I'm dizzy.‡
Job offer. BIG decision. Frighteningly big. Excitingly big. Dizzyingly big. Upsettingly big. Not-sleeping-tonight big.
I need a Magic 8 Ball, like, now.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): I came, I saw, I drank a really big coffee?
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And blushing. Guess how often that happens.
Showing posts with label Office Window. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Office Window. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Short Attention Span Theatre
The billboard is changing again.
That's less than two weeks.
I'm no billboard expert,† but that seems really short.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): But I play one on TiVi!
That's less than two weeks.
I'm no billboard expert,† but that seems really short.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): But I play one on TiVi!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Colour Me Random
When last I cleaned off my camera, I had an unusually large collection of random shit.† Enough to make a whole blogpost. Enough, even, to proclaim a photojournalistic pig-licking.
[SUMMARY: My pig, my rules.]
NOTE: Click for big is your friend here in today's offering.
*************
Jack 'n' Grill on Federal has marvelous food. They also have the new‡ Wall of Jack§ and these Marin-friendly bathroom signs:
*************
Dad has cleaned out the tool annex¶ in the Peach's basement. There is a bank of very cool drawers, reminiscent of the days when libraries had card files.# One is now labeled, "Trowels, etc."
*************
Hans spotted this outfit from my window. We spent many, many company-sposored minutes trying to figure out what in the hell she was thinking††:
*************
This guy was working in our parking lot. He measured something. Then he sawed the end off that something. Then he made some notes. Then he put something else on his wheeled sawhorse and measured it. Then he cleaned up and left. I kinda wish I'd gotten a movie of it.
I'm guessing that at $8/day, this is the cheapest shop space in town.
*************
"Yellow squeeze bottle mustard" listed as an organic ingredient. So... specific:
*************
Before my break-up with Barnes & Noble,‡‡ I was perusing the knitting books at lunch one day and noted a new trend in the fibre arts§§:
*************
Two days snowed in, you'd think I'd be more ambitious.
[SUMMARY: Thinking never did anybody any good.]
Tomorrow? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps¶¶...
*************
Péché Cardinal - Amandine Marie for Parfums MDCI
Marin says: There is a moment when the juice first hits the skin when you@ usually get a completely different scent than you do even two seconds later. It's like the ghostly haze that hovers in the neck of a beer bottle right after you open it## -- there, then gone.
This one is pure Jolly Rancher in that moment: sugary, synthetic, recognisable for its candy version but nothing like the real thing.
You blink and it's different.
Then it's peach, bright and sun-drenched... then mixed with champagne, perhaps. It's bubbly and bright. After a bit, it smells like tuberose and peach with a touch of that tawny port smell I call raisin, but always ends up being plum.
Somewhere along the line, something very round, like amber, and something prickly and dry, like cedar, rein the tuberose in a bit and give it round depths and linear highs.†††
Luckyscent% says: Péché Cardinal is an enticing froth of sinful and sweet, blending luscious fruits and mesmerizingly heady white flowers into a siren song. Warm, rounded and alluring, this Bellini-esque$ scent opens with a juicy, light-hearted sweetness that belies its intoxicating nature. As it warms on the skin, it becomes boldly flirtatious— this is the perfect scent for the belle of the ball. Péché Cardinal (translation: Cardinal Sin‡‡‡) opens with the apricot-hay sweetness of davana combined with the silken fur of ripe golden peaches$ and creamy coconut. The tart fruitiness of blackcurrant and prune$ keep the fragrance from becoming too sweet, allowing the cool, fresh-from-the-flowershop tuberose$ to shine from the heart of the composition. White lilies add an additional, slightly green aspect to the scent. The cedar,$ sandalwood and musc provide a quiet contrapunto§§§ to the fruits. An unabashedly romantic fragrance for those daring enough to wear it
Hans says: Bubble gum. Do you get bubble gum? Definitely something sweet. I don't know. Tell them my nose muscles are tired.¶¶¶
Later, after that syrupy opening, Hans identified fruit, something he should know, and got very excited when I told him it was peach because that was what he was reaching for.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Even for me.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Since the last time I was there, which may have been a year ago.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Too big to take a picture of, but had a jackalope, a box of Apple Jacks, Jack Kerouac... from table top to ceiling. Cooler than it sounds, trust me.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Seriously, it's a big house. Plenty big to have a tool annex. And a drawer devoted to trowels.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Remember the days, Sarah, Susie? Good times, good times...
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Please note that I do not deride the red/turquoise/brown cowboy boots in and of themselves, but the mind that paired them with black leggings and a purple/blue sweater. And there's something... off about matching one's earrings to one's boots. Like matching one's lipstick to one's nail polish. Just... too.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): And it's a shame the relationship was over before I could get a picture of the end cap full of owl tchotchkes labeled "penguins."
§§FOOTNOTE (kama sutra position #43): I saw the fetish book and thought it might actually be a knitting book, naughty or just indicative of the mania of knitting. Then I saw the Kama Sutra and I realised yet another knitter had abandoned sex in favour of socks.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (marching band style!): If I have to hear that song all day in my head, you have to hear that song all day in your head.
@FOOTNOTE (atted): As always, when I say, "you," I mean "I."
