playtime iii: a winner

The answer to this week's round, PURE ART is a new, yellow BMW M5.

Matherita's guess of a yellow Ferrari was very good, though the guy didn't look quite like a gallery owner.

Miss Kate's guess of a "definitely yellow" VW Bug driven by a 30-something graphic artist was closer. The guy was definitely more graphic artist than gallery owner. The fin thing on the hood though, that lost ya points.

Truly, you two channeled the color yellow from this plate and for that you both win the Color Achievement Award.

Nils' graffiti art covered van guess guarantees her the If She Doesn't Get Some Sort Of Award She Will Not Play This Game Ever Again Award. Hazak hazak venithazek.

Crackhead thinks this whole thing is fixed and she is probably right. Perhaps you need to buy some presents for the powers that be.

Sylow. I know that your guess is only an attempt to milk another honorary award this week. Well, it just ain't gonna happen buddy!!

Weinkraut should be happy to know that somebody contacted me and told me that they didn't guess because that damned weinkraut stole their exact guess. Or maybe that doesn't make you happy. Either way, it's the truth.

Here's the story with redballoon's guess. Many many eons ago, a good friend of mine and I were driving on a remote road in the foothills above Santa Barbara when a monkey ran across the road right in front of our car. Upon our return to civilization, the general disbelief of the event by everyone we knew was so overwhelmingly intense that at times my buddy even began to doubt. Redballoon also disbelieved. But she also loves me so she lovingly told me that she believed that I believed I saw a monkey. So let me say in response to your guess, I love you too.

Quote from last week's winner: next time the car and on to more victories!

and damned if she didn't guess the exact make and model! Color was off, but not everyone can win the Color Achievement Award and driver wasn't quite on but made up for it with an entertaining description. So, back-to-back victories it is for marybishop. Congrats!

p.s. Honorary Co-judging Award goes to Sylow.

playtime iii

Once again, the basics:
I report on a personalized license plate I saw during my commute and you all guess on the kind of car. The more detail, the better.

Today's plate: PURE ART

good luck!

this may be the first blog ever about star wars

The end of Return of the Jedi really disturbs me. I don't believe in divine redemption or divine anything for that matter, but I always found it hard to stomach Yoda and Obi Wan hanging out in the ethereal, luminous netherworld of The Force with the saved Darth Vader.

After watching the latest episode (slight spoiler to follow), I find it impossible that Obi Wan could stand smiling with his old buddy who slaughtered a room full of children, not to mention countless other horrendous acts over decades.

Other opinions?

was walter cronkite a big suckfest?

When I was a kid I remember thinking that watching the evening news was a sign of something good...intelligence, savvy, something along those lines.

Now, as a responsible adult something has changed, and I don't think it's just me. The evening news seems synonymous with everything I hate about American culture. I can't stand the commercials for the news. On the few times I've seen it lately, I've made it through about two and a half minutes with my jaw dropped. On the last occasion I heard a broadcaster, talking about a high school basketball coach who died, say, "He checked out of the game...of life."

Someone tell me it's not just me. Or tell me it is just me. But did the news always suck?

(oh, and hey, if there any canadians out there, does the news in canada suck?)

playtime ii: a winner

Another tough one.

The answer is a mid-40ish blonde woman in a blue Honda Accord from around 2000.

The Capt's first guess, metallic grey Toyota or Acura sedan, is probably the closest as far as the car goes, but the rest was way off. AND if you apply Sylow's Theorem W=Q*1/-N(A*S), he is way WAY off.

Sylow's guess has the car way off as well. I think the actual woman would be able to pull off the woman he described if she was acting in a play or something. However, once again you get a kind of a subprize by having a Theorem named after you.

redballon, no on camaro, no on mullet. not sure if the camaro or the girl are supposed to be black in your guess, but doesn't really matter.

matherita, nope. (but I still use your recipe to make matheritas, so you get credit for that)

weinkraut, as i learned back in cataloguing class... you piggyback off of Sylow, you're gonna get burned.

