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Muxtape 2

"When New York Was New York"






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Reading

 

Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives

 

My Wishlist

Moment of Zen

 

Moment of Zen (inspired by Tim's Koans)

Courtesy of Timmay


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    Sunday, November 30, 2003

    OK, the turkey was actually 19.69 lb, and I think that extra 1/4 lb I wasn't expecting did me in. Soon there'll be photos of turkeys escaping the Thanksgiving scene, gingerbread house helicopter pads, and some more holiday cheer.

    Wednesday, November 26, 2003

    19.45 lb turkey, here I come! Heading to Marshfield tomorrow morning (well, technically today) with Simone as a 3rd passenger. My Mom and Dad will be watching her while we're on vacation in December. Here's to Turkey Day with lots of overeating followed by sleeping!

    Monday, November 24, 2003

    Last December, I realized I had picked up quite a few CDs that were released during 2002. Like my friend Steve, I decided to compile a Top Ten list. Well, the Top Ten quickly became the Top Twelve because I wanted to cram in as many good releases as I could. Most of the year's damage happened while I was in Portland, Oregon for a couple weeks. Even for the most casual music enthusiast, you can spend a day in Everyday Music (site may no longer exist).

    We're getting to that time of year again. As the year winds down, I discovered that I've picked up 30 CDs released in 2003. However, this year isn't as bright. After a quick sift through the list, I came up with only 8 worthy of Top Ten status. (You do the math.) And I think the #1 spot for the year was something I just got last week. Bah... humbug.

    I'll post the list in another month or so. Year ain't over yet!

    I'm sure Chris and I would've done this and this to our room in Holmes House sophomore year if we had enough junk CDs lying around. Of course, if we were made of money, we could've also tried this in our senior year quad.

    Sunday, November 23, 2003

    Got an eggplant lying around the house? Good. Cut off each end, peel it, and cut it into 1/4" thick circles. Dip each circle individually into a shallow bowl of fat-free Italian dressing, then a bowl with a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs and grated parmesan cheese so each piece is covered nicely. Space the circles out on a lightly greased cookie sheet; do not pile them. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, turning each piece over every 10 minutes or so.

    Enjoy as a vegetable side, or have with pasta and a little sauce like we did tonight.

    Crest is just giving stuff away. Mark this in the "win" column for today. Not the most exciting thing in the world, I'll admit, but still a win nonetheless. I'm going to try out those Crest Whitestrips; found a $7 coupon in the New Haven Register. Walgreens already had them $7 off, so I saved $14 on a box (basically half price). Plus the box came with a free 15 exposure Fujifilm disposable camera. And I had a $1 coupon to try some of that new Cinnamon Rush Crest toothpaste, but Walgreens already had it marked down to $2 anyway--so I got that for a buck. And when you send in the UPCs from both you get a free Crest Gift Pack worth $30. Can tooth care get any better? I submit that it cannot.

    Saturday, November 22, 2003

    The London-based Warp record label has announced that they will make their entire back catalog of music available for pay-per-track download beginning in December. Looks like each song on Bleep.com will be about $0.99/each. This will be a great way to rediscover this label that I've been listening to since the mid-90s. Until then, however, we have to wait for the launch by playing some bizarre Invaders game.

    Friday, November 21, 2003

    It's been a busy couple of days. Picked up a few new projects, mostly web-related work which I'm very excited about. At the same time, trying to fight a small nagging cold. At least it's almost dinner time and we're off to Jimmie's along the water in Savin Rock. I wonder if we should bring the slightly perturbed cat-in-the-box?

    I want fish-stick kitties!

    Wednesday, November 19, 2003

    This was posted on Metafilter this morning, but I just had to put it here too: Built By Re Web Sites. Clicking on the pyramid takes you to his portfolio (otherwise known as "web gems"). You gotta love the "animation" site with the falling spider and the mailbox fly. Ugo V. Re is truly a Web Master.

    Tuesday, November 18, 2003

    Hey babe. Just wanted to take a moment to let all you cats know that two (yes count 'em two, babe) biographies of Sammy Davis Jr. have just been released. Is this newsworthy? No, not really. Is it just an excuse to post this photo? Yeah, basically.

    The Candyman, babe

    For those interested in music covered by The Wire magazine, check out Swen's Weblog that comments on many of the artists organized by issue.

    Monday, November 17, 2003

    Sundaes on a Monday. To Carvel and back in just 9 minutes. Ate way too much marshmallow sauce *ugh*. I thought they no longer existed, but this Carvel had a Cookie Puss! And here's a frightening website about the puppeteer in the Carvel commercials.

    While I visited my parents, I checked out the new shed that was just built. Very nice. All the amenities of home, including flowerboxes beneath the windows.

    Shed side! Shed front!


    However, a few moments later, we heard a rustling in the woods behind it. Seven wild turkeys were wandering through the forest. Some of the turkeys' heads have been blocked by trees in the photos to protect the innocent.

    Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

    Sunday, November 16, 2003

    Boston was wonderful. Saw many friends, gave Devendra Banhart a ride home, picked up a few new CDs at Twisted Village, had some fantastic pizza, and got bleary-eyed from 4 hours of XBox. I'm now visiting my parents for a night and there'll be photos of an "encounter" with strange visitors posted here within the next couple days. Stay tuned...

    Friday, November 14, 2003

    Off to Boston today to visit with friends and family for the weekend. Taking in a Devendra Banhart show tonight at the Zeitgeist. Well, actually two shows, 8:30 and 10:30, as he's known to play two different sets on the same evening.

