so…the puffin is back. who here thought it was only a matter of time? i think it's pretty interesting that he started before the big blogging craze, got sick of it, and now he's back, just as the mania is starting to blow over. that puffin…always keepin' it fresh.

i've been walking around like a gimp for the past couple of days, but my leg is finally starting to feel better. you better believe my ass is gonna start stretching before any future kickball games…

last night elizabeth and i decided to rent summer of sam. it's one of those movies that i've wanted to see since it came out, and i'm just now getting around to it. it was kinda disconcerting that the guy that plays jimmy berluti on the practice was the one portraying david berkowitz, though…not lovable jimmy!

jesus…i need to go do something exciting…

and he's gonna cause trouble

ok, so in case you haven't noticed yet, the puffin is back, doing the 'blog thing again, and out of the gate, he's got a nice huge review of the new Sonic Youth album. it was only a matter of time, with the consistent badgering we (and others) were giving him to return, that he would do so. he's back now, so give him some linky-love, folks.

in other news, i'm still working on a design for my new musiced thing, and actually reaching a point that i'm fairly happy with. i've been rather frustrated by graphic design for years, always feeling that i was falling short of the type of stuff i'd like to be able to do. hopefully, i'm finally getting the hang of it. next design tasks–a new theme for bipolar, a redesign of coffeemonk.com (which hasn't been updated in… well, years. it'd be nice to come up with a new design for x:13 design proper, as well.

anyway, once the design for musiced is done, i'll start posting my reviews. in the meantime, anyone who wants to contribute to my musical education can of their most highly recommended albums. i can't guarantee that i'll buy & review everything (especially if the list ends up crazy long), money is, unfortunately, a factor. if you really want to get crazy and send me (legal) copies of your favorite albums, hell, i always accept bribes. ( for a mailing address.)

oh, and i'm fully moved into the new digs at work, bathing in natural light all day for the first time in a long time. i'm going to get the webcam set up again, so, once that's done you'll be able to catch some glimpses of me at work. (yeah, don't jump for joy all at once, folks.)

that's it for now. go visit puffin-a-go-go.

wow…tonight ended up being pretty damn alright, considering the lack of anything out of the ordinary. i decided to burn a cd of some of my favorite van halen songs right before kickball. this ended up working out to where i pulled up blasting "running with the devil." if there is the perfect summertime band, old van halen is it.

this week we skipped the cookout and played family business, instead. it was the first time i've ever played it, but it was pretty fun. after that, kickball ended up ramping itself up to the normal levels of competition. we had plenty of players this week, including some new faces. always a good thing.

so we're playing kickball and having a blast and whatever…until the second inning. i'm on first and the kicker sends the ball sailing. i start hauling ass, determined to make it around to home. right when i step on second and pivot to sprint for third, second slips out from under me (we have mats, not actual bases). that's when i felt the quad muscle in my right leg snap like a rubber band. i ended up keeping a good pace and making it around to home, but i took an immediate seat on the bench, reeling in some serious pain. i ended up playing the rest of the game out, but i was definitely not at the top of my game (as exhibited by a leisurely walk to first after a pretty good kick).

then i was hanging out with some new friends and we went to the skatepark and i just alternately pushed around and sat on my ass. i hope this shit doesn't hurt like this for too long…i mean…i have anoher kickball game in six fuckin' days.

how has your life changed since the last time you've answered seven questions?
we got a kitten and named her seven questions. oh… wait… we named her coletta.
but can your cat really be as cool as clyde?
yeah, she watches tv when we do. it's pretty funny.

would you rather be a rock star, a movie star, a porn star, or the the star of a really cool mountain dew commercial? why?
i'd say movie star because i could still do acceptable projects on the side even after i was agent s. in "men in black III: aliens, dude, aliens." i don't think that too many major music stars have respectable side deals, porn stars change careers to do something without deep dicking, and i don't think you can get much cooler than a really cool mountain dew commercial, so my career would have met its premature peak.

