2005
Mar 
21

I Can See Your House From Here

Filed under: Uncategorized — Mike Lawton @ 20:38  

I rarely post anything about politics or current affairs. Three main reasons for that: one, there are so many out there that write so much better than I about such things; two, I plainly find the subjects distastful; and three, so much of such discussion these days centers around policies and actions of the United States, and as I have mentioned before I find myself uncertain about just how comfortable I am with publicly criticizing another nation’s elected leadership (I have my own opinions of course…).

Understandably though, being as close to the US as we are, geographically, culturally, what have you, many Canadians (myself included) have questions for our oft-maligned siblings south of the 49th. A dear friend of mine (he plays music once in a while) postulated a series of queries that, despite being fairly loaded, are nonetheless decently representative of what many of my fellow nationals and I have wondered at some point.

Why I bring this to your attention is not because these interrogatives are in any way unique or new to our mental landscape. Questions are merely an open door, enlightenment is an adventure that does not being until you step through. Another good friend bravely moved forward and offered his own response to Matthew’s challenges. As with all of Tony’s writing, it is honest in spirit, forthright, and sublime. Most importantly, it finally offers direct answers from a true and proud American, unapologetic and unafraid to wear his bias and beliefs on his sleeve.

My minor contribution: reality is about perspective. Before you claim to know anything about anyone else, understand that unless you lived their life, you can not know how they see the world. Nor can they you. Never be afraid of your own perspective, never be ignorant of theirs.

2005
Mar 
19

Apple’s best marketing campaign? Installing Windows!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Mike Lawton @ 20:19  

Funny how spending five frustrating hours rebuilding, reinstalling, firewalling, virus protecting, spyware scrubbing, registry tweaking, not to mention violently cursing my roommate’s salvaged struggling sub-gigahertz Windoze ME machine can really shift the perceptions of even the least technologically inclined towards the wonderful world of Apple.

Now please don’t mistake me for a blindly faithful “iCultist“. I admit, poor Susie’s been experiencing her fair share of hiccups and unhappiness lately. Though it pains me to say, it looks like it might be time for a complete backup, format, and reinstall. The big difference between this experience and the other? This is only the second time I’ve had to do any real maintenance on her in over two years.

Roomie don’t exactly require a stacked dual-proc G5 film editing studio (such as the modern wonder that I’ll be picking up Monday!!). Methinks a pretty little second-hand blue G3 tower would suffice him quite nicely.

Did I mention we’re picking up our editing system Monday? Yes we are. YESYESYES WE ARE!!!

2005
Mar 
11

Awaiting Orders

Filed under: Uncategorized — Mike Lawton @ 21:25  

One thing I sometimes miss about my (admittedly brief) time in the military was always knowing what I had to do. Someone always told me what to do, where to go, when and what to eat. There was a certain solace to be taken in having someone else responsible for all my major daily decisions.

Believe me, my self-deterministic nature does not handle that sort of lack of control very well. Independent thought and action is something I enjoy quite thoroughly. But some days… especially these days when it seems like I’m completely adrift, trying to find some structure in my life… it’d be nice to be able to let go and just do what I’m told for a while and have everything be taken care of.

2005
Mar 
5

http://www.blogger.com /img/gl.link.gif

Filed under: Uncategorized — Mike Lawton @ 23:37  

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
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Every time I see this crap I want to reach through the screen, across the internet, and out the monitor of whomever is allowing this brain-melting glitch to continue to accost my posting efforts and, for every missed link, lost post, and screwed up sentance… KILL HIM!!!

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

When posting on Blogger, and I try to add a hyperlink by selecting the text and clicking on their “insert link” icon, half the time THIS “http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif” line is inserted, seemingly at random, somewhere in my post! Sometimes it even deletes the selected text and pastes the desired link somewhere else as well. I can’t figure it out, but it’s driving me nuts!!!

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

I’m a lazy man, I’d rather not have to type out the whole html code if I can avoid it. I’m using Mac OS X 10.3, I post with Firefox since Blogger STILL can’t figure out how to get their interface to show up properly in Safari. Does anyone else run into this problem?

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CAN ANYONE AT BLOGGER FIX THIS?!?!

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Do You Have Any Grunge- Jazz-Funk-Punk-Classical- Folk-Metal Show Tune Dance Mixes done by Standup Comedians?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Mike Lawton @ 23:28  

I’m chilling out on the couch at a bit before midnight Saturday night. Not much of a Saturday by some standards, but I did spend it in the company of friends, playing games, eating pizza, and watching Napolean Dynamite. That’s all right in my books.

J.P.’s got a wifi network going at his apartment, Wayne brought his crippled mess of a laptop (long overdue for a complete reformat/reinstall… ask me if I miss Windoze), and I had Susie with me. We all ooo’d at JP’s new Shuffle, my beautiful blade Chiaki (all 40 gigs of her) smiled down at her new little sister, as my compatriots marvelled at the depth and diversity of my digital music collection. 6730 tracks at last count.

I love music. I’m proud of the breadth of my taste. I try to make a point of listening for quality of passion and honesty in music, regardless of genre, background, or personality of the artists. I like punk, metal, hip hop, jazz, celtic, classical, folk, retro, country… whatever! Unknown indie garage punk bands from Edmonton are on the same page as multi platnium record holding country western super stars and even (God forbid) the occasional pre-fab pop tune.

I’ve got enough tracks right now that I can hit “Shuffle Songs” on Chi and be pretty much guaranteed a mix of songs I haven’t heard in months, if ever. Sometimes I like to play with the randomness… watching for patterns, laughing at the transitions, knowing that “RadioMike” is my own.

I just looked at the “Party Shuffle” mix that iTunes threw together for me:

Jeremy – Pearl Jam
Bombay (Children of Cambodia) – Fred Anderson Quartet
Dig It – Skinny Puppy
Alright – Jamiroquai
Twenty Zero One – Jamiroquai
Havanna Daydreamin’ – Jimmy Buffett
HBO Special – George Carlin
Daybreak From “Daphnis and Chloe” – Ravel
Fur Elise (Trance Remix) – Beethoven
Nymph Blood Whine – Volumen
The Final Slowdance – MxPx
Cousin Kevin – Anthony Barrile, Ensenble from The Who’s Tommy
Do It – Meat Loaf
Dead Bodies – Rancid
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off – Harry Connick Jr.
Sunday – Feeding Like Butterflies

I have no idea how iTunes puts those tracks together, but I’m fairly certain that no one else has a mix CD like that.

2005
Mar 
4

Disposition Eviction

Filed under: Uncategorized — Mike Lawton @ 22:39  

I hate that feeling, when you’re laying in bed and your body just doesn’t want to shut down, when your mind keeps racing because there’s too much left to do. I hate going to bed feeling like I didn’t accomplish enough. I can’t sleep when that happens. Go to bed feeling crappy, takes me forever to drag my arse out in the morning.

I’m getting fat. I’m getting stupid. Lethargy, procrastination, and sloth have become the uninvited houseguests refusing to leave long after the party’s ended.

I’m trying baby, I’m trying… Exercise. Body and mind. One can’t work without the other. Wish me luck.