Photogasmic fun.

I just did this in class. No, its not a photograph, look closer. If you send me a pic of you, I'll do the same.

Thanksgiving

I spent the first half of Thanksgiving with the McKnights at the bay, south of Annapolis. The drive from Pittsburgh Wednesday night was brutal in the snow, but I managed to arrive at 2:45am unscathed.

The weather was brisk, but it did not deter any beachcombing, nor Ben and I from going barefoot. I doubt that is a suprise. If you haven't guessed, this is Deb. For those of you who don't know who Deb is, she's Bens wife. Also mother of Thomas(not to be confused with Tomasz).





After a few days of lounging at the beach, and eating way too many leftovers, I returned home for another Thanksgiving meal with the immediate family. I am greeted by not only my father, but a backhoe and a 30' trench in my backyard. Had my brother been home, he would have dug it by hand, but without this cheap form of labor, my dad had to outsource.






Chica is partaking in trench warfare.
Ze Germans don't stand a chance.

the reconnaissance run, and midnight thievery

The other night after work, I went for a run. It's not uncommon for me to run this late at night. I've gotten very habitual about my runs, and when I decide I'm doing a run that day, I do it...whenever that may be. Today I had a 2hr break from work, and what did I do? Ran. Not like I was on my feet all day in the first place. Now, however, we're way off topic.
Since it was late at night, I decided to run down 5th ave. For those of you not entirely familiar with the Pittsburgh area, 5th ave is a rather busy four lane road that runs thru the residential area of Shadyside. I run there at night because it's well lit.
On my run I passed a house with some clutter in the front yard. Upon close inspection I realized that it was a recliner, a futon frame and mattress. The wheels in my head started turning... Futon sitting out on trash day...Hmmmmm. A plan was unraveling.
When I returned I did some recruiting and found an unsuspecting individual who was willing for some adventure. We set out in the reliable ol' Subaru and scouted the area. Fifth was too busy to park on. We were left with no choice but to pull right into their driveway. Seeing no startled residents flipping on lights, we set to work. We are able to get the frame in, and ungracefully cram the mattress into the back of the car.
I am now proud owner of a fully functional futon. For those of you wary about trash-picked furniture, fear not. I bought an abundance of cleaning materials and it proves to be in very good shape. With a futon cover, it'll be as good as new.

Its not glamorous, but hey, it's free.

Burning Issue

Today I was going for my usual run thru Shadyside. Along the way I observed a lady smoking, finish her cigarette, and dispose of it onto the street. Ok, that's littering, but it's not what irked me; she did it in close proximity to a massive pile of leaves. It was a rather windy day too. Now it doesn't take a genius to find the problem in this.
However this isn't even the problem. It stired a memory from last summer.
I was in Washington State and just finished my NOLS course- 1 month in the Olympic National Park Wilderness Area. I had spent an extrordinary amount of time living in the elements and being able to appreciate nature. My group of 12 had just left the park and were excited to spend a few precious hours at the beach before returning to camp. It was the first time we interacted with the real world for 29 days. Everything seemed strange; from car engines, to seeing people in jeans. As we wandered along the beach we saw smoke coming from a large pile of driftwood. Upon aproaching this, we found that somone had started a fire, left it, and it had slowly been burning rather large chunks of driftwood. It had apparently been going for the better portion of a day. All around this burning pile of driftwood was an ample suply of more driftwood, and a nearby tree line, filled with dead branches and underbrush. Had this fire gone unnoticed, there was a high probability that much of this would have gone ablaze. Once the treeline caught, say goodbye to the Olympics.
To prevent this travesty from occuring, several of us used our cooking pots and bucketed water onto the fire. Unfortunately, it was low tide. The nearest bucketable water was a good hundred yards away. So, needless to say, we did plenty of sloshing buckets all over the beach. By digging a hole halfway down the beach we could cut some of our distance off.
An hour, and several sore muscles later, we finally had the fire down to barely a sizzle. We traded our precious beach time, which we were all looking foreward the entire trip, so that we could put out some fire created by some inconsiderate jerk. Welcome to the civilization, jen...welcome to civilization.

The first of the flurry fury

Today is the first day this season for snow. I'm not taking into acount places such as Maine and Colorado that have been getting snow since late August. This is snow actually seen with my own two eyes. Heres hoping that after Thanksgiving it will actually be cold enough for these flurries to stick to the ground. Not all ground surfaces. Roads need to be kept clear. I'm thinking more of grassy surfaces, like ski slopes. Yeah, just the ski slopes. So when I return from break armed with my K2's There will be some ground to test them out. I could try going down my stairs with them, but I don't believe that will be too productive. Keep your fingers crossed for snow and cold weather.

I have an open invitation standing. If anyone is going or has the urge to go skiing and i guess i can include snowboarders too, ask me. I would be more than happy to take an excursion to Seven Springs. The Outback, although not equipped with a roof rack, does have ample space in the trunk.

It's snowing harder now. I believe I may run around my block in an enthusiactic frenzy while wearing my ski boots. Adieu!

False alarm fire call

I'm not a bad cook. Really, I'm not. If you were my neighbor you may think so, or derive that I play with fire a lot. Why so, you ask? My smoke detector goes off as regularly as my morning alarm clock. Which, if you know my class schedule, is literally once a week. This is no joke. Every time I think about cooking something, **BEEEEP* *BEEEEP** I usually suffer 2 ear-piercing beeps by the time I sprint down the hall. The food that I am cooking is not burnt, emitting toxic fumes, on fire, nor is it close. Well, there is that one time I left a pancake on the stove for 10 minutes... but I'll save that for another time.
I should feel secure knowing that my smoke detector not only works, but works overly well. Should anything actually catch fire in my apartment, or even in the building next door, my alarm will be the first to know. To reassure my neighbors that I am not a pyro, I have taken the liberty of removing the fire detector from the wall every time I cook. I then proceed to step on it a half hour later when I forget that I placed it on the floor. Nonetheless, it has never failed. So when I'm playing with candles some evening, I'll know the minute one sets my curtains on fire.

UPDATE!

The squirrels have been removed from my ceiling.








I know you were all deeply concerned.

The itch...

Recently I've been getting a little itch. This isn't the itch caused by the mysterious biting spiders that live in my apartment. This is a bit more advantageous to have. Tae Kwon Do keeps tugging at me from the inside. The adrenaline, the sweat, the invigorating workout, and gasping for breath after i've taken a beating from a 6'2" fellow sparer. I've been getting jumpy- started jabbing at the air, and thinking about footwork patterns as I run. While dancing, I'll imagine the best position for ax kicks, counter-rounds, and a solid backfist. Don't worry, I'm not going to start swinging; I'll save that for the dojang.

Belt Test '04. Board Break

Italy, Il Palio and icons.

My intents are two-fold. First, I'm going to advertise for Italy. Secondly I'm going to advertise for me. In the small Tuscan town of Siena, a horse race, Il Palio, occurs every July and August. It transpires in the small plazza at the center of the town. This area is dirt and cobblestone, surrounded by acient stone buildings, housing cathedrals, shops and restaurants. It's a beautiful location, and a popular destination during the summer months. This particular event gathers thousands of thousands of tourists to watch 10 horses race around a space smaller than the infield of a baseball diamond.
To the top right is a logo that I've created for the event. It is an Illustrator CS image. If that means nothing to you, don't worry, it's just a bunch of technical art nonsense. Feedback and opinions on all all artwork is appreciated.

Midnight Floyd

Most of you know me as an avid drug user. Yes, I'm a pothead, on LSD, and acid- all at once. For those of you who haven't experience the wonders of these minor drugs, I have a suggestion. Visit Pittsburgh, hell, heres an novel idea, stay with me. At midnight on Friday or Saturday take a trip(no pun intended) down to the Carnegie Science Center. Here you will experience a lazer show set to the tune of Pink Floyd. You pick the album, and they do the lights, and the trippy effects. Its worth the pocket emptying $8 to get in. The crowd is mellow, the seats are reclining and comfortable, with the exception of your neck crained back.
If you want to test drive this idea do this:

• Put on your favorite Pink Floyd Album.
• Turn your Windows Media Player visualization to "full screen mode"
• Turn off the lights
• Tilt your monitor down
• Sit on the floor

What you're experiencing is about a tenth as cool, but it's the closest your'e going to get. So, get up off the floor and go. Try here first.