Hydration

The City of Madison has been flushing all of the hydrants over the past few days. While I'm glad to see that fire safety is a priority, it has been quite trying at times. Our water has been repeatedly turned brown as the process stirs up mineral deposits in the water mains. At home in Maple Grove, we were usually affected for a single afternoon each year. Here, for whatever reason, hydrants near us have been flushed over the course of the work-week. This morning was particularly bad, as the problem compounded with our normal water-related vexations of rather warm "cold" water in the kitchen sink and rather cool "hot" water in the bathroom sink. Ultimately I ended up wandering around in my bathrobe while running the shower and both sinks to get clear water of the appropriate temperature in each one. It really made me feel appreciate living in a place where I have enough water to cook, clean, and drink, and made me feel a little guilty about being picky about the mineral content and temperature. I've been doing a little reading at The Water Page. It's an interesting, although often sad topic.

Lifeguard Training and First Aid

I passed the pool portion of my test, and found the 500-yard swim to be a piece of cake. And I came in second, only 50 yards behind the frequent swimmer. Due to the small size of our class we needed much less time to than the allotted two-and-a-half hours, so we were given the chance to practice each rescue. It was rather nice, although we ended up going long as a result. With the Red Cross stuff included, I was in class for 445 minutes today. I have a major headache, mostly from the pressure of twelve feet of water; I'm headed straight to bed.

CPR for the Professional Rescuer

I've just returned from the Badger Chapter American Red Cross, where I recertified in CPR for the Professional Rescuer. It was a small class and we burned through the skills tests by combining all the scenarios that we could into three long ones (adult, child, infant), thus avoiding repeating the very basics ("check the scene to see if it is safe") over and over. I have an in-the-water skills test on Wednesday to renew my 3-year lifeguard certification. It's hard to believe it's been that long. It's also hard to believe that the certification I earned for CPR/AED in May is completely redundant now. I couldn't have avoided it, but I sure wouldn't mind having the money back.

Pizza and Pissarro

I spent today in Chicago, once again visiting the Art Institute and Giordano's. Once again, I had an excellent time. There was no special exhibit this time, Seurat was done and Toulouse-Lautrec hasn't yet begun. I did take enjoy Japanese Art from the Alsdorf Collection, which was small but appealing. One piece included a poem in beautiful Japanese calligraphy:

If you want to live
Until your beard becomes long
And your back is bent,
You must not eat too much food,
And you'd better sleep alone.

Professor Buenger showed us a half dozen pieces that fall into our domain of Twentieth Century Italian. A half dozen pieces was really all they had. America seems to have thoroughly ignored all Italian art produced in the past three hundred years.

I walked with Nat, who sits next to me in lecture, in search of Giordano's. The one closest to the Institute was closed, so we went to the one I visited last spring. The pleasant surprise was that the area was much nicer with constriction on Millennium Park completed. We even went for a stroll over to Cloud Gate while our pizza was baking to utilize our time effectively. It was a very cool piece, even unfinished.

On the way back, Nat and I edited some short stories written by his classmates in Creative Writing. Neither story was good, but one was so unbelievably terrible that we were in tears. I'll try to get the exact text, but for now I'll reproduce the first two lines as best I can from memory:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful kingdom that was always sunny, with the sky a perfect shade of blue, never any clouds, and the grass was always green. Unfortunately, because it was always sunny, the plants withered and died, the grass turned a lovely brown, then fell to dust and blew away, and all the flowers bloomed no more.

¡Ay, ay, ay!

Dark Side of the Rainbow

Last night I watched the first loop of Dark Side of the Rainbow, which is, of course, the MGM Studios film The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon replacing the normal soundtrack. It also happened to be my first time listening to the album, which I enjoyed in its own right as well as in conjunction with the picture.

Actually, I think I enjoyed that method of viewing the film more than the "straight-up" version. I know my opinion of the film isn't very popular (and for that reason I rarely voice it), but I just don't like the film version of The Wizard of Oz. I have long felt that the book is far superior. I feel the same way about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Oscar for best picture, but I don't think anyone gets as upset when they discover that I dislike that movie. And Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...well yes, people do get upset when they discover my feeling about that movie, but...whatever.

Year Two Begins Now

The Life and Times is one year old. Hooray!

The Soft Drink With A Head

My major soda shipment for the year arrived this afternoon. I opened the first of the twenty-three bottles this evening after running on the mill. The drink was Apple Beer, "the soft drink with a head." I thought it was very good. It wasn't a green apple drink like Batch No. 6, but had more of a classic apple cider taste.

On another pleasant note, I got a copy of Macromedia Studio MX. Dreamweaver is one of the elements, and I shall use that to build a webpage for James Block, a candidate for Asemblyman of the 78th District of Wisconsin. You can see the site here. Hopefully I'll have it completely functional by tomorrow evening. After I get that done, I'll see what I can do to improve this site; I know its still not really viewable for Firefox users, and I've been feeling bad about that.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Trouble in Chicago

I went to get my hair cut today, and the cheap place closed at noon, so I went to a nicer place that is actually much closer. I believe it was called "Nogginz," and I'm not sure if it's a chain or a single store. I had a half hour wait, but my chair was very comfortable and the magazines were new. I finally got called by a heavily tattooed and pierced young woman. After we established how I wanted my hair (an exchange which made me feel very ignorant), I tried to make small talk with her. I found out that she had been living in Seattle during 2003, but hated it because "all the people were so stupid." Seeking more along that vein, I learned that she had lived in Chicago briefly before that and loved it. I asked her why she left, and she said she got into too much trouble there. "Trouble?" I asked. "Yeah. If I stayed I'd probably be dead with a needle in my arm," she answered matter-of-factly. "Ah," I replied.

The Two Webs

My notebook computer is my access to the World Wide Web, but it is increasingly the root of another type of web - one composed of 17 wires and cords connecting the various gadgets on my desk. I just got a new external hard drive today. I'm not sure if its working as fast as it should, but I'm certainly thankful to have it. My 20 GB internal drive was down to less than 200 MB, and that includes very little fat. I think this should hold me for a good long while though, so long as no one buys me a video camera, God forbid.

Intriguing Product

In my attempts to find a birthday gift for Claire that acknowledged our shared residence in this great state of Wisconsin, I found this store. I sent her five pounds of the Original White, and I think she's enjoying them.

The third Intriguing Product is Rock Cheese & Honey Super Fresh Cheese Curds, made right here in Madison, Wisconsin!

Since 1984

Happy twentieth, Claire!

6

What a day: I had six classes for a total of 395 minutes in class. This schedule included my first Russian History discussion and a STS course on Adobe InDesign. Professor McDonald called my name during attendance with perfect pronunciation of 'Hepokoski.' I expected this, but it pleased me nonetheless. I'm pretty used to having people either botch up my last name ('Heposki' and 'Hepokowski' are the two common attempts) or freeze completely. I've gotten in the habit of using my middle name whenever possible to help the situation. For instance, on the Othello trip they were calling attendance on a noisy bus. Going there, I heard "James Lucasssssss Uhhhhh..." before I cut her off with a "here." Coming back, I was simply "James Lucas," which suits me fine. Three syllables are usually enough to tell that it's my name being called, and the absense of the last four saves others much stress.

The Moore of Venice

I just returned from The American Players Theatre where I saw a production of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello, Moore of Venice. I thought it was a good performance, and the theater was lovely, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the play. I have a harder time sympathizing with protagonists who are foolish or easily duped. I prefer the likes of prince Hamlet, who was quite intelligent and kept his wits about him through his tragedy.

My ticket, bus fare, and dinner were subsidized by the Honors Student Organization, so I paid only twelve dollars for the whole excursion - quite the bargain. I met a couple of very nice first-years and ended up walking them home after we returned so that they wouldn't need to wait for campus escorts. The entire way turned out to be fairly well lit and active, though, as our route was also that of the Ironman competition, which, to our amazement was still in progress. I'm truly impressed by those people who are going twelve hours after beginning.

I ran back to the dorm so that I'd be able to place an order with the PRH pizza delivery service only to find that the service isn't yet operational. I'm frustrated, but I had a Steaz Key Lime soda to hold me over to the morning. On a final note for the evening, I finally got a chance to introduce myself to a Highlander resident with whom I've been exchanging smiles on the street for almost a year now. Her name is Sarah, and she lives a floor above me. I might have been frustrated to meet someone looking like the mess that I do, but I've seen her so many times that I guess I don't exactly consider tonight to be a first impression.

Letter from Aunt Lin

I received this letter from my Aunt Lin, who is an elementary school teacher and occasionally updates the family on the more entertaining school happenings.

Here is some first week kid stuff from school.

A teacher has two boys named Jack in her class so typically a teacher adds the initial of the last name to the first. One is an S and one is a P. Jack S. is very active and needs lots of guidance. Another child noticed that if the name Jack S. is said quickly, it is a bad word......

Hailey's Mom is having a baby, which they just found out is a boy. She excited told my whole class about her upcoming baby brother and then told us not to tell her Mom as it is a surprise.

A kindergarten teacher told us at lunch about how a kindergarten child excitedly told the whole class after looking at Officer Dan in complete uniform that his Mom has handcuffs just like that on the bedstand.

After reading a story about a boy who was nervous and worried, the children were asked to write about a time when they were nervous or worried. To get them started, a few children were asked to share what they would write about. One 7 year old boy told about the time he went into his parents' bedroom and saw an adult video on his Dad's bed. Should be an interesting piece of writing to share at conference time. :-)

Two days down into the school year.
Love,
Lin

I do love getting e-mails from the family.

Slip 'n Slide

Every now and then, life seems to imitate a joke. I'm sure on many occasions two preachers and a rabbi have walked into a bar. However, within the limitations of my own personal experiences, today was the topper. I was walking down the sidewalk this afternoon. And I slipped. On a banana peel. It was an honest-to-goodness banana peel, right there in front of Blockbuster video. I caught myself in time, but man-oh-man, it was a close one.

Inspired by today's incident, I did a little Googling, and I found this "poem."

Pigeons, Lemons, and Mangos

I read this article today:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Organizers of a race for homing pigeons were still scratching their heads in wonder Thursday after about 1,500 of the birds, famous for their ability to find their way home, went missing during the contest.

Of the 2,000 pigeons let loose last week, only about 500 have returned to their lofts after the 150-kilometer (93 mile) flight between the cities of Ljungby and Malmö in southern Sweden, said Lars-Aake Nilsson of the Malmö Homing Pigeon Club.

"The weather was perfect - no rain, no thunder and no strong winds," he said.

In past races, the birds, all of which sport electronic identification tags around their feet, made the journey in about two hours.

But at Sunday's race, something went wrong.

"I have worked with pigeons since 1960 and have never experienced anything like this," Nilsson said, adding that the birds might have been thrown off course by subtle changes in the earth's magnetic field.

The pigeons have a natural homing instinct and are believed to navigate by the sun and the magnetic waves of the earth, Nilsson said.

"And even though some are lost to hawks or hazards like power lines along the way, many more should have made it back home. It's a mystery," he added.

He said there have been no reported sightings of the missing birds anywhere in southern Sweden. He declined to say how much the birds were worth.

"It's not so much the economic value as it is a loss to the sport," Nilsson said. "It takes about two years to breed a racing pigeon."

[23 July 2004]

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Also, I met my long-time friend Jenny for icecream this afternoon. I had a hot fudge sundae with one scoop of "Leggo My Mango" and one scoop of lemon sorbet. Jenny had a raspberry mango smoothie, which I tried and found to be quite delicious despite the clear dominance of the raspberry over the mango. We hung out here for a while and caught up a bit. She's changed a lot since I knew her in junior high (as I guess one would expect), and I think we communicate even better now.

Americana

I attended the first Badgers football game of the season today, which also happened to be my first college football game (of the American variety, that is). In fact, excepting one of my cousin Karl's high school games, it was my first football game ever. It wasn't the thrill of a lifetime by any means, but I enjoyed myself. Officially, I "sat" in section M, row 47, seat 27. In reality I spent the game standing on or near that section of the bleachers.

This evening I did a little looking into the U.S. Representative race back home in Minnesota's third district. Jim Ramstad has a Republican opponent this year. I wasn't really sure what to expect in this new guy, whose name is Burton Hanson, but I visited his site, and I am really floored by this guy. I haven't read everything, but he sounds perfect thus far. I really hope this guy gets enough out-of-party activity to at least give Ramstad a run for his money.

Also, I watched The French Connection, which surprised me with it's New York locale; I guess I've always thought it would be in Europe like Ronin, which is so often compared to it. I suppose the title didn't do anything to dissuade me from such an erroneous belief.

And while I address things American this evening (or morning, I guess), I just thought I would ask my readers about the situation in Florida. Bush is showing his compassionate side by promising billions of dollars of money to help Floridians rebuild after these hurricanes. It seems to me though, that this is an act of "compassion" that actually negates the "conservative" part of his tagline. I guess this is one of the cases where I am quite conservative; I'm pro-choice and against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but I really don't see this kind of spending to be an acceptable use of federal money. I really don't want my tax dollars going to a bunch of people who live in an area that is often hit by tropical storms for the purpose of building new structures that will be destroyed and/or flooded sometime in the foreseeable future. Where's the incentive to improve and innovate if we just bail these people out time and again? Any thoughts?

Fall 2004

Classes resume today at Madison. I had my first one this morning: Math 541 (modern algebra). The professor seemed pretty nice, although he admitted that he's not very comfortable with e-mail, so it may be a little more difficult to ask him questions outside of class.

Here's the schedule for the fall (I think one class will have to go):
Modern Algebra
Drawing I
History of Russia through 1801
Twentieth-Century Italian Art
Shakespearean Drama I
European Architecture: 15th-18th Centuries