So, I know this girl. For the sake of her anonymity, let's call her "J. Sallee." No, no...that's too obvious; let's just call her "Julie S."

Now then. "Julie S." is currently experiencing a problem that I know all-too-well from my days as an undergrad: occasionally missing an 8 AM class on account of its unconscionably early start time. (uscqt can attest to my poor attendance in JOUR 206, aka the worst. class. ever.) In Julie's case, even a handful of alarm clocks can't wake her up in time for her class, and so--ever-mindful of her class attendance--she's resorted to staying up all night before the class in order not to sleep through it.

But seeing as how this is starting to wear her out, Julie has been desperately trying to come up with a better approach.

And so, I spent hours yesterday devising a new, failproof system to make sure Julie's out the door in time for that pesky 8 AM class. Sure enough, I came up with a system so fiendishly simple and efficient that it defies all logic.* And then I made a diagram to show its simplicity and efficiency.

( click here to continue reading )

*I originally was going to say, "so fiendishly simple and efficient that Archimedes himself would've run around naked at the thought of it." But--historically-accurate as that phrase may (or may not) be--it made that whole paragraph sound kinda...weird, y'know?

I found the following quiz while cruising the web tonight, and I decided to do it myself. You'll find my answers are pretty typical and unoriginal, but a) it's late; and b) did you really expect anything different from me? Me neither. OK...here we go:

Your Life: The Soundtrack
Opening credits: "How the West Was Won and Where it Got Us" - R.E.M.
Waking up: "You Get What You Give" - New Radicals
Average day: "Jesus, etc." - Wilco
First date: "City of Blinding Lights" - U2
Falling in love: "Superman" - Five for Fighting / "At My Most Beautiful" - R.E.M.
Love scene: "This Modern Love" - Bloc Party
Fight scene: "Love and Death" - The Stills
Breaking up: "Harder Now That It's Over" - Ryan Adams
Getting back together: "The Scientist" - Coldplay
Secret love: "Take Me Away" - Delirious?
Life's okay: "Stay Where You Are" - Ambulance Ltd.
Mental breakdown: "The Bends" - Radiohead
Driving: "Under the Milky Way" - The Church
Learning a lesson: "Chocolate" - Snow Patrol
Deep thought: "Talk About the Passion" - R.E.M.
Flashback: "White Shadows" - Coldplay
Partying: "Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
Happy dance: "Everything Counts" - Depeche Mode
Regretting: "Motorcycle Drive By" - Third Eye Blind
Long night alone: "Transatlanticism" - Death Cab for Cutie
Death scene: "Casimir Pulaski Day" - Sufjan Stevens
Closing credits: "The Great Beyond" - R.E.M.

According to the questions provided, my life is apparently the subject of an angsty-yet-innocuous teenage chick flick. Yeah, that seems about right.

OK, it's your turn.

(And yes, that's the second survey-type thing I've posted here in a matter of days. Quite frankly, I'm starting to worry myself.)

I read Tracy's post the other day about making South Park-style caricatures of herself and her friends, and it sounded like fun to be had...moreover, fun to be had while I should be doing work.

So I made one of myself:



Notice the guitar and the messenger bag, the two objects that seem to be on my person more than anything else these days.

And now, back to work. *sigh*

You want to get an idea as to how big a nerd I am? Look no further than the following picture...



Yes, you are looking at a wallet, made entirely out of duct tape. My old one was, well, just that--pretty old (over 4 years, to be exact)--and I just happened to find these nifty instructions while browsing MakeZine's blog yesterday.

So, the opportunity to do something random and semi-creative got the best of me, and I ended up spending a few hours last night putting this bad boy together. It works quite well--it's very thin, seems to hold up pretty well (at least one day in) and it holds everything--cash, credit cards, IDs, etc--perfectly. I even added something that wasn't in the original instructions...a guitar pick holder.

( Here's another picture or two in case you care. )

Coming soon: the tracklist of my "Year 2 in New York" Soundtrack, Disc 1 (Sept. - Mar.). Anyone care to venture a guess as to what songs will be included? Let's make this sporting, shall we? If you can guess more than 5 correctly, I'll make you your very own duct tape wallet (the fashion accessory of the YEAR, I'm sure).