our awesome future

someone on flickr thinks google will do this for us in 20 years

nearing stage 5: the EVERYBODY PANIC stage

Because I don't want to lose you as a reader, I won't go into all the maddening (and mindnumbingly repetitive instances of) problems I have had in renewing my passport this spring, in preparation for my departure to Peru on 23 June. For the sake of brevity, I will simply give you some highlights:

STAGE ONE: Naive Hope
- In which I submit a renewal app back in the beginning of March, having read that due to the new requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, it takes up to 10-12 weeks now to get this process done. The helpful web site provided, where you can check the status of your app, tells me that my app is still not in the system. (They are sorry though!) My check to the Dept. of State was indeed cashed, about six weeks ago.

STAGE TWO: Wonder
- In which I learn that the passport renewal folks won't even talk to you in person until you are 14 days or less from your departure. (If more, "Do not worry, please.") This makes it tough for people like me who are leaving tomorrow from home and not actually leaving the country until 23 June. Fortunately one does not need a passport (yet) for traveling to Bermuda by sea... or I'd be screwed.

STAGE THREE: Alienation, Paranoia
- In which I go into my local friendly post office to talk to a person, and I am given the phone number for the SF regional office, where apparently it used to be that one could make an appointment to expedite one's passport renewal/application. I try to call and reach a voicemail recording which instructs me to leave a message. At the tone, though, I hear: "This voice mailbox is full." So I call again and sneakily enter a different extension number to see if I can reach a human. This is the nutty part: I hear a recording that tells me I can call two numbers (877 and 900) that charge by the minute where I can get help. I am that desperate; I call the numbers. One is out of service, and the other gives me a recording that I should call a different number to meet people nationwide.

STAGE FOUR: Dismay, Resignation (?)
- In which I try again to call the main toll-free number and describe my situation, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it takes me a dozen or more calls to get past the recorded phone message that begins by asking me to stay on the line and ends by saying "Due to high call volume, your call cannot be answered at this time. Please call later." Finally I wake up at 6am to call and get through to some person who tells me that my passport is in stage 4 of 7 stages, the adjudication stage, which takes about a week. (I wipe the sweat off my brow to know that Joe Blow hasn't stolen my check in the mail and cashed it for his own purposes, and sold my passport to someone else.) The rep says I should call back after 8 June to see if I can get an "urgent expedite." I ask him if I can have the passport mailed someplace other than Sac, since I don't plan to be here, and he replies: "Well, I can put in a note." I respond that that would be nice... and give him a mailing address... and then he doesn't say anything that would lead me to think he got any kind of training whatsoever (I was expecting something like: "Is there anything else I can help you with" or even "that's all I can tell you" -- not that I was expecting anything like "sorry for the delay") -- he simply says "Bye!" Now, that's spooky and makes me think that the whole thing is a Big Joke On Me.

Except that (der) apparently I'm not the only one with problems, due to the recent changes:

From Seattle Times: Want a Passport? Be Prepared to Wait

From NYT: A Heightened Summer Rush for Passports

From NPR: Passport Backlog Blamed on New Requirements

I should have started this back in January, when FARK provided the heads-up:

[Interesting] New passport rules go into effect Tuesday. Terrorist threat level to be lowered. Just kidding, you aren't any safer

bad baby pie

I've never really liked pies. See? Even when I was little I could barely swallow them down.

But I just saw The Waitress, a funny and silly and sometimes-hokey movie that seemed sort of like a play and much like a fairytale (including the violent threats of a villain, the suggestion of magic, and a handsome prince)... and there were some tasty-looking pies in that movie. And of course, the warm feelings and complex domestic skills that are infused in great piemaking.

But the things I really liked about the movie: the crisp acting and sharp, loopy dialogue of the women actors; the names of the pies (for example, "naughty pumpkin pie" and "Old Joe's horny past pie"); and the sappy syrupy warm soft sweet love scene in the kitchen.

