I just got a Cat Scan.

Anyhow, I was working on my computer just now, and looked over to notice that Buttercup (one of the two cats we are cat-sitting) was standing on the open scanner.

So, I scanned her. See.



If this already isn't a Meme, it should totally be one. So, everyone scan your cats, and send me the pictures, and I'll either post them here or link to them.

(Obligatory statement about how you shouldn't hurt or blind your cat while trying to scan them. Humane scans only.)

Commuter Cam 2: Foggy skies and secret signs

I really enjoyed doing the commuter cam thing... enough so that this morning, rather spur of the moment, I grabbed my camera and decided to do it again. There really does seem to be something to bringing my camera to work that forces me to break free of my zombie march, and look at the things that surround me a bit. So, here goes...

This time, instead of doing things in chronological order, I think I'll sort of group things thematically.


As you can see, it was pretty foggy on today's walk into work. I just love images like this, with high-rises disappearing into grey skies. They aren't necessarily unique, but there's still something mysterious about them. I wonder what people are doing up there? And can they see the ground?


Here's another building disappearing into the sky... but for a whole different reason. Construction continues, presumably on schedule, for the building across the street from where I catch the street car.


And, while one building goes up, another comes down. This isn't really the best picture of this building that is being torn down. But, I like how the reflections of the Streetcars lights look on the window. It sort of makes the image more dramatic, and gives it a sense of motion. Whoooosh!

Also, notice the cranes in the background. My friend wasn't lying when he told me that he counted 13 cranes one day while standing in one place; the other day I counted 15!


And here's the inside of the Streetcar. I think it sort of has that 2001 vibe. It's fun how 2001 started out as a futuristic version of the future, then became a retro-version on the future, and is now a retro-version of the past. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I'll let you try to parse it out.


62 is my lucky number... I hadn't noticed my lucky utility box until today, though.


With all the construction in this area, the street are lined with spraypainted marks like this. But, because I'm the type of guy who collects comic books and used to play rollplaying games, I always like to pretend that these are secret runic marks left by urban wizards locked in some sort of midnight turf war. Awesome or dorky, you make the call.


Someone's living their dream.

Sometimes, while walking across the dock on Lake Union, I see this strange bird. It's some sort of loon or something. Anyhow, I was hoping that it'd be there today for me, and it was! Not only that, it picked a picture perfect place to pose for the camera.


I think I'll pretend its good luck whenever I see this bird on the way to work. He looks lucky. Like the number 62.


Actually, the timbers of the old dock that the bird was perched on are actually pretty cool. Some of them are really rotten, somehow defying gravity and refusing to fall into the lake.



Others, though, are long gone.

A commute from across the pond

When Sarah White posted her Commute Cam entry she became the first person to take the Commuter Cam Challenge international! Sarah's actually a Full Time Mum, so she doesn't have a traditional commute, but since her husband and son, Callum, and her recently moved to a new neighborhood, she had a novel idea: Use the Commuter Cam Challenge as an opportunity to explore her neighborhood.

So, after Callum was finally ready to head out, the two of them made a trip down to the neighborhood sweet shop, photographing anything noteworthy they came across.

Probably my favorite picture. "Danger of Death." Awesome. I actually really like seeing signs from other countries and sort of miss it being back home.

And look! A red double decker bus! So very, very British!



Anyhow, well done, Sarah! If there is anyone else out there doing the Commuter Cam project... be sure to let me know!

Other Commutes

A week ago, I proposed the Commuter Cam Challenge, and two days later I posted photos from my commute. But, even more excitingly, several friends and fellow bloggers took me up on the challenge also. So, let's take a look at their entries!

First up is this entry by fellow Bad Genious (sic) Liana. Liana actually doesn't have a commute, so what did she do? She grabbed her camera and rode along with her always dependable husband, Dan! This also seemed to work nicely because it solved the problem of how to drive and take pictures at the same time.

Also, you have to admire Liana's dedication since apparently she almost starved to death during the drive.

Probably my favorite picture from Liana's entry. The "I 'Heart' to Fart" bumpersticker is classy.

The next person to post a Commuter Cam entry was my friend and ex-coworker Austin. Impressively, Austin actually went so far as to set up a webpage specifically for his entry. Also, because I used to work at RealNetworks, and because I used to live in Greenwood his entry was a bit of a walk down memory lane for me. Entertainingly, the coffee shop that he stops at is, like, two blocks from my apartment and I go passed it every day on the way to work, we almost literally walk right passed each other.

I really like this image from Austin's photos. Austin photographed his commute on the same day as me, but it looks like Greenwood got more snow than downtown.

Next up is another Bad Genious: Betsy! I thought that Betsy's entry was pretty cool. Betsy runs in marathons and other less long races, so it's not surprising that a lot of things (ranging from the bridge's she drives across to tattoo parlors) remind her of running.

You'll just have to check out her entry to find out why this tattoo parlor reminds her of running.

Also, Betsy pulled double duty on the commuter challenge and took her camera with her on two commutes to show both the standard commute, and the "take Jackson to school" commute. Bravo!

And last up is my friend and ex-roommate, Ambika. Ambika's in the early stages of her 365 Project where she plans to take at least one picture a day for the entire year. So, she nicely dovetailed the two projects and had her daily picture be a photo from her commute.

If you have a moment, its definitely worth checking out the other photos in the series. I'm jealous that she's doing such a cool and ambitious project!

Well, that's it so far with other people's commutes. If anyone else is interest, and photographs their commute to work, be sure to let me know!

Commuter Cam: An Icy Walk to Work

The other day, I outlined my Commuter Cam (AKA Take Your Camera To Work) Project idea. Well, today I post the results!

When I left for work on Monday morning, it was to make an icy waddle to work. It had snowed lightly the night before, and the wet sidewalks were sheets of black ice. But, undaunted, I grabbed my camera, and begun my walk to work. Joining me for the first portion was my beautiful assistant (and wife) Sarah.



Here's our apartment, as viewed from across the street. It's a cute building, if you ignore our arguing neighbors. If you look closely, you'll notice the orange road-cones on the front steps. Those are there because they are retiling the front steps. They've been retiling the front steps since Thanksgiving. I'm fairly positive that they'll be retiling the steps when we move out.



Just a half dozen blocks away, making our way down Fourth, it is time to wave goodbye to Sarah. We make this walk together a couple times a week, even though it is brief. She's actually halfway to work now, I on the other hand, still have most of my commute ahead of me. Please ignore the psychadelic phallus behind here.



Making a right off Fourth, I begin my hike down to the SLUT (South Lake Union Streetcar). Just one block along, I hit this intersection. This is probably one of my favorite corners, just because its so "Seattle"... walking under the monorail, with the Space Needle in the background. With my old commute, I used to go out of my way to cut through Pike Place Market. A lot of locals avoid the market becuase its overrun with tourists. But, tourists remind me that I live somewhere cool. I like the idea that people come to my city on vacation.




This whole area is under construction. It's sort of incredible really. Between where I hop on the SLUT (snicker!) and Lake Union literally seems like one big construction site. It's weird to think that I'm watching a neighborhood basically get constructed from the ground up. And all because Paul Allen got bored. The main sign of all the construction is the cranes perched everywhere like... um... cranes. Y'know, the bird. I guess an analogy doesn't work that well when the two objects being compared have the same name.

Still, one friend recently said he counted 13 cranes while standing in one spot.



As I've mentioned, it snowed lightly on Sunday night, so the roads were icy and there were still signs of snow scattered here and there. This is a car lot I walk past each day. I was actually a little nervous taking this picture because the ground was so slick through here.



Hey look! Here comes the SLUT!

Honestly, I really like the SLUT. In fact, I like it so much I've started usually calling it the Streetcar. I mean, you don't call something you love a "slut" right? From where I hop on, its only about a 10 minute ride to the final stop where I get off (snicker!). A lot of people complain that the SLUTs route is sort of useless, and honestly they have a good point. But, I'm like the one person in Seattle who's commute matches it's short route. Plus, it gives me a change to grab some quick reading every morning and evening.



You can see the SLUT parked on the right hand side of this photo. It sits there for a few minutes before making its way back into downtown. After getting off the streetcar, I make my way down Fairview, with Lake Union on my left. This is a long straight walk.



At the end of the long straight stretch, the path drops down onto a dock that actually spans a section of the lake. The view from here always catchs my attention. That day the sun was hitting a snow covered Queen Anne and shining on the Aurora Bridge dramatically. Quite nice.



This is the dock-slash-sidewalk that spans the lake. Usually, its really nice to walk along. This morning, because of the icy, it was downright sketchy. I kept having fantasies of toppling over into the half-frozen waters of Lake Union. If you notice, up ahead, there is another guy taking pictures. He not only had a better vantage point, but as I watched, he caught a sea plane taking off of Lake Union. Oooh, that would have been a good photo. Jealous! Punk!

After taking this picture, I made my way up the staircase on the far side, where I heard a screech and crash. A pick up truck, slipping on the ice, had crashed into the back of another pick up truck... which in turn crashed into an SUV. I didn't take a picture because that seemed a little too voyeuristic. But, it made me glad that I was walking on this cold morning.



One last photo. This one is taken from the parking lot across the street from my office. I didn't take a picture of my actual office building because it sort of just look likes a warehouse, and the security guard would have given me the evil eye. So, instead, I figured I'd take another picture across Lake Union. The area around my office is a bunch of industrial shipyards and European car repair shops. Not the most scenic stuff... but photographic in its own right.

Well, that's my first attempt at the Commuter Cam Project. Hope you all found it vaguely interesting. Also, I look forward to seeing if anyone else took up my challenge. If you do, and if you post an entry about your commute, let me know and I'll post a link here on my Week In review or something. And, again, feel free to pass this one to others. I've got a morbid curiosity about peoples commutes.

Commuter Cam

AKA: The Take Your Camera To Work Day Project

The other day, I was walking to work and noticed the morning sun hitting the Aurora bridge from across Lake Union and though, "oh, that's pretty nice looking."

The day before that, I had been walking to catch the SLUT, when I looked around and noticed how many cranes seemed to rise around me. The day before that, I couldn't help but notice steam rising from the top of a highrise and wish there was someone around to point out how neat it looked.

It's moments like this that have led me to propose the Commuter Cam Project. Here's how it works:

Step the First: Pick a day, and bring your camera with you on our commute to work.

Step the Second: During your commute, take pictures of anything that catches your attention. It can be something special that you see that particular day. Or, maybe its something that you see every day, and which you always sort of wish you could point out to your friends... but never get a chance to.

Step the Third and Final: Post the pictures you take on your blog along with any commentary you watch to add.

There are a couple reasons that I think that this will be a worthwhile and interesting project.

Reason the First: I suspect that everyone has little things that they see every day on their commute to work that have sort of meaning to them, but never get to share. Or, maybe there is something humorous about their commute. Or, maybe there is some little ritual they perform (ex: Maybe there is a sign you always touch for good luck, or maybe... um... you slaugter a goat on First and Bell, I don't know).

Reason the Second: Everyone hates commuting. It's probably, on average, the most mindnumbing or frustrating portion of the average persons day. Maybe by doing this, it will force us to look at our commute a little different, or maybe just shake us out of our usual zoned out drift to work.

Reason the Third and Final: I think it might be interesting. Maybe.

Anyhow, I plan on taking my camera work next week, and snapping off some photos during my commute. Hopefully, by this time next week, I'll have the entry up. If any of you out there in Interweb Land are intersted in participating too, that would be great. If you get an entry posted, let me know, and I'll link to it here at General Admissons. The more the merrier! And -as anyone who's sat in traffic knows- there are plenty of you out there making the daily commute to work.

FINAL DISCLAIMER: If you decide to join the Commuter Cam Project, and if you drive to work. Please don't drive and shoot at the same time. Wait for a red light, stop and go traffic or, like, pull over to take your photos or something. I don't want to see photos of car wrecks posted online as a result of this!

Featured Creatured: Dullahan

Dire is the face of the ghostly, malevolent knights known as Dullahan. With their severed head clutched under one arm like a hunk of festering cheese, they urge their nightmare steeds forward with a whip fashioned from their own spine.

No one knows how these cursed creatures came to be, but their powers are well chronicled. It is said that they wander the wilderness without aim; but if they come to a rest at a location the head will be heard speaking the name of someone from that region. That unfortunate individual is doomed to perish if ever they stand in that same location. In addition, do not attempt to stop the progress of a Dullahan. Those who have tried have found themselves trampled, flailed and mysteriously splattered with gore and blood.

The Dullahan's were originally found only in Ireland. But increasingly their numbers seem to be spreading, as evidenced by the highly publicized appearance of one outside of Tarry Town, New York, in 1790.

Featured Creatured: Catoblepas

Feel for the shaggy and melancholy Catoblepas.

One part buffalo and one part swine, its back is covered with a protective armor. But that armor -combined with its long weak neck and heavy-browed skull- mean that it is doomed to never raise its head and always stare at the ground around it.

But, what maybe be curse for the Catoblepas is a blessing for anyone who encounters the beast in the wild. For its sad, bloodshot eyes will cause instant death. And its breath will transform a man to stone, because of its diet of poisonous plants and fungi.

Featured Creatured: Barbegazi

If you are a shepherd in the Swiss Alps, and find yourself approached by a white bearded gnome with large feet, do not be alarmed. It is merely the shy, yet helpful Barbegazi. In fact, if you have any lost sheep or goats, he may even try to help you locate them.

The Barbegazi are often also referred to as "Frozen Beard" because of their long beard which drags behind them in the snow. In addition, the Barbegazi never come down from their icy mountain-top homes and will even go into hibernation if the weather becomes too warm for their liking; only to awaken again at the first snowfall.

The most notable feature of the Barbegazi is its oversized feet. These feet are specially adapted for their frozen habitat and allow them to walk upon the snow as if snowshoeing. Also, given a steep enough hillside, it is not uncommon for them to actually use their feet as skis. Truly, a remarkable species!

Wikipedia: Barbegazi

Featured Creatured: Amphisbaena

[As a (hopefully) ongoing new feature at General Admission, I will be posting illustrations and profiles of famous mythological and imaginary creatures. With any luck, I will post a new one each week, so be sure to check in.]

Amphisbaena

Debate rages on the origin of the venomous Amphisbaena, but most experts agree that it was most likely created from the blood of Medusa's severed head. Legend tells it that, as Perseus returned from slaying Medusa, he flew over the Libyan Desert on his steed Pegasus. Having not packaged her head properly, its blood rained down upon the earth, and the Amphisbaena sprung forth where ever it fell.

Another area of contention is the Amphisbaena's mode of locomotion. Some claim that it has chicken legs it runs upon, while others tell of wings that enable it to fly. These two statements are most likely fiction; but the reality is that is that it either slithers in a traditional manner, or more dramatically, its two heads clasp together and it rolls like a wagon wheel.

With its two deadly mouths, one is encouraged to stay away from any Amphisbaenae, but that doesn't keep the adventurous and desperate from using it in many traditional folk remedies: Pregnant woman often wear Amphisbaenae around their necks to insure a safe childbirth. Its skin offers relief from arthritis, or to provide warmth for lumberjacks on a cold day. Finally, if your goal is romantic success, its flesh can be eaten.

The Amphisbaenae primarily feed upon ants, which is why it is sometimes called The Mother of Ants. But, they have also been seen feasting upon corpses at night. It is best to avoid the Amphisbaena at night since its eyes, which glow in the dark, also cause death during full moons.

Wikipedia: Amphisbaena

My latest bad idea!

Sponsor my Round the World trip!

This can only end in tears.

To see more about the trip, be sure to check out my travel blog: General Travels.

First Semi-Annual Follow Up Entry

Actually, I'm not entirely sure what that headline means. But, then again, the topic of this post is a little vague too. Basically, since my Blog has been going for about six months now, I've decided to go back and follow up on some of the topic I have posted on so far:

The Great Grand Everyone Map Project has effectively stalled out at 50 people. Which, on one hand isn't quite the epic project I'd envisioned; but, on the other hand, is a decent number of people.

I'm still fixated on Arthurian Legend. The next movie in my Netflix Queue is Camalot, and the subject of my NaNoWriMo novel was a modern day update of the Arthurian Legend... taking place in Seattle.

Speaking a NaNoWriMo, I tried it again, but stalled out at around 20,000 words. I was competing with a group of a half dozen friends. One of which completed her novel: Go Christine!

Delta Mike Charlie = Still crazy.

Still married! Yay!

I read V For Vendetta, and while I enjoyed it overall, I didn't think it was Moore's strongest work. The art was a huge struggling point for me, as was the quality of the paper the copy I read was printed on. Still, I have some interest in seeing the movie.

On his journal David Byrne recently wrote a very interesting entry talking about the link between artistic ability and schizophrenia that's worth checking out. Apparently the two appear to be genetically linked... explaining why so many artist types are also crazy types.

I haven't seen too many concerts lately. Only Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, and the Long Winters. I might catch MF Doom on Monday though.

I took the Belief-O-Matic Quiz again and got these results this time for my Top Ten religions:

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%) ...was #1 at 100%
2. Liberal Quakers (92%) ...was #2 at 94%
3. Mahayana Buddhism (91%) ...was #3 at 92%
4. Theravada Buddhism (88%) ...was #5 at 84%
5. Neo-Pagan (84%) ...was #4 at 92%
6. New Age (80%) ...was #6 at 83%
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (79%) ...was #7 at 76%
8. Taoism (77%) ...was #10 at 68%
9. Secular Humanism (71%) ...was #12 at 64%
10. New Thought (67%) ...was #15 at 63%

Anyhow, so that's my wrap up of... well... whatever. Maybe I'll do anothe rof these in 6 months. Cheers!

The Great Grand Everyone Map Project

OK, so here is the idea: I've just discovered this site named Frapper, that allows you to set up a map of the world and then indicate on that map where you currently are located. You can then invite others to come post their locations on the map.

So, I'm going to try something. I set up a map called the Great Grand Everyone Map Project. I'm now going to send an email to all of my friends telling them to add themselves to the map.

In addition, I'm going to ask them to forward the map on to as many people they can. Asking them to do the same.

My goal: To fill as much of the map as I can.

Wish me luck.

Upcoming Events

National Novel Writing Month is coming! The website is going to relaunch on October 1st, in anticipation of this years event. NaNoWriMo lasts through the month of November as about 40,000 aspiring writers attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Last year, I participated and actually managed to finish my novel on the last day in November, with just a few words over 50,000.

This year, my wife is considering participating. And I'm trying to decide what to do myself. The way I figure it, I have four options:

1) Write a new 50,000 word novel.
2) Use November to finally revise and edit my novel from last year.
3) Keep fixating on designing my board game.
4) Or, develop a sudden fixation on playing Age of Empires II.

Knowing me, I'll probably end up going with 4, but you never know.

Also, coming up in the slightly more distant future is the Emerald City Comicon. Which, I've managed to miss the last two years, and unfortunately isn't until early April. But, hey, I'm still excited to go! I mean, who would pass up the opportunity to see this: