Monday, December 30, 2002
86729988:: 9:47 PM

I was very fortunate today. I went to the burrito place near my apartment, and ordered root beer on a whim. In typical fashion, once I got my drink I began blowing on the straw to produce a series of whooping sliding pitches... but the straw they gave me today was narrower (~8mm) than a typical straw. On the walk home I suddenly discovered a complete new class of sounds which could be produced. A high purer overtone and a choppy compressional stutter. The straw was instantly transformed from a silly hobby to a bona fide musical instrument. excellent.

Tuesday, December 17, 2002
86197491:: 6:32 PM

On kexp today I heard a song by the Black Sea. It's basically the singer/guitarist and drummer from Frodus plus Fugazi's bassist. All the articles mention the Fugazi connection, but its more like a new incarnation of Frodus (this band is famous for getting new bassists... they went through 6 during the couple years that I went to their shows). The music is a little more cerebral than the typical Frodus spazzcore shoutfest, which is to say its not quite like the old days :p ... but at least it's more musically interesting.

In other non-news, kexp (90.3 Seattle) is an amazing radio station. Everyone should listen. Free, all day, non-commercial radio. There are knowledgable DJs demonstrating all sorts of styles in different programs throughout the week. Excellent.

Friday, December 13, 2002
85972007:: 5:36 PM

I slept for 9 and a half hours last night. The longest sleep in a while. I had around hundred dreams. The most in a while. Disconnected, senseless, unmemorable... so many that my dreaming mind wondered: "why so many?." Each was like a bad art film. Purposeless. Ambiguously acted, unnecessarily art-y. Each vignette was vaguely philosophical, but really not enough to warrant even a first thought. I was dulled senseless by the blandness of my own dreams... and now I pass that existential boredom to you. :p

Oh, its also my sister's birthday. Happy birthday!

Tuesday, December 10, 2002
85809725:: 4:32 PM

irrational desires
It's nearly Christmas time. Usually I either don't know what I want, or don't really want anything. This year, there are things that I want, but they are wholly illogical. For example...

I want an apple iPod, but the price of the 20GB version plus firewire card and necessary accessories is close to $600. To add to the absurdity, this iPod has the ability to hold 4000 mp3s. :: I have, uh, maybe 400 mp3s (that includes 50 which incomplete cuts of my own songs). Really not enough to justify the expense of the iPod or the trouble of ripping another couple 1000 mp3s off my CDs.

The other thing I want: I want to play Metroid prime. This seems simple enough, since the game is around $50. The reason that this is illogical is that I have neither a TV nor a Nintendo GameCube. In fact, I don't even want a TV or any sort! The total amount I would need to spend would be well over $350 ... to play a video game. Granted, I heard it's great, but probably not worth $350. ??

The problem with these sorts of sums is that I always compare them to the utilitity of the same amount of cash in a different context. A typical comparison is number of records I could purchase. For $350 I could get around 50 new records. That's a huge number -- and associated with quite a bit of enjoyment. This is why looking for a new car has been so hard as well. I'll see new cars for 20K, and feel right away that I should go with a used one. Then I'll see a pretty good used car for 10K, and think: 'if I could get one for 5K, I could get 714 records with the money I save...' Then of course I see the cars for 5K and think that a 2K car wouldn't be so bad...

After a couple weeks of looking I can say that most 2K cars *are* pretty bad. My fate will likely be trucking around town in a junky $500 car, hauling $2000 of records in the back. If it breaks down, I'll fashion some primitive wheels from less liked songs, and go cart my sorry self home.

85790878:: 9:27 AM

"Revolution" (as a word) is dead. The term has been beaten senseless by marketing people for whom *everything* is a revolution -- whether its the 2002 4Runner (tm), the iMac (tm), or waxed dental floss. The concept is very appealing here, since America was founded by revolutionaries ... but last time I checked real revolutions require massive socio-political upheaval and extremely rapid, unpredictable, change. This is not really what any company wants. Real revolutions would question the viability of whole industries. Real revolutions would be (shock!) murder on the stock price.

While marketers will probably always employ hyperbole in their campaigns, its a shame that they must neuter powerful words in the process. Anyway, I urge you to join the Revolution(tm)! Half price on Hostess(tm) cupcakes!

Saturday, December 07, 2002
85638142:: 5:55 AM

The trademark show took place on Thursday. Here are some pictures.

Thursday, December 05, 2002
85582164:: 11:48 PM

Monday morning -- waiting to board at Oakland. The flight is overbooked and they are looking for 1 person to give up their seat on the 9am, and take the 5pm instead. No one bites. 5 minutes pass... another offer: a free roundtrip to anywhere that the airline flies ... alaska, cancun, boston ... no black out period. No one stirs.

I started dreaming, about a trek across the snowy plains, about thatched huts and a view of the gulf. 'Amazing' I thought: in a group of over 100 people, no one -- not one person was willing to lose 8 hours in exchange for a vacation. What was keeping them? Missing work? Missing school? Dentist appointment? Puritanical ethics? I couldn't think of a single good reason. Then I thought... hey I didn't jump out of line to claim the prize either. Huh. Well I had a meeting in the afternoon, but it could be moved :: what was keeping *me*?

another 5 minutes had passed at this point, and the plane was getting restless. One last try: instead of the 5pm, the taker could leave on the 11am... Gone in a flash.

oh well. back to Seattle!