as soon that money go to a bunch of creative people making cool bags in portland, especially given that i know that $70 is going to last me many years.

anyway, now they have so many cute things i will have to choose carefully! i looove the silver 45rpm bag but the handle is really too short... i need to be able to put my bag over my shoulder usually.

i could go with the blue stylus trucker bag but that would be a very large bag-- bigger than my silver bag. and i have to admit that i find the record truckette a little awkward looking.

the blue and white cloud clutch is superadorable, though obviously not a day to day bag.

and the list goes on.

oh, one reader of this blog needs the cupcake coin purse. i think she knows who she is!

Posted by lisa at 08:24 PM

May 28, 2005

is it still a pod if it's all flattened out?

i wasn't thrilled in 2001 when they changed the mirrors on the new beetle. the original mirrors, although less practical, were clearly drawn along the same lines as the original beetle's mirrors.

i feel very passionate about the design of the new beetle. i think the original design was a work of genius-- a design that is so clearly beetle, yet really, if you look at it, actually looks nothing like the original. every curve is a perfect circle, and every surface is a curve. the interior, far superior to all interiors in its price range and to many above its price range, is equally genius.

over the years, vw has changed the new beetle more and more. the mirrors were the first really big change. the new mirrors are safer and more practical (the original mirror design can block the driver's view at certain critical moments if the driver isn't very careful), but not at all in keeping with the original beetle's mirror design. vw basically tacked modern car mirrors onto a decidedly retro car. feh.

well, now in the 2006 model year, they've started to flatten out the curves. i don't hate it, but its distressing that the beetle strays further and further from the original design. the original designer of the car hasn't worked for vw/audi since the beetle went production, and i've learned not to trust the people now in charge of the design.

curious? someone has posted photos of the 2006 beetle to flickr.

i will say that the new beetle convertible is well-executed. the top, when folded, sits on top of the trunk, which is one of the things that gave the original beetle convertible its distinctive look. (modern convertibles almost never do this.) the color schemes introduced for the convertible have had a retro feel-- soft pastels, and a limited edition with a black body and decidedly old-school red leather seats and red top.

as has been noted on the new beetle mailing list, the color scheme for the beetle sedan has lost a lot of its life. metallic neutrals are now more common, rather than bright crayola colors. the car looks good painted almost any color (except the appalling luna green-- fortunately a limited run-- basically white with just enough green to be confusing). but the spirit of the bug demands a certain color palette. it's either got to be a bright little round jewel, or the color that truly makes it look like a jetsons car-- silver.

of course, these unfortunate changes just make the early models all the more special. i hope to keep spacepod for the rest of my life-- and one day, long after he's no longer my daily driver, he'll go to a vw show and we will show them what a new beetle is really supposed to look like.

Posted by lisa at 07:13 PM

May 27, 2005

i'm not the only noisy one

so after a three week hiatus, i'm back in the sanding saddle and the paint is coming off.

my landlady's kids and their friends have set up a computer in the other part of the garage, and it's the hangout now. the noise would bug me if i weren't making so much damn noise myself. between the sound of the sander and the earplugs i wear to protect myself from it, i can't hear anything but myself swallowing.

i did stop the sander briefly last night to hear one of the kids yelling, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUTUP!!" he probably didn't mean me. hope not. that's the one thing i can't do, much though i hate creating a racket.

i tried the wee small brush for the first time last night (having used the larger "cup" brush before). it's easier to handle than the bigger brush, because less surface area is meeting the van's surface, but wow is it a wicked little thing. it removes paint/rust/the racing strip very quickly but it also left some scratches in the metal.

:|:

a couple of days ago, MFM called me at work.

he likes to quiz me.

