Is anything absolute?

Aiko

2006-01-19T12:45:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of my friend's Ryan and Kara's New baby girl Aiko.

Ryan is a great photographer. Check out his portfolio at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scienceduck/

And while you're at it, also check out my friend Beth's amazing photo's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theevilofbeth/

2006

2006-01-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

Well, it's the beginning of a new year. What will this new year bring? 6 is my favorite number BTW so, hopefully this year will be filled with lots of goodness cuz, I could really use some.

I kicked the end of 2005 off well. We did our annual South Western Ontario Xmas tour with friends and family and it went over fairly smoothly. I had a bit of a scare this year as both of my grandmothers were not doing so well just before xmas. Now they both seem to be doing much better and I really hope it stays that way.

For New Years, Joelle, myself and a bunch of friends rented a cottage just outside of Goderich. The place was a huge (almost a mansion) 4 bedroom country house on a huge 100 acre lot. We did plenty of Movie watching, game playing, puzzle putting together, music listening, drinking, smoking, swimming, tobboozinin', etc... It was a wicked time. In the end though, I was glad to get back home though cuz we had been away from home for almost 2 weeks.

Coming back to work was a lil rough but, since it was a bit of a shorter work week, I think I can make it through.

I made some resolutions but, I won't list them here. Just keep your finger's x'd for me that I can keep them! I am gonna do my best to live up to my own expectations.

I just found out that my friends Ryan and Kara had a new baby Girl 2 hours ago! Her name is Aiko Mallard and she is 6lb's and a few ounces! I am sure that Ryan (the proud new daddy) will be posting pictures online soon. Congrats to the Mallard Clan!

iPod Nano Lawsuits

2005-10-26T09:46:00.000-04:00

Since I've already gone through 2 iPods of my own and Apple treated me like crap when they broke, I am really not surprised by this article:

iPod Lawsuits

Parallel Universes - More Reality Than Science Fiction

2005-10-24T10:02:00.000-04:00

A pretty interesting read:

Parallel Universes

Sadie

2005-10-19T15:30:00.000-04:00

My friend's Karen and Chad had a baby girl last Saturday. Her name is Sadie Elizabeth Lucia Mitchell (try saying that 10 times fast!) despite my attempts to convince the parents to name her Cha-Chi or Kim (hehe Kim Mitchell, that still makes me laugh). She is a very cute, healthy, baby girl.

I want to have kids someday but, not until I am ready. As it stands I often still have trouble making sure I can get by somedays. If I have kids, I'd like to make sure that I can give them as much as I possibly can (without creating spoiled brats). So far all my friends have set great examples of how to be a good parents cuz, all they're kids are all awesome. It gives me hope that I can do it myself one day when I am ready.

Once in a while...

2005-10-05T16:46:00.000-04:00

Step Back, Look at the bigger picture, re-analyze

I don't know

2005-09-26T16:50:00.000-04:00

Humans assume way too much. Many people (including myself sometimes) often seem to preach ways about the right and wrong ways to live or experience life (or at least aspects of life) but, what does anyone know? I mean, almost everything we know was taught to us from some other person, who was taught by other people, etc... etc... So, unless someone experiences something first hand, how do they really know? I'm not saying there are no original idea's or independant thought out there cuz, obviously there has to be but, I often get the feeling that many people opt for an easy solution by following the opinions of the masses. I guess what I really find interesting is that most humans will use the assumptions as facts and often argue/debate these points to death even though in the end, they really don't "know".

For example: Did US astronauts really landed on the moon? I really don't know, I wasn't there but, all evidence I have seen would seem to show that they did.

People will even kill another human being, animal or even a plant based on "assumptions" passed down to them, and honestly, we really don't "know" if they are right or wrong.

I guess my point is, now that we can understand this, should we really be going around telling people that we "know" stuff or perhaps we whould begin to communicate with each other in a sense that we are aware that in many cases there could be different possibilities? Would this cause more confusion or would it solve more problems?

I don't know.

Hmmm?

2005-09-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

Do you ever sometimes wonder?

Platforms

2005-09-08T16:16:00.000-04:00

So, as many of you know (if many people read this at all), I am a fan of technology. I work as an IT administrator for 2 companies. I fix Window's machines all day but I am actually more of a mac person at heart. I would say that my skills on a PC are now as equally strong as my mac skills. When you boil it down and really stop and analyze the 2 operating systems, they are pretty close for the most part. Pretty much anything you can do on a PC, you can do on a mac. So why do so many people use Windows? Here's my theory:

Back in the late 80's early 90's both Apple and Windows were fairly even in the runnning for amount of users. The problem was that all PC's were just way too expensive for home use. Once clone PC's started to be sold, the prices began to drop drastically. Then in 1995 Bill Gates released Windows 95. This operating system was based on earlier versions of Windows, all of which were copied from the Mac OS design (BTW, Mac originally took the concept of their OS from Xerox). This caused a big hype and since then PC's have become faster, cheaper and more accessable to the public. Meanwhile, Apple was still developing great machines but, because Apple was selective as to what 3rd party companies were allowed to develop hardware and software for them (this was done to ensure quality control and reduce the amount of technical issues), Windows was still winning the race. Oddly enough though, even when Windows 95 was released, there were Mac computers which used standard IDE hard drives and SD-RAM, exactly the same as a PC. Mac eventually released a blue and white G3. The design concept was great and is still used in current machines. Getting in the machine required was so simple, all you needed to do was pull a handle and you were inside. This machine will still run their currect operating system. With the release of these machines and their iMacs, Apple started gaining popularity again but, nothing in comparison to Windows because most of society was still under the assumption that Macs would be too expensive, they would not have the programs they want, and they could not be bothered to learn a whole new operating system again. The real truth is, Macs have been steadily dropping in price for the past 10 years, most programs made for Windows has a Mac version (or something that performs the exact same functions) and, from experience I can say that I have always found Mac OS to be more user friendly and much more intuitive. There came a day when Mac finally realized that if they want to compete with Windows that they would need to wipe the slate clean and start over. OS X is written in Unix, a much tighter code than DOS (which Windows uses). OS X has allowed Apple to create an operating system that far surpasses Windows. Windows has essentailly been the same operating system since 95, with a kernal change when they released NT. Though the GUI has changed, it is essentailly the same operating system that has been repatched over and over. Microsoft claims that there will be big changes when they release Longhorn but, there is no set time as to when that will be released and all beta's apper to look almost identicle to Windows XP. Apple realized that most computer users out there are using windows machines so, to make switching over to a Mac easier, OS X can read Windows formatted drives, it can easily network with Windows machines and, since Apple has decided to start using Intel processors (which will allow Apple to drop the price of all their machines lower than many PC's (which has already done with the mac Mini and iBooks). This is starting to grab the attention of many (previously scheptical) Window's user, enough that some hackers out there have already created an illegal version of OS X for PC's nicknamed OS X86 that will boot natively on a PC. This will aparently run on many but not all PC's. Apple is trying to make sure that all information on this matter stays off the net (cuz they still want to be able to make money selling their machines) Individual Mac users/developers have also created a tool that allows WIN32 applications to run right in OS X called "wine helper".

If Apple created a version of OS X that would run on Standard PC's and ran WIN32 programs, would they win over Windows users? Hard to say. It would more than likely be a much cleaner, better looking (IMO), solid OS.

After saying all that, I do not believe that Windows machines are useless or anything. I use both all the time. In fact I found a use for windows that is actually better than OS X. I am somewhat of a musician. I use a lot of synthesizers and samplers. One of my samplers uses SCSI. One feature I like to use is SCSI dumping. This allows me to take audio files from my Mac or PC, dump them into my sampler and manipulate them more. SCSI has become somewhat of a dead technology to most people unless you are creating a RAID HD system for backup or something. Many of the programs I use to do SCSI dumps on the mac did not keep the SCSi functions when ported over to OS X. There are a few but, I find SCSi a bit too slow in OS X. After fighting to get everything set up on the PC, I find the PC does the same task easily. This is the first time I have found a pc doing a task better than a mac.

In conclusion, there are several reasons to use a PC or a mac but, my real beef is that most people who claim that Windows is better than OS X haven't even tried OS X. That seems kinda ignorant to me. Anyhow, it's really all a coke vs. pepsi argument. It all amounts to preference but, how can you really have a preference if you haven't tried the other flavours? Just because masses currently prefer something, doesn't mean it's the best.

werd

2005-09-01T11:32:00.000-04:00

What's new? Hmm, well, I have been working on a new library of sounds for my synths. I lost about 3 years worth of samples recently when the SCSI hard drive in my sampler died on me. The real downside was that I was trying to finish some mixes at the time. I think this is turning out pretty good so far though. Tonight I think I am going to focus on new percusion sounds.

I went mountain biking at a place called Albion Hills last weekend with my friend Ryan. The weather was perfect. It was mostly cloudy but, it was nice and cool so there were no bugs and we kept pretty cool. We rode all of the trails so, according to the web page we must have rode at least 28 km's but, on our last run, we changed up and rode on different trails as we went along so I am guessing we prolly rode between 30-35km's that day. I felt great afterwards. I thought my legts would hurt but, the just ended up being a lil rubbery. It was great to be out and about in the outdoors. Albion Hills has such great trails and scenery. I definitely wanna go there again. We both took some pretty cool pics. It started to rain just as we were leaving so, I think we had a pretty perfect day for a bike ride. We got back in the city by about 5:30 or so.

We recently got Bell ExpressVu. Our friends live in a townhouse and their condo association recently passed a rule that states that no one may use a private satellite dish. So they had to switch over to a version of expressvu that comes through their phone jacks. So, we were able to buy our friends equipment from them for only $50. After a few days of fighting with the dish to get it set up, we are now able to get hundreds of channels.... almost all of them crap ; )

Other than that, not much is not much new with me.

It's sad news for all the people in New Orleans. Someone mentioned something to me this morning that these types of natural disasters occur all over the world pretty frequently. It's really only big news because it is in the US. In any case, it still sucks for all the people who lost everything but, at least the US is wealthy enough to be able to help their citizens in need unlike many other countries who are still suffering from things like the tsunami.

