Erika's Bloglet

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:56:51 -0600

bell system

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:56:38 -0600

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:56:21 -0600

rough

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:56:07 -0600

bright

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:55:16 -0600

cracked

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:54:43 -0600

unwanted

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Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:52:09 -0600

fuzzy

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Raindrops fall on the surface of the pond...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:23:33 -0600

Raindrops fall on the surface of the pond. Expanding circles intersect. Bubbles appear at the center and vanish, one by one.

What's there is there, and when it is revealed I seek it in the same place, but it is no longer there. I look under the same rock and the crayfish is gone. I go to the same street corner but the coyote does not come. My hand is a fist in the water, it grasps hard but comes up empty.

The rain stops. The pond is still.
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This story by Andrei Codrescu is the best thing I...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:48:07 -0600

This story by Andrei Codrescu is the best thing I have heard yet about the economic collapse. The audio is highly recommended.
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The heavenly painter was going all out on my walk...

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:42:16 -0600

The heavenly painter was going all out on my walk home. Clouds upon clouds in wisps and streaks of every color, or great big white billows. I didn't take any pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it.
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When calling my insurance agency about my...

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:24:18 -0600

When calling my insurance agency about my short-term disability claim just now I got the following message: "Due to unforeseen circumstances the Hartford Group is temporarily closed". Whew. Apparently their stock just took a nosedive.
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Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:05:15 -0600

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Libby suggests a resurrection of blog swappingness...

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:16:10 -0600

Libby suggests a resurrection of blog swappingness. How about halloween themed cookies? Or mixes? Or both? Who's in for either?
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Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:53:30 -0600

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Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:53:19 -0600

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Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:53:07 -0600

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Obama: We must act swiftly. We must act wisely...

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:26:18 -0600

Obama: We must act swiftly. We must act wisely.
Tim: Or to put it a different way, we must act swizely.
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Spent today cleaning, reading, and walking in the...

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:58:32 -0600

Spent today cleaning, reading, and walking in the rain. Rain on puddles and rocks and ponds is one of the best things.
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Icelandic for the days of the week: Sun Day, Moon...

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:23:26 -0600

Icelandic for the days of the week: Sun Day, Moon Day, Third Day, Mid-week Day, Fifth Week Day, Fast Day, Washing Day. Thank you, wikipedia
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Does anyone else find all the talk of how...

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:13:43 -0600

Does anyone else find all the talk of how politicians are trying to appeal to different blocs of voters disturbingly cynical, classist, racist? It's as if as voters we are walking race and income statistics, and will only vote based on "our" issues. What the hell? It's as if no one in the entire system believes that voters are real human beings with individual interests who use actual judgement to make decisions. Maybe I listen to too much NPR.
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McCain last week: "the fundamentals of our economy...

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:01:01 -0600

McCain last week: "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." All sorts of pundits are saying it too, like some sort of incantation. Will it avert doom and chaos? Here is a short history lesson. On the day after the market started to crash in 1929:

Charles M. Schwab said that the steel business had been making "fundamental progress" toward stability and added that this "fundamentally sound condition" was responsible for the prosperity of the industry; Samuel Vauclain, Chairman of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, declared that "the fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis." President Hoover said that "the fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound an prosperous basis."

John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929

...and then came the Great Depression, so guess it didn't work so well. But I suppose it is worth a try.
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Saw Al-Kindi and the Whirling Dervishes of...

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:27:23 -0600

Saw Al-Kindi and the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus last night. It is difficult to describe such an experience. I mean I knew that the point of this music and dancing was to induce a trance-like state of ecstasy, but I didn't expect it to work so damn well. It was possible to just fall into the music and keep falling. Time and space opened up, there was nothing but just the music, constantly pulling one away from one's small ego. In such an experience there is not a question of whether God exists, there is just awe. Sorry to go all mystical, but I think it is entirely justified. Afterwards we were all just reeling. The performers bowed, we left the theater, the world closed up again, the concert became merely a concert. They were short three performers because they were stopped at the border and couldn't get visas. This world is a fucked up place.
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If you can talk about it, it ain't Tao...

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:50:47 -0600

If you can talk about it, it ain't Tao. Actually a serious translation, well by serious, I mean as far as these things go. Refreshing. Get right with Tao, folks.
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Time passes.

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:32:19 -0600

Time passes.
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Does it mean a thing if it ain't got that swing?

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:32:59 -0600

Does it mean a thing if it ain't got that swing?
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Did video kill the radio star?

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:52:26 -0600

Did video kill the radio star?
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Looking on the bright side: some people go to...

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:04:01 -0600

Looking on the bright side: some people go to gurus and pay money to sit around doing absolutely nothing for days at a stretch (I'm not entirely being ironic here either).
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My world is stripped bare. ...

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:18:29 -0600

My world is stripped bare.

I see wind ripples on the pond, a fairy forest of pink flowers by my knee.

I rest on something. It's not even faith. The world is solid, I am always drifting and returning. The exactitude of the real defeats imagination.

I have been many worse places. If I could think, if I could act, I could stay here.
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Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:32:14 -0600

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Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:31:59 -0600

impressive cloud

On the way home from Michigan. Taken to remember the cloud by, doesn't capture it at all.
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