Thanks uncle Steve!

We had an interesting and generally great year. We thought it’d be nice to post something about how that was true for our work at Juxtaprose, and so we just published a goodbye 2009 / thank you post on our Juxtaprose blog. That post includes a photo we took today of us sitting with some of the nice swag we’ve received from clients in 2009.

Some of said swag includes the “Free Schmidt” t-shirts we received from cousin Lisa (the “Free Schmidt” t-shirts will make sense once you read The Spellmans Strike Again, which is out in March 2010). And we wanted to do a second, Spellman Files-themed, photo with just Lisa’s books from ’09 and the shirts, for her amusement. And, voilá! That’s the photo above, now included here for your amusement too!

If, after that, you’re still in a Fine & Full mood and want to read something new I’ve written on Wrong Notes, check out On Music Appreciation, which I also published today .

Some more little details and finishes are still to come—including the final piece that will make the studio “sound proof.”

But, it’s totally happening!

P.S. it’s a small space, so I shot the photo with Anastasia’s fisheye lens to get most of it in the picture—which means all of the proportions are distorted.

watch the movie (.mov, requires QuickTime)

This movie is "part 1," and covers the period from before construction (pre-November 2006) to the completion of drywalling (12/22). So, you’ll see some evidence of: cleaning out the garage, breaking ground, replacing the furnace and water heater, adding a heat pump, framing and insulating the floor, pouring new foundation, removing the garage door, framing the walls, new electical wiring and moving the breaker panel, new ducting and venting, insulating the walls and ceiling, and drywalling.

(Doh! Reducing all this to a two minute video makes it look too easy!)

Fingers crossed and knock on wood, in a few weeks, we’ll do a part 2 movie covering from drywalling to move-in!

technical note: The movie might sputter and stop if you start watching before it downloads all the way. If this happens, give it a few minutes to download—there’s actually a download progress bar at the bottom that tells you what’s happening.

another note: The background music is the original, instrumental-only version of a song that will appear on my upcoming album, due for release in Spring 2007. Some of the album art appears at the end of the video, including the famous portrait of me in 9th grade drawn by Bernard Bernard when we were in 10th grade.

The photo was taken on Monday just after it started snowing. We still have ice and snow on the ground today (Wednesday). It’s been a cold week. There’s supposed to be more snow tonight. Many businesses have been closed or short-staffed because people can’t make it in. This city really shuts down with this kind of weather. Rain, we can handle. Snow, not so much.

We have no garage door now but we do have a new tankless waterheater, heatpump, and furnace.

Follow the link and check out the pix. Anastasia and I are hidden in several of them. 10 points each time you find us

We’ve been on an autograph roll too. Anastasia saw Mike Doughty play at Amazon the day before, and got him to autograph both his newest CD and LP, Haughty Melodic, and his previous CDs, Skittish & Rockity Roll.

And, earlier this week, we also saw Stephen Malkmus play a great set at Sonic Boom reccords, and came away with autographed copies of his newest CD, Face the Truth, and an autographed promo poster.