Emma and I went to Dad’s house Saturday to help him finish sorting through all the piles of stuff left from 40 years of living in the same house. I have a scarey collection of old photos now (grin) my original birth certificate (with footprints!), and tons of old books and things .
04 Motorcycle Show Event Schedule
Maryland Classic Motorcycle Day May 23, 2004 Butler’s orchard, Germantown, MD.
Triumph Come Home Rallye June 11th, 12th, & 13th, 2004, Spring Grove, PA –
VA British Motorcycle Club Rallye October 3rd 2004 – Leesburg, VA
Backwards Legislature – HB 751 interfers with OUR Family!
Okay, its bad enough that the economy is taking hits all around, and good jobs are being “outsourced” to India and who knows where … and the Virginia legislature certainly has enough “real work” to pay attention to, rather than to keep on kicking this mean-spirited dog of a Bill into law …
TV Room, Bonde found!
Click to enlarge
Emma made the calls and got the folks at IKEA customer service to locate and ship the long-missing parts for the Beech Bonde shelf system. We got a call Weds that the parts had arrived, so i went by the Woodbridge store after work Thursday and picked up all the extra shelves and such. I made time this weekend and got all the pieces screwed together, and even got most of our CD collection rearranged and sorted out.
No, it was NOT sorted in “chronological order” and, yes, I HAVE seen High Fidelity!
Gospel According to Thomas
In January I wrote about reading Gnosticsm, various sacred writings that were removed from the bible around the 3rd century. I had been particularly intrigued by the Gospel of Thomas as it had a (to me) very Eastern feel.
While reading another blog this morning I ran across a link to Mystic Cowboy weblog, and in reading the archives there, I found a complete version of
the “Scholars’ Translation of the Gospel of Thomas
66. Jesus said, “Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the keystone.”
90. Jesus said, “Come to me, for my yoke is comfortable and my lordship is gentle, and you will find rest for yourselves.”
Macs’ll make you crazy!
Pretty funny Shockwave movie based on the Mac Switcher ads
(use headphones – not office safe ….)
Video found via Jerry Pournell’s Chaos manor site
IKEA – Bonde discontinued?
Click to enlarge
The media-room project so far – the dark wood “rack” with the lamp on it is an old Teak stereo rack unit from Scan that will go away – visualize the room with the CD shelf flanked by a pair of narrow shelf units.
Its been a while since I posted an update to the Media Room Redecorating we began around Thanksgiving. I painted the room last fall, after I built a “light box” just below the ceiling on 3 walls and put the “light rope” into it. That gives the room a very nice glow from above (I’m a big fan of indirect lighting) and is especially nice in a room like this which is designed for watching TV and listening to music. Part of the plan was to get rid of the old Sauder shelves that held videotapes and cds and replace them with a more Danish/Scandinavian style display system. We looked around and decided that we really like the Bonde shelf system from Ikea – but only in the Beech finish. Its available in Birch, but that was a very pale wood, and the white finish was too artificial for us.
We are fortunate to have 2 IKEA stores in the area, one is a bit south of DC in Woodbridge VA, one is just north of DC in College Park. There is even another north of Baltimore in White Marsh, MD, but thats further than I want to go!
Gay Marriage – not so new!
Funny that Reverend Troy Perry has gotten so little copy in the last couple of months. And I have seen nothing in the press about Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) … Rev Troy Perry started the church a year before Stonewall, back in 1968 and its grown to 300 churches in 22 countries. This church was an outreach by and for the queer community (GLBT). They did not require folks to deny who they are (like the ex-gay “ministries”) and are not a afterthought as some of the recent “welcoming” churches are. At an MCC you and your partner can worship together as a couple, take communion together (At MCC, God’s table is always open), and take blessings together. Different MCCs have a bit different flavor depending on the community, who is the pastor, and what the faith-journey is for the congregants.
Reverend Troy Perry of MCC has been working towards gay marriage since 1969!. The article linked mentions Rev Perry’s lawsuit in California in the early 70s, and various actions since then, including the Mass Marriages during the Millenium March on Washington. Gay folks who want church weddings would do well to connect with their local MCC. Could be a great place to do some activism from …
Civil Union is NOT Equal to a Marriage!!
My partner and I are currently preparing to spend nearly $700 in legal fees for legal papers (in Virginia) that will allow us Medical Power of Attorney, Financial Power of Attorney, and creating our Wills. Those 6 documents (3 each) only give us a very slight bit of what would be conveyed in a marriage.
Of course, we are also looking into a trip to Massachusetts in May – its just a shame we’d have to rush it and have it done away from home where our friends and family could not attend.
(Just because you CAN have a Las Vegas type marriage doesn’t mean you want one …)
This was originally a comment to a posting on Caitlin’s Blog (now, sadly offline)
Marines get the Weirding Way
This sounds too much like The Voice – part of the Weirding Way skills of the Bene Gesserit … The article refers to tightly focussed sound above the pain threshold used to warn and then scatter opposing forces …
LRAD is a breakthrough long-range hailing and warning, directed acoustic device that is designed to determine intent, change behavior, and support various rules of engagement. With LRAD, a sentry can issue a focused verbal challenge with instructions in excess of 300 hundred yards, and follow up with a warning tone to cause behavior change. Recorded messages can be selected and delivered over LRAD in multiple languages.