“Hey, Bill. What’s the word?” “Thunderbird, sir.” “There you go.”

broderic on September 13, 2010

Monday Morning Musings [part IV: A New Hope]I'm writing this instead of doing some work and it's only about a quarter after 9. I don't look forward to work at all. I can't wait until Friday.As I was taking a shower, I thought that I would like to listen to some ska on the ride in. Should I pull one of my CDs in the CD cubby in the living room or listen to the Trojan box set that's been in the Mini since I bought it 2 summers ago. Of course, once changed, I completely forgot about the CD. I still remembered that I wanted to listen to ska, so it was the Trojan box set once again.As I listened, I wondered what I like about ska. The rhythm? Yes to the skanking guitars on the upbeat. The energy to the songs? Yes, I needed to bop around in the seat. The horn section! That was it! Music needs more horns and saxophones and trombones. Bring those back.Now, is there a band today that has a horn section? And was the 80s the epitome of alternative musical instruments? Plenty of bands made use of the saxophone: INXS, Bruce Springsteen, (fill this in for me, please). Horn sections make the band more fun. See James Brown.Bring back the horns to music.

“Shriners, Lions clubs, Elk lodges. It’s like I’m their king or something.”

broderic on September 13, 2010

I used to get high and go to astronomy class at the girls school next door. Not what you think. I really did have class there. We even one day went to the Science Center for a field trip. Now that I think about it, what a very strange class to have. I actually liked it, and learned lots that I still remember. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of a star’s life cycle was an early inspiration to what would’ve been browser metrics.

So, I’ve maintained a faint interest in astronomy. I have my brother’s cheap telescope in the house. I still look up at the night sky for all the cool constellations. I still want to see a deep sky object through a telescope. The moon is one of the greatest things to look at at night. It’s the romance of it all.

Anyway, I came across a neat site that plots out satellites in our heavens above. Check it out and keep looking at the stars.

“And Matthew, of course, is from Neptune.”

broderic on September 11, 2010

This is the annual “I am fat and shall lose weight starting now” post. Yeah, it doesn’t really work out vert well, now, does it?

Once again, the goal is to be 20 pounds lighter. Currently, according to WeightBot, I am 201.6 lbs. Realistically, I would like to get below 190.

How will this be accomplished? Working out? Yes. Bike riding? Maybe. A diet? Yes. Eating right. Exercising daily. Attempting to be healthy.

I can do it.

“I still have the sweater my mother knitted for me when I was a baby.” “That’s sweet.” “And I’m wearing it right now.”

broderic on September 11, 2010

Link of the Day [9.11.10]

As you know, I play the guitar. Or rather “play” the guitar — I’m rather bad at it and have no rhythm whatsoever. Still, I love to play it and can’t wait to get another one. In the meantime, I usually try to play songs I like from bands I like. Rolling Stones. Alice in Chains. The Doors. Their songs are simple and playable from guitar tabs found on the net. That’s why I like them.

But there are lots of songs I would love to play, but their tabs are hard to find or nonexistent. Let’s get software to figure it out for us. Here’s a nice Mac program that can help you do just that. I want to try it really bad, but I have to much stuff to do. Perhaps, you can?

http://supermegaultragroovy.com/products/Capo/

“This music speaks to me in places I didn’t know had ears.”

broderic on September 9, 2010

Just returned to work this morning from the families' Disney World adventure. I've missed a lot of things that I regularly do, because of being slightly off the net. My RSS feed was over 400 entries long. The Twitter time line went days on end without ever being read. Email has piled up. The blog has missed many awesome NewsRadio quotes. I'm making it up with this post.One of the items I missed is Anime News Network reviewing the late Satoshi Kon's work. They're reviewing most all his works which is something I wanted to do. After he passed away last month, I wanted to revisit his works. I came to watch his movies too early in my anime binge. When I was enthused about ecchi school comedies, I watched Paprika. This one flew over my head somewhat. I liked what I saw (it was anime), but couldn't really get into it. Even with the esteem I hold the medium of animation to, I was late to realize that Kon really did animation to tell his stories. They are films that so happen to be animated.I'll revisit his movies, because all the retrospectives on his career have saddened me that we have lost truly genius of a film director.

“I’m telling you, that guy is weirder than a $5 bill.”

broderic on September 3, 2010

Work sucks, but it pays. If I wasn't getting paid, then I wouldn't be here. I'm here, but I want to be elsewhere. Anywhere but here is good.I need that November vacation, BIG TIME! The last vacation I had taken was Espana 2007. Since then, the vacations were of meager time — a weekend, four days, a week off at home. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed those vacations because they were NOT work. They were too short primarily and a little bit unadventurous. Labor Day is here. The tradition end of summer. We're on our way to FL for Disney World. I'm not really excited about this one. It's Disney, and I don't have kids. It's Disney, and I'm here with family, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces. It's gonna be some wild, wild weekend.Further down the road is the big adventure in HI. That's gonna be fun. I really want to go back to Iceland. Now that sounds like an adventure.All of this is expensive. I have to tap the rainy day fund. It's raining hard, like Hurricane Earl. See you in the airways.

“Welcome to Squaresville. Population: one.”

broderic on September 3, 2010

It has to keep going…

… because it is should be interesting.

And I can’t think of anything so far…

I started this post 20 minutes ago trying to figure out something to write about.

Write what you had on your mind.

What would that be? Girls? A girl?

But that’s always on your mind.

Not all the time.

I also think about other stuff. Mainly other stuff, because thinking about girls gets you depressed.

Depressed?

Not really. But that is the way I played my cards.

You could never play right. Your ‘tell’ is just too obvious.

Right. You noticed. Now if only they could, too.

Yup.