Monday, April 29, 2002
from the "don't go chasin' waterfalls" department: karma happens. (via fark.)
to whomever thinks they're the only one who sends me mail from my contact page, without including any identifying information: a) you're not the only one. ergo, i have no clue who you are. well, maybe a clue but no certainty, certainly. b) yes. i'm ok.* * if scared, nervous, sad, happy, excited, and about to make one of the biggest life-changes i've ever made qualifies as ok. more on that later. things area developing rather rapidly around here. Friday, April 26, 2002
how in the hell did it get to be friday? new orleans has been electric this week - especially last night - it's youthful and excited and on the verge of laughter. vigorous... emotional... and ready to dance. it's jazzfest. and thanks to a full moon, some red wine, and the "tree of death" in audubon park, i've got me a hungover (sic) already. helluva week. my major accomplishment: i built a desk. one of those pre-fab put it together yourself things from office depot. but still - why is it that manual labor is so gratifying? haha! i built that! there it is! look! concrete work product! ha!
look! it's a friday five: 1. what are your hobbies? blogging, photography, painting, photoshopping, assemblage art, collecting things. and graphic design. 2. do you collect anything? If so, what? editions of alice in wonderland. pez dispensers. cds. old windows. and anything i happen to find interesting at the time. 3. is there a hobby you're interested in, but just don't have the time/money to do? i wish i had more time and money to paint. and i'd like to learn guitar. 4. have you ever turned a hobby into a moneymaking opportunity? i've been trying to work as a designer for two years now, and have done on several occassions. 5. besides web-related stuff (burbs, rings, etc.), what clubs do you belong to? none. why is manual labor Tuesday, April 23, 2002
dooce is gone for good. i wasn't too frequent of a visitor, but when i did stop by, i always appreciated her candor and often caustic, intelligent humor - the things that in the end seemed to have taken their toll. i'm sad to see a good weblogger go.
finally.
so it's shakespeare's birthday (and deathday, too, actually.) and just in time, more controversy!
god damn! you have to see this: extra-crunchy christian movie reviews. another gleaming example of fundamentalist hypocracy and religious-right silliness, and one of the most unintentionally funny sites i've happened upon in a long time. and oh-so-predictable, from the demonic depths of dogma to the angelic heights of the omega code. you've just got to love the w.i.s.d.o.m. rating scale. whoa. <rant>don't get me wrong: christianity is fine and good, and if you're going to go with an "organized", pre-programmed system of belief and a heirarchy of leadership/stewardship that places normal, imperfect, weak, hypocritical human individuals in powerful positions of supposed moral authority they can't possibly live up to, well then hey, even i think christianity is the way to go. but shielding your kids from the real world? hiding them from sex and violence when both are real parts of human life that we all inevitably encounter? that's a recipe for a vicious cycle of mal-adjusted adults, and a lot of pain and heartbreak and humiliation along the way. i've seen it happen, first hand. i'll stick to the onion a.v. club for my movie reviews, thanks.</rant> Monday, April 22, 2002
what a great wedding. i'll fill in the details tomorrow, but one single statement served to bookend this weekend for me: i hate the md-80. it scares me. Wednesday, April 17, 2002
ok, some things i've forgotten to mention in the past week: i saw y tu mama tambien. two words: maribel verdϊ. i took a ride on a sailboat for the first time. it was nice, but seems like a lot of trouble for a few minutes of watery quietude. in the marina as we were getting off the boat, i slipped and fell off the stern, but caught myself on a mooring with one arm and on a rope with one foot, and only the other foot got wet - but it also got cut up pretty nicely by some barnacles. i've been limping around all week, but it looks as if it's healing well, and with no infection in sight. today i wore a real shoe on my right foot for the first time this week. i got my "burn, baby, burn" cds off to my trading group yesterday - i'll post my cover art and track list next week once everyone's gotten theirs, so as not to ruin the surprise. if you participated in burn, baby, burn and would like to trade cds, i'd be up for making a few more. let me know. i'm going to long boat key, florida this weekend for my friend mike's wedding. i've only seen him twice in the five years since i graduated from college, but this looks like it's going to be quite a reunion of my core group of college friends. god (and guinness) help us.
