Thanks C.

The first year I gardened in the Fenway, my friend C. gave me this lilac. C. has no personal interest in gardening. He claims to have a black thumb and kill all plants with the exception of the orchids he has in his condo. He does however seem to enjoy seeing what I get up to and willingly trots me around to garden centers to buy plant, peat moss, fertilizer and being a true friend even lets me haul bags of cow manure in his car.

The lilac was all of 12 inches high and most closely resembled a twig when I planted it 5 years ago. Lilac takes a few years to mature to bloom, so there were a few years where is was a foliage shrub. Last year it bloomed for the first time and this year it is really lovely. It is a syringa arnoldia from the arboretum and unlike the Persian lilacs one sees most often is a looser form and somehow more airy looking. At this very moment it is easing the pain of weeding by wafting a heady perfume through the garden. A gift that keeps on giving.

Vector

I went to Bigezbear a few days ago and wound up taking the Tarot survey. Since then I have noticed it popping up everywhere. I thought I'd do a little scientific sleuthing to see how this thing has spread around.

It seems Glenn got it from Daniel. I posted it and then Belle took the survey. Then it moved on to Farmboy Tony at Perge Modo. Where will it turn up next?

So, as far as I can tell, it started with Daniel in the Desert, where he found the survey I don't know. I imagine it will die down soon enough. The novelty factor will wear off and the next meme will come along. I would be interested however to see what cards Alexander and Mike come up with.

Oh, for the record Lynette, I'll trade your Devil for my Hanged Man.

Hudson River School

I was out of the house a little later than usual and the clouds were looking a great deal as though they had been created by a member of the Hudson River School. Lots of clouds rolling in after several days of sunshine here in New England. I am actually looking forward to some rain out of pure laziness. It will save me a half an hour with the hose out in my garden after work.

Imaginary fat

I was working with the trainer this morning.

Trainer: You've lost some weight.

Me: No, I'm still at 160.

Trainer: No,you're probably going to maintain that weight. You've lost some fat.

Me: Oh!

Either living on protein shakes, oatmeal and green vegetables for a couple of weeks helped more than I thought, or I am so far around the twist about my weight that I am beyond help.

The Hanged Man

I saw this "What Tarot Card Are You" on Bigezbear. I took the survey. I don't think so. To keep the record straight, they claim Glenn is "The Sun". Who knew?

You are the Hanged Man

Self-sacrifice, Sacrifice, Devotion, Bound.

With the Hanged man there is often a sense of fatalism, waiting for something to happen. Or a fear of
loss from a situation, rather than gain.

The Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days. On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes.

The Hanged Man, in similar fashion, is a card about suspension, not life or death. It signifies selflessness, sacrifice and prophecy. You make yourself vulnerable and in doing so, gain illumination. You see the world differently, with almost mystical insights.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Crazy management

So far this week has been another study in crazy. I have to admit, I am getting a little tired of damage control. A good example is coming into work this morning to discover that departmental web access was down. I could access the system from my laptop over wireless, but as far as using my desktop computer went I was SOL. I don't do IT administration. That did not stop anyone from calling me up and either bitterly complaining, or demanding that I do something to rectify the situation immediately. While a lot of this is just the nature of my job, it does get wearing.

In my personal life, I have been on about an equal slide. I have been trying to take off a few pounds with no luck, which has been crazy making. For some reason, which I am willing to chalk up to work stress, I haven't been sleeping well which has been making me cranky. Which has been making me anti-social. Life just feels like it is slipping out of control. Not major nervous breakdown material. Just poorly managed.

So, I am trying to get as much of my crazy under control as I can. I received sound advice on the diet front from my friend the office babe. Fuck it. So I am going to live with the extra weight and have faith that I will get things back under control in the fullness of time. I am also going to have an initial appointment with a shrink tomorrow, and see what I can do about managing the rest of the crazy in my life. I am not sure how much immediate good that will do, but at least I feel as though I am trying to take some positive action in my life.

I think when I was younger I believed that you hit some magical number and then woke up, able to cope with any situation. Now that I am on the down hill side of middle age and only a couple of years away from once again switching demographics, I feel as though, while I am not dealing with a lot of the emotional turmoil that comes with youth, that I am having to deal with a whole new set of complex challenges and there's lots more on the road ahead. So managing the crazy it is. Maybe I should do what the rest of the country does and just go shopping.

More flowers

Here's some more pictures of flowers. I would try and write something, but it's been another brain frying day at work. Oh and R.J. and Lynette, lupines are weeds. Every last one in my garden got crapped there by passing birds. I have a hard time imagining having to struggle to grow the things.

Hell week

My friend, boss and partner in crime, Monkey has been out in Vegas on vacation, enjoying himself, the bastard. Consequently it has been my lot to deal with all of my problems as well as trying to trouble shoot for Monkey, in his absence. It has been a tough week. A big part of my job is dealing with people anyway. But this week has been a little over the top. Just dealing with a small portion of the crap that he has to put up with on a daily basis at work has me respecting him even more.

