You are in the Brett Bugle archives right now. The HOMEPAGE is much more important.
When I look around and see that gas prices in Lexington are $2.999 per gallon everywhere, I am really glad that I am not a drinker or a smoker. The money I save by not buying beer, wine, Maker's Mark bourbon, cigarettes, or narcotics can go straight into my gas tank. Hey, for that matter, I'm glad I don't buy coffee or colognes or Kotex products or purses or jewelry or lipstick either. More money for gas! Wow, I also don't owe anyone student loans or alimony or child support...
Here is a list of the dances I've attended recently: 20050820 big band music at High Bridge Park, 20050821 Latin music at Woodland Art Fair, 20050826 Contra dance at Downtown Arts Center (a dance for which I played piano), and 2005827 swing dance at Arthur Murray Studios in Gardenside Shopping Center. Me telling you all this means absolutely nothing to you, but I will do it anyway so I can get more traffic from people searching the web for information about these places. I love when people visit my website looking for local things only to find that I give no details!
It took me a little longer than usual to update this news page because I was back at work. Thank goodness! August has been so empty, until recently when I was summoned to the Frankfort and Nicholasville offices. I'm going back to Frankfort today to finish up some networking setup.
When my boss called me yesterday to discuss future work, she made it seem like September was going to be a pretty busy month. Excellent. I sure do love accumulating billable hours.
my sister finally sent me some new headshots, so I just updated her website for her
Next month, my cousin is getting married to a woman he met on eHarmony.com. I have a pretty empty life these days, so I've been checking out different matchmaking sites to see what they're like. Nothing exciting to report yet, and I think it's because when I try these places, I am an itty-bitty fish in a GINORMOUS pond. There is way too much competition on the online dating sites. Waaaaaay too much. I'm not a competitive fella, and I would much rather find a place (like a ballroom dance) where being male makes you a minority.
With that said, OKCupid is pretty clever and compelling. I like it. Sure wish more women knew about it.
Happy birthday, Dad!
Q: What do George W. Bush and I have in common right now?
A: We are both on a 5-week vacation from work.
It can be rough trying to think of things to do to keep your vacation time interesting. I typically only do one interesting thing per day, so here's the list of each Single Interesting Thing from recent days:
11th -- saw Jeff Caldwell show with Ariana
12th -- had lunch on campus with Ariana
13th -- Farmer's Market with Tammy
13th bonus -- USABDA dance with Bethany
14th -- saw Murderball with Ariana
15th -- long lunch with the other Danielle I know
16th -- saw 40 Year Old Virgin with Ariana
From the looks of this list, you'd think I was really social. But it doesn't feel that way to me. A few hours a day = something . . . 20+ hours a day = nothing.
I suspect I should stop posting entries for a month or two because all of my recent entries have had this same theme. By autumn, I'll have a really rockin' world. My renewed passport will arrive, and I'll go places and take pictures and be energized.
Wonder what I'll do today to kill time. It's 8 a.m. as I write this, and the ballroom dance doesn't start until 8 p.m.
Maybe I should set up a booth at the Farmer's Market downtown so I can play my kazoo and encourage people to throw their spare change into my hat.
Update at 2 p.m. — I did go to the Farmer's Market this morning, and I had a great time hanging out at a booth with my Contra-dancing friend Tammy Horn as she promoted her book to shoppers. We did not play kazoos.
I'm soooo bored because I haven't had any computer work since July 28. Today I told my boss that if my workload doesn't increase, then I'm either going to start charging a "retainer" fee like high-priced lawyers do, or I'm going to seek out another computer project which will make me unavailable for my current project.
Most folks want to follow Peter Gibbons's lead in Office Space when he says he wants to do nothing once he gets a million dollars. Well, I don't have a million dollars yet, but I can definitely afford to do nothing, and it's not as great as it sounds. As the old saying goes, "be careful what you wish for; you just might get it."
There have been a few fun activities lately, including seeing a show at Comedy Off Broadway last night, but mostly I play piano at home and watch DVDs. Occasionally I'll hang out at the library, pondering what else I could be doing. Beaumont Library is spitting distance from the Beaumont YMCA; I really should stop in at the Y and sign up.
If you're on my Christmas card list, then you should have recently received a greeting card from me. I did a big mailing for two reasons: one, I'm bored, and two, I want to make sure I have everyone's correct address for when I send out Christmas cards in late October.
Speaking of address, I'm experimenting with the following web address: brettbugle.tk. Check it out, but don't get too attached to it. It was free, and it may not last. Pretty easy to remember, though, while it lasts.
