I need my big snoring mammal home.

Bob has been in Las Vegas whooping it up at Vegoose -- a hippie band marathon. He's going to be next to worthless when he gets back. Yes, there will be snoring.

I went to bed at 10pm on Saturday and didn't fall asleep until around 2a. I did manage to catch up on some reading. Last night I went to bed and I woke up at 3:30a.

I feel like I could sleep now which is a shame since I need to be going to work soon.

A decent weekend. Saturday I baked a chocolate cake and the writers came over for our last meeting. After they left I watched Bride and Prejudice by the director who made Bend it Like Beckham and found it almost unwatchable. I had no idea it was a cheesy musical in the Bollywood tradition. I don't like musicals period. The Bollywood version did nothing to convince me otherwise. The best part was the actor who plays Sayeed on Lost was the central dancer a wild dance number which was hilarious.

Yesterday I met Charlene downtown and we had banana pancakes for breakfast and then went for a walk. It was sunny and beautiful. After I dropped her at the airport I zoomed home and made myself put on my jeans and I harvested the pumpkins and put the garden to bed.

Happy Halloween. I have a big bowl of candy. I bought the things we like. Even in good weather we don't get a crowd at the door so if it's monsooning tonight I expect it will be pretty quiet.

Charlene suggested that I dress as a stick of licorice. I could go around in a black body stocking all day. When I gaped she said I could sew some licorice sticks into a skirt so people would know what I am. I found a pirate hat from this summer and I'm thinking I'll go with that.

Bob saw some cheapo long handled tongs on the kitchen counter. He picked them up and asked me what they were for.

I told him I bought them at Target because I dropped some stuff behind my desk at work (pack of gum, hair clip -- critical items) and I didn't know how to get them. He thought this was hilarious. (FYI -- I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I'm already concerned my arm isn't long enough.)

Another time we were out for our morning walk and I carried a new flashlight I bought because I can never find flashlights when I need them. Bob claims we have lots of them but they must be in a secret place that only he knows about. Because you know spouses do that to each other: constantly hide things so no one can find anything.

So we're on this walk and I see something moving in the park and I figured it was a bunny. I grabbed the flashlight but I couldn't turn it on. I was twisting the top and twisting the bottom and pushing the bottom and searching for a button. Bob couldn't stop laughing.

Today rated high to super high on the incredibly miserable scale. I won't go into all the details.

So after this long miserable day I had to step out into the downpour to get to the train. I apparently mis-timed it because instead of the 5:50pm train that I wanted I had to stand there for about 15 minutes until a train arrived. A good thing: it was the train driver who is my new friend. We chatted on the way home one night when I took a later train after yoga. He always makes little announcments about the weather and tells people to have a good night at the park-n-ride stop.

I generally use one of those big paper carrier bags with handles that you get from the department store when you buy clothes for hauling my crap back and forth: lunch/breakfast stuff, reading materials, yoga clothes. I know what happens when paper gets wet but it wasn't raining when I left yesterday and I had no idea how much standing around in the rain I would have to do.

So after this long and miserable day I am hurrying to my car in the dark, in steady rain with a modest wind and my bag completely disintigrates. I can't even hold it together so I can get my stuff back to the car. I have to crouch there in the rain and shove things in pockets and a little plastic bag I had. Everything getting soaked. Not a shred of dignity anywhere to be seen.

It wasn't even like a funny mishap. It was completely heartbreaking and demoralizing.

Saturday morning we went for a long walk and this is one of the photos I took.

I've explained my eMac has had a monitor malfunction but yesterday morning, while I was answering email, it miraculously flickered back into full color. I didn't know what to think. I was almost afraid to do anything except at that point, why bother having a computer?

The color worked all day. I worked through my Photoshop exercises and applied them to my own projects. The day was fabulously sunny and it seemed a waste to spend the entire day at the computer so I took a break and brought my Photoshop book to the front porch and read about Photoshop in the wonderful sunshine. And I saw a bald eagle.

