ben.parmeter

One might think that over the last month or so, nothing has happened of note in my life.  But alas, that is not the case.  For some reason, after sitting down in front of the keyboard, I’ve been struck with a terrible case of the writers block.  I just haven’t been motivated to write about things lately.  So instead of writing a well thought out post, chronicling the goings-on, I’m going to make a list of random things I’ve been up to with photos.  Ben’s month in lists…

Things I’ve been doing lately:

• Celebrated Suzy’s Birthday, Twice (Once at Ruby Tuesday – Shameful, Once at The Melting Pot – Delicious)
• Brewed an Oatmeal Stout for annual competition with one of my co-workers
• Purchased a PlayStation 3 (Mostly for Blu-Ray support, but also for games and media center)
• Got the Santa Fe fixed
• Read “Happiest baby on the Block”
• Visited like-minded friends on the Central Coast of California, made friends with their dog Parker

• Saw this drooling bird on the pier at the beach

• Went to a good old fashioned Melodrama (my first time… and a great experience)
• Visited Taipei, Taiwan for work

• Read “Baby Wise”
• Ate great Asian food in Taipei, Taiwan
• Worked in Taipei, Taiwan
• Took pictures in bathrooms in Taipei, Taiwan (“Keeping a Clean and Pleasant Environment Makes Everyone Delighted Thank You”)

• Played Beatles RockBand (Thanks Chris!)
• Traveled to Oregon for work, visited my parents
• Met Nico Edan Ferguson for the very first time.

• Said goodbye to my long time friends Pat & Cynthia – Have a great time in Taiwan my friends… see you in two years!
• Baby Shower plus BBQ with the family in Stockton
• Obtained a flash for my fancy camera – subsequently super impressed with results
• Took second place at the Oktoberfest for our Oatmeal Stout (See Above)

• Brewed Scottish Ale from a kit (I know… I was too lazy to do my own all-grain recipe)
• Toyed with the idea of brewing a blueberry wheat beer for my second keg
• Spent time with the fellas at one of my best buds houses while Suzy had another baby shower in Sacramento – More Rock Band
• Worked A Bunch

And that folks, is just a tiny portion, of the things that I’ve been up to lately.  More to come…

I just wanted to jump in and give a quick update of some of the tunes I’ve been listening to lately.   First of all, the latest to come out of the Decemberists, “The Hazards of Love”, is pretty outstanding.  This may sound strange, but personally the album has a rough 1970′s Led Zeppelin featuring Carly Simon kind of sound.  It’s a big, sweeping, moving album that I feel is their best offering to date.  Stumptown sure delivers some amazing bands.  Speaking of Portland bands, hey Shins, I want another album!  Get on that. Yeah.

Let’s see here, what else have I been listing to lately.  Oh yes, the Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band.  I was hooked from the first moment I listened to the song Albatross, Albatross, Albatross. They’re a fun band that reminds me a lot of the punky upbeat style of Hot Hot Heat.  You may disagree, but give them a spin.  They’re on watch.

Next up is Cymbals Eat Guitars, who are raw and awesome.  They rock like Modest Mouse, they use dischord like Pavement, they’re raw like the Wrens.  I may be stealing from other reviewers with those references, but hey, it’s accurate.  Get it, listen, profit.

Lastly, I’m probably the only one not talking about the Handsome Furs.  Whoops… I guess I officially talked about them.  So, I have a soft spot for that Wolf Parade sound.  And to boot… the heavy electro sound puts this one over the top.  Good stuff.

I think that’s enough for now.  Blog out.

Well, it seems to work for Ingrid, so I’m going to take some pictures of my recent projects, post them here, and hope that I can get to them soon.

Here is my latest gadget. This is no ordinary record player, this is the Ion. It’s connected to my computer via a USB cable and is made specifically for backing up those old analog albums to digital files. It’s a beautiful mixture of old and new technology. I can’t wait to start converting those old tracks. But the work is time consuming. Lining up the needle, capturing the audio at just the right second, and all of the digital clean-up to remove the major scratches and pops takes a serious amount of time. Right now we just have a few albums to transfer. Suzy has a collection of Beatles albums at her parents house that I can’t wait to give a spin.

And recently for my birthday, I also received a turkey fryer kit! Before you get too excited, I’m not going to be using this to fry up any animal flesh. Suzy and I are basically vegetarians now anyway.  Instead, I’ll be using this to brew up some delicious batches of beer.  It’s the perfect setup, with a big aluminum brew-pot, propane stove, and long thermometer.  Pat also hooked me up with some copper tubing, which he had pre-fashioned into a spiral.  I’ll use this to make a wort chiller, to do a rapid cold-break.

This is all in preparation for brewing my first Organic Beer.  We recently visited an Organic Brew Shop in Santa Cruz.  I’m excited to get started on the brewing process for this one, but I’ve been putting it off until I got the propane burner and pot setup.  Organic beer may be taking the whole organic thing a bit too far, but hey, it’s beer.  Do you think it will taste any better, or worse or the same?  Time will tell.

Not only did I want to wait for the burner setup, but also the completed Wort Chiller.  While I had the copper tubing, I still needed hose to connect to a water source, to supply the cold water for the cold-break process.  Suzy and I recently went to the hardware store and I picked up a nice thin marine hose that hooks up nicely to spigots outside our house.  Here’s a picture of the cleaning process to remove the thin layer of laminate from the copper, boiling in a solution of water and vinegar.  Also a nice test of the burner.

And also on the docket is a full remodel of our guest room.  The previous owners must have taken it upon themselves to install some seriously bad crown molding, which is basically mounted flat on the wall.  I just want to look at them and say, really?!  And the baseboards themselves look like molding that would normally be used for a door.  The ceiling is still a pinkish purple, the blinds are purple, the carpet is dingy, stained and old and the ceiling fan is electrically dubious.  All this must go.  So I will be taking it upon myself to go to town on this room and turn it into something that we don’t have to be ashamed of anymore.  I’m not sure how long this project is going to take me, but it will probably some time before we get it going.  Here are some before shots…

And here is a closer shot of the horrid crown… and pink ceiling…

Well, I could go on for days about all the unfinished projects around here, but I need to get myself up off the couch.  Until next time…

Finally, the music websites that I frequent are starting to eke out the “best of 2008″ lists.  Pitchfork silently rolled out their top 100 albums of 2008.   And my favorite on-line radio station Woxy.com finally released their 97 best of 2008.  They also released their DJ’s fav albums of 2008 which I found more interesting, because I typically agree with Matt Shiv’s list.  This year, maybe not so much.  But I did obtain copies of Mason Proper and Ra Ra Riot’s latest albums and I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  Too bad I missed these when they were released.  Hey, better late than never.

In other news, look, someone else cares about the light bulb issue that I previously ranted about.  Looks like LEDs are going to take us by storm.  Please, please, please provide me with cheap LED lights now, Mr. Free-Market.  This article tends to a have a flair for the dramatic saying “…what could be termed a benevolent tsunami, an irresistible wave, a solution to many global challenges currently faced by humanity…“  Let’s hope so.

Driving home from soccer this morning, I noticed that someone had a bumper sticker that said “Dissent is Patriotic in a Democracy”.  And it got me to thinking, while I whole heartedly agree that dissent is healthy to our nation, we are technically not a Democracy in the classic sense.  Did you know that?  (or was I the only one asleep in my 10th grade social studies class?)  Did I just blow your mind?   Here in the United States of America we have a constitutional republic.  Still some would argue that we still live largely a democratic system.  Anyway, the author of that bumper sticker probably lived in ancient Greece where they had a true direct Democracy, yeah, that’s what it probably was.  And… discuss.

