October 31, 2003
diary 10/30
day 5:
i've made reference before to how pleasant it is to stroll into work to discover a brand new 5 pound bag of my favorite coffee -- so i thought i'd share the experience.
in the world of computer programming, there has developed a fairly distinct division between programmers who get their caffeine buzz from coffee, and those who get it from colas. here at coptix we're certainly in the former group. when i first started here we were going through a pound a week, but now that we're a certified rarecoffee wholesaler, we're grinding through 5 pounds every two weeks... and i'm in the market for a new pair of kidneys.
October 30, 2003
diary 10/29
day 4:
this is a close-up of one of myriad ladybugs that run wild where i work. coptix is located in the st-elmo neighborhood in chattanooga in an old victorian style house -- 110 years old to be (nearly) exact. and for some reason, the ladybugs love it. they tend to gather in the corners of the ceiling in each room of the upstairs where the offices are located. my boss tells me that they're just hibernating for the winter, but i sure wish they'd hurry up and start sleeping because they're not exactly the most graceful aviators and i'm tired of being dive-bombed all afternoon. here's some info about why its happening.
the good news however is that all these ladybugs crawling across my monitor reminded me that the ladybug transistor is playing at lamars on nov 18. a show not to be missed....
October 29, 2003
diary 10/28
day3:
this is from my drive down the mountain everyday. when you first leave the top of lookout mountain, on your right there's this incredible view of the valley below where you can see chattanooga, and the surrounding areas (not, however, seven states, as some might suggest). this morning, as you can see, there was a blanket of clouds over the entire valley giving it this strange ethereal feel. it almost looked as though you could have stepped right off the road onto this layer of clouds. i often complain about leaving my downtown apartment for a cabin on the mountain, but on days like this its hard not to feel right at home.
October 28, 2003
diary 10/27
day 2:
arrived home after work yesterday to find isaac sitting in his car in the driveway -- arm out the window, cigarette in hand. sitting in the driveway isn't an uncommon thing for any of us at the house - usually it means we're just talking on our cell phones, plugged into the cigarette lighter. however, today, isaac wasn't on the phone. instead he was happily jamming out to some new kinks cassette tapes he'd picked up at the thrift store.
October 27, 2003
photo diary
here's an idea. over the weekend a friend of mine mentioned the idea of a daily photo diary to me. basically it means taking a picture of something every day as a way to remember where you've been, what you've done -- even if its just a picture of yourself. pretty simple - a photo, diary. (mike doughty of soul coughing used to do something similar back in the day - which verifieds that it actually is cool...) so here goes --
day 1:
driving to church last nite, crossing the "old jotty" (sp?) bridge.
media notes
something new is coming out today from jonny greenwood of radiohead. the email i got from waste.uk.com today gave this link, and described the project as
At the end of last year, Jonny took advantage of some time off from the band
to write and record the soundtrack to 'Bodysong', with Radiohead
engineer Graeme Stewart at the band's Oxford studio. It's a varied
collection of music, electronic and accoustic, and features aditional musicians
in the form of the Emperor String Quartet, and a jazz quartet lead by Gerrard
Presencer. Colin plays bass on one track too.
no doubt it will be excellent, whatever it is. also, i saw gillian welch up close and personal last night at rhythm and brews, here in chattanooga. just me and "300 of my closest friends" - or at least that's how it felt. a very small and intimate setting made for one the best music events chattanooga has ever seen. another photo here, and some video footage from "miss ohio."
October 24, 2003
mel's trials
you've probably at least heard of mel gibson's passion project. seems they're having some difficulties. it does make one think...
October 23, 2003
more chitown
well, i can't seem to get anything done this afternoon at work, so i'm just gonna knock off early and hope to start fresh tomorrow. thanks, sweet, for that encouraging comment earlier. now i feel like a complete slacker.
more on chicago. we arrived in highlands, indiana on saturday afternoon at brent's sister-and-husband's house, stayed there the night and then spent the next 2 days at jes and mia thomas' apartment in the city. brent originally had suggested the trip to sit in on a class taught by an economist at UChi who intrigues him. unfortunately, he got the name mixed up, and it turned out the guy wasn't actually teaching this semester -- which we didn't figure out until we got there. nevertheless, the trip was great. i got to know brent's family a little better, which gives me more insight into who he is, and caught up with the thomas girls. they even threw in one of their famed thomas-sisters dinner parties for free. seems they're settling in well in chicago. jes at bittersweet bakery, and mia working her way up the ranks at a corporate real-estate firm. we visited a neat church, grace chicago, on sunday, and jes and i cranked out a 5 mile run around lake michigan on monday morning, a new record for me.
Chicago
October 11, 2003
the five wells
a site some of you old-school covenanters (as in college, not head-coverings) might enjoy. jenny johnson and joel wells got married a few years ago, if you hadn't heard, and recently had their first kid. they named her hannah. then they had another one, named norah. then they had another one, named eveleyn. that's right - triplets. uh huh, 3 kids. at once: triplets. wow --> thefivewells.com
October 10, 2003
mercy ministry
i'm headed down to gainesville this weekend for a conference at my parent's church. recently my mom has gotten more involved in mercy ministries and this year for the bible conference they decided to invite someone named mo leverette, with desire street ministries. i don't know much about him other than i think he lives and works in some of the rougher neighborhoods of new orleans. i'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say about his experiences there, and what encouragement he has for young christians, eager to, well, minister. for all of our talk about following christ, sometimes i get frustrated at how little we do to actually help the "fatherless and widow." perhaps this weekend will bring some insights.
new favorite
i think i have a new favorite film, and favorite director. last night i watched all the real girls, the latest offering from nascent director david gordon green. it's hard to explain what was so incredible about this film. part of it is green's masterful grasp of subtlety (probably the most important element to me in art criticism). the actors seem completely unaware of the presence of the camera, much less the fact that they're even making a film. conversations seem accidental, improvisational in such a disarming way that you almost feel embarrassed for the charaters on-screen. the story of young love isn't original in its aim, but its particulars are heart-renching in an almost uncomfortable way. shot in rich fujifilm color, the lighting stands out to me more than most anything else. it appears to be shot entirely with natural lighting, on location in the houses and bars and backyards of asheville, north carolina.
his first film, george washington, is good too, for many of the same reasons, and i'm eager to see how he'll handle on of my favorite books, a confederacy of dunces.
iTunes for me
thanks to a serious case of iTunes-envy a new collection of legal online music providers catering to windows users have opened in the last few weeks, according to a recent wall street journal article (New Ways to Pay 99 Cents for Music). the one with the greatest ease of download and purchase along with the fewest restraints seems to be musicmatch downloads from the creators of musicmatch jukebox. i signed up yesterday, and bought my first legally downloaded .mp3s - a strange feeling. with a huge, and quickly growing (i hope) selection of tunes, this could get real expensive, real fast: two clicks of the mouse - "download" and "confirm" - and you're spending away...
my first few purchases:
Outkast - Hey Ya! (a stretch for me - but not bad)
Kings of Leon - Molly's Chambers
and some non-online recommendations:
Postal Service - Give Up
Steve Burns - Songs for Dustmites (yes, of blue's clues fame...)
kill bill vol.1
"Kill Bill: Vol. 1" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has shootings, stabbings, beatings, beheadings, disembowelings, amputations, mutilations, eye-gougings, slicings, choppings, bitings and a spanking. Also some naughty words.
tarantino's latest, kill bill - volume 1 hits theaters today. looks like it might be tarantino at his most self-indulgent yet, but you know it won't disappoint. read the review, and go see it.
October 02, 2003
karaoke
a few weeks ago on a friday night at the safari pub mesh, morris, josiah, ben, beck, and i took a shot at rockstardom...
see more karaoke pictures here along with some from a recent workday.