Banner Tear

I've been on a banner making binge for Poison Scooter and my brother's band of late and I feel good about my creations. Here's a sample...

Banner 1



Banner 2


Dan's Banner

Erika's Feet

Sometimes the right feet come along and they just look so photo worthy.

Life In Augusta, Phase 2

Procuring a new living situation was a little more complicated than expected. I thought I knew where I was going to live, somewhere quite close to my current house, but also quite close to the seedy section of town until the concept of me making too much money to live there cropped up. Apparently I put all my eggs in the low income housing basket. Considering I have friends who live in this particular housing community, it never ocurred to me that these people are actually poor. While scrambling yesterday at work, I have a deadline of letting my current landlord know what's up by Friday, a co-worker of mine saw me looking online at apartment complexes in and around the greater Augusta area. Recently she and her husband sold their house and moved into a temporary townhouse situation in a really quiet end of town. I dropped by today to check out the joint and was immediately sold on the location, the quiet nature of the complex and the incredible size for the money. Although I will be out of the down town area, I'm less than a 5 minute drive from here. The location also allows me to get on the highway to work quicker, is close to the coffee shop I frequent and is not very far from all the shopping locations I frequent. I would have never known about this place had Theresa not told me about it. I literally never drive down the road it's tucked away on.

Oh, so back to the place itself. The homes are from 1948, so they are kind of simply laid out and probably smaller than you would expect. It's two floors, doorway opens into decent size living room, there's a small dining room and then a small kitchen with all the good stuff (dishwasher, built in microwave over the stove, fridge). The upstairs features a master bedroom over the living room, that has two large closets, one of which is a walk in. There is a smaller bedroom as well on this floor and then the bath that has a stacked washer/dryer in it. The place features hardwood floors throughout except for the living room which is carpeted, another attraction for me. But the real kicker is that the place is only $525 a month. Yeah, $175 cheaper than my current tab each month. And yeah, they are remodeling the units as we speak, so I will move into a "fresh" place by April 20th. Sweet. Another tidbit, and this apparently is indicative of Southern Living, the $25 application fee didn't have to be paid today and the property manager said we trust you anyway and won't be doing any credit check. Also, the $300 deposit is all I have to pay until May 1, they are giving me the last 2 weeks in April for free. And I only have to pay 1/2 rent for May and then 1/2 rent for my 12th month since they are running a special. God the hassles of Philly living I do not miss.

Now from what Joolie told me, our landlord was pretty easy going about lease breakage and she even got her entire deposit back despite only staying for 6 months. Another head stratcher to me about living here. Everyone is so fucking nice. It may even be rubbing off on me. I told 2 different strangers today to have a great day as if I was walking on sunshine or something. Ok, time to celebrate with some hummus and pita bread for lunch.

Huh?

He's at it again. Yep. I can never stop fiddling with, or evolving this blog as I like to say. The name of this thing has been the bane of my existence for quite some time. It's odd how you on a whim start something like this and whip up some quick and telling moniker only to wind up hating it almost immediately thereafter. EverythingSkip is the dot com I'm stuck with, but the reality is that most people I come in contact with now know me as either Scott or Scooter. And so I decided to get away from the Skip title on this jawn a while ago, but One Man's Trash...never really did what I wanted it to.

My approach tonight was to just think of random words and string them together. I've been in weird mood lately, making these changes to my regime and routine, doing things I never thought I would do and decided that wacky and unexpected was the route to take on this renaming ceremony. Uncoventional is my middle name dammit!

Yeah, so the new layout allows me to push my flair for photos more in your face. I like. And I am back to giving out some shout out links on the side bar. Maybe one day I'll put back some mindless links, but for now I'm settling on touting some people that are just talented and are making a go of that talent in some capacity. Writers, Photographers, Singer/Songwriters are all people who embody who I am all about, so why not show some love?

Okay, enough "new layout" chat.

Insert Scream Here

Snakes on a Plane movie trailer.

Fake snakes are corny.
Sam Jackson will do anything for money.
Good movie scripts never even get read in Hollywood, but shit like this gets made.

