No, my truck was not abandoned simply because I parked it out in front of your stupid house. If you have such an issue with the fact that my truck is parked three doors down from my house out in front of your door, get off your fat ass and walk down to ask me to move it. Don’t call the cops and complain that somebody left the truck there, especially since it had only been there since sunday morning. And if you have a problem with the way my truck looks, perhaps you should walk out your front door, turn around, and get an eyeful of the sorry-ass front of your house. Maybe I should call and complain to the ASPCA the next time I walk past your air conditioner and get a noseful of that rotten cat piss stink fuming out of your living room.
And, you know, I did buy a cover for it, so that I’d be a better neighbor and you wouldn’t have to look at it. I kept that cover on it right up to the day somebody ripped it off in broad daylight and you didn’t call the cops. So thanks, neighbor.
If my truck gets towed, you better believe your car will soon be sitting on four flat tires, bucko.
…
So you’re bored of all the average-looking cars out there on the road, and you want something distinctive. A Civic is too plain, a Hummer H2 is too big, and there’s already a Z8 parked on your block. Why not a DeLorean? A company in Texas will be happy to sell you a “remanufactured” model with a 6/6000 mile warranty. Already got one? then you’ve probably heard about their extensive warehouse full of OEM parts, shipped straight from the factory in Ireland when the company shut down. Heck, if I had $35K burning a hole in my pocket, I’d be interested in buying one for giggles.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Whew. Busy weekend. Saturday saw us visiting the estimable Petit Louis with Todd, Heather, Nate and Kristen for a French repast of mouthwatering proportions. Duck Leg Confit is the super-shiznit, according to half the table. Jen took a well-deserved and brief detour from the diet she’s on (and she looks fine, let me tell you) to indulge in the pot de créme for dessert—and who wouldn’t? Afterwards we visited the Spur Design gallery for a show of Luba Lukova‘s poster work, and said hello to a bunch of folks we knew there.
Sunday was spent working out back, where the dry sink finally made it on to the wall, the final sections of the deck were cut and placed, and the interior stairs were stained. Later, we took a walk through Patterson Park and enjoyed the afternoon sun as well as the newly opened boat lake. It’s good to see the city investing some money in its recreational areas.
Jen, her bosses and I all went to the Baltimore Addy awards on Saturday night; despite a great showing, Jen’s piece did not win. Bastards. I do have pictures, and I will post them tomorrow when I can get the PCMCIA carrier for the memory card. After leaving the award show in disgust, we met up with Jason and Shelly and proceeded to get pleasantly squiffed at a few different places downtown. It’s always great to get out with those two. This morning, however, we paid for it dearly…
We did get out of the house after noon, however, and walked to Fell’s Point to get to Bonaparte’s cafe, which serves traditional French (not freedom) pastries and breads, as well as great coffee. Sipping our decaf—this was recovery, remember—we relaxed and watched the folks walk past the water in the sunshine. I stopped in to the Sound Garden and picked up the new release by Massive Attack, and we walked home through the cool breeze to nap on the back bed with the cats.
We got word a few hours ago that the roof of the B&O Railroad Museum collapsed, possibly damaging or destroying several historical and priceless trains and passenger cars. I only hope they are able to repair the roof and save some of the cars below it.
I’m going to post a gallery of pictures from the snowstorm a bit later on in the day; I still have to strap the mukluks on and shovel the walk outside (I’ve been avoiding it by painting the front bedroom.) Jen and I walked four doors down the street to Matt & Emily’s house to have dinner and watch some movies last night, which was really fun. Apparently the final tally has been a little under two feet, and the Governor has been on the news asking folks to stay off the roads today. Fine by me!
I was not aware of the problems some folks have had with original AirPort base stations, but a link from the estimable Nacintosh News Network details a fix for blown capacitors, which replacements are better than others, and how to solder it yourself. not for the faint of heart, but definitely cheaper than buying a new one.
city life building 2.11
I read last week that the old City Life building is being developed into a restaurant/nightclub venue. It was a crime to charge visitors $7 to see a thin display of local kitsch, but this will hopefully be a better use of a very beautiful space. Good luck, folks.
Jen and I have been working for the last few days on freelance work, and the stuff we have so far makes me very happy. I’m very excited to sink my teeth into this work, because I have a ton of ideas for the website and I think we can make really strong products for each client.
I will have to look into a product called Konfabulator, which is a sort of do-it-yourself widget maker for OSX, made by the guys who brought us Kaliedoscope (which I never used.) I have a few things I’d like to configure through AppleScript but I can’t seem to make the Script Editor record my actions anymore, either in Classic or in OSX. I used to have a series of scripts which would open the three main programs I use every day, and another to mount my remote web drive and publish my log page, and it made the day go by faster. I’d like to set that up again in OSX, but I don’t have the technology yet.
