Halloween

"When the last rose of summer pricks my finger,
And the hot sun chills me to the bone,
When I cant hear the song for the singer,
And I cant tell my pillow from a stone,
I will walk alone by the black muddy river,
And sing me a song of my own."
- R. Hunter

Since I finally have some photo capability I thought that I would take some pictures to put up here on the blog. Some day I hope to capture those from my crashed computer. Here is one I took today out the window facing south.

Right now I sit at Avellino's Coffee Shop watching all the little trick-or-treaters walking by, as well as the old Bellingham hippies and the younger Bellingham hipsters. It's funny to be out during the day trying to work when others are playing. (This life takes a unique disipline, which I do not always have. And that explains why I am up many nights till way past midnight.)

I think I might dress up tonight for Halloween. Since I have an old raincoat, boots, baseball cap and sunglasses, I think I will go as a flasher. So if you see (or saw) a creep on a bike riding to Fairhaven on State Street upon gloaming, that's me. It will be fun giving candy to children tonight.

I've got to get back to work. I laughed numerous times at the kids' costumes as they stream by. Tonight should be fun. It rained all morning, but looks like it might be only cloudy tonight. Until April, probably.

Disdain

I have done something that I have never done before – not voted for either of the Big Two. Problem is, there is not much difference between the Dems or Repubs. McBush scares me a leader on both economic and diplomatic issues; and I wouldn't want Palin running my PTA bake sale, let alone my country. Obama, although a great statesman potentially, doesn't really seem fit for what is about to unfold in this country. And Biden's an old Washington insider fart just like McCain – just more of the same.

The trend continues for the wealth to be concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer – I read a statistic stating that income (I would assume this also includes passive income) increased 11% year over year for the top one percent of the population since 2000, while increasing approximately 1% for the remaining ninety-nine percent. Basically, we as a country are losing significant economic ground. Unless you are in the controlling class, that is.

As a protest vote, I voted the La Riva/Puryear ticket. Now I have many issues with socialism, but it is a sad day in our country when the predominant socialist party's views are more aligned with capitalism than the duopolist parties that are ever gravitating closer and closer to crony capitalism or fascism than the capitalism espoused by Adam Smith. So go ahead and call me a commie pinko. But consider that eighty-something percent of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, and at the current pace, and it looks like not a whole lot is being done to change this course. So sad. So sad. But unfortunately most people care not to discuss the state of affairs of this country but instead regurgitate soundbites of the mainstream media pundits.

But believe it or not, it is a pleasant cloudy day in Bellingham, so I am off to drop off my ballot and then to the coffee shop to do some more work; then to a movie and maybe dinner with my housemate. Today is her birthday and tomorrow she is heading back to California with her ugly dog for a few days.

Glum

Some positive feedback I received from my friend upon writing about my trip back home last we. The writer lives in Lake Winola, Pennsylvania:

"i looked at your blog. not one mention of us here in the home of your childhood. nothing. no pictures of the radios, no pictures of me. not one mention of going to the 'statestreetgrill' or even 'the hole.' you could do a whole blogentry on that alone, rather than the boring drivel i just read there....geeeeez... update that blog and add some good pictures from here. and some positive energy for a change. you are so glum."

What a tough audience.

But right now I am sitting in a coffeehouse trying to restore all the files from my recent backup. Having stepped into a nifty new laptop sure is nice. These ThinkPads are pretty cool. But getting used to a new computer and back up to speed feels like being on crutches.

And I feel that I should be writing more about the political charade that we as a culture are witnessing, but I grew weary of the banter months ago. And at least the new Firefox is pretty cool too. And I'll post some real pictures once I can edit j-pegs or restore my other picture files.

Error

****NOTICE****
My trusty and diligent Dell Inspiron 2200 that traveled with me all over the country died yesterday. I type this from my work laptop (brand new Think Pad that is stripped down right now) while I decide if I want to buy another crappy product from Microsoft, or go the Apple route. I am amazed that a company as big as Dell only offers a single, shoddy operating system.

Yes, it looks like it will be the low-end Apple Notebook. Twice as much, but I imagine it will be at least half the aggravation of dealing with the instability of Microsoft. Hopefully I will get back running soon.

Chickens

Today was a wondrous fall day. We had another impromptu workshop titled Urban Chickens 101, conducted by a friend and resident expert on chickens and permaculture in general. Then over to another friend's place for a pot luck dinner. Usually I cook something, but today I didn't. Instead, I bought a yummy cake at the bakery/cafe last night. Te cakes from La Vie En Rose are always a big hit - whether at a pot luck vegetarian gathering, or a formal dinner party. But the turnout was nice, and it's good to see many of the same people - and new faces - interested in urban gardening.

I've had my chicken coop built for a bit, but may not stock it until the springtime. I've been told the hens lay less in the winter. But I am looking forward to having my own fresh eggs, as once you have fresh local eggs, the others can't really compare.

And it's been getting close to freezing at night, so we turned the gas on today. The summertime gas bills of $4.24 are over. But Magilla likes the gas fireplace insert (I've seen a few others of this same model around Bellingham) as she has a thin, fine layer of fur and seems to get cold easily. Firing it up in the morning for a few minutes can take the chill out of the air.

ReStore

There is a place in Bellingham that has all sorts of neat home items discarded from old houses. It's called the ReStore. I went there looking for a door, but instead ended up scoring some (already opened) exterior paint for five bucks that happens to be one of the same colors used on the exterior trim. Painting the worn, but original, wooden storm windows is not too far off in my future. I should put them up while the weather still cooperates. The color is sort of an eggplant, so for the lack of making any decorative decisions, it will stay eggplant.

A beautiful day of nothing more than running errands.

As I sit in La Vie En Rose on Holly Street in Bellingham, someone just popped in Neil Young. They're closing up at six o'clock and it's eleven of, so time to leave. An appropriate song, considering the cloudy Saturday late afternoon as the daylight already begins to dwindle...

"Think Ill pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to l.a.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up.
Start a brand new day.

The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
Shes so fine, shes in my mind.
I hear her callin'.

See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay.
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say."

Rain

This will be the first of many entries titled "rain." It was spitting tonight on the way home around 11pm. Not enough for rain gear - I didn't bring it anyway. They say it rains one drop at a time in Bellingham. That was the case tonight. It's funny how people somehow want to drive you and your bike home, and feel like they're doing you a favor. Nights like tonight...well some people will never get it.

Home and fed and looking for a relaxing weekend. A friend e-mailed and will be spending a few nights here. Guests are fun. They're even more fun when they are only staying for two days.

Wondering what I need to do this weekend, I realize that it is rather minimal. Let's hope it stays that way.