watching expired appliances align

handful of less than exciting photos

am i posting these photos of my bedroom because it's the end of the year and that means it's time to take stock of my life? am i posting these snapshots to offer you, gentle readers, quiet insight into my daily life? am i posting these random images to remind you that i own a lot of shoes, like photographing my books and sometimes exclude the photos i take of target receipts?

no. i'm posting these photos because i've been bad about posting here on a regular basis. photos take up so much space! and that means everything on the sidebar should line up smoothly. order. there must be order. and if anyone gives me grief about not having posted photos i took starting in august, i understand and accept your scorn. please be aware that all comments hurled in my direction about the lack of updates to balgavy.com will do nothing to speed the posting process.

also note that i'm listening to that arcade fire disc right now and i'm kind of enjoying it. i guess i should stop talking trash about it (which i've never actually done). like everyone, i have commented that it doesn't live up to the hype. but what does?

while driving around fredericksburg the day before christmas i listened to an album called "let's bottle bohemia." it's the new disk this year from the thrills. while it doesn't make me as happy as their first album, it lifted my mood while weaving in and out of parking lot traffic while completing last minute shopping chores.

onto the pictures:

i bought a bunch of picture frames at macy's the day after christmas. i was so happy about owning them that i rushed home from work monday and immediately filled them with photos i took in louisville.

note to would-be theives: there is a moderately heavy handful of change in that crumpled up plastic bag.
note to aspiring directors: steven soderbergh's diary of the making of sex, lies and videotape is a million times better than the book called "what i really want to do is direct" that i bought for less than a dollar at strand eight years ago.
note to readers who like well observed minutiae of daily life: andrea seigel's book "like the red panda" is an excellent read (as is her blog: this afternoon in drama.)

seeing "moneyball" on the shelf reminds me that i need to return it to jamie. i also need to return paul feig's "kick me" to anne. "sex and death to the age of 14" by spalding gray is sitting on the top shelf of the pictured book shelf. shawn lent it to me about five years ago and i need to return it to her. someone borrowed my copy of "confederacy of dunces" a month or two ago and i would like it back if you've finished reading it. if you are the person who borrowed this book, please identify yourself.

about a month ago i bought a cheap frame at target and stuck a 1992 map of kings dominion inside. for the past five years i've kicked around the idea of framing these maps and putting them up on the wall. i thought it would be a nice play on the idea of framing really old maps of foreign lands. sadly, this map is not as exciting as i would like for it to be, and the frame is a little too big. for more exciting amusement park maps check out theme park maps, which i just learned about a few days ago.

i've got a weird habit of photographing my stacks of shoes. it's something i do every year or two. the idea is so much better than the execution. what's interesting is that seeing the shoes always brings back memories. sadly, they just don't make for interesting photographs.

this photograph is here to serve as a reminder that i really need to clean out my closet before the end of the weekend.

these plants need water. i drank the glass of water pictured here about twenty minutes ago. hidden under that cd from the velvet teen is a packet of brush-ups. has anyone tried these things? they are wild. a crazy invention that could've only been concocted by some savvy oral-b executive while driving drove home from too many nights of debauchery and anonymous one night stands.

i saw sideways for the second time on christmas day. my parents really enjoyed it. it holds up on repeat viewings, i'm happy to report.

happy new year, indeed

one of my favorite bloglines subscriptions is FOUND MAGAZINE'S FIND OF THE WEEK. the found item for this week is just super-friendly. it's a photo taken a few decades ago outside an elementary school. a handful of children have bags over their heads that spell the phrase "HAPPY NEW YEAR". the colors are outrageous and fun and the shadow of the photographer's head really makes the image work for me. check it out and add the rss feed to your rss reader now.

a little slow on the uptake

i've finally registered my beard with the national beard registry. i can't wait to update the photo six months from now.

jamie (TSoA for those keeping track at home) registered last november.

as if this is the dvr blog

don't forget to watch ESPN 2 tonight. the james madison dukes face off against the montana grizzlies in the NCAA Division I-AA national football championship.

yes, it is true that i only attended one half of only two football games during my four years of college. it's also true that i managed to watch a half a football game from a study room in eagle hall. that wasn't as cool as it should've been. all of said games were watched during my first year at college. it's time to be honest about football - i think my passsion and enjoyment for the game ended sometime during my 8th grade year (my second fall playing on the second string middle school team). riding the bus while chanting songs and getting "psyched" for the game was not my idea of fun. sitting on the sideline listening to some blonde kid named aaron try to beat box was even less fun. tonight, though, i'll leave all that behind and tune in to watch the current football squad of my alma mater trounce the grizzlies. GO DUKES!

the cohens are back!!!

tonight's holiday episode of THE O.C. was the best episode of the season so far. amazing. top notch. i laughed. i cried. now i'm off to the bar to discuss the episode. did i say i clapped? i clapped a few times because i was so into the episode. and "oy humbug" - fabulous line.

always the bridesmaids

once again, the neuticles left the buttermilk bar not knowing the taste of victory during dr. fact's night of fifty questions. in a well fought battle, the trivia team composed of jamie, kaci, jim and marc tied for second place. ants invasion (k-robo's team) took home the top prize, securing it in the dictator round (using the photos provided, name the dictator and the dictator's country for a special half point bonus). that helped them gain the one and half point advantage they needed. the other special round was "canadian or not canadian," which the neuticles managed to sweep.

the Sno.c.

