I'm having way way wayyyyy too much fun with this NASCAR mini-project I've been working on.  See, in Global Economy class, Shawn is having us write a 25-page paper on anything we want, as long as it involves the global economy and the things we've read.  He also, at one point in class, offered a metaphor using NASCAR to explain what was going on in a complex but tiny part of the global economy.

So, what did I decide upon for a topic?  I decided to use NASCAR to construct a pedagogical metaphor for explaining the global economy.  Think about it: capitalism is simply a race to realize the highest profits first and to use these profits for world domination.  National economies (or racing teams) are the ones racing, each with their own bureaucracy (crew) and exports (sponsorships and sales of merchandise), teaming up with each other to get further (drafting). 

At the end of the season, when the superiority of ten racers is established, they are separated from the rest and compete in their own "Chase" in which the other non-competing drivers must participate.  This is kind of like Marxism, where the rich end up exploiting the efforts of the poor in a competition to get ahead of the other rich folks.

You can go pretty far with this metaphor.  Pit stops (times during which an economy is tuned up) can put the racers further back in the race, the constant shifting of race sites smacks of Neil Smith's annihilation of space for to open economic markets for exploitation, the seemingly ambiguous draw of fans to particular racers is similar to that of patriotism (though aspatial in this case).  You can even go as far to note that the recent discipline of Dale Earnhardt Junior by taking away his Cup points for saying saying "shit" on the air is kind of like the apples-to-oranges economic discipine (sanctions) against countries that the global market hands out for certain "moral" transgressions by "rogue" states.

It doesn't apply to everything (the rotation of races to various tracks, the single-ticket purchase that all fans make regardless of affiliation, etc), but it doesn't do too badly.  Shawn said that as long as I am critical of my metaphor that the paper should develop just fine and that we may be able to polish it up into something for Journal of Geography, which is the geographic education journal.

I knew nothing about NASCAR until about four days ago, and I still care nothing for the races or competition, etc.  Nonetheless, this project is a lot of fun thus far.

I'm such a nerd...

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Isn't it weird... those years where Halloween is on a Monday, you're tired of the holiday before it gets here because of the weekend of festivities?  We never did get around to making a Jack-O'-Lantern like I wanted.  Too busy.

I saw an article in Muncie's rag (and "rag" is generous) today explaining how local ministers were so concerned about Halloween because of its origins as a pagan holiday.  Funny thing is, this type of article is in that shitty paper nearly every day.  They're so poor that they should consider ceasing publication.  But anyway.... what are these ministers going to do about Christmas and Easter, considering that these were Catholic replacements for pagan holidays?  I think they're willing to sacrifice Halloween because it doesn't make the churches any money (or visitors) while they're certainly going to keep Christmas and Easter for these purposes regardless or origin.

Shut up!

I am not against any of these holidays, nor their inclusion in a religious context.  Any time you can have an excuse to get together with people and celebrate is a good thing, right?  Churches should be embracing these things as a source of fellowship and building of community.  Of course, with Christmas and Easter, you get people going to church that don't go any other day of the year.  What an excellent opportunity to 'save' these folks! 

Daylight Savings Time ended the other night, so for the first time ever, I participated in the turning back of clocks.  It's been interesting... Sunday, we got to sleep for an extra hour, which may have been the most glorious thing ever.  The sun rises earlier in the morning, which means it's basically daylight out now -- a welcome improvement.  The only thing that's bothered me is that the sun is now below the horizon (granted, we're in a valley so we have a higher horizon) at 5:10 pm, and it's only October 31.  It was certainly confusing last night, because I picked up Amy at 6:45 in the pitch dark. 

The daylight and timing differences meant that I was ready for bed by about 9:45 last night, which is really just sad.  None of the clocks in McGilvrey are fixed yet.  I can see why Hoosiers don't want to do this, but.... it still makes more sense after the transitional phase.  It's also nice (in a way) that I'm on the same time as my parents... though it's also been nice to be able to call them at 11:30pm and know they're still awake. 

Meh.  Whatever.

We're going to the Muncie/Indianapolis metroplex on the weekend of November 11 to see the fam.  Both sets of parents already have their portions of weekend claimed to the full point, so the family will probably be the extent of our visit.  I'm kind of looking forward to going home for a couple days.  We haven't been back to Indiana since we moved, which is getting on to four months ago.  Depending on how things work out, when we return two weeks later for Thanksgiving, we may be able to work out a night or two to see various other characters, if people are actually (somehow) interested.  My SAD has been better lately (partially because of myspace, I think), but I make no guarantees about what I'll be like a month from now.

I still have to make Collette some CDs to celebrate her wedding.  I was going to go to the reception, but when I met up with Mary on the way, we found out it was in Youngstown and we were too late to get there.  I felt shitty, but I'm going to try to make it up to her by giving her some cool tunes she's never heard.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few random thoughts:

Shit, I forgot to bring my lunch today.  I get flustered, though, when Amy's harrassing me about her being late for work and I forget things like that.  Today, I went from bed to car in less than 20 minutes... what more does she want?  In that case, we're waking up too late, I'm not taking too long.

I've started a new research project for my Global Economy class.  I'm going to be constructing a pedagogical metaphor to explain the dynamics of the global economy with NASCAR.  Comments are welcome.

I need to renew my membership to AAG in the next week.  Unfortunately, I'm not going to have the money to do so for a couple months, so my membership will lapse.  Hopefully, this will not cause any problems in the receipt of my check.

We're still waiting to register the Impala.  I'm getting sick of waiting for GMAC to get off their ass with their paperwork.  We've just been driving it with Pedro's plates, since we had to do something and Pedro wouldn't take the punishment we're dealing by carpooling.

