Picturesque rocky cone
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Br. Machine Gun of Mild Reason" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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04:29 pm
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Damned pasture ornament kicked my sister
Jack, the unridable horse she'd gotten from J, and had tended for 15 years got her in the face today, she's at the hospital. Doesn't sound life-threatening, but an operation is planned and it is easily the worst a horse has hurt her in her life.
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10:27 am
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Me, for the next little while, and folding bikes
I've been busy as all get out the past week, because... Wednesday AM early I'm leaving for Hartford CT to set my HO scale modules up as part of the National Train Show (part of the National Model Railroad Assoc.'s annual convention). The part that's open to the general public is Sat/Sun, then I help with takedown, load up and drive home Sunday evening. The weather had a momentary lapse, and it looked like haying weather might finally arrive, but that passed, and it looks possible I will be at Diesel Tuesday.
Which brings me to my question: I would like to own a folding bike by Tuesday, the better to arrive at Diesel with, and also to get back and forth between my hotel and the Convention Center in Hartford. I'm under 210 and intend to stay that way, but I'm a fairly strong rider (rear axles on my ancient Fuji are good for less than 1K miles). The bike needs to be decent to ride for 2-5 mile stints, but sufficiently foldable that I can T it w/o argument, I've had a couple of recommendations for Dahon, as modestly priced and reasonably made. Any pointers to either specific models or bike shops? Or something gathering dust in a friend's cellar?
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11:40 am
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In which things (but not the weather) get a little sunnier...
I had a nice time at Baitcon; ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) peacefrog 's yoga session stretched me out, though the muscle I strained the previous weekend is still not all the way back. I gave a bunch of backrubs, did a couple of contra-dances and was able to do a little on frobzwiththingz and klingonlandlady 's silk rig. The ice cream was nice, the food nourishing, thanks to all who worked on both. And thanks ever so much to other people, who completely out-shone the (largely hidden) sun...
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12:11 pm
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Hector R. who hit my car?
His insurance was canceled June 12. So I'm on my own, a not unfamiliar situation. Just 5 days wasted finding out.
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10:42 pm
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I liked that car...
My '05 Civic Hybrid was pretty much everything I needed - 4 doors, trunk, excellent mileage, ok performance and 100% reliable so far. But about 6PM today, Hector R. of Haverhill tried to cross White St. from Cedar in his 1996 Toyota without (IMO) paying sufficient attention to either the stop sign or oncoming vehicles (white, with headlights on) and center-punched me pretty good. Turned my car almost completely around and left the rear wheels up on the curb. Depending on how much he bent the door post, it could be totalled. It's a testimony to Toyota's Clinton-era bumpers that he drove away (after being pretty reasonable compared to the last Haverhill resident who hit me) with just some scrapes.
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08:26 pm
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Some things I'm pleased with
The fellow who's building a museum-quality (IMO) model of New Orleans' Union Passenger Terminal is keeping busy: http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=21008&whichpage=13
I went to the regular Tuesday night Open Mic at the Chit Chat Lounge in Haverhill last night with H, to see a guy I know from the commuter train. His band is called Reasonable Doubt, and while they don't play out much, he tells me it was enough more fun than regular practice that they'll be there next week too. Things start sometime after 9PM, no cover.
Perhaps the last half of this month will produce one sequence of 3 sunny days in a row. WIth J's luck, though, she'll already have four other things planned and I'll be on a business trip. At any rate, I'm happy to second S's wish that the British come claim their mislaid June weather.
And for those British, or bound there, I commend to them the Keighley & Worth Valley's Summer Steam Gala: http://www.kwvr.co.uk/events/steam_gala08.htm. I cannot attend, but the prospect of riding behind steam up to Ribblehead in the sunset with a real ale to hand is so attractive...
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08:19 am
[Link] | Having gotten a handle on devfs.conf, now I more-or-less understand devfs.rules. But devd.conf awaits, drat them. Flying to Dulles bites, as usual...
I liked Carolingia's performance of Henry V; it was the first time I'd seen it, and the Fractured French jokes came out well. Thanks to C. for loan of feast gear (it has been a long time since I've been to an SCA event).
Nice bike ride with H. and some good photos Sunday. Also baked bread (yum), and made some progress on the next section of my layout. Nothing worth photographing yet, though. I have a thin 2" wide strip of beetle-eroded wood which might make art; if nobody asks me, it will definitely make kindling.
On the esoteric (as in, AFAIK I am the only person on LJ who actually writes about model railroading) front, I'm expecting my first NMRA Achievement Program certificate (Association Volunteer) in the next few days. I only have to find and photocopy everything I've ever gotten published to complete Model RR Author. I'm expecting to get another article published in Scale Rails in the next few months too.
