RYAN FINALLY JOINED FLICKR!

Welcome, Ryan!, originally uploaded by Tinker*Tailor.

Now you can check out some of his great photos! Take a look - and don't forget to leave him a comment to let him know you stopped by.

ROWANOAK

Originally uploaded by Tinker*Tailor.

While Ryan and I were in Oxford, we stopped by Faulkner's homeplace, Rowan Oak. It killed some time before the shows started, and it gave Ryan a chance to try out his new lens on the Nikon. Not often I get to play the role of model. They are nice enough headshots that I've posted a few to my flickr account. Now I'll have to practice and return the favor sometime this year. I'm hoping some of Ryan's talent will rub off on me.

THE STING

Szerszeń of Death
Originally uploaded by Jacek Becela

I had fun working the concession stand at South MS Speedway, and it looks like Terry and JoEllen and the rest of the team now have enough money for their 2 weeks in Africa.

Getting ready for bed later that night, I noticed a couple of strange bites on my leg. At first, I was worried the bites might be from a Brown Recluse Spider. To my relief, after checking on the web, I think they are from a hornet or bee. I'm surprised that I didn't feel anything earlier. I guess that means I'm not terribly allergic to whatever it is that stung me...

Before we got to the Speedway, my friend Alyssa and I stopped at a convenience store to buy Powerades. We were talking about recent TV shows that we like. She mentioned that she's a fan of Kyle XY. I asked her if she'd heard about Traveler. From across the store, a guy called out, "GREAT SHOW! That's a fantastic show!" I guess I'm not alone in being a fan of the new series. Have you caught an episode? My niece had the first couple episodes saved on her Tivo, and we watched them together on my last visit to her place. Now, I'll have to check and see if it's on iTunes, since I'll bet I've missed at least one broadcast. Ryan and I have been watching the DVD's of the first season of Lost. He's never seen the show before, and I never caught the first season. I'm impressed with the amount of irony and foreshadowing. Hats off to J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, and Damon Lindelof!

Ryan and I are finally getting his flickr account up and running. Here's the link to his profile.

Don't have your flickr account set up? It's my favorite networking site, and it's free to join. Hope to see you there.

NEWS

Siamese on the wicker chair, 1957, originally uploaded by Tinker*Tailor.

A couple of my old photos were featured on the official flickr blog. What a fun surprise! Kudos to my dad for taking this outstanding photo of a Siamese. I wish I had more of his old photos to share.

I've rejoined the ranks of typical Americans, as I finally have a cell phone again. I decided to go with an ATT GoPhone until I can figure out which company to choose when I buckle down and sign a contract. The new phone just has $50 on it; we'll see how long that lasts. Hopefully I won't have to add any dough to the phone until my paychecks start in September. Oh, and I got a call back from OS and they offered me a different job. Can't forget to mention that good news.

Tonight I'm working the snack bar at the local race track. A couple of my friends, JoEllen and Terry, are going on a mission trip to Africa and the proceeds tonight will help fund their trip. It's a good cause, and I'm allowed all the popcorn, cokes, and hot dogs I want. (-which will be absolutely none, but that's beside the point).

I'm almost 100% moved into Ryan's house. (How did I accumulate so much junk?!) I got rid of 2/3 of my clothing - no other way to fit my mega wardrobe into my new junior-sized closet - and I don't have the budget for a storage unit. Purging so much meant some hard choices, but I think it will work out for the best. There are just a couple of boxes left to move down that I'll pick up Tuesday when I drive up to be with my Dad during his cataract surgery.

The first half of the surgery (last Tuesday) went well, and I'm expecting no problems again this week. Thanks to all of you who've been praying for him.

Ryan and I returned from Oxford yesterday. We drove up last Wednesday for the University's annual Shakespeare Festival. We saw some of his college friends for brunch at a dive called The Beacon and enjoyed performances of As You Like It and The Mikado. We also had dinner with a couple of my college friends, Sam and Emily, at an Italian place on the Square called Old Venice. On the way home, we had lunch at Haute Pig in Madison. It's great BBQ, if you ever have the chance to eat there, I recommend it!

I'm finding out that Ryan is a very patient roommate, as he's hardly griped about my moving in early on such short notice, and he didn't give me a hard time when I locked his keys in the car this week.

