Neutra Face

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:53:20 GMT

Domain Names

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:56:53 GMT

I own a lot of them. Here are ones that I plan to work on and complete by November:

http://www.typodactyl.com
http://www.tinytank.net
http://www.squatgoblin.com

I had a food-based photoblog going that people seemed to like, but the management behind it sucked. I really hated it. I didn't want to post to it anymore.

The thing I liked about Livejournal was the community, but that's sort of dead isn't it? The vast majority of once active people seem non-active. I think I'm going to make typodactyl.com another attempt at using a Wordpress driven blog. Who knows?

I'm getting amped for NaNoWriMo and I feel like the writing is really just flowing out.

PS. When you develop websites for 12 hours straight, you're eyes kind of die.

driving lessons + dairy queen

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:10:11 GMT

This past weekend, I began driving lessons in Wisconsin. You know that joke where you hold up your left hand and ask, "The right pedal is for braking right?" That joke isn't funny in a car of 4 people it turns out.

I went to my first drive-in movie and saw Jennifer's Body which I think I would've enjoyed more whilst not sitting in the backseat of a tiny automobile, but the anthem song from the movie is pretty comfortable stuck in my head.

I also experienced Dairy Queen for the first time. This being a Dairy Queen in Wisconsin meant there were deep-fried cheese curds. We're pretty sure my astonishment at the breadth and girth (yes, girth) of the menu convinced the workers that we were pretty high. They gave us baggie upon baggie of ketchup.

Social Media Guru

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:03:22 GMT

I'm studying this in hopes that I can make a career transition:

Nothing but canceled meetings all day!

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:05:59 GMT

I am also recovering from a nasty sinus infection. I quit smoking 3 months ago, but went to a wedding a week or so ago where every smoker had a bronchial/sinus infection. Being vulnerable to such an infection, I naturally caught it and have been sick since.

It doesn't help that I work 40-50 hours a week of freelance so I can't exactly take a day/night off to recover.

I have made a lot of soups.

I think I'm going to jump back into LJ more regularly on account of:

1. It's different from the wordpress realm of social media. I think it's a tighter knit community without things like "ROI".

2. I miss it.

3. With national novel writing month coming around, I really need to get back to writing more.

SEO + Newspaper Quotes

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:11:56 GMT

I don't know Sherry Littlefield, just her quote that was brought to national attention through a small-town local paper and Stuff White People Like, but I do know that apparently if you Google search "Sherry Littlefield", my LJ entry is ranked #1.

That's pretty ridiculous.

Gun Rights + Chicago

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:21:52 GMT

Today the Supreme Court ruled the DC ban on handguns to be unconstitutional. Of course DC and Chicago don't have the exact same guns laws; Chicago's laws are much sneakier and deceptive from trying outlaw the sale of ammunition to outlawing the registration of new handguns (effectively making banning handguns). This sets a nice precedent for the NRA to challenge current gun laws in Chicago/Cook County.

Mayor Daley is very upset:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1026348,daleygun062608.article

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:30:01 GMT

i hate cyclists who listen to ipods.

i'm afraid next time i have another accident caused by an ipod wearing idiot, i'm going to rip off of them and just u-lock justice on the ipod.

Sherry Littlefield

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:24:09 GMT

Congratulations. Your 1 little quote in the local paper has made national internet media blitz attention. It's kind of amazing how having your surname and first name in a paper gives many people access to your Myspace/Facebook.

http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/2008/06/01/news/community/1loc05_blackguy.txt
http://www.myspace.com/proud66

Remember... as long as you have black friends and vote Obama, you can't be racist.

This is also a grave reminder to everyone that these days, your full name and a Google search can turn up a lot of info that's difficult to control or erase. It turns out that this puny LJ entry is a top-ranking return for "Sherry Littlefield" along with her contact information at work:

Sherry S. Littlefield
Administrative Assistant

Community Health Centers
of Benton and Linn Counties
530 NW 27th Street
Corvallis, OR. 97330
541-766-6134
sherry.littlefield@co.benton.or.us

Server Down

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:45:02 GMT

transformer explosion at a data center left 9000 servers down. unfortunately all of my hosting is through them and people don't like their websites being down.

at least the actual servers are okay.

China, Tibet, Sharon Stone.

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:15:56 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7423089.stm

I've always hated the Americanized definition of karma with all ideas that illustrate a poor grasp of understanding. One of its flaws is that it lacks the emphasis on a long line of individual responsibility - there's no such thing as "national karma".

Nationalized karma would actually be political diplomacy like how Bush is an asshole and the rest of the world is incredibly critical of him and strongly dislike him, but Clinton was a lesser asshole so the rest of the world was less critical and kind of liked him. How about we don't inaccurately and derogatorily use the word "karma" and call the spade a spade (or diplomacy)?

In this case, instead of calling an earthquake "karma" for a nation's actions, let's call it a natural disaster because that's what happened.

Things are pretty fucked up in our country sure, but it would be more wise to say poor leadership and a need for reform would be the source problem. The idea of blaming America (Iraq) as a whole for something like Hurricane Katrina would be as ridiculous as blaming China (Tibet) as a whole for an earthquake.

Maybe she meant it more in an off-handed way, but there's still something to be said about China's near 60 years of oppression and domination of Tibet as "not being nice".

my cat is strange

Tue, 27 May 2008 22:47:10 GMT

After cleaning the litter box, he spends the next couple of hours just laying in the litter box. He doesn't do this when there's poop in the box. While it's clean he takes naps in the box.

More on Stuff Whtie People Like

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:17:34 GMT

If you haven't read the blog, then you're living under an internet-rock - like a troglodyte. If you must: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com

As of late, my favorite entry is #91 San Francisco.

In any event, this is late news, but the creator of the blog is a white Canadian who wants to poke fun at his own group. There's a great article about it:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez25feb25,0,1952462.column

"Too many white people don't like to be reminded that they're white. They like to think that white people are those evil corporate right-wingers or the uneducated masses who vote the wrong way. But 'enlightened whites' are white people too and have just as much of a group mentality as they think the red staters have."

I'm not entirely convinced he didn't go to art school.

Things That Never Happen In Texas...

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:12:14 GMT

Well, they happen here:
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/901817,CST-SPT-gordo18.article

But you know... Chicago... we're Democrats and we hate Bush so how can we be racist dipshits?

That's just not possible...

An interesting turn of events in employment . . .

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:33:04 GMT

Apparently my background in CSS and typography makes me a unique web developer. It's an unexpected turn of events considering my career background is really print with an ability to do web "design" rather than "development". As my income grows more and more dominated by new media. . . I'm not sure there will be a strong return to print design for me.

That's sad.

Web design. You feed me, clothe me, shelter me, but you're just not what I want.

ha!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:55:18 GMT

I forgot how good the Velvet Undergound is, but it's the time of the year when the weather changes and so my musical tastes jump the tide. The winter was filled with depressing folk and trucker/Texas country. What will this summer be filled with?

N.W. is up north packing for the big move in 10 days. I'm at home cleaning things out and arranging furniture pick-ups. (anyone want furniture?)

I joined a gym with N.W. and the elliptical machine is killing me, but I can easily (and I mean grotesquely easily) do calf-lifts at about 300 lbs. There are many machines that confuse me or put me in compromising positions that make me question my sexual identity. The gym has refrigerated towels which is also really fantastic.

M.W. gave me a history channel documentary and what the world will be like after humans become extinct or were just suddenly removed (by scientological aliens?).

I've also been grotesquely busy with my freelance work.

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:04:58 GMT

the GF is gone for only 3 days and I have insomnia and continuously forget to eat all over again. way to ruin my life through a whirlwind travel of a nice foreign country.

in other news, bowling is a lot more physically demanding when you're just bowling one frame after another by yourself. i think i pulled my gluts. and my fingers are sore.

Greece

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:48:22 GMT

N.W. left for Greece yesterday but I was in Milwaukee with B14 and company and saw a friends' band play. Bromance was dope as expected. The crowd was another bratty "anarcho-punk" scene as expected complete with a drunk asshole flicking his cigarettes at people. There was much discussion about bikes in the including starting a touring group. That'll be awesome for sure this summer: kids I can ride with to Milwaukee from Chicago.

My back is killing me. I think it was the crappy chair at work which I'll be quitting. I won't get into too many details but suffice to say, I love the job and the place but hate my boss' boss way too much for reasons that would've stunted my career anyway. I'm going to miss the bottomless supply of soda, snacks (candy and chips), cheesecake (we always had cheesecake), and close proximity to a slew of good food.

I will also miss the having a direct supervisor that I could call "Pancake" and he said we were team "Sha-Pan". So much angry shop talk!

