Tales of an eccentric redhead radical militant librarian

july 3rd (read: day before excessive flag waving day among americans) and i'm having a date with myself and the best puppies ever. we've had some food and drinks and lots of dancing! and i'm listening to franz ferdinand real loud, and on my sunny bike ride home i listened to arctic monkeys, and all of this makes me bounce like no patriotism can. especially when i think about kat, my ex-roomie (but always with a room in my heart ;). happy belated canada day!

tomorrow i work the 4th of july breakfast shift. let's see if my good mood can withstand the work. or better, if olympians will chill out about their coffee and eggs.

:) minna genki de ne!

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I uploaded some more photos today. You can get them at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46957410@N00/

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Last week was another fun one in Istanbul. I preached again on Sunday at Christ Church and am still working with the Sri Lankan refugees in helping them improve their English. On Saturday evening Amy, Kishor, and I went out to Christ Church for a curry party hosted by the Sri Lankans. The food was "off the hook" and there was lots of it. ( Read more... )

god i hate people and right now i kind of wish i wasn't using science to help them

Hmmm... who's awake? Is it me?

In fact, it's been pretty warm in my apartment (nothing like what my friends in eastern washington are reporting but still...) and I haven't really slept in about four days. Today it finally cooled off, and I slept the blessed, blessed dreamless sleep for about... an hour... when the assholes across the street started shooting off fireworks. As far as the internets can inform me, I'm pretty sure that this is illegal inside the city limits of Seattle, even on the 4th. It's certainly illegal today, as it was yesterday about this time of night. Yesterday it was obnoxious, but not a) waking me from a deep sleep and b) totally fucking terrifying to someone barely awake and fairly disoriented. I couldn't figure out what to do, and I'm always terrified of calling the cops to report noise violations because I'm sure that either karmic wrath will descend on me the next time I'm a little rowdy past someone's bedtime, or the assholes will skip karma and simply break into my apartment to execute a little retributive property damage while I'm at work (these were clearly no-goodnik college types with nowhere to be until september). Anyway, I think I might call the Sea Po non-emergency number tomorrow to find out what to do if they pull this shit tomorrow night, since they were discussing it quite loudly after Mark told them to knock it the fuck off (Mark = <3) ("Fine, whatever, have a happy fourth of july. We're just going to set them off tomorrow night, and the next night, and the night after that, and the night after that. I wish we could set off fireworks every night at 2 am"). I was really sad that they didn't catch their own house on fire. I was certainly terrified that something was going to burst through my open window. GODDAM IT GODDAM IT I JUST WANTED TO FUCKING SLEEP

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As many of you know, the_izit is enjoying the sun and surf to the West, leaving me to man the fort here in Michigan. To avoid getting lonely, I decided to buy something to keep me company. He arrived last week, and so far I really like him. It's somewhat relaxing to watch him scramble around the apartment, though I did have to stop him when he managed to find a spool of thread and begin unwinding it. Otherwise, though, I haven't had any problems, as he is very good at cleaning up after himself. I still haven't decided on a name though. I've included a small video so you can see him roaming around.

( Video )

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Here is the Sri Lankan Chicken Curry recipe I promised earlier in the week. It has been provided by the Sri Lankan refugees I have been teaching English to at Christ Church.( Read more... )

LOLWeatherService:

SAN JUAN COUNTY-WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY-SOUTHWEST INTERIOR-
EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-WESTERN SKAGIT COUNTY-EVERETT AND VICINITY-
SEATTLE/BREMERTON AREA-TACOMA AREA-ADMIRALTY INLET AREA-
HOOD CANAL AREA-LOWER CHEHALIS VALLEY AREA-OLYMPICS-
EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-WESTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-
NORTH COAST-CENTRAL COAST-WEST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES AND PASSES-
WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES-
1124 AM PDT THU JUN 26 2008

...HOT WEATHER ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON THIS WEEKEND...

A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES ON FRIDAY WILL
BE NOTICEABLY WARMER ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON UNDER SUNNY SKIES.
OFFSHORE FLOW WILL STRENGTHEN OVER THE WEEKEND WITH MUCH HOTTER
TEMPERATURES EXPECTED. SOME SPOTS MAY FLIRT WITH RECORD HIGH
TEMPERATURES...ESPECIALLY LOCATIONS AWAY FROM THE WATER.

TEMPERATURES ON FRIDAY ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM THE 70S ALONG
THE COAST TO THE UPPER 70S AND 80S INLAND. ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
MOST AREAS SHOULD REACH INTO THE 80S...WITH SOME LOW TO MID 90S
POSSIBLE. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A FEW SPOTS COULD APPROACH OR BREAK
THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE DAY.

MARINE AIR WILL ARRIVE AT THE COAST MONDAY BRINGING COOLER
TEMPERATURES. HOWEVER...IT MAY TAKE A COUPLE DAYS FOR TEMPERATURES
TO MODERATE OVER INTERIOR WESTERN WASHINGTON.

EXCEPT FOR THE SHORT HOT SPELL IN MID MAY...IT HAS BEEN
COOLER THAN NORMAL THE LAST COUPLE MONTHS. THIS WILL BE A RATHER
ABRUPT TRANSITION TO HOT WEATHER. BE CAREFUL OF THE HEAT IN THE
COMING DAYS AND CHECK UP ON THE ELDERLY. STAY HYDRATED AND AVOID
VIGOROUS ACTIVITY DURING THE HEAT OF THE DAY. NEVER LEAVE PETS IN
A PARKED CAR.

Work dude: Here's the new database. If there's anything wrong with it now,
could you just keep it to yourself?
Me: Not likely. My job is to complain. I was hired just to complain about
stuff that isn't right.
Work dude: Did they hire the right person?
Me: Definitely.
Work dude: Dang!

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