My house is for sale!

So I went house hunting again today. Not that I'm ready to purchase--I just want to see what's out there. I know I have really have gotten out of touch with reality. I was getting excited when I would see a condo or townhome that was less than $350k. $350k is a lot of money! I mean... seriously. C'mon. That kind of cash would buy a Barbie Dreamhouse in a lot of cities.

I did some searching on the MLS and found that a house that I loved as a kid is for sale. The home is in Kirkwood, MO, and it's in a neighborhood were some of the lots take up an entire block. The lots have massive old trees (which would be a pain in the fall, I know), but it's just so pretty. This home was built in 1880. It's called the 'House of the Seven Gables'...how cool is that that it has a name... and is a mere $2,200,000. I say 'mere' because here in CA you would nice home on a small lot for that price, not a historical landmark. Here's a pic:


That brings me to another point. The fact that this house is a historical landmark is not a good thing. That means that you can't make any modifications without consent from the historical society. There go my plans for the plasma TVs and hot tub. I can see from the photos that the home is kept in a very Victorian era decor. Definitely not my style. So, knowing that I probably won't live in this house, my next plan would be to buy one of the smaller, less grandiose homes in the neighborhood and knock it down and build my own modern ginormous Victorian home. I've noticed through the years that more and more of the old homes in that area are being knocked down or thoroughly renovated. People have protested to keep the historic homes as-is. I can see their point, but seriously, who wants to live in a home with nineteenth century decor?? You can see the other pics here.

Wow 1999 was a long time ago

I was flipping through my iTunes library and I started listening to one of my old Orgy albums. Funny enough, there was a period of time in college when Orgy was seriously one of my favorite bands. My roommate Sara and I used to watch MTV's show 120 Minutes every Sunday night from 10pm-midnight just to see what new videos were out there. One night the video for 'Blue Monday' came on and I, being a huge New Order fan, became instantly insulted at this cover of the song. However, for some reason, I was totally intrigued by the singer, Jay Gordon. Afterwhile, the song really grew on me. I joined one of the online fan groups (of which there was basically just one at the time) and by some strange course began trading emails with Jay's dad! Now, I realize how y'all are saying that this is BS and it couldn't be his dad. I thought the same thing. I had created some publicity banners to use on websites and Jay's dad contacted me to thank me for my efforts in promoting the band. He sent me an autographed CD and photo, which came in a box from Oral-B (yes the toothbrush company), which is where Jay's aunt worked. It was all super crazy. If Hollz is reading this, she can back me up on it. There was this message board created and many members of Jay's family participated as admin and moderators. It started out to be really cool and on the downlow, but eventually the band got too big for their britches. I think they just eventually all broke up. Not sure what Jay is up to these days, but some of the other members created a new band, Julien-K, which is pretty good. Sara and I saw Orgy several times... at least once in Columbia, MO, at the Blue Note and once at Pointfest. I decided to check out the video that started it all and here it is!

My car doesn't run on corn

Tonight as I was paying $40 to fill up my tank...from 1/2 full... I was reminded of a really funny comedian from Comedy Central named Daniel Tosh. You may have heard of him. Or maybe not. Either way, this is a funny bit about Nebraska.

Happy Earth Day - Don't Drink the Water

If you're like me, you probably have a Nalgene bottle (or three) around the house or at work. I use a Nalgene bottle at work everyday and I thought I was doing something good by using a reusable container. I heard on the news recently that studies have shown that some types of plastic release a carcinogen called bisphenol A (BPA). The news mostly focused on baby bottles that contain BPA, which is obviously scary since 99% of babies drink out of plastic bottles at some point.





However, I found out today that I have something to worry about because my lovely Nalgene bottles also contain this toxin. Research has shown that Lexan, the plastic material that Nalgene bottles are made from is possibly toxic and the toxins could permeate everything that is contained in these bottles. BPA has been found connected to diseases like cancer and conditions like (yikes) low sperm count. (What if a guy drank Mt. Dew out of a Nalgene bottle?!)



If you'd like to learn more, check out this site: http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/114/nalgene

Thanks for the customer service

Today I randomly decided to start a garden on my patio. I'm just starting simple with three bell pepper plants and some herbs. Maybe I'll branch out to pumpkins or watermelons.

When I was going through the Sunday ads, I saw that Home Depot was giving away one of those canvas reuseable bags on a first come first serve basis. I figured it could be good to start using a canvas bag for groceries, etc., so I asked an employee for one of the bags. Thankfully I had brought the ad with me because she had no idea what I was talking about. She huddled up with three other workers and they decided it was time to consult a manager. By this time, several people had queued behind me in line with important looking home improvement goods. I gave apologetic glances for this was something that should have been a 2 second transaction. The manager came over and read my ad and scratched his head. He poked around a few boxes by the door, but didn't find any bags. He finally decided that he needed to consult another manager by phone. Obviously this other manager did not want to be bothered with this because he came back and told me that he was told the ad was a misprint and really they were supposed to give the bags away on April 22nd, which is Earth Day. I pointed out that the ad clearly said "Sunday, April 20th". Kind of odd that they would have gotten the date and day of the week so completely wrong. Anyway, when I got home I decided to call up the store in Laguna Niguel and found that they did indeed have the bags and were happily handing them out to shoppers. Doesn't it just bug you when people tell you what they think you want to hear just to get you on your way?

First post!

Let's just say that if you're reading this, you are one very special person! You see, not everyone was lucky enough to recieve a personal invitation to read whatever fascinating tidbits I decide to post on this spot in space. My goal is to post thoughts/insights/observations and the occasional rant here on a regular basis. It's a passive way to keep in touch with friends both near and far... feel free to drop by anytime you're looking for a laugh or for a way to make the clock tick faster at work.

Speaking of clocks, this is a pretty cool, yet dorky, version. Can anyone guess what time it says?