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HAUGH! ARCTIC BLAST!!!1
posted on: 2008-12-21 at 7:48:00 PM
Wow! This truly has been one of the "worst" storms that Portland has been privy to in a long time. My experience here in Portland spans from 1975 - 1984 and then again 1991 - present. I remember a storm very early on (maybe 1980) where the ice stuck around for at least a week. My most vivid memory of that storm was how ice rained down from the evergreen trees in my neighbors house for days and days -- I was too young to actually do it, but I fantasized about running through the yard dodging the chunks of ice as they fell!
The last "big storm" was in 2004 when we had about 6" of snow and then this crazy coating of 2" thick ice which made for the most unacceptable snow cover of all time. You couldn't sled in it, you couldn't even walk in it! Your feet would crunch through the crusty ice layer, then slide around the powder beneath .. and then be TRAPPED AS YOU TRIED TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP. It was a vicious storm -- but the coolest thing about it was the deep bass-y "punch" sound that emitted when you stomped on a fresh layer of ice (I really wanted to record it .. but never got around to it.. garn).
This current storm.. The ARCTIC BLAST OF 2008 is basically the best of all previous storms I've experienced in my lifetime. We've got snow. We've got ice. We've got gale-force winds. We've got temperatures well below freezing. We've got the entire city in a frothy symbiotic cacophony of fear-mongering weather chatter.
And it's not even over yet. As I write this, we are on day four -- and I expect (based on most weather predictions and previous experience) at least three more days of commerce-stopping winter action.
Oh, did I say "commerce stopping?" Let me pontificate:
I now work for the most hell-bent retail company in the known universe. We must stay open for business even when the snow drifts reach over four feet tall. We must stay open even when nearby cities declare states of emergency. We must stay open even when the total amount of daily revenue is a very small percentage of overhead labor and operational costs. I guess the football analogy would be like throwing a "hail mary" every down, no matter how far lost the game is. It's just crazy!
Also, I work in one of the biggest clusters of large-scale "big box" retails stores in the nation .. and OTHER THAN STARBUCKS, WE WERE THE ONLY PLACE OPEN. Our neighbor, Ikea decided to keep their doors closed today. Do you think Ikea does good business four days before Christmas during the weekend? You bet your sweet lickable ass they do!! Do they have a greater concern for employee safety? Well, I am supposing they do based on their actions.
But it's really all for not. I chose to be the nubile sheep and spend the three hours of de-icing, shoveling and chaining to prove that I am, indeed, a dependable and forthright employee -- and frankly, I had a lot of fun (even though I've destroyed my car's left fender and blew through two sets of expensive chains).
I suppose the purpose of this blog is to VERY CLEARLY explain the line at which I change my focus from money to safety. Tonight was the night I made the call. On my way home from work today, I high-centered my car at the intersection of SE 73rd and Burnside over snow that my own car plowed up (right outside of a very active fire station). That doesn't happen often. My car got plowed-in by itself. The fire fighters helped push my car over the intersection and out of harms' way.
I was not alone. Four other cars, including a four-wheel-drive Jeep and two Toyota Tundras (with chains) are now permanantly parked precariously on 73rd just south of Thornburne (basically, the north side of Mt. Tabor). As I was walking home, I spent over two hours helping push disabled cars out of the crash zones. One of the poor souls was a woman who was clearly prepared vehicularly for this weather, but equally unprepared emotionally (she sobbed for ten minutes as her tires spun idle kicking snow up like a fountain).It's strange to think that my car is now a permanent fixture for the next few days. But in a weird way, I like it. We've got tons of food and sundries to last well over the storm's reach (tonight it's TURKEY BURGERS... YUMMMM!).