"do you know who this is?" (like i wouldn't recognize that voice.) "yes!"
"do you know what this weekend is?" "BUGOUT!"

he and his wife invited me to come to bugout in Manassas, VA with them this weekend. he said i could even ride with them if i didn't want to take the van or the bug. they go up every year on memorial day weekend, and her family has a reunion.

bugout, for those not in the know, is a large VW show that occurs on memorial day and labor day weekends. it's probably the biggest vw show on the east coast barring waterfest, but as far as i'm concerned, waterfest doesn't count since it's presumably watercooled only. what the hell do i want to see a buncha riced out golfs for? it's the old ones that i want to see.

anyway, i knew i wasn't going to go this year. besides the fact that i need to sit on my $$ and stay home and do useful stuff like sand my van, i feel like i'm taking a break from all vw stuff this year, and i'm liking it. obviously, i've met some dear friends through vw events, but there are some aspects of vw culture that bother me. watercooled drivers have a general tendency to want to spend money on their cars in a way that strikes me as being basically about bling. a lot of people are into "performance tuning", which is basically a euphemism for "i'll show you what a big man i am even though i feel small inside". the 20-something guys who will spend an hour telling you in elaborate detail all of the grand things they're going to do to their car are the most boring.

anyway. so i'm not going to bugout, but it was really, really nice of M & J to invite me. but i'm betting i'll be going next year with a verrrry unique entry into the watercooled van & camper category.

Posted by lisa at 08:25 AM

a happy follow-up

i'll be on the air as planned next tuesday night!

:|:

in completely unrelated news, i have a new favorite smoothie combination. admittedly, some folks might actually call this a "milkshake", but it does have yogurt so... i guess it blurs the line between smoothie and milkshake.

ingredients are as follows:

• plain yogurt
• milk
• low carb chocolate chip ice cream
• cappucino flavored soy shake mix

perhaps not something i should have every day, but nice for a friday treat. the tanginess of the yogurt was odd for about half a second, then i realized that the tangy/sweet combination was really compelling.

Posted by lisa at 08:14 AM

May 26, 2005

no one was hurt / everyone was hurt

not exactly a great day in durham. there were three cross burnings here last night.

:|:

a member of my family-- who is still alive to tell the tale-- had an encounter with the klan when she was a child in rural alabama.

her father died when she was quite young, and after a while, her mother remarried to a divorced man from another town who worked on the rail lines.

she has happy memories of her stepfather-- not just of the stability he brought to their family, but because he was a happy person, always singing and in a good mood.

then, one day, the klan ran him out of town. why? because he was divorced.

her mother died of TB not long after. she and her brother were left orphaned at a time when few social services existed to care for them. certainly the men who had run her stepfather out of town weren't there to take care of them. they were bounced from an orphanage to various distant family members, some nicer than others.

just a little tale to remind us that the klan are hypocritical bullies who heedlessly ram their ridiculous ideas of morality down the throats of others, at the expense of the community.

i just can't think who they remind me of. it'll come to me.

:|:

and backing up the concept of the klan as little, little men, we have the pants-eye view of the matter, which i particularly like.

i think burning crosses in durham ought to get ya a place in the darwin awards hall of fame.

Posted by lisa at 06:57 PM

it's sooooo 1982

like my van!

i so totally want to see, possibly own, the bbs docu.

when i watched the triumph of the nerds, cringely's documentary about the history of personal computing, i think my hair literally stood on end and i had goosebumps when i saw footage of the first windowing gui and the first mouse. i don't know why, but i think historic computers are just really, really cool.

if i ran a movie theater... i'd do an early-80's geekfest featuring 'triumph of the nerds', 'bbs', and of course the geek movie against which all other geek movies are measured-- war games. and then we could throw in a screening of 'tron' just for kicks.

Posted by lisa at 09:16 AM

May 25, 2005

isle of skye!

i visited skye a long time ago and it was an amazing trip. i was surprised and gratified to find this photo in the flickr bugs & buses pool today.

one day while i was there, i climbed a hill and was surprised to find myself at the edge of a cliff overlooking the water. the view was very much like this.

Posted by lisa at 06:13 PM

motherfucking motherfucker.

