The Chronicles of Narineh

Today is Towel Day !

Luxembourg City is on a plateau. Or a few big plateaus separated by gorges or ravines. Way back in 963 when the fortress/city was founded, it was on one of the plateaus. And now, over 1000 years later, you can't turn your head without seeing the vestiges of the fortress in various stages of ruin. It is really cool. What's even cooler is discovering the layers of history, like ruins of an 18th century fortress built on the walls of the medieval fortress. Or the 21st Century Museum of Modern art MUDAM , built on the foundations of the 18th century Fort Thüngen and here and my photos . My first weekend here, Joe and I went exploring in one of the gorges. The neighborhood in that particular ravine is called Grund (it means 'ground'). We started at the bottom of the Grund and walked up, kind of going in a circle. This photoset is from that day.

I've finally got the photos up! Many new photos for you to enjoy. I fell behind in my updates here and photo uploading because I wanted to post about London the same time I uploaded the London photos . I got stuck trying to recap our trip to my satisfaction, and thus stubbornly refused to upload the photos, and 6 weeks later, here I am. So, London was beautiful, sunny. Who'd think one would go to London to get sunshine? But we did. April 6-9 -- a quick weekend trip while Joe was still able to get weekends away was the idea. It was a nice getaway. Too short. There's so much to see and do, I think we barely scratched the surface. Here are some highlights. Friday night we met Kathryn and Filippo (former colleagues of mine) for dinner. We met in Notting Hill and went to a Spanish tapas place. It was yummy! It was nice to see them, and to get the weekend off to a running start with something to do the first night there. The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind tour of central L

found some cool things that I'd like to share: Did you know that there were 13 FEMALE candidates for the Mercury 7 mission ? They were ready, willing and able (completed all the tests almost 2 years before the men did) to be among the first Americans in space. Yeah, I don't remember that part in The Right Stuff either. Congress pulled the plug on the project. I guess they figured women were only good for being lab rats. Makes me angry. I am glad they are finally getting the recognition they deserve. via BoingBoing , I learned about UCLA's recently launched searchable index of vintage Los Angeles news photographs . For example, a photo of an early voice recognition computer . And Caltech students protesting the possible cancellation of the original Star Trek television series. enjoy.

I read about the Griffith Park fire yesterday and saw many pictures online. Pictures from as far away as Venice and Culver City where you could see the huge plume of smoke. I wish I could send some of the rain we're having here over there to help. I read this morning that firefighters expect they'll be able to put the fire "laid down" today. Or something like thatI forget the exact phrase, and I can't find it now. I just read the news again and it says they have it 40% contained. Joe and I went to the Griffith Observatory in December when he was back in LA. It recently reopened this summer. I highly recommend a visit. We went at night, and there was lots to do, but there's also lots to do and see during the day. So go visit! I didn't hear reports of any damage to the observatory, nor to the zoo or any structures for that matter. The vegetation is all gone, of course, including an area called Dante's Garden (aka Dante's view) , a two-acre terraced g

I don't think they're cylons. I think they think they are cylons. But they aren't. If you've seen the season 3 finale of Battlestar Galactica , then you know who I'm talking about. If you haven't, then go watch . I was finally able to catch up with the last 4 episodes of the season this past weekend courtesy of our shiny new appleTV so I got to see: Maelstrom The Son Also Rises Crossroads Part 1 Crossroads Part 2 all back-to-back! Joe recognized All Along the Watchtower before I did. I think season 3 has been the best season yet and Occupation, Precipice, Exodus 1 & 2 are my favorite. But the whole thing is just soooo good. I can't wait until early 2008 for season 4. That's just not right. I know, we'll have some 2 hour thingy to tide us over later this year, but still. I'm going to feed my BSG cravings with Ron Moore's podcasts . It is really cool to hear him talk about each episode and what went into making them. I listened to the po