Thursday, October 30, 2008

Picture of the day

A great look at oddball Halloween costumes over at Mental Floss features this wonderful Baby (Rock) Lobster in a pot.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Go fish

Every year I try and find something new in the "Halloween" spirit to pick up to have to decorate the house with. This year, my mom brought me a fab light up "Hitch-hiking Ghost" from Disney which is too nice to put outside for fear it'll get swiped...

So I haven't found much this year. Haven't decorated, didn't get into the "holiday spirit" but I did find these really neat "Tragic Royalty" playing cards from Bicycle that glow under black light and have neat, gothic, almost Charles Addams-style royals on them.

Now, I just need someone to play cards with. Gin, anyone?

Monday, October 27, 2008

Mrs. Charlotte Armstrong

-photo of the lovely Litwin sisters,Phyllis Rubenstein and Charlotte Armstrong, courtesy of Cincinnati Daily Photo

A really great and classy lady who I was privileged to spend time with over the last 5 years left us Sunday. I don't know what to say yet besides that I am going to miss "my buddy."

Obituary - Charlotte Anne Armstrong

Charlotte Anne Armstrong, 82, formerly of Amberley Village, died Sunday, Oct. 26 at Hospice of Cincinnati. Wife of the late Sanford H. Armstrong, mother of B.J. Foreman (Arthur), late son Stewart (Jan Armstrong Cobb.) Sister Phyllis Rubenstein (Eli). Grandchildren Elizabeth Foreman (Erik Laursen), Jessica, Sanford (Niki), Susan and Leslie Armstrong, Jonathan Krass (Allie), Matt Krass (Orlee.) Great grandchildren Anna Laursen and Micah Krass. Numerous cousins and four nephews. Memorials: Adath Israel Congregation, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute or Jewish Early Learning Center at Hebrew Union College. Funeral Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at Weil Funeral Home. Shiva will be observed at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Details at WeilFuneralHome.com.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Lillies in August


Graceful lily, originally uploaded by JayKulpa.

Another set up at The Jayboy Mansion. This time it's shots from an August weekend in Columbus, catching the lovely installation of giant Lilypads in the Goodale Park pond.

Will you marry me?


Will you marry me?, originally uploaded by JayKulpa.

There'll be new updates of long-delayed pictures going up at The Jayboy Mansion all day. I invite you to check them out.

Friday, October 24, 2008

How much is that moustache in the window?


A certain man..., originally uploaded by JayKulpa.

Uploading a few odds and ends to The Jayboy Mansion this weekend, including art around town and more of my weird hair obsession... check it out.

Makin' a list, checkin' it twice

Now I know what to ask for for Christmas. The Roku Box.

Netflix added "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" to their "Watch Instantly" queue.

(and yes, I know they're adding that feature to the new Xbox, but I'm not a gamer, so what's the point?)

Quote of the Day

"Today might be the day where everybody throws in the towel," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners. "People are saying 'I've had it, I can't take it anymore, I'm selling everything.'"

While I'm far-from-sophisticated about the global markets, and probably keeping my head in the sand, I still feel like this smacks of self-fulfilling (self-defeatist?) prophesy. That said, I'm keeping one eye on the stock ticker all day. (The other'll be on my Kleenex box as I continue to try and shake this tenacious cold.)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Why I'm a little worried

A co-worker of mine moonlights as a sports announcer doing color commentary for local high school football games and the like (he's very good). Earlier today he was working on lists of descriptive words for games, like "Clash" and "toe to toe" and commented that the Bengals were coming home from lame games they lost, which their own announcers would describe as "Titanic."

I said "The Bengals aren't in a 'Titanic' struggle. A 'Lusitanian' one, maybe..."

He didn't get it.

Yes, I know it's an oblique reference and I don't care. If a 27 year old man has never heard of the Lusitania I think I'm free to fret a little about the state of American education.*

*This is not unlike when I went to the "Sex and the City" movie and in a fully packed theatre was the only person to get the Diane Arbus joke.

On second thought, maybe I'm just over-educated...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Curmudgeon Role Model

Woman, 89, arrested for keeping football.

I always have said I wanted to someday grow up to pretty much be Walter Matthau. A grumpy old man. However I now have a new role-model for eventually being a curmudgeon. This local 89-year old woman has told them repeatedly, but the neighbor kids' couldn't keep their ball from going into her yard... so she kept it. She' done it before -she says 3 times, though the parent of the kids said 10 - and said she was going to give it back.

Eventually. After they'd learned their lesson.

When police asked Jester to return the ball to the children, she refused. They
warned her twice she would be charged if she did not cooperate, Schaffer said.
They tried to give her a citation, but she refused to sign for it, he said.

