1st Dirt!

The weather was awesome on Saturday so Jeep, J-9, and I went to Swanson Park. The trail was in great condition and we had a blast. Well I had a blast.

This is the first time I've been able to take my New Hotness out on the dirt it was made for. All my previous outings with it have either been in the snow or on pavement. She did quite well.

Apocalyptica, Worlds Collide

Album: Worlds Collide
Artist: Apocalyptica
Year: 2007
Great, but could be better.

Turn your speakers on. Of course you should already be in the habit of turning your speakers on when you come to my blog because you have come to expect some high quality musical awesomeness when you visit.

So take a moment and listen closely. Let me tell you what you are NOT hearing. You are NOT hearing a down-tuned electric guitar. You don’t hear any guitars at all. You don’t even hear any bass guitar. You don’t hear any synthesizers either.

All you hear are drums and cellos. That’s all. Sure these are cellos on steroids – occasionally electrified, amplified, and distorted – but they are all cellos and not guitars. (To be completely honest, there is also a short piano part in this song.)

Apocalyptica started out as four cellists from Finland playing Metallica songs on their first two albums. Now they are three cellists and a drummer with the occasional guest musician and/or singer.

Featured singers on this album include Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Till Lindermann of Rammstein, Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, and Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil.

I love what this band does. They force you to admit that the most seemingly unmetal instrument can in fact belong in a metal environment – and can do very well at it. They push the boundaries of the instruments that they have worked hard to master. They blur the lines of what belongs where.

There are a few things about this album that I’m not too fond of. It seems to be geared more toward metal, than to prog. Only one song is longer than 4.5 minutes (5:49). And they mostly follow a typical hard rock song structure, even the instrumentals, which makes them a bit simple and predictable for my taste.

The mastering level seems to be a bit hot, too. I don’t have the fancy software to prove it by graphing the waveform; I’m just relying on my ears, but it seems to lack some dynamics that I’m sure where there with the original performance, and there could be a little more clarity to allow the beautiful texture of their instruments to shine through. It’s not bad at all; but it might be able to be better. But then I’ve been a bit spoiled by listening to a lot of Steven Wilson recordings lately.

In a nutshell, Apocalyptica causes the metal heads and the classical prudes to take a look at each other and realize that they aren’t so different after all. And that is exactly what I’ve always believed. I will definitely be on the lookout for more of their albums.

(Added Worlds Collide by Apocalyptica to rock box)

Snow Biking!

J-9 and I went snow biking at Lake Manawa on Saturday. I don't have those pictures developed yet, but I do have my pictures from my previous snow biking expedition a few weeks ago.


Yes, I rode that snow covered teeter-totter. So did J-9 when she was with me last time. More pictures to follow. ... Eventually.

Winter Wonderland! My bike is playing Where's Waldo.

I can hear them now: "Don't worry; I'm not going too fast. I have 4-wheel drive!"

I had a great day, but I don't think this guy did.

Tagged byAmy

This is at the YSA New Years Eve party (2009). When I arrived they were having a robot building contest. Each team would cover a person with cardboard boxes and miles of aluminum foil. In this picture the completed robots are dancing to “Mr. Roboto” by Styx (Random border-line Prog moment).

After the robot contest they started the dance, so of course I left. I have a very strict No Dance policy.

Now it’s your turn…
The Rules:
Go to your documents/pictures.
Go to your 6th file.
Go to your 6th picture.
Blog about it.
Tag 6 people to do the same.

I Tag:
Nobody. This is where I break the rules. If somebody sees this and would like to do it, then they are free to do so. Sorry, Amy.

Muzak Files for Bankruptcy

Read the whole article here.

NEW YORK -- Muzak Holdings LLC, the maker of elevator music, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday.

The company had heavy debt load, and it filed to try to refinance some of its debt. Its total debt is between $100 million and $500 million and it has assets of less than $50,000, Muzak said in a court filing.

Fort Mill, S.C.-based Muzak filed for court protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware in Wilmington. The company expects to continue to operate as is. A statement said it has "sufficient means" to support itself through a bankruptcy reorganization.

Let them go under! And pray they don't get a government bail-out.
My issue with Muzak: They remove all emotions from a song by systematically changing the instrumentation, altering the tempo, removing dynamics, etc. Essentially neutering it by removing its very soul, all in the name of keeping the listeners complacent.

Porcupine Tree summed it up pretty well when comparing modern music to Muzak:
“... It’s only meant to repress and neutralize your brain.
Soul gets squeezed out
Edges get blunt
Demographic gives what you want.”

Hear for yourself.
(added The Sound of Muzak to the Rock Box.)

