Bacon et Tofu

Now introducing the crime fighting duo of Mr. Bacon, and Monsieur Tofu.

Our world has never been safer. I mean, ish, safe-ish. (you have to click on it to read)

Greener Pastures

KEEPER: Stop! What is your name?

GALAHAD: Sir Galahad of Camelot.

KEEPER: What is your quest?

GALAHAD: I seek the Holy Grail.

KEEPER: What is your favorite color?

GALAHAD: Blue. No yel-- Auuuuuuuugh!

Should have just said green. I have a thing, for green. It's mostly unexplainable, and certainly irrational but, until recently, I didn't realize I even had a favourite colour. In my profession it's best to be open about colours. So, how this snuck up on me I'll never know. It started simply enough with the delivery of a lime green sofa last year. The most recent addition is the apple green mixer. It seems I may have a problem. In an effort to localize the issue I did a little research on the colour green.

Here's some About.com nonsense:

Green is a restful color with some of the same calming attributes of blue. Like blue, time moves faster in a green room.

What in the heck is that last part supposed to mean? Go ahead kids, for a fun time warp, just add a little green to your Kilz. If I thought this were remotely true, I would paint every office in downtown Bartlesville emerald (well, maybe all but one). But alas, Sherwin Williams hasn't perfected the "Space Time Continuum Spruce" yet.

This next one came from a website claiming your favorite color determined your sexual prowess.

Those who prefer green are fresh and innocent in their approach to sex. Women who love green will always make love like virgins all their life. And a man may always be a trifle clumsy and awkward but in a charming and endearing sort of way. Green lovers are gentle, but not passionate. If chosen as a mate, one will never need worry about infidelity.

Ahem, I'm going to go ahead and kindly disagree.

In case you are one who also needs fun facts, here are a few:

Green was George Washington's favourite color.

Green is used in night-vision goggles because it is the color with which the eye sees the most variations.

Green is the national colour of Ireland.

Suicides dropped 34% when London's Blackfriar Bridge was painted green.

If I'm going to have a favorite, I guess it might as well be green.

And, in case you were wondering, yes, they are green.

"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises."Pedro Calderon de la Barca

On What I've Seen

In 1996 I was a freshman in high school taking journalism with mostly upper classmen. There was one guy that I had several other classes and participated in several extra cirriculars with.
We spent vast amounts of time in discussion far beyond what should be reasonable conversation for people of our youth. One afternoon he arrived in class, pulled out his wallet and removed a sheet of lined notebook paper that had been folded several times. On this sheet of college rule, were his life goals. He had apparently been inspired recently and put down in writing what he hoped to see and do in his lifetime, and encouraged me to do the same. While I never saw what was on his sheet, he helped me begin a list that has grown to many pages. Some I will keep to myself, some are completed, and some will never come to fruition. Though I continue to add to it, these have helped me gauge my life as it has progressed, and in some cases, shown me how far I have strayed. Italic= completed.

Learn to play guitar
Travel on a mission to an impoverished country
Fly in a plane
Ride on a passenger train
Play an instrumental solo
Get published (this used to mean writing, I would take having pictures published too though)
Own a non-traditional home (I guess old storefront, fire station, bus...)
Take both ground & flight school & get pilot's license
Graduate from high school
Graduate from college
Get a master's degree
Take too many pictures
Swim in the ocean - It was the Atlantic
Learn to throw pottery
Get laser eye surgery
See a real palm tree
Sleep on a beach
Act - I'm counting this complete, although, I think its original intentions were professional
Go camping
See a tornado
Go Horseback riding
Keep a journal
Write my eulogy


The second part of the list is places I want(ed) to see.

Colorado
San Fransisco
San Diego
Yellowstone National Park
The Grand Canyon
Louisiana- New Orleans
Chicago
Oak Park and all of the FLW's within
Philadelphia
New York City- specifically on New Year's Eve or Thanksgiving
Washington DC
Monticello
Disneyworld
Prince Edward Island
Fallingwater
The Mayer May house
England- specifically London and Stonehenge
Ireland
Hawaii- Pearl Harbor
Mexico- Chechen Itza
Italy- specifically Rome and Florence
Paris- the Louve and the Eiffel Tower
Japan
Crete and Greece
Talamena Drive
Take a New England fall tour
Take a Mississippi Riverboat tour
Egypt
Natchez, Mississippi

Alright, this list goes on and on so I'll end it here.

What did I waste today on?

Good question, good folks. I'll elaborate.

I spent several hours last night trying to get this damn blog to format correctly, going so far as to manually edit the html and add in breaks. Alas, as you can tell by the previous post, blogger is a cunt (I'm using cunt in that cute British way that makes it funny not vulgar). After editing the same post eight times and seeing no change in the end product I gave up and went to bed. Unfortunately, this was later than I intended and thus, I slept later than I intended.