Some Complaints About Obama

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:58:19 GMT

Lord, I fucking hate Obama - let's preface with that and supply with this:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/819177,CST-NWS-sweet29.article

They compare him to Bill Cosby and call what he said "tough love" or "truth-telling", but really I just find it to be a presumptuous call-to-action from another privileged political icon with an academic experience with poverty. The article doesn't mention that he's espousing this "truth" to not only a largely black audience, but a largely middle-class audience. Beaumont, Texas. Yeah. Great.

I want to see Obama go to the New City YMCA and tell a largely black Cabrini Green audience that they should quit feeding their kids fried chicken for breakfast. Hell, it'd be a sight to see if he was even willing to drive his entourage through the projects.

Doling out advice like that with the great experience growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii. Thanks chum. I'm sure your "non-racist" white middle-class supporters agree wholeheartedly with you.

The People That Find You On Myspace...

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:02:18 GMT

The other day, my step-sister sent me a message on Myspace to which I kind of panicked. She was a pretty awful person and resented me because her dad spent money on me, lived under his roof, and I don't know; she probably had a million reasons to hate a 3 year old as a 21 year old. She was as terrifying as my step-father because she would get drunk and just literally throw me around the apartment for fun. She used to lock me in the closet for hours as "hide and seek". I'm pretty sure she tried to smother me once. My mom, who doesn't remember my step-father hospitalizing me, swears that my step-sister tried to "lose me" in the Central Park zoo once.

I haven't talked to her in 10 years. In a lot of ways, she always seemed worst than my step-father. He was a product of another abusive alcoholic dad, which isn't say excuses him, but explains his actions more reasonably. She was not abused as she was the youngest daughter of his. Her sister was abused relentlessly the way I was, and hasn't spoken to them in well over 20 years. She kept in contact me through knowing each other through various jobs and such. This one was spoiled in the same ways as my brother; endless gifting, rare punishments, constant praise, etc.

She writes:

Hi Beautiful! BLAST from the PAST!
Is it really YOU? It sure looks like you! You haven't changed a bit since you were little!

I think of you often and I'm glad I found you so I could say HI! I hope all is well! Get back to me

Jodi

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:27:43 GMT

E.M. will be visiting from Philly in early April. She is my best friend from high school. Technically we go farther back than that. Each step that tied us together highlighted how we are completely opposite. She is the precise reason that I've never tied commonalities with compatibilities; that someone who is ideologically different or shares no interests can still understand me better.

The first time I met her, we were at this church basement show somewhere in northern Queens reached by the #76 bus. Terrible high school punk bands with names like Fish Gonads or RPOD (Raging Pimps of Doom? Rotten People of Dissent? they never decided). I had a crush, and she was wearing this awful Bad Religion shirt. By awful, I mean she was a tiny small Korean girl - couldn't have weighed more than 90 lbs at the time, but her shirt was XXL. E.M. and her friend were on the verge of destructive ridicule and I stopped them by asking them questions about their friends' band like why they sucked.

We wouldn't meet again till high school; freshman year for me, and sophomore year for her. Sort of the same situation. Our high school, Bronx Science, shared the same block as DeWitt Clinton. Once a couple of girls from Clinton came over and just hung out in our courtyard. Everyone knew that they were from the other school and believed them to be trying to be cool or something else. E.M. had gathered a group of kids to pretend to be friends with them and lead them into the school and ditch them. Being the jerk I was, I told the security guard that there were kids from Clinton in the courtyard, and he escorted them out before E.M. got to them. She knew what I did and why.

We ended up best friends from that instant. We would spend hours on end debating the superiority of fascism (her) to communism (me). The debates of compassion versus control, social justice over social preservation, and methods of enforcement. I was a member of the junior communist party and she was in typical ultra-conservative fascist fashion unattached to any group, we sided with the young socialists to protest Madeline Albright's speech at the school. We hated each other's music; she had Merzbow and NoiseX, and I had The Promise Ring and Small Brown Bike. I skateboarded and smoked during track meets. She DJed in the middle of Forest Hills park and sneered at athletes. I would point out that the fascists supported athletics and she'd say that smoking at a track meet was as good as sneering. It was that kind of thing.

Accommodations

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:06:06 GMT

We are about 7 weeks in, N.W. and I. Last night, I drilled the seats down to her kitchen chairs while she ordered me pizza. Instead of traveling places, she leaves a bit ahead of me by public transit and I bike there. It's amazing how dating a non-biker takes the bike out of you and your body turns into mush. She pokes my calf muscles and tells me that I'm turning into a wussy. That's the kind of love I've been looking for; not the doing everything I do or sharing all our interests, but that willingness to accommodate them.

Tonight, we'll be stealing milk crates to build a shelfing system in her bedroom to keep my stuff.

The joke around the mill has been the renting a U-haul, when is the move-in date, or are we planning on kids. Except, the date has been tentatively set for sometime in April. We're measuring her furniture and deciding on what will be put into rented storage. We're working it out so her desk is in the office too. We've got plans to start our own business together. Shelf installation, and repositioned couches, cats being introduced to one another, copied keys, donating clothes to charities, and her dancing while I practice the guitar; and I couldn't be happier.

Strange to think of it that way.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:13:14 GMT

[PS - Thanks T.! When I send you the zombie present (which will happen) I might include this book called "Hating Whitey" (but it's by a Republican SHHHHH!)]

I can't believe this blog has been around 2 months and I hadn't heard of it till a couple of days ago. R.B. says that she doesn't tell me about these things because she thinks "I already know", but really, my travel of the internet is more of the uselessly nerdy things, and rarely the humor in all things offensive realm.

I read the entries, and I have a good time. I think they're quite brilliant in that they are attacking cultural assumption, appropriation, and more importantly, the privileged attitude that comes with thinking you're more culturally informed than you are and act upon it. I can think of plenty of people, regardless of race/cultural background, who are card carrying members of all these stereotypes.

Something as simple as food exploration is a luxury and privilege that dates back to early days of humanoid development. Eating sushi has specifically been a point of privilege, not because of expense, but because of the potential health risk. Trying new foods from the days of Neanderthal or before meant you risked poisoning, injury, or death. Sushi in all its raw and potential for bacterial invasion, has risks that decrease with how much you can afford. It is a food of cultured privilege; plain and simple.

L. posts the bicycle entry in the bikepirates forum and I had expected the responses to be much defensive, but it's more frayed than that. Basing the blog's merit on the comments made by defensive people without nary any comprehension the subtext, or people who immediately disassemble the validity of these points while proving exactly the blog is about.

Biking is one of those things that's hard to argue as a privilege, but liking bikes is different from biking itself.

Plenty of people drive cars, but do they all love cars like car collectors do? It would be hard to argue that someone who collects cars successfully can do so without economic privilege. It would be easy to posit that someone who collects bikes can't do so without some level of economic privilege.

Not to mention, there is a lot to be said about choosing to bike versus having to bike. The privilege of physical capability, that ability to afford injury, and the lack of interdependency makes choosing to bike a privilege. Being unable to afford other modes of transportation and riding a bike that needs constant maintenance or is a discarded Wal-mart MTB bike is very different from going down to the local co-op, buying a run down road bike, and loading it with fancy new goodies.

The assumption that we can all bike, no matter how unreasonable and inconvenient it could be, and that those who don't bike are choosing not to bike is also a privilege, but that is the privilege of the child-free and those without any interdependency. Driving kids to school, doctors, hospitals, after-school activities or getting groceries for said kids and family. . . all incredibly difficult to do by bike. Possible, but with a great amount of time and money as well as a very good health insurance plan. I remember when I was 16 and took up messengering, my mom very flatly and matter-of-factly said to me that if I were to suffer any serious injury, she would not be able to afford to take care of me. That if I had a head injury, she would rather me be dead. Strong words from the uninsured and poor. Sometimes you have to bike rather than address the worry that nobody can care for you if you get injured. Sometimes you don't have to bike, thinking if you're hurt, your family will suffer for it and you won't get to eat or heal. When you get to bike and never worry about those things, you've got a privilege very different from those people of color you see all over LA or your respective Chinatown and you don't have the right to compare yourself.

It's true that people of color and people all over the world bike and they're not white, but my guess is that they're not buying their way into bike messenger culture to show off their new candy-coated Deep-Vs or able to afford the luxury to dream of untimely cruiser rides with wicker baskets in Europe.

I read this blog and I feel validated, and more specifically that my anger and resentment is validated. I want to print this out and mail it to that douchebag stranger asshole who thought it'd be cool to have me verify his chopstick skills to his girlfriend. I want to print this out for an entire school of kids who fought against affirmative action because "Asians were taking over anyway" though Asians only made up 3% of the school. I want to print this out for all the kids who think hating Bush, being vegetarian, and gender studies is enough to be revolutionary and therefore ethically superior to those who believe differently. I want to print giant posters along the streets for the fucking white kids with their fucking dogs. I mean the douchebags with their pugs or yellow labs who let their dogs shit all over the school's playground thinking nobody cares while everyone is thinking they wouldn't do that if white kids played there. I want to mail a link of this blog to my ex so I can point out how she's an exploitative fucking moron who thinks al pastor is Mexican for gyros and doesn't understand why it isn't just called lamb.

The thing I really like though, is how many people think positively stereotyping someone as liking bikes, sushi, dogs, and various other points of privilege is comparable to negative stereotyping like guns, prisons, and crack. "Not so funny is it?" Yeah, actually I think Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock made you laugh.

Regarding Guns and the GF

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:23:49 GMT

(from this entry forward, i will be giving up the use of proper names and once again revert to obvious titles or first/last initials. if i'm ambitious, i'll go backward and make that happen, too)

yesterday, i met the gf's family. with the niu shootings only a few days ago, the talk of gun violence and guns came up. of course, i was the only one in favor of gun ownership, protection of the 2nd amendment, and the idea that gun control doesn't prevent crime. usually it's just a few points, a few concessions, but there's one argument that's really hard for me to personally take.

"you can't kill a room full of people with just a knife."

that argument speaking of the "ease" that guns can kill a large amount of people is a fool's argument to me. every time that argument is used, and that specific argument about a group of people surviving a knife, it is impossible for me to escape thoughts about 9/11. the knot in the back of my throat, the sweat standing on the back of my neck, and that hard knock of a pulse in my wrists and fingertips.

"if you took away guns, people wouldn't be capable of killing large amounts of people. you can't kill a room full of people with just a knife."

i think of beirut and the haunting words r.h. left me with about how it's just too much to ask for a night of dreams without being woken up by the sound of bombs. i think of haifa and the messages appearing on my computer about how "we've reached the bomb shelter. it's going to be okay." i think of statistics that separate the violence of nyc, london, and chicago; that sickeningly 20 people shot at once isn't nearly the same tragedy as gun bans in chicago that allow over 300 people die every year.

between suffredin and beavers trying to ban the sale of ammunition in cook county, the comfort white liberals possess with the removal of the 2nd amendment, the forgetful memories of radicals who have either obscured from memory the protections guns offered people of of color, those behind the safety of never having faced or lost someone to a much larger violence, the fact that much more familiar things pose bigger risks we ignore, and that we don't really listen to each other's points and experiences except where convenient; it's not that i don't want to try, but i'm sure i can't convince you that guns aren't the problem.

truthfully, i wish that guns were the precise problem. i wish it were that much simpler.

"if knives couldn't kill a room full of people, there would still be two towers in lower manhattan and i would be a much happier person."

the gf has probably heard me talk about guns more than anyone else, and without any prompt, she asks me the one question that speaks to how she understands my points. outside of the debates and the superficial investment of political arguments. all she does is ask me, "are you okay?"

looking out onto the highway with its evening traffic, her mom says, "it's really hard to imagine all those cars are families and kids going down slides. take away the guns and bombs, we can't even get down a stretch of road and remember that."

so the dinner went well. we have plans to go to the museum with her grandma on saturday.

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:30:40 GMT

I had an entry that totaled over 3000 words concerning just Thursday and Friday night, so I've decided that I really should get back to writing frequently. I have a fictitious story in the works.

Suffice to say, it was a brilliant Valentine's day filled with chocolates and lopsided chocolate cakes.

Friday night, I told her about how I ate the rotting asparagus in the fridge because I couldn't let it go to waste and she said that was funny given the fact that I won't eat food that I think tastes bad (which is a rare occasion). Amidst the laughter, tickling, and intertwined legs, I asked her, "Guess what?" She said, "What?" I whisper quietly in her that I loved her, and she replied in the same fashion.

She tells me that Thursday night, she whispered "I love you" to me as I fell asleep before her. She tells me it looks like this, but with my face looking towards her:

When I start to snore, she moves to her side and I chase her into a spoon. If I don't follow immediately, she tugs on my thigh and then it's a cakewalk. We end up looking like this: