I saw this and had to post about this. Primarily because my pj prof hates “Day in the Life Of…” stories. But this… it glitters with that marvelous absurdity that I do so adore.

For two years now, a guy in Japan has been documenting the life of a Coca-Cola vending machine. He takes a picture, and posts it on his blog (that DOES have an RSS feed, btw). He also posts it with a picture from the exact same day a year ago for comparison. If there are differences - product placement, stickers on the machine or whatnot, even label changes on the products, he will mark them.

Translated, the blog name is:

I take a picture of the vending machine every day. I’m very sorry.

I think that might also be one of the best blog names ever, too.

The linked story here on Kilian-Nakamura.com explains the blog in better detail, and in comprehendable English (Google translate from Japanese to English is still in beta, an uh… needs work.) Best go check out their link, because otherwise it might not make much sense.

And it seems the guy has a Flickr page devoted to all the different Coke vending machines he finds out on the road.

So, yeah, just some of the vending machines in Japan…

UGA is playing Bama this weekend in our first away game of the season, and today I got my first “First & Goal” cover… and it’s pretty cool.

“First & Goal” is our Friday B-section in the fall. Usually, the R&B’s B-sections - “Out & About” on Thursdays and “First & Goal” - are magazine-style full color, full page photos / illustrations / photo illustration. And go figure, I get my first cover, and it’s the first time I can remember that the folks downstairs didn’t sell enough advertising to make a B-section.

Arg.

So First & Goal became two pages on the inside between national wire stuff and the local news, and I got a half-page b&w photo illustration. It’s still turned out pretty well, but it would have been a lot cooler full page and in color.

© Lindy Dugger / The Red & Black

I don’t have a copy of the file, so I took a screenshot from the page pdf that I downloaded online.

I’m credited with the entire illustration, but actually I ended up just taking the picture, somebody else processed it and fixed the sign. I like the sign. It’s a nice touch.

Making this was a bit of a mess. It was really last minute, and someone else’s idea, so I had to execute my interpretation of our photo editor’s interpretation of their idea that was explained to my slightly-intoxicated self over the phone the night before then emailed in-diagram to me.

“Idea B” © Kelly Wegel

And then one of my assistants bailed on me and the very stinkin’ last minute that morning, but we were saved by a roommate in the wrong place at the wrong time whom I bribed with promises of a Chik-Fil-A sandwich and a ride to class later.

Yep. Definitely one of those pull-it-out-your-ass assignments, but we pulled it together quite nicely in the end, and that’s what I get paid for I reckon.

And holy crap it’s almost October.