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 12:01 AM

May 22, 2005

i would like some more yelling please

so that is why i am watching '48 hours' right now. well, that, and because i am strangely tired, i guess a result of my nice busy weekend.

a long time ago a roommate gave me a fine, coffee-table-beautiful vegetarian cookbook. it's a little odd in places because it's british, but i think it may actually be my favorite vegetarian cookbook. better variety than the mollie katzen stuff; more accessible than my others.

so way back in the back is a section on making jams, marmalades, and chutneys, and right at the beginning of the chapter is a recipe for rose petal jam.

i've always been fascinated by the idea of the rose petal jam. it seemed like it would be delicate, feminine.

anyway, today i made some. my rose in the front is in full bloom and i figured it was now or never. i've never made jam before, so i had to do some research first. i tasted some; it mostly tastes like the lemon juice you add to it. well, that, and sugar, of course. i guess my roses aren't the right kind for good flavor.

lisa b. & i also went strawberry picking, which was fun, and i've got some strawberries ready for being made into jam, too. i found a recipe that uses concentrated apple juice instead of sugar. it will still be quite high in sugars, but at least it'll be a little more nutritious.

i'm tempted to experiment and use pectin instead of the apple juice.

well, if anyone feels like they might want to try the rose petal jam, i would definitely like to give some away. it's probably safe to store outside of the refrigerator, but to be completely safe, i'd advise refrigerating or freezing it. i've never made jam before, after all!

i should really get some westy sanding time in tonight but i'm kinda beat.

oh, and i planted some more herbs! georg and sarah gave me some mint. also, something called an eyeball plant... i need to figure out where to put that one!

Posted by lisa at 07:41 PM

May 21, 2005

THE YELLING FAMILY

I LIVE NEXT DOOR TO THE YELLING FAMILY. WHEN THEY GET HOME FROM SCHOOL/WORK/YELLING PRACTICE, THEY IMMEDIATELY YELL THEIR DOG'S NAME:

"BOSCO!"

THEN THEY YELL IT A FEW MORE TIMES:

"BOSCO! BOSCO!"

THEN THEY YELL SOMETHING AT EACH OTHER:

"MRFFRBLRBLE!"

THEN THEY SLAM THE DOORS AND I CAN'T HEAR THE YELLING FOR A WHILE.

THEN THE YELLING BURSTS OUT OF THE SIDE DOOR WHEN THEY OPEN IT TO YELL AT THE DOG/TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE WHILE YELLING AT EACH OTHER/TALK ON THE PHONE.

VERY OCCASIONALLY, INSTEAD OF YELLING, THEY SING VERY BADLY TO THE SLOW JAMS IN THEIR HEAD.

Posted by lisa at 01:27 PM

May 20, 2005

just call me little miss mood swing

the rain and my new skirt (not the rule breaker, the other one, that i am wearing right now) have conspired to put me in a good mood. plus making fun plans for the weekend.

last night i went to the fabric store to see if they still have this awesome spring-print canvas that i spotted there last year. they do! it's pricey but i want to see if i can buy enough to make spring/summer covers for the westy's bed. the fleece covers will be uncomfortable when its warm out.

Posted by lisa at 11:46 AM

May 19, 2005

ah, the decadence

well, so i took a look at the budget and decided things were going ok. and then lunch was kinda free, no oncall today, no 1pm meeting... so ah what the hell, i went to old navy and tried on 900 things and took my time and then i bought things at actual full price-- two skirts and a tank top. and then i went over to dsw and i bought those shoes i wanted. not at full price though, because a) nothing at dsw is full price and b) i had a 15% off coupon.

one of the skirts definitely doesn't follow "the rules", but i don't care. i think it looks good and i like it.

Posted by lisa at 07:16 PM

May 18, 2005

ah, the sound of jackhammers in the morning

awakened a bit earlier than planned this morning by the sound of, yes, a jackhammer... they're tearing up our streets for gas line work of some kind. i'm guessing various readers of this blog had a similar experience. damn those guys start early.

worth noting: WRIR

last night i decided to look up hypoglycemia on webmd. not sure why i never did that before; i guess webmd didn't exist when i originally researched it. over the weekend i mentioned to both my mom and aunt joan that i believe i am hypoglycemic, and they both asked, "are you on medication for that?" i've never heard of medication for it, just control via diet, but thought i should check. indeed, there's no medication. i thought webmd's recommendation to eat something sugary when you realize you're having symptoms was interesting. i've pretty much come to think of sugar as the devil incarnate, at least as far as my metabolism is concerned. but i have to admit, on the rare occasions when i really do crash, orange juice can really help, so long as i also eat real food with protien very soon afterward.

