Monday, June 15, 2009

No More Swirls

With Andy out of town*, I decided to tackle a long delayed home project....painting book room. We bought paint for three rooms last April but only ended up painting two. So, opening the paint can (technically plastic jug...) was like a surprise b/c I had more or less forgotten the color we had chosen except that it was blue.

Painting took most of yesterday and nearly turned me into a smurf...but I am happy for our house to be swirl-less.

Before















After (it's not quite as bright as the pictures make it seem)


















*at the National Forensics League (the other NFL) National Tournament. Go Ben Davis!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Music Video Shoot on the Monon

Not surprisingly, the Monon Trail is one of my favorite dog-walking spots. Yesterday, Ramona and I headed out. There's a nice spot north of Broad Ripple where you can go off into the woods and walk beside a creek. Most days, it's uncrowded and Ramona can run free.

Yesterday, I noticed there was a group of people dressed all in white right the south entrance to the wooded trail. So, I stayed on the Monon and decided to head in at the north end. I let Ramona off leash and we were walking along, when all of a sudden I noticed that there were about 8 people all dressed in white Tyvek suits with these odd white cones on their faces, and some of them were carrying what looked like objects from an old timey sci-fi movie. I got Ramona back on her leash before she noticed them (sometimes it's great she's so obtuse). Then, I noticed a camera man and quickly realized we were in their shot. I hopped off the trail (with Ramona) and heard someone yell "Keep Going" to the white-suited folks, one of whom apologized to me (I apologized back). There was a song playing this whole time. Finally, they yelled "Cut," and the suited folks let me by. The production team apologized to me, and I asked what was going on. It turns out they were shooting a music video!

In my bewilderment, I neglected to ask what band it was for. As I was kicking myself on the way home, I realized that I recognized the song but couldn't place it. After talk to Andy, we named off the Indianapolis bands we know and like: Red Light Driver (didn't sound like them), Loretta (broken up), Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos. Andy put Margot on, and 15 seconds into the first song, I said, "this could be it!", and then it kept going, and I excited declared that the song I'd heard was definitely "A Children's Crusade on Acid." So, I am totally disappointed that I didn't talk to them more, but I psyched that they were filming nearby!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

What's Six Years of Benzene Releases Among Friends?

BP announced that it had been releasing known carcinogen benzene into the air for the last SIX years. Check out this post from the Huffington Post: BP Has a Deal it Hopes We Can't Refuse. Their argument reported in the Gary Post Tribune article about not causing harm to human health or the environment is particularly frustrating given the amount of time it takes for cancer and other chronic health problems to develop.