Oh man, that was incredible. A bunch of tikiphiles on a chartered bus, stopping at the best Polynesian restaurants/bars in Mass. I’m so glad I signed up!!

The Official Homepage
Some great pics from Waitiki
A few of my own

edit 8/29- A whole bunch of great pics from Johnman!

I am pleased to announce my candidacy for the office of President of the Internet. Please cast your vote by linking the text “president of the internet” to my homepage.
It may be a long shot now, but time is on my side. Thank you for your support.

My name is Paige Howarth, and I approve this message.

Dancing cowboys, vaguely middle-eastern youths on a Mary Poppins-ish rooftop, enlongated livestock embedded with state names… The web banner ads for lowermybills.com are ubiquitous and distinctive, and surely you’ve wondered from whence they came. Turns out, they are generated by one Jennifer Uhll, the unassuming 35-year old former creative director at LowerMyBills. Yes, former, because– brace yourselves– the ads were such a success that she left the company in 2005 to start her own company, Juhll Inc. Now for the big payoff, folks- check out her website. It’s exactly what you’re envisioning.

So Jill is a roller girl. Time to check that one off th’ list! She’s a rookie in the CTRG flat-track league. If you’ve talked to me since April, you know all about it, and if you haven’t, now you know why!
An amazing thing: think of a clever roller derby name, and it will magically appear on this database. Isn’t that a cool trick? Well, not really, after you and your friends have all contributed several excellent names. (Hannah Barbaric, c’mon!) However, a group effort yielded a perfect -and original- name for Jill. I won’t reveal it here until I get proper clearance from the lady in charge. But rest assured, it’s a good fit.So be sure to check out the International Rollergirls’ Master Roster. And who’s it managed by, you ask? Page Burner.

Okay, it’s been months since I’ve written here. Oh, fer shame. What’s happened these last few months? I’ve become obsessed with roller derby, completed a few freelance projects, begun pinstriping. Contemplated my future, examined my desire to teach. Questioned my profession, and rejected some of its tenets.

I’m in a trough of sorts- I’m slowly changing direction. I spent years trying to settle into a secure professional role, and now I feel an overwhelming need to escape the suffocating atmosphere I’ve created. Don’t misunderstand; I love my job. I just need to make sure it doesn’t define me.

I’ve made some progress. I’m shoveling through my list of ‘07 New Years Resolutions, and it may actually see justice. Maybe my list was too soft, and perhaps my goals have shifted a bit. In any case, it’s time to shift gears and step on the gas, ever so gently.

My project this weekend was building a soundproof box. The box itself came out pretty slick, and really muffled my air compressor. In typical fashion though, the compressor basically died. So I sprang for a little Iwata compressor made specifically for airbrushing. I hoped against hope that the thing would be loud as hell, but of course it purrs like a kitten. So now I have a cool, heavy, soundproof (and homemade!) box to store my paints n’ such.

So here’s how it went down: I bought 2 “handy panels” of 1/2″ ply at Home Depot. Threw the box together with sheetrock screws, caulked every seam (inside & out), and lined the inside with roofing shingles and upholstery foam. (I heard roofing material has good soundproofing characteristics, though that may be hokum.) Then I sprayed the thing with cheap flat black. The flames were my first real airbrushing test. I cut them from my 24″ roll of yellow vinyl, then sprayed orange, then red. The paint is transparent Createx, which I’m very happy with. Not that this box is going outside, but I sprayed quite a bit of Krylon clear on there too.

My beautiful little compressor
Find the kitty for a prize

So interesting twist to the package story… my order was accidentally shipped to a Mr. Simon B. in England. I tore open my shipment a la Christmas morning when it arrived, and it turned out to be Simon’s disc brake assembly. So, my package is FINALLY almost here, after circumnavigating the globe. (FedEx left the note on my door just hours ago, so I’ll have the package tomorrow. They were supposed to pick up Simon’s package as well– hope that happened.)

Now this is amazing to me. I ordered a bunch of parts for my Vespa (pictures coming!), and though Scootrs took a while to get the order ready, it took just 2 days to ship. From Vietnam. I know I’m a wierdo, but I’d love to see a documentary tracking that package from its source to its destination. Oh, and I could’ve saved $10 or so by selecting shipment by barge, which takes about 4 months (!).

…and sent the creator of MS Word into space!

Actually, that’s really cool. If the global economy is going to run the earth, we may as well reap some positive benefits. Like space tourism! Because America can’t properly fund NASA and 2 wars. So let the wealthy do it.  They have effectively all the
money in the world, so they should spread it around. And I don’t mean to vineyards and limo-makers. Cheers to philanthropy and research into cool technologies.

Now about that Internet Explorer team…

Ericka said I should put my paintings & stuff online, so here they are, on my portfolio page. I took most of these photos 1 year ago! It’s unbelievable how long I can let things go.