Today, UAA had their IT surplus sale, where they get rid of their old computer equipment and computing furniture (desks, cabinets, etc.). We got there about an hour after they opened and apparently had missed the laptop sales. However, I was able to swing two 17" monitors and a decent desktop computer for $175. Screens were Dells with VGA, DVI, and USB hubs. Desktop was a higher-end Dell workstation, P4 running at 3Ghz, 2GB RAM, a 40GB SATA hard drive, and a DVI+VGA dedicated video card. Screens were $75 for two, and the computer was $100.
Not bad deals. Talking to the folks there, they're planning on having another sale in June, if people are interested in picking up used computer gear. I understand not everyone needs / wants aged computer parts, but in my time wrangling computers, having spares is rarely a bad thing. Likely, this one will be a replacement for my 2003 A31 IBM Thinkpad. It so longs for death, and maybe I can finally grant its wish.
What happens when one of the world's leading violinists, who owns and plays on a perhaps priceless violin, imitates a busker and plays in a subway for a bit?
http://www.washingt...2007040401721.html (www.washingtonpost.com)
When on occasion I ride the train or buses downtown there are often buskers at some of the tunnel stops. I can say I almost never stop to listen, even if it were genius I probably would not see it that way at the time. Commuters have too much else to think about, where they are going, that guy who smelled like pee on the train... shit like that. Buskers also are usually confined to places where people are walking through, not actually standing and waiting for transit, which I'm sure makes a huge difference in whether people would listen or not.
Probably had to be that way, as part of the contract to get this guy to play as part of the "experiment". I think another issue is that it would be hard for me to appreciate violin "genius" because I almost never listen to violin. If it were a guitar virtuoso, though, I almost always listen for a sec to judge skill before passing on.
An interesting/disturbing video on pedigree dog breeding: http://www.youtube....atch?v=GhXHFOrBbEc (www.youtube.com)
Warning: I was almost physically sick watching this. They lead with segments of a few breeds of dogs that are subject to high probability of seizures, or suffer from genetic abnormalities where their skulls are too small for their brains. It is heartbreaking.
The video basically says that pedigree dog breeding, specifically breeding done by those for dog shows, etc., is becoming exceedingly dangerous and unhealthy due to irresponsible inbreeding practices (cases like mother to son, grandfather to granddaughter). Additionally, traits that are normally considered abnormalities are intentionally bred into certain dog breeds to meet public perception of what a dog breed "should be," and healthy dogs (that don't exhibit ridged backs, or specific coloring) are neutered or culled.
The video also shows how certain breed's skulls have been warped over 100 years of breeding, as well as what certain breeds used to look like as opposed to what they look like now. Both examples are very disturbing. I wish they'd provided more detail, but they cite that for "certain" breeds, only 10% of their distinct genetics exists today from what they were only 40 years ago.
I don't have pets, and likely won't in the near future. But watching this, I feel that the choice to have breed X of a certain animal is increasingly an unethical choice.
I've always felt that purebred dogs were unhealthy mutants. To imagine that chihuauas (sp) are descended from wolves is just unfathomable. Breeding form without regard for function is just ridiculous, and this video shows that - and how cruel these dogs shows are. There is a reason incest is outlawed in humans.
I would never buy a purebred animal. In fact, I was talking to my grandmother this last weekend, and we agreed that our family is much better off because of our genetic diversity (her father was 100% dutch and her mother 100% mexican), even if we are mutts ;)
for the past seven years or so, for my primary computer, whatever it was, I've been using a microsoft intellimouse 4.0. recently it started showing its age, and required severe physical punishment in order to properly left click, either single or double click. so i bought a replacement for it, a razer deathadder. its basically the razer version of that same mouse. lets see how long this one lasts.
so i guess in other words i have more electronics for the next time we need a proper lead death + viking funeral.
MMM. Does this mean you burn your old electronics or ship them out to sea? Either way not very eco-friendly!
I know once a year the Total Reclaim electronic recycle guys will take electronics for food donations. I like doing that as it's a win-win. I save on the cost of recycling electronics and hungry people get fed.
In this case though, I think there's booths in the BestBuy entryway where you can toss it into. They take small things like old game controllers, games, cd's for free. So I'd imagine they also take things like mice.
I think I need to stop playing Lego Harry Potter.
I was dreaming that I was in a circus/freak show (I think because of the blood blisters from the frisbee) and I didn't have a real freak thing. So then this guy shows up with two drum sticks that he taps together and could controll a swarm of flys by pointing them at things (like a wand, hence Harry Potter). To control the flys he wrote the number One, Two, Three and so on to the number of flys. So I accept them from him but then he violently turns into a bird of some sort and dies. Then hurricane Katrina is about to hit the building and a cat starts helping me clean up, it then turns into a lady and she says she has blisters on her butt. At that point I realize she's my familiar.
Then I wake up late to work.
I just wanted to point out that NPR's First Listen is AWESOME especially right now as they have the entire The Book of Mormon: The Musical Cast Recording (www.npr.org)and the album Rome (www.npr.org)right now.
The Book of Mormon has gotten 14 Tony nominations and is written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park/Cannibal: The Musical/Orgasmo to name a few).
Rome is a new album by Danger Mouse and Danelie Luppe. It also has Norah Jone and Jack White. Danger Mouse is a DJ, while Luppe is an orchestral composer. Should make for good stuff.
I already said as much on twitter, but I think the Book of Mormon album is kind of appalling. I mean, it's funny and the lyrics are good I guess, but the music isn't interesting and I wouldn't want to listen to it independent of the stage production. Everyone I know who has seen it loves it and it will obviously win the Tony this year, and I don't think it is a bad show per se, but I don't really want to listen to the album.
Obviously there is the sense of parody and pastiche in the music, and I get it, but the best musicals are ones which I want to listen to over and over again, and this isn't one of them.
Now I'll let this post die in obscurity, because I don't think there is probably anyone who wants to debate the finer points of the American musical theatre canon with me.
Well it's certainly true that I don't know much about true theater productions and most of the big musicals I've seen have been in Anchorage. So yeah. Probably not quite the same as watching something on Broadway. That being said, I'm a fan of Trey Parker and Matt Stone and pretty much celebrate their entire collection.
Not trying to start a debate or anything though. That being said, I'm also not Mormon, but from what I understand it's fairly factual.
Woah woah woah there Wilber! If the show is actually a touring production (and especially if its touring in Canada or the Pacific NW) Anchorage Concert Association has a great chance of getting it up here quickly. Rock of Ages is coming to Anchorage 2012 (6 yrs) And shows like Memphis, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, etc are on a short list depending on scheduling. Also, Blue Man Group, Spamalot, Avenue Q and Mamma Mia! have all been here recently. Our Tix run for ~$45-85. :)
I don't know a whole lot about the business of show booking, and I'm not really even trying to make any point (because I would love for Mormon to play the PAC and do well). I will point out, though, that Rock, Spamalot, Ave Q, the Blue Men, and I think Mamma are all non-eq tours, which means that their overhead is significantly lower than the higher profile tours. Now, Book of Mormon could go non-eq (so many shows have), but I really doubt that it would for at least a few years until the rights get taken over by a new production company.
I'm not saying that the ACA is doing a bad job of getting shows up there; rather, they do remarkably well given the circumstances. The fact is, though, that it is just too hard to turn a profit even in ideal circumstances, and the top tier of equity tours can't make it fiscally viable to make a detour up to AK. This means that first nationals and big new eq tours just won't make it up there, and Alaskans are left to wait until the tour goes non-eq or until there is some other special consideration that brings the production up.
If any of you feel the need to punish yourselves for your sins, I suggest attending an elementary school music performance. Nothing like 100 1st and 2nd graders singing about their home state with almost religious fervor. At least they weren't singing Justin Beiber.
Kiddie performances and talent shows make me cringe. Big time. Like I told JD last night, as 1st graders skipped down the aisles of the school gymnasium while their music teacher told the crowd how proud he was of teaching the kids to skip...
"This is almost as creepy as clowns"
I am pretty sure this makes me a bad parent.
Eh, if your child was having fun during the performance, awesome. That doesn't mean you should be.
I woke up one Saturday morning after a night of drinking, walked into the living room where Kristen was watching television. Some commercial was on with kids parading around with vigor. I remarked; "Ugh. The last thing I want to hear in the morning is children singing."
CANT WAIT FOR KIDS OF MY OWN.
