August 31, 2006

Green Thumbs and Open Spaces.

Hurricane Ernesto is going to dump a few gallons of water on us this weekend, so we took some time after lunch to shore up the plants in our garden. The cucumbers, which were coming on strong in the early part of the year, are getting long in the tooth and not producing as much (they were averaging about four cukes a week). However, the tomatoes are now in their prime and absolutely bursting with fruit—a rough count of six plants totalled at least 150 tomatoes in various states of completion. The basil Jen planted among the tomatoes is now waist-height and full with leaves.

We're already planning the addition to the current garden—I'm thinking it will roughly double in size. We're adding eggplant, red peppers, more soybeans, and pole beans to this year's lineup, as we know that it'll all do well here.

Further to the west, our neighbors engaged a landscaping company to wrestle control of their yard back from the weeds, brush, and poison ivy that have slowly been choking it to death. This week two men have used chainsaws, trimmers, clippers, chippers, and a Bobcat to haul off at least four trailers worth of yard debris, including the majority of our shared treeline. What was once a tangled "hedgerow" running the length of our west property line is now an open plain of dirt punctuated with a few startled-looking trees. Our cherry trees are intact, as well as a few sugar maples on their side of the line (and not the ones I'd have picked—I prefer trees that grow straight up and down), but all the ivy on both sides of the law has been scraped off with the blade of the Bobcat.

(August, 2003)

What was once a private, enclosed (and somewhat untidy) side yard is now a public space, visible and audible from the road, which has us concerned. Because the driveway side is less than aesthetically pleasing, we've been using the west side as our outdoor getaway, but that's a thing of the past. It's looking now like our plans to add a fence along the treeline just got bumped up in priority...

(April, 2005)

(August, 2006)

Posted on August 31, 2006 12:52 PM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

August 30, 2006

And, Fuck Citibank too.

When I went off to college in the fall of 1989, one of the many things I packed for the trip took up little space, but was one of the biggest lifesavers of all. It wasn't the cofffee machine I never mastered, or the heavy dishes I never washed, or the metric tons of cassette tapes I lugged up and down flight after flight of stairs. No, the lifesaver was a little plastic card issued by Citibank for shlubs like me, entering into ~~the prime target demographic~~ the hallowed halls of higher education like an innocent lamb. Many life lessons were learned there, from banal (don't mix lights and darks, no matter how desperate the need for clean underwear) to life-threatening (don't climb the Howard Street Bridge after three 40's of Crazy Horse) to common-sense (art chicks are crazy) to survival (First Thursdays=free dinner and cheap wine) to painful truth (I can draw really well, but I can't paint worth a damn). One of the best lessons I learned was how to be smart with money, and how not to abuse a credit card. I would—and still do—scoop up change off the sidewalk to afford a beer at the Tavern, dive through dumpsters for furniture, and buy all my best leisure wear at the Goodwill.

For awhile, during the heady days of the Internet Boom, and when I was loosely affiliated with the prosperity that wheezed through Maryland, I lived pretty large. I had a nice little house in the city, a toy truck to play with, and spending cash to have fun with. Somewhere along the way, I started using my credit card for stuff, and got pretty cavalier about it. To the point where I realized one day that I was carrying a balance that was alarmingly large. And this coincided with one of those periods where I wasn't getting paid on time. (You may already know where this is going.) After doing what I could to save money, and missing one payment along the way, I was able to pay the card off—but not before my interest rate was hiked to prime plus 20%.

I vowed never to have this happen again, and went back to my skinflint ways—only buying what I could afford with my debit card from my checking account, and retiring my credit card to the back of my wallet, behind my library and Sam's Club cards. The last time I carried any balance at all on my card was April of '05.

This afternoon, in preparation for booking a flight to California, I pulled it out to see if I could have the APR reduced. The nice lady on the phone cheerfully told me that my account was closed.

Closed? I asked. For what reason?

Because the account has been inactive for a year, she replied. Can I help you with any other services today?

...

