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Nothing In Particular

March 26th, 2010

Cash exchanged for Teen

Cash, the Labrador we were babysitting, is home now. His family is back from their travels. I miss him, but Michelle doesn’t, he’s big and hairy and he drools. Their return also brought our 19 year old niece back to live with us. She has big shoes to fill, but she’s got that drooling thing mostly handled, so that’s in her favour.

Cash

Maglite

On a related note, every house should have a good flashlight as part of it’s standard equipment. A friend asked me if I carried a weapon after I was mugged. I don’t, but I definitely had it in mind when I bought this flashlight to walk the dog with. It is well designed and manufactured, and the tooled aluminum casing with three D batteries in it, makes a good truncheon. The blinding light, followed by this thing crashing into a nose, would stop a linebacker. It is definitely confidence building.

For your commute

I recommended This American Life awhile ago. Here is a couple other podcasts I like, in case you are interested.

The Moth – features stories recorded live at one of the events held by this New York based story telling organization. A new story every week, around fifteen minutes long, always good, sometimes great.

Radiolab – Big questions on science, philosophy, and the human experience are investigated. It’s an imaginative and interesting show.

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Joe Cocker

February 17th, 2010

I grew up Country. I got “The Year That Claton Delaney Died” (Tom T Hall), and “Lord I Hope This Day Is Good” (Don Williams). I had no older siblings to expose me to anything, so 80’s hair metal and the birth of MTV hit hard in my formative years. On the plus side, I’m still discovering things that somehow passed me by, songs that look/sound like they are tearing a hole to get out. Look at me with my finger on the pulse! I’ve discovered the latest greatest thing from 1970. This is why I could have used an older brother, instead I have three sisters and I’m sensitive, which just leads to a music collection sponsored by Lillith Fair. It’s a tragedy.

I also feel like I was born 15 years late. The 70’s retained the coolness of the 60’s, along with an aversion to bras, but ditched the social conscience. It looks like a great party.

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iPad

January 29th, 2010

I’m a geek. I love technology and design, and an electronic book reader sounds like a cool idea. Here’s the thing though.

Revolutionary Paper and Ink Technology. Read in the tub! Read by direct and blinding sunlight. Read by candlelight.

Unlimited Battery Life. No car adapter, no plug-ins, no power requirements at all.

Sustainable. Made with 100% non-toxic renewable materials. Completely recyclable.

Portable. Fits in your carry-on, and no pesky security checks.

Affordable. Leave it sitting on your beach towel while you swim. Forget it at the hotel, on the bus, or lend it to a friend and never get it back. Good for any budget.

Almost indestructible. Impervious to sand and dust. No ports, components, or screens to clog or malfunction. Leave it in a hot car. Bend it in half. Run over it with your car. Throw it at the pavement with all your strength.

Lifetime Upgrades! You can’t find a floppy drive to open a WordPerfect file from twenty years ago, and if you do, software will fail to open the file, or render it unreadable. Our revolutionary technology opens after hundreds of years just as easily as day one.

Books. The oldest, greatest thing!

The geek in me is always tempted by new technology, but eBooks have so many inherent flaws. In many important ways, they are entirely inferior to a $2.50 dog eared paperback.

On the other hand, my sister is giddy with excitement because this $500 technology will significantly improve the life of my autistic nephew. Other touch screen technology developed specifically to assist autistic kids with communicating run upwards of $10,000. She says this $200 app and an iPad beat them all.

Soldier stories, movies, and technology reviews!? I’ll eventually get back to obsessing over fertility, adoption, and kids, for those interested in such things.

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It Might Get Loud

January 28th, 2010

Lead guitarists Jimmy Page (The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), Jack White (The White Stripes and The Raconteurs) discuss the electric guitar, their influences, and the origins of their music. It’s a fascinating look into the minds of the creators of iconic sounds. If you consider yourself a fan of any of those bands I’d recommend the rental.

80% Rottentomatoes

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This American Life

August 14th, 2009

This American Life is a weekly one hour radio show. Listening to it is often one of my favorite activities of the week. I love it.

tal

It is funny, sad, inspiring, thought provoking, revealing, educational, and emotional in varying measures each week. The stories are human, and honest, and I never feel I have wasted my time when I listen. I find it inspiring, and hopeful, to witness anything done so well.

You can download episodes for $0.95, which is a great deal. They are wonderful for road trips or commuting. I listen while I’m cleaning the house or doing yard work.

