Yeah, he did.

I didn';t have the best relationship with him. In fact, I hardly knew him. I spent much of my youth pretending I knew him.

When, in my adult life, I was actually in a position of getting to know him, it was too late. He was a withered and angry old man. You see, he had been drinking for years and years (since he was 15, smoking since 14) and he was quite satisfied with his lifestyle.

My brother Scott told me that dad once said, "I like to celebrate."

This celebration could be looked at in one of two ways. First, he lived his life the way he wanted, and died a happy man. Or second, he was an addict, and this forced him into a lifestyle, one that he justified by saying he "liked to celebrate", and that ultimately made him die alone.

That last statement isn't quite true, he didn't die alone. He made a good friend in his last years... a friend that would help him, take care of him, and chide him for hurting himself. This person became a friend of mine as well. He did those same things for me (except for the health part).

Anyway, the interesting part was watching him die. I had visited him in the hospital the day before, and he smiled when I walked in. His health was bad, he wasn't able to talk, and he was hanging on by a thread. But he recognized me. I spent some time with him, beside the bed. I touched his hand, cold. I watched him, and I tried to conjure up any feelings that I had. I felt on the spot, as his friends were there, expecting (?) that I would fall apart. I didn't. In truth, I felt very little. I felt duty. I knew what I had to do. I needed to help him die. I told the doctors to remove life support (something that I thought would be more difficult than it was, being in Costa Rica), and they agreed.

I returned the next day, walking into the hospital a nurse ran down the hall, grabbed my arm and in broken English said, "Not long. Not long." I walked into the room, he was gasping, had shallow breathing. His skin was cold to the touch. He moved, just a bit. And then he died.

The timing was weird (a Costa Rican woman told me it was a miracle that he waited until I arrived), the situation was weird, being in a third world country, everybody crossing themselves in the way that Catholics do. I still didn't know how I should react. I was still looking for feelings to come up. The moment was here, I should feel something, shouldn't I? What did I feel?

Well, are you sure you want to know?

I felt relief. I felt good. I felt amazed at the friendliness and generosity of the Costa Rican people who helped me through it. I felt duty. I felt responsibility, I felt good in making the decisions that I did.

Most of all, I felt like an adult. At the time of this writing, I'm 28, and I made my first real adult decision/choices. Yeah, yeah, I moved across the country, my career goes well, I live with someone I love, those too are adult themes, I'm not trying to minimize the importance of those. But, I realized that the facing of death, the death of someone that was so fictionalized, so foreign to me, forced me to come to terms more finite. There was a beginning and an end. And I made that choice to accelerate the end. Now how often do you get to make that kind of choice?

[What I've neglected to mention: how Jenny helped me, how my immediate family helped me, how Rosie, the outgoing and helpful pharmacist helped me, etc. etc.]

This past few days I have had the opportunity to drink copious amounts of New Glarus beers. To easy the tastings, they have a sampler 12 pack, four packs and large bottles.

Here's the run down so far:

Fat Squirrel Brown
Fantastic! My new favorite all time beer. Not sweet, but nutty, low in alcohol, and very, very drinkable. Great aroma!

Edel-Pils
A great Bavarian pils. Seems like a mix of new and noble hops. Crisp, with a strongish malt backbone. Nice!

Hop Hearty
A non-West Coast IPA. Similar to Summit IPA, but a little less bitter on the finish, less copper and a strong hop aroma.

Spotted Cow
Strong malt backbone. Yum. Fruity, yeasty esthers.

Organic Revolution
Fruity ale -- would guess it's made with a Lager yeast. Tasty, clean beer.

Road Slush
Great, astringent stout. Lots of chocolate notes, crisp, clean finish. Surprisingly tasty on a warm summer night.

Smoke on the Porter
Part of the unplugged series. This is a mildly smoked porter. I LOVE it. Would love to try a straight porter.

I'm pretty sure these guys can do no wrong -- amazing, straight froward beer. No "extreme" to be found, but incredible, style-true, tasty beers. The rest of the week will have me hunting down the Belgian Cherry, Bock, and tasting the Raspberry Sour I have in the fridge.

I also have a new favorite lager -- the Berghoff Lager. Really, really yummy -- fruity lager, with hints of the complexity of a steam beer. Old stand by's of Summt Extra Pale have kept me happy, too.

"Habitat", 32"x36",acrylic on panel,2006 painted by Bob Stang

And an important fact for this story, though unrelated, really, in topic is that we "let the yellow mellow" in hour house -- meaning, we don't flush after every pee.

ANYWAY.

I was shaking out several Turquoise Blue Gel capsules and one overshot my hand, and landed on the floor. We haven't cleaned that bathroom floor in weeks. So I picked it up and plunked it in the toilet.

A bout twenty minutes later I wondered where Liv was, so went looking for her. I found her just in time to find her about shoulders-deep in the really stinky, yellow pee bowl of the toilet. As I said "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING!" she jerked back, pulled her yellow/wet toilet-paper encased arms out of the bowl, holding a single, shiny turquoise pill in her hands, and said "Look what I found!"

That was a disastrous mess to be cleaning up when you have a 104 fever.

[cross-posted on Liv & Henry ]

Ahem, so I thought I sold a laptop on Ebay. I listed it, it was bought about 5 minutes later by a guy in Arizona. A few hours later, I got this:

Subject: MC143 A29 TKO NOTICE: Secure your computer -

Dear (me),

We recently learned that someone was using an account to bid on items without the account owner's permission. For this reason, we have canceled all bids on the following listing:

130218859721 - Macbook pro 15" 2.5ghz, 2 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M

All associated fees have been credited to your account. Please note that we're working with the account owner to prevent any additional unauthorized activity.

Unfortunately, we're not able to automatically relist the above item for you. To relist the item, you'll need to use either the Sell Your Item process on eBay, or another listing service.

If you have any concerns or questions, you can contact us by clicking "Help" at the top of any eBay page.

I immediately went to ebay to view my message inbox, and this was a legit email. Ugh, they took the listing down, and I'd have to recreate, but whatever.

The next morning, I get this:

From: transaction_verification@AccountantEmail.com Subject: Notice: Administrative Technical Error

Dear (me),
 
This email is to inform you that our recent notification sent to you from eBay was a technical error.We are sorry for any mix up we might have caused both you and the buyer. We realized that the bid initiated from this account (metscot) was from the true owner.

If this person was the winning bidder for the transaction then the transaction in question should be reconsidered and completed. You must end the auction if the item have been re-listed.We therefore urge you to go and ship the item or take the necessary step if the buyer has paid for the item.

Thank you for being an asset to the eBay trading community. We wish you continued success with your transactions on eBay.

Regards,
Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

Obviously ebay has outsourced the email support. So obviously, I sent off the laptop, no questions asked. Right? Right. No. No. No. Actually I didn't.

Then I get this email:

From: makingme03@gmail.com Subject: I won this item on eBay: Macbook pro 15" 2.5ghz, 2 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M 130218859721

Dear Seller,i've purchased your item on ebay,i will be sending your payment via paypal shortly.Moreover,i want you to aware that am sending this item to a colleague and i will prefer it mail directly to his location so as to meet the need.Therefore ,i will like to know your shipping option and also its cost to the location provides below :

Name : Adebayo A.S
Address : 58/60 Awolowo Ave
City : Abeokuta
State : Ogun
Zip code : 121101
Country : Nigeria

Note : I suggest shipping via USPS Express Mail(EMS),it is cheaper and reliable.

Thanks and get to me ASAP.

to which I responded:

To: makingme03@gmail.com Subject: Re: I won this item on eBay: Macbook pro 15" 2.5ghz, 2 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M 130218859721 Sure.

Shipping to Nigeria is 1 million dollars, plus 3,000 ducks, a small bus, two cars and three chickens.

The cars need to be Mercedes Diesel station wagons.

You can freight the above to 123 Main Street, Anytown, CA, 94702.

Thanks!

to which they responded:

From: makingme03@gmail.com Subject: I won this item on eBay: Macbook pro 15" 2.5ghz, 2 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M 130218859721

What is the meaning of this! this is outrageous.

to which I responded:

To: makingme03@gmail.com Subject: Re: I won this item on eBay: Macbook pro 15" 2.5ghz, 2 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M 130218859721 Hey -- have you not read the news?  The dollar's value has dropped significantly, and I need hard goods like ducks (ducks don't lose value). And 1 million dollars for shiping is my actual USPS express cost. Things are bad here, man!

Thanks!

I'm wating for the next volley.

So, music is a big part of our house, and we don't generally listen to distinct kids music (except for Music Together stuff and They Might Be Giants). We listen on the radio (KALX), XM (XMU), the car stereo, the ipod, and the computers. And I listen freely -- I don't sensor what we play, because for the most part naughty stuff didn't register. For a long while Liv's favorite song was Falling Through Your Clothes buy the New Pornographers -- which repeats "god damn" over and over. She loved Lily Allen's Alfie, which is about a teenage boy who smokes weed and masturbates in his room, and Vampire's Weekend has a chirped 'Whothefuckcaresaboutanoxfordcomma" which starts the lyrics to the semi-eponymous Oxford Comma. Oh, and who can forget Magnetic Field's Too Drunk to Dream's repeated use of "Shit-faced"?

At some point, and I hope this is a while off, she's going to ask me what all of this means. And then perhaps we'll need to talk about strong words and their place in Art and Music and not in casual five-year-old conversation.

All but a very few of these cars has some issues. I bought this as my first 2002, and I made some mistakes with the price I paid. I love this car, and it's super fun to drive, but I want to be perfectly clear on what the issues with it are, and I'm taking a loss on the car (the work, the parts and my purchase price). I have two kids and now I need a kid friendly car. I intend to be perfectly up front about what the issues on this car are, and make sure whoever buys it is in love with it, too. I paid too much at $5600, then put in $1900 at Bavarian Professionals. Asking $3200.

Answer #1"No, I didn't name it."

Had been maintained through Bavarian Professionals in Berkeley. I had my work done there, too. Interior in great condition. Still has that delicious horse hair smell. Carpeting, black, in OK condition. Seats, brown, in fine condition. Bus-size steering wheel. Front and rear seat belts. Extra set of tail lights (had intended to do the refurb job on them -reflective silver spray paint, etc. but then had a kid). Dash cover. Rear hat rack has two speaker holes (with speakers). No door holes. Fog lights mis-matched, but work well. Wired outside of harness for maximum fire safety. Has 10 foot paint job. Get many thumbs up on the freeway. No smog checks. It's exempt.

It's a pleasure to drive -totally linear acceleration. Takes bumps like a BMW, fast, leaving you in control.

Question #2 Rust?

Yes, there is some rust. Passenger-side rocker panel has significant rust. Shock towers are fine, some paint bubbles on rear hood. Also in common areas, around gas tank (though structurally sound). Bottom of doors.

Work I've done:

• Had transmission seals replaced.


• Stainless brake lines installed


• Rebuilt calipers, replaced rotors


• Flushed brake lines.


• Installed new trunk seal


• Installed hood liner


• Replaced thermostat. 75C.


• new hood roundel


• door latch sleeves


• new hood latch rollers


• New hood seal

Funny stuff:

• someone before me spray painted the valve cover silver. Obviously it's started to flake off.it seems to be original color, but clearly was repainted.
• has an engine block heater.
• Headlights. Wired in one circuit. May want to re-wire, or replace with HID.

Common 2002 issues and how they apply to this car:

• Dash. Yup, cracked. I have a carpet cover that fits reasonably well.


• Fuel gauge. Works. Bounces due to ground issue.


• Emergency flasher switch. Works.


• Wipers and washer. Works


• Turn signal switch. Works.


• Try the turn signal, and watch the temperature gauge. Bounces just like everyone else's. Minor ground issue.


• Horn. Works!


• Spare Tire Well -Minor Rust.


• Shock absorber towers. No Rust.


• Doors. Minor Rust along bottom on Driver's Side. Rust on passenger side.


• Seats -both flip up.


• Rear windows open. One does not latch.


• No drive train slack, recently had the transmission seals replaced, had the clutch checked and no issues.


• When releasing the clutch, it 's perfectly smooth.


• Car reverses smoothly.


• Backup lights, brake lights and turn signals all work.


• Rear defroster. Nope. Mine doesn't work either.


• Door Locks -work.


• Door brake -fine.


• Windows, all operational.


• Emergency brake, works fine.


• Heater/Heater fan. Works fine.


• Trunk latches, but you'll need a key made to lock it.

I haven't even heard it, yet I'm positive I'll love it.

Recipe:

4 Gallons Gravenstein Apple Juice (Santa Cruz)
1 Gallon Gravenstein
1/2 Gallon Apple/Cherry Blend
1 Packet Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast
3 Teaspoons Yeast Nutrient
1-1/2 Teaspoons Pectin Enzyme

I tossed this all in a keg and we'll wait until fermentation is complete, transfer to another keg and let it age. Depending on the tannins, I may add some oak chips.

In the future, I'd like to try Lalvin K1V-1116, which apparently many cider makers stand by -- it eats up all the bad bugs, and takes the cider to dry fairly quickly. I picked the champagne yeast, because it's similar to ciders produced in Brittany.

I picked Gravenstein apple juice for two reasons -- because it was easy to find and it's on the Acidic/tart end of the spectrum. I'd prefer to not end up with a super sweet concoction. I'd like to try the juice from the guy at the Berkeley farmers market.

I'm waiting to see what the results are, but this is WAY easier than my usual all grain brewing days.

I loaded up my stereo (still the carver/proton mix of hardware) and inserted a new CD I had been listening to in the car -- Blonde Redheads's 23. The initial sound I heard was an incredible let-down -- tinny, shallow, no imaging. And then I looked at my pre-amp and realized LIv has been twiddling knobs again. With everything reset, I started the CD again, and immediately noticed a world of difference between the Sony's and the Grado -- soft, quiet details emerged from the mix -- a much more open sound, where the Sony's sound closed and claustrophobic. I'd love to be able to side-by-side test the SR-80's or 125's, but these will probably be with me for the next three and a half years.

I realize now that the weight is actually a plus -- they're less noticeable when you're wearing them, and as you progress in a listening session, they pretty much disappear. Also, where the Sony's make you ears sweat (they do -- the seal is so tight) the Grado's just rest nicely without sealing on your head.

No on finding them: I bought these on Ebay -- haven't been able to find them available in retail for the last six months -- not sure if they are being phased out. There are usually at least a pair or two on Ebay every week.