Sunday, July 05, 2009
You have a point, Jasmine T
I should start going to Yahoo Answers for entertainment first and information second.
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Labels: webbernets
Friday, July 03, 2009
Labeling, catch-up
So I'm working on naming all the photos from the trip, which is like 500 or some other comparable, insane-o number. Both California (San Diego area) and Portland (Oregon, not Maine) are crazy beautiful, so it was easy to keep pushing the button to take more and more. Lots of flowers. Anyway. It's in progress and the sets are on the Flickr.
What in particular deserves mentioning?
1. Driving to Atlanta, saw a Hardee's with a window ad for Biscuit Holes, which apparently now there's some video online advertising them, and I haven't seen that yet, but we spent a good 10 minutes in the car riffing on the product and what's wrong with it. For one thing, biscuits don't have holes. Someone doesn't know how to make biscuits. For another, is this England? Biscuits do not get served with icing. Yuck. If they were instead mini-biscuits with sausage or cheese, that would be an awesome product, but as-is, no. Gross. It is fun to call people a biscuit hole, though. Or to refer to your mouth as a biscuit hole.
2. California is bright! And crowded. And full of amazing flowers, flowers so amazing that they caused me to be interested in flowers.
3. If you mix not very good white wine with a little bit of not very good red wine, you can make a not very good (but better) rose. My sister discovered this. The drink is called a Pauline, after her.
4. In future, I might actually make an effort to miss all but the last five minutes of a wedding intentionally (rather than un-) and just catch the reception.
5. I'm not good at surfing. Not even a little. I managed to fall off the board about a hundred times without even attempting to stand up. I could fall off even if I didn't lift up my head. But I got less scared of the ocean. Also: sunburned. Also: discovered that in California, I can totally walk around a store in a t-shirt and a bikini bottom and feel really comfortable not wearing pants. Yay California!
6. Weirdly ate no fish tacos. I know!
7. Hilton Garden Inns have cookies on the desk in the p.m., which if you come in from a wedding a little soused is like the best thing ever.
8. If I had to pick a place to live out there, it might be Encinitas.
9. Except it wouldn't be. It would be Portland. Everyone said, "You're going to want to move there." And I dismissed them. I love Athens, right? Well... Portland is kind of great. It's like Boulevard if it exploded into a city, only minus the heat and the lubbers. Minus all the bugs except spiders.
10. Great food in Portland, especially from the street carts, about which a Flagpole blog post soon, but also from Pok Pok, which serves incredible, informal Thai. Oh, Pok Pok. I love you.
11. I wish that town weren't so far away.
12. The Salt Lake City airport sucks. A lot.
13. Woo. We got a compost bin from Keep ACC Beautiful when we got back. Setting it up today, most likely. Good deal at $45.
14. Here are some places we went in Portland: Prasad (fancy, healthy little street cart; beet, carrot, candied walnut, currants, ginger salad; avocado strawberry bee pollen smoothie), Fire on the Mountain (good wings, nice beer), FlavourSpot (Dutch tacos, a.k.a., waffle sandwiches), food carts downtown (tacos, burek, banh mi), Pok Pok (kai yaang [Roasted natural game hen rubbed with lemongrass, garlic, pepper and cilantro served with a spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce. Our signature dish], Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings [Fresh natural chicken wings marinated in fish sauce, garlic and sugar, deep fried, tossed in caramelized Phu Quoc fish sauce and garlic and served with Vietnamese table salad. Our daytime grill cook Ich Truong’s recipe from his home in Vietnam], Kaeng Hung Leh [Classic Northern Thai sweet pork belly and pork shoulder curry with ginger, palm sugar, tamarind, turmeric, Burmese curry powder and pickled garlic], Muu Paa Kham Waan [boar collar meat rubbed with garlic, coriander root and black pepper, glazed with soy and sugar, grilled over charcoal and served with chilled mustard greens and a spicy chili-lime-garlic sauce. Northern Thai drinking food], Yam Khai Dao [salad of crispy fried egg, Thai chilies, Chinese celery, onions and carrot with lime, palm sugar and fish sauce dressing], and sticky rice), Stumptown Coffee (some kind of thyme iced tea with hints of nutmeg; an awesome chocolate flourless cookie), Pix Patisserie (pistachio, port, and fleur de sel caramel macarons; the latter being the massive victor). Oh, other than food? Sauvie Island Farms (paradise, I'm pretty sure), Powell's Books (duh), the riverfront, the Pearl, Mississippi, Alberta, OHSU on the hilltop, cute stores, etc.
15. Here are some places we went in San Diego etc.: Hodad's (big burgers in Ocean Beach), Nine Ten (fancy stuff in La Jolla; hamachi, braised lamb and lemon riccot agnolotti), Hotel Del Coronado (grapefruit, butter lettuce, and shrimp salad; freaky birds; great beach), Harney Sushi (in Oceanside),the Monarch Program (Encinitas, butterfly stuff), Mission San Luis Rey, When in Rome (rehearsal dinner in Encinitas), Quail Botanical Gardens (reception). More, too, but I can't remember the names of all the places.
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What in particular deserves mentioning?
1. Driving to Atlanta, saw a Hardee's with a window ad for Biscuit Holes, which apparently now there's some video online advertising them, and I haven't seen that yet, but we spent a good 10 minutes in the car riffing on the product and what's wrong with it. For one thing, biscuits don't have holes. Someone doesn't know how to make biscuits. For another, is this England? Biscuits do not get served with icing. Yuck. If they were instead mini-biscuits with sausage or cheese, that would be an awesome product, but as-is, no. Gross. It is fun to call people a biscuit hole, though. Or to refer to your mouth as a biscuit hole.
2. California is bright! And crowded. And full of amazing flowers, flowers so amazing that they caused me to be interested in flowers.
3. If you mix not very good white wine with a little bit of not very good red wine, you can make a not very good (but better) rose. My sister discovered this. The drink is called a Pauline, after her.
4. In future, I might actually make an effort to miss all but the last five minutes of a wedding intentionally (rather than un-) and just catch the reception.
5. I'm not good at surfing. Not even a little. I managed to fall off the board about a hundred times without even attempting to stand up. I could fall off even if I didn't lift up my head. But I got less scared of the ocean. Also: sunburned. Also: discovered that in California, I can totally walk around a store in a t-shirt and a bikini bottom and feel really comfortable not wearing pants. Yay California!
6. Weirdly ate no fish tacos. I know!
7. Hilton Garden Inns have cookies on the desk in the p.m., which if you come in from a wedding a little soused is like the best thing ever.
8. If I had to pick a place to live out there, it might be Encinitas.
9. Except it wouldn't be. It would be Portland. Everyone said, "You're going to want to move there." And I dismissed them. I love Athens, right? Well... Portland is kind of great. It's like Boulevard if it exploded into a city, only minus the heat and the lubbers. Minus all the bugs except spiders.
10. Great food in Portland, especially from the street carts, about which a Flagpole blog post soon, but also from Pok Pok, which serves incredible, informal Thai. Oh, Pok Pok. I love you.
11. I wish that town weren't so far away.
12. The Salt Lake City airport sucks. A lot.
13. Woo. We got a compost bin from Keep ACC Beautiful when we got back. Setting it up today, most likely. Good deal at $45.
14. Here are some places we went in Portland: Prasad (fancy, healthy little street cart; beet, carrot, candied walnut, currants, ginger salad; avocado strawberry bee pollen smoothie), Fire on the Mountain (good wings, nice beer), FlavourSpot (Dutch tacos, a.k.a., waffle sandwiches), food carts downtown (tacos, burek, banh mi), Pok Pok (kai yaang [Roasted natural game hen rubbed with lemongrass, garlic, pepper and cilantro served with a spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce. Our signature dish], Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings [Fresh natural chicken wings marinated in fish sauce, garlic and sugar, deep fried, tossed in caramelized Phu Quoc fish sauce and garlic and served with Vietnamese table salad. Our daytime grill cook Ich Truong’s recipe from his home in Vietnam], Kaeng Hung Leh [Classic Northern Thai sweet pork belly and pork shoulder curry with ginger, palm sugar, tamarind, turmeric, Burmese curry powder and pickled garlic], Muu Paa Kham Waan [boar collar meat rubbed with garlic, coriander root and black pepper, glazed with soy and sugar, grilled over charcoal and served with chilled mustard greens and a spicy chili-lime-garlic sauce. Northern Thai drinking food], Yam Khai Dao [salad of crispy fried egg, Thai chilies, Chinese celery, onions and carrot with lime, palm sugar and fish sauce dressing], and sticky rice), Stumptown Coffee (some kind of thyme iced tea with hints of nutmeg; an awesome chocolate flourless cookie), Pix Patisserie (pistachio, port, and fleur de sel caramel macarons; the latter being the massive victor). Oh, other than food? Sauvie Island Farms (paradise, I'm pretty sure), Powell's Books (duh), the riverfront, the Pearl, Mississippi, Alberta, OHSU on the hilltop, cute stores, etc.
