Joshua A Norton

Joshua A Norton was a supremely interesting figure who lived in San Francisco in the 19th century. One anectodte specifically caught my eye:

During the 1860s and 1870s there were a number of anti-Chinese demonstrations in the poorer districts of San Francisco, and ugly and fatal riots broke out on several occasions. During one such incident, Norton is alleged to have positioned himself between the rioters and their Chinese targets, and with a bowed head began to recite the Lord's Prayer repeatedly. Shamed, the rioters dispersed without incident.

Gaming gone adult

I'm not a true gamer geek. My tastes run in the comics and video game direction. Still, I have great sympathy and more than a passing interest in the activities of my paper gaming cousins.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I think I like it.

Cars and Motorcycles, Robots and Mechs

Driving a car is a little like piloting a Battletech Mech. Lots of armor, lots of protection. There are ways to hurt yourself, but the human part is largely divorced from the outside world.

Mechs are BIG, powerful and a little ungainly.

Driving a motorcycle is more like piloting Tony Stark's Ultimate Iron Man Suit:

Wedding

Making the seating chart for the wedding is fun.

Mutant hunter or multi functional vibrator?

Rabbit Habbit!

Nimrod!

David Hasselhoff is God

It speaks for itself. Play the video and see God.

New tour visits the subcultures of old Seattle

This is really neat. The folks who run Seattle's Underground City tour are trialing a tour of Seattle's seedy and subversive history. I hope I can find time to go.

Many directions, some good

1. New motorcycle
2. 4th of July / neighborhood fireworks / two 'Mondays'
3. small claims court
4. second job interview
5. waiting for word re: new job
6. condo association project planning
7. condo meeting planning
8. wedding is around twenty days away
9. gave blood a couple days ago, and I'm still feeling 'drained'
10. some jackass on half.com ripped me off, so I've started a dispute
11. cash flow is tight (see 1 & 8)
12. my knee is still sore
    
13. the damned cat is itchy and should go to the vet

It's all a bit much.

Lean Blogs

I've found a few really good blogs that concern themselves almost entirely with Lean:

http://www.dailykaizen.org/ - is written by lean consultants who work for Group Health Cooperative here in Seattle.

http://www.gembapantarei.com/ - this is probably my favorite. This consulting group is also based in Seattle.

http://kanban.blogspot.com/ - this blog is a little less formal than the others and provides a wider variety of topics.

Motorcycle

I've riden about 18 miles on my new motorcycle. Two rides, no crashes, I call that a good start.

I still am working on remembering to cancel my turn signal, and I'm having a rough time with the gears at the beginning of the ride. I'm not sure if it's because the engine is cold, or if it's my own ability, or if it's a little of each. Maybe I'm accidentally shifting into neutral.

I'm getting better at starting and stopping and all that stuff.