Will I Am

Been such a lonely lonely lonely time...

2006-11-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not posting in so long, but Matt's Blog has spurred me on to post again. He's put up 5 scary videos for all-hallows-eve and I thought I'd do the same (though I'm a little behind).

First up we have one of my most hated... Love and Rockets as their alter-egos the bubblemen" performing The Bubblemen are Coming.

That was awful. Now we move on to another rotten egg: Bolly-wood Thriller

KALI-MA, Ma, Ma, ma! Anyway, I was going to post the Klaus Nomi, but Matt did that already, so I choose Hellbent by Kenna because the video is sad, but there's a terrifing element to the claymation...

That has to be what got the freque-ball rolling for the boys in Tool. My fourth pick is the death-metal band Lordi with Hard Rock Hallelujah because high school sucks and zombie highschool is awful.

Those guys make Kiss shit their tight leather pants. The final scary video I submit to you is Deathklok with Die For Deathklok because it's fucking metal and will melt your face right off with both fear and joy.

I hope you all enjoyed my little selection of doom and gloom in the world of music.

The did the Monster Mash...

Wild Weekend Wind-down

2006-07-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

What a crazy fun weekend! I played out to a packed (at times) club and had a blast. Despite the sound issues (you can read my other blog for the details on that) it went off well and everyone had a great time with great people, great bands, and everything was really... great! We made it to the boxer/lingerie party about 1 or 1:30 and stayed out until four in the morning.

I took a nice six-hour disco nap and went and had lunch/ breakfast (if only there were a word for that kind of meal... like lunfast or something) and let my brain enjoy the comedic stylings of the incorrigible Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther and The Party at the Paramount (for the dirt cheap price of $4.50, I might add) with a nice hearty Indian food dinner at Clay Pit. Afterwards I went back home, watched a little TV (I'm still wondering why The Venture Brothers wasn't on last night...) and crashed, only to have to wake up for my bloody boring class six hours later!

The prof went right through the lab (I guess we'll make it up tomorrow or Wednesday) and continued for a full FOUR HOURS OF CRAP. It's not that I dislike the subject matter (wait, it is) but I don't need to hear someone talk for four hours on end unless they have their shit together, so to speak. I want someone organized, someone on the ball, who sticks to lesson-plans (or gets off on tangets that they know something about, at least) and not some stammering, stuttering boob who forgets his notes, everyone's name in a twenty person class, and repeats himself endlessly! He spent the first hour going over the last exam in excruciating detail when the average was an A and a good number of the class got 100%! If there were issues, he does have office hours. My only solace is the fact that I will be rid of this worthless (in my eyes, anyway) class and last requirement for my major soon!

Eran buenas esas épocas

Fine Then!

2006-07-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

I've had a few demands made, a few insults thrown. Fine! You want an update, I'll give you one. I finished my two UT summer courses. Right now I'm laboring in the hell that is ACC electricity and magnitism class. The professor, every other day will drone on for -and I shit you not here- four fucking hours of mind-numbing, spirit-crushing boredom the likes of which I've not had in a class in a very very long time. Things are looking up for me, however, as I have been graciously given a job, or rather been tapped as the behind the scenes, under the table, off the books subcontractor for the job of a soul whom I cannot thank enough for letting me gnaw at the table scraps of the $9.50/hr. job that has gotten too large for one full time student to work alone. I'm coming into a stream of cash and that makes me and my incresingly impatient parents, very happy indeed.

I plan on spending a small sum of my money on a new chef's knife. I know just the one I'm getting too. I was thinking of a nice, shiny Wustof but they require twice weekly sharpenings and a run on the diamond every time I use it, whereas the knife I am getting, a Global, is Japanese (unlike the German Wustof) and will stand up better, I think than the heavy german chef's knives. I'm excited by the thought of a new kitchen knife. I think this makes me kind of lame, but it also needs to make you excited, because I will need to try it out on some new dishes, and I need people to try new said dishes.

In other news, I'm going to be the DJ at the Austin Traveler Magazine's "Global Groove and Give" party at Copa Bar and Grill downtown on the 22nd. Copa is a great club and I've been before and the magazine had their opening party there a year ago. There will be some live bands, but I'll be spinning whenever someone's not on stage. I'm going to try and smooze with the owner (maybe try to get a residency?). If you're in the Austin area and like breakbeats and French house, feel free to stop by. The Copa website has directions and I'm sure it will be a blast. The cover at the door is $10 which is a bit steep for an Austin party but all that goes into great international food (it's a travel magazine after all) and stellar drinks. The really great thing about the cover is that the proceeds go towards M.E.D.I.C.O. which helps needy kids in Central America with health care and medical supplies.

There will also be a really neat silent auction with gifts from S. America as well as gifts from local Austin businesses! I've seen a few of the prizes and they look great. Everything from cookbooks to artwork to gift certificates are availible with the proceeds going to help out M.E.D.I.C.O. All in all it should be a neat event and a great night out if you happen to be in the Austin area and want to have fun while you help out your global brothers and sisters. The other bands are an eclectic mix of Russian alt-rock, female blues vocalists, organic beat-heavy jazz, and some other stuff rarely heard. Plus of course, yours-truly on the ones and twos spinning the best in worldwide breakbeats and house.

So I'm also excited about Katie finally turning twenty-two (is it strange that that fact makes me feel a little old?) and is throwing a ninja vs. pirate party. If you don't know by now what I'm going as, you need to pull your head out from whatever corner of your anatomy it might be lurking and look around... oh, that's right... you won't be able to see me... coz I'm TEN NINJAS. I'm much like the fabled Chuck Norris, If you can see me, then I can see you. If you cannot see me, then you may be only seconds from death!

Some people from the LBJ school of public affairs (the future politicians and policy makers, keep in mind) are throwing a boxer-lingerie party and hopefully after I'm done spining records, I can take off my clothes and have a few drinks in the privacy and comfort of someone else's home. This will, in fact, mark my fourth boxer-lingerie party and I hope I can stay longer at this one than the last (I had MCATs in the morning, so no drinking for me) and have some good fun. I will be sleeping most of tomorrow if I can, so I feel well rested and ready to play out for the first time (you have no idea how nervous I am at the moment).

So I've updated -read and be satisfied my literate public. I promise I will update again on Sunday (though late, for obvious recovery reasons) and tell everyone of the great parties, food, dancing, and debauchery that weekends in summer are supposed to be about. Have a good one.

Take this job and shove it...

Don't Even Say It

2006-06-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

I know it's been waaaay to long between posts, but hopefully that will all change soon. I'm in a few summer school classes now (they should be easy A's) and they're pretty enjoyable for the most part. My car got fixed (the engine siezed up) so it's good that I can finally get around without mooching off other people so much. I've got a trip to Houston planned for this weekend where I will get to see friends at NASA, the anatomy exhibit, and my aunt and uncle. The next weekend after that, I'll be taking a trip to Dallas to see my parents and brothers and friends. I'm not super stoked about Dallas as there is a lot of business of school and money to be delt with, but whatcha gonna do?

I moved into my new house and for about a week now I've been living by myself in a big empty house (which is kinda cool) and watching a lot of World Cup matches on the tele. I've actually been keeping my class up to speed with the scores and whatnot. I'm thinking that writing all this when half awake is a bad idea, as I can't think of much to post at the moment. I promise I'll start posting daily again and perhaps this afternoon if I can get some caffine into my bloodstream.

Don't speak, I know what you're sayin'

Far Too Long

2006-05-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a whole bleeding month (and some change) since last I posted! Things that are new in my life include: FINAL EXAMS, a new house, old friends, new music, new job prospects, and summer school. In that order, I suppose we begin with FINAL EXAMS. I just took my first of four today and I must say that I wasn't worried about that one. I have another tomorrow (I've been cramming for it, but I'm not super worried about it either) and then one Saturday and the last one Monday. I am kind of sick of this semester and wasn't really enthused with my schedule and hope I can make up for it with the fall. I'm not about to bore anyone with finals stuff, as it's my own private hell and I've got to suffer through it by myself.

Matt, Robin, and I have got ourselves a new house at 32nd and Beanna, about a block north and 6 blocks east of our present loacale. This new place (it's a duplex) is better for a myriad of reasons: it has hardwood floors, a washer and dryer that work, large rooms and living space, and the real clincher to the deal: and honest-to-goodness DISH WASHER. I have wished for one for a whole year now and yippy skippy hoorah that I will have someplace to put the dishes from my cooking, which can use every dish I own at times (what can I say, I enjoy cooking- it's zen for me).

Old friends could be a little confusing, but my insanely cynical and highly genius friend Megan friended me over myspace (a subsidary of FOX corporation). I hate myspace. I like it here with Google where I'm safe with the other geeks, or if nothing else, on Facebook, where there are no friend-whores, odd messages, people without education, and all the other scaryness of an internet licking its chops for my precious info to make me into part of the collective (pardon the Borg reference). But Myspace is good to keep in touch with those who are not on Facebook or you just don't see that often. Megan is a riot, though you are going to have to use the little grey cells or have worked in retail to get a lot of the jokes. She's a great girl and I'm glad to see my Borders commerades in arms whenever possible.

I finally got around to finishing my first mix, called ELE-RUDI-MENTARY. It's a little over an hour and is comprised of 15 tracks. If you would like a copy, complete with jewelcase and liner notes, feel free to comment and I'll send you one, free of charge if you promise me you will play it in the company of others and when they asked who put the odd noise on, tell them I made it and they would do well to solicit my services for their next get together. Enough tooting my own horn (that always sounds dirty), but you should listen and enjoy.

I had a job interview of sorts yesterday with the director of the Chen lab on campus, that is, Dr. Chen (NOT Dr. Tran) and we had a nice chat about an undergraduate spot in his lab. They study polyploidy in Arabidopsis and Cotton. In layman's terms, PLANT SCIENCE! Hopefully I'll get it (I have experience in cloning and gene splicing) and then I'll get paid 8 bucks an hour and have some cash in my far too empty pockets!

I'm going to be taking two classes for the first summer session at UT, one on conflict in culture and the other in drugs and their impact on our society. They sound like fun and hopefully won't get in the way of the ACC physics class I'm taking over the summer. I should be planning a trip to Dallas soon to see friends and family, and then it's back to work with my lame ass!

It's been much too long, I feel it coming on...

Weekend Sounds

2006-04-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was full of music. On Friday, I got my two new CDs from Amazon, then we went to the Waterloo Records' 20% off sale. I brought my list and found a good 6 CDs I wanted. We then got silly with booze and laughed over Super Troopers (ok, not music but still fun). A bunch of us (Nick, Matt, Robin, Katie, and I) went to the Austin Record Conention. I wasn't having much luck from opening until lunch. We went and ate at this really great place Katie knew and Matt, Robin, and I felt we needed to go back - we have to get something, right? Well, I went back and within the span of about 2 hours, I found 7 CDs I wanted, all for under $20! I felt like a goddamned master theif who hit the jackpot. One guy gave me a super-hard-to-find Propellerheads EP for a dollar because it was an advanced copy rather than the actual album (whatever you say, pal) and another guy gave me a brand new Basement Jaxx album for two dollars because he liked my shirt.

Later Saturday night, we went to the SPRUNG! shebang at Velvet Spade. It was a great venue, though I think the timing was bad. There were 2 other big events going on at the same time which probably attracted the same crowd. The 80's dance-party, Rock The Casbah, was going on downtown at the Parish. Alternitively, Common was playing at 40-Acres Fest. The music was good, but DJ Scot Gray didn't get on until we were about to leave, so we stayed and danced a little more (he was really good). It's a shame we didn't get to see more, but I think everyone was tired. I have some pictures up on facebook if you're down with that. DJ Rocky Rodd (a.k.a. DJ Gir) played a really great DnB set, though the amps were far too loud inside to hear too much of it. He was however really cool to me by giving me a mixtape (it's really good) and some beer tokens (they were just as nice). If you're a fan of Drum n' Bass, you should buy his little set-tape at his website.

I have another Blog and I'll post reviews of the CDs I bought over the weekend there. I hope everyone's weekend was as relaxing as mine was, I certainly needed it after last week's test-bomb. In other news, I've started my application for medical school again, and I need to sign up for classes both here and ACC. Matt, Robin, and I might get a 3/2 at 28th and Rio Grande, so that might be nice, though I'm gonna need a place to stay over summer...any suggestions?

Music makes you lose control

Spring Has Sprung

2006-03-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

I had a great time over spring break and I hope everyone checked the other blog to see what we did and how we did it. I thank all the people that went with me and helped it go off beautifully, you made it very special. This week back has been test-ful and next week proves more of the same, though if Kim and Lisa are there to help me whith art history, that's one less thing I need to worry about. The proffessor gave us the test on Wednesday for Human Sexuality, so that's two tests down. Now all I need worry about is Metabolism and Biochemistry of Microorganisms on thursday. If anyone is interested in hearing a talk about the use of microbes for cleaning up: oil spills, naturally-occuring oil spills, and the upcoming change from oil to ethanol (we'll all be using it soon with a quick trip to the mechanic to change a chip in your car's computer) then come hear my proffessor (Dr. Dennis Schneider - Vice-President of Micro-Bac International)on Wednesday, March 29th at 6 p.m. in PHR 2.108. He's a really funny guy and a great speaker. He knows a lot about this business and really cares about cleaning up mistakes made by a lot of fat-cats.

In other news, I went to Guitar Center to buy a little LED light for my mixer and ran into DJ Michaelangelo (he's the 40 something father of Austin breakbeat and house music back when the shows at SKY downtown were a blast to go to) who was working there as a manager in the DJ section. He told me about an upcoming show that I'd love you all to join me at:

It's only $7 at the door and free if we get there before 9pm. It goes until 3am but I doubt if we'll stay that long. There should be 16 DJs out there, so we will have a good variety of music. One of the groups, Gir and Byrd are the team-up of Rocky Rodd (DJ Gir) and Daniel Byrd, the two that practically invented RocknBass, an offshoot of DrumnBass that has amazing guitar riffs and very beat-heavy rock influences, so I think it's got a little something for everybody.

Spring into action!

Travel Time

2006-03-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

I'm in Dallas as I'm typing and the drive was actually really smooth. I made it in really good time, with very little traffic. I'm really stoked about the trip, it seems everything is going to work out really well. I just hope we can pull it all together in the last few days. Matt is down in Houston; Katie's got her mom in town; Kim's busy (she got into gradschool); and Robin, Julie, and I are in different cities. We're going to try to pull it all together (set itinerary, buy food, pack clothes, set directions) on Tuesday. We're going to leave very early on Wed. so as to make good time. Matt is bringing his GPS locator so we should have no problem getting to our destinations. Just in case we do, however, we have a new tool that Kim found!

I'm pretty impressed with Google on this one: Google's Send-To-Phone. You highlight text on any webpage and click the icon on the toolbar. The text will then be placed into a text message(s) that you send to any phone number. The only problem is that you need to know the cellular carrier. But the really nice thing is that we can text directions to everywhere we go and have it on our phones. I need to get ahold of some walkie-talkies so we can communicate between cars when there might not be cell towers out there.

