It's kind of a crappy feeling

to have nothing to blog about.

take care,

David

Pictures of what it looks like

Here are some pictures of what what I encased in plastic looks like.








Lying on its side.



















here it is standing on end.








If I were going to place it on my mantle, I would place it there in this position.

If you click on these pictures, they may get bigger, I'm not sure. So from these pictures, you can see that even if Mike had encased something in plastic, I would have still done pretty well in the contest probably, because of how good this thing is. It is a weed pipe with weed in it. Is the weed real? I won't tell. Unless one of the judges asks me, but I guess there won't be any judges, because the contest is over, and I won, by default.


David

Enough is enough

The title of this blog-post may be a truism, but it still holds true. Enough is enough. I have had my cool or ironic thing encased in plastic for more than a month now, and the contest was supposed to be over at some point, so today I just said ok let's be done with this and I went and showed to Mike what I had encased in plastic, a weed pipe with weed in it. So now, I have encased something in plastic and he hasn't so I guess that I win. I don't always prefer to win by default, but I have to admit that I prefer it to losing by some crappy judge's missed call, like can happen in diving contests. Anyways, let the mystery be no more as to who is the winner, me, and what I encased, even though it isn't important because Mike didn't encase anything at all, a weed pipe with weed in it. I will go take a picture of it now.

kudos to both of us,

David

p.s. It sure feels good to be blogging again!

Unexpected "twist"

Well, this is weird.

You see, I was going over to Mike's the other night to watch a contest on teevee. Because we are not just adversaries, we are also pals. Anyways, when I walked in, after I said hello to his dog, Sue, I saw some nunchcucks (funny pun-thought: how many nuns could a nunchuck chuck if a nunchuck could chuck nuns?) and I was like all "whoa! Nunchucks!" and pointed at them. Not just in my head did I say that, I said it right out loud so Mike and Sue and their roommate Corky could hear. I don't see nunchucks every day. Well, Mike up an revealed to me that that was what he had been planning to encase in plastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What does this mean? I will admit that he chose a very good thing (pair of things?) to encase in plastic. So maybe he will still encase them? Now that I know, should I choose to encase something else? Now that he knows that I know, will he choose to encase something else? By the way, he was planning on encasing each stick of the nunchuck separately. Is that cheating? is it encasing two things for the price of one? I don't know. But I wouldn't call him on it because it seems awesome in a way different from being ironic. Will the contest go on? I almost wish that I didn't know what he had planned to encase in plastic because it makes me question my own choice so much. Is it better? Will the contest ever end? This contest has taken me to many unexpected places in my mind, including this one and its not even over yet.

Or is it?

Not yet.

I hope.

We'll see.

Who's to say?

I mean according to the rules I don't think it is.

So no.

Unless Mike has decided that it is over because I saw what he planned to encase.

Let's hope not.

Whatever.

Take care,

David

New blog post

Welcome back to the internet, blog and blog-readers! Here we are, on a warmer-than-the-past-few-days Sunday afternoon-that-feels-like-morning-because-I-got-up-late-in-the-morning. How are you?

Well, I saw Mike last night at a double birthday party at a place called rontoms. (I also heard last night that it was opened by a man called Ron Tom, and that he borrowed a lot of money from his mom to open the bar. So I came up with this new name for the place: rontomsmoms. Get it?! and it rhymes. Everybody likes rhymes, even angry rappers.) Anyways, we talked about the plastic-encasing contest that has been the only subject on either of our minds since it started, even if I'm not blogging about it every hour. It sounds like he's getting closer and closer to actually encasing something in plastic. One indicator that I had was that it sounded like he wanted to be done with the contest, and the only way to do that is to encase something in plastic and then have someone decide who is the winner, and then react to the decision for a while and then be done. And then we can both move on with our lives and start procrastinating other things.

It has felt nice to know that my encasing-in-plastic is already encased in the history books, and that all I have to do is sit back and wait for Judgement Day. It makes me wonder what it would be like to do other things ahead of schedule, like work assignments or paying my gas bill.

take care,

David

Owie!

Jeez, I finally got that bottle off there. It was hard! And frustrating! I managed to also cut my other thumb and make it bleed before I was done. I found what I thought was a good tool for prying the plastic bottle off of the encasing-plastic, which was my utility knife. It worked a lot better for prying, but what I didn't notice at first was that I was scuffing up the encasing plastic quite a bit! Damn it! I probably didn't notice because I was wearing sunglasses as I worked. I was wearing them as safety glasses because when I would pry the plastic of the bottle up a lot of times it would shoot off. In fact one of the pieces hit me in the forehead. It didn't hurt, but if it had hit my eye it would have hurt bad.
So anyways I scuffed up the plastic quite a bit. That isn't good! So I took the whole thing outside and sprayed it with the sealer spray stuff. I hope that helps! I hope that wasn't a mistake! I wonder how Mike's project is coming along.

take care,

David

Sunday morning blog-post

Hi there

Well I'm making real progress with my entry for the plastic-encasing contest. I'm currently trying to pry the plastic bottle I used as a mold off the plastic and plastic-encased object. It is hard! It kind of sticks to it and I have to just pry little pieces off with my fingers. My fingers are getting sore, and I made one of my thumbs bleed! I'm not even sure how!

