park avenue house- sparkles prevail

so i used to work with dan knutson, the house manager for the park avenue house. it's a home where recovering addicts can live and give themselves the structure they need to stay clean and stay on the right path.















dan's doing a really great thing with this. i know he must get a huge sense of accomplishment by helping others, and he deserves to.

dan is fantastic!!

water navigation- well executed

i like the way the navigation works in this site (bda worldwide).











it's engaging, but i don't think it gets in the way of the content.

cooper roland is still damn cute!

i had the opportunity recently to meet cooper roland (remember this post?).

cooper is still adorable.















i needed to make sure ya'll were up to date on his cute-factor.

new mountain dew commercial

if you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch.














my favorite part is the spinning wheel of hands...

free tree

so when my brother was visiting, we went to see the al gore film and i decided a few things:
1. i'm going to try to take the bus to work at least once a week (when i don't have any client meetings).
2. i'm even more serious about putting solar on the house when we can afford it, now.
3. i'm going to look for ways to use less energy/gas.
4. aaron and i are going to plant at least one tree in our yard.

it wasn't the first movie that motivated me, but it was the first where i felt like i already knew what things i could do to help. i liked it for that reason.

so i joined the national arbor day foundation. they are going to send me 10 trees this fall sometime. i would like to give at least 8 of them away. do you want one?
















if you want one, let me know. it's free and easy.

also, think about signing up for the newsletter at this website (ideal bite). they have really easy and simple ideas for small changes in a good direction. it's one of my all time favorite newsletters (and i get lots of newsletters).

gift for my sister is really a gift for me

i bought my sister a new web cam because her's was simply aweful.

today, i learned just what a great gift that was... for me. =)

check it out:
first one
second one

i love my sister and her family.

a scanner darkly

aaron and i saw 'a scanner darkly' tonight and we decided that the movie must employ that new sound frequency that only teenagers can here, cause all the young kids laughed and the movie didn't really work for us the same way.

it was a strange film.

definitely worth seeing, because it was artfully made. but plotwise, i'm still not sure what i think.

go see it and tell me what you think.

feeling good

a friend and previous coworker said a lot of nice things about me (to me) tonight. i am slowly healing from my recent ordeal, and this was neosporin and a bandaid for the wound.

thanks paul.

also, my friend stacy called to check in with me and see how things are going in my new endeavor and i told her honestly that i'm really enjoying the new challenge and i'm excited about the great learning opportunity.

feeling good.

sq

breeding like... well... like rabbits

yeah, it's kinda fun. go to the vw rabbit site and breed a rabbit.











it's a fun idea, wonder if they take it further...

other than the randiness, the site is sorta shallow.

action script birthplace

i think of my friend adam when i see this site... it reminds me that geeks like to learn and teach and share. not that adam is a geek, though, actually, he is. but i like geeks.









i'm a geek, this stuff is fascinating.

modern living / neurotica series

okay, someone put a lot of time into this site, and it's kinda strange. dark, even, i would say.

















in a very cool way, though, it's thought provoking.

the skylines of the world

this site is actually pretty cool if you ask me.
you can go to this site and check out the skylines of the world.














i can see why hong kong is number one.... damn!

for some reason, skylines have always caught my interest. i happen to think minneapolis is a pretty darn nice skyline. it makes it on the list at 63. what's your favorite?

in the nudie- update

so remember when i told you about my friend josh and his pair of jeans? here's a refresher...

josh bought a pair of nudie jeans for $265. they are dry salvage, meaning never treated/washed. the point of buying them that way is to wear them for 8+ months before washing them, so that they have a chance to learn your exact body. when you finally wash them, they are yours forever, with a fit like no other pair of jeans you'll ever own.

okay, that's the theory.

so i have an update with new pictures. josh has been wearing them for almost 10 months and is intending to wash them soon.

here they are at purchase:




















here they are right now (having never been washed- he says they don't smell too bad, but i'm not sure i believe him):







































stay tuned, i will post pics after the wash (i know you're on the edge of your seat, aren't ya?).

thanks for the pics, josh!

i'm a sucker for a cute kitten video

how can i help myself?

see it for yourself here.















i think i'm purring.

sharps: barber brigade

okay, some of these product sites are starting to get a little predictable and hokey, but the fun part about this one is you can send an ecard to a friend to tell them to shave their nasty facial hair (look under the barber twister thingy with the rollover text 'sharpsmen') .
















"yer girl says shave it... "

catchup (not catsup)

so, here's what i've been up to for the last couple of marathon weeks...

the last kickball game of the season went well. aaron and i are making a special video to commemorate the whole season... check out a small clip here.
















aaron, my brother scott, his friend bob, and i went to the boundary wates and completed the lady lakes chain, starting at lake kawishiwi and ending at sawbill. damn fine times.
















when we got back from the wilderness, my step sister kristen flew into town for the holiday weekend. first we got our hair cut...




















then we went out for sushi with kat and scott mcgerik. thanks for the fun night kat and scott!!















then, we shopped at the mall of america, ikea, and grand/victoria. please note: we shopped, but we never dropped.




















i bought some new yarn to make some socks and a hat.















we had a little bbq on sunday july 2nd with my brother, my step sister, and a few other folks. didn't get any pics, can you believe me?

after kristen left town, aaron and i met tasha, pete, dan and my friend amy (who was in town from philly) down at the stone arch bridge for a little firework celebration.




















here's a little video- listen to the prediction of the little kid in the background, and then his reaction (hilarious at the time).

while my brother was here, he got to hang out at the raptor center at the university of minnesota. he had so many fine things to say about those folks, they must be awesome. thanks u of m for showing my brother such a great time.

my brother gave me this picture of him working at a wildlife refuge in australia.





my brother is going to be a vet.














so as you can see, i've been very busy lately. now that everyone has left, i'm a little sad, but i'll be getting back into the swing of things and blogging a lot more now.

thanks for your patience.

gorgeous wilderness

did you know it could be this beautiful?















aaron, my brother scott, his friend bob and i completed the lady lakes chain, starting in lake kawishiwi and ending in sawbill.

this trip seemed easier than previous trips. i think we've had enough experience with wilderness camping now that we've gotten most everything figured out. it's much easier now to just enjoy.

we fished a lot more this year and caught a ton of fish. i caught a northern that was at least two feet long.














some of our favorite phrases from the trip:
we've just had a near ass-wet experience.
whose idea was it to bring bob?

you can see all the pics here.

blog backup

with all the activity of the last couple of weeks, i haven't been able to blog the fifty thousand blogs in my mind. please hold on, i will start to push them out soon.

please check back.

sq

success (again)

we have conquered the wilderness once again.

and it was good.

pics will be forthcoming (after we unpack and chill a little).

art buddies- a great creative program for inner-city kids

my dear friend and the founder of Art Buddies, Sue Crolick, emailed me recently to announce the launch of her new website, artbuddies.org.












the website has been a long time coming for her (Carmichael Lynch donated the design/development), and i'm so excited that it's finally live.

if you go to the video section, you'll get a real taste of what this wonderful program is doing for kids. the smiles on their faces are so real and their experience is so rich- it's hard to imagine that all it took was a few hours with a creative person- focused just on them.

I admire Sue for her vision and leadership.

i'm not sure yet if it was worth almost killing myself...

...but i've finished stripping and painting our bedframe black (instead of chipped white).

in order to finish this, i had to endure:
1. three sessions of toxic stripping fume inhalation and toxic stripping chemical burns (that stuff sizzles when it gets on ya)
2. a gouge of skin taken out of my left big toe (don't ever drop a bedframe on your foot)
3. a seriously sprained knee (endangering our entire boundary waters trip)
4. toxic paint fume inhalation (resulting in several days of black boogers)

i do think it looks nice, though, so i'll have to do everything i can to make sure i don't have to repaint it anytime soon (maybe we should sleep on the couch).

adam sandler's new movie 'click'- smart advertising

i just love the way the web supports so much innovation.

how should we promote sandler's new movie 'click'? let's position ourselves on one of the biggest sites of the internet and blend in a little.

http://youtube.com/group/click

i mean, i think it's somewhat smart. that's all i'm saying.

happy father's day

i know there are a ton of father's out there who do a great job, love their kids, and really understand what it means to have the huge responsibility of fatherhood.

to them, i dedicate this post- thank you.

here is a cute father's day cheerios ad to punctuate the moment:










cute damn kid, too, don'tcha think?

new apple store opens in nyc- first 24 hrs

have you seen the time lapse photography of the first 24 hours of the new apple store in nyc?

keep an eye out for the guy with the sign... he says:






























lucky girl, i hope she said yes.

kickball spring 06- white trash cheese dip

here is the pic we took of the whole team on tuesday:















i uploaded more pics from the game here.

seriously, kickball is one of the best ways to meet a huge group of really great people.

i love you wtcd!!

semillero- truly interactive navigation

on this portfolio site, you watch the navigation grow along with the movement of your mouse.













very fun.

lego- smart advertising

lego commisions unused cranes to send fun messages.


















now who thought of that one?

photography site- video is background

another new thing i haven't seen before- the whole background of this portfolio site is video.














i like it.

gay is in... altoids does it, do you?

an e-card for every persuasion.













the internet loves homosexuality, republicans should give it a chance.

choose an e-card for your lover and it sings your their name to them- try it out here.

the guy who talks on this page is hilarious!

adidas- big balls

adidas created this 'outdoor ad' at the german munich airport.


















it's the world cup soccer goalkeeper, oliver kahn.

think of the driving distraction this causes...

new job

RMG Connect








i start on tuesday- yay

13 lucky years

today is the 13 year anniversary of when aaron and i started 'going out'.

on that day, 13 lucky years ago, we went for a walk at the same park where we'd had our first date 3 days earlier- lake harbor park, muskegon michigan- and decided to become best friends forever. that park has been good to us (and so has our friendship).

i created a little quick tour map of that park for you to see, in case you're all sentimental like i am.

volkswagen- joyride

you customize your vehicle, then the video is actually customized based on the exact features you select, very smooth- this internet thing kicks ass.


