##FOOTNOTE (the pounding of palm to forehead): About the time I finished typing the beer bottle analogy, I realised a shooting star would work just as well and probably be more elegant. Then I decided I don't want to get *too* elegant. I'd never be able to live up to it, long term.
†††FOOTNOTE (is it Easter yet?): I am getting so good at this review-speak.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): The Parfums MDCI site doesn't have any words on Péché Cardinal that I could find. Normally, I would quote them and use this footnote to tell you what a wondeful, warm, gentlemanly man Claude Marchal (the owner of MDCI) is, but since I couldn't hook that all up like I wanted, I'm just going to hijack the footnote for my own purposes. Why are the French so vilifiable as a group, but so lovely individually?
$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): You know that if I thought "raisin" was close enough to plum, I will argue that "prune" is that much closer.
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (all roads lead to Paris): This is also apparently a pun of sorts, as Peche without accents, or with different accents or perhaps without the "e" on the end means "peach tree." And this is a peach fragrance, so... pun.
§§§FOOTNOTE (nothing spins me like a good word): I love "contrapunto." You don't get nearly enough contrapunto in daily life. I plan to work contrapunto in to my everyday conversation.
¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (your head, it goes *beatbeatbeat*when your nose muscles are tired): Hans played many hours of beach volleyball yesterday and maintains that *all* his muscles are tired.
[SUMMARY: My pig, my rules.]
NOTE: Click for big is your friend here in today's offering.
*************
Jack 'n' Grill on Federal has marvelous food. They also have the new‡ Wall of Jack§ and these Marin-friendly bathroom signs:
*************
Dad has cleaned out the tool annex¶ in the Peach's basement. There is a bank of very cool drawers, reminiscent of the days when libraries had card files.# One is now labeled, "Trowels, etc."
*************
Hans spotted this outfit from my window. We spent many, many company-sposored minutes trying to figure out what in the hell she was thinking††:
*************
This guy was working in our parking lot. He measured something. Then he sawed the end off that something. Then he made some notes. Then he put something else on his wheeled sawhorse and measured it. Then he cleaned up and left. I kinda wish I'd gotten a movie of it.
I'm guessing that at $8/day, this is the cheapest shop space in town.
*************
"Yellow squeeze bottle mustard" listed as an organic ingredient. So... specific:
*************
Before my break-up with Barnes & Noble,‡‡ I was perusing the knitting books at lunch one day and noted a new trend in the fibre arts§§:
*************
Two days snowed in, you'd think I'd be more ambitious.
[SUMMARY: Thinking never did anybody any good.]
Tomorrow? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps¶¶...
*************
Péché Cardinal - Amandine Marie for Parfums MDCI
Marin says: There is a moment when the juice first hits the skin when you@ usually get a completely different scent than you do even two seconds later. It's like the ghostly haze that hovers in the neck of a beer bottle right after you open it## -- there, then gone.
This one is pure Jolly Rancher in that moment: sugary, synthetic, recognisable for its candy version but nothing like the real thing.
You blink and it's different.
Then it's peach, bright and sun-drenched... then mixed with champagne, perhaps. It's bubbly and bright. After a bit, it smells like tuberose and peach with a touch of that tawny port smell I call raisin, but always ends up being plum.
Somewhere along the line, something very round, like amber, and something prickly and dry, like cedar, rein the tuberose in a bit and give it round depths and linear highs.†††
Luckyscent% says: Péché Cardinal is an enticing froth of sinful and sweet, blending luscious fruits and mesmerizingly heady white flowers into a siren song. Warm, rounded and alluring, this Bellini-esque$ scent opens with a juicy, light-hearted sweetness that belies its intoxicating nature. As it warms on the skin, it becomes boldly flirtatious— this is the perfect scent for the belle of the ball. Péché Cardinal (translation: Cardinal Sin‡‡‡) opens with the apricot-hay sweetness of davana combined with the silken fur of ripe golden peaches$ and creamy coconut. The tart fruitiness of blackcurrant and prune$ keep the fragrance from becoming too sweet, allowing the cool, fresh-from-the-flowershop tuberose$ to shine from the heart of the composition. White lilies add an additional, slightly green aspect to the scent. The cedar,$ sandalwood and musc provide a quiet contrapunto§§§ to the fruits. An unabashedly romantic fragrance for those daring enough to wear it
Hans says: Bubble gum. Do you get bubble gum? Definitely something sweet. I don't know. Tell them my nose muscles are tired.¶¶¶
Later, after that syrupy opening, Hans identified fruit, something he should know, and got very excited when I told him it was peach because that was what he was reaching for.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Even for me.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Since the last time I was there, which may have been a year ago.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Too big to take a picture of, but had a jackalope, a box of Apple Jacks, Jack Kerouac... from table top to ceiling. Cooler than it sounds, trust me.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Seriously, it's a big house. Plenty big to have a tool annex. And a drawer devoted to trowels.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Remember the days, Sarah, Susie? Good times, good times...
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Please note that I do not deride the red/turquoise/brown cowboy boots in and of themselves, but the mind that paired them with black leggings and a purple/blue sweater. And there's something... off about matching one's earrings to one's boots. Like matching one's lipstick to one's nail polish. Just... too.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): And it's a shame the relationship was over before I could get a picture of the end cap full of owl tchotchkes labeled "penguins."
§§FOOTNOTE (kama sutra position #43): I saw the fetish book and thought it might actually be a knitting book, naughty or just indicative of the mania of knitting. Then I saw the Kama Sutra and I realised yet another knitter had abandoned sex in favour of socks.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (marching band style!): If I have to hear that song all day in my head, you have to hear that song all day in your head.
@FOOTNOTE (atted): As always, when I say, "you," I mean "I."
##FOOTNOTE (the pounding of palm to forehead): About the time I finished typing the beer bottle analogy, I realised a shooting star would work just as well and probably be more elegant. Then I decided I don't want to get *too* elegant. I'd never be able to live up to it, long term.
†††FOOTNOTE (is it Easter yet?): I am getting so good at this review-speak.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): The Parfums MDCI site doesn't have any words on Péché Cardinal that I could find. Normally, I would quote them and use this footnote to tell you what a wondeful, warm, gentlemanly man Claude Marchal (the owner of MDCI) is, but since I couldn't hook that all up like I wanted, I'm just going to hijack the footnote for my own purposes. Why are the French so vilifiable as a group, but so lovely individually?
$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): You know that if I thought "raisin" was close enough to plum, I will argue that "prune" is that much closer.
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (all roads lead to Paris): This is also apparently a pun of sorts, as Peche without accents, or with different accents or perhaps without the "e" on the end means "peach tree." And this is a peach fragrance, so... pun.
§§§FOOTNOTE (nothing spins me like a good word): I love "contrapunto." You don't get nearly enough contrapunto in daily life. I plan to work contrapunto in to my everyday conversation.
¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (your head, it goes *beatbeatbeat*when your nose muscles are tired): Hans played many hours of beach volleyball yesterday and maintains that *all* his muscles are tired.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Could We Be More Wrong?
Hans thought, "It's tax season. There could be a tax-related billboard."
I thought, "The economy's bad. Maybe they don't have as many advertisers and will fill the space with a charity ad."
I actually thought for a moment, "What if it's advertising free tax prep for low-income or homeless persons?"
We didn't have to make any hard calls like that. We were so far wrong it's just a little sad.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I Know Art When I See It
Fashion, we has it.
With his dark good looks and fashion sense nonpareil,† I think this little guy has a future on the runways of Milan.%
Of course, I risked having to report as a sex offender for the rest of my life, taking pictures of random, pyjama'd chldren on the 16th Street Mall, but I do it all for the blog.‡
[SUMMIT: You're welcome.]
For those of you§ who might have been wondering, the arms mysteriously re-appeared on the top of the 1999 building last week.¶
The thing on the right is for window washing, but we still haven't figured out the arms. Someday, I will march into the building and ask the information desk about them. But not today.
The mystery is still too good today.#
[SUMMARY: Short attention span, easily amused.]
Look! Art!
My parking lot is great for sunset pictures: it faces west†† and there aren't telephone wires acros it, so I can get an angle with no cables.
Today: My camera is clear.
Tomorrow: Knitting!‡‡
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Well, slap a skirt on him and he could be Marc Jacobs, but *mostly* nonpareil, which is, BTW, my new favourite word for the day.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Anybody get the feeling this whole kid-in-boots bit was just an excuse to post a link to the pretty, pretty boys?
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Not for the nookie. 'Cause that would be wrong.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Sarah, I'm talking to you.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): And look! They finished the condo building! People actually *live* there now.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): And I have lunch with the boss, so he can hand me my 1099 so I don't have to worry about one of my neighbours getting it in their mail.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Which *really* helps.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): I hope you were sitting down when you read that.
With his dark good looks and fashion sense nonpareil,† I think this little guy has a future on the runways of Milan.%
Of course, I risked having to report as a sex offender for the rest of my life, taking pictures of random, pyjama'd chldren on the 16th Street Mall, but I do it all for the blog.‡
[SUMMIT: You're welcome.]
For those of you§ who might have been wondering, the arms mysteriously re-appeared on the top of the 1999 building last week.¶
The thing on the right is for window washing, but we still haven't figured out the arms. Someday, I will march into the building and ask the information desk about them. But not today.
The mystery is still too good today.#
[SUMMARY: Short attention span, easily amused.]
Look! Art!
My parking lot is great for sunset pictures: it faces west†† and there aren't telephone wires acros it, so I can get an angle with no cables.
Today: My camera is clear.
Tomorrow: Knitting!‡‡
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Well, slap a skirt on him and he could be Marc Jacobs, but *mostly* nonpareil, which is, BTW, my new favourite word for the day.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Anybody get the feeling this whole kid-in-boots bit was just an excuse to post a link to the pretty, pretty boys?
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Not for the nookie. 'Cause that would be wrong.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Sarah, I'm talking to you.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): And look! They finished the condo building! People actually *live* there now.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): And I have lunch with the boss, so he can hand me my 1099 so I don't have to worry about one of my neighbours getting it in their mail.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Which *really* helps.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): I hope you were sitting down when you read that.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Pig Licking in Space
TTHFCIF
Ah, Friday.
