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producers of the genre, please heed my call!!

I wrote a whole entry last night and scrapped it around 11:30pm.  Just wasn’t going anywhere.

I’d like to address now my now more-than-obviously clear divergence from my previous posting frequency.  Wasn’t long ago I was hitting every single weekday without fail, day after day (or night after night, as my writing goes).  If you follow this page at all, you’ll know that posting has fallen way off from those days gone by.  On average now, I’d guess I miss two out of the five days I used to post.  I dunno… I still start out each day intending to write… I just don’t always get around to it.  Most of the time this isn’t a sin of omission but rather one of commission.  I choose not to write; usually, I have nothing to write about.  I don’t know if this is the new model or an extended phase.  But, I still have a desire to write… and I’ll continue to do so whenever I feel like I can.

Yesterday and today at work I had a measurably better days than my recent run of stinkers.  Mostly because I avoided thinking about and working on the one set of tasks that is giving me so much grief.  I know, you, being prudent, would dive headlong into those unsavory tasks until they were done – and I considered that too.  Ultimately, however, I found that delaying the inevitable difficulty for some temporary relief was my preferred avenue.  So, I worked on a bunch of smaller tasks that needed doing, and used my personal time well to take care of tasks outside the realm of work (can you tell that getting things done makes me feel happy?).  But, none of this is particularly interesting… so let’s move along.

Oh, the new Kanye leaked recently… and it makes me need to talk about the state of hip-hop and wanna-be hip-hop lately…

Producers of the genre, please heed my call!!  Stop it already with the mother-humpin’ autotune!

I’m not kidding, it was stale so many months ago, and it can only “fix” so much.  I understand you’re now using it as a stylistic element, like the quirky background sounds Timbaland’s production made ubiquitous years ago, or the No Limits sound, or the Neptunes sound, or the Mace sound, or the Nelly sound.  But, look, people, while everyone knows what’s hot in hip-hop is cyclical and the “in” sound typically follows and emulates one producer or a stable of artists  – the autotune abuse needs to stop.  If that means we lose T-Pain forever, so be it.

When every single song on your album (and I’m looking at you, Mr. 808s & Heartbreak West) is sung via autotune it truly grates on ones ears.  In fact, it becomes unlistenable.  When every single song on the radio is “enhanced” through autotune, it’s awful.  If I wanted to listen to a robot “sing” perfectly-keyed click-to-pitch ballads… well, let’s just say I would never want that.

Just stop it.  Stop it.  This has to end.

Goodnight.

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odd thing to be self conscious about

Hey Tuesday… how are you doing?  Me, I’m OK.

We totally turned on the heat today when we got home from Oregon – first time this year.  Was 64° in the house when we got home and I couldn’t handle it.  Especially since I had made up my mind that I’d be phoning in the afternoon shift at the sawmill from the couch rather than stick to my original plan of making my way into the office after our flight.  A guy’s entitled to change his mind, I do say.

Anyway, heat or on off, this house smells downright shut-up musty.  It’s like that not-quite-nasty but not fresh-cut roses smell that the closet sometimes takes on when the dirty clothes hamper has gone a little too long without attention.  Somehow, having the place shut up with no air circulating for just a few days spread a subtle funk not unlike that overfull hamper scent all around the house.  It’s really bugging me right now… and it nearly ruined my 5pm “just punched the clock” one-hour nap.  We gotta open some windows up in this mug.

Tonight we went up to the Wal Mart to pickup some sundries we’ve been out of while we’ve been traveling individually and together the past couple weeks.  Of course, because of the time change, when we left the house around 6pm it was pitch-black outside, like the dead of night.  For some reason, I feel like a bad person wheeling our two-and-a-half year old into a Wal Mart under the curtain of night.  Something about a toddler riding in a shopping cart at America’s biggest discount retailer while the color of the sky (rightfully or not) deems the young should be fast asleep in bed.  An odd thing to be self conscious about, no?

For a while now, a couple friends of mine have been urging me to read the book Into the Wild. With admonitions akin to, “Dave, you’d love that book man – this guy was a true modern-day tramp, outdoorsman, a real Kerouac kindred-spirit.”  Well, last night Sharaun happened on the DVD of the movie-adaptation at my folks’ place.  Since she’d been wanting to see it for a while, we popped it in and settled back for the flick. Now, first off – I truly enjoyed the movie.  Second, holy crap what a sad ending.  I mean, at the end of that movie I felt drained… Not like Schindler’s List sad, but sad nonetheless.  As we climbed into bed, I told Sharaun I felt like scooping Keaton out of her little closet-room and hugging her tight.  Sad sad sad.

OK then, that’s a night for me.  Love ya, until later.

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from north to a little less north

Sunday night and I just got done singing and reading Keaton off to sleep.  Well, at least I hope I did; we’ll see if she ultimately stays in bed.

It’s our last evening here in Oregon with Grammy and Grandpa, and we took the opportunity to go out to dinner with my brother Frank and his girlfriend.  A place up here does a free-dinner Sunday for all veterans prior to the Tuesday holiday in their honor, so my dad and brother wanted to take advantage of that.  Was a nice meal together as a family, and Keaton was as well-behaved as ever.  So, a good evening.

Tomorrow we have to head home, catching a morning flight back to California from which I’ll go right into work (hitting my desk sometime after lunch, I suspect).  I’m not very excited about the prospect of waking up at 5am to catch the train to the airport where we’ll catch a plane to California where I’ll drive myself to work.  Sounds like an early rise-time for what amounts to a drawn-out frustrating commute to work.  Hey – nothing to complain about though, was a good trip and we enjoyed the mini weekend-vacation thing.  We even got to check out a local church up here this time, which is something we’ve been wanting to do when we come here (yeah, we got our Lord on).

Today, Sharaun somehow convinced me to accompany her to the mall for some recreational no-purchase shopping.  Normally, this is an activity up with which I will not put, and I avoid it at all costs.  Today, however, I was suffering from a mild case of cabin fever and agreed to tag along.  Now, when I do this, I know before we’ve even left that I’ve made a mistake, have erred in judgment.  But, I try to put a positive spin on things and at least find small ways to keep myself entertained as crap dance music plays way too loudly in my ears and she paws through racks of clothes.

Today, I took comfort in laughing at the clothing of others.  Most of these were girls, and most were teenagers.  I just love the time and effort you can see in the things they wear, purposefully chosen to look different and edgy and to make them “stand out” from every other girl in skinny jeans and fuzzy ankle-boots.  I got a kick out of imagining their primping process, getting every accessory just right: The gold bangle bracelets and retro-60s beaded necklaces; the wide hair-bands and multicolor knit scarves; the overly-spritzed perfume and overly-thick makeup; so premeditated, such perfection.

As we wandered stores that felt more like clubs inside, me straggling behind in a daze half-expecting to to stumble onto a bar somewhere in the dark maze of Kanye-styled plaid sweaters and $30 80s-colored tees, an idea struck me: Why not build a “mall for men?”  A man’s mall.  Not that women would be forbidden, heavens no, just a mall targeted at the male demographic.

Think about it, you could have electronics, hardware, books, a movie theater, a food court with beer, sporting goods, music and movies, gadgets, tobacco-products; the list goes on and on.  Oh, and there would be clothing – but only male clothing.  No female clothing stores, no candles, no salons, no soaps or lotions, no jewelry or sunglasses, no knick-knacks, no baby stores, no make up or belt stores or purse stores or shoe stores (aside from sneakers and other male-centric footwear).  Each store would have a minimum of ten always-staffed registers so there’d never be a line, and strategically-placed recliners and TVs showing sports would provide quick access to a moment’s rest.

I wonder if that would tank… being that men typically dislike shopping anyway and, as I’ve noted above, tend to look at chicks the whole time they’re at malls anyway… maybe a dude-centric mall wouldn’t go over so well after all.  Ahh well, it was a thought.

Well folks, I think I’m outta here for the night… love ya and I’ll chat ya up tomorrow if blogging goes as planned.  Goodnight.

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mushrooms in the lawn

Happy Friday internets.  Sorry I skipped a couple days this week, but, you know… so it goes.

I’m remote desktop’d into my PC at home in California to write this entry.  For some reason, that’s awesome to me.  And, if by the preceding sentence it wasn’t clear, we arrived safe and sound in Oregon Wednesday night – where we were greeted by Grammy & Grampa and the familiar cold, wet welcome the Pacific Northwest.  Oregon is a gorgeous place, I just don’t know if I could deal with all those months of rain.

I think Keaton enjoys hanging out with her grandparents though.  When we’ve been here in the past, we’ve put her down to sleep in a pack-n-play in the large walk-in-closet in the guest room we stay in.  It may sound kinda funny, keeping her in a closet, but the space is big enough to be a “room” proper and it has a separate door we can close to give her some peace.  Anyway, sometime between the last time we were here and now, my folks actually transformed the closet into a little Keaton room.  It comes complete with her name on the door, Backyardigans stickers plastered all over the wall, a bookshelf with books, and a little kid-sized bed.  Now, that may seem even more funny… a converted closet-room… and perhaps it is – but the novelty now more than makes up for the therapy later.

