calamari dreamin'

10:11am: Temple of Knowledge has gone dark
"....finally busted Madame Marie for telling fortunes better than they do."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--obit-madammarie0701jul01,0,645134.story
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/NEWS/80701031

(ps - according to the Mayor of Asbury Park she was never busted.)

12:04pm: ANUNCLE
Congrats B&J

9:45am: Still life with Folklife
It's that time of year again.
And by that time I mean Smithsonian Folklife Festival starts today and runs to July 6.
This year's themes are Bhutan, Texas and NASA.

We are planning to go this weekend with a few other people (the usual suspects). Not sure if it will be Saturday or Sunday yet, but if anyone is interested in joining us let us know.
S and I are most interested in Bhutan, somewhat interested in NASA and will probably do a hit-and-run on Texas.
Might even try the hot peppers in yak cheese for lunch ;-)

3:04pm: Bakamono
I didn't exactly lose my temper, but I yelled at driver today. I had stopped to pick up lunch at the Pan Am Safeway. I was leaving and was walking in the very wide and very visible striped cross walks, with numerous "stop" signs for vehicles. A S(tupid)U(ser)V pulled up to the stop line, slowed and proceeded to roll thru it directly across my path. If I hadn't stopped suddenly I would have been clipped by him. The driver was about my age. As he came even with me I looked him in the face and shouted "HEY! That was a stop there, and STOP MEANS STOP!" He looked startled (good) and abashed (good) and did stop at the crosswalk at the other entrance (very good).

4:53pm: As heard on NPR...
I was just listening to the evening broadcast of ATC. A British accented presenter was talking about the relaxation of liquor laws in India and said with a straight face (voice) "The consumption of alcohol is expected to treble this year, although that is starting from a low base."




(chirp)




Well, I thought it was funny.

4:07pm: Gaseous
Modern technology is amazing.
The gas station I usually fill up at (Safeway at Pan-Am shopping Center) has electronic signs so they can change the price at a moments notice. After several days of seeing gas around the area at 4-ish & a gallon, I remember that my usual station had been around 3.96. Needing a fill-up, yesterday I drove by at 2pm and saw the price on the electronic sign at 4.03. Waited until dusk to fill up, drove up to find the price changed ....... to 3.99.
Sugoi!
With the 0.10 club-card discount and putting it on Discover for another 2% cashback, it's a relatively good price.

What's sickening it that now it really IS a good price.
And I felt "good" about getting a bargain.

Eliminating unnecessary trips, ganging up necessary trips, driving gently, etc. Anything to stretch or save a gallon.

* * *

There is supposed to be a joke that the Saudi's like to tell.

Q - What is the best price for a barrel of oil?
A - $100, $100, $10, $100

12:59pm: Oh, the Humidity!
HotHotHotHotHot

Went out to get lunch. Everyone outside is wilting, moving slow and sloppy.
Praise be AC.

....and I just spilled my salad down my front #$%&*!!$

* * *

(cleaned up a bit)

Early bike ride yesterday to beat the heat. Passed up riding the "Tour dem Parks" (Baltimore), the W&OD end-to-end and the Museum open house (with a side of Art-o-matic). Weather and/or gas prices. Mostly stayed on the Capitol Crescent and C&O canal - under the trees, by the river. Not a long ride, but the miles add up.
cc will post details ...later.

* * *

More adventures in Japanese cooking.
Results of the okonomiyaki sessions over Memorial Day weekend were mixed, but I learned a lot and plan to try them again.
Saturday's Yakisoba was successful. Cooked the soba noodles the day before. Wokked the onions in peanut oil first, then the noodles, then the scallions, then added 1/3 of the sauce (soy sauce, daishi, Worcestershire sauce, mirrin, wine vinegar, sake, adjusting the mix as I cooked). Then the pre-cooked chicken and minced garlic, adding more sauce. Then red peppers, squash and shredded carrots. Add last of the sauce, toss a few times, lower the heat and cover the wok. Stir every couple minutes and recover. Transfer to plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
pssst - the secret is the sauce.

5:08pm: Foot in mouth.
Not my foot. Not my mouth.

Yesterday evening on NPR's "All Things Considered" Robert Siegel was interviewing a senior aide to the Clinton Campaign about what she was going to next. When asked if Clinton was planning to concede the nomination, the spokesman (sorry, can't remember his name) said (paraphrased) that she would go on to the convention so that "the 18 or 19 people who supported her" would be represented.
I think he meant "18 or 19 million".....

Or maybe not.....

* * * *

Everybody's tired.
I'm glad the primary process is over.
Now it's time to get ready for some real change.

