Radio-Ga-Ga

Monday, February 15, 2010
As a kid, I always dreamed of being a radio DJ. I would play music and announce songs to myself in my spare time. One day, somebody would hear me.

That day has finally come, as I was offered a spot as a DJ on UtahFM, an online community radio station.

I jumped into things right away and started an all-classical show, which I call "(de)composition". I "decompose" music from time to time, analyzing the technical structure underneath it, and hopefully giving listeners some insight into things they hear. Other times I play music fitting a particular theme.

So, if any of you have nothing to do on Monday nights between 6 pm and 9 pm (changing to Thursday mornings in April), give me a listen. Maybe you'll hear something you like. Or maybe you'll just laugh at my on-air voice. Either way, thanks for listening!

(I also have a crappy website set up at www.decomposition.us - check it out to view previous playlists and a catalog of most of the music I play. I'll put more stuff up at some point.)

Holy underwear Batman!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Several years ago I went to visit my friend Jenny in Sweden. Through a long series of misconnected flights, my luggage disappeared into the abyss somewhere. (The abyss is also known as Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris - where luggage is often sucked into a black hole for eternity.)

Having been flying for 18+ hours and arriving with only the clothes on my back, I would soon be producing odors more suitable for - well, Paris. I was already feeling a bit uncomfortably sticky as it was. Since my luggage was not likely to show up that day, or even the day after, we chose to go to H&M to buy a few articles of clothing to get me through the next few days.

I bought a pair of jeans, a couple of t-shirts, and another set of my beloved "days of the week" socks.



I also bought a few sets of boxer-briefs.

After I got to the house and showered, I put on the boxer-briefs and was pleasantly surprised to find they fit perfectly. There was no excess material anywhere, yet they weren't fitting too tightly. This has been the opposite of my experience with US-market boxer briefs. I don't know why the US-market briefs don't fit well, but frankly they suck. The Hanes and Fruit-of-the-Loom briefs feel more like boxers with a bit of elasticity. Old Navy's boxer-briefs are particularly bad - I believe they were made for kangaroos with a pouch in the front and no genitals below.

Anyway, I later returned home with my new perfectly-fitting boxer-briefs and they joined the underwear rotation. But I always was sure to wear them for special "dressy" occasions like the symphony or funerals. You never know when you're going to get lucky at a funeral and want your best underwear on display for potential mourners.

While doing laundry today I noticed my very favorite pair of the set, a bold dark blue number, has developed a number of holes in the crotch area. They're not huge holes yet, but they will be in a a short matter of time.

It's times like this that I'm glad I'm single.

We all know that girls will make you throw away your favorite pair of underwear as soon as there are holes in it. Despite the imperfections, I am in no way ready to throw away this particular pair of briefs. In fact, I think I'm going to step away from dating for the next year or two, just so I don't end up in a relationship which may see my favorite banana hammock relegated to the trash bin.