Recent letter from my lender regarding automatic payments setup:

…

Complete the information on the second page and return it along with a voided check from your bank in the enclosed postage paid envelope…

…

Only problem is, there’s no postage paid envelope enclosed (or any envelope at all).  And this is not the first time that this has happened with this particular account.  Are things really that rough at the banks these days that they can’t even send an envelope (postage paid or not) with their letters?

As with many guys, I have a strange fascination with all things bacon.  Well, now someone has stepped it up another notch, with yes, canned bacon.

I finally found some chairs that I liked at a vintage store in Ballard called Space Oddities. I got four chairs total in two different colours - orange-red and navy blue. They’re also stackable to save space.

I also made a $25 DIY lighting project, as seen below. Parts are adaptors from Ace Hardware (bought online), and some 25W light bulbs from Home Depot. I actually got the inspiration for this because the previous owners had something like this, and it’s very easy to do.

I’m looking for ideas for a kitchen island/table.  Requirements are:

• should be counter height
• dimensions can be as large as 36″ W x 100″ L, but should be at least 30″ W x 60″ L
• overhang for stools would be nice
• shelving would be nice
• simple lines
• wood or stainless steel

thoughts?

This is probably the coolest closet I’ve seen.  The industrial look, the unfinished plywood, and the effect of using what are essentially steel flooring as doors, all blend together perfectly.

In other news, I’m still looking for a good couch.  I’m thinking about getting the Townsend from Room and Board, but apparently someone has already laid claim on it for all of Seattle.  Requirements for a good couch are: simple lines, boxy arm rests, arm rest lower than back rest, arm rest must be wide enough to sit on, comfy, and wide enough that I can comfortably lie on it.

From a fortune cookie during lunch this past Saturday:

You will do better in real estate than in stocks.

Oddly appropriate.

This is how the bottom of my car looked after the $200 steam clean.

Why?

Well, on the way to Panorama for the heli ski trip, we hit a deer. Ok, we didn’t hit it, we ran over it (it was already dead), and it was relatively small (although we definitely felt it under the car). As it turns out, we brought some of the deer with us, all the way to Canada, and back to the US (see Joe’s lengthy post for more details).

When I brought the car into the shop for some repairs, they called me an hour later, and told me that they were going to have to take it next door to the detail shop and have the undercarriage steam cleaned before they can work on it. Now I know why.

Cost of a 4 day trip with 2 days of heli: $1900
Cost of 4 extra runs over the two days: $400
Cost to remove dead deer from undercarriage: $200
Cost to fix damage done by deer: $1260
Was the trip worth it? Hell yeah.

Luckily, the shop took some disturbing pictures for me.

Warning: do not click through unless you’re prepared to see deer flesh caked on the bottom of my car.

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I still remember that Saturday when we woke up early, walked with an empty stomach to school while the snow crunched under our feet, and lined up in front of Ground Zero with tickets in hand. Ground Zero, you see, was the restaurant on campus (before they turned it into a Tim Horton’s), and we were there for St Patrick’s day breakfast/beerfternoon.

The breakfast was simple, including basic carbs (toast), protein (bacon and eggs), and starch (hash browns), but the best part came afterward, when we walked from the eating area straight through the back door into the Bombshelter (our on campus pub). I vividly recall the moment they opened the doors, and the smile that crept on my face when I saw bartenders standing beside tables full of pitchers, pre-poured for our consumption. The hardest choice we had to make was regular, or green beer.

Of course, in the ensuing years, St Paddy’s day was always a giant party, until I started work, and then partying (or at least all day partying) was only possible on the weekends. This year, in particular, was going to be a low key one since March 17th is a Monday (where I usually have work followed by soccer). Well, imagine my delight when I found out that the Irish bishops decided to move St. Patrick’s day this year to the 15th, a Saturday!

Now, word is that secular celebrations (like parades and such) are still likely to be held on the 17th, but still, if you ever needed a reason to drink all day, well, here you go.

It started as an article in wired, which turned into a book, about how a team of MIT students won millions playing blackjack in Vegas.

Now they’ve made a hollywood movie out of it, complete with Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne.

Premiers March 28th.

Officially removed from my rss feed - Perez Hilton.

I just can’t stand him. His doodles on the photographs are juvenile, his website design hurts my eyes, and his writing style is simply asinine. He is an attention whore and celebophile, and his hypocrisy glares through his subjective and biased posts (most recent example being accusing a certain politician of plagiarism despite the fact that Perez’s site has been sued multiple times for copyright infringement by numerous photo agencies).

I much more prefer the pseudo-sarcastic, self deprecating, post-irony rhetoric of dlisted, or thesuperficial.