Molt Be Blog

Saturday, May 28, 2005



The Faint
The Faint
Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes

The Faint put on a great show last night, as usual. The set was similar to the last time that we saw them. Yet again, the lead guitarist danced more than he played. I have to wonder how much of the music that's coming back is actually being made on stage. Their drummer works extremely hard, but the rest of the band spend a lot of time just lolling about for fifteen seconds and then strumming their guitars or striking their keyboards.
The Faint was really just the opener for Bright Eyes (aka Conor Oberst), but R and I left only three or four songs into his set. I had no idea that Oberst had such a thirteen year old following until we got to the show and saw all the Under 21 hand markings, unwashed hair, oversized t-shirts and smelled that distinct scent of confused hormones. Ah! Teenage angst... with parental accompaniment. Oberst struck myself and everyone else I talked to as creepy. He also chose to do songs off of Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, the electronic LP released at the same time as his more "countrified" I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, which I think is just plain better. His decision to play the electronic stuff was clearly influenced by the presence of The Faint, whose drummer, bassist and keyboardist all came on for as much of Oberst's performance as I saw (they're on the left in the picture).
My mom sent me a link to this comic, today.
On Thursday night, R and I watched the movie Saved!. I recommend it highly.
This three day weekend is going to rock. My only responsibility is to get a hair cut and I'm taking care of that this evening... Oh wait, I'm supposed to do a bunch of website stuff. Always with the forgetting of the responsibilities.

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Friday, May 27, 2005

The kittens are very, very interested in going out on the balcony this morning. This involves the white one scaling the screen door and the grey one trying to bat her down. Then it involves me with a spray bottle spraying both of them. Conditioning works. It's pretty amazing. If only they could be conditioned to not scratch me while I'm sleeping...
Finally Friday. This week has dragged on for everyone that I know in DC. I dont' know if it's because I've been going out every night to do different things (lost our kickball game last night 4-3, but were mounting a comback at the end there) or if had to do with it raining for 3 days. Either way, at least everyone seems to agree.
Let's see. Tonight it the Faint/Bright Eyes show. Saturday, I'm supposed to go see the Raveonettes, but am thinking about trying to get rid of the tickets... in fact, I just posted them now on craigslist.
Ok. Going to be late again.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Snow Patrol



Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol last night was excellent. I was down on the floor for this show, for once, and was surprised that I could still see pretty well. Maybe I've grown or something. There was a different bassist on this tour, but the music didn't seem to suffer. It was a very similar set to the last time we saw them, but with 3 new songs. 2 of the new songs sounded like the would stand up to their last three albums, so I'm looking forward to their new one.
What I could have done without was the tone-deaf woman singing extremely loudly behind us. I almost moved, but R noticed that her eyes were as big as dinner plates and we figured that whatever drugs were in her system would shut her up faster than we could. Her inability to sing to the new songs may have attributed to why I think they're pretty good, though... too bad.
This blogging in the morning thing will definitely not be popular at the office. Not a good way to get there on time.
Added a new image to the portfolio the other day. One of R's feet in the water on Mallorca.
Kickball game this evening, then a friend's going away party Thursday, then Bright Eyes opening for The Faint on Friday. This week is ridiculous.

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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

More pictures from the same spot



Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev
Doves
Doves

I went to see Mercury Rev open for the Doves at the 930 club last night. I have to say that I like Mercury Rev better, but that's because the two are distinctly different types of music. Mercury Rev appear to have taken enough hallucinogenics to sound extremely similar to The Flaming Lips without all the electronic squishy sounds.
Between bands, the guy behind me on the stairs dropped his full beer bottle on me (from about two inches above me head). He was a clumsy dork, but that's no excuse for his lame "sorry, man. I'm really sorry about that" and apparent inability to go find some paper towels for me or the other three people that it tumbled onto.
The kittens just stole the camera away while it was loading pictures because they are very, very interested in the strap. They're also interested in their own tails. I have a two minute video of the Gray one chasing its own tail.
Crap, going to be late for work.

