Train

Matt and the crew (that would be Karl, Andi, Weeze, Jon, my Dad, and me) saw the band Train open the fair Friday night (ok, maybe Matt didn't go, but the "crew" did). It was a really cool show, but it was too bad that there we're a lot of empty seats. On the other hand I guess it was good for us because we could spread out a little bit and attempt to avoid some of our overexcited "AV's finest." I took about 120 pics, but being it an outdoor concert setting only about 10 turned out. I'd upload more to my fickr, but I already busted my bandwidth limit.

Band marched in the AV Fair Parade on Saturday. I think it's better known as the "AV Fair Death Walk/Run (or swim towards the end...in sweat)." It was really hot. And early. But other than that it turned out pretty good.

Thought your myspace was as safe as it gets, just because your little profile is "private?" Think again. Not that this is anything new, but its just another one of my disgruntled attacks on social networking.

In the midst of the Global Warming craze, here's something on the other side that you never saw coming: Global Cooling has begun. Probably just about as accurate as myspace is safe, but an interesting read regardless.

Here's an old clip from that show Family Feud. I see it on TV sometimes, and some of the responses are so stupid I wonder how those people actually make it on TV. This clip is great; the host loses it and even asks the lady how she made it on the show. Gotta love Family Feud.

That's it for now...I'm going to go enjoy my free Starbucks.

Free Starbucks

Print out the coupon, and you can get a free Starbucks iced coffee through September. Enjoy!

Back to School

Well, we've been back to it for a week now, and I don't know about you, but I'm ready for summer. Too bad I'll have to wait about 9 months. For anybody curious I'm taking Anatomy/Physiology, Symphonic Band, AP English Lang & Comp, IB Math Methods, AP US History, and IB Music. I had the choice of IB Music or IB Physics for 6th period, and considering that sanity is a good trait to keep, I decided to go with Music.

Band played at the Jethawks last night. I thought we sounded sort of anemic, but apparently you couldn't hear us too well so what did come out was somewhat decent. I got to play tenor in pep band also, which was cool. We stayed the whole game (and saw Craig Counsell on a rehab assignment)...it was pretty fun.

Anybody going to see Snakes on a Plane? Whether or not its supposed to be a comedy (hopefully not...that would make it all the better) it looks to be pretty hilarious. Samuel L. Jackson...he's quite the "interesting" character. What's next...Elephants on a Bus? Bigfoot in Space? (My thanks to the Kemper for those).

Here's a cool slideshow of some well known "pictures that lie". They were actually unknowingly photoshoped and published. Interesting stuff.

TechTV is coming back? Apparently UndoTV sees a future as starting up new, organized tech programming. If it all falls into place, it should be pretty cool.

Here again is yet another example of when a liberal editing wiz gets bored. Check out Evil Bush's State of the Union. Pretty funny watch.

Question of the week:
What are Adam's Apples made of?
Just curious.

America

My dad and I saw the band America play at the Marie Kerr Ampatheater last night. It was a pretty cool show despite the wind. Here are a few pics I took (before getting kicked out of the front) and there is some audio (should open in a new window). Enjoy!

Band Camp

QH band camp was this last week. It went pretty good...we got 7 moves of the show down. The whole experience was about as exciting as 8 hours in the heat of day attempting to help the "unteachable misfits" (not my verbiage) can get. Life as a section leader is nothing too exciting either, unless you consider getting there early, leaving late, and staying up late highlighting and working out the charts exciting. Fun stuff. Back to it tomorrow!

I went to Wildwood again this year (hence the lack of updates the past couple weeks). Despite the vegan diet, rat infested cabins, and a few maturity lacking young musicians, it was pretty fun. It was cool to see some old faces and have the opportunity to play in some different groups (band, orchestra, woodwind quintet, duet, and clarinet choir...with the Eb!). If you're lucky I'll post the mp3's when I get them (if I remember).

