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August 28th, 2009
 | 02:41 pm - Free books!
 kviri and I have been married for two years, and living together for seven, and have moved once in the intervening time... and I just now got around to combining our respective libraries. As a result, we have a bunch of duplicate books (and a few DVDs). You all get first dibs on them. The remainder will get dropped off at the local library or a used bookstore or something.
You can see a list of the books on LibraryThing, or there's a list ( behind the cutCollapse )
Those of you who are local, I can drop them off at game night or another social gathering, or you can come by and pick them up (visit us! we'll even feed you!). If you're not local, I can ship things, but I'll want a few bucks to cover the shipping.
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January 19th, 2009
| 01:13 pm - Cool Thing of the Day
1892 Diploma
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
This morning I went up in our attic to make sure there weren't any leaks in the roof (no reason to suspect so, but we've got a ton of snow up there so I figured I'd make sure - and, hooray, no leaks). There's some stuff up there left by the previous owners, which we haven't cleared out because there's not that much of it, and we haven't needed the space. While poking around a bit, though, I discovered this.
This appears to be a school honors certificate - not a graduation diploma, I don't think, but a "you go, kid" sort of thing - from 1892. (I suppose I have no proof that it's genuine, but it certainly doesn't look like a fake - if it is, they did a convincing job). It's in poor shape - some water damage, a few holes in the paper, and the frame's chipped quite a bit - but it's entirely readable.
The text reads:
"Diploma of Honor
Awarded To
James Percy Smith for
Excellence in Deportment and Recitations
and for Regularity of Attendance in the
North Bangor School during the term ending
June 24, 1892.
Given at North Bangor, State of Maine
This twenty-fourth day of June, 1892.
Edna G. Gilman, Teacher."
Hey, z_gryphon, that's your neck of the woods - know anything about a North Bangor School?
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December 30th, 2008
| 12:07 pm - Christmas Photos, Round 3: Sunapee, NH
Barn
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
The third and final round of photos from Christmas. These are from a walk Mom and I took near Lake Sunapee.
The full set is here.
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December 28th, 2008
| 06:42 pm - Christmas Photos, Round 2: The Tree
Sparkly!
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
Part two of the christmas photography: Photos of the tree, all four of 'em. More here, after the cat photos.
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| 11:51 am - Christmas Photos, Round 1: Cats
Scooter looking up
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
One of my new year's resolutions (such as they are - my resolutions tend to be kind of half-assed) is to do more photography. So to start, I'm posting photos I took over Christmas.
This photo is of my dad's cat, Scooter. More photos of parents' cats are here.
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October 24th, 2008
| 03:31 pm - Many Photos
I just finished processing a backlog of photos and uploaded them to flickr today (amazing what one can do with a day off... or not do, as may be the case with actual housework :). Here's a selected few as starting points:
( Cut to save your friends page from photo overloadCollapse )
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September 22nd, 2008
 | 10:44 am - We don't get President Bartlett, but it's better than nothing
Those of you who were fans of The West Wing need to read this commentary on the current election by Aaron Sorkin.
Might be worth reading if you didn't see The West Wing too.
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September 16th, 2008
| 01:59 pm - [locals and politics] MA primary today; political research via lazyweb
First, a PSA: MA's state primary is today.
Second, for those of you who are more informed than I: Do you know anything about Ed O'Reilly, the guy who's running against Kerry for Senate? I like what he says on his website, but websites are crazy-biased, and I don't know anything else about him (and, being at work, I don't really have time to research ATM - yes, I should have researched this before today, I am a bad voter, mea culpa). Should I find time between work and dragging the cat to the vet to go vote, or is it not worth it (given that pretty much all the other positions are running unopposed)?
Current Mood: bad citizen, no biscuit
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June 14th, 2008
| 11:54 pm - More photos.
Sasha is dramatic. And drooly.
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
Photos from today's party are here. Featured above: Sasha the St. Bernard. Should've been cropped better but it's nearly midnight so I'm not bothering right now.
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June 1st, 2008
| 10:42 pm - Photo Backlog
Moving is not good for keeping up with the photo editing, but I managed to get caught up tonight (motivated by promising my coworkers I'd post a few of the commencement photos). Here's some links:
There are more on my Flickr page; notably a whole bunch of commencement photos (full set is here) and a bunch more cat photos over on harikonotora.
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February 20th, 2008
| 11:13 pm - Lunar Eclipse, 2/20/08
Lunar Eclipse, 2/20/08
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
I am very, very cold now.
Was it worth it? You tell me.
(I'm not entirely sure myself. This was the best of the bunch - but hooray for the telephoto lens.)
