Home improvements

First you notice the new mailbox. At least now my crazy mail lady will be out of excuses for holding, tearing, and returning my mail. Anyway, that's what I hope. She'll probably think of something -- she's quite creative in her resentment of the people who provide her paycheck.

In the back, I finally put up my folding clothesline -- the kind that's sort of like an umbrella. I bring it in every night, but especially with this weekend's hot weather, it did a dandy job of drying my clothes without making me use a drop of electricity.

The strawberry pot I bought a few weeks back has also been planted; I hope the snails don't wipe it out too quickly. The instructions called for a piece of PVC pipe with holes drilled in it, run down the center of the pot to aid watering. I used flexible clear plastic tubing, with notches cut into it with my roseclippers, the whole tube spiraled through the pot and sticking a little out the top.

And the gardenia's about to be in bloom, another boon of hot weather.

-- Rachel

Lawnmower headaches

I should ask Will Shortz -- is "lawnmower" the only English word that has "wnm" as a consonant cluster?

Anyway, mine won't start. Bought a new sparkplug. Didn't do it. Emptied the gas tank and let it dry overnight (since there did seem to be, um, WATER in the tank, and surely the mower wouldn't be happy about that). Refilled the tank with fresh gas. Didn't do it. Bought some Gumout and poured it in, left it overnight. Didn't do it.

Came home last night, and my neighbor in a combination of annoyance and helpfulness had mowed my driveway (taking out several nice flowering plants -- a platycodon and a California native with nice coral flowers) that had been engulfed in weeds, and leaving a 6-foot-high hawkweed [giant dandelion to you, city boy].

-- Rachel

A cute car

I rode last Friday in a Honda Element. One of my friends thinks they look "too boxy", but then -- my current car is a Volvo station wagon (1982, with almost 350,000 miles on what I assume is the original engine) -- and didn't somebody parody Volvo ads a few years back by teasing that their company slogan was "Boxy but good" ?

I was in the back seat, which was elevated just slightly so that I could see easily out of the front window. The driver says this is called "stadium seating". The ride in back was a bit stiff but basically quite comfortable -- MUCH better than riding in the back seat of an Aerostar van I remember, where it seemed like the back seat was part of a totally separate car.

The other thing I really liked was the lack of a centerpost on the passenger side of the car. The front door opens from the front -- duh -- but the back door has its hinges at the BACK of the car, so when both side doors are open, there's a HUGE opening at the side of the car. I assume one can move seats in and out to configure the vehicle for passengers, cargo, camping trips, etc. And the overall length seems quite short, so I assume the turning radius is pretty good. I may take one for a test drive, not that I can afford anything right now. It's always good to do ... RESEARCH.

-- Rachel

Octavia Butler died in late February

I was in awe of Octavia Butler, and now we've lost her. See my writing blog for more information. I'm very sad. -- Rachel

Write SFF

A nice photo of Octavia, taken by Beth Gwinn:

A comment about creating art

I heard a lecture yesterday by Fran Skiles, a textile and collage artist. Her work is nothing like I would ever create, but I found her comments on the creative process, its anxieties and rewards, to ring true.

Towards the end of her talk, she was asked if sometimes things just didn't come out right. She gave an unexpected response: "I believe in ruining work. But I wasn't getting anywhere!" The whole audience, familiar with trying to balance perfection against the need to grow as an artist, laughed with her.

Gallery in Santa Fe that carries Fran Skiles' work

-- Rachel

FilmLoop -- one of my MacWorld faves

Another booth I really liked at MacWorld was the FilmLoop folks. They make an easy-to-use product that puts a slideshow on someone's desktop; no charge. (The hitch: one ad per loop -- but a loop can be 200 photos.)

Mac and Windows versions (though I can't run the Mac version since I don't have system 10.4 yet.

http://www.filmloop.com

-- Rachel

MacWorld 2006

Once you fought your way past the 40-odd booths selling iPod cases, there were still a few actual computer software and hardware companies at MacWorld.

I was particularly taken by two logos of apples done in metal (actually, of course, these are probably only DRAWINGS of metal apples).

I've posted them on Picasa, now let's see if I can add them to this message....


Two different vendors at MacWorld had visions of metal apples. This was the most detailed, a beautiful image of an armored apple, with a leaf reminiscent of a shoulder greave.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen


And the other hardware apple, from a maker of protective cases. This one's more like a brassbound steamer trunk.
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen



Nikon has cameras that will send their photos by WiFi.
News photographers must love this!
Photo by Rachel E. Holmen

Jargon as a window to culture

In my job as a customer service rep, I often need to spell a word clearly to somebody. I had a vague remembrance of some kind of spoken alphabet (perhaps dating from the days of military radio), alpha bravo charlie, etc.

If you have a Palm PDA and just want an easy reminder, here's a link www.freewarepalm.com/educational/alphabravo.shtml where you can download AlphaBravo v.1 by Nathan Hjermstad. Basically, his version is:

Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliet Kilo Lima Mike
November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu

I've altered his alphabet a bit, partly because "Charlie" seems like an odd choice to me, since it doesn't begin with the typical sound that C has:
alpha bravo carton delta echo foxtrot golf hotel India Juliette kilo laughter minor november Omaha paper Quebec Romeo Sierro tango uniform victor window xray yankee zebra

It might be fun to develop special alphabets:
Acura Beamer Cadillac Dodge Edsel Ford...

or algerian battenberg (or bargello, or broderie perse, or Belgian) cartridge-pleated (or cutwork)... gobelin honiton (or Holbein)...needlepoint...ruching...tatting...venice...


But before I found the alphabet I'd been seeking, I googled "alpha bravo" and turned up this interesting link about jargon used by Viet Nam vets.

Glossary of Viet Nam jargon

Which reminded me that I have a CD of Viet Nam era military songs -- which bear, not surprisingly, a strong resemblance to a few songs my Dad sang from World War II. The CD is called "In Country: Folk Songs of Americans in the Vietnam War" from Flying Fish Records, available at Amazon.

This is apparently not the only CD compilation of Vietnam-war-era songs.

From a post on www.militarymusic.com/200404.htm I read, "Another interesting collection of military music, not Vietnam, is a CD available through a former SF Medic in Vietnam, Michael McCann. His website is www.soldierssongs.com."

Now I need to dig further into some World War II sites, so I can understand some of the slang used in Nevil Shute's REQUIEM FOR A WREN, which I heard recently as an audio book. What was a bishop, for instance? In context, they might have been some kind of tank -- involved in frontline activity during D-Day.

-- Rachel

Save traditional music & lore

save traditional music & lore
Originally uploaded by net2photos.

Here's a photo of me (the one in glasses) and my coworker Andres Galvis. Folk music has always been a love of mine, and I am excited by the opportunity to store it in digital formats.

Search FLICKR for "netsquared" and "net2" for more photos about our project to change the world.

-- Rachel

Great Craftswomen -- Fort Mason, this weekend

Celebration of Craftswomen this weekend and next

Don't miss it. Different vendors each of the two weekends.

-- Rachel

FABRIC DYEING

DYE DILUTED BY HALVES -- for creating different shades of the same color



Begin with strong dye in 2 c. water in bag #1.

Take out 1 c., pour into bag #2. Bag #1 has 1 c. remaining.

Add 1 c. water to bag #2. Now you have 2 c., at half the original strength.

Take out 1 c., pour into bag #3. Bag #2 has 1 c. at half strength.

Add 1 c. water to bag #3. Bag #3 now has 2 c. at 1/4 strength.

Take out 1 c., pour into bag #4. Bag #3 has 1 c. at 1/4 strength.

Add 1 c. to bag #4, add 1 c. water -- 1/8 strength.

Remove 1 c. from bag #4.

Pour into bag #5, add 1 c. water -- 1/16 strength.

Etc.

[Dyeing is easily done in ziploc bags, as long as you're dyeing relatively small pieces of fabric -- half a yard or less]

-- Rachel


PS It's all Dharma Trading Company's fault (and Cherrywood Fabric's)
Especially take a look at Dharma's Gallery
Shown above is a fabulous tie-dye shirt by Al Wright from the Dharma website

Some Cherrywood bundles

ICE your cell phone

I've been hearing a lot lately about ICEing a cell phone.

ICE stands for IN CASE of EMERGENCY, and the idea is to enter into your cell's phone book one or more numbers under the ID "ICE". So mine now has "ICE - My Home" and "ICE - My Sister".

Emergency personnel are being trained to look at your cell phone directory for ICE listings in order to contact your family members, etc.

-- Rachel

Phone replaced, phone lost, NEW phone

I've had T-Mobile since about 2001, with a cute little Motorola V66 phone. No frills, but I'm told it's the smallest phone ever made. Finally I got tired of the way my original phone (a) seemed to be losing volume, so I could barely hear callers, and (b) could not work with a hands-free setup. So I ordered a refurbished V66 from Overstock.com. Except for the fact that a promised FM radio headset was not provided (and Overstock was willing to give me $10 gift cert for my next purchase, but NOT willing to offer a $10 refund; PLUS the incorrect information was STILL on their website the last I looked), the new phone worked great. Of course, all my numbers were in my old phone, but after I moved the SIM card to the new phone, the old phone wouldn't recognize it.

I only had the new phone a few weeks before I lost it during my commute home at the end of September. It never appeared again, so I went online and ordered a new phone. It finally arrived Monday night -- without a SIM card. And the only East Bay store that could provide me with a SIM card was closed.

So yesterday at lunch, my friend Brandi and I went up to the T-Mobile store on Market in San Francisco and got a SIM card; now I have a working picture phone. But it appears that every single new feature that my new phone has, will cost me additional service fees to utilize. California gives me 30 days to return the phone, so I may not keep it. What I liked about T-Mobile was a predictable, small bill. If the new phone's capabilities make my phone bill balloon, T-Mobile has not done me any favors. I hope I can block the features I don't want to pay for.

-- Rachel Holmen

Katrina

1) It seems that the internet account circulating about the 2 paramedics trying to leave New Orleans was true. The woman was actually interviewed extensively on NPR Saturday Sept. 10 on the show "This American Life". See http://www.thislife.org/.

2) At least until the end of last week, the Red Cross was not allowed into New Orleans.
American Red Cross FAQ
"The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."

3) Charmaine Neville (of the same family that produced the musicians The Neville Brothers) was interviewed about the complete lack of help for people in her part of flooded New Orleans. She rescued people by boat but no helicopters would help them get off rooftops. Alligators ate people. See the original video. There is also a
text transcript.

4) A church in Oklahoma offered its summer camp space for refugees, but fresh food was refused -- refugees will be fed two MREs a day -- and clothing was rejected; in spite of good kitchens in each cabin, nobody will be allowed to cook. Local churches offered to pick people up on Sundays and bring them to town for church services; but the camp director said that anyone who left the camp for any reason would not be allowed back in. Even the depression-era Hoovervilles were better run!
Source

5) A nurse who helped out at the Superdome said that even the elderly and the nursing mothers were lined up in 90 degree sun to wait for busses that staff knew weren't coming; several people died from this treatment. Read her blog.

6) There's been a link circulated that purports to show dogs in New Orleans being shot. I can't possibly watch it.

I'll try to post links to where I heard or read each of these, but the information seems credible.

-- Rachel

You can help re. Katrina; no money required

If you can cut and paste information from one screen to another, you can help katrina victims locate each other.

http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Katrina_PeopleFinder_Project

--Rachel Holmen

A variety of links

Rude but funny: http://toccionline.kizash.com/films/1001/138/index.php

60s history: diggers

Cool hats: unizorlu.com

My friend Raven's Blog

Two digital publishers:
Hidden Knowledge
AlexLit

Two Special Exhibits -- Worth Your While

My friend Barbara Gersh and I went to the Tibet exhibit last week at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. It's only a two-block walk from the Civic Center BART stop, and Thursdays after 5 pm the admission is only $5. The Nehru-style jacket woven from peacock feathers was astounding; but mostly the exhibit is small statues and painted banners. What fascinated me was how similar some of the items, especially some jewelry, was to some Celtic pieces I've seen. The exhibit is over soon -- it only runs until September 11, and then it moves overseas.

http://www.asianart.org/currentexhibitions.htm

---

And for three brief days, the Marin Needlework Arts Guild presents one of the major quilt shows of the Bay Area, from September 2 to 4 -- so it's Labor Day weekend, but NOT Labor Day itself.

Click here to see more details about the show.

-- Rachel

Trying to whip the garden into shape

Georgia Bluets

Karl Lagerfeld Rose

Mimulus

With the help of a man in my neighborhood who will pull weeds industriously (though for what seems an outrageous amount of money), my front yard is looking better these days, and I have invested in some plants, mostly plants that have blue flowers. Phacelia, commelina, penstemon, Georgia bluets, Chinese larkspur, lobelia. Interspersed are white flowers -- mostly bacopa, which trails nicely, and some yellow fllowers. I've bought a few purple flowers as well -- lavendar and a morning glory variant. As I plant things, I put down mulch cloth around the plants, and then add small rocks. It's astounding how many rocks you need, actually. I have bought several hundred pounds and clearly I will have to arrange for them to deliver a ton to the driveway before I am done. -- Rachel

Penstemon

Phacelia

Platycodon

Permanent employment with benefits

I have been offered, and accepted, a permanent position at CompuMentor as an Associate Customer Service Representative. I'll be working for the TechSoup Stock division, where I have been a temp off and on since the middle of last May.

Yay, health insurance!!!!! -- Rachel

Artwork for Sale

Margaret Organ-Kean, Illustrator

My friend Margaret Organ-Kean is an extremely talented artist, and she's put some Tshirts, tote bags, and posters on her website.

Margaret and I met during the World Fantasy Convention in Seattle in -- what? 1989? -- and then were part of the same APA. Later, when I unexpectedly became an art director, I contacted her, and she became a regular contributor to Marion Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY agazine, providing fabulous black and white work a bit reminiscent of the work of Aubrey Beardsley, and a couple of color covers. She's doing more color work now, which you'll see on her site.

-- Rachel