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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Easterbunny's LiveJournal:
- Solve a 3 ring Towers of Hanoi puzzle while being videotaped.
- Pretending that the videocamera is a computer with webcam visual input plus mechanical arm, demonstrate how the fictional computer with mechanical arm should solve the 3 ring Towers of Hanoi puzzle. Provide visual cues only; no talking (or written instructions) allowed.
- Solve a 4 ring Towers of Hanoi puzzle while being videotaped.
- Answer a 4 page questionnaire about psychology / philosophy / computer science / engineering education, personal beliefs about machine intelligence, and rate enthusiasm for science fiction media.
- Macon Farmers Market: this is not really a browsing market geared to the yuppie pursuit of wheeling one's offspring around to learn colors, shapes and smells with no intention to buy anything beyond a goats cheese and artisanal truffle focaccia that won't leave much change from the $3.00 in one's pocket. For one thing, this market is organized into 8 lanes of drive-thru. For another, my cash-only assumption was overwritten by several Sharpie-on-cardboard signs advertising "Cash, credit, debit or food stamps." The afternoon was quiet, so Katie and I strolled up the driving lane edges anyway. Katie got a smile and a wave from a vendor overseeing a watermelon tasting. Georgia has slightly different produce in season compared to Tennessee: mounds of watermelons, tomatoes, peaches, peanuts and green beans.
- Botanical gardens at Macon State College: the gardens are scattered around the campus, so we wandered around looking at flowering shrubs and nice trees. The fountains were a big hit with Katie, but after a little splashing neither of us were impressed with the 94° temperature registering on the walking paths. On to...
- Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences: Air conditioning! Hurrah! I first visited this museum on a field trip in first grade. While "lips and hips" wasn't official Georgia Board of Education policy at that point, I firmly remember No Talking and No Touching.
It's totally different now. The Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences is accessible to a one year old. The Miraculous Minerals room has coral, fossilized trees and giant hunks of quartz on the floor for small hands to touch. We stuck our heads inside a giant iron geode and said, "AAAAAAHHHHH!" In the Discovery House, Katie wandered around giant floor maps, light up globes, a stuffed polar bear, paper and crayons (still for eating rather than drawing), and a mini-zoo full of tamarins and fruit doves. We struck out in Poet's Corner (I looked for a short poem to read and came up with the brief but dismal I Strove with None), but then scored an almighty home run in the Inventor's Basement. Katie loved the giant gravel pit full of fossils to uncover with an archaeologist's paintbrush, and a close second were the straight and bumpy slides for exploring gravity with a bucket of balls. My little classical mechanist. I want to build these in her room at home.
We ended our trip with a sleepy walk through the outdoor gum tree nature trail, and then I freaked out in the parking lot after reading "bombs," "terrorists" and "London underground" on several London LJ posts. After swearing loudly at the mobile BBC news site for carrying no information besides live updates of the Michael Jackson memorial service, I finally twigged that people were posting their own memorials to 7/705. - First time driving my step-dad's truck - or any truck - down a busy highway with a mattress not quite securely roped to the roof.
- First bite of a hot brown while lunching with both
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twinkettes and Michael at South Street - First release of a software tutorial at work
- First brainstorming session about sartorialmysteries.com, a digital community to turn to when outfits make no sense in context, while lunching with amberlou.
- First arrival of the cats to our house since we emigrated (they've been luxuriating under the lavish attentions of my mom and step-dad (thank you!))
- First visit to ( One hundred places to take a screaming baby: #19, Las Paletas )
- Streit's potato latkes mix: purchased on a whim while searching the Publix international aisle for lobster bouillon. I like eating potato pancakes, but I think they're a complete pain in the tail to make from scratch. OH MY GOD, the Streit's mix is easy and delicious. Mix 1 egg, water and a mix packet, then fry in a tiny bit of oil. I nearly fried up the second packet immediately after dinner, but Adam pointed out that 10 potato pancakes is probably sufficient for once artery-clogging Monday evening.
- Half a bag of dried kidney beans: hanging around since the other half was eaten in January or February. Red beans and rice is traditional on Mondays (wash day), but what is Tuesday if not Monday sleeping in?
- A box of giant pasta shells: the Publix mystery penny item a few months ago. Too big to serve as generic pasta-with-sauce, but tomorrow I will investigate a walnut, gorgonzola and marscapone stuffing for them. I may die of cheese.
| Friday, July 17th, 2009 | ||||||
| 10:55 am | Imagine that  Breakfast of champions: zucchini fritters with plum jelly and Sesame Street. Current Mood:  awake | |||||
| Thursday, July 16th, 2009 | ||||||
| 12:47 am | Tropic of Crab Claws  Thought for the day: "The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement." Current Mood:  sleepy | |||||
| Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | ||||||
| 4:11 pm | Scene it Spotted on the cover of this week's Nashville Scene: "You're sooo Nashville if your local GOP makes the KKK look like the ACLU." The accompanying illustrated elephant with machine gun made me laugh, but I'm sitting on the fence between relieved and worried that I don't know anything about the local Republican agenda. The mayor, the governor and my district's Congressional representative are all Democrats. Also spotted in the Nashville Scene: applications are still being accepted for the 2009 Music City BBQ Festival in August. Poll #1430298 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All Who thinks that
View Answers No! Won't somebody please think of the piggies? No! All of the Boston Butt Barbecue must come to me first for quality control. Insert barbecue here. Yes! All of Nashville must taste this delicacy! Let all swine cower! As part of continuing operation Brains 4 Bottle Blondes, I participated in an interesting psychology experiment this morning. The 20 minute experiment consisted of 4 tasks: I only earned $5 for my salon visit piggy bank, but this experiment was much more fun that the usual whack-a-key tasks. After the experiment, the tester explained that some participants are told to imagine that the videocamera is a person rather than a computer, and the subsequent visual demonstrations are much more expressive that those provided by people pretending to explain something to a computer. In related news, earlier this week I saw a poster summarizing results from an execution control experiment in which I participated earlier this year. The poster was illustrated with a photograph of a hand on a keyboard, only the hand had been photoshopped so that each finger ended in a hand with 5 tiny fingers. It made me shudder. I met twinkette2 for lunch at the downtown library today. We explored the beautiful reading rooms on the top floor and made plans to bring a picnic for the fountain courtyard the next time I take Katie to a library marionnette show.Urban legend for the day: Mr. T puts the laughter back in manslaughter. Current Mood:  thirsty | |||||
| Thursday, July 9th, 2009 | ||||||
| 1:33 pm | Two strikes and a double In lieu of zoo Tuesday, Katie and I went to the cultural mecca that is Macon in pursuit of my primary summer goal: avoid the Warner Robins Walmart at all costs.1 A mixed bag, but we ended on a good note. ( One hundred places to take a screaming baby: #17, a swimming pool )
1I don't object to Walmart per se. On a corporate scale, its economic policies are more objectionable than Tesco's, but a little closer to home Walmart has been very good to an extended family member. And andrea_r and I had some great date nights at the Kenner Walmart / Barnes & Noble in days gone by. No, I object to the Warner Robins Walmart specifically since I seem to end up in its parking lot at least once a year with my head resting against steering wheel wondering if there is any point to existence. I suppose it's not Walmart's fault that they built on 2There's one of those at the base. Current Mood:  ear cocked for thunder | |||||
| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | ||||||
| 9:39 am | Sloth Destination: zoo. Current location: bed. I hope this isn't a repeat of the Bird World trip that wasn't. Current Mood:  exanimate | |||||
| Monday, July 6th, 2009 | ||||||
| 4:43 pm | Let freedom ping I love rain. A nice drizzle is nice and drizzly, but a good thunderstorm really whacks my bonobo. After a weekend in Athens, Katie and I are now in the gracious catchment area of greater metropolitan Perry, Georgia watching Tiger Williams miss a putt while thunder and lighting rattle the china. (Yesterday, anyway. Will I ever start and finish an LJ1 in one sitting again? Stay tuned, campers.) Adam, Katie and I spent a pleasant and patriotic July 4th weekend in and around Athens. On Friday afternoon, we postponed a visit to Raccoon Caverns2 in favor of hunkering down at a Chattanooga Olive Garden. While the Olive Garden underwrites romantic significance for our marriage in that at one such franchise in Meridian, Mississippi a discussion of airmiles engendered the dawning realization that we didn't have to stop dating just because we no longer lived on the same continent, we mainly keep