My work requires me to travel quite a bit. The traveling is pretty interesting as it affords me the opportunity to see how completely homogeneous the world is. It really is the same everywhere. From the music played on the radio, to the chain stores, to the types of cars. I'm sure this feeling would lessen if I had to fly out to Cambodia and consult on a display system in the middle of the steaming jungle, but so far it's just been Western cities and countries I've visited. So, my view is naturally skewed.
Anyway, to keep track of the places I've visited and to supply some information on the types of virtual reality displays and what the clients are trying to use them for. There is a new link added to the right-hand nav that says "Matt's Travels." Clicking the link will bring you to a custom Google map that shows all of the displays and, when not prohibited by Federal Law, I've included some information on the displays. I've included the Google API below for a quick view, but click the "View Larger Map" link on the right for a bigger display. Also note, both the map below and the map to the right are interactive. Click on a thumbtack for more info, and click-and-drag the map to look around. Man, I love the Google Map API.
I love Paul Simon's writing. While a unquestionably talented guitar player, his true strength as a songsmith lies in his writing. He's still cranking out the tunes, and melding his folky, contemplative writing and playing with contemporary luminaries such as Brian Eno. I recently started listening to "The Rhythm of the Saints" the sequel to his every-possible-away-winning album "Graceland." While not as much a critical darling as Graceland, Rhythm showcases some of the most profound lyrics Simon has written.
For your consideration, the lyrics to the climatic song "Cool, Cool River." The song always reminds me of Ginsberg's epic beat poem "Howl."
"Cool, Cool River" by Paul Simon "Moves like a fist through the traffic Anger and no one can heal it Shoves a little bump into the momentum Its just a little lump But you feel it In the creases and the shadows With a rattling deep emotion The cool, cool river Sweeps the wild, white ocean
Yes boss. the government handshake Yes boss. the crusher of language Yes boss. mr. stillwater, The face at the edge of the banquet The cool, the cool river The cool, the cool river
I believe in the future I may live in my car My radio tuned to The voice of a star Song dogs barking at the break of dawn Lightning pushes the edge of a thunderstorm And these old hopes and fears Still at my side
Anger and no one can heal it Slides through the metal detector Lives like a mole in a motel A slide in a slide projector The cool, cool river Sweeps the wild, white ocean The rage of love turns inward To prayers of devotion And these prayers are The constant road across the wilderness These prayers are These prayers are the memory of god The memory of god
And I believe in the future We shall suffer no more Maybe not in my lifetime But in yours I feel sure Song dogs barking at the break of dawn Lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm And these streets Quiet as a sleeping army Send their battered dreams to heaven, to heaven For the mothers restless son Who is a witness to, who is a warrior Who denies his urge to break and run
Who says: hard times? Im used to them The speeding planet burns Im used to that My lifes so common it disappears And sometimes even music Cannot substitute for tears"
Sample of "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix;Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night."
The last few weeks Matt has been traveling Monday - Thursday, which allows him to be home the entire weekend. We decided at the beginning of January to have Sunday where we could both help make dinner together. This allows us to spend time together as well as have something to look forward to the week as we are apart. It has been going fabulously! (The only difference of yesterday is that he doesn't have to leave this week)
This week we created a new chicken roulade sauce involving: tomatoes with green chilies, a little mayo, ginger and garlic paste, and a smidge of soy. We filled the chicken with green onions, mushrooms, and green peppers. Matt made spatzles (or wormels - ask him if you have questions) and I made crowned cauliflower.
Yummy!
Nothing tops off a great dinner than watching a bit of MythBusters. Although a very relaxing weekend it looks like they are a bit tired, huh?
Here is a link to the most useful hard drive space analyzer I have ever come across. While it does make my geek bones tingle, it's not just for computer geeky-types. It's also useful for video editors, graphic designers, and sys-admins. Okay... it is for geek types, but it's so useful I just had to shout it on high from the mountain tops.
What it does is analyze your hard drive and give you a very simple view of your directory structure based on how much data is stored in that director as a percentage of your overall hard drive usage.
The upshot is once you have run it, you can easily tell what files and directories are taking up the most space on your hard drive, and easily drill down to those directories and do some house keeping. It's great for finding out where you can free up some space on your hard drive.
