Haulin' Notes

Bali, Day 2-14

2011-12-27T22:15:00.002-07:00

You know, I've just plain gotten bored of blogging.

Not just writing, either. Reading them too. I logged into Google Reader today and found that I hadn't read any blogs for over a month. And yet it didn't bother me that much.

Talking to a few other people, they felt the same way. Is blogging a fad that is slowly fading? Perhaps.

Here are some random pictures from the rest of my trip because I don't feel like breaking it out into individual days any more.

This is a water palace called "Tirta Gangga".

This is a water palace called ... hell I don't remember what it was called.

This is a war monument that nobody over there really seemed to know about. It was really odd - this huge gothic monstrosity among the nice beaches and such.

The monkeys over there are perverts.

Here are the rest of the pictures:
Bats, more water temples, and flowers.
More of the war memorial
The floating temple (not really floating)(and not appearing to be floating because it wasn't high tide), butterflies and bugs, waterfalls, other stuff
Trendy toilet paper, monkeys
FIRE

Bali, Day 1

2011-11-03T22:12:00.004-06:00

So here's a little tidbit of info: Sometimes airlines sell more tickets than they have seats available. There are always a percentage of people who don't make their flights, and things usually even out by departure time.

But not always.

Sometimes enough people show up that they don't have seats for everybody. If you're lucky enough to have this happen to you, you can volunteer to give away your seat in exchange for some vouchers for a future flight (plus a seat on the next flight).

We managed to rack up $1600 in vouchers on a trip to Los Angeles back in March. If you have $1600 in vouchers laying around, what do you do? Go on vacation, of course!

We chose Bali as our destination. Bali is smack dab in the middle of Indonesia, directly north of Australia. We booked tickets there, flying via Tokyo and Singapore.

We hired a driver for the first four days of the trip to take us around the island and let us get a feel for it.

The first day started with a trip to Tegalalang, toward the center of Bali. There are some beautiful rice paddies there, and you are welcome to walk among them!

Just up the road from Tegalalang is an organic farm that grows a variety of fruits, vegetables, and spices. More interesting though, is that they produce Kopi Luwak, which is the most expensive coffee in the world! Why is it so expensive? The production process:

1) The fruit of the coffee plant is eaten by an Asian Palm Civet, a small native animal that seems to be a cross between a cat and a rodent.
2) The stomach acids of the civet interact with the fruit.
3) The fruit is pooped out.
4) Yes, you guessed it: The Coffee Crap(tm) is gathered up, washed and dried, roasted, then shelled and ground up into coffee!

There are two layers of actual shells that are removed before exposing the coffee bean inside, so you don't need to worry TOO much about eating actual poop. Maybe.

Kopi Luwak coffee beans set out to dry

From there we traveled onward to Gunung Kawi, a temple built in the 11th century. It features 10 shrines cut into the cliffs surrounding the Pakrisan river, each shrine being over 20 feet tall!

The day we went there they were preparing plates of food to make as an offering. They also had a duck wrapped up in a palm leaf. He seemed blissfully unaware of his fate that would be arriving a few hours later.

Just a few miles away from Gunung Kawi is Tirtha Empul, which is one of the oldest sites in Bali. Sometimes known as Temple of the Holy Spring, Balinese travel from all over the island to bathe in the natural spring waters here.

We stopped for a late lunch overlooking Batur volcano.

It was now time to head back for the day, but with one more stop along the way: Goa Gajah, or the Elephant Cave Temple.

The rest of the photos from Day 1 can be found here.

A public thank-you.

2011-10-22T01:25:00.002-06:00

After an exhausting day of physical work, I need a bit of a relaxer before calling it a night.

I would like to publicly thank Erica for posting about drinking a beer in the shower. Yes, the post was a year ago, or longer, but it stuck in my mind. Tonight I hopped in the shower with a Sam Adams Octoberfest, and it was almost perfect. A blowie at the same time would have completed the trifecta, but I will settle for the beer and shower.

So, thank you Erica for your wise suggestion. I owe you an almond pastry from Gourmandise next time you're down here.

Checking in.

2011-08-07T23:53:00.004-06:00

So I am still here, and every now and then I think about writing something. But you know, you get busy with work and going out and walking the dog and all the sudden it's 1 am and you are way past your bedtime and it gets prolonged even more.

Not only that, I'm not sure anyone can relate. I mean, I think 90% of my blog readers have been busy having babies lately. How can you relate to a single guy who has nothing but Pringles for dinner?

OK, I'm not entirely single - in fact, I am quite happily dating somebody whom I may detail in the near future. Maybe. We are kind of private though, so maybe not. In fact, I think I'm done talking about that for now.

However, the two of us did take a trip up to Oregon with ernl and her Manzilla. Unfortunately I had to ruin the vacation by working half the time which kind of rained on everybody's parade, including my own. That said, I still had plenty of fun and even got a few photos that I'm happy with!

I LOVE COCAINE

One of the porch lights at our beach house kept arcing.

The rest can be found here and here and here.

Africa Adventures, Day 18-21: Kruger National Park

2011-05-15T22:51:00.002-06:00

I'm tired of trying to describe everything that happened. Yes, even the rhino attack. So here's some more pictures so I can wrap up this trip and blog about other crap.

I love this. A print of it is now hanging by my kitchen table.

LOTS more here!

Africa Adventures, Day 16-17: The Road to Kruger

2011-05-01T00:51:00.002-06:00

After returning to Jo'burg we headed up north to Pretoria, the "Executive" capital of South Africa. The day turned out to be rather rainy, so we didn't go out a whole lot. However, I bought the hottest striped shirt ever and that made up for the rain. It was so hot that when I put it on I had to get my own phone number.

From there it was time to head east. Kruger was a ways away - far enough that we would stop overnight twice before entering the park.

Luckily there are some interesting scenic areas to visit along the way. We took a route called the "Panorama Route", which has some of the best views in South Africa. I was quickly running out of memory on my cards and did not take as many photos as I wanted, so things are a bit sparse through here.

There is a trio of waterfalls outside of Sabie: Lone Creek (shown here), Bridal Veil and Horseshoe. We checked out all three. Lone Creek is extremely easy to access, Bridal Veil slightly more difficult and Horseshoe is a major pain in the you-know-where.

This is a shot from the Mac Mac Pools. A slow-moving stream in this area provides plenty of areas for wading and relaxing.

This looks like something you'd see in Utah, but it's actually the Bourke's Luck Potholes.

One thing I wish I had taken pictures of but didn't was "God's Window" - a wonderful view of the Mpumalanga province. Highly recommended if you're in the area.

We were running out of time and wanted to get to the edge of Kruger before dark so we headed out, only to encounter the worst rainstorm I have experienced in my entire life. I had the wipers on their highest setting and they couldn't keep up. I was tempted to pull over but I had the good fortune to end up driving right behind a bus, so I was able to follow his taillights all the way to Nelspruit. We stayed at a B&B there, where we heard the loudest frogs in existence. I could not believe how loud they were - it was almost deafening. I never saw one, but we were told that they're actually fairly small in size.

Africa Adventures, Day 14 & 15: Namibian Village Visit

2011-04-03T20:57:00.003-06:00

Today we took a boat over to Impalila Island on the Namibian side of the Chobe River - we were going to check out some villages over there.

The villages seem to have become accustomed to westerners coming over to visit, as they had a wide variety of trinkets that you could buy that were identical to the ones you could buy just about anywhere else in Africa.

This is a rather large termite mound.

There was a boat that was no longer in use that some of the village children were playing on. I hopped on one end of the boat and the kids tried to rock me off of it. I played with them for a good hour or so.

Tonight is our last night in Botswana. I was sure to grab a sunset picture over the river before turning in for the night. Tomorrow: A bit of laundry and relaxing before heading off to Jo'burg again.

Africa Adventures, Day 13: Chobe Game Park and River Trip

2011-03-18T14:49:00.005-06:00

Today is all about animal spotting. Rather than describe what we did, let's just illustrate with pictures.

More!

Africa Adventures, Day 12: Victoria Falls

2011-03-16T00:10:00.002-06:00

There are always people who tell you not to visit third world countries like Botswana because of the stereotype of instantly coming down with the trots. This is utterly ridiculous, as plenty of people have come and gone without coming down with the trots. So I looked forward to my stay.

Unfortunately it seems as soon as I arrived in Botswana I instantly came down with a case of the trots. I don't know if it was the water or the food (I had some bread with dinner which I later found had sesame in it, which I am allergic to), but it was with me the rest of the trip. The first night was particularly bad, as I felt like I had a fever and was just sick in general. Still, I had to perservere - Victoria Falls was coming up!

Victoria Falls is the world's largest waterfall (in width). It resides on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border, and you can see it from either side. We chose the Zimbabwe side on the advice of the hotel people (that and the fact that the visa was cheaper). We took a quick bus ride to the Zimbabwe border, went through immigration, and then on another 45 minute bus ride to the city (also called Victoria Falls). Zimbabwe seems to be even more poor than Botswana, but they put on their best show for their main tourist attraction.

Admission to the falls is slightly biased: $5 if you are a Zimbabwe resident, $10 if you're a southern Africa resident, $25 if you are neither. We coughed up our money and went inside. It was a very sunny and hot day, and the heat was not helping my sickness at all. I ended up watching maybe 20 minutes of the falls at a time then returning back for pit stops. The falls were very impressive, and they thundered down so hard that it would be "raining" from all the mist. And this was on the other side of the gorge!

One fun thing about Africa is that a lot of the safety precautions that saddle down civilized placed aren't bothered with her. Most of the cliff edges only had "fencing" consisting of a few branches throw along the side. In some places there was no fencing at all, allowing you to possibly walk right off the side of the cliff. They allow for some fantastic views - if you dare. With my fear of heights - I didn't dare. But others did. I couldn't watch.

After spending several hours at the falls we walked back into town. People all over the place would try to badger us into buying their silly wood giraffe figurines or whatever. It was a bit annoying, but eventually a uniformed guy wearing a "Tourist Police" badge came to our rescue. He walked with us and chatted, eventually walking us to the hotel where we would meet our bus back to the border. After arriving at the hotel he shook my hand (indicating that he was ready for a tip) - I gave him a few bucks for his "protection". That's Africa!

We hopped on the bus back to the border, and about 15 minutes from the border it overheated. Apparently it had been leaking coolant the entire way and the radiator was bone dry. We had some bottles of water for consumption, so we dumped a bunch of them in, hoping to limp it along. Luckily another bus by the same company happened to be driving along and saw us struggling, so we were able to transfer to them and get back home safely.

More Victoria Falls photos can be found here.

Africa Adventures, Day 11: Flight to Kasane, Botswana

2011-03-15T23:59:00.002-06:00

We were up at 4am to get to the airport in time for our 7am flight to Johannesburg. From there we checked in with Air Botswana for our flight to Kasane, which is in the far northeast corner of Botswana. We arrived at the gate at our appointed time, only to find the pilot was completely missing. Nobody could figure out where he was. We waited around and he eventually showed up an hour and a half late. We were bussed to the plane, which was a scary-looking death trap that seemed to be on its last legs. Combine that with bad turbulence and it adds to being one of the scariest flights I've ever had.

At some point the cockpit door was opened and left open for the remainder of the flight, allowing us to watch the pilots land the plane. It's a bit nerve-wracking to watch yourself approach the airport - I was certain we were going to miss the runway or descend too fast right until the last second where they dropped the plane down perfectly.

I hadn't lined up a place to stay the first night, but there was a driver there for a resort that sounded nice. We hopped into his shuttle to check it out, and it turns out the place was INCREDIBLE. It's called the Mowana Safari Lodge, and it claimed to only be a four star lodge, but I see no reason why it shouldn't have a full five. It gets its name from the mowana tree which is a huuuuge tree that lives for very long periods of time. The lodge was originally built around a tree estimated to be around 1,500 years old. A fire during construction of the lodge destroyed about a fourth of the lodge, plus the tree. A replacement tree was brought in (this one being at the spry young age of around 300 years) and the rest of the lodge was built around it.

In 1992, then President Bill Clinton and family stayed at this lodge for a three day visit. There is a room named after him - and of course it's the most expensive room in the place. I found out about it after we left, otherwise I would have gone to check it out.

The drive to the lodge was very educational. Botswana is obviously very poor, but I felt incredibly safe. I don't think I'd have any issue walking along any of the steets in town by myself. The driver instructed me not to walk at night however - not because of crime, but because hippos tend to roam the area at night due to the proximity of the river. Seeing as hippos are one of the most aggressive animals of the area we chose to heed his advice.

We lined up some activities for the next few days with the office and had a lovely dinner at the lodge (with an excellent waiter named Pono - we would kidnap him home if possible), then off to bed for an early start tomorrow!

Africa Adventures, Day 10: Stellenbosch

2011-03-11T06:14:00.002-07:00

Time for a day of rest! We had had a busy week and I was in desperate need of some clean clothes, so I took half a day to do laundry and wrap up loose ends here and there. I finished mid-afternoon which left us plenty of time to drive up to Stellenbosch! Stellenbosch is in the middle of wine country, and has the feel of a small European town. There were plenty of cute shops and cafes, the obligatory church, and plenty of German tourists. We stopped and ate a place called "No. 5", which is now the second place I have eaten at with that name (the first being an ex-pat bar in Singapore).

