The Mayor of Jelly Beans

home group password

2009-11-19T23:43:00.001-05:00

eQ7Vq5dD7K

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http://www.thebathroomblog.net

Walking

2009-03-30T17:23:00.001-04:00

Sometimes you're just going for a walk. Or sometimes you've got an itinerary. But you find yourself having walked pretty far in one direction and there's no bus or subway or car coming to get you.

And you may be tired. And you may be sick of walking. And you realize that as tired as you are, as bored of walking as you are, the only way you are going to get anywhere is to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

And that's walking.

I am coming out of hibernation

2009-03-05T15:53:00.003-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog, and other things. Hibernating, settling in, working 6-7 days a week. I do believe its time to come out of hibernation.

I passed a man this morning carrying a sign that the world will end on May 21st, 2011, or May 11, 2012. Not much time left. Oughta wake up about now.

Plane Crash

2009-01-16T13:21:00.001-05:00

A plane crashed into the Hudson River yesterday. My office has a panoramic view of the Hudson, 38 floors up, and we were sitting at the conference table next to the window when it happened, literally right in front of us. Somehow we managed to not notice a jet plane crashing into the river.

We did get to see the tail of the plane still above water, surrounded by cruise ships and ferries. Everyone got out alive and hardly wet I hear. Which makes me think, if I was there I could have set my facebook status on my phone to read, "on top of a sinking airplane in the Hudson river".

Ducks are not bothered by the rain

2008-12-24T10:46:00.001-05:00

They just act like everything is normal.

I haven't written here in a while. I will be like a duck in the rain. Or something.

I've spent most of the last week sick in bed and after two days at work I got sick again, yay! I picked up the boy from the airport last night at 2am...6 hours delayed... And he diagnosed me as post influenza pneumonia... I woke up in worse condition still. Great fun it is being sick. No. No it's not.

On the bright side I got an apartment to move into for the new year, which means I've decided to stay in the area for some time.

Church project is too much drama to write, especially with my awesome new iPhone!!!!!! Get one now.

Ok back to sickly sleep time.

White Powder

2008-10-23T15:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had a two hour lunch. One for meeting Ersela to exchange ARE study guides and to talk about why I don't like it here, etc. And another because when I returned, the lobby of the NYTimes building where I work was closed, tarped up while the NYPD investigated a "suspicious package". Apparently someone mailed people at the Times envelopes with white powder, which turned out to be nothing. In the meantime I wandered around the Muji shop, and waited on a long line to get on a freight elevator back up. It was odd, seeing cops with their cases of who knows what, labeled 'emergency wmd bla bla bla'.

That's what you get for working in a high profile building.

in a nutshell

2008-10-19T12:44:00.004-04:00

haven't written anything in a while......let's see what's been happening lately:

taking another licensing exam next week, the beast of mechanical and electrical systems. I failed it exactly two years ago this month....but then again i was getting out of a bad relationship, partying every night with a friend who did the same, and went to mohegan sun the night before the exam to play craps - lost a hundred bucks, found an appropriate venue to say 'big dick daddy from cincinnati' and not get funny looks

slowly eeking out pre-design studies on the church, going slowly, i think this project will go on for several years, but gotta keep focused though and make the time

started a job that sounds glamorous, has its moments, but generally i just don't like it.... leaving at 8 is considered 'early', hypocritical bosses, not going to learn anything more about making buildings, only very zoomed out design, and i'm in the ugliest part of manhattan...on the bright side, i went on a last minute trip (12hrs from notice to flight) to dubai, abu dhabi, and beirut...... beirut is fantastic, beautiful in spite of the bombed out buildings and tanks peppered around the city, just so nice.....we went during ramadan and dubai was really toned down because of it, but seeing the world on someone else's dime is a great thing....still i am willing to give it up.....almost took a fantastic apt in downtown jersey city but, finally listening to my gut, backing out.....

i've been in a crapola mood lately until admitting out loud what would make me happy has changed that - returning to cambridge...i miss the scale of the city, it doesn't have a hundred of everything like in nyc but i really don't need 100 sushi restaurants....the beauty - nyc is ugly and dirty, cambridge is picturesque, i can live in the middle of things for the price of being far out of the city here....in other words, i think wherever you go you have to make compromises, there's no perfect city.....and the things that i've grown to like, i don't want to compromise on, and some of the benefits of new york, i can live without - i really don't want to party till 4am anymore.....midwestern transplants who move into a 3br apt in brooklyn and automatically think they are the hottest thing on earth, granted new englanders have attitude too, but its different.....its got alot going for it, and, in these political times, i think its time to know the difference between righting a mistake and 'staying the course'...so yeah that's about it...i think i should return.....

Architecture Time!

2008-09-10T19:13:00.004-04:00

My friend, and finally engaged to his girlfriend of 76 years, Franky, just had his latest project featured on Apartment Therapy. Its a rooftop garden in Athens, with gangster views in every direction. Fantastic photos too!

See all of them and read the article on the website:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/gardening/roof-garden-by-mabarchitects-061303

In other archi-news, I'm taking my 7th exam tomorrow - Lateral Forces. Also meeting with the church board on the project that I've been talking about for months. Its going slowly, and has no money, but I'd rather do it for little to nothing than pass up a first project of this magnitude. But for the time being it seems to be a part time job. We'll see. Annnd starting a new job on Monday in NYC. So I will be pulling myself in 3 directions pretty soon. Whopee!

