Thursday, October 04, 2007

Two in Blue

Oona and JJ and I have been doing a little bit of a photo scavenger hunt, but I have only two photos to contribute. And they're mediocre. At best. So, I recommend that you go check out their photos and stay tuned for our next hunt...


Citizens Bank Park



It would appear that watched pots do boil.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

American Gladiator NYC Tryouts

Yesterday I accompanied a friend to tryouts for NBC's upcoming revival of American Gladiator. I think these pictures tell the story better than I can:





Number 26!
















Menacing!






















Some of the competition (or a plant?) being interviewed for Best Week Ever.




























This man is enormous. If he does not make it on the show, there is no hope for anyone.















Number 26 running back to her adoring fans after finishing the tryout.











Nap-time.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Bad Dog!

I'm on vacation. Yesterday I received an email from my mother -- who is caring for my dog while I'm away -- saying that my darling little dog devoured 3/4 of a lemon pound cake and six (6!!!!) cupcakes in the span of 10-15 minutes when nobody was home. BAD DOG.

Below is my artistic rendering of the carnage:

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Rant: Casual Fridays

I have some beef with Casual Friday. My office is pretty casual normally, so we're always toeing a particularly faint line between business and casual attire, but Casual Friday comes along and whaps me in the face every single Thursday night. And, remarkably, every single Thursday night all the remotely acceptable casual clothes disappear from my closets. Which brings us to tonight's dilemma...

It's Thursday night. I have no clothes. I desperately want to wear jeans, but all appropriate buttondowns have already been worn this week. Wearing my beloved pirate t-shirt is not allowed. Tomorrow's going to be seasonably warm (it's been unseasonably cool for the past few days), which complicates things further. Oh, Casual Friday, why do you taunt me with your denim-acceptability policy?

I'd rather just have Casual Everyday or Casual Never. Bah-humbug.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Legomania

There is a slight... OK, not so slight... chance that I need to go to Legoland. Behold: LEGOLAND

I have rekindled my love of Legos because of one guy: Nathan Sawaya. He's hilarious and builds stuff all out of Legos. While this is not even close to one of his best sculptures, it's got a terribly funny story along with it, which I have shamelessly stolen from Nathan's website:

There once was a very young boy,
Who came up with an ingenious ploy:
He made a wish
For his name and a fish,
To be made from his favorite toy.

Unfortunately, his name was Steven.
















So you do get an idea of his awesome work -- in addition to his brilliant sense of humor, I've shamelessly swiped another image from his site. Here it is, my gift... ahem, Nathan's gift... to you:

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Coming Zune?

So, I've gotten myself a brand-spanking-new computer and am re-sold on PCs (sorry, Apple empire). I had been considering a MacBook for a while, but eventually decided that with the new features of Vista being so similar to those of OSX and the compatibility of PC accessories, a Mac just wasn't the right choice for me.

And what a choice I made! I love my computer (thanks for the tip, JJ) and have had such a good experience with Vista, that I'm feeling very pro-Microsoft. So much so that I'm considering trading in my iPod for a Zune. But the thing that finally pushed me over the edge was not the wifi capability, nor was it the brown/green color, not even the prospect of no longer dealing with iTunes. Instead, the final push was this.

Stay tuned...

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Singing Costco's Praises

Note the beatific light shining down from the heavens in this photo (shamelessly "borrowed" from the Costco.co.uk):

If you know me, you know my love for Costco. It's true. I do. I was just listening to NPR's Car Talk and the hosts (Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers) were talking about the quality of gasoline from Costco... which got me thinkin'.

I started to make a mental list of all the things I use on a regular basis from my parents' local Costco. The list is staggering and shockingly incomplete, but also slightly amusing, so I thought I'd share.

- iHome alarm clock
- coffee beans and/or Senseo coffee maker (depending on the day)
- VHS/DVD combo player
- stereo
- various books in my bookcases
- my car (no joke)
- most flattering pair of designer jeans
- Guster's dog food
- Guster's bed and blanket
- ski jacket
- super-mega-deluxe AeroBed (for guests)
- sheets
- favorite sweater
- knife set
- digital camera
- hiking boots

And so on... I should also mention that Costco's per hour wage is significantly higher than its counterparts and the benefits package that full-time employees get is built around the philosophy that workers will stay if you keep them happy. Doesn't sound like the philosophies of a certain competitor. (Wal-Mart, ahem.)

I sound like an evangelist of sorts, but I'm truly impressed by the breadth and quality of Costco's offerings. And, while I try to buy locally wherever and whenever I can, for "big box" items, Costco seems hard to beat.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A Brief Brief on Bad TV (Briefly)

I admit that I have dreadful taste in both television shows and movies. A good portion of the weekends in my adult life (thus far) has been spent watching embarrassingly dreadful programming on the tube. And now, now that I have done something horrible and unknown to my back, I am spending even more time watching bad weekend television. It's pathetic. So pathetic, in fact, that I am hoping by posting this, I will be so shamed by my poor taste that I will turn to some more wholesome and yet still passive alternative... like reading... or finding a synonym for brief.