On one hand I can't stop laughing, and on the other hand I can't tell you how refreshing it is to read this. For once I actually believe a parents review of their kids show! The two posts in this thread thus far give me hope for my own soul considering how many times I have said things much like this. Not only am I terrified of the idea of being pregnant and giving birth, but I'm terrified for any child who has to be a child of mine. If it ever happens, it will likely either be a huge learning curve or just a simply unfortunate event.
Eh. His death may be important symbolically. I'm not convinced it has given us any tactical advantage worthy of celebrating. And according to this guy (www.washingtonpost.com), Bin Laden more or less already accomplished what he set out to do.
Honestly, I'm glad the man is dead. He was an asshole, a murderer, and committed crimes against humanity in the name of fantasy and jealousy. I'd say the same of GW, though. Religious extremism is a dangerous, dangerous thing, especially when it leads to religious crusades.
What's sad is that he has mostly succeeded with his agenda. It's going to take a lot of change and sacrifice for the US to remain a powerful nation, which I seriously doubt the American people are willing to do. The coming decades will be interesting.
I thought this was a really well done article too: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/complications-after-a-night-of-jubilation/2011/05/02/AFue42XF_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend (www.washingtonpost.com)
It definitely makes you think about how different things our in our little American world today as opposed to a decade ago, and all that we have given up for the "cause."
I have a lot of mixed feelings too. But whether or not we celebrate it, his death is not an indication of the end of this whole "war against terrorism" thing. His thoughts spread far and wide in the years it took us to find him. The damage is already done. There are numerous groups around the world working to continue carrying out his "mission" whether or not he's still around. I guess at one point in history we aimed our hate at the Russians; now it's the Arabs; I'm curious to see what happens in the future to cause us to go in a different direction again.
sadly no unicycles. I could spend an entire R&R riding the haul road...but only if COP flies my bike from Alpine to Deadhorse...hmmm.
Someday I am going to fly home, pick up some peeps and drive the haul road back to deadhorse. There is supposed to be fantastic hiking and such. Then I'll fly Deadhorse to Alpine and come back to work and my peeps can drive my truck home. :D
My own "Shit no one Cares about", maybe.
I signed up to be the captain of one of the teams at work partly because I ride more than most people and partly because of the free shit. I got a free shirt the other day which is ok, but the best was last night when the organizers got half of the pike place brewery and the captains got free beer.
There was also a raffle last night, which I found odd due to some of the prizes. The bigger prizes were multi item affairs like a bike rack, panniers, and a helmet. While all that shit would have been pretty cool to win, the people there were all bike commuters... who biked there... and because they were commuters most already had a rack, and panniers, and of course a helmet all of which they were currently carrying or had hooked to their bikes. So for every person I saw win there was first the elation of winning something, then the awwww shit look of how do I get this stuff home. In the bike lock up there was a lot of tying shit down with twine
I happened to have grabbed a free hat that was tossed into the crowd. Its a nice looking hat of the typical cycling douschbag type. Upon wearing it, I suddenly felt emboldened with my new cyclodousch hat, though that may also have been the three pints of stout. In the future I have to remember to not weave between the cars stuck in traffic, and be a little patient with red lights even if no one is coming from the opposite direction.
Awesome. And maybe next year they'll have more backpack-friendly prizes. Or maybe they'll just stick with gift certificates.
I really wish AT&T had some sort of a club for this, or maybe a "biggest losers" type program. Being self-insured, you'd think they'd find a way to incentivize healthy practices, rather than just spam us links to Word documents about eating better.group for biking. Or really any group for doing anything active other than sending us non-functioning pedometers. Eh, be the change you want to see in the world, I guess.
Yes I remember that day as well, it was a sad one since your bike really was how you got around.
I get to see what insurance can do for me now, I had about 500 in extras on the bike when all was counted up not to mention base cost on the bike... and having to pay sales tax. Damn, maybe I'm getting my replacement down in Oregon.
So my final comment on Bike to work month, until next may.
I guess I should be proud of myself, despite sickness and theft of my new roadie I still managed to put in a total of 490.6 miles and made 16.5 round trips to work, this ranks me at 254 out of 11000ish total riders. I think I roughly calculated I burned 35000 calories but didn't actually lost much weight.
It was good, and I'm looking forward to it next year.
