Friday, February 27, 2009

James P Carse- Breakfast at the Victory

The ego wants nothing less than to see God. The soul knows, however, that if the Divine were to appear, the ego would not recognize it. The heavens cannot open for the soul; they are already open.

That is all.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho



So, this is another one of those books that everyone on the planet has read and raves about, and I wasn't particularly impressed by. Perhaps people are just so desperate for a sense of personal significance and meaning in their lives that this little allegory really speaks to that need... I'm not sure.

There was, however, one little passage I liked:

"This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold."

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Animation Festival news

I met with Brian from the ASIFA chapter today, and he really wants to move forward with the festival for this fall. He wants it to be an ASIFA event and focus on the capabilities of Northwest chapter members, and I think we're just going to take the bit in our teeth and do it. I'm really pleased.

Monday, February 9, 2009

vacuum woes

~Totally out of step with the usual content of this blog, but I'm frustrated.~

About 7 years ago I got a new Kenmore upright bagless HEPA filter awesome vacuum from Sears. I loved that thing- it always worked beautifully and never gave me any problems. I'm sure I abused the filters, but it performed perfectly.

About 18 months ago, my mom and I agreed to switch vacuums because her new apartment had wall-to-wall carpet, and my most recent two apartments had hardwood floors. So I took her little stick vac, and she took my badass Kenmore.

Well, I couldn't hang with the crappy little thing, so last year for Christmas I bought myself a Dirt Devil bagless upright for pets. It had the air filter and a special pet hair attachment and everything.

About six months after I bought it, they recalled the pet hair attachment because it was hazardous- apparently it had been breaking and shooting out pieces of plastic at high velocities. Fine- I went to the Dirt Devil website and ordered the replacement attachment. About eight weeks later, I still hadn't gotten the attachment, and hadn't heard anything from them, so I call them. The (very nice) woman on the phone said that the order had been cancelled. I explained that I hadn't cancelled it, and hadn't been using the attachment for a long time now because it was unsafe, and would they please send me a new one. About 8 weeks later, the new one arrives.

Now, two weeks ago, my belt breaks. The website says to replace the belts every 3-4 months, but I had never ever replaced the belt on my Kenmore, which is now at least 7 years old. Also, the only thing I vacuum with this machine is a 6x8 area rug, and suck cat hair off the furniture- it hasn't even been used extensively. But whatever, the belts are cheap and I'll just buy a bunch of them, and I need new filters anyway. Except that the belts are out of stock at dirtdevil.com. And so are the air filters. And I called Starks, keeper of all things vacuum (they have a vacuum MUSEUM, for Pete's sake) and they don't have the belts either.

In short, I'm really unhappy with the purchase of this thing, and with the followup service I've gotten/am getting from Dirt Devil, and loved the abuse I was able to pile on my Kenmore. My mom is still using the hell out of it, and she loves it too. It wasn't that much more expensive than the Dirt Devil, and I should have just stuck with the brand.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Francis Bacon 1605


For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth; as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things … and at the same time steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences; as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every kind of imposture.