^_____Reagan, waiting for the A after our Piper visit on Sunday morning

Now that January is officially over, I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that 2010 is really here and well underway. February is going to be a big month for us. First of all, it is Reagan’s birthday is on Thursday. Woo hoo! Apparently, she is getting pissed off about people telling her that she is entering her “late twenties.” So, if you talk to her about, try to avoid that characterization.

Piper will most likely be moving back to Blythedale in the next couple of weeks (possibly next week). We are pretty excited about that, and what it represents, as far as her recovery from this illness that she has had.

Mercedes Benz Fashion week is also this month, starting next week. I’m already booked for one event, but hoping to get a couple more things lined up. There are a few possibilities in the works, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

At the end of the month, assuming that Piper is in good shape again by then, we are planning to make a stop out west, to visit our new little nieces and nephew. It will be a really huge thing for us, since my entire family will be there (except Piper ), even the ones from Alaska.

Finally, for something completely random: Check out this slide that I found on the sidewalk, over the weekend. I haven’t seen a slide in ages! Some people pick up change. I pick up this (someone’s trash). Hehehe.

It has been kind of a crazy week for us, already. In addition to being back at my real job, I have been running all over the place, to cover various fashion trade shows, after-parties, etc. I really enjoy it, though. I see a lot of cool stuff and meet a lot of cool people. So I can’t complain much.

Below are just a few random things that I recently found:

• I have taken up sleeping in my clothes. I’m not really sure how it started, or why I keep doing it. It isn’t like it is any more comfortable. It doesn’t really save me any time, either. Because I generally just wake up too hot, a couple of hours later and have to shed anyway. Also, I would really not recommend sleeping in clothes that require dry cleaning.
• The other day, we were talking to some of our friends about when we first started hanging out. I’m paraphrasing here, but they told us that, in trying to decide if they wanted to hang out, the convo went something like “are you sure that you want to hang out with them? Isn’t he that kid who wears his hat sideways?” I guess that I never realized what a potential friend deterrent hats, or how they are worn, could be. Hehe
• Reagan and I were eating Subway sandwiches at some point over the weekend (one tends to eat a lot of Subway, when camped out at the hospital), when Reagan started admiring what an amicable chap our sandwich artist was. Do they still call them sandwich artists? Anyway, Reagan proceeded to tell me that if anything happened to me, she would get with the sandwich guy. I told her that if anything ever happened to her, I would get with Eva Mendez. I remembered that convo, when I saw the new CK billboard, Tuesday night. Also, Reagan made me admit that E. Mendez is the real reason that I own “2 Fast 2 Furious.” Although, I do like the cars, too. I hope that nothing ever happens to Reagan (or me).
• There is an event that some of our friends are planning for this weekend. On the latest round of planning email, our status was marked as “figuring it out.” Hahahaha. I feel like that is a truism that can be applied to just about any facet of my life, currently.

Right now I’m covering the January Cargo Tradeshow in SoHo, for SoJones. I shot their July show last year, too. After the Sojones articles are published, I’ll put up more from the show.

I was hoping that it would be a nice break and lift my spirits, for a bit. And it did, for a bit.

Today there was also this photo that showed up in Gothamist. Thanks for using my stuff, Joe.

Burton is one of the brands that is featured on SoJones.com. As a result, I attended  a couple of Burton parties last night for their fall video release (“B” Movie). I had an extra enjoyable time hanging out and chatting with pro snowboarders all night, since I grew up in SLC and have been riding since I was a young pup. These events are the kind that I dreamed about attending, when I was in high school. I invited Reagan to come meet Shaun White. She told me no thanks but tell him that I like his red hair, for me. Hahahah. Anyway, it was a really good time. I posted about it over on SoJones, along with mucho mas fotos. Check it.

I came across this fancy little product from Contexture Design, via Fresness. I’m not really sure why a person would want to take a smaller version of a device (conceptually made smaller to be more convenient) and bulk it back up with such a large case. But I do like the aesthetic. Maybe they can make one for full sized Ipods out of old 8-track shells.

From a purely aestheic perspective, these things are a 9 and 1/2 out of 10. The fact that they are also functional is an added bonus. Make Blog re-posted them from Iwan Roberts‘ blog Dau Gi Bauch, where he writes about having constructed them for his friend’s 21st birthday. Roberts, can we get and instructables page on these babies?

Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, I was participating in outdoor activities since before I could walk or talk. As a result, my family always had a generous stockpile of gear. Among the various backpacking, camping and hiking items, were several varieties of canteens. We had mostly the G.I. style, that were army green and hooked into a gear belt through little steel eyelets.

The old-school canteen, that was pretty much the standard, when I was younger, was later replaced by Nalgene style bottles. It seems like Nalgene is now being outmoded by the aluminum bottles, especially since all of the warnings about chemical leeching have come about.

Last night, we were watching the opening night of Shark Week, on Discovery, and I saw an ad for stainless waterbottles, which claimed to be better than both plastic and aluminum. Hmmmm. But until today, I hadn’t seen any water bottle company that has tried to work the fashion accessory angle.

One of my friends forwarded me a link to the US Canteen site, this morning. The idea is a little bit corny, but I have to admit I like the idea of not having to carry a water bottle in my hand. Also, the over-the-shoulder sling beats out the old gear belt in form and function.

They come in a bunch of different styles of bottle, and carrier. Apparently they are all on sale right now, also. Check em out.

There was a great section in this month’s issue of Wired, called “How to Behave: New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans.” The article discusses all types of tech related etiquette, like texting during parties, leaving your handheld on the bar, etc.. But, my favorite is the one about the bluetooth headsets. Thank you thank you thank you, for validating us, on this one. Where some have attempted to make them fashion accessories (plating them with precious metals, and slapping labels on them), Wired calls it how it is. The blurb is penned by Maren Jinett. I believe that Jinett hits the nail on the head, here:

Perhaps spending your formative years watching The Six Million Dollar Man and RoboCop gave you the mistaken impression that upgrading your body with electronics is the height of cool. Let’s be clear: Walking around with a Bluetooth device in your ear is pure douchebaggery. There is no excuse for it.

Oh man. douchebaggery? Hahahahah. Well stated. It is a pretty good sign that something is bad form, when even the hardcore geeks can recognize it. I mean, the bluetooth is a great tool, if you have to be on the phone while driving, or juggling babies, or something. But when ever I see people just wearing them around town, I can’t help but automatically assume that their personality is exactly like the bluetooth guy in Breaking Bad, who cuts off Walter White in the bank parking lot.

I had a blast hanging out with the guys from Rich Yung, Triple 5 Soul, e.5.Charlie, and the Cargo guys, for the past two evenings at the Cargo show. SoJones got me hooked up with press credentials, and the Cargo guys really treated me right. The music was awesome, both yesterday with DJ Camilo, and today with DJ Panther (pictured above). The image below, is one that I shot from the DJ booth, looking down over the event.

The guys below are the ones behind e.5.Charlie. They are a couple of pretty cool characters who hooked me up with a bunch of swag.

You can check out my interviews with Rich Yung, and with Triple 5 Soul, over at SoJones. There are a couple of more interviews I did at the show that we be published on SoJones in the next few days. Here is the article about the history of the show.

Next Monday and Tuesday evening, I will be covering the Cargo fashion art and music trade show for SoJones. I’m pretty excited about it. So feel free to check out SoJones next week for some hard-hitting photo and literary journalism (the part about “hard-hitting” is tongue in cheek, of course) by yours truly.