Board Game King

Trival Pursuit is a game that you can try to beat me at, but chances are you will fail. There I said it. Tonight I went over to Mike and Erika's to play a round with them. Much to their chagrin, I schooled them and Nikki who mounted quite an effort and almost took me down at the end. As with many people who only know one version of me, these folks were shocked at the amount of useless bullshit that I know and can draw on at a moment's notice.

Winning was a nice way to cap off a pretty laid back day. Last night was the boss' dinner party which was a pleasant affair. I was reeling from my hangover, so I opted to refrain from drinking to much and it allowed me to hit the gym today for some running. I also hit up the coffee shop sans my usual partner in crime Syd who is returning tonight from a 10 day visit back North. During my down time over the weekend I have been creating some advertising for Poison Scooter (see sidebar of this here page for a sample) and did some prelimanary work on some website ideas. Sales of the newest shirt are brisk, so I want to keep the ball rolling and start to do this the right way with an actual site. Brother Mike is lined up to help in the coming months, so I'm just getting some ideas together at this point.

The idea of locating a new apartment became a little tougher once I realized the place I wanted to move was low income housing and I apparently need to make less than 22K a year to move in there. Bummer. So the search continues...and I need to act fast. I have a couple calls to make tomorrow and I think I have a day off this week since I'm working this coming Saturday. Alright, I'm hungry. Salad time.

Pop, Pop, Pop Culture.

My hangover today is slightly blinding. Shots, shots, shots, Harp, Harp, Harp. I recall The Dempseys playing at Still Water last night and it was kind of raucious. Rockabilly in my eyes has been perfected by both the Stray Cats and the Reverend Horton Heat, so seeing a band go down the route always seems somewhat underwhelming at times...but these guys put on a decent show, lots of energy. And the crowds here, as mentioned before, appreciate the artists so much it's hard not to get pumped up at a show. Best $5 fun you can have on a Friday night.

Switching gears, my favorite song of the 80's, okay maybe not favorite but definately top ten, is Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears. I stumbled across this cover by Samamidon and Dovemanon Stereogum.com and it's so fucking cool. The vocal stylings remind me of my first impressions with Lucero and Death Cab for Cutie in the sense that the guy singing sounds more like a Muppet character than a real guy.

Something I'm confused about is the new Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinette. I really liked both Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation, so I think Sofia has a voice and vision I grasp. And my love for Kirsten Dunst is well documented by my DVD collection (mental note: Bring It On = possible hangover cure) and Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore is one of my favorite performances of all time. (Omitted in the latest Premiere magazine's article on the 100 greatest performances of all time tragically enough) That being said, I am not a fan of period pieces. Case in point, I just tried to watch Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly and couldn't hack it. Snooooooze. Getting to my point, I am anxious to see how Sofia manages to set a period piece like this to the songs of New Order, one of my most favorite bands of all time. (I'm tossing around a lot of "favorites" today, eh?) If the trailer is any indication, it's going to be strange but oddly acceptable? See for yourself.

Did anyone watch that garbage show Una1mous after the Idol kick off show this week? Fucking deplorable. The concept is great, just like Deal or No Deal, but for some reason they overplay it and make it just creepy for creepy's sake. Stick a bunch of people in a bunker, tell them they need to award someone besides themselves 1.5 million dollars and they can't come out until they do it unaimously. Genius. Then why does this show suck? Maybe JD Roth is the reason. He's the guy who comes up with these shows, and then just has to host them. JD is a weirdo. Go back to Endurance with the 12 year olds on Saturday morning and let this show play out with no host. And lose the sci-fi look of the show. Human nature is interesting enough, just look at Big Brother or Surviror or Amazing Race. Eh, Fox is a sucker for junk like this.

Enough of this for today...I am about to nestle into bed for a nap/movie watching session. Tonight I have dinner at my boss' house followed by some midnight bowling, so I need to recover from last night by 7 PM. I'm convinced dry fruit gives me hellious gas by the way. Steer clear of my apartment if you know what is good for you.

Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well

That Cuban girl
That brought me low
She had that skin so fine and red lips rose-like now
Her mouth was wide
And sweet as well
And now relentless hours of dreaming up her smell

And I feel as if I am looking at the world from the bottom of a well

Lonely
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down

Oh all the days
That I have run
I sought to lose that cloud that’s blacking out the sun
My train will come
Some one day soon
And when it comes I’ll ride it bound from night to noon

And I feel as if I am looking at the world from the bottom of a well

Aimless days, uncool ways of decathecting
Painless phase, blacked out thoughts you be rejecting

Lonely
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down

- Mike Doughty

My Forray Into Seafood Expands

Tonight I ate sushi for the first time. I don't really know what all was in it, but it was called a spicy shrimp roll so I'm guessing shrimp. That green stuff they give you on the side was like horseradish but green. And there was rice and what I'm thinking was avocado all shredded up. And maybe even some seaweed? Who the fuck knows. All I know is that I thought it was quite tasty.

Believe that.

Personal Day

At work everyone gets 3 personal days every six months to use as they see fit. Since being given my allotment on December 1 of last year, I haven't had the occasion to use any of the 3, that was until today. Last night I had trouble sleeping, over the weekend I got some sun and my face is peeling and I went to the gym and it got me all juiced up I suppose. Whatever the reason, I got up this morning and decided that I didn't want to go to work.

With all day, well all day since I got out of bed at 11:14 AM, to myself the possibilities were endless. I could go look for that apartment I need to find. Nah. I could go see a film. Nah. I could do some food shopping? Ok. Yeah. Essentially I managed to get some food in the house, fish, veggies, all kinds of nutrients junk during my sick day. I guess I did some other stuff, if you count feeding Syd's cats and playing with them for an hour. Or mailing off some shirts at the post office. I don't know what it is, but I feel melancholy today. Not depressed, not lonely, just detached. And lethargic. Syd and Tena are enjoying themselves in NY this week, Joolie is putting an end to going out unless it serves a purpose and my visitors from up North have subsided for now. This week still holds for me a chance to see what I am worth at work, it's annual review and raise time, so that is something to look forward to. Or not, depending on the day and my mood. I'm anxious, but cautious about getting appraised this year. And this coming Saturday is my boss' dinner party for my peers and I. Usually I bypass work functions, but you can't say no to dinner at the boss' house.

Last night, sorry I'm switching gears here, I went to the bar to peddle some shirts to the locals. Good idea. I am not one to sell shirts from a man bag, but I have to make this company worth it for me. A few people came by the bar to buy one off me, so it wasn't a disaster or anything. For the most part, people like the new design and that makes me happy. I think Joolie, once she gets motivated some, is going to take some logo tees we have on hand and do some crafty shit with them on the sewing machine to broaden the appeal to hot chicks. The style we are selling right now is very boycentric. Although we sell to boys and girls about 50/50, the girl shirts are boy cut and we need to get more feminine to attract a wider audience.

Oh, one final note today. I took the broken EMac over to Comp USA to have the hard drive replaced. Thanks to my loyal readers who have helped me replenish my lost address book information. I can't imagine I'll ever get back all that I lost, especially bookmarks from the web, but I did get a lot of addresses and birthday dates from friends and family. The big relief is that all photos this time are on the external hard drive along with my MP3 collection, so a full fledge disaster has been averted.

Camera For Sale

So yeah, I'm selling my starter camera finally. I went digital a while back and always thought I would use both the N75 and the D70 from Nikon, but that ain't happening. Time to let someone else get some use out of it.

Looking for $200 free and easy. Click the link to check out my auction for it on Ebay.

And they're off!

Yesterday I spent the day at the races. My friend Chris is visiting me from Philly and he had a desire to see the Aiken Trials go down during the day. This is the first of the local "triple crown" of events the next couple of weekends involving a showcase of young horses racing short lengths. I was quite bored to be honest, the set up between matches is agonizing, but I did guess 4 of 6 winners and won $6 in bets with Chris. And I got some good photos out of the deal. But, we underdressed and it got very chilly there making it somewhat of a beat day. From the horse race arena, we went right to the Speedway to see some race car junk with a couple of people I am friends with here. My buddy Mike had some free tickets he came across in his job as a repo man and he treated. Again, a little on the cold side and as a result both Chris and I have the sniffles today.

