Man, I hate that

FOUND Magazine | My Day

I was discussing the propensity for Dr. Pepper to explode just a few days ago.

10 albums a day #48

Skinny Puppy
- Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986, LP)
- Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (1987, LP)
- VIVIsectVI (1988, LP)
The Smithereens - Especially For You (1986, LP)
Sonic Youth - Goo (1990, CD)
The Sons of the Pioneers - Ultimate Collection (2002, CD)
Steve Forbert - Jackrabbit Slim (1979, LP)
Steve Miller Band - The Encore Collection: Extended Versions (2003, CD)
Steve Vai
- Flex-Able (1984, LP)
- Passion and Warfare (1990, cassette)

I don't remember why I bought the Smithereens album. I think I saw one of their videos on MTV. Back around that time, we had cable in Mr. Gatti's and would always put the big screen TVs on MTV while we cleaned up after closing. Note for the kids: this was back before MTV sucked. Yes, there was such a time. Also they showed only music videos. That's originally what the "M" stood for (Music, that is), before they changed it to standing for "Mediocre." Anyway it's a cool album and I don't think it has a weak track on it. I guess my favorite is "Behind the Wall of Sleep." Or maybe "Groovy Tuesday," or "Strangers When We Meet." Heck, like I said, it doesn't have a weak track on it.

Sonic Youth, on the other hand...I have no idea why I bought this one. Every time I hear something from it turn up in the shuffle, I wonder yet again what ever possessed me to buy it. I'm still trying to figure that one out.*

I used to have a cassette of Sons of the Pioneers but I wore it out. I found this one at yourmusic.com. It has 21 tracks, so it has a lot of good stuff on it, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it "ultimate" because they forgot "The Everlasting Hills of Oklahoma."

My wife bought that Steve Miller Band CD for me. I also have their first "greatest hits" on LP but I haven't ripped it yet. They were another "radio band," by which I mean I always liked hearing them on the radio but didn't bother buying any of their stuff (except for that one compilation). The "Extended Versions" thing is a series; I've seen several other groups in the same kind of package. I don't know how really "extended" they are, but they are all "live" recordings.

I bought Flex-Able because I had heard of Steve Vai and wanted to hear him unencumbered by whatever band he happened to playing for. Passion and Warfare was recommended by a co-worker, and it's a much better album but the cassette has deteriorated somewhat and I'd like to get the CD for better sound quality.

Album count: 496.

*Okay, here's a theory. I was joining one of those mail-order music clubs and when I went to pick out my 10 CDs for a penny or whatever, they didn't have a very good selection. So in the end, I was reduced to picking out the last few albums on the "what the heck, maybe it won't be completely bad" principle, and this was one I picked. Yeah, that's sounds pretty good. I'll stick with that.

A two-pipe night

Argh.

I didn't make an album post yesterday because I had those other two posts and there's no sense in using up all my material at once. Yesterday was a long day because of that dog seminar; I didn't get home until the ungodly hour of 5 P.M.

Today was much, much worse. I got rained on non-stop from 8 A.M. to about 2 P.M., didn't actually finish the route until about 3:30, didn't get home until almost 5 P.M. again. I hope tomorrow is better. Only 30% chance of rain tomorrow; maybe I won't get so soaked. I breathed a prayer of thanks when I checked my voice mail to find that Boy Scouts had been canceled tonight because of the weather; Girl Scouts was still a go but my daughter got a ride with another Scout from just down the road.

Rain always makes me tired; today it was probably because by 10 A.M. my pants weighed about 20 pounds from being so wet. I'm really starting to feel it now but pipe-smoking helps perk me up a little and keeps me awake. I don't want to go to bed until my daughter gets home.

I had a nice little mascot today: a fuzzy little terrier-mix dog that followed me around almost all day. I got a real kick out of his antics. While waiting on someone's porch in a futile attempt to wait out the rain, I sang a snatch of the old country-gospel song "Angel Band." From the quizzical expression on his face, he must have never heard anyone sing before. It cracked me up.

The waterproofing on my boots officially wore out today. Working with wet feet is just unspeakably bad.

One more bit of goodish news is that my truck is ready. Final bill is $2,200 and some change. I was afraid it would be much worse than that after labor. So that's a bad bill but I am actually relieved that it isn't more. Although I am very grateful to my step-mom for loaning me her car, I am really ready to get my truck back. Getting in and out of that little Corolla was making my left knee hurt, and working the clutch in traffic was making my bad left ankle hurt. Nice car, though, gets 36 mpg and has a real back seat that the kids liked a lot better than the extended cab on the Ranger.

10 albums a day #47

Rush, all on CD except where noted.
- Rush (1974)
- Fly By Night (1975)
- Caress of Steel (1975)
- 2112 (1976)
- A Farewell to Kings (1977)
- Hemispheres (1978)
- Permanent Waves (1980)
- Moving Pictures (1981)
- Signals (1982)
- Grace Under Pressure (1984)
- Power Windows (1985, LP)
- Hold Your Fire (1987)
- Presto (1989)
- Roll the Bones (1991)
- Counterparts (1993)
- Test for Echo (1996)
- Vapor Trails (2002)

I hope, with this post, I have at least partly redeemed myself for having all those REM albums.

The first one I bought was 2112. After listening to my room-mate's record, I saw it in the ACU bookstore and bought it for myself. Next I think was Caress of Steel, probably purchased either at the bookstore or the Wal-Mart down the street. Everything up to Power Windows was originally purchased on LP except for Signals, which I somehow skipped. Yourmusic.com had their entire catalog up to Vapor Trails on CD, except for Power Windows, so I put them all the queue and replaced all the records plus added some new ones I didn't have yet to get caught up. I still don't have Feedback or Snakes & Arrows, but I'll get them sooner or later.

My favorites of these are 2112 and A Farewell to Kings, but overall Rush is still among my favorite groups, and I intend to keep following them as long they're around.

Album count: 486.

Gee, thanks, I never would've figured that out...

Found on the end of a box of Penley kitchen matches.

Work pix: Dog Safety Seminar

I attended one of these two years ago, which I mentioned at the time. I was hoping to see her Dogo again, but she said it had died last year of lymphoma. However, this time they had a Presa Canario.

click to enlarge all

This dog was freakin' huge. Follow the Wikipedia link for more details if you're interested. Suffice it to say that if one of these decides to attack you and you are unable to put a bullet into its head, you are most likely going to die. I've never seen any of these around S.A. They're still fairly hard to find and quite expensive in the U.S. She said they had rescued this one from someone's back yard in Missouri; when she talked to the guy on the phone and tried to explain what would be done with the dog, he replied, "I don't give a sh*t what you do with it, just get it out of here." With its present owners (the man and woman in the photos) it is very affectionate and obedient. I wouldn't want to be a stranger in its territory, though. The dog above weighed about 140 pounds, and it's still growing. She expects it to weigh around 200 pounds by the time it's full-grown.

The breed has become infamous mostly for this incident. Upon scanning this Wikipedia document, I don't notice the big detail, perhaps it was edited out. Anyway, the big detail that gained the breed notoriety was that the male dog consumed some 4 pounds of the human victim while she was still alive. The woman running the seminar said, "And because of this, every crazy person in the country wanted one."

I also thought it interesting that she mentioned that "cops kill more dogs in training...you wouldn't believe it. Anytime I'm asked to hold a seminar for cops, I say NO. Because they're all lunkheads."

Sorry for the lousy photos. Next time I upgrade my phone, the most important thing I'm going to look for is the quality of the photos it takes.

The manly jumpsuit

For some mild amusement when you have nothing better to do, Inadvertently Hysterical Vintage Advertising from Found in Mom's Basement.

Or maybe they're just, you know, TELEPATHIC!

BBC - Earth News - The cephalopods can hear you

Octopus and squid can hear.

The discovery resolves a century-long debate over whether cephalopods, the group of sea creatures that includes octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautiluses, can hear sounds underwater.

Compared to fish, octopus and squid do not appear to hear particularly well.

But the fact they can hear raises the possibility that these intelligent animals may use sound to catch prey, communicate with one another or listen out for predators.

The question of whether cephalopods can perceive sound has been controversial since the early 20th Century. Some experiments suggested that blind octopus seemed able to locate the sounds produced by boats or by tapping on the outside of a tank.

But most cephalopods lack a gas-filled chamber, such as the swim bladders that fish can use to hear. That suggested they could not detect the pressure wave component of sound.

However, sensory physiologist Hong Young Yan of the Taiwan National Academy of Science in Taipei, Taiwan suspected that octopus and squid might use another organ called the statocyst to register sound.

10 albums a day #46

Roxy Music - Avalon (1982, CD)
Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl (1989, CD), All Time Greatest Hits (1989, CD)
Roy Rogers - The Country Music Hall of Fame (1992, CD)
Scorpions - Love at First Sting (1984, CD)
Max Morath - The Best of Scott Joplin (1972, double LP)
The Screaming Blue Messiahs - Totally Religious (1989, CD)
Sex Pistols - The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1979, CD)
Shriekback
- Oil and Gold (1985, CD)
- Big Night Music (1986, mp3 download)
- Go Bang! (1988, CD)

I think I bought the Roxy Music CD because I'd heard "Avalon" on the radio. It's still a favorite song and I used to just zone out on that long, lingering fade-away end with the female vocalise and I always wished it lasted longer.

Both Roy Orbison albums were purchased shortly after his death. The Roy Rogers CD was one of those compilations from yourmusic.com. I think there's a whole series of albums called "Country Music Hall of Fame" for different old-time country artists.

I originally bought First Sting on LP, then later got the CD, although I'm not sure why. I must have liked it more back then than I do now. Still, the awesome power balled "Still Loving You" is one of my favorite songs. This was one of the first handful of CDs I bought when I got my first CD player.

Max Morath is out of alphabetical order here because I had accidentally filed it under "Scott Joplin," who was the composer but not the artist.

I am still looking to find a digital version of Bikini Red by Screaming Blue Messiahs. I used to have a dupe tape of a co-worker's CD but I wore it out. I would probably buy any of their stuff if I happened across it.

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is good for the humor, although of course it is not a "real" Sex Pistols album (read about it at Wikipeida for an explanation if you want). The best thing on here is hearing Sid Vicious croon "My Way." Of course I also have Bollocks on LP but I haven't ripped it. I was almost certain I had another dupe tape of a co-worker's CD that was titled We Have Come for Your Children, but I can't find mention of any such album in their discography.

Shriekback is still one of my very favorite 80s groups and I still listen to both these albums often. I don't care for Go Bang! all that much, it's too dancey and not dark enough--they had had major personnel changes after Big Night Music. The only song on Go Bang! that really sounds like the old Shriekback is "Dust and Shadow." My favorite of these is Oil and Gold, but Big Night Music is pretty close.

Album count: 469.

The day

One of those days...

I thought I was going to get to make my first report of a threat against me today, but it turned out the guy was only drunk (at 7:30 in the morning) and acting stupid. After a little verbal abuse, he grinned and slurred out, "Yerallright!" Okay then.

Got lucky today. Today was cycle 18. My regular cycle 18 is an easy route, based on my knowledge of other cycle 18s. It begins at the intersection of Castroville Rd. and Gen. McMullen, goes all the way up the west side of McMullen to Commerce, then heads west into the residential area and goes all the way back down to Castroville again, then back up to Commerce, then back down to Castroville and there it ends. Takes about 2 3/4 hours, so I consider it an easy route. The problem is, the split route that I get with it usually screws me over big time.

However, we are finally, for the first time since I've been working there (more than 2 years), at full complement of staff. We are not short anyone. So instead of having to do 650 meters total today, I had only 550. The split that I got is usually very bad, especially if I get the first half, but I got only the first 140 and that made it so much easier. Wow. The split does the areas on both sides of SW 24th St., including St. Mary's University (I think that's the right University). The full route is bad. I told one guy the other day about an alley on that route: "That is the most godawful worst 45 yards of alley I have ever been through."

So I finished work about 11:30--good day--and after punching out had to go way up to the Boy Scout (N.W. Military and Lockhill-Selma) store to get a neckerchief and neck slide, which I was originally told wouldn't be required for our troop's uniform but they changed their mind. Had to get it so all the Scouts would look the same for the flag-raising ceremony at the local high school football game tonight.

I got home and noticed that the air coming out from under the house was suspiciously cold. The dog knocked the a/c duct down. Man. So I wedged it back into place but tomorrow I have to get some duct tape and put it back the way it should be.

So anyway, my son got selected to carry the Texas flag tonight because of his height (he's the tallest of the Wolves). Heh. Well, he did a good job and said it was fun! But then we hung around because the kids had never seen a live football game and they both said it was boring--we left at halftime. Yep, they are my kids all right. I have never been excited by football, or any other sports for that matter.* By the time we got home they were ready for bed and I was ready for a pipe and some quiet time.

I might need a second pipe.

*Not entirely true. Once when I was in Abilene, I sat at a table in the student center where I could see through a window into the ping-pong room and watched a couple of Oriental guys apparently trying to kill each other with ping-pong balls. It looked like if one of them ever missed, that little ball would take his head clean off. It never happened, but that was the most intense game of ping-pong I ever witnessed.

10 albums a day #45

The Residents
- Meet the Residents (1974, LP)
- Duck Stab (1977, 7-inch EP)
- Double Shot (1988, mini-CD)
- God in Three Persons (1988, CD)
- The King and Eye (1989, CD)
Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973, cassette)
Ricky Skaggs - My Favorite Hits (1994, CD)
The Righteous Brothers - The Very Best of (1990, CD)
Roger McGuinn - Back from Rio (1991, CD)
Roger Waters - The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984, CD)
Roger Waters and Ron Geesin - Music from The Body (1970, CD)

Click to read previous posts about The Residents.

My college room-mate brought up that Rick Wakeman album several times when we would talk about music. I bought the tape sometime in the mid-80s, and of course I really like it. I later bought a used LP so I'd have all the complete jacket art and liner notes.

Ricky Skaggs is my wife's CD. I ripped it to listen to but I am not very impressed. Maybe this just isn't the right album. The photo is not very flattering, either.

Righteous Brothers: filling in the blanks. Roger McGuinn: I don't know. It's an okay album, but I can't remember why I went out and bought the CD. Must have heard something on the radio that I liked enough, I guess.

And then we have the original uncensored nekkid-heinie cover art of Roger Waters' The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, which I had to download from the internet because my CD has a black rectangle to hide the horribly offensive female posterior. I didn't buy this one until several years after its release when I found it at a greatly reduced price in a clearance bin. I have never been very impressed with it. P.S. Those backpack straps must be very uncomfortable.

Music from The Body is the soundtrack to a documentary on human biology called, of course, The Body. It is a quite interesting album that incorporates sounds that the human body makes, or may make, along with more traditional instrumentation.

Album count: 458.