Month: February 2005

From the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction department (or is that the we-couldn’t-make-this-up department?) I found this fascinating organization through an errant google search and I just had to share: the Pink Pistols.

“Thirty-one states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. ”

–Jonathan Rauch, Salon Magazine, March 13, 2000

If you have no sympathy for my weakness for cheap, well-designed, mass-manufactured home furnishings, you may want to just skip this post…

Anyway, I was just thinking that there are so many IKEA products that are only available in the stores, I’ll bet someone could make a tidy sum as a runner. You would get folks’ shopping lists, buy the stuff in the store and deliver it to folks who live hours away. I think I would pay for this, but not very much.

Maybe I will post this on washingtondc.craigslist.org and see if anyone bites. If not, I may have to go into business myself. One weekend a month road tripping to NoVA/DC. I could handle that.

At Planned Parenthood we do these protests with signs that combine to form a message (like the ads of old for Burma Shave). Today we did one for our recently-retired President, Gloria Feldt.

Here’s a slideshow.

I saw this groovy truck on Rhode Island Avenue walking to work today.

World, meet my new WordPress blog! Ever since I converted Orange Politics to WP last summer, I’ve been wanting to do the same on this site. The new release of the stunning WP 1.5 got me off my butt. There are a number of things on the site that are still in transition, but I wanted to go ahead at start posting blog entries here instead of on my old heap-o-junk blogger blog. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found a good way to import the old comments. I think we’re just going to have be zen about it and let them go.

Feel free to point out any errors you may find. I already know I need to fix the “randomness” in the sidebar, and I need to move my projects and portfolio onto static pages. Then I get to start making categories. A lot of the formatting and line breaks in old posts is funky, but I can’t fix all of that. And the permalinks are all kinda screwed up becuse my oldest blogger posts don’t have the post titles! 🙁 So, if you’re an astute reader (ha, as if!) you will probably see some stuff changing and maybe even breaking over the next few weeks as I put on the finishing touches.

Sorry for the very geeky (or maybe just dorky) nature of recent posts. My head is in developer mode so all I want to do is mess with PHP and CSS this week. It’s hard to be eloquent in English when I am immersed in these other “languages.” And when I am sleepy, which I am. Goodnight, blog.

Seriously! I’m staying at my favorite hotel in DC (Helix) and I scored a particularly good room. It makes me want to throw a party or something.

Helix is good, glam fun. It’s disturbing to be so effectively marketed to, but I’m just relaxing and enjoying it. They even nailed the music: Crowded House just came on in the bar. I’m such a sucker.

‘ll be back home Saturday after a pit stop at IKEA (I said I was a sucker). Need anything?

The rest of my posts from blogger will be coming over here soon and then this site will be rockin’ and rollin’.

America Blog is hittin’ the big time, bay-bee. They were mentioned repteaedly in the Daily Show (best show on TV) coverage of blogs’ coverage of Gannon Gate (see below).

But change IS gonna come! I am finally about to change this blog over from the blogger platform (which is great for simple publishing) to WordPress (which is simply the bomb). I use WordPress on Orange Politics already. I love it because it’s open source and easy and powerful and flexible. And today they have released WordPress 1.5 which has tons of huge improvements!

Along with the platform change will come a long-overdue redesign. There could also be some bumps in the road, so please be patient if you try to load the site and get errors or things look funny. And pray hard with me that I am somehow able to import all the old comments.

B. W. Ventril tagged me in this Internet quiz chain. I think he’s amused by the idea of making me write about something other than politics and blogs. That’s valid.

Here’s the bloggiest thing about it (and he may not realize this): BWV is totally my friend, but I don’t know who he is IRL. I think there’s a 70% chance that he’s someone I know. Perhaps he’ll comment here and enlighten me as a reward for playing the quiz. ;}

So I’m supposed to answer these questions and pass them on to three other people. Here’s goes…

1. Total amount of music files on your computer?
   This is actually complicated because my stuff is spread around. I have about 226 MB on my work computer (shh!) and 1.91 GB on my boyfriend’s computer (I kept going ’till his hard drive said ‘uncle’). But I also have 1 GB of music on an SD card that I play in my Treo (which is also a computer, IMO).
2. The last CD you bought was…
   “Connected” by the Foreign Exchange. Smoove hip hop. Recommend.
3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
   Before and during reading this I have been listening to the Secret Agent stream from Soma FM. It’s good for working to, which is what I’m supposed to be doing.
4. Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
   • “Barracuda” by Heart rocks my ass off. It gets me going which is especially helpful for cleaning the house or other shit I don’t want to do.
   • “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt breaks my heart and makes me cry every time I listen to it. Funny how I used to listen to it more when I was already heartbroken. Ah, the downward spiral…
   • The whole album “Songs in the Key of Life” by Stevie Wonder represents my friends and that is a very good thing. When I listen to it I can picture them dancing and being happy. (Also his “Don’t You Worry About a Thang” on Innvervisions makes me think of my mom partying in the 70’s. A happy thought.)
   • “Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)” by the Talking Heads is the most lovely, comforting thing. I already loved it before Christa pointed out the lyric “sing into my mouth.” That just made it better. This is my favorite song by my favorite band.
   • There has to be something by Parliament… probably “Flashlight” because I remember my dad telling me it was his favorite P-Funk song as I was headed out to go see them play about 5 years ago. And it is good stuff.

   Wow. That was much easier than I thought it would be!

5. What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?
   • My Cousin Gail because she is the most awesome and loyal reader of this blog! She doesn’t have her own website, so I’ll post her responses here.
   • Jusinsomnia because replacing an LCD screen is way too geeky ;).
   • My wonderful man because it’s not activism, but it is audio.