Observations from Armory Week 2.28

This week is Armory Week in New York, or call it Art Week, much more important than the recently ended Fashion Week. Wednesday through Sunday is the big Armory Show on the 12th Avenue piers and, due to a miracle of scheduling, Tuesday through Sunday is the ADAA Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory.

The Armory Show includes over 270 dealers from around the globe spread over two piers. Pier 92 will host the modern art section of 76 dealers and pier 94 the contemporary section of 194 dealers, all together over 80 galleries and 23 countries are represented. To put it all in perspective a 50 square foot stand at the Armory show cost $40,000. On top of that are the 70 American dealers and galleries at the ADAA show. The record number of dealers at the Armory Show is blamed on a suddenly rebounding art market. Less than a year ago the market was bottoming out and many of the usual exhibitors gave up there spots to newcomers only to have the market rebound dramatically at Art Basil in December.

Almost a dozen other shows are taking place this week including the first ever at the gallery I supposedly work at. It will be a comparatively tiny show with only six galleries including our own and the floor space divided into six booths with a walkway down the middle (l). The owners arrived yesterday for tonight's opening and hopefully a nice dinner afterward.

I can't help but finishing this with a quote from the official ADAA press release. I think a friend of mine will get a kick out of it. "Aligning with newer fairs, such as The Armory Show and other concurrent expositions during the first week of March, The Art Show will celebrate New York’s iconic status as the center of the cultural world."

It must be true if they said so.

Observations from the Window 2.28, Oscars

Let me start by saying this, the Academy Award coverage started on E! at 2PM Eastern Time. What the hell were they thinking? Seriously people, this isn’t the Super Bowl after all. How much can you talk about dresses?

Any other year I watch the Academy Awards to see who won and check out who is wearing what cool awesome slinky dress. In that way I guess it is like the Super Bowl which I tend to watch for the commercials when the Eagles aren’t in it, and yes that means pretty much every year. This year I only saw two of the best picture nominees, "The Social Network" and just last night I watched "Inception," so I really wasn't watching tonight because I knew the films.

No this year I had my own ulterior motive for watching. I watched to see co-host Anne Hathaway, star of film and also star of some wonderful fantasies of mine. I wont bore you with the details of those fantasies but after seeing her in a tux tonight I might be coming up with some new ones; the tux followed by the red dress , followed by the blue dress, followed by the sheer lace high collar dress. Damn, that girl is just hot and I want to take her home and raise a family of little dark haired kids. For the record I never said that last part and I'll deny any of it.

Oscar randomness. So honestly, does Randy Newman get nominated for a song every year or does it just seem that way? And speaking of singing, Gwyneth Paltrow please don't quit your day job any time soon. OK I opened my mouth and Newman wins his third Oscar, I'll just keep it shut from now on so I don't effect any more outcomes. it seems the Eagles can't win a Super Bowl but damn if Jeff Lurie didn't win an Oscar for "Inside Job." So take that Donavan McNabb, Philly wins one way or another. And yes, Scarlett Johansson, that’s all I’m going to say.

Final thought, some years there are terrible movies nominated for the best picture and the winner is that one good one that you know is a lock. Tonight all the films were totally awesome and still the winner was a lock. I honestly didn’t see and didn't hear one bad thing about “The King’s Speech” so I cant complain but still I was hoping for a surprise.

Now it’s time for my fantasies.

Hesta Prynn - Turn it Gold

update - I wrote this last night than just before posting it I found this little gem in a column about what you don’t see watching on TV. My kind of girl.

"During a commercial break early in the show, Anne Hathaway came out and thanked the audience “for all the energy you’re giving us.” She told everyone they looked fabulous and then held a quick raffle for a plate of sushi — “because the only thing more glamorous than being at the Oscars is eating sushi at the Oscars.” Referencing Leo’s f-bomb, Hathaway noted it was “really fucking good sushi."'