going back for the all-u-can-eet soup / salad / breadstick troughdown. We arrived in Athens a few hours later, and there we joined my parents for a pootle around the bulldog sculptures and a laid back evening at the Trappeze. I really, really get a kick out of the geographical placement that necessitates headin' down the Atlanta Highway to get from my stepmother's apartment to downtown. On Saturday, the five of us drove to the pseudo-alpine mountain village of Helen, Georgia, a town which afforded ample viewing opportunities of a series of tubes forming a neon log jam down the Chattahoochee River. Now, I know that when each of you thinks "biker chick chic," you think " easterbunny". I now yet further typify the genre through acquisition of Harley Davidson mules from Helen's multi-outlet motorcycle emporium. The lady who sold them was very nice and chatted to me about the importance of reading to small children every day. ( One hundred places to take a screaming baby: #18, Independence Day brewery tour at the Terrapin microbrewery ) As the sky got dark, we looked for a non-sardine tin spot to watch the Bishop's Park fireworks. We followed a crowd to the recreational field of Forest Heights Baptist Church and ate ice cream. Katie made friends with several babies, divers dogs and many fireflies. At 9:15, we started to watch fireworks blooming through the trees, and at 9:30 the main attraction started. Perfect view. Katie sat in my dad's lap. She clapped and laughed and hooted at both the colorful explosions and the loud bangs. Note to self: write to PBS and suggest more special effects on Elmo's World. Thought for the day: "Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic." ~W. H. Auden
1The spiritual zipcode of LiveJournal must surely be centered upon Ellijay, Georgia. 2 amberlou, this promotes Raccoon Caverns into pole position for a full day of Wild Cave Expeditioning with optional gemstone panning. No mere 45 minute Crystal Palace tour for us. As God as my witness, I shall never go spelunking in kitten heels again. Current Mood:  mellow | |||||
| Sunday, July 5th, 2009 | ||||||
| 3:55 pm | Licketysplit Spotted: on GA 316 near Dacula, a red Titan pickup truck with a pair of rubber testicles swinging free and easy in the under-chassis breeze. The intended demonstration of virility was not diminished so much as displaced to the right thanks to testicle placement over the truck's muffler. I wrote this en route to Athens for a family 4th of July following an exciting week spent laying bricks. After spending a significant portion of 2008 sporting Mother's Wrist, I now enter this patriotic holiday weekend with Hodcarrier's Middle Finger. My patio dreams of sipping gracious mint juleps on a chaise longue have been thus far stymied by the moon crater texture of the existing brick surface, so last Saturday I ripped up all the bricks. On Sunday, Adam and I wielded shovel and hoe to churn up dirt, pebbles, gravel, clay and the root system of something unspeakably chthonic, and Tuesday through Thursday evenings were dedicated to pounding bricks and finding that sweet spot where due diligence with a level meets OCD. Next door's kids hung out by our holly bushes to offer comment. "Aren't you done yet?" No. "Is that fun?" The first 3 rows were fun, but now it's tedious. "Will you be done today?" Probably not. "Did it cool you off when we accidentally sprayed you with the hose?" It did, actually. Thank you. Project Brick was kicked into high gear with the acquisition of amberlou and Mike's grill last Saturday. jessienoel and Jason provided the automotive horsepower to transfer the grill, and they helped us break it in with steaks, sausages and shrimp on a stick. I think the grill and I are going to be friends. Strictly speaking, Adam and the grill will be friends, and I intend to recline on a chaise longue with mint juleps and romance novels while minions ferry me meats. Last week, a week of firsts: Poll #1425459 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All Would you rather be told
Current Mood: listening to thunder | |||||
| Thursday, June 25th, 2009 | ||||||
| 10:44 pm | Big red bus (Written two Mondays ago. Too sleepy to rewrite.) I'm on the train. I'm on a train zooming through a salt marsh outside Newton Abbott, a hop, skip and jump from Totnes and four days in scenic coastal Thurlestone.Katie is asleep in my lap. Blue Cat, half a bun and one fish from the Quiet Book are strewn beneath our table. The Family easterbunny got to the UK two days ago, and it feels wonderful to be back.( And now I'm back in Nashville, so let's tuck the epic under a cut tag. )
Current Mood: sleepy | |||||
| 10:38 pm | ||||||
| Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 | ||||||