This utility will likely become less and less important as hard drive space increases seem to be out-pacing software space requirements.
Oh, it's also open-source, so you can hack to it your heart's delight and have it do what not with your files. I love it!
The web page for the Util: http://windirstat.info/
So, you want to leave your city, quit your job, and start a new life under the sea? It is possible! Everything except for the living-under-the-sea part has a chance of success, and even that is possible if you have gills and/or a ton of money to spend on some kind of underwater research station a la Sealab 2021 (and fortitude!)! Don’t fret! I’ve moved more times than most people have drunk 12oz cans of Pepsi purchased from vending machines for the reasonable price of $1.25!!!
This guide should help you in this endeavor. If you don’t find what you’re looking for or have any questions that weren’t answered, feel free to read it again. All of the answers are here; you just need to be brave enough to look for them more than once.
What you will find herein is a blog-i-fied version of my much longer tome, “Kickin’ The Habit! How I Learned To Leave, and Love Leavin’ Behind” and can be found at any respectable bookstore. Respectability is easily testable. Walk into a book store, ask for my book by name, if they don’t direct you to an enormous display of the books, kick their teeth in. If you have asked via email to some book-selling-web-site like Amazon (who doesn’t have any teeth) kick your own teeth in. Then take a picture of your gums and send it to me.
To leave your city, you need motivation, a plan of action, and the all-important ability to grow a pair and "Buy the tickets, already!"
Motivation: The first thing you'll need to leave your city is a reason. Do you absolutely love the city you live in? If so, moving may not be the best option for you. If, on the other hand, you're not very fond of your city, job, family, or the smell of the paper factory down the street, moving could be a good thing.
Motivation isn't that difficult to come up with. People tend to hate everything from time to time. The question isn't "Do I hate it here right now?" The real question is, "If I were to rate every day on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being absolutely loathing hatred of the city and 10 being the feeling you get when you want to make wild, passionate love to your city, and add them up then divide by the number of days I've just added up I would arrive at a Motivation score. If the score is lower than 9.5, it's time for me to move!" Do that.
Plan of Action: If you want to not do something, and you have the ability to not do it because of some excuse, you will never do it. The reason? Excuses are really easy to make up. Don't want to mow the yard and a simple excuse will allow you to skip the chore? Easy! Just say, "Lawn mowers make me anxious and grass is green... I don't like green." BAM! You don't have to mow the yard.
Let's say your house is on fire and you have a healthy, well-developed sense of self preservation. You couldn't really come up with an excuse to not get out of bed and leave the house. The fire would force you to do something: Leave, whilst flailing your arms about your body in a vain attempt to put out flaming head.
To leave your city, you need to burn it to the ground (metaphorically). You need to put yourself in a position where an excuse will have no effect on your leaving. Quit your job. Sell your house. Write to everyone you know and tell them you are leaving, and if you don't, they all get a chance to kick your teeth in. And don't just quit your job, find another one somewhere else with a starting date that you have to be there for. Put a deposit on an apartment in another city. Things will, in a sense, force you to leave. The only trick is forgetting that you willingly set the plan in motion, that way you can feel a victim of circumstance. And if people say, "What the hell did you just do, Trey?" You can say, "I have to." Ding!
Grow a pair: Self-explanatory. If you're lost: Watch the following video
"Buy the tickets, already!" This is an old saying that harkens back to my traveling days of yore. Whenever I was planning a trip with friends, we would always say "Buy the tickets!" Which basically meant, once you've bought the tickets, you're going. When we would plan to do something a few months out, if there was a way to buy a plane ticket or concert ticket or whatever, we would do it because it meant we had a fixed day in the future when we would be doing something.
My advice is to buy the tickets, already. Set an actual timetable with real dates and goals. Buy the ticket to fly to the place you're interested in moving to. Make plans with friends to visit the place. Look at events going on in the new city when you'll be living there and buy tickets to them. Etc.
If none of this helps, wait for the next installment, "Kicking your teeth in: A beginner's guide"
I am tired, so this will be short. Earlier this week I found this article on Discover and it totally blew my mind with strange possibilities so I thought I would pass it onto all of you too.