Sleeping with a Ghost

2008-09-07T12:02:00.005-04:00

So I'm sure there is a ghost in this room and its making my sleep a wee bit uncomfortable. Yesterday morning I was woken up by the sound of someone walking - well more sliding their feet - up to the side of my bed. I thought it was theBoy, turned, and of course, no one was there. Last night, I was tossing and turning thinking about how this person or thing would return. After sleeping on my side for some time, I turned onto my back, opened my eyes, and soon after the room was full of bright light. EEEEEK. Was it a truck nearby, a neighbor's light? Nope. It was my cell phone. The light turned on as if someone was calling or sending a text, but there was neither. That was good enough to freak me out and I was one "event" away from sleeping outdoors last night.

In related news I had a dream this morning that I was walking down a hall with one of my brothers. We stopped at a table piled with ham sandwiches on white bread. The lazy looking guy sitting on the only sofa in the big room got up for a sandwich too. I decided not to, then saw a delicious looking fig, which got bigger and more complex as I opened it. It turned into some big black thing which convinenently had writtten on it that it was part of the corn family. I kept peeling it open. I ripped open a big pod, which instantly turned into a plastic to-go container, and in it was a pile of nickle sized brown bean-chip things. Of course by then it was a party for my dad, and we had tons of food, which I had to move out of my trunk (we must've moved outdoors) because I didn't want people dropping food in the trunk. My dad praised everyone for planning the party so far in advance (one day according to dream conversations). I don't know. That's all I remember now.

The Hipster Problem

2008-09-06T17:47:00.008-04:00

Having spent more time in NYC this summer than I have in four years there is something that has really surprised me. That is, the enduring phenomenon of the hipster. I really thought this thing would be over by now. Skinny jeans, dyed hair, repulsive body odor, contrived attitude, and penchant for 80's like music. Where are these people coming from, and why are they here? When did it become cool to smell terrible? These people are so desperate to belong to something they will stop at bathing. Smells like consumers posing as artists.

I've heard that Spanish gangs in Williamsburg have taken to attacking hipsters with machetes. That's a bit extreme. I do believe something will come along that will kill it, eventually.

Its always darkest before the dawn, they say.

Make Blueprints?

2008-09-06T17:38:00.003-04:00

Draw the outside?

I need to have a talk with this person. My first, and last, encounter with real blueprints was ten years ago. But that's not even the point. Everyone seems to want to be an architect nowadays. I guess someone's gotta draw the outside. Whatever that means. There is serious wasted energy in that idea.

Architecture Sucks

2008-08-26T19:44:00.003-04:00

All architects know this. I think its mostly all the garbage that you have to put up with to make architecture. People who want something for nothing are at the top of that list, at least today. What is it that makes people think that a set of drawings (that can take months of design and production work to finish) are somehow something that should be free? Or that I would want to design something for someone else to "do the details"? Something is seriously wrong with people's perception of architects' values. And no, its not just a head in the clouds scenario.

Britney Spears, Broccoli or MIT Wondergeek

2008-08-26T11:15:00.004-04:00

Newsflash:
Britney Spears is actually a piece of broccoli. Actually. This is some entertaining spam. I wonder if its all computer generated or if someone is sitting in a dark room somewhere cranking out headlines with Britney and Paris Hilton.

I just bid 10 bucks for Britney's baby on Ebay. Thanks spam guy!

Dictionary: Yellow Peril

2008-08-21T17:39:00.003-04:00

I picked up an old pocket dictionary that the local library was giving away. Its from 1963, had a nice cover, so whatever I grabbed it. Flipping through, I found an interesting definition that I've never seen before.

yellow peril - The danger to people of a white race threatened by the domination of people of a yellow-skinned race.

In other news, China leads the USA in gold medals 46-29, but the USA is ahead 95-83 in total medals.

Firm Names and Paris Hilton

2008-08-18T19:44:00.008-04:00

Architects are always imagining up clever firm names, like musicians talking about band names. Although if I had a band it would either be Spooky Pants or Sandwich Without Consequence, an architecture firm needs something more sophisticated. Personally, I think it needs to be something that is at once generic and memorable, like Paris Hilton. You know what you're getting although it still has some level of mystery and whatever with it. Generic/Specific at the same time, its hard to do. That way, also, its not something that's too trendy or style specific that you typecast yourself...

Some half baked ideas....
Easy Architecture
Public Practice

its not there yet.

The Boy Returns

2008-08-15T16:16:00.007-04:00

Today my favorite younger brother returns from his 1 1/2 year stint on the Cayman Islands. Returning to Dirty Jerz. Sucker. Come for the highways, stay for the guidos.

The People Have Spoken

2008-08-11T19:13:00.010-04:00

All six of them, including me, what a turnout. The pirate bite wins the award for most masculine way to eat a banana, with all other methods getting one vote each. There are no hanging chads and there will be no recount. Thank you to Cecilia for voting for Baby Bites. There is something interesting about it. I bet the Continental could pull it off. The pirate bite is the winner, so if you plan on eating a banana like a man, you know what to do.

