Drood's · friends

• Upcoming with the Gang: Team Seattle is off to Salem OR by way of Portland to join Devon Monk for mass signing at Escape Fiction in Salem [3240 Triangle Dr SE, Salem, OR 97302 (503) 588-5865] from Noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 18th. Come on by! We will have fun; and we always do our best to be clever and informative … or at the very least, entertaining.

• New Coilhouse is in production: And I, for one, could not be happier. It’s a damn fine publication — beautiful and smart, and fierce.

• Fifty States Pledge: My lovely buddy Trixie Bedlam (aka Sarah Sharp) has traveled to 36 out of 50 states so far this year. You can see some of her photos from the road in this flickr collection. Now she has 14 states left, and two of them - Alaska and Hawaii - are hard to get to! She’d like to be able to take the rest of them out in a single trip, and she’s looking for sponsors. Check out the link, check out her pictures. See if you’re not interested in helping (she’s really marvelously good).

• More Bling: If you’re a fan of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series, or of Psynde’s bling in general, now’s a good time to get grabby. The themed stuff is sometimes selling out before it even hits the site. (Because it’s just that awesome, that’s why.)

• Clockwork Thanks: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who’s helped spread the word about my new site and the Boneshaker prologue/introduction. Seriously. I can’t thank you enough. Word of mouth is virtually impossible to buy, which makes you people priceless — and I appreciate every single link. [:: sends everyone virtual cheek smooches ::]
  

Some researchers have proposed that the sharp rise in asthma and allergy cases over the past century stems, unexpectedly, from living too clean. The idea is that routine exposure to harmless microorganisms in the environment—soil bacteria, for instance—trains our immune systems to ignore benign molecules like pollen or the dandruff on a neighbor’s dog. Taking this “hygiene hypothesis” in an even more surprising direction, recent studies indicate that treatment with a specific soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, may be able to alleviate depression. For example, lung cancer patients who were injected with killed M. vaccae reported better quality of life and less nausea and pain. Now a team of neuroscientists and immunologists may have figured out why this works. The bacteria, when injected into mice, activate a set of serotonin-releasing neurons in the brain—the same nerves targeted by Prozac.

My friend Dusty called to ask a favor: he has bought a car, having been without for some time, and needed a ride to Airway Heights to the licensing office. Having just been there with Kevin, I knew right where to go. Afterward he came and hung out a bit and saw the house for the first time. He said it suits me, which was very pleasing.

Gave him a ride home and stopped by jefu and hippybear's house to say hi, after a good dinner: we went to the Chinese buffet.

I know, I know. Yeccchh. But it was GOOD. The pans looked a little bedraggled, but that is because they hardly put any food in them -- they continually cook small batches of a couple dozen dishes, all of which were way tasty. Good sesame chicken, yummy veggie lo mein, sesame balls with bean paste inside, REALLY fine string beans, perfectly crisp and flavorful, wrinkled from the wok, not from age. Delicious tiny Manila clams, perfectly steamed with no intrusive flavors over the sweet marine taste. Yummy fried meat dumplings with a fine strong ginger sauce. Good fried rice with no sugar or soy sauce, Allah be praised. Crispy chewy spicy sweet Mongolian beef. Kevin had ripe juicy cherries and some salad. It was a marvelously satisfying meal.

And now the All-Star game is on, yay! The president looked great; he's very telegenic.

Current Mood:

full

• the opportunity to get new perspective on adoption recruitment & how to find families for available children


• being reminded how short and unpredictable life is and that being present for it is important


• recognizing when i need to take some space for me


• recognizing when i need to ask for feedback


• having the opportunity to do both today, and the opportunity to apologize for not handling those opportunities with the most grace at the time


• leftovers that tasted just as good the 2nd time around


• knowing that you're not alone.

Yes, I am a rabid fan of his. And more so every day.

I hate hate hate that he has gay rights so far down his priority list. But outside of that really ugly blemish, he's just amazing to me. I trust that he will get to work on making that blemish disappear and soon.

Current Mood:

impressed

What do you wish for, with no thought for what you "should" want?

I think it's interesting to see how what was once white, clean Bauhaus architecture is now a decaying, crumbling grey mass.
( <img src= )

I decided to make two desserts for my birthday party. I made tiramisu, of which I have no pictures, and cupcakes! Stacy found the instructions how to make cheeseburger cupcakes on flickr. I didn’t think they turned out well but people seemed to assume they were sliders instead of cupcakes which is a success.

