Author: Andy

On occasion I get into over-the-phone face-offs with people that I’m helping that are also in some form of customer service (or from the Midwest) where habit takes over and we try to out-cordialize and out-well wish each other. It can make hanging up difficult. “NO … You have a good day.”

This morning’s drive to work was a nice mix of fog and sunlight. There was the typical eerie gray but just enough color that promised an appearance by the sun. Sure enough, while crossing the Fremont bridge, the sunlight caught just the down-angled trusses on the bridge frame while the rest was hidden by the fog. The effect made it look like the shell of a chiton.

For the rest of the drive, the light played on various buildings and structures, sometimes shining a little too brightly. I hope we have a dry February again.

Even after 4 days of having beets, I still chuckle ever time I use the bathroom. Our latest CSA basket has a different kind of beet. I’m hoping it creates a different hue.

In the decent of man from apes, one of the defining differences between our early ancestors and apes was the ability craft (and I’m going to assume, select) tools for specific tasks. The great apes were already able to use objects to assist in their normal routines. The asshole who broke in to my van must fall somewhere between our early ancestors and apes because he only brought a single tool, a flathead screwdriver, to steal my stereo. This short-sightedness on his part (once again, going to assume) meant that instead of unscrewing 4 Philips-head screws to remove the stereo, he had to torque the stereo out of its frame, ultimately destroying the dashboard and breaking the circuit board of the stereo and cracking the interface for the removable face, rendering the stereo completely useless.

It’s entirely possible that he did bring more than one tool, but his speed-addled brain didn’t want to finesse it out for fear that it might add hours (or seconds) on to the job. So, after destroying the dashboard, the two main vents, the small (and probably expensive) triangular window, my stereo, the antenna cable and mounting frame, he bolted. The inept f*cktard only managed to do upwards of a thousand dollars in damage without accomplishing anything. I guess a flunky is a flunky is a flunky.

Until I lived with one, I had been under the impression that cats were clean and dainty animals. Now I know otherwise. Maybe Tigger is just an exception, too. He is an indoor/outdoor animal, and that has worked well for us because he goes outside and it’s none of our concern except on rare occasions when we’re gardening. The downside to this technique is that when it’s wet, he often tracks in mud, leaf detritus, and an occasional slug. Sure, it’s gross, but it’s generally soft.

After his recent illness and required incarceration while on antibiotics, we got him a litter-box. He begrudgingly used it at first and the novelty and sound were so hilarious that I enjoyed it too. Sadly, he’s now able to come and go as he pleases again but often comes back inside to use the litter-box. He’s also a picky drinker, so he either gets a paw wet while checking the water then uses the litter-box and gets litter/cement everywhere, or he just tracks litter around, sometimes all the way across the house. What makes it especially gross is when you consider what is working as the bonding agent in the litter.

Back to being a finicky drinker. He won’t drink from a water source if he doesn’t know it’s fresh. We often checks the freshness by pawing at the water, leaving clumps of litter in whatever source of water he drinks from. Sometimes that’s Barley’s water dish, sometimes his own, sometimes your glass of water on the coffee table, or the sink in the middle of the night or sometimes the toilet. What kind of “clean” animal would drink from a toilet?

As we enter yet another year to get behind in listening to music, I thought I’d reconsider the coolest stuff I heard last year. Naturally, it’s just scratching the surface, but it’s really difficult to listen to just new music when there’s always stuff from the past you’re just finding for the first time. Damn musical influences.

Anyway, here goes.

1. Dangerdoom. MF is at his best and most clever, and the same can probably be said for Danger Mouse. I’m not sure if it’s just the copy I got off iTMS, but the levels are a bit off so most of the bass rattles too much. Still, the album is 90% awesome. 90% more awesome than Demon Days too.
2. You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having – Atmosphere. Best since Lucy Ford. Great Rza/Wu sound on several tracks with Slug on cruise control.
3. The Best Reason to Buy the Sun – The Benevento Russo Duo. Why did I try to forget how to play piano? These guys were the highlight of the Ropeadope new music seminar.
4. Live @ Stubb’s or Live at U. Maryland – Matisyahu. If you don’t listen to this too much, it’s really good. Different and chill.
5. End of the World Party – Medeski, Martin & Wood. Maybe I’m just in the mood for this album, but I really dig the sound lately.

honorable mention In Between Dreams – Jack Johnson. I can’t believe I picked this but I’ve heard a lot of it and it’s really, really clean. The lyrics are occasionally great and the album makes my baby happy.