Of greening and general tidiness

So my weekend of no plans ended up as a (desperately needed) home weekend full of cleaning and gardening and chores. My sister and I carted out boxes of decorations from the holidays, re-arranged furniture, and generally tidied up. I laugh at the idea that what I do in the yard is called something as innocuous and pleasant sounding as "gardening." That sounds way too romantic and buccolic.

In our case, it should be called yard-blitzing or something, because what I did today was rip and cut (and cut and cut and cut) and cart and dig and yank and other violent activities. Frankly, after 4 hours of that, I'm afraid to report that it looks the same as it did before I started. I know I did the work though, so I'll just have to accept that I did accomplish something. (I'm pretty sore though, so there is that proof.) Our yard is so overgrown with GIANT plants that it really looks primieval. At one time the yard was probably suitably-sized, gorgeous and very disciplined. We've got various kinds of lavender, purple and pink flowering trees, beautiful roses, palms (?), and had raspberry bushes (which we may have killed with neglect, finally.) I think the people who owned the house before us kind of kept things somewhat in check, they actually kept a plot with potatoes and vegies and stuff. We've moved in and have let things really go wild with neglect. With our mild Alameda weather and lots of rain over the last few years, well, all the plants have done their thing and grown and grown and grown. We thought we really wanted a huge yard when we were looking at houses, and this one had a very long and satisfying backyard plot. The reality is that we are HORRID gardeners. We are trying to improve things by considering the gardening exercising and once we get out there we really enjoy it.

So, so far so good with that plan. 2 years ago I did try to plant some lettuce and other things in the back plot, but the racoons and other animals ate them all up immediately. That was so disheartening that I didn't try again. I guess I shouldn't be such a baby - I should try various nets and fences and things, but haven't summoned up the enthusiasm for that. There are probably vegies that are not palatable to our animal neighbors which I should try if I ever attempt vegetables again. We have planted a few fruit trees, some have died right away, but one is thriving and actually fruited some plums last summer, which I never got to taste because the squirrels were ALL-OVER them as soon as they ripened. I think we have to wait until there is significant quantity to outlast the birds and squirrels before we actually get to enjoy fruit from our own trees. A few years ago I planted a lemon tree in the sunniest part of the yard, but it is really struggling. I've got to cover it because some animal loves to nibble on the lemon leaves. They must be tasty.

Other than that, I've been trying to keep up on the news and all the blog feeds I read (lost cause) and here are a few things that caught my attention today and yesterday: Talking Points Memo is currently highlighting this editorial on Iraq and the current rhetoric to escalate the war into Iran (which is so horrific a thought I can't think it without experiencing internal shudders each time I read about it anywhere) by General William Odom in the Washington Post. Victory Is Not an Option The Mission Can't Be Accomplished -- It's Time for a New Strategy. Most of the military retired higher-ups (and most anyone who has served in a violent conflict) have no illusions about war, and the path our current direction in this war is leading. Usually those who have experienced war do not glorify it or want it unless it is the absolute last possible option to protect and defend those they love. I think the last few experiences of war for most Americans have been too sanitized and much like video games - divorced of consequence and reality. It is easier to remain untouched by the realities if all you see or hear about are "intelligent" bombs that look like fireworks filmed from far away. A complicit and lazy press who no longer knows how to go beyond the spoon-fed pap given to them by the administration facilitates this ignorance. We are all complicit if we do nothing, and so then, what is the average person like me to do? I'm still trying to figure that out, only feeling the need to DO something with greater and greater urgency.

On a similar note, there was also this yesterday from 'Just World News' by Helena Cobban Choice time: unravel Al-Qaeda or fight Iran?

And this which kind of turned my stomach: OH, ICKKKK!!!!! Over-the-Counter Weight-Loss Drug Is Approved The side effects are so lovely. My first thought in response to this article was: What about the fats your body needs to be healthy and feel full so that you aren't tempted to overeat? Why do I feel like this is all half-assed backwards as a "solution?"

Okay, enough writing, have a lovely week. I've got to get back to cleaning the house.

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Degrees of serendipity

The Lessig blog has a post with a link to the Web2.0 video that is making the rounds on everyone's blog. It really IS awesome and worth a peek. Saw so many references to it, I decided it had to be watched, but then before I did that, I saw something in the comments section of this post about this wonderful article by Jonathan Lethem in Harpers, on the impossible to untangle goodness of where text and writing and thought come from, and is anything really original? Good god I love the random connectedness of the Web. (And yes, when you think about it, it does make perfect sense to have this article posted on this blog right there in those comments.)

It is the weekend, and I have plans to hang out with a friend tomorrow and then after that, really, actually, Do Nothing Much At All. Those are the plans.

As good as these 'do nothing' plans are, I have some "to-do" creep. I have to put away boxes of holiday decorations (shame!) and if I feel really responsible about my job, slog away at some things I can't seem to get done at work because I am too busy. Things are starting to fall through the cracks with greater regularity, which is appalling and unacceptable(!) So perhaps, maybe I do actually need to formally request another staff person (or two) - even though I have found this thought extremely hard to get my head around.

Oh, and one final musical tip: If you want to listen to wonderful music and support girlyman you can accomplish this by pre-ordering their upcoming CD!

Nice bit about the US media by Juan Cole

Juan Cole, a genius on all thing Iraq (as gory and unpleasant as it is to read, necessary if you want to have a window on the horrific reality of day-to-day happenings there) has a few well-stated paragraphs in his post today on the Media in this country:

Rupert Murdoch, who gives you Bill O'Reilly, Daniel Pipes, and other fantasists of the hard Right by his ownership of a vast media empire admitted at the Davos conference that his companies had "tried" to propagandize for Bush's Iraq War. He said that they were critical of the execution of the war, though. He doesn't watch or read his own media if he thinks that. It is never a discouraging word and 'what were the RNC talking points today?' over there in Foxland.

Murdoch's remarks are a good reason for which the news conglomerates should be broken up so that a wider range of views can be published. While Murdoch complains about competition from the internet, the fact is that far more people watch television than get their news from any blogger.

Murdoch's media have done more to cheapen American values and drive the country toward fascistic ways of thinking than anything since the McCarthy period in the 1950s. The airwaves belong to the public, and this man only licenses them. When will the public take them back and use them for purposes of which Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin would have approved?

Changing the subject dramatically, slept most of the day away today, and pretty much got nothing done. I tried to ignore the computer and depressing news, but was unsuccessful. Now that I've got Tivo, most of the stuff I watch is like mind-candy, and so any thoughtful insight (other than Jon Stewart - our nation's court jester) comes via the blogs and online newspapers.

This next bit will only be of interest to you if you have a Mac. More in my saga to find the perfect killer app for my Mac:
I've noticed though, now that I have downloaded and started using VooDooPad on my mac, I have less desire to post to my blog and create anything major on the Web. I actually wanted it so that it would make it easier for me to post on my blog. But it is fulfilling my need to write about what I am reading and keep track of it all.
Early days now to see how I'll really integrate the software into my life, but so far it feels like the closest thing to the way I've always wanted and thought a Mac would work for me. I am under no illusions, everyone uses their computer in wildly different ways, so a killer application for me is not going to be that for everyone else. For me, not having a nice repository for all the things I have read - the documents, pdfs, recipes, websites, bloggy bits I want to keep, etc., has been irritating. Yes, you can save them into folders, but it is not easy to go back and find what you need, and get a sense of context of what you were reading and thinking at that time. Now, I can save the pdf of a document from the Web right into the day's journal on my pad, write about it, add images, video (though I haven't tried that yet, come to think of it) and if I had a drawing pad, could add artwork, etc, etc. All of which can be output in html or some sort of blog style output that I might be able to use here. However, my caveat from before remains the same - it will be interesting to see how the software performs when I need to find something weeks or years down the road.
I had been using Zotero, but it really seems to be targeted to an academic community, the scholars who have access to full-text article databases and need to organize their pdfs for later citation. It was a little clunky, you had to save pdfs in folders and point to them, which meant that each item had to have lots of bibliographic data entered by hand. (Which points out one of the reasons that the VooDooPad is so cool, you simply save the pdf to the page, and click on the link and the pdf opens from there.) It just wasn't proving to be what I needed, so I'll probably uninstall it soon.