Kuiper Sophie Smith was born on 1/13 weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. and standing 20 inches tall. She’s perfect and we’re all on a babymoon.

And for inquiring minds and their wanting to know…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt

1. My wedding ring. It’s big and plain and made of white gold and without any inscriptions, jewels, or decorations whatsoever. It looks like The One Ring. In fact, I occasionally take it off and talk to it like Golum. My preciousssss….

However, I have yet to throw it into a fireplace to see if the flames cause elvish script to appear on it.

2. New music. In addition to the aforementioned new Radiohead release, the last three weeks alone have seen cd’s by Dropkick Murphys, High On Fire, and Oceansize drop. And that’s after a summer featuring kickass albums from The White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, and Gogol Bordello. After a slow start to the year, the quantity of good new music coming out has turned into a deluge.

3. My cat. She was extremely shellshocked after spending six months at the animal shelter, and spent her first two weeks hiding under furniture. However, she’s since come out of her shell, and now will imperiously demand that you sit down so she can climb on top of you and knead the hell out of your lap. Her name is Scratchy.

4. The total domination of New England over American professional sports. The Red Sox are in the running for the World Series, the Patriots are a merciless steamroller flattening any and every team unfortunate enough to have to play them, and even the long-dormant Celtics are getting into the act, stealing Kevin Garnett from Minnesota and Ray Allen from Seattle to assemble a veritable All-Star team.

5. 1408. When was the last time a movie adaptation of a Stephen King story was any good? This one, however, is fantastic. It received little notice in the theaters, but it’s well worth the rent; scary and spooky as hell without being gory. And for the ladies out there, it stars John Cusack.

Last night was the Justin Timberlake concert.  It was really awesome!  The only thing I didn’t like was Good Charlotte opening for him. They seemed really out of place.

Here is my top 10 of the show:

10. Meeting up with other Justin fans before the show and getting a drink…Erin it was good to see you and meet your sisters.

9. Seats. The stage was in the middle with the seats around the stage and that made for a better concert experience. There was stuff happening on all sides of the stage.

8. Finding out Jeana and Mara were sitting not to far from us. We could look at each other during the show and it was like we went together.

7. Parking downtown.. We parked further downtown in Tacoma instead of close the the Tacoma Dome. That was super smart of us to do because we missed the traffic.

6. Justin Program. It was $15 but worth it. Tons of pictures of JT and a set list which is nice to look back at later when I’m old and can’t remember what he sang.

5. Show. The show was amazing, with backup dancers and singers and a band. There were a lot of people in the show.

4. Bringing Justin to the stage in a box/bin. Before the show started the singers and dancers were coming out of the back room and people were freaking out. We were sitting where you could see them coming out. Funny thing was that there were tons of people standing there waiting for Justin to come out. Then most of the performers had come through there was a bin on wheels with a lid that came through with 2-3 security or stage hands around it. It obviously had Justin in it but yet here these girls stood waiting and screaming for Justin. It would have ruined everything if he came out before the show when his whole thing was coming up from the bottom of the stage…ah teenagers.

3. Screens. There were these see through screens that would come down on the stage depending on which section of the stage Justin was on which was awesome because you could still see everything going on.

2. Singing and dancing. Two of my favorite things if you know me. I loved every minute of it.

1. The best thing about the JT concert…him singing Dick in a Box. That’s right he sang it near the end of the show which was freaking awesome. We were doing all the hand movements and everything. When he started singing the song that might have been the loudest it was all night and it was really loud all night.

So yes, the show was awesome, Justin was awesome and I didn’t get arrested for attacking him!

Well well well . . . here we are, two days from August. I don’t know about you kids, but so far my summer has proceeded swimmingly. Here’s what I’m crushing on:

1. Wikipedia–I’m not really ramped up at my new job, yet. They keep telling me there’s tons of work just around the corner, but I’ve been here a month and a half yet, and have yet to see it. So, to while away the hours, I’ve been obsessively editing Wikipedia. Its a whole lotta fun, and a whole lotta work, but the benefits are tremendous(ly geeky). You can view my recent contributions here.
2. Travel–It’s been a busy one for travel so far. I’ve been to Portland (and will go again this weekend), camping in the Cascades, a weekend on Hood Canal, and have trips coming up to Hawaii and LA.
3. Big Love–Best show on television. Arrestingly, breathtakingly well done. My GOD I love this show.
4. My new Keens.
5. Mad Men–The premier was stronger than the second episode, but both were good nonetheless. There’s a lot of potential here–a 50s/60s period drama set against the alpha atmosphere of Wall Street, and informed by the gender and racial imbalances of the era. Vincent Kartheiser–Angel’s son–is in it; I love to hate him, and Mad Men gives me the opportunity.

On what are you crushing?

Whoa! Suddenly I look up from my fancy new work laptop, and realize that half of 2007 has already flown by. In fact, we’re now closer to 2008 than to 2006, proving the Newtonian axiom that time does, indeed, march on. (Screw you, Einstein.)

And since we passed an arbitrary time marker, it’s time once again for a crush list. This arbitrary time period I bring to you in the Crush List: 2007.1 edition–great things that have happened during the first part of this year.

1. Newly attained freedom. To do what I want, any old time. Read: I’m no longer a slave to my own school-related guilt.
2. Seattle. Ok, forget January-April. But the last couple of weeks have been gorgeous, and weatherman Steve Poole says we have more warm sunny days to come. The one redeeming thing about my daily 520 commute is the arresting shot of Mt. Rainier over Lake Washington. The Emerald City sure is stunning . . .
3. The first half of 2007 in music. Many fine albums have been released. Some of my favorites (in no particular order):
   • The Field – From Here We Go to Sublime
   • LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
   • Panda Bear – Person Pitch
   • Battled – Mirrors
   • The National – Boxer
   • Copy – Hair Guitar
   • The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
   • Menomena – Friend and Foe
   • The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters
   • Dan Deacon – Spiderman of the Rings

   There are a lot of other fantastic albums that have come out in 2007, and the second half could be just as good, with new discs from Caribou, Spoon, John Vanderslice, and Okkervil River on the way. This is shaping up as an excellent year in music.

4. My new job. I’m closing in on the end of my third week, and though I haven’t had much to do yet, all signs point to “awesome!” The company I am working for is incredibly laid back and dot-commy. We have an XBOX 360 and Wii hooked up to a flatscreen tv; we have a foosball table; the organization is flat, with no middle management, and all financials are transparent; there’s no email or internet policy (nor any monitoring of traffic); I have a window view of downtown Bellevue; the people seem nice. It’s a good place to be.
5. My new phone. (No, I don’t have an iPhone. No, I probably won’t be getting one soon. I just want something that makes calls and sends texts.) The LG VX8700 is one sweet little dialer.
6. My new apartment. This might appear higher on the list, but there are some jackasses in the building that break things and litter. You’d think that given the price we’re paying for the place, they’d be a little more respectful. I guess that respect for one’s living area doesn’t happen until ownership . . .
7. Big Love. It started up again in the first half of 2007 and is, I dare to say, the best show on TV.
8. Ubuntu. I switched in the first half of 2007, and love it more and more everyday.
9. Pidgin. Multi-protocol IM client with tabbed interface. Pretty sweet.
10. Ratatouille. The food looks soooo good in this film.

Spent some quality time with my girlfriend last night watching numerous episodes of Weeds. I’ve never seen her laugh so much.

If you haven’t seen this I highly recommend it. We watched it On Demand, but available on DVD as well.

·1· Blonde Redhead (23 and Misery is a Butterfly are in transit. I heart Amazon.com)

·2· Guitar Hero (Five Stars of Fun! – Just played this for the first time. tag=essential)

·3· Heatmiser / Mic City Sons (recently rediscovered – I was iffy on this when it came out in 1996 but played it on repeat most of the 2 weeks before Memorial Day)

·4· Wilco / Sky Blue Sky (New sounds from one of my all-time faves. I’ve started to fall for it.)

·5· DM (My goodest friend visited this last weekend, I’m very grateful to know him.)

·6· The National / Boxer (Whoa! I didn’t get into their Alligator LP  much, I need to listen to it again.) [Playing Portland 6/28 & Seattle 6/29; I might be there.]

It’s been a while. But we need more crush lists. So here goes a’me.

1.  The Field — Swedish minimalist. Totally reminds me of the Thal off of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1. Totally atmospheric and brainy electronica. I luuuurrrrve it.
2. Blockhead – Where have I been?
3. The Twililght Sad — I love a good Scottish brogue.
4. Ruby on Rails, and specifically this book. Pretty soon I’m going to launch my own web 2.0 company, sell to Yahoo!, and retire.
5. The Better GMail FireFox Add-on.
6. Adobe Illustrator. After Photoshop, this is cake.
7. Feisty Fawn
8. Del.icio.us bookmarks for FireFox.
9. Grillin’
10. Kauai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t actually have an Apple, but I prefer the look of Apple and all things that give a nod to Apple.  Case in point: MILK, the desk that makes you quiver. 

If only I could be this clean.  So sleak, so sexy.  I love it for everything I am not.

I’ve been overflowing with the crushy goodness this week, so I thought I’d get a head start before I find even more things to love. Bring on the unapologetic gushing.

1. Your 2006-07 Superbowl Champions: The Indianapolis Colts. Sweet sweet victory is theirs (and mine.)

2. Riding off one of our neighbors wi-fi. I don’t know whose it is and I don’t know how long it is going to last, but I plan on taking full advantage of it. The silly monkeys should put some sort of security on their connection.

 3. Grace Kelly by Mika. It’s pure happiness in a jar.

(Plus Mika himself: those pipes, those curls,  those eyes, that jaw bone. *sigh*)

4. Boston by Augustana. I find the combination of sad and hopeful comforting.

These two songs have made me decide to continue my love/hate relationship with Canadian pop radio. 

5. Late Fragment by Raymond Carver.

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

I know Carver isn’t new (he is dead after all), but sometimes you find something that speaks to you. Something that is the very essence of what you have and what you want out of life. I’m glad someone put it into words much better than I ever could. I’m also happy to find new poets as my knowledge of them is limited to those with the last name Williams (William Carlos and Saul.) Plus he’s Oregon born and Washington raised.

6. Weekends that include lollygagging in bookstores and antique stores. Last weekend two friends and I had a lunch and antiquing date. I picked up something awesome which I will share here once I get some of it scanned. This weekend I will spend time lollygagging in a bookstore or two. I think both these things are necessary indulgences.

7.  Hours and hours of uninterrupted crafting time. As always I’ve got oodles of projects swimming around my head. On Saturday, Z and I are packing up and heading to the local scrapbooking mecca for 10 hours of cropping. Much will be accomplished, oh yes.

8. Roller Betties. One of my coworkers joined Bellingham’s new Roller Derby league. They have their first fundraiser tomorrow complete with beer, bands, and thumb wrestling. I can’t wait to go and watch her matches.

9. Cottage cheese and salsa on corn chips. (Don’t knock it ’til you try it. It’s delicious.) I owe this find to my lovely friend Sara. She’s a genius.

10. Your 2006-07 Superbowl Champions the Indianapolis Colts! Oh wait, you say I said that already? You better get used to it. It’s never ever ever going to get old.