November 23, 2004
north conway
I had a really great long weekend with Kara in Boston and New Hampshire. North Conway is a great little tourist town with some pretty neat shops. I could've spent a few grand there with very little difficulty; there was a ton of neat stuff. Crafts, food, regular outlet shopping items. Good times.
And the people were all a lot of fun. We played cards, ate tons of Chex mix, drank beer, hung out. Really enjoyed myself, and Kara did too.
I could write volumes about the weekend, but I'm cranky today. I overslept, and I'm trying to finish up some last stuff to check in my part of the project before the holiday. It's also gray outside, and...you know, I'm missing Kara.
A lot of the weekend was just, us spending time together, not really doing anything specific, just enjoying each other's company. Thursday night, she was doing work in her room after I finished cooking dinner, and I just laid on the bed and watched TV. She was doing her thing, and I was doing mine, but we were together, and that was nice. That's something I miss with having the long-distance thing...you don't always just get to be together, without planning to do anything specific.
And that's what a relationship is supposed to be about. You don't always have to plan stuff to do. Sometimes you're both just in the same room.
Anyway, I made extra large chicken tenders for dinner Thursday, and filled a whole paper grocery bag with Chex mix for the weekend, and both seemed to go over pretty well. I also gave Kara a set of three of the first candles I made, and a whale Christmas ornament. I stained the little wooden whale cutout I bought her in Vermont, and added a hook, a little hanging loop of ribbon, a smiley-face, and a little waterspout made of some cotton hot-glued to the top. I have to admit, it does look pretty cool. On Sunday, we were thinking of going out, but I figured that we had enough leftover chicken to throw together a chicken-parm-type thing with some pasta, so I cooked for the house.
"I like this whole stay-at-home thing, cooking and cleaning," I told her.
"Don't get used to it," she said.
What else...I got some ideas for Christmas gifts while we were out shopping, and that was good. It was just a really good relaxing general weekend. Oh, and the green candles I made aren't working too well. I think I might have added too much coloring or scent, and the wax isn't burning well. I'm going to re-melt the candles and add some extra plain paraffin to the mix, try to lighten the mix a little.
I have to say, I am missing Kara extra right now. Not having her around makes life feel...watered down.
Posted by Mark at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2004
candles, lemurs, and recreational equipment
I did another batch of candles last night. That's been pretty much the highlight of the last several days. Michael's had a sale on wax, so I bought an 11-pound slab, some rainforest scent, and did a trio of votives. They have some bubbling on the sides, which might be the fault of using crayon for the coloring, but I'll burn one of them tonight and see how it goes. It's a fun winter hobby.
Reading Matt's blog made me start thinking about things I want for Christmas. I'll have to start a list myself.
Work is moving, but I'm waiting on some stuff, as usual, and thinking about heading up to Boston later this week. It feels like forever since I've seen Kara, which is probably due to us spending so much time together in October.
Oh, I forgot that I actually did do something fun on Sunday, but didn't write about it. So, I had forgotten that getting exercise doesn't mean that you have to go out and run or lift weights or do situps or whatever. There's this thing called "going for a walk," and it's quite the pastime. So I headed up into the Zoo, which I am blessed to live about a block away from, to see what animals were out and about.
I finally saw the lemurs! I swear this is the first time since I moved into the District that I've seen them out and about. I also saw the tigers and lions, and had a little walk through the reptile house and the small mammal house. I definitely need a digital camera; my cell phone just doesn't cut it. That's definitely the top item on my list right now. The thing I can't decide upon is whether I want to buy one myself before Christmas so I'll have it for Florida.
In other news, I am thinking of getting a second job. It's a combination of reasons: one, it would be nice to have some extra money. Right now, things are very very tight. I'm paying my bills down, true, but I'm also very short on loose change to do anything fun in my spare time. And with it being winter, there's not too much you can do that is fun and free, what with the sun going down around 3 in the afternoon.
The second thing is that I have an awful lot of free time. I'm not doing any hobbies on any kind of a regular basis right now, not like when I was doing kung-fu. Sure, I'm playing video games, doing the candlemaking thing, and I'd like to get into microbrewing, but, you know, there are a lot of nights when I manage to get out of work at a decent hour, and I find myself without anything to do. Normally I'd go out, hit a bar, whatever, but, again, trying to save money, so I'm not doing that very much these days...if at all.
A former coworker of mine left to go back to school, and before the semester starts, he is working at a new REI that is opening up in Rockville. I'm thinking of applying for a part-time job. The money would be nice, there's a huge employee discount on outdoors stuff, and it'd be pretty cool to work with other people who are into camping and hiking and stuff. Plus, if they sell it at REI, I've probably done it...hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, you name it. So it's the type of job I know something about.
If nothing else, it would be helpful to have some extra gift money for Christmas.
Posted by Mark at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2004
hibernation mode
I spent the vast majority of yesterday sleeping. I don't know why. I just had a strong desire to hibernate. And, this being the time of the year for it, I think that's fine. It was cold outside, I didn't feel like reading or playing video games or cleaning or working or whatever, I just wanted to do nothing. Sleeping is doing nothing in its purest form.
Aside from that, I made up a box of Rice-a-Roni pasta. It was good, but, from a purely economic perspective, it's a bit of a ripoff. It comes in this fairly large box, but upon inspection of the contents, you see about three-quarters of an inch of vermicelli and a small packet of seasoning. All told, you could probably fit it all into a Jello box.
So, you know, it's convenient. You just throw the stuff into a pot, boil, and you're done. No measuring, no dirtying multiple pots, just dump and cook. And the end result is pretty tasty. But if you really wanted to be cheap, you could do much better by buying the component ingredients separately. Which defeats the convenience.
I'm not really complaining. It was good, it was convenient. It was just that opening up the box and seeing it filled mostly with air...you know.
Ignore me. I'm rambling.
Chuck's comment about Metroid reminded me of something I think I wrote about a year or two ago, about how I didn't like to watch movies that I wasn't enjoying immediately. That was back when I had Netflix, of course, and so that affects things somewhat. I guess if I actually have bought and own a game, I feel an obligation to play it and beat it. I really could go for a game like Super Mario World right about now, though. Just a good, classic, old-school 2D platformer. I'm so tired of every new game basically being an FPS.
Switching gears: I went through my box o' business cards today and found enough California Tortilla cards to warrant a free burrito, so guess what I'm having for lunch today? Oh yeah. Spicy Sunset Salsa Chicken, you're mine.
Posted by Mark at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2004
stupid boss
I did not sleep very well last night. The air in my room felt really dry for some reason. I am going to try putting a pan of water on the radiator, which is what I think I did last year at some point to try and keep the air a little more moist.
Amusing bit from the radio this morning: So Mike Moss of WTOP says to weatherman Doug Hill, "Boy, it sure feels like a rainy fall day, doesn't it Doug?"
"Uh. Yeah. It is raining outside, and it's fall."
I do enjoy news radio.
I gave Yoni a ride up the hill to the Metro station this morning, as it was raining and we were both leaving at about the same time. I have some concrete plans for what I want to get done, work-wise, and I'm moving pretty solidly towards achieving those goals. You can achieve your goals, I'm living proof. Beefcake!
I'm annoyed at Metroid Prime because the final boss battle is ridiculous. It goes on for like 10 minutes, through upteen iterations of the Metroid Prime for which the game is named.
As an aside, I can't remember words today. I'm thinking of a word that means, having the same name as something...like, the boss of the game Metroid Prime is called Metriod Prime. There's a word for that. I had the same problem in a meeting this morning, trying to remember the word "composite."
Anyway, I want to beat the game so I can say, you know, I beat the game. On the other hand, I hate wasting my time getting annoyed by something that is supposed to be an enjoyable diversion.
I have no real plans for tonight. I might go up to The Raven for a beer, but we'll see. The weather isn't making me want to go out and do much. On the other hand, I've been getting stir crazy from not doing anything. It's a no-win situation.
