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.
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
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.
.jpg)