i also thought it was interesting that they say you should make the people around you aware of your problem so they can help you if you start to show symptoms. my instinct is usually to hide the fact that i'm starting to crash if i possibly can, or at least to hide my irritability, because people really don't like that side of me. i've also found that people do not really understand what i'm saying when i actually do say, "i'm crashing". i've never actually passed out, but i have gotten pretty out of it on many occasions. since i'm often alone when it happens, i have learned how to force myself to do the things i need to do to get something to eat, even though i really don't feel like it.

there's a more subtle aspect of this condition that webmd doesn't cover. i guess this is more of a "wellness" topic than a medical one. i have found that through moderate diet control (rarely eating sugar, eating meat regularly), i can prevent most crashes, but with stricter diet control (never eating sugar, never eating starches) i reach a much better stage where my mood and energy levels improve immensely and become fairly stable. however, as you can probably imagine, this level of diet control is fairly difficult to maintain over time, since starches are deeply ingrained in our cultural diet, and are not usually in the form of whole grains; they also comprise some of our favorite comfort foods.

obviously, cooking for oneself is the easiest way to ensure that one's diet is exactly how one needs it to be. i don't really mind cooking that much, but i have found that the state of my kitchen, and house in general, has an effect on how willing i am to cook for myself. right now, my dining room is filled with left over yard sale stuff that i haven't gotten to goodwill yet. and i know there are roaches living in the space between one of the cabinets and the wall. both of these problems lend to a feeling that my house is out of control, and that the kitchen is not a very desireable place to be, much less to cook in. so i eat badly, and my mood deteriorates, and my energy levels fall, and i have whole days, weekends, evenings where i accomplish nothing but whinging in my blog.

Posted by lisa at 08:31 AM

May 16, 2005

i'm planning to fall in love with my sofa all over again.

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 07:15 PM

damn, i'm tired

so tired, in fact, that i first typed that as "tured".

i'm oncall today and it's been hectic with servers going down, meetings to attend, and a version of our Big Project to wrap-up. not a good day to want to sleepwalk through.

i just feel like i've been smacked around. actually, this year has, so far, not been the greatest. maybe the second half of the year will be better. my new slogan can be "no more trauma in '05!" or perhaps my slogan should be, "better resiliency for the rest of '05!" since i can't keep the bad stuff from happening, but i can find ways to not be all misreable about it.

i even came to the realization today that going up there for Difficult Family Events with c. was probably better than going alone or with mom, because then at least i had someone my own age, etc, to talk to and take me away to a tiki bar. how sad is that?

on the up side, i'm putting together some vacation plans for early august that i'm pretty hyped about, involving an art car show with sarah in louisville, ky, and a visit with the stephanies in indy. lots of caravaning with other cool cars will be involved, so you know i'm already excited. i love being on the road in the summer.

Posted by lisa at 04:20 PM

berry picking

strawberries are in season, y'all!

- does anyone know of a good organic pick-your-own berry patch around here?
- provided a place can be found, does anyone want to go berry picking this weekend?

Posted by lisa at 08:30 AM

May 15, 2005

home again, home again

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 06:50 PM

May 14, 2005

oh, my head

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 10:11 PM

May 13, 2005

off we go!

soon mom will be here and we'll head up to virginia in the spacepod. i was kind of dreading the trip earlier this week, but now i'm getting into the road trip preparations and feeling excited. a road trip is a road trip, after all!

i even made a fresh bud vase arrangement this morning. poor spacepod has not had fresh flowers in his bud vase in years. but i've got roses blooming in the back yard, and since we're going up to see the rosberry family it seemed only appropriate. sprigs of lavendar too.

i will miss my kitty.

Posted by lisa at 09:19 AM

In case you weren't paying attention...

...the far right is trying to convince everyone that evolution is not scientific fact. or, rather, that scientific fact is irrelevant in the face of religious doctrine.

Kansas school board takes evolution to trial [Salon]

Here's the thing:

"For that matter, he also views the entire struggle over evolution as merely a wedge in the religious right's efforts to tear down the constitutional wall between church and state."

I believe the same thing. That is the end goal-- to marry church and state in the U.S.

To be honest, even the process of this battle results in the beginnings of religious persecution and intolerance. I've seen an erosion in my own ability to be tolerant of Christians in general, and right-leaning Christians in particular. Reflecting on this recently, I realized that this must be how religious wars begin. When everyone is keeping their religious beliefs out of the way of others, for the most part, it's easy to be tolerant. When one group decides to push their beliefs on others in an agressive way, especially through politics, it becomes much harder to tolerate.

I guess I need to separate out tolerance of beliefs from intolerance of what I see as an unacceptable and extremely dangerous trend in our government.

In case anyone needs a review, we have a separation of church and state because the people who wrote the Constitution realized that it is the only way to ensure that all citizens are protected from religious persecution-- you know, the reason white people settled in the Americas to begin with?

Posted by lisa at 01:19 AM

May 12, 2005

i have a crappy attitude

i wrote this whole blog entry in my head last night, while i was trying to go to sleep, about how my attitude sucks and the vacation outlook for this year is pretty dim.

i'll spare you.

i thought to myself, "i'm a resourceful person. if i really wanted to, i could probably create a great vacation using just $5 and a stick of gum."

that is, of course, an exaggeration to show my resourcefulness. but i wonder what sort of vacation i could come up with using just $5 and a stick of gum? hell, i can't even spend a week at home on $5. you probably can't even get dinner from the krishnas for $5 these days (i seem to recall that it was $3 back in 1991). i might have to up the budget a little. but that stick of gum will sure come in handy somehow, i just know it.

mostly, i'm just kind of sad at the prospect of travelling alone. i enjoy doing that maybe once every ten years. for the rest of the decade, a vacation is best spent with others.

maybe i need to spend a week at home working on my social skills.

Posted by lisa at 09:12 AM

May 10, 2005

it is so true

i have to go to work tomorrow.
i am sad.

i failed to get tires. i tried dammit! i tried in multiple places.
i failed to get sears to admit that my battery needs to be replaced.
i failed to get to goodwill with a load of stuff.

however, i was highly successful at buying 4 tops at the gap for $30 (even my most gap-experienced friend was impressed by this), and at actually eating at pizza palace. pizza palace was nearly derailed by loud live restaurant jazz, but we stuck it out.

i also successfully watched the final veronica mars episode.

i guess i am sleepy, too. sleepy and sad.

Posted by lisa at 11:36 PM

a fine day

so today i took the day off, because i can't stand the crap in my dining room for one more minute, the car needs new tires and a new battery, which would be nice to have before driving up to virginia this weekend, and i was totally slack this weekend and accomplished none of this.

although this is all "work", it is a fine day to be out and about and not stuck in an office.

of course, have i done any of this? well, i have laid the groundwork. a shower was taken, a practical outfit chosen, and a good, solid breakfast laid on. the herbs were watered. it's necessary to check the blogs in the morning of course, and i wouldn't have wanted to attempt all of these tasks without a good night's sleep, so sleeping til 10 was entirely justified. and if i do a little updating to the links on my blog, well, that is only a few minutes work. i can spare a few minutes.

i'll be getting on with things now, though.

to look forward to tonight: pizza palace-- my third attempt in two weeks! will it fall through? i think not-- we have confirmations from four out of five so far... then when i get home-- the gripping final episode of veronica mars! squeal like a girl!

Posted by lisa at 11:31 AM

May 08, 2005

two things i didn't know.

1. andrea dworkin died last month. i was never fully on board with dworkin, but i did see her speak at the feminist bookstore located in the big victorian near the old DAP. now what was that place called? i remember they had written across the inside of the porch, so you'd see it as you were leaving, "Thank you for your matronage". those were the days.

2. susie bright has a blog. i haven't been keeping up with her, but who can't get behind the work of a sex-positive feminist? i also saw her speak, back in the days when i'd do that sort of thing. i got her to sign something for me. she signed it, "clits up! Susie Bright," and drew a little heart.

Posted by lisa at 06:39 PM

May 07, 2005

"Welcome to the 1st National Bank Building. My name is lisa."

my shift as a HPSD tour docent began at 3:20pm; my training consisted of reading through a page of information at 3:05pm, and hearing the previous docent's speil at 3:19pm. over the course of the next three hours, i told 133 people the following information about 123 W. Main St:

"The building was built in 1915 when the 1st National Bank outgrew their original location. They commissioned archictect Frank Pierce Milton to build this building for them in the Neo-Classical style that was popular at the turn of the century. If you look around the lobby, you can see many original architectural details, such as the carved marble staircase and elaborate plaster ceiling, which has been restored. Also original is the ironwork canopy over the front entryway, which has kind of an interesting story behind it. About five years ago, it was removed. At the time, newspaper stories stated the reason as being that it was a safety hazard. However, I have had people come through today and tell me that other rumors were floating around Durham as to the real reason it was removed. It was lost after it was removed. About a year ago, someone spotted it in a local ironwork shop, recognized it for what it was, and they were able to bring it back and mount it on the building again. If you look through these glass doors, you can see the original bank vault, which they have left open so people can get a look at it. After you've seen the vault, if you wish you can take the elevator up to the seventh floor to see some of the offices that have been renovated."

My favorite tour-go-ers were a group of three gray-haired hippies who good-naturedly asked me every possible question. I don't think i've ever said, "I don't know" so many times in a row, but they were very cool about it and we had a good laugh. I can't remember all of their questions, but i seem to recall: "Where were the original elevators? How long has Otis been making elevators? Where was the vault made? Do they still use the vault for money? Are the logo colors of the bank the reason the ceiling of the lobby was painted sky blue? Do the people at Duke mind that the ceiling is Carolina blue?"

My second favorite tour-go-er was the last one. I had sent the other two volunteers off on their way, and was basically holding down the fort until I was officially relieved. A young man in faded black jeans and a studded leather jacket grasping a tour booklet wandered by and I asked him if he wanted to tour the building? He came in and as we were talking, he told me that he lives in a condo in downtown in a Deco building called the Snow building. He looked like he was about my age. I was charmed by the idea of a guy my age who still clings firmly to the old-school punk rock, and lives in a condo downtown, which he likes because it's totally quiet in the evenings and weekends. My kinda guy.

Posted by lisa at 06:40 PM

coincidence? i think not.

Posted by lisa at 01:08 PM

May 06, 2005

don't wanna

i'm very happy here on the sofa, sound of the rain on the awning behind me, cat licking the bacon plate, fuzzy blue bathrobe and slippers.

i suppose i should go to work though.

Posted by lisa at 09:21 AM

May 05, 2005

"This tremendous thing has happened between us."

what could be more perfect than watching 'a room with a view' on a rainy evening!

george emerson remains one of my all-time biggest film crushes; he's always grabbing helena bonham carter and kissing her inappropriately, or giving her looks or sending her secret messages that she pretends not to like, all while she is falling in love with him.

well, that, and he's almost the only person in the film who sees things as they really are. and he's a feminist. a male victorian feminist.

and hot. yes, very, very hot.

Posted by lisa at 09:41 PM

BRASIL!!

I'm mostly annoyed at boingboing these days, but one story yesterday made me want to jump up and down (in a good way) and yell, "Yippee!!"

The apparently highly enlightened country of Brazil has refused US aid because of abstinence-only restrictions placed on it!

Of the 3 million people who die of AIDS every year worldwide, something like 98% of them live in Africa. To send aid to Africa and tell health agencies not to issue condoms is criminal. To send aid to any country that needs it for health care and tell them to do nothing to stop the spread of HIV except tell people to pray is like designing a world health and economic disaster on purpose. Brazil is not a wealthy country and can ill afford the kind of economic decimation that AIDS has caused in Africa.

GO BRAZIL!

And hey, they also have really fabulous music there, in case you've been hiding under a music rock for the last twenty years or so. Go check out 'O Samba!'; it's on the iTunes music store.

:|:

i also want to comment further about a quote in the article:

But Sam Brownback, a leading Senate conservative, told the Wall Street Journal: "Obviously Brazil has the right to act however it chooses in this regard. We're talking about promotion of prostitution which the majority of both the house and the Senate believe is harmful to women."

this smacks of an incredibly condescending attitude that implies that women are not capable of making choices in how they live their lives. today over on the 19th floor, mark siegel writes about this same attitude peeking through in a couple of other places.

anyone who doesn't get this is encouraged to read judy chicago's autobiography, "Through the Flower". as a feminist artist in the 70's, when modern feminism was just getting its legs, her experiences in teaching a women's-only art class at a University in California are enlightening. in order to get her students to the point where they were able to work effectively, she had to dismantle the roles they'd been raised to fulfull and show them that women can be as strong as men, can work just as hard, can take responsibility for themselves and their emotions, and can choose to lead their lives however they want.