Posted by Mark at 12:45 PM | Comments (1)
November 11, 2004
tech v. biz
It was a long day. I didn't even have my coat off at work when I was approached by the head of IT, trying to put this latest issue we've been having to bed. The matter was greatly complicated because I wasn't in charge of it. Had I been, I would have known whom to talk to and what to do to resolve it. But, I'm not a manager, and frankly, I wouldn't want to be at this point in my career. The responsibility was not mine. Which, of course, meant it took forever to get it solved.
Well, not forever. Most of the day. This is the problem with non-technical people: technology is hard, and the ins and outs of technical problem solving go far beyond simple auto mechanics.
What I mean is this: an automotive garage has business people and technical people. Business people pay the bills. Technical people fix your car. Neither one really needs to understand what the other does, above and beyond a simple give and take of, "Tell me how many sprockets you used so I can pay for them," and "Tell me how many cars I have to fix today."
Technology in the workspace, however, is an integral part of the business, not the business itself...in a garage, there is that separation. Technology is a tool to enable business to get done better. Imagine that your auto mechanic could also somehow rig a generator to power the tools in the garage, thus saving the business money on electricity. It's a stretch, but it's the same type of thing.
Businesspeople understand business. They understand the strictly dollars-and-cents approach of getting the most money from the customer for the services provided. Unfortunately, without a good understanding of the benefits and the difficulties of implementing and using current computer-based information technology--an industry that is perhaps 60 years old, dating from near ENIAC times--a businessperson doesn't know jack about how to best do their job.
I'm trying to think of an example. Ok, let's try electricity. The businessperson wants to enable workers to work longer hours. Well, this new electric light bulb can do that.
But wait, you have to replace these bulbs? And you have to turn them on and off yourself? And we have to run all these wires everywhere, and there is a fire hazard, and we have monthly bills for this electricity, and there are outages? But, I paid for the wires! We shouldn't have to deal with this inconvenience! What do you mean that people can bring their rechargable batteries and toaster ovens in from home and plug them into my electrical plugs!
Ok, that's a bit of a stretch, I'll admit. It's just that the Internet, and IT in general, is the wheel, the electricity, the motorcar, the television, the X-ray of our times. And businesspeople need to be technically skilled, or they can't do their jobs. And I believe it is a lot easier to learn the simple rules of doing business than it is to learn the complexities of technology.
In short, I think you should understand nuts and bolts first, then learn the theory of how to apply that knowledge. If you haven't written code, you have no clue as to how best implement software and information technology to your organization's greatest advantage, and you don't understand the limitations of that same technology.
I'm not saying "business is easy." There is a lot of art and science in the business world as well. But it's a lot easier to learn a mature science like business, which has existed since the beginning of civilization, than to learn IT skills.
Posted by Mark at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
the hill
The Hill is a special place to me. It's comprised of the field and woods above my parents' house in PA. I've been playing there since I was small enough to use an axe handle for a hiking stick, and over the years, I've used it for exploring, camping, mountain biking, building forts, sledding, paintball, nighttime photography, and berry picking. If I could, I'd buy the land, just to make sure it never gets developed.
Posted by Mark at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
sun on the water
I took this just outside of Mt. Vernon, on the Potomac where it widens out. I like the way the cheap cellphone sensor chip, coupled with the prism effect of the ripples, splits the white sun into sparkles of color.
Posted by Mark at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)
i saw a turtle
This is Mr. Shell. He's a box turtle that lives on The Hill above my parents' house in PA. I can't prove it, but as turtles are generally long-lived creatures, I suspect he has been living there for some time, as I've seen a box turtle with similar markings there in the past.
Posted by Mark at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)
things on fire
I'll be honest: I really want some hot wings from Asylum right now. In fact, I'm whiningly pleading my case with Kara over IM at this very second. There is money in the bank. The fact that said funds are already earmarked for spending on other, more bill-related things, is a given, of course. So, I will not be participating in any bar-related activities in the near future.
This will not stop me from complaining about it, though.