Ted Rall writes a very interesting (and very sobering) article about the cost of college, or more importantly, the cost of graduating, and the increasing gap between the folks who can afford it and those who can’t. Personally, I count myself lucky to have had parents who believed in me enough to send me to an art college. I don’t know exactly how much they paid to send me to school, but I know it wasn’t cheap, and I got off very lucky.
building2, 3dmax, 1.16
Looks like MightyGirl is out of a job. She is one of the better writers I’ve found online, so I hope she finds something good and fast.
Todd came by and dropped a book on my desk this morning: Baltimore: Then and Now, which is a pictoral history of the city in landscape format, where archive and historical photos of the city are updated with current pictures of the same location. A paragraph of text accompanies each photo, adding a wealth of historical information to each pair. Fascinating reading, and well executed. There are other books which cover the same territory (I remember a thicker book featuring a chapter on my old neighborhood and another on my current one) but this is a great view into some interesting features of the downtown skyline—the Bromo Seltzer Tower, the Hippodrome, and pre-1904 fire Pratt Street.
I’m currently listening to the Old 97’s Too Far To Care. Thank you again, Todd.
This afternoon I found a link off to a very interesting design brief from Matt based on his redesign of the BBC site. You can find it here.
Breakthrough. After a long, long time wandering the desert, I’ve found my way back. I’ve been constructing buildings for a game for the past month or so, and while the learning curve was steep, it’s getting very easy to work in this program. I can think of something I want to do and make it happen, which is a long way from my attempts last year (see the August 2001 log.) Slowly my skill increases, and I learn new things every day. I’m at the point now where I’ve exported three seperate building designs and composited one—and Pete has one set working (mostly) in the building editor. Thanks to all the folks who’ve helped me so far (and read this page). It feels good to be excited about work again.
lakewood ave, 1.5
We are snowed in yet again. There’s about 4″ down on the ground right now, and the sky is that peculiar reddish-gray which accompanies snow in the city. The trees outside the window are draped with blankets, my neighbor is shoveling our walk and the street is free from traffic—the only sounds come from people quietly calling out to each other as they walk to and from the store. For a brief moment in time, the city is a peaceful place to be.
Tonight Jen and I are braving the snow and people to begin Round 1 of Us vs. Christmas. We are journeying to the Columbia Mall to seek out interesting, insightful gifts for our loved ones.
Got any suggestions?
Looks like the roads are pretty clear out there, which is a Good Thing. We also got word today that one of our freelance gigs is swinging into gear—good news.
Outside the Port Discovery museum downtown, they have an exhibit featuring a large balloon tethered to a winch. During the summertime, I would drive to and from work watching the balloon rise and fall in the sunshine, filled, no doubt, with happy children enjoying a bird’s eye view of the city. Today on my way to work, by chance I pulled up behind my friend Todd, who pointed out a very limp and deflated balloon covered in snow, huddled over the cold ground outside the museum grounds.
urban paralysis (a social experiment), 12.01
Indeed, I bought the milk, the bread, and the coffee, and lo, the heavens did unload. And yea, verily, we did sit and listen to the Prophets proclaim doom.
The salt truck, representing the taxes I pay to the city, rolled through at 6:20, after the sun went down and the temperature dropped below 20 degrees. Thanks guys.
backyard, 12.01
The Thanksgiving feasting is over; the fridge is stuffed with Tupperware and bursting at the seams. All was successful with the meal, and the Meeting Of The Two Families went off without a hitch, thankfully. Everybody had a great time together and we dined in Little Italy. (Rather fitting, given the motif, eh?)
We were also lent the first season of the Sopranos on DVD the day before Thanksgiving, and spent a good portion of the holiday loosening our belts and travelling to North Jersey to peek in on the lives of Tony and his family. I realize I’m about four years behind the curve here, but I have to say this is a fantastic show. Jen and I are totally hooked.
I finally got a sheet of UV glass cut for three gifts my house presented me when I began demolishing the basement: a collection of Tijuana bibles fell from the ceiling over the old bathroom as I tore the tongue and groove down. (Additionally, I was presented with a series of letters to Santa and a series of longshoreman’s pay stubs over the old kitchen sink, a very old and used tampon in the bathroom, and an envelope containing $50 in bills circa 1969 up front in the old closet.) In doing some research on the eight-pagers, I found a link to a book on the subject as well as some other sites. It’s nice to have them framed, finally.