My Dad, Karl, Jon and I went to a Dodgers/Nationals game last Saturday. Now that they're actually starting to win again, it was pretty cool. A Dodger game followed by Philipp's...it was a lot of fun.

Any day is a good day to bash the RIAA. Here's a list of some of the weird/hypocritical/just plain stupid things they do and some not so shocking statistics.

This is a pretty cool site if you're in need of wallpaper. It has thousands of free high res images. Too bad there's no need for backgrounds around here since there's Matt around.

It's a time machine for water called the Time Fountain. I won't even try to explain how it works, because frankly, I have no idea. It just looks cool.

There's a new record for speeding tickets out: Try 70 tickets in 5 months. That's gonna get pretty expensive.

Well, as painful as it is to say, school starts tomorrow. I must go mentally/physically (i.e. finish the summer reading) prepare myself and try to enjoy the few remaining hours of summer.

Off to Wildwood...

I'm off to Wildwood for a week. I'll be back in town Wednesday to take a final at AVC, but then I'm in the vegetarian music world again until Sunday (it's not all that bad...except for the food). Then it's rise and shine on Monday for band camp...see you there.

Super Shammy!

Monday's sectional went good. No complaints here. Actually, we even sounded a little better than I thought we would, so all is good.

We went to Vegas this weekend to see Matt (always worth the drive) and buy some Super Shammys! Oh yeah, and buff the 119° heat. I passed my CPR/AED test on Monday, so it's safe to die in front of me now. I also discovered that scrubs are the most incredibly comfortable clothing item ever invented. My Mom told me if I got into med school that she would make me custom scrubs I could wear every day of my life...now that's some incentive (no joke).

In Vegas this weekend, Karl told me about this guy who traded one red paperclip for a house. From his site, "My name is Kyle MacDonald and I traded one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12 2005 and 14 trades later, on July 12, 2006 I traded with the Town of Kipling Saskatchewan for a house." All the details are on his site...it's a pretty cool/interesting story.

Ever hear of "blunt-force advertising"? It's a short ad that repeats the same catchphrase over and over to forefully "embed" it in your head. Like many, at first, I thought this Head On ad was a joke, but apparently it's real. As weird as it is, the ad is obviously pretty effective.

In this week's "weird stuff to do if you're really, really board" dept: the 10¢ ring. Yep...you can make a ring out of a dime.

From an IT department far far away comes...
Cubicle Wars! A pretty corny, yet entertaining short film.

Good news: Only 1 week left at AVC!
Bad news: There's only 2 weeks of summer left.
I'll stick with the good news for now.

Sectional

To my fellow QH clarinets:

There will be a clarinet sectional this coming Monday, the 24th, from 3:00 to 4:00 in the band room. Let me know if you can make it...hope to see you all there.

150th Post

Already at post number 150...that's about three years. Wow. I need to get a life.

Sorry for the lack of an update this past week. You would think that a lazy summer would render me bored enough to have an urge to update, but apparently that's not the case. Part of it being that this summer is not really "lazy" between 3 classes at AVC, music, hospital, and all that other good stuff. And the other part being that the new computer arrived and I've been "busy" playing with all the new little gadgety bells and whistles (this thing is pretty awesome).

I started the volunteering thing at the hospital on Friday. I'm working in the pharmacy with some interesting folks who have really no idea what to do with me, but so far they've kept me busy. The extent of my job basically boils down to stalking drugs. Fun stuff (besides the little tiny ID numbers that are impossible to read, yet vital to stalking the heavy brown IV filled boxes in the correct spot). So yeah, it's all good I guess. For those of you still wondering why I'm even doing this in the first place, I'm still trying to figure that out myself, but I've come up with two decent reasons: (1) It's a good experience (lame, I know, but hey it works), and (2) It looks killer on a resume.

Other than that there's not too much new to report in my life. Just the same old Summer goodness. I got the QHHS registration packet thing in the mail last week...that's always depressing.

This is a pretty cool little video where a couple of skaters with green boards edited out the borads on the video, so it kind of looks like they're "floating." Pretty cool stuff.

From the Daily WTF, here's some "pop-up potpourri." It's a compilation of some pretty funny thisisbroken style messages.
^3 links in two sentences! I'm getting pretty good.

The RIAA has lost! The RIAA has lost!
Well, at least one lawsuit. It's about time.

Got a headache? Just ask Dr. Google. A few days ago a blogger wrote an article entitled "Dear Google, You’re Giving Me a Headache," so what did Google do? Send him some pain relief, of course! Hey Google, can you send me some cash?

Happy 4th

XPS 400

Out of the blue, my parents gave me the go ahead to order a new family computer (our old one was getting pretty decrepit), so I had to quickly scrounge up a decent system for a decent price, and decided on the Dell XPS 400 media box which I had been looking at for a while. Thanks to slickdeals I was able to finagle a pretty sweet gig though Dell EPP (employee purchase program). So basically I bought a temporary "employment" (or just the discount code) off ebay to get the 30% employee discount. If anybody else is interested, you can get a nice deal this way. Just buy the code on ebay, customize your system here, and you're good to go. I'll update when we get the box and I've had a chance to play with it a bit.

Just FYI to all those band people out there:
There is a full band rehearsal on Friday July 7th from 3:30 to 4:30 in the band room. Of course if you're reading this, you've probably already been contacted so that last sentence was pointless. Oh well....consider it a reminder. As of this time, I'm 2 for 14 on returned calls. I've left 14 messages yet only 2 people have gone to the trouble to call me back. [EDIT: Make that 3 call backs as of about 5 mintues ago] Not that I'm complaining...I really hate phones.

While I might be a phone phobic, at least I'm not afraid of pickles. I don't know how many of you have seen this clip, but I can't watch it without laughing, as bad as I feel laughing. Pickle Phobia...that's a new one.

After a surge of controversy, Microsoft finally dropped its "Windows Genuine Advantage" checks. "Genuine Advantage" meaning "we know that you pirated this copy of XP and we're trying to prove it so we can sue you." It got to the point where you couldn't download Windows Update or any other Microsoft downloads without an annoying "WGA" check. So a class action lawsuit later, there's no more WGA.

Here's a neat little hack to boost hard disk performance. Apparently it's supposed to boost performance up to 6x. I haven't noticed anything too significant yet, but I'll keep you posted. Just a warning, it takes a little tweaking so just don't go around trashing the registry.

That's it for now...have a happy 4th.

Taco Town!

Animator vs. Animation

My favorite find of the week: When CGI characters try to escape.

Besides hilarious escape attempting animations, the summer has been decent so far. Nothing too new at the college...Spanish is Spanish and Matalon is Matalon. The textbook definition of a good summer: lazy and relaxing, but not overly so. Sleep, food, eb clarinets, ER reruns, and Linux...the good life.

Speaking of Linux...I'm going to take this opportunity to plug a new (for me at least) distro. Kubuntu: its the KDE version of Ubuntu (probably the most popular distro out there now). It has a great live CD that lets you test drive it, and if you like, do a full install straight from the live CD. The latest version is Dapper Drake- check it out...it's pretty nice.

There's a section leader meeting tomorrow where we're supposed to get the music and rosters. Sectionals shouldn't be too long after that (gulp). Stay tuned for updates on that front.

DirecTV is offering a new programming service: DirecTV Titanium. Now, what exactly does Titanium get you? Try every SD and HD channel, all pay-per-view offerings, all sports, up to 10 HD DVRs, and a 24/7 "concierge service." All yours for only $7500 a year.

A few weeks ago I head a mp3 online of a guy trying to cancel his AOL account...and needless to say he had a fairly difficult time. I never got around to posting it, but this morning I heard him on Today talking about his "experience." Apparently he's finally brought forth a pretty big problem...and it's about time. This particular incident actually ended up with the AOL rep getting fired. Here's the original audio and the Today clip.

That's all for now...I have to go rig up a PA for some horse racing gig that's going to take over my house Saturday. Don't ask.