I ordered a springbok steak - springbok is a variety of antelope here. I was quite pleased, and even more pleased at the South African melktert I had for dessert!

We dropped off the GPS on the way to the airport because we would have a way early start tomorrow. A quick walk to the beach to catch the last sunset we'd see over the ocean capped a perfect evening!

Africa Adventures, Day 9: Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope

2011-03-04T00:36:00.004-07:00

Today was one of the busiest days of the whole trip! On the docket: Table Mountain, driving along the west coast to the Cape of Good Hope, then back up the other side for penguin spotting until we turn home.

Table Mountain is a tall mountain behind one side of Cape Town. It's completely flat up top (hence like a table), and you can take a cable car ride to the top if you are gutsy. I am not gutsy so I let Saskia go up for herself while I took a few cityscape shots and filled out postcards.

On the other side of Table Mountain is the rest of the western cape, with some of the nicest beaches on earth! We decided to drive along the entire western cape.

At the far end of the cape is the most southwestern point in Africa, the Cape of Good Hope! The weather was incredible until you about about half a mile from the cape, at which point it turned into pure fog.

Continuing along the other side of the cape, what can you see? Penguins! You can find them roaming about naturally in the area, and we stopped in for a visit.

The day was exhausting and we arrived back to town starving. We popped into a local pizza chain called "Debonairs. There was a bit of a wait (since it was a holiday most places were closed), and while we were waiting we were graced by some speeches and singing by a guy hanging outside the restaurant. He appeared to be homeless and either drunk, high, mentally impaired, or possibly all of the above. He was ranting and rambling, saying not to let the white man keep you down, among other things. We were slightly uncomfortable at first, being the only caucasians in the place, but I was relieved to see everybody else amused at his rantings. Eventually he broke in to some R. Kelly, singing "I Believe I Can Fly" at the top of his lungs. At some point he was escorted off the premises, but continued his tirade a half a block down. We were sure to cross the street to the other side on our way home.

More pictures can be found here.

Africa Adventures, Day 7: Cape Agulhas

2011-02-22T03:11:00.002-07:00

After a lovely breakfast (thanks to Jackie) we were off for the final leg of this round of driving: Cape Town! However we decided to make a slight detour (thanks to the recommendation of Jackie) and see the very southern tip of Africa. We drove through endless fields and a handful of tiny towns before arriving to a cold and rainy strip of rocky land called Cape Agulhas. It was a hike of a couple hundred meters before reaching the place where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet, and we arrived cold and soaking wet but pleased!

Yours truly at the southernmost point in Africa. To the left is the Indian Ocean, to the right is the Atlantic Ocean.

There were lots of rolling hills in the Western Cape. It seemed a lot like parts of the midwest United States.

From there we drove up the west coast to Cape Town, which is a busy tourist and beach city. Very popular for vacationers, especially the Germans, English and to a lesser extent the Dutch. We had a three stay booked at a B&B, however due to some poor communications we were double-booked. We ended up at another place run by an retired ~~soccer~~ football player named Ferdinand Keller. He played for the German national team and had retired to Cape Town, running this B&B with his wife and daughter. It proved to be extremely popular with Germans - I was the only non-German speaking person in the whole place! Luckily we were going to be out-and-about the whole time.

Since this was New Years Eve we wanted to see what excitement was going on. We had heard about a fireworks show at the beach, so we wandered down to check it out. Around midnight some semi-impressive fireworks (think of the best fireworks you can get from Wyoming) started going off. It was obviously an amateur show but still enjoyable. Then ... the police showed up! Apparently not only was it an amateur show, but an illegal one too! The cops started chasing down everyone who looked like they had fireworks in their possession. We watched several people running down the beach with pyrotechnics in hand. We got out of there quickly before things escalated.

Some more photos from the drive can be found here.

Africa Adventures, Day 6: Garden Route

2011-02-14T22:15:00.002-07:00

Well we've arrived to what we've been wanting to see - the Garden Route. A scenic route that runs along the southern coast of South Africa, it's supposed to be quite beautiful. And you know what - it was, but it was vastly overrated. The sights were nice, but there weren't any "must see" scenes, and there were all sorts of tourist trap places all along the route. Admittedly we left kind of disappointed.

It was still quite a ways to Cape Town, so we spent the night in a town called Heidelberg. We picked it on purpose because of the town in Germany with the same name. The town was tiny - maybe a couple hundred people at most, and the lone hotel in town had closed up shop. However we found the most charming little bed-and-breakfast joint, and their staff person Jackie was absolutely wonderful and adorable. Perhaps I will steal her from her boyfriend and kidnap her to the U.S.

This is the view from the back deck of the bed and breakfast. A nice river and empty fields as far as you could see.

This is the mosquito repellent of DOOM!!!

Africa Adventures, Day 5: Addo Elephant Park

2011-01-30T21:02:00.003-07:00

Luckily our early bedtime led to waking up early. We got a good 7am start to our next destination: Addo Elephant Reserve! The reserve is about an hour and a half outside of Port Elizabeth. After a few adventures with the car involving poorly marked streets, hard-to-find gears and speed limits that seemed way too fast for this car we arrived safely.

Unfortunately the weather was rainy, and had been all morning. Rain causes most of the animals to go into hiding. Even the elephants don't care for it because it washes the mud off their skin, leaving them vulnerable to parasites. That said, we were still able to see several elephants.

We also managed to spot a few other animals, including a zebra, several antelope, a warthog, ostriches, and a rare dung beetle! The poor weather lead to horrible picture taking and I only got a few photos worth keeping.

We gave up on the park after a few hours as spotting was scarce (one of the guides said we were fortunate to see what we had!). We decided to set off toward Cape Town and find a place to stay on the way. After looking at a map we decided on a pleasant-sounding town called Oyster Bay. Sounds cozy, right?

After plugging it into the GPS we found ourselves driving nearly 20 miles on a dirt road to get there. And what do we find when we get there? A town of maybe 30 houses, one general store, and definitely no hotels to speak of. While we didn't feel unwelcome, it was pretty obvious there wouldn't be anywhere to stay. Instead we backtracked to Jeffery's Bay, a surfing town and popular vacation destination for South African locals. The town had a definite party atmosphere, as the hotel we stayed in had several bars across the street, and they were hopping well past 3 am. If the bars weren't keeping me awake it was the people in the room across from ours, who were making us well-aware of the paper-thin walls with their (remarkably short-lived) sexy time. Not to be too hard on the guy's stamina, but if you were to use them as an egg timer, your eggs would be done over VERY easy.

Africa Adventures, Day 3 & 4: More flying, Port Elizabeth

2011-01-27T23:19:00.003-07:00

Time for the second long-haul flight of the trip! We dragged our butts out of bed at 3:30am to get to the airport in time for our flight to Johannesburg. This time we were flying KLM via Amsterdam, which is one of my favorite airports!

Unfortunately the flight was less than ideal. There was a box for the in-flight entertainment system directly under the seat in front of me, leaving very little foot room, and forcing my legs off to the side. Uncomfortable for an hour, and brutal on an eleven hour flight. I ended up with a really sore knee which took several days to recover. I can't say I recommend the aisle seats on the KLM 777s.

That said, the flight had some enjoyable moments. Flying over the Sahara Desert was fascinating - sand dunes as far as the eye could see.

Also onboard our flight were the Soweto Spiritual Singers. They're a popular choir down in South Africa who performed, among other places, at the 2010 World Cup. They had just completed a successful European tour and were returning home. When we landed they provided us a few impromptu songs while we waited to deboard!

We arrived into Jo'burg around 10:30, had our luggage and was out of customs and into a crappy airport hotel by midnight. We slept for three hours, then back to the airport again for our final flight to Port Elizabeth, on the southern coast of South Africa.

Port Elizabeth is the fifth largest city in South Africa. There isn't a whole lot to do there, but they have some decent beaches. The airport is pretty small - no official gates, and just two baggage claims. I was grateful for this however, as this would be the starting point of one of my major adventures: driving on the left side of the road! We were stuck with a Kia Picanto - a tiny car (possibly smaller than a Geo Metro) with an ultra-sensitive gas pedal to make up for the zero horsepower it had.

Besides the crazy gas pedal, there were a few other things to get used to. The turn signal and windshield wiper stalks were reversed, so whenever I went to signal a turn I ended up with the windshield wipers on instead. Getting in the mindset of yielding when turning right took a bit of work too.

After spending a few minutes driving through some neighborhoods getting used to the new feel and new road rules to learn, we were off to find the beach! Luckily Port Elizabeth is a small city and it was not hard to find. We found a nice quiet patch of sand and relaxed for a bit - and then realized we were really tired! I guess only sleeping six hours in the last 48 does that to you. We found an inexpensive hotel on the beach and took a nap.

It was still light out when we woke up. There was a dock directly across the street from the hotel, and we wandered down it just in time to see a pod of dolphins swimming around!

We hit up some places across the street for dinner, then went walking down the beach. Along the way we came by a carnival that had set up show. I stopped to take a few photos before calling it a night.

A few more photos can be found here.

Africa Adventures, Day 1 & 2: Hamburg, Germany(?)

2011-01-24T22:12:00.003-07:00

And we're off! After at Christmas Eve flight through Paris, I met my friend Saskia in Hamburg. The temperatures were even more frigid than Salt Lake City - about 10F, but with humidity! Even the slightest breeze cut right through whatever you were wearing.

We celebrated Christmas at her parents place with a tasty meal of pumpkin soup and roast beast. Their house is one of the most amazing houses I've ever seen. It's pretty decent sized, to start, but some of details are stuff I've never seen in the U.S. Stuff like having their ceilings adorned with wood. It was beautiful. I want it in my own house.

We had a day to kill before hitting up Jo'burg, so we drove around Hamburg a bit, visiting the docks and downtown.

This church was destroyed by a bomb in World War II but was still left standing, and left uncleaned on purpose. It's a bit eerie to see this damaged abandoned steeple sticking out among all the other buildings in the area.

The rest of today's photos can be found here.

Around the world around the world around the world around the world

2010-12-22T08:19:00.004-07:00

Did any of you see the movie Up in the Air, where George Clooney's character has a goal of flying 10 million miles in his lifetime?

Admittedly, 10 million miles is more than I think I will ever manage, and I'm glad for that! However, the sick person I am, I think a cool million miles is perfectly feasible and reasonable.

On January 17th, somewhere in the skies above Manitoba, Canada, I will have reached the 25% mark of my lofty goal - 250,000 butt-in-seat miles. Slightly over the distance to the moon. That's a lot of sore ass time!

Some interesting facts about my flying time so far:

- I've spent a total of 588 hours (24.5 days) in the air.
- My longest flight in distance is 5,663 miles (Paris to Los Angeles)
- My shortest flight in distance was 106 miles (New York City to Hartford, Connecticut)
- My longest flight in duration was 11 hours and 50 minutes (Salt Lake City to Tokyo)
- My most frequented airports are Atlanta (26 flights) and Paris (16 flights)

(Almost) A Hero's Life

2010-11-25T22:20:00.002-07:00

This evening while walking Goomba in penis-retracting temperatures, I noticed a house whose smoke alarms were going off. I blew it off as somebody burning Thanksgiving dinner and continued walking.

I went around the block where the house was beeping. While on the other side of the block, I could still very faintly make out the smoke alarms still. "Huh," I thought - I would have expected them to be off by now. A bit concerned, I decided to circle the block again.

I arrived at the house in question, and it was obvious there was no one home. I checked out the place and saw no signs of smoke or flames. However just to be sure I called a fire department. After describing the situation, they advised me to call 911 to have an engine sent out from the correct company.

I called 911 and they sent out a truck. I stood by as some fire fighters scoped out the building. They managed to open a window and ......... there was nothing. No smell of smoke. Just a false alarm.

They thanked me for being vigilant and headed off. I did not rescue a family from near death or save a building from destruction this time. But my day to be a hero will come eventually!

It's vacation time!

2010-11-15T17:55:00.002-07:00

Have any of you noticed I haven't posted any big trips this year? That's because it's a very late one! All my flights are booked now, so I think I can safely announce that I will be spending nearly four weeks in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and other surrounding countries!

Since a few of you seem to fret whenever I leave for places unknown, here's my flight itineraries. I'll be checking in as I can to let you know I'm still alive.

December 24
Delta 170
Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) to Paris-DeGaulle, France (CDG)
Departs (SLC) at 05:00pm and
Arrives (CDG) at 11:20am (next day)

December 25
Air France 2310
Paris-DeGaulle, France (CDG) to Hamburg, Germany (HAM)
Departs (CDG) at 03:25pm and
Arrives (HAM) at 04:55pm

(Here I will meet up with my friend Saskia and see Hamburg for a day.)

