Harvesting the Ephemeral
Friday July 14, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
Today's Song of the Day is inspired by a signature in an email I received. The signature contained a quote from the poem "Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Being a huge Rush fan, I immediately recogized the quote. Rush had recorded "Xanadu" on their their 1977 album A Farewell to Kings, which was inspired by Kubla Kahn. Great song, and it's today's Song of the Day.
"To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise..."
"I had heard the whispered tales of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost Xanadu
Xanadu...
To stand within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honeydew
And drink the milk of Paradise
A thousand years have come and gone but time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end, weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost
Xanadu
Xanadu...
Held within the Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honeydew
And drunk the milk of Paradise"
Additional info:
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Tuesday July 11, 2006
World Cup Humor: The Headbutt ... in Distractions
Via Game|Life comes animated parodies that gamers have been churning out in the wake of Zidane (the French captain) headbutting Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final. There's another good take over at YouTube. And even more versions over at www.madsenblog.dk.
And in case you are interested, here's a pointer to the real footage of the event.
» Tags:
Zidane,
Headbutt,
World Cup
Friday June 30, 2006
The Passing Of An Angel ... in Life
We met Micah (pictured left) the same day we met our youngest daughter. We met her in an office on the second floor of a non-descript building. It was an overcast, muggy day in Chongqing, China. She was in a group of 6 baby girls, dressed in colorful outfits, wondering around in their walkers. There they were, oblivious to the fact that they would change our lives forever. It was the end of a long journey that began thousands of miles away.
We had first met Micah's parents at the meeting to plan for our trip, and review all the paperwork we would need to complete while in China. They also had a 3-year old daughter, and we were glad that our girls would have someone to play with. Both of our daughters were enamored with the idea of having a baby sister. And, as with us, one set of grandparents would be traveling to China to help out. All was well, and the stars seemed to be aligning.
The doors to the tiny elevator opened up and we were suddenly face to face with our little girls - angels we had dreamed about for so long. Someone gasped "babies!" There were lumps in our throats, and tears in our eyes. Our hearts pounded. Soon to be Fathers scrambled to place the bags down and break out the cameras. Soon to be Mother's eyes opened wide as they tried to pick out their daughter.
You could tell who Micah's family was going to be - they all wore shirts emblazoned with her referral picture. Such proud, fierce love.
So there we were, strangers who had come together in a foreign land to share this most intimate of moments. For some of us, husband and wife would be transformed into parents. And for the rest of us, our families would become complete. Little girls were suddenly big sisters. It was also a moment of great trepidation. Was there enough love? But those fears were swept away and replaced with tears of joy. Doorways and passageways were suddenly thrown open in our hearts. Emotions and feelings came pouring from places we never knew existed. There was more than enough of love.
It was one of the happiest days of our lives.
Micah wasn't a happy baby - she cried quite a lot. She cried if you put her down, and she cried even if you held her. And it seemed that she had an ear infection. It was a rough start.
Eventually we made it home, and we began the task of figuring out how our daughters worked, and helping them understand that they now had a mommy and daddy, and they belonged to a family.
Two of the families lived up near the Oregon Border, and the rest of us were scattered about the Bay Area. Yet we managed to get together recently at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. The girls had a blast. Micah was smiling. She had been transformed into a happy little girl. The picture you see is from that day. Later on we rejoined at the house of a family that lived nearby. I held out my arms, and Micah came to me with a huge grin. I held her in my arms as she played with my beard, giggling as she tried to pull it out. It was a fantastic day.
It would be the last time I would see her. Micah's mother called us later on in the week and told us that Micah had contracted Chickenpox. We were worried - Micah had been having problems with febrile seizures and she had been in the emergency room a few times.
A few days later, while I was giving our baby a bath, the phone rang. My wife quietly came in and told me the news. Michah was gone. She had gone into seizures again, and then slipped into a coma. She didn't come out of it. The Chickenpox had been too much. I nodded, and quietly kissed my daughter. My mind was filled with the memory of holding a giggling girl tugging on my beard. It had only happened a few days before ...
We said goodbye to Micah on a cold foggy day. All the families were there. It was a Jewish funeral. Her parents buried her, placing the dirt in the grave themselves. There is something very hard and difficult in seeing a casket that small. We were all stunned and heartbroken. It was hard to believe that she was gone ... and I'm quite sure that God himself cried when he held out his hands to welcome her.
It was one of the saddest days of our lives.
Her grandfather remarked that at least she knew what happiness was, at least she experienced a proud fierce love. She had been healed. We had only known her for 7 months, but she had changed us all. We will never be the same.
