about all the extra I can handle right now.

Go vote for a few of my photos: they might make it into the book. Or, better yet, win prizes (though I doubt it: I got a late start).

catching what now?

Remember the "catching up with myself" goal of Sunday?

I failed. So now I'm behind again.

Got my recycling done, but then went to #psone and got sucked in until the night's movie outing. On the up side, I got some great shots.

disorganized breakfast and developments ramblings

It's a tea and marmalade-on-buttered-flax-bread sort of morning. My main task today is to catch up with myself.

I've been so busy, which has been great, but it has also meant that I've left things behind. My recycling is out of control (need to call the alderman, as my area seems to have been left in between systems--blue bag or blue box, and we don't have the new boxes, so I have to haul my recycling elsewhere). I'd like to get started with worm composting, though that may be a task for after I join #psone and thus have handy access to a drill so I can make my own enclosure rather than buying one.

I've already started a small pre-worm composting bin and am tossing my grapefruit rinds (have I mentioned that I've been re-addicted to grapefruit?) and used tea leaves in there. It's sooo nice to toss the tea somewhere I know it will be productive, rather than in the trash where I know it will be plasticized and then take up space in a landfill.

Oh! And just before May Day, I planted a little herb garden and some peppers (and re-potted the spider plant Marty gave me cuttings of) for my porch. The fact that it's enclosed is handy here, but it still gets a ton of light. Though we're already getting those fake ladybugs inside it. I hope they won't become a problem.

But back to breakfast: I picked up the tea last night in Chinatown, after learning that I can walk there in a terribly reasonable 15-20 minutes. Becoming too impatient to wait for the bus does have its perks.

But back to the tea. It's a peach-infused green which will make an excellent (and less caffeinated) alternative to the peach black I originally got a ton of at P.F. Chang's so long ago that I'm almost out of.

And it complements the apple-citrus sylt (marmalade). Which is, rather sadly, from IKEA, since I haven't gotten up to Andersonville to shop for the real thing yet.

Oh, and my favorite thing about this tiny breakfast this morning--the trick I started using to soften cold refrigerated butter: put the butter on the bread but don't even attempt to spread it until after placing it on top of the water boiler near the steam vent. So much easier afterward.

I've now talked with my landlord: I'll be staying in the aptly nicknamed GoldPeach past July and thus for another year. Which is excellent since I've finally got the furniture the way I want it and he's finally letting me hang things (and thus put holes in the walls).

I also started another professional blog since I've lost access to my Penn State blog space. The task right now is importing and adding backdated entries that were housed elsewhere or that I drafted way back when but never posted. Like the one about Flourish conference that I ended up drafting in an email to the head of the central management team when he asked about it. And I still need to write one about the TLT Symposium.

The oblique reference to #psone needs a bit more clarification, doesn't it? I first found out about it at Flourish, which is a conference about open source. And #psone is very open source-minded, though they work on a membership model. Their events are often open to the public, but usually for an extra fee (which is another way they raise money to support the organization, which is legally a non-profit). They recently started renting a space and are in the midst of the build-out, including the building of a loft space, among many other perks. Here are some pictures I took at one of the Tuesday meetings. Members teach each other what they know: programming to carpentry, press release writing to how to use a scroll saw, juggling to electrical engineering, and anything and everything in between. I might run one (if I join) about making chain maille/chainmail, jewelry and otherwise.

Could also do one on photography, now that I think about it. Friday was full of photography: I shot behind-the-scenes on a taping of Good Morning America in one of our labs. It should run next Friday morning. I've got the photos I could finish and post the half-hour I had left after the (long, exhausting) day up on our flickr account for the college.

I'm now out of marmalade and tea, so I'll have to continue this later. Too much else to get on with today.

in transit

Glaedig jul, all. It's Christmas morning, and I'm up way too early, woken by my new gas company with an automated message welcoming me as a customer. Sure, great message, but 8:08 a.m. on Christmas? Sounds like somebody didn't think things through.

Back up. A lot's happened since my last official update. A lot of that material I had to keep under my hat until it was all said and done, but most of that necessity's past now as well. And then I started lacking time. But now, with a few hours on my hands until the household rouses: well, update time it is. Helps that Dad reminded me to update last night, of course.

So! Since last we heard from our insipid adventurer . . . ahem. I mean.