R.I.P. Robert Moog

2005-08-22T12:48:00.000-04:00

I went to see my friends Matt and Falko play this Friday. Both played really great music. Joelle and I danced till about 4am. Saturday our friends Mike, Tina and their lil girl Taya came up to "the Tizdot". We took them to see the Annual 416 graphitti, hiphop, breakdance expo / thing a majigy that is located right beside my apartment. There were some really talented dancers and artists there. We hung out at my place all night as they had to get up early to head to the zoo. Sunday evening, my friends Matt, Mark, Greg, Falko and Wes came over for dinner. Mark and Joelle did all the cooking and let me tell ya, it was delicious. Falko is leaving back to Germany tonight so, I am glad he could make it by to check out my studio and so we could chat a bit. It was a great time.

This morning I was informed that Robert Moog, Inventor of the Moog Synthesizer and a pioneer in sound synthesis passed away. He was suffering from a form of brain cancer. He was known for being a very friendly person who enjoyed meeting new people from around the world. He invented some of the first synthesizers that were smaller than and entire room. Everyone from the Beatles to Boards of Canada have used his synthesizers. Without him, the synthesizer would most likely not be as common place as they are in our society today. This is a great loss to the electronic music world
and all musicians worldwide.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/22/moog.obit.ap/index.html

Rest in peace Bob, you will be missed.

Summer Hours

2005-07-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

I went to my friends Matt, Mark and Dawn's CD release party last night. They are in an electronic act called Repair http://repair-lab.com/ . They had it at Matt and Mark's apartment, which is a huge studio space. They had about 60 or so people throughout the night and with 2 A/C units and 3 fans running full blast, the place was hotter than hell. Most people didn';t seem to mind too much as the free music was worth enduring the heat.

I am in the proces of negotiating a contract for some of my tracks with a site called Beatport. The legal contract is a lil cryptic and hard to understand. I highly doubt I will be making much money from this deal (which I am fine with) but, the real thing I am concerned with is the possibilty that I will loose exclusive rights to my own music for 2 years. I talked to the guys putting this together and I explaind that, so long as I have creative control on how they are used and who gets to use them I am cool with the deal. Not that this would happen but, nothing would be worse than hearing my personal music in a commercial (which is kinda the exact opposite of what my music is about). If I wrote the song specifically for the commercial, that would be a different story. Anyhow, they claim that they will only have exclusive rights for digital downloads so, I will look into this further.

My studio is pretty much done. I have a few odds and ends to finish up but that's about it. I got pretty pissed off the other night when I realized after hooking up everything else that 1 vital cable for my entire studio is about 2 feet too short. After calling about 30 places here in the city, I finally found a place that can order me a longer one for about $25. Phew! THat's is a lot better than the $60 I would paid online. I should have it by Tuesday/Wednesday.

I only work till 1pm today. We have summer hours now and that means I only get to take a 30min lunch each day instead of the usual hour but, it's totally worth it to maximize my weekend! Writing this blog entry has killed a few minutes, and I only got 25 left to go! Huzzah!

Lots of stuff is happening this weekend, including 2 parties I would like to attend. A bunch of the GD crew is coming up to attend one of them, which is Dave's Housewarming partay. I hope to hook up with them at some point.

anyhow, that's enough bloggin' for now.

jussa quickie

2005-07-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

What's new? Hmm. Not a ton. I got a bit of money now so I am doin my best to get my studio done, done and done so I can get into some hardcore writing again. Soldiering cables is not too fun but, in the end, it is saving me hundreds of $ and I am acquiring some new skillz to add to my ability to "pay the billz". I can prolly finish with another night or 2.

Work is meh.

Other than that, I wanna join a gym but they are so bloody expensive. I'm still lookin though.

ever notice how money sucks?

back for now

2005-07-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, so, I have decided to do a new post on here. I'll be honest, I doubt I'll ever be religious about updating this blog but, recently I have been thinking about giving an update.

What have I been up to? Well, the generic answer would be "not Much" but, that's never really true. I think most people just say that cuz it's a hell of a lot easier than stopping and thinking about the question, then formulating descriptive sentences about activities in your life that are most likely only interesting to you. Well, if you are still interested in what's new with me, then continue reading...

Since I last posted I have moved to a new place. I really like the newplace. It is a lil smaller but, it has a much nicer layout overall. The place has central A/C, which I can tell you, right now, in Toronto, is totally vital to anyone survival. We took some time before we moved in and painted the place which made a huge difference. The location is awesome. We are just south of Queen St. On Richmond near Bathurst. I have been loving being able to walk about a minute and a half to suspect video to rent great movies. Not to mention all the other great establishments in our new hood.

My studio is a bit bigger. It has a better layout and I have really been dedicating time and effort into making it work exactly how I want it to. I bought sound proofing which made a giant difference. Now I am in the process of soldiering new cables. Soldiering is a lil tricky. I can do it ok but, it get's really monotinous really quick. It's all for a greater good though so I am perservering. I have been chomping at the bit to get writing again.

I went to Sweden earlier this summer. Travelling out of the country is always inspiring. I had a very interesting experience in Sweden. The sun only set for about 2 hours a night so it was crazy to be out walking home drunk from a bar and the skies looking like it's 3pm instead of 3am. The first night I was there I woke up panicing cuz, I thought I was late for the seminar I was to attend, which was the whole reason I was there. There are a lot of blonde people there too, it's not just a myth, I'd say 30%-40% of the population.

Well, that's enough for now I guess. I will post more sometime soon, when I feel like it.

-s*

L8r

2004-11-16T09:16:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't updated my blog in a bit. I've been extremely busy with work, trying to find time to work on my own projects, and deal with everything else going on. My life has become pretty overwhelming at the moment and it's been bringing me down. I need some time to get some things sorted and get my head in the right space. I don't think I'll be posting for a while.

take care whomever reads this.

-s*

SUPER UPDATE!!!

2004-11-08T14:27:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't gotten around to updating my blog lately.

Ministry / TKK

2004-10-15T09:29:00.000-04:00

My friend got us free passes to go see Ministry, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and Hansel und Gretyl. It was a pretty big Goth fest. I think I may have stood out cuz only my sweatshirt and shoes were black.

Hansel und Gretyl opened and personally, I thought they totally sucked ass. IT was 2 girls and 2 guys, all of them total wankers and it was german death metal. The thing that really pissed me off is in one of their songs they did nothing but scream "Ich bin ein uber alles" while they whaled on their guitars over top of big long samples taken from Kraftwerk's song Numbers. I actually went to the batyhroom and jammed toilet paper in my ears to escape their annoying sound, of course, this is just my opinion.

Thrill Kill Kult were next. They were great. They weren't quite as active on stage as I thought they would be but, they were still very cool. There was only 1 bomb gang girl (there used to be 3 I believe) and there was no guitarist, and the lead singer Groovy Mann was lookin a lil haggered and worn thin (but also seemed good and f'd up on drugs). Still though, they were really fun to see and dance to. They played some classics like Kooler than Jesus, A Daisy Chain for Satan and Sex on Wheels. They also had some great trippy visual playing on a big screen behind them. I think they were my favorite of the night. They were also the best sounding (dynamically) and the tightest group out of all the acts.

Finally Ministry came on, They were ok, nothing special though. The sound mixing was not done that well as some sounds were much louder than others. They played some new, and some old. They bashed bush of course and at the beggining of their show, Al and another band member beat up a guy wearing a George W. Bush mask. They also had visuals but it was a bit to much. Maybe I'm getting old but, I just felt like this show had been done many times before.

I got home at around 1 and went to bed. Now I am at work and I am really tired.

First Album of the Day: Air - Talkie Walkie

My ears are still ringing a bit from the show last night but this is a great album that is very well written. These guys are talented musicians and seem to be able to pull off many different styles and genres but still maintain a sound that is definitly their own.

Turkey withdrawl

2004-10-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday, the day after Thanksgiving. Joelle and I didn't really have much of a Thanksgiving. We didn't have a big meal with all the fixin's. We didn't even have a single scrap of turkey, which is kinda sacreligious a bit for me cuz, Turkey, is possibly my all time favorite food, (well, meat anyway) and I am from the Turkey capital of Canada, and possibly the world. I kinda missed it. We were just too poor to make it home this year. Instead we stayed at home and attempted to entertain ourselves, although we did feel a lil stir crazy by Saturday. We would have gone out but, as I said, we had no $.

Last night was pretty good though. We cleaned up our place and had a few people over to watch the season premiere of Enterprise. Yeah, I know, kinda geeky but, I still cannot express how much that show rocks. Maybe it's just cuz I saw it from the first episode, but even my friend who just started watching it recently says she is really starting to love it.

Other than that we watched TV, and I worked on music all weekend.

I finally got my PC working properly again (knock on wood). My friend showed me this firewall software recently called Zone Alarm. Even the freeware version works so well that I got rid of big bulky Norton Antivirus from my machine and I am just using Z.A. now. So far it works amazingly.

I'm still waiting for my tax return. I really want it cuz I have held off from buying anything for weeks now. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

First Album of the Day: Burger/Ink - Las Vegas

A great album from 2 very influential producers from Germany. This album has a very deep tech house type feel, with a touch of dubbiness and guitar melody. A very good Album.

Teh coolest post 3v4r!

2004-10-05T15:16:00.000-04:00

Hi!

yeah

2004-09-24T10:14:00.000-04:00

It's Friday once again. This week has been somewhat uneventful due to being dirt poor because of "the Man". I can't wait for payday, and even more so, I can't wait for my income tax return. I need some $. I have been planning out how I am going to spend my return already. I have a few things I definitely wanna get like a Processor upgrade for my Mac G4 tower, a Mbox Audio Interface, and a few option possibilities like a PS2, or a Minidisc recorder. I found out yesterday that a minidisc recorder may not work as well as I hoped due to Sony not making the minidisc doftware for mac so, in order to xfer files to it, I'd hafta either transfer everything in real time or, use my PC (ick!).

I broke down last night, after fighting with my stupid PC for weeks, and getting it to work only to have it screw up the following day, I finally just zeroed the HD, and reinstalled Windows. It seems to be working fine now so I am trying to just install only what I need.

This weekend I am going to Harvest Festival. Harvest is a party held once a year by Justin, a long time acquaintance of mine. It is always a very fun party with great music, good people, and a great environment without the freaky sketchiness you normally encouter at most outdoor parties. This year we rented an SUV with our friends Karen and Chad and we are heading up early to set up our tents, get some food and play a lil capture the flag (which is a new thing that is happenening earlier in the day this year). I'm sure the whole night will be a good time and will be a good escape from the city.

