Who IS this guy?

I've mentioned a couple of times recently that my time-traveling former house guest, Black Rose Katie Specks, the Pirate Scribe, has been on my mind lately. I've been half expecting her to turn up this fall, but so far she has not. Strangely, however, I saw a number of people today who looked suspiciously like pirates. Here are two of them. Do you suppose they're looking for Kate as well?


These rascals were posing as musicians, but I think it's clear what their true profession is - especially considering the fact that they performed a ditty called Yo Ho! twice in twenty minutes.


And this fellow seemed to turn up everywhere I went today. At different times I saw him hiding, peeking at a map, relaxing and singing, and even indoctrinating this little fellow to follow his piratical ways.

Apparently the man is a connoiseur of hats as well. We were never introduced, but I think I heard his name mentioned, many times over.


Yup. That's him. With Captain Jack Sparrow and other pirates hanging about, can Black Rose Kate be far behind?

By the way, in case anyone suspects I might be away from my house this weekend, I shan't deny it. However, in the words of the Doctor - "It is defended" - in this case by a large man and a loud dog. And possibly for all I know, by a literate lady pirate. Meanwhile, I'm getting offline. It's late, and my wireless mouse is more or less broken, and I'm stuck using IE tonight instead of Firefox, all of which makes blogging kind of difficult and relatively unpleasant. Good night - and hang onto your valuables! There be pirates about!


Karen

Technorati Tags: Pirates, Disney, Black Rose Kate

My Cursory Response to the Weekend Assignment

Weekend Assignment #132: Was that professor justified in doing what he did? Have people completely lost all sense of courtesy when it comes to their cell phones? This is a pure opinion piece, folks -- tell me what you think. This is something you could answer in the comment thread, but remember the idea is to write it up in your own blog/journal and then drop a link in the comment. If you don't have a blog/journal, of course, feel free to comment here in the thread. Extra credit: Do you sometimes answer your cell phone at inappropriate times?


Sorry, John. I don't have time tonight to load some amusing, outrageous or thought-provoking video on dial-up.

Let's see. My opinion on cell/PCS phones:

• Not a good idea to drive and talk at the same time. Half of the near misses I've had trying to get to the other side of the Crosswalk of Death involved people with phones to their ears. But yes, I've occasionally spoken briefly (less than two minutes) on the phone while driving. Shame on me.
• It doesn't bother me at all to see someone talking on the phone in a grocery store or on the street, or even at work; but talking during a class, a movie, a concert, church, etc. is not acceptable. On the other hand, I pretty much never hear someone talking on the phone in a movie theater, concert, class, or mass. Most people just don't do that.
  
• If the phone rings in church, in class, etc., I'm liable to grab the phone, snarl "I can't talk right now" at whoever was gauche enough to call, hang up, and turn off the phone. But I don't turn off the phone when I walk into church. I only get about one phone call a month on it, anyway. I mostly use it to tell me what time it is, and to look up phone numbers. Really, it's primarily there in case of emergencies, and to stay in touch with doctors' offices, and so people can reach me when I'm online, which is always. And occasionally I call my dad from the upstairs hallway at Unnamed Largish Company, usually on my way back from lunch.
• My theory on talking and driving, for what it's worth: the inside of one's car is a private space, psychologically. It feels like home, and nobody outside the car is going to hear what you say (unless you shout through open windows). It's also "dead time" of non-productivity in the average person's busy day. It therefore feels like a useful time and space to take car of private phone calls, almost as natural a venue for them as the house or the office. Only the knowledge that you "shouldn't" do it weighs in against this impulse, and that's offset by everyone's belief in themselves as safe and competent drivers who won't be distracted as other people are. Of course, this is an illusion, but that's how we feel, and feeling often trumps rationality when it comes to things we want to do.
  

It rained here today. It's not supposed to do that in October. I have pictures.



Heading into a very busy weekend. I'll write when I can.

Karen

Technorati Tags: Photos, Writing, Tucson

Quilts and Ruffled Feathers at TMC

Actual promo tonight for a local newscast, said slowly and seriously:

"A chicken terrorizes a local parking garage, at ten."

Here's my question on this important news item: how did they know what the chicken was planning to do at 10 PM?