December 27
KLM 1776
Hamburg, Germany (HAM) to Amsterdam, The Netherlands (AMS)
Departs (HAM) at 06:25am and
Arrives in (AMS) at 07:40am

KLM 591
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (AMS) to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB)
Departs (AMS) at 10:20am and
Arrives in (JNB) at 10:20pm

(Quick overnight stay in a hotel by the airport.)

December 28
South African Airways 401
Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) to Port Elizabeth, South Africa (PLZ)
Departs (JNB) at 05:50am and
Arrives in (PLZ) at 07:30am

Here we will rent a car and drive along the southern coast of South Africa over the next several days until we arrive in Cape Town.

January 3
South African Airways 306
Cape Town, South Africa (CPT) to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB)
Departs (CPT) at 07:00am and
Arrives in (JNB) at 09:00am

Air Botswana 214
Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) to Kasane, Botswana (BBK)
Departs (JNB) at 11:30am and
Arrives in (BBK) at 01:50pm

Kasane is the gateway to the Okavango Delta, where animals come to drink during the wet season. We will be doing a short safari here, then spending a day driving up to Victoria Falls on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border.

January 7
Air Botswana 213
Kasane, Botswana (BBK) to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB)
Departs (BBK) at 02:40pm and
Arrives in (JNB) at 05:00pm

From here we will be renting a car and driving east, hitting up game parks in South Africa, Swaziland, and Mozambique.

January 15
Air France 995
Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) to Paris-DeGaulle, France (CDG)
Departs (JNB) at 08:20pm and
Arrives in (CDG) at 05:55am (next day)

January 16
Air France 1410
Paris-DeGaulle, France (CDG) to Hamburg, Germany (HAM)
Departs (CDG) at 07:30am and
Arrives in (HAM) at 09:00am

(A quick day to drop off Saskia and maybe do some laundry.)

January 17
Air France 2511
Hamburg, Germany (HAM) to Paris-DeGaulle, France (CDG)
Departs (HAM) at 07:25am and
Arrives in (CDG) at 09:00am

Delta 171
Paris-DeGaulle, France (CDG) to Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC)
Departs (CDG) at 10:22am and
Arrives in (SLC) at 02:00pm

Dead Horse Point Trip - The Other 0.5

2010-11-11T17:52:00.002-07:00

On the way home from Arches, my friend Mary was telling me about a ghost town I had never heard of. It was just a short detour on the way home, so why not check it out?

The winter of 1982/1983 was a very wet one, with above average snowpack. A sudden warm spell cause the snow to melt rapidly and caused flooding throughout the Salt Lake City area (which I remember very vaguely). Further south, the mountains around the town of Thistle, Utah were saturated with water, causing the land to slump and destroying almost the entire city.

Today there are just a few random outbuildings and houses remaining.

A few more photos can be found here.

Dead Horse Point Trip - Day 2 + .5

2010-10-26T23:34:00.003-06:00

After dragging my sorry ass out of my sleeping bag and a tasty breakfast, we continued the ~~scenic~~ drive to Dead Horse Point. We arrived around noon, set up camp in our way-too-small campsite and and cracked open the beers right away.

Later that night we met up with the rangers for an escorted hike through the backside of the point. We learned about all the desert life, most of which you don't see. We were, however, graced with a golden eagle doing a fly-by!

The next morning was the point!

Since Arches National Park was just a few miles outside of Dead Horse Point, we popped down there for a few hours to take a look around.

Does anybody else think that rock in the middle looks like a penis? OK good.

Double Arch

Landscape Arch. From this photo you should deduce that it's better to shoot it during the day than during the evening.

Sadly we did not make it to the famous Delicate Arch - next time! However, we DID make it to an epic burger joint in Moab (whose name I have forgotten), where I had one of the best chili burgers I've had in my life. NOM NOM NOM NOM

There is one more piece to this day I want to post about, but I still need to pull those photos off the camera and see if any turned out.

The other Dead Horse Point photos can be found here, and the Arches photos can be found here.

Dead Horse Point Trip - Day 1

2010-10-25T22:06:00.003-06:00

My last blog entry was depressing. Let's hear something happy!

So a few months ago at Pride, I won an auction for an escorted hike to Dead Horse Point. Dead Horse Point is a neat patch of rock in the middle of Utah, near Arches that I would tell you more about, but I'm lazy so just click the damn link if you don't know about it already.

I invited several of my friends who work for eBay (who sponsored the auction), and we all trekked down for a weekend of camping!

The first night was spent in Huntington State Park, about an hour's drive from Dead Horse. The campground was nearly completely empty - only one other person there that I noticed. There was a small lake adjacent to it that proved to be lovely for some photo taking too!

This is also the perfect time to announce that, at long last, I have purchased the 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens that I have wanted for so long. This thing is AMAZING. I want to make sweet love to it. I would marry it if I could. But instead of sticking various body parts in it or trying to get a marriage license for it, I think I will settle for an upcoming blog entry about it.

I really like this photo. You have three different light sources - a street lamp off to the left, the full moon, and me shining a flashlight on the tree to the left. I wish I had a better artificial light source, as I would have liked to use a shorter exposure as not to blow-out the moon so much. Still, moonlight provides some interesting pictures.

We went crawdad catching by the lake and were quite successful! However most of them were rather small. This was one of the bigger ones we found.

Behold, the power of an ultra-wide angle lens! Look at all that sky you can squeeze into the photo! Yes, 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, I do love you!

The rest of the first day can be found here.

Alone in Kyoto Salt Lake City

2010-10-23T21:03:00.002-06:00

When I moved from Suburbia, Utah to downtown, I was looking forward to having quite the busy social life.

It was already fairly busy while I lived in suburbia. I was always heading downtown for concerts, dinner with friends, or random parties. In fact, part of my move was because everything I did was downtown and the 40 minute drive to get out here was miserable.

So, now that I'm downtown, I'm finding myself kind of saddened and a bit surprised that I really don't do anything any more. I'm typing this at 8:30pm on a Saturday night, and all I hear are crickets and the sound of Goomba snoring and farting.

Granted, I did have one invite that I kind of invited myself to, but when you're kind of surly and you have to drive 80 miles to get there and have to work the next day anyway, you find your motivation a bit lacking.

Why has my social life gone to hell all the sudden?

It seems I've encountered a perfect storm. I've lost a few friends who have moved out of state. I've lost a few friends to having kids. I've lost a few friends to relationships. I've lost a few friends to break-ups. I've probably scared a few away with drunken flirting too. It also doesn't help that I have a hairy 140 lb child to take care of.

Tonight seems to be particularly bad. I tried at least writing some music to be somewhat productive, but I couldn't even get a single measure down that I liked.

Is 32 too old to go out and have fun? I'm starting to feel more and more like a homebody, and I don't like it.

But, of course, instead of going out and trying to make some friends tonight, I'm sitting at home posting on the internet on how I feel like a loser.

Bah!

The San Francisco treat

2010-10-12T00:03:00.004-06:00

I spent a week and a half in the Bay Area last month attempting to get my CCNA, which is a huge nerd certification which you can tell girls about in attempts to not get laid.

As it turns out the class was a bit of a bust, and I didn't even feel remotely prepared to take the test, so I didn't. I'll study some more and give it a shot in a few weeks. Maybe.

Of course I couldn't let a good trip out there go to waste, so I hung out with some friends for the extra weekend.

Meet Kris. Kris likes to hump things.

Meet Kristina and Natasha. I don't know if they like to hump things, but they probably didn't after I mentioned the letters "CCNA".

Kris an I later drove down the Pacific Coast Highway a bit to see what was going on.

I thought this guy had an awesome view for fishing.

The rest of the photos can be found here.

WARNING: Grossness ahead.

2010-10-09T03:06:00.002-06:00

So I'm going to try to update this slightly more often than once every two months. At least once a month now.

When I moved into this place, I noticed the front porch light fixture had a rather large accumulation of bugs. I decided to ignore it until I absolutely needed to pull the fixture down.

As luck would have it, the last bulb in it burned out last week and I had no choice but to pull down the glass fixture which was LOADED with moths and beetles and who knows what else. It was well over an inch high in a few places in the glass.

Even the retaining ring was completely full!

Happy Birthday Goomba

2010-10-06T03:28:00.003-06:00

Goomba turned two years old last month. Large dogs usually don't live as long as small dogs, so this is probably around age 20-25 in human years.

Owning a Newfoundland subjects you to questions you don't hear with a lot of other breeds. So I present the...

Top Ten Questions You Hear When Owning a Newfoundland

1) Is that a horse?
No, it's a dog.

2) Is that a bear?
No, it's a dog.

3) Do you have a saddle for him?
No, I do not.

4) Do you ride him around?
No, I do not. He doesn't like things on his back, although other people have reported a bit of success with their dogs.

5) Is that a (Great Pyrenees/St. Bernard/Other breeds I can't recall)?
No, it's a Newfoundland.

6) How much does he weigh?
Goomba weighs around 140 lbs, which is about average for the breed. I have personally met one that weighed in at 220 lbs!

7) Does he take you for walks?
Only when he sees a cat.

8) How much does he eat?
He eats about six cups of Orijen Adult per day. Goomba is allergic to grains, so I had to buy him a rather pricey grain-free food to keep him healthy.

9) Does he shed lots?
He sheds unreal amounts of hair, but only for a couple of months of the year (usually around May and September).

10) Does he sleep with you?
Goomba will sometimes crawl onto the bed with me for a few minutes, often laying directly on top of me. He eventually gets too hot and moves to the hallway, the kitchen, or even the bathtub!

We're not in Kansas any more.

2010-09-22T02:45:00.003-06:00

Once again I seem to be having a lack of blog posts.

I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's just because my life isn't particularly exciting at the moment.

Last month I helped a friend move from Columbia, Missouri to Boulder, Colorado.
I got the privilege of driving a Penske truck through Kansas! Let me tell you - that isn't the most interesting place I've driven through.

Did you know that Missouri has wineries? Neither did I.

The Missouri River is pretty big, at least compared to Utah standards. Also, there appears to be a giant pube floating in it. Or maybe I need to clean my camera sensor. Yes, I think it's definitely the latter.

The drive through Kansas was interesting for at least the first five minutes until I made it through Kansas City. Afterwards it got a bit dull.

Even worse, I grabbed a stack of CDs from my friend to listen to, and one of them had been put in the wrong case. I ended up being stuck with an Ani DiFranco CD! *hurk*

This photo shows why 18mm is not enough for awesome sky shots. Need to go wider!

Wow I did a horrible job with those colors - the sky looks neon blue. I should redo that one.

I had never been to Kansas, so now I can check one more state off the "places I've been" list. Glad to help any time Heidi - although you will have to expect some teasing for it.

Our house in the middle of the street

2010-08-18T11:31:00.003-06:00

So I think I alluded to it several months ago, but I guess I've never really said much about it until now. I finally moved closer to downtown, where you can actually walk to the grocery store and get to fun stuff without having to drive half an hour!

The new place is about the same size as my last one, but much better suited to me. It's only two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but it has a much larger range of entertainment options! It was built in 1920 and still has the original wood floors and windows!

The downstairs is finished, with a wet bar and a steam room!

Finally, a nice deck has been built out back, with a hot tub just off the master bedroom.

Leopold GoDOHsky

2010-05-30T23:43:00.013-06:00

Leopold Godowsky was a Polish-American composer, who, as far as I can tell, was legally insane.

For example, he decided that Etudes of Frederic Chopin (which are already incredibly difficult) weren't challenging enough already, and rewrote them. He reversed some of them so the left hand was playing the fast parts. He wrote some entirely for left hand alone. He combined two different ones into one piece.

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I decided to try to learn a few for myself. I chose the variation on Op.25 No.4. It has been reduced to be played entirely on the left hand, but there aren't too many notes on the paper, so it can't be THAT bad, can it?

So let's see what we've got here. Hey, these first three notes aren't too bad, so the rest of the piece can't be ....... ohhhhhhhhhh WTF:

Those numbers you see above and below the notes? That's telling you what fingers you should be using to play each key. Since I know most of you aren't pianists, try this exercise instead:

Using your left hand, on your computer keyboard hit the left Shift key with your pinky, and the letter "M" with your thumb. Now, WITHOUT LETTING GO OF THE "M", reach over and hit the period key with your middle finger, and the right Shift key with your index finger. Not so easy, eh?

Alright, well let's move on and see what else we have. Hey, lots of finger substitutions, and ... oh what the hell is this?!?!

TWO NOTES WITH ONE FINGER?!?!

For you non-pianists, hold down the left Shift key with your ring finger. Now hit both the "N" and the "M" key with your thumb. It's not too hard to do when thinking about it, but try doing it in the midst of regular typing!

Well let's see what the rest of this line has to offer:

Ow ow ow ow ow! Finger substitution isn't that uncommon in music, but this is unreal!

On your keyboard, hit the left Shift key with your pinky and the "M" key with your thumb. Now, without letting go of the "M" key, replace your thumb with your middle finger. Now, while still holding down "M" with your middle finger, hit "C" with your pinky, the comma with your index finger, and the slash key with your thumb. Now try doing it in one fluid motion!

