Midaregami

There’s a Dashboard widget for posting to Blogger.

There’s a Dashboard widget for posting to LiveJournal. More than one, actually.

So why isn’t there one for Movable Type? C’mon, guys. This should be easy. I guess I could use QuickPost, but that’s not very… snazzy. As a Mac user, I thrive on golden trinkets. Give me my shinies.

I want these very badly.

So… expensive…

Here is my PGP public key. You may use it for secure, verifiable communication with me. Also, it’s fun to send encrypted email.

I don’t like the use of disingenuous nonsense like “Best regards,” or “Sincerely,” at the end of emails. I’ve only ever seen it used in emails where the sender is either totally impersonal (i.e., an automated email program) or an officious pinhead who might as well be (e.g., an admissions officer for an institution of learning). In the few instances where the sender is not one of the above, they typically come off sounding like it anyway owing to the overwhelming prevalence of same. Thus, I submit the following email style guidelines to be included in my Handbook of Style for the Internet (Hitting bookstores everywhere in 2007):

Before I get into the textbook reading, I’m going to comment on the “We don’t say that” statement from a girl in class.

It was on Friday, Sep. 16, and we were discussion the phonological changes that occur in rapid or informal speech. You put forth the observation that mora from the ラ行 often change to the mora nasal in rapid speech, and the class was considering the applicability of this rule—was it a predictable phenomenon, or was it like “gonna” and “wanna” in that it was lexically-determined and unpredictable?

AVAST YE!

Arr.

I have a new acquaintance, a colleague in the department who plays games. Last Monday I enjoyed a brisk round of Carcasonne, a map-making and building game vaguely reminiscent of that dork classic, Settlers of Catan.

Last night, this same learned colleague brought over Chrononauts, a card game of paradoxes and shifting timelines. In the course of one game in which the outcome of World War II was hotly contested, Hitler was assassinated, then brought back to life, then re-assassinated before I accidently destroyed the universe.

I always consider an evening well-seized if I manage to annihilate the space-time continuum.

The day before yesterday I got on the bike (which has been christened the “EALL Short Bus”) and rode out to Waikiki Beach, then looped around Diamond Head. Seriously, that’s what I did. I just rode my bicycle to Waikiki Beach, then continued on around a huge volcanic crater, on a loop that covered, oh, 13 miles or so. Very satisfying. Also freaking gorgeous. Did you guys know how big the ocean is? It’s huge, and blue.

This Hawai’i thing is going to take some getting used to.

The Short Bus is performing admirably, the few hiccups in its operation due almost entirely to my lack of facility with various tricksy pieces of overgrown clockwork. I note with some satisfaction that I can keep up with downtown traffic, and my confidence while riding in that traffic only increases, as does my wariness. Years of motorcycle riding have instilled in me the knowledge that I am essentially invisible to motorists—not cool invisible, Invisible Girl invisible, but rather oh-crap-he’s-turning-left-right-into-me invisible.

Finally, I have purposed to circumnavigate the island of O’ahu before I leave here.

Yesterday I installed the Crank Brothers “Eggbeater” pedals, retrued the rear wheel, and completed the bike project. I put in a few miles on it today, and my lordy it is sweet—not sweet like ninjas, but sweet like homemade chocolate, delicious sweet.

Of course, I was nearly killed by a clueless left-turner while appreciating the sweetness, thus driving home the point that I am even less visible on a bicycle than on a motorcycle. My traffic instincts will require further honing.

Also, my legs are pretty tired. Lance Armstrong, I ain’t.

I have not talked about it a great deal, but the bicycle project has continued. Not only have I ordered the balance of the parts I need to complete the device, I have also built the wheels.

This is actually a big deal. Bicycle wheel-building is regarded as one of the most difficult tasks within the purview of the bike mechanic, second only to frame design and fabrication. I was hesitant to try for that reason, but when my hubs were delivered recently, I decided to give it a go.