Roll out the six-pack

This is for those of you in Michigan -- if you've wanted some of John's art but just haven't quite pulled the trigger on the investment, here's a way to get some of his work into your house for less.

John's designed the labels and six-packs for Arbor Brewing's new bottled beer, which is available all over southeast Michigan.

Check out some of the labels on the Corner Brewery web site. And find out here where you can simultaneously be a patron of the arts and get a little barley pop to make it through your week.

None of John's paintings have a 10 cent deposit, either.

Un-undefeated

It was a fun season to be a Wolverine, with the Michigan team undefeated, and one of those schlocky football movies couldn't have imagined a more dramatic way to head into Saturday -- the big rivalry, both teams with perfect records, and the legendary Michigan coach dies the day before the big matchup.

You'd think Bo Schembechler's death would have given Michigan its "win one for the gipper" inspiration, but sadly, Ohio State was just a better team.

And that means I've got to pay up on a bet with the bureau chief in Columbus and with one of our VPs who went to OSU.

From the Be Careful What you Wish For Department: apparently Bo said earlier this week that he wished he could watch the U of M-OSU game with his departed one-time rival Woody Hayes.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/472879p-397902c.html

Six months on the job

It's been a while since I updated the blog, and I suppose I could blame it on Blogger's technical difficulties, but that would be a fib.

We've just had a busy couple of weeks.

First Barry and Carrie came to visit for a weekend. We had designs on doing a heck of a lot more than we did -- we never even played a game of euchre, which for the four of us, is unheard of -- but it was still great to get to show them our new hometown.

















Right after they left, I took off for a week in New Orleans. I was representing our department at a big annual convention AP puts on for its member newspapers -- my first time playing diplomat for the company. I was nervous that someone would ask about a service I'd never heard of or want details about satellite delivery versus FTP pull, but thankfully, the questions were confined to the new products I can discuss in my sleep.

The timing for the New Orleans trip made it too tempting not to stay over to play. The conference ended on Halloween weekend, so John flew down and we wandered the French Quarter soaking up the madness and admiring the costumes of the revelers.

(Sadly, our camera was dying and my Treo was on the fritz, so no photos. Take my word for it -- people who do up costumes for Mardi Gras also dig Halloween.)

The New Orleans bureau staffers took turns giving tours of the devastation to all of us out of towners. If you think you've got a sense of what happened, driving through block after block with no sign of life makes the scope of the uphill recovery effort more real. As one photographer said, this was a city that in some ways was hanging on by a thread before the hurricane -- poorly managed, lousy infrastructure, race and poverty problems -- and Katrina just exacerbated all those existing issues.

We came back, and just a few days later we were both packing our suitcases again -- John to go to Chicago to visit his nephew, niece and sister, and me bound for Michigan to do the annual CMU Journalism Hall of Fame dinner.
It was most ironic and sad that Rob and Lara came to NYC for the weekend just as we were dashing off -- figures that some of our fave people would be staying at our apartment but we wouldn't be there to enjoy it. At least I got to take 'em to one of my favorite NYC restaurants before my flight out. (That makes it sound like I treated, which isn't fair, since these fab peeps picked up the check.)


















This weekend's been similarly busy, with a very fun New Yorker-sponsored gallery tour in Chelsea yesterday, and Saejin in town for eating, shopping and culture. We're so triple-booked we didn't even see Lenny's band play in the city this weekend.

(photo apology #2: we just got a new digital that I haven't yet figured out, so though I tried to get some pics of Saejin, I just couldn't make the doggone thing work. maybe next time?)

Oh, and can I just say how cool it is to be part of the media organization that everyone turns to on election night? When it was unclear what was happening with control of the Senate, AP was the first to call Virginia and everyone else followed. That's intense.

On Wednesday I'll have been there six months. I'm feeling pretty settled in, though I still have an immense amount to learn.