Cyberart years in the making

The other night i recycled away a scrap of paper i'd saved for about 7 years. This shows both how much of a packrat i've been and proves in some tangible ways that i've changed during said 7 years.

Before i was allowed by the State of California to operate a motor vehicle, i might have recycled paper if there happened to be a bin in a high school classroom or at home because that's what my parents did much of the time. But i wouldn't have recycled it automatically, as is now my M.O. Certainly the content of this particular scrap says something about me during high school--apparently i really wanted a license plate which read "ROCK ON" and may have adorned it with stars. I liked stars quite a bit at least! I also recall having a strong desire for at least 2 different kinds of gas motor vehicles, one starting with J, the other with C. Now i drive one that starts with P. And in addition to the gas motor i've got an electric hybrid motor with synergy drive, which i hope to one day make into a plug-in and power it with home-produced solar (or other sustainable) energy.

I am getting to these things (scanning, going through old crap) largely because of the move. Being in Portland may have healing properties, and certainly my relationship with Kirsten has brought out this good in me: i am trying to and making concrete advances toward living simply. Even when we were dating, Kirsten would lament the amount of crap i insisted on keeping. I "was using it", or it was a project i'd get to some day, or it had sentimental value, or it had real-world value, or i'll get to it some day... I always had an excuse.

Well, some day is here. Some day has been here for a while now. My Piles are diminishing and my productivity, satisfaction, and spiritual health are increasing. He must become more, i must become less. As i go from box to box and recycle unwanted items, actually read articles i've been saving for ages, and prioritize projects i now aim to complete with resolve, i can feel myself being freed from shackles i didn't even realize enslaved me. This very mundane yet very spiritual task must indeed be part of my Renaissance. I have been born and reborn and am being made new day by day. I am in gestation and i'm growing healthily despite initial apparent delays.

Here is (a scanned image of) one 7 years+ scrap:


A slice of a note Sir Dillon wrote to me along with most excellent insane art:


At the time i was very proud of this (and still am) hoping it would become incorporated with a T-shirt design or something. Now that i look at it it kind of looks like "Fighting Jocks"... Go Fighting Jacks!


I may add more as the piles diminish.

Thanks, Smiths!

Before our trek to Oregonia, a certain S. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Smith Sr. hooked it up proper with a bike rack for Ye Olde Prius. We got a tow hitch mounted to the frame and using the bike rack they gave us took 3 bikes up to San Jose and 2 all the way up with us to Oregonia. I have ridden one of the bikes somewhat often, occasionally to work, sometimes to the grocery store, sometimes just out and about or to some other specific destination. The other bike needs some minor repairs and we are still needing to get a bike for Kirsten. We already have a little bike for Sierra for when she is big enough to ride it! Anyway, i just wanted to say hats off to the Smiths who helped make it possible for us to bring bikes with us to Oregonia and have the rack to organize our schedules and transportation plans to make the maximum use of our time and diminish our energy use whenever possible. Here is a photo looking out of our garage of the car, bike rack, and bike. You can see a few purple irises still in bloom on the right and the Great Green Giant across the street on the left--an ivy tangle.

Down By The River(side) Remix

Not likely, since there's this (sorry, embedding's disabled for this particular video). And the first five minutes or so of this:


Although indeed, this is excellent:

Down By The Riverside

May 16, 2009

An interesting morning to be sure. Unlike the CA watershed cleanup i took part in about 8 months ago, this event was scantily attended. The whole State of Oregon is celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary of statehood this year, and this event is among the ways 150's being celebrated throughout it. Supposedly there were crews all over the state cleaning up trash and working on other improvement projects such as invasive plant removal/abatement and trail maintenance along with trash pickup, removal, & disposal, which was what our task was. If all the sites were as poorly attended as the one i went to, i'm not sure Oregon is incredibly cleaner than it was May 15. Still, we gathered several bags' worth of trash per person and a few miscellaneous large items such as large iron pieces of...?, wooden pallets, rusty wire, and other odds & ends. Boats went up and down the river gathering the bags and piles to discard them onto a trash barge and probably from thence into a landfill someplace. So I suppose we made a decent dent in the refuse after all. I ended up having to leave the site early due to puncturing my right index finger on a nasty looking rusty cable i was yanking out (!). I even had a thick work glove on, but nonetheless whatever sharpness was on the cable went through both glove and skin. I was worried about infection, but after prayer and cleaning & applying hydrogen peroxide & isopropyl alcohol, i'm pleased to report that my finger is miraculously healed! It did not look good at first and i thought maybe i'd have to go to the doctor, but it's looking great now. Some other pieces of good news are that i got two excellent green-colored Oregon 150 / Down By The Riverside tote bags and as i was on my way back downriver to leave i discovered a geocache! There was not really anything exceptionally superb in the cache for the taking, so i just left a shell in there and dated & signed my handle. Admittedly i was sad not to be able to volunteer with the crew tossing trash onto boats and zooming to and fro atop the river, but perhaps some other time my (free)boating dreams will come true. Some other good things that came out of the event include: a peaceful walk along the waterfront; some interesting interactions with the SOLV workers on site; watching the girl scouts "pick up trash" and "see who can gather the most" :) and then seeing their mostly empty bags adorn the lawn while they run around the picnic tables screaming and laughing; scouting out nice places to take my wonderful wife and perhaps other guests; the discovery of an amusement park; watching a crew speedily and gracefully row by; these photographs:

Sellwood Bridge over (not-so-troubled) waters.
Daytime moon barely visible in top right?


Waterfront homes! I immediately thought they were houseboats--and perhaps some of them are--but after closer inspection i presume they're somewhat permanently stationed there. Either way, plush!


Looking north toward downtown Portland. The clear Portland sky was the limit as was its glassy reflection below. Perhaps you can see what used to be a wooden pier judging by the dilapidated pylons to the right.


Much of the group working with the pretty neat SOLV plastic bags made from recycled material. I am standing on this crazy floating plastic container dock.

Springtime in Portland

Several weeks ago around the official beginning of spring, the weather got noticeably warmer and, in fact, began to feel like spring! Later of course, as never seems to fail, it got cold and rainy again, albeit warmer than the wint'ry weather from before and markedly NOT winter.

Anyway, now it is pretty warm and sunny often, and i've even felt hot a couple of times. When it rains, it's a gentle spring rain, soft on the nose and cool to the soul. This rain smells like spring. Here's to the seasons!

"Oh, goody! Spring!"


"Excuse me, please don't look while i adjust my baby straps..."


Unlike the Spanish heroes of Tom's childhood Down South, Up North we don't carve their names in dogwood, but rather our own; in the future, which is wide open.


Try as i might to stop my shadow from taking photographs of the explosively gorgeous flora, here he is snapping a shot of what appear to be purple tulips and those yellow thingies. While i neglected Wendy's lesson which says you can't stick shadows on with soap, Kirsten obviously took the hint and sewed her and Sierra's shadows on.


THIS dude has some seriously wild hair!


I love this shot because of the colors, especially the bright pink & lighter blossoms, and the new green of the leaves contrasted with the bluegray skysun.


The little people have tethered their horses to the city's steel rings, originally designed for equestrian use, including the occasional whiz-bang rich folks who could afford the advanced technology of a buggy.


Finally, fluffy clouds in sunshiny Portland (Does anyone know why all the elementary schools around here have huge chimneys? Old school ceramics kilns? Furnaces for incinerating homework? Heat? Kitchen?)

"Due to events beyond our control, your call could not be completed at this time." (!)

one of these days