Once again, I have so much to write and so little motivation. Do I write about the local lawyer and former Idaho Concressional candidate who is growing God’s pot plant on his front lawn (one of many great quotes from Tuesday’s Post Falls Press article: “. . . this was a proverbial burning bush, this was a sign from God.” Oh yeah, you can’t beat local journalism for a lively 4th!), do I make a snappy comment about how I, too, would like to lounge my summer away (thanks, Boondocks!), do I dig in my notebook and regurgitate this morning’s ramblings, or do I just toss up something fun I gimped up? Given that I need to get some work done, and that typing in my notes is just too much effort at the moment, let us celebrate the boy-child with a little neon edge-detect and the wonders of GIMP.

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Okay, MT is upgraded, and a new style is up. My links are all missing, My happy smiley face is no longer on the front and I don’t know that I like the two-column layout at this width. Obviously I have a long way to go with this dog . . .

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I’ve got my Bad Idea Jeans on and I’m not afraid to use them! My site may disappear for a bit: I am going to attempt to upgrade to the latest version of Moveable Type and I need to remove some code that some bastard stuck up there on my various photo pages. Thanks to my hosting provider, seanic.net, I have only plain-text authentication. So if you want to mess with me, just sniff my packets and have fun. Did I mention that I am doing this in the middle of an intense thunderstorm? If all goes well, and dev box doesn’t get fried by lightning, I should be back up in a few hours with a brand new out-of-the-box look. Wish me luck! Please?

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I like driving downtown after 3 am or so. The drunks have all driven home, the streets are usually deserted and the buildings take on an emptiness that goes beyond just an absence of people. The city is deserted, desolate. The night is fought back in pools of light; a series of streetlights, an occasional lighted sign, the blinking red of traffic lights no longer providing go or caution. Everything is now “STOP!”

A little steam from the grates, and I can sing along to Tom Waits, imagining a mechanical world of fire and steam and rusting pipes and gears below the streets. A life less organic.

Our headlights seek out a secure path for us, darting ahead into the gloom. The night shrinks back, rushing in behind us as we hurtle forward. I am startled when we see another car moving, either rushing towards and past, or creeping along with us. They do not belong; this is my road, my empty city. As the toothless wonders back in Idaho would shout, “Go back to California!” I am not ready to lose the illusion.

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Oh, happy swim meet!

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And apropros of nothing, I think it’s time I got a mascot for my site. What do you think of limpy? Since I now live in Idaho, I thought I’d go for something local: Limpy is a Giant Palouse Earthworm. And he has absolutely nothing to do With Rush Limbaugh or erectile dysfunction. Seriously.

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Rush has been cleared in the Viagra probe. That is good news for him, although it still leaves the rest of us stuck with the image of a sexually active Rush. Hopefully he was using it for the pulmonary effects. One question I have is, was his wife with him on this vacation? If not, why exactly did he have to carry a concealed bottle of Viagra with him on a trip to the Dominican Republic? Wait, is he still married? Oh Rush, I’ll believe you were climbing Pico Duarte and not just there for the booming child sex trade and ecstasy.

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Wow. Last night I experienced the most spectacular fireworks show I have ever seen. We had three large displays to our west (Liberty Lake, Spokane, Spokane Valley?), one to our southwest (no idea), one to the south (Post Falls), one to the southeast (Coeur d’Alene), one to the northeast (Hayden? Rathdrum? Someone with a lot of cash and a love of watching things that go boom?), and several pyro-oriented neighbors to the north. Rockets provided glare in a rainbow of colours, not just red, and great boomings were to be had from every direction.
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So, is this a good thing or a bad thing? One of my roses (at least I think it’s a rose) has developed fluffy green balls. Do I have a parasite? Is this normal? Is it supposed to do this? Help!

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