New Years and Absurdistan

Up in the country right now with Sarah; we'd invited others for a little New Year's Eve party but everyone bailed, which is just as well because we're both enjoying the total chill-out time. Yesterday we watched two movies (LA Confidential and Mr. Brooks.) The former is, of course, a classic and the latter was surprising good -- completely implausible, but scary and thrilling. So for tonight? I'm cooking a corned beef and chilling some champagne. Should be sweet!

For the holiday season...

Just got back from the annual Californian ritual of consumption and saw this video/website sent to me by my sister, Steph. It's The Story of Stuff -- and it's an awesome 20 minute video about the crisis of consumption we're contending with as humans in the modern era. Here's a clip so you can check out a brief clip:

Almost ready to bail

The phone and connectivity issues with Verizon have been so chronically bad lately that I am about to bail...which would mean giving up my precious 212 phone number. But still. Grrrrr.

House...car...insurance...

Somewhere between mega days at IBM and doing the masters degree hustle at night I left this blog behind. What's on my mind right now? Well, I found a great parking spot for my car tonight. Car? yes, car. I bought a car so I can get up to my house. House? Yes, house. I bought a house in the Catskills (but yeah, you knew that.) This past weekend I killed a mouse and sorted out how to get rid of the trash (pay a local guy $20/month to pick it up...whee!) Also spent most of the day on Saturday building Ikea furniture. My right palm is sore...like stigmata style soreness. That little faux tool that Ikea gives you is a joke. A sad cruel joke. But now there's furniture up there at least. I already bought a sofa, love seat and some other stuff...but the beds really pull the place together if ya know what I mean. The bad news for thr weekend is that the insurance company doesn't like the pellet stove that the prior owner installed and now the insurance is pending cancellation unless I can prove the stove is safely installed. Blargh. I'll work it out, but hassle anyone? Ok, now I gotta get back to my reading for class...I am so far behind!