Going on

I've been pretty tired lately. Either that, or ennui is making me sleepy.

I'm enjoying my job, at the Medium-sized Anonymous Engineering Company (MAEC). I'm learning a lot about civil engineering, architecture, and construction. I'm once again working with crusty, middle-aged male engineers, which is a demographic with which I am very familiar and comfortable. Overall, I like it.

Last weekend, Sara and Elizabeth came to visit. We watched Bones, put together a puzzle, went shopping, and spent time together talking, which was the most fun of all.

Speaking of Bones, did everyone get a chance to watch the Season 3 premiere episode that played on Tuesday night?

My kingdom for a copy editor!

I was flipping through one of Debbie's Cottage Living magazines the other day, and came across a reference to a furnishings designer who started her business working in a "chicken coup". Into my mind flashed a wild series of plausibilities and images. Did this woman's farm experience some sort of Orwellian, Animal Farm-style rebellion, centered, unlikely as it may seem, in the henhouse? Was there an event similar to the planned "great escape" of the movie Chicken Run? Did the poultry simply refuse to be kept down on the farm, after they'd seen Paree?
Obviously, the incongruity-resolution section of my brain kicked in after a few seconds, and I realized that the writer actually meant "chicken coop" and simply either typed it incorrectly (it can happen to the best of us) or substituted a word that looked like it should be pronounced "coop" but really isn't. In either case, the error lent some unintentional humor to the proceedings of an otherwise-routine article about stuff you can buy at Target, plus it just goes to show something about education in the USA.

Funny memories

I have no idea who this guy is, but his song is hilarious and pretty much dead-on. I now need to write The Talbot Song.

By the Way

I am once again gainfully employed. I'm working in construction administration at a local architecture and engineering company. I enjoy the industry. I wouldn't want to do my exact job forever, but it's fine for now. I could, however, see myself doing something in the realm of civil engineering for a good many years.

Strangely, both of the coworkers in my department are LDS. Coincidence? Or a leading to return to some parts of my life that I might rather leave behind? It's reasonable to suppose that despite what I want, it's not really possible to just brush away pieces of one's past (or their implications). Are we, as humans, really essentially a summation of our past experiences? Or more appropriately, created in such a way to be shaped and molded by our past experiences? Are we, as Plato might assert, wax that is intended to be imprinted properly (i.e. to reflect the image of the True-cast Mold of the Creator), but can occasionally (or rather, in real life, regularly) be impressed upon by improper images (the effects of sin)? "What is good wax?" Is it possible that, even if we warm ourselves in the fire of the Spirit, becoming pliable and attempting to reshape our waxy selves in the Right Form, we cannot totally rid ourselves of the traces of bad imprints, until the Great Fire at the end of time melts us down completely and gives us new heavenly wax for eternity? And why am I trying to rid my waxy self of imprints that are not necessarily sinful, just because I want to be different from what I am?

We are currently in transition-- AGAIN. Jeff is going to Phoenix to start work for a company there. We'll figure out a way to get me out there soon.

Cow Town

You know you really live in a cow town when:
(1) A cow wanders onto the major freeway,
(2) The cow literally stops traffic, and
(3) It's front-page news!

No, I am not making this up. I have pictures of the front page to prove it.

Update, Part 2

In early July, I went down to LA to help Mom and Dad move up to their new house in Camarillo. Hard work! Mia toted cleaning supplies, Mom dealt with masses of mess, and the moving truck was more than sufficient to hold all their worldly possessions.

Update, Part 1

What have I been doing this summer, when I haven't been posting?

Well, Jeff's grandfather died, as I've mentioned previously, and because it was unexpected and tragic, it took up most of our attention during the latter two-thirds of June. Olaf 's grave marker was still being made at the time of the graveside service. The roses mark the spot; he is buried right next to his mother, Lenora Feely.The memorial service was in a church, and there was a flag thingie in the front, which was related to Olaf being a WWII veteran, along with a display with his picture and some other paraphernalia.
Mom and Dad came up for the funeral, to be supportive. A fun time was not had by all, even though the church provided a nice luncheon reception.

The next week, we got Rosalee a kitten to give her something on which to focus and provide companionship. Rosalee named her Mittsy. She's so cute.

Revamp

I have a new theme and a new look (currently boring, but I'm going to try designing a header and some other stuff) for my blog.

I'll be posting more, for real. I'm sure you're all relieved to hear it.

Tujuh Belas Agustus (17 August)

It comes around every year, and while I do not actively celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day (as in, I don't take a holiday from work or school or anything like that), I usually observe it in some way. This year, I opted to make myself some nasi goreng (fried rice) and teh manis (sweet tea) for dinner. I'd been craving the fried rice anyway, I had some leftover nasi putih (steamed white rice) in the fridge, and I'm rather a devotee of the idea that kalau belum makan nasi, belum makan (basic translation: "If you haven't yet eaten rice, you haven't really eaten").

Politically and socially speaking, there are plenty of things I dislike about Republik Indonesia. Nevertheless, it does have a place in my heart, and not just because of the food (even though the food is really great-- way better than indigenous American food of any variety).

Panjang Umurku

Yesterday was my Hari Ulang Tahun, known in the US primarily as "birthday". My parents were visiting, and while Jeff had to go to work, so I didn't get to see him all day, I had a lovely day of relaxing and doing what I enjoy: Starbucks for breakfast, a visit to the library, a stroll through downtown Visalia to look at shops with Mom. Then we had pizza dinner at Debbie and Jerry's house, and Rob and Candace were there, so it was nice to see them.

The terror that flaps in the night

For Christmas, Sara gave me a set of Disney's Darkwing Duck cartoons on DVD (Yay! Thanks, Sara!). Darkwing Duck is my favorite cartoon of all time. I watched it when it ran on The Disney Afternoon in the early 1990s, and my whole family loved it. Unlike many silly or saccharine cartoon shows, Darkwing Duck has dark comedy with an edge, featuring humor of the gallows or even (occasionally) potty variety (several IMDB reviewers commented, and rightly, "I can't believe Disney did this-- and got away with it in an afternoon cartoon!"). The basic set-up is something of a satire of Batman: the main character has no supernatural abilities, but relies on handy technical gadgets and a modicum of crime-solving know-how to capture a variety of villains. There are puns, sight gags, inside jokes, running jokes, and a general hilarity related to the characters and the situations in which they find themselves. The alliterative and articulate masked mallard fights crime in the Gotham-like city of St. Canard and encounters evil-doers of both the mutant and simply psychopathic variety. In addition to Darkwing Duck (and his civilian alter ego, suburbanite Drake Mallard), series regulars include goofy pilot sidekick Launchpad McQuack (crossing over from an earlier Disney Afternoon series, Duck Tales), adopted daughter Gosalyn, and the Mallard family's utterly boring and predictable next-door neighbors, the Muddlefoots.

See as many episodes of this cartoon as you possibly can. Someday, you may need to know about vampire potatoes or that "the cows are not what they seem".

[Notice: Darkwing Duck, his image, and anything else pertaining to him, are property of DISNEY. Please buy only legally licensed Darkwing Duck paraphernalia (not that I've seen a big market for illegally licensed Darkwing Duck items, but still). Speaking of which, why doesn't Disney do more to market Darkwing, rather than that lame other duck, Donald, or even that mouse?]

Lassie, eat your heart out!

As many of you know, Jeff and I are owned by two cats: grey tabbies named Touchy and Hobbes. [We are temporarily possessed by a long-haired calico named Nala, but she will be moving out to be with her true family in a few days; we're keeping her while her humans settle into their apartment.] I have no shame in admitting that a fair portion of joy and amusement in my life comes from these kitty cats.

Touchy is pudgy, a bit clumsy, sweet and shy. He will come and hang out with me, and follow me around the house like a puppy, but he is not a lap cat. Hobbes is leaner and meaner, the alpha cat in the household. He is not a lap cat, either, but he does make a habit of sleeping on our bed at night, and I like it, because he sleeps ON my feet, and keeps them warm.

Hobbes is the primary subject of my post. He is a cat that is far too smart for his own good. In our old apartment in Fullerton, Hobbes figured out how to open door handles; we always had remind guests to lock the bathroom door, lest Hobbes take it upon himself to open the door and invoke a rather embarrassing situation. Fortunately, our current home has round knobs, rather than handles, on the doors, and since Hobbes lacks opposable thumbs and is furthermore unlikely to acquire them anytime in the near future, we think things are safe for now. But Hobbes also took the opportunity, in the Fullerton apartment, to figure out how sliding glass doors work. He knew how to open the sliding door to our balcony. Of course, Hobbes is only 11 pounds and maybe 11 inches long, so he could not actually MOVE the sliding glass door, despite his best efforts, but it was pretty undeniable that he understood how it worked: when he wanted to go out onto the porch, he would stand on his hind paws, hook his front paw through the door handle, and lean back, trying to pull the door open.

In truth, Hobbes has outdone himself. We now have a sliding glass door, coupled with a screen door, that leads to our back yard. It has been my habit to open the glass door in the morning, allowing fresh air to circulate through the house before it gets too hot (or what others would consider "too hot", since I myself don't usually feel the heat) by mid-day, and just leave the screen door shut to keeps cats in and bugs out. In the past few days, Hobbes learned how to open the screen door. Day before yesterday, I was out doing some yard work and heard a scraping sound from the direction of the house. I looked up and discovered that the door was opened about three inches, Nala was on the little patio, and Touchy was cautiously poking his nose outside, while Hobbes was nowhere to be seen. Oh, no! I ran and grabbed Nala, shooed Touchy back in, and began calling Hobbes. He didn't show himself, so I pulled a trick from the Bad Parenting Handbook and got out his favorite treat (powdered milk), intending to bribe him back into the house. I called him again and made the tsking noise the cats associate with treats, and sure enough, he came running back inside. Too smart for his own good.

All's well that end's well, but now I can't leave the glass door open even a few minutes, if I'm not standing right there to catch Hobbes poking his paw at the screen door and scooting it open. I'll have to rely on opening the windows to keep the the house fresh and airy.

In honor of Mia

My adik Mia had this in her blog, so I stole it.

Here are the rules:
~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
~They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!
~If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
~You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Deb
1. Famous Singer/Band: Duke Ellington
2. 4 letter word: duel (also, dual)
3. Street: Demaree
4. Color: dandelion yellow
5. Gifts/Presents: DVD
6. Vehicle: dump truck
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: decorative figurine
8. Boy Name: Daniel
9. Girl Name: Doris
10. Movie Title: Destry Rides Again
11. Drink: Diet Coke
12. Occupation: DMV clerk
13. Celebrity: David Beckham
14. Magazine: Doll Reader
15. U.S. City: Dallas, TX
16. Pro Sports Team: Dodgers
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: Didn't wake up when my alarm clock went off.
18. Something You Throw Away: dirty tissues
19. Things You Shout: Doggone it!
2o. Cartoon Character: Darkwing Duck

I'm just wild...

... about Harry.


And yes, I've seen so many articles using that line, but oh, well.

Anyway, it is true. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released to the world in two hours, and has already presold more copies than any other book ever written. No, I didn't order a copy. No, I don't know when I'll be able to get my hands on a copy. I just know that if anyone spoils it for me, that person will not be my friend. Ever.

[As a side note, I found it extremely disturbing that when I searched for "Daniel Radcliffe" on Google images, in order to put a pic in this post, the first several images that popped up were naked pictures from his role in Equus. Eek!]

HP Madness (not too many spoilers)

Well, life goes on.

Jeff and I took some time yesterday afternoon to follow the example of millions of children and teens, and went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. What can I say? Either we are lemmings or we just really like Harry Potter.

I liked a lot about the production, and the casting was, as usual, spot-on. However, both Jeff and I thought the book-to-movie adaptation could have been a little better. I know that such adaptations are challenging even with routine material, and with Rowling's books, everybody has an opinion and many people are dissatisfied with their favorite parts or characters being given short shrift. However, the movie axed some aspects of the book that really contribute to the unfolding of the plot (for example, the actions of the house elf Kreacher, the significance of Harry's growing isolation when Ron and Hermione achieve important roles at school, and so forth), and the emotional climax was hurried in favor of a showier action-fueled climax. And (most offensive of all) there is not a speck of quidditch anywhere in this movie! If you've read the book, you know that quidditch plays as important a role in the fifth story as in the previous four.

Dramatically, the film hits its stride and is most comfortable when showing scenes of the DA students training and growing in skill (we feel their exhilaration when they cast successful spells), and in the few quiet moments when the three close friends (Harry, Ron, Hermione) are talking with one another. We see the ease the actors have achieved in their years of working together, and director Yates seems to know how to handle them. On the negative side, the action and the smooth flow of the plot have, regrettably, suffered. To be fair, if you've read the book, you know the plot gets pretty convoluted in the parts when Harry isn't overcome with teen angst (although if any teenager has the right to a bit of angsty self-pity, it must be Harry Potter) and in some parts even when he is. However, other directors have managed to keep some complicated plots afloat (cf Alfonso Cuaron with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which plot involved time travel, of all things), so we'll hope that we get good writers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and give David Yates another chance at directing (per IMDB, he is currently set to take that chance).

As noted above, the film's greatest strength is in its cast (the Potter films have always been fantastic in this respect), and the actors do not disappoint, even when allowed only disappointingly small roles in this entry (Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid, for example, is in only a few short scenes, and Maggie Smith's Professor McGonegall is much less in evidence and much less spunky than in the book). We see a bit more of Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, but David Thewlis as Lupin and Natalia Tena as Tonks are practically absent (we hope this will be remedied in the sixth movie). Likewise, talented Alan Rickman has little to do as Professor Snape, but he makes as much as he can out of it. Props also to newcomer Evanna Lynch as a perfect Luna Lovegood (even if the writers took the Quibbler away from her), as well as solid Matthew Lewis, still portraying the put-upon Neville Longbottom. So far, the Potter series' best secondary villain (the primary villain being always Voldemort) is Dolores Umbridge, and gifted actress Imelda Staunton brings her to life in an amazing way, her pink suits and floral teacups contrasting perfectly with her cruel punishments and destruction of students' rights, all done with a creepy smile on her face. Other evil-doers are also done well, with showy Helena Bonham Carter making good with the crazy as Bellatrix Lestrange, and series veteran Jason Isaacs still collecting his paycheck as the menacingly silky-voiced Lucius Malfoy. As the self-styled Dark Lord himself, Ralph Fiennes is acceptably scary, if not particularly charismatic.

Overall, I thought the film's unintended consequence was to aptly illustrate why government should not be in charge of education. The attempt to control minds and thoughts, the intentional subjugation of truth for the purpose of political agenda: these seem to be the exaggerated fabrication of fiction, but they could happen in real life. [Obviously, they have happened in other nations.] The state's selection of standards and curricula already have garnered a predisposition of the state-run schooling system to sacrifice the next generation to an arbitrary set of expectations. If some person decides that controlling students' access to certain information and training in certain areas would be a desirable end, the means are available and such a person need only apply slight manipulation and force of will to achieve his or her ends.
Education, like journalism, should be free from government tampering. This will produce better citizens in the end.

I'm still alive

I can't say that I haven't had time to blog in the past few weeks. I've had plenty of time. I just haven't blogged.

