Yes I Am That Geeky

I was sorting through some old pictures recently when I came across this gem of a picture and thought I'd share. This was my college dorm room. I was living there alone so all the pictures are exclusively my taste. Yes, I am that much of a geek. Original Star Wars poster. The poster right below is for The Professional with Jean Reno, a very young Natalie Portman, and Gary Oldman. Blade Runner is a sure sign of a geek. What you can only barely see in the mirror was my Raider of the Lost Ark poster. The other images came from magazines and mostly I just liked the image or the idea behind them. I remember all of them fondly. I still to this day pull out images that interest me. This room was totally me. And totally geeky. I just had to share.

Beauty in a Murder

Des Moines has a crow problem. Or at least that's what the city officials say. Each morning as I arrive at work I get to see hundreds and hundreds of crows heading out from their nightly roost to find food for the day. Each evening as I leave I see them return to that roost. They crowd into the trees and sleep together for safety and warmth (they only roost in the winter). The city says it's a problem. I think it's incredible. But then again I think crows in general are pretty incredible.

The Corvid family includes the smartest birds in the bird world. It includes crows, rooks, magpies, ravens, and jays. They are all smart enough that captive corvids require stimulation. Ravens are given toys to keep them from going mad. Crows and rooks have shown tool usage, what used to be the distinguishing feature between humans and animals. And not only are they smart but they are evolutionary marvels. Crows can live anywhere. Eat almost anything. They are the winning species in terms of evolving to live with humans. Which I think is one of the reasons, we as humans don't like them. We see them a lot. And their scavenger/opportunistic ways, make us uncomfortable. But they have won the evolution game with those same tactics.

The first time I saw a crow walk I could practically see the velocirapter in its movements. Crows strut. They bob their heads as they walk in a movement that looks prehistoric. It looks like they stepped out of the jurassic period. These are birds that existed before the most recent ice age. They have had a long history, despite human's frequent attempts to exterminate them. Crows are everywhere. They are listed as a species of least concern in terms of endangerment. We see them every day. But I wonder if we really think about how well this species has done. The city of Des Moines alone has thousands of birds most of them sleeping downtown. Enough that people have been complaining. Other cities have more. Plus crows live out in the country as well. I think the number alone say something. You can look at a crow and see their inky blackness as ugly or terrible. I see them as intelligent interesting birds that have learned to adapt. And we (as humans) can sometimes be tough to adapt to.

The Emperor of All Maladies

It's something that has touched every single one or us in one way or another. It's the dreaded "C" word, something whispered about in families in the early centuries. It's been the focus of decades of highly specialized research and public outcry. It's cancer, the emperor of all maladies. I haven't posted much this past week because I've been lost in a good book. I've been lost in a world of clinical trials, aggressive treatment, genetics, surgery, and research. A week or so ago my dad lent me The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee and I haven't been able to put it down. For such a depressing topic, Mukherjee really makes the topic fascinating. I haven't wanted to leave the book.

This "biography" looks at the history of the disease and the treatments and research that has been done to find the cure for cancer. It includes Imhotep's first mention of cancer (breast cancer) all the way to the most recent research being done on different types of cancer. And it's an incredible history. Galen (A Greek in AD 160 Rome) believed that cancer came from black bile building up in the body which would have to be drained. Not surprisingly this was disproved. In the mid 1800s Dr. Halsted believed that radical surgery was the only way to "cure" breast cancer. These surgeries would often remove whole sections of the chest cavity. Again this was proved false...after a couple hundred years. In the 1970s and 80s the cure was radical chemotherapy a practice of killing off any cell in the body that divided, cancerous or healthy, and then injecting healthy cells back in. All of these have been stepping stones in the War against Cancer. And all of them have changed medicine for the good or the bad.

If it had just been a history of the treatment and research I would have found the book interesting, but Mukerjee intersperses stories of patients who he has treated. He talks about the psychological effects of cancer, on both patients and doctors. He delves into cancer activism to see its effects on the national dialogue. And he discusses which cancers are being treated and which we are still looking to find some sort of solution for. He discusses the national obsession with a "cure for cancer" and the humility, hubris, hope, and despair that has gone alone with that search. He talks about doctors who can't see past their own arrogance and doctors who risk everything to find a medication that will work. He details the stories of drugs created, clinical trials failed, and every step on the road to where we have finally arrived.

There is now miracle drug at the end of this book. Mukherjee is quick to point out that cancer, is not simply one disease, so there can't be only one cure. But he condenses and distills centuries of history into a complete look at how we have failed and succeeded in finding treatments for the various different types of cancer. From the earliest treatment from Leukemia to the protein targeted drugs of today, this was simply riveting. I don't remember the last time I read something this technical, this detailed, and still found it both informative and entertaining. A great read. And a great history.

