The Urban Pantheist

Putting my May schedule here for your amusement and my convenience:

May first: Doctor Appointment
May 2nd: New Puppy arrives / Mushroom class
May 3rd: I told the mushroom class people that I couldn’t do May 3rd for some reason but I don’t know why.
May 5th: Zoo New England Bowling for Rhinos (Main current source of stress)
May 9th: Gilmour Ride (10 mile bike ride)
May 9th: Zootopia (I have to dress in a suit and socialize with big money donors)
May 16th: Roger Williams Park Zoo Bowling for Rhinos
May 17th: Mastodon concert (If I go to this I am guaranteeing that I will get sick again)

So last Friday we tested to see if my laptop is one of those ones that works faster with the electronics immersed in coffee, but it was not to be. So I'm updating from work, and doing most of my internet via phone. So the main thing I use my computer for--uploading pics and sharing them on livejournal--is on hold for the time being.

Also I have stye on my eyelid, and I am assured that both of these things are temporary and will fade into distant memory, with plenty of time for me to enjoy my life until the sun consumes the earth.

On Thanksgiving day, Alexis and I picked up our friends in Somerville and took them to our other friend's house in Salem. Charlie and Turtle were also in attendance.

( thanksgiving story )

I've lost some enthusiasm for my livejournal projects, I think. Maybe it was the break during vacation, or how busy my life in meatspace is about to become/is becoming. Maybe I've lost my mojo.
Seeing pictures of myself in a bathing suit was pretty depressing. I feel like Cathy (the comic strip character). I've started tracking my food intake again, which by itself causes a change in behavior. My will-power gets better when I think about having to write down each donut.
( Read more... )

Spring is amazing and beautiful and overwhelming. All the migratory songbirds are back. This weekend Alexis is going to try to photograph some warblers. Better, more coherent post later, I hope.

For some reason I didn't notice until just now that the Portland Zoo insect keeper job is a temporary (May-September) position only. It would be idiotic to leave my wife for a year for a temporary job (considering that it would be pretty hard to get another one at the end of it) so I'm going to let my anxiety about writing a cover letter go. That feels pretty good. Plus, if they hire a new insect keeper every year, I can try again next year, right?

The predictions for tomorrow's snow keep going up. Apparently Boston Public Schools are already canceled for the day. We have a Big Deal thing happening in my department at work, but it involves bringing in outside people, who probably won't want to drive in a foot of snow to get to the zoo. I should figure out which things are causing the most anxiety and do what I can to alleviate them. I think it's the Pest Control Class, followed by the emcee gig. The class involves modifying the existing powerpoint, which isn't something I've done before. I know it's a pretty easy program to use, I just have to take a whack at it, and do some run-throughs to see how it looks.

The emcee thing, well, what can I do? Write jokes? The zookeepers are getting excited about their group outfits; I find the enthusiasm a little intimidating. Will my role fit in with the zeitgeist of the night? Good lord, the things I find to get anxious about.

The man is WIPING UP his own ICE CREAM SPILL

Have I gone completely crazy, or does this simple image say as much as I think it does?
I just want to go into a coma and wake up 2 weeks from now with Obama elected.  I'm so worried that the Republicans are going to steal it or worse (as my dad fears) Americans don't have the stones to elect a black president.

From this amazing set of photographs.

In case anyone thinks I'm struck by hero worship, I have to remind you: I wasn't for Obama originally.  I support him primarily because he's not a Republican.  But I've come around to believe he's a great man, and that great things will happen to this country if he's elected.  For one thing, black people will be able to realistically aspire to become president.  That's hope.  That's progress.   The fact that anyone supports McCain after his weird behavior during the first days of the financial crisis, his unconscionable nomination of Palin for running mate, and his incredibly nast campaign of lie after lie after lie scares the hell out of me.  Isn't everyone in America as sick of Republicans running the show as I am?  Secret torture prisons?  Historic financial bungling?  Groundless and aimless wars?  The greatest disparity between rich and poor since slavery?  Do these "anti-socialist" lynch mob members going to McCain rallies actually have more than a quarter million dollars of income?  Do we really want the rest of the world to continue to view us as 300 million heavily armed retards?

Ugh, I've got to stop posting before breakfast.