My Resolutions for 2008 follow, along with my self-grading on those.
-Lose 20 pounds. Well, I lost a couple, but not nearly 20. D+
-Eat out only once a month. Hahahahahahah. F--
-That thesis thing should be started. Well, I am narrowing in on a topic, at least. C-
-Finish Stress Test album. I did get through a couple new tracks. C-
-Pay off credit card debt entirely. F-----
-Volunteer four times in 2008 (start slowly, eh?). I volunteered three times. B
-Get involved in the hyde park association. B
-Get involved in local politics. C
-Continue to improve the house. B+
So, I didn't do well with my 2008 goals. Let's set some equally unrealistic ones for 2009! Nah, I mean, it's time to stop dicking around, eh?
-Lose 10 pounds (to 195)
-Get to 80% done on the thesis (to first draft status)
-Finish Stress Test. Whatever state it's in at the end of the year, it's done.
-Pay off credit card debt entirely (potentially doable this time)
-Volunteer 10 times in 2009 (Harvesters should help with this now that they are answering my e-mails)
-Do RPM Challenge in February
-Do NaNoWriMo in November
-Get involved in the KC Fringe Festival in some capacity
-Paint the porch and deck
-Install the new windows
-Do at least one other home repair that improves my home repair knowledge
-Get more involved in public transit advocacy and improvements
-Spend at least one entire month without driving to work
-Read 20 books, courtesy of time spent on mass transit
-Participate in Carrot Mob
-Run 5 races
-Damn the man, save the Empire
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
New Sonic Engineer music
So, the urge struck, and I threw this together in about an hour today. I want to fiddle with the mix and arrangement a little bit, but I am pretty happy with the results. Hope you enjoy it. I may eventually finish this album after all. I've got 10 full tracks and 2 demoed out, so that's pretty close.
Anyway, download it here.
Anyway, download it here.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Non-Audio Blog Episode 1: Laziness Ensues
Ok, so I haven't posted for a while, and I'm breaking format for a non-audio post. This is mostly because I'm lazy and the audio blogs take a lot longer to produce than a written one.
My birthday has come and gone, spent at Blanc Burgers with friends. It was excellent. I always love that place, except the part at the end when the check comes. That Saturday, we used the free movie tickets from my place of employ to see Synecdoche, New York at the new Fork and Screen theaters in Olathe. The concept is that the movie theaters have a long row table in front of each row of seats, with a concierge button in front of each seat. They have a full dinner menu and will serve food throughout the movie, including drinks from the full bar on premises. I tried cconut curry chicken tenders and a boulevard IPA, for around $15 total. Pretty reasonable, considering a popcorn and soda sets you back $10 at the concession stand. I am definitely a fan of the whole experience, and will surely return. The only snag is that tickets are $10 at the Olathe 30, which makes a night out relatively spendy. I think that's still cheaper than the VIP Room tickets for the theater on the Plaza, though (similar concept). The film itself was ingenius. I'll leave it for you to go read about it yourself, but I can only highly recommend that you see it as soon as possible. Of course, I will likely go see anything with Charlie Kaufman's name on it.
Speaking of movies, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire open next Friday at the Tivoli. We are thinking of going for a double feature of sorts. Those two movies may be too much to handle in one night, but we shall see, I suppose.
Last week was the long Thanksgiving break, which was much needed. We ended up driving approximately 1,000 miles, but it was really nice to see everyone. We started at my parents' for Thanksgiving with my fam on Thursday. We went to Bolt with my mom and the younger neices and nephews. It was a super cute movie. We stayed with Rikki's parents on Thursday night. Friday, we boarded the dogs and headed to Dubuque for Rikki's extended family. Her maternal grandmother is in a bad way, so it's definitely good that we made it out there for a visit. Saturday, we began the long journey back to Ankeny, making a couple of stops along the way. We stopped in Cedar Falls to see one Mike Drahaus, and in Ames to catch dinner with Steve and Jana. We went to The Cafe, which I had never been to for dinner before. It was pretty amazing to me that one of the more expensive restaurants in Ames chalks up at below average for Kansas City. It's pretty nuts how much more expensive it is to live here. Anyway, we returned to Ankeny pretty late, and stayed with my parents. Sunday, we hung out with my parents, grabbed the requisite lunch at Jade Garden with Heidi and Senor Gruca, played some games at Rikki's family's house, picked up the dogs, and began the return drive to Kansas City. There was a bunch of snow on the road and the going was slow through Iowa. We saw a few overturned vehicles blocking the road. It slowed us down by roughly an hour getting home, but we made it back safely. The weird thing is that as soon as we hit the Missouri border, the roads magically cleared up completely, like someone flipped off the snow switch or something. It was kind of bizarre. And then... back to the grind on Monday. etc.
