The traditional birthday greeting from my cat Lulu. Please note her outstanding chin. 

"There are some bad people on the right..."

Morrissey quizzed by the FBI for anti-American and anti-British statements. WTF.

Where carnival rides go to die. 

Attack of the giant tortoise! 

Massmoca... 

One of the creepiest things I have ever seen.  

Dylan sighted on cement wall. 

Thinking of you C.S. Miss you. 

A little junk store/resale shop opened up directly across the street from my apartment. I’ve been watching them move in with much interest because of their outstanding signage/advertising strategies. When they first moved in, they had a sign proclaiming “Best Prices in Town” (the hand drawn letters barely fit on the sign – classic 5th grade action), which is a pretty bold statement for a resale shop because…how would you know? They topped themselves last weekend for their grand opening celebration with the sign picture above. That's right...ALL DAY. 

Flexibility. My company offers the lovely policy of "flex-scheduling" to its employees. In short, if you put in 40 hours by the time noon rolls around on Friday, you're free to leave for the day. I usually take this time to exercise, take Lola for a visit to the dog park or do errands that I normally wouldn't have time for (or wouldn't want to battle rush hour traffic to do). Today, I used my Friday afternoon off to get a haircut at Big Hair. As far as haircuts go, you can't really beat this place. They only charge about $12-$15 to cut my hair, sometimes less depending on how long it takes and you don't feel obligated to engage in small talk. Today's visit included a nice chat about Lucas - "Lucas with the Lid Off" after it came on the radio. That song always takes me back to sophomore year of High School. Every morning before school, MTV would play Lucas with the Lid off followed by "As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B. Hawkins. Now, thanks to MTV, I always associate these songs with each other. I like the Lucas one a lot more - which isn't saying much because the Sophie B. Hawkins song is pretty amazingly obnoxious. My testicles seem to wither each time I hear it. Even more disturbing is the fact that if I ever hear that song on the radio I leave it on...purely for the nostalgic value. Ahem.

Things got slightly better when Dr. Dre & 2pac's "California Love" started dominating MTV shortly thereafter.
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Anyway, the girl cutting my hair decided she didn't like the song anymore after I decoded the chorus for her. When it sounds like Lucas is saying "Bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-'sup", he's actually saying "Whatever bubbles, bubbles up". I thought it was cooler as "blablablabla" too. Go find the Lucas mp3 somewhere on the internutz. Also, see if you can find the amazing video that Michel Gondry did for the song.

Progress. I was officially hired in December after contracting for a few months. Last week, I moved to a bigger desk with a lovely southern view. St. Ben's marks the horizon and also the spot where my apartment is, more or less. Which reminds me of that famous punchline: "Hey, I can see my house from here." Sweet feathery Jesus, I love my new view.