the friday five

when was the last time you...

1. ...sent a handwritten letter? most likely while i was living in london. most of my family and friends didn't have email, or were just getting used to it, so we wrote.

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand? wheat pizza crust a month or so ago. i'm working on crocheting two afghans right now as well.

3. ...camped in a tent? when i was young, my family used to go camping a lot. sleeping in tents was fun. we even slept in a cave once. not fun. the most recent time since was probably in 5th grade -- my friends were staying for a sleep-over and we slept in the backyard for a few hours.

4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community? i used to volunteer all the time (several times a month usually) while i was in high school and college. doing everything from cleaning a warehouse out for habitat for humanity's supplies to hiding in the walls of a haunted house and reaching my arms out and screaming to scare people.

5. ...helped a stranger? last week. i was looking at eggs at the grocery store and some girl comes up next to me checking out the reddi whip stuff in a can. she wondered out loud which one to buy. after much discussion, we decided on the best one for her to purchase. does that count?

i don't really know what use this site provides exactly, other than a database... but the covers project is an interesting idea.

"a database of cover songs (songs performed by an artist other than the original performer) with the intention of creating cover 'chains.' A cover chain is a set of songs in which each song is a cover of a song by the band who covered the preceding song."

included in yahoo! internet life's current issue is their feature on the "50 most incredibly useful sites," according to them. good stuff.

one such cool site in the yahoo! internet life's archives is papercdcase.com -- they make customizing your cd even simpler. instead of dealing with designing your own jewel case cover/packaging, you print out a customized form for your cd. you have the option of folding a cd envelope or a jewel case insert. there is an "advanced form" for the options of adding a graphic, text or your mailing address. a pretty handy site, especially if you don't have the time to make your own label.

apparently, during the summer solstice you can walk around/in stonehenge. who knew?!

the last time i was at stonehenge, a blind man was being led up to the stones and actually getting to touch them... at least he wasn't naked, like the guy in the photo. but anyway, i'm jealous. i want to play inside the circle too!

skyscraperpage.com illustrates the tallest buildings from around the world. an extensive site with an impressive search engine. it's pretty cool looking at all the existing buildings along with the proposed ones. some outrageous proposals, but fun to see. i really want one of their posters. |link via: the morning news|

the friday five

1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? i guess it's a condo/town-house. two stories, three with the rooftop terrace thingy.

2. Do you rent or own? rent

3. Does anyone else live with you? yep, he does.

4. How many times have you moved in your life? 8 physical times; 6 different locales. to my freshman dorm, back home, to the student apartments sophomore year, back home, to my first off-campus apartment junior year, to my second off-campus apartment senior year(s), back home post grad, to california.

5. What are your plans for this weekend? this really has nothing to do with living situations, but whatever... i am not sure what i'm going to do this weekend.

garden pasta salad

info on the american flag and flag day history

the friday five

1. How often do you do laundry? probably every other week. when the underwear has run out, it's time to do laundry. sadly, i must admit when i was in college if the underwear was running low, i'd go buy more rather than doing the laundry. how times have changed...

2. What's in a typical wash load? clothes most often, followed by sheets and towels.

3. Front or top loader? Powder or liquid detergent? a very small stacking unit, front loader. powder detergent.

4. Do you use fabric softener in the rinse cycle? no, i used to. maybe i should buy a downy ball, those things are fun.

5. Dryer or clothesline? dryer, although there is a clothesline on the roof... but i'm not dragging wet laundry up the stairs for that.

this is an incredibly unique wedding announcement. pretty impressive. |via: ain't too proud...|

here's a short list for some of the popular songs featured in mitsubishi commercials over the years: (featured in the washington post)

Title - Artist - Car

Ready to go - Republica - 1999 Galant

Lust for Life - Iggy Pop - 99 Galant

Crazy Train - Ozzy Ozborne - 99 Montero SP

Pick up the Pieces - Average white band - 00 Eclipse

In the meantime - Spacehog - 00 Eclipse

Spybreak - Propellerheads - 00 Galant

Superfly - Curtis Mayfield - 01 Montero sport

Ladyshave - Gus Gus - 01 Eclipse

I see you baby - Groove Armada - 01 Eclipse

Shaft - (re-recorded) - 01 Eclipse spyder

Get what you give - New Radicals - 01 Montero

20th century boy - T-Rex - 01 Montero sport

Start the commotion - Wiseguys - 01 Eclipse

Ooh La La - (re-recorded) - 01 Galant

One Week - Barenaked Ladies - 02 Lancer

Days go by - Dirty Vegas - 03 Eclipse

UPDATE: Since songs are getting listed below in the comments, I'm going to start keeping an updated list here at the top for easier finding.

Song Title - Artist - Car

get a move on - mr. scruff - lincoln navigator

breathe - telepopmusik - mitsubishi outlander

jung at heart - master cylinder - volkswagon jetta 99

da da da - trio - volkswagon golf 97

one million miles away - j ralph (instrumental) or conspiracy of one (lyrical) -
volkswagon jetta 2001

genius of love - tom tom club - kia spectra 02

tom's diner (remix) - suzanne vega - nissan maxima "sunset"

pink moon - nick drake - vw golf 1999

for your love - ed townsend - saturn L200

original score - ming & fs - nissan altima 2003 "car parts sounds"

mr. blue sky - elo (electric light orchestra) - vw beetle convertible

cars - gary numan - nissan altima

playground love - air - levi's "french dictionary"

I've decided to move this discussion into a site I run. Please visit and check out Adtunes.com There you will be able to find out all the information that has been posted here already, and some great search tips for finding commercial music.

Thanks!!
Michelle

despite my being dense about computers and, at times, wanting to take a hammer to mine... i loved the hand-me-down mac classic i took to college, my oldest brother's power mac that replaced it (and still use on occasion), and i adore my powerbook i bought for my college graduation. i'd never ever think about switching to a pc.

anyway, apple is featuring real life people who've switched from a pc world to a mac. very cute ads. |via: jon, who told me about it on boing boing, who's actually featured in one of the commercials|

there's going to be partial solar eclipse tonight. the link gives a time table of when you should be able to see it in your part of the country. |link via: usr/bin/girl|

i remember when i was in first grade, we took a class trip to the birmingham zoo -- during lunchtime our teacher constructed a cardboard box with a very scientific pin-hole punched in the top of it. we were instructed to look at the glowing dot on the cardboard box and witness the eclipse. we tried to look toward the sun though, who wants to watch a dot fade? maybe this is why, some 20 years later, my eyes are super sensitive to the sun...

philly cheese steak sandwich

this is old stuff, but i still find it interesting. photos from the hubble telescope, the ones that i've been seeing everywhere for the past several weeks are hand colored to make more of an impact to the viewing public. they had me fooled...

"some of the early treatment on the cone nebula was garish. we looked at it and said, 'oh my god, i want to puke, it's green, yellow and red.' and so then my image person began to massage it. at first we had a green background. then we changed it to blue -- that was too ethereal. the red seemed to be the punchiest."

look at how pretty my old tube stop was... gloucester road always had some mysterious funk about it, predominately underground at the tube stop. wild animals seems like a good choice and theme.

pasta salad toss