But it looks pretty good. The surface is not completely smooth, but it is pretty smooth and plenty see-through. Not like in the dream I had the other night where I took the bottle off it and you couldn't really even tell what had been encased because it was hard to see past the surface of the plastic. But I am thinking about spraying the whole thing with the spray plastic that I used to make the top surface not be sticky. It might wind up being smoother than the other parts? That would look good.

Ok, back to work!

take care,

David

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Waiting for a train

Actually waiting for a meeting, but train sounds cooler. I've been busy getting ready for this for a while now, and haven't been blogging much! But now, because of delays, I have a moment.

Well, as you know, I have encased something in plastic. I still feel good about it, and am excited to get the last ingredient that will cure the plastic on the side that was exposed to air as it dried.

Earlier today I was thinking this: since I have already encased something in plastic, and don't plan on changing it, maybe it is time that I go ahead and see what Mike has been up to on his blog? I am damn curious. And for all I know, he's been looking at mine all along? I mean, that is what a blog is for?! To be read?! Besides, I don't think he'd be foolish enough to reveal any secrets on there. I know I have been careful just to be safe.

What do you think I should do? Let me know, and wish me luck in my meeting!

Take care,

David

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Jeez.

I am working this morning from a coffeeshop near my house. A great place, the same one I ran into Dana at the other day. But today there is a little problem- a couple dipshits talking about Real Estate. Loudly. Like they're so proud, they think that other people want to hear also. But I don't.

I'm glad that when Mike and I talk, it's about interesting things, like American Gladiators or plastic-encasing or Ross, not about boring things like Real Estate. And I'm also glad that, when we've got thoughts to share, we don't just go into public and speak them loudly and obnoxiously, (unlike some people I know ;)). No, we do the civilized thing, and start a pair of blogs for people to read (or not) at their leisure. Hey: if it's not a good time for you to learn about plastic encasing and our contest, go ahead and just check back this evening! The informationtainment will still be here!

Take Care,

David

I'm home

I just looked at my thing, encased in plastic. It looks good. The surface of the plastic, the bit exposed still to the air, is tacky, so I still have some work ahead. Probably a trip to TAP Plastics, too. But the thing, what I can see of it, looks good in there.

I am pleased.

And tired.

Goodnight.

I am at a bar where they made the tables by encasing particle board in plastic!

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Mike just came by

my desk.

I can't believe what a cool head he manages to keep under all this pressure. The stars have truly found me a worthy opponent for the encase-something-cool-or-ironic-in-plastic contest.

Monday Morning

Instead of TGIM, it should be more like IWIWNMF, for "I wish it were not Monday, Fuck." But Monday it is, oh well.

So I went over to Mike's last night with Rebecca for some food and entertainment. It was great. Mike and his lady and Corky prepared some chicken and veggies. I think, if I understand right, that they had stirred and fried them. They also made some wads of leaves with seeds on them that were really good and exotic. And watching "American Gladiators" was super exciting, especially when the one woman just could not, for the life of her, climb the moving ramp. It probably doesn't sound all that funny reading it on a blog, but trust me, seeing it on TV in person was hilarious.

Anyways, conversation went a lot of different directions, from Robotussin flavors and effects to local news, but we actually didn't spend too much time talking about the plastic-encasing contest. Mike seemed at ease. A front? I dont' know. Was he pushing japanese rice-wine on me in hopes of learning my secret(i.e. "what am I encasing in plastic for the contest?")? Or is he just a generous host-with-the-most sake? Either way I had fun and didn't spill any secrets but don't feel 100% this morning. You know?

But this morning I did come a little ways further with my encasing. I mixed another bit of fluids, changed the angle that my encasing container sits at, and poured it in. I think pouring before work is a good idea, so you don't have to be around all the smell the stuff makes when it is still liquid. It is awful.

Bye for now,

David

Done Workin'

On Friday, when I was excited about the weekend, workin' wasn't what I had in mind! I had encasing-in-plastic and playing in mind, and blogging! Oh well, I'm done now, with time for a quick blog and then I'm going over to Mike's to have dinner and watch the new American Gladiators. I'm pretty excited.

But I hope Mike's not going to try to trick me into giving away anything. But I don't think he is, even if he is nervous because I have started to encase something. I think we will just have a nice time and watch some people who also enjoy gladiating, but that like doing it on T.V., with muscles and action in the place of plastic-encasing supplies and carefully chosen objects.

Are you going to watch American Gladiators? Leave a comment and tell me what you thought!

David

Where Was I?

Last night, I was like, "crap!?"

But then this morning I went and checked on it, and it was plenty firm, though a bit tacky on the top. Why did it take so long to do that? Because my basement is not warm? Or well-ventilated? I don't know. But thank god.

So I mixed up some more, put the object (I hope I'm not giving anything away by calling it an object!) on the firm surface of the plastic encasing stuff, and poured more in there. The object is still not totally buried in plastic, I going to have to do at least one more layer. But before I do that, I am going to change the angle at which the container I am doing the encasing in sits. It would make sense why if I showed it to you, but I'm not going to because then Mike might also see. Another nice thing is that I'm not using a whole bunch of the encasing equipment for this, so if I totally fuck it up I will probably be able to encase something else for the contest. Would that be cheating?

No.

I feel like the game has really changed now that I am actively encasing something in plastic.

Take care,

David

What a night!

Well I don't know if you know many bloggers in person, but here's one thing I know about them in general. On a Saturday night, their phone isn't exactly running out of weekend minutes with invitations to raves and other parties. It is like a law of nature. I was going to hang out with my friend Seth, but he felt like he didn't want to leave his house, so oh well. But that meant that I had a whole evening free! I thought about blogging, but I decided to start encasing something in plastic.