15. Here are some places we went in San Diego etc.: Hodad's (big burgers in Ocean Beach), Nine Ten (fancy stuff in La Jolla; hamachi, braised lamb and lemon riccot agnolotti), Hotel Del Coronado (grapefruit, butter lettuce, and shrimp salad; freaky birds; great beach), Harney Sushi (in Oceanside),the Monarch Program (Encinitas, butterfly stuff), Mission San Luis Rey, When in Rome (rehearsal dinner in Encinitas), Quail Botanical Gardens (reception). More, too, but I can't remember the names of all the places.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Getting Back on This Thing
Ass. Gear. Trying to get them back together. There might be some light blogging this weekend. Vacations are awesome. I forgot.
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Labels: bidness
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Vacay
This blog is on vacation for about a week. You might get an update or two, if you're lucky.
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Labels: vacation
I generally find it hard to imagine what's interesting about a trail, Appalachian included, but yeah, cool, some people are into that. And I'm in favor of repurposing in general.
Hmm. So you want more property tax relief to more people? Or you want less property tax relief to fewer people? I could really use a paraphrase of this somewhat meandering editorial that seems to have been written by two different people. Many of its points are fair (adding circuit-breakers to the property tax code will probably reduce revenue somewhat; that revenue needs to be made up somewhere), but then like question marks?
This is a seriously hyperactive guest column. 1. You are nutso, fella. 2. A W. who can speak a complete sentence is still an improvement.
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Hmm. So you want more property tax relief to more people? Or you want less property tax relief to fewer people? I could really use a paraphrase of this somewhat meandering editorial that seems to have been written by two different people. Many of its points are fair (adding circuit-breakers to the property tax code will probably reduce revenue somewhat; that revenue needs to be made up somewhere), but then like question marks?
Athens-Clarke's mayor and commission could go a long way toward getting a circuit breaker policy in place if, along with careful consideration of the specifics of such a policy, they sent a clear signal to the community that they also would be committing themselves to a stringent process for cutting government expenditures.And then, um, querying whether the whole thing is a good idea philosophically:
If there is a question of fairness in the way that property taxes are assessed with regard to the poor and elderly - and there is - it's also reasonable for the mayor and commission to consider whether it's fair to ask other property owners to make up the difference if the local government opts to conduct business as usual.Earlier, there's also this:
That's a significant disparity, but it should be noted here that tax relief proposals such as "circuit breakers" represent only one of the fiscal tools available to commissioners interested in providing property tax relief to residents.But no expansion on it. Quit fighting with yourself!
This is a seriously hyperactive guest column. 1. You are nutso, fella. 2. A W. who can speak a complete sentence is still an improvement.
The Menu
Tonight, madame, we have a choice between a tiny bug with no meat on its bones and the lickings of a scrumptious can of tuna. The bug? Very well. I believe that goes extremely well with licking the floor.
This is the long, long caption to a New Yorker-style cartoon of my cat.
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This is the long, long caption to a New Yorker-style cartoon of my cat.
Labels: kitty
Monday, June 22, 2009
Lil' hobby
If you want to know why you should read newspapers instead of just using twitter search, the ABH's coverage of the Georgia Theatre fire should give you examples, including this fabulous piece by Julie Phillips about the history of the structure that ran on Saturday. It was not the first and the fastest online. It did not initially bring me the detail that the dude who spotted the smoke was on his way home from a party at 7 a.m. (Wade Koch, you are a hero of mine). But what it did have was deeply felt and deeply investigated stories over the weekend. Sometimes I get impatient too. I want my news immediately and as much of it then as possible. But I also want good reporting, and it's important that people recognize the difference.
Anyway. Deck design a little up in the air right now.
Now this I love. And while I'm sure Bob Smith will eventually come out against the idea of a progressive (or more progressive) property tax, at least he's not passing judgment yet. Anyway. I hope this idea works out.
It's interesting that the state is willing to cut back on mowing public rights-of-way more than ACC is. I suppose we can always decide to do so next FY.
Jim's surprisingly worried about an Applebee's setting up business downtown, but I do agree with the thrust of this editorial, not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure we don't need another hotel downtown. How about redeveloping one of those empty luxury condo buildings into one?
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Anyway. Deck design a little up in the air right now.
Now this I love. And while I'm sure Bob Smith will eventually come out against the idea of a progressive (or more progressive) property tax, at least he's not passing judgment yet. Anyway. I hope this idea works out.
