General Oversight

So I just finished watching the second Transformers movie on Blu-Ray, "Revenge of the Fallen".
I enjoyed the first one. And even the second was entertaining. Yeah, it was reviewed poorly and most will complain about plot holes, but the sequel was entertaining. I liked it.
What are you expecting anyway? It's a film about robots that have an exclusive deal with General Motors.

Yep, the autobots can only transform into marvels of humanoid engineering if what they scan is derived from the great minds at GM.
Chevy (those controversial, illiterate ghetto twins and Bumblebee), GMC (Ironhide), even Saturn (the Astra used to escape from evil robots at the college) were all pushed by the film.

This exclusivity (all-)sparked a train of thought...maybe we pay taxes to keep GM in business because they threw all their money into the movie and forgot about that secret to capitalistic success...innovation.
What's that? Transformers 2 was still a success?
Well that's the the sticking point isn't it?
...But I'm convinced there is an explanation.
While Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg realized about halfway through the film that they had a bunch of compost in between their fingers, they also knew there was a perfect solution: throw in a few more scenes with Megan Fox in a low-cut top running from danger in slow-motion.

General Motors had no such hottie to salvage their incompetence, resulting in any tax-paying U.S. citizen dumb enough to purchase a new GM vehicle not only paying for the (eventual) pink slip and right to drive it off the lot, but also putting up the dough for its production.

I don't know what the big deal is though...I always return to Safeway and pay (in full, with a huge markup) for my plate of pasta after I go grocery shopping (at Safeway) for sausage, cheese tortellini, peppers, tomato sauce, salad, and bread.
That's...the American way...?

Mi Muñeca

My girlfriend is la bomba.
Apologies in advance to any male or lesbian readers. Jealousy will likely ensue.
Quite simply, she is the best girl. Ever.

For instance...

• She walked right past the What Women Want, The Devil Wears Prada, Failure to Launch, When Harry Met Sally (which I actually really like) DVD's on sale at Target, and picked up Predator. On Blu-Ray, on sale for $9.99. She said, "We are watching this tonight."
• She likes good music. That's not to say she only likes music that I like. That would be boring. But she is appreciative, vocally so, of the not-so-on-the-radio-or-download-able-as-ring-tone catalog that pleasures my ears. And she exposes me to some really good stuff. She said yesterday, "I really like that elbow song, Grounds for Divorce. It's so bad ass. It just makes me want to tear something up." And then continued to swing her hips to Shakira. I always wanted eclectic love.
• She, like any girl, has a friend that visits every month, let's call this friend...oh...I dunno..."Redding". However, she doesn't transform into an enraged demonic aggressor, throwing the salt shaker squarely at my forehead for placing it too close to her cup of cranberry juice causing it to sprinkle on to her place mat. Nope, she is well aware that she might be a little moody, but in reality is just a little more quiet and indecisive than usual...and even goes as far as (unnecessarily) apologizing for that.
• She has no capacity for falsehood. When she says something to me, there is no question in my mind or heart that she means it. Entirely.
• She bypasses Sex and the City and watches The Simpsons and Futurama with me. And she turned me on to Futurama. She also has the insider info on when a season of The Simpsons is going on sale.
• She doesn't hold it against me when I let my silly Canadian friends convince me to have just 4 more shots of whiskey and I end up making (even more of) an ass of myself.
  
• She tells me I'm hot when I'm being a complete nerd. I have no qualms about telling her that Sunday afternoon, I really want to re-image my hard drive, swap out my CPU fan, and tweak my BIOS settings.
• She might like the Predator, but she sewed up the hole in my PJ's while we watched it.
• She personifies my guitars before I even get the chance to do it myself: "You haven't had time to play guitar in a long time baby, I bet you miss it. I'm sure they miss you too."
• She'll skip a walk through some garden to go to the Academy of Sciences, the Planetarium, the Tech Museum, or to just stay in bed and watch Transformers and The Rock all day.
• She is open to trying new things. She is as excited as I am to go snowboarding, having only gone twice. And when she gets tired and sees that I want to leave the bunny hill, she tells me to "Go on, I'll be in the lodge saving us a spot with some drinks and fries." And there is nothing behind that, no strange guilt trip because I went snowboarding for a while without her.
• She gives me a big sympathetic hug when one of my tank creatures passes away.
  

I could go on and on, but I don't want to make you too jealous. You might accuse me of blogging about my girlfriend just to score some brownie points...and get her to bake me some brownies later...and while that might be a happy side effect, it's not the case.
I just like to brag about how lucky I got.

Like

facebook. A grand old place.
These are all posts I saw when I was pretty angry with life a few weeks back. I was inclined, with all my cynicism, to "Like" every bad status post I could find...
Here are some of them...