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January 20th, 2008
| 10:37 pm - Photo Backlog
From this weekend's trip to Vermont. More here.
From the snowstorm a few weeks back. More here.
And finally, a question - I post pretty much all of my worthwhile photos on Flickr. Should I keep posting a few here (with pointers to the rest on flickr) as well, or is it not worth it? (I started a photo blog elsewhere and almost immediately abandoned it, since it seemed redundant with flickr). Thoughts? Does anyone care? :)
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January 7th, 2008
| 09:53 am - Namespace consolidation
Due to overwhelming peer pressure (and the fact that I've never really liked "staralshain"), I've renamed my LJ account to frozencapybara to match my usernames on CoH, flickr, and just about everywhere else in the known universe.
This will no doubt cause as much confusion as it clears up. Such is life.
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November 14th, 2007
| 08:30 pm - Montreal Photos
Fallen Leaves
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
I've just uploaded my photos from our honeymoon in Montreal. The full set is here.
As evidenced by the artsy photo, I now own Photoshop CS3. If you'll excuse me, I have some love poetry to Adobe to compose.
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October 21st, 2007
| 09:43 pm - Official Wedding Portrait
Official Wedding Portrait
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
We survived!
(In Montreal. More later. :)
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August 29th, 2007
 | 06:02 pm - PSA: Don't buy from PetSmart, they suck
Apparently, PetSmart has decided that they value extra profits over the welfare of animals, and have started selling rabbits, despite previous statements that they would never do such a thing. Rabbits are currently available in select stores; the NPR report I heard said that this was a trial run, and they'd be making a decision on whether to put the rabbits in all their stores.
For further reading, the House Rabbit Society has plenty of articles for you to read about the matter. They do a much better job of explaining why PetSmart sucks than I ever could.
I'll be avoiding shopping at PetSmart until and unless they decide to stop selling rabbits, and I encourage you to do the same. I'll also be writing them a letter informing them of why I'm not shopping there.
Current Mood:  irritated
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July 7th, 2007
| 01:06 am - Back from Vacation
Antlers
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
I have returned from vacation. The photos, which I will let speak for themselves, are on Flickr: here.
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June 21st, 2007
| 02:30 pm - First Light
First Light
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara
Last night I finally gave in and bought a big fancy-pants DSLR camera. Please do me a favor and pester me to post pictures. I can justify buying the camera if I use it a lot, right?
The above picture is the first light image from the camera - I took advantage of a lunch break (and very relaxed summer hours) to go on a small photo spree at Wellesley. I'm seriously out of practice in taking artsy photos, but I got a few decent ones - you can see them on Flickr.
Anyone want to buy me a Flickr pro account? :)
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December 18th, 2005
| 02:13 pm - Fear the cute ones
For usagijer, or anyone else who needs their daily dose of bunnies and cuteness: Cookie thief!
Current Mood:  ky00t!
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July 30th, 2005
| 01:33 pm - Things that are wrong (but funny)
WrongPopTarts
Originally uploaded by FrozenCapybara.
In case any of you haven't seen these in stores... There's something hilariously wrong about pop tarts modelled after the means of maiming and nearly killing a movie character. Of course I had to buy a box. (No word on how tasty "Lavaberry Explosion" is, although taste aside, if they haven't laced the filling with capsaicin there's no justice. Also, it should be at least a touch bitter.)
Challenge: come up with a sillier example of a character's death and/or severe injury depicted in pop tart form. Extra points for goofy flavor names.
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May 12th, 2005
| 04:15 pm - Upside-down Taichou
I am testing flickr integration with LiveJournal for work purposes. You all get to see a cute kitty. Everyone wins!
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April 5th, 2005
February 14th, 2005
| 08:43 am - [politics] Boot to the head!
New nomination for the "Boot to the head!" category:
Political commentators who claim that in order to win votes from the red states, democrats should act more like republicans.
Actual quote from NPR's political commentator this morning: "The democrats' position on abortion puts them as out of the mainstream as republicans' insistance that abortion should be outlawed puts them out of the mainstream. Do democrats really have to fight every provision on abortion? Perhaps they could give up on parental notification, or late-term abortions."
Wouldn't that sound better with the nice, resounding "thunk" of a boot to the head after it?
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January 17th, 2005
| 10:19 pm - Public Service Announcement
For those of you with paid accounts, you can get two weeks of paid time as compensation for this weekend's blackout here.
Current Mood:  informative
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January 6th, 2005
| 01:54 pm - Two completely unrelated poll questions, neither of which are relevant to anything.
What do you think about LiveJournal getting bought?
It's the end of the world! I expect fire and brimstone to start raining down at any moment.
