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Hello Wars!
Scott and Ryan brought me back the most awesome gift from Chicago…
Oh yes. Can you feel the awesome? I have the whole set (some not pictured here)! 
“Buddy”
That’s what I call him, anyway.
He’s definitely looking better. The face is clearing up a bit and he’s noticably putting on weight. We had a nice head and back skritch yesterday morning that showed he was quite happy to be touched, but not quite trusting enough for me to pick him up. He’s still got a bit of a mite problem. Not sure if frontline deals with those ear mites or not. Ah well, we’ll get there.
Compared to the first photo, I think he’s doing well. We’ll get that vet visit in soon. I just think it will go over SO much better if I can hold him as we go, rather than trapping him.
Glad to see him perking up. 
Playing
I’ve been reading a little “lighting blog” called Strobist for a while now. I like it because, while some of the things he talks about are a wee bit beyond me currently, I always feel like I have at least an idea of what he’s talking about. He goes to great lengths to show set ups of shots, etc.
One thing he’d posted that I’d always wanted to try was a bit about how to create a macro lightbox for $10. Tonight, I gave it a shot.
It didn’t turn out too bad. I goofed a few steps of it, but they were correctable mistakes.
One of the things that I did while traveling in Europe was to pick one piece of art that would always make me, when I looked at or touched it, remember where I had been that day. This was the piece I picked up in Edinburgh. The sculptor actually made much larger versions of this (probably 2.5-3 feet high) that were much cleaner in their details, but sadly…those were 800 and higher. The 25 dollar mini tower would have to do.
I really loved the larger ones though…
closed
At lunch today (around 3:30am), I realized something…
I was chewing with my mouth closed. And not choking. I could breathe. This may sound like a completely mundane thing, but to me? I’ve NEVER been able to do this. I’ve spent years learning how to chew with my mouth open but hopefully not letting others realize that was what I was doing. I’ve always been paranoid of the fact I couldn’t close my mouth when chewing due to lack of air, which is why I tend to not eat in crowds above a handful of people (and why I eat so little at things like “meet my parents!” dinners). I’ve never been able to do this simple little thing. And here I was….doing it without really thinking about it.
The awesomeness of this mundane detail can not be described.
That surgery was SO worth it.
Just us
I just registered two new domain names.
While some of my future plans involve more face to face work, I’ve had this idea for a net based “outreach” on the gay rights front for some time. It formalized as I was laying in bed this morning, right there on the verge of waking up.
Will it work? Be successful? Have any impact? I have no idea.
I just know that I need to try. To get into the game more. It isn’t enough to sit back and wait for the heroes to arrive. We need to start being the heroes we’re looking for. Thank you, Mr. Milk.
It is ironic that I’ve avoided it for this long. After all, fighting may well be the one thing I am innately good at. Mostly because I’m too stubborn to give up and I really hate when people think they get to dictate the terms of my life. Thank you, institutional childhood!
So….game time. I emailed local organizations about some volunteer work and hope to hear back from them soon. I’ve registered the domains and need to start writing some code.
Time to get moving…
Matt
Patricia Clarkson
I wanted to share this brilliant speech by Patricia Clarkson, given at the HRC gala in New Orleans.
She touched on one of my own personal pet peeves about the whole gay marriage debate:
The rocks are breaking. And it’s time to call certain people on the hypocrisy of their stance against gay marriage.
Newt Gingrich: against gay marriage, but on his third wife.
That recent convert to an anti gay-marriage stance, Rudy Giuliani: third wife. Rush Limbaugh: vehemently against gay marriage and….yep, third wife. A third wedding that was performed by none other than Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Clarence Thomas: second wife.
4 men, eleven marriages, and you must be lectured on love by them? This Mount Rushmore of Divorce!
Thank you, Patricia. For your voice and for your words.
I needed to hear this speech tonight.
You can watch it in video here:
new toys
Yay! All 15 of the Dr. Who chibi figures came in. New desk toys! woo woo.
And yes….I became a fan of the new Dr. Who series. I’m eagerly, if impatiently, awaiting new episodes.
The Green Revolution
I’ve been spending the last several days completely glued to Andrew Sullivan’s “The Daily Dish” and twitter, watching events in Iran unfold in a slightly chaotic, not fully parsed way.
Some stunning/shocking images can be found here: Boston.com’s Big Picture.
Do you hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men…it is the music of a people who will not be slaves again…
Here’s hoping it ends better for them than it did for the students in Les Miz.
“Meejangam, Meemeeram, rayam-o-pass meegeeram”
“I will fight, I will die, I will get my vote back”
can’t save them all…
…but I’ll sure as hell try and beat myself up for failing.
This little fellow has been in our neighborhood since we first moved in. You’d see him lounging about on car tops late at night. He was incredibly distrustful of humans. When I first started trying to reach out to him, the closest I could get was 1 city block away.
It was obvious he was starving. It took about 5 tries before he started to realize that I was setting food out for him. Now, when I see him, he gets fed. He’s coming to trust me, ever so slowly. This was the closest he’s ever let me get…and just for a brief moment when I held out my hand, he ALMOST let me pet him. Then he rethought it and retreated.
But it was close enough to realize that even if I can catch him and get him to a vet…he’s not going to make it. Poor boy is very, very sick. I’m stupidly hopeful that enough food will keep him going til I can get him treatment and into a no-kill shelter. That look in his eyes and his face yesterday though…I am not so sure he’s going to make it that long.