Current Album : Electronic Bubonic - one two

I have mentioned this album before. This is my friend Chris' album. He has been reworking it and fine tuning it so he can send it off to be mastered. He has asked me for my opinions and I have been trying to give him some constructive criticism but still let him know that I am being subjective and that it is only personal opinion and that there are no real rules so he can take or leave my advice . It is a great album. I am also designing the cover art for him, all from his ideas.

2004-09-17T15:54:00.000-04:00

It's Friday again. I got about an hour before it's the end of the day. 67 minutes to be exact but I'm not watching the clock or anything ; )-.

I fixed a hell problem on someones PC today. It was due to a virus that tricks ad aware into thinking a system file is spyware, then when you run AA, it removes the file and you can't log in, even in safe mode. It took me a few hours to figure out.

I read up on Windows Service Pack 2 last night. Apparently there is a huge bug in it and it exposes your file to the net. Ahhh Microsoft, can you make anything that doesn't fuck up? So I uninstalled it from my PC.

Tonight, I dunno what I am gonna do. Joelle is going to hang out with her friend Robin so I guess I'll prolly just work on some music or something. I kinda wish I had a new game system. I'm sorta in the mood to play a good game. All the people I usually hang out with seem to have plans. I'm unfortunately a loser without any. Oh well, I should prolly do some more work in the studio anyway.

Current Album - None, I forgot my CD's at home so, I am listening to iTunes radio.
The Station : cliqhop
The current artist: Aphex Twin

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

2004-09-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

Canada WINS! Normally I'm not known for promoting pride for any country in particular. It's not because I am not proud of my country, it's more because I find that sometimes people take national pride a bit too far (ie flipping over taxi cabs), and I believe that people should really focus on be proud of being a good human being in general and not judge someone based on nationality.

In any case I do love parties and last night was the party! Joelle and I invited a few friends over for the game. Initially I was kinda hoping that Canada would totally slaughter Finland but I found as the game went on, the close score did indeed make it more entertaining. As soon as the the last few momewnts of the closing ceremony finished, we turned down the volume and we could hear the car horns start blaring. Our friend Karen rode her bike home, grabbed their car and we drove down to see what was happening near the ACC. When we got close on Front Street, all we could see was red and white chaos. Flags everywhere, peoples hands raised giving the #1 sign, hi fiving, and the universal word "Wooooooo!!!" mixed with car horns was all that that you could hear. We considered parking near front street but it was so chaotic that we decided to see what was happening on Yonge St.. It was packed with people, we drove down it and I was in the passenger seat. I gave so many hi five's, by the end of the night, my hand was numb. I am also certain that many people's voices are horse from yelling "Woooo!!!!" for hours on end. We parked for a bit and walked up and down Yonge Street. There were people on signs and lamp posts, hanging out sun roofs, running down the middle of the street, and jumping over the fountains in Dundas Square. CHAOS! I saw some girls in a car, hanging out of a sun roof surrounded by raging male hockey fans. She was taunting them by taking her top off, but she was wearing a bra. Of course all the guys were screaming "go all the way" but she got a bit freaked out and hid back inside the car. I'll admit I was kinda interested in seeing a free showbut, I had respect for her not causing something that could have got real ugly but, then after they drove up another block, the idiot girl did it again! This time some dude tried to rip off her shirt, then the police got involved. I heard the cops tell the girls that they did not want to see any part of them outside of their car again, and then the cops followed the girls the rest of the way down Yonge St. After that we ran into our friend Rob and some of his friends. We saw a bit more craziness, then we decided to head back home at around midnight. It was really cool to see how quickly the city had transformed into a total party. I am sure there are hangovers a plenty today.

Anyhow, good Work Team Canada! Let's hope the lockout does not last too long so we can enjoy some more great games.

Current Album: Wax Bean Orchard - Rainbow Love Clay

This is an old album put out in 1993 by my friends Matt and Mark Thibideau and Dawn Lewis. Now they are known as Repair and their music is quite different but this album is still great and very well produced. It has element s of dark gothic, industrial, techno, ambient and triphop. Their new album is phenominal, I am sure once it is released to CD that it will do very well in sales.

Frizidizay

2004-09-10T13:32:00.000-04:00

So, I guess I should make a post this week. It's Friday. the day so far has been moving at a decent speed. This morning All Bell Hoting customers were without email for about an hour (Which is an eternity for the people in my office cuz we do about 90% of our business through emails).

I am not taking a lunch today cuz I am leaving early from work to jump on a bus and head to London for the weekend.

Tonight I am going to see my good friend Mr Shane "Master" Baetz before he takes off to Mexico tomorrow. He is going there for work (he lives such a hard life ; P).

Saturday I am going to try my best to hardcore organize my mom's basement but, doing this alone is going to be a humongoid task. I am a lil nervous about starting it. Basically I have to go through tons of junk/"collectables" and organize it for my mom cuz she is too weak at the moment to do it herself.

Saturday night I am supposed to hook up with my buddy Dave "Arden" Walters. We are gonna hang out, maybe play some tunes and possibly proove our worthiness against each other by playing a few video games (unless he is to chicken to play because he fears being destroyed by my superior gaming skills ; P).

Sunday I gotta jet back to Toronto. Joelle and I are having some people over for a viewing of Enterprise, cuz it's just soo good. I know it seems totally geeky but I must admit, it is a fucking awesome show and in many ways superior to the previous star trek shows. The one thing I like about this series is that the story usually continues from episode to episode with less pointless filler episodes than most shows.

Joelle is working at the Weekend to End Breast Cancer all weekend with her 2 friends. I am really proud of them for doing this. It is a really good act of kindness and consideration to those who suffer with cancer.

Current Album: Bjork-Vespertine

I have heard a lot of news about Bjorks new album Medula which is mostly a cappella stuff featuring people like Mike Patton (from Faith No More and Mr. Bungle) and Rahzell (from the Roots, who is a phenominal beat boxer) anyhow, Vespertine is a very quiet, homey kind of album with lots of small chime sounds and lil wierd electronic bits produced by people like Matmos. A great album.

thursday, right now

2004-09-02T09:43:00.000-04:00

It Thursday, it's the morning. I'm no morning person that is for sure. I'm looking forward to going camping this weekend at Emily Provincial park. My friend Grog is going to transport my bike down for me, which is awesome cuz I love riding my bike through trails. I'd like to get in as much cycling as I can before it is too cold. I've got a lot to do to prepare for this weekend. I am sure there is gonna be some pretty cold nights this weekend.

I am doing my taxes tonight. Yes, taxes. I know, I know, it's pretty late for taxes but, I had everything set up to do my taxes earlier this year but, right when I was supposed to do them, I found out about my mom so, I kinda had to put it off for a lil while. Hopefully I should get some good money back. My tax guy specializes in musicians taxes (he used to own a music store) so he knows what he's doing. I really want a new computer.

Not much else is new, I finally fixed my stupid Pee Cee. My iPod is still toast. I cracked my new sunglasses somehow. I was in Crappy Tire, I looked down at them and they were cracked. I yelled WTF in the store loud enough to make a few people turn and stare at me. Anyhow, I bought yet another pair last night. That's about it really.

First Album of the Day: Lenny Metal

This is the crazy yet very cool work of my friend Greg Thibideau. Greg is a great musician with styles that range from shoegazer guitar, to death metal, to funk, to drum and bass to techno. It's really all over the map but all good. Lenny is actually his alternate personality. Greg has described Lenny as a dirty skid roofer on crack. (Greg used to work as a roofer)

boredboredboredboredBORED!

2004-08-30T10:10:00.000-04:00

So it's Monday. I had a pretty uneventful weekend. Friday Joelle and I went to our friends Ryan and Kara's new place. We hung out for a bit chilled, smoked, drank, etc... When we got home I managed to get Cubase working in Panther (I'm sure that doesn't mean a lot to anyone but me) and I fixed my remote desktop connection in Windows by reinstalling XP on top of itself. Here is the fun part though, as soon as I managed to get remote desktop fixed, I got a virus, i booted in safemode, then removed it, then I got it again! WTF, Windows, this would only happen in friggin Windows. Anyhow, so I've been trying to remove this virus for good ever since.

Saturday, the weather was crap. I got up late and went down to Songbird to visit my friend Matt who had just returned from Germany. He told me about his trip and it seems he had a really good time. He seemes determined to move to Germany and I can't really blame him. Ity is a really nice country and his music will go far there. Matt is a very talented musician and he tought me a lot of what I know about synthesizers. Later I headed home. Joelle and I were bored out of our skulls so, we decided to finally take on a task that we had been putting off for a while now. Organizing CD's. It took quite a while cuz we put everything in alphabetical order and to our best abilities, Chronological. It felt really good once we finished cuz our CD's looked a lot better and we knew it would be a while before we would hafta to do it again.

Sunday we took things really slow cuz it was once again it was pissing down rain. So we decided to finally watch our copy of Apocalypse Now Redux. Joelle had never seen it. I liked the extra footage. Always a good flick. The rest of the day I just did some network file management and more teching, nothing too exciting.

I've had a weird numbness in the top of my left leg since Friday. I have no other symptoms than less sensation in that part of my leg. I called Telehealth Ontario, and the said I should go to a hospital but, I know they say that to almost everyone because they do not want to be held liable for anything. I prolly will go get it checked out but I just need to find time to do it cuz I am sure it will be close to a 4 hour wait at a hospital. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

First Album of the Day: Frivolous - Somewhere in the Suburbs

This album is on Karloff Rekordings, a side project label of Substatic recordings. This disc is good. It had a lot of interesting sounds on it and it ranges through a few different styles, mostly deep tech house. I got this disc as a gift from my friend Falko in Germany (Owner of Substatic). Falko is also a phenominal musician along with his girlfriend MIA.

p34c3

gottafindawayouttaherefriday

2004-08-27T09:35:00.000-04:00

It's Friday, nothing interesting is going on so far. It's only the AM and I cannot wait for my work day to end. I wasted a lot of personal time messing with my PC's Remote Desktop this week. It was working perfectly fine one day, then suddenly, nothing. I don't know what is going on with it. I tried everything I could think of short of reinstalling Windows on top of itself... The only answer I can come up with is, it is a "Microsoft Product" and therefore, not reliable. Of course my Mac's Remote Desktop is working flawlessly as usual.

