Snow

....Some pictures from Sunday and Monday's record snow in Portland. It's been snowing off and on for over a week now... k

I've become an obnoxious "liberal" or something

It's a flurry of smearing activity! I was gonna email you both this, but in the off chance that anyone else reads this blog, i thought i would spread the wealth. Visit this website now! Leaving in Baltisplat, this is relatively useless to me, but it would probably help people in real cities out. I had a break down in the fall and stopped eating any non-organic, unstustanably farmed meat. And i've cut just about every good fish out of my diet. My life now sucks as I really do not like pizza or pasta in any form and i live in balitimore. I basically just eat Mexican food. But that's fine, i'm now spending my energies trying to make everyone else miserable with me. You two are already vegetarians, but the websites are still pretty helpful and good to pass on to anyone who might care. j

snowy morning

...this is the third snow since Sunday, and it rarely snows in Portland. Not enough for snowshoeing in town yet, but enough to keep me off two wheels, so walk it is.

Yahoo is Scary

Breaking up is hard to do. I’ve had a yahoo email address since the 90s. At this point it functions as a relay so I rarely actually have to check it. I keep it despite a long held view that Yahoo is growing increasingly, laughably irrelevant- well, to me at least. And I can be quite prickly. I find the Yahoo homepage more saccharine train wreck than informative. It's pop, safe, dumb and irritating. Actually going to yahoo.com is cringe inducing, but then again, I do learn a lot: what kind of shoe are you?, Dude-approved holiday presents… something with 'booty' .... Help.


Yahoo being huge, lord knows why, gives it a type of search engine juice. Lately Yahoo Answers has come up in my searches. It is invariably unrelated to what I was actually searching for, I love that. The uninformed and undecided apparently flock to YA. Haven’t had the pleasure of Yahoo Answers- take a gander.






C'mon people. k

seasonal

Obviously, we are all hesitant to post anything and thus bump down that rad picture of A with B from the top. Maybe we should work it into a masthead logo?
Here's a little picture from xmas past to get us all into the spirit of not buying gifts this season. Of course, it's really just me that needs to be reminded that it's December. There was a high of 72 today here. I wonder if I will ever get used to the seasons in LA. There are seasons, actually, despite what people might tell you. It's just that there's only two of them.

Please note the handwritten label on the bottle above, indicating that its contents are not, in fact, Absolut Vodka, but rather some homemade liquor of Ylva's father's making. Skål!

*L

I wonder if Bill even knows

I'm not sure if y'all will find this as HI-larious as me, but I laughed for probably 10 minutes straight and can't stop laughing now as I write this. I assure you and promise with all my heart that this photo is real and un-photoshopped. Its from years ago, but A. just decided to unearth it now. See below for how normal people pose with a former U.S. president and for more evidence of how A is NOT normal. These photos might explain in full just why i love my boyfriend. j

Black Friday Indeed for Walmart

Oh what the hell is wrong with people. An employee at a Valley Stream, NY Walmart died after being trampled by really anxious shoppers. According to the NYT, shoppers broke doors off their hinges around 4:55am and things got ugly and dangerous.

From NYT: At 3:30 a.m., store employees called the Nassau police to report that the crowd was growing quickly, the police said. Officers came by to try to organize the line, but were called away to a Circuit City, a Best Buy and a B.J.’s Wholesale Club nearby, to deal with crowds there. .

A young man is dead. Jesus people, it's just shopping. *k



Photo Fox News




Photo just before stampede from NYPost.com

Before and After

I created my avatar (above), and then made her over. My hair is back to blonde now. Time well spent! k

I gotta hot waist, but the hips are too big.

This is what asa brings to my life. A Something to get in the way of my usually productive work day. Seriously, if it weren't for him i would slave, slave, slave away; probably finishing my PhD in 3 years instead of 5. Instead of slaving, i've made a simpsons avatar of myself. Now you too can be part of the fun. I'd like to point out that there was a time when my hair was actually this color AND i had blue lipstick. And if you had seen me after the hampden haircutter from hell gave me a mullet, this haircut would've been true to life too. Art imitates life? www.simpsonsmovie.com j

life in the fire zone

Los Angeles is currently surrounded by flames.  Fires in multiple directions, covering the city with an odd yellow glow that's pretty until you step outside and try to breathe in it.  Mike Davis has some fascinating and controversial things to say about LA's unique position of having "the longest wild edge, abruptly juxtaposing tract houses and wildlife habitat, of any major nontropical city."  This means not only that I pass the occasional coyote on my street at night, but also that the edges of the city run right into fire zones.  Zones where destructive fires are guaranteed at least every couple of years. 

