Signifying nothing

Thrown out , originally uploaded by Theorris . Don't fall down in the street, please. If you do, make sure you crawl back to the gutter.

The sign says it all! , originally uploaded by catinlap . Indeed it does. "Haze" has to be the worst code word for smog I've ever heard. "Inversion" is just about as bad, but as it doesn't sound pleasant like "haze" and therefore I will deride the usage of "haze" more than "inversion." I give pause to think of the chemical stew that abides in the air at this point. This stew comes from one major source now: the beloved automobile. Thanks to Catinlap for the excellent photo. Please move now or just stop driving so damn much. (I'm doing penance for renting that fucking truck.)

Aspens in winter #4 , originally uploaded by Theorris .

TheOrris and his truck. , originally uploaded by catinlap . Told you. Merry Xmas! I couldn't aks for more! "He sees you when your sleeping! He knows when you are on the can!" (Bonus candy to anyone who gets my obscure reference.)

Cliche Christmas card photo , originally uploaded by Theorris . Happy ding dang to you all.

I am at a car rental place where, as in classic Seinfeld mode they apparently know how to take a reservation, but they don't know how to keep it. They have to fetch me a car from hither and yon. They say 15 minutes. I'm betting 30. I rent a car most Christmases since I have no car and visiting family and friends on non-existent holiday transport is impossible. I suppose I should write more about my experiment in refusing to own a car in a car-based culture (and I have occasionally, I suppose) but it seems insufferable to keep doing it. Suffice it to say, I like my choice generally (although it makes dating awkward). Whenever I fill out one of those carbon footprint calculators, my score comes up teensy. But back to why I am sitting her writing: the kind car rental agents offered me a truck for triple the rate of the car. How nice of them! They are also now pressing the collision damage insurance, which is a load of bollocks in that my credit card covers it all (trust m...

In my various adventures since I last rapped at you, I picked up Anthony Everitt's new biography Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor to fill the time while moving about the country with my tray table in its prostrate and unlocked position. The book is an interesting exploration of Augustus' life and Everitt admits quite frequently that we know little of the man based upon contemporaneous record simply because Augustus was an example of the quintessential autocratic politician: image control was everything and political secrets could make or break an administration. For example, at one point very late in his life Augustus went on a super-secret mission to visit his ne'er-do-well nephew Agrippa Posthumous (whom the princeps had adopted as his own son and would have succeeded him if he would have behaved better). When a senator who accompanied him on the tripped blabbed the top secret news to his wife, the man mysteriously died and his wife wailed at his fun...

Action on the mountain! , originally uploaded by Theorris . There you go. I'm outa here. Enjoy blogging silence. Go bid the cannons shoot!

crisp. , originally uploaded by catinlap . And I'll get to Scotland before ye.

Wilhelm Action Tree! , originally uploaded by Theorris . This year for the Wilhelm Annual Xtreme Xmas Xxtravaganza X-Tree we decided to put the many many many action figures we all have collected to good decorative use. Look closely and you will spy Wilhelm Wookie too. He's up at the top by Jesus and the Rancor. You can make out many of Jesus's pals in the tree throughout including the boxing rabbi, Amish, and Alien. And yeah, its a live tree. My carbon foot print is small as it is so I don't need your guff. Actually I do feel badly about it, but it was a farmed tree, grown for this purpose. It had its time to absorb our excess carbon. My housemates, however, have never had a live tree before last year and I felt badly for them, so agreed to get a real cut tree. It is nice to be a little primeval, however, and bring the pagan green inside. Our tree, however, is thoroughly religious, in that Jesus, a rabbi, the Amish, Santa, and a skeleton, represent their religion...

You nearly walk out the door with your shirt on inside-out You then actually check to make sure you are wearing pants. You wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat having dreamed that you forgot to go to a class for the entire semester and now it is the last day. You feel that email is a tool of the devil put on earth to enslave us and destroy our will to live. You realize that your supply of clothes is surprisingly resilient despite lack-of-laundry doing. You only think in terms of numbered lists.

The neighbor kitty-corner to the Wilhelm (my un-humble abode) have a pair of those decorative lit-up deer. You know the sort: stick frames formed into the shape of deer and bestrewn with Christmas lights. Well these deer are apparently the object of holiday culture jamming on the part of the neighborhood teens. Twice now in so many days I've witnessed groups of teens--two to rearrange the unsuspecting festive decorations and one to man the getaway car--attempting to rearrange the would-be deer into compromising sexual positions. Each time they have failed, however, due to the vigilance of my geriatric neighbor. I would take a picture of the kids' failure, but I fear my cantankerous neighbor would think I was in on the gag. I also don't really want him shouting at me to stay off his lawn.

Outside my office (at and undisclosed super-secret location) is a bulletin board where I have posted a flier from the Adbuster's folks about "Buy Nothing Christmas." The ad has a picture of Santa who, posed like a Buddha, is levitating above the words "Rise Above It/Buy Nothing Christmas." Personally, I have no intention of buying absolutely nothing, but I thought the folks who are campaigning against our gluttonous society deserved a small amount of space to state their case. It was interesting, therefore, to hear the following monologue outside my office today: "Buy Nothing Christmas?! Rise Above It?! What does that mean? ! Are they boycotting Christmas or something?!" Ultimately this person proves the Buy Nothing Group's parsimonious point: Christmas has been converted wholesale into a commercial holiday where it is not just connoted with buying goods, but is denoted by egregious spending, excluding any other trifling religious significa...

A victory for satirists everywhere: "San Francisco - The corporate owners of the popular children's television character Barney the Purple Dinosaur have agreed to withdraw their baseless legal threats against a website publisher who parodied the character and to compensate him for fees expended in defending himself." ( EFF: Breaking News ) Yay! Yay! Let's all sing now! Yay!

Spiff: Local First Utah - Home Jennifer Napier-Pierce has a interview with Local First Utah's Gavin Noyes, executive director in episode #65 of her podcast Inside Utah . In a related topic, Napier-Pierce also talks to Christi Paulson on the idea of "slow food."

I completely missed the 5th anniversary of Signifying nothing in this format and now I think it wants a divorce.

Don't wash your cell phone and expect it to work again. There is a cool indicator just inside the battery compartment of a cell phone that indicates that the device has been immersed in liquid (see #1). It is still necessary to write down phone numbers despite having a cell phone (see #1). (" Arrogance ", Cesare Ripa)

The computer woman who reads aloud my blog posts at Talkr has a charming way of saying "muthafucker." See I got her to say it again. I am so laughing my ass off right now.

All yall muthafuckas still talking sheyat about our Jazz better shut the fuck right up now. Why? Down 20 points and pulled out a win in THEIR house, betyotch. That's right. Uh huh. We watched the game at Murphy's (a step down in bars) on Main Street in good old down town muthafuckin SLC. Props. (I swear too much.)

Did someone say "4 day holiday devoted to gluttony in its various forms?" , originally uploaded by Theorris .

"AND FINALLY: A perhaps-telling quote from Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, on injuries: 'Last year, we had so many injuries I think guys prayed they're going to get hurt. That's what happens. The more you play that way the more you get hurt.' ( deseretnews.com | Jazz feeling love from national media ) So the Jazz players were praying that they would get hurt or players from other teams were praying that the Jazz players get hurt? What way are they playing? Religiously, complete with prayers? Why, pray tell, is this a telling quotation? (Quote is a verb not at noun, god damn you.) Thanks once again, crack Deseret News sports editing team for making things crystal clear.

Witness my droogies: This wrinkle in time, can't give it no credit I thought about my space and I really got me down (got me down) I got me so down, I got me a headache My heart is crammed in my cranium And it still knows how to pound I was counting the rings And I fell into a sleep I peeked to see if you were way back when I was counting the trees Until a day when there was one I'd hoped beneath, asleep is where that you had been (Frank Black, "Headache".) Go find the song somewhere. I'm begging you. Go find it. Seriously.