Start over. I obviously need some tea or coffee or something. But I'm also not going to risk waking Dad or our guest further than I've risked it already. So this may be rambly. Fair warning.

In any case. I got a new job and am in the process of relocating to Chicago. Right now I'm between the two jobs, but the timing's right. The break between semesters always gives people a fresh start and is an ideal time to start (it's when I started with Penn State Admissions as well, I might mention). Great opportunity, great staff to be working with: I feel like I'll mesh there well. Plus the upgrade in terms of title and pay, of course. Never hurt anyone, and is especially welcome given the current state of the economy.

And it's all been remarkably smooth. The biggest hiccup has been underestimating how much stuff I've got to move. But even that isn't a huge deal. Everything else has been going remarkably well: found someone to take over my old place almost immediately, found a great new place with the help of a very old friend and his partner in crime, got moved despite extreme temperatures and getting the truck stuck in the snow on my old street (virtually inevitable, I might add, due to snow conditions and the way my old street's not level and the street parking is never plowed), had some lovely long-haul help and company from my neighbor-turned-friend, ran out of a bunch of things at exactly the right time, was immensely surprised and thankful that all my close old local friends showed up and pitched in to get me out of my old place (some I knew I could count on--thank you, other J--but others I simply didn't expect to see) and then had a great traditional meal and hang-out at old haunts with them, wrapped the photoshoots I intended to before leaving the area of a few DJs from my old company (though I still have to edit and post more shots from both shoots), wrapped up work best I could in the time I had; just generally, all's working out well.

I'm too Danish (read: cynical/pragmatic, depending on who you ask) to say everything's coming up roses, but for the upheaval I'm undertaking currently, the smoothness is astonishing. And I also have to thank family and friends for bearing with me during this time: people have been thankfully understanding when it comes to me being out of contact and/or rushed, etc.

Though I will admit that some of the time-out just now is half-obligation, half-vacation/break. G.S., the aforementioned neighbor-turned-friend, is with me on this move/holiday trip from Pennsylvania, and some time is being spent exploring my neighborhood, local cuisine, plus Chicago tourist attractions for his sake. Not that I don't enjoy them too. We hit the Shedd Aquarium for a quick stop, but still need to get to the Sears Tower and Art Institute, if nothing else. Oh! and Chinatown.

Christmas Eve went pretty swimmingly, and today should be an adventure. Guests in the holiday family craziness is always a bit of a wild card scenario, but all involved are easygoing enough that everything should be fine.

Looking ahead, the new job starts January 5th, and I have plenty to keep me occupied until then. The touristy stuff, setting up the new apartment, getting G.S. back to Pennsylvania and picking up the rest of my belongings, wrapping up accounts and such in PA, cleaning up the old apartment and handing over my lease, etc.

I hear people up and about, and I think that covers the state of things, so it looks like it's time to sign off and get moving. I would also note that I suspect my usual year-in-review will be significantly delayed due to all this. So: best wishes for the new year, kids.

trips and new developments

Again with the whole been 'too busy living life to blog about it' thing.

Took three trips in two weeks a bit ago. Missouri for a conference (excellent conference, by the way), the usual Palmyra run plus some shopping, and then Philly for some usability studies for work, which went pretty well.

In Philly, went out to dinner with the Director of Admissions of one of our campuses there and his family. He lives in Center City, in what's nicknamed the "Gayborhood," which is an amazing part of Philly.

I'd never really been to Philly proper: before only once, on an in-and-out run to a Garbage concert, which doesn't really count. But this time, I was able to take my time and look around. It's really gorgeous in some areas: very European, very historic.

I took a ton of pictures, one entire memory card full of pictures from Eastern State Penitentiary: a former state prison, since abandoned, but more recently reclaimed and stabilized as a preserved ruin. Amazing material. Slowly going through those photos now. Here are the sets thus far from Eastern State Penitentiary, Penn State Abington (the aforementioned campus), and around Philadelphia.

But all those trips in succession ended up making me way too crammed--ran myself a bit into the ground. Especially with Halloween right on their heels, which involved three get-togethers over the weekend, plus oatmeal-raisin cookie making with my neighbor. Thank goodness one of my costumes was multiple-use-friendly, or one of the three would have been out of luck.

Been hanging out quite a bit with my neighbor, a grad in the film department. We've never yet run out of things to talk about. My Netflix list of DVDs to watch is growing faster than I can keep up with it.