I'm tired and I don't know if anyone's in town, and I don't know if I feel like going out but we shall see. I think I'm going to start homebrewing my own beer when I get back. What do you want to drink - Pale ale? Lambic (fruit) ale? Belgian ale? Scottish ale? Porter? Imperial Rusian Stout? Get back to me and we'll brew and have a party when it's done!

Hit the road, Jack...

Dance Dance Dance

2006-03-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

We had a great night last night. Matt, Kim, Katie, Steve, Tiffany and I were supposed to go downtown. Tiffany cancled on us to go to a frat party (more on that later). The rest of us hit Apple Bar at 9pm. Steve, who has been really late as of late, didn't show until 10pm (we were about to ditch him) with two other guys. Steve and his brother showed up. Katie's Steve, our Steve, is a good guy. Other Steve pisses us off. He came out with us about a year ago and nobody had any fun with him because he had a stupid remark for everything. Steve A. has known Other Steve for a long time, and that's fine...just don't bring him again. Other Steve's Brother was actually a really cool guy, knew a lot about beer, pretty smart guy- fun times. Other Steve hasn't changed a bit and Kim and Matt were thinking about ditching/ punching him in the face. I vetoed both motions and we still ended up having a great night.

We shared some apple martinis at Apple Bar and then went down to 4th to see if Saba or 219 West were cool, but it was still too "foody" and not really "bar-y" enough for us. Matt wanted a snakebite (beer and cider), I wanted a black and tan (Guinness and Bass), and Kim wanted more pictures of 6th for her multimedia flash project so we went to B.D. Riley's Pub. After our beers we hiked it over to Brown Bar and Matt, Kim, and Katie all choked down some 4 Horsemen. I got a dirty martini, Matt got a really good Caramel Apple drink, and Kim got a nasty Key Lime Pie drink. The DJ at Brown Bar inspired us to go someplace to dance, so I suggested Red Fez.

Getting into Red Fez (I love that there's a line) we went to the back and Katie and Kim got amarretto sours and I downed a gin a tonic. Then we started having fun! DJ Kurv (I've heard him before and he spins pretty good latin-euro house) had a pretty good dance floor going. We joined in for the better part of and hour until our feet were going to fall off. Well done and hats off to Matt for getting his ass on the floor and getting down to the music. Now Matt loves music, but he is first and foremost a punk rocker. Matt has never danced at a club before and for a novice, was certainly showing up a lot of other losers that were just standing around watching their girls dance. Steve A. was doing a good job dancing, but Other Steve (notice I'm using Other to keep myself from putting insulting names on him) and his brother really looked silly and kinda stood around. There's an old DJ saying, "No matter how dumb you look dancing (and everyone kinda does look a bit foolish), you look 10 times as daft by standing around being a passive". We left Red Fez for a cool-down at Gingerman.

Matt was totally bummed out when we left and I had no idea why. He told me that he was dancing and these three girls laughed at him and he'd never been so embarrassed. We all laughed because Steve, Other Steve, and I all got shut down by the same three girls too! These bitchy dykes (they were kissing each other pretty hard on the lips) elbowed Other Steve in the chest (good work there, really), wouldn't let me into the middle of the dance floor, and pushed Steve A nearly off the already too crowded dance floor! Matt didn't feel so bad after that and we finished the night with a few light beers and went home to sleep off the wonderful night.

In other news, our travel blog is up! Visit http://www.westtexastrip.blogspot.com for My, Katie's, Kim's, and Matt's view on everything from planning to inevitable sunburn to the long car trips! I promise a great, funny, informative blog and the team writing will let you really see the difference in writing styles among us. I hope you'll join us on our long, strange trip!

this is the part on Sprokets where we dance!

Diver Down

2006-03-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Back again, I'm feeling pretty much normal. I've been busy with my schoolwork as of late and of the 4 tests, I'm proud to say that I recived 3 A's and 1 B. All over, not too shabby. We finally got together and decided on a trip for spring break (in only a week and a half) this year. We (by we I mean Katie, Matt, Robin, Julie, Kim, Tiffany, and I) decided to head out to west Texas, specifically Balmorhea. There's a pool out in the middle of the desert about 2 acres big and 78 degrees year round. Julie (possibly Tiffany) and I will go SCUBA diving and everyone else will get a chance to swim in the crystal 30 foot deep water. We also plan to ride horses, visit a few wineries (Blue Mountain and St. Genevieve), see the modern art galleries in Marfa, see the Marfa Lights, see the McDonald Observatory (which UT owns) in Ft. Davis, and perhaps go to Big Bend for a while. I can hardly wait and I'm just counting down the days until we leave! We're staying the 15th through the 19th so it should be plenty long to see and do everything. This trip will most likely be team blogged by Kim, Katie, Matt and myself starting soon to be published (at least on the web) by the Austin Traveler Magazine (the publication Kim and Katie work for). We're really geared up for the trip, though getting there will be kinda boring (hopefully music will help) as the drive is 6-8 hrs from Austin.

In other news, I got myself a wonderful deal on some Sennheiser HD280 pro DJ headphones which retail for about 100-200 bucks but I was very very very lucky. I went to my local (there's only one in Austin) Guitar Center and found that lo and behold they had a used pair for $50!! I tested them out on the DJ gear they had in the back and they worked like a dream. So I'm happy about that purchase, but I'm still looking for a cheap SCUBA regulator as I thought I gound one on Craigslist, but alas, it was sold off to someone less deserving, I'm sure. My father and youngest brother are coming down on Friday and I'm really trying to make my place look presentable for their visit. They're not here to see me (when does my family do that?) but rather for Ben to see Explore UT as our open-house of all the cool things that get done here at the University. I really hope he comes to UT as that would be pretty exciting and make a great excuse for me to visit Austin all the damned time! I'll keep this updated more as spring break draws closer and I'll link to the Travel Blog so anyone who wants to can see the progress of our trip!

Holy diver, you been down so long...

Feeling Better

2006-02-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

I'm actually getting back on my feet again after this shitty disease called mononucleosis (it's called that because it increases the number of single-nucleated white blood cells, also known as atypical lymphocytes becase they get all huge and atypical when you get the disease) I don't know (and really shouldn't care) which virus caused the illness, just that my body is almost done with destroying it due to my lack of fever, return of appetite, and feeling better. I am however very prone to tiredness. I feel drained a lot and that's not good when I have 3 tests this week! Hopefully in a few weeks or so I'll be back to normal and drinking, etc...

St. Valentine's day was yesterday and I shall tell you all that I think it's a dumb holiday meant to make everyone feel bad. If you're in a relationship, why do you need a day to remind you that you have somebody? Any why do you need to put on a show about it (flowers, chocolates, dinner, etc.) when all that stress isn't going to be a fun time? If you are single, you sure as hell don't need a day to remind you that you are alone! What kind of shitty holiday is this? On a lighter note about this silly Hallmark-created day, I was sexiled from my APARTMENT. I'll give you a minute to let that sink in. If I still lived in the dorms, where I shared a single tiny room with someone, by all means, I would understand the want for some privacy and such. However, I don't live there anymore. I live in an apartment, where I have my own room, away from everyone else, with a door. If you want privacy, I can...I don't know...stay in my room studing at my computer! My roommate owes me a dinner or something an that's all there is to it. I felt awkward crashing at a house filled with girls without boyfriends or were just dumped by stupid guys...not the most man-friendly environment.

I am still wondering about Spring Break as I had my heart set on Mexico, but it looks like we might be doing the road-trip thing out west. I've been there and there is going to be a lot of nothing before there's something out that way. We will have to see what everyone wants to do, but we better do it damned quick. I have to figure out school and such before I figure out playtime, plus, how am I going to pay for it, I wonder? There needs to be more vacation periods in the spring semester rather than just one. It really blows. One more thing, some people from the Johnson Space Center (JSC) will be speaking tonight at Julie's club's behest and they want all majors to come out and see what's up with the space program and how you can help. It's tonight at 7:00pm at ENS (the building near RLM, behind Patterson Labs) room 302. Be there or be square.

Got to admit it's getting better, getting better all the time

I want to be a DJ

2006-02-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

Despite mononucleosis, I have some fun DJ shots at the Julie Welcome Back Party.

That's all for now, more when I feel more up to typing.

Sing a song of Sickness

William Needs...

2006-01-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

You can thank Kim and Katie for this one. Type in "Your name + needs" into the search perameter and see what you get. Here's my list of 20.

1. William needs lifting and has to be tube fed... as William's needs are so complex they can't just get a babysitter if they want to go out.

2. William needs reminders to pay attention during class

3. As one attendee remarked, Prince William needs to do more to publicize resource preservation areas ... Prince William needs less rhetoric and more action!

4. William needs to stop killing for sport

5. William needs a family who can provide a high level of supervision, patience, and firm parenting skills.

6. He's a boy!' he said / Why does he need a doll? Why William needs it:

7. William needs to give me details, but i'm actually looking forward to this...

8. What William needs is an adoptive SWAT team.

9. William needs a home that will be understanding of his and his brother's, Patrick, history.

10. WILLIAM NEEDS TO BE REMEMBERED TODAY, TOMORROW AND FOR EVER! HE HAS NOT GIVEN
HIS LIFE IN VAIN.

11. Grandmother explains to William’s father and brothers that William needs this doll so he can learn how to be a good father some day.

12. William needs to do more research before he is ready for prime time.

13. William needs to earn a 3rd and final norm, and in doing so, he will be the second Black player in the US to earn the coveted title

14. William needs money to pay for castle building.

15. William needs to discover himself and come to terms with his roots.

16. William needs Anna in his life, and Anna is aware of this need to the point where she can exploit him to her personal desires.

17. The first thing William needs to establish is his position within the group. The last thing he needs is to hang out with guys that don't want him around.

18. William needs to collaboratively create and deliver a multimedia presentation that addresses the learning objectives.

19. Every time William needs someone or something it magically appears. These instances number more than they should.

20. Do you think that William needs to be dressed in Little Lord Fauntleroy velvet shorts like the little boy attendants at Star Jones' wedding?

So those are some needs of mine that Google feels need to be looked into. Let's get to it people!

But if you try sometimes, you get what you need...

Sin-Full

2006-01-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

So I broke down today and did the 7 deadly sins test...let's just say I'm glad I'm not a Catholic or I'd be screwed. Twas PRIDE that did me in.

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	High
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Medium
Lust:	High
Pride:	High

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Well, I'm a bad person, but you'll forgive me that, right?

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall

The Rapture

2006-01-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

I've been gone to long. I'm changing my tune and coming back in full force. I have some serious resolutions to uphold. I have resolved to change my life. I need a 180 degree turn-around and it starts now. I've changed my studies: I'm taking classes smarter, trying to boost the GPA so I have a shot at medical school this time around. I'm scheduling my life: studies, gym, free time- it's all going into a tight schedule. Speaking of the gym, I'm getting my fat ass in there every single day. Running again, lifting again, hitting the supplements again. I want to look like I did back in my football days when I was in shape. If I work hard, I'll get there and I'll have some help. I'm eating better too. I've cut my caloric intake by half (though I'm drinking a lot more coffee now) and I'm going to do my best to burn more than my intake. I've resolved to cut down on the beer (I figure one a day is good) so I'm switching to scotch or something else mixed and lower.

I hope that as my readers and friends you can help me stick to all this. I want to get in shape and I really really want to boost my GPA to get into medical school next year. I didn't get in for 2006 because of my GPA and if I study really hard I should have a much better shot for the 2007 entering class. I'm going to seriously buckle down in every aspect of my life, I am going to need a lot of self discipline, but I'd appreciate it if everyone could help me keep a head about it. I need to stay on track, so if you see me slipping, I would appreciate you putting me in my place. Conversely, I have a very bad habit of becoming a recluse as was evident from my MCAT semester when I was not having any fun. If you notice me not being around or having fun with anyone, feel free to ask me politely if I'm "out of my fucking mind" and wouldn't mind joining the party.

I plan to really put a lot of effort into my studies and health and I hope it pays off. This is a new semester and there's a lot of potential, like a block of marble waiting to be chiseled into something good. Well, I'm back in Austin tomorrow afternoon and let me tell you, I'm quite ready to do so. I'm anxious to see all my friends and have a few well deserved parties before getting down to business.

Steel yourselves, for the doombringer comes

Gone too long

2005-12-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in 5 days or so, and I've gone to two parties since then. We're planning another for tomorrow after our last final. I went to the Christmas party for Katie (gag gifts) and it was a great time with good food. We exchanged a lot of presents and got more as the week went on. I took my virology final and it went very well, though it wasn't cumulative (thank goodness) and I took my physics final (which was cumulative) and it drained me. I don't know how I did on the virology final but I did awful on the physics (lab included) that I want to see if I can somehow get credit for it by taking another class before it kills my GPA. But by this point in the semester, I'm not sure what to do yet.

Here's my list of fun gifts I've gotten (it helps when I write thank-you cards)

"Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way" signed by the man himself from Matt

Chinese Proverb Poster (it's very nice) from Tiff and Andrew

Electric Buddha from Steve (imagine a bodhisattva with a plasma ball for a belly)

Rabbit Wine Kit from Nick and Erica

"Vice's Do's and Don'ts fashion book" from Robin

I still have gifts for Bert, both Andrews, Mike, Steve, Julie, Claire and some more Austin/Dallas people. I have gotten so many phone calls and IM messages asking me to come hang out, but everyone's still surprised that I have exams still. Seems like we're the last to get out of this semester, but whatcha gonna do? Tonight (I know I have a 9:00am History exam) Matt, Robin, Nick, and I are going to the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown to catch a very funny winter show. Jerm, from Mr. Sinus Theater is hosting "Merry F@#$ing Christmas" which is the work up and plots of over a dozen Christmas themed pornos. There's no nudity (which would be creepy in a crowded theater) but the sheer hilarity of porn (especially any kind of themed one) will make this a pretty good show. He's assembled all-time-favorites such as "Jingle Balls" "Tits a Wonderful Life" "Christmas Carol" and many more. I'll post later and tell you how it went.

I think I'm going to stay in Austin a day or two just to relax and do nothing (I suppose pack some clothes) before heading back to Dallas for the break. My grandmother (dad's side) is coming in tomorrow and then all my aunts and uncles will be coming to our house for much drinking, quick-witted banter and hopefully more jokes about presents (EMU!!!) that we all get (Santa Claws). I think that I'll have time to see all my Dallas people over the break (I also promised Robin that I'd take him out for his birthday- that happens to fall on festivus) but there will be much merriment and oogling of each others gifts. I'll post once more before I go back to Dallas and then I'll keep a much tighter schedule of posts with what I'm up to over the terribly short vacation.

Seems like I've always been here...

Radio Free Arcadia

2005-12-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

I know not too many people read my blog, and I'm only keeping it up for a small group of loyal friends (thanks guys and gals) but if you never click on any links I post up here, please try the link I'm putting up now, I swear to you, you will not be sorry you did. Steve told me about this at the movies and I only tried it today. Keeping in mind that I love music and it can do things to me that noise just shouldn't be able to do, and also keeping in mind that I (perhaps ignorantly) believe in the internet as the thing which will change humanity as an organism forever:

Pandora

This is another part of the internet that I feel is good. I don't mean good as in nice or fun, but good as in really good for you, like health food or sunshine. Wikipedia, Firefox, Google, Blogger, WUnderground, and all the other free programs that just do it, not really for the cash (or at least I'd like to think) but for the people. The internet cannot be owned, controlled, or destroyed. The internet as an organism is a growing, evolving being which has formed a symbiosis with the human race. We use it everyday, it needs our input to grow and feed us in return. I enjoy programs which want to make the internet free and damn the torpedoes about what the "man" says, they bring it to the masses.

