Written on Thursday, the 14th of July, 2005 at 12:40 pm and was filed under:
Nerdity,
school
With infinite apologies to Walt Mink.
Avoiding people’s eyes
Noticing how many different kind of shoes there are
Watching them go by
Full lyrics here
My class starts in five or ten minutes, but I will be splitting my attention between the minutiae of Turing Machines and the #gallery irc channel, where at least one of the students that I am mentoring for Google Summer of Code is currently trying to spit out his plan. I think that he has a reasonable handle on things, but like most programmers he needs to learn how to give status updates. I am included in that lot.
Can I split my attention three ways? Can I blog while paying attention to the irc channel while taking notes on the unsolveability of PCP? Probably not, so you, my loyal readership, will have to wait until after class and work for me to lay the shag carpet of language in this rec room of a website. I imagine that I will be doing something while babysitting Noah tonight, but that something might be playing at the park or watching Beauty and the Beast. In “Morgan’s Passing” by Anne Tyler, the puppeteers do “Beauty and the Beast,” but the beast does not change into a prince at the end.
Oh yeah, I printed out the Four Negations cover art (which still makes me laugh) and showed it to Andy. He told me that I have too much time on my hands. I don’t believe him, but I will consider it while dragging the kiddie pool up to my bedroom and soaking in it tonight. I think that the hose will reach through my window.
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Written on Thursday, the 14th of July, 2005 at 9:23 am and was filed under:
Diversions,
Nerdity
LEGO Turing machine
It frightens me a little that
- I understand this
- It kind of excites me
- I’m slightly upset that it isn’t a true turing machine (but is equivalent, since it can apparently simulate one)
Mmm… infinite tape…
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Written on Wednesday, the 13th of July, 2005 at 11:33 pm and was filed under:
Diversions,
Photography,
Music
This was yet another copy of the logo, but upon viewing my front page I decided that was way too much.
How about this instead? Stan is selling an effects unit and a sound module on ebay. Lisa wanted pictures, so here they are:
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Written on Wednesday, the 13th of July, 2005 at 11:10 pm and was filed under:
Diversions,
Music,
Comics
While watching the Daily Show I put a little sauce on the logo.
I don’t think that I have had this much fun since I made the Team Kickass logo
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Written on Wednesday, the 13th of July, 2005 at 10:45 pm and was filed under:
Music,
Bikes
Did I say “lay down some tracks”? What I meant to say was “knock the dust off of the four track, take it downstairs, and screw around for a while.” Noah came downstairs because he loves the drums and thinks that my set is his. Eventually I convinced him to let me play my set, but after only three songs my right shin started to burn out. This is no good at all, since the Four Negations is supposed to be a punk band, and I will have to play fast and hard with no practice through our setlist. We haven’t written any songs yet, but at least we have enough titles to get started, plus a rough sketch of an album cover. That has to count for something.
However, the drums that I recorded weren’t punk at all — I was just playing along to “Merchants of Soul” by Spoon, something else, and “Daft Punk is Playing At My House” by LCD Soundsystem. More generally, I was freaking the funk rather than slamming a beat along to move a pit. Uh, I’m not a great drummer, but sometimes you have to go have some fun. I will theoretically be able to slice these beats up later in one of the many music programs on my computer that are merely gathering electronic dust, so it was worth my time.
Lisa has been ragging on me to go visit one of the apparently many thrift stores nearby. I almost took the blue meanie (eventually I will settle on a name for that bike, but not tonight) and even got as far as bringing my helmet to the bottom of the stairs before remembering that I am a lazy bastard. I took the car and surveyed the array of bikes loitering in front of the thrift store. They were a dirty and ragged lot, and only a Raleigh ten-speed even slightly caught my eye. I gave it a miss, though, because the last thing that I need is another basket case of a ten speed locked up in the garage and giving me the evil eye when I don’t ride it. Apparently Boot is coming over later, maybe he can advise me on wheel purchases and derailleur adjustments. Maybe he will turn up his nose because I didn’t come out to see the nonet play (although he will likely just chalk that up to my general lack of class).