what's the largest primate you'd be willing to carry around on your back for a week?
i think this is the answer where i say "your mom, and already have done it, bro!" and you punch me in the junk the next time i see you.

what's your favorite household cleaning product?
this powder that you sprinkle on the carpet and vacuum up… it makes that terrible orgy smell go away in a jiffy.

if you were taken prisoner by a bunch of retarded terrorists and forced to eat 16 lbs. of pop-ice, which flavor would you eat first and which would you save for last?
i think that i'd have a green one first and an orange one last, because i don't want to be stuck with the taste of those horrible pink ones in my mouth for very long.

what's the craziest thing that's ever gone down at the ice rink?
hm, there was one time when I wore a sash and a headband of police tape for five hours, had a contest to see who could hit the main office door (no one was in) with a roller hockey ball, and then, if memory serves, "had" to play ice hockey for about an hour to tear up the ice for a broomball group.

pick any question from a past "seven questions" to answer.
do all cops dress like mounties up there?
look brian, just 'cause i live in central illinois and you live in the "center of the known universe" (a.k.a. louisville) doesn't mean that i actually live in goddamn canada.
but yeah, for some reason, they all do dress up like mounties, or at least on mondays, which might be mountie monday. I don't know. damn fuzz.

[sebastian was the first person to be officially interviewed for seven questions. he still does new artillery, but it looks different now. so does he.]

so, yes, this past week has been anti-social matt week. beginning with last Friday and the weekend i was lamenting in the last post.

as it turns out (i think i can finally write a little something about this), two *more* of my co-workers were laid off last Friday. this seriously threw me for a loop, considering that a month ago, when my boss (and two others) were laid off, we were told "well, that's the last of them for a while. don't worry about your jobs, we won't need to take such drastic measures again."

obviously, that wasn't quite right. so Friday was at least partly a result of that little tailspin i was in. and this week, the one guy in my "department" (such as it is) is on vacation. so, in a little cube world that once was home to five people, it's now been just me all week. sitting at my little desk, doing the work of 1.5 men (since i couldn't possibly pick up Geoff's full workload in addition to my own). it's been lonely. i've gone out to eat more than usual, just to have an excuse for some human interaction. unfortunately, i'm not the world's most entertaining conversationalist. i function, but only just.

next week, me and my remaining buddy move our stuff into an honest-to-god office, with windows (which our present space doesn't have). this is assuming he shows up on monday. i have no reason to think he won't, but i won't be surprised.

anyway enough of that depressing shit.

at some point this week, i was discussing music with nate, and he was, once again, trying to sell me on the whole ska thing. called it his "number two" favorite musical genre… after big band jazz. somewhere in there, we hit upon the idea that he should write up a list of albums he thinks i should check out, new artists i haven't given a fair shake to, or who i may have heard but don't own.

i have always freely admitted that my musical knowledge is not what i'd like it to be. there is so much out there, that i've pretty much just stuck with what i know. everyonce in a while, someone would introduce me to a new band, or i'd hear them listening to it enough that i'd get hooked. so now, i've got this list, and i've decided to make it a project. yet another of my infamous projects.

my plan, such as it is, is to buy an album from each of nate's recommended artists, live with it for a few days, then write up a review. i'm also planning to document this somewhere here on bipolar, and i'll probably use the reviews to up my monthly posting stats.

I managed to get out to Ear-X tuesday and picked up Al Greens' "Let's Stay Together," and Big Black's "The Hammer Party." i thought they were appropriately dissimilar selections.

