Five Easy Pieces

1. The street memorial at Sherman & Colombia is still with us (photo). Now it sports a random black t-shirt, hung like a shroud on the head of the largest Care Bear in the galaxy. It's been almost five months since the reckless accident which inspired the memorial.

2. I actually witnessed one of DC's "Pothole Killer" trucks on Irving this morning. It's a triumph of engineering: All functions are controlled from the cab, as the patch is sprayed from a remote arm that extends over the front of the vehicle, making it resemble a robot scorpion from Monster Island. One of these trucks can patch the average pothole in 45-60 seconds, has onboard GPS navigation, and can "kill" over 100 potholes in a shift. Bravo.

3. There must be a special place in HELL for the people who, years ago, ran the cardboard punch machines that rendered otherwise intact vinyl LP sleeves into "cut-outs". Damaged goods. Blemished like violated waifs.

4. Ziff Davis announced last week they're filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Probably a good thing, therefore, that the Art Director job with their embedded design vendor didn't work out for me a few years ago. Plus, it would've meant a move to NYC: the ultimate mix of blessing and curse. AND to add punch to the whole thing, that vendor company was sold recently and seems to be doing very little print anymore. These days, the publishing world seems a little more paranoid than usual. I can smell the layout and resume PDFs distilling as designers and Art Directors everywhere quietly prepare for...... something.....

5. Please, in the name of GOD, Billy Mays, stop yellin' at me.