We had a good run but nothing is forever. Gibson Stratocaster will be missed.
(Dead Cat?)
...Like

Another month with no driving = super sad XXXXXXXX.
XXXXXXX has no car...DUI? Wrecked? Can't afford insurance?
...Like

Tow company said it would take 20 minutes to come jump my car. Called at 30 minutes to see if they got lost and they said it will be another 10. :/
(Car trouble)
...Like


XXXXXX is sort of pissed to be paying for this calculus class. What a joke.
XXXXXX decided to take a course at an all Russian school? The professor is her junior high school teacher that got fired for reaching down some young man's pants?
...Like


Just not my day.
...Like


XXXXXX was hit today by a guy speeding through a red light. I'm okay. My car is not. My poor poor car :(
XXXXXX's car is totaled?
...Like

But who's to say I wasn't happy that all these people, with their rough times and hard situations, were still in a place where they could log on to facebook and troll for sympathy...

Obscure Hilarity

Caught this over at Geekology (yes, the one with a 'y', not 'ie').



I lost it at "Twit on My Face".

Wow...I've become a nerd...

Like minds like mine

Musicians I enjoy tend to flock together. And I don't mean those from the same label or even the same genre - that would be expected.
I guess those I like also like who I like.

Excited for Massive Attack's new album, I did some internet poking and found a flash player with tracks from their EP (click "Media Player" on the top left of their page).
It seems Guy Garvey - the vocalist for one of my other favorite bands, elbow - will be appearing on their new record, Heligoland.
There is also a track featuring Tunde Adebimpe - the cat from TV On The Radio...

Here is a remix of the track with Garvey from the EP:


This makes me happy.

Fresh President of Bel Air

No where in this article was Mr. Smith mentioned...


Should I take the risk of biting the hand that feeds and use Blogger to tell Google News that all success does not look alike?

...I think I just did...

Whoever said, "There are two sides to every story", is an idiot.

At the Actel Engineering/Marketing Christmas party, our (supremely NOT nerdy) table was engulfed in a debate about which OS is the best...
While I generally don't take sides, comfortable in my own stoic cynical romantic indifference...ism, I had to put my foot down and take a side here...sort of...

Macro Hard On

Bill Gates is the man.

Our society is entirely too hung up on 'what should be' and entirely too disconnected from what is - and why.
I'm talking about Windows here. Huh? World outside of computers? Get out...
What's that you say? Microsoft steals ideas? Windows is a purely evil necessity, shoved down our throats?
Money-grubbing, monopolistic companies like Bill Gates' are everything that's wrong with the world?

As the Sector 9-welcoming concrete at John Muir College says,
"Consume Excrement".

It's easy to tear apart those in the lead.
Criticism is to be expected: the wider your base of users, the more common you are to hit untested cases and fall victim to those crying, "It doesn't have this...it doesn't do that..."
And yeah, I agree, far too many people know what a 'BSOD' is, but what about the rest of the candidates?
Can you deny that the front-runner obtained the lead in the same race as the competition?
The answer is "no".
Like my mom used to say..."Because."

Critics of Windows are by and large the population of nerds who open more command prompts than they do doors, check the temperature of their CPU more frequently than they check their scent, and sniff more packets than they have members of the opposite sex.
If this small elite dictated the industry, then yes - Windows would probably be better, if not run out of the market.
Yeah right, and Ubuntu would have ads on highway billboards...

But they don't. The truth is that economics usually parallels evolution, and most of these folks don't buy software to begin with, they torment it...er get it from turrets...er...torrents...so how are they going to sway how many arms the product has, or how well it can change its skin color to blend in to the tree it's resting on?

Those unheard from on forums - the loudest at the store - are the middle-aged aunts, anxious to catch a fresh whiff of social interaction via mybook or facespace, the lonely hot clerks eager to see if anyone replied to their harmonic match profile solicitations for a date, the secretary - contently ignorant of OpenOffice, pounding away at that Excel spreadsheet - and the teeny boppers, pimping their page with phone pics and the latest from lady rhigaga or lil' cent.
These folks have no need to push their hardware to the max, no goal of overclocking their CPU via FSB increments to squeeze every last cycle they can out of some silicon for obscure forum status and bragging rights.
They have no interest in disabling anything *Microsoft* from their startup processes and no reason to open their desktop case to run plastic tubes full of neon green coolant professing, "convection is a quieter and more efficient way to rid away heat from your CPU than fans."

Windows has a niche...and it's a good one:
The profitable one.

Unless you built your computer from scratch, your hard drive is likely shipped with an installation of Windows.
This fact alone is evidence that Windows is the best operating system offered. If it wasn't, the majority of our planet wouldn't boot up to a Windows flag.
That's how business works. Pissed off? Angry? Jealous? Why didn't you, or more accurately, why didn't those other companies do it? They were in the same race as good ol' Gates...

Recognize there is a reason that in all likelihood, you have a pair of jeans with a Levis tag, there is a Sony device in your line of sight, you've consumed a Coke or Pepsi in the last month, the image of a guitar is shaped like a Fender Strat or a Gibson Les Paul in your head, you brushed your teeth with Crest or Colgate this morning, and you own a computer running Windows.


Also, Macintosh turned something peaceful and happy into morbidity:

("Beach ball of death", courtesy of www.macmerc.com)


Return of the Mac

I own an Apple MacBook Pro. I have since they called these things "PowerBooks".
Mac OSX, while criticized as purely aesthetic and aloof to functionality, is awesome.
If you don't agree, then odds are you haven't used it for long enough, if at all.

Sure, Apple computers are much more expensive than other computers, even those with similar hardware specs.
But what good are those superb hardware specs if they aren't being utilized by the OS?
More specifically:
What's the point of having 4GB of RAM when your OS can't utilize it, requiring 2GB just to boot to your desktop in under a minute?
Why drop in a 10,000 rpm hard drive when your OS will ...monopolize..ech hem... on 60% of those revolutions just to index the files you have already written to the drive and forgot about?
Why install insanely powerful graphics cards when your favorite game can't even run because it tries to establish network connections deemed 'unsecure' by Mr. Gate$ and company?

So what if more - and more common - programs run on Windows.
Open those programs and click away as the OS asks you over and over, "Are you sure???" Do you really want to install it, because "Running this program may put your computer at risk!!!!!"

A Mac takes full advantage of those extra CPU cores you were suckered in to buying.
It knows how to efficiently handle every bit (haha) of RAM it is offered.
It recognizes any third party solid you can connect to it and knows what kind of file that is.

However, it will have those unfortunate drawbacks of "looking pretty" on the outside and "making the GUI nice" on the inside. You just have to deal with those shortcomings...


They mixed up the placement of the Ctrl and Alt key...but it's forgivable...I guess...

("Blue screen of breast - I mean death", courtesy of www.thenextweb.com)

Like Linus really likes Linux

Umm...I was going to say something about this OS...but I haven't had to use it much outside of work because...well...
I have a Mac.

So I guess they were right. There are only two sides to every story...I'm the idiot.


Listening to:
Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez
Murs and Slug (Atmosphere) as MC's? Nice.
Aesop Rock handling production...not bad...

Them Crooked Vultures
The guy from Queens of the Stone Age?
The guy from Nirvana and Foo Fighters?
The guy from Led Zeppelin?
...good...

The Fountain Score
Clint Mansell writing with Kronos Quartet + Mogwai performing?
...amazing...
Clint Mansell is a hero of mine.
Even after the commercial success of the Requiem For A Dream piece...
He is still indie-legit and deep like ocean.
Add in Mogwai? Forget about it...


Watching:
The Fountain
I am a romantic.
A romantic crybaby. Cry every time I watch this movie.
But like Josh says, "If you don't, it's because you have no soul."


Drinking:
Nothing!
I've been working on this compiler project non-stop.
No time for the happy fluids.
It is done though. And I'm due for a Friday SWD...

Caseeeeeey

This will conclude the series of interesting/funny/ridiculous (in that order) videos passed along to me by the posts' titles.

Casey has already posted it to his blog, so you can swerve over there to check out the awesomeness.

I was all set to write and record some medium disturbances this weekend when I saw Bangs' video and my self worth was demolished...like when a douche bag asks, "Am I a douche bag?" and then realizes that the very necessity of the question renders him so.

As James Spader says in one of my favorite movies:
"...I knew I had to stop writing. Because if this was talent, I had none..." (Anyone but pop get that?)

Aw fuck it, I can always aspire to that kind of greatness...

All of the images I was going to use for my video from freedesktopbackgrounds.com were already taken by Bangs...so I had to dig through and find a couple favorites (read "two") from my trip to Tokyo.



Yeah, the guitar part at the end is definitely tacked on and a lot of parts are re-used right now, but I liked that line so I put it in there anyway. Like I said, it's a process.
And also, the good news is that I still have a job so I don't have to worry about your stupid opinion.

If you're so inclined, see a screenshot of the track canvas.
The above link and screenshot were generated by TinyGrab, one of the many small but clever apps in a free software bundle from Mac Heist (thanks Tiberiu).

Preemptively defensive of the creative,
Scott. Under and in.

Tomeeee - Evolution At Work

I know, the last couple of posts have been videos you could have found on your own.
I've been really busy lately though. This one I just had to share...

It seems we haven't yet legislated away natural selection completely...



It's nice to see other countries embracing the fruits of a varied species - encouraging the marching down paths that may or may not (definitely not) propel humanity into the next phase of hard-skulled-kept-regular existence.

Give it some time though. Now that America is no longer content with ignoring the rest of the planet, the next bill through the house won't be a solution to an actual problem (or rather, a retraction of the problem), but instead, a law declaring smashing fruit with your noggin punishable by...be(rry)heading?

HA! HA! ha...ech hem...right....

Host:
"I think you are a hero for doing this. Fantastic!"

Translation:
"You're a fucking idiot! Everyone...Clap for this fucking idiot!
Holy shit man! I can't believe you just incurred brain damage to get on TV - and you failed your personal goal!
You deserve to die out, and we will let you.
[Smiling] But not without first welcoming the entertainment you provide.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Also - Happy Birthday Steve!"

Josheeee

I like neat stuff. Don't ignore all of the heavy issues surrounding you (politics, economical woes, suppression of free will, pigeon poop patterns, etc.), but don't forget to take time to smile at the endeavors of clever humans.

Narcitastic

I've received several complaints about the low frequency of new posts...
and I LOVE it! It's like my ego now eagerly awaits a happy ending...

But enough of that. I am a fountain of bull shit, but not all bull shit is worthy of posting to the world wide web. So give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that...apple sauce (wait through the probable ad, and the crank it up...I couldn't find a good one from your tube).

So...one idea came to me while pondering a certain company's plan to save the planet by removing cutlery from the break room. It inspired me to recycle. Seriously.

I generally shave in the morning, before I shower. I am a girly man with an electric razor. You have to lean over the sink so that it catches all of your freshly cut follicles.

My amazing girlfriend uses soap that has sand or something in it. This helps you to smooth out and exfoliate your dermis.

Now, we all know the great impact soap like this has on our reserves of endangered dirt and sand.

I have devised a solution. Sure, I am only one person, but we can all do our part.

First, instead of shaving with your PJ's on, take off your shirt and step on up.


Lean back instead of over the sink when you shave so that the hair falls into your chest nest.



Now, like you probably already do, use your thick, flowing chest hair to lather up with soap.


Once soft and foamy, your soap should engulf the lose face shrapnel until they are one.

Abracadabra! Your soap will now exfoliate your skin. The poetry in the process is you can get a nice smoothly exfoliated face using what came from your face.

If there is a better way to close the loop, my name is L Ron Hubbard...which it is not.

Advice

Don't ever take a course from Dr. Tsau Young Lin. Ever.

Process

Recorded on Sunday. It's been a while. Whenever you go back to something like this, there is always a re-learning curve, which sucks.
You have to rewire everything: mics, instruments, speakers, midi devices...
You have to patch and reconfigure everything in the software: input/output buses, headphone routing, metronome output, levels, effects routing...
Then you have to troubleshoot for about 30 minutes of frustration because you can't get anything out of your keyboard because you have the midi channel set wrong on the hardware itself.
All of this is very effective at killing any bit of creativity you like to think you have.
But...if you press on, and try to leave as much as you can untouched for the next free Sunday, as well as take advantage of newer software templates and profiles that can be saved and recalled...you might have some time to record something.
I did. Three tracks. More process defining than an actual creative session...but I'm kind of digging the (umixed, unmastered) simplicity of the audio...it counters the complexity of the process.

fender to micro synth to boss dd-6 digital delay
microkorg
boss dr-670 drum machine

phuck farrell - I had this hat first.




Watching
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Futurama

Playing
Killzone 2

Drinking
One of Soid's berry ciders...ssshhh...

Listening to
NIN Ghosts I–IV

Helpless...I mean...Hopeless...err...Homeless

For the past week or so, on my drive home from work I've noticed a quarter on the side of the road at the Stevens Creek exit off I-280.
I first noticed it when I was stopped at the red light. I pondered jumping out to grab it while the light was red and frantically jumping back into my running vehicle, but was too chicken shit to take the risk of the BMW behind me honking and freaking out if the light turned green.
I really regretted this for a couple days. The next two passes I had a green light, but I did slow for the turn and confirmed it was still there.
Then, two days ago, I saw it again at a red light, but there was one of the 3 or 4 regulars with a sign asking for my loose change.
In all likelihood, one of the regular bums dropped this quarter or forgot to pick it up after hiding behind the sign while a driver threw coin after coin at them in some misplaced fit of rage.
I headed home.

I was all set to jump out of my car and snatch it up today when this happened:
The light was red (YES!)
I was the only one in that lane (SWEET!)
It was still there (SCORE!)
An obese woman with a sign did the penguin waddle into my field of view to the tune of..."wah wah waah"

The decision before me was to:
A) ignore it again, hoping it will last until next week and I can grab the overlooked treasure then
B) start throwing 24 or less pennies (to keep this a profitable venture) at the lady to distract her and grab the quarter
C) get out of the car and hope that the bum does not jump in and drive off in my ride while I'm bent over picking up a quarter
D) tell the lady, "there is a quarter on the ground"

While I'd like to draw this out and ask for votes...I went with D.

