Now that school has started, we have to get to the rec center earlier, since Michael has to make up the time he misses for classes. So today we got there at 6:15 (AM) and I was stunned to discover that the place was PACKED. Normally there are a handful of people on the track, and sometimes it’s just Michael and me. Today there were 10 to 15 people running. Most of the machines I could see were busy as well.

So the question is: Will I ever see any of those people again?

I’m betting no.

I don’t mean the regulars of course. I know I’ll see the woman who does triathalons. And the older man who walks on the track. And the woman who looks like a secretary but I know she isn’t. And the guy who has got to be ex-army, who runs and runs and runs and then lifts when it seems like he should just collapse. Then there’s the sweaty man who looks like he has stepped out of the pool when he steps off the stair master. And the cute college student with the dark hair pulled into a pony tail on the top of her head and who always has the treadmill at the highest incline. Those people I know I’ll see again. These are the people I see every day. I know they’ll be back.

It’s the others I’m talking about.

The cute couples who ran a couple laps together and then left. The girls with the dark, dark tans and the tight, tight shorts and the stretchy tops. Or the guy waring chucks with dress socks. Those are the people I’ll never see again.

It’s the others I’m not sure about. The women who come in pairs, wearing baggy t-shirts and cut-off sweats and the guys who run for 15 minutes and then go and lift. They look serious. But will they keep up with it?

Probably not. At least not in the morning. Because there’s too much to do at night: parties and classes and studying that will keep them up late and the alarm will go off and they’ll think–just this once I’ll sleep in, and then the next thing you know it’s Thanksgiving and they’ve been rolling out of bed just a few minutes before classes (assuming they’ve been going to classes at all).

But we’ll see.

I’m laying odds, however, that tomorrow morning the place will be mostly dead again. Fall fest is tonight, and it’s the night for partying. Which is how it happens. Skip one day and with every day that follows it becomes easier and easier to come up with an excuse for sleeping in.

So we finally started watching Firefly, Joss Whedon’s short lived science fiction show, for which a movie is coming out this fall. (Serenity)

We just watched the first episode (“Serenity Parts 1&2”) and so far I really like it.

Which has lead me to a rather confusing realization: Although I typically can’t stand to read science fiction, most of my favorite movies and TV shows are science fiction: Deep Space Nine, The 5th Element, Star Wars, The Matrix. I may hate Star Trek (the original series) but really, it’s because William Shatner makes my skin crawl.

And I love to read fantasy, but for the most part it’s not my favorite stuff to watch. Not only have I strenuously avoided The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies, I’m actually actively opposed to watching them.

I don’t get it. Stuff that I’d hate reading, I love watching, while stuff that I love reading, I hate watching. Is everyone weird like this or is it just me?

Of course it doesn’t hold true across the board. Love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost Boys, but also love Charlaine Harris’ vampire books. I adore fantasy set in Japan and China (or their imaginary equivalent) and thought that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers were fantastic.

Maybe this is why I don’t watch a lot of movies.

The Wild Wood (1994) Charles de Lint

Eithnie feels like she has lost something in her paintings, and is wandering the woods near her home searching for the soul that used fill her paintings.

Read More about The Wild Wood

The Mark of Zorro (1919) Johnston McCulley

I had a Zorro book as a kid. I have no idea where it came from–I’m sure my mom didn’t buy it for me. It may have been left at the house by the previous occupants, like the James Bond books I eventually read and loved.

Read More about The Mark of Zorro

Lion of Ireland (1981) Morgan Llywelyn

Lion of Ireland recounts the story of Brian Boru, one of the greatest kings of Ireland. He sought to unite all the small kingdoms and dispose of the petty rivalries that allowed the Norsemen to repeatedly plunder Irish cities.

Read More about Lion of Ireland

Drat! Darn! POOOOOP!

(sigh)

All the cool CSS stuff I did the other day? Well, fixing one thing, broke another. So I had to roll back all the lovely fixed positioning navigation panes.

Apparently linking to an anchor will move that portion of the page to the very top of the page–behind the fixed position elements. And I can’t find any style information that would allow me to tell the browser to start anchor links, say, 12ems down.