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Sunday, May 22, 2005

San Diego - recap



The W
On the roof of The W in San Diego
Red Tree
A red tree on the way to Balboa Park in San Diego
Flower Garden
A flower garden in Balboa Park
The Big Tree
The largest tree in Balboa Park
Built To Spill
Built to Spill - 930 Club - May 16th, 2005

As promised, some pictures from San Diego and the built to spill show. The first one is from the roof of The W hotel in downtown San Diego. The roof bar is called "The Beach" and has sand for a floor and trendy people lounging about all over the place. Just my kind of establishment... especially when there's a company tab to be drinking on and they're projecting Dude Where's My Car? onto a wall. The picture is from Saturday night.
Sunday morning I woke up early and took a walk from the hotel up to Balboa park. It's an hour walk at least, but my flight (containing about 30 other people from my office) wasn't until 12:45, so I left my bags with the bellman and headed out. I saw this red tree on the way up and thought it looked out of place and interesting... so that's why there's a picture of it.
I walked all the way to the center of the park to settle a bet with R regarding whether or not another tree that we'd seen somewhere in Spain was more like this tree that she had seen in the center of Balboa park, or more like the tree from Fern Gully... the children's anti-logging, anti-corporation propaganda film (it's good!).
I'll definitely have to dig up photos of the tree in Spain, the one in the movie and the one in the park to do a full analysis of this argument.
I walked up some pretty steep hills to get into the park. Witnessed a hit and run fender-bender, but from too far away to have seen the license plate. No one was hurt, but the pick-up that peeled away was going pretty fast. A homeless woman who had witnessed the accident complained to me as we waited to cross the street about how annoying it was for people to have accidents right in front of her. As we walked towards the park, I asked her directions on how to get to the big tree and she helped me out.
After I'd walked through some of the Spanish colonial style architecture and taken a look at the big tree, one of my coworkers called and said that she and a friend were going to go out for breakfast and suggested we all meet up near the park. The plan was to be done eating breakfast by 11:20, grab a cab back to the hotel, get our bags and then go to the airport to be there an hour early for the 12:45 flight that two of us were on. We were at least a 45 minute walk away from the hotel, so a cab was necessary if we were going to make the flight.
We finished breakfast at 11:30. We started looking for a cab at 11:31 and realized that we were going to have more trouble than we'd expected at about 11:45 when we still hadn't seen a single taxi. We called a number that we got off the side of a cab that refused to pick us up and gave them a street corner to meet us on. At 12:00, we started to panic and called the cab number again. They hadn't put the call out yet for someone to pick us up. I called the Sheraton and explained our situation to the concierge and she said they would send a cab to pick us up, but that if we found another one in the meantime, we should take it.
At 12:15 a cab came barreling down the street and we assumed that it was one of those that had been sent for us. I flagged him down, explained our situation and he said to get in. At this point, we had 30 minutes left before the plane took off. The hotel was only a 5 minute drive and the airport is only 5 minutes from the hotel. As soon as the cab started moving, the driver began to explain that he was, "actually on a call and that he would have to go see if that person was willing to share the cab with us." The adrenaline really started pumping as I realized that this guy was a little crazy and might not get the fact that we only had 30 minutes... wait 28 minutes now... to get where we needed to go. He decided that the best thing he could do would be to help us look for a cab and drive us to a taxi stand, which was right next to the place where we'd just eaten breakfast. There were no cabs there. I started considering opening the door and jumping out to go back to the spot where we'd asked the other cabs to pick us up. I spent some time trying to convince our driver that he would only have to take an extra 15 minutes in picking up his fare if he would just drive us to the hotel and then to the airport, but he was having none of it.
We pulled up in front of the fare's house at about 12:23. The cab driver assured us that a lot of people didn't come out for cabs that they had called, so we shouldn't worry too much.
"I can tell from your voices that you're nervous," he said, "so we'll only wait here a minute after I honk even though I usually wait three."
How nice of him! What the hell were we doing out here even further away from the hotel than where we had eaten breakfast?
"That was the worst minute of my life," I whispered as no one came out of the house and insane-cabbie-guy shifted into drive. A bit louder this time, I said,"Ok. We've got twenty-two minutes to get to the hotel, get our bags, get to the airport, check-in, get through security and get to the gate. This isn't going very well."
Cabbie sprang into action and immediately took a leisurely right turn to stop at a red-light where he chose to not take the risk of a right on red. He then proceeded to start telling us about the neighborhood we were in (Hillcrest) and how it was "pretty gay" and that he was surprised that we didn't find a cab. I found this comment to be completely baffling and wasn't even sure if it was homophobic, insulting or what. He also pointed out a few empty cabs to us as we made it onto the freeway. I was fuming, but had lost the ability to really be mad and was now just trying to think about making the flight... Even if we made it, I was already going to get home at 8:30pm and would have to go to work in the morning. What would I do if I had to take a flight at 5pm or later? I wouldn't get home until 2 in the morning.
"You know what's even more ridiculous about this whole thing," I said, turning to my coworker and her friend, "it's after 12 and the two of you haven't checked out yet. That's going to add some time."
"Will our keys still work?"
"Ouch. That's a good question. You might want to call the hotel to tell them we're coming."
By this time, we'd already pulled up in front of the hotel.
"If you're going in to get your bags, you're going to have to leave some collateral," the cabbie said as the two girls ran inside."
I'll just stay in the cab until they get back, we don't have time to deal with wallets and money. Can you pull up to the bellman so I can get my bag without leaving?"
At 12:32, after getting new keys made, etc. the girls came out and we all threw our bags in the trunk and jumped back in the cab.
Our driver received a phone call as we were exiting the hotel parking lot and proceeded to have a conversation about god knows what as the three of us freaked out in the back seat. We pulled up to a stop light across from the airport and waited... and waited. The light turned green, but our driver was a bit too engrossed in his conversation to notice.
"Green Light!" I chirped.
"So it is," our driver said as he slowly pressed down the gas pedal, "which airline did you say?"
"UNITED!" came the response from all three of us in the back seat.
We pulled up in front of the United check-in at 12:35. We ran to separate auto-check-in kiosks and started hitting buttons. As I was waiting for my boarding pass to print out, I turned around and noticed another coworker from my office standing behind me.
"Donald, man! I've only got ten minutes to make my flight! I'm freaking out!"
"Are you on the 12:45?"
"Yeah, and it's 12:40, and look at that line! I'm not going to make it."
"I'm on the 12:45 too, it was postponed until 3."
So there I was: Two hours and fifteen minutes early for my flight with a blood stream chock-full of adrenaline and nothing to use it on. A bear-attack would have been nice at that moment. Instead I bought a $3 bottle of water at pizza hut and sat around with the 30 other people from my office recalling the tale of how I'd gotten there.
Lesson learned.

