for "healthy" or I guess...healthier spinach and artichoke dip. Any suggestions?
Today is Day 10 of the Master Cleanse, I did it!
I am planning on baking up a storm this Xmas! First up? Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Turkey Day!
Got my New Moon Tickets! Midnight release? Really...I'm too old for this stuff.
My sparkly skull came in the mail yesterday and it is awesome.
I caved and turned on the Xmas music, and also peeked at the Black Friday ads...cheeter pants! I did not, however, get out the decorations.
I have been stuck on the same lame book for over a week. Just....cant....finish....
Suggested by JM:
“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation. That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.
Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?
I've almost always completed books that I've started. Maybe because I usually read books that have been well-reviewed or maybe because I'm generally an optimist and that even after a slow start I hope that it might get better, or maybe I have a stick-to-it-iveness that says if you're going to start something you might as well finish it.
Speaking of of finishing it, that does remind me of one of the few books I didn't finish -- "IT" from Stephen King. Clocking in at over a thousand pages and at the apex of his drug-addled, no-one-will-edit-him 80s long windedness (Steve: more isn't always better) -- I plodded along in this for about 400 pages and then said, "No mas!"
Oddly, I know several people for whom this book was one of their favorites, but I couldn't stand IT.
Oh, well - I've forgotten the model numbers. This is what happens when you take the time at a party to learn someone's name - you learn their name and make the whole evening special but you sacrifice some other random piece of information. In this case, model numbers.
As far as I can tell, I used a PDP-10:
(Taken by Ed Thelen of material owned by Computer History Museum under the non-commercial rule.)
Followed shortly by a VAX 11/780:
Talk about good times. I had access to these only because I was friends with the system administrator at school. He set me up (I think I basically whined a lot until he did) with a user name and password. My first user name and therefore email address ever was "tomato". I don't know why I chose that. He said "What do you want for a user name?" and I spouted out "Tomato". So I was known as "tomato" for a few years. Whenever I logged in I'd hear "Hey, there is a Tomato on the system!". I had email and was able to send/receive with a few friends that were online also - mostly right there at the school.
A few years ago a customer was walking through my company and he was talking about how he had made all of his money in the "internet" and how he had his first email address in 1988. That's how he started his conversation. It was like "How did you get rich in the internet?" and his first statement was "I had my first email address in 1988". Obviously there was something else involved because I had my first email address in 1983 and I didn't make it big in the internet. Of course, the internet wasn't really there yet so much back then. I think there was ARPANET, etc - but I'm not going to go into all of that.
I didn't do anything really constructive on either of these systems at the time besides read newsgroups. Later, maybe around 1987 I had to have a "real" account because I had a class on the VAX so the "tomato" account went away and I moved to something like just "wilso_d" or something else mundane. At that point I was taking an operating system class and we had to write our own OS in something like C or Pascal. It's all vague at this point, but none-the-less, this was my moment to both PDP and VAX systems. Both were pretty good considering the time frame. All text-based as I recall with dumb-terminals. I think the world really was faster before the advent of fancy graphical user interfaces (aka Windows).
You can read more about the VAX here.
Is it "Write A Blog Every Day For A Month" again? Because I'm already 10 behind. So here is a post from about two years ago where I said "Oh, I'm going to post about every computer I've ever used!" and then I stopped, right after this one. Lord Kalvan has been posting about a bunch of old computers and it reminded me of my original intent.
So here goes - I'm going to take a few posts to talk about the different computers I've used. I'll start with the very first one. This is the Commodore CBM-8032. This came out around 1980 and had a massive 32k of RAM. It had an 80 column by 25 line green monochrome screen. The CPU was a 6502 2Mhz.
This was owned by the science department at my high school. 1980 (10th grade for me) was well before the school had computer labs, etc. This was the ONLY computer in the school and we found it in the back of a store room where it wasn't being used.
It was beautiful. I used this from 1980 through 1982.
