I’m listening to an old favorite on a warm rainy Wednesday morning. It’s one of those albums that continues to grow on you even after the 100th listen.  BT’s “This Binary Universe”.  If I need a mood lifter this one worth putting in.  It requires active listening to fully appreciate.  (particularly in surround sound with the accompanying DVD / videos).

My oldest loves this album particularly the video for Dynamic Symmetry that features animated flying robot birds.  It’s an eclectic combination of electronic, classical, jazz, glitch, and trance.

It combines music from a full orchestra that morphs with electronics, piano and a jazz ensemble.  It is completely instrumental and the music speaks volumes more than what a vocal or lyric could produce.

The first track was composed not by ear, but coded completely in C++ (a programming language) in csound.  Ironically, it’s titled “All That Makes Us Human Continues”.

Not to mention that there are elements in the songs that contain hidden meanings in mathematical code which appeals to the geek in me.

It reminds me of some of the music I grew up with as a little kid – nods to Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter – as well as cutting edge electronics that I obsess over now.   The final track nearly made me weep when I first heard it.  It’ s warm and nostalgic and reminded me of my kids.  It wasn’t a surprise to find out later that it was written as a lullaby for his daughter.

Anyone who is a fan of music, all genres aside, should listen to this album.  I can’t say enough good things about it.

I’m off to brew some coffee and start my day.

Cheers.

….Since I’ve blogged anything.  Lot’s going on! Be back to my usual rants soon.  I’ve been busy self studying college algebra, trigonometry and I just started an online learning module that will help with the 2 exams I need to get into Calculus I this fall.

So the nice big Sansui flatscreen HDTV we’ve had for 1.5 years has now decided to intermittently shut itself off.  Uneducated best guess is a fuse? Considering that we are a household of students (Wife is working on her Master’s in Accounting while working full time, I’m neck deep in my undergrad Compsci working part time, and a Kindergartener who starts 1st grade in a full time GATE program this fall) television is pretty low on the priority list.  We don’t pay for cable/satellite because frankly it’s a waste of money for a luxury we don’t have time or money for.  We’ll eventually get it looked at and diagnosed but we’re making do in the meantime.  So now that spring semester is done, I toodled around on the net…there’s actually quite a few TV shows you can stream live on the net for free with no or minimal commercials.
I keep hearing all the hype about the show “Lost” from various friends, etc.  I often dismiss ‘hype’ because things rarely live up to it.  I missed the first season, and it’s one of those shows you can’t just start watching from the middle, or end or wherever it’s at, so I never bothered to check it out.  I discovered that ABC provides free streaming of all of the episodes for lost here: http://abc.go.com/. So last night I decided to check it out and started with Season 1 from the beginning.  Whoa!! Yeah…I’m hooked now!  It reminds me alot of the recent Battlestar Galactica series.  The way in which it’s filmed is similar, it’s as intense, great chemistry, great cast, yeah….its my new vice.

Recently and suddenly, a former Warden and someone I worked with for years, died last weekend way before his time.  He wasn’t someone close to me by any means, in fact I had some issues with some of his practices.  I don’t know much about his family but I know he left behind a wife and a teenage daughter.

I’m not sure why I’ve been a bit bothered by it this week, perhaps I wish I could have parted ways with him a little differently.  Perhaps it’s from looking back and seeing myself in his shoes had I continued in that career path.

Finals are here, I wear my stress on my face.  My seborrhea Dermatitis flared up badly.  I get wound up over things that in the end, are not as big of deal as I (we) make them to be in the moment.

Today I was rushing to get the 6 year old out the door, I found my patience about to snap when he said something kind of silly and innocent as 6 year olds do…I really don’t even remember what it was that he said but we found ourselves laughing to the point of tears while getting our socks and shoes on.  I no longer cared, so what if we’re two minutes late to class on this gorgeous day in May.   Rather than rushing off after dropping him off to school I got out of the car and watched him walk into school with his batman messenger bag bouncing behind him like he owned the place.

It’s a good day to be alive….sometimes you have to realize that.

gotta get ready for work.  Cheers all.

One of the better live performances I’ve seen so far!

Spending the day working on math review from the ground up.  I have alot to catch up on.  Trying to learn college level math when you can barely remember your name is not very conducive to remembering much.  I have two big placement tests to conquer which will get me into Calculus and more advanced Compsci courses this fall.  This is a “have to do ” not an “attempt to do” kind of thing, so I’m delving much deeper into the areas I have had issues with and just touching on the stuff I remember for practice sake.

Since Monday I’ve racked up nearly 60 miles on the bike…and most of those miles were climbing up a considerable grade.  I’m actually amazed my aerobic level is in as good as shape it is!

Today is “rest day 1 of 2″ where I’m giving the legs a break.  But as I go through a set of review questions, I have a little game- However many problems I get wrong…is the number of sets of 10 pushups (or situps alternately) I do at the end.  Then I go back and identify what I did wrong and will go back to those tomorrow to see how well I retained the info.  So far I’ve only had a couple of sets to do.  Taking a break now, time to eat lunch and hit it for another hour before picking up the oldest from school.  Plan to do the same routine tomorrow other than at some point I need to go out and assist my dad with his new a/v setup.

Time for tuna on wheat.

Reclaiming my physical health.

Caffiene free for a week.  Regular sleep for a week and some change.  Supplements.  Mood improving.  I’m not in a constant fog.  It’s enough to make one giddy.

Tomorrow will be my third day of the big hill climb.  I’ve been riding from our house to the foothills an up Shaw mountain road to trail 26.  My legs are about to fire me.  Feels good to be getting back some control.

