Another view of the living room, including the windows.
Jan 142006
Jan 142006
I did manage to snap a few pictures of the bamboo floors before the camera died. Here’s a view of the living room.
Jan 132006
It looks like I’ll be getting back half of the vacation time that I lost during last summer’s partial government shutdown. I’m sure Pawlenty is trying to address the remaining shutdown-related issues in the hopes that they won’t come back to bite him during election season, but I’m not impressed with this half-hearted gesture to appease state workers. Of course, I didn’t expect much more from this governor. I do hope that the Legislature enacts safeguards to ensure that state government remains operational even when our elected representatives can’t play nice with each other.
Jan 122006
My toys seem to be engaging in rebellion against me. My Shure earphones, which I use for my iPod, are fading out to the point where I can barely hear anything through them. And when I returned home today, I took out my camera to snap some pictures of the new floors. I turn on the camera and…no image on the rear LCD. The icons display fine, but I can’t get the camera to take anything but blank pictures. After a bit of investigative Googling, I discovered that this is a common problem with the Canon A70. It looks like I can get it repaired for free, though. I suppose this is as good a time as any for it to malfunction. Barring any unforeseen events, such as a UFO crash-landing through my window or a horde of mutant zombies rampaging through the streets below, I won’t be needing it anytime soon.
Jan 112006
I have a couple opportunities to play teacher this week. Yesterday, I was part of a public-interest panel at a CLE for new attorneys, extolling the many joys of a career serving the good people of Minnesota. Tomorrow, I’m giving my annual talk to a group of college students who are taking a Disability & Society class. This year, I’m going to try outlining my remarks in advance and see how that works for me. As you might guess, I don’t have much of a problem speaking extemporaneously on all things Gimp, but I also don’t want to ramble on and bounce around from topic to topic with no clear, unifying theme. I usually get good reactions from the class, but I don’t want them to remember me as just some guy in a wheelchair who jabbered on for an hour. I want them to actually remember something I said.
Pictures of the new floors will be posted tomorrow, assuming the batteries in my camera aren’t dead.
Jan 112006
I find myself in a strange place that looks vaguely familiar. I think it’s called a “living room.” Someone was even kind enough to leave a pretty bitchin’ computer behind (except I had to hook the damn thing up). Whoever lives here seems to fancy himself some kind of swinging bachelor. I mean, you should see these floors. They totally scream urban-thirtysomething-going-to-great-lengths-to-impress-the- very-occasional-female-visitor.
What a poseur.
Jan 092006
In the week since i’ve been confined to my bedroom, I’ve read one novel, gotten about a third of the way through another, caught up on my magazines, watched more DVDs than I care to count, and became so desperate for a change of scenery that I actually got excited about going to Target to pick up a couple floor rugs. I’m not saying that I’m any more productive when I’m using my computer, but what’s so great about it is that it gives me the illusion of productivity. So many e-mails to read! So many podcasts to listen to! And while I’m doing those things, I may even be thinking about doing a little writing.
Jan 062006
It looks like the contractors won’t be finished until Monday, which means I might not have Net access over the weekend (unless I decide to come into the office again). Most of my possessions are piled up haphazardly in the living room and kitchen. I look at the stuff and wonder how a single person can accumulate so much crap. I don’t even remember where some of it came from. The number of cables and wires I found in various corners should be sufficient to open up my own electronics emporium. I’ll be glad when this remodeling is complete so that I can put things back in closets and spare bedrooms, entirely forgetting about them for another few years.
Jan 052006
Iraq has become especially bloody again in recent days, undercutting the oft-proclaimed assertion that the December elections would bring some stability to the country. It seems that with the passage of every key date the Administration identifies as a benchmark for progress in the transition to a Western-style Iraqi democracy, the violence escalates to horrifying levels after a brief lull. I don’t think any one particular individual or group is in control of events on the ground anymore. The whole country is careening towards a future shrouded in grim uncertainty and the only thing anyone can do is hold on tight. And the conflict seems to be weighing more heavily on the minds of Americans. How else do you explain the decidedly weird sight of the normally uber-ironic David Letterman verbally sparring with Supreme Defender of the Christmas Spirit, Bill O’Reilly?
Jan 042006
I’m not claustrophobic, but I’ve never liked small, confined spaces. I think that has something to do with all of the time I spent in hospital rooms when I was a kid. Staring at the same walls for days or even weeks on end can slowly erode your psychological fortitude. I was reminded of that yesterday when I had to spend the evening in my bedroom because my living room had been turned into a construction zone. On the other hand, my cushy middle-class existence has probably made me soft. My bedroom is roughly the same size as the living room in my old West Bank apartment and I lived there for seven years without complaining.
It’s nearly 8:00 p.m. and I’m writing this from my office. After going home for a while this afternoon to move some stuff out of my bedrooms, I decided to come back here rather than spend another evening in my disheveled home. Not that my office isn’t disheveled, but it’s a very industrious-looking kind of disheveled. And I knew you would all start to miss me terribly if I went two days without blogging. Or at least, I like to think you might have missed me. Let me have my delusions, okay?