Oct02

10-31-02 (23:32)

having to start my mp3 collection over again turns out to be a good thing...it's re-kindled my interest in them and as a result i'm finally getting around to downloading stuff i put off for such a long time. right now i'm picking up as much quannum projects tracks as possible.

not going to work tomorrow because shannon needs sunday off for studying.

i'm starting to gain more control over my new computer; slowly i'm learning where they keep preferences for different things.

i'm able to make a copy of a regular length cd in 12 minutes, on the old computer it took a couple steps and 35 minutes to get it perfect.

the kings game was pretty good. another blow out win for a depleted team, makes me think we're invincible. we destroyed the blazers a day after they destroyed the lakers.

there's an article in the newest pulse magazine about philip glass.

it's not even midnight and i think i'm going to get to sleep pretty soon.

10-30-02 (21:54)

this is my first update on the new computer, the one i can't afford. there is a money program that came with it, but i can't figure out its logic.

so i have a new fast and high tech computer, it's strange having something that can do as much as this can...a new OS, a DVD player, a super fast cd burner, etc. i've been so used to having a dinosaur that i kinda forgot what computer are capable of. unfortunately i'll have to download all my mp3s and music videos and such over again since all that was lost with the other computer.

spent most of last night trying to figure this thing out. downloaded some stuff, installed some necessary programs and got rid of a lot of the crap that they bundle with new machines.

i don't know how to make this new version of outlook express recognize the old email files i have. i don't know how to make explorer have the c drive expanded when i open it. in the old days it would remember that i liked have the c drive's contents displayed, but now it defaults to the my documents folder. there are all sorts of little obnoxious things like that. i guess that comes with any new OS though.

everytime i see the picture of rick fox getting beat i laugh.

had a test in class last night, it went okay.

the new assistant manager might have downs syndrome.

my back hurt today. i think it might be a matter of having the right chair because recently it hasn't been hurting, but the day after i spent a few hours in front of the computer it hurt again.

my fantasy football team sucks ass.

for the first time since i've owned my cd player i decided to use its delete track feature. i've elected to delete tracks 1 and 10 on the new moby album because they make me sick. he's kind of a sellout.

i felt that the ruling on the fox/christie incident was perfect. it's not often that i agree with punishments in pro sports....for example, the ones that the nfl dealt out this week were largely bullshit in my opinion.

at work we have a picture of george bush with horns on his head. what's surprising is we've gotten lots of people saying they like it, but not one person has said they didn't like it.

the case i built to house my receiver and computer components has turned out to be worth the trouble. since i put metal discs on the bottom i can move it around far easier plus the plywood looks better (especially after adding the stain) and feels stronger than the particle board.

it's always a good day when the lakers lose.

yao ming didn't do crap today, but to be fair there is far too much pressure on the guy.

10-26-02 (18:07)

updated movies list.

the only two players who should be fined or suspended after last night's brawl should christie and fox. fox, because he was the instigator both times, should be subject to great punishment than christie. even though it is against the rules to leave the bench in an altercation i don't think any of the other kings players should get in trouble considering they were in l.a. the security staff weren't doing their job and fans were throwing shit. in a situation like that leaving the bench should be overlooked.

it seems that everyone is afraid of barry bonds. i would be if i had to pitch to him.

i'm going to l.a. to help my dad move late in november, not sure about the details yet.

10-26-02 (00:11)

today was by far the most interesting day i've had in a long time. i'll start at the beginning...

joe told me that wayne (the number two guy in the region) was coming into the store today. i took this to mean that he was going to check out the store. when he came he took joe and me to lunch. that was nice since it meant i got free lunch. while we were at lunch wayne told me that he was sorry and it was out of his hands, but he wanted to tell me in person that someone else is going to take the assistant manager position. he went on and on about how great i was while leslee (the old assistant manager and joe's wife) was gone (from december to the present) and again while joe was getting used to taking over for james. he also went on and on about how he didn't want this to happen and how he's sorry this had to happen. they asked me how i felt and i didn't really say anything. in short - in less than a year i worked my way to assistant manager and in less than a week lost it. i had the position such a short time that no one in the store even knew i had it yet (except for erin whom i told today). we should have a new ass (wo)man next week sometime. supposedly wayne is going to try to compensate me for my trouble, but there's so much bullshit talk with joe and wayne that i don't buy it for a second. it's too bad i was counting on that raise for the computer i ordered this week. ha ha ha. life is humorous.

after work i came home and watched the first 3 minutes of the kings vs. lakers preseason game. i didn't plan on watching it since shaq, webber, and bibby weren't playing and since it's only a preseason game and i just wanted to go out after having had a less than perfect day at work. i did catch a great little bout between christie and fox. kings vs. lakers seems to be the best rivalry in the big four sports of recent years. i can't think of any other rivalry that has the quality of games, the bitter blood, the (what has lately become) great history and trash talking that these two teams have. and this week they added more to my argument - shaq called us the sacramento queens and christie busted rick fox's movie star face. rick fox elbowed and then pushed his face with an open hand and while he was doing that you could see a calm come over christie's face when he was most likely thinking something like "i guess i'm just going to have to bank this fool upside his nappy head" and he did. it was a great start to what will be a great year. fox was made an even bigger fool than previously thought possible and tried to redeem himself by coming after christie in the tunnel to the locker rooms. i have no respect for fox, shaq or the laker organization. as a sidenote the kings beat the lakers in l.a. by 5 points without 3 of their 5 starters.

just when i thought my day couldn't get any more fun melanie and i went to watch a couple movies. updated movies list.

we saw the new p.t. anderson film. he's got my number. man o' man anderson is just great. easily the best fiction film of the year. adam sandler finds the role of a lifetime and officially becomes the most talented of that generation of SNL graduates. watch "punch drunk love" as soon as you get the chance. the same goes for "bowling for columbine" - best nonfiction film of the year. after we saw that we snuck into another theater and watched "abandon" for free. it was retarded.

i also brought home a bunch of quality promos from work. got the new nirvana album - it's a decent lineup of tracks, but i haven't listened to the one new track yet. i also got the bjork greatest hits dvd with videos for all the songs on the album.

oh, after work i also called my old boss (james - the one who appreciated me as a person first and worker second and did more than just talk about it). he still doesn't have a job, but he's got some money stashed away so he's just taking his time. we talked about the store and tower in general, about his job hunt and about me leaving tower to do something real with my life. he's an upstanding guy and i respect him. glad i called him and he seemed happy to talk with me.

punch drunk love is a great film. p.t. anderson really knows how to pluck my strings.

heard a bad review for bowling for columbine on npr today. it was bad in that it said the film was bad AND in that it was poorly presented. without recalling the exact manuscript of the review or revealing the crux of the film i'll say that the reviewer missed that the movie is more about a search for an answer than a vehicle for moore's point of view. he simplified the ending, felt the montage in the middle of the film was commercialistic and that moore was overweight - a point that he slyly mentioned a couple times.

the new dredg album is disappointing, but the queens of the stone age album sounds pretty good and despite bad reviews the squarepusher album gets a thumbs up from me...especially after the first couple tracks.

updated cdlist.

energy.

10-23-02 (19:21)

the giants are back in it, that's good to see. baseball is the only game where you can avoid a player if you want. bonds has been to the plate three times and they haven't thrown him anything. i think that's the lamest part about baseball.

10-21-02 (18:21)

did poorly in fantasy football, again. i don't have any consistent big time performers, not even one, so that hurts a lot. trades are harder to come by in football than in baseball and there isn't much on the free agent market so i might be screwed.

my first day as ass man of tower was quick. kept busy the whole time. i had probably the best promo day in a long time - i scored the new peanut butter wolf record, the new amon tobin, the new cage album, and the new squarepusher. i could have gotten the new autechre ep with the dvd, but i already had purchased it so that was pointless. whenever chris, from caroline distribution, comes in he brings the best stuff....sadly he is the most fickle of the representatives - sometimes he won't show up for a couple months at a time. the new amon tobin sounds very good so far.

we could get our first rain in a long time later this week.