Sequel to the previously recommended "Name of the Wind," I just finished "A Wise Man's Fear," and I would recommend it highly as well.
http://www.amazon....738/thebookreport01 (www.amazon.com)
The book continues the first book's highly polished and entertaining fantasy narrative. At almost 1000 pages, it's quite the undertaking, but worth the price of admission.
Unrelated: How to Deep Link Youtube Videos (www.google.com)
Add #t=1m45s to the end of your youtube link, changing the numbers to the associated time, naturally.
22 seconds (www.youtube.com) of your vid..
Oh dang! ZING.
I think that deserved a response in the form of a video (www.youtube.com). Or this (www.youtube.com).
I was about ready to get a ticket actually, since its fathers day weekend I thought it would be a good opportunity to hang out with my dad. Sadly he will still be on the slope for another couple of days so I couldn't quite justify it. Good luck to you Dave, and if you want to repeat with snowshoes over the Christmas holiday I'm in.
/mild rant/rave/blabbering/ So last night I really had a need to go outside and enjoy the outsidiness. I went the other day to Westchester Frolf course but it is currently down for another week. Also they seem to really be jacking it up by modifying where the baskets are at and adding 2 baskets per hole. Those darn kids!
Anyways, I haven't tried any of the other ones, has anyone else checked them out yet this year? I asked Josh if he wanted to toss some disc around, but he had "family time." So then I checked out my bike but the tires are flat. I ended up going for a walk for about 25 minutes. It was a decent evening so that was good and felt better afterwords. I think I'm going to miss the ultimate games and might just join the real league. Anybody interested in checking it out with me?
/end blabbering/
From that website:
"
Pickup GamesPick up games are starting to happen again. During the summer games will be Sundays at 4 p.m. and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. both at Davis Fields (maps.google.com) in Mountainview. Until then check the Yahoo! group to stay informed.
"
Travis and I are trying to sell both of our houses and just put FSBO signs outside them. If you know anyone looking to buy a house, could you pass along this information? Travis is the main contact and his phone number and email address are on the website.
https://sites.google.com/site/travisanchoragefsbo/home (sites.google.com)
Thanks!!!
Sorry boys, you've been out bid.
9 days after posting the houses online we had someone come look at my house.
14 days after posting the houses online we had an asking-price offer on my house!
We sent them a counter offer within the 48 hour response deadline (4% realtor's fee for the buyer's realtor, I don't think so!), but now we've had to give them TWO 48 hour extension on replying to our counter. Things are looking promising as we've agreed to most terms verbally, but I'm getting annoyed having to wait this long.
Assuming this deal ends up going through I'd say going FSBO was totally worth it! We're lucky that there was interest in my house so quickly.
Wow... it has been a long time since I have logged into here. Life has been so busy recently! But, what better place to announce to all the Alaskans I care most about that I am going to be in town from the early morning of May 19 to the night of May 24. I will be in Talkeetna for a wedding during the evening/night of the 21st, and I might be doing something with my parents during the day on the 22nd, but other than that, I'm around and would love to see anyone who is around and has time!
For anyone coming down in two weeks to Portland, what would it take to convince someone to fly down (and I really don't care if its cold) a Lucky wishbone Pops meal?
I've been wanting that shit sooo badly.
Also would anyone be interested in seeing how far we can climb the local volcanic giant Mt Adams? Schedules depending, I was thinking of attempting the climb some time that weekend. It would basically just require snowshoes though crampons/axes recommended and no roping up needed.
no matter I'll take the Friday off. its a long drive and it might be nice to do it early. If I was really crazy I'd go try drive out Thursday night and climb all day Friday till the concert... hmm I will need to think of this further since I will need to test my new boots out that weekend if I can and still be home at a reasonable time Sunday for mom celebrationing.
Weighed my backpack this morning. Between my laptop, assorted cords and widgets, bike tools, locks, spare tubes, work clothes, a book, and my lunch, my backpack weighs in at just over 20lbs.
I need to see if they can let me leave my laptop at work. Not like I don't have machines at home.
Then again, sure makes it a challenge to get up Government Hill.
JD, Aaron, Josh: Symphony X is playing The Odyssey! THE MOTHERFUCKING ODYSSEY!!! UGGHGHGHGGNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
http://www.metalsetlists.com/showthread.php?t=16628 (www.metalsetlists.com)