OK fine, what does the last line torture us with?

I'm not even going to worry about the chord part for this demonstration. On your keyboard, with your left hand, just hit the following keys in rapid succession:

1) "Y" with your pinky
2) "G" with your pinky
3) "T" with your middle finger
4) "F" with your ring finger
5) "D" with your pinky
6) "E" with your ring finger

Well I don't know about you but my hand is already cramping, and we're only on the first page. Well done, Mr. Godowsky.

Nice cans.

2010-05-09T23:17:00.002-06:00

I do not like dealing with homelessness.

It's not because I think I'm above a homeless person. I'm not.

It's because you don't know who legitimately needs help and who doesn't.

Several years ago I saw a guy panhandling for money outside of Crossroads Mall. He had the typical beard and old clothes and sign saying he was a homeless veteran, please help, god bless, etc.

About ten minutes later, I saw the same guy walking through the mall, talking to somebody on a Bluetooth headset.

I once had a guy approach me for money to replace a broken fan belt for his car. I knew there was a Checker Auto Parts just a block away. I offered to walk up there with him and buy him a fan belt. He declined of course, he just wanted the money.

And then, of course, there are stories like this:

Bottom line: I don't give money to people who claim to be homeless. I much prefer to give to organizations like The Road Home who can put the money to use for people who actually are in need of it.

This last week, however, I did meet a person who I felt genuinely needed help.

I had just gotten home from somewhere, and he was walking down the street. He was going through all of the recycling dumpsters in the neighborhood and collecting all the aluminum cans from them and loading them into a huge plastic bag on his bicycle.

I knew I had a ton of cans, so I started pulling mine out of the dumpster and crushing them for him. He made it to my house and helped me round up the cans I had crushed. I chatted with him for a little bit. Said he had a few medical problems, a few thousand in bills to pay off. I wasn't sure of his housing situation, but you could tell his need was legit. And you know what - he was actually doing something about it by rounding up cans for recycling money.

I gave him all the change I had on me and told him I would set aside all of my cans for him in a separate bag from now on so he didn't have to go rooting through my dumpster. I do really hope to meet him again and find out more about what his story is. I hope it will eventually end up with a happy ending.

Supply and Demand

2010-05-02T23:01:00.003-06:00

The other day I was running some errands in West Valley, and I decided to pop into F.Y.E. to browse their used classical CDs.

F.Y.E. always has an odd selection of used CDs. Sometimes they're even priced reasonably.

Other times, though, the pricing leaves me completely confounded.

For example, about a year ago, I ran into a set of about eight CDs of Beethoven-contemporary Ferdinand Ries. They were all priced at about $10 a piece.

Sounds reasonable, right?

I've been teaching myself about classical music since I was about six years old. I've been broadcasting it for nearly six years, and while I am no means a professor at it, I consider myself well-versed in it.

I have never heard of Ferdinand Ries.

And I'm guessing none of you have either.

In fact, I'm guessing the number of people in the entire Salt Lake valley who have heard of Ferdinand Ries can probably be counted on both hands.

I could be wrong on that number, of course, but I doubt it's by much.

OK, so let's double that number and say that 20 people in the valley have heard of Ferdinand Ries.

What are the odds that one of them goes into that particular F.Y.E.?

And what are the odds that one of them is actually looking for music by Ferdinand Ries?

I'm going to put that number around zero.

Which is why, a year later, the same eight CDs were still available when I visited this weekend.

Frankly, if the price was a little more reasonable, I'd pick up the set myself just out of curiosity and for something new to play on my show. But at $10 a pop, I can't justify that.

And I doubt there is any one else in the Salt Lake valley who can either. Which is why I expect those same eight CDs to still be there another year from now. Or five years. Or until the store closes.

(Any F.Y.E. people reading this, maybe drop the price to $8 (plus the 20% used CD discount for buying three or more, plus 10% off for being one of your special members), and I'll give it a second thought.)

"Stuff"

2010-04-25T20:48:00.003-06:00

People these days have too much "stuff".

I include myself in that statistic, because, well, it's true.

Granted, I am not to the level of the people you see on Hoarders, where an intervention is needed. No, I'm quite the opposite. I actually pride myself on my ability to keep myself mostly in check with "stuff".

When I knew I was going to be moving, I got rid of as much crap as I could. Even when you think you do well at keeping your life mostly clean, you still do find stuff you don't need. I donated or threw away clothing, dishes, and other random items that I unwittingly accumulated over the years.

Through the process of unpacking in my new place, I'm finding a new batch of "stuff" that I probably should get rid of. But for one reason or another, I can't get myself to do it!

For example, I have a box of bold, solid-colored velvet-like curtains.

I used them in my last two places, but my current place doesn't need them. Easy to get rid of, right? But they have photographic possibilities! A good solid-colored backdrop can be useful! Granted, I've used these curtains as a backdrop exactly once, but I used it! Is it worth keeping around a box of curtains in hopes I may use them for this one day?

I have a few boxes of other things I haven't been able to get myself to get rid of, like a bunch of original NES games. I haven't hooked up that NES in five or more years, and 98% of the games I want to play are available on the Virtual Console on the Wii. I have no good reason to keep them around.

Other things I still haven't gotten rid of include:

- Clothes appropriate for camping, which I've worn twice in the last three years.
- Two rolls of Furby wrapping paper. I have no clue where they came from cuz I sure didn't buy them, but they're so awesome that I can't get rid of them.
- A set of TV trays. What if I have a party and people need a place to set their drink down? Perfect!
- A huge box of painting supplies. I'm perfectly happy with all the paint here. Why do I need them?

But let's take this one step at a time. Comment and tell me whether I should keep the curtains. What would you do?

Kick off your high-heeled sneakers, it's party time!

2010-03-19T22:03:00.002-06:00

So, some of you are aware that I am purchasing a new house downtown.

And if you're not aware of it ... well, you are now.

I'll make a separate post in the upcoming weeks once I'm moved in and can take some pictures so you can see what the hell I'm talking about.

But ... something I can work on planning now is the housewarming party!

Being as strange as I am, I have a very diverse group of friends, and I don't know how well they would mesh.

So I'm considering throwing two housewarming parties in different styles, and you can attend the one (or both) that suits your taste. Maybe I'll even throw a third one for my more-religious friends who would like to avoid hearing my Dennis Hopper impressions.

Maybe I can come up with a witty name for the parties. "Class and Trash"? "High Life and Miller High Life"?

To help you decide which party you would rather attend, base your choice on the following information:

Food
#1 - Agour Ossau-Iraty with Rosemary and Sea Salt Crackers
#2 - Chili Cheese-Flavored Fritos
#3 - Green jello with carrot shavings

Beverage
#1 - 2003 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon
#2 - Pabst Blue Ribbon
#3 - Caffeine-free Dr. Pepper

Music
#1 - Thievery Corporation
#2 - Motley Crue
#3 - U2

Games
#1 - Trivial Pursuit: 80s Edition
#2 - Rock Band: 80s Edition
#3 - Jots and Tittles: 80 A.D. Edition

Conversation
#1 - Gallery Stroll and Dine O'Round
#2 - Who shaves their junk?
#3 - Infants, toddlers, kids, children, rug rats, crotchfruit

Hot Tub Attire
#1 - Au natural
#2 - None
#3 - Full body suit

If you think I should just throw one big party and let everybody deal with each other, say so. Perhaps I can be convinced!

Thank you.

2010-03-11T22:48:00.001-07:00

Today I decided to de-link my blog from Facebook.

I previous had Facebook set to automatically import my blog posts as a note. I decided I didn't want to do that any more because reading a blog requires a marginal bit more effort. If you're reading this, you've actually found the link posted somewhere or received it from me, and cared enough to actually read. Facebook notes are just broadcast to all your contacts, whether they care or not.

Either way, the people reading this actually care to some degree about my life, or at least find me funny or something.

I was going to rant and rave about the last year, how it's kicked my ass, but how I've learned from it at the same time. But frankly, that's boring and a bit depressing.

I do, however, want to say that I finally feel like I'm starting to shed the last year, and my depression over it is dissipating. This last month I've felt more confident in myself than I have for quite a while.

Which brings us to you, the person reading this. Obviously if you've made it this far in this weird post, you do have some odd interest in my life for some reason. I want all of you to know that you have each brightened my life or taught me in some way.

Since I'm not entirely sure who reads this, I know I will miss people. Feel free to make yourself known if you ever want. All are welcome here.

Thank you to:

- The hippie who makes my work days tolerable by indulging each other in our quirkiness. I hope we never have a long uncomfortable silence again.

- The pastry chef who prevented me from batting 1.00 on insane girls. I wish our timing had been different, but I cherish the weeks we had and am excited for you and your new passion, even if I never get to share it with you.

- The girl who sounds like she's singing in her native language. I know your life has suddenly become more busy and I don't expect to see or hear as much from you. But don't fall off the earth. I still hope to visit at least every few years, here or there!

- The really short girl. I really enjoy chatting with you and wish we talked more often. Your cheery disposition always brightens my day, and your nickname for me ... well ... probably makes me a bit more cocky than I should be. But I'm not complaining. ;)

- The girl who I met on an LDS dating site - although you'd never guess it from our history. Thanks for letting me vent my troubles on IM. You're a very patient listener, and I appreciate that.

- My best friend's wife. We don't talk or see each other very often now that you're married and have kids, but I still enjoy the times we do stuff together.

- The former neighbor and classmate who seems as bright and cheery now as they were 20 years ago. Your attitude always makes me smile. It's contagious!

- The blog stalker whose blog I was stalking too. It's a bit more comfortable (although maybe not quite as fun) now that I've been outed. I think you are hilarious and could have quite the following if you ever chose to go public.

- The blog stalker who was quite proud of her stalking. I'm not sure what brought it on, but it amused me then and still amuses me now.

- The symphony friend who I am always very awkward with for some reason. Thanks for still talking to me despite my screw-ups. You're very forgiving, and it means a lot to me.

- The semi-famous blogger and columnist. We don't talk often, but hearing you rant and rave about the same things I do reassures me that I'm not crazy. Either that, or there are at least two crazy people in the world.

- The friend of a friend whose laptop I fixed and had working for all of a few hours. Thanks for listening to my radio show and making fun of how young I am and inviting me to bingo. I promise to make it some time.

- The ex that I am on speaking terms with. We chat every few months and it feels casual and comfortable. Thanks for not being bitter.

- The ex(s?) that I am not on speaking terms with. I don't know if you read this or not, although I suspect you may pop in on occasion. I know you're not happy with me and may never be. I hope you see it in your heart at some point to forgive my imperfections and at least become at peace with each other.

Hey, I can see the Cubs losing from here!

2010-03-10T10:28:00.002-07:00

A little while ago I decided to take a quick weekend trip to Chicago. I've been to oddball places that nobody has ever heard of, but for some reason I've never been to the third largest city in the country.

I was scheduled to get in early evening on Friday, but due to flight troubles I got in around 9 pm. I had tickets to see some improv at Second City, so I was a bit bummed I missed most of the show. Second City is one of the premiere improv clubs in the US, and numerous big names are alums of it, including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Eugene Levy, Andy Dick, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Stephen Colbert ... the list goes on and on! Despite missing the entire first half, I got my money's worth when they did a bit about Hall and Oates. Always appropriate!

Saturday was sunny and chilly, but I braved the cold to explore the Grant Park and other downtown areas.

Lake Michigan was still frozen over in a few places. These guys were throwing rocks onto the ice and trying to make it break through. DAMN HOODLUMS GET A JOB

If you have never seen the Cloud Gate, it's definitely worth checking out sometime in your life. I could have spent hours photographing all the different reflections and such.

That night I went to catch a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert, featuring the Shostakovich 11th Symphony. While the Shostakovich is one of my favorite works, the deal-clencher for me was the fact that Charles Dutoit was conducting. The very first classical CD I bought was conducted by Charles Dutoit, and I've amassed quite a collection of his work. I've always wanted to see him perform live, and now I can finally check that off my "to do" list.

A rainy Sunday was spent exploring and shopping in Wicker Park. The weather was unpleasant so I didn't bother taking any photos. I did, however, stop into Reckless Records, on which the book/movie High Fidelity is supposedly based.

The evening wrapped up by visiting an old classmate whom I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. I attended her Oscar party, where I received accolades for choosing the fewest number of Oscar winners correctly. The winner chose 16 correctly, with most people getting around 12-14 correct. I brought up the rear with a total of six correct guesses. Perhaps there's a reason I'm not on the Academy Board.

All in all, Chicago is a pretty decent city. I don't think it has as much charm as New York City, but it has plenty to offer. I would also suggest staying for longer than a weekend - I didn't have enough time to see and do everything I wanted.

The rest of the pics can be seen here.

(I really need to spring for a 10-22mm - look at those building lean! That's beyond Photoshop-able.)

Radio-Ga-Ga

2010-02-15T19:20:00.005-07:00

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!

