Category: Uncategorized

Kung Fu update: I just broke a dangling board with a side kick. I feel pretty macho right now.

Funny part, but obvious in retrospect: it had nothing to do with speed during the wind up. I pushed it away a few times with kicks where I tried too hard to sneak up on the board, not telegraph my motions, and all that other good stuff. Then I slowed down, got my posture perfect, took the windup slow, and snapped the kick right at the end. Pow. Two pieces of pine where there had been one before.

I wasn’t able to do that the last time I tried it. This makes me very happy.

In other news, iPhoto is updating all my thumbnails, since I purchased the new version of iLife from Apple.

Is there anything better than a grilled cheese sandwich? Not very many things, I can tell you that.

Naturally, within the space of “grilled cheese sandwich,” there is a range of experiences. Grilled, with a weight or press on it to compress the cheese on it? Check. With fresh slices of tomato? Check. With hot pepper relish? Check.

One more thing: With bread fresh out of the bread maker? Oh double triple hyper check.

Blissed out. Eating olives now.

technolope, This one’s for you.

Online psych experiment. Everybody is commanded to play: My Johari Window

Watch it grow here.

Also the opposite: Nohoari.

Watch that one grow here.

Based on my credit card usage patterns, I think that I should be earning more awesome perks than I am at present.

I’m what the CC companies call a “deadbeat.” I.e: I pay off my balance in full every month. That said, I pass a fair number of regular payments through there, so I could be racking up benefits and bonuses … if my card company offered them. To my knowledge, they do not. Right now I’m with MBNA America, in some “platinum” program or another. They offer very little aside from not really pissing me off all that much.

What credit card companies (a) don’t piss you off (b) give awesome freebies based on accumulated usage?

My little sister came into town on Thursday night for an interview at BU, which she apparently rocked. On Friday, we met up and rolled south to Providence, where we met up with redmed and went out for awesome sushi. redmed has already mentioned the dragon roll, pictured to the right.

On Saturday we went North to the Science Museum, where there was a Star Wars exhibit with lots of robotics goodness. There was also a butterfly garden, and a 2.5MV Van De Graff generator. I liked that part, though I totally failed to get a picture of the sparks.

For a Valentines surprise, I had scored a room at the Commander hotel, where George Washington assumed command of the rebel forces as Vader was consolidating his hold on the empire. Or something. I get confused on this stuff. Anyway, when it snows, Washington looks like a conehead.

The concert by Apollo’s Fire (the Cincinnati Baroque) was amazing. The ensemble was young and dynamic, and the space was a lot of fun. The high point was that I learned about a totally novel instrument. The theorbo is a form of archlute, apparently. They augment a traditional lute with 8 drone strings which are played un-fretted to add a built-in continuo. It ROCKED! This instrument is so cool, I have no idea why it died out. The rest of the ensemble was pretty cool too.

Then, as has been noted in other sources, there was a little snow. We ate a leisurely brunch at Henrietta’s Table before coming home. I had never thought of starting my day with oysters before … but it turns out to go pretty well.

Paul Krugman of the NY Times has once again (sorry, Times Select subscribers only) reamed the current administration. I love the fact that there are so many different ways in which the current administration sucks. I mean, we’ve got the war in Iraq, the fiscal irresponsibility, the invasions of privacy, the outright profiteering from the office, and so on. Today’s column focuses on the budget:

it [the administration] created fictitious savings by “sunsetting” the tax cut, making the whole thing expire at the end of 2010.

I suggested, back in 2001, that the legislation be renamed the Throw Momma From the Train Act.

I really need to not read the news. It’s so depressing.