I used to do this just about every day:
I sure miss it sometimes! Here, just look to the right of where I’m standing above:
What’s not to love about that during a hot n’ humid summertime in the big city, huh?
Audrey and my show Illadates just got honored by the Public Relations Society of America. They awarded us (and the forward-thinking folks at GPTMC & uwishunu.com who financed it, promoted it and hosted it) with a Bronze Anvil for “superior performance in the design and execution of individual tactics within broader public relations campaigns.” Pretty rad, eh?
“The Bronze Anvil Award annually celebrates the growing scope, creativity and strategic importance of public relations tactics, and represents the highest level of tactical achievement in the public relations industry,” said Arthur Yann, 2008 Bronze Anvil Award committee chair. “The outstanding work done by this year’s recipients is truly deserving of such noteworthy recognition from their industry peers.”
And please pardon me, but I can’t help use this opportunity to share one of my banner ads I made last year (when we were still called “Cheap Dates”). It makes me laugh:
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I just came across this amazing photo:
It was taken by Sloan Shang for this excellent new project called Everywhere Magazine, a travel mag made by people’s contributions online. I dig the project, do check it out.
What’s most interesting to me, though, and why the photo caught my eye is that it was taken in Balmorhea State Park - the very place that Audrey agreed to marry me on the day of my 30th birthday while we were on a cross-country road trip. Also, completely randomly, my best friend Norm has that exact same bus. And it’s for sale (in case anyone’s looking for one).
Sadly, the time has come for me to part ways with another trusty steed. My dear Lil’ Red hasn’t been driven enough and he needs a good home. He’s been a fantastic car since I drove him across country from Los Angeles on a solo road trip from my brother Dave’s who gave me the car on the sole condition that I tend it well. He totally babied this thing. Lil’ Red spent the majority of his life garaged in California. He’s got no rust, original henna red paint and only a few bumps and bruises (I’ll gladly specify if you’re interested).
Since we live in Philly, and don’t have a garage, I feel like I’m not holding up my end of the bargain. It just ain’t right to leave this hottie on the street. He’s a classic (which reminds me, you can get PA Classic tags if you want him as a collectable - that’ll save you hundreds in insurance, inspection and registration costs). Lil Red runs great, is still well shy of 200k miles. The only things that don’t work well right now are the air conditioning (needs a charge) and heater blower (needs a fan). The manual transmission is sturdy, but probably won’t last forever. I’ve recently had the clutch hydraulics redone this spring. This puppy gets 30 m.p.g.
If you’re in the market for an inexpensive, sexy, fuel-efficient, classic, hand-built automobile, by all means, get in touch. I’d even deliver it to you if you’re not too far away from Philadelphia.
Asking price: $1500.
Last night, Audrey were already in bed early. Probably 11pm. Sometime around the witching hour I get woken by loud banging on our door. Still groggy, I crack my eyes open to see our room flooded with flashing red lights.
“Uh oh,” I think. “Something ain’t right.”
Sure enough, I stand at the window in my boxers and see what appears to be our whole house surrounded by fire trucks. Oh boy.
“Audrey, wake up! Get your clothes on!”
I throw on some jeans and a t-shirt and run downstairs. The following thoughts ran through my mind:
So while I’m outside checking out my neighbor’s house on fire and smoking something fierce and the firemen putting it out and the campfire smell when there isn’t a campfire and the cold, damp night, I think, dang we’re lucky it’s been put out.
As one of the firemen are walking past back to his truck I say, “boy it’s great you guys came so quick.”
He laughs knowingly. “Yeah, we’re the ones who will always come. We always come when you call.”
I smiled and almost asked him if he read my blog last week.
It’s that freakin’ simple. I love this candidate more than I have loved any other candidate for any office at any level of government. Ever. This man will change the world. He will. Is it just talk? Is it just charisma with no action? It doesn’t matter! He’s offering the one thing I care about. The only thing I’ve been asking for. It’s that simple.
Yes, I’m evangelizing for the guy. Hell yes I am. Why? Because I am so sick and tired of the American government. I’m so disillusioned. I have been so utterly angry for the last decade. So angry at the complacency. The absolute disregard for democracy, for human dignity for the goddamn rights of not only American citizens but the rights of all humans. I feel like we’ve been abused, thrashed about in this hellish nightmare of a Bush administration. It’s been so bad for me, for the last 10 years I’ve been calling myself an anarchist rather than give one ounce of my energy to those f*ing criminals. Finally, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, I feel like we might make a comeback. Finally, I think this country can pull itself together.
Barack Obama is no savior. He’s just a guy. But that guy embodies the one thing I have been aching for: hope.
Okay, [/rant]. Now watch this:
And this:
[photo guayaba]
Norm and I spent two hours and probably close to twenty bucks playing Big Buck Hunter on Saturday night at Paddy’s Well in Fishtown. I’m telling you, this is the best arcade game in the world. Anyone who wants to play soon, you’re on! Cheap drinks, good buddies at a dive bar with fun arcade games. You really can’t beat that for a late night weekend.
And as always, it felt oh so good.