I promised Sarah that I would watch the news story about the alleged terrorist chicken and report back. It turns out that a chicken wandered into the parking garage at Tucson Medical Center today. One women, who has had a poultry phobia since some minor childhood trauma at her grandfather's farm, was frightened. An animal expert from the University of Arizona rescued and removed the bird, and that was that. Apparently the chicken did not issue a manifesto, take any hostages, or make any demands.


As I mentioned briefly in last night's entry, I was at TMC on Tuesday afternoon, paying the unexpectedly large deductible/co-payment on the stress test I had earlier this year. (Yes, I'm fine.) The admissions people near the West Entrance sent me down the length of the labyrinthine, one-story, block-long building to the business office near the Southeast entrance. For nearly all of that ten minute walk, I was going down white corridors lined with an amazing variety of quilts - hundreds of them.

Some of them had Arizona motifs, like the one above. Others were more traditional.

Some looked like old time samplers. Others, like the one above, were very modern. I think this black one was my favorite.

I actually don't like quilts very much as an art form. I went to a textile museum once in Williamsburg with my dad, stepmother and stepsisters, and was bored to tears. My stepmother Ruth is a quilter, but it just isn't my kind of thing. Still, because of Ruth I paid attention, and took some pictures. In many cases, I actually liked what I saw.



Here's another one I liked a lot. It was near the business office. Title: "Eat Your Vegetables."


As you may have guessed, the quilts are for a charity auction. Quilt for a Cause, Inc. is putting it on, a silent auction for about 400 quilts, and a live auction on Saturday, October 14th for the cream of the crop. Check the link for details. And you'll like this, Carly and Julie and Linda. Half the money goes to the University of Arizona Foundation for breast and gynecologic cancer research at the Division of Women's Cancers at the Arizona Cancer Center. The other half goes to TMC Foundation for Dr. Joel Childers’ Teaching Series, for scholarships for nurses, and for breast Health Services "to provide mammograms, additional screening, diagnostics for uninsured and underinsured women." Bottom line: it's to fight various cancers in women. The symbol of the auction is a ribbon in two colors, pink and teal. In the papers attached to the quilts, many of the artists said they made and donated theirs in honor of friends and relatives who were cancer survivors.

I know I haven't made the rounds properly on the Round Robin yet, and it may be several days before I get to everyone. That's on top of being weeks behind on my regular blog jogging. Can't be helped, folks. I'm going to be very busy for the next several days, so my online time will be limited. But I'll get to you eventually. I promise!

Karen


Technorati Tags: Quilts, TMC, Cancer, auctions, Tucson

Kashews and Beer (Karma Burns!)

T.J., author of Photo Inclusions: Every Picture Tells a Story, has come up with a Round Robin Photo Challenge that I personally find very challenging indeed. It's called ABCs of Autumn. The idea is to come up with autumn-related pictures of things that start with the first letters of your first and last name. Cool, huh?

But it's not so easy for Karen Blocher of Tucson, Arizona. One problem is, nothing autumnal starts with a K. Another is, Tucson doesn't really have an autumn. Most of the leaves do not change color, let alone fall to the ground. The air is not cool and crisp. People aren't just starting back to school, either. Students who don't have a year-round schedule (e.g. the University of Phoenix) mostly went back to school in August, long before summer was over.

But I like the idea, and I like wordplay, so I'll make this work, somehow. But what can I show you?

A Killer Bunny? No, he's not seasonal enough. (Or seasoned enough.)

How about those Kookie Barbies? There's so confused by Tucson's climate that they have no idea what they're supposed to wear in the fall. I mean, look at Ken, for example. It's finally cool enough to use the grill, but Ken's wearing a sweater to do it! Dude, it's still in the 70s at 1 AM, and the expected high is 95! What do you need a sweater for? Casey's wearing a summery floral, but she's going to regret those long sleeves. Twist-n-Turn Barbie is better off in her sleeveless dress - but she, Casey and Bubble Cut Barbie shouldn't go around the desert in Bare feet! Eek!

Skipper is doing okay in her sleeveless top and denim shorts, and Tutti has sense enough to know that the monsoon is over and some plants need watering. But what's with the Boots, then? Kooky indeed!


