Cratering

"You should try yoga!"

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:05:37 -0500

Yes. I’ll get right on that, maybe after I can tie my own shoes again.

I felt well enough today be “art parent” at...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:41:19 -0500

I felt well enough today be “art parent” at Danny’s school. The date and piece/project were chosen months ago…little could I know then that today we would discuss the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the project would be for the kids to tape papers under their desks and interpret the hands from “The Creation Of Adam” while working on their backs like Michelangelo, and that I’d be barely able to walk. Fortunately, there was another parent who did all the bendy work. It was good to get out and to be around the kids. Now I need my drugs and a nap.
Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” video is how I imagine the Drummers’ orgies from Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age would look if Baz Luhrmann were directing the movie. (That needs to happen.)
The ducks from this morning moved on. Good for them and their genetic lines.
I can’t really articulate it, but my feeling is that Yahoo acquiring Tumblr would just make it somehow…yucky. Remember Yahoo 360º? (No, you probably don’t.) Better them than Google, though, who would just smoosh it all into Plus. Imagine that suckfest for a minute.
I’m going to strive to complain less. Many, many people have it much, much worse.

Breathtaking time-lapse videos of Chicago. Take 4 minutes to...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:26:00 -0500

Breathtaking time-lapse videos of Chicago.

Take 4 minutes to watch this. You’ll be glad you did.

These two are hanging out in my front yard. It’s fine with...

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:36:40 -0500

These two are hanging out in my front yard. It’s fine with me if they are looking for a nesting site. But considering the other wildlife around here (dog, kids, feral cats, vicious raccoons the size of horses), they should consider going back to the river, otherwise they’re gonna get Darwinized.

One // Metallica Definitive.

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:15:21 -0500

One // Metallica

Definitive.

Heh.

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:38:02 -0500

Heh.

Opinion Poll

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:15:00 -0500

Let’s say you had a really bad experience at a doctor’s office yesterday. (Hypothetically.) He was disinterested, dismissive, unthorough, and a generally arrogant douchebag in a $300 shirt who didn’t give fuck one about your well being and spent less than 5 minutes with you before pronouncing you, essentially, fucked for life and unfixable. (Hypothetically.)

Obviously, you would never see this doctor or anyone at his practice again and seek another opinion, and you’d get on that right away.

But what about letting someone know? Let’s say his practice is associated with a large teaching hospital in the third-largest city in America. Further, let’s say they use two internationally known, professional sports franchises in all their advertising, one of which just ended their playoff run in a gritty game against Miami last night. (Hypothetically.)

Would you do any of the following, and which one(s):

Write him a letter telling him how much he sucks at his job.
Write the chairman of the department at the associated hospital to tell him how much this guy sucks at his job.
Write someone else associated with the hospital or the practice (who?).
Write the chairman of those sports franchises (same guy owns both) to let him know their name is on an asshole’s product.
Absolutely destroy the guy on Yelp, Angie’s List, and any other Internet-based medical review sites you can think of.
Other. Please elaborate.

What say you, wise people?

Photo

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:36:33 -0500

Gratuitous picture of my knees. This is how I ride in cars at...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:11:40 -0500

Gratuitous picture of my knees. This is how I ride in cars at the moment.

Angry enough to start political fights on facebook.

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:07:13 -0500

All in.

TT

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:24:00 -0500

Seems like everyone loved the recent Hyperbole and a Half about depression. “YES! THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT IS!” said pretty much the whole internet.

I liked it, too. Allie is brave and hilarious and talented, and I am glad she found the strength to publish again. And I am glad it resonated so deeply for so many. But I believe I speak for more than a few people who saw that strip and said, “but wait, it was nothing like that for me.” I’m sure there are those who are saying it in the present tense, too.

I’m not an expert, but I know depression takes many shapes and forms, and I would say to anyone out there who was made uncomfortable by the strip or the reaction to it that it’s OK. Your feelings about your feelings are valid. Keep getting help, or if you’re not, it’s never too late to start.

I.L.O.U. // Tony Rogers Among my many blessings (and I’m...

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:16:03 -0500

I.L.O.U. // Tony Rogers

Among my many blessings (and I’m trying to focus on them lately, so this is timely) is a group of impossibly creative and talented friends. Here is a brand new video for Tony’s Sycamore album, produced by him and directed by another of my gifted and prolific friends, Michael Starcevich.

