switching jobs, and switching home internet providers has thrown my email world into chaos. email griff here at ultramicroscopic for new work and home email addresses.

and now for an open plea to you my beloved reader. i am in dire need of an old apple airport (not extreme) card that apple no longer makes. i could pay 80 some bucks on ebay, but i would rather not. perhaps you would sell me yours for less or accept some original artwork as trade? email me if you possess what i desire.

put down that ps2 controller for a moment and remember old skool gaming.

ps2 has never made a noise that rocks you to the bone like the pop of a free game.

i took a few photos of my new analog addiction, just for you.

never forget where it all began.

i find it amazing how many bloggers listen to modest mouse. actually, what i am trying to say is that i am amazed how many blogs are remarkably undistinguishable from each other. why is that? i posed the question to an old friend, Tyler Durden. Tyler has all the answers. No, really, he does, i'm serious.

Tyler sneered at the stupidity of my question, he replied,

You're not your url.
You're not how many comments you have.
You're not the the blogroll to the right.
You're not the contents of a meme.
You're not your fucking itunes playlist.
You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

So, here is the challenge to you bloggers. post something.

post not what you had for lunch (it was a cheese sandwich, just like mine).
post not the results of a "which of the seven dwarves" you are (we all know it was dopey).
post not an empty political rant (we all know which candidate is an ass hat).
post not a link to another's content, create your own content (we have all seen JibJab).

the ultimate irony would be if this challenge prompted you to take action. and if your action resulted in 10 others taking action, and 10 more. at what point does this become a fucking meme? link it and find out.

i miss cycling. at one time it consumed 2-3 hours each day. when i wasn't cycling, i was working in a bicycle shop. time was measured by daily, monthly and yearly cycling events.

that was a long time ago. the road bike now hangs upside down from the garage ceiling. the tires are cracked and brittle. that's what happens when you don't ride for 10 or so years.

i now think about cycling every day. when i see a rider outside my car window, a wave of excitement passes through me. i recall the clakety sound as my derailier moves and the chain catches the 52 tooth chain ring. i wonder if it is it possible to love a machine?

the wave of excitement is quickly replaced with bitterness. frustration with myself that i have let a part of myself drift so far away. life happens, things change, priorities change.

so, is this what getting older is all about? a brain spilling with memories of beloved places, things, people, and emotions. the memories allow you to re-live moments, but also lament things lost.

there are not many days i miss living in detroit, but today is one of them.

i have been watching and listening to the blame game (also known as the 9/11 commission hearings) over the past few days. again and again the finger seems to be pointing at the dysfunctional relationship between the cia, fbi, presidential advisors, and the president. many are complaining that there is little communication between agencies and that the agencies are not sharing information.

people are missing the boat on this. lack of communication and the sharing of information are not the problem. those issues are symptoms of an unusable system. the real problem is information architecture, taxonomy, and metadata.

i assume there is a grand data base of intelligence some where. i am certain the information architecture sucks, rebuild it. next, multiple taxonomies are essential to supports multiple users with different views of the data contained. finally the most important piece is metadata. good metadata can allow the users to transend the rigid architecture and taxonomies (and also hide any flaws in the ia or taxonomy). good metadata will allow the user to realize information relationships that have gone un-noticed.

if those elements were in place, the relationship between the cia and fbi becomes less important, they can continue to ignore each other but have access to each other's intelligence in a usable way. sharing becomes a non issue, as long as data is put into the system, it is available via many different paths to many different users.

as an example, in a company like nike, many different people need the exact same information to do their job well. the marketing team, the advertising team, the board of directors, and the ceo all need access to sales reports, but may need the reports for different reasons and/or presented with a specific spin to be useful. each group will also have it's own lexicon, assumptions, and understanding of sales reports. it is essential they are provided with the data requested regardless of how they ask for the reports.

the users of the system just need the information, they shouldn't have to know how to ask for it and be denied because they did not ask the system for it properly.

over at airbag, greg has a great post with similar thinking but focused on the visual design of pdb documents. go check out his pdb redesign. it is an amazing improvement (done with no user value investigation, mind you!). in his comments, greg ponders the possibility of a grass roots, open source, movement to get the government's shit together. interesting.

all that being said, i could be wrong. my expertise clearly lies in poo humor.

just returned from spring break at diznywrld. i am leaving for the sxsw conference in the morning. mickey left me with no beer money.

so, if you see me and buy me a beer, i will give you 2 hand crafted fonts. one made from my handwritting (great for ransom notes and fraudulent activities) and the other is a dingbat font of character heads.

it also includes a limited edition fancy little jewel case and cover art!

i prefer bass ale or st. pauli girl! see you in austin.

probably going to sxsw interactive, but on a budget.

i may need to share hotel costs?

anyone?

email me, griff at you know what dot com.

continuing on with cool things traded for my bot book, i received the above from april.

april sent me a print of her illustration "alien bbq". april is also a keeps a site where she often revels her photoshop secrets. Or you can purchase other cool prints she has made here. thanks april!

