smokestacks

near the casinos in Laurenceburg, Indiana, having nothing to do with this entry

I haven't begun the process of picking favorite photos for the year, but I'm glad to say every one of 'em has been backed up (in two different physical locations). I don't know how many images there are, but I do know they take up a 75.4 GB chunk of drive space.

I've no lists of things or experiences I enjoyed most in 2007, but there were many.

I also don't have any resolutions proper, but I was reading a magazine at my mom's house that took a nice approach to the whole affair. Instead of a big thing, break it down into manageable chunks. So in lieu of cutting out carbs, make a resolution to eat more quinoa.

Sounds good to me.

Tonight, I'm heading down to Cincinnati to ring in '08.

I am determined not to lose my camera this time.

Current music: Orba Squara "Perfect Timing (This Morning)"

Never too many thank yous

A snapshot from a gift, a book called The Andy Warhol Show
This piece: "Handle with care—Glass—Thank you" 1962

Christmas Day: I went to visit friends because seeing kids run around a tree is a great way to feel the spirit of the holiday. The little ones were already exhausted from their toys, chasing each other for entertainment. I scarfed a maple scone and watched the blurs.

The whole gang left to see the grandparents a few hours later. "C'mon down." my friends said. They always have room for more. I wasn't going to see my mom until later in the afternoon, so I pushed aside the guilt of not bearing any gifts and drove over.

I was welcomed warmly, pointed to the direction of coffee, and invited to sit for gift exchange.

Scratching my head on the inside how it was possible, a pile of wrapped items appeared for me to open.

I had help from the kids—imparting my gift-guessing skills in the process. I explained the logic of touch, shape, tilt and heft. I used big words, and it though it might've seemed the small ears weren't listening, I knew they were.

The gifts were great—more than great.

But I want to note one in particular. The last in the stocking. Palm sized, it made a rattle when shaken. My unwrapping compadre and I were perplexed with no guesses. Their small fingers wrestled eagerly with the tape and paper.

It was a box of paperclips.

I about lost it, but all that came out was a smile.

Always knitting my brows trying to find the perfect gift, I routinely forget—its not about that at all. It's about a lot of things, I figure, but being together ranks up way up there.

I shall bite my lip if ever I say the magic is gone or the spirit is lost in the season.

I have paperclips to remind me.

Current music: Damien Rice "Delicate"

holiday

decorations downtown Cincy

First things first: Thank y'all for the birthday wishes. Makes getting old feel good.

Rewinding: I stood outside the Aronoff Center with The Brown, waiting for Dan to exit the late performance of the Nutcracker.

She tells me that there's nice picture potential across the street. I scoff for a moment, then reluctantly look through the viewfinder on the camera. It turned out nice. Sometimes it's good to quell that inner voice and trust someone else's gut.

Now the holidays are in full swing and I need to make busy with things offline. Find the Scotch tape. Spend time with friends and family.

Things'll be quiet around these parts.

(insert raised cup of spiked nog)

weapons

Eddie aims

Birthday party last evening.

What to buy a 9 year old?

With some asking around, I got one response.

"Weapons."

I can dig that. I was totally into knights and armor and whatnot around that age.

By the time all the wrapping paper was whisked away, there was enough nerf ammo to start a small tactical operation.

I'm just happy to have had a big slice of lasagna.

A handful of photos from the evening

036

Kismet

Five years ago yesterday, I started keeping a journal online.

There were no images, just words. That first entry was particularly pondersome. It was a heavy year emotionally, economically.

The following April I would start including a photo for most days—formatted in an arbitrary rectangle so it would fit on the screen with some thoughts.

Thirty-six years ago today I was born.

The cast of characters is largely the same. Some folks have moved on, moved around, got hitched, started families. I closed up shop from the initial dot-boom and free-floated for a while, shacked up with a fella I adore, started a new company with friends that has a nice balance of pixels and elbow grease.

So things are good on this birthday.

Today at the studio, my friends presented me with this Charley Harper print that accompanied his definitive monograph.

It is number 036.

Kismet.

I like that there's that leading zero in the print number. If life continues to be this rich, thanks to those around me far and near, I hope to use that extra character in my own numbering.

A hat tip to everyone reading this and following along. It's time for cake.

Current music: Growing "In the Shadow of the Mountain"

mailbox

All the packages, out the door

Today, we stayed out of the studio. Even though next week is official time off, it was vital to take this pause. Sometimes calendars need tweaked.

I spent the day between the virtual mailbox and the grocery store.

Cupboard's stocked, and I've gotten through a few handfuls of backlogged messages.

In other news: I'm attempting to shoot in RAW more often. The above photo is an example. No tweaking. There's a certain quality to capturing images this way. I still don't have my head around it, but it's fun to keep it spicy.

Current music: Daft Punk "Too Long / Steam Machine"

spilt

Late for lunch

My schedule has been outta whack for a while, but it got extra worse when Dan was gone for the weekend and I stayed up until 5am noodling on ancillary projects.

This put me in to work closer to lunch than breakfast.

One day this week I walked into the studio and yelled out for Tom. He was sitting directly before me camouflaged among the CDs sitting behind a makeshift spread looking forlorn—as if I had missed a special dinner date.

His passive humor was lost on me at the time. I was still groggy.

In hindsight? Quite funny, and genius in execution.

The whole "meal" here.

Current music: De Novo Dahl "I Woke Up Late"

chew

On its own, the word "chew" looks kinda funny

Three years ago I wasn't entirely displeased by the new Wrigley's wrappers. Looking at their website, it seems the cycles between tinkering has fits and spurts. Nice long spell there starting in the fifties.

There's been some more tweaking as you can see above. Juicy Fruit still flounders, Spearmint loses the minty cool tones, sharpens up—and Big Red is now, um, umber? No it's cinnamon colored. I have no real point of reference for Winterfresh, the mountain got way smaller and the Wrigley's brand is now the same across the line. Maybe that's how they sold this makeover. Must. Be. Consistent.

Maybe it's the hour or the time of year, but I don't have any strong feelings about these changes. Just noting them because it's a step above recording how I stayed off the snowy roads and watched TV yesterday.

Back to the candy aisle, something I do have strong feelings about is the Snickers Nut 'n Butter Crunch. It's like a Reese's Pumpkin made love to a Snickers bar. They should totally move this out of Limited Edition and kill off that Almond variant. Peanut butter taste has legs I say.

Current music: Frank Zappa "I Have Been In You"

Self-timer

Test shot. Checking lighting conditions, Gem City Records

Hit the studio Tuesday morning, then drove back up to Dayton for some photo making.

The photographer hat fit pretty well that day, super proud of the results. But the final images are not for me to share, and somehow this makes it feel more official. (Once they're released though, I'll point out where they can be found.)

The rest of the week has been NUTS. Crazy busy with holiday orders and shipping. We're finally caught up and right now, I could use a beer.

Current music: Dntel "Everything's Tricks"

overprocessed

compensating for poor exposure and blasting out the image (this, of a truck trailer)

Walked into a store this evening to pick up twine and a USB cable. End up staring at bargain bins of holiday DVDs. I don't need these.

A mother yells at kids while carrying conversation on her mobile phone.

Every customer and employee seems unhappy. I can't stop wondering about them.

The holiday music is interrupted by calls for more cashiers to man the checkouts.

I leave with string, a pack of gum, and forget the cable.

Perhaps this mental fog is a side effect of loss. Two folks I'd met only virtually died this past weekend. One after a battle with cancer, another unexpected.

I take pause while reading online. Condolences scroll by, yet linger—burned on to the screen and making everything more important.

It's not enough to be reminded to live better or care more for the ones we love.

There is so much noise.

Kinda gross out

View from the back window

The pretty snow from this week is getting beaten into the ground by rain.

Not much else going on this Saturday. Dan's down for two shows in Cincinnati and I left my wallet at the studio. This prevents me from buying things, which is fine.

On a day like this, it's good to stay inside. It's also days like this I wish I could suppress from the RSS feed.

Current music: Sonic Youth "Im Not There"

Nada

Inside the new restaurant down by the Aronoff Center

Caught The Drowsy Chaperone on Tuesday night. Dan's playing trumpet down in the pit.

Slipped over to the new restaurant by Chef David Falk (of BOCA) next to the theater—a joint called NADA serving Mexican fare. The interior is swank, but there's a casual vibe to the place. Though reservations are possible, it's more about walking in and sharing some food. I'd suggest anything with their guacamole, the sliders, and any of the mixed drinks on the cocktail menu.

As for the show, after the first song I shared a sidelong glance with my friend The Brown. She and I were skeptical. But the show eventually won us over with its sense of humor and quick clip.

fenderberg

Fen • der • berg (fĕn'dər'bûrg') n.

Large chunks of ice and/or slush that get stuck behind a vehicle's tire. (via)

We've got some fenderburgs around here today. Also have a pile of work. Must scoot.

Chocolate covered potato chips

I see the white light outside, this must be heaven

If I was Oprah and had a show about my favorite things (mental note: make show about my favorite things), I would include these chocolate covered potato chips. They're totally local with the sweet side by Esther Price and the salty bit by Mike Sells. A box of 'em will cost about 10 bucks. I grimaced at the price during checkout, but the wallet-sadness was erased when I tried one.

It could be a phase, I know.

Growing up I refused to believe there were any other salad dressing aside from Thousand Island. On the candy front I was a stalwart Snickers fan for the longest time, and before that it was likely Marathon.

But right here, right now? It's these chips. I'm limiting intake to one a day, at most.

Current music: Bishop Allen "Click, Click, Click, Click"

On the press

Tom works his guns

If you placed an order for the Limited Edition WOXY shirt, they're on the press this week. There have been some questions as I didn't change the automated response that said they'd ship in 7 days when orders were placed. They ship next week in time for the holidays.

Tom and I knocked out all the olive in our most productive day ever at the studio. Next on tap are the navy and cranberry. Once these are out the door, I am confident my biceps will be much larger.

In other music news, it's official — The Breeders have a new album dropping in '08, oh, and it's snowing! here in Dayton.

Current music: Ladies Who Lunch "Gigantic"

bad circulation

Holiday decor

Can't decide if it's the weather or my age, but the length of time it takes for my legs fall asleep while sitting on the toilet gets shorter and shorter each day.

Oh and that cold from two weeks back? It lingers with a cough that's particularly excitable whenever I try to lay horizontally, which is inopportune.

In other news, got my car outta the garage yesterday and that means reuniting with my camera. Two and a half days without seemed like an eternity.

I rode in the passenger seat as we went to the t-shirt distributor to pick up shirts, and I snapped images left and right. None turned out nice, or pretty, but they are here:

Random photos from the gray day. Most centered. Quite possibly painful with detail and light.

Current music: No music, but a train is in the background.

tree done put up

in the living room

We put up a tree last weekend. Sounds a lot like having a guest over, and it is in a way. A guest that has a nice woodsy fragrance and only requires water every other day.

I was going to post an animated image of the process, but it was a bit large. So here it is on a separate page. (slow animated gif)

Went back to the Kiwanis Club of Centerville's tree lot again this year. They seem like good folk, and I like stopping by their miniature trailer to finish the transaction. Always cozy in there. (I took a photo)

In other news, my car is trapped because the garage door opener is acting up. I don't mind being stranded, but I've a long list of things I want to retrieve from the vehicle, including my camera.

Current music: Apes & Androids "Golden Prize"