I worked from home today, and it was good. I got a fair amount done, which is also good. I think I have a decent plan for how to go forward on the Big Project that is due in mid-December. It's going to be a veritable PHP juggernaut.
Something also caught on fire mid-afternoon--not literally, but in the figurative, business sense of the word, wherein Number A doesn't match Number B, and chaos ensues. I believe the flames are now extinguished. However, hearing that the CEO knows about said problem can add considerably to the consternation one might feel if it turns out that it was your fault.
Which it wasn't, but still...you know that feeling you get when you wake up after a bender and there's a bowl in front of you containing Cheetos and barbeque sauce, and you don't understand why your pants have all those grass stains on them, and you have a suspicion that the blinking "bridge out" sign in the living room might be your doing? I mean, you don't THINK it was, but it MIGHT have been...or maybe you just dared the guy to steal it. But either way, you're involved. You were THERE.
Yeah, well, that's the feeling.
So I'm gonna go for a walk. But now I can't stop thinking about how Cheetos and barbeque sauce might actually taste good. If I were a betting man, I'd say that a visit to Safeway might be in my immediate future.
Addendum: Matt's blog looks different, and cool.
Posted by Mark at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2004
the chewy middle
I'm right at the end of Metroid Prime, but I'm not interested in frustrating myself with trying to beat it tonight.
I think that games in general are most interesting in the middle third. When you start a game, your character is inevitably underpowered; if it is a sequel or there is some sort of tutorial to explain the more advanced features, there will always be some sort of arbitrary reason why you lose all your cool guns.
And at the end of the game, you've got every weapon and powerup known to man, and 99% of the game's enemies no longer pose a threat. There's generally nothing left to do but a) find every last hidden secret or b) commence battle with the incredibly frustrating end boss. And, of course, if you win, the game's over, and unless you have a strong desire to replay it on a harder difficulty mode, you have to find something else to do with your time.
But in the middle third, you often have enough weapons and powerups to make exploration and actual progress through the game possible. There are some areas that are simply too tough, because you lack the necessary equipment to conquer them, and this is fine because it limits you to exploring where you can go with some modicum of safety. You gradually unlock additional areas, bit by bit, solve the odd puzzle, and have the most variety in your gameplay.
So, beginning: too tough/too limiting in where you can go and what you can do. End: too easy/too limiting in what you have left to do and how hard that final battle is probably going to be. Middle: just right.
I wonder if somebody will develop a game that's all middle? Don't get me wrong, Metroid Prime is as close to an example of a perfect game as I can recall, but there is that inevitable point when, even in a non-linear game, you have nothing left to do but beat the boss. I guess there are some games that escape that. Tony Hawk, for example, or the GTA games. Maybe MMORPGs, to the extent that you and your online buddies create your own adventures.
Today at work was interesting. Pre-lunch was entirely meetings, and after lunch was a three-hour bowling social event across the street. I wasn't originally planning to go, but Mini figured it would be best for us to attend, even though we have a ton of work to do. It was fun. I rolled a 100 and a 109, which for me is just great. Anything over 100 I consider a victory.
I'm gonna work from home tomorrow to save on gas and food in general; this is one of those months when the time between paychecks is a little longer than usual. I am looking forward to next Monday.
Posted by Mark at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2004
absenteeism
Kara is awesome. That is all.
Work is starting slow today...I'm in a bit of a holding pattern while I figure out what is going on. /nervous
I have this recurring dream where I go to high school and I can't remember what my schedule is, or where I'm supposed to be, or even the combination to my locker. The latest one is that I was at the national level of the Geography Bee for 10 days and when I get back, the usual, don't know where I'm supposed to be, etc. etc. One variation is that I've forgotten to go to a class for like a semester and I'm not sure how I'm going to pass, or it's going to cause me to not graduate or something. I'm sure there are many interpretations of this.
I've gotten some comments on the music thread down below, so I'm gonna open this post up as well. Tell me how you are, what you're doing, your thoughts on life.
