Here's my email away message while i'm gone from work:

2004 will be an interesting year. Such a nice even number that you can easily divide into many slices of pizza. 2003 was a bit more hard to slice pizzas with. Hey, if you punch out "20.04" on a calculator, and look at it upside-down, you get hOOZ. How crazy is that?

2005 promises to be an even more interesting calculator word, as it will spell "SOOZ."
2007 will be bad year, for it spells "LOOZ."
And 2008 will be a party year: "BOOZ."

Oh by the way, I'm outta the office until January 2, 2004.

This is so exciting to hear non-Cubs players talking about how the Chicago Cubs are a "World Series Team." And you GOTTA love Todd Walker for turning down a starting position with the Indians to be a bench player for the Cubs with a lower salary:

"I passed up starting jobs to put myself in the position I'm in," Walker said. "[The Cubs] pretty much have their team set. The reason I did it is because I want to play for a team that has a chance to win the World Series. Only a handful of teams can say that. The Cubs are one of them." -Todd Walker, new Cubs second baseman

I'm looking for ideas for my holiday card which is gonna be really late. It'll probably be sent out in January. Which of these January Holidays would make a good card?

Is there something that city dwellers are missing by not being able to see the stars every night? Do we miss the context of where we live?

• This Book Will Change Your Life: 365 Daily Instructions for Hysterical Living
  by Benrik
  
• A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make by David Joachim
  
• Education of an E-Designer by Steven Heller
  
• The Evolution of Useful Things : How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to beas They are. by Henry Petroski
  
• The History and Social Influence of the Potato by Redcliffe N. Salaman
  
• The Cultural Creatives : How 50 Million People Are Changing the World by Sherry Ruth Anderson
  
• Connecting: How We Form Social Bonds and Communities in the Internet Age by Mary Chayko
  
• Boo and Baa Get Wet by Lena Landstrim
  
• The Monumental Impulse: Architecture's Biological Roots by George Hersey
  
• Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places by Derek M. Powazek
  
• Thinking and Writing About Art (2nd Edition) by Donna K. Reid

Anyone get any good books for Christmas?

All home phones should be stereo phones. It's so bizarre to be using only one ear.

A hilarious way to help you with art critiques. With the Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator, you need never again feel at a loss for commentary or ìinsights.î Soon you can produce CRAP critiques as easily and fluently as anyone with an MFA !

Download it as a pdf now.

I must also say, that I didn't write this. I put it together in this pdf, but I found the text on the internet somewhere in 1997. The original source has since disappeared.

I'm sitting here absolutely fascinated by the tab button on my keyboard. You push it down and it pops back up. It's like a five-year-old being entertained by all the buttons at museum exhibits. What is it with our fascination of push buttons? We just love to push them.

It's so shibb-a-licious!

I got my new drivers license today at the State Center in Downtown Chicago today. Inside they had signs all over the place saying:

PLEASE NO ABUSIVE LANGUAGE OR CONDUCT will be tolerated and may be cause for removal and/or arrest

My hands used to be clean,
but then this tangerine
became a juiceball machine
and destroyer of all hygiene.
Once so tasty and juicy,
now just messy and goosey.
It's all over the freakin place
on my nose ears and face!

instead of shooting digital photos with a dinky camera, why not shoot black and white with an SLR? Film can cost under $2.00 a roll. And you'll get super high quality. They say that digital cameras will have to be 12 mega-pixel to get the equivalent of 35mm. I'm thinking of setting up a photo lab in my apartment to develop film. And then i'll scan the negatives to get prints.

Bars should serve a "champions shot" in these little trophies.

Oh neglected elevator
smells of dead alligator.
Graphitti scrawled on the wall
looking like a urinal stall.
Inside we stand so nervous
did the elevator just go out of service?
Will someone please lend a hand
for this elevator that once was grand.

Oh elevator, so nice and clean.
Oh elevator, no clutter to be seen.
No papers, no shoes
No clutter, nor booze.
Just a pure smooth machine
giving us efficiency

As you can see, spudart.org has a new look. I'm still making fine tuning changes here and there, so if you see any bugs or have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

There will be many new features to come with the new design. In the coming weeks, I'll periodically mention new features here in the blog.

Please feel free to leave comments on the art, design, and illustration.