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So yeah I'll be Off Of blog kinda for the next while. I have yet another trip across the country, but this one has a twist.

Stay tuned for "posts from the road" and maybe even a photo or two.

Right now I have to finish cleaning the house and getting all set to welcome Jen.

While this won't, by far, be the last trip across the country it is the begining of something new.

Maybe Just Maybe

I spent one of my last nights in his house as the only adult here in the tub listening to 80's hits, reading about the history of the proofs that the quintic equation has no general algebraic solution and counting repeatedly to 9.

Maybe.

Maybe I left the toilet seat up on purpose.

Maybe not.

Another look.

Glen came over and we did some astronomy last night. Technically it was "suck-hole astronomy" what with the clouds and all. It's called suck-hole because you hope for a hole in the clouds and either they call it suck-hole because it sucks or because you try and suck some starlight through the lens.



Mostly we just geeked out with our telescopes. We even admired how well we had aligned them. Yeah I know, shut up.

Yes I took a photo of the eyepiece of my telescope. It came out rather nicely:





Click the photo to see the rest of the gallery. I have one of the moon being visited by Venus.


Megan and William joined us and then the clouds really rolled in. We ended up sitting around the driveway talking and calling out the occasional star. There was not even time to move the scopes to point at anything by then. Still it was a very fun evening.

Come here, stay.

I went and saw Steven Wright last night at the Moore Theater in Seattle. The show was great. He didn't just rehash his old material which I was a little worried about. The stuff was new and fresh and he still hit some of the old notes, but very very few. I had seen him last when I was 16 and I ushered a show with my friend Solomon at the Taft theater in Cincinnati.

He looked like a homeless guy you might see riding the T in Boston. He had on dark clothes and a coat. You don't often see someone on stage with a coat on like that. It didn't look as if he's cut any of his hair since I saw him over twenty years ago. With the mumbling and the signature style which has influenced many more performers, he also sounds like a crazy homeless person on public transit. I guess the only thing between him and being a homeless guy riding the T mumbling funny stuff are those shows...

What my evening was gonna be about...

I worked late. The sky was clear. Tonight was supposed to be about checking out an episode of the office and then maybe digging out my telescope and playing with technology. I fixed the battery connector this weekend so I could actually use the tracking mount.

That was the plan. Unfortunately just like the plans of mice (Mr. Izzard points out that mice do not in fact plan very much except when it relates to cheese. Digression)

Instead I ended up cleaning up my carpet and giving my dog (the smart one) an ad hoc bath on the deck. I'm sure it was more unpleasant for him than it was me, but I really did not plan on dealing with amount of mess tonight.

Hell I got carry out so there would be no dishes...

Annoying is

You know that snoopy book Happiness Is? Each page is stuff that would make you happy with pictures like "finding your skate key" or "double jelly on a pb&j" or "Nailing the prom queen in 11th grade because she's drunk on tequila" Wait no that was something else entirely.

My book will be called annoying is and the first page reads:

"opening your garage and finding your neighbor parked in it"

OK yes they aren't blocking me in. But still there is plenty of shared drive for her to leave her SUV in but no she actually has it in my driveway up to my 3rd bay.

When was that?

You know what would be cool? A device that sits by my bed (no not in my mouth or even on my finger) that tells me when I actually went to sleep the night before. That way I could gauge the crapiness of my day. Was it 1 or 2? I mean I don't know because looking over at the clock is exactly what you don't do when you're trying to fall asleep.

"Damn it's 1:03"
"Oh Damn it's 1:05"
"Shit..."

You get the idea. When I wake up I know when I woke up because either the radio is blasting at my head telling me it's time to get up or I just woke up from a nightmare that included a frog in my bathroom. (Those of you who have read Freud at all have already read to much into this post so stop right now, k?)

Then you look at the clock. Why? because you just woke up. Who doesn't look at the clock?

So then with my new device you could look at the "When I fell asleep"/Clapper device. (I mean cause what couldn't be improved with a clapper? Also do the people who improved the light switch with the original clapper realize they named something after a guy who hangs out at bars and gives unsuspecting partners gonorrhea?) Digression.

So then you just subtract and figure out if you need a double tall or a triple grande when you hit the coffee stand. It should be called ... called... The sleeper... no... The winker... no, although that also sounds like a guy who hangs out at a bar and is almost as creepy. The chlamydia-er no...

Why are none of the other VD's catchy? Um.

Ortho final

So I've blogged a lot about my teeth. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than what I had for lunch (Yesterday it was grilled cheese and tater tots. Didn't that just make you hungry?) but I'm finally all done with extraordinary dental stuff. Yes I have a retainer. I'm supposed to wear it 7 hours a day, but other than that I'm done. 6 Month cleanings is it.

Wow this is a boring post. What's for lunch?

Dad what's an 8 track?

How long til we lose CD's all together? I just got a new CD and with the current state of technology you don't really spend much time with an actual CD at all. I just pop it in and my favorite mp3 manager rips it without blinking and next time it sees my player it'll get copied to it and then it's in the car and yada yada yada...

I hate DRM. I realize I'm late to this anti-love fest. That being said yes if I want just one track I'll buy it that way, but still then I can't play it anywhere but ... again late to that hate fest so there isn't any reason to go through it here.

Obviously the record companies want you to buy the CD. Either that or they don't and just don't know how to stop that revenue stream.

I like having the CD. When will they take that away from me? When? I'm waiting for the shoe to drop.

Shot through the heart...

You know you're getting old when your kid can beat you at video games. Wait it's worse than that. He beat me at my own game. Not that I wrote it, but I used to be pretty good at halo. He managed to eek out a win at classic slayer tonight. I thought I'd teach him a thing or two about old skool vids... nope. He won 15/14... Next time we're going to blood gulch and I'll show him what a sniper rifle can do...

Or maybe... just maybe I can get his little sister to play against me. Yeah if I can't beat her it's time to get the fake teeth and head for the home...

oh so much to do...

Jen broke the news on her blog that she's moving to Seattle. It means I have a lot to do.

It seems that women don't like to store clothes in garbage bags hung in the closet. I mean I thought it was a good system. White Hefty Sinch Sacks are clean. Black Glad leaf and garden bags: dirty. Simple, right? Apparently, we need something called a dresser. Who knew?

I also have a feeling that my system of storing natural Doritos all around the house with the most incredible invention known to man, the chip clip, is also going to be, "right out."

Also, I heard tell of something called curtains. I'm not sure what these are, but I've picked up from context that by choosing a particular color one can "accent" a room. Whatever the hell that means.

This is the part where I am supposed to say "seriously," then gush or something. Not going to happen. Not because I don't want to (I secretly do (except posting something "secretly" to one's blog makes it exactly not secretly, but whatever)), but because she would hurt me.

OK, now seriously I have to go buy something called a ... mop. Right.