I am getting spam email oddly similar with the titles Hi, hello, Error, and TEST each is addressed to different names at ultramicroscopic dot com. each contains a file (either a .doc, .exe or .zip) and I have opened none of the attachments.

more scary, i received and undeliverable message notice claiming a message similar to the above messages was sent from julie (an account i never set up) at ultramicroscopic. am i unwittingly spamming.

is this a virus of some sort? forgive my ignorance, us mac people rarely have to deal with viruses. should I turn off my ability to get any mail addressed to anything at ultramicroscopic?

continuing on with cool things traded for my bot book, i received the above from brenda.

brenda sent me a set of hand made cards. each scantly clad in miniature lingerie.
cool eh? the wife has aready used a few (not to correspond with male friends, i hope). thanks brenda!

continuing on with cool things traded for my bot book, i received the above from edna million. six hand made magnets in a hand made box and 3 photographs of steet punks. once again, i got the better end of the trade!

edna is also a blogger!

marshall from blurbism.com traded a matted 8' x 10" photograph for one of my handmade books. marshall is a designer and photographer. i chose this photo because i like the color and the contradiction of the horizontal scratches in the concrete easily passing through the strong vertical lines.

early in the summer, i took on a little personal project and offered the results to you, the reader. several people took me up on it and offered to trade personal projects of their own. this ended up being way cool! every day my mailbox was stuffed with another fantastic piece. i feel, in all instances, i got the better end of the deal. i look forward to making up the difference in future trades if y'all are willing.

so any way, i had been meaning to show off all the cool art i have received but a work project in atlanta put this site in hibernation for a while. i think it is time. i will show all my trades as i find the time. let's start with Travis.

an original 9" x 12" painting by travis. the robot theme was cool, because my handmade books were robot illustrations. btw, travis currently has several paintings on ebay, stop by his site and check it out!

pictured above is a pile of broken glass where my travel bag was only hours earlier. the bag contained my ibook laptop, two sketch books, a digital camera, a usb drive, shoes, pants, etc.

the police found the bag discarded only a few hundred yards from my car. it contained everything but the ibook. so, that sucks. most files were backed up except for some of the kids birthday photos and a few personal projects i had been working on. oh well.

obviously i would like the computer back, but i am very relieved to get the sketchbooks back. monetarily they are worth nothing, a few hundred drawings, none more than 20 minutes of effort (many documenting the time spent in airports during this project i am on). In the few hours when i believed all was lost, the sketch books bothered me the most. it was not just a theft, but a personal attack. I felt nauseous Until their return.

I hope the criminal enjoys the 4 hours of battery life, since he left the power cords in the bag. I also hope he enjoys the antiquated 800 x 600 screen, the cd drive held shut with tape and the cracked plastic case. He might be able to sell it for $150 if he is lucky.

meanwhile, does anyone have a need for freelance design help that would coincidentally cost about the same as a new ibook?

we stopped by the cottonwood art festival in richardson. much more talent than i had expected to see.

i bought a few prints from jay long. very cool stuff, check it out.

apologies to all whom i owe emails, phone calls, promises of fantasy football participation and full body massages.

As you may have noticed, ultramicroscopic has taken a back seat to work. commuting to atlanta from dallas is sapping my life force.

i am traveling to the great state of michigan (where i grew up) for a summer vacation. i expect the entire state to welcome me back with parades and fire works.

maybe i will post, maybe i will not.

1. thanks to those donating or trading for the hand made books, all have been sent out, a few remain if interested (see the box to the right).

2. switched up the highlighted site in the "look over there" section to the right. click immediately and view the broken sasquatch, er... defective yeti.

3. ultramicroscopic posts have suffered lately due to a cool (i hope) personal project that is stealing my time. i need someone with some solid technical skills to help execute my idea. i am looking for a partner who can make movable type jump through hoops, make the site w3/508 compliant, has experience with image galleries, search experience, and enjoys long moon lit walks on the beach. creativity and enthusiasm is highly valued and almost as important as the technical skills! it is voluntary (no pay, just admiration, pride and partial credit) and would consume 20 to 40 hours of your free time over the next month or so. email me, griff-AT-ultramicroscopic.com if interested in helping and would like to discuss further.

my father is better than your father.

But I could better myself if I could only find some new kind of kick
something I ain't had
some new kind of buzz
I wanna go hog mad lookin' and lookin' and lookin'
for someting I ain't had before
I'm lookin' and lookin'
To find some new kind of kick
gimme a kick
like baby needs mom
like Susie needs dick
this baby needs som new kind of kick

Lux Interior, the Cramps

help me. i am in a rut. i read the same few blogs every day, i listen to the same songs every day, i draw the same little kreepy kids every day.

i trust you have poked around here enough to know what i do and don't like.

PLEASE, leave a comment exposing me to kewl new blogs, music and illustrators!

as any old skool punk/new waver can tell you, the film URGH! a Music War (1981) was probably was the first exposure to what would become their favorite band. one of the more bizarre bands captured by the film was the cramps. lux interior (lead singer) bounced around the stage, arms extended, resembling a giant screaming pterodactyl. the microphone was crammed inside his mouth. poison ivy (lead guitar) plays pathetically showing little interest in lux's antics, seemingly bored by it all.

since my first exposure to the cramps via URGH! i have seen them several times live. each time lux finds something (the sound man, a stage hand, an obnoxious fan, a band member, a cheap microphone stand) to be really pissed off about. it becomes his motivation to put on a wildly entertaining and unpredictable show.

the cramps are still touring, and will play Dallas tonight. i will be there pretending i am not 36 years old. i bet there will be more than one greying mohawk in the crowd.

look for me, i will be the one screaming requests for Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk, and Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?.

i ran out of room for my stuff, so i am moving to a new bigger place to put my stuff. i have no isp set up at the new place. griffATultramicroscopicDOTcom will still work but will not be checked much for a few days. the other mailbox @attbi.com will cease to exist, i have checked it porn spam for the last time this morning. in closing for a few short blogless days, GO SPARTANS!

well, i know it is kinda late, but come join my bracket on ESPN.com. i'll put up some sort of ultramicroscopic prize if i can get a minimum of 5 in the group. no money, just for fun!

do it now, games begin late thursday morning!

