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July 31, 1997
News
Information about Ty Davison straight from the horse's mouth.
News Archives
Years worth of mind-numbing details, ponderings, and events.
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External URLs that have cropped up in the course of the News history.
July 31, 1997
Had the singular experience of getting a filling—my first—on one of my wisdom teeth. I guess the cavity was a small one because the process took only 20 minutes, and there was no pain. Received a thorough education in cavities, root canals, and general dentistry. I was left with the impression that letting cavities go unchecked is a very bad idea.Read Searching For Bobby Fischer, an interesting chess book about a child chess prodigy. Good even if you dislike chess.
July 30, 1997
Celebrated our 3rd anniversary in typical, low-key style: a picnic in the park on this beautiful sunny day, a short respite at home, then off to dinner at a local establishment.It's been a wonderful three years, and Erin and I have been blessed in so many different ways that one scarcely knows what to make of it all. I like to think that if God is Love our relationship reflects something of that or helps bring love to light in the world. I don't mean just between us (though there too) but among family, friends and strangers.
Love promotes itself, you know, like success breeds success. And so to the extent we bring love (or is it Love?) into the world, our blessings accrue. Not necessarily in material goods, mind you, but in qualities like honor, commitment, courage, and other important virtues.
There may be those who ask what this has to do with marriage, for love and marriage are sadly not always close companions. For the life of me, however, I can think of no better means by which to move love toward that unconditional dimension for which we strive.
July 27, 1997
Received a phone call from friends Matt and Ginger informing us of their engagement, news that can only be described as some of the best of the year. Even with my bad back I'm sure it was at least a good 15 to 20 minutes before I stopped dancing and jumping up and down.July 26, 1997
Another crazy day here at the dude ranch. Didn't get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning, slept 'til 11 AM, read the paper, then slept the afternoon away. On the brighter side, this wonderful consequence of my pill usage has left Erin with plenty of free time to use the computer in her quest for the perfect lesson plans for the coming academic year.July 25, 1997
Registered with SafeSurf, an online rating system designed to allow parents to keep their impressionable young children from viewing the horrors contained herein. ("Pro-medical marijuana! Shield little Tommy's eyes!") Since it's a voluntary, self-grading system, I was able to up my sex, nudity and raunchy language ratings with no particular effort so that the Davison website now ranks somewhere between HBO and the Spice Channel. More importantly, now I can post those Heather Locklear hot tub photos with a clear conscience.Of course those of you familiar with my hyperbole will immediately realize that I've buckled under to congressional pressure (yet again) and decided to self-regulate my web site so that Congress doesn't make another try at Internet censorship. SafeSurf is just one of a few organizations—all very pro-First Amendment, by the way—who are part of an Internet coalition to keep the Congress' nasty paws and laws off of the 'net. SafeSurf—it was the least I could do for America. And I mean that.
July 24, 1997
If you thought the Davison web site was a chaotic mess before, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Though dramatically improved in the last day or so, it's not unlikely that there are slick patches on my portion of the Superhighway. Travel advisories are up, and chains are required at this elevation.I've managed to update nearly everything on the site so that text and graphics aren't colliding quite so obviously. I still plan on doing some substantive graphics overhauls and animation additions, but I've no idea yet just how long that will take. So far not much negative feedback (which is good), but that's probably because there really hasn't been much feedback either way (which is bad).
I may begin submitting the site's URL to various search engines next week. Don't know if I should get a web counter first or not. Also toying with the idea of trying to recruit advertisers, something which should give you a pretty good idea that the pills I'm on are seriously impairing my attempts at rational thought.
July 23, 1997
WYSIWYG my butt. This site has problems everywhere. I've been working for the last week on updating the site with Adobe PageMill 2.0. Obviously, what PageMill displays and what comes up on Navigator are two entirely different things. Bare with me; I'm gonna have to correct this one sorry bit at a time. You're welcome to look around, but no sense e-mailing me about dead URLs or wacked out graphics. Consider everything "beta." Or maybe "alpha." Or "VHS."July 18, 1997
Finally caught the highly inventive Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery at the local cheap theatre. Definitely worth seeing, though Mike Myers desire to disrobe on-screen is becoming a frightening trend. (See the vastly underrated So I Married An Axe Murderer for some idea what I'm talking about.) Many kudos for the Dr. Evil performance, however, and the father-son group therapy concept was inspired.July 15, 1997
Jim Carrey's Liar Liar topped the bill at today's trip to Oaks Theatre, the buck and a half movie house in Cupertino. An engaging if trite comedy, it's easy to see how this film did so well at the box-office: there's virtually no plot (the perfect Jim Carrey vehicle) and all the audience is required to do is sit back and laugh. Thank God it's funny, although for my money the best bits were the outtakes at the end.Back is still messed up and despite gobbling pills by the handful for about a week now, I still have enough left over to open my own pharmacy. Sitting is okay. It's the standing and walking that's killing me. (Okay, the standing up and sitting down ain't that pleasant either.)
July 11, 1997 — Eugene, Oregon
Ended a week of lounging at my parents' place in Salem but driving to my friend Dave's place in Eugene. Stayed up late talking (as always), and he was a trooper to give any attention to my pill-induced ramblings which were, I'm sure, totally off the wall. Now if I could only remember any of it.July 9, 1997 — Salem, Oregon
Pills, pills, pills! A little visit to Kaiser Permanente yields a variety of pain-killers and muscle relaxants for me to choke down before, during and after meals. Let's see 800 mg of Ibuprofen 3x a day with food, 500 mg of Glucosamine Sulfate 3x a day, Hydrocodone/APAP at 5 mg and 500 mg respectively one or two tablets 4x a day and 10 mg of Cyclobenzaprine 3x a day. No operating heavy machinery, obviously, but I'm sure they don't mean that I have to quit my route for Greyhound. All aboard!July 6, 1997 — Salem, Oregon
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Davison-style, meaning plenty of monsters, riddles and political intrigue. We started this adventure prior to my departure southward, so we only get to move further when I'm in town. (I'm the DM.) The game I suppose I can take or leave (though it's enjoyable enough), but I really would be disappointed if this group of friends stopped getting together.July 5, 1997 — Salem, Oregon
Did not sleep well. Passed up a great day hike opportunity because of muscle spasms. Might have been able to do some of it, but you'd hate to get two hours in and collapse like a rag doll.Nonetheless, I did summon the courage to make it to dinner at Joe's house. My back might feel terrible but there was no way I was going to miss his world-famous Kannburgers. Delicious! Added bonus was winning the round-robin Hearts tournament.
July 4, 1997 — Independence Day / Salem, Oregon
Well, great to see the family (Mom, Dad, Bret, Grandma), but no beating around the bush: I did in my back again. Played half of a soccer game—nothing more strenuous than I've done previously—but still too much given everything else. Ouch.July 3, 1997 — Portland, Oregon
Caught a movie on Mars at OMSI's Sky Theatre. (OMSI is the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for you non-Oregon readers.) Divided into three acts and narrated by Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard of Star Trek fame, the movie was highly informative other than the goofy Act I and Epilogue. ("Oh Mars, your red hue captivates us," etc.) Best of all we avoided the rush that would be brought on by the Pathfinder, since it didn't touch down until July 4.Another wonderful dining experience with friends Matt and Ginger. Not being able to see friends more often is one of the real downsides to living in Mountain View.
July 1, 1997 — Portland, Oregon
Did quite well in a couple of cribbage games with Grandma. It's too much of a game of luck for my good fortune to last, so I'll savor it while I can. I'm much better at Hearts or Rook, though I've not played either of those games in a long time either. It's been wonderful to see Grandma again, too.