| 10:49 am | Hot enough for you? WOW. I am in love with the new windows. Sure, they look good and they're not going to chop anyone's fingers off, but the primary reason behind replacement of the old windows was to take advantage of the Obama administration's energy efficiency tax credit while enjoying a modest reduction in winter heating bills. Of course, who in the South gives a rat's ass about heating bills in the summer? I want hell to freeze over in my bedroom. I had resigned myself to the distinct stairwell thermocline separating our air-conditioned ground floor from the oven where we all attempt sleep; our next door neighbors had advised extra insulation for the attic hatch, but otherwise we were screwed until October. The window guys finished at 11 a.m. yesterday. When I got home at 6, upstairs and downstairs had cooled to the same delicious temperature. Since I was at home yesterday morning for the windows, I made a big pot of red beans and rice. I'm not sure about the aquifer of domesticity from whence this fountain of bean-cooking sprung forth since, in all the times I have worked from home I have never previously thought, "What an unmissable opportunity to simmer beans for 7 hours!" But soft - I do know what beans from yonder pantry spill. Although the house contained no edible food beyond a fourth of a cabbage on Monday morning, I noticed that the pantry was lined with boxes that Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. Lest the easterbunny household relive the hullaballoo of the beignet mix that moved three times yet was never eaten, I pulled out the offending boxes with intent to consume:Thought for the day: "We're turning into wimps with pew cushions and air conditioning.” ~David Hess Current Mood:  mmm, frosty | |||||
| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 | ||||||
| 3:53 pm | Substitute post Yay, we have new windows! Likelihood of lost digits due to windows slamming shut without reason now significantly reduced! Ingress through rusted screen holes now denied to insects! Boo to python, persnickety internet access, reports, squeaky brakes, hills and everyone having a slightly different version of what ought to be the same script. *hat in hand* Hershey's milk chocolate bars aren't as good as I remembered. That is all. Not quite all. Reese's peanut butter cups are still the bee's knees, the cat's pyjamas, and the dog's bollocks. The vending machine probably thinks I've gone into heat, but I do feel a slow reduction in the desire to stab people with plastic coffee stirrers in a non-playful manner. Current Mood:  busy | |||||
| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | ||||||
| 8:25 pm | Wyld Stallyns Watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure in Centennial Park. Surrounded by fireflies and small dogs. Send ice cream. P.S. Thomas the Tank Engine is voiced over in the US... by George Carlin. Current Mood: Excellent | |||||
| Sunday, June 7th, 2009 | ||||||
| 7:38 pm | ||||||
| Thursday, June 4th, 2009 | ||||||
| 2:39 pm | Tonight I'm gonna get compiler errors like it's 1999 Dear coffee pixies, I'm going to close my eyes and count to ten and you will have fixed my classpath problem. Don't make me give you more teeth. Love, easterbunny Current Mood:  Classpath errors? Srsly? | |||||
| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 | ||||||
| 10:11 am | Priorities Can haz home interbets! Woo! This morning has been a carnival of installations - kitchen counter tops, cable, internet, measuring for new windows. <i>Everyone has been on time.</i> It's now 10:13 and the counter top people are finishing up - everyone else is done. I have now used up any karma which might have been expended on plumbing appointments. My harp has also now seen the light of day for the first time in seven months. :) Current Mood: pleased | |||||
| Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | ||||||
| 11:36 am | Pass me those goggles I'm off to find out what it feels like not to be a demagnetized bat. Phew, what a scorcher - I really had to yank at my wedding ring to remove it this morning. Current Mood: a-quiver with anticip | |||||
| Sunday, May 31st, 2009 | ||||||
| 12:32 am | Yay We're moved! Movers were very fast. More later with real Internet connection. Fizz and kielbasa now. Current Mood: Jubilant | |||||
| Saturday, May 30th, 2009 | ||||||
| 6:45 pm | You'll miss the best part of the day 6:45 p.m. Truck has finally arrived. It seems they've had a bad day. Cry me a fucking river. iPhone corrects "fucking" to "ducking." Current Mood:  Mm hmm | |||||
| 5:11 pm | Tick tock 5:15. Still no truck. This is rubbish. Ha, the iPhone corrects "tock" to "rock." Current Mood: Unimpressed | |||||
| 1:15 pm | Treasure trove behind the furniture Time moving truck due to arrive: 8 to 9 a.m. Time replacement truck (1st one broke) due to arrive: 3 to 4 p.m. Displacement activity: eating cherries out of a colander. I am so excited about our new place. Pictures to follow on Wednesday. Current Mood: Killing time with bare hands | |||||
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