San Diego is not Toledo

San Diego f*ing rocks in case you didn't know. The best part was the Salton Sea "marina" and the snake poachers in Joshua Tree National Park. The nude beach was good besides all the naked old men, which was everybody. The guy in the full outfit with shoes, socks, hat, shirt, backpack minus pants made me laugh. Here are a few random pics. Me and Daniel invented "The Shat" on the trip. It is a standard t shirt and we tell you how to tie it on your head in many functional and fashionable styles.

Mountain Biking in the Snow

It's more fun than you might think. We got about 3-4 inches of snow and the high today was 23 F today so I did what every normal American would do in my situation, go mountain biking. It was sunny(rare) and not windy (also rare). The trail was pretty well packed and I only wiped out once, but you land in the snow so it doesn't matter, unless the fluffy snow hides a pointy stick or a mountain lion. I lucked out this time. I couldn't believe the number of idiots that were out riding. I also ran across 2 hunters, they scared the shit out of me since their purpose out there is to kill things and I looked like a big antlerless black and yellow deer running through the woods. I heard gunshots quite a few times but I thought "gun season" for deer was over. Maybe someone doing a little freelance work. There is a group night ride on Tuesday so I think I'll go. What are the chances a cool girl goes night riding with the MI Mnt Biking Assc? Zero. It will be a big cold sausage fest. Whatever, it is better than listening to how Obama will ruin the world at work.
PS Ann Arbor is actually pretty nice. Surrounding it? Not so nice.

A whale of a tail

Get it?
This was the only cool looking sculpture/art thing in Perrysburg at their art fair. In case you are wondering, people in Ohio have the worst taste. I should have taken pictures of all the ugly crap and made fun of it but I really liked the tail and I should focus on the positives, right? It's for sale for $12,000. There was a awful horse sculpture made of hunks of steel and it looked like a high school project, also for sale for $12,000. I should make some shitty art and sell it for far too much money. If I make 5 awful looking horse sculptures, I could make $60,000 with a torch and a couple hours. Actually I'll have to take a picture of another piece because I was embarrassed to even look at it, let alone make it. It is a generic piece of granite with a bunch of hardware in it. I was instantly reminded of the famous "Blue Rock with Chandelier in Wood Box" Circa 1992. Now that was art.

Epicurious

Nothing says Ohio like Malaysian freshwater prawns. Some crazy Xmas tree farmer who doesn't have enough to do dug these ponds and raised shrimp for the first time this year. I made a Thai soup with a recipe from Caitlyn who spent two years there. It was pretty good except I couldn't find lemongrass, even at our fake Whole Foods. Or Kaffir lime leaves, which I knew I had no chance finding. So I just poured some Sprite in and figured I got the lemon and lime favors covered (not recommended btw). Here are some pics before I beheaded the poor things. How come I can just rip their heads off their bodies and I don't really worry about it? I don't think I could just pop the head off a rabbit with such disregard. Oh, I also made bread from a recipe from NYTimes food guy Mark Bittman. It is so easy and so good. Go to the web and find it and make it, you'll be a happier person if you do. It takes about a day but 3 minutes of actual work.

Here is my inspiring workplace. Like my computer screens? Note the lack of color, life, decoration, well, anything. And our window looks out to a road and a corn field.

Inspiring Work Setting

Thought you might want to see what my office looks like. I think it is a Behlen building, or it could be.

Murals are bad for the economy

HAhAHAHAHA. Douglas, guess where a new mural is? Piney Branch and New Hampshire, prime mural territory. This is a facet of my Pontiac/Mural Theory of Where Not to Live. Again, it is fairly simple, you do not want to be in an area that has:
A) a high percentage of Pontiac brand cars.
B) Murals
I have yet to see a mural out here but there are far too many Pontiacs to pass the test.
Now, for murals, I believe the penultimate mural is the one that used to be near the Silver Spring Metro, which was taken down in a brazen attempt by Silver Spring to throw off its urban gritty side in a flurry of gentrification. It was superseded by the Discovery mural a block or two up the street, reclaiming Silver Spring a struggling area now with Red Lobster.
Where is you favorite mural? This should be a book, all about murals and the neighborhoods they inhabit. What a fascinating sociological study. Seriously.
Don't take my idea.