melly's got a new URL!! clearly headed for a sky-high blogdex rating, andrewsullivan has a shiny happy article on blogs over at wired.com. his thesis is "blogging will do for words what napster did for music" and i couldn't agree more - sort of. what i guess he means is, napster brought music to the masses, and blogging may bring words to the masses. but blogging is so much more than that. napster took finished products by artists and distributed them freely. blogging takes the act of being an artist - a writer - and distributes it freely, gives people who never would have considered it the opportunity to self-publish. to use that old saying, napster gives people a fish, blogging teaches them how to fish. blogging enables. that is so much cooler than napster, if you think about it. Tuesday, April 16, 2002
oh, man. spencer for hire died today. and he was only 55... Sunday, April 14, 2002
ever get a stupid, random question about something in your head and have it aggravate you until you have to figure it out? this particular stupid question was bothering me all last week, so i had to find an answer: what is "manilla", as in a "manilla folder"? yes, i'm aware that manilia is the capital of the phillipines, but i can't figure how that has anything to do with paper folders. is manilla a paper-type material? is it that creamy beige folder color? (i'm doubting this, because some people refer to those darker yellow mailing envelopes with the little clip thingy as "manilla envelopes", too.) or is it the name of some company or person long since forgotten that became generically associated with the product? i went to google to find the answer, but had no luck yet. i found out that nobody knows how to spell it - "manilla" and "manila" both seem to appear with equal freqency on office supply sites. i found a lame pun though - a phillipino butterfly knife called the "manila folder." ha. google having failed me, i went to dictionary.com to see if i could find a definition - and i did. it was like saying, "what does 'manilla' mean? and by the way, how do you spell it?" and getting the answer, "yes. absolutely." here's what i found out: you can spell it "manila" or "manilla" - and the term refers to: a cheroot made in manila (a "cheroot" is apparently a cigar. learn something every day.) manila hemp, "a fibrous material obtained from the musa textilis, a plant allied to the banana, growing in the philippine and other east India islands; from it matting, canvas, ropes, and cables are made." manila paper is "a durable brown or buff paper made of manila hemp, used as a wrapping paper, and as a cheap printing and writing paper. the name is also given to inferior papers, made of other fiber." a light yellow brown color associated with manilla paper. so don't ever tell me that blogs aren't educational. Saturday, April 13, 2002
'nother silly link, this time a flash game. simple, evil, fun. play god. sort of. Friday, April 12, 2002
god, i love the web. just for the fact that things like this guy's 'soap review' site exist. looks like it's been around on the web in various places for quite a while. very weird.(link via metafilter) "My bar of Irish Spring does have a pronounced flash, but contrary to certain rumor-mongers, this will not cut you, and feels somewhat sensual when rubbed against bare skin." say what? Thursday, April 11, 2002
another yummy friday five. 1. What is your favorite restaurant and why? domilese's po-boys. emeril's. commander's palace. r & o's seafood. there's no way to rank them, it's all about what you're in the mood for. 2. What fast food restaurant are you partial to? umm... is smoothie king a fast food restaurant? being mostly vegetarian, there's not much at the burger joints for me. (and no, i haven't tried the new burger king veggieburger yet.) 3. What are your standards and rules for tipping? 20% is standard, down to 15% if the service is no good. 4. Do you usually order an appetizer and/or dessert? appetizer: pretty often. dessert: sometimes but not much. 5. What do you usually order to drink at a restaurant? iced tea, or diet coke occasionally.
