Designers and bankers, sometimes both lack a connection to reality

It's been a mixed week. We got a notice from the IRS regarding out 2008 taxes, turns out our accountant messed up and we owe another $500. Our cat decided to urinate on the couch again. I think my motorcycle helmet is the causing me acne like a 16yr old and I just spent 1/2 hr deciding on new glasses just to find out the place doesn't take my insurance. Oh yes, the kitty has now racked up over $1,000 in vet bills.

On the plus side I had a good mountain bike ride on Wednesday and a good road ride back from work yesterday and Kat and I had a really nice supper Thursday night, and it was free. I think overall it's been a positive week.

On the ride back from work on Friday a random driver rolled down their window and declared "Croatia!". I happened to be wearing the 2002 Croatian world cup jersey for a biking shirt. She is only the third person ever to recognize the jersey. Sadly my Nigerian jersey has never been recognized by anybody and *that* one stands out.

I forgot to mention that the insurance company got back to me with my check for the damage to the motorcycle. They actually sent me a cheque for more money than the BMW shop quoted the repairs for, which is pretty shocking considering the quote. I think their approach is to give you more money than you asked for and then hope they never hear from you again. Fair enough. I've replaced the pants and boots and I'm waiting for all the parts to come in so they can fix the rest of the motorcycle. It'll be nice to be able to shift in a normal manner again rather than having to hook the sole of my boot under a sharp piece of metal, which is what I have to do now. I didn't realize it until last week, but I'm wearing a hole in the thick leather of my boots by shifting like that.

not my picture

As some of you may know, Kat and I appreciate designer things. A well thought out, good quality item is (in my mind) well worth the extra cash you have to cough up for it. Our Cameleon couch is one thing that falls in to that category. We also subscribe to Dwell magazine because we like to look at how people use small spaces and 'green' design for houses. I find that only 5% of design appeals to me, mostly I just don't agree with peoples design esthetic which is fine because that is the joy of artistic things, you can differ in opinion. Some times though I think that designers seem to forget about reality and get caught up in their own heads. A recent list of chairs in Dwell pointed out this as a 'designer' chair (follow link or look to the right). Oh please, what the hell is that? It's ugly, unfinished and boring. I don't care if the wood is cured using a unique mixture of yak and panda piss and it hum lullabies to you when you sit in it. It's ugly, unfinished and boring. Somebody take that designer outside and slap him around with a reality stick.

It reminds me of a conversation I once had with a designer/artist who was telling me about his coffee table he designed that had grass under the glass top of the table.

me - Interesting, how do you handle the drainage?
him - What?
me - You're going to have to water the grass, so how do you handle the water drainage?
him - looks confused, then adopts the long suffering look of an a miss-understood artist dealing with a Philistine

The conversation dried up after that. Actually, that conversation was with an ex-girlfriend's boyfriend so there were all kinds of extra layers of uncomfortable.

On a lighter note I just got back from the bike shop where I had to get my rear wheel trued on my road bike. There were two cute ladies working at the shop and both of them getting dirty and fixing bikes, how hot is that?