I also did a bunch of yardwork. Cleaned up dead stuff. Raked compost-y stuff together. Tore out a ton more ivy. Actually, that's a lie. It wasn't a ton. It was only a tiny bit but it's such hard work it might as well have been a ton. At this rate I'll have it all torn out by my 50th birthday. (Which is many, many years from now.)

This morning the computer was back to its redless-self. We already know what we're going to buy but would prefer to wait until several months from now. I think I'm going to continue to limp along and hope it flickers back one of these days. The accompanying photo was adjusted without red. How did I do?

It was a nice weekend. This afternoon I tossed almost all the last tomatoes in a pot and made tomato soup. I picked my pumpkin (look for a photo soon!) and composted a few potted plants that have become a pain in the ass. I chucked a bunch of bark dust on a corner of the yard that desperately needed it. I still haven't pulled the tomato plants. They keep producing a few tomatoes. It would seem just cruel. As I recall, last year I pulled everything in September I was so sick of it.

I'm trying to learn to draw and I bought a book and today's lesson was to do a self portrait and then draw someone I know from memory. Boy, if you need a good laugh, I suggest this lesson. How the hell do you draw a nose? For my person from memory I drew Bob which basically means a man with glasses holding a flash drive in his clenched fist. The author says I'm going to see a big improvement after I've practiced the lessons. I hope so.

I've been practicing my Photoshop skills. I did some very light fixing on this photo (left) and then did some fancy border thing which looked juvenile so I'm not posting that version.

This is my Grandfather and I don't know the story behind the photo or even when it was taken. It's one of the huge batch I've been scanning.

He worked for the forest service in northern California and SE Alaska, so I like the idea of him hanging at Joshua Tree (pure speculation) esp. in a sweater, tie and slacks. As I was working on this, I noticed the tie and decided we needed a close up of that.

Also he's got his cigar, something I remember about him. If he was still alive he would be 102 next month.

For some reason, on my days off, the first thing I eat in the morning is almost always total garbage. Cookies. Chocolate. Cold leftovers shoveled in while I stand with the refrigerator door open.

On the weekdays my breakfast is pathologically healthy: fruit, plain yogurt, meusli.

I don't know why I do that on the weekends. Then I'm too full to eat something good and not like my day is off to a good start.

This morning the commute was hideous. It's bad enough that it was hideous except that it was the second time in 4 days it took me more than 30 minutes: just to get on the freeway. It's less than 2 miles from my house.

I know I need to learn to be zen and go with the flow but honestly it makes me crazy. I hate commuting. I've always hated commuting and there is no easy solution. The only 4 days a week thing helps. If can't learn to live with it I either have to move or find a different job and I don't want to do either of those things.

Completely unrelated, but you may have seen ads or read reviews of a movie that just came out called Stay. I read the script several months ago and I'd offer a link but it's taking too long to find. If you're determined to read it, I'm sure you can figure out how to track it down.

I intended to write a rant about it then, not understanding that it was actually going to be made into a movie. There is some teeny, tiny spoilage ahead, but trust me, not worth worrying about. If you've read even one review you know it's a twist movie and it's not a cool twist, it's a stupid twist. You are taken on a journey into some twisted reality where all kinds of bizarre, unexplained stuff happens, and then you find out why and you want to throw something against the wall.

I've seen the trailer and the movie looks like it might be good, definitely well made: Marc Forester directed and Ewan McGregor and Ryan Gosling and bunch of other good actors. Why? Why does more or less the same dopey twist keep getting made into a movie?

I bought this just to show you the amazing power of soy. It's soy-deliciousl

Why is my Sister wearing this Hat?
I worked on the whole family photo archiving project again today. I can't remember when I started it, but it turns out scanning family photos is not a quickie weekend project. I found out from reading a Photoshop magazine that I can scan more than 1 photo at a time which is the only reason I revisited the project. Now instead of taking forever, it's only going to take half that long.

I would post a bunch on Flickr so you could chuckle along with me, except the whole monitor bad/can't color correct issue. Just enjoy Erin and her skipper hat that she is wearing for some reason at Disneyland, for my birthday, I'm guessing December, around 1980.

Yesterday we saw Elizabethtown, Cameron Crowe's new movie and we had wildly divergent opinions, and not what you'd predict. I thought it was about a half dozen brilliant scenes strung together will filler and random crap. If the protagonist had been anyone other than the adorable Orlando Bloom I would have been forced to nap between high spots. Bob thought it was brilliant and personal and reminiscent of French filmmaking blah blah blah. I think the nanosecond flash of Kirsten Dunst's panties hypnotized him.

Also yesterday, I finally made tamales and they turned out FANTASTIC. It was labor intensive but no more so than making gumbo or lasagna. I have never made them before and what I did was read about 10 recipes. Tamales are sort of like lasagna in that once you see how they're put together -- you can figure out how you want to do it.

This was my primary source. The thing with that recipe is that it makes a bazallion and I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle that my first time out. I also had zero interest in cooking pork. But I used that as my base and then used the other recipes for ideas on fillings and seasonings. The package directions on the masa said it was for about 12 tamales and this seemed more reasonable so I used this to guide making the corn part.

It was surprisingly easy but I wished I had a more experienced chef to ask questions. The corn husks were packaged in thick packets and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to unlayer them. Also they were completely round like they were pulled of the corn so I cut them open and there was ooky stuff inside which I rinsed off. Also I have leftover husks that I soaked. Can I put them in the oven and let them dry out again and then put them in a ziplock bag for next time? Common sense would suggest that this is a fire hazard but I'm doing it now and monitoring very closely.

I also made a mole which I've never done. Erin brought me some seasonings called mole dulce last year and I never knew what to do with it. You add a bunch of spices to chicken broth (which I had 3 gallons of from cooking the chicken) and then let it reduce on the stove and then stir in some chocolate at the end. I swapped out the chili powder with the mole dulce and it looked like chocolate syrup but it tasted fantastic: spicy, dark and rich.

I think tamales will go in the rotation. They are super yummy and now that I know what I'm doing I could make a big batch and freeze a bunch. Do you freeze them before or after steaming them?

I had a whole bunch of stuff to update you on but I don't know where it all went.

I thought about doing a long update on my shows and how they are all connected somehow to Buffy & Angel, but I don't think you care that much. I will give you a partial report and say: Invasion is excellent. Bones is also excellent but after a couple of episodes they're on a temporary hiatus while this baseball thing is finishing up. It's October. It's cold and windy. Shouldn't baseball be finished by now? I watched one Desperate Housewives and proclaimed myself finished. There is a fine line between stupid and guilty pleasure and that show has been reclassified as stupid.

Last weekend I watched a movie called Osama which I had heard was very good. I want you to understand that I do not have a problem with "hard" movies and I like movies that make me look at things in a different way or open my eyes to things I don't know about. I didn't completely remember what Osama was about, and if it had been a segment on an evening newsshow, yes it was excellent. But in terms of kicking back on a Sunday afternoon to watch a movie that you vaguely remember has something to do about a little girl in Afghanistan, this was an awful movie. I won't give it all away but it's about this little girl and her dad and uncle are dead and there is no way for the family to get food or money so they dress her up as a boy so she can get a job. Her situation goes from bad to worse to completely and utterly tragic and then the movie is over. There is not even a droplet of hope when the credits roll. That was probably the filmmakers intention and it worked. It invoked incredible outrage for the situation for women over there. It also bummed out my entire day.

I think I mentioned before that my computer display has pooped out. I finally called a Mac service place yesterday and talked to a very nice Mac-Tech-Service-Geek and he knew what I was talking about before I had the words out of my mouth. The problem is the screen doesn't display red. I can get by when I'm going email or this, but I'm taking a Photoshop class and practicing color correction is quite interesting under these circumstances. The repair is around $350-400. My digital video board is failing. Or something like that. The computer is barely 2 years old, but for a little more than double that I can get a whole new computer so we're looking into that at the moment. The Apple G5 is looking pretty good.