The base model used tapes, but the school actually had a dual floppy drive for it. I sent a letter to Commodore to see if they could send me any information on it, and they sent me a copy of their Commodore magazine. It was cool because it was filled with source code you could key in and also had instructions on how to do things with the system - like print. Yeah, this was before all of the magic we rely on today. Internet? Ha! I don't think so.
My first program was in BASIC and said something like:
10 PRINT "DEWITTE"
20 GOTO 10
and I'd run it... and run it.. and run it... There were three of us who started hanging around the back of the science room every chance we had - before school, after school, during lunch. We'd write programs and key in games and play them. One I recall the most is StarTrek (where you were a big E (for enterprise) and it moves around looking out for K (Klingons). Ah, good times, good times.
I would send a note to Commodore and when I received a reply, it would come from a different address. I thought something was up - they kept moving. Eventually I think they went away, but that wasn't until after the Vic-20, Commodore 64, and the Amiga. The only one of these I seriously used was the Amiga, but that's for another post.
I used to sit in the back of the classroom and just write mindless programs and listen to Supertramp on a cassette boom-box that I built (yes, built - and sad really because I don't have a single picture of it).
One of the hardest lessons that I've learned - and still reminding myself of - is that I'm worth it.
It's been on my heart and mind to sit down and talk with my aunt. I love my aunt, even in the midst of her flaws. After all, who am I to judge. Yet, it saddens me that at her age (she's edging closer to 50) somewhere deep down she doesn't feel like she is worth it. Granted, it's not my job to "fix it," but Lord knows I wish I could. I wish I could open her eyes to a lot of things about her self worth. Ironically, some of it is partly what she has inspired on me or shown me.
My own lessons of self worth developed before I had my daughter. I attracted quasi-decent guys; meaning I always looked at their social status, figured in how they would "complete" me (sorta speak) while carrying the "independent woman" sign with the disclaimer "I just want someone to love and be loved in return." Just when I had over extended myself by doing everything for them but jump through a hoop of fire baring a neon sign that says "pick me! I'm the one.." a disconnect would occur. Most of the time I was glutton for punishment and kept trying to force a connection when it was obvious it wasn't even a dial tone on the line.
Since becoming a mom it just seems like the wool has been pulled off my eyes and I see a lot of BS that floats around when it comes to people and relationships. I'm not claiming expert status. Far from that, but just the basic level of obvious bull - who really has time for that? Not I. Still what would it take for my aunt and so many other grown women to see the obvious and not accept it?
I wanna talk now, but things are hot....tense. She won't listen. I need a time to catch her off gaurd. So she has nowhere to hide to and no choice but to listen. Yes, it's time for the aunt to listen to the niece for a change.
All this over a man, that isn't trustworthy and has caused more harm to the FAMILY than good.
Friday Night.
Georgetown...
Opening Night for Foto Week DC. Drinks pouring. Beautiful people around. Me and Kel conversing and bumping to the ecclectic mellow mix of house music. Tasty spread of hor'dorves. Floating from one gallery to the next. Photography on display at five different galleries. New York, Cuba, Uganda, AIDS, 9/11, DC school children, the normal, the interesting. Topics are soft to intense. Chocolate doorman on gaurd. Looking to be Secret Service. Our eyes lock. Smiles exchanged. Ahhhh. I'm taken. Night fall air. I'm without much care. Celebrating Kel's job offer from earlier in the day. Me? Celebrating life and perhaps the realization graduation is closely becoming a reality.
Unknown hours pass. We have to keep it moving.
Adams Morgan...
Posted up at Soussi. Mediterranean feel. Added company. An Andre 3000 twin. Glasses, Suit, criss cross red and white strip shirt. Tie. Socialite, business man, fellow Bison. Good friend of Kel. Old School Hip Hop. Whatcha know about Lords of the Underground? Camp Lo? Tribe Called Quest? Martinis flowing. Paella tasting great. Black, White, Mediterranean, etc. taking hits from choosen hookah. Conversing about politics, current personal biz, straight up business. Pass the business cards to him, him and her. Another epic center or nerve where the bohemians of all backgrounds collab.
