Cool and glad its Friday

I am cold and working at the reference desk. The library is almost empty without the college being in session.

Christmas was great this year. I had a lot of experiences following from Saturday when I arrived in Grand Junction, to spending Sunday night with my mother, to spending a couple of hours with my grandmother Broughton, to locking my keys inside my SUV while sneaking Christmas presents for my nieces out of the back on Christmas Eve. My brother Jarrett gave me a nice survival knife with built-in compass and survival pack. My brother Jesse gave me a leatherman-like tool, and my brother Judd gave me a Swiss-army pocketknife as well. I don't know why I find that funny that my brothers gave me more weapons after my experiences in Utah. My brother Jake gave me a nice jungle hat with a mosquito netting. I think my family expects that I'll end up stranded and that I'll be able to fight my out. I gave each of my brothers a couple of packs of Camels, a pack of rolling papers, and a lighter. Not very original but they enjoyed their presents. I gave my nieces and nephew books for Christmas in keeping with my librarian meme. I gave my grandmother a 2008 calendar and a card. I didn't get out to see my grandfather.

On Saturday night, I went to a nightclub that alternated between pop country music and rap with a crowd skewing towards the male, drunk, and white. Two of my friends (I know them through my brother Judd) were in town. Michael Ochoa is in the Marines and has three tours in Iraq under his belt. He is a veteran from the beginnings of the Iraq war. Tommy is Michael's brother and Tommy just finished his first tour with the Marines in Iraq. Tommy was involved in a IED attack but wasn't hurt. Judd got kicked out because of his drunkenness (we weren't sure what prompted his expulsion but my night ended earlier. I had a hangover the next day that didn't go away although I didn't think I drank that much the night before.

This might be my last blog entry for 2007. 2007 was a recovery year for me. I was able to move into a better place, buy a new vehicle, and continue to normalize my life after my experiences in living in Utah. Here are some New Year resolutions for upcoming year:

• Increase my Aikido activity. For the past couple of years, I have practiced exactly once each year. The best way for me to do this is to teach an Aikido Basics class but I have to find suitable facilities and then worry about insurance, affiliation, and students.
  
• Increase my general physical activity. I am out of shape and weigh a good 10-15 pounds over what I like to weigh. I am not as concerned about my weight but I do feel that I my physical conditioning needs to improve.
• Write more. I used to try to write 500 words a day and I have stopped for a number of reasons not the least is that I find my journal writing to be too self-centered (although this blog is an example of ego publishing as there is) . I do like this blog because I can write and not worry about losing the material (as much)
• Quit all tobacco products. I hate smoking cigarettes but I do like to chew tobacco. Chewing has to be one of the most disgusting habits out there and not good for my oral health.
  

These are just four areas I would to address in the upcoming year. I also turn 35 next month but I am not planning anything special.

Headed to Grand Junction.

Last Saturday I finished reading Neal Stephenson's "The Confusion". On Tuesday I received through Marmot's online holds, the third book in the Baroque Trilogy, "The System of The World". I am doing laundry tonight so now I'll have something to read while waiting for my clothes to wash and dry.

My holiday plans for the upcoming Christmas is to leave for Grand Junction tomorrow morning. It is snowing here in Gunnison and I don't want to drive over the passes in the dark when it snowing unless I really have to. Getting to Grand Junction is not a huge priority and I would like to spend one more night in my own bed. Saturday night I plan on spending with my father. Sunday afternoon I am going to visit my 87 year-old grandmother. Sunday night I am spending with my mother. Monday I'll try to visit my 86 year-old grandfather in Mack, Colorado. Christmas Eve, I hope to spend with my brother Jacob and his family.

A couple of days ago I talked to my mother and my sister Jill is pregnant with her second child. I am really happy for her and her husband Lance and their beautiful daughter Alexis. I have a lot to be thankful for this year and I do hope things will be better in the coming year. After Christmas, I'll write about my goals for the upcoming year and I'll likely have a couple of good stories that may or may not be suitable for this blog.

Movies and Book.

I woke up with a migraine this morning, thank-goodness for Imitrix.

