… oh *why* can’t this happen in Indianapolis?

US town set to ban saggy trousers

A mayor in the US state of Louisiana says he will sign into law a proposal to make wearing saggy trousers an act of indecent exposure.

Delcambre town council unanimously passed the ordinance earlier this week making it a crime to wear trousers that show underwear.

“If you expose your private parts, you’ll get a fine” of US$500 (£254) Mayor Carol Broussard said.

Offenders will also risk up to six months in jail.

Fashionable

Speaking of people who wear saggy trousers, Mr Broussard told the Associated Press news agency: “They’re better off taking the pants off and just wearing a dress.”

Town attorney Ted Ayo said the ordinance expands on the existing state indecent exposure law by adding underwear to the list of forbidden exposures.

“This is a new ordinance that deals specifically with sagging pants,” Mr Ayo said. “It’s about showing off your underwear in public.”

Some residents say the ordinance targets blacks, as low-slung trousers are fashionable among hip hop fans.

Mr Broussard denied it was racially motivated.

“White people wear sagging pants, too,” he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6751777.stm

One of the things that we planned on working on this summer is the deck. It has taken on a greenish-gray tint, and needs a good washing, staining, and sealing.

Also, it is very slippery when it’s wet. This morning, it was raining.

I stepped outside wearing my favorite khakis – and promptly fell. I landed (somehow) on my butt AND my big toe.

The khakis have huge green marks on the shin and backside (which, David reports, came out in the immediate wash!) and my big toe is bigger and bloody. It hurts!

So, we just spent 5 minutes laughing at a richy doctor.  (A coworker came in and took us to the window, laughing and saying, “It’s a guilty pleasure.”)

It’s raining - a thunderstorm.  There’s a convertible out there.  The top’s down.  =>

—

I’m feeling pretty great, laughing at this guy aside.  I have a window again!  I was moved from a private office into what a friend refers to as a “bullpen” and what I thought of secretly as “the pit”.  7 or 8 of us squished into a tiny walkway of a room…  No windows (no natural light) and no air circulation, so it was always 85+ degrees in there.  Now, I’m in a corner office again, and there are windows here!  It’s amazing what natural light and space does for my productivity.

This is neat.  I’m listening to an Imogene Heap track that sounds like she:

a) recorded an entire song’s worth of words/syllables on one pitch,
b) mapped those syllables to a synthesizer,
c) played “herself” singing a stack of harmonies for a song, then
d) sang the melody and primary harmony tracks over it.

I am so excited!  This is the summer of home improvements – in our first home.

We moved into our house in October, so it was too late in the year to do any gardening, and too cold to do any real improvements to the inside (most of the inside work involves stripping wood or painting) or outside of the house.  But now it’s spring.

David has started going through a [rather long] handyman list.  He’s got some sort of schedule for the summer and has started going through it this week by:

• Installing screen doors onto our deck from the dining room
• Replacing the light fixture above the sink
• Hanging MANY picture frames
• Getting someone to build steps from our deck down to our yard (we had a small set at the corner, but now we have a deck wide set across the entire front)

I’ve been working, but I try to jump in and contribute, too.  I’ve started a couple of things that will take a while to complete:

• Stripping the wood in the bathroom (painted a hideous dark yellow – over GORGEOUS wood)
• Brushing rust from a second-hand wrought iron table/chair set

Also, we’re spending a lot of time outside – which makes me insanely happy.  I love the spring and summer!  We’ve had people over for cookouts, we’ve done some gardening (David doing the heavy duty weed digging and tree chopping, me doing the weeding and planting), and we bought shampoo for the dog.  David says it’s silly to spend money to have someone else wash our dog.  =)  After having done it once myself, I’m not so sure he’s right.  I did enjoy the experience, even if Jake HATED it.  It was funny – very funny – but I ended up SOAKED, and smelled like dog shampoo for a long time.

Anyway, the reason I’m not posting much is that I’m enjoying outside.  I spend all day in front of a computer – it’s good to get outside while the weather’s great.  =)

I’m getting ready to call it a night.  The house is clean and David’s winding down (he usually stays up later than me, but tonight I’m waiting for him). 

We had Pastor and Daisy over for dinner tonight – what a sweet time!  I love those two so much, and have been wanting to spend some time with them for a while (personal time – not time in passing after church or during a big event with folks surrounding, but honest-to-goodness quality time).  It was good timing, too, I think.  For us and for them. 

It’s been a rough week.  Janet, this funny, sweet old woman from church, died Wednesday.  It was unexpected, and we’re all missing her already.  The funeral was sweet – was joyful, in many ways – but it was still a funeral, a goodbye.

I was glad to have Tom and Daisy here – it was a chance to relax, to be in quiet fellowship - and to laugh!

—

We just moved the dog’s crate into the basement (it had been in the dining room, but I hated it there, in the room where we eat and have company) and tried to get him to go down and get in it, but that didn’t work out.  At first, he wouldn’t go downstairs.  Then he whined and whined.  Then it dawned on us stupid humans that the poor dog probably thought he was being punished.  Dark, quiet, alone… this is the most effective time-out environment for dogs, say all the books.

So we moved the crate back upstairs – now, it’s in a corner next to the piano.  Still out in the open, which I don’t like, but nestled into a relatively unobtrusive spot in our least-used downstairs room.  We’ll see if he likes this any better (I’m betting he will – he’s never really liked the basement).

Wish us sleep.  We may not get any (because we’ve changed Jake’s sleep environment).

I love this beach. It’s the best swimming beach I’ve ever been in – clear, bright blue water that looks like it’s straight out of a travel agency ad, and warm to boot! Fun waves. And surrounded by beautiful scenery (instead of tourists, buildings, or hotels):

first try at hdr, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

Leah and I have just finished watching all 6 hours of the A&E Pride and Prejudice – and she said she liked it!  She assures me that she didn’t say that to make me happy (I happen to think it’s the best thing since… well, ever).  Tomorrow, we’re going to watch the American version, and then the Bollywood version.  (For her literature class – compare and contrast.)  I’m in heaven.  =)

So nice… he lets me take pictures of him while I play with my new camera:

Dave, uploaded by tara.aukerman.

Posted tons of pictures on flickr. Click one of the pictures below to view them all. Wanna see something else? We were playing with the continuous capture settings on my new camera – it was meant for capturing fast moving objects (sports, etc), but we played a strobe game… Read the rest of this entry »