Why are all those things which are the most beautiful also the most fragile? They are things which are never lasting...ephemeral.


I took my first good look at snowflakes tonight. So pretty....and yet, you cannot even get close to them without them twisting into grotesque and tortured shapes. I was really struck by just how beautiful each and every individual snowflake was.

The scientific world became more awesome this past week with the discovery of actual pigments in dinosaur fossils in China. The restorations look pretty sweet, and I think it is the final clincher that feathers appeared first as a display tool, than for flight (see the red-and-white striped tail of Sinosauropteryx...reminds me of the tail of a coati). The other dinosaur that has been reconstructed looks a LOT like one of my godparent's Hamburg chickens- black with lots of white spots on the back and wings, and a red crest. I will have to post a photo comparison later, when I am actually on a computer.

The other thing it kind of reminded me of was of a giant killer Spotted Towhee. ;-)

I am actually house-sitting for my godparents this week, speaking of chickens. I look forward to time both alone and with friends in Flag this week. And to watch the chickens being...well...chickens (which is to say dumb as posts and utterly hilarious). However, I am still working, which means interesting adventures getting down and back. This morning, for example, I actually spun out in the middle of the freeway. Luckily, I was going only 35 mph, there was nobody else in front of or behind me, and John had told me what to do ages ago if that sort of thing happened. I wasn't even really scared, just mildly nervous. ended up facing the exact opposite way I was going, without even running off the road or into a guardrail. I would say that was a successful evasion.

Also, the snowplow this morning cleared off part of my Godparent's driveway while Dave and I were shoveling. He then popped his head out and said "You saw nothing. I didn't do it. This is not the snow plow you are looking for." Needless to say, it quite amused me.

Lastly, I finished today during break the tenth book thus far this year: The Last Hero, by none other than Terry Pratchett. It was quite cute, and the illustrations were fantastic. I loved it. It was really neat to see Leonard de Quirm as a main character...and the interplay between him, Rincewind, and Captain Carrot was quite amusing.

I finished the Ninth book of the year, which was loaned to be my my friend Dave (also known as Dave the Awesome). The book is called The Legend of the Baal-Shem, and it was an excellent treatment of Hasidic mysticism. I rather enjoyed it, and it was also quite enlightening to see how similar in many ways some of the more traditional Jewish Mysticism is similar to that within Orthodox Christianity. There were also some excellent quotes, too; so many that if it had been my copy, I probably would have highlighted them to list all of them here, but as it is, there is one little story that sticks in my mind above all the other seriously quotable fantastic-ness of this book:

...[a] boy hurried into his room, took the book with the silver edges in his arms and ran out of the house into the street, ran until he came to the city. In the city, he turned his steps to the prayer house and entered it. It was the house when the Kol Nidre was spoken, the prayer of absolution and of holy freedom. He saw the group, standing in long, white shrouds, bow and again lift themselves up before God. He heard them cry out to God, out of all the hidden depths of the soul toward the light. The boy stood among them, bowed and again lifted himself up before God. And since he was aware that he could not pray in the language of the others, he took his mother's book, laid it on the desk and called out, "Lord of the world! I do not know what to pray, I do not know what to say---but here, Lord of the world, you have the whole prayer-book." He laid his head on the open book and weeping, conversed with God.

It was on that day, however, that the prayers of the community fluttered on the floor like birds with lame wings, and could not soar up. The spirit of the men who prayed was troubled and despondent. Then came the word of the boy and took the prayers of all on its pinions and carried them to the lap of God....

I found it moving, anyway, and well worth sharing. The whole book is filled with stories like the above, and in some ways it reminded me of a book of Nasrudin tales (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasrudin), but with a more serious and mystical bent, with little of the wry humor that most tales of Nasrudin have.

Yesterday I was quite happy, and a little....hm, what's the word....the closest I can come up to is Waldeinsamkeit, which is the German word for the peaceful, yet slightly forlorn feeling you get when walking through the woods. I'm sure there is another word. What was I going on about again?

Oh, right! I got a package from Masha! She looks so happy in her wedding pictures. It seems she's had a busy year, stuck going on business trips to crazy places like Moscow and India (lucky :-P) I really miss her....yargh. It's just not the same without her around... she could always, ALWAYS make the world a really happy place, even if I was absolutely miserable, better than anybody else I've ever known. I am glad that she is happy with her husband, because otherwise I would march to Kazakhstan and kick him in the head for making her unhappy. I really need to go and visit...

Sometimes it's a lonely life here.

