My kitchen is based on fire chicken[inlink]paul,2599[/inlink]too, and I didn't even realize it. In any case, I think it bears a striking resemblance.



I knew I was in trouble when every single person I showed the formica counter sample to tried to talk me out of it. "Sunlight" by Formica, available from Home Depot by special order. Now, who couldn't like a color called "sunlight?" Screw them, it's my kitchen. Maybe not the best choice for resale value though.

I liked it so much I painted the trim the same color. The guy at Paganos did a great job matching the color, based on Ace color "marigold."

I really wanted to buy these knobs for the decoupaged cabinet doors, but they were $8 each! At the time, that seemed like way too much. In fact, it's only a drop in the bucket campared to the other expenses. If they had been earrings I wouldn't have hesitated. (Well, right then I would have. I've been on an austerity plan ever since that dang kitchen renovation.) When you come right down to it, knobs and pulls are basically earrings for your kitchen.


Indochine lacquer round knobs

Anyway, I didn't want to pay that, so I tried making some out of those 70s-style concave metal knobs from Home Depot for 79cents each. They didn't really come out the same way. I probably should have molded them out of something. If my time is worth anything, the home-made ones are probably worth a lot more than the store-bought ones would have been. Maybe I should just put the real ones on my Christmas list for next year. Small and easy to pack.

p.s. - speaking of Christmas lists, nobody got me the bike light I asked for. What's up with that? Doesn't my family care about my personal safety? Maybe they think I won't ride at night if I don't have a light.

Ok, I'm just procrastinating now. Back to work.

Oh wait, here's the original mock-up for the cabinets. Unfortunately some of those art prints didn't come in the sizes I needed for my cabinet doors. Oh well.



I still need to paint a red detail line or something around the smaller prints. It's so much easier to undo in Photoshop than in real life though.

Hey (e:Soyeon) - your poster looks great in my sewing room. I'm going to have to matte and frame that thing. It's almost camouflaged now.



I've started a new marketing campaign for (e:) west. It came to me during a wine tasting road trip to Healdsburg/Geyserville yesterday .



I have to remember to carry a sharpie with me at all times now.

Somehow I knew this post[inlink]twisted,124[/inlink]would generate some interest, but I didn't expect it to be the breakthrough post for a crossover audience of friends from Boston (Steve!!) Ok, I probably should have figured that too.

So here's the rest of the story. What I remember of it.

After discussing her travel schedule (she had worked a club in NYC the previous night and was now flying to her home in LA before a trip to Las Vegas for the "Oscars of Porn," which coincides with the Computer Electronics Show every year), the conversation turned to places she had lived (born in Wisconsin - where she had spent Christmas with her mother, previously lived in Austin, Guam, Mexico - oh crap, there were a bunch of others I can't remember now, anyway - now she lives in LA where her video production and web businesses are based).

Then she asked me what I did so I told her I was a web designer and I was flying to Buffalo to meet a friend/collaborator on a new community site. She was TOTALLY interested in that (or maybe she just wanted to keep me talking so she could eat her sandwich), so I told her how (e:Paul) and I met and how we'd only communicated online so far, so this would be the first time we met in real life, etc. I also told her how I'd found out just that morning that (e:Paul)'s grandmother had a stroke the night before, so mostly I didn't want him to be occupied with me if his grandmother took a sudden turn for the worse. She chimed in that would be very bad karma to have on my head. I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess so. (Yes, Nonna was a topic of conversation with the porn star. Hope she doesn't mind.)

Between bites she asked me if I did any print design. She was going to fire one of her print designers when she got back because he was being a pain in the ass and not getting the flyer for the Vegas show done in time. She gave him a sample from last year's show and the text for this year. He emailed back that he needed a layout from her. (That is such BS!) I told her that was a classic procrastination/avoidance technique - say you're still waiting for something to justify not having done the work. If he's a freakin' designer he should come up with the layout or figure it out from the previous year's flyer. I mean fer cryin' out loud. If there's something complicated/questionable about it, at least give her a couple variations early on to see what direction to go in. (Sorry to rant, but it pisses me off when people do that too.) She said that was exactly what he was doing.

Anyway, maybe I could have gotten a job out of it, but I'm really not a good print designer. Would have been interesting though.

I'd better wrap this up since I hear people don't read posts longer than two paragraphs. Although maybe I shouldn't care if nobody reads the whole thing.

She was really interested in the community website thing, which she correlated to adultfriends.com. (That might be a stretch, but then again, maybe it could be model for possible future estrip expansion. ;-) ) She had a VERY bad experience on adultfriends.com, which I wish I could tell you about here, but I think that would be crossing the line. She thinks sites like that should have a filtering system so women can block guys they would never consider meeting.

So naturally I asked her more about her websites (there are 16 of them, all linked from her main site porn site). She told me how she is known as the niche b!tch (pardon the expression), which of course raised all kinds of questions I wish we'd had time for.

She did have time to tell me her list of specialties, and I wish to high heaven I could have captured that in an audio recording. She said she was 31 years old so she can do whatever the hell she wants to do. And what she wants to do is dominate men. And there are quite a few ways she does that. She said her sites also branches out to other niches of interest to her. You'll just have to check those out yourself.

The thing that struck me most about the encounter was the interesting segue from my previous 16 days of mostly wholesome family holiday fun to what was then the brink of an unknown future. But that's just me.

Oh yeah, somewhere in there she asked me what sign I was. She's a Leo. Apparently that makes us extremely compatible. One of her good friends (a grip in her video business) is also a Sagittarian and she told me a few stories about him. She said she went through a 3-month period where everybody she met (lawyer, cabbie, etc.) was a Taurus, which she is very incompatible with. I told her about my similar run with Virgos, although I wouldn't say I'm incompatible with them - they just kept showing up. Life can be weird when you're paying attention.

Note to self: don't forget to restock earplugs in everyday backpack.

"What?"


The New World
[size=s](first song of second encore)[/size]

"honest to goodness the bars werent open this morning they must have been voting for a new president of something do you have a quarter?" i said yes because i did honest to goodness the tears have been falling all over the countrys face it was better before before they voted for whats his name this is suppose to be the new world flint ford auto mobil alabama windshield wiper buffalo new york gary indiana don't forget the motor city baltimore and d.c. now all we need is don't forget the motor city this was suppose to be the new world all we need is money just give us what you can spare twenty or thirty pounds of potatoes or twenty of thirty beers a turkey on thanks giving like alms for the poor all we need are the necessities and more it was better before they voted for what his name this is suppose to be the new world don't forget the motor city this was suppose to be the new world

Almost forgot I haven't seen my friend Larry since before Christmas, so I still needed a gift for him. Good thing I'm a fabricaholic.



Looks a little busier than I imagined it. Maybe it's just because of the cutting board grid. Oh lord.

I can't wait to see X [inlink]twisted,59[/inlink] tonight!

OMG! I just heard about this on the radio --

Cinema for the Ear
The San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2005
January 20-22, 2005
ODC Theater, San Francisco

A 3-day festival of fixed media audio art distributed in real-time across a sixteen-loudspeaker surround sound system. Featured works include classics by Morton Feldman, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Frank Zappa; audio dramas; 3D nature recordings; and new compositions by local and international composers...

24-hour Sci-Fi Movie Marathon movie list has been offically posted, subject to change as always.

Went to Macworld today with Kathy ((Onpiano) from (e:) west). We spent most of the time ogling iPod accessories. Not that I own an iPod, which not only would require initial capital to purchase, but also an ongoing budget for gadgetry upkeep.

[size=s][cell phone pix below][/size]


iPod Shuffle listening station


Underwater listening station?


And the ultimate iPod accessory...





Damn that thing is gorgeous! It's basically gadget bling when you come right down to it - combining two of my favorite things. I have to get me a paying job soon.

The rest of the time was spent lusting after the new version of Garageband (charmingly pronounced GARageband by the British demo guy). Oh what I wouldn't give for a disposable income!


The Mac faithful congregating at the Apple booth

(e:) west version of the story

Speaking of cinnamon... [inlink]terry,377[/inlink]

I remember reading about this in Health a while back. I couldn't find that article online, but found this one.

Cinnamon joins cholesterol battle

The 40-day study, of 60 people in Pakistan with Type 2 diabetes, found that one gram a day of cinnamon -- one-fourth of a teaspoon twice daily -- significantly lowered the subjects' blood sugar, triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood), LDL (or "bad") cholesterol, and total cholesterol.

and if that's not enough -

Finally, there may be an indirect health benefit to be had from cinnamon, according to Taiwanese scientists writing in the July 14 issue of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Cinnamon oil, they found, kills mosquito larvae more effectively than DEET, a common pesticide and mosquito repellent. The next step is to test it against adult mosquitoes.

Random notes:

I was listening to some Laura Nyro and I would recommend her to all you Streisand fans out there.

I was just looking at some pix of the mansion (I am suffering from serious mansion-envy) and it's amazing how quickly you guys settled in. It looks so empty in these pictures[inlink]matthew,489[/inlink]compared to when I was there just a week later.

As for me, I just unpacked and put my suitcase away. I think if estripwest is going to have a snowball's chance in Alameda, I'd better get a roommate (or two) to take care of me.

Had an interesting encounter waiting for my flight to Buffalo. This woman sat down next to me and we had quite an animated conversation about her job as a porn star. She's also an internet entrepreneur. I don't think the Hasiidic Jew who was sitting on the other side of her appreciated it though.

Just because of that juxtaposition I had to snap a stealth pic with my cell phone.



Maybe I'll fill in the whole story some day. Her web site is (porn site). I'm in an all-day class tomorrow, so I know if I don't upload this now I never will. (Not like that would be any great loss...)

She really had the most arresting blue-green eyes I've ever seen.

Story continued here [inlink]twisted,122[/inlink]

A friend of mine (in CA) sent this around last year. It's still funny. To me anyway. Don't forget I paid my dues with 20 years in Boston.


Effects of severe weather in California

It was fun to see snow while in Buffalo, but it's good to be back. Don't forget to come visit.