Rick and Erinne came over last night and we cooked dinner, watched Star Trek DVDs and ate organic ice cream and Godiva brownies. We also listened to some old tracks that I haven't played much since high school - and laughed at how much pop music has changed. I've missed our monthly geek-fests. Nice to see we are resuming the tradition.

I'm off to the races...

FOR SALE

Body Parts, originally uploaded by Jake Slagle.

Well, since the teaching gig didn't pan out, maybe I should do this for a living.

UPDATE...THE SEQUAL

Pavement is not grey!
Originally uploaded by www.DaveWard.net.

I found out today that I didn't get the job. I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend feeling sorry for myself and then go out Monday morning and hit the pavement - looking for work, that is. Not throwing myself off a building...want to be clear about that.

ME...ME...MEME

Julie tagged me with this meme. (A What?) I don't know 7 bloggers to pass this along to, but I'll happily fill it out :0) I wish I knew 7 bloggers...I can't even get most of my friends to sign up for MySpace.

1. Today, I'm wearing Umbros and a faded Gap t-shirt.
2. In Jr High, John Madden was my best friend; I haven't seen him since graduation day.
3. I love to bake cookies - from scratch, from a mix, whatever.
4. I wish I were in Ocean Springs signing a work contract for the next school year.
5. William Shakespeare is my favorite author.
6. Blue Hydrangeas are my favorite flowers - I'm fond of honeysuckle, too.
7. Chai (spiced black tea with milk) is my favorite drink. I mostly drink water.

The rules:
Each player starts with seven random facts about himself. People who are tagged post the rules and their responses to the seven facts on their own blogs. They choose seven people to tag and list their names and leave them a comment that they have been tagged with a link back.

PROJECT PLAYLIST

I like Marc's playlist he posted on MySpace, so I decided to make my own. Just to try it out, I stole a couple of his tracks and then added a few more I found online. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I really like this Sara Groves song. I'd never heard it before, but with lyrics like these, it's bound to become a favorite.

FACEBOOK vs MYSPACE

At the urging of my buddy Steven, I finally created my Facebook profile. I'm a dinosaur compared to most of the users, but that dynamic will change now that the company has opened the site to non college-students. These social networking sites have gotten some bad press but Facebook andMyspace can be useful. I'm finally in the habit of checking my Myspace messages. I wonder which one of the two I will use more or if I'll stop using one in favor of the other...Do you have a preference or do you think both of them are stupid?

BALL AND CHAIN

Computers Original
Originally uploaded by prasan.naik.

I'm getting myself away from the computer to spend time with friends this weekend. When did I become a work-a-holic again? It's time to purge that nasty habit from my system with some relaxation therapy. Bring on the Pirates and the Sunday afternoon BBQ!

UPDATE

I'm a blog bum. Sorry for not updating sooner. At the gentle prodding of a couple of friends:

The interview was positive, but no contract yet.

My brother Steve is now a happily married man. Congratulations, Steve & Kari! I was honored to be a part of the ceremony. The best part: I didn't have to sing. That's one of the few weddings I've attended/been in where I didn't have a microphone in my hand. The bad news: I ate so much cake and other goodies while in LA that I gained 6 pounds. My brother is a bad influence on my eating habits, and I love every minute of it. But now I'll have to work that extra weight off so I'll be able to fit in my work clothes.

We hauled the ferns for the ceremony in my Blazer and there are a million little brown fern leaves in there. I wonder how long it will be before I work up the initiative to vacuum. Why do little things like that take me forever to accomplish... When I first got the Blazer I cleaned it twice a week, but that wore off in a couple of months.

My nephew and I are going to the Rush concert in Dallas in August. Just bought my tickets online. With the price of the Ticketmaster fee, in addition to the tickets, I got a year's subscription to Entertainment Weekly and 11 free songs on iTunes. Not a bad deal.

I'm debating about Taylor Hicks August 3rd and 4th. I don't think I want to go to the Coliseum in Biloxi (I wonder if it smells any better now....) I'd rather hear him at House of Blues, but I'd have to get somebody to go with me - I'm not dumb enough to go to New Orleans after dark solo.

Speaking of shows, I'm getting a group together for Pirates on Saturday. I hope it lives up to the previews. Even if it bombs (doubtful), it will be good to spend the evening with old friends. The sneak preview is tonight, so if you see it tonight or tomorrow, don't tell me about it until Sunday...

