No Words Are Really Necessary...

You know what to do.

I Miss Bill II

My future's so bleak, I gotta wear shades. I'm cryin' Bill. Anyhow here are also some pictures of the main body of the exhibits. Mostly, aside from the "immersive-lite" exhibits described in the previous post, visitors are confronted with these big, imposing, listing walls, 8 of 'em, one for each year, 1993 - 2001. Each has WAY TOO MUCH copy to read, lots of photos, nicely produced a/v summaries of the year's events, and a bookcase full of binders of the President's schedule/agenda for EVERY SINGLE DAY (weekends too...never found any entries marked Monica, however)! It was fun for me to learn that on my 35th birthday, Clinton--aka 42--and entourage were in Florida visiting the Toy Store of someone who was once on Welfare, as part of his Welfare Reform intiatives. 1/10th of 42's papers were in open storage surrounding everything (all the blue boxes visible in one of the photos above), attesting I suppose to the gargantuan amount of paper that self-importance can generate. In between the open storage towers are theme nooks, on the long sides--in the naves of the church--on topics celebrating 42's success, such as the First Lady's Work, or Progress on Protecting the Environment, or Huge Achievements in Crime Reduction or Stellar Progress on the Economy, or Huge Programs and Initiatives for People who want to Help Themselves...this is a list of exhibits that will not be possible in 43's exhibit. Who will do that? And what will it contain?

I Miss Bill

Do you feel my pain? The exhibition was overly cool (as in not warm), slick, modern, and pretty much immersion-free (a made-up term that connotes an exhibit that surrounds visitors in a multi-sensory recreation that takes them to the space of the story. Think actually going to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld, feeling the bats fly by, watching the ghosts appear, feeling the goosebumps on your back, rather than reading about it in a book). There were some of what I would call "immersive-lite" spaces: a replica of the Cabinet room, complete with touchscreens built into a giant conference table, one long wall blown away to reveal a huge projected media show/collage. And of course, the obligatory Oval Office replica was there, just like everywhere else. Would be nice to have one that visitors can actually interact with someday. Actually sit in the Prez chair, have to make some hairy decisions, face up to Newt Gingrich...I could think of some fun ideas that Ralph Appelbaum & Associates did not. I don't know why Presidential Centers have to be so goddamned reverential that they skip the idea of iteractives that could actually allow visitors to step into Bill's shoes and be him for a bit. That would be fun, and eye opening (no, not zipper opening). The exhibit was beautiful though. The building itself is a gem, and not the "flying trailer" that I'd heard it described as. Arkansas is so swampy, humid, and bug infested in the summers though, I hope they have a big budget to maintain the building. The entire is skin is nearly 100% glass. It is very open, and bridge-like, apparently an homage to a Bill quote: "Let us build a bridge to the twenty-first century together."

Tricia & Scott's Wedding

Last weekend I was in Atlanta for Tricia and Scott's wedding. It was wonderbar--swanky, but not overdone. Their ceremony was in a big church, and the reception was at this historic house in downtown Decatur, called the Mary Gay House. It was a blast! I'm really happy for them and that they have officially tied the knot. I forgot my camera, so the picture above is a generic photo from the web of the MGH. Got to see alot of our friends who've also moved away and that we don't see that often...geez i'm really missing everybody. And we found out that Larisa--our friend who is on her second career and in cooking school--is going to go to Switzerland for the summer to do pastries and other yummy stuff in a school/hotel. And her hearthrob Carlos is quitting his job and riding his bike across the continent, to Portland Oregon. I'm so excited for everyone moving on and beyond and into new worlds. An aquaintance of Tricia's even offered me an exhibit project for his company in Atlanta...which I refused now that i have no time for my freelance career. All in all, a very good weekend.

Travels in Ohio, Part II

Ok, I know I know, I never wrote part I, I think I lost the pictures somehow. Maybe I loaded them on my computer at work? Here's a picture of Mister (with Rooster hair), in my new primitive kitchen in Ohio instead. Anyhow, three weekends ago, I went to Gloucester, Logan, New Lexington, and Lancaster, all NE of here. Today, i'm going to the SW, to see Jackson, Chillicothe, Pomeroy, South Point, and maybe Huntington WV. Got PB&J packed and an orange and some water. Later!

