After a delicious Easter brunch at my brother Steve’s house, some of us decided to head outside for a walk. Below, Mike, Adam and Wil Bloy demonstrate that yes, waiting is hard.
All posts by Jonathan
Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone
I’ve often said that music is one of those things that helps me get through life, and makes it worth living. About a month ago, Neko Case released the excellent Middle Cyclone, a record that I’ve been listening to a lot, and has played a part in getting me through the stresses of moving and buying a house.
Back in January, Neko and her record label released a free MP3 of “People Got A Lot Of Nerve”, a song which has a deceptively bright sound, but with lyrics that are a bit on the dark side. I was intrigued and couldn’t wait for the album to come out.
I has internet
Monday I was FINALLY hooked up with phone service at my house, and yesterday my DSL modem arrived!
That was 19 days I went without having internet access at home. I don’t think I’ve gone more than a week without some kind of online access since my days of connecting to computer bulletin board systems on my Atari 800XL computer. And talk about broadband, that was with a state-of-the-art, 300 baud modem. Yes, I am old.
Being without home internet access for so long made me realize how much it’s a part of my everyday activities: reading the online news in the morning with a cup of coffee, using it to find phone numbers, getting a quick map, listening to new music streams, and just keeping up with friends and family. I almost felt like I had lost one of my senses.
New home update
I’ve been living in my new home for five days now. There is a lot of work to be done, but I’m slowly getting settled in.
In the past four days I’ve made seven trips to a home improvement / hardware store, with still more things on my shopping list to pick up. I’m expecting the clerks to start greeting me by name soon. I already have people working on my kitchen remodel, which is something I want to get done fairly soon. The house is definitely a fixer-upper, but it’s going to be real nice once the fixing up is done.
Probably the most frustrating part of this move is the fact that I still don’t have internet access at the house yet. Since the phone company is having some problems (and I’ll be getting DSL through the the phone line), I’ve been suffering from serious internet withdrawal. Hopefully I’ll be plugged back into the matrix soon.
Finding beauty on a dreary day
While I was eating lunch at the café today, trying not to let the dreary weather bring my mood down, I noticed water drops forming on the plants from all the mist in the air.
Packing up and shoveling out
In a little over two weeks, I’ll be moving to my new house. My condo is starting to resemble a warehouse with all the boxes around.
Moving is always a major pain. You’ve got to find good boxes, pack, change addresses, coordinate movers, have painful conversations with utilities, etc. One of the good things about it though is it forces you to go through your stuff and do some “shoveling out” as my father likes to call it. In the process of looking at things I’ve accumulated over the years, I’ve discovered there is a lot of unnecessary junk at my place. Some of it was still in boxes from the last time I moved. I seem to be especially fond of things that probably belong in an electronics museum. In one box (unopened since my last move), I found:
- Sony walkman (yes, that’s for cassette tapes)
- A plethora of 3.5 inch floppy disks
- A zip drive and a dozen 100mb zip disks
- Several computer mice
- Two computer joysticks
- Computer trackball
- Backups for Windows 98 and Windows 95
- Enough coaxial cable, telephone cable and speaker wire to span the City of Madison.
On the bright side, I found a small pocket am/fm radio which I thought I’d lost years ago. Maybe I should unpack the boxes a little sooner when I get to the new place?
New house tour
Today was the inspection for the house I’ve agreed to buy. I thought it would be a good idea to shoot some pics while I was there with the inspector.
Moonrise
As I went out the door to take out the trash tonight, the full moon was rising beautifully in the east.
I grabbed my camera and tripod, and this was the best shot I got. I can’t help but think how much better it would have been with a longer lens. Hmmm… I wonder what my tax refund will be this year?
Cabin in the woods
There’s nothing like a walk in the woods, even in winter.
Taken at the UW Arboretum today.
Springsteen’s halftime show
I’ve posted before that sports and rock & roll don’t necessarily go well together. Having said that, Bruce Springsteen’s Superbowl halftime performance was my favorite thing about yesterday’s big game.
Springsteen and his band are the quintessential showmen, even when they’re only playing for twelve minutes, they push it to the full limit.
And you’ve got to love that introduction…
I want you to step back from the guacamole dip. I want you to put the chicken fingers down, and turn your television all the way up!