This past weekend I went on a movie watching binge, due to the weather (Gunnison received about a foot and a half of snow over Friday and Saturday. Out of the seven movies I rented, the best by far was Black Snake Moan. The music I loved and the performances were great, with Christina Ricci in some great scenes. While the movie is sexually and racially exploitative, I felt the larger themes of redemption and growth for all of the characters in the movie connected to a larger humanity, an universal understanding and of hope. I now want to see Craig Brewer's previous movie, Hustle and Flow.

I am about half-way through Neal Stephenson's "The Confusion". The second in his Baroque Trilogy. I am enjoying this novel because it returns to the stories of Jack Shaftoe and Eliza. Eliza is typical of Stephenson's smart, beautiful, and strong female characters, all to often becoming the ideal geek woman. Actually, exactly the type of woman I am attracted to and I would guess most men as well. The book is due back on the 17th so the next couple of nights, I will finish the novel. I am requesting the final volume today, "The System of the World" from Marmot.

This Saturday is the last free skiing at Crested Butte. I might go up but I still need a true winter coat and better snowboarding pants. It will have to wait for another budget cycle.

Dylan, Knox, and non-related topics...

Last night during the PBS fund-raising week, a Bob Dylan documentary was aired that had selected live songs from Dylan at Newport Folk Festival from 1963 to 1965. The clips were great and I wonder if my good friend Floyd watched the documentary or purchased the DVD and CDs for his collection.

I have been meaning to write a little bit about Knox College, my alumni mater. Knox is a small, private liberal arts college in Galesburg, IL. A lot of local history is tied to the campus with the Old Main, one of the sites of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. My time at Knox was great but a lot has happened to me since I graduated so I just want to comment on two recent Knox encounters I had. A couple of weeks ago I was working on the reference desk at the Library, and a student-worker asked where I gone to college. I said Knox and then talked about Robert Hansen, the most infamous graduate of Knox, and told them about the movie Breech, about Hansen and his treason. Irving, my best friend from Knox, dad knew Hansen.

Another Knox encounter is that I read the blog, mimi smartypants. She went to Knox as well and I enjoy her writing about life in Chicago, a similar life to many of my friends from Knox who now live and work in Chicago. I don't remember Mimi, but I know that she and her husband graduated my first-year at Knox, so I am sure that we encountered each other at one or more parties my first-year. Knox was and is good to me and I want to make a trip back to Illinois next year. I don't need to stop by the campus but I would like to see my friends in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign.

Soreness from the weekend...

This past weekend I went snowboarding at Crested Butte on Friday and Sunday. On Thursday afternoon my brother Jarrett came into town from Grand Junction. We went to Gene Taylor Ski outlet store and I purchased a snowboard, bindings, and boots (not cheap but there was a nice sale and the salesman was very helpful). Thursday evening it started to snow so Jarrett and I were hopeful for the next day. That night Jarrett and I went to Garlic Mikes and I had their excellent Bloody Mary with a large shrimp floating amount a red-tomato sea of olives and peppers.

On Friday morning the drive into CB was cold with snow patches. With free ski and snowboarding, I expected more people at the lift then there were. Jarrett and I took only operating quad-lift up to the second tier of the mountain and then took another lift to paradise bowl. I quickly discovered I am really out of shape and as sweat poured off my body and I struggled to breath due to physical activity and the altitude. The entire day it snowed and the slopes became better with each run as the human-made snow was layered with fresh powder.

Saturday Jarrett and I drove up and the quad-lift was not working due to the high-winds on the mountain. After lunch at the Ginger Cafe in CB, we drove back to Gunnison and spent the rest of day watching two movies; "The Committed" and "Live Free or Die Harder". The action in both movies was acceptable but not beyond the movie violence. Later in the night, Jarrett and I went over and watched part of "Knocked Up" with my friend Aaron. When we got back, I got a phone call from my brother Jake. He and Jesse (another brother) were at Timberline (a bar in Gunnison). They had been in town for about an hour and not finding Jarrett and I at my place, went out. About an half-of-hour later, Jake and Jesse show up. Jake was feeling the few rum-and-cokes he drunk earlier and the four brothers caught up and prepared for snowboarding on Sunday. Jake spent the night on my bathroom floor, revisiting the night's libations.

