Below are the most recent 15 friends' journal entries.

Saturday, December 26th, 2009
palegreyminion	10:26p	Sigh Zack is congested, Aeryn is running a mild fever. Shoot me now.. Posted via LiveJournal.app. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
palegreyminion	7:18p	WTF, TSA? I am so tired of security theater I could just scream. I can't even think of anything pithy to say. Someone on a terrorist watch list manages to board a plane with an incendiary device and tries to set it off upon landing and the appropriate response is to make a rule that all passengers must remain in their seats with nothing on their laps and no access to their carry-on bags for the hour before landing? Give me a break. I think I'll take the damn train for my next trip. This is beyond absurd. (17 Comments |Comment on this)
palegreyminion	4:17p	Avatar Avatar = very pretty. Posted via LiveJournal.app. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 25th, 2009
buddhagrrl	10:13a	Happy Birthday Happy birthday elenuial! We're off to honor your birthday with Shabu Shabu. And Sherlock Holmes. ...but I think you are many many more miles away than usual. Hoping you have a great birthday in a nice warm place! ~us (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
buddhagrrl	3:25p	nngh Feeling like groggy allergic lump. Will probably go home early with the sneezles. Current Mood: sick (Comment on this)
solipsistnation	10:28a	stalker Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, one of my favoritest games ever in the history of gaming (right up there with Thief), is friggin' TWO DOLLARS on Steam today. Even if you're not sure it's quite your thing, two bucks? You'd pay that much for an iPhone app that farts in different pitches and timbres. Heck, I'm buying a second copy so I don't have to dig out the DVD when I want to play it again. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
tyauving_awa	10:12a	A plug for a neat calendar I just swapped out last year's calendar for this year's. I'm not a few days early: I've got a nifty four "page" calendar that runs in three month chunks from solstice to equinox, equinox to solstice, etc. The creator has a stale flash blob of a website that gives a taste of it. The whole thing would make a dandy teaching aid for explaining why we have seasons, the changes in visible constellations and planets, day/night balance, and so on. I think it gives a better feel for a year than a regular calendar. If any of you would like last year's to play with give me a shout. Current Music: Pentangle - In Time (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 21st, 2009
buddhagrrl	1:22p	dry Today I feel wiped out and incapable. I don't feel powerful r like I can do anything. Partly this is because of shivering throughout yesterday, too cold to do anything. Partly this is not sleeping well and not getting any exercise, too weak/tired to do anything. Partly, and this is important, this is dryness. Dry skin, dry lips, dry eyes, dry hands. I feel like my interface with the world is blocked. There is nothing but dryness between me and the world, and it's physically uncomfortable. I don't want to do or touch anything. That's today. Tomorrow we get a whole-house humidifier installed in line with our central air system. Meanwhile, off to drink more water, wash and moisturize my hands, and put on chapstick. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
stillking	1:17a	pneuma, n. breath of life; the spirit or soul; the material that sustains consciousness in a body My bourbon intake has easily tripled (if not quadrupled) this past week. Pulled three pseudo-all-nighters in a row (not zero sleep, but close to it), and felt like I'd been beaten with sticks on that fourth day.  A cynic might observe my karma to be wildly fluctuating and in dire need of adjustment.  Early December saw my windshield wipers crap out during a snowstorm, my Rheem furnace locking up its internal pressure-switch (blowing cold air) every 12-to-24 hrs, a relative newcomer transferred into our department's principal (supervisor, thought-leader) position, precluding internal promotions.  Mid-December, by contrast, has been decent... a couple of promising job-situational conversations, numerous stints as technical advisor to important officer-types, several flattering "Sven, tell us what you think" and "We hadn't thought of that, but Sven will know the answer" deferential nods, possibly even a budding reputation as kingmaker and/or Mr. Spock man-behind-the-throne.  Important to hold onto these gratifying experiences, to sift back through them after the fact and consider commonalities. I am transitioning my systems from XP to Vista;  I re-established contact with an old highschool acquaintance (Lisa Miffit);  I am acquiring a new respect for my 'computer science' curricula of yore, the logistics and decomposition and abstract problem-solving, the stuff at the boiled-down core of the discipline.  Sven, piece together all the junk in your car and plot out an A-to-B-to-C course affording you a public restroom, a grocery stop, a chance to return that borrowed suitcase, and a spin past the single bank office that's open late.  Ginger, if Car X and Car Y drive north independently, they can exploit parallelism, one stopping in Chelmsford while the other overshoots, hits Nashua, then returns to switch drivers and make a dealership drop-off.  Classmates, if we copy all the known variables onto five pieces of paper, each representing a house in the hypothetical neighborhood, we can cross out the impossible combinations one by one, like a logic-puzzle grid, and actually find a solution where our counterparts failed.  My school-nights-in-a-hotel contingency plan paid off during the wee hours of the Monday-morning commute when a trailer jackknifed on I-95, causing 2-hour delays.  I enjoy the sense of disaster foreseen and averted. And, since I skipped this year's Thanksgiving meditation, this is a good topic to highlight and cherish -- the capacity to actualize one's will, to make something one's own, throw money at a problem, up and decide "We're going to the Caribbean next month," endure a long painful slog, propelled by the certainty that It Will Be Okay, that This Will Pay Dividends Later On.  If this is 'Power', then my 'Power' has never been greater at any other juncture in my life.  I am grateful for what I have, for what I accomplish, and for what remaining peaks I might yet scale. Current Music: Yes -- Shock to the System (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
