John’s Crawlspace

So last Saturday, I stopped by the beer store to pick up a case for the Phillies game (which wasn’t until later on that day). I don’t go to this distributor too often, but I was in the area, and they usually have a decent variety. There were two older ladies working there, and since they saw me looking around (as opposed to knowing what I wanted to buy as soon as I walked in) they started talking to me, and making all kinds of recommendations. It was immediately obvious to me that they didn’t really have the slightest idea what they were talking about, but I entertained the conversation anyway. One of the ladies was raving about the “new” Saranac Pomegranate Wheat, and before I knew it she had gone to the walk-in freezer and brought one out for me to try. I had this beer last year while I was in Vermont, but I wasn’t gonna turn down a free beer, so I acted like I had never heard of it before. The funny part about this was, she didn’t call it pomegranate - She stumbled over the word when she hit that third syllable, and she actually ended up saying pomeranian. Saranac Pomeranian Wheat - It’s delicious… You need to watch out for the hairs though. Anyway, I didn’t want to chug this beer, so I continued to talk to them while I drank it, and before I knew it, they were handing me another beer. I had already tried both of these beers before, but I’m not one to turn down free beer, even if it was 10:30 on a Saturday morning. Anyway, I ended up hanging out in the beer store for almost half an hour, talking to two ladies (both of whom were old enough to be my momz, yo) about beer, college, and sex. I made that last part up. Anyway, I ended up leaving with a case of Troegs Sunshine Pils (and a 30 of High Life for good measure). Definitely much better than the garbage I left with last time. That made my Saturday a little bit more interesting.

I wrote before about how I was having knee problems that were getting in the way of my running. I stopped running completely for a little bit, and I’ve gotta say, I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed running until I wasn’t able to do it. Anyway, I figured it probably had something to do with the fact that I was running in somewhat crappy shoes. They were Nikes that ran me about $50, but I bought them at Kohls or something. I decided to go to a real shoe store and talk to someone that might know what they were talking about. So I did that, and a dude at The Finish Line suggested the Asic GT 2130s. They felt comfy, so I bought them. About 2 miles into my first run, my feet started to hurt… In the same place on each foot. After 5 miles, I felt like my feet were cut open. So those shoes sucked. I returned them and got a pair of Nike Air Max Moto 5+ instead. These shoes are much better. I ran 3 days in a row this week with no problems whatsoever. I realize this probably isn’t very interesting to most of you, but I’m pretty damn happy to be running again.

These photos of Antelope Canyon in Arizona are absolutely amazing. I can’t imagine there are many other places in the US that can match the sheer beauty of that place… Although I’ve never seen it with my own two eyes. Then again, 11 people died there in 1997, so maybe it’s better that way?

I don’t know if any of you were fans of Kids in the Hall, but I loved that show. If you’re a fan, check out their new sketch, it’s pretty funny. This, on the other hand, isn’t so much funny as it is just downright disturbing. That’s definitely a dude.

The “metal mashups” on this site are pretty interesting, although they’re definitely hit or miss. “Whole Lotta Sabbath” was pretty damn cool. Metallica’s “Eye of the Beholder” mixed together with Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” was actually difficult to listen to, to the point where it was almost disorienting, if that makes any sense. I liked the Iron Maiden/Public Enemy mashup (”Hallowed Be Thy Enemy”), and hearing the Ghostbusters theme mixed together with AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” was pretty cool. Oddly enough, “Stayin Alive” vs “Another Brick in the Wall” also worked out very well. I would have never thought of combining The Bee Gees and Pink Floyd, but its actually a very logical pairing. The guy is no Girl Talk, but it’s worth checking out if you enjoy mashups.

I’m a national shark rodeo champion… Although I’m currently suspended due to my refusal to wear that cowardly chainmail suit. And this dude is a little bitch.

I don’t post music on here nearly as much as I’d like to. I’ll hear a new album and tell myself that I’m gonna post it on my site… But by the time I actually have some free time, the album has been out for a month already, and most people who would potentially be interested in hearing it probably already have a copy. I’m a big fan of MP3 blogs, and if I had more time I’d like to have one of my own. Unfortunately, I can tell you right now that will never happen. Hell, if I had more time, I’d probably start off by revamping the site, as half the stuff on here doesn’t even work, and the layout looks like crap. Anyway, getting back on topic here… Here’s a bunch of random MP3s for you that I had on my computer at work. I’m not gonna bother with descriptions or anything, check them out if you feel like it, maybe you’ll find something you like. Don’t get caught downloading them though, or the RIAA might take away your home.

I’m heading to another small festival this weekend (the last one was a blast), so naturally its pouring down rain, and there are flood warnings… In retrospect, I probably should have gone to visit some friends at Shippensburg or Penn State for graduation, since most of the people that I know who are still in college are graduating now. Oh well - Hopefully the weather will improve a little bit tomorrow. This guy’s got the right idea. Have a great weekend everyone!

From time to time I make mix CDs for my friends. More often than not, they like them - Not to “toot my own horn” here, but I think I’m pretty good at it, as far as determining songs/artists that a person might like based on what they currently listen to, and their personality in general. Pretty deep, I know - What can I say?

Anyway, I made a mix for a friend of mine that I see once every 2 months or so. It’s been in my car for a few weeks now, so whenever Howard Stern is on vacation (which seems like it’s more often than not) I’ve been listening to it, and I think it’s pretty decent. I’ve made tons of mix CDs in the past, but never thought to post them on here for other people to check out. Oh yeah, and if you’re expecting metal, you might want to steer clear of this one, although maybe you’ll find something new that you like. You can download the mix here.

