Author: Sean

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Hello,
   I was watching this special on seals on the Discovery Channel the other evening. One day they decided to see how the seals responded to danger, so one of the scientists put on scuba gear and attached a large shark fin to his back. When he swam into the cove, the seals went understandably apeshit. They didn’t try to get to land, however. Every seal immediately jumped into the water despite the presence of a “shark”. Apparently, because they swim better than they walk, their natural reaction to danger is to get where they are most comfortable.

   I’m not so excited about tomorrow for many reasons, only one of which is the tons of bullshit the media is going to rub in our already runny noses. Like the seal I want to dive into the place I am most comfortable. It’s not church, my apartment, or work; it’s dive bars with friends.

   I’ll be at DBA today at about 6:30ish. From there I may go to other bars or pizza joints as long as they don’t have TVs. I don’t really want to get drunk, I just want to avoid the forced emotionalism of the TV and see friends. Please join me if you can. I know some folks have other engagements, so maybe we can meet up later.

Thanks,
Sean

I’ve been up wandering around since 7:15AM, running some errands, keeping busy. I’ve noticed that New Yorkers are very friendly today. I haven’t seen them this friendly since, well, since the days after it happened. Not really sure what else to say/write today. I think I’ll use the telephone instead. For me today seems like a good day to not buy the paper or turn on the TV, but to call the folks I talk to regularly and the ones I don’t talk to often enough. I love and miss you all.

Last night I left work early for my soccer game and then rushed home after it, skipping book club. I needed to be home in front of my big TV to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers. An hour and a half later I left before the game was even over to catch up with my friend Lauren’s birthday part at Blue and Gold. From the look on my face you can tell that I’m thinking about how much I hate Kordell Stewart. Look at everyone else’s face and guess what they are thinking. Top, from left: Diane, Lauren, me. Bottom: Walker, Colleen.

You know what’s driving me nuts? The non-stop 9/11 coverage, especially on NPR. I’ve locked myself away from all forms of media and I refuse to discuss it. Tomorrow I plan to go to work and then maybe a movie, and then a bar. I seem to get my fill of feeling shitty about it without seeking it out.

My cousin Mary Beth, her son Devin, and her brand new son Ryan Joseph. The boys are being raised as Patriots fans and the family is not too happy about that.

Had dinner with Mary, Jan, Jen, Erik, and Alex at One and One last night and then headed back to my place to watch the first game of the NFL 2002 Season. A part of me is dead during the year while I wait for football to resume. That’s probably not healthy. Another part of me can eat an entire basket of chicken fingers at One and One. That too, is probably not healthy.

Alex is a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and they received this ketchup bottle in the mail. It is the new, not yet released, bottom dispensing Heinz Ketchup bottle. Knowing my Pittsburgh connection, Alex snagged it for as a home warming gift for me.

I’m so happy to have the camera I can’t just choose one picture. On the left is a giant inflatable rat. The Unions have a van that carts this thing around and sets it up in front of buildings that have hired non-union laborers. I took a flyer from the fat guy in green and it says, “BEWARE Death comes early if you breathe asbestos!” Apparantly the building has hired non-union immigrants to do asbestos removal. They probably aren’t being paid well and not using proper safety precautions. Still, setting up a giant inflatable rat is somewhat rude. This all supports my point that everybody sucks.

On the right is Erika and I lit by the glow of a neon beer sign in Cherry Tavern. She’s the latest import from Blacksburg, VA and appears to be having a good time.

During the rainy weekend, I was inspired by “Trading Spaces” to dismantle my too massive wardrobe and turn it into a bench. This may seem a little too Martha for me to be comfortable with so I’d like to point out that I did it while watching the Penn State game. I also got to use my very cool staple gun and drill. I set the timer on my new camera and then decided to remove the clean laundry from the bench, thus the first the photo. The painting on the wall is an original by Altoona artist Joe Servello.

I’ve been doing these “pic of the day”s at night for the past two and I think I prefer mornings. Coffee fuels creativity.

Happy Labor Day. I did nothing but lounge and hang out with my friends this weekend and it was wonderful. My place has turned into a great place to lamp*. Today I treated myself to a new camera and Lauren and I got sushi to celebrate the end of summer. I like the season, but only for about two weeks. I couldn’t be any happier to welcome jacket weather. I’m so ready for football, and fall camping, and cooking large hot meals. Now that I have the new camera I can bore the lot of you with photos of these things.

*lamp v. slang To sit in the living room and do nothing, like an electric lamp

From Lainey, “Lots of entertainment on Wopsy last night. Some nut went right through the Penelec/Telephone across the street in the middle of Wed. night. The pole kicked out an 8 foot section and the top of the pole dropped down and landed on the base like a spear. The guy or guys who wrecked apparently called a friend to pick them up and a wrecker to haul the vehicle away in the middle of the night so the accident wasn’t reported. Long story short – no one reported it until late yesterday afternoon so there were 2 Verizon trucks and 2 Penelec trucks out in our driveway and lots of guys working overtime, making lots of money. The buckets up in the air reminded me of a scene from the old ‘War of the Worlds’ radio event with Orson Welles way back in time. No one mentioned seeing any potato pieces on the transformer! Focus on the photo is a bit soft but you get the idea of how cool it was to watch in the dark.”

Good night last night. Dinner at Acme. Sent my love to the ‘Drag, but didn’t get to see them. A lot of the kids are in town this weekend so I think it will be fun. Cut a pencil eraser size chunk out of my finger yesterday. It is gross and cool. Headed to B&H at lunch to buy a new camera.
PS There is an Onion article from Altoona this week. I always get proud when they do that.

Submitted by Mother Conrad. Plaid was cool.

I’ve got nothing today and I’m swamped at work. It’s raining like shit outside and I don’t have an umbrella. Todd and Lisy are in town and I’m enjoying their company. The new futon rocks.

Somebody send me something.

I’ve had some complaints recently about not having “live” photos. Some people claim that the voyeuristic nature of this site is what makes it entertaining and that I need to buy another “f***ing” digital camera. I’m ordering one today and thus blowing September’s budget. Until it arrives I will try and be verbosely exhibitionistic.

Last night a friend and I went futon shopping and I purchased one similar to the model above. On viewing today’s photo nine out of every ten people make the joke “Does SHE come with it?!” which is why she was put in the picture in the first place. (“Oh, you!” – The Simpsons). It is small so it will fit through my door and it will be very comfortable for video game playing, football watching, and date groping.

After the successful futon trip, we tried to get a table at the Corner Bistro. The only thing on the menu there is hamburgers and of all the restaurants in Manhattan, it is the only one I go to that I have to wait in line. The line was too long so we went to the White Horse where my friend got a hot dog that promptly made her sick and I got several Guinness. She went home to soothe her stomach and I met up with Colleen to get drunk. Only interesting bit of the night is when a large semi-homeless man walked in to the International Bar and took a cigarette from our table after Colleen told him “no”. It happened very quickly and he was gone before I could hang up my cell phone.(That is a very yuppie sentence.) We felt very weird about the whole scene there, so we went to Big Bar to forget about it.