Or how about Kate's Buds? I definitely associate Black Rose Kate with autumn. She turned up here last Halloween, and stuck around for much of November. Now that autumn is here again, she's been on my mind. One of the reasons is that every day I pass this flag I made for her. She was intrigued with the Black plastic Buds and white plastic skull, and seemed to like the flag I made from them. It's been almost a year, but I haven't the heart to put it away. See, I'm one of Kate's Buds, too!

I decided early on that I wouldn't cheat on spelling to make this Challenge work. I won't be showing you any Kumpkin Bie (or Bumpkin Kyl for that matter). Nevertheless, I must show you the Burned sausage, "Kashews" and Beer, because thereby hangs a tale.

It all started on Sunday, after the Blessing of the Animals. We took Tuffy to see Eva, who hadn't been well enough for church. Kevin suggested that if she felt Better later in the day (she usually does), we could take her to the 5 PM Mass instead. No animals, but at least she'd get to church. Eva agreed, but then she fell asleep and didn't wake up until after the late Mass was over.

Anyway, about the time I was expecting her call about whether I should pick her up, John and I were at Safeway, Buying groceries. Then we came home, watched a Bit of tv, and I went online. Later we Both went to the gym. I Brought my purse with me, and set it down next to the treadmill while I used it.

Monday morning, I reached into my purse for my wallet. It wasn't there.

For two days I've been searching under furniture and car seats, checking countertops, desks, the top of the dryer, the Bedclothes, hoping my wallet would turn up. I checked my Bank account online, and nobody had used my card. I therefore really didn't think it was stolen, not even by a Kleptomaniac. If it wasn't stolen I didn't want to report all those cards gone, only to find the wallet later. But where was it? I even took this afternoon off to search the house and the car one more time, ask at L.A. Fitness one more time, and then start reporting and replacing stuff. I also wanted to take care of my overdue hospital Bill from the cardiac stress test I had early this year, and clear the 30-or-so messages (most of them political recordings) off the home phone. I got a late start in leaving the office, but by the end of the afternoon I did get the voicemail cleared except for one saved message, paid Tucson Medical Center in full, and cleaned several rooms in the house a bit while hunting for the wallet. But: no wallet. No replacement driver's license, either, because the MVD's camera equipment had Broken down. I did report the debit card to my Bank, but didn't get any of the others taken care of before it was time to return home and face John.

I hadn't told him my wallet was missing, because I didn't want to upset him only to find the wallet later. There was even a chance I could replace all those cards without him knowing there had been a problem; but that would be dishonest. So tonight I told him the wallet was missing, that I'd last had it for sure at Safeway and that it might have been stolen at the gym, but that nobody had used my debit card. John was, as expected, upset and angry. He felt I'd brought this on myself by carrying too much around with me in an open purse. It was just Karma that I should lose something eventually; never mind that I haven't lost a wallet in about fifteen years. He also didn't think I was suffering enough over this, but I was. Yes, I'd brought Bad Karma on myself, and tonight, Karma Burned.

You know what else Burned? Dinner. John was depressed enough by my screw-up that he pretty much wanted cashews and Beer for dinner, but we decided that I would cook the sausage instead. But I was in the bedroom looking at a photo of a Kingbird when the sausage started to Burn. John was upset all over again, not just by the ruined dinner, but because I hadn't been paying sufficient attention again, and messed up again. He gave up on dinner entirely, and went off to the gym.

I decided that I could at least surprise him with Kashews and Beer when he got back, so off I want to Safeway, armed with thirteen dollars in cash and a couple of credit cards I'd been keeping unused in a drawer. I grabbed the two items and proceeded to tell a wonderful cashier named Joyce my tale of woe. As an afterthought, I asked whether Safeway by any chance had my wallet.

They had it. Nothing was missing from it. No, I don't know why they didn't call, unless they did, but couldn't leave a voicemail Because my voicemail was full.

I paid for the cashews and Beer, forgetting briefly in my excitement that I couldn't use my debit card as usual. Then I went home, took the Burned sausage and Beer photo, and rushed off to the gym, wallet in hand, to tell John the good news. He said that he could feel his Blood pressure going down.

What has all thus to do with the ABCs of Autumn? Nothing much. But I'll tell you this. As much as I associate Fall with Black Rose Kate, now I'm also going to think of Autumn as the season of the Karma that Burned, and "Kashews" and Beer.

