hax.org

It’s been about 3 months since I last blogged.  Wow.  I’ve managed to even surprise myself with how little I care about updating this thing.

I’ve been back in Jersey since the 11th.  Dad took a turn for the worse and required in-home hospice, which lasted all of 4 days before he needed to be moved to the hospital.  All-in-all it took a week from diagnosis that the end was near to the end.  Fortunately for us all he didn’t hang on longer than he needed to with little quality of life.  He’d been fighting cancer on multiple sites of his body for 3+ years, which coincided almost perfectly with my move to Seattle.  Much of my relationship with Dad these past years has been over the phone.  Thankfully his treatments managed to slow the growth of his rather aggressive cancers enough so he could spend some quality time with my daughter.  I think it will really hit me in a couple weeks after I’ve called in several times with only my mom answering.  Skype will also be less awkward now with my mother center of the screen instead of the two of them at opposite ends with a nice view of their wall between them.

My Dad was the jokester; the man who was the life of the party.  He taught me how to be funny and how to be receptive to humor.  He and I didn’t always agree on certain things – especially with regard to how the world was changing, but I think that’s a normal generational thing and I looked forward to our banter.  Dad also gave me my names, all of them, except for my confirmation name.  As a control-freak-INTJ-only-child it fascinates me when I think about all the decisions other people made that led to my existence.  Dad managed to convince my mom that he had money – that he was the most worthy eligible bachelor in Elizabeth, NJ at the time.  Impressive Dad.  Most impressive.  And thanks for doing that.

Time to get back on the horse and blog more.

http://whoisarcadefire.tumblr.com/

OMG.  Who the **ck is the suburbs?!  What is the Arcades fire???

Just because you do not know what something is doesn’t make it not exist.

I’m pissed!

Nestled in a basement in Seattle’s retail core lies my favorite teriyaki in all of Seattle.  Happy Teriyaki is the real deal – slices of chicken carved by someone with much skill; minimal gristle and fat, stir fried vegetables instead of that stupid iceberg salad that every other place gives you so you’ll STFU about eating something so unhealthy, and .. good rice (worth noting?)  They also let you mix and match the traditional, spicy, types of meat etc etc.  It’s all just really great, and today it was especially great because I got my plate for $1.32 thanks to a full loyalty punch card I filled back when I worked in the Westlake area.  So I ordered the delicious 1/2 plate of standard with 1/2 spicy.  Life is good.  *Be warned – there are at least 3 restaurants in Seattle called Happy Teriyaki and the other 2 suck.  Be sure you are going to the one in the basement on 5th between Pike and Pine.

But there’s something else about this place that has fascinated me ever since I first discovered its existence – the music.  There was a period of about 3 months back in 2009 when they were constantly looping Jon Secada – Greatest Hits.  It didn’t matter what time of day I went.  I could always be certain I’d hear Just another Day or If You Go.  At another point in time they were looping Gloria Estefan and Mariah Carey albums from the 90s in much the same way.  I had almost forgot all of those songs existed.

Today’s music sampling featured a classic rock vortex from the 70s. As my plate of meat smothered in sauce was delivered to my table, Love Hurts by Nazareth began to play.  This put me in a bit of a foul mood while I consumed my chicken.  It was taking away from the Happy in Happy Teriyaki if you ask me.  Maybe they’ve carefully selected the playlist to chase people out of there within 10 minutes to make room for more eat-in volume (It does get quite busy during lunch rush).   Next we heard The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy.  This really got me into a mood to eat chicken!  I refilled my water and went to “Town”, on that delicious spicyness that covered half my plate.  To close out the experience I was dished up a big plate of Just What I Needed by the Cars.  I couldn’t find a more fitting song to describe the finale of my experience if I tried.   I wish I could remember more.. I think maybe there was some Boston when I walked in, but I didn’t actually start paying attention until Love Hurts.

So if you’ve just read this and are wondering what the point of all this is, well… there is no point.  It’s a blog.  But I think it would be cool for you to try to play some of these songs at home while vicariously reliving my lunch half hour and see if the same feelings of anguish-then-excitement fill you deep within.

