June 27, 2006
2006....a bad year for blogging
Just paging through things and see it's been a lean first half 06 on Black Coffee Blog. Not sure that's it's going to get much better. I'm more shorthanded than ever at work, Luke is more mobile than ever, and shitty Movable Type seems more dated than ever. Anyway, shall give the best catchup that I can.
No recent photos of Luke except what is on Flickr. He is crawling quite handily now days. He's incessesantly active. Literally no reprieve from him. He will not sit still. He's too lazy to walk, but he's getting strong. When I take him to the 'Baby Gym' he can hang by his arms from a pole. hahahah He also seems to have crossed some threshold for excitement or stimulation because he now loves to be wrestled, whirled upside down, and hurled along in shopping carts at high speed. He just used to stare blankly when I did that stuff. Now he laughs manically.
Surely Matt is reading this thinking I exagerate about Luke's incessant activity. Matt arrives for a two-week visit on Sunday and mark my words he'll learn that I am not exagerating.
My Spiderbeam antenna is arriving in Singapore this week. Hopefully Matt and I can get it constructed in time for S61FD the following week. With some gain and 17m and 15m I might eventually stand a chance of working a wa3scm qso one day.
Lately have been listening to Glenn Gould's 1955 Goldberg Variations. I love it. But it does make me feel like Hannibal Lechter in his temporary holding cell in Memphis.
After reading an obituary of Hamza El Din in the NY Times I downloaded some oud music. That too is quite nice. Really would be cool in a starry desert night at 2am.
Ling brought an Atlas pasta machine back from Sydney for me. It works pretty well. After not too much fucking around, Yaya (our maid) and I got it producing decent noodles. I haven't used the ravioli manufacturer add-on yet, only making linguini, and sheets of 'silk handkerchiefs'.
My garden is starting to come in now, I have some good growths of Genovese and Italian Large-leaf basil going, which I used to make pesto for the silk handkerchiefs. I have a large crop of heirloom tomato plants as well, however the aren't blossoming very well, even though they are becoming physically huge plants.
The house across the street is being demolished in order to build more ghastly 3-storey high semi-detached homes. The only good thing about it is all the construction machinery. Luke loves it. He points at it with his tiny little index finger and makes squeeks demanding attention and to be taken closer.
The dogs are the dogs. Stable as ever. Mister is still a little spastic boy and Mona is still the dignified lady. However I did manage to find a new way to get Mona going nuts. They started digging a hole a while ago, so I run over to it and start furiously digging with my hands, flinging dirty everywhere. Mona goes insane and starts leaping around the yard like a Springbock barking joyously.
Father's day is over now. You'll have to wait till next year to send gifts to dad like 'The Daddle' -- a saddle for daddy, not to be confused with a saddle for mommy.
I do not consent to a search. Am I being detained? I will say nothing without my lawyer. Stand up for your rights.
Exactly what I expected
For as funny as I thought it was, I knew the only one who would suffer from the video of lousy Comcast service was the poor technician who waited an hour on the phone for his colleagues. He got fired and shitty Comcast support goes on. Comcast sucks.