Processed Produce

I saw something this past week at the grocery store that made me weep for the next generation. I was in the produce section picking up carrots and celery and peppers when I walked by a section of apples. But not just any apples. Individually wrapped apples. I thought that was odd until I took a look at the wrapper. And it was a:

Bubble Gum Flavored Apple

I kid you not. This apple was apparently bubble gum flavored. I'm not sure how they make it flavored but I stood there, dumbfounded, and couldn't figure out if I wanted to run away screaming or break down weeping right there. I didn't buy one to find out how they flavored it. Heck I couldn't even bring myself to pick it up. I didn't want to be seen with it. It was terrible.

I've been on a "real" food kick lately. The processed cereals that I've been buying are starting to smell too chemically for me. I can't bring myself to eat the processed frozen meals for lunch. I shop mostly in produce with some dairy. I'm trying to start using the grains and beans I buy. It's not really a health conscious decision, it's more based on what sounds good. I like things made without chemicals. Fresh is starting to mean more to me.

And I guess I stupidly assumed that produce would always be real. That a tomato (particularly an organic tomato) was just a tomato. That grapes had no artificial flavors to make them more grapey. That celery was made up of just celery. And that apples would always taste like apples in all their wondrous variety. So this scares me. Are we trying this to make kids interested in fruit? Because the fruit that they're eating doesn't taste like fruit anymore. They won't grow to love apples. But they will crave bubble gum. And even more scary, I'm sure that there are parents out there that will buy them. We have no idea how they flavored these apples but a few parents will think "hey this is tasty and healthy" and buy them for their kids. And the kids will never get to know how tasty a real apple can be.

I've become cynical about food processors and marketers. The more packaging something has the less likely I am to buy it. This week I finally figure out why that is. Soon I'll be able to buy chocolate flavored grapes and artificial raspberry-flavored strawberries. And a little more naturalness will be gone. I weep for the next generation.

1200 Miles

Jeff and I have traveled 1200 miles since Thursday. We've see three capitol cities, we've attended both a juggling festival and a pinewood derby. We were stopped by three different cops (all three without tickets, thankfully). We had some great time with old friends and met a couple new ones. It's been both an incredibly enjoyable and incredibly stressful weekend. I'm exhausted.

We left on Thursday for Springfield, IL, a city that neither of us has ever been to. We arrived late and headed out to a late night dinner with a student that Jeff had just met at a conference. We were out until after 11. The next day, after lunch with another new friend, Jeff had a meeting and I wandered around around the city. After the meeting, we headed out of town. This was at 4 p.m. We were supposed to be in Minneapolis the next morning, a drive of nine hours. With the exception of getting a little lost once or twice, most of the drive went fine. Most of it...

On Thursday we had been driving down to Springfield when we had missed a turn in the road. It was dark and we hadn't seen the signs. Jeff pulled over on the side of the road with the idea that when it was clear we would turn around. There was only one car that we had to wait for. Then the car pulled in behind us and turned on its flashing lights. When we explained to the officer what the issue was, he said we should just u-turn and be on our way. We thanked him profusely and headed out. On Friday night we were almost to the Minnesota border when we were stopped for going 6 over the speed limit. The officer sweetly gave us a warning. Not three minutes later we passed a car that also pulled a u-turn and flipped on his red and blues. This time we had been going the speed limit but Jeff had forgotten to turn off his brights and had blinded the poor cop. By this point we were shaken. Jeff was apologizing the moment the window was rolled down. The officer laughed at our poor blubbering selves and send us on our way. We finished the rest of the drive at or below the speed limit with the feeling that we were cursed.

We arrived at the hotel in Minneapolis at 2 a.m. and dropped into bed. I was out in seconds. The next morning we picked up our friend Josh and headed over to Mondo Jugglefest. We go every year and always have a blast. This year I didn't take any pictures but we still had a great time. We met our friends Lon, Lisa, Dan, and Lon's parents there. It was a bit more low-key than usual but still did a fair bit of juggling. And watched lots of great tricks. After that ended we introduced Josh to Ticket to Ride while waiting for Dan to rejoin us. We had dinner with the two of them and then spent the rest of the evening telling stories, laughing, and enjoying. At 1 a.m. we reluctantly headed back to the hotel. I don't remember the last time I laughed as hard or talked that much. Fun!

This morning Josh met us for breakfast at our favorite french bakery Chez Arnaud. The pastries and desserts are just as lovely as they are tasty. I had a fraisier which is made of layers of almond sponge cake mixed with cream and strawberries. Mmmm. I also picked up meringue cookies and some cream puff pastries without the cream. Then we headed north to watch Lon and Lisa's children participate in a pinewood derby. My brother was a scout but I'd somehow never attended one. We had fun and got to see Logan win Best in Show for his angry bird car. After lunch it was finally time to head home. After the terrible driving and long rides, four hours home didn't seem so bad. I'm exhausted but it was well worth every moment. A busy weekend but one I won't forget for a while.

