blog.noetech.com

Playing Darts

I got myself a dart board last week and have been playing whenever I'm home, which has been more than usual the last week or so.

So tonight I'm throwing around a couple darts, trying to get my form down, when I threw the darts you see pictured. I'm pretty impressed myself. Right on top of each other, just like Robin Hood, or something.

St. Nick's Day

Yesterday was St. Nick's Day. Hope you put out your shoes and got lots of markers and chocolate. That's what we always got. Oh, and maybe a Matchbox Car.

Birthdays

It's getting pretty close to my 27th birthday, and from the way I talk, you would would think it's tomorrow.

After your 21st birthday, there isn't much to look forward to until 65, that artificial retirement age. You have 16, 18, and 21, then nothing. It doesn't seem fair. There should be something you can't do until you're 30. I don't have any suggestions, but it would give you something to look forward to other than just getting older.

Coming to Terms

There's nothing harder then coming to terms with how people perceive you and how you perceive yourself.

Scissor Sisters

The Scissor Sisters are coming to the Avalon at the end of September and I don't have tickets. A little sad.

Temps are rising

Damn is it hot.

Everywhere else I've lived, not that many places really, August has been the *hottest month of the year. Not in LA. Apparently that's reserved for September.

Now I hate air-conditioning in my home. When we were growing up we didn't have it in our house** and our mother would not let us use it in the car. She would always say that people complain all winter long about how cold it was, then as soon as summer hit they would turn on the air-conditioning. So, according to my mother, you are only allowed to complain about one season a year, and that's winter. So...normally i don't use it, but I've been cracking. I turn it on for no longer than 15 minutes or so, just to take the edge off, but I still feel like I'm breaking a rule.

Here's hoping for a cooler week.

*Why do you double the T?

**To qualify this I should mention that we did have a couple of window units, but we could only use them when it was over 100 or so.

Holidays

Two of my favorite holidays of the year are Labor day and Memorial day. A holiday isn't really a holiday if it doesn't include a BBQ and afternoon drinking. Unfortunately no one I know (a pretty small lot I'll admit) is having a one tomorrow. I would throw one myself of course, but I don't think I could fit that many people on my balcony.

I'm going to miss my brats tomorrow.

Continuing the Healing

The tattoo is healing up nicely now, after some rough days. It's securely in the inching like crazy stage.

Now that a lot of the scab is off, it looks a little more pink that I would have wanted.

A New Hobby

For the last few weeks I've been spending at least half an hour a day at wikipedia.org. It's really addicting. I especially like the sections on the Constitutional amendments.

Triumph TR3

When I was a little boy, before I could come anywhere close to seeing the big picture, my Dad had a Triumph TR-3. A little red one, much like the one pictured to the right except his had a roll bar and a lot more rust.

We all loved that car, but not nearly as much as my sister. When my Dad sold it to buy a very cool, but not working at all, Jaguar (pictured at left), she cried. I don't think it's going too far to say that that experience ruined cars for her forever. Somewhere there's a really great photography of her as the car is being taken away (I must admit that I could be making this part up).

I don't remember much, the rust holes, standing in the back holding onto the roll bar, and most of all, the smell. A mixture of gas and, well I guess, age. It was a beautiful thing.

I mention it because I'm seriously looking for a new car, though I haven't even begun to think about paying for it. A TR-3 is in the running along with a mid 60s Porsche 912, and another Bug. Surprisingly, they're all in the same cost range.

I'm sorta partial to this one. He's cute with the racing stripes. and so far not too badly priced. I could get it shipped from Texas right :-)

Yeah right, just like I'm going to have my Bug shipped from Chicago. Any day now, I promise.

Merit Can Be Bought. Passion Can't.

Human beings have this thing I call the "Pissed Off Gene". It's a bit of genetic programming that makes us utterly dissatisfied with our lot, no matter how kindly fortune smiles upon us.

[gapingvoid]

This seems especially relevant right now.

Themes

I realized tonight that I hate themes. I don't mean a something as general as simplicity or even a specific decade, but rather a motorcycle built with a fire truck theme.

I think it goes all the way back to junior high with those dances. Yuck. They were also so god awful. Then there was prom, with some awful under the sea theme. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Now there's cars, motorcycles, and houses with themes. There's just something horribly wrong with designing something to look like something else. Design should be unique and stand on it's own, embracing itself. Why on earth do you want your house to look like a movie theater or a stadium?

But I do watch all those shows.

Bobby Fischer

Poor Bobby Fischer, detained in Japan for playing a game in Yugoslavia in '92. His story keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Black Card

This afternoon I was at the Apple Store in the Grove picking up some eMacs (Apple is have a hard time getting inventory to our normal supplier) when the women in front of me pulled out her credit card. Now this wasn't you typical card, it was an American Express Black card. If you're not familiar with it, it's invitation only, don't bother applying, and is only given out to the uber-wealthy who charge at least $150k per year. To add to the whole experience, she was beautiful. Nothing like seeing a beautiful and uber-wealthy women to kill your day, I can't even pick up someone at the bar.

Some Links to Fill Up Your Day

Possibly my most visited lunch place gets a visit from the Mayor, sort of.

How do I get invited to these things :-) More here.

Why you should bring your camera everywhere.

The Faint's new album is still far from complete, but their site is using some interface elements from Mac OS 7.

Because I need on more.

Five Things to Work on in the Next Month

1. Making work more enjoyable and getting out of the rut that I'm in.

2. How to make more of my LA experience. How to turn it into a good story to tell in ten years.

3. How can I dress up my studio apartment to make it seem more permanent and comfortable.

4. Getting rid of the car I have and into something I would prefer.

5. Plan a long weekend to Chicago (must work on fear of flying).

Why Live in LA

It seems most everyone living in LA, with the possible exception of people from LA, hate it. At the same time, no one ever leaves. They just stay here all the while talking about how much better ______ * is.

From my amateur observations there seems to be two reasons for this.

1. The weather. Who wants to go back to the New York or Chicago winters? Not me, though this June Gloom thing is getting really old.

2. Money. Wealth is everywhere you turn. At any moment you can become rich, or at least that's what it feels like. You can almost reach out and grab it. The air is just thick with money.

3. I know I said two, but I'm just not good at sticking to numbers. You just feel more important here then you do other places. Now this one is more personal, I can't say if anyone else feels it but I bet they do.

*This is usually New York, but on occasion you get the true answer, Chicago.