Pandora is a program like that. Streaming music. Imagine an internet radio of over 10 million songs that keeps growing. Now imagine that radio commercial free, uninterrupted, without loading times or buffers, and the best part? It's tailored to you and your likes and dislikes. It's part of the music genome project (something I heard about a while back but didn't pay too much attention to at the time) in which music lovers and technophiles look through thousands of songs to identify musical "genes" like call-to-call vocals, dry snares, emotional lyrics, deep grooves, wailing guitars, strange musical progressions, and the like. Like animals, each song has a unique genetic signature and those help Pandora find more suggestions for you. You create (you can have 100) a radio station streaming to you by typing in a favorite artist or song. Then Pandora looks at the genetic fingerprint of the song and suggests a cousin of the song, that is, it shares some musical genes with the first song, but pushes out into the musical genepool a bit.

Here's where it's different from internet radio. You vote on the suggested song, thumbs up, it plays, thumbs down, it tries another cousin. If you keep the song (or do nothing) it will then try something new in the family tree (giving you names, artists, albums, and often artwork along the way) each time extrapolating through the unique genetic signatures of the song. The beauty is, the more you listen, the better it gets to making you a custom radio set. It streams, so you can't rewind or replay, but you can pause and forward to new tracks. If you come across a song you like, but you don't feel fits with the type of music you want at the time, you can create a new station off of that one song. You can even help it along by adding in more artists and songs you like to help it see new genetic elements you might like. Pandora will even tell you some of the genetics of the song if you ask it why it chose that song.

The whole project is a lot of fun and you can even email them with obscure CDs, unknown bands, and all sorts of details about what you'd like to hear and they'll then plug that information into the database for more songs. It's a great thing to see tailor-made new music so get out there and listen.

What's going on with me lately you ask (well I'm glad you did)? I survived the hell week last week and now I'm bracing for the flood of doom that is finals. I had a test today and a review for virology so that really took it out of me and I was quite low for a while today, but I picked up a little with my drug of choice. I finish on the 19th and I'll most likely be in Dallas on the 21st, so that should get me out of some Austin traffic. I still need to take Virology, Physics, and History so it should be fun and by fun I mean very, very painful. I still need to give out some more gifts and I got one this morning: Nick and Erica got me a rabbit! I was quite excited and can't wait to use it on some unsuspecting wine bottle. I'm trying to be good to myself while finals are going on because I'm normally so bad with lack of sleep, nicotine, and caffeine. I really do a number on the system, so hopefully eating better and walking/ biking will help me.

Power to the oligarchy...that's you

Hell Freezes Over

2005-12-10T07:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it is now very cold in Austin and most of Texas in general. A shift in the Jet Stream caused a massive cold front down on us. I finally broke out the peacoat that I got years back and started wearing my Manchester United scarf (much to Matt's chagrin as he's a Millwall fan and I won't hold that against him). The canceled classes on Thursday which means all the buildings were locked up and we couldn't get together at the UGL. I still had to go in to school to check my clinical unknowns (just because school closes doesn't mean they stop growing). Funny thing was, the entire lab was there too! That's science for you, it may kill you to drive on icy streets, but damned if you're going to let your plates grow another day.

I've been Xmas shopping (I hate the Jesus, I guess) lately and I'm almost done with everyone! I still have to get Matt his gift, and I need to get a few gifts for Claire, Stephen, etc. though I'm mostly done. I would tell you what I got you (I hate surprises) but in case anyone ever reads this, I'll keep it in the dark. I am starting to get in finals mode now that the semester's coming to an end. We only get one dead day this semester because Thursday's classes that were canceled are re-scheduled for this Tuesday instead (including my lab final). Even though we get Monday off, I still have to go in for two reviews, so that's not much fun. I got gifts yesterday for the two holiday parties I'm going to, one is a white elephant and the other is a "gypsy gift exchange"

From the name you'd thing one person puts all the gifts in a bag and runs off with them but it's played by drawing out a gift, and then unwrapping and passing the bag. The next person can either draw a new gift from the bag, or take the gift someone has. If your gift is taken, you can draw another present from the bag and it is the third person's turn. This continues until everyone if happy with their gift, or a gift has been taken three times (it must stay with the person who has it) then everyone enjoys their gifts.

I've seen a good deal of movies as of late: We went to Alamo to see Chronicles of Narnia. Let me just say, that as a feminist and an atheist, the movie is very heavy handed on the Christianity and the subservience of the female roles. The girls don't get to be in battle and never kill anyone. The rebirth of Aslan is WAY too Jesus-esque and I wasn't happy with the whole references to (in no particular order): death for the sins of others, sacrificial martyrdom, breaking of the stone, resurrection, faith in more ways than I care to count, and the references to the second coming. I don't think I would've seen it had I known. We also went to the Mr. Sinus Theater Show Holiday Special and I laughed until tears were down my face and my head hurt. I really need to go see more Sinus next semester.

Got a snowball's chance

It's starting to look a lot like...

2005-12-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

December. There are far too many holidays to keep track of over this month, but whatcha gonna do? Thanksgiving was pretty good, though many people canceled on our drinking plans to go back early etc. (some people clearly can't stand their own family) and so I hung out with Michael Hanson quite a bit. I watched UT almost lose to A&M, but now we're going to the Rose Bowl, so that's no so bad. I watched a Thanksgiving Bondathon (all James Bond films, all the time) with Mike and it was great because I'm a huge Bond fan. We also went to go see the new Harry Potter movie and I finally broke down and started reading the novels. They are very well written and easy to the point of near speed reading, which is good, consitering they're really hard to put down. The story is engaging and insofar as I've seen the movies, I kinda know what's going to happen. I started reading the first book sunday night, and now I'm almost done with the third book. My youngest brother, Ben, was nice enough to lend me 1-4 and I'll see what I can do to procure the 5th and 6th books. Mike hasn't read the 6th one, so maybe I'll get it for him as a holiday gift.

I've got plenty of end-of-semester parties lined up, Katie and Michelle are both hosting holiday parties, Kim is hosting a birthday party, and I'm sure Andrew or Mike will plan something. I'm thinking about staying in Austin for a while after my last final (on the 19th no less- UT's last final day) just to bum around Austin before heading back. Last night was the tree lighting at the capitol building, so downtown was packed full of people as we sat at the bar in Silhouette, which is our new favorite sushi hangout. The bartender, Todd, is a really nice guy and he mixes up some great drinks! I suggest the Lychee Martini with top-shelf vodka, sake, and some lychee juice. He's a big fan of infusing his own vodkas with different flavors like ginger, pepper, wasabi and fruits. If you like a sweeter drink try the Mango Sidecar with lots of sugar around the rim.

Robin, Mike, Tiff, Andrew (cave), Bert, Kim, and I went to Alamo Drafthouse last night to catch Aeon Flux and I must say, it was alright. The dialouge made me want to slap someone: Who are you? Why do you know me? I don't know who I am anymore. This was a movie comprised of bad lines from The Matrix but all in all, worth the price of admission (with Student ID). I'll post more if I have time, but next week is hell, as I have three lab final exams plus a clinical laboratory final to deal with.

X-mas if you hate Jesus

I Hate These

2005-11-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

I saw this on Katie's Blog (see link at right) so I figured, I never did these when I got them in my inbox and why the hell not do one now? They're stupid to be sure, but I'm trying to fall asleep and if the LCD screen will force my eyes to close, that would be super. I've omitted a few that are either beyond the scope I wish to answer or so beneath me I refuse to answer. That being said, lets check the quiz:

1. What time is it? My blog has a goddamned timestamp!
2. Name as it appears on birth certificate: William Claiborne Yarbrough III
3. Nickname(s): Will, Liam (once, don't ask), Funk Master W
4. Piercing: None, except the one on my ass...
5. What is the most recent movie you've seen in the theater? Zorro II
6. Eye color: Drk Blue
7. Place of birth: Earth
8. Favorite foods: I have the...como se dice...ah, Chlorophil
9. Ever been to Africa: Like Hell! I know how many diseases there are in the cradle of life....
10. Ever been toilet papering: I'm Carrollton's most wanted, step off!
11. Loved someone so much it made you cry: <== stupid
12. Been in a car accident: HAHA! I've totaled more cars than you've ever owned!
13. Croutons or bacon bits: All about the three-day-old french bread pieces.
14. Favorite day of the week: Saturday (Night's alright for fighting)
15. Favorite restaurant: Crap...far too many.
16. Favorite sport to watch: soccer...or lawn bowling (ESPN8...the ocho)
17. Favorite drink: scotch or martinis
18. Favorite ice cream: Mint Chocolate Chip or Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
19. Disney or Warner Brothers: What tha @#$%? - I'm down with Turner(CNN, TNT, CN)
20. Favorite fast food restaurant: Wendy's
21. What color is your bedroom carpet: <== stupid (beige)
22. How many times did you fail your driver's test: None, but that really made a difference
23.From whom did you get your last email:<== stupid
24. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card: Fry's, even though I hate them
25. What do you do most often when you are bored: culling...dog culling...
26. Bedtime: I-N-S-O-M-N-I-A-C
27. Who will respond to this the quickest? <== stupid
28. Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? <== stupid
29. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? <== stupid
30.Favorite TV Shows: [adult swim] numba one in the hood, G
31. Last person you went to dinner with: Kim and my Brother
32. Ford or Chevy: <== stupid who is gonna pay for those P.O.S. cars? Imports, shorty, Imports
33. What are you listening to right now? Read my post about how much music I have!
34. What is your favorite color(s): blue, no green, wait I...AAAGGGHHHHH! (hope you got that)
35. Lake, Ocean, or River? I'd drown you in any of the above, but Ocean in my fav.
36. How many tattoos do you have: None, 'cept the one that says, "Bad Ass Mother" on my forehead
37. R&B or Rap? Hip Hop coz R&B is for pussies and Rap is everything the learning man should hate
38. Cat or dog? cats...dogs should be fed to cats...
39. Time you finished this: TIMESTAMP, MUTHAF#$%A DO YOU SEE IT?...Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?
40. How many people are you sending this to: <== stupid

Now I hate these things even more now that I've taken one. Great, now I'm bored but lucky for you, you now know what I do when boredom strikes me! Hehehehe. I'll post again later, but perhaps more chipper after sleep!

Punk, don't test me ...

Hell Week Survivor

2005-11-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

You weren't there, you don't know how it was! I just got off of a hell week with a Virology test, a Public Health Lab test, and a Physics test. Overall, I feel I've done pretty well on them, but that remains to be seen in the future weeks. I'm sure I did well on Virology but the lab test is hard to gauge because she grades differently for her favorites. I'm sure you think your professors do that, but let me tell you: we "acquired" a few old tests, and one was from a "favorite" of hers, and the other was a regular student. Because she grades them and not her TAs, she can grade however she wants. On the "favorite" test, there were some obvious omissions and thoroughly wrong answers graded as correct. This is not good for those of us who couldn't give two shits about her and are just trying to get this class over with so we needn't take anymore labs for our major. Either way, I'm friends with a few favorites, so at least I could get a re-grade (hope it doesn't come to that) on that basis. Sure, it would bring their average down, but it would make the whole class go up, which is really something we can all agree on.

In other news, I've been watching the second season of Nip/Tuck which is a drama about plastic surgery (amongst other things) and is pretty addictive (the show, not the surgery). It's getting to the point that the level off drama seems almost too much and un-realistic, but all in all a good show (I was warned against the third season as it's full of cliffhanger endings never resolved in the next episode). Last night Matt, Robin, Kim, and Katie all came over and before Katie came we watched Resident Evil: apocalypse and it was as thin as I remember, but not un-entertaining. We then watched Mind-Hunters, a movie staring Christian Slater (and his pasty ass) and Val Kilmer. However, these two actors were in the movie for maybe the first 20-30 min before they are killed/ leave. Bad but entertaining and LL cool J looks like a body builder in it, making it all the more unbelievable.

Today, I'm going to try and get a bunch of homework done before my brother (Ben) comes into town to visit. I'm going to show him around campus and around Austin. I thought I might come to a few classes with me so he could see how they are. Anyone have any suggestions as to where we should go in Austin? I'll take him by the capitol building and downtown, but anything uniquely Austin that's a must-see I'm forgetting? Everyone have a good weekend and I'll post again on Monday.

Pit stop on the highway to Hell

Happy Birthday To Me!

2005-11-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

We had my 22nd birthday party on friday and it was a real blast from the past. I'll post some pictures of it to show you what I mean. We decided that since I was 22 (11+11 on 11/11) we would go back to the decade of my birth. Everyone had to come in costumes from the 80's and those that didn't...well they were subject to our dressing them up in terrible ways. Steve was forced into looking like Rob Halford from Judas Priest. Claire got here hair teased to huge proportions, and Andrew (Tiff's) had to look like the guy from Duran Duran. All in all a great party! Issac and Julie came in from NASA and made jello shots and Andrew T. finished my sumo painting (it's so badass). There was plenty of 80's punk, new wave, goth, and rock thanks to Matt's collection of good stuff and a homemade german chocolate cake! A ton of my friends showed and I had a blast. The costumes were goofy and the humor was constant- thanks everyone for making my 22nd one to remember!

Steve Breaks the Law (fashion laws)

The face of New Wave

These people didn't dress up...look a the big hair!

Nick has space pants

Robin goes Punk

Rock me Amadeus!

Matt has a Mohawk

These people work for NASA if you can belive it

Totally 80's

Matt and Bonnie...no cocaine jokes needed

Isaac serves cake...with style

The couples on the couch...look at Katie's ear-rings

80's means denim...too much is never enough

High fashion...decades ago

Andrew is from Duran Duran

I'll post more pictures as I get them from all the people with cameras. For now, enjoy the goofy college party pics. I have three tests this next week so I will be camped in the UGL (or FAC now I guess) to prepare. Wish me luck and I'll post later on

Needs more synthesizer

All Hallows Eve

2005-11-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

This post is late in getting here but I have pictures from the Halloween party at Katie's place. There were some very nice costumes and I went as a crazy 88 from Kill Bill (part 1). There was a severe lack of any mixers (I think there was some margarita mix, but it was old and more than a little sour for me) but the party went well with jello shots and punch. We had all manner of costumes and basically had a really good time. I'm not writing much because I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Foolish mortals!

Julie is in the Matrix

BATTLE ROYALE!

My name is Domino Harvey...I am a bounty hunter

This is my BOOMSTICK

Matt is full of pity for fools

Katie is in Risky Business

We all had a great time. You can look at the facebook albums (if you are on facebook) for more of the same. I love the dress up parties because it's so fun to see what people think up. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I'm gonna miss this stuff when I'm out of here.

