"In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!" -Ron Carlson
Just haven't had anything much to say in the last year or so. So of course I started a LiveJournal. Not promising I'll have anything more to say over there, but for all the two people who ever looked here, the new LJ's over here. I would just take up here again, but I wanted to use icons. I'm shallow like that.
One of my favorite things to do every year (I seriously look forward to this all year) is to go to the Silver Bay Kennel Club dog show that's held every February at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I go mainly to see the German Shepherd judging of course, but it's a great place to see lots of breeds. It's always difficult taking pictures though. When the dogs are in the rings, they're either running, so it's hard to get a shot, or they're standing behind their handler (dogs are always to the inside of the ring, so from the outside you've usually got a handler between you and the dog), or they're simply too far away. But having a digital camera made things a little easer this year (at least I didn't have to worry about wasting film) and I actually worked up the nerve to approach a few people and ask them if I could take a picture of their dog. I even met a breed I didn't know about before! That's a first. (Well, ok, a couple years ago I saw a rough-coated Ibizan Hound, and before I saw it I didn't know they came in that coat type, but I did know about the breed.) But this was a completely new breed to me; the Azawakh:
It's an African sighthound, not officially recognized by the AKC yet, though they can be registered with the AKC's Foundation Stock Service, a record keeping service for rare breeds.
On to more familiar breeds, a Shetland Sheepdog on a grooming table:
And the main event :) (Switching to Photobucket, that's why it's bigger)
This is "Bravo" (according to my program his registered name is CH Jericho's Bravo of Windspirit). He's entered tomorrow, but wasn't competing today, just watching from outside the ring.
*sigh* Someday I'll have a German Shepherd. Someday....
I must have accidentally turned on my car's cloaking device today, because three people almost ran right into me. I swear they were looking right at me, too. Oh, and four-way-stop etiquette needs to be an entire day of behind-the-wheel instruction. Anyone who doesn't get it should be banned from driving for life. Frelling idiots.
Happy almost new year! Unless I have something incredibly brilliant and insightful to say tomorrow (unlikely), my first post of 2006 will probably be sometime mid-April. I plan to stay up until exactly 12:01 tonight, drink a sip of sparkling cider, and go immediately to bed. No, I'm not a party animal, why do you ask? At any rate, to kill a few minutes, and for a little chuckle, James Lileks reflects on 2005 (sort of):
All in all, not bad. If something wretched happens in 2006, Aught-Five will be regarded like 2000, another year when we blithely sailed along, amusing ourselves with gaudy TV, insouciant Internet amusements, Powerball, and the transient couplings of toothsome thespians. Athens reborn!
It certainly didn’t feel like a golden age. It’s difficult to believe you live in the best of times when Hollywood recreates The Dukes of Hazzard and the producers are not stoned in the public square on general principle. We all recognize hard times—when you’re in a gas line, you feel it. But good times we sometimes notice only in the rearview mirror.
[...]
Most of what occurs in any given year will be forgotten. 2006 will be the same, unless aliens land, or someone perfects cold fusion, or North America is depopulated by bird flu and tumbleweeds bounce down the streets of Fargo (more than the usual number, that is). But toting up tomorrow’s details will have to wait. For now, let us review what was memorable and forgettable in the year just now ending.
Iraqis voted in record numbers in January. Actually, any number would’ve been a record; apart from Israel’s perennial political tussles, this is the first real election in the Middle East since the Pharaoh’s stone masons voted to unionize. (All were slaughtered.) Coupled with a popular headcount in Afghanistan and rumblings all through the Levant and Central Asia, it seems for a moment that democracy is on the march. This global advance will soon screech to a halt, however, when the world learns that prisoners in Gitmo are kept awake with loud Madonna music. This grave atrocity will keep some politicians busy for months, for instance in comparing American troops to Nazis. You know, the ones who blasted Lotte Lenya tunes in the gas chambers.
Pope John Paul II dies. To the horror of many, his successor turns out to be Catholic.
An oppressive colonizer is forced to withdraw from occupied Arab land. This is initially met with dancing in the streets of Cairo, Paris, and Turtle Bay. Then everyone realizes it is Syria pulling out of Lebanon. You must understand that the Cedar Revolution, after years of Syrian domination, has nothing to do with the American presence in Iraq, you jingoist. It’s just one of those international coincidences like the moon being where it was when Apollo 11 flew past. A few months later, Israel voluntarily withdraws from Gaza, earning approximately 17 seconds of good will from the international community. Personal best!
Iran announces it will no longer allow inspectors into the Khomeini Memorial Peaceful Nuclear Research Facility for Hastening the Destruction of Israel. European diplomats threaten to take the matter to the U.N. Subcommittee of the Task Force for Occasionally Threatening to Issue a Strongly-Worded Report. But the group’s next meeting isn’t until 2007, and it must first take up the horror of Israel’s security fence. Iran promises to allow inspections in exchange for 500 million Euros, payable in coins of enriched uranium. The E.U. agrees, with the condition that the interest rate on the loan will be adjusted upward if Iran makes nuclear bombs. If they actually detonate a bomb there would be an immediate balloon payment, make no mistake about it.
Saddam’s trial begins. His lawyer first asks for a California jury. He then considers calling April Glaspie to the stand for the “b*tch set me up” defense. He begins working on rhyming cadences for his jury summation. Saddam and counsel ultimately admit to several hundred thousand murders, but invoke a novel defense: Executive Privilege. Ultimately, Hussein refuses to recognize the court’s legitimacy, and demands a change of venue to a Judge Judy show, tentatively scheduled for February. This brings up the possibility that Saddam will not only be the first Arab dictator to answer for his crimes in court, but also the first one to be executed by yelling.
I used one of my last remaining employee guest passes to go to the Wild Animal Park Wednesday night. (Used the last one to visit the Zoo today and see the baby panda. All together now - awwwwww!) Anyway, the WAP was mostly uneventful; not much to do at night there except look at the lights, which is, of course, the main point of visiting there in the evening in winter. There were some carolers who performed while we were eating dinner. They were pretty good and, to my eternal astonishment, actually sang some religious Christmas carols! "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" to be exact. But, I have to say, the most exciting part of the evening was not at the WAP at all. My mom and I were meeting my dad up there after he left work, but since you have to pay for parking at the WAP, we planned to meet at the mall a few miles down the road and drive one car instead of two the rest of the way. While we were waiting in the mall parking lot I passed the time watching the cars. It was early evening, so it was dim enough most cars had headlights on, but not completely dark yet. As one car rounded a curve in the lot and came into my view, it only took me a split second to recognize the headlights and front grille of a car I've only seen on the road one or two other times in my life: a Delorean. Now, understand, I was a car nut when I was little. Didn't know a whole lot about them (and I still don't), but I loved to admire them. And, being a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy/action-adventure movies, I love Back to the Future. So I think seeing a Delorean is pretty exciting. But as the car came closer I noticed one other thing about it. It looked exactly like the car in BTTF, from the strange vents on the back, to the wires, down to the Mr. Fusion sitting behind the rear window. The owner had tricked this car out to look exactly like Doc Brown's time machine. They parked in the lot just outside JC Penney and the two occupants went into the store. So of course we had to go over and take a look. Fortunately, since we were on our way to the WAP, we had the camera with us.
And then on the way home I saw the "Farscape" car. There's someone who lives in my neighborhood who drives a red Volvo with FRSCAPE on the plates. Never talked to them because I don't know exactly where they live and I've only ever seen the car out on the road, never in a lot. Someday I'll have to meet them.
Now these are the kinds of stories from Iraq I like to read:
Imagine you are a military police Marine walking through the streets of Iraq on a routine foot patrol when your squad stumbles upon an unexploded ordinance wedged in a local national’s driveway. You and your military working dog take cover behind a seven-ton truck before the engineer team blows up the ordinance.
Now, imagine taking sniper fire while you’re kneeling next to the truck with your working dog strapped to your chest, trying to see where the shots were coming from. . . .
Click here to find out your secret Christmas name. I'm Fuzzy Berry-Tinsel. And I have a cat named Tumbleflump Berry-Stockings. Somehow, it's appropriate.
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. -Psalm 105:1-4
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Glorious things of Thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God; He, whose word can ne’er be broken, Formed thee for his own abode. On the Rock of Ages founded, Who can shake thy sure repose? With salvation’s walls surrounded, Thou mayst smile at all thy foes.
See! the streams of living waters, Springing from eternal love; Well supply thy sons and daughters, And all fear of want remove: Who can faint when such a river Ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age.
Round each habitation hov’ring, See the cloud and fire appear, For a glory and a cov’ring, Showing that the Lord is near! Thus deriving from their banner Light by night and shade by day; Safe they feed upon the manna Which He gives them when they pray.
Savior, since of Zion’s city, I through grace a member am, Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy Name. Fading are the worldlings’ pleasures, All their boasted pomp and show; Solid joys and lasting treasures None but Zion’s children know.
Jefferson (Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken) Words by John Newton (1779) Adapted by Joseph Jennings
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Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. -Psalm 107:8
I've been trying for a few weeks to figure out how to keep that Blogger navigation bar up there from cutting off half of the title, but it apparently can't be done. Blogger itself is useless; they just told me to do the first thing I tried, which, needless to say, didn't work. I guess I'll just have to live with it. Switching to one of their newer templates might fix it, but I happen to like this one. More to the point, all of the currently provided templates look like something a beginning graphic design student might churn out. Completely boring. And besides that, everyone else uses those same templates, while I've never run across another blog that looks like this one. *sigh* But it's not like too many people come here, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Never had any problems with those Google ads that used to be at the top; don't know why they couldn't have just stuck with that.
Update 11/23: Ah, I get it. My screen resolution is too big. At 800x600 it cuts it off; at 1024x768 it's fine. Nice. Hey, Blogger, some of us like 800x600!
Just saw it today. Cool. That's all I can say. I can't believe they did a few things, and it was way more violent than the TV show ever was (because, of course, there's a limit to what they can put on TV), but it was an incredible movie. In fact, I do believe it's the first movie I've seen in recent memory where I haven't looked at my watch half way through. Not that I haven't enjoyed other movies (though this one was certainly the most enjoyable in a good long while), but usually I'm curious in certain points as to what point in the movie we're in, and how much longer it has to resolve itself. In Serenity I never once looked at my watch, partly for the simple reason that I didn't want to take my eyes off the screen, but also I didn't want to look at the time and suddenly realize it was almost over. It was like a really long episode . . . and I want the next one! Fortunately, I do hear there might be a sequel or two in the works. Probably rumors, but one can always hope. One thing I did note, I think they toned down the whole western motif for the movie. Probably to make it more accessible to people who never saw the show (I do know that was one major complaint some people had with Firefly - too much old west), but there wasn't even a single horse! They could've at least stuck a horse in the background of one of those settlements they visited. Anyway, considering that's my biggest complaint with the film, it's pretty darn good. Definitely want to see it again. I wonder if I can drag my sister to it. Oh, and Orson Scott Card called it the best sci-fi movie ever.
