jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

You can consider my Del.icio.us links an extension to my blog, as are my LifeTango goals and my other to-do items. My to-buy list is also public, but only for sharing any useful ideas that might be there; I'm not requesting charity, neither do I offer it.

You can find me easily in google searches, as jcomeau, jcomeau_ictx, or jcomeauictx. There are lots of other jcomeaus, but AFAIK I'm the only jcomeau_ictx out there so far.

If you want to comment on anything you see here, try the new Facebook comments, reachable by clicking the "[comment]" link at the end of each post. If for some reason that isn't working, go ahead and email me, jc.unternet.net. You know what to do with the first dot. Make the 'subject' line something reasonably intelligent-looking or it goes plunk! into the spambasket unread.

This RSS feed may or may not work. Haven't fiddled with it in forever. RSS Feed


2012-05-30-1417Z

Mapped out the #kgc2012 race, here, here, and here. [comment]

2012-05-30-0019Z

2nd day of the race I maintained my decision to attempt the Eureka Bay swim. It was brutal; I didn't know how to use the fins, they chafed my feet, and as before my drybag (a brand new SealLine) leaked, soaking my clothing and not ruining my Remington headlamp only because its battery case is somewhat waterproof. Haven't tested to see if the lamp actually still works, though.

Then tried the next part of the race without socks, not wanting to use my one remaining dry pair and likewise leery of using wet socks. But my left foot chafed horribly and was bleeding by the time I put on the SealSkinz; after an hour or so with those I finally made the wise decision to put on the wool socks, which promptly dried out and protected my feet the rest of the way to Crab Park. As mentioned before, I missed the 7:07 deadline and stopped and had a beer with some friendly people at the last green house on the right on Cannibal Island Road. It was a Steelhead, and while it's normally a little hoppy for me it went down real nice.

The final day was all on the road, the Eel River Slough crossing was cancelled. By jogging most of the way, I made it to Fernbridge well in advance of the noon deadline, and walked most of the rest of the way to Ferndale along the arbitrarily-long alternate path that had been marked off. Drank too much at the awards dinner, and/or damaged my stomach flora eating some rice that tasted sour (fermented) but actually may have been moldy, and now have a nasty cold in my throat. And I'm still burping the hamburger I ate at Boomer's in Laytonville. [comment]

2012-05-28-0322Z

Crossed the line at 8:22 localtime, missing the deadline by over an hour. Details maybe later. Exhausted. [comment]

2012-05-27-2056Z

Yesterday I got lost between the beach exit and Deadman's Drop. An elderly couple was on the same wrong path, and at one point I realized that there were no footprints except for theirs and mine. The thought passed my mind that these were death angels, but rebellious ones who didn't want to take me out of the game just yet.

These strange thoughts may have been due to a bite of a cookie I was offered in Manila. Not sure what was in it but I suspect Cannabis. [comment]

2012-05-23-1258Z

In a dream I was contracting for a boss who looked a lot like Danny Devito in Ruthless People. He was being devious with the building owner, and she wasn't approving his plans; so he said. The building owner came by as I was there, and they were playfully hitting each other like two really good friends. As the dream ended I was watching a podcast by some tech wonk named Dave who did a show with Deepak Chopra called Dapek. At the end of the show Dave was walking out of the studio kissing everybody. Weird.

I almost never watch podcasts in waking life. Tried to sit through TWiT once, which is based here in Petaluma, but got bored twitless. [comment]

2012-05-23-0121Z

There were a few bicyclists on the road between Fairfax and Petaluma, despite large sections of the shoulder being closed off. And then just before the bridge over the Napa river, there was a sign prohibiting bicycles! I never saw that before. That's just plain mean; there's no alternate route. [comment]

2012-05-21-0249Z

Stopped in Mineral to see the eclipse at peak. The sky wasn't noticeably dark despite the sun being about 95% occulted. [comment]

2012-05-20-2232Z

I wonder if a laser aimed at a suspected chemtrail would excite the atoms enough to give off recognizable spectral signatures of the components. [comment]

2012-05-19-1725Z

Yesterday afternoon I climbed the hill overlooking PermaBurn. Under a large rock balancing on some smaller rocks, I found a piece of obsidian, partially knapped. A gift from some native, thousands of years ago? I'd like to think so. [comment]

2012-05-17-1730Z

Loggers are clear cutting along Little Giant Mill Road in Tehama county. Isn't that illegal? [comment]

2012-05-14-0542Z

Finished my first Stephen King novel, The Dark Half. Loved it. A little more "horrific" than Dean Koontz's stuff, but I wouldn't necessarily agree that it belongs in a "horror" genre. Categorizing books and movies in that way seems to be misleading and counterproductive for the most part.