Friendster

Two things about Friendster.

One: I have a friend on my friendster list who, for the life of me, I can't remember. I have no idea who this person is. She lives in a town where another friend of mine is from, but I don't think they are connected. How did she end up on my list? She's cute though.

Ok I'll admit it, I only had one thing.

RC Cola

I'm in the middle of reading Bill Clinton's My Life. In chapter eight, he mentions how much he liked RC cola and how he was disappointed when they stopped making it. This was in 1964. They still make it now, and it's the best soda by the way, but did they stop and bring it back more recently?

Apparently, RC owns 7up and Dr. Pepper now.

Congratulations

Congrats go out my friend Josh back in Chicago for his new promotion to Chef de Cuisine at Cooba. Where's my duck?

Peanut Butter

There are not many joys as simple and as pure as the first cut into a new container of peanut butter.

Changing a Car Battery

I hate modern cars. Everything has to be so difficult. Starting a few weeks ago, something went wrong with the 2000 Jetta I have. One morning it wouldn't start, the battery was dead. Got the car jumped and off I went. A couple of days later it wouldn't start again. Hoping it was a bad battery, and not something electrical that was draining the it, I went out and bought a new one.

Here's the fun part, changing the fucking thing. In any old car, the process would take ten minutes, maybe a few minutes longer in a Bug, but nothing significant. Today I spent two fucking hours trying to get the damn thing switched out. Part of this was my fault, I don't have a full set of tools anymore, haven't since I left Fond du Lac, so that always makes it harder. But still, two hours?

I had to take off the cables. There's not just two anymore either. There's a whole box of wires sitting on top of the batter with fuses and other crap. Then I had to take off a shell that wraps the battery. It was non to obvious exactly how to do that either. There appeared to be two screws way down that needed to be removed. Of course I don't have a socket extension that long, so most of my time was spent trying to figure out a way to either get one or do without.

This was the part that took most of my time. Finally I realized how to take the shell off with out removing those bolts. So with that out of the way, now all I had to do was remove the clamp at the base. The problem here was that there was no way I was going to get a socket to fit in the little tiny crevice they gave it. In order to get the socket in there I had to remove the back of the headlight housing.

With that done, I switched out the battery and hooked it up. I went to start the car and....nothing. All kinds of weird clicks coming from the dash while the digital readouts went crazy, but the car didn't turn over. Turns out I just needed to let the car sit for awhile and "charge". Charge what I don't know, but twenty minutes later the car started right up.

God, I just want my 1965 Porsche 912.

Here's hoping it's not something with the electrical that's draining the battery. I don't think it is. There was a lot of the battery acid corrode powder stuff (is there a word for that) all around.

My Bag

Ray Charles

How sad. Ray Charles dies at 73.

Max Raabe

I'm absolutely in love with Max Raabe. Hear a clip or two at the WOW Report.

I could Use One

More at my Moblog

Tropicana Lemonade

I just bought a single serving bottle of Tropicana Lemonade. On the bottle it says:

Made With Not From Concentrate

That's an awkward sentence, isn't it?

P.S. Is that really how you spell awkward? That's a little awkward.

Hipster Bingo

Print it out and take it the next show. I would win in five minutes just hanging out at the 6 way in Wicker Park. You know, if I still lived in Chicago.

Phone Booth

Last weekend I was walking with my visiting friends up Highland Ave, coming back from lunch, when we passed a ringing pay-phone. Of course I had to answer it. On the other end was a man who told me he had the money he owed me.

He asked me about how much I would need, see he just got paid and had all that I could need. We settled on two hundred. Then we proceeded to pick a day, time and place to meet for the transaction. Anyway, I couldn't take it anymore and had to hang up. It was way too funny.

Question is, was it a prank, scam or wrong number? Did he think I was someone else? I'm leaning towards scam, but it was pretty funny.

I almost felt like I was in some weird version of Phone Booth.

Living Without

I can't believe they didn't figure it out on their own. I mean, really, it just comes naturally. I'm talking about the couple who didn't know what sex was of course.

Puma.com

The Puma online store has to be the worst online shopping experience I've had, and I've been doing this for a while now. There is no list of categories, or styles of shoes. Instead on the bottom of the screen four random styles show up, out of Puma's hundreds. As far as I can tell there is now way to just get a list so I can pick which ones I want. I don't want one of the four the are pushing. I swear this has changed since the last time I bought shoes from them a few months ago.

Puma lost a sale tonight. If I can't find the style I want I can't buy 'em.

Oh yeah, and when you first go to puma.com, they resize your window to take up the full screen. I hate that, I hate that, I hate it! I should control my windows, not some site.

UPDATE
---
Take it back, the list just doesn't show up on Safari, works on Internet Explorer. Yuk.

But in Internet Explorer, on the first page of puma.com, the entire bottom of the page is missing. It just happens to be where all the links to the rest of the site are located. Nice.

Lindsay Lohan

I think I'm over Lindsay Lohan. Just a day ago I was convinced of her ultimate hotness, but my mind was being warped by her age and particularly large breasts. She's cute for sure, and even hot, but the whole thing is getting out of hand. She's no Olsen.

I did see her in some magazine today that was really hot, I can't remember the name, but I'm still sticking to my overrated stance. She has her moments, but all and all, she's just another young hot actress.

Kissing

Because I have nothing witty, smart, or sexy to say, I'm giving you pigeons.

Want some tubes?

Weather

I wasn't kidding when I said that our office was 98 degrees today. In fact I think that's lowballing it. It peaked at 102 in LA today, and our office was hotter than outside. I'm a big pile of sweat, I must just stink like... well something gross anyway.

Our server room with 5 servers, 6 terabytes of storage, and all the power conditioners, not to mention all the switches and other accessories, was the hottest of them all. Until today, there wasn't even an air-conditioning vent in the room at all. So even if it was working, it still wasn't cooling the most important room in the building. So, finally today, they cut a vent into the duct work and got the system to pump cool air into there. Hopefully the rest of the floor will be fixed tomorrow, just in time for it to cool down.

QotD: High School

Erik asks: If you could date your high school sweetheart again, would you?

Like Erik, mine has a kid now, in fact she has two the last time I checked, still I think I probably would. Of course I haven't seen or talked to her in six years, so things are surely different now.

