Year: 2007

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Tori Amos, K.M. Krebs, Grateful Dead

1:23 pm-Waiting to go into a meeting, again, one where I can sit and kvetch rather than participate. Not much going on-thought this meeting was at 9:30 rather than 1:30 so I hustled to get here on time. Erika has the tummy bug, but not as bad. Working on incremental changes to BP, need to finish “the Project” and move on to HLD (I love using all the acronyms! You have to refer back to find out what I’m talking about.) Not much else-I’m eating lunch. Whoopee. Kids are home for Spring break, having fun-I got a bunch of phone calls about telling potty jokes with Mom. They’re going to a movie tomorrow afternoon.

Since I have the time, I’m actually going to write more-usually I can’t. And of course now I’m drawing a blank. I guess I’ll start with the Anna Nicole saga. The photographer is the father of the baby. Big deal. That’s my opinion of the entire ANS story. Bread and circuses. What with Mideast disaster and posturing, mortgage meltdowns, global climate change, fired federal prosecutors and everything else, this is big news? Even the Don Imus thing is more substantial than this. One of the problems with corporate media is that they’re focused on the bottom line, so news which has meaning and is either dull or depressing gets pushed off the page and eventually off the radar. And big lies and little lies and entertainment disguised as news, plus bad education, plus financial and work pressures, plus endless consumerist temptations, plus neverending childhood, plus demagoguery, endless repetition, religion suppressing rational thought, and we have a populace as herd of sheep-sheeple. Getting driven by fear, greed and whatever to wherever. We are going down, folks, one by one. Collective amnesia, head-in-the-sand syndrome-not enough of us are paying attention. <sigh> An informed and educated populace is the cornerstone of our republic and we are neither. Is this Germany in the 20’s or 30’s? Don’t know-we don’t really have the economic impetus of a massive financial disaster to really succumb to a madman, but the groundwork is here, and there are a number of people who believe it’s coming soon or is already here.

Last week, I was thinking about the whole flock of sheep and shepherd metaphor in Christianity-I guess it’s the Easter thing. And my thoughts were these-there are several troubling aspects to using a sheep/shepherd metaphor: first, sheep are notoriously brainless and followers and easily led, especially by proxies of the shepherd (sheepdogs)-this doesn’t give a good model for intelligent followers. The second is the use of sheep-wool and meat-sheep are led to be shorn and slaughtered. Again, not the best image as to your goals for your followers. I’m not interested in either being a blind follower or being led to the shearinghouse and the slaughterhouse. I was also thinking about the Catholic Mass and being politely asked to tone it down after discovering its spiritual underpinnings-that the Mass is a vehicle for channeling worshipers’ energies into a structure focused on the altar and the celebrant, and launching it upwards. I was blasting massive energies into it, and the priest was unable to handle it. I guess this underpinning isn’t overtly taught to priests, so they only learn it unconsciously and therefore can’t manage it properly. I left after that, the abortion position was unacceptable was well.

Then there’s the Easter bunny, eggs and the resurrection of Christ. South Park did an ep about this last week, positing that Jesus assigned a rabbit to be pope, because no human would be free of vice, corruption or fanaticism. There was a whole DaVinci Code subtext, plus an eerie similarity between the Bill Donohue character and Rove… And of course they were wrong. Funny, but wrong. The Easter bunny and eggs comes from Christian syncresis and appropriation of Eastre and the feast of spring-basically an equinoctial fertility celebration. The German legend is of Eastre finding a frozen bird and reviving it by giving it a hare’s head, thus making a hybrid of a resurrected bunny that lays eggs. Fundies don’t like this, of course…No matter. I’m not a Christian, so I don’t care. I celebrate it as a pagan.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Quiet American, Manfred Mann (I loved this tune when it came out-don’t like the Springsteen original-I think it’s the guitar, plus it was this and Fly Like an Eagle that informed my first times getting high), Malcolm McLaren, Glass, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Steve Roach, Quiet American, Legendary Pink Dots, Cream, TMBG, King Crimson, Ravi Shankar, Mr. Kool Ade & Marco, Los Lobos (yum!), Mevlevi Sufi (yum, yum!), Mickey Hart, Joy Division

3:24 pm-At work, still not 100%…I have the tummy bug that struck Matt last week-but worse. So, to backtrack: Saturday we cleaned the house, went up and played racquetball with some kids from the complex. Sunday-church, party afterwards, I came home sick with the Demon tummy bug. Laid in bed, the kids went to a neighbor’s. Got up today better, came to work but I shouldn’t have.

