"Like a graveyard...

Found at a car wash near Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. Pretty awesome.

The debate last night was fun in certain ways. Biden clearly won, but he did it with class by letting Palin go off on her own tangents and by trying to force her to ad lib. However, what was up with her repeated need to change topics? Especially without segue.

I guess this post will be short, as I'm sleepy and I have about 100 new Picross puzzles on my DS and about 50 left to download.

This is what happens when you steal a man's torso.

As these past 2 weeks have been 2nd shift, I've managed to break all the good habits I've been developing lately. For instance, I'm now back to 3 big meals instead of 5-6 small ones, and I stopped posting a picture to LJ every weekday. I wonder if I'll be able to get them back after I return to my normal schedule.

I don't have any nifty tales, as my life has been TKD and work and commuting lately. Because of the rain last night, I did not return to my apartment, opting to sleep at my parents' house instead.

I'd love to comment on the political situation right now (bailout, McCain suspension, &c.), but it all seems so surreal, I feel I must be missing something. I will say this: the FDIC cannot fail. With that piece of information, you should feel confident that you'll be able to get your deposits at any time.

This is a nice long tag. I forget what it says, but hopefully I'll be able to read it when I get home tonight (work blocks LJ's photo service, but nothing else from there).

Tomorrow my (privacy-aware) friend D. from RIT is coming to visit NYC for a few hours between his bus and his plane. Aside from offering him my shower, since he was just on an overnight bus ride, what do you suggest I show a quiet geekish guy from Texas who is only staying for like 9 hours and will need to get to LGA?

Also this weekend Erin may be heading to Saloncon, but not as a steampunker. I hope she can make it, as I think she'll have an awesome time. If she can't, I guess we'll try to have one :-)

I think my post yesterday got eaten. If that's so, I'll try to repost it at lunch today.

Time to go back to 'Salt: A World History'.

You're going to need to click on this one to see its full glory.

I had a dream last night, but I remember very little of it except that I was killing a small creature. I don't know if it was a fish or rodent. I was killing it by smashing it on something, and I recall notching its eye and remarking on the gash. Sorry for the downer.

Today is the last day I'll be able to go to TKD class for a week, thanks to the holiday.

Does anyone know of a place that does good, on-demand-ish satellite photography? Do they offer framed prints? I'm looking for a nice, hi-res photo of a particular location, but Google Earth only draws upon a crummy 15m shot from 1999. I'm hoping for at least a 3m one, ideally better than 1m. Thanks!

Found these on 6th Ave, near 34th street. They're delightfully incoherent. I forget what phone booth ads they were pasted over, but I think one was a trashy reality show.

My friend Andrew form TKD will be staying w/ me and Erin for a few days before the mountains trip, and for a few days after. It'll be nice to see him, but I think he'll be bored because both Erin and I work during the day.

I keep forgetting to bring MSI's If to work to rip it. Oh well. It's a pretty sweet album, as usual for them. Erin and I first listened to it while driving about on Saturday. I was worried I'd speed, but all went OK.

When I tried this 2-page posting method before, I noticed the 2nd page of text disappears, but both images are displayed, so that's how there are 2 photos here, instead of the normal 1.

Didn't bring a book today. Maybe I'll be able to do the extra posting required to free up some space on my phone. Any requests?

Looks like someone had a good time in the street near my house. I guess that either a contractor was very bored, or someone else in the neighborhood has some electric orange paint.

I don't really have a lot of news. Yesterday I went to work. Today I go to work. I'm heading in early today because a Customer is coming in that is known to show up around 8. It's not a total loss, as it means that I'll be able to leave a little early, and hopefully get myself a much-needed haircut. I have this tendency to get it cut shorter than I like it, and let it grow out longer than I like it. This means I get a haircut every 3-4 months or so. But it also means that by this time, I'm ready to lop it all off.

I finished Picross again. I love downloadable content! I guess that means back to Space Invaders Extreme. It's been a while, but I hope to hit the credits for the first time soon.

I'm not so sleepy for a Monday morning. I expect work will change that. I've got a morning of calculations to go.

Found this on 10th street and 3rd avenue in Manhattan. Not sure what it refers to, so I guess I should Google it. I tried to do that before with another piece I found, turned up nothing, and now the tagger left me a comment calling me a 'negative blogger'. I'll link to it once I've finished my response, which will be something along the lines of 'nothing against you, but that tag wasn't particularly good.'

Finally Friday has arrived, so only 8 more hours in the office. I've been very dumb about going to bed lately, so I'm rather sleepy. I'm eager for my weekend, even if it's one day instead of 4.

I guess that it's official: the Internet is real. I've now had two random real-world encounters based on my entries (the above and the sofa incident). Does this officially make me a blogger? ;-)
In all seriousness, I'm a little amazed at how much trying to post a photo every day has changed my relationship to LJ, as well as significally increased my chances of getting randomly contacted.

I don't think that the scrawled response, 'drink water,' came through very well. The Peanut Board wants you to know that they can help you through the 3-o'clock slump. One New Yorker disagrees.

I went jogging this morning with Erin. Very short trip at a moderate pace. I just wanted to give her the opportunity to get a run done and give me the chance to loosen up a bit for my run tomorrow. Unfortunately, I've got to get in early tomorrow because we're meeting at the guardhouse at 4:15, where I usually leave work just before 5.

The Portable Atheist has been getting much more readable now that I'm in contemporary works. But, there are still some pieces that are worth skipping. Like one piece was solely a critique of some other work, not included in this collection for obvious reasons. I know I Should seek out this referenced work myself & then return, but I can't be bothered. Oh, and Richard Dawkins is much less annoying in print than he is on YouTube.

Found this inside a men's room door at a place with pretty good wings but abysmal service. See, I was working 2nd shift Friday, and went w/ some of my teammates to a bar in Clifton. But before we could leave, the car got a flat. So how many Engineers does it take to change a flat? 4. Me to raise & lower the car & find the parking brake & directions, Dennis to loosen the bolts & switch wheels, Brennard to tighten with help on all steps by Vikas. It was Brennard's Benz (his dad works for them).

Tonight the weather breaks!

It's a flower. Aren't you glad its a flower? This looks like a different style than our favorite proto-anarchists, who recently scrawled 'Live Free, Die Free,' on another bench, but I could be wrong. Maybe one of them has a new girlfriend or something.

I've been finding 'The Portable Atheist' rather slow going. Part of it is my natural bias against non-fiction, and part of it is the flowery prose of the Enlightenment. But the biggest part is annoyance is with sound bitey authors like Marx. He constantly does things like, 'It is not the A B, but rather the B A!' Granted, this provides a lot of catchy, punchy lines, but for this to go on for 8 pages of ranting about the 'German Situation' (which our editor has completely failed to tell up about) gets a little tiresome. The later 19th century is more bearable, and I took a quick trip to the 21st, just to take a rest, so I should be ok from here on in.

Erin and I did a knife skills class last night. I now feel much more able to cut stuff