Misunderstanding

I'm not sure what's going on with my Overhaulin' entry, but a couple of people have left comments asking to be apart of the show. Can't help you there, but I might be able to hook you up with Showbiz Moms & Dads :-)

One use of the web I wouldn't have thought of

Hands down, the most disgusting site on the web that I've ever visited. Still, I can't seem to stop looking at it. It's like a horrible car accident, you can't stop gawking.

HowWasShe.com

Missing Milk

I miss my Oberweis chocolate milk. Nothing I've tried in LA matches their quality.

The Rock

I love my digital camera, but boy does it take crappy night time pictures. That's The Rock watching over my apartment. It's nice to know I'm safe.

Our Own Little Alley

The entrance to our building at work is sort of like a little dark alley. Or at least that's how people use it. It is not uncommon to come to work in the morning and find that someone has urinated on our door. I've hear that there has been times where human feces could be seen.

Tonight as I left there was a nice gentleman getting high.

Rumor has it that someone was actually getting blown in our actual alley this morning. Nothing like getting a good start on your day. But I wonder, why not our entrance?

Target, Again

Well I made it to that new Target. I bought myself a desk chair and a folding table which will make a decent temporary desk. I'm slowing getting close to a normal apartment.

The Target is just as you expect, except it's hard to park.

Target

A new Target opened a few blocks from me this weekend and these guys have been driving around the area since. They're kinda cute on their little Vespas.

I was going to go there this afternoon, but when I drove by, the line for the parking lot was half way around the block. I can't believe people are willing to wait in line like that. It would probably be just as fast to drive to the one in Burbank.

I'm also surprised the city let them build it there. Combined with the new Best Buy and Borders (may be a B&N), it's going to be crazy traffic. Lucky for me, I can walk there.

Cal. License

Make your own license.

License plates were so much better back then.

[via In Apprehension...]

Random Honesty

When I was at the corner store tonight buying my cigarettes the clerk gave me the wrong change. When I pointed out that he have me a 10 instead of a 5, he looked at me like I was crazy. Is that surprising someone would be honest? I mean really it's only 5 bucks. If it was a hundred or something, ok, but 5?

It reminded me of this commercial I saw years ago, where this man is buying groceries and the the counter girl gives him too much change. When he starts to point it out to her, she gets all huffy, until she realizes he's not complaining, just returning. Bad commercial, well really a PSA.

Police

Twice this weekend I came home from going out to find my cross street blocked off by police. Not just a couple cars either. I counted over 10 last night. I'm not sure what it is about my corner, but something keeps happening there.

Barbie and Ken

After 43 years Barbie and Ken are making a split. Who would have thought?

After 43 years as one of the world's prettiest pairs, the perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple's "business manager," Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken "feel it's time to spend some quality time -- apart."

Mundane

What's happened to The West Wing? It used to be exciting, invigorating, and funny. Now it's just, well, mundane. Oh how I miss you Aaron Sorkin.

A Mattress

Well I cracked. No more sleeping on the floor for me. I bought an air mattress. It's no bed, but it is an improvement. I actually wanted an AeroBed, but Target didn't have one in the size I wanted. In a couple more months I may just buy a real mattress. Maybe I'll even get a desk so I can stop using my computer from the floor.

Random Quote

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Quotations Page

It seems appropriate for me. I'm a constant contradiction.

Journey

I've had Journey's Don't Stop Believin' stuck in my head all day. So much so that the first thing I did when I got home was download it from iTunes.

I need to find some other Journey songs. I image that I would like them.

The Meaning of Life

I have been having an on going conversation with someone at work about the meaning of life, souls, being connected to, I don't know, the greater universe. I'm still solidly in the "there is no greater purpose" camp, but I'm starting to understand why people may believe in such things. Without it, life can seem pretty depressing.

I'm listening to Kylie Minogue in an atempt to reverse my current mood, caused in no small part to said conversation. You would think that Kylie Minogue would work, with the upbeat tempo and all. If this doesn't work there's always embracing it and listening to the teen angst songs in my collection.

Smoking Up

Garfunkel, 62 and still kickin' it.

Garfunkel, 62, had a small amount of marijuana in his jacket pocket when a state trooper stopped the limo Saturday afternoon in Hurley, 55 miles southwest of Albany, the Daily Freeman of Kingston reported.

Saturday Night

I was warned not to buy this song:

Another saturday night and I ain’t got nobody
I’ve got some money ’cause I just got paid
Now how I wish I had someone to talk to
I’m in an awful way.

I got in town a month ago
I seen a lot of girls since then,
If I could meet ’em I could get ’em
But as yet I haven’t met ’em
Thats how I’m in the state I’m in.

Tis Funny

This picture is just funny. Really, really funny. For no good reason.

January WOW Report

This months WOW Report is out. It is the first annual WOW Report Awards. Check out the best frock, defrock and all the others. If you don't know what the WOW Report is, check it out. It's a monthly lesson in pop culture provided to you by my place of employment.

I'm now in the middle of redoing the template we use for the WOW Report. It's built all with images and is a huge pain to update each month. I'm going to try and replicate the layout with CSS and xhtml. I think I can do it.

Speaking of web stuff, I am working on a project at work where I'm building a site with tabs and sub-tabs using CSS. It's coming along, but I am have some problems with the sub-tabs part. If anyone has a good site with info on these techniques, let me know.

I love building websites. Learning all the things you can do with CSS is just too much fun. Now if only I had a design sense.

We're Not Gonna Take It

I once had this shirt. It was an orange t-shirt that said: We're Not Gonna Take It. It was the greatest shirt I've ever owned.

Owned isn't really the right word. The greatest shirt I've ever borrowed for a year. I thought I totally got away with keeping it too, but at the last possible moment, she laid claim. I actually ran into the girl who owned the shirt the last time I was in Fond du Lac. I should have asked her if she still had it.

Food on Christmas

I can't seem to find any delivery places open on Christmas. I would think that at least one thing would be open. I guess I'll just have to more PB&Js.

My First Earthquake

I have now experienced my first earthquake. I was sitting at my desk writing an email when it hit. I thought I was getting sick and losing my balance. But when I looked over the chair next to me was swaying a little bit. I went to find someone and everyone was running out of the building. No one seems to have faith that it will stand.

It wasn't very big here in LA, but it turns out it was a 6.5. It was a few hundred miles from here. That's crazy. I still feel a little wheezy and off balance.

You can get more info here.

Television Time

I still haven't gotten used to west coast television times. I have to do a little conversion in my head every time I want to know when something will be on. I know it's just adding an hour, but still, prime time starts at 8? What's that all about, really? I wonder how long it will take me to transition.

