2002
 

12-30-02 (12:41)

  • it's been an eventful last few days.
  • sarah was here and that was both good and bad, but mostly good.
  • i went to oakland and got to hang out with the family over there for a day. we went bowling and sarah beat me by one point. i'm not very good at bowling, but i like to do it anyway.
  • i got a ps2 from my dad for xmas. that was a big surprise. we played grand theft auto every night the last four nights. i also got a couple gift certificates from my mom which enable me to finally upgrade to a better desk chair. the one i had before was fine, but didn't have the back support i've grown to need. this new chair is very fine. got a frying pan which will is nice because the one i have now is on its last leg. it's better to get a really good frying pan that'll last a long time rather than just buying new ones every year or so. this frying pan will last forever so i won't have to contribute any more pans to the landfills of america. i'm happy about that. i didn't get any useless presents so that's encouraging.
  • went to buy the wood for my cd case, but they didn't have enough of the type that i needed so i'll have to go back another time.


    • 12-27-02 (15:07)

  • quote of the year... when talking about who would get the big pillow before we went to sleep, my sister said: "i always have to have something between my legs."


    • 12-26-02 (00:06)

  • it's so cold in my room.
  • working on finishing up my top ten list. i have 101 albums that were released in 2002 so it's tough to do.
  • a middle-aged woman came in today while i was bumping the blackalicious album and was bobbing her head all over the place. it was odd to see an older lady getting down to hip-hop like that. then later i put on autechre's LP5 (an amazing album by the way) which is classified as IDM and she was digging on that as well. she actually asked what it was and i told her about autechre and she sounded pretty open about music. that's pretty cool to see. i also put in some tabla beat science and lots of people asked about that. those are the best moments i have at work....when the bosses aren't around and i bring music from home to play in the store and people dig it enough to ask about it and sometimes even buy it. a couple people actually bought the tabla beat science record so i was pleased. i think that people are generally open to world music and enjoy hearing the new sound that international stuff has to offer, but they don't hear it very much and don't know where to start so they don't seek it out. it's too bad there are so few radio stations that play any world music because there's so much out there that people like. there's some gmc (or some other car company) commercial that uses fela kuti's track "lady," but you wouldn't know that because like the likelihood is that you've never even heard of fela kuti and commercials never give the artists any sort of recognition before pirating their songs.
  • i don't know when commercials started becoming high art, but it seems a recent phenomenon. naturally 98% of the commercials are crap, but there are a few that are truly good in lots of different ways. volkswagen seems, to me, to be the leader in this move towards more artsy commercials. the one where the guy does the same old stuff day in and day out until one day he sees a vw bug convertible is really good. they use all sorts of cool cutting techniques and split screens and it's just really good. in fact, if they had a dvd with all the original music from their commercials and the commercials themselves, i would buy it.
  • i'm going to get some sleep so i can pick up my sister in the morning.


    • 12-25-02 (20:18)

  • big news of the day would obviously have to be the kings beating the lakers. the lakers had shades of their former greatness, but once the kings started playing their game it wasn't really a game anymore. i don't know if i love the kings more than i hate the lakers. i might actually hate the lakers more than i love the kings, but it's close either way.
  • i managed to avoid wishing anyone a merry christmas this whole season. dozens of customers wished me a merry christmas and i just smiled.
  • updated movies list.
  • it's probably about 50 degrees in my room right now.
  • lots of stupid people came into tower today. actually most of the stupid people were people who called. one call (at 9:40am) went like this "tower records, this is chris." "hello are you open?" "yes" "cool, and what time do you close today?" "10" "10 AM?" "no 10 PM." "okay, thanks."
  • then there was this kid who asked me if borders books was open today. i told him to fuck off.
  • then there was some guy who asked how much a twenty dollar gift card cost. i just stared at him.
  • then there was another guy (yesterday) who asked where he might find games for playstation 2. i told him "across the street they sell a few." he then asked "where's that?" "across the street i said."
  • then there was an old lady who wrote me a check. she wrote down her driver's license number on the check and handed it to me. i asked her for her ID and she tilted her head and gave me an incredulous look and said "i think i know my own driver's license number." i told her calmly that i need the expiration date and that i wanted to ensure that the check was indeed her's. then i punched her in her face. while she was on the ground cupping her nose i yelled "how many times have you written checks you fucking old timer? don't you know by now that everyone asks to see your ID?"
  • then there was this one lame customer that had nothing better to do on xmas than shop around in tower for over an hour, all by herself. what a lame person.
  • working 8 hours at tower wasn't too bad today. after work i came home to an empty house and watched the game with all my davis friends.
  • being able to laugh at yourself is an important quality.
  • thought up a story today...it's about a guy who at birth is stricken with a skin disease of some sort (we don't really know what kind it is) and as a result of that and his poor condition grows up homeless. it's very hard for him to get handouts because of his awful appearance and there aren't any adequate shelters where he lives. after a while living on the streets and all that comes with it is starting getting to him. he is malnourished and despite being only thirty something is in very bad health. finally on christmas day a generous person gives him a twenty dollar bill. however our protagonist is so weak and underfed that he needs substance immediately. he wanders the town for hours and can't find any open stores. he retires for the night in an alley, but never wakes up. in the coroner's office the reader discovers that the skin disease was a pigment disorder that made his skin black.
  • when my dad worked at the century plaza hotel (an elite hotel in LA) he hired these two black guys as bellboys or something equivalent. after a little while his boss came to him and told him that they weren't "fitting in with the image of the hotel." my dad asked what image that was. his boss replied "well, they're too black." so it was implied that my dad was to fire them. he talked to the two guys and told them what his boss said and they said okay, collected their pay, and left. the saddest part of that story isn't that the boss was such a blatant racist, but that both the guys were basically okay with it...they didn't raise a stink or anything. they were completely complacent about it because they were so used to it.
  • bill walton said today that rick fox, of the la lakers, was a high class guy because he took less money to stay in la and continue to play with the championship lakers. allow me to tear bill walton a new asshole. a) sure rick fox could make a couple million more over a few years by moving to another team, but it's not like we're talking really big bucks here. b) rick fox is married to vanessa williams who could easily support the family even if rick fox decided to pursue his dream as a back alley prostitute turning tricks for five bucks a pop. c) LA is one of the top two cities in terms of peripheral opportunies...rick fox has made it clear that he wants to act and be a model (like his wife). LA makes perfect sense for him and his wife...they stand to make more than enough money modeling and acting to make up for any money he might lose by going to another city. if the lakers were based in provo, utah then it might be a more true test of his so-called class. d) since when is it a high class move to stay with a team that has won the last three championships in a row? how classy is it to start a fight with doug christie, get your lights knocked out and then try and make up for it by running around the back alleys of staples arena to pick a fight with christie on your home turf? in essence rick fox is just about the scum of the earth and bill walton is, once again, a moron for saying otherwise. i fucking hate bill walton and if he were to die tomorrow i'd be a happier person.
  • came up with another idea for a story, though this one is even less complete than the last one. it's about a guy who works in mint printing dollar bills. after several years on the job he grows a horrible disgust for the smell of money and is forced to quit at a late age. but because he has no marketable skills, other than printing money, and his old age he drops into unemployment and starts devising plans to disrupt the economic system.
  • my sister comes into town tomorrow. i also have to work.
  • joe brought in food for people who were working today. at the risk of sounding like an ingrate... it seemed like he just brought us leftovers from his dinner or something. there was ham, mashed potatoes and some chocolate chip cookies. having food was better than not having it though, i guess.


    • 12-23-02 (22:45)

  • got a free cd from work today. joe, in all his graciousness, offered to exchange some "clean" product he had been saving up. so everyone at the store got one cd of their choice. also got my xmas bonus today. they really know how to time these things. tricky dick.
  • work was really really busy today. promises to be even more so tomorrow. and the day after that it'll be pretty slow and i'll get paid double time. fantastic.
  • i'm going to go listen to a cd or watch a movie.
  • decided to listen to a cd instead of watch a movie.
  • i'm somewhat cynical when it comes to literature. english teachers and film buffs will try to get you to believe that every word or every frame has a meaning. when watching a movie i might see certain scenes as having a certain symbolic meaning...the placement of the camera relative to the characters or the placement of characters relative to each other/objects within the frame. i might attach some significance to this or that particular shot, but i don't know how some can claim that every shot has a greater meaning. so i was trying to think of a way, if i were a director, to make it clear which shots i wanted the audience to view as important. so i thought about narrating a story and only having images pop up once in a while...those shots would clearly be significant since they were specifically chosen to be the visuals...since the audio acts to advance the story, the sole purpose of the visuals would be to expand on character dynamics, theme, etc. then today i realized that had already been done in la jetée (the inspiration for 12 monkeys). it sucks when you come up with a pretty good idea only to discover or remember that it's been done before. the major drawback to that would seem to be the format lends itself to a shorter film, but that's what i would have thought of a koyaanisqatsi type film.
  • if i were a teacher i'd like to give a test that said simply "write anything that you have learned in this class." one good thing about a test like that is that no one would leave wishing that something they had studied was on the test. i remember on several occasions people being upset because they studied for the test thinking that one essay question might be on new deal policy and instead the essay was on fdr being a womanizer or some other such bull crap.
  • joe strummer died today.
  • i should get some sleep since i have to open tomorrow.


    • 12-23-02 (01:40)

  • updated movies list. hidden fortress and man bites dog. yay.
  • well i guess i have to go back to work eventually. my cold has progressed to the coughing stage so it should be over and done with soon enough.
  • sarah comes to davis on thursday.
  • i'm revisiting geogaddi, the newest boards of canada album, right now. it's better than i remember it being. it's going to be tough coming up with the last few albums on my top ten for the year.
  • nothing really exciting happened today. i watched some football, watched a couple movies (including another kurosawa film), and ate. being sick and broke doesn't allow for much excitement. plus i wanted to watch at least two more movies today. 13 to go to hit 250.
  • my fantasy football team is a joke nowadays. only one more week of humiliation.


    • 12-22-02 (12:24)

  • i called in sick today, yay for me!
  • not going to work is such a wonderful thing. i'd rather stay at home, watch movies, and recover from my cold than go into work and earn a few bucks. hopefully this doesn't affect my request to get the 29th off. if it does maybe i'll just quit. seriously though i don't think joe has any power over me so i doubt that he'll try to do anything like that....especially when i come into tomorrow and show that i was (am) genuinely sick.


    • 12-22-02 (02:47)

  • updated movies list. finally saw seven samurai.
  • watched seven movies in the last two days while trying to lose this damn cold.
  • happy to see miami lose today. i hate miami.
  • the niners won, but the kings lost. bibby looked good from what i saw, but i only watched one quarter.
  • i guess xmas is coming up in a few days here. it used to be such a big deal, but these days holidays don't really mean anything to me since i don't celebrate them.
  • we live a sedentary lifestyle that benefits almost no one and i wish it was different.
  • i need to get some sleep.


    • 12-19-02 (22:56)

  • today was a lame day.
  • it was raining like crazy earlier so going to work was a drag. now that i sleep under my window i get all sorts of cold air during the night. now i'm sick. at least i have a couple days to recover before having to go back to work. bought some kleenex and cold medicine which is supposed to lessen the length and severity of the cold.
  • i'm going to go rest and recover now.


    • 12-19-02 (00:00)

  • melanie left for washington today. she'll be away for about three weeks. that sucks.
  • hard to believe that the avalanche fired their coach...pretty tough standards i guess.
  • i'm really digging on the fela kuti music lately. been listening to the tribute album "red hot + riot" and listened to his best of album at work today. if you're looking for some good african music check him out. the track "lady" is recommendable.
  • i'm usually complaining about work, but it certainly has it's perks. being able to listen to almost anything i want at any time is pretty nice for me. seeing new movies and music as they come in is something i'll miss quite a bit once i leave. plus it's been wonderful for my ego since i work mainly with self-made rejects and idiots it makes me feel relatively smart. i'm being facetious of course.
  • my back was hurting today.
  • when i get money i'll buy myself a nice desk chair.
  • came up with my 11 man olympic u.s. basketball roster yesterday. i don't know how big the roster is supposed to be, but 10 or 11 sounds about right. shaq, kobe, webber, garnett, iverson, kidd, mcgrady, duncan, j. o'neal, pippen and payton. i think it balances experience/youth and offense/defense well.
  • yao ming is going to be good in the same way olajuwon was. and with steve francis...the rockets are going places.
  • seems like stanford has been having tough times sports-wise these days. men's and women's basketball teams are disappointing and their football team sucked too. they probably have a good table tennis team though.
  • it's really cold in my room.
  • i need to get some sleep.


    • 12-18-02 (17:21)

  • kent went to the astros today...."Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said. ``I would dare say, after Nolan Ryan, this is the most significant free-agent acquisition that this franchise has ever acquired.''" acquisition...acquired. funny guy.


    • 12-17-02 (23:40)

  • peep this.
  • the first 5.5 hours of work went by pretty quickly because i was running the register on account of the fact that erin called in sick. put it my request to get the 29th off so i can spend time with my sister.
  • peep this.
  • when i write "peep this" i am purposely mocking myself for using the term so don't think that i'm serious.
  • updated movies list.
  • weather was decent today.
  • i have a date with my seven samurai dvd on friday. i will finally watch the movie that i've put off watching for so long.
    • a very close hearts game.

    one horrible game, eight perfect ones.
    12-17-02 (00:11)
  • finalized plans for my sister's visit. she'll come after xmas and stay for a few days.
  • not looking forward to waking up in the morning to goto work. i hope it's not raining.


    • 12-16-02 (01:49)

  • both my football teams lost today.
  • work was work. joe was there today...usually he only works m-f. it reminded me of a mr. lif song wherein he relays the story of a father/husband who learns the hard way that being a good family man isn't about bringing home the bacon at the expense of getting to know your family. i pity the fool (joe).
  • i should win this week in fantasy football. culpepper had a huge week for me. i knew he'd come through for me eventually.
  • abby, this new girl at work, is pretty absent-minded. working with her will probably get old rather quickly.
  • very windy out right now, but isn't raining as much as it was earlier.
  • the fox show with andy richter (who used to be conan o'brien's sidekick) is very funny and even inventive (as far as sitcoms go). they do a lot of things, technically, that television doesn't usually do. ER is another show that is pretty good from a cinematography point of view.
  • i really like the idea behind koyaanisqatsi, or the qatsi trilogy in general - take parts of our everyday life that are usually on the periphery and bring them to the fore. i find that i view the world around me in much the same way that the cameras in the qatsi trilogy do. that's not to say that i view life sped up or i see necessarily the same things, but i do see life in the same way. it's kind of hard to describe with words. if i had the equipment i'd make a movie about it, but i don't. at any rate, i really dig taking certain aspects of life and presenting them in a way that people are unaccustomed ....recontextualizing things as it were.
  • i had a political science teacher that used to (and probably still does) say "we (teachers/the university) don't want to tell you what to think we just want to teach the way to think about them and you can draw your own conclusions from there." i never really understood how he could say that with a straight face. it's like me saying here are the rules...1 is the first number, after that comes 2, then 3, and so on. when you add 1 to 1 you get 2, and 2 and 2 is 4. those are the rules. now go ahead and add 2 and 3. because he's defined the process and rules of thought he has more that limited my conclusion. now with international politics there is more wiggle room, but he has still defined the process and rules of my thought (he calls it "logic") and as a result our conclusions can't be too far apart.
  • found out today that gore has decided not to run. that's disappointing because even though the democrats and republicans are too similar for my taste gore does at least have some understanding of what importance the environment holds for our future....plus i think he had a good shot at beating bush.


    • 12-15-02 (01:28)

  • the next couple weeks are going to be about solidifying my top ten albums of the year and watching enough movies to get me to 250 on the year.
  • there's a chance that my sister might come up to davis this week. that would be nice, but she might be bored since melanie's not going to be around and i'm not very entertaining.
  • listening to vincent gallo right now - very good winter night music.
  • went to vallejo to get cash for a bunch of cds. sold about 30 cds and got enough money to pay for the wood for my cd cases and dinner tonight.
  • other than my trip to cash in those cds i didn't do much today.
  • not really looking forward to going to work tomorrow.
  • watched the bulk of the kings/jazz game today. i'll admit that the officiating was bad and it was to our benefit, but i'll take it.
  • watched SNL tonight and that was pretty funny. i'd like to see gore run for president again. i wonder who would best complement the ticket as vp. someone high in the ranks from a swing state would be nice. kerry and lieberman don't really add that much to the ticket....because ma and ct are usually locks for the democrats anyway. then again gore couldn't even carry tn and that's where he's from so nothing's a given...i think he's got a good shot in 2004. i'm not going to vote for the guy, but that's because i'm stubborn.
  • xmas will be a good day because i get to see the kings beat the lakers and get paid double time for a full eight hour day at work.
  • hearts is a good game.


    • 12-14-02 (13:38)

  • it looks pretty awful outside. very windy and raining pretty much nonstop.
  • i'm probably the only non-republican who thinks lott wasn't referring to thurmond's segregation stance when he was talking about how great a guy thurmond is. granted both of them are ignorant scum, but i think the left is just politicking on this one.


    • 12-13-02 (17:01)

  • heard a story on npr yesterday about dwindling xmas bonuses. the average xmas bonus is 1-3% of your yearly income....mine (if there is one) is likely to be less than .5%. the crux of the story was that xmas bonuses are decreasing and, in some cases, disappearing. but that that's okay because american workers take it for granted that we deserve bonuses during the holiday season when really it should be only those who are working hardest who get bonuses. i think that as long as those on the top expect to reap ungodly benefits by this lame consumer binge we call the holiday season then we, the workers, should expect holiday bonuses.
  • moby got attacked the other day. that's not cool.
  • did my xmas shopping today.
  • picked up my paycheck and noticed that i got paid for only 7 days instead of the usual 10. one was because joe forgot to put me on the schedule so i didn't show up, and the other two were days i thought i was going to get vacation time for since i went to la for thanksgiving vacation. i suppose i didn't explicitly state that i wanted vacation pay for those two days, but it's not unreasonable for me to assume that he would have known to give me vacation time for that.
  • updated movies list.
  • up until today it hadn't rained very much this winter. according to melanie is supposed to rain 6 inches in the next three days.


    • 12-13-02 (00:12)

  • planned on watching "the war room" tonight, but decided to listen to music instead.
  • i realized why joe was kissing my ass so much when we talked...i'm one of only two supervisors remaining. if i left then he'd have to work all sorts of extra hours. if i were mean i might exploit that to my benefit.
  • lately i've been thinking more and more that humans are far more animalistic than we would like to think. i see it in myself and in others. from the way we consume to the way we react in all matters of life.
  • don't have any plans for tomorrow which usually means i don't end up doing anything productive.
  • i don't go to class any more because i started to realize that i wasn't really taking it seriously which defeated its purpose. i never bought the book and i didn't study. the purpose of the class was to memorize some of the more mundane (and thus more likely to be on the subject exam) material. i'd like to either take a woodshop course or a history of american music course if i have money come signup time.
  • big news for the day is that aphex twin and autechre are coming out with new albums early next year. autechre's is going to be a new studio album and aphex twin's is going to be a remix album; that is, him remixing other artists' work - not vise versa.
  • "The Aphex Twin remix album has been cut and is scheduled for release in March 2003. '26 Mixes For Cash' [WARP102] features an extraordinary range of Aphex reworks for various artists, including David Bowie & Philip Glass, Curve, Saint Etienne, Jesus Jones, Baby Ford, Meat Beat Manifesto, DMX Krew, Mike Flowers Pops and many many more.The album also includes unreleased mixes of Windowlicker and SAW2 CD1 TRK2 (Selected Ambient works 2)."
  • "Autechre will release their seventh album on April 7th 2003. Title 'Draft 7.30'. Tracklisting TBC."
  • read somewhere that bush has decided to increase mpg standards for suvs and trucks by 1.5mpg beginning 2005. he's such a progressive thinker. "The Transportation Department will require fuel economy for SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans to increase by about 1.5 miles per gallon over three years beginning with the model 2005 vehicles that arrive in showrooms in late 2004..."
  • erin, from work, has been annoying me lately.


    • 12-11-02 (12:04)

  • i made a small, but important change to my room the other day. i placed a board on top of my dresser and under another set of drawers where i can now put my unabridged dictionary. now it lies there, open at all times, ready for use. if i had a digital camera i'd take a picture of it.
  • i'm going to go make some tacos for breakfast.


    • 12-11-02 (00:39)

  • yao ming is going to be so good if he can stay healthy.
  • saw the kings lose today, that wasn't fun.
  • lately i've been able to stay in the office more and more while i'm at work. i'll take extra time to do deposits, i'll count the safe a couple times a day, i'll count out drawers at a more leisurely pace...all in an effort to be by myself and listen to npr.
  • saw nic at tower today and we talked for a bit. he didn't end up coming over to get a cd i offered him. oh well.
  • might goto oakland to visit family this week.


    • 12-10-02 (00:49)

  • joe asked me what was wrong today so i told him that i felt heidi was incompetent and that the store has been far too driven by profit at the cost of the employees. we basically agreed to wipe the slate clean which i guess is fine despite the fact that i'm the one who's gotten shafted more by their policies and screw ups than him by my apathy of late. i think the other employees will benefit from my airing of grievances because i told him that heidi throws her weight around too much and that he doesn't kick down enough promos which doesn't make for good employee relations. really it was just the same age old problems between labor and management. we'll see what happens. i don't dread going to work tomorrow as much as i did today so i guess the talk was for the better.
  • five people have quit in the last two weeks. joe hired four new people this week.
  • hopefully i can get in 250 movies before the end of the year. updated movieslist.
  • blackalicious paraphrase for the day: every morning you awake you make the choice of whether to say "good god, morning" or "good morning, god"
  • didn't make the playoffs in fantasy football. a sad day indeed.


    • 12-09-02 (00:58)

  • "Sacramento tied an NBA record by turning the ball over only three times -- two of them by Bobby Jackson and the other by Jim Jackson." pretty nice statistic especially when it comes after a game in which they had 23 turnovers.
  • i've seen yao ming play only a couple games, but he looks like he's going to be really good. strike that...he is really good.
  • calling in sick today was a great idea.
  • watched the last 17 seconds of the 49er game today...turned out to be a pretty pivotal and exciting 17 seconds.
  • criterion is going to be releasing fear and loathing in las vegas and the killers on dvd next year. those should be good.


    • 12-08-02 (15:00)

  • called in sick today. i just didn't feel like going to work...that's the first time i've done that while working at tower.
  • i haven't done any xmas shopping yet.
  • purchased an electric nail/staple gun the other day...it'll come in handy when i start building my cd cases. wood costs a lot these days so that project will have to wait until after xmas.
  • i prefer pens over pencils.


    • 12-07-02 (23:49)

  • updated movies list. purely by coincidence the last three movies i've watched have been criterion collection dvds.
  • finally saw a few films i've been wanting to see for a long time. finally saw wild strawberries, which is the first bergman film i've seen. i saw that it was a brilliant film in terms of its mastery of the craft, but it lacked magic. i was emotionally involved with borg's character, but not to the extent that i felt the movie wanted me to be. the ending made sense and was nice, but that was all....it wasn't magical, it wasn't an epiphany, it wasn't amazing and i felt it could, and should, have been. sometimes i have trouble allowing a film to just stand on its own as a great piece of craft. all that being said i think this film will get better as i age.
  • didn't do all that much today.
  • i got a haircut, watched a movie, played n64 - which my sister let me use, and burned a bunch of cds.
  • vanishing point is a really good film.
  • now that melanie is officially graduating i'm going to have to find an isp.
  • read some mad paperback books last night. i used to read those things all the time. al jaffee is by far the best mad writer.
  • shannon, a friendly co-worker, quit yesterday. she was the last cool supervisor left. pretty soon i'll be in the minority and that'll suck. joe's such a cock sucker.
  • vern has found his wife. i bet she looks like a female version of johnny....just like that episode of seinfeld where george finds this great woman who looks like jerry and it destroys him to think that maybe he is secretly in love with jerry. man i wish life were as simple as it is in seinfeld. what a crowning achievement in human history. i really mean that.
  • speaking of great comedy...i watched south park tonight. i haven't been watching very much tv lately, but i have been trying to catch as many south park episodes as i can remember to see.
  • i think eventually philosophy will evolve to the point where philosophers realize there's really no point in examining the meaning of life or the intentions, or existence of, god. eventually people realize that it doesn't have anything to do with us. well that's my hope anyway. then ramblings like this wouldn't be necessary. in the concluding paragraph of that link he tips his religious card...he says that it's possible that people may one day become gods....this guy truly is a mormon.
  • gotta go to work for the man tomorrow. darn.


    • 12-06-02 (19:02)

  • when you're young what do you call someone who always wants things done their way? a spoiled brat. when you're old what do you call someone who always wants things done their way? boss.
  • i need a haircut.


    • 12-06-02 (01:42)

  • "In an abrupt departure from past policy, high-tech giant Hewlett-Packard has announced that it will support California legislation requiring computer manufacturers to pay for safe disposal of electronic waste.  In October, HP used its considerable clout as the world's largest maker of personal computers to persuade Gov. Gray Davis (D) to veto an e-waste measure.  But the company changed its tune last week, following the publication of a three-part series by the San Jose Mercury News documenting labor and environmental woes in China stemming from the U.S. computer industry.  HP is suggesting that all U.S. computer makers shoulder a percentage of the cost of recycling their products based on relative market shares in California.  So far, other electronics companies have remained mute about HP's about-face.  If the state adopts new computer legislation, it could pave the way for federal regulations to keep hazardous e-waste out of landfills and prevent it from being sent overseas."
  • "Looking to minimize your impact on the environment?  Don't buy a car -- and especially don't buy anything made by DaimlerChrysler.  The U.S.-based automaker ranked dead last on a survey, released yesterday by the Union of Concerned Scientists, of pollution levels in vehicle fleets.  The survey looked at the environmental implications of the six largest car manufacturers in the U.S. market, which together sell nine out of every 10 vehicles purchased here.  Those vehicles account for vast percentages of smog-forming pollution and carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.  From best to worst, the companies were Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler.  Toyota was the only company to cut its fleet's average CO2 emissions between model years 2000 and 2001. The only company to move up in the survey was Ford, which went from being second-to-last in the previous survey to fourth in the current one.  UCS credited that change to the environmentally friendly leadership of William Clay Ford, Jr."
  • i guess the big news of the day was that there were two more celebrity sightings today...bekah from sorority life and keon clark who plays basketball for the sacramento kings. that guy is tall. i talked with him...only to tell him where our cassette tapes were, but i still talked with him. he seemed like he didn't really want to have people swarming him. some public figures don't mind being recognized everywhere, others do. one guy went up to him and said "hey keon" and they shook hands, but that was it. looking at him i would have guessed he was about 6'10"...yahoo sports has him at 6'11". he is very tall. he was driving a large SUV and it was still registered in ontario because he used to play in toronto.
  • "We're hearing all kinds of additional buzz from our sources that Warner Bros. is gearing up to finally announce the DVD release of classic Looney Tunes shorts in early 2003. And we've just gotten word that no less than four titles in the series have already been revealed for Region 2:

    • 2/17 - Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny
    3/19 - Looney Tunes: Daffy Duck
    4/14 - Looney Tunes: Tweety Pie & Sylvester
    5/12 - Looney Tunes: Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner
    There's no official word from Warner yet as to whether these discs will be the same for Region 1, but we expect to hear something soon."
  • hopefully i get stuff done tomorrow.


    • 12-05-02 (00:30)

  • listening to clinic right now.
  • work was okay today. joe asked me if i had any concerns...i guess that was a good manager type thing to do. i answered no to his question which was a complete lie, but i'm not all that good at that stuff. besides there's no easy way to tell your boss you have no respect for them. later in the shift some guy came in with over 100 dvds to sell. he told me that he had to pay rent for his apartment in sac and SF because he was in the process of moving. having to pay first and last month's rent along with security deposit sure does make moving difficult. he easily had over 2,000 bucks worth of dvds with him and i felt bad buying them for so little. tower wants to make 100% on all used purchases so every dvd that normally sells for 19.95 will sell for around 9.99 used which means i'll buy them for $5. brian, jj, and i went through his collection, picked out stuff we wanted and paid him cash for them. by cutting out tower as the middleman he made more money and we paid less for the dvds, so i felt good about getting him at least a few extra bucks. if i had the money i would have taken the collection off his hands for a bit more and then made some money by selling it off slowly, but you need money to make money. i ended up paying 50 bucks for 8 dvds which is a pretty good deal. updated moviesiown list.
  • there was a report released today which confirms my suspicions - most of the world dislikes the u.s.a. of course that be interpreted in all sorts of ways from "they're jealous" to "they resent being taken advantage of" to "so what," but it's good to know no matter what.
  • in somewhat related news..."Around the world McDonald's restaurants have been burning. One was torched in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 20. Another blew up in Moscow on Oct. 19, while less than a month before, a small bomb ripped through a franchise in a suburb of Beirut. According to Reuters, militants arrested in July for the bomb attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi had also been planning to bomb McDonald's. In December 2001, a McDonald's was bombed in Xian, in central China, and in September 2001 a pipe bomb exploded on a McDonald's in Istanbul."
  • life is completely different when your screen is running at 800x600...i looked at my webpage for a couple seconds at that resolution and boy does it look horrible.
  • listening to money mark now.
  • this (11'09"01) movie sounds good.


    • 12-04-02 (12:22)

  • got to see usc destroy notre dame on saturday. my dad and i were rooting for notre dame, but a couple minutes into the fourth quarter it became too much to watch so we left the game. the coliseum was as packed as i've ever seen it...they said there were almost 90,000 people in attendance. this year i've seen two notre dame games (one live and one on tv) - those happen to be the only two games they've lost this year.
  • i'm not sure what i should eat...i've haven't been shopping in probably three weeks so there isn't much here.
  • switched around the top ten a bit. it's tough to pick a top ten when i've listened to so many more albums than any other year. it's not only tough because there is more competition for only ten spots, but also because i don't get the opportunity to really absorb a lot of the albums because something new is always coming along.


    • 12-03-02 (23:39)

  • updated movies list.
  • cleaned up a few pages throughout the site. added a couple links to the sidebar. for a long time i neglected the layout of my page, but i'm going to try to make it more logical in the weeks to come.
  • i've gotten 272 cds so far this year. my cd case is basically full so i need to get together some funds for my plans to build two cd cases which will replace the one i have.
  • haven't been in the mood to watch movies lately, but i forced myself to watch one today anyway.
  • updated my wish list for those who want to buy me xmas gifts. a lot of the stuff i want falls into the video/music category which means it's more economical to get me a tower gift card, but there are other things as well. i'll try to think of more things later.
  • oh and anyone who is planning on buying me anything this holiday season please refrain from useless gadgets and trinkets. they're nice for a day, but they all end up in the trash and it just makes me feel bad that we consume things for the sake of consumption.
  • "Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant
  • "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?" -Lee Iacocca
  • i think a six hour work day would be more reasonable.
  • www.bulletinyourhead.com


    • 12-3-02 (18:17)

  • well i'm back home now. it took 80% longer than it usually takes to get here from la. people should stay home and eat turkey.
  • i got one e-mail and zero phone calls while i was gone.
  • if i wasn't getting paid 8.50/hour i would have found a new job a month ago.
  • thought about changing the background color of my webpage, but i like black...it's easy on the eyes.

    • this is the fifth december that i've updated my webpage.

    11-26-02 (04:00)

  • i wonder how often people actually laugh themselves to death. i'm sure it's happened to old folks before. what a cool way to die.
  • i wonder what the first laugh was over. probably a fart....those are always funny.
  • after more than a year of waiting i finally got my audioslave cd. more than half the tracks are the same as the ones that were on the internet for so long, but on the whole the cd is still good. not nearly worth the wait, but still good.
  • updated best of film. best of music.
  • this holiday season i'd like to ask people to think twice before they take the attitude of "it's your job to..." with customer service people. it's true that employers think they pay people a whopping $6.75/hr to cater to your every need as a conspicuous consumer, but that doesn't mean we are really getting paid to deal with asshole customers all day. i understand that it can be annoying when you want a certain item and the clerk doesn't seem to be helpful, but i urge you to think about what is really going on. from my perspective we (customer service agents) get paid a paltry sum to do the bidding of both our bosses and customers who often demand far more than is really required; that is people seem to put so much effort into finding widget 2ab when after all isn't it just another widget? why have we become such avid consumers to the point that customer service people are literally told that "the only reason you are here is because of the customers."? to me that seems to suggest that the only reason we go to work is to serve. the only way we can live is to work and hence our life is one of servitude. this xmas season i'm going to be as nice to america's workers as possible because i understand that what's more important than our paper god economy is the mental sanity and humane treatment of our fellow countrypeople. i understand that customer service people don't really get paid to deal with my trifling problems as a money machine with arms and legs. granted if someone is truly being an ass then feel free to tear their head off, but please do keep things in perspective during this year's consume-a-thon.
  • mr. lif makes an interesting observation - "life is a gift to be enjoyed every second, every minute is temporary - not infinite. yet i find myself looking at the clock hoping for the day to fly by."
  • genetics has reached another landmark in science history - they have located a gene which may enable them to produce blue roses.
  • i wonder how many africans died of aids last year.
  • i should get some rest now.


    • 11-26-02 (00:16)

  • kicked some major ass in fantasy football this week. i have a good shot at making the playoffs.
  • saw jordan and mara in tower yesterday. jordan bought two cds, paid with a check and even talked to me briefly.  a couple weeks ago i saw some guy who (according to a customer) was jesse - the ex-mtv vj. i don't really know if it was or not and i guess it doesn't really matter either way. if it was him i'd like to know what he was doing in davis. celebrity encounters abound.
  • a while back i had an idea for a song made entirely of samples that my car might make - the engine trying to turn over, the gravel in the parking lot crunching under its tires, the doors being closed, etc. then a couple weeks later i saw a commercial that used that same idea. darn.
  • looked at the schedule at work today and noticed i'm not scheduled to work tomorrow. that means i only get four days this week. not sure if joe just decided he didn't need me and felt it unnecessary to tell me or forgot to put me on the schedule. i had planned on calling in sick tomorrow because i wanted to get paid for not being there, but now i don't have that option. before i quit i'd like to use as many sick days as possible. when i quit i get all my vacation time in cash so i'd like to save my vacation time for whenever that day comes. sick time doesn't get paid when i quit so i want to take advantage of it as much as possible in the meantime.
  • bought the graduate while i was in berkeley. that's such a great film.
  • i wish they would release "hoop dreams" on dvd.
  • updated the layout of my sidebar, i think it makes more sense now.
  • updated my mp3 list. i forgot i had a list of all the songs i used to have on mp3...this'll help a lot in reacquiring my old mp3s. at any rate the one that is up there now is current and, thus, much smaller.
  • i'm digging townes van zandt right now. kinda like bob dylan.
  • "neu!" is worth checking out for fans of sigur ros, pink floyd, mogwai, godspeed or any other ambient post-rockish stuff. i knew of them back when i was a kdvs dj, but i'm rediscovering them now. they're better than sigur ros and 25 years older.


    • 11-25-02 (00:46)

  • updated movies list.
  • yesterday was a good day.
  • melanie and i drove to orinda and took bart into SF. while we were there we watched Naqoyqatsi on one of the nine screens in the country that bothered to carry it. it's not playing in l.a., chicago, or nyc. pretty freaking lame. the "theater" we went to had under 30 seats and a ten foot wide screen, but it was 2/3 full so that was encouraging. after watching the movie we went to berkeley and dropped by to see johnny and luke. johnny claims to be a lonely guy and not have many friends, but whenever i see him he's got someone hanging out with him. it turned out to be a good night to be in berkeley because they won the big game against stanford. the streets were a little rowdy and the police were making their presence felt. we walked to tower, got a couple things, ate dinner at baja fresh and went back home. it was a fun day on the whole.
  • today was another story. someone new was hired on saturday.  from behind she looks exactly like heidi (the assistant manager)- they have the same tattoos, body type and hair style and apparently she worked with heidi and joe at another store. i think it's lame that joe is so anxious to hire people he worked with at the other store, but i suppose it's also understandable. isabel (one of the cooler people at work) put in her two week notice and i'd like to do the same. the new girl (sydney) actually doesn't seem as dumb or mean as heidi so i guess that's good.


    • 11-23-02 (13:48)

  • wow, it's been exactly 36 hours since my last update.
  • updated movies list.
  • i've watched only seven movies this month. that's horrible.
  • there's a possibility we'll go to SF today and see naqoyqatsi. i also want to see the movie about jerry seinfeld - "comedian." but the closest place that's playing now is also SF.
  • the garbage disposal is broken.
  • i want to see sullivan's travels again. i really dig the conclusion that sullivan came to by the end of the film - sometimes laughter is the best thing life has to offer.


    • 11-22-02 (01:48)

  • just looked over pitchforkmedia.com's top 100 albums of the 1980s. most lists like that have the same old crap on them, but this one does a pretty good job of having the classics and the unknown gems. there were a few notable misses though - metallica - master of puppets or and justice for all, take your pick; ac/dc - back in black because it defined hard rock for the next 20 years; and dead kennedys - fresh fruit for rotting vegetables because it's the best album of one of the best punk bands ever.


