August 11, 2008
I've Moved
Dear Readers:
This blog is no more.
I am now blogging at the NEW BillColrus.com.
The posts collected here will live on in archive format until I can figure out what to do with them.
Thanks for stopping by,
Bill
Posted by colrus at 7:00 AM | Comments [0] | TrackBack
July 10, 2008
Where I've Been or Wake Up, Sleepy Blog
I just noticed that it's been more than two months since my last blog post.
How about an update?
Melissa and I moved. We now live in a house on a street off of Hixson Pike. It's 16 minutes closer to work, and, well, much closer to everything else. Sam loves the yard, and we've already met a few of our neighbors. (New pics of Sam will be online soon, by the way.) We are happy.
Work is good. They keep me busy, and I can honestly say I like my job. I'm also picking up the occasional weekend catering gig with Beth and Pete. Fun, as always.
I'm having ANOTHER yard sale this Saturday. This one will feature all the stuff we thought we still needed/wanted, but no longer do.
Newspinion.org died a quick death. Sorry, my heart wasn't in it. To follow up on an earlier post, I am, however, still planning on doing some spiritual writing online, as well as revamping this site.
Also...
While I have been lurking in its shadows since before its launch, I suppose I should officially mention that most (if not all) of my Chattanooga-based blogging will now be done at Chattarati.com. Perhaps all the commotion will get me posting more than once every eight weeks.
Posted by colrus at 6:14 PM | Comments [1] | TrackBack
May 7, 2008
Items I'll Soon Forget to Mention Unless I Mention Them Right Now...
Last week, due to the unbelievable generosity of my wife's family, my little family was able to join them on a seven-day cruise from Miami to San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. We took Carnival, which was MUCH nicer this time than the last. We ate a lot. Slept a lot. Swam a lot. And explained to a lot of folks the reason why Sam was wearing a cast.
I'm pretty sure that 1 in 4 of those people thought we were abusing him. As a matter of fact, after about the fourth day of telling people that "he broke his arm playing soccer with his cousins" and getting mean looks, I wanted to start telling them that "he just wouldn't listen." Of course, I would be in a sweaty Caribbean jail right now if I'd done that. Sam got his cast off today, by the way.
The trip was great. We even saw Chelsea Clinton (for about 20 seconds) in San Juan. She was there helping her mom campaign. A tour guide was telling her about how Mayor Dinkins donated cobblestones to San Juan. Chelsea seemed bored.
I have video of the encounter, and about another hour and a half of moments from the trip. I took a bunch of pictures, too, some of which I hope to post by the weekend. I may even whip up an extended post about the trip.
Former fellow Pulser Angela Tant is once again a co-worker of mine. She started working with us as a copywriter while I was on vacation. I didn't have much time to talk with her today, though, as she, I, and the rest of my department are pretty much slammed right now. The good kind of slammed, though.
We are having a yard sale in a couple of weeks. Baby stuff will dominate the inventory, but other, interesting, non-baby items will be available, too, as we are purging and consolidating as we search for a new place to live off of the mountain.
My sister, brother-in-law, and perhaps niece and/or nephew are coming to visit for Memorial Day. My brother-in-law just returned from a tour in Iraq, and hasn't yet gotten to meet Sam. We plan to show them all that Chattanooga has to offer. So look out, Towing and Recovery Museum!
Softball update: We split a doubleheader tonight. I went 5 for 5, though, with a double, a triple, three runs scored, and two runs batted in. The key? Showing up to play unbelievably tired.
After driving home from Miami yesterday, and working all day today, I should have skipped tonight's games. Of course, I should be sleeping right now, too, and I'm blogging, so... Wait, on second thought, sleep sounds nice. Goodnight, all.
Posted by colrus at 1:48 AM | Comments [0] | TrackBack
April 16, 2008
My (Amended) Future in Blogging
A quick announcement...about my earlier announcement...
This blog is staying put. For now.