    Wednesday, November 12, 2003

    I love big mail days. It takes me back to the afternoons in the Bates College mailroom where we'd live for package slips. Of course bills are never good, but we lucked out with zero today.

    When you can't beat 'em, buy 'em on Amazon. I bid in three different EBay auctions for one book I've been trying to get my hands on, and I lost every single time. So I broke down and spent an extra couple bucks to buy it new on Amazon. At least I won one EBay auction to get ahold of this for $3. And hey! The Cartoon Issue of the New Yorker arrived today too. Woo hoo!

    To entice those of you close enough to visit, it seems that our city is experiencing a bit of a culinary renaissance. Come for the friends, stay for the food.

    Playing with Native Instrument's Traktor DJ Mixer is entirely too much fun. Luckily it can't be easily used as a procrastination tool because the free demo version has numerous limitations, including automatic program exit after 20 minutes and the inability to record a finished mix. So just when you think you're getting good, you can't save your efforts. But you still get a good feel for what the $60 full version has to offer without having to drop a dime. OK... back to cover letter writing.

    Tuesday, November 11, 2003

    I heard from my friend Kristin today who's living in Seattle these days with her boyfriend Chris. Their online business Drunken Bleachers is doing really well. I heard from another friend last week whose business of selling watercolor design notecards (soon to be at Greco Designs) is doing really well too. I keep thinking about how it'd be fun to offer an online fortune cookie business where customers can immediately submit new fortune ideas, like "Alas! The onion you are eating is someone else's waterlily" and "You make people realize there exist other beauties in the world." (Actually those are two fortunes I already did get.) Well, it seems that idea's taken anyway. Plus I suppose I'd have to buy one of these to create the actual cookies. Is there really a need for a 30 foot machine to create a 2 inch cookie?

    Monday, November 10, 2003

    Instead of helping us plan for next month's trip to Hawaii, Simone opted to pass out on the couch instead. That's only fair I guess, because we won't be able to smuggle her aboard.

    Zzzzzz...

    Sunday, November 09, 2003

    Paul Auster's novel "The Book of Illusions" motivated me to search out information about something I hadn't thought of in a while. The novel's main character unearths details about a forgotten (fictitious?) silent film actor. As I finished the book, I was listening to a few CDs on the now-defunct music label Em:t. I wanted to find out if anything ever came of the British label after its parent company T:me went bankrupt in 1998.

    Em:t released a handful of elusive artists focused on ambient music back in the nineties. Each CD was packaged with a colorful photo of an endangered species on the cover which gave the label a cohesive feel. My friends and I scooped up many of these releases, knowing they were limited and *good*, while at college. Unfortunately, the CDs are all but impossible to find now. However a quick search uncovered www.emit.cc dedicated to the old label, including information about each artist, a streaming radio where you can listen to a mix of the old Em:t material, and a link to the new Em:t records site which is apparently preparing to release new albums. Go figure?

    Saturday, November 08, 2003

    Finally working in comfort.
    Upgraded my chair from yellow and wooden to blissful and cushion.

    Version 1.0 Version 2.0

    Spent the chilly morning at the Yale University Art Gallery. Small but varied collection of paintings, sculptures, furniture, and a Duchamp readymade: In Advance of the Broken Arm. They have another Duchamp piece there, one of my favorites, T um'.

    You've got to be kidding, right?

    They have Picasso, Degas, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Dali, Rothko, Pollock, and four pieces by Hopper including Rooms By The Sea. Great collection for a free admission.

    Thursday, November 06, 2003

    Tim's post about translations and mistranslations reminded me of a fun tool that can shred websites. It's not exactly an intelligible or meaningful translation, but you can use Shredder 1.0 to create HTML shrapnel out of your favorite pages. Of course, don't accidentally confuse the webpage shredder with this Shredder 1.0.

    Wednesday, November 05, 2003

    Tim's having fun with Google. Using the Image engine, if you enter search criteria like "Figure 16-b" or "Exhibit 8a" you get all kinds of crazy image results. I'd love to say that I found the following picture by doing just that. However, this place is actually just a few miles from our home. I heeded the advice of the street sign on the left to "do not enter":

    Click to enlarge

    Tuesday, November 04, 2003

    Longest title of a position I've applied for: Technology Delivery Assurance Systems Analyst. I guess they call it TDA Systems Analyst for short. That's smart. With these newfangled "workforce logistics solutions" that HR departments outsource, it takes me over an hour to apply for one job. I suppose that's good, though, because they can really drill me on whether I'm qualified. Now if only these "solutions" offered specific information to follow-up for these jobs. I guess I'll need to open up the trusty "paper-based corporate contact retrieval catalog and information directory system" so I can find them in the phone book.

    Monday, November 03, 2003

    Yesterday was the NY Marathon, so we were in town to see exhausted happy people wandering the streets and to see The Producers on Broadway. What a fantastic show, hilarious, and Mel Brooks kept many of the funny lines that were originally written for the 1968 film, including his one-line overdub during the musical within the musical. If you're ever near 44th Street, I highly recommend seeing it!

    It's Springtime...

    Saturday, November 01, 2003

    Spent the first day of November driving along the southern Connecticut coastline. Route 146 between Branford and Guilford is home to terrific New England shoreline scenery. The town center of Guilford has some nice shops to meander through, and a little store where we picked up some Maine Pumpkinhead ale.