The Internet Killed TV ... or Did It Give It New Life?

I have a confession to make, similar to a good friend of mine's confession. I have been watching a lot of TV on the internet. Unlike Lis' confession, I like to think I have good TV taste. But let me tell you one thing - every network should be like ABC and have all their shows online ... it is the best/worst thing that has happened to me/for me. It has been taking up all my time (which I have gladly wasted this weekend - you know when you just need to hide? - that is how I felt this weekend).

You see there are multiple shows that I would care to watch if I a) could remember what day and what time they were on and b) had the time to watch TV every night for all the little shows that caught my attention. But when I can watch the entire season over a weekend on my laptop - I am sooo happy.

Originally I went on to ABC website to catch up on Grey's Anatomy. But then once that was done I started to catch up on What About Bryan ... great show. I watched the last few episodes but then wanted to know how everything had come to be, so I had to go back and watch the pertinent episodes. I love Dave and Deena - they need to get back together.

Another show I have been watching is Brothers and Sisters. I was smart enough this time to watch it from beginning to end (or almost end - I have one more episode to watch before I am all caught up). The main reason I wanted to watch this show was not for Calista Flockhart or Sally Field ... it was for a man that I recognized from the late eighties and early nineties ... a teen star. I just want to say "I heart Balthazar Getty" and "where have you been all this time?"

So I am currently addicted to TV on the internet. I don't want to watch any of the other shows like Ugly Betty, Lost (I would if I could actually catch up), or Desperate Housewives or any of the other ABC shows they have online .... so what do I do once I have seen all the episodes to the good shows? Sigh ... I wish that other networks did this so I could watch shows at my own convenience. Like Gilmore Girls, ER, House, Ace of Cakes (that show based on the extreme cake place based in Baltimore that is on the Food Network) and I am sure there are others. So if anyone knows the executives to any of these networks - do me a favor and pass the suggestion on, will ya?

62 times

49 minute speech and it was interrupted 62 times by applause ... ridiculous. Can we applaud once something actually happens? State of the Union ... sheesh.

Ultimate Utopia on U

So I only invited girls to my birthday - one boy came and decided to take the picture of me and my fabulous friends (thanks Todd). Those who couldn't make it were missed (and you know who you are). P.S. I am wearing fabulous red shoes!

We ate at this little place called Utopia for dinner and then hopped across the street to the Love Cafe for a little Cake Love. It was so good and you get a free cupcake on your birthday!

Click on the picture for more January 15th photos.

hope

My first self-portrait ever with the help of my Mac Photo Booth.

blogging as education

Blogging teaches me all sorts of new things about computers, the internet and programs. For example ... I haven't been able to have my tool bar displaying all my little editing tools on blogger since I started blogging with my new mac laptop. It has been a pain for me since I don't know how to do much of anything on this thing as of yet (but like I said, I am learning). So I decide there must be a mac thing - that's been my default feeling lately ... "it must be a mac thing" - that I am missing. So today I decided to take control and do some investigating. Which really just means look at the blogger help page. And I figured it out! In just a few clicks I might add! Safari doesn't support the whole wysiwyg thing (which, p.s. I just linked to using my handy-dandy button on my handy-dandy editing tool bar - i heart blogger and its help page). Sooo I downloaded Firefox. And my life is exponentially better.

they say its your birthday

They say it is my birthday today ... I feel that I am in good company with Martin Luther King Jr. Its always nice to have a national holiday on your birthday - thanks MLK! Funny enough I was in MLK's birthplace of Atlanta Georgia at the beginning of the month and while I didn't get to see anything related to him in ATL, I did get to go to World of Coke and The Georgia Aquarium. It was awesome. Check out my flickr page to see even more of my ATL photos.

LEAFY SEADRAGON


ME AND THE SEA TURTLE


ME AND LIS AT WORLD OF COKE

living up to its name

I was gone from The Hill for a few weeks between the holidays and business. When I got back to work I realized how much I enjoy walking the neighborhood streets surrounding the capitol building. This picture to the left is one of my favorite houses in the area. I often walk by it on my lunch break. Not only do I like the house, but the wonderful alleyway beside it. Capital Hill is full of great buildings, great houses. Some are two stories, some are three, some are even four stories with garden apartment basements. Some houses have bay windows that are enclosed in copper - there is one on Independence Ave. being renovated. Some have rounded bay window filled rooms - some have square windows while others have flat facades. I love that you find every style and color right next to eachother on the hill. I love the variety and the unexpected nature of architecture in the city.

The fact that the houses bring me great joy and happiness just affirm my actions for the past few months. The net surfing, the research, the emails, the book reading, the browsing, the begging, the pleading, the fee paying ... and now the waiting. I am doing what many people do after college graduation and after working in "the real world" for a year or so. We do it to get ahead and get "involved" in something we can imagine doing for 40+ hours a week. WE APPLY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL. We apply to a graduate program ... and to me this a huge deal.

Let me just say it outloud here ... I am applying to go back to school. Many of you may know this, but perhaps many of you don't really know for what or what exactly it all means. I am applying for an MA or an MS (depending on the school's program) in Historic Preservation. Basically I want to help save old buildings and utilize our existing urban landscape in new and modern ways. Before you groan and role your eyes let me set something straight - I am not about the historic house as a museum. I want the here and now - the present - to be evident in an old building. I want new uses in old places because old places have deep souls - like Jimmy T's (above) down the street from my work.

In attempts to help this blog live up to its name here is an excerpt from my letter of intent to school. I hope this conveys my sentiments towards Historic Preservation and shows my love of juxtaposition just like this picture below I took around Chinatown/Gallery Place in downtown DC.

Historic Preservation is where the past meets the present and when orchestrated correctly, it will pave the way for the future. The built environment, like the people that make up communities, has historical context reflected in the details of individual buildings and collective neighborhoods. My interest lies in the area of interface between the old and the new – juxtaposing historic and contemporary architecture, as well as past and present notions of community, in order to strengthen and enrich neighborhoods. The preservation of historic structures provides depth to the cultural landscape. It is this depth that I wish to pursue in my graduate research. Through the practice of adaptive reuse, material culture is preserved and better utilized in architecture and urban planning. Buildings, as a form of material cultural, act as a visual language to connect people to each other, to the past, and even to a locale, much the way literature, music and art does. However buildings are living material culture, providing a backdrop for community life and utilized in everyday activity. Giving new life and purpose to historic buildings keeps neighborhoods alive while upholding their character.

Wish me luck and cross your fingers for me ... I will keep you all posted - good or bad.