I'm going to take a break let my wife work from home on her crazy laptop -- and I'm going to watch Christmas specials with my son. I'm scheduled to work 4pm - 11:30pm the next two nights. Unless miraculously the weather changes, I am going to concentrate on keeping my family safe and switch my focus temporarily. I'm not willing to lose life, limb, vehicle, son and / or sanity over mediocre income ^__^
IN OTHER NEWS: CD IS DONE. CHRISTMAS IS RAD-TABULOUS.
posted by Carl
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Teeth Itch...
posted on: 2008-12-01 at 12:46:00 PM
Super quick post before I head off to work...First of all, Thanksgiving was a very nice break from all of the craziness in my life. As most of you can probably tell -- my blog / online persona has taken quite a bit more of a political stance and much less of the CARL-TELLS-EVERYTHING-NO-MATTER-HOW-AWKWARD-IT-IS stance. Well, yes. I have. A lot of personal turmoil and sadness has made it difficult to speak my mind. I think I keep waiting to "get better," so I can post about something more uplifting. But being the eternal optimist that I am, I think I see that (at least this chapter of my life) the turmoil IS the story. It IS ME right now -- and hey, I might as well stop pretending I'm super duper happy and start looking inward for some solace.
Yes, that sounded horribly emo.
I don't believe in the "the world's weight is on my shoulders" mentality. My issues are mine alone, and I control how I deal with them. I've been beating myself up for months now struggling with dealing with my sadness, but I have been able to maintain some composure.
As always, work is a great escape -- but most importantly, there is my son Oliver. He is the single most important little crazy-haired, laughing, talking, screaming, tomato-gathering, dancing
"Crazy McFace" in my life. He's keeping me centered and focused on the larger picture, which is keeping a stable, healthy and happy household for him to grow and learn and love.
Things will change, invariably. The trick is deciding which changes are welcome, and staving off the ones that are not. I can honestly say I used to have a much better grip on my life -- but DID I REALLY?
I said this would be a short post. So I'll wrap it up with this: My music project is ALMOST DONE (for reals). It is probably the most expansive art project I have ever endeavored. There is probably over 100 hours of work that has been put into this. Yikes.
Much more soon -- including a (much needed) website update ^__^
posted by Carl
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McCain Ate FAILCAKE!
posted on: 2008-11-05 at 10:38:00 AM
I am sitting at my computer watching the the election turnout -- and the news so far is VERY VERY good. I am guessing that by the time I finish writing this entry, Obama will be projected to win with the needed electoral votes.Funny thing, as I write this, the electoral count is 78 to 199, yet the popular vote is nearly tied at 21,000,000 a piece (difference of only 275,000). It amazes me that the sway of power is so incredibly heavy even though the math behind it says otherwise. But then again, the electoral college is DUMB.
I think all elections should be based on actual popular votes from here on out. I don't see it happening, but Obabma is just the kind of president to make that kind of change. Once the polls close on the west coast, the popular vote will obviously be in favor of the black man.
NO JOHN MCCAIN CAKE FOR CARL. *Sigh*
7:40 -- watching the results come in ... things are looking very glorious...
8:02pm -- the results are in (brb .. watching, crying)...
--
First of all, I think Obama's acceptance speech will go down in history as being one of the greatest political speeches of all time. "YES WE CAN."
In a sense, I am glad that we have gone through such hard (and harsh) times for the past eight years because it created enough of a sense of desperation for some Americans to finally give up their old views on bigotry and racism and cast that vote for for "underdog." There is no escaping the fact that Obama did not win by a wider margin because there are still people out there that rely on their parents and their parents' parents old beliefs. Last night was another huge step towards abolishing prejudice based on the color of one's skin.Americans are desperate for change -- and years ago, I believe Obama had the presence of mind to forsee America's problems before most others did. He did not buy into the formula that we were all forced to adapt to. Obama is an extremely intelligent and undeniably caring soul whose bigger purpose is selfless. I believe his message of change will carry on outside of his presidency for many generations to come.
Maybe Obama could have waited few terms in the Senate to gun for a safer bet in an election, but he jumped in early in his career against almost impossible odds (historically) because he knew his time was now. "YES WE CAN."
