Greetings from Grants Pass, Oregon & Happy Holidays, however I am the happiest of all because I am sitting comfortably in front of my laptop who now has a new little sister, meet iPod. We three are enjoying the web wirelessly while listening to 680 songs. I did have more, but I emptied most of my iTunes library before I left to make room for anything I might accidentally upload during my travels. But don't you fret little one, there are enough tunes to fill up your generous little 30GB hard drive when we get back home. Many wonderful things came my way this xmas; a large collection of antique cameras that were found during the shuffle after my grandfather's passing earlier this year; a couple of books covering the oh-so fabulous topic of type design; warm & fuzzy goodness, aromatic lotions and sprays, etc. I am off to another section of my home-state tomorrow; destination: Roseburg. I will definately be away from the wireless world for a couple of days, but I think I can deal since now I have little baby iPod to keep me company. Until next time…

woah, it has been ages since I have visited this cyber world, it is nice to be back. Although it would be much nicer if I was on the comfort of my own computer. I am currently occupying a nifty 'lil PC, however I still hate it and wish I was on my Mac. There is a wireless network where I am at; oh yeh, I am currently sitting in a beautiful house in the beach in Oregon, listening to the sounds of splattering rainfall on the rooftops and trying to muffle out the sounds of the family downstairs singing doo-wop and bluegrass tunes of the south. Anyways, wireless network, yes. Lovely as it is, something isn't right with it because my puter isn't allowing a connection. So sad, so sad. I could be in my little cottage above the garage, watching digi-cable and surfing the web from the comfort of a gushy queen sized bed. SO far my trip has been quite enjoyable, my days and nights filled with friends and wine. Lots of wine. And food. Yeh, I expect not to be able to wear any clothes that I left town in, for they will just be too small. Though tomorrow maybe a stroll down the beach will burn a few calories, maybe a game of pool (gotta work the biceps ya know).

This is interesting, someone made a bunch of kids listen to Radiohead and draw while they were listening. It sounds as if no one liked them much, the writer of the article doesn't seem to be very Radiohead friendly either. Oh well, no one will like them when they grow up, nerds. So tomorrow morning I am off to Portland, once again. A nice long holiday adventure that is sure to bring some interesting moments. I am really looking forward to it, though it is certain I will be rushing around everyday, trying to fit in all the people that I want to visit with, as well as trying to squeeze in some much needed laziness accompanied by video games and digital cable. Oh yeh baby, I wanna become a vegetable or christmas. But a vegetable with family and friends. and new stuff. I'm beginning to freak out just a little because I haven't finished all the things that I need to and time is ticking away; laundry isn't done (most importantly those winter sweaters I so adore and can't live without), presents aren't wrapped, I am not packed (which is the largest task of them all), and my eyebrows are not plucked! My favorite christmas/winter jacket, the best I have ever owned, is at the dry cleaners still. I made a big fuss when dropping it off, that this jacket is coming on holiday with me, if it isn't done I will have to have a nervous breakdown at the dry cleaners. And the Survivor finale is on tonight! Oh lordy, however will I manage this ridiculous life! And, lucky you, you won't have to miss me while I am away. Puter will be by my side, and I will be happily blogging my little heart out, and maybe posting some photos along the way. happy holidays!

Ok, so there is really just one man, a musician, who creates sound that makes me want to do dirty and nasty things. There are a bazillion artists out there that create beautiful, inspiring, and bone-bouncing beats and rhythms, however Pole takes the grand prize for creating the sexiest music in existence (stefan, email me!). I also wanted ot just mention, since I am on the topic of music, that Neutral Milk Hotel is currently my favorite band to sing along with while sitting in front of the computer, Innocence Mission and Iron & Wine are my favorites to walk in the rain to, industrial tracks from bands like Lætherstrip, Skinny Puppy and Front 242 are currently the genre of choice while working out (they make me go faster) and of course Radiohead, as always and forever and ever, is what I like to listen to inbetween the rest.

If you read the post below, from yesterday, you will remember that I received a parcel notice (if you haven't read it yet, do it now, so you don't think I am crazy. Or maybe you still will come to that conclusion, but I am OK with that). After I finished that post, I took a fast-paced stroll, in my pajamas, down the drive, headed for the post office. The entire 3 block journey was filled with visions of furry Ewoks climbing out of a giant cardboard box, arms open wide, ready to accept their new Earth-guardian into their cute little lives, and hungry for a fire-side pig roasting in the woods of BC, or in my apartment. Cause I don't have a car. I'm not so sure that an Ewok wants his first experience on Earth to be using the public transportation system, or trying desperately to hold on to my handlebars in the freezing cold, trying to get to a wooded area. Anyways, I ended up waiting in line for well over 20 minutes, peering into the back room looking for a box with holes in it, maybe something with the letter "z", which could only mean me. The holiday season is not the best time to go to the post office, everyone and their crackhead friend is there, hoping to send a package to the States, or quietly wishing for that fictional creature they always wanted. There was even a fight, between two seemingly respectable older women, one with her grandson. The eldest, was upset the woman behind her was standing so close to her and wished she would "give her a little breathing room." She continued on down the counter, explaining to her grandson, as she licked a placed her stamps on outgoing holiday greeting cards, that some people in the world are just plain rude, and he will have to live his life running into people such as this woman, who stood too close. Remarkable advice, I only wish someone would have told me that when I was 8 years old. It could have saved me a lot of trouble and maybe I would have turned out to be a better person because of it. The woman who stood too close apologized, trying to explain that because there were about 30 others waiting in these tight quarters, that she was simply trying to create space for the crowd. And then she followed with, and this surprised me, "Well if you would like to take it outside, I will be done here in 5 minutes." Whhaa? I did a double-take, I think the whole place did. I wanted to see this fight! But unfortunately the crackhead standing behind me was making such a racket with her twitching body, running into the envelopes and stomping her feet, that I compeltely forget about the fight, so I don't know what happened after that. The crackhead distracted me with her annoying as hell habits and nervous behaviour. But I love that shit, I do, so I couldn't take my eyes off her. After awhile I had completely forgotten that I might be the proud parent of a new Ewok and started getting upset because this nervous nail-biting woman was beginning to invade my personal space. I thought I was going to have to take her outside for a little fight club action… The rest of my tale isn't even worth talking about because my dreams were shattered when I finally got to the counter, the adventures in line at the post office was basically the best part of my day. I handed the man my parcel notice and identification, he recognizes the "z" name and reaches for a very small, blue box and says, "here ya go." At that very moment I knew exactly what is was and thought to myself, "Jeez, I am retarded." After hours of contemplation over what the hell this package could possibly be, I remember at that very moment that I had ordered a new set of cheques. CHEQUES! My postman left me a parcel notice, hanging on my doorknob, telling me of the most boring piece of mail I have ever had the priveledge of receiving. Coupons to the grocery store I have never heard of are more exciting. I wonder if the Endor Animal Exporting (EAE) company takes cheques?

My first full day of being free from my jail cell, free from haunting deadlines and free from the stress-filled air of the design studio at school, a place I have been calling home over the last couple of weeks. After I night filled with depressing movies(but amazing), great friends and decent drinks, all I wanted was to sleep in and wake up at my leisure. Maybe crawl out of bed, stretch my arms to the ceiling and then go for some coffee. Turn on some lovely music and think about all the things I want to make in the coming weeks. How lovely does that sound? Well, to me it sounds amazing, that is a luxury I just haven't had in recent days. The reality of it all is a big-ass super-sized tree-eating monster outside my window. My brain was jolted out of deep, hangover curing sleep by the sounds of men with giant, industrial sized saws, cutting branches off of trees on my street. These include the branches right around my window. It didn't stop there, after hours of cutting and pruning with the loudest saws of Canada, they turned on the loudest, biggest wood-chipper I have ever seen (except at a sawmill, cause they are WAY bigger). All these branches of my street are being fed into the monster, even still hours later. and this sucks. I eventually adapted to the sounds as I looked for a comfortable way to burrow my head into the pillows, and somehow fell back asleep, my dreams taking on a soundtrack, the score being composed by a giant woodchipper.
I did get a surprise parcel notice on my door yesterday. Someone sent me a package! Not all to uncommon during the holidays, but knowing that most of my family I will see over the holidays, friends as well, there is no need for someone to send me something, for they can give it to me in person. Quite exciting really, this mysterious gift. I shouldn't get my hopes up, it may not be a gift at all. It could be my lover's head or a pair of eyeballs wrapped in cloth. ok too many movies. Maybe it is that Ewok I asked for so many years ago. Did it get lost in the mail? Lose it's way from Endor all the way to earth in a warp speed maze through space? yes, it must have.

Hey peeps, check out some cool stuff from classmates – no content, but interesting… this here. ok So drinking at skool yeh, more to come later. stories.

Anyone who has an interest in printing (ie, woodblock, lithography, screen) should take a look at this great piece put together by MoMa.

I have found my new favorite band. They make my insides feel warm and gushy.

This is so incredibly funny – a must read. I just love this guy.

OOhhhh… these guys have created awareness for a subject many of us may not have thought about – The battery life of an iPod. Read this article for the latest. And don't forget to Shizzolate it!!

The saga continues… artists vs designers. It has always been and always will be, a battle over what is right and wrong with the world, the two sides never agreeing. I just sat in on a good lecture givin by John Fluevog, maker of extreme footwear, designer of original shoes and of course, the very shoes that are on my feet right now. He very blunty told the crowd, mostly made up of visual artists, that business is business and trends are trends. Art is business, design is business etc. You could tell by the rapid-fire of questions backed by undertones of anger in their voices, THAT was not what they wanted to hear. They probably wanted to hear about how pink leather is manufactured (until they found out it was manufactured in China and Portugal), how steel was created to form a sole and whether or not their designs could make it into his line of products (which of course is interesting, just not the basis of why he is here to speak and what he has to offer). Many will walk out with a bitter taste, realizing that the "art" world, or business world is not the pretty painted picture that they would liker for it to be, or thought it was. Gotta cut my rant short, I have class to attend.

Having too much fun can sometimes be dangerous. This evening, after the dreadful sociology for design test, that so wonderfully ended that class for the semester, moods were shifted towards the happier end of the scale and my friend an I played a little game of "train-chairs" or "see how fast you can spin around while speeding down the narrow hallway of lockers in the design studios in a chair" game. We laughed and laughed and ran into lockers and walls, dizzying ourselves to the point of hysterical madness, then appropriately right in front of a room full of industrial designers, I fall face forward onto the floor, chair flying out from behind (curiously, this same thing happened to Calli a couple of days ago). So the laughing got much louder after that. It was all fun and games, though I have two golf-ball sized knots on both my knees. Silly designers.

I like to learn. I learned a little about some very small islands that belong to Australia called the Heard and McDonald Islands. I discovered them when browsing my statistics page, checking out who's been visiting my site, when I saw one of the countries as this small set of islands. Please dear sir or madam, you who saw my site from your humble abode in the south seas, tell me of your world! I am actually quite curious because these islands are, from what I understand, uninhabited with no economic activity, no ports or harbors for trade, yet they have an internet country code, .hm. Interesting. Perhaps there are ghosts who are surfing the web via their telepathic minds...OHhhhhh. No seriously. I am curious. Talk to me bout it.