Feb02

2-28-02 (00:33)

work went by really quickly today.

might wake up early tomorrow and goto sacramento, carmichael technically, and check out a few speakers james suggested.

asked james why he decided to hire me. he said he couldn't remember, but that he hired a couple other people (one of whom is still working there) because they called a lot and that showed that they actually cared about getting the job.

my alarm didn't go off this morning which was weird, luckily melanie's woke me up and she sets her's for a full hour and fifteen minutes before she needs to get to class. so even though i needed to get to the store by 9am and she had class at 10am i had plenty of time to brush my teeth, shave, get dressed and bike to work. i don't understand how it takes so long for people to get ready for work sometimes. i guess if you eat and shower like most people then it might take longer.

took a nap when i got home, watched two episodes of law and order, ate, and other than going to work that was all i did today.

elanda says she doesn't want to do receiving anymore so if she's serious then i'm probably the next in line to do that. doing that would have its advantages, but mostly it would be a pain in the ass. on the up side it would be something new to learn. hopefully she was just in a bad mood and will take it back later.

super troopers is one of those movies that offers laughter long after the movie is over....those are the truly great comedies. heard queen of the damned was damn horrible.

just decided that i'll check out the speaker dealer on tuesday along with another place in sacramento. i'll get more done on a tuesday when i don't have to rush.

in some ways school is vastly different than, and antithetical to, "real life" jobs. working a normal 9-5 job you don't generally have homework, per se. you're not aiming towards the end of the quarter or graduation, rather you keep going until one of the two parties decides it's time to sever the relationship. grades in school come a lot more frequently than evaluations in work do...assuming you ever get them. politics in the office are much more evident than in the classroom. in school a lot of your effort is towards getting the grade or learning the material, whereas at work (at least in my experience) you are more often applying what you've already learned. on the other hand work is like school in some fundamental ways... similar power structures, both are based on results, and both mostly suck. of course these are generalizations based only upon my experience and perceptions of the experience of those around me...

actually i liked being in college and work isn't that bad at all, but it does feel like i'm treading water a lot of the time. there aren't any store goals, i don't know exactly how long i'm going to be there, i don't get graded, but for the last 17 years i've been used to having standards to meet in terms of getting a certain grade and i've been used to knowing when it's all going to end. now i'm in a situation where i could feasibly continue in the same course for as long as the store is open. it's a different mind set and something i didn't really anticipate when making the transition from school to full time work.

i don't think i like tortellini anymore. it really is too bad because it's really easy to make - fits into my lifestyle these days.

black history month is almost over. i don't really watch news these days and i certainly don't watch the sitcoms that most people do...i watch law and order a lot, seinfeld, the simpsons, the practice and sometimes boston public, but that's really the only network tv i watch. so i don't know how well the media at large has dealt with the issue of race during this month, but in reading sports illustrated and watching boston public i found that the media i come across at least tried to address the issue. on boston public they had a show about "the n-word" and on the last page of sports illustrated joe blow explored the double standard applied to people when talking about white atheletes. it's assumed that white guys aren't good at much other than the luge and hockey. shaq wrote in his book that if he were to get dunked on by a white guy he would get hell from his friends and vince carter, after seeing that a white player was assigned to guard him, told the opposing team's coach that he was going to score 40 if the white guy guarded him all night. on boston public the classic issue of the use of the n-word was brought up. why can't white people use the word when black people can? i think it's good to at least raise these questions because it's generally agreed upon that thought and discussion lead at least to understanding and i consider understanding a tolerance better things that most other things; nietzsche might disagree.

most scholars claim that blacks can say "nigger," just as homosexuals can use "fag" because the use of the word is about power and when they use the word they are taking back the power of the word. when a white person or non-gay person uses those words then it carries with it a trace (a la derrida) of the prior oppression. it makes good enough sense to me and i'm not fond enough of either of the words to refuse to stop using them. but i might posit this (post-modern) argument that words don't have any real metaphysical meaning or power to them, rather there is only human-made power attached. if people (namely those who are oppressed by the terms) were to remove the meaning of those terms then they would take the power from those who use the word. and in fact, by using the word - even to claim the power it holds as your own - you are still bringing with it the power it once held; additionally (if you believe derrida) removing the negativity attached to such a word isn't really possible without the wedge of time because the trace is always there. i don't foresee people who use the word just deciding to stop using it and i don't see people waking up one day that the word doesn't really mean anything. so i guess at present we have the worst situation except for all the others...we just have to wait for people who are now claiming the power of the word as their own to shape it into a synonym for brother, friend, homie, partner, etc.

could it be compared at all to the bully that calls you a shrimp when you're in third grade...your parents tell you that the word doesn't mean anything and that you should chant the old "stick and stones" rhyme and the word will no longer mean anything? could it be that as soon as you let the bully know it doesn't bother you anymore that he's going to stop using that word to try and get a rise out of you? kinda sorta, maybe.

2-27-02 (01:09)

updated movies list.

hung out with johnny quite a bit this weekend.

made a floor lamp out of pvc pipe today, it works pretty well and looks good enough, but needs a lamp shade. i plan on making one more later on. my next pvc project will be speaker stands for the speakers i plan on buying one of these days.

this has been a fairly long month when i look back at what has happened in the last 26 days.

thought fondly about the hitchhiking trip today. it was a fun time.

played tennis and football with johnny today, on the dreamcast of course. we got pretty decent at tennis, but then moved on to football. we were the niners, naturally, and we played the packers. down 28-0 with only 1:53 left in the first half. we went on to win 34-28 in overtime. it was quite a bit of fun.

i use "quite" quite a bit these days; not sure why.

went to a bookstore today to see if they had michael moore's new book, but the one i went to was a used only bookstore so they didn't have it.

ate lunch at rounders.

did laundry.

went to ace for lamp supplies.

that was about the extent of my day.

tomorrow will go by pretty quickly. these days i think i actually would prefer working more regular (9-6) type hours.

gave my hair a bit of a trim today...just did the top with scissors, instead of the shaver. feel like i need a haircut, but they're too expensive.

the kings stomped on the jazz...they really have the jazz' number this year.

2-26-02 (01:33)

updated movies list.

hopefully i get to watch super troopers again tomorrow. if it's as good the second time then i'll put it on my list of dvds to buy in the future.

bought some 17 dollar shoes today. that's quite a bargain - i am pleased.

went to ace hardware and discovered the joys of construction grade pvc pipe....it can be used to make anything from furniture to speaker stands.

2-24-02 (02:02)

met ex-mayor julie partansky while on my way to work today. she's the second local public official i've met in the last few weeks. talked with her for a bit about what she's doing these days. she seems pretty nice. it's pretty cool that i recognized her and actually ran into her. in a bigger city a lot of people wouldn't recognize their mayors, much less have the chance to run into them just walking down the street.

went by the theater and talked to the old crew there. talked with everyone there including michelle. we had a nice chat about her bug and her having to commute 120 miles a day. i liked working there when i only had a couple days a week scheduled. michelle asked if i wanted to go back to work for her, but i politely declined. after thinking about it though i could use the extra 200+ bucks a month it would bring in. i should visit the library again sometime soon, maybe monday or tuesday. i'm happy i've been pretty lucky with the bosses i've had in my recent jobs. while i was painting it was jon and he was a really good boss overall, then there was felicia at the library and she was easy going, michelle and tyronne at the theater were hard at first, but once i got them to relate to me as a person they opened up and became much nicer, and james at tower was quiet and hard to read at first, but, again, after getting him to relate to me on a personal level he turned out to be a good guy and a good boss.

by working at these types of jobs i think i've learned what it takes to get bosses to relate to you on a human level. it takes a bit for some people, especially those who are above you on the totem pole, to open up. in the case of michelle i got her to relate to me because we are both beetle owners, that coupled with some humorous banter once in a while led her thinking of me as a person instead of as just another worker. with james it was my noticing that he was into audiophile equipment. we started talking about that and it gave me a chance to get him to relate to me as a person. i suppose it's the same 'formula' that applies to any friendship, but i think it's more difficult when it's your boss.

was able to get the incubus promo so that was nice because i didn't really want to buy it, but i definitely wanted it. i think scott would really like it.

work was pretty good today, tomorrow is my friday.

gotta sleep.

2-22-02 (00:59)

didn't watch the olympics today, but heard that kwan was upset and the women's us hockey team lost.

updated cdlist.

got my new receiver today so setting up the surround was definitely the biggest part of my day. all went well in that department - i even hooked up the subwoofer which i hadn't previously thought to do. music sounds good on it despite the only par aiwa speakers. watched a couple minutes of saving private ryan and was happy with the surround sound effects. when the big speakers are in there it'll be really good, when we get a bigger tv it'll be great.

work was about the usual. got another golf magazine for luke. found a transsexual magazine for johnny, but decided not to take it home. ner.

i take a shower about once a week these days. so i get a haircut about every 4-5 showers....when you put it in those terms it sounds really bad. i wash my hands more often than most people and i think that matters more than taking showers often.

why don't people wash their hands before going to the bathroom? it seems to make just as much sense to me. so i do it before and after, but my sanitary habits are unusual so maybe you shouldn't listen to me.