A Big Bowl of Bad

Well, I'm not a big Letterman fan or anything, but click on the title of this post for something really great about our commander-in-chief (sortof). Cheney is just a big bowl of bad...how alliterative. Could any of us have predicted that war crimes committed by our leaders would simply be fodder for late-night talk show hosts, nothing more? Tens of thousands dead in Iraq for an illegitimate, illegal war...wait, don't litigate or impeach, just Dial up Damn David's Demented Dialog (my alliteration is better than yours, Dave) writers! No need to worry about this, just have a laugh! Can't wait to hear more about this Dubai deal and guarding our ports...what the hell is going on?

Oh My Hollywood God!

Those of you who know me know that i have a bit of a Doris Day fetish. I never ever ever EVER thought i'd ever be able to see these TV specials ever ever again. This has come out on DVD today, and I just can hardly stand it. I'm ready to go camp out at Amazon or something. Mister, someone HAS GOT TO CARRY ON THE LEGACY (that's my best bro boy)...please please please order this for me!? There are also 2 DVDs of the Doris Day show...

Love this!

I know, I know, it's not funny. But I'm LMAO!

Little Rock, Big Rain

Did I mention how much i love this new MacBook. The good ole bluetooth pics up on wifi hotspots, wherever they may exist (have I exposed myself? I don't know what i'm talking about).

It has been raining all day yesterday and today in LR, but I think maybe it has stopped. Of course, i'm unprepared, no raincoat...but at least i remembered to bring a hat. And also, it hasn't been a steady downpour. But i've been worried about getting my new baby wet in the bag on my back. Seems fine so far. I have this cool tiny scanner from the office that I'll use all day tomorrow, pretending that I know how to conduct research.

Melanie and I found a great old intown neighborhood with some life, called Hillcrest (doesn't that sound like an old phone number exchange from before our time? Gladys, connect me with HIllcrest 6 500 right away please). I finally had a good meal here, at a little place called Vieux Carre. This hotel is nice, but i can't eat breakfast here anymore..today the scrambled eggs were not only cold, but it seemed like they had been on ice or something they were so cold. I ran on the treadmill in the gym here for about 45 minutes before dinner, and the whole time it seemed like it might meltdown. Clanging around and wobbling a little...I guess this place is a little run down, but I much prefer that to too new. With a hotel, that can be a bad thing. And it does have wifi allowing me to spew my beam all around.

Steven has had some good news from IBM (several times over from a few different divisions...even one that is based in Canada!), and if all works out with that, we'll be able to live anywhere, as he will be able to work from home and travel a bit. Well, we can live anywhere that we can get DSL, which means we'll be able to settle in Athens. I'm very happy about that; it's a cool place and I'd love to not be in the middle of nowhere between Athens and Columbus (which seemed it might be the case if he found a job in Columbus he'd have to commute to everyday).

Still don't have an offer that 's a go on the house, but we've had 2 contingency offers for full price that we passed on. Well, we've had a bunch of people come through there, many more than once, so hopefully something will happen soon. More to come. Gotta snooze. Ciao.

In case you don't already think the Republicans operate like Tony Soprano...

Before I started this blog, and before the '04 election I was freaked out and rabid about making sure Bush was consigned to the dustbin of one-termer history. I called lots of voters in Brevard Co., FL for MoveOn, went to a bunch Atlanta Democratic "Meetups" (waste of time), loved Howard Dean's anti war ass and sent him lots of money, spent election day working for ElectionProtection (what a joke), and gave lots of our hard earned cash to just about every progressive organization and candidate. Well, it didn't turn out the way I wanted. Bush still "won." But he "won" with all kinds of questionable--seriously questionable, like 10 times more people voting in certain districts than there is total population--voter returns all over the place. Only noone, it seems, cares to question. Well, like everyone else, now I just want to get to this years midterm, and the election in '08.

But, my friends, if Republicans seriously stole the last election by having goons--I mean serious goons of the Tony Soprano variety-- with laptops tamper with vote tallys, nothing is going to stop them, unless they are busted. Maybe not even that, given that their "team" will support them till the death, even if they are guilty of bloody murder.

Here is a quote from this months Harpers Magazine, the reason that I feel compelled to not write my usual garden-variety post fetishizing the house Steven and I are trying to unload or this lovely, lovely new laptop. I love the Harpers index, and long ago used to wait for it to come out every month, for a while there, discussing some of the more salient points with my friend Dawn. Geez Dawn, we never realized that those were the GOOD times, politically speaking, did we? And sometimes not so salient points could also be like elephants in the room. Anyhow, I'm seriously digressing, but I want to get these 2 entries from this month's index down...especially since I was trying to remember and tell my Mom and BC about it the other day, and didn't exactly get it right:

"Margin by which total votes for Democrats in the last three Senate elections exceeded those for Republicans: 2,900,000"

"Number of seats won by Democrats and Republicans, respectively: 46, 56"

Hmmmm...what is wrong with that picture?

Now I'll come to my point (finally). The Sopranos [insert Republicans] are not only tampering with votes in a Presidential election in Ohio and Florida. They have systematically gotten Party loyalists in local election board offices and state-level secretaries of state overseeing same (remember Katherine Harris?) who will do the bidding of higher ups, even if it is criminal. They don't question, they do what they are told. They have systematically gerrymandered just about every district in the country to minimize the impact of Democratic support, and overinflate flagging support for Republicans (Tom Delay has butchered Texas districts, and in my home state of Georgia, you should see some of the shapes of our new "districts.").

All of this is done to fix the system, insure that Republicans keep "winning," whether Democrats get substantially more votes or not. And all the while, there is not a single mainstream (with an audience) investigative journalist working on this scoop.

Folks, if we can't have fair elections in this country, not a single other issue matters. If our democracy is lost, and no one even knows it, we're in big trouble. These people don't care a bit about democracy, due process, or good will...vox populi be damned. I really think, after they successfully bury scandal after scandal after scandal that these people are truly criminal, pathological, and a cancer on us all.

Here's another quote from this month's Harpers:

"They say if you want to cook a frog, you don't just throw him in a pot of boiling water....If you do that, he's liable to jump out. No...to cook a frog, you put him in water and you turn the heat up slowly. By the time the frog figures out he's in trouble, it's too late to jump; he's already cooked."

The Republicans have cooked us all, it's too late to jump.

It is time for EVERY vote to count as much as the next, it is time to do away with ridiculously shaped districts and the electoral college, and most of all, it is time to make sure that our election system, whatever it is and however it runs--because that will and should always change with technology--cannot be hijacked by any political party. And while we are at it, it is definitely time to solve the corrupting influence money has on our political process...however lofty and idealistic that may be.

Click on the title of this post to surf to Harper's Index. This is last month's index, not the one i'm referencing...it seems there is a month delay, I suppose to punish slackers who don't pay for a subscription?

Nerd, with a capital N

My new MacBook Pro arrived this morning just in time for me to take it to Little Rock for the rest of the week. I'm just beside myself. I powered it up and went through all the registration crap while I ate lunch; now i'm off to the airport, more later!

The New World

Walked to the movies last night in the snow to see this. I really liked how verite it was. I've never even heard of the director: Terence Malick. It almost seemed like a documentary at points, it seemed so refreshingly free of Hollywood melodramatic bullshit. Especially in the scenes with natives ("naturals"as Captain Christopher Newport called them) seemed real and accurate. And the whole thing took me back repeatedly to the story of an exhibit project I worked on for 5 years: Carolina on the Horizon: Charles Towne Landing, about the first 10 years of the settlement of Charleston, SC, in 1670. I went into the film wondering if it would cover stuff I learned from that project, such as how "naturals" were captured by settlers, and shipped away to Barbados, the Indies, or whatever locale needed more slaves. We tend to think of kidnapping and slavery as something only Africans were made to take, but thousands of Native Americans were forcibly exported from here, before the ones who remained were pushed out. Anyhow, this is a powerful film, and I wish Malick would make 10 more increments, taking us all the way up to Andrew Jackson and the removal, and beyond.