THE OC is best when there's the threat of someone getting punched or shoved in the air. It wasn't until Summer's new boyfriend visited the Peach Pit that I got excited about tonight's episode.

Off to meet the discussion club. More later.

stuck for christmas gift ideas?

everyone should love games. matthew baldwin of THE MORNING NEWS presents a fantastic rundown of new games. one of two of these should appeal to the folks on your shopping list. and i wish i'd seen this list a few weeks before thanksgiving. after my family tired of playing cranium (booster box #1 - are those questions easier, or is it just me?) i headed into my parents' basement and found a game from 1994 called "VISIONARY." by the look of the box, i'd tried to play it once sometime during a college winter break. it's sort of trivial pursuit with visual clues. it was terrible. we completed the game, but no one was happy to have spent time playing it.

UPDATE: matthew baldwin's defective yeti site goes into more detail and is filled with more game suggestions.

stuff i like

on a saturday in mid-october i spent the afternoon hanging out in dumbo, checking out open studios 2004 (dumbo - art under the bridge). it had been a long time since i'd actually spent an afternoon checking out various galleries. most of what i saw didn't really appeal to me. i think i'm stuck on only liking photography. sometimes everything else just strikes me as not good enough. but one artist's work did catch my eye. i was delighted when i walked into the studio of amy bennett. she paints this oddly realistic images of families. i call them odd because the setting is a doll house. the dollhouse she'd lately been using as a model was one she built herself and it sat in the middle of her open studio. her work was open and free and just a bit fun. i really liked it. and i'm going to the open studios event next year, too. even though i didn't love everything i saw, it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

christmas specials christmas special

As you may or may not know, I have once again decided to re-enter the world of online dating. This is a phase I go through every six months or so. I'm reporting on this after I’ve managed one date. With someone from Nerve.com. It was good. Pleasant, really. Some drinks. Some conversation. We tried sitting at the tabletop Ms. Pac-Man videogame at Moe's but that didn't work out. The slanted tabletop was bothering me and the flashing lights were distracting her. There won't be a second date, but it was good to know that I’m still capable of leaving the house for something other than the trip to the office.

In this attack on online dating, I’m approaching the situation from all available angles. My profile on Nerve has been updated. My Friendster profile is current. And I still log into Lavalife with the hope that I’ll find someone worth dating who still uses that service. Lavalife seems like it’s only a hopping area when the company blankets the subways with advertisements. For now I’m going to stay away from eHarmony, but if I turn 35 and I’m still writing these semi-regular updates about my dating life, please remind me that another option exists.

Last night I wasn’t feeling the “write a creative email to a stranger” vibe so I opted to stay away from all activities that involved more than just scanning profiles and adding them to my “hotlist” of potential dates to contact at some point. Most of my effort was concentrated on Friendster – it’s remarkable how many people still maintain profiles and log into the service, even though it was the hot thing for a few months back in 2003. One of the first sections of a profile I always inspect is the list of favorite TV shows. It’s no secret that watching TV is my life. And, believe it or not, I’m interested in sharing this part of my life with others. During the date last week I mentioned that if I could rent myself out as a TV-watching buddy, I would. I’m almost certain people would pay money to watch TV with me. I’m that good at watching TV.

The TV watching type one encounters most frequently on Friendster and Nerve? The person who doesn’t watch much television but loves THE SIMPSONS and THE DAILY SHOW. Or maybe just THE DAILY SHOW. I’m tempted to write in my profile that while I sometimes watch both of these programs, I wouldn’t ever think of putting them in my top ten. I just don’t get that much out of them. I like that they’re out there. I laugh when they’re funny (and there are usually a few good chuckles during every episode) but I can’t consider these two shows the be all and end all of television. There is more out there. I want trashier fun. I want a hint of drama. I want a person I go out on a date with to argue about why she loves some not-so-great reality show. It’s also possible that I’m intimidated by people who can quote from THE SIMPSONS. Remembering film and television dialogue is a skill I’ve never possessed or tried to master.

Last night while scanning profiles on Friendster I found the profile of a person who listed “Christmas Specials” as one of her favorite types of programming. Although I wasn’t in the mood for the mental challenge of composing a flirty, yet reserved and knowing email, I did feel it would be a good idea to email this woman and alert her to an upcoming special on Trio – a Christmas special about Christmas specials. I’d seen a commercial for it earlier in the day and figured that if she had cable, this would definitely be something she’d want to watch. I checked out the Trio website but didn’t see a press release for it. After scanning the upcoming schedule I realized that it’s not airing until two weeks from today (if memory serves correctly). I sent a general email noting this and wished her the best. To me, this is the kind of Friendster message I’d love to get from a stranger. Helpful, and not at all annoying. I not so secretly want her to write back, thanking me. I hope that her email contains a few other paragraphs and gets us started on the sort of correspondence that leads to a date. I may be hoping for too much, but I feel like I provided a service and that she’ll appreciate that. Doing so made me feel good. And that’s what online dating is all about, right?

the o.c. - last night

i only watched the first half. i wasn't that into it and sleep seemed more important. i'll catch up on the second half sometime this weekend. i think this show is over. it's played out. i'm so not into it anymore. or, am i?