• While I am creating a new BillColrus.com, which will serve as a resume/personal life/personal projects reference site, it won't be done for quite some time. This site will continue to act as my main blog in the interim. I will be tweaking it, however.
• Though Newspinion.org, my new news and opinion site is now live, my possible involvement in another kinda similar Web project might signal its early demise. (Timing can be odd sometimes, can't it?)
• I am still also developing a spiritual study and discussion site. It's formulation, objectives, and approach are, yes, still being ironed out, but it's a topic I've been wanting to write about for awhile, and I'm still excited to do so.
• The Chattanooga Film Blog remains -- and will continue to remain -- deceased.
• Also, I am now twittering. (See right.)
If you hadn't noticed, I enjoy blogging about what I'm gonna blog about.
Posted by colrus at 12:03 AM | TrackBack
April 3, 2008
My Picks for Most Beautiful North Shore Locations
1. Ziggy's.
2. Krystal.
3. That building where Melonhead's used to be.
4. The Small Business Development Center.
5. The vacant Northside Lunch building.
6. The vacant floorcoverings building at Coolidge Park.
7. The vacant Pruett's building.
8. That parking lot where Tubby's used to be.
9. The Nautilus Building.
10. The vacant Electric Mouse building.
I would like to personally state my relief that neither the Coolidge Hotel nor the condos on Stringer's Ridge were built. The absence of these developments marks sensational community efforts to preserve the beauty of the North Shore area.
Posted by colrus at 9:43 AM | TrackBack
March 17, 2008
And the Whole World Goes Green!
Not growing up Catholic, I admit my knowledge about St. Patrick is limited.
What I do know, however, is that while he may be regarded by some as the patron saint of Ireland, he's regarded by many more as the patron saint of drink specials.
Posted by colrus at 11:55 PM | TrackBack
February 14, 2008
Poll: Which Would Be a More Boring Place to Work?
While in Pigeon Forge a couple of weeks ago for a marriage conference, I stumbled upon a shopping center that is home to -- not one -- but TWO of what would have to be the most dreadfully boring places on the planet to work.
Trouble is, I can't decide which would be more boring.
Would it be Wallet Works?
...or Mr. Tablecloth and MORE?
Please make your case in the comments below.
Posted by colrus at 11:52 PM | TrackBack
December 25, 2007
Linus Knows
Posted by colrus at 2:05 PM | TrackBack
October 29, 2007
Two in Four
After spending most of my life wondering what it would be like if the Red Sox won the World Series, they've now done it twice in four years. This one was a tad anticlimactic, though. All of them will be that way after what happened in 2004, I'm afraid. (I'll still take 'em all, though.)
I really like my new job. It's taken a couple (or so) weeks to get settled in, and I am doing just that. My most effective training method? Staying really, really busy.
It's a little disconcerting when you have to leave the English language to find your favorite album of the year. While critics are split (those whose reviews I've read so far, that is), I am a big fan of most everything Cafe Tacuba has ever done, and rank this latest disc alongside "Re" as one of their best ever.
In other music-related news, I have decided to sell the vast majority of my record collection. I can always use some extra money, and I've also realized that I am not really all that emotionally attached to the discs the music is on as much as I am the music itself. And since all of the music can be kept in digital format on a variety of handy storage and playback mediums, the discs themselves are taking up space and money. I'll likely keep some, but I'm going to sell most of them -- some on eBay, some at McKay's, etc.
I have trouble sleeping on a really big pillow. I like smaller pillows. The closer my head is to the bed -- while still having a pillow underneath -- the better I sleep. Sorry. Just had to share.
More pics of Sam to come soon. The boy is almost one. Where'd the time go?
Posted by colrus at 2:03 AM | Comments [2] | TrackBack
September 28, 2007
One Day Removed and Moves
So, one day removed from my tenure as editor of The Pulse and what did I do? I went to a surprise birthday lunch for a co-worker at The Pulse before stopping by my former office for a bit to check on a couple things. The newspaper business, as Chicago once sang, is a hard habit to break.
