Houston, we have a Cicada...
Ok... one minor problem with open windows... there's a freaking cicada with a megaphone outside the window...Can I borrow some RAID?
09 September 2007
08 September 2007
Day 4 begins...
On to day 4. It's comfortable in the house right now... I've got a small fan positioned at the window so it's sucking in the outdoor air... Last night I was forced to drag out the thicker blanket because I did get chilly... I believe the exterior temp dropped to about 65. So we're doing fine. Ohm's lounging in front of the fan when he's not hanging in the basement...
AC Challenge...
Category: Life
I cut off the A/C two days ago. I bought two new fans tonight. They're currently on and aimed at me. The thermostat reads 80.
The challenge is this: how long until I cut the A/C back on for good. I'll turn it on before guests arrive and enjoy it in the car and at work (where it's a glorious 68 degrees inside the building) and anywhere else I'm at, I just choose to turn it off right now.
No, the A/C works fine. Yes, I can definately afford the electric bill. No, I'm not a 'tree-hugging hippy'. Not that there's anything wrong with that.... I just want to see.
In Costa Rica we didn't have air conditioning for a week. There was almost always a breeze at night so we were relatively comfortable. The last night at camp was a calm night... so that wasn't fun. On another mission trip the missionaries had decided that their money was better spent somewhere else, so they lived without AC in a tropical climate.
I'm just curious... Can I survive until the arrival of winter?
Coming this winter: The heating challenge... How long can I survive using only my kerosene heater? Of course, due to possible freezing I'll keep the thermostat on 50 until I can't stand it anymore...
Peace!
02 September 2007
Excerpts from a favorite book of mine... Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
"If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely brilliant with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving, And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again, and most men can, nowadays, is happier than any man who tries to slide-rule, measure or equate the universe, which just won't be measured or equated without making a man feel bestial or lonely. I know, I've tried it; to hell with it. So bring on your clubs and parties, your acrobats and magicians, your daredevils, jet cars , motorcycle helicopters, your sex and heroin, more of everything to do with automatic reflex. If the drama is bad, if the film says nothing, if the play is hollow, sting me with the theremin, loudly. I'll think I'm responding to the play, when it's only a tactile reaction to vibration. But I don't care. I just like solid entertainment." (50th anniversary edition, page 61)
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"It doesn't matter what you do he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The real difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime." (50th anniversary edition, page 157)
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So think about something today. Appreciate something in the world and consider what it truely is. Cut off the TV and look at your spouse, friend, loved one, pet, or feet. Better yet, talk to your spouse, friend, loved one or pet. You can talk to your feet but they don't respond well. I've tried. Read a book for pleasure (Currently Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune), a book for education (Dante's Divine Comedy, and a book for consideration (C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain)
Once you've read something, create something. It doesn't have to be some big elaborate thing. It could just be something like this... a simple blog detailing your thoughts and feelings at the current moment.
Just do something. Watching or listening is not doing. Thinking will lead to doing.
"If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely brilliant with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving, And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again, and most men can, nowadays, is happier than any man who tries to slide-rule, measure or equate the universe, which just won't be measured or equated without making a man feel bestial or lonely. I know, I've tried it; to hell with it. So bring on your clubs and parties, your acrobats and magicians, your daredevils, jet cars , motorcycle helicopters, your sex and heroin, more of everything to do with automatic reflex. If the drama is bad, if the film says nothing, if the play is hollow, sting me with the theremin, loudly. I'll think I'm responding to the play, when it's only a tactile reaction to vibration. But I don't care. I just like solid entertainment." (50th anniversary edition, page 61)
-----------------------------
"It doesn't matter what you do he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The real difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime." (50th anniversary edition, page 157)
----------------------------
So think about something today. Appreciate something in the world and consider what it truely is. Cut off the TV and look at your spouse, friend, loved one, pet, or feet. Better yet, talk to your spouse, friend, loved one or pet. You can talk to your feet but they don't respond well. I've tried. Read a book for pleasure (Currently Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune), a book for education (Dante's Divine Comedy, and a book for consideration (C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain)
Once you've read something, create something. It doesn't have to be some big elaborate thing. It could just be something like this... a simple blog detailing your thoughts and feelings at the current moment.
Just do something. Watching or listening is not doing. Thinking will lead to doing.
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