Happy Valentine's

Valentine’s Day is coming up and I’m single, so let me just tell you that being without a significant other on Valentine’s Day … absolutely ROCKS!

Really, it’s awesome! I don’t have to do squat for ANYBODY!

I don’t have to buy any jewelry, or gifts, or take anybody to a ridiculously priced restaurant. I don’t have to buy a sappy card and then think of more sappy stuff to write in it because apparently it wasn’t sappy enough to begin with. I don’t have to come up with any romantic surprises. I don’t have to feel pressured to empty the already meager bank account for a single day of splurging, because apparently being unable to pay the rent is romantic.

I don’t have to fret about what her mysterious expectations might be so I can at least meet them in order to pacify her. I don’t feel pressured to advance a relationship to the next level because it would be expected for me to do so on this particular day.

And let’s face it; it’s a one-sided “holiday.” Sure women will give their guys a token gift like a card or some stupid little teddy bear, but honestly he does not want any of those things. Instead of Valentine’s Day being about celebrating your love for each other, it seems as if it is about men having to prove their love for a woman against a ridiculous standard set by soap operas and romantic comedies. Then she gets all upset because you didn’t propose to her in a hot air balloon over Paris – even if you are already married!

First of all, ladies, don’t expect real men to act like the leading men in the movies unless you want us to expect you to look like the leading ladies. We know you are a real woman without a team of personal trainers, dietitians, hair and makeup artists, controlled lighting, and digital airbrushing to make you look perfect from every angle at every moment. We love you for what you really are, and we only expect the same in return.

Second, do you realize that somebody else wrote the lines the guy says in the movies? Really, it’s true; watch the credits at the end. How romantic would it be if your man pulled out a piece of paper to read a romantic monologue that his sister-in-law wrote about how you complete him by filling the eternal void that has engulfed his soul until the very instant he set eyes upon you?

A real man – the best you can ask for – will think as hard as he can for something that is both romantic and truthful without sounding completely retarded. Then he’ll look deep into your eyes, gather his courage, and from the bottom of his heart he'll say, “You’re cool.”

Then he’ll realize from the look on your face that that was the wrong thing to say – either because it wasn’t sappy enough or maybe it was TOO sappy; he won’t know which – so he’ll laugh and say “Just kiddin’.” and slug you in the shoulder.

And third, you and your significant other should both be showing your love by the things you do the other 364 days a year. If the health of your relationship rests on a "holiday" printed on the calendar then maybe you have some issues to work on together.

Ok that's enough. This post started out as celebration of singlehood and ended up as a long winded rant. Sorry about that.

My point is that on this February 14th I'll be doing the same thing I do every day. Whatever the heck I want!

I know my Valentine's Day will be good; I hope yours is too.

In Loving Memory

"The B-2"

2005 Diamondback Sorrento

My 1st post-mission bike.

The fork crown was originally black, but in the sun it faded into a really cool copper.

Merry Christmas!

My new ride.

2004 Trek 4300

Tentatively called "The New Hotness"

Good Hiding Spot

This is how the delivery man concealed a package under my door mat. Very inconspicuous. It's so well hidden it may have even gone unnoticed for days before I found it. My door mat always stands up on it's own like that, so naturally it would be a good place to hide a box behind it. Good thinking, delivery man.

Clydesdale

A couple years ago my coworker/biking buddy “Hoppy McJumpsalot” was encouraging me to join the mountain bike racing team he was on. At the time I mostly rode on paved trails and had managed to lose 30 pounds in the process. I had only started mountain biking a couple months earlier, so I knew I wasn’t skilled enough to enter a race without humiliating myself.

I went online to check the race results from the previous weekend and compared them to my own lap times for the same course. I told Hoppy that in order for me to be competitive I would have to enter the children’s division, or at the very least, gain back 15 pounds in order to race as a Clydesdale - the division for racers who are over 200 pounds.

Well, I’m very sad to say that due to laziness and my love for yummy food, I once again qualify as a Clydesdale. :-(

Like my toenails?

Keep Tahoe Blue

Last night I saw a truck with this bumper sticker. The truck had Nebraska license plates and an emblem for a dealership in Blair.

I spent the first 6 months of my mission in South Lake Tahoe, and these stickers are everywhere. I'm kicking myself for not bringing a stack of them home with me.

.

My favorites were the people that would modify their bumper stickers to say something else, i.e. "KEEP A HO TRUE" or "I PEED IN TAHOE."

I had almost forgotten about these bumper stickers that brought so much simple joy into my life. I jumped up and down with excitement and nostalgia in the driver's seat as I followed the truck down the road.