Into the homestretch

I haven't update my rotation in a couple of days, so I'm almost caught up with the entire current list. I apologize in advance for the name of the Butter track. Blame Miho Hatorie and Yuka Honda -- yeah, the same two women behind Cibo Matto (who also appear in the playlist). Actually, I think one or both of them have some involvement in Gorillaz as well. In any event, I like the sound and I find the name of the track amusing, if offensive.

• Corncob Pipe - BTK
• Machinehead - Bush
• Butterfucker - Butter 08
• Pepper - Butthole Surfers
• Jerk It Out - The Caesars
• Short Skirt, Long Jacket - Cake
• Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle - Cake
• Carbon Monoxide - Cake
• Sheep Go To Heaven - Cake
• Word Up! - Cameo
• Don't You - Candlebox
• Cool Jerk - The Capitols
• Life Less Ordinary - Carbon Leaf
• Carnival - The Cardigans
• Bees - Caribou
• She’s a Bad Mama Jama - Carl Carlton
• Let’s Go - The Cars
• Shake It Up - The Cars
• Parisien du Nord - Cheb Mami
• Smells Like Compton (NWA v. Nirvana) - Cheeky Boy

Heheh. If you haven't heard Smells Like Compton, look it up. Or ask me to mux it sometime.

More music

Another twenty, with more Blues Traveler and several tracks from the awesome string quartet Bond. If you've never heard them, you should.

• Carolina Blues - Blues Traveler
• Theme from Skidoo - Bobby Hughes Experience
• Sahara 72 - Bobby Hughes Experience
• Hey Coach, Don't Call Me A Queer - The Bobs
• It's My Life - Bon Jovi
• You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
• Dalalai - Bond
• Alexander the Great - Bond
• Fuego - Bond
• Gypsy Rhapsody - Bond
• Rock Steady - Bonnie Raitt
• Summer of ‘69 - Bowling for Soup
• The Bitch Song - Bowling for Soup
• T-Bone Shuffle - Boz Scaggs
• Dirtbag - Brad Sucks
• The Dirty Boogie - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
• Good Vibrations - Brian Wilson
• Yeah Toxic (Blades Blend Remix ft. Usher & Ludacris) - Britney Spears
• Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen
• Murder Incorporated - Bruce Springsteen

Why is it that every one of these lists seems to include one really embarrassing track? It's not as if guilty pleasures are some kind of virtue. Ah, well. Until tomorrow.

Because this is the only thing I have enough energy to post

I'm writing these in advance, to the extent that this can be considered writing. Kicking it right in today with Ben Kweller, and running out through some Blues Traveler, with a brief stop at Blackalicious (elevated momentarily to They Might Be Giants territory with this uber-geek track).

• Ann Disaster - Ben Kweller
• A Southern Thang - Better Than Ezra
• Good - Better Than Ezra
• Laid - Better Than Ezra
• Conjunction Junction - Better Than Ezra
• Rollin’ - Big & Rich
• Mister Pinstripe Suit - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
• The Entertainer - Billy Joel
• Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
• You’re Only Human (Second Wind) - Billy Joel
• Jealous Again - The Black Crowes
• Pump It - The Black Eyed Peas
• War Pigs - Black Sabbath
• Chemical Calisthenics - Blackalicious
• Home - Blessid Union of Souls (no, I did not misspell “blessid”)
• 2x4 - Blind Melon
• What’s My Age Again - Blink-182
• The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang
• Don’t Fear The Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult
• Crash Burn - Blues Traveler

An ongoing saga of epic proportions

I keep adding to my work playlist. Today's segment picks up a little indie edge from Ben Kweller, with a sprinkling of 80s and cheesy pop.

• S.P.A.T. - Badly Drawn Boy
• Swarm - Badmarsh & Shri
• Who Let The Dogs Out - Baha Men
• Surf Beat - Balboas
• Teri Akhiyan - Bally Sagoo
• Venus (Extended Mix) - Bananarama
• The Old Apartment - Barenaked Ladies
• Get In Line - Barenaked Ladies
• Grade 9 - Barenaked Ladies
• One Week - Barenaked Ladies
• So What’cha Want - The Beastie Boys
• Intergalactic - The Beastie Boys
• Ch-Check It Out - The Beastie Boys
• Brass Monkey - The Beastie Boys
• Ghettochip Malfunction (Hell Yes Remix) - Beck
• Girl - Beck
• The New Pollution - Beck
• Poison - Bell Biv Devoe
• Rocking the Suburbs - Ben Folds
• For Those of Y’all Who Wear Fanny Packs - Ben Folds Five

Ooops...I was wrong. Ben Kweller is at #21. So he'll be in line tomorrow. If you're interested, I'm muxing some of these tracks over at muxtape.

Group the third

Starting with alpha by artist, since that's how I'm creating the list. I'm already wincing at the first entry.

