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+
Friday, April 29 - 4:56pm +
I
bought the Scion
tC.
5 speed,
Flint Mica (really dark grey), 6 additional airbags option.
Bottom line: cost and comfort. Hopefully the prices will go down
for hydrids and/or more models will be available with better mileage.
This will work for now. (I almost bought the RS1.0
model, but I'm not a red guy AT ALL.) Photos soon.
+ Thursday, April 28 - 2:42pm +
-
EBay still amazes me. I picked up one of
my older David Carson
books over the weekend and started going through some Raygun spreads.
I had forgotten about a pretty cool Morrissey article in issue
14 or something. I wonder if...yup, right
there on EBay. Sold.
- Reviews of the new Ben Folds
are popping
up on the web. Not all that positive, but it took me a while
to warm up to the record so I'm not surprised. Pitchfork
just annoys me. They remark that the song 'Late', about the passing
of Elliot Smith is "hardly a fitting tribute". What
does that even mean? They point out the weak chorus (I disagree)
but "hardly fitting"? Is Ben Folds not worthy? I'm looking
forward to the Arcade Fire tribute, which should get a great review.
And that better not be a Weird Al dis in that review.
- Dave
Lombardo is amazing (Quicktime video)
- Oasis
discuss their new album, Don’t Believe the Truth (Quicktime
as well). Sounds pretty good. I love the fucking Gallaghers. They
play Shoreline
on September 11th. Couldn't they play at Warfield or Fillmore
for a few nights instead? Stadiums are awful.
+ Tuesday, April 26 - 10:05pm +
I test drove a Civic Hybrid today...what a disappointment.
Awful. The car seemed really small, and the seats were really
uncomfortable. The dash looked really cheap. The most interesting
thing was the mileage. Owning a Honda hybrid for over two years
I knew that you could view the acual mileage for the last 100
miles on the speedometer by viewing a specific setting. I noticed
that the car had 118 miles, so I flipped the switch. It was getting
35.1 miles per gallon. The window sticker had the mileage as 45
highway / 51 city. What the hell? Of course the salesman jumped
all over me for questioning that. So bottom line: no sale. Car
& Driver disagrees, so maybe it's just me.
Now the question is what to get.
I actually went right to a Toyota dealer and checked out a Prius.
Yeah, I still think they look ugly, but I thought I'd see what
all the hype is about. I have to say...not bad. It's certainly
a pretty good deal. It has a pretty trick keyless entry system,
tons of room, and a pretty insane air bag system The price? Eh.
They are going for around 23K, which is a little steep. The salesman
was insane, so I walked without taking a test drive. I plan to
take one out soon, just to see. It's a
Top 10 after all.
I'm sick to death of the fucking rental car, so I have to figure
this out. It's hard to spend 23K+ (price in the bay area) when
the Scion
tC is 16K+ and actually looks pretty good. I test drove one
a while back and was pretty impressed. It also leaves me with
an additional 6,000 bucks in my pocket. That's a lot of gas money.
+
Monday, April 25 - 1:25pm +
- My Mom was in town this
weekend. We all had a good time. Caught a Giants game (hey, free
tickets), ate
at Millennium,
visited Kinokuniya Books,
and took various car drives. Very busy schedule.
- I decided to bail on the auto-playlist on the left. Audioscrobbler
is simply too damn slow and the page load time was nuts. Simply
not worth it. You can still view my stats over there...so that'll
work.
- Hopefully I'll wrap up the car buying this week. I'm not to
hyped on the Civic, but it's what I need. Maybe I'll hook up some
dope
rims yo.
+ Wednesday, April 20 - 9:06am +
-
It's looking like a Civic
Hybrid will be my next commute car. They are pretty easy to
find (as are Priuses (sp?) despite news reports) and hold their
resale pretty well. Besides, Maroon 5 are all about
the Civic. After seeing the mileage on my mid-size rental
Kia, I don't
know if I can handle a non-hybrid on a daily basis. The gas cost
for my commute is staggering. How do all these people in SUVs
afford it?
- NWA 'Explicit Content
Only' is worth listening to." This is the entire N.W.A.
Straight Outta Compton album edited down into just the "explicit"
content." Great idea.
- Is Mr. Hanley going to keep a regular
site going? Time will tell.
+ Featured Album : When
Tigers Fight -s/t +
+ Monday, April 18 - 8:18am +
Well, my Honda
Insight is no more. I totaled it yesterday.
To make a long story short, a Muni bus was running into my lane
(the left one, I was on a two lanes each way street in SF), then
ran a red light. I was paying attention to not getting hit by
the bus when I rear ended a truck that was stopped taking a left.
The air bags went off (my ears rang for quite some time and my
right hand is burned a bit) and I was wearing my seatbelt so I
am totally fine. I hit the truck at around 10-15mph and the front
of the car was completely destroyed. The hood bucked up, and engine
was crushed, and the airbags smashed out the windshield. That's
the end of that.
