soundtrack to the summer

man, this blog is a ton of fail. right after i start reviewing rental cars, they cut out 3/4 of the travel i had planned for the rest of the year, HA! maybe something else "interesting" will "happen" in my "life" soon, but until then, enjoy Two Weeks, by Grizzly Bear. the official soundtrack to my summer:



click through to the HD, if your computer can hang... and buy the record, it's fantastic... don't buy the record, steph, i already did.

mazda 5 review

hello, and welcome to the first installment of a new feature here at THIS IS SO DUMB: rental car review!



when i was picking up my car from the friendly folks at the hertz counter in MDT, the clerk asked "right now you're in a mazda 5, is that OK?" i did not heed that subtle warning and answered "sure" without a second thought. CRITICAL ERROR. i had no idea the 5 was a freaking minivan. not just that, but a mini minivan. it's like a squished-up little minivan that could fit inside a real minivan if you pulled out the back seat.

everything about it felt plastic and cheesy, even the tires. i spun out, like, 28 times accelerating from a stop and the traction control only kicked in one time. it felt like i could knock it on its side with a buddy and one good shove. the way-back seats were so far back my backpack barely fit in the "trunk." i think the mustang i had a couple months ago was more fuel-efficient, this thing somehow managed to burn through a quarter tank of gas in a little over 36 hours.

bottom line: the mazda 5 feels crappy to drive, it looks dumb, it's insane to layout a car that freaking small like a van, i felt like a dork driving it and other people looked at me like "what a dork" when i was in it.

-2 out of 5 stars.

pixação

80s metal bands and viking runes as inspiration? i think it's time to move to brasil and become a pixador...

sea ranch

we weren't there long enough and i was way too tired to get any great shots but here they are, for your consideration:


flickr

animals

yuck city

i fly a lot. i've had fat people pouring over the armrest into my seat, drunk people passing out and leaning on me, old people who want to talk about grandkids for the entire flight, people with the worst breath ever mouth-breathing all over me and much, much more.

but we have a new world champion for the grossest thing ever to happen to me on a plane:

our house

steph is watching bram stoker's dracula on the big tv while painting and singing along to whatever is playing on her ipod.

i am working on the imac and my powerbook with headphones on while the mighty spectacle that is english premier league football unfolds on the small tv to my left.

this may explain why we have the top tier internet and tv packages...

twitter in plain english

not meant to be

we went in for an ultrasound today and sadly discovered there was no heartbeat. a better ultrasound on a gnarlier machine in the afternoon confirmed that the embryo had stopped developing.

so, no new thompsons this year but it's good to know we're capable of conception. here's to "trying" again soon...

for my wife