Half-Assed Homemaker

According to this article, bird flu killed "29 people, 28 of whom are believed to have contracted the disease directly from fowl." Sounds completely avoidable with a few key sacrifices. No chicken lap dances for me. I hear they have roosters in Pattaya beach that are hotter than any hen you'll ever see.

Since I've been chided for not blogging and I have been chiding myself for not planning anything for my trip to Thailand, here goes.

I am flying to Chiang Mai upon arrival in Thailand. There I am considering a trek though the mountains with hill tribes and rafts and such for three days. After bumming around Chiang Mai a day or two more am going to spend a few days traveling across Thailand by train. I may take the Northern route to Bangkok and spend the rest of the trip there or go South from Chiang Mai and then Northeast and fly to Bangkok for a day or two before I fly out.

State Railway of Thailand
Lonely Planet Map of Thailand
Thai Focus (travel info and elephant conservation) and
treks.
How to travel by train in Thailand

Yes folks, there is a bit of bad news. There is a mouse problem and as such there is evidence of mouse eradication related program activities. I'll just leave you with the following. Mouse traps are disposable, you will not want to get rid of anything more than said apparatus once used. I've trapped three of them in the same spot inside of four hours, either they are really dumb or really noble. I wonder if they venture out to bring food back or just feed themselves. It's like a teen horror movie, "he's not back yet, I know, I'll follow him, why is it so quiet?"

I discovered another great way to enjoy raw baby zucchini.

Slice into flat strips and make a sandwich with sliced tomatoes, the petals from the flower any combination of black pepper, avocado, mayo, sharp or peppered cheese, fresh tofu. Don't stop there, I don't intend to.

If you do use mayo, spread it on the bread and lay the tomato right on it, they mix together so well and the may keeps the bread from getting soggy from the tomato juice. Wowza.

Watch Her Disappear

Last night I dreamed that I was dreaming of you
And from a window across the lawn I watched you undress
Wearing your sunset of purple tightly woven around your hair
That rose in strangled ebony curls
Moving in a yellow bedroom light
The air is wet with sound
The faraway yelping of a wounded dog
And the ground is drinking a slow faucet leak
Your house is so soft and fading as it soaks the black summer heat
A light goes on and the door opens
And a yellow cat runs out on the stream of hall light and into the yard

A wooden cherry scent is faintly breathing the air
I hear your champagne laugh
You wear two lavender orchids
One in your hair and one on your hip
A string of yellow carnival lights comes on with the dusk
Circling the lake with a slowly dipping halo
And I hear a banjo tango

And you dance into the shadow of a black poplar tree
And I watched you as you disappeared
I watched you as you disappeared
I watched you as you disappeared
I watched you as you disappeared

-Tom Waits

There is an opening for my favorite local photographer and filmmaker. I use the word local rather loosely since he has been honored for his work around the world but he lives in San Jose and I see him all the time.

The opening is at ModernBook Gallery 494 on University Avenue.

In case you haven't been able to tell by the increased blogging, JJ has gone away for a week leaving me alone with the cat. So it's just the boys until Sunday and a whellbarrow full of steer manure says this is going to be the greatest week of my life.

A new documentary on Karl Rove showing all over the bay area on September 17th. Send a copy of the DVD to a swing state. I also just heard about Orwell Rolls in His Grave @ the Roxie.

Oh Dreamworks, you are so predictable.

Researchers everywhere (well, more like Comedians) insist that Alcoholism is a fun disease, you get to be drunk. I invite them to also consider Narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a lazy person's dream. Show up to work drunk and your in trouble, no doctor's note will save you. Fall asleep in the doorway and you have a better chance of sympathy. Narcolepsy is also better than Alcoholism because there is no cure. You can't just swear off sleeping for fear of relapsing. Please forgive me if I offended any alcoholics out there, especially recovering alcoholics I salute you. I found James Squire Amber Ale in stock yesterday at Trader Joe's for the first time in a really long time and I nearly collapsed into the fetal position... with joy! So if you can resist a malty toasty treat like that then you are of far greater will than I.

When I heard there was going to be 9/11 Commission putting together a report of the terrorist attacks, I was hoping they would provide an answer as to how the most powerful military in the world could not intercept or even detect four airliners flying off course. Nafeez Ahmed talks about standard operating procedure for planes flying off course and how violation of this kind of procedure would require high level government approval.

Hearing speakers at the RNC in New York mention 9/11 over and over makes it more believable that more people wanted this to happen than we are led to believe.

Never mind the lies about WMDs, what's left of the Iraqis are better off.

American Lawyer Finds New Evidence of Recent Torture in Iraq