watching expired appliances align

after years of talk

i just typed an email in which i used the word 'elated.' i think that's a first for me. i got a flu shot just 45 minutes ago and my arm is sore. but my spirits? soaring! the thought of avoiding illness during january and february has me totally psyched for the winter! the flu shot i just received is my first ever and it's causing me to think about a conversation i had two years ago in which i defended the notion of not getting a flu shot. i'm sure my defense was mounted on shaky ground. was i just opposed to the idea of medicine that does things ahead of time? of course, during the past two years i've gotten sick during the winter. missing work for vacation is one thing, but missing work because you don't even feel like getting out of bed is another. and being at work while sneezing is just the worst. and all that explains why i'm so excited about having this flu shot, assuming it works. if it doesn't, expect me to go on a rampage. or complain a tiny bit.

monday tv, of course

last night was the first monday in a month that i didn't watch "7th heaven." but that's because i convinced myself it was a rerun. instead, i tuned into "boston public" from david e. kelley. whew, talk about recycled plots! instead of trading sexual favors for grades, a woman volunteered to trade sexual favors for cocaine! and the student who tried to get her the cocaine ... was just interested in the sexual favors, not in supplying the cocaine! the audience is being asked to believe this kid on the debate team isn't the big supplier of the school! but i think there's something shady going on with him and that his story arc isn't complete. and poor harry senate. his troubles seem to get worse every season.

at 12:30am i realized i missed 'degrassi.' good thing i can click here to find out the time of the next broadcast.

oh, and illinois was a weekend chock full of fun!

extended scenes of a shirtless john schneider

if my occasional wb tuesday night wrap up isn't enough for you, check out this article a friend of mine wrote about smallville and gilmore girls.

20 minute photoshop silliness

Another Halloween is about to pass and I’m going to go through another year without a costume. My costumelessness is reaching a new level of personal embarrassment. I tried last year, I really did. I was all set to go to a party on a Saturday night and I realized I had to find a costume. I remember that Saturday clearly. I walked all over Brooklyn trying to find foam padding. I was still at the height of my plant obsession (see previous entry) and I wanted to be a pachypodium. I was going to find green foam and cut it into the shape of leaves. I checked a carpet warehouse and Home Depot without any luck. I ended up going to the party without a costume. I was kind of bummed.

About a month ago I went to a foam shop on Canal Street. I thought I’d do this year’s Halloween costume planning in advance and get everything taken care of so I wouldn't worry if I had to go to a last minute party. The woman in the store had no idea what I was looking for. When I asked for the kind of foam those Statue of Liberty headgear things are made out of she looked at me kind of funny and suggested that those things weren’t even made out of foam. I gave up my search. I won’t be dressing as a plant this year. But if photographic evidence is to be believed, I had a great costume in elementary school! I was the Canadian province of Manitoba!

teach me how to photoshop.

allergies are the worst. and i'm using my runny nose and itchy eyes as an excuse to avoid working on my website. but then i look out the window and notice the amazing blue of the sky and i'm inspired to go on. especially knowing the first episode of 'gilmore girls' will be playing on the wb in just a few minutes.

re: my tv watching. i missed 'firefly' this past friday. i plum forgot about it. same goes for that jennie garth tv show.

and i just looked over some photos i took during the past week. why don't i ever use the red-eye reduction option on my camera?

i really should include photos

after i left work last night i visited the barber. i've gone to this shop for a number of years (off and on, depending on hair length). ownership changed a few years ago, but i'm comfortable with the new guys there. i've been at least four times in the past six months and for the most part i've got no complaints.

my haircut is pretty easy - take a lot off the sides and back (using the clippers) and leave it a little longer on top. and i've never thought sideburns were tricky, but apparently they are. during the past two visits i've told them to not touch my sideburns. in almost all cases, the barber cuts them too short and makes them too thin. but last night i was ready for thin sideburns. i was anxious to have them match the rest of my hair.

the guy (who hadn't cut my hair during the last two visits) did an okay job on my right sideburn. nice angle. cut at the right length. he took a bit off the backside of the sideburn that starts to curve under the ear, but i was willing to let that pass. a minute later he starts work on my left sideburn. and cuts it at least two centimeters shorter - and at an upward angle. my sideburns hadn't looked so lopsided since my failed half-beard experiment of 1995.

because i feared he would do more damage, i didn't mention the sideburn differences to the barber. i quietly accepted my fate and left for home where i got sucked into gilmore girls. then i went out. so here i am on a wednesday afternoon with uneven sideburns. i'm already planning the first twenty minutes of my evening at home. that time will be dedicated to facial treatments.

on a positive note - sunday saw the end of my scraggly goatee. i finally took a pair of scissors and trimmed it to a normal length.

argh. people.

common courtesy has flown out the window!!!

printed below is an email i just received from someone i've never met. someone with whom i've never communicated.

i can only assume she's visited this plant page of balgavy.com. but there's no introduction, not even a hello. just five question marks!

>From: "C. H."

>To: marc

>Subject: Question...

>Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 14:35:52 -0700

>

>My ponytail palm is getting brown on the tips...Am I over watering or under

>watering...???I water once a week ?? Thanks for the help ..

the morning

my morning started off just 'okay.' i'm about 1/2 as sore as i was yesterday. playing football saturday afternoon really stretched some muscles that don't normally get stretched. who knew my shoulders would be in such pain?

the morning would go better if i could have my old soap back. for the past three or four years i've used softsoap hydrating body wash - with moisture beads! it's a product i've grown quite fond of. last week i bought a new bottle with an 'improved' scent. i'm sure that's the reason i've been grumpy lately.

apple pie

sometime friday is the perfect time to enjoy a few milk chocolate m&m's (how long until these things are called m&m's classics?) and read the hometown newspaper.

it's the heat being turned on

as an addition to these july thoughts about email i've decided that the phone age (with answering machines, of course) was better. if someone called and you didn't return a call you could just say you forgot. i forgot. i lost the slip of paper where i'd written the message. with email, a person's email just sits in my in-box, staring at me. waiting for a response. and i like to keep a clean in-box with my hotmail (not so with my home mail....i've got issues, obviously). and sometimes i just can't keep a neat in-box. there are too many things going on. too many events that need remembering. too many daily rambling conversations with friends who are just too good about writing back. so good that they write back during the same day! it's as if the burden is now on ME to keep my in-box cleaned out. sometimes i just can't take it. and so if you ever get an email response from me that doesn't cover all the topics mentioned, don't think i'm slighting you. or maybe you should think i'm slighting you. in some cases, i'll dash off a hurried response that covers one or two points but that leaves other things for a later response. sometimes i'm good about going back to your email and responding. i always let that email sit in my in-box a few days. somtimes i go back to it. sometimes i don't. basically, whenever i drop a topic it means i'm intentionally dropping it. i've considered responding and stretching it out, but i have nothing left to say on that topic.

(but just in case, i am reserving the right to go back and revise my thoughts and opinions. of course, i just deleted your email after responding to it.)

bringing it back to shopping

i awoke from an odd dream this morning. influenced by dave eggers' new book, you shall know our velocity, i dreamed of traveling america's southwest. and i ended up inside a big box retailer. the dream is hazy now. work was busy this morning and i didn't get the chance to make this entry at 11am, as i'd hoped to do. but when i woke up i couldn't stop thinking about visiting a store called BEST in northern virginia circa 1982. or maybe 1981. it was a great sort of prequel to the world of big box retail. sort of like a department store, but not attached to a shopping mall like all those anchor stores. my fond memories of comparing prices between the toy department of BEST and the toys of TOYS R US made my morning thoughts shift. suddenly i was consumed with the idea of TOYS R US' shopping gauntlet! as a child i was so amazed that TOYS R US was so big and that every one of them looked strikingly similar. and no matter what, to get to the real toys, you had to enter and then veer down an aisle and back - passing all the seasonal items. is that kind of store design legal? i haven't been inside a TOYS R US in years. surely the one in times square that has the ferris wheel isn't like this. is it?

this morning i was convinced i hadn't been inside toys r us in five years. it turns out i haven't been inside a suburban toys r us in five years. the company's stores in manhattan and brooklyn have a different outside appearance than the ones i remember from when i was seven. i've been inside them, i just haven't made any purchases.

i violated the dress code

what is wrong with kids these days? thanks to the link from the obscure store i found this article about students who violate the dress code at their high school. if they wear some offending article of clothing, it seems as though they then have to wear a t-shirt for the rest of the day. printed on the t-shirt? "I violated the dress code" and "Property of the discipline office."

i want to know why the article doesn't mention the student backlash? shouldn't there be large groups of students violating the dress code on purpose just to wear the t-shirts? is high school that based on conformity these days? are the t-shirts really that ugly? does anyone have a link to the photo of the shirts? i think i want one!

top drawer

in the spirit of mc.clintock.com and the listing of items sold at the mcsweeney's store i've decided to occasionally list five items which can be found in the top drawer of my dresser. today i've pulled the following items for examination:

1 pair ray-ban sunglasses in original case with copy of 'limited warranty against breakage' dated 22 may 1992

2 small christmas tree bulbs from blockbuster video promoting the release of 'monkey trouble'

11 packs dentyne ice chewing gum in wintergreen, peppermint, spearmint and arctic chill flavors

1 snoopy wallet which contains a foil sticker of han solo. the words "i love be___" written in the billfold part of the wallet with gold paint pen are starting to fade.

1 promo catalogue for the art of shaving and geo f trumper products

Zire?

it seems the industrial design team for apple computer controls the world. if you still need convincing check out the new Zire from palm. this inexpensive palm pilot has the same white plastic shell as the iPod! and it explains why i've seen so many cheap palms on sale with rebates in the past two months. the curious thing about this device? the name. it's Zire. Zire. what in the world does Zire mean? and i'm not even typing it incorrectly. i'm not leaving out any accent marks or hidden symbols. what a dumb name for a product. it's not like iPalm was already taken. the thing with that white casing is that it's got to be a magnet for fingerprints. of course, in this century everyone with palms reads their news from computers and not traditional newspapers. if i ever own a Zire, and i sure hope i don't, a dark casing is the first accessory i'll buy. (and suddenly their strategy of selling accessories has come to my attention)

in other news, the only moisturizing lotion i have at work is a large bottle of jergens soothing aloe lotion. i mistakenly bought it when i thought i was sunburned early this past summer. i smell like an old lady.

assemble your frequent film goer cards

talk about a marketplace. TEN movies open in theatres next week. at an average of 90 minutes each that's 900 minutes of movies! to see all the movies i'd have to contribute at least fifteen hours of my weekend.

what's scheduled to hit screens on friday, october 11th?

TUCK EVERLASTING - with alexis bledel! rory gets all period piece-y.

WHITE OLEANDER - i didn't want to admit it to my roommate when he and i saw the trailer, but i think i kind of want to see this.

BROWN SUGAR - it's got taye diggs and mos def

KNOCKAROUND GUYS - i think all of america knows this has been sitting on the shelf for years

POKEMON 4 EVER - i actually enjoyed this. it took about 24 horus after screening it to stop saying 'celebi' (the name of the new pokemon introduced in the film).

THE RULES OF ATTRACTION - van der beek. sossamon. biel. and kate bosworth from blue crush. every bone in my body tells me this is going to be amazing.

SWEPT AWAY - i hear this may be the worst movie of the year. may i suggest another group outing like the one held on my birthday for triple x?

PUNCH DRUNK LOVE - for the highbrow kids in the city. i'm insanely curious.

BELOW - it's hard to go wrong with submarine movies.

THE TRANSPORTER - the television ads for this have been non-stop. will anyone be surprised to wake up at the end of the weekend and find this moving sitting at #1 for the week?

what is with that male deodorant spray?

the plans for wednesday night changed. there was no shaving to do when i got home. i've called an audible and decided to let my beard turn into significant stubble through the weekend. i will then shave my sideburns into the pattern i really want.

the axe effect, huh?

make me scroll to the pertinent question

i'll admit i'm a little bummed that bobby valentine is no longer the manager of the mets. the first question i'd like his replacement to answer?

have you ever invented anything as good as the wrap sandwich?