Music: The Moondoggies

Well, just discovered this band the other day from a free album I picked up from Amazon. I've posted their song "The Undertaker" below for your general entertainment :) Give it a listen! All I know is that they are from Seattle, of course. I would fill you in on more info except that they don't have a Wikipedia page. Anyone who is anyone has a Wikipedia entry. Right? Oh, wait... Well anyhow, the lead guy Kevin Murphy has a beautiful auburn beard, and really, that's all I need to know. I'm just sayin...

Anyhow, who doesn't love free stuff? Especially music :)

Speaking of getting free albums from Amazon, I also downloaded I Love the 80's (the 1880's, that is), which is totally fantastic.  Brahms, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak... etc. I love the album cover the most though. Ha!... also I just realized that my listing of some of the composers was pointless because it lists them right on the album cover. Oh well, we will just pretend that I'm efficient. Ok? ok!

Well, here you go:
"The Undertaker" - Kevin Murphy of The Moondoggies live at KEXP in Seattle.

25 Random Things...

1) I ask questions all the time and then forget to listen for the answer... it drives people crazy.

2) I read The Stranger by Albert Camus at least once a year.

3) When I was a kid I had an orange pair of long shorts and an orange striped shirt that I wore almost every day after school... one day it disappeared... I think we all know where it went...

4) I didn't drink anything on my 21st birthday.

5) I know how to shear sheep.

6) I wear brown with black all the time.

7) I buy new socks constantly.

8) I'm reading Moby Dick for the 5th time.

9) I've probably spent more money on sports equipment than anything else, but have bought more books than anything else. Except maybe socks. Maybe.

10) I have several pairs of shoes that I've only worn once.

11) I jumped out of a second story window at school my senior year... it hurt but I couldn't tell anyone lol.

12) I always deform paper clips... I can't help it...

13) I used to remind my mom that she was supposed to spank us for something we did earlier in the day.
                                                                        photo: TomNeely
14) I can make a half court shot.

15) I still won't sleep in a house all by myself.

16) I laugh whenever people get hurt, especially if they make funny faces.

17) I work at the Police Department.

18) My first kiss was in Kindergarten.

19) Speaking of Kindergarten, I was suspended twice, and my best friend was expelled for smoking behind the school.

20) For some reason, whenever I tell someone to say something stupid at a drive through window they often do it. It's hilarious.

21) I have a vendetta against the US postal service.

22) One time I broke my toe... running in the house.

23) I also bit through my tongue... running in the house.

24) I still run in the house.

25) but not with scissors.

Neil Young: Philadelphia

Ah well, missed Monday by an hour or so :) One does what one can. Here is a Neil Young song from the movie Philadelphia.

Water Water Everywhere, but not a drop to drink...

I've been following the oil spill thing for the last couple of months, or whenever it blew sky high... just a few things then:

I found this illustration of the scope of the spill; if you add your city and state it places the area of the spill over the area in which you live. Above you can see it over Spokane, WA. It is pretty revealing, since it is sometimes difficult to gage distance in pictures of the Gulf. I first saw this weeks ago, and, of course, whenever I pull it up again to show someone, the area has increased. Check it out:
 If It Was My Home

Also here are a few pictures taken along off the coast of Louisiana and then a slideshow of various telling pictures since the explosion:
Wildlife Caught in Spill
Slideshow of Spill and subsequent clean up attempts etc.

Then, in the NYTimes there are a few good articles about the impact on wildlife and the efforts to fix the spill. If you haven't read about it and don't understand why they can't just "plug the spill", they do a pretty clear job of explaining it here, with diagrams etc. Also, in the wildlife tab, it explains why the spill is so harmful to many different types of wildlife.  For example, even dolphins are effected, because they tend to be sociable and follow the boats, getting dangerously close to the spill.

Now a solution? I read this article in the FiTimes which I thought was pretty interesting:  To Save the Gulf, Free the Mississippi.  (btw if it denies access through that link, just google the title and it should come up...)

Finally, here is a video from Nottingham Uni's Periodic Table Vids which talks about the chemistry behind the oil spill and a little bit about why it is so hard to clean up and so dangerous for wildlife, especially birds. It's rather short, but does a great job of explaining:

Music: Alpha Rev

Been listening to this song lately... that's all. Enjoy :)

World Cup 2010

Well today World Cup matches start! Woohoo! Or should I say Ole!

Unfortunately I will only be able to watch about one match, since I don't have ESPN.  At least ABC is broadcasting the US vs. England match -- of course I'm rooting for the US this time around since the Irish were robbed of their World Cup chance back in November by an obvious hand-ball off of France's Thierry Henry. The US is in group C this Cup season, which isn't too bad because they are expected to make it through, regardless of whether they win against England or not.  Thank the good Lord above that they aren't in Group G which included Brazil, Cote d'Ivoire, North Korea and Portugal -- well named the group of death.

Listening to the France vs. Uruguay match right now on ESPN radio, ending in a nil tie.  Pretty good game with many scoring chances and a telling hand ball off of Henry's shot. How do you like it Thierry Henry, sucks when a hand ball ruins perfectly good World Cup hopes doesn't it? Anyhow, looking forward to tomorrow's game!

In other sports news, the Blackhawks took home the Stanley Cup on Wednesday after a 49 year drought, the longest in the original six's history.  So excited, since I happen to be a die hard Chicago fan. It's about time!  Winning in overtime in game six, the Hawks pretty much dominated the Flyers. But I have to say, Philadelphia just kept coming back!  Patrick Kane scored the sudden death overtime goal at 4:10, sneaking it past Leighton into the corner of the net.  Watch the clip if you so desire, the goal light didn't go on and nobody knew what was happening, except the celebrating Hawks! What a performance! Big hits, big goals, big win! (whoh, the word "big" sounds so strange after saying it so many times... big big big big big big...)

Then again...

Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Oh. It's just me. ha! I realize that my absence has been relatively prolonged, sorry about that. A lot has happened since I last posted anything of great interest... ok well, at least anything of any interest  :P... but we shall get to all that later perhaps.  A friend the other day said "so many thoughts, so little time...", which I countered "so little thoughts, so much time...".  I will admit I was feeling somewhat guilty about this, but he encouraged me saying that it is natural to feel a bit emptied out after graduation.  I think I'm feeling a little more than that, but that is ok.  At any rate, I made some changes trying to find some sort of focus for the time being.

As you can see I've been switchin' it up a little bit. Decided it was time for a new background -- but I must say, this isn't turning out so well.  The first one (stucco looking) was admittedly a little bland, and well, this new one seems a wee bit over the top. Even for me!  We shall have to see how it goes... feel free to yay or nay. Speaking of the ol' blog - Welcome to Vatche for joining the weird world! First came across his blog from The Teacher's View (one of my favorite fyi!)... Anyway, he has some great insights and writings to share over at his blog The Student Writer's Mind. Check it out! 

Also I gave up facebook for 30 days. This has given me time to read several books (half way through book four, not too shabby... no wait, make that five, I reread Beowulf...does that count?) and get some writing done, however short. It has not however given me time to clean my room yet. weird. More time to work in the orchard with the irrigation system we are installing, every other day, incidentally, since the rain comes and goes, and to clean up around the place, fixing fences and chicken coops and what have you.

The facebook thing has been a little hard, but this is day ten and I don't think that I will fall short of the thirty days. It gets easier as the days go on, for several reasons. At any rate I stand to gain a book of my choosing if I last the month. Woot!

Well, that is all for now.