Sunday morning was clear and blue after snowing all night. We took two vehicles to CB and spent the day snowboarding. Yesterday was a much better day for me. I didn't spend as much time on my behind or falling but I still have much to practice before I consider myself proficient. All of my brothers have been snowboarding for longer then me and Jesse had a bad crash near the top, he has the beginnings of a black eye so I don't feel as bad about my aches and bruises this morning.

Back from Grand Junction....

I am finally catching up after my five-day Thanksgiving trip to Grand Junction. I spent two nights with my brother Jacob and his wife Lisa with their two great daughters Aura and Emie. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Sue's, Lisa's mother. My father with brothers Jesse and Jarrett, also came to dinner. My father, a recovering Jehovah Witness, rarely attends these sorts of events but he had a good time. My brother Judd, along with his girlfriend Devon, and their son Keegan, also showed up for dinner.

Friday I babysat Keegan while Judd ran some errands. Keegan is still on oxygen but he is growing quickly and really interacts well with everyone. I haven't babysat in a while and while I am happy that I don't have children, growing older with a large family means that I can enjoy my nephews and nieces without needed to add to the gene pool.

On Saturday I went clothes shopping, mainly work clothes, and then in the afternoon I drove out to visit my mother and sister Angie. We went on a drive in my new Rodeo, and drove over East Orchard Mesa. Mom showed one of the houses she cleans for and we stopped at a new (to me) Colorado State Wildlife Area named after Tilman Bishop. I meet Bishop once at a concert when I stayed summers during college with my grandparents. My grandfather Bob, knew Bishop and introduced me. That was a while ago. The new wildlife area drops down to South side of the Colorado river and while it was cold, I feel good that this area is now protected.

Saturday night I went shopping at the Barnes and Noble and I ran into an old friend, Ross. Ross is a manager there and next time I'm Grand Junction, we will try to get together. I purchased two books; a richly illustrated hardback edition of Miyamoto Musashi's A Book of Five Rings and a paperback of Neal Stephenson The King of Vagabonds. I didn't realize until I got home that it was already included in Quicksilver so I'll just donate the paperback and order The Confusion through Marmot.

My brother Jarrett will be here tomorrow afternoon so we can go snowboarding at Crested Butte this weekend. Jesse and Jake are planning to come up this weekend. I need to look for a cheap snowboard and bindings. Jarrett has an extra pair of boots. My old snowboard was one of the many things that were stolen in my years in Salt Lake City.

Next posts I will write about possible plans to start teaching Aikido in the Gunnison Valley and some thoughts about Knox College.

Finished Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization"

I enjoyed Thomas Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization". This work was popular history and provided a factual and lyrically overview of the time period from the fall of Rome to the Middle Ages. The two major historical figures of Christine and Irish histories highlighted in the book were Augustine of Hippo to Saint Patrick. Cahill's description of Augustine's Confessions, as the first time emergence of the self-conscious "I" in human literature and philosophy I did not know.

I also enjoyed much of the early Irish poetry Cahill included in his book. Here are a couple of stanzas from "The Hermit's Song":

Grant me sweet Christ the grace to find-
Son of the living God!-
A small hut in a lonesome spot
To make it my adobe.

A little pool but very clear
To stand beside the place
Where all men's sins are washed away
By sanctifying grace.

A pleasant woodland all about
To shield it from the wind,
And to make a home for singing birds
Before it and behind.

A southern aspect for the heat
A stream along its foot,
A smooth green lawn with rich top soil
Propitious to all fruit.
(pg. 151-152)

The poem goes on to describe the establishment of a small abbot of monks. This opening really speaks to my desire to create a simple life for myself, that really I don't need more than this monk needed over a thousand years ago.

Chicken-Pumpkin Curry Soup...

This past weekend I baked a small pumpkin I purchased before Halloween. I didn't know what to do with the resulting squash. Yesterday, I did a Google search for pumpkin soup and didn't find anything I wanted to follow exactly but I was given the idea to make a curry-based soup.

