Welcome to Mustache Week

Every year, as November turns over to December, a great change occurs on our faces. Our beards of November are trimmed and shaved to become the mustaches of December. And so it has begun—Mustache Week is upon us again. Someday I'll finally be able to pull off the Jagged Edge, but not as a 28 year-old. Instead, December 1^st - 7^th, 2009 will feature The Double Swoosh: One swoosh, next to another swoosh.

Iowan Purchases

Awhile ago Joanna made a couple of key purchases at a yard sale out in bucolic Iowa City, IA. I picture it out on the front lawn of a sedate mid-century bungalow, but I wasn't there so I don't really know.  The important part is that she came away with a Scribbage set and a new cooler, not whether or not that talkative little grandmother from my imagination was actually there.

Scribbage, despite its portmanteau qualities, is completely unrelated to the game of Cribbage; it's really more of a Scrabble/Yahtzee/Boggle hybrid. If you haven't played, you should come visit me or Joanna as soon as possible.

The other purchase, a small igloo Lunchmate now known as The Becks! Cooler, hasn't provided as many gaming opportunities, but easily makes up for any shortcoming there with the sheer number of ice cold drinks we've enjoyed from its tub section. Without it we would never have survived our odyssean trips to Oklahoma City and Antigo, WI.

We don't know why The Becks/Becks family needed to identify their cooler so thoroughly, but we do find ourselves yelling "Becks! Becks! Becks!" in celebration sometimes.

In a related story, my intake of Becks beer has increased significantly.

2 Girls, 1 Shirt

Did you know that 2009 is the Bicentennial of A. Lincoln's birth? He came by The Terrace to see Katie and Rachel in their matching outfits. OK, they're not actually matching. Katie doubled cuffed, and Rachel has the Jesus (Hey-zeus) sandals on. Things like that seem less import when your standing next to our 16th president though.

What do you do when you show up wearing the same thing as a friend? Try to sing Opposites Attract at The Karaoke Kid? Or challenge yourself to a game of pool?

Sweater Road

It's been a hard day's night. I don't usually count my sweaters, I've got Joanna for that, but oh(!) darling, something's really happened here. This current round of sweatering has been going on since October, which means we've been through a lot of knitwear together. By now we've been here, there, and everywhere; but now here comes the sun. Barring any mid-May cold snaps, this feels like the end of my '08-'09 Sweatering Season. It'll be nice to not carry that weight of organizing these photo shoots every week anymore; it's hard to get us all to come together sometimes. I'll miss the sweaters though. And the camaraderie.

To finish this up I put on four of my v-necks that haven't made it out on Thursday yet this year— a blue, a heather grey, a black, and an eggshell. Or maybe it's a taupe. Who cares.

You've seen two of these sweaters before, either in an array of sweaterness or back in the days of Scrabulous.

# of Frames: 34


Here Comes The Sun

Rat in the Grass

Rizzo always tends to get jealous when I spend too much time with Kermit. I figured I'd take him out for a little game of Grabble® this afternoon to cheer him up. He's not the party rat for nothing; we had a great time. And some serious words got played (OLYMPIAD!). He still has issues with that frog though.

This nice little sweater vest was gifted to me by one T-Schwenn when he left for the Big Apple last year. I don't know how I lived my life before I owned it but that life can only have a been a shadow of the life I live now. It's become a staple. A big heavy duty wood staple.

Tommy asked when this sweater would make it into a Sweater Thursday lineup a while ago; it was too early then, it feels so right now.

# of Frames: 8

In the beginning there was a wool...

What do you think the evolutionary forces were that created this short-sleeve polo sweater? Why would a collar this wide ever increase its reproductive fitness? And that button that's just a little too low to be respectable‽ More importantly, what happened c. 1982 to make this phenotype so unsuccessful? I love this sweater, but I have so many questions!

The last time you saw this sweater I was pretending you weren't there.

# of Frames: 21

Yes Ei Can

I do not like them, will.i.am. I do not like fake eggs and ham.

I tried to fry them in a pan, I tried to fry them on the sand.
I just don't like fake eggs and ham.