The WoW Report

Ahh...the WOW Report. The first concrete thing I was involved in at World of Wonder. I mostly just assembled it, but I did write one line: Caribbean Vacation. Not as witty as the others maybe, but still I'm proud :-)

The Burned House

Just a couple of pics from Erica.

Burning Down the House

A few months ago my friend Erica moved into a house in Oakland and one of the first things she did was replace the battery in the smoke detector. Good thing she did because early this morning she was woken up by it. Her room was filled with smoke and when she went down stairs the living room was thick with it. She woke up her roommate who was sleeping on the sofa with his friend and just a few seconds after they got up the wall behind the sofa burst into flames.

Instead of just running out of the house she ran back up stairs to wake her other roommate who didn't hear her screaming the first time. And because she has her priorities right, she grabbed her 12" Powerbook. Unfortunately the iPod and iSight didn't make it out.

Even thought the fire department only took 5 minutes to get there, the house is now just a shell. They let her back in after it was out and from her bedroom she can look out into the night sky. It turns out that the house heater started it. It was located under the sofa and must have been smoldering for a couple of hours. She awoke just in time. She's lucky to be alive, and I'm very glad she is.

Todays hero.

The Windowless Car

So I leave work and go to my car. I hit the power window button and start to drive away. And what happens? The window crashes down into the door and shatters.

I don't have a window any more! This is the worst luck. It not like I can drop the car off to be fixed. I need it to get to work. I would just have one of those window guys come to me, but I don't think it's as simple as replacing the glass. Something must be wrong with the mechanism for it to fall down like that.

Just wish I had my Bug.

Kramer

The guy I'm staying with really reminds me of Kramer. He has two very large cappuccino machines. Seriously, he could start a coffee shop. And today I came home to find that he has purchased a meat slicer.

Is it just me?

Is it just me or are they starting the Christmas push a little early this year? I guess it's only two weeks till Thanksgiving so it's not that early.

What happen to waiting until there was snow on the ground?

Two Important Things

Still not a whole lot going on with me besides work. Two things that deserve to be mentioned:

Lunch at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and Tony Hawk's Underground.

Both are great.

Jumbo

I had my first night out with the co-workers...at Jumbo's. Jumbo's is a strip club. The most depressing strip club I've ever been to (which isn't hard as I've only been to one other). It was a dive bar with a stage really. Good times all around. The only bad thing about it was the lack of "jumbo" women. All very skinny actually.

Hitchhikers

Somewhere in New Mexico I saw a sign that said:

Warning: Do not pick up hitchhikers in this area

Apparently this area had an especially dangerous group of hitchhikers compared to other areas.

Isn't it good advice to not pickup hitchhikers in any area?

Tempatures

I can't wait to get out of Chicago. It's 38 degrees here right now, while it is still in the 60's in L.A. I'm wearing long underwear for Christ's sake.

It does smell good though.

While I'm here, did you see the cool new card reader for the iPod?

Mediocre Superpowers

If you could pick one superpower that was "handy" but not earth shattering, what would it be? For example you could not choose to fly or throw flames, but you could choose to have your thumb light like a Bic. It will not let you save too many lives, but it's great for camping.

My roommate would choose the ability to write in the air. Leaving little bright colored words behind to dissipate after a few minutes. I'm going with the flaming thumb though. It's a good party trick.

The Crazies

Before I left for Los Angeles everyone had said that the train would be full of crazies. I thought I knew what they meant when I went out there.

Oh how wrong I was. The trip back to Chicago was filled with so many more crazies. I could never have imagined. Everyone on the train was drunk. I mean everyone. I swear I saw an eight year old stumble past me holding a Bud Light.

An example of the crazy would be a young man spontaneously calling an old man a "fucking prick". It had something to do with the order in which they descended the stairs.

Of course there are others who are not necessarily crazy, just annoying.

For example, the very young man wearing jeans, t-shirt and a cashmere suit coat. I swear only people in bad movies dressed that way.

There was also a young man endlessly hitting on a much older women traveling with her seven year old twin daughters. To make it worse, this women was responding to the mans sexual advances.

It was a good trip.

My Likes

I was going to make this a list of my likes and dislikes of L.A., but it was turning into a comparison to Chicago. That's lame, so here, instead, is just what I liked.

Lessons Learned

I have learned many lessons traveling across the country on the train. Here are but a few.

Leaving California

My time in California is almost over now. My interview was yesterday, and I think that it went well. Unfortunately I can never really be sure with these kind of things.

The place is really nice though. They have a great rooftop deck to smoke on. And some dogs running around. Always nice. I should hear from them soon. My guess is that I'll still be on the train when they call.

Yeah, I'm leaving today at 6:45 for another 40 some hour train ride. Hopefully I will not have the crazy kids sitting in front of me.

An Adventure In America

Well I have arrived in LA. Just 6 hours late too. The trip left something to be desired. It started off great. Once we got into Colorado, the scenery was beautiful. The only really bad part were the two devil children. I can't explain how horrible these kids were and how unavoidable. Even in the smoking car, there they were.

More details will come soon, including the angry Vietnam vet.

Amtrak Train Set

I want this train set, or any train set really. Just incase anyone was curious or something.

Death of a Friend

I received some very sad news today. The 1949 International pickup truck that my Dad got me when I was 14 has died. A cracked head is the apparent cause of death. It's been in my Dad's possession since we did a trade for my first Beetle and I haven't seen it in almost six years. Still I'll miss that thing.

It's up for sale now. I imagine that it will make a great hot rod, the body is as solid as it gets.

Sound Bite

I just saw a commercial for a Johnny Cash biography or something like that. During the commercial someone, don't know who, says:

For as long as people love country music, people will love Johnny Cash.

I can't disagree more. I think taking the word country out of the sentence would make it more accurate. Johnny Cash is beyond genres and as long as people love any music, they will love Johnny Cash.

Why Oh Why

My ex-wife had these two friends that were obsessed with Boy Meets World. Every friday night, without fail, they would watch it.

I just caught the last five minutes of an episode on the Disney Channel and jesus does it suck. How could they have liked it is beyond me.

The Man in Black

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

[Via This Modern World via Kos's messge board]

Two Johns in Two Days

Johnny Cash died today at 71, less than four months after his wife passed. The original man in black will be missed at our house.

John Ritter also died. At 54 it seems that he should have had a few years left. Get your hearts checked.