12:00-Time for bed. Came home, made dinner, kids to bed, worked on “the Project”, watched TV. No food for me, but I think my stomach is better. Sleep now.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Legendary Pink Dots, Mystified (I cut it off to watch South Park), Crystal Method (I HAD to hear it again!), Grateful Dead, Fugazi, Anthrax, car, Veruca Salt (yum!), IWTV, Residents, phone, engine, Art of Noise, Buckethead, King Crimson, Art of Noise, Alva Noto, David Sylvian/Fripp, Radiohead, Pram, Stan Ridgway, Art of Noise (a lot of this-not complaining)

Listening to: Thomas Dolby, Bach, Crystal Method (I love this tune!-it’s all fat analog synths, air and huge beats-I wanted to use it for a kite routine, but it’s too long), Vangelis (more great kite routine music), Bob Ostertag, a bunch while I was cleaning, Earth Ear, TMBG, Solar Explosion, Conet, a bunch more while I did wash, cooked dinner and washed the boys, Elvis (next), Coltrane, Quiet American, a few more, Morton Subotnick, Heath Yonaites & K.M. Krebs, Enya, Art Of Noise, a bunch while I watch a movie with the kids, Zwan, Fiona Apple, boat, Aaron Lewis, Minutemen, Gentle Giant, Killing Joke, Arthur Lee, (putting the kids to bed), market, Muddy Waters, Charles Lucy, Keepers of the Earth, Tool (yum!), Vangelis, Alva Noto, roulette wheel, Stephanie Bennett (scratchy), motor, They Might Be Giants, Tori Amos, Bon Jovi (next), sounds, Villa Lobos, Allan Holdsworth, FSOL, Lora McFarlane, car, hair dryer, Hole, Lou Harrison, Cranberries, Miles Davis, Akashic Crow’s Nest, Rusty Crutcher, Rage

8:01 pm-In bed, watching Meerkat Manor. Had to stay home, Colin’s cough was much worse and Matt’s tummy was still messed up. Erika had to work. Slept, the kids watched movies. Made up my timesheets, sent them off. Made lunch, Erika came home. Kids played games, me and Colin worked out and played a little racquetball.

2:08 pm-At home-Matt has a tummy bug and Erika has to work. One nice thing about having a “real” job is having sick days… Not much else-last night I put away dishes, put away clothes, did wash, put the kids to bed, worked until 3 am.

10:46 pm-In bed, watching Shark. I’m tired-that 3 am last night wiped me out. OK, finished up another “the Project” page, Erika went to Long Beach to get some money, Matt went from good to bad to a long afternoon nap. Me & Colin hung out in bed. Dinner, kids to bed, dinner.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Gyuto Monks, U2, Zappa, Art of Noise, Primus, boat, Takeshi Nakamura, Emil Klotzsch, Veruca Salt, Jon & Vangelis, dogs, IWTV, Vangelis, Gordon Hempton, Duran Duran (blecch!-there are only a couple of good Duran Duran songs-and they’re not this one-next), Soft Cell remix, Solar Explosion, Metallica, Richard Thompson, Paul Avgerinos, A Brief History of Time (eBook), Jeff Beck, Loreena McKennitt, Buckethead, Iannis Xenakis, Jon & Vangelis, JT Bruce, jet, Los Lobos, King Crimson, Hoobastank, Tangerine Dream

10:37 am-About to start work-have an image to tweak. No post yesterday-busy. To backtrack: hard to put the kids to bed, work Monday night-HLD, “the Project”, kids to school Tuesday, t’ai chi with the 7th graders, work-review BP, time entry, image, lunch, tea, shopped for food, returned a book, got Watership Down for the chapter book and bought Life After God for 50 cents. Home, dinner, kids to bed, work on “the Project” ’til late. Today: Matt got up early, make lunch and breakfast for himself, school, played a bit-there were 2 baby bunnies in the yard, came here.

4:25 pm-Working on stepwise refinement of BP page 3. It’s pretty clean-only one big change so far. Worked on a new image for a team in Toronto. Lunch, drinking tea. We are so broke. Close cricket match between England and Sri Lanka-it came down to England needing a 4 on the last ball to win and the guy whiffed. Not much else-Erika drive up to L.A. yesterday to get her dad’s last toolbox from work-he gave it to the boys. She hurt her back on the drive, but got a Pink’s hot dog. I need to practice and work out, do dishes and wash, but I also need to do “the Project” and HLD. blecch. Too many tasks, not enough time.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Orb, Offspring, chime, Chemical Brothers, Spoonphase, Legendary Pink Dots, Robert Johnson, train, Gentle Giant, Holdsworth, Orbital (much more like a real shuffle, this, plus the ease of updating the playlist-dir /b/s *.mp3>files.dat), Residents, bicycle, Can, Solar Explosion, Holdsworth back-to-back, horse, car, Blue Oyster Cult-this is really generic, Tom Waits (better), Oregon, Cult, Eno, Nirvana, King Crimson, TMBG, Art of Noise, Hilliard Ensemble & Garbarek

Listening to: Buckethead, Flaming Lips, Metallica, Iron Maiden (hmmm, metal, metal, metal), King Crimson (metal? maybe some of it-Lark’s), Uveaele (definitely NOT metal…;), Bob Marley, Joy Division, KC (again), Sneaker Pimps, Tom Waits, Robert Rich, Democracy Now!, Jane’s Addiction, Vangelis, Quiet American, Kronos Quartet, Tori Amos, Quiet American, Chemical Brothers, Green Day, YUD, IWTV, Hendrix-I’m liking mpg123 as a player-not as fancy as WMP, but it does the job and the shuffle is better…Deben Bhattacharya, Residents, Fiona Apple, Los Lobos, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mike Watt, the Rippingtons (next), machine, ITWV, Tori Amos, Grateful Dead, Rush, Satori

11:44 am-Something is up with Firefox-it’s slow as slow can be-1 minute to refresh, eating up 50% of CPU and a half gig of RAM. Odd. Everything else seems to be behaving OK…I’m saving early and often. Hopefully I’ll close the offending tab and that will be that.