The best part is that both events were free. They weren't supposed to be, but the Aiken thing was a cluster fuck and we couldn't figure out who to pay for anything. Our parking was supposed to be 10 bucks, the entry day of was also $10 per person, but we didn't spend a dime and no one said a word to us. Despite the fact that everyone but us had on little sticker badges for the event. Hmmm? All day of fun and not one dime spent. Nice. Left more money for getting loaded at the Firehouse with Eric and Joolie. I would mention that I was out at the Firehouse on St. Pat's day, but it was brief, boring and oddly unfestive...so I'll pass.



Race Photos.

Losses

The laptop is working nicely, but I do have one slight problem...I lost some data that is valuable to me by having my computer die on me. It's not much, most important shit is on my external hard drive anyway, but it's little things like bookmarks and my address book. I was one of those folks that used their computer for everything and now that I had one die, I'm scared to do it again. I have not one single address. And he's something funny, I use IChat on Mac for instant messaging purposes and there is a feature that allows you to link people to your address book. Oh, and you can also view everyone by their real name instead of screen name if you take the time to type it in. Anyway, about 3 years ago I did this to my computer and now that I lost everything, I am struggling with communicating online with people. In simple terms, I don't know who people are. Everyone comes up by screen name and I don't have a clue who uses what name online.

The point is, if you can leave me a comment with your screen name and mailing address. Or email me with it. Or hit me up on Myspace with it. I need everything...as I can barely remember my own address these days.

I was at the gym today for the 4th day this week and I'm happy to report I have lost 10 lbs in a little over 3 weeks on my new approach to life. I'm certain this weekend will be another challenge with The Weasal coming to town, but I am certain I can push myself to behave. Maybe he will want to hit up the Y on Saturday with me? You never know...

I went apartment hunting today and it's not going to be as easy as I thought. Masters Week is coming up in early April and all vacant apartments get rented out for a week's stay to travelers hitting up the classic golf tourney. As such, places are not even worried about renting out mid-April to the likes of me based on the ridiculous profit they make for a one week rental. Homes here rent for 15K and up for one week during Masters Week. Yikes! Well, I do have time...but I got paid today and wrote out all my checks for bills and I have $200 until next check....and next check is rent time. Fuck.

Photo Dump

Finally done.

Poker Game Action.

Girl Drink Drunks.

Chuck's Place.

Random Little Ones.

iBook

Laptop, oh how I love you. Even though my sausage fingers can barely muster using your keys. That's right, I'm moving on and ridding my life of the stationary PC and it feels wonderful. Apple knows what they are doing with computers if only for the simple fact that when you open the box and plug it in, the shit just works. The hard part appears to be that I'm hosting my visiting father and spending my non-work time with him instead of getting operational on the laptop. Also, I think I am going to be in trouble trying to get programs carried over from the dead EMac onto this iBook since I can't get that puppy up and running. No Photoshop is no good. Oh, Brother Mike Where Art Thou?

However, I did manage to upload about 250 pictures from my camera into the laptop and in the coming days I will be posting links for you to see what happens when 2 girls and a guy get loaded on Pina Coladas. Ha. I also have tons of pics from Philly that I need to get up on Flickr.

The old man is splitting town tomorrow, so that gives me tomorrow night to work on stuff. Especially considering I am off Thursday from work and won't have a bed time to stick to. My Dad's assessment of Augusta after 24 hours was boring which doesn't surprise me. I tried to tell him you can't follow up 10 days in Miami Beach with a visit to Augusta and arrive on a Sunday no less. We basically have been talking and eating out to pass the time. Free meals on his dime works for me since I'm mega broke at the moment.

Okay, stay tuned for a nice photo dump shortly. And remember...it wouldn't kill you to buy a Poison Scooter tee!