I have had this idea for a thing to encase for a little while that I like and have kept a secret from my blog in case Mike has been reading it. So I read the packaging on my plastic-encasing supplies and got a container ready to encase something in, and got started.

Man, the fumes from plastic-encasing materials are powerful out of this world! Uncanny! I guess that's why they say to use them in a place that is well-ventilated! Anyways, when you want to make something look like it is floating in the plastic, you have to first pour a layer of plastic into your mold, let it harden enough to support the thing, and then put the thing in. It said this might take 20-30 minutes. Well, I poured that layer, left the house to return a DVD, had some whiskey, and came back home, and the stuff was not solid. Not at all! Despair encased me instantly, and I wished I had some more whiskey.

I have to go to work now, I'll tell you more about what happened in a bit!

Sit tight!

David

Plastic Talk

Do you ever listin to National Public Radio? I had a little listen this morning after I left the coffeeshop, and heard part of the show on there called Car Talk. Two brothers talk about cars, answer phone calls about cars, joke around, and just seem to have a good time.

I wonder if there could ever be a radio show about encasing things in plastic and encasing things in plastic based blogs? I bet if Mike and I started a radio show about it after our contest is done that we would have a pretty good time. And people who shared our passion would have a forum and they could learn things about it. But we probably wouldn't have time to start one until the contest is over, because that is taking a lot of our time right now. The car radio show has kind of a built in audience because so many people have cars. It seems like probably more people have cars than encase things in plastic. But maybe it just seems that way because I spend so much time on roads, where cars are used, instead of in places where people keep their plastic-encased things?

We also both have voices that would sound good on the radio.

Take care,

David

Tidings

Well I was at my neighborhood coffeeshop, having myself a blog and a coffee, and I ran into Mike's and my taco-loving friend Dana. She noticed that I was at a computer, and asked if I was blogging. Since I happened to be blogging, I told her that indeed I was, and then we talked about Mike's and my blogs and about the contest. Apparently she's been keeping up on the plastic-encasing competition. She volunteered that she had voted on my blog. And without pressing for more information, she also mentioned that she had voted for me to probably win the contest!

Now, I have mixed feelings about having the identity of a voter on my blog's identity revealed. I mean, one of the great things about blogspot.com's polls is that you can vote anonymously. But, since she volunteered it, what the heck!

If Mike is reading my blog, I hope that this news of Dana's vote doesn't dishearten him too much. But then again if he gets disheartened, maybe that will be to my advantage in the contest! But I still hope that he doesn't get too depressed from this post.

One man's good news is another man's garbage, I guess.

Take care,

David

Boondoggle

I don't know what that word means, but I do know a good blog entry title when I hear one.

Anyways, last night I went and saw my friend Frosty's band play a rock and roll show. Those of you who know me personally (not just in the bloggosphere) may have heard me tell stories lately of shooting skeet with Frosty and his shotgun the other weekend. It was really loud and fun. So last night, I was thinking about when we shot skeet, and naturally, what was the other thing on my mind? Encasing things in plastic for the contest. I wonder if I encased a shotgun shell in plastic if that would be cooler or more ironic than whatever Mike ends up encasing? It seems pretty cool. Taking something dangerous and turning it into something safe, and maybe even beautiful. Plus you wouldn't be able to shoot with it anymore, so the irony quotient would be pretty high. Plus it is a thing that is low in moisture and it's pretty small so it seems like it'd be real feasible, which is always nice.

Seems like I'm on the right tracks!

Take care,

David

Results are in!

The results are in from my survey about the (non-) word "eachother." Turns out, according to three out of five voters, it is not a word. Ross agrees with you three, and that's all I need to hear, really. I'm going to stop using that as one word. On the other hand, Ross tells me it's okay to use "anyone" as one word, even though some spell checkers will pick that one up. Like the one in Entourage does, I think.

Take care,

David

First Friday

Today is the first friday of the month. For those of us in PDX, that means an thing: Art walk! The East Burnside's art community has an art walk, and my friend and co-worker Scrappers has a shop that is a part of it. It looks like a fantastic show, and here when I say fantastic I mean both things: Awesome, and also Fantastical. I'm going to try to convince Mike to go also, because check this:

Some time ago, Mike and I were asked to be a team in an artshow, for an art show about fantasy fiction. We would have to take a photo of something we'd staged that looked fantastic (fantastical.) I don't know if we have missed the deadline or not, but I know one thing. There is only one thing on our mind these days, can you guess what? It is our plastic-encasing contest. Anyways, if we haven't missed it, it would be nice to go to Scrappers' show and get some inspiration.

It would be nice to feel like part of a team again.

I guess that'll have to wait.

Take care,

David

Weekend ahoy!

Well, I'm pretty excited we have a weekend coming up starting tomorrow. I've really got my work cut out for me with this contest, and every bit of time I can put towards it will give me that much of a leg up on my competition, Mike. I'm sure he's thinking the same thing though (especially if he's reading this), so I will really have to put that leg up where my mouth is if this weekend is going to be worth a damn.

Who knows? maybe I will get my plastic-encasing completely finished this weekend, and then I will have the rest of the competition to just sit back and watch him fret and try to think of something better to encase in plastic than whatever he imagines I might have encased. But on the other hand, I want to give myself the maximum amount of time to think of the best thing to encase, so that I think of something really good. I don't want to rush into anything.