2010-02-09T22:35:00.004-07:00

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.

snicker

2010-01-11T18:32:00.004-07:00

Today was a busy day at work, and I didn't end up having time to grab any lunch.

Then I have my radio show at 6:00, which didn't leave me any time to grab some dinner either. Hence I have not really eaten today.

There is a small market by the radio station studio. I popped in there and grabbed the best dinner I could: a jar of Pringles and a king size Snickers.

I got into the studio and set up shop and queued up a long song so I would have time to devour my meal.

As I pulled the Snickers bar out of my backpack, I felt something was amiss. It felt like it was broken in two. OK, fine maybe I set it down a bit rough. Famished, I opened it and plopped this down:

What the hell is this crap?!?! There is nothing "KING SIZE" about two Halloween-sized candy bars! A King Size Snickers is supposed to look like a massive majestic lump of milk chocolate-covered orgasm, not two turd nuggets!

Reading the label carefully, you see that they now advertise it as a "2 Piece" (written in smaller letters, of course) King Size. More importantly, though, is the weight, which has decreased to a meager 3.29 ounces of carbohydrate-loaded goodness. This is a decrease of over 11% from the original King Size Snickers of 3.7 ounces! Who to blame for this? Apparently the Food and Drink Federation in the UK, in an effort to make consumers more health conscious. Of course, the price remained the same for the reduced-sized bar. How convenient!

In short, Snickers is now off the top of my list of preferred meals on the go. I haven't decided who will be promoted into this new position, but it's likely to be a runoff between Twix, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Pringles. Farewell, my old friend Snickers.

100mm f/2.8 macro

2009-12-24T13:40:00.002-07:00

I logged in to my Fidelity account the other day and was surprised to find that my stock options were actually worth some money! Since they expired in just a few months, I quickly cashed them out and (~~invested them in stable but high yielding mutual funds~~) (~~donated the proceeds to a charitable cause~~) pissed the money away on stuff that will support the Chinese economy.

I've wanted the 100mm f/2.8 macro lens for a while because I love taking pictures of bugs, and you need a good macro lens for pictures of bugs. Sadly I did not think of the fact that I'm ordering the lens in the middle of December when no bugs are out for the shooting.

I'll probably be uploading a bunch of photos over the next several days and weeks as I play with this. You'll be able to find them here.

Life, (Liberty?), and the Pursuit of Happiness

2009-12-23T23:56:00.002-07:00

This post will make you wonder if I'm a tinfoil hat loon. I assure you I am not. Tinfoil doesn't have adequate reflection at the frequency the government is broadcasting subliminal messages into our brains.

---

In St. Louis a few months ago, we were driving home from a night of exploring the town, when we came upon a DUI checkpoint. The entire freeway was diverted down to two lanes, and officers would check out each driver - making sure their license and registration was in order, and doing a quick visual/sniff test to see if the driver had been drinking.

The person in front of us did not do so well. The officer appears to talk to him for about 20-30 seconds. The driver stepped out of the car, was patted down quickly, put into plastic handcuffs and led away. Another officer stepped into the car and drove it off to a waiting line of vehicles to be towed. Tow trucks were running back and forth, towing two cars at a time and still unable to keep up with the mass that were waiting. The entire process took maybe one minute, and seemed very efficient. TOO efficient.

I am all for removing drunk drivers off the road, and think in general the US' DUI laws are too lenient. However, DUI checkpoints aren't really targeting the offenders. Instead, it's law enforcement throwing out a net and seeing what they catch, while making law-abiding citizens go through a mandatory stop and questioning without any reasonable suspicion.

Stopped without reasonable suspicion? Isn't that against the Fourth Amendment? Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist doesn't think so, and the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of legalizing them. Rehnquist's majority opinion held that the end justifies the means, the clear and explicit words of the Fourth Amendment, that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, are swept aside because the ends justify obviating the Constitution. Can you image if the Supreme Court decided that guns posed such a danger that, well, despite the second amendment, guns needed to be outlawed?

Even worse, some of these "sobriety" checkpoints have become about revenue generation in addition to searching for DUI offenders. In Connecticut, cars with expired registrations are impounded immediately, which has left more than one parent with kids-in-tow stranded and searching for a way to get to their destination. Seatbelt and other safety tickets are handed out like candy.

Unfortunately our rights are slowly being stripped of us, and nobody seems to care. The ugly Patriot Act that was rushed through Congress with little opposition in the days after 9/11. In the following years, large portions of it were found unconstitutional, but unfortunately after innocent people were locked up because of it.

All of these things instill intimidation and fear in the population, which seems to be exactly what the government desires. I hope that some of us become aware of these slow but noticeable intrusions into our lives before we become a police state like the UK is rapidly becoming. Sadly though, I suspect we'll continue our decline.

I encourage all of you to remember your rights when stopped for any reason. One of the great things about this country is you don't have to answer any question the police ask you. If you are stopped, you can hand the officer your license and registration and sit silently while he peppers you with questions. You don't have to answer anything, no matter how harmless the question seems, and you can't be detained for not wanting to chit-chat with an officer. Specifically ask if you are being detained or if you are free to go, otherwise you are willingly sitting in the custody of the police. This video (for an immigration checkpoint) demonstrates your rights in action perfectly. If you have the time and confidence to do so, I encourage you to exercise these rights.

St. Louis - Day 3

2009-11-13T17:17:00.002-07:00

Day three was a bit rainy and cool, but still filled with fun!

We started off with a visit to the St. Louis Art Museum. The museum features a wide-variety of art from all time periods (including some big names like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, etc), plus some other interesting items such as antique swords and guns.

There is also an interesting selection of items from some of the south Pacific islands. You know you are viewing something serious when they have descriptions like this:

"The men of this region kept a number of wooden figures in their sacred men's houses that they would use to call upon their ancestors for help in hunting animals or revenge killings. To entice an ancestral spirit to enter a figure, they would smear it with animal feces, pieces of human meat, and blood taken from a man's penis."

What a fun-loving bunch of people these guys must be! I can't wait to have my ancestor's spirit possess a doll by merely poking at my dong with a knife!

After checking out the art museum we hit up Pappy's Smokehouse for the best barbecue I've had in my life. I can't decide if the ribs or the brisket was my favorite, so get both.

Our bellies full of meaty goodness, we wandered back west to check out the Cathedral Basilica. It was pretty over-the-top like these cathedrals tend to be. I wish I could have jammed on the pipe organ.

The trip concluded with seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform downtown. I'm not a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, but it was still a great show, with Bruce bringing people on stage to dance, a little kid to sing, taking audience requests, etc. I'm glad I caught it!

The rest of the photos can be found here.

St. Louis - Day 2

2009-11-01T21:01:00.002-07:00

We started off Day 2 in St. Louis by driving into Illinois to see the Cahokia Mounds, which are some piles of dirt that were made about a millennium ago. The natives back then had an abundant crop of Caterpillar tractors and bulldozers and since the market for them was nil (diesel gas had not been invented yet), they decided to build random piles of dirt with them.

I took a few photos of the area, but it's really hard to take interesting photos of piles of dirt, so I passed on posting them. However, I did see this little guy cruising around:

Oh, here's a photo from the top of the tallest (100 ft) mound, with St. Louis in the background.

The evening was spent at the City Museum. I cannot put into words how amazing this place is, although the Wikipedia article on it may be useful. Basically, imagine an abandoned warehouse that an eccentric guy started stashing crap in. Pipe organs, skateboard ramps, vintage pinball machines, you name it. Then paint everything bizarre colors. Install some slides that go down several floors. That just gets the tip of the iceberg of the City Museum. If you ever go to St. Louis, it is a MUST see. I cannot emphasize this enough! I mean, they have a ball pit for ADULTS for hell's sake!

The rest of the photos can be found here.

How Pathetique

2009-11-01T20:53:00.002-07:00

Last night I caught a Utah Symphony performance of the Tchaikovsky Sixth Symphony, known as the "Pathetique".

The symphony is one of his most popular and is performed quite regularly - probably every 2-3 years at the minimum. One would think I would have seen it several times by now. However, this was actually the first time I've seen it live. There is an odd story behind this though.

I've had other opportunities to see it in the past, but for some reason, I have always had an odd nagging feeling that I would die shortly after hearing it live. Where this came from I have no clue - I don't remember dreaming of it, and I don't know of anybody who has died after hearing it, and I'm not superstitious in any way. But still, it was an odd nagging feeling.

Yesterday I sucked it up and caught it. And you know what? The drive home was uneventful. Midnight passed without incident. And I'm sitting here typing now.

I guess Tchaikovsky is safe after all.

St. Louis - Day 1

2009-10-30T14:18:00.003-06:00

My friend Patrick wanted to go to St. Louis to catch Bruce Springsteen in concert. I had never been to St. Louis, so I agreed to tag along.

After a quick two hour flight, we landed on a slightly rainy Friday afternoon. We started off by wandering an older part of town known as "The Loop".

After a quick dinner of some incredible Syrian cuisine (including the best falafel I've ever had) at Ranoush, we wandered over to Powell Hall to catch a St. Louis Symphony performance. The concert included Ives' The Unanswered Question and Barber's Adagio for Strings, which were oddly played without pause between the two. I guess that's how he answered Ives' question.

After the Ives was a world premiere of a piece called Freedom's Plow by composer Rollo Dilworth. It was written for large orchestra, chorus and gospel choir, and was quite enjoyable. Probably the most memorable premiere I've ever heard. Sadly I think it would be lost on most Utah audiences - most people here think of the Mo-Tab when they hear "gospel choir".

The concert ended with Sir Michael Tippet's A Child of Our Time which is an interesting work for large orchestra and chorus. It's about the events that instigated The Night of Broken Glass during World War II. It's not performed very often (this was only the second time the SLSO had played it - the previous performance almost 40 years earlier), and I don't believe it's ever been performed in Utah. While it's a bit long and drags in a few places, I still find it a very rewarding listen and was glad to have caught it.

Powell Hall is a nice concert hall - much more old-fashioned feeling than Abravanel Hall.

The inside of the hall was neat too. Unfortunately I only got one shot before some lady notified me that I couldn't take any photography while there were people on stage (even the people removing the chairs), and that I'd be booted out as soon as the stage was clear anyway. She seemed pretty smug with herself and her "authority" - the type of person who would love to be Hall Monitor back in junior high school.

Despite it being cold and windy, we wandered around a bit more in the theater district to see what was going on. There were some neat churches which I really needed a tripod and a wider lens to photograph. I would go through and fix the barrel distortion but I don't really care right now.

Finally we made our way down to the famous Gateway Arch. I REALLY needed a tripod and a wider lens here - I really underestimated the size of this arch. I was expecting it to be fairly boring, but I was really overwhelmed with the whole thing. It's much larger than you would expect, and the reflective material on the outside really gives it some interesting colors.

Here I tried to shoot a 1/3 sec exposure by hand. The number one rule of photography is to never try to shoot a 1/3 second exposure by hand.

This is the bridge that links St. Louis in Missouri with East St. Louis in Illinois. I actually liked my underexposed shot more than my properly exposed one, so you get this.

The rest of the photos from this day can be found here.

You Capture - Still Life

2009-10-18T21:33:00.002-06:00

This week's I Should be Folding Laundry challenge was Still Life. I've always struggled with still life photography - for one thing, there are so many cliche still life photos. The bowl of fruit. The candle and the stack of books. Etc. Secondly, the lighting can become very complex, and I don't consider myself well-versed in lighting at all. I don't really have much lighting to work with either.

That said, in typical Bizarre Dave fashion, I came up with something. I don't know what to call it. "One Hell of a Party"? "Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll"?

Lighting was tough. I wanted it to feel kind of dirty, but at the same time you had to be able to identify the subject matter. The clear bottle (and the reflections from it) posed additional problems. Eventually I settled on a 10" exposure, with an overhead light turned on for half of the exposure and an LED flashlight providing some eerie blue tint from the side which I don't think I like now that I look at it closer.

I also wanted to add a pack of cigarettes to it, but I didn't want to spend the money on something that I don't support. The cocaine will have to suffice.

You Capture - Red

2009-10-11T21:32:00.002-06:00

This week's I Should Be Folding Laundry challenge is Red!

I came up with my idea driving home from my parents' place this evening. I've photographed brake lights on cars as they were driving, but I've never gotten up close to them. I was quite happy with what I saw!

I think this is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken. I may try to take it again to get it framed slightly better, but the illumination coming from the light element is just rad.

I also stopped to take a photo of Goomba's leash. I was trying to figure out why I liked this photo, because it appears to be in clear violation of the Rule of Thirds. But in reality, it isn't. The true subject of the photo are the lines of the wound-up leash - the metal clip in the center just happens to be there

You Capture - Happiness

2009-09-28T21:37:00.002-06:00

This week's I Should Be Folding Laundry challenge is Happiness!

Most of you know that music makes me very happy. So much that I decided to take pictures of a few of my favorite pages of music to share!

Wait, am I violating some copyright with this?

Unfortunately I was too lazy to set up or wait for proper lighting, so these are taken at ISO800 or higher. That translates to fuzzyness when zooming in, so I'll be surprised if anybody can identify these pieces. But if you can - you are rad.