Got officially hooked on Fringe thanks to Hulu. Who needs cable TV? Everything I watch is online these days.

More trips to come. Next week's another Palmyra run, then Chicago/Wisconsin. Connecting up with a bunch of old friends and family, among other things.

Have another sinus infection. And strangely enough, as I was picking up my antibiotics, the pharmacist stopped me to ask about my last name. His is the same, and it's an unusual spelling. We started talking about our Danish relatives. And we might be related somehow. The immigration stories are the same--Ellis Island to Wisconsin--and the changed spelling too. The first name of his father wasn't familiar to me, and the initial was wrong (that side of my family has consistent initials), but it might've been a different branch.

I gave him my email address: he'll email me to get the link to the Geni family tree I've been working on. Which I'm going to add to once I pick up the more complete paper version that my uncle has.

Serendipity, you know? Odd little coincidences that seem to have been happening a lot lately. It's a pretty neat feeling. And there may be more to come.

4th fun

Though tentative plans made got shoved aside, the 4th was a remarkably fun time. We made giant bubbles, grilled veggies and tofu and chicken and burgers, hiked out to a field for the fireworks (a bit late, but hey), made up some new drinks with what we had on hand, tested new scents out (some of us, anyway: BPAL, of course), had our own little fireworks display and light show, and generally had a good day of it.

The next couple days were filled with the crunching of photos, yoga, and there was a game in there somewhere as well. Photos from the 4th here, and the Wisconsin visit here (Lady of the Lake tour alone here).

And I realized today I haven't touched WoW since, like, Thursday. Even to check the Auction House. Bit of a rarity, though no huge deal or anything. I'd say people are probably wondering where I am, but then again, I've been out a lot lately, though usually for trips or conferences. Which is mostly over for the season, I think. And now the press to Spend a Summer Day.

The continuing limbo . . . well, continues. Thus the name.

Got more RAM into my computer and it's behaving well, finally, which is a very good thing. Exciting times in the onthelevel household.

Arts Fest is this week. Took a couple days off for that, so I'll have at least two short weeks in a row. Going to do pirate day properly this year, sounds like. So that should be fun.

Recently re-read The Long Tail, now moving on to Everything is Miscellaneous. Just my professional reading list is out of control, let alone my personal. I should really tackle the ones I have out from the library before the ones I own, though. Tough to prioritize, though, due to things like the Brainstorming Bookclub getting shoved in there. Don't get me wrong: great idea and it'll be fantastic. But it does mess up the order of my list a bit.

Too much to do, too little time. But isn't that always the case?

my mother's current state/Hawaii

I'm still processing the trip.

My colleagues have done really well with asking me extra-specific questions like "what was your favorite part?" and "did you go swimming?" But they probably remember that I have a possibly bad habit of being perfectly honest when they ask me social questions: those questions that mostly just fill space like "how are you?" or "how are you feeling?" if you've been sick.

"Well, you know, Bob, it feels like I've been gargling razor blades and salt, but other than that I'm great!" (I don't have a colleague named Bob, nor do I think I've ever felt like that: this was purely for illustrative comedic value.)

My answer to a general question like "how was the trip?" would probably be something like "a bit of a mixed bag, actually. Some great parts and some not-so-great parts." And they'd probably ask further, which would result in a conversation about my mother and how she's doing. Which is to say, not well.

She has Parkinson's, and various other problems, which really add up (if not grow exponentially). And there are some very basic things that we're just diametrically opposed on. Not having seen her for years amplified these greatly. Some of them were minor differences of opinion: she'd continuously buy two Snickers bars in case we were hungry. To me, a Snickers is not a snack, it's a dessert. I started packing nuts instead. She mused one day around lunchtime that "a burger sounds really good." I threw up my hands (even though I was driving at the time) and said "we're in Hawaii! No!"

The health problems, though, and the very basic things she can't do anymore, well: there are very few things that invoke abject terror in me anymore. I left most of those things in childhood, including a fear of bugs and spiders, a fear of heights, and a fear of the dark when I was very young. Seeing my mother in this condition--and thus, myself in a similar situation forty years down the line--did it for me.

I could go so far as to call this a phobia, because there's no real grounding for it. Lots of people have Parkinson's, lots of older folks have trouble getting around. It will probably happen to me as well, if I don't die early. But the totally unreasonable, fight-or-flight instinct in my brain is left screaming at me that I'd rather die early than have that happen. That if I ever get to the point that I need someone to open a water bottle for me, I need to just shove off and leave the world to the younger and fitter.

