A geek speaks
My fixation with the album Emotion Cycles (2001) by Dahlia continues. It is now over a week and I still do not tire of this enchanting album. I searched for any site that had captured lyrics to their songs and found none, so I took the time to transcribe the lyrics for ‘Serenity’ and offer them here:
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While on a visit to a friend’s house I was introduced to the album Emotion Cycles by Dahlia. The music, which was playing in the background while I worked to fix my friend’s computer, was incredibly beautiful and enchanting; so much so that I was compelled to get a copy of the album right away. I have listened to Emotion Cycles a number of times since and do not cease to be impressed by the alluring quality of singer Jennifer Folker’s voice and electronic musician Keith Schreiner’s mixing. There is a sensation of deep and open honesty intertwined with sexual overtones in the songs that speaks directly to the soul of the listener.
During the visit where I first heard Emotion Cycles Lisa, the friend who introduced the music to me, mentioned that they are local to Portland and perform at the Ohm dance club. A lot of electronic music does not translate well to live performance making me wonder how effective Dahlia might be on the stage. Lisa said that they were all the rage and that Folker’s beauty and charisma made all the boys swoon over her. Interested but skeptical I went online looking for information. A review of their album on Amazon provided a surprising and encouraging quote:
“On the other hand, if you have seen them live you are left wondering why so much wonderful material was left out. Some of their weaker material appears on the album…”
Other people who have seen Dahlia live echo this sentiment. Consensus seems to be that if you live in Portland you should make the effort to see Dahlia perform before they hit it big and go national.
Dahlia performs at Ohm every Tuesday night. I am probably too busy to go next Tuesday but am looking for the first chance to see them live I can get.
Part of my morning routine is to take a mid-morning break to see what new and updated Mac software is up at www.versiontracker.com. This morning I noticed a couple of new additions for Safari. Wondering at all development around this still-in-beta browser I decided to find out just how much Safari related software is out there. I was surprised to find out that a search for the word ‘Safari’ on Versiontracker yields a full 28 hits, that is two pages worth of little utils and apps to customize and localize Safari. Not bad for pre-release software. Looks like Apple Developers are out in force.
More on Safari:
Pudding Time!: When It Isn’t For Money
Mike Simmons was a mentor to me during my college years. From 1991 to 1996 I attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington and worked at the school’s computer center. I started work there as a computer consultant, answering questions, helping students. Mike saw potential in me and taught me how to be a computer professional, how to set up, repair and operate the computers at the center. Mike eventually took me on as the school’s second Technical Consultant and eventually gave me my first leadership position as team lead for a group of Technical Consultants. Looking back at those early years, when I searched for what I was meant to and could do, I realize that his trust and confidence in me instilled a confidence and trust in myself that meant more than any technical training in my career.
Mike was diagnosed with brain cancer shortly after I graduated and left Olympia. The decision to stop treatment was made last month. He is not expected to live past this week. I am deeply saddened to know that I will not have a chance to see Mike again. I trust he knows the significant impact he made in my life and in the lives of my fellow students.
My copy of the LOTR: TTT CD CD came in the mail about an hour and a half ago. I just got done with a first listen to the album and can report that while I was a bit under whelmed, it is still very beautiful music. The repeating themes become a bit monotonous, but the album is saved by the beautiful choirs and the powerful and enchanting last track “Gollum’s Song”. Elvish never sounded so good.
So here I am at home enjoying all that technology has to offer. I am working on my iBook. I have MP3s playing, am browsing the WWW with Safari while copying files to my server? all over glorious 802.11 wireless, when all of the sudden: snap there goes my connection! A few seconds later it comes back. Apple?s smart Airport software shows me the signal strength which is fluctuating between full and none, going back and forth seemingly at random. Not very happy I launch MacStumber and scan the airwaves? aha! Some dingbat has put up a new 802.11 station within range of my house and is using the same channel I am. The signal strength is low enough that he keeps dropping out and coming in. A quick change to my wireless station settings and I am on a new channel and back at full strength.. but I cannot help but wonder how long it will be before more stations will go up and the choice of available channels will be reduced.
In a class action suit against major record labels people who have bought a cD between 1995 and 2000 stand to gain a possible $5 to $20 by filing a claim at the CD MAP Settlement web site.
Sunday night I had dinner with my friend Teresa, the most excellent animator who worked on (amongst others) Chicken Run. Teresa had a copy of the Geek Hierarchy with her which was an odd coincidence as that very subject had come up no more than five days earlier. We got to talking about how animators fit on the chart and figured that two more tracks should be added to look something like this:
Stop Motion Animators
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Puppeteers
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Muppetteers
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Marionettists
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And:
Horror Movie Fans
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People who know the names
of prosthetic artists from
horror movies
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People who make their
own prosthetics
Over New Years 2002/2003 I had a conversation with someone who was not sure what a furry was. I do not remember whom I was talking to (was it Sven?) but I made mention of the The Geek Hierarchy which maps the Furries according to their relative geekyness compared to the rest of us. Whomever you are, and in case you find this, be sure to download the larger unabridged version of the Geek Hiearchy.
A few months ago I decided to retire my old and torn second hand sports jacket and get myself a nice new sports jacket. I knew that Nordstrom was the place to go so I went to see what they had. With prices starting at $800 and going up to $1,500 I shied away and decided to give The Men’s Warehouse a try. That was a mistake.
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