Now go see what everyone else is doing for this Challenge. Big turnout this time, and many people have already posted their entries. And yes, you're welcome to join in, too! Click here for details!

Karen

Linking List:

TJ
Photo Inclusions: Every Picture Tells A Story - Posted!
http://tjexpressions.blogspot.com

Carly
Ellipsis...Suddenly Carly - Posted!
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen
Outpost Mâvarin - Posted!
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Janet
Fond of Photography - Posted!
http://fondofphotography.blogspot.com

Teena ***Welcome, New Member!***
It's all about me! - Posted!
http://purple4mee.blogspot.com

Nancy
Nancy Luvs Pix - Posted!
http://journals.aol.com/nhd106/Nancyluvspix

boliyou
Percolation
http://boliyou.blogspot.com

Danella ****Welcome New Member****
Deep Red Style - Posted!
http://www.deepredstyle.com

Suzanne R
New Suzanne R's Life - Posted!
http://newsuzannerslife.blogspot.com

Linda (Lou)
Blah Blah Blog - Posted!
http://blahblahblog.wordpress.com/

Kerrin
a new day, a new photo - Posted!
http://kerrinsdailyphoto.blogspot.com/

Gem
Journally Yours
http://journals.aol.com/libragem007/JournallyYours/

Julie
Julie's Web Journal - Posted!
http://www.barrettmanor.com/julie/journal.aspx

Steven
(sometimes) Photoblog - Posted!
http://sepintx.blogspot.com

Derek
Through my Eyes - Posted!
http://throughvealeyes.blogspot.com/

_rRose
WAIT-NOTYET - Posted!
http://journals.aol.com/rrveh1/WAIT-NOTYET-/

Gina
Gina's Space - Posted!
http://journals.aol.com/rbrown6172/Ginasspace/



Technorati Tags: Photos, memes, Autumn, ABCs of Autumn, Round Robin Photo

Minor Exhibits at the Museum of the Weird

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Someone in your house you probably have one (or more) bobble-head figurines. Immortalize them in photo. For this, any bobbly toy will do -- bobbly hula girls, toy animals with bobbly tails, it's all good. They just have to be bobbly somewhere along the line.

I wanted to show you our collection of 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks bobbleheads, but they're in a box somewhere. The best I can do on that front is show you this picture from a couple of years ago. Third shelf down on the left, you can just about make out a boxless Gonzo (Luis Gonzales, who just played his last game for he Diamondbacks) in front of some red and white boxes. Those boxes contain boxes of Gonzo, Schilling, Randy Johnson, Craig Counsell and others - even manager Bob Brenly.


But okay, let's try to do better with a new photo or three or four. Here are some shelves on John's side of the bed. Can you tell which of these exhibits in our personal Museum of the Weird is a bobblehead? Do you know exactly what it's supposed to be?



On the right: P-Chan from Ranma 1/2. Not a bobblehead. Neither is the vintage, politically incorrect china figurine in the middle. There it is on the left: Rat Fink! Rat Fink was a character from the 1950s and 1960s, associated with flamboyant hot rod car customizer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Frankly, that's about all I know on the subject. This is on John's side of the room, after all!


One more bobblehead. This is a Happy Meal toy of Stitch in his Elvis outfit. Lilo is in my cubicle at work.

Here's Stitch in his usual habitat among some other M.o.W. exhibits: Liddle Kiddles and Kiddle Kolognes, DAM trolls and Wishniks, Remco's Heidi, Jan and Spunky "pocketbook dolls," Britain's Ltd. Knight and Turk figures, a china poodle from the 1960s, and a china dragon bank (called Dino for obvious reasons) that I've had since seventh grade.

Enough. I had less than five hours of sleep last night, and less than three hours the night before. Good night!

Karen

Technorati Tags: Scalzi, Monday Photo Shoot, Bobbleheads, Museum of the Weird

Episcopal Parish of Puppies, and Paucity of Putty-tats

Technorati Tags: Dogs, Episcopal Church, Tucson

icons, pants and promises

I've got to go to bed, so I'll try to make this brief. It's another one of those multi-subject entries.