• Voulez-vouz - A*Teens
• TNT - AC/DC
• Phone Call #27 - Admiral Twin
• Rag Doll - Aerosmith
• Train Kept A Rollin’ - Aerosmith
• Red Tape - Agent Provocateur
• Paradise - Alcazar
• Transmetropolis - Alcazar
• Ritmo Del Amore - Alcazar
• Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
• Southbound - The Allman Brothers
• Ijii Mongol - Altan Urag
• Khukh Tolboton - Altan Urag
• Jumpin’ Jack Flash - Ananda Shankar
• Party Hard - Andrew W.K.
• Pango Pango - The Atomic Fireballs
• Show Me How To Live - Audioslave
• Turn Up The Radio - Autograph
• Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band
• Private Idaho - The B-52’s

If anyone’s interested in hearing any of this stuff let me know, and I’ll throw a muxtape together.

The Next 20

Let's see if today's selection turns out different from yesterday's in any measure:

• Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
• Eat the Rich - Aerosmith
• Even Better Than the Real Thing - U2
• Evenflow - Pearl Jam
• Everything To Everyone - Everclear
• Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
• Fascinating Rhythm (Openair Remix) - Bhangra Nights
• Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
• Feuer frei - Rammstein
• Geek Stink Breath - Green Day
• Get Low - Li'l Jon and the Eastside Boys
• Get the Party Started - Pink
• Gonna Make You Sweat - C+C Music Factory
• Gorgonzola - Addison Groove Project
• Groove In Green - Addison Groove Project
• Harder To Breathe - Maroon 5
• Head Sprung ft. Timbaland - LL Cool J
• Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
• I Alone - Live

Nope, nothing different, really. A couple of things I wouldn't play with my parents around, even though I'm nearly 40, but that's been the case for most of 30 years. :)

Music notes

Ah ha ha.

Right.

So anyway, I've started culling my iTunes library for my "current mix" again. That sounds like fun, and it is, but it's also a big job, since the library currently sits one shy of 40K tracks. For my amusement, if not for yours, I thought I'd start listing out my current at work/workout playlist. One option that won't be listed, but which is a must-have for anyone who exercises, in DJ Steveboy's Podrunner or Podrunner Intervals podcasts. I subscribe to both, and you should as well.

So for grins, the first 20 items in the current regular rotation. Bear in mind that this list runs to high-energy stuff, so there's a fair dose of otherwise-not-very-listenable dance music, heavy crunch guitar and similar. That should probably cue you to the fact that there are cringeworthy items in the playlist...you've been warned.

• AM Radio - Everclear
• American Idiot - Green Day
• American Jesus - Bad Religion
• Anatomic - Afro Celt Sound System
• Around the World - Daft Punk
• Back in Black - AC/DC
• Bawitdaba - Kid Rock
• Biff Bang Pow - Southern Culture on the Skids
• Blue Turban - Arabic Breakbeats
• Brain Stew - Green Day
• Bullet the Blue Sky - U2
• Cherub Rock (Unedited) - Smashing Pumpkins
• Cocaine (Lit Up) - Buckcherry
• Comfort Eagle - Cake
• Cowboy - Kid Rock
• Culo Remix ft. Sean Paul & Li'l John - Pitbull
• Cumbersome - Seven Mary Three
• Dhol Dogs - Afro Celt Sound System
• Discotheque - U2
• Don't Phunk with My Heart - Black-Eyed Peas

I think I'm surprised that Kid Rock managed to show up twice in that first 20. Hopefully, the presence of ACSS, U2, Daft Punk and SCOTS is enough to overwhelm him.

RIP: George Carlin

Long my very favorite comedian (I mean, for something like 25 years) and someone I took as an example to be followed for his outspoken frankness, if not for his personal habits. Go carefully, George. You will be missed.

With this luck, the trip to the hereafter is an airplane, and he'll be asked to preboard by getting on the plane. For George, Hell would be an eternity of bad grammar and mangled syntax.

First attempts with Creature Creator

I arrived home last night to the joy of a FedEx envelope on my doorstep. This thin, white bundle of joy contained one (1) installer for Spore Creature Creator for Macintosh. Installation proceeded (prosod?) apace.

The installer is Mac-typical, and presented no problems. The install was actually surprisingly fast. The program launched rapidly, and took over the screen. To my surprise, Command-Tabbing works! For instance, I wanted to try and recreate a Unioc from Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary strip, but I needed a reference. So a searched for "Ebbirnoth," (the primary Unioc character in the strip), pulled up a couple of images to go by, then launched Creature Creator. Since the game allows me to tab out to other apps, I could page back and forth between CC and Camino to check the quality of my work (which is debatable, but I'm new at it).

The Creature Creator's controls are pretty simple. Deceptively so, in fact. For Mac folks, make sure you're using a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel/ball, or you'll miss out on a lot of the fine control. More on this later. For now, here are the Unioc and the snufflehunter.

Spore Creature Creator: Momentary Nonstart

I was thrilled last week at WWDC -- not by anything at WWDC (well, maybe some of that, but I'm not allowed to talk about it). Rather, I was elated to get, by way of Ken Denmead at Wired, an invitation to the early preview of Spore's Creature Creator. I immediately downloaded and installed in using my Parallels VM on the MacBook, and was shortly thereafter crestfallen.

