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Pear Harbor, when it's your big brother

  • Dec. 7th, 2009 at 9:46 PM
One of the feeds in my Google Reader is this wonderful woman who lives in Eastern Washington and shares bits and pieces from her current life and past history.

Today she wrote about her brother who was stationed at Pearl Harbor on that December 7. It's a lovely remembrance.

Firesign Theater

  • Dec. 7th, 2009 at 9:20 PM
The Firesign Theater and they are even still a thing.

I made a crack today about taking a short cut through the strawberry fields ... a - and here my brother finished it with me - strawberry shortcut! tada!

Then we tried to remember where we knew that from. He said it was a Dragnet spoof and I tried to attribute it to Firesign Theater (which was definitely not correct) but I couldn't come up with the name.

Turns out it was from a Stan Freberg album.

At least I won't lose sleep tonight trying to remember this shit.

---

We took the Duck tour today - one of the coldest days of the year and it was a very cold tour. There was a couple from Germany and a couple from Mexico and the three of us. But it was really fun.

Then we came home and took pictures. They wanted some casual headshots for their business facebook page and other stuff so I just took a million pictures and we got some pretty darned good ones out of the batch.

We braved the cold for dinner on the waterfront so they could get their fish fill and now we getting ready for bed. We leave for the airport at 6. Then it's back to my regular life.

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Oh and we got the streaming webcam up... finally - at least it's up for now. 'Course you might want to wait until daylight...

Old people, need your help...

  • Dec. 7th, 2009 at 4:19 PM
In the late 60's early 70's there was a comedy troupe (something like 7/8 people) - that was brilliant. They put out maybe 3 or 4 albums that went the 70's equivalent of viral - everybody who was anybody knew about them and loved them. I have read in the past decade about they (an historical report) and learned that they were either based in Seattle originally or most of the surviving members live here now.

Who were they???!!!

Notification System

  • Dec. 7th, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Hey Guys,

Unfortunately with our last release, and its instability, we were forced to roll back releases. Unfortunately in doing so, it would seem that our notification system has been broken somehow. Our engineers are working on this issue as quickly as possible. We hope to have a patch within the next day, so we can deploy our code and fix the notification system at the same time. Please *bear* with us ;)

Currently all notifications are being queued up so they can be processed as soon as the fix is pushed and verified to be working correctly.

Thank you,

Today's Basket

  • Dec. 7th, 2009 at 9:15 AM

I finally did manage to finish that one ear!

It was wonderful

  • Dec. 6th, 2009 at 11:07 PM
The Seattle Men's Chorus Christmas program this year was the very best ever. I think I've been to about 10 of them over the past 18 years and this one was hands down the best. The music was beautiful and beautifully done. The jokes were good and mostly not overdone. Kevin, the sign language interpreter, did a Do You Hear What I Hear that gave new meaning to the song I've heard a million times.

They always* do Silent Night. One verse with full signing. Kevin and the chorus sign the words. Then they all sign the words while a clarinet (oboe?) plays the tune then they sign the words in total, dead, don't even breathe silence. It is the most wonderful experience every time even knowing what is going to happen. *One year (last year?) they left it out of the program. I'm pretty sure blood was spilt. And I'm sure it won't happen again.

There was a Hanukkah song from Spain that was wonderful. And a bollywood number that was lively and colorful and fun.

It was all just wonderful except maybe the very very end when they turned up the lights and some bozo in one of the balconies dropped his iPhone on my head. Ouch. But, even that was fun because the text message that had just come in to it before it dropped said "Not now, David, but I do still love you." This cracked us up.

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Tomorrow is probably Ride the Ducks and had better be Get Gas into the car!

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Oh for you Seattlites who have been considering trying the new (well, not so new) Seattle Art Museum Cafe... We tried it. Fail on nearly all counts. The service was excruciating slow and very surly. I asked for ice in my water and the surly waiter nearly threw it at me. The food was ok and very pricey. We don't have to go there again.

A break in the action

  • Dec. 6th, 2009 at 4:28 PM
We've had another good day... Bill got his good walk in. We had a great Skylark brunch and then drove around to see the sights, Wallingford, Fremont troll, Queen Anne upper and lower, Belltown and all bits in between including my favorite car view from 6th and Yesler where you look down onto Elliott Bay with the snow capped mountains in the background.

Then home where Bill took a nap and Dana went to her shop and I finished the monkey's ear and did some work in my desktop computer. The Bill went down to meet Dana cause she wanted to go back to Pike Place Market and poke around. That's what they are doing now and in a bit, I'll go catch up with them for dinner. Dana's cousin or some relative gave her $40 to get 'the finest meal for you and your friends' at Cutters which is - in my opinion - an overpriced tourist restaurant located very near some really excellent restaurants. And $40 will probably buy about 1 and a half drinks. But... whatever... they are my guests, they don't get here often, if they want to go to Cutters, we'll go.

Then on to the concert.

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Oh the Seahawks must have won - fireworks that sent the cats under the bed.

---

My brother and I are still fucking around with streaming and failing at it. We have two programs and they both fail in different ways. He got one running once but then I had to close it down and it never worked again. It's driving us buggy. We think now we're pretty sure it's a router issue but we've forwarded ports and it won't even work without any firewall at all. It's a mystery.

---

Fun to have someone to computer futz with, tho.

