I am so easily amused...

Make your own mix tape image here.

Good news!

Austin's still weird.

Apparently there was a zombie rights march last weekend that was disrupted by some pirates.

Boing Boing posted about it today.

Here's the Flickr set... Their signs are great.

I was run over by a golf cart yesterday.

Seriously.

OK, somebody bumped into me. I was just minding my own business, walking down the sidewalk on campus, when all of a sudden something slams into my heels and the backs of my legs. I screamed or yelped or made some sort of dorky sound (and almost fell down) and realized that it was a golf cart.

I sat down on the ledge nearby and tried to figure out what just happened and if I was OK. The lady driving the cart said, "I'm sorry." Someone walking by stopped to see if I was OK. I was really mostly freaked out. After a minute I stood up and figured out that I was OK. The lady never got out of her golf cart. That's what gets me about the whole thing. She just sat there.

She said, "I was trying to avoid hitting some students walking on that side of the sidewalk."

I wanted to say, "Well, I'm glad you didn't hit any students!"

So I hobbled off. She didn't even offer me a ride. Not that I would have ridden in her golf cart of death.

It was very strange.

One of my feet is a little sore, but I don't think I need to call one of those personal injury lawyers who have those great commercials...

I've been super busy lately. Not at work so much (well, in little bursts of activity here and there). I taught my workshop on Saturday. Then on Sunday I helped out with my mom's bookkeeping and then worked a little bit at my studio.

I had to pack up some paintings to send to a gallery in Georgia. I shipped those out on Monday.

I had a parent/teacher conference on Monday afternoon. It went well - Sam's doing really well this year.

Sam had scouts that night and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and I walked around the neighborhood for about an hour. I was going to ride my bike but I had a flat tire. :-(

Some time after my walk, I realized that I needed to ship more paintings to a show in a gallery in Sacramento. For some reason, I thought they needed to be there next Wednesday but in fact they need to be there on Monday. Yikes.

So I hauled ass to my studio yesterday during lunch and grabbed the paintings, hanging hardware, and packing stuff.

I told Sam that I'd take him out on a "good report card dinner," like my dad always did for me. He said, "McDonald's!" I said, "Seriously? I'm offering you a dinner anywhere and you want to go to McDonald's?" So he changed his mind to Chuck E. Cheese. I know. But it's not as yucky as McDonald's.

So we went to Chuck E's last night. It wasn't so bad - not too crowded.

And when I got home I had to pack up my paintings. I was worn out.

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Check out this site: Karaoke Ice. It's a karaoke stage in an ice cream truck.

I'm a dork, so I think this is cool. The millionaire space tourist (from Plano!) is blogging from space.

It's a little early for Halloween, but here's a scary video for you.

Here's a news flash.

btw - 2 pounds - 9.5 total so far.

Seeing Jenna was fun. We went to I Heart Sushi (still hate that stupid name...) and then she made me go to Beth Marie's for Emily's Campfire Marshmallow. The sacrifices I make for my friends!

We walked around the square, enjoying the cooler weather (and hopefully walking off some of that ice cream), and then went to Recycled Books for a while.

The play was really funny. It's been pretty much the same every time I've seen it, but they update some things to reflect current pop culture references. We both enjoyed it.

Then we went to Wine Squared for a glass. Jenna didn't get tipsy this time, which is a good thing, since I didn't have my camera with me this time...

Gotta go weigh-in today (didn't lose any last week! what's up with that?) and then I'm teaching a workshop. Only 2 students this time, but they're people I don't know - not sure how they heard about me - maybe my postcards are working!

Tonight Jenna's making her triumphant return to Denton and we're going to see The Compleat Works of Williams Shakespeare (abridged) at the local community theatre. It's hilarious. I saw it for the first time in Dallas a few years ago. Then I saw it in London, performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, who created it. A couple of months later I saw it in Fort Worth. Each time was a little different but completely hilarious. I can't wait.

I was excited to see that great OK Go treadmill video on VH-1 this morning. One of the guys was on The Colbert Report recently and he said that one of their sisters* does their choreography. Here's another video with some great dancing.

*So John, if you want me to do some choreography for your band, let me know...

Here's another website that does scammer-baiting.

The fax machine story.

OK, it wasn't really Flava Flav...

