Author: cdwan

We went to see Daniel Craig kicks everyone’s ass Quantum of Solace, and it was good. Like, “good” as in “that was a good movie,” good. Sort of “film cinema good,” good. I found myself noticing symbolism and crap. Ungh! Plus, there was ass kicking. I liked that part too.

Picked up another metric crapload of winter veggies today from the farm share. I intend to make Borsch tomorrow. Some recipes get easier when you’re eating seasonally. That’s one of them.

I’m back to Judo. Nailed the tomoenage throw twice today on a 300lb guy who wasn’t intending to get tossed. It feels good to throw someone who has six inches and more than a hundred pounds on you. It feels much better than failing and having him land on you. Also, I got a black belt to tap out with a choke. In only tangentially related news, I may be going to San Diego to compete at Nationals. Why? Because I might get to see the head of my school actually compete. Also, now that I have two throws that work … well … we’ll see. That’s not until April. I would have to get in shape for that, which would probably involve laying off:

The beer. The Octoberfest is excellent and disappearing rapidly. The Imperial Wit is going to be great. Right now (1.5 months in bulk aging, 1 week in the bottle), it’s raw and not very carbonated, Given two months to sit in a cool, dark place … it’s going to rule.

I’ll be in Austin, TX next week at Supercomputing. I plan to see all the new cool toys.

atgatg, this is for you:

Remember that reporter who talked to me at the Obama riot celebration when I was in Santa Cruz? I made the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

I haven’t written much about Judo since I busted my shoulder. That’s because there hasn’t been much to write about. I go to work out, when I’m not on the road, and I say things like “no throws for me, bum shoulder” a lot. Along the way I’ve gotten a lot better. I’m perhaps 90% strong and flexible in that shoulder, and it doesn’t even ache anymore. Lately, I’ve taken to doing a lot of shoulder rolls and controlled falls in an attempt to get it to whine. No dice. The thing that really gets the shoulder, though? Backpacks. Going two-strap for any substantial length of time is a one-way ticket to next-day-sucks ville.

Anyway, enough about me. Let’s talk about me for a minute. I went to a Judo tournament and kept score today. It was fun. You learn a lot keeping score … the refs tend to call a point – but you’re left to determine on your own who scored said point. Now naturally there’s a right answer. The refs know it, the players know it, the coaches know it … and the scorekeeper is expected to know it. I knew it about 90% of the time. The remaining time, I guessed right about 50-50. So, there were a couple of times where I was like “oops” and hit the “undo” button.

Anyway, here’s video of a really good judo player as seen from the scoring table. Observe how he throws exactly one attack during the entire match. “One point,” or “Ippon,” indeed.

— UPDATE — link corrected. Thanks atgatg.

I get a lot of spam. I’m told that some huge percentage of it gets stopped before it even gets to our mail server (via a deep-packet-inspecting hardware device), and some huge percentage of what does make it through gets dropped (via greylisting) before hitting my mailbox. Then Apple’s spam filter takes over, and weeds out between 200 and 300 messages per day. With all that, perhaps 4 or 5 messages a day get through to my eyes.

Here was my favorite of the day. Note how quickly they can incorporate recent news!

From: videonews@usa.gov
Subject: Barack Obama can lost President's Chair. Political Strike at WV Mine
Date: November 8, 2008 9:54:45 AM EST

2008 USA Government Official Web Site.

I was at a brewpub in (the People’s Republic of) Santa Cruz, CA.

I was alternating between talking to a guy at the bar, and admiring the girl next to me’s tattoos, when the whole bar started jumping and screaming. So I jumped and screamed and pounded the bar. Then I realized that we were happy that Obama had won. It ruled. It feels good to win.

I was amazed by Mccain’s concession speech. He shushed the “USA! USA!” crowd. He said what needed to be said – “he’s my president, and yours.” It was perfect.

I was stunned by Obama’s speech. Perhaps most poignant, from some Haitian friends of amnesiadust: “That man is crazy, with his whole family up there with him.”

Then I walked the streets of Santa Cruz, following the sounds of drums. Along the way I ditched my collar shirt to reveal the Obama shirt underneath.

I was interviewed by the local press. I was offered free drinks. I was bumped into by the very, very high. I was photographed by Japanese tourists.

Fireworks were set off.

It was a good night.

One might characterize the second season of the Sarah Connor Chronicles as “ham handed,” were it not an insult to the subtlety of spiral cuts and honey glazes everywhere. Compared with this crap, pork chops have finesse.

Still, Summer Glau is not displeasing to look upon, and I like stories about artificial intelligences … particularly malevolent ones that pose as redheads. Thus, we continue.

But seriously. I mean – seriously.

As I drove over the “hill” from dinner with a friend in San Jose to the “visiting faculty” apartment at UC Santa Cruz, I was struck by just what a cool and interesting life I lead.

For what it’s worth, I’m enjoying it very much.

Also: happy ‘day of the dead.’

My backpack is failing. A second major pouch has just become un-zippable. I currently have two binder-clips holding my stuff in my sack. This is both risky and undignified.

I require a new sack.

The floor is now open for both men and women to discuss the merits of their particular favorite sack. I will entertain suggestions for both one-strap and two-strap models, but it must come in the color “black.”