Shows since my last post, which was apparently ages ago:
The Dandy Warhols, at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. It was a straight ahead rock show, but man, I love almost everything this band does. It was a solid almost 3 hours of awesomeness.
Beck / MGMT at the Uptown Theater. Again, a pretty straightlaced performance, which surprised me. I was a little disappointed, compared to the first time I saw Beck. It was considerably more wacky and fun then. This just seemed a little too straight and narrow. MGMT has improved quite a bit since I last saw them live, so that was good.
Girl Talk at the Granada in Lawrence. There were two openers, and both of them were absolutely horrible. The second band, The Death Set, took something like an hour to set up a three piece band, who then played for all of 20 minutes. Lame! However, all was forgiven with Greg Gillis took the stage. It was a ridiculous carnival of dancing, balloons, beach balls, toilet paper flying everywhere, surrounding this one guy slamming on his laptop, doing things I can't even comprehend, creating some pretty incredible mash up music. They guy is awesome live. You des moines people, go see him. I'm pondering making the trip up to catch him again. It was just totally bonkers, unadulterated fun.
Of Montreal at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. The opener cancelled, but that's ok. The show went pretty late as it was. Holly joined us for this one. It was definitely more interesting than the last time I saw them, though they were pretty skimpy on the Hissing Fauna material, which is what I'm most familiar with. There were copious costume changes, and lots of little stage plays going on while the music was under way. Kevin Barnes pretended to kill himself in various ways during one song, including a staged hanging. There was a wild west shootout taking place on stage, part of which was covered by a saloon set. There were various wacky characters around throughout the show. It was quite the visual overload, but it was a really great show. Definitely more than worth the $14.50.
The Smashing Pumpkins at the Midland Theater. It was... ok. The venue was absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to go to more shows there, presuming that more shows that I want to see come to the theater. The drinks were expensive, but eh, whatever. It's a concert venue. I'm just thrilled they took credit cards without having a $20 minimum tab (I'm looking at you, Beaumont Club). The sound was pretty poor for the show itself. One of the things I find the most distinctive about the Smashing Pumpkins is Billy Corgan's voice, love it or hate it, and his voice just got muddled in the mix quite a lot of the night, expecially in the louder numbers. There were very few hits played for a so-called "20th Anniversary Tour", I thought, but these decisions aren't mine to make. Billy generally came across as a self-indulgent snot on-stage (he asked for a singalong to Today (during which, by the way, he did not sing), and then stopped in the middle of the first verse to chew out the audience for not knowing the lyrics and not putting enough effort into the song), but I went in expecting that. What I wasn't expecting was the long, drawn out, amp-humping, formless, pointless noise jams that comprised probably 40% of the set. They were pointless and boring. So, it was roughly 60% of a good show, for which I paid 200% of what I normally pay to go to shows. There were good moments, to be sure, but overall, it was a disappointing experience.
I think this post is long enough for now. Two weeks, and then the trip to Chicago! Then, the trip home for the holidays! Then, new years in Des Moines! Then, I will finally buy a couple of shirts at Smash! Then, I will add a few more exclamation points!!!!
Farewell, whoever may be reading this.
My birthday has come and gone, spent at Blanc Burgers with friends. It was excellent. I always love that place, except the part at the end when the check comes. That Saturday, we used the free movie tickets from my place of employ to see Synecdoche, New York at the new Fork and Screen theaters in Olathe. The concept is that the movie theaters have a long row table in front of each row of seats, with a concierge button in front of each seat. They have a full dinner menu and will serve food throughout the movie, including drinks from the full bar on premises. I tried cconut curry chicken tenders and a boulevard IPA, for around $15 total. Pretty reasonable, considering a popcorn and soda sets you back $10 at the concession stand. I am definitely a fan of the whole experience, and will surely return. The only snag is that tickets are $10 at the Olathe 30, which makes a night out relatively spendy. I think that's still cheaper than the VIP Room tickets for the theater on the Plaza, though (similar concept). The film itself was ingenius. I'll leave it for you to go read about it yourself, but I can only highly recommend that you see it as soon as possible. Of course, I will likely go see anything with Charlie Kaufman's name on it.
Speaking of movies, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire open next Friday at the Tivoli. We are thinking of going for a double feature of sorts. Those two movies may be too much to handle in one night, but we shall see, I suppose.
Last week was the long Thanksgiving break, which was much needed. We ended up driving approximately 1,000 miles, but it was really nice to see everyone. We started at my parents' for Thanksgiving with my fam on Thursday. We went to Bolt with my mom and the younger neices and nephews. It was a super cute movie. We stayed with Rikki's parents on Thursday night. Friday, we boarded the dogs and headed to Dubuque for Rikki's extended family. Her maternal grandmother is in a bad way, so it's definitely good that we made it out there for a visit. Saturday, we began the long journey back to Ankeny, making a couple of stops along the way. We stopped in Cedar Falls to see one Mike Drahaus, and in Ames to catch dinner with Steve and Jana. We went to The Cafe, which I had never been to for dinner before. It was pretty amazing to me that one of the more expensive restaurants in Ames chalks up at below average for Kansas City. It's pretty nuts how much more expensive it is to live here. Anyway, we returned to Ankeny pretty late, and stayed with my parents. Sunday, we hung out with my parents, grabbed the requisite lunch at Jade Garden with Heidi and Senor Gruca, played some games at Rikki's family's house, picked up the dogs, and began the return drive to Kansas City. There was a bunch of snow on the road and the going was slow through Iowa. We saw a few overturned vehicles blocking the road. It slowed us down by roughly an hour getting home, but we made it back safely. The weird thing is that as soon as we hit the Missouri border, the roads magically cleared up completely, like someone flipped off the snow switch or something. It was kind of bizarre. And then... back to the grind on Monday. etc.
Shows since my last post, which was apparently ages ago:
The Dandy Warhols, at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. It was a straight ahead rock show, but man, I love almost everything this band does. It was a solid almost 3 hours of awesomeness.
Beck / MGMT at the Uptown Theater. Again, a pretty straightlaced performance, which surprised me. I was a little disappointed, compared to the first time I saw Beck. It was considerably more wacky and fun then. This just seemed a little too straight and narrow. MGMT has improved quite a bit since I last saw them live, so that was good.
Girl Talk at the Granada in Lawrence. There were two openers, and both of them were absolutely horrible. The second band, The Death Set, took something like an hour to set up a three piece band, who then played for all of 20 minutes. Lame! However, all was forgiven with Greg Gillis took the stage. It was a ridiculous carnival of dancing, balloons, beach balls, toilet paper flying everywhere, surrounding this one guy slamming on his laptop, doing things I can't even comprehend, creating some pretty incredible mash up music. They guy is awesome live. You des moines people, go see him. I'm pondering making the trip up to catch him again. It was just totally bonkers, unadulterated fun.
Of Montreal at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. The opener cancelled, but that's ok. The show went pretty late as it was. Holly joined us for this one. It was definitely more interesting than the last time I saw them, though they were pretty skimpy on the Hissing Fauna material, which is what I'm most familiar with. There were copious costume changes, and lots of little stage plays going on while the music was under way. Kevin Barnes pretended to kill himself in various ways during one song, including a staged hanging. There was a wild west shootout taking place on stage, part of which was covered by a saloon set. There were various wacky characters around throughout the show. It was quite the visual overload, but it was a really great show. Definitely more than worth the $14.50.
The Smashing Pumpkins at the Midland Theater. It was... ok. The venue was absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to go to more shows there, presuming that more shows that I want to see come to the theater. The drinks were expensive, but eh, whatever. It's a concert venue. I'm just thrilled they took credit cards without having a $20 minimum tab (I'm looking at you, Beaumont Club). The sound was pretty poor for the show itself. One of the things I find the most distinctive about the Smashing Pumpkins is Billy Corgan's voice, love it or hate it, and his voice just got muddled in the mix quite a lot of the night, expecially in the louder numbers. There were very few hits played for a so-called "20th Anniversary Tour", I thought, but these decisions aren't mine to make. Billy generally came across as a self-indulgent snot on-stage (he asked for a singalong to Today (during which, by the way, he did not sing), and then stopped in the middle of the first verse to chew out the audience for not knowing the lyrics and not putting enough effort into the song), but I went in expecting that. What I wasn't expecting was the long, drawn out, amp-humping, formless, pointless noise jams that comprised probably 40% of the set. They were pointless and boring. So, it was roughly 60% of a good show, for which I paid 200% of what I normally pay to go to shows. There were good moments, to be sure, but overall, it was a disappointing experience.
I think this post is long enough for now. Two weeks, and then the trip to Chicago! Then, the trip home for the holidays! Then, new years in Des Moines! Then, I will finally buy a couple of shirts at Smash! Then, I will add a few more exclamation points!!!!
Farewell, whoever may be reading this.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Audio Blog, Episode 3: This Great Society Is Going Smash
Ha! A couple of weeks! Will you get a load of that? Anyway, on to the festivities.
1. Intro
2. The Rumble Strips - Motorcycle
3. CSA / Iowa / Man Man
4. Man Man - Big Trouble
5. Kansas City Goings On / The Books
6. The Books - Be Good To Them Always
Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=46684cb40c7d2f48d2db6fb9a8902bda
1. Intro
2. The Rumble Strips - Motorcycle
3. CSA / Iowa / Man Man
4. Man Man - Big Trouble
5. Kansas City Goings On / The Books
6. The Books - Be Good To Them Always
Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=46684cb40c7d2f48d2db6fb9a8902bda
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Audio Blog, Episode 2: You Know Best
Wow, I did another one! Miracle of miracles! Anyway, hope you enjoy it. It might be a couple of weeks before I get to the next one. To make up for it, this one is substantially longer than the first one.
1. Intro
2. Laura Barrett - Robot Ponies (from the Earth Sciences EP)
3. Porch Party / Wedding
4. Amber Rubarth - You Will Love This Song (from the Unfinished Art EP)
5. Parental Visit / Cirque Du Soleil / Community Supported Agriculture
6. Swan Lake - All Fires (from the album Beast Moans)
7. Discussion of All Fires / Outro
Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?yymrj1j2djn
Comments are appreciated, as always.
1. Intro
2. Laura Barrett - Robot Ponies (from the Earth Sciences EP)
3. Porch Party / Wedding
4. Amber Rubarth - You Will Love This Song (from the Unfinished Art EP)
5. Parental Visit / Cirque Du Soleil / Community Supported Agriculture
6. Swan Lake - All Fires (from the album Beast Moans)
7. Discussion of All Fires / Outro
Get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?yymrj1j2djn
Comments are appreciated, as always.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Audio Blog, Episode 1
Hi everyone,
Trying something new here - recording myself, interspersing a little music, etc. I'm going to try out the combination of Blogger and MediaFire for now. It at least seems to be a somewhat better solution than e-mailing out huge audio attachments. Anyway, in this episode,
1. Intro
2. The Dandy Warhols - Mission Control
3. George Carlin
4. The Flaming Lips - Free Radicals
5. Outro
You can (hopefully) download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?21tm4j4dwzt
Trying something new here - recording myself, interspersing a little music, etc. I'm going to try out the combination of Blogger and MediaFire for now. It at least seems to be a somewhat better solution than e-mailing out huge audio attachments. Anyway, in this episode,
1. Intro
2. The Dandy Warhols - Mission Control
3. George Carlin
4. The Flaming Lips - Free Radicals
5. Outro
You can (hopefully) download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?21tm4j4dwzt
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