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my life in work and play and guestrooms

guestroom, san francisco ca

[x-posted from jessamyn.com where it's "wrap up the decade" week]

I can not tell a lie, when I did my last year in cities I thought "Eh, I can top that." I don't think I'd like to recreate the frenetic craziness that seemed to buzz around a lot of these trips, but they sure were mostly fun. 2006 saw me get to my last US state and flesh out my list of states I've given library talks in. Next year I will travel less. I have pictures of all the beds but one. Here is the list. Stars indicate multiple visits to the same place. Numbers indicate number of distinct guestrooms at each location. Idea from Matt, who got it from Jason who apparently has visited the town next to mine, recently. I expect to see him at the Sugar House one of these days.

Bethel, VT (aka home)
Pelham, AL [work/play]
Montgomery, AL [play]
San Antonio, TX (3) [work]
Somerville, MA * [work/play/family]
Houston, TX (2) [work]
Tunbridge, VT [play]
Chappaqua, NY [work]
Columbus, OH [work]
Westport, MA * [work/play/family]
San Francisco, CA * (2) [play]
Warren, NH [play]
New Orleans, LA (3) [work]
Amherst, MA [play]
Brooklyn, NY [play]
Ferrisburg, VT [play]
Washington DC [work]
Baltimore, MD [play]
Jamaica Plain, MA [play]
Chicago, IL [work]
Kittery, ME [play]
Fargo, ND [work]
Boxborough, MA * [play/family]
Bridgeport, CT [work]
Braintree, VT * [play]
Burlington, VT * (2) [work/play]
Barre, VT [play]
Portland, OR [play]
Corbett, OR [work]
McMinnville, OR [play]
The Dells, WI [work]
Madison, WI [play]
Los Angeles, CA [play]
Waikiki, HI [work]
South Lansing, MI [work]

Souper Solstice

Happy Birthday Unconquered Sun

Good riddance shortest day of the year! Here in the valley the sun set before 3:30 today. I took a few pictures. Judging from all my solstice pictures, it was a hell of a lot snowier here this time last year though judging from friends' reports, it's snowier almost everywhere else in the US besides here.

My sister is coming up tomorrow from Massachusetts and we're doing our traditional xmastime stuff a little early because she has to go back to work at the Crime Lab on Tuesday (I love saying she works at the crime lab, so cool!). I still miss being able to go up to Alaska easily for the holidays but there is something about being in New England that feels like how this time of the year is supposed to be.

While she's up I figured I'd introduce her to some of my friends. There has been a certain amount of concern in my family and elsewhere that me living alone in this spooky old house might be some sort of... problem. The fact that when they ask me about it I say "No actually IT'S GREAT, REALLY REALLY GREAT" doesn't help. So, Kate's coming up and she'll see how great it is and we're having people over for soup. This means a bit of tidying up, and a bit of recipe planning. Here is my crib sheet of recipes, some or all of which will wind up on the table tomorrow along with some sweet potato fries, xmas cookies, candied ginger, mulled apple cider and some good crusty bread. Here are soups I like, some of which I may make. You are invited.

Ari's The! Science! Of! Vegetable! Soup! recipe - don't know shit about soupmaking but don't want to embarrass yourself? start here.
judith's understated lowercase pumpkin soup - not much could make me pay $7 for an organic squash, but Judith can.
Some sort of red pepper/lentil soup. Two likely candidates from epicurious - Lentil and sweet red pepper soup or Lentil soup with garam masala
Matzoh ball soup - from some random box, though maybe I'll try this recipe since it has me laughing by the second paragraph.

twelve days of geek glee in 50 words & four symbols

• new lapotopo + arRsync
• Meebo t-shirt in the mailbox
• joshua in my mutual del.icio.us network
• Wireless @ my library
• me, a Wikipedia pundit?
• Upcoming puzzle hunt
• ego search machine
• #1 most interesting harbl
• #3 for naked photos
• NPR likes Ask MetaFilter, so does Anil
• HURF DURF Question Authorities
• low tech leftover: the lemon pig

Earflaps!

 

Earflaps!  - Originally uploaded by Muffet.

How is my Mom doing? She's great. She's ridiculous. She knows what makes me laugh, even from a distance.

How to remove the LNBF in teeny tiny type

How to remove the LNBF in teeny tiny type
Originally uploaded by jessamyn.

Dear Dish Networks,

I was mightily impressed when our Dish was installed. Watching your installer guy climb around with heavy tools on ladders and rooves was inspirational and even somewhat mystifying.

When my landlady moved on and I decided I no longer needed a zillion channels of television, imagine my surprise when I realized that I would be expected to climp up on my own roof to remove the LNBF from its position at the center of my Dish. Fortunately, you provided instructions and a box.

However, while I am pleased with your concern and your entreaties to "use caution when climbing and working at the dish mounting location" I was less pleased with being told I had ten days to accomplish this task or pay you $149. You see, it's wintertime in New England and climbing and working are two things that we New Englanders like to do less of when there's ice on the ground, roof, ladder and Dish.

I exaggerate for effect, actually it was only pouring rain today. However, since snow is forecast for later in the week, I thought it might be good to get this out of the way before the freeze. You see, I enjoyed satellite television while I had it, but I am not willing to die for it. I'm a little concerned that climbing up on the roof of my Victorian house with a phillips head screwdriver in hand might be considered suicidal enough during a rainstorm.

Your directions were less than clear. I'd like to blame my own failing eyesight but alas even with a close inspection in good light it appears that the arrows and labels that you used to identify the various parts of the LNBF were blurry even at significant magnification. This may have been due to your "one sheet for all eleven varieties of Dish" schematic approach. Next time you might want to consider maybe limiting the diagrams to five or six per page.

Next time you might want to mention what LNBF stands for.

Next time you might want to mention in your directions that while your diagram shows a "switch" as being part of the items that MUST be returned, in fact not all customers will have a switch. The nice man on the telephone informed me that I did not have a switch.

Next time your installer guy might want to say "Take careful notes because if you ever cancel your service, this will be your ass up on this ladder!"

I say next time, but there will not be a next time, Dish Networks. I got my LNBF taken apart -- after first removing the protective "shroud" -- and I unscrewed the coax cables. Now I'm returning the remaining Dish to the klatsch of ladybugs that seemed to be happily nesting in a place that I was less than happy to be.

After I drive the 40 miles round trip to my nearest UPS drop-off location with the prepaid box, I will go home and sit by my darkened television and I will turn on the radio. The radio is free, and its antenna works comfortably from inside my house. No hard feelings, I hope.

Your former customer,

Jessamyn