March Was Indeed Mad

So, since my alma mater won the MAC tournament and went to the Sweet 16, I was a little preoccupied with basketball for the last few weeks . . .

I went to all the tournament games (made some new friends and hung out with some old ones) and then organized a bunch of local game watch parties for OU alumni (and sang the school fight song solo on live local television).

We lost (although we totally could have won!) and I thought I'd get back to my usual routine  —  tv, movies, books, blogging, etc. — but now there's this big kerfuffle about the basketball coach possibly leaving the verdant hills of southeast Ohio for some other school, and I've spent most of the day hitting "refresh" on a bunch of Twitter feeds in hopes of being among the first to know anything for sure. Instead of, you know, doing any actual work. And since I'm already two weeks' behind because of all the event planning I was doing during office hours, I kind of need to get on the stick.

Sigh.

What else?

Oh! Speaking of goofing around at the office: I've been wearing a different pair of Chuck Taylors to work every day for about the last week or so. Why? Glad you asked. Allow this Facebook conversation to illuminate and elucidate:

So, here's a quick collage of what I've worn so far.

Exciting, eh?

I Could Watch This All Day

This is my favorite part of Grady's appearance on That's Life . . . . especially the first ten or fifteen seconds.

The part where he's all about the Chucks just makes me laugh. And squee. Mostly squee.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Win a year's worth of Chucks? Where do I sign up?!


I've just inched another year away from Delia's target demographic, though, so I probably wouldn't be "randomly selected" as the winner.

Besides, I have a job or two . . . if I want a dozen pairs of new shoes (and believe me, I do!), I suppose I can go out and buy them myself. Perhaps today, as a little birthday gift for yours truly.

Maybe I'll start with these . . .










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Now playing: The Kinks - Everybody's a Star (Starmaker)
via FoxyTunes
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Tuesday Timewaster: Cake Wrecks

Let's begin with another installment of Yahoo! Mail Theater . . .

----- Original Message ----
From: Amy
To: Cathy; Christine
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 9:43 AM
Subject: Tinsel and garland are NOT the same thing. Tinsel rocks.*

Cakewrecks

I was laughing too loudly and obviously at this site and had to turn away before JoAnn realized something was up, so I didn't have a chance to search it for Tom Selleck cakes.

But since it's a blog about horrible cakes and the Selleck cake is clearly awesome, I suppose it wouldn't be there anyhow.

* Thanks, Random Subject Line Generator!



----- Next Message ----
From: Catherine
To: Amy; Christine
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: Tinsel and garland are NOT the same thing. Tinsel rocks.*

I love that site!!!

OMG, in the fruity wedding cake pic, not only is the guy in a plaid suit, but he's wearing a FEZ!!! Seriously, WTF???

But those cakes are seriously hilarious. Like someone was trying to get fired!!!

I'm a fan of this wedding cake






but that's partly because I followed the link to additional wedding photos and discovered that the entire wedding party wore Chucks — Awesome!




On top of that, it was the wedding of a guy whose Internet comic I sometimes read: Wondermark: An Illustrated Jocularity. Which makes me think that maybe I saw the Chucks-as-wedding-footgear pix before, but whatevs. I'm telling the world the three people who read this on a semi-regular basis about it.








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Now playing on iTunes: Paul and Storm - Nun Fight
via FoxyTunes
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Monday Timewaster: Chuck Pix

I have to finish making up entries for my time log and turn it in, but otherwise I would totally be checking this out:

Chuck Taylor "All Stars" - a set on Flickr

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Now playing on iTunes: Elvis Presley - Funny How Time Slips Away via FoxyTunes
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Pranklicious

Heh. It made me laugh, anyways.

Growing up, I remember reading about all these elaborate April Fool's Day pranks* and wishing I could think up some clever way to celebrate. Or even think up something that's been done on not one but two television shows and commemorated on a t-shirt (which I own).

But I would never do this to one of my shoes. I'm wearing my chocolate ones with argyle laces right now. Snazzy!







* Perhaps in Cricket magazine?



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Now playing on iTunes: Wilson Pickett - A Man And A Half
via FoxyTunes

All-Stars of the Non-Chuck Taylor Variety

My cable company had a free preview of NBA TV for most of the month. Last Friday night I was eating some breakfast for dinner* and managed to catch the last five minutes** of the 1991 All-Star Game. Wow. This one had a seriously amazing lineup, including Jordan, Barkley, Ewing, and Magic.


I was watching the game and thinking about what I was doing seventeen years ago when this was originally happening. I think I might have been recovering from the awkward disaster that was Winter Formal, but I'm not positive. CORRECTION: Upon further consideration, the events I was remembering probably took place at Homecoming, not Winter Formal. So, I don't know what I was doing in February of 1991. I know that in February of 1992 a friend of mine and I skipped the dance in favor of seeing Wayne's World on its opening weekend. Now, that was a good time. Some might even call it excellent and play a few riffs on an air guitar.


The camera did a few shots of the crowd, and lingered on this guy for a bit:

I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed that I thought, "Hey, isn't that Bruce Hornsby?" a full ten to fifteen seconds before Bob Costas identified him for the viewing public. Bob also reminded us that Bruce did the national anthem, accompanied by Branford Marsalis. At least I didn't know that.

Back on the floor, most of the attention was on Michael Jordan. I'm pretty sure that I had my Michael Jordan growth chart by February 1991, even though I didn't have anywhere to hang it up.*** So, I saved it all through college until I got my first apartment. One of the first things I did after moving in was have it mounted on foam core so I could hang it up on the wall opposite the front door. I eventually put one of my CD racks in front of it, but you still get the general idea.

I spent most of the rest of the weekend flipping between NBA TV and TNT. It's a good thing that all the 2008 events aired at least twice, because I nodded off around 10:30 on Saturday and Sunday nights and had to catch the repeat to find out who won the slam-dunk contest and the all-star game. Apparently I'm an old lady, and that stuff was on after my bedtime.

I was awake enough to catch my new favorite Converse commercial a few times. What's up with this Kinks resurgence? Technically, I guess it started about this time last year, with "All Day and All of the Night" in an ad for Tide, but more recently "A Well Respected Man" popped up in Juno and "Everybody's A Star (Starmaker)" was featured in the Target/One Star ad.

Meanwhile: This is my new desktop wallpaper.

*Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, broccoli, and veggie cream cheese; sausage patties; rye toast; Sunny Delight. Yum!

** Five minutes on the clock. In real time, at least twenty minutes.


*** My room in the attic didn't have any flat walls tall enough — the ones that didn't have windows had sharp angles in them around the four-foot mark. I used have a massive Michael J. Fox poster taped up on one of the slanted walls above the bed, and it fell down on a regular basis until I finally gave up. I already had this on my closet door, so I was running out of real estate:


I still have this poster, too, but it's kind of beat up. The corners are creased, there's lots of pieces of tape left in the corners, and there are purple smears from where my sister colored on it — no doubt in retaliation for something I did to her.

OMG! I have to go watch all the Mars Blackmon commercials on YouTube now, starting with this one. Do you know what I mean? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know?

Finding Treasure in the Bargain Bins

So: Yesterday afternoon I'm in the car after picking up a small project from one of my freelance clients. Did I drive home and get to work immediately?

Uh . . . NO!

I procrastinated by stopping in the new(-ish) Marshall's at Westgate. I didn't really have anything in mind, but once I got in the door I remembered that I needed a new wallet. I've been abusing the coin section on mine, mostly by (gasp!) putting coins in it, so there's a hole in the side/bottom and all my coins fall out. I can't think of a good way to fix it, so I might as well get another one. Especially when it's not even $10. I debated going all retro and digging out this wallet I had when I was, like, 10 — before I had anything to put in a wallet besides my library card and some allowance; this one was red and had a butterfly on the front — but I decided that I was too lazy to hunt for it. I also have this vintage Mickey Mouse wallet from when I was even younger, but I wouldn't want to ruin it by using it. Maybe when this new wallet conks out, I'll resurrect one of those.

Anyhow, then in the bins by the cash register I spotted some of that schmancy stationery from Borders that I always covet but never get. I got two boxes of note cards (different patterns) for the price of one at Borders. I also scooped up some notepads from Knock Knock. I don't think they make them anymore, actually — probably because they were trying to sell them for $6 and $15, plus shipping and handling. I felt that $2.99 was much more appropriate.

After that, I figured I might as well go next door to Target, and see if I'd changed my mind about wanting any of the Converse One Stars they started carrying. (Short answer: No. But I did get one of the Converse t-shirts. Never mind the faint echo of my dad's voice during an argument discussion we had when I was in high school about why on earth I would want to buy a Coca-Cola sweatshirt and be, in essence, free advertising for the company whenever I wore it.)

I did get a pair of mittens from the clearance rack (a backup pair, in case I misplace one of my two pairs of gloves before May), but I hit the mother lode in the bargain bins right up front by the door: Dilbert magnets, sticky notes, pens, and note pads. I wanted one of every design, but forced myself to pick only the funniest one from each category. (Wally magnets, "My Job Is a Near-Life Experience" note pad, Boss sticky notes, and the pen set where one says "I'm optimistic that you'll do a better job of motivating me next week" and the other says "He only listens when he is talking," if you're scoring at home.)

So, you know, I should be able to kill the next twenty minutes getting those unwrapped and set up for future use. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this:

Lucky Chucks

I got an e-mail from Converse this morning:

Ha! The last sentence is my favorite.

I totally want these, but they're only available in Women's size 5. Boo! The ladybug (symbol of good luck) cracks me up.

Let's see . . . What else?

• I ordered the book Chucks! The Phenomenon of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars from Amazon as a little Christmas gift to myself. Love the photos!
  
• Another Christmas gift to myself: In mid-December I went into Famous Footwear to get new winter boots, but instead I walked out with two new pairs of lowtop Chucks: one pair of chocolate and one pair of gray hibiscus. I need to find some snazzy laces for them, though. Perhaps I'll get some from the Chucks Connection.
  
