This manuscript is largely unfinished.

drowsypassenger @ 2007-02-07T20:41:00

2007-02-08T01:52:40Z

I think my car could just make it to Mexico. We'll ditch it there somewhere -- park it on the street outside a bank with a cardboard sign that says, "Back in Ten Minutes" in magic marker, the engine idling.

I'll sell mangoes with chili powder and you'll learn to eat fire. We'll set up a little webpage to arrange swaps of iPods, customer appreciation cards, Amazon wishlists for paranoiac webheads who're tired of everything that doesn't forget. Who just want a rest and a breath.

Don't tell. Please, don't tell. Not even your Health Coach, especially not your Health Coach. I promise, we'll be happy there, finally beyond the reach of the ShopRites and Meijers.

drowsypassenger @ 2007-01-29T23:44:00

2007-01-30T03:44:07Z

I should be in bed because I'm exhausted and was up to all hours last night worrying about bird flu, but I'm really energized by the desire to write a manifesto on new media. I haven't hit on the right structure or tone, yet, and I'm probably too tired to do it justice tonight. I'll just jot down some notes and hope my zeal holds out until tomorrow.

Hold me accountable LJ!!!

Overheard in the laundry room

2007-01-28T18:31:11Z

“...her brother-in-law is in the hospital. Well, at first, they thought it was just pneumonia, but now they think he may have The Bird-Flu. Well, I said, (talking over the agitator) WAS HE INSPECTING THAT CHICKEN FARM BEFORE CHRISTMAS, OR AFTER CHRISTMAS, BECAUSE I DON'T WANT...”

The depths of my depravity

2007-01-17T03:33:42Z

As you might imagine, 90% of my work in network security is policing the
facilities for beverages drunk perilously close to computers -- a serious risk
to network integrity. And so it was from perched high atop this moral, uh, ground
that I managed to drench my desk and keyboard with my orange juice this
evening.

And somehow, between the cup and the desktop, it managed to expand from a few
sips to a metric buttload. It was probably the sucralose.

I call that science.

As you might guess from the pictures, the other 10% of my time can be broken
down as follows:

1. Recommending old-school IBM keyboards for their lovely clicky-clack, their
modularity and the ease of cleaning it allows, and the analog
resistance provided by the buckling spring mechanism (which Dr. Sean -- my other job --
suspects can stave off carpal tunnel) (9%)

2. Perspiration (1%)

drowsypassenger @ 2007-01-04T01:18:00

2007-01-04T05:18:12Z

Ahh, Midnight... these dates between you and I never go as we planned. No escapades in abandoned buildings, witness to dark compacts. No jet-set romance or whimsical caprice in the unfettered dark. Just one of us in tattered underwear before a second-hand laptop while the other ticks past, accepting, dignified. But this relationship is ours, chum, and we enjoy the familiarity.

All packed, except for what I'm forgetting, ready to fly out in the morning. Yay! And I managed to keep my apartment clean in the process... double yay!

Annie, here I come!

I don't make resolutions...

2007-01-03T15:55:44Z

...I make spreadsheets. If there's one thing I took away from my time among actuaries in Houston, it's a deep and abiding appreciation of vlookup. Anyway, with weekly schedule and monthly budget complete, apartment clean, I'm poised to have my most organized and productive year yet. Roughly the same goals I've been mulling and fretting over the past few years, but I'm sticking with them because I think they're winners.

I find I don't have much trouble sticking to a budget, once I've created it. I already broke my schedule last night, staying up until midnight to make the budget. We'll just call that an outlier. Or maybe de minimis. I learned that from the actuaries, too.

<EDIT 01/03/07:12:04PM> I should mention, because I meant to but forgot, because I'm tired, that Annie was absolutely invaluable in helping me get organized -- particularly talking me through my goals and precipitating some concrete objectives to get onto the schedule. Love!</EDIT>

drowsypassenger @ 2007-01-01T02:44:00

2007-01-01T06:44:40Z

The phone rang, and I looked up from my movie. It was midnight, New Year's Day, my darling calling from Independence, WI on her uncle's cell to kiss me as the clock struck 12 EST. And at that very moment, the sky outside my window erupted into a flush of red, as the fireworks began.

I didn't purposely choose this studio on the 13th floor -- it was the only one left -- but as 20, 30 different local fireworks puffed up and over the horizon, I was glad I ended up here. I'm not a tremendous fireworks enthusiast, but everywhere I turned, all I could see was cityscape bathed in exothermia. Such an orderly little distribution, like when the bridges are blown or the sewers catch fire in a movie -- first the Philadelphia fireworks show enormous to the far left, then Collingswood, Camden, local amateurs with flareguns and illegal rockets, all diminishing out into smaller town shows to the north.

I couldn't stop grinning as Annie and I talked and smooched into the phone, conspirators.

A chance for folks to meet

2006-12-15T20:19:21Z

I may have a little man-crush on A Softer World's Joey Comeau... and this blog entry ~~solidifies~~supports that likelihood. I remember practicing those moves myself as a kid, only I could never get it to look quite right, I assume for the lack of a trench coat.

I usually say that it doesn't feel like Christmas until I hear the Bowie and Bing Crosby duet, but this is definitely close enough.

drowsypassenger @ 2006-11-03T00:26:00

2006-11-03T04:26:31Z

1055 down, 48,945 to go. Still way behind pace, but well ahead of previous efforts.

I should confess that about 300 of those words were already written, but I won't. (It's okay, I know you'll keep my secret.) Instead, I'll just tack on an extra 300 at the end, if I make it.

drowsypassenger @ 2006-09-26T12:14:00

2006-09-26T16:21:17Z

As the good Rev. proposed:

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Short order cook
2. Pizza chef
3 Intern for MSU's Media and Entertainment Technology Lab
4. Resident Assistant

Four movies you would watch over and over --
1. Zero Effect
2. The Hudsucker Proxy
3. Clive Barker's Nightbreed
4. The Searchers

Four places you have lived:
1. Clifton Heights, PA
2. East Lansing, MI
3. Houston, TX
4. Philadelphia, PA

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Fraggle Rock
2. The Adventures of Pete and Pete
3. The West Wing
4. Deep Space Nine

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Boston, MA
2. Stratford, Ontario Canada
3. Orlando, FL
4. Chicago, IL

Four of my favorite foods:
1. pizza (despite previous employment)
2. steamed blue-point crab
3. cream dried beef
4. nutty yam bake

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Anywhere with Annie
2. TX
3. TX with Annie (does that count?)
4. On my pony on a boat

Four friends I think will respond: (maybe???)
1. rev-swiftbright
2. newtdaydreamer
3. mrmonadahl
4. mermaid7

Additional categories stolen from laurafedora, via rev-swiftbright:

Four books I could read over and over again:
1. Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
4. A Series of Unfortunate Events

Four bands I could listen to all day:
1. The Old 97s
2. Tom Waits
3. Uncle Tupelo
4. Elvis Costello

Four classes I have taken:
1. Alternative Medicines
2. Roots, Reggae and Dubb Poetry
3. Social Dance
4. Introduction to Forensic Science

Four websites I visit regularly:
1. Language Log
2. Boing Boing
3. Questionable Content
4. Whispers in the Loggia

I reserve the right to edit in better answers at a later date.

drowsypassenger @ 2006-09-15T11:08:00

2006-09-15T15:07:05Z

As I mentioned earlier rumors of Br. Roger Schutz' conversion to Catholicism have been circulating for quite some time, fired by his reception of Communion at the funeral of John Paul II and his own Catholic funeral celebrated by Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. These were seemingly confirmed in a recent article * in Le Monde, which, based on interviews with historian Yves Chiron, claims Br. Roger converted to Catholicism in 1972 and maintained the secret to prevent discord in his ecumenical movement.

Taizé says not quite.

Reflections to follow.

*Unfortunately couldn't find this in English, so I'm working off the Catholic World News recap. Translations or links welcome.

drowsypassenger @ 2006-08-22T22:55:00

2006-08-23T03:09:10Z

So, I did finally doze off, but only after a week of frantic preparations, an absolutely beautiful and flawless, ecumenically welcoming wedding to my rocket-hot, brilliant wife, a madcap sprint through Disneyland, and a 3-day drive through the most beautiful scenery in the Northeast.

Of course, it was on the bus to my parents' house, and each time it happened, I woke with a terrified start, thinking I'd fallen asleep at the wheel. 980 miles of driving kinda gets you into a groove, I guess. But I wouldn't trade it at all. If not for just having more newlywed time with Annie to myself, then for the best porkchops in the world at Johnny's restaurant off the Shippensburg exit of 76 east. And the pie... oh, the pie!

For any who doubt -- there's pictures at the official website of Annie and Sean's marriage.

Also, visited my new apartment building in NJ today to sign the lease. Cruising through quiet, idyllic Haddon Township, I wouldn't have been worried about seeing Freddy's Dry Cleaners along the way, except that it was right next to the Crystal Lake Diner. !!!

drowsypassenger @ 2006-08-06T02:34:00

2006-08-06T06:37:30Z

Had I LJed it instead of merely saying it to myself, my declaration that "I'm getting married in 7 days and shan't sleep until I rest my head as a married man" would have seemed prescient, rather than merely convenient. And yet, I cannot blame the lateness of this post on this prophecy, self-fulfilling or not, but rather, on a large iced coffee with non-fat milk, at the dinner hour no less, which I drank to beat the heat into submission while waiting for some photos to develop. Now I'm stuck at my parents' home, immobilized with tiredness and somehow, still awake. Cannot even contemplate beds or couches at the moment for antsy-itchiness. Leaving the mainframe setup in the livingroom and heading back to my apartment to force some shut upon these eyes. Now that the bar is closed for the night, I will probably even find parking.

I suppose it's too late to call Annie again tonight. But not too early to call her this morning! Eh, probably that too. Instead I will think love at her brain, and she will receive it in a bizarre dream of fish and cartwheels.

Deja vu

2006-07-28T23:23:58Z

Unfortunately, I seem to have run entirely out of ~~laundry detergent~~ curry all of a sudden. Fortunately, ~~the trunk of my car~~ my living room carpet is the ~~cleanest~~ curriest it's ever been. Unfortunately...

drowsypassenger @ 2006-05-14T22:16:00

2006-05-15T02:18:41Z

Unfortunately, I seem to have run entirely out of laundry detergent all of a sudden. Fortunately, the trunk of my car is the cleanest it's ever been. Unfortunately...

I appreciated his sense of decorum

2006-04-29T04:47:45Z

A homeless man sleeping on a park bench outside the cathedral just complimented my tie, but only to cushion the blow that my shirttails coming out made me look like shit.

You know who else doesn't sell balls?

2006-04-21T13:29:15Z

Babies "R" Us. That's right. Because babies don't _like_ balls. Nope. They like $180 American Idol-themed iPod karaoke mobiles that play the complete works of Gilbert and Sullivan. And who wouldn't want a plush Simon Callow wearing an Apple iPatch proclaiming their little girl's singing flatter than the mattress of a Tokyo harlot to the tune of "They Call Me Buttercup?"

The Terrorists. That's who.

drowsypassenger @ 2006-03-06T19:28:00

2006-03-07T03:46:04Z

Had a great weekend with Annie this, uhm, weekend. Finally escaped the hellacious car inspection gauntlet midday Friday, with very little time (and money) to spare, as I'd planned on driving up to CT that evening. Drive was somewhat draining after a very long week, but uneventful. Careful music choice is imperative. Fiddling across the FM dial until WHYY and then WPRB are overcome by the collision of lower powered stations. I like Gillian Welch in New Jersey but Uncle Tupelo or the Old 97s in New York. Then, for an interminable 48 exits of I-95 in Connecticut, I'll take whatever I can get. I picked up radio preachers in Texas; I don't really care for, or even notice anymore, their theology, but there's a certainty in their voice, whatever they're saying, that can compel me through those last agonizing miles alone in the dark.

Which is a bit of a digression from my initial intent, to talk about the wonderful weekend I had with Annie this, uhm, weekend. Got in late Friday and we enjoyed some TV, then a wonderful night's sleep in a genuine bed... I could never admit it to her, but she's right that my Inflat-a-bed is no substitute. Ran some errands the next morning, made haste. Thanks to spring break, Annie's restaurant guide, and a liberal re-interpretation of the term "breakfast," we finally discovered the underground New Haven breakfast scene that had previously eluded us by hiding behind so many round-the-block lines and under such rubbery, cold eggs and starchy pancakes. Annie found us a little greasy spoon downtown, no bigger than a grill and a counter. Had the specialty: home-style bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and a buttered, fried glaze donut.

Ride back to Philly was made in record time -- Annie and I were chatting most of the way, so I kept pace with the cars around me, rather than obeying the speed limit. (Note to self: Contact legal about the admissibility of LJ in court.) Something altogether more pleasant about Annie's voice.

No theopolitical screed yet?! I'm losing my edge. And my caffeine buzz. Now for bed. Where'd I leave that bicycle pump?

Cutest quote ever!!!

2005-09-08T00:11:16Z

[redacted]

Day three

2005-08-27T02:40:29Z

I was looking for some fallout commentary on shared communion on several of the special interest (that is, polarized) Catholic news sites I frequent. I found it, of all places, on the Catholic News Service... the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops official news agency. And it is suprisingly generous to both sides of the debate.

My comments to follow.

Over, under, around and through...

2005-08-26T02:34:47Z

Well, I've calmed down considerably since last night. I think furor was a
result of my disappointment over the church's rather disingenuous, "Whoops!"
response to the situation at John Paul II's funeral. As if Ratzinger had never
met the man. The NYTimes story had really made my day... a visible leader of
the Catholic Church had acted courageously to express the spirit of Br. Roger's
mission, perhaps even with the approval of its supposedly hard-line pontiff,
and in doing so had given voice to a silent but, I suspect, large portion of
the Catholic faithful. Kasper had shown pastoral concern could override the
rigidity of canon law, in what was a beautiful expression of the mystery of the
Eucharist.

But then this ham-handed denial of the Br. Roger's reception of Communion -- it
cheapened the whole event. And there was that overpowering sense of another
shoe dangling precariously above, ready to blot out Kasper's actions as well.

After a little further research, maybe the Vatican isn't set on crushing
the joy and beauty out of these events. I can't seem to find any
explicit reference to a recent Vatican response to Br. Roger's Communion --
it's more likely that the Catholic News Service just dusted off Joaquin
Navarro-Valls' original response that it was likely a mix-up, which could
either have been an official statement, an off-the-cuff response, or something
crafted to allow Br. Roger the opportunity to respond for himself, if he had,
indeed, converted. And no swift justice visited upon Kasper, yet.

Still apprehensive about that other shoe... but I wonder if this all isn't an
indication of the kind of debate and dialogue we can expect from the upcoming
episcopal Synod on the Eucharist.

Ut Unum Sint

2005-08-25T04:22:54Z

The recent passing of Brother Roger Schutz, founder of the ecumenical Christian
Taize community, has rekindled interest in a the funeral of another Christian
figure -- John Paul II. Schutz, a Swiss Protestant had had a great supporter in John Paul, and was among the
honored at the very front of the congregation. As a non-Catholic, Schutz is
ostensibly ineligible to receive the Eucharist at a Catholic mass, as the Code
of Canon Law states in Canon 844:

§4. If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan
bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic
ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not
having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister
of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that
they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly
disposed.

But then, at the distribution of the sacrament, something unexpected happened
-- the chief celebrant, Joseph Ratzinger, walked to Brother Roger's wheel chair
and communed him.

