Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in deckardcanine's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, May 24th, 2012
12:44 pm	I've been seeing a Gap ad at a bus stop, part of their "Be your own T" campaign. The largest words on it are "BE HUNGRY." The depicted young man is unshaven with his unsmiling mouth slightly ajar. Maybe it's my D.C. mindset, but to me this conveys a different kind and level of hunger than probably intended. Gap: The clothing brand for people with no money to spare. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
11:44 am	As some of my LJ friends have noted, I turned 30 today. Not doing anything big to celebrate, but I'll see Marley in a theater tonight with at least one family member. Bidding my 20s farewell does not exactly make me apprehensive. I still rather look forward to aging as long as skills, wisdom, and a less minor-esque appearance come with it. But it does make me feel like I should speed up my maturity in behavior. Perhaps that's how I finally found the nerve to ask a woman out (no date yet; she'll be out of town a while). Of course, 30 doesn't mean what it used to mean. I'm not sure what it should mean anymore. "The new 21"? Not for me. As always in my life, I'm ahead of the curve in some ways and behind in others. Eh, in all likelihood, I'll keep doing whatever feels natural to me. But I will never think of myself as a kid again. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
11:44 am	Thank you, Marmoe and Sleepy John, for recommending Filezilla! Downscale has updated again. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 20th, 2012
3:25 pm	I have learned from FreeRice.com that (1) there was a painter named Paolo Uccello and (2) uccello is Italian for "bird." Today it occurred to me that "Paul" and its cognates come from a word for "small." From there I remembered Little Bird from "Sesame Street." I must be the first person ever to connect a Renaissance artist with a largely forgotten Muppet. No, the Ninja Turtles don't count in my book. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 18th, 2012
10:47 am	Three days later, the net2ftp problem continues. I may have to look into another FTP client to continue "Downscale." Any recommendations? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
4:43 pm	I continue to learn more about the language I know best. Today Sleepy John faulted me for writing "cut the muster" instead of "cut the mustard." Like many before me, I thought that the former predated the latter, seeing as its literal meaning is more obscure. Instead, it appears to be an accidental mix of "cut the mustard" and "pass muster," a term with military origins. More surprising to me is a recent long discussion on Cute Overload about the word "nauseous." Purists reserve it for the sense of "nauseating." Merriam-Webster also accepts it as a substitute for "nauseated," but since the same source grudgingly accepts "flaunt" for "flout," not everyone respects the decision. The thing is, I have always seen or heard it to mean "nauseated," never "nauseating." Not that I can recall all that many instances of "nauseous" offhand, but still. It's not really a new thing either: The last line in Sleeper (1973) goes, "Sex and death -- two things that come once in a lifetime. But at least after death you're not nauseous." The traditional meaning sure wouldn't make sense in that context, and the filmmakers counted on audiences to understand. As copy editors go, I think I'm not much of a fogy. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 14th, 2012
11:29 pm	Huh. This time it's evidently not my fault that "Downscale" can't update on Tuesday. When I signed it at my usual net2ftp address, I repeatedly got this message: An error has occured The FTP module of PHP is not installed. The administrator of this website should install this FTP module. Installation instructions are given on php.net Offhand, the error is a missing R in the first sentence. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 11th, 2012
7:16 pm	I let a lot of Express errors slide, but this one's pretty big: One of several pie charts showing poll results has a discrepancy between the printed numbers and the graphic apportionment. Going by the text, 53% said yes and 46% said no, but the "no" slice takes up more than half the pie. I don't know which to believe. Now that I look more closely, the poll question gets cut off at the end. Some editor must have skimmed the box much too fast. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
4:22 pm	I've known for some weeks that my company will soon move out of this building. Our new location is further away from the Metro and almost everywhere else I'm likely to go, which may explain why it costs less. The difference is only two blocks, tho, so I haven't complained. Today I learned that all but about three of us will move into cubicles. That's the worst office arrangement I'll have had in more than five years. Technically I was in a cubicle for a few months here, but nobody else worked in that vicinity, so it felt plenty private. Now I'm worried at how my typical workday may have to change. Still, I can't complain too hard. My job is still apparently secure, adequately paying, and fairly cushy. How many can say that nowadays? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
12:59 pm	Oh, Blast-Ended Skrewts. Yet again I've completed a cartoon and forgotten to upload it right afterward. This is one I've been looking forward to showing, too. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
6:27 pm	It's been a while, but I'll pose the question again: How much of a dork am I? I just realized I've been mixing up "Gilmore Girls" with "The Golden Girls." Apart from that, last week I threw away an old flannel shirt after my mom asked me not to wear it to a restaurant again. While I usually think of her as more environmentalist than me, she won't stand for as much reuse as I do. (She's also tried all my life to get me to use electric lights more often.) It's a shame I couldn't even give it away, if only because very few poor people in D.C. are as thin as I am. But I felt better about my attire when I looked out the window: A man walked into a restaurant across the street wearing a formal black coat... and banana-yellow pants. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 27th, 2012
