we're currently moving out of our uninspired one bedroom apartment into the most adorable house in downtown san jose. i'm so absolutely happy about it.

we're taking on a roommate, our good friend devin who has been residing across the courtyard from us at the apartment for the past year or so. this setup allows all three of us to get out of west glen, save money and have our own yard... all at the same time! granted, the yard is the hardest clay i have ever seen in my life but that will be remedied. i need to study up on composting.

the house is beautiful inside and out. the house was built in 1929 and maintains an amazing amount of its original charm... ornate and beautiful archways, a delicately detailed fireplace and mantel and humongous arching windows. then the bathrooms and kitchen have been completely upgraded. i feel like i am bragging. this house is worthy of bragging rights so i don't feel too bad about it.

now i am constantly thinking about draperies and what will really make zac and i's bedroom feel like our own. i'm nearly bursting at the seams waiting for friday when zac and devin rent a truck and move our remaining large items over to the new place. i love coming home to be greeted by the cat who thinks it lives with us and zac putzing around the yard with the hose.

i can't wait for the housewarming.

lake michigan, i'll miss you

oh how i will miss you this weekend, lake michigan. this is the first time in five years that i am missing our annual manistee camping trip. because of this i am deeply saddened. there will be no early morning sand dune drinking or incompetent fire building this weekend for me, no sir. that stuff is for the birds... those awesome birds who i have been doing this with every year since '03. missing things like this is the hardest part about living here.

but something that is awesome about living here? SASQUATCH! that's right. tomorrow in palo alto there is going to be a press conference. they've found a deceased big foot in the hills of northern georgia. they will be presenting dna and photo evidence. if i didn't think it was a total crock of shit, i would totally go.

and by the by, julia child was a wwii spy and cooked like nobody's business. she's my hero.

in memory

two nights ago, zac's uncle mike passed away. i have no idea if anyone will take a moment to check out these photos (or if anyone really reads this blog) but nevertheless i wanted to post them here along with zac's words. he sums up his uncle beautifully:

"thank you all for caring, he really was a great man, he was the city manager of pizmo beach in california, and also of 29 palms, he had two sons, Thane and Jarl. Jarl is joining the marines, and Thane just finished a script for Heart of Darkness. His wife is in mourning, and so is the rest of the family.
i wish you could have all heard him speak, whether it was at my grandfather's funeral or my aunt's wedding, he was magnificent. i don't remember my grandfather's funeral too well, but at my aunts wedding he intertwined his speech with thoughts on the ages of sand. he made people cry, he blew people's minds. he did it all with the gravelly voice of a two pack a day smoker.
i can only hope, that when my life is over, that even one person could feel the admiration of a life well spent that i do of him. he was beyond compare. really. i wish you all could have known him.
rest in peace Michael Swigart. If there is a heaven, i hope you're with your mother and father, and all the people that made up your heritage you sought so hard to define and understand.
thank you."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swigart/sets/

urban farming is sweet

i remember every morning, waking just a mile or so outside the detroit city limits, leaving the townhouse and heading to work. i'd drive down woodward avenue into one of the most depressed cities in the u.s. crack heads and homeless people wandered into the snowy, city streets completely oblivious to the changing traffic lights on the busy, eight lane avenue. it was ugly. it was dangerous. then i would enter work, say hello to the doorman and step into a lavish old boy's club. the stark contrast hurt my brain trying to comprehend it. during the day, i catered to the every want and need of these mostly white male, suburban mcmansion owners while they played squash and smoked cigars. it wasn't something that made sense to me. these people used the city to pick up a paycheck and party in the oasis-like atmosphere of the club. before nightfall, they disappeared down the freeway into the arms of their safe, loving families and nestled down into their snuggly suburban bed. meanwhile, they worked in a city that they were barely tolerant of and most definitely not willing to invest effort, time, money or love into to make it the beautiful, musical, shining city it once was.

lately, i've been really interested in the urban exploration photography that is floating around on the interwebs. it's amazing - both beautiful and deeply sad. to see something that was once, not even that long ago, so magnificent fall into complete and utter disrepair and abandonment that seemingly no one cares about.

amazingly, detroiters still have some sense of community and urban farming is facilitating that neighborhoody feeling and helping them to put food on the table. urban farming develops community gardens in areas otherwise forgotten or deemed as trash dumps. in detroit alone they have managed to create 500 garden plots. i was so happy to stumble on this article from the BBC this morning. in most news stories out of detroit there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, not even a glimmer of hope. here, we have an inspiring tale of do-gooding and neighborhood pride. in the future, i hope to keep finding more and more stories like this. it helps me reconcile my feelings toward the city. while it may look decrepit and frightening, the people still have the hope and the spirit to strive for a better future, a better life. makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

un-r.i.p. tastespotting!!

yay!! tastespotting is back in action. it's a happy time to be alive. go have fun with food!

those fucking french

of course they were behind evolution!

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/860905/How-Creationists-Explain-Evolution---SCARY

man, this is scary.

r.i.p. tastespotting

oh how i will miss your beautiful photos and mouthwatering recipes. i will miss the many hours at work spent drooling over your tasty tidbits. where will i go now? what will i cook? how will i make my lowly work lunch palatable without being able to browse through buttercream cupcakes, braised pork bellies, summer coolers and all the pure culinary ingenuity that tastespotting offered up on a daily, or minute-ly, basis.

i'm crying inside. please come back.

neurolux slut and a crown of flowers

oooooh the neurolux. a great bar and venue in boise was where zac and i spent our friday and saturday nights. cheap beer and $3 cover for whatever band may be up that evening. our first foray into the downtown boise music scene consisted of two bands - with child and dead science. i've never heard anything so awful as with child's audio experiments. looping noise. yay! i can record metallic sounding blips over and over and force it into an unassuming post-happy hour crowd's ear drums! yay! the guy would have a better chance moonlighting as a guy pearce impersonator. dead science was a welcome change considering they were not with child. second night was el ten eleven out of l.a. great instrumental band who had no concern for changing time zones. at least they showed up... be it an hour and a half late.

outside of the music, i also got to witness the boise scene kids. one girl happily canoodled with with child on friday, the next night she could be found making out and dancing sporadicly with a plump young boise spud . zac's on his way to witness if she can keep it up for a third night. this young floozy couldn't hold a candle to hippy jesus and his lovin' mama. the cutest barefoot, flower-crowned couple in the high desert.

just next door to the neurolux was one of the best record stores i've ever set foot in, the record exchange. great, friendly staff, good selection of new and used cd's and bargain basement prices on potato shaped potato scrubbers in their sidewalk sale that happened to be taking place this weekend.

once i load photos, i'll update with some of the absolutely pristine nature scapes idaho had to offer. it was a great weekend with many thanks to dennis and cathy, the most gracious of hosts and fantastic boise area tour guides.

oh boy c!

this evening i'm packing for what's sure to be the trip of a lifetime - a long weekend with zac's dad and step-mom in boise! wooooooo!! PARTY!!

despite the fact that i'm headed to idaho, a state that thus far i have had little to no interest in ever even stepping foot in, i'm really looking forward to it. dennis and cathy live on the river, want to take us hot air ballooning and they find an immense amount of pleasure in filling zac and i with food and alcoholic beverages. i don't complain about free shit. plus last time we saw them, cathy decided to place a little wager about who could make the most noise in our adjoining rooms at motel 8. i was hoping i could forget that but alas. boise, here we come!

third times a charm.

i've recently rekindled my relationship with the dentist. after a (more than brief) stint of living below the poverty line and not having access to dental benefits, i'm back in the chair. often, multiple times a month. tomorrow is root canal number three. for the past few weeks, it had become the norm to take about 12 advil a day to keep the minor toothache at bay. this all changed when i was helping my mom move last week in michigan and i experienced pain i had never experienced before. an awful plane ride, an emergency trip to the pharmacy for vicoden and antibiotics and two days later for the antibiotics to kick in and the pain had subsided enough to allow me to return to work. woo hoo! and if i keep the vicoden in my pocket, zac will totally chase me around the living room for it. hehe. now if only the heartbeating-in-my-gums sensation would piss off.

off and on.

every now and again, i get into blogging mode. as of late, wise words have not been flowing freely from my fingertips but i'm making a concerted effort to jump back in and rant and rave along with the rest of the public diary writers and opinion pushers. what you can expect to find here are awesome bay area events, concert info, various personal tidbits, photos, recycled stories from other news outlets that i may or may not have an opinion on and tiger sex. enjoy!