'let's get you back to the internet'

swarm- what are people looking at online... right now?

this site is kinda neat- swarm.
















summary from the site:
Swarm shows you what websites people are visiting, right now.

Swarm is a graphical map of hundreds of websites, all connecting to each other. It updates itself every second with where people are going and coming from.

As sites become more popular, they move towards the center of the swarm and grow larger. Conversely, sites that lose traffic move away from the center and grow smaller.

Website traffic is symbolized with thin lines. Each time you see a line appear, it means someone has moved from one site to the other. You can gauge how many people are swarming around based on the number of lines.

check it out...

weekend at the cabin

aaron and i stayed at our friend's cabin this weekend and we did a little pre-boundarywatertrip-fishing.

here is a little video with some fishing fun.

here is a picture of the big northern aaron caught that got away... =(















here are all the pics...

in other news- on friday, i recieved an offer from one of the companies i've been interviewing with...

coors light- brave or lame?

what do you think of the new coors print ads that show gays and lesbians?

do you think it's a brave statement in our new world, or a lame attempt to seem cool?



















Also, what do you think of the headline- 'Now's the time'

when it rains it pours

it's raining a little bit right now, but just when i get used to the refreshing drizzle, it will dry up i'm sure.

send some good energy my way, if you can.

the national budget is edible

watch ben cohen (ben and jerry founder) explain the national budget using oreos.
















it's pretty interesting.

666- it's an evil day

today is 06/06/06.

aaron just pointed that out to me.

we'll need to do something evil today...

terrible tragedy- fascinating story

There was a crash in Indiana about 5 weeks ago. Two girls were mistaken for each other. One was said to be dead and it was really the other. They are exuming the body of Laura Vanryn and bringing her home to be buried. Whitney Cerek, who was thought to be dead, is doing well in the hospital. They figured out the mistake after she woke up from her coma.

http://lauravanryn.blogspot.com/

amazing story. very sad.

bwcaw- trip path has been planned

i know you've all been waiting to see where we are planning to go on our bounday waters trip, well wait no longer- the map has arrived! (click here to view for yourself)













some of the finer details that you should know:
we've never taken this path before, it will be brand new to all of us- woohoo!
my brother scott is flying in from australia for this trip, and his friend bob is flying in from pheonix.
we're gonna fish for a couple days on phoebe lake, which is rumored to be absolutely gorgeous.

it's called the 'lady lakes' route
difficulty- challenging
24 miles
13 lakes
2 rivers
17 portages
this is what the book says about it-
"this is a delightful route that stays on smaller lakes and rivers. from kawishiwi lake, you will first head north on the lakes and streams that compose the upper flowage of the kawishiwi river system. at lake polly, then, the route veers southeast and follows the phoebe river to hazel, phoebe and grace lakes. another 'lady lake' (beth) will carry you farther east to alton lake. from there a short portage connects to sawbill lake, where you'll end at the public landing, 20 miles by road from your origin."
"anglers should have plenty of time to wet their lines and they are likely to be well rewarded. good populations of walleyes and northern pike inhabit most of the lakes along the route, and smallmouth bass may also be found in the last 2 lakes."

this is what some people online say about it-
"The Lady Lake Chain is spectacular. I've been thru that chain twice and both times have caught many many fish. Phoebe is absolutely beautiful. It's surrounded by rolling hills and is dotted with beautiful islands. I'd suggest the SW site on the island for camp. Polly is a phenomenal Walleye lake."
"Phoebe River is very scenic with plenty of wildlife: moose, beaver, etc. "

good times- i've already started dreaming about waking up in a tent (one of my favorite things to do in the whole world).

billy idol- very young and hot up close

my friend amy shared this photo with me:

"Billy Idol pic from when he signed my record in 1983....so young."














brings me back to 5th grade with madonna and cyndi lauper...

thanks amy!

aaron slides into 3rd base- video

it was only kickball practice on tuesday, but aaron couldn't resist- he had to pull off a full body slide to make some sort of point about being a fanatic i'm sure...

you can check it out here.















did you actually slide on the base?

australia- where the bloody hell are you?

i like this new commercial for australia.











as you probably already know, my brother scott lives down under- going to vet school.

show us some pictures, scott.

meth- not even once

working at crisis connection brings me in contact with a lot of families that are devastated by meth.

the first meth hit seals the addiction, every time. the newer drug is so much more powerful than the stuff from the 80's and 90's.

the families of meth addicts call crisis connection, and it's the only call that i get there where i don't really have any hope for the crisis. meth is tragic, and it's extremely rare for people to survive an addiction without serious brain damage and ruined lives.

okay, so i have my own personal connection with the terrible pandemic, which is probably why the ads at the montana meth site actually made me cry.














don't try meth, not even once. and give this message to the people you know, too.

google notebook- i love it

so if you go to this link, you can get google notebook (beta), which is a great way to surf the internet and keep track of your travels and thoughts as you go.

it's a lot like del.icio.us, but you can make the notes while you're still on the page by using a little window at the bottom of your browser. you can also view them from that same window, wherever you are in the internet world. they've also made it easy to grab text from the page by adding a function to the right click menu too.













i do a lot of surfing, so this is awesome