fine whine

n.i.m.b.y.

I've spent an hour or so* after dinner the last few nights pulling up dandelions. Every night I survey my work and know that I'll pull more up the night thereafter, but it still surprises me each day how many more of the yellow menace have reared their ugly buds. I can only hope I'm making something of a dent (after all I'm leaving a number of divots) in the total weed population, but so far each day seems to show as many flowers as the one before.

They're moving from west to east, or so it seems. The more mature, bigger and easier to spot plants are growing on one side of the yard, but all the tiny young plants on the other are just lying in wait to pop up this weekend, if not sooner.

Tonight, as I looked back out over my handiwork, I noticed that the neighbors behind us have a veritable dandelion field going, with no maintenance in sight. It does not bode well for our yard once all those flowers go to seed.

I think I'm going to need to recruit some more rabbits.

* The time is approximate, as the albums to which I'm listening vary in length.

working walking

This entry was posted from my treadmill*.

It was only a matter of time before I'd do something like this. I've played PS2 games on the treadmill, I've read books and watched movies, and now, I've been online... at three miles per hour. The board isn't quite the right size, and I couldn't find matching clamps, but for a first attempt it was entirely adequate.

* Of course the photo was not. While I considered setting up the tripod and a timer shot, the fact that I was walking in boxers ruled out any photo featuring me. And I'd probably block some of the view of my fantastic workmanship.

I done a baaaad thing.

Originally uploaded by mikelietz.

Here's what a flash of inspiration, an hour of perspiration, a third of a roll of masking tape, some black paint and a white t-shirt can make. I assembled all of the materials last night, and here's what it turned out being.

If you don't know what it is, I'm not telling. Yet.

(Incidently I'm trying out this new-fangled flickr automatic-posting thing. Overall, I'm still not sure what to think of it.)

Well, I haven't gotten any better at posting here in a timely fashion. For that, I blame society.

No, that's not enough. I blame nature. Something this summer, whether it be humidity or poison ivy, has left a small rash on my left wrist. To spare you any more nasty details (it gets itchy when it's sweaty) I'll just say that I've been wearing a pocketwatch for almost the last month. Naturally, this has improved my wrist immensely, but its effects have yet to be fully explored. No longer able to just glance at my wrist to see the local time in convenient digital form, I must now reach into my pocket, press a button, and do the mental tricks to change the hands to the time. This is, of course, a task that any third grader can do but darnit I'm not in third grade anymore.

I'm getting off track here.

I'd like to use my pocketwatching as an excuse for why these updates appear up to a week late. Can I? Only you can decide.

In an unrelated note, I scored big at the resale shop today. I tell Jessica (truthfully) that I don't like going there, but occasionally when I do I find something great (e.g. the monkey). Perhaps it is because I go less frequently... Anyway, this time I stumbled upon on of those classic LED watches that were so briefly popular about three decades ago. I have a couple (well, four if you count my Fossil 2002 knockoff) of them but none work well. I saw, for the pittance of two dollars, a bright shiny stainless steel one in the case today. Naturally I gambled, and six dollars of batteries later, it works! Not only does it tell the time (when the button is pushed) it also can tell the seconds, the date, and even the day of the week. This is the pinnacle of LED watch sophistication, I think. My Fossil doesn't even do the day of the week, after all!

I wasn't able to get a good shot of it showing the time, but I assure you it's quite readable indoors. I haven't tried it out in sunlight yet. Here, take a look.

Last night Jessica and I watched Heaven, directed by Tom Tykwer, written by Krzysztof Kieslowski, produced by one of the Weinbergs and Anthony Minghella, starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi. I was impressed, and Jessica fell asleep. I'd normally be watching, rather listening, to the commentary track right now except that I checked out Red dwarf series one from the library and I'm catching up on that instead. It's funny, but Heaven had some amazing moments. I was really impressed by Cate Blanchett's acting, and struck also by how much Giovanni Ribisi's growing up. He looks, well, grown up, but not in a Fred Savage sort of way.

And speaking of growing up, I've got a new toy.

So yeah, the film was good. The aerial shots were amazing, and only afterward did I understand (or at least theorize) that they had something to do with the heavens and whatnot.

And in the DVD features there were some badly done trailers for Krzysztof Kieslowski's three colors trilogy, and I must admit they look tempting.