HIDWtS: Dance with me.

Previously, I confessed my deep and abiding affection for sitting in The Pocket while on Muni, as well as my irritation with the Blockit No Pocket phenomenon. But a few people showed me the error of my ways. The Pocket can be hard on the knees, and it is the most cramped seat on the train. The Blockit has a nice one-knee freedom, plus it faces the middle accordion section, which is nominally exciting as it twists through turns while above ground.

Last week, while enjoying the rebellious luxury of my own Blockit No Pocket, I spotted an older woman having some trouble getting seated before the train started up again. She was holding onto the bar in the middle accordion section as she tried to walk to the baseball seats. From the looks of her grip and the train’s rate of acceleration, I could see this was not going to end well.

I got up, not altogether steady myself, and held both hands out to her. We smiled at each other as we clasped hands. I braced the back of my legs against the seat as I swung her, gently, toward the first base seat. She landed as delicately as a bird and let go, laughing as she thanked me.

That dance was the best thing I did all day.

HIDWtS Rating: One, two, cha-cha-cha.

I ride a shuttle to work. It is a really nice shuttle and the first time I have ever had this luxury, causing me to overthink pretty much every aspect of it, especially where to sit. And now I overthink where I decide to sit in every open-seating situation, so I’m writing about it in a series called How I Decide Where to Sit.
Posted on 28 Jul 2011 | 1 comment

Impressionist Jim Meskimen Does Shakespeare in Celebrity Voices

Everyone has already linked to this, but I am linking to it in the voice of Madeline Kahn.

Now, please excuse me while I complete the rest of my homework in the voice of Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Posted on 27 Jul 2011 | Comments Off

Oslo bombing and Utøya camp shooting.

In the midst of an unrelated family crisis at the moment, but here are a few links about the Oslo bombing and Utøya camp shooting (sorted from most recent to least):

I will attempt to update this later as circumstances permit, but the links above are your best bet for staying absolutely current.

My thoughts are with the people of Norway. I dag er vi alle norske.

[Last updated: 23 July 2011 @ 10:58 PDT.]

Posted on 22 Jul 2011 | Comments Off

HIDWtS: Home run.

Between the middle accordion section of a LRV and one set of doors are four seats. Because they face inward instead of forward or backward, passengers who sit in them often slide to and fro with the braking and accelerating of the train.

These seats are named, in order from the middle to the doors, after the bases of a baseball diamond because of their exquisite sliding powers. They are usually filled up in the following order:

  1. First
  2. Home Base
  3. Second or Third, depending on how inoffensive the people sitting in First or Home happen to be
  4. whatever is left

On less-filled trains, I like to keep score. I once saw a very inebriated and slippery person get a home run.

I ride a shuttle to work. It is a really nice shuttle and the first time I have ever had this luxury, causing me to overthink pretty much every aspect of it, especially where to sit. And now I overthink where I decide to sit in every open-seating situation, so I’m writing about it in a series called How I Decide Where to Sit.
Posted on 19 Jul 2011 | Comments Off

Plain Sunday supper.

FunkyPlaid and I are having a plain Sunday supper tonight: three-ingredient red sauce over pasta and freshly-baked bread slathered with roasted garlic.

I would love to take elaborate photos of our home-cooked meals. Instead, I am slogging through homework. But that is okay, yet another thing to look forward to after graduation. Until then, I direct your eyebulbs to Claudine and Danny’s delicious home-cooking adventures.

sunday nestcam

Posted on 17 Jul 2011 | Comments Off

A quote and no shuttle.

In light of the fatal crash Thursday morning, I haven’t felt like writing about shuttles.

Instead, I thought I might write about something else. I watched the Twilight movies while I was very sick last weekend, and I really wish I hadn’t. While it might be fun to tear apart some mediocre storytelling peppered with truly offensive stereotypes and gender interactions, others have done so already and with panache. And then a few days ago my friend Gary posted this on Google+:

“Harry Potter is all about confronting fears, finding inner strength, and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.” – Stephen King

That is all I really wanted to say about it, anyway.

Now I am off to cleanse my palate with the last Harry Potter movie in IMAX 3D.

Posted on 16 Jul 2011 | Comments Off

HIDWtS: Cheek to cheek.

[Ed. note: This is almost a week overdue, thanks to the ridiculous summer cold I caught. Lucky for me, seating is timeless!]

Let’s talk express. Let’s talk hard facts and numbers. Or let’s just talk about rear ends, because that is all I remember from my first experience with Muni’s Nx bus.

With all of the nightmare-laden nights I have experienced lately, I am beginning to ponder the efficacy of a routine nightcap. Nothing too heavy, mind, but something that will knock me the hell out until morning. Last night’s theatrical production was a garish parade of grotesquely-exaggerated characters from my past. They weren’t doing nice things like sitting quietly on a luxury shuttle, either.

By the time I left the house, I was astoundingly late, the type of late that could not be recovered from gracefully. Since I live in a neighborhood without ambient taxi traffic, that was not an option. The new N-Judah express bus was, though; it would take me most of the way to work and I could theoretically find a taxi for the last tiny bit.

The Nx was already 90% full when I boarded. By the time we reached the last stop before the express portion, I was wedged in the aisle with nowhere to move. My butt was smushed up against someone else’s butt. It was not an entirely unpleasant feeling, while being completely unwanted, leaving me in aesthetic limbo. If I haven’t already mentioned this, I am fairly claustrophobic, which means that I don’t just start punching people if I am in a crowded space, but it requires many deep-breathing exercises and meaningful stares at the nearest exit.