I am proud to be an American. I feel like a new person this morning. This has nothing to do with any monetary benefit I or my family may have as a result of his election -- because frankly, I believe that Obama's bigger plan is not about helping ME -- but helping US. I care much more about the changes he will make in our hearts and minds than I am about the changes he will make in our paychecks. He is a motivator, NOT a manipulator.
Give a man a fish, teach a man to fish.. (or in the case of Bush, give a man a fish and then charge 28.9% interest on it because the economy is healthiest when everyone buys stuff on credit!!)
I am keeping a sharp eye on North Carolina's popular vote. 99% of the precincts are in, and it is a statistical tie (the numbers are slightly in favor for Obama). If I see North Carolina turn blue, a very lost and hurt child will finally be freed from within my spirit. Having lived there and witnessed racially-motivated acts of humiliation and violence by children in schools and in public have stained my memories and have created a sense of pessimism within me. Seeing North Carolina go blue will be a huge sigh of relief that change is possible -- even in places where I once believed it was not possible.
We are not in a society that is united. There is much more work to be done. I believe this election is as much about the leap forward in America's political and economic landscape as it is America's ability to change on social and civil fronts as well. I am so very happy that Oliver is going to begin imprinting his memories on a president who he can look up to. Oliver will be 10 years old and in the fifth grade by the time we vote for a new different president (hopefully). I feel so very elated that I he is in good company ^__^
"YES WE CAN!!!"
--
In other news, it is autumn! YAY! Things are cold and wet here in Portland. I love it. I can see my breath. The trees are beautiful yellows, reds, and oranges. I have to bundle up the kid when we go for our daily walks -- and for what it's worth, he does not like being bundled up and our adventures become a comedy show for passers-by as he throws blankets, gloves and hats out of the stroller.
Autumn tradition: My music "CD."
I haven't made a mix in three years -- before then, I made seven (like clockwork). This time, I wanted to resurrect my creative mix-making tradition, so I have unearthed a project I started over three years ago. This particular audio mix was a deviation from my normal formula of extremely syncopated and sonically-rooted music to a music "experience" that has the seed of something much more complex and ethereal. I'm sure many people will not enjoy listening to it -- but I am marching forth with it as a visceral recording of what my brain sounds like.
Oliver is healthy and happy (pics to come, I promise) -- and work is MUCH BETTER. More on this soon.
"YES WE CAN!!!"
posted by Carl
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Soooo Much Going On...
posted on: 2008-10-04 at 10:42:00 AM
Before I go into this -- I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THIS SITE (well, the back-end coding part at least). It's probably going to be my last entirely home-brewed personal web site *sigh* Facebook and MySpace, you win (now I just need to start updating THOSE)...
Well first on my mind is the presidential race. Wait -- don't stop reading now, it'll get better soon, I promise .. I just needed to get this out:For those of you who watched any of the debates -- please realize there is a massive difference between policy and wishful thinking. I want to break it down for you like this: The McCain / Palin ticket is offering to lower taxes and also give tax cuts to the middle-class, continue our war and concentrate our finding energy solutions domestically. The Obama / Biden ticket is offering to raise taxes (yet also cut taxes for the middle class), end the war, and concentrate on investing in cleaner, more sustainable energy resources and then exporting our technology across the globe.
To spell it out a little bit more detailed, under McCain / Palin's lower taxes, we will have less money to provide help to America's failing infrastructures (public schools, health care, transportation, etc.) -- and considering they want to keep the war going indefinitely, there will be even LESS money than before (by the scope of $300,000,000 per day).
With their current tax proposal, how much do they plan on saving the average $50,000 / year income families? About $250 a year.
O.k. -- seems fair enough. The Republican ticket wants to keep our energy domestic, continue the war, lower taxes...
