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:

People tend to get stir crazy, when they are sick and it is too cold spend any sort of quality time out doors. We do, anyway. Saturday, it was barely in the double digits outside, and it felt even colder because of the wind. Reagan had an appt on the UWS early in the afternoon. I decided to pick her up afterward, so that I could say I had been out of the house, hahaha. When we were trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the evening, I came up with this kind of corny idea about making some miniature ppl and photographing them. There were a few things that I have seen recently that gave me the idea. There was this thing that I saw on Boing Boing. There was also a thing that I saw on a blog kept by some of our acquaintances from Harlem. Finally, let’s not forget this Seth Green-esque weirdness.

So, we stopped by the Michael’s on the UWS and picked up some FIMO, then picked up some burritos at Ch#$%$, and headed home. Kelly, I would like you to know that per your fine fine suggestion, I have now added a burrito tag and category.

We made various little models, so that we could have a few options of scenarios, to shoot.

By the time that we finished building all of the little guys, and baking them in the oven, we were kind of running out of energy to get really fancy with the photos. But, we did have a lot of fun with the underwater scenario (shot in the fish tank). Reagan suspended a little scuba diver and mermaid from some of her hair. Yes, she tied one of her hairs around them (her idea [an awesome one]). Hahahaha. The baby convicts and the gold fish were the funniest part about it. They were so incredibly curious about what was going on, that they are in just about every shot. Look how curious the little convicts are in the shot below, when Reagan first dropped in the mermaid.

Ok, so here is the real ripoff. Our friend Zach always puts together these awesome time-lapse videos of stuff that they do. I have been super curious to try my hand at making one, for a while. I didn’t get very fancy, like he does, with the music and everything. But, if you want to see my first crack at a time-lapse video, click play below, to watch Reagan and I building little Fimo guys.

If you want to check out a few more photos of the Fimo ppl and some other randomness, click through here.

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.

..on my desktop, on my…

Sorry that I am kind obsessed with bridges, at the moment, because of the book that I’m reading. If you are sick of hearing about them, feel free to change the channel. I’m taking a break from blabbing about the Brooklyn Bridge for a minute to share this outstanding time-lapse video of the Manhattan Bridge. The Manhattan Bridge is situated just north of the Brooklyn Bridge, on the East River (for those non-NY-ers who are curious and too lazy to dial up a Google Maps search). I shot the image above during this outing, from the Brooklyn side promenade of the Bk Bridge. Brooklyn even has a neighborhood that is named for the Manhattan Bridge. It is called DUMBO as an acronym for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.” This video comes via a post that I saw in Animalnewyork.com, last July. The video below show the way that “the Manhattan Bridge sways up and down with each passing subway train.” Soooooo cool.

For the title, I was going to use “this n’ that,” again. But, I already used that earlier this week. “Ramble on” works better anyway, because it kind of invokes the Led Zeppelin song. Here is le scoop:

• Piper wasn’t feeling too hot earlier this week. Apparently she had a minor case of pneumonia. Luckily it wasn’t serious enough for a trip back to the ICU. According to reports from her nurses, she has been doing a lot better, since she started antibiotics. I’m glad that Reagan will be able to hang out with her tomorrow.
• Reagan and I redesigned her Blob, this week. I always love it when I can trick Reagan into collaborating on a nerdy project with me. It almost always goes the same way. She gives me all of the directions, then generally gets bored during the nuts and bolts of doing the actual coding and testing. She gets frustrated, says never mind, and leaves the room. Hahaha.
• It is supposed to snow again in the morning. Apparently it was snowing last year on Jan 8, as well.
• When Reagan’s Parents came to visit, they brought me some new reading material. The book that I chose to start this week is called “The Great Bridge.” It is another one of David McCullough’s compilations of historical facts. This one is about the Brooklyn Bridge and the father/son team who conceived and built it. So far, I’m really enjoying it. BTW, me starting a new book is the only thing that the photo above (shot in a RJ bookstore last Nov.) has to do with anything in this post. That last sentence was a mouthful. It does seem kind of fitting that I happened to photograph the “history” section of the bookstore, though. It’s like I saw the future, and knew that I was going to need a photo of history books. Hahahah. Ok, it’s not really like that at all.
• I plan to do some running in the evening, for the first time since early December. Ughhhhh. I have really just let things slip much too far. But I built a new playlist to get me motivated. In fact it is uploading to de J-pod as I am typing these words. It will also be a nice way to break up the day, since I’m predicting a pretty late night at work.
• Reagan and I are taking a trip to VT for snowboarding, next weekend. It will be nice after having been relegated to the gently sloping icy confines of Mountain Creek all season, last year.
• I may be getting booked to shoot a very exciting (to me) photo gig, coming in Feb. I’m hoping that it pans out.

I was working on Reagy’s website and I got up to take a bathroom break. As I was standing there, I looked up and saw la luna peering through top of the window at me. I thought I may as well have some photo fun. The first one is with a 40mm at f/22 for like 18 seconds. The second one is 200mm, also f/22 for like 1/6th of a second, both were shot at 200 iso. I wish that I could have dialed in the focus a little bit sharper on the second one.

I have been back and forth about the whole Facebook conundrum, several times. You may recall this post. Then, almost a year later, I caved under peer pressure and reactivated my account. I have to admit that some aspects of it have been really pleasant. I’m still not 100% keen on it, though. Possibly still because of the bitter taste in my mouth that Myspace left.

Anyway, it seems like it is pretty unavoidable these days. I read about it everywhere. I have read so many articles about how if they could just monetize the thing, it would be unstoppable, etc. It seems like Wired has a new take on Facebook, every month. But my favorite two Facebook factoids, as of late, are:  A. Facebook is for broads, and B. The elderly is the fastest growing demographic of users. I’m not kidding, in either case.

Examiner sends around all kinds of emails with tips on promoting, etc. The latest thing they have going is some sort of contest, involving Facebook. Here is a quote from the email:

If you think you’re too old for Facebook, consider that the fastest growing group of Facebook users is people over the age of 35.  Among that group, grandparents are some of the heaviest users.

What? Hahahaha. Some of the “heaviest users?” Ok, aside from the poor wording of that statement, I can sort of see some rationale behind the claim. The reason that I kind of buy into it, dovetails with my next point. The elderly are often home bound. With limited social options, I can see them resorting to Facebook, for interaction with others. The other demographic that  spends loads and loads of time on Facebook according to something that I read on Animal New York (and according to my personal observation), is the softer sex. I have to say that it seems like women, stay at home moms particularly (not saying this with any sort of negative inference), seem to author the bulk of the “updates” on my feed. The Animal post was actually taken from an NY Observer article, on the subject. The article claims that:

Women are more likely to be chatting it up on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites you’ve probably never heard of, like “Bebo.” According to data taken from Google’s U.S. Ad Planner, a site that tracks popular Web sites’ traffic, 84 percent (or 16 out of 19) of the sites they studied have more female than male users.

The Observer also stated that a study conducted by the WSJ in October yielded similar findings. So what does this mean? Put the Examiner claim with the other studies, and it appears that Facebook is becoming overrun by elderly women. Hahahaha.

In reality though, I have recently read a few useful pieces relating to Facebook. The first one, was in GQ, earlier this year. This article lays out the low down with Mark Zuckerberg, his unrelenting desire to be the head of the organization he created, and the back story on the ever changing Facebook privacy policy, about which rumors still circulate (Facebook owns all of the IP right to photos posted by users, etc.).

The other article I referred to, appeared in Details. The article discusses virtual friend collecting and lays out some guidelines and protocol on how to deal with awkward Facebook moments. I have found it helpful, when trying to decide if I should un-tag myself in certain photos, etc.. It also discusses the idea of transparency and honesty on one’s profile. It probably seems pretty commonsensical, but it was actually kind of interesting.

Maybe it is kind of pathetic I have even felt like I needed any guidance when dealing with Facebook. Maybe I’ll be strong armed out by all of the elderly women who are taking over. I guess I wouldn’t be too bummed about that.  Anyway, I find Idiotbook much more entertaining.

One of my favorite times of the day, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, is the last 10 minutes of my workout session. This may sound totally retarded, but whatever. I endearingly refer to those 10 minutes as, “nap-time.” After 30-90 minutes of running, then a 60 minute workout, I get to just lay there on a massage table, with ice packs on my knees. It is so amazing.

I’m not one of those guys who works out with the blackberry in-hand. So gym-time is already kind of sacrosanct, in the sense that I’m “off the grid,” as it were. So, I totally love those last 10 minutes, where I can just let my mind drift, and veg-out, before showering and getting back to the inevitable inbox buildup that has accumulated.

Today particularly, I was realizing how much I appreciate my 10 minutes of solitude. During nap-time, today, I got to thinking how much I appreciate the small things generally, when things get particularly hectic in my life. For example, I love the re-designed tab on Orbit gum. It is now so much easier to close the flap.

I love it when Reagan sneaks some cookies into my backpack, in the morning, while I’m in the shower. I love it when I come down the last set of subway stairs right as the train is pulling up. I really think that is the kind of stuff that keeps me going. Anyway, sorry to get all pensive. I just thought I would share.

Much love to the b-berry cam. They always come out gritty and distorted, just the way I like ‘em.

My metrocard is a 30-day ride, that starts counting days, from the first swipe. They come to me in the mail. So, when I get a new one, I just put it in my wallet, so that I am prepared for the morning that the turnstile tells me “insufficient fare.” Then I just throw out the old one, and start using the new one. As luck would have it, my card ran out this morning. So I’m using my new one, for the first time, on a Friday, right before a 3 day weekend, when I probably won’t use it once. I know it isn’t a big deal, but for some reason, that kind of stuff makes me crazy.

Now for some really good news, if you are a nerd, and you like long and boring. If you aren’t a nerd, and/or don’t like long and boring, skip to “[Unboring].” I’m always battling for more disc space on our home comp. In the past, I would always just drop a new hard drive into the tower and call it good. The problem is, that it would rarely ever be that simple (Exhibit A). I have thought about just going the external drive, route. But USB 2.0 writes too slow and firewire is too expensive. So I have had this idea in my mind for a while, that I would just build an extra tower out of an old motherboard I have, and a couple of enormous hard drives. I could then just save everything on there via network. Well, yesterday I was on Craigslist, looking for someone giving away an old cpu case, and I struck gold. I found a place that was unloading all of their old workstations, sans hard drives. Exactly what I wanted. So I grabbed two boxes with Pentium 4s and DVD drives already in them. Now I just need to pick up a couple of hard drives, and install Linux on there (which I am also excited to do [it will me my first experience with Linux]).

Which brings me to my second point, I now have an extra pentium 4 machine, sans hard drives, if anyone is interested. It only has 512k of memory, but depending on what you want to use it for, it could workout great. Let me know if you are interested.

[Unboring] Continuing with the the positivity theme, it is a 3 day weekend. It is going to be especially fun, since Reagan’s sister will be in town. She and her friend will be attending the Open, for part of the time, but hanging with us, for the remainder (to visit Piper, etc.). Taking a slightly less positive tone: I have been chatting all morning with Reagan, who has been visiting Piper. Apparently Piper has not been feeling too hot. She has a fever and seems very subdued. Hopefully it is nothing serious. Fingers crossed.

Veering back toward positivity:  Last night, the Univ. of Utah football team convincingly won their season opener. I hope that everyone has a fantastic holiday weekend.