Friends

I skim Political Wire when I have the stomach to check up on politics. Today, an item titled "Coakley Leads Senate Race in Massachusetts" includes this tidbit: "An astounding 93% of Democratic voters couldn't pinpoint the exact date of the Dec. 8 primary -- and 73% didn't even know in which month the primary will occur."

Wow. I wasn't surprised that I didn't know until last week, when I decided to go looking for info about the relevant (candi)dates, but somehow I figured that more actual Democrats would be better informed than unenrolled me, especially after Ted Kennedy's death. It does seem that the funeral and subsequent legislature vote to allow appointing an interim senator got a lot more press coverage than the actual election process is getting.

Another date worth noting: Next Wednesday, November 18th, is the deadline to register to vote in the December 8 primary.

Went down to San Jose today in order to meet and have dinner with rapha.

Two hours down, but missing all of the nasty traffic, that was a good win.

Rokko Sushi on Market was fairly reasonable, nice sized fish, good gyoza, and they gave us little salmon and cream cheese in seaweed mini things that were warm and tasty on the house.

And rapha was quite enjoyable to spend time with.

But now it's time for my bath.

Current Music: Somebody Who Cares - Paul McCartney

I've finally written up the first of my trip reports, for Open Text Content World 2009 in Orlando, backdated (to avoid cluttering up my friends list). You can jump to the day-by-day entries here:

• Tuesday, October 27
• Wednesday, October 28
• Thursday, October 29
• Friday, October 30

Current Location: Home

This blog entry about The Art of the Ask has been making the rounds of my f-list in the past day or so. And it's interesting to me, because it's largely how I live my life and how I encourage people to interact with me.

Yesterday big_jewfro asked if he could ask me a favor and I responded "you can always ask". So he did and I was happy to oblige him and not just because he's cute. It's a rule: You Can Always Ask. It has an important corollary: I Can Always Say No. That's what makes it a favor. Want a ride? Ask me--if it's not inconvenient to me, I'll probably say yes. If it's not convenient, I'll say no. Don't worry, I'm good at it. Want a recipe or advice--oh, how I love to give advice--or to borrow something? Ask me.

There are a few people in my life who get to override this. They get to say "I need you to do this for me." At which point it's not a favor, it's an imperative. They get that right because they extend it in return--if I need something from them, I can say so and they will give it to me, even if it is inconvenient, because I need it. That's what "close friend and family" means to me.

Asking has gotten me a long way. And saying yes when other people have asked has gotten me even further.

The biggest example of what asking has gotten me is Theatre@First. I wanted to do a show with my husband. So I asked if I could have space and I asked people to help and I asked other people to audition and I asked other people to come see it. And I asked other people to help me ask. And you know what? It turns out that those were things that many, many (we just did a count and it's over 300 participants in six years and no-way-to-tell audience members) people were happy to give. Did they get anything in return? Well, I hope so. But I got it because I asked.

So, yeah, the asking thing is really working for me. If you ever want something that's in my power to give, then I encourage you to ask. It's true that I might say no--I reserve that right and I won't even feel guilty about it most of the time--but I might very well say yes. And you can always ask.

It has been gorgeous weather all this week, which is making it easier to get out of bed and onto the bike -- and once I'm riding it's something to savor, coming as it does with the feeling that it won't be this nice again until spring. Over the winter one is supposed to back off from possible over-training, spin a high cadence, and not try to work on intensity. I've mostly been good about this recently but this week has been too nice for that and I've had a series of nice brisk rides to and especially home from work, making it home in under 50 minutes each time so far. Turns out the slow from riding at night and the slow from wearing a backpack aren't cumulative; if anything the one made the other less frustrating.

This is the temperature at which the difference between my metabolism and everyone else's is most apparent. It's almost but not quite cold enough for me to start thinking about cold-weather gear. But most other serious cyclists broke out the tights, long sleeved jerseys, and full finger gloves when it got below 60. I saw one guy who was going fast enough that it'd keep me plenty warm, but who was nonetheless wearing his winter hat. Meanwhile I'm out there in shorts, coolmax jersey, sweatband (and needing it too), high-airflow helmet, fingerless gloves, and no socks.