4:27pm: Go Green
This Sunday Arlington County is have their Green Living Home and Garden tour.
There is an official bike tour that AM is leading, but I think I will do one of my own. Get in an early ride, perhaps to Mount Vernon (club ride) or Herndon (town festival weekend) and finish in Arlington for the tour. Several certified homes will be open and I would like to talk to the owners or designers.
FYI - we have a house in the works that is going to be submitted for the county Green Homes program. We've pretty much settled on what compliance items we will be providing, but I'd like to take a look at some options and get some feed back from the people living in the house. I forwarded the info to the clients and hope they might take the tour too.
Some of our other builder clients are interested in getting new projects certified as green homes. It's partly a marketing strategy, but some sound like they are seriously committed to going green.
Back in Architecture School and early in my career I was very interested in environmentalism and alternate design, but my career developed in different directions. In the late 80's and 90's I became very involved in accessible design and senior design. I've got that are down real well (even consulting for other architects), but I was left behind by the new green movement. Now I'm playing catch up, rediscovering my old interests. Haven't started with the LEED certification process yet, but am looking at it. In the meantime I've been studying the NAHB's program closely and think it is better than the LEED-R for SFD's. Several other architects, green builders and local code officials I've talked to agree with me.

info for Sunday
http://arlingtonenvironment.org/getinvolved.htm#biketour
http://arlingtonenvironment.org/garden_tour08.pdf

There is also the CSC invitational bike race (the old Clarendon Cup) that I might swing by to see. One of the tour sites is not far from there.

But for tomorrow, helping A shop for a new used car.

8:13pm: Rah, rah.
I was listening to the news on ATC. The were reporting on McCain's Denver speech and playing segments. When McCain said "we will never surrender in Iraq" and the crowd started cheering and chanting, I found myself chanting too....

"100 more year! 100 more year! 100 more year!"

1:22pm: Holiday!!!!
Just realized that a holiday weekend is coming up.
What to do...what to do....

RIDE TIME - Three days of good looking weather to get in 100 miles of bike time. Maybe out to Purcelville, or up to Olney. Or Mount Vernon - haven't been there yet this year. Maybe ride down to the local highways overpass and watch Rolling thunder roll by.

Work on the yard. Work on the house. Work on the work.

Some anime-watching time. Have a lot of choices: the Utena movie, Sayanora Sensi, xxxHolic Kei, the rest of Elven Lied, maybe some Miyazaki (Porco Rosso) or Kon movies (Paprika).

Might even to out to a theater movie. Wonder what University has this weekend?

Dinner out...somewhere. Temari, maybe? Or Woodlands? Might be a good weekend for Dehli Club.

And some cooking. Mordath's lj post put it into my head to try making Okonomiyaki. Onions, peppers, shrimp and narutomaki, or maybe chicken. Need to make an H-Mart stop for cabbage, big bottle of Mirrin and probably more udon (pasta.... yeah pasta).

Probably need to put sleep in there somewhere.

8:34am: Anime Saturday - May 17
Picked up Japanese snacks from H-Mart: rice crackers, chestnut wheat cakes (really good), dark chocolate pocky. Had the usual selection of teas.
(Also picked up a bag of gyoza, fresh udon and a narutomaki, but didn't serve those.)

Ongoing series:
Moyashimon - Tales of Agriculture - (episodes 9 and the Microbe Theater Special) - college freshman who sees, and talks to, microbes.) Hazuki's story. And whatever happened to Kei?
Seirei no Moribito - Guardian of the Sacred Spirit - (episodes 9 & 10) They royal court tries to get back to normal. Chagun makes friends, gets a "job" and proves to have formidable street- smarts.
Shigufumi - (episode 4) - Letters sent from the dead to the living, and the person who delivers them. A delivery refused, and more of Fumika's story.

New series:
Wagaya-no Oinarisama - (episode 1) The fox spirit Kugen Tenko agrees to protect the Takagami brothers. This a really good one. Good art, good humor in the writing, good action and Kugen is great.
Library Wars - (episode 1) The library system defends itself from government censorship with it's own volunteer military force. Another really good one.

* * * *

( In other anime..... )

* * * *

Party wrapped a bit early. Everyone wanted to enjoy the last of a beautiful Saturday. S and I went out to dinner at Minerva for aloo tiki and dosa. Then to Borders for some browsing.
Finished the day with some more Wagaya and set the tape for Bleach.

9:05pm: Anime Saturday - late
Meant to post this much earlier.

Anime Saturday - April 19. Picked up Japanese snacks from H-Mart: rice crackers, red bean cakes, pocky. Also picked up a chocolate anpan to try.

Ongoing series:
Moyashimon - Tales of Agriculture - (episodes 7 & 8 - college freshman who sees, and talks to, microbes.) Spring festival time.
Seirei no Moribito - Guardian of the Sacred Spirit - (episodes 7 & 8) With their pursuers thrown off, Balsa and Chagun settle into their new home.
Shigufumi - episode 3 - Letter sent from the dead to the living, and the person who delivers them. Starts getting into story of Fumika.

