Arrrrrrgh!!!

No, it's not pirate day.

I got an e-mail over the weekend telling me that the new season of That's Clever has been pushed back to July. I have a bad feeling about this and am starting to worry that the ladies of Milwaukee episodes will never see the light of day. This will make me so terribly angry. Here's the message:

*****
Hi, this is an email to let you know that the schedule for the new season is being shuffled again. I know some of you are hearing from us for the first time, so please bear with me. HGTV has notified us that the season premier has been put on hold, and that the first episode will not air until sometime in July. As of now there are no set airdates for any episodes, including the ones that had received airdates. I apologize to those whom I have given airdates to. I know this rescheduling is hard to follow. I'm not sure when the new airdates will be available, but I'll let everyone know as I get them. Please do not email me unless you have a specific question that this email does not address, as there are over 200 people receiving this. Thank you.

Pu 'erh Tea

Tastes a little bit like brewed horse poop...

...or at least what I would imagine brewed horse poop would taste like. And no, this tea has not been through the digestive tracts of any small indonesian mammals. It's tea that is roasted and aged moreso than regular black tea. It's supposed to be good for digestion. I really have a hard time getting over the pungent aroma of buckwheat and honey, which is what's in sweet feed for horses, but... mustier.

Also, if you drink a lot of it, it makes you crazy jittery on an empty stomach. Best to drink it after a meal because it's not a good awake kind of jittery that lots of coffee gets you.

City Services Defining Socioeconomic Status

Or... They ain't got no salt in the ghetto.

Every time there's a heavy snow here in the Mil, I'm more than happy to drive around in it. Rear wheel drive + Snow tires + Four or more inches of snow = Most fun ever.

It's pretty crappy out today, sleet, at least four inches of wet, heavy snow and now it's sleeting again. The co-op was my lunchtime destination which takes me through a couple different neighborhoods between the store and work.

The office is in an out of the way light industrial park, and the minor road to get there hadn't been plowed yet, but as I got closer to main thoroughfares, it got progressively slushier, wetter, and less snowy. This is probably due to the literal tons of pre-emptive salt that's been thrown down all winter. Basically, the roads were pretty good - until I crossed from one municipality (wealthy) into the next (poor) where the road was a sheet of ice. Seriously - ice with few strips of snow. It wasn't a gradual change, no, it was a distinct line, and where the ice had sort of broken up it was like driving on really slippery gravel roads.

I would say that this was really appalling, until I got to the co-op, where I spend twice as much on groceries than at a regular chain store, and they hadn't bothered to do squat with their parking lot. Again, a sheet of ice. You'd think that with everyone spending $10 on three bananas, they could at least afford to sprinkle some organic cat litter around.

By the time I got back to the office, after crossing the line into the nicer suburb, all of the roads leading back to the office were plowed. Not just one little strip - but fully plowed side to side.

This was even more frustrating not because I could no longer do doughnuts in the middle of the road, but because I was trying to figure out how one city could be so efficient as to have all their roads clear, when another couldn't even get a main artery safe to drive on. What about public safety? What if someone needed an ambulance? I guess all those poor people will just have to wait a little longer.

Crap Art... Absolution

This whole creative block thing I've got going on can end now. No now. I mean... now. Yes. Right now. Ok... now. Bah.

I made this piece of crap for an art auction at The Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design. They have an auction every year and give out boards to people to make a "Square Foot of Art" to sell and raise money for the museum. It's better than what I made last year, which was even crappier, but it just didn't turn out like I'd hoped. Part of the problem was knowing I couldn't easily start over. It wasn't supposed to be so... stark, and white. I built up the thickness of the board and added canvas thinking of painting a background but I didn't want to mess it up. The other thought was that the felt would be a little embroidered but I ran out of time for that. Oh well.

In happier news I found out today that the Eisner's website won something at the 2006 Madison ADDY's. I'm not sure what it won, but I'm still pretty chuffed about it. (I designed the Eisner's site.)

I also designed two t-shirts for the Eisner that I'll post pictures of when I get samples of them. The print coordinator guy called me yesterday to tell me that he saw them on press and thought they looked really outstanding and just had to let me know. How cool is that? Totally made my day.

Fame Tracker for the Sockmonkey Suit: Part 3

We have an Airdate!
Friday, March 17, 2006 - Watch the show "That's Clever" on HGTV to see ME showing the world how to make a Sockmonkey Suit! (and a bracelet) Just keep your fingers crossed that they didn't make me look like a complete fruitcake. Hoy.

Note: I'm not sure when I'm going to make it into their episode guide - but I'll be on HCLVR-216 (right now it only goes up to 215 - argh!)

The Obligatory Cat Post: Part 5

The promised photos:

Lillie being well lit by light reflecting off of the carpet. She's actually hiding under a bookshelf.


Faceoff under the bed:


Faceoff in the kitchen:

The Obligatory Cat Post: Part 4

You getting sick of these yet? Well, too bad. (Although this will probably be the last one for a while - and it's not like I started opening Catster accounts or anything - but I do have some photos from this I need to pull off of my camera.)

This weekend was the big kitty face off between Lillie and Lola Kopi Luwak. Surprisingly, it went really well. Lillie isn't real fond of Lola yet, but I think has resigned herself, and has stopped hissing and growling at a distance.

It's actually really fascinating you know. I've long enjoyed being an observer of relational interactions of humans and the subtle power swings within groups of people. I'm no good at this when observing myself mind you, as I have as of yet to perfect any kind of ability to have out of body experiences. (Not like I'm trying or being at all serious either.) It's harder with animals since their language is so different but over the past few days I've been looking up a lot of info on the finer points of cat behavior - eye, tail and whisker movements and meanings behind vocalisations.

After a weekend of watching the cats interact, I've been surprised to discover that while we thought Lola would be put in her place, I'm not so sure that will be the case. It's almost as though even with Lillie putting on a big show, little Ms. Poop Coffee has the upper hand in her calm demeanor and sweet attitude towards the humans in the house. Meanwhile, both Mr. T and I have a few scratchmarks as a result of Lillie's anxiety. After two days, we can finally pet her again. So I wonder if she panicked, sensing a shift of power in the house. I don't think Lola is by any means some sort of tyrant, but it looks like she's winning the war by taking the peaceful - super cute purring bunting and kneading route. I'm still hoping to one day catch them cuddling, but for now, I'm just happy that they're tolerating each other's existence.

Ok, you're right I need to get out more. (Which I did do Friday night - so there.)

Another Reason ...

... to name Lola after poop coffee: because that little cat lets out the nastiest farts ever.