Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

« Older Entries

Dallas: Epilogue

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

I’m back home from my trip back down to Dallas, and am pleased to report that things in The Big D have largely been following the same path of awesome improvement and progression that I have found myself on since I returned to Iowa three years ago. I won’t rehash the details here of my former residency in Dallas–suffice it to say that things were in a bit of a state of disarray when I left. I will admit to some apprehension about returning to a place that had been such a large source of chaos and anger in the past. I wasn’t sure what kind of charred, radioactive landscape populated by grotesque, shambling mutants had emerged from the fallout of previous events. However, as I mentioned, since I left there has been only growth and renovation, leaving nary a crackling blip on the Geiger counter. All is well, and I’m officially stamping the manila file folder that contains the records of that previous time with a giant, red [CLOSED].

Look! A video!

Tags: ,
Posted in Life, Travel, Videos | No Comments »

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.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Life, Technology, Videos | 1 Comment »

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!

Tags: ,
Posted in Blogging, Life, News, Web Design | 2 Comments »

“[That's why] you’re the Doc, Doc.”

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007

While toweling off today, I bent down to dry my shins and promptly proceeded to whack the top of my head directly into the corner of the bathroom counter. Some blood was drawn, and there was much profanity.

It wasn’t actually all that bad. Just really painful for a little bit. The worst part about the whole thing was that I did not, immediately thereafter, sit down and invent the flux capacitor.

Dangit.

Posted in Life, Movies | No Comments »

A drink with jam and bread

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death Saturday afternoon television, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8…ish

Or any daytime/afternoon TV for that matter. Admittedly, I usually have the TV on in a background noise capacity, but for the past couple weeks I have been forced to confront this scourge head on – - applied directly to my forehead! – - as I have been unable to buffer myself with work, due to the unfortunate absence of young Penfold.

A very wise man once wrote:

In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn’t cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2:55, when you know that you’ve had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o’clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.
Douglas Adams :: Life, the Universe and Everything

The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul. This is where I am, at present, firmly ensconced. One could posit that when I once again have a fully-functional computer, that I might be able to watch the hands move to five, maybe even six o’clock, knowing that more entertaining and enlightening hours are shortly to arrive. Truth be told, though: it’s been teatime for a long time. I know that until I can find a job with other real, live Homo sapiens sapiens (or, heck, even Homo sapiens superior; I have no mutant bias), that it will more than likely continue to remain time for NBC Sports coverage of the Professional Bull Riding 2007 “Built Ford Tough” Series, Presented by Wrangler.

Posted in Life, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries