The Moon Topples

Technology = weird

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:05:56 PDT

As part of my preparation for Lollapalooza, I looked into various ways I might be able to use my phone to communicate with the outside world. It turns out that I have two different ways to update my blog from my weird little mobile device, and three different ways to update via Twitter/Facebook statuses. That seems like at least two too many ways to stay "in touch" during a three-day music

In which a return to blogging is attempted

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:19:55 PDT

When last we saw our erstwhile blogger, he was spewing forth yet another apology for not blogging more often. Even though he seemed to mean it, it was nonetheless a bit tedious. The only thing more tedious is the several half-hearted attempts he had made to keep the blog alive during his ridiculously lengthy absences. Such attempts typically began with some sort of announcement that he was back

The Lucy Conundrum

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:19:48 PST

Normally, if I am asked to liken myself to a Peanuts character—which is no longer as much of a rarity as it should be, in the age of memes—I'd have to say I'm Charlie himself. I'm a bit hapless at times, prone also to repeating mistakes and finding myself crushed all over again even though I should know better. Also, I am not a good baseball player.But thinking about this blog, I realize I have

Phoctober the one hundred sixth

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:33:00 PST

We're a week away from getting our new President, the one we ordered back in November from the catalog. This will be the seventh peaceful transfer of power in my lifetime, as I was born in the vaporous remnants of the Nixon administration, around the time Butterfield admitted before Congress that tapes were made of conversations within the Oval Office.Good times.And if there is one thing our

Phoctober the fifteenth

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:20:13 PDT

Frog and Toad are friends (Blog and toad...?)What I was supposed to be shooting, when I was gazing moonily at the weeds from my previous post, were a small frog and a toad who I am told is his friend. Both had been constructed by my friend, who is designing the poster for a production of "A Year With Frog and Toad" in one of the suburbs with a grain in the name.When he first asked me to shoot

Phoctober the thirteenth

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:21:14 PDT

Yes, I am behind in my Phoctoberly duties. Apologies. Illness and other things wedged between me and you, Blogreader, but I am returned. And many Phoctober links adorn the bottom of this post. I hope it catches me up. At least it's all of those who came and said to link them, plus one I went and found, from the very talented Jefferson Davis.*****Weeds and soft housesSaturday, I drove out to the

Phoctober the fourth

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:40:30 PDT

Night, Part TwoThese were taken on Michigan Avenue or Wacker Drive on a clear night in January.Same again, in sepia...*****Other Phoctobering:All 2008 Phoctober posts from this site.Kyklops and a sleepy feline.Taffiny and bathing birds.Absolute Vanilla takes us to the seashore.It isn't too late to join the fun. Just do a photo post, mention Phoctober, and come and tell me about it in the comments.

Phoctober the third

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:57:52 PDT

Yes, I know it is the fourth. I got home last night and simply crashed out until this morning. I had nothing to drink or anything, and yet still have no clear recollection of returning home, or of going to bed. My work life is sort of complicated right now, apparently exhausting, and I suspect I've caught a minor bug during the annual "Let's everyone get sick because the weather is changing"

Phoctober the second

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:08:22 PDT

ChicagoA friend of mine went through and read a bunch of this blog once she learned I had one. Her main comment was "wow, you really love Chicago."I guess it's true. I pine for London, but Chicago does just fine for now. And it is a beautiful city, even if it is sometimes a flawed sort of beauty.*****Other Phoctobering:All 2008 Phoctober posts from this site.It isn't too late to join the fun.

Phoctober the first

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:36:56 PDT

BaseballI stepped outside of my normal routines last night, watching a sporting event in a local bar with some friends. It was the Chicago White Sox Baseball Club Team League Players versus the Bishops of Montreal or Minnesota or something. The two teams had identical records for the season, and the game's outcome would determine which team would advance to the playoffs and the which would begin

Rest well, my friend

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:15:25 PDT

Internet is working again here on the moon, but my return was delayed again due to the recent loss of a friend and colleague. The funeral was sort of lovely (as much as such a thing can be), and I was glad to have a chance to meet his family and share stories of the man we all had in common, who shuffled off his coil at the still-tender age of 41.His name was Kyle. He was a private man, so I

Not mysteriously vanished

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:58:52 PDT

Apologies, gentle Blogreader, for my lack of recent posts. I currently lack internet access at home, and the place I am working gets all frowny when we use the internet for non-work stuff. I expect to be back sometime this weekend.