Washing Your Things

Our new landlord is turning into a god send. I was nervous when he first moved into the apartment on the first floor, and even more nervous when he told us he was moving into the apartment below us. But everything is working out superb. He's doing some construction on his new apartment, making the bedroom bigger, and in the process he is adding a washer and dryer to ours!

No longer will we have to carry our laundry baskets down two flights of stairs that are covered in snow. Not to mention the money saved in quarters. I might actually wash my sheets now.

Being the Creepy Guy on the Street

As I was walking back from the grocery store tonight, I found myself behind a young women. I was walking fairly fast, as I usually do, and I was on my way to pass her when she suddenly stopped. She looked at me quickly and then crossed the street.

I can certainly understand why. A man quickly walking up behind you on a dark street is creepy, whether you're a woman or a man. It just sucks that I can spook someone like that.

Ecstasy...oops...I Meant Speed

Results Retracted on Ecstasy Study

You would think that the people at Johns Hopkins University would be smart enough to double check their drug supply to make sure it is what they think it is.

Rude

I was walking down Clark street tonight with my roommates when some random woman basically called me ugly. I quote:

That guy needs to cut his hair and loose the jewelry.

I can't believe she said that. I don't care what you think of my look, but keep it amongst yourself. I don't need to hear it. I was so shocked that I didn't even say anything, but Serena yelled at her. It was fairly funny, but I don't remember what exactly she said.

There really isn't a need to scream out what you think of someone you don't know who is just walking down the street.

People suck.

A Friend

Before Erica left for California I added her to my Movable Type setup so I can keep up with what she's doing. Well she has started to update it now and if your interested in how a midwestern girl feels about moving to the coast, take a look.

While You Were Out

While You Were Out has been my favorite show of the summer, but they seem to have destroyed it (that maybe a slight exaggeration). They have a new host for the second season and he sucks. I am willing to give him a couple more shows, it was just his first after all, but I don't see him becoming funny any time soon.

What I really don't like though is the new music. It's this incredibly cheesy drum and bass. It's just so bad, I don't if I'll be able to handle it.

I'm a little disappointed.

More Roommates

I just talked to my roommates Josh and Serena in Virginia Beach (there visiting family) and they informed me that we will have a new roommate when the return. Dustin is the new one. I've met him before and he's a cool kid, but I was just getting used to just the four of us.

Well it can't be that bad I guess. Like I said, he's a cool kid.

Being Prepared for the Worst

What's that slogan ComEd has been using all summer?

ComEd...reCommittEd

Well it looks like they need to recommit again. Not only was there a couple outages earlier today (which is somewhat expected during the hottest day of the year) but tonight at midnight my power went out. It was out for a minimum of a 5 block radius from what I could see.

It's only 80 degrees now, down from 95, what the fuck are they doing?

Of course I'm lucky. It was only out for about half an hour, compared to the 50 million people last week who where out for 24 hours or more. I guess it's fuck to all the power companies. Here that? Fuck you!

Yeah I like to swear.

What makes it worse is that I was completely unprepared. I have several Mag Lites in my possession, but none with good batteries of course. I didn't have my lighter in my pocket when it happened either, so I had to do a lot of fumbling around to find the good batteries and then my flash light. I was shocked by how dark our apartment was.

Did you ever notice how important electricity is? :-)

Matrix Ping Pong

Ping Pong Matrix style.

The quality is really bad, but that's what makes it so funny.

The Broken Door

I rule, I rule, I rule.

The latch mechanism on my door to my room hasn't worked since I moved in. It didn't work when it was my roommate's room either. If I had to guess I would say it hasn't worked in 10 years or so.

It works now. A little exploratory surgery, a few tweaks to the springs (really just bent metal tabs) and the 60 year old thing works again. It is more efficient than ever as well. It had used three springs when only two were truly necessary.

I love to fix things like this.

And the Summer Ends

I now know that summer is coming to an end here in Chicago. The first mouse of the season has moved into the apartment. Last winter we had what amounted to an infestation. There were at least three distinctly different mice, but I suspect there were more.

I expect mice in Wisconsin, but I never thought they would be a problem here. Until last year they weren't. Hopefully the new landlord will be more proactive than the last.

The Things We Keep

I don't have many things from my childhood, in fact I only have one thing. A die cast Model T that my grandfather gave me. I've managed to keep it because of it's size. It's not so big as to be left behind in a move and not so small to lose. I love this car.

Looking at it tonight got me thinking of other things that I've managed to acquire and move with me over the years. Here is a list of strange things (at least to me) that I have hiding in my apartment.

• A huge collection of clothes pins, remnants of film school.
• Empty sandbags. Also from film school.
• A 2000 watt Mole Richardson light. Mine is from the 60's so it's black.
• An old gas mask.
• A ping pong paddle and a collection of balls. I just wish I actually had a table, or ever had one.

Wildlife

I had to go up to Lake Forest Illinois this afternoon to meet with a new client. On my way out there I drove through a lightly wooded area. As I passed through I saw a young deer hopping along. It was a nice reprieve from the city. It was very calming. So calming that it surprised me actually. Almost surreal.

It was one of those moments when I wished I had a camera.

The Family

My Mom is stateside. She should be hanging out in Boston tonight before she flies off to Maine for a sailing class. In about a week she'll be making her way to Chicago. If she actually updated her blog, I would be able to keep track of her trip (hint hint).

Maybe while she's here we will go to the Museum of Science and Industry. They have an exhibit called the Great Train Story. Basically a train set depicting the railway between Chicago and Seattle. I love train sets.

Dinner Downtown

For some reason that I can not fathom, Serena wanted to eat dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe downtown. I tried not to go, but once she offered to pay for my food my resistance waned. So off we went, Josh, Steve, Serena and me.

The place was being over run by little children, which, I guess, is to be expected. The food was awful. My burger was cold and just gross.

The "thunderstorms" they have every twenty minutes suck. Not nearly as intense as I would have liked them to be. But they did give us an idea for a really ridiculous bar. The Rain Forest Bar, or Drinking in the Rain as we've come to calling it. Imagine a bar that rains every fifteen minutes or so. Now I wouldn't want to be there, but for some reason I think others would. Well if it wasn't located in Chicago at least. Cold....

I have to lay down now, my food isn't sitting well at all.

Malt Liquor Fishes?

Schlitz 40s? I had never heard of such things until Josh''s restaurant started to carrying them. What makes it so funny is that this fancy shmancy restaurant servers them in a brown paper bag. A little cheesy, no?