Davis' position is clear: A chapter in his book Ecology of Fear is titled "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn."  And I tend to agree.  It's one thing to live in a state where there will be earthquakes once in a while, it's quite another to build multi-million dollar houses in a known fire zone (which is a bit narrower than a whole state, and thus more easily avoided) because greedy real-estate developers had building restrictions loosened for their own gain.  This shit is crazy!  Davis calls for controlled fires in these regions, which have been proven effective at preventing the spread of wild fires, but rich folk don't want those fires in their backyards.  I guess they'd rather wait for the big ones. Why should they even have a say, when other people's insurance premiums are raised to help them rebuild in these same fire zones?

The photo above has not been altered in any way (naturally, since I can barely use Photoshop), but cameras have limitations.  The colors were actually reversed:  The sky was whitish, and the sun was red like raspberry Jell-O.

*L

Fuck the auto industry

You all know how super pumped I was and am about this election and a future president Obama. And there are bound to be disagreements and disappointments over the years. But unless Obama decides to increase farm subsidies, NOTHING could be more disappointing to me than his support of an auto industry "rescue package." Indeed, I'm quite pissed. I've written every senator and congressman I can think of, as well as Obama himself. I'm sure it won't matter.

The American auto industry has been making sub-par cars for years, while at the same time actively working to lower environmental standards and block research into alternative forms of auto energy. Let them fail: they are not failing b/c of the bad economy, but because of their poor products and bad business model.

Instead, why can't congress be creative and put together a package for pension support, unemployment and job retraining for the workers in this shit industry. Giving the American auto groups a bail out will only temporarily stave off the massive loss of jobs that will occur someday when there are no bailouts left. Argh! j

by Callie Shell for TIME

I'm so proud

Meet Maria. She's asa's friend and awesome and crazy b/c she just ran the entire NYC marathon in under 4 hours but superb b/c she ran for obama. This photo is from the NY times! I find it all very inspiring.
J

home

I've been home sick since I got back from nyc (urgh!). I'm now into taking pictures of door knobs. Either my mind is expanding á la Proust and I'm seeing the mundane with "new eyes," or cabin fever is setting in.

*L

Victory is Mine!

Dork alert. I love Scrabble. Most games actually. I went first and had a double word score, so an instant unearned double. I think this was my highest score ever- 291.

* The board above is a small, zipout travel board smaller in scale than a regular board.


k

i'm feelin sleepy

*L

Hey Sarah Palin

...oh, it's Canada for me..and not one caribou barbie reference. : k

from VengaProductions

the ugliest thing you've ever seen, or the most beautiful?

I repeat, someone has memorialized their family member with a gravestone featuring a cell phone and a Mercedes. And a unibrow.

Photo courtesy of the NY Review of Books.
*L

sweet ride

I saw this on a breakfast walk this morning. Just stash the key in your diaper, easy peasy! ... k

RIP Don LaFontaine

Oh yeah, I realize that it's pretty lameo of me to post a commercial, but I thought this was a funny use of his wonderful talents. Don LaFontaine died on Sept. 1. Now go get insured.. K

more pet pics....

In happier times, Forrest looking good, if not a wee gummy, in the park. Smile on little doggie. *K

help

My post-cultural-studies mind can't even handle what I got in the mail from Sarah. Plush Wiener Schnitzel and french fries of felt. Simulacrum of food have fascinated me for a while, from the immediate post-undergrad days when I bought Julie a fake doughnut "sculpture" that she kept on her desk and which confounded her co-workers for months at a time. But this confounds me. What should I do with it? Leave it on the dining room table for a while? As a non-meat-eater, it has a particularly strong something for me. One would never confuse this with real food, but somehow it feels like it's veering into the territory of the Unheimlich, in being a useless, permanent representation of something fundamentally useful and impermanent. And I do love french fries. *L

p.s. It was made in Germany, not America, so take that, Eco & Baudrillard.

she's got bette davis eyes

the newbie gets settled in, adding her own film-noir vibe to the coffee table. *L

Blue Lake to Distract Me

I was inclined to post a mournful tome about the tragedy of 9/7/2008 expressing my feelings of shock, dismay, forlornness and waining hope. But the pain is too sharp, the disappointment too fresh. And really, what use is it? I mean, that's fine if the god of the one sport i love and care about and look forward to all farking year as a bringer of the sweet cool winds of fall and winter and all that's cozy in the world wants to kick me in the ribs and gouge out my eyes in some oedipal retribution for i don't know what. Seriously. That's just fine. So instead:

A and I went to blue lake, CA to visit my long held friend, eeeeee, who lives there in all of northern california's splendor. It was farking beautiful. My second encounter with a black sand beach. And at least 10 degrees cooler than my dual home cities. I actually wore a cashmere sweater! I long to post the photo of a's butt that i took as he went for an impromptu swim in a river. But i won't. Instead, enjoy the others. Especially the one of my feet. Ain't they purdy? J

Plastic Litter

A pic of my haul from LNPB Plastic Fess up. Folks brought plastic litter (likely collected en route to park) to a park to rinse, wash and document. Lots of water bottles, hot sauce packets from Popeye's, pen cap (chewed), Snapple, an empty dime bag, drinking cups and no litter collection is complete without something from Starbucks, - paper cup, plastic lid with cardboard holder. *k

p.s. do I need to say that there was a plastic bottle with not apple juice; and some lucky lady found teeth.

exit only

I love the idea of tiny houses and their minimalist footprints (carbon and otherwise), etc... But where would I put all of my thrift-store finds? I'm personally not ready for the extremity of the little guy above, but he's headed in my direction... Fletcher is my exit.

*L

Photo from NY Times.

uh...

It's hard to tally Yahtzee scores after a few. I'm clearly still focused on the beers, though.
Prague, 2001?

(K, you're next.)
*L

Indeed.

I loved this graphic on our Insinkerator (nice name, eh?) from the moment I saw it. *k

And J, no worries- we'll be composting. Can't decide on worms or a small self contained unit. I'll likely make something in the next couple of weeks. I don't plan on insinkerating too much, valuing appendages and all.....

We got out when it was a measly 40K

Eins. NYU and Columbia both broke the $50,000 threshold for tuition and boarding for the 2008-2009 academic year. I heard this on npr while doing damn endless new house errands. (note: don't ever move- promise) The 5-0 figure just startled me, not like I could afford it while I was there or anything. Stern is even scarier. hold me. *k

Personal Touch

...part of a canned response to my resume received today.

Thank you for contacting Boly:Welch Recruiting! We appreciate your interest in { job title or type of work} ....

saturday abstract

Experimenting with the new camera, trying to get it to see how I want it to see. Not entirely successful yet, but getting closer. *l

analog vs. digital

I got a digital camera for my birthday (my first & only)... and I also got a scanner, with which I've digitized a number of my old film prints.  Funny how the memories I associate with these film prints seem sharper now that I've digitized them.  I think it's due pretty much to seeing them in a newer forum (my flickr site) and the contrast that creates.  But still, it's made wonder about images & memory in general.  And should I print out my digital photos now?  I never really considered it. *L 

Hello?

I took this in June 2006 Staten Island ferry terminal while showing country maus around town. * k

Perils! Monstrous Perils of Going Green!

This is your town, k. Best make sure this kind of rage doesn't translate to scooter riding.

Thanks to the Economist, I finally have a tiny bit of faith in the innocent bystander. I support more vigilante justice.:

"Bicycle-boosters are thrilled with the sudden popularity of their humble machine. “Ridership is just skyrocketing,” says Elizabeth Preston of the League of American Bicyclists, a Washington, DC, advocacy group (even cyclists have lobbyists these days). Performance Bicycles, a retailer with shops in 15 states, says bicycle sales in June were the highest ever recorded.
But cycling’s popularity has a downside. The people of Portland, for instance, have been entertained over the past few days by a series of altercations between bicyclists and motorists. In one, a motorist and cyclist came to blows after the motorist berated the pedal-pusher for ignoring a stop sign. The enraged cyclist used his bike to batter the motorist’s car until a bystander punched him."

j

Frank Lloyd Wright Gas Station

I was in Cloquet, MN and took these pictures the day before the 50th anniversary of the Lindholm service station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.





The station is still operable and can accommodate four cars in the garage area for repairs under natural skylights. :: k

Spain Sticking to Candid Photos...

The Spanish men's and women's basketball teams posed pre-Olympics in a mock eastern eye fashion. The photos include the Gasol twins both of whom play for the NBA. Hello?
Certainly not the most sensitive or smartest thing the players have done. An International Olympic Committee spokeswoman stated via email: “We understand that the Spanish team intended no offense and has apologized. The matter rests there as far as the I.O.C. is concerned.”

Perhaps the players picked up a thing or two from Spanish sports fans.


Because as we all know image is very important. :: k

popularity contest

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

After that odd John McCain-sponsored ad that showed how awesome Obama is and how people all over the world love him, I saw this. Now, either LA is getting to me, or this is actually pretty funny. You be the judge.
*L

Meet Dale

This is the first black bear we met here in Ely. Dale is about one year old and likes to eat and eat, he's all glossy fur and tongue.

Spring Arrives Late in Portland

This is how the management of my soon to be former apartment building facilitates spring cleaning. Last week of July they put signs on all of the doors asking folks to move their sweet rides for a little spring cleaning . It's good to be on top of things. I am sure gonna miss that place. *k