Still life . . .

Well, it started a few hours ago, and they say it's not gonna let up until tomorrow. We were lucky to run our errands early. Barely made it back . . . black ice, ladies and gentleman, black ice. No, it is not a new drink from Bacardi, rather, a slippery substance that engages the anti-lock brakes.

So, it is cold, officially, the cold and dark have set in . . . I play the radio, stare into the gray, begin to think . . . it's that evaluative period brought about by short days, visits with family (that return to one's roots . . .) and slow cooking beasts in the oven. Nobody moves, a true still life . . . observe.

I have this recurring dream which revisited this morning . . . in this dream I awake in bed very slowly, opening my eyes to see an open window in front of me, I can see the sky which is blue, strewn with a few, nice, fluffy clouds . . . it's warm out there. And then I realize what is up, where I am, I am in Europe again. All is well . . . but then I wake up, and yes, I am in Chicago, not Europe. Oh well . . . you can tell where my heart is. It was this time last year that we were leaving France, the UK, Ireland, and Europe altogether, after a five year reprieve from America. Somehow we will get back, in some way or another.

So, I will kick off with a new commitment to blogging, talking, sharing, engaging . . . things which have been hard to do this past year. Check back regularly, I am going to put an entry in at least three times a week. It's important that I work in this community of one . . . seeking out other communities of one. Whatever that means. So, I will put forth some ideas over the next few entries we can chat about . . . etc.

This evening we are sitting in, making a Mexican tomatillo/chicken stew of sorts. On the food front we have been (literally) making bacon. We go down to Peoria Meat Packers where they have all these slabs of meat just out on these big tables in a store which is, itself, a large walk in refrigerator. We buy cheap pork bellies with ribs, save back the ribs, salt the bacon for a week, then dry it in the oven (low heat cooking) and then it's ready. And this bacon is better than any crap you could find in the shoppes. (Note: I can here the landlord outside shoveling the snow . . . crunch, swoosh, grate, grate, grate.)

We are ready to do our home brew, but schedules have moved the actual brew date back until after the holidays. We are starting with a Belgian Ale (high alcohol, yeasty, delicious). I will take pictures and post for all to see.

As for me, I am hovering over a HEF4794 bit shift register, trying to get it to 'work'. I am trying to ascertain what specific binary mysticism is required to program it (send data bit, send clock high, clock low, shift bits, whatever . . .) Maybe I can get it to light an LED by the end of the night? The idea is to eventually get the Arduino microprocessor to run larger and larger matrices of LEDs. It is Christmas, right. Maybe I can have some cool lights for the tree by next Christmas. This is all part of my investigations into physical computing. Eventually, it will all tie into music/art/expression.

Alas, always the same problem, how to get past the technology.

Til tomorrow.

jg