The Horse Latitudes

Weekends

2007-05-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

I've been working weekends, to save up time for an upcoming vacation. It's weird being at the office and lab when no one else is around; almost like you're a ghost that's haunting the place. A ghost who still feels compelled to keep the eight-to-five schedule.

I have a new camera by the way.

Segways

2007-04-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

You can't really see it in this picture, but there's about 4 people on Segways, all riding in a fleet. I always thought that, used for their intended purpose (an alternative to driving for city dwellers), the Segway was a good idea. But at like $20k per, it's kind of a ridiculous idea.

Sidewalks

2007-04-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

In Tucson, there aren't that many sidewalks. In fact, sometimes you're lucky to get any kind of clearing near the curb.

Gardening

2007-04-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

We've all got our hobbies. I cook, Maya gardens. I did a ton of yardwork for her this weekend.

Back

2007-04-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Seen on a car in Austin. I figured out how to pull images from my phone. The blog is back.

Camera

2007-02-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

My camera's done for. I'm sorry. I really should update this blog more; but it'll be harder without pictures...

Futz

2006-12-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Me: These are weird looking! I need a picture.
Maya: Oh yeah, we have these in Texas. They're called "futz bugs".

[Later, I do a google search, as well as look in a guide to insects and arachnids I've got, but turn up nothing called a "futz bug". I ask a guy at work, Jon, who did his BS in entomology.]

Me: So, yeah, I've been seeing these "futz bugs" all around lately. They're interesting, but I can't figure out what the scientific name is.
Jon: Well, different parts of the country have different names for insects, so I'm not too sure either. I'll see what I can find.

[Still later, I tell Maya Jon has no idea what a "futz bug" is. We look at the pictures and compare. They're type of weevil.]

Maya: Yeah, so, I made up the name futz bug. I totally had you going!

Sometimes, I'm really gullible.

Party

2006-11-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

We're having an engagement party tonight.

Unnews

2006-10-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Not that it was any surprise to anyone.

School?

2006-09-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm sort of looking at this whole "working" thing as an opportunity to learn more crap these days. Nevertheless, I'm taking a class because I'm bored. And I don't know much about chemistry at all. I'm still not sure what a pile of rocks has to do with Organic Chemistry.

Evil?

2006-08-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Should I be worried?

Games

2006-08-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

I ordered one of the favorite board games from my childhood recently. Since I work so far away, I have to tell people on eBay or at the USPS to leave my packages, since I won't be around when they're delivered.

Poe

2006-08-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

Edgar Allen Poe's writing desk. This is lazy, but I need to take more pictures.

Cactus

2006-08-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

I got Maya a cactus for her birthday, and it's been blooming a lot, mostly at night.

Information

2006-07-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is an actual Gutenberg bible. It's fascinating to think of how it revolutionized the ability to disseminate information.

Oil

2006-07-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

I wish we didn't use so many fossil fuels.

Texans

2006-07-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

Texans are proud of being from Texas. Many will buy only Texas-made products, including one of my favorite incredibly cheap beers.

Corn

2006-07-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

The saddest image from Texas: A sad candy corn painted on the side of a building, where the business within no longer exists.

Beer

2006-07-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yep, Maya's dad has two honest-to-god cans of Billy Beer.

Austin

2006-07-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

"Found 2 Goats (one may be a sheep) XXX-XXXX"

I recently spent about a week in Texas.

Continue

2006-07-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

So, yeah.

The last post was written in a weird fit of depression. I'm on new acne drugs, you see (or rather, old acne drugs that I'm returning to after quite some time), and it's a side effect. In any event, I'll be in Austin for a week starting tomorrow. Then, I'll have some pictures, once I find my USB cable for my camera.

I don't mean to make this sad or melancholy at least. It just happens.

Why not?

2006-06-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a month. A month of mostly no computer, and still no internet (I'm typing this from work, in fact).

This blog, as any readers who are still left will well know, has been a place of melancholy. Recent events/discussions/debates between two friends of mine via the internet have made me wonder if this is even necessary anymore. There's a lot of that out in blog-land, and, well, frankly, I wonder if I need to add to it.

Yet, I like doing this. This was intended as a document about my life here in Tucson, the general feeling of malaise that entails (partly because of a very good reason to stay), and the few unusual things about this town.

And I wonder about a few things. I'm getting closer to 30. My childhood dreams have been blocked from me, for a time at least, and it's going to take a little while before I figure out a life plan now. And, honestly, all the upper-middle-class retarded angst that anyone has. Yes, life is hard. It's hard for everyone. Nothing's easy, and why should it be? So, do I continue, or do I stop?

Burgled

2006-05-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was going to put a picture up of this, but then I realized I forgot to take one of my smashed-in door.

In any event, the laptop that I use to ever-so-infrequently update this thing has been taken. If you thought posts were intermittent before, they'll only get intermittent-er.

Dings

2006-05-15T02:03:00.000-07:00

It looks like someone shot my car door with a BB gun. I had to order touch up paint, no matter what happened to my car.

Fences

2006-05-04T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about fences. I watched a recent CNN/Anderson Cooper report about the Minutemen. It pissed me off a lot, as it always does whenever white people complain about illegals taking their jobs. The Minutemen are people who've never been poor, have never had to scrounge for a dollar or two to make ends meet. They're people who are not complaining about the low, low price of apples or lettuce because someone picked them who didn't have to make minimum wage or get health benefits. They're people who shop at Wal-Mart, not because they can't afford anything else, but because it's convenient, and there, and a name they trust. It's funny to think what might happen to their low prices and jobs for Americans if there were no more illegal workers in this country.

Tacos

2006-05-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about Tucson is the abundance of Mexican fast food. There are small taco stands everywhere, and they all advertise their Carne Asada. Oh, and many, MANY are open all night.

Porn?

2006-04-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

The text says:
" Do you want free porn? Contact my AIM SN 'abunnyinpink' just say 'give me some pics now!'.

No age verification required, totally free! Just send an instant message to AIM screen name "abunnyinpink".

Any message you send is fine!

AIM abuse can be reported here."

Ironically, isn't this technically an abuse of AIM?

Traffic

2006-03-30T05:31:00.000-08:00

People complain about traffic in Tucson, but this is really as bad as it gets. It's not stop-and-go the way it is other places, mostly you just have to wait for people who are running red lights on your sides.

Housing

2006-03-29T06:32:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be looking for new places to live in the near future. This is one of those types of places that I'm pretty opposed to. I used to live in an apartment complex-type place, but it really puts you entirely too close to other people.

Tired

2006-03-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

I've just not been able to get enough sleep lately. I'm not entirely sure why, but I've been sleeping for hours and hours and it's just never enough. Maybe I'll take a day off and spend it in bed.

T

2006-03-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

This is a picture from my friend T's visit to the Pentagon. Or rather, a picture of a picture. As a German citizen, he had to be escorted by an American (well also as a Pentagon visitor, and not an employee). I think this picture makes him look a little creepy.

Hail

2006-03-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

It hailed a little this morning down by where I live. It's always interesting to me that it sometimes hails here, huge chunks, and frequently rain or hail can happen only in a few parts of the city. Weather is not necessarily consistent all throughout Tucson.

Moth

2006-03-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

There are some freakishly large moths in this city. This one was on our door since about 7:00 this morning. This picture was taken minutes before posting.

Skin

2006-03-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

Just what you've always wanted... me to show some skin. I have a little lump near that big lump of flesh where my thumb starts. At first, I thought it was wart, so I bought the Wartner. Now that I look around, I'm starting to think that it might be a blister. But it's been there for the better part of a year.

Taxes

2006-02-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

I had President's Day off, so I did my taxes.

Liars

2006-02-27T05:39:00.000-08:00

3-4 years ago, these guys were one of my favorite bands. I, too, got caught up in the "dance-punk" craze for about 10 minutes. Anyway, then they released their second album. They're coming to Tucson relatively soon. I have some mixed feelings about the show, to say the least.

PS1

2006-02-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

In case anyone ever wanted to know how big a nerd I am. My first thought when my PS1 broke was "at least my PS2 is backward compatible and can play all the old games". My second thought was "how does this thing work? Boy, it'd be cool if I could de-solder it and figure it out". So I bought a soldering iron, a breadboard, a digital multimeter, and a few other electronics supplies. So far, I've mapped the circuit for the AC-to-DC converter.

Valentine

2006-02-25T15:45:00.000-08:00

One of my Valentine's day presents to Maya. We have both been watching and re-watching the first season of The Office (British). So I put her stapler in Jello. She liked it.

Groceries

2006-02-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

I thought about shopping at Trader Joe's, but with my brand new car, it made me feel too much like a huge yuppie.

Bowling

2006-01-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

Maya's been treating new patients. One of them is interested in bowling and celebrities. I have no idea who this is.

Stuff

2006-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

My dad cleaned up my Christmas presents from the living room by piling all my stuff on the floor of my bedroom.

Yikes

2006-01-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

Somehow these all fell on my bed this weekend. It's sort of scary, with the overdue notices and the 401(K) stuff. It made me realize that I'm 25 now, and, statistically, roughly 1/3 of my life is over.

Happy

2006-01-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

Maya came to visit me in Seattle. Some of my friends threw a New Year's Eve party, and lots of alcohol was consumed by everyone.

Astronomy

2006-01-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

This school has a telescope on top of it. I think the funds were raised and stuff by the son of one of the infamous physics professors. Astronomy's the reason I came to Tucson, but not the reason I'm staying.

Fact: This school was featured in "Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion"

Happy New Year everyone, for those of you to whom this applies: make it better than the last.

Badge

2005-12-31T16:56:00.000-08:00

This is my security badge. I don't know why it needs a mission statement. Sorry about the blackout at the bottom. Friends have had problems with using their company's name in blogs.

Truck

2005-12-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

I've been driving Maya's truck to work. It's almost as old as my Volvo, which doesn't run anymore. I feel bad about tying up her own personal vehicle, but there's really no other option for me at this point.

Convenience

2005-12-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

These houses are near my work, which is far from downtown Tucson. This photo is a little misleading, because there is a Carl's Jr. just behind the view here.

Xmas

2005-12-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

One of the women I work with baked gingerbread men for everyone in my department, as a Christmas gift. They're really good, but by the time I got to mine, the icing had melted a few together.

Workplace

2005-12-26T11:07:00.000-08:00

This is the exterior of my new job. Oro Valley has an ordinance that a certain percentage of all construction project costs go to new, publicly-available art, so many buildings have some strange sculpture in front.

Sorry

2005-12-23T09:16:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the utter lack of updates in a month or so. I have more to post, I swear, so I'll get on that really soon.

Skyboxes

2005-11-22T21:17:00.000-08:00

Maya says there are a lot of skyboxes for our stadium. I have no idea how many are a lot, or even what a "skybox" is or used for.

Reserved

2005-11-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Why anyone felt the need to reserve this lot, I'll never know. No one parks here. Ever.

Holes

2005-11-18T17:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know why these holes were in the pavement. I'm a little curious about what was stuck in the sidewalk and then removed.

Puddles

2005-11-17T05:56:00.000-08:00

One way I can get home is to walk through the UA football stadium. Underneath the stadium is an ever-present puddle of water. In the darkness, with only the orange sodium lamps illuminating the space beneath the stadium, the water looks much seedier and more dangerous.

Cockatiel

2005-11-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

I've never understood birds as pets. They're noisy, kind of stupid, and can fly away. It's absolutely bizarre to me that someone wants their missing cockatiel caught and returned to them. Seems a futile task.

Halloween

2005-11-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

It was Halloween recently. I like carving pumpkins.

Pole

2005-10-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many woodpeckers die each year from trying to eat bugs out of these tasty metal poles.

Sign

2005-10-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

I long ago forgot what this sign said. It seemed to be indicating something happening on a Wednesday, although didn't specify time or place. It was as if someone said "there's a holiday in October" but never specified which one or what day.

Wall

2005-10-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

Someone tried to paint over the graffitti on this wall with different-colored paint. I'm not entirely sure why anyone thought this would work.

Keys

2005-10-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

The physics building has been experiencing a rash of thefts lately, so they put keypads on all the main entrances to the building. In turn, they refitted all the locks with new keyholes that don't recognize the old keys.

Homes

2005-10-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

Down this street is where my old apartment is. I miss the place a little, but I really do like my new house enough to offset it. My new house is, in the end, a lot cheaper for me anyway.

Water

2005-10-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes water will just well up onto the sidewalk in Tucson from unseen sources. If you look around the water, you can see white streaks on the sidewalk. The water here is so full of foreign minerals and such that it stains the sidewalk. Ironically, this picture was taken in front of the Water Use and Efficiency office at the UA.

Oasis

2005-10-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

I think this was Oasis. I never really liked them, and age has not made them better. I do like this picture, actually.

God

2005-10-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

These guys were holding banners outside the festival on the first day, but I never saw them again. I don't know why they gave up.

Preparedness

2005-10-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Unlike the Bumbershoot festivals of my youth, we came prepared to keep our beer cold and have nice places to sit.