Things have been eventful in our lives since the end of my school term, last month. I am enjoying my time of relaxation, prior to finding another source of gainful employment. We experienced a tragedy in our family, as Jeff's grandfather became suddenly dead.

I am currently down in LA, helping Mom and Dad pack up and move. We are hard at work, and I have gotten to see two of my siblings (Mia and Mike).

Yet another wedding

So, last Saturday, my cousin Becky got married in Moorpark, CA. I attended the wedding, and it was nice, mostly because I saw my family, both immediate and extended. I don't really know Becky, so while it was nice that she got married (and to a reputedly very nice young man), it doesn't really affect my life at all.

I drove down in the middle of the day, and discovered that Ventura County is very beautiful during the late spring. I spent the afternoon with fam at Mom and Dad's new house in Camarillo. We all got ready and carpooled over to the wedding site.

It was an outdoor wedding in a place called Walnut Grove. I sat with Mom and Dad and Dan and Jen and Mike.

This was my view of the wedding ceremony: the back of someone's head.

I finally got to see the bride and groom as they were walking down the aisle.

At the reception, I mingled with family and relatives. Like Tim and Mia.

And my aunts Rachel and Martha. Both of my dad's sisters are a hoot! I'm actually a lot like my Aunt Martha.


I met my Aunt Rachel's boyfriend Prentiss.

And chilled out with my cousins Steve and Jesse (remember them from pics at Dan's wedding?).

And chatted a while with my cousin Beth:

All of the Price cousins gathered for a photo op. Unfortunately, this is not a good picture. However, I'll try to identify folks from left to right: Steven (in law school), Jesse (student at UCSB), Michael (brother, hidden behind Jesse; engineer/physicist in aerospace), Bob (fireman for LAFD), Deb (obviously uber-cold when this was taken), Tom (tech guru for TEAM), Matt (does something technical in Chicago), Becky (The Bride), Dan (brother; chaplain in US Army), Mike Smith (The Groom), Jen (married to Dan; librarian), Billy (no clue what he's doing with his life), Beth (going into child development and early childhood education), Mia (sister; student at SDSU, working on BA in anthro), Tim (married to Mia; works for USMC).

Blogger lies

I wrote a post and saved it to publish later.

It didn't save. It is gone forever.

Blogger, you have failed me. Why, Blogger, WHY? Why say that you are going to save something if you actually don't?

At least we can be thankful that Jesus is more reliable than Blogger when it come to saving things.

What's on YOUR plate?

Once upon a time, in the not-too-distant past, Jeff and I were eating at a Chinese buffet. I somehow (well, it was influenced by a futile effort to find sweet-and-sour chicken among the sweet-and-sour shrimp) stumbled upon the brilliant conclusion that one might analyze one's food according to their kingdom/phyla in the taxonomic classification system.

I wasn't too sure about many of the foods (Wouldn't broccoli, rice, and zucchini be closely related-- flowering, seed-bearing plants-- even if they don't taste similar? Answer - Yes.), but my plate turned out to be fairly boring. Jeff's, on the other hand, bore the plants (rice, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, carrots; phylum Anthophyta), crustaceans (shrimp; phylum Arthropoda), mollusks (scallops; phylum Mollusca), and fungi (mushrooms; phylum Basidiomycota). However, he had no vertebral animal meat on his plate, and I immediately began worrying about the fact that there was no representative from the phylum Chordata. I quickly forked some of my orange chicken and deposited it on his plate. And then realized how weird it was that I was worrying about such a thing, and then proceeded to worry, instead, about being weird.

Notes written by middle school students, Part Whatever

I confiscated this today.

One person wrote:
iz yo Mom going to buy some chips or somethin for the party?

Another person replied:
i don't know, cuz hopefully it's not at the time when we going shopping, but i think she told yo daddy she will.

Yeah. Boring. My students just didn't come through with the laughs for me. When the end of the school year comes around, not only are they not focused on their work, but they aren't even focused on writing solid, communicative, hilarious [illicit] notes.