New Camcorder

I splurged on a new digital camcorder, which can obviously take videos and pictures, as well as acting as a webcam. However, a fun feature is that it can record from VCRs, and turn them into digital videos. As you can see, I tested it out on my old trike race video.

Great Chieftain O' the Puddin' Race!

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

Last night we went to a Burns Supper hosted by our Scottish friend, Pam. She had ordered a traditional haggis (heart, lungs, liver mixed with oats, suet, herbs--all stuffed in a stomach from the same species of beast) from a Scottish butcher in Maine. She forgot to ask which kind of animal this haggis was made from and none of us could guess. As you can see, it looks like a giant kidney bean! It turned out to be totally edible--no worse, at least, than a typical school-cafeteria meatloaf. I was starved by the time we showed up (late) and since we missed all the welsh rarebit and smoked salmon appetizers, we tucked straight into big platefuls of that guy. Even Jean, vegetarian streak notwithstanding.

I can see why Burns is so beloved--here's To A Mouse which is adorable. Recommended by my friend Aaron.

Snowed in!

Well, the west coast contingent is trying to remember all their snow skills. Yesterday morning we got about 4 inches of snow - schools were closed, work was closed. Since it rarely snows out here, Portland does not plow, salt, or gravel the roads! This equals one big mess! I tried getting to work yesterday, and was unsuccesful. This morning Dave and I tried to get to work together (we work just a short distance from each other), and after stopping to put chains on, we decided to turn back after encountering a few cars that had spun out on the still-snow-packed roads. Its supposed to warm up tomorrow, so hopefully we'll see some melting. Until then. we're snowed in!




The view from my apartment




The snow covered roads during our attempt to get out to work

Ruth with Chocolate

Ruth with Chocolate
Originally uploaded by Papa, aka Don.

At our family luncheon in Allentown on December 24, the waiter presented a fine set of dessert options. As you can see, Ruth went for chocolate.

Let me remind viewers of Elizabeth's posting below ("which sex is your brain"). The test is interesting, even if the pursuit of self-understanding sometimes yields to reminders of the delectable things in life.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Which sex is your brain?

This BBC quiz was one of Kottke's links of the year for 2006 and isn't as flaky as it sounds. Some questions in it are the type you find in the Myers Briggs personality sorter tests; others are problems to solve that involve 3d geometries. There are also some empathy tests where you have to make an inference of emotion from a pair of eyes in a photograph. Jean and I veer toward our actual sexes, although in differing degrees. Here's his result:



He is officially an average male. And here's mine:



I was relieved to see that despite the "female" diagnosis, I still performed best in the spatial skill tests (whew, given my vocation!) and very, very badly in the section where you had to read emotional states from pairs of eyes. I was off the charts even for men on that, while Jean had top marks...

Click ---> HERE <--- if you're interested in trying it. It takes around twenty minutes to go through the whole thing. Please share your results if you do it! Kottke himself is apparently dead center on the spectrum.

Scenes from the Christmas season

IMG_0591
Originally uploaded by Papa, aka Don.

Among the revelers at the recent family gathering in Pennsylvania were these two beautiful ladies, Margaret and Ilona.