At the time, rumours had been circulating that perhaps Schutz had converted to
Catholicism, which his recent Catholic funeral would seem to confirm*. There
was no firm response from Taize one way or another, though. Some felt the
event was a tacit admission of that conversion, others a gracious act of
ecumenical outreach. The kind of "concrete gesture" Ratzinger spoke of in his
first address as Pope Benedict XVI. It was quickly overshadowed by the
conclave that followed and the associated media blitz.

Which brings us to this week's funeral for Brother Roger. The service was a
Catholic funeral mass, which was apparently Schutz's wish, celebrated by
Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Chrisitan
Unity; that is, the ecumenical arm of the Catholic Church. But then, again,
came the distribution of the sacrament. And, again, with it... something
extraordinary. Something none of the religious press seemed to pick up on at
first, which I first read about in the New York Times. I was taken with their
wording:

Brother Roger Schutz pursued many ecumenical dreams in his long life, but in
death one of them came true: At a Eucharistic service celebrated Tuesday by a
Roman Catholic cardinal for Brother Roger, a Swiss Protestant, communion wafers
were given to the faithful indiscriminately, regardless of denomination.

It seems so appropriate, that these two seemingly miraculous events within the
Catholic Church would take place -- could only take place -- within the context
of Christianity's central mystery, Christ's miraculous sacrifice, the
Eucharist. As Bishop Stephen Blaire, chair of the USCCB's Committee for
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, recently said at the Evangelica Lutheran
Church in America's Churchwide Assembly, "Not only is communion in our Catholic
theology a sign of achieving of full communion, but it is also a means of
arriving at communion." Perhaps despite our best efforts to the contrary.

But now, from the Catholic News Agency, the official news source of the United
State Conference of Catholic Bishops, comes this blurb beneath a photo of
Ratzinger communing Schutz:

Brother Roger Schutz, a minister of the Swiss Reformed Church and founder of
the Taize community, receives Communion from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at Pope
John Paul II's funeral in St. Peter's Square April 8. Vatican officials said
that Brother Roger's reception of Communion was not foreseen and was the result
of him being seated in a group receiving Communion from Cardinal Ratzinger.
(CNS/Reuters)

My (predictable) reaction to follow tomorrow after some sleep. And maybe more pie.

* Canon 1183 §3. In the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals
can be granted to baptized persons who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church
or ecclesial community unless their intention is evidently to the contrary
and provided that their own minister is not available.

Something's stewing...

2005-08-25T02:30:20Z

... and if I can just push past how sleepy I am I might just write it up tonight. Let this journal entry hold me accountable -- if I don't follow through, you can all bug me about it later. But at this instant, I must stoke myself with cherry pie.

drowsypassenger @ 2005-08-03T21:03:00

2005-08-04T01:33:39Z

Due to my cowardly reluctance to discuss my personal life on LiveJournal, I'll be reflecting this evening instead on the trailer to the upcoming Johnny Cash biopic (hopefully not pronounced like myopic) Walk the Line starring Joaquin Phoenix (pronounced like it's spelled, obviously) and Reese Witherspoon. The trailer's been kicking around the net for the past week or so, I think, but I just got around to watching it tonight. And I have to say, I'm really impressed and convinced by what it shows of JP's performance. Not being very familiar with him, I was nervous about his portrayal of Cash, especially when I heard he'd be performing all the musical numbers himself, a feat even Jamie Foxx new better than to attempt. Cash's voice and mannerisms, like Ray Charles, are just too distinct. What this trailer shows -- what it would have to show for the movie to have any chance of success -- is that Joaquin Phoenix can really inhabit the presence and sound of the man in black.

As for Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, I'll reserve judgement for now. Is it just me, or does she manage a ridiculously fake, put-on accent every time she plays a southerner, despite being born in Lousiana and raised in Nashville?

It reminds me of something some reviewer once said about What's Love Got To Do With It. Something like, Angela Bassett looks nothing like Tina Turner and Larry "Cowboy Curtis" Fishburn looks nothing like Ike Turner, but when you put them together, they are Ike and Tina. It remains to be seen if the same can be said about Johnny and June.

¡For the love of Josh!

2005-08-03T02:05:59Z

Don't say I never did anything for you... now let's make with the friending.