Monthly Archives: April 2006

This makes me feel a lot better

$764,900 for a 827 sqft house in Cupertino

Um, yeah. This is why I live in Indy. The house we’re wanting is a 2,300 sq. ft house for… well, a lot less than that.

I’m not going to show off pictures of the house, or mention the address until we know we’re going to get the house, but here’s a picture out the upstairs window at the houses across the street.

across the street to the north

I can’t begin to describe how idyllic the neighborhood seems every time we’ve been there. There’s a serenity about it that is amazing, especially compared to both my street and Stephanie’s. We sat out on the porch of this house on Sunday for half an hour, listening to the birds.

Continue ReadingThis makes me feel a lot better

Mini Book Reviews

I’m currently making my way through a couple of bigger books — The Watchmen (Absolute Edition) by Alan Moore, and A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster. But in between I’ve read a couple of shorter, fun books.

The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island
by Weta Workshop
An extraordinarily detailed bestiary and ecological guide to the fictional world of King Kong’s Skull Island, written as though it was a “real” account of the several scientific expeditions to the island after Kong’s demise in New York.

Going for the Bronze: Still Bitter, More Baggage
by Sloane Tanen
This is a hilarious picture book of tiny little exquisitely designed dioramas, starring fuzzy little chickens acting out funny human dramas.

Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
A fun eighth-grader’s novel about a 13-year-old boy — “Moose” Flanagan — who goes to live on Alcatraz Island in 1935 when his dad takes a job there as an electrician and prison guard. The move is prompted by the family’s need to place Moose’s older, autistic sister Natalie in a school that can help her become independent. Moose isn’t happy in his new home; he never gets to see his dad, he has to look after Natalie, and the warden’s daughter Piper is a scheming trouble-maker. But Moose eventually finds his place by becoming friends with other kids who live on the island and making contact with one of the island’s celebrated prisoners — Al Capone.

Continue ReadingMini Book Reviews

Weekend Update 2006-04-09

On the design front, I’ve been restructuring my cascading style sheets for this site; separating layout markup into a separate style sheet than the one for design (color, font face, size etc.) and doing a bit of testing on that. That will help when I finally get my new design in order and start building. So I’ve done a bit of work, but behind the scenes.

Also, on the home purchasing front, Stephanie and I are going to see eight or so houses this afternoon to assure ourselves that the one we’ve already picked out is right for us both price-wise and size-wise. We just want to get a feel for what else is out there to confirm our decision about the house we like.

Also, if you’re on Flickr and you’re in my “friends and family” contact list, you can see pictures of the house we picked out. We have the privacy turned on for it, so the pictures aren’t public (we don’t want anyone else to steal it from under our noses).

Continue ReadingWeekend Update 2006-04-09

Books that caught my eye

Stephanie and I went to the bookstore last night so she could use a gift certificate she received, and I wrote down a bunch of interesting books that I intend to either buy, check out from the library, or investigate further at some point in the future. Let me know if you’ve read any of them and if they’re worth picking up. Also, if any of them sound interesting for book club, throw those out, too.

Fiction

The Geographer’s Library by Jon Fasman
Metropolis: A Novel by Elizabeth Gaffney
The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Something Rotten (Thursday Next Novels) by Jasper Fforde
[I’ve read the rest in this very funny series, but haven’t gotten around to picking this one up yet.]
The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre: A Novel by Dominic Smith

Non-Fiction

Denison, Iowa: Searching for the Soul of America Through the Secrets of a Midwest Town by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson
We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind by Martin Howard
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart Ehrman
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam
How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered The World by Francis Wheen
Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit by Laura Penny
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold
The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation’s Most Ordinary Citizen by Kevin O’Keefe
No Touch Monkey: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late by Ayun Halliday
I Hate Other People’s Kids by Adrianne Frost and Wilson Swain
[I’m putting this one on the list because of blogger Mike’s recent travails with the stroller set at the public library.]

Continue ReadingBooks that caught my eye

Stop Looking for Occasions to Be Offended

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Life Hacks

I’m bookmarking this page entirely for my own self-awareness, but if you happen to find it helpful, that would be cool also.

Stop Looking for Occasions to Be Offended
When you live at or below ordinary levels of awareness, you spend a great deal of time and energy finding opportunities to be offended. A news report, an economic downturn, a rude stranger, a fashion miscue, someone cursing, a sneeze, a black cloud, any cloud, an absence of clouds — just about anything will do if you’re looking for an occasion to be offended. Along the extra mile, you’ll never find anyone engaging in such absurdities. Become a person who refuses to be offended by any one, any thing, or any set of circumstances. If something takes place and you disapprove, by all means state what you feel from your heart; and if possible, work to eliminate it and then let it go.
Most people operate from the ego and really need to be right. So, When you encounter someone saying things that you find inappropriate, or when you know they’re wrong, wrong, wrong, forget your need to be right and instead say, “You’re right about that!” Those swords will end potential conflict and free you from being offended. Your desire is to be peaceful — not to be right, hurt, angry, or resentful. If you have enough faith in your own beliefs, you’ll find that it’s impossible to be offended by the beliefs and conduct of others.
Not being offended is a way of saying, “I have control over how I’m going to feel, and I choose to feel peaceful regardless of what I observe going on.” When you feel offended, you’re practicing judgment. You judge someone else to be stupid, insensitive, rude, arrogant, inconsiderate, or foolish, and then you find yourself upset and offended by their conduct. What you may not realize is that when you judge another person, you do not define them. You define yourself as someone who needs to judge others.

Continue ReadingStop Looking for Occasions to Be Offended

Stuff we could have bought with Iraq War money

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

Courtesy my friend Lori — this link to Something Awful’s list of stuff we could have purchased with the money we’ve spend blowing the crap out of Iraq. Like….
454 of the Tallest Building in the United States
more than 80,000 of the world’s biggest truck
156,250 episodes of Arrested Development
298,412,466 Sony Wega 23″ LCD HDTVs (one for every person in America)
Full ride 4-year college scholarships for 7,260,000 students
They forgot one, though — a future for your kids.

Continue ReadingStuff we could have bought with Iraq War money