Today's Basket

  • Dec. 6th, 2009 at 9:11 AM

Same old, same old... no knitting time while guests are here...

Another full day

  • Dec. 5th, 2009 at 10:23 PM
This morning my brother made an omelet for the three of us using the left over steak from last night's dinner and some left over Chinese from the night before and it was delicious!! I really had forgotten what a creative and excellent cook he is.

Dana (sister-in-law) had made arrangements with her brother (who lives about 2.5 hours from here) to come down and see her today. So while we waited for him, my brother unhooked my main desktop and blew out the insides of all the dust, removed RAID and added a drive to give me three hard drives and then did a fresh format install of Windows 7. Nice nice.

He had set up the living room cam to stream but somehow it got hosed today and neither one of us can get the streaming back. It's making me a little crazy. I'll get back on the case next week.

Once Dana's brother and his girlfriend arrived we went down to the square to take the Underground Tour. I had not been on the tour for at least a dozen years and they've changed it for the better. It was fun and interesting. We got lunch and Dana and her brother and his girlfriend got a nice visit at one table while Bill and I did the same at another. Dana's brother is a little strange and Bill is not wild about him and Dana didn't seem too comfortable either. It was a weird situation but finally they left.

Bill and Dana and I had a drink and then went to Lark - a small plate place I'd been wanting to try - it was wonderful. Absolutely delicious. We had wonderful cheeses and a heavenly potato and cream dish, steak tartare, procuitto with pickled endive, and a shrimp salad. Just perfect. Oh and topped off with the most delightful chocolate madelines.

Tomorrow Bill wants to take a long walk by himself. Dana wants to go to this one shop she saw by herself. We have brunch to do and I thought we'd drive around and see some of the neighborhoods and then we'll end up at the Seattle Mens Chorus Christmas concert. It should be a fun, good day.

Monday we are going to do the duck tour and whatever else we haven't done yet. And they leave early Tuesday morning.

Now I think I'll go to sleep...

Today's Basket

  • Dec. 5th, 2009 at 11:27 AM

This looks just like yesterday's. In the more than a year of Today's Baskets, this is the first time I have had a full 24 hours without picking up a knitting needle!! And they said it couldn't be done. phfewy!

From Twitter 12-04-2009

  • Dec. 5th, 2009 at 2:13 AM


Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

Whew.

  • Dec. 4th, 2009 at 9:41 PM
I am so not used to being away from the computer this long, around people this much or on the go. It's exhausting but we are having fun.

While Dana (sister-in-law) and I were lounging around having coffee and just hangin' my brother got up and made us breakfast. He is a great cook and breakfast was delicious. Then he got to work on my broken Lifebook computer. The screen is kaput but he hooked it up to a monitor and it turns out it really is only the screen. We restored the harddrive back to factory reset and I'll sell it for parts on eBay. Nice.

Then we hit the road. We walked along the waterfront and up to Pike Place market and then over to the center of town - Westlake Mall and had lunch. We put my brother on the monorail so he could go to the Experience Music Project and Dana and I just meandered in and out of stores and enjoyed the heck out of it. We decided to take a coffee break before heading home and were doing just that when my brother sent a text that he was heading our way so we stayed up until he showed up. We went over to the Sheraton to see the gingerbread village which was a bust but I had not been in teh Sheraton in a while. It's a lovely place so all was not lost.

We walked home casually, had drinks and then went to 13 Coins for dinner and now we all in bed. Betty's here with me and I have no clue where Travis is. Betty has been a lap whore with the company and Travis has been skiddish with both of them. I'd love to know what they discuss while we're gone.

Oh! also my brother finally managed to get the globe off the ceiling fan light and reset it so that when I need to, I can get it off, too. Whew.

Tomorrow Dana's brother may come in to town. No one seems real excited about it and no arrangements have been made. I gather he's a Very Strange Dude. Oh well, we'll roll with the punches. And now I'm going to turn out the light.

bill and his helper

  • Dec. 4th, 2009 at 10:26 AM

Betty is trying to show my brother how to get to the kitty porn.

Today's Basket

  • Dec. 4th, 2009 at 9:20 AM

Not a lot o' knittin' time yesterday...

All is good

  • Dec. 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 PM
My brother and his wife arrived fine and dandy. I got to the light rail late and their plane was 30 fucking minutes early! It all worked out fine - even the taking the train part which they thought was fun. We had lunch and they napped so I got some work done and then we hit the streets for the First Thursday Gallery Walk in my neighborhood which as really very nice and fun. We ended up in the International District and had a fabulous and remarkably inexpensive dinner.

They are asleep and I am headed that way. The cats are just loving the action. My brother said that Betty slept between them at nap time this aft. She is now sacked out here on the fish bed with me. Travis is still roaming trying to decide what to do.

Tomorrow is probably downtown, maybe aquarium and definitely Experience Music Project (for them, not me and then maybe some driving around neighborhoods if we have time. Dana's brother who lives out on the peninsula is coming in to meet us on Saturday he and they want to do the Underground Tour which suits me. I've always thought it was fun and haven't been on it in a long time.


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Kind regards,
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Dec. 3rd, 2009

  • 8:15 PM
Nothing makes you feel warm and toasty on a cold winter night like late evening C-130 practice.

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LiveJournal: The First Decade

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Today's Basket

  • Dec. 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 AM

It's a one eared, no armed, no tailed, monkey - at this point...

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