My sister and I went to the Apple Store yesterday to play with the iPod mini because she’s thinking about buying one. We both love the sleek, minimalist design of all things Apple, and we both appreciate their ingenuity most of the time, but we agreed that the iPod mini, surprisingly, isn’t very easy to use. The user interface is kind of counter-intuitive. Still, it’s undeniably cool, and if she gets one, I’ll be undeniably jealous.

Is it just me, or are the new Alessi Handheld Vacuum Cleaner and Alessi Mami Pressure Cooker extremely phallic and yonic, respectively? Alessi has always been known for smooth, round design and clean lines, but I think their new catalog is almost capable of replacing the now-defunct A&F Quarterly.

In case you’ve ever wanted to build your own theme park, you’re now one step closer. Someone took the trouble to figure out most of the fonts (actually, typefaces) used in the parks. You can view the list at mickeyavenue.com.

Kaitlyn, Jeremy, and Anthony thought that the church parking lot in Silverado Canyon was extremely scary (even though there wasn’t fog), but that the Five Crowns wasn’t even remotely creepy. What gives?

At some point past midnight, a group of us decided to break into the Noguchi Garden, which is gated off at midnight every night. We stood in front of the giant gate and assessed the situation. Not all of us would be able fit under it, and it would be very difficult to scale. Then Vince made a discovery.

“It’s unlocked, you guys.”

In December of 1912, the following amendment to the Constitution was introduced by a representative from Georgia:

“Intermarriage between negros or persons of color and Caucasians… within the United States… is forever prohibited.”

I don’t think I need to say anything else.

I don’t normally like rap very much, but I recently downloaded and very much enjoy The Grey Album. It’s a remix of Jay-Z’s The Black Album, created by someone named DJ Danger Mouse, using samples from The Beatles’ eponymous-but-aptly-nicknamed The White Album. It’s under fire from EMI, but you can still find it on file-sharing networks.

Jay-Z’s lyrics are rather good, and I find that when rap is combined with familiar samples (and mixed well), it makes the music more exciting. Also, instead of the pounding bass beats found in most hip-hop music, the mixed version generally relies on treble beats, which I prefer.

There’s always laundry to do after a big trip.

I think something should be done about that, because nobody likes doing laundry, and it’s sad that you have to come home to extra work just because the clothing you took on the trip needs to be cleaned. Since I just woke up, I only have two ideas for dealing with this:

1. The hotel should offer a free laundry service the day you leave or the day before. That way, everything except the outfit you’re wearing on the plane will already be clean, so you can put off laundry for a while longer instead of having to do it right when you get home.

2. Disposable travel clothes! Especially for visiting warm places like the Caribbean, Hawaii, or Mexico, disposable clothing would have many advantages. It would be thin, lightweight, and easy to pack, and you wouldn’t have to wash it when you came home. You’d just toss it and buy a new set. As an optional added bonus for romantic getaways, it could also be edible.

I think it should be apparent at this point why I’m not actually employed to solve these kinds of problems.

When it rains in Orange, the parking lot at Hart Park becomes a river. The water in the center of the parking lot is about three feet deep and flows at a very swift pace, which I’d estimate at about ten miles per hour.

Last night it poured. So Colin, Kaitlyn, and I decided to build very primitive paper boats. We each used a single piece of paper and no adhesives or fasteners. Then we walked to the park and held a race.

My boat was fastest out of the gate, and it seemed to be the likely winner, but it moored itself just shy of the finish line and was disqualified. Colin’s boat moved at a modest pace right behind, and it was first to cross the finish line. Kaitlyn’s boat moored itself right out of the gate, but eventually it dislodged, continued down the river, and crossed the finish line as well.

We all ended up quite wet, especially the foot parts of us, and the friendly Orange police officer was happy to see us leave.

TJ offered me the position of Stage Manager for Cabaret, which he’s directing at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. I’m really excited about this. Not only do I get to work with TJ, and not only do I get to finally work on the technical side of a show, but I also get to work on a show that I love but in which there’s currently no role for me.