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For some reason or another one of the local papers decided to come into my place of employment, take some pictures, and do a class act writeup of the illustrious Bagel: Deli and Sandwich Shop. Check out the full size pictures from the article.

Today I definitely sat next to Harvey Keitel at the coffee shop. To make the experience better, I thought he was a mentally challenged person when I first sat down; it wasn’t until I left that I realized it was him.

During a break from rock climbing a few of us were standing around shooting the shit and exchanging some climbing problems. We were standing right along the road when a huge blast came from the surrounding mountains. I immediately thought it was an approaching storm and followed the othes’ lead by throwing my gear under the nearest rock and bolting to cover. Instead of a storm, I witnessed a historic geological moment affectionately known as a rock avalanche. The whole area was covered in dust for a few minutes and we ran out of the rock area to see the damage. Fortunately the rocks (only a few tons of them) had fallen from one of the higher ledges to an area about a quarter of a mile from us. There was really no danger of getting hit by the avalanche, but it was a damn cool experience. From what I was told such a thing has only happened five times in the known history of the mountain area. So no, my car was not crushed, but it did give me the adrenaline to climb hard for an extra hour and a half.

Not really retirement per se, but along similar veins as the last one, so I need, like, symmetry in titling.

As a joke, I wrote a song for my boss, who is leaving for another store. It is kind of sloppy since it is by far the fastest I have ever done such a thing (4.5 hrs writing/recording total) but I had fun and with luck he will find it amusing. Anyhow, it is called “Miles, Please, Miles“. The title and the opening/closing samples are references to frequently used Target-speak over the walkie. All lyrics are either “Miles” (his name), “Plano” (the “team” we were on), “Miles Please Miles” or “Miles from Plano.” Do enjoy.

So, the teacher from my high school who handled most of my programming classes retires this year. Since she was a good teacher and tried to help some during the beginning of the “bad times,” I figured I’d get her a card. However, I absolutely freaking hate store-bought cards, so I made up for it by making her this one. Enjoy.

Yeah, you knew it was coming.

Spielberg directing it would be coolish, but is probably a rumor, methinks.

Great op-ed article in the times about the imbalanced medical attention granted to men. Imbalanced in terms of: not enough. Makes some good feminist points (regular gynecologist visits are necessary why?) in addition to the more “masculinist” ones.

A few weeks ago, while still in Ohio, Steve, Julia, and I were photographed by Jim Tullis of Glucose Magazine during our afternoon of climbing. The magazine came in the mail yesterday and I was mildly disappointed, though not surprised, to find no pictures from that session. However, Jim was kind enough to email me the pictures from that afternoon.

Steve told me today that one of the pictures actually did make it in, though in a much smaller format. To my surprise my angry-looking face makes an appearance on the title page.

(click for page context)

The mini cameo is cool even though we didn’t make it into the main pictures for the article.

Being both feminist and, uh, pornographist, I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the first Feminist Porn Awards. As the article states, “Eleven awards will be handed out in three categories: porn flicks that depict ‘genuine female pleasure’ or ‘women having a good time,’ films that were produced or directed by women, and adult movies that ‘expand the range of pleasure for women.’”
I’m not in particular for this since I believe that assuming any particular sort of porn appeals to women is ultimately reductive and perhaps (though not necessarily) harmful. Men, for instance, can very clearly get off on anything from coprophagia videos to pictures of fully clothed women using a hula hoop. Theoretically, the same is true of women. Lesbians and “breeders” are obviously not going to get off on the same things for instance. Hell, the above description (quoted description, not hula-poop) covers a majority of anything I have in my own possession these days, and I’m not even remotely a woman, save Tuesdays. Reconciling feminism with porn has bothered me since a few years ago when I read Judith Butler’s very brief rail against it (too lazy to find the quote). This is kinda cool, but not 100% cool.
Edit: Link is safe for work.

You should mosey on over to Stacy’s blog for a great rendition of this past weekend. I couldn’t have said it better myself, so that’s why I’ll leave it to you to read her post.

Many thanks to Kate, Stacy, and Pete. Pete gets double thanks for buying Stacy and I ice cream.