a geek and his life
Archive for July, 2005
under the weather, egg under water
02869 days
in life
blue laid one more egg, bringing the total to 4. it was in the water dish, this time. it had a little dimple cracked into it. i wonder how these animals ever manage to reproduce, the way they handle their potential young. he’s been chomping pieces off of his cuttlebone. that’s supposed to be a good sign: means he’s replacing lost calcium from the egg shells. i moved him over to a processed/pelletized diet a few months ago, worried about his nutrition. that was the only other suggestion that cockatiel.org had for egg laying diet. i guess i’ll just wait and see, they also say 3 to 6 eggs is normal.
i spent the weekend intentionally undistracted. i’ve obviously got alot to think through and wanted to avoid keeping myself busy. i cleaned up the apartment, a little. it’s looking more reasonable, but still pretty cardboard-ridden.
i did move my micro-atx motherboard into a full-sized case (antec sonata), to support a dual dvi-d out video card (nvidia 6800GT fabbed by xfx). it’s now feeding my dell 2005FPW (in “portrait” orientation) and my new 2405FPW (in “landscape”). highly highly recommended. “ultramon” is an indispensible app for dual-head machines. i’ll take some pictures and post a review of all the parts, including software, later.
i felt foul this morning. digestive stuff; ew. stayed home and spent most of the day relaxing, save a conference call and a pile of mail i replied to.
two eggs, scrambled
12872 days
in life
blue laid another two eggs, both of them from his perch. i saw them down in the bottom of the cage, all broken and scattered. i removed the first one from his food dish and he (yes, i’m going to continue using that pronoun) seems to be ok with it. my camera arrived the other night (canon 20d, more later); picture of the egg in a 35mm film canister cap, for scale.
didn’t sleep well last night and made a mad rush to work when i didn’t wake up until late. positive point about new apartment? i can be at work ~20 minutes after i wake up, including shower and coffee.
let’s do it, let’s lay an egg
02874 days
in life
my bird, an african grey cockatiel named blue (he’s yellow), has been with me for 8 years. nicole and i always assumed he was a boy. i think the differentiating feature is the color of the skin/bone/whatever around their nose holes.
today, i have definitive proof that he is female. there’s an egg in his food bowl. it’s slightly oblong and smaller around than a nickel. it appears to have drops of some kind of light watery fluid on it. blue was intermittently sitting on it and looking at it.
what do i do with this egg? i guess i’ll have to throw it away when i change his food. i was on my way to change his (i’m still going to use male pronouns) food this morning when i found it.. i think he has enough to sit with/on it for awhile. cockatiel.org suggests letting him have it for a week or two. they also suggest reducing the amount of light he gets. i can’t do that. this apartment is too light. plus, he loves the filtered sunlight.
i ordered a digital slr and it’s supposed to be delivered, today. maybe i can take pictures, tonight.
i had some pretty crazy vivid dreams last night. i was waking up and recounting one of them and my phone rang. one of my friends (actually, capital f friends) whom i reconnected with this last weekend, after 9 or 10, called at that moment. she had a crazy dream and wanted to tell me about it. is it something in the water? i think english needs more acronyms. let’s start with stst, meaning: “same thought, same time”.
i looked up the palo alto monthly meeting. i think i’ll go this weekend. the following weekend, i’ll be in idaho falls w/my kids (yay!) and will likely go to catholic mass. 7 or 8 years ago, i realized that i have the same centered, peaceful feeling after mass that i have after a quaker meeting. it surprised me, given how differently i’d spent the hour.
people read this
12874 days
in life
i’ve been told my a number of people that they look for new updates; that they want to know what’s going on in my life. this is a quick rundown on the major events in my life over the past few months and some general info.
i’m divorced. my wife of 8 years and 2 children have relocated to idaho falls, idaho. the divorce settlement was done through mediation and was mostly civil, despite how tough it was. i plan on traveling to see them often until we can be in the same geographical location, again. yes, i miss my kids.
i’ve moved to mountain view, ca. i found a very reasonable 1 bedroom apartment in downtown mountain view. i’m a handful of blocks from 10-15 pretty good restaurants and coffee shops. i have a (supposedly) good sushi place and a middle eastern market at the end of my street. my apartment is still filled with boxes and i’ve lost the initial motivation to get everything unpacked.
i’m still working at microsoft in hotmail operations. i still like my job.
i’ve reconnected with a bunch of friends. i’m making an effort to keep in touch with people. i’ve always been particularly bad at corresponding/replying to email etc., but i’ve realized that it’s something i’m capable of and something that i want to do. if you’re reading this and we haven’t talked in awhile, say hi. my email address is my first name @ my last name . org (avoiding the insipid spam crawlers).
i’ll try to post more frequently and more personally, from here on out.
all shall fall
02874 days
in life
i wrote this for a close friend and she encouraged me to keep posting (how am i so lucky to have friends like this?). so i’ll just share this.
it’s another early morning rant.
This, my first day among the living will be my finest. I shall dine upon only the most lush of human flesh and drink only the finest wines. I shall bring great disasters to bear; crushing man and beast alike. A great scourge will set in amongst these lovers of light. They shall fall victim to their own vanity in the wake of my terrible wrath. Their folly shall only hasten their downfall; bringing them to their knees at my mighty throne. I spare none, the banker and bookmaker, the priest and whore alike; all shall fall. My kingdom will crush their feeble bodies and I shall devour their weak minds. The hordes becoming fodder in my army against the light, my dark army. I draw strength from the living, though I am undead.
Or maybe I’ll have a cup of coffee, instead.