On this past gorgeous springtime Saturday morning, Audrey and I ran our first “competitive” running event ever. It was a 5k race to raise awareness for the Clean Air Council. Our buddy Roz organized Team IndyHall Fit Club which included a bunch of blogging buds including Sara and Scott. After our half-assed attempt at pre-run yoga (see evidence below), I pounded a Steaz - I swear to God the strongest energy drink I’ve ever had - and it was off for a mile and a half up West River Drive along the Schuylkill and back.
I have to say, for our first time, we didn’t do half bad:
Feelin’ groovy, just after the race:
And on our way back home, the lot of us decided it would be awesomely cliché of us to run the Philly museum steps (á la Rocky). Fun! Yes, we nerdz.
[thanks for cheering us on and taking awesome photos, Marisa!]
Followers of this blog will know that I like views from high places. My buddy BlackmailIsMyLife just got a chance to snap some photos from the top of the new Comcast tower today. Pretty hot stuff!
Man, we have been so crazy busy of late, it feels like time has flown by. This weekend, Audrey and I finally got a chance to mellow out, plant some tomato plants and herbs and relax in our new backyard. Yes, we have a hammock in our yard. And yes, it’s fabulous.
After a rollercoaster of a house-buying, mortgage-getting, Fishtown-loving, Fishtown-hating, cold-featin’, day-dreamin’ process, we FINALLY closed on this beautiful house this morning. Here’s me, pretending to sign one of the 1,000,000 legal documents signing my life away:
So Audrey and I are officially homeowners. Who’da thought! Us hippies. Crazy. We’ll have you all over for a fun party to celebrate very soon!
Wow! This just made me daydream about a move to northern New Mexico all the more! Taos Ski Valley, one of the most beautiful ski resorts in America and one of the last hold-outs to the archaic view that snowboarders somehow make skiing suck is letting boarders on the mountain. I can’t wait. And look at this dude - this is so hard core - sleeping overnight in probably sub-zero temps to be “FIRST!” Sick, bro. (Yeah, I reserve the right to say “sick, bro” on my blog when I’m talking about skiing.)
Thanks, Backcountry Blog and Adventure Blog for the great news!
Hey everyone. As you see, I did a major overhaul of my blog this evening. It’s been a long time coming, things were getting mighty stale around here.
First, I’m back to white! Also, a new header image up there is a photo we took on our ‘spontaneous road trip to cape may‘ back in late November. Pretty cool, huh?
Secondly, for all you blog nerds out there, I’ve ditched K2 in favor of a personally modified version of WordPress Default. I did so because I wanted to add some new plugins friends of mine are developing. One of those, for example, is the Viddler Video Commenting plugin. Now you can leave me video comments right here in the blog (if you have a Viddler account, which you should, they rule).
So bear with me as I ditch the bugs that I’m sure are still rooting around here in the code. And heck, if you see anything wonky, shoot me a line, eh?
This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while: a blog dedicated to posting Garfield strips with Garfield removed from them. I used to tear through those Garfield comic books when i was a kid. They’d set me to ROTFLOL.
To quote:
Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?
Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.
Makes me wonder… what would Steve Garfield Without Steve Garfield look like?
This is my family now, 24 years after this one was taken.
From left to right: Brian Heinze, Becca Heinze, Christina Smith, Roy Smith, May Smith, Audrey, Me, Colleen Schoneveld, Mach Schoneveld, Anneke Schoneveld, Paul Schoneveld, Molly Tripp Schoneveld, Dave Schoneveld, Becca Schoneveld Cheek, Brandon Cheek
[photo by my uncle Jim Ennis Kirkland]
I was just cleaning up my house on a Sunday morning and ran across this photo. It’s one of my favorites of all time. That’s me on the left (looks like they just woke me up — what funny sleepy eyes I have!). Dave and Anneke and Rebecca on my mom’s lap. My youngest brother Paul wasn’t even born yet.
The photo was taken in our small courtyard in our house on Sherman Avenue in Menlo Park, California on November 27, 1983 - nearly 25 years ago! Crazy. I loved that house. We lived there for some 8 years. That patio was covered with a canvas top my dad built. It sure cast a fantastic light.
[UPDATE! We got it! It's ours!]
It happened real quick (and it ain’t over yet), but Audrey and I just bought our first house! It’s a super fine lil’ abode on the edge of Fishtown in Philly. It was sold to us by a stylish and lovely woman and fellow blogger. We’re very, very excited about it! Closing in a few weeks. Cross yr fingers for us. And then come join us for what will be one heck of a house warming party! Yeeee-haw!
(and see more photos!) & (more…)
My friend Pearl just started blogging. It’s pretty entertaining stuff, you should check it out. She tells great stories about living in Philly - like going to see Rambo with her parents at the Riverview or having crazy rides on SEPTA. Plus, she loves drawing cartoons. That lil’ fella above, for example. He’s Lonely Zombie, and he can’t get a good date ‘cuz he keeps eating their brains! Poor guy. Click through to read the whole strip.
My sister Anneke, the cutie that she is, just scored the cover of Lehigh Valley Style Magazine. How cool is that? It’s not every day you get to have yr face on the cover of a old media mag. Sa-weet!
