Just a quick mention here. This is a clip of the last 45 seconds of the NCAA Division II Championship game. It’s amazing how these smaller schools just get completely unnoticed usually. Not after this game though. Fantastic!
March 26, 2007
March 20, 2007
Catch up, catch up, gotta catch up
print “Hello World”
Hello World
(programmer joke)
Hi Ho everybody! How’s things? Good, good.
Me? I’m well.
Man it’s nice out…
So I know it’s been a while, but well, I’ve had house guests, and places to see, and no energy after work, and you know, general laziness.
I mean it’s really nice out…
I’m almost lost on where to begin with this whole thing it’s been that long. How about chronological? Frankly, I’ll probably have more success with that then alphabetical. Though think of what a challenge that would be!
Holy hell it’s nice out…disc…golf…calling…I’ll be right back…
…
…
…and here I am! How was that for easily distracted? So my short little nine holes took a bit longer than expected. It turned out to be a whole lot windier outside than inside (go figure), and I ended up spending twenty minutes looking for a disc in an impressively horrible briar patch. Found the disc though! And managed a par on top of all that!
So where was I before I got derailed 10 seconds into this thing (man this is gonna take forever)? I better get some Brie to help me focus…mmmmm….Brie.
It’s been so long since my last post that I have to announce: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH! And only 3 weeks late, too!
So at least I’m caught up on that. You know its interesting, while I was in SA I took my freaking camera everywhere. Grocery store, bar, boerwors stand, I mean everywhere. Now, I forget it all the time. Daniel came to visit, and I took no pictures. Went to Madison, and I took no pictures. You know how many bad pictures I took in SA? And I can’t even summon up some occasionally middling ones here. Sheesh.
So I saw Daniel for the first time in a year, which is about how often I saw him when he lived in Hawaii, even though now he’s only three hours away instead of 5,000 miles. This definitely reflects badly on someone (probably not me of course). We did the whole “gotta have seafood”, “gotta see your grandmother”, “gotta go to sketchy bars” thing, so I think we hit all the high points Baltimore has to offer.
So I spent last Fri/Sat/Sun in Madison. Wandered State St., went outside the bars to smoke (hiss), ate fried cheese curds, watched basketball till my eyes were pleasantly red rimmed, went by CWC to see saw my girls. Actually Brian arrived at the Center on Saturday, and one of the residents on our old unit had passed away the night before. Pretty sad. The strange thing was that it didn’t upset me as much as it would have if I had only worked at the Center. I guess my time at the hospital has changed me a bit.
Foua came down on Saturday, so we dragged her from one sports bar to another until the games ended at about 11:00. She did discover the joys of male bar sitting. Foua, me, Brian, and Aziz, all in a line, staring at the TV’s but still talking to each other. Apparently the whole “girls have to make eye contact when talking to each other” thing was not her favorite. Your welcome, Foua.
So after the games ended, my very agreeable compatriots and I walked over to Maduro’s. Now Maduro’s is my all time favorite bar of any place I’ve lived. It’s a wine/cigar bar that the last time I saw it a year ago, was on it’s last legs as a result of the Madison smoking ban. In the intervening period, it managed to get an exemption for cigar smoking only, and as a result, was back to the wonderful place I remember. So the five of us (Brian’s friend Z having joined us) spent the rest of the night puffing on great cigars and drinking those things that only Maduro’s can manage just right: pre-matched scotch and cigars, sweet Port, and has anyone tried Grappas? It’s a brandy made from the leftovers of wine making. Awesome stuff, and doesn’t smell or taste like anything else on earth. What a blast.
So the trip back to the cars ended up being an event. Foua was…well…feeling no pain. So it fell to me to make sure she survived the 12 block trip back down State St., no easy task. I finally found myself clutching her arm and dragging her to and fro away from oncoming traffic and away from anyone she seemed to feel had wronged her, which was pretty much everyone. Highlights include:
-”You’re not Irish! You’re not Irish!”
-”How can you celebrate this holiday! We should be drinking on Martin Luther King Day!”
-Having detached the hood from her jacket, she proceeded to swing it wildly at anyone who walked past.
-”Lemme go! I wanna go beat him up!”
Once we tucked her into the back seat of Brian’s car, things got no better.
-Unable to sit upright, she slams her head into the passenger headrest, “Ow! I have a headache!”