Yesterday I did a bit of yardwork. I totally wasn't in the mood, but the sun was out and it was nice and it seemed foolish to waste the day sitting in the house practicing Photoshop when I could be cleaning up the yard and enjoying the sun in my shirtsleeves. I managed to harvest another basket of tomatoes. I left the plants in but figured they'd be wrecked b/c of the rain, but no. They look good. I don't know what kind of tomato plant this is but it's been a champ -- produced zillions of pretty, yummy tomatoes, and keeps on going. I also dug around in the front a little bit and pulled out and cut back dead stuff. It didn't take long for me to grow bored of it.

In the afternoon I made a Buttermilk Pie using a recipe from the NY Times. I've never had it before, although I've seen the recipe and was always curious to try it. It's yummy -- a light, cheesecake flavored pie. Bob love it.

Today we plan to see Elizabethtown, new Cameron Crowe movie and then this afternoon is my first try at making tamales. Full report tomorrow.

Is it my imagination or is FM radio sucking less lately?

For awhile it seemed like you'd go for days without hearing anything unexpected. It was the same old teeny-bopper hits or smarmy ballads. And the dinosaur rock stations play the same classics AC/DC and Zepplin songs over and over. And the 80's stations play the same Duran Duran and Thompson Twins hits.

Now there are two stations on my dial that almost always play something interesting. Like a mix of lots of good songs 70's to present. Station #1 is more alternative -- they played The Toy Dolls the other morning. Station #2 plays more of a mix but it's songs you actually want to hear. I think that's their motto: "Songs you actually want to hear."

Since I quit writing there is one thing that I've been enjoying a lot more lately, and that is reading in bed first thing in the morning. (Not on work days. On work days I need to be on my feet, quick as I can.)

I remember this is something I always did when I was a kid. Read before bed. Read late into the night. First thing upon waking: sit up, turn on light and read.

I used to do this sometimes on vacation but now I've been doing it almost every weekend and it is truly one of the great joys of life.

We went to see Patti Smith at Powell's this afternoon.

I have to admit I was a wee bit concerned what it was going to be like going downtown on a Saturday afternoon, especially Powell's. We got an early start and parked in an out of the way lot arrived in the designated spot before they had even set up chairs.

We went about the business of looking at books and when the chairs were set up, snagged a couple right up front. The event wasn't a crazy as I imagined but then, I have an over-active imagination particularly when it comes to potentially crowded events. But the room was full and Patti's crowd is quite a range. A lot of hipsters dressed in all black with fancy eyewear and spiky hair. But lots of middle aged dorky people like us, a few brought their kids. There was a nice camaraderie while waiting.

Patti was there to read from a new book of poems that's just out. She was wonderful as always. I'm having trouble articulating a quick summary that captures her. She's one of those incredibly talented, sharp and arty people who manages to also come across as someone that you'd feel perfectly at ease with having coffee or hiking through the hills.

My pumpkin patch has a total of 4 pumpkins. Well, had 4, now there are 3.

One is gigantic and beautiful. Two are probably not going to have enough time to ripen properly. The fourth one was majorly damaged when it was small.

Critters made some big marks in it, but I left it alone and it continued grow and the marked up part healed over and the pumpkin became a lovely reddish-orange color. (Perhaps I should clarify that these are Cinderella pumpkins just in case you didn't know.)

I thought I'd harvest the thing and bake a pie today. I brought it in and washed it off and used a mallet and cleaver to split and and, ... ew.

There were parts of orange pumpkin-y goodness that smelled sweet and wonderful and there were parts that were brown and mushy and smelled like low tide.

Sadly, Mr. pumpkin went back into the patch where he can compost for next year.

Meanwhile, I decided to use a Grange cookbook recipe that caught my eye. Long story but I had this box of yellow cake mix that I didn't know what to do with and this recipe uses 1 box of yellow cake mix.

For the recipe you bake the cake mix according to package instructions (9x13 pan); take the baked cake out of the oven and while still hot, poke holes in it with a fork and then dump a can of crushed pineapple, juice and all, over the cake. Let the cake cool and then make two packages of instant vanilla pudding and when it sets a bit, spread that over the cake. Then spread a tup of Cool Whip on that. I've never even bought Cool Whip before.

It came out fantastic.

In the lunchroom at the office I found a quiz that had been copied from Newsweek magazine: Are You A Type D? I didn't read the article and can't remember the last time I even touched a Newsweek magazine. The fact that the magazine now contains stupid quizzes illustrates its worthlessness better than any words I could come up with.

But that didn't stop me from taking the quiz.

Apparently there are "social and emotional" problems associated with a Type D personality that can increase your chances of heart disease.

The first question is: I make contact easily when I meet people. You're supposed to answer False, Less False, Neutral, Less True, True.

Do you even understand the question? What does "make contact" mean? Are they asking me do I connect easily when I meet people? And what's the definition of "meet"? When you're in a business or social event and you're introduced to someone? Or when you need a place to sit on the train?

My answer was False. I'm not a social failure but it usually takes me awhile to warm up to brand new people. I got a whopping 4 points for my answer. I'd like to point out that when I was younger I did suffer considerable heartburn over my uneasiness in social situations but now I hardly think about it. Who cares?

There are 14 questions total. Another example: I often feel inhibited in social interactions. Are we talking about a family get together or a big party where you only know the host? Are there people who don't feel inhibited at certain social interactions?

So you get my point that the questions are stupid. Half the questions focused on alleged social inadequacies while the other half on negativity. Example: I am often irritated. Well these questions are irritating the hell out of me, I guess that's a 4. (I actually gave myself a 4+).

On my negativity I got 9 and I needed a 10 to "qualify" as a Type D. But my social inhibition I got 13: Type D, I'm in the club!

The first three items come to you via boingboing.

Too much time on their hands? Someone taught dolphins to sing the theme from batman.

A musician who refuses to pimp his catalog for big bucks. Yay him.

Cool painting of a giant king salmon on an Alaska Air jet. The part I don't get is that this was paid for by a federal grant and the idea is that this is an "important tool to promote wild Alaska seafood."

This last item via Susie Bright:

Entertain yourself for hours as you use your mouse to bump him around. Seriously, try this. It's a guaranteed laugh.

Wow, the precipitation situation went from 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds flat. I like rain as much as the next person up here but it would have been nice to have a transition period. Maybe some drizzle before the downpour. On Friday I got my hair cut and I told her not to even bother with the styling. I had tons of errands and I still hadn't brought in the last of the tomatoes so there seemed little point in hair ironing since I'd be sporting a huge frizz bomb no matter what she did. She put it in a nice braid.

I had another busy week last week. I'm taking two classes at the moment which I didn't intend to do, but one didn't finish before the other started so there's an unfortunate overlap. Plus the Noon yoga on Wednesday means that I attempt to be out the door by 7am almost every day and I get home between 7 and 9pm. It's not horrible, it just makes accomplishing anything besides eating, sleeping and basic hygiene something of a challenge.

One thing I did do on Friday, beside paddle my canoe between my haircut and errands: I made a point of seeing Serenity a movie by Joss-is-My-Master-Now Whedon. You know, the man responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (subjects of endless yammering on my part) and Firefly a TV series which was yanked off the air before its time and is the basis for the new movie.

The movie is fantastic. Adventure, humor, space battles, fights. I loved it. I was a little disappointed to see it didn't kick more ass at the box office. World: go check out this movie.

I only have a few cucumbers in the bottom of the crisper. They look in pretty good shape but their days are numbered. I peeled and sliced a big bowl full for myself since the spousal unit is not a cucumber eater. Did another batch of tomato sauce today and will bring it to co-worker tomorrow. The spousal unit is also not big on tomatoes and I already have 4 big batches of sauce stored -- no reason to go crazy.

The dahlias took quite a beating in the rain although the Emory Pauls still look great which I never would have expected. These flowers are gigantic. When they first bloomed I stood out in my yard and said: I grew this.