Archive for March, 2009

Navigating the “new economy”

Monday, March 30th, 2009

There has been a sudden upswing in the number of YouTube videos I’ve been producing—starting from a solid zero and jumping up to a whopping 3—over the past week or so. It’s all thanks to a little marvel of science and technology called the Flip Ultra video camera, which I was able to snag from woot.com recently.

And not a moment too soon. The first full video I was able to cobble together captured reactions to what was, at the time, the finest moment in league bowling history: Team Hugh Downs sticking it to the house. “Sticking it to the house,” for the uninitiated, is when each member of the team bowls a strike in the same frame, and is rewarded (rightfully so!) with a free pitcher of beer. Team Hugh Downs, incidentally, was named Hugh Downs for the sole purpose of hearing the phrase “Hugh Downs just stuck it to the house” spoken over the bowling alley PA system, which made us all the more eager as the weeks progressed to line up those four X’s down the board. When it finally happened, it was an even grander moment than we ever expected.

Until exactly one week later (this past Sunday) when it happened AGAIN. It was remarked that we were finding unique ways to save money in turbulent economic times by winning free pitchers. Not a bad strategy, all things considered. Too bad being lucky on bowling night doesn’t garner a wider variety of freebies. I’ll have to look elsewhere to stretch my dollars for a while.

Hello again.

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

It’s been quite a while since Polished Scrawl has been online in any real, tangible form—since those dark days when the world was but swirling chaos. But consider it now, once again, very real and very tangible…although, there are some supplemental pieces (photos and the like) still missing from the archives. Researchers are working on tracking these down, but some things, sadly, may have been lost forever to the forces of Inadequate Backup. This is not the time to dwell on the past, however. From here on out, it’s full steam ahead.

Those of you who may have visited here in the past will notice that the site has morphed somewhat from its previous incarnation as my design and illustration portfolio. I’ll still be adding that kind of thing here, to be sure, but as part of a wider focus on what I’m up to in my life, what I’m creating, what I’m talking about, what I’m watching, what I’m reading, and what I want to share with all of you. I hope you enjoy!