Public group name: ultramicroscopic

Helpful links:

Create a new account and make your picks

Already have an entry? Go to your entry page and then click on this link

Tournament Challenge

one of the requirements to graduate with a bachelor of fine arts is a bfa show. It is customary for students to attend other student's shows. everyone mills about pretending to be interested, then when they just can't fake it any more, it is customary to greet the artist and tell them that it is a fantastic show, regardless of whether it really is or not.

once i was one milling about a particularly bad show of a fellow student. an apple monitor perched upon a pedestal looped through a series of images and simple animation. my stomach dropped when i recognized six of the images were mine. unbeknownst to me, the student had found my diskette in the computer lab. finders keeper's loser's weepers. he had manipulated the images for the worse, and in my judgement, he had not altered them enough to make them his own.

at the time computer art was a new frontier, he was praised as a pioneer. in my opinion, a pioneer that steals shit.

this was one of the worst feelings of my life, it still bothers me now, 14 years later.

whew! the skinny on sxsw...

the good
met many of my web heros.
met many bloggers face to face.
fray cafe.
20x2.*
kickball in the park.
20% of the panels.
creative commons debate.*
dfw bloggers reprezentin.
seeing my design adorning 2,500 canvas bags (above).*
ultramicroscopic winning a sxsw web award.
more doodles than you can shake a stick at.*

the bad
50% of the panels.
where did my money go?
my hotel.

the ugly
30% of the panels.
sore throat saturday.
snot head sunday.
drippy nose monday.
coughing fit tuesday.
having my bike stolen.*
sustaining a wicked shin scrape and bruise.
returning home.

*more details will soon be posted. maybe.

it seems there has been much blog chatter of late about what makes a blog a blog. is it about linking, is it about creating new and creative content, is it about what you had for lunch tuesday? my general attitude is live and let live, que sera sera, but with the proliferation of so many bad blogs, i find myself pondering the issue.

about week ago i read a post that took the issue to a whole new level for me. it has been driving me nuts for the past week, so i post this as a clearing house for my own mental health. i am very interested in your opinion.

i am a regular reader of "author a". i have always marveled at her site, and i consider her writings to be very clever. about a week ago, one of her posts had a line that sounded familiar to me. i immediately assumed it was a re-post, but it was not marked as such.

i cut and pasted the text line into google. the first search return led me to a page with identical text. identical down to the punctuation, she had not even an attempted to rewrite it. she gave no link or credit to the original author.

am i wrong in being upset about such a silly thing? is blogging such a casual medium that this is an accepted practice? should i let the person know, that i know the origins of the post? should i just forget about it and go back to duct taping my home (there really are much bigger things to worry about)?

the biggest disappointment is the realization that previous posts may have been plagiarized and the author is not at all the person i grew to enjoy.

you have a promise from me that all content here at ultramicroscopic is my own (and copyrighted!) unless otherwise denoted.

the management at ultramicroscopic would like to thank you for an entire year of patronage and participation. we are hoping you will continue to show us the love for another year!

wow, i received a pleasant surprise via email recently. notification that i am a finalist in the sxsw web awards, weblog category.

the finalists for weblog are...

airbag - i consider myself an Efriend of Greg and i am a great fan of his site. it is rare to see an individual with such broad skills (design, photography, writing, technical, and conceptual). he is one of those awesome designers that can make me feel like i should just pack it up and find another career.

erichian - i was unfamiliar with Erich till today. i am now a regular reader. check out his alter ego DJ-e who ensures erich's day to day life has a non stop erichian soundtrack to keep him going. by day he works at ideo. a place i have always assumed to be the coolest place on the planet to work.

pixelog - it greatly excites me when people push tools beyond the ideas that the tools become confined by. the potential of blogs and blog tools goes far beyond posting what the author had for lunch. this is a blog that challenges the usual blog definition. it is beautiful, clean, and elegant!

ultramicroscopic - a site probably not worthy of being included in such company. crammed with low-brow bathroom humor and a butt ugly monochromatic color scheme. what the hell was he thinking?

whedonesque - this site is what makes the internet great. grass roots, niche communities that know no geographical boundaries. 648 buffy fans, talking buffy, walking buffy, breathing buffy and living buffy.

the winner will be announced sunday, march 9th in austin.

sxsw will also announce a "peoples choice" winner for each category. you can vote for your favorite here.

i have not been to my church since late october. every sunday (except for the brief winter hiatus) i attend the church of the perfectly trimmed lawn.

the task is monotonous and requires no thought. my lawn mower is loud, so loud most all audible distractions are eliminated. my brain and i share 3 hours of beautiful uninterrupted quality time with one another. usually my "church" is kicked off with one of many simple questions my brain poses as i begin mowing, soon the simple question leads me down a path of contemplation deeper than any traditional church has ever offered.

i wonder if the grass screams in pain when i cut it. if it screams, am i evil? if i am evil, was i born evil? if i was born evil, is it possible for me to be good? if it is possible to be good, is life a test? if life is a test, what happens if i pass the test? passing the test leads to many more questions that lead to many more beyond that. never ending questions.

as i wheel the mower back into the garage, generally good feelings wash over me. pride in a yard that looks good. amusement in the realization that there are many questions i will never answer in my lifetime. satisfaction that the contemplation led me to answer a few of the questions.

my next house will have an even bigger yard.

the next dfw blogs happy hour should be big fun!

the ongoing bloggie silliness has changed none of my opinions about anyone involved. very few of the postings/comments i have read accurately portray any of the people i have met through the dfwblogs group. a group with which i am proud to be associated.

i am switzerland.

jeez, i checked the stats today. for some unknown reason i am gettin' a mad hit count. time to take advantage of this wave and spread the luv. so, now that you are here and you find yourself thouroghly dissappointed with my site, here are a few blogs much better than this one.

i am not really one to post tech notes here but, after 8+ hours of wrestling with itunes, toast, os 9.2, an iomega cd 650 burner, an untold number of extensions, across three different macs i have discovered some thing.

