n-judah love song

A quick update

I have not (as yet) been eaten by bears, eloped, or fallen off the side of a cliff. Since time is short, I'll just give you some listy goodness.

- our national parks are amazing. Go. Go to them now. I don't care which one. Just go.
- wasting water is for dummies.
- T-Mobile has service approximately nowhere outside of a city.
- real hiking requires real hiking clothes. Like skiing requires boots and kayaking requires a paddle, old New Balance won't cut it.
- Both of us can be out and about at 6 am. Really. I'm not "awake", per se, but that's a technicality.
- subnote: while hiking, Clif Bar "shot bloks" are great. Everything else Clif still tastes like rice and sand.
- Alex will have all the good photos of nature. A cameraphone just won't do for most of this, but you can see a few odds and ends from the road (when I DO have service) here.
- Oh, and turn off the computer and go outside and play this weekend. I promise, it's totally worth it.

OMG Ponies!

  P1060625a 
  Originally uploaded by Steve1949.

This photoset, that Alaina's dad took of wild ponies in Shackleford, made me homesick in 1000 ways. These ponies were one of my favorite things ever growing up, both in story and to see. The ones on Assateague were a little too used to humans, and were mean little suckers. They would crowd you for an apple and bite your damn hand off to get it. And then you could see how many miles it was on 50 to Sacramento, which always made me think "well, it's not THAT far to California, I could move there"...

But the photoset is beyond lovely, especially of the spring colts.

ease of use.

There's a few things that I really like to do that I don't often make time for, and other, easier technologies have started to replace them.

One of these is reading the New York Times on a Sunday. Not the online version, the real thing. Preferably with good company and good coffee.

It's a leftover, I'm sure, from my record store days, but  Adam and I went to Amoeba the other night and were both in a sort of giddy fever pitch flipping through the sale vinyl. I once made the mistake of getting rid of all the jewel cases to my cd's. I know it's made moving a lot lighter, but there's something about holding the actual album in your hand that iTunes just can't replicate. Not for better or worse, because I'd rather carry an iPod than lug cd's around, but - still.

Another is going to the movies. Actually GOING. And it's annoying to get there, it's too expensive, the popcorn usually sucks (unless you're at the Red Vic) and usually, nothing good is actually playing. I've probably seen three movies in the past six months, and only because I knew these deserved to be seen on a big screen - King Kong, Brokeback Mountain, and V For Vendetta. All of them awesome. V For Vendetta I saw this weekend, and not only did it totally rock, but it was interesting to hear who in the packed theater got which jokes.

Netflix, iTunes, online papers, craigslist, it's all just so easy now that sometimes I'm amazed that it's really only gelled recently. How did I know anything at all before Google?

Also, while we're making things easy, can I have back Kozmo?

links and fury, signifying nothing

Nothing posted but links, nothing fit to print? I've lazywebbed my own blog. Let me knock a few cobwebs out of my head, then.

One link I will share with you is a story about Saudi bloggers, women in particular, who are pushing the boundaries of free speech in a new venue. You know, every time I get a little cynical about what I do for a living, I'm reminded that the ability for everyone to have a printing press at their fingertips still is a revolutionary notion.

There are, for the moment, two dogs living in my apartment, my Stella and a 9-month-old pit bull named Rune. Which brings our small building's total up to 3 dogs. They have alternated daily activities between "let's get sprayed by a skunk!", "let's destroy the garden!", and "let's be really really cute!" I'm trying to get a photo of all three together but they are usually too busy chasing each others' tails when they are all together, like a fuzzy little girl gang.

I read James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. For all the brouhaha in blogland (jealous, much?) it's actually quite a good book. It needs to be shorter, the dialogue is trite at times, he lied to Oprah, (don't you immediately get struck by lightning if you lie to Her?) and in my mind, his biggest sin is trying to be the new Dave Eggers. And yet - it's the sort of book that sticks with you emotionally, little phrases popping back up at you. Especially if you've ever known someone stubborn as hell who has gone through addiction and rehab. Thanks to Ales for the recommendation - you were so far ahead of Miss Winfrey.

Just for good measure, here's a tune I've been listening to, for your legal downloading indie-kid pleasure, via 3hive.

And Still It Sits - Mice Parade

Oh, and I've recently rejoined Netflix, since I am without cable. Won't you be my Netflix friend? Leave your email address hidden oh.so.cleverly IN the comments.