Friday with its promise of exotic weekend fun and its propensity for blogquizzes, memes and pig-licking.
[SUMMARY: You can dress a pig up. It's still a pig.]
*************
I *am* knitting.
Only, I'm knitting the ubiquitous Noro stripey scarf and I would be too embarrassed to post a WIP photo.† I may even be too embarrassed to post it when it's finished. It's just been so... done.‡
There's also the Purple Prose scarf, which hasn't seen a frogging since the dropped-stitch mishap of two weeks ago and is well over half done. As you know, pictures of unblocked lace tend to look like yarn barf or crumpled tissue,% so I'm foregoing that pleasure as well.§
But this is still a knitblog and I am still knitting. You'll just have to take my word for it.
[SUMMARY: I don't ask much.]
*************
I went to theBroncosRaiders game a couple of weeks ago. It is the first sporting event I've left before the buzzer since¶ I missed watching a Buffs comeback in 1990# because the Air Force precision drill team on whose ticket I went wanted to beat traffic.††
It was that abyssmal.
I took all the festive photos, just like last year. In the end, this may be the only picture of note:
It looks a little like a Koolhaas licensed by the NFL.
[SUMMARY: Go Broncos! Take your stupid cheerleaders with you!]
*************
It's hard to believe, but I think CBS Outdoors has found an even weirder billboard than Chas and Terry.
We've had many lively discussions on this one.
Not just for the concept of, "OK, so I was driving down the road, trying to get to the grocery store before rush hour, when I saw this billboard and it hit me: I can DONATE my boat!"
Not just for the ill-advised colour selection.‡‡
The best conversation was probably the one where we§§ realised that boat has lips and eyes.
I don't know that it's as creepy as Chas and Terry, but I believe it may be more disconcerting.
[SUMMARY: Somebody has too much time on her hands.]
*************
Hans left yesterday for Decorah, Iowa, to take his girfriend to visit her brother, who is attending college there.
This is notable¶¶ for two reasons:
On a cheerful note, I was behind this kindred spirit in traffic the other day:
It's good to have peeps.
*************
I'm not even going to post the perfume bit I'd thought to do today. It's one I smelled while the aforementioned Hans was in the aforementioned Thailand and I thought to myself, "Screw him. I smelled it without him, he left me here to go see Dennis, I'm posting without him."
But then I saw it was a lovely warm, woody, unisex floral that I had billed as "balloon and hot electronics," so I think I'll wait until I can smell again and give it a second chance.
*
*
*
Yeah, next Friday I'll probably just do a meme or a some quiz on which Twilight character§§§ I am.
Or I'll take more cough medicine and *really* make it a party.¶¶¶
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Curse you, Yarn Harlot!
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And you know I'm always looking to be undone.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Another Yarn Harlot observation. I'm not sure whether to curse her for taking all the good ones or bless her for making it easy for me to cop out on lace photos.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): You're welcome.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Or 1991. Maybe 1992. In any case, it is one of the two most annoying tales in my repertoire, the other one being how I will never, ever rip the wrapping off a present again since the time I gave into my mother's frustration and ripped the dust jacket of a lovely collector's edition of Alice in Wonderland. There's nothing snottier than a person who is irritating with cause.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): A game now famous, on all the Sports Illustrated lists... a game I get to say, "I was there," when people bring it up, but have to say, "No, I didn't see the ending. It sounded exciting from the parking lot, though."
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Still bitter.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): I know purple and yellow are technically contrasting colours and good for things like billboards but... yucch.
§§FOOTNOTE (like shivers up my spine): And by "we," I mean, "I." My minion Mike had just asked, "Why does the boat have lips," and I jumped in to say, "I think that's a lipstick print 'cause somebody kissed the boat 'cause it's a boat angel." Hans said, "No... it has teeth. And there are eyes up on the bridge, too."
I need glasses.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (two notes): My definition of notable, that is.
##FOOTNOTE (tic-tac-toeing the line): I'm not being flip. When your mom has about 200 first cousins and they all have upwards of ten kids, the whole "cousins" issue begins to require some precision to have any meaning at all.
†††FOOTNOTE (you can't be cross with Dennis): Dennis is gay. Given the statistics, he can't possibly be the only gay member of the Ohlert family, but he's the only one who will cop to it. Hey, when a large chunk of your large family is midwestern farming German Catholic, a gay man who runs a museum is like a bird of paradise among daisies.
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (follow my train of thought): Or not. He may just sit on the board. Or decorate. Curate is a prettier word.
§§§FOOTNOTE (there is a season, turn, turn, turn): I'm still waiting for someone to tell me why so many witty, intelligent women are so in love with that piece of literary dross.
¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (pull the lever, cast your vote): I bet y'all are hoping I don't come up with anything better so you can find out which Twilight character I am.
Ah, Friday.
Friday with its promise of exotic weekend fun and its propensity for blogquizzes, memes and pig-licking.
[SUMMARY: You can dress a pig up. It's still a pig.]
*************
I *am* knitting.
