Love The Who. Don't love Madonna. Do enjoy Mark Vidler's Go Home Productions mashups a great deal. This one is good...
Friday, March 5, 2010
Steppin' Out
I went across campus to get Subway for lunch (toasted Tuscan Chicken Melt with provolone on Hearty Italian, if you must know), walked across the Midway. The snow is melting. Still, I think the weather's psyching us out, at least here. Barring global warming and what-not, it's way too early for it to be proper Spring, even if it's tantalizingly close. I am waiting for the last blast of Winter to hit, just when I think it's gone.
Video: If Love is the Drug, Then I Want to O.D.
I like the willfully retro sound of this one. Just nice and trippy...
Farmvillainy
I remember originally scoffing about Farmville. What a stupid game, total time sink. Then I got involved with making my farm look cool and beautiful. I'm very pleased with it -- it looks like some mad baron's estate, now. I love it! My boys will often pick the crops I "grow" on it. B2 loves the "Groovy" barn in particular. I'm sure I won't play in it forever, but I think my farm looks damned good. Of course, the grapes, peas, and tomatoes were just planted, so you just get to see a lot of stakes. I'll try to remember to snap a picture before I harvest'em...
I just did a slight tweak of it, got rid of the Durian Tree behind my estate and put a few stands of tall conifers in there, instead. Makes it cozier. And, yes, I KNOW I still have the Christmas tree up, but they didn't give me any storage options for it, and I didn't want to sell it. And it blends so well with those conifers!
I just did a slight tweak of it, got rid of the Durian Tree behind my estate and put a few stands of tall conifers in there, instead. Makes it cozier. And, yes, I KNOW I still have the Christmas tree up, but they didn't give me any storage options for it, and I didn't want to sell it. And it blends so well with those conifers!
Quakers, Spring, Age, Life
I was thinking about how that Chilean earthquake actually altered Earth's rotation a bit, shifting the axis and making our days shorter by like a microsecond and a half. That is fascinating to me, an 8.8 magnitude quake doing that.
Today is a sunny day, bright and cold, the snow melting incrementally. Spring is flexing her toes, giving Old Man Winter the brush-off. Spring is a cutie, all fresh flowers and smiles.
I turn 40 next month! Like in 41 days, I'll be 40 years old! Some people fret about that, but I'm okay with it. I remember as a teenager thinking about how I'd be 30 in 2000, and how far away that seemed. Worlds away. I never imagined where I'd be, what I'd be doing. Just being alive in 2000 was something I thought would be cool. Of course, look where I was, what I ended up doing. Hah.
Still, I duly filled out the Census information (held back a few laughs as I worked on it, given my life situation, which is radically changing from where I was the last time a Census rolled around), and that also made me imagine where I'll be in 10 more years -- B1 will be 18 (nooo!) and B2 will be 14. Astounding. My little guys. Wow. It makes me want to enjoy the time I have with them all the more. More quality time, more fun. I bring so much fun to their little worlds -- they're such a couple of daddy's boys. But I'm going to really make the most of those years. Exene is all about scheduling the boys, but I am much more in favor of unstructured time, letting them savor their lives and childhoods. I try to find some balance in the mix. Kids are so special, and childhood is such a magical time. I will do my best to make the next 10 years even better for them -- craft a new, loving home for them, let them take comfort in that.
Spring is coming. Spring is 15 days away.
Today is a sunny day, bright and cold, the snow melting incrementally. Spring is flexing her toes, giving Old Man Winter the brush-off. Spring is a cutie, all fresh flowers and smiles.
I turn 40 next month! Like in 41 days, I'll be 40 years old! Some people fret about that, but I'm okay with it. I remember as a teenager thinking about how I'd be 30 in 2000, and how far away that seemed. Worlds away. I never imagined where I'd be, what I'd be doing. Just being alive in 2000 was something I thought would be cool. Of course, look where I was, what I ended up doing. Hah.
Still, I duly filled out the Census information (held back a few laughs as I worked on it, given my life situation, which is radically changing from where I was the last time a Census rolled around), and that also made me imagine where I'll be in 10 more years -- B1 will be 18 (nooo!) and B2 will be 14. Astounding. My little guys. Wow. It makes me want to enjoy the time I have with them all the more. More quality time, more fun. I bring so much fun to their little worlds -- they're such a couple of daddy's boys. But I'm going to really make the most of those years. Exene is all about scheduling the boys, but I am much more in favor of unstructured time, letting them savor their lives and childhoods. I try to find some balance in the mix. Kids are so special, and childhood is such a magical time. I will do my best to make the next 10 years even better for them -- craft a new, loving home for them, let them take comfort in that.
Spring is coming. Spring is 15 days away.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
By the numbers
Yesterday, I stumbled across an article in one of B1's kiddy mags about "numbers stations," something I hadn't known about before. Apparently, they are shortwave radio stations countries covertly use to beam information to spies, using one-time coded number messages. Officially, they aren't acknowledged, but unofficially, they are used all the time, and have been for some time. Shortwave radio buffs tune into them and there's apparently a subculture devoted to listening to them and studying them. They are very odd. Some folks have even YouTubed some of them, made kinda creepy videos to accompany the broadcasts...
Odds are that the coded messages are things like "Don't forget the payoffs, Sven" and so forth (again, every country seems to use these numbers stations), but it's just weird to think of that stuff just floating through the air, undetected, all this cloak and dagger stuff communicated through numerical codes on shortwave.
Maybe it's just the audiophile in me, but there is something about bad signal that horrifies me. Especially bad signal that isn't simply noise, but actually carries information. The blurry photograph of something mysterious, an odd and garbled transmission -- even a telephone ringing in the wee hours of the morning (or night) when there's no reason for it to be ringing -- those things scare me, creep me out, and have even since I was a kid. I don't exactly know why, but I feel it very viscerally, instinctively. I remember, as a boy, drawing pictures of space probes beaming back the last picture of something eating the probe. Something about that just gives me the creeps. And hearing that static-laden broadcast with its seemingly random (but not really random, only encoded) messages on it spooks me!
Odds are that the coded messages are things like "Don't forget the payoffs, Sven" and so forth (again, every country seems to use these numbers stations), but it's just weird to think of that stuff just floating through the air, undetected, all this cloak and dagger stuff communicated through numerical codes on shortwave.
Maybe it's just the audiophile in me, but there is something about bad signal that horrifies me. Especially bad signal that isn't simply noise, but actually carries information. The blurry photograph of something mysterious, an odd and garbled transmission -- even a telephone ringing in the wee hours of the morning (or night) when there's no reason for it to be ringing -- those things scare me, creep me out, and have even since I was a kid. I don't exactly know why, but I feel it very viscerally, instinctively. I remember, as a boy, drawing pictures of space probes beaming back the last picture of something eating the probe. Something about that just gives me the creeps. And hearing that static-laden broadcast with its seemingly random (but not really random, only encoded) messages on it spooks me!
"Vampires, zombies... same thing"
I overheard a coworker talking about "I Am Legend" with another coworker, and he said something about the world being overrun by zombies. I said "They're vampires. The (Richard Matheson) story it's based on has it as vampires." and he says "Vampires, zombies, whatever. Same thing." No, they're not. I haven't seen the movie -- maybe they did make them more like zombies? Not sure. But zombies aren't vampires, vampires aren't zombies -- all undead are not created equal!
I've got a bike
My apartment building has a notice that everybody has to lay claim to their bikes in bike storage, otherwise, untagged bikes will end up donated to charity. Well and good -- I mean, that bike storage room looks like Pennywise's Playroom, anyway, and some of those bikes look like they've been there a LONG time. So, it's logical for them to clean house.
I should get my bike tagged before the deadline. In all likelihood, I will. However, at the same time, I'm sorely tempted to let somebody else get that fucking bike. I've had more repairs on that damned bike than any bike I've ever owned. It's a Trek, and I got it for $700 a few years ago -- I actually have lost track of the number of flat tires and broken spokes I've had on it. I think that back tire in particular is shoddy, and will eventually need to be replaced. One week, I got the flat tire fixed, then within that same week, hit something and the tire went flat again!! I said a few choice words then, lemme tellya.
Odds are I'll make the deadline (end of this month) and get my bike registered, will spare it from afflicting some other poor soul, but I am very tempted to just let them have it.
I should get my bike tagged before the deadline. In all likelihood, I will. However, at the same time, I'm sorely tempted to let somebody else get that fucking bike. I've had more repairs on that damned bike than any bike I've ever owned. It's a Trek, and I got it for $700 a few years ago -- I actually have lost track of the number of flat tires and broken spokes I've had on it. I think that back tire in particular is shoddy, and will eventually need to be replaced. One week, I got the flat tire fixed, then within that same week, hit something and the tire went flat again!! I said a few choice words then, lemme tellya.
Odds are I'll make the deadline (end of this month) and get my bike registered, will spare it from afflicting some other poor soul, but I am very tempted to just let them have it.
Boom.
Oh, puke. I just saw a flash ad for a show on NBC: "Boomers: The Epic Story of a Generation" with Tom Brokaw. Like the Baby Boomers haven't patted themselves on the back enough already. Lordy. Cue up gratuitous Boomer narcissism. Best. Generation. Ever.
*eyeroll*
The Boomers killed this country. It was them. And for those who protest that they haven't -- well, they're not DONE with this country, yet. You'll see what happens when they're through with it, and you'll see that I'm right.
*eyeroll*
The Boomers killed this country. It was them. And for those who protest that they haven't -- well, they're not DONE with this country, yet. You'll see what happens when they're through with it, and you'll see that I'm right.
Nipped, Tucked
Watched the "Nip/Tuck" series finale last night. I was half-expecting them to do something lurid in the finale, but, like most of this last season, things were restrained -- Julia taking the kids and settling in London, apparently to get married again. Christian and Sean up Liz (finally) and make her a full partner in the practice, then Christian later axes Sean and sets things up so Sean can go to Bucharest and do do-gooder surgical work that way. Matt takes his daughter and shacks up with Ava, who admits she doesn't love him, but Matt doesn't care (as close to a happy ending as Matt's going to get -- frankly, I'm surprised he survived). Kimber's "ghost" haunts Christian one more time, telling him from beyond the grave that she's finally over him. And it ends with Christian at an airport bar, meeting his next "Kimber," the lessons likely unlearned, although one can always hope. One of the subplots likely shows how Christian wants to go -- you could almost see the lightbulbs going off in Christian's head.
Anyway, they wrapped things up pretty quietly. I was nervous that Sean would snap, that Matt would snap, that Quentin would appear and carve the bejeezus out of everybody. But none of those things happened. Christian was a bit stubbly during the episode at times, uncharacteristically so -- I guess that was to symbolize his conflicts about doing the right thing by Sean, who had robotically embraced his life as it was, although Christian could see through it, telling Sean that "pretending to enjoy" the life he had was still pretending, not enjoying, and he needed to cut him loose.
And so it goes. The end.
Anyway, they wrapped things up pretty quietly. I was nervous that Sean would snap, that Matt would snap, that Quentin would appear and carve the bejeezus out of everybody. But none of those things happened. Christian was a bit stubbly during the episode at times, uncharacteristically so -- I guess that was to symbolize his conflicts about doing the right thing by Sean, who had robotically embraced his life as it was, although Christian could see through it, telling Sean that "pretending to enjoy" the life he had was still pretending, not enjoying, and he needed to cut him loose.
And so it goes. The end.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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