Observations from the Window 2.26

It's the Saturday before spring break at Penn State so let me start by wishing you all a Happy State Patty's Day. Five years ago St. Patrick's Day fell during spring break so State Patty's Day was born to enjoy the holiday's drinking and other fine traditions. Well after all Penn State was awarded the #1 Party School title for a reason. Just picture a mid-winter football weekend with a lot of green clothes and beer, sad but that description reminds me of a Notre Dame football weekend.

I did read one comment to a blog post about State Patty's day that goes a long way in explaining why the 'holiday' has become a bit controversial with the locals in State College. Among other things the comment said this, ".... And if they really are afraid they SHOULD stay out of downtown that day. This town belongs to us." That is such a totally stupid thing to say. True State College wouldn’t be the same without Penn State but the reverse is also true, Penn State wouldn't be the same without State College. Drop the main campus in the middle of Philly or Pittsburgh and what would you have? Temple or Pitt, enough said.

Yesterday was just a dreary and rainy day in the Village but it was a day to get some work cleaned up at home. Yes a day for cleaning, washing the black, and maybe even buying some foods. But instead I started playing with what I loosely call my empire. I always had a list of my site links to the side of this blog but it can't tell you in any detail what they are so I came up with the idea of adding a page that did explain them better. Well while I was working on that idea I came up with yet another idea so now you can see why I don't get much sleep.

I love to look at other people's art almost as much as I enjoy working on my own. I can spend hours just looking at photos and paintings or just reading well written blogs. Really I just enjoy art in almost any form, it's what makes me go, and my idea was this. Up until now I had three Tumblr blogs all of which were nsfw and one of which is almost as secret as my Facebook page. I am always seeing shots of one kind or another that I love but that just don't fit into the idea of the other three Tumblrs, some of the shots I favorite and some I don't. I decided I would start a fourth one just to show photos that are totally safe and just as gorgeous as the others. I didn't get to that blog page but this is the official unveiling of le quatrième (l), the fourth and hopefully last of my Tumblrs.

Have a good one and enjoy the green beer.

Metallica - Whiskey In The Jar

Observations from the Window 2.25

Have you ever sat in front of your computer with four tabs open in Firefox or Chrome (two emails, facebook, and either news or blog feeds), one or two Gchats going orange, Photoshop open to work on photos, and, in my case, TweetDeck open on a netbook? Lost data slips by as you stare at that one orange Gchat wondering why it went quiet, wondering if you said something wrong. I have. In fact I am as I add Word on my laptop to the list so I can write this. I’m not even going to think about where Tumblr, Plurk, and my cell phone fit into this.

Insanity rules.

Tab, tab, tweet, tab, tweet. The Middle East erupts, the Middle West protests, Gadaffi blames the Easter Bunny, and I stare endlessly at that orange dot. I reread the last few lines of the chat knowing I didn’t say anything wrong but still wondering if I did. Why do I always have to be such a smart ass? Did she take something the wrong way? Should I explain what I meant or just let it go?

Total freaking netsanity.

Streaming YouTube, iTunes, half written unfinished than forgotten comments. Endless bits of information careening in front of my eyes as my brain begins to spin totally out of control.

And than the dot goes grey.

The Pretty Reckless - Just Tonight

Observations 2.22

This post is a little different in that I'm not going to say much at all, seriously. It's just that I read this article in The Wall Street Journal last night and the end of it is something I haven't seen anywhere else but yet is so obvious. It really just blew my mind a little when I read it; and please no comments on that. For what it's worth here is the part I am talking about with some italics I added and than a link to the full article.

".... it seems dictators learn fast and are perfectly capable of mastering the Internet. It's only by anticipating their response that those of us who care about democracy in the West can make their tough methods less effective. After all, these regimes have turned mostly to Western companies and consultants for advice about the technology of repression.

Triumphalism about recent events in the Middle East is premature. The contest is still in its early stages, and the new age of Internet-driven democratization will endure only if we learn to counter the sophisticated measures now being developed to quash it."

Smart Dictators Don't Quash the Internet

Observations from the Coffee Shop 2.21 Randomness

Borders books filed for bankruptcy last week and is supposedly closing over two hundred stores. The thought of that makes me sad because years ago my mom would take me to the local Borders on a Saturday afternoon for kids reading day, or poetry reading, or whatever was going on. I think my love of books started back than, it was a good thing. My sister told me that local Borders is one of the many scheduled to close.

