A list of net.art sites from a German site. Just becareful, once you start poking around here, you'll find your free time very rare.

Sometimes you find an artists whose work just clicks with your tastes. Here is the work of one artist that I find absolutely wonderful.

BlogChalking is an effort to link all blogs together via one searchable engine and to find blogs from geographically and topically close locations to you. This post is my reminder to go back and add the code when I get a chance.

I need to write something here. At least so says my brother. So, I'm sitting here waiting for my ebay auctions to close and Stacey to get off work and I have a few moments, so let's see what comes to mind.

The holidays seem particularly short this year with Hanakah coming so close after Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to doing some cooking (as I mentioned before), seeing friends and family, and seeing Disneyland this holiday season. LaughingPlace.com has some great photos of the decorations up right now.

Speaking of holidays, with a great coupon and a sale, we just bought our first fake christmas tree at Sears. I did have to wait over an hour to pick it up while they fumbled around with which store would get the credit for the sale. But now it's waiting for us to set it up and hope everything is okay (unlike last year when we had to return the tree because of lights being out). Over the next few years, we hope to buy a few more trees so we can have all our ornaments out on display at Christmas.

We've also been dining room table shopping (thanks to a generous wedding gift from Stacey's Mom Rhoda) and found the table we want at a price we want. However, getting it delivered in time for Thanksgiving may be a problem. We've also found a bedroom (alas no link on WalkerFurniture.com) set that is a close enough match to our existing chest to complete the set.

Finally, I'm trying to start writing seriously again. I'll post some story ideas later.

Well, Stacey is off to Norman, Oklahoma (I hope she's not staying at the Bates motel) for a week of training. That means I'm alone to goto physical therapy, list our duplicate items on ebay, job search, and watch the fish and kitty (oh yeah, probably feed them a bit too). Although probably not in that order.

Been thinking of this one book Fall on your knees (amazon) off and on since I visited the canadian pavillion at EPCOT. I have it somewhere in my library (Dave's friend Sophie bought it for me). I suspect I'll have to dig it out and reread it to satisfy whatever keeps bringing it to my attention.

I'm also happy that Star by Star was finally released in paperback. I've been collecting the Star Wars series in paperback for a few years now. But for some reason they released Star by Star in hardback when they hadn't done that for any of the 'New Jedi Order' series. So, I've been waiting 12 months for the paperback version, so I can go on and read the rest of the series, that has already been released in paperback. As of right now, there are 3 books waiting for me to read them. It's tough to resist.

I hate to say I told you so, but I did.

Hope y'all had a Happy Halloween. As far as decorations went, we were in a low ebb this year. However, the flow of children through our neighborhood was about 3 times the volume as last year. Ran out of candy and had to use some of Stacey's haul. (She trick or treats in order to get good candy for decorating the holiday gingerbread house.) We've got bigger plans for next year, so keep a weary eye out.

We had a friend and her daughter over and I enjoyed cooking some selections that I based off of Martha Stewart's classic Hors D'ourves book. I made three pizza's, some mini-quesadillas, and had more food in reserve, but it wasn't needed. Instead we had soy-ginger beef and chicken rolls for lunch today. I think we need to have people over more often so I can cook more.

Stacey and I would really like to set up a monthly dinner that is open to all comers (as long as you give us 72 hours notice) with the only price of admission being a bottle of wine, a folding chair, or a few dollars (to help with the food costs). It may not be five star dining, but it will be good food and good company. (Now they're going live with a restaurant based on the same concept.)

Whelp. The Angels win the world series for the first time in their 42 year history (perhaps that was the question?). Troy Glaus is walking the World Series trophy around the stadium right now and I know my friends Doobie and Rebekah are there reveling in the glory. Never having been at a world championship game, I wouldn't know. But I imagine it is something like when my High School basketball team won the state championship defeating a long time rival. Only raised by a few factors of magnitued.

I know that the Angels will be touring down Main Street USA at Disneyland in the next couple of days and it's sad to think that I won't be there. Las Vegas is too far away to just jump in the car and drive to the park for an evening. I look forward to seeing photos of the event on LaughingPlace.com and seeing what photos, if any, Rebekah took while at the game.

Just thought I'd pop in and make a post. Yeah, I'm toying with starting this thing up again. Maybe some redesign.

Stacey and I are happily going through married life and things are pretty good. She'll be travelling a bit in November for training and I'll be job searching. She's happily setting up her power tools in the garage, and I'm anxiously awaiting a chance to use all the cool kitchen gadgets we were given for the upcoming holidays. We're also looking forward to having friends and family over for the holidays. Just one of the many traditions we hope to start for our newly joined families.

Merchandise doubles... here.

At some point in my life I’ve read The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings (6 books, sold as three books), the Simarillion, and 5 volumes of additional works culled from Tolkien’s notes and sketches by his oldest son, Christopher. (Btw, Christopher is not on the Movie bandwagon and will probably avoid the premier.) So to say I’m anxiously awaiting the debut of this movie is a slight understatement.

If you’re looking for a great read that will put you in the realm of Middle-Earth before seeing the movie I recommend checking out the Simarillion. It is like Edith Hamilton’s ‘Mythology’ for the backstory of Tolkien’s writings. Attempting to digest LOTR, FOTR in the time remaining before the movie debuts might be too much.

Indigo’s career move

Alright, I’ve been working since Sept 10th trying to sell advertising to a market that isn’t quite ready to believe there is a light at the end of this economic slowdown of a tunnel. Needless to say, I’ve made very few sales. Now, I think we’ve got a great product, a good team behind us, and that there is value in advertising with us. So eventually it will turn around.

In the meantime, I’m switching gears to selling web sites. The same company that produces the magazine has a web site hosting and design firm called ATWHost.com. Their prices are very reasonable and they don’t try and nickel and dime you to death for every feature you want. Most are built into the original package.

So, if you’re looking for a new place to host your web site, or design (or redesign) your web site, give me a call.

I may have told you about one of my latest fun side projects.... or I may have forgotten to mention it. In any event. My first two projects are completed and I hope you will check them out.

Well, we're off to Portland for a holiday feast or two. Really looking forward to this for sometime. We've packed all our winter clothes at it looks to be Stormy, so Stacey's mom will get a good introduction to the pacific northwest. I'll report back with how she likes the slow pace of coastal living.

Have a happy turkey day everyone.

***This is a nice story***

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is just as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.

Show your friends how much you care.

The Power of Ten

I didn't realize it has been so long since I last posted. Mea Cupla. Don't have much to say today... just that I noticed some disturbing use of technology by TNT cable station. Remember last year when NBC got in trouble for posting their logo onto of other corporate logos in Times Square during live news broadcasts. The companies that had paid to have their billboards erected in Times Square precisely because it is broadcast world wide a couple times a year, were irate. Rightly so, IMHO. I have seen some good uses of that technology, particularly during auto races when the names and photos of drivers are pasted digitally onto the surface of the track or pit areas. Well, now TNT (owned by NBC, I believe) is using that Technology to digitally insert their logo into trailers for movies. This is not unusual in itself, except that they are planting their logo on the surface of some prop or scenic device so that it looks like it was there during the original version of the movie. Two examples of this include the ad for Rush Hour where the TNT logo was inserted on the long red banner that Jackie Chan slides down and during the ad for the Matrix where Neo is dodging bullets on the roof, they digitally inserted the logo underneath his feet. The first ad I noticed it in was the Rush Hour ad and I thought I had mis-seen something. Thinking, 'wow it's amazing how close that design on the red banner is to the TNT logo'. But then it was much more noticeable in the Matrix ad. I guess this is much like seeing the Fnords. Once you're initiated the rest start popping out everywhere. But it is further evidence how careful we as consumers of visual stimulus have to be when dealing with 'the real world' as mediated through any technology.

Does anyone else have other examples of this?

This is either a hoax on the scale of War of the Worlds, or it's very frightening how well thought out these 'messages' are. What do you think?

In the catagory of things I don't need for Christmas, but would have to wonder about if I got one.

In the interest of hearing all sides I've been listening to Ollie North and Rush Limbaugh off and on since the 11th. It is not difficult to pick out their alarmist right wing slant on news stories and the opinions of 'dittohead' followers that reflect minority opinions. However, I have found them to be good sources of non-alarmist information regarding the true facts of what we are facing here. So, ad to that list Andrew Sullivan. He has a personal website with a great list of interesting stories that, once you've factored in his conservative bent, are very enlightening.

I'm soooo happy the weekend is here. Worked long and hard at AllThatWork.com and made no $$$, worked for a bit on LaughingPlace.com and scored a 5 month committment that is at least a few hundred coming in steadily. Now, I just need 9 more of those a month. Oy! At least some companies out there aren't afraid to advertise.

Now, I'm ready to relax, do a little writing, perhaps some pumpkin carving, and try and earn some more dough.

As I surf around I'm still finding stories of peoples experiences on 911. Here's a moving one from the editor of TheModernWorld.com.