Archive for September, 2006

Dance, dance, yeah!

Friday, September 29th, 2006

You remember the old days of the web when page after page was littered with wretched animated .GIF files? I recall countless web pages that ground my old computer’s processor to a halt because of the myriad animations which filled the screen…mostly cheesy graphics of fire burning, people driving cars, or three frames of animation to otherwise give the impression of movement.

Those days seem largely to have passed (unless you dig through MySpace).

Today, however, I was reminded of a hilarious graphic whilst perusing the comment boards on Radio Paradise, and it’s too hilarious not to share:
dancing nancys!

Yorkie-what?!??

Thursday, September 28th, 2006

Yesterday I had a rather nice exchange with a co-worker. I say nice because she’s not on my team, and in fact is in a department that’s frequently at odds with mine, and folks in her group don’t typically just socialize with folks on my team.

The content of the conversation was a little funny, however…she just launched into a story about how she’d just purchased $150 worth of dog supplies in an effort to show her husband that she was ready to get a dog she’d been waiting on. This wasn’t just a little puppy she wanted…this was a dog that’s on hold for her…a “yorkie-poo.”

WTF is a yorkie-poo? It’s one of them new-fangled “designer” dogs, where a breeder combines two pure-breeds into what is essentially a specialized mutt. That costs money. Sometimes as much as a pure-breed.

So why on earth would somebody do this? Well apparently to obtain a dog with desireable attributes from two different breeds while weeding out the defects that come from in-breeding. Poodles have become very popular because of their intelligence and general lack of shedding, though my mom’s late poodle was a strong argument to the contrary in the poodle intelligence camp.

The rise of cross breeding poodles with other dogs has led to the development of the most sickeningly saccharine names, like yorkie-poo, doxie-poo (dachshund + poodle), and schnoodle (schnauzer + poodle).

I’d personally like to mix a Boxer with a Poodle and see if I end up with a Box-o-poo.

DMB

Saturday, September 23rd, 2006

Whoa…last night I saw a FREAKIN’ INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCE.

My friend Robert invited me to come with him to the opening event at the John Paul Jones arena at UVA – The Dave Matthews Band. They were incredible. The musicianship was excellent to witness. The arena was exciting, and the seats were incredible. While my preference is still for more intimate club shows, I was reminded of why arena shows can be so excellent – the noise and anticipation of the crowd was infectious, and made it that much more fun to be there.

Good show, Carrothers, good show.

Moo. No, really!

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006

From a brief overview by the fellas at 37signals, I decided to check out Moo – a company dedicated to making your sundry web-ephemera tangible.

Currently, Moo only handles these delightfully ingenious “calling cards” made (full bleed, apparently) from your cropped photos on Flickr. It’s stupidly easy to use, works like a charm to set up, and if you have a Flickr Pro account (like I do), you can try it out for free and get a ten-pack of cards made from up to ten different pictures. You can customize the text on the back as much as anyone needs to, and it’s a snap. Four main steps, and you’re done!

I hope to post an update when I receive my cards “up to ten days” from now.

He’s writin’!

Monday, September 18th, 2006

Mugs is writing! He’s planning to release a serialized novel over a twelve month period, starting November 1st, via his blog.

READ IT!

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons…

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Ahhh…it’s a fine thing to rouse yourself from a groggy Saturday morning slump with the fine cappuccino of Cafe Gutenberg.

I’m sitting here this morning, quarter-to-nine, having just finished a breakfast panini, and I can’t help but love this coffee/book shop even more in the AM. It’s quiet, and the few patrons here are dicussing books, the past week, or what-have-you, their muted voices comingling with the hiss of the espresso machine and the traditional jazz on the speakers.

It’s a fine continuation of my weekend, too – last night I witnessed some of the finest musicians of my young life: John Winn, Robbie Sinclair, and Daniel Clarke of the John Winntet, and formerly of VCU as well. These fellas know jazz like they know breathing, and the seven dollar cover left me feeling like I was cheating them out of something.

As if the music itself wasn’t fantastic, I was treated to the comfortable atmosphere of Bogart’s back room lounge for – amazingly, in my nearly four years since turning 21 – the first time. I plan on returning frequently.

Now I turn from my laptop to my second cappuccino, and after that an espresso :-)

Ciao!

Blah…g

Friday, September 15th, 2006

So maybe nobody read the football post, or perhaps even my friends and brother have stopped reading! Either way, I removed the following from the football post so it wouldn’t be lost in the shuffle.

Originally in a post a few days ago:

On an unrelated note – it just struck me that I’ve been doing this Blog thing regularly for over a year now! It’s too late to do some hokey Blog Birthday crap, but I just have to say that I’m amazed I kept up with some pseudo-writing endeavor this long. July 2005, I posted my first entry here, and I’ve been at it ever since. And still with a readership of about 3 people :-)

So post a comment here if you’re actually reading, eh? Just to let me know who’s out there.

An Apple a day…

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

Alright, the Steve Jobs speech at the Apple press event is starting in a minute…

Go to Mac Rumors for auto-updating second-hand coverage.

What’ll it be? I’ll update this post when I have a summary…

UPDATE:
So here’s what happened:
1. Updated video iPods, better storage, not many new features.
2. New Nanos…multi-color aluminum like ye olde Mini.
3. New Shuffle – little aluminum square – wicked tiny at 1 Gb capacity.
4. Movies on iTunes.
5. HOLY CRAP – SNEAK PREVIEW – New media integration device for your living room…looks like half a Mac Mini…purely delicious, and I want one when it comes out Q1 next year….

Yeah, so I suppose I’m turning into a total Apple nut, but hey, they’ve been crankin’ out slick stuff for several years straight, now.

That’s their little style.

Monday, September 11th, 2006

Yesterday Dave and I went for a stroll around Shockhoe Bottom and Church Hill, takin’ pictures as we walked. It was a good day to be outside for a few hours, and some of my snaps turned out decent.

Here they are – they’re the first 20 in my list.

Wasted

Saturday, September 9th, 2006

Wasted day, wasted time. Wasted opportunity. I have what’s essentially man time all weekend long, because Valerie is taking a prep course for her certification exam. What have I accomplished?

I spent 4 hours watching cartoons this morning. I got my hair cut. I bought rat traps and a weed eater. I met a buddy for lunch and went for a walk. I came home and set out one of the rat traps.

I’ve pushed the lawn to tomorrow afternoon. Ugh. Sometimes I just feel like I have no motivation.