Also, go eat and give business to Happy Teriyaki.

I’ve decided to begin posting about some of my favorite things, and some of the things which drive me to hate.  Yeah, I can be a hater.. a pretty good one too.  I prepare my evidence, do my research and attack! ..  keep an eye out for the “Dislike” series which will begin shortly.  Since it would indicate a negative bias toward the world if I began with a Dislike post, I’m starting off on a positive note…

I went for a long while without a wrist watch – probably close to 10 years.  I had a bad experience with a metal-banded watch back in my early 20′s that consistently pulled hair out of my arm – yes, I have hairy arms.. like all real men should.  I also went in and out of my fixation with animal welfare and anti-cruelty in everything I bought and used.  That caused me to purchase some pleather and canvas-banded watches which really didn’t cut it long term.  I’m pleased to announce that in late 2010 my wife bought be a really great Seiko auto winder with canvas band from Amazon.  It’s really a fine specimen of a watch, isn’t expensive, and doesn’t require winding or batteries!

Now I didn’t intend for this post to be about Seiko watches and their awesomeness.  In fact, since I have no real references and experiences to cite for all I know Seiko watches are really crappy compared to the rest.  What I do want to talk about is the awesomeness of the auto winding system present in this watch and many out there.  If you’re already bored of this post I encourage you to read the wikipedia page which covers the technology and history in more detail than I possibly could.

First off – this isn’t new technology by any stretch of the imagination – we’re talking 1770, and yes, it was a Swiss man who figured it out.  Back then, everyone who had a watch had a pocketwatch.  This added some complexity to winding movement because you literally had to walk around to wind the thing.  Back then I’d imagine more people walked than they do today so this wasn’t such a problem.  It wasn’t until after WWI that auto winding wrist watches started to become popular.  Since it was so much more practical to wind the watch with it on your wrist these things sold well and are still in use today.  The only technology really giving the mechanical winders a run for their money are the electronics – but there’s an old world charm to the mechanicals for sure.  I happen to like my watch because I will never ever have to buy a battery for it and (hopefully) will never really need to maintain it.  This will be especially useful during an electromagnetic pulse followed by a zombie apocalypse, which could be coming as soon as 2012.  I think it will be especially important to be able to tell time AND kill zombies during this period in human history.

Back in NJ for a visit with Dad and to transport some super sekret serverz for work.  This trip I’m taking the NJ transit express bus.  I should have done this sooner.

Lots of thoughts crossing my mind on this trip…  Missing wife and daughter… Wishing I was here on better terms.

Blogging is much more difficult on mobile.  Signing off.

Well I’m 20 days in and I haven’t stuck to my post-a-day ritual that I intended to.  Part of me wants to congratulate myself for committing myself to something and following through half-assedly, but the other half of me is very upset.  This blogging thing isn’t easy.  I’m trying to keep it original and useful and comical, but I just don’t think I can handle the pressure!   AHHHH!

OK, that  first paragraph was complete bullshit.  I really have made no commitment other than to launch this thing and to try to entertain my audience of 8 people.  You don’t need to worry about me.  I’ll be fine.

I found the image of the bear on the website of a guy here in Seattle who’s really upset with everything.  I’m not going to link to him because then he’ll know I was talking about him and that’s not necessary.  Who knows what he’s capable of?  So.. the image.  WTF?  I suppose I can understand it if you think of it as a California pride thing.. but this guy isn’t in California.  Maybe it was just recently added and he hates the Seahawks, who lost to the Bears this past weekend?  Maybe that makes sense… hrm..

I really have nothing more to say.  There it is.. my blog entry for the day.. filled with a fake unraveling of my spirit, a PNG of a bear with a torch, and not a single hyperlink.  Blogging rulz.

Ok, another thing….

In keeping up with current events, this man is in our country right now eating steak at the White House and meeting with people in Washington.

Every Christmastime the family sits down and watches Trading Places.  This has to be one of my all-time favorite comedies ever.  Aykroyd and Murphy were in top form at this stage in their careers and the supporting cast was fantastic.  Jamie Lee also played an excellent, lovable, hooker.