Posted by lisa at 08:50 AM

May 04, 2005

westybadge

when i take the westy's worn vanagon/diesel badge off, i know i don't want to put it back on.

on the old vw diesel pickup trucks, there's a simple diesel badge that is quite stylish. all lowercase, in a modern, slanting font. now i'd love to just get one of those badges and maybe i will find one at a car show or something. barring that, i'd like to get a badge made that is similar, so today i looked at a bunch of fonts that might look kinda kool as diesel badges.

tell me what you think...

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Posted by lisa at 11:19 PM

that's a day

i realize it's probably not a novelty for some of you, but this morning, i was in a meeting while at home in my pj's! i forgot to set my alarm to get up early and go in, so i just teleconferenced. it was rather nice.

when i got into work, i had a mail from my mom with some really disturbing news about one of my cousins. while my cousin was away camping last weekend with her dad, her best friend was stabbed to death in the apartment they shared, and then the apartment was set on fire-- so not only does she have the incredible trauma of losing her best friend in such a terrible way, but she has lost all of her posessions and her home as well. i can't imagine. she's only 19 and in college. i feel so bad for her. i am not close to any of my cousins, but i still shudder to think of what could have happened had she not been gone when it happened.

:|:

ah well. so last night jb came over and he sanded for a good while, with great enthusiasm. i was feeling really crappy and out of it so i was happy to let him work with the power tools while i puttered around and cleaned up the sand from sandblasting.

anyway, tonight i went back alone and worked for a while. i found that the wire brush was difficult for me to handle; it requires a lot of hand and upper body strength. my drill doesn't have a way to lock in the on position, so that's part of the strain. i briefly considered taping the trigger down but that seemed like a wildly unsafe thing to do. for me, it seemed to work well to still use the sander for large, flat areas, and the brush for smaller, harder to access areas.

now my arms and hands are very tired!

:|:

i watched veronica mars on tivo tonight. i have to admit that i was not there emotionally with this episode. there was something in the editing that was popping me out of the moment on a regular basis and it seemed jumpy. there were a lot of Plot Revelations, as predicted, but i felt as if it was too much, almost, and each one lacked development. i've seen all the episodes and i'll have to disagree with wordnerdy, i think it doesn't stack up against buffy. but i'll still netflix it and watch them all the way through in order, once the dvd's come out.

Posted by lisa at 10:30 PM

odd sources of satisfaction

it's a tiny thing, but for some reason, every time i see this bar, i feel great satisfaction at how it looks. it may be my favorite part of the UI i'm working on.

Posted by lisa at 04:25 PM

May 03, 2005

Be an old home tour volunteer!

It sounds like HPSD is looking for volunteers for this Saturday's old home tour in Durham. I think I am going to volunteer-- come join me!

Tour and volunteering details

Posted by lisa at 10:33 AM

supabad

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 07:09 AM

May 01, 2005

gardener's elbow

so sitting in ooh la latte on a pretty day when i feel energetic and not opposed to doing yardwork isn't my first choice. but here i am, pretty much because of my damn elbow which has been kinda hurting where i broke it for a couple of weeks now, and today while i was pulling weeds in the front yard, it was really hurting and i thought i had better lay off.

plus my yard waste bin is overflowing and i don't feel like dealing with the paper bags again this week.

last weekend i pruned about half of my holly border and the prunings filled my bin plus about five yard waste bags. holly branches don't fit well into the bags and they tend to tear them up.

yawn. boring, eh?

working outside lifts my mood. off and on all weekend i've been getting depressed in this strange new way where the self-serving motivations of people-- and i include myself in "people"-- seem sinister and difficult to accept.

so i'm almost the only person here, and i hope that's because of the weather. pbr guy is here, of course, talking to hat boy. i tried working outside but it was too bright. i'm hoping to make more progress on the BRSP, since i got my head back into that space earlier this week and that's half the battle with this thing.

i haven't sanded the westy in a week now. i was worried that the sanding was the source of my arm problems, but now i think not. i had better go tonight.

Posted by lisa at 12:40 PM