Originally published at TheCHANTIKI. Please leave any comments there.

Not that they are exactly common in other populations (leaving aside the People Who Have Green Eyes group, which have a high percentage of members with green eyes).

[Added in a hurry]

That turns out to be something you shouldn't google for images of if you are at work.

They refunded my support services contract after series of missteps. The thing that got me, is the way they tried to cover up, pass the buck, change the subject or otherwise avoid the issues from 5 different people, at three levels in the chain, on two separate support tickets. While mistakes can happen, it seemed to me that their corporate policy and company culture was to provide null service--but with a smile.

But they did the right thing in refunding my money without too much of a fight. So I've got to acknowledge that too.

I also must admit that Ubuntu the OS itself is pretty much alright except on those occasions when it's not.

The sad, but perhaps inevitable, news came today that Pages, one of Toronto's most-loved bookstores, will indeed be closing its doors on August 31st. Efforts by owner Marc Glassman to maintain the viability of his business amid "skyrocketing rents" on Queen West have ultimately hit a brick wall in the form of lease-cycle that's finally run its course.

As previously reported, a six month extension worked out with Pinedale Properties in February was occasion for cautious hope, but the discrepancy between what Glassman can afford to pay and what Pinedale believes it can charge is simply too wide. A fixture for artists, intellectuals and book lovers coming on 30 years, the store will be sorely missed.

I caught up with Marc by phone earlier today to commiserate and ask about what he hopes the future might hold for him and his store

Although he's already been actively searching for a new location to house Pages for about two years now, I was curious to know how long he's inclined to keep searching should he not find an appropriate space before the August 31st closing date.

Hesitant to give me a drop-dead date on a search, Marc instead explained that beyond just finding a new location, it's become both necessary and desirable to rethink the store from the ground up. In the age of the Kindle and eBooks, it's his belief that the independent bookstore will have a better chance to thrive if it's operated as something of a split between a retail venture and an event-space. (Perhaps something like powerHouse Books?)

[. . .]

While the importance of the materiality of books will certainly continue to fade, it's unlikely to completely disappear. There's plenty out there who'll continue to treasure the beauty of the book as an object. Indeed, I'd count myself one of these people. But to rely solely on this form of business is, given the current situation at Pages, hardly prudent.

The Czech Republic's ambassador to Canada will fly out of the country this afternoon partly in protest and partly to plot his country's reaction to new visa restrictions on Czech visitors to Canada, the embassy in Ottawa says.

Ambassador Karel Zebrakovsky will be leaving less than 24 hours after Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the federal government will attempt to stop what it sees as an unacceptable number of refugee claimants from both the Czech Republic and Mexico, with new visa requirements that go into effect at midnight tomorrow.

In Prague, where Canada thinks thousands of the Roma minority have been launching fraudulent refugee claims, the reaction was fierce.

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer branded the restrictions a "unilateral and unfriendly step." He was speaking after an emergency government meeting to discuss the new visa requirements, Reuters reported.

[. . .]

In retaliation, the Czech government will require Canadian diplomats and civil servants to obtain visas before entering the country on official business, he said. But Prague is powerless to place visa requirements on all Canadian visitors to the country because it is a member of the European Union and must harmonize immigration policies with all of the 27 member countries.

Czech diplomats will also begin raising the Canadian visa problems with the European Commission in a bid to reach a mutually agreeable resolution.

[. . .]

The restrictions on Mexican visitors to Canada could have even greater economic ramifications.

Mexican asylum claims make up one quarter of all applications that Canada receives, the government says. But tourism and business trips from that country to Canada have also been on the rise.

The tourism industry is urging the federal government to delay the visa requirement for Mexican visitors until Nov. 15.

A group of hotels, restaurants and tour operators from Ontario and Quebec that rely on business with Mexico said the government's move came without advance warning and in the middle of a recession.

"This has blindsided our industry," Hume Rogers, general manager of Capital Hill Hotel and Suites, told reporters in Ottawa.

Carlo Dade, executive director of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, said the government's decision didn't offer any exceptions for the growing number of Mexican business travellers, or the possibility of a program to pre-clear frequent visitors such as that which Canada has with the U.S.