What can I say? I guess I'm just a sappy syrupy warm soft sweet-loving kinda gal...

Oh, but what I really, really, really, really, REALLY want to see now is the movie Once. It looks perfect.

my brother, the horror novelist

He has a blog, too: The Scary Parent.

In fact, he is a hoary old blogger by now!

Here's an early entry.

Don't blame me if you barf or scratch out your eyes!

Brains! And a bizarre, unscratchable itch

I can't wait to read The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, featured in this NYT review by Abigail Zuger.

You should read the linked piece simply to enjoy the reviewer's way with words (emphasis mine):

"Now sophisticated experimental techniques suggest the brain is more like a Disney-esque animated sea creature. Constantly oozing in various directions, it is apparently able to respond to injury with striking functional reorganization, and can at times actually think itself into a new anatomic configuration..."

Plus, Zuger uses the word "hoary" in her review. I don't know her but she is probably rad.

"Share Our Joy"

You are invited?

http://gwynnanddavesharetheirjoy.com/

(From the May 21 New Yorker)

flowering

cactus flower, originally uploaded by sammarin.

even the prickliest, driest things can become something pretty.

A coherent story to tell

I've been thinking about how we make sense of our own lives through storytelling since I read the May 22 NYT article by Benedict Carey, "This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It)" - which describes the work of narrative psychologists and explores the significance of "the life story that people themselves tell about who they are, and why."

Carey summarizes that studies by psychology researchers like Dan C. McAdams, author of The Redemptive Self, show:

"...strong correlations between the content of people’s current lives and the stories they tell... Those with mood problems have many good memories, but these scenes are usually tainted by some dark detail... A note of disappointment seems to close each narrative phrase. By contrast, so-called generative adults — those who score highly on tests measuring civic-mindedness, and who are likely to be energetic and involved — tend to see many of the events in their life in the reverse order, as linked by themes of redemption."

The article goes on to talk about personal life stories revealing the differences between study participants who attribute the troubling aspects of their lives to their own specific personalities, rather than to the events and/or environments around them - and the ones who consider those negative things external or separate from themselves, as things to be conquered/eliminated/risen above...

shawna's feet look like hershey kisses

pointy pointy, originally uploaded by sammarin.

popularity controversy

From today's Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento library staffers are circulating a petition of no-confidence in management, decrying what they view as a departure from amassing a rich research collection to pandering to the whims of the YouTube generation.

Librarians question administrators' selection of materials, which include six copies of Paris Hilton's 'Confessions of an Heiress' autobiography and 10 copies of the film 'Jackass 2.'

Oh, the library has those kinds of things?! Wow... those must be some hip administrators selecting that kind of stuff... I'm gonna go check them - OH. They are all checked out. With holds on them. Well I guess that not everybody must think having popular materials is such a bad thing after all.

sigh

I guess I'll just check out Moby Dick. It looks like there are at least eight copies of that on the shelf at the Central Library alone...

hammered down

This image caught my attention immediately when I read an article about the effects of increased access to various forms of media in China in Global-e, a new global studies journal provided through Open Journal Systems, which is part of the Public Knowledge Project.

'Nail house' is a Chinese slang term referring to the dwellings of people who refuse to move after receiving eviction notices from real estate developers or government officials. You can read about the fate of the Nail House in this BBC article.

Farewell, Spanky

Brett sent me this Denver Post article yesterday about the medieval business that's going down at the Denver Zoo (poor Spanky!). And then I saw a link on Fark this morning about schools cancelling visits to the zoo because of the incident.

I think, truly, the best thing about Fark is the one-line teasers Drew provides for each item. I clicked on the link because my iGoogle Fark feed read:

[Dumbass]: Elementary school cancels zoo trip over fear that children will eat plague-infected squirrels

Too many damn beavers ?!?!!

First of all, pardon the profanity, but I am trying to pat down my hackles as I type this.