memorex cd-r sucks.

all the problems were in the CD-R media! switched to verbatim, and everything works fine. go figure. once again this proves the problem is always in the last thing you fix. i can only hope the macintosh gods forgive me for my misplaced anger and speaking ugly of itunes in an ignorant moment.

anyway, all this effort went into creating a couple music cds for the cd mix of the month. 18 tracks that i can't explain why i picked. most of the tunes would not even crack my top 500 song list. they just seemed to flow right together (at least to me).

now i eagerly await a few discs from the man with impeccable musical taste - josh. i sent 2 discs, so if you participated, you may end up with one of mine. Josh requests a track list and a tidbit about each tune. liner notes follow, click for more.

the tracks/liner notes

The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me performed by Tom Waits from Bone Machine
Most all of Tom Waits music creates a very strong mood, this one is no exception and exploits my personal fear of the ocean at night.

Long Gone Daddy performed by The The from Hanky Panky
I always felt there was a very dark and evil side to the music of Hank Williams, Matt Johnson obviously thought so too. Hanky Panky is a lesser known The The album made completely of Hank Williams covers. I hesitate to call them covers, each song is an interpretation.

Love Your Enemies performed by William S. Burroughs from Dead City Radio
Ok, so it is not a song but how can you ignore a gay, drug addicted, poet, murderer. This reading gives me the hebbie-jeebies.

Excellent Birds performed by Laurie Anderson from Mister Heartbreak
Peter Gabriel pitches in here to ensure the piece is more song than performance art. I think he gives Laurie Anderson a more accessible focus and direction is this song.

The Rhythm of the Heat performed by Peter Gabriel from Security
Another hypnotic piece. This was the first CD I ever bought. I bought it because it was a full digital recording.

Underwater performed by Bop (Harvey) from Gitche Gumee To Me
An odd song for Bop (Harvey), a little outside the ska/reggae/world beat sound they were known for, God I miss this band.

I Might Be Wrong performed by Radiohead from Amnesiac
When I finally gave in to the hype that is Radiohead, Amnesiac was my first Radiohead purchase. It has grown on me like a cancer and I now see the brilliance that is Radiohead.

Thela Hun Ginjeet performed by King Crimson from The Compact King Crimson
This song blows me away everytime I hear it, in my opinion this is the best mix of Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp. Belew’s guitar is all over the place while Fripp’s guitar keeps the train rollin’ full speed ahead. The main riff is hypnotic. Also take note of the manic percussion.

Dub Fire performed by Aswad from Crucial Tracks
Aswad often seems to perfect and over produced, but this instrumental seems to benefit from it. It sounds like a song you have heard before, but perhaps never have.

Change performed by Fishbone from Truth and Soul
I have seen Fishbone live several times, I am always amazed how this song would make the mosh pit and skank dancers stand very quietly and slightly swaying.

Birds performed by Adrian Belew from Inner Revolution
Why has Adrian Belew never become mega famous? Too poppy? Too experimental? Too happy?

Earth to Doris performed by Was (Not Was) from What Up, Dog?
Every time I hear this I feel like I need to take a shower, I feel so sleazy. I need to wash Doris off of me.

J.B. Witchdance performed by Masters of Reality from Sunrise on the Sufferbus
The Sufferbus was a flash in the pan for the Masters of Reality. Never before or again did they deliver an album like this. Quirky, varied, playful, some times rocking and always brilliant.

Kiko and the Lavender Moon performed by Los Lobos from Kiko
Kiko is the strongest Los Lobos albums, this song is a sneak preview of more experimental stuff that would eventually be done under the Latin Playboys name.

Manifold De Amour performed by Latin Playboys from Latin Playboys
Latin Playboys are hit or miss with me, but when they hit, it doesn’t get any better.

Good Comrades Go to Heaven performed by Solex from Low Kick and Hard Bop
Solex sounds very different than anything I have heard but each of the individual sounds used to build her sound seem very familiar. Sort of a DejaVue vibe about it.

Summer’s Cauldron performed by XTC from Skylarking
A strong thread of continuity runs through this album, each song perfectly links to the next. A characteristic common to most all XTC albums. Oddly the hit single Dear God is the one song that least fits this album. This song captures the mood of summer like no other to me.

Sky King performed by Danny Gatton from Crusin’ Deuces
Gatton’s Guitar was slick, and he could play any style. You might recognize this song from a credit card commercial. Danny Gatton was finally getting noticed, then he died. A potential that sadly will never be fully recognized.

A word about music swapping. I am of the probably unpopular belief that music swapping is a form of theft. So, why participate in this swap? I am also of the belief that music swapping, if done right, can encourage the purchase of music that one may have never been exposed to previously. No music in this compilation is less than a year old, philosophy being that there is nothing here you have not already purchased or were planning on purchasing before listening to this disc. Most musicians do not make as much money as you may think, if you like something here, I encourage you to purchase it.

due to an email snafu (user error), i have been without email for the last 24 hours. it is all better now, so if you got an invalid address notification or nothing at all from me, try it again.

in other words, you may resume the porn email ring, i am back in the game.

the management here at ultramicroscopic asks you to note that the "look over there" section has finally been updated (to your right).

also note the debut of a new category "ultrahumor". sort of a "best of" but the pickens were slim. some how potty humor is a big player in "ultrahumour", go figure.

one should never read their past posts, half way through reviewing old stuff for the new category, i almost created another new category call "ultrasux". it's kind of like looking at pictures from your prom. how i ever thought that tux was cool i will never know, but i did at the time.

blogs have exploded this year! a couple recent events have solidified few thoughts i have had about bloging or whatever we want to call this form of personal publishing.