The Chicago White Sox won the World Series the other night, and no one outside of the city cared.  Do you think this might have something to do with the fact that the White Sox are generally seen as the team of the city's south side poor African-American population?  If the Cubs (the team of the rich white north side) had won, there'd be rejoicing all over the country a la the Red Sox.

I've been taking some allergy medicine the past few days.  It's supposed to work its magic within a week.  So far, I've gone from having clogged sinuses to ones that just hurt.

I heard that Pittsburgh got five inches of snow the other day.  They're lucky!  I'd rather have snow than gray gloominess.

I've got "Dry the Rain" by The Beta Band stuck in my head.  Wonder why?

There's a colloquium today, and I have no idea what it's about, nor do I really care.  There's no going to the bars afterwards because of the Halloween party tonight.  I'm nervous about it because... well, it's socialization and I'm nervous, and I'm nervous because Amy's coming with me and I want everything to go well... not that she or anyone would mess things up, I just want things to go well.

I went shopping for some finishing touches for my costumes last night.  I arrived at the Salvation Army Thrift Store at 6:02 and the lady bitched and yelled at me for trying to come in and shop.  I should have known they closed at six, she told me, despite the lack of posted hours.  I just wanted some gross clothing!  I was doing you a favor, bitch!  I fulfilled my needs elsewhere.

Remember those guys we all knew who were a few years older than us and that could play PacMan successfully with their eyes closed through like level 200?  What ever happened to them?

I did finish my costume last night and picked up Amy from work while I was wearing it.  It kinda freaked her out when she got in the car.  She liked it.  It's pretty nasty, and pictures will be up soon.

I have a headache, so I'm cranky.  Being cranky makes me want... just about anything I can't have.  I don't know why that's the case.  So, I'm hungry, horny, thirsty, wanting a cigarette, and wanting a beer... and am feeling pretty bitchy about the fact that I can have none of it.

Only four hours until my first activity of the day!  And I only have about an hour's worth of work that has to be done by that time.  I.  HATE.  CARPOOLING!!!  Though honestly, I enjoy the extra hour a day with Amy...

I posted like 50 "Blogthings" yesterday on my blog.  The reason I did this is because I think it's funny that people do that.  I don't put too much stock in them, but yet I don't think the ones I posted really describe me too poorly.  Then again, they're like horoscopes, where people can find meaning in such broad and ambiguous text.

Today in GRAD Group is a discussion on Post-Structuralism.  I plan to attend mostly to get more understanding on the concept, since I'm just beginning to discover it.

My sinuses are fucking throbbing.  It's terrible.  I may go lay down in my cube for a bit to calm my head down.  The only think I have to do before 12 is to prep for my Intro class.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I Have Found Myself

Thanks to the wonder that is the Internet, I've been able to find out what exactly I am. Yes, this will waste your time.

Your IQ Is 160

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

Your Musical Tastes Match: Weird Al

See his whole playlist here (iTunes required)

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher. You'd make a talented professor or writer.

Your Animal Personality

Your Power Animal: Eagle Animal You Were in a Past Life: Whale You are active, a challenger, and optimistic. Hard-working, you are always working towards a set goal.

Your Hidden Talent

You're super sensitive and easily able to understand situations. You tend to solve complex problems in a flash, without needing a lot of facts. Decision making is easy for you. You have killer intuition. The right path is always clear, and you're a bit of a visionary.

Your Personality Profile

You are funky, outdoorsy, and down to earth. While you may not be a total hippie... You're definitely one of the most free spirited people around. You are very impulsive - every day is a new adventure. However, you do put some thought behind all your actions. Still, you do tend to shock and offend people from time to time!

You Are 70% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

Your Kissing Purity Score: 6% Pure

For you, it's all kiss and no talk. You're in a permanent lip lock.

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs. You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

Slow and Steady

Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It'd really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment. They expect you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it.

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

You Are a Bloody Mary

You're a fairly serious drinker, who's experimented a lot with different drinks. You're a drunk, but a stable drunk. You don't ever let your drinking get out of control.

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker

Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm" You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone... Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-) You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear. Partially, because you're a great reflective listener and good at complementing. The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person. Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life. You can finess your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face. Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

Your Pimp Name Is...

Stud Bling

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

You Are a Punk Rocker!

When it comes to rock, you don't follow any rules You know that rocking out is all about taking down the man You've got an incredible stage presence and rock persona You scare moms, make bad girls (or boys) swoon, and live life on the edge!

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Banished Despot. Where You Lived: Poland. How You Died: Suicide.

Your World View

You are a fairly broadminded romantic and reasonably content. You value kindness and try to live by your ideals. You have strong need for security, which may be either emotional or material. You respect truth and are flexible. You like people, and they can readily make friends with you. You are not very adventurous, but this does not bother you.

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy. You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts. People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused. But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

Your Ideal Relationship is Marriage

You've dated enough to know what you want. And that's marriage - with the right person. You're serious about settling down some time soon. Even if you haven't met the person you want to get hitched to!

The Cure Shares Your Taste in Music

See their whole playlist here (iTunes required)

How You Life Your Life

You seem to be straight forward, but you keep a lot inside. You're laid back and chill, but sometimes you care too much about what others think. You prefer a variety of friends and tend to change friends quickly. You have one big dream in your life, and you never lose sight of it.

Your Personality Is

Idealist (NF) You are a passionate, caring, and unique person. You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals. You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily. Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings. You seek out other empathetic people to befriend. Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships. In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily. At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career. With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone. As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style. On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.

What Your Sleeping Position Says

You have a passion for everything - including sleeping. Outgoing and brash, you tend to still shock those who know you well. You tend to be selfish. You are the most likely type to hog the covers. You gravitate toward comfort and don't like extreme situations.

What Does Your Sleeping Position Say About You?

