Assembled towel rack

It was marvelously simple.

Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Breakup, Dana Stabenow

Here comes the rain again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFnYcIqj6I


Today's earrings: bees, leaves

Bedtime reading: Island of the Sequined Love Nun, Christopher Moore

Who's on first?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add?, R.A. Lafferty

Farewell, IT Dude

One of our IT dudes left today. The receptionist and I were lamenting this in the ladies' room, because the guy who left is good at his job, and a nice guy, too. This is in contrast to some of his predecessors.
Not like A, I said. I think he was hired for his looks.
And C, she replied, he was also more decorative than useful.
Yes, I said, I remember when I started here, thinking 'that's the best-looking IT department I've ever seen,' and wondering why we had a bunch of male models tending to our programming needs.
She laughed, because it's true.


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Sabre-Tooth, Peter O'Donnell

Dilemma

Which collection of Lafferty's short stories should I lend the Lemming? His first anthology? The first one I read? Maybe some of the chapbooks? So many choices...


Today's earrings: flowers, leaves

Bedtime reading: Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add?, R.A. Lafferty

Train Wreck

Well, just a small one. We were riding the steam train in Tilden and saw that these guys were out riding around on their own tiny trains, so we went to watch. Tiger was utterly fascinated, and I was pretty interested myself. The best one was a long combined passenger/freight with this one flatcar in the middle carrying John Deere tractors. Most cool.

There's a junction just to the left of the spectator area, and the drivers were stopping and switching it, taking one track or the other, all working smoothly. Then one guy driving an engine with one passenger car rode through and derailed. It made an awful noise, but no one was hurt or even very shaken up. We moved down the rail to better spectate. A host of train-hobbyist dudes gathered to help. ("Look what good helpers they are, Tiger!") The train-hobbyist dudes tried to muscle the engine back on the track. As it weighed about 600 pounds, that didn't work very well. Then a senior train-hobbyist dude appeared with a block of wood and a crowbar. He levered the engine back into place pretty much single-handed while the other guys steadied it on to the rails. Problem solved! We applauded. The driver started up his engine again and drove on. We applauded some more, and he wished us a happy new year.


Today's earrings: lobsters, leaves

Bedtime reading: Good Omens, Pratchett & Gaiman

Brunchiness

Today's meeting the the Thanksgiving Planning Committee was quite productive: we almost finished the crossword, and I palmed off a stack of serving dishes on M. Then I got a haircut and did my laundry.

Later, I found a video that I saw once in 1983 and has haunted me since: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Ac_OBeGWs&feature=related
Um. Yeah.


Today's earrings: pine trees, leaves

Bedtime reading: Comeback, Dick Francis

N.B.

Next week, someone remind me to talk to Josh about the Caribbean.


Today's earrings: tree frogs, leaves

Bedtime reading: Jingo, Terry Pratchett

Spent the afternoon with my old friend

I didn't recognize him at first. I think I was looking for a 25-year-old kid, and there was this 40-something businessman standing there. He recognized me, though. It was just like old times, really, except he talked more than he used to about his wife & kids. (The kids are most cute.)


Today's earrings: squirrels, leaves

Bedtime reading: Interesting Times, Terry Pratchett

Someone on the internet is wrong

But I'm going to bed anyway.


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Death's Half Acre, Margaret Maron

Logic puzzle

Today my job required a little research, a little typing, and a series of increasingly complex Venn diagrams. I'm still not sure that I've documented all the contingencies...


Today's earrings: squirrels, leaves

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Leaf

Leaf Fertility; growth; renewal. Green leaves depict hope; revival; renewal. Dead leaves are sadness; Autumn; decay. Crowns of leaves symbolize divinity or triumph and victory. In Chinese symbolism the leaves of the Cosmic Tree represent all beings in the universe -- the Ten Thousand Things.

- - An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, J.C. Cooper


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers

The Trees Under the Protection of the Gods

THE GODS, according to an ancient legend, made choice of certain trees to be under their special protection. Jupiter chose the oak, Venus the myrtle, Apollo the laurel, Cybele the pine, and Hercules the poplar. Minerva, wondering why they had preferred trees not yielding fruit, inquired the reason for their choice. Jupiter replied, “It is lest we should seem to covet the honor for the fruit.” But said Minerva, “Let anyone say what he will the olive is more dear to me on account of its fruit.” Then said Jupiter, “My daughter, you are rightly called wise; for unless what we do is useful, the glory of it is vain.”

- Aesop; George Tyler Townsend, trans.


Today's earrings: squirrels, leaves

Bedtime reading: Aesop's Fables, Townsend & James, trans.

Workplace hilarity

[Extended conversation spanning the past week about how Turkish Customs posts info elided.]

Boss: Something is funky with Turkey.
Me: Yeah. Why should chickens get all the fun?


Today's earrings: squirrels, leaves

Bedtime reading: The Danger, Dick Francis

Babes in the woods

Pep, I need more information about this picture of your family tree. If hand-drawn, it'd fall in 4906 (PLANS AND DRAWINGS FOR ARCHITECTURAL, ENGINEERING, INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL OR SIMILAR PURPOSES, BEING ORIGINALS DRAWN BY HAND; HAND-WRITTEN TEXTS; PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTIONS ON SENSITISED PAPER AND CARBON COPIES OF THE FOREGOING); if otherwise printed, it'd fall in 4911 (OTHER PRINTED MATTER, INCLUDING PRINTED PICTURES AND PHOTOGRAPHS). But in either case, if it's over 100 years old, it'd go in 9706 (ANTIQUES OF AN AGE EXCEEDING ONE HUNDRED YEARS).


Today's earrings: pines, leaves

Bedtime reading: Devil-May-Care, Elizabeth Peters

Well, that was eventful

Got back to work & found that my stuff had been moved from the conference room to my new desk. Which is my old desk, except not next to the window any more. Instead, I'm right outside my boss's office with a view all the way down the hall. Much hustle & bustle & discovering a lot of the jacks don't work & shifting stuff around.

Go through my email and find out cousin C has cancer. Well, that sucks.

The rest of the day was filled more hustle, more bustle, and a lot more well, damn, that sucks.


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

Millbrae Art & Wine Fest

Today's earring purchases:
Glass beads (kinda turquoise/river rock looking)
Glass dice
Porcelain jack o'lanterns
Wee paper cranes


Today's earrings: flowers, leaves

Bedtime reading: Risk, Dick Francis

Kind Hearts & Coronets

http://baking.about.com/od/piesandfruiteddesserts/ss/strawhearts_6.htm
http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/rolls/peerage/dukes.htm


Today's earrings: strawberries, leaves

Bedtime reading: Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers

Vertumnus, by Arcimboldo

Today's earrings: eyes, leaves

Bedtime reading: Maskerade, Terry Pratchett

Too darn hot

Awfully warm out these past few days. I think I should try to talk someone into riding a rollercoaster with me this weekend.


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard