a creative kickstart. participation encouraged.

It seems like all I can do when I watch the Olympics is cry.

I cry when they fall.

I cry when they win.

I cry when their parents cry.

I cry when they get their medals.

I cry when they cry.

I also cry at the pictures. No, it isn’t just live action that sends me into a tizzy.

On the picture tip, check out the leg muscles on Alicia Sacramone.  All anyone can talk about lately is Michael Phelps’ amazing body.  Those leg muscles are nothing to sneeze at.

• Olympic Tech and Other Sundries
• Ex-Gay Asshole (with bad grammar)
• Google Chat Status, Volume 18
• Do You Read Blogs?
• Strip Blogging

Quote of the Day (#3… it’s my blog, I can have as many quotes of the day as I want), from BlogHer writer Zoe Gaymo:

Converts are the most passionate about their religion.

So simple.  So true.

• Writer’s Voice
• Licking Gummys
• On Perspective
• Country Music
• Just that Gay

First it was the smoke detector at home.

And then it was the fire alarm in my building at work.

Now, right this second, the alarm is going off in the building next door.  With my window open, it really might as well be actually ringing in our office.

Perhaps I won’t go deaf, but I think I really might go nuts.

• Beep, Beep, Beep…
• Make a Small Fuss
• Google Calendar Sync with Outlook
• Flattery might get you a job
• Google Chat Status, Volume 8

Sorry to step on your toes, Elisa, but I couldn’t resist this contribution for _________ of the day, from Julia Brigidi of Bristol Workshops in Photography, on providing service to gay couples:

“I don’t care if they’re red, green, white or from New York. I’m happy that people who deserve to be married can do it legally now.”

(as reported in Providence Business News)

• Lesbian U-Haul, anyone?
• Out of Touch
• Ernest Borgnine’s Secret to Looking Great at 91 Years Old
• Gummy Friends
• Google Chat Status, Volume 16

(Does it count if she’s actually coming here to drive with me?)

If you don’t get the reference (which I am astounded to find many people don’t… the number of blank stares I’ve gotten is amazing), watch Good Will Hunting immediately.

Perhaps you are aware that I’m moving to Colorado. (Now you are, if you weren’t.)

I made this trip last summer, by car, with Megan, when she moved out there.

We will be doing it again in a few months. 6 months from today (give or take a day), to be exact. (At any given moment, you can see exactly how long until roadtrip #2 by checking out the little counter there on the left…) She is flying out here and we are driving me and all of my crap to Colorado.

We did it mad-dash style last summer… and made it there in 2.5 days.

This time, we will take our time a little bit and perhaps see some things along the way.

(Sorry, all of the people we know in the middle of the country, we won’t likely be stopping to see people, just things. Like, perhaps, Niagara Falls.)

So, if you’re not totally cranky at me for moving away (sorry mom, LSN, JFS and work people), or totally cranky at me because I just said we wouldn’t visit you even though your house is totally, like, right on the way, do you have any ideas about where we should stop and have a little look-see?

• Breathing Space
• Slip ‘N Slide
• Country Music
• Bad Juju
• Getting Into the Post-Its

Quote of the Day, again regarding the Jesus whistle:

It’s too bad Jesus isn’t a slide whistle bc that would be really extra good.

• It’s Jesus
• Better than Magic
• Jesus Whistle
• Slip ‘N Slide
• Just that Gay

Everyone’s been asking why I’m not an Olympic weightlifter.  And the reason, really, is the potential for graphically and horrifically dislocating my elbow on TV. There’s video of what it looks like but it’s so awful I can’t even post it here directly. But it’s worth watching for the intervention team and their paper shields - almost makes it possible to ignore the screaming:

OUCH

• Get a New Job
• Olympic Tech and Other Sundries
• Personal Tech Support
• Urban Plantains
• More Google Chat Status(es?)

Quote of the Day, regarding the Jesus whistle:

It doesn’t need to be a good whistle because it’s Jesus and Jesus has really good hearing.

• A Jesus Slide Whistle
• Better than Magic
• Jesus Whistle
• Pinnies
• Just that Gay

I was out and about with Jenn the other day and ended up on Wickenden Street.

When she went over to Coffee Exchange, I wandered away and ended up at a weird little yard sale.

Why was it weird?

1. The sign out front was pointing in the wrong direction to get to it. It was a sawhorse with signs on both sides. Perhaps it was a prank and someone turned it around, because it was pointing in the direction on both sides. Or perhaps the 97-year-old woman running the yard sale couldn’t see it well enough to know it was pointing the wrong way when she put it out. It didn’t seem to be hurting her business.
2. The yard sale itself was in the parking lot next to O-Cha. But the 97-year-old lady didn’t appear to be affiliated with O-Cha at all. Maybe that parking lot is for the people who live above O-Cha. Maybe the 97-year-old lady lives there. I doubt it, based on what I’ve seen go on through not-properly-closed drapes over there, while sitting on the deck at Coffee Exchange, but that’s a different post.
3. She was selling a bunch of crap. No surprise. It’s a yard sale. One item of note: the Jesus whistle. She had a little basket of them. They were $2, which I felt was a little steep, but sometimes you just have to suck it up. I didn’t feel right haggling with a 97-year-old woman about a Jesus anything. People tend to have strong feelings about their Jesus stuff.

Jenn needed the Jesus whistle, so I held back my feelings about its steep price-point and forked over my $2.

When Jenn finally emerged from Coffee Exchange, I told her to hold out her hand.

Just in case you get into trouble, you can blow this whistle and Jesus will help you get found.

Pretty awesome, huh?

She was psyched with the Jesus whistle. Almost so much so that I might have to take it away from her now. I could go deaf.

• A Jesus Slide Whistle
• It’s Jesus
• Better than Magic
• Bits and Pieces
• Dead Whale Viewing

clipped from www.youtube.com

• Productivity Yearning
• Google Chat Status, Volume 16
• Glued to the Tube
• Neck Fungus
• Writing is Scary

My smoke detector has been beeping for three days. At first, it was every 60 to 90 minutes. So, roughly, just as I was able to fall back to sleep after the stupid thing woke me up. Then yesterday morning, it sped up.  To something like once every 60-90 seconds.

I have 15-foot ceilings so I couldn’t even smack the thing with a broom handle to get it to shut up.  Or take the battery out.

The nice man finally came and fixed it last night.

Awesomely, when I got into work today, they were testing the fire alarm.

I think I might go deaf.

• Ringing in My Head
• No More Mosquitoes
• Efficiency Rules
• Google Chat Status, Volume 12
• Pinnies

Word/Phrase of the day, in response to my wondering if this post would have alleviated the need for my intervention:

Yes, but I prefer my own personal tech support.

• Tech Support
• Project Management
• Judgemental
• OUCH
• Tried to Look

Can you guess what this is? It’s probably not what you think, so ponder it for a spell and then check out Wired for the answer (linked below).

I’m a sports fan, so I was interested in the Olympics before the opening ceremonies, but it took a day or two to come back down to the sporting event aspect of it for me.  I was still caught up in thinking about the spectacle of the opening. I’m sure there were thousands of artistic and technical creatives involved from the costumers to the programmers to the riggers. But the guy getting all of the credit (well-deserved) is Zhang Yimou best know to limited American audiences as the director of Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, Hero, and The House of Flying Daggers. Steven Spielberg was involved as an advisor for a couple of years before resigning for political reasons (Darfur).  The technology behind the art and the sport, too, is covered in Wired.  [I, especially, enjoyed the multimedia gallery of legal performance boosters.]   To my disappointment, I read yesterday that the firework footsteps leading to the stadium were digitally inserted into the live feed.   This may be an exceptionally politically important Olympics and there is controversy, sure, but as this video piece from the Council on Foreign Relations shows, it’s always been a political event.

Not everyone can be an Olympian, of course. Ever wonder how you’d compare to Tyson Gay or Michael Phelps?  These “average joes” shot video of themselves doing 5 olympic events, split-screened the video, and compared results. My favourite event is Dens trying to do the rings. I went to NYU with him (he’s way above average, btw) and someone on the alumni list responded to that video with this most-excellent selection — very helpful for anyone wanting to become an Olympian: Grover’s Monster Workout!

What to know what’s on where and when? Check the NBC listings, they break it down for the user by channel, time, and sport. Very useful, indeed, and Google’s got some nifty Olympic gadgets, too.

• Cry, Cry, Cry
• OUCH
• Olympics
• Urban Plantains
• Make People Happy Day, c/o BankRI

1. 3 days
2. ? take it to the limit one more time.
3. someone who lost a finger or two in a firecracker accident could probably count them on one hand.
4. Helping J pack
5. ? hammy free
6. it’s my birthday - yes, all month
7. 2 days
8. ? vaca
9. someones (plural) are getting presents
10. lunchy
11. judgemental
12. i don’t think i should hug a pregnant woman
13. ? all ready to cop a feel
14. ? could use a raise to buy that house
15. Elisa is my super duper hero
16. jenn is going to see the WHALE!
17. me and my monkey are taking hot doctor to dinner.
18. ? i heart cards that i forget about.
19. is workin’ from Bahstahn
20. ? this is so not ok with me.
21. A perfect gift for the sweet-toothed pork aficionado in your life.
22. ? Good Job Bunny!
23. most boring day ever.

Are you confused about Google Chat Status? Read the first one. I’m slightly obsessted…

• Google Chat Status, Volume 17
• Google Chat Status
• Google Chat Status, Volume 4
• Google Chat Status, Volume 7
• That’s Dumb

Ok, so I got this video forward from one of my favorite people in the whole world. She’s my funny-as-shit, long-term relationship (like my parents long-term), wicked smart idol. (Lise, you’re a super-duper rockstar.)

And I wasn’t going to post it (or anything related to it) until I read the comments below it on YouTube:

lol that was hilarious wish it was that easy in real life

Ok, so I understand that dating can be hard, especially if you don’t live in a city with 1 gay bar per 10 gays (like, for example, Providence), but I just don’t know that I would look at the following clip and WISH IT WAS THAT EASY IN REAL LIFE.

Oy.

• Bottle Service
• Most funny women are gay.
• Two Boobs
• Waterfire Providence
• Productivity Yearning