JAZZ: Larry H. Miller Renames the Home of the Utah Jazz Yay! Utah Jazz now represent bringing in high-level nuclear waste into Utah. Yay! Go team! Nuclearize us all! Jesus. At least the Jazz won again. (By the way, EnergySolutions Arena qualifies as the fucking stupidest name ever in support one of the most heinously 1984-esque industries ever.)

A very good stationary store This must be the most surreal moment in television history. What the hell is up with Steve Allen and the piano?

Was Augustus Glump Carted Away by this Point in the Movie? , originally uploaded by Theorris . All that time in Disneyland for Extremely Wealthy Hicks and the only good picture I get was this one. Yeesh. I was really looking forward to taking pictures of Nashville too. Sherman Alexie called the resort hotel we were all staying at "a perfect analogy of America." Next time that you see that your convention is at Opryland, beware: high prices, long lines, recycled air, and shattered dreams.

Inside of the dome , originally uploaded by Theorris . See I told you the hotel is like Logan's Run. This was Carousel. Capricorn fives and sixteens.

I hate it here . I'm sleeping in a mall. It is Logan's Run . Let me run.

Travel Easy , originally uploaded by Theorris . Another week and more travel. I caught these 3 in the Detroit airport last Sunday, I think. I assume he must have been traveling from the Middle East. His girl was absorbed in her People magazine and tried to get him to look at it. He ignored her. Her mother (or perhaps his) looked nervous the entire time. Perhaps all is not well in the relationship. I fly out again tomorrow morning. Perhaps another relationship tableaux will be in the offing as I travel to the heart of the Middle South.

Oxford University Press blog (yes they have a blog) has something special for Lisa B.: "On November 14th, 1851 Herman Melville published Moby Dick, the classic tale of Captain Ahab's whale hunt." ( OUPblog: This Day in History: Moby Dick is Published )

"I will destroy you!" , originally uploaded by Theorris . The phrase "shits and giggles" really pisses someone I know off.

Either purposefully or unpurposefully some company has left their wireless completely unprotected here at DTW. I sit in the "Irish Pub" (I assume some sort of marketing sneezitch of Guiness Corp--are they owned by Miller/Busch whoever now?) and have decided I have a moment to type. Yesterday was running solid for me from 5:30 a.m. to midnight (both Mountain time.) Busy is the name for conferences when you take on leadership positions. Anywhosits since I don't write about my professional existence here, I feel I am breaching some confidence: even if it is with myself. I suppose Dr. Write might think my unwillingness to blog about my professional existence here as somehow unwholesome--or at least too compartmentalized. I prefer, however, to keep the job and all it entails mostly in its little cage in the attic--or is it the other way round? Anyway the professional commitments allow me to travel a lot so that, naturally, intrudes upon my personal life. A guy right ne...

blue light special , originally uploaded by Theorris . I'm out of here for a couple of days. My Microtel, however, supposedly has wireless access, so expect an update from Ann Arbor. Maybe. If I feel like it. If I see anything interesting. Yeah, I can hear you now: "Some blue light special this is!" Aren't they all that way? I mean you get over to the flashing podium in Big K and it turns out the blue light special is tighty whiteys.

Walk past the polling station with its American flag posted in a planter to another set of doors thinking they would not have put the voting booths in the Catholic church's sanctuary. Enter those doors, look around and realize you have the wrong place. Turn around and spot several people leaving the other doors you passed up and realize your mistake. Walk back to the flag, look around and note the "Vote hear!" sign on the wall by the other doors. Enter the doors, spot more signs that lead past the sanctuary to a set of stairs leading to the church's basement. Follow the signs down, turn left at the bottom of the stairs and spot the election judges processing fellow citizens to conduct their suffrage. Wait patiently for a few people to be signed in. State your name clearly and somewhat loudly so the geriatric poll worker hears you. Wait for her to find your name. Sign your name upside down opposite your name. Take a yellow card and step to the next poll worker who take...

103 to 101 my droogies.  Want to take bets on when the Jazz don't make it over 100?  

106 my minions!  106!

