merrill whatley

Top headline on Yahoo right now:

“Afghan police kill four in cartoon bloodshed.”

Did they kill Itchy, Scratchy, Poochie and one unnamed associate? I haven’t heard this much about cartoon violence in years. There’s got to be a better way to word this.

This beautiful January weather we’re having (trust me, rest of country) has coincided with an extremely busy couple of weeks. All Saints’ hosted a conference last week for which I ran sound and tech. It was fun, just long days (after getting home, had other clients to catch up on, all that). We’ve also received some news about my grandmother’s health these past few days… kind of in a holding pattern right now as we wait for more news.

Managed to go to see Brokeback Mountain sometime last week — Utah, you don’t know what you’re missing — and ate at a fun Korean BBQ place over the weekend. Also, running sound at the conference means I got to be around people while I was busy, which was nice. Even chatted with some folks, got to know the people I worked with, made new friends. Nice working like that.

Still, it all adds up to exhaustion if you’re not careful — so I believe Thursday morning will be a surf day. Mid-morning is supposed to see some amount of swell in case anyone wants to meet at Ocean Park.

When visiting Minnesota last year, I saw a lake beginning to freeze over. Having never seen such a thing, I was fascinated by the idea that, in time, the lake would be frozen deeply enough that you could walk (and drive and, i don’t know, land a plane or something) on it. I dreamed of augers and ice fishing huts and that after-school special where the kid falls through the ice and nobody’s there to help him because he was skipping school.

This year, we went to visit Anne’s family a little later in the year, and the weather cooperated and, for the first time in my life, I got to go ice fishing.

We didn’t catch anything — I am sure this disappointed the worms (“I got stabbed and semi-frozen for this?!”) — but we were cool with it. And nobody crashed through the ice, which, according to the alarmist TV movies I remember from growing up, happens about 90% of the time people venture out there.

We were also able to witness the announcement of the lineup for the U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey Team. The announcement took place at the Mall of America, which, as I am sure you’ve heard, has a peanut butter specialty store. It’s also unfathomably huge and has roller coasters and other rides and more cafés than Dothan.

We even built snowmen while there (well, not at the mall, but in Minnesota). My favorite snowman: this moustache-having, hat-wearing, top-heavy creation. Due to his top-heavy status, he only lived about 15 minutes.

After getting back to LA, we immediately left again, driving to Ventura for a little New Year’s quiet. We stayed at the Inn on the Beach and took the surfboards, getting out into the water just in time to meet a vicious winter storm, which was like getting into a fistfight with the ocean. Of course, that made it fun. After all the rain, late afternoon New Year’s Eve was beautiful and the weather stayed clear long enough for a gorgeous night and morning. This photo is from the afternoon of the 31st:

Here’s something unusual and kind of funny…

I recently registered my car, and the registration is valid through February of 2007. The DMV advises exactly how to put the sticker on so it can not be easily peeled off. Rather than peel it off or steal the plate altogether, a compromising sort came up with the idea of just cutting that year sticker-side of the plate off. (You’ll notice in the photo below that the last character from my plate is missing.)

This seems a lot of trouble to go through… of course, so does the probably pointless photoshopping of the tag I just did to change the numbers from what they really are. Would that really matter? Whatever. My DMV appointment for a replacement is Tuesday.

P.S. Yes, I do need to wash my car.

Anne and I were making cookies the other night… actually, Anne was making cookies and generously tolerating my attempts to pitch in… and eventually I moved to the tail end of the assembly line, adding the sugar crystals to the cookies (and the pan and the stovetop and the counter and floor), removing the cookies from the oven, and putting them on a plate when they cooled.

You know how these things happen… at first you’re going to stack a few cookies on one plate and then get another plate and continue. Then you think, “You know, I could fit more on this plate!” And then eventually it somehow became a challenge you set for yourself, to see if you can stack all of the cookies on one plate.

It looks a little like Jenga with cookies.

I’ve decided it’s much easier to have one blog with categories than three blogs without. Links to the old blog archives are in the sidebar.