Neb's Stream o' Consciousness

Good Books: The Diviner's Tale

2011-10-30T21:34:00.001-07:00

The Diviner's Tale by Bradford Morrow Lovely prose, but I'm not totally happy with the protagonist's angst level. She's a bit cringe-y for my taste, constantly worrying about what society thinks of her and trying to shield her obviously quite capable kids from any information that might help them solve the mystery together. We'll see how it pans out... View all my reviews

Good Books: Saturn's Race

2011-10-18T17:06:00.001-07:00

Saturn's Race by Larry Niven My rating: 4 of 5 stars Interesting, slightly cyber-punk tale of the not-so-distant future where human-machine interfacing is possible...for the very rich. Nice elitist scientist Utopian intrigue. The audio version read by Scott Brick is quite nice; he's one of my favorite book readers and has just the right voice for this story. View all my reviews

SteamCon 3: some photos

2011-10-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

More later. Tired!

SteamCon 2010: 19th Century Firearms

2011-10-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

At long last, Gordon's 19th century firearms talk from SteamCon last year!

Good Books: The Big Burn

2011-10-03T11:36:00.001-07:00

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Captivating account of the Big Burn of 1911 in (mostly)Idaho. More than that, it's a good look into the M.O. of Teddy Roosevelt and the first Forest Service Director, Gifford Pinchot, and how they set up the National Forest system in the face of clear-cutting by industrialists. Explains a lot of

2011-09-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

This year SteamCon will be in Bellevue, just east of Seattle, on October 14-16. My other half, Gordon Frye, will be giving a few talks and hosting a few more. Here's his schedule: Friday, 6-7 PM "19th Century Submarines, Fact and Fiction" (moderating) Saturday, 10-noon, "19th Century Firearms" Naval gatling gun at Pt. Gamble, June 2011 Saturday, 1-2, "Steamy Sailors" (moderating) Sunday, 11

'bye, mom!

2011-08-05T21:03:00.003-07:00

My mom passed away a week ago tonight. I'm still sort of in shock. It wasn't a surprise. Her cancer of many years ago sprang back, this time in her liver. From diagnosis to death was less than a month, but she had been declining before that.I'm not really sad, because I'll see her again in a much better place. We're both Christians, and that really does make these times much easier. Still, it's a

Cowboys & Aliens

2011-08-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen a movie this good in awhile. Going to have to think about it a bit. Going to need to see it again soon. Good work all around.

QOL: Tea

2011-01-26T13:06:00.000-08:00

I love tea, especially green tea, which is good for you and doesn't need sweeteners or cream. In Western culture, we tend to focus on food when we gather together in large or small groups. We can't seem to socialize without a large caloric intake. Why not try serving a really good, satisfying tea instead, when company comes to visit? At our house we always have coffee going in the winter, but

QOL*: fleece sheets

2010-12-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

This may seem like a small thing, but if you're looking for a way to raise the comfort level of your sleeping situation exponentially during the cold season, this is a win-win deal. Polarfleece or micro-fleece sheets. It's like sleeping in a pile of silk velvet. It also raised the R-value of our bedding to the point where we had to remove the duvet (down comforter).We heat our little house with a

Weather Underground

2010-12-14T00:09:00.000-08:00

As I type this it is dumping down rain outside. Not unusual for the Pacific Northwest, of course, but even for here this is a crazy amount all at once. This is the land of drizzle, not downpour. There will be flooding on the Snohmish, Snoqualmie, and Skagit rivers I'm sure.To keep in the weather theme, my very first recommendation or "cool thing" on my newly revitalized blog is...the Weather

The Focus of this Blog

2010-12-13T23:55:00.000-08:00

In the last year or so this blog has fallen into disuse. What with Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, and other social networking tools, the poor old blog has taken a backseat as a quick and easy way to keep in touch with friends and family. It's time for a change.As I skid haphazardly into middle age, I find that I've discovered and am constantly discovering products, methods, and concepts that make my

Frankenstein: starring Gordon & Brian

2010-10-20T19:20:00.001-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The Candy Shop

2010-10-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Atmospherically engaging new short film starring Doug Jones. The Candy Shop Trailer from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

A hat for Fall

2010-09-30T15:30:00.001-07:00

Another big Edwardian hat, with leaf trim!

The Quest Begins

2010-09-28T14:29:00.001-07:00

Journey Quest, the web series I worked on earlier this year, is live with the first two episodes! You can watch them on YouTube, or right on Journey-Quest.com

Dreamy Sleepy

2010-08-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

When I grow sleepy and start to think about heading for bed, I usually start picking up the signals from the last dream I had the night before. Of course, this is really from "early that morning", since I tend to wake up right out of the last dream. If it was a good dream, it makes it easy to get to sleep. I just start running the last scenes again and it helps me drift off. If it was an

Union Workers against GZ Mosque

2010-08-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Union construction workers threatening to refuse work on new mosque at 9-11 site? This could get interesting. I hope the Union Brass hats back them up.

Happy Belated Independence Day!

2010-07-05T23:58:00.001-07:00

Date Change: Til Tableaux=May 8th!

2010-04-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Yipe, I haven't posted on my blog in awhile! The real date for the Tilbury Tableaux (modeling for painters) Day is May 8th, a Saturday. The usual suspects can let me know if you're interested in participating. This time you'll even be paid!

2nd Annual Tilbury Tableaux

2010-03-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

Join us May 8th for the 2nd annual Tilbury Tableaux, an opportunity for painters and other artists to work with lavishly-costumed models in outdoor settings.

Scotland Road

2010-02-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

It's official! I'm the worst blogger ever! Don't believe me? Just look at the sparsity of posts here. Personally, I blame Facebook and Twitter...never my own laziness.At any rate, I'm in a super nifty play at the Jewel Box Theatre in Poulsbo, WA, which runs every Fri/Sat/Sun(matinee) until the end of this month. Which is February 2010. If you're local, come see it! It's actually quite good.

Amazing Dreams

2009-11-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

Don't blog much these days. It's just too easy to sling a quick update on Twitter/Plurk/Facebook. Sometimes I can't sum info up in the maximum allowed characters, so the ol' blog still serves a purpose! Last night I had the most lucid dream(s) I've ever had. Trying to get "home" from somewhere. Old friend JW and I started at the same time, but I decided to go by lighter-than-air craft a.k.a.

Vaccines: deliberate danger

2009-10-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

I can't stress enough how important it is to watch this and educate oneself about vaccines in general, and the H1N1 vaccine in particular:

Darshan's Goes Mexican

2009-07-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Finally did a rough little cut of Gordon & Jousting Pard's adventure in Chowchilla over a month ago...

Crazy Dreams

2009-06-13T17:18:00.001-07:00

Last night I had a lot of wild dreams. Firefly was going back into production, and I was in the cast: yay! In other news, I was on a covert mission in a weird foreign country or on a different planet. Things went pear-shaped and I was sold into slavery (boo!). One of my partners was played by Adam Baldwin (yay!). It was pretty long, involved, and grim. I wasn't interested in being a sexual

Wells Fargo Opens Eagle Aid Account

2009-06-09T22:47:00.001-07:00

Folks wishing to help the devastated town of Eagle, Alaska can donate to a special account at Wells Fargo now. It's called "Rebuild Eagle", but as of this moment I have no other information. Stay tuned...

Whole Armor...plus Artillery

2009-05-28T23:29:00.000-07:00

Many of us are familiar with the oft-reviewed passage in Ephesians dealing with "putting on the Whole Armor of God" (Eph. 6:10-18). If there were ever an argument against being passive Christians, this is it. It talks about the "breastplate" of righteousness, the shoes (footwork) of scriptural preparation and study, the "shield" of faith, the "helmet" of salvation, and the "sword" of the Spirit.

Horses on Pedestals

2009-05-26T15:51:00.001-07:00

How to help Eagle, AK

2009-05-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

Alaskan Red Cross: http://alaska.redcross.org/This from Jackie Helmer (a resident):