I rolled down the window and Danny DeVito's sister waddled excitedly over to my car thinking I was going to hand out some money...

"There's a quarter over by the sign there. I think you or one of your colleagues might have dropped it."
"Where? I don't see it...oh, thanks."

Green light.
I headed home, once again without found money.



Note:
(most of) the image is obviously courtesy of Lasik Plus.
The above actions and expressed views in no way reflect those of Lasik Plus, who are in fact responsible for the bum's botched surgery, prohibiting her from noticing the 25 cents on her own.

Briefless Mottos

I stumbled upon an Internet Anagram Server and wasted a few minutes of my life.
It's pretty fun.
Below are my favorites for a few of you...

Soid Quintero = Squid Toe Iron
Baby, when the Humboldt Squid washing up in San Diego start to get wrinkly tentacle tips, you can be there for them. We can solicit donations from PETA for your plane tickets!

Laura Bolter = Real Oat Blur
God sis, always making grains visually indiscernible!

Josh Heinze = Jeez...Shin...Oh!!
Broinlaw, always banging his leg on the coffee table.

Alex Simand = Dim Anal Sex
Watch out in poorly lit corners...Alex lurks.

Bryan Rogerson = Señor Barn Orgy
Bryan is always looking for a hay filled shack romp.

Dominique Osburn = Bunion Mod Squire
If you want your bunions customized, go see Domi...she's in training, but she's good.

Andrew Potopov = Ardent Poop Vow
Shit brothers unite!

Alright, that's enough for now. Don't get offended if I didn't do your name. I still love you.
Except you Alan, I did try your name, but apparently "Alan Qian" is all we can muster in this language...


In closing, since this is all about me...
I really like stepping on dead, dried up, crunchy leaves when they are on concrete. That is all.

Act your age...divided by 8

Have you ever fallen victim to someone telling you to do something so they can take a picture, but then they trick you and are really taking a video, but you keep doing that something for the picture thinking maybe it just hasn't focused yet?

This is what it looks like.

Southwest Airlines 737 VS. Cessna:


Thanks Brandi.

Come pear an apple to an orange

She's crafty.
My sister has started an online boutique: happiest things.
Since high school, she's been chartered by many for various creative tasks - from altering clothes, making pillows, creating a formal dress from scratch - to making quilts and blankets.
The above picture is of a blanket she made for me. The logo is inspired by my tattoo, a "lifespike" I call it. It derives from an audio signal and an EKG display. She gave it to me as a birthday gift several years back.

She is good. And now she will get paid for it. Maybe life is just.


Disclaimer
This post has no bearing on the title, or vice versa.
Sometimes when Ewe sit in traffic, a random paronomasia sends a smirk to your face.
Mite as well share it.

Think of it though...pelting an apple with pears until it finally rolls into an orange...so fruity.

...a term that was used by his friends - one of affection, one of respect...

I am lucky in friendship. The majority of my friends have had the title since kindergarten. Like me, most of my best friends went down to San Diego for college.
We grew up in shit-town-Stockton.
We deserved the time down there, and we made the best of it.
There exists some ridiculous feud between "Nor-Cal" and "So-Cal" and fortunately for me, the common awful human you collide with in San Diego and Stockton was side stepped because I had a strong base of brothers with me to begin with.
One such brother went to Italy to study painting, became awesome at it, met a gorgeous sweetheart to marry, and made a wonderful child.
Neither of us are religious, but I persuaded Matt, or...he persuaded me...to be Olivia Evening Taylor's "Godfather". Which, to us, really just meant I would be there for Olive and her parents in any way I could. Olivia just turned 3. She had a party at a park in Santa Cruz.

Olive and her mom:


Maybe a cliché but "I remember her barely crawling, now she's a running princess..."


It was a blast to be outdoors in Santa Cruz, visit with those whom I truly consider family, and sit back and smile at genuine, blissful youth.
Matt and Cheryl did a great job hosting the party.
Cheryl and her treasure map:


Matt, the Chicken Monster, RUN!!!


Olive got two cakes:


They even had a piñata - which was about to be broken by the kids, but I pushed everyone out of the way so that I could be the hero:


I am so selfish...


Listening to
Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust...this is what hip hop wishes it could be.

Watching
Entourage
The Simpsons
The Usual Suspects
Pushing Tin

Playing
Fallout 3 - I beat it!
Metal Gear Solid 4
Crysis

Reading
Exile and the Kingdom - Albert Camus
(Awesome short stories)
This blog
Tape Op - The Creative Recording Magazine

Drinking
Too much. One should never lose control of emotional or motor functions.
Break time.

Structured Signal

I am sort of a gear head. I love reading about and playing with new gadgets and improvements to old gadgets for cars, space missions, computer parts, home entertainment, guitar gear, etc.
I mentioned before I used the OMG WTF Free Phone money to buy guitar pedals. The two new additions are the electro harmonix pedals: the big muff pi (fuzz and sustain) and the micro synth (octave generator and filter). I am like, totally stoked with the sounds I am getting bra!!!
The picture above is pretty self explanatory. I play a Fender American Deluxe Strat with a bridge humbucker and two single-coils (holla Steve!) and a Gibson Les Paul Studio (thanks so much family!)...
Yeah, I play a Strat and a Les Paul...I used to skateboard Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays and I'd rollerblade on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays (Fridays I played N64 and Playstation). I'm Irish and I think U2 sucks. I have a Mac and a home-built PC running Windows...Vista. Yeah, so I'm a walking contradiction...and I fucking hate Green Day...
Wow, how did it get to this...
Oh yeah, so the picture shows the signal flow from my contradictory pieces to the Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4x10. This is the first configuration I've used with the new additions. It sounds good, but I'll definitely experiment with the effects chain. Mutation facilitates evolution right?
For now, I'll just try to explain my thinking for the initial chain...maybe I can get some feedbacks (as someone says) from anyone wanting to venture an opinion...Steve, Justin...I'm looking your way...

The loop station is last and is a pretty obvious choice for the end pedal. This is a phrase recorder, allowing me to loop and layer guitar parts. I surely want to be able to lay a lead part on top of a rhythm part - different sounds - it makes sense to modify the sounds before they get to the recorder.

Similarly for the delay pedal, I want the effects to "echo" along with the notes themselves...so the signal going in to the DD-6 is desirably wet.

I think the wah pedal is also nice at the end, since this is a more dynamically expressive effect. I can take what the prior effects yield and...um...make it go "wah haw wah haw"...

...I don't know...
...I don't know...
...I don't know...
...I don't know...

And finally, the tuner goes first. You definitely want the cleanest signal straight from the guitar as the input to the chromatic tuner so you can tune with greatest accuracy.

Alright, I'm going to go now. I love you.

Listening to
Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion...over and over and over again...I love this album.

Watching
Entourage
Grumpier Old Men

Drinking
All of the Heinze's wine and champagne...

Up To

It has been a busy forty days for this cat. But of course, nothing happens until you post something about it on the interwebs...yielding many posts (that ship has sailed) or one large post from this egoist.
And thus the latter begins...

Taholerette
My sister and her fiancé decided to have their bachelor and bachelorette parties together in Lake Tahoe. Josh (the aforementioned brother-in-law-to-be) flew us from San Jose to Lake Tahoe which was awesome because I had finals the following week and was happy to be in a plane for a bit over an hour rather than in a car for a bit over three hours.

The Landing:


We drank and danced in Tahoe...the normal family fun (I climbed some horse statue, got in a fountain for the sake of photography, watched my twin sisters dance together with a bald Nepalese dude, and rode tricycles on the bar).

Me and the bride:


The maid of honor:


Congraduation
My wonderful girlfriend finished her B.S. in computer science. We went out to club WET, where my roommate had previously...left his mark...
Turns out I had been there before it was renamed to "WET". Little had changed...an abundance of bags and hags of douche...but they did put some fish tanks in the wall, which was kind of cool. When you don't want to have your senses annoyed by the environment, you can look at a shark and blow fish and eel stuck in a tank in the wall of the club...neat?
All said and done, I did have a good time. I like to dance. I love any time at all with mi muñeca and friends.

Club:


Grademony:


G(I/O)gle Conference
I picked up my girlfriend from the Caltrain station last year on her way back from the Google I/O conference. It was pretty amazing...good music (Queens of the Stone Age - Make It Wit Chu), good food (taco bell on the way to the station), and good conversation (my baby and her friend telling me how awesome the conference was as I drove them home). So this year, I decided maybe it'd be even amazinger if I went to the conference myself...
I still got to drive us home from Caltrain, so no loss in that realm...
The conference was well worth the $50 academia registration fee. The food was delicious and the talks were informative and inspiring.

And here is my ass, easily located with Google maps:


Oh yeah, and they gave all attendees a free phone...wait, what?!
Yes, all ~4,000 conference guests were given a Google (american apparel) t-shirt and an HTC Magic Ion G2 Android Google phone (I don't know which of the six names are correct, or in which order, so I just put them all...basically, it's a touch screen phone that is or is not better than the iPhone).