They did the Monster Mash

Freshly Ground

2005-10-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm behind in my classes sometimes, so I haven't been posting lately. That will change. Recently: Hoon has gone to be with his wife (that still sounds strange even though I was at his wedding) in NC. The UT Longhorns have so far not lost a single game, which is alright I guess. Erica turned 21 and that puts the cap on all my UT friends being 21 finally. Now everyone can hit the bars. I finally DJed a party but no one really noticed/tapped a foot to the groove- try, try again. I got the new Sasha, DangerDoom, and Richard "Humpty" Vission albums and played those (I suggest you do the same). DangerDoom is a must buy for any [adult swim] fan or fan of the Gorillaz that is, MF Doom's work on "November Has Come". Labs are going alright though I shouldn't talk about what we're working on, suffice to say the stuff is 1. infectious, and 2. stuff that people don't want to hear about.

Halloween is rapidly aproaching and I need some costume ideas. I was thinking one of the Crazy 88 from the Kill Bill movies, but I'm not sure. I would need other people to go with me if we were going to do it up that way. Indiana Jones is also an option but we'll have to see as the season gets closer. I should also mention, physics is perhaps the worst class (since math) that I've ever had to take. You should avoid it like the plauge and if you have to take it here at UT, may the gods have mercy upon you because the giant computer which makes your test (the Prof has no hand in it) will not.

I have to finish a lab report (those bits of homework are easy if nothing else) and turn it in by 1:30 so I must stop writing. I'm not want to take another lab in which a writing component is also a factor (read: 2 page lab reports every week, 10 hrs class time, 2 research papers and 3 exams which are aprox. 25 questions long and each question has 5 parts and you have an hour) so you should aboid those as well. I will be more diligent in my posts if more people keep reading, I'll put up a link for updates on my AIM profile, or find me on Bloglines.

The Best Part of Waking Up

Back in Black

2005-09-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, finally back and at school. I've got internet, my own apartment and a host of other reasons to be happy! A bunch of us are planning to go tubing tomorrow (someplace on the guadalupe with plenty of mexican beer) so that should be cheap and easy. It's so nice to be out of the dorms and back to school (I still haven't met two of my classes because they're Monday labs (read: animal virology and physics) and I'm not looking forward to any more physics crap than I have to take). I still have to do some purchases and exchanges at the terrible co-op and I've gone over my limit on my card (it's new, so I don't have the largest line of credit yet) but I can hold out until I get my bill. In other news, my car got broken into, the jackass stole my stero and bent my door open (thanks to Bill of Bill's Body Shop for bending it back free of charge-I owe him donuts or something) but people can do bad things, but on the bright side, it's only a thing, no-one got hurt, and I still have my car! I'm sorry it's such a short post for being away for a month, but I'll be posting near daily this semester, and I'll keep everyone updated (with pictures this time) of everything that's going on in my little micro-cosmos.

cut loose, from the noose

Keeping Busy

2005-08-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I've still got so much work to do! I have a full day of experiments today and I have no clue what's going on tonight, whenever I get a chance to go out. I'm starting to pack things up and hopefully will be able to take a good car-load down to Austin on Friday after I get done checking out for work. I spent most of last night tagging my records with their BPM, which is a little tool to help me learn what records go together well. I went over to Mike Tann's for this little party he had. Way more people than expected showed up (much to his fathers chagrin) and I was, again, the oldest person there. I mean, when I have pissed drunk 17 year-olds mad at me because I cut off their 100-proof vodka supply because they were under 100 lbs each and drinking the stuff like it was water, it's time to leave. I did get to hang with Mike, Albert, Whitney, and Meredith (people at least near my age) and that was good (we actually kept up mature drinking conversation and we weren't there to get smashed). Most of the people there knew my brother and his infamous parties (keeping in mind that he's 3 years younger than me) and acted around me the same way they would around him. Some of the brighter ones caught on and stopped being such children, but it wasn't too bad. I can't wait to have a real party though (at least going until 6 the next day).

I called the Birthday Boy (read: roommate) last night and they did a great job getting him all drunk and happy. I'm glad he had a good time, and I'm glad to welcome him into the ranks of the Brotherhood of the Glass. I can't wait until I get to see everyone this weekend and I'm very excited about moving a few things into my new apartment, even if Michelle is moving out soon. Nick went down to sixth with a pretty big group, so I hope they all got back safe and sound and I hope they will have the same stamina built up that I have had to acquire this summer: going out drinking or at the very least staying out late until awful hours only to have to get up (if I sleep) a few hours later to go to work for another long day. My body is a machine now: requiring little sleep, large quantities of booze, good music, good friends and long hours. Bring it on, Austin- I can hardly wait!

Idle hands are the devil's workshop

Dante Was A Punk

2005-08-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm working in Hell, Dante has nothing on me. I've got quite a few busy days ahead of me, fitting that this is my last week. I'm not doing a poster and hopefully I should have some semblance of virus actually built by Thursday if everything goes according to plan (like that'll work). This summer was nothing like it should've been and if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, I need to get back to Austin.

I've been busy looking into the background of the coffeeshop that I'm interviewing for on the 15th (what? You can walk into an interview blind about the company but I'm a pro, son! I don't want to not know something even if I'm getting in at the counter-monkey stage). This is what I've gotten so far: Teo's (short for Matteo -Italalian for Matthew) is run by UT MBA alum Matt Lee. The shop is on its 2nd year of business and in its first few months was ordered a cease and desist order by Mario Batali ("Malto Mario" and "Iron Chef America") because the first name for Teo's was Babbo's (literally "daddy" in Italian) which is the name of Batali's restaurant, book company, and other business propositions, thus under his trademark. A contest was held and "Teo's" won the new name contest. Lee has two children and the interviewer, Anna is his wife. Teo's is considered to be one of the cleanest, well lit coffee joins in Austin and the coffee is imported from Tuscany by Lee. Lee studied in Italy under a family of gelato makers and makes all the gelato in-store. Lee also runs "Texas EXpresso" which is in the Alumni Center on campus. Teo's has very good WiFi access but is lacking in the number of power outlets (there's one by the bar) for laptops. There is a patio with a fireplace which would be good in Fall, but word is that it could stand to be colder inside the cafe (which is on 38th, just west of Lamar).

I think that should work for a good base knowledge, though I should really go there before my interview (or at least drive past) to see how it is, etc. The internet is such a great tool, and it's amazing what you can find if you look hard enough or dig deep enough (it's all about the Google). I'm aching to get back to spinning records at home (for some reason this is a driving thing with me now) and I want to practice and get new records to play (not really latest and greatest, but something to practice with). I went to Borders last night to find, much to my chagrin that the listening stations are gone from the music dept.! This is awful, as that was a main reason people came into Borders for music in the first place, because almost any record could be opened and played over and over until you were sure you wanted the record. Even Carrollton's "independent" shop, CDaddict, won't open the records for you (I don't give a flip about the top 40, you moron! Open the LP of the 1995 Tenaglia's Elements or I'll beat you with Brittany Spears new CD!) unless they've got a promo-copy. Just plain wrong, I tell you! I will make a run to Waterloo Records in Austin when I get down there.

I'm going to get back to work, and then run a few miles (I still need to lose some serious weight) then go home and play some records (then I need to start packing stuff up for Friday's trip). Post a comment or anything you want, or send me an email because I like getting those too! Have a better day than I'm having- I'm getting out of the ninth circle soon!

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

Gonna Dance All Night To This DJ

2005-08-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

I went to my friend's graduation party last night and that was a lot of fun. I brought over a lot of music and we listened to French house for a few hours until I went off the the club. Misty and I went to Lizard Lounge and the cover was steep, but it was not too bad considering that DJs Oscar G. and Richard "Humpty" Vission were spinning. I danced my feet off but it was really fun. Misty, I found out, had never been to a club before even though she lives in Orange County! She said she had the most fun she's ever had going out and wondered why she hadn't done this sooner! We had a great time and the progressive house was amazing. The DJs had the place going nuts and jumping around with hands-in-air. I would love to one day play venues like that and make the dancefloor organism move like a throbbing mass. We met some really cool people at the club and danced with them for a long time. I told Misty that she has to go on Saturday because DJs Dan, Kid Icarus, and Dieselboy will be there and that party will be sick.

I am so tired from going out last night (I didn't even have any drinks) but I'm here at work prepping up DNA that I won't use for an experiment I don't care about anymore, but what's a scientist to do? I think tonight I'm going to go to Shade with Misty, Tiffany, Chris, and whoever else wants to go. The Nu Age Phunks (the duo I met at Uropa not to long ago) have a residency there and I'd like to go see them in a club that hopefully won't suck like Uropa. I'm so close to Austin I can taste it! I can't wait to get down there. In other news I got an interview with Teo Coffee house on the 15th, so hopefully I can land me a j-o-b!

This is the house that funk built

My Hand-Made Setup

2005-08-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here it is, as I promised: My setup for my DJ equipment. Here are a few pictures of the whole thing from different views:

This is the control unit that acts as the "turntables" you can use the wheels as the record platter.

This is the Mixer unit that takes two inputs and plays them over one another. See the horizontal slider on the bottom? That selects which imput is played loudest. CD1 is total on the left and CD2 is on all the way on the right, while the middle plays both at the same time (read: mix).

This is the front of the box, and the thing on the bottom is the actual CD player(s) itself. The middle thing is the power button and the two black things are the CD trays.

This is the side of the box, made from black painted MDF with a poly-urathane coat. The handles (the other side looks the same) are forward because the weight is centered up front.

This is the top of the box, looking down over it. The space in the back is there to allow me to put my hands back there for easy cord issues without having to go around to the back of the unit (although that's open too) and fix stuff on the fly. I know it looks like there isn't a bottom, but it's there and the flash just made my carpet look the same color of the untreated MDF (it isn't).

The last picture, this is my whole setup (minus speakers) which I can take around with me and only need one wall socket and one set of RCA speakers and I'm good to go. I'll post other pictures of me playing them sometime soon (maybe when I get good enough to host my own parties).

That's about all for now, just felt like putting those out there for those who wanted to see what I kept talking about. The whole thing there cost me about $600 but with the condition of the stuff and it's new custom case, I could probably get a grand if I felt like selling this stuff to upgrade my kit.

Home-made just tastes better

TGIWTF, Mate?

2005-08-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

So to recap: Monday was uneventful, like all Mondays, nothing went on, so that's fine. Tuesday I was supposed to get sushi with the work crowd- 4 cancellations= no sushi. Wednesday was supposed to be a bikini contest (I could care less, honestly) with $0.50 wells- 3 no-calls= no drinking with people. Thursday, drink specials at Billiards Bar with Maggy O. or people from work off lower Greenville- 2 cancellations, 1 whilst I was sitting in hellish traffic= no billiards or drinks. Last night was rescued from certain doom (read: drinking at home watching a movie) by Tiffany who wanted to drink and watch MST3K with me (I had some Spanish wine and some cheese, so it was nice) but lack of sleep on my part with wine and exhaustion did not mix so I cut it short and went home (it's a bit of a drive back) and actually got 4 hours of good, solid sleep- I was proud at myself for that.

Work is totally non-existent today, as I had nothing to do today, and the only reason I'm still here is that I get fed at the end of the day by the GSO. I had lunch with Faith and Nikki and they always know how to make me laugh until my sides hurt. I had another little lunch thing with Misty and as I was about to leave, Drs. Dal Nogare, Weissler, and Mehrad all ran into me and we chatted for a while (these gentlemen work or have worked with my dad and are in the pulmonary crew for Parkland whereas my dad and Dr. Pitchard work in the VA). It was nice to talk to them, as they've known me most of my life and I actually worked in their lab last year, plus it's nice to talk to really smart doctors once in a while when you plan to hopefully join their ranks (the doctor part, not really the smart part).

I will post pictures of my mixer setup today when I get home after fighting Friday rush-hour traffic, so expect those sometime later this evening. I was trying to mix at home last night but my mom keeps telling me to turn it down (it's not that loud, she just assumes it is). She called my "robot music" "just noise" yesterday and I told her didn't her parents tell her that about the music she liked as a 20-something? But I think I'm getting better, it will just take more practice. I think I'm going to go out to a club with some of the SURF people tonight, I just need to find a spot with good drink specials or at the very least good music. We'll see how it goes, but given this week's track-record, I may be sitting on my ass all evening at home.

In other news, my bestest-buddy, Mike Hanson, has a problem. If you or anyone you know needs a place to live for the year, call him, as his girlfriend needs another roomate. She lives right off campus in the apartments behind Jack-In-The-Box on the Drag. The rent is $585/month (which is cheap for being one block away from campus). It doesn't matter if it's a boy or girl. Give mike a message or a call at (469) 879-1885 or ml_hanson@hotmail.com for more details. Mike and I have been friends since we were three, so I'd like to help him out. Randi (his girlfriend) has a really nice place and it's very big, so I'm sure it'll work great for anyone. If anyone knows people in the Co-op programs (Julie, know anyone?) that need a place, that would be fine too!

A big shout-out goes to Matthew John Donovan who turns 21 today. If you're in Houston and know him, buy the man a pint because he can now drink legaly in every country he calls home! Nick's (my roomate) birthday is on the 9th too, so drink with him if you can.

But I am le tired

Science Is A Cruel Mistress

2005-08-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, that's really all I care to pontificate on this whole thing. If you read this, you know that I've been burnt-out and tired of troubleshooting this experiment for the last 6 weeks that I've been stuck on this step of the experiment. Miranda, the lab manager, does the same procedure I've been at for weeks using the old reagents, and lo and behold: a miracle. The thing works perfectly for her the first time. It's an old rule in science that if you're really really stuck, I mean you've exhausted all the possible permutations, then giving off to someone else is a sometimes useful course of action. There's something about a fresh pair of hands on a sticky experiment that often coaxes it back into working order. I did this for Virginia with her EMSA last summer, she was stuck: she would get a good result and then it would fail, or be un-repeatable, or some such thing. I did it three times perfectly using the exact protocol she had been using. I didn't know until know how much of an idiot that will make you look. Yes, this is a group effort; yes, this is one of the many flukes of science that we as scientists can't or won't question; and yes, the new hands often aren't seeing the big picture or get tripped up in the minute details like the primary person would; but this still makes you feel stupid. I suppose it has something to do with the ego we all put into our projects and our work. We take time, blood (sometimes literally here!), sweat and tears to make this stuff work. This goes for any job where people are passionate about what they do! When someone just nonchalantly comes and makes this thing you're stuck on work like a well oiled machine the first time, it makes you feel dumb that you couldn't. I'm trying to be Zen and just throw this up to the fact that this is how biology and cloning works, so just let it go and move on.

In other news I couldn't really sleep last night so I finished construction of my box that you've read about in a few previous posts. It looks very nice and looks like a pro rack box. Here's a description: Imagine looking at a box that's 8" tall and 19"x19" in the length and width. If you look down from the top, you see, as you are at the front of the box, my turntable controls and then the mixer after that. Then there's a gap behind the mixer (so I can get my hands in to change inputs and cords on the fly should anything screw up. I forgot to mention, imagine a 1" border of brushed shiny metal lining all the edges of said box. The front of the box is a descending black panel (poly-urethane treated MDF painted black and given another poly-urethane coat) then the turntable CD unit (think 2 CD drives in your computer side by side) and that's where I load the records. The sides are solid black like the front panel with large, heavy-duty handles that are the same shine/color metal as the lining. The back of the box is totally exposed so that I can plug everything into the power strip and so I can have unhampered access when I'm actually setting up everything. I'll post pictures later this afternoon when I get home and you can see what I've been up to these past few days in my garage! I've cut myself twice, gotten slivers of metal in my hands and feet (I had to pull 3 metal splinters out of my thumb this morning), burned myself three times, and dropped the metal skeleton on my toe: 100% worth it, it looks hardcore!

My family was impressed with how it came out and my dad asked me how much it had cost for everything. I told him and he said I could easily sell it for more than I got it, and I told him that I still wanted to play on it before I ever thought about that! I showed him how to use all the stuff and he was impressed. He was thinking about giving me some old speakers (they're still great and are older than I am) and they've got RCA output which suits me just peachy. I'm really looking forward to playing for people in Austin at parties and whatnot. I keep thinking about Austin, and even though I know it's not that far off for me, I still feel my time here like I'm wading through mud and I can't move much. Dallas isn't really home anymore and I'm wondering if it would ever be again. At least when I'm at my parent's house, it feels more like home, but everyone's schedule is so crazy it feels very different now.

This is all for now, feel free to post a comment if you are so inclined, I'm just plodding along today and there's nothing much to be said of Thursday, except that it's not really Friday and yet it's not so tied to the work-week.

She's so fickle sometimes...

Still Just A Rat In A Cage...

2005-08-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

So my experiement failed again. That makes it a total of 8 times now that I've either gotten no result or have a result that isn't what I need. This officially marks the exaustion of any ideas I have on this project and my subsequent resignation of the idea that anything I do in the next 5-7 days will accomplish anything other than a waste of resourses and my time. My PI is still in Boston and really, I couldn't care less. No one in the lab (save Sunbola and I) talk at all and even if we do it's not long. Sunbola and I had a pretty funny 30 min. talk about weddings and I laughed my ass off when she said, in regards to old friends who think she is stuck up simply because she comes back with a masters and in graduate school when they haven't graduated undergraduate from community college, "Don't be mad at me, it's not my fault you're worthless because you won't work for it." She didn't mean that because they are in community college (there's nothing wrong with those) but because the friends had no ambition to make something of themselves.

I'm so sick of the lab, my head actually hurts when thinking about getting back to doing anything that resembles work of any kind. It's almost like I'm trapped in the job, in limbo because I can't very well quit, I have 7 days left, no poster, no data, and nothing much left to do besides try the same damned thing over and over again with the same damned result: nothing! So I am escaping early for a quick lunch lecture and then I'm going to the IKEA grand-opening for a bed. I really hope they have the one I want, I'm really excited about getting a place to sleep other than the rock-hard bed I have in Dallas. I miss my Austin people very much and I'm coming down not this weekend but the next, so we shall all have fun and merriment! Happy Birthday to Katie, Matt, Sanjita, and Nick. If I left you out, tell me. I'm afraid I can't write anymore because being on the lab computer sucks all my energy through the monitor.

We've got to get out of this place...

I'm A Bad Worker Bee...

2005-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

So I have been playing on the library computers all freaking morning, so now that it's noon, I'm thinking about going back to lab to pour plates, do a little experiment, put it in the incubator for the night and go home to do stuff there. I know that's bad, but I finally got paid and have lots to do elsewhere. Sunbola's leaving too so I don't feel so bad about it. I only have two weeks left, what the fuck do they care if I leave early? It's really not like I have much at all to do (I don't) and it's not as if my PI (read: boss) isn't in Boston (he is) and it's not like my lab cares too much (they don't). So I'm leaving as soon as the experiment is over and done with. It takes 1.5 hrs or thereabouts so I should leave at ~2:00.

I think the SURF people that don't hate fun (Misty, Chris, Phillips 1&2, and maybe Sunbola) are going out for sushi (because raw fish is the most kickass food ever sliced up by mankind) and then mayhaps hit up a bar and down a few pints. I really had a lot of fun last night hanging out with Jon and Zach (I don't get to see them much) and Andrew and Mike T were good to chill out with. We are the only ones that work (Jon was on a grant from Stanford and Zach is just kinda lazy) so we deserved our beers. Mike's not 21 yet but the place doesn't card and he's got a likeable attitude. I got 5 beers and a pizza for less than 10 bucks- this is such an awesome idea, I'm not sure what to say about it.

I'm looking into jobs and two people got back to me. Scratch one research job and put one barista spot into the "hopeful" category. The coffee shop was impressed by my resume and my prior work at the Border's cafe will mean that they can hire a guy they don't really need to train (which I think they'll love) so it is quite possible that I could be slinging mugs and gelatto at Teo (I think it's at 29th and something) but we'll have to see. I just need a low-hour, higher wage way to earn some extra scratch so I can buy the things I need/ want in Austin. I've been figuring out living expenses with Nick and I think I got it all settled. He's looknig for furniture at the moment and that includes a TV, entertainmet center, and dining room chairs. Wish us luck. We think we have an add for a free TV, but it may still be too expensive...check it out here, but be forewarned, it's stupid. I've said it before, but I want to be back in Austin. All I can say is that the parties better be rocking and the beer should flow like wine!

I wanna rock and roll all night...

Daily Grinding (To a Halt)

2005-08-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Such an exausting weekend! I had a fun time, but I was so tired, I was kinda grumpy or zombified the whole time. I went to 2 clubs (for the record: Uropa blows and the only good DJs were way in the back and I like talking to those guys, and Purgatory is ok, but fuck your $10 cover, I'm over 21 you assholes! Plus the DJ that everyone was dancing to couldn't mix a track to save his life, and a one point was just playing a CD!) blew a ton of cash, did chores galore, and other odds and ends to get ready for Austin. I'm just going through the motions at work, and although I'm supposed to be working with the lab manager, she's not really looking over my shoulder at all. That's a mixed blessing, as on one hand I don't want to be baby-sat but on the other, maybe a fresh pair of hands working on the project will push it along. I'm supposed to be eating lunch with Vincent Tran today at St. Paul, so that should be cool. I talked with the infamous Michael L. Hanson yesterday and he's back in Austin. He said he had a great time up north with his femme fatal, Randi McKenna. I can't wait to start hanging out with them again, I've missed hanging out with that duo. Mike says he has pictures for me to see and I can't wait. I'm going back to Austin in a week from Friday, so that'll be cool. I still have to find a bed before I move...hmmm...

I didn't get invited to the Faculty Club (an amazing resturant in the school) this year, but I suppose they don't have to wine and dine me to come here any more. I've been putting in aplications to about 10 or so jobs with different places around Austin (everything from music magazines to research jobs, to cafe spots) and hopefully I'll hear back from some of them and land me a job to supplement the ol' income. I was on the phone a lot this weekend to my phone company people and my credit card company about trying to get a new card (mine expired yesterday) and being on the phone with giant companies is pretty stupid. But today is not a total loss: it is payday and I think I'll go get a beer or something with Maggy tonight. I hope everyone has a good Monday because I have a feeling the week's gonna shoot by!

Got me a pocket full of change

Everybody's Working Over the Weekend...

2005-07-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

So this weekend proves to be a packed one! Tonight I'm trying to get home early and work on my little box project, then my friend from OK is coming in town for her friend's birthday and I'm gonna tag along (one: I want to make sure they don't drink and drive, two: I want to have my car with me if we're going to lower greenville, if you know what I mean). Tomorrow I have class early then I'm going with the SURF kids to the DWA at 11 or so. We're staying until 1 or so, but I hope that means they'll feed us there (the resturant is freaking good)! I'm supposed to go out with another group of people on Saturday night, but I've not heard from them, so I'm not really sure what's going on. On Sunday I have to clean all the windows in my house for my mum so as to pay back a mastercard bill (I like bartering, it leaves me with more cash in the end). I will most likely come into lab sometime over the weekend, so there's that to add on too.

I've decided to really start looking for a job in Austin so I'm going to apply to two different coffee shops (I used to work the esspresso bar at Borders) although I'm not sure if that's realy what I want to do (though I do want ot earn some more cash). I'm also submitting (Matt is too) to a post on the Austin craigslist about writers for a new independent music magazine. It's called Harmonium so we'll see if they want me as a writer or what. This is the meat of their post:

Are you a talented critical writer? Do you love music with every fiber of your being? If so, we would like to hear from you. We are a group of self-labeled music nerds who love and have written about music through a variety of official and unofficial channels for several years. In fact, we spend so much time talking and writing about music that we have decided to embark on the creation of an online music magazine entitled HARMONIUM.
Yes, there are a lot of similar endeavors out there (pitchfork, cokemachineglow and tinymixtapes to name a few), but ours will be more inclusive, more informal and (hopefully) more interesting. At launch (currently slated for september 1), the magazine will be simple, featuring album reviews, interviews and columns with an emphasis on quality music, no matter what inherent mainstream/indie appeal there may be. But the long-range plan is to incorporate an easily-searchable database into the site that will dynamically serve content based on a variety of criteria (band name, album title, song lists, tour dates, etc.).

So that's the idea anyway. I'm not sure what all their ideas about inclusivity, informality, and interest mean, but I thought it might be an outlet to see shows or something and then get to write about it. They want album reviews, which I'm happy to write about, but they should really move out into the more live scene (this is Austin after all) and put in some interviews if possible. I'm submitting a critical sample over How To DJ Right and I hope that they think a book review, much less one about the DJ scene (what do you want to bet that these guys are indie-rock elitist?) will be interesting. I'm working on this strange "top five" thing too: they want a list (with sentence explination of each) of the top five mainstream and bottom five (I guess that means worst five?) independent artists from the past ten years.

I've really only one thing to do at work today but I think I'll stay the whole time because the grad students are giving us a free dinner at 4:00 so I might want to do that, but I'm not sure. I hope everyone has a great weekend and were all almost back to Austin! I can hardly wait to get back. I have a great feeling about this last year!

Work, work, work, all day long...

Brain-Dead Zombies Walk The Lab!

2005-07-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

So I've been at work for 1.5 hours and so far, no one has said a word. A few half-hearted smiles were exchanged, and that will sort-of suffice for a "good morning" in this place. It's so strange to watch everyone and see how just gone they look. The lab manager is working on her thesis, the new post doc is wondering when all his stuff he ordered will be in so he can start his really tough experiment, the lab tech is on the phone to figure out something with her daughter's school, the grad student is figuring out class stuff and reading a paper that she has to present in journal club this afternoon, and yours-truly is 200 miles away from here, enjoying his new apartment in the laid-back atmosphere of Austin instead of the rainy, dreary Dallas skyline.

I got to talk to our token Englishman yesterday, and I was glad to find him in good spirits and doing freelance work with AMP magazine as an interviewer of groups, etc. I didn't get a chance to ask about his family (although his brother was there) because they were going to move to Canada (eh?). Matt said it was the most rainy june on record, so one would venture to say that the man felt right at home. I was meaning to ask him about the rash of terrorist activity in England, and to make sure all his family over there were doing ok (his family is from London). His birthday is rapidly coming up (as is my Roomie's) so if you know either gentlemen, buy them a drink when they turn 21.

NASA had to ground the shuttle mission (I'll bet Julie is bummed) but I'm afraid I don't know why (I only have a few headlines this morning). Her job is either going to really slow down, or really speed up! I'm not sure when she switches Labs (or sections or whatever the right term is) for her Fall rotation, but I think we may go to Houston soon to go visit her (and Matt may want to join us) I also wnt to see my Aunt and Uncle and see how things are going for them as well as take the mattress of their hands to use in my room. That reminds me that our new IKEA is opening soon, so I'm gonna go look for a bed.

I think I'm going to start building my DJ case today, it's going to be 19x19x8 and I hope it will work well. I need to look into geting carpet or some kind of covering for the outside and get some hardware for the actual case itself (read: handles, clasps, corner covers, etc.). I need to ut wood on the outside of the frame (David was working with me to figure out the best design) and when I showed Brian what I was looking to do he told me that I should use something called MDF for make the pannels from (he's a construction genius too) so I think I'm going to buy the wood, seal it and then cover/mount it. I think this should be a pretty easy little project if I set myself to it. I don't have a lot to do today but please post something, because I'd love to hear from everyone!

Are we the last living souls?

Two Turntables and a Microphone

2005-07-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

I finally got that mixer from my friend at Guitar Center (very nice deal) and I chose this little discontinued number (they stoped making it in 2004 but it is new (read: unused) regardless. I had to download the manual which wasn't much fun and because Guitar Center is so goddamned disorganized, they had to order the power adapter from Stanton for me (my friend felt bad so he let me take all the free hookup cables I wanted so now I don't have to find those). Now all I really have left to do is build a rack case and practice my ass off. My drums training should come in handy but we'll see. This past weekend, Larry said he had some DJ CD players so I told him to come jam when we get back to Austin. I'm really loving how this equipment is pushing me deeper into my record collection and how it's really forced me to look at my collection as an organism with systems and a pulse. I've been breaking down songs, exploring records I don't normally pull out and finding some gems holed away in the back, begging to be played. I am a huge fan or the pitch (speed) control that I have over the CDs: I can speed up or slow down a track that sounds one way, and turn it into 2 more songs by playing with speed. If you have a record player, put on an old rock record, put your fingers on the label and gently push it forwards lightly to see what I mean. I hope that with enough practice I can lay down tracks at our parties this next semester. I still need another mono cable for the mixer (to connect to the players) and some small RCA speakers (think cheap RadioShack computer stuff) and it's really time to trade in the old headphones, they're 5 years old and leak sound like mad, so maybe I'll splurge and get some KOSS ones for $30-40 at my old place of business.

I have been thinking up the design for my case. all the units are the standard rack mounted 19 inches across. The controler for the players (the thing with the jogwheels on it) and the mixer sit on top of the actual players. The face of the players will point at my body as I play, whereas the controler and mixer will be on the "top" of the box. The length of the players is shorter than the distance from the bottom of the controler to the top of the mixer, and I think I'll use the little exra space for a power strip (with surge-protection) so that I can plug everything right into a wall outlet instead of having a million plugs going willy-nilly all over the place. I'll most likely get my brother David to help with the assembly if for no other reason than he is amazing with that kind of thing. His brain is great for spacial work and he can often see a problem long before the normal person would get to it. I would rather him tell me that he sees a problem with the design before I start than to have to run into it in the middle of construction. I plan on putting some pieces of wood arround the metal frame (which I'm making from standard metal rails from Home Depot) and then covering the wood with with either very thin carpet or perhaps plastic. I should have it done in a few days (weekend project?) and I'l post a picture of the setup here when it's done.

I am 100% sick of work now. I have 12 more days of work and it adds up to one failed troubleshooting step after another with no data, no results, and no fun. My friend's lab fucked off to downtown yesterday for lunch and drinks at the DWA and then shopping and hanging out at the West End Marketplace. I wish my lab had 1/2 as much fun as others do. But I suppose summer is for vaccations, and why should I get one? I am dying to get back and to get away from work due to how crappy my experiments have gone this summer. Even my mom was sympathetic this morning when I got out the door a little later than normal. I must have looked tired because she said she was sorry my lab work wasn't going well and that I didn't get any data. I hope my face doesn't belile my thoughts because I don't want to bring anyone down just because my stuff is fruitless. I'll perhaps post more later, but I got to see so many of my friends last night that I felt really good and quite a few of us are off the get some real Chinese BBQ (gotta love the real thing) later on tonight once we all get off work.

