Onyxrising

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:42:45 GMT

So, does anyone on my F-list have experience doing restoration on old books?
I've got instructions, but have never done it. Some of my new treasures could use a little love.

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:01:58 GMT

I went to a number of estate sales with a friend today. I'll probably be up late into the night reading, having acquired what would appear to be a first edition of Tennyson, among other treasures.
There was one house where we regretted not having more space in the car, or perhaps even a u-haul. It was a house filled with beautiful antique furniture, from a late grandmother. The house had been sold, and had to be emptied as quickly as possible. It was apparent from what was out that someone in the family was in Japan during the war- several of what I'm fairly sure are occupied Japan era items came home with me.

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:11:07 GMT

I spent the morning rare book hunting. I picked up a few things for myself, and a few things that I'll probably wish to read and then part with. I intend to do more such hunting tomorrow, before game. Some of these should be very interesting reads. I found some vintage Alaskana, first-hand accounts of Victorian adventures, and a few other little treasures. I also have something, in French, which looks to be the same format/style that penny dreadfuls were written in. There is no copyright in the front, but I think it's from about that time period, and well preserved.

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:10:06 GMT

Sven got a new sound system. The results are exquisite.
Sven is also seems to have an inordinate fondness for metal bands who've taken on opera singers as their lead singers. I don't know where he finds so many.
I don't forsee anyone in this house getting sleep for quite some time, aside from Sven, who can sleep through any volume of music. That soprano sounds like she's right the hell next to me.

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:04:05 GMT

Ugh. I can't believe I'm up this early.
I've been having trouble sleeping again lately. I suppose I should think of it as time to work on other things. There are dozens of projects I need to do, and don't have time to do normally- at least unless sleep is forgone. There are some I really need to be making time for.
I know what I want to do with my life. It is not working for a computer company forever. I do not have a full idea of how to get where I wish to be, which vexes me.
Unholy Trinity- weekend after next, I am free on Saturday. Are you?

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:21:11 GMT

Well, bugger.
We had power surges this morning. I woke up because there was a flash of lightening, and all of a sudden the lights in my room came on. I had the good sense to walk over, unplug my computer, and then go unplug Mr. Jessi's computer. While my computer is on a surge protector, most home surge protectors are actually not something I'd trust for a lightening storm. I'd trust them for the standard fluctuations in the power grid; nothing more.
Jessi has a better surge protector. Nevertheless, I decided to get up and do his. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially with a computer that nice. When tax return time came, he asked me whether I thought he should put his whole return into buying a car, or a computer. He bought a computer.
When I came home, my computer wouldn't boot. It seems some of the kernel files are not so much what one would call intact. Sven's been nice enough to ignore his hatred of Linux momentarily while I use his computer to get another copy.
It was Jessi's computer that really gave me a heart attack. I came home, and decided to test, just to verify for myself, that everything was working correctly. I booted it up, and there was no internet connection. Sven's computer was connecting to the internet just fine. I pinged Mr. Jessi's network card, and then cringed at the results. Fortunately, the issue turned out to be the router rather than the network card.

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:45:26 GMT

I'm still here. Really.
Unholy trinity- I may suddenly and unexpectedly have a Sunday free. What are you up to?

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:40:08 GMT

Score. Somebody started an lj community for displaced Alaskans living in the lower 48. I have people to complain with me when it hits 80 above!