All I have to say is fried mayonnaise. It sounds gross, but what other ideas will they come up with?!?!?1
The holidays went by in a flash, and we're back to the grind. My grind is the traveling variety and Mandy's is the testing variety. With the help (and by help, I mean doing-all-of-the-work) of Mandy's parents, we were able to accomplish quite a bit over the holiday. The kitchen and bathrooms have been painted, the gate in the back is working again, and we have all sorts of organizing and decorating paraphernalia to adorn the house. They have made it back to Grand Rapids, and we extend our love and thanks for their visit. It was great to spend time with family over the holidays, even if the majority of the family is far away.
A few quick updates: 1. The running club is still on. We've brainstormed a few names for it, and since we haven't gotten any responses from the name email Mandy sent out, we're going to name it ourselves. So there.
2. Nikki, the newest and only dog-member of the household is doing well. She is a bit melancholy due to Mandy's parents leaving, but she's doing better day by day. Mandy is looking into some training options for her, and we'll hopefully be implementing those before too long. The trick with the training is it's mostly for the owners, not the dog. So, it's highly recommended everyone who will be participating in the training of the dog attend the classes. The problem is, I never know what days I'm going to be in or out of town, so it's impossible for me be sure to attend all the classes.
3. I'm off to California this week (I'm in Santa Monica right now) and will be in DC next week. There are also possible visits to NASA, South Carolina, and some military installation in Minnesota on the horizon. I'll be fluttering here and there, but always reachable by email and cell.
4. The cats are adjusting better than we expected to the arrival of Nikki. They seem to be pretty intent on being friends, and Niki wants to play with them all the time, but whenever they run or do anything quickly, Niki takes that as a cue to jump around and chase them, which freaks them out, and hostility quickly escalates.
That's about it from us. Things have ramped back up to full steam, and the holidays are receding quickly into the past. I can't believe Christmas and New Years has come and gone already. It's so crazy.
So, it's a new year. 2008. Two years from 2010 (the year, not the movie) and we are no closer to robotic slaves, Matrix-like brain interfaces, or immortality through through some scientific means. I was brought up to believe the future would be one thing, and one thing only: Great. It wasn't my parents that put this thought into my head, it was the television shows I watched, the books I read, the highway billboards I drove past. The media, in general is responsible for this belief in the future.
To be fair to the future, robotic slaves and flying cars might be just around the corner. Or, as is the case with many discoveries, these things already exist, I just don't know about them yet. It could even be that they are really common, and I'm so completely out of the loop that I didn't realize my maid has shiny-metal robotic arms it uses to squeeze my morning glass of OJ. Could be...
I predict this year will be more of the same, and not in a bad way. There will be wars, famine, and pestilence. There will be previously undreamt-of scientific discoveries, more Wii games released, and the invention of inflatable planets we will all begin to live on with our robotic assistants and robotic taxi-drivers.
What I'm really trying to say is, I want a robot already.
(that's me on the left)
It also turns out that Colorado is in for a bad year, what with painted goons conducting an attack. And not just any attack, mind you. A killing attack. Via Coasttocoastam.com:
"After the 9-11 Tragedy, approximately 2002, I had an incredibly frightening dream. ... I was in my home with other people, it was night and dark outside, our lights were on in the house. I heard repetitive explosion like noises outside in the distance. I looked out the window to the west and could see fire and smoke in the sky coming from Boulder. The noise and fires continued and were quickly coming our way, some just at end of my block. We shut the lights off and I heard a voice in my head say "beware of the shadows, be careful of the shadows." I saw the grass moving outside and houses being set on fire, in the darkness soldiers were moving with weapons and grenades, war paint, or dark camouflage paint on their faces, others wore gas masks. They were conducting a surprise killing attack on everybody. I was terrified and thought of hiding in the attic, but knew I would be burned. I thought further of crawling into the grass to hide, but I had seen them shine lights on the grass and destroy anyone found. I knew it was the end for us. I heard them say they were the "peacekeepers."" --Kathy
The line I can't get over is, "They were conducting a surprise killing attack on everybody." It's just so silly. This highlights my potential big problem with 2008; fear. This quote from the poor poster "Kathy" is a great view into the mass-consciousness in America. Her writing style attempts convery scientific detachment, but it's really a scene from any number of B action movies playing out in her imagination, superimposed over the ideological topography of an idealized American take-over scenario metaphysical-jumble-terror-reexamination-plughead Robot! The subject is contextualized into a mode that includes narrativity as a reality. Therefore, the premise of cultural nihilism suggests that the law is part of the collapse of consciousness, but only if David Hasselhoff is a robot; otherwise, narrativity is capable of significance of Kathy's insane ramblings... like mine. Ugh.
Pyscho-babble will be on the rise.
It was 8 years ago I was in Key West celebrating New Years with fellow globe-trotting chum Jon. We slept on a Grayhound bus two nights in a row and rode for 50 hours to get there. When we arrived, we had no place to stay, so we slept on the beach, hoping the cops wouldn't arrest us, which was possible (and likely). When the conch shell dropped from the roof of "Joe's" at the stroke of midnight, the streets exploded into a massive city-wide party of epic proportions that lasted well into the night.
When some people we met dropped us off near the Grayhound station the night before we left, we still had no place to stay, so we slept in what we thought was a ditch. Late that night, a truck came roaring the down the 2-track lane we were sleeping and missed running us over by about 10 feet. We found a white chair in the woods and set it in front of us, hoping any other truckers, out tearing up the 2-track at 3 in the morning, would see it and swerve to miss it. Why we didn't just move out of the road, is still a mystery. Come to think of it, it was probably because we had another 50 hour Grayhound bus ride in front of us and we were hoping for the quick, merciful release that being crushed under a truck would bring.
The car is way dead, it turns out. Transmission blown. Poof. Like that. Sadly, this comes only about a month after we dropped $1,300 on a new timing belt, spark plugs, and a belt tensioner. The cost will be somewhere in the vicinity of $1,000 to fix the transmission, and that's with the used-parts kit. The suck of all sucks with this is, right now the car is worth nothing*. If we drop another thousand dollars into it, it may run for another 30,000 miles... or we may blow a rod the week after the repairs are complete. If we do end up sinking the money into the car, we can at least recoup the cost of the repairs and a little more (hopefully). This should give us enough time to have a functioning car that will allow us to drive around and look for another car, then sell this car, and buy another. Bleh.
Did I mention my not liking cars? No? Well, truth be told, I don't like cars.
On a lighter note, the voting for the crazy fact about one of the many dogs Mandy watches is closed. It seems that the readers are going with the patriotic, 9/11 people-saving dog.
DOG!
The truth is, the dog is a Thompson, of the Hunter S. variety. Yes, Bodi's owner is the ex-wife of Hunter. Hunter's son, he keeps his dog at the day car too. I hear ego-Googling is up, so it's likely that these people will come across this blog and find out the secret identity of their dog is now in the requisite domain of the interweb tubes where any Hunter-obsessed sicko can find it. Sadly, these are the times we live in. I don't get a chance to interact with many bona fide celebrities, let alone their dogs, so I hope you'll grant me leave to indulge in this particular instance.
Hunter's dog! I don't love the man. I've never met him. And from what I understand, he was an absolute bastard to interact with in real life. That makes sense, considering how crazy and reckless his writing is. On the other hand, being a bastard and a being a good writer seem to go hand-in-hand. What I can say is I like his writing. He was a great social mover and shaker. Like me, he hated hippies and the laziness they embodied.
*Update: It actually is going to cost $1,500, and we've decided to go ahead with it. I'm not totally sure why, but there it is. Again, hopefully, this will be the last major repair on it for a year or so, and we can continue to drive it. If it bothers us, we will sell it and hopefully break even with these repairs. The transmission is totally gone. Nothing salvageable. It should be done today, so when we get it back, I will post about how it drives like it always had, except a little faster due to the lightness of our wallet. Bleh.
(It's so satisying watching cars crash. Crash cars, crash!)
Solstice. Sol (Latin for Sun) Stes (Latin for unmoving, as in to stand still). In effect, the day that the sun stands still in the sky. In the Northern hemisphere, this marks the first day of winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, it marks the first day of summer. At whatever Northern latitude you are, this will be the day with the shortest amount of daylight. Since the Summer Solstice, the sun has been rising progressively lower in the sky with each passing day. On the Autumnal Equinox, the sun rode the same line as the ecliptic, or the plane of the solar system. The great part is that while this is the darkest day of the year, with each passing day, the sun will rise a little higher in the sky and we'll get a little more daylight.