INTERVIEW

My School Desk, originally uploaded by Xochiquetzal-Sil:).

I have an interview this Thursday at 10 with an elementary principal. I'll keep you posted...

Mayday! Mayday!

Maypole
Originally uploaded by sfPhotocraft.

I can just picture my grandmother running around in a white linen gown, laughing with the other kids and bringing flowers to her mamma. Back when my Grannie was a little girl, she and and the rest of the folks in Burgess, Mississippi had a big party each May 1st. They hung baskets of May Day flowers and wove floral garlands. Otherwise proper Methodist and Baptist families even danced like pagans around a Maypole!

My own experiences with this holiday are a lot less festive. I've never actually celebrated May Day. The closest I ever came was making a construction paper basket of flowers in grade school. The teacher had run them off on the mimeograph machine. My classmates and I colored them with crayons, cut them out with our dull safety scissors, and glued the tabs together with our smelly non-toxic paste. I remember being annoyed that I got light blue construction paper instead of yellow. Some party!

There's no Maypole downtown today. Nobody is passing out baskets of flowers. I wonder why we don't celebrate May Day anymore. I guess the families living in MS around 100 or so years ago were closer to their European roots and their "old country" customs. Or maybe Mayday is dying out because it's not commercial enough to catch Madison Ave's eye.

SIGNED UP FOR BLINGO YET?

SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS

Dilbert rules!, originally uploaded by indsight.

My sorry local paper runs Dilbert only on Sundays. To get my daily fix, I visit Yahoo. Its virtual Funny Papers are free! All your favorite comics are there. Which strip will you read first?

MAKE YOUR OWN COMIC AT COMEEKO.COM

Originally uploaded by Tinker*Tailor.

New online toy ALERT: You can easily make your own photo COMIC STRIP at Comeeko.com. Once you've tried it, good luck getting anything else accomplished for the rest of the day: Addictive fun at it's best.

Don't feel like making a comic? You can view and rate ones that others have posted at the site.

To read my 1st comic, just left click it and follow the link to flickr. And check out the new flickr group I formed for Comeeko fans.

Speaking of addictive. I've lost track of how many flickr groups I formed in the last year. There's a group for just about anything already, but occasionally I post a photo that needs a group and find I'll just have to create the group myself. Some still only have a handful of members, but others have really taken off. Either way, it's one of my favorite things about flickr.

Now if I can just get a nickel for everyone who visits my photo stream...

TIME FOR A HAIRCUT?

Time for a haircut?, originally uploaded by Tinker*Tailor.

What's your verdict?

BOWLCUT

5 years old, originally uploaded by Tinker*Tailor.

I'm digging out old photos again and posting them to flickr. I ran across this one. Looks like Mom used an actual bowl for this haircut.

GOOD CLOTHES

J.C. Leyendecker Kuppenheimer Ad - Diver, originally uploaded by Mamluke.

Ties in with that last entry. In Heaven, I'll be able to draw like Leyendecker. He's awesome!

SOMEWHERE IN TIME

tailor, originally uploaded by D'Arcy.

My parents and I live examples of the generation gap on a daily basis. Sometimes the ensuing tension proves frustrating, but most of these incidents are just harmless reminders that times change. For example, I overheard Daddy talking about Mars Robert the other day. That's ancient-speak for (Master) Robert E. Lee for all you non-Southerners. He's always using archaic colloquialisms. And then today he asked me if it's time to take his shirt to the tailor to have the collar turned. He was dead serious. Do tailors even turn collars anymore? I told him he should just throw it away.

There was a time when my family had a lot of their clothing tailor-made. They picked out the pattern, fabrics, buttons, and trim. Why don't we do that anymore? When we crossed over to wearing retail, I was too little to understand why we started buying off the rack. I doubt it was economics, as Dad's income increased through the years. Maybe society as a whole changed and we blindly followed.

Over Easter weekend, I visited Samantha & Steven - married friends of mine. On the way to the seafood place for dinner on Saturday, we passed a Seamstress Shop and I marveled that she could stay in business in this day and age. They testified that her workmanship was excellent and that she always stayed busy. I have a few dress shirts with overly long sleeves that might just need to pay her a visit. I guess having something altered is the next best thing to wearing custom-made, and I like the idea of supporting a local entrepreneur rather than buying from a big-name chain. Maybe I should bring Dad's shirt and ask her to turn the collar.