So let me get this straight. If I carry a balance of $.01 on my card, Citibank charges me a "handling fee" each month, plus interest. If I don't have any activity on my card at all, for a year, my APR still stays at Prime-plus-anal-rape, and Citibank closes the account without notifying me after I've been a customer of 13 years? Fuck you, Citibank.

Posted on August 30, 2006 5:55 PM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

August 28, 2006

Philadelphia Freedom.

We're back from the City of Brotherly Love and our third vacation weekend of the year. We started our weekend in Delaware at the Chadds Ford winery for a Pinot Noir tasting and class, which was given by a very nice man who knew a lot about wine. We sampled a flight of seven bottles, ranging from Tazmanian to French, plus two local wines. After getting on a respectable midmorning buzz, we drove up the street to Longwood Gardens to walk the grounds and enjoy the fresh air.

As with our last two visits to the area, the sky was cloudy and overcast, but there was a light breeze blowing and low humidity. I brought the TLR setup and embarassed myself by walking around with a black and blue cardboard box, pointing it at flowers and attempting to get some good pictures, until I got tired of being a dork. There wasn't enough control over the light metering or the focus to get consistent results.

We walked the entire length of the gardens and through the conservatory until evening, and then stopped in at the Terrace restaurant for a light dinner and a bottle of wine.

After dinner, at 9pm on Saturdays, there's a fountain light show set to music that lasts for a half hour, which was a beautiful way to cap off the evening.

Sunday, we drove into Philly and checked into our hotel, then went for a walk through the Rittenhouse Square area, where a bench called out to us. Heeding the bench's call, we sat and listened to the city around us, peoplewatching and enjoying the afternoon. I had read an article online about the Rosenbach Museum and Library, where the original manuscript of Joyce's Ulysses lives, as well as an entire floor's worth of rare and priceless first-edition books. (Jen wrote her senior english seminar on Ulysses, so I figured this was a slam-dunk.) We were shown in by a dour woman, paid a small fee, and got an hour's tour of the museum by a big man who knew a lot about books, antiques, and art. The book collection is immense; we could have spent hours ogling the bindings and titles on display. (besides Joyce, there's Shakespeare, Conrad, Melville, Milton, and a hundred other famous names I can't remember now.) We were, however, somewhat disappointed with the selection of Ulysses on display—two chapter title pages and a pair of envelopes. Later, we made reservations for one of Philadelphia's many BYO restaurants, and we were delighted with our choice: Twenty Manning, an upscale asian-flavored bistro a few blocks off Rittenhouse Square. The food was delicious, our waiter didn't sneer at our hoopty wine, and after closing the restaurant down, we walked halfway home in a light rain (before better judgement kicked in and we hailed a cab.)

Monday, we made like good tourists and drove down Market Street to Old City, and followed the crowds to the Liberty Bell (where Jen did not get in trouble for getting inside, like she did in 1976), and after being turned away by the screeners at Independence Hall for my Leatherman, which I'd left in my messenger bag, we walked over Ben Franklin's house, through Christ Church, Betsy Ross's house, and down Elfreth's Alley. Before leaving, we capped off our walk with a light meal at a quiet Afghan restaurant by Penn's Landing, which made us both sleepy and sated.

My impression of Philadelphia is a lot more favorable than the last time I'd visited; the vibe is young and lively, and there's a ton of history there to be had (and not just revoutionary history.) The city is full of architecture, old signage, and excellent food, and we're already talking about going back for a photo expedition when Jen gets her digital SLR.

Posted on August 28, 2006 10:02 PM | link to this entry

August 24, 2006

Do The Numbers.