I am pretty frazzled at this point, and am not sure I am fit for human consumption. I am really looking forward to the weekend. There is a chance that the niece will come into town to check out the garden and have lunch with me. This will mean breaking the insane diet that I am on. (more about that in another post, I lost a whole pound, woo hoo!)

I will try and take more pictures of the garden over the weekend. Things are happening so fast now, with plants blooming that I feel like I'll miss it if I blink.

I am in the mood to go out and kill something, so the weeds are soooo dead.

Relax

It has been a tough week in general and a really tough day in particular. This morning I did not go to the gym (that's a whole other story) so I stopped by the garden this morning to have a cup of coffee before I headed off to the office. Here's a few of the things I saw.







There are Creeping Flox, Emperor Tulips, Lupin, more Tulips, and a Vibernum. It was very relaxing taking in the morning air and enjoying flowers and all the spring visiting birds migrating through. The good weather is suppose to keep up, so hopefully I will have a chance to get out and spend some quality time with myself. This is supposing I am not driven to suicide tomorrow, or wind up in jail for killing some of the people I work with.

Impostor update

I know ya'll are just dying to hear what the final upshot of the war against the Anti-Ganome was. I finally broke down and complained to the forces that be at Manhunt, asking them to make the Anti-Ganome take down my picture, that was of me, the Ganome, and NOT of the Anti-Ganome, whatever he really looks like. I had to provide them with proof of identity and then never heard from them.

So, I moseyed over to his profile. Lo and behold, no profile! It would seem punishment was swift and fierce. I hadn't intended for the creep to loose his Manhunt account, though I doubt that it will stop him from opening a new account and probably using my picture all over again. Still, I felt a little bad.

Schnoz

You never see yourself in profile. I was playing around with the built in camera on my laptop and figured, what the heck!



My immediate reaction when I saw the results was, Jeebus H. Christ, look at the size of that snot locker!

My younger brother and I won the genetic lottery as far as inheriting the family honker goes and I have always been aware that it ain't exactly button sized, but what scares me is that your nose and ears continue to grow as you age.

I'm gonna have to save up for rhinoplasty so that I'll be able to lift my head up from my chest when I'm 70. I have to talk to Mike. Maybe they offer a group rate.

New Morning

Fucking trees! Literally. Tree pollen started happening, just when I was starting to get over a spring cold. The end result was that if snot was a tradable energy commodity I would have been a one man OPEC. The real problem with all of this is that during the night I would wind up ingesting said substance and then spend the day nauseated. Not a great state of affairs. There are better ways to start the morning than by recycling your coffee.

Yesterday, I called in and spent the day in bed, mostly sleeping, some reading and no other form of entertainment, get your mind out of the gutter.

I woke up rather cranky this morning in spite of the fact that I was feeling noticeably better, and grumbled my way through my coffee, which stayed down for the first time in a couple of days and then headed out the door for work. It only took a few steps in the spring air to make a new man of me. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, but this late April morning is as temperate as the bard could hope for. We are suppose to get some April showers this afternoon which is fine, because this morning is warm and sunny and the sky is an impossible blue and spring is promising the pleasures of summer.

My inner 20 year old wants to play hooky and be irresponsible and wander the stodgy, familiar streets of this town with fresh eyes. However, duty calls, bills to be paid, people who rely on me and a whole adult life I am sometimes unprepared for. Off to the grind and I will have to take the pleasures of the day as they come.

Save Net Radio Update

I received an update from Savenetradio.org. It would seem that they have been taken by surprise by the response from the public and have had to retool their site to handle the traffic!

So, if you haven't already, go to their site and send a letter to your congressman. While allowing the record companies to have their way will send the small stations under, it will also effect any public stations you might be streaming as well and will eventually silence most of the music you hear streaming.

For all intents and purposes we have allowed the government to steal our air rights from us, leaving the big broadcasters in control, don't let them take away our internet access to some new and exciting musicians who you would never hear on the commercial airwaves and alternative programing from creative netcasters.

What is this country coming to?

If the war in Iraq, gun violence, and the Bush administration aren't enough! Now, certain elements in the candy industry are declaring war on chocolate. I had this brought to my attention going to Lynette's blog and literally moments later I got an email from this character.

If the evil forces of Hershey have their way, they will be able to manufacture a product that contains no cocoa butter and is made with diary substitutes. It will leave us with something that bears as much resemblance to chocolate as Velveeta resembles cheese. (Can we say cheese food, people!)

Life's comforts are few and far between these days, and allowing a one more group of greedy thugs to have their way is not acceptable. Go to http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/ and let the FDA know that you are not happy with the idea of screwing around with chocolate. You may think this is silly, but we've got ourselves into quite a bit of trouble already by allowing corn syrup to be substituted for sugar, and guess what, we are becoming the fattest country in the world. No one has looked into the possible ill effects of messing around with the composition of chocolate. The FDA is suppose to be there to protect our health not to give the green light to corporate greed. This may not bring about world peace, cure cancer or end hunger, but maybe if people start feeling like they can make positive changes on a small scale, it will encourage them to act on larger issues. Just a thought.