I work in Sacramento, but the college is very close to Elk Grove, which is a suburb that has pretty much exploded in the past 10 years with little-boxes-made-of-tickytacky, and Linens-n-Things conveniently located across the street from Bed Bath & Beyond (so that you have your very important choice of which specialty bed/kitchen store you want to patronize) and a drive-through Starbucks on every corner, etc etc, you know the drill. So I was interested to read an article in the Sac Bee (see if you can access the link) about how Elk Grove plans to eradicate beavers.

People, why is it that we care so much about a couple of whales (article from SFGate) but when it comes to everyday critters like beavers building their inconvenient dams and messing up the workflow of human overpopulation and urban sprawl, we don't give a crap about anything but ourselves? Kill em. Dealing with the dams takes too much of our resources.

Nevermind the point that resident Tom Russell brings up, that "When beavers are left alone, they create new ecosystems and sanctuaries for 'quite a few species of fish, turtles, snakes, animals, birds and plants' without threatening humans or safety."

Grrrr...

pant pant

Image by Zoe Cormier at Zoetic.

more fantastical sea beasts

Check out this and other amazing images from as far down as four and a half miles below the surface of the sea...

They come from “The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss” (University of Chicago Press, 2007), by Claire Nouvian, a French journalist and film director (as reported by the NYT).

i'm not tired of the lolcats yet.

Fark might be, but Michael Agger of Slate gives us a slide show essay that explores the charm, complexity, and (dare I say it!) brilliance of this MEEM.

And just for yallz info, my favorite of the day is:
IM ON UR LAPTOP BLOIN UR MYND

Very! Important! Update!
(For those of you who don't read the comments)
Anne-Marie posted a link to the best lolcats I have ever seen:
BABUSHKA CATS ARE IN UR BOX, BEIN OLD WIMMENS

happy one-week anniversary!

My week-long experience of being a blogger (I made it through to my first anniversary - HOO-RAY!!) has been both excellent AND informative!

I celebrated my one-week anniversary with blogger by checking my StatCounter project for recent activity, and finding that someone in Maryland from the FAA (bot? naughty staffer on her lunch hour?) had visited my blog as a result of a google search of "evil.gov".

In all candor, my first thought was that my mom would tell me to remove the Onion posting as quickly as possible. But, Mom: That evil glowy-eyed goat is so cute! And I'm obviously already on the naughty list! The Onion must have lots more checks behind its name on the chalk board than I do...!!

Experienced bloggers out there probably will tell me that it has been proven that featuring humor (or criticism, ooh!) or even personal information has its obvious consequences, and that they've seen it all before. But I want to hear about it, then!

"worm lizards" and the like are messing things up, but beer makes it all better.

As NPR reports: "This month marks the 300th birthday of Carl Linnaeus, Sweden's beloved botanist who gave order to the plant and animal kingdoms." However, as the segment continues: "Modern science is complicating Linnaeus' ranking system. DNA analysis often shows that two organisms, thought to be distant relatives, are actually first cousins. There are now sub-orders, super-orders, even 'tribes.'"

See, for example, this "bloated earthworm" which scientists did not know how to rank until recent DNA testing showed them to be closely related to some of the most common lizards in Europe. All I know is... looks de-licious.

In other science news from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, all it takes for science to become interesting to adults is beer. The paper reports on Science on Tap, a monthly forum for people to learn about and discuss timely scientific issues while swilling microbrews. Recent and upcoming topics include: enzyme-level figures contrasting how men and women hold up under the unremitting stress of caring for a loved one, and the exchange of cells between mother and child during pregnancy.

Rock on, Seattle scientists! Sacramento, Davis... how about asking us out for a drink?

Gaaaaah!! ... Google Maps Mania!

I think I could spend the rest of my days exploring this blog.

There - if you don't know about it already, I've put its hex upon you too.

Enjoy your new addiction!

spidey 3: pros & cons

rad things about spiderman 3:

1. the crab-like movements of the molten black pleather goo
2. venom/topher's jaggedy yellow teeth
3. mj's waitress outfit

... and the best of all...

4. SANDMAN - everything about him including:

thomas haden church as flint marko, who served as the perfect comic character in his face, body, voice, movements, etc

the way in which his body comes into form at the testing ground

his head being temporarily ripped apart in a fiery explosion

crap things about spiderman 3:

1. james franco's beautiful face gets marred

... but the worst of the worst...

2. peter parker never says he is sorry for being such a butthole, even from before the molten black pleather goo! what a bum.

dark-to-light

my man brett is good at sharing online toys he knows i will enjoy, like this interactive webradio site...

curling inward

feeling a bit like the fern in this great photo by my e-friend in scotland, idleberry.

The pathos of Napoleon's penis

In this NYT op-ed piece about weird relics people collect, Judith Pascoe recommends that the poor object (which she compares to a "maltreated shoelace") should be returned to its body to rest in peace.

Pascoe also mentions in the article that "Mary Shelley [kept] her husband’s heart, dried to a powder, in her desk drawer." Awww!

maw haw haw

lolcats AND lolbrarians

teeming with lifeforms

BBC reports discovery of cool undersea Antarctic creatures. Made me think of Mara, my marine biology fiend.

linguistic curiosities

linguistic curiosities, originally uploaded by marmix.

here's a photo from heather in florida. i miss her.

whacked with a guinea pig

So in preparation for my studies in Peru this summer, I'm reading Along the Inca Road by Karin Muller. In the first chapter she visits a curandero who whacks her all over with a guinea pig to diagnose her ailments, and then she sees another medicine man who treats her by rubbing her all over with stinging nettles. Yowza.

I guess my experience of the book is similar to that of this Peace Corps Writers review, which states: "This is a book written by a tourist whose mission it was to write a book. I closed the book having learned little about The Inca Road or the people that now inhabit its environs. What I read was largely a travelogue filled with anecdotes of self inflicted adventure" (...though self inflicted adventure can sometimes be quite entertaining, it's true).

This review from Entertainment Weekly gave the book a "B" when it came out in 2000. (The notable part of that brief review, to me, is that seven years ago, the reviewer felt it necessary to put in parentheses what GPS stands for.)

ouch?

According to the Sac Bee, Sacramento ranks #3 for the highest number of dog bites to postal workers. But how many cities were included in the stats? And what's the source? Inquiring minds, you know?

Let me add that the Sacramento Bee is one of the news web sites that does NOT allow one to view articles without registration. I think that blows. I'd originally tried to link directly to the article about the dog bites, but when I revisited the link, I got a load of crap page about how I needed to register. Booo.

The full text is available at evil.gov

"This is a waste of taxpayer dollars to do work best left to the private sector. It's high time for the DOE to be absorbed into Homeland Security, where it belongs."

Excerpt from The Onion's Recent News article, Dept. Of Evil: 'All Of You Must Die'

And in Beijing...

"They seem to be having a honeymoon."

Now I'm a brilliant mistake

I have all the enthusiasm of a newbie blogger...

So I wanted to declare, while I sit in the bubble chair at Infusion, and pay attention to the music that's playing instead of focusing on my Spanish text:

There's not enough Elvis Costello currently in my life.

So, there's Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto and...

It's starting to get hard to keep up with all of the intriguing reasons to visit Brasil. Here's another quotidian example from my e-friend in Rio, Ana Valéria.

a house in my neighborhood

house, originally uploaded by sammarin.

Today seems like a good day to start a blog.

I was inspired last Friday by David Silver and Anne-Marie Deitering's presentations at the CCLI 2007 Spring Workshop to begin, no matter how small-scale, and to be consistent.

Today I created my 2007 summer reading list, which includes Rebecca Scott's first novel, Ghostwalk (Suspicious deaths! Alchemy! The plague!), I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter (Gödel! Escher! Bach!), and Colin Woodard's The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down (Pirates!).

Next Thursday, my summer vacation begins, and these will be my first delicious reads.