There is a list of listener favorites I have worked most of the way through, and a podcast you can subscribe to. I don’t have a single favorite but here are a few entries I think are good starting points.

20 Acts in 60 minutes: This episode breaks the usual format of T.A.L. in which two or three stories are told over the course of the hour. None of these are the best stories on the program, but together they wonderfully cover the gamut from funny to sad, from curious to thought provoking.

Recordings for Someone: A number of interesting and moving stories start things off and the episode finishes with the hilarious, “The Greatest Phone Message Ever.”

My Experimental Phase: A woman who mistakenly thinks she’s lesbian, and an astonishing story of a guy who experienced a growth and freedom few people can imagine.

First Day: Far and away the highlight of this episode is the unforgettable story of, “Squirrel Cop”.

Testosterone: This is fascinating whether you are a man or a woman. Trust me. One chapter involves recordings of  the main contributors and producers of the show, and I think, demonstrates why the show is so good. They are a quirky, funny, bright bunch of people.

A big thank you to my friend, Stephanie, who introduced me to T.A.L., David Sedaris, and The Decemberists.

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Name the Gnome

June 11th, 2009

gnomes

If you occasionally host a party characterized by excesses in food and drink people think of you as a fun couple. When you do it as often as Michelle and I people begin to talk about twelve step programs. Subtle misdirection and thin facades help a lot. My point is that our Name the Gnome BBQ was a success.

We have four garden gnomes from a Social we held last year and figured we should gather people together to help name them, because why wouldn’t you, that’s why. The name suggestions were abundant and imaginative, but when the votes were counted (yes, we really voted) there were four clear winners:

  • Gnomer Simpson
  • Gnome Chompsky
  • Gnome F’ing Way
  • Phenomegnome

Random chance will determine which name they get. They all look exactly the same, except that third sun bleached bastard that has done a Michael Jackson, and is several shades lighter than his brethren.

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Make a Decision

May 8th, 2009

help_picA group of people are standing in the middle of the street. At the center of them sits a slouched figure. It’s late and I’m only trying to make it to the grocery store before it closes. I sigh and pull over.
(more…)

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The Board Meeting

September 6th, 2008

The monthly Social fell conveniently the day after the wedding. We rented a big house boat (called the Boardroom) for a three hour tour of Okanagon Lake. The weather was lovely and everyone had a great time. This is was a record setting event. We had over 60 people at this month’s Social. It will probably be a record that will stand for some time.

Sadly, the evening ended on a bit of a down note. After successfully avoiding shooters for my entire stag and wedding reception I was bamboozled into doing two, the first without using my hands. Even though I smashed the glass on the floor, and had whipping cream running down my chin, I displayed a degree of grace not often found in such situations. I think we can all agree on that; the photos speak for themselves. Michelle put me to bed soon after.

Social Photos

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Big Valley

August 2nd, 2008

We took the August Social on the road. We were at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta with some good friends. It was a little tough to invite anyone else as it was a ticketed affair. The four of us had to content ourselves with partying it up with 20,000 strangers. You can feel confident that we faithfully represented the dignified affair the Social has become; we got messy drunk, and we did in in Cowboy hats.

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Horse and Buggy

June 7th, 2008

A Double Decker Buggy pulled by two horses took us for a tour around Victoria. We drank wine, ate a picnic basket, had allergic reactions and discovered horses are not very neat eaters. The weather was beautiful and it was an interesting way to kick off an evening. A few drinks at the Bent Mast rounded things out.

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There Will Be Blood

May 15th, 2008

I recently saw “There Will Be Blood”. Sure it was brilliant and Daniel Day Lewis is outstanding and blah blah blah, but the emotion that it evoked in me that I found most surprising was one of humility. I have never felt less like a man in my whole life. (more…)

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Portishead

May 8th, 2008

Portishead have a new album, which is doubly cool because I didn’t even know one was coming. It’s their third full studio album, aptly titled Third, although if you include soundtrack work, the live symphony album, and the bevy of remixes it seems like their catalogue is much bigger than two previous albums. In case you missed the 90’s Portishead has some amazing stuff and this new album is worth a listen if you liked their previous work.

You couldn’t really expect this trio to put together anything you might expect. It is definitely Portishead, but the album is an eclectic mix that spans between their dreamy electronic sound to heavy industrial and trippy orchestral backgrounds.

Beth Gibbons is a vocalist that could sing the alphabet and make it sound eerie and beautiful as far as I’m concerned. Although this album doesn’t hit the heights of their previous stuff it’s pretty good, and you certainly can’t call it vanilla.

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