content is king

yesterday, i stumbled across an announcement for the 2003 bloggies. when reading the rules, i was disappointed to read the following,

for this contest, a "weblog" is a page with dated entries that has a purpose (in whole or in part) of linking to other sites.

defining a weblog is hard to do, but to specify linking as a base criteria excludes some fantastic independent content creators using a blog format (loobylu, dooce, poofle, mecawilson, dollarshort, etc. - some of which are past nominees or winners).

listing links should not be confused as content. ultimately those links lead to content. i think the creator of the content should be recognized before the linker. recognizing the linker rather than the content creator only encourages mediocrity.

the development of independent content is the essence of the web.

linking is a technology differentiator that sets the web apart from all other media.

i choose not to link on my site for several reasons, the first being many sites do it very well, way better than I ever could. a few rise above simple linking by composing well thought commentary on the links or ensuring there is some thread of continuity in what links are presented (sixdifferentways, boingboing).

when someone takes a tool or an object and uses it in a way never thought of before it excites me. when instead of writing on a piece of paper, some one make a paper airplane out of it. why do we not see more people exploiting the differences of the web and bloging tools to create some thing a little different than those that have gone before them?

please do not interpret my ramblings as an attack on the bloggies. they are welcome to do what ever they see fit, if i was really upset i would start my own damn award (hmm....). i think the defining of "weblog" stirred up a few thoughts that have been on the back burner.

making connections

a friend found out about my blog recently. he had been reading it for some and asked if it was ok to post comments on the site. the question surprised me, it seemed silly. if it is published, and the comment feature is turned on, all are welcome (and encouraged) to comment.

i guess it might be intimidating when opening the comment box to see a conversation in progress or sometimes an inside comment may seem exclusionary. i think being exclusionary is the last thing most bloggers would ever want.

participating is what the site is all about, making connections with others sharing a similar experiences, opinions, or emotions. so, for any lurkers out there, the next time you see something somewhere that makes a connection, it is time to step from the shadows.

i'm going, are you? i may be looking for a hotel mate to split the cost.

disclaimer, i WILL watch sportscenter in my underwear till the wee hours. i WILL scratch myself. i WILL have an international cooler stocked with st. pauli girl, negra modelo, and bass ale. i WILL snore like a chainsaw. i WILL destroy the american standard sunday morning while reading the sports section. i WILL put your hand in a bucket of warm water if you make the mistake of falling asleep before me.

now you understand why my wife has no interest in attending.

i have reserved the nights of march 8,9,10. email me references and photos of yourself if you have not been frightened away yet and are really so cheap you would do such a thing to save a few bucks. the hotel is 2 miles from the convention centre, i will have a car but will probably bring a bike to scoot around town.

oh yeah, if you want your very own room, i found the rates on hotel.com to be better than the sxsw discount rates. word up.

joe strummer is dead. the clash made sounds very different from any thing i had ever heard. london calling is definately a top ten-er for me. only a few days ago when i learned of his collaboration with bono and dave stewart, i got really excited. now i am sad.

Below are a couple entries i wrote but never posted, at the time they didn't seem to have a point. well, they still don't but the death of joe strummer make them topical.

punk seems to be alive and well in toronto canada (recent biz trip). i dont know how i feel about this. the punk movement was an explosion meant to have no future. sort of ironic if you consider punk is now a quarter century old (if we agree it began with iggy, mc5s, ramones pistols and clash).

every generation has it's music, punk belongs to my generation. punk was designed to self destruct. the kids in toronto are punks by definition, but is that really posible? what shocked in 1979 seems tired today. the clothes are tired. the attitude is tired. the anger is tired.

television commercials use iggy pop and the buzzcocks music to sell cars. it confuses me. is that the worst thing that could happen to punk or punk's greatest f-you (corporate america paying huge sums of money for usage rights)?

i am unsure where i am going with all this. what it really boils down to, is that i am a grumpy old man, irritated with todays youth. just like my parents and grandparents.

i recently saw frank black at the gypsy tea room. a few weeks earlier i saw x at trees. for both shows, i was very curious about the audience they would draw. where have all the punks gone? i am happy to say the punks showed up to both. i am also happy to say they smell much better than they did in the early eighties. i guess we all grow up.

so, what did i miss?

in a few short hours we will be in florida for the thanksgiving holiday. so, posts may be infrequent or graphically challenged for the next few days. rock on.

any bloggers in the fort meyers area?! i'll buy you a beer!

each time i fetched him a beer, he rewarded me with an indian head penny. he was a coin collector. each birthday he gave me a mint set (coins incased in plastic a display) of the coins produced that year. he told me that one day the coin sets would pay for my college education. as i got older and closer to college age my family and i joked that the $34.38 (the face value of 18 years worth of coins if broken out of the plastic cases) might buy one of my art history books.

now at 36, i realize the value of the coint sets far exceeds $34.38. his love for me that took the form of yearly coin sets is too great to measure.

last night my grandfather passed away.

alzheimer's disease stole away his hobby of coin collecting long ago. 12 years ago he had trouble remembering my name. later he failed to recognize his daughter. eventually he forgot who his wife was. last year he had hip surgery. only hours after the operation he forgot he had the operation and tried to get up and walk. he fell to the floor.

i don't know the man who's physical body finally gave out yesterday. the grandfather i knew had been gone for a long time. the disease stole him from my family and i.

so, in a very odd way, today i celebrate his death. although a battle has been lost, one can rejoice that the battle is over.

well, i don't know where you came from or who you are (must find and install refer code!), but according to recent log activity, you are probably looking for the switch spoofs.

you can find 'em here; mark, ellen, and the user switch.

having kids radically changes everything in your life. one of those things is friends. i have two types of friends, chosen and circumstantial. the circumstantial far out weigh the chosen.

