Time. Please slow down.

Posted on 2010/01/13 by ronnyd

There is so much to do, to learn, to feel, to take care of,  to accomplish, and to finish. I am not the first, and I am damn certain that I am not going to be the last, to express the exasperation that one feels when one realizes that time is not slowing down but is in fact speeding up and that the days and weeks are passing by much much too quickly.

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24 Hour Fitness

Posted on 2009/11/18 by ronnyd

You suck.  That’s all.

PissedConsumer

I cannot believe that the BBB gives them an “A”

BUT I jsut got a call from them, and the Sales Manager at my local says that she can help with this situation that I’m facing.

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The Visitor

Posted on 2009/11/18 by ronnyd

My significant other and I watched The Visitor last night and really enjoyed it.  Richard Jenkins, whom you may know from Six Feet Under, was great, but so was the rest of the cast.   I recommend it.

It’s the story of a somewhat lonely professor who becomes entangled in the lives of some Muslims that he encounters in a way that I will not spoil.  He finds meaning in the lives and events of his new friends when there is nothing of the sort left for him in his own.

visitor1

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Thomas and Friends is anti-diesel fuel?

Posted on 2009/11/16 by ronnyd

I haven’t watched much of Thomas and Friends at all, but G-Monkey is getting into it, and loves the small set that she has.  We were watching an hour long episode this weekend, or feature length film more accurately, and one thing that I took away was a somewhat anti diesel message.  They presented the diesels as scarier, dirtier,  and more unfriendly than the steam engines.  They puff massive amounts of “black sooty smoke”, which I found hilarious, since the “steamies” must burn massive amounts of coal to get the steam on which they run.  There was actually a comparison between the diesels and the steam engines, comparing their output, “just steam” to “black sooty smoke”.  I think that the “steamies” were actually frowning in response to the diesel smoke. Oh brother …

As an adult, this omission of the coal smoke mention was hard to miss.  The cartoon did mention that the “steamies” burn coal, but not that they produce any thing from the burning of that coal.  I guess it’s the new clean-coal tech that powers Thomas and his fellow “steamies”.

Yes, I guess I’m already that parent that’s going to correct the messages delivered through the cartoons.  I also see a severe drop off in the amount of Thomas they’ll be watching.

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Move Ahead

Posted on 2009/11/16 by ronnyd

I’m going to do something tonight that’s going to change things for me and everyone in the family and our future.  Tonight’s task itself is not going to be change things, but it’s part of a larger picture.  It’s a baby step to something.  But a step that has to be taken.  Things aren’t going to take care of themselves.

YOU need to be the mover.  The impetus.  The driver.  Drive.

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Pretty relaxing day today.

Posted on 2009/11/15 by ronnyd

Took care of some things, went to the park with the family.  Watched some TV shows.  Isn’t this what Sundays are supposed to be?

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Internet Research / Fig Leaves / Beer

Posted on 2009/11/14 by ronnyd

I’m sitting here researching how best to care for a fig tree that’s very young and originated as a young cutting from a tree that belongs to my grandfather. Here’s a good article that I just found on the matter: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html

Just starting the research, and I decided that I needed to post about it, thereby delaying the research even further. The girls are asleep, both of them, at the same time!

You may have noticed that I’m trying to post something every day this week, but I can’t guarantee that all of them, or really any of them at all, will be very interesting. If you’re reading, just pop in with a comment and say ‘hi.’ I left this blog out to whither and dry for so long that I probably lost any regular readers that I had to begin with.

Well, that’s exactly what I don’t want to happen with the fig trees. I love figs, and I would really really love to have a mature fruiting tree here at the house.

I should also mention that while the girls are sleeping and I sit here and surf and type and read, I’m drinking a Red Oval Lager.  2.99/6-pack at Trader Joe’s .  As they say in many of the reviews here, you get what you pay for (well, more than one of them also say “It is what it is” — one of the most annoying non-statements if ever there was one, so, just ignore that and pay attention to the parts of the review that might actually help you understand what the beer is like.)  I like it, it’s 50 cents / can, and it’s much much more drinkable than the crap produced by the Miller / Anheuser Busch’s of the world.  Just don’t litter if you pick some up.

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san francisco movie tonight

Posted on 2009/11/13 by ronnyd

As part of the San Francisco International Animation Festival a friend and I will be heading over to see A Town Called Panic. I’m really looking forward to it, as it seems right up my alley. You can watch a preview here.

Here’s the description for the flim:

Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar (Panique au village, Belgium / France/ Luxembourg 2009

One of the rare feature-length animated films (and the only one in stop-motion) to appear in the Cannes Film Festival, A Town Called Panicis sure to live up to the cult status of the Belgian TV series upon which it delightfully expands. As in the series, here the town of Panic is populated by a random assortment of plastic figurines whose daily activities recall children’s illogical narratives in their herky-jerky disjointedness, celebration of the quotidian and profound brilliance. Cowboy and Indian decide to give their friend Horse a birthday present, but thanks to an Internet shopping typo end up with 50 million bricks for Horse’s new barbecue. The trio must then travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe populated by pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures. In an age of high-tech animation and CGI effects, A Town Called Panic is refreshingly homegrown, the product of ingenious imagination and a surreal, often nostalgic, sense of childhood absurdity.

Before we go though, we’ll grabbing a bite at the Tadich Grill. I’d link to their site directly but they say it’s coming down soon.

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Night Running

Posted on 2009/11/12 by ronnyd

The woman, dog, and I did some night running tonight.  I prefer it.  The trails are not crowded, there aren’t any other dog walkers and their dogs with which to contend (though most are fine, it’s really my dog about whom I have to worry), and the temperature is nice.  There is the added danger of running over ruts in the trail and not seeing them, but she and I were trading off holding the flashlight and wearing the headlamp.  I’ve seen lamps that runners can wear on their chests, and maybe it’s time to look into one.

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Art — in the Latte (&Mocha)

Posted on 2009/11/11 by ronnyd

So, my friend Fouzi and I went to Barefoot Cafe on Monday for a small class on late art. I need a lot more practice in the matter, as I learned in class, but here are the creations that we were served by the barista as we stayed for a latte and mocha after the class.

Heart in the Latte

Heart in the Latte

Hearts and Leaves in the Mocha

Hearts and Leaves in the Mocha

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