Weekend in brief

The weekend went well. Nothing earthshaking. I spent a good part of a beautiful Saturday in the garden. While I was there I got to meet my neighbor Mike's new beau. There wasn't a terrific amount of interaction. They seem to still be in the "all wrapped up in each other" phase, but the new boyfriend is cute and seems very nice and Mike is in a hitherto unknown state of... gooeyness, maybe. Whatever his condition, he certainly seems happy and I won't pick on him for it. Too much. Besides it's more fun to do in person.

My own romantic endeavours this weekend with Mr. D. were confined to an impromptu appetite stimulation, and then going out for dinner. It was a fun evening and was over too soon. Sunday I got roped into helping the garden society with a park clean up day, which obviated the need to do any aerobic at the gym. I have a feeling spending the morning hauling wheelbarrows of mulch burned off far more calories than I would have used up on the treadmill. Then it was off for coffee and gossip with C. He is waiting for the out of town visitor, if not from hell at least from purgatory. Though, as C. points out, whenever this character comes to visit, C. gets some great stories to tell after.

The rest of the time on the weekend was filled in doing errands and working on a writing project that feels like it will never shape up. If not the most exciting weekend ever, at least a pleasant one. We'll see what the week brings.

Health Food

Does the olive in a martini count?

A Good Laugh

If you, like me are in need of a laugh today, go here and download "Enormous Penis". (Thanks, Billy)

Life is Strange

Recent weirdness.

Some guy on the train with a bible open to Leviticus using a yellow highlighter. He's obviously looking for all the really juicy sins.

Talking with the manager of my gym about one of the creepier members.

"He never actually works out. He just hangs around naked in the locker room, making the other members uncomfortable. If he gets yelled at for bothering people in the steam room, it's because we're discriminating against him. If no one will pay attention to him when he's trying to hit on them in the steam room, or they won't let him play, he complains that people are having sex in the steam room and he's being discriminated against." My question is, does he think he's being discriminated against for being gay or just for being a pest.

At work my boss comes in.

"We're having a departmental meeting tomorrow. I want you to explain your new duties to everyone in a few words".

I float a few suggestions. "Yeah, that kind of thing, that sounds good."

I just wish someone would explain to me what my new duties are.

The news of Virginia Tech has, not surprisingly, turned from being news to being shameless rubbernecking on the part of the media. It's all angling for "human interest stories" and sensationalism.

I had a check up with my doctor. It seems that I am in obscenely good health. So as some sort of practical joke, I almost immediately come down with a cold upon leaving the doctors office.

One of our IT people demonstrated how to twiddle your thumbs while holding a can of Coke as an example of multitasking.

One of our faculty members who couldn't master it, then gave a juggling demo.

It almost makes me feel as though I spend my time here productively.

I was telling a friend that I made an impulse order on Amazon for a somewhat pricey and not necessary book. He told me he was saved from making a porn purchase because of web glitch. Sometimes we need technology not to work to save us from ourselves.

I don't have much to say for myself, but life seems to continue on around me.

On the Radio

I am a fan of streaming radio broadcasts. So when I read this I was pretty horrified. Follow the link in the article and send a message to your congressman. Help save access to internet broadcasts from around the country. Don't let the greedy vampires in the record industry take the music away from us.

The Gloves are OFF!

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "I hope you realize, dis means war!"

I have asked the character on Manhunt to take down my photo. Guess what? It's still there!

I have tried to put myself in this mook's place, I've tried to figure out his motivation. Is he so self conscious that he feels as though anyone's picture is better than what he looks like? Is he fooling around on his boyfriend/wife and doesn't want to have his picture on his profile? Is he just a big closet case? Whatever the reason, the big fake is using the Ganome's photo! This must come to an end. (in the interest of full disclosure, you are not going to get a look at the Ganomes pink bits, so don't get your hopes up.)

So kids, if you are looking for a good time, log into Manhunt and look up letsfuckand69. (Yes Monkey, you were very clever to figure this one out) In the interest of making sure that this is fun for the whole family, I would like to point out that anyone can open a Manhunt account for FREE! Obviously, you don't have to use your own photo, and ladies they don't check your chromosomes so have at it. IN FACT, for the purposes of this little experiment, you should create unique, disposable accounts so you won't really have to put up with this ass clown when you're finished. And remember steal your photos! Porn stars, your pet, a vase of dahlia's, a picture of a komodo dragon, whatever.

The only ground rules are let him know, that you know, that this is not his picture. I would kind of prefer no one leaves a trail of bread crumbs back to this blog either, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

So kids, tell everyone you know. I mean it only will take you a few minutes. You can post your emails to Mr. LFA69 in the comments here if you come up with something really good. Just remember cut and paste.

For each and every one of you that bring a little joy in Mr. LFA69's life, I say thank you from the bottom of my little Evil Ganome heart.