You Are 38% American

America: You don't love it or want to leave it. But you wouldn't mind giving it an extreme make over. On the 4th of July, you'll fly a freak flag instead... And give Uncle Sam a sucker punch!

You Are a New School Democrat

You like partying and politics - and are likely to be young and affluent. You're less religious, traditional, and uptight than most Democrats. Smoking pot, homosexuality, and gambling are all okay in your book. You prefer that the government help people take care of themselves.

Your SAT Score of 1430 Means:

You Scored Higher Than Howard Stern You Scored Higher Than George W. Bush You Scored Higher Than Al Gore You Scored Higher Than David Duchovny You Scored Higher Than Natalie Portman You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the 130-140 range

Equivalent ACT score: 32

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score: Amherst College Dartmouth College Williams College University of Pennsylvania Columbia University

You Are 32 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A theoretical approach that I've been confronted with in the past few weeks is that of Post-Structuralism. I like to consider myself to be mildly philosophical, or at least philosophically capable. That said, I must note that I've certainly had no primer in philosophy whatsoever, so each concept is new to me. So, lay off if I seem like a beginner, but certainly comment if I'm completely off-base.

Post-Structuralism, as I understand it, it a concept in which text (any expression) isn't seen as the closed system of meanings that many of us imply it to be. In other words, a text does not exist in the way we think -- the boundaries of a given text's meaning are not sharp and as defined as we normally consider them to be. Instead, the meaning of any text is actually created through this intermeshed set of references through other texts. These references can be created through allusions, metaphors, parodies, nuance or even simply from a quotation. At the same time, these references are not the sources of the meaning implied but are only reference points to how the text can be understood. All texts are simply codes, which are given meanings by groups (within which the meaning is usually universally understood) and nothing else.

For example (and this is a context in which I've heard it a great deal this week), there is no such thing as capitalism. The idea that capitalism is a system (or a thing, a noun) is structuralism. The concepts of post-structuralism critique that idea, arguing that implying a material nature to capitalism will certainly inhibit understanding. A bad note to make is that by writing as we've all been taught (and as I did that past sentence), we imply concepts to be nouns capable of action and beliefs. The concepts of Post-Structuralism are not able to critique anything, but those who subscribe to that approach are. It gets hairy, yes?

So, is there such a thing as capitalism? Certainly, there are a set of laws and behaviors that create a certain environment in which economic profit (another text) is realized, but a capitalist system exists no where but in the minds of those wishing to generalize these laws and behaviors conducive to profit into a tidy code in which all of these things are referenced. Of course, by this reckoning, all models or anything that generalizes human behavior must be recognized as fundamentally flawed by the fact that it's nothing more than an agency to represent a far more complicated set of references to other information.

Another trait of the approach is the rejection of an author's authority. It seems that Post-Structuralists see any form of dissemination of information as a different experience for each set of eyes (each with individual personal experiences), and the knowledge found in any work is only as valuable as that person's ability to understand the underlying references of the textual agencies.

Again, I haven't gotten far into my new study of Post-Structuralist ideas, but I am enjoying them. As with any theoretical framework, I'm keeping a fairly open mind and am trying to temper the ideas with the few philosophies that I already have in my arsenal. I don't think that Post-Structuralism is the telos of geographic thought, because the raw concepts imply too much ambiguity. Our minds require some form or organization or generalization to process knowledge and make it usable when we call upon it.

However, keeping the ideas of textual coding and agency in the back of my mind when studying various papers and works will certainly come in handy... and it certainly helps one be careful about possible implied meanings when writing.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ten minutes until I can leave and go get Amy.

Today has been uneventful. I still can't figure out my Stats homework, so I'm not going to worry much about it until tomorrow in class. Then, I'll drill Milton about it, and see what I can figure out.

I began downloading some articles for my dissertation. It felt like something of an accomplishment to begin this project that I'm going to be working on for the next three years or so.... less if I can make it happen, which is unlikely. I like to think that starting my literature review now is a good first step. I've still got a year and a half (at most) to get my proposal together.

I smell like smoke because I went outside to hang out with Collette and Mary. They're a lot of fun, but now I stink even worse than before.

Today I got paid, which is a nice thing. We're going to get some groceries tonight so that we can survive the next few weeks. That money will quickly disappear as always. I guess the good thing about being poor for so long is that any amount of money in the future will make us feel like millionaires.

A girl came in from my class to check her answers on her exam when she got a 94. What's that about?

I'm hungry and I hope that Amy is up for eating.

Three minutes...

....

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This post is no more than advertised:

1. My theshears.com webhosting on the old Geocities (now owned by Yahoo!) automatically upgraded from 25 mb of webspace to 1000 mb this week. That's an impressive jump, and I plan to take advantage of it. I'm probably going to work during my free time (ha ha) this week and try to get the photos.theshears.com subdomain to actually have some content. Our space had been about tapped out before. Now, the sky's the limit. I also plan to upload my thesis. I figure I worked on it for nine months -- the least I can do is publish it online. Maybe it'll even get cited or something?

2. There's this thing on Yahoo! now where you can make your own stamps. I haven't investigated this any further than simply glancing at the ad, but the possibilities running through my mind would sicked even the craziest pornographer. Hello Christmas Cards!

3. William Shatner's "Has Been" may well be one of the better, though disrespected album of the 2000s to-date. Download and enjoy.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 07:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have picked our Halloween costumes.  Here's a hint:

Business by day, party by night... that's at least one component.  We took that idea and ran with it to the point that we will have a couple's complementary costume.  I will reveal more details when I have pictures of the final products.

We went to Wal-Mart last night to purchase accessories for these costumes.  We became so excited by our ideas that we forgot what we had originally wanted to go to Wal-Mart for: trash bags and toilet paper.  Now our house is still a dump, we've got one roll of toilet paper left, but we've bought some Halloween accessories.  We've still got a few things to purchase, but luckily there's a costume store about five minutes from the house.  Our costumes will own!

