I think I love Dolly Parton

'nuff said.

One Year Ago, Saturday

Liberty GlassGosh, has it already been a whole year? wow. Time flies when you are in love!

Can you believe it was a year ago when we saw our first movie together? We were supposed to take the whole group to that show from Pixar, but it was sold out so we all settled on that other lame movie instead.

But it wasn't lame. It was crowded and we had to sit off by ourselves.

And we've never looked back (except to see when that actually happened – June 27, 2008.)

Happy 1st Anniversary Timmy. I love you. When are we getting married?

America. The Beautiful.

AmericaYesterday, I snapped this picture in the mall. When I uploaded it to my Flickr acount, I named it America on the spur of the moment.

I don't know why, but it's like I'm on mission to take everyday snapshots around town and name them things that make me think a bit. This one rang a little too true for me though.

What does it bring up?

It digs up thoughts for me about isolation and over-protectiveness. I mean, here's an empty store, the doors locked and the curtains drawn.

I presume the curtains are drawn in case someone rents it out and they start to develop a store inside so they can keep it a secret until they make the big splash.

Why is springing surprises on people at the right instant important? I don't know. Ask Apple, Inc.

But the irony for me is not the curtains. It's that the place is empty and yet it still has the shoplifting alarm thingy poised to catch anyone who dares to steal anything from the empty store.

Now I can come up with 50 or more reasons why it looks like this, why those alarms are still there. But that's not the point.

The point for me is simply stated, but very complex: our society values stealth and security over simplicity and truth. The truth here is that the store is empty. There's a recession going on and it went out of business. And now the Mall Management is hiding nothing, literally, so we can't see there's nothing, and they'll punish us if we try to steal nothing.

For some unknown reason that reminded me of America. Hence the name of the photo.

Let's all do nothing but be sure that we don't share the glorious secret with anyone, and let's punish anyone who tries to steal it from us!

I know I sound cynical, but I am kind of just that today.

You Go, Alyck!

Alyck On TwitterI just received this Tweet when I opened up my MacBook this morning. Click on the picture if you want to see it live on Twitter.

All I can say is "You Go, Alyck!" I had no idea we were in any competition, but now that I do, it's on. Of course, Alyck has a substantial lead since he already had 34 followers to my 20 before I even knew we were racing. So I guess I'll just have to catch up.

You can see my tweets in the side bar right under the photos from Flickr, or you can choose to follow me here:

twitter.com/pumasalad

So there you go. If you're not using Twitter you just don't get it. But you will. Someday. I promise.

It's the bugs, silly

Blood SuckerSitting on the front porch at The Farm tonight with Tim, I was reminded of growing up in Texas. It's a slower pace than I'm used to, but quite relaxing. I wasn't really sure what reminded me of Texas, though.

We can see giant snow capped volcanos from here (yes, there's still a little snow on both Mt Hood and Mt St Helens), and even though it's late June we don't even have air conditioning on in the house.

So I'm sitting there trying to figure out if it's the laid back-ness of it all, or if I'm gonna get any ice cream, or what exactly is so Texas-like about the moment.

Then I swat a mosquito and it all comes racing home, just like that scene near the end of Ratatouille where the food critic sits down to eat. It's the bugs. I think I may have donated around a pint to the local economy while we were sitting out there.

Still, it was pleasant. And I was with my partner just enjoying the Oregon-ness of it all. So I guess it's worth a few bugs here and there for moments like these.

iPhone day is 2 days away

…around 36 hours, actually…

Gizmodo has an article talking about the new phones and the speed. Here's an excerpt that made me laugh:

Like we said before, the iPhone 3G will still run most of the games for the near future. That 40 million unit potential market of iPhone/iPod Touch devices is too big to just ignore and put out an app just for 3GS phones, so your old phone will still be able to keep up. But developers are like alcoholics. If you put more system resources in front of them, they can't help but use all of it just because they can. Also, they drink a lot.

Read the whole article, and watch a video of side by side iPhone 3G and 3GS showing speed related issues over at Gizmoodo.

Gizmodo: iPhone 3GS Review

news from a year ago

i missed this one, but ran across it tonight. I wonder how Coldplay felt having their reign at #1 on the UK charts beat down by a 15 year old greatest hits album from Abba…

I'm sure it had something to do with that movie where they let Pearce Brosnan sing. And knowing that Pearce Brosnan had anything to do with it probably made Coldplay feel even worse.

Oh well. it's just pop history now. From last August.

Laughing Rats

Because you never know what's going to turn up on Cliffdweller… Is it science-ey or is it just funny? you decide.

Up in 3D

So I saw Pixar's new movie just now and I have a headache. I saw it in 3D at 4:30 today on a digital screen. Conditions couldn't have been any better.

About the new 3D experience: OMG! It costed $14 APIECE to see it in 3D at a matinee show on Friday. I've seen Star Trek 3 times for the same amount of money I spent on 2 tickets for Up today. It's way too expensive. And it's not worth it at all. Sure, it's the best 3D experience ever at a movie theatre (technology and all that), but it's still just a 3D movie. I felt like my head was crooked all the way through, and the cheesy plastic glasses, while lightweight, became uncomfortable about 20 minutes in.

It ain't worth it folks. I hope this 3D fad passes soon just like the last one did somewhere around 20 years ago.

About Up: It was good. It wasn't great, but it was good. I don't want to spoil anything, but I don't have to because everything is in the trailers. Of course, where they showed you stuff in the trailer, they expanded upon greatly in the actual film.

I giggled. I laughed. I smiled. I got all choked up and almost cried at one point. But that happens in every movie, especially Disney ones – they have the formula down pat.

It wasn't Pixar's best, but it's still better than almost anything from Dreamworks. I'd place it somewhere between The Incredibles and Wall•e, just next to A Bugs LIfe.

For reference, my favorite Pixar films are Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo.

So it's worth going to see, but it's not worth paying the 3D tax.

oweee

broke toesFor years I've been walking in circles. Somewhere around 1995 when I was rafting with a bunch of 3DOers, I tripped in my water sandals while we were carrying our raft over the edge of a waterfall and broke two toes on my right foot. So since then, even tho I'm right handed, I've been favoring my left foot.

Well, yesterday at Kah-Nee-Ta, a Native American resort, where I was walking down the road with Henry and Tim and Reilly, I managed to fall off the edge of the road. Again, I was wearing sandals, and again I appear to have broken two toes. Only this time they're the ones on my left foot.

Oweee.

Oddly enough, when I collapsed in slow motion, I managed to skin my left hand on the palm and on my knuckles. How does one manage to skin both sides of one's hand?

So anyway, I'm still alive and kicking, but only with my right foot because it hurts too much to move my left foot. My toes are all swollen and blue. It looks really nasty.

The irony of it all is that Paul's Law reads "You Can't Fall Off The Floor", but apparently that doesn't apply to perfectly level, paved roads.