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:40:46 GMT

I haven't done a proper entry in a while. I'm really too tired to do one tonight, so what my sleep-deprived brain can get out will have to suffice.
Two weekends ago- managed to proceed from tea at the gardens to lupabitch and teriel 's place for a renewal of vows, after which I had to cut out a bit early to make it to a rock concert. The following day was, of course, the usual Sunday all day and late into the night gaming session.
This last weekend was equally busy, spending all day Saturday doing various things with ambershadedlens, and gaming until way too late again last night.
I've been tearing through books on economic geography and economic history. If people have recommendations, please give them- with the way Powell's is organized, I typically have to know what I'm looking for when I go in.
At least Powell's (or anywhere in the US) has books on this subject; oftentimes when I find myself wanting books on a particular subject, I find my inquiry to be a bit too obscure. Apparently nobody else in the English speaking world is particularly concerned with the zoology of bamboo forests in China.
The new training schedule at work has me sleep deprived and knocked out. It's way far off what I've been doing,a nd what my body prefers. I'm going to go curl up with warm milk, some Japanese poetry, and a copy of Planet of Slums.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:42:59 GMT

I had a great day with lttl today. We hit the Chinese gardens for a few hours, then did Hawthorne and Belmont. While there, I showed her Shadow House Antiques. amberite first described it to me as being one of those cluttered old antiques shops with a little old man behind the counter who may or may not be Satan.
The shrunken head had sold since the last time I was there, and the jar of various preserved alligator bits had also been sold. The samples of odd Amazon jungle botanical samples (and a few from other locales) were still behind the counter, albeit in a diminished number. Every time I'm in there, the shop has had a disproportionate number of things from ceremonialist orders- and it's always entirely different things than were in the case the last time.
Sadly, the box labeled in Latin as Rosicrucian laboratory equipment did not contain laboratory equipment, or anything interesting. The shop did still have a few ancient Celtic bronze trade rings, one of which came home with me. While at the counter, Leanne and I said something about laws regarding to the pawning of jewelry among the ancient Celts. The owner seemed to pick up on people into ancient history, and showed us a beautiful piece of Corinthian pottery. I wish I had the money for beautiful pieces of Corinthian pottery. Leanne found herself a folk carving of Ganesha to take home.
We killed the rest of the afternoon and evening at Pied Cow, with a Mezza plate, Moroccan mint tea, and a hookah.

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:55:07 GMT

My roommate has suddenly decided that he likes making three little boxes of bento every night, and leaving them in the fridge. It's all got beautiful presentation, and tastes amazing.
And he cleans the kitchen while he does it.
He's like payback for every single bad roommate we ever had.

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:03:41 GMT

Stolen from silverback2001

Raptor Chicken!

I want one.
Silver showed Mr. Jessi that article the other night. The first words out of his mouth were, "I feel sorry for the poor fox who tries to raid that henhouse!"

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:38:14 GMT

Your result for The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test...

The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test

You're an Elf! You scored low in size, high in morality, high in aggression and high in intelligence to get here. The first and favorite race created by the Valar, the Elves have been in Middle Earth for many ages, and are currently the only race allowed to join their creators in Valinor. Blessed with eternal life, enhanced senses, great beauty, wisdom and skill, the race of Elves still has several black marks on it. (Kinslaying, anyone?) But hey, no one is perfect, right? Of course not, but the Elves are damn close to it.

FYI, your polar opposite is the Troll.

Take The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test at HelloQuizzy

Snoring Duck

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:24:10 GMT

Kandace, this one's for you. (Stolen from angrygeologist)

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:33:31 GMT

This father's day, I got the gift ideas narrowed down to either Dr. Who memorabilia, or things that have to be purchased from geology lab supply companies.
I'm so very glad that I have a parent for whom father's day shopping doesn't mean buying a new tie every year.

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:04:19 GMT

I've been reading The Wisdom of Crowds, among other things, lately. One of the things it covers is tallest poppy syndrome, and a number of experiments related to it. Essentially, after a certain point of inequality, people would rather walk away with no gain than themselves gain, but someone else gain more. It's stupid, it's irrational, and it's something I've never quite gotten. The experiments the book quotes would suggest that the US has less of a problem with this than other nations, largely because Americans seem to have more faith in their ability to move up the socio-economic ladder.
It's something I see at work quite a bit, from our customers. We actually have customers, on a reasonably frequent basis, who feel that we should slow the development of technology. It's never something I hear from customers having difficutly adjusting to new tools. It is always from ones who express that they can't afford to upgrade to the best that's out there, and they don't want other people to be able to buy it if they can't.