I haven't lived with my dad for a couple years and I have just now noticed a major side effect of that. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing no longer seems to appeal to me the way it once did. Than again I do know what it is and I do know that a twenty year old rookie won the Daytona 500 yesterday. Maybe you should disregard this paragraph.

Last year my brother got me started watching "Whale Wars" on the Animal Planet network. It's a reality show following The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's struggle to end Japanese whaling. It tried to do this by putting its ships in the way of the whaling ships which became something I was rather fond of watching. Now filming of its fourth season has been suspending due to Japan's tentatively canceling the remainder of this years whaling season and going home. They blame the constant harassment by Sea Shepherd ships and its wee little helicopter. But what happens to the show with no whalers to harass?

And to prove life is still good ....

Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me

Observattions from the Window 2.20

Sometimes I get these massive headaches that feel like a vice is squeezing my head together from ear to ear. I have been told they aren't technically migraines but I have never been told what they in fact are. I don’t know what causes them, nobody seems to have any idea what causes them. A couple years ago I went through a whole array of tests just to see the doctor shrug as if to say karma.

I had one of them yesterday, the first I have had in a long time. Actually I think it was the first I had since I moved to the Village. There is nothing like spending 24 hours in bed, clawing at the pillows, chewing on Treximet, and praying it puts you back to sleep so you can forget the pain. Now the funny thing with Treximet is that one of the possible side effects is a rebound headache. I do not lie, a rebound headache, what the hell is the point?

The best explanation I was ever given was that it is totally stress related. Basically my brain isn't wired right to handle stress so it takes it to a point and than it overheats. My theory is that fluid intake should cool it down but I suppose alcohol isn't the right fluid to be taking in. It seems to work to a point and than it doesn't.

Anyway I had this idea to write down what i was thinking, that is if I was thinking anything other than just kill me now. I must admit that was the most prevalent thought I had. I guess my grand experiment was a failure because other than the kill me now thought it was mostly black without the white. A dark deep depression with no light anywhere, no escape, nowhere to hide. Seems almost like what I call the mood but with added pain. What a piece of work I am.

Karma

Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company

Observations from the Window 2.17

It finally happened, the temperature topped out at 62 today and broke that magic barrier. Yes there will be an end to this damn winter and hopefully there will be a real spring too. I thought it called for a celebration of sorts. I knew for a fact that Foxy was ready to take to the road after a month locked up in her garage and only running for five or ten minutes every couple days. I myself was ready to put that top down and take her for a drive around the city but I came upon one small problem that stopped me. In my excited state I somehow forgot that I had the hardtop on and I have no place to store it here so I'm stuck top up till I can drive down to my dad's. I still took her for a run up around Central Park just to get her some non-garage air.

Now I have a question; does anybody know how to get motor oil out of leather? See Foxy needed a quart of oil and with the sun getting lower I wasn't about to take the time to run to the apartment for a funnel so I did without. One should always remember not to squeeze the bottle to hard because it tends to make the oil sport out, in this case all over my arm. Maybe I should just keep the funnel in the trunk with my collection of old boots, tools, and the gods know what else I have in there.

One slight highlight of the drive was this. With Fashion Week winding down a chant was heard as I drove past Lincoln Center. "On to Muscat, on to Muskat" the stylish ones were screaming as they left the building. Well don't believe me if you don't want to, but I know what I heard.

If you happen to own a work by Andy Warhol now seems to be the time to sell because the man is hot. Tuesday night his portrait of Marilyn Monroe, “Nine Multicolored Marilyns (Reversal Series),” sold for $5.09 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale. That was followed Wednesday by the sale of a 6 foot by 6 foot red silkscreen self portrait for $17.4 million at the same auction. Also Armand Bartos Fine Arts opened the first ever show devoted to Warhol's soup can works. The show runs for thirty days than the gallery will close its doors forever.

Tomorrow is 'full moon Friday' so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all good luck. If my horoscope is any indication of how the day will go I think I'll be spending the day down the bunker.

Now dare I checkout the roof?

My Chemical Romance - Sing

22:10 update - yes I dare to roof ....

Observations from the Window 2.16, Egypt

Following the lead of Tunisia and Egypt protests seem to be spreading like a wildfire through the Middle East with Iran, Yemen, Libya, Algeria, and Bahrain all seeing protests of one kind or another. Even in the newly democratic Iraq people are in the streets again. Why does that last sentence make me want to laugh or cry? It all makes the dark one in me want to start some sort of dictator death pool; any takers? I'll take Iran with the first pick, more out of hope than anything else.

At times the world seems such a tiny place. Over the weekend I was reading some about the Egyptian uprising and in the process came upon my own minor connection to it. Dr. Zahi Hawass was appointed Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs as part of a Mubarak's cabinet shakeup at the beginning of the protests. Always a controversial figure Dr. Hawass is at the center of a storm over what, if anything, was looted from the Egyptian Museum during the protests. I met Dr. Hawass at a lecture he gave at NYU a few years ago and got close enough to shake his hand. After reading "Egypt’s Zahi Hawass and a dark past" all I can say is this; I do not recall any call girls being present.

Another big story to come out of the Egyptian uprising was the government shutdown of the internet for five days. How the shutdown was done is something it has yet to explain in full but it seems it was accomplished by simply closing down the choke points where data enters and exits the country. Whether by high-tech means or by simply pulling the plug Egypt's internet was killed between 12 and 1 on the morning of January 28th and nobody knows how. In ways the strategy backfired on the government in that the shutdown had to be partly responsible for the near collapse of the Egyptian economy and that near collapse is what prompted the military to act.

And finally; I want my own internet and I want it yesterday. “It is not hard, when everybody is just in one big database controlled by Mr. Zuckerberg, to decapitate a revolution by sending an order to Mr. Zuckerberg that he cannot afford to refuse,” Mr. Moglen said." From "Decentralizing the Internet So Big Brother Can’t Find You." Totally awesome idea and a good article in the New York Times but I'll let you read it if you want and wont bore you with my geek side.

Bob Marley - Redemption Song

2/21 update - At this point I have to say I was wrong to pick Iran in the death pool. As troops fire on protesters and ambassadors around the globe resign Libya seems to be the next to fall ....

From The Nation - "The End of Qaddafi?"

3/1 update - Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief mentioned above, resigned today.

3/30 update - From The New York Times today, "Zahi Hawass, who resigned as Egypt’s minister of antiquities less than a month ago under criticism for his close ties to former President Hosni Mubarak, was reappointed to the post on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported, citing an Egyptian news report; Mr. Hawass, reached by phone, confirmed his reappointment."

Observations from the Window 2.13

We in the Village are mired in the middle of the fall collection edition of New York Fashion Week and I for one am a bit tired of it. I'm not the biggest fan of Fashion Week to start with but today I went ice skating and there was a woman skating in a jacket so bizzare I just had to ask. In my most polite tone of voice I asked her what the hell she was wearing and was told faux monkey fur, I do not lie. OK I know the stuff is hot in the fashion world but this woman looked like she was wearing the whole faux monkey.

The problem with Fashion Week is there are too many people walking around who think they are stylish, want you to think they are stylish, and totally look like hell. Supposedly the New York Fashion Week is all about cool where Paris is about elegance. I myself dont see it, there isnt nearly enough black or leather and there are way too many mohawks for my taste. Call me an old fashioned dyke but i like that long silky hair I can wrap my fingers in when it is called for, but i digress.

Just to prove the whole fashion week thing is out of control I'll tell you about a notice we got at the gallery. We get all kinds of things about openings, parties, shows, and the like; some aren't exactly within walking distance but this was new. We received an invitation to the first ever Muscat Fashion Week in Oman which takes place from February 22nd through the 24th. There are now at least 18 fashion weeks that I know of and I'm probably missing some so please no more, I beg you.