It won't run in the VM.

Insufficient graphics card is the diagnosis, and while that's not really surprising, it's a little disappointing. Oh well. EA's people were quick to respond to my request for a Mac installer disc, and sent me an installation code right away. So in a day or so, I should be up and evolving. As it were.

So, EA gets points for fast response. And the thing about it not running in a VM is really kind of neutral, since I don't regard a VM as a good gaming environment to start with. What's missing in this whole equation, though, is a version of the EA download/distribution manager for Mac OS X. If that piece was in place, I'd be busy creating even now, instead of watching the mail for my installer. Beyond that, it speaks to a lack of respect for the Mac market.

Still and all, I'm excited to be a part of the preview, even though I have to wait. Stay tuned, and we'll see what develops.

A little lagniappe for Pops!

Don't send a lame Father's Day eCard.
Try JibJab Sendables!

Seat 10F

My very favorite cabin seat on the A319.

Midday at WWDC

Two wings and very little prayer

A sweet bit of serendipity this morning. Forgot something in the house on my way down the drive, came back, and found this little dude on the door handle. He barely held still long enough for a picture, contrary to mantis’ general rep as very relaxed and nearly immobile. He really dug my TZ3, and kept trying to get atop it, which, since the camera can’t take pictures of itself, made photographing him a challenge.

I left him on a tomato plant, with an admonishment to earn his keep.

After that, off to E’s school for “Parent’s Fun Day.” For me, though I enjoyed being with E, it was more like “Parent’s listen to a dozen kids screaming at the top of their lungs” day. To boot, it was the first day of pool use, and as usual, E has forgotten all about going underwater, is afraid of anything over her navel, etc. So swimming, which is usually a blast, was not fun. I survived. L survived. E survived. That’s about the best we could ask for today.

Got to work at lunch time, to be greeted with news that our office renovations are finished. Which left my office looking like this:



Rugged, dirt-hiding, nicely-shaded but above all clean carpet? Check. (The previous carpet was rarely even vacuumed, let alone cleaned.) Gently-colored walls? Check. Old nail and fastener holes covered? Check. New furniture? Check. (Well, new to me, anyway.) Old monster hutch gone? Check. Blinds back? Not yet. But okay.

So it looks nice. But all my stuff remained to be moved back. Three hours later, it looked more like this:



Directly to the left, hidden from view, is a cabinet with all my tools, gear and files in it. I only had three boxes of stuff. Half a box of that went home with me, and another half a box I'm parceling out to Goodwill. Most of the rest of my gear is in clear plastic shoeboxes. Six months ago, fed up with all the crap in my office, I spent two days cleaning, reducing and reorganizing. It paid off...my coworkers are all barely even started on their move-back. I'm done and working. Kind of nice, really. I've pared my office down to a minimum. Having the new test/bench room really helps.

On the home front, dog-sitter (thanks, Pop) and house/cat-sitters lined up. Major construction projects are mostly tied up and buttoned down. Lawn’s cut. My gear and clothes are together. Mom arrives tomorrow after noon (I should be off work early). We’ll deliver J to his temporary residence, hit the sack early, and head out to the airport Friday AM.

Which is cool. But. I’ve now been preparing for travel, traveling, recuperating from travel (work-wise), moving, reorganizing, thrown out of my office, moved back into my office, etc. for nearly three weeks. It drives me bonkers. My routine is totally disconnected, I’m unanchored from the waypoints I use to mark my days, and I feel completely discombobulated. This will only be compounded by spending the week in a way where the day of the week is largely irrelevant, where I spend most of the day in windowless conference room, and where my only contact with home is iChat. I love travel, but hate traveling. A paradox, I understand, but there it is. Still, one more week, then summer settles in.

Just remember to pack the GPS for caching and navigation, so I'm off.

Bedded down

Finished!

The side yard bed and corner bed in the front are complete. Last night I installed a well for the crawlspace vent, smoothed out the soil, laid down 150' of soaker hose and attached a quad bibb to the spigot, and put weedblocker fabric down over the whole thing. It watered all night, and I’ll water it nightly until we plant. Hopefully, it’ll settle enough to allow me to till in an inch or so of composted horse manure, but that’s not a requirement.

That first pic is the side bed from the upper end. Down at the bottom, you can see the air handler that I'm going to try and hide. Probably with honeysuckle. From the lower view, you can see how the beds step down about seven inches every 10'.

The front bed wraps around the new crawlspace door. Throughout, I removed about 8" of soil, then replaced that plus the 7" depth of the rail tie with black loam topsoil. I should be able to grow anything.

Packing has started for the trip to what E calls “‘cisco.” Departure is imminent. I’m not looking forward to the flight, frankly, but I am looking forward to visiting the city again. Mom’s coming along this year to see the Left Coast, so it should be pretty awesome.

Ah, well. Back to work.

Glad to know we have a choice...

In related news, my mandarin orange can announces that I will receive “whole segments.” Which sounds like a topological impossibility to me.