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Friday, May 20, 2005

Star Wars - Episode III, laughed my way through.

I just got back from the movie and I can't say that I didn't get exactly what I'd expected. Our friend Chris got there at 3:30 for the 10:30 show, so was only about 12th in line, which helped us all attain some pretty choice seats (one of which R managed to sleep in for about 45% of the movie).
The movie itself was better than episodes I and II in terms of effects and plot, but just as bad, if not worse, in terms of dialogue.
Off to bed, work in the AM!
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Sent via BlackBerry Wireless Handheld... Guess where I am.

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

I need to read this article later, but probably won't have time as I've got this job thing to do and am going to see Star Wars this evening at the one and only uptown theatre, (at least in Washignton, DC)

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

A lot to catch up on

Went to san diego and took several photographs.
Went to see Built to Spill and took several photographs.
Ran into another person from my 400 person NY high school in DC.
Back at work and not having time for the write-write.
More on all these topics post-haste.
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Sent via BlackBerry Wireless Handheld... Because I care that much.

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Friday, May 13, 2005

B-O-R-I-N-G

Well, I haven't seen a single bit of San Diego yet other than the airport and my hotel room and the interior of the van that shuttled me back and forth.
Sleeping in a gigantic bed without R around is lonely and annoying.
I forgot to bring toothpaste, so had several very vivid dreams about that before waking up and calling the front desk to ask for some. It was delivered with my complimentary copy of USA Today, which (upon recognizing what paper it was) made me regret the e dollar tip.
A large contigent of my coworkers signed up for a “fun run” this morning that started at 5:45am. I'm all for running, but I'm not for running before noon or with coworkers, hence my still having seen nothing.
On that note, I'm going to dress quickly and try to take a little walk around before diving head first into what just might be the most boring 2 days I've experienced in quite some time.

