Monday, February 26, 2007

Weekend Wrap Up


We had another fun filled, action packed, crime fighting, jet setting weekend! (Mild embellishment for the Internets). Friday started off with a bang as we tried a new Asian fusion restaurant in our neighborhood. Tofu and vegetables...that's what I'm talkin about!! OK...now it gets really sad...we were in bed by 8:30 pm!

LOSERS !!!!

Saturday we met our friends Kate, Patrick, and their son Luc for breakfast. They informed us they would be moving back to Costa Rica within the year. This conversation was very emotionally charged for us, as we will miss them, and we have also talked at length about packing it all in and moving to some tropical paradise (like Hermosa beach!!!)

Later that afternoon we met our great friend Mory (of Mory and Ildy Fame) at the national archives to watch the free showing of Academy Award nominated animated short films. They were all wonderfull. We thought it was sad that more people do not get to see them.

Saturday night I had a gig at Sala thai and Jen stayed on the family couch with the family cat.

Sunday I had my regular brunch gig. This week my friend Lyle played with me. He is a great saxophone player and a great guy (see the video above). He is also quite the ladies man. He did this gig with me a couple of months ago, and the waitresses have not stopped talking about him so I threw them a bone this week and brought them the beefcake.

The weekend ended with a bang as we watched the academy awards at our friends Mory and Ildy's house. We played the "oscar game" where each person guesses the winners in each category. Jen won!!!! It was great fun. We got to meet Ildy's mom, who was wonderful, and we love spending time with Mory and Ildy who have become really cherished friends...But we were all up way past our bedtimes!!

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Cat and Belly Fat


It's true - our cat Sasha Vinny is fat. She was 18 pounds when we adopted her and we had all kinds of good intentions to get her weight down to something healthier. But she had other plans, and a relentless will. At first we slavishly adhered to a 3/4 can of cat food total a day rule, with no dry food left out for in between meals snacking. This cat eats every morsel put down in front of her as fast as she can. But her constant harassing (including knocking things off surfaces and pulling down drapes) led Dave to devise a strategy of throwing crunches all around the house for her to chase. Alas, the extra exercise keeps her mind occupied - apparently boredom is an impetus for cats to overeat - but it has not resulted in any weight loss. Well, at least our drapes and knick knacks are safe.

The stuff: Sweet bilingual (French and English) crafty arty blog :: Today on the way back machine, a vintage news segment on something called the "Internet." Think it'll catch on? :: Hilarious blog from a disgruntled/raunchy English teacher in Japan :: List of 52 habits that reduce stress, only 10% of which I'll ever develop :: Gift ideas for those metrosexuals and politically incorrects on your list.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Espresso


We've started an espresso-at-3pm tradition at the office. Now I'm totally dependent on that shot of caffeine (however small, since I take mine decaf), and cookie. I used to never drink coffee, and suddenly in my 40's I'm having two coffee drinks a day. Oh, I've tried to switch to tea, it being the hip drink right now. But it's just not as satisfying. Not even close.

At least I'm not as bad as Dave, who's on no doze caffeine maintenance treatment. No joke. He takes two no doze pills each morning instead of a cup of coffee. He'll have to explain how this works, though. I'm not sure I get it.

Here're the goods: Blogger obsessed with Japanese street artists (I think that's what they're calling graffiti artists these days) :: Coming to a street near you, three wheel, tilting, plug-in hybrid vehicle :: Chimps learn to wield spears (ugh. even more reason to hate monkeys) :: How many trees do I have to plant to offset commercial airflight? :: Looking for a little DIY crafting to wile away the time this weekend? Check out this, and this and this :: And then sell what you made here.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Three Day Weekend = Endless Breakfasts


Well that was a holiday weekend o' fun. Saturday: breakfast with Caren, Tony and Bill McColl (Bread & Chocolate - great food, terrible service), and then again on Monday with Lyndon and Dea (new crepe place around the corner). Dinner with Kathleen, Mike, Michelle and Jason at Woodlands (Best South Indian vegetarian in the area, IMHO) Saturday night before heading over to Bill McColl's for a belated Burn's Night party, where we were forced to affect Scottish accents, badly I might add. Worked out each day and since I'll take a break tomorrow did some interval training on the bike (Thanks Katy and Lou for the advice!). And of course shopping, as memorialized by Dave's video below. Tomorrow, it's back to work, I'm afraid.

OK, here's today's candy: People will blog on just about anything :: What was the point of "Waiting for Godot" and what does this Flickr set have to do with it? :: You wish your desk looked like this :: File under "why didn't I think of this?," Urban Curators cull art from decay :: Cute dog a day via Love, Charlie.

Saturday With My Wife

Here is my latest foray into the world of cinema. It is a short film called " Saturday With My Wife "

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Movies, Movies, Movies

As Promised I have posted some movies......both of these movies were shot with my mac laptop and edited in iMovie. this movie is a short film entitled " Cat In The Lap " .......I think the name says it all



This movie is the first installment of my online jazz guitar practice journal called " The Webshed" ( the name is a wordplay on the term woodshed , which is a slang term for practicing music)



more to come .......

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Snow. That. Won't. Melt.




Maybe you've heard. It's really cold on the east coast. There's never been a colder winter. Never. To keep ourselves going, Dave and I are dreaming of Hawaii, where we'll be in one month, give or take, with my family. It's 76 degrees there.

Some other things keeping my mind off the God awful cold: Escher's staircase made out of legos :: Solar Panel Pyramid Scheme :: Pattern Language, as applied to Wiki development :: A new social networking website for activists :: Getting Things Done software for the Mac :: One Tip a Day, "What will you learn today?" :: "Series of Tubes" Senator attempting to ban social networking sites from the schools and libraries.

Long Weekend

Its a long weekend ( presidents day ) and Jen , Vinny and I have all sorts of plans! going to the gym ,Movies , breakfast with friends, dinner with friends.......oh yes and spending time at home with Vinny.

I have been having fun with my new computer ( Mac ) , and especially the video program IMOVIE......I hope to have some fun videos to share very soon

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

"What Did We Do Before the Internets?"


I suspect there are few people in the West who don't ask themselves that at least once a day. How great that websites and services like Wikipedia, Flickr, del.icio.us, TripAdvisor, Gmail and YouTube exist? (Notice I left MySpace off the list - yuck). Oh, I guess you could argue we used to spend a lot more time engaging each other directly, as opposed to letting technology mediate our relationships. I'll give you that. Reading and writing posts on a blog, for example, isn't much of a replacement for face to face interaction. But when you, your family and friends are spread all over the planet, this is probably be the best we've got. So. Glad you're here. Thanks for visiting. Come back again soon!