I hadn't intended to keep this ominous looking photograph of the backyard up, but I can't seem to delete it, so stay it will. I can't stop playing around with the layer modes in Photoshop. The actual photo of the backyard and the long-outgrown swingset seemed so boring, so everyday, so much like my life that I tried to change it. But maybe the boring and everyday is where the true mystery of life resides.

We're supposed to have a snowfall this weekend here in New Jersey. Whenever there's even a hint of snow, everyone responds by shopping. The supermarkets are jammed, as is the local Barnes and Noble where, (by sheer conincidence) I happened to be browsing around this morning. Everyone needs that last minute book or DVD in case they're snowed in. I guess this is what it means to live in a "culture of consumption." But if it makes us feel better, is it really all that bad?