on the way to work today, driving down st. charles avenue, i saw a man talking to his hand - specifically his left index finger. he was holding it up about 8 inches in front of his face and clearly having an argument with it. new orleans is filled with strange characters, and we certainly have our share of homeless and mentally ill individuals walking the streets. seeing street people talking to themselves isn't unusual at all. seeing a six foot five, maybe 250 lb. man carry on an empassioned argument with his index finger is slightly surreal. Wednesday, April 10, 2002
"The user may even choose to produce a Tarzan-type yell while swinging in the manner described, which more accurately replicates swinging on vines in a dense jungle forest. Actual jungle forestry is not required. Licenses are available from the inventor upon request." United States Patent 6,368,227 the patent examiners are slipping, friends. (via metafilter) (either that, or they're yanking our collective chain.) Tuesday, April 09, 2002
it may not be the wrong place, but it is the write time. random, but too cool. (link via jonno) Monday, April 08, 2002
my blogger insider partner this past turn has been allan of www.allan.org. you can see his answers to my questions there. answering his took quite a bit of effort, so i hope he'll forgive me the extra day it took. cheers, allan. 1. Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary. Since birthdays are often a time for introspection, many bloggers seem to flame out after a year or two, they either find themselves getting repetitive or they get bored and move on. How long do you think you will continue to blog, and how do you plan to keep your blog fresh and interesting? thanks! i've been trying some introspection, actually, and i've come to the conclusion that this blogging thing isn't done with me yet, nor i with it... blogging has been a very rewarding experience for me on so many levels. though i have experienced a degree of burnout lately, i think that's normal and "just a phase", and i think i've already grown out of it, though i can't promise it won't strike again in the future... i know i still have a lot to say, and i think i've developed something of a good voice to say it in; and from a pure documentary/journal standpoint, i've got miles to go before it's all over and done. unapologetic is both a record and an anodyne on my journey through this time of career indecision in the autumn of my twenties. maybe once i settle into whatever it is i'm going to do when i grow up, i won't need a blog anymore... maybe i'll have one forever. i don't know. i'm in this until it's done with me; i'm sure that will be self-evident when the time comes, if it ever does. until then, i'll keep at it, just being myself. that's worked pretty well so far. oh - and a few other things i will try to do in the near future to ensure freshness - put up my long almost-completed redesign of the site; port over to moveable type; and redesign much more frequently in the future. 2. What exactly are you unapologetic about? hmmm - three answers to this one: a) nothing, really. but if you were looking for a good name for your personal site and you found out that a word as commonplace and as replete with meaning as "unapologetic" was available, wouldn't you jump at the chance? b) actually quite a bit, though not necessarily for any good reason. i've actually got something of a reputation among my friends for apologizing too much on occassion (sometimes for things that aren't even my fault), which made the name rather ironically appropriate. c) everything i say here: as with any blog, this is my space to say what i want. 3. If you were a candy bar, what kind of candy bar would you be? i can't tell you the last time i ate a candy bar. snickers? no. i think i'd be a a carrotcake clif bar - even if it's not really a candy bar, it's as close as i usually get. 4. The New Orleans, LA Bloggers seems like a neat idea. I know Leia (alargehead.com) does the same thing with Dallas/Ft Worth bloggers. how is it working out? it's working out well beyond my expectations - we've got about thirty people on the list so far! hopefully, now that we've reached a decent size, we can get together some time for drinks and crawfish and whatever, though that's still in the works. i'm really looking forward to that - we seem to be a very diverse group of really interesting people. it's really exciting - i started the site (inspired by leia and others) to prove to the world what i already suspected - that despite whatever reputation new orleans may have as a technological backwater (a statement for which a case can certainly be made) we've still got our share of literate, articulate, technology-and-blog savvy individuals here, too. we're too cool of a city not to. 5. Why do you think there is such an interest in bloggers from local areas getting together? What does this interest say about bloggers in general (if a generalization can even be made)? hmmm. good question - i think it's all about meeting like-minded individuals, isn't it? we're all different sorts of people, but then we've all got this strange compulsion to tell our stories to the world and to each other... we've all got that in common. not to mention the basic human desire to put a face to the name, to maybe get to know in person these people who you already feel like you know... 6. You appear to be a big fan of the Friday 5, what about it piques your interest and drives your continued participation? i really do enjoy the friday five - it asks me questions every week i would never have asked myself. i think the variation and sometimes the sheer randomness of the questions leads to discussions of things that you might never have otherwise gotten around to blogging about. so it expands the scope of what we reveal to one another - and because other people answer the same questions, it puts us on an even playing field, so to speak - it's much more interesting to read other people's answers because you've had to answer the same questions yourself, so you really get an idea of who people are from how they answer, what they talk about and what they hide... also, i'd be disingenous not to mention it's automatic content, which is nice when content is scarce - those weeks (or months) when you're in a blogging funk and things are slow and you're not posting, it gives you something to say, something substantial to ask yourself and write about, an opportunity to prove you're still around. 