Anyway, a good and CHEAP night out. $5.50 and I'm drunk. Gotta love it. I wish all my activities were so cheap.

Stop Watch

I want this.

I've wanted an analog stop watch for the longest time. I don't know why I don't just buy it.

I'm not sure what on earth I would actually do with it, but it seems like fun.

P.S. I miss Erica.

Spain Anyone?

I need to borrow my Mom's boat and sail to Ibiza. Anyone with me?

Yeah, I've been watching Wild On.

Triangulation

Triangulation is awesome. That is all.

Job Hunting via RSS

RSSJobs lets you look for a job via RSS. How great is that? You can build searchs from Monster, Dice, and Hotjobs. So if you're looking for work or just want to keep abreast of the market place, check it out.

Thanks go to Brent Simmons for finding this great site.

Earth Berm

Many years ago, before I was born, my maternal grandfather built an underground (earth berm) house in Door County Wisconsin. It's located in Whitefish Bay, a summer vacation spot. It's still there, but is no longer owned by our family. From what I can find out, it was bought 8 or 10 years ago and has remained empty ever since.

The house is incredibly neat. It was built by shaping it out of chicken wire and then spraying it with concrete. Made as two intersecting domes, it includes a huge open loft looking out two stories of glass (the only glass in the building) and a small dark hallway leading deep into the ground. This is all from memory, I've only been inside once as a child. I haven't even seen it from a far for about 10 years.

The reason I bring it up? Well I was hoping to find some info online about it. I was thinking that someone might have made a site about earth berm housing and perhaps mentioned it. I can't find a single thing.

I guess the internet doesn't have all the answers.

SimCity 4

I've spent most of my night playing SimCity 4. I had heard that it was unplayable slow, even on fast hardware. I have to disagree. My dual 867 G4 handles the game with ease, even with most of the graphic options on.

I like this version much better than the last. I especially like being able to connect the cities you build together. It's kind of like building your own state. You can also track individual citizens now, but I'm not sure I will use it that much.

My whole weekend will now be spent in front of the computer now, although it probably would have been anyway.

Little Rascal

Erica and I saw what we thought was the funniest damn thing in the world. There was this old man driving a Rascal down the middle of the street, as if it was car. This wasn't some side street either. It was at the corner of Ashland and Addison, if you know Chicago you know it's incredibly busy.

I said we thought it was funny because Josh and Steve claim that this is a common sight. I've never seen it though, and it was incredibly funny. Dangerous, but funny.

The Tour de France

Bikers are just too nice. Apparently Armstrong had a fall after running into a spectator and the other riders stopped and waited for him to get up and start riding again. Even Ullrich, who is very close to catching Armstrong, waited.

Living in San Diego

I have been looking at apartments and houses in San Diego for the last couple of days. For fun. I don't know the neighborhoods at all, so I'm guessing a lot, but god can you find some cheap places. At the same time some of them are just as expensive as Chicago, even in the same neighborhoods.

My favorite so far.

COLLEGE AREA nice house lg yard w/d $500 mo+util $250 dep

I don't care if it's one room and it's falling down, it's a house for $500. From what I can tell College Area is residential and cheap, but still nice.

With summer now halfway over, it's nice to dream of sunny places. My 26th winter is not going to be fun.

EDIT: I could have a dog!

Doonesbury

I've become addicted to my Daily Dose of Doonesbury.

Crime & Weather

I've been considering moving out of Chicago again. The city in top running is San Diego, Ca. I was looking at Bestplaces.net to compare it to Chicago and I just can't believe how safe it is. And the weather.

Oh the weather. A third the rainfall, no snow, almost twice the sunny days, and 0 days of freezing weather. Yum yum.

Check the crime and weather for yourself, or compare two of your own cities here.

Quotes

I'm not a fan of sayings on bathroom walls but this one I like.

No matter how hot s/he is, someone, somewhere is sick of her/his shit.

All the Same

The same video is on both MTV and MTV2. That seems weird to me. Oh, and it sucks. Some pop punk band that's all the rage these days. I usually don't watch such channels, but when it is 3 in the morning there isn't much else on. I guess it's time for bed.

The Best Car

Erik's question of the day asks what's the best car ever. Unlike Erik, I am a car guy, so what I thought would be a fun and quick post has turned into an hours long search for the perfect car.

My choice in the end was the Volkswagen Beetle. Read on for some of the cars that I considered and the reasons why the beetle won out.

Twins

The twins thing

Shari Waxman writes about Coors new ad campaign featuring twins. It's funny, but now that I'm dating a twin, a little creepy.

Changing my Change

Erica and I went to Dominic's to use their CoinStar. It's a fun machine, but not as fun as I had been lead to believe. Steve had made it sound like you could see the coins dropping and sorting through the machine. You can't, but you do get to hear it. Either way, $51 in change is nice. It's free money.

Tele

Snoop Dogg's show, Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, is too funny. Irresponsible, but funny.

Ripley's Believe It or Not

I just saw a commercial for this show. In it they use the line:

The all true Ripley's Believe It or Not.

It it just me, or doesn't the all true part take away some of the fun? Not to mention making the title of the show pointless. You have to believe it, they just told you it was all true.

Body Work

Etan's soon to be tattoo. It's my type of work, it will definitely look good. I'm curious where's it going.

When I have some extra cash I'm going to cover some work on my upper arm with solid black. Of course I've been saying that since my last one, almost a year ago. Anyway, good luck Etan, love the pain.

Maps

The Library of Congress has a great collection of maps from 1500-2003. They are mostly of the US, but there are some good ones of London and Paris as well. They have really high quality downloads suitable for print. I made one that was 40" by 50".

I'm a big fan of things like these. My favorite map is one from the late 1800s of the Chicago L system. It was made before they filled in the lakefront, so the park isn't there yet and the trains run right along the water. Too much fun.

On the bottom: Cut aways of my home town and my high-school from 1867.

Tetris Anyone

Thanks to Stevenf, I have a new addiction. Quinn is a Tetris clone that is sucking up all my free time. My recent movie binge is now officially on hold. To make it worse, I really suck at it :-)

Toys

This would be a nice toy.

My Scripts

While in film school I took a couple of screenwriting courses. Out of these courses came a couple of scripts. The other day while doing some cleaning I found the hard copies.

I don't plan on doing anything with them but it seem like a waste to toss them. My solution? Throw them up here under a Creative Commons license. I can't seem to find the original files so I'm going to remake them.

