I liked Ludwig's picture but I also must concur with Mr. Rogers that Grace Kelly is higher on the most beautiful list. I have for about 5 years had a picture in my Palm Pilot (though for a while it was Emily's Palm) of the beautiful Grace Kelly.

You may recognize these eyes as the center set in the header. They are in fact the same set and they were chosen specifically because of their striking beauty. I also think this is one of the best close-up portaits I have seen.

Man! just stare at this picture for a few seconds and you will have to agree with me.

I was looking yesterday for the facts of whether bread mold is bad for you or if (as I thought) it was harmless. Well I did a Google search and found out that some strains of the fungus that mold grows from can produce toxins. I didn't see any statistics that predicted how often the toxic strains occur appear so I really don't know if it is half or a whole lot less than half. Most of the scientific reports talked about the toxic strains like they seldomly were found.

When I searched Google the automated ads popped up to the right as usual though they were a little funnier than usual.

Well, I got a new decoration for my room. I won't try to explain it but I will give pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER











Notice any difference?

This post is going to be more boring than normal:

I recently found a free program that lets me check all the blogs I want to without actually logging on to all 15 sites. The program is called Feed Reader and it's free.

It works by you subscribing to your favorite blogs through their RSS feeds- then the program will automatically check for new posts every hour or two (or if you are not on the internet all the time it has a button which allows you to check). The interface is like a mail program, the unread title appear bold and turn normal after you click on them.

I just checked and my version of IE seemingly had no way to pick up the RSS - Firefox does work though, you can hit the little orange RSS button in the bottom right corner while on your favorite blog. After which you will need to copy the address to the program, it might take a little while to work it out but it is a great reward in the end.













It really helps me spend less time browsing around and get everything read.

Another nice point is how each post has a link at the bottom to let you surf to the actual post - allowing you to see any comments.

Now it isn't perfect, this is version 2.90 they are offering for download and it still has a few glitches though they are minor.

I hope this proves informative to all of y'all. The day I first got this I was totally excited - I've been wanting to write this post since then. Software can be so wonderful!

All right, I'm a nerd.

With Dan's wine list 1 2 3 being compiled I have been thinking about things which are particularly close to my heart.

One word comes to my mind: MUSIC

So many things in my life are connected with music. I don't know if I can say any more than that.

One of the most remakable properties that music has is when it associates itself with certain events or times, of course part of that is in my own head. The list of connections between music and memories is endless but some that pop into my head now are:

Norah Jones' Come Away With Me and 222A Gordon Hall (with the white Christmas lights strung up)
Lonesome River Band's Talkin' to Myself and My Grandparents House
Maroon 5 and Panama City, FL
Bob Dylan's You Ain't Going Nowhere and Evan
Just about any Simon & Garfunkel and being a little kid (4 or 5) at Pine Cove
Tim McGraw's Everywhere album and delivering pizza in my '87 Civic
Walls of Time (Ricky Skaggs version) and Cripplegate
Long Line of Leavers (Caedmon's Call) and my Car Wreck

The list goes on and on, I obviously didn't cover Sacred Harp or various other Sacred Music - and only because it is a little complicated to put into words.

I hope Dan won't be mad 'cause I jumped into "his pool," as it were.

Signing Off...

Happy Birthday to Robert Edward Lee!



I might have missed the toast for JRR Tolkien but I am sure going to toast ol' Robby tonight.

and the drink is going to be straight Orange Juice

(that would be Black Lid M.M.)

Several days ago I bought a Smokey Robinson CD entitled My World: The Definitive Collection. I honestly don't know from my own experience if it is definitive but every one on there is good.

I bought this CD because while I was still on break, my father played a few of his favorites (Papa likes R&B? didn't really know that :) and I liked them so much I listened to the whole CD on Rhapsody and then the other night I found it for 12.88 at wal*mat so I bought it. It was a good buy, I have listened to it through about 4 or 5 times and I really like it think that I have also succeeded in driving my roommate crazy though he hasn't told me.

On a different note -

What started out a playful game ended in disaster for two college students today in Lubbock.

Tuesday Night- Eric Ritchie and Jerry Chen were walking to the local Sam's Place joking with each other and discussing the class movie as they normally would. When they reached the door to the Chitwood/Weymouth complex they had their usual banter about who would open the door for the other. Jerry says "I always try to be the one to open the door for the other person."

It's true, we found that he has a reputation around the College of Architecture for standing for 15 minutes at a time to hold the door giving time for everyone to make it to class. Eric on the other hand is a "stuck up, self-satisfied prig" according to classmates who didn't want to be identified.

At the first door Eric conceded to Jerry and allowed him to hold the door open. Given the chance to hold the second door Eric took the chance, at that point Jerry dived for the other door, determined not to let Eric hold the door for him. Noting that Jerry was not going to accept the favor Eric went to cut him off and keep him from opening the second door. An eyewitness said "Yeah, I don't know what that white kid's problem is. It looked like assault to me..."

Regardless of motive, all agree that Eric pushed Jerry into the glass fronted fire extinguisher panel. The resounding crash could be heard all over the expansive lobby. Eric's only response was " it was already broken". Use of the particular panel was discontinued in 1993 when more up to date methods of fire suppression were retrofitted into the building.

School officials said they have not yet decided if they will press charges.

-Our Special Correspondent

Lately I have been on a mission to immerse myself in creativity - you might have noticed, part of that channeled into my revamped blog. Last night I surfed to the website of the man who originally designed the template for my blog (and quite a few others). His name is Douglas Bowman and his website is:

www.stopdesign.com

From his website I followed a link to another talented designer's site. I bet everyone in the world has seen this guy's work. Looking through his projects I saw that he had designed the Mozilla Firefox logos along with some really cool websites.

http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/

Everyone ought to check it out, it's really cool.

Additionally, I stumbled on to some really interesting Architecture blogs that talk about new things happening in the world of ... well, Architecture and design. One thing that particularly interested me is the article on the prefab work of a lady named Rocio Romero, you will find that a couple posts back on Inhabitat.

http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/

http://www.inhabitat.com/

I found this picture randomly as I was surfing the web this evening, it looked intriguing and so I thought "I will put this on my blog" and then I said "ok, that's a great idea Eric" and then...

anyway

Here are some of the thoughts that ran through my head as I was looking at this picture:

what are they thinking? who took this picture? who drinks wine and eats apples at the same time? is that elderly gentleman a former german spy? does his wife know he was a spy?

I found this picture on this website www.camping-toegemannsfeld.de after running it through babelfish it made more sense.

By the way... what would a good caption be for these folks?

First of all, Happy Birthday to Emily--

Second, as y'all can see I have a brand new header for my blog, I was just playing around this morning and I thought it came out looking cool. It would seem that I have a fascination with eyes

-- So, can anyone (besides my family) name the people who belong to these eyes?

So about a month ago I was given the new Nickel Creek album by my brother and I really like it - I was listening again this morning, particularly to Sara's rendition of Bob Dylan's song "Tomorrow is a Long Time" and it made me want to hear the original. I listened to it and I must say that I think that the original is better then the cover. Dylan's version can be found on Greatest Hits Vol. 2 Disc 2

Here are the lyrics:

Tomorrow is a Long Time

If today was not an endless highway,
If tonight was not a crooked trail,
If tomorrow wasn't such a long time,
Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all.
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin',
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin',
Only if she was lyin' by me,
Then I'd lie in my bed once again.

I can't see my reflection in the waters,
I can't speak the sounds that show no pain,
I can't hear the echo of my footsteps,
Or can't remember the sound of my own name.
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin',
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin',
Only if she was lyin' by me,
Then I'd lie in my bed once again.

There's beauty in the silver, singin' river,
There's beauty in the sunrise in the sky,
But none of these and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love's eyes.
Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin',
Yes, and if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin',
Only if she was lyin' by me,
Then I'd lie in my bed once again.