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Sent via BlackBerry Wireless Handheld... Because I care that much.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Not about kittens

Ok. I've agreed to sit here and write something not concerning the new kittens. R is at work and I'm putting off packing for my trip to San Diego tomorrow. A whole weekend of sitting in a big conference room listening to self-important people prattle on about healthcare consulting. Sound boring? It is!
Holy crap! I just realized that the AC in our building is on. Or maybe not. I felt the usually hot vent and it wasn't it's normal scalding temperature. So I turned the thermostat to cool and now there's semi-cool air escaping from the vent. It's tough to tell if it's actually cold or just feels cold. I'll update.
Had a kickball game today. Things didn't go... well. Out team is lovable. That's about all that counts.
A kitten is currently slashing my calves. Not very cute, I have to say.
This conference in San Diego is for all of the different healthcare departments in my company from all over the country. The agenda gives us so little free time that I won't be able to even make it to the zoo for 2 hours... something I'd really like to see. What jerks for having arranged to have mandatory sessions, lunches and dinners all day on a Friday and Saturday and then want us back to work on Monday. Jerks I tell you! I may just have to initiate the nuclear option and play sick on Saturday (I'd love to, but stupid ethics will keep me from it, I'm sure).
My only real option to take in any of San Diego will be to go for runs in the mornings or evenings. All employees are encouraged to attend binge-drinking sessions in the evenings, so this will make morning runs a bit tough to swing. I think I might skip the drinking this year, though. I work with these people all day. The last thing I really want to do is go out drinking with them at night... that's what friends are for.
Let's see... what else is new. Arianna Huffington started a celebrity blog. Now you can know what the drama-kids and losers from high school think about current events. I kid. I kid. But seriously, just because they're actors or rich people doesn't mean that their opinions are worth something. I guess that's the point of a blog, though. It's not like my opinion is worth something... and I was half a drama-kid in highschool anyway. What I don't like are the posts where celebrities try to sell you on a cause. That's not what blogs are for. That's what your publicist or your marketing guy are for. Blogs are for babbling about meaningless tripe, not for using your celebrity status to encourage people to give X to save Y (actually, Y is in danger. Please give to Y).
The whole Cessna over the whitehouse thing made the day a bit interesting. R called me at work to expalin that two fighter jets had just flown over the apartment. I'm not one to panic, so I didn't take it too seriously. I really wish that there was a better warning system in place for telling people what the heck is going on before F-16s start flying over their apartments, but I think it's pretty great that the jets were onto the plane by the time it was within 3 miles of downtown. Now, if it was a passneger jet instead of a cessna, I have to wonder if it would have been caught in time. I'm just a doubting Thomas, really. The no-fly zone around DC can only be so big, so you can't expect jets to be onto a plane immediately. Either way, it was loads of fun listneing to the WTOP radio reporters freak out about a cessna. Alright, that's all I've got.

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Monday, May 09, 2005





Right. As previously stated, this will not become some kind of kitten blog.
That said, here are some more pictures of the kittens who have now been named Johnny "Grey" Cash and Montse.
Watched the documentary Hearts and Minds this evening after eating dinner on the balcony. It was a gorgeous day out and I had enough time to meet R at the Vet's during work so that the kids could get their first shots. The vet hit Grey first and then moved onto Monste. After they'd both had their temperature taken (not under the tongue, mind you) and gotten shot in the back of their arms, they were both weighed in and placed back in their carrier where they proceeded to fight. It was a lot like a boxing match.
I did notice that both had the same reaction to rectal thermometers. When they're first hit, they let out a little squeak. Then they get really, really calm. As if to say, "oh no. Maybe if I don't move, nothing else will happen." Then when the thermometer comes out, they realize that not screaming was a waste and that they should make up for lost time by whining louder.

