Adam Lee Eck graphic artist

Kasey, Ollie, Homer, me, and even Wing Wang are getting out of this cesspool of politics and mosquitos.  Or as I once heard D.C. described: “Hollywood for ugly people.”  We’re heading up to beautiful central Pennsylvania with it’s cool nights, clear skies, and clean air.  Tomorrow is the big 30/50 party for me and my mom.  She turns 50 today.  Happy birthday, mom!  And Monday I hit 30 years on this rotating ball of rock. Yikes.

I’m so looking forward to 60 degree nights!  Oh I can’t wait.  Lots of family and friends.  Good old fashioned outdoor fun: mountain pies, Bullfrog beer, campfires, horseshoes, volleyball… good times for all.  Jealous?  It’s not too late, come join us!

From: Kasey Eck
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:02 PM
To: Adam Eck
Subject: RE:

Sure…I asked Homer and he said that he hadn’t seen you.  Maybe we were both there at the same time but just in different wings of the house.  Because, you know, of how big it is…

From: Adam Eck
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:09 PM
To: Kasey Eck
Subject: RE:

yeah.  i was in the observation wing.  where were you?  the executive wing?

From: Kasey Eck
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:12 PM
To: Adam Eck
Subject: RE:

I was in the executive wing and then I went to the east wing.  I figured you would be in one or the other.  I completely forgot we had an observation wing.

From: Adam Eck
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:18 PM
To: Kasey Eck
Subject: RE:

duh.  first i checked the gymnasium, then the catacombs, and finally the observation deck.  you of all people should know i rarely frequent the executive wing.

From: Kasey Eck
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:19 PM
To: Adam Eck
Subject: RE:

Well, that’s where Homer was, so I assumed you would be where he would be.  Unless that wasn’t really Homer…I can’t keep track of which dog is which anymore.

From: Adam Eck
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:22 PM
To: Kasey Eck
Subject: RE:

Wait… there’s more than one?

Tonight on Comedy Central at 10pm is the mid-season finale of Futurama.  It’s also the 100th episode.  They’ll be back in December with an X-mas special and then the season will pick back up again in the spring of next year.  Why split the season in twain?  Who knows.  I don’t try to understand TV scheduling logic.  It makes my head hurt.

Anyways, back to tonight’s episode – synopsis? Why yes: Leela leads an army of underground mutants in a rebellion against the surface people.

Sneak Peek?  Wow, you’re good:

This episode will also feature Devo!  At least in mutated form, anyways.  It seems like Devo should have already been on Futurama (a show about the future + a band that seems like they came from the future), but this is their first appearance.

Sweet, sweet justice.  The Society of Funny Parkers has taken a hit.  There was a mass email sent out this morning by the building supervisors about a certain Infinity parked illegally in the lot.  Click the image below to view full size:

I swear I didn’t have anything to do with this.  I guess I’m not the only one who was a little offended by their pretentiousness.

Right now on NPR you can stream the new The Thermals album “Personal Life” in its entirety, for free!

The album will be available to stream free until September 7th, when it’s released in stores.

UPDATE: Now I’ve had a chance to listen to the whole album a few times through, I’ll offer some thoughts.

Starting with “The Body The Blood, The Machine” The Thermals have chosen a particular theme to base each subsequent album on.  “The Body, The Blood, The Machine” was about religion.  Their follow-up: “Now We Can See” was about death, and as you can tell from the title – “Personal Life” is about relationships.

Consequently, the songs are more, well… personal.  Where “The Body, The Blood, The Machine” and to a lesser extent “Now We Can See” felt huge and epic, sometimes calling out entire belief systems on their limitations and wrongs, “Personal Life” feels smaller in scale.  Like a bedroom conversation we’re overhearing: a dialog between just two people.

That’s not to say this record is any major change in form for the band.  While the subject matter is zeroed in on the intimate, the songs themselves are the same catchy, fist pumping – head bopping tunes we expect from The Thermals.

This record isn’t going to blow you away on the first listen in the same way “The Body, The Blood, The Machine” did, but on my second spin I started to really connect with the songs.  The Thermals at their best get you first with the gut, then the brain, and now it looks like they’re after our hearts as well.

Busy, busy, busy.  Freelance work has really picked up this past week.  Which is good, but sometimes its tough juggling multiple projects along with my regular work, the basement remodel, and a teething baby.  Poor Ollie.  She was up crying for the better part of 4 hours last night.  I’m running on coffee and very little sleep.

It would be nice to come in to work this morning and coast along, but things are gearing up here too.  The Cedar Point race is in less than 2 weeks, so I’ve got a million things to do for that.  As well as finishing up the Cat Osterman website mocks and launching a new Revolution3 Adventure site.

I don’t really have time to say much about the Steelers preseason game last night.  In a word: disappointing.  In several words: way to stink it up in prime time.  That being said, there were many positives.  After last night I can see people starting to count the Steelers out, which suits them perfectly.  I feel like they play better when they have that chip on their shoulder.  If we can survive Ben’s four week suspension, I think we can take the division and go double rainbow all the way.

All my friends who are expecting babies: Doug P, Doug K, Ry, Kurt – get ready to spend hours organizing thousands of photos.  I recommend getting an external hard drive just for baby pics.  I need one really bad.  My computer is full of Ollie pics!  I can’t stop taking more.

About a week ago it was reported that on August 20th, Neptune would be completing its first complete orbit around the sun since its discovery in 1846.  The problem is they were a year off.  It’s not till next year, 2011.  After 165 years I guess people were getting anxious.

Regardless, that’s an amazing amount of time when you think about it – One year on Neptune takes 165 years on Earth.  The solar system is friggin humongous.  And the universe is bigger still.  A light year is something like 5 trillion miles.  “Size defeats us.”

For example: the year Neptune was discovered was the year the Liberty Bell was cracked.  There were only 28 states in the U.S. at the time.  The electric lightbulb was still some 30 odd years in the future.  In 165 years, look how far we’ve come (at least technologically).  We’ve still got a ways to go re: eradicating war, reversing global warming, making a cell phone that can hold a charge longer than 5 minutes (seriously).  In those areas we’re practically all still shitting in outhouses.

The next time Neptune comes around again it will be 2176.  You and I will be long gone.  Barring huge advances in medical science, even our children will be long gone.  But our grand kids will be flying around in hovercars and listening to Wyld Stallyns on their 40G iPhones.  Hopefully people will still know what Neptune is and take note of its passing.

“I’ve reminded you that you and me… may be every bit as important as the President or the pope or the biggest prime-time icon in Hollywood, but that none of us is much more than a pimple on the ass-end of creation, so let’s not get carried away with ourselves…”

“But what about self-esteem?”

“Heh! Self-esteem is for sissies.  Accept that you’re a pimple and try to keep a lively sense of humor about it.”

Do yourself a favor and read Tom Robbins.

It’s that day of the week again!  All new Futurama episode tonight at 10pm on Comedy Central.  Watch it or die!

Synopsis: After a bungled Earth invasion, alien leader Lrrr faces a midlife crisis.

Sneak peek: