final sock monkey line-up

These are the finished sock monkeys produced that night.
I made the little guy on the far left with the orange mohawk and goatee. He was the first sock monkey I've ever made.

Sock Monkey birthday party

Last week -
We gathered at the birthday boy's house and made sock monkeys for his birthday gift




While he fed us stuffed pizzas, banana cake and rum drinks.

I'm in need of stimulation

My hair is of a different, lighter, redder color today. I was a bit bored with myself this week. Last night, I was tired of what I saw in the mirror so before going out to eat, I pulled out some product that had been sitting in the closet for quite a while and decided to kick it up a notch.

Something to do for Valentine's Day? -

Orchid Daze: Gargoyles & Grace
Date: Saturday, January 26 - Sunday, March 30
Time: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Orchid Daze: Gargoyles & Grace heats up the winter months with dazzling displays of orchids in combination with antique urns, fountains, lanterns and architectural remnants such as gates and gargoyles.

Dine & Daze
Date: January 26 - March 30
Time: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Bring your dining receipt from ONE. midtown kitchen or TAP to the Atlanta Botanical Garden and receive two for one admission to Orchid Daze through March 30. Offer is good one per person, per receipt.

A special $25 dinner pre-fixe is available Sundays - Thursdays, February 3 - March 27 (excluding Valentine's Day) at both restaurants in honor of Orchid Daze.

Tiny Tim on Ironside

Tiny Tim performing in a beatnik club from the pilot episode of Ironside.

They should offer vegetarian school lunches

This will make you consider eliminating meat from your diet.

Tuesday

We made it to the EAYC last night. Got beaded. Ate dinner. Heard about the lastest krewe projects coming up - all of them sound delightful. Got seranaded by the Seed & Feed Marching Abominables.
Then home and to bed, all before 10pm.

The election returns are disappointing but not unexpected.

I fantasize about relocating to Canada or Europe.

Meanwhile, our pal who is originally from eastern Europe just got his citizenship this week - after twenty years residency - and was sporting his voter label last night. He is always much more optimistic about this country and the state of the world than we are and good for him. He is quite often the perspective-correction unit in the crowd.

The Sixth Element

Yes!

Friday projection

Due to a cock up with ComCast, we did not have the new communications service hooked up yesterday.
They've rescheduled with us now and we should be up and running again by this Friday.

wish I was at Disneyland tonight

28

I remember my next door neighbor, upon his 28th birthday, telling me that was the most common year for an unnatural death in young men. He noted Kurt Cobain and others who lived to 28. Fortunately, my neighbor was neither depressed, addicted, or over-stressed and is still doing quite well for himself in his own unique way.

But what an odd thing to note on your 28th birthday.

Does this mean we should keep an anxious eye on everyone we know between 27 and 29?

Guerrilla Gardening

What a great idea!

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

Guerilla gardening, a form of garden vandalism where neglected parcels of land are taken over with veggie gardens or flower patches.

There is a similar movement in Japan where sidewalk and public spaces have been reclaimed by large groupings of potted plants and flowers, many arranged with the eye and care of traditional Japanese flower arrangements.

winter weather

Last night, it snowed, just a bit, or the first time this year. It started with just the lightest misting of tiny flakes and grew to a flurry of big fluffy clumps of soft snow. By this morning, it's nearly all gone. Just another wet, cold day, but it was fun to watch while it lasted. We made a fire and hung out downstairs with the cat for a while as the snow came down outside the windows and enjoyed our winter moment.

Today, it's business as usual - or almost. We have multiple equipment failures going on from an ink jet printer that's refusing to communicate with the RIP to a platemaker that's down.

Tonight - Indian food with friends.

Tomorrow - Trailerdome in L5P - the last one at the Star Bar.

Saturday - a friend's birthday party.

RIP: "Vampira," Maila Nurmi

This from BoingBoing -

With a heavy heart I deliver the sad news that our friend Maila Nurmi, famous for her portrayal of Vampira, has passed at age 86. Maila passed away peacefully in her sleep at home. Funeral arrangements are pending legal steps as Maila had no relatives. Her friends are trying to get her a spot at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and will likely plan some sort of hearse procession for her.

Food, Wine, Recovery

Monday, we watched one of the few shows we both enjoy that is not quite affected by the writer's strike - No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain.

Yesterday, we visited a friend who is homebound while recovering from back surgery. While she is limited in movement and still dealing with pain, she's quite active now. We just thought we'd come over and chat and maybe watch a DVD. Instead, she and her mother (who is visiting for six weeks during her recovery) cooked a great dinner for us and I discovered a new wine that I like a lot - Geyser Peak, another Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Tonight, I would like to attempt to cook but there's never time. The hours we keep are slowly inching later and later into the evening. And someone is always starving and unable to wait for food at the end of the day. I'll work on coordinating this in the future, now that this year's festivities and ordeals are behind us.