A Little Silliness

It's been something of a crazy week. I'm taking a day and a half off work this week and am trying to catch up beforehand. I'm going to be gone most evenings so I won't have that time to post. So this might be it for the week. We'll see. I might surprise you with a later one.

I need a little silliness today. I've got a bit of a cold and am feeling it. I'm a tad run down and I'm even more stressed. But this little cottage in the field makes me smile. I imagine a wise old wizard or the fabled "crooked man" living out here. It would only be better with pink smoke puffing from the chimney. A little fantasy in an otherwise dull day.

War and Peace

It started because I didn't have anything to read over my lunch hour. I apparently can't eat lunch without reading. My lunch plans had cancelled at the last minute so I had grabbed a sandwich and brought it back to the office. Now the issue of a book. I hoped on Project Gutenberg. I can always find a classic to read. As I browsed the authors, the name caught my eye. Tolstoy. There is something about reading Tolstoy in the winter. Something about curling up with a long book that talks about snow and cold while I'm comfortable inside. I'd read Anna Karenina a couple winter's ago. I decided that this year it would be War and Peace.

I knew nothing about the novel other than that it was long and most people consider it a classic. I assume it had something to do with...well...war and peace, shockingly. So I clicked on the link and started to read about the Prince Vasili and his witty banter with the duchess about the upcoming war with Napoleon. And slowly the book started to pull me in. I read three chapters before the lunch hour ended. I wrote down the number of my next chapter and went back to work. The next day I was back. I purposefully left my book at home so I could read more Tolstoy. I picked up where I left off and learned about the scheming Princess Anna who will do anything to find her son a good job.

Each day it was the same, two or three chapters over lunch to tide me over. I felt like I was making progress. I was really moving through the book. That is until I picked up a print copy over the weekend. I was a bit shocked at the size of the book. Weighing in at 1400 pages, it's a hefty tome. I've only finished book 2. I'm a little over 250 pages in and haven't even scratched the surface. I'm reading about war now, the early battles between the Russians and the French. My dad mentioned that I should read the book with a notebook to write down and keep track of characters. This wikipedia list is enough to make me dizzy. But still, I'm determined. And I'm enjoying. So breaking my typical rule of one book at a time I think I'll make War and Peace my lunchtime book and read other things in between. Otherwise I'll go insane or I'll never finish. Tolstoy is wonderful but he can be a bit...we'll say wordy....sometimes.

Quiet as a Mouse

I had the weekend alone and took full advantage of it. I spent most of today and Friday curled up at home, reading, knitting, and watching episode after episode of the Big Bang Theory. I bought Season One at Half Price Books and spent most of today catching up on the episodes that I'd missed. On Saturday I met my parents out at the park for a very, very chilly walk (think 3 degrees) and then went to the home show in the afternoon. After a very nice dinner with my dad I went home and curled up for more reading. I hardly had time to miss Jeff (although I did).

Jeff came home today and took a nap shortly after getting home. The cat had been pestering me wanting to go out into the garage. Normally I'll let her out into the garage and just leave the door cracked. She can come in when she's ready. It drives Jeff crazy but it gives me some peace and quiet time when I don't have to feel guilty for not playing with her constantly. I opened the door, grabbed a glass of water and went back to my knitting and Big Bang. I heard the door push open and saw the cat run upstairs. Then she ran back down and stopped in front of me. I glanced at her and noticed that she had one of her mouse toys in her mouth. I went back to knitting. She sat in front of me patiently. And like it is in so many sitcoms, the truth slowly came to me.

It was only a minute or two that I realized that none of her mouse toys have legs and most of them have lost their tails by now. What the cat actually had was a mouse. A living breathing mouse. I sat up and looked at her. She sprang up. The moment I started towards her she booked it upstairs. Ohh game time, she must have thought. I just thought about getting her back into the garage. Or at least into a spot where I could catch the mouse and take it back outside. She went upstairs and immediately lost the mouse on our bedroom floor. I was just in time to see it run away and hide in a pair of shoes that were left on the floor. I started picking up the shoes gingerly and the mouse made a break for it, with the cat right on it heels. Jeff, who had woken with the noise, caught it in a bucket. I took it back outside and released it down by the creek. I watched it hop away toward the creek, undamaged but frightened. It'll live to fight another day. The cat was shocked that we had taken out its toy but was placated with treats. She is after all just trying to provide us with food. I petted her and told her that she's a good kitty. But I don't think she'll get to go out in the garage again. I don't want anymore animal surprises.

Poetry Friday

I feel a bit like I'm cheating doing another Poetry Friday. I've been bad about posting recently and poems are generally easy. But then I thought...hey it's my blog. And I want to post a poem.

