jeff

garbage day

Tuesday is trash day around Westchester, and this means different things for different folks. For the average family it means getting rid of a weeks' accumulation of crap, for varmints it means lunch (or dinner), but for me it means dodging bike forts set up by people putting their trash cans and bags in the street. But that's OK, I've learned to deal with it. I take 2 minutes from my ride to work or the gym or the store to dump it all out. Though, I should probably leave a note or something, at least with my phone number explaining why I did this. I'm not a mean person -- I don't think -- and I want them to know this wasn't the act of a skunk (no more skunks should die). It's just a heads up to people letting them know that taking away the three inches of road I have by putting a pile of garbage in the street isn't cool.

twothirtyeight

So, I was listening to this band, twothirtyeight, and they sounded pretty cool. So I mosy to their main page on Rhapsody only to find out they're a f'ing Christian rock band. What? I feel violated, I really do. I need to go take a cold shower.

con't

The link... thanks Pae.

cars

It's raining like balls right now. Anyway, the Journal News had a bit Saturday with suggestions on how not to leave a child unattended in one's car. Not serious? Well, 47 kids died last year this way. But, some of the techniques were humorous. For example

Leave a teddy bear in the back seat; when you put your child in the car seat move the bear to the front. This way, when you get out you'll notice the teddy bear.

OK, maybe, but only because the teddy bear is in plain sight. But, my favorite was

Leave something important to you -- e.g. a cell phone or briefcase -- in the back seat. This way, when you remember to retrieve this item before exiting, you'll remember your child.

Yeah, it's nice to know the average reader is more likely to remember his/her cell phone before child... am I the only one that sees a flaw in this reasoning? Hmmmm.... didtheyreadit.com charges (yes, charges) for a service to track your mail and let you know when it was read, for how long, how many times... As far as I can tell, this is done by a bad image tag that calls some script... but is this good? No. Lastly, it's so nice to know our president chose to speak at someone else's graduation instead of attending either of his daughter's. And to speak at LSU's? They can hardly read. I guess he was in good company.

tax preparation?

Searching for tax preparation in Yonkers? I'd go with AJM, though I'm not searching. Are you?

AJM TAX & FINANCIAL SERVICE
811 MCLEAN AVE, YONKERS, NY 10704
Phone: (914) 776-6700

BEST BOOKKEEPING & TAX SERVICES
106 COLONIAL PKWY, YONKERS, NY 10710
Phone: (212) 532-3534

CROSS COUNTY INCOME TAX SERVICE
6 XAVIER DR, YONKERS, NY 10704
Phone: (914) 375-0600

H & R BLOCK
YONKERS, NY 10702
Phone: (914) 968-4041

H & R BLOCK
YONKERS, NY 10701
Phone: (914) 377-2185

H & R BLOCK
30 S BROADWAY STE 38, YONKERS, NY 10701
Phone: (914) 376-8724

craigslist...hehe

While searching (from home) for a new place in the city I ran across this one:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sub/31556535.html

jason's

My brother's business is here... he has some idea what he wants to do when he grows up.

Richard's response

Lo, on Tuesday, May 18, David A. Herman did write:

>> Uh, I'm not sure what y'all are talking about, but human languages don't
>> work like programming languages. In particular, "agenda" is not a word
>> in an embedded language. It's an *English* word that happens to derive
>> from a Latin word. In English, it's a singular noun:
>>
>> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=agenda
>>
>> Jeff's usage was perfectly correct, AFAIK.

I agree on all counts.

>> As for the Latin, I think "agenda" is a passive pariphrastic gerundive.
>> A gerundive is an adjectival form of a verb (like a participle), and a
>> passive pariphrastic indicates obligation, ("x must be y-ed"). In this
>> case, it's a substantive adjective, i.e., a noun form of an adjective,
>> because it's "the things that must be done." So it's a noun form of an
>> adjective form of a verb. :)

It's a gerundive, yes; that's a fancy term for the future passive
participle. In English, we usually render this as "about to be
ed" or "going to be ed."

The passive perphrastic is one particular use of the future passive
participle; the participle appears with a form of esse (to be) and
indicates obligation or necessity. Probably the most famous example is
due to Cato: "Carthago delenda est." Literally translated, this is
"Carthage is to be destroyed," but it's more idiomatic to say "Carthage
must be destroyed." However, there are echoes, if you will, of the
necessity expressed by the Latin statement even in the first English
translation.

>> Oh, and yes, that's neuter plural.

Well, grammatically, it's either neuter plural ("things to be done") or
feminine singular ("woman to be done"). I'll let you explore the
consequences of those options. ;-)

Oh, and the original verb is ago, agere, *egi*, actum. (You had 'agi' in
the perfect, Greg. Ablaut's a pain like that.)

Richard

latin

A completely worthwhile email exchange had earlier today. . .

---

Uh, I'm not sure what y'all are talking about, but human languages don't work like programming languages. In particular, "agenda" is not a word in an embedded language. It's an *English* word that happens to derive from a Latin word. In English, it's a singular noun:

    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=agenda

Jeff's usage was perfectly correct, AFAIK.

As for the Latin, I think "agenda" is a passive pariphrastic gerundive. A gerundive is an adjectival form of a verb (like a participle), and a passive pariphrastic indicates obligation, ("x must be y-ed"). In this case, it's a substantive adjective, i.e., a noun form of an adjective, because it's "the things that must be done." So it's a noun form of an adjective form of a verb. :) Oh, and yes, that's neuter plural.

Richard, correct me if I'm wrong...

Dave

Greg Pettyjohn wrote:

> Knocking some dust off my Latin:
>
> "Agenda" is a gerundive? or something. Ah shite, it's
> one of those dang verbals (not to be confused with the rodent),
> a verb made to work like a different part of speech and
> usually with a special function.
>
> In this case the original verb is ago, (agere, agi,
> actum) and "agenda" means "the things that must be done"
> alternatively, "things to be done". (am I correct that
> it is plural here?)
>
> So when translated, the fragment of Jeff's sentence means
>
> "The second two things to be done items seem ..."
>
> A bit clumsy, (but, I suppose, acceptable in english if you
> haven't had latin.)
>
> In light of this the phrase below would be better rendered as
> "The second two agenda seem ..."
>
> Which transforms into:
>
> "The second two things to be done seem..."
>
> Just running it by you since you both have had latin
> and because Dave, in particular, has specialized to some extent
> in embedded languages. ;-)
>
> Begin forwarded message (Jeff Palm wrote):
>
>> The second two agenda items seem ...
>
>
>

hot

Man, it's a death camp in my office right now, I'm sweating, maybe it'll cool down? Yet another paper of mine went straight to video; i.e. (not e.g.) it was rejected from publication. Maybe people will stop looking at researchers' publication records and focus more on their tech report record... I'm winning in that category. Oh well, I'm sure my advisor wants to string me up right now, I certainly do. Anyways, on the upside, at least my current home state has done something to back its reputation for being a liberal state. Other than the Republic of Cambridge, there is really very little liberal about Boston or Mass at all... they're all a bunch of Nazis. But beyond those getting married, I wonder who this'll affect? Wedding cake bakers, wedding planners, divorce lawyers, strip clubs. . . don't know??? you can figure out the color coding.

wings

I've chosen to live in my tent for the summer... I'll choose a different spot every night. Also, I'm not going to IBM tomorrow, as there appears to be a Wings marathon on. Oh well... I've also nicknamed my new bike the chipmunk death machine -- those little guys better start to move out of the way before this becomes a fitting name. Luckily, as of yet, no munks have gone by the wayside, but they better watch it.

harlem

So, I guess I'll find out today if I get to live in Harlem -- it'd be fun. Still haven't found anyone to sublet my place, though. The other guys had to back out. Hmmmmmm? Oooh, delicious, Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer are playing at Town Hall in the city this weekend, a good time for sure.

ride

went roughly this route from the lower west side to the boonies... I'm f'ing tired.

f'ers

God, I love westchester, new york... added to all the joy I've experienced in the past week, the bus just now left me. So why am I writing, well, because I get to wait another hour for that motherfucker or one of his fucking friends to come back. I'm having a hard time writing the loving feelings I have... I need another medium.

ikea

So I was looking at Ikeas website, and they have a list of countries, organized by continent, with the country name in native tongue. But the English version is parenthesized... why? If you can't read your own countries name in that country's language, you shouldn't live there. The Swedes are f'ing crazy.

holy monkey balls

This term is *very* reserved for special occasions -- such as Natalie Mercant playing the same night as Dspatch's last show... we've been over this, f' you, I like her music.

yuh

Well, I can't take an actual
picture of my new office ,cause I'd be fired a sued ,you may need a camera pass ,but you don't need a wicked-bad-drawing niche pass... well, I almost ran out of gas on my first day, got lost on my second and ended up running about 10 miles, wonder what's is store for #3? I have nothing good to say now, so I won't. So I'll describe what's on my desk, I have two CDs ,a stuffed bird, some paper, more paper, a phone (ont plugged in), a pen, a pencil ,more paper, a stapler on one monitor, nothing on the other. One Man Army's a cool band.

lessons

Lessons learned today:

• You can't completely see IBM Hawthorne from the other side of the road.
• You can't cross highway 9A on foot with a state trooper watching.
• New York state troopers are assholes.

laufen. . .

Off for a little run this morning, hopefully I don't get lost... yet, another wierd, wierd, wierd dream. First day of work, and anything remotely productive for the past month, today. It should be fun.

westchester

ok, Westchester County, NY may be one of the affluent communities in the country, but, from what I can tell, that's about all they have... this, of course, is a *very* superficial opinion, but I have, so far, a *very* superficial impression of this place. It's nice, really nice, really green, with really big houses, but what's to do here? There's a college near by, and some rocks with trails, that could be possible. There's a battle of the bands; sure it's for high school kids, but I look kind of young. Maybe I can get some kids together? I'm sure it'll be a wonderful summer, working with great people... Maybe I'll steal a car, that could definitely come in useful... New York, Boston, where ever, Seinfeld's on.

...

A strange evening, oh well. Keeping up with my run-in with animals a dog hit me -- well her tail did -- while running this morning; and a bird shat on me. That's the second time (I think) that has happened. I distrinctly remember the first time, I was on eighth street on the riverside of Magazine St. in New Orleans. It hit me in the back of the neck. Good times? No. Getting shat on by a bird is bad times. Angus Lind wrote an article about blogs the other day. He also ate lunch at Franky and Johnny's last Tuesday. I had shrimp, I'm not sure what he had. I wasn't sure what his take on blogs was. I don't really care, his column is basically a blog; talking about whatever he wants. I talk about getting hit by flying excrement; he talks about me talking about getting hit by flying excrement. Is one better than the other? Nothing against his work, I love it, it's watered-down Dave Barry, which is no insult, Dave Barry is great, just thought it was possibly a bit of self-criticism. Though, again, I couldn't tell whether he was really being critical of blogs or just noting them. Either way it was a pretty weak stance on them. Say happy mother's day to your mom; I did.

water

Another great day here... went kayaking for a little bit. Off to New York tomorrow, but not before the beer fest, then more last minute Boston shennagins... maybe the Middle East? ? ? I'm eating a sandwich now -- turkey with Soy Crisps on it -- mmmmmm, good. I also had a pickle. Gotta find a new bike. Saw my new place last night, can't wait to move in, in the mean time looking for a subletter, if I can't, oh well... check it out if you need a place for the summer in Boston. Maybe I'll play guitar, had some good ideas in New Orleans. Hmmmm?

hooboo

hooboo is a word I thought of today. I'm not sure what it means, but it could be a word? ? ? What a gorgeous day today. Possibly some kayaking tomorrow, just a few days left in Boston before the summer... enough, off to shananagins and to figure out what the first one on "from here to infirmary" is about? Every other song is quite clear, but that one, I don't know... I'll work on it.

n. o.

good times in New Orleans... back to Boston.

back and off

a fun traverse of the southern presidentials on saturday. Granted the conversation consisted mainly of Eric farting, Rob's mom, the waitresses at Tilton's Diner, Rob's sisters, and Rob's mom, but despite conversation never reaching much above a 5th grade level, it was a great time. The weather was perfect, though the snow was really soft and we sank to our waist every other step sunk for most of the last part... oh well, good times anyway. It's raining now. That's ok, I'm off to New Orleans for a couple days, that is if I don't miss my flight, I won't, I won't, I won't (hopefullly). Well, gotta get going so I don't miss it...