Exciting news in the blog-o-sphere! My friend, and "little", Kate Hargrove is famous: http://howimetyourfatherblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/stop-hunger-now-and-lilly-pulitzer.html.
Her involvement with the organization Stop Hunger Now and Lily Pulitzer's King of Prussia location is causing quite the buzz! Proceeds from the day's sales go to helping this organization combat hunger worldwide. The event goes till 8:30pm, so I am a bit late in getting the world out, but I'll be browsing the pages of Lily.com to find just the thing...
Today, no word of the day, just spreading the news about my little's big heart!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Networking
pre·di·lec·tion \ˌpre-də-ˈlek-shən, ˌprē-\
noun: an established preference for something
I have spent quite a bit of time lately on my home computer - partly in thanks to food poisoning from tuna - and have decided I am ready to comment on the wireless networks within range of my apartment building. (Note: today's word of the day is actually ponzu which is defined as a tangy sauce made with citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood. I will not be reflecting on this term for a slew of reasons.)
Last fall I bought a wireless USB modem at Verizon Wireless and the program installed on my computer lists the following other networks within range of my apartment (even though I am unable and, more importantly, unwilling to access them since I am very well capable of connecting to the internet with my own device):
THE_ROOST
The Ill Flow
Craftworld
SaToIm
Pistachio Kings (my favorite)
Model UN
Mimi Dog
Apollo13
Smile
At Least Nine
AOFO
CityKids
Pajammie
These are FANTASTIC names. I have left out some which I have generalized as normal, including Home, Rachel, 890C, Tom235, etc. but I am thrilled with the originality of my fellow Upper East Side dwellers and their initiative in actually naming said networks with relevance and wit. Bravo! My predilection for finding creativity in unforsceen places persists.
noun: an established preference for something
I have spent quite a bit of time lately on my home computer - partly in thanks to food poisoning from tuna - and have decided I am ready to comment on the wireless networks within range of my apartment building. (Note: today's word of the day is actually ponzu which is defined as a tangy sauce made with citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood. I will not be reflecting on this term for a slew of reasons.)
Last fall I bought a wireless USB modem at Verizon Wireless and the program installed on my computer lists the following other networks within range of my apartment (even though I am unable and, more importantly, unwilling to access them since I am very well capable of connecting to the internet with my own device):
THE_ROOST
The Ill Flow
Craftworld
SaToIm
Pistachio Kings (my favorite)
Model UN
Mimi Dog
Apollo13
Smile
At Least Nine
AOFO
CityKids
Pajammie
These are FANTASTIC names. I have left out some which I have generalized as normal, including Home, Rachel, 890C, Tom235, etc. but I am thrilled with the originality of my fellow Upper East Side dwellers and their initiative in actually naming said networks with relevance and wit. Bravo! My predilection for finding creativity in unforsceen places persists.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Morning Show
stolid \STAH-lid\ adjective
Meaning: having or expressing little or no sensibility : unemotional
I wake up, most weekday mornings to Elvis Duran & The Z100 Morning Show. I don't appreciate waking up to an alarm. The word speaks to itself - it's abrupt, obnoxious, and well, alarming! Why wake up scared/spooked/angry when you could wake up to Elvis Duran and his crew's sometimes stolid banter regarding various topics including "I Quit" stories, Justin Bieber, crotch adjustments, etc? Starting the day with a laugh helps... but today's topic, not only made me chuckle...it made me think.
Photoshop.
They started by discussing people who have "photoshopped" ex's, former friends, estranged family members out of pictures and then took calls from listeners about their own experiences with the Adobe design program (which I have yet to master by the way). Someone even started a (keyword lucrative) business of cutting out the excess baggage. Entertained, I kept listening but stopped a moment when Elvis said pictures used to be the best way to capture history as is, without any changes or adjustments... or something along those lines. Profoundly pensive Elvis - spot on.
True, if photoshop was mainstream during many a person's middle and high school years a lot of angst and anger could have been avoided... but in all seriousness, I do think there is something to be said for the simplicity of the original cameras that allowed such history to be frankly captured. Can you imagine photoshopping bodies in and out of war time photographs or wrinkles out of legendary presidential portraits?
