[caption id="attachment_594" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times"][/caption]

Article in the Times today detailing the flushing tunnel under Degraw Street, and the work being done to it.  Good article, except it kept going on about the canal "stench" - which is just factually incorrect and makes me wonder if he's walked around here much.  I mean, hey, a mountain spring it is not, and after heavy rain, it's not pretty.  I am, however, tired of the comments like "oh, you live in Gowanus, how do you deal with the smell!?"  Years ago, sure.  It was known as the Lavender Lake.  But in 2011?  Just not true.  Comment #1 was spot on.]]>

The first cutting board is almost done. These guys involve a lot of cutting, and gluing, and waiting, and cutting, and gluing, and waiting, and sanding, and finishing, and waiting, and finishing, and all that, so they take some time when done individually.

It's 2" thick and solid walnut and maple.  Heavy.  Here it is pre-glue:

Playing around with the Morse code idea, going forward, I'm going to do something more like this:

It gives it some directionality and makes the dot/dash pattern a bit more prominent.

The board is a blend of old and new. It's made by hand and personalized, but working within specific bounds. It's something you can order over the interwebs that uses a form of communication invented 175 years ago. It starts a conversation.

Samuel Morse was also a founder of the National Academy. People forget that. He was a painter first. He only went on to revolutionize communication after his wife passed away in New Haven while he was in Washington, DC, with Morse finally aware of her failing health only when it was too late.]]>

[caption id="attachment_559" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times"][/caption]

So the EPA finally published its findings regarding the pollution in the canal.

Some quotes...

From the Brooklyn Paper:

“The contamination … is widespread and may threaten people’s health, particularly if they eat fish or crabs from the canal or have repeated contact with the canal water or sediment,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said on Wednesday morning.

Yes.  Avoid the crabs.  Real crabs.  The crustaceans.  I'm not talking about this.

It is, after all, "...one of the most contaminated water bodies in the nation."

But that's not really news.

[caption id="attachment_558" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="© Tonky Designs"][/caption]

I do live here and am quite fond of it, and do look forward to it eventually being restored to decent urban not-totally-gross waterway. But I've been canoeing in it, and it's not really as bad as it seems. And it doesn't smell. Really. No, and not in the summer either.

But, due to the combined sewer overflows (CSOs), it can get a bit messy at times.

Looking forward, this, from SCAPE (via PSFK) is encouraging.  Oyster-tecture.

[caption id="attachment_560" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Photo: SCAPE"][/caption] ]]>

Take a look at this from Niels Epting- someone else who also appreciates wall-mounted shelving and abhors waste.

Love it.

Thanks to Ainsley for the tip.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="270" caption="by Niels Epting - http://blog.nielsepting.ch"][/caption] ]]>

I put links at the top of the page to current products for sale, as well as consulting services I offer for small creative businesses.  Take a look.

As far as services, over the years I've learned that I can speak a number of "different languages" working across different groups, especially explaining the complicated and technical to those not so inclined.

Creative+strategy+IT services+marketing+operations.

I'm proudly not a specialist.   I focused on competitive strategy in school, but can also build you innovative customized tools in Excel and teach you how to use them.  Or develop and flesh out business plans.  Or set up Google Apps for your www.yourdomain.com so that you have a you@yourdomain.com email address. (Setting up Google Apps and Gmail for a domain is a little tricky, but not that hard - do it yourself, if you want, just do it!). And more!

Get in touch if I can help...]]>

All our best to you and yours and hope you're able to spend this evening with friends and loved ones.

I recommend you ring in the New Year with a tasty punch.  Class it up a bit, in an olde timey way.  This one hits the spot.

It's really very good.

If too late now, do file the recipe away and try it the next time you're having a party.  Freeze some grapefruit-sized water balloons for ice (then remove the balloon, give it a rinse to get off that powder, and in the punch it goes).

Enjoy!

And serve it in a punch bowl like this:

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There was an article recently about how Brooklyn is the place for Fancy Cakes. Right. Brian Williams said it best discussing this new infatuation with Brooklyn a few days ago.

For about 10 years I drank my coffee every day out of an Entenmann's mug - that being most of college and a good stretch afterwards.  My grandparents would mail away the barcodes and eventually stockpiled quite a cache.  So when I broke #1 after five years or so (I was washing it - hastily! - in my old apt on Mulberry Street - still a sad memory...), #2 was there (pictured) ready for me.

That one finally cracked a bit (again, careless...), and now it holds my keys.  Two years ago I decided it was time for a change and switched to my current mug - from Polly's Pancake Parlor.

Anyway, point is, my old Entenmann's #2 looked nice in the sun, so gave it a closer look, and noticed for the first time (albeit a bit blurry) that Entenmann's fancy cakes were originally from Flatbush.

Their current Flatbush location is also where all the malformed cakes end up.  Fascinating.

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