I know I’m not alone – people always remember Clarence Beeks.  This guy was such an asshole – such a ruthless villain (yet stupid – who travels by train when they are in his business??)  His disregard for other people draws to mind all kinds of questions about his childhood, adolescence and eventual employment with Lyndhurst security.  Also, how did the Dukes find him?  Did he come highly recommended by others in the finance world who wanted to ruin the lives of their own Winthorps?  Clarence’s fascination with big payoffs is certainly an understandable goal, but it’s obvious he doesn’t spend the money on a nice wardrobe.  Perhaps he had a large gun collection or sent the money to his ailing mother.  I’d love to know more.

Clarence’s fate; Being repeatedly raped by a male gorilla in a cage – was really not necessary.  It comes at a time in the movie when you do really want him to get his, but really isn’t the revenge plot more about the Dukes?  I think John Landis intentionally made Charence’s character a huge asshole so you would laugh at the idea of him being raped for eternity inside a box.  They could have just used a crooked cop, or maybe someone with some kind of Federal clearance who hated oranges.  You know.. they never do really explain how he was able to penetrate and acquire that crop report.  Also.. have any of you imagined an alternate ending where James Belushi ends up in the cage?  I’d sorta prefer that ending since he’s really just a pathetic shell of a man compared to his late brother.  Why do people continue to employ him?

Since I’m a dad now I’m not going to post my favorite Clarence quotes. Instead, I hyperlink to an awful other person’s site who deals in this movie quotes filth.

RIP Paul Gleason and John Belushi.

Last weekend I posted an optimistic blog entry and tweeted some criticism in the direction of the Seahawks and Rams.  I now realize that’s the secret key to ensuring victories in the playoffs.

Well done Seahawks.  Maybe next week you can beat someone too!!  I will be sure to say something negative about you prior to game time next weekend.

The Ravens are my team this year.   I don’t have much more to say about that other than – I think Terrell Suggs has a lot in common with an Uruk-hai.  More on the Ravens later.

I know it isn’t cool to make fun of people, especially ones who are sick or have been sick, but …

Steve Jobs is looking progressively more like a skeksis.

This brings to mind all kinds of vivid theories and ideas about how Apple recently became the 2nd most valuable company evar!!1 Was his “liver transplant” real, or was it just an extended essence bath hooked up by his board of director comrades?  We’ll never know for sure.

I’ve always enjoyed strategy games on the computer and in with the New Year came a desire to start wasting some time playing them again.  Of course there’s Starcraft 2, the latest hotness.. but I don’t have a new enough machine to really play it in all its glory anyway – which is a fortunate thing for my family.  I started poking around the webbe and located something called OpenTTD, which is a really awesome revival of Transport Tycoon Deluxe – a game which was originally released for PC when I was about 16 years old!  The online community added all kinds of cool massive board support and online play to the game, and it’s FREE – and it runs cross-platform! – and it makes me feel nostalgic!

So.. happy to share that.  You should give the game a try.  Installation on OS X is a little more challenging than the other platforms.

But this post is more about Youtube and its Suggestions.  You see.. today, after watching a tutorial for OpenTTD basics, my eyes were drawn to this lovely gem.

I really can’t say enough about how awesome and WTF this is at the same time.  The soundtrack, The cross, The death counter, his motivation for doing this and sharing it.  I’m sure I did things like this when I was his age, but I had nobody to share it with digitally.  It makes me wonder what will happen when this generation grows up, and how they’ll be different than those of us who did have video games, but didn’t have the ability to play them with thousands of people all over the net or share video of it so thousands of people can comment on what I’ve done.  I can’t see your face, and I certainly don’t know what you were thinking as you watched the carnage unfold – BUT I have a pretty good idea of what I might have looked like.  If he’s anything like I was, he was probably grinning the whole time while rocking out with a beautiful Asperger’s-inspired shake or hand clench.  I wonder if he was actually listening to Greensleeves or if he just dubbed it in later.  Perhaps I should ask him.

Well done sir on your video – and I hope someday you’re not commanding a legion of mercenaries to my front door.