La Clase de Español

School gets out...and then starts again.

Spanish at AVC started today, and between the course itself and the people in the course it will be...well..."interesting." [EDIT: But, we also can't forget those who keep me company and are always filled with the hilariously witty and cynical comments that contribute to my summer sanity.] I have to admit, I don't mind it (yet). It's actually kind of nice to have something to do. In addition to the Spanish, I'm also taking First Aid & CPR and Intermediate Jazz Ensemble.

I couldn't contain my excitement last night after winning the Ebay bid on my new Eb clarinet. Even though I've never actually played one, it looked like too good of a deal to pass up. Within the next few weeks I should be in possession of Tiny Tim...a Leblanc Noblet Eb Clarinet (aged grenadilla wood, 14.85mm bore...all that good stuff you don't care about). So, needless to say, I am very happy.

If your fake government ID says you live on "123 Fraud Blvd" in "Tijuana, B.C." you can apparently stride right into the Homeland Security offices. Maybe stuff like that will work for the required ID's we have to wear at school next year.

This is a cool little site that will let you listen to practically every radio station in the world. It's a pretty nice little find.

I was browsing though YouTube and came across this old Screen Savers clip of Leo and Pat overclocking a P4 with liquid nitrogen coolant. Maybe if I get really bored this summer...

Google released a new beta of Google Earth yesterday. It has a ton of updated imagery (including the AV). It's a nice, beefy update, but beware bugs and don't even try if you have under 512MB ram.

I find this just plain amusing: Some geek out there (like me) developed a ring tone that is inaudible to adults. The purpose: texting in school...and the teacher can't even hear it. It is a high pitched "buzz" that can only be heard by kids because adults lose the ability to hear high pitched noises as the ear ages. Good stuff.

Leblanc Noblet Eb Clarinet

The newest member of my clarinet family:

More details coming soon...

US Border Patrol

http://www.break.com/index/theboarderpatrol.html

Hilarious interview with George Bush talking about the US stepping up our efforts to increase border patrol with Mexico. Keep a close eye on the fence in the background during the interview.

Section Leader!

The Band Banquet was Tuesday night, and if you read last week's comments (or just read the title of this post) you probably realized I made clarinet section leader for next year. Although unexpected, it's still pretty exciting. Despite dealing with some "issues" (gotta love band drama), I guess I'm looking forward to it although it will be a new and challenging experience. The rest of the banquet was good with the wonderful mixed aromas of a potluck, the video which was awesome (as usual), and it was just neat to see the year pull to a nice close. We're doing a Zorro show next year (you can listen to it here) so that will be pretty cool.

Only one week to go...then school's out! I can't wait....I just have to survive through finals this week and then we're home free...until band camp at least. Summer will be so nice...except for the heat. It's already 100° outside. Ugh.

On kind of a cool note, the QHHS Rebel baseball team took home the CIF-Div. 3 championship yesterday. They are the first ever from the Valley to do so...so that's kind of cool. It would have made it even better if they didn't play "Take me out to the ball game" every passing period.

The Windows Vista sneak preview of the week: Only seven simple steps to simply delete a file! Oh boy...that should be fun! Hopefully they get that fixed, because I'm already dreading having to give Windows "permission" every five minutes.

Cool videos for the week:
An amazing hole in one...I had to watch that a few times to believe it. Too bad stuff like that never happens to me (not that I've been golfing in the past 4 years).
I haven't been flying remote control airplanes either, but this is some pretty awesome piloting.

That's if for now...I'm off to go cram for Chem.

Memorial Day

Hope everybody enjoyed their day off.

Well, only 9 days (and 5 finals) to go. We finished filming how to make "los tacos pecadillos" today for Spanish...and that was quite interesting. So if you ever want to know how to make "sinful tacos," and happen to speak really bad Spanish, let me know and I'll get you a copy.