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:07:23 GMT

Hey, Portland Peoples:
I have a friend moving to PDX. She's curious about some apartment complexes, which I have no experience with. Does anyone know anything about any of these?

rockwood station (east portland)
center plaza (beaverton)
heatherwood apts (gresham)
wyndhaven (beaverton)

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:12:33 GMT

Okay. So, lupabitch is the one with the sign on her booth, which informs customers unattended children will be sold to the Goblins at current market rate.
How come it's me that gets used to threaten children in that fashion? Yes, I now have parents threatening children with uncle Brendan selling them to the Goblins at current market rate if they don't behave.
Lupa, this is somehow your doing.

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:56:06 GMT

Nightwish is coming to town in September.
Alaskans on my F-list have already been asking about crash space. I may have to get some air mattresses. I'd feel bad about putting people in the unheated back room, but in September it may be just the right temperature to make my Alaskan guests feel comfortable.

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:42:15 GMT

In relation to a chain of commentary the other day, I would be very curious to find (but have not successfully found yet) accurate statistics for birthrate in the US by religion. I'd also like to see birthrate by IQ, and IQ by religion. I've heard before that statistically, IQ does not affect what religion someone is. Given that I've also heard that a) the religious right is breeding faster and b) stupid people are breeding faster, I'm wondering what the numbers actually all are, and how they work together.

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 06:16:14 GMT

I spent the day with Silver, running between gelato, sushi, dim sum, and tea. Afterwards, we watched the Starlight parade with Alex, and hit the Roxy.
The Rose Festival seems to have drawn a number of very attractive pirates for wenching and rum (no surprise, given the pirate ship moored at the waterfront). The Gay Bars will be open late tonight with the Navy boys. I have a number of coworkers hitting the gay bars tonight to welcome them.
I've heard the festival itself isn't that exciting- mostly just carnival rides. I'll admit I've never been to it. I love the atmosphere the rest of downtown takes on.
For now, though, I'm exhausted. Silver is soaking her aching muscles from the long day, and my pillow is looking more and more attractive.

Sat, 31 May 2008 20:27:40 GMT

I give up. People who are coming over Sunday, dinner will be clay pot chicken, wasabi potatoes, and something else. I'm not quite sure what the something else is yet.

Tue, 20 May 2008 16:40:33 GMT

Yesterday- max got stuck on the steel bridge. The train in front of us had an electrical cord snap, the one behind got stuck. We were fine, except for the fact that we were on a bridge and couldn't go forward or backwards. Also, some dickwad opened the emergency exit doors, so the AC was doing a lovely job of air conditioning the outside while we waited for police and fire to arrive. Yes, we had to wait for them to arrive and cut off traffic to the bridge.
The promised trimet officers with directions and a bus bridge were not there when I got to the bottom of the bridge. I had to walk to the Oak SW 1st stop before I found a trimet official, who pointed me to the next stop. There was no bus bridge there. Or at the one after.
That's about the point that I remembered smoothies can be had in Pioneer square and altered my course. Ironically enough, there was a bus bridge from Pioneer Square. I didn't get my smoothie, but I did get to work. Eventually.
The worst part was walking past the Chinese gardens in 90 degree or so heat, and hearing the waterfall inside. I've never been so tempted to skip work.
My day only went downhill after I got to work. It was definitely a Monday and a full moon.

Mon, 19 May 2008 17:09:52 GMT

Ms. azurelunatic, your point about the squid in the bathtub is proven. I stand corrected.

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:49:31 GMT

I need a new towel.
Towel day is fast approaching, and there will be festivities at work. _justlikeyou is ordering in a towel with ducks on it for herself. My boss appears to have her eye on the 42 towel over at Thinkgeek.com.
I need to figure out what kind of towel I'm going to bring. A plain one just won't do. Suggestions?