SquidRoad

Skeletons in the closet? Make 'em dance

I've lost an ancestor.

Somewhere in the rubble, my great-grandfather Braulio up and disappeared. Aaaaackkk! Actually, he disappeared a long time ago. (Right, Nydia, that's what happens when people die. Glad you're coming to terms with it.)

Back when I was doing everything I could do to finish school, I took electives to make classes a little more entertaining. (My father died prior to my junior year in college, so finishing school was a long and winding road...see my LinkedIn profile. I really should be a lot smarter than I am!)

One such class was a history elective: Chicano History up till Civil Rights. My term paper required me to research as deeply as possible my family history. Let's see...on one side, I have Cabello. On the other, Garcia. That was easy: Cabello it is!

So I went back through my father's lineage, and after about a year successfully linked the youngest living generation of Cabellos with the six generations before it.

Long story short: I'm at it again, and man, this stuff SUCKS. YOU. IN.

Here's why: Learning about yourself by studying where you came from is really humbling. It brings all the pieces of your life together. And suddenly, things start to make sense.

Now, the pieces may not all be pretty, so be prepared. There's a saying in genealogy: "If your family has skeletons in the closet, you might as well make them dance."

And it is addicting. Don't say you haven't been warned. Still, it's worth it. If you're near middle age like me, stuff like this will really matter to you. Or if you feel disconnected from your culture and heritage, family history research is a great way to get grounded in your identity.

Got questions? Let me know. I'll do my best to get you started. I'm no pro, but I do love my family, skeletons and all. :)

(For the record, if you look closely at this image, you'll see the name "Braulio." Yeah, he's the wrong one. The hunt continues...)

dissonance

dissonance
Originally uploaded by zeissizm

This image does something for me...evokes some pretty strong emotion, though I can't pinpoint what it is. Can't tell whether it stirs up loneliness or anxiety or peace or fear.

But one thing's for sure: for the subject, there's a long way to go on this wet, dark road.

It'll be our little secret

horsetail (sssssshhhhhh)
Originally uploaded by amorcitos

I've got this thing about gardens now.

First, I've never in my life had a thing for gardens. But now that we've grown up to be homeowners and we have this blank slate to work from, I can't stop looking at water and bog plants.

Why water plants? you ask. If there's anything we lack in the lower elevations of Colorado, it's water. But water gardens/bogs are actually a resource-conserving way to a low-maintenance garden.

My idea is a simple garden w/some Asian influence (guess you can call it Zen-like), so rocks play a large part. We have to take the cheap route for now, because the Mexican Beach Pebble is a little pricey (that sounds Asian, doesn't it?). Probably a top layer of it is all we need.

Our house a long horizontal footprint, and its blond brick facade makes for a nice blank slate for a garden. I just am not a huge frilly-flower person, so it's gonna be simple and mostly green w/a few punches of color here and there.

The two windows at the near end will basically flank the targeted horsetail, a water "weed" that we fully understand can take over the neighborhood. But if managed well it can be a beautiful screen against an otherwise plain backdrop.

I'll post a pic soon of what this area looks like now. We recently added Egyptian papyrus, and it's taking off like crazy.

Suck it up. It's time to write

OK, it's been far too long since I've written here, so it's time to get back into the swing of things and express myself like there's no tomorrow.

Well, something like that.

Trouble is, most days haven't been a "good day" to start. And then tells you something re: how rusty I am at blogging. That's what it's all about--expressing yourself, good or bad. Just keep it consistent. If anyone gives a rip about what you write about, they'll follow. If not, well it makes a good diary in any case.

So we're nearing the end our kitchen project, and by "end" I mean we're within 8 weeks (I think...I hope...I pray) of having a kitchen we can cook in and move our food back into. Not sure we'll be able to sit in it till, oh, Christmas. Those things just take that long.

Here's the kitchen just 2 weekends ago. See that corner at the left end of the photo? That's going to be our seating area...a cozy little banquette where folks can come to hang out and eat, drink and...well, just hang. Ahhh...I can't wait.

And here's what it looks like now. Actually, it's a little better since most of the mudding is done. But we hope to have painted it all by the time we leave next week on vacation.

There will be more photos, oh yes. There will be more, probably on my Flickr stream...which I also need to update. Hmmmph.

A picture can tell 1,000 words; sound tells more

I'm sitting in my second day of the Nieman Narrative Conference on Journalism @ Harvard. It's also my second time here in Boston for this event, which is definitely an in-the-trenches look at increasing forms of narrative storytelling.

The difference this year from the one in 2004 is that a new track on digital storytelling has exploded w/lots of topics, interest and participants. It's evident to me how traditional print media still is, with a very late adoption of technology.