10-20-02 (20:20)

so here's some food for thought...while we were hiking yesterday i found it interesting that we refer to nature as being "outdoors." we refer to the natural state of the world as being outside of our artificially constructed shelters. this was echoed later in the day when we watched koyaanisqatsi wherein reggio tried to bring ideas like this to the fore. technology determines how we live our life more than our life determines how we use technology. some might even argue that we no longer use technology - we have become slaves to it. i don't know if i'd go that far, but i do feel that science and technology are out of control in the sense that we can't stop its "progress." from cloning to nuclear physics we haven't been able to stop the progress of science and technology and often to sad conclusions. i don't think we are ready for a lot of the technology that is coming about and that can be scary.

nietzsche once made an interesting point about our system of punishment. it is only a recent phenomenon that prisons have been the primary way to discipline law breakers. at a glance, corporal punishment may seems the less desirable way to punish wrongdoers, but nietzsche argues it isn't; and i agree. imprisoning someone's mind and body for years seems more cruel to me than giving them a few lashings and letting them go about their business. it is the rare exception, rather than the rule, that prison actually functions to rehabilitate and those few times that it does are outweighed by the great many more times that it turns people in the opposite direction - they become more alienated and criminally minded. imprisoning a person's mind and body seems to be just about the worst abuse of power possible.

didn't see the cal football game yesterday, but that was okay by me.

gave johnny a haircut - it was easier than giving myself a haircut.

now that i'm assistant manager i'll have different hours at tower. one thing that's kinda cool is that i'm on salary in the sense that if i work 30 hours a week i still get the $400 that i would get if i worked the full 40, but if i work more than 40 then i get overtime...so it's a win-win situation.

updated cdlist.

10-20-02 (13:48)

had a fun time at johnny's. we had fun on a hike, playing ping-pong, throwing water balloons, and playing catch. afterwards we saw koyaanisqatsi at the mondavi center. overall it was a fun friday and saturday.

today i have lots of stuff to do.

my fantasty football team is not doing so well.

updated movies list.

this is a crazy baseball game we got here...

the newest john zorn album sounds good.

i had a fun weekend with johnny and company. didn't expect to see vern or steve, so that was a good surprise.

my arm is a little sore from playing catch yesterday.

i finished my list of best albums i own from the years 1950-2002.

10-20-02 (00:39)

there is no such thing as innocence, only ignorance.

10-18-02 (18:17)

i got the job.

off to berkeley to visit johnny/luke and see the cal football game.

seeing philip glass tomorrow. yay.

10-17-02 (22:17)

updated movies list. watch "bowling for columbine" as soon as you can.

10-17-02 (18:40)

going to see a sneak preview of bowling for columbine tonight. lucky me.

saw my grandmother last night and got free mexican food, that was pleasing.

work is so-so. joe is the worst boss i've ever had, even worse than michelle (who turned out not that bad near the end).

i've been working on getting the release info for all the albums i own. that's been this week's project.

life is a reaction to itself.

the whole t. owens controversy is dumb.

10-16-02 (22:22)

saw a pretty good show on pbs about the brain. pbs is cool.

10-15-02 (00:03)

updated movies list.

updated moviesiown list.

the giants game was really cool.

10-14-02 (18:25)

had about as bad a week in fantasy football as is possible. it is now pretty much impossible to get first place. ryan is actually the guy with the best team.

still no word on the ass man job, though joe said today would bring an answer. he's a hypocrite and i'd like him to move to va and work at a gas station.

updated movies list.

10-12-02 (17:46)

all this rally monkey business is a bit over the top.

i've found that anything on ipecac recordings or warp records is worth checking out.

i've decided that the new underworld officially sucks.

the giants game was pretty good.

i've been pretty productive today.

10-11-02 (19:16)

didn't find out about the ass man job today, despite joe saying he would have a decision by today.

i respect Stephen Thomas Erlewine's opinions on music, but don't always agree with them. read his review of the eminem show and was glad to see that there are true music lovers who appreciate eminem's latest effort because i was beginning to think that i was alone. everyone at work, except me, hates eminem - but that's typical.

watching the angels game right now. the play at the plate was really really close, i think he may have made it.

updated cdlist.

updated moviesiown list.

i've watched more baseball games live than i have any other sport, but i don't usually like to watch the games on tv. the last two years in october, though, has told a different story. the games have been really good lately.

marilyn manson isn't nearly as talented as eminem, but they both overstand how life really is, but this is coming from a guy who thinks the unabomber had some good points.

10-11-02 (15:06)

sometime last week i was going to pose a question here, but forgot - who is the best ex-president? my vote (with the limited knowledge i have) was going to be jimmy carter. today that was made stronger because he won the nobel peace prize. he wasn't much of a president, but that wasn't for lack of effort or good intentions. "this old house" once spent some time with him on one of the many "habitat for humanity" projects he was involved in and he seemed like a genuinuely good guy. email me for your vote of best ex-president.

mccain claims that the burden of proof lies with hussein to prove that he shouldn't be attacked. that seems the most retarded statement i've yet heard in the debate on iraq.

the sniper case in va is interesting.

10-10-02 (14:47)

some advantages of having an underground house - bigger yard, much better insulated from the environment, lower electricity bills, probably better security, don't have to worry about paint jobs or any type of exterior maintenance, and simple novelty. surely with creative use of ducting and mirrors you would be able to combat the lack of air circulation and light.

bush's speech was good enough for most.

10-9-02 (20:00)

had the interview for the ass. man. job today. i don't think i'll get the job, but if i did it would mean a 20% raise which would mean a lot of economic relief for the people's republic of chris and probably even enough to finally replace my dead computer.

haven't seen the "assman" episode of seinfeld in a while. they're all so great.

looks like both the CA baseball teams are going to win tonight.

10-8-02 (23:50)

updated movies list.

seinfeld is the greatest show of all-time. i'm watching the episode with the sidler, jerry's girlfriend with the toys, george's girlfriend who is the animal lover and kramer gets the set for the merv griffin show. it may be the best constructed seinfeld ever. michael richards is such an amazing character actor. i can't say enough about seinfeld.

i have the interview for assistant manager tomorrow. i think i have a 40/60 chance of getting the job. i'm not enough of a kiss ass and i'm not excited enough about meeting sales goals to get that high on the totem pole. on the other hand i'd be an easy choice (since i've been at the store a while), i know enough to get the job done, the staff like me, and it's easier on payroll to pay me more than to hire a new person.

class was decent today.

did well in fantasy football this week.

10-7-02 (14:39)

all those who didn't care when the niners let rice go should think twice about that now. i said from the beginning that we should have kept him in sf no matter what it took, and not just because he's still a great receiver.

10-5-02 (00:16)

the angels played a great game tonight. joe morgan said what i was thinking - the angels did to the yankees what the yankees usually do to other teams. either way the yankees provide maximum entertainment during the playoffs. on a related note: in august last year melanie and i were in NY and saw the angels beat the yankees despite a late game rally by the yanks. it was a good game.

kings tickets go on sale tomorrow. boy do i wish i could afford some tickets.

need to win this week in fantasy football.

10-2-02 (21:32)

all due respect to scot pollard, but sabonis would be such and excellent backup to divac. i really wish we could get him to play for the kings. he would fit really well in our big men as passers type offense, he's big and effective against shaq and would serve much better as a back up than as a starter because of his age. if we had him i would guarantee that the kings would be nba champions this year.

i plan on watching as many kings games as possible this year. pollard has black hair with long sideburns, hedo has blonde tips, and christie doesn't have any hair. it's always interesting to see what kind of changes players make during the offseason. the most interesting hair, though, was always anthony mason's - on any given day he was likely to have a new word or phrase shaved into the side of his head.

the yankees are pretty incredible in the postseason. and you can't hate them like the lakers because they're not a bunch of prima donnas.

i was shocked by randy johnson's outing yesterday.

10-2-02 (18:23)

updated movies list.

my teeth hurt.