New this month:
Clamp World 2 - music video featuring several of the animes by Clamp.
xxxHolic - episode 1, Clamp story about a boy bothered by spirits and the "strange" person who agrees to help him. Very stylized art. Very funny. (One of our favorites.)
Allison to Lillia - episode 1. Steam-punk story of a treasure hunt. Very pretty animation and good characters. (Has a Studio Ghibli look to it, and I found out why - one of the 3D directors came from SG.)
I..Kiss - episode 1. Animated version of the Taiwanese series "It started with a kiss" based on the Japanese light novels.

* * * *

In other anime.....

Started watching Elfen Lied, which I picked up on a very good sale at Best Buy. Very interesting. Pretty good. VERY bloody. Do not take with meals.

On TV - with our trip to NY we missed episodes of Speedgrapher, Witchblade, Kyo Kara Maou, Gangetsuo. Did manage to see some Utena and Fruits Basket on M&D's cable, and taped Bleach and Deathnote.

On Netflix - we finished the third disk of Pumpkin Scissor. Looking forward to the release of the 4th disk next month. Also finished the xxxHolic movie.
The first disk of Loki Ragnarok showed up while we were away, but it was damaged and wouldn't play. New one coming.

On line - ongoing series Persona Trinity (approaching wrap-up), Saiunkoku, Naruto Shippuden, Bleach (interesting new filler arc), Nabari, Gallery Fake, Wagaya, Twenty Faces, just to name a few.

Next Anime Saturday is ........Saturday.

8:55pm: What a bunch of maroons.....
This is good.

Heard about this on "All Things Considered" and looked it up on line.
* * * *

House GOP’s ‘Change’ Slogan Not First of Its Kind
12:37 p.m. ET

House Republicans, hoping to prevent a total landslide in the fall, were getting ready Wednesday to kick off their new policy initiatives. With it, a new slogan: “The Change You Deserve.”

Turns out, someone’s already taken it.

( Ho, Ho, Ho )

9:48am: News flash
A quick update.
S and I are in NJ paying the 'rents a visit, and making a short vacation of it.
Drove up Saturday (supposed to have left Friday and spent Saturday in NY but work and a cold delayed me)
Sunday I did Bike New York (my fifth time, finished with 54 miles for the day) while S worked on fixing this computer. After the main ride I had fun exploring Manhattan by bike - Chinatown, Lower East Side, East village, Noho and Loho
Monday I worked on repairs to the house and pulled up poison ivy. But we ended up with the afternoon free, so we drove down to Liberty State Park and took the boat to Ellis Island.
Today we leave NJ for three nights on Long Island. Not so crowded, or so expensive pre-season. Will probably go into NY Wednesday while the weather is still nice.
Will be back in NJ on Friday, and heading back to Virginia Saturday.

No computer for three days. Catch ya later.

8:48am: Hmmmmmm.
just heard on NPR - Morning Edition

Coccolithophore
plants that grow shells.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Coccolithophores/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccolithophore

The pretty little things are pretty little things.

2:59pm: Yeah......Pasta
Heard a great little quote today on NPR's "Splendid Table"


"If the soup had been as warm as the wine, if the wine had been as old as the turkey, if the turkey had had a breast like the maid, it would have been a swell dinner."

Duncan Hines, food and lodging critic (1880-1959)

9:08pm: The First Point of Aries
It didn't feel very springish today.
Blustery was an understatement.
Twice my car door was ripped from my hands.
The wind almost pushed me off the stairs near where I park.
We had to lock the office door to keep it from being sucked open.
otoh - It was sunny and not too cold when the wind wasn't blowing.
AC brought in a box of homemade Nowruz cookies.
More plants are awake. Blossoms are coming out on pear and cherry trees.
Soon the bike will stay in the back of the car, ready to ride at a moments notice (not that I ever have a free moment.)

Waiting for warmer weather.

7:17pm: Anime Saturday
Picked up Japanese snacks from H-Mart: rice crackers, red bean cakes bun, chestnuts.

Ongoing series:
Moyashimon (Tales of Agriculture) - episodes 4, 5 and 6 - college freshman who sees, and talks to, microbes. This time we meet the "microbe monster."
Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) - episodes 5 and 6. Balsa has a cunning plan.

New this month:
Ghosthound - episode 1 - High schooler having out of body experiences visits the "unseen world."
Shion no Ou - episode 1 - On the surface it's a sports story about shogi (chess) players on the women's circuit, but it's really a complex murder mystery.
Shigufumi - episodes 1 and 2 - Letter sent from the dead to the living, and the person who delivers them. The ending of episode one is a real shocker.

Same again next month.

* * * *

S and I went out for a late dinner at Maneki Neko in Falls Church. First time there. Prices are OK, with a really good sushi special on weekdays. We had don with shrimp tempura and a chicken udon. Oishii!