My biggest takeaway so far is that you can use any kind of media you bring back from field reporting, and make something even better from it. Just depends on the strength of story from the different types of media gathered.

Is your sound better than images? Use it in a podcast. Is the sound OK, but images better? Mash 'em up and produce an audio slideshow. If they're both strong and add value you can run a web story, inserting audio as a standalone component in one spot, photos in another.

The example at left is a great way to use all the media you have for a project--well, ok, the best portions of it--and putting the strongest components where they will make the greatest impact.

Fun stuff that confirms for me that where we're headed at my work is right on track for where content is going in terms of being maximized.

Ahhhh....I can go home now.

Flat Stanley: In town for a limited time only

A friend of ours has a son, Colt, whose class in school is trying to send this little paper figure off to interesting places. Since they knew I travel a lot as part of my work, they sent one to me.

Meet Flat Stanley.

Part of Flat's mission is to go to as many interesting places as possible.

I am a deadbeat friend--I've only remembered so far to take him out for sushi on Friday. I think Flat's as excited about my new favorite, the White Tiger Roll, as I am!

He was supposed to come along as a cheerleader to my match today, but someone (I won't mention any names, Mikey) forgot to fold him up and pack him in. His loss--Flat missed a hot match.

So off to work he will go w/me tomorrow. Maybe I'll have him run a meeting or something. Yeah...

The wandering stool

I don't know why this bugs me so much, but it does. And no, that's not a mushroom. More on that later.

I love Overstock.com, and because their service is typically excellent and inexpensive, it's not hard for me to pursue good deals from them. If it's something worthwhile, of course.

Since we're looking for versatile and fun seating, we thought buying two of these stools would give us flexibility for various dining space needs--one in our dining room, the other in our not-yet kitchen.

One stool arrived quickly--in less than a week. The other, however, is on a tour of the eastern seaboard. Every time I go online for a live chat with the Overstock folks, they don't acknowledge that this thing took a left turn when it should've gone right. They just say, "Wait it out, please, ma'am. It's coming to ya." Spent two days, in fact, in Keasbey, NJ, where their online chat staff must be from (is it the accent or the attitude that's the dead giveaway?).

Now the FedEx tracker says the delivery should take place tomorrow...all the way from Jersey. Right.

Dry cleaning on the shady side of the street

It may seem, at first glance, that this early-gaming scene would have nothing to do with dry cleaning, but if you went outside this place, it would probably remind you of the dry cleaners we recently started using.

Let me start by saying that things were extra-shady when I picked up my clothes this evening.

On an average night, there are slow-walkers milling about the backstreet parking lot. It's joined w/the parking lot of a, um, "motel."

Tonight, however, there was more than the usual milling going on. There was the guy in the shadow of the motel. He was wearing a long duster like a Cloak of Invisibility. And then there was the Lady of the Night, accompanied by the Man of the Night, apparently. The guys w/the oversized non-Rockies * baseball jerseys added some zip, too.

But hey, the dry cleaning service is great! I think we'll stay...at least for the entertainment.

*The website works now that there are no tix for sale. :)

I married MacGyver

...and this is a problem.

Mikey is the King o' Projects, and there is no shortage of them at our house. I'm blessed by being married to a man who can fix anything and build just about anything. And so we are attracted to things that require work and building. Well...he is, anyway.

(At left: Is that an uber-gadget or Juicy Juice box on the belt loop?)

To wit: our car lot (two more not shown; btw, none of them is for sale)

And then there's our house stuff. (Photo coming...I think. It's waaaay past my bedtime.)

Suffice it to say that, is a lot of work to do...and only one Mr. Fix-it! Maybe I could be the female clone? Maybe one day, when I'm big, I can be worthy of the title...Mrs. MacGyver.

But wait, there's more

Our "new" house is in demo mode this week--demolition, I mean.

Check out these Before/After photos:

Now you see cabinets (left)...Now you don't. See the doorway at the end of the kitchen (left photo)? It's gone now, too.

Here's a look at that doorway from the other end...Before (left). At right, the After version. Much, much brighter.

You'll see in the right photo that the coat closet is now bigger. Meets the back of what was the pantry, which provided the only entry to the attic. So we redirected that. The old pantry door will be closed up (maybe tonight) and will now support a pullout pantry.

 

We've had to make lots of materials decisions this week--flooring for entryway and kitchen, countertops, appliances, backsplash tile (pending)...as well as a decision for more cabinets. We'll have no excuses for leaving anything out. And no reason not to cook at home.

I'm so excited about our new neighborhood. We're about 1 mile from the mountains, 1 mile from the highway, 1 mile from our favorite restaurant and just 50 steps from a library branch and neighborhood coffee joint.

Ahhhhhh.