Tgif,

David

Ping Pong

Sometimes (weekdays) at the office, afternoons mean one thing: Ping-pong! Ross and I have been keeping this tradition alive since '07, and this week was no exception. Last year I could typically beat Ross pretty regularly at ping-pong, but in our games this year he has won 75% of them. I wonder if he practiced over the break (I did not, except for 2 games against Scott). Anyways, I got to thinking. I cannot think of a single similarity between ping-pong and encasing things in plastic. Except that you probably get better with practice, but that doesn't mean anything in my case, because I only have one shot to get it right.

I have played Mike during the afternoon at ping-pong also, and he and I are a pretty good match. Perhaps that is the similarity between ping-pong and plastic-encasing?

Time will tell.

David

Lunch

I had a real nice lunch earlier this afternoon with my pals and coworkers Ross and Chemin. We talked about the contest and about the blog a little, and shared some other tidbits from office life and our own lives and vacations. They were both way into Mike's and my blogs, so I guess I'm not imagining it when I say that the word is out there.
After coming back from lunch I've been thinking. And I've been thinking about a project that Ross has been working on for a few months, where he is recreating a magazine through pencil-drawings. I think it is a wrestling magazine, something with a hot picture of a woman on the front and a lot of ads for all-terrain-vehicles on the inside. Anyways, I was thinking about how different that project is from the project that Mike and I are about to do, by which I of course mean encasing. Ross's project involves tons and tons of time and, if he wishes, revision. Whereas Mike's and my plastic encasing kits did not come with erasers, if you know what I mean. The clay that we sculpt with is not like ordinary clay, it cannot be reshaped. Just one shot and then thank you ma'am, it is time for judgment and victory for one of us. It is a crazy match. I wonder if there is anything like it besides a game of dart? I guess it is kind of like photography if once you took a picture of something it was encased in plastic and you could never take a picture of it again, you could only take a picture you had already taken.
It truly is a crazy web we weave.

take care this afternoon,

David

A weird thing happened last night

I went to get some tacos last night with Rebecca, at my favorite taqueria, Por Que No? Taqueria. That translates roughly to "Why not taqueria?" We didn't have a good reason not to taqueria, so we went ahead and did. Anyways, the weird thing happened after eating tacos, when Rebecca and I were standing outdoors near the taqueria and Mike called me on my phone (not the iPhone I blogged from last night, mind you!) and said that he'd seen me on the street, and wanted to know if I wanted to go to the taqueria for tacos! What is going on here?
It could be coincidences. Maybe it just so happened that on the same thursday neither of us had a proper answer to "why not taqueria?" Well I hope that's all that's going on. I hope this competition isn't going to get too weird. I know it's been on my mind a lot, and I assume it's been on his too but that doesn't mean we should be following eachother to taquerias to try to steal eachother's encasing ideas or to try to scare eachother out of the competition. I mean, let's stick to encasing things in plastic and blogging here! I don't think we need to resort to shady tactics.
We entered into this contest as friends and I hope that we don't have to encase our own hearts in plastic to avoid hurting eachother while in the heat of competition. That would, I guess, be the ultimate sacrifice.

p.s. my spell checker keeps highlighting "eachother." I thought that was a word! Do you think so? I am going to start a new poll, please let me know if you think "eachother" is an o.k. word to blog with.

take care,

David

I accidentally slept through my alarm

And missed some of the prime early-a.m. blogging hours. There's nothing like sipping a cup of coffee and spewing a whole brainful of thoughts onto the internet while the rest of the blogosphere is asleep. You know, striking while the iron's hot. Well, I missed it this morning, and I guess I'll be playing catch-up today. Nothing to do but blog and encase as much as I can today, and then start fresh tomorrow.

good morning to you all,

David

I blogged this from an iPhone

Whoo! I've got a case of the sleepies!

Well, as the workday winds down, I'm feeling a little rundown. I'm not sure I'll get my computer home today, because of the rain, so I probably won't get to blog at ya very much more today:(, but I'll be back tomorrow!
Here are some thoughts I'll leave you with:
•I wonder what I should encase in plastic for the contest?
•Will it be better than whatever Mike decides to encase?
•If it isn't, I better try to find something else to encase, or I guess I will either lose the contest or something weird will happen, and I don't really want to win because of some weird circumstance, even if it does mean that I win. I want to win because of the rules we set up at the beginning.
•In terms of the rest of my life, what will this contest mean?

Take care,

David

This blog is about the Plastic Contest

I know that a lot of people visit blogs to learn about their favorite bands or celebrities or to learn what to buy for fathers or mothers day. But this blog doesn't cover those things, it is only about the contest I am having with Mike to see who will encase the most ironic or coolest thing in plastic. I have heard that there are a lot of those other blogs out there, so if that is what you want, just go out there and find one, it shouldn't be hard. But those of you here to check up on how I'm doing in the contest with plastic and Mike and some object I haven't decided on yet and some object he'll eventually choose, thanks for stopping by! You have come to the right place! Keep an eye on this blog to watch me beat him at the contest!

Thanks,

David

What do you think is a good amount to blog?