An Afternoon in NYC

2008-08-03T23:42:00.007-04:00

I went off to meet my friend Ersela at the David Byrne "Playing the Room" installation by Wall St. I managed to take 1 1/2 hours to go from West New York to Wall St, and she had to leave before I got there. Something made me think that taking the ferry and a bus would be faster and easier than driving in. It wasn't, and it was more expensive too. On the way, I got a call from my bank because someone had stolen my credit card info and went on a shopping spree at a Walmart in Jacksonville, FL. I've never been to Jacksonville and the only time I stepped foot in a Walmart was on a spring break road trip. If you went to the trouble of stealing credit cards, wouldn't you be more ambitious than Walmart?

Went to the American Indian museum downtown, which I didn't even know existed, but admission was free and it was hot out. I highly recommend it. There was an exhibit called "remix" where they showed contemporary Indian artwork, and an artifact exhibit of two tribes on the coast of British Columbia. They used "box drums" big painted wooden drums, and the women cut their lips and put discs in them the same way that some African tribes do. You know that National Geographic stuff. I thought it was cool to see people on different sides of the earth doing the same things. Maybe it will catch on here some day.

Walking uptown, I ran into Chris and Ade, friends from NJIT, we sat in a park, ate cherries, and talked about how architecture sucks.

Research: A Masculine Way to Eat a Banana

2008-08-02T20:37:00.002-04:00

One day, a guy who wears man bags (not me) was confronted by someone who's nickname ends with boner (not me) about the fruit he was enjoying. "You know, , there is no masculine way to eat a banana", said Mr. Boner, completely deflating man bag wearer from enjoying his healthy snack.

We could just leave it at that. But it would be a disservice to all those homophobic people out there who want a masculine way to eat a banana. Those, some of whom read this blog in fact, fearful of the stigma of banana eating. To them I say, do not fear, you are not giving a dismembered banana tree oral stimulation.* It does not work that way.

But that is not enough. We must go further. Bananas are too good. We must find a way.

Here are some options to consider:

Pirate Bite- My personal favorite. The key is to imagine yourself as a pirate, and to bring the banana to your mouth sideways and snap off a piece. Make sure to show a lot of tooth, but do not use alot of tooth. One benefit to this method is that with the snap off bite, the remains of a snap off have a grainy fibrous natural quality, as opposed to a toothy bite that would leave a smooth creamy edge. Muscles are fibrous, fat is creamy. Fibrous is more manly than creamy. Snap off.

Mash Up
- The preferred method of Mr. Boner. First, peel completely, then mash the entire thing up into a ball, then take a big bite. I think the messiness adds to the manliness. You have to go all out with this one. Balls to the mash up walls. Smile madly while you mash it up. Crazy eyes. People will be so caught up in the fact that you are a madman that they will forget that you are eating a banana. Madman is manly. It has man in it.

Hand Offs
- This one's pretty simple. Peel the banana as usual, but instead of biting off pieces, break them off with your hand and bring said broken off pieces to your mouth hole. This method is ripe (wocka wocka) for customizing to your own style. Perhaps instead of gingerly bringing the banana piece to your mouth you slam it down, ending with an open hand slap of your face. Perhaps you throw the pieces in the air and catch them in your mouth. I don't know. Make up something you jerk. Do I have to think up everything?

Baby Bites
- As if you're feeding it to a baby, chop it into little slices on a plate and eat individually. This one takes a special kind of person to pull off and still be masculine. Extra points if you can do it while wearing a bib and sitting at a table that is way too high for you.

*By the way have you ever eaten at one of those indian banana leaf restaurants where you plop all the food onto a banana leaf? Its big fun.

A bread shop - Psychic Readers

2008-08-02T14:08:00.003-04:00

I overheard some guy at the port authority bus termial asking about "a bread shop called au bon pain". I then proceeded to kick him in the balls. Then a Puerto Rican guy came out of nowhere, stabbed him, stole his luggage, and said "welcome to new york.". And then I found five dollars.

Have you noticed that psychic readers always have upstairs 'shops' and are always sitting on a chair outside asking you to come in? I don't know what this says about their psychic ability, except it makes them easy targets for mocking.

sneaky boston

2008-08-02T14:01:00.003-04:00

I performed a covert day and a half trip to boston for sneaky birthday fun. It was good fun, and I got to have my favorite turkey sangwich from the greatest sandwich maker in the world, the dreadlocked girl at Shays. Turkey sang on french bread. Plus we had balloons, broken glasses, and 40lbs of mardi gras beads to round off the party. Then I went to NYC to meet with a headhunter who basically told me that I'd be lucky to make the same salary there that I did in Cambridge, all because too many talented jerks want to live there....supply and demand.

Rest in Peace Mikey Guido

2008-07-25T09:41:00.003-04:00

My old friend Mike Hanna died this week from leukemia. He was 30 years old. Mike liked making fun of people, buying sunflower seeds to pick up girls, and talking about what it would say on his next business card (The Ownah).

Not too long ago our friend Dina joined a fundraiser for the disease and is running a half marathon in San Francisco in October. If you don't like cancer you should help her raise money for research.