It's all data, really. Sure, some of it's unwelcome and painful. But I'd rather know than look away and stick my fingers in my ears. Most of the time.

dogs greeting military servicemembers returning home. argos (odysseus' dog) could not have been happier than these pups.

* pounding, crushing headache
* body aches
* extreme fatigue
* too woooozy to typee corrrrectly
* scratchy cough...
* ...occasionally managing to cough up a bit of brown (!) phlegm
* somewhat drippy nose
* no appetite, nausea when I try to eat
* feel really, really chilly all the time
* ...(and yet, very little fever?!?!?!?!)

Sounds like the flu, eh?

Current Mood: miserable

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

I try to exercise my right to vote whenever I can, even, or maybe especially, when I'm feeling apathetic or cynical. I'm going to be out of state during the December 8 Democratic Senate Primary, the election that, practically speaking, will select the next junior senator from Massachusetts (I am Unenrolled, which means I get to choose my poison primary). I confess that the minor hassle of obtaining an absentee ballot has been a bit of a de-motivator. However, Stupak-Pitts has provided me with re-motivation. It's interesting what the discussion reveals about people's underlying attutudes.

FYI, the Massachusetts Democratic Party site has info about the election and links to all four candidates' sites.

Audacity. I has it.

My usual e-mail server is down and, since it's an MIT holiday, it might stay that way until tomorrow. It also looks like it stopped delivering mail some time early yesterday afternoon. If you want to reach me today, you can send a message to my hand-held or comment here (screened). I guess you can also call my house; what a wacky concept :-)!

ETA: It is somehow appropriate that I'm not getting e-mail on Veterans Day.

( it's veteran's day )

Personally, I'm working, but apparently the Department of the Interior is letting everyone into National Parks (and other stuff like National Forests) for free today.

Care packages for current soldiers.

Navajo Code Talkers head to NYC Veteran's Day parade.

Posts about WWI.

Photos of the Great War.

Daily Mirror's collection of less heralded pictures.

BBC photos of Armistice Day 2008. (Apparently, those three gents are now dead.)

(That latter news story is careful to note they were the last WWI vets living /in the UK/. Does that mean there's someone in New Zealand or something? I suspect there's a news article somewhere today that'll tell someone, but I'm sure not finding it.)

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

'In Flanders Fields' is by John McRae, a Canadian surgeon. Written sometime after the battle of Ypres in 1915. (Original.) He himself died of injuries sustained in World War I, in 1918.

The MIT Tech reports that the Friendly Toast is having financial difficulty despite its popularity. We must all make plans to eat there early and often. *nod*

me: "So you're going to fire a shot across her bow?"
miss_chance, without hesistating: "No, I've already fired a shot across her bow. I'm going to put a hole in her gunwales, but that might not sink her."

Starring ME ME ME (eep). It's at Small's school, Brooks Elementary in Medford, and as well as my books there will be on-site massage and reiki, candy, baked goods, pottery by the mom and screen-printed t-shirts by the kids of a family whose work I love, woodwork, silk scarves, handmade silver filigree+beaded jewelery, handmade handbags, and lots of other good stuff. I know there are plenty of craft shows in the next month, but it would be fab to see any of my friends who could swing by, and there will definitely be some very nice things on hand.

Well, after waiting a week for parts, the new tv is working. It had both a bad IR-controller board, and as it turns out a bad remote.

Now if only there was something decent to watch. . .

--d

Gonna be short hours for a few weeks, water boiler went "boom", expensively went "boom". It was not fun prepping while the plumber told Chef that the water boiler they said they had in stock they didn't actually and wouldn't be in until Thursday. Since he went with this company because they promised him they had it he was quite rightfully pissed off beyond belief.