Under Obama / Biden's higher taxes, we'll have more money to help with the broad-scoped future-sustaining programs that they have proposed (most of which address the real problems that exist TODAY -- some of which will even turn a profit on the global market). They want to pull out of Iraq and hand military power back their government and concentrate our war on terror against actual threats: the extremists master-minds (like Bin Laden), which is a much more strategic and less expensive route to fighting terror than we are currently doing. In ending the war and turning to diplomacy, Obama and Biden want to make America a global ally and try to remove the "world police" stigma we have acquired while keeping our military strong and ready to deploy against real threats.
But wait -- with all this money being spent on programs, research and future endeavors, how do they cut taxes on the middle-class? Well, easy -- they stop letting huge corporations and the most wealthy Americans get away with not paying taxes (yes, over 40% of American's income is not taxed because of legal loopholes that only rich people have access to). In other words, they TAX THE GREEDY ASSHOLES THAT HAVE BEEN GETTING AWAY WITH NOT PAYING TAXES FOR DECADES. Is that o.k. with you?
How much do they propose to save the average $50,000 / year income family? About $1200 per year.
DONE.
I FREAKING SOLD MY TURNTABLES!! I cannot believe I have parted with my babies -- but I had two very good reasons: Firstly, Oliver is getting old enough now that he likes to be a part of all the things that I do musically (and I encourage that). I do not like to play with my gear and not let him have his hands on them in some way. It became obvious very quickly that turntables are extremely NON-baby-proof (and babies are not necessarily turntable-proof, either). Secondly, being that I never really became more than a hobbiest DJ, I was tired of lugging 20 metric tons of equipment whenever there was a party or event for me to DJ. Don't get me wrong, I adore my record collection -- but it's time to move forward.So, I cashed in my 'tables on Craigslist and after about three weeks of posting and re-posting, I found the right buyer (I wasn't going to sell them for cheap because they were practically brand-new and came in expensive gig crates). He was super rad, and even let me take a picture! GOODBYE SKRITCHY AND SKRATCHY. **sniff**
With the money I made from the turntables, I got a Pioneer CDJ-400.
Holy fuck is this thing the freaking BOMB. It's basically a compact CD-player unit with variable pitch and an extremely precise touch-sensitive platter which behaves (like previous CDJ units) like the platter of a real turntable. For example, if you "drag" the edge of the platter, and give it slight pressure forwards or backwards, you "drag" the digital audio being played, slowing it down or speeding it up. Also, as you depress the top of the platter (or the "scratch pad"), it mimics the actual depressing of a real record on a turntable. Needless to say, you can scratch digital audio like it is pressed on wax -- and what's more, it SOUNDS FANTASTIC. No digital artifacting, no MP3 compression "fried chicken-y" sounds. No wishy-washy "smearing" audio. They up-sample the audio signal so much you can still hear the nuances of the sounds as if it were real vinyl, even at ridiculously slow speeds. Amazing.
Here's a little video I made showing the unit in action. Unfortunately, I'm not really showing off everything it can do -- but at least you get an idea. This video was shot at my friend Todd's house (he's got the MONSTER set-up). I'm working on a mini show-off set which I will post some on my studio page once I update it.
I put the CDJ next to the mixer and both atop my old Stanton CD decks (which are also variable-pitch), so basically, I am riding on 3 professional CD-decks, one of which is scratch-able and capable of some SICK EFFECTS. Also, I put some of my effect units at waist-level so Oliver can stand on my feet and help out. He loves to push the blinking buttons and turn the knobs -- and it's pretty fun to know he's helping daddy DJ. He has a blast too -- and when the beat is fresh, he gets "DANCE IN THE PANTS."
**Gleaming proud dad face**
So, not only is the CDJ-400 capable of playing audio CDs and MP3 CDs -- it can play virtually any USB device, be it an iPod, flash drive, external hard drive, or any number of MP3 playing machines. The really cool thing about using flash drives is that you can set loop points and "bookmarks" directly in the folder of the music you're playing -- so as you create a set, you can immediately cue up your next song complete with beat-looping and drops. HOW COOL IS THAT? Once I have some more space to practice, I will be throwing out some dope shiznit.
Oliver has a blast with this thing because he can beat on it all he wants (hey, I have a one year warranty). I set it all up with an extra long chord so he can sit on the floor and scratch away. It's sooo cute (again, pics and videos soon to come).
Speaking of Oliver, he's doing great! He had a bit of a cold last week, so he's been a little snotty -- but overall, he took it like a champ. He's walking, talking, running around, answering questions with his shoulders shrugged and arms raised (most of which are in the affirmative, which is awesome when you ask him questions like "are you a girl?") and opening doors and looking at flowers and laughing and winking at the cute toddler girls he passes by in the grocery store and burrowing his head in my lap as we play "GONNA GET'YA." He's so freaking awesome. I love him dearly.
With all of the good, however, comes the VERY BAD.
He has learned that he can scream and cry and flail about if he doesn't like something. This is grating on Angie and I, but it's the "terrible two's--" and we saw it coming. The worst is when he is let outside and then has to come in prematurely -- you see our neighbors are day sleepers, and they do not appreciate noises during the morning hours (especially noises emitted from giddy toddlers, apparently). If he had enough muscles in his face, he'd ball it up and turn it inside-out with nothing exposed except his gaping and screaming mouth!
Overall, he's pretty good, though. His new favorite show is "Yo Gabba Gabba!" I think it is my new all-time favorite show too. All I gotta say is: "Biz's Beat of the Day." What an awesome show. I know he's a little too young for it -- but I'm getting a little tired of the Nu-Nu.
I didn't mention work in this blog because as they taught you in middle-school: "When you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all." *sigh*
posted by Carl
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WTF Sarah Pailin?!
posted on: 2008-08-29 at 11:26:00 AM
But there is one extremely important issue that exists where, when made privy to, my nerves ignite in an itchy manic obsessed passion: Overpopulation.
Overpopulation, in my opinion, is the single most disasterous (and ominent) worldwide catastrophe on the horizon. I will not explain in detail why I think this -- because this blog simply isn't the scope I need to delve as deep into it as I would like -- so I will wrap it up by saying this: "too many flies in the jar."
There are only two ways to reduce the world's population. 1) Kill people. 2) Procreate two children or less. America chooses the former.
I can handle the idea of our white-house nominees having three children .. maybe even four each. But McCain has seven kids between two marriages, and Pailin has five in her one marriage. This sickens me. Obviously, they are not enough aware of the dangers that overpopulation is causing us TODAY, and what's worse -- the devastation it will cause our children's children (again .. possible follow-up blog entry .. I just don't have the time or patience to write that much right now).
If they plan to speak of overpopulation at any point during their campaign, they will have to play the double-standard of advocating something they have not practiced.
In my opinion, when it comes to the leaders of the free world, THIER ENTIRE HISTORY HAS TO BE ONE OF UNWAIVERING VALUES. Their value is to bring twelve new people into the world.
Let's do the math. 12 new people from our Republican candadites. That's a ration of 4.8 : 1 (McCain had a divorce previously). If their children's children continue the trend (as many conservative / blindly-religious people do), within the next hundred years, their cumulitive familes will yield over 5000 new people on this planet. Even Alaska has its limits.
This is a topic that most likely will not be discussed in debates, because it is such a polarizing issue. Religious people often believe having lots of kids = good. And because almost half of the entire country consists of devout Christians, the topic can't be touched without losing votes for the realists .. er .. Democrats.
Someday the population will hit critical mass and America is going to have to impliment similar laws that are currently executed in The People's Republic of China. In fact, the Earth as a whole will face this unless we take control NOW and FRIGGIN' ONLY HAVE ONE OR TWO CHILDREN .. PERIOD.
McCain and Pailin have lost my vote, and I hope, yours too.
posted by Carl
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