wrapped up

on the edge of downtown Dayton, OH (not a house we are considering)

Checking things of a TO-DO list is as rewarding as a good bowel movement. If only heavy duty stuff like taxes could be eased along with bowls of oatmeal.

If this doesn't peg me as aging, then you should ask me about the increasing number of times I find myself staring at an open drawer wondering what I'm trying to find.

I didn't do my taxes, but I did get some numbers crunched this week. That means bills were paid, invoices issued and checks cut. It's far from over, but this money stuff is one thing I need to be more regular about anyway.

On the nerdfront, I've somehow corrupted the Magpie RSS parser that serves up delicious links on my site. This and all things PHP perplex me. Perhaps it is time to jump from the delicious ship and find a system that allows for attribution and integrates without complex hoops.

In other news, this time fake: I've heard through unreliable sources that Maxim magazine is going to start reviewing websites. Apparently my journal got really horrible marks and I'm not even done yet. (insert groan)

Current music: WOXY - Devotchka "Head Honcho"

artifacts

a glitch while importing digital footage

The crunching of video continues. I've now imported 40 gigs of footage to whittle down to 36 minutes or so. More on the results another day, I'm knee deep in production at the moment.

I've jumped through three programs trying to find the right balance of features and ease of use to tackle the video editing job:

iMovie HD (v. 6.0.3), iMovie '08, and Final Cut Express 4.

I'm no means versed in each, but I can say briefly that iMovie 08 is the short-term winner. I initially lost my grip with the new interface change from linear timeline to stacked scrubby clips, but most every function required for this job is present—just hidden in an uncluttered manner.

I wish Final Cut Express was the solution as it offers so many options, but adding a transition between clips required some weird, non-drag-and-drop math-like maneuver that was super unintuitive. I left the program frustrated and cursing.

Current music: WOXY (Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Gardenia)

Green carpet doesn't mean it is environmentally friendly carpet

A snapshot from the eternal house hunt

This fine shag is from our now customary Sunday of open houses. If you remember how I shop for cars, you should see the madness I'm building for organizing this home search.

I'd share, but then you'd see our unreasonable criteria and catty comments on properties visited.

In other news, I removed the entire bloated music library from my computer to crunch video, so I have no soundtrack for this entry.

how chest hair and elbow grease saved Monday

This is what I work with...

I don't think Mercury really left retrograde until last night.

Maybe right around the time John Stewart summoned Marketa Irglova back onstage to deliver her half of an acceptance speech for original song at the Oscars. [ view clip ]

I'm so rooting for optimism after a week of misunderstandings, lame communication on my part, wires crossed, and general malaise. Don't get me wrong, there were bright spots, but overall...(insert grumbling)

But today we were a full studio. No snow delays. No cancelled school. Babysitter on tap. Rock.

We started off with the albatrosses—a short list of everything hanging over our collective heads that we must tackle to get to the good stuff.

And then we closed our computers, put the caps on our list-making pens, and hit the press. Cranking out a batch of shirts, wrapping up others with twine, and clearing off counter space along with a bit of our conscience.

We ended early with enough time to do some product photography. Wendy and I prefer when Tom wears the modeling hat, and Tom seems to love running around with his shirt off between wardrobe changes. Today he was especially proud to share newfound growth on his chest.

Maybe there's some metaphor here about how things can get hairy, but I think it's really just a reminder to smile and work with what we're given.

Charting a song

In lieu of stories of snow

Jeb started it : View the tons of other submissions by folks:Charts and graphs of rap song lyrics

Again, with the shirts

The last of the 2007 WOXY limited edition shirts

Real quick: We printed a few extra WOXY tees to cover any issues last holiday season.

Everything is now squared away and we're clearing out remaining stock.

Quantities and sizes super limited.

ORDER HERE, SHIPPING NOW

dis-pwned pony

Done with Pegasus, seen in a downtrodden Dayton alley

This entry isn't about a discarded vinyl toy.