It's interesting that the state is willing to cut back on mowing public rights-of-way more than ACC is. I suppose we can always decide to do so next FY.
Jim's surprisingly worried about an Applebee's setting up business downtown, but I do agree with the thrust of this editorial, not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure we don't need another hotel downtown. How about redeveloping one of those empty luxury condo buildings into one?
Movie Diary
River's Edge: You know, it kind of reminded me of Brick, and I wasn't nuts about Brick. I like this better. It's got great aesthetics, with all those tight jeans and leather jackets and all that floppy hair, and both Crispin Glover and Keanu Reeves (yeah, I know everyone talks about Glover's performance, but Keanu is good too) turn in solid performances. Plus, that kid is creepy. But there's something about it that evokes Rick Moody's Garden State to me: a late-1980s, early-1990s dank ennui that saturates the film. You can't remove it--it's most of the movie, that atmosphere--but it's not necessarily how I want to spend my days, listening to sour shoegazy stuff and alternating between moping about murder and nihilistically feeling nothing. Not that a movie has to be where you want to spend your time. That's a silly way to look at it. There's just something in particular about this specific scene that drives me up a wall--probably some recall to the worst of my teenage years. Anyway, I get why it's a cult film. I just kinda liked it instead of loving it.
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Labels: movies
Two things I learned to do this weekend
1. Hem my own jeans. The seams really aren't very straight, but they're hidden. Sewing with a sewing machine for me, so far, is about learning to hide my fuck-ups. And trying to remember to put the damn presser foot down.
2. Make the Golden Bowl. Everything but the yeast gravy, which I forgot until the last minute and then looked at the ingredients for and went, "Fuck! I don't keep vegan margarine in the house!" Next time. The tofu turned out awesome, though, and a combo of mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots sauteed with a little soy sauce made for a good veggie topper.
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2. Make the Golden Bowl. Everything but the yeast gravy, which I forgot until the last minute and then looked at the ingredients for and went, "Fuck! I don't keep vegan margarine in the house!" Next time. The tofu turned out awesome, though, and a combo of mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots sauteed with a little soy sauce made for a good veggie topper.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Lil' hobby
Um, hi, no. Lyndon Avenue has not been picked up. I would guess that much of Boulevard is the same way.
I guess this could be one take on the data? It doesn't really seem like "working the problem" to me, but I guess the ABH isn't actually pretending to do that, just to advocate it. I'm not saying discipline's not a problem in the school system, but I don't think that's what the report was in aid of showing, and changing the subject isn't hugely helpful either.
Oh, a baseball metaphor! That means it must be true. Let me point something out to Newt Gingrich and David Merritt. There is a sport in which players do act as the umpires: ultimate frisbee. And it works. Not because it's spread out among multiple people, either. It works because there's a concept called "spirit of the game." How about y'all stick that metaphor in your freakin' ears.
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I guess this could be one take on the data? It doesn't really seem like "working the problem" to me, but I guess the ABH isn't actually pretending to do that, just to advocate it. I'm not saying discipline's not a problem in the school system, but I don't think that's what the report was in aid of showing, and changing the subject isn't hugely helpful either.
Oh, a baseball metaphor! That means it must be true. Let me point something out to Newt Gingrich and David Merritt. There is a sport in which players do act as the umpires: ultimate frisbee. And it works. Not because it's spread out among multiple people, either. It works because there's a concept called "spirit of the game." How about y'all stick that metaphor in your freakin' ears.
Read
Dana Goodyear's profile of Fred Franzia, "Drink Up: The Man Behind Two Buck Chuck," is only for subscribers, but maybe that's for the best. I mean, it's a good article, and Mr. Goodyear really digs into it, but Franzia sounds like the kind of guy I couldn't be around for very long. I believe in cheap wine, but I don't believe in exclusively cheap wine or cheap wine that tastes like swill. Other people can drink as much Two Buck Chuck as they want to. I myself had a souring experience from drinking far too much of it, warmish, one evening. There's plenty of wine at or under $10 a bottle that's actually tasty, and I wouldn't necessarily say that an $80 bottle of wine isn't worth it, although Franzia's right when he says it doesn't give you eight times the pleasure of a $10 bottle. Anyway, here's the thing:
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People in Napa are mystified by Franzia's double-pronged provocation: appropriation [he keeps trying to label things "Napa" that aren't or push down the value of the "Napa" label] and disdain. "There's a phrase in wine education--there are Wednesday-night wines and then there are Sunday-night wines," Karen MacNeil, the wine writer, says. "They make Sunday-night wines in the Napa Valley, but every vintner would argue that we all need Wednesday-night wines. Franzia should just leave it at that--say, 'I make Wednesday-night wines. I'm not going to be making the Armani suit. I'm going to be the clothes purveyor for Target.' Instead, he suggests that there's somehow no premise for expensive wines."This is a familiar phenomenon, and I guess it results from a deep rage at snobbery, with little difference between what's real and what's perceived and exaggerated by a sick brain. I may say, on occasion, that handbags over $1,000 shouldn't exist, but I don't say so filled with anger. I'm okay with there being some kind of range of handbags that exist, and people can choose among them based on their needs and desires. Anything that's technically a luxury item can create this kind of debate, and the class resentment that Fred Franzia feels is very different from the class resentment I feel. I kind of want to level everyone out. He wants to supplant the folks on top with his own nouveau populism, GWB-style.