Jenna and I bought the fax machine for the office back in December. We bought the cheapest one that Office Depot had (probably the first mistake). It worked fine up until Wednesday. In fact, it was probably the only electronic device in the office that I hadn't threatened to take out into a field and beat with a baseball bat.

But on Wednesday it was receiving a fax (a rare occurence in our office and cause for much celebration) and when it fed the second piece of paper halfway in, it flashed an error message - paper jam or PC load letter or something like that. I kept pulling the paper out and it would just keep doing the same thing. Finally it just completely stopped. Blank screen. Nothing. I unplugged it and replugged it and tried a different outlet, etc.

So I had to call Brother's customer service. I know. Drag. I even tried the website but there was no troubleshooting information on our model.

The rep told me to unplug it, replug it, and try another outlet.

Then she said that it was out of warranty. But... they could send us a refurbished model for free. All I had to do was fax them the original receipt. Apparently the irony of the request was lost on her.

So here I am, waiting for the new(ish) fax machine.

btw - what did we do before YouTube?

I have to admit that I didn't really talk like a pirate yesterday. I just never could find the right occasion...

Let's see, what kind of fun things have I found lately?

This post on Boing Boing cracked me up.

Trish linked to this and this recently. They crack Sam up.

You have to check out the blog for self-described "celebrinerd" Ken Jennings. He's hilarious. Who knew Mormons could be so funny?

ARRRR!

Tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

The idea of "Wench Swap" cracks me up.

I feel bad. I told Sam it was today. I hope he's not at school talking like a pirate all day... Probably not. He didn't believe me, anyway. As usual, he said, "Har har. Very funny."

A really nice tribute to Ann Richards.

Went to Dallas on Friday night to see Nancy's show - an installation at Studio 832. It looked great. Sam liked it, too.

Here's Nancy:


The installation on the wall contained all kinds of cool, weird, and scary things:

We didn't stay too long - Sam can only take so much art and being good all at once. We headed to Jenna's to see her new place and to visit the kitties. Sam had fun playing with Casper and trying to play with Shadow. I completely forgot to take pictures while we were there.

On Saturday I went to the gallery walk in Dallas. I tried to hit mostly galleries that I might be interested in "schmoozing." I did go to a couple that I liked anyway, though. I saw a bunch of good stuff. I even stopped at Eatzi's and got some sushi. Yum.

I did schmooze a little. I even left my CD at one gallery. And I left some postcards promoting my workshops at the Latino Cultural Center. They had a really nice show of encaustic paintings by Carlos Pellicer Lopez. I thought that maybe someone would see his work and want to learn how to do encaustic. Who knows?

We had dinner with John and Elizabeth and the girls at their new house. They have a new weenie dog puppy named Wesley:

For a dog, he was pretty cool. Very cute. Tiny. He hopped around and licked everybody's ankles.



He likes to walk outside on his leash. The cats, Boris and Natasha, understandably don't want much to do with little Wesley. But Tasha was jealous that he got to go outside. So they got Tasha her own leash:

After all the excitement, Elizabeth snuggled Wesley up in a towel and he took a nap:

He might be a little bit spoiled...

Oops - forgot to post a couple of links:
In case you always wondered about Kirk and Spock. This video is not safe for viewing at work.

And here's an interesting article about Stephen Colbert.

I thought this wedding video was kind of sweet.

I'm sad today at the news of Ann Richards' death. I saw her speak in Dallas about 10 years ago and then again earlier this year at UNT. She was by far one of the best speakers I've ever seen. She was an incredible, dynamic woman who will be missed.

And now with all of her quotes flying around, I realize that I had unknowingly ripped her off the other day when I said, "When I die, I don't really want people to say, 'Her house was really clean.'" I had thought that I was ripping off Erma Bombeck...

The Edible Earth

Sam had to make this edible model of the earth for school last week. I loved the way it looked and just had to get a shot of it. The inner core is a grape - I should have gotten orange jello instead so you could see the contrast better. Oh well. The earth has never been tastier...

Sam told me that a kid in his class made a cake that had chicken in it. Neat!

I've had a fairly busy weekend. After Sam got picked up on Friday night, I contemplated going to see Little Miss Sunshine, but I decided to go to sleep instead. I was wiped out.

Yesterday I got up early to weigh-in (3 more pounds! although I can't tell where it's coming from...) and go to the gym. Then I walked over to the square for the Art, Antiques, and Autos event. I was the judge for the art part of it. There weren't a lot of entries, but some of them were really good - mostly crafts. I awarded the best of show to a couple who made really nice jewelry.