Tonight's Office premiere was solid, even if it was a tad more subdued than I'd expected. Thanks to my handy-dandy DVD burner, I've already watched it twice.
My new, Word Press-powered blog is nearing completion. In addition to a blog, the NEW BillColrus.com will feature an extensive PDF archive of my written work and (eventually) assorted audio and video clips. My dad has already sent me some sketches he did for the banner header.
I am carving regular, weekly book writing time into my schedule. If I can commit to doing nothing but working on the book for, say, a mere two hours each week, I should make some decent progress. All my literary-type acquaintances should expect regular requests to "look this over, will ya?"
In case you didn't know, I am now live on Facebook. Look me up. MySpace? Not so much anymore.
Posted by colrus at 3:37 AM | TrackBack
September 2, 2007
My Day in Sports
1. Attended today's Braves/Mets game in Atlanta. Mets starter Mike Pelfrey, who was 0-7 coming into the game, dominated the Braves with a combination of 96-mile-per-hour fastballs outside the strike zone, and 82-mile-per-hour sliders also outside the strike zone. Mostly in the dirt. The Braves got two hits all day.
(Highlights: Watching Jose Reyes steal -- and then get picked off -- second base. Watching Carlos Beltran homer and, later, FLY around the bases for a triple. I love home runs, but triples are more fun to watch.)
2. Saw that Michigan lost to Appalachian State. Laughed repeatedly. Then got out my calculator to figure out how badly Appy State is going to beat UTC.
3. Watched some of the Vols game at Cal. If the Vols' defense had actually been able to attend the game, UT might've had a shot.
4. Caught the last inning of Clay Bucholz's no-hitter against Baltimore. It was only the SECOND START of Bucholz's big league career, the Red Sox won 10-0, and they maintained their five-game lead over the Yankees. I always sleep better when the Sox win.
Posted by colrus at 12:28 AM | TrackBack
August 31, 2007
So, I Talked to Mesh Last Night...
Seriously. I did. On a phone.
He says hi.
Eventually, we hung up.
He had to go to a screening.
I had to go to bed.
Posted by colrus at 10:43 PM | Comments [1] | TrackBack
August 30, 2007
Aunt Frank
Though slightly less chuckle-worthy after just watching Ken Burns' film about World War II, I just rediscovered this little tidbit I tossed off as part of the "Community Calendar" section of this year's April Fool's issue of The Pulse:
“The Diary of Aunt Frank”—A man is trapped in a closet during World War II. 8 p.m. Encore Theatre.
Ah. Jokes.
Posted by colrus at 11:04 PM | TrackBack
August 21, 2007
Blogunited and It Feels So Good
So many things a-happenin'... Where to start?
The Pulse has a new office. We are now located in a converted warehouse block on Rossville Avenue. The place screams alt weekly. We're still unpacking, but when all is unpacked, things will be sweet. (Except for the rancid fumes of the chicken factory across the street. Those are decidedly not-so-sweet.)
Sam. Photos. Soon. I have at least a couple of months worth of photos of Sam to post online, including his most recent J.C. Penney shoot, and various trips to various states to visit various friends and family. The boy has four teeth, just turned nine months old, is almost walking, and is currently speaking (what sounds like) a combination of Chinese and German. He also regularly says "dad" and "mom" -- although we're still a little unclear as to whether he knows what he's saying.
BillColrus.com will soon undergo a rather large transformation. One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much lately is that I have been constructing a new blog/site via Wordpress. In addition to a new blog, the site will also feature video and audio clips from my various past and present projects, as well as a rather extensive archive of my printed work. I hope to have the site live in a month.
Just in time for September's fifth anniversary of the premiere of "On The Other Hand," you will be soon be able to order (at an almost-free price) the long-awaited "Handful of On The Other Hand" compilation DVD. I'm putting together a trailer for it as we speak, and my plan is to have ordering information available when the new site launches. You may also hear something soon about a release party...