I might have gone a little overboard with the electronic/dancy type stuff on here, but you can’t tell me that these songs aren’t catchy. Hopefully, the presence of Chromeo on this CD doesn’t put my sexuality at stake. And to compensate, I’m gonna go ahead and mention that the new Arsis CD, “We Are The Nightmare”, is pretty spectacular.

Getting back on track here, remember that song “Still Fly” by Big Tymers? Classic. Anyway, The Devil Wears Prada did a cover of it for the “Punk Goes Crunk” compilation, which, as a whole, is overwhelmingly lame. However, I like the cover that they did. It’s funny to hear this type of music done in “metalcore” (or whatever) style. I’ve actually seen these guys before (at Sounds of the Underground last year) and I’m not really into their music, although I do get a kick out of the fact that they have a song called “HTML Rulez d00d“. Anyway, if you like that Big Tymers song, check out their cover of it, it’s entertaining as a novelty if nothing else.

How badly do you want a customized mouse pad? Probably not all that much, really. It’s nothing to get excited over. But this site has them for $2.99 each (with discount code MSPD99). I dunno about you guys, but for $2.99, I think a lemonparty mouse pad is a great deal. Hurry up though, the offer only lasts until 12/31/2099. Shit, I’ll be 126 by then… I hope to have enough money saved up to retire by the time I hit 125.

I love Pantera (I doubt I’ll ever “outgrow” them), so naturally I thought that this video was pretty entertaining. I could have gone without the ‘manky nuts’ parts though.

I’ve been seeing a lot of live music lately, which is awesome. My brother’s band, Still Motion, played at the Trocadero on Wednesday night. I feel like they get better everytime I see them. Last weekend, I saw Umphrey’s McGee at Rams Head Live in Baltimore. They put on a great show. The last song that they played was a sort of “mashup” between “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails and “Come Together” by The Beatles. It was pretty interesting…

The next day, they played a free show at the Green Apple Music Festival in DC. It started to rain about halfway through their set, and it turned into torrential downpour. People came on stage to speak between each band’s set - Chevy Chase came out after Umphrey’s, but before he had a chance to say anything, a cop came on stage and grabbed the mic, and told everyone to seek shelter immediately due to electrical storms. A huge crowd of people all running in different directions in the pouring rain was pretty chaotic, but it was funny. I was completely soaked at that point and didn’t really care about the rain, so I was just running around screaming. We ended up going to the Air & Space Museum while we waited for the rain to stop… Which it never really did. Apparently Warren Haynes played for a little when the rain slowed down, but we didn’t catch that.

This weekend, I’m going to a small festival that’s about an hour from here. It’s called Some Kind Of Jam, and I’m only familiar with 2 of the bands that are gonna be there. It’s only $30 though - I’d spend more than that in one night in the city, and I probably wouldn’t have as much fun either. Believe it or not, I’m really not all that into most “jam bands”, but I love camping out and live music, and festivals are always a good time. I’ve never been to one this small, where I wasn’t familiar with the majority of the bands, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’m sure it will be fun. I can’t wait for my tent to flood when it rains… I actually just ordered a new one, but I’m sure I won’t have it until next week. Anyway, that’s all for now, have a great weekend.

I’d venture to say that I became aware of The Disco Biscuits probably 2-3 years ago, but they never really piqued my interest. I had some friends that liked them, but they just didn’t “do it” for me. Up until about a year ago, the fact that they are considered a “jam band” was enough in itself to keep me from really giving them a chance. I was more confused by them than anything else; I had a hard time understanding the appeal of their music.

I have checked out parts of their sets at a few festivals (most recently Langerado) but as I said before, I was never really able to get into the music. This band has a huge (dedicated) following, and I almost felt like I was being left out or something. I’m open to all kinds of music, so clearly I just didn’t “get it”.

Illicit Drugs:

At some point, it dawned on me that the reason that I wasn’t able to get into this band was because I’ve never taken ecstacy. At some point in high school, I saw how people acted when they took it, and I decided that, in direct conflict with my burning desire to put holes in my brain, I had no interest in ever trying it. It should have been obvious to me… The bands name is a direct reference to the drug, and “molly” is all over the place at their shows. Anyway, it became apparent to me that the majority (or at least a good amount) of the band’s fanbase were so into the music because they were rolling at the shows.

This may or may not be an unfair statement, I’m sure the band has fans that have never touched the stuff, but I formed my opinion. So essentially, if you disagree with me, you’re wrong.

Cardio:

I’ve been running on and off since my freshman year of high school. I was never even semi-serious about it until college, and even then my running was sporadic… I’d go 4 times in 1 week, then skip the entire next week, you get the picture. After I graduated, I realized that I needed to get rid of a mild beer belly that I had cultivated, so I started to get into a routine, and I realized that I actually enjoyed it. Since I graduated in December of 2006, I’ve been running pretty consistently, although some knee problems have forced me to cut it from 5-6 times a week to 3 times a week.

Anyway, I’m a huge music fan, and I waste a lot of time putting together playlists for my runs. Most people probably just put their iPods on shuffle and go. I, on the other hand, spend much more time than I probably should putting together these playlists. A few weeks ago, I came across the “Hippie Workout Mix”, which is comprised of selections of live Disco Biscuits performances (put together by Live Music Blog, which is a pretty cool site). I usually run to metal, but I thought I’d give it a try.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed running to this. It had a pretty consistent beat, and due to the nature of the music, I found myself spacing out a little bit, and therefore not concentrating on how long/far I had gone. My only complaint was that, at just under 33 minutes, it was too short. But I knew that the guy who put that podcast together was on to something, because it was great to run to.

Due to continuing knee problems (which really, really suck, and most likely mean I won’t be able to participate in this) I’ve been forced to find alternatives to running. So at the gym tonight, I decided to give the elliptical another shot. It doesn’t look much like that, but that chick using it is smokin’. I’ve used it before, but it was boring as hell. I don’t like running in place; I’d much rather be running outside, where there’s stuff to look at.