Her fund raising page is here:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nikesf08/dmansour

This is her Facebook "cause" webpage:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/89168?recruiter_id=16894209

The Heavyweight Champion of Egypt

2008-07-05T18:53:00.003-04:00

TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT

Katkoot = pussycat

Awesome Photos

2008-07-03T20:07:00.007-04:00

Check out this page of ridiculous and awesome photos, its like a science experiment explosion.
http://www.lucyandbart.blogspot.com/

Their website has an amazing face warp thing too:
http://www.lucyandbart.com/

LucyandBart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.

I obviously have more time on my hands this week.......

Do you want Patriot's Day in your mouth?

2008-07-03T16:22:00.004-04:00

Do you want to embarrass airplanes? Do you want girls in bikinis? Then watch. This is awesome, terrible, goodness. It will make you sick like you ate way too many twizalerz.

MMMM....cardboard

2008-07-01T17:08:00.003-04:00

Anyone interested in a single-speed cardboard bike? I'm thinking that its got to be pretty uncomfortable being all shockless and stuff. I watched the video on BBC...the kid wouldn't let them use it on camera.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7457220.stm

my last week in cambridge

2008-07-01T16:43:00.003-04:00

In a nutshell for anyone at all bored enough to be interested, lots of slow packing, eating, being an accomplice to hookey playing, I shot a bow and arrow and collected candy and money $2 at a time for prime shots, lots of frantic last minute packing, saw a murderer, didn't shoot arrows at him, capped it off with Tacos Lupita goodness, then changed the radio station constantly for 4 hours till I got to NJ...whoopdeedoodee

pack this

2008-06-27T17:45:00.003-04:00

I hate boxes. They look at me with evil grins. I stuff them. No more boxes, everything else is going into garbage bags........the final Cambridge karaoke fest is tonight....i need to shower because I stink....right now all of Harvard Sq smells like a homeless guy after a burrito dinner.....ma- newer

How to Talk to Women

I don't know if this is real or not but its funny....and yes its true, I'm one of the few men in this city who doesn't have something wrong with them..

boxes to the left of me

2008-06-25T13:14:00.003-04:00

boxes to the right...here i am, stuck in the middle of boxes....my box scavenging paid off last night when I hit the jackpot outside of a hair salon...i will never pay for boxes....boxes are like tap water...boxes are like sunshine

BOXES

a few more days of packing and i'll be out of cambridge....tonight is the last stand at BLUE RIBBON, the greatest bbq place....git some!

Back in USA - How YOU doin'?

2008-06-17T06:47:00.003-04:00

I landed in Newark last night - whee. Now I have to switch from vacation mode to interview mode, my first one's at 4pm today.....

Newark Airport isn't half bad. Its been a long time since I've been there. When I got to the customs counter the cop greeted me with a "How you doin'" Which, since I haven't heard from anyone in ages, except from my own mouth, sounded very good.

Aswan DAAAAAM!

2008-06-07T18:25:00.003-04:00

Aswan is HOT. Like being thrown in the midst of a charcoal pit hot. With everyone laughing and not sweating as you sit there in shock hot. Its hot.

We took the night train from Cairo last night, arriving this morning. Hussein, a friend of our cousin's husband picked us up and drove us around all day. First thing we did was check out the High Dam, the view is great and the water is much cleaner than in Cairo. We took a boat to Philea, an island close by that has some temples. Lots of the pictures and words are chiseled out as each new generation tried to erase the last one. There's even some crosses cut in from when it was a church. At this point I was dead tired from the heat.

The Aswan people and the Nubians here are the nicest, most genuine of Egypt that I've come across so far. Which is not hard with pushy Cairenes and crazy eyed Alexandrians. The nubian guy who took us on the boat is getting married tomorrow, and Hussein said we might check out a Nubian wedding tomorrow, maybe its the same one.

I'm slogging around looking for shade and water all the time. Had the tastiest sugar cane juice today. Its all over the country. They have these storefront stands with big ass machines that they feed a couple sugar canes at a time through, and out the bottom comes a couple cups of super fresh sugar cane juice. I think 90% of the machine must be storage for the used up canes that make the delicious and refreshing stuff. Tomorrow morning we'll take a falucca on the nile for a couple hours, and the next day we are going to Abu Simbel early in the morning. Halfway into this trip through beautiful Egypt.

PS. Aswan is hot.

No Man Bags In Egypt

2008-06-07T18:21:00.003-04:00

News Flash - Egyptian men do not carry man bags. They may walk arm in arm, hold hands, kiss hello, but never take a bag. Before entering the new library in Alexandria, you have to check bags. When I went to get mine back, the guard asked me "where is the owner (feminine) of this bag?" I told him it was me, he watched me as I put it over my shoulder and walked away, then I realized what had just happened.

This week in Egypt

2008-06-06T07:56:00.005-04:00

Sunday, we went to the pyramids. Dusty, old. The tomb interior looked new and spooky. Monday and Tuesday we were in Alexandria. Cool breezes, an amazing cathedral, and delicious and fresh calamari. We went out to Montaza, which was the king's palace on the water. The new Alexandria Library was a great sight to visit too, alot smaller than I imagined. Our aunt hooked us up with someone who took us around the city. whopee

Wednesday we went to monasteries in the deserts outside of Cairo, the monks were nice and they served us a great lunch. I was preparing myself for a gross plate of beans but they brought out chicken, rice, potatoes, and fresh cheese. Mm Mm good.

Yesterday and today are chill out days in Cairo, visited my mom's old friend, went to a going away party for one of Mark's coworkers. They had karaoke. I wanted to sing Ziggy Stardust but no go. Too bad. We take the night train to Aswan tonight. We're going to check out the valley of the Kings, then cap off the trip at a resort on the Red Sea.

Dusty

2008-06-01T12:15:00.003-04:00

The pyramids are dusty. And big and stuff. The top of the middle one still has some limestone at the top which must've looked awesome back in the day. They say it was ripped off to make mosques. What the hell? People are still quarrying limestone today. There's enough to go around without taking things off wonders of the world. Egyptian people are giving me a headache.

We climbed up inside the tomb of the great pyramid. There wasn't as many people as I expected inside, which was great. After a while two Egyptian kids came in, we tried to scare someone coming up but he didn't go for it. WOOOOOOOHHHHHOOOOOOOO. The tomb had a cool echo effect.

The guys around the pyramids are the most annoying ever. Saying no is worse than ignoring them. Threats with rocks don't work either.

crossing the streets is an adventure

2008-05-29T17:33:00.004-04:00

We recorded ourselves crossing the street in Egypt. It's like playing frogger. Nobody stops, they honk to let you know they're not stopping, so you play it by ear, wocka wocka....Cairo is crowded and the pollution sticks to your lungs but insanely cheap and its fun just walking around. I had the tastiest tahmiyea ever. EVEERRR. We spent the afternoon in the big museum, the place is stuffed with sarcofigi and what nots, king Tut's treasures were pretty awesome. He has three beds, each with its own magical use in the afterlife.
We haggled a faluka guy down to 40 pounds, 8 usd for an hour ride on the nile, the boat to ourselves. Sunset on the Nile, very relaxing. Groppi is cafe my parents used to hang out at, which isn't as posh as it was back then, but was cool to check out nonetheless.

Planning trips to Luxor, Alexandria, and the Red Sea....whopeeeeeeeeeee

This is taking twice as long to write because Mark's laptop keeps throwing the cursor around while I type and spell check doesn't work so there are probably tons of typos I don't see....

misr

2008-05-29T05:11:00.003-04:00

howdy from the land of the Egypt. I got in late last night, we went to a shawirma stand called Baraka (that's BA-ra-kah), walked on the streets because apparently walking on the sidewalks is for rookies....
Half a day in london was ok. It was very gray, I walked over to the Serpentine pavillion at the end of Hyde Park to find it was still under construction, Gehry's turn. Saw the gerhkin, the tate modern, lots of very expensive bad sandwich shops. I spent 50 bucks on a coffee, two train tickes, and a couple sandwiches. I walked so much, plus I hadn't slept, that I fell asleep at the airport and almost missed my flight!

OK gotta meet Mark downtown.....
PEEZ!

John McCain rips off Prometric

2008-05-22T18:55:00.005-04:00

I was watching the news last night and realized that John McCain steals his artwork from Prometric, the place you go to take exams....Now his image torments me that I'm not taking my licensing exams fast enough. Jerk.

mneh

2008-05-15T23:09:00.003-04:00

This is what today feels like.

somewhere between this....

and this...

blekh

Saudis are not Egyptians you ignorant moron

2008-05-09T11:53:00.005-04:00

This is why certain people have no sense. This is why certain people use Indian accents to make fun of Arabs. Idiots.

Nobody in Egypt dresses like this. I've never met an Egyptian who dresses like this. My brother in Cairo never sees anyone dressed like this. SAUDI ARABIA IS AS FAR FROM EGYPT AS ENGLAND IS FROM FRANCE. Do you see anybody confusing England with France? No. You don't.

subsidization , tracy chapman, and badu

2008-05-09T01:40:00.005-04:00

Going to the subway today I saw this guy lurking by the fare gates. After I paid he got really close to me and tried to sneak in behind me, since the Boston gates stay open for about half an hour after you walk through. I stopped so he couldn't go through, turned around, and told him I'm not subsidizing his trip. He had this stupid look on his face and mumbled, "stubuizide?". What an idiot. I made the train, he didn't. That was very satisfying. Next time I will yell it really loud.

While I was having coffee with the ass bandit on Boylston this afternoon, we saw the Tracy Chapman lookalike from The Roots walking around with his guitar. He must've been lost because he walked by us 3x.

Later I got a call that someone bailed on their ticket to the Roots/Erykah Badu concert tonight....So I got to see more tracy chapman, dancing and singing it up. the roots are the best opening band ever, the only hiphop/jam band......questlove gained a ton of weight, weird weight too, he looked like a cartoon...badu was aweesomee, very sexy, even when she pulled the wig off...she was doing alot of experimental goofy stuff, just to fool around I think....one of the backup singers is her sister, looks just like her except with breasteses...and what have you.

decisions decisions.........

2008-04-29T00:05:00.003-04:00

I've been sleeping on the stiffest twin bed on earth for the past couple days. Home sweet home. Came home for Easter weekend, and I've been doing research on the job scene and condos in New York and Philly. Pretty much I'm giving up on staying in Boston. This is me officially getting off the pot. New York has it going on, but for the price of a dumpy studio in Queens, I could have a luxurious big loft in a nice part of Philly. But then again the pay in Philly is much lower....vicious cycle. I'm not going to make up my mind anytime soon. This might mean a prolonged period of crashing on this stiff bed once my lease is up in July.....

Mark is supposed to call me with his schedule tomorrow so I can book a ticket to Egypt. All my frequent flier miles means I have a free ticket to the motherland. MARK, What the crap is the deal? I want to see pyramids and what not. Email me before the airline changes its mind.

Pujols

2008-04-13T22:34:00.005-04:00

I had a dream this morning where I clung onto a hairless otter that gave me a lift up to a shelf, then proceeded to feed me Ikea-like ottomans. This is what is referred to as a "Pujols". I overheard people in the dream talking about getting a "pujols" as if it was a bad thing, but it didn't seem so. He was pretty unrelenting with the ottomans though.

Greek Architecture

2008-04-10T11:31:00.001-04:00

My friend Franky's new architectural practice in Athens....Dig it.

http://www.mabarchitects.com/

Spillage

2008-04-10T11:00:00.002-04:00

On my bike ride to work this morning the Harvard Science building was taped off....cops, fire trucks, and ambulances everywhere...there was a chemical leak so they say. Don't drink the water this week. Then this pauncy guy with a beard in a BMW convertible with the top down passed me while playing some bad pop music....I reached in the car and yelled, "get ass cancer you molester!" OK no I didn't. But the drop top reminded me that this is the weekend. This is the weekend where the weather breaks for real and all the clothes come off. Enjoy.

I gotta put on the marshmallow pants and hit the boo hoo button, cuz I don't know where the cranberries are!

2008-04-09T23:52:00.003-04:00

I watched this 20x today. I keep having the urge to throw coffee mugs in someone's face a la the cop in the Big Lebwski, Suria does a good job too......enjoy

testing....testing......

2008-04-09T23:47:00.001-04:00

I'm testing color palettes....what do you think?

homestar

2008-04-09T21:05:00.002-04:00

I just found this on my computer and had to share.........a couple years ago I was homestar runner for halloween....This is the only photo I have in costume. I made a big paper mache head and walked through the streets of Philly like this. It took about 30 seconds for people to start calling out "Homestaw!"

Hot Dawg!

2008-04-09T13:46:00.002-04:00

Say no more.
http://www.20x200.com/art/2008/04/hot-dog-and-i.html

This is a message from my phone

2008-04-09T08:44:00.001-04:00

The Message could not be adapted to your terminal

Turkey or Singapore

2008-04-09T08:32:00.003-04:00

Turkey as in home cooking.....I was planning on going home for Easter and now people are asking me to go to Singapore that week.....hmmmmmm city I'm sick of where everyone people make an art of making no sense at all or home where I get free home cooking and can space out for a couple days.......

sorry Singapore, you smell funny.

New Museum

2008-04-08T23:16:00.003-04:00

by Sanaa.....I want to check this out next time in NYC....white boxes kind of on top of each other!

McLovin

2008-04-08T23:10:00.003-04:00

I went to the DMV today and turned in my expired NJ drivers license to get a MASS license. They confiscated my old license and now I have to wait 2 weeks to get my new one....wtf.....went to Bukowski's to meet up with Cora, only to be rejected at the bar for no ID....only in a ding dong college town.

Good thing SLA hooked me up with a fake Hawaii ID. Now I only need to teach her how to rotate images in photoshop!

B.O.O.T.A.Y.

2008-04-08T22:45:00.002-04:00

this is genius

b.o.o.t.a.y. you ain't got no alibi

d.a.n.c.e.

2008-04-08T22:40:00.002-04:00

this is a fun video........

I like Wolfkin

2008-04-08T22:35:00.001-04:00

It's a little eerie, creepy, sleazy, and fun....spooky danish people

http://www.wolfkin.dk/

Brand
New
Pants

CCTV

2008-04-08T22:26:00.002-04:00

Chinese weirdness + Dutch architects = CCTV in Beijing

White women and cheeseburgers

2008-04-02T08:32:00.002-04:00

Two things Singapore does not have.....
well, their white women are australians and their burgers suck...its just not the same....I might never go back...whopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Officer Byrd

2008-03-22T20:08:00.004-04:00

What's the word from officer byrd...........its so much more disco than I remember

local celebrities

2008-03-16T13:35:00.003-04:00

we broke in the karaoke machine Friday night...big fun. We heard the best version of "sweet child o mine" and the worst version of lots of other songs. And no one spilled anything on my rug, which is a plus. I'm gonna expand the music library for next time. So far the only requests are for Jackson 5 and Brittney Spears. whopee..

My friend scored free VIP seat tickets to the Dropkick Murphys last night, which means we didn't have to be in the mosh pit. It was in Lowell, wicked. Right before they came on people started chanting Yankees suck. The inferiority complex runs deep, even when the Red Sox are a better team, not to mention at a concert in the off season.....There were little 8yr old girls dancing in these crazy Irish getups, an Irish boxer named Mickey something something, the Lowell high school choir, and violin kids from the Berklee. They really know how to rile up the locals. Too bad I couldn't understand a word. I think I'm out of the loop on these guys, and I can live with that.

K A R A O K E

2008-03-06T21:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was asking if anyone knew a karaoke place cheaper than Do-Re-Mi....Today I bought a karaoke machine online. I'm turning my apartment into a karaoke bar and all I need is a good name. The working name is : Mr Happy's Super Happy Good Fun Number 1 time.

Wocka Wocka

when your beef beefs

2008-03-04T08:33:00.003-05:00

I got my first Peapod delivery this morning. Its awesome and cheaper than going to Shaws....I was going to make a beef stew with some beef I had in the freezer (since December). Thawed it this week. Opened it up and I'm pretty sure it let out a big fart cuz it didn't smell right. Apparently this is not a good thing. It might be time to cut back on the meat.

De-Stitched

2008-02-28T20:47:00.003-05:00

I got my stitches out this morning. The nurse was impressed with the Japanese stitch work. I wasn't so impressed with her. While there were still a bunch of stitches left, she said, well that's it. I am not THAT hairy to confuse thick black stitches with hair.

So anyway, do chicks dig guys with scars?

Eat more cake

2008-02-27T23:37:00.001-05:00

Half a cake in a single person's apartment with no real food = bad news. Come get some.

Corn Nuts

2008-02-23T11:21:00.003-05:00

My corn nut experiment didn't go so well last night. I bought some corn kernels and soaked them overnight to make for my belated bday party yesterday. It ended up as a smoky mess of burnt popcorn in a pot of oil.

So I did some more research and found that corn nuts are made from a specific type of giganto corn kernels and that I was using kernels especially made for popcorn. Blekh. Where the crap am I going to get Peruvian Cusco Corn Kernels..........

I got in a fight with the Yakuza

2008-02-17T10:10:00.004-05:00

I noticed that since I got back to Boston that girls are checking out my bandaged up fist. It only occurred to me now that maybe people think I got into some vicious fight. Yup, I got into a brawl with the Yakuza in Shinjuku. The guy in the middle tried to smack me with his dong sack, which was actually full of 100 yen coins. I karate chopped it down and split open my knuckles.

naruhodo

Eat More Sushi or We Kill You

2008-02-16T15:30:00.003-05:00

No idea what this was about....people on the street refused to talk about it...........

What's this guy saying...uuuuuuh

2008-02-16T15:03:00.004-05:00

Singapore going nuts in Chinese New Year preparation....uuuuuuh

Tokyo Drift

2008-02-16T14:21:00.004-05:00

Another trip to Singapore, a much better united flight. Since we managed to stay at the greatest hotel in the world- Shangri La Singapore, our concierge harassed United till they changed our flights, allowing us to have a few nights in Tokyo on the way back.

We crashed at the hotel Thursday night, went off to Shibuya.....Kiddie wonderland, place of many pachinko games, burger joints, love hotels, and mega crosswalks. Friday we hit up Ginza and ate at a super expensive sushi bar full of uptown wives lunching before they spent up their husbands cash....bought a lot of pens...took photos of cool buildings...found the biggest Muji shop ever and bought more pens. Bars there are super tiny. Most could hardly fit a dozen people. We went into one where they were making fun of us for a couple minutes. I got my whiskey with a giant clear ball of ice. Gorgeous.

Taxis are all lined with lace, drivers all wear suits, and their prices are way expensive. It cost us 40 usd to go across town one night. 7 bucks just when you get inside. This is why at 2am if you go into a McDonalds you'll find people from all walks of life asleep since they missed their trains.

During a beer stop at a convenience store I had to stop and get an action figure, Gundam Virtual. He is awesome. Kung fu grip even. Saturday night was our second karaoke night in a row....all you can drink. By 1am my fist went mysteriously through some glasses and started spurting blood everywhere. The record shows I kept singing...till we went to the hospital. Luckily we had a translator since you can't get by in Japan without knowing the language. After a massively painful needle, I fell asleep and woke up with a bandaged, stiched up hand. I was then transported to a friend's hotel room where I crashed.

Sunday harajuku girl day was a letdown since they were all at some convention nearby. I looked to replace my blood stained jeans only to find that in Tokyo the largest jeans size is a 32, and everything is super expensive.

We toured Omotesando which is next to where the harajuku girls hang out....Omotesando has all the cool new designer shops, Tods by Toyo Ito was very sexy...my favorite.....

Our last night we stayed at a capsule hotel in Shinjuku. The floor guide to the hotel let us know that there was a shemale bar right below us. Shemale porn reigned supreme in the pod. Everyone gets kicked out by 10am, and you bathe together sitting in front of a mirror. I don't know if that's the way people in Japan normally shower, sitting down. Its not half bad.

Then I found five dollars.....which reminds me, Japan has the sexiest looking money ever.

Aphex Twin is a Musical Genius

2008-01-16T19:42:00.000-05:00

I forgot all about this video.....it starts off awesome and gets better...

magic

2007-12-17T21:39:00.000-05:00

I will teach you how to count to ten with one hand without resetting. Magic. It will double your ability to count. Count to twenty without resetting when you use both hands. You might want to put on a helmet...so it don't make a mess when I blowyamiiiiind.

But later....don't feel like it now.

the past week in a nutshell

2007-12-09T09:53:00.001-05:00

Got an emergency haircut on Sunday. I had a dream that I didn't complain that she cut it too short. It came true. Best haircut ever. Taught the bartender at the middle east about scotch and green tea. He made a tasty mix.

Left for Hong Kong on Monday. Spent 15 hours on a United 747 with no TV and bitter bitchy flight attendants as old as the plane. The most rude and condescending group of people you can find. Don't fly United. I saw a flight attendant refuse to give a woman a band aid because she didn't want to bother filling out a report for opening the first aid kit. The only nice one on the plane snuck her one. She also snuck me some booze. Still, don't fly United.

Drank a lot on said plane. Scotch is about the only thing to get by on in such situations.

Spent a night at the Venetian Macau. Woke up at 2:30 (just like today), went down to the casino a few hours later and won 300HKD at a slot machine. I'm rich. A few hours of touring and meetings before we had to get on another United flight to Singapore. More scotch please. Don't fly United.

We stayed at a resort spa in Sentosa Island. It was very relaxing. In the morning I woke up to peacocks calling. At breakfast we watched a monkey steal a woman's chocolate croissant.

Two days of meetings, with no yelling or blaming (wow!) and almost no chinese food (awesome!). Our midnight flight out on Friday night was delayed. Went to a lounge that had individual jacuzzis. I was in there for an hour, right up to boarding time. The lounge was near the Emirates gate. It was one machine gun carrying guard for every five white robed passenger. They have no seats there, they lay out picnic blankets.

Qantas has the best in flight entertainment ever. On demand, movies, cd's, tv... I watched the Darjeeling Limited, Superbad, Interview, and a documentary about a movie called Emmanuel, and for that hour and a half my screen was pretty much filled with nudity. Cheeky Australians. Cathay Pacific eat your heart out. The food was good too. Marc Newson designed the cutlery and everything. Nice.

A couple hours in London, stretching out at another lounge. Drank tea. Looked at planes. Mocked United.

A short hop from London to Boston on BA. Got here around 1pm. A total of 50-something hours of travel. I fell asleep at 6 and woke up at 230 this morning. It's cold here. My apt has no room service.

flying over stuff is cool

2007-11-04T02:28:00.000-05:00

I got to fly over the north pole last weekend. Straight up through canada and we made a quick left. It was pretty amazing, at one point a few hours into the (16.5 hour) flight, there was the north star next to me, the sun coming up in front and the moon shining over my shoulder. All magestic.

We flew over Siberia which is exactly what you'd imagine it to be - nothing alive over there, mountains of white deadness. And then there was a few hours over dark muddy pollution, AKA China. A low dark cloud going out in all directions.

oh holy crap

2007-10-26T21:47:00.000-04:00

I'm going to singapore for two weeks...leaving TOMORROW...I just frantically got tickets and a hotel room, running in circles, whopee. Right when I pysched myself up for not going till next week it came through. Had to stare at my screen waiting for itineraries to be emailed...then left work and ran to pick up laundry because I have no clean socks or underwear....Noodles and durian here I come.

three's company

2007-10-18T08:43:00.000-04:00

I had a dream this week that I was making out with a girl with three boobs....three little boobies, the extra one directly underneath the left one....She was pretty embarrassed but I just took it for what it is...yup, that's definitely a third boob...

You might want to put on a helmet............

2007-10-10T21:06:00.000-04:00

There's even politics in politics.....

2007-10-10T20:53:00.000-04:00

I realize more, now that I have to delegate work and watch what other people say, just how full of politics architecture can be. Between the blame game, bureaucratic protocols, and secret keeping alone its a full time job. Not to mention that whole design thing - which is the ice cream to the slop bucket lunch of everything else.

origins

2007-10-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

SOME people seem to think I need to explain where the name comes from.....well there were these two homeless guys sitting by a dumpster. One was talking about how he was going to take Homeless Airlines back home to Alaska. The other guy sat there listening then suddenly blurted out.....I'M THE PRESIDENT OF JELLY BEANS!!... and shook his head like a crazy person when he said it.

And now I'm the mayor of jelly beans. Which means I work for a homeless man.

Strange how these things happen.

myths and truths

2007-10-08T19:39:00.000-04:00

Myth - tennis balls have any effect whatsoever when thrown in with your wet clothes in the dryer

Truth - throwing a party is the easiest way to stock up your liquor cabinet

doctors don't know much

2007-10-08T19:09:00.000-04:00

You'd think that after 10 years of schooling and practice that doctors would be able to diagnose a problem. You'd be wrong. I was recently sick and after a handful of tests, x-rays, cat scans all they could tell me was what I didn't have. I guess its good to know I don't have syphilis but I hoped to figure out what the problem really was. Doctors can only figure out what is wrong when they guess what it is and search for proof to back it up.

My guess - anxiety and toxic fumes.

oh this thing exists!

2007-10-08T18:42:00.000-04:00

I completely forgot that I started this blog....I woke up today and decided on the fly to take the holiday off. It was a nice break. I printed some photos from Hong Kong. My two favorites are the sleeping guy in the street suit stand..who buys suits on a street stand? right next to durian and random chotchsky....weird

H O T

2007-06-25T23:08:00.001-04:00

Hot...Can't sleep....thinking about going to the passport agency tomorrow hoping nothing goes wrong. I need a personal assistant or something

tomayto tomahto

2007-06-24T21:53:00.000-04:00

I bought a big ass tomato plant and strapped it down to the fire escape. I never realized how nice a tomato plant smells. Me likey. I'm all green thumbed and what not.

ok

2007-06-24T17:41:00.000-04:00

Now what?
How about F that s in the B mother F H er. Or something.