7. I noticed you read my wife's blog (www.zannie.com), what about her blog interests you? In general what makes a blog interesting to you, and want to continue reading it? i started reading zannie.com because i was her blogger secret santa, and i naturally wanted to know what to get her from her amazon wishlist. i think i settled on a book called "spilling open : the art of becoming yourself" which seemed really beautiful. i'm glad she liked it. i kept reading zannie.com (and allan.org, occasionally) because 1) pregnancy seems like such an odd thing to experience to me now (though i'm sure i'll be watching from your vantage point, someday) - and zannie gives a thoughtful, well-written window into it; and 2) it's inspiring to see the strength and joy that's apparent even in her most tired and morning-sick of posts. what makes a weblog interesting in general? one or all of the following: humor, honesty, down-to-earthness, genuine emotion, talented writing and talented design. the more of those, the more likely i am to keep coming back. 8. You mentioned you are interested in doing graphic design work professionally, and you do it freelance now, are you interested in print, web, or video graphic design work? print and web design; that's where all my experience is. i don't know much about video, though i'd love to try my hand at it some day. 9. Have you offered to do the graphic design for calling cards offered by homefone? i actually did quite a bit of design for homefone, but it was mostly outdoor signage & logo work. 10. Working for CLECs is very tough in this environment, especially as many of them have flamed out spectacularly. Do you worry about job security? ah. i do keep certain things ambiguous, don't i? actually, i left homefone at the end of last summer, of my own accord - i had done what i came there to do, and learned quite a bit from the experience (including the fact that my financial stake in the venture was substantially less than i had been lead to believe it would be.) i took some time off to study for the bar, and then for just over a month, i was able to do freelance design work full time, which was wonderful. then came september 11, and thereafter one of my main clients lost financing for the project i was working on, and the other scaled back their advertising budget drastically, eliminating almost all of my work. so since then, i've been working in the family law office days and doing what freelance work i can get on the side, and looking for a full time design position... homefone, in the meantime, has continued to grow at an amazing rate, and is doing quite well. i'm still peripherally involved on a 'consultant' basis or something... CLECs do tend to crash and burn, but you find that more in the facilities based and broadband areas - homefone is a pre-paid local reseller, with a real grassroots marketing network (convenience stores and small neighborhood groceries) and the market is stronger than we ever imagined in the planning stages. not a bad business. 11. One thing that sucks about living on the east coast, is that you cannot find a good Jambalaya to save your life, do you have a favorite Jambalaya recipe? mais, with a name like boudreaux, i dam sure do, cher. try this: 2 lb peeled raw shrimp 2 cups raw rice 1 lb Andouille (cajun) sausage 1/2 lb. cooked chicken, diced 1/2 lb. boiled or baked ham, diced 1/2 stick butter 4 tbsp flour 2 cans chicken or beef broth 4 cloves garlic, minced 3 medium white onions, finely chopped 8 green onions (scallions) chopped 4 creole tomatoes, peeled & chopped (a 16 oz can will do) 1 green pepper, chopped 1 bay leaf 1/2 tsp thyme 1/8 tsp each cumin, cloves, allspice cayenne pepper, salt and ground black peppercorns to taste melt the butter in a thick pot - cook the sausage & ham until browned, and stir in the flour slowly to make a light roux. add the onions, scallions, garlic and green peppers, and cook until onions are transparent. stir in the tomatoes, with their juice, and then add the bay leaf and spices. next add the broth, and stir it all around. add the shrimp, sausage, chicken, and rice. the liquid should just cover the mixture, add more broth if necessary. wait for it to boil, then put the heat on low, cover and simmer until the rice is done. it should be damp, but not liquidy or soupy. that's it. since i don't eat meat or poultry, i'd replace the chicken and sausage with a good solid textured fish like redfish (drum), and the broth with vegetable broth. good eatin'! Sunday, April 07, 2002
i hate springing forward... Friday, April 05, 2002
it's time for this week's friday five: 1. what are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? hit the snooze button at least 3 times. 2. what are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? fall asleep somewhere else in the house - at my computer, on the sofa, on the floor somewhere, reading. 3. what daily routine have you recently added to your day? daily routine? what? 4. what routine do you wish you get rid of? it would be nice not to have to wake up every morning, day after day. 5. what's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? hmmm. getting to hang out with amy at some point. Thursday, April 04, 2002
move over, john walker lindh. now there's esam hamdi, born in baton rouge, louisiana: i think we should call him "the coonass taliban".
