Movies can make me think about many things: my life, my past, my future, my actions, my dreams. Every now and then one comes along that makes me rethink my actions and makes me doubt myself. I watched EDtv this evening and came away more disquieted than the premise of the movie would normally suggest.

Domesticat is my outlet, my creative energy, my place to write and think and design in peace. Yet I make it publicly viewable. I don't actively encourage people to come to the site; I mention it to people if the situation and conversation warrants it, but I do not force people to come here.

Yet…since I started the site thirteen months ago, I've watched quietly as my site hits went up every month. The first time I got queasy and a bit nervous was when I realized that people other than my close, immediate, living-here-in-town friends were reading what I wrote.

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Ever wondered what goes on in the head of someone who maintains a personal site of this size?

Currently on my plate: the big evil project I've been sitting on for a few months. Namely, back-entering all of my old entries into greymatter. This is long, boring, tedious, and mind-numbing work. (Did I mention boring and painstaking?) As soon as that is done, a couple more items from my wishlist can fall into place. The reworking of the archives means that all of the archive pages will be html 4.0 compliant.

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Geof reminded me today:

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"So just what HAVE you been doing?" you ask?

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If you looked closely, one could see the echoes of stubble tracing a faint shadow of pattern-baldness that meandered from ear, to crown, to ear. His eyes didn't always match the laughter in his voice, but when they did, the lines radiated, like spokes, from their corners. Read the rest »

While in Atlanta, I took pains to route my schedule around movie showtimes. I've had a couple of people ask me why I'd do that; my initial response is to answer, "The lack of variety available in the Huntsville theatre market."At the current time, there are 4 theatres in the Huntsville area.

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You might recall that we took a nice short holiday in Canada a couple of months ago. Now that Jess has made available the last of her pictures from Vancouver, I've got the full set. What I'm posting tonight are the pictures from out on the island (i.e., all pictures taken in Victoria). There are quite a bit more from Vancouver, back on the mainland, but I think I'm going to save those for tomorrow. These are plenty enough for now.

• First shots: the largest undefended border on the planet (if you don't count US Customs agents).
  
• On the ferry to Victoria: the fantastic view, Heather and Andy posing, Jeff and I posing, and two more pictures of Heather.
  
• First night there: Brad at our dinner together. Then, when everyone else had the sense to go sleep, Heather and I said, "So what if we've been up for over 24 hours straight? Let's go clubbing with Brad!"
  
• Shots from Brad's apartment: Alice sprawled on Brad's lap, Andy so tired he can't move, more tiredness with Heather, Brad sprawled out on the floor, Heather dragging Andy by his belt loop, Heather's CD carnage from A&B Sound.
  
• Dim sum: The group (shots one and two). Heather and Amy afterwards, Brad and Will afterwards.
  
• In downtown Victoria: The group of us at the Cheesecake Restaurant. At long last, a picture of Alice and Brad. The cradlerobbers rejoice at their young female finds. Jessica-the-starlady gets a star-shaped cluestick. We found a boat named Karina at the dock.
  
• At Judy's house for dinner: Amy with Guinness, Brad with beer, Frank (king of spaghetti), Heather pontificating, people crowded in Judy's kitchen. Jess contemplates climbing into Brad's old treehouse. Some group shots (1, 2, 3, 4). More shots from the backyard (1, 2, 3, 4). Judy's martinis are legendary and potent. She has the cutest piece of kitty art on the wall. Andy is mystified by pasta forks. Four random shots of her house (1, 2, 3, 4).
  
• The Trans-Canada Highway has a mile 0, so we went. Me, alone. Andy, fearless explorer. Andy and Heather. Heather. Jeff and Amy at the marker. Jess on the promontory. Alice and Brad hugging. Jeff and I again. Andy and Heather. The group (and again). The shoreline.
  
• A quiet pub crawl: The group. Amy, Heather, and Jess playing pool. A rather amusing bit of signpost graffiti we spotted on the way back.
  
• Some random scenery: Alice and Brad hugging, and a closeup of that shot. Also a similar one of Heather and Andy.
  
• On the ferry back to Vancouver: Alice and Brad catching a snooze, and Amy and Jeff having a schmoo moment.
  

Those of you who use the "Brad's Blues" skin will undoubtedly notice that the picture of me playing pool looks a bit familiar.

No, I haven't had these images sitting on my hard drive for a couple of months…really, I haven't!

Vancouver pictures tomorrow.

This is a recipe originally given to me by Jeff's mother. He looked at it and said to me, "You know, I always wished there were more tomatoes in this soup, so do you think you could modify it a bit?" So, I did—and what was previously Shirley's recipe has evolved a bit into my own.Jeff's Chicken Stew

• 1 hen (3-4 pounds)
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1 can cream corn
• 2-3 large baking potatoes
• 1 large white onion
• 1—1.5 cup dry elbow noodles*
• 3 small cans (each same size as corn) of stewed tomatoes, or 1 bigger can and one small can
  

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