solipsistnation	8:56a	okay so Far be it from me to embrace as relentlessly geek-trendy a strip as xkcd, but, you know, here you go: EDITED TO ADD: Holy crap no! I just thought it was funny! (11 Comments |Comment on this)
invader_haywire	9:55a	Made Italian White Cookies yesterday I still have to glaze them, but the main cookie is finished. The cookies are good, perfect size, well cooked, it is just missing... SOMETHING. I did something wrong and I am not sure what, the taste is not what they should be. I followed the recipe I was given, but I think I may have put in either not enough eggs (because I used large not jumbo) or maybe I added an extra cup of flour without realizing it? But really I did not like the main taste part of the recipe. It called for only lemon extract. An online recipe I saw had 50/50 lemon and anise. I am thinking it should be more 50/25/25 lemon/anise/vanilla. May want to make a smaller 1/4 batch with this now that I know the ingredients list I have makes 60+ cookies (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
palegreyminion	10:16a	Wolfie I have lots of pictures that include Wolfie. You just can't see his face in any of them. This is the only picture I have of him that's not messed up in some way. I wish I could think of something more profound to say than "this sucks" and "we'll miss him". (11 Comments |Comment on this)
buddhagrrl	12:15a	it's not time for resolutions yet, but i already started As midnight approaches I'm trying to be smart and recognize my research efficiency will dramatically plummet in the coming minutes. Going to sleep with a somewhat clear head and waking up early to wrap things up (okay, by wrap up I mean spend several hours on, but still) is the smart plan, as I've learned through trial and error. Somehow I used to be able to pull all nighters. I bet I still could if research wasn't part of this, if I was just writing what I know based on some experiment I've already run. Research, though, requires all of my cognitive faculties be at least moderately available, if not at peak. Bed, then. In the morning I'll finish. In the afternoon I'll get job work done. In the early evening I'll grab something to eat. In the late evening I'll have my last class of the semester, finishing out my second to last course of this degree, and possibly second to last graduate course ever. Probably. Once I'm done thinking about work and school I will spare a thought for my friend and classmate who will miss this last session due to a major car accident and subsequent surgery. She's the best student I know, already done with this paper before the accident where her car rolled over several times, and out of honor and admiration for her I'm going to finish this damn paper before I let myself get distracted again. Dammit. Wednesday night I will seek indulgences as my semester reward. I will probably play WoW, with a new eye for detail, as it was my case study for this last paper on working memory. Thursday board meeting. Friday I better get some baking done! Though I suppose I can wait until Saturday morning - it just means I won't have much time to experiment. Sunday, if we haven't already, we'll find some lights to hang, and get back to the job of writing Thank You notes, which is just as challenging as everyone says. And maybe we'll find me some winter boots, just not at the mall. I will not forget to use my light box. I will not forget my thermal underwear. I will not forget to drink tea and coffee, especially tea. I will indulge in seasonally poor dietary choices but not in meal skipping. I will call my doctor if my bronchitis comes back. I will ask for help if I need it. I will respect my parents' emotional needs rather than writing them off as annoying. I will honor the dead. I will celebrate life. I will recognize negative emotions as empty of nature, not belonging to anything. I will make myself more available to myself, and then to the world. I will delight in making and sharing food. I will listen to music. I will contemplate the four reminders, the four immeasurables, and nature of experience. I will remember all of my vows. I will make kissy faces at my husband. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 14th, 2009
solipsistnation	8:50p	RIP, Captain Jack Nosing around., originally uploaded by solipsistnation. Captain Jack died last night after a very short illness. He pretty much stopped eating entirely on Saturday and wouldn't let himself be emergency-fed, even with just water. That usually means something is very very wrong, and sure enough, he was dead Sunday night, with evidence that more was wrong than we could see, even. He was a good little dude, and we'll miss him. His cronies keep looking around expectantly, too. They're pretty smart for critters with brains the size of a walnut. (16 Comments |Comment on this)
solipsistnation	9:32a	(Comment on this)