Month: February 2006

But still feel like crap. Not throwing up anymore, but then again there’s nothing left… Couldn’t eve keep water down this morning, so progress is being made. It’s funny, I was talking to Giane yesterday and she was taking care of a friend who was really sick. They had gone out drinking the previous night and they were both bewildered at how sick the friend was just from two drinks. Bet it had nothing to do with alcohol, probably just some bug going around. The real question is how did get it, I was only chatting via IM, is this the first time a virus has been spread on a mac?:-)

Isaac

Nothing quite like projectile vomiting at 4 in the morning to start your day off right. I’m going back to bed and don’t expect to do much except shuffle over to the bathroom every now and then. I may have to take some vacation time after all…

Isaac

Talked with Kelly this morning, and it is as I feared. It’s really ugly up in the city today. I’ve decided to postpone the trip to sometime when the weather is a bit nicer. I’d like to take some pictures up there and 30mph winds and drifting snow do not make for a good photographic combo. Maybe in march…

On the plus side, our neighbors thought I was up in NYC, so they shoveled the driveway for me. Gotta get them something to thank them… Still, looks like a lazy day indoors for me, sounds good!

Isaac

Just put a page up on my site on books I’ve read recently. Not sure who will be interested in this, but I figured that it would be a good way for me to keep track of what I’ve read. I’ll keep adding to this assuming that I keep reading:-)

Isaac

They’re a group that does lounge versions of hardcore/punk/rock songs. It’s supposed to be really ironic and funny and with certain songs like “Institutionalized” (originally by Suicidal Tendencies) they are. But on other songs, they add a real depth and impact to some other songs. “I don’t care about you” by GNR goes from an ill conceived rant to an eerie, heartfelt FUCK YOU. They also do a song called “I shot JFK”. The lyrics are beyond morbid and show a real depth of hopelessness.

There was no conspiracy.
It was all for anarchy.
The President,
don’t mean shit to me.
One less Kennedy.

I Shot J.F.K.
Pulled the trigger,
Blew him away.
I Shot J.F.K.
Sorry, Jackie
It had to be that way.

Imagine there’re no hippies.
You can do it if you try.
The world don’t need another naked guy.
Someone had to die.

I shot John Lennon today.
Pulled the trigger,
and blew him away.
I shot John Lennon today
Sorry, Yoko
It had to be this way.

(Instrumental Break)

Happiness is stupid.
I’m anti-positive.
I just ran out of reasons to live.
Something had to give.

One more suicide.
The world laughed,
when I died.
One more suicide.
Sorry Mom,
I hope you’re satisfied.

The kicker is how it’s delivered, almost upbeat, definitely languid and serene. It’s really unnerving. Is this an original for them? All the rest of their songs seem to be covers, but I can’t find any other groups doing this song, does anyone know if this is a cover? Anyway, it’s a great example of something that is effective but not pretty or even enjoyable. Gotta hand it to them, they did a great job with this…

Isaac

Well, Kelly just called and gave me a bit of a pep talk, so I’ll see what it’s like tomorrow morning and decide then. If I can get to the metro station and amtrack is running well, I’m going! Here’s to the weather people being a little off in their predictions!

Isaac

At lest not this weekend. The weather is just looking too sketchy. Everything about going up there is becoming an issue, and I really don’t want to deal with it. I figure that NYC will still be there next month too. Plus then I can really enjoy the city instead of dealing with Blizzard conditions. Anyway, I already cleared it with my boss, I can skip this trip and reschedule my mini vacation. I’m shooting for sometime in march…

Isaac

We all knew it wouldn’t be too long before I did it. Well, since I was going to NYC this weekend I needed a camera, right? I was toying with the idea of buying a Contax G1 with a 45mm Zeiss lens, then Zeiss announced that they were going to release lenses in the Nikon mount. I’ve never really liked any of the Nikon 50mm lenses (my favorite focal length in 35mm) but I do like their FM series cameras. I had budgeted around $250 for an old FM2 and $500 for the Zeiss 50mm f1.4. I had used the lens before, in the Contax mount and found it to be superb, the new Nikon lens is going to be the same one with a different mount. Well, today I was looking to see if there was an FM series camera to be had used, I saw a Yashica FX-3 super camera. This is one of the many iterations of the Cosina camera that is made to be as cheap as possible. It wouldn’t usually be high on my list of desirable cameras, but we also had a Contax 50mm f1.4 lens in that fits it! SO I now have the lens I wanted and I saved about $500, not too bad eh? I’m going to start scouring ebay for more Yashica bodies for my big trip. I’m going to treat these as disposable cameras since they’re so cheap. As long as my lens works, I’ll be able to go through cameras as I need to for $50 a pop… My photo things are coming together quite nicely, can’t wait to try my stuff out up in NYC!!

Isaac

Got a strange assortment of packages today. Finally got a couple of colognes I had been waiting for, a satiny red shirt, and a quartet of 600v 40 amp bridge diodes. Piper Nigrum and Bitter orange round out my cologne collection for now. I’m going to try really hard not to buy any more, certainly not until I get back from my trip. It’s silly really, but I have little willpower when it comes to impulse purchases of scents I like.

The shirt was a bit of a surprise. I got it off of ebay, and the picture wasn’t the best but I got it for a buck. I’ve been looking for a good, deep red shirt I can wear to work. A burgendy, wineish color, but really deep. This shirt sort of looked like what I was looking for. Got it today and it is a wine color, but not very deep, a bit too bright for my tastes. Plus, t has that satiny, shiny thing going on, not sure where or even if I’ll wear it.

The bridge diodes are for my power supply project. All I need are some power resistors and a big variac, and I’ll be able to get a variable bench supply up and running. That lets me experiment on building a power amp. One step at a time… Since today was payday, I am going to order the other parts I need to start building my first amp and complete my power supply. I’ll also buy a bunch of boxes for my naked vacuum tubes. I have accumulated a fair number of them, plus I just disposed of a bunch of moldy, dusty boxes. The tubes need a little cleaning and new boxes to organize them.

It’s funny how I keep accumulating projects to spend my time and money on. I wonder if I’ll be able to get through any of them before I leave…

Isaac

Doh, this is one of the few sites that has good pictures. There are plenty with great subjects and so so pictures, but this guy did a pretty good job. Check it out here. I want to go!!!!

Isaac