Hey boys, hey girls, superstar DJs, here we go!

See Logan. See Logan Run. Run Logan, Run

2005-07-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Two friends of mine and I went to get dinner at Two Rows and then saw The Island last night. There are two new beers at the local now: a Heffe-wisen and an IPA, both types being in my top five of beers that I like! We had a good talk about all sorts of things: relationships, people's behavior, religion, hobbies, etc. The girls hit it off quite well even though they'd never met. We went to see the movie at the theater in Plano and the movie was a lot longer than I thought it would be. The story is really a splice of Logan's Run with THX 1138. They even used the strange uniforms and even a set from THX 1138! All in all a good movie, but an odd amount of pain for the rating: watch it and see how many times you find yourself saying, "owch!"

I was up until 3 or 4 so I'm quite tired. I feel like an automaton at work now that I'm just troubleshooting one thing after the other until I can go home. At least they feed me today and I know the lecture is going to be a good one. I really don't feel like being here and would much rather return to Austin with my friends and have a better time than I'm having here. I did see previews for V for Vendetta and Serenity, both of which I really want to go see when they come out. But for now, I'm, just biding my time until it's all over and done with. Sorry I don't feel like writing much today, but things are slow and this place is killing my gumption so I will leave with a shorter post today.

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Weekends at Home

2005-07-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

I was in Austin all weekend for a wedding that lasted 18 min. We had a great time, and it was so nice getting to see everyone again. I have begun to think of Austin as home and I've been away too long! I got to see some URHA/ RHC people I'd not hung out with in a long time. I was able to hang out in my own apartment and enjoy that, as well as go downtown after the wedding to drink it up at McCormicks & Schmidts, The Gingerman, and Chuggin' Monkey where we got to hear a pretty good resident DJ (though I wish it were Friday and we could've gone to see Chicken George). There was no drinking at the reception and no dancing (silly religious people and their rules) but Hoon and Sarah looked great and the whole thing was really beautiful and done very well. Being the first wedding of a friend's that I've gone to since leaving High School, I must say that it was still a lot of fun! We were all having such a good time, it was a real shame I had to go back to Dallas.

I finished The Once and Future King today and have been pretty busy in the lab (not that I want to be or anything) but that's kinda how it goes. I am in effect counting down the days until I return to Austin and get to have some really nice back-to-school parties to host/attend. Nick and Erica were nice to hang out with, even if they do sleep a whole lot! When I got back to Dallas I went out with some people from work and that was fun, but I left my phone to charge in the car, when I got back to the house (I'm sorry to the people that called/ messaged me, I was home, just not near my phone and I would have loved to talk with/ hang out with you). I hope the day goes quickly because I can think of nothing better than going out tonight to forget that I have work still left to do here!

Can't I just go home, already?

I'd Get Back on my Horse, But it Just Died on me...

2005-07-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I get in early, hoping, really hoping, to get some kind of results from last night, but what do I find? Nothing. This summer is getting very exausting what with no data to speak of and the seemingly simple steps which don't go according to plan! I am ready to leave the lab and get back into school. A man can only take so much failure before he needs a break from all of it! I think I need a vaccation and I'm hoping that by going down to Austin for the weekend will be the thing I need to recharge my batteries and give me a jump start from the lab failures.

I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a SURF friend of mine last night and it was a very cute movie. There were a lot more side plots and some things were left out but all in all a very nice film. Johnny Depp and Deep Roy were awesome and the girl who played Veruka Salt couldn't have been more perfect (total brat, huge teeth, etc.). I want to see more movies, but nothing looks particularly good at the present.

My brother gets in from Spain this weekend and I'll be glad to see him, though I'm sure he'd much rather stay there than here, but what can you do. He took lots of pictures and calls the house often enough, but I'm never home to talk to him, so I'll most likely take him out to lunch and make him tell his tale. I actually got a belt yesterday and it's reversible (that's nifty) and I think I may look into getting that mixer if Guitar Center has ordered the power supply for the damned thing. That will be about the last of my purchases for quite a while, I suppose.

I'm taking a long long lunch today because I have two lunch meetings back to back, and pretty much no work to speak of today due to experiement failure. This is quite dissapointing, really but I suppose I am getting paid for the whole experience, andthat's a good thing too. I don't feel much like writing, or really doing anything in fact. I made a mistake and amazon sent the books to Austin, but they said they'd hold it for me and I'll pick it up on my way down tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get both my books. I hope this is a good book, and I know this one is like the DJ encyclopedia or bible, or whatever tome of knowledge you wish. So these should boost me on my way towards making good sounds.

Get knocked down 7 times, get up 8

Stress: Breakfast of Champions (Now with Fiber!)

2005-07-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure what is exactly wrong with me...I was on edge all day yesterday with no real reason to be that way. I was stressed out about work, the phone call, not seeing many of my friends, and generally having a stressful summer when I needed an non-stressful one after the goddamned MCATs. I really ought to be thinking that I have it pretty good. I have a place where I can get $1 beer for half the week, I have a job that pays (even if it sucks at times), I have new music, I'm done with medical school applications, I get to see people in Austin this weekend and go to a wedding with great food, and I get to see some old friends tomorrow that I've not seen in a long time. I think all the stress is building up towards the culmination of the summer and that's most likely what's got me down. I think I should run more or something to work the stress out physically (we have punching bags at the gym at work).

Let me see...In other news, my cells got in yesterday, and now I can do some actual work with my experiment! I feel only half-hearted about doing anything more (I have 3 weeks left) because it's not really going towards any goal per-se, but I guess I am getting paid and if anyone would ever want to take up the experiment at a later date (I'd doubt that, but you never know) then I guess I might be able to finish making the virus, just not testing it. This has been by far, on the scientific front, the worst summer of my undergraduate career. If I wasn't getting paid to do this, I'd be in Austin taking physics or history or some such bullshit course that I need to graduate.

I made an error with those books that I ordered. I had them sent to my Austin Address but unfortunately my old Austin address (read: Roberts Hall). I deem this "Not a good thing" and I'm going to call the Waller Creek Offices today and see if they can hold the package until I get in on Friday and pick them up by hand. I'm sure they can and would understand my problem. I know they call the people to whom the package belongs during the year, but I'm not sure of the summer policy. Thanks for posting yesterday gals, that helped my otherwise crummy day. I resolve to be more in control of my thoughts and emotions today, and have a much better day today than I did yesterday, though the lack of sleep may also be contributing to my stress level as well.

Silly me, I almost forgot that I got new shoes yesterday (I need to get a belt today) they're super spiffy and super comfortable! I think they look good with my suit, but they have no laces, so that part is interesting! They make the suit look nice without being too formal and I think they'll last a long time. Post and tell me what you think!

Always add the milk last

Waiting and Phone Calls

2005-07-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

So there's a rather funny and interesting story I'd like to relay. I did almost nothing at work yesterday due to the fact that I put in an order for some stuff that hasn't come in yet, so that was a refreshing break from my normal schedule. I ran 4 miles and was very proud of myself for doing so in 30 min. I left early enough so that there was little to no traffic on the Tollway, and went home to shower before going off to the tailors' to pick up my suit. The suit fits quite nicely and I feel very comfortable in it, so nice job there. Some of my SURF friends (the non-lame ones) wanted to go get some beers so that too was nice! Maggy Potts called me and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out tomorrow(that being today) as she just got back from Mexico and wanted to see me to talk about the trip. However, as I was driving Downtown, I get a phone call from an Austin number I don't know. I pick it up and a woman asks for William Yarbrough. That being me, and as only friends really call me "Will" I think it's something important. It turns out to be Dr. Field, one of the people from whom I'm getting a Medical School letter of recommendation.

Here's some back story. So far I asked 3 UT Austin professors to write letters for me, and 2 UTSouthwestern M.D.s to write letters for me. I was only waiting on her letter to have the full set of 5 letters sent out. All but Dr. Field wanted just my resume, my personal statement (a small paper of intent of your philosophy and reasons for going into medicine) and the cover letter supplied by the Health Professions Office at UT Austin. Dr. Field wanted all that, plus a transcript (those are not free), a paper detailing my work in research as an undergraduate, a paper to outline 3 character traits about myself, my MCAT scores, and it needed to be in a binder. I took care of all of that for her and she said she would be happy to write me the letter. I have taken Dr. Field for a full year, having made an A in Microbiology II and a B in Human Infectious Diseases. She most certainly knows who I am, we have talked about subjects other than her class, and I go to her office hours: we've met.

Back to the story: So she calls me and says that she was working on writing letters when she came to mine and found that she couldn't write one for me because I've lied on my resume. As I do my best to regain control of my car because of the shock from that, I ask her what she means. She said that I had put under my awards that I was on the Dean's List for 2002-2003 academic year. She said that I was only on the Dean's List for one semester of that year. That bit of info was correct, but with all the awards, etc. I only put down the years in which I won/ got them, not the semester given. I told her this and she said that it was something which I should have caught and that people do check up on things I write down (no shit? really?). She said that because this was tantamount to a false resume she couldn't write me the letter. Now, keep in mind that Medical School applications need to be in ASAP, she leaves me in the lurch with no letter and a lot of work wasted already. This is not a good thing, but I've been doing my best to be Zen about the little roadbumps in life, so I don't get angry, I simply go out and have a few drinks with friends, drive home and go to sleep.

This morning I called the HPO office to see if I even need the 5th letter, and it turns out I don't because I need at least 3 and at least one of the three must be UT Austin faculty. I have 4 and to of those are UT Austin faculty, so I'm set. The way I see it, I almost don't want a letter from someone that is quite that anal retentive about that sort of thing anyway. So, Dr. Field, thanks but no thanks and that pretty much ends our business together. In other news, I'm getting Nick a jacket for the wedding so he can keep up the metro-sexual image that everyone attributes to him (poor chap didn't have a proper jacket) so I think together we are more metrosexual than either of us alone. We're like the goddamned metrosexual-wondertwins or something, except he's better looking and we're not twins. The wedding sounds great at this point and I can't wait to get down to Austin again.

I hope to have a mixer by the end of the week, and I'm looking into this one for a c-note at Guitar Center. I am also getting a few books (yes I'm a dork) on Digital DJ techniques and tips so hopefully I will get good through practice, much to my houseguests and roommate's chagrin. I got the new White Stripes album (I hate the group but I think their music is grand), the new Daft Punk album (takes a few listens but it comes out very beat-saturated), and the new Chemical Brothers (I was not happy with "It Began In Afrika" but this restored my faith). All these albums are great and if you're looking for some fun music, check it out.

One final note, I promise to cut out the science almost all together for my readership as only a few people are even very interested and those people don't read this as much as the people who are confused. So take heart, non-science types, I'm trying to not say anything about it!

Last night a DJ saved my life

Weekend Warrior

2005-07-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

I just got the news that I don't have to come into work this weekend, which is nice because I have a ton of things that I need to get done (read: haircut, oil change, etc) and I'd rather not spend all my days at work for something that's not giving me results anyway! This is mostly due to the fact that the cells I ordered won't be in until next week, so I've got a whole lot of nothing until then. I think I'm going to get a few new CDs this weekend to listen too as well, just because I haven't gotten any CDs in a few months now. Mike Tann came over last night and we watched some TV and I spun a few records. Tonight promises to be more friend-oriented, with Brian, Mike and Haley (his new girl), Andrew, House (Amy), possibly Nikki and a friend of hers and maybe even Sunbola and Laide! I hope the jazz is good and I have anough energy for all the galleries (I've not hung out in the modern stuff in a good long while). Brian's Rebecca is coming into town in a day or so, so he'll be out of the picture for a while, at least.

So I should have my suit done on Monday and I think I need a new pair of dress shoes, but that means I need a new belt (I've lost weight too, so a new belt was in order anyway) because a gentleman always matches his shoes and belt. I should look damned spiffy in this new suit! I'm also excited about going to Austin, as I've really started to miss the laid-back atmosphere of the place. I've decided to do my hair at least one last time, when I cut it this weekend, as the black has kinda grown on me. Mike and I were checking out all the fun stuff on the inter-web last night like threadless and ytmnd just for some kicks. I wish my work wasn't so stressful and then I micht enjoy my summer a bit more and not be worried about work, coz I'm always worried about school when it's during the year. Speaking of school, I'm only one more letter of recomendation away from being done with the med school stuff, so that does make me a happy lad!

I finished PiHKAL and was thinking about starting TiHKAL but I need to find a bookstore to carry it first. I picked up T.H. White's The Once and Future King and am plugging along through that because I used to love the stories as a kid and I'm glad to be reading them again. It's a great work and I'd suggest it to anyone. Post a comment to tell me you're still alive out there, not just my two loyal readers! Cheers to all of you and I hope you have a good weekend!

Everybody's working for the weekend.

All Fall Down

2005-07-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not nice to see something you thought was going so well, turn around to slap you in the face with defeat. It's even worse at eight in the morning. My boss has no idea what the problem is, there's nothing in the literature to help, all the old notebooks that have done things like this don't help either. I went to see Jessica's boss to see if she could help, but all she said was that I've accounted for almost every conceivable control and that the last thing I could try would be a desperation move and break down all the steps into long, drawn out steps and do everything one at a time. I'm not really sure this will work, but I'm out of options, so there you go. My roommate and I had a talk yesterday in which he told me he wanted to go into medicine, that he couldn't do lab work his whole life and that he wanted to do some research with some meaning or at least some applications that could be seen in foreseeable settings. Nick is a good scientist, but the way he speaks about science and research, doesn't remind me of the clinical physicians I know. He sounds like a M.D./Ph.D. student and I hope he looks into that because he's exactly the kind of person they need/ are looking for! The program is hard, takes about 8 years to finish, but I think he could do it. They're really selective, but I doubt with his grades and probable MCAT scores, he would have much of a problem with that.

Michael Hanson leaves today to go visit Randi, so I hope he stays safe and has a good time out in the wilds of Wyoming or wherever the hell the park she works at is located. I really need to start hanging out with my friends more this next year, as I kinda got out of touch with the friends with all the MCAT mess. I looked at a suit from Men's Warehouse, it's a charcoal grey (dark) three-button light wool suit. I must say, I look good...scratch that, deadly in that thing! Here's what it looks like, it has a very athletic cut to it, which I like in a suit and is conservative enough for medical school interviews. I wish I didn't have such broad shoulders/ biceps because it makes the suits cost more, but I think my 'rents might help me out with it.

Thanks for the posts on the beds, and you were right: the one really does look like a park bench of sorts, so I think I'll go with this one, just imagine the white mattress as a futon instead of a box spring and in black. I was told "that's so you," although I'm not totally sure what was meant by that. I do dig the bed though and it will be interesting, although a lot of comments about how low it is have surfaced. Futon is a bastardization of shikibuton or "bedding" in Japanese. They're placed directly on the floor and then rolled up when not in use. Cheap, and good back support, how can you go wrong?

I got my MP3 player back from the company yesterday, but I haven't gotten around to charging it or putting music onto it. That will be plans for tonight as well as trying to have some people over for a movie night or something to that effect. I haven't hung out with Brian in a while and I think Andrew, Emma, and Nick Olsen should come too. I want Michael Tann, Brian, and Andrew to come with me out to the jazz/ DJ thing at the DMA tomorrow. Andrew will come for the art, Brian for the jazz, and Michael because this new girl he's trying to hook up with will think he's cultured and refined for going to the museum. This weekend will be busy though, and I need a haircut. Here's another thing I need help with: should I do the black again or let my natural color grow out? Any thoughts on the matter?

Ashes to ashes

Days Go By

2005-07-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

So I have done what most of my friends do every summer, that is, lose track of time. I was thinking it was Thursday when I got up, only to find it was just Wednesday! I had an interesting weekend filled with art, culture, and a strange drink from Chili's. Things are looking up in my experiment (I think) though I guess I'll know by the end of the week. As a side note to any scientists who may be reading this (Meg, Nick, etc...) I'm having a problem with my DNA: I'm trying to get these two separate pieces of DNA to anneal. I end up with 3 bands where I want one, and then when I ligate them, the pieces don't go in the right orientation (this is from a restriction digest, not sequencing). For the non-science people, that is, everyone normal: I hit a snag with some DNA and I can't get out of it, it should be an easy step and it's being difficult. In other news I have been hanging out with a lot of the SURF kids and they are a odd mix. I got some that are awesome to hang out with, some who I believe actually hate fun and would rather talk on the goddamned phone to friends in their hometowns who they will see in a month, than hang out with cool and interesting people here that want to show them fun things to do in Dallas, and some who believe, fully and without humor that the world is 5000 years old and dinosaurs didn't really exist, and a bunch of other things that most people would find crazy (keep in mind, these people work in SCIENCE!!!!!) so you can see how mixed this all is.

I will be going to Shakespeare in the Park on Thursday, but I may forfeit and try to enlist grad students to come hear Jazz Under the Stars. I hope Spanish wine is enough to entice them to come. I got a blazer yesterday from the Salvation Army of all places, but it's nice, wool and silk, and is a clean charcoal grey that goes well with jeans for a "going out to the club" getup. I've been keeping up with my running and so far I think it's paying off pretty well, but not as fast as I'd like. I'm excited about moving into my apt, though I'm still working on the logistics of getting everything (couch, table, desk, chair, bed, etc.) down to Austin. I'm excited to get my own place finally and Nick and I will keep it clean and neat to the point of gay, I'm sure. With the purchase of a Radeon 9600, there is a fourth member of a little CS team that Nick, Erica, and I will be forming next semester. It should be interesting if nothing else.

I think I will go out and get a suit today or tomorrow as I'm sure I'll need one for the wedding and I'm damned sure I'll need one for (hopefully) any interviews I'll get from medical schools. I think I'll pay a visit to Macy's first then go see my friends Chris and DR at Men's Warehouse. I think a black one but three or two buttons? Post and tell me, I value all your opinions on the matter. In other news, I used three words last night that so rarely come up in conversation: doppelganger, antitranssubstantiationalist, and exacerbated. They're all fun words and I'm vexed that I don't oft get to use them. For those that noticed: great job, and for those that didn't: look at the very top of your window, I forgot that I know HTML and could change that little sucker, so you'll see more random crap up there from time to time.

I almost forgot: I'm looking into getting a bed (hopefully queen) from the new IKEA that's going to open in a few weeks in Frisco. Tell me, which do you think I should get? the Kodal, or the Malm, or the Hopen? I need some imput on this so feel free to post some comments!

Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

End of an Unproductive Week

2005-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

None of the three tries on the next stage of my experiment have worked this week. This is not such a big deal as I have come to realize that I'm never going to get this to work in the 5 or so weeks I have left. Not to say I'm not going to keep working my ass off for some kind of data, good, bad, I really don't care, as long as I get something, anything, that I can put onto a poster! Well, at least it's some kind of learning experience that I can use, and even if I manage to get bad data, I'll put it down in poster format. I'm looking forward to this weekend and hopefully having a lot of fun at some free places. Taste of Dallas is in town and that'll be fun (White Lotus Society and Ozomatli are playing tonight) . We saw J5 there for free last time we went (Andrew brought Heidi, Kevin, Alan and a bunch of the mangos last time, so we had a blast)! People have been ditching me for lunch as of late, I guess we're all just trying to catch up for the 4 day week and the day we kinda lost (we pay the price gladly). I think I'll also go to the Trammell Crow building downtown to see the free sculpture and asian art exibits that are down there. Well, summer is taking its toll and I wish I were back in Austin, even if it is for school. I'm just afraid that because I don't get a vaccation or get away this summer I might go insane this fall from lack of fun times and the lack of doing nothing at all.

That which doesn't kill you, hasn't tried hard enough

Happy July Some-Thing-or-Other

2005-07-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well, as an employee of the United States Government (read: "The Man") I got off for a 3 day weekend this past weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, Brian, Andrew, Joel and I all had a big ass lawn sale. We made about $300 all told, so it wasn't such a bad haul. Brian came out with the most, but I didn't do bad either, though I wish I had sold more not just for the cash, but rather to get rid of some of the stuff. I sold a lot of books, but it pissed me off that we got such a low price for them and we had so many. I really thought we were going to make much more off the books than we did. I went to the lake on Saturday with Mike Hanson and Scott Edmiston. It was nice getting out to the lake and drinking with old friends. Sunday was super hot, and I got a nice red burn on my face and back. I don't think I'll peel, but it still wasn't good. After the sale on Sunday I was all set to have my Communist Party after I had dinner at El Fenix with Michelle. After going to the store, picking up my stuff, I called Brian, who remarked he was too tired, and that he didn't want to do anything that night. Well those plans went down the shitter, but thanks go out to Michael Tann for coming through in a pinch to deliver some fireworks action and then a party that went until four in the morning. It took forever to get to Mike T's place as all the roads into Addison! were blocked off by the 5-0.

We had to rescue poor Whitney (a very nice friend of Michael's who is in training to become a chef) as her car broke down before she got to Mike's . After a little drink mix display by me, and the subsequent tipsy-ness this caused in everybody (such a low tolerance) I took the job of driving. After getting there and mixing some more, everybody was really friendly with me and I thought I recognized quite a few people but could not remember where I had seen them all. After taking Whitney back home so she could sleep it off, I was going back when it hit me: the people at the party looked familiar because they were mostly the younger brothers and sisters of people I had gone to school with. So hooray for being the oldest, and only legal person at the damned thing, but it was fun nonetheless.

Monday, I did my best to not have any work to do as I had already put off work on Saturday. I hung out all day and was lazy in the evening until Mike Hanson gave me a ring and we saw George A Romero's Land of the Dead at 8. After the movie we went to Brian's, where Andrew, Bane, Emma, Tiffany (Dunn Brother's Tiffany, not White, Austin Tiffany), and Nick were hanging out. I played X-Box for a bit (Halo II) and got the snot beat out of me by Mike. Brian's door broke when I shut it to let Maggy Potts in, and Brian, being a bit chemically fueled (Brian has seemingly eschewed the sweet kiss of alcohol for his new imbibement, to my chagrin) declared that I "broke his door." This seemed to be a bit much but regardless, I spent the next hour and a half removing the door, and trying to fix the mechanism. I fixed it well for the time being, but he really needs a locksmith. Maggy let me rant at her for a few hours, so that was super nice of her.

I was a little miffed at some of my co-worker friends who neglected to call me back because they didn't get back until two in the morning (don't they know that I'm still up and moving?) but did promise to go out to the pub with me tomorrow night for $1 pint night. I need to convince Brian that we need to have another shindig before his parents come back in town. Well, there's my three day weekend in a nutshell: alcohol, friends, work, sunburn, and no sleep the whole time. No wonder I feel like crap today!

vacation, all I ever wanted...

One Day Till Payday

2005-06-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

So I was in lab for a good 12 hrs yesterday, chugging along on my project and hopefully getting good results. I couldn't read my gel yesterday so Dr. Karp had me re-do the DNA preps. This would be fine, except he asked me to do 24 colonies worth. This would be fine, except the preps require day cultures (i.e. cells must grow for 7 hrs) to harvest and prep. This would be fine, except he asked me at 10:00 this morning. Even this would be fine, except that I was out of media and had to make more, which requires me to Autoclave for an hour. I got all the cultures into the incubator at 12. This puts me at a 7:00pm harvest, with at least another hour-hour and a half DNA prep time. Now, I should go ahead and do a digest on all the DNA and run a massive gel. That'll take an hour to incubate, and an hour to run. That will put me at 9:00-10:00pm. Then, I'd have to grow an overnight of any cultures that gave me a hit, so that'll get me out of here around 10:30-11:00. This is not good. I really should put off the digest and gel, but if I don't get any hits off that, I'm behind a week. This blows.

I get paid tomorrow, which may very well the only reason I come in tomorrow. I don't really feel like working 14 hr days and weekends, but I do feel like getting something done here! I plan on getting those CD players from that guy pretty soon, so I hope it works out. Andrew ended up not taking the ninja job and will be working for Brookstone instead. This is good, because he has a job and has one he doesn't have to sell out for. I really feel tired everyday, despite the fact that I run 2-3 miles everyday and have been eating well. I guess it's the insomnia acting up over the summer, but even when I do sleep I feel sorta tired and crappy the next day.

I plan on going to the Nasher sculpture gardens with some of the grad students tomorrow, so that'll be a lot of fun. I'm interested to see their new "Walking to the Sky" and if you're in D-town, I suggest you look too. I hope to get out of here early over the next few days, as this all gets so tedious at times and I wish I wasn't here when things are going poorly for me. I hope people are reading this, because I keep posting like I said that I would. So if you like this tell me and if you hate this tell me...then shove it up your ass, but tell me about it first. Hoon, or one half of soon to be Hoonandsarah had the most interesting article on his away-message today. Maybe it's shit like this that makes me sick to my stomach about people in general. When things get this sick and twisted, even I have to look away, take a few breaths and say, "It could be worse."

The only real relief I felt at the whole article was that these people can't function in our world. The recoil at women in the workplace, speaking like a human (read: cursing and swearing), liberalism, homosexuality, sexuality in general, dating, places where their Jesus isn't well liked, and all the other little fun things that would make their "hell" worth living in. The most disturbing thing is perhaps not these kids in general but in the fact that they breed and squat out their hellish little cookie-cutter clones as fast and long as they can. I don't mind if you're right-wing, heck, I don't mind too terribly if you're a Christian, and even homeschoolers are people too. But look, when you do your best to shelter yourself from the outside world that everyone lives in, it is going to knock down your door, look you right in the eye, and I swear, the look on your face will be priceless as your stomach knots and you wet yourself in the face of the wonder that you rail against. This turned into a rant really quickly and I'm sorry for that, but places like Patrick Henry and Bob Jones should not be allowed to exist in our time. Send this crap back to the stone age. It's enough to make you want to go in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, have a smoke in the middle of their little world with a sign that says "Ask me about my views on philosophy, science and the meaning of life," I really wonder if their heads would explode like melons.

how do I invent a sterility bomb?

Hits Like a Ton of Bricks

2005-06-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

Went to an interesting lunch lecture today about E. coli. It was alright but I got there on time instead of early and therefore missed the "lunch" portion of the lunch lecture. It was pizza so perhaps it was a good thing that I didn't get any and instead went back to lab to have some protein mix. The experiment is going along well, although I had to make a run to North Campus today (i.e. I had to take the bus) and get back to get the stuff on ice. I'm checking to make sure that all my DNA for the experiment is facing the right way and wasn't put in upside-down. In other news, Andrew Tolentino, Brian Gore, and I are having a garage sale this weekend to earn us some cash because we're all flat broke. I don't know how you feel about garage sales, but I hate to sell stuff I like for little cash. Mind you, it's mostly books I don't use and clothes I don't wear on my end, but it does speak something to one's sense of style and such when your items either don't sell or sell for such a cheap-o price. I'm not sure which of the two is worse, but I certainly hope to make $150 out of all this (if everything of mine sells, mind you).

Seems like putting our sale on craigslist was a good idea, as I've already sold about all of our books before sale time, and I've gotten a few emails as to times and prices on a few things. I have a positive feeling about all this, and I hope over two days we can get a lot of items sold! If you're that interested in our ad, you can see it here (under Monday 06/27). I hope someone comes to buy our stuff. I've been going to Two Rows a lot due to their idea to sell handcrafted pints for a cool dollar all day/all night on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's fun and I went with Maggy Potts, Andrew, Nick Olsen and his friend Chris (from A&M). We had a pretty good time, but I was so tired I don't think I made for much of the conversation starter. Brian got a job after trying somewhere in the rage of about 50 different places. The unfortunate thing is that it's at his old job, surveying land. This entails all day in the hot sun, with poison ivy, chiggers, ticks, and did I mention the sun? So if you know Brian, tell him it's going to be OK. I think Andrew got a job with a security company in Dallas working for their advertisment section. Thats what he says anyway, but I think they're training him to kill ninjas that are always around the Dallas area. I get paid on friday which is good, because I owe my 'rents a fair amount of money, and I need to get a suit for the wedding this next month. I just saw the menu for the rehersal dinner, and I got drool on my shirt. Well, I'm doing better in my frequency of posts, now if only someone will read it all....

Paperwork Without the Paper

2005-06-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

I got my MCAT scores back and am quite happy with the way it all turned out. I would've liked a little higher score, but still, I think all in all I came out on top. I just finished my Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service (TMDSAS) thing and will now begin a long period of waiting for schools to like me well enough to come talk to me! I have a 30 page application that is done completely on-line (they don't use paper anymore) so it took a while to type it all out. I've got the 30 page app, my MCAT scores, 5 letters of recommendation, a personal statement, my full transcripts, and a large sum of cash that has to go to all the schools I apply to. I'm looking really heavily at UTSouthwestern here in Dallas or the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio. But really, at this point it's just whoever will take me! I have letters from my genetics prof. Dr. Pierson, my immunology prof. Dr. Weiss, my human infectious disease prof. Dr. Field, one from Dr. Munford who is a world renowned infectious disease M.D. that I worked under, and Dr. Weissler, the chief of the pulmonology division in Dallas. Hopefully I'll have enough to pull my GPA out of the mire and present myself to a medical school. My research will help some but not at the initial number crunch in the admissions game.

Most of my friends are in Austin this summer so it's kinda crazy here with not too much to do and a lot of work at lab. I'm flat broke and I don't get paid before the end of the month, so I need that paycheck to pay the bills I've racked up! I got a pair of CD players (DJ equipment) and hopefully making music will be a welcome retreat. I've been reading a lot of papers but not a lot of books, and I hope to change that next month when I don't have journal club! I miss Austin and all the friends and experiences that come with it. I'm at an odd point of my college career right now and I'm not sure how to approach it. I may get a job next semester or do a shadow program at Brackenridge to try and get some money/experience before I get into medical school. Please feel free to call or email me or post comments, as I'd love to hear from all of you!

Summertime, the living's easy...

Today is a Good Day for SCIENCE!