Laying Low Weekend

This weekend was all about being cheap. With the impending laptop purchase, my need to find a new apartment and some escalating credit card bills, I didn't have the money to do much of anything. Friday night I sat in an watched Rent like a total loser. P.S. Rent was seriously corny and this is coming from a man who is not afraid to admit a like for musicals. Saturday afternoon I ventured to the big YMCA to check out the joint and get my workout on. The big Y is deluxe, like insanely big, and I killed a couple hours there without spending a dime. Saturday night was a Pina Colada and Seabreeze drink fest in my apartment with my wing girls Syd and Tena. It's amazing how much fun 3 people can have just drinking fruity drinks and goofing around. I made a fancy dinner before hand that included Jerk Chicken, Fresh Zuccini, Cous-Cous and a Spring Mix salad. Walking home drunk from a gas station run @ midnight with 24 oz cans of Lite beer in little paper bags was a highlight. The night ended when Syd pulled a muscle in her neck trying to touch her toes (don't ask) around 4:00 AM. Before I knew it my Dad was ringing my buzzer @ 11:15 AM to spend a couple days with me starting with Sunday. Pretty much my father and I compete at various games and bitch about sports, life and movies. Oh, and we eat out every meal on his dime. I'm trying to keep my diet in check, only eating half my Fridays burger and eating only 6 buffalo wings for dinner. And I didn't drink a drop of alcohol the entire day. I guess I felt guilty for my consumption of girl drinks on Saturday night. In any case, the old man is sticking around until Wednesday and then my buddy Chris rolls into town on Friday. So I'm in the middle of a hosting frenzy. Back to the grind....it's Monday morning.

Short and Sweet

The laptop has shipped from China as of this morning, so I'm hopeful it will be here Tuesday. Fingers crossed. I'm catching up on a lot of TIVO programming from my weekend in Philly in the interim. The weekend is upon us, so now the real stuggle ensues. And I'm broke as a motherfucker, so I'm planning on laying low. Saturday night the Fun Police are gonna hook up some smoothies and we are going to drink our broke asses into a stupor. And Sunday my Dad comes to town for a couple days, so he will keep me occupied.

I hit the Y three days this week. Can you imagine that? Sydney has turned out to be a great workout partner and she motivates me to keep going. And I'm eating healthy...fish and veggies and shit. I am thinking I may have turned over a new leaf here and I'm happy about that. We'll see.

Here Comes Trouble

Just to keep the people informed, Poison Scooter (my tee shirt jawn) has launched another shirt which has been featured over on the right hand side of this blog for the last couple months. Here Comes Trouble has arrived and is available in limited sizes for the low, low price of $20. If you are interested, and I know some of you are, click the link that says BUY A SHIRT! and you can easily complete a sale.

Hook a brother up!

I do have logo shirts left at $15 too if you feel like you missed out last time around. Sizes are indicated on the site.

Thanks for the support!

Dump

My computer took a dump and I will be incommunicado for a couple days. Came back from Philly and the shit just wouldn't turn on. Not to fear, I purchased a laptop this morning via Apple.com and that should be here by Monday or Tuesday. Since I have Apple Protection Plan on my Emac, I'm still gonna take it in to the shop to see what's what.

Philadelphia; Was It Always This Cold?

Although I'm not officially back from my Philly trip, I do have a moment of freedom on my hands a few hours before I have to go the airport for the return flight. As such, I guess I can tread through my memories of the weekend and let you all know what went down.

After I came in Thursday night, I spent the night at Brother Mike's house catching up and was forced to watch Saw 2 at 1 AM with my sister and brother. Tragically enough having been awake from 6 AM the prior morning and travelling I managed to fall asleep 10 mintues before the movie ended and I therefore don't have a clue how it all turned out. I imagine everyone died and someone turned out to be an accomplice to the bad dude.