    • Mr. Lif's "Home Of The Brave"
    Now let's talk about self expression, true expression
    Open your minds without question
    No doubt, tell me what you're thinking about
    Let's try to set aside pride and clout
    Can you believe I feel the same exact way you do?
    You truly do believe these modern ways have fooled you
    Systems exist so we never need each other
    Pretty soon from now that I'll long the word "brother"
    And that's true if they see you walking with a crew
    If you don't know, that means more than two
    I'll tell you what they'll do
    They'll pull over, hunt you over
    Kick your ass, nightstick to your shoulder
    I know it's unjust, as if it wasn't enough
    If you try to fight back they're locking your ass up
    And Chuck already told you that a cell is hell
    But I'm waiting for the phone so I'll sit for a spell
    Call the guard, tell him I'm a piece of God
    With no beliefs in his streets or his boulevards
    I eat, read so my mental is hard
    And the heat from my anger just melted the bars
    They reach for their guns so I put them to sleep
    Break the chains and put the shoes back on my feet
    He's on the loose with no discernible scars or marks
    Just the mind of Mandela and the heart of Rosa Parks
    So I dip, time to see the governor and mayor
    Tell them life ain't fair and see if they care
    Well they do, but only if they are the heir
    So they appear to have a heart and make a flair
    But they haven't done shit for us and that's a fact
    Their only function is to keep the funny money where it's at
    And it causes pain, stress

    Ask me if we need a different way of life (yes)

    Headline: Bush steals the presidency
    He needs the backing of the media what could the remedy be?
    The country's headed for recession reminiscent of the Great Depression
    Are lives worth a world of power? Easy question
    Planes hit the towers and the Pentagon
    Killing those the government wasn't dependant on
    It's easy to control the scared so they keep us in fear
    With their favorite Middle Eastern demon named Bin Laden this year
    Bush disguises blood lust as patriotism
    Convincing the living to love "Operation Let's Get 'Em"
    But when he realized we don't support their attacks
    They needed something to distract, hmm, anthrax
    This further demonizes Afghanis
    So Americans cheer while we kill their innocent families
    And what better place to start a war
    To build a pipeline to get the oil that they had wanted before
    America supported the Taliban
    To get Russia out of Afghanistan
    That's how they got the arms in
    They're in a war against the Northern Alliance
    And we can't build a pipeline in hostile environments
    Here's what your history books won't show:
    You're a dead man for fucking with American dough
    They killed several birds with one stone
    While you're at home with anti-terrorism up in your dome
    But my eyes are wide open and my TV is off
    Great, 'cause I save on my electricity cost
    And you can wave that piece of shit flag if you dare
    But they killed us because we've been killing them for years

    11-19-02 (23:44)

  • "Some 92,000 acres of mud and sand at the bottom of the Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound is contaminated with dioxin, toxic metals, and PCBs (just for starters), all the result of industrial pollution. In turn, these nasties make their way into the sound's critters. Crabs are poisoned, while orca whales, salmon, and even some herring stocks are disappearing.  The sound's beaches -- important nursery grounds for many fish -- are also in trouble because of rampant development.  Scientists think global warming is also affecting the sound's sea life."
  • updated movies list.
  • haven't been watching very many movies lately....mostly because of my new work schedule.
  • the boss suggested that i use an empty rack as storage for budget dvds. after he suggested this he asked me "do you care?" "not really" i replied. he asked why and i gave a cop out answer rather than telling him that he had driven me to apathy. he's a sad person.
  • "Michael Jackson is in trouble again after he was spotted briefly dangling a barefooted baby over the railing of his fourth-floor hotel window in Berlin. The pop superstar left fans gasping as he held the baby high above their heads in the German capital Tuesday. The King of Pop arrived in Germany to accept a humanitarian award for his charity work with children but his gesture to fans from his hotel window has left many wondering just how safe a parent he is. Fans below gasped as he held a light-skinned baby briefly over the metal railing with one hand. An onlooker says, "People were looking away. I'm sure Michael knew exactly what he was doing and was in complete control but it was a strange thing to do. It could have been a doll but it looked very real." The baby is believed to be Jackson's new child, Prince Michael II. A spokeswoman for the singer says Jackson was traveling with his children. The Thriller singer is already under attack from his former brother-in-law Jack Gordon - who claims in a new book that Jackson used to beat his pet chimpanzee Bubbles."
  • that guy is just plain funny.
  • got a flu shot today.
  • started downloading old episodes of beavis and butt-head recently. that show was great.


    • 11-18-02 (22:35)

  • haven't been able to get email lately, not sure why.
  • nothing interesting has been going on at home or work lately.
  • i'm not very interested in fantasy football any more.
  • looking forward to my trip south.
  • went through my entire cd collection to make sure that everything on the list was right. there were four discrepancies.
  • the bush administration is funny and we're even more funny for letting them be as funny as they're being.
  • i have class tomorrow. missed last week and the week before that we didn't have to go because of the elections.
  • melanie's parents were in town this weekend so i got free dinner and kept busy on saturday.
  • so i hear the segway people mover is now on sale at amazon.com. hopefully it catches on. i don't think it'll be anything more than a toy until at least a few years down the line.
  • working an opening shift tomorrow.
  • "One-click activism has been a one-click failure with the Bush administration thus far.  The Interior Department, for example, received 360,000 public comments (the huge majority of them sent by email) about the future of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; 80 percent of the writers asked that the government ban the snowmobiles.  Last week, however, the administration said it would let the machines continue to rumble through the parks.  What gives?  Public comments have carried increasingly less weight since a 1987 court ruling that gave officials permission to ignore mass mailings, such as the one generated when green advocacy groups encouraged their members to sign form letters about the snowmobiles. Accordingly, the administration also discarded 93 percent of the comments it received about its plans to roll back protections for roadless areas in national forests, arguing that only 7 percent of the comments were "original" and not the result of a Beltway-orchestrated campaign."


    • 11-15-02 (01:00)

  • work gets ten times better once heidi and joe leave... that's the good thing about working a closing shift.
  • listened to johnny cash's new album today. it's actually mostly covers of other songs which is kinda lame. the first song is good and there are a couple interesting renditions of popular songs, but overall probably not worth buying.


    • 11-14-02 (01:16)

  • updated cdlist.
  • updated movies list.
  • been downloading games for the computer lately. makes me want to get a sony playstation II.


    • 11-12-02 (00:11)

  • now that i'm going to be closing more often my sleep schedule is going to go back to late nights and mornings around noon. that's nice during fall and winter, but not during spring and summer....so i'm not too upset about it.
  • "Smoking three pure cannabis joints is as bad for your lungs as smoking 20 normal cigarettes and marijuana is more dangerous now than it was in the 1960s, British researchers said on Monday. In what it described as a shocking new report, the British Lung Foundation (BLF) said tar from cannabis cigarettes contained 50% more carcinogens--the agents that produce cancer--than tobacco. "Three cannabis joints a day cause the same damage to the lining of the airways as 20 cigarettes," it said in a statement." i thought that had been established a long time ago. people who smoke pot seem to think it's so much better for them than cigarettes, but then they deny that pot is a gateway drug. in my limited experience people who start smoking pot always experiment elsewhere. i don't have anything against people who choose to do drugs, but don't pretend that pot is good for you and won't expose you to other drugs because that's just dumb.
  • today was uneventful.
  • i ate at togo's for the first time in quite a while. they have good sandwiches.
  • i tried using the dvd player on my computer to get a screen shot from koyaanisqatsi, but the copyright software prohibited me from doing so. i could get a screen shot, but the dvd image was just black. pretty good technology. i'll have to find a program that can take screen shots from dvds because there are a couple images i want for my desktop and to post on here.
  • femme fatale was a good movie.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • i think i lost this week in fantasy football. i needed to win and it came down to monday night's game. i had a good chance of winning, but my second best player blew it for me.
  • i think it's lame that there are people living in northern california who are actually mad that southern california uses the water that happens to fall up here. i don't understand how you can fault a person for being born in place that doesn't have as much water as you. my understanding of this issue is limited only to what northern californians have articulated...and that hasn't been much. most have a general anger about southern ca stealing "their" water. occasionally one might hear about the topographic or environmental impact this has had on ca as a whole, but usually it's just an ownership thing. the ownership complaint is pure ignorance, but the environmental one does have merit. i still don't see the point of condemning a whole area because people who once inhabited the area chose to do a certain thing. it's beyond my comprehension.
  • dvd taking another leap. sony is usually good about making quality hardware that makes sense for consumers.
  • "We have it on good authority that Fritz Lang's restored version of Metropolis will finally reach DVD from Kino (here in R1) on February 18 as a special edition release. This is the new, German restoration that is currently making a tour the art house circuit."
  • "We have word that The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season will street sometime in April of next year."
  • having a hard time coming up with my top ten in music for the year.
  • heart shaped box is a disturbing video.
  • read some of kurt cobain's journal the other day. he was just another troubled youth who happened to be highly talented and that's what's so appealing (to me) about him - he's just another guy. just like dylan was just another beatnik who happened to be so talented that he became a voice for a whole group of people.


    • 11-10-02 (21:48)

  • updated movies list.


    • 11-9-02 (11:46)

  • today will be the 8th day in a row that i've worked. sunday - off, monday/tuesday - work, wednesday - off, thursday - work, friday/saturday - off.
  • i think it's in our nature to constantly live at the very extent of our means. i can say that if i were rich i would get a modest house and not buy too many toys, but i think that it's natural for most of us to just consume as much as we are able. this isn't true for everyone, but i think that's more of a result of the guilt associated with conspicuous consumption. i find that most people live in the best house and have the best tv or sleeping bag or whatever that they can afford. the very fact that that statement seems obvious is testament to what i'm saying. we think it's completely natural to get the best things we can afford within (and sometimes beyond - thanks to credit) our means.
  • the lakers lost and the kings won. the lakers are a subpar team without shaq. samaki walker is possibly the worst player in the nba - he actually does more bad than good for his team. i'm not just being mean, he really is that bad.
  • updated cdlist. i'm at 680 now. got a couple good compilations off the luakabop label. they seem to have good stuff including david byrne (talking heads) and cornershop which i did not know before.
  • shannon, fellow tower employee, also had her review recently and got a 20 cent raise. she's been there longer than me and probably works harder (though not a full 40 hours a week). it actually made me more upset to hear of her slap in the face 20 cent raise than it did to hear that i was losing the ass man position. not to make excuses for them, but i guess we have to take into account the context - tower is not doing very well. they just announced that pulse (tower's monthly magazine) will no longer be published and 15% of the corporate staff is getting the axe. if they were making record profits then i would be truly mad.
  • the rage against the machine/chris cornell album is finally going to come out (nov. 19th) and i should get a promo next friday.
  • working a closing shift every once in a while is nice because it lets me sleep in on a work day.
  • gotta go wash dishes, eat and watch notre dame come back to beat navy.


    • 11-7-02 (22:21)

  • it rained pretty hard today.
  • lakers lost and that's good news.
  • not much new at work or home.
  • looking forwad to going to la.


    • 11-6-02 (23:26)

  • had my one year review at work today. got almost all fives (five being the best). i'll also will get a 50 cent raise. i should probably start looking for a new job, but i've never been very good at that stuff.
  • my fantasy football team won this week.
  • coming down to la and will be there from the 27th of november to the 1st of december.
  • "The mythical Twoism recordings, originally released on Boards Of Canada's Music70 label before their groundbreaking "Music Has The Right To Children" album, are re-released on November 25th."
  • the kings haven't been playing very good basketball lately. i also don't think they've gotten more than 3 starters to play in one game since the season started.
  • voted yesterday and that was worthless, but didn't take very long. the democratic party needs a wake up call and bush winning in 2000 wasn't good enough so hopefully 2002 will be.
  • tomorrow is mike's last day at work. i'll miss him, but no one else will.
  • hasn't rained yet, but it was close tonight.
  • i don't like that it gets dark so early. fall is lame.
  • went through my Dungey notebook the other night. the three classes i took with him were probably the most rewarding of my college life.
  • if you've got the time and bandwidth you should check out mr. lif's song "home of the brave" - it's the best new (to me) song i've heard this month.
  • bad news at work today was that yesterday we had computer problems so today i hade to spend three hours doing deposits manually for the last two days. the good news is that i got to listen to npr the whole time.
  • it seems that no one really likes the new assistant manager at work. not sure if that's because she's a coke head or because she's mentally retarded. i'll get back to you on that.
  • updated cdlist.


    • 11-03-02 (01:03)

  • updated movies list.
  • cleaned up around the house today.
  • watched notre dame lose its first game of the season.
  • i go back to work tomorrow, but i work a closing shift so i can stay up a little later tonight...that's a nice thing. so are my new keyboard and mouse. the keyboard has a nice feel and is quiet. the mouse has a scroll wheel which is a first for any mouse i've owned.
  • the video to orbital's "the box" is freaking great and aphex twin's "come to daddy" video is disturbing.


    • 11-01-02 (22:53)

  • updated movies list.


    • 11-01-02 (09:53)

  • "Refiners should have no problem producing nearly sulfur-free diesel by 2006, according to a report released yesterday by an advisory panel to the U.S. EPA.  The panel was convened last year by EPA Administrator Christie Whitman to assess possible technological barriers to complying with a clean diesel rule issued in the final weeks of the Clinton administration.  That rule requires refineries to reduce sulfur emissions from 500 parts per million to 15 ppm by 2006, a move that will go a long way toward cleaning up tailpipe exhaust from trucks and buses.  Such exhaust causes and accelerates respiratory ailments such as asthma, resulting in thousands of premature deaths per year.  Big oil has resisted the 15 ppm rule in the past, saying it might cause distribution problems and fuel shortages.  But now the American Petroleum Institute, the large oil companies' trade group, says the industry will not seek to postpone the diesel rule."
  • "Frogs are changing genders -- and it ain't just to Halloween getup. The most popular weed-killer in the U.S. is causing sex changes in frogs, according to a summary of a new study published today in Nature.  The study, led by Tyrone Hayes, a biologist with the University of California at Berkeley, contains the first field evidence that atrazine, a pesticide used since the 1950s and once thought benign, is causing developmental defects in a common Midwestern frog.  In one watershed researched, 92 percent of the male frogs had been feminized in water with just 0.1 parts per billion of the chemical.  The U.S. EPA allows 3 parts per billion in drinking water.  In 1999, an estimated 80 million pounds of atrazine were applied to U.S. crops, golf courses, and lawns.  In an unusual move, scientists on an industry-financed panel assembled to issue a critique of a longer version of Hayes' study appearing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives."
  • not really sure what i am going to do with my day off yet.
  • the history of beavis and butthead dvd that was supposed to come out last month has been cancelled, but a few got through and are selling on ebay for over 100 bucks. insane.

    • "...(I) won't come down like new york's two burning middle fingers." -cage. "cut my wrist and walked by some crips bleeding red / in the hopes that i get shot in the fucking head....i'm a suicidal failure, look my life's failure" - cage. this album is freaking great.

    10-31-02 (23:32)

  • having to start my mp3 collection over again turns out to be a good thing...it's re-kindled my interest in them and as a result i'm finally getting around to downloading stuff i put off for such a long time. right now i'm picking up as much quannum projects tracks as possible.
  • not going to work tomorrow because shannon needs sunday off for studying.
  • i'm starting to gain more control over my new computer; slowly i'm learning where they keep preferences for different things.
  • i'm able to make a copy of a regular length cd in 12 minutes, on the old computer it took a couple steps and 35 minutes to get it perfect.
  • the kings game was pretty good. another blow out win for a depleted team, makes me think we're invincible. we destroyed the blazers a day after they destroyed the lakers.
  • there's an article in the newest pulse magazine about philip glass.
  • it's not even midnight and i think i'm going to get to sleep pretty soon.


    • 10-30-02 (21:54)

  • this is my first update on the new computer, the one i can't afford. there is a money program that came with it, but i can't figure out its logic.
  • so i have a new fast and high tech computer, it's strange having something that can do as much as this can...a new OS, a DVD player, a super fast cd burner, etc. i've been so used to having a dinosaur that i kinda forgot what computer are capable of. unfortunately i'll have to download all my mp3s and music videos and such over again since all that was lost with the other computer.
  • spent most of last night trying to figure this thing out. downloaded some stuff, installed some necessary programs and got rid of a lot of the crap that they bundle with new machines.
  • i don't know how to make this new version of outlook express recognize the old email files i have. i don't know how to make explorer have the c drive expanded when i open it. in the old days it would remember that i liked have the c drive's contents displayed, but now it defaults to the my documents folder. there are all sorts of little obnoxious things like that. i guess that comes with any new OS though.
  • everytime i see the picture of rick fox getting beat i laugh.
  • had a test in class last night, it went okay.
  • the new assistant manager might have downs syndrome.
  • my back hurt today. i think it might be a matter of having the right chair because recently it hasn't been hurting, but the day after i spent a few hours in front of the computer it hurt again.
  • my fantasy football team sucks ass.
  • for the first time since i've owned my cd player i decided to use its delete track feature. i've elected to delete tracks 1 and 10 on the new moby album because they make me sick. he's kind of a sellout.
  • i felt that the ruling on the fox/christie incident was perfect. it's not often that i agree with punishments in pro sports....for example, the ones that the nfl dealt out this week were largely bullshit in my opinion.
  • at work we have a picture of george bush with horns on his head. what's surprising is we've gotten lots of people saying they like it, but not one person has said they didn't like it.
  • the case i built to house my receiver and computer components has turned out to be worth the trouble. since i put metal discs on the bottom i can move it around far easier plus the plywood looks better (especially after adding the stain) and feels stronger than the particle board.
  • it's always a good day when the lakers lose.
  • yao ming didn't do crap today, but to be fair there is far too much pressure on the guy.


    • 10-26-02 (18:07)

  • updated movies list.
  • the only two players who should be fined or suspended after last night's brawl should christie and fox. fox, because he was the instigator both times, should be subject to great punishment than christie. even though it is against the rules to leave the bench in an altercation i don't think any of the other kings players should get in trouble considering they were in l.a. the security staff weren't doing their job and fans were throwing shit. in a situation like that leaving the bench should be overlooked.
  • it seems that everyone is afraid of barry bonds. i would be if i had to pitch to him.
  • i'm going to l.a. to help my dad move late in november, not sure about the details yet.


    • 10-26-02 (00:11)

  • today was by far the most interesting day i've had in a long time. i'll start at the beginning...
  • joe told me that wayne (the number two guy in the region) was coming into the store today. i took this to mean that he was going to check out the store. when he came he took joe and me to lunch. that was nice since it meant i got free lunch. while we were at lunch wayne told me that he was sorry and it was out of his hands, but he wanted to tell me in person that someone else is going to take the assistant manager position. he went on and on about how great i was while leslee (the old assistant manager and joe's wife) was gone (from december to the present) and again while joe was getting used to taking over for james. he also went on and on about how he didn't want this to happen and how he's sorry this had to happen. they asked me how i felt and i didn't really say anything. in short - in less than a year i worked my way to assistant manager and in less than a week lost it. i had the position such a short time that no one in the store even knew i had it yet (except for erin whom i told today). we should have a new ass (wo)man next week sometime. supposedly wayne is going to try to compensate me for my trouble, but there's so much bullshit talk with joe and wayne that i don't buy it for a second. it's too bad i was counting on that raise for the computer i ordered this week. ha ha ha. life is humorous.
  • after work i came home and watched the first 3 minutes of the kings vs. lakers preseason game. i didn't plan on watching it since shaq, webber, and bibby weren't playing and since it's only a preseason game and i just wanted to go out after having had a less than perfect day at work. i did catch a great little bout between christie and fox. kings vs. lakers seems to be the best rivalry in the big four sports of recent years. i can't think of any other rivalry that has the quality of games, the bitter blood, the (what has lately become) great history and trash talking that these two teams have. and this week they added more to my argument - shaq called us the sacramento queens and christie busted rick fox's movie star face. rick fox elbowed and then pushed his face with an open hand and while he was doing that you could see a calm come over christie's face when he was most likely thinking something like "i guess i'm just going to have to bank this fool upside his nappy head" and he did. it was a great start to what will be a great year. fox was made an even bigger fool than previously thought possible and tried to redeem himself by coming after christie in the tunnel to the locker rooms. i have no respect for fox, shaq or the laker organization. as a sidenote the kings beat the lakers in l.a. by 5 points without 3 of their 5 starters.
  • just when i thought my day couldn't get any more fun melanie and i went to watch a couple movies. updated movieslist.
  • we saw the new p.t. anderson film. he's got my number. man o' man anderson is just great. easily the best fiction film of the year. adam sandler finds the role of a lifetime and officially becomes the most talented of that generation of SNL graduates. watch "punch drunk love" as soon as you get the chance. the same goes for "bowling for columbine" - best nonfiction film of the year. after we saw that we snuck into another theater and watched "abandon" for free. it was retarded.
  • i also brought home a bunch of quality promos from work. got the new nirvana album - it's a decent lineup of tracks, but i haven't listened to the one new track yet. i also got the bjork greatest hits dvd with videos for all the songs on the album.
  • oh, after work i also called my old boss (james - the one who appreciated me as a person first and worker second and did more than just talk about it). he still doesn't have a job, but he's got some money stashed away so he's just taking his time. we talked about the store and tower in general, about his job hunt and about me leaving tower to do something real with my life. he's an upstanding guy and i respect him. glad i called him and he seemed happy to talk with me.
  • punch drunk love is a great film. p.t. anderson really knows how to pluck my strings.
  • heard a bad review for bowling for columbine on npr today. it was bad in that it said the film was bad AND in that it was poorly presented. without recalling the exact manuscript of the review or revealing the crux of the film i'll say that the reviewer missed that the movie is more about a search for an answer than a vehicle for moore's point of view. he simplified the ending, felt the montage in the middle of the film was commercialistic and that moore was overweight - a point that he slyly mentioned a couple times.
  • the new dredg album is disappointing, but the queens of the stone age album sounds pretty good and despite bad reviews the squarepusher album gets a thumbs up from me...especially after the first couple tracks.
  • updated cdlist.
  • energy.
    • 10-23-02 (19:21)
  • the giants are back in it, that's good to see. baseball is the only game where you can avoid a player if you want. bonds has been to the plate three times and they haven't thrown him anything. i think that's the lamest part about baseball.


    • 10-21-02 (18:21)

  • did poorly in fantasy football, again. i don't have any consistent big time performers, not even one, so that hurts a lot. trades are harder to come by in football than in baseball and there isn't much on the free agent market so i might be screwed.
  • my first day as ass man of tower was quick. kept busy the whole time. i had probably the best promo day in a long time - i scored the new peanut butter wolf record, the new amon tobin, the new cage album, and the new squarepusher. i could have gotten the new autechre ep with the dvd, but i already had purchased it so that was pointless. whenever chris, from caroline distribution, comes in he brings the best stuff....sadly he is the most fickle of the representatives - sometimes he won't show up for a couple months at a time. the new amon tobin sounds very good so far.
  • we could get our first rain in a long time later this week.


    • 10-20-02 (20:20)

  • so here's some food for thought...while we were hiking yesterday i found it interesting that we refer to nature as being "outdoors." we refer to the natural state of the world as being outside of our artificially constructed shelters. this was echoed later in the day when we watched koyaanisqatsi wherein reggio tried to bring ideas like this to the fore. technology determines how we live our life more than our life determines how we use technology. some might even argue that we no longer use technology - we have become slaves to it. i don't know if i'd go that far, but i do feel that science and technology are out of control in the sense that we can't stop its "progress." from cloning to nuclear physics we haven't been able to stop the progress of science and technology and often to sad conclusions. i don't think we are ready for a lot of the technology that is coming about and that can be scary.
  • nietzsche once made an interesting point about our system of punishment. it is only a recent phenomenon that prisons have been the primary way to discipline law breakers. at a glance, corporal punishment may seems the less desirable way to punish wrongdoers, but nietzsche argues it isn't; and i agree. imprisoning someone's mind and body for years seems more cruel to me than giving them a few lashings and letting them go about their business. it is the rare exception, rather than the rule, that prison actually functions to rehabilitate and those few times that it does are outweighed by the great many more times that it turns people in the opposite direction - they become more alienated and criminally minded. imprisoning a person's mind and body seems to be just about the worst abuse of power possible.
  • didn't see the cal football game yesterday, but that was okay by me.
  • gave johnny a haircut - it was easier than giving myself a haircut.
  • now that i'm assistant manager i'll have different hours at tower. one thing that's kinda cool is that i'm on salary in the sense that if i work 30 hours a week i still get the $400 that i would get if i worked the full 40, but if i work more than 40 then i get overtime...so it's a win-win situation.
  • updated cdlist.


    • 10-20-02 (13:48)

  • had a fun time at johnny's. we had fun on a hike, playing ping-pong, throwing water balloons, and playing catch. afterwards we saw koyaanisqatsi at the mondavi center. overall it was a fun friday and saturday.
  • today i have lots of stuff to do.
  • my fantasty football team is not doing so well.
  • updated movies list.
  • this is a crazy baseball game we got here...
  • the newest john zorn album sounds good.
  • i had a fun weekend with johnny and company. didn't expect to see vern or steve, so that was a good surprise.
  • my arm is a little sore from playing catch yesterday.
  • i finished my list of best albums i own from the years 1950-2002.


    • 10-20-02 (00:39)

  • there is no such thing as innocence, only ignorance.


    • 10-18-02 (18:17)

  • i got the job.
  • off to berkeley to visit johnny/luke and see the cal football game.
  • seeing philip glass tomorrow. yay.


    • 10-17-02 (22:17)

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


    • 10-17-02 (18:40)

  • going to see a sneak preview of bowling for columbine tonight. lucky me.
  • saw my grandmother last night and got free mexican food, that was pleasing.
  • work is so-so. joe is the worst boss i've ever had, even worse than michelle (who turned out not that bad near the end).
  • i've been working on getting the release info for all the albums i own. that's been this week's project.
  • life is a reaction to itself.
  • the whole t. owens controversy is dumb.


    • 10-16-02 (22:22)

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


    • 10-15-02 (00:03)

  • updated movies list.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • the giants game was really cool.


    • 10-14-02 (18:25)

  • had about as bad a week in fantasy football as is possible. it is now pretty much impossible to get first place. ryan is actually the guy with the best team.
  • still no word on the ass man job, though joe said today would bring an answer. he's a hypocrite and i'd like him to move to va and work at a gas station.
  • updated movies list.


    • 10-12-02 (17:46)

  • all this rally monkey business is a bit over the top.
  • i've found that anything on ipecac recordings or warp records is worth checking out.
  • i've decided that the new underworld officially sucks.
  • the giants game was pretty good.
  • i've been pretty productive today.


    • 10-11-02 (19:16)

  • didn't find out about the ass man job today, despite joe saying he would have a decision by today.
  • i respect Stephen Thomas Erlewine's opinions on music, but don't always agree with them. read his review of the eminem show and was glad to see that there are true music lovers who appreciate eminem's latest effort because i was beginning to think that i was alone. everyone at work, except me, hates eminem - but that's typical.
  • watching the angels game right now. the play at the plate was really really close, i think he may have made it.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • i've watched more baseball games live than i have any other sport, but i don't usually like to watch the games on tv. the last two years in october, though, has told a different story. the games have been really good lately.
  • marilyn manson isn't nearly as talented as eminem, but they both overstand how life really is, but this is coming from a guy who thinks the unabomber had some good points.


    • 10-11-02 (15:06)

  • sometime last week i was going to pose a question here, but forgot - who is the best ex-president? my vote (with the limited knowledge i have) was going to be jimmy carter. today that was made stronger because he won the nobel peace prize. he wasn't much of a president, but that wasn't for lack of effort or good intentions. "this old house" once spent some time with him on one of the many "habitat for humanity" projects he was involved in and he seemed like a genuinuely good guy. email me for your vote of best ex-president.
  • mccain claims that the burden of proof lies with hussein to prove that he shouldn't be attacked. that seems the most retarded statement i've yet heard in the debate on iraq.
  • the sniper case in va is interesting.


    • 10-10-02 (14:47)

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


    • 10-9-02 (20:00)

  • had the interview for the ass. man. job today. i don't think i'll get the job, but if i did it would mean a 20% raise which would mean a lot of economic relief for the people's republic of chris and probably even enough to finally replace my dead computer.
  • haven't seen the "assman" episode of seinfeld in a while. they're all so great.
  • looks like both the CA baseball teams are going to win tonight.


    • 10-8-02 (23:50)

  • updated movies list.
  • seinfeld is the greatest show of all-time. i'm watching the episode with the sidler, jerry's girlfriend with the toys, george's girlfriend who is the animal lover and kramer gets the set for the merv griffin show. it may be the best  constructed seinfeld ever. michael richards is such an amazing character actor. i can't say enough about seinfeld.
  • i have the interview for assistant manager tomorrow. i think i have a 40/60 chance of getting the job. i'm not enough of a kiss ass and i'm not excited enough about meeting sales goals to get that high on the totem pole. on the other hand i'd be an easy choice (since i've been at the store a while), i know enough to get the job done, the staff like me, and it's easier on payroll to pay me more than to hire a new person.
  • class was decent today.
  • did well in fantasy football this week.


    • 10-7-02 (14:39)

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


    • 10-5-02 (00:16)

  • the angels played a great game tonight. joe morgan said what i was thinking - the angels did to the yankees what the yankees usually do to other teams. either way the yankees provide maximum entertainment during the playoffs. on a related note: in august last year melanie and i were in NY and saw the angels beat the yankees despite a late game rally by the yanks. it was a good game.
  • kings tickets go on sale tomorrow. boy do i wish i could afford some tickets.
  • need to win this week in fantasy football.


    • 10-2-02 (21:32)

  • all due respect to scot pollard, but sabonis would be such and excellent backup to divac. i really wish we could get him to play for the kings. he would fit really well in our big men as passers type offense, he's big and effective against shaq and would serve much better as a back up than as a starter because of his age. if we had him i would guarantee that the kings would be nba champions this year.
  • i plan on watching as many kings games as possible this year. pollard has black hair with long sideburns, hedo has blonde tips, and christie doesn't have any hair. it's always interesting to see what kind of changes players make during the offseason. the most interesting hair, though, was always anthony mason's - on any given day he was likely to have a new word or phrase shaved into the side of his head.
  • the yankees are pretty incredible in the postseason. and you can't hate them like the lakers because they're not a bunch of prima donnas.
  • i was shocked by randy johnson's outing yesterday.


    • 10-2-02 (18:23)

  • updated movies list.

    • my teeth hurt.

    9-29-02 (18:54)

  • still recovering from surgery. vicadin is good.
  • my fantasy teams are doing very poorly. i'll end up in last place in baseball and probably lose this week in football. i just don't know how to predict who on my team will do well. a lot of the time i'll have the right players and choose the wrong ones.
  • i plan on going to work tomorrow even though my face is still swollen.
  • the boss said that he's going to start taking interviews for the assistant manager position. we'll see about that.
  • minnesota has a shitty defense.
  • barbed wire tattoos are retarded.
  • minnesota needs dennis green back. minnesota is playing like a high school team right now and their defensive coordinator needs to be fired. i feel only kinda bad for the vikings right now.
  • i was extremely happy to see the rams lose today.


    • 9-24-02 (20:00)

  • "SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Terrell Owens doesn't care if the San Francisco 49ers were injured and ailing. He still believes they didn't beat the Washington Redskins badly enough. ``I'm not going to bite my tongue,'' Owens said Tuesday as the 49ers packed up for several days off during their bye week. ``Like I said, we need to develop killer instinct, for whatever reason. That's it. I said what I had to say. I'm not going to backtrack on what I said. I said what I said Sunday, and that's what I meant.'' Owens stirred his first controversy of the season following San Francisco's easy 20-10 victory over Washington. Owens was angry coach Steve Mariucci ordered the team to kneel on the ball for the final two plays of an eight-minute drive, running out the clock at the Redskins 16."
  • there are five reasons owens is totally right here. 1. the redskins showed no mercy in the preseason - so it's time for revenge. 2. to be a champion you have to be able to have a killer instinct, there's no two ways about it. 3. points can come into play when determining whether you will go into the playoffs or not. i think offensive points are third or fourth on the criteria list when two teams are tied in the playoff standings, but it's still reason enough to go for the points. 4. the 49ers have a shitty offense and the last few minutes of the game might be a good time to gain a little confidence going into next week. 5. i own g. hearst. and t. owens on my fantasy football team so any yards/touchdowns they get help me so racking up points would have likely helped my team.


    • 9-22-02 (21:52)

  • updated movies list. watched koyaanisqatsi and mo better blues.
  • today wasn't a very good day.
  • this week in fantasy football wasn't that great either. i should beat ryan, but that's because he doesn't even seem to care considering he only bothered starting one quarterback.
  • i think "man with a movie camera" says a lot more with each shot than koyaanisqatsidoes, but i think that's fitting since the latter seems to be more about an overall picture and experience and the former has more of an agenda.
  • i think it kinda smells in the apartment right now.
  • i don't like it when it gets darker earlier. i've never liked fall - it usually brings about a seasonal cold, rain, and earlier darkness. none of those things are particularily attractive to me.
  • i'm not sure i entirely understand the reason people slam their doors. if you've lived in a place long enough you know how much force to apply when closing your door.
  • the internet doesn't have anything that interests me anymore.
  • the newest vincent gallo album is quite nice.
  • learned where the term "limelight" comes from today. learning is cooler when it doesn't require very much effort.
  • we've really screwed up the everglades. i'd like to visit them sometime and learn more about that area was so jacked up by human intervention.


    • 9-22-02 (01:31)

  • miss america winners don't usually seem to be all that hot, but i suppose that's what they're trying to work towards.
  • beasite boys' legal trouble.
  • listening to atom heart mother right now.
  • there will be plenty of football to watch tomorrow.


    • 9-21-02 (17:52)

  • ken burns is on cspan right now talking about his new documentary - "the civil war."
  • i ordered south park season one and the special edition of lord of the rings last week.
  • washed my car and found that somebody with a car bumped the side of it. my month just gets better everyday. the only that hasn't happened yet is having my car break down...that's one reason i don't drive it because knowing my luck lately it would end up costing me money just like my computer and my wisdom teeth and everything else.
  • someone told me that "prince can play 23 instruments well." that's impressive, but i don't care if he can play a harp with his balls, his music is lame and all his songs are about having sex or how great he is. screw prince.
  • i started adding release dates to my cd list. i do the most productive things with my time.
  • my fantasy baseball team has been stinking it up lately.
  • aaron mcgruder (creator of the "boondocks" comic strip) is on cspan now, pretty cool.
    • boondocks

    the onion stat shot. i like 5 and 9 the most
    9-21-02 (12:26)
  • usually when i wake up before noon it's a good thing. when i get out of the house before 1 it's also good. i don't have any reason to leave the house today though. i did my shopping yesterday. i don't have any money to do any more shopping. i don't feel like playing frisbee with myself. i might wash my car later on.
  • the new "add n to (x)" album is good, comes out in october i think. boards of canada are going to rerelease their first album sometime in november. "audioslave" the band formerly known as "civilian" (rage against the machine with chris cornell) has set november 25th as the date for their new album. and according to the sony representative i talked with it's not going to be the same material that's been online this whole time. we'll see. there hasn't been any really good rock releases this year, in my opinion. so lately i've been listening to a lot of idm. the new underworld didn't grab me at all.
  • melanie is going to be back in davis on monday.
  • celebrity news: j. lo cheated on her ex-husband with ben affleck. leo and demi moore are in love. everyone in the industry is a loser.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • started my top ten list. it's all tentative so far, and not in order yet.


    • 9-20-02 (23:34)

  • i've never been too excited about anything that can't be done in a day.
  • work has been a drag lately because the new boss always bitches about money and that makes the place feel all the more corporate.


    • 9-19-02 (14:53)

  • saw lou piniella go crazy again today. he's a funny guy...he through third base into the outfield. seriously though, he's out of control and should probably be gang tackled when he does this crap.
  • saw leslie (of the infamous sorority life) today. so far that's been the highlight of my day.
  • i think everyone agrees that joe morgan is a superior baseball analyst.


    • 9-18-02 (21:45)

  • watched the angels/a's game tonight. both teams have demonstrated that they can win with pitching and with hitting. right now they look like the best teams in the AL. then again i don't watch all that many games.
  • it would be nice to be closer to johnny and luke.
  • i need to cut overhead or start bringing in more cash, things are tight.
  • had a good day at work today.
  • picked up koyaanisqatsi and powaqqatsi on dvd yesterday. the soundtrack for the next film (naqoyqatsi) comes out soon and i should be able to get that for free.
  • basketball player george lynch looks like steve wilbur, or vise versa.
  • john bush, of allmusic.com, is freaking cool.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • saw a girl with an interesting shirt today. it was a picture of curious george (the cartoon monkey who is always getting in trouble for doing dumb things) standing in front of a flagpole (bearing an american flag) with his right hand over his heart. i asked the girl where she got the shirt and she replied "target." given the source and the person wearing it i highly doubt it was intended to be a bit of social commentary, but to me there is no more fitting image for the times than that one. a monkey looking up at a flag with his hand over his heart.
  • watched an episode of the anna nicole smith show. i think i hate her more than any other character in history.
  • if someone can explain why college athletes can't receive gifts from sponsors i'd love to hear it. i've never understood why they wouldn't be able to make money using their talent while in college. i'm really interested in hearing what the explanation is.


    • 9-17-02 (14:55)

  • lost this week's fantasy football matchup, spurrier let me down big time.
  • pardon the interruption is a great sports show.


    • 9-16-02 (20:34)

  • john madden is funny.
  • listened to autechre pretty much all day yesterday.
  • work went pretty quickly today. i still do the same work that an assistant manager would do, but without the pay raise. not sure if i should just stop doing all that work  and work at the level i get paid or if i should somehow corner the boss into paying me more. oh well, guess i'll just wait it out for a while.
  • have a test in class tomorrow. i never bought the book so i don't think i'm going to enjoy class tomorrow.
  • the redskins offense has had a hard day.


    • 9-15-02 (14:31)

  • heard about a study on npr the other day which was conducted by a dancer/scientist who studied the brain's response to seeing other people do things on video. for example she hooked up her assistant, who is not a dancer, to a machine which measured her brain waves while watching people dancing. what she found out is that no matter what activity she showed on the screen the person watching the activity used the same part of their brain while watching a certain activity that they would if they were performing that activity. when the dancer/researcher hooked up her brain to the machine she found a stronger response to something like dancing because it was more familiar, but it was still the same part of the brain being stimulated. this study would explain why people excited when watching sports, porn, or any other activity. when we watch someone doing something our brain actually thinks, to a lesser extent, that we are performing that activity ourselves. the scientist said that she thinks this is one way we learn - we see someone shooting a basketball and our brain actually goes through the mental motions in order to emulate that physical motion. to me it explains why i want to play basketball after seeing a basketball game or feel tired after watching a track race ...npr has some good stuff.
  • my fantasy football team isn't doing very well today.
  • updated movies list.
  • it's good to see the rams sucking again, makes the universe move back into its proper alignment.


    • 9-14-02 (17:17)

  • rearranged my room last night, it looks a lot better and has more open space than before.
  • gave myself a haircut, did my laundry, and ate two pb and j sandwiches.
  • i've seen some awful commercials lately. there's a coors commercial that glorifies conspicuous consumption and a truck commercial that uses a song about a woman finding self-respect and getting out of a dead end relationship to sell trucks - not sure how that is supposed to work.
  • lou piniella, the mariners coach, is funny when he argues with refs. i saw one of his more infamous arguments where he was yelling at the umpire and after a while of kicking dirt at him ended up getting on his hands and knees and scooping dirt over home plate with his arms. it was hilarious, but ineffective.
  • woody allen is a funny guy. larry david reminds me of woody allen.
  • i'm going to get my wisdom teeth pulled on the 27th.
  • fsu seems to have a pretty good football team.
  • i'm in first place after the first week of fantasy football which means there's no chance i'll finish in first - it's pretty much impossible to lead wire to wire.
  • i don't have any plans for the rest of my weekend. i might watch 'one hour photo' today.