Salvation

2005-10-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

One day, it was so hot we walked to a restaurant nearby and got margaritas. They revived us. I picked a red strawberry margarita, knowing it was the least unusually-colored margarita on the menu. Maya and Josh both got purple ones.

Sphere

2005-09-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

These spheres were set up at regular places around the festival grounds. I suppose they provided convenient landmarks for meething or direction, but they provided a strange "Logan's Run" type quality to the festival.

Dust

2005-09-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

I've spent roughly the past week in Austin for a music festival. We were breathing in this amount of dust for 6-8 hours every day. I'm still coughing.

Fruit

2005-09-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

The only indication that I have that my landlord/landlady is doing yardwork is smashed prickly pear cactus fruit on the sidewalk. There was another one of those beetles in the bushes.

Software

2005-09-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

This is what the kind of computer programming that I do looks like. It's graphical, so often hard to tell what's happening "behind the scenes".

Spaces

2005-09-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

They constructed a parking lot near my house, but forgot to make it even. Some potholes are waiting to happen here.

Letters

2005-09-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to learn how to write a good cover letter in my new job search. There are a lot of ways to do it.

Rags

2005-09-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

Part of the reason I started this thing was so that I'd have a reason to take pictures of rags and items of clothing that I found in the street. For some reason that I've never been able to understand, they're all endlessly fascinating to me.

Signs

2005-09-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

During football games, several temporary signs are put up all around my neighborhood. Then, they're just left lying on the sidewalk or near the road. Remarkably, very few ever appear to be stolen.

Beetles

2005-09-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

Typically, I don't like too many insects, or bugs. Particularly not when large or when they fly. I really like beetles for some reason. They're harmless to humans, and have a very diverse life cycle, in which they're several different types of creatures.

Like people?

I don't know. That's kind of dumb and trite.

Mess

2005-08-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is what passes for my desk in the lab. As you can see, stuff is all over it.

Back

2005-08-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm back to work. My instrument is in pieces because I need to get some more sensitive measurements through realignment of everything. The dangerous laser is the silvery box in the background.

Couch

2005-08-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Maya's couch has been urinated on twice by her cats while she's been away on separate occasions. So, I'm watching her cats while she's in Hawaii for her officemate's wedding.

Heroes

2005-08-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Maya tells me that I have a thing for Homer Simpson and Godzilla. It's a little weird. In a way, they're both my heroes. Godzilla kind of gets his way no matter what, and Homer has an unquestioned zest for life.

Cat on a leash

2005-08-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

Lucy with harness and leash eating cat food out of a can. I really want to train her with the food and the leash, and it's coming along, but it'll take patience.

Room

2005-08-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is it. The room where I've been studying. I can't seem to find those sunglasses now, but anyway, I hope this room has paid off.

Almost

2005-08-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Starting tomorrow, there's 3 days of this left. Then, no more studying general physics for a little while.

Picnic

2005-08-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Maya and I took a trip to Mt. Lemmon today for a picnic. It was nice to get away from the scorching heat of yesterday and just eat chips and drink champagne in the woods.

Naturally

2005-08-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the sunsets here are really pretty. Shortly after taking this one, the sky settled into a sedimented color layer, purple at the bottom and pinkish-red on top. Shortly after that, the football stadium started testing its PA system by playing "The Best of AC/DC".

Ants

2005-08-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

This picture doesn't show it too well, but there was a tremendous line of ants on the sidewalk outside my house a couple of days ago. It's strange to me how sometimes ants form such huge lines everywhere, with no discernable purpose.

Potential Disaster

2005-08-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

Prickly pear cacti block the path to our house in two places. I've seen my cat rub up against them, but I know it'll be me falling into them one night after I've been out drinking.

Sun

2005-08-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Some metal sculpture of the sun is hanging up by our front window. The rust spots and mild repainting of the thing attest that it's been there for a little while. Our landlady is sort of an old hippie, but very nice.

Fear

2005-08-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

This has been outside of the science and engineering library for quite some time. I'm not sure if it's a real scorpion tail, but I don't want to find out. Everybody that I'm related to has some sort of tangible thing that they're afraid, not just failure, success, death, whatever, but something looming and... out there, like tunnels or arachnids. Mine is scorpions.

Everyday

2005-08-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

Every day, I walk by this mailbox. The person whose car is usually parked near this mailbox has a lot of ski patrol/lifeguard type stickers on the car. I'm not sure why the bird and the frog appear to be waltzing.