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Thursday, December 17th, 2009
jere7my
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10:09p
Arno sunsets
Thursday and Friday, July 2-3 - Florence
We had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, on our second day in Florence, to take a day trip to see Il Palio in Siena. Il Palio is a medieval horse race, ridden bareback and breakneck, with jockeys being thrown from their saddles and banners flying and tens of thousands of spectators whooping and elbowing and drinking. Hemingway would've loved it.
We did not go.
I'm still not sure it was the right decision, but at that point in our travels we didn't think we wanted to tie ourselves to the train tracks of sensory overload for a day. We'd just scratched the surface of Florence, so we decided to stick around and visit Santa Croce, the dome and interior of Il Duomo, and the Museum of the History of Science (all described previously), and eat amazing tuna/salmon carpaccio for dinner at Lobs.
Before dinner, we visited the "Interactive Museum of Medieval Florence" (Museo Interattivo sulla Firenze Medievale), at my insistence, because I expected it to be a cheesy, exploitative museum of TORTURE. Perhaps it had been, at one time — I suspect the proprietor of retaining half a dozen wax figures of torture victims from a more successful iteration of the museum, and trying to incorporate them into his gritty, bookish, dilapidated, painfully depressing vision of medieval Florence. We were given a headset to share, and were held hostage by the droning voice of the narrator at each station, staring at a leprous head or a severed hand for upwards of ten minutes while he read paragraph after encyclopedic paragraph about hygiene and markets. It was a relief when we were allowed into the authentic medieval hovel (replicated on the site of an actual medieval hovel), where the male narrator was exchanged for a perky female voice that explained all the details of the dank, dark, windowless room we were sitting in: the stale loaf of bread on the table, the dirt, the family of creepy-ass mannequins sleeping on the floor that we had to pick our way through to leave. It was altogether bleak. (There is another torture museum in Florence, at the Porta San Giovanni, which I hear is much more successful.)
Happily, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) adfamiliares is cleverer than me, and insisted we visit Oltrarno — the district across the Arno from most of Florence — in the evening. Crossing the river on the Ponte alla Carraia, we were stopped dead by an astonishing sunset, sinking down into the hills to the west and painting the Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte Santa Trinità to the east (see above). We watched the sun disappear for about fifteen minutes, feeling quite terribly honeymoony, before entering the quiet streets of Oltrarno, where we found the Palazzo Pitti, the curiously blank façade of Santo Spirito, and the most compellingly odd dirty graffito I saw in Italy (see below). Coming home, we passed an outdoor orchestra concert at the foot of the Palazzo Vecchio, and milled with the crowd for a while, while masterpieces of Renaissance art looked over our shoulders from the Loggia dei Lanzi and light-up spinners spun into the sky from hawkers' ripcords.
( Cut for Florence! )
All ~100 pictures, including many more similar sunset pix, are here.
current mood:  wistful
current music: One by Aimee Mann
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(1 comment | comment on this)
kairon_gnothi
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12:34p
Getting kinda pissed.
Well, I haven't felt righteously annoyed in a while. Nice to know I still can. Bh ordered free coffee on a 'get a free computer' internet scam last spring and promptly cancelled the membership. Six months later, they bill us $79 twice and send two packages of coffee. So I opened up a can of lawyerly whupass on them (behind the cut). This should do the trick.
( Lawyerly Whupass... )
current mood:  aggravated
current music: none
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(1 comment | comment on this)
theryk
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9:46a
In Other News...
Tuesday night, I was coming back from a gig in Portland,Me when I started having extreme pain in my chest and the sensation of my heart beating really fast. Also, I was going really fast, and got pulled over by an NH State Trooper. Things quickly, led to me being rushed to Exeter Hospital, where I was determined to be a short distance from a heart-attack. I was given various drugs to quiet and calm my heart (don't ask, I don't remember which) and held for observation overnight.
I'm home now, resting, and doing Ok. I had to pass on a few performances and may not be around as much for a while, as I need to slow down, ditch stress, and build health. Thanks for everyone who has sent emails, FaceBook messages, phone calls, etc.
I think I'll be fine. I think my daddy was part cockroach, on his daddy's side.
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(9 comments | comment on this) Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
(1 comment | comment on this)
(2 comments | comment on this) Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
crystalpyramid
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11:10p
stupid
Why do I ever get into arguments with philosophers? They spent four years learning to out-argue me and craft sentences that make me feel stupid because I can't understand them, while I spent four years learning random things in physics and Russian that I don't remember any more. It doesn't matter if I have anything important to say, because I can't say it in their language.