"blood on the tracks" and "highway 61 revisted" are really solid albums. i hadn't really taken bod dylan very seriously until recently. i mean i always knew he was a great artist and that he had some classic albums, but it wasn't until recently that i really discovered the scope of his greatness. the same was once true for the beatles, pink floyd, and even led zeppelin at one point. when i was young i never really had anyone who told me i should listen to such and such an album so it has been up to me to discover music as i go along. it seems that about 50% of the people i know have had someone significant in their life in terms of suggesting music...for jon, phil and vern it was an older brother; and that's 50% of the people i know.

bill mahrer made a good point last night...he said he was glad that he wasn't a politician because he wouldn't want to be criticized for changing his mind. i, too, think that changing your mind about issues is a good thing every once in a while.

"Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing..." Maynard James Keenan

2-21-02 (02:01)

there's a possibility i could start getting more normal hours at work, that would be kinda nice because it would leave my nights free.

i'm really hungry.

saw part of "15 minutes" today - looked pretty dumb.

watched some of the olympics festivities.

listened to ornette coleman, radiohead, panoptica, bob dylan and led zeppelin.

should be finished with the michael moore book pretty soon. haven't decided for certain whether i'll goto the book signing or not.

went to safeway to buy some food items.

not much happened today.

it was a good day at work despite being short two people...we've had two people quit and one person called in sick today so that was kinda bad. day went by pretty quickly despite all that.

i like trains.

finances are about the same, social life is about the same, spiritually i'm about the same. tomorrow will be like today. same sport different game. one good thing about work is that i'm still learning how to do things. there's a whole lot to know from ordering different items to receiving to returns...

i think that the stroke album has its moments, but i like the bob dylan album more overall.

going to eat, read, and then sleep.

i'm glad i've never broken anything and that i don't get headaches nearly at all.

2-20-02 (01:22)

updated movies list.

wired up the living room today.

went to see johnny and vern today. gave them a few movies on vhs so i guess johnny has something else he can do while laying on the couch. sitting on the couch all day sucks, especially when you're as active as someone like johnny. i'll have to get him some magazines to read over while he's recovering.

gotta wake up early tomorrow. wednesdays usually start of painfully slow, but end pretty quickly.

super troopers was surprisingly funny. vern wouldn't like it because it's a sophomoric kind of humor...closer to the farrelly brothers than woody allen. melanie and i both thought it was funny enough to see again.

rearranged the living room a bit in anticipation of the big speakers moving in there. that'll happen when i round up enough money for some new music-only speakers.

2-19-02 (13:53)

to prove my earlier point...."President Bush approved on Friday a plan to bury the nation's radioactive waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, provoking a firestorm of outrage and an immediate lawsuit by the state's governor, Kenny Guinn (R). The federal government has spent 10 years and $4 - $7 billion on studying the Yucca site to determine if it is a suitable burial ground for the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste generated by the nation's 131 nuclear power plants. Yucca Mountain has been the only site to receive serious consideration in recent years, and it has been a highly controversial one. Nevada politicians, the state's tourism sector, environmentalists, scientists, and anti-nuclear advocates all oppose the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository. Critics point out that the waste would be shipped through 42 states, only to arrive at a site that is crisscrossed with 34 fault lines. Nevada has set aside $5.4 million to fight the decision."

johnny and vern are supposed to be coming back to davis today, not sure what time.

going to finish setting up surround speakers today, but i need to buy some more speaker wire first.

2-18-02 (13:46)

once i talked to a right wing co-worker of mine about the "tyranny of democracy." when i used that term he asked what the hell i was talking about. i told him that anytime you force a group to do what they don't want to do then it's tantamount to tyranny. he didn't buy it. what makes it even worse these days is that the tyranny of democracy doesn't even have the support of the majority....only about 50% of the voting eligible population actually votes and then about that same percentage usually determines who wins so you have 25% of the those who are eligible to vote determining what the rest of us have live with. this is pretty much the first thing you learn in any real poli sci class, but it's the thing that most people don't even consider. then there's the children, felons, and illegal immigrants who live here and are subject to the laws, but can't even vote.

new bob dylan album is quite good.

2-18-02 (00:48)

extremism really really annoys me. one thing i like about the simpsons is that it totally rails on extremists...from jokes about level five vegans (people who won't anything that casts a shadow) to people who consider the olympic torch a symbol of all that is holy and great about sports.

incidentally, i once talked with a vegan about the simpsons and mentioned that joke...she didn't really like it. in fact she thought it was pretty lame. i thought she was pretty lame.

that's another thing that annoys me - people that take themselves really seriously. life is more of a game of backyard basketball than it a game of, well, life and death.

music genres are pretty insane sometimes...for example it's not unheard of to have a genre such as "los angeles psychedelic poetry rock" which would describe the doors and about 3 other bands which never made it out of their garages.

if i listened to the doors more then i'd like them more. they're pretty high up on my list as it is.

having a couple days off will be nice.

i get about 17megs an hour on my connection.

i'm mostly a lonely person.