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Saturday, May 07, 2005

Kittens!




R and I got kittens today after waiting for months! This will not, however, turn into some kind of ridiculous kitten blog. I will post the occasional picture, but will not gush about kittens for hours on end. That's just not my style.
Haven't been up to much else other than gathering the necessary kitty stuff together and coaxing them out of the carrier. We've confined them to the bedroom to let them get used to their surroundings. Then again, there's only one more room in the entire apartment for them to discover, so I'm not sure how shocked they could really get.
While babysitting this afternoon I laid down on the bed to read a magazine and had both of them claw their way up the blankets and into the crook of my arm where we all took a nap for a while. Oh crap, I just started gushing about kittens, didn't I? Oh well. That's it. I'll have to return them before R gets home from work.

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Thursday, May 05, 2005

Had kickball last night. Went to work a little late this morning (not feeling too great). Have been spending a lot of time developing this portfolio online, so not much on the blogging. R and I are getting two kittens on Saturday! It's going to be awesome. -all for now.

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Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Spent some time this evening listening to WETA, checking out a sect of buddhism that my mom told me about called Nichiren, and reading about how elevators work.

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Sunday, May 01, 2005


Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales after throwing the first pitch
Game
During the game
Tarp
The tarp being taken back in after the first rain delay

What a town! R, her parents and I went to see a Nationals game last night and joined in with the rest of the crowd to boo Attorney General Alberto "Mr. Torture Memo" Gonzales as he threw the first pitch. Only in DC would the crowd know who the Attorney General was, let alone know enough about him to have an opinion on his character. Reeediculous. I was very proud of our section for the amount of booing that went on. The mascot "screech" was more excited and can be seen in the picture on the right breakdancing in the background as Torture Memo shakes hands with the receiver of his pitch. It was a great game, despite the rain. The tarp came out and went back in twice before they finally called it in the 8th... we only stuck around until the beginning of the second delay.
Watched Meet the Press this morning and finally figured out what it takes to be a chief of staff like Andrew Card or a press secretary. All these men really possess is an uncanny ability to never answer a yes or no question with a yes or no answer. They'll tell you that it's more complicated than a yes or no answer, but logically, it's pretty tough to say that there's another answer to some of these questions. A few key ways around the yes or no question that I noticed this morning:
(1) Instead of answering, describe the subject of the question until the questioner becomes bored. This was the case when Card was asked whether or not the president was troubled by the reputation of John Bolton (his nominee for diplomat to the UN). Card proceeded to do what all Bush-lovers are doing on this front and say that Bolton "has a distinguished career" and that "we need a man like Bolton in the UN right now" and that "he's a tough diplomat." Even after Russert pressed him a second time for a yes or no answer on whether or not the president was troubled, a yes or no answer was not forthcoming. I'm not even sure I care if he's troubled, but it seems a bit absurd that Bush or anyone on his staff would admit to him being troubled by one of the people that he nominated. That would be tantamount to admitting a mistake. Which no politician should ever do if they want to remain in politics.
(2) Instead of answering, pass the buck. This was the case when Card was asked about what should be done with Delay and if the president was taking steps to help him. I didn't manage to write down the original yes or no question, but the eventual answer coming out of Card was "that's a matter for the house." This also makes sense politically. Another pass the buck came up on North Korea. On Thursday, Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, explained in testimony to Hillary Clinton, that, were the North Koreans to throw a warhead on a 2 stage missile, they could hit California. Hillary went on to say to the NY Times that this is not something that the North Koreans were able to do before Bush... in essence blaming him for the advancement of the North Koreans. Russert asks Card about this, saying that "this has happened under President Bush's watch" and Card quickly says "or on president Clinton's watch." Then he goes on to explain that we're watching the North Koreans but working with others, shortly before name dropping Japan, South Korea, etc. What I find amusing is that even when he's working with all those helpful people that are so close to N. Korea, Bush still let Kim Jong-Il develop weapons. I'd have to agree with those that say we were a bit too distracted with fake weapons and not distracted enough with the real weapons.
Ok. I'm going to go sit in the sun for a bit.

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