My first week of avoiding treats has been going pretty good. I think in total I may have had 4 cookies. not bad. I am sure I can do better. If it clears up this weekend I think I might go for a bike ride. Perhaps down Etobicoke way, I haven't been down that way yet this year and I know it is a beautiful ride along the lakeshore.

I'll prolly work on some music this weekend. The current track I am working on is making Pro Tools choke a bit. I need a new computer. I am hoping that I'll be able to afford one with my tax return. If I sold my mac and got enough back from taxes, I would like to get a G5, an Mbox (audio Interface), a stealthport (for MIDI)), A SCSI card, lotsa RAM, and maybe a PS2 or Xbox but, I'm prolly dreaming. It's a nice dream though.

First album : Electronic Bubonic - Currently Untitled

This is my friend Chris Woodrow's new album. I work with him. He and I ahave been friends since we worked at Steve's together. He is a really good musician and I have heard him take this album from very rough outlines to very a very detailed finished product. It has a rock element that has similarities to styles like Radiohead but very unique to Chris' sound. Lots of crazy electronic bits. A very good album.

2004-08-25T16:26:00.000-04:00

OK, allow me to geek out for a sec. As many of you know, on top of serveral other duties/positons at my job I am the only IT person in our office. I mean I fix everything from insanely hard to figure out server/email/network problems to small lame assed "My CD won't play! Can you fix it" kind of problems. For the past while I have been trying to fix a problem in our general councils Outlook. It totally stumped me. I've tried everything. One problem is that this problem is so intermittant that it is hard to catch and or replicate. I called in our IT specialist who has all of his certification with Microsoft and even he is stumped. We have a few ideas of what to try but when we tried some of them, we encountered new problems.

I am also a Mac user and some would most likely say that I am biased when it comes to which platform I believe is better (even though I have debated for both sides before) . In the past few years or so, I have decided to try my best and be more open minded about which has better uses for what. Here is the deal though. Yes PC's cost less and more people use them but honestly, I find that, honestly and truly, most PC's require about 75% more technical attention than any of my Macs. That's not to say that Macs never have problems cuz, I used to be an Apple Technician so I've dealt with a few Mac doozies before. Still, now that I am a tech for both platforms, I have to say... Windows is really a very poorly developed OS. Perhaps back when Win95 or 98 came out it was still up there in the world of OS's but all Microsoft has done is just patch up the same OS they started with over and over to the point where it runs like poo and it is a bitch to fix certain things. Even Mac knew when it was time to just wipe the slate clean and start over again. I have heard rumours on non mac related forums that longhorn won't even come close to the funtionality of Tiger (which is Mac's new OS 10.4) and it is still 2 years away from being released. With competition from companies like Apple, Linux, and Unix. I think that Microsoft better make some serious changes and fast or else they won't be able to maintain the popularity they currently have. I think Microsoft are really "resting on their laurels" at the moment.

Alright, enough computer garbage.

Current Album : My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

This album is the fucking shit. Hands down, One of the most best shoegazer albums ever. Anything Kevin Shields touches is amazing.

Treats for Teets!

2004-08-23T10:04:00.000-04:00

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday I took the day off work cuz I was not feeling well ; ) so, I chilled and did a few things around the house. At 6 Joelle, our friend Carrie and myself left for Sarnia to work at a bake sale for chartity. We made a few brief stops in St. Thomas and Strathroy and saw some good friends of mine then, continued onward to Sarnia. We made to Sarnia at about 10:30 0r 11 pm. We stayed at Joelle's parent's new place. It's pretty nice. Smaller, but, it's all that they need cuz their kids are all moved out into their own places so, no need for them to have a place that is just more difficult to take care of.

I broke down and did something I said I wouldn't. I bought a 3rd party iPod batter. I only bought it because they went down to $30 USD and I felt bad for always using Joelle's MP3/CD player. I ordered it Thursday afternoon and it arrived Friday morning! I was suprised seeing as it came all the way from California. Opening my iPod was simpler than I thought it would be but, here is the really shitty thing. It didn't fix my iPod. So after shipping and everything, I spent close to $70 CAD. I can send the battery back but I will lose $15 USD for a restocking charge and Hafta go through the hassle of returning it. I am going to mess with it for a few more days and see if I can figure out why it is not working. My guess at the momnet is it is eaither a software issue or a hard drive issue.

Saturday morning we got up at about 8am. I was super tired. We went out to to our friend Karen's Parent's place in Courtright where the Hydrofest was going on as well as the bake sale the girls were holding. Our friend Emily is going to walk 60 km over 2 days in Toronto and she needed to raise $2000 to be able to enter. Hydrofest is mainly boat races along the St. Claire river, as well as a beer tent and live bands that played down the road. The girls had made soooo many delicious treats to sell to make money towards helping breast cancer research. Seeing as it was a really good cause, my mom has cancer, and I am a fan of boobs, I was more than happy to help out. In fact everyone really pulled together to make is a great event. The guys set up tables and a canopy while the girls set up the food. I was going to try to stick to my diet and not eat a lot of sweets but, it was no good. There was just too much deliciousness and not enough real food around so, I helped out th balloons and wrote things like "Help save boobies" and "bake sale" and "4 cancer research" on them, I hung up a couple of signs and I even wore a flaurecent jacket while waving ballons and flagging cars to pull in and yelling at the ones with open windows. I think it helped but, I was foolish and diod not put sunscreen on for the first few hours. I got pretty burnt, and it started to hurt. By the evening, I just had to go inside until the mean ol' sun went away. That night we went down to the beer tent. We heard a few bands (who weren't the greatest in my opinion) drank a couple of beers, had a burger and headed back. The sun had whooped my ass and we were all fading fast. Fortunately Karen's mom had an aloe plant so I put some on my burns and took an advil, hit the bed and passed out.

The next morning, I could hear people getting up and moving around but, I just could not get up. The sun does that to me, if I get burned I need to stay out of the sun and sleep. So I slept until 11:30am. When I came down everyona had the bake sale all set up already. I put on some more aloe and sunscreen, long pants and a hooded sweatshirt so I was totally covered. The bake sale did not do quite as much business as the first day but the girls met their goal. They sold almost $1200! It turned out great. Karen's mom made a big pot of chilli and other food so we all sat down to a big meal, then gathered our stuff and headed back to the big T.O.. We got home at around 9:30pm, we watched some TV, and headed to bed.

Now, it's back to the same old grind.

First album of the day: Eric Downer's 20 minute workout

It is a DJ mix of my good friend Eric downer. As you can guess it's only 20 minutes long. He is a really good DJ and has made quite a name for himself here in Toronto. I have known him since I lived in London and was one of the first DJ's I ever knew.

Current

2004-08-18T12:01:00.000-04:00

Few people I know have been updating their blogs lately. Guess nothing interesting is happenening. I wish they would, I like reading 'em in my spare time at work.

I think I'm gonna sell my Mac G4 and buy a G5. I realized last night that my computer is finally hitting a few barriers for todays audio and graphic software so, I feel it's time to upgrade. I can prolly get some pretty decent coin selling my G4 as a complete multimedia machine. My G4 is a solid machine and has been reliable for me for nearly 5 years now and it still does pretty much everything I want. I'd definitely say I got my $ worth outta it already. I just want to stay current if I can. I wish there was a G5 Powerbook but, according to some forum posts I read, the processor still gets so hot, that if it were put into a laptop case it would burn the user. The newest G5 processors are liquid cooled, as opposed to just fan cooled. The dilemma is, should I wait for the G5 Powerbook, or, buy a G5 Tower

Current Album : Ministry - Twitch

In my opinion, the best Ministry album. My 2 favorite songs on this album are, The Angel, and Over the Shoulder.

p34c3

Anotha Weekend.

2004-08-16T09:47:00.000-04:00

This weekend was pretty good. Friday, Joelle and I went out and got some Thai penang penut curry on steamed rice for dinner. Mmmmm, so good. After dinner we went to see AVP. It was good. I won't say anything more about it because I don't like ruining the experience for other people who haven't seen it. we came home and watched the opening for the Olympics. I really liked the opening. It was very theatrical and had some cool parts like having Bjork sing. Bjork's song seemed a bit odd for the olympics but her stage performance was still cool. Her dress kept getting longer and longer throughout her song. I find it kinda cool that the olympics are back in Greece, where they began so long ago.

Saturday, I woke up. I was gonna hang out with my friend Clint but I was having some phone technical difficulties while tryin to contact him. So, I chilled, smoked and watched syncronized diving, an event that is new and very cool to watch. I also watched a bit of Volleyball. I think it's interesting to see professionals in action. It really shows you how good you can get if you practice at one thing day after day. Saturday night we went to our friends Karen and Chad's for a small party. It was nice, pretty chill but good to see friends that I haven't seen for a while.

Sunday I got up, watched some more olympics, Joelle went out so, I decided that I was gonna get some new sunglasses. I walked up to Queen St. but could not find any up there that I liked. Really, I just wanted my old sunglasses back. I found a few T-Shirts that I really liked though so I picked them up, then on my way home I went to a camping supply store and found a pair that I liked. They still weren't as cool as my old pair but I needed sunglasses now, and these ones weren't bad. Afterwards I went home, grabbed my bike and headed over to my my friends Ryan and Kara's place. Ryan and I went for a bike ride, along the lake shore then up beside the DVP past Eglington, then we turned around and went back down, through the old brickworks, then through rosedale, along wellesley, then back home. We rode for about 4-41/2 hours and let me tell you, my legs feel like rubber! Joelle and I then went and hung out for a bit at our friends MLE and Grog's. Then came home and I crashed, HARD!

That was my weekend.

Current album: Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

This album is like no other. It is very dark and crazy but, it has a beauty and feeling to it that is very honest to this band. This is one of my favorite SP albums. I think many people misinterpret this band and their intentions.

p34c3,

-s*

Friday the 13th! Ch-ch-ch! Ha-ha-ha!