2-17-02 (01:37)

we were understaffed again today.

called johnny twice today...no answer.

watched most of a don cheadle movies (rebound) tonight. it was pretty decent overall, but easily replaced by 'he got game' or 'hoop dreams' or even 'jungle fever.' virtually any movie that takes place in new york can be replaced by one of spike lee's films.

i really really want a "forty acres and a mule" baseball cap. tried finding them online, but to no avail.

don cheadle's brother looks exactly like him, only younger and more slim.

steadily getting rid of my vhs tapes and moving to an all dvd library. sadly there are lots of more rare titles that i can't get on dvd...documentaries and the like. i'm going to hold out as long as possible before buying those.

michael moore has another book coming out and there's going to be a book signing in early march. sadly it's in grass valley, which is about 70 miles away, and is on a sunday, which is a work day for me. would have been nice to finally meet that guy. incidentally, neither 'the big one' or 'roger and me' have been released on dvd yet.

updated moviesiown list. updated cdlist.

i like the idea of being a teacher...molding youths, getting summers off, keeping mentally sharp, being on salary, having a new challenge every day, not having to stay at a desk all day, possibly branching off into becoming a track coach, etc. but i fear the reality of it...kids don't want to be molded, kids are obnoxious, i don't know enough to teach yet, and it means having to speak in front of people on a daily basis.

it's quite funny how bush claims that more tests need to be done about a subject scientists are almost unanimously agreeing upon - global warming and its causes. yet something that is hotly debated by experts - the practibility of the yucca mountain project - he passes off as "scientifically sound."

at this time i'd like to again direct your attention to http://www.opensecrets.org/.

2-16-02 (00:30)

with everything you do something is gained, something is lost.

politically incorrect was retarded tonight.

about half done with "downsize this" by michael moore. it's a real page turner.

nonfiction is better than fiction, period. i'm happy for the fact that my grandfather decided to make his life long project a reference book rather than a novel. my kinda guy. my attack on fiction is mostly in jest.

finally found a cheap receiver for the home theater system. dvds will even more fun to watch on the 13" tv now! really all our size room needs is a 19", but it seems like the economics of it don't make sense...you can spend a bit more and get a bigger and better quality tv...it's like upgrading your meal at jack in the box - for only 39 cents more you get twice the fries and three times the soda. they really want that extra 39 cents.

2-15-02 (00:28)

saw part of girlfight today. it seems like a pretty good movie overall - didn't get too corny or have any horrible acting from what i could tell. it also did a good job of playing with gender...the protagonist is a girl who has a hard time at home and school and so she decides to learn how to box. so she's getting more "butch" (running, getting stronger, learning to fight, etc), but her new boyfriend (also a boxer) comes off as almost effeminate (he watches his weight, refuses to have sex because his trainer says he shouldn't do it before a fight, he's sensitive etc.). it's kinda interesting to see how that works in a counterintuitive way, but at the same time makes sense. what doesn't make sense is the linking of certain qualities to a certain gender in the first place.

paris didn't bother to show up today. heard he walked out in a huff last night. maybe i won't even need to put up with him for 2 more weeks...gone from my life as quickly as he entered it.

maybe i'll watch waking life tomorrow. saw an advertisement for it in the packet i get for dvd/vhs orders every week, but it wasn't on the list of eligible purchases...maybe they just put it in there to get me psyched for it coming out in the future. mulholland drive was already on the list, unfortunately the studio sucks ass and made the price a horrendous 33 bucks. black knight was also on this week's list. that movie was just funny. no frills, tricks, grand messages, etc. - it was just plain funny.

apparently several people from the theater are quitting or have been fired in recent days. kinda sucks because i'll have fewer people on the inside. luckily i'm in with all but one of the managers so i should still have a good shot at getting free movies when i want them. saw tyronne today and gave him a discount on a dvd and cd so i got the scoop on theater goings on as well as some quid pro quo, wink wink, brownie points for watching a movie some time in the future.

heard from another source that there is going to be a new release of lord of the rings...this one with 10 extra minutes and a trailer for the sequel on it, but when i asked tyronne he said he didn't know if we (davis) were going to get that.

heard some good things about the blade II soundtrack, lots of big names, bound to be some good stuff on that.

xmas is just the extreme example of what our society is based upon so when people try to tell me that it's a consumer driven holiday it's kinda like no shit sherlock our whole society is consumer driven, where have you been? that's not to say i agree with it, but people say it as if it's a revelation or some kind of secret...i guess it is to some. xmas seems like a natural conclusion for any capitalist christian society.

i don't see anything really wrong with the thought of valentine's day. i think it should be like it was when we were in elementary...everyone got a valentine from everyone else, a simple treat and a note. it doesn't have to be a romantic thing. it also doesn't have to be a buy someone something day either. it's just symptomatic of our culture - we want to thank someone or show someone we care so we buy something, i think that's the way we do things - for better or worse. in it's basic form i think valentine's day has the most potential of all holidays i can think of off the top of my head...a designated day to tell the people close to us that we care about, appreciate, like, or are happy to have them. pretty simple, mostly harmless, and jives with the idealistic 'all you need is love' philosophy of life. either way, it's yours to take or leave.

