Thursday, September 15, 2005

Heard about the Saab Bumper Katrina Fund? It's the story of one man using mental judo on short-sighted pettiness to help Katrina victims.

Go. Read. Pledge.

Damn. It's turning into Call For Action Central around here. Gotta post something frivolous about the new fall TV season or fantasy football soon if I want to maintain my blog cred.

Posted @ 7:23 AM

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Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Sending out a call for mojo. Julie Murphy Wells, the lead singer of my favorite band Eddie from Ohio, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. To say this is a shock is putting it mildly. Julie's only in her thirties.

Julie goes in for surgery tomorrow, and the prognosis at this point is good. Still, all the prayers and good vibes that can be sent her way should be. Spare a thought for her tomorrow.

This isn't merely about being a concerned fan. EFO is more than just a band to me. They live here in DC. Beyond going to see them perform whenever I can, I see them out and about in their daily lives. I run into Robbie shopping for fish at Whole Foods, and see Mike out at bars and restaurants. A few years back, I was lucky enough to bump into Julie the night after she got engaged, showing off her diamond to all who would look with a smile that easily outshone it. In a very real sense, these guys are my neighbors.

If you're an EFO fan who wants to send Julie your good wishes, she's set up an email addy specifically for that purpose: my-left-breast at hotmail dot com (the addy is her idea, folks - humor is a great weapon). Drop her a line if you're so inclined.

Posted @ 10:41 PM

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Wednesday, September 07, 2005

A small, odd revelation just occurred to me. It's pretty well known that I'm almost pathologically averse to spoilers. I much prefer being surprised to being in the know.

I don't understand people who start a book by reading the last page. I try to avoid trailers for movies that I've already decided to see. I won't watch commercials or "next week on..." previews for shows I'm into. I don't even like having presents under the tree before Christmas morning, because it gives me too much time to look at the packages and discern what is likely in them.

Yet when it comes to calendars, I always look ahead to see what next month's picture will be. In fact, I usually look at every single picture as soon as I get a calendar.

I don't know what this says about me. It says something, I just don't know what.

Posted @ 1:25 PM

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Friday, September 02, 2005

I've tweaked the look of the front page, as you can see. It's been two years since I said I'd learn CSS and do a total revamp of the site. Since I haven't started to learn what I need to and my weariness with the old look has reached the tipping point, I just tinkered with things using the plain ol' html I already know.

I'm still not happy with the look, but to my eye this is a marked improvement. The three column format and the green bars that made things so cramped are gone, as are the horizontal lines at the bottom of each post. It's a cleaner look, probably too clean at this point. I'll just keep fiddling until it feels right to me.

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I don't know what to say about the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If you're looking for perspective on this, go read my friend Gina's journal. New Orleans is her hometown and she's got family down there (all of them made it out safely). I echo her sentiments, and commend them to you.

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Yeah, I'm still using the lines for multi-subject posts. Those still look okay to me. For now.

Posted @ 11:12 AM

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