LIGHTNING BOLT!! LIGHTNING BOLT!! LIGHTNING BOLT!!

2009-09-20T01:49:00.002-06:00

I've been wanting to try lightning photography for quite a while. Tonight would have been the perfect opportunity thanks to a spectacular lightning storm over the valley. Unfortunately I was driving when the storm hit and by the time I got home it had mostly passed.

I did manage to get one shot of a strike about 15 miles away. Next time I will be better prepared! And I think I have a better idea what to do next time - don't shoot so wide, use a better lens (not the cheap 18-55mm I used this time), etc.

You Capture - Up Close

2009-09-19T02:35:00.002-06:00

My friend Erin showed me this neat blog called I Should Be Folding Laundry. In it are weekly photo challenges to try to get you to find new and different ways to take photos. It's a fun game, and I hope it makes me get out the camera a bit more.

This week's challenge is to get up close and photograph things ... well, up close. I know I'm supposed to be taking new photos, but this challenge reminded me of some photos I took a few months ago and promptly forgot about. I actually liked them quite a bit, but I never did anything with them - I didn't even bother putting them online. So this week's challenge made me put these up for all to see, for better or for worse.

One of Goomba's squeeky balls.

The innards of a paper shredder.

Shredded paper. The poor focus was accidental, but I think I actually prefer it - it makes the photo seem old. Or maybe I'm looking for excuses for my own screw-up.

Turning in the Man Card

2009-09-07T01:38:00.002-06:00

About eight years ago, I was in the Silver Smith casino in Wendover, and a song came on the overhead muzak that I totally dug. It was very slow with dense jazz chords and a female singer. I had heard it once or twice before but never knew who it was. Unfortunately over the din of the casino (slot machines actually dispensed coins back then!), I could not make out any lyrics, so I was unable to figure out what the song was.

I've thought about this song quite often over the last eight years, wondering if I would ever figure out what it was. I had plugged in a few phrases I thought I had thought were in the lyrics, but never had any luck finding it. I was doomed to be haunted for the rest of my life by it.

This evening I ended up at Lagoon, and was surprised to hear the song playing on their muzak! Thanks to the power of the iPhone and Shazam, I was able to find out what it was immediately! And you know what? I was so utterly humiliated by what it was that I could feel my testicles shriveling up into nothing. I now have to turn in my Man Card for even liking a song by this artist. It's so bad that I am refusing to admit what it was.

The Amazing Major 7th Chord

2009-08-26T01:07:00.009-06:00

The last few months of my life have been a lot of ups and downs. In attempting to write some music lately, I've found myself drawn to Major 7th chords, particularly in their root position. I know most of you reading this have no clue about the technical details of music, so I will try to leave the technical terminology out of it and say my shit in laymen's terms as much as possible.

However, there are two technical terms you need to know: "major" and "minor".

Although they have a strict technical definition, the nature of major chords make them sound happy. They should put pleasing thoughts into your head.

If you count the number of keys on the piano (including the black ones!), there will be four keys between the bottom note and the middle note, and three keys between the middle note and top note.

On the other hand, minor chords sound sad. By changing just one note in a major chord just very slightly, your happy thoughts have turned into depressing thoughts. Minor chords have three keys between the bottom note and the middle note, and four keys between the middle note and top note.

A Major 7th occurs when you stack a minor chord on top of a major chord! Because you have a mix of both major and minor chords, it can create a mood of confusion or mixed feelings.

The ear tends to hear the higher notes in a chord more prominently than the lower notes. Based on this, you can illustrate various emotions by stacking chords accordingly. For example, in the song "You Look So Fine" by Garbage, an E minor chord (sad!) turns into a hint of happiness by adding a C-natural to the bottom of the E-minor chord. This changes the E-minor chord into a C-major 7th - the top three notes are still in E-minor (and the most noticeable to the ear), but the bottom three are in C-major (which, remember, sounds happy!).

(Click here for a soundclip.)

Unfortunately for the listener, the song eventually returns to E-minor, not leaving you any happiness as the album comes to a close.

Similarly, the song Dogs by Pink Floyd opens with a series of Major 7ths. This time however, an extra note is occasionally added to the bottom, giving us a major chord in the middle, surrounded on top and on bottom by minor chords!

(Click here for a soundclip.)

This sound is very well-suited for the song. Although the dog itself can be represented happily with the major chord in the middle, there really is no happiness to be found in this lifestyle, and the surrounding minor chords emphasize this.

I'm not entirely sure what the point of this post was, but I feel it describes me well right now. Take from it what you may.

Barbeque with friends

2009-08-17T22:44:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've roasted anything over a campfire. Thanks to my friends for a lovely evening up Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Get Funky

2009-08-02T04:56:00.002-06:00

It seems that every couple of years I get into a funk that takes me a while to snap out of. It always seems to be a combination of things that just add up - frustrations at work, not being happy with current living arrangements, the girl you like not liking you back, unexpected large expenses, projects that seem to drag on forever without accomplishing anything, maybe even just getting tired of the same routine every day.

Inevitably I just end up miserable for a few months and snap out of it without really ever doing anything to combat it.

Do any of you ever get in these funks? What do you do about them?

Losing my religion

2009-07-27T21:43:00.003-06:00

This post is particularly odd to write. I feel an odd mix of emotions - joy, relief, nervousness, maybe even a tiny bit of guilt. Some of you will be happy for me, some of you will be sad for me. Who knows, maybe some of you won't ever speak to me again. But here it is, like a turd on a table.

So I was born Mormon, just like a good portion of you reading this.

Throughout my life, I had various levels of interest in being religious. I was quite adamant about it through my youth. I attended church somewhat regularly through my teen years, although I wasn't as into it as I was in the prior years.

When I moved out on my own, I started attending the local church to start meeting people. I went along with the religion thing, but I wasn't really convinced of the truth of it. I did this for several years. During this time, I went through several relationships, most of which failed for religious reasons ... either I wasn't religious enough, or I was too religious. Basically I was a fence sitter.

Finally around age 25, I felt I needed to make a decision and choose a side of the fence. I read a lot. I talked to a lot of people. I prayed a lot. I finally decided that Mormonism (and religion in general) wasn't for me. I stopped going to church and never really looked back, and I felt fine about it. I never officially resigned from the church because I felt it didn't matter - I'm just a name on a list somewhere of no significance.

That all changed last year with the Prop 8 debacle. The leadership of the church had taken vaguely neutral stances (at a political level) in the past, but this one was very polarizing. It was at this point that I realized I no longer wanted to be associated with an organization that espoused these views. I felt dirty that I was even listed among them.

I sat for a few months thinking it over, but my feelings of disgust never subsided. It was time to formally resign. I filled out a generic resignation letter and sent it in. They processed it quickly and without any harassment to reconsider.

So as of June 15, 2009, I am no longer Mormon. I feel relief to no longer be associated with an organization that I feel openly persecutes, and uses questionable rationale to justify themselves.

Hong Kong - Day 3

2009-07-20T23:27:00.003-06:00

What better way to wrap up a trip to Hong Kong than a visit to the Peak Tower on Victoria Peak?

A few more photos can be found here.

Hong Kong - Day 2

2009-07-20T18:11:00.002-06:00

Cheung Chau Island is a small island a bit southwest of Hong Kong proper. It's quite interesting to walk around - it doesn't have as much modern infrastructure as Hong Kong which gives it personality. We spent the second day walking the island and seeing the sights.

The complete set can be found here.

Hong Kong - Day 1

2009-07-18T15:44:00.002-06:00

The first day in Hong Kong was very rainy. They get some pretty intense rainstorms with some very impressive lightning.

We took the subway to the outskirts of town by the airport, then hopped on a bus for a very hilly drive to the Tian Tan Buddha. Unfortunately the rain did not lend to great photographs.

The complete set can be found here.

Phuket, Thailand

2009-07-12T03:35:00.003-06:00

You go to Phuket to sit on a beach, or island hop, or to be accosted by people trying to sell you fake designer clothing and cheap suits, or to get a massage on the beach for $3.

Oddly enough, on my flight from Singapore to Phuket, there were about 40 other people from Salt Lake City. They were all there for some humanitarian work, although I'm not sure specifically what.

Nothing says 'happiness' than drinking a drink out of a fresh coconut.

Street vendors were selling these fish stuffed with all sorts of spices. I was a bit hesitant about eating fish from a street vendor, but it proved to be one of the tastiest meals I had on the entire trip!

When in Thailand, you should take the opportunity to ride an elephant. It works best if you're incredibly white and are decked out in all sorts of knock-off designer clothing.

Electrical safety seems to be somewhat optional in Thailand.

We did a bit of island hopping on the second day. PRO TIP: Don't hop multiple islands in one day. It ends up being extremely touristy and you have a very short amount of time to enjoy yourself. Limit yourself to one or two islands for the day!

Complete Phuket sets can be found here and here.

Pulau Ubin

2009-07-06T00:11:00.003-06:00

Pulau Ubin is a small island off the east coast of Singapore.

My friend Shelley and I rented a bicycle for the day for $1.50 and biked the island.

We stopped for a lunch of crab and shrimp in broth.

I also tried a durian, which is an extremely sharp and smelly fruit that they love over there for some reason. I didn't think it was horrible, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to eat it.

The rest of the Pulau Ubin photos can be found here.

Singapore

2009-06-23T15:42:00.002-06:00

Here's a few shots from walking around Singapore.

The complete sets can be found here and here.

SLC-Tokyo Inaugural Flight

2009-06-19T07:44:00.003-06:00

When Delta announced non-stop service between Salt Lake City and Tokyo, I knew I had to do a repeat of the Paris flight last year and get in the inaugural flight. I chose this year's final destination to be Singapore due to the fairly inexpensiveness of the ticket (relatively speaking) and the fact I hadn't been in that part of the world before. Plus, Singapore is a major transit hub with easy access to most of southeast Asia.

The gate area was setup with a large Japanese looking backdrop. There were dancers in the middle of the concourse, which proved fun for people trying to get to their flights.

Instead of a traditional ribbon cutting, they did a ribbon slicing with wooden swords of some sort.

The plane left the gate with tons of employees from all over the airport cheering us off. We had a large police escort all the way to the runway, plus a water cannon salute!

Long flight is long.

The rest of the photos can be found here.

Itinerary

2009-06-02T20:27:00.002-06:00

Since I have a few family members and possibly a friend or two who worry about me when I travel, here's my itinerary. Now you have something to reference in case a plane encounters turbulence and crashes into the ocean. Luckily that never happens.

Northwest Flight 9
Departs Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) at 1:35 pm (3 June)
Arrives Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) at 4:25 pm (4 June)

Northwest Flight 19
Departs Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) at 6:45 pm (4 June)
Arrives Singapore, Singapore (SIN) at 1:00 am (5 June)

===

SilkAir Flight 754
Departs Singapore, Singapore (SIN) at 1:20 pm (8 June)
Arrives Phuket, Thailand (HKT) at 2:10 pm (8 June)

===

SilkAir Flight 751
Departs Phuket, Thailand (HKT) at 10:15 am (11 June)
Arrives Singapore, Singapore (SIN) at 2:05 pm (11 June)

Cathay Pacific Flight 734
Departs Singapore, Singapore (SIN) at 4:05 pm (11 June)
Arrives Hong Kong, China (HKG) at 8:00 pm (11 June)

===

Cathay Pacific Flight 711
Departs Hong Kong, China (HKG) at 4:15 pm (15 June)
Arrives Singapore, Singapore (SIN) at 8:00 pm (15 June)

===

Northwest Flight 20
Departs Singapore, Singapore (SIN) at 5:40 am (17 June)
Arrives Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) at 2:05 pm (17 June)

Northwest Flight 10
Departs Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) at 3:40 pm (17 June)
Arrives Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) at 11:30 am (17 June)

Some Kind of Wonderful

2009-06-01T04:29:00.002-06:00

(This post is intentionally left vague to protect the parties involved.)

Sometimes you have something wonderful dumped into your lap, and you don't realize it until it's gone.

This has recently happened to me. I was blinded by my ... well, I don't know what. My selfishness? My self-pity party? The mind boggles.

So A.W., I apologize for not realizing things until it was too late. I learned that I need to HTFU. I just wish I hadn't learned it after the fact.

Vancouver - Day 2

2009-05-27T23:06:00.002-06:00

Day 2 was spent at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens. Here I was able to photograph "ART!", which is:

1) Flowers.
2) Anything with a high DOF.
3) Anything with a long exposure.

Once it got late, we returned to downtown to shoot some long exposure night photography. However I made a very stupid mistake on all of the pictures which I'm still mad at myself for. I'm trying to rescue the pictures, but I think they may be beyond help. If I can make one look acceptable, perhaps I will share.

For more "ART!", click here.

Vancouver - Day 1

2009-05-21T10:04:00.002-06:00

This last weekend I went up to Vancouver to visit some friends who moved up there a few years ago. The weather was nice - mid 60s, with only occasional rain showers. Unfortunately the cloudy weather didn't lend for the best picture taking, but I managed as best I could.

The first day started out with a trip to Shannon Falls, directly north of Vancouver.

That was followed by a trip downtown to try to find the Fluevog store. The hunt was successful, only to find they were sold out of the shoe I wanted. Oh well.

Then a trip to Jericho Beach to watch the sun set.

After returning home, I was delighted to find a Krusty the Clown cake waiting for me. NOM NOM NOM NOM

Hall and Notes

2009-05-14T23:26:00.002-06:00

Despite how many times I've been to Abravanel Hall, I've never really noticed how interesting some of the lines in the building are. My most recent visit I had my camera in tow and took a few shots of things I found interesting.

The complete set is small but can be found here.

Sock it to me

2009-05-08T23:20:00.003-06:00

I am OCD.

This probably comes as no surprise to many of you.

Granted, this is not OCD about EVERYTHING. I mean, you haven't see the master bathroom, and for good reason, too. I mean, the bathtub has lawn clippings in it for hell's sake!

Anyway, I digress. I am OCD about certain things, like my DVD collection being in alphabetical order. One part of my OCDness is socks.

When wearing socks, I *HAVE* to wear a matched pair. I can't wear a pair of two different socks, even if they're roughly the same size.

Even worse, I try to match some stains on socks. I was painting my bedroom once, and the socks I was wearing that day got a bit of paint on them. I now have to make sure those two specific socks form a matching pair when I wear them. I can't wear one sock with paint on it and one without.

My biggest pet peeve, however, is the fact that I have four different brands of socks right now. I can't mix and match brands of course, so folding takes longer than usual while I try to hunt down an appropriate match for one sock.

I recently decided that enough is enough. No, I'm not going to start mismatching socks. Instead, I've been replacing my entire sock collection with brand new pairs, all of the same brand! Now they're all identical, and I can fold my socks with ease!

Is this something a sane person would do? Do I need to be committed?

Driver's Ed

2009-05-08T00:02:00.003-06:00

To the person driving the silver Dodge Caravan, license plate 164 NJJ southbound tonight:

You are a dumbass. Go take Driver's Ed again. If I was slightly more of an asshole, I would have stimulated the economy by letting you plow your Mormon-mobile into the wall at the 201/2100 South split.

Downtown

2009-04-19T00:55:00.002-06:00

I unexpectedly found myself downtown tonight with nothing to do. I took the opportunity to take a few photos.

I thought I had long exposures figured out, but some of them required some serious touch-up to make presentable. Guess I need to practice more.

Also, I didn't get one shot I really wanted because I lack a wide enough lens. So if any of you have too much money to spare, I really could use a Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5. Or a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. And don't get me started on the fisheye lenses!

Complete set can be found here.

We mite have a problem

2009-04-06T23:06:00.002-06:00

Wikipedia is the worst website ever.

Witness the following.

Whenever I visit the Harmons on 5400 South and Redwood, I pick up a new cheese from the cheese counter that I haven't tried before. My most recent selection was Mimolette, a cheddar from The Netherlands. I found it quite enjoyable and have been munching on it for the last few weeks.

However, tonight I made the mistake of reading the Wikipedia article on it, where I discovered that some of the flavor of the cheese comes from the INTENTIONAL INTRODUCTION of cheese mites!

Worse, the grayish rind of the cheese comes from the DANDER AND EXCREMENT of the cheese mites!

The Mimolette has now fallen out of favor with me and I suspect I will be taking it straight to the toxic waste section of the dump. I should probably have the refrigerator incinerated too - you can't be too sure of these things.

Zeus - King of the Dogs

2009-04-05T22:39:00.002-06:00

This blog post sucks to write.

The dog I spent the last twelve years growing up with has taken a turn for the worse.

My mother had two Alaskan Malamutes - Krystal and Zeus. Krystal was about a year older than Zeus, and they grew up together their entire lives. They didn't always get along - I remember one fight where they weren't distracted by anything, even by bacon being dangled in their face. But they still grew up together as buds. When Krystal passed on two years ago, Zeus had a certain sadness about him that he never seemed to fully recover from.

In the last six months, Zeus' health has steadily declined. He has hip problems as expected from most dogs this size, he's gone blind in one eye and has completely lost bladder control.

Today his pain seemed much more intense and constant than normal. The poor guy struggles to stand up on his own, usually getting maybe 1/3 of the way up before collapsing in defeat. When he does manage to get up, he appears to have doggie Alzheimer's - he doesn't seem to recognize people or places, and he just wanders around confused and disoriented.

I went over tonight to visit the family and say my final farewells. We fed Zeus a final meal of chicken noodle soup, and treated him with a few scraps of chicken from dinner.

I can't wait to play with you again 70 years from now.

A few more photos here.

Rio Grande Building

2009-03-24T00:52:00.002-06:00

Here are a few photos from the Rio Grande building on 300 South and 500 West. I didn't find this location as fun to shoot as Liberty Park, but there are still some gems to be found.

After I got home, I noticed the salt deposits on my car actually looked quite interesting when viewed up close.

Complete set is here.

Liberty Park

2009-03-15T00:32:00.002-06:00

I'm taking yet another photography course - and I'm learning some excellent stuff in this one! Hopefully by the time I'm finished I'll be taking some pictures that are somewhat presentable.

In the meantime, you can look at these, taken at Liberty Park this morning.

Complete set can be found here.

EC -1

2009-03-12T23:03:00.006-06:00

I say East Coast minus one, but I really don't mean it. Rural New England is beautiful, and New York City is one of my favorite cities in the world, if not my favorite.

I ended up in that part of the country last weekend through an odd set of circumstances. Not one to waste a trip, I made the most of my time and spent the first day driving to Lee, Massachusetts to visit my favorite classical music CD store on earth - Berkshire Record Outlet.

From there I took various highways and byways south, eventually working my way to Naugatuck, Connecticut where I stayed with a friend for the night. The small towns along the way all had their own charm and I made several stops along the way just to take in the sights.

Holy barrel distortion Batman! I'll fix it eventually.

I don't know why this ice is pink. It could be a dead body up there. Or maybe somebody threw a giant slurpee up there.

The next day I took a train to New York to meet my friend Ariel. I have known Ariel for several years via the online classical music and opera scene, but have never met her until now. We spent the afternoon enjoying some hot dogs from Gray's Papaya and doing some clothes shopping in SoHo and Tribeca. A dinner at Churrascaria Plataforma and an evening shooting photos around Times Square capped off a busy day!

The rest of the photos can always be found on my Flickr page!

Get Organ-ized

2009-03-01T23:04:00.005-07:00

This blog post is to publicly thank my friend Cassie for saving me from a near-certain death. I would not be able to survive much longer if I was not able to glimpse at a copy of the score for the Third Symphony of Aram Khachaturian. I have been obsessed with this piece for a few years now, and I had reached the point where I had to see some of the magic behind it.

The piece is scored for a large orchestra, organ, and 15 trumpets. Considering most works have four or so trumpets at the most, this ends up being a very loud work. Probably one of the loudest I've ever heard.

The organ has several huge solos in the piece. I've loved pipe organs since I was in grade school, and the organ solos in this piece give me chills. Click here to hear a 20-second clip of one of the solos, part of which is shown in the score below!

So thank you Cassie for helping me find this and not making too much fun of me when I was looking in the wrong section of the library.

Sandy Eggo

2009-02-26T10:30:00.002-07:00

I took a much needed trip to San Diego last weekend to clear my head and visit some friends.

It was quite the enjoyable trip, with mid-70s weather and a convertible Pontiac Solstice rental car which I drove with the top down the entire time. Yes, it was a gutless non-turbo automatic, but the warm air blowing by me made up for that.

On Sunday we drove up to the LA County Museum of Art to view some BMW Art Cars. These were BMWs painted by major artists like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg.

A quick dinner at Hurry Curry of Tokyo and we were back on our way home, luckily dodging Oscar-night traffic.

2009-02-20T21:14:00.003-07:00

Well, if you couldn't tell already, Kate and I broke up this last week. Admittedly it kind of caught me off-guard, but I'm doing my best to cope. It wasn't an angry break-up, and we are still talking regularly.

I still hope the best for her in whatever she does, even if it has to be without me.

Things I won't miss about you.

2009-02-12T20:02:00.001-07:00

Things I already miss about you.

2009-02-12T19:53:00.005-07:00

- Seeing your happiness when I give you a hot cup of coffee when you get out of the shower.
- Being sweet talked into ironing a shirt for you.
- Accusing me of hiding your shoes/keys/wallet/jacket/etc. whenever you can't find them right away.
- The way you meticulously care for your plants.
- Sitting in front of the aquarium, watching the fish. And naming the new ones.
- When asking "Can I get you anything?", you responding "I don't know, can you?"
- Playing Mario Kart and beating you.
- Playing Mario Kart and losing to you.
- Being forced to lay down as you scour my back or legs for ingrown hairs.
- Hearing you randomly announce "Boobs!"
- Laying in bed doing crosswords right before falling asleep.
- Bringing you Del Taco when you were stuck at work without dinner.
- Giving me a choice between two different chick flicks when renting a movie.
- Cutting slices of gruyere and feeding them to you straight off the block.
- Watching you waltz in the kitchen while listening to the second Jazz Suite of Shostakovich.
- Drinking and doing jigsaw puzzles together.
- The way you briefly smile when I would kiss you on the cheek while you slept.

Hey boid!

2009-02-11T00:17:00.002-07:00

I don't know why I don't blog as much as I used to a few years ago.

Maybe I'm more busy.

Maybe I'm more boring.

Either way, here are some birds I took pictures of in West Palm Beach this weekend. All taken with the junker 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 non-IS that you can get for $125 if you watch Craiglist for a bit.

Year in Review

2008-12-31T16:44:00.010-07:00

I actually have a bunch of stuff I want to blog about, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and compose my thoughts on them yet, so you'll have to wait.

However, you won't have to wait for my 2008 Year in Review post.

Rather than post lists of the best of everything, I will just list Dave's Top Ten Greatest Moments of 2008.

10) I dump my HTC Tilt and buy an iPhone.

I started down the slippery slope a few years ago when I purchased an iPod so I could easily play music in my car. I was quite happy with my purchase, so much so that I bought an Apple TV last year to stream movies for me.

I had always been happy with my AT&T Tilt, but the browsing functionality on the iPhone was tempting, not to mention how well apps were installed on it and seamlessly worked together. As I coughed up 300 bones to pay for my phone, I felt myself pulling down Mr. Jobs' trousers in the process.

If I ended up buying a MacBook next year, I will have place Steve Jobs' nuts fully in my mouth. Let's hope I don't sink that low.

9) I paint two of my spare bedrooms.

My entire house is painted in a mostly neutral, but not that pleasing shade of yellow. I don't really like yellow to begin with, and this one has a matte finish that really seems to absorb the light in the room. Frankly, I think it just sucks in general.

I would love to paint the whole house at once, but time and money preclude that, so instead I'm stuck one room at a time. And the fact that I managed to get two rooms painted this year speaks of my desperation to get this color out of my life.

8) Playing childish pranks on fellow internet users becomes popular (but jumps the shark in the same day).

7) The bottomless party scene in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

I can't remember the last time gratuitous nudity was so awesome.

6) Woot shirts.

Finally, I am able to indulge my taste for the strange and quirky. The Greasy Grasp of God, Bats Bats Bats, Now Let Me Get This Straight - there are too many to name!

5) The family pets get upgraded to a larger house.

I've had a 20 gallon aquarium for as long as I can remember. At least ten years. I previously had a bunch of tiger barbs and bala sharks in there, but they eventually died off for some reason. It may have had something to do with the fact that I'd routinely let the tank go without food or cleaning for six months at a time, but we can never be sure.

However, after much nagging and pestering, I was talked into buying a larger aquarium for the few remaining fish. Lo and behold, they received a beautiful 55 gallon aquarium, and a bunch of new buddies were added. I'm sure the fish are happier, and I am too!

4) I manage to land a brief stay in Armenia.

I don't know why Armenia had interested me for as long as it had, but it did. I was able to spend a few days there this summer, along with visiting some other friends along the way. The area wasn't what I expected, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable, and I hope to go again in the near future, this time being able to stay for more than four days.

3) Concerned about the cleanliness of my carpets, we adopt Goomba.

I've wanted a dog for a while, but I was concerned about being able to spend enough time with him, the vet bills, the destroyed furniture, the dirty carpets, and the training. Despite that, I was successfully talked into getting Goomba, and I've loved him ever since. Even if he does still leave me presents on the carpet on occasion.

2) Jenny comes to visit.

I've managed to visit Sweden several times thanks to my friend Jenny, and I've always wanted her to come out here to see what Utah has to offer. Thanks to a huge stash of frequent flyer miles, we were able to make it happen this year, and I had a great time showing her all the oddities that this part of the US has to offer. I hope she's able to return soon.

1) Kate manages to stick with me for nearly a full year.

I was crazy about Kate the first time I saw her, but she was completely unobtainable to me. Somehow circumstances changed in my favor, and we ended up together. She's stuck with me and all my crap for almost a year now, and I hope things will continue this way.

Erections

2008-11-22T09:31:00.002-07:00

I was going to make a post about the most recent elections, but then I realized that I can't really say anything that hasn't been said already.

And then for some reason, the movie Team America: World Police popped into my head, and I pictured Kim Jon Il's character trying to say "elections" and it sounding like "erections", and it made me snicker a little bit.

Puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy pupp

2008-11-11T23:03:00.005-07:00

I have been considering getting a dog for quite some time, but could never get myself to pull the trigger.

However Kate succeeded where I failed, and we adopted Goomba on Saturday, November 1st. Goomba is a Newfoundland (or "Newfie"), and they grow quite large - up to 150 lbs! Goomba weighed in at 14 lbs 6 oz at his six week checkup. I took him in for his nine week checkup this morning and he weighed in at 27 lbs 9 oz - almost double his weight four weeks ago!

Newfoundland's are excellent water dogs, and Goomba already seems to have an obsession with water - he often eats and drinks with at least one paw in his water bowl (sometimes all four), and he has even fallen asleep with a paw in the bowl!

Jenny's Utah Visit

2008-11-11T22:11:00.006-07:00

After many years of nagging and cajoling, I finally got my friend Jenny to ditch Sweden for two weeks to visit the land of salt and Mormons. I was quite excited to be able to play tour guide for two weeks and see the sights that our fair city and state have to offer. Highlights included:

- Red Butte Gardens
- Temple Square
- Little Cottonwood Canyon
- Bryce Canyon
- Zions
- Las Vegas
- Meeting friends and family
- Arby's mozzarella sticks
- Pumpkin-related desserts
- Mario Kart Wii

I didn't my camera along for much of it, but here are a few shots from Red Butte, Bryce and Zions. The latter two will be a subject of a blog post here shortly.

You don't see much cactus in Sweden!

This tree had a neat hollowed out trunk. No idea how it happened.

2008-11-10T22:55:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted here in over a month, although I've been meaning to. And I have lots to talk about too!

1) Jenny's Utah adventure
2) Puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy
3) Elections
4) HDR Photography OMG WHY WON'T YOU WORK I AM NOT GOOD AT TEH PHOTOSHOPS

However, item #2 has been keeping me pretty occupied lately, so you'll probably have to wait a few more days for something of substance.

Gone Fishing

2008-09-28T20:59:00.003-06:00

About 10-15 years ago, I received a 20 gallon aquarium as a Christmas gift. I always had fish in it wherever I lived. However, the last few years I was neglecting it way more than I should, and my poor fish were quite underfed. To make matters worse, a prior roommate decided to go buy some additional fish which were way too large for the 20 gallon tank.

This month I've upgraded to a 55 gallon tank and added several new fish. I'm now proud to show off the home of my "family" which previously sat neglected.

So, presenting the newest members of Dave Household:

Tinfoil barbs (inherited): Franz, Gunter
Tiger barbs: Carl, Orson and three others I can't remember
Gouramis: Sven (blue), Francois (blue and orange), Miguel (orange)
Swordtails: Rod Johnson, Clarice, Shaniqua
African Mooney: Zeke
Pictus Catfish: Spike
Crab: Augustus
Some algae eater (non-pleco): Juan-Julio

Fatties

2008-09-19T01:23:00.002-06:00

I've kind of suspected it for a while, but now it's pretty firm: I am gaining weight.

And not just a few pounds. I am genuinely getting a gut.

I don't have a scale, but I've weighed myself at friend's houses, and I'm 20 lbs heavier than I was when I graduated high school.

But the biggest sign for me was tonight. While getting dressed to go to a wedding, I tried on several pairs of suit pants, only to find that they were all becoming too tight on me.

I don't want to let five suits go to waste because I'm a fat pig, so it's time to cut out the fast food and desserts, and start walking a bit more instead of driving.

Is it possible to lose five pounds in a month, and ten by the end of the year? That's my goal.

Of course, this will require me to purchase a scale. Stupid technicalities.

Cello vs. Camera

2008-09-14T00:42:00.003-06:00

The other night I spent about an hour taking pictures of my cello. I thought it would make an interesting subject to shoot, with sensual curves and odd little gizmos all over.

After reviewing all of the pictures, I found only two that I was even moderately happy with.

For some reason, the ability to capture still life or artsy shots eludes me.

Perhaps I should stick to landscapes and bugs.

Election 2008

2008-09-10T10:33:00.003-06:00

I'm going to be unpopular for this, but I'm going to come out and say it right now: The Democrats are once again going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We will have another Republican in the White House for the next four years.

Mr. Obama had a great thing going, with lots of campaign buzz and excitement among the masses. He had an opportunity at a shoo-in for the top chair by choosing Ms. Clinton as a VP. Yes, I'm not much of a fan of her, but millions of other people are.

But instead, he picks Joe Biden, an intelligent and well-experienced person, no doubt, but with the likability and personality of a doorknob. Obama's momentum hits a brick wall as nobody cares about Mr. Snooze occupying the #2 spot. The campaign is left floundering with two months to go.

The Republicans have done just the opposite. They nominate a candidate who, as far as I can tell, is legally dead already. The entire Republican mass across the country falls asleep. Alarmed, the party manages to find a VP who will appeal to the stay-at-home moms, the Crazy Christians, and the younger generation. The party raises itself from the grave and appears unstoppable. The stay-at-home moms are excited at somebody they can relate to, the Crazy Christians are frothing at the mouth at the idea of an evangelical, and the younger generation is grateful for somebody who knows what email is.

The Democrats have already lost their momentum for the season, but the Republicans are just barely getting their ball rolling. They'll be at full speed come November 2nd, and I don't have much confidence that the Dems will be able to re-energize their base by then, much less win over the disaffected Hillary supports that now want to vote for McCain out of spite.

Somebody please prove me wrong on November 2nd.

Ninny

2008-09-04T14:30:00.002-06:00

Flexible LED screens are cool.

Last night's show was really good. Not the absolute best concert I've been to, but definitely enjoyable.

I've never really cared for the song Closer, but last night's rendition was pretty tyte.

And I was glad to hear The Wretched. And Reptile. Actually, I was pretty damn happy with the setlist - I don't think there was anything missing that I was bummed out.

A New Stereophonic Spider Spectacular

2008-08-27T23:43:00.004-06:00

I have a nasty habit of picking up on good music several years after it has hit its prime and moved on to the bottom shelf of the CD rack or the clearance section at the record store.

The last few months have proved no exception. So, over a decade late, I would like to recommend the following:

Space - Spiders

Do you remember that song Female of the Species that was popular in the late 90s? It featured a large marimba part and a singer who couldn't quite tell if they were female or male. I hated this song when it came out and stabbed wildly at the radio whenever it came on.

But twelve years later, this song has become quite catchy to me, and even better, the entire album has that odd dark quirkiness that can't be shoehorned into any genre. The track Neighborhood also received airplay on X96 back in the day, but there are a lot of hidden gems on the rest of the album, especially Money and Dark Clouds.

I don't know how to recommend this CD to anybody because they don't really sound like any other group out there, so I guess give it a listen if you like weird stuff like bacon-print wallets, massive doses of Swedish Fish, obscure license plates, or t-shirts with giant happy tacos on them.

Hooverphonic - A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular

This is also a debut album, but isn't quirky like Spiders. Hooverphonic is Portishead after taking Zoloft, with some extra keyboards thrown in. The songs aren't as erotic, but they're not depressing either. They're also more harmonically rich, although not quite as interesting in their technical nature.

Listen to this album if you want lustful energetic sex, as opposed to seductive kinky sex from Portishead's self-titled album.

Next year I look forward to recommending albums released in 1997.

Damn kids - get off my lawn!

2008-08-19T22:06:00.002-06:00

I came home from work today to find this drawn on my sidewalk with some chalk:

My neighbor also had a picture along the same vein drawn on their sidewalk (although the piece of anatomy belonged to a different gender).

Those kids are lucky I'm nice and spry and still young. If I was 30, they would get a good tongue lashing.

And while I appreciate the girth they depicted, they could have been a little more generous on length. I mean, if you compare this drawing to a picture of my penis (not safe for work), you'll find the proportions are way off!

Geezerdom Incoming

2008-08-18T01:24:00.002-06:00

So I turn 30 in slightly over two weeks.

Normally I would have a huge party planned for such a big (yet depressing) event.

However we're 16 days away and I don't have anything going on.

So, here are my options so far:

1) Throw a combination birthday/poker party, since that weekend is poker night anyway.
2) Drop $550 on a plane ticket to Cancun and bum around with some friends for three days.
3) Wait until October when Jenny gets here, and throw a combined 30th birthday party for both of us. This will have the benefit that all of you can meet one of those crazy gosh-durn liberals they have over in Sweden that make Barack Obama look like Karl Rove. Her visit is about halfway between our birthdays.
4) Watch midget porn all day.

I don't even know who would come to a birthday party now - my social circle is so odd these days.

So chime in here people. And you better show up and bring me lots of presents and booze and hookers.

Musing

2008-08-17T02:29:00.003-06:00

So it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've wanted to post, but I just haven't had anything interesting to say.

The big news in my life, of course, was receiving my YAY TACO shirt, but we all know about that, so I guess I can't really write about that any more.

Oh, I know! So, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I bought an iPhone. Yes, I am now firmly a Steve Jobs sackrider. The iPod was acceptable, the Apple TV was definitely pushing it, but the iPhone just puts me over the top. Next think you know I'm going to have a Macbook and will be sitting in a Starbucks, trying to type out a script for a play. OH THE HUMANITY.

That said, I love my iPhone. It's half the weight of my previous AT&T Tilt, and although slightly larger, it's about 1/3 of the thickness, which is very noticeable in my pocket. The larger screen and expandable browser windows add points.

Most importantly, though, is the Application Store. Yes, Sudoku and Tetris and some crossword puzzles were vital. However, there are some specialty Apps that I love. One of them is called Shazam, and it will identify popular music for you. Just hold your phone up to the speaker for a few seconds and it will identify the song for you.

Unfortunately, that doesn't help me with the song I've been trying to identify for the last eight years, because the last time I heard it was, well, eight years ago. It was in Rainbow Casino in Wendover, and the only lyrics I remember are "I am so lonely now" which pull up about 800,000,000,000,000 hits on Google. Oh well.

Thanks to Facebook, I found a long lost friend that I worked with 15 years ago. I met up with him last night and chatted for several hours. He now does professional photography for work. I got to check out his 70-200mm f/2.8 which caused my pants to become very sticky. I must acquire one of these somehow. And a 10-22mm f/3.5. Crap, so many lenses to buy, so little money! We're going to hang out in a few weeks and just shoot photos for fun.

Oh, and the new Batman movie was pretty tyte. I know some people find her odd looking, but I have no problem saying that I would enjoy sexual relations with Maggie Gyllenhaal. So if you're reading this Maggie, feel free to drop by.

Barf on poop

2008-07-25T10:26:00.001-06:00

My new favorite way to describe something ugly is:

"It's like somebody decided to barf on poop."

Batman

2008-07-22T21:26:00.002-06:00

OK people, quit talking about the new Batman movie! I haven't seen it yet and there is no way I will be able to see it until this weekend at the very earliest! Shut up shut up shut up!

P.S. I had a 22 oz steak for dinner last night, and it was $70 for the steak alone. I felt mildly guilty about it today so I had a salad for dinner today. OK, I didn't feel guilty, but I think I was still full from the steak. Yay for company-paid meals!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

2008-07-17T00:40:00.003-06:00

My hair used to be really long.

Well, not REALLY long, but definitely longer than it should have been.

Today, somebody pointed out that my high school yearbook photo:

Looks like the character Max Shreck that Christopher Walken plays in Batman Returns.

Ben & Jerry

2008-07-15T23:59:00.004-06:00

Dear Jenny,

Hi there! I hear you have a bit of a crush on Jerry and I! I'm glad to hear you like us, or at least the fine product we put out!

Right now we thought you should know that we're putting ourselves on sale! Only $3.29 for a pint of us! That's less than 20kr for a container (@ 6SEK=1USD). And even better, we have an entire freezer cabinet at the store dedicated just to our wares!

Won't you come to America and try us? I know you say you would like to try one of every flavor, but there are at least 19 different varieties in the self-portrait I've enclosed, and that doesn't even include everything in this particular cabinet! Do you think you can really get through all of us?

We hope to see your face (and mouth) here soon!

-Ben & Jerry

iPod madness

2008-07-14T23:24:00.002-06:00

In what has become my latest bout of weirdness, I am currently listening to every song on my iPod, in order, in the default organization method used by iTunes.

I believe the sort method is Artist, then Album, then Track Number.

I started in February and as of today I am in the middle of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

The "S"'s are going to take forever though. Nine Steely Dan albums, a ton of Shostakovich, Saint-Saens and Stravinsky, and a bunch of other assorted stuff will leave me in this letter for a good month.