Tuesday, December 30, 2008

photos from buenos aires. more to come soon!

Our pictures we've uploaded so far.

Hope everyone had good holidays!

We will be home very soon......... to love on the kitties and dance at the Drasco party :)


click below:




Buenos Aires 2008 Christmas




Sunday, December 21, 2008

boca


yesterday we went to BOCA and walked around the historic/artsy district. went to a super cute "handmade" type trendy store, and ate amazing food at don juan something or other. the lunch was interesting... you basically pay a flat rate, then the cook makes whatever he wants for the whole restaurant.

we had cheesey potatoes, spinach truffle thingies, strange creamy pizza, roasted red peppers and eggplant, several steaks, chorizo, smoked fish, bread and cheese, empanaditas, meatballs, fried provalogne cheese, coke zero from glass bottles and numerous desserts.... flan, terramizu (sp?), candied fruit, ice cream, apple tart, pastries, chocolates...... insane.

and today, we're all in bed with upset stomachs. good thing it's raining.



yesterday:




Tuesday, December 16, 2008

doomsday


Saturday the 13th of Dec was the TX premier of the Council of Doom DVD. Our friends hosted it... we were (not sadly) in Buenos Aires at the time :)

Here is the Raven Feeders vid of our CSTX guys that also premiered after the alleycat.

Friday, December 12, 2008

almost done


about to leave.... argentina here we come!

in 2 days ish lucas and i will be in buenos aires, lounging by the pool, drinking wine, and totally vegging out.


going to miss the kitties a TON.......... makes me sad. it's okay. julie will love on them..... and protect my house.



i'll be putting photos up possibly daily from lucas' parents' house, so check up frequently! :)

here's some of argentina, just to get excited:


Friday, December 5, 2008

felting

trying to do some felting. lucas makes fun of me.................. but trying new things lately has kept my mind off of all that college station DOESN'T have to offer. making my own things is therapy during hard economic times, lack of work, and cold gross weather.


i'll put up pics of stuff i made soon.... it's not hard at all!


here's stuff i like.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

where the hell is matt dot com

never seen or heard of this before, but watch the video..... really nice!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

i have an etsy shop

it's not very big. it's growing i guess. it's my first time using etsy from a selling point of view, and it seems like your stuff would just get lost in the mix of things. there are like 10 million people selling things on there.

anyone had any luck? i haven't yet in my 2 days with items up. patience... and making more things. stuff to keep me busy while i'm having slow times at the tattoo shop.

but yeah, check it out and buy stuff from it. ha. really! i will be adding stuff frequently, and it's all VERY moderately priced.



in the market for...

a new drawing/drafting/crafting whatever table.

something with drawers attached, or nothing at all (no little clip attached sections... those are crappy and fall off).

this one would be perfect, so i could have my laptop on the side.


has anyone seen/used this one before? Safco brand again? oh wait... it's just for the top of it.

let me know if you see anything good.........

Sunday, November 23, 2008

christmas list.

i feel like... i wish i had more business at work. i'm stressed out about things like... rent. and trying to save money for more rent while lucas and i are in argentina. i knew it would be rough, but how was i to predict the amount of damage reckless wealthy individuals and companies would cause? deregulation......what a scary word. see what happens when there isn't ENOUGH regulation?

i'm looking forward to the day when i can say that i do not live week by week on my pay. and i'm doing pretty well.. i think. i mean, i think i manage just fine. i eat every day, and by careful calculations, live very comfortably!

then i think about people who have $800 electricity bills, and people that spend more money on things like clothing than i make in a month. people that give their children lexus SUVs for their birthday. that's sickening... all i want is to have a few "grown up" things like maybe new towels and a semi-consistent not-crappy silverware drawer.

so, i'm going to go into a pretend magical world right now and make an unrealistic christmas list. things that i would LOVE to have, but would expect anyone to actually buy them. some of them aren't expensive i guess, i just won't ask for stuff. i just want to dream about it and look at pretty pictures, because that gives me a lot of happiness in itself.


THULE roof rack for my MINI! please!



i need a new coat, a quality and warm one.


i'd love some boots. not that i need them in tx.


had no luck in thrift stores with my size wingtips or oxfords.


these are really nice.


someone please organize my art stuff.



and my art area.




cutie tables.


a nice armchair to replace my lawnchair furniture.



a beautiful and useful kitchen.




oriental shorthair kitties!



a nice little house in North Park or Normal Heights or Hillcrest. San Diego.




with a back yard/porch.


teapot.



hat that actually fits.



a t@b (or similar) camper!! burningman solved!



knog panniers... for real.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

so tired of here.

today we got some interesting news from the physics dept. it's his project/degree/etc, so i won't go into it very much...but the details make me livid.

the physics department... every time someone i know talks about their masters/phD program here at aTm, i'm disgusted with everything. they are unorganized. they use their students for labor, with threats to cut their funding. they expect ridiculous hours. being involved in anything else? Out of the question. then they tell you that you don't have the background in your field that they are looking for....but they have no way to provide it for you. how are you supposed to learn anything or keep a job that way? your race DOES matter. so do your glasses, and your haircut, and you will be told that outright. you've been here for 10 years and you're almost done with your thesis? oh sorry, we've brought in someone new and we're not going to give you your PhD. your experiment isn't doing well? looks like another 10 years of labor. you have kids? too bad, you won't get home until 3am EVERY DAY.

it makes me not want to go back to grad school. why would anyone want to go through that? the TAMU physics department is the model of exactly what i would NEVER sign up for. too bad none of the incoming grad student have any clue of that. additionally, the foreign students have to deal with so much aggression from the white redneck undergraduates and locals that they live in fear of biking to the university and back every day.

now, all the wonderful things i've experienced here aside(the neighborhood, lucas, my friends, biking, the wheelers, art guild, aTm club soccer, the awesome political science dept, poking you tattoo and my job, the long road trip to burningman each summer...).. those mostly uniquely created experiences aside... college station texas/TAMU is probably one of the absolutely worst places i have EVER found myself in. the city culture provides close to nothing, if not causing backwards momentum against any sort of progressive or even slightly different culture. we have to create things like the art guild, the wheelers and the neighborhood for our own sanity, and just hope that someone similar to us will continue the trend for THEIR own sanity. i have to say, we started from scratch and it was tough. i wonder who will come after us? hopefully we've made enough of an impact for others to follow with a little bit of leftover direction. but college station will never change.

it's a town founded on tradition, racism/sexism, religion and bigotry. it absolutely disgusts me.

i am very thankful for those trying to make it a better place for moderates and progressive types of culture to simply survive. model individuals like the members of The Neighborhood, all those creating the art culture center in downtown Bryan, Rola and Revolution, Dr. Crompton at TAMU and in the city council, Andrew Pitts and his work with the community, Maroon Bike Project, Barbara Moore in the neighborhood department in the city... sensible and kind cops like Officer Fleeger and the bicycle cops who don't simply give foreign students tickets for not having lights, but are the first ones to the scene when there are drunken fights behind northgate. all the professors who stick it out among students, on the DAY of the election, still think Obama is "not black, but muslim."


i've learned so much here that it makes my brain hurt. it's time to learn in ways that aren't quite as painful. my friends and i deserve better.... it's been too many years here. good luck to the rest of you. get out, there are abundant opportunities for you in places in the world that WANT your input, and where your creativity can be used to its FULL potential.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

leaf

mobile. going to make this tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

OBAMA & THE PEOPLE WIN!


EXCITING! for the first time in the last 8 years, I have cried out of HAPPINESS during the election. I remember 4 years ago, when Bush got his 2nd term. I was laying on the couch crying until around 3am, hoping maybe it was all a fuck-up and it would be retracted somehow. Those days are over, at least for a few years.

Obama Obama Obama! By campaigning in not only classically democratic states, but republican states also, he has successfully won the trust of areas untouched for YEARS by the color blue.

Obama took Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, West Virginia, and New Mexico.

I tattooed for like 8 hours straight, trying to check online in between, but everyone in the shop kept updating me with the electoral vote count. Around 10pm, we SHUT DOWN the shop and all took off to celebrate! What a great bike ride home from work... Phone calls to my family, close friends, and the thought that riding my bike was a concept that my president SUPPORTS. Maybe in the near future, the bicycle commuter act will have more support and standing!

okay. we could all go on and on. on every topic. but i'm tired now. some photos.







Tuesday, October 28, 2008

AUSTIN critical mass: ON HALLOWEEN!


Critical Mass is on Halloween this year in Austin!

Let's go! get hold of me if you'd like to go... I'll be headed up that way for my brother's soccer game the next day anyway.

Hooray.

Monday, October 27, 2008

When Palin gets annoyed, her brain stops working entirely.


ha............................ is this real? if you're supporting this woman in any way, in all seriousness, you should be ashamed of yourself. voting for a washed out pushover old man is supporting her bid for the presidency. please reevaluate your decision, it is very important.


Palin was annoyed by Couric's questions on the CBS interview... That's why her flustered responses made absolutely no sense, and she showed absolutely no knowledge regarding very heavy US current events.

wow.

if you need a refresher, here is a video of the interview.




other interesting articles that never cease to amaze me:

palin's makeup girl gets $22,300 paycheck (2weeks). this is relevant in terms of how poorly their budget is distributed, considering their political advisors get around $12000 each 2 weeks. Her hairdresser gets about the same as the political advisors, if not more. this is also important news in regard to how their paychecks are reported- as "personnel svc/equipment" and "communications consulting." palin has a record of using taxpayer's money for her own use (the police jet in alaska), using her position of power for personal gain (troopergate, using the local alaskan police jet for personal travel), not regarding what she is told to do by her own party/advisors (using alaskan tax money for flying/hotels for her children at campaign events they are not invited to, speaking to the press when advised not to). the list goes on!

the republican national commitee spends $150,000 "outfitting" Palin and her family... I could LIVE on that amount of money for more than a few YEARS. her makeup artist's single paycheck could pay off my college debt!!!!!!! disgusting.

and, palin left her small town of wasilla, alaska more than $20 million in long-term debt after her time in office as mayor. she was known as the "ear-mark queen."

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

bicycle commuter act?!



CHECK THIS OUT! haven't heard it in the news or anything... saw it on apartment therapy re-nest article and on cycling blogs.

So it seems like us cyclists never get any deserved benefits (aside from being in shape and super sexy til we're old), but George Bush must not have read the bail out plan's details very carefully, and we got the good end of the deal.

Included in the bail-out plan signed into law a couple weeks ago was a very short act called the "Bicycle Commuter Act." Apparently, Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Ron Wyden (both Oregon Democrats) have been pushing this type of act for almost a decade. Their persistence, and our choice of alternative transportation, finally got that act written in the bail-out plan under the larger chapter of Renewable Energy Tax Credit Initiatives legislation.

Thanks to hardworking representatives, strategic and intelligent legislation was passed. Looks like us lower income people might actually have just ONE benefit from the bailout bill. Who would've guessed it would involve our bikes.


HERE ARE THE BASICS:

Starting January 1, 2009, this will be the LAW, if you are a bicycle commuter (to your job).

Discuss with your employer- they will have to fill out forms (not yet created) to make this tax break happen.

You can/will be reimbursed up to $20 (taxable...) a month for almost any bicycle related expenses.

Your employer will be reimbursed what they pay you. Also, they get an income tax break at the end of the year.

EVERYONE BENEFITS.





Now, you might be thinking... "$20 a month ain't shit." BUT, the act was FINALLY passed into legislation. SUPPORT IT, and those representing us will be working very hard to get us MORE of a break! It was originally supposed to be $80 a month, but $20 is a good start.

RIDE YOUR BIKE!
please update me if you hear any new info!

check out the League of American Bicyclists page for the FAQ on this bill so far. here it is as of now, in the bailout plan:

SEC. 211. TRANSPORTATION FRINGE BENEFIT TO BICYCLE COMMUTERS.

(a) In General- Paragraph (1) of section 132(f) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘(D) Any qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement.’.

(b) Limitation on Exclusion- Paragraph (2) of section 132(f) is amended by striking ‘and’ at the end of subparagraph (A), by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘, and’, and by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: ‘(C) the applicable annual limitation in the case of any qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement.’.

(c) Definitions- Paragraph (5) of section 132(f) is amended by adding at the end the following:

    ‘(F) DEFINITIONS RELATED TO BICYCLE COMMUTING REIMBURSEMENT-

      ‘(i) QUALIFIED BICYCLE COMMUTING REIMBURSEMENT- The term ‘qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement’ means, with respect to any calendar year, any employer reimbursement during the 15-month period beginning with the first day of such calendar year for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee during such calendar year for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.
      ‘(ii) APPLICABLE ANNUAL LIMITATION- The term ‘applicable annual limitation’ means, with respect to any employee for any calendar year, the product of $20 multiplied by the number of qualified bicycle commuting months during such year.
      ‘(iii) QUALIFIED BICYCLE COMMUTING MONTH- The term ‘qualified bicycle commuting month’ means, with respect to any employee, any month during which such employee--
      ‘(I) regularly uses the bicycle for a substantial portion of the travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment, and
      ‘(II) does not receive any benefit described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1).’.


(d) Constructive Receipt of Benefit- Paragraph (4) of section 132(f) is amended by inserting ‘(other than a qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement)’ after ‘qualified transportation fringe’.

(e) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008.


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

sad guys on trading floors


this is hilarious.

the economic crisis isn't.... but my disgust for richness, greed, irresponsibility, gambling, and money in general makes this one of my new favorite photo blogs.

Sad Guys on Trading Floors.

hah.