Only, I'm knitting the ubiquitous Noro stripey scarf and I would be too embarrassed to post a WIP photo.† I may even be too embarrassed to post it when it's finished. It's just been so... done.‡
There's also the Purple Prose scarf, which hasn't seen a frogging since the dropped-stitch mishap of two weeks ago and is well over half done. As you know, pictures of unblocked lace tend to look like yarn barf or crumpled tissue,% so I'm foregoing that pleasure as well.§
But this is still a knitblog and I am still knitting. You'll just have to take my word for it.
[SUMMARY: I don't ask much.]
*************
I went to the
It was that abyssmal.
I took all the festive photos, just like last year. In the end, this may be the only picture of note:
It looks a little like a Koolhaas licensed by the NFL.
[SUMMARY: Go Broncos! Take your stupid cheerleaders with you!]
*************
It's hard to believe, but I think CBS Outdoors has found an even weirder billboard than Chas and Terry.
We've had many lively discussions on this one.
Not just for the concept of, "OK, so I was driving down the road, trying to get to the grocery store before rush hour, when I saw this billboard and it hit me: I can DONATE my boat!"
Not just for the ill-advised colour selection.‡‡
The best conversation was probably the one where we§§ realised that boat has lips and eyes.
I don't know that it's as creepy as Chas and Terry, but I believe it may be more disconcerting.
[SUMMARY: Somebody has too much time on her hands.]
*************
Hans left yesterday for Decorah, Iowa, to take his girfriend to visit her brother, who is attending college there.
This is notable¶¶ for two reasons:
- Hans swore, after getting much grief from all quarters for his globe-trotting ways and impeccable timing in leaving for Thailand at precisely the time when we needed two warm bodies battling the bugs of divestiture, that he wasn't going to be gone for the rest of the year. This declaration was quickly followed with, "Well, except for Iowa in November. But that doesn't count." So we refer to this as the Trip that Never Was. And I think that's funny.
- I am related on my mother's side to half of Decorah. Maybe more. One of my favourite first-cousins-once-removed,## Dennis,††† curates‡‡‡ the Porter House Museum there.
On a cheerful note, I was behind this kindred spirit in traffic the other day:
It's good to have peeps.
*************
I'm not even going to post the perfume bit I'd thought to do today. It's one I smelled while the aforementioned Hans was in the aforementioned Thailand and I thought to myself, "Screw him. I smelled it without him, he left me here to go see Dennis, I'm posting without him."
But then I saw it was a lovely warm, woody, unisex floral that I had billed as "balloon and hot electronics," so I think I'll wait until I can smell again and give it a second chance.
*
*
*
Yeah, next Friday I'll probably just do a meme or a some quiz on which Twilight character§§§ I am.
Or I'll take more cough medicine and *really* make it a party.¶¶¶
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Curse you, Yarn Harlot!
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And you know I'm always looking to be undone.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Another Yarn Harlot observation. I'm not sure whether to curse her for taking all the good ones or bless her for making it easy for me to cop out on lace photos.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): You're welcome.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Or 1991. Maybe 1992. In any case, it is one of the two most annoying tales in my repertoire, the other one being how I will never, ever rip the wrapping off a present again since the time I gave into my mother's frustration and ripped the dust jacket of a lovely collector's edition of Alice in Wonderland. There's nothing snottier than a person who is irritating with cause.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): A game now famous, on all the Sports Illustrated lists... a game I get to say, "I was there," when people bring it up, but have to say, "No, I didn't see the ending. It sounded exciting from the parking lot, though."
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Still bitter.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): I know purple and yellow are technically contrasting colours and good for things like billboards but... yucch.
§§FOOTNOTE (like shivers up my spine): And by "we," I mean, "I." My minion Mike had just asked, "Why does the boat have lips," and I jumped in to say, "I think that's a lipstick print 'cause somebody kissed the boat 'cause it's a boat angel." Hans said, "No... it has teeth. And there are eyes up on the bridge, too."
I need glasses.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (two notes): My definition of notable, that is.
##FOOTNOTE (tic-tac-toeing the line): I'm not being flip. When your mom has about 200 first cousins and they all have upwards of ten kids, the whole "cousins" issue begins to require some precision to have any meaning at all.
†††FOOTNOTE (you can't be cross with Dennis): Dennis is gay. Given the statistics, he can't possibly be the only gay member of the Ohlert family, but he's the only one who will cop to it. Hey, when a large chunk of your large family is midwestern farming German Catholic, a gay man who runs a museum is like a bird of paradise among daisies.
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (follow my train of thought): Or not. He may just sit on the board. Or decorate. Curate is a prettier word.
§§§FOOTNOTE (there is a season, turn, turn, turn): I'm still waiting for someone to tell me why so many witty, intelligent women are so in love with that piece of literary dross.
¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (pull the lever, cast your vote): I bet y'all are hoping I don't come up with anything better so you can find out which Twilight character I am.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Well, Now, I'll Just Have a Little Lick Over Here
I can't believe I forgot to use these pigs on Halloween. I was so giddy over the Hersheys with Omens cartoon I flat forgot.
So, Happy Post-Halloween Thanksgivingish Continuum.
[SUMMARY: Fall.]
And I find I have a bunch of little things and nothing worth its own blogpost. That's what licking the pig is all about, my friends.
[SUMMARY: To recap...]
