Is there no end to the delight that is cheese?
This will be a classic, varied post. A focused post on trust will be issued soon.
It is likely that a week-ish from now I'll be headed to Biloxi Mississippi to do a week or two of work with World Shelters. The team mostly consists of Burners from Seattle and elsewhere, many of whom are rangers. We will be erecting and deploying temporary structures to house relief workers, provide temporary hospital space, etc.
Jesse, the fellow running the project, is maintaining an LJ called givingshelter.
There are still a variety of ways to get involved. If you have time or tools, be in touch and I'll hook you up. Most importantly, the project is seeking donations. We are there at the invitation of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, among others. We are not funded by these agencies, and are depending on donations from individuals and businesses to fund our transportation, food, equipment, and shelter materials. If you'd like to donate towards my participation or the project in general, please use the button on the World Shelters site or give the money to me to pass on. Anything you give is 501c3 tax deductible. Thank you.
The trip to Biloxi is giving me an opportunity/excuse to learn a few fun things.
We will be operating under an Incident Command System, so I'll be taking a few ICS courses online, offered by FEMA.
I'll also be studying the HAM radio materials, though not necessarily taking the exam. A friend of the project who is a firefighter will be teaching us a few first aid certification courses, CPR and such.
When the revolution comes, I'll be ready.
Snacking on crackers and some very tasty Iberico cheese right now. It tastes a lot like Manchego, but instead of firm, it's softer, closer to Havarti than Romano in texture.
Speaking of Havarti, lesson #1 from Burning Man this year: at "room temperature" on the playa, Havarti cheese is a liquid. Someone cheerfully pointed out that makes it spreadable, but that did little to alleviate my disappointment at finding a soggy, greasy bag where my tasty morsel had been. A few hours in the cooler fixed everything, but still, ew.
Lesson #2 from Burning Man this year: always wearing shoes and socks on (no bare feet, no sandals) keeps my feet happy and healthy. My toes were pink and moist and perfect all week.
Keeping shoes on was greatly aided by my recent ebay steal of a pair of Fluevog Big John boots (in red/brown).
They work great as bedroom slippers; you can slip them on first thing and wear them comfortably without socks until it's time to change into all-day shoes.
Lesson #3 from Burning Man this year: it's really difficult to go from a gift economy directly into a situation that's all about money. The spa that we stayed at on the way back from BM was very nice, but it's the sort of place where every car is fancy and perfect (except for ours), everyone is perfectly groomed (except for us), and you can smell the Old Money from across the street (except for us, where you could smell the playa from across the street).
It's odd to come out of a massage and be greeted with a charge slip, instead of a hug. Of course, the rooms were private, dust-and-wind free, but still, it all felt so impersonal, almost clinical. In the past when I've paid for massages I've been friends with the therapist first and the money aspect of it wasn't as weird. Hmm.
(Side note: after I move I need to dust off my massage table and massage hands.)
Lesson #4 from Burning Man: an air mattress and a few boxes of food and gear are not enough to hold down a tent in real wind.
Early on, before most of the camp arrived, I'd set up but not staked down my tent, anticipating having to move it around when the rest of the camp showed up. The wind picked up to probably 70 mph and my happy happy new tent rolled onto it's side and distributed 2 boxes of food and a box of gear evenly across the inside of the tent.
I put a 6 gallon box of water (about 50#) inside the windward side to hold it down, and it rolled again. The final interim solution to keeping the tent on the ground was 3 two-foot rebar stakes holding down the leading edge, five boxes (250#) of water inside, and guying it down to a Volvo. That worked until I moved it to a final placement, staked it down, and filled it with gear.
I've just started looking for work, now that I'm back. Saw an opening with Fluke for an entry level interface designer, that looks good.
I think it would be a great company to get fundamental skills and experience with. They explicitly mention my department in the requirements, and the department chair used to work there, so it seems like a good bet.
Also, classmates.com doesn't want me.
I decided today that resumes and cover letters (and maybe love letters, come to think of it) probably have the highest time editing to word ratio of nearly any text.
manintheboat nominated me for The Eight Hunks of Hannukah. I'm debating accepting the nomination, but I don't really have any good pictures. I'll do it if I can get a sponsoring photographer. wasta? justjewls? Buhler?
The other night I finally watched the directors cut (209 minute) version of Das Boot.
I saw it in the theater in 1997 when it was re-released, and have owned the DVD for years, but have never watched it. I was never in the mood for three and a half hours of tension, paranoia and claustrophobia. It's just not something I can watch as often as a lighter, more relaxed film, like Alien* for example.
In any case, it remains fantastic. It's about the only thing I've seen at home that made me wish I had a fancy surround sound system.
* It's all relative.
Speaking of movies, I feel very out of touch with theater releases. What's worth seeing? What's coming?
Here's more on election fraud, this time from Harpers: None Dare Call it Stolen. Spread the word, even Ohio wasn't that stupid.
When/if I get a diesel car to run biodiesel, I'm getting a sticker for it that reads BIODIESEL
No War Required
That's all for now. Be well.