Movin' Slow

Ok y'all, i joined a gym so I won't continue to morph into Orson Welles (circa '76...think "we will sell no wine, until its time....") throughout the cold Ohio winters. And tonight was my "assessment" with a personal trainer. Personally, trainer, I thought you were a bit too stuffed animals and sunshine...I was hoping for more of a Joe Piscopo type to kick my ass and tell me I'm fat. All my bloodwork was good except my cholesterol is a bit high at 200, and my Triglycerides are off the chart at 223 (should be below 160). Too many shake milks and microwave popcorn, I bet, mister.

Well, I am at my ATF...that's All Time Fat, urban lingo courtesy S.F. Thomas (thanks for your way with the words, Scott), so this is a good thing. It's a very nice gym at Ohio University, and, provided I can make myself do it on a regular basis, a nice walk from home. Liz was there, and I think I worked hard trying to not seem so out of shape. So now, I feel like I'm about to fall on the floor. Hope I'll be able to make it to work tomorrow. Liz is certainly a little gym bunnie, working out with the freeweights with all the burly Joe Piscopos...me, I just did a little cardio start and now feel like i need to crawl into a corner and die for a bit.

A new coworker dates this MODEL

Ok y'all, get this. Today I'm doing a VectorWorks training cd segment for like the 39th time on how to deal with the drawing plane (which i just can't seem to get, apparently), with my earbuds in, listening along to the narrator in the Quicktime movie segment. Through the drone of the Peanuts-class-teacher-cum-my-afterlunch-lullabuy, I overhear my new coworker, Liz, talking about her boyfriend. Well, somehow, I etched "kevinscott.com" into my hard drive, and remembered it when I got home, and just dialed up after dinner. He's a model. Click on the title of this post for a link to his website. He's been on the cover of Men's Health several times. Just don't know what to say on SO many levels. I like Liz alot, I think she must be early 20-something (she graduated in 2003). She has a lot of energy, and is a great graphic designer, and is just starting out in her career. She started one week after me, so we are both newbies and maybe we have bonded a bit cause of that. She has spent two years in the "evil" world (her words) of print advertising, and seems to be relieved and happy to be transitioning to the meaning-intensive world of exhibit graphics. She knows how to really keep things simple, yet rich...and she has some great, easy techniques she uses, just converting eps or bmp files to erasers to "rusticate" images. She's got a nice little bag of tricks that just applies splendidly to several projects in the office, that are all out in the West, in the desert...I really like her already, because she is not afraid to say "I don't know how to do that, show me!" and she is always volunteering tips to me, like how she goes about making those cool eraser templates in Photoshop. I hope everybody I work with is as forthcoming and energetic as Liz. The hours just melt away at work, everyday is like the blink of an eye...all this learning new 3D drawing software is a bear, and I hope I'll have it down well enough, soon enough, to actually be productive with it. Well, soon my new MBpro will be here (next week?), and i'll be able to bash my head in with Vectorworks and FormZ after dinner as well. Can't wait! Sorry for the rambling post. I know i'm all over the place....This just in: Steven may be coming up for an interview in a couple of days! Yippee! They wanted him to come Friday, but he needs to be in ATL to send JingXia off on Saturday on her big adventure to Boston, to visit her schoolteacher friend from the joyous old Cultural Revolution days in the homeland. Maybe Steven and I'll be able to travel back to the ATL together toward the end of next week, for Tricia and Scott's big hitch. Hope you all are having a lovely Wednesday evening. Be sure to say hello (translation::leave a comment!), I miss you all! For the technologically challenged out there (i'm talking to my MOM now), just click on the little "x comments" symbol at the bottom of the post, to the left of the envelope symbol (that's what you use if you want to forward a post to Mary Frances or Ellen or someone) there. :)

Presenting the New Philco Predicta NURBSey Workstation :: Operating System :: Picture Windows 1959

This is just about the grooviest piece of design-in-the-service-of-the-dustbin-of-industrial-design-history that I could find in my travels on the World Wide Web today. This extremely efficient workstation for the retro fetishist on the go go has actually been prototyped and produced by a company called OnomyLabs [ http://www.onomy.com/blue/predicta.html ] for the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley [ http://www.computerhistory.org/ ]. It comes with several accessories--in addition to the mouse, keyboard, and gaming joystick in the picture above--including a gold glitter and pink porcelain meeting-at-my-desk size retractable boomerang ashtray, an automatic hip slenderizing ergonomically incorrect task chair, and, finally, for the working gal who is high of hair, a built-in coif-atomizing 360 degree hair lacquer refresher (activated by a quick flick of the ctrl+h ...h stands for hair! silly!) at the top of the screen. Order one at your neighborhood Western Auto today.