The first one is done. Living is a short script, just 16 pages, it tells the story of a young law student struggling with death. I wrote it over 3 years ago and you can tell. Actually I'm not sure I would do any better now.

I'm not looking for a critique or anything. I just believe if you own creative works you don't plan to use for anything, it's nice to throw it out there.

Two versions, plain text and .doc

Erik's QotD

Erik's QotD: Virginity

Do you wish you'd waited longer to lose your virginity?

Ahh, no. I was 16 but I very much wanted to lose it when I was younger. I always thought that 14 would have been a good age.

June Carter Cash

CNN.com - June Carter Cash funeral set for Sunday - May. 16, 2003

Ring of Fire has always been one of my favorite songs no matter who is performing it.

Public Service Announcement

Do you remember those public service announcements at the end of the GI Joe cartoons? Lumpen is a media/art project and one of their projects is redoing the PSAs from GI Joe. They use the video and overdub the voices. They have a few of them on their site here, but the best ones are on their DVDs that come with the Lumpen Magazine. They are some of the funniest things I have been lucky enough to watch.

QoD: Favorite Alcoholic Beverage

Erik's Question of The Day is a good one.

What is your favorite alcoholic beverage?

This is very easy to answer, beer of course. Cheep beer in particular and Pabst Blue Ribbon specifically. It has only been in the last two years that I've actually started drinking. I skipped the turning 21 and drinking all the time phase, but I'm making up for now.

Sound

I heard the weirdest sound last night. Imagine the combination of a wolf and a lion, add in the sounds of a grizzly bear with just a bit of hyena and you have it. Funny.

Missing in Action

Six Feet Under is really stepping it up on the way to the season finally. If it was any other show it would be ridiculous, but they seems to be pulling it off so far. I was waiting for Lisa to leave the show, but now I'm dying for her to come back. It almost brought me to tears. HBO just has the best shows on television.

Lego Me

Ollie O'Brien mentioned a site today where you can build Lego men. To much fun. You can see my likeness to the right. Yeah I know, it's boring, but that's what I look like.

I love Legos. I had a huge collection when I was a kid. My dad still had them when I last checked. I should see the next time I'm in Wisconsin. My mom always promised me a trip to Lego Land in Denmark. I should hold her to it.

I used to work with someone from Denmark who applied for a job at Lego. She wanted to be one of the professional builders that they have. Apparently she made it pretty far along in the process. They sat everyone in a room with a truck load of parts and just set them building. I can't remember what she built though. Anyway, my point is that it would be one of the greatest jobs in the world.

The West Wing

I've long thought that The West Wing was among the best shows on television. Tonight's episode confirmed that. This episode was all over the place, and they did a great job of keeping it exiting. They built it up so well and the editing was masterful.

It is the type of show that is very drawn out. Seldom are there resolutions and when there are they are usually many episodes away from when they started. I enjoy that. It makes it one of the few shows that I look forward too and can not miss.

The only thing I don't like is Elisabeth Moss who plays Zoey, the President's daughter. I'm not sure why, but she drives me nuts.

I hope that Law & Order is as good.

Chicago Landmark

I'm not a baseball fan and the one thing I hate about living in Wrigleyville are the Cubs games. The traffic is out of control. Thousands of drunk men and women driving and walking around, all very agro.

What I do like though is Wrigley Field. One of the oldest ball parks in the country, second only to Boston's Fenway Park, it is very impressive. I've always enjoyed walking by it on my way to the train, when there isn't a game of course. One of these days I'll get a tour. There is probably some great history lessons to be learned.

I don't like the statue of Harry Caray. It looks like those images of lost souls coming out of hell. Creeps the shit out of me.

Privacy & Mystery

On Salon there is an article about this women who has been in a relationship with a guy for 5 years. The thing is, she doesn't know where he lives. Apparently he is incredibly secretive and private. He has all his mail sent to his mom's home, his address on his licenses is his mom's, etc.

On to my point, I love this guy. I wish I could pull off something like that. I don't think I have enough to offer a significant other to make up for it though. I'm just not that charismatic. Funny.

Oh Yeah

I almost forgot. Happy May Day. We used to celebrate this when I was a kid. I can't remember what we did though. Something involving flowers and our neighbor, Mr. Ma....I have no idea how to spell it.

Airports

Erik Barzeski asks what airport you would want to be in if you were going to be stuck for a few hours.

I'll just stick to airports I've been in. I've always liked Charles de Gaulle in Paris. The floating escalator tubes where really fun when I was a kid. I still like it, and I can smoke there.

As far as state side, I like Kennedy Airport in New York. If for nothing else, they have a Philip Morris smoking lounge.

As you can tell, smoking is important to me when flying. Nothing sucks more after an 8 hour flight than having to wait for a cigarette until after you get your bags and get out.

Summer Time, Summer Chairs

My trip with Josh to the Sports Authority worked out great. North Pointe Folding Chairs for 7 bucks. Can't beat it. Now that we have three, they don't fit on our small porch very well. We may have to take over part of the neighbors. Theirs is huge.

More Motorcycle Mods

Second customization of the my motorcycle has taken place. Remember how I wanted a custom seat but no one makes one for my bike? Well it turns out that my aunt and uncle own an upholstering shop.

Car Protocol

Matt Gemmell just bought a new car and talks abut his car protocol. My car protocol differs slightly.

Day Trading

My blog trading skills seem to be slipping. I've dropped off the Top 100 players list at BlogShares. I was doing so good too, staying in the 90s for several days.

Lucky Strike

While touring the web tonight I found a site of old cigarette ads. They have some great ads from the 40s and 50s, including ones from Pall Mall and Lucky Strike. I love old Lucky Strike ads and paraphernalia. Some of their ads were just nuts. I have an ad from the 50's that actually claims that 50,000 doctors recommend Lucky Strike.

Of my three prize possessions, two are Lucky related. One is a full pack of Lucky Strikes from 1941, when the packs were still green. Another is a promotional Lucky cigarette tin circa 1940. At one point I used to have a Lucky Strike Zippo. I can never keep lighters for very long though.

It seems that at one point Lucky Strikes were one of the most popular smokes in the country. Now I have to go blocks out of my way to find my shorts of choice. Well at least it makes my go for a walk each day.

Weather

Weather.com sucks. Yesterday it said it was going to be 61, instead it was almost 80. Today was supposed to be 69, instead...43. In fact, they still say that it is supposed to be in the 60s right now. I need to find a new weather site. Any suggestions?

