1. Jim Gaffigan on Bacon [video] - I’m not sure why, but I find Jim Gaffigan hilarious. I know his style turns off a lot of folks, but I find his mannerisms and delivery hysterical. This bit about bacon is gold. [via]
2. This desk calendar - Sure it’s 600 bucks. But it’s all awesome-like and stuff. Really, though, a beautiful, simple design.
3. Niche Modern’s lights - How gorgeous are these light fixtures? I’m particularly fond of the Turret and the Stargazer series. These things are so beautifully designed, it hurts.
4. Perceptive Pixel - I’ve linked to Jeff Han’s work before, but since then he’s launched a new venture and has expanded the demo of his mind-blowing multi-touch interface. Watch. Be amazed.
5. TasteBook - I’ve got recipes coming out the wazoo. Hand-me-downs from my mother, originals scribbled on napkins, adaptations of published ones. Continuing the trend of on-demand personal publishing, TasteBook allows you to manage, upload, organize and print your own cookbook. It would make a fabulous gift, and if churches and companies would just use this format rather than the typical Kinko’s spiral bound ones…

Until my head the weather clears, and until I get over this snit or little crisis that I’m having, I suppose I’ll just post whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it. Deal? Hope you’ll stick with me.

On a really boring rather unrelated note, I was pleasantly surprised by something yesterday. My first beer, an amber ale of standard fashion, apparently has finally turned a corner. I had all but given up on it being a shareable beer, one that I would gladly hand to a friend or house guest. From the get-go it was plagued with chill haze (cloudiness) due to unfiltered, suspended yeast and some bottles had a slight off-taste.

Now, however, most of the glaring imperfections have vanished, or at least faded enough to the background that they’re acceptable. So perhaps the lesson this week is that some things, despite their seeming state hopelessness, eventually come into their own.

I guess I have more to learn about patience and hope than I originally feared.

Perhaps it’s time to shut it down. The doubts and uncertainties have been slowly collecting with the cobwebs over the past few months, and maybe it’s due time to give in to them, submit and tear down the tent.

Reading through what I’ve written here over the past four years, I realize that there’s little to be proud of. Mindless toiling. Lazy reflection. Pointless rambling. There might be only one piece that I think was halfway decent in how it managed to capture my intentions.

So the site will likely continue to sputter and stall, and while I may consider trying to jump-start it again, I fear it’s time to put her to pasture. It was never what I thought it was, never what I hoped it could become. It should have been more than this verbose, shameful hack.

1. The photography of Joey Lawrence - This kid is so wicked talented it’s not even funny. He’s a whopping 17, trotting the globe as a professional photographer and he doesn’t have a lick of professional training. His work is beautiful and my level of envy couldn’t be higher.
2. Pumpkin Ginger Muffins - Yea, I know, the pumpkin thing is getting old. But these muffins rock. We had house guests this week and I threw them together before leaving for work. Moist yet not greasy, subtle yet pleasing autumnal flavor. The candied ginger is a brilliant touch. I also ground up some sugar (el cheapo baker’s sugar substitute) to dust the tops.
3. “I’m So Hood” by DJ Khaled - Okay, so this is awkward. It might be less embarrassing to admit that I like some N’Sync songs. But for some damned reason, I find this song really catchy. Not good, I didn’t say good. The song itself is still crap. I say that so that I can maintain a certifiable level of indie elitism. So it’s catchy, not good. Got it?
4. This week’s Layer Tennis match - Years ago I was addicted to Photoshop Tennis, and then it went away. This Friday’s match (reincarnated as LayerTennis) is between two esteemed Midwesterners, Chris Glass (Cincinnati) and Naz Hamid (Chicago). Both gentlemen are legends in their own right, and both two people who’s careers/blogs I’ve followed for years. Good luck to them both. I’ll be eagerly watching each volley on my phone the whole time.
5. TadaList - I’m a habitual list maker who unfortunately never remembers to take his lists with him. Thus, I end up making the same lists at work and at home. I’ve tried digital implementations in the past (including Google Notebook, Google Docs, simple txt file on an FTP server, etc) but all weren’t natural enough. Now that I’ve got an iPhone, TadaLists are awesome. Perfect solution from the guys at 37 Signals.

1. Renovation Voyeur - Beyond wristwatches, bags and office designs, one thing I love is before and after photos…especially of remodeling projects. A strange interest? Probably. But seeing the hidden potential in things excites me. This site showcases remodeling projects of apartments and houses. Now to just find someone to fund my own efforts…[via]
2. How Creativity Is Killing the Culture - From the article, “Just create, says the world. Go ahead and line up for American Idol or America’s Got Talent or whatever. You can do it! And while you’re at it, why not fill the web with your poetry, videos, art, musings, and every little snippet of creative detritus you can muster. And don’t let anyone say it’s wrong!” Agreed, and mea culpa.
3. Long distance beer runs - It’s a sad truth, but while my parents were on vacation last week in Maryland, I actually called to ask if they could visit a little beer store there to pick up a six-pack or two of Smuttynose Pumpkin ale. There’s something entirely wrong with having your parents go on beer run for you. But by tonight, I’ll be drowning my guilt in a pint (Yes, I’m driving to pick it up. Sheesh, I’m not that bad)
4. Virtue Desktops - This nifty little app for OS X does what will soon be incorporated into the next release of the OS: spaces. And seeing as how my company likely won’t pay to upgrade, I’ll suffice with this. I now have three separate desktops (design/development, entertainment, communication) that I can flip between with a mouse gesture. It’s made my life so much better.
5. Photos of Juneau - My friend Andrew who’s doing service work in Juneau for a year finally posted some photos of where he lives, where he hikes and the views from his house. I love gaining perspective of where people are, so when I talk to them I can picture what they’re surrounded by.

That Jillian from “The Biggest Loser” needs to eat a cupcake and chill the eff out.

Yes, that’s really all I’ve got.

1. Boys Like Girls covering Frou Frou - If you can suffer through the lame Chevy ad at the beginning, I think that these two guys from Boys Like Girls do really good job of covering the hit song from Garden State. A bonus is an acoustic version of their “Great Escape,” which I think is much better than the original, plugged-in version. Thanks Andrew.
2. Pumpkin bread - It’s fall, which means pumpkin everything for me: soup, bread, beer, ice cream. You name it! Last weekend I baked two loaves of pumpkin bread for our trip to the cabin. I would eat this stuff ‘til the cows came home. Every day. Fo’ realz.
3. Icon notepad - 8bit items in meatspace never get old. Awesome. But where’s my pixel pencil to write with?
4. MyMileMarker.com - Anyone who’s ridden in a car with me knows I’m a dork who keeps a gas log, tallying each tank’s data in a little notebook. This summer I stumbled across a site that does much of the same for you. And while I still maintain a handwritten record as well, the digital version is great because it gives neat little charts of your fuel efficiency. And calculates your annual cost of gas…which is actually very, very depressing. And I can record via my phone now too!
5. Sequence (game) - While holed-up in the cabin last weekend with three other couples, we played plenty of board games, which makes me happy. This game was new to me, and even though it uses a deck of cards (usually a death knell for me), it was overwhelmingly fun, engaging and scaled well for larger groups. Might be a purchase in my future…