I know my college friends are all smarter than me. It's what comes of going where I went. Sigh.
And yet, I still feel like I did something more useful in college. At least you can explain physics to a layman and have them kind of get why it's nifty. Even if I've totally forgotten a lot of what goes beyond the layman's explanation.
current mood: depressed
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crystalpyramid
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12:04p
shameless plugs
Peace of Heart Choir fundraiser concert, this Sunday 12/20 at 2:30 at Hunter College. Tickets $20, slight discounts if you order through a member, accommodations can be made for people who're really really broke. Singing lots of interesting stuff. Full of surprisingly nifty people. More specific details/directions available upon request. I think you should come!
If you're bored and in New York and can sing and want to Use Your Powers For Good, I hear they also have auditions.
There is also a bake sale, for which I should bake something. Probably two somethings, or two copies of something, so I can bring one to Open Yule on Saturday and the other to the concert. If anyone has ideas / wants to help, maybe that would be a thing to do.
I will be leaving New York 12/22, in Rochester 12/23-12/28, and in Cincinnati 12/29-1/4, with a stopover of indeterminate length in NYC in between.
On the evening of January 23rd, my church will be doing a fundraiser called the Divine Drag and Outrageous Talent Show. Proceeds go to the Wedding Party, Trinity Shelter, and the church itself. Acts are a mix of high-quality amateurs, actual professionals, and, if it's like last year at least, talented and sincere kids. Some musical numbers, some drag queen stuff, a real mix. But fun! Also, they apparently need drag kings and musical acts that are not singing. So if you know any drag kings who might be willing to help out...? (I have no idea why you would know drag kings, but it's worth a try, right?)
The next day, after church, I'll be running another roundsing in the chapel there. 1-4 pm, with the possibility of fleeing downstairs to a rehearsal room at 4 like we did last time. Sounds to me like a good weekend to be in New York for...
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(4 comments | comment on this)
ccommack
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1:35a
I'm sick iTunes contest
I'm stuck out down the shore, and I'm sick. (Mildly sore throat developing into hacking cough, further details available on request.) The internet is failing to entertain me, and since I'm paying through my thoroughly infected nose for it, I need to fix that myself.
Therefore, this thread is a contest. Of my top 11 most frequently played tracks on iTunes (there's a four-way tie for 8th), two are Classical, and three are by the same artist. That accounts for seven unique artists. The first person to name all seven in the comments will get a prize. Feedback will be in the form of number correct. Bonus points will be awarded for identifying the artist appearing three times; no feedback will be given.
The prize is unset as of now and management reserves the right to change its mind several times on this subject. Happy hunting!
This entry was originally posted at http://ccommack.dreamwidth.org/119824.html, and currently has  comments. You can leave a comment there yourself using OpenID.
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Monday, December 14th, 2009
(comment on this)
tapas
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11:05a
Misc updates
Paperwhites: After a few days in the laundry room there didn't appear to be any change in them at all. I was afraid it was too cold there, so they are now residing under the kitchen sink. Still no visible growth just over a week after planting, but I will bide and see. I fear that having been kept for a year they may be past their prime.
Project Dining Room: We went with the pretty glass table. It's scheduled to be delivered tomorrow! In anticipation, I have procured a tablecloth of the appropriate size and I have a very cool table runner on order. Also a pine centerpiece should arrive in the next couple of days. I'm hoping it will smell like the Christmas trees of my youth.
Project Spice Organization: I did make mole to celebrate having reorganized the spices and herbs. It used seven different jars of components. Not bad, but I might be able to find an Indian recipe that uses a couple more.
Other House Projects: We've acquired and deployed a plethora of little tables - a pair of end tables to hold snacks near the TV seating area, a plant stand for the sun room, and a small table for use near the main sofa. Now I'm working on trying to find a comforter that will plausibly go with the lovely red flannel sheets I found on sale. Plain white looks sort of sterile and plain black seems a tad bordello. Hoping to find a black/white pattern that appeals. And I'm starting to think about a table for the front hall.
Travel: Since this topic was last mentioned here, six weeks ago, I have been to San Diego, Baltimore, Rochester, and Portland. Baltimore and Portland were quick in-and-out trips, one a project meeting and one a seminar visit. Rochester was actual non-work travel for Thanksgiving and was lovely, with many people to see and a visit to the Strong Museum of Play. San Diego was a very productive conference.
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(comment on this) Sunday, December 13th, 2009
crystalpyramid
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9:49p
approaching magic as science
Two thoughts, apropos of reading about Bas-Lag and a thread on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) nonwiccanwitch:- If you can wrap your head around the wave-particle duality, it's really not that much further to being able to imagine electricity elementals. Or other kinds of elementals... In some circumstances it acts like a wave, in other circumstances it acts like a particle, and in a third important set of circumstances it acts like a bunch of swarming, capricious, vaguely humanoid forms...
- If earth-air-fire-water is one basis for the world, linear algebra tells us there must be others. Assuming it is a basis, and not just a linearly dependent spanning set — is there any smaller spanning set? What would some other possible bases be?
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(33 comments | comment on this) Friday, December 11th, 2009
(5 comments | comment on this)
jere7my
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8:22p
The last day: Italy turns against us
Sunday, July 5 - Rome
On our last day, Italy began informing us that it was time to go.
The train from Ravenna to Bologna was nightmarish, the worst public transportation experience of my life. We were wedged with all our luggage among hundreds of locals returning from the Vent'anni di Ravenna festival — imagine the most crowded subway car you've ever been on, add twenty people, and make the ride last for two hours. For two hours I stood completely immobile, a Tetris block locked into a row of other blocks — one of the S-shaped ones, since my feet were displaced a foot to the right of my hips by my suitcase and my head was immobilized by a cage of armpits. My muscles started to scream after an hour; my toes were wedged beneath my suitcase. I was desperately trying to keep an eye on adfamiliares as more people climbed aboard at every stop and she was forced farther and farther away. The time it took to pack more people in at every station made the train run late, and I grew frantic about missing our connection.
All the while, six feet away from me, the prototypical Italian princess was holding court amongst her luggage, spread out on the floor with room for her and her teenage friends to sit, refusing to comprehend, with elaborate shrugs, that she could take up less space. Eventually I resorted to tapping them on the shoulders and pointing, with acid glarings, at the empty spaces they could move to. When she got off the train, I yelled, "Ciao, principessa!" That was the rudest thing I did in Italy. ( Click for a picture of Trenitalia brand sardines! )
We did make the connection in Bologna (since it, too, was delayed), which ensured we'd step out of the station in Rome in time to see a heavyset man in a red T-shirt pelting across the street with a briefcase and a purse. Around the corner, a lanky, pallid, Wonka-esque Canadian with a comically oversized map was lurching from side to side, crying, "Where is it? Where is it?" He was jet-lagged and panicked and nearly incomprehensible, but eventually we got him to tell us that someone had stopped him to ask for directions, and while the map was blocking his view his briefcase (with his passport, his camera, his books) had disappeared. I had to tell him that I'd seen it go. He seemed so lost, so heartbroken, and there was so little we could do. It unsettled me — I was one big exposed nerve for a while afterward.
After that, we managed to have a good last day, recapitulating some of our greatest hits — the Largo Argentina, the Piazza Navona, the Imperial Fora, shakerati at Caffè Sant'Eustachio, mozzarella at Ōbikā. We bought some of Enzo's artwork at Santa Caterina dei Funari, and Enzo (who spoke not a word of English) was clownish and grateful and a little sad. Even the unsettling experiences of the morning had their upsides — the kind and patient Lebanese tourist, more useful than us, who stopped to help the panicked Canadian; the rowdy boys on the train who looked like they were going to be trouble but instead made the trip more bearable by leading us all in cheers when the conductor successfully squeezed a few more people in. (They also inflated a condom and batted it around the cabin for a rousing game of condom-ball. One of them ran out at a stop, stripped off his shirt, and dunked his upper body in a fountain before running back on. Lively, cheerful, civic-minded hooligans!)
( Cut for the last pictures of Rome. )
This should really have been my final Italy post, but I didn't want to end on a downer, so I'll be following it with pretty pictures of Florence and San Vitale in Ravenna. This full set is here.
current mood:  stressed
current music: Stain Yer Blood by Paul Westerberg
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(3 comments | comment on this)
crystalpyramid
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5:23p
winds blow south, or winds blow north
I'm off to Connecticut for 24 hours with a backpack full of anticipated clothing and cell phones, to see my sister's senior recital and restore everyone's cellular connectivity. My Sunday's crazy, though — maybe I'll see some of you there/then.
If you see mumbly_joe online tomorrow, wish him a happy birthday! (Happy birthday-in-advance, Greg!)
Also, Hanukkah. Happy that.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
crystalpyramid
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11:40a
Con Ed gets something right (for once)
Does your electric company call and ask when they can come over to replace your incandescent light bulbs with free CFLs? I guess they figure they'll save money even if they have to pay for all the bulbs themselves. But I thought it was cute. (And told them we'd already done so.)
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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ecstatic