Richmond vs. the Five Senses

This past week, I found myself in Virgina for the Southern Graphics Council annual print conference. I'll tell you what, I found myself a little bit out of my comfort zone. Before this, the furthest east I had ever been was South Dakota. Apparently, things get more boring as you head east until you cross the mighty Mississip, that's when my preconceived notions of the world flipped in their head. In this new world, this small-town boy became perfectly aware of absolutely everything happening around me because it was all so new. Come with me--let's recap the happenings.

Sight.
I feel comfortable around black people. However, that confidence wavers a little when you find yourself at a bus station in D.C., being 1 of 3 white people in a crowd of 50, and you look like you might have some nice things. Good thing I packed my angry eyebrows before I left.

Richmond fit the stereotypical look I thought it would have; lots of trees, red brick houses and white pillars. I really didn't have much time to look around the city since I was watching demonstrations and listening to speakers all day, but it was nice to see spring for a moment before returning home to 1.5 inches of snow on the ground.

Sound.
There is nothing more annoying than a group of artists at a gallery opening. Several nights were filled with the sounds of yuppies and sycophants trying to impress the crowd with their artistic prowess. With intellects diluted by the free booze, the group stands in front of a piece and argues over possible meanings while trying to "name drop" as many classic and contemporary artists they can remember from past arguments they've been in. Sometimes, a tree is just a tree. Or, maybe I'm the one that doesn't get it.

Smell.
This reminds me of the .75 star, yet very cost friendly, hotel I stayed in - the Econolodge. What is it that makes their prices so economical? My first guess would be maintenance, and my second guess would be the staff. Anyone running a hotel can have prices that low if there is little to no expense in these two areas. I'm not trying to be negative about it, but it's hard to have good things to say about the room when all you can smell is shower must and deoderizers. If I had packed an extra pair of socks, I would have worn them while I showered.

There are many smells you encounter when riding Greyhound and most of them are bad. I'm blaming it on price. People don't smell too bad on airplanes because they are expensive. The strangers-to-showers bums and hobos are able to beg for bus-fair, and it's easy to spot those odors. No, it's the untrustworthy bowels of the elderly that randomly assault you.

Taste.
Every morning, the conference would provide the equivalent of a complimentary breakfast. The resourceful starving artist in me saw this as a chance to procure some groceries for the day. The rest of the time, I spent with one of my friends from class. He being a vegan, I was a little worried about the places we would end up eating and what kind of tasteless, fake meat I was going to have to tip for. The menu did accommodate both our dietary needs, but I never got to try the southern bbq I've only heard about on tv. Maybe next time.

Touch.
I spent one night in D.C. with my sister-in-law and her family. When I was told I'll be sleeping in the basement, my nephews tried to scare me by telling me that all the dismembered doll parts in the closet were going to tickle my uvula and kill me in the night. Kids will be kids, right? As I was getting ready for bed, I closed the door to the basement and started changing into my pajamas. As I was changing, I thought I heard a little bell ringing. I dismissed it till I heard it again - that's when my mind opened to the possibility of doll parts marching across the floor and up my bed like ants on a mission to tickle my uvula. Around 2.30 a.m. is when these doll-ants attacked. Two steps on my back and I was awake and able to see the culprit. Kitty was trying to make friends with me. Her timing was just a little bad.


It's good to be home.

The Foutain

If you are in the mood for a hauntingly, beautiful and heart wrenching love story, go rent the movie, The Fountain. It's hard to explain what it's about, other than to say it's about a love that transcends all boundaries. It's beautifully done, more like watching a painting than a movie. The visuals are amazing and the music is just as good. If you're anything like me, you'll probably cry too, but it's worth. It was a great movie! Not the best movie to watch while I'm nervous about Brett being out of town and traveling on the Greyhound bus at all hours of the night, but none the less, worth it.

Discoveries!

Yesterday was a big day for our little Stella. First she discovered her tail, and how fun it is to chase it around in a circle. She spent about 10 minutes chewing on it, then she started chasing it for about the same amount of time. Then this morning, she discovered her shadow and apparently she does NOT like it! Brett said she came screaming out of the kitchen and anytime she would get close to the light, she would back away from it.

She's got a hard life.

BIG NEWS!!!

Well, a few weeks ago, we finally decided it was time....

TIME FOR A NEW COMPUTER!!!


Meet the newest member of our family... Miss PowerBook Pro G5. Isnt' she cute?! We just love her and couldn't be happier with her work. No really, we had a great computer, but it was soooo old. (Not in real people time, just in Apple time it was ancient) It had serious trouble doing anything, so we decided to go big and get a new one. This time we got a laptop, so we can be on the move and still work. It quite convenient. Of course if we would ever set up wireless internet it would be more convenient, but we'll get to that eventually.

Diamonds and chocolate covered strawberries

Valentine's Day was quite lovely this year. I decided it would be fun to do the 14 days of Valentine's for Brett. So he got a little present everyday. He felt like he had to do something big to top that, and he did! He bought me TWO diamonds!! We've always talked about putting more diamonds in my wedding ring, but I figured it would take years for that to happen. Well not if you buy 2 at a time. So that's what he did. He bought me 2 loose diamonds. They will stay hidden until we get the other 6 that we want, and then we will put them in my ring!! So cool!!

For V-day dinner we ordered pizza and made chocolate covered strawberries. It can't get much better than that.

And Stella begged for some chocolate.

Inspire me

Inheritance Money from South Africa

I'm sure all of you have been getting emails from Africa promising millions of dollars. If you are like me, you get one of these about every month. I remember the first one I got. It said that a baron sharing my family name has died and left $26 mill to no next of kin. I kept asking for the death certificate, to which I never received, and the responses kept getting more and more irate...as much as possible for someone that barely speaks english.

Since then, I've decided I have to reply to all of these I get, and I can't be the one to end the conversation. I always have to reply. On that philosophy, the next correspondence went something like this--


I received the initial email and responded by saying, "Sounds great. Send me the money and I'll make sure you don't get any of it. You don't have my trust."

Much like the first email, the second prepared response told me not to notify the bank. That's when it got interesting. I responded by saying:

"No, let's do it this way. I work at a bank and am very familiar with American laws. If you give me your bank account, I can withdraw funds in small amounts that will avoid detection by the IRS and keep it from being taxed. Please give me your bank account number. Also, the bank monitors my email and are already aware of this situation."

They responded by telling me to set up a different email account that cannot be monitored. I replied by saying that American laws won't let us have more than one email address.


Well, it happened again. I got another message. It must be the same people because the email was exactly the same. This one is ongoing, but I'll try to stay on top of it.

This time, I responded by saying, "What a surprise! I have an uncle in Ghana that just died and is leaving me $26 mill. I'll make alot of money with $36 mill you have waiting for me!"
Again, the response was the same. But this time, I emailed him some information with a promise he could trust me:

Bank Name: Swindlers Union
Address of the Bank: 123 Fake Street
A/C No: 7
A/C Name: Checking
Swift code: 458326197289352891547322135695472167562
State and Country: Texas
Your Age: 45
Occupation: FBI Agent
Your telephone number: 745.983.7216



I'm very anxious for the response.