I just finished the second book in W. Michael Gear's "Forbidden Borders" series: Relic of Empire. I have to say I liked this book more than the first in the series for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it was far more philosophical in nature, and tickled my brain a bit in relation to Quantum Physics and the potential nature of God; which has been something on my mind for a long time. Not only that, but the characters within had real conflicts, and grew after acting upon the events in their lives, for better or worse. The changes in some characters in one way or the other was positively astounding, and well-written.

All in all, a pretty decent read. I don't know when I'll be able to find the third book, though. *moment of silence for Flagstaff bookmans*

I just shook hands with a gentleman who marched with General Patton in Operation Torch (the allied invasion of North Africa). We chatted a bit, and he recited a very moving poem to Mike and myself.

Some days, I love my job.

Howdy folks, it's Cody from Cottonwood--Everybody's favourite nerd! This is my ADIML for January 17th, 2010, where for a change of scenery I went to San Diego for Barcamp, and to visit a fellow ADIMLer, yourpalindrome.

This is my day in 67 images.

( Nerds ahoy! We got Linux Penguins of the Starboard Bow! )

Finished Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince yesterday. It seemed to wander around a lot, but not as much as Order of the Phoenix. It was okay, if a bit sad. Freaking Snape.

I am not sure why I didn't see the Ginny/harry match earlier...but it also did seem to come from out of nowhere in this book. Whatever.

Like the other HP books....I don't think I will read them again, except to my kids...or maybe in a number of years. Good, but not the best thing since sliced bread.

While trapped at the San Diego airport, I finished my fith and sixth books of the year. The fifth book was The Hobbit, as I felt it would be a good travel book. I don't really think it is necessary to really discuss it; I think everybody here has read it at least once. I really do feel like Bilbo Baggins though, often, as I am inclined to not really go on adventures and would rather stay at home. :-)

The sixth book was an entertaining history book called Badass- essentially the book form of one of my favorite websites (badassoftheweek.com), with a few new people (like the Parthian general Surena). Hilarious and light, I greatly enjoyed it. It would be awesome read aloud, too, heh. I reccomend both the book and the website.

As you can see, I made it home, though I feel quite sore. But in other various news that I keep forgetting to mention, soon I will not be entirely alone in the house- a new houseguest will arrive on Tuesday evening. Namely, one of my few friends in Cottonwood, Melissa, will be moving into the spare bedroom for the next few months to escape from a rather horrid housemate. It will be quite interesting, I expect, to have someone to watch Doctor Who with on a regular basis.

And now back to a slow day at work.

I spent most of my afternoon today at the San Diego Museum of Man, and the museum of art. Both are awesome museums and I would highly reccomend them to the stranded traveler in this city with time to kill. I also spent time on the phone with Anna, Sarah, and Dave respectively.

I have to say that, despite the learning curve of a mass transit system, if San Diego is anything like Boston, I will enjoy it greatly. There is...something here that is unlike what I have seen before-perhaps it is the heartbeat of the city? Or is it the restless sea nearby...breathing, exhaling with the white gulls crying. Whatever it is, it appeals to me.

I partook of a most excellent dinner tonight; randomly discovered a restaurant with organic beer and organic burgers. it was in a mall, however, that looked as if it had been designed by mc escher....very confusing. But the beer was exquisite. It brought to mind the oldest proverb we know of, from Sumeria:

"The road is bad, but the beer is good."

Unfortunately somewhere between there and the really awesome Borders a few blocks later, my debit card had disappeared. Mrargh. However, this is exactly why I have been carrying two, in seperate places, for seperate accounts (well, that, and its a good thing when the parents need money). it was just a matter of switching all my money from one to the other, and crisis averted mid panic attack.

That being said, the worker was very helpful when all this came about, and I thank her for her patience and understanding. I came out with The Last Hero (pratchett), and Confederacy of Dunces. I also saw a book about Jewish pirates.

As you can imagine, this raises a theological question: namely, can a person/group be the chosen group by more than one deity? As Jews, these folk would be of course chosen by YHWH...but as PIRATES they would also be chosen by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Who has greater claim, here? Or are both equal?

(note: the above is to be taken only somewhat seriously, and only proponants of the FSM must endeavor to solve this theologican quandry. The jewish response would be "stop your kvetching, your food is getting cold. Also, when are you going to marry that nice Jewish girl? I need grandchildren, and you're not getting any younger.")

On a neat linguistic note, I learned today that the mayan glyph which is translated as "to conjure/understand in a religious context" is a hand trying to grasp a fish, showing the difficulty of...well...grasping such things. Pretty cool, eh? I thought it was an excellent way of expressing such difficulties. It also makes me wonder if there was an idiom or proverb here that was the origional basis for the glyph, which has now otherwise been lost to us.