Posted by Mark at 10:41 AM | Comments (1)
November 07, 2004
i like to talk
Last night was really relaxing. I spent approximately 7 straight hours watching Comedy Central, drinking some really good beer, and eating quesadillas. Young's Double Chocolate Stout really does taste like chocolate.
Also, Comedy Central is doing uncensored, uncut presentations of movies and shows at 1 a.m. on Saturday nights, which I think is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Chris Rock swears. A lot. But, you know, that's part of his act, and bleeping stuff out diminishes what he's doing. It's not like we don't know what he's saying. Furthermore, if you're up at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night, watching TV unsupervised...well, you just might be a teenager at a sleepover party, and Lord knows the kids these days have much worse things to worry about than a few errant swears. I'd rather my theoretical kids go around dropping the F bomb like me eating Vitamin C drops as long as they aren't smoking the crack.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do today, but you can be sure I'll blog about it! I'm blog crazy lately, I know. I get in the mood for it now and then.
Just talked to Csopi. Hi Veronika! She encourages the practice of eloping over the tribulations presented by planning the modern wedding. Her wedding is going to be crazy fun, though, I am certain, and Kara and I are seriously looking forward to it. I am sure I'm gonna need a Florida vacation by then.
Addendum: I should link more things in here. So I'm gonna do me some of that. Also, Matt and Mom and Mike, update your blogs! And be sure to pass on the word that markdalius.com is back up, with even more of the blogging goodness that gives you the what-for when all you wanted was to borrow some bouillon cubes.
Posted by Mark at 12:07 PM
November 06, 2004
cyletherapy
Go buy a motorcycle. It's not expensive. You can get a decent used bike for around a grand, and the necessary protective gear to get started for probably $300-$400 more.
I rode down into Virginia, towards Mt. Vernon, and headed a little past the estate, then came back, stopping at several little parks along the Potomac. Snapped a few cellphone pics, and if any of them are any good, I'll post later. I took a picture of some fellow bikers, a couple from Arlington out enjoying the pleasant weather like me.
So relaxing...and I wrapped up the whole thing by having this Nacho Chili burrito at California Tortilla. I guess their "write our slogan" contest is over because the cups are printed with "Catch the Crave!" I like it. I liked the burrito too. And now I have a craving for more spicy food, so I'm gonna run to Safeway to buy a lightbulb for the front porch light, and I think I'm gonna get stuff to make quesadillas.
The ride was great; just what I needed to get moving. Of course, if I sit still any longer I'm going to go into a food coma, so I'm heading back out. I think this evening is going to be reserved for video games. I haven't seen Yoni since I got home, and Chris was heading to Harrisburg to party with some friends of his...well, Camp Hill, technically. Small world.
Posted by Mark at 04:34 PM
what to do
I was really excited yesterday about this being the weekend, but now I'm not quite sure what to do. It's a beautiful day outside, and I should really take advantage of the mild weather by maybe riding the bike.
I'm also very much knee-deep in Metroid Prime, but it seems a waste to play games inside when the sun is shining. I think I'm still not quite used to daylight savings time being over; the light is shining at a weird angle for it being 12:10.
Yoni is downstairs playing Final Fantasy X-2, and I think I just heard Chris up and about. Also, I could really go for some California Tortilla.
I think I will go ride the bike. There aren't going to be too many more days like this when it'll be warm enough to bundle up a bit and go for a ride. I've been thinking about riding somewhere down in Virginia. Thing is, I don't know my way around the back roads of Virginia nearly as well as I know Maryland, and part of the point of going riding is getting away from civilization for a bit. But then, I always go ride in rural Maryland, so I'd like to do something different for a change.
Um, yeah. Excitement as usual.
Posted by Mark at 12:08 PM
November 05, 2004
morning radio
I don't know what I'm listening to right now. I guess, some top-40 "alternative" radio. Sometimes I flip to a CD in the car, but there's nothing I'm super-enthusiastic about right now.