Add this to your Political Table of the Ailments

The Heaviest Element

A major research institution has just announced the discovery
of the heaviest and most hazardous element yet known to science.

The new element has been named "Bushcronium."

Bushcronium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy
neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an Atomic
mass of 311.

These 311 particles are held together by forces called morons,
which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles
called peons.

Since Bushcronium has no electrons, it is inert.

However, it can be detected, as it impedes every reaction with
which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Bushcronium causes one reaction to take over
4 days to complete when it would normally take less than a second.

Bushcronium has a normal half-life of multiples of 4 years; it
does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a
portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange
places.

In fact, Bushcronium's mass will actually increase over time, since
each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons,
forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to
believe that Bushcronium is formed whenever morons reach a certain
quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to
as "Critical Morass."

When catalyzed with money, Bushcronium activates Foxnewsium, an
element which radiates orders of magnitude, more energy, albeit
as incoherent noise, since it has 1/2 as many peons but twice as many
morons.

courtesy, again, my friend Amy at Turner

Free NewKewLar Missles for Every Child (Left Behind)!

Scott left this in his comment to "Cindy Shehan for President?" It's too good to not make sure you folk don't miss it! Click on the title of this post. I'm not sure, but i think this might be parody? Hmmm...full of lots of truths though, Mr. former Secretary of State Powell? Oh geez I just can't stop laughing.

Cindy Shehan for President?

I didn't even watch the SOTU address the other night, was too busy enjoying men being ballerinas. This is from my friend Amy at Turner in Atlanta. I think Cindy Shehan should start a new third party (to end all parties?) and declare her candidacy for the White House (or Congress, or something).

*********************************************************

What Really Happened.
Tuesday, January 31st, 2005
...a message from Cindy Sheehan

Dear Friends,

As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight.
I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.
There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened:
This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh. Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2,245 Dead. How many more?

After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns who is in Iraq Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media and everyone knew I was going to be there so I sucked it up and went.
I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again.

My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat.

I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled, "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like, "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.

The officer ran with me to the elevators yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, "That's Cindy Sheehan." At which point the officer who arrested me said, "Take these steps slowly." I said, "You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps." He said, "That's because you were protesting." Wow, I get hauled out of the People's House because I was, "Protesting."

I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things...I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately, and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."

After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, "2,245, huh? I just got back from there."

I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain.
What did Casey die for? What did the 2,244 other brave young Americans die for? What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's way for still? For this? I can't even wear a shirt that has the number of troops on it that George Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies are responsible for killing.

I wore the shirt to make a statement. The press knew I was going to be there and I thought every once in awhile they would show me and I would have the shirt on. I did not wear it to be disruptive, or I would have unzipped my jacket during George's speech. If I had any idea what happens to people who wear shirts that make the neocons uncomfortable...that I would be arrested...maybe I would have, but I didn't.

There have already been many wild stories out there.

I have some lawyers looking into filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the government for what happened tonight. I will file it. It is time to take our freedoms and our country back.

I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government. That's why I am going to take my freedoms and liberties back. That's why I am not going to let Bushco take anything else away from me...or you.

I am so appreciative of the couple of hundred protesters who came to the jail while I was locked up to show their support....we have so much potential for good...there is so much good in so many people.
Four hours and 2 jails after I was arrested, I was let out. Again, I am so upset and sore it is hard to think straight.

Keep up the struggle...I promise you I will too.

Love and peace soon,
Cindy

Our new web "commercial"

Miss Jackson's web army has made a fabu new "commercial" (his words) featuring our listing! How exciting. Now it damn well better work. Click on the title above to follow the link.

I can do this!

Well, in my dreams anyway. I don't know what sort of missing chromosome type I am to think, when I see artworks like this, to myself "that looks so easy, i'll do that later." Seriously, look at this: it's just watered-down paint, splashed on an otherwise unused BIG canvas, colors allowed to bleed together pleasingly. We'll do this, right Steven, as soon as we have a nice big room up here with a nice big blank wall, right? Right.

Another High Picture

This is, from left to right, our friend Dr. Li, Steven's mom, JingXia, me, and Steven, at the new High addition a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for the picture, Dr. Li!

I'm SOO in my Honeymoon...

with Hilferty, I mean. All those shirts from all those jobs, for all these years, Mister...that i've incessantly made fun of. Bellsouth, Brokat, Earthlink...all that faux-attire-cum-marketing that you've brought home and I scoffed at. Well, who knew i'd be getting my own little uniform here. I wore this last week during one of the two days of workshops with the clients in ArLaTex, proudly and without embarassment, I might add. Well, it helped that Gerry and Richard wore theirs also. We were like the helpful visitor experience men.

Ok, all kidding aside, I am so in awe of these people. I'd heard the company I previously worked with in Atlanta described as "the Clampett's of the exhibit industry," and I'm realizing what a huge leap i've made away from that. These people WOW clients with workshops, involve them in decisions in a meaningful way, funnel everything into delivering the highest quality possible, and are genuinely experts in the field. Everytime I turn around i discover that another coworker is a professor at OU or someplace, or was, or has a celebrity-local-PBS-station-show star wife, children living abroad and travelling the world...with a few notable exceptions, i just haven't previously had the opportunity to work with such accomplished, high-calibre folks. I knew this was going to be a dream job...why did I wait so long?

Last week at the Vision/Mission/Audience workshop we conducted with the new clients in SW Arkansas, while pretending not to be a newbie, I observed the large client group just start to lap up the stuff coming out of Gerry's, Richard's, and Melanie's mouths. Thankfully, I was able to bring myself to speak also, particularly when we got to the point of bubble diagramming a rough idea of visitor experience for the new museum. At the end of 2 days, we accomplished more in the way of defining the project than previous company could have done in 2 months. It made me realize that when it is actually time to design and develop, I won't be grasping for straws and feeling no support around me, but that it will all flow from a solid foundation. Geez what a good feeling.

Temporary Digs

For those of you waiting forever to see this stunning panorama, sorry it has taken me so long. Front and center is 4 Lorene, my temporary home here in SE Ohio...and hopefully very soon it will be Steven's too (and Trotsky's and Eydie Gorme's). Geez I miss you lots, Mister. Tricia and Karen, DON'T get excited about that fireplace...it is totally useless and plugged up. And that lovely awning over the front steps bangs me right in the bald spot if I bound up the steps. Second floor, i'm convinced, was built for midgets. I'm not that tall, but 3 ceiling-mounted light fixtures up here are well within head-banging range, the most convenient of which is in the bathroom, right at the sink where I shave and brush my teeth. There WILL be broken glass and blood involved some morning soon in the mad dash to get to work in time to not look like someone who has been a bit--underemployed, shall we say--for the past couple of years. Maybe I can yank it down and put wire nuts in there before tragedy befalls. And I have to duck to go through 3 of the 6 doorways. Who knew I'd be experiencing kitchen cabinet doors that don't close (because of 65 years of paint), shower curtains that cling to you like saran wrap while you bathe (never knew how nice those glass doors are), or a stove that has absolutely no ventilation (not even the fake kind that filters and recycles air)?? I really try to not be so high maintenance, but i miss my house in Atlanta. On the extremely positive side, town is a 15 minute walk away--a very nice 15 minute walk, past all the nicest houses in Athens. And in town, as I've told you all before, there is WAY more to do that in my little suburban, yet "intown," enclave of the ATL. Brand Atlanta: Opportunity, Openess, and Optimism...or..geez, i'm sorry, I am all over the place.

Keep on Trockin'

I went to see "Les Ballets Trockaderos de Monte Carlo" tonight at Ohio University with John, a new friend from work. It was really fun. A bunch of men pretending to be ballerinas, celebrating their mistakes. There's alot of cool stuff going on here in Athens. Check out their site: http://www.trockadero.org/
I've got alot of other posts to do, but now I have to sleep!