I'm still waiting to get the exams back from my class.  I think that Mary Lou in the office will have them later this morning.  I want to see how my kids did.  Ugh.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't dressed up for Halloween in six years. This coming weekend, Amy and I are going to a departmental Halloween party. We're kinda poor and can't spend a lot of money, but I'd like some suggestions and votes and the likes.

Here are some ideas (that lack originality) that we've come up with.

1950s Tough Guy / Biker Dude / Overall Jerk- Slicked back hair, big bushy chops and shaved chin/moustache, white shirt, jeans, boots. Nerd- Tape on the glasses, pants pulled way up, awful plaid shirt, slicked back hair, suspenders and a Kick Me sign. Redneck- Mullet, belt buckle, trucker cap, shave chin but leave handlebar moustache and chops, awful plaid shirt, can of PBR. Raggedy Andy- Cutesy costume with Amy. Jesus Christ- Your Lord and Savior. Give me some feedback or suggest something that a fat guy with glasses can pull off.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, ELDAAG went pretty well. My presentation went off without a hitch, which is about all I could hope for. I didn't really stress over it for the most part, so it could've been better. In short, I really enjoyed hanging out with the people from the department and had a lot of fun. I came home tired and Amy-sick. Amycame home from work, and it was just wonderful to see her.

At BG, I met up with an old friend. Seeing (the woman I now call)Mrs. Hooper (because that's how she signs her emails), a friend of mine from years past, was really great. She's looking good and seems to be very happy in her life, and I'm very happy for her. Happiness is a hard thing to acheive. We used to consider ourselves twins, and in a parallel universe, we might've dated or something. I won't lie -- I always thought she was cute. It was great to see her and have beer/coffee and shoot the shit. She's one of those friends that you can seemingly pick up with again after years of being apart.

But I must emphasize: coming home to Amy was the greatest thing ever. I know it's lame, but it's true. And she really liked her mix CD, which made me happy.

The Browns game is on. The only reason it's on is because I need a football fix and the Colts are not national TV on this week, and honestly I'm paying little attention to it. I always thought the helmet that the Detroit Lions wear was pretty classy looking. If we ever end up getting a satellite dish, a standing request for a birthday present will be the Sunday NFL Ticket so I can get my Colts every week no matter what.

Amy's at work. I tried to convince her to not go. She put in her two weeks on Friday, so it wouldn't've been a big deal, but she still went. When she gets home, we're going to go shopping for some essentials and come home and clean the house. We need to do some fall things, like put our patio furniture away and stuff. We could really use to mow, but it's raining and has rained the last four weekends.

Today is an "ugh" day. Forgive me.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So says the array of clocks in the meteorology lab.  They have five clocks set up for different cities, kind of like one of those old newsrooms you'd see on a movie about old news shows.  All of them seem to be running correctly, and I can hear each of them individually in a seeming echo effect.  None of them have the right time, or anything even close to the right time for their cities.  Even the one representing Kent says 12:51. 

It's fairly obnoxious to me in an OCD way.  I'm about five seconds away from going over and setting them to the correct time.  Argh!  I don't even think the meteorologists would notice, since they're so trained to convert time for different places anyway.

I'm still the only person up here in the department.  It's kinda creepy to seemingly be the only person in the building, but it's something I'm getting used to with the sharing of cars.  Amy had to drop me off at work at 7:00.  It sucked.

I made her a mix-tape (er, CD) last night to listen to while I was gone.  She's kinda ambiguous about music in some ways, but she doesn't listen to it CONSTATLY like I do.  I spend more time each day listening to music than probably any other activity, though I'm usually also doing something else simultaneously. 

I wanted to do this for her because I knew she was upset at the prospect of being without me for that long, which I can understand because I'm certainly not looking forward to being without her.  I also knew that her drive to work gets old, and I wanted to make it better for one day.  I made sure to stress music that I absolutely knew (or had a good idea) that she would like.  And sure, some of them are sappy-ish love songs.  She's my wife!

The playlist (though the order is a mental recreation and probably not entirely accurate):
1. Barrel of a Gun- Guster (her favorite band, and in my opinion, their best song)
2. Your Song- Elton John (which, I must admit that earlier Elton John, for all the shit he gets, is some pretty quality music in the easy-listening genre.  I could call this the Michael Jackson phenomenon, where someone puts out good music and his latter sins and scariness detract heavily from people's opinions of the music.)
3. Homecoming Queen- The Lillingtons (pop-punk "I'm not good enough for you" love song)
4. Common People- William Shatner (Pulp Cover featuring Ben Folds and Joe Jackson, which is about as good of a cover of that song as you could hope for.)
5. J.A.R.- Green Day
6. Melt With You- Modern English
7. Video- Ben Folds Five
8. Open Door- Tyler (I just wanted to expose her to this, because I think it rules pretty hard.  You should listen to it).
9. Standing in the Moonlight- The Retreads (though I won't post the link because this is from so far in the past).
10. When You Sleep- Cake
11. The Scientist- Coldplay (which I'm convinced is okay if you can take it for what it is, which is a high-tech version of the band Bread, and not ANYTHING to do with U2).
12. Ebay- "Weird" Al Yankovich
13. Why Can't I Be With You- The Cure
14. 500 Miles- The Proclaimers
15. Jamie- Weezer (accoustic b-side version, very cool)
16. Come Away With Me- Norah Jones
17. Landed- Ben Folds

I think that's all of it... there might be some things on there that surprise me.  I also put some spoken messages from me on there to make her happy.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So check this shit out...

