http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2008/12/06/modern-beds-and-creative-bed-designs/

I was surprised by how many of them I liked.  Top ranking were the Sampon Day Bed, Private Cloud rocking bed, and the Terminal 1 daybed.  Also the Tree Bed.

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I went to a trade show yesterday that was meant for meeting planners.  I ended up with two bags full (bah, bah black sheep!) of the greatest tradeshow swag.  Work bought the ticket to get in or I would have never gone.  Would that I was drinking right now …. much free wine, champagne and other varieties of booze flowing.  And food.  Seriously, they had mugs, paper, pens, 1GB flash drives, flashlights, mouse pads, t-shirts, hats, candy, almonds, manicure kits – all sorts of things you might not expect.  My favorite was a little (1 cup) package of heirloom pinquito beans with a packet of Santa Maria seasoning with them.  So cute!  So useful and nice!  I know, it’s just beans, but I liked it.

I threw everything out on the table for sorting purposes and then packed most of it into boxes for two of my nieces.  Lucky them!   I already have enough junk in my house as I have a little packrat-itis going on, inherited from my grandma, I think.

“Simplify!” I say, as I find one more piece of stuff I think I need to keep.

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We saw Richard Thompson at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico on Tuesday night.  We were in the front row, center table.  RT was about 8 feet in front of us.   It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to – he was so intense and energetic and SUCH a fecking good guitar player.  His vocals were rich and intense.   It was marvelous to be so close and watch his hands and face and body while we were listening.  He writes great, great songs.  I didn’t know he wrote Persuasion, one of the ATF songs that my heroes the Finn brothers recorded. I didn’t know he wrote Wall of Death that R.E.M. recorded.

He did that song I linked to earlier when I wrote about this concert – Dad’s Gonna Kill Me – about the war in Iraq.  If you listen again, here’s the army-speak key:  Dad is Baghdad.  Ali-Baba is any native of Iraq.  Frankenstein is a humvee they’ve welded a metal skirt to for protection, muzzle monkey is any infantryman.  The version he did on stage was WAY better than this calm version that I’ve linked to.

He got so much music out of his guitar that it was just unbelievable.  So, so good.  I had no idea.  If I was a few years younger I might be following him around on tour trying to convince him to f*ck me.

Some bands/musicians are better on CDs so that the production values can be enhanced.  Some bands/musicians really shine when they’re live and getting audience feedback.  Richard Thompson is one of the latter – his CDs are very good but Sweet JEEBUS he rocked my world in person Tuesday night.