epiphany

For Iraq

Congratulations to the people of Iraq--may your future be bright and filled with joy!

(image from cnn.com at 1:28pm Pacific time on Sunday, January 30, 2005)

China Boy

This has been a week of missing and enjoying China. For some reason, what Chinese I know has been flowing freely in my head. I went to an Asian market last weekend just to look at and smell the food (they had garlic shoots, which I nearly bought; too bad I don't know how to cook them). I've been listening to some CDs my students gave me of traditional music ("China Bamboo Flute" is playing as I type). And on Wednesday, I had what I think was yu-xiang dofu ("fish-tasting tofu"--doesn't taste like fish), even though it was from a Vietnamese restaurant. It was the most authentic Chinese dish I've had in the US. I've also been enjoying some terrific green tea from Hangzhou, given to me last May by one of my Japanese friends.

I have a great talent for wanting to be where I'm not. :-)

Hit and Stop and Talk and Run

So, I'm on the bus on the way to work this morning. I like the morning bus. The morning bus is always on time, unlike the evening bus. Sometimes the morning bus is even a little bit early.

Anyway, I'm on the bus this morning, sitting by the right side window toward the back of the front section (first set of raised seats), and we just crossed the Ballard Bridge. I'm reading an instruction manual for the voice recorder my sister and brother-in-law got me for Christmas when I glance up and think, wow, that little red car is awfully close. Is he still moving? Within a second or two, there's a loud crunching noise. The bus pulls over amid noise of confusion from the passengers.

A girl (not really a girl--she was probably in her mid-twenties) runs up from the back of the bus to the driver, shouting, "I seen him! I seen him! He was talking on his cell phone!" Other drivers stop and offer to serve as witnesses for the bus driver.

A short, bespectacled, older man with closely cropped hair, a camel hair overcoat covering his business attire, comes walking along the right side of the bus. He comes to the driver and says, "I can't believe you hit me! I can't believe you pulled out in front of me like that!"

Grammar girl shouts, "Nu-uuhh! I seen you! You were talking on your cell phone! I seen you!"

The bus driver says, "I believe you have a yield sign, and busses always have the right of way."

Driver man, who had been merging onto 15 from a side street, pauses awkwardly, apparently realizing the score: witnesses for the bus driver--50. Witnesses for driver man--0. Then he says, "Um. Well. Is anybody hurt."

I hadn't even felt the bus jerk when he hit us.

Upon ascertaining that everyone was ok, driver man walks back to his car, presumably to get his insurance papers.

Then he leaves!

Hit and stop and talk and run. Somewhere out in Seattle hides a smartly-dressed fugitive, an embarrassed older man with a little, banged up red car. The Metro likely has his face on videotape, though to my knowledge, no one knows his license plate number.

I still made it to work on time. I like the morning bus.

MIDI Me

To enhance my musical computer experience, I bought my first MIDI interface today. I've had a keyboard for several years, which I use for most of my compositions. Now I can play notes directly into my computer, which paves my way for finally buying either Finale or Sibelius. And what a battle of decision that will be.

But for now, I started fiddling with Garage Band today, and it seems to be a pretty powerful little sequencer (I have version 1, but 2 looks tempting). The output options are limited but workable for me at this point. I can record sounds either from my keyboard via MIDI or as an actual audio file via myMac's built in microphone, like for vocals or guitar. If I ever want to get really serious with recording, I'll need to get a better microphone, but for now, this works nicely. Garage Band has all sorts of filters to add to the sounds, and you can create your own as necessary.

Fun, fun, fun. Back to work tomorrow.

Announcing Another New Arrival

After wishing various friends' progeny well over the past few weeks, I'm pleased to announce the delivery of the newest addition to the Hanneman household.

My new iMac G5 (and pet Epson CX4600 printer/scanner) arrived Wednesday morning via FedEx. Mac was 17 inches upon delivery, has a 1.8GHz processor and weighed in at 29 lbs.

I adopted him via Apple's refurbished program, which means that I rescued him from abandonment by his original parents. They had paid for some upgrades which Apple passed on to me free of charge: internal Bluetooth capabilities and 512MB of RAM instead of the normal 256MB. Despite the lesser cost of adoption ($200 less than delivery of a newborn iMac), Mac comes with Apple's full warranty and seems quite happy to have found a new home. He spent his first day downloading roughly 200MB of updates. His new dad spent the day at work eagerly anticipating going home to play with him.

You are enjoying the first fruits of myMac's (his full name) keyboard.

Shake, Shake, Shake Your Body

I've been sick over the last day or two--one of those wake up in the middle of the night convulsing with cold for three hours while your body feels hot but your limbs are icy can't lie on your back without nausea oh no run and dry heave sort of illnesses. I don't recommend it.

But I do recommend having a nice space heater on hand. Many thanks to Drew and Lisa for the loan (and the soup).

The Miracle of Post-Christmas Traffic

Perhaps I'm looking too far ahead and extrapolating false patterns (after all, Boeing and school haven't started back yet), but I have high hopes for this new year of commuting. After the evening commute that can be accurately and politely described only as "interminable" throughout the entire month of December, tonight the busses were on time. Or even early. It was amazing.

Downtown Seattle has a nice shopping district just about in the middle, along with a large plaza. At off times of year, the plaza tends to get crowded with protesters (protesting is a favorite pastime of many people here). During December, it--and the streets around it, all of which are major arteries--tends to get crowded with shoppers. Crowded enough that it would sometimes take the bus twenty to thirty minutes to drive four or five blocks. One night I actually caught the last "express" bus for my route because it was running forty minutes late. The positive to the horrendous traffic was that I was averaging sixty pages of reading each day during the course of the ride.

But then came tonight. Tonight was amazing. The streets seemed empty after the last month's experience. Those same four or five blocks went by in one or two minutes. We--only the bus driver and me since my house is close to the end of the line--arrived at my stop on time. Loyal Way NW and NW 85th Street: 6:56pm. It seems like I haven't arrived home before 7:20 in ages.

I hope the magic continues.

Welcome, Arthur!

Congratulations to my friends, Brian and Veronica, on their new arrival! And a hearty welcome to Arthur Johnson--I'm looking forward to meeting you!

For Sunday

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith--just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Galatians 3:2-9

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Romans 4:1-3