Labels: New Yorker
Something to Aspire to?
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Thursday, June 18, 2009
Lil' hobby
It is kind of amazing that there are two full-time employees who do nothing but cruise around and look for trashcan-curb violations. I thought this stuff was on more of a complaint basis. Not that it's not annoying when one's neighbors never bring their trashcan up--I experienced this in my previous place of residence--but yeah, it seems like a little overcommitment of resources to a small issue.
Dude, we're renting our pandas?
I assume Obama's going to keep on making those small changes until they turn into big changes. It's the incremental approach, which has been pursued in Washington state. But he also can't really say that, right?
Cue Casablanca quote.
Wait, are y'all pro or anti teacher-student hanky-panky? Teasing, of course. Yes, laws should be written intelligently and with some grasp of subtlety.
Nice layout of the problem, McGinty.
I believe what Sara Baker means is that, while something called civility exists, we don't really exercise it, which is why we need our noise ordinance. Also, what song is this she's quoting?
Could the commissioners maybe explain why the current leaf-and-limb service we have is adequate, involving some numbers and capabilities? I mean, it's possible all we have is one six-year-old and his monkey driving around on a tricycle, hauling one branch at a time to the landfill, but I doubt it. I'm rather forgiving when it comes to this kind of thing, and it has been a while. I would not be surprised if, when they get around to picking up my bags, the bottom has already biodegraded into the ground.
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Dude, we're renting our pandas?
I assume Obama's going to keep on making those small changes until they turn into big changes. It's the incremental approach, which has been pursued in Washington state. But he also can't really say that, right?
Cue Casablanca quote.
Wait, are y'all pro or anti teacher-student hanky-panky? Teasing, of course. Yes, laws should be written intelligently and with some grasp of subtlety.
Nice layout of the problem, McGinty.
I believe what Sara Baker means is that, while something called civility exists, we don't really exercise it, which is why we need our noise ordinance. Also, what song is this she's quoting?
Could the commissioners maybe explain why the current leaf-and-limb service we have is adequate, involving some numbers and capabilities? I mean, it's possible all we have is one six-year-old and his monkey driving around on a tricycle, hauling one branch at a time to the landfill, but I doubt it. I'm rather forgiving when it comes to this kind of thing, and it has been a while. I would not be surprised if, when they get around to picking up my bags, the bottom has already biodegraded into the ground.
Read
I can't say I'm not enjoying Nick Paumgarten's long, long piece "The Death of Kings" (only summarized online for free), on the meltdown of the global financial system, but it's not so much an article or an explanation as an extended rant that occasionally chills one to the bone. He says things like "Securitization had turned into alchemy" and quotes Simon Mikhailovich saying, "Securitization is like fertilizer. You can grow tomatoes, or blow up buildings." And here's a crucial paragraph, although if I had time I'd type the whole damn thing:
If you don't want to be depressed, you could read Ian Frazier's "Lines on the Poet's Turning Forty."
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A debate has roughly formed between those who blame the meltdown on the system, rigged up over years and decades, and those who vilify the people who most egregiously exploited the flaws in that system, however substantial those flaws may have been. Both sides may be in agreement that, in the end, human nature is to blame, but the question remains whether, ultimately, our predicament arises out of the venality of the many or the few.My guess is that Paumgarten ended up on the side of the former, and while the article isn't really arguing anything all that strongly (if you had to summarize it really briefly, it'd be "Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into"), it's certainly not on the side of the bankers and financial people, nor is it on the side of the politicians. Paumgarten also doesn't think we're getting out any time soon, which may be for the best.
If you don't want to be depressed, you could read Ian Frazier's "Lines on the Poet's Turning Forty."
Labels: New Yorker