Here's a question for you, readers, how much do you think a person should blog? Do you think that it should be split evenly between doing experiences and blogging them? Or is that too much blogging? Or too much thinking? Is the glass half empty? or half full? How many hits per hour is the glass getting? What if your blog is more about your thoughts than about your experiences, and you are able to formulate thoughts while in the act of blogging? Like, while you are typing one thought, you are getting ready to think the next one, and by the time you hit the "publish post button" down there, you have another post ready to go? Should you just go ahead and type it up and post it? Or should you go to the bathroom, like you meant to before you started this one? I only ask because I am a beginning blogger. And, since I have also taken on the hobby of being in an encase-something-in-plastic contest with Mike, I have two new hobbies to balance, and, I don't know, like, for every hour I spend encasing something in plastic, how much time should I spend blogging? It's like a chicken and the egg eating its own tail question. The blog is because of the contest, but the contest is also really important, like more important than the blog probably, because that's how you'll win. Is by the contest.

I may have worked this one out on my own, just by talking through it. If you have any thoughts, please let me know them via comments, they might help me a lot as a new blogger.

Take care,

David

I love encasing things in plastic

I wonder if there are any jobs out there for people who want to get paid to encase things in plastic? Maybe it is a hobbyist-only type thing? I've never encased anything in plastic, but the feeling I get from thinking about it, the sense of being alive, is kind of addicting. I mean, I've even started a widely-read blog about it already, and I've only been involved in the sport for a few weeks? Anyways, I've seen things encased in plastic before, so I know that people do it. But do they get paid? I would definitely want a job that provided health care, because I will probably be exposed to a lot of fumes if I do it for a living, and I will probably let a lot of stuff dry in my basement, and I don't know if those plastic fumes are harmful. I don't think anyone does, really. But if, at the end of this crazy contest, I have something that makes me passionate, I will truly be a winner, unless Mike finds something that makes him passionate during the contest also, in which case the aftermath will be a tie, and the winner will still have to be decided by who encases something more ironic or cooler in plastic, but I have to say: I like those odds!

Take care,

David

"Clear"ing the air

By the way, when Mike and I blog (or if you see us in person, "talk") about encasing something in plastic, we are talking about pouring our plastic-making materials around the object and fully surrounding it in a plastic that will never come off of it. Doubtless you have seen a scorpion treated this way, or perhaps a butterfly, or maybe a collection of teeny little bubbles that are arranged in the shape of the pre-9/11 world trade center. What we are not talking about is putting something into a plastic show case that can be opened so you can put something else in later. That is why the stakes are so high. That is why it is more like a game of "dart" than it is a game of "darts." If you don't get that last dart reference, you might want to read some of my previous posts. In fact, if you had been confused about the type of encasing contest we are involved in, you might want to re-read a lot of the previous posts.
Sorry for any confusion, and I hope that this has been helpful.
Thanks to Lauren, who sits in my section (or "quad") of the office Mike and I work in for pointing out that this might be confusing.

take care,

David

Ultimate sacrifice?

Co-worker (and apparently keep-upper-on Mike's and my plastic-encasing contest blogs) Jay Berry has just come by my work station with a bold and scary proposition. "Clearly," he says, perhaps unaware of the awesome pun he has just made, "the person who will win the contest is the one who encases his own head in plastic!" Stunned (and I'll admit here, afraid), I asked, what if I could encase my opponent's head in plastic? No, he pointed out, that would not be as ironic. I have to agree.
Back in '07, when we went to TAP plastics to buy our encasing kits for the plastic-encasing contest we are now both furiously blogging about, I don't think either of us was consciously aware we were crossing a line that might eventually lead to crossing the ultimate line. And yet here we stand, in the middle of a battleground we willingly enlisted ourselves into walking into through our manly purchases of kits of encasing-in-plastic materials. From the beginning I knew there would only be one winner. Now I just wonder how many survivors there will be? And whether one of the survivors will be the winner?
By the way, thanks for the reader contributions. Let's keep them coming in! Like when Mike Giepert (different Mike, y'all!) suggested that I encase the inventor of the artificial heart's artificial heart so we could watch it work inside his body! Good idea! Anybody know where I can reach him?

I cannot remember who I used to be

Ever since this encasing something in plastic contest took over my life yesterday I feel like a different person. I mean, I have been blogging a lot more, and I haven't seen very many of my old friends (except for Ross and Jimm and Mike and Matt (whom I ate lunch with today) and some other folks I work with, oh, and Krystin and Eric (who were at the bar I played darts with Ross at last night)), and it is hard for me to think about hot dogs without feeling a little bit pissed about their moisture content. But I'm not worried. I feel like I'm really in peak form the last 1 day. I just hope I can keep this pace up through the finish line.

Take care,

David

I am Number One

How about this?! I just opened a new browser window and did a google search for "mike david encased in plastic blog contest," and guess whose blog pops up first? Mine, the one you are reading now. Allright! Woo!
Strangely, Mike's blog didn't pop up at all in the first page of results?! I wonder what the deal is?! Anybody been checkin' up on his blo'? I wonder if he's doing something inappropriate that would disqualify him from google searches. Let's keep it clean here!

Anyways, I guess I should get used to beeing number one in a search engine, because after the contest is over I will probably be number one in that, too! But seriously, let's keep it clean.

Take care,

David

Back from lunch

I just filled up the belly at a diner down the street. I was sure to stay away from turkey meat and other triptifan(sp?!) containing meats, because I want to be sure to keep my mind sharp all day while I'm wrapped up in this contest. After the deadline there'll be plenty of time for sleep inducing drugs and minerals during the middle of a workday, but not right now!
Hey, speaking of food, I went to a bar (it calls itself a club, but it is essentially a crappy bar) where they have a house-special hot-dog called the Homewrecker. I was curious and still am but I was not curious enough to order a six-dollar hot-dog on a full stomach. Hopefully someday I'll figure out what the Homewrecker is all about. For now, I'm left to wonder: why are so many things that seem like they'd be perfect for encasing in plastic so high in moisture content (and thus not at all perfect for encasing in plastic)? Is it just that the unattainable is always attractive? That the grass is always greener?
I am feeling more and more like this encasing something in plastic contest has broken me out of a plastic case of unawareness about the world around me. Though, with each thing I see unencased in plastic to my eye, I have a thousand questions whose answers seem to be encased in something far more opaque than acrylic plastic.

Take care,

David

I am going to send troops around to the south of him

There are deep rocky canyons there, and our scouts report thick brambles of thorn-vines and poison-ivy. Doubtless he has the same intelligence regarding the terrain, having grown up in these hills. He is probably setting traps along the ridge road and aiming his snipers' barrels at the meadow north of the river. I'll bet he is hoping to repeat his father's victory of fifteen winters ago on that meadow. The poetic nature of that wish does not escape me, but my appreciation for it and my wanting to see it honored are not the same thing. We will fight through the bushes and valleys to the south, so that by the time the gun-battle happens, it will feel like a cake-walk in the park compared to what we had just endured while sneaking around them through the bushes to the south.

I'm going to take an early lunch, but I'll be back to holler at you pretty soon!

Take care

DAVid

oops caps lock

French lessons

You know, in the language French, the word blague means "joke." And that word, when pronounced, sounds a lot like the internet word, "blog." But as you've probably noticed,
the similarity in sound of pronunciation is where the similarity between these two words ends, because this is plastic-encasing-contest blog is no joke.
I assume that Mike's isn't either.

word.

David

A good "point."

Last night, when I was playing darts with Ross McSweeney, He brought up a good "point." He was doing some pretty deep thinking about the plastic-encasing contest for an outsider to the contest, and he pointed out that the challenge was not merely to find the most ironic thing to encase, but to find something which would have its ironic value increased by being encased in plastic. For example: a mohawk or a mullet are both very ironic haircuts. But would they be the most ironic haircuts to encase in plastic? I would argue that no, though they may be a very ironic haircut on someone's head, once encased in plastic, they may not be the most ironic. For example, I think it might be more ironic to encase a very stiff newscaster's haircut in plastic, because the newscaster's haircut already has the stiff properties of plastic, that once it was encased in plastic it wouldn't actually be all that much different than it was un-plastic-encased, and then someone who saw it would be like, "why did they encase that haircut in plastic? It was already so plastic-like?" And then as soon as those words had escaped the utterer of them's mouth the person would be like, "oh," as they realized that they were looking at an extremely ironic encasing of a haircut. Notice: it is the extremely ironic encasing of a haircut, not the encasing of an extremely ironic haircut.

The harder you look, the deeper this shit gets. Wish me luck.

No- wish us both luck.

Take care,

David

If you haven't read the previous post to this blog, you should read that one before this one.

Because this one is a thought that wouldn't have come without the brainstorming explored in my previous post.
Anyways, It would be even weirder if I could encase some of Mike's toenails in plastic for the contest. I mean, you remember the reasons I listed for it being weird to encase your own toenails in plastic? Those would all still hold true, except that for the third one, I would be like, "I encased you in plastic!" There is nobody in the world who would know how to feel about that, except for probably Han Solo, since he has been encased in something else before.

Take care,

David

You know wat would be weird to encase in plastic?

It would be weird to encase six years worth of your fingernails and toenails in plastic. It'd be weird on several levels!

1) It might look weird, if they were arranged weirdly. What if they were all arranged so they made a kind of star or dandelion shape?! That could actually look pretty cool.
2) People would wonder where you got all those clippings, and you'd be like "I saved my toenail and fingernail clippings for the last six years, and then I encased them in plastic for this contest." People wouldn't know what to think. Depending on their interests, they might stop talking to you forever!?
3) Given that you grew the toenails/fingernails, and they were a part of your body, you could argue that you had actually encased yourself in plastic. No opponent in a plastic-encasing contest, not even one as imaginative as Mike, would ever see that one coming. I mean, encasing yourself in plastic? Whoa!

At the end of the day this whole post is moot, though, because I have not been saving my clippings for even the last six weeks, much less the last six years. Oh well. Back to the plastic-encased drawing board.

Hey, any of you readers collect your old fingernails/toenails? Just curious.

David

Darts

Last night I played some darts with Ross McSweeney, and I got to thinking. An Encase-Something-in-Plastic contest is kind of similar to a game of darts. I mean, both take skill, and both are competitive, and I am at least kind of a beginner at both, and, well, you have to just get by on what you have and do the best you can and hope that you're good enough to beat the other guy!
But despite all the similarities, there is one key difference: in the plastic contest we only have one shot to win, whereas a darts contest can take hundreds of throws. So really, the plastic contest is more like a game of dart.
This is obviously interesting but I probably won't encase a dart in plastic for the contest, because I think a lot of people wouldn't get a lot of the subtle connections.

Bullseye!,

David

First blog o' the morning

I jumped out of bed this morning after only an hour and a half of snoozing because I am so excited to get some new thoughts down about the plastic encasing contest. My mind was racing all last night, even while I slept. I've got some really fresh insights on this contest, so stay tuned!

But for right now, I need some coffee!

ttys,

David

Mobile phone blogging

Hey, anyone out there know if you can blog via text message? I have a pretty standard contract through Cingular/AT&T. I don't get on the internet with my phone but I have a lot of pre-paid text messages. It ends up being a pretty good deal for me to pre-pay them. Now that I'm blogging, I don't like being unable to blog when I'm not on the internet!!!

Thanks,

David

Competition

What drives a man (or in the case of this contest, two men) to compete? In some cases it is obvious. Like when we were all cavemen and we had to spear a lion or we wouldn't eat, that was competition. Or when somebody joins the National Guard to get college money and then is required to go overseas and make war, that is competition. Or when one man is called a pussy by another man and then has to either actually chug the whole thing or be, at least by one person's standards, a pussy, that is competition. But those kinds of competition are not what I am talking about.
What makes two idle men, decide to compete against eachother when neither is inclined, typically, towards encasing things in plastic? Maybe it's an intrinsic desire to improve oneself? To expand oneself? (Or would you ask- surely there's a better way to improve oneself than by encasing an ironic thing or two in plastic? Well you have a point, but I wasn't trying to say that that is my answer. I was just throwing it out there as an example of an answer.) There is that saying about a knife needing a stone to sharpen it. Or maybe it is just that on our own neither of us would have the courage to try to encase something in plastic, but by challenging each other we are each able to achieve something that, without the magical ingredient, "competition," we would not even attempt.
Anybody know if there are any encasing competitions mentioned in the bible?

take care,

David

Cute flowerpots - for your Grandmama

Sorry this off topic but I have some flowerpots I need to get rid of they are pink and yellow with little bunnies perched on them.
my grammy didn't want them...she's too hip.

Just come by my desk or shoot me a comment if you want them

David


p.s. not encased in plastic

Things are heating up

Well Mike just came my desk are a for a little bit, and while we were talking about our the contest and our contest-blogs other people definitely heard and Jimm went to the website when we told him to go check it out because his name is in one of my previous posts (Dim Sum lunch) so I guess the word is out! "It's on!" It almost makes me nervous knowing that some of my peers are aware of the contest I am a part of, and knowing that some of them might also become aware, later, of the results of the contest.

It's like De La Soul once named an album, "Stakes is High."

So is hopes!

Later, peeps!

David

Holy shit I just had a good idea.

How often have you heard a blogger say they don't want to toot their own horn? Well I'm not going to repeat that blogché (I just invented that term, it means a blog-cliché.) because the idea I just had is spectacular. It is near-perfect. It bigger than just having a good idea for a blog-post, it is an idea about something to encase in plastic. Here it is: I should encase Mike's supplies for encasing something in plastic in plastic. Not only would he then be unable to compete in the plastic-encasing contest that this blog is about, I think it would also totally piss him off because that stuff costs about $15. Yes!

But if you have a better idea or know how to get into his house please write a comment and tell me!

I am suddenly nervous that he could try to sabotage my materials. Where did I leave them? If I got a safety deposit box to put them in, how do I know he wouldn't find the key and encase it in plastic? I need to calm down and be sure not to make any dumb moves.

take care,

David

Dim Sum Lunch

This has been on my mind a while- back between my entries titled "Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself" and "Coffee," I went to lunch with Jimm Lasser. We went into China-Town and got some Dim Sum. (Yum!) Anyways, for someone with a plastic-encasing contest on their mind, a Dim Sum will make your head spin (not in the break-dancing head-spin kind of way!) There are plates everywhere of strange things made of meat and dough, and you can't help thinking "that would look awesome encased in plastic, very likely it would look even awesomer than whatever Mike is planning on encasing in plastic." Exciting as hell! But then you remember how the guy at the plastic store said it's difficult to encase dead things in plastic. And the way he said it, it made me think that anything with very much moisture in it would also be difficult to encase in plastic. Unfortunately, almost all the crazy-looking shit at Dim Sum has a lot of water in it. And you might remember earlier that I had resolved not to take on something too difficult for my first attempt at encasing something in plastic, because it is my first attempt and there is a contest on the line!
But I have to wonder: did the guy at the plastic store just advise me that way because he assumed that I didn't want whatever I encased in plastic to eventually rot and whither in there? What if I was o.k. with it eventually rotting and whithering? Maybe then it would be o.k. to encase something with moisture content? Or would that just be gross and dumb?
I have more questions than answers at this point, that is for sure. Man.

adios,

David

Rumors

I've heard rumors (maybe you've heard them too?(leave a comment if so!)) that Mike is going to use Multimedia to spruce his plastic encasing blog up?! I don't know what to think. Has he lost track of what the contest is about? Maybe he thinks that if he has the flashier blog, people will vote for him later on if people get the chance to vote at the end of the contest? Maybe he is right!! I have even heard that he is thinking about buying a new computer to blog from. Well, if he is going to put all of his eggs into the blog basket, I guess I will wish him luck. But I hope that, in the end, the contest is decided by who has encased the cooler or more ironic thing in plastic.

take it easy,

David

Coffee

Well, I just went for some coffee with Mike. It's rainy out, and it made the trip down there feel long. On the plus side, it's harder to smell P.F. Chang's when it's rainy out. The sound of the rain probably drowns out the music from P.F. Chang's a little bit also, but I could still hear it when we walked by. Anyways, Mike is a pretty cool customer. He didn't really seem nervous about the competition, or even about hanging out with his opponent. The competition even came up in conversation a little and he played it off like it was no big deal. Of course, we also talked about other things, like work and suicide. I wasn't too nervous either during the errand, but I did choose my words carefully so I wouldn't give away any of my ideas about things to encase in plastic. I'm not sure how careful he was with his words though. In fact, he said something (I forget now what he said) that made me think that maybe he's been reading my blog. Maybe I'm just being paranoid?! Or maybe he just said whatever it was he said to make me feel paranoid?! Anyways, Mike, if you are reading this, "Fuck You!"

and to the rest of you, as always, take care,

David

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

I wonder if there's a way that I could encase Mike's blog in plastic? I have never encased something in plastic before so maybe I should think about encasing something tangible first, but I think it would be awesome if I could encase his entire blog (including the password so he can't write on it anymore) in plastic. Anyone have any good ideas about how to do this? I guess I could settle for printing it out and then encasing that. Have you ever seen someone write the whole constitution on a single grain of rice? Maybe I could find that person, and have them write Mike's whole blog on there and then I could shape the plastic I encase it in like a magnifying glass so that you would still be able to read it. But from the other side it would not be a magnifying glass, so that you would still be able to tell that it was written on a teeny grain of rice. That would be stupid to have his whole blog written down on a grain of rice if you then encased it in something that made it look bigger than it really is. You'd be kind of missing the point. But it would still be cool if there were a way you could read it. Anyways, if you know of a way to encase an entire blog in plastic, or if you know somebody who works at blogspot.com or another big blogging organization, please leave me a comment about it.

take care,

David

Has anyone read Mike's blog?

Hey, has anyone read Mike's blog recently?

I wonder what he's up to? I bet he's forgotten about the contest alltogether, ha ha! Let me know in the comment section if you've heard anything or if you know where any of his favorite (smallish, would fit into a pint glass) things are.

thanks and take care,

David

I forgot my plastic encasing equipment at home

And I'll probably be at work for at least a few more hours so I guess I might as well put something towards the big contest and keep up on the blog. So far I noticed that nobody has written in with any good ideas for things to encase in plastic. Please, readers, keep those ideas coming in! I totally had a good idea for something to encase in plastic while I was in the shower this morning but by now I've forgotten it. I wondered if maybe it was something in the shower that I was encasing but then I mentally went over all the things that were in the shower while I was this morning and I don't think it was any of those. So, I must have been thinking of something else, but just happened to be in the shower while I was thinking of it. Readers if you have any good ideas about things to encase in plastic or can help me with the mystery of "what was I the good idea I had in the shower for a thing to encase in plastic this morning?" please leave a comment on my blog!

take care,

David

p.s. I am not going to encase my wiener in plastic so don't bother suggesting that.

It is all about encasing something in plastic

Since I started this blog about the plastic contest (see previous posts) I've noticed that I actually spend more time blogging about the contest than I do actually encasing things in plastic or even trying to think of things to encase in plastic! I mean, if it weren't for the blog then nobody would have a way of keeping track of the contest (unless they wanted to check Mike's (crappy) blog but people would probably get tired of that pretty quick) so I do think the blog about the contest is important but I also should remind myself that, really, in the end, this is about encasing something in plastic. Once the contest is over (and I am the winner) we will each have plenty of time for blogging about what went down.

Take care, and forgive me if I don't write for a while.

David

No problem this will be easy

Mike just emailed me asking how to write a post for his blog. If his encasing-things-in-plastic-skills are anything like his blogging skills, this contest is going to be an easy win for me!

Well, here we go. Here's the start of my blog where I chronicle my side of the contest between Mike Illick and me to see which one of us can encase the better thing in plastic. Neither of us has ever encased something in plastic before, so it should be interesting. I hope he hasn't encased something in plastic before and just isn't telling me, but I think he actually hasn't and that the contest is really fair. We each bought an equal amount of this liquid to encase stuff in and an equal amount of the stuff you're supposed to put a few drops of in to make the other stuff become solid. I almost wrote "to make the other stuff become hard" but I caught myself. Anyways, the contest is that by the 12th of January we should each have encased something in plastic and then we'll somehow decide or have someone else decide who encased the cooler thing in plastic and that person will be the winner and then most likely both of us will get drunk.
We both bought our supplies at the same time and received the same confusing advice from the person who works at the plastic store. He told us things like "the plastic will get too hot if you do that" and "you will need to keep the plastic warm" about the same projects. WTF?! But he did tell us something that sounded helpful that may influence what I decide to encase in plastic, which is that it is difficult to do a good job of encasing dead things. Apparently some people have figured it out but since I am a beginner and I want to do well with my first try because it is for a contest I probably won't try to encase something dead. I probably won't try a hot dog or a turd first either, because I'm guessing they'd have something similar problems to something that used to be alive.
Well I guess that should do for my first entry. If you have any questions about the contest, go ahead and ask! Or if you have an idea for something to encase in plastic, please tell me, especially if you think it is a better idea than Mike Illick would come up with! Hopefully Mike won't read this blog and take my (or my reader's) ideas, or if he does steal my idea I hope that I do a better job of encasing whatever the thing is in plastic so that I still win the contest! Mike, if you are reading this hoping to steal an idea, "Fuck you!"

Ok, next time I won't have to include so much information so it'll probably be a better read. Please check back and see how I'm planning to beat Mike at encasing something in plastic!

take care,

David