circumstantial friends are people that share circumstances with you and your life. a common day care, a common kid's soccer team, a common playtime at the park. the commonality is the primary topic of conversation. once that topic is exhausted, conversation turns to weather, car mileage and cowboy football. circumstantial friends suck.

i no longer try to talk about art and design, beer, beat poetry, or my mexican wrestling mask collection to circumstantial friends. those topics result in blank stares followed by "hey, this is some kind of weather we're having, huh?

meetings with circumstantial friends are preceded and postceded by conversations with the wife about how they suck and i would never choose them to be my friends.

the disparity between the two types of friends is bumming me out. that is where you come in.

if you have been here a few times and are still reading this, then we must be of similar minds. i am moving all of you into the chosen friend category to reduce the disparity.

so let me pour you a beer (st. pauli girl dark), and lets not talk about the emmit smith's rushing record.

did any other perverts out there notice some interesting commonalities between lilo and stitch and the work of r crumb?

what follows happened a few years ago. it took place at the same animal hospital mentioned in yesterdays post. yesterday was the first time i had returned to that hospital.

he gave me the leash and the dog didn't even notice the hand off. i opened the tailgate and encouraged him to jump in but severe arthritis made the leap impossible. i interlocked my fingers under his rib cage and lifted him into the vehicle. his weight surprised me. the dog seemed a little confused but trusted me as the neighbor guy.

the short ride to the vet's office was long enough for me to realize my neighbor was an asshole. his dog, his problem, my day ruined. why did i agree to such an undertaking? how could i have denied his request?

at the vet's office, they asked me if i wanted to say goodbye to the dog. i didn't know what to say or feel. i had no attachment to the animal, but felt crappy that i was the last person he would recognize. i silently scratched his head and nodded to the nurse. she led him to the kennel.

the nurse returned to the desk and gave me the leash. when i got home i didn't give the leash back to the neighbor, i just hung it on the garage wall. I should have discarded it, but that didn't seem right.

every day i pull in the garage, the leash greets me with the memory of my evil deed.

the raging debate that threatened to tear apart the ultramicroscopic household ended this morning with a trip to the vets office.

one of our furry children is shredding both the furniture and our marital relationship. i accept this behavior as the way of the feline. wife claimed that de-clawing was an option. I have been meticulously super gluing tiny rubber tips (soft claws) on her claws as a last ditch effort to avoid de-clawing.

wife scheduled the drop off appointment with the vet for this morning. due to other family commitments and such, the undertaking of this evil task feel upon me. execution of a plan with which i am not fully onboard. i am consumed with guilt. driving to the vet's office, i remembered the soon to be broken promise made to the adoption agency that we would not de-claw her.

at the office, other pet owners held leashes and travel boxes. i sat down on a bench with my travel box. a woman with a similar box sat down next to me. she peered through the silver dollar size holes at my cat.

cat lady: "is that a himalayan?"
animal cruelty guy (me): "yes"
cat lady: "hmmmm, did you adopt her recently?"
animal cruelty guy: "yes, a month or so ago."
cat lady: "was her name layla when you adopted her?"
animal cruelty guy: "yea,...how did..."
cat lady: "oh! i was her foster mom! is she sick?!"
animal cruelty, liar guy: "oh no, just bringing her in for healthy stuff"
cat lady: "oh..."

the nurse called my name, rescuing me from the awkward conversation.

loud nurse: "let's see, de-clawing today, right?"
mumbling animal cruelty guy (me): "um, yeah."

glancing back at her notes, loud nurse notices the request for all four paws to be de-clawed and asks again to make sure her notes are correct. she asks a third time, seemingly louder, reminding me the procedure is not reversible.

i stare straight ahead. i can feel cat lady behind my back making the international hand gesture for "shame on you". waves of shame flow from her pointer finger and crash into my back.

i fully expect the cat lady to storm my home backed by cps (cat protective services) officers demanding custody of my clawless cat.

stop. my pop culture inbox is overflowing, and my outbox is collecting dust. so just stop.

shelve the latest 17 year old singing belly button diva, hold back the next half baked snl character stretched into 90 minutes of movie watching hell, tell danielle steele, michael chrichton, and dean koontz to step away from the typewriter (thank you, stephen king!).

in this ever growing mound of consumable literature, music, art, video games, web sites, etc. are some real gems i have not yet discovered. enough gems to last the rest of my existence.

i am embarrassed to admit how far behind i am...
i have not read kurt vonnegut's slaughterhouse five yet,
i have not heard captain beefheart and the magic band's trout mask replica yet,
i have not seen willem de kooning's series of paintings, Women yet,
i have not played ubi soft's riven yet,
i have not watched akira kurosawa's shichinin no samurai (the magnificent seven) yet,
i have not surfed lileks.com yet,

and you,...stop reading this ultramicroscopic drivel and rediscover the works of marcel duchamp.

a few days ago i found myself reminiscing about cycling. in my teens and early twenties i was heavily into bicycling, both racing and touring. i had not thought about cycling in quite some time.

2 days ago i found myself searching for old italian colnago racing bikes on ebay. no intent to buy, just kind of curious.

yesterday i found myself web shopping campagnolo bicycle components (the finest italian old skool outragously expensive components) with the jug head plan of rebuilding a racing bike.

i stopped myself and wondered what triggered this sudden re-intrest in a hobby abandoned 10 years ago. sudden realization. my inner psychologist (not board certified, but cheap) suggested perhaps i am looking back to the most care free and simple time of my life. yearning to ride away from reliving the events of 9-11. i think psychologists are full of crap, but he might just have something there.

odd how the unconscious mind works.

The 8 year old boy made funny faces at the 2 year old boy. the younger boy giggled and pointed back at the older. the boys were having fun passing time in the customs line of the toronto airport.

The older boy looked to be east indian. His skin was golden brown, and his black hair was straight. his clothes and bags made it obvious he came from wealth.

the 2 year old was black. his nappy hair went in many different directions. his clothes looked to be hand-me-downs.

the boys could not look any more different from each other.

the parents of both boys ignored the children's actions and refused to acknowledge each others existence. watching the boys interact, i am once again reminded that hatred does not exist without teachers of hate.

four hours of tweaking this silly thing has resulted in the following:

- after six months of bloging, a few reoccurring topics have evolved. that means i now have entries archived by topics (available in the right most column). now i can refer to all the reasons "why i love my wife" very easily if i ever forget.

- after six months of a strict no linky luv policy enforced by the upper management here at ultramicroscopic, a happy compromise has been reached. the "look over there" section to the right will direct you to a blog much better than this one. a single link, rotated when the spirit moves me.

- many other teeny tiny (ultramicroscopic) tweaks that you will probably never notice, but have been bugging me for a while. kinda like changing into fresh underwear, you didn't notice, but i feel much better.

now the only remaining thing is to figure out why some pc's decide my body text looks better in blue than black (as it is properly displayed on all macs). it can not be that hard.

in 1987 the macintosh was just an infant and i was 21. we met in the computer art lab and together we made this. notice the aliased (jaggy) type. i used the mac to set type and traditional cut and paste to do layout. this was cutting edge in it's day.

even less developed (than the mac) was my sense of humor. oh well, it seemed funny at the time.

the birthday party was great,.. i think. memory is the first thing to go.

well, the jig is up. i had a feeling it would be eventually, can't keep a secret on the internet.

as a good writer/reporter should, he (not Art Bell) discovered this. he let me know via email recently. he had used a drawing and information i had provided him in an article he wrote.

i don't think he was too upset, he just wanted to let me know he knew. he viewed it as "just a little ego gratification stoked by a few beers." which i must say is probably very accurate (except it might have been more than a "few" beers). point in case, isn't the whole blogging thing about ego gratification (written with tongue sort of in cheek)?

he claims to be a great fan of people that do hoaxes well (a category not including me) and he provided me with a great link. something for me to aspire to, i guess.

i guess i will pull the site down, some of Art's fans may be offended. there was never a malicious intent to my actions but some may not share my sense of humor. so, if you missed it, and are curious, pull me aside at the next dfwblogs happy hour and i will tell you all about a creature known as chilliwack.

i am off to the land from whence i came. a land known as michigan.

a much needed vacation.

i have given the keys to ultramicroscopic to grant. everyone this is grant. grant this is everyone.

grant may post, he may not, but he is watching.

after a 3 year hiatus, rightfulness is restored and all is good on this beautiful planet.

dang it.

should i feel frustrated with rock stars for living and dying tired cliches?
should i feel sad about the human condition and the power of addiction?
should i feel happy thinking about the difference he made?
should i feel angry that a difference maker was snatched away?

one thing is for sure, dee dee rocked my ass.

he stacks the coins vertically, largest diameter on the bottom. he pinches the stack at it's base using his thumb, pointer, index and ring fingers. pinky is daintily curled and tucked into his palm. the stack of change is placed in the center of my palm. as his fingers release the coins, the fingertips are touching my palm and they trace lines outward from the coins.

when the contact between his fingertips and my palm is broken, my hand rises slightly; released from the downward force he exerts.

this creeps me out in the worst way. not in a homophobic way, but in a "i have dead people in my tool shed" type of way.

this is not an isolated incident but rather a daily occurrence. i have asked other patrons about it, some are ashamed and don't like to discuss it because it makes them feel dirty.

next time i will have the exact amount, requiring no change.

the door to the crawl space was less than 4 feet tall. inside, only one light near the door was not enough to illuminate the full space. it smelled of mildew. the cinder block walls gave it a dungeon like feel.

dad had set up the electric train track just inside the door to the left. i would often play inside but never beyond the light spilling in from the small door.

further back, behind a row of cardboard boxes is where it lived. i never met or spoke with it, but we had caught glimpses of each other. it would sometimes be peering from behind the boxes when i turned on the light. there was great reason to fear it, but i didn’t because we had an innately understood agreement. everything was cool as long as we respected each others turf. the boxes served as turf markers. i never wondered what lie beyond the boxes, our agreement squelched any curiosity.

when the electric train refused to work, i asked my dad if he could fix it. dad unplugged and replugged the power cord. he wiggled all the track connectors making sure each was secure. his final conclusion was that someone forgot to turn the track off and the power transformer burned out.

that meant the agreement had been broken, i never went back into the crawl space.

on my hands and knees, i ran my fingers through the deep shag carpet. i meticulously covered every square inch of the floor like a lawnmower, working my way back and forth.

it was the poorest i had ever been in my life.

still a nickel short and only a few more feet of carpet before me. i shared the room with 3 other guys, surely one had recently droped nickle or dime somewhere.

a dime! probably 5 cents more than i would need.

i had not eaten since lunch the day before, a box of those little debbie oatmeal cookies fused together with white frosting for 89 cents. i sat alone in the park eating one after another hoping not to be seen or recognized. i used to like little debbie, but after the 6th one my teeth hurt.

clutching my carpet cash, i made my way downstairs to the vending machine. i could hear many people conversing and laughing in the front room, i was embarrased and hoped no one would notice me. through the glass, i inspected all offerings and the net weight of each. some net weights were obstructed by the release coil. those were eliminated as options. I couldn't afford to take a chance on an unknown.