Please take a look. This isn’t a bunch of rockers taking shots of their navels with a 5D and calling it a video. This is the real deal, the kind of thing they’d show on music video channels if there still were such a thing. I’m so proud to be part of this ongoing project.

I made it into my yard to take a not-very-good picture of this...

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:21:00 -0500

I made it into my yard to take a not-very-good picture of this pretty tree. Without sobbing from pain.
Weather note: last year, this tree bloomed in late March.
I think watching that punk-ass Sergio rinse three tee shots to choke away the Players Championship yesterday may have partially healed me. It surely raised my spirits.
Just the same, I’m seeing a spine surgeon on Wednesday, part of the same team that worked on Derrick Rose. (Speaking of punk-ass.) I’ll be back on the court before he is.

Happy Mothers Day! Moms, be sure to dress your sons in suits...

Sun, 12 May 2013 07:58:34 -0500

Happy Mothers Day!

Moms, be sure to dress your sons in suits that make them miserable at least once this year.

A brief update

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:00:00 -0500

This weekend, I was planning to write a little about what I’ve been up to that caused me to take a breather from tumblr for a while. (The break was because I had realized that I was spending too much time here and it was hurting my productivity.) I was hoping to hit a big milestone that would be fun to share.

Instead, Thursday night, I bent over to pick up a catcher’s chest protector—total weight, about 1.5 pounds—and blew my back out so badly in the process that I ended up in the ER. Nothing scares a bunch of 9-year-old ballplayers like a screaming, writhing adult in their dugout, let me tell you.

After a quick exam, where I got to say my pain was an 8 but had been a 10 on their frowny face scale, the ER doc said it’s a muscle spasm. It may be, but I’m sure it was caused by some massively oozing/burst/whatever disc, so the muscle relaxers they gave me, while entertaining when paired with a nice Oregon Coast Pinot Noir and a couple hundred Advil, aren’t really helping.

So I didn’t hit my milestone, and I can’t really sit for very long so I won’t be hitting it real soon, since sitting is how I do what I do.

Anyway, I’m OK at the moment, if a little irritable. Pain is now manageable if I don’t push it by doing crazy shit like going down stairs or riding in cars. Trying to get an appointment with a spinal surgeon, which, you know. Could be a while. Catching up on The Wire on DVD, watching golf, missing important stuff my kids are doing since I can’t sit in a car, and trying not to be furiously angry at the entire fucking world.

Girl Can’t Help It // Journey Hi guys! Still busy,...

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:41:51 -0500

Girl Can’t Help It // Journey

Hi guys! Still busy, working, making a thing. Pictures and words soon. Miss your faces.

Have some Journey as a token of my love in the meantime.

break;

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:48:17 -0500

I’m gonna be away from the tumblrs for a good while. There’s no drama; I just need to focus on other things. If you need me, you can find me in the usual places (twitter, facebook, email, kik).

Namaste. And be lovely to each other.

Hello, new visitors!

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:09:36 -0500

ENQ

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:18:00 -0500

I am having lots of fun coding again. That’s going well. The aforementioned rust relates to design—where by design, I mean object design, not making pretty web pages with giant fonts and too much whitespace. The design is coming around, too, slowly. Too slowly. This all needs to move faster. I wanted to be farther by today than I am.
Danny pitched in a real game last night. We purposely didn’t tell him ahead of time because he’d have been too nervous. He did great. He also hit two balls really hard, even though he was absolutely robbed on one of them. Spring is shaping up.
If you raise your kids to say “thank you” to their coaches after games and practices, you are doing it right, and I thank you.
Group semi-STM: I would pay you all cash money to consistently tag your internet boyfriend of the moment with something tumblr savior understands. I could do without the hourly reminder of my suburban dumpiness.
I’m back on prednisone after the MRI yesterday. Activity restricted. Eating all the things. See previous for resultant mood.

Stone In Love // Journey 4:26 We can’t be friends if you...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:51:00 -0500

Stone In Love // Journey

4:26

We can’t be friends if you think Journey sucks. I grew up wanting to be Neal Schon. I kinda still do, except for the part where he’s engaged now to a Real Housewife of DC, the one who crashed a state dinner at the White House. That part is weird.

Anyway. Dig the guitar. Not one, not two, but three facemelting solos in this song, and that ripping intro to boot. Neal’s on my personal Mt. Rushmore of guitarists and this recording is a large part of the reason why.