matching tracksuits

The Future

Wednesday 12 March 2008

There is, apparently, a place in California where gas is now $5.20 a gallon.

But it's still not as bad as Polska, where gas (due primarily to taxes) is about $7 a gallon (though sold in liters for zloty, of course). When you take into account the significantly lower wages compared to the average here, you end up paying over $15 a gallon.

When gas prices get to be $5 a gallon throughout the States (and it will probably happen ridiculously fast), will we finally get serious about alternatives? Will people start, at the very least, buying more fuel-efficient cars?

Americans, however, are not shunning these beasts. Far from it. Auto industry figures show that after a two-year slump, sales of the gas guzzlers are up over 2006 -- in some cases, way up.

The numbers for large SUVs rose nearly 6 percent in the first quarter of 2007, and the April figures were up 25 percent from April 2006, according to automakers' statistics provided by Edmunds.com, an automotive research Web site. (SF Chronicle)

Probably not.

Most Stunning View in Town Is the One at the Pump - New York Times

Walk

Monday 10 March 2008

Rocking Chair

Sunday 09 March 2008

The Girl has a rocking chair in her room. Lately, she's figured out that she's big enough to climb into it on her own.

Of course, in typical Girl fashion, she's not content just to sit.

Snack!

Friday 07 March 2008

Bath

Tuesday 04 March 2008

The Girl has had a love-hate relationship with the bath.

She generally liked it until recently. There was a time when she hated it; this was because she had been sick for a while and simply hadn't had a bath for a couple of weeks. Once we got back into the routine, though, she started liking it again. She wasn't eager to get in, but she caused no problems; she wasn't eager to get out, but she didn't fuss.

No more.

Now she loves it. And getting her out can result in one upset Girl. Bath time is play time -- and she'll play with just about anything.

The Ball

Monday 03 March 2008

First Kiss

Sunday 02 March 2008

Odd Support

Wednesday 27 February 2008

In France's 2002 election, socialists and other left-wing party members backed Jacques Chirac (who is, despite what many Americans think, on the right side of France's political spectrum) in order to avoid the far right-wing Jean-Marie Le Pen from winning. That's like communists voting for Bush.

Many in America seem unwilling to do something similar.

Two things:

First, many conservatives are upset with the McCain nomination:

"I'm really depressed today because this is the first time that I find myself in a position that I will not work for the nominee (McCain)," said a caller to host Rush Limbaugh's conservative talk-radio show on the verge of tears. (Reuter's)

Second, Michelle Obama, on the possibility of Hillary winning, said:

GMA: Could you see yourself working to support Hillary Clinton should she win the nomination?

MICHELLE OBAMA: I'd have to think about that. I'd have to think about that, her policies, her approach, her tone.

GMA: That's not a given?

MICHELLE OBAMA: You know, everyone in this party is going to work hard for whoever the nominee is. I think that we're all working for the same thing. And, you know, I think our goal is to make sure that the person in the White House is going to take this country in a different direction. I happen to believe that Barack is the only person who can really do that. (Source)

It seems odd to me that people -- Democrat or Republican -- would risk someone they vehemently oppose (i.e., the opposing party's candidate) winning because they didn't like their own party's candidate.

Fork

Tuesday 26 February 2008

Religion, Education, and the End Times

Monday 25 February 2008

A client at the day treatment program I used to work at asked me an odd question one day.

"Is it true that people are going to have computer chips implanted in them at some time?" the boy asked, "Because my foster mom said that that was going to happen."

"Ah," I thought, "you just told me an awful lot about your foster mom."

What I actually said was somewhat more toned down: "Nah, John, that's not necessarily going to happen, and even if it does, it probably won't mean what your foster mom seems to think it will mean."

And immediately I thought that perhaps I'd said more than I should have, for it seems to be a theological/religious statement I made. I did qualify it: "not necessarily" and "probably." Still, I'm sensitive about discussing anything having to do with religion with students.

When student teaching, I had an interesting exchange with a student about this. He was concerned that I had crossed some line by explaining the Christianization of Britain. I differentiated teaching and proselytizing. "If we'd been discussing the Turkish empire, I would have discussed Islam. If we'd been talking about the partition of India, I would have discussed Hinduism and Islam."

After all, who am I to make judgments about whether or not the Beast is rising? Who am I to say that chip implants will not necessarily be a sign that the Beast?

I wonder if I didn't overstep some boundary with that...

And they all came tumbling down

Sunday 24 February 2008

Well, not quite tumbling.

We cut down a half-dead cedar tree yesterday, but it was so entwined with vines and such that it didn’t quite fall. It took some encouragement.

No, Really — Again

Saturday 23 February 2008

It turns out that the whole time there has been a major malfunction with our gas pack that has been preventing it from firing correctly. "It probably came from the factory that way," said Shane, the technician.

Between six and eight technicians have looked at it, with one of them changing the gas regulator on the burner just inches away from the whole problem, and not one noticed it.

The problem -- highlighted in the white square -- was that the gas injectors, coming from the manifold (running along the bottom of the picture), should be in the burner, not hovering a centimeter away from it, or, as was the case with one injector, hovering a centimeter away from it and bent downward.

Once again, the technician said: "It probably came from the factory that way."

So, to review, the following parts have been changed in the unit itself:

Burner,
Gas regulator,
Control board, and
Some gas valve (not the regulator).

Within the zoning system, the following things have been changed:

Transformer,
Entire control board, and
One damper.

Folks, we basically have an entirely new system...

Never

Friday 22 February 2008

ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever buy a house with a gas pack. They're more delicate than your grandmother's hip.

Top Five Drafting Albums

Thursday 21 February 2008

My sophomore, junior, and senior years, I took drafting. I thought I wanted to be an architect. By the end of my junior year, I realized it wasn't going to happen. It just wasn't in my soul. But for some reason, I went ahead and finished up the whole three-year drafting, taking the two-block drafting III class.

During our senior year, the teacher -- an odd fellow who, judging from his hair cut and ties, was definitely stuck in the 70's -- allowed us to listen to music while drafting.

Choices, choices.

My friend and I set out to find the perfect drafting album, to match the list of perfect albums for this or that activity.

A few albums that made it into my personal rotation with a great deal of frequency were...