December 2000

Last of the Weird Food

December 27, 2000

A final installment to my apparent series of weird food sites: Ray’s List of Weird and Disgusting Foods. Warning: This list, as opposed to the earlier two, is a list of pretty gross foods, rather than the still-edible-but-from-another-era. It is a paean with recipes to buttress Ray’s theory that every culture on Earth has one food item or delicacy that is invented solely to mark who’s a part of the culture and who’s not (a theory I heartily agree with, by the way). And it’s refreshing to see that the U.S. has not been left off the list—our contributions include Spam and American Cheese, among others. [via Geegaw]

Minipops

December 27, 2000

For anyone who hasn’t had enough holiday cheer yet, I present yet another dose of micro-pixelated fun: FlipFlopFlyin’s fun fun fun: christmas style. And if you find it cool, try the non-holiday installment too. And maybe check out his collection of MiniPops. It’s amazing how well you can identify these little figures with so few clues.

A Touch of Melancholy

December 26, 2000

Ah, what a wonderful holiday it’s been! The weather’s been reasonably good, the early Christmas was a hoot, and I’ve spent almost 4 days away from the computer. I say almost because I just can’t seem to resist checking e-mail, and then there was the 3 hours I spent at the local coffee establishment, typing away on the laptop with a trusty latte by my side. And I did set up my Mom’s new Mac tonight. But other than that, completely computer-free since Saturday! My wrists are genuinely thrilled.

And so am I. It was a wonderful Christmas, with all the family in attendance, good food, and lots of laughter and joy. It was a bit odd to wake up on Christmas Day and have it already be over, however—interesting for it to be a kind of ordinary day, but a bit melancholy ultimately, with the house so quiet and everything cleaned up. I kept wishing everyone could come back, even if it was just to sit around and talk; those moments seem few and far between sometimes. Still, I have had a very relaxing time of it, got my room a bit cleaner, and am feeling ready to go back to work tomorrow. Which is good, since it promises to be a very hectic day. A good night to go to bed early, so from me, a fond adieu for now.

Finding Meaning

December 22, 2000

From Walt Whitman [via following Eden], a manifesto of sorts. I am always searching for the meaning, and I find it in little bursts most of the time—an unexpected phone call, a bird outside the window, a meal with friends. My good memories in this life are made up mostly of small pleasures like these, and I treasure each one like a jewel, holding it up to the light to see each facet.

Thanks to Amber for reminding me.

Librarians Fight Back

December 22, 2000

Librarians are getting tough! As an antidote to the librarian horror stories I offered a while back, I present now for your reading pleasure the Librarian Avengers. Pick the Flash option if you have the plugin. Be sure to click on the “Look it up” girl for important info on why you should worship your [...]

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Xmas Eve Comes Early

December 22, 2000

Another grey morning. I’m feeling a little more chipper today—finally got my dose of melatonin right and slept like a wee baby last night, almost 9 hours. It’s Friday, I have a fresh batch of homemade chai, and due to various family obligations, Christmas comes tomorrow here at Casa WanderingMind! Which means I need to [...]

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Cool…

December 21, 2000

Well, it’s too late for the holidays, but I have just found the pop culture superstore of my dreams. From H.R. Pufnstuf to the more traditional sock monkey, Wicked Cool Stuff has something for everyone who was a kid during the ’70s. Right now I’m looking at a bitchen’ Atari long sleeve t-shirt, and after [...]

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Hump? What Hump?

December 19, 2000

Too much computer work today. Time to call the chiropractor—I feel like a hunchback with carpal tunnel. Any moment now I expect Gene Wilder to come up to me and say, “I can fix that hump.”

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Whirlwind

December 19, 2000

I’m back! Spent a wonderful weekend away from the computer, celebrating The Deb’s birthday. In a two-day whirlwind tour, we managed to go to Santa Cruz, go bowling (pictures to come soon), sleep in decadently, pop into work, and have a lovely goodbye dinner at Del Taco. And such balmy weather! I gained about 20 [...]

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Human Touch

December 19, 2000

Great interview with Sam Keen about his philosophy of love and sex and culture’s encroachment on both. One nugget: That shows one of the deep kinds of sicknesses of our society—that we have so sexualized touch…It’s become almost taboo for us to touch people when we don’t have sexual intentions. I mean teachers can’t touch [...]

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