Anyway… she seems to lover her own little space.  So, don’t call CPA OK?

Work today (yesterday as you read) was abominable.  I came here this week primarily for one two-hour meeting.  I had been dreading this meeting all week.  Not because it was going to be particularly challenging or difficult or anything… but moreso because it was going to be a stressful thing for me.  It’s hard to explain, but when I know I have to share a strongly held opinion of mine that’s counter to what the commonly held opinion of the group is – I get all stressed about making my point succinctly and eloquently enough to be as influential as I want.  Anyway, the meeting blew… but not for the reasons I just mentioned… blew though, nonetheless.

Forget it… I’m outta here.  I just have nothing to write and all I can do is sit here thinking about how much I wish it was Friday (remember, I write the night before).

Goodnight.

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it’s your civic duty!!

Everyone here at sounds familiar (which, actually, is just lonesome old me) urges you to get out and do your part in flexing the muscle of the people today.  In other words:

(Oh, and the “real” entry for today is just below this one.)

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see you at the booths

Hey internet. Didja?

I’m going before work bright and early; depending on the coast you’re on and the time you’re reading this – I may in fact have already been. Think we’ll get a definitive result tonight? Not sure… but I sure hope so. We’re off to Oregon on Wednesday and I’d like to be able to know who’s taking office come January. Here’s hoping. Ready, set, blog.

Three random paragraphs I wrote and  have no way to make slick segues between, presented in no particular order:

I’m pretty sure that when I took “science” back in middle school that someone along the way taught me that the average lifsepan of a common housefly is about twenty-four hours; a single day.  In fact, unless I totally imagined that (for some oddball reason), I recall thinking how crappy that was.  Birth, a dedicated search for both potato salad and a suitable mate for procreation, and repeated attempts at escaping by flying headlong into closed windows (not even knowing what a window is or why you can see, but not fly, through it).  But man, that was a bunch of bunk.  There’s been a fly in our house for days now.  How he survives, I have no idea… but 24hrs is a load of dook.

Don’t know what I was thinking about doing a picnic today with Keaton on my “working from home” daddy-daycare day, it’s been cold, cloudy, and rainy for the past few days. I guess I was just in some daddy-n-daughter time fantasy world.  Instead, we decided to take a walk over to a local eatery, rain and all.  We both crowded under my large umbrella and braved the elements to have lunch together.  It was one of those salad-bar places so we both kinda hunted and pecked of my plate, veggie-style.  By the time we’d finished eating and chatting, the rain had subsided for our short jaunt back home.  The walk in that direction is mostly uphill and I thought up the idea of challenging Keaton to a “race” to the top in an attempt to at least let her expend some energy before naptime.  Was fun.

Finally decided to try and sync my iPhone Safari bookmarks with my “standard” bookmarks today.  I use a server-based bookmarking application called SiteBar to store/access my bookmarks.  That way, I can access/edit them in any browser and anyplace in the world – instead of having them locked to a particular application on a particular PC.  I used the SiteBar “export” feature to get an HTML bookmark file which I could import into Interner Explorer (which I don’t use, so was void of bookmarks), then told iTunes to sync the IE bookmarks with Safari.  Worked like a charm and it’s really nice to have the entirety of my usual bookmars on the device – really helps make the internet more usable.

OK folks, off to get one final pre-voting day dose of punditry before I sleep on my intended vote one last time (and, wait for my wife to get home from her short out-of-state trip!).  Have a good day, and I’ll be talkin’ to you tomorrow.

Goodnight.

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halloween bash ’08 in pictures

Hello again from Monday.

Wanted to have this done last night but had a ton of redeye to process out (not very skillfully, as I was in a rush, I may add) of the costume contest photos.  Anyway, I got through about half yesterday and finished up early this morning prior to “going in” to virtual work here on the couch with my laptop, cellphone, and bluetooth earpiece.  So, what do we have?:

Click here to see the Halloween 2008 costume contest.  Looking over the pix, I notice there are more than a few folks we missed getting snapshots of; so if you were there and have pictures we missed – send ’em along.  And remember, you can vote on the pictures to voice your favorite.  Have fun!

Click here to see a bunch of randomly-chosen, totally un-retouched candid photos from the evening’s festivities.  Enjoy!

If you weren’t there, you totally shoud’ve been!  Love ya, have a good Voting Eve!