I'm going to work on the master list page tonight, after (AFTER, damnit) i finally get off my ass and finish my passport paperwork. if i don't get my passport soon, i won't be able to make it to my sis's wedding in September. those of you who know about passports are probably already laughing. yeah, yeah. keep it up.

have you seen that denny's commercial with miss piggy in it? how disgusting is that? i mean…really. she orders not one, but two grand slam breakfasts. that thing has two pieces of both sausage and bacon. miss piggy, the frickin' cannibal. seriously…gross.

last night i saw the virgin suicides for the first time. to be honest, it was an okay movie, but the first viewing will probably be plenty for me. i just felt like the story took too long to get to no point. yeah…the girls lived in a repressive household. yeah they were depressed about it. but the fact remains…they never seemed overly depressed about the whole deal until the end. oh well…you can't win 'em all. james woods was good, as always.

today i picked up my grandmother and took her out for a late lunch/early dinner. my efforts were thwarted by the fact that she wasn't really hungry, but we still hung out for a while. she's been feeling a under the weather, lately, so it was nice to just go and sit in the park and hang out. hanging out with your grandma every now and then is highly recommended.

the new sparta album is really good. you should check it out when it's released…

speaking of records, my review of the new flaming lips went up over at 75 or less.

that's about enough for one afternoon…

first off, i got all the tracks uploaded for the mix cds (february and march). now you can have the complete packages. i'm actually thinking of putting the artwork files up for download for anyone that wants to actually print the covers i designed for them. other than that, it's been a pretty quiet day around here. i burned a bunch of cds of stuff for my car, but nothing terribly exciting.

i did go get dinner with matt. the usual wednesday comics/denny's thing. life is nothing without routine, i guess. the job search continues. i continue to be rather broke. life continues…endless cycle…blah blah blah.

last night elizabeth and i sat around and watched tv and then headed out to the well for some drinks. tonight we're planning on renting a movie or something. with all the time that we spend together, you'd think we were dating or something (i know i constantly have to answer that question to everyone), but…no such luck. oh well…it's nice to have someone around that can match my boringness, pound for pound.

did i mention that the new flaming lips and quens of the stone age records are both really good? well…consider it mentioned. look for reviews of both of them to pop up on 75 or less real soon-like.

speaking of 75 or less…matt and i reviewed our little links drop-down and updated it a bit. it's pretty much the list of our most frequently visited sites (not in order, otherwise newsarama would be at the top) drop us a line if we're forgetting something.

now that jon over at slatch beat me to the punch, i may as well spill the surprise mentioned in the earlier post…

while i was updating transmission3000, i decided that it would be a cool idea (to me) to design pages and upload the mix cds i made and distributed. i ended up getting two of them done, so here ya go:

february 2002
and
march 2002

they're both missing a track or two bcause of some weird server glitch. i should have that ironed out by the end of the day. until then, enjoy way too much stuff to download…

i spent a good chunk of monday evening updating transmission3000, for once. i decided to get my ass in gear and post a few things that were lying around, including a live shellac show from this year's all tomorrow's parties and the out of print of asaph ep. they're both amazing by themselves, but go ahead and grab both of them to double your enjoyment.

on the sopranos front: i just finished the last episode of season two. it is by far my favorite episode, thus far. now they need to release that fuckin' season three box, already…

since there's all the updatin' on the t3k front, i decided to upload a track to the newly renamed…

mp3 of the moment
(which means "whenever the hell i get around to it")

the flaming lips – shine on you crazy diamond
this track is worth it just to hear wayne talking about the wizard of oz and insanity.

expect another cool development around here later this afternoon…provided transmission3000's connection stays up.

yesterday, kickball was the usual blast. it really ends up being the high point of the week. even though it was the hottest kickball day of the year, everyone had a lot of fun. my cousin steve showed up and stepped up to be a true player for his debut. much beer was consumed, more shit was talked, but in the end, my team ended up winning. it's never a bad thing to be on the winning team. steve ended up cutting out after the game, so i opted to head home and hop directly into the shower.

after a nice, refreshing shower, i dove right back into the sopranos season two dvds. i only have one disc left and then i'm totally done with it. it's kinda sad to think of it that way.

speaking of cousins, it seems like brad from life during wartime has finally returned and started a new blog, called work of fiction. i ribbed him last week about whether two posts actually constituted a return, but it looks like he's been kickin' them out, lately. now if only we could get paul back into the game…