Totally unreasonable, as I said. But watching my mother struggle to stand multiple times a day was heartbreaking. She used to be taller than me. She's now 5'2". We requested a wheelchair every time through an airport. Just. Heartbreaking.

That aside (and it's a big thing to put aside), I had some great times there. L asked me what my favorite place there was, and I couldn't answer that. The whole place is great--though far too warm for my tastes--but it's the stuff I did that I loved.

I went surfing for the first time--and did actually get up on the board, I might add, because people keep asking. I went on a helicopter tour of Maui, and a bus tour of Oahu that was really quite excellent (reminder to self: write a letter to the tour company about how good guide/driver--nicknamed "Cousin Good-Looking," by the by--was). Lit incense in a Buddhist temple. Found some beautiful, locally handmade crafts. Toured behind-the-scenes at a jewelry factory specializing in rare corals and pearls. Woke to the sound of waves crashing every morning and went out on the balcony of both hotels to watch dawn break. Drove the approximately 620 curves over 59 bridges (46 of them one-lane-only) across the north shore of Maui. Hiked around the rainforest on that side, getting totally bugbitten.

Did not get a tan.

On the up side, that means I didn't get burned, either, and that's a real danger with me.

Now that I'm back, though, still processing. The experience gave me one of those "this means something" kind of feelings, and I'd find it hard to shake, even if I wanted to. But I don't, because it means a happier, healthier me if follow through on it. More on that later.

Also still processing photos. It's a bit of a slog just because there are so many of them. But I'll get through them all. What I've got so far (mostly of the various plane rides, though a couple sneak peeks from hotel balconies) is up here. Stay tuned for the rest.

photos and Stardust

Finally finished with the Seattle photos. As a bonus, I also finished with my Fourth of July photos (see how far behind I am?). I'm for the most part extraordinarily satisfied with them, which is somewhat unusual for me.

If you haven't seen Stardust yet, go do so. Highly recommended. I'm seeing it again tomorrow night.

yoga, summers, water, mountains, Seattle, work. in (not-so) brief.

I headed out of yoga last night, chatting with S. all the way, after she kindly waited while I talked to our teacher for a bit. She's refreshing: we should talk more, hang out more, but neither of us seem to be able to find the time.

The first bits of a thunderstorm were letting loose: I offered to drive her over to her car, parked about a block away, but she declined since she likes having the walk after yoga. Wish I could think like that, but for me, it's all I can do to get there on time. Stupid work getting in the way of my yoga. ;)

While driving home, I watched the rain evaporate off the blacktop as mist from the heat of the day, and when safely ensconced at home, enjoyed the thunder accompaniment. I love summer thunderstorms. It's foggy this morning, and cool, following the storm. I'm enjoying it very much.

There's a summer dish I've been craving since Monday that Dad used to make every once in awhile: a (from memory) really simple cucumber-and-vinegar dish. I meant to call and ask him about it on Monday, but got sidetracked with mom and planning for a trip we've just scheduled for November. Very exciting stuff, but I'm not going to trust that it's real until I'm on the plane. It's that surreal.

The Google (ha) isn't helping me with the recipe either: all of them have either mayo and sour cream, and I don't remember that at all. Dad, check me on this: it's just thinly sliced cucumber in white vinegar with sugar stirred in, right? And then chilled? Is it that simple, or is my memory just failing me?

Summers are always more than a bit nuts for me: you'd think it would be our down time here in Admissions, but it's not. It's cleanup time for some things, plus Spend a Summer Day prep and the six days themselves, plus the new web app going up each year.

That said, I wish I could get some time away to go see the boats my Dad's captaining these days. Take the new Black Point tour, perhaps. That's one thing this area is lacking: I love the mountains, but the lack of large bodies of water is something I miss pretty regularly. We've got streams, occasional rivers, but no convenient ponds or lakes. But maybe I just got spoiled with that big pond at the last place mom and I lived in Woodstock, then the Mississippi in St. Paul, then of course Lake Geneva.

Water's calming, stilling. The soft grandeur of the mountains here have a similar effect, but it's entirely different in feel. Seattle's were much more imposing, but distant. But their water was much more immediate. The Sound, Lake Washington, Lake Union, Green Lake: I saw almost every one of these regularly while I was there, most of them daily. They're spoiled with water and mountains.

