Tuesday, October 28, 2008 | by nathan

It’s All About Details

My apologies for the lack of blogitude since Thursday. We celebrated Brian’s 30th birthday in style by flying our happy asses out to Las Vegas, checking into the Paris hotel, and generally having a wonderful time. Friday we walked around, saw the sights, gambled a little (penny and nickel slots only - we’re the opposite of high-rollers), had the best breakfast of our lives at Bouchon in the Venetian, did a little shopping (more on that later) and, that evening, had dinner and caught the Price is Right show at Bally’s. Saturday we lounged by the pool from 10:30 until about 4 p.m., unaware that at that moment Barack Obama was holding a rally only a few miles away. (We missed it). I took him to dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, and we pretty much just had a wonderful time being together. Everyone wish Brian a happy 30th in the comments, and I’ll be sure to get all caught up on blogging today and tonight.

Oh, right, the photo: I love this picture, even though it’s not especially evocative of Las Vegas. It’s one of the embellishments on the awning when you drive up to the Paris hotel. Turned out fantastically, especially after a bout of Photoshoppage.

Thursday, October 23, 2008 | by nathan

The Most Awesomest Guy Ever

If I needed another reason to love this guy, he’s handing it to me by dressing up as a chicken for Halloween.

Buying this costume at Target was a hoot. Here’s the conversation:

Target Checkout Girl: Um … do you want a bag for that?

Brian: No, I’ll just eat it here.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 | by nathan

BEHOLD MY TOTAL LACK OF WILLPOWER

Monday, October 20, 2008 | by nathan

Weekly Reader: 20 October 2008

Mixtape Jones Report: The New Suck

My buddy David explains this better than I ever could:
"I am pretty much bewildered by the popularity of most of the current musical trends, and I don’t anticipate this changing. One in particular, though, is especially horrible, and that’s the musical idiom occupied by such artists as Nickelback, Daughtry and Hinder."
He gets it totally right.

The Flying Car Gets Real

"The team at Terrafugia is about to fulfill the fantasy of every driver pilot: a consumer vehicle that can take to the highways and the skies. All they have to do is finish the first one."

Life in the Womb

A series of National Geographic photos of animals in the womb. Not for the faint of heart but utterly FASCINATING.

ELECTION LINKS

Why Rosanne Cash Would Be A Better VP Than Sarah Palin

One of my favorite songwriters blogs at The Nation as to why she’s more qualified than Sarah Palin:
1. Focus on the Family
"I am the mother of five children, just like Governor Palin. I have known the demands of managing a full-time career and motherhood at the same time. I have juggled a breast pump and a BlackBerry, and I know when to put the BlackBerry down. (To be perfectly honest, I did once send a text to the baby and tried to nurse my bass player. You learn from your mistakes.)"

Make-Believe Maverick

Rolling Stone has always had excellent political coverage, and this stunning expose of John McCain’s military and academic record should give anyone pause as to his ability to lead this country. A long read, but a worthwhile one.

Andrew Callahan’s Impending Excommunication

Andrew Callahan believes that his Mormon (!) faith tells him that Proposition 8 is wrong. Now, he’s being excommunicated for those beliefs.

Monday, October 20, 2008 | by nathan

BEHOLD MY WILLPOWER

I don’t talk about this much, but in the past year and a half I’ve lost almost 25 pounds and 4-5 inches off my waist, depending on the day. This has made clothes shopping fun for me again, though I’ve definitely still got a way to go before I’m completely satisfied with how I look. Still, most days I’m really pretty proud of myself. Like yesterday, when I went to Banana Republic and tried on this sweater, IN A SMALL, and it looked so fantastic, and it was ON SALE, and I didn’t buy it, because the economy’s in the crapper and I’m going to Vegas this weekend and I really should save money. OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE? Excuse me, I, uh, left … something … in my car.

Friday, October 17, 2008 | by nathan

Sam Fridays: In Which I Get Way Too Precious But Also Need Your Opinion

I’m thinking that the levels at which I currently embarass Sam - by forcing him to live in my house, for one - are not enough. So I’m considering getting him a costume. Which of these do you guys prefer:

Genie, or

Giraffe, or, my personal favorite:

Lobster?

Friday, October 17, 2008 | by nathan

Doesn’t Look So Haunted By Day…

Thursday, October 16, 2008 | by nathan

Casa, Haunted

I give it another decade or so before we start seeing Thanksgiving season house lights - giant inflatable and lit-up turkeys and pilgrims will dot lawns from November 1 until the day after Thanksgiving. AND I WILL BE THE FIRST ONE ON BOARD.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | by nathan

This Is Me, Being Positive

I got to have lunch with two very cool people yesterday, my friends K.C. and David. They played last weekend at the Blue Door, and I wanted to have lunch with them so I could tell K.C. how much her new songs rocked. I got to do this, and also to get an advance copy of David’s band’s new EP, which I’m pretty much digging the crap out of. Right now I’m listening to a song called "if i were john cusack." Yeah. Yeah. You’re gonna love it.

Want to come to the release party? Info’s here. I’ll be there fo shiz.

AT ANY RATE, during the lunch, this happened:

K.C.: Nathan, what would you do without Brian?

Me: I’d definitely burst into flames and die.

K.C.: [starts laughing uncontrollably]: Me too. That’s what I’d do without David!

At any rate, my sweet other half is off to Seattle today, and he’ll get back just in time for us to make it to the Oklahoma football game on Saturday; hopefully this one will be less disappointing than the last. If you don’t mind, please say a short prayer that his travels will be safe ones, and that three days isn’t enough time for me to figure out how to spontaneously combust.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | by nathan

Skullfinger Plants

We learned something this year: when you buy certain types of plants to put on your porch, and then those plants die THROUGH NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN, sometimes they accidentally end up contributing to the ambience when you put up your Halloween decorations by looking vaguely like skeleton fingers reaching from beneath the soil.