Oliphant Parts

Reframing Reality

Categories: Family

The Dark Side

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Linux, Rants, Raves, Whatever

Tags: Apple, dark side, it just works, mac, seduction, simplicity

Comments: 1 Comment

Published on: September 2, 2011

My conversion to the Dark Side is complete. I watched my wife go over and scoffed at her, how easily-led she was, how willing to lock herself in to a predetermined path. Then came Vally, showing me the power and ease of using the dark side. I liked my freedom, liked being able to do things my own way and on my own terms, but the structured world they offered was tempting.

Something is seriously wrong with you, boy . . .

After years of struggling on my own, dealing with the aftermath of unmatched freedom and competing ideas, I finally did it: I bought my own MacBook Pro and joined the Dark Side. And I have to say, I love it. A trackpad that actually works? A trackpad that provides useful navigation and input? What novel ideas! A UI that is stable, and programs that don’t mysteriously crash or include text that matches the background (I’m looking at YOU, VLC on LXDE!!!)? What a novel idea! Yes, I still love my various Linux laptops, but I think I’m stuck in the beauty and simplicity of the Mac world for a while now. I’d better be, now that I have the wireless trackpad, keyboard and number pad.

Vally Took The Summer With Her

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Travel

Tags: cold days, fall, San Francisco, vally

Comments: 6 Comments

Published on: August 31, 2011

I went to sleep last night with the warmth of August and awoke to a cold house and a day of bright skies and bitter winds. That, and the piles of freshly-fallen redwood leaves tells me that summer left with Vally and fall is upon us. Goodbye, summer. Goodbye, Vally. Hello, harsh days of glare and cold and emptiness.

Vally in our hearts

Big Questions

by Nathan

Categories: Affirmations, Family

Tags: No Tags

Comments: No Comments

Published on: June 25, 2011

Saturday is my day for quiet reflection and self-aggrandizing pomposity. Saturday is the day I ask the Big Questions. Why am I here?^* Have I led a good life?^** Where the hell did I leave my book? Seriously, where is my book? (more…)

Freaky

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Photography

Tags: childhood nightmares

Comments: No Comments

Published on: June 19, 2011

Screaming Head Laughing

This is but one of several heads mounted along the walls of my grandfather’s house. They used to scare the hell out of me when I was younger. (more…)

Busted by Mutton

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Livestock, Photography

Tags: aaron, kootenai county fair, mutton bustin'

Comments: No Comments

Published on: June 13, 2011

Busted by Mutton

Poor Aaron has a love/hate relationship with sheep: He loves the way they taste, but hates the way they always want to trample him into dust. So with that in mind, here is his exciting 2006 Mutton Bustin’ ride. All 5 seconds or so of it.
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Spastic Avenger

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Photography, Whatever

Tags: boy-child, goofing off, spastic avenger

Comments: 1 Comment

Published on: May 20, 2011

Spastic Avenger

Okay, I’m hiding this image before it gives my viewer (viewers?) siezures. (more…)

Lust or Laundry

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Religion

Tags: big love, cleaning, polyamory, polygamy

Comments: No Comments

Published on: May 8, 2011

My wife has an addiction. It keeps her up late, interferes with normal social interaction, and may lead to permanent changes in behavior or personality. Yes, my wife has discovered Big Love, and loves it. (more…)

Conversations With Myself

by Nathan

Categories: Beach, Dining, Family, Green Energy, Rants, Whatever

Tags: banana slugs, Coeur d'Alene, complaining, humboldt county, overpriced gas, Spokane

Comments: No Comments

Published on: April 27, 2011

Oh Marmaduke, you’re such a card . . . what are you doing no- f**k me, is this thing on? Oh hey there . . . so, what is today’s topic? Oh yeah, California versus Idaho. I like California, I really do. But I also like paying a dollar less per gallon of gas, half per kilowatt of electricity, and not having to dodge piles of ~~shi…~~ feces while walking in public places.

So, California, or more precisely, Humboldt County, California: Majestic redwoods, foggy mornings and sunny afternoons, beautiful windswept beaches, and the mighty banana slug. I do not think I could give up the ocean again. Humboldt is beautiful, but suffers from a poor economic base and the high cost of California living. Everything from land to gas to milk to taxes is more expensive here, even though so many here are poor. Maybe if we weren’t paying $4.47 per gallon of gas, we would have more money for more important things, like cookies.

Idaho, or Coeur d’Alene anyway, is flat and cold and filled with people who believe the current President is a Kenyan Marxist Socialist Nazi Communist Manchurian Candidate (i.e. “the sheriff is near”). It is also quite affordable. And unlike Humboldt, Kootenai County has no shortage of doctors and great libraries. It may not have as many breweries as Humboldt, but it does have Trader Joe’s, Lowes, Home Depot and Spokane, WA nearby. I would sell my wife for a Trader Joe’s in my area (hey, TJ’s people, are you listening?) . . .

If I switch to driving a UEV and move the family into one of these, California might just match Idaho on the affordability front. Idaho will never match California on the oceanfront and banana slug front, however.

Lost Weekend

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Livestock, Soay

Tags: lost weekend, mud and rain, soay sheep

Comments: No Comments

Published on: April 18, 2011

It’s Monday again, innit? Damn. ‘Twas a lost weekend, as far as I am concerned. Saturday we raced the kids around to social events and repeatedly cleaned the goldfish tank, which was filling nicely with an algal bloom. If the goldfish could talk, I am sure he would have echoed the sentiments of Kermit. Sunday was stress day, followed by chasing the sheep in the rain for a few hours. No, you sick buggers, not for that . . . we had to vaccinate and tag lambs. Eventually the wife snapped, and we gave up on that exciting adventure. At least we all ended up covered in mud and smelling of sheep. That has to count for something, right?

Some Days . . .

by Nathan

Categories: Family, Whatever

Tags: goat, Pearls Before Swine, vomit

Comments: No Comments

Published on: April 11, 2011

Not only do I smell like goat, but some days I feel like him. Fortunately, the exhausted, vomiting girl-child lying on the couch behind me shows me that it could be worse.

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