Here's some head-to-head research on the new Mac I'd love to buy myself. (I have a dream, and it's a simple one: One Machine To Rule Them All. One machine, two monitors, two operating systems. No multiple machines on my desktop, with 3X the cabling, power supplies, keyboards, etc. etc. In this dream, I'm able to run all the apps in Windows on one screen, and all my Mac apps on the other. In full, 1280dpi or larger glory.) Here's my wishlist:

Support for two monitors (non mirroring), with one at least at 1280x 1024
DVI output
Dual-bootable OSX/Microsoft
Portability
2Gb of RAM (preferably cheap)
At least 100 GB of hard drive space
iSight camera built-in
Firewire and USB ports (preferably FW800 and USB 2.0)

	MacBook	IMac 20”	Mac Mini	IMac 17”
Speed	2 Ghz	2 Ghz	1.66 Ghz	1.83 Ghz
Price (at max config)	$2049	$1999	$1224	$1674
Base Monitor Size	1280 x 800	1680x1050	None	1440x900
Dual Monitors	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Portability	Yes	No	Yes	No
2GB of RAM	$500 (apple)	$300 (apple)	$300 (apple)	$300 (apple)
Hard Drive space	$200 120GB	250 GB	$125 120GB	250 ($75 apple)
Dual-booting	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
iSight	Built-in	Built-in	No	Built-in
Firewire ports	1 FW400	2 FW400	1 FW 400	1 FW 400
USB 2.0	2 USB 2.0	3 USB 2.0	4 USB 2.0	3 USB 2.0
	5	8	5	5

I had no idea until today that the new iMacs support dual monitors. That alone is worth the price of admission. Plus, twice the hard drive for almost half the money, two FireWire ports, built-in iSight, and cheaper RAM sell me on the deal. Portability? Well, I'll just fall back on the iBook. And with the impending change in my hosting plans, I'll merge over to IMAP mail service, which means threaded mail on multiple machines so I don't need to worry about synchronizing.

The winner: the 20" iMac by three lengths.

Posted on August 24, 2006 4:11 PM | link to this entry

Random Thoughts.

I haven't been writing much around here lately. Most of the stuff I'm posting goes over in the interesting links section, because I don't have enough time to write a full post about something, or I can't get coherent writing together about whatever it is I'm thinking.
Project Runway was halfway surprising last night—basket-hat guy won, which was a big surprise, neck-tattoo guy almost lost (and continued to be a dick—no suprise), and boring barbie-guy got kicked off—again, no suprise.
I haven't been taking too many pictures lately either. Having an office in one's house and living in the suburbs means you're taking pictures of your cats or nothing at all.
Having a PC laptop with a dead clock battery is kind of like knowing the main character in Memento; just when you've fixed the BIOS settings, the clock settings, and rebooted twice, it's time to go to bed, so you have to shut it down and go through the process all over again because it won't sleep like a proper computer should (see: Apple.)
Looks like I'm heading west again sometime in September. Details to come.

Posted on August 24, 2006 12:15 PM | link to this entry

August 23, 2006

Untitled

Posted on August 23, 2006 1:52 PM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

August 22, 2006

Hooky.

Don't tell my Dad, but I'm not at school today. BG&E cut the power to our block to work on the treeline that runs parallel to our poles, so I'm at the local Panera taking advantage of free wireless and warm coffee. It's not the same thing as sitting at my own desk and an orange cat curled up in the corner, but it's not bad either. Unfortunately, I can't send out e-mail from my main account (something to do with the DNS lookups here, grumble grumble) but otherwise I'm online.

Posted on August 22, 2006 10:27 AM | link to this entry

August 20, 2006

Bandwagonesque.

I stayed up Saturday night and made a hood for my Duaflex II to try the through-the-lens trick, and these are the first shots to test out the rig. Obviously, the lens(es) on my Duaflex need to be cleaned. The G3 is not the best camera to use for this trick, as I need a lot more control over the focus than I currently have. But, not bad for a first try.

Posted on August 20, 2006 10:13 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

August 18, 2006

Y stands for I'm Late

The Y entry for the Alphabet Project is live. Because this is a week overdue, it's a two-fer, in Orange Revolutionary goodness. (Well, except for the guy's skin. But, he was poisoned by Bad Guys, so it's not his fault.)

