meatloafing

We just got this handy little device called the Flip, a really simple and user-friendly video camera. This is our first test video. Sorry if it makes you a little queasy.

A video to brighten your day

Good friends Matt & Kim last Saturday at Mohawk in Austin, TX.

You are a unique and beautiful snowflake.

• Our good friends over at Lunchboxr have started a Flickr group. When you add your photos to the group, your lovely lunch appears on the Lunchboxr home page. See, there’s my grilled cheese sandwich from yesterday. Fun!
• Snow is pretty, but wind and rain? No thanks! Get yourself a Nubrella, the revolutionary umbrella that won’t flip inside-out.
• Jesse L. Martin announces departure from Law & Order; the world cries. So much for my JLM–Jeremy Sisto sandwich. (But he’ll be playing Marvin Gaye in the upcoming biopic, so the world cries again, but the tears are made of joy, not sadness.) [Variety]

Sometimes I like to get fancy with ginger-infused syrups and mint leaves and stuff, but sometimes a basic punch is in order. If the weather is getting you down, throw yourself a party and enjoy a cup of this traditional and heartwarming punch.

Ingredients

• 2 liters 7-Up or a mixture of 7-Up and ginger ale (we prefer Canada Dry)
• 1 32-oz bottle pomegranate juice (hella cheap at your local C-Town or Food Dimensions) or cranberry juice
• 1 tub lime or rainbow sherbet

Directions

Combine chilled beverages in a cute glass punch bowl. Using a soup or ice cream scoop, gently plop half the sherbet atop the mixture. Add the rest of the sherbet when amount in punch dwindles.

Please do not steal my stuff. Theft is an extreme invasion of privacy and leaves victims depressed, angry, scared, and prone to an irregular appetite.

How to Make Your Home Safer

1. INSTALL A DEADBOLT! If you have one of those locks that just looks like a regular doorknob but with a double lock–kinda thing, get a deadbolt. They are cheap and easy to install if you get a handy friend to do it and not a locksmith. Even if your super tells you that the lock you have will be sufficient, don’t listen! (Legally you are probably obligated to give a copy of your key to the management.)
2. Make sure you have bars on all windows
3. Keep sensitive files hidden on your mac or pc. If you have an external hard drive then store it in a drawer or closet when not in use.
4. Get to know (or at least greet) your neighbors even if they’re weird and don’t initiate conversation. Everyone enjoys a friendly hello!
5. Occasionally wear baggy jeans and a stained t-shirt while doing neighborhood errands.
6. Keep your local precinct’s phone number handy, or dial 311.

me: i might make a shaved brussels sprouts salad with mustard vinaigrette and pine nuts
Barrie: OMG
me: i wish i had better sweatpants
Barrie: i thought you like your aas?
mine are gap
me: those are tight and thin
i want a little thicker
still slim but not totally hugging
Barrie: try gap body
me: ok
$$
?
i thought mbe kmart
Barrie: idk
oh rite
yeAH
or targ
me: yeah

mwah.

Here’s a video of my kewl boss kicking the shit out of some poor woman. Meatloafing on Ice–ers, she’s probably gonna trip you and then skate over your fingers and then laugh when they get cut off.

She’s on the left, in red.

3 Minutes of Torture

Meatloafing took a little mental health break to take care of some much needed home improvement. When I recently moved, one large wall of my apartment was painted in a lightly textured caramely, rusty brown. I didn’t mind it at first (it wasn’t totally ME, but it felt sort of warm and comforting), but after about a month I began to feel a bit too Shining, and realized that my life in Starbucks could simply not continue. My neighbor Meldon completed the hardest part—sanding away all the gritty and depressing textured shit. Last night my good friend Mathew and I finally finished up the job. The walls are now “China White,” and I no longer feel like sedating myself when I step inside my apartment. Continue reading for BEFORE and AFTER pictures!

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First off, I should probably say that I’ve never had to look for an apartment in New York City. Neal (bf) and Steven (bf’s bro) were kind enough to take care of that for me before I first came out here, and we’ve lived in that same apartment for the last six years. So even though I had a ridiculous amount of moving practice in Santa Cruz, I’ve also gotten way out of shape.

The first place I looked at was a basement apartment in South Park Slope for under $1000 (unheard of here, for those who have never experienced the steepness of NYC rental prices). It wasn’t tiny, it actually had windows, and the owner was very nice and seemed easy to deal with. And it had a BACKYARD. But the neighborhood is like a wasteland and I felt like I would have been exiling myself to move there. Plus: 1 tiny closet, no separate kitchen and living room area. I couldn’t see us and the kitties living there or calling it home. A no-go.

Railroad Apartments Basically Always Have Shitty Kitchens and Bathrooms

Next up, we looked at a railroad apartment in Bushwick for just over $1000. It was a little farther out than we intended to move, but we decided to give it a look. From the moment the guy opened the door, he was clearly taken with us, especially Neal. “Red beard!” he cried out as if he had known us for years. (more…)