It is likely that a week-ish from now I'll be headed to Biloxi Mississippi to do a week or two of work with World Shelters. The team mostly consists of Burners from Seattle and elsewhere, many of whom are rangers. We will be erecting and deploying temporary structures to house relief workers, provide temporary hospital space, etc.
Jesse, the fellow running the project, is maintaining an LJ called givingshelter.
There are still a variety of ways to get involved. If you have time or tools, be in touch and I'll hook you up. Most importantly, the project is seeking donations. We are there at the invitation of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, among others. We are not funded by these agencies, and are depending on donations from individuals and businesses to fund our transportation, food, equipment, and shelter materials. If you'd like to donate towards my participation or the project in general, please use the button on the World Shelters site or give the money to me to pass on. Anything you give is 501c3 tax deductible. Thank you.
The trip to Biloxi is giving me an opportunity/excuse to learn a few fun things.
We will be operating under an Incident Command System, so I'll be taking a few ICS courses online, offered by FEMA.
I'll also be studying the HAM radio materials, though not necessarily taking the exam. A friend of the project who is a firefighter will be teaching us a few first aid certification courses, CPR and such.
When the revolution comes, I'll be ready.
Snacking on crackers and some very tasty Iberico cheese right now. It tastes a lot like Manchego, but instead of firm, it's softer, closer to Havarti than Romano in texture.
Speaking of Havarti, lesson #1 from Burning Man this year: at "room temperature" on the playa, Havarti cheese is a liquid. Someone cheerfully pointed out that makes it spreadable, but that did little to alleviate my disappointment at finding a soggy, greasy bag where my tasty morsel had been. A few hours in the cooler fixed everything, but still, ew.
Lesson #2 from Burning Man this year: always wearing shoes and socks on (no bare feet, no sandals) keeps my feet happy and healthy. My toes were pink and moist and perfect all week.
Keeping shoes on was greatly aided by my recent ebay steal of a pair of Fluevog Big John boots (in red/brown).
They work great as bedroom slippers; you can slip them on first thing and wear them comfortably without socks until it's time to change into all-day shoes.
Lesson #3 from Burning Man this year: it's really difficult to go from a gift economy directly into a situation that's all about money. The spa that we stayed at on the way back from BM was very nice, but it's the sort of place where every car is fancy and perfect (except for ours), everyone is perfectly groomed (except for us), and you can smell the Old Money from across the street (except for us, where you could smell the playa from across the street).
It's odd to come out of a massage and be greeted with a charge slip, instead of a hug. Of course, the rooms were private, dust-and-wind free, but still, it all felt so impersonal, almost clinical. In the past when I've paid for massages I've been friends with the therapist first and the money aspect of it wasn't as weird. Hmm.
(Side note: after I move I need to dust off my massage table and massage hands.)
Lesson #4 from Burning Man: an air mattress and a few boxes of food and gear are not enough to hold down a tent in real wind.
Early on, before most of the camp arrived, I'd set up but not staked down my tent, anticipating having to move it around when the rest of the camp showed up. The wind picked up to probably 70 mph and my happy happy new tent rolled onto it's side and distributed 2 boxes of food and a box of gear evenly across the inside of the tent.
I put a 6 gallon box of water (about 50#) inside the windward side to hold it down, and it rolled again. The final interim solution to keeping the tent on the ground was 3 two-foot rebar stakes holding down the leading edge, five boxes (250#) of water inside, and guying it down to a Volvo. That worked until I moved it to a final placement, staked it down, and filled it with gear.
I've just started looking for work, now that I'm back. Saw an opening with Fluke for an entry level interface designer, that looks good.
I think it would be a great company to get fundamental skills and experience with. They explicitly mention my department in the requirements, and the department chair used to work there, so it seems like a good bet.
Also, classmates.com doesn't want me.
I decided today that resumes and cover letters (and maybe love letters, come to think of it) probably have the highest time editing to word ratio of nearly any text.
manintheboat nominated me for The Eight Hunks of Hannukah. I'm debating accepting the nomination, but I don't really have any good pictures. I'll do it if I can get a sponsoring photographer. wasta? justjewls? Buhler?
The other night I finally watched the directors cut (209 minute) version of Das Boot.
I saw it in the theater in 1997 when it was re-released, and have owned the DVD for years, but have never watched it. I was never in the mood for three and a half hours of tension, paranoia and claustrophobia. It's just not something I can watch as often as a lighter, more relaxed film, like Alien* for example.
In any case, it remains fantastic. It's about the only thing I've seen at home that made me wish I had a fancy surround sound system.
* It's all relative.
Speaking of movies, I feel very out of touch with theater releases. What's worth seeing? What's coming?
Here's more on election fraud, this time from Harpers: None Dare Call it Stolen. Spread the word, even Ohio wasn't that stupid.
When/if I get a diesel car to run biodiesel, I'm getting a sticker for it that reads BIODIESEL
No War Required
That's all for now. Be well.