The Sum of David

Nice job, moo. These are pretty darn adorable.

I can’t wait to post all about our successful SPX adventure, but The Man is putting me to the grindstone this week. In the meantime please take a gander at a collaboration I did with the very talented Jeff Zoet. He should get a medal, since I am classically unphotogenic. Josh says I have to be experienced in “live action” to be “appreciated”.

I assume “live action” refers to my falling down a lot.

Jeff gifted me the raw file and I did the photo retouching. It is by no means flawless, and I learned a lot (like plucking one’s eyebrows before a photo is a great idea). If anyone’s got any pointers on retouching humans I’d love to hear them.

I told the monsters they looked sexy as-is. Francis isn’t even wearing make-up.

It’s a good thing my 9-5 moved us from Downtown to Oakland. Protesters destroyed windows in several businesses just a couple of blocks away from our Oakland locale the first night (on Craig St). On the flip-side, lunch was catered and I had the best turkey sandwich ever in my whole life.

My cube was also across from a television personality that I love, and he was all sorts of adorable and nice. At least, he sounded adorable and nice from where I sat eavesdropping on him.

Also? I am not religious, but if you point me in the right direction I can offer praise and thanks be to ________ that I no longer work in a cubicle. It has been 8 years, and I had forgotten how spoiled I have become. I am excited to be back in my home sweet home at work, even if I do mourn the loss of future magical turkey sandwiches.

—-

My impression was that the city was locked up tight and abandoned. Three out of four of my commutes were the easiest I’ve ever had to and from work. When I left on Friday, some of the CMU frat houses had put out signs that read “Go G20″ and “We’re Protesting the Protesters”. I suspect they also might have been protesting sobriety.

And there was a guy with a fake Stanley Cup? And some “Here We Go Steelers” chants? Only in Pittsburgh.

The broken windows and damaged property have been attributed to those pesky Anarchists. They came, they made a stink and then, for most part, left. Friday was uneventful — when Josh and I left town on Friday night, there had been thousands of people (although I never believe the initial crowd estimates of the news) and zero arrests. That is wonderful, since I never had a problem with the protesters and I wanted to hear what they had to say. I do not, however, want to pay for them trashing my city, the jerks. It sounds like there were a few bad apples, but most were peaceful and the city escaped unscathed.

And downtown looked beautiful on all those national/international new channels. “Hell with the lid off,” indeed. I love this city.

One of Kate Beaton’s beautiful SPX banners. Check her out!

Oh MAN. Have you seen the list of exhibitors coming up this weekend at SPX? Hot diggity-dang. There’s some good stuff in there. I’m sure I’ll be discovering some New Favorites in this list and in person. It’s going to be so super rad.

As far as meeting artists, I am particularly excited about Scott C and John Allison. I am hoping I will be able to say something intelligible to them, but if last year is any indication of meeting specific people, I will probably: vibrate nervously in a corner until I make up my mind to greet them, cautiously circle their table for ten minutes… then make my move, at which time they will already be deep in conversation with someone incredibly interesting, on their way to the potty, or (in at least one previously documented case) hung over and missing.

As far as the whole thing goes, I’m also hoping for an education. Josh and I are possibly planning to get part of a table at SPX in 2010, so I want to see what all is there and how people handle their stuff. I also anticipate having business cards, but due to my flailing excuse for socializing, I anticipate bringing most of them home. Because that’s how I roll: secretly.

Regardless, it’s going to be a Class A Roadtrip. I am not only traveling with a couple friends that I never seem to hang out with as much as I want, but we are also staying with more friends that recently moved to Baltimore. After the craziness that is the G20 here in Pittsburgh passes, you can be sure I’ll be ready to decompress away from the city.

There will be comics and there will be friends. There will be an adorable dog and there will be wine. And if my math’s right, there will be copious amounts of fun.

Jalapeno peppers are spicy in your mouth, right? Awesome! They are also spicy on your hands. I was excited to use some of the peppers from our home grown plant, so I picked one and made a quesadilla the other night.

Please note that I am not really good with spicy stuff. I enjoy “mild” salsa. I always get a “1″ when ordering Indian/Chinese food. I use the wimpy Taco Bell hot sauce. These are instances where other people do the preparation of said spicy material… They know what they are doing. Me, not so much. Me handling a jalapeno was apparently akin to a baby gnawing on an atom bomb — I didn’t know what kind of fire power I was messing with.

I sliced a pepper and popped those slices into my cheesy creation, vein and seeds and all. After some research after the fact, these are the most potent parts of the plant. Most recipes call for the pepper to be de-seeded and de-veined before using. In the end, I ended up picking them off and eating a ration of 1 part quesadilla, 1 part sour cream in order to get it into my belly.

The kicker? The oil from the pepper, called “capsacin oil”, got all over my hands, my face, my ears… it burned everywhere, and kept burning for almost 48 hours. It wasn’t excruciating — as some similar reports I found online called it — but it was enough to wake me up several times during the night. The worst part was my thumbs, of all places. That was the last place to calm down, I’m assuming because some of the oil was stuck under my nails (though I washed and washed).

Lesson learned. Josh and I made salsa the other night, and I very delicately de-seeded and deveined one of the little jerks, handling the pepper with a plastic bag over one hand. This delicate surgery resulted in exactly 0% burning flesh and tasty dish for nachos. Success!

Fear the pepper!

Well, I guess it’s not much of a secret now, is it?

I was thrilled when Woy asked me if I’d be interested in doing PittGirl’s, er Jane Pitt’s, er Ginny’s new banner, even though I was oblivious at first and thought our meeting was about something totally different. (Woy, you ninja, you.)

I was totally bummed when the Burghblog was nixed many months ago. I had happily granted PittGirl her anonymity and was disappointed when that was threatened. Yes, of course there were delightful whispered conversations on who she might be, but I never really wanted to know… that is, I didn’t want to know if it was in any way going to jeopardize her offline life.

But she’s taken the revealing plunge herself, and I hope she is welcomed with open arms. We need her in Pittsburgh. I might not agree with her all the time, but I can almost always appreciate what she’s saying. We are a city that routinely takes itself either way too seriously or not nearly seriously enough. I find her writing to be a wonderfully snarky middleground.

Also, that is one good looking web site, dontchya think?

Welcome back, Ginny (and nice to meet you!)

There are Things afoot.

Fun, secret things.

Also: LUNCH.

Mwa ha ha…

I don’t really mind driving, especially since I have a Brand New Used Car. But Saturday we were on the road for too many hours. We finally dropped our carpool mates off at their house at 2:30 am on Sunday morning. We wished them good night, thanked them for coming along for the ride and then we embarked on our 30 minute drive home.

Me: Okay, Joshua.

Josh: Yezzzzz…

Me: Your mission, should you choose to accept it — and you probably should accept it because it is the only way we will make it home alive — is to keep me awake for the next 30 minutes.

Josh: (without missing a beat) Star Wars is superior to Star Trek because…

The following thirty minutes involved a heated comparison of the The Death Star vs The Borg as Evils and why, when I am typically more of a Fantasy fan, I will fully accept the Science Fiction of Star Trek but snicker at the magic (aka The Force) in Star Wars. The beautiful thing here is that Josh doesn’t care one way or another about either one*, he just needed a way to keep me awake and he knew insulting my beloved Star Trek by toting Star Wars as better (please) would not only keep me awake, but keep me focused because one must be on their game when debating any subject with him. And somehow, he knew enough about both to keep making valid points.

Or rather, as valid as that ludicrous argument could possibly be supported. Psh. It’s kind of an uphill battle if you ask me.

We made it home alive and Josh is a hero. Also, we have never before had such a conversation in our relationship. I’m considering it a turning point in Josh’s rank of geekdom. I’d say “Welcome to the dark side…” but I’m afraid he’ll think I’m conceding his argument.

*Well, not quite - He believes Star Wars is cooler, but only because of light sabers. This was the basis for most of his points: “But… light sabers!”

Okay, I’m over being over football. We’re good again.

Even so, this weekend was exhausting. We left home at noon on Saturday for a trip to Summersville, WV for Josh’s last game and returned at 3 am on Sunday morning with a loss. We got up early the next morning because I thought my cousin was in town for breakfast (that’s next weekend, ha), and then went to Steelers training camp.

I will say it was super hot and super humid and the seats we chose were super uncomfortable and I wished I’d brought more cash so I could get a mother-effing Gatorade… But I will also happily say that I went with a great group of people, King’s makes a good apple pie (and cheesey hash), my predictions will be 100% correct this year, and two-foot long ice-pops are the best. I got to see all my favorite Steelers, and watching Josh play has certainly given me a new appreciation for what they do. They are professionals and it is an honor to watch them, even in practice. Plus, they were full-contact (BOOM!) and did several goal-line drill. Goal-lines are the awesome because you can tell the guys are serious about it — what with bragging rights and all — and as a spectator you win either way:

Defense keeps them out = our dependable Steel Curtain, still at it!

Offense breaks through = our Offense rocks!

Stairway to Seven, anyone?

Saturday is Josh’s last Warhawks game. Between you and me, I am a little over football.

I know, I know, that’s equivalent to blashpemy in Pittsburgh, but I’ve witnessed a solid, two year season between our beloved Steelers and the Warhawks.

I’m driving us to Summersville, WV to battle the Bruins, then driving us back. We’ll get home around 2 am.

…at which time we will try to rest well, because then we have Steelers Training Camp on Sunday.