I really need to make a fuller entry and notes about my visit there: I've just been so pushed for time lately, and I keep pushing off commitments, which is a problem. I'm not even finished with crunching the photos from the trip. But I took 3,700 shots, so that's kind of understandable. What I've put up so far you can see here. Oh, and Dad? Check out the Ballard and Nordic Heritage Museum sets. Ballard was originally settled by Scandinavian immigrants, so they have events like "Tivoli Viking Days" (I'm not making this up), and they have an actual, honest-to-goodness and still owned by the family Danish bakery and a bunch of Scandinavian foodstuff grocers, plus a bunch of retirement homes that are named for the groups they were either founded by, or primarily serve--all Scandinavian-based names. And you'll see some familiar items in the museum set. ;)

It's really as if Seattle was making a serious play for my attention: the seafood was exquisite, the sushi was the best I've ever had in my life, plus all this Danish heritage stuff? Sold. Y'know? That's another thing I've missed here: there's a lot of Dutch, a lot of German, a lot of miscellaneous Eastern European, in terms of original settlers, but not much Scandinavian stuff at all. Minor complaints, it might sound, but for someone who wants to keep connected to that community, keep the language I learned in good speaking shape, that's a powerful lack. And a powerful selling point for a place that has it.

Now, I'm not going anywhere for a year at least (I'm in a lease, if nothing else), but I have given it some thought, though not anywhere approaching serious, "how would I do this"-type thought. I've got time enough for that. But even aside from all the college friends who moved out there, I also know a couple that recently moved out there from Madison, so I should have all the practical advice on how to do it right and well if I should need it.

And I have friends there. Not only the college clan, but folks I'd known before only online, who I met when I went and spent two pretty full days with and became almost immediate fast friends. They're some of the most immediately awesome people I've ever met. You know how you start liking people more the more you get to know them? Not these folks. Right off the bat, they were far too cool to be true. But enough raving about them. The point is that making new friends is one of the most scary parts about moving. With Seattle, at least, it wouldn't be as much of a concern for me.

Done raving about Seattle. Dax and L. keep teasing me that everything's better in Seattle, since I keep naming things that are. I've had to chastise them that no, not everything is (I can name a couple things off the top of my head that are distinctly better here: traffic being a big one), it's just that the things I remember best and thus talk about are.

Back to the here and now. I smell like peaches this morning, due to my peachy BPAL Chaos Theory I got last year at this time. I'm really glad I put it on this morning. I tossed on my off-white cardigan, and the danger of leaving cardigans in my office for when I need them is that they start to smell like my office. But that's been the case with every office building I've ever known: they have a building smell, and after all day in it, that building smell will cling. But maybe I just have a sensitive nose.

Yesterday was a day-long meeting about this year's budget proposal. Let me repeat: Day. Long. Meeting. Wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, though. Though I drank far more coffee than I usually do (the usual amount being zero).

I was also by far the youngest one there. I noted it and thought it was weird, but I don't think anyone else noticed. Except for at lunch, where I had mentioned yoga, and then everyone at my table leapt in to describe their various back problems, sciatica, neck injuries, etc. One guy's back had seized and he had collapsed while walking up his block, just laying there until some stranger helped him. Carried him to his truck, drove him to his house, deposited him in his bed. When he still couldn't move, he eventually called 911. Bizarre. Makes me none too keen to get older. ;) But I guess that's a good reason to be starting yoga before I need it for physical therapy or some such.

I'm debating going to classes three times a week rather than my current two. I love it, it makes me feel awesome and I can tell I'm making progress. I'm still amazed at a few things I can do that I certainly wouldn't have been able to before starting (or when I was in that down time before I picked it back up again). It's just a time issue. As is everything, it seems.

Speaking of which, I should really get to it.

not famous, but getting there

So I was contacted by the representative of a production group in New York: they want to use one of my flickr photos in a documentary.

The show is called "Dead Art," and focuses on the art of cemeteries. (This is the same company that produced "Cannibalism: Extreme Survival," on an amusing note.) The episode the shot will be in is about New Orleans. They want the shot because it captures Metairie, Greenwood, and St. Patrick's cemeteries from above.

Done deal. Papers signed, going to get a copy when it's been completed.