Scents

Idyllwild smells like cedar, pine and vanilla crushed under your feet.
New York City, in the summer smells like thunder and sweat, in the spring it smells like cinnamon.
Berlin has this odd mix of spices I cannot name, but it is oddly savory.
London smelled of wet concrete and brick.
The redwood forest smells like petrichor even when it hasn't been raining.
Monterey smells like salt water, fish, pine, and funnel cakes.

Berkeley must smell like something but I can't tell.  My nostrils refuse to clear. They have shut tight so that I can only detect the strongest of smells through a perpetual allergy induced sense blindness.  This season seems to be worse than ever and frustration is building.

The Best? FIre?

This is my favorite building in my neighborhood... It is the Best? Fire Equipment.

Makes me smile every day.

Returns!

About a week too late to take any photos of my last design of 2011... my Nikon has returned from the repair shop after a two month stay...

and now I wait to be paid enough to get the CPU lens I really want...

... but I am excited anyway and taking pictures of anything that gets in my way!

This time; Do not drop the camera!

"During" (That which comes between Before and After)

When you look at it from the dog's perspective, my housemate and I spent Labor Day doing terrible mean things... First we cleaned out everything and moved all of our stuff into compact Tetris piles... mounds of hidden dog hair were removed.

Carpets were covered in plastic... the whole house smelled of paint...

At least there were awesome people in the house all weekend... I think DeWalt was pretty happy with that.  The only bad thing was that they were helping Adam and I upturn the entire place...


Adam found a wee bit of mold behind his bed.

So... he replaced the wall...


We had grilled shish-kabobs... food was a temporary relief for the hound... but still, this trial was exhausting.

In addition to the fresh paint, my carpenter/welder/accidental designer housemate made a new gate for the front.  We claimed new yard much like the British Empire... I think we need a flag, but the gate is a good start.

I think it might be a bit much for a little in-law apartment but it's rather fantastic and our land-lady (who did pay for the steel) thinks it is beyond awesome...

We steam cleaned the carpets before moving the furniture back into place... a further insult.

Not to worry, DeWalt has forgiven us and the house is mostly back in order. "After" photos should be taken, but I've been so busy I haven't done it yet... it's all a little mundane but I'll put the after shots up later on anyway.

Dear Mr. Sinatra...

This is from a 1946 edition of "Screen Guide" magazine.

Español frase del dia...

Best of Spell

I have seen so many different ways to misspell my name... this is by far my favorite.

I've got this nasty habit of saving little scraps of paper if I think they're funny or have some sort of sentiment attached to them... I think putting them online will allow me to simply throw them in the trash like a normal non-hoarding type person.

A weekend of paint. Happy Labor day...

My housemate and I have spent all of labour day weekend painting and cleaning our entire apartment. Right now we're at the end of a long day of painting and I'm waiting on steam cleaned carpet to dry before I can move anything into my room. I'm thinking about cleaning more... wishing that all of our stuff would just teleport into place. I'll show actual progression soon... meanwhile I wish I had a chair to sit on.

Flickr...

Just an FYI, I'm digitizing my research in hopes that
1. I can dump a few tons of old magazines and
2. I don't have to cry as they dissentigrate because of old age...

I'll be opening an orginized research section on my Design website... soon-ish and I'm putting up back-ups on a new flickr account. 

And now you know.

Heston 1 ; Hollywood remake 0

Charlton Heston was a bit of a nut-bag but he did make some good movies;
A la;  Omega Man, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Soylent Green, Ben Hur... and of course
Planet of the Apes... By "good" I do mean "Awesome".

I think that the supply and demand as shown by Amazon truly illustrates my point;

Heston's Apes released 1965; only 7 copies starting at $8

Hollywood remake crap, released 2001: nobody wants, starting at 42 cents

Seriously Hollywood, give us some rough edges, give us some story telling, give us Charlton pounding the sands cursing those damn dirty apes.  Polished special effects don't make people like movies.  Also just so you know, if you try to remake Soylent Green with some schmuck like Tom Cruise, I will find you, tie you to a chair in front of a giant television and make you watch nothing but Jar-Jar Binks scenes from Star Wars Phantom Menace until you scream out in pain and your eyes are too sore to blink. 
Thanks so Much.

Fail blog...

Stole this from my friend Nick...

(Seen in Vancouver, Canada)

A sewing question?

There is a question I hear all the time... the question really is "would you sew this thing for me because I have no idea of what I am doing?"  Unfortunately this question usually is posed as a series of circuitous questions that make me crazy.
Example; "I was wondering about this cute skirt I bought... I'd just a wee bit small and I was wondering if it would be possible to make it bigger..."  
To which I answer " I suppose it would depend on if there is any seam allowance inside"
Although really the person asking wants me to say "I don't know, perhaps you should bring this glorious skirt in so that I can sew it for you!"
 Inevitably the  answer I give is followed up by something like " I just don't know how you do it... I have a hard time with buttons"

Which reinforces the fact that a simple alteration like letting seams out would be far beyond the asker's scope... Why ask stupid questions like this?  Do you go up to your plumber and ask "gee, I'm thinking about installing a new sink in my bathroom but I just don't know how to make the water go through the pipes..." or do you mention to your chiropractor friend that you're thinking about readjusting your spine but can't quite figure out which vertebrae to crack...? 

Tip #1; just because your grandmother could do this task does not mean it is easy. Don't act like it's something you can just pick up if you only had five minutes and the slightest desire to.  It is insulting to me and to your grandmother and you know it's not true... go practice sewing some buttons.

I just want to tell those who seem to think that I live to sew things and am dying to help with all sewing related problems, that in fact this is how I make my living.  I am a highly trained specialist and it has taken me over ten years to be able to sew as well as I do.   Sure I'll explain to you exactly how to alter whatever you want... but don't expect me to take pity on you because you're clueless and cheap.  If you want me to sew something, just ask me.  I suggest you bribe me with money, food or whiskey... possibly all three.  Even with the lack of money, food, or whiskey I think that someone just asking for help is better than them hoping to entice me to volunteer... it just irritates me to no end.