I was in Norway recently. Friedrikstad is not within the line of the arctic circle, but it is close. When I was there, a month ago, the sun was only up for about 5-6 hours a day. By this point, it's down around 4 1/2. Crazy. But they make up for it in the sumer with 16-18 hours of sunlight. Bastards.
Mandy's parents showed up this morning. We've been hanging out and catching up. Our car died last night. Likely cause: The transmission is blown. This is great because we were thinking of updating our entertainment system with a new center speak, satellite speakers, and a receiver... but what we really wanted was to spend that money on a new transmission. God. I hate cars. We can't really do anything with the car until after the holidays because all the shops are closed until Wednesday. If it does turn out to be the transmission, I think we're just going to junk to car and get a new one. At least the new one will be (in theory) slightly more reliable, but still. We spend $1,300 replacing the timing belt a month ago.
Man, it's been crazy around here. We've been unpacking, cleaning the apartment at Grant, and getting ready for Mandy's parents (and our new dog) to arrive. We've purchased a new Queen-sized bed. We're going to pick that up tomorrow with a rented truck. Other than that, we've just been trying to figure how we're going to decorate the place, where the dog will sleep, putting plastic on the windows, etc, etc, etc.
I can't believe Christmas is only a few days away. It's nuts. It doesn't really feel like it here. I'm sure we'll be missing the family and friends part of it most, but having Mandy's parents here will help lessen that. It's going to be good to have a little down time.
There are a lot of changes happening now, which is one of the main reasons that I haven't written in awhile. Mostly it has been because our internet was kinda flaky while we moved and I wasn't able to get online for almost a week!
I got A's in the three classes that I took this fall......but I also found out that I am not able to get into my major this semester. This means that I have to wait until next fall to start my classes. Sigh! Anyways, I decided that I didn't want to sit around on my butt until then, so I applied at a part-time QA job. They said they would like to offer me a job, pending my background check approval. I will start after the first of the year and will be working 30 hours a week, M-F. Right now I am on the schedule at the dog shop for 2 nights....we'll see how it all works out.
We are looking forward to having myparents come and visit this weekend, so if you have anything you would like to send with them like notes or goodies (like an Xbox360 - Matt) pass it off to them before they leave on Friday.
We are getting unpacked and organized at our new place. I have a couple of pics and we will continue to post more as we get through all of this moving stuff :)
Caught up in the conflict between his brain and his tail...
So, yeah. No updates for a while, huh? That would be in part because we have no internet connection, but mostly because we've been moving all of our belongings from one location to another.
Mandy and I have moved so many times, we have it down to a science. Not to brag, or anything, but damn... when we move, we move very well. We were able to pick up the rental truck, move everything into it, drive to the new location, unload its contents into the new house, gas-up the truck and return it in less than 6 hours. The total cost of renting the truck, with gas and mileage included: $33.00. That's roughly 1/8thth of the cost just to fill up the gas tank one time on the truck we moved out to Denver in. Craziness.
Right now, as would be expected, the house is in shambles as we decide what goes where, who does what, and when does which. Once all of that is settled, a little painting is done, and some furniture procured and gotten rid of, we will post some pics.
In a few weeks, we will be entertaining the lovely Mr. Cat-Fattener and his wife Sue for a week or so. They will come baring gifts, or gift, rather, in the form of a dog. We need to have the place someone spiffed by then, as well as make up the spare room so Mandy and I won't have to sleep on the air mattress and give up our bed. It will chaotic, but fun. We're really looking forward to spending some time not doing much of anything.
Work is going well for the both of us. I'm sure Mandy will want to share her school/work situation herself, so I'll leave that be. My work is also going well. Very well, in fact. I've learned more in the past four month working at this job than I did in four years of college education. It's been stressful, rewarding, and energizing all at the same time. Lovin' it!
That's about it from the mountains. Mandy has some new dog pics she'll be posting to Flickr soon, so keep an eye out for those, especially for the yet-to-be-taken picture of me with Bodhi. There's a good story behind that dog. One you will never, ever believe. When I was told, I nearly spit out my drink and shouted, "No way!" To ramp up the suspense, I've added a poll to the right-hand nav of the blog. Just choose what crazy, unbelievable fact is true about this dog, and we'll see if the readership of this humble blog can read my mind.