Anyway, I was putting some music on my iPod at work, and I thought I’d give this Disco Biscuits nonsense another shot. I found a song on the Live Music Archive that was about 36 minutes long, and put a few songs on the playlist before it so I’d have an hours worth of music.

I stand firm in my opinion that the elliptical sucks, and in my opinion is no replacement for a good old fashioned run, but that hour went by ridiculously fast. The improvisational techniques employed by the band (and their overall style) is perfect for running, in my opinion. After my workout flew by, I realized that the Disco Biscuits exist for a reason… They need to start playing in gyms. The only problem with that idea is that their fans would show up, and within minutes, people would be trying to plug molly and smoke DMT in the gym, and I don’t think that would fly. If you’ve been to music festivals before, maybe you just got a mental image of a bunch of drugged-out zombies “raging” in a gym. Maybe you laughed.

So what was the point of this post? I have no idea, really. Maybe I’m in the minority since I was able to “overcome the odds” and find a way to enjoy this band without the assistance of mind-altering drugs. I realize this is a weird post. I’m exhausted (as usual) which may have something to do with it, but I know I’ve been neglecting the site, so I told myself I’d sit down tonight and wouldn’t get up until I wrote something. So there you have it.

This actually kind of scares me, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because it reminds me of the mechanical hound in Fahrenheit 451? If one of those things was following you around, I bet you’d be pretty freaked out, so don’t call me a pussy for being scared of a robot.

My 500 GB external hard drive (this) is giving me “cyclical redundancy check” errors, and not allowing me to access any of the files on it. I’ve spent an insane amount of time gathering/organizing the music on here, so to say that this sucks would be a bit of an understatement. Anyway, I’m gonna see what I can do about that now, so wish me luck. Or don’t, it really doesn’t make much of a difference.

Charles Manson is making good use of his life sentence - He just released an album under Creative Commons. The 16-track album is titled “One Mind”, and you can download it here. I just downloaded it, and the quality leaves something to be desired… But then again, it was recorded in prison. Anyway, I’m intrigued. I might have to check out some more mentally ill musicians.

Watching stuff in slow motion is usually pretty awesome, and this is no exception. Wow.

Shorpy.com posts high-resolution historical photos. For some reason, I find most of the pictures to be pretty pretty fascinating. Definitely a good way to kill some time.

What The World Eats is pretty interesting - It shows pictures of families from different parts of the world with everything that they purchased at the grocery store (or wherever they get their food) for that week, along with what they spent on it, and what their favorite foods are. It turns out that the Aboubakar family from Chad is living large… Who would have thought?

You’ve gotta be pretty confident in your artistic abilities to start drawing on a Lamborghini in sharpie marker. Check out the end result though, it looks pretty badass. By the way, the link for the word ‘looks’ in that last sentence is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.

Remember the Westboro Baptist Church (the “God Hates Fags” people)? They got Rick Rolled. I laughed.

Some dude attached high-def cameras to elephants. The resulting pictures came out pretty well… Interesting stuff.

Correct me if I’m wrong… But I’m pretty sure that the music video for “Unleash Carnage” by Himsa just made tennis a little bit more badass.

Charlton Heston is dead, and I’m going to bed. That sentence rhyming was not an attempt at humor.

So I got back from Langerado (a music festival in Florida) on Monday night around 9 pm. I had a pretty awesome time there. The festival started on Thursday (March 6th) at 6pm, so I figured that a flight scheduled to arrive at 2pm in Fort Lauderdale (an hour from the festival grounds) would give us plenty of time to get there and set up our campsite. Unfortunately, there were electrical storms in the Fort Lauderdale area, so our flight was forced to land in Orlando. We sat there for awhile and refueled, and by the time we got to Fort Lauderdale, it was about 5:00 pm.

It took us a bit to get our rental car situation figured out, and then we headed to Big Cypress Indian Reservation, where the festival was taking place. There was a huge line of cars outside of the festival (this has come to be expected, however) and it was pretty frustrating to be sitting in the car, knowing that bands you really wanted to see (like Les Claypool) were playing a mile or two away. But we tried to make the best of a bad situation. So we started drinking, and this of course leads to peeing on the side of the road. It was dark out at this point, so this wasn’t really a problem. I got out of the car and walked away from the car, down a little hill on the side of the road about 50 yards. It was marshy on either side of the road, and people were jokingly (or so I thought) yelling stuff like “watch out for alligators!” I laughed, and started to do my thing, when I heard some crazy noises followed by movement about 5 feet away from me. I immediately zipped up and ran back to the car like a little bitch. Sure enough, about a mile down the road, there was a sign posted saying “caution: crocodiles” or something along those lines.

When we finally got into the festival it was between 12:30 and 1. We rolled right through security, they didn’t even ask if we had anything illegal in the car… Which we didn’t, but I know sometimes those searches can take a long time. We parked and setup our campsite in the dark. It was a raining a little bit, but nothing ridiculous. We managed to catch the end of Perpetual Groove, and then if I remember correctly we walked around for a while exploring the campgrounds. I got bit by a few fire ants and we probably called it a night around 3 am.

The next day we got up around 9 or so. We hung out for a bit and drank, and enjoyed our canopy tent (which wouldn’t be around for much longer). We headed into the main festival area around 12:30 to see The Dynamites. They were cool to watch for a little bit, but matt pond PA started at 1:30, so I left the show early to check them out, and I’m glad I did. They put on a really good show, although I don’t know if I would have enjoyed them as much had I not known some of the songs.

After matt pond PA, we went back to the campsite to drink a little, and then headed back to the festival area in time to catch The Wailers. They were pretty cool, I’m not crazy about reggae, but if I’m gonna listen to some, it obviously doesn’t get much better than the music of Bob Marley. So that was kinda cool, but I got distracted after an hour or so of it. We checked out a little bit of G Love’s set, but I’m not too crazy about them.

311 put on a pretty good show. I don’t listen to them that often anymore, but they were my first “favorite band”, I remember listening to them non stop starting in like 6th grade, so it was cool to finally see them. It sucked that I missed !!! (who I also heard put on a good show), but I am definitely glad that I saw 311.

After 311, we checked out a little bit of The Roots (which were okay, but I’m not crazy about them) until The Beastie Boys played. I really enjoyed the Beastie Boys set. I knew that they had some instrumental stuff (their new album, The Mix Up, is all instrumental) but I didn’t expect them to play a lot of it. The set turned out to be about 50/50 and I was impressed by how good they were at playing their respective instruments. Their set was a lot of fun.

After that was Umphrey’s McGee. I was pretty excited to see them, and they played an awesome set, it was definitely in my top 5 for the weekend. After Umphreys we headed over to catch the end of Sound Tribe Sector 9’s set. I like these guys as well, but I couldn’t really get into them that night for whatever reason. So many people were out of their minds at that point, there were people in “zombie mode” all over the place. It got really windy and cold, so as soon as Sound Tribe stopped playing we headed back to the campsite. On our way back, it started to rain really hard. I have had this same tent leak before during rain, so I moved what I could of my stuff into the car. At that point the rain was coming down so hard, it was just ridiculous. So the four of us were just sitting in the car while the torrential downpour continued outside. We had a few beers, and I ended up sleeping in the car that night. My tent did flood, but I’m glad I moved my stuff so none of my clothes got soaked.

The next day, the first band we checked out was The Bad Plus. I was excited to see them (they do some awesome covers) but I wasn’t really able to get into their music that day. We walked around for awhile, checked out some of State Radio’s set, and then headed to the stage where The Avett Brothers were supposed to play. They didn’t end up showing up though, which was kinda lame.

We went back to the campsite to drink for a while, and then came back for some of Thievery Corporation’s set, which was pretty cool. We watched a little bit of Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood’s set, but made sure we left in time to get to the stage where Ghostland Observatory would be playing. The frontman (?) is so ridiculously strange, and the light show was just awesome.
They put on one of the best shows of the weekend, in my opinion.

After Ghostland played, R.E.M. came on the main stage. I stayed for maybe 2 songs, and then 2 of us headed back to the campsite to drink some more. We came back in time to catch the last 3-4 songs that R.E.M. played, and it was definitely cool to see them, but I’d be lying if I said I really cared about them. I wanted to hear them play “Man on the Moon”, and they did, so that was cool.

Pelican was up next. I like these guys a lot, and they definitely didn’t disappoint. Before the show, some cute little hippie girl (covered in glitter and wearing fairy wings) was talking to me. She asked me “what kind of music do these guys play?” They’re definitely not a “jam band” by any means, and I think they’d tend to appeal to metalheads more than anyone else. I told her they were a rock band, which I realize is a ridiculously vague description. She said “oh, like REM?” I told her yeah, and then made my way up to the front of the stage. I doubt that chick stayed around for more than 30 seconds of Pelican’s set. Regardless though, it was awesome. After Pelican played, I didn’t really care where we ended up. The Disco Biscuits were playing, but I’m not too crazy about them, so we just wandered around for awhile. There was so much to see there, and I’m sure I still didn’t see 25% of it.

We ended up checking out the Yard Dogs Road Show before we went back to our campsite for the night, and I’m glad we did. They are a traveling cabaret act with sword swallowers and stuff. I didn’t think I’d like them but it was actually very entertaining; I was surprised. Definitely check these guys out if you ever have a chance, I feel like they do a good variety of different things, so there’s something for everyone… And their music is good, too.

Sunday (the last day of the festival) was a lot of fun. I was pretty burnt by this point (the sun was brutal during the day there) and I decided Sunday would be my booze day. That’s not to say that we weren’t drinking the entire festival, but I decided to just concentrate on drinking. We headed into the main festival area at around 2:30 to see The Funky Meters, then checked out a bit of Keller Williams and Grace Potter. I wasn’t excited to see Grace Potter, but I was pleasantly surprised, she can really, uh… Rock? I don’t know what else to say.

The way they had the main festival area setup, you had to pass through security in order to get to the area where the stages were. Security wasn’t letting people bring in anything other than one sealed water bottle, and they were patting people down, so bringing anything other than a flask was pretty tough. There was a “taxi” service (people driving golf carts around) and we learned that when you took a taxi into the festival area, you didn’t have to pass through security. So we started bringing in bookbags full of beer this way, which was pretty awesome, especially since beers were like $6 each inside the festival.

Minus the Bear started at 5:30, and we took a “taxi” - I asked the driver to take us right to that stage, since we were cutting it pretty close. She took us down some access road and dropped us off behind the stage, an area that we otherwise wouldn’t have had access to. So we walked out from behind the stage and entered into the media section, where all the photographers and people with press passes watch the shows. We watched most of Minus the Bear’s set from there, which was pretty awesome. I got some half decent (or at least close up) pictures too, though I was a little drunk at this point. Minus the Bear played an awesome set, and I really enjoyed being super close to the stage.

After that, we saw Blind Melon, who put on a ridiculously good show. Shannon Hoon, the original frontman, died in 1995 from a cocaine overdose, and I wasn’t sure how much I’d like the band with the new lead singer. I gotta give him credit though, he did a great job, and really did an amazing job with the old songs.