-And finally, as we attempted to drop her off at our friend April’s house, we realized that while I knew how to get to the apartment complex, it was a solid 20 acres of identical buildings and cul-du-sacs. Trying to get directions from Foua was a bit difficult, and tended to include “I love you” a lot, but she did mention “Cherries in the Woods” just as we passed Cherry Woods Rd., so I guess it all worked out.
Man I really miss Wisconsin sometimes. I guess that covers the highlights of the past few weeks. So we’ll move on to the present and future.
IMPORTANT! There is a project underway to use internet podcasts and social sites to try and circumvent the large record labels. The project is called Bum Rush the Charts, and the idea is that as many people as possible will buy the song “Mine Again” by Black Lab on March 22. Why Black Lab you my ask? Several years ago Black Lab signed a deal with Geffen Records. It became quickly clear that they had signed a bum deal. Geffen essentially revoked all creative control from the band and they found themselves locked into their contract under unreasonable demands. After years of fighting Geffen they managed to rip themselves away and signed to an indie label. This song was selected for the project to celebrate Black Lab’s success in restoring artistic control over their own music.
So for a while now, music podcasts and sites have been hyping Bum Rush the Charts, and it all culminates on Thursday. The site I linked to above has all the details, and on the 22nd the site will actually switch over to the site to purchase the song. So go ahead people, let’s all spend a buck and help fight Big Music.
Finally, I’m switching shifts and units at work! Our neighboring unit closed down last week and has been taken over by my manager as a Med/Surg overflow unit. For some time now, I’ve been thinking about moving to a twelve hour shift. With Elizabeth beginning her new job, our schedules would soon be completely incompatible and I would end up never seeing her. So as a result, starting tomorrow I’m moving to the new unit. I will be working 7pm-7am, but then only three days a week! Do I know what my sleep schedule is gonna be? Nope. So for a while any calls will probably get the answering machine, all though for that matter, I’ll be off most days anyway. So let’s see if I can survive the first week, woo. Bye bye Rehab!
So we’ll call that a post. Peace out and enjoy your pic of the post, a shot of the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
February 21, 2007
Paternal Familial Photo’s
So Dad, spouse, and progeny came to visit me on their way to New York last Friday. They were only in town for a couple of hours, so I only got a couple of pictures. Voila!
Squirt (Mary Cecilia, sister), Ninny (Nicholas, brother), and Betsy (stepmother) all grouped together with Buzz. Plus Squirt hanging out in front of literature to look smart. I feel I should point out that my little sister has the most red-eye reduction resistant eyes I’ve ever seen. I tried three different programs to get rid of it, and this was the best I could do. Maybe she really has red eyes (creepy).
Here’s my dear beloved siblings. I actually waited and waited to press the button because Nicholas was making a face. The moment he stopped I took the picture, so of course the sister had to pick up the slack. You know what, the South African penguins were more cooperative.
And finally Dad and Squirt on the way out the door. Bye bye Fam.
Plus the picture of the post. This is a shot of a Japanese repair ship docked in Nagasaki, no Photoshopping involved.
Peace in the Middle East!
January 29, 2007
What goes on these days?
So I guess its been a little while since I updated my day to day doings. You know, we’ve sort of settled into our old lives, and so not much interesting and new happens on a day to day basis. Work, as it used to be, is of course once again the dominant item in my life. And since I’ve been trying to keep work stories to a minimum (because they tend to be gross and depressing), I find that a large amount of my week is sort of closed.
One thing I am excited about is that I managed to get March 16-18 off of work. This is the weekend of the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. Now I’m working on meeting up with Brian to watch the games (this would be year 2 of the hopefully annual travel tradition). Last year I crammed a trip to New York to see Daniel, and Madison to see Brian, into a whirlwind five days built around the tournament. This year I don’t know if the finances for such a thing exist, so I’m gonna pester Brian til he comes here (grin).
Miscellaneous stuff: Our phone is on and functional so feel free to give us a call. I finally put in my change of address form, so Paulette, you don’t have to get inundated in my junk mail anymore. Thanks for the mailbox loan! Here are some propaganda posters from North Korea. It’s good to know the art of hysteria inducing poster art hasn’t completely disappeared:
Finally, best of luck to Elizabeth’s grandmother. We’re thinking about you, Mrs. Hazel.
