I tend to read a lot of stuff on the internet. often I get bored, think about how I need to turn off the computer more, read more novels.
and it's true...
but every now and then I read something on a web site somewhere that just knocks my socks off, and I remember why I love this so much, why we are so lucky.

it's 12:30 am, I'm utterly pooped after a long week, but my weekend is already a little better, having read this:
The Alley Watchers, by Rebecca Dravos, published on ftrain.com.

I'm laughing and crying at the same time

and I'm soo glad I don't watch tv much anymore...

"President Bush has been silent on Schwarzenegger. Of course, he can't pronounce "Schwarzenegger."
-- David Letterman

"Finally, a candidate who can explain the Bush administration's positions on civil liberties in the original German."
-- Bill Maher

more bad recall election jokes.

-Halliburton's Iraq contracts exceed $1.7 billion

-and from today's Wall Street Journal:

Bechtel's contract for postwar reconstruction work in Iraq will be increased by more than $350 million, or more than 50%. The decision to steer additional funds to Bechtel is the latest sign the Bush administration has seriously underestimated the cost and complexity of rebuilding Iraq.

Shelli and Mary left for Alaska about three weeks ago... on their motorcycles.
and they've arrived!

On more than one occasion, we have asked ourselves, "What were we thinking?!?!".  Traveling in August is very different up here than in the lower 48. First off, all of the traffic is going the other direction. Why? Because there's ONE road and it's autumn here, the colors are changing, soon to be winter. Which means nothing is very crowded, thank god. In the lower 48, one might fight for a campground or stress about finding a motel room in August. Not here. It's 30 degrees in the morning. No one is fighting for a tent site. We saw snow falling on the mountains of Denali yesterday, and thanked our lucky stars that our neighbors in the campground had a tarp that we could cook dinner under while the thunder roared not too far away and the rain dripped down. Did we mention it's cold? Today, I wore long johns, jeans, my motorcycle overpants with a liner, two long john shirts, two fleece shirts, my heavy goretex motorcycle jacket with it's liner, neck gator,  and my huge bulky winter motorcycle gloves. I felt no cold. Of course,  I could barely turn my head to see Mt. McKinley in the distance.

living room!

the young man and the sea

Paradise on Potato Island!

Odie has his revenge

The murdered body of Garfield the Cat was found behind the Caltrain Station
in San Francisco on Sunday. The bicyclist who discovered the brutally mangled corpse said,
"I never really liked his strip, but I can't imagine who would go to such lengths to stop it..."

please to repeat after me this fabulous mantra:

living room
living room
living room

thank you.

explanation will be posted sometime or another.

we love summer, yes- we do.

fresh ripe figs, lightly roasted, wrapped in thin slices of prosciutto.
heirloom tomatoes, sprinkled with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
red chard and sweet young spinach, sauteed with garlic and shallots in olive oil.
peaches so big and juicy I eat them over the sink, the juice running down my arm.
yum.

a photo of beshbarmak, which Erika referred to as the national dish of Kyrgyzstan. I think it's her least favorite.


photo by Loren Kupferschmid, Peace Corps Volunteer

Lypsinka gets a kick-ass review in the NYT:
"Lypsinka is a virtual world unto herself."

"Those damn kids and their Great Vowel Shift!"

This post ("The Language Police") and the discussion that follows it, over at Calpundit, made me kinda warm and happy and giggly. But maybe I'm just a wannabe linguistics geek.

thanks to languagehat for the loverly link, again. soon this blog will just be a mirror for that site.

this month's top picks from the LRB Personals:

Green-eyed monster (F, 34) seeks non-pattern wearing intelligible man, 30-40, into the usual pursuits. Box no. 14/03

Moaning, miserable, middle-aged old fart, sought by bossy, nagging, middle-aged old trout. Must like reading, the countryside, and be useful around the (farm) house. Box no. 14/02

More pricks than kicks. It's a Samuel Becket title, they have to print it. Aristocratic heterosexual M. Still finding it tough. Still 53. Belfast. Box no. 15/11

My hobbies include crying and hating men. F., 29. Box no. 14/10

What are the chances? 1 in 216, as Richard de Fournival astutely explained in De Vetula, written between 1220 and 1250. I don't expect you to know that, however, because you're an idiot. Maths professor, 58, not afraid of being absolutely right at box no. 14/14

-paying top dollar for nostalgia- worth it every time:
For Mom's Cooking, 2,200 Miles Isn't Too Far
I wish I could tell my grandparents how much I just paid for in-season heirloom tomatoes.

-Sparrow celebrates spammy new names in the NYT. (his collection is way better than mine.)

-I live in a freakin' zoo.
my brother emailed me today: "What the hell is going on in that state over there?"
gee, where to start...
I can't even think about it anymore; my brain hurts. Someone actually tried to defend Ahnold to me the other day: "but his wife is a Kennedy!"

-Former President Carter To Be Tried For Peace Crimes

-Mobs?
so yesterday.

Arghnold is laughing at you

CALIFORNIANS WILL NOT BE TRIFLED WITH:
Arghnold.com

I can see the sun set over the Pacific from where I'm sitting.
it's breathtaking to be here, in a city, in a house, on a couch, looking at the ocean; the reddening sky.

le whine

I knew I shouldn't let myself read Languagehat.com on a regular basis. I just don't have enough free time to be able to read all the things it points me to.
Nor do I have the time to devote myself to languages the way I'd like to. It might be time to put a PayPal link on my blog:
help support a freakin' frustated wannabe linguist in her efforts to entertain herself, and you, multi-lingually.

These quizzes from Transparent Language are great. I'm relieved that I can still bluster my way quite well through German test, but the Russian quiz kicked my ass, and we won't even speak of the French test. (well, I didn't study French for very long, so I can't quite beat myself up for that one.)

calling Erika in Kyrgyzstan:
-dial 800 number for special international calling company
-dial 10 digit account number
-dial 4 digit pin
-dial 15 digit phone number, plus pound
-get weird signal, or get cut off. or get connected, be overjoyed by the miracle of technology. spend precious minutes saying, "hi! it's so good to hear your voice!" soon after, get cut off in the middle of a sentence. weep.
-start over. repeat as many times as necessary.

A War Russia Loses by Winning
by Anne Nivat,
author of Chienne de Guerre: A Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya, a book I recommend to anyone who will listen.

what a diff-rence a day makes...

ocean beach, san francisco, june 28, 2003
2:14 pm


ocean beach, san francisco, august 3, 2003
6:01 pm