First, there was a little nudge in the comments to spill the beans on my cereal purchase. I may have been remiss in where it came from. Their contact address is in New Hampshire, the "about us" mentions sublets in NYC and the cereal came packed with wadded Boston Globes, so... east coast. Possibly New York.
Anyway, it's a company called [me] & goji† that I found through Gizmodo or Geekologie. The cereal is spectacular. I'm a cereal fan in general, but this cereal takes the cake.‡
On their website, you§ travel through a list of ingredients -- different flakes, grains, seeds, nuts, berries -- and add what you want to your cereal bowl. As each item is added, the nutritional information label on the right reflects your choices.
Then you name your cereal.¶ Then you buy your cereal. Then your cereal is hand-packed by a REALLY cute boy.# It's almost like having cabana boys. In New York. Or maybe New Hampshire.
It is, of course, a little expensive for cereal. Like lovingly hand-knit socks are a little more expensive than socks-by-the-dozen from Old Navy.††
Also? You can buy carbon offsets to ameliorate the guilt of having cereal shipped across the country.
Also? Goldenberries are really, really sour. You should get something sweet to go with them if you get goldenberries.‡‡
[SUMMARY: I have impulse control problems in so many arenas.]
Lace knitting may be the death of me. Despite my chest-pounding over being able to count on beyond four, I'm not sure that's accurate. Or maybe just not consistent.
The good news is Malabrigo Lace, despite its fuzziness, holds up pretty well through multiple froggings.
[SUMMARY: Says the voice of experience.]
Last week, a new billboard went up. I called Hans, excitedly,% and he immediately decided we should bet lunch on what the billboard would be.
"How specific?"
"Category. Specific category. I'm going to say... ski resort."
"Shit. That's a good one. I bet you win. Um... health care!"
I win.
Of course, I have to look at the surprisingly creepy guys§§ on the billboard until they take it down. I'm guessing since everybody finds it so creepy, this billboard is the one that will stick through the next six months.
[SUMMARY: A message of hope.]
A chocolate eyeball escaped from the Halloween candy some time within the last couple of weeks and got covered by a knitting pattern then ground into the carpet. I'm blaming it on the cat.
If anyone knows how to get chocolate out of shag carpet, let me know.
[SUMMARY: The joys of homeownership. And cat ownership. And chocolate eyeballs.]
Today I wore my jacket when we went to lunch. Friday I bought a snow brush/scraper for the Cutest Little Car in the Whole Wide World. Seemingly unrelated events.
Seemingly.
I believe they are both important steps on my campaign to become St. Marin of the Mountains, patron saint of fuzzy crack, fuzzy cats and odd sexual positions.¶¶
See, I know if I had not sweated my way through lunch today unnecessarily, if I had not purchased a $12 snow thingie, it would be cold and snowing for the rest of the winter. As it stands, I have assured my fellow citizens a pleasant Monday's lunchtime and a minimum of snow this season.
If that's not martyrdom, I don't know what is.
Unfortunately, I haven't heard a peep from the Vatican yet. How many miracles does one woman have to perform before the frickin' Vatican will take notice?
[SUMMARY: Not a theology major.]
I'm pretty sure I had more to share, but I don't know what it might have been. Hell, I gave you Terry and Chas. What more could you want from me?
*************
Champaca - Ormonde Jayne
Marin says: The first blast makes me want to say "lime," only it's not quite that bright -- more like one of those tough, bitter grasses that you'd nibble on when you were a kid and too young to worry about how bitter it was.
It dries down within minutes to a watery, woody, slightly citrusy smell. There's something dry and sharp in it, like pepper, but very little scent of any kind left.
I feel like I'm missing the whole lovely roll-out because it's too small to smell.
This may be the first Ormonde Jayne I'm not delighted with -- the scent itself is fine, but it's so fleeting it's best on the cuffs rather than the wrist.##
Ormonde Jayne says: (A tiny pale orange flower from India) Related to the magnolia and deemed sacred in the Indus Valley, Champaca flower absolute is a heavenly, creamy floral scent - both elegant and intimate.$ Blended with neroli and bamboo and underscored with fragrant rice and green tea notes, this is a distinguished perfume of rare beauty.
Top: Neroli,$ pink pepper$ and bamboo
Heart: Champaca and freesia absolutes, basmati notes
Base: Myrrh, green tea notes and musk
Hans says: Sour smelling, like... I almost got it... right at the end, like an herb. Just at the end.
[like lime, but not limey enough to be lime, I said]
Yeah! Not super-citrusy, more earthy. Earthy sour citrusy. Write it down.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Their grammar, not mine.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Heh.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): And by "you," I really mean "you," 'cause I'm guessing a solid majority of those who go check out the website won't be able to resist building their own cereal, even if they never actually order. It's like some low-tech, high-fibre video game.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Like having kids or getting a puppy, naming rights are part of the charm. My cereals are "The Bible Tells Me So" because it had a lot of biblical grains in it and "Hopin' Sesame" because there are sesame seeds in it and I'm the biggest dork in the world.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Adam packed mine. He hand-signed both containers in blue Sharpie, which I think is a charming touch.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): If I speak your language, it's so much easier for you to understand.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): The Bible Tells Me So contains artisanal cereal, spelt flakes, goldenberry and chia (runner up name: Chia, My Pet). Hopin' Sesame contains: flaxed and flaked, rye flakes, goji, bananas, blueberries and sesame seeds (runner up name: Goji, bo-boji, banana-fana, fo-bluberry, me-my-rye flake, sesame!). I know you wanted to ask.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Excited because it was a political billboard, referencing some ballot issue we were sure we'd have to look at for months after the vote was in and counted. Not excited because they were changing the billboard. They do that about every other week.