2005-06-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I posted last and I've been putting it off like an idiot. I've gotten into a lab here at UTSouthwestern with Dr. David Karp in immunology/ rheumatology. I'm going to give everyone a run-down on my project, in the best terms I can, so everyone can understand me.

You have a type of White Blood Cell called a Macrophage, or MP. These guys eat and kill things that are bad in the body. When certain cells get old, or don't express the right markers, your body kills those bits of itself (all your cells will be new after 7 years) by an action of compact, safe death called apoptosis. Well, many cells in your body, Macrophages included, produce things to keep themselves alive, because your body needs them there. Macrophages produce a small secreted protein called "Apotosis Inhibitor expressed in Macrophages" or simply AIM.

There are cells in your body, called B cells (B stands for Bursar or Bone Marrow -where they are born) which have the job of making Antibodies, the shorthand of which is Ab. Now, Ab is a special protein which looks like a "Y" The arms of the Y are called Fab regions and the body of the Y is called the Fc region. The tips of the Fab regions are really special because they see foreign objects very well. Each Ab is different and all your Abs combined can see over 10,000,000,000,000 different things (that's a lot). Imagine each Y as a lock looking for it's key. The Fc part of the Y can be seen by cells like Macrophages or other White Blood Cells to come eat and kill this thing that is not you. There are 5 types (called isotypes) of Ab in the human model. The Y molecules, although we call them Antibodies are of a class of proteins called Immunoglobulins or simply, Ig. The five types are IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM. IgA is found in secretions like mucus, spit, or breast milk. You secrete these IgA to stop bad things (called Antigens, or Ag) before they reach the cells. IgA is secreted from B cells either alone or in a form that looks like two Y's back to back with arms flailing. We have no Idea what IgD does, after 50 years of knowing about it, but it's really not important for anything. IgE is the Antibody that marks worms or fungus for your body to kill them or will also cause cells called Mast Cells to dump histamine and that is why you have allergic reactions to some things. IgG is the most solid of locks, it has a very tight specificity for it's key and can actually cross the placenta from mother and embryo. D, E and G are only secreted in singles. IgM is the least specific lock, but it accepts the most keys and holds them in. IgM is secreted first and then the body will normally switch to IgG. IgM has the amazing ability to be secreted not as a single protein, but in a pentamer. Imagine 5 Y's linked by their bodies with arms flailing in a 10 pointed star! The Y's are held together by a small protein called the J chain.

We never knew about AIM because we only recently (1999) found it stuck to the J chain. The pent. IgM is so large, no one ever saw the little AIM protein in it's mass. Not much is know about how AIM works other than to keep MP alive longer, but we believe that AIM may substitute for the J chain in certain situations. This is where I come in. I am currently building a virus. I'm using a retrovirus (the most famous retrovirus is HIV) to infect B cells. I'm using a hollowed-out HIV virus called a Lentivirus to infect the cells. Before anyone gets all wiggy- the Lentivirus construct is safe. It has been completely gutted, none of the virus remains, it cannot replicate itself inside a cell, and it pretty much harmless. Retroviruses are special because they contain an amazing protein called reverse transcriptase which has the ability to inject viral DNA right into your DNA and become part of you on the molecular level. Well, instead of inserting viral DNA like they normally do, I have replaced the virus DNA with the human gene which codes for the AIM protein. I'll take the new virus and give it to B cells which don't have the ability to make the 5 member form of IgM and if they use the AIM and then suddenly begin to produce the pentamer form, then I've just made a HUGE breakthrough in immunology and I'll probably get my name on a paper.

So that's what I'm doing with my summer project. Post a comment if you got it all or want me to explain something else!

Language is a virus from outer space

Level 9

2005-05-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

So I passed the deep pit of hell that is the MCAT but what do I get for all of it? A hell week. I have had 4 exams and 1 final since the MCAT. I really don't think it's fair, but what am I gonna do? I've done that but now they tell me I have to apply to Medical School by October. This worries me. I don't even know what project I'll be doing this summer (I think I want to go back to infectious disease, and I enjoy the clinical labs) much less all the application stuff. I do, however have 5 ppl I know will write letters for me over the summer and the HPO will make sure they get in and get packaged correctly for submission (for a small fee, of course). I feel kinda rushed but I think I can get it all done by monday and be ready by mid week next week. In other news, Family Guy is officially un-cancelled tonight and the evil that is the Fox corp. has decided to broadcast it tonight at 8:00pm central time. I hope it's good, but I wish Adult Swim had gotten the deal first instead of Fox. I got a Creative Zen Micro (in Black) and it's super duper neat-o! I have been having a grand time with all my music and it's soooo much better than the shit Apple puts out (excluding the amazing tagging ability of i-Tunes). I think British Matt and I will go see Ann "The Racist, Bitchy, Ignorant, Succubus-of-Lower-Hell" Coulter who will be at the Union Theater on Tuesday. Now, two questions must be coming out right now: First, why would this moron come spread hate-speech at the most liberal university in the south? Secondly, why in the hell would I go see her spout her hate-speech at the most liberal university in the south of which I attend? To answer, the first question is easy: She's thick as a Brick and we want to give all points of view a voice, as we are diversity orriented down here. To the second question: I think it would be fun, a lot like watching Fox news and seeing how much you watch before either passing out, vommiting, or putting your foot through the screen in a vauge attempt to do to Bill O'reilly what his mother should have done at birth. I'll update later this week to tell you how it goes, and if you want to come with, please do.

A snowball's chance down here.

The player's on random

2005-03-26T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well, taking an idea from a few ppl, I took the time to put my playlist on random and see what came out. Everyone has been doing 20 random songs, but I figured that since I have about 60 hrs of music on my hard drive alone (not counting my 300+ CDs or 100 or so vinyl records) I thought I'd put down a whole whopping 50 songs of musical random X-tacy. There are, however no repeat artists, coz that would just be boring, not to mention the fact that I have so many damned artists that WMP10 must be out of whack to keep putting artists back up after I heard them once! So here they are in the order in which they were received:

Transmission Central – Thievery Corporation
Who’s Your Daddy? – Mint Royale
Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads
Revolution – Beatles
Dr. Evil – They Might Be Giants
Tribute (The Greatest Song in the World) – Tenacious D
Swallowed – Bush
The Lumberjack Song – Monty Python
Know Your Enemy – Rage Against the Machine
Venus – Air
Let the Good Times Roll – Cars
Starshine – Gorillaz
Uptown Girl – Reel Big Fish
November Rain – Guns n’ Roses
We’re Turning Again – Frank Zappa
Cannon in D Minor – Pachabel
Come Undone – Duran Duran
Pop Shit – N.E.R.D.
Tragic Kingdom – No Doubt
Dance Hall – Modest Mouse
Fuck Police Brutality – Anti-Flag
Agenda Suicide – The Faint
The Son Never Shines on Closed Doors – Flogging Molly
Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye
Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
Hot Damn – Neptunes
What Time Is It? – Spin Doctors
I Know Him So Well – Chess
Loser – Beck
Kinky Reggae – Bob Marley
Okay Nightmare – Caviar
Jaw Gymnastics – Del the Funky Homosapien
Boring Town – Less Than Jake
Piano Man – Billy Joel
Für Elise – Beethoven
Circles – Soul Coughing
Jump in the Line – Schrodinger’s Cat
Slideshow at Free University – Le Tigre
Heroes – David Bowie
Fields of Gold – Sting
Beeflog – Brak
The Bitch is Back – Elton John
Bad Boy Boogie – AC/DC
Don’t Stand So Close to Me – Police
Sexed Up – Robbie Williams
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen Cover) – Rockapella
You Would Give Me Kiss, If I Were on Soccer Team – Group X
Intergalactic – Beastie Boys
Singing In My Sleep – Semisonic
Candy Cane Children – White Stripes

So that's the list, leave a note on what you think. I think I'll try to do the same with my CD collection too as soon as I get my hands on something that will hold them all at once or a system that will work for randomization.

I don't need you bitch, I'm on Rubik's Cube team.

(MTV's) Spring Break (Beach Party 2005! Wooo!)

2005-03-21T12:18:00.000-08:00

So we went on spring break. It was fun. No, MTV wasn't there and we never saw the beach. However, we did see 3 cities in one week, got kicked out of a monument, and watched an entire season of a show in about 2 days. All in all a great week. We went to Houston on Sat. morning, where we met Matt's (British Matt) parents and family. We saw my Aunt and Uncle (his firm designed Matt's dad's office (well, old office, he now works for a corp. in Canada) and it was kinda small world sorta thing). We went to 3 different museums and had lots of fun, not to mention fajitas...we had fajitas for 3 nights in a row.
Then on monday, we were off to San Antonio. That was actually a fairly long car ride, but it was fun. We got in and then had...fajitas...again... and watched some episodes of a show called "Firefly" and they're making a movie, due out late Sept. so we watched the first season. The next day, we went downtown to be touristy. We first went to the Alamo and took a picture of our English friend with his back to us. Some rather dick-ish guys wearing guns, and white cowboy hats yelled at us, then escorted us off the premises. We never broke a law, nor were we being outwardly disrespectful, but anyway...We had a good time at the river walk and had a snack at zuni's with Nick and Erica. Then we went exploring the Rivercenter mall. We spent the last day just goofing around at Kim's house by watching movies and the like. It was too cold and wet to go to Fredricksburg or go to the river.
I went back to Dallas (after dropping Matt back off in Austin). I spent time working on my little project (it's almost done, actually) and then came back. I spent a lot of my time watching CSI and drinking lots of good beer with my friends in Dallas. However I found out that yet another one of my friends is getting married! So now I'm back and need to buckle down for my MCAT on April 16, so I'll keep it posted.

fun in the sun

Resolve

2004-12-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

We'll consiter this a new start, ok? I know I haven't updated since summer, but now I resolve to keep this thing up to date, and I mean audio and pictures- the works. I had an ok Christmas, even though I really I don't celebrate the holiday. I had a happy Agnostica, a holiday celebrated in the normal manner: Drinking. I got new threads to increase my street cred as the most hardcore playa-hata. I had a ton of family here in Dallas since I got back, and lets just say this isn't much of a vacation when I have to sleep on a couch in the most busy room in the house (Think getting in between 12 and 2 then waking about 3 to 5 hrs later) and it's really taking it's toll! I need to hit the MCAT stuff harder like I promised myself I would, plus, I have very little time to learn all that damned physics! Well, I need to shower and eat, I'm going to go see the Forbidden City exibit at the DMA, it's suposed to be pretty cool. I'll take some pictures whilst I'm downtown.

The rebirth of a legend

When your eyes feel pain...

2004-08-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

I feel, from lack of sleep and days spent in front of a computer screen working on this poster, like my eyes want to kill me. I'm an insomniac so I don't sleep too long anyway, but I know the difference between tired and sleepy. I'm not sleepy. I'm not tired either. I'm more in the realm of dull ache. My eyes for example, feel like they just need to be shut for a while, not sleep, just closed. I will now procede to type with my eyes closed... the other day I finally finaly got a router and began to cut the wood blanks for my little project. I think if I can just get if cut more carefully, the blanks will turn out very nice. I'll be doing routing practice tonight and hopefully get my blanks cut, routed and then I can work them (hand plane) for the rest of the week. My dad's going to the KOPPA conference on Thursday, so we should have as much done as we can. I'll keep it up to date later.

I feel my eyes are open for the first time

Monday Morning I'm waking up, can't even focus on my coffee cup...

2004-08-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

So bloody tired! It's my last week of work and my hands and brain are tired of working on this freaking poster. I need to have it very close to done today so that I can take it to the print shop and they can give me a nice, clean poster from my powerpoint slide! I've been playing a little more Doom3 in my spare time at home, but I will change gears soon as tonight and likely all this week my free time will be devoted to my sword project as there is much wood working to get done, and not much time before I go back to school (T-minus 11 days and counting...). Otherwise, this stuff takes a while and typing gets real old real fast, but it's looking good and it'll really be worth it. I did the capitalist thing this weekend and went shopping for dress clothes, including a lime green tie! I did however stick it to Uncle Sam by 1) Paying no taxes 2) Saving a crap load on clearance and sale stuff (I'm wearing a new shirt and pair of jeans that only cost me $10.00 and it feels real good). So I'm set with the dressy-dapper stuff.

Bond, James Bond

free is good...hell, it's fan-bleedin-tastic

2004-08-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

So I got to go to the Faculty Club for lunch today for free with the ppl at work courtesy of the grad school here at UTSouthwestern. Then they thought, you know what? We like you so freakin much we're gonna throw a grad-student/ SURF student going away party with all the pizza we can buy and all the drinks your bladder can hold. So, free food (and I do mean the herb-grilled salmon with grilled vegatables, garlic potatoes, ceasar salad, and raspberry chocolate cake, soft serve ice cream, chocoate pie, and cream puffs for desert all of which was buffet-all-you-can-eat-style-beeeeaaacchhhh) is good. Free food twice is better, especially when it's a friday and you're stuck in a lab. Later I'm going to go see Zatoichi: The blind swordsman which is a freaking awesome beat takeshi flick about, you guessed it, a blind swordsman. So, my day, without the work and the experiment failure and the poster session coming up quick rocks for these reasons:

Free Lunch
Free Dinner
Badassss Samurai movie

I hope you have as good a day as I do, without your experiments failing, of course.

Samurai Jack

That damned artsy-fartsy crap

2004-08-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I've been in a really artistic mood this past week. I've hammered out more ideas into my sketchbook in the past two weeks than I did all last year. That saddens me coz' I haven't been keeping up with it, but gladdens me bacause I still have some ideas in that side of my brain. I've mostly been sketching ppl, but more recently I've gotten some good concept ideas whilst at the coffee shop, so I guess I should keep it up, it'll be worth it in the long run. I need more time for my outlets, moreso because I have had no real summer vacation to speak of.

Such a pretty picture...

I'm going to sing the doom song!

2004-08-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

So I got Doom3 yesterday and may I say that while the concept is old, the graphics breathe new life into the genre. I grew up on first-person-shooter (FPS) games starting with the first beta version of Wolfenstein (before it was Wolfenstein 3d and id only knew how to make sprites increase and decrease in size relative to a point on a 2d map). I knew three things then and there:

I disliked the Nazi party, who can really like anyone who's party leader is 1/2 giant robot with arm-mounted chain guns?
I knew I was a gamer for life, the depth of the world I was drawn into may have been 2d but the affect was dimension-less
I knew I would be playing FPS games till they pried the mouse from my cold, dead clicking finger

Doom3 doesn't do anything stupendous other than look and sound fucking creepy, but the nostalgia is still there, like inviting an old friend whom you haven't seen in years out for coffee, only to find they're more attractive and successful than you'd ever have hoped they'd be and you're happy for them. I played it as it was meant to be played, like the original: lights off, sound on, and frequent trips to the little boys room. Yeah, so you should play it and be freaked out by it. Doom used to be the game you invited others over to witness in all its glory back in the heyday, it's almost like worth it to invited them back over to see how far it's come. Once Half-life 2 hits shelves, however, gaming will never be the same. 3 FPS games have the propensity to turn normal ppl into gamers : Half-life 2, Doom 3, and FarCry. I suggest you start playing.

I wish I were Doc Doom