Hmm: the Starlight Mints are going to be in Provo at Velour on the 8th. Are they worth a trip into the land of extreme happiness?

The Jazz did show up As young as they are And proceeded to wipe The floor of poor Phoenix As old as they are Nash Nash the gnashing of the Teeth 108 One O eight. Down fifteen at one point And then back to win What do you know? We'll leave it at that.

Ashdown Action Figure! Best political advertisement ever. Ever. EVER. (I am absolutely not kidding. It is brilliant.)

I've only got one thing to write to summarize the Jazz's walloping of Houston last night: "107 freaking points. 107 freaking points." OK that was two things, but since it is repetition it can count as one. I don't recall the last time the Jazz broke a hundred (although I'm sure they did it some time last year) but they haven't done it with such ease and adept play since 2 B.S.M. (Before Stockton-to-Malone). Boozer took it to the basket with authority. Miles held a solid outside. Williams showed he can lead a team. Fisher saved their asses when the team began a classic Jazz out-of-control spin in the 4th and brought them back to the afore-mentioned 107 freaking points. The only disappointment was Kirilenko, but his contribution really wasn't needed anyway because Yao was about as about as big a cry baby flat foot as Ostertag ever was last night. See this is what you get when you let your players play rather than trying to coach them to death. T...

Do you like my hat? , originally uploaded by Theorris . Happy Halloween every bloody!

Fortune , originally uploaded by Theorris . Is that really a fortune? Come on, fortunes are supposed to tell you something about the future, right, not some inane statement about personality traits. Wow, I guess I just proved that fortune wrong.

Favorite , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Oh Shadow! , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Wine grapes Pinot noir/Cabernet sauvignon 19th Century British Novelists George Elliott/Anthony Trollope 20th Century British Novelists D.H. Lawrence/Iris Murdoch 20th Century Poets T.S. Elliot/Theodore Roethke Philosophy Post-structuralism/Existentialism Cocktails Mojito/Standard Martini Distillations of philosophies "Be all you can be"/"Know thyself" Alcoholic authors F. Scott Fitzgerald/Dorothy Parker 70's Album Rockers Pink Floyd/Yes Politics Ronald Reagan/Jimmy Carter Farming Round-Up[TM]/Manure Pets Dogs/Fish Stravinsky Musical Compositions Rite of Spring /L'Histoire du Soldat 20th Century Minimalist Composers Phillip Glass/Steve Reich Opera Nixon in China/Girl from the Golden West Cars Saab/Ford Renaissance Despots Henry VIII/Cosimo D'Medici Fraternal Organizations Lions/Elks Jazz Basketball Andrei Kirilinko/Devon Williams Basketball Coaches Phil Jackson/Don Nelson SLC Intersections 9th & 9th/21st 11th Walkable Communities The Avenues/Sugarhou...

It is snowing.

Hieronymous Bosch yam fritter things with black cod , originally uploaded by Theorris .

A non-blogger and Dr. Write , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Middlebrow , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Counterintuitive, Hightouch, and other non-blogging types , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Assertively Unhip & The Biker , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Your grandpa's Chevy! , originally uploaded by Theorris . Ready to roll, beyotches!

In case of Emergency, Malibu! , originally uploaded by Theorris . Boy this rental car really does make me feel like I'm cruising down the Coastal Highway. Ah the plush plastic interior. Why do you think GM put the emergency flasher button so close to the name plate? Note how the 80s-computerific lettering leans into the wind.

In Utah you get about 3 weeks of the year where you can actually wear a light jacket and not freeze your ass off or (on the other end of the specturm) burn it up:  1.5 weeks in the spring and 1.5 weeks in the fall. It is twenty-seven-freaking-degrees outside my people.  Twenty-seven-freaking-degrees. Man it is great.