My clock radio is tuned to DC 101, so during the inevitable snoozing period of the morning, I end up listening to Elliot in the Morning. This leads to some strange dreams. Like, they were talking to the director of the DC Spy Museum the other morning, and so all my dreams were of going around a city that was an amalgam of D.C. and Boston, looking for the telltale marks made by spies to alert their handlers that they had state secrets to sell.
I'm open to suggestions. I'm gonna try turning comments on for this one, and see what happens. It'll be just a moment here...
...and it's working. Click on "comments" down below. You've got two options: if you're a member of the TypeKey community you can create a profile there and post on my site. Or you can just enter a name and email address and post comments.
I'm going to try comments as an experiment for awhile. Please remember my Mom reads this site. Controversy is fine, just don't swear. If people don't messagebomb me too often, I'll enable comments now and then.
Posted by Mark at 03:55 PM | Comments (8)
catching up
So not having the blog for awhile was a real killer. I still don't know what the problem is/was; the server at home kept losing power. I don't know if it's a flaky power supply, or some h4x0r who got in and stuck some shell script somewhere that randomly did a shutdown -h on the system at random intervals, or an overtaxed power strip. But at any rate, I've moved the blog onto a colocated server account where power outages shouldn't be a problem.
You'll notice that I'm now using 100% Moveable Type to power the site; this is a blogging software package that lots of people use for blog-type sites. You'll also notice that I've got some additional categories over on the right.
I've wanted to do more photo posting on the site for some time. This will be accomplished with a separate "pictures" category. I expect that many of these pics will come from my cell phone camera, which, low-quality though it may be, is always with me. And I still don't have a real digital camera, which I'm seriously going to need to rectify soon. Like, pre-Florida vacation in December for Veronika's wedding.
I also kinda wanted to occasionally post about what I was listening to. So I've added a music category as well.
So, catching up. I think when we last left off, Kara and I were heading to Vermont and spending a week or so together. The Vermont house was beautiful and her extended family was very gracious and fun to be with as always. We went to a local craft fair up there, and it had your typical craft stuff, except that this, being in Vermont, was of much higher quality than my previous experiences elsewhere.
We cooked, cleaned, shopped, relaxed, played Yahtzee, and made s'mores over the fire. Oh, and on the way up we saw a whole contingent of bikers on a rally. Kara was talking to some of the wives of said bikers while in line for the bathroom, and they expressed the sentiment that riding a motorcycle in October in New England is very cold.
We went back to Boston and on to D.C. next. We spent all of Wednesday doing nothing but relaxing and watching movies. Since we're both generally hyper-busy people it was nice to spend some time without any plans. We also met up with Kate and Jim and Kate's friend Reg and Kara's friend Jenny at Zuccabar in Adams-Morgan; I hadn't been there before. Great basement lounge, and Reg is a good guy.
Then we headed up to PA to play meet the parents on Friday night. I think Kara took it rather well, considering the sort of...culture and environment where I grew up. I think she understands a little bit more why I am the way that I am, and some of the extra challenges I faced growing up in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
But, she and Mom played nice, and I grilled burgers for dinner, and afterwards we all played poker downstairs. Despite having never played poker before, she held her own, and it actually came down to her and Matt before they settled on how to split up the pot.
The next day, we drove around PA for a bit, the check engine light came on in my car, and I panicked a bit (it turned out to just be rainwater getting into the catalytic converter and temporarily decreasing its performance). Then we headed back down here, and Kara left Sunday morning stupid early. And I learned that it is important to get Kara to the airport on time because she doesn't like sprinting through terminals.
The next weekend we met up in Philly for a wedding of one of Kara's friends; that was also a great weekend and probably the best wedding reception I've ever been to. They had it at this old mansion somewhere in the Philly area, and it was as perfect as I think a reception could have been. On the downside, Kara started coming down with a cold that weekend, and consequently, I started getting sick soon after. It was only really yesterday that I finally got over it.
Those were the highlights. I've been out on the bike once recently, and hopefully I'll get a chance to bundle up and go ride a bit this weekend, weather-permitting. I've been being extremely frugal lately, and I can't think of the last time I've even gone out to eat, much less gone out to a bar...actually, strike that. I was at a bar, but I owe Mike Muller some money for that. I've been playing silly amounts of Metroid Prime lately, which is fun and keeps me out of trouble. And I'm starting to try to figure out what I'm going to do for Christmas presents and things.
