update: at least a half-dozen strangers said "BAUMER!!" to me tonight. i think that, let alone the other good things about tonight, made it a success.

i think i'll need a new heart

stephin "neither my first nor last name is spelled quite like you think it is" merritt

World of Wild Beards, Inc.

unrelatedly, but in the wake of this, my coworker posted this link on my facebook. sample:

SHIT YEAH

you can thank me later:

we won trivia last night

my self-esteem is at an all-time high

i love reading the paper in hard copy format

if you are not lucky enough to do this with the washington post (which is well-nigh unreadable online), you might have missed this gem today.

i have included a picture of him primarily because of his turtleneck.

this thing looks like that thing

while i'm on the posting train, here are a few other things. they're mostly all beard-related.

i am probably going to be richie tenenbaum for halloween, because though it is sort of played out, i've got the beard and i've got to use it. if you have better suggestions (maybe raleigh st. clair? i'd need a lot of Just for Men: Touch of Gray for that). my friend meredith is going as max fischer, which i think is perfect, and these decisions were made separately and unbeknownst to the other. once is happenstance. twice is coincidence. three times is enemy action.
in other news, while obtaining my daily double macchiato, the girl at starbucks asked me if i listened to death from above 1979, and said i look like that guy (i didn't specify but i'm assuming the bass player, who is awesome [though upon further review, it looks like the bass player usually has just a moustache, so you be the judge]) or ben bridwell from band of horses. i also thought about buying a pair of maroon jeans from h&m, because i feel like if i can get mistaken for people who are actually cool, i should just go all out in dressing like an idiot. people will have certain expectations for me and i shan't disappoint them.

i didn't, though. i just bought two button down grey striped shirts, because my other twentyfive from h&m were getting lonely.

come to think of it, "i've got the beard and i've got to use it" is a pretty good mantra.

WANTS

i've been thwarted twice in my quest. i needs. i wants. i will have.

+

= GIGADELAY

i would like a grande expresso.

i haven't really done anything with myself yet. i did find a way to put that picture in the title of my blog, so i guess i have done one thing, and it necessitates another blog post so that it doesn't conflict with the one below. so, in the spirit of living in the moment, this is where i'm going now:





all their babies are vegan-- and delicious!

tell me what it's like to never worry

i must have missed this earlier

this appears to be the definitive palin rape kit post. read.

http://jezebel.com/5054308/debunking-the-sarah-palin-rape-kit-debunkers

even if we tried so hard, would we still be coming to an end?

the place i get bagels in the morning is right below our building. it's a greek restaurant that primarily does lunch, catering, and rotating greek specialties. seems to be doing well, since it's one of the only local-run lunch places within five blocks of here, and the food is generally good. who doesn't like greek? (not real great for vegetarians, but i am assuming.)

they also have breakfast, coffee, a seldom-used espresso machine, and bagels. h & h bagels, to be specific. fresh from new york. they are easily the best bagels i've had in DC-- which, admittedly, is like saying i'm easily the tallest person on Lilliput-- and have traditionally been coupled with a gigantic styrofoam cup of iced tea, no ice, which i take upstairs and pour over ice for the equivalent of 3 glasses of tea. $4.39 for bagel and cream cheese and tea-- if they had a tip jar, i would have chipped in tons of cash over the 18 months we've been at this office.

the people who work there all know me pretty well by now, and are really, really friendly. the big boss, when he's around, is this super greek looking guy who insists on engaging every single person who comes in. there's a weird mixture of english, greek, and spanish (with different accents) that are spoken behind the counter, which always amuses/delights me, because i don't think i've ever let on that i understand or speak spanish. the guy who makes my bagels on most mornings is my buddy, as is the guy who works the register. it's sort of a de facto family.

i used to go every day. i've gotten really sloppy in recent weeks, and we got an iced tea machine in the office, so i haven't been going. so, when i went in today (at about 11am, the whole place is empty as they're getting ready for catering and the lunch rush), all of them greeted me kindly and immediately commented on my beard. i swear to god the damn thing is a conversation piece. they treated it (and me) with a mixture of amusement, confusion, and enthusiasm. so i told them about how it's for the election, and how i'm going traveling.

i don't know if i can flog the point that i'm going to miss dc any more than i already have. i'm looking forward to having stories about other places, and to returning.

re: stacks

this is what i did this morning.



i played in front of a big gothic building last night. mixed talking heads and destroyer. mixed wilson pickett, the national, and bob dylan. used a delay pedal.

today it took me a long time to wake up, longer to get out of bed. i combed my beard (after the video), ate a tempeh bacon lettuce tomato sandwich, and bought a radio alarm clock in the hopes of being able to wake up if NPR comes on instead of a hellish beeping.