§§FOOTNOTE (how are we going to spin this?): We have nicknamed them Terry and Chas. Chas's full name is Charles "Meatball" Thoroughbrace III. Only his mother calls him Trip and nobody's really called him Meatball anymore since Winky Bushmeyer died in '97. And if you think they're not creepy, click for big.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (heads up, Vatican City): Still working on the particulars. I figure I don't need to have it all nailed down until I make my acceptance speech. There's an awards ceremony, right?
##FOOTNOTE (reasons too numerous to number): A concept I ddn't figure out for the longest time. When perfumes evaporate too quickly, they'd apparently be better off sprayed on the clothing, which will absorb and hold them, then on the skin where they eventually wear off. At least, that's what I think it means. That's what I'm talking about, in any case.
$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): I'm counting "intimate" as "nobody can smell it now unless they're intimate with me."
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
DNC - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
I took about 106 pictures.
This is a little less than half.† If you click on them, they'll get big.
They weave their way through the odd maintenance of the downtown fire hydrants‡ and the poorly-conceived parking lot price gouging.§
They tour the media blitz, the tourists and the fervent political pamphlet passers.¶
They skip across the political spectrum from scary to scary on the infrared and ultra-violet ends and a whole lot of in between.
We learned to look at motorcades as our daily due. We watched people hail taxis on street corners.# We watched the blossoming and fading of a whole new world of entrepreneurship.††
Pedicabs came from all over the country. Cops came from all over the state. Helicopters came from... well, presumably from hell and Channel 9.
Downtown was lousy with twinkle lights, bikes, bunting, celebrities,@ senators, balloons, buttons, hybrids, red carpets, pedicabs, riot gear, TiVi cameras, personal cameras, propaganda, flags, signs and just plain people.
Despite all previous apprehension,‡‡ it was a fantastic experience.
My icy, cynical heart is all warm and gooey about the way my city handled this. I was amazed at how polite and cheerful and civilised everybody was.§§ I was grateful the disruptive rioters didn't put up much of a front.¶¶ I was delighted with the energy.##
As dumb as it is, the fact that our very own 'hood, the walking villa with the great restaurants and friendly bars, the mecca of boutique shopping, made national news at more than one outlet for being a "can't miss" slice of Denverana%... well, I'm proud.^
I wanna do it again.†††
*************
Fetish - Neil Morris (Vault) - (edp)
Marin says: This is another one that feels a little like I shouldn't like it -- maybe a little too head shop, maybe a little too amber-and-vanilla. But I *do* like it.
I get a strong undercurrent of patchouli (the dirty kind). The waft is pure amber/incense, but it gets more complex if you get closer. There's a lot going on... copper? Vanilla? Something astringent?
Ooooh, an hour in, there's a good, solid dry wood -- not as sharp and tangy as fresh-cut pine, but maybe a weathered pine log.
Neil Morris says: A warm blend of Myrrh,$ Ambergris, Rosewood, Musk, Oud, Leather,$ Benzoin$ and Patchouli.$
The Perfumed Court says: ...Fetish has notes of Carnation, Benzoin Absolute, Rosewood, Musk, Ambergris, Leather and is a great dark scent.
Hans says: I definitely get a whiff of baby powder, but there's something else. Like... air. Rain air.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): You're welcome.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): A few weeks ago, it was the new locking tops. Then on Monday, they opened them up then went out into the street to do something underground. I think it was very nice of them to test the system before the riots.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Usually $9 a day, the lot jumped to $25 a day. Nobody parked there except a couple of monthly parkers. It was $25 when Hans and I went to lunch. It was $25 when we came back from lunch. By the time we got up to our offices, it was down to $9 again. Lesson apparently learned.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): I collected a LOT of pamphlets. I made a point of it. In fact, some of the pamphleteers were suspicious of my enthusiasm for their products.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): *Nobody* hails a cab in Denver. You call for cabs in Denver. It shocked the hell out of some of the cabbies. By the end of the week, they were responding like pros.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): And more Barack-rock puns than you can shake a donkey at.
@FOOTNOTE (atted): Alicia from the office was stalking celebrities. She had binoculars in the empty office that looks over to the Brown Palace. That's her celebrity sighting board in the pictures.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Read: bitching. Or, as we like to say, "Breezing."
§§FOOTNOTE (whirlwind political tour): People mostly watched where they were going, and when they didn't, they said, "Excuse me." I can't even get that at my local grocery store. It was totally impressive. I'm not a big fan of Obama, but I did feel a twinge of hope all my own.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (fists raised in triumph): More tear gas would have sucked.
##FOOTNOTE (Give us a pound! Make it 'splode!): Like NYC, only actively friendly. And sunny.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Pertaining to America = Americana. Pertaining to Denver = Denverana.
^FOOTNOTE (careted): The fact that it will probably boost housing values is just icing on the pride cake.
†††FOOTNOTE (not as cross as I look): Like a small child on her first merry-go-round ride: "Again! Do it again!"
$FOOTNOTE (on the money): I'm giving myself a lot of credit here. I'm saying the benzoin is the astringent part, the myrrh is a classic incense component and every time I think copper there's leather involved. So maybe two points -- a half for each note. But a full point for patchouli.
Speaking of patchouli, I got a big ol' patchouli roll-on from Secret Pal out of the mailbox this morning. Thanks, Secret Pal!
This is a little less than half.† If you click on them, they'll get big.
They weave their way through the odd maintenance of the downtown fire hydrants‡ and the poorly-conceived parking lot price gouging.§
They tour the media blitz, the tourists and the fervent political pamphlet passers.¶
They skip across the political spectrum from scary to scary on the infrared and ultra-violet ends and a whole lot of in between.
We learned to look at motorcades as our daily due. We watched people hail taxis on street corners.# We watched the blossoming and fading of a whole new world of entrepreneurship.††
Pedicabs came from all over the country. Cops came from all over the state. Helicopters came from... well, presumably from hell and Channel 9.
Downtown was lousy with twinkle lights, bikes, bunting, celebrities,@ senators, balloons, buttons, hybrids, red carpets, pedicabs, riot gear, TiVi cameras, personal cameras, propaganda, flags, signs and just plain people.
Despite all previous apprehension,‡‡ it was a fantastic experience.
My icy, cynical heart is all warm and gooey about the way my city handled this. I was amazed at how polite and cheerful and civilised everybody was.§§ I was grateful the disruptive rioters didn't put up much of a front.¶¶ I was delighted with the energy.##
As dumb as it is, the fact that our very own 'hood, the walking villa with the great restaurants and friendly bars, the mecca of boutique shopping, made national news at more than one outlet for being a "can't miss" slice of Denverana%... well, I'm proud.^
I wanna do it again.†††
*************
Fetish - Neil Morris (Vault) - (edp)
Marin says: This is another one that feels a little like I shouldn't like it -- maybe a little too head shop, maybe a little too amber-and-vanilla. But I *do* like it.
I get a strong undercurrent of patchouli (the dirty kind). The waft is pure amber/incense, but it gets more complex if you get closer. There's a lot going on... copper? Vanilla? Something astringent?
Ooooh, an hour in, there's a good, solid dry wood -- not as sharp and tangy as fresh-cut pine, but maybe a weathered pine log.
Neil Morris says: A warm blend of Myrrh,$ Ambergris, Rosewood, Musk, Oud, Leather,$ Benzoin$ and Patchouli.$
The Perfumed Court says: ...Fetish has notes of Carnation, Benzoin Absolute, Rosewood, Musk, Ambergris, Leather and is a great dark scent.
Hans says: I definitely get a whiff of baby powder, but there's something else. Like... air. Rain air.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): You're welcome.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): A few weeks ago, it was the new locking tops. Then on Monday, they opened them up then went out into the street to do something underground. I think it was very nice of them to test the system before the riots.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Usually $9 a day, the lot jumped to $25 a day. Nobody parked there except a couple of monthly parkers. It was $25 when Hans and I went to lunch. It was $25 when we came back from lunch. By the time we got up to our offices, it was down to $9 again. Lesson apparently learned.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): I collected a LOT of pamphlets. I made a point of it. In fact, some of the pamphleteers were suspicious of my enthusiasm for their products.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): *Nobody* hails a cab in Denver. You call for cabs in Denver. It shocked the hell out of some of the cabbies. By the end of the week, they were responding like pros.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): And more Barack-rock puns than you can shake a donkey at.
@FOOTNOTE (atted): Alicia from the office was stalking celebrities. She had binoculars in the empty office that looks over to the Brown Palace. That's her celebrity sighting board in the pictures.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Read: bitching. Or, as we like to say, "Breezing."
§§FOOTNOTE (whirlwind political tour): People mostly watched where they were going, and when they didn't, they said, "Excuse me." I can't even get that at my local grocery store. It was totally impressive. I'm not a big fan of Obama, but I did feel a twinge of hope all my own.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (fists raised in triumph): More tear gas would have sucked.
##FOOTNOTE (Give us a pound! Make it 'splode!): Like NYC, only actively friendly. And sunny.
%FOOTNOTE (percented): Pertaining to America = Americana. Pertaining to Denver = Denverana.
^FOOTNOTE (careted): The fact that it will probably boost housing values is just icing on the pride cake.
†††FOOTNOTE (not as cross as I look): Like a small child on her first merry-go-round ride: "Again! Do it again!"
$FOOTNOTE (on the money): I'm giving myself a lot of credit here. I'm saying the benzoin is the astringent part, the myrrh is a classic incense component and every time I think copper there's leather involved. So maybe two points -- a half for each note. But a full point for patchouli.
Speaking of patchouli, I got a big ol' patchouli roll-on from Secret Pal out of the mailbox this morning. Thanks, Secret Pal!
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