And now, the long night at the airport begins. I feel a little bit like Vorenus...except I won't even make evocati out of this bitch.

it just started hailing AGAIN! this is starting to get rediculous.

But the museums are cool.

615 am to salt lake. I am stuck in san diego till morning.

Due to insomnia, I suppose I will answer this now.

Before I was fond of the sea at the grey havens... I was fond of mountains. And so our story begins, seven years ago, when I had not seen the sea for years, and I called the mountains home.

One name for the spine of the americas which runs from north to south is the Cordillera. It is a name which is obscure, and used largely by geographers and geologists...and occasionally appears in songs and poems. It is a land of mists and snows; wind and water.

But it was not these things which gave me my username. Instead it was something far smaller, with a heartbeat measured in seconds, rather than millenia; a tiny creature that uses the spine of the world as a road and highway. Empidonax occidentalis is the name that scientists use, more commonly known to the layperson as the Cordilleran flycatcher. As empids go, it is my favorite; for one, it is easier to indentify than a lot of others. It is somewhat hqndsome, too, in its suit of yellow and green-for some reason they seem to wear a suit with bold glasses. They remind me of the high rockies; landscapes of meadows meeting forests of aspens and pines. Even so, this is not the main reason I like them.

In the hand, they are tame, and even somewhat snuggly. Easy to handle, unlike other flycatchers who will bite and snap and squirm, they sit comfortably. They are, in essence, the perfect bird to practice banding on. And it was, seven years ago, that I was finally able to band, and it just so happened that I had banded my second cordilleran flycatcher a few days before creating this livejournal. And so, trying to think of a username that nobody would ever have...I chose cordilleran2. And now you know the story.

And the rain still keeps coming. There was even some thunder, and with the wind it honestly sounds like the ocean is just outside. A little spooky.

Rain, rain everywhere
beside the lonely mountain,
the forest drips,
water falling from dark conifers
and seeking for the roots
of the spring wildflowers.

it soaks through my hat,
and the mud from the road is
stuck to my shoes.
red, red earth trying to eat my shoes.
The mists from the mountains
clouds my vision;
a primaeval land of darkness and light,
always at war, with us stuck in the middle,
clinging to the thunder,
hoping for the rough times to
pass the shire by.

But for me, trapped in the cold,
the damp
the wetness and dank;
lost within the mists of the lonely mountain,
only one option.
It's time to ramble on.

will this rain never stop?

€hI am wee bit drunk. this I thinki bodes ill.

Even though baja red wine is good.

I am a hobbit, i think

I finished the fourth book of the year (at least, i think it was? It's late and i am tired, ok?), which was Thief of Time, by none other than one Terry Pratchett.

Not the best, but it was very far from the worst. Qu was hilarious, and Rule One was pretty cheeky. And...okay, the Abbot was WANT BIKKIT NOW hilarious and entertaining. Time, as was shown, was definately quite wibbly-wobbly, and War hanging around ants was quite hilarious. Never really thought about a fifth horsemen before... but it does make PERFECT sense the way he approached it.

All in all, a good work by Pratchett- light on the surface, but definately bigger on the inside.

it was really rainy today.

tomorrow, i hunt zee whale. (not literally.)

Barcamp was fantastic, lots of fun! I really want to thank Liz for telling me about the awesome. I did an ADIML for the day which will be posted upon my return.

Also made it to mexico alright, even though the transportation was a bit confusing at times...most likely because I don't get to deal with mass transportation often.

I was also finally introduced to Battlestar Galactica. Me likey.

I am essentially out of cellphone reach until next friday (as if you all always call me all the time :-P), though there is wireless interblagospheritubes at Aaron's place, which doth mean i might be updating the el-jay on occasion.

Or I might not. It IS a vacation, after all.

I finished the third book of the year on the flight to san diego: Requiem for the conquorer, by W. Michael Gear. It was ok, not the best, but definately not the worst sci-fi I've read.

Had a strange dream related to LOTR, where the one ring was actually made of candy. I was Frodo, and I destroyed it by eating it, and it was delicious. Sauron was pissed, but Gandalf laughed his ass off.

The salt lake city airport is actually quite nice. They had a mini exibit with bird skins and such-for some reason I did not expect that pygmy-owls were so tiny. There was also a bobolink and mountain bluebird....fond memories of both. I do hope to see bobolinks again someday.

Hm, wonder if there are any good birding spots near ensenada? I will need to check.