It's ironic that I was discussing the benefits of having a car
that not only got 50 miles per gallon during a gas price hike,
but was paid for. I should have kept my fucking mouth shut.
I now have to figure out what car to replace the Insight with.
I was thinking a used Mini
or a Scion
Tc. Any other suggestions? I'm not waiting 6 weeks for the
ugly ass Prius only to pay thousands above mark up, so scratch
that.
Man, I'm glad I started this site back up...I really enjoy keeping
track of all the unlucky bullshit that happens to me...fuck.
(On another note, sorry for the page load time. The new script
on the left goes out to Audioscrobbler
and grabs my current playlist. It take a few extra seconds. I
think it's worth it to see EXACTLY what I'm listening to at the
moment. Thanks again Tom! UPDATE: Tom added a Google 'I'm Feeling
Lucky' search to the band names, as well as shortening the list
to the five most recent songs.)
+ Saturday, April 16 - 9:18am +
Last night I went and checked out
the black metal photography of Peter
Beste at the Balazo Gallery in the Mission. He photos are
so good...I just wish that they had the show
poster for sale or something.. This flash
presentation contains all the images shown at the show and
some great interviews and writing.
Speaking of photography, I came across Matt
Siber and was blown away. I spent over an hour looking at
'The
Untitled Project'.
"The Untitled Project is a series of photographs of urban
settings accompanied by a graphical text layout. The photographs
have been digitally stripped of all traces of textual information.
The text pieces show the removed text in the approximate location
and font as it was found in the photograph."
It's amazing how clean and beautiful almost any setting can look
once the type (mostly used for advertising) has been stripped
away. Very impressive concept. I also thought 'Floating
Logos' was pretty compelling as well.
+ Thursday, April 14 - 8:36am +
The
holter
monitor isn't too bad. Basically it's five wires from my chest
going into what looks like a large pager. The countdown clock
is a bit strange...right this second it reads:
Time remaining: 05:49:36
Other than wearing this thing, I feel completely fine. I had a
little pressure last night, but that was it. Thanks for all the
concern.
+ Wednesday, April 13 - 9:44am +
ER visit number 2:
All day yesterday, starting at around 5:30am, my chest was feeling
a bit more tight than usual. I would check my pulse, which was
fine, but my chest just felt like someone was pushing against
it. It happens a few hours each day, in the evening...but not
usually this bad.
After going to work, eating, lunch, and doing whatever else, I
decided to call Kaiser and see if I could get a doctor's appointment
for today. I already had an appointment scheduled for today (to
get a halter heart monitor to wear for a day) and it would seem
to make sense as I would be in the same medical building.
What I've learned about my condition is that when anyone on the
Kaiser phone line hears "chest pain", or "tightness
in chest" their first response to to almost yell,"GO
TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM NOW." It's in their handbook...chest
pain could equal heart attack which equals immediate emergency
attention. I tried to calmly explain my ENTIRE four week history
with this condition for the fifth time and the 'help' nurse wasn't
having it. She put me on with an actual doctor.
He told me that if I didn't go to the ER I would be noted as 'refusing
treatment'. I don't know if I told him to go to hell or not...but
I was pretty pissed. Can't they read my damn chart? Doesn't he
have a history to reference? Can't I see my fucking doctor? Nope.
ER or nothing. In the emergency room I might be able to get looked
at by a cardiologist, which wouldn't happen until the end of April
if I scheduled something. I told him I would just go to my appointment
the next day and in a VERY sacastic tone he offered me 'Good luck'.
Meaning, "hey, if you want to die...go right ahead...".
After the phone call I was more than a little freaked out...is
it getting worse? Maybe I should go to the ER? I know this is
just a little worse than normal, but maybe it's WAY worse? I was
also told that this whole thing could be caused by stress...so
this back and forth in my mind certainly wasn't helping. I left
the office at 5pm and started the drive home.
Half way through the drive I decided I should just go straight
to the Emergency Room. I felt like shit and I wanted answers,
and if that was the only way...fuck it.
They took me in right away (like I mentioned, you say 'heart pain'
and they get right at it) . I had to disrobe, put on that damn
backless gown and got set up for my first EKG. It came out fine.
Nothing abnormal. My pulse was between 85 - 100, and my respiratory
system was working fine. The doctor came by and seemed to think
everything was OK, but he wanted to do some blood work and a chest
X-Ray. Fine. They stuck me with an IV (the worst) and came by
and did the X-Ray. Everything came out negative. The doctor actually
said it was a "mystery" and told me tht I was doing
the right thing in getting the halter monitor. He also said that
although I might not be an outwardly stressful person this reaction
could be due to a chemical imbalance or a something similar. (I
always get the standard "Do you use drugs? Cocaine? Speed?
You drink? Smoke?No, cocaine...you sure about that? Maybe they
don't want to believe a guy with this many tattoos has never been
drunk or even TRIED drugs at all. Can't say I blame them for grilling
me). He was very, very nice as well as helpful and sent me on
my way...I was in there for about three and a half hours. I still
had the pains as I walked to the car.