Took my oldest to a meeting at school tonight.  He is about to join the ranks of cub scouts.  I have many fond childhood memories of partaking of those activities with my dad.  Looking forward to doing the same.

Gotta get my homework done and sleep!

signing off…

If you wish to be out front,

Then act as if you were behind.

Lao Tzu, 6th Century B.C.

I      !@#%!$@#!$%@$@^@%@$!    HATE

the self checkout stations that are ever so popular in grocery stores these days. 

AND I have had it with the piss poor customer service at my local Albertsons/Supervalue whatever the hell it’s called right now.

I understand that it’s an attempt to supposedly speed up lines and reduce personnel costs but half the time the damn things end up taking longer.  And what makes it even better is when their machine fails and the “attendant” scowls and gives me attitude - “you have to be smarter than the machine”.

I shop at a nearby Albertson’s mostly out of convenience.  Not the most cost effective store in town to say the least, but given the choice of that or driving an additional 10 minutes to through 2 major traffic areas to the other option…yeah you get the train of thought.

This morning at 6:45 a.m. I swung by for some bottled water to take to work.  Apparently they don’t have cashiers at 6:45 a.m. they only have the self checkout station with an attendant slumped over a workstation/podium thing.  My irritation level notches up.

I hit the “begin” button and the first thing that pops up is “please enter the code for apples”.

I don’t want apples, “cancel”.

“please enter the code for apples”.

what the?

cancel again.

“please enter the code for apples”.

Attendant silently intervenes, deletes the message.

“please scan your first item.”

“beep”  I place it in the bag.

“Please remove the last item in the bag and scan it”

“Please wait for attendant”

What the???

Attendant comes over clears the message. “You scanned your drink twice”.

I responded, “umm, no…I just scanned it once.  Your machines must be having issues” as I glance over to the one next to me with an “out of order” sign.  She just turns and walks off.  My inside voice may have said something naughty.

I scan the next two items. 

Enter my phone number because I don’t carry the 302 rewards cards necessary to shop with in this town.

Run my card through the card reader and the screen goes blank.  Completely blank.  Inside voice is coming up with some swell hyphenated combinations of derogatory words.

“Cancel Payment”

“Please wait for assistance”

Shit!!! I could feel the irritation in the attendant as she once again had to walk four steps over and enter a code into the machine again.

Repeat the payment process.

Success!!!!  I notice the attendant is gone.  Probably ran and hid.

I had a very similar situation the previous day only it involved a $1.00 off coupon that caused an ordeal.  I would have rather paid the additional dollar than go through the headache!

This is the same store that would not give a toddler a balloon…I kid you not!!! 

Small child loves balloons. While we’re leaving the store, he’s sitting in the shopping cart and we stroll by a display with some brightly colored balloons.  The event or holiday for the display was over with, little guy points to the balloon makes the saddest little sound that translates to a plea for a balloon. 

Store employee happens to walk by, we ask if the small one can have a balloon.  “No, those balloons are part of a display, you’ll have to go over to the bakery and purchase a balloon from them. ” And he walks away.  Small child starts to cry. 

You’re freakin kidding me!  So we just dropped like $70 plus in groceries with the bags still in the cart and he won’t give a toddler a 2 cent balloon from a defunct display that looks stupid in the first place.  What a chowderhead!

So to avoid a complete meltdown we go through the hassle of going to the bakery ask for  a balloon, guy fills it up and then we go back through the line to purchase it so we’re not responsible for the demise of a local Albertson’s.  OMFG!

So yeah, I’m now reaching the point where the additional drive is worth the customer service.

I’ve been finding it fascinating watching the decline of the major record companies.  They blame their problems on digital piracy and all the millions of people (who care to admit it or not) who have copied, ripped, download, etc. and have not payed for music.  It’s my belief that they’re realizing that their current business model is becoming obsolete and they can’t see past their greed to come up with a solution.

The original purpose of these record companies was that they once owned all of the resources to manufacture, distribute and market a physical product for artists.  In order for success, an artist depended on a contract with these companies to handle the business end of their craft.  Now in the digital realm anyone can be a distibutor, publisher, marketing whiz.

If you look at the past 5-10 years, there is really not artist development anymore.  Look at bands like Pink Floyd who didn’t start out as huge megastars but held a very long career and have a legacy behind them now.

Greed has overshadowed artist development.  If you don’t sell a quadrillion records the first time out, your career is done.  It seems lately that the quick buck is in fads and fashion.  Look how quickly this “emo thing” rose and is now passe.  Don’t even get me started on American Idol.

There is so much talentless crap being marketed as cool, it’s no wonder no-one wants to shell out cash for new music.

And then there is Metallica.  They started waging war on Napster and even their own fans back when this all started.  Now they’re trying to fit in by giving away free music??  They should have to pay every penny back to Napster and all of the people they have sued.  I could continue this tangent but I won’t.

By now you must know of the Susan Boyle story. 

The most unlikey person to be all the rage in the music world.  Now mind you her music may not be all to my taste but regardless of that, you can’t deny pure straight from the heart talent.  Personally, I think people are so sick of the talentless crap hitting the airwaves that when someone comes along with real musical talent, you can’t help but to sit up and take notice. 

She’s also the underdog, one of us working class folk and the best part is she doesn’t give a crap about all the music biz b.s.  She sincerely loves what she does.

I cheer her on! 

I hope she gets the opportunity to do what she loves the rest of her life.  You don’t have to fit in someone’s marketable little package to be a hit.

Cheers!!