blog (June, 2004)

Without thinking twice

I began reading Sebastian Delmont's Zonageek blog a few months ago upon discovering his MTMail utility. MTMail powers MovableType blogging by email, and allows me to post camera-phone images I take while on the move (my moblog).

Today breaking for lunch and a Zonageek entry, Teclado en español, or Keyboard in Spanish, (he writes in both English and Spanish,) I read of Sebastian's frustrations with keyboard layouts. Neither international nor English keyboards suit his needs effectively.

At the end of last year (a finales del año pasado) Microsoft released a tool to alter keyboard layouts. Describing his haste in downloading and trying out the utility, Sebastian writes,

Ni corto ni perezoso la bajé y empecé a jugar con ella.

Confident I understood his meaning, but not being familiar with the phrase, (Ni corto ni perezoso is literally, Neither short nor lazy,) I used babelfish to translate for me. The result?

Without thinking twice I lowered it and I began to play with her.

Que fuerte...

Jun 24, 2004 - 14:33
Categories: language
Comments: [1]

"my library account" page

I've settled my library debts, but am still missing the case to a certain cd I checked out months ago -- and am running out of renewals.

Tonight I stuck around the office and hacked away at my public library account web page, to scrape the data off and shove it into a page on this site. Now, ever-available in the navigation bar and automatically updated... my library account; a listing of the items I currently have checked out.

I've got some editing to do on the script and the layout, but it was fulfilling -- the first time in awhile that I've used (the) python (programming language).

Jun 22, 2004 - 00:15
Comments: [2]

identity and disclosure

We are said to be a society dedicated to the pursuit of truth. Yet, disclosure of the truth, the truth of one's being, is often penalized. Impossible concepts of how man ought to be--which are often handed down from the pulpit--make man so ashamed of his true being that he feels obliged to seem different, if for no other reason than to protect his job. Yet, when a man does not acknowledge to himself who, what, and how he is, he is out of touch with reality, and he will sicken. No one can help him without access to the facts. And it seems to be another fact that no man can come to know himself except as an outcome of disclosing himself to another person. This is the lesson we have learned in the field of psychotherapy. When a person has been able to disclose himself utterly to another person, he learns how to increase his contact with his real self, and he may then be better able to direct his destiny on the basis of that knowledge.

-- Sidney Jourard, The Transparent Self

Difficult decisions: the resulting pains of trying to reconcile different aspects of myself with different people. I'd like to incorporate all aspects of my identity for everyone I know, but either I, they, or my identity is not yet ready.

Jun 15, 2004 - 15:48
Comments: [0]

lazy weekend, rally-cap

I'm sitting on the living room couch, listening to the wind, thunder, last guttural raintricklings, and Pat Metheny on guitar, waving goodbye to another weekend.

This one was vastly unproductive compared to the previous. I did make my first trip to Cleveland's West Side Market, see my second Indians game, grill and gobble my first Walleye, (jowls, eyes and all,) and (got) bumped and clubbed at a couple night spots on the near West Side... but accomplished none of the things I'd set out to. Meh.

The bike shop sez the seatpost is stuck in the frame, which adds doubt to whether the thing is worth repairing, so there's a small blow to a piece of my current best-laid plans.

Small insects are feasting on my arms and lower back chauch.

I slept with Faith, and found a corpse in my arms on awaking; I drank and danced all night with Doubt, and found her a virgin in the morning.

-- Aleister Crowley, The Book of Lies

Found at Ming the Mechanic and Future Hi

Tomorrow is another week. Actually, today is another week. Goodnight!

Jun 14, 2004 - 00:11
Categories: bicycling, dayToday
Comments: [2]

Cleve Web Design Meetup, Home

Enjoyed the Web Design Meetup tonight. Met some interesting people, including two I'd known of (by digital identity) but never known, Grayden and Will.

I feel I'm finally beginning to dig my way into the Cleveland thing. Making a home for myself...

So much on my plate right now, though. Trying to learn how to manage everything better by focusing more fully on   one   at   a   time. I'm improving horribly slowly. The awareness of my inadequacy is maddening, but at least it's there.

Jun 11, 2004 - 02:00
Comments: [0]

unlazy weekend, lazy recap

After a full weekend, I'm back to navigating cubicles, clutching coffeemug.

Friday night: good {food, wine, conversation} until all hours.

Saturday morning I spent some time renewing work on a small software project I've let slide. Threw some clothes on around noon and brought my old mountain-bike to Bicycle Boulevard for repairs and tune-up. I've been excited to start riding again -- to and from work, mainly -- but hesitant to bite the bullet and replace many of the broken components. In the afternoon I struggled through a run, gave myself a haircut, then played some poker, and finally out to the Tremont district on Cleveland's near-West side for another eat/drink/talk evening.

Sunday morning I woke early and headed to the Atma Center for my first structured Yoga (Satyananda) class -- free! Then, strawberry picking out east a bit, jammin' on the one in our soggy basement, and the nightcap, a sunset fishing outing on the edge of Lake Erie.

Jun 07, 2004 - 14:47
Categories: bicycling, dayToday, yoga
Comments: [1]

Tuition at The People's University

I have 45 items currently checked out from the Cleveland Public Library system, 11 on hold waiting for me to pick them up, and 8 on hold but not yet available.

My current account status is: BLOCKED, with the following fines:

Jun 03, 2004 - 01:15
Categories: library
Comments: [1]