My goal today was to design a device to connect my digital camera lens to the top of a box camera in order to minimize light leakage. It was sunny out though, and my ADD got the better of me (I don't really have ADD, I suffer from a tremendously rare brain disorder that prevents me from sticking to any task if the sun is shining*) and I spent three hours cleaning out my car. After scrubbing all of the child goo off of the back seat and putting air in the tires I declared my work a moderate success and went in to change clothes.

As soon as I walked in the house I decided it wasn't worth it for the Bartlesville movie theatre and left in the less than stellar garb I cleaned in. You see, several weeks ago I promised Alice we would go see 'Hotel for Dogs' during one of those conversations where she spends so much time getting to the point I agree just to make her stop trying. The movie was less than inspirational. Even the previews sucked. I was however, the only person (in a packed theatre of children) that laughed hysterically at the trailer for the new 'Dragonball Evolution' movie. I was probably the only person that had even heard of it though, and I don't think the preview was meant to be humorous.

That's pretty much the whole day excluding about 30 minutes where I repeatedly filled a half-empty glass with water trying to fix the viscosity of Kool-Aid.

Something tells me I'm going to have to bulk-up my social calendar before I have a mental break and start adopting stray cats and naming them after deceased relatives.





*Also not true.

Through the Viewfinder

I have, for some time, wanted to try through the viewfinder photography (TTV). This method involves shooting digital photos through the viewfinder of a second camera. Usually, the second camera would be an older film model. This provides you with a frame, some good, old fashioned dirt on the lens, and a softer end product. The natural age variations in the second lens add to the charm.

My sister has what could be described as an absurd number of mid-century box cameras. I grabbed a couple today and headed out around southeast Kansas.

First stop. Niotaze, Kansas.

There is a very old sandstone chapel in this community. I used my digital camera and shot through an argus seventy-five 75mm box camera. I hand-held both cameras which made it difficult to get a clean, straight shot. However, this method did lend some interesting perspectives. In one, where the digital wasn't perfectly aligned, the picture appears warped and distorted.

Here is the chapel straight shot.

Here are the TTV.

I drove on to Peru, Kansas. A highway used to run through the "business district" of this town but, has been re-routed. All that remains are these buildings. Built in 1894 of limestone and what appears to be a sandstone mortar, they have victorian elements such as pressed tin ceilings and screen doors with gingerbread. These buildings also have structural columns (although pilasters would be more correct) made of cast iron and manufactured in Joplin, Missouri.

For the TTV I shot here I used a Kodak duaflex II box camera mounted on a small tripod.

Here is the top portion of the building with the year it was built, along with other information I don't know the meaning of.

Here are the TTV.

From this I learned:

1. I need to find a way to block more light around the lens and viewfinder to prevent washout and prevent reflection.

2. This works better with a macro lens.

3. It's easier to shoot with the film camera mounted to a tripod.

I will definately be trying this again very soon.

The Lovely Holly

Miss Holly from over at Sweetheartville needed some headshots for a feature she is going to be in. So, this morning she got all dolled up and we took some pictures.

I might be biased but, I think these came out pretty sweet!

The Naughty Bits

Interior designers are addicted to animal crackers. They are our heroin. When I was in college we used to keep a 50 pound keg of them in the studio. Now, we keep a plastic bear full of them in our office.
Throughout the day, when an interior designer needs to rejuvinate, we gather, as a group around the plastic bear for worship.
Today, as usual, the conversation went south.
One of our older designers suggested we nibble around the "animal cracker genitals" to avoid being gross. This thought sent our boss running for the shelter of his office. So now, we're saving a big pile of cracker crotches for our boss.
Employment doesn't get any sweeter than this.

Purpose

renew, begin again, start over, refurbish, breathe new life into, bring up to date, gentrify, reaffirm, reawaken, recommence, recondition, recreate, reestablish, refit, reinvigorate, reopen, restate, transform.

I haven't touched this blog in exactly one year, three months. Let's make up for lost time.

January, 2009.

Oh, The Places You'll Go... If Ever You Have The Time

I'm a bit hum-drum today. The weather is finally changing around here to fall and I don't seem to have the time to enjoy it. It makes me remorseful I haven't gotten out more.
I didn't get that post-graduation adventure I was hopeing for (to be honest graduation sort of passed without much notice). And now all I want is to see those things I missed out on to get edumacated (pronounced as backwoods as possible). So many of my peers got to see more of the world through family trips and vacations. My family... well, we once went to Arkansas.
If my life ever slows down to a manageable pace I'd like to get in the car and just drive. I'd like to at least see this new home state of mine. Since I arrived in June I've only seen Bartlesville (I'm told there are more impressive things to see). Some say we have mountains, red dirt, and something akin to the Ozarks. I'd like to see that.
Until then I'll keep dreaming of other places while I eat my foreign TV dinners.

