You have to wonder why we allow our elected officials in Washington to add so much “pork” to our federal budget. We all know it  goes on yet we seem powerless to do anything about it. It’s the same old game, year after year: “You approve my pork barrel  spending and I’ll vote for your appropriation bill, whatever it might be…”  

Pat DuHamel sent the following examples of pork barrel spending, all approved in the 14-volume U.S. Budget agreed upon by House and Senate Committees and approved by the White House. I haven’t verified them, but they don’t surprise me:

We have a winner for 2006! 

And the band plays on…

Digital shutterbugs will find this in depth review of Adobe’s recently released Photoshop Lightroom of interest. Since the success of Apple’s Aperture, professional shooters have been eagerly awaiting Lightroom’s release and, after extensive beta testing, the wait is over. Having put the application through its paces on a MacBook Pro CoreDuo 2.0 and a Dual G5 2.0, both running OSX 10.4.8, the reviewers at ars technica  give us their first hand impressions.

I  won’t be a spoiler and tell you their conclusions; those of you interested in pro-quality raw post production will want to read the entire review and decide for yourselves. Suffice it to say that Bibble, Apperture and Lightroom all have pros and cons but, at least for Windows users, Lightroom looks like a no-brainer.

The renovation project continues. The workers have torn out the marble in the entry and prepared the floor for the “new” marble. Why replace the existing marble, you ask? I asked the same question. As it turns out, once the colors and fabrics had been chosen for the furniture and window treatments, we noticed that the existing marble contained a distinct pink hue. So, for that matter, did the wall color… as I’ve said before, everything is connected.

Of course, whenever undertaking such a project, one never knows what might appear under the old tiles. In our case, it was an unorthodox method of “floating,” all of which needed to be removed and replaced with correct sub-flooring.  It was a lengthy and messy task  but we’re ready now (knock on wood, pun intended) for the new 16” marble tiles.

The walls are being “skimmed” as I speak and will probably be sanded and ready for paint in a week or so. It’s all European “smoothwall” so the process is somewhat exacting. Our designers have recommended paint colors and we’ll look at sample boards next week to get a better idea of how the color might appear over a large area (visualizing color over an entire landscape from a small color swatch is not one of my strong suits.) 

We decided today to cap the floor outlets and replace them after the carpet, area rugs and furniture are installed. Improper placement of floor outlets would be disastrous. We picked carpets Monday; a solid for most of the areas, a cut pattern for the stairs, landing and upstairs bedroom, a commercial carpet in a darker shade in the gym and a dark, patterned one for the study. We may also use the cut patterned carpet in the master suite. The baths will be another project down the road, probably a natural stone.

Of course, no project of this magnitude can proceed without an occasional hiccup. In our case, there are numerous delays associated with virtually all our window treatments. I won’t go into them here, but we’re concerned the windows may not be treated by the time everything else is finished. But, all in all, we’re proceeding well and, thanks to a very capable and responsive general contractor and good design team, have had very few “issues.”  

We’ll be refinishing the wood floors in the kitchen and breakfast nook as well. The contractor will dovetail all this together so it plays like an orchestra. Glad I’m not handling all the scheduling and timetables. I’ve embedded a couple photos of the entry during demolition (they’re popups, so click on them for a larger view) and will post more,  perhaps even a slide show, when the project is further along. Keep your fingers crossed everything continues smoothly.

An oldie from Barb… 

A man boarded an airplane and quietly took his seat. As he settled in, he noticed a striking woman boarding the plane. She headed straight towards him and, as fate would have it,took the seat next to his. Eager to strike up a conversation, he blurted, “Business trip or pleasure?”

Turning toward him, she smiled and replied, “Business. I’m attending the annual Nymphomaniacs of America Convention in Chicago.”

Swallowing hard and struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, “And what exactly is your business role at the convention?”

“Lecturer,” she responded. “I use information that I’ve gained from my personal experiences to debunk some of the popular myths about human sexuality.

“Really!“ he said. “And what might some of those myths be?”

“Well,” she explained, “one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well-endowed of all men when in fact it is the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another common myth is that Frenchmen are the greatest lovers when in actuality it’s men of Jewish descent who are the best.  I’ve also discovered that the lover with by far the greatest stamina is the southern redneck…”

Suddenly the woman became uncomfortable and blushed. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I really shouldn’t’t be discussing any of this with you. I don’t even know your name.”

“Tonto,” the man said. “Tonto Goldstein. But my friends call me Bubba.”

You’ve probably seen or heard at least one news report about the married female astronaut who drove eleven hours wearing adult diapers (so as not to have to stop en route for potty breaks) to knock off another female who was competing for the attentions of a married male astronaut… You can’t make this stuff up, folks!

Cartoon via Neatorama

You may have seen this report or one like it on the news last week. If not, you’ll likely be alarmed. It’s a technique used by locksmiths and, unfortunately, bad guys to illegally enter your home without so much as a broken window pane. Called “lock bumping,” it’s something you need to be aware of.

Sadly, the internet is abuzz with “how-to” articles on creating “bump keys” and how to use them. They reportedly work on an estimated 80 percent of door locks so you’ll want to make sure yours is “bump proof.” Check with a reputable locksmith for guidance.

You may recall some time back I posted an article about the Bugati Veyron. I wanted one then and I want one even more now after seeing this video from Michael of James May wringing it out at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track near Wolfsburg, Germany to verify Bugatti’s claim that the “fastest production car in the world” tops out at 253 mph. Well, seeing is believing…

Now that the hoody’s been elevated to avant-couture, it follows that there’s an exhibition devoted to the ubiquitous item of clothing. Featuring works by local Bay Area designers such as Nicacelly (pictured), Uhu Clothing and Like Minded People, The Hoody Gallery is a group show of limited-edition hoodies that have been silkscreened, re-invented and otherwise tricked-out. The one-night event also features a line-up of DJs including a few from the label Solos, who are the hosts of The Hoody Gallery. (Click the flyer for a larger version.)

The Hoody Gallery
16 February 2007 
222 Club 
222 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102 map
tel. +1 415 440 0222                                                    

Via cool hunting

I won’t vouch for the validity of the data (there’s an accuracy disclaimer of sorts on the site) but it’s still fun to check out your name and those of  friends…

Punxsutawney Phil has spoken, and the news is good, at least from my perspective.  The world’s most famous furry forecaster didn’t see his shadow this morning on Gobbler’s Knob,  suggesting an early spring. Hooray!

Before you ask, Phil has now seen his shadow 96 times, hasn’t seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999.

So, what is Groundhog Day, anyway? Click here to learn everything you ever wanted to know about it. How’s your woodchuck wisdom? Take this quiz and find out. Want to become an official member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club? Obtain an application, along with a bunch of other information, at the official site of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.  Had enough? Me too.

I got this image from Scott. We certainly live in a different time than the one during which I grew up.  I doubt young girls thought much about this sort of thing back then. Oh sure, boys did; that certainly hasn’t changed.

But we evolve, sometimes for the better and sometimes into something that’s, well,  just different. I’ll admit that I long at times for the simpler life we enjoyed in “the old days.” We did all the same sorts of things but with less intensity, less abandon. We pushed boundaries but not as aggressively. And I think we actually enjoyed people and our lives more.

Today it seems as though we’re seldom satisfied unless we’re breaking down walls, challenging everything, pushing more limits and wildly reaching for whatever lies beyond. We call it progress and I suppose it is. Sometimes, though,  I yearn for the simpler life. (Click image for popup.)