Cathy and I went to Fort Worth for gallery night. We went to Gallery 414 to see my friend Susan's work. Then we went to a funky little store called Uncommon Angles that's in a cool, refurbished Montgomery Ward building. We hit the nearby Super Target to get a baby present for our friends Neva and Kim, who recently had twin girls. We were hoping to hook up with them while we were in FW but we weren't able to catch them.

We searched and searched and eventually found Artspace 111. We liked the work there, but they also had great food. They had a chocolate fountain. Need I say more?

Next was Art in the Metroplex at TCU. I've entered that show for about 4 years in a row and not gotten in... But I'm not bitter. We enjoyed the show but nothing really stood out. My friend Nancy had a piece in the show.

They had a small gallery upstairs with work by grad painters. We liked a couple of the pieces but we were mostly impressed by their studios. They had huge, light-filled studios. With doors. That locked. A huge contrast to the makeshift cubicles that we had at our state institutions. I guess it pays to be able to afford a private education.

We ate at a Mexican place called Caro's. It says on their website that they don't use a steam table, microwave, or can opener. It must be hard to get those cans open... The food was super greasy and I had a lake of cheese on my plate. Not exactly Weight Watcher-friendly. They also pride themselves on their puffy chips. I wasn't a fan, though. Maybe it was just a bad day for puffy chips.

There was another funky shop nearby, so we stopped in to check it out.

Then we went to what I think is the best gallery in Fort Worth - William Campbell. I was all set to schmooze and try to talk to the owner and everything but when we got there the place was packed. You couldn't see the artwork, really, there were so many people milling around. I'm going to go back when it's quieter to do some schmoozing.

We headed to Edmund Craig - 0h, but before we got there we stopped at a gallery that must be a community art center or a studio with classes or something. It was crowded with people but mostly it was chock full o' art. It was really overwhelming. We did find a few good pieces in the crowd, though.

Edmund Craig has some good stuff but is mostly realism and landscape. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just not so into it. It just seems like the paintings they have there are really... shiny. I don't know how to describe it. There were a couple of encaustic pieces that I really liked, though.

I saw my friend Devon there, so it was nice to get caught up with her and I guess I schmoozed her because I sent her a proposal for an artist's book show... She's the gallery director at a junior college in Fort Worth that would be a perfect venue for these books. So at least there was a little schmoozing that got done.

There were two more places that we wanted to go but it was after 9:00 (the scheduled ending time of all of the openings), and we were tired. So we headed home.

Today I watched Dick Cheney on Meet the Press. There was much eye rolling on my part. Sheesh. And whenever I see him, I immediately think of Jon Stewart's impression of him.

The rest of the day was cleaning and organizing. I had intended to clean Sam's room. I try to go through his room every now and then when he's not there and I get rid of stuff that he doesn't play with, that's broken, or, honestly, that annoys me... He's got so much junk that he rarely misses anything. And if he does say, "Hey, where's that toy accordion with the siren on it (or whatever)?" I can just say, "I'm not sure. Where did you put it?"

I didn't get to that, though, because I spent most of the day cleaning my office. Really just my desk area. So I didn't get everything clean. I've come to accept the fact that the whole house can't really be clean all at the same time. That's way too much to ask of myself. And I know that nobody really cares. When I die, I don't really want people to say, "Her house was really clean."

Favorite songs meme - from Colleen

1. Beatles: Blackbird

2. Rolling Stones: Miss You
3. Doors: not so much

4. Bob Dylan: not a fan (I like it when OTHER people sing his songs... I know. He's a legend. Whatever.)
5. Led Zeppelin: Kashmir
6. TV Theme: I Dream of Jeannie

7. Prince: 1999

8. Madonna: tie - Lucky Star and Borderline

9. Michael Jackson: Billie Jean

10. Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody

11. 'N Sync: seriously?

12. Al Green: Take Me to the River

13. Notorious BIG: not familiar

14. Song from a Cartoon: eep op ork ah ah by Judy Jetson

15. Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road

16. Magnetic Fields: Take Ecstasy With Me (I've heard them but don't have any of their stuff so I looked online and that was the first song title that made me laugh)
17. Cure: Pictures of You

18. Song that most of your friends haven't heard: Where Does the Good Go by Tegan and Sara

19. Smiths: How Soon is Now
20. Beastie Boys: ick!

21. Clash: Train in Vain
22. Police: Tea in the Sahara

23. Elvis: Heartbreak Hotel

24. Beach Boys: Wouldn't It Be Nice

25. Cyndi Lauper: not a fan

26. Song from a movie: The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice from Closer

27. Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlantacism

28. Jeff Buckley: other than Hallelujah, I'm not familiar...

29. Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire

30. Song from an 80's one hit wonder: Melt With You

31. Tori Amos: Crucify

32. Kinks: You Really Got Me

33. Genesis: don't like
34. Barenaked Ladies: If I Had a $1000000

35. INXS: Don’t Change

36. Weird Al: Like a Surgeon - no - I Lost on Jeopardy - no - My Bologna...

37. Peter Gabriel: Shaking the Tree

38. John Lennon: Instant Karma

39. Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (we're just two lost souls swimmin' in a fishbowl...)
40. Cover song: Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies (originally by Lou Reed)
41. White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
42. Dance song: Rock Lobster by the B-52s

43. U2: One

44. Song from an actor turned musician: anything by William Shatner!

45. Disco: You Should be Dancing by the Bee Gees
46. Power Ballad: Bringin' on the Heartbreak by Def Leppard

47. Guns N' Roses: Welcome to the Jungle
48. The Who: Baba O’Reilly

49. Elton John: Tiny Dancer
50. Favorite song, period: Everyday I Write the Book by Elvis Costello

51. Sting: We'll Be Together

52. Billy Joel: Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

53. Burt Bacharach: What's New Pussycat (my cat likes it... I'm a dork)

54. First popular song you have a memory of hearing on the radio: American Pie by Don MacLean
55. Eagles: Desperado
56. Road Trip: Life in the Fast Lane by the Eagles

57. Grateful Dead: not a fan

58. Song that takes you back to grade school: Heart of Glass by Blondie (the skating rink)

59. Song that takes you back to middle school/junior high: Lights by Journey

60. Song that takes you back to high school: Missing You by John Waite

61. Song that takes you back to college: What I Am by New Bohemians

62. Favorite love song: At Last by Etta James

63. Favorite stress reliever song: Stardust by Nat King Cole

I lost 1.4 pounds this week. Total of 4.5 pounds in 2 weeks. That's pretty good.

We spent the weekend at the lake. It rained the whole time, but it was nice. We really needed the rain, so we didn't mind too much. It cooled off a lot, too, which was really nice. We played games and napped and read. Sam fished a little bit.

Good news! Chad's back for Episode 3!


I've been thinking about sharks for the last couple of days... I stayed up way too late last night, reading The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey. It's an account of her several visits to the Farallon Islands, about 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco. The mostly uninhabitable islands were nicknamed The Devil's Teeth by sailors. The islands are home to thousands of seals and sea lions, which happen to be the main items on the diet of the great white shark. A large population of great whites return to the islands every fall. Casey contacted the biologists who live on the island (studying sharks and birds) and managed to make several visits. The islands have a strange and colorful history, which the author researched in detail. The book is part nature, part history, and part adventure.

She writes beautifully, too:
A three-quarter moon rose, with Mars like a bodyguard beside it, glowing red. Gull feathers tumbled by in the gale. The sea and the sky had melted into each other, and now they were just nuanced tones of infinity, dual voids. Overhead, the lighthouse beacon rotated. It was hard not to imagine that I was standing at the very end of the world; that there was nothing but water, and after that, more water, and that all the land was gone.

Jenna was telling me recently that her mom is having problems with her eyeballs falling out and that she's going to try to find her a good diet to help prevent it in the future. Sam was recently reading Shel Silverstein, and I just happened to notice this one:

Carrots
They say that carrots are good for your eyes,
They swear that they improve your sight,
But I'm seein' worse than I did last night-
You think maybe I ain't usin' 'em right?

-Falling Up

Maybe you have to make them into drops...

I took Sam to see How to Eat Fried Worms tonight. It was cute in a disgusting, little boy kind of way. He liked it.

Tomorrow I'm going to weigh-in and then Sam's got karate class (hopefully he'll learn some more killer moves). Then we're heading up to the lake for the weekend. It's supposed to rain some, but I'm going to take a couple of books.

In the internets:
I find this creepy and sad.