However, I believe that the photoshop legacy is cyclical. Couldn't it be argued that the portrait painter, and painters in general, in the earliest of centuries weren't themselves photoshop gurus of their era? What's to say that aristocrats didn't ask for a tuck here or there or a brightening of their overall skin tone? Painting itself is an interpretation; the computer is a modern enabler of artistic liberty bestowed upon the masses.
Perhaps, as seen during the dawn of the first camera, our society might return to the natural order of photography - capturing things as is without succumbing to the temptation of tweaks. Would we be surprised by what we see?
Meaning: having or expressing little or no sensibility : unemotional
I wake up, most weekday mornings to Elvis Duran & The Z100 Morning Show. I don't appreciate waking up to an alarm. The word speaks to itself - it's abrupt, obnoxious, and well, alarming! Why wake up scared/spooked/angry when you could wake up to Elvis Duran and his crew's sometimes stolid banter regarding various topics including "I Quit" stories, Justin Bieber, crotch adjustments, etc? Starting the day with a laugh helps... but today's topic, not only made me chuckle...it made me think.
Photoshop.
They started by discussing people who have "photoshopped" ex's, former friends, estranged family members out of pictures and then took calls from listeners about their own experiences with the Adobe design program (which I have yet to master by the way). Someone even started a (keyword lucrative) business of cutting out the excess baggage. Entertained, I kept listening but stopped a moment when Elvis said pictures used to be the best way to capture history as is, without any changes or adjustments... or something along those lines. Profoundly pensive Elvis - spot on.
True, if photoshop was mainstream during many a person's middle and high school years a lot of angst and anger could have been avoided... but in all seriousness, I do think there is something to be said for the simplicity of the original cameras that allowed such history to be frankly captured. Can you imagine photoshopping bodies in and out of war time photographs or wrinkles out of legendary presidential portraits?
However, I believe that the photoshop legacy is cyclical. Couldn't it be argued that the portrait painter, and painters in general, in the earliest of centuries weren't themselves photoshop gurus of their era? What's to say that aristocrats didn't ask for a tuck here or there or a brightening of their overall skin tone? Painting itself is an interpretation; the computer is a modern enabler of artistic liberty bestowed upon the masses.
Perhaps, as seen during the dawn of the first camera, our society might return to the natural order of photography - capturing things as is without succumbing to the temptation of tweaks. Would we be surprised by what we see?
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Fusion
eminently \EM-uh-nunt-lee\ adverb
Meaning: to a high degree : very:
Several weeks ago while running the AC full blast, lights ablaze, and switching on a culprit of a hair dryer, I blew the first fuse in my apartment.
At 9:30pm on a saturday night, one might not expect it to be such an ordeal. One, being me, found an antiquated fuse box with little round fixtures that fit roughly into corroded sockets. I panicked.
My friend Becky and I went on a racing search for these so called "fuses" and by the time 10:30 came and went we had found several fuses but not the exact 15-volt S-type fuse needed to bring power back to my apartment. I googled. Found them on amazon.com. Ships in two days. Not good enough.
Sickened, we returned to the apartment, but not before I had given the door man across the street a $20 bill to find some fuses in his basement. They didn't work either. We gave up, packed bags, and went to Becky's Aunt's apartment down on St. Mark's. I threw up when I got there.
In the morning, the handy man arrived to fix the fuse and all was simplisticly well. I reveled, sheepishly, in the cool air restored in my apartment. And the power stayed eminently well-balanced in my dwelling until this morning.
Today, as I sit here, remembering my strife, I am again without power. This time the power just slipped away - almost unnoticed - as I dozed on and off in the Sunday morning hours. Click. The AC rests.
I'm a pro though, this can be fixed. after evaluating my fuse box, I am alarmed to find that none were broken. Replaced anyway, the socket remains dormant. Panic?
No! I call the landlady and she wishes me best of luck as she says the electrician might not arrive till tomorrow. S'okay. Call to Dad - all is well. My $120 firehouse fan is rigged to cast a gentle breeze in the living room.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Meaning: to a high degree : very:
Several weeks ago while running the AC full blast, lights ablaze, and switching on a culprit of a hair dryer, I blew the first fuse in my apartment.
At 9:30pm on a saturday night, one might not expect it to be such an ordeal. One, being me, found an antiquated fuse box with little round fixtures that fit roughly into corroded sockets. I panicked.
My friend Becky and I went on a racing search for these so called "fuses" and by the time 10:30 came and went we had found several fuses but not the exact 15-volt S-type fuse needed to bring power back to my apartment. I googled. Found them on amazon.com. Ships in two days. Not good enough.
Sickened, we returned to the apartment, but not before I had given the door man across the street a $20 bill to find some fuses in his basement. They didn't work either. We gave up, packed bags, and went to Becky's Aunt's apartment down on St. Mark's. I threw up when I got there.
In the morning, the handy man arrived to fix the fuse and all was simplisticly well. I reveled, sheepishly, in the cool air restored in my apartment. And the power stayed eminently well-balanced in my dwelling until this morning.
Today, as I sit here, remembering my strife, I am again without power. This time the power just slipped away - almost unnoticed - as I dozed on and off in the Sunday morning hours. Click. The AC rests.
I'm a pro though, this can be fixed. after evaluating my fuse box, I am alarmed to find that none were broken. Replaced anyway, the socket remains dormant. Panic?
No! I call the landlady and she wishes me best of luck as she says the electrician might not arrive till tomorrow. S'okay. Call to Dad - all is well. My $120 firehouse fan is rigged to cast a gentle breeze in the living room.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Lotus with Bee
zwieback • \SWEE-back\ • noun
: a usually sweetened bread enriched with eggs that is baked and then sliced and toasted until dry and crisp
Hmm. I don't even know what to do with this word, except to look up a baking recipe! Even then, we all know how I sometimes fare in the kitchen - and this might be a bit too ambitious. Besides, I have said "ta ta" to carbs...
Instead I will share with you the story of Lotus with Bee, which is actually a photo taken by my father at Longwood Gardens, a botanical estate in Kennett Square, PA. For the past several years, my parents have frequented the grounds, atriums, and greenhouses - my Dad snapping pictures of the flora - orchids, tulips, and the like. The most recent trip to Longwood included a view of the water botanicals - lilies and lotus abound.
I always enjoy receiving the links to his photo albums - especially the ones from Longwood. The closeness of his pictures evoking what I often aim to do with my writing - find the complexity, the extraordinary, in something that seems so simple... so, well, ordinary. What Longwood does with Botany is not ordinary in any means - but flowers themselves are mainstream. You find them everywhere - roses on every city street corner. This year, at the Global Spa Summit in Istanbul we had to import tulips from Amsterdam even though the flower itself originated in Turkey.
: a usually sweetened bread enriched with eggs that is baked and then sliced and toasted until dry and crisp
Hmm. I don't even know what to do with this word, except to look up a baking recipe! Even then, we all know how I sometimes fare in the kitchen - and this might be a bit too ambitious. Besides, I have said "ta ta" to carbs...
Instead I will share with you the story of Lotus with Bee, which is actually a photo taken by my father at Longwood Gardens, a botanical estate in Kennett Square, PA. For the past several years, my parents have frequented the grounds, atriums, and greenhouses - my Dad snapping pictures of the flora - orchids, tulips, and the like. The most recent trip to Longwood included a view of the water botanicals - lilies and lotus abound.
I always enjoy receiving the links to his photo albums - especially the ones from Longwood. The closeness of his pictures evoking what I often aim to do with my writing - find the complexity, the extraordinary, in something that seems so simple... so, well, ordinary. What Longwood does with Botany is not ordinary in any means - but flowers themselves are mainstream. You find them everywhere - roses on every city street corner. This year, at the Global Spa Summit in Istanbul we had to import tulips from Amsterdam even though the flower itself originated in Turkey.
I am mildly obsessed with this picture, Lotus with Bee. The striking elegance of the symbiosis reminiscent ever so slightly of my own relationship with New York; smothered and overtaken; a wee worker feeding off of an energy source which is stark and sufficient, surrounded by an environment which proves dangerous, daunting, and debilitating at times.
In 25 days I begin my time as a graduate student, and I am so incredibly excited to begin anew my creative writing craft. This note brings me back to Dad. He's a smart man. "Find your passion" he said to me, when I headed to undergraduate school, when I headed to New York. He didn't need to say it this time when I applied to the master's program at the New School. I think what makes this photograph so special isn't the lotus or the bee, but my Dad's understanding, and respect for the creative craft of the camera and his passion for what the lens captures.
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