5.15.2006

A Baleful Stare.


Our refrigerator reproaches me with its stark shine. I've taken our collage down--comics, pictures, and John's doodles all-- and now it looks so respectable that I just set up an emergency email address to prepare for our new refrigerator. In the past, anyone who sent us a picture via real mail, email, or personal delivery was rewarded by having said picture taped on our refrigerator (excepting Johnny Cash and the one of Pope John Paul sitting with the Orthodox Patriarch; we took those from magazines).

To ensure that our refrigerator always looks messy and unpresentable, this practice will continue in our new home. If you'd like your snapshot on our refrigerator, send it to us! We prefer real photos as they are more durable than ones printed cheaply off of our computer, but, in case email is the only option, mail one to the newly fashioned fridgefame@gmail.com, deliver a photo in person, or send it to us via real mail once I give out the new address. You are welcome to send a photo even if we've never met in real life.

**UPDATE**
Due to John being an email snob, incredulous that I created a hotmail account in place of a gmail one, I have now created a second email address for electonically sent photos. Instead of the hotmail account that I posted earlier, please use this new and improved gmail account. (I love my email snob.)

p.s. If you've had your picture on our refrigerator in the past, feel welcome to provide a more current picture to replace it.

11 comments:

  1. I will need a physical mailing address to send you a photo. My e-mail address is barefootkangaroo@aol.com. Send me a mailing address and I will send you a photo (or photos).

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  2. Gmail rocks my world! I'm glad there are others who feel the same way.

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  3. I am also an e-mail snob :)

    How could you use hotmail???

    Gmail did to the online email world what needed doing a long time ago.

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  4. Are there rules? Does it have to be a picture of us, or could it be something we would really like to see on your fridge?

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  5. I'll try to send out an email with our mailing address on it sometime this week. And, to defend myself from email snobs, I'll be sending that email from my personal GMAIL account, which, in its supremacy, does indeed rock the world. (If any of you poor g-mail-less people out there would like your own account, let me know. I've got over 100 invitations to gmail to use up, so...)

    I'd never thought about rules before, so here goes nothin'. All previous pictures have predominantly featured their givers, but I suppose this is a precedent and not a rule. Photos should not tempt us toward murder, deceit, slothfulness, envy, or any other sin; they should not prick old heart-wounds or give fresh ones; they should not feature scantily clad women or men; they should not be so large that they can't be easily affixed to a large refrigerator, and they should be in moderately good taste (which explains, Miss Perry, why a photo of you examining a cow found its way to our fridge).

    That said, flood us with pictures, everyone!

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  6. Wow. What will happen to all the retired refridgerator pictures?

    And what will happen to me, if I fail to get a g-mail account? Will I get the measles, or the Bubonic plaugue?

    Why must one have an invitation?

    Perhaps I'll send you a picture or two sometime! (I'm wondering, though--how does a picture encourage slothfulness? Most of them do, for me.. Is a lengthy examination of a beautiful picture slothfulness, or is that merely profitable contemplation?)

    P.S.--I'm quite relieved to hear that your lost-camera-story ended in such a simple and anticlimactic fashion. God is good. :D

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  7. We'll tape all the old pictures to our new refrigerator unless an updated version is given.

    Never fear the gmail-less plague! Gmail really is the best email I've encountered. It filters out all spam, it has more storage than one could ever use, one can search through emails for specific words or subjects using a built-in search bar, sent emails and their replies are grouped together as "conversations", and on and on. At this point one can only get an account by being "invited" by a current gmail user. I'll send an invite to anyone who wishes; you can send an email to the fridgefame address if you don't want to give your address out publically.

    About the slothfulness, you've raised a valid distinction. Please do send a snapshot(s)! If you send a picture that I find myself contemplating for hours on end, I suppose the fault lies not in the picture, anyway.

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  8. I was thinking more along the lines of, say, a roaring lion - or such - and you could remember us by association. We associate with roaring lions these days. Fear not, we had no intention of luring you into any of the above sins. You know the old saying, "don't do anything that I wouldn't... put up on my fridge."

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  9. Murder? Wow. Now you got me wondering what kind of picture would tempt toward murder . . .

    Speaking of murder, I don't know if Titi's idea will make it past those rules. She told me she was thinking of sending you some of our chicken butchering photos.

    I think those would fail on account of murder and good taste (lacking it). However, if we were having a contest to see what refrigerator picture was the best conversation peice, they might win. I can just see the Owen refrigerator with one of our chicken butchering pictures and a guest comes in:

    Guest: "Um . . . er, what is that?"

    Abagail: "Oh. That's a picture of some barbarians butchering chickens."

    Guest (turning pale): "Ah . . . yes . . . I . . . I thought it looked like that."

    Abagail: "That reminds me. We're having chicken for supper."

    Guest: "I think I'm not hungry, anymore."

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  10. But that's exactly what I was thinking! Having a picture of people butchering chickens would only be an apt reminder of where your food comes from! As far as "taste" goes, Abby's already seen these photos (I sent them via email last year) and according to her report, she and John really enjoyed them. So if the photos have no taste, neither to Abby and John. (Or is it simply putting them on the fridge that is lacking in taste?)

    I was pretty sure the "murder" rule only applied to humans, but maybe not. (Though techincally she say the must only not tempt one to murder, and I must say I've never seen a picture of chicken butchering that's made me think, "Gee, I'd really like to go out and kill something." In fact, I generally find these sorts of pictures to be a rather strong reminder of why I don't like butchering.)

    Everything get's so confusing once we start talking about rules. . .

    Following Sandy's guideline to "not do anything I wouldn't put on the fridge", I know Abby and John have certainly considered butchering chickens sometime in the future. . .but I don't know if they've ever thought of putting pictures of it on the fridge.

    I figured I'd just send the photos and let them sort everything out.

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  11. Titi,

    Yes, please! We'll be tasteless and tape them up post haste when we get to the new place.

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