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07:07 am
[Link] | Using a computer on a bus is much harder on my eyes/eustachian tubes than on a train.
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06:24 pm
[Link] | Happy Birthday, goddessfarmer ! Hugs...
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01:57 pm
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Shot at and missed, shit at and hit...
The last 72 hours have involved quite a bit of physical hard work and an enormous amount of emulating an old tire hung on the side of a tugboat (emotionally, that is). And the Tap is closed today. Oh, well, time to go climb a couple of trees and cut big, dead pieces off them...
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05:58 pm
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I know why so many people prefer games to life...
In games, if you have to repeat levels at all, you can do it fast, and most of the time you don't. In real life, I've pretty much mastered "repair gas-powered tool", for example. But the only way I can avoid repeating that level, with no accelerators or magic tricks, is to move to a condo or hire a groundskeeper.
At any rate, once I got the new gas line into my 1989 Craftsman chainsaw, I ran three tanks of gas through it a) cutting up the leftover bits from the bonfire and b) taking down the big pine widowmaker behind the paddock. Just as well J. can't stand to watch me do things like that, as I was not playing safe. But I'm not dead yet, and the Tap's Scapegoat afterward was nice, and now maybe I have the energy to go dig my garden up.
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12:04 pm
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May portmanteau
Zombie invited me on a SCUL mission Saturday, which was to drink the wine, eat the cheese and mock the artists around Somerville. Accomplished, with pluses of beer, minor bike repair, a bit of photography and Ethiopian food at Fasika afterwards. Sunday was house cleaning and a bit of MR work, then a birthday dinner for the oldest and 2nd-youngest family members. I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but did manage to accumulate some energy for the work week.
I was impressed with this: http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=25715, and also this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090430144524.htm (the sidebar links to related subjects are also good).
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10:45 am
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Some of you will find this cute
I have (or could develop, I think) the skills to do this kind of modeling, but I lack the time. Each new building seems to be taking more than a week of my spare time, and I need something like 20 more buildings to finish my city. Plus a lot of work on streets, telephone poles, little people etc.
Hi ho, it's a hobby after all, but sometime before haying season I hope to have things in place for a couple of publishable pictures.
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01:18 pm
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Wow. I avoid credit cards by reflex, but now see why...
Per this AP article, the average American household with a credit card is running a balance of a bit over $10K. Paying ~$1,800 per year for the privilege, unless they've screwed up and gotten hit with 21% or 25%...
That's about half the annual property tax on a modest home in the bedroom community zone of NH. You should hear them scream about how much the schools and cops and firemen cost.
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08:56 am
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Things in perspective...
One signficant aspect of long-ago FTP Software, to me anyway, was the aggregation of people, knowlege and resources. It passed, as everything does, but a lot of people came away from it with various combinations of skills, resources and connections. It's been interesting watching the results evolve down the years. Last night I watched two people I've known for almost 20 years up on stage: I had known W. was a musician since his first interview, but I'd never expected to hear K. (Harley rider, skater, excellent system programmer) belt out the vocal for "Great Gig in the Sky". Pink Voyd will be at Plymouth again tonight, then in Amherst MA on the 25th.
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12:31 pm
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Dinner company? Beer drinking anglophile?
There's this Beer Dinner Tuesday evening. It's in Haverhill, reachable via Commuter Rail. If I go, I'll probably get there on the 1630 from North Station, but afterwards I'll retrieve my car and drive home. But both J and C have other commitments, and I don't really want to go alone. Interested parties, please let me know via email or comments. There are 2025 and 2215 inbounds, or crash space is available at my house, and I'll be commuting in Wednesday AM. I can make a reservation today or see if they have space left by calling Tuesday.
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03:21 pm
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8 hours painting this weekend....
Of course, it was all little bits of multiple colors with tiny brushes. One swipe with a roller would have done twice the area, but it wouldn't have looked like this.
On other fronts, the grass is starting to grow, and Middle has returned from his sojourn in California (and I am not forgetting the favor he/I owe whitebird ). The focus of work has moved from debugging crypto code back to frobbing data structures to better acommodate exotic character sets. And I have 3 months to get ready for the National Model Railroad Association convention in Hartford, CT (July 5 - 11).
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08:31 am
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This tries to poke fun at Obama, but in truth encourages me no end
The link is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/03/g20-barack-obama-nick-robinson-question. But what matters to me is that the sentences are complete, they make sense, they answer the question and aside from closing by rounding back to an earlier point, read pretty well IMO.
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12:53 pm
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Feeling very much marginalized
As usual when J. and an animal are concerned, I was presented with a fait accompli.
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08:23 am
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Egg Carton man?
Many eggs have gone, in many cartons. But the chickens don't run paperboard machines. Cartons could be returned, or we could buy some more....
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