WKSU, an excellent NPR affiliate run through Kent State University, started their pledge drive today. Amy listens to it religiously at work because Pet Guards only allows NPR to be played in the animal areas. She called me at work right around 12:45 (just after noon) to let me know that they were giving away a big prize to a pledger that called during that hour, and they had yet to get anyone to pledge.

Befuzzled by the fact that I was pulled away from work (during which I was on a roll) and idea of Amy asking me to call someone to give money away, I was understandably confused. I popped on my radio about ten minutes later to find that they had gotten a total of five pledges. I went ahead, called in, and pledged like ten bucks, which was to be billed later.

The crazy thing? We won the prize package.

Turns out, according to the lady on the answering machine, that we won a prize package that includes two nights at an Ohio State Park lodge of our choice, two nights of dinner for two, two morning of breakfast for two, and a $25 gift certificate for the lodge gift shop.

I mean, WKSU is an amazingly good station that I would support if I could afford it.... Now, I'm certainly going to support them from now on!

Either way, we won a weekend away, which kicks serious ass. Talk about a pick-me-up!

Fuckin' A.

Post-script: Did anyone notice that the Mexican government has done a seemingly a much better job evacuating foreign tourists from Cozumel and Cancun in advance of Hurricane Wilma than the U.S. did of its own residents in New Orleans?

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to Bowling Green State so that I can go to the Annual Meeting of the East Lakes Division of the Association of American Geographers, or ELDAAG. It's pretty exciting, really, because I'm presenting a paper there for the first time to an audience of Kent State people. It's also a dry run for my presentation at the National Meeting at Chicago in March.

The unfortunate news is this: I'm only going to have a relatively short time to visit my friend because of some departmental things I have to attend. It sucks, but we're only there for a couple days and it is a professional meeting first. Ugh.

So, I leave tomorrow from work for this shin-dig and I'm staying at a Quality Inn with Mary and some other characters. Mary and I are going to dry-run our presentations for each other tomorrow, and we may end up turning it into a party for those presenting. It should be a fun road-trip and generally a good time. I'm going to miss Amy, but then, when wouldn't I?

People (though no one I know) have given me a little shit for my sudden (and late) finding of The Postal Service. Like I commented on that blog: Meh. Deal with it. I'll like what I like whenever I like it. So what if I'm late? I found it now, and I enjoy it.

Tonight, I've gotta get my presentation for the ELDAAG done, even though the house is an absolute wreck. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it done and clean the house, but obviously the presentation comes first. I had been cleaning every Saturday since Amy was at work each of those days all day, but this past weekend we went to Pittsburgh, so I didn't clean. It's becoming obvious that I should have.

With school being pretty difficult lately, I haven't been able to write my normal essays about whatever and have been concentrating on my day-to-day shit. It's annoying to me, because the cool thing about a blog is that I can write anything I want on any topic. My head's been shot the past few days, so that hasn't happened.

I may have a nap.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thank to some Pepto-Bismol that Amy got me, I've returned to some state of normalcy. It's really some of the foulest-tasting shit ever invented, but it's worked wonders. I still feel goofy and disoriented, so this may be even more of a rambling entry than normal.

I worry that my sedentary nature today is going to further fuck up my sleeping schedule. I guess that's something I have to deal with, because I certainly couldn't do much else besides poop, puke and sleep. It's one of those weird cases where it's only like 9:00 pm, but it feels like... maybe midnight or something?

I'm worried about some things with school. I fear that missing today is going to bite me in the ass. I got an email back from my Global Economy prof that simply said "ok' in response to my notification of my absence. I also didn't go to Geography Club because I was still sick, so I'm going to have to talk to Mary about it. I've got a LOT of reading to catch up for Global Econ, as well as some to do for Thought. I've also got a 20-some page research paper to put together for Econ, which scares me considerably.

I've been looking at classes for next semester, and I like what I'm seeing. The department is offering a Behavioral Geography class, a seminar on the Geography of Terrorism, a class on symbology and mapping of hazards, all of which I'm going to take. I might sneak in another depending on what else is on the schedule. And I'm supposed to get a class to teach during the summer, which is good news.

We're still waiting on paperwork to plate the Impala, which sucks because it means I have to go to work super-early because I carpool with Amy. Tomorrow is a long day... 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. I just hope to make it.

Sancha is sitting on my shoulder. I think she's in season because she's trying to do my shoulder. This happens with mature birds sometimes. Gross.

More relevant writing is coming soon.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During my mix-tape-making, Molly turned me on to The Postal Service.  I'm now listening to Give Up for about the fifth time this week.  I'm looking to find more music like this.  I don't get much exposure to new things since I don't really talk to much of anyone these days.

I also enjoy Belle & Sebastian, Ben Folds/Five and The Rentals, if that gives directional help in the easier-listening-alternapop directions... I'm a total pop junkie.  Give me some ideas of bands to look for by dropping a comment.  Thanks.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apparently feasting on White Castle wasn't the best idea I've ever had.  Yesterday for dinner, Amy and I ventured across town to a White Castle I'd found online.  I think I've more than paid for my fall to temptation.

I didn't sleep last night.  I was wide awake until 2:00 am (because of a nap I had also foolishly taken that afternoon), which is when the pain began.  That, and the pooping and the puking.  I think something was seriously wrong with the burgers (besides the fact that it was from White Castle) because the worst I've ever gotten from there was terribly odiferous gas.  Amy, who refuses to eat the burgers, had no problems with her tummy last night.  About 6:00 am, I decided that there was no way I was going to school/work today, and I emailed my Global Economy prof to let him know.  I also emailed my class to cancel today's office hours, promising that I'd schedule two more as a make-up sometime in the week.  I may still make it to the very first meeting of geography club at 5 tonight, but I feel like shit right now.