0(0.0%)
They sold out to the man, yo. They suck.
0(0.0%)
I'm nervous. I think this deal will have a negative effect on LiveJournal.
0(0.0%)
I couldn't possibly care any less.
0(0.0%)
This affects me how, again?
8(20.0%)
I'm optimistic. I think this deal will have a positive effect on livejournal.
2(5.0%)
They sold out to someone who might actually have the faintest clue how to run a business. More power to them.
3(7.5%)
I hate Brad Fitz, and would like to see him tarred and feathered. So this is a good thing.
0(0.0%)
I'm waiting a while to fully form an opinion. This could go either way.
10(25.0%)
Coconut?
I would sell my soul for an appropriately large helping of coconut.
3(7.5%)
I like coconut.
21(52.5%)
I'm indifferent to coconut.
5(12.5%)
I dislike coconut.
10(25.0%)
I loathe coconut so much that I would like to eliminate coconut trees from the planet.
1(2.5%)
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January 1st, 2005
December 11th, 2004
| 11:48 pm - Political Post o' the Month
In three parts:
1. OK, it's a month later. I officially declare my post-election political depression/snit over. Let's get to work and kick some conservative ass, people.
2. On that note, new political icon. The "Kerry is my hamster" icon is less relevant now, so I'm moving to a more general disgruntled and cynical image. :)
3. In an effort to make this slightly less of a GIP, here's a link: BuyBlue.org's Christmas-themed guide to corporate campaign contributions, aptly named "Blue Christmas." Lots of interesting information on corporations' political contributions.
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November 3rd, 2004
| 06:55 pm - Politics. Bleh.
I have no comment, beyond the what I've already said elsewhere, about the political situation. I'm sure you can all guess how I feel about it.
I think I'm taking a break from politics, at least on a national level, for a while. Local politics seems to be ok, but on the national level, I just can't cope with the idea that 51% of our country's voters are so completely stupid: or, worse, the idea that 51% of our country's voters actually believe a lying, cheating, bigoted, self-righteous religious zealot should be our leader for the next four years. I need to not think about that for a while, and since there's nothing I can do about it anyway, I don't see why not.
And finally, I'm not leaving the country, at least for the moment. However, any of you implying (or outright stating) that I'm a coward or a wimp or otherwise a horrible person for thinking about it are cordially invited to take a long walk off a short pier. Stop being so freakin' self-righteous, people. Just because you think you're willing to sacrifice personal freedoms and liberties for the sake of the fight doesn't mean the rest of us have to be.
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November 1st, 2004
| 05:37 pm - What this election is about.
Yesterday, I heard it reported on NPR that some newspaper or other in Providence is endorsing George W. Bush for president. Their stated reason? It went something like this: "While we're not a fan of the president's domestic policies, we feel that this election is about the war on terror, and we feel that George W. Bush is the better candidate on that issue."
"This election is about the war on terror."
There are so many things wrong with that, I don't know where to begin. ( This is long, and unlike my last post, it's serious.Collapse )
It's the eve of the election, and I suspect I am too late to change anyone's mind with this (I also suspect that most, if not all of you have already decided to vote for Kerry - good for you, and you have my thanks). But just in case: vote for what you care about, not what the TV commercials tell you you should be afraid of. And do some research and vote in your local elections too - should the worst happen, they're our first line of defense against the Bush administration. Your vote does matter, especially in the local elections.
I am honestly terrified of what will happen to this country if Bush wins tomorrow. I honestly think we can't take four more years of this.
Please vote for John Kerry. I want my country back, and I'll bet you do to.
Current Mood:  nervous
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| 01:13 pm - Public Service Announcement.
It's the day before the election, and everyone and their duck is telling you to go vote tomorrow. And if you plan on voting for John Kerry, they're right. Go vote. It's good for you.
However, if you were planning on voting for George W. Bush, have you considered the many joys of not voting? November 2 sounds like the perfect day to sleep a bit late. Or perhaps you can take all that time you would have spent at the polling place and do something useful - read a book! Go for a walk! Bake a pie, or better yet, bake some bread - nobody bakes real bread anymore, homemade bread is really tasty, and yeast doughs are fun and satisfying to play with. Play with your dog, or if you don't have a dog, go volunteer at a shelter for homeless animals and play with their dogs. Catch up on the backlog of TV shows accumulated on the TiVo. Why wait in long lines in the rain at your local polling place when you could be having fun elsewhere?
Finally, if you're an undecided voter: What the hell have you been doing for the last three months? You haven't picked a candidate yet? Let me help you out: you want to vote for John Kerry. Just trust me on this one.
Current Mood: unapologetically partisan
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curious