So it was a lovely idea, despite the fact that it failed in execution.

But if I ever figure out how to fix the anchor problem…

ADDENDUM the First:
But, I redid my main page, to get rid of some of the ugly IE quirks. So even using IE, things should look good now.

Sometimes I wish I carried a camera with me all the time.

I love to people watch–there are so many different things to see, from badly dressed college students, to elderly couples, to parents arguing with their kids. Sometimes it’s amusing, sometimes it’s depressing, but most of the time it’s just fascinating. You’ll catch a small glimpse into someone’s life that may or may not be representative of who they are.

Sometimes just glancing in the rearview mirror shows me a curious vignette.
(more…)

Geek Stuff!

I’m really pleased with this.

Non-geeks may wish to quit reading here.

I figured out a work around for the fact that Internet Explorer doesn’t support fixed positioning. Not a big deal if the element is on the side, but I wanted the fixed element at the top of the page, and IE would mush everything together making the text at the top of the page unreadable.

However if I place the fixed positioning elements inside an absolute positioning element, IE seems to read it correctly, while Mozilla, Firefox, and Opera will keep the fixed elements at the top of the screen.

Cool!

Inspired by Stuff on my Cat, S has taken her own foray into cat decoration.

Now we just need to convince her to get the pictures developed.

1,847 soldiers have died in Iraq since the start of the conflict.

223 soldiers have died in Afghanistan.

Baltimore Sun Rememberence Site

Digital Memorial for those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Please remember our veterans and those who have given their lives, not with ribbon magnets but with benefits for our soldiers, our veterans, and their families.

Tom’s post on Driving in Portland reminded me:

WVU’s fall semester begins Monday!

Any driving you need to do in Morgantown should be completed by Thursday, after which traffic will come to a complete standstill for the next month, until students start skipping classes.

A full size recreation of a Viking boat–made of popsicle sticks. The goal is to sail across the Atlantic.

That is really really really cool.

The comments on a thread over at Making Light have got me thinking about reading. The post was initially about people who don’t get fantasy, but what struck me was a passing comment on how people read:

For some of us, the irony and the metaphor and the assorted not-story bits are what we enjoy chewing on…Speaking solely for myself, the story element, no matter how cracking, rarely satisfies.

This completely boggles my mind–the idea of reading for anything besides the story.

When I read, for the most part, it is to become absorbed in the story. I may notice historical details, which I find interesting, but metaphor? That reminds me of the English literature classes that I thought I would like, but instead always found disappointing. I don’t care what different parts of the story stand for. I care what the characters do and what happens to them–usually to the point that I have trouble putting down the book and doing something else.

I read for the way that the books make me feel.

When I look over at my bookshelves, I can pick out my favorite fantasy books at a glance: Sean Russell’s The Initiate Brother, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic, Steven Brust’s Viscount of Adrilankha, David Edding’s Belgariad, Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint, Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori… and what all these books have in common is that I love the stories they tell, I love the way the stories make me feel what the characters feel, I love the characters.

That people would read fantasy for some other reason is astounding to me–I cannot wrap my mind around the idea. Sure I read non-fiction to learn–I enjoy learning. But fiction is an escape. I may wonder whether the details in a piece of historical fiction are correct or not, but that just makes me want to read more about the subject. (How do I love Google–let me count the ways.)

Is this reading fiction as a mataphor common? Do a lot of people do this? Why do they do this? Doesn’t it get in the way of enjoying a book?

Weird.

So yesterday I spent the afternoon and evening relaxing on the sofa reading (and it was good too, let me tell you.) Yet somehow yesterday evening, despite the fact that I did nothing more strenuous that brushing my hair, I managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder.

(This is the point where you make the joke about how you’ve seen my hair, so obviously it was the hair brushing that hurt my shoulder. You’re very funny.)

So I really don’t know how I did it, all I know is that when I straighten my elbow and raise my arm my shoulder hurts.

But really, how many people can say they pulled a muscle reading? Aren’t you jealous of my extreme geekiness? I thought you were.