Friday night was spent at Chuck E. Cheese watching every kid enjoy themselves immensely, while every adult in the room forced a smile but seemed absolutely tortured to be there. One of my aunt's referred to Chuck's place as a box of hell. Since I don't have kids and I knew my time in this place would be shortlived, I actually had a pleasant enough time. However, with the late night movie viewing from the night before mixed with a pretty early wake up call of 9 AM, my ass was dragging. I followed up Chuck's with viewing of Flightplan over at my cousin's house during which I almost fell asleep 4 times. My cousin and my brother took turns hosting me, so Friday night I was afforded the luxury of a bed in a very private room and wound up sleeping for 10 1/2 hours, something I haven't done in like 10 years.

Saturday evening was Poker Night with my boys down town and went relatively well considering I won $40 and got wasted on Heineken keg cans. Brother Mike graciously designated drove and allowed me to catch up with my buddies who all seem to be managing quite fine without me around. The crowd was slimmer than expected due to some last minute scratches, but overall I would say the night was a success.

Sunday morning was spent wishing I didn't drink so many beers. Especially considering that I was freezing my ass off at the cemetary where my mother is buried. My siblings, cousin, stepfather and grandparents got together to celebrate (?) the 10 year anniversary of my mother's death. The build up to this event over the course of the weekend pretty much examplified the loss we all feel for her not being around. Everyone was at each other's throats up until we were all assembled at the desserted graveyard, and reflecting upon her and our actions, I can only hope everyone realized just how stupid they have been acting towards each other. I was happy that I went, even though I'm not a cemetary guy. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do in life, whether it be to please other people or to just do the right thing. Dealing with death is a very personal matter and not everyone handles things the same way. As long as my family allows me to make my jokes and understands that this is my way, then I'll be able to go more often. Anyway, this trip to the grave site was followed by a nice meal at Brother Mike's house for all attendees.

Sunday evening was again a very lucky time for me. I got my wish of having a nice Oscar themed get together and Brother Dan coaxed 14 people into completing ballots and wagering $5 each for a chance to take the pot with the most picks. The awards themselves were slightly predictable and the show was generic, but the plus side for me was seeing some friends, having a few cocktails and ultimately walking away with $70 by getting 15 out of 22 right on the night.

So I'm about to leave with $110 in net winnings, 150 photographs and possibly another illness. I'm convinced that when I come back up here, I contract whatever has been floating around in this nasty, freezing weather. As much as I enjoyed my time here, I'm ready to go back. I miss my new friends, I have so many loose ends to attend to from work stuff to finding a new apartment, and honestly my family has their own lives to get back to as well. This weekend was a momentary distraction for all, and now it's come to a close.

Going Home

This weekend I'm heading back to Philadelphia. I had purchased the tickets originally to coincide with Spring Break at my alma mater back when I was stupid enough to think that I would have someone to make out with when I got back into town. Anyway, fuck her. So yeah, I'm going home and the timing is spectacular for a variety of other reasons and therefore I am completely thrilled.

First, I will be able to partake in the Chuck E Cheese experience on Friday when my little sister/god daughter celebrates her birthday. Most people would probably cringe at the thought of having to go to that hellhole, but I'm quite anxious to see Isabella just be a kid and have fun. It's one of the things I miss most about being down South, watching the little one sprout into a kid from a baby.

Saturday holds for me an old fashion guy's poker night down in Center City at my buddy Jared's crib. Coinciding with poker is my other buddy JV's birthday, adding another level of posterity to the event and trip.

Sunday I will be having a nice lunch date with my siblings and cousin to honor my deceased mother. Her death anniversary is the 7th of March and since we are close enough to that date, we have decided to do something as a group to celebrate her memory. It's been 10 years since she passed away, and in that time we haven't all gotten together at once to go visit her grave. Myself, I have not been there since my Grandfather's funeral (he was buried next to her), as I'm not a fan of cemeteries. So this is a breakthrough of sorts for me.

I'll be wrapping up Sunday with an Oscar party with some friends at my cousin's house that I'm looking forward to. I have gotten quite used to watching mostly every television moment by myself that I'm hungry to have someone hear my witty observations on every bit of minutiae.

The whole journey promises to yeild at very least some smiles from me and fuck load of pictures. Stay tuned.