    • 9-12-02 (15:24)

  • espn posed a good question today and i'm wondering what other people think. email me your answers to the following question: "who most revolutionized their sport?" their top ten included: woods, ruth, robinson, gretzky, ali, palmer, unitas, jordan, bird/magic, and someone else who i didn't see hear.


    • 9-11-02 (18:54)

  • watching the yankees game right now. chris berman and joe morgan are the announcers. berman is talking about abraham lincoln and the declaration of independence and other items in american history. since berman was a history major in college i think he can get away with it. he's a smart guy. speaking of unattractive, chubby, smart white guys...norm abram (of this old house and the new yankee workshop) is rad.
  • i haven't discovered any interesting sites on the internet in months.


    • 9-10-02 (21:35)

  • got the scoop on gold medal basketball game of 1972. after collins made the free throws the us was up 50-49. by international rules only a coach may call a timeout and apparently a timeout was called, but there was a malfunction that didn't signal this to the referees. so they imbounded the ball ran the ball to half court and with one second left a timeout was called. at this point some olympic big wig who didn't have any authority over the actual game told the refs to allow the russians to imbound the ball again and to put 2 seconds back on the clock. so for the second time the ref let the russians imbound the ball from one end of the court. there was a long imbound throw and after three seconds there wasn't a score by the russians so the americans started celebrating their victory. the refs called the players back to the floor and made them do the whole thing over because the second time there was apparently 50 seconds placed on the clock instead of 3. so on this third try the clock was properly set and the russians were allowed to imbound the ball again. this time they were able to score and win 51-50. one side says it was unfortunate that there was confusion, but the russians beat the americans fairly and that the americans should stop pouting. the americans say that they were cheated twice and the whole thing was a sham. i say that the refs were completely incompetent and should have been shot by an irate american fan. additionally the americans truly were screwed twice - once when someone without proper authority put time back on the clock and once when the russians were allowed to imbound the ball because of a clock error. had the russians scored during that second chance when the clock was incorrectly set they would have won, so they essentially were given a freebie. if it would have counted for them then it should also count against them when they used that time the second time around. pretty shitty situation on the whole.
  • science times is a really cool show.
  • the worst news of the day wasn't that i'm going to be broke for the rest of my life, rather it was hearing that webber is going to have legal trouble beyond what i originally thought.
  • spider silk is stronger than steel and is able to stretch 30%. if you were able to make a piece of spider silk the width of a human thumb it could stop a flying jet plane.
  • today was pretty lame on the whole.
  • melanie left for l.a. today.
  • i'm pretty much sick of hearing all this stuff about 9-11. it was a pretty bad day, on the whole we haven't really learned from it, on the whole i'm glad it happened and if it should happen again and i die in the process i'll be pretty satisfied with myself, because maybe i will be part of something that creates some lasting positive action rather than reactionary politicking.
  • if you care enough you'll call your senator and representative.


    • 9-10-02 (13:40)

  • just came back from the dentist...no one ever leaves a dentist office happy. why don't dentists work nights or weekends? why do you have to be rich to afford medical care? i've had to take a 3 hour lunch to go to the dentist, fill out paperwork, wait in his office be told that i'm going to have to fork over 732 bucks, and eat lunch. all that makes for a great day.
  • have to get back to work. after that i have a test to take in my worthless poli sci class.
  • i might try to get a job working at the theater again...i know the boss and working for her isn't all bad, the perks are nice, and the schedule fits mine. working seven days a week wasn't horrible while i was doing it last year and now it's necessary so i have more motivation.
  • in other news, i won this week's fantasy football matchup with the most points of any of the eight players so that's pretty sweet.


    • 9-8-02 (14:03)

  • updated movies list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • watching the rams lose to st. louis right now. nice interception.
  • yugoslavia looks like a pretty good team, but you would expect that from team that has 40% of the starters from the kings.
  • fantasy sports have been more interesting lately.
  • listening to autechre's LP5 while flipping between basketball and football. i think this is what sundays are about.
  • "Autechre creates a fascinating sonic world on their fifth album release, where electronic pulses and blips are used to create fantastic textural waves. Members Sean Booth and Rob Brown prove they've become masters of programming throughout, issuing a more than suitable follow-up to their critically praised 1995 release, Tri Repetae++ (1997's Chiastic Slide wasn't considered a true follow-up by the band). Although it may be hard to take for those uninitiated into Autechre's unique style (it's hard to detect melodies upon first listen), you'll discover something new with each repeated listen. Since all the songs are cut from the same sonic cloth, the album is best when listened to in its entirety, but the tracks "Acroyear2," "Rae," and "Fold4, Wrap5" are definite highlights. Although not for everyone, LP5 should be admired, since it's not comparable to anything past or present. Uncompromisingly cutting-edge"


    • 9-04-02 (18:18)

  • updated movies list.
  • computer is still dead.
  • work has been fine lately.
  • war in iraq is likely.
  • colin powell (read bush administration environmental policy) was booed in Johannesburg; yay. i heard one report that said the booing was "incessant" and npr said it was "sparse." i trust both news sources as much as any news source...this is a classic example of why the media has alienated me...i don't feel like i can really trust anything i hear from any news source. one report makes it seem like a major rebellion and the other makes it seem like a small group booed only a couple times in 5 minutes. other news sources haven't even mentioned the existence of the summit in africa. lame. people claim npr is so great, but i honestly don't see it. they're about 1000 times better than any other news source their size or bigger, but there are lots of cases where their reporting is weak, corny, elitist, decidedly slanted or otherwise flawed. i guess it's the worst news source, except for all the others and that's why listen to it every monday-friday.
  • "Allan Fitzsimmons, the man chosen by the Bush administration to head its wildfire prevention program, does not believe in ecosystems and says the extinction of threatened and endangered species would not be a crisis. Fitzsimmons was tasked last week with reducing fire danger on Interior Department lands through the newly formed Healthy Forests Initiative, but environmentalists say the appointment confirms their fears that the initiative is just a smokescreen for expanding logging on public lands.  President Bush wants logging companies to thin forests, theoretically to reduce fire danger, in exchange for the right to harvest commercially valuable trees.  Under the White House plan, forest protections would be suspended and it would be harder for environmentalists to sue to block thinning.  Fitzsimmons, a free-market policy analyst aligned with libertarian and conservative think tanks, has written papers calling ecosystems human constructs and criticizing those who try to accommodate nonexistent ecosystem needs.""
  • "Native Americans are pushing for laws that would give them veto power over development projects on historically sacred sites.  Despite fierce opposition to granting Native Americans such power, especially on non-reservation land, the legal push has made some headway:  A bill is nearing passage in California, support is growing for similar legislation in Congress, and the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court ruling prohibiting logging on a sacred site of the Hoopa tribe in Northern California -- even though the land is privately owned by a non-native person.  The trend has been spurred on by fears among Native Americans that the Bush administration's emphasis on maximizing domestic energy sources could lead to drilling and digging on sacred lands.  Among the threatened lands they hope to protect: the Zuni Salt Lake in New Mexico and sacred trails on what was once Quechan tribal land in Indian Pass, Calif."

    • i'm for most anything which a) gives power to native americans b) has the potential to protect open land.

    8-30-02 (12:56)

  • right after i uploaded that last update my computer crashed...i haven't been able to get it to work reliably since then. i had to format the hard drive and it's still having problems with the registry which means either the hardware is dying or i have a virus that nav couldn't find.
  • other great things that happened in the last week...i need to goto an oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth pulled and won't be able to afford the luxury of going under while they're doing the operation. my bike blew a tire on wednesday so that set me back about 30 bucks...i'm just happy it didn't make me crash. i've come down with a cold in the last couple days. i thought that the asst. manager job would be offered to me shortly since it makes the most sense for everyone involved, but the boss said he wouldn't offer me the job but would "let me submit my resume and interview for the job." my fantasy baseball team is back in last place.
  • i'm back online using mel's computer so i still get email, but my computer is officially dead so until i get 500 bucks i won't really check it all that often or update my webpage very much either.
  • i am sick and that sucks. this has been a really shitty week.


    • 8-28-02 (00:50)

  • another lame day at work.
  • the environment sucks.
  • class was pretty decent today. i don't think  i'll end up buying the book.


    • 8-27-02 (00:14)

  • "The World Summit on Sustainable Development opened today in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 40,000 delegates gathering to discuss issues such as water, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity.  South African President Thabo Mbeki opened the 10-day summit by urging attendees to bridge the gap between "islands of wealth" and "a sea of poverty."  That's a tall order, since the conference is characterized by a dramatic gap between rich nations and poor, with the former hoping to focus during the meeting on environmental concerns and the latter more interested in discussing ways to improve standards of living.  The summit has already been marked by clashes between police and protesters, and friction both within and outside of the official conference halls is expected to continue.  No formal treaties will be signed at the conference, but delegates do hope to draft a "credible and meaningful" action plan to be presented to heads of state next week.  More than 100 world leaders are expected to attend the summit -- not including President Bush, leader of the world's largest economy and biggest polluter."
  • my computer has finally started to show its age lately.
  • wasn't able to buy my book for class today so i'm not going to have my homework done for tomorrow. i have to buy the book online or goto sacramento so that's not going to happen for a while. still don't even know how much it's going to cost me.
  • first day back to work was so so. overall i had a lame day in and out of work.
  • sac city college has the worst website i've ever encountered.


    • 8-26-02 (00:02)

  • updated movies list.
  • i did nothing today. watched three movies, changed the saddle on my bike and sat around the house.
  • levis commercials have had some amores perros influences lately...the guy from the movie was in one of them and the crazy legs commercial has the "si senor" song from the movie. melanie also pointed out to me that in the same commercial with the actor from the movie there is a truck chasing him and some french girl...well in the first scene of the movie there is a truck chasing him, his friend and his dog. pretty crazy.
  • dandy warhols are good.
  • i need to listen to the music i have before buying more.
  • first day back to work tomorrow. it sucks having to go back to work, but having been gone for so long i know there will be plenty to do and that always makes the time go by relatively quickly.
  • need to buy a book for class tomorrow and get cracking on my first hw assignment.
  • i was depressed most of the day.
  • the apprentice system seems to be all but defunct these days and that's really too bad. pretty much all my life i've wanted to follow someone around who was really skilled in whatever interested me that month. i know that's not really how the apprentice system works, but with something that was more than a passing phase it would be most useful.
  • i had a good break on the whole. thanks to melanie for the use of her car, dad for the use of his gas card (though he doesn't know it yet), to nora and family for use of the house and my (belated) b-day and xmas gifts, to jonique for inviting me over, to johnny for being a good friend, to luke for the giants ticket, to nic for being good company, to mom for keeping her hangers in the closet, and to god for all his grace and wisdom.


    • 8-25-02 (17:41)

  • "OK, this is gonna be short and sweet. If you're a fan of Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi (not to mention Anima Mundi, the cute 'n' cuddly baby brother of the Qatsi series), suffice it to say that Naqoyqatsi is in every sense the movie you've been waiting 14 long years for. If you think those are just elaborate typos instead of movie titles up there, then you owe it to yourself to get on board and discover three of the finest art films ever made." it went on to review the newest installment, but i didn't want to read it.
  • built some speaker stands today.


    • 8-25-02 (00:36)

  • haven't had time to update much during my break from reality, but that's a good thing. i've done a pretty good job of staying active (different from busy) while on my break.
  • visited johnny in berkeley on wednesday and thursday. thursday luke, johnny's brother, was able to get tickets to the giants game. johnny got out of his previous engagement and so we four (nic also came along) went to see the giants complete their sweep of the mets. it was a good game because the giants won, i got to add one more ball park to my short list of parks visited, and the company was good.
  • watched a game of slam ball on tv tonight. it's a new game that's based upon basketball, but has trampolines near the basket to facilitate dunking. seems like a pretty fun game. overall i think they did a good job with the rules and such. they kept the game short, jump shots are still important, there is a certain degree of teamwork involved...i don't think it'll last forever, but it looks better than the xfl.
  • updated movies list.


    • 8-21-02 (00:06)

  • yesterday i was in "the city." hung out with jonique, watched some episodes of the awful truth, got to see where they're living now, and even got a free chair out of it. overall it was worth the two bucks i paid for the toll and the pain of being in traffic. living in davis has made me forget that traffic exists. the few times i do drive these days it's on open highway or in town to buy groceries. so driving into san francisco was a brutal reminder of driving in los angeles. driving in LA is a lot easier than driving in the bay area, there are lots of reasons for this, but i don't feel like enumerating them here.
  • i think that the bay area is overrated, just like nyc. during the trip last year i spent a while in both cities and on the whole i see the (unique) charm of each, but neither impresses me all that much. that said, there wasn't any city that really "wowed" me and i haven't lived in any city other than LA and davis. upon reflection there isn't much in life that really wows me so nevermind.
  • bob barr lost the primary election in georgia. i've seen him speak a few times and have always been impressed by his stupidity so i really feel bad for him.
  • today was my first day of class in 15 months. it was odd being back in a classroom. being in an intro course makes it all the more boring and unexciting on all levels. granted it's only the first day, but we were going over some really basic stuff. i suppose, though, that that's why i signed up for the class - to go over the route facts of american history/governmental process so i can pass the subject exam.
  • stumasa.com has good simple cd/dvd cases if you're in the market.
  • i've done quite a bit more driving the last few days. driving can be fun, but these days i'm a lot more concerned about getting a ticket. i suppose i've become well trained.
  • i haven't done all that much with my time off so far. tomorrow i'll hang out with johnny and maybe go for a bike ride. friday i have a dentist appointment, but other than that i don't have anything planned.
  • i like building things. i would rather go into a career as a carpenter than as a teacher at this point, it's more physical, more predictable, the results are more readily seen, it's easier, but still rewarding, it still requires brain power and creativity, and it's fun. keep comments to yourself.
  • "Figures from the 2000 census show about 76 percent of workers 16 and older drive alone to their jobs, up from 64 percent two decades earlier and 73 percent in 1990, even though commutes are taking longer." i commuted by myself a lot this week.
  • "For many cities, the shift to the suburbs means the need for massive highway construction projects to accommodate more solo drivers. Work on such a project is under way in the Denver metropolitan area, home to Douglas County, the fastest-growing county in the nation. The Transportation Expansion Project, dubbed "T-Rex," will add more lanes to Interstate 25, the major north-south route into Denver. A light rail line also will be built along the corridor." when i was in denver they had started work on the t-rex and there was a story on the news about it - they made it seem like it was going to be an amazingly big undertaking.


    • 8-18-02 (18:41)

  • planned on leaving for sf today, but the traffic was horrible and i forgot the keys to the house anyway. i'll leave tomorrow.
  • changed the oil on melanie's car. built melanie a small table using found scrap wood and leftovers from my last project. if i had a digital camera i could take pictures of all this stuff.
  • johnny isn't in berkeley right now so there isn't any compelling reason to leave today.
  • signed up for a class through sac city, but it's in davis so it'll be easy to actually attend every week. unfortunately the music class was full so i had to settle for a poli sci class. i'm hoping that the class will refresh my memory enough to make passing the government subject exam possible. here's to wishful thinking.
  • i feel like having roundtable pizza tonight.
  • it's amazing how quickly money goes. i don't totally hate working with the new boss so i've decided to be on my best behavior in an attempt to secure the assistant manager position. the way i figure it i have a leg up since i've been at the store longer than anyone else who would be in the running, i know how to do everything an assistant manager needs to know, and the staff like me. it's easier for joe to just have me get paid more for doing what i'm used to doing than it is to hire someone with assistant manager potential from another store. the extra money would be more than nice.


    • 8-17-02 (00:10)

  • updated movies list.
  • cartman, from south park, crapped out of his mouth tonight. south park is a great show.
  • tomorrow i'll finish making my LP crate, listen to music, watch a movie, sit around the house and plot revenge on all those who have wronged me.
  • i like building things.
  • it's too bad our apartment came furnished. on the one hand it's nice because we didn't have to worry about acquiring furniture upon move in, on the other hand it means we're stuck with crappy furniture.
  • sleeping.


    • 8-15-02 (23:44)

  • tomorrow is my last day of work until the 26th.
  • not entirely sure what i'll do during my time off. i know i'm going to visit johnny and vern and i'll hang out with jonique one night, but other than that i don't have any big plans.
  • cool book.
  • found some good scrap wood near the co-op today. took a couple pieces home and i've started to make a case for my LPs. i'll need to brainstorm for more ideas.


    • 8-15-02 (00:53)

  • two more work days until my long break....the first of more than two consecutive days in just less than a year.
  • started putting together a best of 2002 list for music and movies today. there aren't very many movies released in 2002, that i've seen, which really deserve to be on the list. the only academy award worthy film was road to perdition. and in music there just aren't that many that i've gotten a chance to wrap my head around yet.
  • i shouldn't be up so late.
  • i should drink more water.
  • it's been pretty hot lately.


    • 8-14-02 (00:12)

  • i sure don't update much these days.
  • updated movies list.
  • johnny came over on sunday, that was good of him. we watched a movie, ate at jack in the box, played basketball, had two chicken fights, and chatted about ketchup. no kidding. johnny makes going to jack in the box fun.
  • rjd2 reminds me of dj shadow.
  • lord of the rings has already sold as many dvds as harry potter has, it's been exactly a week since it came out.
  • jj, from work, was on sorority life last night. when i see him at work next i'm going to give him shit about it.
  • today was my first day of full work with the new boss. he seems alright so far.
  • this week is a four day work week for me. i have all of next week off....it'll be hard to come back from the long break.
  • stephanie, from work, accused me of being too politically correct because i didn't assume jewish people looked a certain way. actually it was a little more complicated than that, but that's pretty much what it came down to. fuck that stupid texan...hope i'm not being too politically correct.
  • lately i've been exploring more of the warp records stuff.
  • finished rebuilding my entertainment shelf doo-hickey, it's new and improved; i even stained it.
  • gotta sleep now.


    • 8-10-02 (23:33)

  • turned in all but two of my vhs tapes for credit at armadillo music today. after buying a few cds there i went to tower and bought a few cds there as well. new music is nice.
  • it was over 100 degrees today.
  • one of my wisdom teeth is starting to come to the surface. think i'll get that taken care of soon.
  • randy johnson's recent accomplishment impresses me more than barry bonds'.
  • i hope to rebuild the case which currently houses my computer, receiver and cd player
  • "I blow elephant cock." - Eminem, Rolling Stone Interview
  • eminem is great because he doesn't take shit seriously.
  • i get to sleep as much as the heat will allow me tomorrow.


    • 8-9-02 (21:31)

  • updated moviesiown list.
  • today was james' last day. it was a sad day in my tower career. no verdict in on the new guy yet. he seems like a bit of a corporate tool whereas james kinda did more of his own thing. granted there are some potentially good ideas coming from above, but implementation seems a bit unrealistic unless they sacrifice in other areas. overall it seems as though things are going to be less laid back which will be both good and bad.
  • i'm glad to hear that my (our) suspicions about charleton heston were confirmed today.
  • "Despite its foreign-sounding name, the West Nile virus is becoming an undeniably American concern.  Eighty-eight new cases were reported in three states last week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that the mosquito-borne virus is here to stay.  About one in five people who get the virus develop flu-like symptoms; less than 1 percent face the most serious complication, encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.  The virus is bad, of course -- but what if the cure is worse than the disease?  In Louisiana and other places experiencing West Nile outbreaks, mosquito populations are being sprayed with chemical and biological pesticides from trucks and planes, as well as by hand.  The pesticides include malathion and naled, both of which can cause health problems ranging from nausea, dizziness, and confusion at low exposures to paralysis, respiratory failure, and death at high exposures.  Although the amounts being used are said to pose minimal risks, pregnant women, children, and others sensitive to chemicals are being warned to take shelter when spraying occurs."
  • remember ddt? will we ever learn?
  • "In other news from the halls of justice, a different federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the U.S. government must foot the bill for cleaning up hazardous waste stemming from a World War II effort to produce synthetic rubber.  During the war, most of the natural-rubber exporters were under Japanese control, so demand was high for synthetics to manufacture tires, life rafts, gas masks, medical supplies, and other military necessities.  In the 1940s, Dow Chemical agreed to operate a synthetic rubber plant in California "at the expense and risk" of the federal government.  Waste from the plant polluted the ground and water, but the government, although aware of the problem, did not try to stop it.  After the factory changed hands and a flurry of lawsuits ensued regarding the contamination, the government tried to pass the buck (or part of it) to Dow.  That didn't fly with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the feds "owned the sites, the pits, the plant, and all materials including the wastes, knew just what Dow was doing, had unfettered control over it, [and] approved of it.""
  • i'm pretty tired right now.
  • "South Park: The Complete First Season, which streets on 11/12 (SRP $39.98). Look for "irreverent audio commentary for all thirteen episodes from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Jay Leno's South Park guest appearance as formerly seen only on The Tonight Show, two classic Christmas music videos that haven't been unwrapped since their original airing in 1997: Cartman's O Holy Night and Ned's O Little Town of Bethlehem, priceless on-camera intros to all thirteen episodes from Parker and Stone, and the original on-air promos for the show's debut."


    • 8-8-02 (00:20)

  • updated movies list.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • james hooked me up with a few dvds using the product exchange. the way a product exchange works is a representative from any given vendor will comp. you some "clean" product. that is, they'll give you product (for free) that can be sold. you take that product and get half of its cost as an exchange credit good towards anything at tower. in essence tower is buying the product from the employee at half the usual cost. it's a win-win situation for tower and the lucky employee getting the product from the representative. james wrote to vivid and asked that they send any free product to me from now on. so all the "clean" porn dvds (no pun intended) we get will be mine (instead of the new gm's) to convert to tower store credit. that's a pretty sweet going away present from him especially since porn dvds are usually about 30 bucks a pop and they regularly send 5-6 dvds a month. in sum, i'm looking at about 70 bucks of credit just about every month.
  • i need to drink more water.
  • went to the baseball game today. the rivercats don't totally suck so that's good. they played the iowa cubs and were down most the whole game, but never really gave up. the cubs played pretty fundamental ball - manufacturing runs by moving runners into scoring position (usually by stealing) and then driving in runs from there. seemed like they had a pretty good team, but i've only seen them play once.
  • i get paid in a couple days, but the money will be gone before i deposit the check.
  • rent is more now than it was before.
  • most likely going to get a couple more dvds tomorrow...lord of the rings and possibly the usual suspects.
  • read a short article in the nation today about california paving the way for nation in terms of automobile emissions standards...yay. i think a big hurdle to overcome, and one that is often overlooked, is the problem of vehicles with more than two axles - that is, large trucks. they have different standards than all the other automobiles on the road and with nafta we have more mexican trucks (with even more lax regulations) coming through the state. it's a problem that is overshadowed by the suv issue. it seems that everyone, even suv owners, is against suvs. suv owners usually defend themselves by saying they only have a ford explorer or a dodge durango...not "one of those other ones." again i'm preaching to the choir.
  • i need to get more sleep.


    • 8-6-02 (23:42)

  • updated movies list.
  • the fight club soundtrack is rad.
  • there's a prefuse 73 track on a footlocker commercial. that's pretty cool. personally i don't have a problem with good music being used on commercials. the situations i despise are: 1) using great, politically aware/anti-establishment songs to further the establishment. i have two fantastic examples - mercedes benz using the janis joplin song "mercedes benz" to sell cars. in the song joplin says "oh lord won't you buy me a mercedes benz...." never mind the fact that she's being sarcastic; if you know anything about janis joplin it's that she is rolling over in her grave because mercedes is using her song to sell cars to ex-hippies. the other example is the target commercial that uses devo's song "beautiful world." beautiful world is an amazing song because during the whole song devo paint a picture of a beautiful world..."beautiful people everywhere, the way they show they care...a sweet romantic place....it's nice to be alive...it's a wonderful place, for you." but the final line is "it's a beautiful world for you, it's not for me, it's a beautiful world for you - not me." apparently the target executives either haven't listened to the final 30 seconds or don't understand sarcasm. those two instances make me absolutely insanely mad, just ask melanie. 2) the moby syndrome - at some point you need to stop whoring out your music. other than those two situations i don't really mind commercials using quality music. when i hear an aphex twin track on a commercial it makes me happy that someone else is being exposed to his work, it doesn't make me think that he's sold out or any other such indie reaction.
  • " Devo took its name from their concept of "de-evolution" — the idea that instead of evolving, mankind has actually regressed, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society. Their music echoed this view of society as rigid, repressive, and mechanical, with appropriate touches — jerky, robotic rhythms..." -allmusic.com. i couldn't have said it better.
  • el-p, rjd2, and atmosphere do right by underground hip-hop, but i still like eminem.
  • today was a pretty interesting day.
  • got a visit from darren, whom i used to live with, he's taking a break from princeton monastery or something like that. james, my boss, told me that he's not going to be working at tower anymore - that was a big surprise. a new guy is going to take over which will be interesting. elanda might come back to tower in which case i'll probably leave. either way i need to take steps towards substitute teaching since it'll pay bills and is the direction i need to go.
  • blockbuster is going to try implementing a netflix type program - flat rate for a few videos for an unlimited time.
  • likely to get a few dvds for free this week from james...product exchanges are nice.
  • the next month should be interesting.
  • tomorrow i see a rivercats baseball game, should be fun.
  • big trade in the nba today, i think it benefits both teams, but the nets made the exact move they needed to make in order to be back to the finals next year. whoever is the gm of the nets gets my props. kidd and mutombo in two seasons, bigest turnaround in the league...pretty nice moves.


    • 8-3-02 (18:18)

  • started the second season of the awful truth today, this season has commentary for a few of the shows.
  • my fantasy baseball team looks to stay out of last place now so that's a relief.
  • my mom came to visit the other day, she spend two nights here. she bought me a much needed pair of shorts and jeans. i also have a lot more food than before. all i wanted was a pint of ice cream and i got more groceries than i know what to do with.
  • updated cdlist.
  • haven't been very good about watching movies lately. ordered koyannisqatsi and powaqqatsi on dvd yesterday, they both come out in mid-september. lord of the rings, super troopers, and simpsons season two all come out on tuesday so i'll be purchasing those soon. also there's a beavis and butt-head dvd coming out which will have 32 episodes of the infamous show. it's called 'the history of beavis and butt-head.' i'd rather they released all the episodes, one season at a time, but this will work in the meantime. that should also come out in september. mr. deeds is slotted for october, panic room is coming early the same month, and that's all there is of any interest off the top of my head.
  • going to some jazz show later tonight.
  • "Norwegian Cruise Line, the fourth-largest cruise company in the world, will pay a $1.5 million fine for illegally dumping oil and untreated wastewater into the ocean, and subsequently lying about its actions.  The company kept a false logbook and for three years lied to the Coast Guard about unlawful discharges off the coast of Florida; it was caught when a fired employee blew the whistle to the U.S. EPA, but no one knows how much pollution the cruise line dumped into the ocean.  The fine, which includes $500,000 for environmental projects in Florida, is part of a federal crackdown on ocean polluters and marks the seventh environmental conviction against a cruise line.  Norwegian got off easy compared to some others; Royal Caribbean, for example, has paid a total of $27 million in fines. But hard times might not be over for the company; shortly after the fine was announced, the state of Alaska, which successfully sued Royal Caribbean, said it would investigate whether Norwegian committed illegal activity in state waters."

    • updated movies list.

    7-29-02 (18:51)

  • woke up at 5:15 this morning. inventory took longer than it should have because six people didn't show up. i got overtime so i'm not too mad.
  • i should watch a movie since i haven't even seen 20 yet this month.
  • i'm tied for last place in my fantasy baseball league, that's been a long time coming.


    • 7-28-02 (11:54)

  • i'm up before noon!
  • tomorrow i'll be awake around 5am. i need to goto work at 530am for inventory purposes. everyone else gets to come in at 6am, but james needs my help to set up before inventory, it sucks.
  • friday night was a good night. after work i came home and basically just camped out in front of the tv thinking about things we could do instead of just sitting around all night. we needed a filter for our piece of crap air conditioner so going to ace to pick that up was our excuse for getting out of the house. a while ago a five dollar ace certificate was mailed to our address in the name of susan manning (she lived here the year before us). so i took that along hoping we could redeem it towards our purchase. while at ace we picked up the filter and a little piece of cinnamon scented foam in the hopes that it would freshen the place up a bit. the total came to just under five bucks so we had to buy something else to make it more than five. we each picked out some candy and went on our way, having spent only 26 cents for the smelly thing, the filter, m&ms, and peanut butter cups. on our way back home i noticed that one of the side doors to the nearby theater had a good flow of people coming out. i told melanie that we should try to get in to see k-19, which was about to start any minute. we crossed the street, waited a bit and someone exited the theater which was our cue to enter. the theater employee was too busy picking his ass to notice has we came in so it was smooth sailing from there. we walked into the theater that was playing k-19 and sat down just as it was starting. so for 26 cents we had outside candy, a movie for two, an air filter, and now our apartment smells nicer.
  • later we watched some more of michael moore's show "the awful truth." we're two episodes away from having seen the entire first season.
  • last night i watched tom green's new show which takes place in japan. let's just say it's quite the clash of cultures. he's funny.
  • updated movies list.


    • 7-25-02 (23:18)

  • it's amazing what a 15 minute nap can do.
  • had a long day today, drove the bug over 60 miles and it did fine.
  • bought a pull-up bar the other day.
  • think i'll take a class at the davis outlet of sac state. if i take american history or american government then it'll prepare me for the subject test which i still haven't taken. it'll also make me more confident about teaching the subject.
  • finished the first dvd (of two) from 'the awful truth' season one set i got the other day. so i'm a quarter of the way done with the entire series.
  • listened to an old (1984) whoopi goldberg comedy cd on tuesday and found out that she used to have a much more ghetto sense of humor. i think she was funnier then than she is now, but it's interesting that that's how she started out.
  • updated cdlist. broke the 600 cd mark.


    • 7-24-02 (22:06)

  • "California Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed trailblazing legislation yesterday that will require automobile manufacturers to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions coming from the tailpipes of passenger vehicles in the state.  Under the terms of the new law, the California Air Resources Board has until 2005 to set "maximum" but "economically feasible" emissions standards for gases that contribute to climate change; new automobiles sold in the state must meet those standards by 2009.  In signing the law, Davis said, "I would prefer to have Washington take the lead, but in the absence of that we have no choice but to do our part. ... It is my hope that other states will do the same thing."  In fact, the law is likely to have nationwide ramifications, because California accounts for 10 percent of the national car market.  The industry opposes the new law, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has announced plans to take California to court."
  • what i make in a year michael eisner (ceo of disney) makes in 10 minutes; even while he's sleeping.
  • updated moviesiown list. got the awful truth, both seasons, on dvd today. james gave them to me fo free.
  • need to wake up early tomorrow, that'll be a drag. hopefully i can leave early though.


    • 7-23-02 (23:43)

  • updated movies list.
  • thursday morning i have to work at a different tower records location to help them with their inventory. need to wake up early and drive 30 miles to do that, shucks.
  • reorganized my cd collection over the weekend. now it's in alphabetical order, but still separated by genre. erin, from work, said his roommate organized their collection by the color of the cd cases once, but obviously they couldn't find anything so that didn't last very long. must have looked neat though.
  • watched an interesting show about lying and reading brain waves to detect when someone is lying. they used several methods to detect lying, first they had an expert watch a person's facial expressions and that seemed pretty successful, second they tried to have a computer do the same thing, but i guess the computer program isn't advanced enough yet to read a person's facial movements and apply the same logic that the experts use when determining if someone is lying. lastly they hooked people up to a machine which monitors brainwaves and they were able to read a person's mind about 85% of the time. pretty crazy stuff.
  • i have too much new music again. i almost never download mp3s anymore.
  • didn't feel like working today.


    • 7-20-02 (20:15)

  • "Eighteen months ago, throngs of Filipinos gathered at a religious shrine for a rally that ended in the resignation of corrupt then-president Joseph Estrada.  The massive turnout was widely attributed to mobile texting, with hundreds of thousands of Filipinos passing along messages encouraging people to attend.  Now, the cell-phone-happy people of the Philippines are turning to text messaging to fight a different enemy:  air pollution.  The nonprofit organization Bantay Kalikasan, or Environmental Watchdog, has launched a campaign to get dirty trucks and buses off the streets of Manila, among the most polluted cities in Asia.  People with cell phones are encouraged to report, via mobile text, any vehicles they see emitting black smoke; BK then sends lists of vehicles that have five or more complaints filed against them to the government agency responsible for issuing licenses to trucking and commercial vehicle companies, and the agency summons the owners for emissions testing. In the first two weeks of the campaign alone, 123 vehicle owners were called in.  BK's ultimate goal is to get the government to enforce its Clean Air Act, enacted in 1999, so that cell-phone owners can go back to texting their friends."
  • updated movies list.
  • plan on watching "baraka" tonight. might watch "kids" too.
  • haven't checked the mail yet today.
  • went shopping, took malcolm and washed him also.
  • nothing really exciting or noteworthy happens these days. that might be a good thing, maybe a bad thing. maybe just a thing.
  • last week at work was interesting - i had all sorts of things to do. the universal representative came by and i put in orders for a bunch of new cds. ordering cds is tougher than ordering dvds because the rep is there giving you all sorts of data about the number of "scans" an album is getting and what kind of advertising it's getting, how much airplay it's getting, etc. and all that builds to them trying to get you to buy big, especially if they know you've never done new release record buying before.
  • amelie sold better than i thought it would considering it's about an insane stalker, granted she's a cute insane stalker, but still...
  • "If Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) has his way, a part of his state's share of the national tobacco settlement will be used to fund alternative energy projects.  On Wednesday, Vilsack suggested spending $50 million of the $438 million settlement to help cities in Iowa build renewable energy plants such as wind turbines.  The governor said his goal was to develop statewide energy resources, reduce how much money Iowa spends on buying out-of-state energy, and ultimately reverse the tables, with Iowa selling excess energy to other states.  Vilsack's energy proposal, which is part of a plan to raise per capita income in Iowa, was heavily criticized by Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross.  Gross said the funding source would be temporary and asked, "What would happen in year two?"  But a spokesperson for the governor noted that energy plants don't require recurring funding sources: "You don't rebuild a wind farm every year.""
  • watched a documentary on the life of FDR up to his becoming president for the first time. lots of stuff i didn't know about him and his wife.


    • 7-19-02 (00:29)

  • updated movies list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • haven't been getting much rest lately. also haven't been sleeping all that well lately.
  • had a blueberry, strawberry and banana shake today, it was good.


    • 7-17-02 (23:46)

  • a pretty uneventful day for the most part.
  • i'm looking forward to this week being over so i don't have so much stuff to worry about at work.
  • my fantasy baseball team seems to go nowhere.
  • haven't watched very many movies this month. hopefully i can catch up a bit over the weekend.


    • 7-15-02 (21:04)

  • updated movies list.
  • james is gone this week so i have to take his place. there are too many little things that need to be done and i didn't really do anything today.
  • finally filled out the substitute teaching application today. now i'll take another few months to get a tb test and get my fingerprints done. then another few months to actually turn it in.
  • the hella show was fucking rad. that's really the only way to describe it. it took place in a pretty small room and when we (there were about 120 people) walked in there was a square sectioned off in the middle of the room using large pieces of plastic which hung from the rafters above. all around the plastic there were pieces of artwork, mostly paintings and drawings. after walking the four sides of the room to view the artwork we kinda stood around waiting for something to happen. eventually hella started playing, but the plastic and the artwork on the plastic hid them from our view. while they were playing a couple of the show organizers walked around slowly and strategically pulled off some of the drawings. slowly we were able to see through the plastic and see who was making the music we had been listening to. it was interesting that people were so concerned with seeing the performers. when one of the organizers would pull off a piece of artwork people on that side would bend their bodies to see inside the box hoping to catch a glimpse of the band. on the start of the fifth or sixth song ("city folk sitting, sitting") the organizers pulled down the plastic altogether and that was probably the climax of the show for me. it was a seven minute jam (by far their longest track on the album) and it (at least for me) made the whole performance utterly sublime. it was a good production and an even better show from hella.
  • i wonder how many millions of dollars could be saved if we revamped the outlay of the qwerty keyboard to be more efficient. the current layout was actually intended to be inefficient so that people with typewriters wouldn't lock up the arms of the typewriter, now that that isn't an issue they should give the keyboard an overhaul.
  • read a chapter or so of "stupid white men...." last night. there's only so much truth a guy can handle and michael moore always shovels it on.
  • made myself a strawberry/blueberry shake today, it was good.
  • sounds like johnny is going to be slaving away for the man this summer.
  • i'd like to take a road trip this summer, but everyone i know is busy and i have to make a trip to the bay area this summer to visit some people so it doesn't look like i'll really be able to get away like i'd wished.
  • i've never been able to really get into the wu-tang clan.
  • listened to a kronos quartet album today where they played music by philip glass. it was very good, i shall buy it. i'm sure beethoven was a better musician that philip glass, but when it comes to classical music i prefer glass to anyone else i've heard, especially now that i've heard some of his string quartet stuff.
  • it got warm today, but not hot, it was nice.
  • "Very few groups have the ability to pull off instrumentals as abstract, as unforgettably chaotic, or as decidedly original as does Hella. The spazz-core style contained within the nine tracks of Hold Your Horse Is is a beauty to behold, yet is certainly not for the meek or close-minded. It should be known that these nine songs are purely instrumentals, that no vocalization is needed, and that no matter what you have heard before, Hella is bound to make an impression you won't soon forget. The enjoyable cataclysm of sound seems to come from a whole orchestra of musicians, yet this wild album was in fact created by only two people, Spencer Selm and Zach Hill. Drawing on classic rock, jazz, electronica, and hundreds of other influences that would take too long to list, Hella has perhaps outdone itself, as Hold Your Horse Is happens to be an album there simply could never be a sequel to. Those familiar with the progressive rock group Dredg may enjoy the hectic sonatas conjured up by Hella, as it is certainly an artistic vision that launches this duo's creative force to weave such intricate, spastic tunes. One of the most intriguing things about this album is that, if you strip away most of it and just listen to the core guitar/drum combination, each song is a solid tune, complete with direction and melody. The way Hill and Selm conceal detailed avant-garde musical emotion beneath a churning veil of noise could be considered brilliant. Unfortunately, this also could be deemed nothing more than two individuals tinkering with their instruments and calling the mangled mess of sound music. Those who think that way should avoid Hella, but those listeners who are a bit more adventurous and interested in hearing a group that is deftly original and remarkably skilled should check out Hold Your Horse Is. — Jason D. Taylor"
  • i listened to the hella album a few times today at work, i think i'll take my copy home next week. i'll take home my dredg album tomorrow. getting new cds for free is pretty nice.