2004-08-13T11:54:00.000-04:00

Today is a really boring day so far. Unlike yesterday which was a hell day of technical problem chaos. Bell royally screwed up our email system and I had to deal with Bell, Bellnexxia, Sympatico, and BellCanadaHosting to get things back to a point to where we were functioning again. In the end it wasn't even Bell that fixed the problem, it was me just experementing with email port changes. Our company could not send any emails yesterday till about 3:30pm. Bastards.

Today I'm just doing some of my more repetative, tedious tasks. I am just taking a quick break. The weather outside sucks. I wanna go home, take a nap, and work on some music, right now.

Current Album: Space Time Continuum: Sea Biscuit

These guys always create very nice textural electronic music with great beats and rythyms. The main person involved in this project is Jonah Sharp. The style of music ranges from ambient to techno to jazz. Great musicians. If you ever are looking for some mind expansion, check out their video "Alien Dreamtime" with words by Terrance Mckenna.

gamez, foodz, booze, n' mo

2004-08-10T09:39:00.000-04:00

I tried to write some music on the weekend. I am working on somw new project ideas but I am trying to make it different from music I have written before. This can be tricky because I am having to learn new was to create music. I got a good start on a track but I sorta hit a wall so I decided to take a break on Saturday.

I ended up going over to my friend's Ryan and Kara's new house that they bought. It is pretty nice, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a decent size living room and kitchen and 2 small patio's. They took a break from painting for the evening so, we played some PS2, smoked a bit, then played some booze checkers (where each piece is a shot glass full of booze). Ryan had a good poker face cuz he did not let it slip that he is a total checkers shark. We played for 20 minutes, I got maybe 2 of his pieces, then he set me up so every single move I made, I was going to lose a piece. I drank all my shots within the next 5 minutes. 4 shots of baileys, 2 shots of brandy, and the rest were 70%JD and 30% gingerale. Needless to say, I got fairly drunk but wasn't bombed or anything. I told Ryan that he had to drink all his shots within the same amount of time, which he pretty much did before I even finished that sentence. then we watched The Big Lebowski, a movie that I really like but had only seen once before (gasp!). I staggered home and tried to work on some music some more but was unsuccessful cuz I was gettin a pretty big headache already. I drank some water, took some Ibuprofen and headed to bed.

Sunday I woke up around 12 or so. I got up and headed over to my friend's Greg and Kati's place for about 2pm. Greg had invited a few people over to have a Athens 2004 olympics tournament on his PS2. He even bought a mulitap adapter for this special occasion. We played for a bit to warm up while it was raining outside. Once it cleared up we walked up to Taste of the Danforth. It's the Greek festival that is held each year. They close off the street and sell lots of tastey food (mostly souvlaki and gyros) for pretty cheap and all the food is delicious. I had a souvlaki, some chicken satays with penut sauce and 2 tacos all for $9. Mmmmm. After about an hour and a half, we headed back to finish our tournament. There was only 4 of us in the final tournament. I unfortunately came in last but, hey, gimme a break, it was my 3rd time ever playing the game and everyone else playing owned a copy of it themselves. Some of the games are pretty labourous as well, lotsa button pushing.

I've been considering getting a game system for a while now. My fear is, if I get one that it will distract me too much from my other hobbies. They are getting pretty cheap though. There is a place that sells systems near my work. They have PS2's for $130 and Xboxes for $140. I'm torn. I'd hafta wait till I have some $ to burn anyway.

Well, back to werk.

First Album of the Day:

Anthony Rother : Hacker

This guy is one of my favorite Electro producers. His stuff is very Kraftwerk-esque but with much more of an indutrial, breakdance, body rock type of feel to it.

p34c3,

-s*

sunglasses

2004-08-09T09:27:00.000-04:00

I lost my sunglasses some where. I loved those sunglasses. It's really hard for me to ever find a pair that I like. I spent about $30 on them and have never seen a pair like them since. They have been missing for over a week. I have not seen them since a week ago sunday. I hope I can find them. *sigh* :' (

I am not a morning person

2004-08-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

So far today, I wish was one of those days where I just didn't get 0ut of bed. I kept waking up all last night due to a really weird continuing dream throughout the night. It was one of those dreams where I can't remember many of the details but I know it involved living in a house in some kind of parrallel dimention where we needed to have an alarm that would detect Zombies, Aliens, Boogymen, rabid animals and other things that will "getcha" in the dark. Our house was also in the middle of a dark ocean and the only place outside of the house to stand on was a few big rocks sticking out of the water. You couldn't take a boat cuz the ocean was filled with Sea Monsters and at one point a giant duck that would surely eat the boat and everyone in it. There was a few people in my dream including Joelle, my cousin's the Noones and a few other friends. Whenever the alarm went off, we would have to figure out a way to survive the next wave of attacks. As the dream went on, there were fewer and fewer people till it was only Joelle and I. Last thing I remember is standing on a rock, and it being slippery... Then my alarm went off and I woke up.

Noe that I was in the real world I got up, had a shower then I couldn't find the brand new toothbrush I just bought, or my sunglasses, or the clothes I wanted to wear, and then I broke the zipper on one of my favorite sweatshirts, I was almost late for work, and to top it all off, I've had tech problems all morning. Oh well, at least it's Friday. I guess Friday the 6th is like my Friday the 13th, which is next week.

1st album of the day: Massive Attack Mezzanine

I really like this album. A good blend of rock and Trip hop styles. Amazing vocal work by Liz Frasier (from the Cocteau Twins). My favorite album of theirs is stillprobably "Protection" but, this album runs very close, still really good but, in a different way, a bit more darker .

p34c3

All I know is no one knows anything

2004-08-04T13:58:00.000-04:00

I had a philisophical chat with a friend last week. He said that he enjoyed these types of conversations but was rarely ever able to have them because most people he knew would just tell him to "shut up". I know that philosophical conversations aren't everyones cup of tea but, for the most part, it is one of the only types of conversation that every human could participate in somewhat equally and for the most part, be correct in their point of views cuz not one person existing has absolute evidence of anything being "true fact". I find it interesting that some people are so set in there ways that they actively refuse to discuss matters such as religion, politics, society, human nature, etc... I mean, to each their own but, personally, I enjoy hearing other peoples insights on these topics. It sometimes help draw a clearer picture of who the person really is and may give you a new perspective on things. I think the key is to share ideas rather than attempt to change someone elses viewpoint (of course, this would also depend on the situation). I also think that there is a time and place for everything therfore, if we talked so deeply all the time it would more than likely quickly become tired and monotinous.

back 2 werk

2004-08-03T10:13:00.000-04:00

Now I'm back to the same ol' B.S.. I had a wicked time last week at my friend Shane's Parent's cottage. Three mighty huge hurrah's for Shane! I have never played so much hackey sack or Scrabble in my life. I think my hackey skills have definitely improved. We did lots of fun stuff. Lotsa swimming, drinkin, smokin, chillin, watchin movies, frisbee, gourging on food, card playin, and listening to music and sittin in the sun.

My mom had her surgery last Wednesday. That was a hard day because it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up that morning so, I kinda let it get to me. It was hard to not think about it, especially when I couldn't get a hold of anyone in my family to find out how it was all going. I finally decided that there was nothing I could do so I just had to put it out of my mind. That day we went to Grieg's Caves. It was awesome. There were a few caves you could crawl right into and stand up. We weren't entirely sure if the family who ran the caves was the "Grieg's" so, I kept telling people that the Grieg was a sasquatch that lived in the caves and we had to be careful or else he'd get us. It was lots of fun, I'd definitely pay $5 to go there again. The next day I talked to my sister and found out that my mom's surgery went very well. The doctors only had to remove 50% of her liver as opposed to 60%. The doctors thought they had found another spot but they scoped it and found that it was non cancerous. My mom was up and walking around the next day. Things are looking much better now, I am starting to feel a bit of weight off my concious. We saw her on Saturdayand Sunday. She was on a lot of pain killer so she was pretty dopey. I talked to her on the phone yesterday, she said she was feeling much better.

KEMF 9 is next weekend. I am not sure that Joelle and I can make it due to timing and finances but, we'll see. Perhaps it is still possible.

Well, time to attempt to catch up on work.

First Album of the Day:

LCD Soundsystem -

this band's lead singer/guitarist is the guitarist for !!! (chk-chk-chk). It has a great raw punky sorta sound mixed with electronic elements. Wicked stuff.

It's all too much

2004-07-23T15:31:00.000-04:00

This week was a crazeee week. We had some serious tech problems explode in our office, all of which were blamed on me, even though the real problems were due to our shitty assed ghetto make shift network. I have asked my superiors several times to crack open the company wallet a bit for some upgrades but they always ask the same question, "is this going to fix all our problems?". I have to be honest and say "Well, we are still using machines, machines break, there will always be problems but, it will help solve many of our problems". I guess that's not good enough for them so, they never bother taking any of my suggestions. It seems that they would rather let these problems keep reoccurring , and then freak out on me until the problem is fixed. I think sometimes they forget that I am a tech dude, and not a Magician.

Well, at least it's Friday. I've had a hard time recently. I got a lot on my plate and it can get really overwhelming at times. I am glad I have vacation next week. Saturday I have my friend Graham's annual deck party. He lives in the beaches (South/East Toronto) always holds it during the Jazz festival (So he doesn't get in shit for blasting loud music, the jazz music on the street below usually covers up the techno/house blasting on his deck above). He always picks really good local DJ's and this year he even managed to get someone from the Pokerflat label. It should be a good time.

Sunday my friend Laura is picking Joelle and I up at the crack o' dawn to go to our friend Shane's parent's Cottage. A few people still seem bitter about not being able to go due to maximum occupancy limits that Shane's parents have set. A few calling themselves rejects. I hope they are just kidding around but if not, I think seems pretty petty. Joelle and I wanted to go last time Shane had a party up there but, we were not able to because he had already invited too many people. I realized that it was not Shane's fault. So I don't think it's necessary to make a big deal out of this. Especially if your were invited to go the first time and are not able to go this time.

My mom has her second surgery on Wednesday. I am worried because they are going to remove 60% of her liver. Fortunately the liver is an amazing organ. One of the few that can regenerate itself. People can live with a very small partion of their liver. All I can really do is try and be/think positively, even though at times that can be hard. We are all leaving the cottage on Friday. We will be going to see my mom in the hospital. We will also prolly go see my cousin J.R. who got drunk and fell from a tree and broke his ankle really badly. Apparently he is ok though, but, he has pins in his leg and will need some serious physical rehabilitation. Hopefully he's learned a lesson out of this experience. We will have my mom's car to use that weekend so hopefully we can find some friends and some fun stuff to do, even if it's just more hangin with some good peeps.

Album currently being played: Frank Lorber - Jailhouse Rocker

Really good Electro music.... Really good.

Well, it's almost time for me to jet. Have a good one everyone.

p34c3

-s*

It's Friday, you ain't got no job, and you ain't got shit to do!

2004-07-16T09:34:00.000-04:00

Fridaaaaay, is the last day, and then it's W-E-E-K-E-N-D! It's weekend! that's right it's W-E-E-K-E-N-D ! It's weekend!

The first sentence in each of my posts this week are lyrics from an Arling and Cameron song called Weekend. It's a pretty funny song from an album called Music for Imaginary Films. The album is a concept album of songs from films that were never made. I even have Cameron's autograph in my copy cuz we won an extra copy when we went to see them play.

This week was kinda a test. I wanted to see if I could write a post every weekday of this week. It's prolly not gonna happen like that any more. I read an article on Blog burnout. It was pretty interesting. I'll still post but, prolly not as frequently.

This weekend I am going to work on some music. Joelle is going out with some girls from London . On Saturday, I have a doctors appointment, first thing in the morning. I'm getting a full physical and bloodtest which means I can't eat or drink anything but water after 10pm tonight. I better eat a big dinner I guess. After 6pm I have my friend Ryan's Bday to go to. Should be fun cuz I am sure he and most attendees will get pretty drunk/enlightened and have a good time.

Week after next Joelle and I are going to my friend Shane's parent's cottage. I am looking forward to this cuz I'd like some time to unwind and hang with some good friends. Some people are dissapointed that they won't be able to go, due to the maximum occupancy limitations Shane's parents have set on theur cottage. 8 people max. It's unfortunate because everyone would love it if everyone else could come but bottom line is, there is only 3 bedrooms and just not enough room to fit everyone. I sorta gave Shane a bit of grief (totally jokingly of course) about not inviting us last time but, I was already familiar with his parents rules (cuz they only allow 3 people in their pool at once as well) so I tried to back him up last time this fiasco occured and people were pissed at him then. I don't think people should be upset with him if they made the assumption that there was some kinda auto invite without clearing it with him first, especially since this already occured once. He even offered to hold another cottage party in August specifically for those that cannot make it this time just so they don't feel ripped off. He assured me then that this time we would be able to go. It should be fun. I booked the week of work. I'm planning on taking my laptop for some music and what not. If things slow down enough while I am there I may attempt to work on my web site some more. I'll just play it by ear though, I am sure there will be a lot of other activities to participate in.

First Album of the day:

Richard Davis - Safety

I picked up this CD when I was in Koln Germany. This guy writes amazing tech house. His tracks are really deep and have an honest sound to them. His production is exceptional and keeps it interesting. His tracks are sure to make most people with soul/funk, shake their ass with enjoyment.

ok, that's it.

p34c3,

-s*

Thursday doesn't matter

2004-07-15T10:05:00.000-04:00

Thursday doesn't matter...

I know I've been on a bit of a rant tip with my last few posts so I'll try and change it up a bit today. I finally watched Old School (the unrated version) last night. I never saw it because someone told me flat out it sucks. I thought it was hilarious, dumb humour, but, funny none the less. Will Farrel is a king of doing anything for a laugh. We watched the best of Wil Farrel SNL a while ago, oh man, so funny America. Even the extra's on the DVD were great.

I got lots o' errands around work so I'll hafta make this one short.

First album of the day: Dresden - Covers

Dresden is my friend Dave Sorokan (some of you may remember him from a few KEMF's that he showed up for. One in particular, where he puked on Mike and Tina's spare bedroom carpet. (he even wrote a song about that called, "Warm Wine, No Food"). He is a London Ontario resident. He also plays under the names Housewerk and Sorokan. He is a great musician. He plays lots of old mono synthesizers that make wierd sounds and he usually has a darker sound to his music. The "Covers" album is great cuz it's a bunch of familiar songs all recreated with mono synthesizers and drum machines. Funny yet very cool at the same time.

p34c3,

-s*

2004-07-14T11:17:00.000-04:00

Wednesday's gettin' better.

Time and Money. We all need it. Our society demands our time, so we can work to make money, so we can have luxuries and benifits that help us enjoy life, but they all cost money and take time, then we have our other responsibilities on top of that (ie bills, rent, family, friends, relationships, hobbies, health, etc...), and it becomes a vicious cycle of eternally working so we are happy, even though most people aren't truely happy at their job because it is not what they really want to do with their life.

I'm not exactly sure what I want to do anymore. I know I want to do something creative. I think I have just left all windows open so I can take any direction I want to. I'd do almost anything in the Audio or Graphics field. I figure once I find a job that I truely enjoy, that'll be my career. I'm not totally unsatisfied with my current job, I'm just not wanting to be the person who holds the responsibilities of this position anymore. That being said, I'm not going to do something stupid and throw this job away. I am going to wait until I have something better lined up first. At my current job, I have 4 official job titles, and everyone thinks they are my boss sometimes. The more I stay here, the more people think they can take frustrations out on me. It can be pretty stressful at times. By the time I go home at the end of the day, I am usually quite braindead. It makes it hard to go home and want to look at a computer screen for another bunch of hours and attempt to be creative. I've updated my resume but I think it's still a bit too big so I'll have to slim it down a bit. Looking for a job is yet another thing that takes time and can be pretty tricky. I'm not trying to sound like a complainer cuz, I know I should really just "count my blessings" cuz I am fortunate to have what I have, but, everyone is always trying to better themselves right? I guess I just need to stop saying it and just do it.

Occasionally I write a list of everything I want to do and everything that I want. Then I cross off the things that I accomplish. It helps as a reminder and feels good when I see the list get smaller and smaller. I think it's time for another one of those.

First albums of the day:

Julie Cruise : The Voice of Love

the music was written by Angelo Badalamenti
and the lyrics by David Lynch (if you liked the music from Twin Peaks, well, this is pretty much it)

The Doors : The best of the Doors

normally, I'm not a big fan of many "best of" albums cuz they are usually full of the overplayed songs of the artists, but, with the Doors, I can listen to almost any of their albums when I am in a Doors mood.

Who are you?

2004-07-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, another bluesday.

We live in a messed up world. I think if we could proove there was life on other planets, people might stop thinking so much about themselves and put a bit more energy into each other but, I could be wrong. Maybe too much of western civilization focus on things like how they look when they wake up in the morning rather than, "wow, there are people dying in the world cuz they don't have enough food to eat". I am just as guilty as everyone else. I am anti TV shows like "The Swan" and "What not to Wear". I believe fashion is just a mass belief that something is better than other things but, who decides this, and what makes them right? I believe that personal identity is very important. People should wear what they want and look the way they want. It's they way we advertise who we are. Not that there is anything really wrong with wearing something that is considered "Fashionable", it's just that when I see a large amount of people wearing the same thing (ie the foam and mesh hats which have been revived from the 80's) my first instinct is to think that the person wearing it really is just letting the masses influence them on how to identify themselves but, I could very well be wrong. I know I am guilty of this too (but I refuse to wear a foam and mesh hat). Trendiness is not a horrible thing, I just think that the masses pour too much energy focusing on it rather than really important things in the world. Perhaps more people need to stop and pull back and look at the big picture more often. This whole paragraph is pure opinion and trivial. I know that it could be debated until the end of time and as I stated, I am guilty of this too but, I still find it sad to think about, and I think about it because it's in front of our faces everyday.

If your reading my blog, make a comment, even if it's yo, or hi, or snugh.

Today's first album of the day: Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express

Kraftwerk is just amazing electronic music before the word techno was ever even fathomed.

Trial n' Error n' Repair

2004-07-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

Monday, is not a funday. Friday, I went over to my friends Greg and Kati's place. We threw down a couple of games on ye olde PS2 (he basically whooped my ass at every game (prolly cuz he owns the system and I barely ever play). He refused to play me at the games he knew I would win at (ie Crash Nitro Kart). We worked on some samples, talked about some programs, smoked, ate... good times. Later I went home and attempted to figure out this program called Melodyne. It is a crazy sequencing program but it wasn't working quite right with my computer. After hours of messing with it I read the system requirements. My desktop computer was 100mhz short on processing power. Fortunately I can still use my laptop with it. I got to sleep at around 4-4:30am.

Saturday Joelle got up early and headed to the beach with some friends of ours. I woke up at around 11:30am determined to get some music accomplished. I had an idea in my head and I really wanted to get it sorted out. I got a drum track recorded and I decided I wanted to do some vocals. I set up a mic and was just about to record when I hit my next snag. My mic was not sending any signal. At first I thought it was my mixers mic power (aka phantom power) so I called Steve's music store repair dept. and talked to my frined Davey. He said if it was the phantom power that it should be easy to fix. He suggested a few things to try first. I swapped cables, I checked every channel on my mixer, I cleaned all the connectors. By that point I was just frustrated, and Joelle had called and told me that I should not miss the day and be inside, so I got on my bike and rode down to the ferry and took it out to Toronto Island (Ward's Island actually). Apparently I took the right boat cuz, there was 2 girls that were dress somewhat like school girls and they started making out and putting their hands up each other skirts. It was pretty hot. Myself and everyone else on the boat were basically trying not to stare but judging by the expressions on most peoples faces, everyone had an "is this for real?" look on their face. They finally stopped when a family walked by them. Once I made it to the island, Joelle met me and we went down to the beach where I met everyone else and shared my wondeful ferry story. Joelle, Grog, Mook, MLE, Zoe, and Robin were all there. Grog Mook and I threw a frisbee around for a bit, then a few of us snuck off for a lil smoke break. When we got back Joelle, Robin and I made a sand spaceship/sand hole for Zoe (who is about 2) to play in. Zoe was having a blast, especially when I made her a tunnel in the sand to drive her cars through. I showed Zoe how to skip stones, and give the thumbs up, and we found some cool shells in the water. Kids are fun. Then, we got packed up, and headed towards the dock. We met up with peter, grog's brother and got on the ferry and all rode back home. Once we got home I both Joelle and I were pretty pooped from the sun and riding so we chilled.

I later went back up into the studio and gave everything another shot. I decided that there was 1 obvious thing I did not try with my Mic issue. I took another mic I had and plugged it in. It worked fine (but it was not the type of mic I really wanted to use). I realized then that the problem must be the mic. At first I was a bit annoyed because I only had bought the mic about a month ago. Then I though that perhaps it had a battery inside that needed to be changed. I looked everyewhere on the net to find out how you opened the mic but was unsuccessful. Finally I said "fuck it" and I twisted the bad boy, with one good twist it started to unscrew. Success! I then found out that somehow, there was a button inside the mic that had been pushed. I just had to push it back in and then it worked fine. I was very happy then. So I thought, "hmmm, maybe I'm on a roll of good luck", so, I tried Melodyne again. I found that I could get it to work if I turn off some of the features that I don't really need anyway. So, needless to say, I was in much better spirits then.

Brian Eno is a music producer and artist. He has produced several bands like Depech Mode, U2, and Slowdive. He used to be in the original line up for Roxy Music. He created Oblique Strategies with Peter Schmidt and Daniel Lanois (a famous Canadian music producer). Oblique Strategies is a deck of cards that gave random suggestions while trying to work on artisitic creations (mainly music but it will work on pretty much anything). If you need an idea for something, you pick a card out of the deck and follow it's instructions. One of the main cards says something like, "if you hit a wall, take a walk" basically because it can give you a new perspective on what you are doing. I should have listened to him earlier I guess.

Sunday, Joelle and I got up, cleaned the whole house, and then went for a walk to pick up Bday presents for My friends Matt and Mark. I got them some records, then we went to New York Sub for some jumbo burrito's (my friends Shane never leaves Toronto anymore without some delicious New York Sub) . We then went to Winners where I we exchanged some shorts that did not fit me for some new ones that are way better. We then went home, waited for our friends Dave and Angela, then we went to the Harbourfront center for the festival. Our friends Matt, Mark and Dawn (the band's name is Repair (formerly "the Wax Bean Orchard") were performing outdoors, live as the last act for the whole festival. It was really good. The sound system was a lil sub par for the size of the venue but it was still good none the less. It was a hot hot sunny day (and I got a bit of a sunburn but nothin too bad). There was this dude there doing some kinda dance that I can only describe as interpretive electro ballet. The guy was on crack or something, it was pretty funny, then all these professional break dancers came out and rocked out some killer moves on the grass. It was quite impressive. My old high school friend Jeremy Hobbs (who lives in London) was there. It was kinda odd talking to him cuz we used to be really good friends then, we kinda had a bit of a falling out but, that was high school. When the show was over a bunch of us walked back to Joelle and I's place where we order some food, listened to some tunez, and then we headed over to matt and Marks for the Bday/afterparty. It was really good. I talked with Jeremy more and remembered that he is a good guy, he can just be a lil messed up sometimes, but, can't we all. I had a few drinks then we headed home. Dave and Ang slept at our place cuz, Ang had a job interview this morning. I hope she gets it because I know they are really excited about moving from London to Toronto. I can't blame them, I was the same way when I was ready to move.

Today, was meh. I was so busy since the beggining of the day that I didn't realize what time it was till about 2:45pm. So I went for lunch where I had a huge assed serving of pasta with chicken parmasien and vegetables. I feel pretty crappy about eating that much cuz I'm trying to lose a bit of weight cuz I've been gaining more ever since I started driving a desk for a living. So, Joelle and I have decided to walk home tonight. I'd say it's roughly 3km's to our house. Usually we ride our bikes or take transit but,. it is a nice looking day outside so it should be nice.

Wow, that seemed like a long assed post. If you made it this far, congratulations, you win!

p34c3,

-s*

2004-07-08T10:10:00.000-04:00

I wrote a post yesterday but, it does not seem to have been published properly...? Weird.

I got shoutcast all ready to rock and roll so, hopefully I will be sending an email out soon saying when I will play some music.

I almost got hit by a car on my way to work this morning. This dude was making a left turn while Joelle and I were crossing the road. He didn't even look at us. If I didn't yell "HEY!!!" he would never have even stopped and I would have been road pizza. It's those moments where I wish I had an instinct to either kick their car door in, or spit on their window, or had something in hand to throw at them. Instead, I yelled "you fucking moronic asshole!" but, I don't think he heard me.

Today's first album of choice is Download III. It is hands down (in my opinion), the best album Download has written to date and it is on my list of top ten albums I am sure.

Time for working....

-s*

Push the button, Connect the God damn dots!

2004-07-07T09:39:00.000-04:00

Today, I'm kickin it off with a lil old school. I was in a hurry this morning so I grabbed a bunch of CD's that I rarely listen to anymore. I am currently listening to the Just 1 Fix single by Ministry. It still has some coolness in my books. It has cool production and has spoken word by William S. Burroughs, although, it has some serious digga digga guitar action on it, which I can get tired of more easily now, but still can appreciate a bit of. What can I say, I'm just not the angst filled youth I used to be.

Joelle and I watched Dumb from wrok a while ago). Basically, the title says it all. I want the 2 hours the stole from me back, right now! A lot of the jokes seemed like really dumb short skits that didn't really make sense to the movie and the just edited them in some how. 2 hours, I can never get back, *sigh*.

I worked on my web page a bit more last night. The thing about making your own web page is that you have to come up with the design. It's kinda like getting a tattoo, your never really gonna be satisfied with the design completely. At the moment, I'm just trying to make the web page simple yet cool. We'll see how it turns out I guess.

I wanted to go for a bike ride along the lake shore tonight but it looks like rain so, I'll prolly work on some music some more instead. I'm also going to re-test my PC again as a shoutcast server. A friend of mine wants me to meet his friend who is hosting an online radio show for electronic performers. I told him I would be down for doing a night but I think I'd prefer to do the broadcast from my own place so I don't have to unhook everything and cart it all over to someone elses place. My friend Clint has been cool enough to set me up so I broadcast to a server in New Zealand or somewhere that has a T3 connection. Then everyone can connect to that server and recieve the broadcast with way more clarity and I can have more listeners that way.

Anyhow, time to do some werk I guess. P34c3

-s*

Back to the cruddy grind

2004-07-05T15:04:00.000-04:00

The long weekend is over now. I had a good time. It seemed like we almost weren't going to be able to go but, in the end, things worked out great. We went to Darlington, which is about 15 minutes away from Oshawa and about 7 km's away from nuclear power plants (I didn't go near the water, even though they claim they are safe). I did a hell of a lot of biking anf hiking. The trails are great for trekin around on. My legs feel like rubber today because I did so much exercise. I rode, we walked on nature trails, I attempted to fly a kite (when there was no wind) and I even fire twirled with my friend Ryan (he is really good at fire twirling). We took some pretty cool over exposed pictures of us spinning at night so there is lots of cool trippy fire trails surrounding us. A bunch of drunk kids, all about 15 years old sat and watched us. We smoked and drank copius amounts. Listened to lots of good music, watched a lotta camp TV (aka the campfire), and took naps here and there.

Sunday we woke up early to a grey sky so, we all got up and packed up in a flash. We were all set to go by about 10am. We got back into the city, unpacked, showered, napped, then a few of us went out and watched Farenhiet 9/11. Wicked awesome movie. I am still full of thought from it. We then went over to a friends place and cooked up all the food that would have gone bad from our camping trip if we didn't eat it. We had a feast, watched the pilot to the original Starsky and Hutch, then watched the Simpson's, and finally we headed home. I got home, turned on the A/C, hit our bed and passed out.

Today, nothing to interesting is going on. When I went out for lunch I went into the CIBC at Yonge and Bloor to use the bank machine. The was a large crowd of people in the entry way. Apparently the bank was held up about a half an hour before I got there. They had a sign put up that said, "bank temperarily closed due to robbery". I'm not sure if the dude(s) got away or not but I'm sure I will find out by tomorrow morning.

This week, I'll prolly werk on some music. Next weekend I'm supposed to go to the Indy on Saturday and then see my friends Matt, Mark and Dawn play at the harbourfront center on Sunday along with Manitoba and Moon Dog, unfortunately this show is going to be out doors, right down the street from the Indy's final race so, I think they are going to be competing with sounds of the Indy and them cars are damn loud. So loud in fact, one year I was working on a set of my own, and I could hear the cars so much that I finally just sampled their sounds into my set. anywho, blah,blah,blah.

p34c3,

-s*

Turkey Tunes

2004-06-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

Tonight my friends Dave and Ang are coming to stay for the weekend. We are going to see Mum tonight. Mum arw a band from Iceland I believe. Their early albums are more dancefloor friendly but not your standard techno or house, that's for sure. Their newest album is pretty mellow but still really good. Lots of cool sounds. The two girls that sing have wicked voices, very soft and sultry, almost Julie Cruise esque.

Today a woman is leaving for her maternity leave. She looks like she is ready to pop at any second. I have to set up the server here so she can connect here over the Internet so she can work from home. Personally I can't see a woman with a baby and a 5 year old boy ever finding the time or being in the right head space to work. I guess we'll see.

I'm missing out on the Turkey fest this weekend. My home town Strathroy is the Turkey Capital of the world, or something like that. Cuddy Farms sells the most Turkeys in the world. According to a friend that used to work for them, McDonalds Chicken McNuggets used to be Turkey bought from Cuddy's! Cuddy farms also spreads tons of stinky turkey shit on their fields which in turn reaks up the town to the point where no one wants to be outside. Anyhow, they hold a small festival in the towns main park. It's pretty much always the same. The real highlight for kids is the Zipper that is usually operated by some dude that fits the stereotypical "Carnie" description (dirty, missing teeth, tattoo covered, highschool dropout). If you stand below you can join the kids who hawk the place out all day collecting the change that falls from kids pockets so they can play/cheat at the crown and anchor table to win more money so they can in turn go to one of the games and try and win a Led Zepplin mirror or some big assed scarey knife or pellet gun(although, they are impossible to win). For adults it's the beer tent and the rock acts that play. It's usually some Canadian acts that were popular in the 80's and now are just strugglin for any gig they can get. This year is Kim Mitchell, Helix and Chiliwhack. Apparently the Turkey fest was where Glass Tiger broke up, but I heard from a friend that they played in London a couple of weeks ago.
Finally, they let you go and see the cute little turkey chicks that will grow up fed on food that consists of corn, grain and turkey biproducts, and killed, and then you'll go to Subway or Quizno's and order them on a sub. Mmmmm.