January 27, 2007
SA can’t win for losing…
So a while ago I mentioned that South Africa had been suffering from monster blackouts. Old infrastructure, and that sort of thing, had finally kicked the bucket.
A couple of days ago, Wessel, one of our former housemates sent me an email about the status of the new World Cup stadiums. According to him, SA is several billion rand short of what it needs to complete the five new stadiums for the 2010. To add insult to injury, they have already broken down, or begun refurbishing the old stadiums. So instead of of even having second rate stadiums to fall back on, they have nothing!
Then today I came across this article about the delaying of hospital construction in South Africa because of the World Cup.
BBC.com South Africa’s Hospitals
Poor South Africa! Even if they manage to build these stadiums, and the event happens, and thousands of tourists aren’t mugged or shot, the damage may well have been done. They will be years behind on health care improvements and at this rate, they’ll be lucky to break even on the World Cup. Sigh. Poor poor SA. I’m rooting for you.
End of Part 1 (the serious one)
Part 2 (the funny one)
Some photo’s from the Apple Store in Seoul. You think maybe someone failed to catch this one? Gosh, maybe Apple isn’t quite the people’s company we thought it was. Or then again, maybe it is.
Nazi Statuettes in Apple Store
Here’s an interesting story about a Chicago TV station that got, I suppose, hacked in 1987. I suddenly have a strong urge to interrupt someones regularly scheduled programming. There is a video link at the bottom of the article.
Crazy photo of a Fred Meyer of all things. And Buzz makes fun of me for getting so easily distracted in supermarkets. Can you blame me? Look at this thing!
And finally my faithful flock of fiction (?) following family/friends, my absolute nightmare! Perhaps the most horrible thing I have ever seen. Anyone trying to get near my eyes with this thing would have to be hurt…severely. Arrrrgh!
“[Miyagi karate-chops the tops off three beer bottles]
Daniel: How did you do that? How did you do that?
Miyagi: Don’t know. First time.”
January 25, 2007
Hmmm…Popular…
That last post got a lot of hits. Cool. I guess my musical interests are a bit more interesting than my work stories, huh? Strange that that would be so.
Here we go, music part 2:
The Caesars: A Swedish band of all things. This song kind of cheats because, “It’s not the fall that hurts. It’s when you hit the ground.”, is maybe my favorite “-ism” ever.
The Decemberists: A band from Portland, OR. This is a live show from NPR’s All Songs Considered. Basically NPR just sat in and recorded a show at a club in DC. This show is full length, so it will take a bit more than 3:30. Awesome show though.
The New Pornographers: This just sounds like some kind of death metal band, no? Well, no. A band from Vancouver, BC. At the moment they are sort of in flux. The women who added the distinctive vocals to the first two albums is doing very well in her solo career, so she is spending less time with the band (plus she sounds like a bitch). So here are two songs, with her, and without her.
So there you go. I went through this list without the evil Record Companies (let’s call them RCs), giving me any grief at all. Still the New Pornographers have the same RC as Preston School of Industry, so we already know they’re a bit more progressive. Some people tell you to buy American. I say buy Matador Records.
This is your DJ signing off. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.
January 23, 2007
The Music Installment
I just kind of felt like putting some links to songs I’ve been listening to recently. Mind you, not all of these songs are newly released, just new to me, or not even that now that I think about it. Just forget all that, and we’ll just call them favorites.
If you’re at work, or at a library, sorry. Go home or use some headphones or something.
Preston School of Industry: This band has been around for half a dozen years, but these are the first songs I’d actually heard.
The Killers: This is the newly released second album. Missing those inane songs that plagued the first. Yah! I looked everywhere for a direct link to this song. Unfortunately I can only get you to the page before. In the middle of the page, inside the “Latest Video & Audio” box, click the audio for “Bones”.
Jackie Greene: Discovered this guy randomly at the late Luther’s Blues in Madison. Brian picked him, so good on you Brian. This is actually an entire NPR bit with 4 songs interspersed throughout the interview. About 25 minutes all together.
This is the high bandwidth Windows Media version link. I figured I don’t know anyone who routinely runs anything other than broadband on a Windows machine. If you are that person, awesome, I will totally find you a dial up, Mac/Linux compatible version. And good for you for fighting the power!
And just for completeness, here is the video of Matisyahu that got Meredith all worked up the other day. Funny stuff, and pretty damn catchy too. Again, I can only take you to the site that should launch the player. Enjoy.
One final thought on the state of music on the internet. A couple years ago, when everybody with an idea and a computer was swimming in money, it was a cinch to find previews of music. Record labels back then were practically throwing full copies of songs at us. Now, with piracy having become such a problem, more often than not you get a 30 second clip, or as in a couple of my picks above, the entire song but with it embedded in a proprietary javascript media player. As a result, I can’t give direct links, or copy the songs. I suppose that’s what they’re going for, but here’s the problem. If I go to a site, and have to load a special player to hear their song, or worse , register, I won’t be coming back.
You may have noticed that the only site I linked to that allowed the song to be saved was the Preston School of Industry, brought to us by Matador Records. Now I downloaded the two mp3’s available from the band and have listened to them over and over. As a result, as soon as finances allow, I’m going to purchase the album from Amazon. So thank you to Matador, a record company with some sense. Give us a free, unrestricted, unencumbered copy of a couple of songs, and we are much more likely to buy the album. Or you can continue to spend a fortune restricting our access, and suing people who don’t want to pay $18.99 for the bands they love, and watch piracy wash you away.
December 28, 2006
Questions, questions…
Here’s a response to mom’s insanely question packed comment from the last post. I figured most people probably have some interest in the answers.
Is this blog still on SA time?
Actually it still was, I’ve just changed it though.
Are those your new Chanukah Dockers in that photo of you with the Hazel family?
Actually they are. I chopped wood (so they got covered in mud), fired shotguns (so they smelled like gunpowder), and ate southern cuisine (so they got greasy) the first time I wore them. Washed right out, but I suspect my “nice” pant won’t be for long. Thanks a lot though mom.
What were some of your Christmas presents?
I got wonderfully esoteric t-shirts, a book, and a sushi making kit from Eliz’s Dad and stepmother. An electronic baseball game, an awesome “Paris, TN” t-shirt and a stocking full of edibles from her grandmother (though my stocking had no name, since I’m not officially family yet). A fleece, the fourth season of Scrubs, and a stocking full of goodies from her mom. A bottle of Jack Daniels from Peter and Nicole (apparently he chickened out on Jewish Rye bread as a gift :p). A Starbucks card from Aunt Carol. Sweet sweet candy from Mimi.
Where is Amanda’s old place relative to the hospital–drive or walk?
She lives in Mt. Vernon. We actually stayed at her place during our month long bounce around before SA. Definitely a drive. Oh well, I got used to busing when we lived there before. Still, the more permanent solution will be back in Charles Village within walking distance of work. Or maybe DC if Buzz gets the cool job she’s applying for in Bethesda.
Have you called Nunny (that’s my grandmother)?
Just now. Just now.
Do you know yet when you go back to work?
Here’s a really fucking sore subject with me at the moment. When I left, I asked if I had to quit. I was told I didn’t need to, that I could take a leave of absence, and though my position wasn’t guaranteed, I definitely had a spot in the hospital.
So I figured, I’d go to HR on the 26th to work out the details, and then hopefully start the next day. I called my new supervisor when I was still in Nashville, and she said my old position had been filled but was open again, and they totally wanted me back. Cool, right?
So I went into HR yesterday, and was informed that I had been terminated! What! Of course we want you back they said, but you have to reapply. What! So I fill out another application for the exact same job I had!
Last Job: Here
Last Supervisor: This one
May we contact them? Okaaaay…
The HR chump calls me back the next day (because I couldn’t do the interview then), and tells me that she’s sorry I had to go through all that, but my supervisor would like to meet me to go over some changes before I start. Okay, I said, “When?”. January 2nd. What! Oh, and you’ll need to go though your week and a half orientation again. What! I’m really hating my job and I haven’t even started yet. Sigh. Calm. Calm.
What remains for Elizabeth to do at school–and when does the degree materialize–and will there be a commencement ceremony?
Essentially Buzz is done. She submitted her final paper, and is waiting for the final review and edit before resubmitting it for the last time. The commencement isn’t until May though she’s not taking anymore classes.
So think that’ll hold you for a bit? Bye bye crew.