I read a review of the Alexanedr Wang show hoping for anything positive and what I found made me cry myself to sleep (l). "There was a pretty balance between hard and soft in the textures and shapes used in the collection – we especially loved his buttery, black biker-girl jacket with a huge fur collar teamed up with beautifully tailored silk trousers. Is this what Joan Jett would look like if she grew up and got a job in an art gallery in the Big Apple? We hope so." I don't have words ....

By the way Milan fashion Week is from February 23rd through March 1st. I'm thinking if I'm going to be flying anywhere it isn't going to be to some city named after a rodent.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 2.11, Egypt

So in the end the Egyptian military made its choice and Mubarak had to go.

Call me strange if you must but I get so into moments like this. Maybe after studying so much history I just get a kind of high when I realize I'm seeing history being made as I watch. If I could have been there I would have, taking pics or sitting on top of a tank just taking it all in. Maybe I found my camera too late and missed my calling; maybe it's never too late. Please don't anybody tell my dad I wrote that.

With Wael Ghonim as their hero the Egyptian people toppled the so called 'Last Pharaoh' and forced his resignation. Ghonim , a 30 year old Google executive , was the anonymous activist behind the 'We Are All Khaled Said' Facebook page from which the January 25th movement evolved. For the last eighteen days the people of Egypt chased a dream, a dream of freedom, and today they caught up with that dream. Nobody can know how events will play out in the next few weeks and months but one thing is certain; Egypt and the world itself will never be the same. And what comes after this? "Ask Facebook," Ghonim told CNN. "I want to meet Mark Zuckerberg one day and thank him."

In October Malcolm Gladwell wrote in The New Yorker (l) that "the revolution will not be tweeted." Maybe he was wrong, maybe the next revolution is being planned on Facebook as I write this. I can only hope so.

Allāhu Akbar

Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts Now

23:50 update - Once again the GOP is on the wrong side of history. In his speech to the CPAC convention Ron Paul disagreed with the idea that the US "has a moral responsibility to spread our goodness around the world.We need to do a lot less a lot sooner, not only in Egypt but around the world."

Observations from the Window 2.11

It was below twenty degrees again last night. I don’t really care how far below twenty it goes, below twenty is cold enough for me. I just sit in the window watching the people walk down the street all bundled up and all looking like smokers who found a way to smoke without cigarettes. Even my vendor has disappeared for now, his spot on the corner replaced by of trash appearing under a melted snow pile which is now frozen into some macabre urban ice sculpture. It all combines to make me dream of spring, something that at times seems farther away every day.

My brain has started a list, a sort of psycho wish list, of things to keep itself warm. So ....

I want it to be warm outside; I'm talking 70 or 80 degrees warm. I want to be able to say I'm hot and not just be looking in the mirror when I say it. I want to hear that I have the house at the shore for my annual week of relaxation or solo debauchery or whatever it is I do there. I want to sit with my feet buried in the sand while I sip on an ice cold Corona and chew on the lime. True, I don't actually sip beer but I like the thought just the same. I want Fred's. I want to drive Foxy with the top down, the stereo blaring, and peeps thinking I must be totally insane. I want to buy sunscreen and not just need it for my face because the snow is too damn bright.

I want to sit on the roof in a tank and shorts and watch the stars all night.

Now that I have probably totally jinxed myself I do have one realistic thought that is warming. Phillies pitchers and catchers report Sunday. Maybe spring isn't that far off after all.

Sheryl Crow - Anything But Down

Observations from the Window 2.8.1

Studying Art History you learn all about revisionist history. There is a branch of the discipline that is just that, a revisionist view of art. In the mid-80s, when I was but a wee thing, there was a huge clash between the revisionists and the traditional historians with the revisionists being called radicals and troublemakers. Before you ask, no I'm not technically a revisionist. In the end many thing changed in the study of Art History and I may write about it sometime because it has always intrigued me but not now. However I did bring revisionism up for a reason.