J, perhaps you win the Wrongest Award.

Or perhaps not! Nils comes in with a late-entry Super Wrong Answer. (addendum: Oh, but so imaginitive and well-written. I simply cannot wait for your answer to the next puzzle)

which leaves marybishop. her answer, I see a 40ish blonde woman in a red jeep, was simple, even poetic, and this week's winner. Congratulations marybishop.

I still haven't gotten the Capt his prize (an audio file of my rendition of Two Tickets to Paradise). I need to buy a new microphone for my computer and actually learn the lyrics. But I am close.

So...marybishop, if you want a sparklestonization of some song, let me know. Maybe we can just make that the ongoing prize.

playtime ii

Time for another round of The Miss Kate Had Some Trouble With The Machine This Morning And My Espresso Was Undrinkable So I Needed Something To Occupy Myself With During My Morning Commute To Keep Awake Game.

(Capt, I know you haven't yet received your prize for winning the last round, but I swear it will eventually surface.)

A recap of the rules: I report on a personalized license plate I saw during my commute and you all guess on the kind of car. The more detail, the better.

Today's plate: LD ZEPPLN

a sunday afternoon the way sunday afternoons should be

Back in West Virginia, second weekend in a row. People here in this small town are starting to recognize me. Saw a klezmer band last night. I love the idea of klezmer in West Virginia and I really wanted to like the band, but I just didn't. Good klezmer has to make you feel...in the most joyous, upbeat moment of wedding dance, a good klezmer band will remind you to feel just a little bit sad so that can remember to feel just a little bit happier. Still good music, though.

Everyone went for a hike today and I took a long bike ride in the mountains by myself. Serenity and even just plain relaxation have been eluding me these day. Bike ride helped some. Need a week straight of that. Sitting here listening to bluegrass, drinking espresso and blogging diary style also helps.

Lately I feel I've been living a mundane existence. I don't feel like I need to carpe the diem each and every diem, but I can't think of anything I've done lately to cause any sort of ripple. Not a ripple in my own pond.

Damn, that guy's ice cream cone looks good.

I feel I've been taking everything for granted for quite some time now. Just a few slow days like this where I can sit an think about the things which are important to me are as essential as food and water.

I am pretty happy guy, sittin here with my second double espresso which just arrived. Now if Miss Kate would only show up.

keeping the cows out

There is a valley in central California where five bio-regions intersect. Exactly what they are escapes me, but one is definitely desert. In the summer the temperature is often above 110 degrees.

I fixed barbed-wire fences in the valley for a summer. I worked at a nature preserve that had miles of border with ranchland. In some states it the the job of the ranchers to keep the cows in and in others it is the job their neighbors to keep them out. That was my job.

And it was hot.

And the valley is filled with mosquitos. So despite the heat, you are forced to wear long pants, long sleeves and something covering your neck.

Melted snow runs down from the mountains all through spring and summer. During the first major thaw, the valley floods and the fences at all the creek and river crossings are decimated.

I see myself standing waist-deep in the current, jeans and cowboy hat, a cloth bag full of wire clips, a pair of fencing pliers and not a care in the world.

I see myself very happy. It's a kind of happiness that just isn't available to me now.

Don't worry Miss Kate! There are many things I have now that I couldn't have then. Things that are mutually exclusive with being carefree.

I wish you could see me standing there, though.

now god's gettin' in on the act

thistleboy may have a caffeine problem ... time to take a long look in the mirror, my friend,
a recent comment


I bought some fresh roasted coffee the other day at a grocery store. The coffee came from a local place that I had never been to in a little town on a quaint downtown street. I had time at lunch today and drove over to a bike shop, looked around a bit and then walked to the coffee place. On the walk I could smell coffee roasting and I was salivating. When I got there, the place was in the process of burning to the ground.