I feel like I've shit and hurled enough that I should be skinny.  I haven't done either for about an hour an a half, which is true progress.  I can't sleep because my stomach's in pain, but my mind is wide awake and restless.  This is why I'm punching an entry into my blog, despite my conditions.

I'm hoping that I can use today to stay caught up in classes and other work.  I have to do something while wasting my day seated atop the shitter.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A joke that was posted on the bulletin board that's stupid and I've heard it a dozen times (with a dozen different names) but it still made me laugh today.  So sue me.

President Bush was visiting a primary school and he visited one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the President if he would like to lead the discussion on the word "tragedy". So the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a "tragedy".

One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a tragedy."

"No," said Bush, "that would be an accident."

A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children
drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."

"I'm afraid not," explained the president. "That's what we would call a great loss."

The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Bush searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?"

Finally at the back of the room a small boy (Lil Johnny) raised his
hand. In a quiet voice he said: "If Air Force One carrying you and Mrs. Bush was struck by a "friendly fire" missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy."

Fantastic!" exclaimed Bush. "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be tragedy?"

"Well," says Lil Johnny, "It has to be a tragedy, because it sure as
hell wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't put shit in this blog since Friday afternoon.  That's alright, I'll get caught up.

Let's see... I was bitching about teaching language, but that ended up being okay.  I didn't get any harsh criticisms, nor did I really stumble over my lecture.  The kids have a test on this coming Friday.  If you're curious, you can check out the study guide I've posted.  It's a pretty harsh collection of materials for a freshman-level class, I suppose.  I've got the philosophy that the kids will step up if I make it more challenging than my peers, and it's that philosophy that my students hate about me.  The last test, they averaged a 68.  I think this one will be easier-enough that the average will be right where I want it.

The departmental colloquium was Friday.  We had some guy (who looked like a leprochaun, complete with a cheesy vest) come from the applied geography part of the Department of Justice.  The applied geography term implies that the findings of research will be used to implement policies.  One of his studies was of recidivized convicts in Baltimore, that is, where these cons went once they were out of prison.  His argument was that they went back to the same neighborhoods and ended up committing crimes because of that spatial coincidence.  Now, I wouldn't have a problem with this, but he was using data from 1987.  Do you have any idea how much the inner-city dynamics of Baltimore have changed in the past 18 years?  Through the urban homesteading measures and the revitalization of the Inner Harbor, among other programs, Baltimore is drastically different than it was then, and to me, that means the study is essentially worthless.  When I questioned him about this, he replied that newer data wasn't available.  Why do the study, then?

Anyway, after this colloquium (which went WELL over the hour allotted), many of the grad students went down to Zephyr Pub in downtown Kent and socialized in the courtyard.  I can't imagine a more comfortable or pleasant place to drink beer than the courtyard of the Zephyr.  It's really very nice, and it's a shame that the winter is coming to ruin our chances of hanging out there.  The other cool thing about Zephyr is that PBR is on-tap and is only $1 a pint.  I had four, which I just can't argue with PBR on tap.  Over four hours, this functioned as little more than a social lubricant, I think.  I always worry about what happens when I socialize.  It's nice to have people who I might eventually consider friends.... I haven't had any opportunities like that for a while.

The next day (Saturday), after Amy got off at Pet Guards, we were planning to go to Pittsburgh for the weekend.  Well, five million obstacles ended up preventing this... at least for a while.  The temp tags for the Impala ran out as of midnight on Saturday, so all we had was Pedro.  As much as I love him, I certainly did not trust him to get us there and back without incident.  We tried to rent a car, which was going to be like 60 bucks for the weekend, but for some ungodly reason, we didn't have the 360 bucks in the account that they would've required to get us going.  On top of that, Amy's check from Pet Guards, which we were expecting to be something like $400... ended up being about $60 because they told her (repeatedly) the wrong pay period dates for this check.  So, after much frustration and us generally giving up on having a decent weekend, Amy's mom ended up offering us a loan to get us going... and we didn't even ask for it.

Despite leaving about five hours later than we expected, we still had a marvelous time.  We stayed at an Amerisuites in a Castleton-like neighborhood near the airport, and it was nice and fairly cheap.  In travelling around the hotel in search of dinner, we came across.... a FATBURGER!  I had never seen one of these outside California, Arizona or Las Vegas.  We asked the cashier and he told us that this location was the first outside of those three states, though since the Pittsburgh outlet had opened, several in New Jersey had as well.  Fatburger was a very welcome surprise, and we enjoyed it tremendously.... mmmmm.  I want one now.  Perhaps this is a sign of good things to come for the midwest?

And I will tell you this: there's probably not a grander entrance to a city than by travelling I-279 through the Fort Pitt Tunnel into downtown.  When you drive into Pittsburgh via I-279, you see no skyscrapers or any evidence that you're just about to the heart of a big city for miles, and you enter a tunnel.  When you emerge, you're suddenly within spitting distance of the entire downtown.  It looks something like this the second you emerge, which is the first evidence that you're in a big city.

We ended up visiting the Pittsburgh Zoo, which was okay (not as good as Cleveland) but the associated aquarium was amazing... the best I've seen since Shedd in Chi-town!  We also went to the National Aviary and visited the birds.  There were white-bellied caiques in one of the big flights, which were cool to see flying around and stuff.  Sancha doesn't get to fly because she's domesticated and might hurt herself, so it was cool to see.

We also drove up to Mt. Washington, which overlooks the city.  The view we had looked something like this.  The neighborhood that's up there is really cool.  While we were up there, the Steelers game was happening down in Heinz Field, and when plays would happen we'd hear the crowd cheer. 

