7-22-2011

I'm no spider expert, but the internet tells me that this is a "Daring Jumping Spider." The internet also tells me that they don't make webs, but use their spinnerets to make a little bungee cord for when they jump off of things. Even more interesting, I read that they can be taught to remember different colors, and are "curious" because they're known to look right at you if you pay attention to them.

Far less interesting, here's a sad broken bird egg.

7-21-2011

It's a million degrees outside, and Nicole is really serious about going to dinner tonight. Since it's so hot, we decided to go for a walk instead of even attempting to run and die of heatstroke. Our walks pretty much consist of acting like 8 year olds that snuck out of the house past bedtime. I chased lightning bugs and trapped one in my shirt. Nicole captured a really big toad (who in turn peed on her hand as punishment). We brought our new pets home so we could make them walk around on two legs like a little person, and to take serious portraits of them. This is the toad making the same face as Nicole's picture from dinner. Look how big this toad is. I tried my very best (for hours) to get a picture of the firefly's light, but this is the best I could get.

7-20-2011

Is your passport ready? Because Nicole and I just booked plane tickets. That's right everyone, we're going to Detroit! I don't think I've ever heard my credit card literally weep before. Actually, I'm sure I did the last time I bought a lens for my camera. Speaking of camera lenses, I put on my arty lens and took some artsy pictures like this today.

7-19-2011

So I've posted before about how the trail runs I go on are really really pretty, but obviously I don't run with my giant, Asian tourist sized camera strapped to my back. I really wish I could though, because this is the second time I've seen an owl in the woods, but only had a cellphone. Yeah, that dark blob in the center of the frame is a huge, awesome owl that actually flew right in front of us across the path. So instead of a sweet owl face, you get to see my peppers. It's kind of interesting how my two habanero plants are growing drastically different colored peppers though.

7-18-2011

Nicole's snake, SnakeSnake has a fancy new house.

7-17-2011

Today I learned that Tremont tastes like a whole roasted pig.

7-16-2011

Right by the project playground from yesterday, we spent the day on this pier in the very tropical paradise of Lake Erie. We looked out at the water and added to the history of Euclid Beach Park.

7-15-2011

I spent the day on a playground next to some projects with some new friends (above), painting various things to match our clothes.

7-14-2011

Tonight I went on a really beautiful and totally picturesque trail run, but you get to see a giant phallic building owned by a televangelist. You're welcome.

7-13-2011

So I have an office at work. That sounds cool right? I mean, at least I'm not in a cubicle, and I have enough privacy that I can listen to Waka Flocka as loud as I want all day. How can that be bad? It's not as awesome as it sounds. It's actually a closet. Like if they run out of space to store brooms and vacuum cleaners some day, I would be the first person to be relocated (and probably to a cubicle). In any case, said closet has two GIANT air conditioning vents right above me specifically designed to create an absolute zero environment while simultaneously inflicting permanent hearing damage. In the summer, I often feel like and Eskimo working at an airport. Well today, I decided to finally do something about it and blocked off the vents with cut up cardboard boxes. Beautiful. As a designer, I felt obligated to at least make a weak attempt to raise the aesthetic value of my new decor. So I made an illustration of Ceiling Cat to watch over my office. If your brain hasn't been entirely indoctrinated by the internet, and you have no idea why I would draw a cat peeking out of a hole over my head to look at every day, read this. Yes, I'm aware that I'm a total nerd.

7-12-2011

I spent my lunch break laying in my car eating free vegetarian pizza and watching clouds move across the sky for an hour. I like this.

7-11-2011

Nicole read that someone somewhere said that drinking chocolate milk after running was really good for you. I can't vouch for the credibility of this practice...but I don't really care. I can vouch for my love of chocolate milk. Besides, today has been exactly three months of running with my iPhone app, and I've run this many miles, so I feel entitled to drink as much sugar as I want after all my huffing and puffing.

7-10-2011

Today is Sunday. For some people that means going to church, but for people who practice Nicole's religion, that means going to brunch. Sometimes I get confused and start singing hymns to the waitstaff then fall asleep while they're reading me the the daily specials. They don't tend to mind too much as long as we tip well.

Running shoes are starting to take over our house and I'm totally fine with that.

Actually, Nicole got her hot pink nerd shoes today to impress the fish while we go creek walking. I found this rock and made Nicole carry it home because I didn't have any pockets. We hiked all the way to here to go swimming, but you might be able to tell that the water was a little bit cold emasculating freezing. Thank God for the sun. Nicole likes the sun too.

7-9-2011

So the internet told me that if I want my pepper plants to make as many peppers as they possibly can, all of the flowers need to be cross pollinated by hand using a paint brush. I felt pretty stupid (and a little bit dirty) helping flowers do it for the past few weeks, but I tend to do whatever the internet tells me to. Today, I realized that I really didn't have to do this, because this was already happening the natural way with little tiny bees that are so small that I hadn't noticed them before. I wonder if they have little tiny stingers.

Recently, Nicole and I haven't really been doing that much Cheeseburger Tour-ing (mostly because we've been too busy eating tacos), but today we decided to go check out this place we always drive by but never stop at. I like how super retro Americana the place looks, and they have pretty good cheeseburgers too. They also have ice cream to assist Nicole's ice cream every weekend this summer diet that we've also been slacking on.

In the summer time, when people talk about "family stuff," it almost always refers to sitting in lawn chairs outside and eating all together too much junk food and desserts. Today was filled with not one, but two "family stuffs." I didn't take any pictures though because neither event was with my side of the family (which was probably a good thing). I do feel like it's pretty rude to shove cameras in Nicole's relative's faces, much less friend's sister's neighbor's faces though, so just imagine me getting fat off of pizza and cookies for twelve hours straight.