Two recurring dreams I've remembered pieces of lately: first, there's a building reminiscent of Skowhegan Area High School, but with several levels connected by escalators, which one of my dream selves frequents. There are some shops, bars, and restaurants there but he mostly goes to parties to pick up women. He seems to be interested primarily in sex, and has had so many women he gets their names confused. I saw my cock in one of these dreams a few days ago, and it was black. In the dream, I assumed I'd gotten sunburned on that part of my anatomy somehow, but on later reflection decided that this "self" might be a black man.

In the other dream, all I remember is an unusual building or structure, the top of which is a huge sign with the face of some famous (in this particular dream-world) guy in a cowboy hat with some writing underneath. It's on the facade of maybe a 30- or 40-story building set quite a ways back from the street, and might not be a building at all but possibly just a gigantic sign made to look like one. I remembered more details on awakening but that was already a day or three ago and I've forgotten. [comment]

2012-05-10-0139Z

Checked out the east side of the freeway between Old Redwood Highway and Washington Street. Had to climb over a few fences, but didn't knowingly cross any No Trespassing signs. Saw a deer south of Corona Road, bounding away gracefully. [comment]

2012-05-08-1928Z

Decided to check out the $3.99 slice and pint special at Z Pizza over by Whole Foods. Turns out it's that price only if you choose Coors Light, otherwise it's $1 more. They have a choice of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (my choice), Blue Moon, and one of the Lagunitas brews. [comment]

2012-05-06-0556Z

I got rid of the ads on my blog so I can curse like a motherfucker the way I used to, without Google censuring me (not a typo; they can't censor me but they can cut me off from ad revenues for profanity). I'll still have ads on any blog entry to which I give a name, such as Opt Out of Social Security.

Been messed up all day, ever since I woke up at about 3AM after getting run over in my dream. What was that movie that started out "I hate dying first thing in the morning! Ruins my whole day!"? [comment]

2012-05-04-1819Z

Carrying a pen with me now, actually two pens hanging on the various things I wear around my neck. This is an amazing productivity enhancer for me, as when I sit in the coffee shop I can sketch out my ideas, either diagramming software concepts or designing inventions. Haven't been doing it for years, guess I'd just forgotten how useful it is. Another good thing to do would be to print up documentation of things I'm studying to have with me. Something I can scribble on is often far more useful than a document on the computer. [comment]

2012-05-04-0322Z

Cooked a pound of brisket on the stovetop: poured in maybe 1/8 cup of soy sauce, double that much red wine (Fisheye Merlot from Oz), filled the pan with water to cover the meat. Put it on low and simmered. Topped it off every hour for 2.5 hours, turned off the gas, and let it sit for a half hour before eating. Tender and delicious, and I drank every last bit of the liquid.

[comment]

2012-05-03-1846Z

It took me hours, over the course of 2 and a half years, to take the old bicycle apart -- the one that brought me from New Mexico to northern California. The metal, aluminum and steel, was worth about $1.75. Glad I did it anyway. Not only is my pile of junk reduced, but I met a pleasant old guy at Maselli's who shot the breeze with me a little. Told me about a time in Hawaii when the rain came out of nowhere, poured for 5 or 6 minutes, then the sun came back out and dried him out again in no time. [comment]

2012-05-03-0548Z

As the US continues challenging Hitler's Nazis for being the worst terrorist organization the world has ever seen, it's long since time for the international community to cut off ties to the US government. Doing so will be the best thing you could do for the people of the US, who are, like the rest of the world, victims of our government's actions against people, against the environment, against life on earth as we know it.

The sooner our allies abandon us, the UN castigates us, the world as a whole vilifies and alienates us as a nation, the better off the average, beer-drinking, fun-loving, open-minded world citizen will be, in America or elsewhere. It's not about countries, it never was. Nation-states are a relatively new invention in the history of humankind, a mere 10,000 years or so in our millions of years of existence, and not nearly one of the better ones (alcohol and sports being far more useful). So you, freedom-loving peoples of the world, please pressure your governments to sever ties to the US and to implement economic, military, and any other sanctions against us. The more you do to hurt our government, the better off we Americans and the rest of the world will be.

[comment]

2012-05-02-0002Z

This is probably what I'm calling Kaleidoscope vision. [comment]

2012-05-01-2334Z

Tried brazing brass today, melted it instead. Damn. Wondering if there's more tin or lead or other low-melting-point alloys in copper alloys nowadays. [comment]

2012-05-01-2237Z

Kaleidoscope vision again. [comment]

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