Below are the 5 most recent journal entries recorded in Doug Z's LiveJournal:

Sunday, June 15th, 2003
9:36 pm	Roadkill Taking my boy Tom to the airport Sunday morning at 9, I speed onto I-90. This is in Issaquah, perhaps 2 miles from my home. A minute past the ramp, we pass a dead animal on the side of the road. Raccoon? Uh-uh. Deer? Nope. A large black bear, head smashed in, bloody heap of black fur. I can see a big paw and little ears. Issaquah's no bustling metropolis, but it's not exactly wilderness either. I'm fairly sure the real estate agent neglected to mention bears frequenting the highways when he showed us this house. Black bears are said to be a shy and nonagressive species (my mom encountered a wild one in the Appalachians when she was a child), and I feel sorry for this one, taking a wrong turn onto the Interstate. But the next time I put out the garbage for pickup, I'll think about hanging it from a tree. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 12th, 2003
2:10 am	Never tire of the rocketcam http://www.nasa.gov/vision/find/mars_spirit_launch.html Cost to send a couple of rovers to Mars: $800 million. Watching every foot of the journey into Low Earth Orbit: priceless. (Sorry for the overused MasterCard ripoff - it seemed to fit.) Course, with a bit of trying, NASA could get much better footage of the trip to LEO for a tiny fraction of the cost, if that was the only purpose of the launch. If they were better at self-promotion, you'd see hi-res footage of the trip to space used in Superbowl commercials and music videos. CGI can do a flashier job, but there's nothing like seeing the real thing to make a person think "that could make a pretty cool vacation." Reading about the progress toward the X Prize in the latest Wired, one hopes that one of the contenders is savvy enough to rig their vehicle with multiple cameras, and freely distribute the footage. (Yes, I know that "watching" above should be the NASA hyperlink - I'm getting to that. Baby steps and all. Gotta take a look at the Edit Style section first.) (Comment on this)
Monday, June 9th, 2003
12:18 am	You can make a lovely action figure from a pinecone and gold paint Since I haven't updated this journal via the web in a whale's age, I thought I'd try out this quick-post app, see if it increases my productivity. Picked up some outgrown kids' things from Brannon on Saturday, a treasure trove of videos, wooden train tracks and random robots, cars and animals of all shapes and sizes. Wading through the pile that the kids had emptied on the living room floor, I was stunned to find a 1/64th scale Martha Stewart action figure. The face was a little off, but close enough for that scale, the hair was a perfect match, the clothing a bit odd, but conservative and comfortable-looking. A series of thoughts flashed through my head. "Wow, I knew Martha Stewart was a merchandising machine, but had no idea she had a 3-inch action figure." "Brannon sure had a diverse interest in figures." "What's up with these boots?" The LFL copyright on the sole of the foot suggested the truth - this was *Aunt Beru*! Too bad Stewart's in no position to sue Lucas - that woulda been a media circus worth watching. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 10th, 2003
2:57 am	Cheap-ass Gourmet Potato Soup Made several variants on this theme, this one last night. Quick, very tasty comfort in a bowl - allows 1 can Cream of Potato to feed 2 adults well. 1 can Campbell's Cream of Potato 2/3 can whole milk, 1/3 water (or 1 can 2%) 2 TBL Dijon mustard 1 cup chunks swiss cheese (or Mozzarella, less flavorful) 3 slices cooked bacon, minced (or 5 slices ham, shredded) 2 slices bread, shredded 2 green onions, chopped 1/4 cup white wine (I used Fume Blanc) Stir soup concentrate and milk/water over medium heat until mixed, add Dijon, cheese, bacon/ham, bread. When cheese is melted, add wine and onions. Stir and heat for another 5-8 minutes. Should be very thick and cheesy. Season if necessary. Serve. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 9th, 2003
2:06 am	First entry So here I am with my first livejournal entry, all gung-ho to put in some interesting stuff I've found recently about games, space, military statistics and such, and - wouldn't you know it - *right now* the Iraqi people have apparently decided Saddam is gone and my streaming NPR feed is all abuzz that the end of the regime is happening NOW. Don't those long-suffering Iraqis realize that this is the occasion of my first livejournal entry? They've been living with the guy for what, 20+ years, they couldn't wait a couple more days until I got up and running? (Note to self: call Iraqi embassy, explain the situation, maybe they'll hold off.) (1 Comment |Comment on this)