I feel much better this morning.
At 2:30 I have to go get a halter monitor...I'm not sure all the
details, but it sure sounds fun...being wired to a machine that
will most likely be worn in a hip pack on my side. Fucking awesome.
+ Tuesday, April 12 - 12:21pm +
- I had to swipe the image above
from Catchdubs. such a great
drawing. I want a 'praying middle finger' shirt.
- On the music front I'm trying out The
Go! Team as well as Opeth.
Not loving either...but they are growing on me. I think I picked
up the softer of the Opeth albums so I think I'll need to pick
up another title to get into them. Go!
Team is interesting...the Pitchfork review
that describes them as 80's TV soundtrack music is pretty spot
on. I just thought I'd try something different.
- The Converge
reissue of 'Petitioning the Empty Sky' is worth the money.
The songs are certainly clearer, crisper, and much improved. Kurt
Ballou did a great job. Being one of my favorite albums of all
time, I recommended it highly. A landmark album.
- David
Cross 'IMnterview'. A few chuckles in there.
- Skateboard 'blogs' are now all the rage. éS,
Skate
Mental, Sessisons,
and even Cab
are getting into the act. The bummer is all that most of the same
information just gets passed around and around.
- By now I'm sure you've seen the worst/best video for 'America
We Stand As One'. This version using 'America,
Fuck Yeah!' from Team
America is pretty fuckin' great.
+ Thursday, April 7 - 10:37am +
At the very last minute the wife and I scored some free tickets
to opening night at SBC
Park (thanks Brent and Silvia). It was my third time at a
game there (or ever) and I still think of the place as a large
food court that just happens to have a team playing in the center.
People seem more concerned with their beer and garlic fries than
with the on-field action. Not that I blame them...I never got
baseball as it just seems so-damn-boring to me (don't kill me
Jase). The lying,
drugged up players aren't helping my opinion either. That being
said, the ballpark itself is amazing...it's worth a trip just
to see the view of the bay.
- Thanks to Johnathan over at Motorskills
I've been reading Questionable
Content everyday. Quality stuff.
. Kevin Arnold
is a mothafuckin' PIMP. This is SO great and stolen from catchdubs.
The rest of the fubar site
is pretty good too...and yes, you do feel a bit like a pedophille....but
in a funny, good way.
+ Wednesday, April 6 - 9:18am +
Mastodon are fucking
skilled. I can't remember a show where the songs were played so
perfectly and intensely. An amazing performance. At first I found
the sound a bit to heavy on bass and drums but by the third song
it was worked out. I pity the people who didn't have earpugs.
The entire band were unreal, but their drummer
was just inspiring. I haven't seen drumming like like in a ages.
I was blown away. And that bassist/vocalist...the beard, my god,
the
beard. It's unfortunate that the next
time they play the area will be with the Ozzfest. I'm relistening
to album over and over now. Simply awesome.
I also have to mention that Mastodon have some of the best T-shirt
designs ever, and not the ones on the Relapse
site. 80's inspired neon grids and graphics, crazy
shark art ala Jaws, and this double-horned-hand-skull graphic
that almost tops the og Deadguy,
'Death To False Metal' shirt.
+ Monday, April 4 - 12:43pm +
-
Something I Learned
Today have posted a few great Swiz MP3s. He's also got a Slapshot
song I remember posted up there. Brings back memories of that
jackass Singley
wearing that hockey
mask shirt when I hear it. "Pretty much...". And
Slapshot is only a step away from DYS.
Awful.
- Macca
and Moz buy up farms to save animals. Interesting idea, but
it seems a bit suspect (April 1 post date for one). If Morrissey
just went vegan (he claims leather is bit difficult for fashion
reasons and he guzzles up dairy and cheese...jerk) he would save
more lives for less cash.
+ Sunday, April 3 - 6:03pm +
I got back both my blood tests and my echocardiogram on Friday.
Everything was perfectly normal. They seem to think that everything
is due to anxiety. I suppose two and half weeks of dealing with
my father's surgery followed by a month of 65+ hour work weeks
could do it. Still, the whole SVT episode came out of no where.
I'm feeling a bit better now, and they are going to run some more
tests...but basically I might just need a long vacation. I do
notice that design work stresses me out more than usual...I just
don't know that to do about it. Maybe a new career? I wish I had
some ideas. I could be ready for a change.
Also on Friday we checked out 3rd
Annual Comedy Night to benefit 826 Valencia. Not bad. The
middle school (?) was packed and we were pretty far away, so hearing
was sometimes a problem. Zach
Galifianakis certainly stole the show. He needs to put out
an album for sure.
Rode the shred sled at Squaw on Saturday. Man, I'm awful...but
damn it's fun. Spring riding is certainly the best.
I don't have any new music to add...but Mastadon play Tuesday,
so that should be good.
March
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