It isn't about a fresh (and redrawn) reprint of my Tim Gunn "Make It Work" shirt. (Which by the way, you can try and snag for free on Joe My God's Swag Tuesday, simply leave a comment with your email address.)

No, what currently is on my mind is that I want to go see that bodies exhibit, but word on the street is that there is a four hour wait to get in the Cincinnati Museum Center . This is exactly the reason why I did not make it through the Martha Stewart Apprentice try outs.

Long lines are a great travesty on the world. They impede productivity and spoil moods.

Wouldn't a system like a movie theater work? Let X number of people in at a certain time, sell tickets according to schedule and capacity. I suppose this doesn't maximize profits, but I'm just trying to think about the children—and my short fuse for long lines.

(insert grumble)

Maybe I should have written about the little pony.

Current music: Malcolm McLaren "Ride A Fashion Horse Part 1"

Local pizza

Marion's South

I finally stepped foot in a Marion's Pizza last night. It's a local pie chain in Dayton. They battle it out with a joint called Cassanos for the title of Best.

Down in Cincinnati, this crown would likely be won by LaRosas for sheer scale. Even in my home town growing up, we had two places to go out for dinner: LaRosas or Big Boy. This number of restaurants was matched by the number of stoplights.

Either here or there, I'm partial to Dewey's myself, but I think I'm swayed by their salads.

So Marions... the pizza was better than good, atmosphere dandy, and company excellent.

Bonus: bumping into this cat and his family. They were there to celebrate his son's birthday I do believe. I could not take my eyes off the gift on the table: a case of Star Wars figures in excellent condition, passed down through generation. This is the type of "mint in box" I place the utmost value.

Current music: Mark Mothersbaugh "Granny’s Last Solo Trip To The Grocery"

tracks

under the snow

Short or oblique, I seldom question the value of trying to capture a journal entry with a photo each day. Even when I don't succeed in posting, there's usually a folder of images floating around.

For the most part, there is some rudimentary organization: a date, a named folder. But I long for some system where it forces me to tag images as they're being transferred from camera to computer.

A notion: images appear as a slideshow and one could say descriptive words (out loud). These words would be translated on screen to be checked off for additional images that match the criteria in the batch. Gravy? Everything could be done with keyboard commands and little typing.

All this gestural, talking computing is near enough I figure.

Already it's pretty awesome to do quick searches across almost 6 years of photos and see what comes up, like:

Photos of trains on my hard drive

Current music: Steve Reich "Different Trains"

Cut Loose

Not foot loose [ + zoom this photo ]

Back in the studio and largely on track today. This, I should mention, after I got a phone call in the morning and realized I spaced out on a meeting. I've only done this a few times in my life, but it falls outside of embarrassing and into something that smarts a little more.

Perhaps this is another reason why I would fail miserably in a corporate environment, making this special Threadless tee called "Cut Loose" somewhat appropriate.

I believe this design was only available at the Threadless Chicago retail store when it opened. Normally I don't like to post product taunts but this is the first day I've worn this shirt and I quite dig it.

Current music: Dave Eggers "The Commercials of Norway"

Enough of this wintry mix

Yesterday, at the ol' feed store — Oxford, OH

I suppose technically you could call what is on the ground snow, with a layer of crud ice on top. I was so prepared for an epic The-Shining-type blizzard. It was bad enough to stay off the roads.

In work-from-home news, for a moment I thought it would be nice to have a firewall or feature that had a "limit net access" productivity toggle switch. Then I realized that is what it's like to work in certain cube farms and this would be bad for my personal style. Then again, maybe the feature could be a governor that allowed 10 minute surf windows at the top of each hour.

Good thing I'm a night owl to catch up on stuff.

Current music: The Black Keys "Strange Times"

perspective

Best viewed super-duper big: 3000 pixels wide

Saturday the sun was shining, clouds filled the blue sky, and though I had work to do, I carved out a slice of the afternoon to just be out and about.

After a much needed haircut down in Kentucky, I looped through Cincinnati before heading home. The light was still prime so I parked the car and rode the elevator up 45th floor of Carew Tower. A few flights of steps and two bucks later, I was on the windy observation deck looking down at the miniature skaters on the square, up north toward Over the Rhine, and all around.

I honestly was tryin to get a good shot of The Ascent in Northern Kentucky, but it wasn't happening from that vantage.

Post note: I switched servers over the weekend, if you find images are missing, hit refresh on your browser. If that doesn't work, drop me a line.

Current music: The National "Fake Empire"

Brunch Club February 08

Fruit, tofu dog, donut, ketchup

This isn't actually what was on the menu for brunch club, our early-in-the-day potluck version of dinner club, but it was served to a couple of kids right after everybody left.

Because when you get a bunch of young ones together, the least interesting thing to do is eat. There is only time for running, playing, jumping, and expending every morsel of energy. Hence the post-meal pictured above.

This marked the first time I've met my friend Anne and John's little boy. He's a handsome handful. And another couple are expecting their third.

S'all good.

We're getting a handle on keeping dinner club alive with the ever growing guest-list.

Lots of photos of little ones (we adults know what we look like)

Current music: Once (sountrack) - "Fallen from the Sky"

Every kid will pine for stuffed Abe Lincoln in the crane game

Now if they only had a Reagan

Comes with notable quotes on the tag!

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

I hope that comes to fruition some day.

Current music: José González "Slow Moves"

the trees outside the movie theater

West Chester, OH [ +zoom ]

Since my car was still in Dayton after the Atlanta trip, my mom offered to drive me back to a midpoint where Dan would pick me up. The Rave Theater is that point on the map. I like this place because they have pretty lights and big screens.

I thought the similarities between these two posters was mildly amusing for no good reason.

In other news: It's about time to retire these tulips. I want to see The Breeders on tour but they're not playing anywhere close. It's almost 5am and I should be in bed.

Current music: none

463 miles

This diptych bothers me not because they're mobile phone snapshots, but because the perspectives aren't exactly the same.

Woke early and loaded the 10 foot long "mini mover."
Attached tow for the car.
Hit the road.
Glimpsed the blue ridge. (left)
Ate bad food. (right)
White knuckles through the construction with concrete barriers.
I swore I felt my temples gray.
Landed in Cincinnati.
Mom had soup ready, fresh fruit, and iced cookies in the shape of a heart.
Yum. Home. Exhausted.

Current music: Pundits and percentages

ATL

An XM Radio poster behind the ticketing counter [ +zoom ]

Got up way too early and jumped on an AirTran plane. Never flown with this airline before, but it is cheap and flies out of Dayton. They serve Coca-Cola products and my flight(s) offered those individually wrapped shortbread cookies that are packaged in factories that may contain peanuts.

Met my brother upon arrival in Atlanta.

We are packing up his apartment and regarding everything as Niecy Nash would on the set of Clean House.

If you don't know this show, it is where they find extreme pack rats and force them to have a yard sale or donate accumulated crap in order to tidy up the place. Neicy dispenses advice and acts like she personally foots the bill on gifts like sectional sofas or sideboards that provide a base for select crap that did not get sold or thrown away.

I like the show because they don't go too far out with themes. Like say, if there was a boy that collected Hot Wheels, they don't put asphalt on the floor and paint his bedroom like a NASCAR track, forcing him to sleep on a pile of tires.

All that's a tangent I suppose.

Tomorrow we load a U-Haul and head back to Ohio.
Bad news: no time to explore Atlanta.
Good news: my oldest brother won't be so far away.

Current music: Yael Naïm "New Soul"

(packed) weekend

Speakeasy Prohibition Ale peeps out form the ice (quite tasty SF ale)

There was another viewing of Once before returning it (even better the second time around), pancakes on Groundhog Day (Hungry Jack), a Mardi Gras party (with the brew pictured above), and a Superbowl (red white and blue vs red white and blue). I thought the latter was relatively ho-hum until those last minutes.

Tomorrow I hop on three planes to get to one place (gah).

Current music: Party Ben "Every Car You Chase (The Snow Police)"