Last night I as at one of the two grocery stores in Gunnison (Safeway on Tomichi) and purchased an onion, cumin, chicken-broth, a package of drumsticks, and a quart of half-and-half. I first browned the chicken with the onion and then added all of the chopped pumpkin (I don't have a food processor, otherwise I would have creamed the pumpkin), the cumin, curry powder, and chicken-broth. I cooked the soup down for about an half-hour before adding about half of the cream. After cooking for another forty-five minutes with some instant rice, the soup tasted nice and creamy. The pumpkin and cream provided a rich base to the cream, although I wish I had better curry than the canned variety.

I also have enough left-over that I'm going to have nice dinner tonight as well.

Status

Last night I woke up numerous times with intestinal difficulties that continue today. I ate a bowl of City Market's generic cereal this morning but I am amazed that I still have any material left in my intestines. My stomach has gotten a great work-out but I'm not worried that I'll lose my beer belly, although stomach flu and no food make for a thin man.

Another Friday movie night...

My anti-social life continued this past Friday night with a robot romp, a made-up autobiography, and crime among drug dealers in Southern California. I rented from Redbox, "The Hoax" with Richard Gere; "Alpha Dog" with Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone, and Bruce Willis; and "Transformers". While The Hoax and Alpha Dog are based on true events (whatever that means), Transformers is clearly fiction.

During the 1980's when the Transformer cartoon showed on Saturday mornings, I never saw the show. My parents did not have a television and the only opportunity I had for watching television, in particular Saturday morning cartoons, was at my grandmother's house when she would have my brother Jake and I stay overnight. Some of my best memories growing up was watching television those rare mornings while eating multiple bowls of cold cereal.

Richard Gere plays Clifford Irving, failing writer needing some recognition of his writing skill and talent, becomes a literary con artist in the Hoax. Irving fabricates an autobiography of Howard Huges. I enjoyed this film and I learned that Irving's book contributed to Richard Nixon's paranoia leading to Watergate. Nixon trivia always interests me, being a child of the 70's and all. Nixon was born exactly 60 years before I was (January 9th, 1913) and he was a Quaker (like me).

Alpha Dog showed that Justin Timberlake can somewhat act, but I wasn't wowed by his performance as some of the reviewers of this movie were (see Salon's review). One problem I have is that I don't know what is a "real" event and what is dramatic fiction especially when the characters are not real matches with their real-world counterparts.

Geek Librarian stuff...

Part of my work at the library has been transitioning some technology we use for inventory and tracking material from Microsoft Access to an open-source application stack. I have been using Turbogears, an Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework based on a collection of Python web technologies including Cherrypy (which I have used before). The database layer currently uses SQLObject and SQLite. For much of the applications I have developed using Turbogears, I have used straight SQL for report queries because of the limitations (most likely my ignorance) of using an object layer over a relational databases.

My current development project is to create a dynamic web application for presenting a library's electronic resources. Using the MODS standard as a base data model, the application idea is to present multiple ways for users to access our electronic resources.
Here are some initial requirements:

• Browsing of resources by title, subject, and usage pattern (most popular, most used, etc.)
• MODS XML presentation
• Replace web sites and database pages
• Automatically route users to authentication pages for restricted electronic resources if outside IP ranges for the resource
• Track usage of resources from multiple sources including the database publisher
• Access electronic content from both remote and local hosting options
  

I have started the documentation for this application along with an alpha application. Beside coding of this application, I am working with the college's IT department to figure out a way to host this and the internal applications I have developed.

I'm working on some initial documentation that I'll be hosting through Google Docs. I'll post links to these documents when I have them.

Orange today...

Today is a Halloween of course. The sky is blue and chilly this morning. I should have enough candy for any trick-or-treaters who come by this evening. I remember in years past living at home with Mom and Dad.