Goodnight my angel.
Wednesday June 21, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
Today is the summer solstice - so welcome to summer! 
To me Fastball's "The Way" is one of those quintessential summer songs. Upbeat, hopeful, and fantastic lyrics. "Exit to an eternal summer slacking" is one of the greatest lines ever.
It's a romanticized take on what happened to an elderly couple that disappeared while heading to a nearby family reunion. The wife had Alzheimer's disease and the husband was recovering from brain surgery. Unfortunately they were discovered dead at the bottom of a canyon far from their destination. I prefer the song's version of events, and imagine that they are still driving around with the top down, wind in their hair and the sun shining gold on their skin.
"They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever
Knowing the way?
They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down they started walking
Where were they going without ever
Knowing the way?
Anyone can see the road that they walk on
Is paved in gold
And it's always summer
They'll never get cold
They'll never get hungry
They'll never get old and grey
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happier there today, today
Their children woke up
And they couldn't find them
They left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off and left it all behind 'em
But where were they going without ever
Knowing the way?"
Additional info:
» Tags:
Song of the day,
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Fire In The Hills! ... in Life
We were finishing up dinner, when suddenly the air traffic noise increased dramatically. "What in the heck is going on?" I wondered. I looked out the window and saw smoke. "Oh. The hill is on fire" I told my wife. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures of the action from my front yard. The reponse was amazing, and they quickly had the fire under control.
Friday June 16, 2006
A Time To Pause ... in Poetry
A workday morning,
time to begin the frantic to and fro
get up! get dressed! eat your breakfast!
hurry, please hurry, we need to hurry
can't you see
that time is racing, time is slipping
away, away, away ...
she rubs her sleepy eyes
and reaches out
to hug me tight
words get stuck in my throat
I take a breath
and hug her back
There's only time
to check off the items
on the mental list
suddenly the baby smiles
and tells me "hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
with all the world's enthusiasm
and I now I've lost my place
because I'm laughing
and holding her tight
smile for me!
smile so bright
Brighten even this frantic soul
Let's go, time to go, we need to go now!
Hurried goodbyes and missed kisses
tugging at hands and clothes and shoes
I'm on to the next thing before finishing
this thing, thing, thing ... what was I doing?
Oh please hurry
out the door and into a day brilliantly bright
into the truck and down the road
she frowns and slumps into her chair
picking at her zipper and staring out the window
Here we are, lets go, remember your jacket
Unlock the door and undo the seatbelts
I lift her high and the sun flashes in my eyes
oh look at the blue skies ... no time!
Hold her hand and we head through the door
hurried polite hello's and off to the classroom we go
a teacher hands me an award
"She's a star!"
She's doing so well, she's very funny and she
lights up the classroom
Only a nod and a tight smile from me
time for me to go, tell me goodbye
"Oh wait she made something for you."
I pause and bend down to see
She looks at the floor as she hands me the card
"Happy Father's Day" she says in a little shy girl voice
Suddenly, it's time to pause
I exhale and feel the blood pounding
the room spins and halts,
everything snaps into focus
my pretty little girl takes my hand
and I smile, a smile to beam my love
I clear my throat
and ask her how she made it
and she gleefully launches into the details
A time to pause
and notice ...
A Return to Blogging ... in Life
I've been away on paternity leave (a big thank you to Sun and to the state of California!) A once in a lifetime opportunity to spend time with my daughter and watch her develop and blossom.
I'm trying out the Performancing for Firefox plug-in. It's a blog editor that sits right within Firefox. So far it's pretty neat. We'll see how it goes.
Thursday March 30, 2006
Sand Animation Art ... in Artistry
"Ilana draws on sand, using only her fingers. As she weaves together sand, lighting and music, Ilana creates incredible three dimensional vistas they play out in perfect time with the musical accompaniment, Indeed, it is difficult to decide if the music accompanies the work of art, or vice versa Ilana's fingers dance in the sand on the glass to the music, the resulting aesthetic dynamic is powerful and moving."
It is truly fascinating to watch. It's amazing that she can manipulate sand so well. (via Drawn!)
Lord of the Rings: Funny Teasers ... in Distractions
TBS has created a series of funny teasers for their showings of the first two Lord of the Ring movies. My favorite is the one for Frodo - "He was pushed down a mountain ... He was stabbed, twice! ... It sucks to be Frodo!"
Monday March 27, 2006
Sun Fire T2000 Performance Contest ... in Work
For those of you trying to win a Sun Fire T2000, there's now a page with judging criteria and contest rules.