After Blind Melon, we apparently saw of Montreal, but I don’t really remember that. I do know that we were at the very front for Phil Lesh & Friends, though. I’d be lying if I said I was a huge fan of The Grateful Dead, but I really enjoyed watching these guys play, it was a great way to end the weekend. After Phil Lesh, Nick and I walked around for awhile and drank, and probably ended up getting to bed around 2 am or so. We weren’t in a huge hurry to leave the next day since our flight wasn’t until 5 or so. It was nice to be able to take our time while taking the tents down and packing up the car. I apologize if my recap of the festival wasn’t overly cohesive, but I’m pretty exhausted right now. You can check out the majority of the pictures I took at Langerado here. I took a lot of video as well, so maybe some day it will end up on YouTube? Probably not.

I started a new job (doing SEO) this past Wednesday. I mentioned before that I got pretty burnt while in Florida. By Wednesday, my entire face (and neck, and back) was peeling. I’ve never had it happen that badly before. I’m pretty sure everyone at my new job thinks I was in a chemical fire. It’s Sunday night right now and I’m still peeling, though it isn’t nearly as bad as it was before. Anyway, this recent lack of posts has been brought to you by corporate America. I don’t get out of work until 6:15, and I get home around 7 or so. After sitting at a computer the whole day, the last thing I find myself wanting to do is get back on the computer when I get home. But hopefully I will get used to this new routine soon enough, and I’ll be able to find more time for the site again.

I can’t believe that the world’s first MP3 player was released ten years ago. I only say that because I owned the world’s second MP3 player, the Rio PMP300. I thought it was the first until I read this article. It definitely doesn’t seem like ten years ago when I was walking to school in the morning, listening to the 5 Limp Bizkit mp3s that would fit on its whopping 32 MB of memory. I guess that really was ten years ago… Shit, I’m getting old.

So someone came out with a website that, in my opinion, is way overdue. It’s called RateMyCop.com, and I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory. For those of you that are complete idiots, it is basically an online police officer database where users can rate cops on things like authority, fairness, and satisfaction. Of course a bunch of cops have their panties in a bundle about this, and the domains registrar (GoDaddy) actually had the nerve to pull the plug on the site (article here). It’s back up on a different host, and you can check it out here.

This past weekend was pretty exhausting… We did the Erin Express thing again this year, and then saw Grimace Federation at the TLA. I also hit a girl with a french fry, and she told me that her boyfriend is in the mob, and that he’s going to kill me. So I have that going for me. Anyway, I’m gonna watch Breaking Bad and try and get some sleep, hope you all had a nice weekend.

I am such a baby when it comes to eyes - When I see people touching their eyes, it grosses me out a lot. That being said, the world’s first eyeball tattoo is quite possible the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen… Ever. This, on the other hand, is just confusing.

Think your life sucks? Try living with Aquagenic Urticaria, a rare skin condition which is more or less a water allergy. For this girl, that means no swimming, no showers - you’re even allergic to sweat. This is a very rare condition (fewer than 30 cases are known worldwide). Any contact with water results in a painful, itchy rash, and the girl claims that there have been “many occasions where I’ve been so itchy, I’ve made myself bleed from scratching.” So god hooked her up pretty good. I remember meeting a kid in college who had some sort of sunlight allergy, and I thought that was a shitty deal, but now I’m actually not sure which one would be worse. Either way, it’s stuff like this that helps me realize that things could always be a whole lot worse.

The Ku Klux Klan has endorsed Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States of America. Speaking from his Kentucky office in Dawson Springs, the Imperial Wizard exclaimed that anything or anyone is better than having that “crazy ass bitch” (Hillary) as President. Didn’t see that one coming.

Some people would argue that Christian Bale saved the Batman movies when he starred in Batman Begins. Can he do the same thing for the Terminator movies? Bale will be playing John Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, which is set for release in May of 2009. So that should be interesting.

If Comcast is your ISP and you use torrents, you’re probably pretty fed up at this point. They have been throttling traffic for a while now, making it next to impossible for some people to use BitTorrent… And ’seeding’ is a nightmare. This shouldn’t come as news to a lot of you, but I know it made me feel a little better when I read that there is now a class action lawsuit against the bastards.

So I’m having a bit of a dilemna here. I started a graphic design job last Monday (the 18th). I like it there so far, and I feel that if I continue to work there, I’ll develop a body of work that’ll look good in my portfolio (it’s kind of hurting right now) and I’ll gain some valuable experience. The job environment is pretty casual too, I feel like I could roll in half an hour late and it wouldn’t be a big deal. And there are always tons of different clients in and out of there, so there are great networking possibilities. The crappy part about this job is that I work as an independent contractor, so I don’t get benefits (no insurance or 401k). Also, since I’m paid as an independent contractor, they cut me a check every week and then at the end of the year I have to file my own taxes, which I know absolutely nothing about. About a week after I started at this job, I was contacted by another company that I had interviewed with. This was regarding an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) position. I have experience in both fields, but I think I’d enjoy doing graphic design more than SEO… But this SEO position is offering me more money, as well as benefits. So over the course of the past few days I’ve changed my mind about 600 times, and I’m losing sleep over it. I know it’s not the end of the world, but I’m having a really hard time deciding. I even went so far as to write down all the pros and cons, but it didn’t help. I almost wish someone would just make the decision for me, because I’m really not leaning one way or the other. Anyway, on that note, I’m gonna try and get to sleep… I’m pretty beat, and I bet it shows in the wording of this post. I will do my best to get another Ghana post up within the next couple days.

Any of you who would potentially be interested in going to Bonnaroo have probably already seen this year’s lineup, since it was released on February 6th. I’m not particularly crazy about the headliners, and I don’t think Metallica is a good fit for the festival at all. I can’t say for sure, but as of now, I doubt I’ll be making it this year. I already have my tickets for Langerado and Camp Bisco though, and I’m really looking forward to both of those. I keep finding out about new festivals, and I’m tempted to try and go to all of them, but it just isn’t practical. Popped! and All Points West are both so close to me that I feel like I’d be an idiot for not going, and I just heard about Rothbury Festival which has an amazing lineup. And there are so many more, too. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, so I think I’ll move along.

I’ve never been a big fan of police. That being said, it’s refreshing when you catch wind of a cop that is going out of his/her way to help people and do the right thing. Thank god there are still some good cops out there, like this one. Oh, wait a second…

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever actually solved a Rubik’s Cube. Don’t see this as a reflection of my intelligence or anything like that, I’ve just never taken the time to play with one for more than a minute or so. This guide will show you how to solve a Rubik’s Cube, and how to do some other “cool” stuff with it too. It’s already gotten me laid four times, and I haven’t even read it yet.

Did you know that Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally? I sorta figured it was illegal to sell it anywhere in the US. This article is about the peyoteros, and the growth and sale of peyote, and it’s actually pretty interesting.

Seriously, screw this game. I want to punch whoever made it.

I saw this a few weeks ago, but forgot to post it. It deserves its own paragraph, because it’s probably the best video of all time.

I can’t imagine ever being this good with Photoshop. Some of those are just downright awesome.

What is Longplayer? It’s a 1000 year long piece of music which started to play on the 1st January 2000 and will continue to play, without repetition, until the 31st December 2999, when it will come back to the point at which it began - and begin again. Get your lemon party started!

Valentine’s Day is “a day invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap“. To be honest, though, Valentines Day doesn’t actually bother me all that much - If you’re in a relationship/romantically involved with someone, no big deal, buy them some stuff and take them out to dinner, it’s a chance to spend some special time together… Wow, that sounded lame. And if you’re single, just get blackout drunk. It’s really that simple. Speaking of blackout drunk, the new Blue Moon ‘Rising Moon Spring Ale’ is pretty awesome. Err, anyway, I’ll be spending my February 14th hiking through the woods with a friend of mine. We made these plans before we even realized that they would be falling on Valentine’s Day, but I’m glad I’ll be occupied (and far from civilization?), and won’t have too much time on my hands. Anyway, if you’re single this V-Day, maybe this will make you feel better: 14 Horrible Moments in Valentine’s Day History. And regardless of your plans, I hope you all have a nice (sustainable?) February 14th.

So at the end of my last Ghana post, we had just left Big Milly’s at Kokrobite. We travelled via tro-tro from Kokrobite back to Accra, and then got a cab to Old Tema Station. From there we got on another tro-tro headed to Hohoe. Sound confusing? It was. On the way to Hohoe (which was a good 3 hours or so) I saw a vendor at one of the stops selling washcloths… And then I realized that one of the black washcloths had the Anthrax logo on it! I got pretty excited but I didn’t have a chance to buy it - By the time I had noticed, the tro-tro was already moving again. Just like the kid I saw in the Slayer shirt upon my arrival in Ghana, I’m sure that this vendor had no idea who/what Anthrax was, but either way, it’s definitely amusing at the least.

On the way to Hohoe, we approached a police blockade area. I’ve been on tro-tros that passed through this many times (every time I’ve traveled to Hohoe), and every other time, we’ve slowed down a bit to allow an officer to quickly walk around the tro-tro and look inside, and then nod to another officer who then opens the gate and allows the tro-tro to pass through. This time, though, there seemed to be a problem. The cop made the driver get off of the tro-tro. Obviously they were speaking Ewe, so I had no idea what was going on. Another passenger told us that the driver didn’t have his license, so he’d have to bribe the cops. They walked around the side of a building, and they were back there for a good 20 minutes or so. He finally came back and got on the tro-tro, and we were allowed to pass through, but I’m sure he just had to bribe the cops to allow him to continue driving. This was the first time we experienced this, but wouldn’t be the last.

Earlier I mentioned an acquaintance of mine from the states (Kelly) who was born in Togo - his family still lives there. I’ve obviously never met his family before, but he told me to call them when I arrived, and that they’d be delighted to have us come and stay with them for a few days. Well, I decided to call while we were in Hohoe. I was able to get in touch with his father, and he told me to call him back the next day (Monday, the 26th of November) after 9:30 am - I guess he was busy. We went and had dinner and some drinks, and then it started to pour, so we found a tro-tro and headed back to the orphanage as quickly as possible. When we got off the tro-tro at the stop closest to the orphanage, 3 of the older boys were there waiting for us. They had done this before when we went to Hohoe, even though we had told them not to, since we never know when we’ll be able to get back - The tro-tros aren’t dependable since they don’t really run on any type of schedule. So they were sitting there for like 2+ hours waiting for us in the rain.

The next day, we had egg sandwiches for breakfast - This was typical breakfast fare, but it was exciting this time, because I had some “contraband” - Ketchup that I purchased while in Accra that I snuck into the commons area. I guess it wasn’t really contraband, but I feel that Madame might have been upset had she seen it. I didn’t have class until 1:00 that afternoon, so Cortney and I went for a walk. We went to check out the kente weavers again, and then decided to head back. On the way back, we saw 3 kids from the orphanage (Simon, Peter, and Makafui) carrying a goat. I asked them what they were doing, and they explained to me that the goat had run away from the village, and they were taking it back. I thought it was pretty funny, the goat was young and made some obnoxious noises. I have a video of that, you can check it out here. I have videos of lots of other stuff too, but most of them need to be edited before I post them anywhere.

The kids at the orphanage are constantly outdoors doing something, and if it’s not straight-up manual labor, they’re usually playing soccer. They only had one soccer ball at the orphanage, and it was pretty crappy - I always saw them trying to fill it up with the air pump, but I guess it had a leak in it or something, so Cortney and I decided that we’d buy them a new one.

Anyway, I taught my class, and then Cortney and I headed to Hohoe again to call Kelly’s parents in Togo. I got in touch with him from the payphone again, and this time he told me to call him back in one hour. It was also very hard to hear him, since the payphones are right on the side of the main road in Hohoe, and this particularly day happened to be “market day”, so the streets were very busy. So we walked around for an hour or so, and then came back. This time when I called him, in addition to it being hard to understand him, it sounded like he was on speaker phone. He kept trying to tell me something but I could barely hear what it was, and it was obvious that he was getting frustrated with me. Basically what I got out of the conversation was him giving me the number of a relative of his who lived in Accra, and that I should call this relative of his if I needed anything. This wasn’t at all what I expected to hear - My understanding was that they wanted us to come stay with them in Togo, and Cortney and I were looking forward to doing that. And why did it take three separate phone calls (and an additional trip to Hohoe) just for him to give me someone’s phone number? So I went back to the internet cafe and sent an email to Kelly (back in the states) and told him what his father had told me. At this point I sort of figured that the whole Togo thing wasn’t going to happen after all, so we decided to be on our way. We bought a soccer ball for the kids from a street vendor for like $5. Then we went into a random restaurant hoping to try something new, and we settled on fufu, which actually wasn’t all that bad. It was getting dark out, and the power went out right after they took our order, so we ate by the light of a lantern, which was… Different, but cool. We spent too much time in the restaurant though, so catching a tro-tro back to Ve Deme Junction was difficult - Apparently they pretty much stop running after 7 pm or so. Taxi drivers kept harassing us, telling us that no more tro-tros would be coming, and that if we didn’t take a taxi, we’d be stuck in Hohoe all night. There was one main guy who wouldn’t leave us alone, he really wanted to drive us to Ve Deme, which would have been about a $20 ride since we’re white - Although at one point we did have to take a taxi to Ve Deme, and we had a Ghanaian do the negotiations for us, and because of that it only cost us $6 - but the funny part about this taxi driver that wouldn’t leave us alone was the fact that he was visibly intoxicated. He was swaggering back and forth while trying to convince us to come to his cab with him. The roads in Ghana are so bad as it is, and the drivers drive like it is their last day on earth, so adding alcohol into that mix is a wonderful idea. Anyway, we finally got a tro-tro after about 45 minutes of waiting, and when we got back, their were people waiting for us at the tro-tro stop as usual, even though we told them not to do that. It’s a good thing that they did this time though, because I didn’t have my flashlight (”torch”) with me, and there definitely aren’t any streetlights to speak of on the quarter mile (or so) walk from the junction to the orphanage.

I woke up the next morning and taught my class, even though there was a bat swooping around the classroom the whole time. I think this was the first day that I started to feel legitimately sick. I felt totally drained, as if I had ran a marathon or hadn’t slept for several days. I had a consistent pounding headache, and the worst diarrhea I’ve had in a long time. The part that really sucked about all of this was that I just wanted to lay down, but since I didn’t have a fan in my room, it was just entirely too hot to be in there during the day. There was a fan in the commons area, so I spent most of the day sitting in there, trying to get comfortable in the wooden chairs. I hated to ignore the kids, but due to the way I felt I just wanted nothing to do with them. I didn’t eat lunch or dinner (had absolutely no appetite) and I went to my room around 7, and laid in my bed sweating for an hour or so until I fell asleep. I remember waking up several times over the course of the night, and each time I was totally drenched in sweat - But it got cold that night, so it definitely had nothing to do with the heat. It was this that made me start to worry that I was really sick, because I don’t think that has ever happened to me before. Needless to say, I didn’t really get a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, father asked me how I was feeling, and I told him it hadn’t gotten any better. When I told him my symptoms, he immediately said “malaria”. He asked if I wanted to go to a doctor, but I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions or overreact, so I decided to give it another day or two. Cortney and Margie were heading to Hohoe, but I had a class to teach that day, so I stayed at the orphanage. I decided I couldn’t stand not having a fan anymore, so I gave them some money to buy me one. They ended up getting me one for 13,500 cedi ($13.50), but when I went to plug it in, I noticed that one of the prongs on the plug was broken. I told Isaac about this, and he found an old plug and some electrical tape and fixed it for me.

Since I was sitting around most of the day, I was flipping through Lonely Planet’s West Africa guide (which is a great book, by the way). I came across a blurb about “kola nuts“, and it definitely caught my attention. Apparently people chew these up, and they cause them to hallucinate! The book said that they were very popular in the Muslim north of Ghana, because Muslims don’t drink alcohol… I guess the rationale behind that is if you can’t drink, you might as well trip all day instead, right? The book also said that these nuts can be found almost everywhere, and that they’re even used as currency in some areas. That’s kind of awesome. I asked Madame about these nuts, and she laughed and picked up a baggy - There were two of them right there on the dining room table! Isaac broke one of them in half and tossed it into his mouth, and told me “when you eat these, you cannot sleep!” It’s my understanding that sleeping is difficult when you’re tripping, too, so that makes sense. Interesting stuff. Madame told me that they grow everywhere, so I asked two of the younger kids to show me. The tree that they grow on was about a 5 minute walk from the orphanage. There were no nuts to be found though; apparently they only grow in the Spring months, or so I was later told.

Also in the Lonely Planet guide was some information on malaria, and considering how crappy I was feeling I decided I should probably read up on the infectious disease that may have taken occupancy in my body. Some of the info really surprised me, and I actually copied the following excerpt into my journal… “Malaria is the world’s most deadly tropical parasitic disease, killing one child every 30 seconds and killing more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis … malaria deaths are estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.7 million per year … 3000 children under five years of age die of malaria each day“. I knew malaria was serious, especially because it usually goes untreated in 3rd world countries, but I had no idea to what extent. The book also said that malaria far exceeds the mortality rate from AIDS. I don’t mean to get all serious on you with those statistics, but I thought that was pretty incredible, to say the least.

There were 3 really cool looking benches made out of bamboo outside of the common area, with trees covering them. Other than the school, this area was basically the center of activity at the orphanage, because the trees provided shade. I was sitting outside that night writing lesson plans for the following morning’s Science class, when something bit me. It wasn’t as bad as a bee sting, but it was definitely a bite. I felt another one, and then I realized it was these tiny ants that were dropping from the tree and landing on me. I had sat on those benches many times before without that happening, but I thought that was weird… And annoying as hell, too.

When I woke up the following day, I still didn’t feel better. Since this was the 3rd day in a row that I felt lousy, I decided I should probably go see a doctor. Had I been at home with these same symptoms, I probably wouldn’t have done anything about it, but being in Africa where there are all kinds of crazy diseases, I figured it was a good idea, just to be on the safe side. I had a bowl of “rice water” for breakfast, and then Isaac walked with me to Ve Deme Junction, where we caught a taxi. Since he was the one hailing the taxi, it cost us 3,000 cedi (30 cents). If I would have gotten on the taxi alone, the dude would have probably charged me at least $2. I don’t see it as racist or anything, they’re just assuming white people are naive (and taking advantage of said assumed naivety). Anyway, we took the taxi to Golokwati, and from there we caught a tro-tro to Kpando (pronounced pan-dough). After we got off of the tro-tro, we walked for about 10 minutes, until we arrived at “St Patrick Hospital”.

I was sort of hoping that the hospital wouldn’t be the way I pictured it in my head… But it turned out to be exactly as I had pictured it. The waiting room was just a series of benches outside, and they were all filled with old people, most of them very old. Most of them weren’t talking, and besides the occasional cough or sneeze, it was kind of quiet. Some of them looked like they were dying. After I checked in (which involved filling out like 4 fields on a piece of paper, and paying some lady $5), I sat down on a bench. About 20 minutes later, they called me into the lab. This was the part that I was the most scared about… I hate needles to begin with, but I had no idea if they properly sterilized their needles or anything, and I really had no way of knowing…

I’m gonna wrap this up for now, as it’s Friday night and I need to start getting ready to go out. Have a good weekend everybody, and watch out for those Scientologists… They’ll getcha.

Normally I wouldn’t make a post just for one “deal”, but this is a good one: Buy.com has the SanDisk 4GB Cruzer Micro USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $5.99 with free shipping. Grab it here before the deal expires.

What would happen if a bunch of popular websites all showed up to the same party? Watch this video to find out. I thought that was pretty entertaining.

Started typing up a new Ghana post tonight, gimme a day or two to get this one up. Heath Ledger.

So after years of searching, you find the perfect girl. She’s all you ever wanted, and what’s more, she’s into you. Down the line you propose to her, and she accepts. Things couldn’t possibly be going any better than they are. So you finally get married, and it’s wonderful. The honeymoon is absolutely amazing. And then… You find out she’s your twin sister? Say it ain’t so! Seriously though, think about that for a minute. That really, really sucks.

Speaking of things that really, really suck… I honestly can’t believe how bad this song is. It’s the new single by “Soulja Boy”. He had that “Crank Dat” song which was annoying, but this new song is just so incredibly bad, it blows my mind. I really don’t even know what else to say about that, but I’m sitting here listening to it and I’m just in disbelief over how mind-numbingly stupid it is. And I’m sure tens of thousands of people already have it as their ringtones… Thank god.

The new Mars Volta CD, “The Bedlam in Goliath”, leaked a day or two ago. Those of you that want it probably already have it, but if you’re looking for it, you can grab it here. Also, my brother’s band, Still Motion, have recorded four new songs, and I think they sound pretty damn good. You can check them out on their myspace, or download higher quality versions of them here.

If you’re in the Philly area, and you’re looking for something to do this Saturday, this might be worth looking into: “Winter Beach Bash” featuring VHS or Beta. It’s free, and they’re a pretty cool band, too. If I remember correctly, they had some songs in Grandma’s Boy, so maybe you’d recognize them from that. Anyway, I’ll probably be there, if you want to come out and meet a blacked out celebrity. What? I am a celebrity, certainly you’re not questioning that.

So I’m pretty sure I’m gonna go to Langerado this year. I have some friends that are interested in going, and the lineup this year is pretty awesome: Beastie Boys, Gov’t Mule, Ben Folds, Built to Spill, Les Claypool, Umphreys McGee, Keller Williams, STS9, of Montreal, !!!, Minus the Bear, Ghostland Observatory, Blind Melon (minus Shannon, of course), Dr. Dog, Vampire Weekend, Pelican, Bassnectar, Busdriver… And a bunch of others, including some bigger bands that I’m not sure I care about, like REM and 311. It’s in the Florida Everglades, so we’re most likely gonna have to fly down. But the climate there in March will most likely be awesome. Bonnaroo is hot and dry (and was very dusty last year), while Langerado will be warm, sunny, and breezy. So yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll be heading down there on March 9th.

As you can clearly see, I haven’t done much in the way of this site for the past week or so. My dog has been really sick, and we had to take her to be put to sleep on Monday. Not gonna get into the details of that, but I watched it happen, and it definitely sucked. Needless to say, I wasn’t really in the mood to spend much time on the computer (or do much else, for that matter) for the past couple days. Anyway, I’ll get working on the next “installment” of my Ghana thingy soon.