m&m's a rip off. chips and pretzels are misleading, because the hard to eat crumbs and salt grains at the bottom of the bag contribute to the net weight. snickers tastes good, but taste did not factor into the purchase cirteria. dolly madison zingers were the winner, a whopping 4.25 oz.

i returned to my room, sat on the bed alone, holding a zinger wishing it was someone else.

the artwork above is an illustration by michael mentler. his work stood head and shoulders above the mediocrity of the McKinney Art & Jazz on the Square festival today. Fantastic pen and ink portrait illustrations of fictional characters. Very humorous and a little dark. he himself was very nice and showed my son (and i) a sketchbook he was working on.

i nabbed a biz card that only contains only his phone number (Dallas local). email me if you find his art as interesting as i and would like to contact him (don't want to post his phone on the net without permission).

on a clear night, on a lightless rural road, i open my moonroof to let the stars in as i drive. i look straight up through the hole to view the spectacular skies. the wind rushing around me and the headlights switched off greatly exaggerate the feel of forward motion. the road in front of me takes a backseat to the view of stars above me.

there is a good chance this is the way i will die one day, but the moment is greater than the risk and it is not a concern. the night time sky is more elegant than i can comprehend.

tonight we went to a local community theatre to see opening night of a play. why don't more people attend these things? it is cheaper than the movie theatre and so much more entertaining.

the worst live play is better than the best movie.

the worst live music is better than the best recorded music.

the worst live poetry reading is better than the best written poetry.

the worst live baseball game is better than the best televised game.

the worst in person conversation is better than the best IM chat.

the worst draft beer is better than the best bottled beer.

get off your spoon fed lazy ass and participate. a passive life is not worth living.

the national guard soldier stood looking over the shoulder of an airline employee as she matched picture id to boarding passes. He was radiating a aura of goofiness that should have been concealed by his athletic stance, military fatigues, a very deadly automatic rifle, and a smart looking beret.

a woman with a long white cane and dark glasses supplied her id and boarding pass. she was blind. the airline employee studied the documents, and allowed her to pass. she resumed walking towards baggage x-ray.

"did ja see that? she's doin' real good, and people say they aren't as smart as we are. and she was good look'n too. i knew a blind guy once that was smarter than most regular people." said the bullet head. the blind woman will still easily within earshot.

the airline employee said nothing. she ignored his attempts at conversation, but he was determined to pull her into a discussion.

"i wonder how she does it. yep, some of 'em can be just as smart as you and me. And do things just like you and me."

he was right about one thing, he and the blind woman probably did not share the same i.q.

my neighborhood feels like a movie set. it is a facade made to look like a neighborhood. it has been designed to deter interaction among neighbors. i see no humans here. on saturday mornings crews jump out of the back of pickup trucks efficiently mowing and trimming a yard in 15 minutes. alley access to garages keep vehicles off the street. six foot privacy fences ensure i don't catch a glimpse into my neighbors back yard and see his blinds drawn shut.

my house is different.

the sidewalk leading to my door is illustrated with multi color chalk drawings, multiple modes of kid transportation liter the yard, a bike, a scooter, a wagon. the window shades are open giving view to the living room and kitchen from the street. a few mismatched lawn chairs near the door.

all these things are signs of life. signs of life rarely seen in the burbs of dallas.

but i know people are out there somewhere. i drive by brand new malls and starbucks. movie theatres are constantly sold out. i see people on tv in the stands for rangers, mavericks, cowboys and stars games. all those cars causing the tollway to crawl at 4mph. Where the fuck do all these people live?

not in my neighborhood.

time passes and i accumulate more shit, little of any value. i sometimes secretly wish my home would be completly consumed by fire.

i wouldn't mind starting over, but i don't have any matches.

yesterday i awoke with a small headache that developed into a humdinger. i was well into grump mode by 9 am. about mid day i tried to go outside and enjoy the weather , but the brightness of the sun was magnified to an intolerable level by my headache. back into the house to find a hat that might shade my eyes.

in the closet i found my seven year old green army surplus bucket hat. an all time favorite, that has been missing for 2 years.

i put it on. the headache completely vanished, my mood did a 180. all was right in the world. incredible to me what impact a simple hat (or super ball, or a pop tart, or a new sharpie pen) can have. it really is the simple things.

today upon the invitation of some friends we attended an easter function at their country club. our saturn sl1 had no one to talk to in the parking lot, a mudless land rover and freshly waxed lexus flanked her. The club was packed with people, but no personalities. i saw only one person straying from the color white. he was working the door. silicon and hair plugs seem to be the rage. i watched a woman with really big hair chew out a club employee for accidentally walking between her daughter and her camera . i saw many things there that are supposed to improve my quality of life.

i stood leaning against the wall wishing i had wore my seven year old green army suplus Easter bonnet.

just when i thought movabletype could not rock any harder, they blow out a stack of marshall amps with version 2.

gotta send em some more money!

upgraded tonight, fifteen minutes and a few issues with fetch, but i think it was user error.

so, if april showers bring may flowers...

wtf will this damned march monsoon bring?

if you like your bluegrass evil, let us experience the sights and sounds of slr at the gypsy tea room thursday!

if 6 months seems like yesterday, 20 years will seem like a couple weeks ago. some memories have no expiration date.

ok, here i go. i guess this is my first official post. just like moving into a new house, the site is livable but a little touch up paint and a few personal touches are still needed before it feels finished.

i am unsure what direction this site will take, it is not a portfolio. it is a playground that i hope will help me focus personal creative directions. i have many, many ideas that i start but never finish. perhaps this site will be a motivator to complete some of those ideas.

the site is currently a mix of CSS and tables. ultimately tables will go away, but i am a man of limited inteligence. i am a visual designer, doing more coding and scripting than i am comfortable doing.

i wonder why you are reading this and how you found this site. hmmmm...