my daily commute

involves leaving my house at 7:10am and driving into the rising sun until i arrive at the office at 8:00 am. after work i leave and drive directly into the blinding setting sun for at least one hour. i have become so bored on these journeys that i have begun 2 photo projects that i am uploading into flickr as i take them. the first is that of the strange las vegas fascination with vanity plates. the 2nd is just random images that i see every day on my way to and from work.

blue hawaii

of course i watched blue hawaii last night!

of course i feel asleep half way through!

all hail the mighty letterpress

i visited this archaic machine last saturday that will hopefully help me with my wedding invitations. yay letterpress!

news flash

it's raining.
in the desert.

happiness is . . .

a new beck album.

jack white's nashville abode

once upon a time back in the early 70's? my dad moved from texas to nashville to become a professional musician. he made the move with his best bud don. they lived together for awhile, then married off, etc, had babies (i was one of them). don went into publishing. dad remained a guitar player.

his family and ours tend to spend xmas eve's together and this past year i asked if we were going over to don's for our holiday get together. dad said that we were not - don had just sold his house to some kind of rock and roller. i don't go to don's house anymore.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/10/03/jack-white-happy-
homemaker/

jackson hole, wyoming

we have returned from our wyoming weekend in jackson hole having seen no moose. is the plural of moose moose? anyhow, it appears to be as elusive as the mighty las vegas burro. it was a good time. rented a cabin with abby, paul, and company and attended the beautiful wedding of matt erman.

i listened to channel 9 on the headphones on the plane on the way in. this allows you to hear your pilot communicating with air traffic control. i heard him say that he had the airport in site. i sure didn’t see it. oh, yeah, its that TINY spec of runway. i guess they are unable to enlarge the airport bc it is in a national park (teton) and there are strict laws.

we were greeted at the cabin by what i initially found to be beautiful magpies (birds). i later discovered they are kinda pyscho killers. anyhow, they are really big and blue. we watched one of them eating entrails of some sort on the deck. wow. real wildlife.

the first day we took a tram (ski lift type box on a cable) to the top of a mountain and found ourselves in the clouds. pretty cool. i guess that matt has parasailed off of the top of it. yikes.

at the rehearsal dinner cocktail hour zach found a crab claw in his local lager. a brown boy joke no doubt. we were treated by being served buffalo sliders and other delicious foods. got to know matt’s parents, who live in nashville. great people.

our transportation to the various events were our own 2 feet. unfortunately our cabin was at the top of a hill, so i got some needed exercise. we entertained ourselves on these strolls with a game called versus. if it was interesting i would explain it.

later that night zach did his best to bond with the dudes by drinking with them in the cabin’s sauna. 4 harry guys in towels. bonding. in the sauna. i heard some commotion. apparently he misjudged the distance from the bench to the floor and hit the wall. glad his face didn’t hit the coals. then he would have suffered more than a hangover. the first time drinking in over a month was a bit of a shock to his system.

the wedding itself was very sweet and the reception rocking. so much in fact, that the bass player for black sabbath was one of the guests. zach wanted to tell him that it was one of his many infamous basslines that helped him learn the bass, but never got the nerve. matt and his bride, liz, danced to the flying burrito brothers “wild horses”. then barth took over the floor with matt’s mom. quality entertainment indeed. zach had the elk for dinner.

the next morning we were greeted at the brunch with bloody mary’s and venison tarts!

on the way to white water a song that the black sabbath bass player wrote came on the radio. in another coincidence 2 michael mcdonald songs came on (he was one of the versus options in car before the songs came on). gosh. michael mcdonald. what a musical wonder.

white water was fun. and funny. the funny part being how ridiculous we all looked in wet suits. some people braved riding “the bull” meaning sitting on the front tip of the raft being pummeled by the waves. those who one-handed it got thrown into the boat. better in than out. anyhow, i survived white water.

on the way back from the trip i got my lip balm from anthropologie and clinique lipstick confiscated at the airport. the lipstick was returned after talking to the supervisor. the balm however was new and expensive and thrown away. but you never know, i could have made a bomb out of that strawberry substance to blow up a whole plane. jeez. then the band gets lifted the very next day. go figure.

all in all the trip was good. i like that jackson hole.

back to the DOUBLE DIGITS!

the weather is amazing today!!! we were out and about early this morning and my car thermometer read 63 degrees!!!! much better from 100! i love it. i hope we are not being tricked that summer is over. i am looking forward to the declining power bills!

i wanna see

the science of sleep.
too bad it will NEVER come to vegas.

i wanna be a tetrachromat

my art director mentor at work stumbled upon this article and is very jealous. he wants an extra cone. and he can't have it.

Some women may see 100 million colors, thanks to their genes

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

By Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Susan Hogan can't be sure, but it wouldn't surprise her if she turned out to be a tetrachromat.


A tetrachromat is a woman who can see four distinct ranges of color, instead of the three that most of us live with.

A genetic test would be needed to verify whether Mrs. Hogan truly fits that description, but it could help explain why the interior decorator can hold up three samples of beige wall paint, "and I can see gold in one and gray in another and green in another, but my clients can't tell the difference."

It may be impossible for us trichromats to imagine what a four-color world would look like. But mathematics alone suggests the difference would be astounding, said Jay Neitz, a renowned color vision researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Each of the three standard color-detecting cones in the retina -- blue, green and red -- can pick up about 100 different gradations of color, Dr. Neitz estimated. But the brain can combine those variations exponentially, he said, so that the average person can distinguish about 1 million different hues.

A true tetrachromat has another type of cone in between the red and green -- somewhere in the orange range -- and its 100 shades theoretically would allow her to see 100 million different colors.

That may be why Mrs. Hogan can look out the windows of her Mount Washington home and tell the relative depths and silting of the three rivers at the Point by discerning the subtle differences in their shades.

"I have a very hard time even giving names to colors because I see so many other colors inside them," she said.

Dr. Neitz, who conducts his research with his wife Maureen, said only women have the potential for super color vision.

That's because the genes for the pigments in green and red cones lie on the X chromosome, and only women have two X chromosomes, creating the opportunity for one type of red cone to be activated on one X chromosome and the other type of red cone on the other one. In a few cases, women may have two distinct green cones on either X chromosome.

But it's unlikely, Dr. Neitz said, that all of the women with four types of color cones will have the potential for superior color vision, because for many, their two red cones will be so close to each other in the wavelengths they detect that they won't see things much differently than a three-color person does.

He estimated that 2 percent to 3 percent of the world's women may have the kind of fourth cone that lies smack between the standard red and green cones, which could give them a colossal range.

Finding tetrachromats through genetic screening is one thing. Proving they can see tens of millions of additional colors is another.

One research group that believes it has identified a true tetrachromat is headed by Gabriele Jordan of Newcastle University in Great Britain.

Dr. Jordan started by working backward from certain "color blind" boys to their mothers.

About 8 percent of the world's men have color deficiency, which is the term vision researchers prefer to color blindness.

Most of them inherit two red or two green cones along with the standard blue cone, making it impossible for them to distinguish between red and green peppers, or tell how well-done a steak is, or pick out matching clothes.

Dr. Jordan's team used vision tests to identify more than a hundred schoolboys in the Newcastle area with that kind of color deficiency.

She knew that the mothers of those boys would have either two red or two green cones, and she is now in the process of testing those women to see which of them might be "strong tetrachromats," as she put it.

To single out such women, she came up with a clever test. Each woman looks into an optical device that shows her three tiny discs in rapid succession. Two of the discs are a pure orange wavelength and the third is a nearly identical mixture of red and green. The women aren't told which is which.

Dr. Jordan reasoned that women with two distinct red cones would see the red-green disc differently than the orange discs.

Of the 20 women she has tested so far, only one was able to instantly and accurately identify the red-green disc each time. She is now conducting genetic tests on the woman's saliva to verify whether she has the genes for distinct red cones.

Dr. Jordan said that the woman, who has not yet been identified, is a physician near Newcastle.

For a doctor, she speculated, super color vision might give her the ability to tell whether a patient is ill just by noticing subtle changes in skin tone that a normal doctor wouldn't see.

Based on Dr. Neitz's estimates, there could be 99 million women in the world with true four-color vision.

But before they pat themselves on the back for their superior evolution, he said, it's important to note that humans are just getting back to where birds, amphibians and reptiles have been for eons.

Those creatures have long had four-color vision, but a key difference is that their fourth type of color detector is in the high-frequency ultraviolet range, beyond where humans can see.

In fact, that finding allowed scientists to figure out recently why the males of some species of birds did not appear to have brighter plumage than the females, Dr. Neitz said.

The problem was in the observers, not the birds, he said. When those species were viewed through ultraviolet detectors, the males had markedly different feathers than the females.

In a similar way, he said, our eyes aren't capable of seeing the world the way a true four-color viewer perceives it, and so we have no way of knowing how many advantages that might give to the tetrachromats.

"There are many things in the world that are physically different from one another that you can't tell apart now" with three-color vision, he said, but a four-color woman presumably would see the distinctions.

And sometimes the edge may just be aesthetic.

Which could be why, when Susan Hogan's husband puts a new piece of fruit in their fruit bowl, "I have to rearrange it so the colors go together right," she said with a laugh.

dining with borgs n such

this blog entry could be really funny if i had ever watched star trek and knew ANY trekky jargon whatsoever. i will just post a picture of the restaurant we ate at the other night (can you believe i forgot to blog about this place? i mean weird.) so here are some of the characters that bring you your food. only vegas.

rumor has it that this is one of the many rare vegas gems that is going to get torn down.

the latest of life in vegas

asleep in our beds last night we were awoken by a spotlight shining in our room! a low flying helicopter was obviously searching for someone bad along our neighborhood streets. very strange.

then today a mr. hilton (as in paris' uncle) came to our office for a meeting. a very friendly wealthy man.

more vegas characters

as if lonnie hammargren wasn't enough. the first vegas character that graced my day was the AMAZING JONATHAN. i have never seen this guy's show but apparently a famous magician in vegas was sitting across from us at lunch today.

then on the way home i got my usual dose of mr. happy on the corner of ft apache and sahara. sometimes he is in different outfits or holding different props. but one thing is for sure, he is ALWAYS very very happy. puts some kind of interest to my hour of sitting in traffic. here is a photo of him:





below is an article about this mr. happy dude i see on the corner every day:




Sorry, Mom. I know you told me not to play in traffic. But today, it's my job.

"Kick higher!" screams the 52-year-old man I'm replacing, Larry James Johnson, who dances in outrageous costumes at the intersection of West Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road.

Advertisement

"The kick is my trademark!" he says, cackling and clapping.

Johnson, an Army veteran, works as a night watchman for a company that places him in temporary assignments. That's only his Clark Kent job, however. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week, he's Mr. Happiness, dauntless foe of all frowns.

"This world is full of negativity," Mr. Happiness says, "so I try and stamp it out."

Hundreds of thousands of cars pass each day through what Mr. Happiness says he makes "the happiest intersection in Las Vegas." He waves and blows kisses to as many as he can -- when he's not spinning like a top or balancing on his coccyx, legs flailing.

"If somebody's having a crappy day," he says, "I want them to smile for a moment."

Mr. Happiness also spreads extra-intersectional happiness via his role in infomercials for Towbin Dodge, the local dealership featured on the A&E reality series, "King of Cars."

"They call Wayne Newton Mr. Vegas," Mr. Happiness says. "But I'm the real Mr. Vegas!"

My training begins in the parking lot of the Blockbuster Video at 9420 W. Sahara Ave., where Mr. Happiness parks a white SUV loaded up like Cher's closet. The pharaoh, mariachi and samurai outfits represent only a small fraction of a collection procured from San Francisco's Pier 39 and a Laughlin hat shop.

Mr. Happiness chooses a jester cap and military jacket for me. Luckily, we're the same height (5-foot-5, or as he likes to refer to it, "5-foot-7"). He then hands me an unplugged and unstrung electric guitar. (An important part of Mr. Happiness's routine is air-wailing along to the rock music on his FM Walkman.)

Many cities sport colorful street characters. "Melrose" Larry Green stands at Melrose and Highland avenues in L.A., holding home-scribbled Howard Stern placards. Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers wanders Chicago's streets in a Cubs uniform, shouting supports of "woo!" for his team. Peoria's Willie York is a homeless Vietnam vet who dresses like the devil and commits petty crimes, reportedly to spend warm nights in county lockup.

At first, Mr. Happiness -- who resembles rapper Flavor Flav as a squeegee guy -- seems equally nuts. In fact, most uninitiated motorists roll up their windows.

"They think I'm homeless, asking for money," he says. (He's not, and he doesn't.)

I was apprehensive, too -- until I read that Oscar Goodman danced alongside Mr. Happiness at this corner last year, after losing a bet to KXMB-FM, 94.1 morning show hosts Mark and Mercedes. They raised $2,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation together. (Then I remembered who else our mayor is comfortable cavorting with. So I Googled "Mr. Happiness" alongside the words "murdered," "shot" and "stabbed," just to be safe.)

"People can call me crazy," Mr. Happiness says, "but I know what I'm all about."

And who's crazier, really -- a guy whose life mission is to make everyone happy, or the people who zoom by in their metal boxes, refusing to acknowledge him, gnashing their teeth en route to jobs they hate?

"Hey, cousin!" Mr. Happiness yells to a motorist. (Everyone he addresses is either a cousin or uncle.)

The blonde in the red Volkswagen Jetta headed south on Fort Apache flicks her thumb upward. Mr. Happiness introduces me as his apprentice. She waves as she waits for the light to change. Mr. Happiness instructs me to perform.

"Spin faster!" he commands me before asking the woman what she thinks.

"You're not retiring, are you?" she asks him.

Mr. Happiness, the eldest of six siblings, survived a tough upbringing in East Oakland, Calif. Three of his sisters were born addicted to heroin, due to his mother's habit. As an illiterate 13 year old, Mr. Happiness broke into houses -- until, he claims, something his great-grandmother said put him straight from then on.

"She said, 'Whatever you throw out in life is gonna come back to you,' " he says. "So if you treat people with love and respect, it's gonna come back to you, too."

This morning, Mr. Happiness brings a smile to a quarter of the passers-by visible behind their desert-tinted windows. And these are smiles with him, not at him, judging from all the honking and thumb-flicking. Las Vegas resident Roger Buss even makes a fast-food stop and doubles back.

"I saw you sweating, so I got you this," he says, handing Mr. Happiness an orange drink.

Reaction isn't always positive. Another guy once brought a cup of urine, which he doused Mr. Happiness with.

"But I love him anyway," Mr. Happiness says.

After the Army, Mr. Happiness spent 16 years in Sacramento, Calif., where he performed the same street act as Laguna Larry. (Laguna is a Sac Town suburb.)

"But I always wanted to live in Vegas," Mr. Happiness says. "I love the mountains. I love the 110-degree weather." Mr. Happiness relocated five years ago, adopting a new stage name inspired by something a 5-year-old girl once told him.

"She said, 'You make me happy, Mr. Happiness,' " he says. "That stuck with me."

A guy in a white Jeep flashes devil horns at me. But my reviews are mixed. Seconds later, a guy in a tan Frontier pickup refuses to turn his head while I scream "yes!" into his open window. I'm getting some smiles, but they're awkward -- like the ones my parents formed when I told them I wanted to be a journalist instead of attend law school.

I suggest a costume change. We step into Mr. Happiness's "dressing room," a shady patch between palms in a Rite Aid lot, and swap outfits. I also decide to take my act solo, to the thin island dividing Sahara's rapidly rolling eastward- and westward-bound traffic.

"Stay out of the street!" Mr. Happiness yells.

But standing next to the real deal is no way to sell an imitation. You never see Mr. Pibb alongside Dr Pepper in the same soda machine. Besides, I'm only doing what Mr. Happiness does every morning.

"I know," he yells, "but I live on the edge!"

One of the eastward-speeding cars slows. It's black and white, I notice, with letters and numbers painted on the side.

Instead of holding still and praying that a policeman won't notice a man in Bob Marley's dreads and Elvis Presley's gold lame suit standing on a traffic island, I decide to put my new training to use. I wail my guitar and flail my body, spinning and kicking like an Isley Brother. If I'm going downtown, it's for doing something.

"Uh-oh," says Mr. Happiness, who received his own $85 citation last month. (He goes to court on Tuesday.)

The officer stares me down as I wonder how I'm going to expense this back to the R-J.

But when the light changes, so apparently does his mind. He salutes before taking off.

"Yes!" Mr. Happiness yells.

The officer even smiles.

"You're spreading the joy now!" Mr. Happiness continues as he runs over to high-five me. "You da man!"

I suggest celebrating my success at Mr. Happiness' house. It's three blocks away, he says, in the Lakes. But he refuses to take me. Ironically, Mr. Happiness' superpowers do not extend here.

"Me and my wife, we're not on speaking terms right now," he says. "A marriage is up and down. One day you like her one day you don't.

"And I haven't been liking her for a couple weeks now."

Video of Levitan as Mr. Happiness is posted at www.reviewjournal.com/video/fearandloafing.html. Fear and Loafing appears every Monday in the Living section.

reading

Cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The
Phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, *

It deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny
iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm.

*This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but
the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was
ipmorantt!

i love my friends

i consider myself very lucky to have such caring cool people in my life.

Human Space Invaders

zach

is the cutest funniest guy in the world.

the dealer

yikes. i have been volunteered as a dealer at this event tonite and have never played poker. am trying to learn:
big blind - small blind - deal the hole - then the flop - burn and turn - deal the river - check - call - raise - fold - pass the button. repeat?

oh, i get a free VISOR!

work is weird

sometimes.
like when you spend the afternoon mixing cement. looking all over the grounds for the perfect rocks and pebbles for the concoction, pour it in pie tins taped together and wait for it to dry. to hold the arm. that you have sawed off the mannequin. that will deliver the proposal. that will hopefully win the account.

http://kittenwar.com/

for those of you with time on your hands.

get sammy to call your friends

http://snakesonaplane.varitalk.com/

this is fun. personalize a call from samuel l jackson to call a friend or send them a message from him through a web site.

claire comes to vegas

the above photo is of a mean plant that bit her at red rock canyon. her lip was bleeding!

my adorable lil sis came out and visited over the weekend and it was great! i walked into zach's office after work on friday to find her swinging through the air on a tire swing that they had tied to the rafters for their "celebrity trash" party. i think she enjoyed that. in addition to the tire swing there was a live band, a faux tattoo parlor, and a motorcyle riding fool. by fool i mean he accidentally ran into the tire swing and he and the bike hit the ground. that is advertising for ya. parties. lots of em.

we all went to KA. twas amazing. amazing. did lots of shopping and eating and laughing. that girl is a giggle-box and let me tell you, it is contagious.

the poor thing had a long journey home though. dropped her off at the airport at 5pm and the plane did not take off til like 10 or something bc of technical difficulties. she is a trooper.

KA:

http://tokidoki.it/

it is time to play.

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

now this is innovative music video making.

anticipation

According to various reports, including stories from both NME.com and the
BBC, Blur/Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn has taken a break from his Danger
Mouse-produced solo album for the full-band scene. And no, Graham Coxon
isn't returning to Blur.

Albarn has started another project, this time with ex-Clash bassist Paul
Simonon and former Verve guitarist Simon Tong. Drummer Tony Allen is also in
the currently unnamed band.

__________ will release their first single in October, with an album, The
Good the Bad and the Queen following in January 2007 on Parlophone/EMI. The
disc, a concept record focusing on life in London, has already been
completed. The band are expected to make live appearance number one in
October as well.

nevada's unknown balladeer

one of the perks of living in las vegas is receiving promotional items from dr. lonnie hammagren in the mail wanting you to vote for him for Lt. governer. i am attached a photo of the front and back of the cd of music lonnie recorded. you can easily hear that dr. hammagren can add songwriting to his list of talents with his song "gas goes higher" set to the tune of johnny cash's "burning ring of fire". its beautiful stuff, folks. learn more at nevadadays.com.

wow.

my friend molly informs me:

Oh yes. You can find the songs on his campaign Web site: http://www.hammargrenforltgov.com/ -- click on "Songs of Nevada."

