Posts filed under 'Randomness'
This last weekend I attended my 20 year high school reunion, which instantly dates me. There were numerous scheduled events between Friday and Sunday, but I only attended the Friday and Saturday night events. The Friday thing was at a McMinnville brew pub, like our 10 year, and it was pretty well attended. I had a good time and all, but it was what happened afterward that left a distinct memory. As I left the parking lot of the brew pub, a Mac cop followed me. I drove down 3rd street and made a left turn on Baker (99 West). The cop followed close behind. After the Baker/1st Street intersection, I made a change into the right lane. The cop immediately turned on his lights and I pulled over. He came up to my window and the following conversation transpired:
Me: Is there a problem officer?
Mac Cop: You made an improper land change
Me: I had my turn signal on
Mac Cop: Oregon law requires that you engage your turn signal at least 100 feet before changing lanes
Me: Are you serious?
Mac Cop: Have you been drinking?
Me: I had a gin and tonic about four hours ago
Mac Cop: I’m going to need your license, registration, and proof of insurance
So I had the guy all my stuff and he goes back to the squad car and sits there for like 15 minutes. I rearrange the contents of my glove box. He eventually comes back.
Mac Cop: There is a problem with your license
Me: What?
Mac Cop: Is this your current address? (points to license)
Me: I just moved to Kiezer, like, two weeks ago
Mac Cop: You have 30 days to change your address with the DMV or you’ll be in violation in Oregon law
Me: OK, thanks
And with that, I drove off for my hour long trip. Since I missed the last Wheatland Ferry run, I had to go through Salem, making my already long drive that much longer.
Saturday night was a much better experience. I spent pretty much the whole day putting together a video slide show for the evening, but I was having all manner of technical issues. Much of my computer stuff is still in boxes, so I spend a lot of time rummaging for correct power supplies or Firewire cables. And then I had all sorts of issues encoding the footage and burning the CD. All of this made me 30 minutes late to the Saturday event, but everything worked out fine. The video, while pretty rough around the edges, was generally well received. Later in the evening, I had a ton of great conversations. There were the standard conversations centered around where people lived and what people do for a living, but I enjoyed other conversations centered around the human condition. You see, when I was in middle school, I tended to get into a fair amount of trouble, as did some of my classmates attending this reunion. Nearly all of us got that waywardness out of our systems by high school and had left the delinquency behind us. For a few of our classmates, they never made that step forward and remained stuck in a cycle of alcohol and drug addiction. Some have been regular visitors to the inside of the Yamhill County Court House (or worse, the jail). I talked with a couple of my classmates about why we manage to make it through high school and lead relatively productive lives while some of our old friends floundered. One interesting insight a classmate had was that our troubled counterparts had virtually no other interests outside of getting blasted. I certainly liked drinking and smoking out during my middle school years, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do all the time. For some of our more trouble bent friends, the only activity worth participating in was one that included getting totally f’ed up. It’s like most of us outgrew that urge and moved on with our lives, while these old friends remain trapped in the past. It was weird seeing them, because it felt like some kind of pull from the past we had all deliberately tried to get away from.
August 24th, 2010
While driving home from work the other night I heard a piece on NPR about how this year’s Lilith Fair has been scaled back. It got me thinking about the one I attended during the summer of 1997 just outside of Pittsburgh. That summer was spent interning for the Allegheny Heritage Development Corporation in Somerset County, PA. The exact details surrounding my attendance of Lilith are hazy. I did enjoy the company of two female interns. Much press at the time was devoted to the long lines for the women’s restroom and I can confirm those queues were very long. The men’s room, in contrast, was a complete ghost town. I don’t remember any of the artists from the secondary stages, but according to Wikipedia, there were some great acts like Juliana Hatfield and Beth Orton. I remember Lisa Loeb and Indigo Girls from the main stage, but that’s about it. I guess the ‘98 festival included such diverse acts as Mono (RIP) and Neko Case which is really random and awesome.
I kind of feel like I betrayed the whole vibe the event organizers worked so hard to foster back in ‘97. During a sudden downpour, I sought shelter with one of my female companions behind a concession stand. We both kind of grabbed each other in the excitement of the moment and ended up kissing. It was all very innocent and awkward, but it felt like we were breaking some kind of unwritten Lilith Fair rule. I suppose our spontaneous behavior was more befitting of something like Lollapalooza. The evening ended with a long car ride back to our rural postings which included my endlessly annoying renditions of Sneaker Pimp songs with made-up lyrics.
It seems like this year’s Lilith Fair doesn’t offer the same kind of deep bench the ’90s version offered. I was looking over the details tonight for the show in the ‘Couv and it doesn’t have the kind of impressive line-up like the ’90s.