Posted on August 18, 2006 3:09 PM | link to this entry

Another Good Reason To Get Paid.

Hey! I just looked thru the latest City Paper and saw that Massive Attack is playing at the 9:30 Club on September 28th. Tickets, however, are a bone-crunching $40. Let us all hope I get paid quickly, because I'd like to be able to pay the mortgage, my tax bill, and see this show. (Tricky is playing two nights afterward, so it's a good bet he's on tour with them, or at least able to show up and play these two gigs.)

Posted on August 18, 2006 10:38 AM | link to this entry

August 17, 2006

Political Activism.

From: Bill [mailto:XXX@XXX.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 7:07 PM
To: XXX@martinomalley.com
Subject: Where can I get some yard signs?

Hi XXX,

I'd like to get some O'Malley yard signs so that I can battle the
Ehrlich machine here in Catonsville, but I haven't heard anything
back from your campaign yet. You're getting your butts handed to you
in this town, and I'd like to do my part to even out the score in the
Battle Of The Lawn Signs. I live right on Frederick Road on a main
thoroughfare, and I think it would be great exposure (the current
ratio is about 10/90% O'Malley/Ehrlich.)

Let me help!

Bill D.
__________________
XXX@XXX.com

From: XXX@martinomalley.com
To: Bill [mailto:XXX@XXX.com]
Subject: RE: Where can I get some yard signs?
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 09:57:27 -0400

Thanks for your support Bill.
We will have one out to you by tomorrow.
Thanks,
XXX

XXX XXXX ~ O'Malley/Brown Campaign
Volunteer Coordinator ~ XXX-XXX-XXXX ~ XXX@martinomalley.com

From: Bill [mailto:XXX@XXX.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 3:26 PM
To: XXX XXXX
Subject: I'm beginning to think you don't like me.

Hi XXX-

I haven't heard anything from you guys yet, and I'm beginning to get
jealous of my neighbors who have spiffy green and white signs on
their lawns. Any word on signage?

thanks-
bd.
__________________
XXX@XXX.com

From: XXX@martinomalley.com
To: Bill [mailto:XXX@XXX.com]
Subject: RE: I'm beginning to think you don't like me.
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 07:19:34 -0400

Sorry Bill, we were out of signs last week so we got a little backed up.
What is your address, I will send one this week.

Thanks!

XXX XXXX ~ O'Malley/Brown Campaign
Volunteer Coordinator ~ XXX-XXX-XXXX ~ XXX@martinomalley.com

Postscript: As of yesterday, we have three shiny green and white signs on our front lawn. I was half-hoping they'd erect one of those big-ass billboards instead, but I'll take what they gave me. We're not the only ones, either—the O'Malley machine sent word out and suddenly green and white signs have sprouted up all over the area, including *sniff sniff* two of those billboards, at last count.

On the next street over from us, someone covered the "ER" in Erhlich with "BUTT" on both sides of one of the billboards. Good times!

Posted on August 17, 2006 3:59 PM | link to this entry

August 15, 2006

Through the Viewfinder, Experiment 1.

Using my Duoflex II. I haven't been able to figure out just how to focus on the viewfinder without the autofocus taking a measurement on the reflection of the lens, but I'll work it out. I suppose I need a digital SLR to really make it work...

Posted on August 15, 2006 1:01 PM | link to this entry

Dear Fellow Scout Owner.

You may not remember me, but we crossed paths in the Citgo parking lot about two years ago, sitting in a ’78 Scout about the same color as yours. It turns out I live around the corner from you.

I’ve owned my Scout since 1997, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. I bought it from a nice fellow in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who gave me a thick folder with all the receipts he’d collected while he owned it. It’s taken me to the beach, to the Outer Banks, camping, and to the Home Depot, and has always been a dependable truck.

Unfortunately, in the last two years, I haven’t been able to spend the money or the time on my Scout that it deserves, so it’s been sitting quietly in my driveway. As a result, the A and B pillars have finally given way to rust, and the front quarters have gone from OK to dissolving. I haven’t turned the engine over in a year, but she ran after I cleaned the fuel line and added some new gas to the tank.

I’m writing this letter to see if a fellow Scout owner would be interested in giving mine a good home. While it’s not in turnkey condition, and needs a good deal of work, I know that it’s got plenty of good parts, and I’d rather see somebody use it to keep a Scout running than cut it up for a Jeep. Here’s a breakdown, if you’re interested:

304 V-8, unknown number of miles (I’d guess somewhere in the 150K range)
3-speed Borg-Warner T-19 with a low 6-1 granny gear
Dana 44 axles (rear at 3.54)
Dana 20 transfer case
Aftermarket 3-piece rollbar
Steel top with pinhole leaks around rear corners, in relatively good shape, and a steel hatch. Sliding window glass, decent headliner.
Hi-back bucket seats and a good fold and tumble rear seat, all in green/brown vinyl
Kayline softtop in Nutmeg, with all accessories, in good shape-no leaks or tears.
Tuffy locking center console in black

I’ve also got a tub of parts, including a set of backup headlights, four steel quarter patches, and a second steel windshield with minor rust.

I don’t have a price set, but if you’re interested and would like to make an offer, or have any questions, please give me a call at XXX-XXX-XXXX and we can set up a time to talk or take a look at it.

* * *

I stopped off to deliver this letter last weekend to a neighbor up the street, and wound up meeting him on his way out the front door. As it turns out, he was going to approach me about buying his Scout. While I was half tempted to buy it from him, it still wouldn't get me to the place I'd like to be—a working, viable truck with no rust, so I turned him down.

My second option was to call my local Scout repair guy yesterday, only to find that he'd closed his shop six months ago and moved to Pennsylvania to be a welder. While I'm happy for him to be moving on, this also feels like another chapter ending in life. The close proximity of his shop was one of the reasons I decided to buy a 20-year-old truck. He was the first stop I made to have a rollbar installed and some carb work done, because he knew Scouts in and out, and suggested a number of things to make the truck run better (which he did, thankfully.) We struck up a funny kind of aquaintance, the kind that I usually have with mechanics and tradesmen, where they don't quite know what to make of the skinny little guy who knows how to clean a carb or sweat pipes or hang joists. I wound up doing a little work in trade with him, and he kept my truck running, but begged off on the bodywork.

He had a few ideas for who might be interested in my truck, but cautioned me that rigs and parts on eBay aren't moving as fast as they used to, with gas prices being where they are now. I thanked him for his time, wished him well, and hung up the phone.

I thought about it on and off for the remainder of the evening, and my feelings were mixed. While I'm glad to finally have resolved myself to selling my truck, I'm still torn by the emotional attachments I have to it. For awhile, I felt like I was making room for something better (perhaps this will make room for some work to be done on the garage, or a more efficient vehicle?), but now I'm discouraged. I think maybe getting the karmic wheel spinning is going to take a much bigger push than I'd hoped.

Posted on August 15, 2006 11:42 AM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

August 14, 2006

Stupid F**king White Man.

We watched Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man last night, starring Johnny Depp and a who's who of character actors. I'd recommend this movie to folks who aren't looking for a typical western. It's more of a metaphysical story, following one man's slow journey to his own death, and in true Jarmusch fashion, it takes its time. I wish they'd included some kind of director's commentary or making-of special with the disc, because I'd love to have been a fly on the wall of that set.

Posted on August 14, 2006 10:44 AM | link to this entry | Comments (6)

August 11, 2006

Birthday Girl

I took Jen to Jordan's last night for a birthday dinner, after breakfast in bed, a day's worth of flowers, and the promise (yesterday was a work day, after all) of a relaxing soak in a mineral bath with fresh lilies and scentless candles. Thursday night is live jazz night, so we were entertained by a guitar/bass combo who put a silky touch on jazz standards and Hendrix alike—it sounds strange, but believe me, it was perfect. The food was fantastic, and the ambiance was just right. We returned home to four birthday messages on our machine, a bottle of red wine, and more fresh flowers.

Happy birthday, baby. I love you.

Posted on August 11, 2006 3:03 PM | link to this entry

August 8, 2006

Home To Roost.

I'm back in Bawltymore. I stuck around Monday morning for a second game of golf with my family and Grampy, taking advantage of the mercifully cool weather and cheap greens fees. My second ~~crushing humiliation~~ game went much like my pool game—my skill level increases commensurate with my intake of Bloody Marys. By the seventh hole, after hitting with my sister's longer clubs, I was driving somewhat straight down the fairway and with reasonable accuracy.

Posted on August 8, 2006 5:02 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

August 5, 2006

2006 Dugan Open.

I'm writing from New York State, where I'm winding down from this year's golf outing and keg party, organized annually by my 90-year-old grandfather. The day turned out to be perfect, with 80° weather and a cool breeze blowing off the lake. I hauled my clubs out of the basement, brushed the sawdust and cobwebs off my bag, and proceeded to shoot a lousy game of golf, punctuated with infrequent moments of competence. Luckily, my family plays somewhat regularly, and between my father and sister's drives and my mother's putting, we didn't embarass ourselves too badly.

After lunch and the prize announcements, we hit my uncle's house on the lake for a continuance of partying (which, at this stage, means watching my cousins' children run around in water wings while sipping beer, eating chips, and catching up with family) and a lazy afternoon boat ride on the lake. After eating dinner, we retired to my parents' front porch where I proceeded to pass out for an hour with my feet on the railing as the sun fell below the horizon.

I took a bunch of pictures, which I'll probably post tomorrow, and got a pretty decent farmer's tan, which will be gone in three days. But right now, I'd like to strangle the drunk guy singing Rolling Stones covers at the lawn party down the street so I can go to sleep.

Posted on August 5, 2006 11:47 PM | link to this entry

August 2, 2006

Back From The Swamp.

The rest of the East Coast is hot as Hades right now, but our little corner of the world is cool. We're holed up in the bedroom, with the A/C on 75° waiting for the Smackdown Episode of Project Runway to come on at 10. Apparently somebody's getting the axe, and we're placing bets on who it might be. (I say crazy basket-head guy.)

Today's business trip to D.C. was successful, although predictably hot. We met up with our contact at Union Station and ate lunch under the huge barrel-vaulted ceiling of the main hall. Then we traveled a few blocks south, where we had a meeting in an office with a spectacular view of the Capitol Building. This particular meeting was Jen's show, and she did a great job with the clients (and the work!) while I was happy to take a back seat and watch.

Whoops—it's time to go. Make it work!

update: Wow, I didn't expect that.

Posted on August 2, 2006 9:44 PM | link to this entry

August 1, 2006

One Benefit of the Heat.

This is our garden as of this morning, before the blast wave hit us. It's 100+ degrees out there now, and our cucumbers and tomatoes are love-love-loving it. The two plants up front are Big Boy tomatoes, the huge round beefy ones you see for $3/lb. at the store. The next two plants back are "Health Kick" tomatoes, which are low-to-the-ground Italian style tomatoes—long and dry, good for stuff like guacamole. Behind the tomatoes are four cucumber plants, which are going apeshit and climbing the ladders I built for them at the rate of about 6"/day. Each plant is throwing off blooms like crazy, and they have about 20 fruit between the three of them. Behind the cukes are four forlorn soybean plants, the ones the squirrels didn't dig up. We had dreams of growing our own edamame, but obviously the yard critters love Japanese food as well. (that freaky cat statue is supposed to be some kind of deterrent, but I think it's mainly serving as a perch for the local bird population, who seem to like to poop on its head.) Finally, in the far corner, we have two tomato plants grown from seed in our basement, which are finally coming into their own and putting off fruit.

Yesterday I made some hummus and we had cucumber-tomato-hummus sandwiches for dinner. While it wasn't the most filling thing we could have eaten, it sure was tasty.