Back to the Four Negations, since that was how this all started. Currently I have Andy and Adam vaguely on board, which is the best that one can hope for, given that this is all just the fever dream of a sleepy student stuck in an extremely tedious class. Yes, I can play several instruments, no I can’t play any of them well. Yes, I can dissect a beat in infinite ways and reassemble it in horrific patterns, but honestly, where has that gotten me since 1991? This, like everything, is just a joke, a grand ruse, a terrible scheme to distract myself from the tedium of day to day life.
Noah got a tiny acoustic guitar for his birthday. I have seen them before and I know that they cost around $30. I can’t keep it in tune, but I can tune it and play it, which is endlessly entertaining. Maybe I should take beginning guitar next semester as an elective so I can spend loan money on an acoustic. It’s just so much work to plug in the electric guitar, and then I always worry about pissing off the neighbors. On the other hand, my neighbor Jesse (hooray) plays the trumpet, so he might not care so much as long as it is during normal hours. We’ll see what happens.
Oh yeah, I had an EPA and a Hefe, because we have both in the fridge all the time. Did I mention that I get free Summit? If you were to come over and relax on the deck you could enjoy one with me. I also deliver.
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Written on Wednesday, the 13th of July, 2005 at 7:22 pm and was filed under:
Music,
Food
Rumor has it that I might be heading to the basement to drink beer and lay down some tracks for the new band, since I have the four track, a cassette, a microphone, and a fridge full of delicious beer for the drinking. I sure hope that I like Summit, because that is what I will be drinking. Is today a Pale Ale day? Perhaps Hefe Weisen?
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Written on Wednesday, the 13th of July, 2005 at 1:44 pm and was filed under:
Music,
school
We call him him “New Gabe.” I was listening to mp3s, but then he told me that he had found out the name of the song that I remembered from Radio K back in the day: “Make Me a Sandwich” by TS/MattiX, probably off of the Mechanical Man E.P. released on Deviant Subculture. Zach said that he would use his secret former-DJ powers to see if he could get more info for me so that I could acquire that song for my own nefarious uses. After that, I put on Radio K, and Zach told me to turn it off because his speakers were better, so he put it on. Gabe should be gone every day.
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Written on Tuesday, the 12th of July, 2005 at 11:25 pm and was filed under:
Diversions,
Cars,
Bikes
Going up the hill in front of the house felt like flying. I feel like I could use a taller top gear like I had on the black devil bike that would chant “faster faster” as I chased cars in the few flat parts of Stillwater in 1991. I’m lucky that I never died, what with the helmetless riding and all. I think that bike was stolen or I just broke too many teeth off of the chainring. Maybe both. I hope so, bike stealing jerks — let’s see you sell my $5 bike that my dad bought in some random dude’s back yard. That bike didn’t shift properly either.
This isn’t really bike related, but I’m actually only spending $25 a month on gas plus $70 on parking. That makes the bike-related savings even slimmer if I don’t ditch the green car (another $50 per month if I do). Oh yeah, that is indeed bike related.
There is a wonder called the U Pass which is like unlimited bus riding for a semester for like $90. $70? That right there is the ultimate savings, so that is probably what I will do, except that I can’t afford it right now. HAHAHA I LOVE YOU UNIVERSITY AUTOMATED PROCESSES. Jerks. GIVE ME THE MONEY THAT WAS LOANED TO ME A MONTH AND A HALF AGO.
Time to do homework. I’m not even slightly tired.
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Written on Tuesday, the 12th of July, 2005 at 10:54 pm and was filed under:
Diversions,
Politics,
Bikes
I think that the heat is starting to break. That is the only explanation that I can come up with for my unprovoked lawn mowing and bike tuneup-ing. Tuning up. One of the spokes is broken, but I got a bunch of gunk out of the chain, straightened out the mounting of the rear wheel, and put air in the tires. I rode in circles a little bit, but I was too lazy to go in and get my helmet so I could ride around the neighborhood.
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Written on Monday, the 11th of July, 2005 at 2:30 pm and was filed under:
Diversions
Fine, if you’re going to search, I will have something for you: DeeDee without her makeup.
Hot: http://www.travelblog.ca/photo.php?id=150
Not: http://www.travelblog.ca/photo.php?id=276
Also: a funny epinion about the show: http://www.epinions.com/content_181919518340
Just as a reminder, Noah LOVES this show. I lose brain cells when I watch it, so it’s a bit like drinking, only without the sticky feeling later.
If you missed the earlier post, it is here: http://jpmullan.com/blog/261.
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