Michael Baird April 18th, 2006
I seem to be pretty busy these day. By all estimates I usually work 16-17 hour days which doesn’t include my 2+ hours commuting.
The first half of my day seems filled with activity whos only purpose is to allow me to enjoy doing what i do for the rest of the day. Which by all accounts would seem typical. It’s the ‘working for the weekend’ lifestyle. Only its like i work a day job to be able to afford to work a night job that I like better.
The crazy thing is that my night job could pay a lot more than my day job, but there is no gaurantee of constant work which would translate into a sporatic paycheck which doesn’t really fit into my current plan.
For right now, the only answer is keep on keepin on.
Michael Baird February 6th, 2006
Pay by finger:
Sign up for pay by finger:
While I was shopping for Texas Toast at the local Jewel this last weekend I noticed something interesting. With a five minute time commitment you can sign up to pay with your fingerprint. I have read about other companies considering using this in-store but didn’t think I would see it in person for a while. The photos are a little blurry mostly because my camera phone stinks, but also because I felt like an idiot/criminal standing around taking photos of the new biometric payment equipment.
I don’t think I would ever sign up for this type of service. Its bad enough that they already force you to swipe in to get sale items so they have records of what you’ve been buying, but this card swipe system is only as reliable as the information you put on the paper when you sign up.
To pay by finger they require photo ID’s proving who you are and where you are from as well as direct access to you banking information. Sounds like a great plan to me…
In my opinion we need to stop all of this unwarranted technospying while we can; before Anthony Hopkins tries to freejack your ass when your formula 1 crashes into an overpass at the big race…then you’ve got Mick Jagger chasing you around trying to shoot you with laser guns. Trust me, I’ve seen the future, it’s a mess.
Michael Baird December 15th, 2005
i am working on new skills. a lot of the work i do in 3d is merely vertical and horizontal faces with materials applied. this isn’t taking nearly enough advantage of the 3 dimensional digital landscape. so i am currently working on a digital sculpture of…what else. a ceramic owl mug. sometimes if you have a theme you just gotta stick with it.
behold:
Michael Baird November 15th, 2005
I had Cap’n Crunch for breakfast today. It was sooo good. I love it. But as a result of my breakfast I now have Cap’N Crunch mouth.
I regret nothing.
Michael Baird November 4th, 2005
Industrial Designers One & Co produced a sweet little piece of gadgetry for the headset powerhouse Plantronics and I have to say it is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. If you can’t get it from the photo, it is a set of wireless stereo earbuds – think those trendy white ipod earbuds minus the wires.
Sure its only a concept design, but a man on the moon was once only an idea…
This type of ear-tech might even make me consider using one for my phone. As far as I know, the only wireless headset option available right now is to walk around with something the size of a pager sticking out of your ear. The least someone could to is make those things look less like a glowing blue robot parasite. And people who have them, feel they must wear them all the time. Whats up with that? I can’t have a serious conversation with someone who looks like they are on call from NASA.
When some guy (and for whatever reason, its always a guy) with one of those things on tries to talk to me it usually goes like this:
Guy: Hey Mike, whatsup?
Me: Oh hey, it looks like your transformation is almost complete!
Guy: Huh?
Me: (walks away)
Anyway…
There are some other cool things on they One & Co website. I like the concept for the ‘Timex Life Index Watch’ which has a countdown for your life expectancy that updates itself constantly by reading your bio-signs through the skin. This thing sounds like fun.
I could see some sort of competition at a fraternity where guys could see who can get their Life Watch closest to zero while binge drinking on a thursday night.
“DUDE! You totally almost died!”
Michael Baird October 31st, 2005
This weekend while driving around the neighborhood my wife and I along with good friends Joani and Bill were taking notice of the ever increasing use of the blowup lawn decorations. It used to only be a Christmas thing, but these days its every fucking occasion you can think of. I was driving the other day and I swear I saw one commemorating someones sewer line backing up. It was a big grey pipe with these brown streaks floating above it.
Bill and I got to talking about what we haven’t seen and what would be interesting to see. What about a blow-up manger scene with a blow-up baby jesus and all? I’d never seen one and neither had Bill. Excellent! We agreed we would soon make millions.
The thought of sacrilege had crossed our minds and we reasoned that if you could mold baby jesus out of plastic resin, then surely you could make him out of lightweight nylon and blow air up his keester.
So I get to work this morning and Bill sends me a link he found on google.
bastards.
I have one idea left. Its a decoration of the variety that is motorized in a loop of motions. Picture it in your head – a big fat santa in a red suit that slowly drops his drawers and craps on an open bible while a robotic voice says ‘Hey kids! Christmas is about the gifts! HO HO HO!’
Michael Baird October 25th, 2005
i like to express my thoughts and feelings, to share jokes and photos with friends and family.
so i started this journal online.
i like the idea of writing in it and cataloging daily events and thoughts, but at the same time i feel stuck when it comes to posting new events here.
like just now i almost deleted this post before i was finished with it.
i think i have a problem with mentally being unable to overcome obstacles that either don’t really exist or are so small they shouldn’t matter.
whats up with that?
i’m pretty sure there is medication out there to fix this but i don’t believe medication is the best way to solve some problems…unless you are self medicating which i unconditionally support.
Michael Baird October 24th, 2005
my desk is a fucking shithole. i look at it and i get disgusted with the amount of mess that has occumulated on it. there are things on here that obviously shold not be sitting around still.
2 used plastic spoons
1 used metal spoon
an old use paper napkin
a dirty empty glass empty halls wrappers
bottle caps
old drawings of no use any more
1 new nickel
misc. laminate samples
old used post-its
dried out marker pens without caps
caps that don’t match the marker pens
a 5 slot brochure holder from the bank next door
environmental reports from projects long completed
pantone books for colormatching (i’m colorblind)
an espresso cup from a closed restaraunt
4 staplers – 3 empty
various sized alagator clips
a razor knife from grizzly chewing tobacco
a ceramic owl mug (duh)
a photo of a ceramic owl mug (?)
a box of zip disks
I want to have a clean desk.
I would rather write about how dirty my desk is than clean it.
bairdo September 26th, 2005
The big day has finally come. Bill’s second bachelor party, it promised baseball and beer…an honest good time, well planned out with drinks, tickets & transportation…and only a couple surprises.
The trip started perfectly, I was early and everyone else was pretty much on time, except for Weso who wanted to make sure Bill’s parent’s old house was still standing in Lemont. He was happy to report that it was still there. Our man Donovan arrived in our sparkling white limo and we were off like knights in a shining white queermobile. Seriously though…I may be focusing on it a bit too much, but six guys climbing out of a white limo at a cubs game screams something other than heteros on the prowl.
Our rainbow roadmaster in all its glory.
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Michael Baird September 23rd, 2005
My friend Keith Dean playing space invaders with Joe Bradley at Pizza
Hut in Chillicothe on a quite Sunday afternoon.