It only took the bus twenty minutes to get downtown from 19th Avenue, a blink of the eye in traffic terms but an utter eternity in butt-smushing. Before boarding the Nx, I considered myself worldly when it came to public transit, but I lost purity-test points on that ride. I never did catch a glimpse of my posterior partner. Was it you? Don’t ever tell me.

HIDWtS Rating: At least it wasn’t the T-Third Toucher.

I ride a shuttle to work. It is a really nice shuttle and the first time I have ever had this luxury, causing me to overthink pretty much every aspect of it, especially where to sit. And now I overthink where I decide to sit in every open-seating situation, so I’m writing about it in a series called How I Decide Where to Sit.
Posted on 13 Jul 2011 | Comments Off

Linkdump for 8 July 2011

  • STUDY SAYS TECHNOLOGY COULD TRANSFORM SOCIETY – NYTimes.com
    Shared by Halsted Mencotti Bernard

    Just so good. (via DK and Hawk)

    A report commissioned by the National Science Foundation and made public today speculates that by the end of this century electronic information technology will have transformed American home, business, manufacturing, school, family and political life. The report suggests that one-way and two-way home information systems, called teletext and videotex, will penetrate deeply into daily life, with an effect on society as profound as those of the automobile and commercial television earlier in this century. It conjured a vision, at once appealing and threatening, of a style of life defined and controlled by videotex terminals throughout the house. As a consequence, the report envisioned this kind of American home by the year 1998: ”Family life is not limited to meals, weekend outings, and oncea-year vacations. Instead of being the glue that holds things together so that family members can do all those other things they’re expected to do – like work, school, and community gatherings -the family is the unit that does those other things, and the home is the place where they get done. Like the term ‘cottage industry,’ this view might seem to reflect a previous era when family trades were passed down from generation to generation, and children apprenticed to their parents. In the ‘electronic cottage,’ however, one electronic ‘tool kit’ can support many information production trades.”

  • Google carries out account cull on Google+ | thinq_

    Google may still be throttling sign-ups to its social networking service Google+, but it’s also thinning out the ranks of its current members as it struggles to meet demand.

    Businesses were the first to go, and they’ve now been joined by those who value their privacy or have other reasons to use a pseudonym.

  • Hipster Game Of Thrones
    Shared by Halsted Mencotti Bernard

    It was only a matter of time …

    I liked Game of Thrones before it went mainstream, you know?

  • What Would Don Draper Do? – The Oatmeal
    Shared by Halsted Mencotti Bernard

    haw.

  • Gwendoline Christie is Brienne
    Shared by Halsted Mencotti Bernard

    I dunno about this casting. With or without makeup, Ms. Christie is gorgeous, and Brienne is really, really not.

    Gwendoline ChristieThe casting clues are back, and so is the fans’ ability to quickly solve them. This first round of casting clues for season two has been confirmed by George R. R. Martin to reveal Gwendoline Christie has been cast as Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones. Kudos to Starkgirl for being the first one to solve it.

    The character of Brienne is a freakishly tall and strong girl who is more comfortable adorned in armor and with a sword in her hand than dressed up in flowers and silks. In A Clash of Kings, she joins up with Renly Baratheon in his attempt to seize the Iron Throne.

    Christie is a 6’3? British actress with primarily stage credits to her name. Interestingly, it is possible WiC.net readers had a hand in her getting the role. Her name was first mentioned back in March 2010 as a possible Brienne by commenter Mauberly. Paul Gude then took the initiative and alerted her agent to the role. And now, almost a year and a half later, she has been cast.

    Winter Is Coming: Love this casting! I was a fan of Christie back when her name was first mentioned (as you can see in the comments at the time). And I had her as my top choice when we did our Brienne casting speculation post. She definitely has the size, the talent, and, with the right makeup (or lack thereof), the looks, to play Brienne.

  • Google+
    Shared by Halsted Mencotti Bernard

    Perfect.

    On one hand, you'll never be able to convince your parents to switch. On the other hand, you'll never be able to convince your parents to switch!

    • Digest powered by RSS Digest

    Posted on 8 Jul 2011 | 2 comments

    I get knocked down, but I get up again.

    This is the perfect antidote to the day I’ve had.


    They Might Be Giants covers Chumbawamba, via Matt, et al.

    Posted on 6 Jul 2011 | 2 comments

    HIDWtS: Holiday catch-up edition.

    The past few days have been spent in a homework daze peppered with obsessive Google+ fidgeting, and then I actually left the house on Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday to do offline things, which was weird and also good. But now there is catching up to do!

    This morning, I boarded a mostly-full shuttle and beelined for the newspaper-reader. Yes, that’s right, crinkly, smudge-prone pages and all. My reasoning is simple: every time I sit near someone reading a physical newspaper, I get the news. Either the reader tells me something interesting (to them only, maybe) that is happening, or I peep the pages myself.

    Sure, I could buy a paper, or read the news on my phone, but I have extremely low initiative when it comes to things that are boring and repetitive. Both of those solutions require me to do the boring thing, whereas sitting newspaper-adjacent only requires me being a receptive or perceptive person.

    Sadly, newspaper-readers are rarely spotted on my shuttle, and people really don’t like it when you attempt some surreptitious Kindle-peeping.

    Also, I like the rustle noises.

    HIDWtS Rating: Pulpy.

    I ride a shuttle to work. It is a really nice shuttle and the first time I have ever had this luxury, causing me to overthink pretty much every aspect of it, especially where to sit. And now I overthink where I decide to sit in every open-seating situation, so I’m writing about it in a series called How I Decide Where to Sit.
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    Posted on 5 Jul 2011 | Comments Off