10:54 am	I've placed among the honorable mentions in two Washington Post Style Invitational contests before. This time I got two entries into the paper, one in fourth place! Yeah, both had been submitted by somebody else as well, but hey, my name's there twice. If for some reason you can't access the site, I'll explain: A recurring contest involves "breeding" two Triple Crown winners from a list, yielding a combo in the tradition of horse names, only, y'know, funny. My fourth-place entry went "Tiger Walk x Holy Highway = Fairway to Heaven"; the other was "Neck ’n Neck x Whistleblower = Deep Throat." To be honest, as happy as this makes me, I like many honorable mentions better than mine. Read the whole list if you can. It's very witty, tho you may need research to get some of them. Maybe I'll enter the follow-up contest, in which we breed the results of this contest. I've succeeded there once. Oh, and since my folks really wanted to know, here are my entries that didn't make it: Barber Shop Rock x The Lumber Guy = Monty Python Song Barrymore x Wrote = Drew Big Monster x El Padrino = Godfatherzilla Boltzapper x Mr. Handsome = Electro-Cute Currency Swap x The Caller = Khoum on Over Done Done Done x Late Night Action = Foursome Full Sunrise x Saturday’s for Fun = Morning Cartoon Gemologist x Julius Caesar = Rubycon Motor City x Tiger Walk = Comerica Park Sabercat x Thunder Moccasin = Lion-O ...Yeah, they chose the best. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
7:23 pm	For the most part, I consider verbal/linguistic intelligence my strongest suit, particularly in writing (synesthesia plays a big part in it). But lately it has come to my attention that I rather suck at one aspect: alphabetization. Oh, I know how it works; I just tend to charge ahead with it and get sloppy. Whenever I type a lengthy list in alphabetical order, I notice several errors on later viewings. Maybe I shouldn't feel so ashamed. Maybe my self-standards lack perspective. Heck, maybe I should be more ashamed for making the lists at all. They're for diversion, nothing important. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 20th, 2012
9:52 pm	This morning I looked at a bottle marked "Hand Soap." I converted the letters to numerical values (H = 8, A = 1, etc.) and discovered that H + A + N - D = S + O + A - P. Then I thought, "Who thinks of these things?! ...Besides me." (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
5:23 pm	The popularity of "Downton Abbey" has been about as mysterious to me as the brony phenomenon is to outsiders. A PBS soap set in a British mansion long ago, appealing that much to Americans? Why aren't they bored stiff? Even the title makes me feel like spitting tea. Sure, the same writer's work on Gosford Park wasn't bad, but it wasn't a runaway success, and he had to share it with Robert Altman among others. So I finally watched the pilot episode and... came out just as baffled. I kept reminding myself that it was only a little more than an hour; I wouldn't be there long. To be generous, I then browsed Netflix's summaries of the following, somewhat shorter episodes, but nothing captured my interest. Then it occurred to me that "The West Wing" is the only TV drama series I recall ever liking (miniseries like "John Adams" don't count). All my other favored series involve comedy, action/adventure, sci-fi/fantasy, mystery, and/or suspense. Heck, TWW probably wouldn't work for me if not for its many witty moments. It's not that I don't like drama at all; I can even love dramas set in old-time Britain, as shown by my LJ cheers for The King's Speech. But whether mellow or melo-, dramatic stories tend to try my patience before long, hence my strong preferences for movies and plays of the genre. Yes, the DA pilot ran shorter than the average dramatic movie, but in setting up for an entire season or so, it took its time and didn't bother to get to anything really juicy yet. At least I serendipitously picked a good week to check it out. Nobody told me it began in April 1912. Now, thanks to a recent centennial, I could readily guess what headliner caught the characters' attention. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
3:10 pm	My supervisor sent an email asking me to alter an old timesheet and then resign. Turns out she meant "re-sign." (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 9th, 2012
4:32 pm	Today I closed my account at a bank. I made a point to say that they had done nothing wrong; I simply found a better alternative. Made me feel kinda bad, after nearly eight years with them. I imagine that it feels something like breaking up gently with a decent person who wasn't ready to call it off. In a way, it's worse: You might convince your date/SO that both of you are better off separate, but banks never see an upside to losing customers. Of course, one ordinary customer doesn't mean as much as a potential life mate, so I must be blowing this out of proportion. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012
10:45 am	On a whim today, I decided to look up Dame Jane Goodall's age...and discovered it's her birthday. She's 78. Thanks, useless superpower. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:02 am	Crud, my FTP client hasn't accepted uploads all evening. We'll have to wait for the next "Downscale" another day. (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 31st, 2012
6:14 pm	Book review: Dragonflight Have you ever fallen into the trap of picking up a mediocre story, sticking with it in the hope that it gets much better (perhaps encouraged when it gets a little better but not great), and then staying to the end because there's not much left? I imagine it's common among people who read novels for pleasure, tho it's not unique to this medium. Offhand, the best thing I have to say about the first volume of the late Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern is that it ends well for a non-final volume: resolved enough to end without suspense, yet hinting at excitement to come. ( Cut for length ) Next on my reading list is Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It's much longer than Dragonflight, but I may just finish it faster. From the excerpts I know, he was one smart writer. (2 Comments |Comment on this)