Work is in a holding period for me, but I expect things to rapidly change on Monday. I booked my next trip to Boston for the weekend of the 19th, and I'm actually taking that Friday off so I can spend it making my (and I'm not just tooting my own horn here; I did get compliments) excellent Chex Mix for my first trip to the Kara and Friends annual North Conway, NH Booze Extravaganza.
Um, what else...the election. Hmmm. Well, the people have spoken. It's funny, looking at maps of the US...the people who have the least to lose from Bush's continuing policies of alienating other cultures and pursuing a neo-conservative neo-"Christian" agenda are the ones who voted for him.
The blue areas on the map are all cities, kids. We also like to call them "targets."
You think Al Quaida cares about bombing Montana? Or Ohio? Or anyplace in the broad plains of the Midwest or deserts of the Southwest or, whatever, cotton fields of the South?
No, friends. They care about bombing those of us who live in population centers. Like me, in D.C., or my friends in NYC, or Boston, or maybe Miami, or Philly. So, thanks so much for your votes for "morality" and "strong beliefs," as opposed to "coherent foreign policy" and "carefully-considered action." I'm sure I'll be quite happy that Bush goes to church every week when I'm picking bits of radioactive shrapnel from between my teeth. Good Job, America.
There's the whole gay marriage thing, too. Which, hey, you know, there were lots of people who considered black people to be less than deserving of the same rights as the rest of us. Same thing with women. So, sorry, rest of the world, for not exactly carrying the banner when it comes to freedom and tolerance.
Other than that, though, things are pretty good. I mean, it's a little worrisome...you think to yourself, "how much damage can a president do, anyway?" And then you look at our situation now, and kinda cringe at what the next four years might bring.
So, with that, I'll re-launch the blog. I'll try to get archival articles up for your reading pleasure sometime soon.
Posted by Mark at 02:23 PM
a vantage view
A pic of Kara and I on the roof of MJP's condo building in NYC. Ah, Manhattan in the afternoon!
Posted by Mark at 01:56 PM
open road
My bike on the side of the road in PA.
Posted by Mark at 01:54 PM
the basement of the asylum
I haven't been to Asylum in quite some time. This is a skull from their wall.
Posted by Mark at 01:50 PM
a warm day, a cigar, and thee
The author on his Mt. Pleasant D.C. porch in warmer, more relaxed times. I don't remember the brand of cigar, but I'm sure it was delicious.
Posted by Mark at 01:48 PM
good enuf
I could spend weeks playing with the templating system that Moveable Type provides, but I think this layout is a) good enough, and b) close enough to what markdalius.com originally looked like anyway to satisfy me just fine. And this way, I can quit messing around with layout so much and just focus on content, which is all I've been doing with the site in the last few years anyway.
So I'll write something and post some more pics up here soon. A word about the pics; they are taken from my cell phone camera, which is not the highest quality. There is a possibility that some of them might get a little love in Photoshop, but it's not likely. So, you know, enjoy.
Posted by Mark at 01:43 PM
neon glow
A sign in Zuccabar in Adams-Morgan.
Posted by Mark at 11:33 AM
in other news...
Ok, seriously, I have so missed having a blog...there's been so much to blog about! Kara and I spending a week together, meeting the parents, wedding in Philly, the election, me having a cold for like a week and a half, our house having cracks in the wall repaired, etc. etc. Very exciting.
Ok, I'm gonna go set up some categories or something and play around with this a bit.
Posted by Mark at 11:14 AM
work in progress
I'm working on rebuilding the site and the blog. So, hang tight...things will be back to normal soon.
I'm not going to import old articles or write anything lengthy at present since I'm still messing around with Moveable Type. The site is going to be 100% MT-powered, unlike the old site, so it might take a bit to get things the way I want them.
Posted by Mark at 11:10 AM