Ronald Reagan's one hundredth birthday was a few days ago. Reagan was too early for any real time experience and too late for any of my studies so my only actual experience of him was seeing his funeral when I was ten. Like a lot of people my age I didn't know much about him and just always looked on Reagan as my grandfather's Republican. This is where the revisionist part comes in. My opinion of him came from what I heard in the years since the funeral and was also colored by living eight years under the Bush administration. Not that I would have voted for Reagan but he just seemed to more liberal than today's conservatives and seemed to have been good for the country.

Earlier today I was reading some blogs when I stumbled on something in David Mixner's blog (l) that I traced back to the Daily Kos (l). I'll let you form your own opinion.

"The following press conference is the first public mention of AIDS in the Reagan White House. At that time 200 Americans had died of a new infectious disease. Reagan himself did not mention AIDS for three more years. [Note: other sources say five, citing 1987.--Clarknt67]

The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Press Briefing by Larry Speakes
October 15, 1982, The Briefing Room
12:45pm EDT

Q: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement -- the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
Mr. Speakes: What's AIDS?
Q: Over a third of them have died. It's known as "gay plague." (Laughter.) No, it is. I mean it's a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the President is aware of it?
Mr. Speakes: I don't have it. Do you? (Laughter.)
Q: No, I don't.
Mr. Speakes: You didn't answer my question.
Q: Well, I just wondered, does the President ...
Mr. Speakes: How do you know? (Laughter.)
Q: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?"

My thoughts on the subject of Mr. Reagan and his administration have changed drastically.

Read the full Daily Kos post "Screw Reagan" here.

Observations from the Window 2.8

Over the past weekend I went through one royal funk I think brought on by the fact that I have never in my life been so tired of a winter before. I was telling a friend how drained I was feeling and didn't know why but I think that is the answer. I never got like this in the mountains but than this winter seems so damn special, or maybe a better word is grueling. Plus in the mountains I had hockey and skiing and here I just have slush, never ending grey slush to go along with my collection of now grey boots.

I was also in a bit of a photographic funk, to the point that I reshot a job because I didn’t like the way it turned out the first time. I always said part of the reason I like photography is the instant gratification aspect of it. I can take so many shots in so little time and even if I only like one it's almost instantaneous and costs next to nothing. On the other hand the cost of a painting has been known to come in at days without sleep, a case of Corona, a bottle of tequila, and a carton of cigarettes. All that is not exactly instantaneous or cheap in today's economy.

Ash has a theory of her own on this one. It being that I am spending too much time on the shots I am doing, stressing over them, and making them not so instantaneous. Or as she so succinctly puts it I'm using too much of my 'limited' brain power on them. My secret theory on her theory is that she wants me to start painting so she can sell my paintings. That and she has a not so secret desire to open a gallery of her own and needs a captive artist with a larger body of work.

After a couple of relatively warm, if not exactly spring like, days I seem to have snapped out of the funk for now. Hopefully I stay out of it but one never knows with me.

For the record that little virus my comps had a couple days ago totally sucked. I did manage to get rid of it but it seems to have affected Firefox in some way, slowing it down to the point I want to scream. I started using Google Chrome more and now I’m thinking the ‘Google” virus was unleashed by Google to get people to use Chrome. I have been tweaking the Firefox code and it seems to be working better but it may be too late, I like Chrome and its black skin.

And so it goes ….

30 Seconds To Mars - Closer To The Edge

Observations from the Bar 2.6

I stopped by my little bar after work to watch the Super Bowl and get reacquainted. I haven't been here in some time and with the Flyers going into the second half of the season with the best record in the NHL I soon might be spending more time here.

I really couldn't care less about the game because I don't like either team so I would be perfectly happy if neither one wins. I know the Steelers are from Pennsylvania but i don't care, I never liked them. After all they are from western PA and everybody knows that it's a strange breed of people that live west of the Susquehanna. On top of that there are no cheerleaders because neither team has them. There are only six teams in the NFL that don't have cheerleaders and it was just our luck to get two of them this year. Seriously, there should be a rule against that. There should also be a rule against halftime shows with bad sound, or maybe just against totally bad halftime shows.