Again, unknown hours pass. We have to close tab and keep it moving.
The Triangle...
Andre 3000 Twin leads us to a mini after party. His connects is with Ozios. Club shuts down at 2 am, but a core group of Ethiopians still partying, including the connect. Someone got engaged. Champange flowing. Dancing in full effect. White guy comes over. Introduces himself. Said that he noticed Kel and I come in and thought we were the sexiest ones in the place. A line? Yes. Still, all he wanted was a dance. How could I refuse?
Unknown time passes. We shut it down.
Benning Ridge...
Home. Lured to sleep by the sounds of Papi's voice who called to make sure I got home ok.
This is what happens.
I'm going to get the mail and I hear or think I hear "Magnet & Steel" coming out of a passing car.
And then the song is stuck in my head.
And then I remember that the song is prominently featured in the movie Boogie Nights.
So I pop in the disc and watch the movie. Cuz, hey, what else am I going to do today?
So I finish the movie and I remember that the directors audio commentary is maybe the best audio commentaries every recorded.
So I watch / listen to that.
Then I say, hey, I'm still not doing anything and have some time to kill so I'm just gonna go ahead and watch the other commentary track featuring many of the actors in which Marky Mark is drunk and discusses having broken his penis (not the prosthetic in the film but the real thing.)
So I watched/listened to that.
And that is how I ended up watching a very long movie three times today because I may or may not have heard a song coming out of someones car.
(On top of that I watched One Flew Over The Cucukoo's Nest. Which damaged me for life when I read the book and saw the movie as a early teenager.)
1) Because one of the first things he talks about in his Boogie Nights commentary is how much he learned from listening to audio commentaries on LaserDiscs.
2) He's really insightful as to the craft of movie making
3) I would love to hear him discuss the making of Punch Drunk Love, what the writing process was and the score of the film and how brilliant Adam Sandler is in it.
4) I'd also love to hear him discuss, at length, There Will Be Blood.
It was a big day for Penny yesterday as she completed and graduated from her Family Dog I class. For the past month and a half or so, we’ve been working on sitting and staying and heeling and coming when called – all the things that are needed to be a good dog citizen.
Good job, Penny!
I wasn't going to blog about this but I'm bored of not eating and need something to do with my fingers.
The Master Cleanse diet is basically a ten day cleanse where you eat nothing, and drink a special lemonade, water, laxative tea, and herbal tea. (I have not opened my fridge in 4 days. I wonder what is mutating in there?)
The tea is made of
2tbsps fresh lemon juice
2tbsps organic maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
8 ozs fancy water
It actually tastes pretty good.
Oh I forgot the worst part! The AM sea salt water flush:( This is where you drink 32 oz of water with 2tbsp sea salt. You chug, and then run to the bathroom. TMI? It is not pleasant. Today was the worst because I had really really bad stomach cramps for a lot of the day but I really don't feel that hungry, just craving something crunchy and salty (that isnt salt water).
It is funny how you realize how much everything you do relies heavily on eating. Watching a movie without candy or popcorn, or god forbid, a giant diet coke? No thanks. Shopping on a Saturday without a latte? Pass. You have lots of free time on the Master Cleanse. It's not really something to subject your friends to.
I have been occupying my time on this lovely Saturday by watching the Food Network, Guy Fieri to be exact. I resisted for a while because I thought it might just make me hungry but its actually not bad at all. I am also watching Chopped because it is amazing and nothing on that show looks edible.
I have finally gotten over my Grilled Cheese Grill obsession. Kind of.
The Master Cleanse is my master plan to avoid the swin flu. Wish me luck!
It's so tiny..and green!