9:43am: Dumped
Yet another survivor-style reality show.
But this one is kinda, sorta interesting.
BBC America is showing "Dumped" which drops the contestants in the middle of a garage dump and tells them to live off what they can find. Aired on BBC last fall.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/308/index.jsp
I only saw part of one episode (the second I think) so I don't know the details of what they do for food (clean water is provided). The enviro theme is interesting. On the bit I saw they had to build a composting toilet because their porta-toilets were being taken away. One of their next challenges will be to build a solar water heater to replace their hot water source. If they don't succeed it will be cold showers for everybody. Problem is they all have different focuses. Some are artists for whom their sculpture garden takes precedent, most want to scavenge everything they can to sell for cash to buy luxuries, but only one wants to make the water heater top priority.

Could turn eco-preachy, but I'll watch a couple more to see.

* * * *

Weather finally cooperated and I managed an early bike ride Saturday. cc will post details later.

9:44am: Cherry Blossom Festival
The National Cherry Blossom Festival will be March 29 to April 13. Don't know it the blossoms will cooperate or not.
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/cms/index.php?id=390 for the festival.

Street Festival in April 12 Washington, DC, at Freedom Plaza. http://www.sakuramatsuri.org/

Line up for their anime marathon at the Freer Gallery on April 5. http://www.asia.si.edu/

Jungle Emperor Leo
Atagoal: Cat's Magical Forest
5 Centimeters per Second
Appleseed: Ex Machina

This year I WILL get there early enough for tickets.

3:50pm: Bananas
"Fresh Air" on WAMU just had a fascinating interview with the author of a new book on Bananas
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19097412&surl=http://wamu.org/programs/fresh_air/&f=module-FA
http://www.amazon.com/Banana-Fate-Fruit-Changed-World/dp/1594630380/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203369471&sr=1-1
Even though I don't eat bananas, I buy them all the time for S.
Learned all sorts of things about the funny fruit. Their origin, their biology, their introduction to the western hemisphere, their economics, their politics (the rise of the "Banana Barons" and the subjugation of Central America,including slave labor)

Two interesting cultural bits regarding bananas:
1) the song "Yes we have no bananas" was written when there were banana shortages after a fungus swept thru the Gros Michel variety. The Cavendish variety considered an inferior "garbage" fruit, but it was more disease resistant and replaced the Gros Michel as top banana.
2) the author sang the "Chiquita Banana" song, then pointed out the "big lie" perpetrated by the banano-industrial complex. Bananas WILL keep well in the refrigerator. Bananas SHOULD be kept in the refrigerator. They are shipped refrigerator to preserve them and keep the flavor. The banana industry had the song written to persuade people not to refrigerate their bananas so that the fruit would spoil quicker and people would have to buy more bananas.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!


I'm thinking that maybe it's the Cavendish banana that I can't eat and perhaps I should try one of the other varieties...if I can find them on this side of the Pacific.

4:17pm: Anime update
S and I had our second Anime Saturday. Three guests and us (J arrived a bit late). Picked up Japanese snacks from H-Mart: rice crackers, tako chips, mochi bun (also picked up a bag of tako- yaki, heat-and-serve octopus puffs, but those are for us.)

This month's selection:
Moyashimon (Tales of Agriculture) - episodes 2 and 3 - college freshman who sees, talks to, microbes.
Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) - episodes 2, 3 and 4
The Amazing Screw-on Head (rented from Netflix) - zaney story about a secret agent working for Abraham Lincoln.
Fruits Basket - episodes 1 and 2 - A girl becomes involved with a family under a strange curse. Very funny and sweet and sometimes sad story.
Bleach - episodes 1 and 2 - high school boy who sees ghosts. (For all of the 160ish episodes of Bleach that we have watched, S had never seen episode 1)

Third Saturdays seem to work better than fourths. Same again next month.

* * * *

Finished Madlax. Very good. That completes the "girls with guns" trilogy.
Screw-on Head was next on Netflix.
Upcoming planned rentals include When They Cry, Saiunkoku, Pumpkin Scissor, Loki Ragnarok and Elfen Lied.

10:44am: Cyber-valentine
For tylluan_wen

9:05am: Primary Day
Virgina might help make a difference this year.
We voted early. Short line at 6:45, but I'm sure it will be busy later.
Done by 7:00, so we went home to read the paper. Then drop tylluan_wen off at her foot doctor. Maybe "the boot" will be gone after today.

* * * *

I'm running out of time to use my "shrub" picture. I should do more political posting, but whenever I get started on that bakamono I get too angry to be coherent.

* * * *

Saturday weather was pretty good. Good enough to ride. Fairfax City to Burke Lake to beat my February mileage record. Details on cc_rider soon.