Author: cdwan

By request from captainblack, I present a short film starring worry cat.

She was only briefly worried.

We’ve finally decided to provide a name for the incredibly cute behavior of the small cat, when she circles and makes worried mewing noises, occasionally reaching waaaaaaay up to give you the “Very Concerned Look.”

She’s “Worry Cat.”

For example, last night, worry cat was Very Concerned about the fact that had disappeared into the bathroom, and the bath had been run, but then things had become quiet. Mew mew mew mew? mew? MEW? MEW! (circle to other bathroom door) mew? MEW? (circle circle). Finally, worry cat was allowed in. She investigated the water, the sink, and the shelves, then she wandered back out.

mew.

This morning, I was greeted mid-coffee-ritual by Worry Cat and the VCL. Mew? Mew? (standing on hind legs, reaching up) MEW? I reached down, showed her the mug of choice for the morning, and scratched her ears.

mew.

You know you’re as old as me if the word “sike” means anything to you at all.

I have new sympathy for all of you out there who have been slaves to the scale for lo these many years. I’ve made an effort over the past week to weigh myself each morning … and it’s already pissing me off. Yes, I weigh in at the same time each morning. No, I don’t have clothing on when I do it. Yes, it’s always pre-breakfast.

1) 4 pounds of variability over 7 days. That’s, like, more than 2%!

2) Steadily creeping up. With noise … but creep creep. All of a sudden I looked at my lunchtime half-cake and stick of butter and thought ‘wait … should I eat this?’ It’s draining the joy from my life!

Scales suck. I’m happily in-shape … as much so as I’ve ever been in my life … and yet looking at that implacable number glaring up at me from the floor … it makes me … sad.

Good headphones. Tool.

Mmmmmmmmm. Like scratching an itch all the way down in my brain-stem.

Another ‘co-housing’, ‘intentional community’ model: ecovillage. Thanks to rjb5 for the link. These people have been “up and running” since 1997. They’ve got two neighborhoods, plus a community farm.

The Best Boots Ever (mark-2) arrived today. It’s weird to have full foot support. My feet kinda ache from not having to do all the work themselves. Concurrently, I’m filled with a desire to take a really long walk. I’m thinking that “all of February” would probably be a good start.

Last night at karate, we did some wrestling. The idea was simply to take a single opponent off their feet without any strikes. I managed to throw one of the senior instructors, which has me feeling all good about myself. Of course, my arms are covered with funny little bruises. So yeah, that’s still going nicely.

Finally, it looks like I’m going to be doing some level of “project management.” It’s not clear whether that will include managing human beings in the traditional sense … or simply being “the guy who keeps track of the projects, so that we know which ones are profitable.” In either event, I feel like I’m re-inventing an entire discipline from scratch as I start to create schedules and lists of dependencies. Does anyone have a personal favorite “complete imbecile’s guide to business project management” reference work?

I’m no longer sure if I’m being ironic about this hippie commune on the site of the old Pfizer in Ann Arbor, or not. This happens fairly frequently (the whole ‘am I being ironic? I no longer know?’ thing), so I’m not too worried about it.

annacallahan alerted me to the presence of a co-housing community in Massachusetts, called mosaic commons. Co-housing is basically an attempt to do the commune lifestyle without the really annoying parts that make it always fail. You own your own house and a share of some large-ish common facilities. It’s a neighborhood association on steroids.

and suggest that folks with decent employment keep it and contribute money … while others would work on the infrastructure of the place itself. This is in line with some recent reading I’ve been doing. Paul Farmer is a crazy doctor who has been building a public health infrastructure in Haiti. One time, one of his multi-million dollar donors came down to visit him and suggested that he (the guy providing the money) would like to “leave it all” and come down to work in Haiti. Farmer’s response was “in your case, that would be a sin.” From each according to their ability. It just works better that way.

I like the large scale, because it would enable more significant projects … including a theatre, livestock, independent power generation, etc. Please note that I am deliberately only looking at what I would like right now. No research has been done on whether the stodgy old men who control everything would permit any of this silliness.

I suppose that what I really want is to found a small town, or perhaps an island nation. As said, though, it sucks that these cool communities have to be so far out in the boonies.

Hobbit houses are fully permitted, but when the walls slide in on you and your cat gets moldy … don’t come crying to me. I’m using concrete and drywall.

Several different little birdies cued me into the fact that Pfizer is laying off 10% of their work force, and ditching the Ann Arbor facility. I casually mentioned on earthshines journal that we should get a bunch of people and buy it to turn it into a hippie commune. Something like all of you responded positively. So, let’s put it out there:

(a) If I wanted to buy a multi-million dollar property in primo-territory, Ann Arbor, to turn into a wind power driven center for the exploration of subjective happiness and collective ownership – how many of you would pony up hundreds of thousands of dollars?

(b) Who would loan us the money for this mad venture?

(c) How would we pay them back?