I should not, would not, put them in his hand.
I could not, should not, hide them by the Pam®.

I should try them in a box,
by the bread or by the lox.

If I hide one in the jam, will he need Diazapam?
Oh Shazzam!, should I make a hologram‽

Could I put one on a bar, could I hide it here or thar?
Would he try it at Iftar, should I send them to Qatar?
Or, just call the registrar?

I will not try them in a pan,
I will not fry them in the sand.
I will not put them in his hand,
I would not hide them in the jam.
I would not eat them at Iftar,
I would not eat them anywhar!

But Martin will.



# of frames: 30

Sweaters on The Van Hise Terrace

It was a beautiful sunny day today in Madison, WI. I ate lunch out on the terrace. Not The Terrace, but definitely a terrace. We worked on the crossword while we ate. One in green Le Pen, the other in a red Paper❤Mate FLAIR. It's true what they say, the FLAIR is great for editing documents and papers, I do all my grading with it now. Things did get a little tense around 24A: Bank (CAROM), because really, who's ever heard of a carom? And ATOZ didn't make any sense either, until we realized it was actually A to Z.

The last time you saw this sweater, the colors were all around you (and I was wearing the same shirt).

# of Frames: 36

Brutalism; Brakes

This afternoon Kermit, me, and I went for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. Mostly we just circled the parking area looking for some cheap jollies, but we also found a couple of chumps hanging around by the carholes to pester. So that was fun. As is usual, whenever Kermit comes out into the open people want to talk to him, and now, two years after moving into this apartment, I finally know another tenant's name.

In a related note, the latest news out of The Kee is Jesse. I'm not going to bring my bike with me this time, but maybe we'll be able to steal somebody's tandem from outside of Wolski's.

The last time you saw this sweater it was raining, again. Which is appropriate, because it's raining again.

# of Frames: 71

Picture Day

Back Row: [Ms. Stanifer, Leslie, Dude, Katie GaGa, Vanessa]

Second Row: [Brown Noser, Billy Elliot, The Sauce, O'Doyle, Student Exchange Suissë]

Front Row: [Stacy, Griffith, QB 2, Kiki Schmabling, Jeannie]

Not Pictured Due to Renal Failure: [Xenex, Wj Skczn]

Et tu Whitné‽

Have you ever felt like everyone's against you? Like the world's just out to get you? I don't think I have. Usually I feel like the world is letting me get away with something; which it usually is. Until Karma comes knocking on my door making to collect, that is. That's scary like a Monday morning. It's even worse when she shows up with a dead tree in her hand under a gray winter sky. Creepy.

On another note, last night I felt like I had stabbed myself in the heart when I realized I had just bought a huge canister of decaf coffee. What was I thinking? Why would I do this to me?

The last time you saw this sweater I was bald; so much has happened on my head since then.


# of Frames: 54

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby. Right Round Like a Sweater, Baby.

From my continuing series: Better Know a Cannon. This one's on the other side of the park. It's on a slight rise, a grassy knoll if you will. It's really quite pleasant. Halfway through this photo shoot some guy got up from the park bench at the bottom of the knoll. He'd been sleeping. I'm not sure if he was a homeless guy or a college kid taking a nap. It was only 16℉ at the time though, so probably homeless.

I've calculated my angular velocity. ω ≈ 6π rad/s


You can't see it, but this flag is at half-mast. I think it must still be down from last week, which is the latest reference to half-masting on the State's website. It seems like someone should have done something with it in the past 8 days.

# of Frames: 51

Madison and Garfield

When Katie's car got towed to Madison Street I knew it was nearby. I didn't know it was just around the corner, 20 ft from where I'd parked Tonya's car. How nice of the City of Madison to only slightly inconvenience us/her.

In regards to the Jump Shots:

Shot #1: scary Whitney on the right
Shot #16: backwards Whitney
Shot #18: heel-clicking Whitney [not pictured]
Shot #21: Non-jumping Whitney
Shot #32: Stop sign Whitney

In total: 33 frames, 5 jumps, 3 sign-hangs, 25 stands/crouches

Who wants a pickle?

A couple days ago Martin and I rearranged some things in our apartment. Now there's much more room for me to sit [see above]. More importantly, The Pickle Chair, which had been relegated to an awkward spot behind the darting pitch, has been moved to a prime TV viewing locale. This has already improved my life greatly; my time spent sitting in its gentle striped caress has skyrocketed. I also feel confident that the updated card-playing alignment will prove to be a catalyst on that front as well.

Now if only Martin would stop buying brown eggs.

# of Frames: 36

Do you trust you?

Just a simple white knit, an apple, and a date with destiny. Oh, there's a picture of a wolf back there too.

# of Frames: 18

Tangled Up In Blue Sweater Vests

On January 23rd (significant for other reasons) I became eligible for Verizon's New Every Two program. I approached this opportunity with both excitement and trepidation. Phone decisions are hard; carriers, phones, plans, it's information overload. And of course there's the iAllure to deal with. I finally decided to go with the LG Dare/VX 9700 a.k.a 'It's Not Me, It's uPhone' [right], ending my long commitment to silver flip phones [below].

[Samsung a310 a.k.a. 'The Doorbell', c. 7/2003 - 5/2005]

[LG VX 8000 a.k.a. 'The Dancer', c. 5/2005 - 3/2007]

[LG VX 8700 a.k.a 'The Silver Nugget/The Celebrity Phone Twin', c. 3/2007 - 1/2009]

I'm a divided man at the moment [above]. Do I go with the new, the flashy, The Dare, and get into another 2 year contract? That's a long time to commit for a non-Apple product. Or do I stay with my Silver Nugget, living month to month until something else comes along? I have 27 days to decide.

# of Frames: 33

6W in 500M

This morning I woke up at 8:15, sat down at my tall desk, and graded the homework for my 9:55 section. At 10:45 I walked over to Memorial Library, took the elevator up to 500M (above), and graded the homework for my 12:05 section. At 12:55 I walked over to Van Hise, found a seat in the 4th floor lounge, and graded the homework for my 2:25 section. I wish I had decided to help myself instead of goofing off in the stacks the whole time I was grading. Or by starting my grading before today.

# of Frames: 18

I Just Got Jumbled

I don't think there's anything wrong with jumbling yourself in front of somebody. What's jumbling except bundling for the non-Amish anyway? It's not like it has to mean anything. Sometimes it is nice to do it with other people too though. There's so many of those little wooden jumbles, it's good to be able to spread the responsibility around.

# of Frames: 12

Someone's in the kitchen with Whitney

Today's Jobonga's birthday. Here I am doing the dishes while I whip up some birthday profiteroles for the rumored Iowa City Pastry Duel taking place later tonight.

You've seen this sweater before, but not since last year. Although it's impossible to tell from this picture it's actually a blue and white stripe, which makes me feel like either a sailor or a frenchie when I wear it.


# of Frames: 15

A New Year; A Gaggle of New Sweaters

The Barnebey's convened in Huntington Beach, CA for Christmas this year. And by Christmas, we mean New Years. Taylor couldn't leave his new post at Total Wines during the year's biggest week of liquor sales, so we came to him. Afterwords. By yesterday, we still hadn't gotten around to opening the pile of presents sitting in the living room. I was informed that it was important for me to open a couple of mine though. It being Thursday. News Years Sweater Thursday!

Here I am modeling a new winter themed brown half-zip sweater picked out by my mother. I think everybody was suprised by exactly how awesome this sweater is. Then there's that argyle number hanging onto Roxy and I. It came from Evan, and didn't even begin to coidinate with Roxy's gift. A nice fitted plaid button down.

This realization caused the crowd to goad me into putting them both on, with a stripped tie. Here that is, with my new winter sweater and our homemade demi-glace. Have you ever made your own demi-glace? It's a process. First you have to make your stock. Then your Espagnole, and that's not one of the Mother Sauces for nothing. Finally, you get your demi-glace. Don't worry, it's worth the day you spend making it.

Here we all our on our rooftop deck on New Year's Eve. In 1 minute this blue v-neck will become the first sweater of Sweater Thursday 2009.

And finally, after dinner all 14 of us gathered in our sweaters for a family photo. Don't we look insulated?