Where's Nate?

living large in the four-oh-eight. wicked large.

2.28.2005

to cap, or not to cap.

you have no doubt noticed by this point that i have made a conscious effort to de-cap my blog. something about the simplicity of lowercase letters made it a worthwhile endeavor. but after an enlightening conversation with my buddy, andrew, i have decided to temporarily suspend my exercise in typography.

Beginning with this sentence, I would like to welcome uppercase letters to wheresnate.com.

Subject headings will remain in lowercase. After all, that's part of the brand. But the text itself will now be a bit more conventional (and readable). Consider it a shout-out to twelve years of English teachers. This one's for you, Miss Hendrickson.

2.21.2005

remember the alamo

it's funny that the oft-quoted phrase above points one to a rather underwhelming place. i spent some time last week in san antonio, yet another sprawling western city with wide streets and a fragmented urban scene.

sure, the riverwalk area is interesting for a night or two...a kind of new orleans-meets-san diego on a pseudo river. fresh guacamole, solid mexican eats, and tasty margaritas all make dinner go by in a flash.

and, of course, all roads lead to the alamo. after all, it's right downtown. across the street from ripley's and around the corner from the mall. and it's tiny. they say texas was born here. hmmmm.

not to worry, san antonio. you had me at "fresh guac."

2.14.2005

of pitchers and catchers

it's that time of year again. when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. fortunately, the sporting gods have spared us and minimized the downtime between the super bowl and the first pitch. this spares the sports fan from having to stomach more than ten days of that travesty called the 'national basketball association.' phew.

my sports radar is alive and chirping. and only an intense three-week period of college hoopage in march can distract me from the national pasttime between now and late october. will the sox repeat? will john smoltz regain his starting touch? will the giants dugout eschew sunflower seeds in favor of prune juice and depends? will johnny damon ever cut his hair again?

but, for me, the big question is this: which stadium is next? with only a dozen or so remaining, i'm making steady progress. past highlights include milwaukee, the steel city, the los angeles angels of anaheim, and wrigley.

you heard it here first: kansas city is the odds-on favorite for 2005.

2.03.2005

how to burn $80k/second

ah, the super bowl. what a spectacle it has become. two weeks of media hype and players talking smack. six hours of pregame garble courtesy of dumb (howie long) and dumber (terry bradshaw). cameras embedded in the turf so that viewers can sneak a peek at the referee's cleats. and sixty minutes of battlin' on the gridiron.

which all leads up to the real show: the commercials. somewhere between the apple 1984 ad and flatulent horses, america's obsession with the super bowl commercial has blurred the line between big media and big athletics. if you can't wait for sunday, here's a great site for ad previews.

of course, i can't help but share one of my old fav's. sure, this one never aired during the super bowl. but given last year's lowbrow fest, it could have.

smartbeep
(click image to view)

by the way: pats 24, eagles 20. tom brady for president.