That leaves the commercials and they don't seem to be anything special this year either. Maybe I missed something but I'm totally unexcited so far. The Chrysler ad with Eminem is probably my winner because it is very well made and "Imported from Detroit" is prob the only memorable line to come out of this game. My only other thought on the commercials is that Stella Artois and Miller Lite are clearly targeting different markets. Wait, GoDaddy just came on so things are looking up and it's followed by VW Bettle, win win.

It was nice to see George Bush could get a ticket to the game. One has to wonder if he and the old gang were discussing how things are going in Iraq and how the Middle East needs more strong countries like Egypt. That Georgie, he always was a little behind.

One final toast to the missing 400 who were denied seats even though they had tickets. Seems Jerry Jones forgot to install some 1200 seats in his new sports palace. Honestly you just can't make this shit up.

And so the final score was Green Bay 31 and Pittsburgh 25 with Penn State getting its 49th Super Bowl ring. There had to be a silver lining somewhere and damnit I found it.

Observations from the Window 2.3

One of those bad days you would like to forget. A day when my virtual empire once again went into a virus induced meltdown. After six hours of wracking my brain, and all but pulling my black hair out by the roots, I think I finally have it cured but it's been enough to make me turn to the geek darkside. Yes I'm talking about switching to those Apple products. Supposedly they don’t get viruses because it isn’t worth the time it takes to write them because there just aren’t that many machines compared to Windows run ones. You get much more bang with windows powered machines. And the gods know the aholes that write these things want all the bang they can get for their trouble.

Till I was finished I had run more malware cleaners than I knew existed. I finally found that what I had was something relatively new and called the 'Google Redirect Virus' which most virus and malware programs don’t catch because it doesn’t leave trace files but worms its way into the computers settings than disappears. All I know is that it sucks big time, very big time. What it does is give you fake search results and than redirects you to websites that contain more viruses and trojans. I finally found a tiny free program made by Kaspersky called TDSSKiller that got rid of it in five minutes. But by than it had spread to two of my comps and threatened to give me something I have never had before, short hair. But all is well for now, until the next time.

Before the meltdown I had started writing about the protests in Egypt but I didn’t get very far. All I had written was this before the meltdown began.

"And why aren't you tweeting more Richard Engle? Anderson Cooper got beat up yesterday so he is quiet too. Don't give me that cell phones are out, just get a BlackBerry like the protesters have. A little bit of geek speak related to Egypt; it seems BlackBerrys are on different servers than the rest of the internet. Servers the government seems unable to find."

I feel stupid reading that because I now see at least forty reporters were beaten today and a big march is planned for the morning Egyptian time, or about three hours from now. Egyptian state television began broadcasting just pictures of flowers and it seems Friday will be a historic day, one way or another.

One prays for change yet dreads the cost.

Observations

Sometimes the apple falls so far away from the tree it's not even in the same yard anymore ....

Observations from the Window 2.1

It's Groundhog Day, or maybe Tim Burton's vision of Groundhog Day starring Johnny Depp instead of Bill Murray. Either way a thick layer of ice grips the Village this morning as I look out the window. I'm talking about a groundhog with suicidal tendencies, with a rope around his neck instead of a collar, a groundhog with a taste for Zoloft.

Torn from his borrow by a gentlemen resembling a Victorian executioner Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow today so they say it will be an early spring this year. I’m not one to believe in superstitions, seriously I'm not, but at this point I'll take whatever hope I can get. I haven’t heard from Staten Island Phil yet but I don't think he is going to see anything but his reflection on the ground if the executioner should drag him out.

You might be getting the idea that I’m tired of this winter, the winter from hell, and you would be correct in that assumption. I have had more than enough of this winter of the snowpocalypse and thundersnow and as the lights flicker I might yet add this winter of the icepocalypse to the list. We of the Village are surviving on thoughts of spring and summer but it getting harder and harder to wipe that war in the trenches looks off our faces. Groundhog or not for now the winter from hell keeps us in its, well, icy grasp and doesn’t show any sign of letting go.

Better keep all my toys charged today ....

Groundhog Day - Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad