I finished the last magazine from last month, on the train Thursday morning. I was wondering when I would get some new ones, and kind of bummed that I was going to have to resort to reading some actual meaningful literature during my commute (i.e. commit to another large book, hahaha). Imagine my delight when I came home from work Thursday night to find the trifecta in my mailbox. Woot!

In a slight twist from the street art stuff that I usually post, these are actually photo-realist oil paintings by artist Kevin Peterson. They are from Peterson’s series “Graffiti Girls.” Peterson is based in Houston TX. You can check out a couple more pieces from the Graffiti Girls series on Format.

I have been so bad at running lately (by lately, I mean, since last October). When I heard that we were going to be back into the 60′s weather-wise, this week, I knew my excuses had run out. It seemed a bit nutty to try to get back into a routine, two days after daylight savings kicked in. But I had to get up to move the car this morning anyway, so all I had to do was will myself not to get back in bed afterward. I have to admit that the conditions were not ideal, and it was still a little cold for my liking. But I’m glad that I went, even though it was short and slow.

It was so nice to just be out running, by myself, not on the treadmill. I forgot how much I missed that feeling. It is like something I remember from a former life, from before it got cold and started snowing. Oh, wait, that was last September, not a former life. Hahahaha. I even got back in time to record a pretty decent sunrise from our roof. When I can give this same report in 3 weeks, without having slacked, then I will really have something to feel good about.

Morphine came straight out of Cambridge Mass, in the early 90s. The original group consisted of 3 members, with Mark Sandman as the frontman. The group eventually grew to 4 members before disbanding. The original Morphine “sound” was Sandman on vocals and a two-string bass (played with a slide,  a drummer and a sax player who played the tenor and baritone sax at the same time. From the description, it almost sounds like the stuff of circus sideshows. It was definitely unconventional. But for me personally, the sound worked.

I really got into these guys during high school. I bought both “Cure for Pain” and “Good” albums. I kind of lost track of them, after that. Then recently, I discovered that the the group fell apart after Mark Sandman, had a heart attack and collapsed on stage during a July 1999 show in Italy. So crazy!! Anyway, the song that I’m sharing today is a B-side. I imagine it as more of just a jam, that happened to be recorded. It is mellow and infectious.  I have had it on my commuting playlist for that last little while and I have really been liking it a lot, again lately. The track is called “Bo’s Veranda.” Spin it and enjoy.

Yesterday, Reagan posted about our snowshoeing adventures, that we had during our jaunt to UT.  It reminded me that we had a few minutes of some random video footage from that day, that I hadn’t even uploaded yet. So, if you like shaky camerawork and cute girls frolicking in the snow, then you may enjoy this vid.

The official stats are in, and apparently we received nearly 4 inches of rain in the City, between Friday and Saturday. 4.7 inches is the monthly average amount of rainfall for NYC for the month of March. Winds were gusting to 60 MPH, and they actually canceled the Staten Island Ferry service, on Saturday evening because it was becoming to dangerous to dock. I literally did not leave the house one time on Saturday.

We were planning on seeing Piper early Sunday morning. But when I checked the traffic report, all of the parkways heading north were either flooded or closed for debris removal. Right about then, the thunder, lightning and hailstorm kicked into high gear.

Around 2 in the afternoon, the rain turned to a drizzle, so Reagan and I decided to wander out and inspect the damage. Luckily, there were no downed tree limbs across our car. We took a stroll to Ft. Tryon Park, where the parks department had already done a stellar job of clearing all of the mess from the storm. Plus, I really liked the photo below, that I snapped of Reagan, on our walk home. We made it back inside, right as it started to really pour, again.

Normally I just get annoyed when Firefox prompts me to update it. It isn’t that I don’t like to have the latest and most secure version. It is generally because I’m right in the middle of something and have to dismiss the prompt a few times before I can actually run the upgrade and restart my browser. Anyway, I was pretty stoked about the latest and greatest Firefox 3.6, which now allows users to customize the browser with a personalized skin. After a lot of deliberating, I went with a MotoGP theme, to get me pumped for the first race of the season, in a few weeks. I am appreciating it even more, in light of the fact that it is a monsoon outside, and I will most likely spend the majority of the weekend working on the computer. Thanks Mozilla, for being such awesome nerds.

I didn’t even see it, until she got home from work. She let me take some shots of it.

I saw this in Format, today. It doesn’t seem very practical. But I feel like, what it lacks in practicality, it makes up for in Vespacality. It is a Lamponi scooter lamp. In addition to Vespa, Lamponi makes Lambretta and bicycle lamps. I may hold out for the Ducati lamp.

Ok; First of all, I apologize for the blurry blackberry photos. When Reagan and I were in UT, recently, we stopped through some of the local thrift stores in SLC. The Mormon church runs and subsidizes a chain of thrift stores in the mountain west region called “Deseret Industries.” Growing up in SLC, DI enabled me to to amass a very impressive bowling ball collection, as well as a huge collection of oversized wooden forks and spoons with carved handles.

The SLC thrift stores are basically a hipster’s paradise. I will admit that I have seen some pretty amazing stuff at thrift stores and flea markets in NYC (only because Reagan dragged me along, hehe). But in NYC, they call it “vintage” and try to charge as much or more than you could purchase the item new. It doesn’t deter hipsters (or Reagan) from buying the stuff. But I just can’t bring myself to pay cash money for the stuff.

At DI, it is the exact opposite. Instead of being overpriced, most of the items are priced much lower than their actual value. The wingtip slip-ons above are Bostonians, with leather soles and Vibram heels. I scored them for $4. They aren’t exactly Prada, but for $4, I wasn’t about to complain.

In addition to the shoes, I was totally stoked about a pair of glasses that I dug up. They were definitely my best find during our visit (and possibly my best DI find, to date). They are a pair of original B&L 5022 (the 1952 model) Ray Ban Wayfarers that I picked up for the extremely reasonable price of 50 cents. Check ‘em: