Home sweet home

I am home sick today. I've had a cold/nagging cough since last week and it finally seems to have caught up to me. LG is home as well since she doesn't have work or class on Tuesdays, so we are just lazing around watching TV. I finally got around to finishing some of the movies and books that have been piling up recently and (if you look at the sidebar) I am on to new things to read and watch. I also (just today) recieved a shipment from Amazon with four new CDs in it. Very exciting stuff. Right now I am listening to Duncan Sheik's "White Limousine". It is the slow and dreary kinda music that fits my mood today. It is overcast and rainy here and DS works well with such an atmosphere. I also recieved the new Jenny Lewis (lead singer of Rilo Kiley) solo album, the second offering from The Elected (also Rilo Kiley related), and "29" by Ryan Adams. This album marks his third (third!) CD of 2005. All told, he's released 40 songs in a single calender year. That is very impressive. So far the first album (a double-album no less) has been good, the second great, and the third... we'll see. I think that CD is next on the rotation.

The most depressing day of the year...

At least according to the British. A scientist in the U.K. has determined that the 24th of January is, statistically, the most depressing day of the year. He figured this out by "using an elaborate formula expressing the delicate interplay of lousy weather, post-Christmas debt, time elapsed since yuletide indulgence, failed new year resolutions, motivation levels, and the desperate need to have something to look forward to."
Well, that seems about right. I woke up this morning in a crappy mood and didn't know until I turned on the television that there was a reason for it. It's not my own sour disposition, but statistics and a calendar that make me cranky today. Or at least that's what I'll tell myself. Also, I'm getting sick. But that's the virus' fault.
But fear not, my funky readers. If this day finds you down in the dumps or singing the blues, here is something that is bound to cheer you up:



And if that doesn't cheer you up, well then you're probably a heartless bastard who deserves to be depressed.

x2

I have no idea why my most recent post about the crazy concept car appears twice, but I am afraid to delete one of them for fear of deleting both, so they'll just have to stay that way. Sorry for the confusion.

Spec

Driving to California from here would cost you about $20

That's right, with the all new Aptera from Accelerated Composites, you could drive from New York to California on a single tank of gas. How is that possible, you say. Well... I have no idea. But here's the vehicle that AC claims can get up to 330 miles per gallon. That's not a typo. 330! It sounds almost as crazy as the car looks:






Pretty cool, huh? If you'd like to read more about the Aptera, click here. Although, I will warn you that they don't go into much detail about the whole project. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that the entire car weighs only 850 lbs. That's just nuts.

Note: after looking at the website, see if you agree that it seems like Accelerated Composites is pretty much just one guy name Steve.

Sing, David Hyde Pierce, Sing!

Tonight LG and I are off to see DHP and crew in the wonderfully funny (I've been told) "Spamalot" on Broadway. We purchased these tickets about four months ago and, at the time, January 18th seemed so far away. But it came fast, faster than I thought, with a birth and a death and a thousand other things in between that affected our lives one way or another. So here it is, mid-January, and our Christmas decorations are still up and a pile of bills is still unpaid and the weather is nasty, but we head out anyway and look forward to a few hours of laughter and forgetting. It has been a slightly hectic few months. The holidays were, of course, busy, but so have been the days following them. For each of the last three weekends we have had a guest or two for the weekend, which explains why we haven't gotten around to taking down the decorations. This is not to say that I don't appreciate the company, I certainly do. In fact, I encourage you all to come and visit. Just try to space it out a little. Originally it was supposed to be one weekend of visitors, one weekend off, and another visitor. This would have suited me just fine. But then the Giants made the playoffs and the prospect of going to a game was too much to turn down. And, although the result was terrible, the weekend with my mother was fun.
Then, last weekend, JL came to visit. He is my favorite guest of all time, for numerous reasons, and it was a wonderful visit. I hadn't seen him in over a year so we had a lot to catch up on. He left on Monday evening and Tuesday was spent in Headacheland and tonight is the show. It keeps me busy. But I don't want to be this busy all the time. I would like to sit at home this weekend and read a book, something I haven't done enough of lately.
Don't get me wrong. The above is pretty complain-y, but I do like the fact that I have things to do and places to go. Just sometimes the quiet solitude of a Saturday at home is what's needed most.

New story

It's been a few months, but there is finally a new (albeit very short) story up on my other site. Check it out.

Asstastic

Two tickets to Giants Stadium for the 2006 Playoffs: $200.00
One round-trip ticket from Columbus to New York for my mother: $150.00
Two tickets for the bus from Port Authority to the stadium: $18.00
Watching the Giants get beaten like a pinata: Priceless


What a miserable game.

blah blah blah

I haven't done shit with this blog for a few weeks now. Sorry. I just haven't had the energy for it. I'm no Burb.
I was hoping that my move to NYC would increase the number of posts, but it has done the exact opposite. Partly it's because I am busy at work (where I do most of my blogging) and partly it's because I'm busy at home. Maybe I need to create a schedule for myself to get me on the ball and writing more. Or maybe I'll just post infrequently and hope it's good enough for anyone who reads it. We'll see.

One of my coworkers saw Don King outside our building yesterday. He was leaving Madison Square Garden after a meeting or something. That's not quite a thrilling celeb-sighting story, but it's Don King so it might be good for a laugh. Just look at his hair:



Is this not the oddest assortment of personalities you've ever seen? Don King, Mike Tyson, and Michael Jackson. Is anyone safe? I think not. I wonder what those three would talk about if they were stuck in an elevator for an hour together? Now that's a reality TV show I'd watch.
Having watched "Coffee and Cigarettes" last night and laughing at some of the awkwardness between celebrities such as Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, and Alfred Molina and that guy (whose name I can't remember right now) I think it would be fun to watch more stuff like that. Why not shut a couple celebrities who don't know each other (or fawn all over each other) into a room for a few hours and record what transpires. I smell a hit!