This dude has obviously never read Kafka's "A Hunger Artist:" A bearded and hollow-cheeked Agasi Vartanyan finished what he said was his 50th day without food, climbing out of plastic cube on the banks of the Neva River outside of St Petersburg - and promptly berating reporters. "I feel offended because my efforts did not attract much attention,' the 46-year-old said. 'Only local media wrote about it." ( IOL: Skinny man claims new world record ) Soon they will find his cage seemingly empty, and bury him straw and all. Everyone has forgotten the hunger artist. They will replace him with a leopard which "furnished almost to the bursting point with all that it needed, seemed to carry freedom around with it too; somewhere in his jaws it seemed to lurk; and the joy of life streamed with such ardent passion from his throat that for the onlookers it was not easy to stand the shock of it" (Kafka, "A Hunger Artist"). They will stand it an...

Outcasts , originally uploaded by Theorris . This shit is all gone. How the fuck did I end up with "My Lady's House Plants" anyway? I remember the 70s crap and Return of the Native is a spare copy (sadly that paper back was a remnant of high school) and 2001 is another double copy. There are some religious texts that I have no idea why I have hung on to and some pretty stupid yard sale grabs being thrown out. My sadest desertion, however, has to be the operation manual for Stephen Wolfram's Mathematica. It was given to me by some very good friends back in the day and I recall have quite a time actually enjoying mathematics for once in my life playing with the program. (It is at the very bottom of the stack on the right.) Sundee morning update: Just about done with the whole library. The outcast pile has grown considerably.

Witness: So am I intellectually skeptical of the rather awkwardly seated discussion, or just pining for the cute blonde girl I had a crush on who has the book we were discussing so elaborately displayed on her desk? (Note: I was not in the second class, but you Utah alumni will recognize OSH in all its 80's glory!) I think I still have that shirt, by the way. My hair was 20 years before its time too.

Because I was so pissed off at not being able to find a book the other week, I have started on the Great Library Reorganization of 2006. I have chosen the most arbitrary of organization systems: alphabetization by author's last name. I would prefer a more esoteric system (such as by subject matter) but screw that, I'm going for arbitrary order in my booky universe. Some of the shelf pairings are amusing. I will amuse you with them when I get the gumption. (I'm only bout a 1/8th way through the library, I think.) I've also diligently been entering the books into the librarything goobersmack.

"Dance my moneky! Dance!" , originally uploaded by Theorris . I doubt that Snowbird was intending for people to think the organ grinder had hired a little person to do the dancing.

New Beck ( The Information ): 3 listens so far. (And another fantuckingtastic Beckian website and album design that lets you make your own via stickers that come with the CD. Man what a life it must be in Beck Inc. town.) New The Decemberists ( The Crane Wife ): 5 listens so far (And a rather status quo website and album design, save the cool stickers I picked up at Orion's 4 weeks ago, and man what a life it must be in The Decemberists Inc. right now). Is a review in order? Three observations: Are they antiwar? What is the influence of Yes on The Decemberists? Why does Beck eschew album rock influences? Will there be a remix? For some reason I'm listening to Wilco Summerteeth at the moment. Perhaps it is a pallet cleanser.

Found sometime in July at 2300 East 2200 South, SLC, UT.

I just received the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet. On page 63 you can find instructions on how to operate the new voting machines. The pamphlet has amusing screen shots: Jack Nicholson as "Commisioner of" something and Lucille Ball as Minister of Comic Relief. Toni Morrison (the author) is also listed. I might note that the voter is shown casting her ballot for Jack.

Quite so But even the leaves Have time to grow Flush against hot Summer wind And then yellow And then die Crinkled on hard Concrete

Taxicab love You said our love was like a bus on route But the bus driver suffered a heart attack And now we're careening out of control About to slam into a Geo Metro Driven by Death himself--black clad, Chalky white grin from ear to ear (If he had ears beneath that itchy Cool cowl) but death has no ears to hear The screams of helpless passengers Or eyes to see that he is driving Straight into the out-of-control city Bus of our love Your analogy made me sad Because I'd paid full fare But you got on with your Student pass I brace myself for impact But you’ve already popped The emergency escape hatch And bailed, shoulder rolling To safety I knew we should Have just taken a cab.

over and over and over and over and over like a monkey with a miniature cymbal the joy of repetition really is in you under and under and under and under and under the smell of repetition really is on you and when i feel this way i really am with you ( Hotchip , "Over and Over") Super cool. You should hear the song.

Did Trainspotting really come out 10 years ago? Did I really just nod off in front of my computer? Shouting Shouting Shouting Mega Mega White Thing Come on Come on Come on

King Darius of Persia had the following text inscribed on his tomb: This indeed my capability: that my body is strong. As a fighter of battles I am a good fighter of battles. When ever with my judgment in a place I determine whether I behold or do not behold an enemy, both with understanding and with judgment, then I think prior to panic, when I see an enemy as when I do not see one. I am skilled both in hands and in feet. As a horseman, I am a good horseman. As a bowman, I am a good bowman, both on foot and on horseback. As a spearman, I am a good spearman, both on foot and on horseback. These skills that Ahuramazda set down upon me, and which I am strong enough to bear, by the will of Ahuramazda, what was done by me, with these skills I did, which Ahuramazda set down upon me. O man, vigorously make you known of what sort I am, and of what sort my skillfulnesses, and of what sort my superiority. Let not that seem false to you, which has been heard by your ears. Listen to what is said ...

Salt Lake Tribune - Grazing ruling a blow to counties : "'It'll be interesting to see what happens if there is no longer state money,' he said. 'I can't see these ranchers spending their own money, but I've been wrong before.' " Of course they won't spend their own money; they like to use collective land (that is, BLM/Forest Service land for uber uber uber cheap fees) and collective money (that is, state tax dollars) as if it is all their own and only theirs. Funny how these conservative folks love welfare when it is about their own welfare, isn't it? I also enjoyed the specious "these wilderness people only want to protect their precious hiking trails from the unsightly presence of cows" argument some where in the piece. Do you think they really believe that argument?

Fun with Macs , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Door , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Oog , originally uploaded by Theorris .

deseretnews.com | Taylorsville settles in animal rights suit : "The suit was filed after the city and Mayor Russ Wall relegated UARC members to a city-created 'free speech zone' during the city's 'Taylorsville Dayzz' celebration last July. Activists said they were handing out pamphlets and talking to patrons about animal cruelty in the food industry when they were told by city officials they must stand in the 'free speech zone' near a parking lot and away from the events and crowd traffic." And now Taylorsville has to dole out $15K for their strident desire that no one be upset at their interestingly spelled craptastic kitsch festival. Why didn't they just go for "Taylorzzville" too? That would violate all bounds of free speech, I should think.

Too much beer Not enough pussy And a nagging at his mind That he is not and never will be Enough So he slumps there, Bus-stop-waiting, Holding his breath every Once in a while To see what it is Like To imagine the blackness He'd stare up at without Knowing or maybe knowing Until his eyes rot In their sockets At least it would be quiet No heart pounding because Of too many cigarettes No bratty kid wailing in The backroom No thought No nothing As the bus pulls up he Scratches out his cigarette On the concrete and sticks The unconsumed portion In his front pocket

Belt buckle art , originally uploaded by Theorris . My artist friend Kali makes belt buckles and whatnot. This one is 8 penny nails and a washer. It turned out great.

The inimitable Hightouch Megastore is throwing a dinner party this evening. I don't know why, but it seems appropriate to write about it. I don't normally write about such social gatherings. It might be because I am eager to see the remnants of her erstwhile meadow (forceably destroyed by the West Jordanarian Garden Uniformity Polizei. I also wish to meet her rambunctious dog and the less-rambunctious dog she rescued some months ago. Oh yes and I want to see the bamboo floor in the study. Hightouch also seems to be quite the cook, so I look forward to eating well. Perhaps a $30 lemon pie is in order? I don't think I will take my camera as that seems too intrusive. I've purchased both white and red wines for the occasion. I suppose getting a chardonay and a cabernet sauvignon is a bit pedestrian, but I've come to like them again. One review called the cab "uninteresting." We'll see. Update: the dinner was very good and the wine was interest...

It is all poetic hash A buffet of lines Ham frying on the grill

Totalitarians really love motley metaphors, macerated in trope, hyperbole, and the mundane: 1) super man 2) sun 3) leader 4) life But of course Lenin was dead when the film was made. Filleted by chef Stalin and served to the people: Zharkoye for the starving. Long ago the sun had set: his brain ruptured in what would be the death throes of his revolution's sunrise. I told you they love the remixed mix-up metaphor, so why shouldn't I? And the masses, they eat it all up. They lick their plates clean: A) potatos B) mindlessness C) sunshine Love equals mindless devotion as the buried tuber loves the sun. Or are they eaten? Flesh picked from their bones by the Party? Maybe I don't understand because I'm not a totalitarian matre d' or a dirt farmer or a canibalistic star sending out rays to be thoughtlessly absorbed and converted, eventually, historically, emphatically to vodka or maybe it is because I am not a potato? Stick boys Stick

Dali film director

Dali stabbing artwork

Insert comment here , originally uploaded by catinlap .

1) Badly Draw Boy 2) Sigur Ros 3) Detroit Cobras I'm not sure how they fit into a omelet-enhanced morning of a lingering headache, but they do: 1) The sun is caught on the louver blinds like in a film noir . 2) The hot pepper from the south forty was particularly hot. 3) A picture of an old girlfriend is nestled underneath the wires by my computer. Those are the links in numeric order. And now it is this, out of the somewhere between me and the text splayed on the screen: And then they drove me to an Albertson's outside of Boise And took me into a back room. And they said the wanted to balance my checkbook; and they said they wanted to organize my receipts and itemize my expenses and that I had the key to a saftey deposit box, with treasury bonds and the key to another safety deposit box where I'd stashed away the only pewter pocket watch that ever belonged to Joseph Smith's Great-Great Uncle's Brother-in-law. (Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea , "Oh Sweet Woods....

Jenn and Cue , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Expensive homes saved! Hooray! Nearly two dozen very expensive homes were threatened by the fire which came within a few yards of some structures. But all homes were saved and there were no injuries as of early afternoon. ( deseretnews.com | Firefighters continue to battle blaze )* Expensive parking garage for Capitol Hill a good thing! Hooray! Most Utahns want a new state Capitol parking garage, which is now under construction despite an effort to put it on hold at least temporarily. ( deseretnews.com | 54% want parking garage ) Expensive mines don't have to clean up after themselves! Horray! (That would be just too expensive!)** A reclamation project of Pacific Mine in American Fork Canyon may have just made cleanup operations*** across the country a whole lot easier. ( deseretnews.com | Loophole eases mine cleanup ) Expensive gondola boondogles deserve protection from freedom of speech! Hooray! Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey has asked two groups of residents to stop distributin...

Salt Lake Tribune - U. of Idaho center is aimed at helping students go green : "A new environmental center at the University of Idaho is aimed at giving the more than 12,000 students returning to campus this week new ideas on how to keep from being too much of a burden on planet Earth. The student-run University of Idaho Sustainability Center, now hiring its five-person staff, is the result of lobbying by students last year for an $85,000 share of school fees and tuition. "

Send me your vacation stories gone wrong. Vacation Macaque will surely have something to say about it. Fox News has the story (oy.) (I found this on The Deseret Spectacle , by the way.) Thanks to Golden puppy, webgo, Goldenboy7, and interrobong from flickr.com for the images used above.

Hasta luego , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Muddy Creek: Happy Couple , originally uploaded by Theorris .

John and Kendra , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Solomon's Seal? , originally uploaded by Theorris . I'm not sure if this really is solomon's seal or not. In any case the flower heads are great.

Sugarloaf and Pine Grove , originally uploaded by Theorris . You can see the meadow between the pines, looking up towards Sugarloaf mountain.

Uncertain , originally uploaded by Theorris . I can't remember this plant's name. It is something like jackass flower (I'm not kidding.) My old girlfriend Mary told me what it was.

Lupins , originally uploaded by Theorris . The lupins were in full bloom.

Lupins and unknown , originally uploaded by Theorris . I was sitting on this cool outcropping of granite.