Well, that's all I have the time to write. Have a good weekend!

-s*

Time

2004-06-24T09:58:00.000-04:00

I wish I could freeze time. I'm finding more and more that the most useful thing for me would be more time to do shit. Seems like I always have reposibilities and commitments, when I really would like to be able to get some of my own stuff done. I think I'd like to work for a multimedia company where the extra stuff I am doing now, is actually my job. I think it's time to send out some more resumes.

Tirone

2004-06-22T09:33:00.000-04:00

You know those days where where the very first time you open your eyes in the morning and the first thing that runs through your mind is:

-ugh! so tired, feel crappy, need more sleep.

-how many sick days do I have left?

-is there anything at work that I must be there for today?

-if I stay home, I can sleep in and accomplish something I need to get done.

-should I call in sick?

Then you are afraid that you'd be wasting a sick day so, you go into work anyway.

Yeah, that's what I did today. I was stupid and shoulda stayed in bed.

-s*

W-E-E-K-E-N-D

2004-06-21T09:54:00.000-04:00

I had a good time in London on the weekend. Hung out with some friends Friday night, Andrew was showing porn on the TV screen, which BTW, it is kinda awkward to try and hold a serious conversation while Paris Hilton is being jackhammered in night mode video by Shannon Doherty's (now) exhusband on a screen right in front of you There is plenty of time for porn, but I think I'd rather watch it when I'm with the person I'm gonna do it with, but that's just me. I'd rate this particular porn flick as very sub par anyway. Paris might as well have been asleep the whole time.

Saturday, I helped my mom out while I was down. Try to take her out for breakfast, got her groceries, cleaned her kitchen, did lots of her laundry, etc...

Later I went over to the Gorman's place. We threw down the gauntlet and I made Gormagnumaximus, Hunter and Dave weep like wee lasses as I cracked open a fresh can of whoopass on them while playing XBox ; P. We played some frisbee (from the way we were playing you would have almost thought it was the most hardcore professional sport evar). We got some Shawarma's, played more xbox, smoked copius amounts, drank, then later Greg made some tasty spaggetti. Good work Greg!

Sunday, I tried all morning to fix my mom's vaccuum but it was useless as the motor was burnt out. Fortunately her friend has an extra one that she is giving her. Joelle, Laura and I headed home. Last night, I tried to finish setting up my computer with the new OS (still have a bit more to do). We watched 21 Grams, which I liked but it was bit tricky to figure out what was going on, then headed to bed.

Good times.

-s*

iBastards

2004-06-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

Not much exciting happened yesterday. I was pretty busy at work. I didn;t get out for lunch until about 3:45pm. I find that the longer I stay at this job, the more people just seem to bark orders at me instead of asking me to do things. I get phone calls to my office that are like "hey Scott, "X" is broken" *click, dial tone*. To use a friends quote, "Makes me wanna spit blood" Everyone seems to think that they are my boss sometimes, when really 3 people are actually my "superiors".

I then went home and began to set up my computer for using audio and MIDI in OS X Panther. What does that mean, well, for the Windowws users out there, that means I went from using something like Windows 2000 and now I am set up on XP, but, about a gagillion times better (at least for multimedia work). Honestly. I am no longer pro Apple any more. I am Pro what ever friggin works. Ever since my iPod ordeal, I have taken a personal vow to try and never imply that Apple is for everyone, cuz it's not. There computers are great, I will give them that. Well, most of them are anyways, they do have a couple of lemons. Why, my change of heart? Well, about 4 years ago now I got the very first model of iPod that ever came out as a xmas bonus from my old job (cuz I was one of 3 employees busting my ass day and night to try and help get this small business off the ground). It is only 5gb's but that is still plenty of music. It is my second iPod, the first one I had replaced (after I fought with Apple for over a week) because it would not charge or sync to my computer anymore. Here is the thing, iPods batteries only last 18 months, and they are propietary batteries, which means after 18 months you have to buy one of their batteries or buy a 3rd party battery from off the Internet. Joelle was cool enough to offer to pay for the battery to be replaced for my Bday present. I wanted Apple to replace my battery because it is guaranteed that it will work, and they just swap your iPod with a unit that they have already fixed. Ever sincce my iPod battery started fading on me I had been getting a folder icon on my screen which according to my findings on the net means the HD is failing as well, but, that could just be do to the battery as well, I dunno. A 3rd party battery is $50 USD. So I went on the Apple site and filled out this big assed form and then, in the last few steps of this annoying proceedure, I notice it says "TOTAL: $218.23". My eyes literally bulged out of my head like a cartoon character. I was like "WHA!!!???". So I called Apple and over the course of 3 days spoke to 5 different people, each one a useless as the next. I explained to them that I own 7 of their computers and at on point owned 9, I used to work for them as a service technician, I own lots of other products they put out, and I promote their products to everyone. I just asked to speak to someone who could justify the reason that Canadians must pay $220, when Americans only pay $99 USD. All I could get out of them is that the price is set in the US and there is nothing they can do about it. Furious, I told them I'm never going to purchase or promote another Apple product again (lying of course) because asking anyone to pay $220 for a battery, when they can get a brand new, bigger 15gb iPod for $350 seems like a scam to me. The last guy I spoke to said I could send a letter to the main office in Canada but, he admitted, it would prolly just get filed in the garbage. Fucking Bastards. Now, PC's on the other hand is all 3rd party everything, so if it was a PC product, you would pretty much be in the same boat, but, you kinda expect a little more from a company like Apple. Oh well, screw 'em. The moral of the story is, if your considering buying an MP3 player, be sure to look for one that uses regular batteries, and I suggest one with either Fire Wire or USB 2. Joelle ended up buying me a little boom box that plays MP3's and a card that gives me really tight timing for writing music. Both together cost about half as much as that battery would.

I'm heading to London/Strathroy tonight. Joelle is going to Sarnia to help her parents pack, as they are moving soon. Maybe I'll see some of you soon.

p34c3!

-s*

Vin Diesel makes another movie while children starve.

2004-06-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a sorta interesting day. Got to work, fixed some computer problems, did lots of paper work, and found out that Vin Diesel was filming a movie right around the corner from Alliance Atlantis. What movie? I dunno, 3 Fast and 3 Furious perhaps? I teased my friend Laura for a bit, calling her Laura Diesel and such. She said she might go have her DVD copy of 2 Fast 2 Furious autographed. I laughed and told her she should, especially since he's not in that one I believe. I have nothing against Vinny really. I've only seen one of his movies, XXX(and I couldn't handle watching the whole thing, just too cheesy for me and he always seems so serious) but, I've been told that Pitch Black is a good movie and it is the sequel to the Chronicles of Riddick I guess (there is a huge Riddick billboard right outside my office window right now). I think I may rent Pitch Black tonight and give it a chance cuz, I was asked to go see Riddick on this upcoming weekend. I went for a bit of a walk while on my route for some lunch. I took a look to see if I could see Vin hanging around the shoot or anything but I didn't see him. He was prolly in his trailer or something. In any case, I wasn't too concerned with seeing him anyway.

Dave Walters came over last night. He had a test at York, which, from his description was written to trick people writing it, into choosing the wrong answer. We chatted for a bit and he informed myself and Joelle that there are now more over weight people in the world than there are starving people. That's a scarey thought. I don't necessarily think anyone person is to blame for this, I just think it's crazy that the food in the world is not distrubuted equally so everyone can have the basic necessities to live. I am sure I could handle living with a few less meals in my daily life if I knew that I was actually helping people eat. Although I have a slight distrust for things like Christian relief funds. I think it comes from people helping people in the name of God rather than for the sake of humanity but I am sure the people who work for those funds intentions are to do both. Anything that is advertised on TV, has God as part of it's selling item, then asks for money, seems dodgy to me. I just think that if there is a God and he is all powerful, then what does he need money for?

Anyhow, back to Dave, we had a smoke, talked a bit more about his crazy office (BTW, I highly recommend the Brittish series "The Office". Seriously, just watch it. If you have ever worked in an office before, you can identify with the characters in this show. It is somewhat dry and witty but also absolutely crazy and hilarious. At some points I had to hide my face from the TV screen because I was laughing so hard and I could not believe that the characters were actually doing what they were doing! Watch it, they have series 1 and 2 at many video stores on DVD (in Europe, they call seasons of shows "series" of shows and the whole series is just called the show)). Dave could only stay for an hour or so then he had to catch his bus. It was nice to hang with a London friend in Toronto, I haven't had anyone over for a while, too bad it wasn't for longer, oh well.

I am going home this weekend to see my mom. Now she and my sister aren't really working out as well as we planned and I think my mom needs more of her own space. So I am going to Strathroy Friday night, picking up her stuff, and heading back into London. So I'll prolly be making a few phone calls Friday evening and seeing what people are up to, dependin on what time I get all this stuff back to London of course. My family can be crazy sometimes. I guess everyones family can be crazy though, when view with certain perspectives.

My first music selection for today is:

!!! (pronounced chk-chk-chk or ugh-ugh-ugh- or pow-pow-pow, basically any 3 sounds repeated) it's kinda like the clash, so it's kinda punkish, if they were playing tech house electro stuff. The album is called Louden Up Now.

p34c3

Paint yer bandwagon

2004-06-16T10:35:00.000-04:00

OK, so I jumped on the bandwagon. I started this blog. I was influenced by a friend who said I should start one, in his blog (U know who you are). I'm not quite sure how I really plan on using this blog because my mind often jumps around from thought to though, subject to subject, sometimes with no real obvious reason, (occasionally because I just linked two ideas in my head and forgot to explain how I made the connection (it's not the drugs ; )-)). Anyhow, if you read my blogs, I might talk about anything from stuff at work, or music, science/technology/philosophy stuff, or movies or maybe just boring stuff like the big assed wad of gum some fucktard spit out that I stepped in that morning, or the dude I saw pick his nose and wipe it on the back of seat in front of him on the street car... Basically, whatever I feel like. This could be dangerous. I'll try and keep my feet away from my mouth.

3nj0y

-s*