I love Neil Gaiman. I love his stories, I love his blog, and I love his poetry. I've only found one thing he's written that I didn't like and considering how much he's written that's pretty incredible. This poem makes me giggle so of course it makes me ridiculously happy.

The Day the Saucers Came
by Neil Gaiman

That day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
and the people of Earth stood and stared as they descended,
waiting, dry-mouthed to find what waited inside for us
and none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow,
but you didn't notice it because

That day, the day the saucers came, by some coincidence,
was the day that the graves gave up their dead
and the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,
but you did not notice this because

On the saucer day, which was the zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
a ship built of dead-men's nails, a serpent, a wolf,
all bigger than the mind could hold, and the cameraman could
not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out
but you did not see them coming because

On the saucer-zombie-battling gods day the floodgates broke
and each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
and charm and cleverness and true brave hearts and pots of gold
while giants feefofummed across the land, and killer bees,
but you had no idea of any of this because

That day, the saucer day the zombie day
the Ragnarok and fairies day, the day the great winds came
and snows, and the cities turned to crystal, the day
all plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the
computers turned, the screens telling us we would obey, the day
angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
and all the bells of London were sounded, the day
animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
the fluttering capes and arrival of the Time Machine day,
you didn't notice any of this because

you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.

Scatterbrained

Did you miss me? Good, because I've been missing me a lot recently. I'm not really sure what I am lately. It's certainly not at the writing table. At least not blog writing. I have so many things I'd like to tell you about but I seriously do not have the energy tonight. I just spent the last two hours looking for my wallet, canceling my credit cards (after realizing it was lost), and trying to remember everything that was in there. I'm sure that I'm not even remembering half of the things that were there.

I keep losing books and keys. I habitually lose my coffee. It's actually an odd day when I don't turn to Jeff and ask, "Do you know where I left my coffee?" I always find it but I live in fear of the day I find a month old cup with some serious mold growth. Nothing grows mold quite as fast as coffee. So I've been scatterbrained. I may never know where the wallet went to. I lost it from my office to the car. That's a distance of less then 30 yards. I just hope that someone honest, decent, and wonderful finds it (the way I know most people are). We'll see what tomorrow brings. In the meantime I'm going to make myself a pot of decaf, and curl up in a ball and read. It's the only safe thing to do.

No Instruction Manual

A couple years ago I had an epiphany. It should have been something that had occurred to me years ago but I can be slow sometimes. I realized that no one gets an instruction manual when they are born. No one has things all work out. We are all playing it by ear. I'll repeat, we are all playing it by ear. That simple phrase stopped me in my tracks. It struck me like the proverbial thunderbolt. I remember stopping on the street and gasping at the simpleness and brilliance of the idea. And this was at 33 (see told you I was slow).

Through most of my life I've felt inept at things. Other people seem so much better at navigating life then I do. I seem to struggle to do everyday things more than most other people. I've always wanted to be smooth and perfect and it always seemed like I was clumsy and inept while other people weren't. And I used to feel bad about that, until this epiphany. This simple statement that we are all playing it by ear, made me realize that I'm not alone. That no one is working through the designated plan. That no one starts life, knowing instinctively how to give a business speech, or how to paint like Van Gogh. And more importantly, no one knows where their life is going. It's being made up on a daily basis. That was stunning to me.

And it opened the door to allow me to be imperfect. I no longer had to be smooth and polished, I could be fumbling and untaught. I could learn at my own pace. I could make mistakes left and right. I'm not inept, I'm learning. Now when I beat myself up for mistakes, I remember that they are all mistakes other people have made. We all start out with the same lack of knowledge. We all start out with the same idea that we should have a direction or a plan in life. And none of us do. We are all playing it by ear. And that is liberating.

Eric Barclay

It's been a while since I posted about an artist whose work I enjoy. I have a number of art and artist blogs that I follow so I'm always finding new and inventive work. Some more inventive than others.

Eric Barclay is a Texas based artist with a fun retro feel and some great use of bright colors. His print work is sweet and whimsical with a focus on animals and children. You can't help but smile when looking at it. I started following Eric's blog a while ago and am completely in love with most of his print work.

But it's his sculpture that I adore. Barclay takes cans, bottles, old light bulbs, and containers of all sorts and paints them to creates characters. The adorable little skunk above was once a Coke can. The two below, recurring characters for Barclay, are made from creamer containers. And to make me love them even more the penguin is Mr. Shackleton (based on Ernest Shackleton the Antarctic explorer I'm fascinated with) and the walrus is Mr. Hudson (based on Henry Hudson the fabled New York explorer).

Eric has done work for a number of different publications and companies. His blog and his website are filled with tons of examples of his great work. I love art that uses unique media and empty bottles, wood, gears, and lightbulbs are certainly unique. This last image, the lion below, was made from an old French's mustard container. I can only post a couple of his examples but check out the rest of his stuff on his website. It is guaranteed to make you smile.