» Tags: SUN,
CoolThreads,
T2000,
Servers,
Datacenter
Song of the Day ... in Music
Another Monday, morning of sunshine, a promise of a warm day, calls for a beautiful song ...
I discovered Adelmo Fornaciari, better know as Zucchero, by accident. And a fortunate one it was. The gods of music were smiling down on my that day. A local dj snuck on "I Lay Down" one afternoon, a beautiful ballad and duet. I immediately recognized the gravelly voice of the mighty John Lee Hooker, but I had no idea who the other person singing was. At the end the dj announced it was Zucchero, an Italian singer. I was blown away!
This song makes me think of salvation from a broken heart. I like the Italian version best - "Ali d 'Oro (Wings of Gold)."
"I lay down
With an angel
I lay down
With an angel
‘cause she treat me kind sometimes
Come in me (Vieni in me)
Take me home (Portami via)
Wings of gold (Ali d’oro)
Come in me (Vieni in me)
Make me fly (Fammi volare)
Heaven below (Mio cielo)
Thieves in the night
Gettin’ so high
Sweet soul of mine, oh mine.
I lay down
With an angel
I lay down
With an angel
I lay down
I lay down thinking
More than I could
Really say.
Stay in me (Stai in me)
Keep me flyin’ (Continua a volare)
Wings of gold (Ali d’oro)
Thieves in the night (Siamo l’inganno)
Gettin’ so high (Baciami il cuore)
Makin’ out so good, so good (Anima mia, oh mia)
I see the sun rise up in your eyes (Vedo nel sole dei tuoi occhi)
Another sun starts to fall (Un altro sole cadere)
We’re at good-bye but not the end no (Siamo l’addio e non la fine)
Have no fear. (Senza ricordi ne’ paure)
Ooh, babe keep takin’ me high (Uh baby, portami via)
Wings of gold (Ali d’oro)
I lay down with an angel ..."
Additional info:
» Tags:
Song of the day,
Music,
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Friday March 24, 2006
More Sun Fire T2000 Try and Buyers ... in Work
I've discovered additional bloggers documenting their Try and Buy experience. Here's the list:
Useful links:
Additional info:
» Tags: SUN,
CoolThreads,
T2000,
Servers,
Datacenter
Thursday March 23, 2006
School of Rock ... in Music
Greg Kihn from KFOX, a Bay Area classic rock station, held a contest for local school bands. All they needed to do was send in their cover of any classic rock song, and the listeners would pick the winners. The cool part was winners got to perform live during his morning show. On the way into work this morning I listened to Valley Christian High School cover "Funky Town", and I was impressed. Map props to Greg Kihn for doing this and promoting music in schools.
I remember my first performance - I was taking classical snare. Another girl and I were to perform in front off all the parents one night. I practiced like crazy - on my snare, on my drum seat, on my pillow ... anywhere. The big night came and I was terrified. It was just the two of us on stage. We started the song, but she faltered and completely stopped a few seconds into it. I saw her freeze out of the corner of my eye, but went back to reading the notes. I managed to make it all the way through with no mistakes. At the end I simply picked up my snare and walked off the stage, relieved. I never heard the audience since I was so focused. Later on my friends told my they were amazed I was able to keep going, and that was the best praise I could ever want.
Niagara vs ftp.heanet.ie Showdown ... in Work
Colm MacCárthaigh has a great write up on his detailed benchmarks of a T2000 vs. a dual Itanium with 32Gb of memory
"Bottom line, the T2000 was able to handle over 3 times the number of transactions per-second and about 60% more concurrent downloads than the current ftp.heanet.ie machine can (a dual Itanium with 32Gb of memory) running identical software."
Additional info:
» Tags: SUN,
CoolThreads,
T2000,
Servers,
Datacenter
Sun Fire T2000 Try and Buyers ... in Work
Several people are blogging about their Try and Buy experience. Here's a list of some of them:
Reading through the blogs and the forums, the biggest problem so far is having the right cables. Grkvlt points out in this thread:
You will need a serial null modem cable which connects to the RJ45 port (the port marked SER MGMT) on the sun, not the DB9 console port. The cable you need is a Cisco rollover console cable, and can be obtained from Ebay pretty cheaply, or you can make your own. if you make one, the pin-outs are available here http://hardwarebook.net/cable/serial/ciscoconsole9.html"
Newegg.com has a USB to Serial cable for $9.
Useful links:
Additional info:
» Tags: SUN,
CoolThreads,
T2000,
Servers,
Datacenter
