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Monthly Archives: December 2009

Out with the old

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Heading to Des Moines in a few hours (yr so jealous, I know). Before I go, here’s a little treat I cooked up for whoever it is reads this blog and likes mixtapes made by out-of-it white dudes with iTunes: Download “Frenz ’10″. What the hay, right? 01 – Yo La Tengo – If It’s [...]

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Going nowhere

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Here’s a fun experiment if you can get away with it: For a four-day holiday weekend, don’t stray more than 1/4 mile from your home. Have enough food and supplies to last it out. If you must see people, make them come to you. Even then, pretend your pajamas are clothes. When asked to justify [...]

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2009 Anxiety Index

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

What’s troubling my mind on a scale of 0 (no stress) to 10 (panic attacks). > The swirling mass of plastic choking the North Pacific: 1.0 > Total economic collapse (or as Travis prophesies, “when the shit goes down”): 3.5 > That all skills I’ve acquired as an adult will be obsolete when the shit [...]

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Allatonceness

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I STUMBLED ON A COPY OF “THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE” at the library this weekend, a 1996 reprint faithful to the stark and brilliant design of the 1967 original. As pervasive as the central idea now seems—that our information environment shapes thought, society and responsibility—there’s an unexpected freshness to the book (and it’s not [...]

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Cranky Xmas

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My family agreed to give minimally for Christmas this year. That means my annual retail immersion is off, which is a relief (I have this thing about stores during holidays; the music alone makes me feel like a lunatic). I’m shopping ultra-local for the few people I need to buy for. For the rest, I’m [...]

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The importance of being earnest

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Saying “thank you” isn’t hard for me. It comes as naturally as “I’m sorry” and “I’ll have whatever’s cheapest.” Yet every December I am struck dumb by the task of acknowledging my clients. Some people are blessed with an instinct for smart and sincere giving; this is not one of my gifts. My five years [...]

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Morel clarity

Friday, December 4, 2009

I’VE FOUND A NEW PRODUCTIVITY ZONE in my day between 10 and midnight, so I’m jumping on this year’s handmade gift program. Steve Davis a/k/a Hank Piece comes through with a new batch of tunes to share every year, and I haven’t reciprocated in a while. To say thanks, I made an homage in glass [...]

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Omens/Observations

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

There’s a lull in my business every December during which I subsist on snack-sized projects. “Seasonal slowdown” I guess it’s called. And things pick up again in January. Nothing to worry about. I should be grateful. Nothing to worry about. I should be grateful. Nothing to worry about. I should be grateful. Right? After parking [...]

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