Favicons = A Fun Widget for Your Blog or Website

After a glorious 11 hours of sleep, I got up this afternoon, watched a little tv with John, went though my watchlist and email, and then spent most of the evening out. When I got home again, I finished my AOL Alerts and started going through blogs on my FeedBlitz list, which I'm nearly three weeks behind on. But the first blog I went to was Shelly's The View From Here, and she mentioned something that ate up the next four hours of so of my night at the computer.

Can you guess what it is? Take a look at the URL box at the top of your browser window, or the tab this blog is in, if your browser uses tabs. The thing I want you to see may not be there in IE, but if you're in Firefox or Netscape (probably Safari, too), it should be there. It's a tiny rendering of this graphic:

I made the large version in my usual special effects photo editor, ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000, but the favicon was generated at http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/. All you do is upload the picture and tell the website to create the tiny icon. The site gives you an animated version and a still version. Then you download it, unzip the folder it's in, and upload it to wherever you usually upload your graphics. The code that you put in your web page or blog template goes in the "head" section at the top, after the word head in brackets and before /head in brackets. The code for my favicon in this blog looks like this:

link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://mavarin.com/faviconma.ico"

only in the < > brackets.

The downloaded favicon is called favicon.ico by default. The animated version has a longer default name and is a gif. Since I made a bunch of them, I added letters to each name to keep them distinct from each other. Cool! The only problem is that these things are so tiny that most images don't show up very well. You need something fairly simple, such as a letter or a simple logo. And the animated versions aren't very exciting. In fact, I can't decide whether they're "neato" or annoying.

Besides this blog, I put favicons on the mavarin.com website, the Round Robin Photo Challenges blog, the Life at St. Michael And All Angels news blog (that one doesn't look good) and the Messages from Mâvarin fiction blog.

Cheap Pants

I went to the gym tonight for the first time in a week, but before I did that I wanted something to eat. All I'd had at that point was two or three grapes, literally. So I went to the mall and had beef kabobs and Greek salad - no onions, no peppercinis, no olives, no pita.


After that I needed time to digest before working out, so I went to Dillard's. I ended up with four new pairs of pants, for a grand total of $23 and change. They were 75% off, and 30% off of the reduced price at the register. It was silly to get two pairs of light blue pants, but for $5.80 plus tax I couldn't pass them up, either.

Promises, Promises

After that I went to L.A. Fitness. The treadmills were all in use (at least, I thought they were; John later pointed out more of the machines on the other side of the second floor), so I decided to give the stationary bike a try. The pedaling was easy, but when I increased my speed to the posted target for a 50-year-old (I'll be 50 in March), it nearly killed me. I lasted less than three minutes! I checked in with John, who was doing an hour-twenty on the cross-trainer downstairs, and then found a treadmill. The good news: like last weekend, I did 20 minutes plus the 2-minute cooldown, this time with an incline and at a slightly higher speed. The bad news: at one point toward the end, the thing claimed my heat rate was 185! I don't necessarily believe this number, but I was definitely over 150 for most of the session, and at the end my lungs hurt a little. I'll have to be a little patient and a little careful. But I need to keep my promise to myself that I'll continue to work out, and eat better, and start moving my weight downward instead of upward.


One thing I did in aid of this was buy myself new gym pants at a store in the Safeway shopping center. They have women's sizes, and I've been meaning to check them out for quite some time. I didn't really think they'd have gym pants, but they did, and in my size, and long enough to touch my shoes. My old ones are calf length, and John hates them. I was so pleased that I also bought a badly-needed nightgown for $15.

Now for the other promises I did and did not keep tonight. I promised to take care of an overdue hospital bill today, from that stress test I had months ago. I ran out of time, but I'll do it tomorrow. I also promised myself I'd pick up the many messages on my home phone number. I'm sure some of them are related to that hospital bill, and others are undoubtedly from various Democrats wanting my money, my votes, and my activism. Again, I'll do that on Sunday.

Father Smith gave me more sermons recorded in wma format, and I got John to upload them over his Cox connection. I need to post links to them,and ultimately I'll want to convert them to mp3 and upload those. I also promised to burn a CD of photos taken of prayer shawls and a quilt, so the ECW ladies at church can have photos printed. Now where are my blank CDs?

Karen

Technorati Tags: Favicons, Personal