5:23 pm-Time to go home-calling to wake Erika up and no one is answering. OK, worked on review of BP, a HR meeting, HLD and “the Project”. Not much else. Lunch, tea, tunes.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Laurie Anderson, Stravinsky, Soundwalk, foghorn, Loren Nerell, pub, Steely Dan, the Residents, Eno, Kronos Quartet, clock, Echoes of Nature, Tom Tom Club, Solar Explosion, Quiet American, Orb, Sidecar (boy, this brings back memories!), coffeeshop, Talking Heads, Gordon Hempton, Mickey Hart, Talking Heads (again!-the Overload), Steely Dan, thunderbolt, Coltrane (nice segue, that), Bach, saron, airplane, Soul Coughing, Rain

2:02 pm-Working on “the Project”-I have a bunch of content to deliver over the next few days, plus Diferencia stuff too-we have the website, now time to populate it. Backtrack-Friday-home, tidy, Burk girls visited while Erika and their parents went to a teen’s funeral of a family at Journey-they said it was intense. Played a bit of Starcraft. Same thing Sat, Erika had breakfast in Long Beach with her sister, then visited her parents’, got some baby clothes. Went to a birthday party at Camp Pendleton. Home, tired, played more Starcraft. Today-church, Erika and the boys are going to another birthday party. Stopped at a yard sale and got a CD of the Radiators-OK, not great. The recording of today’s service is massively screwed up. On to work.
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Listening to: Death Cab for Cutie, Nine Inch Nails, Mogwai (this is much more of a random player than Windows Media Player (mpg321)), Traffic, Genesis (it’s all rock right now…), Grateful Dead, Holy Knights Band, Bjork, Jefferson Starship (Blows, not the later blecch), Art of Noise, Underworld (I keep hitting ctrl-c to copy the artist, and it skips to the next piece), birds, King Crimson, Buckethead, Legendary Pink Dots, Prokofiev, Jeff Beck, Radiohead, Steve Roach, Eno, Firehose, Brand X, The Residents, bath, Tori Amos, boats, Sigur Ros, Tosca (dance, not the opera), Mevlevis, Future Rock, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Aphex Twin, Hole, AC/DC, Quiet American, Veruca Salt, Grammar Rock, Arcade Fire, INXS (next), The Residents, Eno, Butthole Surfers, Hendrix, Buckethead, Far Afield

2:52 pm-It’s a wierd day-time is very slow. Yesterday I worked on the “the Project” (can’t say more), BP at work, lunch, more BP (I’m having to do alternates that are more “weblike”), and icon, home, bed, dinner, work. Today-kids to school, to work, referee pool tournament, early lunch (that might be why my time is off),

4:37 pm-My day here is pretty much wrapped up-I finished the BP reworks and sent them off. Tea. I think I’m going to hang out for a bit and leave. Working on my touch typing, which sucks-many corrections as I miss. I wish the cricket matches were available-all you can get for free is the matchcast, so you know what’s happening, but can’t see it…No worries.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Art of Noise, Stravinsky, Hilliard & Garbarek, Tenacious D, Mystified (I heard this yesterday!-no matter-I like ambient for work), Aphex Twin, Richard Thompson, Quiet American, Schumann, Akashic Crow’s Nest

12:55 pm-Watching a usability webcast. Whoopee. Yesterday-finished up work, went to school event-helped with sound, played guitar with the first graders, ate. Got a stomach ache from something-laid in bed, slept, woke up with it too. Hard to wake up, get kids to school just a bit late. T’ai Chi with the 7th graders, work, work on redesign for BP. Watched pool, watching the webcast.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, webcast, DN!, wind, Puccini, explosion, South Coast Swing, Orb, Mystified (another long spooky dark ambient piece), Rush, Tom Tom Club

10:11 am-At work-not much going on. Busy yesterday. Kids to school, t’ai chi with the 7th graders, work, tried to fly my kite-failed and security came, home, kids to bed, some work. Kids to school today, to work.

3:43 pm-Back from lunch. Had to referee a pool match, work, went to school to help with De Colores-don’t have the right key yet. Wanted to fly the Deca-helped carrying things for the event instead. I now have 2 monitors! It’s pretty cool.

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Flaming Lips, Sting, Laurie Anderson (I haven’t heard much of her on shuffle), Underworld, gargle, Orbital, String Cheese Incident, Mystified (hourlong piece)

Listening to: Democracy Now!, Norah Jones (next), Traffic, Vangelis, Harold Budd, Soul Coughing, Anne Dudley, Charles Lucy, Greg Baumont, Toru Takemitsu, Quiet American