I interviewed Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish today. All I can say is that he was super cool. Next week, I'm interviewing Ken Burns.
If you've never been, the Wilderness Theatre in Trenton, GA is highly recommended. We went last weekend. Not only was it great to watch a movie under the stars on a warm summer evening, but the concession prices were very reasonable and the bathrooms were ABSOLUTELY IMMACULATE. And VERY WELL air-conditioned.
---
Current Diversions
Watching: Air Guitar Nation
Reading: Stiff by Mary Roach
Listening: Scraps by NRBQ
Posted by colrus at 12:43 AM | Comments [3] | TrackBack
August 5, 2007
Blog Like a Log
Yes, I know. My blogging has dropped off. This is not for lack of interest. I actually have much to blog about, and I don't want to disappoint the seven people who read this thing.
Give me a couple of days. For in a couple of days the magic will return.
And in a couple of days you will say, "Well, that actually wasn't all that magical, jerk."
And I will say, "I know. You are a sucker."
Sigh.
Posted by colrus at 3:54 AM | Comments [2] | TrackBack
July 24, 2007
Make a Hitler Reference, Lose Your Argument
Works every time, kids.
(Actually, I think her whole argument WAS her Hitler reference. Sad.)
Posted by colrus at 4:32 PM | TrackBack
July 8, 2007
My First Trip to the Octagon
I watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship tonight for the first time ever. My brother-in-law got it on pay-per-view.
I could definitely get into this. Especially if they spent less time getting each other into submission holds on the canvas and spent more time just beating the ever-living crap out of each other.
Posted by colrus at 12:31 AM | TrackBack
June 30, 2007
Manute Bol Walked Past Me at the Airport
While my just-completed nine-day Connecticut vacation was chock full of tidbits worthy of extended comment and description in a later post, one item has to be mentioned immediately: Former (unbefrigginlieveably tall) NBA center Manute Bol walked right past me at Bradley International Airport this morning. Bol lives in West Hartford and was, presumably, on his way back home.
No, I couldn't get to my camera fast enough to take a picture.
Yes, he is even taller in person.
Yes, weird stuff like this happens to me all the time.
Posted by colrus at 1:00 AM | TrackBack
June 18, 2007
Monday Miscellany
One of the premiere alt weekly writers on the planet, Tara Servatius, now has a blog. Check it out. Tara writes for Creative Loafing in Charlotte, and also hosts a talk show five nights a week at WBT.
Riverbend is over. Despite the fact that its lineup failed to fully jazz an intense music snob like myself, I have to say that $37 wasn't a bad deal for a pin that you could've used to attend each night of the festival if you'd wanted to. We're still wading through the aftermath and some ongoing discussions around the structure and purpose of Riverbend itself, but as for the talent on hand this year, it was worth the money.
In addition to attempting to convince our advertisers to boycott our paper, folks that are unhappy with what we print will sometimes go around town grabbing up any and all copies of our paper that they can get their hands on. This practice of theft (and, yes, it is theft) is supposed to, I suppose, keep people from reading something "bad," "wrong," or "damaging" that we've written about them or someone they know. This has happened on at least two occasions in our close to four years in business and, reportedly, happened again recently. In all cases, including the most recent one, we've stood by the stories the thieves took issue (and issues) with (and containing).
Though we'd love to catch and prosecute the offenders in these cases, it's a bit hard to do so. More importantly, however, the thieves' actions are just plain stupid. Our Web traffic is always increasing, and unless the thieves can steal all of the copies of the Internet that are floating around, our work will be read. Plus, big bunches of papers missing from our racks is good for our circulation numbers, helps bring in advertising revenue, and lets us hire more writers that'll undoubtedly write more stories that certain folks won't want other folks to see. If people don't want the light of truth to shine on their corruption, they should, oh, I dunno, stop being corrupt. How about that?
Posted by colrus at 11:37 PM | TrackBack
June 4, 2007
Wanna Revive One of Chattanooga's Dying Strip Malls? Bring In a Steve & Barry's
Visiting my sister in Charlotte this past weekend, we took a trip to Steve & Barry's, the super discount department store chain that's currently catching fire across the country. I first heard about the chain in a piece on ABC's 20/20 featuring the "Starbury" shoe line, endorsed by the New York Knicks' Stephon Marbury. The shoe line includes a variety of styles, all of which are priced at $14.98, and which was named as one of Business Week's "Products of the Year" for 2006. Marbury was interested in launching the shoe line, in part, because he wanted kids to know that good shoes didn't have to cost a lot.
Now, while Consumer Reports says Starburys are "not that great" for serious basketball players, they do say that "they seem to be a well-made shoe, and for $15 dollars are definitely worth a try." More than half of the players in Consumer Reports' study said they would wear them off the court. Ben Wallace will be launching a line of shoes through the store this fall, and Sarah Jessica Parker is launching a clothing line through Steve and Barry's this week.
The Steve and Barry's business model is aggressive. They seek out bargain leases in dying strip malls for their retail locations, do virtually no advertising, have no online store, offer modest employee salaries, and save on purchasing costs. According to their Web site, they "focus our energies to make sure sweaters for your family don't cost more than a tank of gas or this week's groceries."
My first impression: Steve and Barry's resembles a cross between The Gap (in terms of store appearance) and Old Navy (in terms of clothing quality). Also, like the Starbury shoe line, all of the clothes at Steve and Barry's are extremely affordable. (Cargo shorts and khaki pants were two for $20. Polo shirts were $5.98.)
While we didn't buy any shoes during our visit, Melissa and I bought several pairs of pants and shorts, and a variety of shirts. We each wore several during our stay. We were both very pleased in the style and comfort level of the clothes. (The clothes also held up very well after an initial washing.)
A store like Steve and Barry's would do very well in Chattanooga. We have plenty of empty retail space for the company to choose from, and the prices would be appealing to a community that's currently flooding the Wal-Marts and Targets looking for bargains on clothes.
The closest Steve and Barry's to Chattanooga is in Antioch, just outside of Nashville.
Posted by colrus at 5:15 PM | Comments [1] | TrackBack
May 28, 2007
Don't Rush a Kid
We had our yard sale on Saturday. Our nephew, Bryce, spent the night Friday night and helped to price items -- including some of his own that he brought to sell.
As was expected, people started showing up roughly an hour before our advertised start time of 8 a.m. We ended at 4 p.m., but didn't have a single shopper after 1:30. Perhaps it was the abysmally hot weather, or the fact that it was a holiday weekend.
We sold a modest amount, certainly enough to have made the endeavour worthwhile. Bryce sold about half of his items, too, stating when it was over that he thought "we did pretty good."
The only mildy frustrating point of the day happened when the only child who stepped foot on our lawn the whole day was rushed by his parents. The boy was very young -- so young that I'm not sure he's really gotten the grasp of how money works yet, and was trying to figure out whether he had enough money to buy a couple of toys from Bryce.
Well, after he left, we realized that he'd actually only paid for half of what he owed. This was probably because his parents -- ready to leave -- got in the car and were turning around down the block while he finished up. He panicked, rushed to pay, and met up with his parents at the car.
A few minutes after they'd all left, we realized that he'd left his wallet with all of his money in it. All four dollars of it. With no way of tracking him down, we all hoped he'd come back to get his money. He never did. It kind of tears us up to look down at the wallet just sitting there on our counter. I'm not sure what we're going to do with it.
Posted by colrus at 4:14 PM | Comments [2] | TrackBack
May 15, 2007
Tuesday Randomness
So... Today...
1. Sam cried all day. He was still cute the whole time, though. He's not crying now. Mommy's presence might -- no, definitely -- has something to do with it.
2. Got the Mike Keneally hat. and Boil That Dust Speck reissues in the mail. Just. Freakin'. Amazing.
3. This blog will soon be moving to WordPress. The new blog will have audio and video pages, as well as an archive featuring oodles of my written work.
4. As was previously reported, my return to a (somewhat) normal schedule has enabled me to resume completion of the OTOH compilation DVD. Final edits will be done at home, while DVD menuing/mastering and commentary recording will be done at Lazy Bear (aka Ryan's room). I think I'm gonna sell the discs for, like, $8 a piece. Or maybe I'll just give them away. Along with the 50 or so OTOH bumper stickers I recently found in a box.
5. Jerry Falwell died today. Many are mourning. Some are rejoicing. In related news, I thought Robert T., Mary Ann, and (Highland Park's) Dr. Bouler all did a swell job on "Live and Local" today.
6. I had chinese food tonight. I don't like chinese food as much as thai food. Not even P.F. Chang's, although I do really like P.F. Chang's.
7. I have grown to strongly dislike the following Internet slang terms: "teh" and "woot." I'm not sure why.
8. The Red Sox lost tonight. I mean, they had to sometime.
9. In wake of Imus' firing(s) -- and subsequent similar firings of other radio hosts -- I can't help but come to two conclusions: 1) We need more voices these days, not fewer and 2) Call me strange, but unless a radio host's voice paralyzes me, rendering me unable to change the channel, I'm just not gonna get that offended by what he/she says; no matter what he/she says. I suppose I'm strangely tolerant of even the things I despise. (BTW: I just put one of my Imus CDs up on eBay.)
10. We are planning a road trip back home to Connecticut in June. With the current price of gas, I'm guessing we'll have to shell out about $300 just to get there and back. Still, that's cheaper than flying. Or if we had to power our car with bottled water. (Do the math.)
Posted by colrus at 11:09 PM | Comments [7] | TrackBack
May 10, 2007
Back to Normal?
Yes, one day short of Sam's six-month birthday, it seems that Melissa and I have finally settled into some semblance of a normal life again. It took a while, but we've gotten our routines down and are aggressively planning for the future. Melissa is quitting her job in order to spend more time at home with Sam. We are exceedingly grateful to our cousins Shannon and Jason, and to their kids Bryce, Leila, and Jacob for helping us through these first few months, but getting up extra early to drop Sam off and getting home extra late from picking him up each day has taken an exhausting toll on us in a number of ways. While things will be tight financially at first, other things will be better for us with Melissa staying at home, and we're looking forward to the challenges our new life will bring.
In addtion to taking care of Sam, Melissa is tending to some household projects she's been wanting to get to for quite some time. She is also selling Mary Kay on the side, and we're going to have at least one yard sale. We're also going to unload a bunch of stuff on eBay. We simply have too many things we can do without.
Things at The Pulse are hectic and somewhat in flux, but manageable and promising. We are trying new things, tweaking our existing format, and re-evaluating the organization as a whole in order to maintain a healthy level of financial and creative progress. I'm excited to see where we'll go.
On the "other projects" front, I am slowly getting back up to speed on the "On The Other Hand" DVD, the Lord T. and Eloise video, the book I've been working on, and the songs I've been writing. With our semi-normal home schedule, I can realistically plan on getting some of this stuff done.
I'm also digitzing a mountain of audio tapes containing old comedy bits, radio appearances, old band demo/rehearsal/gig recordings, audio projects, and other sonic gems that are slowly oxidizing into oblivion.
I have two fantasy baseball teams this year. One is in first place. The other is in fourth. I had crazy-good drafts, and should do well for the duration.
More later...
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CURRENT DIVERSIONS:
Listening: Pink Floyd: Meddle
Reading: Mountain Man Dance Moves: McSweeney's Book of Lists
Watching: FRONTLINE/American Experience: The Mormons
Posted by colrus at 12:38 AM | Comments [1] | TrackBack
February 21, 2007
Bush Likes Ribs, Which Reminds Me...I'm Shooting a Rap Video
In case you've suffered head trauma recently and just now came to, the President of the United States was in town today. Joe has a tidy round-up of local bloggers who blogged about it.
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