Piper has been feeling a bit under the weather, for the past couple of days. She had a little bit of a crazy day, yesterday. Reagan has also been feeling sick for the past week, or so. I’m super glad that Reagan was able to be there with Piper yesterday for her whole ordeal, though. But today, she just needed to hang back and rest. So I was able to be the beneficiary of Piper’s snuggly mood. We just hung out, watched videos on my phone and she intermittently tapped my watch and played with her Dora doll. It was really nice.

(Above:  Reagan Bowling in Cedar)

In observation of National Poetry Week, I would like to share a poem about bowling. About a year ago, Reagan and I attended a service auction at our church. One of the items that I won, was a personalized poem, about any subject. I, of course, chose bowling for the topic of the poem. About a month ago, after much anticipation, I finally received the final draft of the poem. It is pretty amazing. Check it out:

Bowling Ball

for Jake Breinholt

It wobbles from the chute

to an expectant still,

blank-faced and mute

like Nature Channel chimps before they kill.

Plunged to the knuckle in each bore,

your ostrich claw

wrests it to a pose. The roar

of a near gutter steels your jaw.

The pause before the drop:

The gathering eyes

withhold reward, your forearm’s slope

the truer chart of your trajectories,

but tonight this will suffice.

A thud, a whir, the crack

of half-success. The ice

in your glass has flavor enough to soothe the lack.

- J. Scott Reynolds

Thanks again, Scott.

I was on Park Avenue today shooting a lookbook preview for SoJones. I arrived a little bit early, and they were giving a tour to some group from FIT. So I wandered out on the balcony and grabbed a quick shot of Park Avenue S. (below) It is hard to tell in the bw version, but there are little leaf buds on those trees (here is the color version, if you are interested).

Spring is here in full force. Although, judging by the temperature the last couple of days, one might think that it was Late June or Early July, not the beginning of April. But, you won’t hear me complaining. Looking forward to some blossoms in DC, this weekend.

One idea that Reagan has had in the works for a while, is to blog about hair. Last night, we shot some images for the project. Her new site will be going up at hairdresseronfireblog.com. The name, of course is from the Morrissey’s song from the “Bona Drag” album. It’s kind of nerdy, but, we had a lot of fun doing these photos last night. I’m kind of excited to see what she will cook up, content-wise.

Ultimate iPod deck, built from a 50 caliber ammo-can. The only thing that even gives this thing a run for its money, is coconut headphones. There are two versions. One comes with dual 25 watt amps, the other with dual 70 watt amps. Holy cow! 70 watts x2 is more juice than some very loud guitar amps that I have owned. They run about 250 quid (over $300).  I’m half tempted to make a summer project out of it, and build one of these.

You can purchase them here: Thodio

A couple more photos:

Thx: Uncrate

Hi, this is two posts in a row with the word “running” in the title. This one, however, unlike the previous one, is actually about running. A couple of weeks ago, I was commenting on how much I would like to get back into a routine of running. I’m happy to report, that I have been doing pretty well (with the exception of a few days of monsoon). If you look at my track record, I have been pretty consistent since about the middle of March, even if it is just a quick 3 or 4 miles. I have been feeling better, too. Not so stiff, etc. Hopefully I will be able to continue the same way.

Our running club had its second club points race last Saturday (check out my hair, hahaha). Reagan was feeling sick, so she ended up sitting that race out. I had a pretty good race though. The weather was beautiful. It was actually a bit on the warm side. I was pretty happy with my time:

Last Name	First Name	Sex/ Age	Bib	Team	City	State	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile
BREINHOLT	JACOB	M33	1053	NYRC	NEW YORK	NY	522	464	90	42:30	6:51

Other quick stats:

Distance: 6.2 Miles, 10.0 Kilometers
Date/Time: April 3, 2010, 10:00 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 52 Deg. 80% Hum. Clear.
Total Finishers: Men – 4072  Women – 3722  Total – 7794

Hopefully, I can make some progress this year.

Here is my disclaimer: Reagan tells me that sometimes when I talk/write about running, it seems like I’m bragging. So, just to be clear, I would like to say:  Although, I like to get a little bit competitive, I realize I am a very average runner. If anything, the competitive aspect is only to keep it interesting (for me), and to measure personal progress.

Apologies in advance for writing another post about this turntable that I found on the sidewalk. Here goes anyway (with not just 1, but 3 photos to accompany). Reagan surprised me with a 180 gram pressing of Beastie Boys, “Check your Head.” I knew that I hung onto that old cheapo backup mixer all of these years for a reason. Since the player uses a magnetic cartridge, it needs to be grounded. The receiver that we have was not built to be compatible with turntables, so it completely devoid of any terminal to hook a ground wire to.

I tried just rigging it anyway, but it was barely audible. Thankfully, I had an old mixer from a former life, when I  aspired to having DJ skills, complete with ground terminals for magnetic cartridge turntables (and analog pre-amp level meters). I’m sure that Reagan was a little bit nervous at first, with all of the cables snaking everywhere. But eventually I was able to get it all arranged and normal looking. Also, it sounds fabulous. Thanks for the LP, Reag. Thanks for the turntable, random WaHi resident.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The funny thing about these guys, is that I really didn’t like them at first. Reagan and I saw them last year at All Points West. They were pretty good, but I wasn’t super impressed. Granted, it was raining all day long, so they probably weren’t too happy to be playing on an outdoor stage. That could have been part of it. But, I have really been digging on them, as of late. If you have the “Rock Band” video game, then you know their song “Maps.” I like that song, but I don’t think that it is really representative of their sound. I think that might be another reason that I may have been disappointed by the APW performance. I really like how raw and simple their stuff is. It’s kind of like White Stripes meets Joan Jett, or something.

The album that I have been jamming to, lately is “Show your Bones.” Two tracks on there, I particularly love. One of them I’m sharing today. It’s called “Gold Lion.” For the record, this song has also been a part of my running playlist. Spin it.

[photo: Josh Wildman]

We have had fantastic weather all weekend long. Saturday, Reagan was feeling a bit under the weather, but we did make it out for a walk in the park.

Sunday Morning, we had Easter with Piper. Reagan woke up early and dyed some eggs for her to play with.

She was a little bit groggy, when we first arrived, since she had just woken up from her nap. But she ended up giving us some smiles, before it was time for us to leave.

Check out some of the sickest stop motion I have seen in a while.

Thx Animal.