I kegged a beer for the first time this weekend.  The process took me less than an hour and was far, far easier than bottling.  I’m still a bit iffy about the whole force carbonation thing – I mean, not having done it before I’m struggling with the physics of it.  I mean, really?  You can just hook up CO2 to a sealed keg of flat beer and it will just carbonate?  Well, apparently yes – and apparently there is all kinds of cool sceince behind this too.  The colder the beer, the better it will absorb the CO2.   And for different types of beer, there are different temperatures pressures to set your rig to, to achieve that perfect level of carbonation.  And after about 2-3 days it’s supposed to achieve good “lamination” where the CO2 literally is layered in the beer so that it doesn’t go immediately flat after dispensing.  This hobby really does blend together two outstanding things, science and delicious beer.  Can it get any better than that?

Speaking of science, our president-elect and savior, is establishing a stronger scientific team – breaking from the Bush tradition.   Quote “The president-elect warned that promoting science is “about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology,” an apparent reference to the Bush administration’s response to research on global warming.”  This makes me really excited for the future of this country.   Thank goodness we have someone that will be making good, scientifically sound, intelligent decisions for this country.  And even before he takes office!   What a super guy.

I don’t often write about music on this blog, but I feel it’s time to rectify that right now. Mostly, I didn’t really feel that gushing about the new music that I personally like, is all that interesting for the readership here. To hell with that. I’m going to gush and rave and hype. Have I lost you yet?

Recently, I’ve been turned on to a couple of fresh bands that I’m really enjoying. First of the bunch, in a more mainstream thread, Tokyo Police Club released an album called Elephant Shell. I’ve been hooked on these guys for months – even though something inside me says I shouldn’t like this album, I do. It’s impossible not to like the poppy-crunchy-ness. I fully expect these guys to be on your local alternative clear-channel radio stations any day now. Let’s see, who else, oh yes, PAS/CAL is one of my new favorites. Just listen to this track off their latest full length and tell me I’m crazy. Outstanding stuff. It’s just all over the place, changing tempo, starting, stopping, melodies, all in this six minute long song. I love it. And lastly for today, Noah and the Whale have at least one track that I am enamored with which you can listen to here (scroll to the bottom “Five Years Time”). It’s an endearing song. Hope you enjoy that one as much as I do.

I’ve recently been playing around with Hydrogen, a sequencer for Linux. It’s incredible. No musical talent is required. I jumped right in and started creating music right away. The interface is intuitive and you can create beats on the fly, while it’s playing in real time. Apparently if you’re at all familiar with Fruity Loops, it’s simple to jump right in – and I believe it because it is darn close to GUI copyright infringement. Not having any experience with Fruity Loops I pretty much picked it up and was able to start creating immediately. I think I could waste hours and hours playing with this software.

Check out this short clip of some beats I laid down last night.

Standard Podcast [ 0:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bravo open source community, bravo.

I’m a guitar hero. I have to admit, I’m hooked. Suzy and I were first introduced to this game at our friends Beth and Steve’s house. I was really skeptical at first because it looked like just a rehash of the dance-dance revolution, a game which I completely despise. I mean, dancing and techno music? Two of my least favorite things. But that’s a story for another time. This game slowly grew on me with each passing level. And finally, as my fingers began to learn the keys without my brain intervening, it was as if I was truly playing the guitar and I began to bob my head to the beat. It’s like ultimate air guitar. I can’t explain it, but you truly feel like you’re shredding a face-melting guitar solo in your own living room. Songs that I wouldn’t normally enjoy, I was finding myself mesmerized by the intricate notes of the lead guitar. I have a whole new appreciation for the genre now. The game is dead simple. Strum each note as it whizzes toward you on the simulated guitar neck on the screen. You have five colored buttons that represent each note on the screen. They sort of symbolize frets – but don’t get me wrong, you will not be able to play a “real” guitar after mastering this game.

Suzy and I bought two of these guitars for our Nintendo Wii, and we’ve been playing co-op mode which allows us to play both the lead and the bass (and on some levels the rhythm). We’re just beginners right now but I’m sure that with enough practice we’ll be banging out hard core licks like butter.

And check out this kid play the hardest song in the game. Inhuman.

It happened over the weekend. I can’t precisely say when, but I know when I attempted to reboot my machine on Saturday morning, I was greeted with hard drive failure. The first sign that trouble was lurking was that my BIOS stalled for a moment, the screen went black and then printed “A problem has been detected with your Hard Drive. Press any key to continue.”. At this point, I was taken off guard and was still in denial. I pressed a key and the normal GRUB popped up and began the boot process. The familiar Ubuntu splash screen popped up and everything felt normal.

My confidence was almost restored, when the screen went to rapidly scrolling text with things like “Unable to find \root\ inode”, etc. And so, it went. My OS was hosed. I downloaded the latest Western Digital Diagnostics CD, booted with this and discovered (through the SMART protocol) that my drive had finally given up. It had simply quit. As it turns out, as a drive begins to fail, it will attempt to remap the bad sectors to known good sectors on the disk that are allocated just for this purpose. But when you run out of good sectors to remap to, then catastrophic failures are eminent. My drive had reached this point… with really no warning whatsoever. Lesson learned – check the health of your drives regularly. Linux has some free tools to check the SMART attributes (smartmontools) that can even e-mail you when they detect a problem. And backup regularly.

On another subject, I do not “recycle” my hard drives. That is, I don’t ever re-distribute my old or broken hard drives back into the wild. Depending on the drive, I will not sell my old HD on e-bay or even give it away. There may be sensitive personal data on these drives that I don’t really want to get into the wrong hands. I have a “best-known-method” to dispose of my old and/or broken hard drives. Because I feel like sharing, I decided to film the process and post it here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

UPDATE 12/8/2007: This might be a less destructive and less satisfying method.

Really? Is that my psychology? Just because I plunked down hard-earned cash for these tunes, I like the music more? I remember back in college when I bought one of my first CD’s. It was Gish by the Smashing Pumpkins, which I listened to incessantly for months. I loved it – but quite frankly, it’s not regarded as one of their better albums. I could have bought one of their newer albums, which were more highly revered, but they were more expensive. I was on a college budget, and that meant it was eating into my precious beer fund. I saved a couple of bucks on the album and I had to make it last. And lucky for me, it did. But was it because I valued the money spent on this album that I liked it so much? Did the fact that I spent my precious dollars on this album affect my satisfaction with the product? Maybe.

Let’s analyze this a bit further, shall we? With the advent of the MP3 and rampant music availability on the Internet, I’ve been known to sample an album or two without paying for them (purely for educational purposes and of course I promptly delete them – Yes, I am afraid of the RIAA). In this situation that initial thrill of the purchase is gone. The album is reduced only to it’s musical merit, completely stripped of all it’s physicality (CD cover, the glossy booklets, whatever… ). And since I didn’t spend money on the binary tunes, I’m allowed to be more fickle without the feeling of buyers remorse. It leaves me unchained from that desire to get every ounce of worth out of that album. So if I don’t initially take to it, I can toss it aside into the digital dustbin – almost guilt free. Where-as, if I paid good money for the tracks, I’d probably make an effort to force myself to like it. Am I alone in this logic?

With all that said, I recently purchased a copy of Radiohead’s latest, “In Rainbows” off of their website. Being the ultra-mega-super-band that they are, they’ve freed themselves from the record company’s grip and managed to release this version, basically free. Well, not free, but it’s up to the listener if they want to pay any amount of money for the album. So basically, you can choose to pay anywhere between zero and infinity dollars. And this isn’t even DRM crippled, it’s totally DRM free – meaning you can copy the music onto any device in your home without restrictions. This idea struck me as totally awesome. And since I believe in positive re-enforcement, I decided to contribute my $10 (5 British lbs) for the cause.

And now, I’m rocking out to their latest effort, thinking: “do I like this album more because I paid for it?”

I might regret this later, but I think it’s the right thing to do.

I’m positively hooked on the Los Campesinos EP release “Sticking Fingers into Sockets” from Arts & Crafts (love this label). Seriously, you people need to check them out. Out-frigg’n-standing. Best new artist of the year hands down.

That is all.