Getting Out

It's fucking beautiful out. Mid 50s and clear skies. This sucks. I say this because I want to go ride the bike around, but I'm hung over and my head is pounding. Well tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be in the 60s. I'll get some time to ride then. No drinking tonight.

Trying to find a motorcycle jacket that doesn't look like a racing suit is hard. I ended up compromising with the Joe Rocket Comet in yellow. Combine this with my new pants and ungodly large (all black) helmet, well I must look very weird. If I didn't have to buy all this I would be able to buy a digital camera and throw some pics of my bike up here. But then I would probably die, so it seems like a good trade off :-)

Stilts

Powerisers, Jump up to 6ft

I think I would kill my self, but still I want them.

Puzzle

rc3.org | Puzzle

I know the answer. Feel free to ask if you can't figure it out. Though I'm sure you can.

Six Feet Under

Just finished watching Six Feet Under and I was a little disappointed. Hopefully the rest of the season will be better.

Mister Rogers

CNN.com - 'Mister Rogers' dies at age 74 - Feb. 27, 2003

To tell you the truth, I can't remember if I watched his show or not growing up. I'll have to ask my . None the less, it is always sad when someone that worked so hard at a cause dies.

Coke

I'm am lucky enough to live next to a Mexican corner store which has Coke in a bottle, a full 16oz one at that. Cold and refreshing. Now it does break my no caffeine rule, but boy is it worth it.

Oh...Mona

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Mona Lisa smile secrets revealed

It really is true, her smile does fade when looked at directly. Though it has been a while since I've seen it in person.

Joe Millionaire

Yes, I watch this show. What is really bizarre to me, is that he was supposed to inherit 50 mil, right? So how does he own a Chateau, as he insists on calling it, that is got to worth 50 mil? Or have a private jet worth at least 10? Anyway you get the point. Don't these women realize what that house must cost, not just to own, but to maintain? And why didn't the producers just up the amount he was supposed to inherit to say 100 mil? What difference does it make? It just seems to me that one of the women would have figured out that something didn't add up right. Maybe they did, I've only watched two episodes. The BJ is what got me into it.

Columbia Shuttle

NASA lost the Columbia shuttle this morning, around 9 AM CST. CNN has quick blurb about it. I'm sure we will hear more in next few days. The only thing that I could think of when I heard this was the '86 Challenger Accident. Like most kids in grade school at the time, I watched it live. You have to wonder how many 10 year olds watched that? Could not be good for the mind.

From Salon.com

Salon is running a excerpt from "Do You Love Me or Am I Just Paranoid". Here is my favorite quote.

"Dating" -- an antiquated word that refers to something people did in the fifties and stopped doing once it became okay to openly sleep around

Bad luck

My cell phone doesn't work! I can't call out or receive any either. I'm fairly sure that it's the network not actually my phone. Please come back, I need to communicate.

Chicago "L"

I don't know about you, but I like the history of Chicago's "L". Chicago-l.org is a great resource if you're interested.

Chicago

Sometimes when taking the train home from work and crossing the river downtown, it occurs to me just how great Chicago is. At that ent, you feel surrounded by it. Like you are apart of the city. I never get that feeling anywhere else. People always talk about how great NY is, I'm not so sure. It is so separate. It never feels as one large city like it does here.

Train ride

I had this really funny story to tell, but once typed out it was just lame.

Black People Love Us is

Black People Love Us is a very funny site. Check it out, and thanks Jeff for passing it on.

Music

Why is it that with all the music I have (and it is a lot) I can't find anything worth hearing? Actualy, I should restate that. Anything worth hearing that was made in the last 10 years?

Foosball

Well I have a foosball table now. Thanks . It's huge. I have no idea where we are going to put this thing. Right now it is in the middle of the computer room, making it very hard to get around. I think we will have to get rid of the kitchen table. Serena wants me to put it in my room. I don't think it will fit. I'm sure we will figure something out.

No true.

No, true.

Journal

Please remember that a blog is a journal. You are reading what would be in my diary. This is my diary. Just keep it in mind.

Dads

In my inbox this morning was an email from my dad wishing me a happy birthday. A little strange as my birthday was on Wed. He was never good at rembering such things. What also makes it weird is that I have not seen him in over two years or really talked to him in over four. He uses his wifes email addy. I suppose I have to write back.

25

I'm 25 now. It is not as bad as I thought it would be. First thing to do, redesign my website as well as make a new one for the consulting stuff. I don't really have any ideas at the ent, but I plan on spending the night prototyping. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving if you're in the states. If not, it is a lame holiday anyway.

Alcohol induced bloging

You will have to excuse this entry, there is alcohol in my body. We just got back from Red Dog. It was Seminar night. I have never been before. They had a great layout and a very good crowd. Much better than was expected. I will return.

iPod, TV

My new iPod arrived today. It is really nice to have music while on the train again. All 2300 of my songs with 7GB left!

The season premier of The Saprano's aired last night on HBO. It was fairly good and I'm hoping for a better season that the last.

Tattoos

I just got back from getting a new tattoo. I need it, and it looks great. It is on my right forearm. It is a couple lines like the one on my left forearm.

Sex and the City

Just finished watching the last episode of Sex and the City. Did anyone else notice that horribly fake butterfly in the last shot? Jesus, could it be more lame? I'm looking forward to The Sopranos next week.

Music

I'm also in need of some new music to listen to. Please take a look at my prievous music selection in the archives and offer a suggestion or two.

Bike

My bike is broke again. Sad. Let the riding stop.

Bike

I finally had my bike fixed, so the riding shall begin again. That was my day and I have a huge headache so this is the post.

Shopping

A day of shopping. I bought 8 new shirts. I'm sure you are all very exited for me. My new bag also arrived. Apparently it was delived two blocks away. Lucky for me someone was nice enough to bring it over.

Music

I worked in my studio for a good 5 hours today and accomplished a lot. Steve added some bad ass guitar and Serena came in with her quality vocals. This new track is coming together very quickly.

Music

That loop I was talking about yesterday has now turned in to a full fleged trance track. I plan to have Steve add some guitar to tone down the trance a little. Serena's voice should also help. Or maybe not.

Music

Oh the fun in staying up all night working on music. I just created what sounds like a realy great loop and a great start to a new piece. Of course we have to wait till tommorrow to be sure. Never trust what you just made.