Matt was baptized on Saturday.
We went down to Vegas (on Memorial Day weekend...so you can imagine how fun the traffic was), and saw a whole bunch of cool people I haven't seen in a while (and realized my readership here extends farther than I thought). There's a pic of everybody to the left, and there should be more on my flickr soon (I exceeded the limit for the month...woops). All in all,it was pretty cool, and, as I have said many times before, Matt is awesome.

If you're ever possessed to make a jumping spider out of dollar bills, here you go. It does cost 5 dollars, though (the spider...not the website).

If you have enough time to make spiders, check out this online custom font maker. You can even submit your own font for download (assuming you had the time to create it...which I really hope nobody normal does).

Windows Vista is inching closer to shipping. Here's the latest on the Beta 2 features.

Here's a nice little article taking about how the iPod rules the world (not really). It goes into the "You can have anything you like so long as it's Apple" idea, and is an interesting little read. I'll stick with my H10, thanks.

A student in Pennsylvania was suspended for giving another student caffeinated chewing gum. Huh? It's gum people...what makes it so different from soda? Please.

That's it for now...I'll be back (on time) next week.

I Passed?!

Well, I have my license now. I can actually legally drive. Probably a very disturbing thought/reality for many of you (myself included). I got 4 "errors" on the drive test, and you can get up to 15 (except for the auto-fail stuff). Like everybody says, the feeling is just kind of "weird." Just thought you all ought to know so you can keep an eye out and duck for cover if needed.

Matt came up this weekend! Oh..yeah, Andi and Karl, too. He's doing good, and he's a really cool little dude. It was definitely one of my weekly highlights to see him in person for the first time.

I saw Streetlight Manifesto and The Aquabats play in Lancaster on Thursday. Now that the tinnitus has worn off, I must say it was pretty awesome. It was cool...I have to say that Streetlight was the definite highlight. The Aquabats were pretty funny, too. Despite the cramped bar corridors and some of the unique ska fans we tend to attract in the good 'ol AV, it was a really good show.

Only 3 weeks of school left! Time flies when you're procrastinating on prepping for finals.

In case you've ever been inspired to hollow out a light bulb, here you go. If I get bored enough this summer I might give it a try.

While watching the Napoleon Dynamite outtakes this weekend, Karl showed me this clip. It's the "evolution" of dancing as demonstrated by one guy from the times of Elvis to now.
By the way, if you want any 1961 Topps baseball cards in the next day or so, there's this really good seller on ebay you should check out...
(I should get some commssion for that plug, Karl)

You have to check out this interactive mosaic thing. Just keep zooming in...and in...and in. It's pretty insane.

It feels like Summer

It's currently 94°... and rising. High next week? Near 100°.
It's not supposed to do that so soon. Oh well. Look at the bright side...it just means school is inching closer and closer to ending.

Call me crazy, but I signed up for summer school (sort of). At this point I'm doing Spanish at AVC (to get a 3rd year in the easy way...or is it really that easy? Anyways...), and maybe Psychology. On top of that I'll probably be taking an EMT-B course through ROP (just for the heck of it...I know, kind of random, but why not?) in addition to working on computers and hopefully teaching clarinet. I also just got a membership to 24 Hour Fitness today, so that will be nice considering I can't really run on my stupid hip.

Our last band concert of the year was on Thursday. I played in Symphonic and Wind Ensemble, and both sounded pretty good. Concert Band, to put it as my dad said, sounded a little anemic. It was sad to see the seniors at their last concert, and as always, that bittersweet feeling knowing the year is nearly over sunk in.

Well, next week at this time I'll probably have my license...not by choice. I go for my drive test on Saturday bright and early at 8 am. I'm not really looking forward to it, although I guess it might be nice. I'd say I was nervous, but to be honest, I'm really not.

Remember the finger in the chili? Well, now we get an human arm in the sewer. What's next?

Here's a clip of a guy trying to steal some woman's purse from an elevator. Needless to say, he fails.

Are we going to use sewage for electricity? Something actually beneficial may come of that...stuff.

I'm off for now, until next week-
`C