2-14-02 (01:24)

today was a pretty good day at work. got to start getting rid of a lot of shitty dvds which have been there for far too long and are permitting me from buying better ones. also, paris gave his two week notice today. my job just got so much better. without paris around jj will be more civil and so in essence by paris leaving tower records will be minus two idiots. yay.

watched some olympics today and it didn't seem like they did as much of the heart-warming-get-to-know-the-atheletes-tear-jerker stories as they did two years ago. that was a pleasant surprise.

politically incorrect was the usual. they talked about feminists holding women back by telling them they couldn't exude their sexuality. one woman said that feminists were doing more to hamper female progress than most. a better way of looking at is that feminists are against women feeling they need to look good or that the only way they can be recognized or gain power is through their sexuality. i think that some may see women who use their ASSets to get what they want as working against the cause of those who want to be free of that expectation. they want to be judged by the same standards men are judged by which implies a de-emphasis on the good looks. i can see where both sides are coming from.

wanted to see gosford park today, but there's only one showing a day and it's at 5pm. seems a pretty stupid time to schedule a movie which has been nominated for academy awards....only once a day and before most people are off work. hopefully they'll remedy that soon.

i think it's funny that valentine's day is referred to as 'v-day'

might goto a baseball game with luke sometime this summer. haven't gone to a baseball game since yankee stadium. i'd like to check out pac bell park one day.

there are a lot of movies i want to watch. i should goto 49er video and rent 5 for 5 bucks for 5 days. it's a great way to get a lot of movies off the 'to see' list for pretty cheap.

haven't heard from johnny lately. he's probably got a metal rod in his leg now. i'm quite glad for having never broken anything.

some guy got caught stealing while i was at work today. the sad part about it was that he was carrying his one year old son in his arms as alex took him to the back to fine him and such. when i went back there he was mouthing off to james about how a $250 fine was excessive for a $30 cd. james explained to him that basically it's people like him which require we implement loss prevention systems (undercover agent, cameras, plastic cd cages, etc.) and that the 250 bucks goes towards covering those costs. the dad went on to complain about the cost of the cd. james agreed it was expensive, but that stealing was against the law. then the guy started talking about how the people who made that law were probably the same dumb asses who made abortion legal...it was a sad scene overall. the kid was just sitting there the whole time somewhat oblivious as to what was going on. the father was obviously the type who didn't have 250 bucks he could just pay without any problem (as evidenced by his asking if he could work out a payment plan) and he obviously wasn't the best role model for his kid. when i left it didn't look like alex had called the cops so i suppose it could have been worse. my opinion is that it's one thing to steal, but it's a completely different thing to steal when you have a kid who is depending on you - then to steal while the kid is with you...that's just plain stupid. besides, everyone knows you can just download all that crap off morpheus anyway.

2-13-02 (00:09)

finished downloading waking life tonight. watched portions of it...it's very captivating, looking forward to watching it in its entirety. doesn't look that great on my slow computer, but it's watchable.

so i'm thinking very seriously about buying the speakers i listened to today. my justification is this: i've got upwards of 570 cds, each going for an average of $10+ comes out to easily 6,000 bucks worth of music; should i not invest some good money in making the most of that 6,000 bucks shine like it should? possibly it's comparable to having a porsche with a volkswagen engine in it...you've got the great looks, the 4 wheel disc brakes, the active suspension system, the six speed transmission, but a 1600cc engine driving it all. sure it still drives, it still handles well, it looks nice, you take care of it, but you're not getting the true potential it holds...in fact you're not getting what the porsche engineers had planned for the vehicle.

i listened to a few tracks to gauge the performance of the speakers and was amazed by how much even my fairly good speakers leave out. small effects in "like spinning plates" which i had missed before were immediately obvious when i listened to them on the new speakers. a lot of times speakers miss a lot of the more subtle aspects of music...usually with a good pair of headphones you can pick them up, but then you miss out on good bass and the ability to play the music a little louder. there's a short bass boom on the beastie boys' live version of "the maestro" which has always been a favorite test of mine. before getting my current speakers i didn't even know that the bass line was in that part of the track, but after listening to the track on phil's identical speakers i discovered its presence. every time up until that moment i had only been hearing part of what the song had to offer - it was a moment of audiophile clarity. never again shall i miss out on what the artist is offering me.

i was trying to find basketball highlight movies on morpheus today...specifically the slam dunk contest held over the weekend, when i ran across an old assist my ex-king point guard jason williams. he's running toward the basket on a fast break and he has a trailing teammember on either side of him. he takes the ball behind is back as if to pass the ball to the person behind him on his right, but instead he sticks back his right elbow and bounces the ball off his elbow to the left. the ball lands perfectly in the hands of the trailing person on his left and they take it up for a lay up only to get fouled. it is one of the most amazing single plays i've ever seen. jason williams is probably the most dynamic passer to have ever played nba basketball...not the best, but the most dynamic.

i was also checking out some dunk highlights...saw one of mj dunking straight over dikembe mutombo (one of the best shot blockers today), it was pretty impressive and afterwards he shook his finger at mutombo, just as mutombo does to many victims of his. then there's the now classic vince carter dunk where he jumped over a 7'2" french center in the olympics and dunked the ball; that one is probably my favorite of all-time. another one of my favorites was a while back when kj (kevin johnson) dunked, left handed, over olajuwon on the baseline. kj doesn't dunk very much because he's only about six feet tall and doesn't have very much spring, but he did on that play and made hakeem look real bad. i remember a dunk by michael finley when he was still on the suns where he got the ball at about the free throw line, took one step and dunked it. from being completely standing still 15 feet away from the basket to dunking it in one step. as great as dunks can be it has led a lot of the younger players to shy away from practicing their jump shooting. jump shooting isn't as good today as it once was, that's for sure.

wish i had more time to watch kings games.

i don't like BT. if someone wants his new 2cd release they can have it.

working early tomorrow.

2-12-02 (15:49)

went speaker shopping today and discovered my new infatuation...listened to these speakers which have been getting all sorts of praise and heard for myself why. quite impressive.

got a little lost in sacramento, but no big deal.

school is at the same time the best and worst thing to have happened to me. even on my days off, without having had any school for the last 8 months or so, i still feel as though i have something to do when i'm out going speaker shopping or watching a movie or what not. i'm just so used to having school work or studying to do that i'm stuck in the pattern of not being able to fully appreciate my time off. on the trip this summer i was able to, but that was because i was away from all that reminds me of school - new cities, living in a car, having just graduated, etc.

probably another 5 hours before waking life is done downloading.

the guy at the speaker store was pretty nice overall. i was expecting a pushy music elitist, but i got a more down to earth guy who listens to modest mouse and just enjoys good quality speakers. he was really helpful as well. i've gone shopping for speakers (car and otherwise) and it seems that a lot of the people in the business take it so seriously that they can't understand how anyone would want something less than the best. but this guy understood. they had some pretty insane speakers there...ones that definitely cost five figures each.

tenacious d are funny.

2-12-02 (13:31)

"The levels of pollutants spewed into the air over New York City following the Sep. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center exceeded even those of burning oil wells during the Gulf War, according to a new study released yesterday by scientists from the University of California at Davis. The study, which was the most thorough analysis of the dust and smoke following the attacks, found elevated levels of sulfur, silicon, titanium, vanadium, and nickel -- all in very fine particles that can contribute to a range of health problems, including emphysema. The findings bolster support for allegations by some New York legislators that U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman misled New Yorkers by reassuring them that the air was "safe to breathe" one week after the attacks. They may also help the case of some 1,300 people who plan to sue the city this week for injuries, health problems, and damages stemming from alleged negligence during the post-attack recovery and cleanup."

2-12-02 (00:21)

discovered that wood costs more than i previously thought. building a new cd case would cost 100 bucks just for the wood.

didn't do too much today and that's too bad.

probably going home some time in march, but most likely won't stay for very long.

don't like eric dolphy as much as i previously thought.

a lot of the strokes stuff sounds like the christmas song on snl...the one with horatio sanz and jimmy fallon. it's good to have good solid mood music...stuff that can keep you in, or get you out of, a certain mood. radiohead, rage against the machine, and others are good for that.

"a lot of christians wear crosses around their necks, you think when jesus comes back he ever wants to see a fucking cross? it's kinda like going up to jackie onassis wearing a rifle pendant." - bill hicks.

hopefully i'll be more productive tomorrow.

2-11-02 (21:44)

"a very specific warning from the fbi concerning a potential terrorist threat as early as tomorrow...what you need to know, more at 11 tonight." i nearly puked on the tv after seeing that.

johnny nearly killed himself today. taking a cue from me he used a friends motorized bike to plow into the curb, breaking both bones in his lower leg. he gets surgery tomorrow. visited him at the hospital and that was fun - first time in a hospital in a long time.

downloading waking life right now. since it's a full movie it should take about 20 hours before it's done. pretty insane that you can download an entire movie which is still playing in the theater.

02-11-02 (01:55)

i've been receiving music at record rates and i've been working a lot as well so the combination doesn't work out too well. i'm trying to get to know some albums better, trying to get reaquainted with old ones, get to know new ones and judge ones which are potentially going to get the boot. it's a tough business.

tomorrow i hope to go shopping for food, read backissues of the nation, maybe knock off a couple chapters of 'downsize this,' and listen to music.

at one point i pledged to listen to every cd i had once before listening to another cd in the collection...that took a couple months, but i did it. that would be impossible now. at another point i would listen to all the cds i had of a certain genre before switching to another genre....that worked out pretty well because (esp. in hip-hop) i could see how artists borrowed from each other and were similar. these days, though, i just listen to whatever strikes me at the time. all in all having a system is nice though.

the source has a feature on the top 150 moments in hip-hop history. number one was the moment dj kool herc decided to use two turntables and funk music to create breakbeat music.

the paris report for today: he called in sick so my day went well.

rounders was closed today for some reason so i ate at togos, that was the most interesting thing that happened all day.

my life is filled with infinite excitement. i can't understand how the majority of us go on day to day doing the same thing.

haven't talked with jon in a while, i think he might be withdrawing into isolation. maybe the same could be said about me.

being a painter was really fun, second best summer i ever had.

johnny's a good friend to have if not for the sole reason that he's a "go-with guy."

want to acquire a large map of davis. saw one that was about 4 feet by 5 feet at a pizzeria once and i think i'd like the same one. maps are nice, especially huge ones of very small areas. detail is nice.

i'd like to play frisbee golf around the town more often.

reference books are invaluable, even today.

2-10-02 (02:36)

updated movies list.

listened to the beatles most of the time i was at work, that was pleasant.

bought another autechre cd today; also got a few dvds.

paris acts like a little child and it alternates between amusing and annoying; today it was annoying.

i want to goto alaska this summer.

haven't watched the olympics at all yet.

will probably see amelie with johnny on monday.

heard rollerball sucked, no surprise there.

i have quite a few cds i need to get rid of....ones that have already been removed from my list and are just in limbo.

i'm tired.

wish i had travis bickle's determination.

2-9-02 (01:25)

updated movies list.

need to go shopping.

2-8-02 (00:48)

"Like the accumulation of wealth and power, erosion is a cycle with momentum. A trickle of water carves a tiny channel in a grassless slope. The channel -- now a low spot -- attracts more water and becomes a deeper grove. Once erosion begins, water that could run uniformly across an entire hillside instead becomes channeled into one narrow, destructive gully. In the same way, in our current political system, money and power that could be spread across society become channeled in fewer and fewer hands.

The beauty of Krafel's metaphor is that we know exactly what to do about erosion: Focus upstream where the gullies begin, and divert the flow of water so that gullies cannot form.
To fight erosion you plant grass. The grass takes root and holds the soil in place as each blade absorbs and diverts the flow of water in the gully. When you cast your vote in the next election, think of yourself as one of millions of blades of grass. You can diminish the power of the gully and increase the strength of a slower tributary by voting for someone who does not accept large campaign contributions. When you spend or invest your money, do what you can to make sure it ends up in a rivulet, not a gully: Buy from a local farmer, invest in a local business. "

went to work. there was quite a computer conundrum and so i got on the horn with store services hoping to fix it...swapped terminals, messed with the server, swapped keyboards, messed with the concentrator ports, messed with the settings, etc. and all to no avail. we might have to just order a new terminal. kinda lame considering the whole problem started when we got a refurbished terminal which didn't work. i plan on asking for a raise, but that won't happen. right now supervisors only make 25 cents more than clerks. all things considered (nagging customers, having to count out drawers, being responsible for opening and closing, dealing with personnel issues, etc.) that's pretty lame.

calculated our apartment at 676 sq. feet.

watched 'this old house'

had some pizza.

listened to tenacious d, orb, dexter romweber and naftule's dream.

paid some bills.

i'd like to find more things to put grommets on. i've got a bunch of grommets and a grommet kit itching to be used.

kings lost, that's too bad.

don't plan on watching much of the olympics this year. i like the summer olympics and last time they were held vern and i watched just about every minute of them. don't regret that, but don't plan on repeating it for this olympics....especially considering all the weepy stories they'll doubtless have featured before each event.

2-7-02 (00:39)

people watch cnn and think they're watching the "good news," as opposed to the crap on the networks, but i've watched cnn the last few times i've taken a lunch break and it inevitably presents me with the same lame "news" stories that the local news does. granted they don't embellish it quite as much and they don't seem to try and sell the news as entertainment quite as overtly as the local news does (12 year old raped by dog, more at 10), but they still have those stories and that's why i stopped watching the news long ago. maybe people watch it because they have more real news than the local news does, but to me it's like buying a rolling stone magazine which has mostly crap about britney spears' new tour, but can continue under the guise of a real music magazine because it has stories about indie bands or quality reviews on occasion. i'd rather just forego the whole process and get my information elsewhere (the daily show), or not at all.

lord of the rings has moved up to imdb's #2 movie of all time (based upon user ratings). jeesh.

the car got its test drive today...elanda is definitely going to buy it so i should have some extra money soon and be without a car until i get the bug up here and fix it up to perfect running condition. ha.

the david holmes album is growing on me.

wish we had more independent films in davis. i find it really hard to get my ass to sacramento to see things like amelie or brotherhood of the wolf or the apocalypse now redux. i only have three night when i would have any chance to see a movie and they all fall on weekdays so people are busy.

having my weekend on monday and tuesday is pretty nice because i can run errands without fear of places being closed, at the same time there is the drawback of my weekend not coinciding with that of most people.

talked to matt at work today about being a substitute teacher and he said that it was relatively easy for him to get subbing gigs in vacaville. he has a degree and a passing grade on the cbest which is what i've got so all i need to really do is call up a school district i'd like to sub for, fill out some paperwork and get some fingerprints taken so they know i'm not a child molester. apparently he's gotten a call just about everyday since he was put into their system and has gone to a different school every time as well. in terms of getting experience and contacts that sounds pretty good. in terms of having to deal with a new class, faculty, and school everytime that sounds intimidating. on the plus side he says its basically just a babysitting job so if you don't want to have to deal with the kids then you don't have to. that's nice for someone like me who's never had to deal with 30 or so high schoolers, but sad for the kids who are basically unstimulated for that period.

bush makes me laugh and cry - in that way he's like a really good movie.

the more i listen to it the more i like the new chemical brothers album.

i've been awake for a long time and my typing is demonstrating that fact.

i admire people like malcolm x and mlk, but don't really relate to them. i find myself more often (for better or worse) relating to people like travis bickle (the taxi driver), nietzsche or the unabomber...people who are usually at the edge of society, loners, unhappy with the norm, and bordering on insane.

tenacious d are funny. jack black is pure humor.

read through the latest issue of "the absolute sound" (an audiophile magazine) and discovered that the reviewers have the best jobs ever conceived. they get to take home a new pair of speakers (ranging in cost from $200-60,000/pair) every month and play music of their choice and then write about what they heard. what's even better is they get to write off any music or hardware purchases as business expenses. granted they have to learn a whole new vernacular and describe a speaker's characteristics in terms of 'color', 'timbre', 'bloom', etc. but other than that they have a pretty sweet job.

found out today that my boss, james, lives in a basement. i didn't know people could rent out their basements. he says that he cleans his place in his spare time; that's excitement.

updated movies list.

updated cdlist.

updated moviesiownlist.

i plan on rebuilding my cd case. i've calculated that it will use up 4 more inches in width and 3 in height, but will also have a capactiy of 1056 cds (plus a row for cassettes), a 22% increase. additionally the new case will be collapsible (for easier transport during moving) and will actually weigh less because of the thinner wood i will be using.

2-4-02 (13:52)

"Fair-to-middling was the U.S. ranking in a new study, presented at the World Economic Forum last week in New York, that rated the environmental health of 142 countries. In the study, conducted by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, the U.S. came in at number 51, behind Botswana (15) and Cuba (47) but ahead of Japan (62) and Great Britain (98). The top-ranking countries were (can you guess?) Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Switzerland, while the worst were Haiti, Iraq, North Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. Interestingly, the study found no clear correlation between economic wealth or degree of industrialization and environmental health."

"Gearheads have reason to feel smug about their Patagonia fleeces these days. Once again, the company appears among Fortune Magazine's top 100 places to work in the U.S. -- and this time it moved up 17 places in the rankings, to number 41. The company sold $223 million worth of outdoor gear last year, but it's not just the money that's green: Patagonia offers its workers everything from financial rewards for buying eco-friendly cars to two months paid leave for working for an environmental nonprofit to organic food in its cafeterias. Plus the company pledges 1 percent of sales or 10 percent of pretax profits -- whichever is higher -- to conservation efforts. To top it all off, the California-based company offers on-site childcare, flexible work schedules, and yoga and surfing classes."

too bad i didn't get to watch the super bowl yesterday. i listened to most of it on the radio and did get to watch about 40 minutes of it during my lunch break. i would have been very sad had the rams come back to win.

ebony magazine has a list of the top ten influential black people and it's got some relative unknowns so i think it's worth checking out.

have to pay the rent and hopefully get a haircut today.

2-3-02 (01:05)
updated movies list.