OMG WTF I got a free fucking phone LOL:


Another highlight was the "after hours" party. There were innumerable (not really...~4,000) nerds (~ means "about" or "approximately").
Nerds can eat. And nerds like it dark (to hide facial asymmetry). And nerds like video games. And nerds like to walk around with beer pretending to like it.
Google likes nerds. It was an orgy of deliverance.
Spherical caged picture-taking robots, Lego robots, arcade games, finger foods, Sierra Nevada, chardonnay, modded everything, and finally, DJ Mike Relm and DJ Scotty Boy providing aural goodness. I had fun. I guess I am a nerd.
Google posted these pictures of the event.

This is one of them and I am proud to have been one of the few present to talk to a girl...ever:


The best thing about the conference actually happened a couple of days ago, a week or so after the conference. I sold the HTC Ion Magic G2 (OMG WTF free phone for short) for $500 on Craig's List. Yeah, okay...they were going for a bit more here and there on eBay...but I'd actually opened and used mine, activated the SIM card that came with it, etc. Also, I essentially got it for $50. I am no mathemagician...but that's like 10% profit or something! YES!
With the money I made I bought new stuff for my fish tank...to be posted later...and a couple new guitar pedals, also to be made real at a later date.
My girlfriend is now selling her OMG WTF free phone here if you are interested...
[Update] It's been sold...for another huge profit.

Holy Shit...er, uh...Matrimony
I now have only one sibling with a common last name. But I have a brother-in-law and larger family...which is awesome in case competing local clans come to raid our land and livestock. We have increased strength and numbers now you fucking aggressors...try something.

Is my sister not the most beautiful bride ever? I know she loves the frozen dead dude, but Walt Disney ain't got shit on this reality:


And the McGees (one full McGee, three half McGees):


Now that all is in sync with reality and network...piece oot.


Watching
NBA Finals
Stigmata
New Blu-Rays (The Boondock Saints and Pineapple Express)

Listening to
Silverchair - Neon Ballroom
Massive Attack - Danny the Dog
Elliott Smith - Either/Or

Drinking
Trader Joe's Unsweetened Green Tea With Mint
Squirt + Cuervo♦

Indifference is Bliss

I paid off an automobile on Friday.

I "bought" a 2006 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab 4X4 Nismo in June of 2006.
The synonym for 'purchased' is in double quotes because few people actually buy a car. Cars are financed, yielding people in debt, like I was.
I am no longer in debt. I used money saved while working my ass off at UCSD as well as the bonus I got from joining Actel as an American. No, the company is not ethnocentric. They just happen to hire most of their interns from Canada...University of Toronto to be specific, which I understand rivals the best universities in the U.S. when it comes to engineering...so I guess they don't "happen" to do it, they hire these kids for a reason, a good reason, as I can confirm after working with some of these Canucks for 3 years. They are sharp.
But back to the point...I don't necessitate extra expenses for a work visa as I am a Californian douche by birth.
So while the "facilitating your trip back to Canada" meetings I was called to as an intern at Actel were designated nap times and work diversions for me, I still gladly accepted the cash handouts Actel gave to interns for relocation fees, holiday travel, and being a SUPREMELY INFERIOR Canadian in general.
This essentially boils down to an analogy for the continuous VIZIO HDTV upgrades my Romanian friend enjoyed from Costco until they got wise and changed their policy.
But, like Tiberiu says, "It's their policy, you can't feel guilty. I have a much bigger TV now."
So, after all this diction, the point is that I had extra cash from a "signing bonus" and from my own transfer-to-savings monthly discipline.
I used it for a down payment on the redneck-mobile mentioned above. Yes, I concur, it's akin to the compensation Marty McFly had as a present-dream car when he returned to the future after going to the past and back.
But...I can snatch my 'rents' boat to wakeboard in Don Pedro, climb any mountain you want to go to for snowboarding, bring home the Christmas tree, and move your fucking couch, though that won't happen unless you buy me a burrito.
So, in short, the new University of Toronto intern can ask me why I chose to buy a pickup truck during my "short stay in Cali", not knowing that I fucking live in this state, but when I take the five of us to Arikato for sushi in fall and the same five plus boards and skis up the icy mountain in December without chains, they can shut up and sleep to the music playing through my Nissan iPod interface in comfort.

Listening to
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Led Zeppelin - BBC Sessions
Tricky - Knowle West Boy
Air - Talkie Walkie
Portishead - Third...only with chocolate syrup

Watching
The Rock - Blu Ray, bitch
My salt water creatures
The Office
Futurama

Drinking
Sutter Home - yeah, cheap wine, but it's like juice...delicious
Jim Beam & Diet Pepsi - because "Jack 'n Coke" is so cliché
Water - 2 parts hydrogen, 1 part oxygen

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

A few things...

Earf Day
Caught a glimpse of the voluntary human extinction movement, and while some of the site content is well written and mildly insightful, mostly I was moved to laughter. The thing that is comical about paradigms like this one is the inherent contradiction in how "humanity" is perceived. On the one hand, humans are seen to have no special rights or claims on our planet, and then on the other, are treated as some kind of supernatural being. Pick a side. If we are just another insignificant species, then recognize we are natural to this planet. Granted, (some of) the species has grown some measure of intellect, but we are by no means wizards...the plastic, aluminum, silicon, and...stuff...used to make this laptop was not conjured with a staff, rather harnessed from the planet. You can't create or destroy matter...I can...but not you.

I'm not saying to ignore the adverse artifacts our endeavors create, just to recognize we are not above nature. You don't shit where you eat (unless it's good for the soil and helps you to grow more potatoes for fry baskets). And if Agent Smith is right, that we are "A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet..." then we are still a natural one.
So as I was sitting in my living room, perversely watching some doves mate on my patio railing, surrounded by cacti, fern, a ficus, a lime tree, a bird of paradise tree, and another human...I thought, it is a happy Earth Day, like everyday. Don't ruin what makes you smile, and don't require a special day in April to be less destructive...without purpose.

Tank Update
The 10 gallon container of ocean reef life in my living room saw some additions and some sad subtractions of late. I added a beautiful Sea Star and a Sally Lightfoot Crab, but the crab died...or rather...transformed into hermit crab, snail, fish, and bristle worm food...

Up The Wall


Hermit crab riding a sea star riding a snail:

Megatron:


The next addition might be an Arrow Crab, mainly for their diet of bristle worms which are a virus, a disease, a cancer of the tank...the arrow crab...the arrow crab is the cure...but I'm apprehensive to send another crab into the tank after the death of Sally...we'll see.


Tribe Tribute
- Both of my sisters now have a master's degree. They are twin success stories and I love them a whole heap.
- My pop just started up an online store, Bolter's Cycle Specialties, which is doing well.
- My brother in law recently got his pilot's license and flew us from San Jose to Groveland for pizza and back on Thursday night...
Best way to view Stockton and neighboring cities: way the foxtrot up in the sky...away from Stockton and neighboring cities.
The chariot:

Windmills:

Crop Circles:

San Joaquin Lights:

Pardee for the KG eyes

Alex Pardee makes art that I like. Some...ok...most of it is pretty dark. But the colors and the style are super fly. Granted, I know less about art than about how someone can sit and enjoy watching a soccer game on television, but I have no problem with the shallow proclamation, "I like to look at this."

And on that note...er, brush stroke...check out the red hotness of Kelly Grenard. Not only is she the sweetest lady you'll ever meet, she is also wicked talented. I worked with her (in a less creative forum) while at UCSD.

Listening to
Mogwai - Mr. Beast
Portugal The Man - Censored Colors
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Watching
The Matrix
Super Troopers
Big Bang Theory
Arrested Development
NBA Playoffs

Drinking
Sangria
Home made smoothie with strawberries, raspberries, apple, and orange...left over from aforementioned sangria
Water

Fish are friends, not food...

Weekends are great. Those in Nor-Cal can agree the weather was fetch this weekend. Probably my homies in So-Cal can argue their weather is ALWAYS amayonaising...but some of us get suckered in to heading North...and eventually get happy and settle in.
Played some volleyball this weekend at the park with a grip of Canadians. Got hella sun and now I wear a wife beater even when I'm naked...
Then I went to the fish store and picked up a "cleaner crew" for my salt water tank, a hand-me-down from my future brother-in-law. A cleaner crew is called as such because they keep the algae and other dirtinesses in your tank in check. So I got some snails and some zebra hermits. Also got two damsels.
For those, like me, who know more about worm holes than keeping a salt water tank in their living room, the idea is to cycle the tank for at least a week or two, then test the water, then put in some creatures. To cycle the tank, you first put in the filters, add the salt water, some sand, condition with some chemicals, get some live rock, and...small version of a violin, swap 'o' with 'i'! You are committed.
This is turning out to be an expensive hobby...but what hobbies are cheap these days? I will single-handedly restore the economy with my fishy purchases.


Finally, thanks to this girl:

I have discovered jícama. Add chili powder and lime, delicious.
I love them both.

The guy that knows nothing...and knows it

I enjoyed reading this guy's blog the other day. Apparently he seems to have more depth than he appears to have in the real world...just kidding Alex...you don't...no, just kidding...seriously...
And while I have the depth of a bottomless order of chips from Chili's (seemingly, apparently, and in appearance), I thought to myself, "Wow, how egotistical to think one's ramblings might be browsed in such a forum...wait a minute...I'm egotistical...match."
Likely, this will just turn out to be another diversion from elsewhat...like figuring out how to use my MOTU both as the interface to my DAW as well as a surround sound decoder so I don't have to keep hard-swapping the speaker cables when I want to watch a movie or decide to lay down some tracks...