Monday Morning Haiku - September 15

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:40:11 PDT

She has breadInstantly, at themere sight of the old woman five hundred pigeons

Monday Morning Haiku - Tuesday, September 9

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:53:52 PDT

(if not the day)Rusty though I amI recollect the meter:five, seven, and five

Bitching about Flugtag

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:15:49 PDT

Today was the corporate-sponsored Flugtag (Flying Day) and I trudged down to watch people fling their homemade flying machines into the lake. The basic premise is not much more complicated than that. People form a team with their friends, build a vehicle of some kind, throw it off a landing and watch it break nearly instantly and plunge into the chilly depths of Lake Michigan. Their device can

Tag plus time equals post

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:23:43 PDT

Taffiny tagged me in June with this meme. She expressed doubt that I would undertake it, but I always intended to. Better late than never, I suppose. It's 8 questions.1. What were you doing 10 years ago?Probably goofing off. It was the late summer of 1998. Our first album was still newish. I was freelancing at the place that would later make me a department head for the first time when I was 25.

Off the bus

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:14:59 PDT

Sometimes you get stuck on a bus for three months. Sometimes your blog just makes it seem like maybe that's what happened. It's a crazy world.I feel like I'm back. From where I'm not sure.Monday was Labor Day here in America. Congratulations to all the new mothers.September is here, and I hunger for autumn. I miss orange, and wearing a jacket, and not sweating myself to sleep.I feel like I'm back

On the bus

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:59:09 PDT

Thursday morning on the bus, sans iPod, I found myself seated next to two men about my age, who were standing in the aisle and talking to one another in the privileged tones of the corporately secure. They began by assuring one another that the bus was not normally considered an appropriate mode of transport. Both used "fuck" as the most frequent condiment in their sentences, and one of them said

Chicago fog

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:39:07 PDT

I'm not sure if it's actually fog, when the visible swarms of water molecules do not really reach the ground. It may be more accurate to call it haze or mist. But I'm not gonna go look it up.The last couple of days have brought it, though, whatever it is. The place I am working at the moment is on the 24th floor of a building right on the river, and all of the windows have grown completely opaque

Where was the moon?

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:12:01 PDT

First, go here if you'd like to read a Beatle conspiracy which ties into the last post, sort of. Sure makes the "Paul is Dead" lot seem almost reasonable.So where was I these last few months? Nowhere special, sadly. It'd be wonderful to report that I was absent from the blog because I was gallivanting on some grand adventure.Nope.I got pneumonia in February, and took a long time to recover. I

20 + 20 + 1 + 1/365

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:15:11 PDT

It was twenty years ago today that, twenty years ago that day, it was a year ago yesterday that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released.Sure, that's a long walk for a premise, but I'm still a little mad at myself for not doing "It was 20 years ago today, 20 years ago today" a year ago yesterday.If Paul McCartney is to be believed, it was 20 years before that that Sgt. Pepper taught the

A sort of writing meme

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:25:29 PST

Minx is desperate for links (linx?). How else to explain her pouncing upon me within moments of my reopening the blog to tag me with a difficult writing meme. My blogbody was barely warm again. Oh, I link you, foul Minx, but I also have a surprise in store for you in the next couple of days. (chuckles to self) Get ready for some day-rueing, my friend.*****On with the meme...What is the last thing

Groundhog

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:38:05 PST

Once again, woodland mammals had no effect whatsoever on the tilt of the Earth in relation to the Sun. Imagine me slackjawed in stunned disbelief.Winter continues. It always does.Snow fell here over the last few days and nights. I had heard the word "blizzard" bandied about a few times in the days and hours before the actual snow arrived, but it was merely a snowstorm. The difference between the

Foodie

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:44:01 PST

Scholars, of course, tend to disagree on many things. That's why I can pluralize "scholar" and not confuse you, good reader. If they all agreed on everything, there would really only be a need for one. This bickering among experts is their bread and butter.So it is a little surprising to find that all the experts are in complete agreement as to what constitutes a perfect meal: Kraft® Macaroni and

Moon

noreply@blogger.com (The Moon Topples) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:08:38 PST

I was driving east, back into the city from spending time with my mother on Christmas, when I saw it, low on the horizon. It bobbed out from behind a building and disappeared before my brain could verify it, fat and orange.Soon it appeared again, and stayed longer. It was what it seemed: a low, large, colored moon. Flushed, sullen, uncommunicative.Like me, I thought. Low and uncommunicative.Even