    • 7-13-02 (01:25)

  • updated movies list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • haven't had much to mention here lately, but i've been thinking just as much as always.
  • saw jon and monique today, they were driving through town and i chased them down on my bike. we chatted for a bit and then i went back to work for the man.
  • james, my boss, is going on vacation next week so i'm going to kinda be in charge while he's gone. hopefully nothing big goes wrong.
  • finally saw christopher nolan's "the following" - very good picture.
  • i've been listening to the newest eminem album a lot lately. the first two times i heard it i didn't feel too passionately about any of the tracks, or the album as a whole, but since then i've definitely gotten into it. once again i must state my support for eminem as an innovative artist and real person. he definitely goes through life feeling things...some people go through life sort of numbed and apathetic from day to day, he certainly doesn't and the fact that he's able to convey that through his music makes his work all the more successful. i'm not sure why people have such adverse reactions to eminem without really knowing anything about him, but i had the same reaction to him at one time and learned from it. him and tupac both turned out to be a lot different and multi-faceted than i had originally been led to believe.
  • my fantasy baseball team is at a bit of a stand still...still in last place that is. i'm inching closer to seventh place, but probably won't make it.
  • davis is having a sidewalk sale this weekend...a lot of the downtown businesses bring some of their product onto the sidewalk for people to browse. on july 4th there was a bike race that brought a lot of foot traffic to downtown. i think davis does a pretty good job with promoting commerce without compromising the small town feel. of course it's inevitable that davis will grow quite a bit in the upcoming years, but if you live by the gun then you die by the gun. that is to say that the university is a large reason davis is the nice town that it is, but because the uc system has certain admission requirements based upon state population davis will grow, just as CA will. i don't see anyway of stopping this from happening, but in the meantime i think they've done a reasonable job of limiting growth. on the one hand you don't want rent to be too high and on the other you want growth to be limited, as is true with all life it's a delicate balance.
  • going to watch Hella play at uc davis tomorrow, should be a good show. it'll be the first paying concert i've been to in more than a year.
  • finished the 13th episode on the simpsons season one dvd tonight. in a month i'll have season two, and thirteen more episodes to absorb.
  • it was pretty warm today.
  • finally got my money from what's her face. most days i fall asleep thinking less of humans than the night before.
  • i'm looking forward to the next basketball season.
  • the new red  hot chili peppers sound pretty decent from what i've heard of it so far. different from their other albums, but the same so that's good. not as different as californication was from their previous works, but still different enough.
  • why does the term "old school" almost always have a positive connotation? the answer is easy if you ask it, but most people don't.
  • i need to do laundry.
  • played frisbee today and the crotch on my shorts split while attempting a between the legs catch. had to sew that up since i only have two pairs of shorts.
  • the new wyclef album is pretty weak.
  • i like learning about the origin and evolution of things...from sayings like "making ends meet" to the evolution of planets. i'm interested in what happened to make x what it is.
  • buffalo '66 is a good movie.
  • need to buy food tomorrow.


    • 7-10-02 (01:48)

  • had a productive day at work today.
  • watched the abbreviated all-star game today. i think baseball owes its fans more than that crap.
  • it hit 104 today, it's forecasted to be 112 tomorrow; no joke.
  • probably going to see hella play this weekend, that should be neat.


    • 7-9-02 (01:05)

  • didn't do much worthy of noting today.
  • listened to talking head, perrey-kingsley, spike jones, boards of canada, and outkast.
  • watched the home run derby and some game shows.
  • made a milkshake and had pasta for dinner.


    • 7-7-02 (23:20)

  • updated movies list.
  • my dad and sarah visited this weekend.
  • i played catch with my dad, we went out to dinner both nights, we watched a couple of movies, we picked on sarah and that was about it. sarah is definitely a teenager.
  • lately i've been contemplating living in an rv.
  • haven't done any laundry in a while.
  • plans are in the works for a trip to lassen with johnny.
  • it's so hard to get me to do anything.
  • need to get some sleep.


    • 7-4-02 (00:06)

  • not much to report on these days.
  • it's my birthday.
  • i get paid time and a half for working on a holiday so that's a nice birthday present.
  • there seems to be a lot of spiders in our apartment lately.
  • the subwoofer i got could probably shake the drywall off the studs.
  • been pretty tired lately, need to start getting to bed a bit earlier.
  • we might be getting a new assistant manager pretty soon.
  • going to sleep now.


    • 7-03-02 (01:16)

  • updated movies list.
  • saw the last two episodes of politically incorrect last week. michael moore was on the penultimate episode, which was actually the last issue oriented episode. that was a good one.


    • 7-01-02 (00:26)

  • updated movies list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • didn't do much of anything this weekend.

    • bought some speakers yesterday and i like them a bunch, now i'm broke for another two weeks.

    6-28-02 (01:18)

  • nothing to say


    • 6-26-02 (23:04)

  • amanda quit work today, no loss there. apparently she quit because on sunday mike told her  that he didn't like her to which she responded "fuck off." after that he told her she should leave because he didn't need to hear that and she was bothering him. i guess they finished out their shift without much fanfare, but today she came in and quit. if it was my choice she would have been fired a long time ago anyway. it's funny because just yesterday i was thinking about mike's willingness to be extremely honest. so even though he can be a pompous dick at least he doesn't hide it, he's not afraid to be who he wants to be. at least three different other employees have had run-ins with mike and all three have quit recently. the good thing about that is that the three of them were also the three most annoying co-workers i had - son in a sense mike is just doing the dirty work for me, whether he knows it or not.
  • when i got back to work from my lunch break i was outside locking up my bike when i saw alex (the loss prevention person) getting into an argument with some other guy outside of the store. it looked like they were going to fight and then the other guy told alex to follow him. so alex followed him down the street and i followed alex and by this time sean was outside too so he came along with me. the other guy took us around the block and after coming out of a barber shop walked back towards alex and threw a punch. alex (who isn't very big, but is definitely strong) threw the other guy to the ground and they went at it for a little while. after a few seconds the guys from the barber shop peeled the two of them off each other. that was the first fight i've seen in davis. when i was in la i saw them a lot more because i was in high school and because it's la. the only thing that worried me was if sean or either of the two guys from the barber shop had joined the scuffle it would have been a brawl and i would have been in it. i'm glad that both parties let it remain between the two original people. i've never been in a fight so it would have been nice to finally have that experience, but considering one of the guys from the barber shop was probably about 350 lbs i'm glad it didn't happen this time. at any rate, my dionysian got its fix for the week.
  • after work i went to play basketball. for the first time since i've been playing there i encountered another person shooting hoops. we talked a bit and it turns out that he measured the height of the rim the other day and it's only 9'8" - regulation height is 10' so i've been playing on a rim 4 inches shorter than regulation. that made my day kinda suck. i might have to start playing basketball on the other side of the freeway where there are only two hoops, but both are regulation size. the other drawback besides being over the freeway and only having two hoops is that they're always crowded.
  • work was pretty fun today. we had a good crew of fun people in the morning and still got things done. one thing i liked about painting is that it was customer service, but i never had to deal with customers. even jon didn't have to interact with the customers all that much because people were usually at work.
  • "we're going to be friends" by the white stripes sounds very beatlesesque. the beatles is a stupid band name.
  • i need to start paying more attention to malcolm.
  • i had a sandwich for dinner and a sandwich for lunch.
  • i haven't seen germany play, but i gotta go with brazil if not for the simple fact that germany is playing without the only guy who has scored any goals in the last two games.
  • the kings drafted dan dickau (from gonzaga)...he's a good player and i'd really like to see him play for the kings, but (not so) unfortunately we have jackson and bibby at the point position so it would be too redundant to keep dickau so after we drafted him we traded him for a future first round pick - a good choice. it also shows confidence in the fact that bibby will return. if there was any indication he wouldn't then we'd keep dickau for insurance, at least until bibby gets signed.
  • woke up this morning to the dogs next door whining, that made me really mad.
  • one more week before my birthday. on certain holidays we get paid at time and a half and on others we get paid at double time, but i don't know if july 4th is one of them. i know that new years, xmas, and memorial day are 3 of the 6, but i don't know the other ones. i've never been well versed on holidays.
  • heard that they're working on a plane that carries a space shuttle, flies to a certain altitude, and then allows the shuttle to take off while flying. the reason this would be so much nicer than the current system is because more than 80% of the energy (fuel) is spent in the first 100 feet. if the shuttle starts at elevation where the air is thinner lift off will be more efficient which is good for everyone.
  • "they" also spliced goat dna with spider dna so as to produce spider silk on a much larger scale. the reasons this would be great are: spider silk is far stronger than steel (in relative terms), it's also pliable whereas steel obviously is not and it's also far lighter than steel which has obvious advantages.


    • 6-26-02 (00:56)

  • updated movies list.
  • listening to Pithecanthropus Erectus.
  • played basketball today. the last two days i've really gotten into a rhythm. i've had a few good stretches where i'll make 75% of the shots i'm taking. by focusing on a couple of things i've been able to find some consistency in my shot in the 12-18 foot range which is encouraging. in terms of actual game play i doubt i'm back to where i once was, but then again i haven't played in a game in at least a year (except the one day with johnny, vern, and nic).
  • called jon a couple nights ago to see if he wanted to hit the links, but he's in SF now so that was out of the question.
  • got a letter from johnny today, he's in field camp in big pine. he seems to be doing pretty well.
  • also got an email from vern today. he's exchanging his painting talents for room and board with his parents. i'm not sure what his parents are getting out of that arrangement. i remember one time when we were working on old man mcgriffiths place jon, vern and i got to talking about who the better painter was. it came out that we all thought that we were the best painter of the three. that friendly debate lasted pretty much all day. those were good times.
  • listening to haitian fight song.
  • had a pretty awful day in fantasy baseball.
  • talked to my dad today about home theater, looks like he's finally looking into that. for someone who watches more movies than anyone i know i would have thought that it would have come sooner, but he's old and resists change so it took a while.
  • will most likely buy some speakers this weekend.
  • doing receiving at work makes the day go by more quickly so that's nice.
  • it's tiring playing basketball after being on my feet all day.
  • talked to mike at work about drug use. he says he does drugs to make life harder. "life is too easy without them" he told me. it's interesting how some people can see drugs as an easy way out and other can see it as something that makes life harder. i think that it has the illusion of making things easy, but in the long term does the opposite. so in that sense i congratulate him for seeing further than most.
  • i give a lot of respect to people who are honest and not hypocritical.
  • pardon the interruption is a pretty good sports show.
  • i'm down with savoy brown and the white stripes.
  • i'm down with the vw commercial that uses the j ralph song. it's got serious power, even after repeated viewings.
  • i'm down with the kronos quartet and clint mansell.
  • i'm down with the requiem for a dream soundtrack.
  • i need to get some rest so i can play basketball tomorrow.


    • 6-24-02 (01:31)

  • updated movies list.
  • didn't do all that much today.
  • went shopping and accidently got nonfat yogurt instead of the regular kind.
  • cleaned the apartment a bit, including washing the curtains in the washing machine.
  • went for a bike ride with the intentions of playing basketball, but the school is undergoing construction so there were trucks parked on the court. from there i went to the other courts which are pretty close to home and there were too many people there. after that i just went on a bike ride through downtown and onto campus - i haven't been on campus for a long time. there's some kind of volleyball tournament going on so the campus was pretty busy with teenage girls. went to the basketball courts where i used to play with the kdvs folks. there were plenty of people playing, but i just watched. after that i went to jamba juice and that ended up being my dinner.
  • messed with my fantasy baseball team. i'm closer to getting out of last place than i have been since i got there so that's exciting.
  • when i got home i sat around a lot. ended up watching a movie late into the night.
  • i'll probably watch star wars episode II this week.


    • 6-23-02 (13:29)

  • saw a special olympics commercial today which used an aphex twin song. there's a little mtv blurb that also uses an aphex twin song. i like what i hear.


    • 6-21-02 (22:50)

  • "i can't remember to forget."
  • i like it when a movie ends with a void of answers, with a lack of an ending...i like a movie that takes a walk along a road and brings you along, the whole time you're gathering things on this road and putting them in your arms, by the end of the road you have your arms full with all these things and rather than the movie taking those things and neatly arranging them for you it just steps on your foot making you drop the heap of things at your feet. at that point you're forced to reconcile the mess in front of you. finding a film that can do that well is not as easy as one might think. some films goto far towards surrealism and i don't even feel like following the movie along the road it presents, and some films try to make things too tidy in the end. i like "gummo."
  • updated movies list.
  • i watched "hearts of darkness" a documentary about the making of apocalypse now. coppola was struggling with himself the entire filming of the movie (which took an extraordinarily long time) about how the film would end. since he was shooting the film basically chronologically (also something that's rare) he and his crew were able to experience the journey just the characters in the film were. by the time the end of the shoot came he still hadn't written an ending and because of certain restrictions (brando being retarded, budget concerns, etc.) he didn't have time to sit down and really work out an ending so he just put the actors into their positions the last few weeks and had them improvise hoping the ending would present itself. but this was something that during the entire shoot he was trying to avoid, the whole time he struggled to write a suitable ending, he had nightmares, he talked to people around him, but he just couldn't come up with a suitable ending. i think it's almost fated, preordained, written on the wind that his film-making process - especially with a film of this magnitude and theme - should come down to being "completely irrational" (his own words) and surrendering the desire for control. i think a postmodern parable the likes of kafka's "before the law." a lesser director wouldn't have been able to surrender control like that; especially after having come so far.
  • last night i stayed up to watch the england/brazil game...it was pretty entertaining. i also planned on getting up at 430 to watch the usa game, but when the alarm went off i hit snooze and it didn't go off again so i missed the game. that was disappointing.
  • work was pretty good today. a couple people annoy me with their elitist tastes. with vern it was always more cute and funny than genuinely annoying, but with these music nazis it's a bit different, maybe because i don't really consider them my friends. it's okay though because i've turned it into a game. erin made the point today that wyclef talks about himself a lot on the new album. just about every time one of the wyclef songs played in the store he would reiterate his distaste for the album and wyclef's habit of talking about himself. the last time he mentioned it he said "dude, wyclef talks about himself like half of this album." i replied "and half the time you talk you're talking about him talking about himself half the time." i don't think he mentioned wyclef the rest of the day. i love it when people do stuff like that...they'll see a spill on the ground and say "why doesn't anyone clean that shit up?" then they'll walk away and leave it to someone else. or they'll complain all the time about people complaining all the time. note your displeasure once and then shut the fuck up or risk becoming like them. be the change you want to see in the world. on that note i'll shut up.
  • didn't get much sleep last night.


    • 6-20-02 (18:44)

  • haven't been watching very much tv these days.
  • going to be doing some receiving for the next couple weeks since the receiving clerk is on vacation. that'll keep life interesting.
  • "Yeah, you've probably heard it before:  We're in the middle of a massive extinction era on a par with the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago -- only this one is our own doing.  By the middle of this century, human activities will have erased up to 30 percent of all species on Earth, according to many biologists. Many of those species will have come and gone without so much as a blip on the human radar screen, meaning their ecological role and potential usefulness to people will remain forever unknown.  In an effort to minimize the number of species that fall into that mystery category, scientists are undertaking a massive effort to create a comprehensive "family tree" of life on Earth -- from wooly mammoths to itty-bitty bacteria.  The projects' backers say it will help scientists understand how organisms function within their niches, shed light on evolution, and even help track acts of bioterrorism. The project is being funded by the National Science Foundation to the tune of $10 to $12 million per year and could take up to 15 years to complete." good idea, but i thought something like that would have already been done.
  • "California could soon have the world's toughest standards for emissions of microscopic pollutants. Regulations currently being considered by the state Air Resources Board target pollutants composed of particles of dust and soot that are smaller than 10 microns in diameter, or about one-seventh the diameter of a human hair. Such particles come from the agriculture industry and combustion in cars and power plants, and can contain heavy metals that contribute to lung, heart, and other health problems. Because of their tiny size, current filtering systems are not effective against them. The Air Resources Board estimates that 99 percent of Californians are exposed to unhealthy particle levels every day -- but even if the board approves the strict regulations, the technology to keep such particles out of the air could take a decade or more to perfect."
  • "Whales are the largest animals on Earth, not to mention among the most famous crooners -- but scientists fear that whale songs will soon become as obscure as 12th century lute music.  According to new research, whale sounds might be no match for ambient underwater noise from commercial shipping, military sonar, and seismic surveys.  That ever-increasing artificial din could reduce the distance over which whale songs can be heard.  That's bad news for species like the blue whale and the fin whale.  Scientists think that the male members of these species use low-frequency love songs (which can travel thousands of miles underwater) to attract mates -- so if the songs go unheard, the survival of the species could be threatened."
  • the dogs next door are extremely annoying. they're officially the worst neighbors i've ever had. at least last year when i lived at la casa de flores the neighbors were good to make fun of.
  • saw the mormon guy again today, he and his friend were biking around downtown. seeing him made me laugh.
  • thinking about painting with jon and vern makes me laugh. "it's a no brainer."
  • i should eat and watch one of my movies.
  • june 20th seems significant for some reason, but i don't know why. i don't think it's anyone's birthday, i don't think it's an anniversary of any kind, i don't know what it is. johnny is good with dates.
  • i'm definitely feeling this dandy warhols album. 'bohemian like you' sounds like 'brown sugar' mixed with 'jumpin jack flash' by the rolling stones, but i'm sure that's been pointed out before.
  • orbital comes out with an album this month. red hot chili peppers next month.


    • 6-19-02 (23:47)

  • updated movies list.
  • it seems like a disproportionate number of movie stars got their first break in a horror film. jamie lee curtis, jennifer aniston, bruce campbell, johnny depp, and others... i usually equate horror films with bad acting so that's why it's odd, but obviously there are exceptions.
  • "Just thought you South Park fans would like to know - we've confirmed with our sources inside Warner Bros. that the studio is currently working to bring the ENTIRE animated series to DVD in complete season sets. No word yet on features or street dates, but there's reason to believe that the first season will street before the end of the year. We'll post more when we can confirm it." yay!
  • while i was wandering around big 5 the other day looking for a basketball net i saw a guy wearing a suit and a name tag so i approached him. when i was a couple feet from him he looked up at me with a smile and so i seized the opportunity to ask him where the basketball nets might be he replied "uh, actually i don't work here, sorry." i said sorry and looked down at his name tag and it read "church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, john" i laughed for quite a while after that incident.
  • got a call yesterday while i was at work from some guy asking for matt. i told him that matt didn't work there anymore so he told me that instead of matt i could get a free dinner at chevy's. matt's loss, my gain. so today i went to dixon and had a lobster/chicken fajita for free. eating at a restaurant is even more lonely than watching a movie in the theater by yourself.
  • went to the elementary school and put up the net today. the swish sounds all that much better when you put the net up yourself.
  • we had a lively debate about bob marley at work today. people are so funny when they get involved in debates. no one seems able to agree to disagree, also most people have a real problem distinguishing fact from opinion. i don't agree with the way so many people (especially those on television) debate. it seems that they attack the person (instead of hir ideas), use bloated and emotional language, and capitalize on fear in order to discredit a person's ideas. i think that's lame. noam chomsky has a pretty straightforward approach to debate and i like it.
  • today was a pretty good day.
  • i'm anxious to see what kind of raise i'm going to get.
  • the bug runs so much better when it's good and hot outside. it fucking snows in germany so i'm not sure when the engineers were thinking when they first designed the bug, but i guess there's no reason to complain...until next winter anyway.
  • time has really been flying lately.


    • 6-19-02 (00:27)

  • updated movies list.
  • i was pretty lazy today.


    • 6-18-02 (00:30)

  • updated movies list.
  • had a little bit of a cold this last week - it was different from the usual cold in that it was more along the lines of allergy symptoms, but i never have allergies so i'm thinking it was a cold. at any rate it's pretty much gone now.
  • saw some bad golfing yesterday...both phil and tiger seemed to fall apart a bit on the last five holes or so, i wasn't too impressed or entertained.
  • saw some good soccer last night, though, which made up for the bad golf. hard to believe that the u.s. beat mexico. it looks like japan is going to lose tonight.
  • didn't do all that much today, but i stayed busy.


    • 6-17-02 (12:48)

  • i woke up at 10:30 today, that's pretty amazing for me.
  • went shopping and went to the post office.
  • updated movies list.
  • played basketball yesterday, plan on doing the same today. i think i'm going to buy a net for the court (it's at an elementary school) i play on. i don't know why they don't have nets on the hoops there, but i'm going to have to get one from big 5 today and put it on sometime.


    • 6-13-02 (22:53)

  • updated movies list.
  • played basketball today. it's tiring chasing down all the rebounds and such. the courts i play at don't have nets. without a net there's no positive reinforcement with made shots...not only do i have to chase down the ball, but the reassuring sound of the ball hitting nothing but net is absent.
  • out of the six people besides james who came to work today four were late by anywhere between 6 and 53 minutes.
  • got the white stripes' newest album yesterday compliments of kdvs (finally). now i understand what the hype was about - it's a really good album and one i think is likely to age nicely, unlike the strokes album.
  • in theory i should get 700 bucks from elanda tomorrow.
  • melanie leaves for a week on monday.


    • 6-13-02 (00:11)

  • looks like i'll be opening (9-6) 5 days a week now. i was working a closing shift once a week, but that changed this week.
  • updated movies list.
  • it was johnny's birthday today so i gave him a call.
  • nothing of much consequence happened today.
  • overall in life i think i want to create good memories. when i was living with jon and vern we created lots of good memories from hitchhiking and house painting to water balloon launching and dirty kitchens. i miss those days.
  • the laker game was lame. i honestly thought it was going to go six before the series started, and earlier today i still thought that new jersey would win today, but they suck as much as i thought at the beginning of the playoffs. at the beginning of the playoffs i chose the winner of the detroit/boston series...as it turned out boston won so i thought they would go to the end, but new jersey pulled it off. after complaining all year and playoffs long about not getting any respect the nets finally earned my respect going into the finals and then they got swept. i can't respect that.
  • i wonder why teams on the east are so lame compared to teams on the west.
  • i can't believe it's june already.
  • i plan on going golfing sometime soon - figure i'll just hit the driving range.


    • 6-11-02 (00:35)

  • updated movies list.
  • didn't play basketball today.
  • james told me today that leslee (the assistant manager who has been on maternity leave for the last 6 months) isn't going to be coming back to tower. after that he told me that i was getting my raise. i'm not sure if the juxtaposition of those two pieces of information meant that i was being promoted or what, but getting a raise is good no matter what. it's amazing how little i know about music relative to some of the other people working at tower (i know my fair share about specific bands, but in general i have less knowledge than at least a few of the other people working there) and despite that i've been able to do pretty well there. it's good to see that effort and common sense count for something. also the fact of the matter is that tomorrow is more about knowing where to get the information rather than having the information on hand.
  • "Movie mogul Steven Spielberg brought together a team of renowned futurists to make sure his concepts for the film Minority Report could actually be possible in the year 2054. The 28-strong panel, who took over suites at swanky Santa Monica, California, hotel Shutters at Spielberg's expense, agreed with the director's ideas--and came up with a few of their own. Spielberg explains, "They came up with this analytical toilet that would catch and evaluate what went down and automatically adjust your diet. I couldn't find a place for that."" sounds like a good idea.
  • wyclef is set to release a new album this month.


    • 6-10-02 (23:26)

  • updated movies list.
  • played some basketball today. the sooner in life you realize that all you have is yourself the better off you'll be.
  • my back gave me more trouble than usual today.
  • i really like the "raw sienna" album by savoy brown. it's hard to believe that they're british because they sound so american.
  • august should have some good dvd releases - super troopers and simpsons season 2 among them.
  • specs for lord of the rings super special 4 disc dvd:
  • Discs One & Two - The Film
  • A unique, 208-minute version of the epic adventure (with over 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film and new music scored by Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore) in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) with Dolby Digital EX 5.1, DTS ES 6.1 and Stereo Surround audio, four audio commentaries by the director and writers, the design team, the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants (including Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Academy Award winners Richard Taylor, Andrew Lesnie, Howard Shore, Jim Rygiel, Randy Cook… and many more).
  • Disc Three - From Book to Vision
  • Includes features on adapting the book into a screenplay an planning the film, designing and building Middle-earth, storyboards to pre-visualization, a visit to the Weta Workshop (an up-close look at the weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures from the film), an Atlas of Middle-earth (tracing the journey of the Fellowship), an interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process, galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists, a guided tour of the wardrobe department, footage from early meetings, moving storyboards and pre-visualization reels and much more.
  • Disc Four - From Vision to Reality
  • Includes features on bringing the characters to life, a look at a day in the life of a hobbit, principal photography: stories from the set, Scale: creating the illusion of size, galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos, editorial and visual effects multi-angle progressions, a sound design demonstration and much more.
  • need sleep.


    • 6-10-02 (03:02)

  • well the nets had a chance, not a very good one, not a well-earned one, but they had one. they should win the next one because there's nothing on the line but pride and then they'll lose game five.
  • played basketball by myself today. it was okay. shooting is a lot better when you have someone to share rebounding responsibilities with. there are four hoops at the school a few minutes from my place. at least two of them are only about 9 feet high, one seemed about 9.5 feet high and one was definitely a genuine 10 footer. it's an elementary school so that isn't all that odd.
  • updated movies list.
  • weather has been fickle lately. last couple days have been really windy, before that it was really hot. don't know which one i dislike more. both make it a pain to play basketball or go outside in general. i'm not a very allergic person, but the wind as bad as it's been has made me sneeze some and my nose is a little stuffy.
  • it's too late to be awake. i need to pick up a copy of last week's sacramento bee so i need to drive to sacramento.
  • watched the belmont stakes the other day...it was pretty lame overall.
  • i think shaq is literally retarded.
  • "MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Like Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali before him, Mike Tyson has discovered he is no longer invincible." one question for you...did mike tyson ever beat anyone good? not really. louis, ali, and tyson were all black male boxers and that's where their similarities end.


    • 6-9-02 (18:00)

  • the nets suck and they insulted sacramento today in several player interviews. justice will be served because they're going to lose in 5 games.


    • 6-8-02 (00:48)

  • updated movies list.
  • saw mike bibby and chris webber on jay leno tonight. they're both great guys.
  • tomorrow is my friday.
  • it's a big weekend for sports....triple crown, lewis/tyson, nba playoffs, stanley cup playoffs, martinez/schilling, world cup soccer...
  • "Actor Woody Harrelson was wrestled to the ground and arrested by fourteen police officers who chased him Thursday after he allegedly went berserk in a London taxi. The Natural Born Killers star is said to have smashed up the cab's door, breaking a window and lock, before forcing his way out, hailing another cab and speeding off. The first taxi driver gave pursuit before calling police, who eventually intercepted Harrelson's cab. The 40-year-old star then fled on foot before finally being tackled and restrained by the officers in West London in the early hours of Thursday morning. He was arrested on suspicion of causing $420 worth of damage to the cab and spent the night in a cell before being freed on bail. Taxi driver Les Dartnell said he was hailed by Harrelson outside the trendy China White nightclub in central London. Harrelson was with a female companion but got in alone and asked to be taken back to his hotel. But moments later Les, 44, heard a loud crack. He says, "I turned round and he was kicking the inside of my taxi. He had suddenly gone completely bonkers. He was kicking the glass and trying to get out. I tried to find a space to pull over but he had already yanked back the door and broken it." Police will now send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who will decide if there will be charges. Harrelson must also report back to Belgravia police station on July 1. Harrelson refused to comment on the alleged fracas."
  • no respect for that idiot. everyone knows he's a big propenent for the legalization of pot and this incident probably doesn't help his cause...funny that he caused $420 worth of damage to the cab. 420 huh huh huh.
  • "The security chief at the store where Winona Ryder was arrested on shoplifting charges mistook her for a homeless person at first. As the preliminary hearing in the case resumed Thursday, Kenneth Evans, the security manager at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, also said six anti-theft sensor tags that had been cut off of merchandise were found concealed in the store after Ryder's arrest. Evans testified he found four of the tags stuffed in the pockets of a designer coat, three of them still bearing material and cut-out marks that matched two handbags and a hair bow that had been found in Ryder's possession when she was arrested. He said the two other tags turned up in the chair padding of a fitting room that the Girl, Interrupted, star had used on the day. Store security officer Colleen Rainey also testified, telling the court that she saw Ryder cut security tags from merchandise. She said, "She was using a pair of scissors. She cut a sensor tag off the black ... purse and a handbag." Ryder, 30, has pleaded innocent to shoplifting and drug possession charges stemming from her December 12 arrest. The Heathers star, who has remained free on bail, was accused of trying to steal goods worth about $4,800. Evans testified that when he first noticed Ryder on store video cameras, "I thought she was a homeless person." In questioning Evans, Geragos suggested security personnel had targeted the film star, but Evans denied that was the case. Late Thursday, the judge in the case decided there's enough evidence to move the trial from a preliminary hearing to an arraignment. The movie star and her legal team must now decide whether she's going to plead guilty or not guilty when an arraignment date is set."
  • no respect for that idiot either, or her best friend courtney love.
  • "Jennifer Lopez's marriage to Cris Judd is over, according to a published reports. What's more, J.Lo has reportedly returned to the arms of her famous ex, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. So says Cindy Adams in Friday's New York Post, who breaks down the marriage thusly: "Cris Judd was handsome, available and a quick stand-in when Puffy's legal problems were overwhelming. They are now underwhelming. And so, thinks J.Lo, is Cris Judd." Rumours of marital strife have dogged the superstar and her dancer-choreographer hubby since they tied the knot last year, with friends suggesting Judd is sick of being "Mr. Lopez" and reporting arguments between the couple concerning his choice of female company while she is out of the country on promotional duties. Combs, a mogul who is used to getting his own way, has made no secret of his continuing affection for his ex, describing their new-found friendship as "more than cool". The Puerto Rican actress/singer married Cuban barman Ojani Noa in 1998, but the marriage lasted under a year."
  • "Despite being brought up a Catholic and claiming to be a Buddhist, Penelope Cruz appears to be adopting her boyfriend Tom Cruise's controversial religion Scientology. The Captain Corelli's Mandolin actress visited the West Hollywood Scientology Center with her friend Ryan Haddon, wife of actor Christian Slater. Cruz may be adopting Cruise's religion in a bid to secure their reportedly rocky relationship. One of the alleged factors in the disintegration of Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage was Kidman's aversion to bringing up their children Connor and Isabella in the L. Ron Hubbard-created faith."
  • cruise and cruz, that's just great.
  • that's all the news that's fit to print on this webpage. real stories about people who get rich and don't change at all. it's amazing how simple these people are; not to bash white people or anything, but all of these people are such "white trash." i, on the other hand, am infinitely complex.
  • finally saw bully today, it was lame compared to kids.
  • listened to a seinfeld stand up routine on cd today, he's a funny guy.


    • 6-7-02 (01:10)

  • updated movies list.


    • 6-6-02 (01:17)

  • it cracked 100 degrees today.
  • watched a good episode of south park today.


    • 6-5-02 (01:06)

  • james informed me today that he is trying to get me a raise. that's both unexpected and pretty nice of him.
  • it's super hot inside my room right now. hopefully i'll be able to sleep.
  • if all goes well i should be able to get my speakers this month.
  • saw part of the hockey game tonight...it wasn't as exciting as the final score (3-2 in OT) might indicate.


    • 6-4-02 (00:41)

  • "For the first time, the Bush administration has acknowledged, in a report to the U.N., that climate change is most likely caused by human activity and will have far-reaching effects on the American environment. Although the report marks a significant shift in the administration's rhetoric -- Bushies had heretofore maintained the need for more research before drawing conclusions about climate change -- it is unlikely to precipitate a corresponding change in policy. Rather than recommending reductions in greenhouse gases to control global warming, the report suggests adapting to the inevitable, including heat waves, the disruption of snow-fed water supplies, and the permanent loss of Rocky Mountain meadows and some coastal marshes. The conclusions aren't pleasing anyone; industries that produce or depend on fossil fuels feel somewhat betrayed by President Bush, while environmentalists are excoriating the administration for acknowledging a problem while refusing to help solve it."
  • depression has settled in now that i basically have one friend in davis, the kings lost, and i'm doing nothing with my life. i don't know why, but i've never been much of a go-getter.
  • seinfeld is a great show, i only wish they would release it on dvd.
  • fixed my screen so it won't fall out of my window anymore.
  • went shopping for groceries today. also bought shoes because the last pair i bought sucked beyond belief.
  • i should have played basketball today, but it was hot, i was lazy, and i haven't found a good place within walking distance to play.
  • cleaned my room.
  • wanting to win a game is so much more simple than wanting to do well in life. a) in life doing well is completely subjective, in a game it isn't. b) games take place over a shorter time period. c) it's easier to adopt winning strategies in a game than it is in life. in the former you're merely changing your actions for strategic purposes, in the latter you have to force yourself to change the way you've been living for x number of years.
  • tracks 5 and 6 on the chemical brothers album are probably my favorite.
  • "Back in March, Eric Schaeffer made a big media splash by resigning after years as head of enforcement at the U.S. EPA over differences with the Bush administration's environmental policies.  But the truth is that Schaeffer was just the tip of the iceberg.  From senior career administrators to lawyers to leading scientists, a number of longtime, highly respected officials have left environmental jobs in the administration in protest.  Take James Furnish, a politically conservative deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service with more than 30 years of experience, who left over the administration's pro-development philosophy and unwillingness to listen to other perspectives.  Or Martha Hahn, Idaho state director for the Bureau of Land Management, who quit after she was told that she would be transferred to a previously nonexistent job in New York.  Or former EPA staff attorney Michele Merkel, who submitted her resignation papers because of EPA Administrator Christie Whitman's decisions to play down enforcement in favor of voluntary compliance.  White House officials chalk up the resignations to the usual staff tensions when a new administration takes over, but environmentalists see a more telling trend."
  • i wish christie would have made a couple more shots in the game against the lakers.
  • watched part of the noam chomsky dvd "manufacturing consent" today. it wasn't as good as i expected. the usual stuff about the media manufacturing consent so that the populous remains ignorant and apathetic. sadly i don't know or care about any of that stuff.
  • i pledged three different times to kdvs this year and i've only gotten one of my premium packages. when i called today they said that my other two packages should arrive shortly. the guy i talked with seemed nice...i asked him if he wanted to get together and play some basketball, but he said he wasn't gay. i told him that it would be a strictly heterosexual encounter and he agreed. when i met him at the courts he was wearing pink l.a. gear shoes and a black tank top. i immediately returned home to watch tv. har har.
  • tomorrow i work until 7pm.
  • luke is a funny guy.
  • thought about watching "we were soldiers" tonight, but then i realized it was probably a horrible movie and would be a waste of my valuable time. also thought about watching star wars, but realized that i didn't really feel like watching it today. ended up watching a show on discovery about super massive blackholes. then i watched seinfeld and then i watched this old house. it was the greatest two hours of tv viewing since yesterday.
  • i did 100 pushups after the kings won game 5. my upper body hurt for a while after that stunt.
  • i like and respect chris webber for too many reasons to list here.
  • i remember when i was a young tike and michigan was playing north carolina for the ncaa basketball championship. my dad and i were in hawaii with my grandfather that week and my grandfather offered me a bet - he would bet $20 against the team i thought would win. i picked michigan and so he had his money on NC. i remember only two things about the actual game a) towards the end of the game NC had the lead and my grandfather said "looks like my niggers are better than yours, i thought it was less than funny. and b) chris webber, playing for michigan, called a time out when trapped by the defense...unfortunately they didn't have a time out to call so it counted as a technical foul and that play sealed michigan's loss and my becoming $20 poorer. for a while after that i hated chris webber and my grandfather, but in the case of chris webber the hate was based upon a simple mistake and i eventually forgave him for this. several years later i was fated to end up in the same city as him and with our rocky history behind us we were able to forge a new future...him as a kings player and me as a kings, and thus chris webber, fan. this year we shared another loss together, this one far more important and weighted than the lost...more invested and more lost, but i have faith that we'll rise from this defeat as we did from the last one. this kind of thing, after all, builds character.
  • i never expected that 20w-50 oil would be the suggested type for my bug, but i suppose it makes sense considering how hot it gets on account of it being air-cooled and all. i always used 5w-30 because my dad used sae30 and i figured that in davis it would be nice to have the multigrade considering it consistently gets much cooler here than it does in la. but after asking my mechanic and double checking that with the vw newsgroup i've been informed that 20w-50 is the way to go.
  • look up mario caldato jr. on allmusic.com and you will see how cool that guy is.
  • why is it that a lot of parents look at the day(s) they had their child(ren) as among the greatest of their life? all it took was a couple minutes of sex to make happen. is it that it represents the begining of a great responsibility or is it that they were so influenced by society and biology that they determined their worth on passing on their genes?
  • bibby is a franchise player. i remember being in nyc when i heard that chris webber was going to stay in sacramento and that we traded jason williams and got mike bibby. i can't say that i was ecstatic about it, but i was definitely optimistic about what that meant for our team. i remember when bibby won the ncaa championship in arizona so i knew he had championship experience/potential. i never thought he would become the goto guy that he has this year, but i never lamented the loss of j. williams in light of what we were getting.
  • i think that the jazz have taught a lot of teams a lot about how to win. phil jackson made it a large part of his coaching career to defend against the pick and roll because of the pick and roll masters stockton and malone. then this year the kings learned how to play a slow tempo game and still find a way to win. despite the fact that the jazz have never won the championship i think they're one of the great teams in nba history.
  • on sunday i saw the 1990 finals game between detroit and portland. rick adelman was the coach and clyde drexler was the star for the blazers back then. it was game two wherein bill lambeer hit a finals record 6 three pointers and despite that effort detroit lost at home in OT. funny that twelve years later in the conference finals rick adelman was on the other end of an overtime loss at home.
  • if there's going to be a nuclear war i hope it happens before the lakers win the championship.
  • gummo has grown on me now that i've had some time to think about it. it's a good movie for those who can hack it.
  • roy orbison's "crying" is a really good song.


