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I had a meeting today with a client at his office. He showed me his logo and then explained that it is not intended to be an oval. His flat panel monitor was distorting everything he looks at by a long shot, even the picture of his son that used as his wallpaper. He asked me if I could remedy the situation so there I was duking it out with his clunky Windows pc.

This afternoon my father sent me this Word doc that he had spent most of the day on. It was given to him by a pc user and he added a bunch of stuff and sent it back but the guy wasn’t able to open the file. All I had to do add the “.doc” suffix to the file name and send it back. You’d think a Windows machine would recognize a Word doc.

A friend of ours programs data bases for web sites and he laughingly told us that he just stopped previewing his sites in Explorer. He said the people who use that program are idiots and he doesn’t care about them. I was reading a bad review of Explorer 8 today and they had a link to stats that showed two thirds of all web users use IE. That’s a lot of idiots. The economy would get a real sot in the arm if all web developers could quit wasting time with IE workarounds.

I was reading about the new system for the iPhone and Touch and an app for them that will allow users to see other users on the same network and exchange virtual business and it reminded me that we haven’t done new business cards since we moved. We have been using the “we just moved” excuse for four years now. We had some business cards printed online for a client they came out great. They offer rounded corners too. So I spent some time today playing with the 4D Advertising logo. I love coming up with logos and haven’t done one in a while.

It is so beautiful this time of year when the snow disappears and the ground is a dusty brown. The trees without leaves are grey and the trunks turn black if it rains. Big trees take on Egon Schiele like expressions. We had little yellow flowers blooming out back last week before the snow melted. I did a Google search for first yellow flower in New York and I think I have identified them as Winter Aconite Eranthis hyemalis. With a little more rain most things will be green before we know it.

I came back with three new signs for the Signs Section and the one above is my favorite. On our way down to New York we got off the Thruway in Waterloo and drove through Auburn toward Skaneateles. We stopped for a bit in front of this sign because it required some thought to determine which way to turn. I am visually oriented and I really wanted to turn right for Auburn. I’m guessing the prisoners who make these signs for the state are only allowed to “justify” their type. It would be a lot easier to read if they could flush left or right.

We got on the F train in Brooklyn at Fort Hamilton and headed for the Modern in Manhattan. We were sitting at the front of the first car. This line brings you above ground for a few stops before going down under the East River. A very short man with a camouflaged hat got on and started singing a beautiful folk song in Spanish. I gave him a dollar. At the next stop a guy in a trench coat got on with a styrofoam cup that he was rattling. I tried not to look at him.

A women burst through the door right behind him and loudly addressed the passengers, “OK people. I will try to be brief. My husband has abused me, humiliated me. . . etc.” She kept walking to the other end of the car and we tried to tune her out but she worked her way back to us with her hand out, repeating, “Anybody have a kind heart? Anybody have a kind heart?” She said this like it didn’t have a question mark. Next on was a woman with missing front teeth. She was dragging a big black trash bag. She leaned against the pole in front of us and began singing, “I believe the children are the future”.

The distance between stops as the train goes under the river is longer than that between most stops so this train is a magnet for buskers. Duane, our NYC friend and guide, told us he has seen guys bring a whole drum set in, set it up and bang out a hip hop tune. They get of on the other side, cross over and ride back all day long.

There were only four people in Peggi’s yoga class last night. Maybe it was the weather or maybe it had something to do with Jeffery, the yoga teacher, going on a cruise for a few weeks. There were seven people in my painting class but that’s everyone who signed up for the winter session. It’s the slow time of year and that’s the way we like it.

We dropped my father off after class and Peggi and I went downtown to Danny’s Ball at Abilene. The Eastman 10, who were arrested for playing in the streets on election night, did a rousing version of “God Bless America” and the packed house went nuts. We had our long sleeve Obama t-shirts on.

I dragged my feet getting to this report on Black Friday’s gig at Abilene. I wanted to post a sound file with the entry and I hadn’t found time to listen to the tracks. I was almost afraid to because Ken and I had such heavy colds. We were both doing legal drugs to take the edge off. Ken took some Sudafed and I went with the Advil.

Danny has a magical little room upstairs. And just like magic Dale and Myna showed up for our set. I hallucinated seeing Dale tuning a guitar at stage left while we were playing our set at the Scorgies thing but they couldn’t make that one. Dale and I played together for a couple years in early New Math and we did a gig with Myna’s band, Human Switchboard, and the rest is history. It is always good to see him.

Jack played guitar and bass clarinet with us, Bob was celebrating Liz’s birthday at ONE, and Ken played his electric bass instead of the stand up. The lineup switch, the room, the drugs and the Nod people shaped the sound of the evening. It felt out of our control. Peggi, though, was in full control and sounded better than ever.

The room could be both perfect and magical. Danny has to get a liquor license for the upstairs bar. NYS makes you get a separate license for each floor. Some one has to move the furniture out of the alcove where the low rise stage is. No furniture in that performance space. The Get Out The Vote posters should be history, as graphically interesting and successful as they are/were. The rest of the place is so timeless. And Danny needs to serve Guinness on tap. These demands will be in our rider the next time we play there.

Nod rocked the house downstairs. It was almost a perfect evening.

Gary from New Math stopped by this afternoon with two carloads of friends that were in from out of town for the Scorgie’s thing. Duane Sherwood pulled in the driveway right behind them. We looked at photos from last night and laughed. Duane helped me get my camera set up to photograph some paintings with the Lowel lights that he gave me. We thought we’d eat at LDR but they closed at eight so we went down to Shamrock Jack’s. Peggi, Duane and I each ordered the fish fry.

Our waitress was wearing a yellow “Champion Drinker” t-shirt that she said all the staff wear on the days that Notre Dame plays. A guitar and drums duo scalled “Jumbo Shrimp” started playing in the front room. They each had plastic beer holders on their stands and they were having a great time at their job. They did a Marvin Gaye tune and “My Girl” and a bunch of stuff we didn’t recognize.

Peggi guessed the guy on the right was “Jumbo” and the guy on the left was “Shrimp”. The drummer played a cocktail set standing up and the guitarist sang and played acoustic guitar. The drummer sang back ups without a mic. They sounded like like the White Stripes on a cruise ship were the perfect capper to our rock and roll weekend.

Tomatoes are at their peak here and it is time to celebrate them. Peggi made three pots of sauce yesterday. One had no jalapeño peppers and it is made to order for our neighbor, Leo. He has a fenced plot of land that he allows us to grow our own in. The fence keeps the deer out but a pesky rabbit kept getting at our plants. The basil, peppers and tomatoes in this picture all came from our garden.

We made calamari last night to bring to Rick and Monica’s as a first course. The trick to non chewy calamari, according to the fish guy at Wegman’s, is to boil it (water, lime/lemon, beer) no longer that 50 seconds and then get it on ice immediately. We did this and then divided it in six small dishes (the Spevaks were coming to dinner as well). I chilled some of the fresh tomato sauce and buried the calamari in it. It was fantastic.

The Spevaks brought an appetizer, stuffed jalapeños from their garden. And they brought a side dish of different kinds of tomatoes. They sliced up the green, yellow, red and plum colored tomatoes and drizzled some oil and vinegar on them. Both dishes were delicious. Rick, never one to be outdone in the kitchen, made a pasta, arugula and capers dish for the main course.

We cut of of work early today to continue painting our house and we took a break around two for a sandwich. Peggi had peanut butter and I had a tomato and onion sandwich. We both had some fresh tomato salsa.

Enjoying the summer will be a project. And then there are all those summer projects. First on my list list is looking at Cubism. Fred Lipp’s orders. More like a question really. “Ever look at much Cubism?”

I started last night with the Cezanne piece and continued my investigation tonight by looking at my recent paintings with my first impressions of Cubism in mind. I was struck by how obvious it is that I am still learning to draw. That’s what I saw first. And my paintings are really drawings. And then I saw a lot of room for expression. I’m still not sure what Cubism is. I’m guessing a more imaginative way of seeing and translating is probably an important part of learning to draw. So I am still on course.

The pool temperature hit 70 degrees today and the air is supposed to be near 90 this weekend so summer has begun. One of the past presidents of the pool club told Peggi to add chlorine tablets even though the chlorine reading was above normal. He said, “I know it’s counterintuitive”. We are trying to figure this out.

I have been painting a lot in the basement, putting a push on before the last class next week. I’m ready to start spending more time outdoors. We have tomato plants, jalapeño, basil and cilantro plants in the garden. We don’t really have a garden. The deer would get it if we planted anything here. Our neighbor, Leo has an extra lot that he has put an electric fence around and he lets us use space in there.

I brought a painting into class tonight that had some wacky eyes. One was too low but expressive. The pedestrian way I painted the nose and mouth killed the expression in the eyes so the thing needs work. My teacher suggested that I look at Cubism. He said it started with Cezanne and was driven home by Picasso and Matisse. He found a reproduction of Picasso’s “Gertrude Stein” painting that perfectlyly illustrated what he was talking about. I did a little google research and found out Picasso and Stein were both influenced by Cezanne.

I’m getting the picture that I need to be more expressive. The elements of my faces have to carry more form. Thinking about this will be my summer project.

We watched Eric Taylor load his car this morning while we were drinking our coffee. He was wearing shorts and he sort of looked hungover. We took our walk early and I tested the sepia movie mode on my new Nikon. I’m liking this little thing. The coolest thing about it is the black magnesium body with the rubberized grips. It feels like you could dangle it from your fingertips and not drop it. And it fits comfortably into my front pants pockets. I don’t worry about the geeky overloaded pockets look anymore. I come prepared. I’ve got three or four pens (mostly drug company or paper company freebies with brand names on them), a swiss army knife, my keys with a drum key on the chain (I’ve still got copies of Sparky’s garage and shed keys), a small note book and now my new camera.

I guess I’m keeping this thing. I have seven more days to decide. I talked to a tech women at Nikon this morning about the their bullshit download software. She told me that it was embarrassing for her but Nikon has not updated the “Nikon Transfer” software to work with the newest Mac system. She said, “Don’t feel bad. It doesn’t work with Vista either.”. So they designed a brand new camera that you can’t get your photos off of with the USB cable. They instruct you to install their cd of their garbage and it’s not compatible with current operating systems. They let you have this maddening experience right off the bat. I do like the little Sony card reader that I had to buy so I’ll stop complaining.

Eric Taylor is a pro. During his first set in Rick’s living room we heard a bunch of stories that he must have told hundreds of times. I was wondering if he was just going to go on this way or get in the moment and then Buddy the dog walked through the room. He made a few jokes about Buddy that sounded like he had told them before but of course he couldn’t have. He has a beautiful, hypnotic, finger picking sound and I really enjoyed drifting off to it.