I have to say, though, he's topped by Bob Stupak, a Dem lt. gov. candidate, whose campaign theme song has been stuck in my head for a week. http://www.stupakforltgov.com/

He is also a bit eccentric. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jul-25-Tue-2006/news/8671693.html

good words

there are some words out there that just are not used enough. i am going to start a list. so far i only have 2. but i will think of the rest later:

plucky

moxie

keen (as in peachy)

wanderlust

new york is very far away.

so, this natasha kid i speak of. is LEAVING. i have made 2 friends in this strange city and have grown to love them. gaea has fallen in love with a diver in san diego so she will be leaving me soon. as if i was not upset enough about that . . . natasha is moving to syracuse, NY!! but i am very excited for both of them. love and law school - 2 good reasons to get outta vegas. natasha has never been to the east EVER before. she gets to see the seasons. so jealous. happy but sad about my ladies leaving.

will 5:00 ever come?

ok. so work is a bit slow. slow and QUIET today. natasha disagreed with the strange solemn tone of the office so she just suprised us all with a sudden blasting of "eye of the tiger" over the intercom system. it was beautiful. beautiful indeed.

more scary desert creatures

a co-worker of zach's found this tarantula in her washing machine! can you tell i have not been very busy at work lately?

Las Vegas Lightening

while we were at the beach watching THE MOST AMAZING storm any of us had ever witnessed, home in las vegas was getting some intense lightening as well. the coolest is when it illuminates the sky to show the profile of the mountains.

happy tidbit

i passed a man walking down the street this morning wearing hammer pants. ah, vegas.

deep thinking

i wish i could wear flats without my jeans dragging on the ground. woe is the short one.

`Zombie' dancers jailed in Minneapolis

July 25, 2006 11:25 AM


They weren't looking for brains, they were looking to party. But participants in a "zombie dance party" ended up in jail after getting arrested in downtown Minneapolis.
Police say the dancers were wearing thick makeup and staggering along like the living dead Saturday evening. A few carried backpacks with wires sticking out.
The "zombies" were arrested on suspicion of having "simulated weapons of mass destruction." A friend of the group says the suspicious devices were homemade stereos.
The dancers spent the weekend in jail. No charges were filed, but police say members of the group could face lesser charges, such as disorderly conduct.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

heat hurts

my car seats burn my flesh.

heaven

is pawley's island. i believe this is my 25th? or 26th visit to this beautiful place in south carolina. zach's parents and sister with her one year old named henry came up from charleston yesterday. we ate shrimp and watched henry diligently dig in the sand. it was great to see the brockhouses again and meeting henry was really cool. now our families know eachother and the plan to get married is still on! today was a big day. zach and i were ready, boogie boards in tow, to float in the ocean, letting the current carry us back to our dock. we wanted to swim with the massive schools of jumping mullets. as we began to get in the ocean zach sliced his toe open on who knows what. the possibility of that being a fish hook took us to the local clinic where not only was he given a fun tetanus shot but diagnosed with a nasty cold virus. we returned from the doctor and walked out to the back dock for some chill time. he jumped in the water to be immediately bitten by a crab! on his hurt toe! it was only a nibble. needless to say, we have taken it easy for the rest of the day. lounging in hammocks and such. the day before we left zach befriended a jellyfish by our dock whom he creatively named "jelly" (can you see why he is in a creative field?). he saw poor jelly struggling near the shore so he crawled up over the ledge and jumped down on some sketchy terrain to help out. personally i would never touch a stingy jellyfish, but since he "grew up on the coast and knows what he is doing" i let him do his thing. he picked jelly up by the head and tossed him towards the water away from the shore. either jelly was feeling poorly or not the smartest of the jellyfish, because he kept drifting toward land. a poke here and a poke there from zach led him swimming in the right direction. we walked up the second story of the dock and happily watched jelly, thankful zach had saved his life. then it happened. we saw another figure in the water . . . . a crab! a crab moving towards jelly, claws raised! NOOOOOOO!!! bite after bite the crab took his claw to the head and to his mouth. who knew jellyfish would be so tasty. so we saved jelly's life only to see it stolen viscously from him moments later. despite this horrific scene and both of us getting a lil sick on the trip, it was so well worth it. we had a great time.

joe

this is joe. he has become a company mascot of sorts here at CDI. i hate it when he sneaks up on me.

zach's commercial!

http://www.adwired.com

reunited . . . . and it feels so good

you know the song. by the duo peaches and herb. anyhow. i was reunited. with angie and lauren. and REN! like i told these girls at dinner the first night, seeing them was like christmas. really. i was so excited and seeing lauren and angie (with lil ren attached to her) picking me up at the airport was amazing. having good friends is such a luxury. we ate a good dinner together at the vietnamese restaurant angie used to work at and then took mommy out on the town, but got her home by midnite. the next day the girls (and ren) went out of their way to take me to a bridal store outside of the city. that night ed, angie's husband grilled out for us. delicious. the next morning we ate at ed's restaurant, bette's oceanside diner, in berkeley. it was ever so tasty. ren is such a good baby. a vocal one, but most of his noises are not cries, but coos. he loves sucking on our pinkies and he loves . . .well . . us. i can tell. because he stares at us with his huge beautiful eyes and then smiles the cutest angie smile ever. its amazing. anyhow, it was a quick trip to oakland over the weekend but a great one. yes, good friends (who happen to be extremely funny and super cool) are a great thing to have.

CBGB to vegas??

CBGB Sets New Closing Date, Move to Vegas

Hilly Kristal is making an amendment to his Bowery club's 16+ entry rule:
32-. After 32 years of providing a live arena for some of the country's best
(and worst) musicians, CBGB has cemented the date on which it will close its
doors for good.

Although October 31 was originally revealed to be the club's closing date,
September 30 will mark the end for New York City's famous punk rock venue--
or sort of, anyway. After efforts failed to locate an affordable venue space
in CBGB's hometown of New York City, Kristal has made the questionable
decision to take it to Vegas.

"[The Vegas CBGB] won't be the same size or the same shape, but I am going
to have all the things that matter there," Kristal said in a recent
interview with MTV.com. "I am taking the bars with me, I am taking the stage
- I'm taking the urinal that Joey [Ramone] pissed in with me. I'm going to
take a lot of things - anything that makes this place CBGB."

If the business takes off in Nevada, Kristal plans to open a second CBGB in
NYC, but it will likely be a while. In addition to the financial strains the
Big Apple's rent brings, Kristal has chemotherapy to worry about. Three
weeks ago, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and surgery is on the plate,
he explained to MTV. We wish him the best.

New Yorkers will have a chance to offer Kristal their support at CBGB's
two-month closing festival. NYC indie concert promoters Rocks Off are in
charge of booking the festival, which will run throughout August and
September. According to a press release, "they are in touch with many of the
artists who made CB's famous, and are hard at work putting together a final
schedule that will do justice to the club's enduring impact in the many
varieties of rock and roll it has helped to cultivate throughout the years."
-----------------------------------------

4th of July

gaea invited us to a lovely pool party. photos include my after tasting a quite strong drink handed to me, zach pushing christian in the pool completely clothed, and two of my favorite people getting creative with the decapitated flamingos.

jim got married

we went to my brother's wedding last weekend in nashville. the ceremony was super small at the beautiful cheekwood gardens. the vows were very sweet and tear-jerky. they had a large reception at richland country club. the groom's cake was an exact replica of the tennis shoe jim gave sloan and the huge sapphire engagement ring tied on the end. mom was told at the last minute that she was to do the rhumba with jim for the son/mother dance. not knowing the rhumba, she played it off very well in front of hundreds of staring people. but no doubt they were just entranced by her amazing dress she had custom-made in new york. by far the best dressed at the party . . . well, except for the bride of course who graced the dance floor in a lace monique lhuillier gown. beautiful. pretty weird my little brother is a husband. maybe one day i will get married too:)

ZION

just returned from camping out at zion national park in utah - about a 3 hour drive from home. camping out like sleeping in tents style. summer camping in the desert is not the coolest. we tried to stay in the river as much as possible. we made the mistake of leaving some bananas in the car and came back a couple of hours later and the bananas were all completely black!! parts of the inside of my car even melted off the door. yep, the bag of marshmallows were in the car as well. so it turned into one big marshmallow. but what is a smore when its so dry you aren't allowed to build campfires? i think zach ate a bug in his sleep. woke up with something crunchy in his mouth. but all in all it was pretty fun. can't beat falling asleep looking at the milky way out of the top of the tent. saw many shooting stars. many satellites. the highlight of the trip was tubing down the river. we each carried massive drinking coolers full of a natasha concoction and floated down the river for about 2 hours. sounds nice and lazy. and it was at times. but also very scary. going over all that white water. i found myself without my tube at one point and got smashed up against some rocks. that hurt. water is strong. it was the best time. floating down a river with a breathtaking backdrop of red rock that towers above you. just massive. we definitely plan to return to our new friend, zion.

what is NOT cool about this photo?

other than the fact that it is blurry and states that i have 52,440 miles on my car. yep, that bottom number is the temperature outside. i snapped this on the drive home from work today. sympathy?

damn good design

the web site is up:
www.damngooddesign.com

not finished, but up. on this site you can see the cd we just finished at the design firm i work at. I designed the packaging and all of us at CDI worked hard finding the best visuals in vegas for designers to have at their disposal. pretty awesome.

i've been migunized

www.migunworld.com

i am a lazy blogger.

the temperature today

is 110 degrees. yay!

"Desert Kingdom"

By MOLLY BALL (attendee of our moustache party)
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Ex-Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren's 12,000-square-foot property is three adjoining buildings, with 10 bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

If you've ever driven past ex-Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren's compound in East Las Vegas, you've probably said it: "What's with that house?"

The Home & Garden Television cable network recently asked Hammargren, currently a candidate for his old job, that question on a show of the same name.


The retired neurosurgeon had plenty of opportunities to show off his trademark nonchalant quirkiness as he led the show's host on a tour of his "Desert Kingdom," which contains a shrine to Liberace, a building modeled after a Mayan ruin, a backyard full of cast-off casino signs, and knickknacks piled to the ceilings of numerous oddly shaped rooms.

"This is a model of Stonehenge, in England, which I'm building here out of aluminum," Hammargren explained to the cameras at one point, as if such a thing were perfectly logical.

The 12,000-square-foot property is actually three adjoining buildings, according to the show, with 10 bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Hammargren said he bought the property from Howard Hughes' pilot in 1972.

Hammargren said his wife lived in one house, no one lived in the middle house and he lived in the house on the other end. "I have a house for me, a house for her and a house for a referee in between," he said.

SOME MORE INFO:
Castillo del Sol, as it is now called, started out as a $45,000 house built in 1969 from a standard plan as a frame stucco, four bedroom house. the large addition built in 1975 was placed over the top and in front of the house to accommodate an observatory and planetarium. This was built to local code and without a variance, as it met the conditions for ranch estates that limit height to 35 feet. Several lawsuits have been dismissed after it was proven that the building met applicable codes and that the doctor was not a "Peeping Tom".

The doctor had long wanted to study astronomy, but never had the time, money, or the inclination to sit outside in the cold Minnesota nights to study the stars. His science interests are broad, ranging from biology to medicine to mathematics, anthropology and psychology. His special focus is the history of scientific thought. Most old structures such as the pyramids and Stonehenge were oriented to directions relevant to the positions and motions of the sun, moon and stars. The specific discipline that studies this combination of archaeology and astronomy is called archaeoastronomy. Lonnie fancies himself as an amateur archaeoastronomer.

Above the entrance is a stairway to the top of the Mayan pyramid. This is modeled after the Castillo pyramid in the Yucatan. It gives rise to the name of the house, Castillo Del Sol, the Castle of the Sun.

DAM!

visited the ole hoover dam today. an impressive feat indeed.

100 degrees

Already. And it is only spring. Looking forward to summer.

Today is May 12th

The countdown has begun, people.

you must do this!

http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/112134.gif


1. Follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one
color, pink.

2. Green Catastrophe: If you stare at the black + in the center, the
moving dot turns to green.

3. Reality Shatter: Now, concentrate on the black + in the center of
the picture. After a short period of time, many if not all of the pink
dots will slowly disappear, and you may only see a green dot rotating.

courtesy of my natasha (who i learn from every day)

between las vegas and l.a.

noise pollution

the parents of the kids across the street apparently bought them motor bikes for christmas. the fun part is that it appears that they are only allowed to ride these deafening bikes back and forth on our very very short street. so, it's a relaxing saturday and its back. and forth. back. and forth. back. and yep, forth. a deafening monotonous sound. what thoughtful neighbors we have.

EW! scary desert spider.

i awoke to a new friend in our home this morning. it was HUGE! of course zach would not kill it but released it into the backyard and i am sure it will make its way back in to the house. is this what we pay the exterminator monthly for?

poker cards designed by las vegas designers

i designed the 4 of hearts and the 4 of diamonds. like poker? try your hand here:

http://www.lasvegas.aiga.org/allin/

um . . . yikes!

Pentagon to Test a Huge Conventional Bomb

this is a bit too close to home

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001735.html

what? you have some time to kill?

have no fear. my friend gaea has once again come through with a quality use of time:

http://www.waxhoff.com/

3 a.m. saturday morning

i was woken up by a spectacular display of fireworks at the new red rock casino by my house. since when is it normal to display booming fireworks in a residential neighborhood in the middle of the night?

point reyes, california

ani kasten

check out her work at:

www.anipots.com


ani is the wife of zach's best friend benji. we stayed with them on our trip to california. she makes beautiful pieces. we visited her studio which she shares with a few other artists including a very intriguing bruce busby. he was in the middle of building a large interesting looking tent-like object. his work can be viewed at www.brucebusby.com.

ani's father is sam kasten, a well-known weaver. his site is linked to hers.

yeah artists!

the OTHER city of lights

http://framboise781.free.fr/Paris.htm

scan horizontally

henry "ren" green

oh my goodness! angie's new baby boy, ren was born!

Google Earth

is the coolest program ever. you have to download it onto your computer.

the moustache party

the results are in.

true beauty.

http://www.devilducky.com/media/26951/

i like it

http://www.bravia-advert.com/includes/vid/bravia_150_sec_high.mov

note: you must be very patient as this takes forever and a day to load . . . download, go run and errand and return. it's worth the wait!

bad movie vs. good movie

i saw a really bad movie last night. it is called the wedding crashers. we had gotten some bad news so we tried to cheer ourselves up with some brainless humor. we normally wouldnt think to rent such a flick but had heard so many people raving about it, and had a free blockbuster rental card, so we thought we would give it a shot. could it have been any more boring? ok, so i did audible giggle once or MAYBE twice. but simply not enough to justify 2. 5 hours or however long it was.

i saw a really good movie. it was called the new world. it was really beautiful. i wont bore whoever (if in fact anyone) is reading this with any kind of description. we were enthralled, but as soon as the credits hit, our fellow las vegan movie watching neighbors stood up furious all shouting about how it was the worst movie they had ever seen. why do i live here? oh yeah, i remember.

next stop, europe? please?

have mercy on the kitties

this is an excerpt from an email from my fiancé's sister.

we are going through some major neighborhood
drama right now.
our cat puka had been missing since tues. and our
cat molly since fri. after searching under our house
and attic and finally posting bulletins around, we
came to find out what had happened.
our neighbor (one house down) admitted to setting
up traps around his yard and all cats trapped were
taken by the humane society and then to the s.p.c.a.
we found this out and were able to pick them up
yesterday. yesterday puka was going up for adoption
and we spent over 100 dollars getting them out.
chas. county and city have leash laws regarding
cats and dogs and he is within hi rights. apparently
he was recently laid off and i guess hes both bitter
and bored. all 3 of our cats are indoors (when we're
not chasing after them) and we're in cloudof
disbelief.

:(

let the games begin

fresh new music

the new belle and sebastian album (the life pursuit something or other) is really good. if you are reading this you should check it out.

the work of a copywriting fiance

it's official.

I am a legal domestic partner. we had to get a notary and a witness (zach's creative director) to sign paperwork saying we are legal domestic partners. this way i get access to having zach's great insurance with nothing coming out of the paycheck. i like it. zachs palms were all sweaty. jeez, can you imagine how he is going to be on the big day if THIS makes him sweat?

winter came today. actually snowed. for a second. there was more snow up on mount charleston though, where we spent the weekend. today we are back home and its all about chillin', makin chilli, and drinking irish coffees. (cheers to anna, we are using jamesons).

chicago is not the windy city

las vegas is. goodness gracious the insanity. i think they just call chicago the windy city bc it is so gosh darn cold. and las vegas already has its appropriate nickname as sin city. the wind woke me up and as i tried to leave the house, the wind pulled the coffee right out of my mug. my car was tossed all over the road. ahhhh, now i know why the hummer is such a popular car around here. zach cannot ride his bike to work today. he must find a ride. i hear its not going to let up until 6 pm.

lost in las vegas

after seeing the possum george jones perform from a front row seat, we began a journey. escaping the casino amongst all the wheelchairs, smoke, and slot machines. but then we began a real journey. we didn't know it would be. we thought we were just going to a party. so we drove. probably stopped at 4 or 5 gas stations throughout the night trying to navigate. so, we were in the city one second and the next second everything went dark and we were on a desolate road with huge mountains really close on the left and right of us. no street lights. just darkness and nothingness for as far as we could see. was it possible the party was out there in the abyss of mountainous desert? i'm a little scared. let's turn around. so we made a u-turn and drove. and drove. and then between the big dark mountains were millions of tiny yellow lights and in the middle was the stratosphere (the tower that looks kinda like the one in seattle). it was a pretty stunning site looking down on the city in the middle of all these mountains. we gave up on the party. and a few more gallons of gas later we were home safely.

in vegas you can be ANYONE

Copy and paste this link:
http://visitlasvegas.com/vegas/features/be-anyone/index.jsp

And click on the icon that says, "Be Anyone in Las Vegas & Create Your Identity." The site creates a new identity for you, complete with a business card, web site and 800 number!

the most fun is calling the 1-800 numbers. this is something zach did at work and just finished recording all the 1800 numbers last week. apparently he wrote more that were hilariously fun. . . but what did the client do? watered it down to just kinda fun. but still, check it out. what are you? a lumberjack, kung fu master, secret agent, philanthropist, etc? find out! (i am a philanthropist . . BORING.)

most of the lights in las vegas

are all red. stop lights. brake lights. will i ever get home?

the way the light hits

the mountains always look different.

how to be a las vegan girl

as in las vegas . . . sin city . . .not vegan (the non-meat eating human)

you must own and wear often a velour sweatsuit. you must own and wear often (with or without velour sweatsuit) arctic boots (are these called UGS?), you or your boyfriend drives a hummer 2 with a vanity plate (you know, the kind that leaves you puzzled trying to spell out whatever word they are trying to spell) - the vanity plate may be from either nevada or california. both count. you and/or your boyfriend must drive like a complete idiot - seemingly like you are the ONLY person on the road - i will just assume that you must be on the way to the hospital or there is a fire at home. oh, and you must have fake acrylic nails with a french cut manicure of some sort.

not quite fitting in yet.

wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=Gi2CfuqcUGE

leonard

is a hummingbird. he hangs out in our backyard a lot and is always so thirsty.
our cats stare longingly out the window and do weird barking/robotic/chirping noises - i assume this is because they are very hungry.

my sister

my lil sister's beau (luke), lil sis claire, and me over christmas after a grueling game of cranium. her eyes are always red in photos no matter what. she has a horse named pacey and a cute new red car.

friends

i love my friends.

everything's shocking

it is very dry out here in the desert. literally almost every single time you touch something you get shocked. blue sparks if the lights are out. the most fun is petting the cats. they turn into a bowl of rice krispie treats. and i think they like it.

looking at the positives

locations for taking a nap outside in the backyard in mid-december. minneapolis? nope. las vegas? yep.

my winnings so far

it's not a lot but it is still thrilling to put a $1 bill in a machine, press a button, and get $75 back. Apparently money is free in this city. I think I will stop while I am ahead.

so las vegas

Just because we live here does not mean that we hit the casinos every night. However, we still can't manage to miss out on that sin city charm. For example, the Liberace Museum (liberace is pictured above for your viewing pleasure) is right across the street from where I work. It's great to see his smiling face every day as I turn in to work. What a treat. And Zach had his first client meeting today. The client? Mr. Wayne Newton himself.

zach's new toy.

Zach just bought a ping pong paddle for $35 to use at work. He is pretty fascinated by it. I suppose this is how you advance in advertising.