On Halloween we would turn off all of the lights in the front area of whatever house we were renting at the time. We always seemed to have two or three kids stop by and Dad would usually tell them we didn't celebrate the holiday and we didn't have any candy. I have never gone trick-or-treating (is that really a verb?) so I don't have a real emotional connection to the holiday. I don't have a costume or anything today but I am wearing my orange Illinois sweatshirt to show some solidarity with my friends, colleagues, and patrons at the library

Snow, movies, and half a life...

Waking up this past Saturday and Sunday mornings, snow and cold quietly greeted me before eight. I usually sleep in on my days off, but I woke up early and could not fall back asleep. During the week-days, my neighbor starts his older Jeep Cherokee before 6:45 a.m., so I have been getting up early.

This past weekend, I finished Half-Life 2. I confess I had to use a cheat guide to avoid becoming stuck in a number of places. As a FPS, I enjoyed the game but I did find it too linear, either you followed a certain game path or you got stuck and could not continue. My Gateway laptop ran into some rendering problems during the final sequence of the game. I have it set-up as a dual-boot Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux operating system.

Also this weekend, I rented from McDonald's RedBox kiosk (Gunnison is so small that for the price and availability, the DVD rentals are the best deal) Catch & Release, Knocked Up, and Renaissance. Catch & Release was recognizable because it was set in Boulder with Jennifer Gardner and Kevin Smith but played as a forgettable light romantic comedy. Knocked Up was the better movie, I did laugh and Judd Apatow's comedy wasn't scared to shock. Renaissance was an animated black-and-white film set in a future Paris. A typical bleak future with massive corporate overlords trying to reach immortality with the hero solving these problems with primitive violence.

The last fishing trip for the season...

My father and brother Jarrett came up from Grand Junction to visit me this weekend. They came in Friday night. Saturday morning we drove up to Needlecreek Resivor, the lake still filled with moss and we couldn't see any fish. In the afternoon, we went fishing at the mouth of the Gunnison river as it empties into Blue Mesa. We all caught and released a number of four-six inche rainbow trout. I finally caught an 13-14th inch brown trout. A couple of minutes later, Jarrett pulled in the biggest lake trout I have seen, an 18-inch. Dad caught a 13-inch rainbow trout a few minutes after that.

After the weather started turning ugly (the temparture dropped and the wind started howling through the canyons), we packed up my Trooper, and left for Gunnison. We ate good baked trout that night, along with potatoes and corn.

Dad, Jarrett, and I had the breakfest buffet at the Gunnysack on Sunday morning before they left. Going there for breakfest after a weekend of fishing has become somewhat of a tradition. This is Dad's forth fishing trip and it does get me out of my cabin and into the Gunnison area. I'll be seeing everyone again during Thanksgiving. With Mom still being a devote Jehovah Witness, I won't worry about seeing her during the holiday.

Half-Life 2...

This past weekend, I purchased Half-Life 2 for $20. I finally got to play off-line last night. The graphics and play are good, definitely living up to the hype (I know, I know, I am behind in my game playing, Half-Life 2: Portal is coming out soon)

The last FPS I played was Call of Duty, and like that game, after playing Half-Life for most of the evening, I have a cross-hair after-image when I closed my eyes and when I went to sleep. Tonight is the Thursday night television juggernaut and I also have to pick up my cabin as my father and brother are coming to visit. One last fishing expedition for this year.

Finished Crooked Little Vein...

Last night I finished reading Warren Ellis's Crooked Little Vein. I laughed at some parts, my expectations were met. The book's graphic sexuality and fetish descriptions were extreme but I do follow Ellis's blog and he links to some of these same subcultures. Trix, the main female character, defends these lifestyles, as she is a participant and not just an observing graduate student. Her argument (echoed by other characters in the novel) that the difference between "mainstream" and "alternative" is a matter of degree with the increased exposure of all types of sexuality and human culture expressed through social networking webs and accessible through Internet search engines.

Last night's My Name is Earl, with its homosexual love story between the two leaders of two rival prison gangs, was personally shocking for its explicit and positive portrayal of public displays of affection. I looked away from some of these scenes, but the story was off-beat enough that at the end, I hope that these two characters will show up in later episodes.

Listening to Killing Joke for the first time

http://www.killingjoke.com/killingjoke_live.html