Happy 6th Birthday Alice Rain

Notice the necklace.... she stole it from me. That would be her great-great-grandma Bessie Alice's necklace.

Beep Beep

Well, as most know, I've been car-less for several weeks now thanks to the blazer going under. So, I went to Tulsa yesterday, loosened the purse strings a bought a... NEW BEETLE! It's so cute. Who knew Geko Green was my color. I had it for a total of four hours before Shaun stole my thunder and bought himself a new car. In a matter of hours I went from no car payments to two. Yikes! Guess I'd better get to work.

State of the Union

So what if I'm not the president of anything (yet) I still get to give an address once in a while. It's been a long three weeks. Alice started Kindergarten, promptly got lost at school placed on a bus and began crying until they took her off (probably would help if I mentioned she wasn't a bus student). The second week she was sexually assaulted (I'm being slightly dramatic here). Some kid in her class grabbed her by the crotch. Now she has a cold. So, far I'm finding Oklahoma public schools lacking.... in every way. I'm fairly certain her teacher is uneducated (although correct verbage use in this state is optional for all) and actually has a dislike for small children. This is alright for kindergarten (I suppose for now) but I don't think we will be participating in this state's lackluster educational system in the future.
On a more fun topic, I finally found a gumball machine in the "not gold plated" price range. Turns out junking was worth my time this weekend. I discovered a really nice penny machine in Joplin, MO. $10 all glass and metal. Alice was thrilled. Now just to find the gumballs....

Three Dog Night

Here's a little video from my Three Dog Night experience. It was unique. People that old should really know better. I'm sure there were a lot of visits to the orthopedic surgeon in the following weeks. Yikes.

Eventful Events and Such

Thanks to Meagan for scouring the world for things to do. As a result I will be attending the Spiva Center for the Arts "Girls Night Out." I love a good cocktail chocolate party. Also on the agenda for this month is a trip to Catoosa (I know, where is that?) to see 3 Dog Night. Yes, 3 Dog Night. Sure at their age night is somewhere in the 6:30 time area, but they're still cool. Not being bound to education is so much fun.

I See A Red Door and I Want to Paint it Black

Imgaine my excitement this weekend whilst digging through my parents overstuffed barn I found this.



My face upon finding.

Now I realize most people see a door and think, passageway blocker. Not, I dear friends. Years of expert treasure junking have taught me to see a door and think, "I could make a coffee table out of that." So, tonight I set out on the adventure of extracting a door from it's 30 year-old hiding place, screaming everytime a spider crawled into view to begin my process. Once in the light I made another pleasant discovery. The door had been an interior door that swung from a bottom-mounted hinge. Therefore, the only hardware present was a bright red faceplate used to push it open.

Here is my process. I am going to sand it to remove the loose paint, and also release all of that delicious lead dust. Then, I'm going to paint the whole thing black except for that red face plate. Next I'll be off to junk the local antique stores for architectural relics to use as legs. When the entire thing is assembled, I am going to have some family black and whites printed. These are going to go into the recessed areas on the door. Essentially a big photo collage. Maybe add some clever little nicknacks (I'm thinking some of my expanding button collection). I am then going to have glass cut to fit the recessed areas and voila! Instant (or nearly instant) and practically free kitch coffee table. This is going in my sun room which is quickly devloping a black and white persona. So, check back often. I'm going to account my progress right here.

Commercial Design

I'm working on my portfolio so I thought I'd add the pictures from my last project on here. There is a furniture plan, a board and perspective. This was definately my favorite project so far (as if you couldn't tell by my 200 page spec. book). It's best to actually click on them since they were created on a white background.

Bartlesville, OK

More from inside the Price Tower. These were in our room.



These were taken off of the balcony. One looking up, the other down.

Bartlesville, OK

These are from the Redeemer Lutheran Church designed by Bruce Goff.
This building was substaintially disappointing. The exterior led you to believe that the interior would not be poorly designed applied decoration.




Here are a few from inside the Price Tower.

Sarah and Meagan inside the coffin... I mean, elevator.

The breakfast bar (also by Joseph, 2002).

Bartlesville, OK

Here are the pix from our trip to Bartlesville.

Our hotel room in the Price Tower designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The rooms themselves were re-designed by Wendy Evans Joseph in 2002.



Exteriors of the Price Tower



Bartlesville Community Center (Taliesin).