I don't get out much anymore, and that's kind of a good thing when gas is at $2.459 per gallon. Thank goodness for BitTorrent, which brings video entertainment straight to my computer without me having to drive to the library or Blockbuster.
Note: I just took that Shell-sign photo a half hour ago at the corner of Harrodsburg Road and Lane Allen Road.
If you know me very well, then you know that I absolutely hated (and hate) school. While others are content to get their masters degrees or multiple bachelor's degrees, I had to get out of the school system as quickly as possible but still have some kind of degree. In that regard, I'm glad I went to DeVry, so that I could be all finished with all that stupidity before I turned 20. Goodbye homework, goodbye books, goodbye teacher's dirty looks.
On the other hand, I sure do miss having a place where I go and am surrounded by peers every day. It's a pretty empty and solitary life for me this summer. If I was the kind of guy who'd gain any satisfaction from a deep, dark depression, now would be a perfect time for it.
There are plenty of people in my contact file who have earned the "friend" label, but there's no one I can see every day -- no chums, no constant companions. I'm not a part of any big groups anymore like school groups or work groups or church groups. If I remember correctly, the last time I really felt connected to one of those groups was when I lived in San José over 12 years ago and did some work as a summer-camp counselor.
What group can I join to find some new companions, especially ones who avoid alcohol? Should I take some classes? Should I get a job at Shaker Village and pretend to be a Shaker? Should I give all my money to Arthur Murray studios so I can participate in their hundreds of dance parties?
Wow, now I understand why my trips to Florida are so pleasant, even though there's nothing to do in my parents' town of Deltona. I am quite comfortable just sitting in the living room all week and watching cable TV with my mom. She's always there, and she's always happy to see me, unlike my dozens of local "friends." Thanks, Mom.
Where will I find someone to go with me to Comedy Off Broadway this Thursday night? I just got invited by the Bluegrass Council of the Blind, and I can bring a guest, and I have no one.
"It's oh so quiet." — Bjork
I am one step closer to being a professional photographer!
Check out the cover of the latest issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology. The bottom picture was taken by me, and I have a photo credit on the inside front cover of the magazine. I know this because the publishers just gave me a package containing two copies of the magazine and two extra copies of the yellow cover.
Two years ago, when the local Wild Oats store had their grand opening, I went with Danielle, and I took some pictures and wrote a blog entry. Last year, someone at MIT Press was searching for photos of produce departments in grocery stores and found my Wild Oats album. He asked to use my shot, and I said yes, and voila! Danielle becomes a "cover girl." Brett gets a photo published.
Pretty exciting stuff, no?
Three local events that I want to promote here:
Ballet Under the Stars tonight through Sunday, unless it rains. full description
Fiesta Latina next month. full description
French Film Series at UK. official schedule
2005.08.31 - The Triplets of Belleville
2005.09.14 - Le Corbeau
2005.09.28 - Eyes Without a Face
2005.10.12 - Z
2005.10.26 - Nada
2005.11.09 - Wages of Fear
2005.11.30 - He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
If you ever find yourself killing time by walking around Lexington Green shopping center, be sure to stop in at the Healthy Back store. Not only do they sell Tempur-Pedic mattresses, for which they have a nifty "Space Cabin" demo area, but also they have some really, really powerful massage chairs. Try 'em out for free! Free massage, mmmm...
Yesterday I spent a half-hour enjoying a good pummeling from these chairs that cost over $3000. They are so much more effective than the little $100 Homedic mats you buy for your car or favorite TV chair. As a matter of fact, it seems like the $4900 chair is so strong, it'll turn your liver into paté.
While I'm promoting local massage options, I can also recommend the Healing Arts Academy, where you can get an hour of massage in the student clinic for less than 40 bucks. I forget exactly how much they charge because I haven't gone in a while, but I know it's a sweet offer, possibly $30/hr. Check it out.
And speaking of checking things out, my favorite videotape on massage is called Massage For Every Body, and it's available at Central Library. The program is very easy to follow and understand for those of us who want to improve our massage skills. Kinda bites that the creators never published it to DVD, but at least we Lexington residents can borrow the VHS from LexPubLib.org anytime we want.
make your way into my archives: July 2005, June 2005, May 2005, April 2005,
March 2005, February 2005, and January 2005.
Or just head over to my news page from 2005 and 2004
For search engines: Kentucky KY 40504 USA, not Lexinton
