Nothing funny about feldspar » Mundanity

My how time … drags on

Orthoclase — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:05:04 +0000

Here it is, the middle of July 2010, and I am finally getting to the point of doing something with the stuff we’ve accumulated in the house and the storage bin. The piles have been growing since we moved here (1997) — it’s the largest house we’ve owned — then they really took off when Plagioclase’s mother moved in (2004) and we became just completely crammed in as I cleaned out my mother’s house (2007). But until now, I wasn’t really seeing the stuff — it was just like a painted wall to me. Ok a 3D wall in a series of really small rooms, but the point is it became background.

Of course now the problem is figuring out what to do with it all. Some of it is just trash or recyclables (funny how cans of paint seem to accumulate). However, most of it is stuff that was already slated to be sold somehow. But how? eBay is too slow and too annoying. A local auction would be unlikely to generate much. A garage sale is an awful lot of work, requiring much advance planning and pricing and cleaning of the garage (part of the problem). Plagioclase suggested we set up a single table every week, and say “Come back next week, we’ll have new stuff!”

Then there’s the possibility of actually using some of this stuff, especially the vintage items, for movies. Well, stock videos, at least, since a friend of mine makes them. NO! STOP IT! I am really going to get rid of it… eventually.

*sigh*

The context-dependent iPad review

Orthoclase — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:06:02 +0000

The Clase household loves it. All the “bad” stuff you’ve read is true, except we haven’t had any WiFi issues with it. All of the “good” stuff is also true. This is regardless of what you think of as “good” and “bad”. Most of the factual stuff is just that. This is one of those gadgets where you will just have to make up your own mind about what “good” and “bad” means.

The best part for me is that Plagioclase’s mother has willingly and of her own volition picked it up and started using it. (Scrabble was the wedge.) This is akin to your cat, who has always feared vacuum cleaners, running up to you one day and asking to be vacuumed.

This is not to say the device is perfect. I, like everyone, wish it were cheaper & lighter & easier to do x (for some values of x) on it. But you know what? That doesn’t mean I’m going to send it back.

There are times

Orthoclase — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:41:52 +0000

when you just want to scream. There are other times when you realize that it doesn’t really matter what you do — the universe is so very big and you are so very small.

two-zero-one-zero

Orthoclase — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:40:56 +0000

Despite my bit of melancholy, I had a good first day to the new year. I don’t make resolutions, but I am attempting to modify how I react to stuff that happens during the day.

I think it helps that I have a project in a completely new (for me) area, with people who come from a completely different background. It’s like going on a cultural anthropology trip in my own back yard.

If the rest of the year works out like the first day, I think it could be a very good year.

“Made it another year”

Orthoclase — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:12:31 +0000

That’s the last thing I ever said to my father, four years ago today. I think I’ve finally gotten beyond resenting him in his final illness to just missing him. I prefer it, this missing, but I wish I wasn’t crying.