While was out

Velcro had a post shots rest

And Jude got new hair

And quite posey

Back on the Reformer

Orange Crush
Originally uploaded by Könrad

I started back with Pilates today. I love just how German it all is. Lots of equipment and rules about movement and range of movement. I love that the machines have names like The Reformer. And I love my new Sewdish instructor. She has a Volvo. She's blonde. Doubtless she beats herself with twigs whilst listening to Abba at steam room swingers parties.

But today I remembered the importance of breath. I opened up my chest some. I stretched my (rock solid) hamstrings and I started to feel just a little bit better. It's good this Pilates stuff.

Now to the vet with the animals (annual check up time, rabies shots all around) and then into work for a quick meeting with the 'big guy' while Jude stays home and works on an abstract for a conference paper.

Sun's shining too

The things you see in Michigan

IMG_1945
Originally uploaded by jalopnik

One of the best things about Michigan in the winter is that as you drive around you see weird cars everywhere. They tend not to have badges on them. And to be disguised in some way. The wheels are quite often just black with no real decoration. They sometimes wear weird bits of vinyl. Or sometimes - like this one, they just show up at a party in all of their finery.

Michigan you see is not only the home of the US Auto industry, it's also the home of cold weather testing. So when people want the cars to look cool they ship them to parties in the vicinity. When they want to see whether they start in the cold they drive them around test tracks here.

I'm sure that there are people here who make their money out of spy shots and compared to lying in a gutter trying to get a snap of LiLo's snatch it's a pretty honorable way to make a living. Though Lilo's Vjay-jay is spotted a little more often than a new Camero I'm sure.

Still as a petrol head I still get a buzz out of spotting something that will soon become commonplace. I remember when it was covered in vinyl shall be my refrain from here out.

PS When are they going to bring back vinyl roofs? Surely as the demand for vinyl has plummeted so have prices. It's time people. It's time.

Personal Authenticity

Hanko ~ July 31st - 1258
Originally uploaded by Jason Michael

I woke up early this morning with an idea of how I could write a piece about 'personal authenticity'. And I woke up excited (steady DK). It's been so long since I found work stimulating and exciting that I'm actually feeling quite giddy on it all. Post Cancer work was a slog that was slowly killing me. I changed jobs and was shackled by a system that asked me to facilitate thinking rather than think myself and I have to say that I think I forgot what it was like to go to bed with a problem in your head and wake up with an idea of how to solve it, how to re-express it, how to help other people understand what it is that you're trying to say.

Wrote a portrait of a person this morning that didn't just say what this person read and what they bought, it said how they smelled, what tattoos they would have (or be considering) and what it was that drove them to do the things that they do. It's easier when the target is closer to you than it is to someone you've never met but this stuff was pretty good today. And I'm shocked to find that I'm still pretty good at this stuff. It's weird after all of this time going back to something and finding that it still excites you.

Maybe advertising is like porn - all you need to do is leave it for a while, put it in a cupboard and when you come back it's interesting and new and stimulating all over again.

Maybe not.

But it's 8.40am, I've been at work for 2 hrs already and I'm lovin' it

Survived

Nate and the Tornado
Originally uploaded by holgaguy

So having survived the freak warm weather, the near hit tornado and the torrential rain I made my way into work today - where I was actually useful. And good.

It's been a long time since I was either.

My last job was all about bringing people along with you and about intellectual slight of hand. The process was that we didn't have the ideas - we facilitated the client and had THEM have ideas. Which was great in theory but often led to subtle (or not so subtle) planting of ideas in sessions and frustration when the signs weren't 'properly read'

Today I got to say exactly what I thought. And only what I thought. I got to make a real leap from a quite generic start point and help people understand what this COULD mean. And it seemed to be well received.

Feeling alive and vibrant and buzzing and stimulated and as though I could take on the world and have a decent shot.

Fantastic

Weird day all around

I should have known that it was going to be a weird week. First the bitter cold of last week turned into record breaking high temperatures of 17c today. Then there's the snow in California, the continued frost in Florida and Hillary showing signs of emotion in New Hampshire.

But I thought that work was going to be predictable. At least until my boss sidled over and whispered 'come with me'

Ten minutes later we were down in the 'executive car park' being briefed on how not to crash the new Knight Rider car. The series breaks here on Feb 17th and the new KITT (now the Knight Industries THREE thousand) is a Shelby Cobra 500KR (or something, oops). It had the light on the front, a cool box just labeled KITT and very little else. You had to engage gears by sliding back a panel and fishing for switches with your fingers. The traction control was turned off. And it was without any real safety feature. But take it out and WOW!

Now I couldn't live with the car every day - the slightest twitch from your foot results in a supercharger whine and you being thrust backwards as satan erupts from hell just behind you making rather a loud noise as he goes. But watching people in Ford Foci and Chevvy Impala literally scurry for cover as we hurtled down the road was well worth it.

Tres cool. And another thing crossed off the 'to do' list

Wooom, woom, voom, vvoom

The New KITT - Interior
Originally uploaded by CurtJ

I've just driven KITT.
Very quickly
And with the red light at the front glowing.
It's a story I'll tell at length later.
But it was very cool

Another blog

We've been missing New York for the last few weeks.

Mainly because Michigan is in hibernation and I still subscribe to Time Out New York - so I've been seeing all of the events still happening back there.

And then of course there are the calls from friends who keep asking "So are you gonna give up and come home to New York yet?"

The good thing is that work is great for both of us. We're meeting great people here and the animals are happier than I've ever seen them.

And we're going to head towards New York for the weekend.
Followed by Belgium for Jude
Vegas for both of us
And then Miami