Of course,the police took her in and booked her. Some people think they over-reacted, some people think they didn't. I think we all have to agree to disagree. From one viewpoint, what was once a member of a village helping raise a child is now a petty thief. From another, this crazy old coot's stealing from children and it's about as cruel as building a gingerbread house to get them into one's dinner. The only people who can probably really gauge this situation are the friends and neighbors. Is she a mean old lady? Are the kids little hellions who should be put down now for the good of future society? Are they just kids, placing play over respecting property boundaries they don't even understand?

Evidently the max sentence is six months in jail or and a $1000 fine. Somehow I don't see her paying that. All the great old ladies I know are too strong and proud and stubborn to take that kind of guff...

The football, valued at $15, is being held for evidence, Schaffer
said.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Good Sports and Strange Bedfellows

Regardless of how this all turns out on November 4th, you have to admit that Governor Palin is a good sport...

...and Amy Pohler's a frickin' genius.

Earbuds, or, my latest addiction



A month ago, my old LG flip phone finally died, so I ponied up for ... the iPhone. Big, fancy, filled with bells and whistles. You can email. Browse the internet. Play games. Watch TV. Even... make phone calls...

So far, so good. I like the functions, use it all the time, and justify it partially by remembering that one of it's main features is it's also an iPod. I'dnever owned an iPod before. (Have a little, tiny 256k MP3 player that someone gave me, but this is far, far different.)

This lead to my finally downloading and checking out what has turned out to be a huge bain to my poor, overworked computer: iTunes (boy, it's a pain in the ass to type all this little i-capital letter-little letters words). iTunes led to my latest obsession: podcasts.

I'd been familiar with the concept of podcasts for a while but had never listened to one before. Over the last 4 weeks, I've pretty much been listening to them all the time. I can't imagine how I've lived without them - actually, I'm more amazed I've never made one. You can - much like a blog- blather on about anything you damn well please and then put it out there into the ether... where random whackos (and here I'm whistling, looking around, hoping you don't put two and two together...) can download it and share in the minutia. Some of them are newsy, or I learn something... more of them are just "Why the hell are you still talking." But they all have so far fascinated me. I listen almost too often. In the morning around the house, in the car on the way to work and back, errands, at the gym, around the house, while typing... like now... before bed. I'm enjoying them.

Anyhow, if you're interested, these are what's been in my "heavy rotation": Savage Love, Horror Etc., Feast of Fools, A Prairie Home Companion: The News from Lake Woebegone, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Onion Radio Network, The Horror! Old Time Radio, Fox and the City (which Drew-o-rama has been recommending to me for AGES), Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, The Cadaver Lab, Real Time with Bill Maher, and a few more...

So, now that I've probably revealed far more about myself and my interests than I ever meant to let on, go check 'em out!

Then come back and tell me, what are you listening to? Any recommendations?

Shameless Friend Promotion

The most important website I've seen all week.



My dear old friend (and college roommate) Scott and dear new friend Erin are getting married on Saturday, October 25th. I'm really excited for them and wanted to pass along the link through to their site. Read up on 'em, you'll like 'em!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

I've got my own little hair club going on...


10/19/08 Bedhead 3, originally uploaded by JayKulpa.

It's a dirty little secret of mine that I'm more vain than I let on to (not that you'd know it by posting this picture). Like most people, sometimes I use my cell phone and take a picture of myself to check out how my hair is doing. I've also used it to check if there's anything between my teetn.

Lately, the results have been cracking me up. Inadvertant funny faces or lousy hair... anyhow, I've started -and will continue to -post some of the more enjoyable pictures over at The Jayboy Mansion. Check it out.

A terrible accident


A terrible accident, originally uploaded by JayKulpa.

My artist's model lost a leg in a hyper-extension-fall-down-go-boom accident. We've put in for disability.

Shaking off some rust

I'm blaming Twitter.

Twitter, with it's concept of "micro-blogging" has allowed me to spit out 140 character haiku-like bursts of whatever I have on my mind into the world immediately. From work, at the gym, while shopping - any place I'm at, I can Tweet and reach some friends and strangers with whatever is on my mind. Actually, it's expanded beyond my circle of friends to the point where I feel more of a need to filter what I say. For example, while I'm only somewhat inclined to say derisive things about one of the current Vice Presidential candidates that my friends would understand, I don't want to hork off my followers at Bitch Magazine, who may not know me well enough to take it in the spirit whatever remark I make may be proffered.

Anyhow, getting that fix - along with staying busy and trying to skim depression about the economy and job market and upcoming elections like a skier instead of landing face-first in it - has kind of pulled me out of any sort of self-reflection that may take the amount of time I'd devote to posting something here... on my poor, neglected baby of a blog.

So, here I am, crawling home with my tail between my legs, hoping that you, fair reader -- yes, all four of you -- may deign to start casting your attentions this way, where I shall be posting more frequently from here on out...

See you in these here funny pages!

I must say though that Live-Tweeting the debates has been the most fun I've had in ages, though!