    • 6-2-02 (16:01)

  • 30 minutes before the biggest basketball game in my basketball watching career.
  • updated movies list.
  • can't believe what happened in the detroit/colorado game. roy choked big for the first time in his career.
  • bought 6 cds yesterday for 47 bucks, that's pretty good.
  • got a new chain for my bike. washed my bike as well because the pine tree outside drips sap on it all the time.

    • kings by three.

    5-31-02 (00:17)

  • updated movies list. finally got around to watching gummo.
  • work was mostly boring today.


    • 5-29-02 (00:48)

  • as hard to take as the last kings game was, this game made up for it. the kings really didn't play all that well either. bobby jackson had a mostly shitty game, christie had a really bad game, webber and divac had trouble from the line, scot pollard didn't have an impact at all, peja wasn't able to get anything going offensively and with the hurt ankle was a defensive liability. meanwhile both the laker superstars played what i thought were their best games of the series and rick fox also had his highest scoring game of the series. despite all that we were able to pull it off. i think that we played really really smart ball. as soon as peja came in everyone knew that fox was going to test him defensively and on the first possession he went right after peja, but bibby helped on defense and he forced a turnover. little stuff like that wins games. i've been impressed with the play and leadership of divac this playoff year. he really has acted as the elder statesman of the team and has been the coach on the court for us. that, and webber being willing to defer to bibby as the goto guy (and bibby's eagerness to take on that responsibility), has been the major difference in the laker series this year vs. last year. marv albert came up with the statistic that (before tonight) the kings had led in all but 30 of the last 7200 seconds against the lakers.
  • the new eminem album has been selling really well since it came out on saturday. i have respect for eminem.
  • jon came by tower today and we had lunch.
  • harry potter came out today. i don't plan on buying it, but i do plan on buying the lord of the rings dvd.
  • according to james (and he's been in record sales for 10 years) the best opening week cd he can remember was the beastie boys' "hello nasty..." it sold 500 units on the first day. in four days the eminem album has done about 130 units at a smaller store. to give you an idea about how big that is...a big new release at our store will usually do around 50 units in a the first week...alanis's last album did probably about 75 the new weezer album probably did about the same.


    • 5-28-02 (00:01)

  • the kings loss on sunday was easily the worst loss i've ever experienced. i was truly depressed after the game. thanks to some music therapy i was able to recover, but that loss still remains one of the more nightmarish events in my life. i know you probably think that's lame, but it's true.
  • updated movies list.
  • saw spiderman today with johnny. we also played some frisbee and basketball. i was awful at basketball.
  • been getting hotter lately.
  • life is a waiting game these days.


    • 5-26-02 (01:17)

  • updated movies list. finally saw amelie.
  • look for the back to the future dvds around thanksgiving.
  • interesting day at work.
  • went to see insomnia, but it was sold out, might check it out tomorrow.
  • hopefully i can play basketball with johnny and the get fresh crew tomorrow.
  • listened to blackalicious, hella, james brown, tool, tom waits, ratm, and matthew shipp today. it was a good music day. can't wait till i can take the hella cd home....it should be in the listening station for only a couple more weeks at work and then i can have it.
  • i've broken down and decided to just download the new ratm project with chris cornell. since their labels are sitting around doing nothing and since the band has already broken up i don't know if the cd will ever be released. thankfully it's out there to be downloaded. i think this will be the only full album i have ever downloaded


    • 5-23-02 (00:45)

  • watched the season finale of the simpsons tonight.
  • didn't get to see the end of the hockey game because i fell asleep, but i heard that detroit won in overtime.
  • got the new tom waits albums today. also finally took home my copy of the new chemical brothers album.
  • don't know if i'll get around to watching spiderman.
  • got in (from netflix) chomsky's 'manufacturing consent' on dvd the other day, it's really long so i'll have to watch it when i'm not tired and on a day when i don't close
  • " Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and MK2 have teamed up for a historic partnership to fully restore and reinvigorate the works of the film master Charlie Chaplin. Starting in the spring of 2003, the companies will release eighteen of Chaplin's films from 1925 through 1958. Each film will be meticulously restored and released with the prestige and supplements of any current blockbuster including behind the scenes footage and other peeks behind the scenes. Although a few Chaplin films are currently available from various distributors with excellent quality, the majority of his work is either unavailable or poorly done on video. Of particular interest is the release of the 1925 silent film "The Gold Rush". Although the 1942 version of this film is currently available from Image, no decent version of the original film with proper scoring and placards is available on DVD. Each film will come with among other features, a thirty minute documentary created exclusively for the DVDs exploring each film with as much detail as possible. "The Great Dictator" will also come with a 47 minute retrospective look at the works of Chaplin."
  • i no longer receive email from my deeptht account. use chris@aptpupil.org from now on.
  • "Is the Ivory Tower built from sustainable materials?  Increasingly, the answer is yes.  College campuses, long regarded as bastions of left-leaning life, are becoming promoters of sustainable development. Oberlin College recently completed a comprehensive study of how to reduce pollution from its operations, the State University of New York at Buffalo spent $17 million to retrofit buildings with energy-efficient technology that will save it $9 million per year in utility bills, and Stanford University is spending $3.2 million on an entirely off-the-grid new building.  Meanwhile, 275 universities worldwide have signed the Talloires Declaration, which commits its parties to incorporate sustainability and environmental literacy into teaching, research, operations, and outreach.  That's good news, because in many communities, universities are some of the biggest developers, always at work on a new dormitory, research facility, or alumni center."
  • "As the fifth highest waterfall on the planet, Yosemite Falls is one of the world's most photographed natural wonders -- and the area around it is one of the most heavily tromped, trampled, and otherwise degraded.  The falls attract about 3 million visitors per year, which has lead to despoiled trails, jam-packed parking lots, and overcrowded bathrooms.  All that could change courtesy of a two-year, $12.5 million restoration plan announced yesterday.  Under the plan, a loop trail around the falls will be restored, access for the disabled and restroom facilities will be improved, and the parking lot by the falls will be removed.  (Visitors will instead park at a central facility and be shuttled to the waterfall by bus.)  The restoration is the first stage in the Yosemite Valley Plan, a blueprint for relieving traffic congestion and restoring the wonders of the national park."
  • i plan on saving the world one ribbon at a time.
  • "After years of foreign control, East Timor became the world's newest nation this week.  Now the country must rise from the ashes wrought by years of brutal domination by Indonesia -- and it hopes to do so in part by capitalizing on its abundant natural beauty to attract eco-tourists.  Currently, East Timor is the poorest country in Asia, but revenue from scuba diving, mountain trekking, biking, and other outdoor pursuits could become the island-nation's lifeblood, according to Craig Wilson, an economic policy adviser who helped draw up a development plan for the new nation.  But there are some catches to the plan:  East Timor is not easy to get to, prices are higher than in nearby vacation destination Bali, and, unsurprisingly, there have been virtually zero foreign travelers in recent years, so the nation must start from scratch to build a tourist base."


    • 5-22-02 (00:42)

  • i think i like "nia" more than "blazing arrow," but i reserve the right to change my mind about that. i'm glad that blackalicious spelled "blazing" with a "g" rather than just truncating it with an apostrophe.
  • work has been overly dramatic lately. elanda is leaving so the reign of terror is soon to end.
  • it's funny how much of a different experience going to a game is from viewing it at home. at home the stats are readily available, commentators are constantly giving you insight and their judgements of how each team and their players are playing, as well as their opinion on the calls that the refs are making. i mention this because watching the kings game last night i didn't notice that horry grabbed 20 rebounds and didn't think that refs made bad calls when it came to the 3 offensive fouls that shaq got. but when i watched sportscenter today all they were talking about was shaq whining about the calls and phil crying to the same effect. i'll admit that one of the calls wasn't an offensive foul, but the other two were offensive fouls and there were probably other non-calls which could have been called as offensive fouls. the most revealing thing said in the postgame interview was "there's only one way to beat us - it starts with a "c" and ends in "t."" ...cheat. that really shows how far he's come as a thinker and as a person. it's too bad he hasn't had any impetus to mature...in this regard he reminds me of mike tyson.
  • talked with an eleven year old boy at tower today. he was selling a couple cds so i chatted with him a bit. i noticed he was wearing a lakers beanie so i naturally gave him a hard time about that. he asked about the beastie boys, but didn't have enough money to buy any of their albums so i suggested blackalicious and he ended up buying that. i'm happy that i was able to point him towards blackalicious (positive and thoughtful hip-hop) as opposed to linkin park (angry and mostly retarded rap/rock). kids can be fun.
  • rained a lot sunday and monday. it even hailed at one point on monday. i think it'll be clear and warm tomorrow though.
  • "i get all the news i need on the weather report." - paul simon.
  • if not for the steady snacking on ice cream i would be able to say that i've been eating pretty well lately.
  • my fantasy baseball team sucks big time.
  • i don't really care all that much about star wars or spiderman.
  • saw vern walking across the street today. he was with his girlfriend and was wearing a beret. he didn't come across the street to visit me, but i can't say that i blame him.
  • i wonder how long it'll take before the corporations realize it's a waste of their time, money, and effort to try stopping piracy. anyone who knows anything knows that no matter what they do it's going to be hacked in a matter of days. windows 95 was hacked 2 weeks before it was even released. that means that you could get it for free on the internet before you could buy it legally. the same is true for most music and movies. right now you could download the newest star wars movie, burn it to dvd and watch it in your suv if you had the right software and hardware. i, with a five year old computer and windows 98, could download it and view it on my computer. for every genius programmer 'they' have working to stop piracy, there are a thousand hackers working to hack into whatever it is they don't want us to have. it's so obvious i shouldn't have even spent this much time talking about it, yet they don't seem to get it - yet.


    • 5-21-02 (00:37)

  • the game was really exciting. worth every penny. bobby jackson stepped up, webber had his problems from the line, we kept up pressure on the offensive end, and did a pretty good job of limiting shaq. he got 35 points, which is a lot, but he didn't elevate the play of his teammates the way he usually does. usually he'll score around 30 and he'll make the defense collapse on him which will create good three point opportunities for his teammates, that didn't happen as much today and that's a good sign. hopefully predrag can come back in game three. neither team played to their potential, but it was still a good and exciting game.
  • updated movies list.
  • commercials provide a good study of our culture.


    • 5-19-02 (17:58)

  • updated movies list.
  • listening to the new blackalicious album. blackalicious are one of the few bright spots in mainstream hip-hop these days. just check out some of the credits for this album: Mario Caldato, Jr. (the fourth beastie boy) -  Engineer, Zack de la Rocha (of RATM)  -  Vocals,  Ben Harper  -  Guitar, Vocals, Producer, Money Mark  -  Organ, Piano, DJ Shadow  -  Producer, Mixing DJ Babu (of Dilated Peoples) -  Cut, Cut Chemist  -  Scratching, Producer, Cut, Miho Hatori  -  Vocals, Lateef the Truth Speaker - Vocals, Lyrics Born - Vocals, Gil Scott  -  Vocals, and Saul Williams  -  Vocals.
  • going to the kings game tomorrow, look for us in the nose bleed seats.
  • Lakers 36, 22, 24, 24
  • Kings 22, 23, 24, 30 take away the first quarter and the kings win by 7, rather than losing by seven. i think that the fact that they beat the lakers in three out of four quarters is a very good sign (especially since, unlike the spurs, it was the last three rather than the first three.) game two will be exciting and i'm pretty confident that we'll come out swinging.
  • rained quite a bit today, that was surprising.
  • updated moviesiown list. updated cdlist.


    • 5-17-02 (01:14)

  • "Move over, Great Barrier Reef:  Coral researchers recently discovered what they think is the most valuable reef cluster in the world. Known collectively as Raja Ampat, the reefs are located in a remote archipelago off the coast of Indonesia.  In the course of a two-and-a-half week expedition there, a survey team recorded 972 species -- 283 of them in a single dive.  Gerald Allen, the team's lead researcher, described the species diversity as "mind-boggling"; a colleague who authored the definitive work on corals of the world immediately found seven new species at Raja Ampat.  The reefs owe their spectacular diversity to their location at the intersection of different waters, bringing in species from the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.  Moreover, the area is flushed with cooler waters that help protect against coral bleaching, an increasing threat to reefs worldwide.  Still, scientists warn that even these remote reefs are threatened by illegal fishing and illegal logging, which causes soil erosion and silting that can choke living coral."
  • "Apparently spooked by a recent history of devastating floods and blinding sandstorms, China has unveiled a plan to plant trees on almost 200,000 square miles of land in an effort to reverse rampant deforestation.  The plan, which Chinese officials call the largest conservation effort ever attempted, will cost an estimated $12 billion over 10 years and restore trees to an area larger than Germany.  In the last century, that much land and more has been cleared by the agriculture and timber industries, paving the way for erosion, desertification, and other environmental woes.  According to Lei Jiafu, deputy chief of the state forestry administration, China settled on the "unprecedented" reforesting effort after smaller-scale attempts to improve the environment were unsuccessful.  The plan will also create protected reserves for pandas, Tibetan antelopes, and rare orchids.  Sounds good, but skeptics point to China's overwhelming rural poverty and question whether state subsides for turning croplands to forests will be sufficient to support families and reverse deforestation trends."


    • 5-16-02 (12:16)

  • yesterday johnny was in davis so we ended up playing baseketball with nic and vern. we had a few good games and i wish we could do it more often, but johnny and vern are both leaving to back to santa cruz by the end of this month.
  • it was the first time in months that any of us had played basketball and it certainly showed. hopefully i can make it out to the courts more often.
  • i really need to get some quarters so i can do my laundry.
  • getting paid tomorrow will be nice.
  • i should get some quality shoes so my feet don't ache so much after playing basketball or standing for eight hours.
  • kings/lakers tickets go on sale tomorrow. i'm working the opening shift so i'll be working the onsale. i think this time i'm going to be selfish and print out the first set of tickets for myself. usually ticketmaster has a way to reserve tickets for yourself if you're working the onsale, but apparently they don't do that for kings tickets.


    • 5-14-02 (23:49)

  • work went by pretty quickly today. finally put away all of the new movie dvds we got in the last couple weeks.
  • updated movies list.
  • san antonio has no heart, hopefully the kings will play to win rather than playing as if they are just happy to be where they are.
  • finally bought the new michael moore book today


    • 5-13-02 (03:00)

  • updated movies list.
  • saw the typical san antonio performance today. that was pathetic as usual.


    • 5-12-02 (01:54)

  • updated movies list.
  • saw the last minute or so of the kings game. what a minute of basketball though. yesterday i caught the last half minute of the boston game which was equally exciting.


    • 5-9-02 (00:39)

  • "If you count yourself among the cell-phone-hating masses (and doesn't almost everyone at least claim to, even if owning one on the sly?), here's more fuel for your fire:  Within three years, Americans alone will discard about 130 million cellular telephones annually, generating 65,000 tons of toxic trash, according to a recent report. On average, cell-phone-owning Americans (135 million of them and counting) hang on to their hi-tech toys for 18 months before tossing them in the garbage, according to Inform, the environmental organization that released the report.  Into the garbage with them (and from there into the landfill) goes an entire alphabet soup of toxins, from arsenic to zinc, that have been associated with cancer and neurological problems, especially in children. The report urges the cell phone industry to expand "take-back" programs so phones and batteries can be recycled, as well as to standardize technical and design features so users don't have to throw their phones away when they switch services."
  • updated movies list.
  • got 'crossroads,' 'the royal tenenbaums,' and 'amelie' on vhs today...advance screening copies. crossroads should prove to be a laugh a minute.
  • word on the street is that star wars episode two is better than episode one.
  • dave chappelle made the joke one time in reference to monica lewinsky..."you know you're a big shot when the person who sucks your dick becomes famous." the same could be said about the star wars films. the trailers for the films are more important than a lot of movies are. in fact when the trailer for the first episode came out there were lots of people who would go to the theater just to see the trailer and then leave. i forget which movie it was that first had the trailers, but i remember that it did a lot better in its first weekend because it had the episode I trailer on it. the star wars series has become the most overly hyped thing in my lifetime. the first three were good, even great, but people really do take it too far. there's a documentary coming out next week called "phandom menace" which is the star wars answer to "trekkies."
  • got the new kdvs t-shirt today.
  • need to pick up another couple hobbies. think i'll start playing basketball too.


    • 5-7-02 (00:25)

  • updated movies list.
  • was pretty productive today. keeping busy helps me stay distracted. living life well is all about distracting yourself. the person who is truly happy with life is probably a pretty busy person (this doesn't mean that if you're busy then you'll be happy with life). i think it would be a challenge to find someone who is really happy with life, but finds all sorts of free time on their hands.
  • i need some compressed air, this weekend i've had at least three different times when it would have come in handy. it's too bad compressed air is so expensive.
  • kept myself busy by changing the oil on malcolm, getting melanie's bike in working order, remounting the bathroom towel rack so it'll be more stable, and reworking the cooling system for my receiver. all and all it amounts to a few small projects to keep the day moving along.
  • tomorrow ocean's eleven and waking life come out on dvd. i plan on purchasing both of those fine movies, though probably not until i get paid next.
  • bought a new saddle for my bike. the old one is now on melanie's bike. i don't think she's actually going to do much bike riding so i might find it becoming my bike soon enough.
  • watched boston public on tv tonight. that was a mistake; it almost always is.
  • kurt vonnegut is a funny guy. he thinks semicolons are useless; i think i agree with him in that respect.
  • i get a lot of positive feedback on my car these days. ever since it was painted i've had people stop to say they like it. before it looked like a piece of shit and ran like it. now it looks great and still runs like a piece of shit. there are several things which need to get done before the car operates as well as it looks...transmission needs to be worked on (maybe rebuilt?), valves probably need replacing, heater needs to be repaired, interior needs a lot of work, carb will need replacing pretty soon, as will the tires, and there are probably other things which i don't even know about yet.
  • pet sounds is a really good album which i haven't listened to in a while.
  • got this album from some group which consigned a few cds with tower and it's really good. along the lines of boards of canada whatever you would call that kind of music (idm, ambient techno, i don't really know).
  • there's probably going to be a demand for postal workers now that someone has taken up the distribution of pipe bombs.
  • i've always been fascinated by serial killers and people working covertly to enact political/social change. the unabomber definitely interests me. it's strange how someone can put forth such a small effort towards killing and they get noticed so much more than someone who puts forth far more effort toward the opposite cause. but then no one really takes people who use violence seriously so any message they try to bring is usually lost, unless it's in a war and there's a massive indoctrination campaign after success...the u.s. defeating japan for example. we made forced them into submission so much that they now regularly kick our ass at our own games (baseball and capitalism).
  • i think todd solondz brings the truth that most people don't want to acknowledge, in that respect i can relate to him.
  • made some good breakfast burritos today.
  • i wish i was a famous basketball player so that after ever victory when i was interviewed i could thank jesus for my victory, then the next game after our victory i would thank buddha for his infinite guiding wisdom, and the next game i would thank allah for shining his grace upon me. every new victory i would change my religion and thank another diety which really had nothing to do with my shit being brown or my team winning that game. granted no one would take me seriously and hardly anyone would get the point, or find it funny, but it would be fun for me.
  • have to work at 10am tomorrow.
  • i like the new moby album, even though it's nothing different and isn't as good as "play."


    • 5-6-02 (13:00)

  • woke up on the reasonable side today. need to finish changing the oil on the bug and fixing up melanie's new (used) bike.


    • 5-6-02 (01:12)

  • updated movies list.
  • hilary swank looks better as a boy than as herself.
  • watched the inevitable happen with the laker game. they are a truly boring team to watch, not because they don't make games interesting, but because once you watch them enough you know the outcome and so it becomes like watching a tape of the twin towers falling. it's sad, you know how it turns out, and yet you hope that the next time you watch it'll end up different. despite the first quarter lead of 10 and the injuries of both kobe and shaq i knew the spurs would find a way to blow it...and of course they did. i feel sorry for david robinson because he'll likely have to watch this year's sweep from the bench.
  • the celtics provide more entertainment. after watching the first round i think that it's going to be either boston or detroit who ends up facing the lakers. boston is one good center away from a really quality team. dallas should be fun to watch in the next few years. i don't think they have what it takes to beat the kings this year, but i think they have a good squad and could end up being perennial second place finishers in the years to come.
  • the utah jazz may be the most underrated team in nba history. i think consistency has to count for something and they certainly are one of the most consistent franchises of all-time...18 straight playoff appearances speaks for itself.
  • sean penn doesn't impress me.
  • the simpsons tonight was good. there was one point where apu was having an affair with some woman in the back room of his store and he said "ooh baby you feel like you've had less than eight children." (remember that his wife had octuplets) it was pretty awful, but funny.
  • last work week went by pretty quickly. james has been keeping me busy with new tasks...thursday i worked on consignment product/paperwork and friday i was the receiving clerk because elanda was gone.
  • special edition pulp fiction dvd is going to come out this year. Paramount has officially confirmed that the Indiana Jones films WILL NOT be released on DVD this year.
  • so harry potter did 90 million it its first three days and now spiderman has done 114 million in its first three days. the more previews i see for spider-man the less i want to see it. it looks really retarded.
  • kazaa seems better than the new more-fee-us.


    • 5-1-02 (21:12)

  • updated movies list. saw the newest todd solondz movie...it has mike schank in it which was a nice surprise.
  • fantasy baseball league is filled with self-serving facists. might have to dissolve my team by picking up shitty players and dropping good ones...it would make things interesting for everyone else.
  • we have a new ordering system at work now. it's mostly automated so i guess i'll lose part of my duties, which means i'll be bored more often. we have about 2300 dvds in stock right now, our optimum is 2250 (as set by the head office) and the automated system has put in an order for another 1000+ dvds. needless to say the system has its flaws already. we don't have space for 3300 dvds so i'm not sure what we're going to do. i got to see a list of some of the titles the computer felt we needed and the vast majority of them are truly awful films. not much i can do once the people up top get these crazy ideas in their heads.
  • rained yesterday.
  • april went by pretty quickly.
  • got a new tv the other day. tvs these days are really cheap. 10 dvds at regular price equals the price of one tv. when you put it that way it seems even cheaper.
  • i like watching 'this old house.'
  • could buy tickets for the usually impossible kings games now that i work at tower (which doubles as a ticketmaster outlet). the tickets for the saturday game go onsale early friday morning. i could buy a ticket before i even opened the store, if i really wanted to. i have to work saturday and i don't really have money so i don't think i'll end up buying any tickets, but it's nice to have first crack at it. the monday game is much more of a possibility since i have mondays off and it starts at 6pm.
  • the sixers/celtics game five should be fun.
  • moby seems to be a big simpsons fan - that's gotta count for something.
  • my memory is awful.

    • i suppose it's bed time.

    4-25-02 (01:17)

  • updated movies list.
  • 90% (27/30) of the movies i've seen in the last month have been new to me.
  • i don't think a question should ever hurt a person. if it does then it means you haven't asked it of yourself already and that means you've been sleeping on the job.
  • there are only four movies on the afi top 100 movie list which aren't on dvd or aren't in production for eventually being release on dvd...grapes of wrath is one of them, it's also one that's (in my opinion) within the top 15 of the movies which made the list. in other words chris miller once again gets the shaft.
  • work a closing shift tomorrow...my only closing shift of the week. today went by really quickly since there was plenty to do. at one point erin, while three supervisors were in the same room, looked at a pile of papers and said "oh, look at this, all this stuff is supposed to go on sale today. well, i'm not going to touch it. har har har." after that he went back to picking his nose and walking in circles (only a slight exageration).
  • got the hook up on the newest john paul jones cd. updated cdlist.


    • 4-23-02 (02:58)

  • updated movies list.
  • watched two basketball games and the kings hockey game today. all the games were good, but the hockey game was the most exciting since i had a vested interest. went shopping, watched a movie, painted the newest lamp i'm making and that was all. on the whole i had a lame day off.
  • tomorrow, it turns out, i'll have another day off because the person who's shift on sunday i took would rather have tuesday off than thursday.
  • i think it has finally settled in that you can't change other people and their actions, you can only change your reactions to their actions. take a basketball game for example...if someone fouls me and the ref doesn't call it then i could spend time complaining or trying to find justice or i can continue to play my game unaffected by it. this has become especially evident to me since i started working with elanda. constantly things happen in the workplace which are not to her liking ranging from people taking her pen or box opener to more legitimate complaints. but no matter what it is she spends copious amounts of time and effort complaining, talking and worrying about what other people are doing and doing to her. she doesn't see it as someone being unthoughtful about which pen they take, but rather as an attack on her and her space. i try to inform her that people aren't really going to change (especially when the complaints are directed to them) and that it would be better if she just learned to deal with things differently. maybe my way of looking at things is just a sad product of today's complacent society.
  • in 1993 jim carrey, who at the time was a little known, mostly unsuccessful, actor,  wrote himself a check for 10 million dollars and post-dated it one year. in 1994 ace ventura, the mask, and dumb & dumber made him rich enough to actually honor that check. when most people hear that story they think it's pretty cool that he was able to set such a goal for himself and succeed as he did. but if in 1994 jim carrey was peddling for change in front of a movie theater and we heard that same story we would have thought him to be a dreamer, at best, and delusional and psychotic at worst. i wonder what that says about society.
  • it's almost four so i should get some sleep.


    • 4-22-02 (00:35)

  • "The stats are out on global temperatures for March -- and both the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agree that the month was a scorcher.  How hot?  The hottest March on the historical record and the 71st month in a row that global temperatures exceeded the 1971-2000 mean.  Whew. If the trend continues, 2002 will top 1998 as the hottest year on record; so far, the heat has contributed to severe dust storms in Asia and widespread coral bleaching in the South Pacific."
  • "In the absence of federal leadership on climate change issues, New Hampshire yesterday passed a precedent-setting bill to curb global warming.  The measure, which was approved 21-2 by the state Senate, was supported by a broad bipartisan coalition, the state's largest environmental groups, and its largest utility, Public Service Company of New Hampshire.  It would require Public Service to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels (about a 3 percent reduction) by 2007, as well as cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 75 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 70 percent.  If the utility failed to meet those targets, it could buy credits from out-of-state utilities that had cleaned up their acts.  The company estimates that compliance would cost about $5 million per year and add about 40 cents per month to customers' electric bills.  Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) promised to sign the bill and urged other states -- especially those upwind of New Hampshire -- to pass similar measures."
  • spent about 30 minutes today looking over my baseball team and figured out how the scoring works....i'm used to an absolute scoring system, but this one is a relative one which makes it more interesting and, i think, more time consuming.
  • updated cdlist. updated moviesiown list.
  • "you just have to remember that whatever the people think is right is right, even if it isn't" ahhh yes, the tyranny of democracy.


    • 4-20-02 (23:46)

  • updated movies list.
  • i think humor is better than love. all you need is to laugh. the onion firmly embraces this idea...they make fun of everything and i commend them for that. tom green laughed his way through cancer and made the world a better place in the process.
  • last couple albums i got have been really really good. sun ra is, of course, the shit. boards of canada, despite all the hype, still exceeded expectations. prefuse 73 is pretty great too.
  • if you're going to play an ugly game then you may as well win ugly rather than lose ugly. in other words, i'm glad the kings won today even if they didn't really seem to have their shit together.
  • speaking of not having your shit together...shannon, from work, is as dumb as a sack of hair.
  • got a $50 gift certificate from work for being a good worker. the incentive programs they have at tower are pretty sweet overall.
  • near the end of my tenure at the theater i found the most joy came from traning new hires....after things get to the point where you know how things work and haven't learned anything new in a while then you have to find something to occupy your interest. that could be anything from letting people into the theater for free or training newbies.
  • US Children Getting Majority of Antibiotics From McDonalds
  • too bad about the alice in chains lead singer.
  • haha. these stories are why i stay away from "news."
  • tomorrow i have to work for someone who has a couple midterms this week....so i'll have monday and thursday off this week.
  • "We've got a few things in the works for this afternoon, so be sure to check back for that. In the meantime, we've gotten word that the classic 1983 film Koyaanisqatsi, which depicts life in motion in all its visual splendor, is finally coming to DVD. In late January IRE and MGM reached an amicable agreement that will allow the release of Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi on DVD as early as the Fall of this year, hopefully coordinated with the theatrical release of Naqoyqatsi by Miramax. Naqoyqatsi's release will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Koyaanisqatsi."
  • "Just wanted to jump in here with a cool bit of DVD news. The Washington Post.com today published an interview with Roger and Me director Michael Moore. During the interview, he confirms that the film will be released on DVD this year."
  • rock fucking on.
  • back to the future, all three, might come out late this year.
  • gotta sleep.


    • 4-20-02 (00:52)

  • got about 4 hours of sleep last night. today was really really long. took a long nap after work which will probably mean i won't be able to get any sleep tonight.


    • 4-19-02 (00:26)

  • "Almost 6,000 people will die prematurely from respiratory illness due to emissions from power plants owned by eight utility companies that the Clinton administration sued for violating the Clean Air Act, according to a private report released yesterday.  In addition to the deaths, the report predicted that the pollution would lead to 140,000 asthma attacks and 14,000 cases of acute bronchitis.  Residents of the Midwest and the South will be hit hardest, and the nation's overall productivity will suffer aswell, because Americans will miss an estimated 1.2 million days of work per year due to related health problems.  The energy industry pooh-poohed the study, with one spokesperson calling it the "45 millionth" of its kind and questioning the science behind it.  The report, which was prepared by Abt Associated and paid for by the Rockefeller Family Fund, comes as the Bush administration is lobbying to change the Clean Air Act in ways that environmentalists say would weaken it."
  • i open tomorrow and saturday, but get sunday and monday off. i think that my new schedule will have my days off as sunday and monday.
  • gave myself a haircut yesterday.
  • the last two times i've listened my new ravi shankar album i've preempted it with a couple harrison penned beatles songs.
  • they're going to release two versions of black hawk down...the movie only version and then a few months later the version with commentary and other extras. it seems this trend is not likely to decline any time soon.
  • la kings lost today, that's too bad.
  • somebody quit work the other day, but we have a new person already. did some receiving at work...that was really boring. it seems like i've done most of the things that one can do at tower.
  • "The Heat started the season 5-23, losing 12 consecutive at one point and causing Riley to slam his expensive Hugo Boss watch against a wall in frustration before a game in Houston.


    • The watch shattered into pieces.

    ``I said, 'How are we going to survive this?''' Riley said. ``You have to survive it by being very realistic with it.''

    Jim Jackson hit a game-winning shot to beat the Rockets that night, and Riley picked up the smashed pieces of the watch and handed them to Jackson following the game. The Heat followed with a six-game losing streak, but they started to pick up the pieces of a shattered season soon after."

  • that's poor writing.
  • i need to wake up early tomorrow


    • 4-18-02 (01:33)

  • updated movies list.
  • close nhl games today...all of them won by one goal. saw the overtime pertiod of the detriot game. hockey is a cool sport.
  • saw the kings lose pretty badly. they're not going to be able to beat the lakers this year, again.
  • hear they're going to make a spy kids part two.
  • people spend too much effort trying to save the world when they haven't yet looked inward.
  • i'd like to have a house.
  • i think one reason i was able to enjoy 'the blair witch project' more than most people was because i was oblivious to the hype and advertising that surrounded it. watching the news (particularily entertainment news) has rarely done anything for anyone.


    • 4-16-02 (01:37)

  • updated movies list.
  • i really want koyaanisqatsi to come out on dvd...maybe when the third movie comes out they'll re-release the previous two.
  • got atomic cafe on dvd today, it came out last tuesday. updated moviesiown list.
  • ``We basically have stopped playing,'' Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. ``We're going through the motions, I guess, until the playoffs start. But whoever we face, we'll be swept. There's no way you can flip the switch as we think we can.'' ouch.


    • 4-15-02 (01:21)

  • i work with mostly irresponsible idiots.
  • updated movies list.
  • not really sure what's going on with my fantasy baseball league. i think i made one change in my lineup since the draft and haven't messed with it other than that. i think i have sammy sosa and the infamous korean reliever for seattle, but other than that i couldn't name any of my players. i think marc knows my roster better than i do. really not sure why people wanted me to join the league. johnny claimed that it was to provide some competition for him at the bottom of the ranks, but i think he's in the top three so that doesn't really make much sense. basically anything johnny says about doing poorly i consider to be false...whether it be that he's bad at golf or fantasy baseball. i can't recall a time where he's been right about being bad at something.
  • slept quite well last night.
  • lakers and kings lost tonight. kings clinched first place, but that doesn't really matter because they're still going to face the lakers in the playoffs and have to get that old all too familiar monkey off their collective back. i firmly believe that the kings are a better team than the lakers, but the lakers have two exceptional players who can take over a game at any point.
  • i don't care for baseball all that much unless i'm at the game.
  • sleep time.


    • 4-13-02 (00:32)

  • work was pretty slow today. i have tuesday and wednesday off this week instead of the usual mon. and tues.


    • 4-12-02 (00:21)

  • some good basketball games tonight...three overtime games and two others which were within a couple points. can't believe the outcome of the last two bulls games.
  • tower records sold its japan operations to some japanese bank or corporation or something, but the management is going to remain intact and it'll still be run as tower records so i suppose that should help tower corporate focus more on its domestic operations.
  • poor sam.
  • i haven't been listening to as much music as i would like these days because i've been watching more movies than usual. 100 days into the year i've seen 65 movies which isn't bad considering the slow start and the fact that i work full time.
  • i should get some sleep.


    • 4-11-02 (02:37)

  • updated movies list. se7en is a great great movie.
  • april 19th is car free day so try not to use your car that day, or maybe carpool with co-workers or something along those lines. make a difference!
  • april 20th is don't jack off in a tissue day. if you usually jack off into a piece of kleenex or maybe toilet paper, try not to waste any paper on april 20th. cum somewhere else for the environment!
  • april 21st is hold your farts day. methane gas is harmful to the ozone layer and is a greenhouse gas which are known to raise the earth's temperature. so on april 21st don't fart for mother earth!
  • info on the writer of "se7en" from imdb.com: "Spent three years working at Tower Records while writing the script for "Seven"."
  • one day check out the cast list for 'true romance'....lots of big names, but it seemed like no one really saw it when it first came out....much like reservoir dogs.
  • gotta work a closing shift tomorrow.
  • "As building materials go, straw generally gets a bad rap:  A straw man is something that can be knocked over easily, and, as everyone knows, any decent wolf can blow down a straw house.   But people have been building homes in the U.S. from straw bales encased in plaster or drywall since at least the 1890s, and the practice is experiencing something of a boom as more and more people recognize that it is an energy-efficient and eco-friendly way to build.  Straw bales insulate so effectively that they can reduce energy costs by as much as 75 percent.  Moreover, straw is a cheap, abundant waste product:  As much as 200 million tons of straw are wasted or underused every year in the U.S. alone -- enough to build about 4 million 2,000-square-foot buildings."
  • it also burns real well. hope you have a lot of fireproof coating on that stuff.
  • "Can a miniature car gain a foothold in America, land of the super-sized everything?  That's what B.M.W. plans to find out:  Last month, the company started selling the Mini Cooper, formerly the flagship vehicle of a British company, in large U.S. cities.  So far, the car has done well -- you'd have to put your name on a waiting list if you wanted one -- but the jury's still out on whether it can compete against the ever-popular (and, it would seem, ever-growing) sport utility vehicle.  The tiny car, which since the 1970s has been the vehicle of choice for celebrities ranging from John Lennon to Kate Moss, is just 12 feet long and 5.5 feet wide, and sells for about $17,000.  In cities like New York, where crowding, competition for limited parking, and heavy gasoline taxes make a small car desirable, the Mini Cooper has a niche market."

    • 4-10-02 (16:03)
  • i think the bug is like a pet dog...for the most part you love it, but it shits on your carpet all the time so you get really mad at it every so often. unlike a dog though, it costs a lot more money. economically it would make a lot more sense to sell it...i wouldn't have to pay for insurance, gas, break downs/maintenence, and i could still use melanie's car if i really needed to.
  • so i go the bug back today and the total bill came to $170 which isn't all that bad i suppose. apparently there was some bad wiring and other small electrical problems. i'm going to bring it back in a couple weeks from now for a follow up and that'll be free so that's pretty nice. overall i think that university imports (which is only a few blocks from my place) takes decent care of their customers and their cars.
  • updated movies list. 41 out of the 64 movies i've seen this year were movies i hadn't seen before.
  • the world makes me want to retreat into apathy and isolation.


    • 4-10-02 (00:42)

  • went to sleep early last night.
  • back has been hurting again the last couple days.
  • the bug is going to get looked at tomorrow. it'll cost 140 bucks just to run some tests so that's fantastic...especially since elanda informed me that she can't make this month's payment of $500. good thing i wasn't counting on that money for anything other than food and getting the car fixed.
  • went golfing today and that was really fun. got to drive around in the golf carts all day. we played a full 18 holes which was a first for me...i definitely did worse than vern and johnny, but that was expected. i broke the steering column on one of the golf carts, but not while i was goofing off so that was ironic.
  • work is pretty much the only thing i'm good at these days and that's starting to become a drag.


    • 4-8-02 (01:17)

  • from the nation article "Fighting for America's Energy Independence"....
  • "The Energy Department estimates that wind in the Dakotas alone could meet two-thirds of America's electricity needs; Texas could meet the last one-third. But there are good winds across America--in a ranking of the top states for wind, California, the wind-power poster-child, comes in at a lowly seventeenth. Solar power is equally bountiful: The Union of Concerned Scientists says 100 square miles in Nevada could produce enough solar electricity to power the nation."
  • "There are other status quo costs as well. Last year we depended on foreigners for 55 percent of our oil. As noted in a bill before Congress to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, America "spends over $100 billion per year for foreign energy and equally significant amounts on our military presence in the Persian Gulf oil arena." Status quo costs also include 1.56 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide--to say nothing of more poisonous particulate matter--put into our air in 2000 alone, just by energy generation. That in turn drives health problems like our asthma tragedy: Asthma affects every twentieth American, including 5 million children. In 1998, the CDC says, asthma killed more than 5,438, put a half-million people in hospitals and led to 100 million days of restricted activity. The CDC puts the asthma price tag for 1998 at $12.7 billion."
  • "This is not about "conservation"--i.e., living without air conditioning or making other virtuous sacrifices--but about "efficiency"--high-tech solutions like better lighting and appliances. Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, calls it installing "negawatts." "Negawatts" are the cheapest, cleanest, most-quickly-installed--and, by the way, the most terrorist-proof--of all energy sources. As Lovins has noted, a 0.4 mile-per-gallon improvement in the average vehicle would save as much oil each year as we'd ever get from the Arctic refuge. The National Academy of Sciences concluded in July 2001 that a 40-mpg average, nearly double what we have now, is within quick reach."
  • i hadn't ever bothered checking out the nation's website, but now that i have i'm pretty impressed...it's pretty straightforward and lacks a fancy layout, but it's quite functional and offers more free content than i expected.
  • barry bonds is kinda all right.
    • my two favorite Nation covers...feb. 25 and april 15 2002.
    4-7-02 (02:03)
  • updated movies list. finally saw barry lyndon tonight.
  • work was hectic today.


