These are all photos of Vision, my own cat, the last of the river cats, up today at the vet getting a haircut and a check up. After dropping off three more Albany cats at the vet today, to be fixed, I stopped by the street off Queen I've been working on, to return a woman's carrier. I spotted the long hair white male I'd been told about, and he looked hungry. I had only a very small trap...

Fall camp is coming up, and I'll be doing the pocket schedule game for the 2008 season soon. However, I thought I'd do a quick review of the 2007 season: 'Nuff said :)...

This morning on stage at OSCON, David Recordon announced the formation of the Open Web Foundation (OWF). I wanted to take a few minutes to say congrats to a fantastically diverse and committed bunch of people that have made this possible and tell a little bit about how it came to be. In May 2008, the OpenID Foundation (OIDF) board had a face-to-face meeting at Google where we were planning for...

I have a dog, but if I’m selling my home, my dog is going for a walk. Or he’s running errands with me. Or something. Anything, but staying home. As a Realtor, I come across my fair share of dogs. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing. Even the friendliest of dogs can make homebuyers uncomfortable and that’s the feeling most opposite you want in a buyer. Real estate...

Hubcap on Char's Kia? Not this time, what is it?

Again I found myself reading a blog post on the basics of blogging. There were about 200 comments after the post so I didn't read them all but a couple of the points stuck in my mind. The writer wrote how our blogs reflect who we are and to make you blog inviting if you want traffic. The writer also said that one of the basics to blogging is to leave comments that pertain to the content of the...

Kenmore Elite 110.73932101, no heat (tags: Sears Kenmore Dryer relay)

Happy 32nd birthday, Ryan.

I want to thank the legendary Clyde Lewis for providing a fantastic guest review. Really, who else but the master of Ground Zero Media to delve into the continuing adventures of Mulder and Scully – AD X-Files 2: Putting the Lie Back in Belief There have been so many journalists – either former or dead that have hinted that some things just can’t be put in a box. There are...

Over at OSCON just a short time ago, the Open Web Foundation was just announced. Eran Hammer-Lahav just blogged about it at the OWF site. This is great news, and should go a long way to enabling better community development of standards and specs in a non-proprietary fashion. This morning at OSCON , David Recordon announced the...

Ever have that feeling of waking up and not knowing where you were?

The high cost of fuel is impacting some schools. Reuters reports: Facing a crippling increase in fuel costs, some rural U.S. schools are mulling a solution born of the '70s oil crisis: a four-day week. Cutting out one day of school has been the key to preserving educational programs and staff in parts of Kentucky, New Mexico and Minnesota, outweighing some parents' concerns about finding...

One of the coolest summertime activities in Portland starts tonight: The Northwest Film Center's Top Down series, where moviegoers can enjoy music from a live band followed by a rooftop screening of a cult classic. Tonight's film is the Tom Waits documentary Big Time, preceded by tunes from Love Menu. Head over to Hotel deLuxe,...

Today starts a huge project in The Non-Consumer backyard — putting in a brick patio, long retaining wall, (inspiration above) shade garden and path. It's kind of a big project. We bought our house 12 years ago, party because it had a nice big backyard. We've pretty much done nothing to it through the years besides put in a mammoth play structure, and a wall of arborvitae to...

I am trying not to post fall clothing because I just wrapped my head around the fact that it is summer now and I don't want it taken from me too quickly. But, these new goodies from Tucker were too good to pass up....

I was in therapy today and we were into my perfection stuff and my therapist said something like "You don't have to be perfect - you're only human", and I turned to her and said in all seriousness "But what if I'm not?". Walking to my car it dawned on me how much a part of me wonders if I belong with my species. I have often felt like 'how did I end up on this planet?' - but I hadn't...

Balance Problems? Step Into The IShoe: "Falls among the elderly are common and can be deadly: In 2005, nearly 300,000 Americans suffered hip fractures after a fall, and an average of 24 percent of hip-fracture patients aged 50 and over die in the year following their fracture, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation." For the "FULL STORY" click the title...

... And some are not. I am very busy these days. In about an hour we open for our second weekend of sales. I know it's Thursday but that's all the same to me. Lemon cukes, summer squash, potatoes, sweet onions and green beans are on the menu for today's sales. Oh yeah, and a couple of golden sweet asian melons for a lucky few early customers; if I remember to stop and pick them. Gotta go, hope...

Last night was an incredible night. In Psalm 133:1 God tells how "good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity." I believe last night was a great picture of that very thing. Last night four youth ministries in our town came together for our second Burn. The Burn is a quarterly worship gathering of area youth groups led by the network of youth pastors I am a part of. Read about...

A dirty song I recorded in my office into GarageBand made the show. I'm even on the poster! And, uh, the sound effects aren't mine, just to note.

Why do so many "creative types" create geographic boundaries for themselves when it comes to working independently? I'm constantly amazed by email, phone call and speaking engagement questions and comments from solo creatives related to what are perceived as the limitations of their local geographic markets.Huh? I don't think I got the memo about the Federal government building walls...

Since we're all a little distracted with all that's going on with the kids (and ourselves, if we're lucky!), it's hard to stop and think about retirement planning. I mean, doesn't that come after college savings? And now that I work P/T and get zero benefits (natch), retirement saving is more challenging since I have no access to the standard employer-sponsored saving tools - and those...

Anybody who follows the endlessly volatile wolf issue--and it's hard not to follow it with all the news coverage--knows the greens won a big victory last week. Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court sided with Earthjustice and 12 conservation organizations and essentially relisted, albeit temporarily, the wolf as an endangered species. So, what now? That's the question I've been...

This might have been funnier had I titled it "Hammoneggsgate", but I digress. This week's WW Murmurs column has an interesting little nugget about Gordon Smith's recently retired spokesperson, RC Hammond: When U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s longtime spokesman R.C. Hammond abruptly ditched his Republican boss’s re-election bid last month, questions lingered. Was it a friendly auf...

By Rebecca Gibson. Originally published at Thomas Paine's Corner. I don't know if it's God we have murdered; I don't think that is possible. But capitalism has killed compassion. In a society which only worships the dollar, those who aren't potential income generating units have no value. None. Children, the elderly, the disabled, the disenfranchised, the damaged....there is no one to care for...

This is one of the issues were I pretty strongly agree with Ron Paul, this Freddie and Fannie bailout bill is just insane when you look at the specifics. This bill is not about keeping grandma in her house, this bill is about writing a 800 billion dollar blank check to the two firms that helped mightily into getting us into this mess. In addition this bailout will only make the longer term...

...Bend "Pregnant Man" Debuts his baby in People Magazine. And apparently the family earned a cool $300,000 from People for exclusive picture rights (because "you don't go on the cover of People magazine for free honey!") I'm sure (I guess, I hope) they'll make good parents (despite their love for the spotlight), I just feel bad for the daughter and the therapy sessions she will need she gets...

Yes, my friends, it is time for more snippets of my refrigerator magnets! Today's installment, some of my favorite parenting mottos! Yeh, that's how I roll! (Notice the "no whining" magnet somehow mysteriously got knocked off the Fridge and broken. But that didn't stop me! I glued that baby together and stuck it right back up!) family parenting home humor...

Here again is Christopher Orr in The New Republic, commenting on the many gaps in the story of The Dark Knight: [I]t's not clear that this untidiness is entirely unintentional. In the end, The Dark Knight is less a film about good versus evil than about order versus chaos, a morality play into which a wild card, the Joker, has been inserted to devastating effect. As the demented harlequin lectures...

The Pretenders will roll out their new album, "Break Up the Concrete," as one MP3 per week with a different partner leading up to the Sept. 23 CD street date via Shangri-La Music.The first song, "Boots of Chinese Plastic," is available for free download via AOL's Spinner.com and the Pretenders' Web site. Subsequent tracks will roll out with partners such as QuickTime, ClearChannel.com, CMT.com,...

Nothing beats a new 'do from the salon. All at once, your hair has volume, shine and a sassy swing—the sidewalk becomes a runway and suddenly you're a star. Toss that hair, girl! Then you get home and have to style it yourself. Listen—that was your style bubble bursting. I know, I know, it's sad. Another case of good hair gone bad. Thank gawd for stylists like Dayna Cakebread at Belle...

All Things Considered, July 23, 2008 · Americans want alternatives to traffic jams and high gas prices. Portland, Oregon, thinks it has found one: convincing residents to commute by bike. Cycling has doubled since 2001. And the city hopes this is just the beginning....

A New Zealand judge has made a 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name can be changed from Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, the country's national news agency reported Thursday. Family Court Judge Rob Murfitt listed a series of unusual names that New Zealand parents had given their children, and said he was concerned that such strange monikers would create hurdles for them as they...

"Susie said she didn't want a massage. So did Bobby." I figured Glenn Beck's hiring at CNN was something the network would wake up from rather quickly. But no. There he is, two and some odd years later, hosting a daily program on "The Most Trusted Name in News." Yippee for us. Here's a tid-bit from the Beck bio, eerily similar to that of America's Creepy Viagra Huffer, Rush Limbaugh: Beck's...

As of July 21, I have lived in Portland, Oregon for 6 months. It was me and Portland's six month anniversary. To celebrate, I had a bowl of sugary cereal for dinner and, because I had milk left over, I had cookies for dessert. I'm Livin' La Vida Nine Year Old up here. I had been chaffing in Los Angeles for nearly the 6 years I lived there. I never really fit in. I'd been thinking for a while...