July 22nd, 2010
Subtle Drummer
http://www.liveleak.com
Worst. Concert. Ever.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com
Japanese Sci Fi Illustrations
http://pinktentacle.com
Colour Changing Lightbox
http://www.robandnick.com
July 16th, 2010
A recent Portland Tribune article chronicled Oregon Historical Society’s (OHS) efforts to levy a “heritage taxing district” on Multnomah County property owners. Without some kind of cash infusion, from this property tax measure or some other money raising effort, the article suggests OHS will likely burn through its cash reserves by next year. I have to confess it’s hard for me not to feel a little bit excited about the prospect of watching OHS finally crash and burn — I’ve harbored just a sliver of bitterness toward the organization for better than a decade. So let’s flash back to 1998, shall we? I’m fresh out of graduate school with a newly minted master’s degree in public history and some museum/archives experience under my belt. After moving back to Oregon, I learned of a temporary position at OHS involving a traveling exhibit. I quickly applied and went through a round of interviews, which I thought went reasonably well. I was more than qualified for this entry level position and I really believed I would be a great fit. So you can imagine my disappointment when I learned the job went to someone else. But the bitterness part came into play when I found out the position was filled by someone who came from the travel and hospitality industry. WTF? This was just the beginning of many rejections I would experience while applying for mostly entry level positions at OHS. After a couple of years, I just gave up trying and abandon hope of working in the public history field here in PDX. But maybe fate was doing me a favor: the few people I knew who worked at OHS never seemed very happy.
I should just be clear about this, despite bad interactions with OHS, I viewed both the research library and publishing entity in a positive light — both of which appear to have died on the vine over the last couple of years. The actual “museum” part of the OHS has always been underwhelming (and what’s up w/ the $12.00 admission fee?). The layout is disjointed and the exhibits seem quaint. Portland has a rough, wonderful history that includes explosive racial conflict in the ’40s, full-on Chicago style corruption in the ‘50, and youthful social unrest in the ’60s…but I don’t ever remember temporary exhibits exploring any of these topics. Coming off of an internship at Chicago Historical Society (CHS) in the late ’90s, my first walk through the permanent exhibits at OHS was depressing. I suspect much of OHS’ woes can be traced back to its lack of true professional museum leadership. The recent crop of executive directors seemed stogy even by traditional white-bread Oregon standards. In contrast, my experience at CHS exposed me to museum professionals with vision. OHS always seemed so elitist, yet somehow they managed to still be disconnected from other, more successful, elitist cultural institutions. And as Portland’s population exploded over the last decade, OHS failed to engage that massive influx of new residents unlike its cultural institutional peers.
I kind of feel like we should just let OHS fade away due to benign neglect (isn’t that what we have been doing for the last two decades? Good job Oregon!) The best parts of the organization, like the research library and the publishing arm, have already receded into the background, so I don’t see the organization really being relevant in its present state, other than being a warehouse of artifacts and documents. Personally, I would like to see the current organization go through a phased shutdown over the next two years. The archival and artifact collection could be transferred to other entities, like the City of Portland Archives, the Oregon State Library, and other various cultural institutions. I think we collectively need to decide what a future OHS should look like. That process needs to be driven by the community, especially those historically marginalized, like African American, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Traditionally, OHS has represented “old Oregon”, which basically translates into “honky Oregon”. Let’s face it, OHS is something Oregon as a state should take ownership of and assuming the funding responsibilities. To lay the financial burden in the laps of Multnomah County property owners is totally unfair. Hopefully, Mayor Sam Adams will oppose this tax measure and let the clock run out on OHS. Sometime you just need to let a failing organizations completely unravel, which I think is a good idea in this instance.
March 30th, 2010
One of the reasons I signed up for Gmail a couple of years ago was for the chance to get a personalized email address, i.e. “ned.howard” instead of something totally random. But what I didn’t anticipate was email intended for other Ned Howards. I don’t get a flood of these misdirected messages, but they do hit my inbox from time to time. The highest volume appears to be intended for some fellow Ned Howard in Australia. My twin seems to be leading a far more adventurous, outdoor-centric life then mine, since I’ve received many messages from his friends offering photographic evidence of his many exploits down under. From the emails I’ve received, I’ve been able to deduce the other Ned appears to be young, well off, and an employee of the Australian government. Here is sample text from a recent email:
From: XXX XXXX <XXX.XXXX@development.tas.gov.au>
To: “XXXX.XXXXX@gmail.com” <XXXX.XXXXXX@gmail.com>, XXXX XXXX <XXXX.XXXX@fpa.tas.gov.au>, “ned.howard@gmail.com” <ned.howard@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 6:23 PM
Subject: moula
Hulla hulla hulla,
Well well well three holes in the ground..
I’m back at work after a long weekend and it bites really.. Wishin for some muzza river loving, good aussie wine, workin’ hard at being lazy, no bite on the line.. my kind of paradise – a river and some bloody wine..
I’m not sure what “muzza river loving” constitutes, but the Aussie wine sure sounds good. Maybe this was a fishing trip? The rest of the message is related to car rental details that I’ll keep confidential (why don’t people use secure email?). It’s interesting to note my Australian counterpart is as often referred to as “Nedley”, which is funny because that’s the nickname many of my friends use for me. And just like Crocodile Dundee, these real life Australians say “bloody” a lot.
I should email all these people back and let them know I’m not the Ned Howard they’re looking for. But sometime these random emails are the highpoint of my workday and it would be sad if they slowly died off.
