Weekend

I just got back from Bluefin Bay resort. Myself, the girlfriend, and twenty or so of my fellow students and respective significant others descended on the resort from Friday to Sunday. The premise was skiing at Lutsen, but general relaxation was the real goal. It was real good timing too because the remote north shore of Lake Superior is a good place to work on that important research assignment we all have to turn in on Tuesday. No big deal, just write a page or two between beers. Hey, if you can't be rediculous when you're young when can you? I should probably get back to work, it's 17 minutes 'til Monday.

Here's a painting I'm telling people I painted while I was there (I'm especially proud of the seagull):

Frustrating

I'm sitting in the lounge at school between classes listening to a little Gomez, stewing on the state of music. See, Gomez is a really good band who not only makes good records, but puts on good live shows as well. They were recently dropped by their record label due to poor album sales. Ironically it wasn't until their most recent album that I ever heard Gomez on the radio, in heavy rotation at that! Meanwhile dipshit talentless tarts with the last name Simpson get to spread their filth and take home millions of greasy American dollars. I don't blame the record companies for putting this "music" out there, even corporations have to take a shit now and then. I blame Americans for buying into it. The corporate music machine wouldn't exist if it didn't make money, if the masses didn't buy into it. So here's what you can do. Go to a live show at a local venue. Buy a CD from the guy at the merch table. Buy the band a round of drinks. Tell your friends. It will make you feel good. It will make the band feel good, so they'll keep making good music. And don't steal music, from anyone. Just because it's easy doesn't make it right. I'm tired, tired, tired of this shit.

Obsession

I have grown increasingly interested in international motorcycle racing over the past two years or so. I started to get pretty into World Superbike when we moved to Cannon Falls and got a sweet introductory cable package with about 200 channels, including the Speed channel. Every tuesday I was watching racing. Then the season ended. Then our intro package ran out. To get me by until this spring I ordered Faster, which is a documentary about MotoGP racing. The problem is that it's winter in MN and the high temp. for today will be below zero. I won't be anywhere near a motorcycle for at least three months. Reading racing magazines and watching racing documentaries isn't going to do me much good. In fact, it probably makes it worse. I get all amped up and have no outlet except to read/watch even more.
I've gotten to the point that I am checking the racing calendars to see if there will be a race within a reasonble train ride from Prague when I'm studying abroad this summer.
I'm in serious trouble.

Withdrawal

When I was on winter break I had Netflix send over some DVDs, most notably series one and two of The Office. Oh awesomeness! That might be the funniest show I have ever seen. I am now waiting for the Specials disc to show up (It seems somebody thought that Sex and the City deserved the top spot on the rental queue).
It's been at least a week since I last had a fix of dry british humor, and am having difficulty coping. I've been watching clips online, and am starting to feel pathetic. My hands aren't shaking, yet, but I think that may change. Maybe I'll feel better if I toss in a little Aqua Teen Hunger Force.



Watch your back Mr. Gates

I just happened to stumble across a story on BBC News about some new product from Apple. The teaser didn't really say what it was so I hopped on over to Apple's site to see what's new. I should have known that it was something big when the site took forever to load, due, no doubt, to many others like myself seeing what was up. Turns out it was nothing big, rather two very small things. The Mini Mac and the iPod Shuffle.

Go look at these things. Really, leave my site and check these out. The iPod Shuffle not so much amazing as cool. The Mini Mac? Unreal. It's tiny, powerful, and very affordable. Is it any coincidence that my parents are in the market for a new desktop? Or that I am in the market for a 1 GB flash drive (might as well get an MP3 player at the same time, yes)? Guess I won't be saving much money this semester.

Garageband Pt. II



Go get iDrum. It lets you make beats and then put the beats in GarageBand. It's really easy to use. Frontal lobotomy easy. I haven't ponied up for the full version yet, but the demo is a high-powered time consumer. You can either make the beats then put them into GarageBand, or make the beats from within. This might just be the first wicked awesome event of 2005.

Also the name of the program can be parsed out as "I drum," or "I'd rum." Both of which are phrases I'm inclined to announce with an "outside voice" when an "inside voice" would be more appropriate.


Recording

Marshall Cretin have begun recording our second album. Ben and I spent about 6 hours wednesday running around getting equipment, including some very nice Sennheiser microphones, and an exterior door at Menards. We used the door to make a very dandy table to set up Ben's eMac, Tascam US-122 interface, and our mixing console.
We recorded the drum tracks using Sound Studio. We then dumped those AIFF files into GarageBand which we used to record the bass tracks and will use for guitar and vocal tracks as well. I got through five drum tracks on Wednesday and four more on Thursday. Ben managed to put bass tracks on all nine recordings the same day. Then we had some beers and recited the mantra "Praise be to Mac, which gives us easy ways to make tunes."


You can look at all the pictures from our recording session(s) here.


Box-store Opinions

VS.



I have always been a Target shopper, mostly by default because there never used to be any Wal-Marts in Minneapolis/Saint Paul. After shopping both, I didn't really like Wal-Mart. It always just seemed a little trashy, both literally and figuratively. Add a little bit of employment scandal to the mix and Wal-Mart just fell off my list of viable options for discount shopping.
I got to wondering how other people feel about the Target vs. Wal-Mart question so I hopped on over to Google. Holy shit! Type in "trashy wal mart" and see all the hits that come up. There's a guy with a site dedicated entirely to trash, literally refuse, littering Wal-Mart Parking lots. Crazy.

I also stumbled across the Christian Mommies site, but I'll save that one for another time.

New Year


I have decided to kick off 2005 with a bang. Well, more of a bam because this really isn't all that exciting. I have decided to abstain from my No. 1 vice of 2004, the Hardee's Monster Thick Burger. For those of you unfamiliar with this fast-food assault on better judgment, please allow me to describe to you the damage I have been doing to myself. This burger contains two 1/3 pound beef patties, three slices of cheese, four strips of bacon, mayo, and is served on a buttered sesame seed bun. The caloric intake itself is staggering, and when coupled with the fat content becomes absurd. See for yourself on the Hardee's Nutrition page.

In order the combat the certain damage I have done to my colon, I have also committed myself to exercising more frequently. And by exercise I mean rocking-out more frequently. You can find out more about rocking-out here.

I also have some plans in the works to make 2005 Wickeder Awesomer, but have not yet ironed-out the details.