so i went to florida last week, right? indian rocks beach, which is outside of clearwater, which is outside of tampa. i never really said much about the trip, but it was great. met amy's parents, who were very nice and bought us lots of crab dinners and key lime pie. and we went to the dali museum in st. petersburg. and i played on the beach and jumped on a trampoline with amy's niece rachel (who's 5) and nephew eli (who's 4), who are just the cutest. i didn't get a sunburn until the afternoon of the last day i was there. and then eli threw up on me. a week later, the sunburn is peeling, and i still need a rest.
back in town again after a whirlwind jaunt to atlanta... you've gotta love it when your local alma mater makes the front page of the onion. Tuesday, April 02, 2002
whady'a know? of all the unexpected things in the world, i'm suddenly in atlanta after a spur of the moment flight, wishing my sister happy birthday on her 21st! too cool. and this is a damn neat city from what i've seen tonight. crazy. back in nola tomorrow nite. later! Monday, April 01, 2002
so much going on, so much to catch up on... death had a high profile week this last - the queen mum, milton berle, dudley moore, billy wilder. (coincidentally, i watched wilder's some like it hot for the first time this week. actually it was a good week for movie watching too... i finally saw LOTR with amy while i was in florida; caught two cary grant movies i hadn't seen - "a touch of mink" and "north by northwest"; watched "blood simple", the first coen brothers movie; and sat through the embarrasingly idiotic "rat race" the most interesting thing about which is watching rowan atkinson do a pathetically bad roberto benigni impression for the entire movie. things seem to have been a bit slow lately in the world of blogs - i've felt pretty disconnected and been awfully lax in posting myself, but it looks like i've not been alone. i don't seem to have missed too much these last couple of weeks, at least. recent posts have reminded me of just what a privelige it is to read what people like melly and charles have to say on any given day.
it's april fools day, and things on the web are topsy-turvy. metafilter has gone all kuro5hin. how cute. update: by far the best and scariest almost-had-me-for-a-second-there april fools' joke out there today is pitchfork. glowing, corporate reviews of kylie minogue and jars of clay. hehehe. being the strict lapsed catholic that i am, i generally make it a point to go to church at least (and at most) twice during the year - christmas and easter - if only to convince myself that i'm not a completely reprehensible indifferent agnostic heathen. well, easter 2002 ended about twenty minutes ago, and i didn't see the inside of a church all day. shucks darn. on the bright side, a quick glance at the news these days proves pretty clearly that the church of rome, as with all organized religions, is home to many a more malignant motherfucker than I.
it's not unusual for me to stop at pj's on a sunday evening for an iced mocha skim and a glance at the new week's gambit - but tonight's was made remarkable by the fact that i happened to (finally) run into two of my favorite new orleans bloggers, james and kaytie! both of whom are twice as great in person as they are online, which is saying a lot. we had a nice talk about mutual friends and came up with a rough plan for the first nolablogger social, which should be happening within a couple of weeks. (more on that as it develops...) i happened to have been out taking pictures earlier, and had my camera with me, so i took a few shots to commemorate the occasion - james looking positively literary and kaytie looking quite... cosmopolitan. (and cuter than deborah winger in urban cowboy.) see for yourself:
    |