February 11th, 2010
I haven’t gone to many movies this year or listened to much in the way of new music, so I’ve been having trouble coming up with my annual top 10, or even a top 5, list of favorites. Instead, I’ve focused on compiling at top 4 list. There are a lot of movies I have yet to see, like The Hurt Locker or Moon, that may have made my list, but it’s been challenging getting out to see movies this year. And music wise, I haven’t really been listening to much contemporary stuff as of late. I think the last albums I enjoyed to were by Stars of the Lid and Human League. Some of the albums I thought I would like this year, M Ward comes to mind, turned out to be disappointing. I’m even a little lukewarm about putting the Neko Case album in my top 4 since I think it’s one of her weaker efforts. Anyway, here are some lists…
Movies
1. The Informant!
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Up
4. District 9
Albums
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. Church - Song Force Crystal
3. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
4. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Some misc. highlights from 2009 have been Mad Men on AMC, Bored to Death on HBO, and the release of Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360. And while I enjoyed watching Avatar in 3D last week, I just can’t bring myself to classify it as a favorite for 2009. I will say it was one of the most interesting visuals of 2009 though. Like Roger Ebert, I’ll give it a special jury prize.
December 28th, 2009
It’s been ages since I’ve had a real Christmas tree in the house. I thought it might be a nice change of pace to embrace the holidays this year, so I went to a neighborhood tree lot with Stacy this last Sunday to pick-out a modest sized noble. Of course it turns out I don’t have any colored Christmas lights back at the house, so this necessitated a couple of fruitless trips to some big box retailers. I don’t know what’s going on this year, but I had a really hard time finding basic mini lights. Guess retailers are playing it safe and keeping inventory low given the bad economy and all.
Once I got the tree up and the lights on, the house was soon overflowing with holiday cheer. Just sitting on the couch and looking the decorated tree makes me feel happy. And the cats are just as jazzed. Clementine enjoys laying under the tree on the soft, snow-like base while sniffing the needles. Cholula is endlessly fascinated by the handful of ornaments on some of the higher branches. Neither has completely destroyed the tree yet, which is kind of surprising, since they can be so destructive with everything else in the house.
December 8th, 2009
I had an idea about two weekends ago for a great product. It has come to my attention that many Americans rely on “talking” alarm clocks. What seems lacking to me in these clocks are options other than the stock female voice announcing the time. Not being a morning person, I need something a little more strident. That’s why I would like to bring to market the Samuel L. Jackson Talking Alarm Clock (SLJTAC). I envision the SLJTAC having one initial message and three snooze messages triggered at five minute intervals — each one offering a more forceful extortion to get out of bed. I could see the messages starting with something like: “I’m sorry, did I wake you from a peaceful slumber?” Then moving on to something like: “get your honky ass out of bed or I will lay my wrath upon thee!” Really, I would defer to Sam Jackson on the specific message; I think he would know what would be most effective.
This clock would also have the option of importing .wav files for custom announcements. Similar to my PlayStationPortlable, I see the SLJTAC having a USB and MemorySlick ports. Basically, you would hook the SLJTAC to your Mac or PC via USB cable and then move .wav files over. The computer would recognize the SLJTAC and would treat it like a hard drive. There would be a couple sets of folders for user sounds and it would just be a matter of dragging and dropping files. I’m thinking there would also be a SLJTAC website similar to iTunes where users could go and buy new sounds. There could be a whole market of B-list celebrities. How about waking up to Mr. T? Or Chuck Norris? The possibilities are endless really. You could also have announcements in foreign languages as well, opening up a huge domestic and international market as well.
At this point I have a good idea of what the software and hardware would need to do. Now I need capital and some connections for manufacturing. Of course I would have to SLJ onboard, but there would of course be a generous cut for him based on the number of units sold. The great thing about this product is the flexibility. Being able to download sound files sets this talking alarm clock concept apart from all the other current products on the market.
December 5th, 2009
OK, I guess it’s been a couple of years since I’ve hosted one of my “theme” parties, but I’ve finally got myself motivated enough to pick-up the torch again. For the 2010 party, it will be a celebration of late ’70s early ’80s British synthpop. The CD track listing has almost been finalized, the essay is in it’s final draft stage, and I’ve started the process of putting together the artwork for the jewel case. As far as food goes for the party, I’ll be looking into what was popular during the early ’80s. If dressing up is you thing, there will be plenty of options of you. I’ll do a blog post later on with some suggestions illustrated by period photos. But if you’re a guy, think of Depeche Mode circa “Speak and Spell”. If you’re a lady, consider the fashion sense of the female singers from The Human League circa “Dare”. The plan is to have the CD in the mail around March/April with the actual party in June.
November 14th, 2009
I don’t know what happened this year, but my house has become a complete spider fest. The one above is the biggest I’ve seen so far, but there have been plenty of others frighteningly large. When we had that heatwave last summer, I tried sleeping in the basement for some relief, but abandon the notion when I discovered the place had become a haven for an army of arachnids. Guess I have another thing to blame on the Global Warmings.
November 12th, 2009
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