I'll put some of our pictures up soon.  Pittsburgh is really a beautiful city which again is not what I was expecting.  I knew they had come a long ways in the past 15 years, but the city really is amazing.  I wouldn't mind living there, though my ability to pick and choose will probably not be the greatest once it's time to get a job.

This coming weekend is ELDAAG over in Bowling Green.  I'm excited about presenting my presentation at a place where people from the department will see it.  I have to brush up my presentation during this week, though, to make sure it works and flows.  I'm also excited because I get to see an old friend that I haven't seen in probably four years.

And fuckin' Artie Hill added me as a myspace friend!

Sweet.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really have nothing to do right now.  All of my homework is caught up, my class is prepped for, and it's only about 9:26.  Ugh.   I got this one through a bulletin from Scottie too Hottie. 

1. Do you still know/talk to the person you lost your virginity to?
Um no.  I barely ever even get to talk to the woman I'm sleeping with these days, so why would I have time for that bitch's skanky ass?

2. What would you do with 1,000 plastic spoons?
Eat lots of Snack-Pack Puddings.

3. What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school?
Peter Paul and Mary, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Blondie, Guns and Roses, various classical, "Weird" Al Yankovic, oldies that my dad subjected me to, Stevie Wonder.

4. What is the best thing about your current job?
I get to research anything I want, I get to teach a class of 80 malcontented students, I get essentially unlimited contact with knowledgeable faculty, I get to take any class I want... AND I get PAID for it.

5. Do you wish cell phone etiquette was a required class?
I require that cell phones are not brought to the class I teach.  If it rings, I get to answer it.

6. Are you against same sex marriage?
No.  Any human has the right to marry any other human.  Based on prior experiences, I'm not sure why they'd want to necessarily marry, but these days I can see the reasons.  I think it's a matter of civil rights to allow anyone the benefits of marriage... if they really want in on it, let them take the associated risks of possibly being married to a psychopath.

7. Have you been on a date in the past week?
Yeah, Amy and I went to the Cleveland Zoo on Sunday.

8. Where are you going on your next vacation?
We might be going to Niagara in a couple weeks when we have a weekend off together, but more than likely we'll be limited to something like Cleveland that weekend.  At least we're getting out of town!

9. Quote a song lyric:
"Been around the world and saw that only stupid people are breeding."- Harvey Danger

10. Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
The last friend I actually made, in terms of friends and not a professional relationship was probably Amy.  Beyond that, everyone I'm at least quasi-friends with I've known since at least my freshman year of college.  I don't make friends very well, but I am fairly loyal.

11. Do you own any furniture made from dead animals?
Sure, anything plastic is made from petroleum which is simply dead animals.  I also own a lot of furniture made from dead plants.

12. Do you like your parents?
Yeah, they're all right.  They're more of a friend-relationship these days because I'msa all grown up.  I guess.

13. Do you still live with them?
Nah, save a couple weeks during the Great Flush of 2003, I haven't lived with them since 2000.

14. What state/country are you from?
Indiana... U.S.A! U.S.A!  U.S.A!

15. Tell us about the last conversation you had.
I was telling Amy when I get off work for an afternoon break so she can come get me and we can hang out and eat.  I also told her that I loved her and that she should be careful on the way to work as I got out of the car.

16. Where do you see yourself in one month?
Doing the same thing, with one more presentation under my belt, which will happen on October 20 at ELDAAG.

17. What is your favorite smell?
New rubber smell from a tire store.  This perfume that Amy wears that means she wants get down.   

18. What's your favorite color?
Forest green or sky blue.

19. Do you consider yourself bi-polar?
Sure, that and manic-depressive.  I'm fucking nuts.

20. What is the time and the outside temperature at the moment?
9:38 am, 62 degrees Fahrenheit, 16.7 degrees Celsius, 289.8 degrees Kelvin.

21. Have you ever done anything vindictive to your coworkers?
Sure, but not at this job.  Which ones?  Oh, Wal-Mart, the Ski-Hi Drive-In, Yellow Brick Road Theater, Dollar Movies, in the Geography Department at Ball State, the BSU Learning Center, TIS Bookstore, Bob Evans, McDonalds... among others.

22. Have you ever gone to therapy?
Physical or mental?  Guilty.

23. Have you ever Played Spin the Bottle?
Once in like middle school, but girls always left if they got chosen to kiss me.  It was an uplifting experience.

24. Have you ever broken into someone's house?
Well, my own and my parents, but that doesn't really count.

25. Have you ever liked someone but never told them?
Well, yeah... who hasn't done this?

26. Have you ever gone camping?
Is this supposed to be scandalous or something?  I've gone camping like 600,000 times, including nearly every state west of the Mississippi.  Camping rules.

27. Have you ever had a crush on your brother's friend?
Eww, no.  My brother is 6 years younger than I am.

28. Have you ever been to a nude beach and if not would you like to go?
No, but I went and hung out on the topless deck of a cruise ship once.  It was pretty okay, although most of the titties were disappointing.

29. Have you ever gotten drunk alone?
Sure, when I lived alone.  I had a lonely life for a while.

30. Have you ever had sex on the beach?
The drink? Yes.  The act?  Sounds painful... sand in bad places.  Sandpaper wouldn't be pleasant, so how could sand?

31. Have you ever had a stalker?
Yeah, I've had a couple.  Random girls have gotten big crushes on me and stalked me for a while when I tried to cut it off.  It usually only last a week or so, though.  And yes, it was kinda flattering in retrospect.

32. Have you ever been in love?
Yeah, probably too many times.  I don't know, I've always thought it's better to fall hard and deal with picking up the pieces later if it doesn't work.

33. Have you ever gone skinny dipping?
Sure.  But I won't describe details because my readers might throw up.

34. Have you ever had a threesome?
Nah, I'm not that adventurous.

35. Have you ever laughed so hard you cried?
What does this mean?

36. Have you ever gone to a party where you were the only sober one?
Yeah, when I quit drinking for a while I kept going to parties.  It sucked.

37. Have you ever felt betrayed by your best friend?
Well, back during the Great Flush of 2003, the one who was my best friend at the time threw me away.  I guess that's betrayal.

38. Have you ever lied to your parents?
Well, yeah.  I smoked for like 5 years and my mom's an asthmatic.  I drank for quite a while and my mom's a Quaker.  She would never be able to understand these things.

39. Have you ever been out of the US?
Yeah. I've been to a few: Canada, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grand Cayman (U.K.), Grand Turk Island (U.K.).  I've also seen (at a distance) Honduras, Haiti and Cuba.

40. Have you ever thrown up from working out?
Yeah, when I played baseball my freshman year of high school, I was so out of shape that the workouts made me puke a few times.

41. Have you ever gotten a haircut so bad that you wore a hat for a month straight?
When I was in the sixth grade, I wanted a bowl cut really really bad but didn't have the length.  Hilarity ensued.

42. Have you ever eaten 3 meals from 3 different fast food places in 1 day?
Yeah, this happens a lot on road trips.

43. Have you ever gotten so wasted you make your friends leave the bar at like 12 o’clock cause you were gonna pass out?
Well, that hasn't happened at a bar, but once I was driven home from a party at 10:00 pm because I was too drunk to survive.

44. Have you ever spied on someone you had a crush on?
No, not that I know of.

45. Have you ever met someone you only know through myspace?
No, but I met my wife online.  Online dating is the only way to go when you're scared to death of social situations.

46. Have you ever slept with one of your coworkers?
Yeah.  My ex and I used to work at the same place for a while when we were together.  What the fuck was I thinking?  No really, what was I thinking the whole time I was with her?

47. Have you ever seen your best friend naked?
Yeah, I mean, I see her naked about every day.

48. Have you ever walked in on your parents having sex?
I wondered why I'm so emotionally fucked up!!!  Wait... no, I haven't.

Yes, I wasted my time with this, and now, since you've read this far, so have you.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In about an hour, I'll be teaching a class on language geography, a topic in which I'm not terribly comfortable despite my efforts of preparation.  It drives me nuts to teach about something I've had so little exposure to, but that's what teaching such broad intro classes is all about, I guess.

There's certainly no better way to learn a topic inside and out than by teaching it.  I suppose I probably am more than adequately prepared to give this one-hour lecture of linguistic geography, but I'm just not as prepared as I like to be.

Tonight is also a colloquium, which is a pretty good thing.  It will give me the chance to hang out with people, socialize and generally carry on while Amy's at work tonight.

She keeps talking about quitting the Avenue since she hates it there, and because it draws away from our time together.  I'm generally supportive of the idea, but I get worried about how this will effect us financially.  We're making it right now and are just comfortable enough that I'm pretty happy with our situation, at least financially.  I dearly miss Amy, though... I mean dearly.  I hate not seeing her very much, and since the middle of August, that's been the story.

Luckily, her job at Pet Guards is set to give her a raise and more hours, so we won't feel the shift too much.  The difference will end up being about $150 a month, which is worth it, I think.  We'll probably have to do away with something (eating out EVER is the first to go) but it'll be more than worth it.  She loves her job at Pet Guards, which is a stark contrast to what she's been calling the Ave-screw.  I know we'll be fine, but I just have that inkling of worry in the back of my head until I see it happen.

She's so seeking my support for her quitting Ave-screw that she keeps telling me that she'll do the laundry and the dishes and the cooking and the cleaning if she quits, while most of the above has been falling on me lately. Today, because I didn't do laundry, my outfit is... interesting.  I'm all about sharing the housework, but I definitely have no problem giving up those chores.  Most of the nights that I'm home, I'm doing homework with a few exceptions.

I'm hungry.  I meant to stop through a drive-up on the way to work today and forgot.  My mind was pre-occupied with other things.  Now, I don't have time to grab a bite and I'm hungry.  My schedule is full until post-colloquium socialization, which happens at 4:30ish.  My stomach isn't going to like me too much.

Not like it needs food anyway... just look at it!

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sweet.

The meeting with Tom went really well, so I have an advisor for my dissertation.  He gave me some ideas as to where to look for some literature to get things rolling.  It makes me happy that I have this part out of the way.  He set a goal for me to get a narrowed and focused research topic before the end of the semester, and that suits me fine.

I'm planning to look at the effects of a major disaster (catastrophe) on the environmental perceptions of children.  I got the idea from reading kids' poems from after the Grand Forks/Red River flood of 1997, and it really intrigues the hell out of me.  Some ideas I kicked around included both Grand Forks and New Orleans, comparing and contrasting and giving outlooks for Big Easy residents based on what has happened to the kids at Grand Forks... blah blah.  More on that later, since it's still in the exceptionally early stages of development.

I hopped over to Tyler's myspace to download his tracks.  Tyler is, of course, a long time friend of Jon May , former guitarist of The Three Hour Turd and The Viscosities, Full Sail grad and longtime Muncie record guru.  His music rules.  I encourage you to check it out.  I've been getting interested in  (what I would call) the electronically oriented power pop lately (The Postal Service, The Rentals, etc).  I definitely recommend "The Open Door."  It rules pretty hard.  I always knew Tyler was a fucking genius from his other shit... and from just talking to the guy.  His posted music is further proof of that notion.

I want to buy a drum machine.  I think I could do better in music with some sort of rhythm device, but I suck at drumming.  That's certainly item number 5,003,594 on the list of unimportant things I want, though.

I also want some music skills.  Anyone got some for me?

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's been a survey going around asking about your "Top 8" friends, apparently taking note of the fact that now, on myspace, you can rank yo