• During American Idol, I saw an ad for Converse — apparently they're going to start selling One Stars and clothes at Target in a few weeks. I'm going to have to call my sister (who works for Target) and ask her to hook me up.
  
• I can't believe I never discovered the Converse blog until now. I'm going to have to go back and read all the archives, especially the Flashback Fridays.
  
• Another site I found: Punk Your Chucks, which is the source of the following images. (Hover for additional commentary.)

Lust for Shoes

Sometime in college — or maybe it was even in high school? — I had a postcard book called Lust for Shoes. It was kind of a precursor to the Anne Taintor method of putting smart remarks on vintage images, and I had a similar book called Housewives in Hell.

I have no idea where these are now . . . I'm pretty sure I never sent any of the postcards to anyone — Who is worthy to receive them? Better to hoard them in my stationery collection and pull them out periodically to laugh at and enjoy privately. — so they have to be kicking around in a box somewhere.

Anyhow . . .
What made me think of it was my visit to the Converse Web site. As I've mentioned before Chuck Taylors make me weak in the knees. I have an RSS feed to update me when they post new shoes, and I followed a few links to find these beauties . . . . Hence, lust for shoes.

32 Across: Sweet!

I saw these on the Converse Web site last week, and immediately lusted for them, deep in my heart. Then I was at the mall on Sunday and the magnetic force of the Chuck Taylor display rack pulled me into Journeys for some extensive drooling. The crossword puzzle ones were out there, and I decided it was a sign from the shopping gods.

The salesgirl went in the back to find my size (7 — I used to take 6.5, but that's gotten kind of pinchy lately) while the salesguy quizzed me on my Chuck Taylor bona fides. (In his defense, I did look rather suburban mom-ish that day: A striped t-shirt from the GAP that was probably 8 or 9 years old, some straight-leg easy fit jeans, and basic white cross-trainers.)

When I actually got them home, I was overjoyed to discover that there are actual crossword puzzle clues printed on the insoles. I could get out my Sharpie and fill in the squares! How cool is that?!

Anyhow, happy birthday to me. I'm going to put them on tonight to break them in a little, and then maybe lounge around and read some of my other birthday gifts:

Superstud:
Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin
(from Christine)

The Know-It-All:
One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
(from Cathy)

Sartorial Awesomeness

I found these shoes on Converse.com yesterday. Cathy almost puked, which made me laugh even harder.

She wanted to know what on earth one would wear with shoes like that. I didn't have an answer at the time, but after watching Andy Samberg on Conan last night, now I know: Hot Rod Underoos!

Shoelaces; or, Quick, Cathy! Avert Your Eyes!

I finally got around to lacing my new red Chucks. I had a red pair about ten or twelve years ago, but they wore out. I bought the new ones months ago, but lost track of them (equal parts messy apartment and massive shoe collection). I came across them two Saturdays ago while picking up the place, and decided to lace them with some star-spangled laces I bought in Hot Topic sometime last year. Check it out: All ready for the Fourth of July.

I also decided to put some colored laces in my other new pair. I'm not exactly in love with the red/black against the flames, but it looks better than the other pairs of laces I have on hand: hot pink with silver; pastel stars.

I did one shoe in the standard-issue white, just to see how it looks. I'm kind of liking it.

Anyhow, I'm not wacky enough to wear a Chuck of a different color on each foot, and I'm probably not wacky enough to wear matching shoes with different shoelaces. I'm just barely wacky enough to carry off non-white shoelaces, for crying out loud. And in this case, I'm thinking that maybe the flame design is nutty enough on its own, and it doesn't need any additional embellishment. Note to self: Change the red/black lace back to white before I wear these anywhere.

A Sign from God?

I made a mistake a few nights ago.

In a moment of weakness, I opened an e-mail from Converse about a shoe sale, and even though I'd heard Kevin Smith's cautionary tale about how easy it is to drop five grand buying shoes online, I found myself ordering two pairs:



It was hard to stop at just two pairs, honestly, but the sale prices weren't even all that great, so I forced myself to put these back on the shelf:

And I'm not even mentioning the pink ones with swirly designs and flowers, which I decided against because I already have a solid pink pair and a pink plaid pair. And the fact that I can't wear any of these to work. (Well, I could on our secret, unsanctioned Casual ___days, which occur whenever there aren't any grownups in the office — usually Fridays, but sometimes Wednesdays. But in the big scheme of things, not so much.)

I'm already feeling a little buyer's remorse, and then I get an e-mail yesterday from Converse, saying that they can't process the order because the credit card company wants verification of the shipping and billing addresses. Urk. I'm having the stuff sent to the office, which is what I do with almost everything I order online . . . including the other shoes I ordered a few months ago:

So. . . . maybe this is a sign from God that I don't really need the shoes? But they're so cute! (Shut up, Cathy! I don't mock your Steve Madden fetish! Much!) Sigh.