    • 4-5-02 (01:04)

  • "From the department of creative activism:  You've heard of hunger strikes, but what about baby strikes?  Hundreds of Finnish women have signed a petition declaring that they will not bear children for the next four years unless the country's Parliament scraps plans to build a fifth nuclear reactor in their homeland.  The protest has a precedent:  In 1986, following the Chernobyl disaster, some 4,000 Finns signed a similar petition to block construction of a nuclear power plant.  The government eventually caved and agreed not to build that reactor, but it now claims a new one is necessary to meet the country's growing energy demands without increasing greenhouse emissions.  Elina Venesmaki, one of the organizers of the current petition, said, "This form of protest is logical because this issue doesn't concern just our generation.""
  • bought a dvd rack today. james purchased a bunch of different cases from some guy in oakland and put them on consignment at the store. they're made of white pine and pretty well constructed...rounded edges, no signs of screws or nails, etc. got a dvd/video case which should hold about 180 dvds for $30. as a result melanie and i had to rearrange some things in the living room. i think it looks better now.
  • opened at tower today, opening tomorrow as well. since matt quit a bit prematurely i have to pick up the slack.
  • updated movies list. getting into movies for free is just about the coolest thing possible. michelle got a haircut and it looks quite different. she commutes about 150 miles a day in her 1974 beetle without a lot of trouble. her mechanic also lives next door so that's pretty nice. i think 74s are fuel injected so that's also more reliable than a carb.
  • big trouble is on the list of movies to see...as are the todd solondz movie which is going to be at stadium soon and steve martin's newest flick which is also coming to the stadium theater.
  • update moviesiown list. updated cdlist. finally got the newest money mark album.
  • "After Sept. 11, the folks in the White House found a favorite tune -- the need to decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil any which way but through conservation -- and it seems they just can't stop singing it. First it was used to promote drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; now, in a variation in a miner key, the Bush administration says our national security depends on increased coal-bed methane development in the Rockies.  Yesterday afternoon, Interior Assistant Secretary Rebecca Watson said the Bureau of Land Management, which she oversees, is studying potential coal-bed methane development in five areas to help meet the goals of President Bush's energy plan. Methane gas is collected by pumping groundwater to relieve the pressure trapping the gas in coal seams.  Because it harms both crops and other vegetation, the practice does not always go over well with landowners or environmentalists."
  • plan on going golfing on tuesday, that should be fun.
  • so far i like the money mark album, despite the lack of vocals.
  • might need to purchase new jeans.
  • going to sleep.


    • 4-4-02 (01:37)

  • updated movies list. saw panic room, liked it a lot, read more you know where.
  • yojimbo is a pretty dope movie. mifune is a bad ass only to be surpassed by the likes of eastwood. i need to see that movie again.
  • i have almost 200 movies in my netflix queue.
  • i might take up watching taxi driver on a regular basis in order to keep myself focused. i forget who said it and in what context, but i remember hearing that all great stories are about loneliness. not sure i agree entirely, but loneliness does seem to be theme among a great many stories.
  • the best thing about working at tower has been my renewed interest in film. because i'm in charge of supplying the store with good stuff i've got to do research by watching, and getting acquainted with, all sorts of movies. on the one hand it means i watch more crappy movies than i might otherwise, but it also means that i'm naturally subjected to a greater range of films....this of course is only enhanced by my netflix membership.
  • i'm looking forward to the next in the hobbit series.


    • 4-3-02 (00:28)

  • updated movies list.
  • "upgraded" to internet explorer 6.0 today in the hope that it'll fix the problems i've been having with my ie browser lately.
  • yesterday i was driving the bug to safeway and it broke down. it's funny because when i got to davis after the long trip up here the engine died as i was pulling into the driveway, i figured it was just because i came to a relatively quick stop (the engine has died for that reason in the past). but since i was only able to get about two block from home yesterday on my way to safeway i'm thinking the problem is a bit larger. so the money pit strikes again and i'm going to have wait a week before the mechanic can take a look at it. at least it got me to davis without breaking down. another stroke of luck is that in between my home and safeway is the volkswagen repair shop so i was able to push it to the front door of the shop without much trouble. the last 1,000 miles have cost around $500...about 50 cents a mile. at first i thought it might be that i was low on gas, but i put gas in it today and it still wouldn't turn over. i'm going to look seriously into selling it after i get whatever is wrong with it fixed. i should also find out what my insurance policy says in regards to it getting stolen...
  • ie 6.0 seems to have a few nice upgrades to ie 5.5.
  • i want to see panic room and blade II. also 'the man who wasn't there' is going to be in the theater closest to my house tomorrow so i'd like to see that one as well.
  • i should ask my dad if he wants to trade cars.
  • work early tomorrow.


    • 4-2-02 (02:43)

  • i'm up too late.
  • updated movies list.


    • 4-01-02 (01:39)

  • march went by pretty quickly.
  • lakers won another close game today. i fucking hate that.

    • updated movies list.

    3-31-02 (01:50)

  • i've been trying to get up before noon lately. i think it'll make my days better overall.
  • johnny, vern and i are going to go golfing sometime soon, that should be fun.
  • indiana upset oklamhoma today. i'll be able to see the championship game because it's going to be on monday.
  • the other day i woke up early enough to watch a movie before going to work. usually i wake up with only enough time to brush my teeth and get dressed, so that's progress.
  • heard that billy wilder died the other day. he made some amazing films; to say the least.
  • updated movies list.
  • watched a couple episodes of the simpsons from the first season dvd today.
  • the collector's edition of the 'lord of the rings' dvd sounds like it's going to be pretty intense...four discs, special artwork, all sorts of documentaries and extras...basically everything the hardcore fans want.
  • memento is going to be re-released on dvd...this time as a two disc set with god knows what as special features. i hate it when studios do that shit.


    • 3-27-02 (21:42)

  • went golfing yesterday for the first time in a while. played pretty well overall. got a birdie on hole 8, that was a first for me.
  • updated movies list.
  • watched part of 'the osbournes' on mtv last night. ozzy did too many drugs and the rest of the family is pathetic. ozzy's wife is an insane english elitist and their son is a teenage metal head.


    • 3-27-02 (15:53)

  • back home. took the bug into the shop before leaving and it got a tune-up. ran well on the way up here so that's encouraging. didn't get much sleep last night so i was pretty tired on the way up, but i made it alright....and in under 7 hours.
  • not too long ago i asked people to send in their desert island discs lists, but only vern sent his. i sent my list to pulse magazine and got the following response via email today: "Chris, Thanks for sending us your DID list. We'll be running it in the May issue of Pulse magazine. Tell all your friends, that way they can envy you. Take care, Chris Chandar Pulse! magazine p.s. -- enjoyed your website"
  • internet explorer is being fickle again, it's really strange.
  • i'm grateful for the fact that malcolm didn't break down on the way up here. he's a good enough car to have never left me really stranded. last time when he broke down on the way to l.a. he did so before i was even outside of davis.
  • expected to have some netflix dvds waiting for me in the mail, but there weren't any when i checked earlier so i might not watch a movie tonight.
  • having only four days of work this week will be nice.


    • 1. Beatles - Abbey Road
    2. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
    3. Orbital - In-Sides (UK Version)
    4. Rage Against The Machine - Self-Titled
    5. Autechre - Tri Repetae ++
    6. Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy
    7. 2PAC - All Eyez On Me
    8. Nirvana - Nevermind
    9. Koyaanisqatsi Soundtrack
    10. Beatles - Revolver

    3-25-02 (02:15)

  • updated movies list.
  • for a while my internet explorer wasn't working. last night i tried it and it wouldn't work, but netscape navigator would. now all of a sudden it's working again. computers show a complete lack of consistency.
  • heartbreaking kings game today.
  • jon came by today while i was on my lunch break, that was unexpected, but it was good to see him again. we talked about (among other things) how a 'w' should be called a double 'v' or possibly have it's own name and 'v' should be called half of it.
  • leaving early tomorrow so i should get some rest.
  • i'm happy that denzel washington won for best actor, he has deserved it in the past and he deserved it this time as well.
  • work was mediocre today.
  • got hit with three overdraft charges this week, that was pleasant. i think that life is naturally about struggle and subsistence, but in today's advanced society - with our advancements in technology (both in terms of organization and machinery) i believe that struggle and mere subsistence should be a thing of the past. sadly, at least for me, it is not.
  • ran into vern's cousin the other day at tower. she told me that vern needs to get a job and stop being lazy. i thought that was funny.
  • i should goto sleep before i start thinking about the fact that i'm doing nothing with my life. i'm not on my way to self-actualization, i haven't found my place in god's world, i'm not helping my fellow (wo)man, i'm not even building a plush ikea lined apartment like ed norton in fight club; instead i work like most people and earn under what most people earn and.....
  • "...the sun is not yellow, it's chicken..." bob dylan is cool.
  • reverend horton heat have a song about bales of cocaine falling from the sky and becoming a millionaire drug dealer as a result. it's funny.


    • 3-23-02 (01:20)

  • "More than 2.7 billion people will experience severe water shortages by 2025 if the world continues to consume water at the current rate, according to a U.N. report released today, which happens to be World Water Day.  The report goes on to say that another 2.5 billion may be living in areas where it will be difficult or near impossible to meet their water needs.  (Yep, two out of three people in the world could be up the creek with only a paddle, no water.)   Semi-arid regions of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are most at risk.  Already, 1.1 billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water.  The causes of the problem? population growth, changing weather patterns, and mismanagement of existing water resources, the report says."
  • the real problem isn't a lack of water or rainfall, it's just a matter of capturing that which does fall. i'm not averse to reusing sewer water or increasing the number of de-salinization plants.
  • "Meanwhile, drought conditions in parts of the U.S. are driving up sales of water-efficient toilets, faucets, laundry machines, dishwashers, and other appliances.  Home Depot and Sears are among the companies benefiting from consumers' itch to shift away from water guzzlers.  Sears spokesperson Larry Costello said water- and energy-efficient appliances now represent 17 percent of the company's appliance sales, compared to 10 percent a year ago.   Shoppers appear to be motivated by new drought restrictions like those in New Jersey, where residents can be fined up to $5,000 per day for violating water-use limits."
  • the debut de la soul album gets its name from a johnny cash album, i think that shows class on their part.
  • ran into my old boss from the library today. talked to her for a while about dvds, super audio cds, and life.
  • james and elanda got into a little spout today, it was funny to watch. elanda is a very picky and controlling person and james is really laid back so sometimes that doesn't work well. luckily james is the gm so i think that makes the work environment better overall.
  • "U.S. Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Harry Reid (Nev.) yesterday proposed creating a national tracking system to monitor both chronic diseases and environmental pollution so that any correlations between the two could be more easily identified and studied.  Last year, the two senators held hearings in Fallon, Nev., which is home to a cluster of childhood leukemia cases, and Long Island, N.Y., which is home to an above-average rate of breast cancer.  Clinton said, "Whether these clusters are actual or perceived, the rates of chronic diseases in our country is, unfortunately, rising.  And we don't know why."  The findings of the proposed tracking system would be made public through a national environmental health report."
  • surprised they don't have something like that already.
  • updated movies list.
  • rained today. there are some trees in downtown davis which have bright white flowers and remind me of the cherry blossoms during spring in D.C. i think davis has good potential, but i think the mandatory rising of the school population will become the city's demise.
  • going down to la on monday, will be back on wednesday assuming the bug makes it.
  • good onion article about teachers mocking a student.
  • gotta get some sleep.


    • 3-22-02 (01:17)

  • thursdays go by as slowly as wednesdays go by quickly.
  • have amadeus and easy rider on dvd to watch sometime.
  • i'm not a very exciting person. i like watching a lot of movies and listening to music. those are mostly activities that aren't very social. i think going to school so far from home had an adverse effect on my already lacking social skills.
  • i'd like to read an essay, or short book, on the effects of commuting on our culture. from how it contributes to the lack of community in our culture, to the environmental effects. i think it's become a large enough part of our society to write a book on it and to address it as a serious problem.
  • one woman on politically incorrect today said that the past CAFE standards didn't really help us get off the oil. she cited statistics about increased commuting (both in number of people/cars and in miles driven per day) since the last change in CAFE standards and said that since then the amount of oil we use has increased dramatically, adding that "when something gets more efficient people use more of it." i'll let you figure out for yourself why she's so retarded.
  • was looking at the sports scores today and saw some great news - duke was defeated by indiana and as i was raising my arms in excitement i read onto the part about ucla losing to missouri. shucks. arizona also lost. i think oregon will win.
  • i guess the big news of the day is the campaign finance reform that passed today. even though it probably won't do that much in actuality, i think it's good on a symbolic level. maybe people are starting to be heard on this issue.
  • i'd like to own and run a business of my own.
  • so what'cha want is one of my favorite music videos of all time.
  • i agree with johnny about bjork being annoying sometimes.
  • listened to a couple of great, but recently neglected, records today - rage against the machine's debut and beastie boys' check your head.
  • the DVD format has been a great example of marketing. when dvds first came out the average new release disc cost somewhere in the high $24 range, now, five years later, new release dvds cost around 21 bucks. all the while catalog titles (from the great escape to casablanca) have gone down in cost and usually cost 10-15 bucks. whereas CDs are more costly, especially when comparing catalog titles. some vendors try to have a consistent supply of cheap catalog titles, but for the most part older cds remain at the 'regular' price of 18.99. so when you have a new cd come out which is on sale for 13.99 or 14.99 then you are in a sense accenting the fact that the other titles are disproportionately overpriced. what's more is that one purpose of a sale is to bring people into the store in the hope that they will purchase other titles, but if most of the catalog titles are overpriced then they won't bother. this whole problem is made even more prevalent with the burgeoning of mp3s. further, as one journalist pointed out, to pay 20 bucks for a movie which cost millions of dollars makes a lot more sense than to pay 20 bucks for a catalog title by crosby, stills, nash and young.
  • word on the street is that traffic is going to be re-released with all sorts of features and commentary. that's one thing about dvd that can sometimes be a drag...when they come out with the movie without features and then a few months later come out with a collector's edition with tons of commentary and features. they're going to do that with lord of the rings and i think that sucks. they know they can get away with it though because so many people are big fans. the hardcore fans won't be able to wait for the second version to come out so they'll buy the first one and then when the other one with all the features comes out they'll buy that one too. movie studios do have the advantage of not having to rely on revenues from dvd sales so they have that advantage over the music industry, but i still feel that the music industry is mostly screwing consumers over. dvd-a might be a good chance for artists to include commentary, pictures, videos, etc. in order to pay back the consumer for their support; it's also better audio quality. all told there are plenty of possibilities for the music and movie industry in the next couple years...it should be interesting how each try to combat pirating, demand for cheaper product, etc.
  • "An enormous section of Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf collapsed and splintered into thousands of icebergs this week after one of the region's warmest recorded summers.  The section, designated Larsen B, was 650 feet thick and about the size of Rhode Island.  Although scientists stopped short of attributing the collapse to global warming, they did say the area disintegrated with astounding rapidity and noted that it had survived 12,000 years of natural climate change before human activity began altering the environment.  Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula, where the ice shelf is located, have been gradually increasing for 50 years, and the area is considered an early indicator of the impacts of global warming.  In 1995, the northernmost part of the shelf, Larsen A, collapsed in a similar event; the shelf is now about 40 percent of its original size."
  • "In 1986, it rained for three weeks straight in Midland, Mich., headquarters of Dow Chemical Corp.  A wastewater containment facility at a Dow plant on the banks of the Tittabawassee River overflowed, and waste from the plant was carried downstream into the Saginaw flood plain.  In 1995, Michigan began finding elevated levels of dioxins -- chemicals that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and disruption of hormone and immune systems -- in area fields, playgrounds, and residential neighborhoods.  In some cases, the levels were as high as 7,200 parts per trillion; the residential cleanup standard in Michigan is 90 ppt.  Dow denies that the plant, which at various times has produced mustard gas, Agent Orange, napalm, and pesticides, is the source of the dioxins.  Even more alarming, the state Department of Environmental Quality dragged its feet in releasing information about the testing, and only did so after a whistleblower provided information on contamination sites and levels to Michigan environmental groups."
  • "Maybe President Bush can learn a thing or two about environmental policy during his visit today to Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and home to an innovative program to turn rotting garbage into electricity.  The city government is working with a local energy company to construct an electricity plant at the Salinas Victoria Landfill; the plant will turn methane produced by decomposing organic waste into energy, which will then be sold to local municipalities at 10 to 15 percent below the market rate.  The project will be the first of its kind in Latin America, and its proponents say it has tremendous promise for impoverished and off-the-grid regions.  Such regions are prime candidates for methane-based electricity generation, because the majority of trash from these areas is organic."


    • 3-21-02(00:38)

  • work went by quickly, like it does every wednesday.
  • updated movies list.
  • i don't have a very good memory and that can get annoying.
  • haven't gotten much sleep the last couple nights so i'm going to bed on the early side today.


    • 3-20-02 (02:03)

  • spent most of the day hanging out with johnny.
  • not getting the tv apparently. oh well.
  • updated movies list.
  • vern has a girlfriend now.
  • tomorrow is my early day.
  • went to sacramento and listened to one of the two pairs of speakers i'm thinking about getting.
  • watched a show on the learning channel about urban legends.
  • lakers lost today so that should put the kings in first place.
  • rode johnny's new bike today. it has clipless pedals and i've never riden with those before. they take a little getting used to since you can't just lift your foot off the pedal, but since your feet are locked onto the pedals it becomes more efficient on the upstroke. nice overall, but only a consideration for people who do plenty of biking.
  • a young girl died because a puck bounced off another person and then struck her in the head. that seems a pretty big longshot...it was hit by the guy taking the shot, was deflected by a defenseman's stick, bounced off another spectator and then struck the girl in the head. a couple days later she died, despite having walked away from the injury.
  • i have to sleep.


    • 3-19-02 (01:57)

  • johnny came over and we watched a movie. then he left and melanie went to bed and i watched another movie. updated movieslist. more than half the movies i've seen this year are new to me so that's good, but i haven't seen very many old films this year...yet. i added about 60 movies to my netflix queue today and the bulk of them are "classics."
  • i should listen to the newest red hot chili peppers album more.
  • i should make more mix minidiscs.
  • there's a good reason 'under the bridge' was so popular.
  • talked to my dad today about netflix, ucla, sarah, and teaching. will call my mom tomorrow.
  • probably going to fry's electronics with johnny early tomorrow.
  • the reason i don't know if i got the tv or not is because on thursday night i looked at the tv on a website and even went so far as to put it in my online shopping cart and fill out my bank card information, but elected to wait until later to actually purchase it. when i went back to the site the next night the tv was no longer on the site. i checked my shopping cart and apparently i lucked out and the cookie hadn't expired, so the tv was still ready to be purchased in my shopping cart. so on friday night i went ahead and got it. but since it wasn't on the website anymore there's a good chance they had run out of them (it was a limited time clearance special). i wrote them an email today and they replied later saying that "we have had to contact a third party for resolution." sounds to me like they don't have the tv and i'll be s.o.l., but they want to let me down lightly. guess i missed my chance.
  • "One day after declining to support tougher fuel-efficiency standards, the Senate yesterday voted down a measure that would have required 20 percent of the nation's electricity to be produced from wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources by 2020.  Currently, less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity comes from renewable resources.  The measure that could have changed all that, which was sponsored by Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), was defeated by a disheartening 70 votes to 29. Opponents claimed it would have caused dramatic increases in the price of electricity.  Advocates remain optimistic that the Senate will pass a less ambitious proposal for 10 percent of U.S. electricity to be generated by renewables."
  • once again both senators from california as well as hilliary clinton were on the losing side in favor of the environmentally friendly measure. i'm glad that feinstein and boxer have been decidedly pro-environment on the last few votes i've been tracking. other notables for this measure include both senators from ma (kerry and kennedy), feingold, lieberman and tom daschle. oddly strom thurmond, jesse helms, orrin hatch and trent lott were on the other side of the issue.
  • "After months of internal debate, the Bush administration has decided (surprise, surprise) to replace pollution lawsuits with voluntary incentives to encourage coal-powered utilities and oil refineries to clean up their acts, according to U.S. EPA officials.  The Clinton administration sued dozens of the country's worst polluting power plants for violating New Source Review rules, which require that companies install state-of-the-art pollution controls when upgrading power their facilities.  Energy behemoths like Southern Co. launched a huge lobbying effort to stop the lawsuits and gave millions of dollars to Republican political campaigns.  The Bush administration is expected to announce its formal plan to revamp the rules in the next few weeks."
  • "After months of internal debate, the Bush administration has decided (surprise, surprise) to replace pollution lawsuits with voluntary incentives to encourage coal-powered utilities and oil refineries to clean up their acts, according to U.S. EPA officials.  The Clinton administration sued dozens of the country's worst polluting power plants for violating New Source Review rules, which require that companies install state-of-the-art pollution controls when upgrading power their facilities.  Energy behemoths like Southern Co. launched a huge lobbying effort to stop the lawsuits and gave millions of dollars to Republican political campaigns.  The Bush administration is expected to announce its formal plan to revamp the rules in the next few weeks."
  • found out last week that tower does business with facets.com so i should be able to buy any title they have in their vast catalog of rarities. hopefully in the coming months i'll be able to whittle down our dvd collection to a point that allows more ambitious purchasing i.e., get it to the point where i can go out on a limb and start buying more indie and foreign films.
  • i've seen the searchers twice and wasn't impressed at all either time, but i decided yesterday to put it in my netflix queue and give it another try. since it's so well liked by people whose opinions i respect i shall give it one last chance....this time i promise not to fall asleep.
  • i discussed A.I. with matthew the other day when i ran into him at work. he said he liked it because he felt it tried to be more, and better, than the usual hollywood drivel and i conceded that point and could see where he was coming from, but i felt that the ending of that movie failed so miserably that it wiped out the fact that the rest of the movie was actually pretty good. he said i shouldn't place so much meaning in the ending. i said i'd think it over. to me the ending of a movie can make or break the movie. naturally, though, the ending is contingent upon that which has preceded it. take hurricane for example...it has a fairly corny touchy feely ending. had i not felt for the characters involved then the rather regular tear jerker ending would have been more hollywood trite bullshit which would have gone down the toilet with my nightly dump. an even better example might be magnolia...i think that most people who watch the film seriously are able to connect with the characters and feel for them in some genuine sense, if not then the end is just bizarre and probably obnoxious, but for those who connect with the characters the ending is really powerful. in A.I. i didn't really feel very much for the characters (and even if i had the film's ending would have killed it for me). but i do feel that had it ended about 15 minutes earlier (with the camera backing away while osment is begging for his mom at the bottom of the sea) then it would have made all the difference to me - it would have been an homage to kafka's "before the law," it would have been been true, intelligent, poignant, far more touching, and not the sing-songy fairy tale that it ended up becoming. that being said, simply "trying," as matt put it isn't enough, especially for someone as obviously talented as spielberg. e.t. was a real piece of work, the indiana jones trilogy (soon to be four parts) was excellent, saving private ryan was amazing, and so was empire of the sun. no, for spielberg, and those anywhere near him, i hold the bar much higher. it's really frustrating sometimes when i see a movie that has it so right up to a point and then loses its guts at the end. i suppose you could say that a.i. succeeded in one sense - it has evoked all sorts of feelings despite having seen it only once 8 months ago.
  • i hope the bug can make the trip back up to davis. i'll change the oil before i leave, but that's not really going to make a big difference in terms of the likelihood to break down.
  • a train passed by while i was on my way back home today. i got up real close to it while it was going by and just marveled at the machinery and size of it. i like trains quite a bit more since i crashed on one.
  • on a related note - if you are ever nervous about riding a train somewhere just take vern or me with you; since we've already been on a train that's derailed we are essentially immune to further train disasters. i can't speak for vern, but i would be willing to accompany you wherever your train travels take you - for modest compensation of course.
  • back when i used to work at the theater and i saw the poster for "ice age" i thought it was a throwaway movie. turns out that in three days it's earned 48 million bucks. it really is about targeting the kids these days...titantic, britney spears, take your pick all of them cater to the young audience.
  • it's a pretty interesting phenomenon we have with kids having so much excess money, so much purchasing power. with the teenagers they have the money themselves and with the pre-teens it's more about them dragging their families with them to toy story, ice age, monsters inc., etc. i'm not really making a judgment on the quality of these movies, i liked toy story and heard really good things about monsters inc., but it's just interesting to ponder the reasons behind this apparent shift in economic power. i wonder if there are any stats out there regarding the total purchasing power of teens compared to that of blacks in america. i wouldn't doubt it if the figures were relatively close. additionally there is the fact that teens are more likely to spend whatever cash they do have, much more so than any other segment of the population; i would posit. seeing as people under 18 can't vote and have fewer rights than those afforded to "adults" it might be fitting for teens to have power in this new sense. however i doubt this power is actually present considering the control the media has on a child almost from the moment they pop out of the womb. so though there may be a newfound power in the under 18 population it's unlikely it will ever be realized or wielded in any real manner since mobilizing teens is left strictly to advertisers. when i worked at the theater i talked to one young girl who got a few hundred bucks a month as her allowance. what, besides stay current with fashion and pop music would she do with this excess money? having done the math i calculated that she'd either have to take up a hobby such as fixing up a 1967 beetle or start a drug habit. seeing as there has been no marked increase in beetle restoration projects in recent years, whereas drug use has risen dramatically in the teen age group i might assume that people like her have chosen to take up the latter hobby.
  • the ramifications aside, it is also interesting to conjecture as to the origin of this seemingly new wealth for this sector of the population. obviously it's coming primarily from parents. a) why are parents showering kids with so much money these days? b) what does this say about our culture? seeing as i have to wake up early tomorrow i shall retreat to my bed.
  • 03:45.


    • 3-18-02 (01:20)

  • the big news for the day is that i was right about UCLA...gadzuric scored over 20 and UCLA won. granted it took two overtime periods to settle the matter, but they beat cincinnati today. wish i could have seen the game.
  • guess i've been out of the loop for a while...discovered today that there are cd writers out there that write at 24x. 80 gig hard drives are 90 bucks. it's getting to the point where you can get a gig for every buck you spend. that's literally a thousand times cheaper than it was 5 years ago.
  • work was long today.
  • michael moore's new movie is in post-production, but i read one review of it already so hopefully it comes out this year.
  • johnny makes good milkshakes.
  • i eat out a lot these days because cooking isn't all it's cracked up to be.
  • gotta sleep.


    • 3-17-02 (02:26)

  • "Predicting anything about UCLA is always dangerous in March, especially in light of the way they walloped Ole Miss, but the Bruins have played soft all year and will get muscled out of the tourney by Cincinnati." - Seth Davis of sports illustrated. he's right about the first half and i was right in saying that they would either win big or lose big in the first game of the tourney...they won by 22. ucla is such a weird team, they can beat kansas by ten when kansas was ranked third in the nation and they can lose to ball state by 18. it's just a question of which team will show up. gadzuric scores 20 and they win the game.
  • tomorrow is my friday so that's nice.
  • updated movies list.
  • i guess i'm in a fantasy baseball league with johnny and his brother's marauders. it should be interesting to see who doubles my score first. i spent a total of 5 minutes looking at my team today. i haven't heard of half the players i have so that's pretty funny.
  • we had two loss prevention agents at tower today. when alex came in i told him that their goal for the day was to catch three shoplifters (in a typical month loss prevention will catch 5 or 6 shoplifters). alex caught two and the other guy didn't catch anyone. that made for a pretty exciting day overall. the first one to get caught was this kid who tried to steal an ICP (insane clown posse) cd. when his dad came into the back office he was cursing up a storm and telling us that he wasn't going to pay the $250 fine and such. he was ranting and raving and ended up hitting his kid, i didn't see it, but i heard a slap and assumed that he his his son in the face; alex later confirmed this. the father swore he was going to sell his the kid's bike, playstation, and other wordly possessions to pay for the fine. i felt bad for the kid.
  • james gave me access to the tower help website so i can search inventory and sales history for any store in the US. i can also place orders through the website now. it's a pretty sweet hook up considering he's not even supposed to have it, but his friend at the corporate office hooked him up.
  • ran into matthew weinberg at tower today. we talked music and movies for a bit. he told me that he had decided to quit kdvs and for mostly the same reasons as me - elitism and aversion to anything mainstream are not flattering qualities, but are ones prevalent at the station.
  • had some apple pie and french vanilla ice cream today. also had two ham sandwiches with tomato and avocado. food is as good as sleep.


    • 3-16-02 (03:16)

  • updated movies list. there are some movies that seem to have complete control of my emotions...paths of glory is the first one that comes to mind. it really strings my along throughout the film, when kubrick wants me up he has me there, when he wants me depressed i'm right there and he does it all through a film like that. i'll have to watch that one again some time.
  • i wish the big one and roger and me were on dvd. i wish the same for a lot of the classics not yet released on dvd...back to the future, indiana jones, grapes of wrath...
  • some lady came up to me while i was at work and asked me "do you know the album by oscar peterson, or maybe another black jazz guy, with that other guy..." i gave her the back of my hand and returned to pricing.
  • there was a time when i didn't really have much music that i felt like listening to, now i have a stack of about 20 cds that i want to listen to. one reason i like hip-hop is that if it's done well you can get the experience of a few different genres of music within a single album. you can have hip-hop, jazz, rock, world, and classical all on the same album. wyclef does that well.
  • reverend horton heat was on conan tonight. they performed well. i like them and jon spencer blues explosion.
  • american beauty has some pretty classic tracks within the movie, but not necessarily on the soundtrack.
  • i think i bought a tv today, not really sure though.
  • might have my work schedule changed in the next couple weeks...an old supervisor decided he wanted to work again.
  • started using audiogalaxy today...pretty simple program, and is thus limited, but it still beats the stupid version of morpheus. not sure what the idiots at morpheus were thinking.
  • the netflix website is well thought out.
  • ate at togo's today.
  • listened to ocean colour scene, dexter romweber, velvet underground, jimi hendrix, bob dylan, the beatles, and will probably fall asleep listening to the orb.
  • going to bed.


    • 3-15-02 (02:12)

  • "A proposal to increase Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards for vehicles by 50 percent over the next 13 years was effectively voted down 62 to 38 in the Senate yesterday, to the delight of automakers and dismay of environmentalists.  The Senate instead approved an industry-backed measure that would give the Bush administration two more years to study the economic and safety implications of changing CAFE standards.  Senators also voted (56 to 44) to exempt pickup trucks from any future changes to mileage standards. Opponents of tougher CAFE standards argued that Congress should not dictate what kind of cars people can drive; supporters noted that the measure would save up to 2.5 billion barrels of oil a day, about the amount the U.S. imports from the Middle East.  CAFE standards have not been raised since 1985; meanwhile, average fuel efficiency has been falling for years due to the popularity of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles."
  • mccain was one of the few republicans to vote on the 38 side, both senators from CA were also for cleaner vehicles. both also voted against the amendment which exempted pickup trucks from any future standards.  it really is sad that something like that can't pass especially when it stands to help save so much oil...which is the reason bush wants to drill in alaska, so he says.
  • received and viewed my first netflix dvd today. they have a shipping warehouse in west sacramento so the dvds will get here really quickly which is nice. updated movies list. a lot of the music for the last of the mohicans sounded like the score for fargo.
  • gonzaga lost today, that's unfortunate. i thought usc had a better team than they showed today, oh well.
  • i look for ucla to either choke tomorrow or slaughter mississippi tomorrow.
  • it's too bad arizona state didn't make it to the tourney, i thought they had a good team.


    • 3-14-02 (01:33)

  • "If the president of Senegal has his way, the West African nation could one day be home to a model eco-town that mitigates the problems caused by both poverty and environmental degradation. The project is the brainchild of architect Nader Khalili, who pioneered a construction method known as "Superadobe," in which sand and barbed wire are used to build beehive-shaped homes.  The houses are flood-, hurricane-, and earthquake-proof, take advantage of solar and wind energy, and do not rely on timber for structural support -- a critical factor for developing nations facing severe deforestation. Senegal, which was hit hard by floods in January, plans to approach the World Bank or the European Union to help fund the innovative eco-town."
  • ran into a few girls asking for money on a street corner today...they were asking for money to fund their trip to africa to build schools and engage in other worthwhile activities. they weren't part of any faith based organization so that was reason enough for me to try to help them out. rather than give them cash i offered my employee discount at tower if they were in need of portable cd cases, batteries, or anything else they might need for the road.
  • exit planet dust comes off sounding like a mix album.
  • johnny and meredith came over tonight. johnny is the loudest friend i have. i'm mostly a quiet person.
  • actually elanda might be the loudest friend i have, but johnny is a close second and makes up for it with the variety of ways in which he makes noise. with elanda it's just shrieking and yelling, but with johnny it's jumping around, yelling, bouncing off the walls, etc. meredith seems pretty quiet compared to johnny.
  • the sky was really beautiful today during my lunch break...then 20 minutes later it started to hail.
  • going to watch jay and silent bob with johnny on monday.  i remember it being a funny movie, especially if you are familiar with kevin smith.
  • started thinking about converting to a mac the other day, but johnny talked me out of it. i like the simplicity of the new imac, but i'm a lot more familiar with ibms.
  • it would be nice to make more money.
  • i should try to sell the rest of my VHS movies.
  • signed up for netflix...have three dvds on their way already. it'll be nice to get more variety in my movie viewing. lately i've only been watching relatively new movies a) because i don't own very many old ones b) because at work we only get promos for new releases.
  • got a couple more magazines for luke and ryan today.
  • people don't seem to dig on the selected ambient works II by aphex twin, but in some ways i like it a lot more. the first one (85-92) has gotten a little old for me.
  • roger waters, in a recent interview, said that it was pretty hard to write lyrics like "breathe, breathe in the air" because on paper it sounds so corny. so is it that the begining of that album, which includes those lyrics, has never sounded corny to me at all? if it was some dc talk song i would have laughed, but coming from pink floyd and within the context of the rest of the album it works to support themes i relate to.
  • art and one's affinity for certain pieces thereof is such an arbitrary mess that it makes talking about it quite a drag sometimes. to me it seems almost meaningless to argue about art in technical terms (use of negative space in sculpture or painting, chordal progression in music, etc.) and when discussing art simply in artistic (non-technical) terms it's agreed that that is more arbitrary than the former. what i mean to say is...just as i believe history isn't really progressing towards one point i don't think art is defined in a greater sense as good or bad by any real rules. i think that we have evolved ("evolve" doesn't necessarily mean towards a rational end, but rather the mere unfolding of history as haphazardly as the power structures that create it)  the science of art in a mostly arbitrary way and thus to argue a band's worth on those merits is almost as arbitrary as if one were to judge a band based merely on their emotional response. i suppose that the argument to all this might be that studying art isn't about trying define what makes art great, but rather about trying to find ways to understand and discuss it. maybe it's more about developing a vocabulary and tools for understanding how parts function. "euphony in poetry functions to... or syncopation in music functions to..." that, i suppose, is understandable. but what happens to those who aren't equipped with the vocabulary? if you've ever tried to discuss music with someone who knows a lot about music and happens to be a bit of an elitist then you know what can happen....your favorite band becomes run of the mill, technically simple, and not as good as their predecessors x, y, and z. chalk that up as an unfortunate side effect, i suppose. what about our undying desire to explain everything in our universe? does knowing how a piece of art was made make it more or less enjoyable? does knowing how a tree goes from a seed to a tree make it more spectacular or more calculated and thus mundane? is the person with infinite wisdom more happy with life than the completely ignorant person? is it better to know the whys and hows of everything or, like a child, to question everything from the ant crawling vertically up a wall to the presence of the moon and stars? i think there's something to be said about both. perhaps that is what many avant-garde artists are conveying...here you have an established artist, classically trained in his/her own art form, let's say jazz...coltrane can play the most complex of compositions and has worked with the greatest artists of his time and rather than continuing in their tradition he resorts to complete atonality in a sense shunning all that has been established and trying to be as unaffected and innocent of form and the past as possible. in a lot of ways unlearning is the more difficult part and, i think, should be praised. just ask daryl strawberry who learned to take drugs and have sex with whomever he wanted. it's taken him more than half his life to unlearn that stuff.
  • if i ever become a teacher i think one of the things i'm going to say the first day is that a lot of what i'm going to do throughout the course is try to make them unlearn things.


    • 3-13-02 (01:37)

  • work is at 9am tomorrow. i know i won't be able to go to sleep until later so i don't even try until at least 2am.
  • yahoo has some really annoying ads these days...they pop up and obscure whatever it is you're trying to read or look at.
  • lakers destroyed the hornets...41 points and mostly with defense, that's the scary thing.
  • i feel bad for daryl strawberry.
  • the first de la soul album is really good, and just the kind of hip-hop i enjoy.
  • updated movies list.
  • talked with my sister tonight.
  • got the newest all music guide today.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • it's really intriguing to see and hear what other people think our future might turn out to be.
  • haven't watched very many movies this year. heard about netflix from a couple different people and it seems that it's a lot better than it was a couple years ago when i first checked them out. they have a deal where you can get as many dvds as you want for $20 a month. i might look into that so i'll have an easier way to keep up with my movie watching for a relatively cheap price.


    • 3-12-02 (02:30)

  • my back still hurts quite a bit. really not sure why. would have liked to have gotten more done today, but couldn't. that's a drag.
  • updated movies list.
  • hopefully things are better tomorrow so i can make good use of my time here on earth.


    • 3-11-02 (01:48)

  • i remember laughing at george bush when early in his presidency he smiled and revealed to us that the cold war was over. he said it with a grin and bobbed his head as if he was exceedingly proud of himself for discovering something that we had known for ten years. but only recently did i discover why he was grinning while imparting this knowledge to us - the every time he said those words in the back of his vacant head he was thinking "yeah, but not for long!" and just this week the american public was clued in - we are now ready and willing to use nuclear weapons on a handful of nations. so i guess it was foolish of me to think that bush was such a moron the whole time he was talking about the cold war being over, because as it turns out it was just foreshadowing his long term goals - return to reagan era policy; something bill simon and others might have you believe is a good thing.
  • gonzaga kinda got shafted in the ncaa seeding. on the one hand they were ranked number 6 in the nation, on the other they played only three top 25 teams during the whole season and only one of which was on the top 25 at the end of the season (illinois), which happened to be the team that gave them their first loss of the season. they also stand to play arizona in the second round of the tourney so they've got a tough test relatively early.
  • from what i've seen the pac-10 has a good chance of having four teams in the sweet 16.
  • work was pretty lame today.
  • my back hurt pretty bad today, at least this time it was my upper back.
  • some idiot dropped over $1500 on paul mccartney tickets today. i was looking through the visa stubs and saw the receipt for fifteen hundred bucks and it made me sad....6 tickets for $1500. i suppose that's not as bad as tickets to a laker or kings game, but it's still insane.


    • 3-10-02 (01:08)

  • tomorrow is my friday.
  • "Thumbing its nose at a reputation for endless rain, Oregon is poised to become the first state to boast solar panels on its capitol building.  Next month, about 850 square feet of photovoltaic (PV) panels will be installed on the west wing of the capitol, generating an average of 7.8 kilowatts -- sufficient electricity to power the four floodlights that illuminate the 23-foot-tall Golden Pioneer statue gracing the top of the building.  Although primarily a symbolic move, the project reflects a genuine commitment to solar energy in Oregon, one of the first states to offer tax credits for investing in PV systems.  The solar installation is the brainchild of Christopher Dymond, a state energy analyst, and is being bankrolled by Portland General Electric to the tune of 60 grand."
  • one of these days i'd like to have a house and have solar panels on the roof. when i get them installed i'll be sure to tell the installers to point the panels towards the sun.
  • brimful of ahsa is probably the worst song on that particular cornershop album.
  • elanda got the car smog checked today and also got the title transferred at the dmv. i'll miss the car. i have it for another two weeks and then it's bye bye. lots of great memories with that car. in a lot of ways it was the perfect car for me...small, but plenty of space, good gas mileage, good looking, cheap, and practical. it wasn't as fun to drive as my dad's cabriolet and didn't have as much pep as a lot of other cars, but it was stylish and perfect for the trip. i'm referring to it in the past tense as if it no longer exists...in two weeks it'll only be a fond memory.
  • shannon, at work, was being pretty stupid today. still work has been ten times better since paris left.
  • india.arie was good on snl today. like the tina fey/jimmy fallon team for the weekend update.
  • the dvd section at work is finally starting to take shape. there's still a ways to go, but in a couple months i hope to have a steady flow of good product.
  • rained today.
  • the onion is one of the last sane media institutions. Bush Calls On Business Leaders To Create 500,000 Shitty Jobs By 2003.
  • "Dog Chastised For Acting Like Dog SACRAMENTO, CA— Obeying the instincts bred into him by millions of years of evolution, Shiner, a 2-year-old golden retriever, incurred his owner's wrath Monday by acting like a dog. "Stop barking at that damn squirrel!" Terri Solanis shouted at the dog. "Can't you sit still for five minutes?" Solanis has previously scolded Shiner for sniffing feces encountered on the sidewalk, licking his own groin, and wolfing down his food."
  • i should sleep.


    • 3-9-02 (01:41)

  • watched politically incorrect tonight. michael moore was the only guest worth mentioning. one lady was disagreeing with michael and kept telling him that he was "so out of touch with the american people." that's a funny thing to say to the person who has authored two best selling books and was consistently getting a good deal more applause than anyone else on the show.
  • went to eat out today.
  • work was long today.
  • it really is too bad that our economy is so fundamentally antithetical to our morals.
  • i have an alanis morissette song stuck in my head. read another interview of her's...she's about as psycho as anne heche.
  • despite the fact that a lot of the foreign and lesser known art films that i've gotten on dvd for tower lately haven't been selling, there are examples of some really good movies selling pretty well. great escape and the good, the bad, and the ugly are the ones that come to mind most readily. both were selling for only 10 bucks on dvd so we sold out of them pretty quickly.


    • 3-8-02 (01:16)

  • luke came by tower today, didn't know he was in davis. i think he came there to look at the porn magazines.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • "How's this for a good way to scare up a few votes?  As debate heats up in the Senate over the energy bill, the White House criticized the Democratic proposal, saying a provision mandating more fuel-efficient vehicles would result in -- heaven forbid! -- smaller cars and -- huh? -- more traffic deaths.  In a message to congressional leaders, the White House said the fuel-efficiency proposal "would contribute to many thousands of additional passenger fatalities and injuries" by requiring smaller and lighter cars.  Supporters of stricter fuel-efficiency standards dismissed the White House statement as fear-mongering, saying that improvements could be made without shrinking vehicle size or imperiling lives.  Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass), who wrote the fuel-economy plan, called the criticisms "hysterical distortion" and "scare tactics" promoted by the auto industry. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and a handful of other Republican senators seem poised to sign on to a version of Kerry's proposal, which would represent the first significant increase in fuel-efficiency standards since the 1980s."
  • so far as i know cars like the civic and the camry are plenty safe yet adequately effiecient at the same time. why is it that people can be so stupid?
  • wish i had a better memory.


    • 3-7-02 (02:32)

  • took a long nap today.
  • saw the last 15 minutes of "end of days" looked really stupid. bad acting, poor script, used biblical themes, but didn't seem to deal with them intelligently. the action scenes were predictable despite only watching a few minutes and reading the info blurb that comes with digital cable.
  • rent is going up next year, but that's the norm in davis. i don't think it's actually possible to keep davis small. uc davis is required by the state to admit a certain percentage of the california population and at the same time the city doesn't want to grow in size. it's just unrealistic and i don't see how a practical solution could be reached.
  • i think i had heard this before, but i was reminded of it yesterday - students living on the davis campus don't technically live in davis and therefore aren't allowed to vote in davis city elections. i should find out whether that is a fact or just a rumor, but i seem to remember hearing it from a couple different sources. if it's true then that's pretty messed up.
  • put in an order for ocean's 11 today. that should sell well. simpsons season 2 dvd is coming out on june 4th. it's going to be 4 dvds this time and will have director commentary on every episode; seems really cool.
  • still no real word on the new rage against the machine band, but i did hear that they have a name (civilian) for it. also no word on the new dj shadow album. last i heard it was slated for june.
  • need to sleep.


    • 3-5-02 (22:37)

  • updated movies list.
  • listened to the reagan cd i got the other day. he was a funny story teller, he was also a pretty stupid person. seems he did more to reverse the new deal progress than any other president. he also used a lot of the same jokes over and over.
  • yesterday i went shopping with johnny. he rode around on the little electric gimp cart while i pushed a regular cart along side him. we played bumper carts most of the night.
  • went speaker shopping today and checked out three different models of speakers. did a lot of driving around sacramento today.
  • i didn't end up voting for any of the winners in the election today. although a couple of the measures/proposistions i wanted seem to have gone though.
  • haven't really listened to the beastie boys lately so i decided to listen to paul's boutique tonight. anyone who really pays attention to the layering of that album - both musically and lyrically - has to be impressed. it's so much more complex than anything mainstream these days. only dj shadow gets close in terms of sampling while still maintaining listenability.


    • 3-5-02 (02:36)

  • here's a great site breaking down probably the best hip-hop album of all time. http://www.moire.com/beastieboys/samples/songs.html
  • i miss being on the road traveling the country.
  • cleaned up my room a bit today and got rid of some crap i don't need.
  • hope to do a lot of things tomorrow, should set my alarm so i'll get up at a reasonable time.
  • kings lost today.
  • gonzaga won.
  • morpheus is lame nowadays.
  • march madness is coming up soon, that should be fun.


    • 3-4-02 (16:44)

  • kobe bryant is a stupid person.


    • 3-4-02 (01:37)

  • work was about the usual today.
  • went over to border's and visited jon there. apparently he does still work there and so we went out for some lunch and caught up.
  • had part of a strokes song stuck in my head last night and couldn't go to sleep because of it. i've had all sorts of songs stuck in my head before, but never has it prevented me from sleeping. i'm not going to put strokes in the playstock at work any time soon and i certainly won't be listening to it on my own time. for some reason it's started to rub me the wrong way lately. it's unlike anything i've ever experienced.
  • blackalicious on the other hand is rubbing me right these days.
  • haven't gotten a credit card bill in a while. i'll just ignore it and assume that i'm debt free.
  • last night i decided to listen to a discarded cd which i wasn't able to sell back. turned out to be pretty good so i might hang on to it. it's the witchman 2cd 'heavy traffic' album.
  • i might be addicted to buying music.
  • checked out 'programmed to love,' by bent and decided i like that one so that's what i'm listening to right now.
  • going to speaker shop on tuesday.
  • i should get to sleep so i can be productive tomorrow.


    • 3-3-02 (01:49)

  • this work week has gone by pretty quickly. tomorrow is my friday.
  • i hear that hubble is getting a considerable upgrade. that's pretty nifty. science is really cool for a hobby...on the one hand i liked being in science classes because i was always learning new and fascinating things, but on the other hand it was a lot of information to be tested on and since i've never been one for studying i wasn't ever able to do very well in the classes.""If you had two fireflies six feet apart in Tokyo, Hubble's vision with ACS will be so fine that it will be able to tell from Washington that they were two different fireflies instead of one," says Holland Ford, professor of astronomy in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University and leader of the team that built the ACS over a five-year period. Ford thinks there's an outside chance that the ACS might even be powerful enough to obtain "direct evidence" - i.e., an image of some type - of planets in other, nearby solar systems. Although planets have been detected around many stars, all of them have been inferred through the gravitational wobbles they impart to their stars, rather than detected through a direct image of the planets themselves. "I think that there is a chance" we'll be able to directly image a planet, says Ford, clearly tantalized by the prospect. "It's going to be difficult, for sure, but we're going to try it.""
  • updated cdlist. updated moviesiown list.
  • got a ronald reagan cd yesterday. it's titled "well....there you go again! the humor that shaped america." i'm hoping that it'll show how truly insane he was.
  • besides the free promos i get at work i get the opportunity to buy back cds from people in need of cash or just wanting to unload excess albums. the reason this is nice is because it's a cheap and easy way to get some of the older titles that we don't have promos for or are more expensive when purchased new. also, since only supervisors do cd buys i'm one of the few people who has the first shot at incoming product.
  • james told me that the supervisor raises should be going through pretty soon so that'll be pretty sweet.
  • the new alanis morissette album is surprisingly well done. i particularly enjoy tracks 3, 4 and 8. she's really an amazing artist. oh, and bush is a great guy. i read an interview with alanis and she seems to mention quite a bit about how intellectual she can be. she also mentions that all but one of her songs on the new album were written in half an hour. here are a few lines from the interview:

    • the song 'flinch' is that directed toward the same person as 'you oughta know'? uh, no, although it may as well have been! (laughs) they all sort of meld into one person after a while. i have found myself attracting the same kind of person over the years. i take responsibility.
    do you have a psychologist to work with on that? oh yeah. and believe me, they don't cut me any slack in that department. (laughs)
    the song 'ironic' got lots of criticism for its too liberal definition of the i-word. had you to do it all over again, would you have done it exactly the same way? i wouldn't have changed a damn thing. the sweetest moment about the 'ironic' song to me was when i was in new york in a bookstore, this woman walked up to me and she said, 'you do realize that a lot of what you write about in 'ironic' is not ironic at all?' and i said, 'yeah.' and she said, 'so....that's the irony, right?' and i went, 'sure.' and she just went, 'oh,' and walked off. and it was like all of this whole process was made totally worth it to me for that little moment in new york. it's just like, yeah, that's it! the irony about 'ironic' is that they're not ironic! but no, when i was writing that song with glenn, we were just laughing and we were so not precious about it. so, still to this day, i'm not precious about what i write, and the truth of the matter is that there are probably a few thousand malapropisms throughout most of my songs anyway.
  • this woman is seriously off her rocker and little girls need to stop listening to her music. although in her defense she was raised catholic so you gotta give her some slack.
  • pulse magazine has been asking readers to submit a list of their top ten "desert island discs...." in other words the ten albums you'd have to bring with you if you were stranded on a desert island. making lists has always been fun for me and it seems that this sentiment is shared by a lot of people, but what's possibly even more fun is arguing over the lists other people make. i am interested in hearing what your top ten d.i.d. are.
  • finished the michael moore book the last night. need to get his newest one soon.


    • 3-2-02 (02:26)

  • work went well today.
  • updated movies list.
  • "There's a new voice in the debate over President Bush's energy policy:  God's.  Religious groups in the United States are increasingly invoking the word of God to oppose drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, support stricter fuel-efficiency standards, and call for increased reliance on renewable energy.  The National Religious Partnership for the Environment, a coalition of 135,000 congregations of many denominations, circulated letters to senators yesterday calling for a more progressive energy policy.  The letters were signed by 1,200 religious leaders.  It seems some peace has been made between religious followers (traditionally painted as conservatives) and environmentalists (traditionally painted as wacky lefties):  Phil Taylor, the 19-year-old founder of Christian Youth for Conservation and once a campaigner for Bush, said, "I personally thank [environmentalists] for taking up our slack.""
  • "BP, the world's third-largest oil company, announced last night that it will halt all of its political contributions worldwide.  The decision appears to reflect a desire to avoid accusations of influence peddling in the era of Enron, and could set a precedent for other companies.  It could also be seen as a triumph for anti-globalization activists and other organizations, which BP CEO Sir John Browne said had "intensified scrutiny" on corporate activities.  Browne said the company would continue to engage in policy debate, but would not fund any political activity or party. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BP, which makes about half of its money in the United States, spent $1.1 million on the 2000 U.S. elections, with two-thirds of the total going to Republican candidates.  BP was the first major oil company to acknowledge the threat of global warming."
  • "What do you do with 11,000 tons of garbage per day?  That's the problem -- well, one of the problems -- plaguing New York City, whose trash disposal system is becoming a political, logistical, and financial headache for the beleaguered metropolis.  A $6 billion long-term garbage-management plan devised by the Giuliani administration is stalled and may fail entirely, and a short-term plan to truck waste out of the city is extremely costly. But any move to store the waste within one of the five boroughs -- which Giuliani promised not to do -- is sure to touch off a firestorm of debate, with concerns likely to be raised about racism and classicism in the siting of the trash.  Meanwhile, a plan by the Bloomberg administration to cut the city's recycling program almost in half for 18 months may be extended indefinitely, much to the dismay of environmentalists.  Financial assessments suggest that unless the city's economy recovers dramatically -- or recycling becomes more profitable -- the program itself could be trashed."
  • it bothers me that everyone was getting on the giuliani bandwagon post 9-11. the guy did a decent job considering the circumstances, but that doesn't erase the things he's done in the past and it also doesn't mask the fact that post 9-11 his administration didn't tell the truth about the environmental and health problems that the smoldering pile posed. not to mention the fact that he turned down a ten million dollar donation from the prince of saudi arabia because the prince felt one of the causes of the bombing was poor u.s. foreign policy. it seems we were so desperate to make heroes of people that we even rose bush and giuliani to that status. oh well.
  • something i learned a long time ago was that i agree with a good portion of what most politicians say and that's because that's a big part of their job. bush saying that education should be better and that what happened at the wtc and pentagon was a tragedy doesn't mean shit other than that he's not completely blind. what he plans on doing about both issues is what is most important and least discussed. policy is more important than principle. the means are more important than the ends. most people want to have a perfect world, but how we get there is where we start to really disagree. i hope people keep that in mind when trying to choose who to vote for in the elections on tuesday.


    • 3-1-02 (01:01)

  • they talked about using "the n-word" on politically incorrect tonight so there's another place in the mass media where the issue was addressed.
  • listening to the felix da housecat cd - james let me have it.
  • i was suggesting to james that stephanie and shannon get employees of the month for february and he told me that he had planned on giving it to shannon and me. getting another $50 would be nice, but they've worked pretty hard this month so i think they should get it.
  • jon may have visited me at tower today before i came in. erin said someone came in, but he couldn't remember his name...something with a "j," but he didn't have a broken leg so maybe it was jon. hopefully he comes in again when i'm around.
  • work was okay for most of the day, but got stressful the last couple hours. i learned how to do deposits the other day so now i'm going to have to do those. it's mostly a time consuming process rather than a difficult one, but it's just one more thing that i'll have to do from time to time. one thing about working at tower and knowing as much as i have the four months i've been there is that i don't get bored easily. knowing how to do things from purchasing, returns, deposits, running the top 25, and all the other things that can be done makes it so that i constantly have something i can be doing and it's not as monotonous as simply putting away product.
  • watched an hbo comedy show of dave chappelle doing a stand up routine. that guy is seriously funny. when he was on conan a while back i remember him being a really good guest and he only confirmed his comic talent in this show elanda lent me.
  • the daily show had a really funny segment on a guy who had a goal of driving 15,000 miles in a year while naked. if you've ever seen the daily show you can only imagine how that one played out. during the whole interview the guy was naked, except for the hat on his head. near the end of the interview the interviewer said seriously to him "now there will be nay sayers out there who will claim that you're hiding something. that in fact you're not truly naked because you're wearing a hat. i'm going to ask you to take off your hat." the guy gave a somewhat toothy grin (as he was missing a few of his front teeth) and removed his hat and it revealed "a classic horse shoe" receding hairline (as george castanza might refer to it). as is the case with many episodes of the daily show you kinda had to be there.
  • heard that john madden is going to be with monday night football. this means that MNF gets overhauled...dan fouts is out the door and so is eric dickerson. i think it'll be a lot better with al michaels and john madden in the booth and melissa stark on the field. people on the field don't matter that much to me...i prefer a good color man to anything else. if the color man is really good then he can carry the whole operation. it's too bad that summerall had to leave fox because i think him and madden were good together, that and i think fox did a better job with nfl games than abc or cbs. well now that the dust has settled i'm pleased overall with the changes and maybe monday night football won't suck anymore.
  • haven't seen super troopers very good reviews. that's odd because i thought it was a lot more funny than either of the american pie movies and it was a smarter humor as well...it didn't rely on the corky's humor that american pie did. oh well.
  • jay and silent bob came out last tuesday. harry potter is coming out in may, not sure how many of those i'm going to order yet.
  • about 25 pages away from the end of the michael moore book. i didn't realize it was over 300 pages long.
  • wish they made a 10 disc cd changer without it requiring a magazine. i don't like magazine style cd players, but i yearn for the ability to have more than 5 discs in my player at any given time. i could make the jump to a mega storage cd player, but with the number of cds i have i'd probably have to get two 400 disc cd players and link them, that would cost about $600 and be a headache in terms of organization. life really is full of sacrifices.
  • i meant for that to sound as shallow as possible, hopefully you caught that.
  • johnny is back in santa cruz. he sure does move around a lot for a guy with two broken bones.
  • wonder where i'll be in a year or two.

    • going to read and sleep. work at noon tomorrow.

    2-28-02 (00:33)

  • work went by really quickly today.
  • might wake up early tomorrow and goto sacramento, carmichael technically, and check out a few speakers james suggested.
  • asked james why he decided to hire me. he said he couldn't remember, but that he hired a couple other people (one of whom is still working there) because they called a lot and that showed that they actually cared about getting the job.
  • my alarm didn't go off this morning which was weird, luckily melanie's woke me up and she sets her's for a full hour and fifteen minutes before she needs to get to class. so even though i needed to get to the store by 9am and she had class at 10am i had plenty of time to brush my teeth, shave, get dressed and bike to work. i don't understand how it takes so long for people to get ready for work sometimes. i guess if you eat and shower like most people then it might take longer.
  • took a nap when i got home, watched two episodes of law and order, ate, and other than going to work that was all i did today.
  • elanda says she doesn't want to do receiving anymore so if she's serious then i'm probably the next in line to do that. doing that would have its advantages, but mostly it would be a pain in the ass. on the up side it would be something new to learn. hopefully she was just in a bad mood and will take it back later.
  • super troopers is one of those movies that offers laughter long after the movie is over....those are the truly great comedies. heard queen of the damned was damn horrible.
  • just decided that i'll check out the speaker dealer on tuesday along with another place in sacramento. i'll get more done on a tuesday when i don't have to rush.
  • in some ways school is vastly different than, and antithetical to, "real life" jobs. working a normal 9-5 job you don't generally have homework, per se. you're not aiming towards the end of the quarter or graduation, rather you keep going until one of the two parties decides it's time to sever the relationship. grades in school come a lot more frequently than evaluations in work do...assuming you ever get them. politics in the office are much more evident than in the classroom. in school a lot of your effort is towards getting the grade or learning the material, whereas at work (at least in my experience) you are more often applying what you've already learned. on the other hand work is like school in some fundamental ways... similar power structures, both are based on results, and both mostly suck. of course these are generalizations based only upon my experience and perceptions of the experience of those around me...
  • actually i liked being in college and work isn't that bad at all, but it does feel like i'm treading water a lot of the time. there aren't any store goals, i don't know exactly how long i'm going to be there, i don't get graded, but for the last 17 years i've been used to having standards to meet in terms of getting a certain grade and i've been used to knowing when it's all going to end. now i'm in a situation where i could feasibly continue in the same course for as long as the store is open. it's a different mind set and something i didn't really anticipate when making the transition from school to full time work.
  • i don't think i like tortellini anymore. it really is too bad because it's really easy to make - fits into my lifestyle these days.
  • black history month is almost over. i don't really watch news these days and i certainly don't watch the sitcoms that most people do...i watch law and order a lot, seinfeld, the simpsons, the practice and sometimes boston public, but that's really the only network tv i watch. so i don't know how well the media at large has dealt with the issue of race during this month, but in reading sports illustrated and watching boston public i found that the media i come across at least tried to address the issue. on boston public they had a show about "the n-word" and on the last page of sports illustrated joe blow explored the double standard applied to people when talking about white atheletes. it's assumed that white guys aren't good at much other than the luge and hockey. shaq wrote in his book that if he were to get dunked on by a white guy he would get hell from his friends and vince carter, after seeing that a white player was assigned to guard him, told the opposing team's coach that he was going to score 40 if the white guy guarded him all night. on boston public the classic issue of the use of the n-word was brought up. why can't white people use the word when black people can? i think it's good to at least raise these questions because it's generally agreed upon that thought and discussion lead at least to understanding and i consider understanding a tolerance better things that most other things; nietzsche might disagree.
  • most scholars claim that blacks can say "nigger," just as homosexuals can use "fag" because the use of the word is about power and when they use the word they are taking back the power of the word. when a white person or non-gay person uses those words then it carries with it a trace (a la derrida) of the prior oppression. it makes good enough sense to me and i'm not fond enough of either of the words to refuse to stop using them. but i might posit this (post-modern) argument that words don't have any real metaphysical meaning or power to them, rather there is only human-made power attached. if people (namely those who are oppressed by the terms) were to remove the meaning of those terms then they would take the power from those who use the word. and in fact, by using the word - even to claim the power it holds as your own - you are still bringing with it the power it once held; additionally (if you believe derrida) removing the negativity attached to such a word isn't really possible without the wedge of time because the trace is always there. i don't foresee people who use the word just deciding to stop using it and i don't see people waking up one day that the word doesn't really mean anything. so i guess at present we have the worst situation except for all the others...we just have to wait for people who are now claiming the power of the word as their own to shape it into a synonym for brother, friend, homie, partner, etc.
  • could it be compared at all to the bully that calls you a shrimp when you're in third grade...your parents tell you that the word doesn't mean anything and that you should chant the old "stick and stones" rhyme and the word will no longer mean anything? could it be that as soon as you let the bully know it doesn't bother you anymore that he's going to stop using that word to try and get a rise out of you? kinda sorta, maybe.


    • 2-27-02 (01:09)

  • updated movies list.
  • hung out with johnny quite a bit this weekend.
  • made a floor lamp out of pvc pipe today, it works pretty well and looks good enough, but needs a lamp shade. i plan on making one more later on. my next pvc project will be speaker stands for the speakers i plan on buying one of these days.
  • this has been a fairly long month when i look back at what has happened in the last 26 days.
  • thought fondly about the hitchhiking trip today. it was a fun time.
  • played tennis and football with johnny today, on the dreamcast of course. we got pretty decent at tennis, but then moved on to football. we were the niners, naturally, and we played the packers. down 28-0 with only 1:53 left in the first half. we went on to win 34-28 in overtime. it was quite a bit of fun.
  • i use "quite" quite a bit these days; not sure why.
  • went to a bookstore today to see if they had michael moore's new book, but the one i went to was a used only bookstore so they didn't have it.
  • ate lunch at rounders.
  • did laundry.
  • went to ace for lamp supplies.
  • that was about the extent of my day.
  • tomorrow will go by pretty quickly. these days i think i actually would prefer working more regular (9-6) type hours.
  • gave my hair a bit of a trim today...just did the top with scissors, instead of the shaver. feel like i need a haircut, but they're too expensive.
  • the kings stomped on the jazz...they really have the jazz' number this year.


    • 2-26-02 (01:33)

  • updated movies list.
  • hopefully i get to watch super troopers again tomorrow. if it's as good the second time then i'll put it on my list of dvds to buy in the future.
  • bought some 17 dollar shoes today. that's quite a bargain - i am pleased.
  • went to ace hardware and discovered the joys of construction grade pvc pipe....it can be used to make anything from furniture to speaker stands.


    • 2-24-02 (02:02)

  • met ex-mayor julie partansky while on my way to work today. she's the second local public official i've met in the last few weeks. talked with her for a bit about what she's doing these days. she seems pretty nice. it's pretty cool that i recognized her and actually ran into her. in a bigger city a lot of people wouldn't recognize their mayors, much less have the chance to run into them just walking down the street.
  • went by the theater and talked to the old crew there. talked with everyone there including michelle. we had a nice chat about her bug and her having to commute 120 miles a day. i liked working there when i only had a couple days a week scheduled. michelle asked if i wanted to go back to work for her, but i politely declined. after thinking about it though i could use the extra 200+ bucks a month it would bring in. i should visit the library again sometime soon, maybe monday or tuesday. i'm happy i've been pretty lucky with the bosses i've had in my recent jobs. while i was painting it was jon and he was a really good boss overall, then there was felicia at the library and she was easy going, michelle and tyronne at the theater were hard at first, but once i got them to relate to me as a person they opened up and became much nicer, and james at tower was quiet and hard to read at first, but, again, after getting him to relate to me on a personal level he turned out to be a good guy and a good boss.
  • by working at these types of jobs i think i've learned what it takes to get bosses to relate to you on a human level. it takes a bit for some people, especially those who are above you on the totem pole, to open up. in the case of michelle i got her to relate to me because we are both beetle owners, that coupled with some humorous banter once in a while led her thinking of me as a person instead of as just another worker. with james it was my noticing that he was into audiophile equipment. we started talking about that and it gave me a chance to get him to relate to me as a person. i suppose it's the same 'formula' that applies to any friendship, but i think it's more difficult when it's your boss.
  • was able to get the incubus promo so that was nice because i didn't really want to buy it, but i definitely wanted it. i think scott would really like it.
  • work was pretty good today, tomorrow is my friday.
  • gotta sleep.


    • 2-22-02 (00:59)

  • didn't watch the olympics today, but heard that kwan was upset and the women's us hockey team lost.
  • updated cdlist.
  • got my new receiver today so setting up the surround was definitely the biggest part of my day. all went well in that department - i even hooked up the subwoofer which i hadn't previously thought to do. music sounds good on it despite the only par aiwa speakers. watched a couple minutes of saving private ryan and was happy with the surround sound effects. when the big speakers are in there it'll be really good, when we get a bigger tv it'll be great.
  • work was about the usual. got another golf magazine for luke. found a transsexual magazine for johnny, but decided not to take it home. ner.
  • i take a shower about once a week these days. so i get a haircut about every 4-5 showers....when you put it in those terms it sounds really bad. i wash my hands more often than most people and i think that matters more than taking showers often.
  • why don't people wash their hands before going to the bathroom? it seems to make just as much sense to me. so i do it before and after, but my sanitary habits are unusual so maybe you shouldn't listen to me.
  • "blood on the tracks" and "highway 61 revisted" are really solid albums. i hadn't really taken bod dylan very seriously until recently. i mean i always knew he was a great artist and that he had some classic albums, but it wasn't until recently that i really discovered the scope of his greatness. the same was once true for the beatles, pink floyd, and even led zeppelin at one point. when i was young i never really had anyone who told me i should listen to such and such an album so it has been up to me to discover music as i go along. it seems that about 50% of the people i know have had someone significant in their life in terms of suggesting music...for jon, phil and vern it was an older brother; and that's 50% of the people i know.
  • bill mahrer made a good point last night...he said he was glad that he wasn't a politician because he wouldn't want to be criticized for changing his mind. i, too, think that changing your mind about issues is a good thing every once in a while.
  • "Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing..." Maynard James Keenan


    • 2-21-02 (02:01)

  • there's a possibility i could start getting more normal hours at work, that would be kinda nice because it would leave my nights free.
  • i'm really hungry.
  • saw part of "15 minutes" today - looked pretty dumb.
  • watched some of the olympics festivities.
  • listened to ornette coleman, radiohead, panoptica, bob dylan and led zeppelin.
  • should be finished with the michael moore book pretty soon. haven't decided for certain whether i'll goto the book signing or not.
  • went to safeway to buy some food items.
  • not much happened today.
  • it was a good day at work despite being short two people...we've had two people quit and one person called in sick today so that was kinda bad. day went by pretty quickly despite all that.
  • i like trains.
  • finances are about the same, social life is about the same, spiritually i'm about the same. tomorrow will be like today. same sport different game. one good thing about work is that i'm still learning how to do things. there's a whole lot to know from ordering different items to receiving to returns...
  • i think that the stroke album has its moments, but i like the bob dylan album more overall.
  • going to eat, read, and then sleep.
  • i'm glad i've never broken anything and that i don't get headaches nearly at all.


    • 2-20-02 (01:22)

  • updated movies list.
  • wired up the living room today.
  • went to see johnny and vern today. gave them a few movies on vhs so i guess johnny has something else he can do while laying on the couch. sitting on the couch all day sucks, especially when you're as active as someone like johnny. i'll have to get him some magazines to read over while he's recovering.
  • gotta wake up early tomorrow. wednesdays usually start of painfully slow, but end pretty quickly.
  • super troopers was surprisingly funny. vern wouldn't like it because it's a sophomoric kind of humor...closer to the farrelly brothers than woody allen. melanie and i both thought it was funny enough to see again.
  • rearranged the living room a bit in anticipation of the big speakers moving in there. that'll happen when i round up enough money for some new music-only speakers.


    • 2-19-02 (13:53)

  • to prove my earlier point...."President Bush approved on Friday a plan to bury the nation's radioactive waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, provoking a firestorm of outrage and an immediate lawsuit by the state's governor, Kenny Guinn (R).  The federal government has spent 10 years and $4 - $7 billion on studying the Yucca site to determine if it is a suitable burial ground for the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste generated by the nation's 131 nuclear power plants.  Yucca Mountain has been the only site to receive serious consideration in recent years, and it has been a highly controversial one.  Nevada politicians, the state's tourism sector, environmentalists, scientists, and anti-nuclear advocates all oppose the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.  Critics point out that the waste would be shipped through 42 states, only to arrive at a site that is crisscrossed with 34 fault lines.  Nevada has set aside $5.4 million to fight the decision."
  • johnny and vern are supposed to be coming back to davis today, not sure what time.
  • going to finish setting up surround speakers today, but i need to buy some more speaker wire first.


    • 2-18-02 (13:46)

  • once i talked to a right wing co-worker of mine about the "tyranny of democracy." when i used that term he asked what the hell i was talking about. i told him that anytime you force a group to do what they don't want to do then it's tantamount to tyranny. he didn't buy it. what makes it even worse these days is that the tyranny of democracy doesn't even have the support of the majority....only about 50% of the voting eligible population actually votes and then about that same percentage usually determines who wins so you have 25% of the those who are eligible to vote determining what the rest of us have live with. this is pretty much the first thing you learn in any real poli sci class, but it's the thing that most people don't even consider. then there's the children, felons, and illegal immigrants who live here and are subject to the laws, but can't even vote.
  • new bob dylan album is quite good.


    • 2-18-02 (00:48)

  • extremism really really annoys me. one thing i like about the simpsons is that it totally rails on extremists...from jokes about level five vegans (people who won't anything that casts a shadow) to people who consider the olympic torch a symbol of all that is holy and great about sports.
  • incidentally, i once talked with a vegan about the simpsons and mentioned that joke...she didn't really like it. in fact she thought it was pretty lame. i thought she was pretty lame.
  • that's another thing that annoys me - people that take themselves really seriously. life is more of a game of backyard basketball than it a game of, well, life and death.
  • music genres are pretty insane sometimes...for example it's not unheard of to have a genre such as "los angeles psychedelic poetry rock" which would describe the doors and about 3 other bands which never made it out of their garages.
  • if i listened to the doors more then i'd like them more. they're pretty high up on my list as it is.
  • having a couple days off will be nice.
  • i get about 17megs an hour on my connection.
  • i'm mostly a lonely person.


    • 2-17-02 (01:37)

  • we were understaffed again today.
  • called johnny twice today...no answer.
  • watched most of a don cheadle movies (rebound) tonight. it was pretty decent overall, but easily replaced by 'he got game' or 'hoop dreams' or even 'jungle fever.' virtually any movie that takes place in new york can be replaced by one of spike lee's films.
  • i really really want a "forty acres and a mule" baseball cap. tried finding them online, but to no avail.
  • don cheadle's brother looks exactly like him, only younger and more slim.
  • steadily getting rid of my vhs tapes and moving to an all dvd library. sadly there are lots of more rare titles that i can't get on dvd...documentaries and the like. i'm going to hold out as long as possible before buying those.
  • michael moore has another book coming out and there's going to be a book signing in early march. sadly it's in grass valley, which is about 70 miles away, and is on a sunday, which is a work day for me. would have been nice to finally meet that guy. incidentally, neither 'the big one' or 'roger and me' have been released on dvd yet.
  • updated moviesiown list. updated cdlist.
  • i like the idea of being a teacher...molding youths, getting summers off, keeping mentally sharp, being on salary, having a new challenge every day, not having to stay at a desk all day, possibly branching off into becoming a track coach, etc. but i fear the reality of it...kids don't want to be molded, kids are obnoxious, i don't know enough to teach yet, and it means having to speak in front of people on a daily basis.
  • it's quite funny how bush claims that more tests need to be done about a subject scientists are almost unanimously agreeing upon - global warming and its causes. yet something that is hotly debated by experts - the practibility of the yucca mountain project - he passes off as "scientifically sound."
  • at this time i'd like to again direct your attention to http://www.opensecrets.org/.


    • 2-16-02 (00:30)

  • with everything you do something is gained, something is lost.
  • politically incorrect was retarded tonight.
  • about half done with "downsize this" by michael moore. it's a real page turner.
  • nonfiction is better than fiction, period. i'm happy for the fact that my grandfather decided to make his life long project a reference book rather than a novel. my kinda guy. my attack on fiction is mostly in jest.
  • finally found a cheap receiver for the home theater system. dvds will even more fun to watch on the 13" tv now! really all our size room needs is a 19", but it seems like the economics of it don't make sense...you can spend a bit more and get a bigger and better quality tv...it's like upgrading your meal at jack in the box - for only 39 cents more you get twice the fries and three times the soda. they really want that extra 39 cents.


    • 2-15-02 (00:28)

  • saw part of girlfight today. it seems like a pretty good movie overall - didn't get too corny or have any horrible acting from what i could tell. it also did a good job of playing with gender...the protagonist is a girl who has a hard time at home and school and so she decides to learn how to box. so she's getting more "butch" (running, getting stronger, learning to fight, etc), but her new boyfriend (also a boxer) comes off as almost effeminate (he watches his weight, refuses to have sex because his trainer says he shouldn't do it before a fight, he's sensitive etc.). it's kinda interesting to see how that works in a counterintuitive way, but at the same time makes sense. what doesn't make sense is the linking of certain qualities to a certain gender in the first place.
  • paris didn't bother to show up today. heard he walked out in a huff last night. maybe i won't even need to put up with him for 2 more weeks...gone from my life as quickly as he entered it.
  • maybe i'll watch waking life tomorrow. saw an advertisement for it in the packet i get for dvd/vhs orders every week, but it wasn't on the list of eligible purchases...maybe they just put it in there to get me psyched for it coming out in the future. mulholland drive was already on the list, unfortunately the studio sucks ass and made the price a horrendous 33 bucks. black knight was also on this week's list. that movie was just funny. no frills, tricks, grand messages, etc. - it was just plain funny.
  • apparently several people from the theater are quitting or have been fired in recent days. kinda sucks because i'll have fewer people on the inside. luckily i'm in with all but one of the managers so i should still have a good shot at getting free movies when i want them. saw tyronne today and gave him a discount on a dvd and cd so i got the scoop on theater goings on as well as some quid pro quo, wink wink, brownie points for watching a movie some time in the future.
  • heard from another source that there is going to be a new release of lord of the rings...this one with 10 extra minutes and a trailer for the sequel on it, but when i asked tyronne he said he didn't know if we (davis) were going to get that.
  • heard some good things about the blade II soundtrack, lots of big names, bound to be some good stuff on that.
  • xmas is just the extreme example of what our society is based upon so when people try to tell me that it's a consumer driven holiday it's kinda like no shit sherlock our whole society is consumer driven, where have you been? that's not to say i agree with it, but people say it as if it's a revelation or some kind of secret...i guess it is to some. xmas seems like a natural conclusion for any capitalist christian society.
  • i don't see anything really wrong with the thought of valentine's day. i think it should be like it was when we were in elementary...everyone got a valentine from everyone else, a simple treat and a note. it doesn't have to be a romantic thing. it also doesn't have to be a buy someone something day either. it's just symptomatic of our culture - we want to thank someone or show someone we care so we buy something, i think that's the way we do things - for better or worse. in it's basic form i think valentine's day has the most potential of all holidays i can think of off the top of my head...a designated day to tell the people close to us that we care about, appreciate, like, or are happy to have them. pretty simple, mostly harmless, and jives with the idealistic 'all you need is love' philosophy of life. either way, it's yours to take or leave.


    • 2-14-02 (01:24)

  • today was a pretty good day at work. got to start getting rid of a lot of shitty dvds which have been there for far too long and are permitting me from buying better ones. also, paris gave his two week notice today. my job just got so much better. without paris around jj will be more civil and so in essence by paris leaving tower records will be minus two idiots. yay.
  • watched some olympics today and it didn't seem like they did as much of the heart-warming-get-to-know-the-atheletes-tear-jerker stories as they did two years ago. that was a pleasant surprise.
  • politically incorrect was the usual. they talked about feminists holding women back by telling them they couldn't exude their sexuality. one woman said that feminists were doing more to hamper female progress than most. a better way of looking at is that feminists are against women feeling they need to look good or that the only way they can be recognized or gain power is through their sexuality. i think that some may see women who use their ASSets to get what they want as working against the cause of those who want to be free of that expectation. they want to be judged by the same standards men are judged by which implies a de-emphasis on the good looks. i can see where both sides are coming from.
  • wanted to see gosford park today, but there's only one showing a day and it's at 5pm. seems a pretty stupid time to schedule a movie which has been nominated for academy awards....only once a day and before most people are off work. hopefully they'll remedy that soon.
  • i think it's funny that valentine's day is referred to as 'v-day'
  • might goto a baseball game with luke sometime this summer. haven't gone to a baseball game since yankee stadium. i'd like to check out pac bell park one day.
  • there are a lot of movies i want to watch. i should goto 49er video and rent 5 for 5 bucks for 5 days. it's a great way to get a lot of movies off the 'to see' list for pretty cheap.
  • haven't heard from johnny lately. he's probably got a metal rod in his leg now. i'm quite glad for having never broken anything.
  • some guy got caught stealing while i was at work today. the sad part about it was that he was carrying his one year old son in his arms as alex took him to the back to fine him and such. when i went back there he was mouthing off to james about how a $250 fine was excessive for a $30 cd. james explained to him that basically it's people like him which require we implement loss prevention systems (undercover agent, cameras, plastic cd cages, etc.) and that the 250 bucks goes towards covering those costs. the dad went on to complain about the cost of the cd. james agreed it was expensive, but that stealing was against the law. then the guy started talking about how the people who made that law were probably the same dumb asses who made abortion legal...it was a sad scene overall. the kid was just sitting there the whole time somewhat oblivious as to what was going on. the father was obviously the type who didn't have 250 bucks he could just pay without any problem (as evidenced by his asking if he could work out a payment plan) and he obviously wasn't the best role model for his kid. when i left it didn't look like alex had called the cops so i suppose it could have been worse. my opinion is that it's one thing to steal, but it's a completely different thing to steal when you have a kid who is depending on you - then to steal while the kid is with you...that's just plain stupid. besides, everyone knows you can just download all that crap off morpheus anyway.


    • 2-13-02 (00:09)

  • finished downloading waking life tonight. watched portions of it...it's very captivating, looking forward to watching it in its entirety. doesn't look that great on my slow computer, but it's watchable.
  • so i'm thinking very seriously about buying the speakers i listened to today. my justification is this: i've got upwards of 570 cds, each going for an average of $10+ comes out to easily 6,000 bucks worth of music; should i not invest some good money in making the most of that 6,000 bucks shine like it should? possibly it's comparable to having a porsche with a volkswagen engine in it...you've got the great looks, the 4 wheel disc brakes, the active suspension system, the six speed transmission, but a 1600cc engine driving it all. sure it still drives, it still handles well, it looks nice, you take care of it, but you're not getting the true potential it holds...in fact you're not getting what the porsche engineers had planned for the vehicle.
  • i listened to a few tracks to gauge the performance of the speakers and was amazed by how much even my fairly good speakers leave out. small effects in "like spinning plates" which i had missed before were immediately obvious when i listened to them on the new speakers. a lot of times speakers miss a lot of the more subtle aspects of music...usually with a good pair of headphones you can pick them up, but then you miss out on good bass and the ability to play the music a little louder. there's a short bass boom on the beastie boys' live version of "the maestro" which has always been a favorite test of mine. before getting my current speakers i didn't even know that the bass line was in that part of the track, but after listening to the track on phil's identical speakers i discovered its presence. every time up until that moment i had only been hearing part of what the song had to offer - it was a moment of audiophile clarity. never again shall i miss out on what the artist is offering me.
  • i was trying to find basketball highlight movies on morpheus today...specifically the slam dunk contest held over the weekend, when i ran across an old assist my ex-king point guard jason williams. he's running toward the basket on a fast break and he has a trailing teammember on either side of him. he takes the ball behind is back as if to pass the ball to the person behind him on his right, but instead he sticks back his right elbow and bounces the ball off his elbow to the left. the ball lands perfectly in the hands of the trailing person on his left and they take it up for a lay up only to get fouled. it is one of the most amazing single plays i've ever seen. jason williams is probably the most dynamic passer to have ever played nba basketball...not the best, but the most dynamic.
  • i was also checking out some dunk highlights...saw one of mj dunking straight over dikembe mutombo (one of the best shot blockers today), it was pretty impressive and afterwards he shook his finger at mutombo, just as mutombo does to many victims of his. then there's the now classic vince carter dunk where he jumped over a 7'2" french center in the olympics and dunked the ball; that one is probably my favorite of all-time. another one of my favorites was a while back when kj (kevin johnson) dunked, left handed, over olajuwon on the baseline. kj doesn't dunk very much because he's only about six feet tall and doesn't have very much spring, but he did on that play and made hakeem look real bad. i remember a dunk by michael finley when he was still on the suns where he got the ball at about the free throw line, took one step and dunked it. from being completely standing still 15 feet away from the basket to dunking it in one step. as great as dunks can be it has led a lot of the younger players to shy away from practicing their jump shooting. jump shooting isn't as good today as it once was, that's for sure.
  • wish i had more time to watch kings games.
  • i don't like BT. if someone wants his new 2cd release they can have it.
  • working early tomorrow.


    • 2-12-02 (15:49)

  • went speaker shopping today and discovered my new infatuation...listened to these speakers which have been getting all sorts of praise and heard for myself why. quite impressive.
  • got a little lost in sacramento, but no big deal.
  • school is at the same time the best and worst thing to have happened to me. even on my days off, without having had any school for the last 8 months or so, i still feel as though i have something to do when i'm out going speaker shopping or watching a movie or what not. i'm just so used to having school work or studying to do that i'm stuck in the pattern of not being able to fully appreciate my time off. on the trip this summer i was able to, but that was because i was away from all that reminds me of school - new cities, living in a car, having just graduated, etc.
  • probably another 5 hours before waking life is done downloading.
  • the guy at the speaker store was pretty nice overall. i was expecting a pushy music elitist, but i got a more down to earth guy who listens to modest mouse and just enjoys good quality speakers. he was really helpful as well. i've gone shopping for speakers (car and otherwise) and it seems that a lot of the people in the business take it so seriously that they can't understand how anyone would want something less than the best. but this guy understood. they had some pretty insane speakers there...ones that definitely cost five figures each.
  • tenacious d are funny.


    • 2-12-02 (13:31)

  • "The levels of pollutants spewed into the air over New York City following the Sep. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center exceeded even those of burning oil wells during the Gulf War, according to a new study released yesterday by scientists from the University of California at Davis.  The study, which was the most thorough analysis of the dust and smoke following the attacks, found elevated levels of sulfur, silicon, titanium, vanadium, and nickel -- all in very fine particles that can contribute to a range of health problems, including emphysema.  The findings bolster support for allegations by some New York legislators that U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman misled New Yorkers by reassuring them that the air was "safe to breathe" one week after the attacks.  They may also help the case of some 1,300 people who plan to sue the city this week for injuries, health problems, and damages stemming from alleged negligence during the post-attack recovery and cleanup."


    • 2-12-02 (00:21)

  • discovered that wood costs more than i previously thought. building a new cd case would cost 100 bucks just for the wood.
  • didn't do too much today and that's too bad.
  • probably going home some time in march, but most likely won't stay for very long.
  • don't like eric dolphy as much as i previously thought.
  • a lot of the strokes stuff sounds like the christmas song on snl...the one with horatio sanz and jimmy fallon. it's good to have good solid mood music...stuff that can keep you in, or get you out of, a certain mood. radiohead, rage against the machine, and others are good for that.
  • "a lot of christians wear crosses around their necks, you think when jesus comes back he ever wants to see a fucking cross? it's kinda like going up to jackie onassis wearing a rifle pendant." - bill hicks.
  • hopefully i'll be more productive tomorrow.


    • 2-11-02 (21:44)

  • "a very specific warning from the fbi concerning a potential terrorist threat as early as tomorrow...what you need to know, more at 11 tonight." i nearly puked on the tv after seeing that.
  • johnny nearly killed himself today. taking a cue from me he used a friends motorized bike to plow into the curb, breaking both bones in his lower leg. he gets surgery tomorrow. visited him at the hospital and that was fun - first time in a hospital in a long time.
  • downloading waking life right now. since it's a full movie it should take about 20 hours before it's done. pretty insane that you can download an entire movie which is still playing in the theater.


    • 02-11-02 (01:55)

  • i've been receiving music at record rates and i've been working a lot as well so the combination doesn't work out too well. i'm trying to get to know some albums better, trying to get reaquainted with old ones, get to know new ones and judge ones which are potentially going to get the boot. it's a tough business.
  • tomorrow i hope to go shopping for food, read backissues of the nation, maybe knock off a couple chapters of 'downsize this,' and listen to music.
  • at one point i pledged to listen to every cd i had once before listening to another cd in the collection...that took a couple months, but i did it. that would be impossible now. at another point i would listen to all the cds i had of a certain genre before switching to another genre....that worked out pretty well because (esp. in hip-hop) i could see how artists borrowed from each other and were similar. these days, though, i just listen to whatever strikes me at the time. all in all having a system is nice though.
  • the source has a feature on the top 150 moments in hip-hop history. number one was the moment dj kool herc decided to use two turntables and funk music to create breakbeat music.
  • the paris report for today: he called in sick so my day went well.
  • rounders was closed today for some reason so i ate at togos, that was the most interesting thing that happened all day.
  • my life is filled with infinite excitement. i can't understand how the majority of us go on day to day doing the same thing.
  • haven't talked with jon in a while, i think he might be withdrawing into isolation. maybe the same could be said about me.
  • being a painter was really fun, second best summer i ever had.
  • johnny's a good friend to have if not for the sole reason that he's a "go-with guy."
  • want to acquire a large map of davis. saw one that was about 4 feet by 5 feet at a pizzeria once and i think i'd like the same one. maps are nice, especially huge ones of very small areas. detail is nice.
  • i'd like to play frisbee golf around the town more often.
  • reference books are invaluable, even today.


    • 2-10-02 (02:36)

  • updated movies list.
  • listened to the beatles most of the time i was at work, that was pleasant.
  • bought another autechre cd today; also got a few dvds.
  • paris acts like a little child and it alternates between amusing and annoying; today it was annoying.
  • i want to goto alaska this summer.
  • haven't watched the olympics at all yet.
  • will probably see amelie with johnny on monday.
  • heard rollerball sucked, no surprise there.
  • i have quite a few cds i need to get rid of....ones that have already been removed from my list and are just in limbo.
  • i'm tired.
  • wish i had travis bickle's determination.


    • 2-9-02 (01:25)

  • updated movies list.
  • need to go shopping.


    • 2-8-02 (00:48)

  • "Like the accumulation of wealth and power, erosion is a cycle with momentum. A trickle of water carves a tiny channel in a grassless slope. The channel -- now a low spot -- attracts more water and becomes a deeper grove. Once erosion begins, water that could run uniformly across an entire hillside instead becomes channeled into one narrow, destructive gully. In the same way, in our current political system, money and power that could be spread across society become channeled in fewer and fewer hands.

    • The beauty of Krafel's metaphor is that we know exactly what to do about erosion: Focus upstream where the gullies begin, and divert the flow of water so that gullies cannot form.
    To fight erosion you plant grass. The grass takes root and holds the soil in place as each blade absorbs and diverts the flow of water in the gully. When you cast your vote in the next election, think of yourself as one of millions of blades of grass. You can diminish the power of the gully and increase the strength of a slower tributary by voting for someone who does not accept large campaign contributions. When you spend or invest your money, do what you can to make sure it ends up in a rivulet, not a gully: Buy from a local farmer, invest in a local business. "
  • went to work. there was quite a computer conundrum and so i got on the horn with store services hoping to fix it...swapped terminals, messed with the server, swapped keyboards, messed with the concentrator ports, messed with the settings, etc. and all to no avail. we might have to just order a new terminal. kinda lame considering the whole problem started when we got a refurbished terminal which didn't work. i plan on asking for a raise, but that won't happen. right now supervisors only make 25 cents more than clerks. all things considered (nagging customers, having to count out drawers, being responsible for opening and closing, dealing with personnel issues, etc.) that's pretty lame.
  • calculated our apartment at 676 sq. feet.
  • watched 'this old house'
  • had some pizza.
  • listened to tenacious d, orb, dexter romweber and naftule's dream.
  • paid some bills.
  • i'd like to find more things to put grommets on. i've got a bunch of grommets and a grommet kit itching to be used.
  • kings lost, that's too bad.
  • don't plan on watching much of the olympics this year. i like the summer olympics and last time they were held vern and i watched just about every minute of them. don't regret that, but don't plan on repeating it for this olympics....especially considering all the weepy stories they'll doubtless have featured before each event.


    • 2-7-02 (00:39)

  • people watch cnn and think they're watching the "good news," as opposed to the crap on the networks, but i've watched cnn the last few times i've taken a lunch break and it inevitably presents me with the same lame "news" stories that the local news does. granted they don't embellish it quite as much and they don't seem to try and sell the news as entertainment quite as overtly as the local news does (12 year old raped by dog, more at 10), but they still have those stories and that's why i stopped watching the news long ago. maybe people watch it because they have more real news than the local news does, but to me it's like buying a rolling stone magazine which has mostly crap about britney spears' new tour, but can continue under the guise of a real music magazine because it has stories about indie bands or quality reviews on occasion. i'd rather just forego the whole process and get my information elsewhere (the daily show), or not at all.
  • lord of the rings has moved up to imdb's #2 movie of all time (based upon user ratings). jeesh.
  • the car got its test drive today...elanda is definitely going to buy it so i should have some extra money soon and be without a car until i get the bug up here and fix it up to perfect running condition. ha.
  • the david holmes album is growing on me.
  • wish we had more independent films in davis. i find it really hard to get my ass to sacramento to see things like amelie or brotherhood of the wolf or the apocalypse now redux. i only have three night when i would have any chance to see a movie and they all fall on weekdays so people are busy.
  • having my weekend on monday and tuesday is pretty nice because i can run errands without fear of places being closed, at the same time there is the drawback of my weekend not coinciding with that of most people.
  • talked to matt at work today about being a substitute teacher and he said that it was relatively easy for him to get subbing gigs in vacaville. he has a degree and a passing grade on the cbest which is what i've got so all i need to really do is call up a school district i'd like to sub for, fill out some paperwork and get some fingerprints taken so they know i'm not a child molester. apparently he's gotten a call just about everyday since he was put into their system and has gone to a different school every time as well. in terms of getting experience and contacts that sounds pretty good. in terms of having to deal with a new class, faculty, and school everytime that sounds intimidating. on the plus side he says its basically just a babysitting job so if you don't want to have to deal with the kids then you don't have to. that's nice for someone like me who's never had to deal with 30 or so high schoolers, but sad for the kids who are basically unstimulated for that period.
  • bush makes me laugh and cry - in that way he's like a really good movie.
  • the more i listen to it the more i like the new chemical brothers album.
  • i've been awake for a long time and my typing is demonstrating that fact.
  • i admire people like malcolm x and mlk, but don't really relate to them. i find myself more often (for better or worse) relating to people like travis bickle (the taxi driver), nietzsche or the unabomber...people who are usually at the edge of society, loners, unhappy with the norm, and bordering on insane.
  • tenacious d are funny. jack black is pure humor.
  • read through the latest issue of "the absolute sound" (an audiophile magazine) and discovered that the reviewers have the best jobs ever conceived. they get to take home a new pair of speakers (ranging in cost from $200-60,000/pair) every month and play music of their choice and then write about what they heard. what's even better is they get to write off any music or hardware purchases as business expenses. granted they have to learn a whole new vernacular and describe a speaker's characteristics in terms of 'color', 'timbre', 'bloom', etc. but other than that they have a pretty sweet job.
  • found out today that my boss, james, lives in a basement. i didn't know people could rent out their basements. he says that he cleans his place in his spare time; that's excitement.
  • updated movies list.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiownlist.
  • i plan on rebuilding my cd case. i've calculated that it will use up 4 more inches in width and 3 in height, but will also have a capactiy of 1056 cds (plus a row for cassettes), a 22% increase. additionally the new case will be collapsible (for easier transport during moving) and will actually weigh less because of the thinner wood i will be using.


    • 2-4-02 (13:52)

  • "Fair-to-middling was the U.S. ranking in a new study, presented at the World Economic Forum last week in New York, that rated the environmental health of 142 countries.  In the study, conducted by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, the U.S. came in at number 51, behind Botswana (15) and Cuba (47) but ahead of Japan (62) and Great Britain (98).  The top-ranking countries were (can you guess?) Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Switzerland, while the worst were Haiti, Iraq, North Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.  Interestingly, the study found no clear correlation between economic wealth or degree of industrialization and environmental health."
  • "Gearheads have reason to feel smug about their Patagonia fleeces these days.  Once again, the company appears among Fortune Magazine's top 100 places to work in the U.S. -- and this time it moved up 17 places in the rankings, to number 41.  The company sold $223 million worth of outdoor gear last year, but it's not just the money that's green:  Patagonia offers its workers everything from financial rewards for buying eco-friendly cars to two months paid leave for working for an environmental nonprofit to organic food in its cafeterias.  Plus the company pledges 1 percent of sales or 10 percent of pretax profits -- whichever is higher -- to conservation efforts.  To top it all off, the California-based company offers on-site childcare, flexible work schedules, and yoga and surfing classes."
  • too bad i didn't get to watch the super bowl yesterday. i listened to most of it on the radio and did get to watch about 40 minutes of it during my lunch break. i would have been very sad had the rams come back to win.
  • ebony magazine has a list of the top ten influential black people and it's got some relative unknowns so i think it's worth checking out.
  • have to pay the rent and hopefully get a haircut today.


    • 2-3-02 (01:05)
    updated movies list.

    1-31-02 (00:53)

  • pretty long day.
  • monday it snowed here in davis, but i was asleep while it was happening.
  • updated movies list.
  • new chemical brothers came out the other day, put my name on the promo. sounds pretty good, but hasn't blown me out of the water. time will tell.
  • got 6 cds for free today....part of being a supervisor and having a pretty nice boss.
  • a good usps commercial would be "shipping rates so cheap even this guy can afford em." then show a picture of the unabomber and his shack in montana.
  • bush makes me sick.
  • rhetoric makes me even more sick.....both of the above are probably why reno collapsed today.
  • law and order is a good tv show....probably the best running show on tv today, except of course for the simpsons.
  • read a bunch of the beatles anthology last night. george is the beatle i relate to the most and ringo is the one i admire the most. john came off as a bit pretentious and a little fake. john said that 'happiness is a warm gun' wasn't about heroin.
  • working the opening shift always makes the day go by more quickly, but having to wake up at 830 in the morning sucks big time.
  • time to goto sleep.


    • 1-28-02 (00:37)

  • why is it that we can't sell cds containting rare beastie boys (or any other artist for that matter) songs on ebay, but we can sell pills which claim to help people lose 80lbs in a month? which is more harmful to society? which takes advantage of people and fosters the idea that we live in a quick fix world and which protects the rich?
  • watched roughly the last half of the rams game today. pretty good game from what i saw. too bad philly couldn't have pulled it out. philly is a better city than st. louis could ever hope to be. superbowl should be pretty lame.
  • a) why would you name your band "fallacy"? b) why would you spell it "phallucy"?
  • i like mp3s, but i think people abuse their access to them. i think it's lame to download an entire album's worth of mp3s without buying the album. never done it, never will. what's funny is how we don't even take it seriously anymore. the fact that it's stealing doesn't mean anything to anyone. technically it's theft and yet no one cares one bit because you're stealing without actually taking anything in the tangible sense, like we're used to. it should be interesting to see how the law catches up with piracy...i mean eventually laws are going to have to change, because right now it's too easy (both in that it's socially acceptable and that it takes minimal effort).
  • nysnc tickets went on sale yesterday and we did over 6k in ticket sales. little girls are so easy....just ask mark chmura.
  • when britney spears was asked why she wanted to remake joan jett's "i love rock n' roll" she replied "because i love pat benatar!" no joke, she's that stupid.
  • well today i finally decided to listen the the bands i have been blindly making fun of for the last couple of months....so after listening to system of a down and linkin park i can now make informed decisions regarding their music. system of a down's single "toxicity" starts out with a certain degree of listenability, but then the lead singer decides to start "singing"....it's pretty good for a laugh. linkin park, too, met my expectations...combining the worst of limp bizkit and korn. i was pleasantly surprised when i gave incubus a chance, but that didn't happen today with either of these bands. i wasted countless megabytes of precious bandwidth, but at least i came out more informed.


    • 1-27-02 (01:03)

  • tomorrow is my friday.
  • have some reading i want to do. have some movies i want to watch. have some laundry that needs to be done. have a cold i need to get rid of.
  • updated cdlist.


    • 1-26-02 (00:39)

  • been sick the last couple days.
  • i like food a lot.
  • a chicken burrito sounds good right about now.
  • "dope on plastic" seems to be an oft sampled phrase in hip-hop.
  • i want to check out some more jon spencer blues explosion. haven't heard anything by him that i haven't liked.


    • 1-22-02 (00:13)

  • since i've been going to sleep so late and waking up in the middle of the day i might just pull an all nighter and reset my sleeping schedule that way. i have monday and tuesday off, but then on wednesdays i have to work at 9am....so i have those two free days, but right afterwards i have the earliest day of my week.
  • i hope to get a lot done if i do decide not to sleep tonight.
  • life is like riding a bike - if you don't fall down once in a while, then you're not riding hard enough.
  • sun ra is underrated.


    • 1-21-02 (02:39)

  • might goto sonoma tomorrow, but probably not.


    • 1-20-02 (02:40)

  • got this dexter romweber (formerly of the flat duo jets) promo and it's really good. good rockabilly type stuff.
  • SNL was really good tonight...the strokes and jack black...
  • the raiders lost today in what was apparently a badly refereed game. i got to see the second quarter on my lunch break and they were up by seven. now i have no interest in football.
  • updated movies list.


    • 1-19-02 (03:17)

  • updated movies list. going to start rating films A-F, i think that'll work better.
  • generally i don't like guitars in jazz music, but there's a group on john zorn's label called "naftule's dream" which uses an electric guitar pretty well....that is to say they don't make it sound too smooth jazzy.
  • i've got way too many cds i need to sort through and decide whether i'm going to keep or give away or try to sell. then there are some cds i am definitely going to keep which i need to get more well aquainted with. at the same time i need to watch more movies so it looks like i know what i'm doing with my weekends.
  • some of the people i work with are really lame and can ruin a day pretty quickly. on the other hand, most of the people i work with are cool and pull their own weight.


    • 1-18-02 (03:30)

  • the hardest part about dvd ordering is picking out which new releases to get, and in what quantity; this is especially true with lesser known titles.sometimes they'll give you box office numbers, but other than that you have no idea what kind of response a certain movie might get. also, just because a movie did pretty well (or pretty bad) in the box office doesn't mean that dvd will or will not sell well.
  • had a good human to human conversation with my usually reserved boss. we talked about movies and business competition and michael moore.
  • made myself a chicken sandwich for dinner. it was pretty tasty.
  • my grandmother is going to france for almost nothing, that's pretty neat.
  • i think not making plans works out pretty well for me.
  • going to sleep rather late these days.
  • the big problem with documentaries, or, more precisely, my love for them, is that they don't come out on dvd very often. i don't think (though i haven't really researched this) that any of frederick wiseman's dozens of documentaries have been released on dvd....even the more recent or popular ones. neither of the michael moore movies have been released on dvd so far. if i had a few more documentaries like "american movie" then i'd be set.
  • talked to a sony representative today who said the rage against the machine/chris cornell thing is slated for march right now so that's pretty good since it's the first time i've heard a month mentioned when referring to the release date. up until today i had always heard "sometime in spring 2002" or "sometime next year, possibly."
  • sleeping is nice. on the other hand i might be turning into my dad.
  • i have a full spectrum light bulb in my room now...it is supposed to cut down on eye strain and it lasts 4 times longer than a regular light bulb, but the real benefit is being able to grow pot in my room.
  • got a promo of the new anniversary album and i think it's pretty good. kinda like ben folds five with some of the pixies.
  • it's still cold as ever, but that's fine by me.
  • www.newdream.org.
  • "The proposed reorganization of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which is currently in federal bankruptcy court, could spell bad news for thousand of acres of pristine landscape in the Sierra Nevada. Right now, PG&E is supervised by the California Public Utilities Commission, whose regulatory structure requires strict environmental protection and encourages public access to the company's 140,000 acres of watershed and timberlands.  But all that could change if PG&E, which suffered huge financial losses during the state's energy crisis last spring, divides into 26 smaller corporations that would operate under the less-eco-friendly authority of federal energy regulators."


    • 1-17-02 (00:54)

  • been doing a lot of dvd ordering lately.
  • the boss is hooking me and a couple other supervisors up with free cds so i got to pick out 5 regular cds i wanted. that's cool of him.
  • the new tommy castro album is pretty good.
  • got a router attachment for my dremel...looking forward to using that.
  • i've been living a pretty boring life lately. don't really do much. don't get really happy or really depressed. it's like i'm on prozac or something.
  • johnny rotten was on politically incorrect today...he was funny and a bit rude, but overall right. i might have to buy a sex pistols album to support his cause.
  • there was a good jeopardy game on the other night.
  • the kings played well tonight, but against a subpar team.
  • i think hunting is just fine if you use a knife or a spear or maybe even an old bow and arrow, but using a gun is lame. saw this one hunting magazine which documented joe blow's trip to alaska where he bagged two caribou and a black bear over the course of a week. where's the sport in that? it wasn't for subsistence so there's no argument there... i mean this is a simple argument i'm making yet hunters argue the other side of it all the time...'we need guns for sport.' doesn't make much sense to me. if someone sees something i'm missing (other than the "we need to have guns in case we need to overthrow the government" argument) then please let me know. and in terms of "protection" we should all just have a sawed off shotgun under our beds...it's not too big, it makes lots of noise and you can't miss. no need for assault rifles or hanguns the size of your palm. but then i guess it's silly to talk about what is "necessary" when we live in a world that produces mantle ornaments in the form of singing plastic fish, or chips/salsa dishes that play 'the mexican hat dance' everytime you open them up, or probably a lot of other things you and i have laying around.
  • i'm digging the sun ra album i got the other day.
  • "The Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, is getting even lower.  In the last decade, the sea, which already lies more than 1,300 feet below sea level, has fallen an additional 20 feet.  Scientists attribute the change to a drop in the water table around the Dead Sea, which allows the ground to settle and compact. The declining water table, in turn, is blamed on the steady siphoning of water from the area for agricultural, industrial, and residential uses in the parched region."
  • the last part helps put things in perspective..."Fires that rage in thousands of underground coal seams around the world are polluting the air and releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas.  Although coal fires occur naturally from spontaneous combustion, scientists say the frequency of such fires has risen as mining has exposed coal deposits to more fires and to the oxygen that feeds them.  The Office of Surface Mining says coal fires have cost the country about $1 billion to date -- and that's a drop in the bucket compared to the international cost.  In China, for example, coal fires burn upward of 200 million tons of coal per year, about 20 percent of national production. Those fires alone produce almost as much CO2 as all the cars and small trucks in the U.S."


    • 1-16-02 (00:07)

  • updated movies list.


    • 1-15-02 (01:18)

  • a good place to go for all your plane hijacking needs.
  • aphex twin's "classics" album is bomb ass.
  • i've been going to sleep too late on my days off.
  • been pretty cold outside lately, but it hasn't rained very much this winter...i'm happy for that.


    • 1-14-02 (19:54)

  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiownlist.
  • fixed the towel bar on the bathroom wall today.
  • watched a documentary called 'berkeley in the sixties' today...it was good.
  • took in a bunch of cds i don't listen to and sold them back for credit at tower....that's why i bought so many cds and a dvd today. after all was said and done i got about 120 bucks worth of stuff for $16.47. employee discounts coupled with excess cds turn out to be quite the money saver.
  • woke up too late today.
  • i've got two pearl jam live cds and in both concerts eddie tells the crowd how much better they are compared to the previous crowd. that seems like a punk think to do. in the first concert (november 5th 2000) he tells the crowd that it's nice to be back home in seattle because all the other cities suck ass compared to seattle. then the next day (november 6th 2000, still in seattle) he tells the crowd that they're better than last night's crowd.


    • 1-14-02 (02:20)

  • saw part of "crumb" a documentary about the controversial comic book artist r. crumb. he's one strange character with an even stranger family. one of his brothers has this long piece of cloth or string that he eats over the course of 3 days and after that time it has gone through his entire system so in effect he has one end coming out of his mouth and one coming out of his ass. it's too strange to make up so you gotta believe me.
  • i think barter is a lost art, especially in western society. i wish people traded things more often. i get all sorts of free cds and magazines from work it's a shame i can't put some of that towards getting free meals or a free movie rental or something. if i were to ask people if they were interested in some kind of exchange i'd likely run into a lot of bewildered faces...people just don't even think to trade things other than cash.
  • woke up early today and watched the niners lose to the packers. it was a tough game to watch.
  • on the one hand i don't think a band should release a live album unless they do something significantly different with the live versions of their songs (deep purple and led zeppelin are the first two bands that come to mind for me). on the other hand i think that it's nice to release some live stuff for your real fans who just want to get as much as they can. some say it was lame of pearl jam to release all those live albums, but i think it works out better for everyone except the bootleggers. fans get two cds for 16 bucks instead of one cd for 25 bucks, it's better quality, and the band gets its due.
  • not sure why johnny has made his site password protected.
  • the guy who once came into tower and broke a cd in front of me visited the store again today. this time he bought something and left without much ado. i should have broken the cd before putting it into his bag.
  • the guy who told me my shirt was offensive at the amtrak station came into the theater on a few different occasions. i wanted so badly to do something to him as well. i can only rest assured that the almighty lord and his son (though i guess that's redundant since they are one and the same) will punish him severely for his dastardly deeds.
  • i don't think jennifer anniston is very pretty.
  • played spades on yahoo games last night. it's a pretty good way to waste some time. first time i've done it and probably not the last.
  • tomorrow i hope to be somewhat productive.
  • i think it's a good idea to take a shower only when you need to, not every day merely for the sake of consistency, or out of habit.
  • the new version of winamp requires a pentium II processor. ouch.
  • my computer is about 5 years old and nothing has been majorly changed or upgraded in that time. i added, but did not replace, a hard drive. i changed the case once. i replaced the cd burner because the old one died. i did need to buy a new monitor as well, but the old one was about 7 years old when i replaced it. in sum i feel i've done a good job not getting carried away with trying to upgrade my computer.
  • some people came in a bought about 150 bucks worth of stuff and were very happy they were doing their part for the economy. they went on to conjecture just how much more they would have gotten had they gotten "drunk or high or something else" before coming to shop. it was rather funny.
  • just about every night i close at tower i work with jj and paris. paris is 30 something and jj is 19 or so. both of them are intellectually and emotionally 10 and it provides for an entertaining (at its best) or exasperating (at its worst) night. paris is married and constantly relays to me the disadvantages of being married and having kids. jj has a typically hot girlfriend and thinks he's going to get a pga card after he graduates college. first of all the latter will likely not happen, second even if it does he'll likely be too drunk to have time to work on his slice or putting game. both get regular calls from their girlfriend/wife and talk down to them. after the conversation is over they will inevitably shake their head as if to indicate the stupidity of their significant other, often this is accompanied by sighs and statements which range from "stupid hoe" to "i shoulda never gotten married." most of the night is spent deciding which one is more repulsive, usually paris wins because he is despicable AND ugly whereas jj is just despicable. come to think of it jj did work at the gap and probably wouldn't ever show enough responsibility to stick around as a father so maybe he's more repulsive. then again maybe paris' sons would be better off without him. well now you see how difficult it really is being a supervisor at tower records...so many tough decisions.


    • 1-13-02 (00:57)

  • johnny came into tower today. might hang out with those guys on monday.
  • going to get up early to watch the 49er game tomorrow.
  • tomorrow is my friday equivalent.
  • despite taking a film class and recognizing the genius that goes into the craft of film i find myself wanting to see documentaries because the craft can be almost completely forgotten when viewing the film. obviously i still enjoy seeing a well made movie, but lately i've been craving the kind of content that documentaries have which most films can't even approach.


    • 1-10-02 (00:46)

  • i discovered what it is about almost famous that makes it so bad....it's more or less like a cheeseburger and fries covered with dog shit - underneath the nastiness was once an appealing piece of work. i saw potential in almost famous, it was almost close to being good. the whole motif of music changing peoples' lives, the over-controlling mother weary of the influence of music and the music culture, the young boy going out on his own to discover himself and the world...all of these appeal to me. but when it came to execution it felt as if cameron crowe took one giant dump on it and obscured any of the once appealing elements beyond recognition by the time the film reached its complete form.
  • got to do some dvd buying today. the biggest problem i see is that we have a budget of only 1250 items at any given time...so in order for me to buy some new titles we'll have to make room under that 1250 item mark. in other words we're very limited in terms of the amount of new titles, and quantities of current ones, we can order.


    • 1-9-02 (01:57)

  • if there was ever an appropriate time for the phrase "off the hook" describing blackalicious' song "alphabet aerobics" is it. that track takes the cake.
  • updated movies list.


    • 1-8-02 (01:00)

  • finally finished making a tea shelf for melanie.
  • watched the royal tenenbaums and got in for free. michelle let us in and that was nice of her. updated movieslist.
  • overall i'm down with pearl jam.
  • johnny and vern are back in town.
  • the car will be sold pretty soon.
  • almanacs are freaking cool.
  • i'll have to get up early on sunday to watch the niners/packers game.
  • "more than any other band, led zeppelin established the concept of album-oriented rock, refusing to release popular songs from their albums as singles." - all music guide.
  • it seems there is a lot of money to be made in releasing dvd box sets and tv series seasons on dvds. you throw a few dvds into one package and sell it for 2-3 times the cost of a regular dvd for just a bit more packaging and development costs.
  • been listening to a lot of johnny cash lately...the essential johnny cash is coming out soon so we have the promo in the store and his 1974 album 'ragged old flag' was reissued...for obvious reasons. at any rate, that guy was the shit.
  • if i were to ever drop acid i would want to listen to "tomorrow never knows" by the beatles while tripping out
  • talked to this guy at tower the other day about sun ra and he said that one of the guys who played on coltrane's ascension lives in davis. pretty cool.


    • 1-7-02 (01:31)

  • i get the next two days off...definitely the first two consecutive days off in a couple months.
  • apparently i've been getting about 100 hits a day since i've had my webpage on tigertech.com and it turns out that most of it is because of my mp3 list. for example so far i've gotten 6 hits from people looking for "steve martin+philosophy/religion/college sketch" on google.com.
  • "interstellar overdrive" by pink floyd sounds good on headphones.
  • working with paris is about the most annoying experience of my life. he's going to drive me to alcoholism.
  • added an icon to my webpage so that if you have my page in your favorites folder it'll be accompanied by a small icon.
  • work sucked today. some of the people there complain too much, some of them don't care enough to complain at all, and few let their actions speak for themselves.
  • i really wish it was possible to influence things outside of my little sphere of life. making a difference at work is hard enough...making a difference on a national or international level seems so impossible.
  • wish i could have seen the 49er game. marc must be pissed.
  • the kings have depth like nobody's business. i really hope they're able to step it up and beat the lakers, and thus secure a championship. if i were the kings coach i'd follow in the footsteps of the bulls in the early 90s...they had a hell of a time beating the pistons come playoff time and for two or three years they were eliminated by the pistons at some point in the playoffs. finally they dedicated the next season to a single minded goal - beating the pistons. they did, and began a new era at the same time. the kings, while they have all this talent and potential, need to commit themselves towards the singular goal of defeating the lakers. not only have the lakers been the ones to oust the kings from the playoff the last two years, but they are also the best team in the nba. just about every team meeting should be about analyzing their strengths and weakness in the context of a matchup with the lakers....this strategy will obviously lose them some games in the short run, but it won't harm their chances of making it to the playoffs and once there they will be far more equipped to finally defeat their goliath. hopefully the third time will be the charm.
  • it's 5am.


    • 1-4-02 (01:11)

  • wish i had more time to listen to music.
  • my boss is putting me in charge of processing special orders next week. i figure between that and ordering dvds i'll be able to keep myself busy. keeping busy is a good thing.
  • "The U.S. government will no longer consider a business's environmental track record when awarding federal contracts, following the Bush administration's decision to rescind 11th-hour Clinton-era "blacklisting" regulations.  The regulations required a business to have a satisfactory record on ethical, environmental, tax, labor, antitrust, and consumer protection laws to win government contracts worth more than $100,000.  Repeal of the regulations was a significant triumph for the private sector but a blow to environmental and labor organizations, which argue that the regulations are necessary to prevent the administration from doing business with companies that violate the government's own laws."
  • i met the helen thomson a couple days ago. she came in to return the godfather dvd collection. we chatted for a bit about my becoming a government teacher one day. she gave me her card and told me i should call her office in regards to some program they had applications for. for those of you who don't know...helen thomson is the state assemblywoman for davis.
  • updated movies list.
  • i want to go hitchhiking again.
  • might have a buyer for my car.


    • 1-1-02 (20:52)

  • today was my first day off in more than a month. i didn't do anything special. everything is closed and that's pretty lame. the one thing i wanted to do was goto the hardware store and it's not open.
  • watched some football. watched a movie.
  • my last day at the theater was yesterday and it went well. got a few movie posters, said goodbye, and that was that.
  • updated movies list.
  • watched part of predator today....it hasn't ceased to amaze me. john mctiernan really knew how to make movies in those days. very good cinematography (same guy who did moulin rouge....which sucked as a movie, but had very good, and original, cinematography.)

    • i heard something about yankee stadium possibly being replaced - that would be a shame.