Don't mind me, three feet from the ceiling...

The New Blog.

2011-08-11T18:36:00.005-04:00

I'm officially retiring this blog. Follow me now at...

http://jaredmooney.tumblr.com/

Thanks kiddos.

By the way, I still technically contribute to the blog at www.GuessWhatTotallyBadassThing IJustFoundOnInstantWatch.com, although we haven't updated that in forever, and Netflix has kinda been pissing me off royally of late.

Beginnings...

2011-07-27T16:41:00.003-04:00

Most of you are aware, I suppose, that there's lots of new things in my life.

I got married to Danielle on May 20th in the Boston Temple. It was awesome.

Tons of our family and friends made the long trip to celebrate with us, and the day was just perfect. Well, 98% of the day...
(Long story, perhaps for another time.)

We've lived on her employer's 3rd floor for a couple of months now, and we just got an apartment for September in Dorchester, a small, South Boston neighborhood. It's a modest little place, but we're doing some work on it and it should make a cozy little home for the next year or so that Danielle and I are in Boston... our first home.

The recording studio, which I built with Ryan Pedersen in 2008, and which has been my sole occupation for the last 12 months is in transition of ownership to an independent producer named Andrew Campbell. He's buying out Ryan in September and me over the course of the next year, during which I'll help him manage the studio.

That puts me back in the full time job market though, and I've been trying to dig up sound-editing/mixing, a/v, film, or teaching opportunities in the area. I'm experiencing the first really barren job market I've ever faced. I am both highly skilled and experienced, but there just aren't any jobs I am finding here. So, for the first time in 8 or 9 years, I'm looking for jobs outside of the professional media environment. These don't come easy either, as my experience is pretty specialized in that area. It's new territory.

All things considered, I feel great. We've been seeing real blessings and feel very well looked after despite our abject poverty. I just need this last piece to fall in place.

Lastly, I've been considering what to do with this blog. I'm leaning in the direction of a fresh start here too, perhaps on the tumblr front. It's a little better featured for what I think I want to do. I'll be sure to drop the new url on you guys when I get it going so you can keep me in your RSS feeds.

Thanks for reading everybody. And if any of you folks are praying people, I'd appreciate you sending up one for me in the old job search...

Mooney,
"Don't mind me, three feet from the ceiling."

An open letter to an example.

2011-04-19T15:59:00.002-04:00

Dear President Webb,

In August it will be ten years since I came home from my mission. Actually, it will be for you too, now that I think about it. You left a couple weeks after me. It was an unreal experience. I often flash back to moments from it that were goofy or hilarious (I mean, it's Alabama), but I also remember moments of clarity, purpose, revelation, and unencumbered joy. I want to thank you for being a guiding influence during some really vital years of my life. I had made the choice to serve the Lord before we met, but you helped me to keep making that choice every day, even when the service was really, really hard.

As a missionary I learned about the value of real friendship. I learned the value of the sweat of my face. I learned about the pure love of God. I also learned about the sadness, pain, and hopelessness, inseparable to the human condition. I learned why Christ's mission was so much about ministering to the poor, the lost, the downtrodden, the neglected, or forgotten members of society. Healing wounds, giving sight, forgiving sins, and saving souls. Those are the lessons I took it the streets of Birmingham and Wetumpka, and Columbus, Mississippi. The lessons from you were the ones that helped me shape my person into a capable pastor and ready conduit for the Spirit of God. Learning how to really use revelation is clearly the most important skill I developed on my mission and serving with you was a fantastic seminar in how to do just that.

I'm really grateful that you were willing to serve for 3 years, at helping 200 or so young men find themselves, while they clumsily helped strangers find the Lord and His gospel. Sweet home.

Love, Elder Mooney

An open letter to someone who changed your life...

2011-03-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna finish these last three if it kills me.

It probably will not kill me, but it will probably destroy the will to ever again commit myself to a running theme for posts. I know I've been long between posts, but I may need a real long break from the blog altogether. These turned way more personal/mushy than I usually like to be on the interwebs.

Mark,

I'm not even sure how we became friends. I'm really not. Of course, we were in church, young mens, and scouts together, but I'm certain we weren't real friends through most of that experience, because I didn't really have friends at that age. I am really ok with that. I've never really held on to those things, except to occasionally think to myself that if I now encountered the young me, I would feel very sorry for the little guy. He kinda let other people dictate the terms of his existence. I was small, if not downright runtish, until the end of the 8th grade, and while sometimes, I hung out with skaters and stoners, I wasn't really included as a part of anybody's group until I started to hang out with you and Joel in 9th grade. Since I'm not sure how we started hanging out together, I'm not sure if you're actually someone who changed my life, or someone who was just there while I changed it for myself. Probably a little of both, and it probably doesn't matter much, anyway. We hung out that first time and don't think we never really stopped until I left on my mission.

I have lived away from "home" now for more than a decade, long enough that Boston feels more like home than Mesa... So after 2 years on a mission, 5 years of college/work in Utah, and 5 years in NY/Boston, most of my friendships (of which there are now hundreds) are with people you've never met. Still though, I think I know probably 8 of the 20 most favorite people in my life through you. That seems pretty significant. I miss you and the gang, and I know am really terrible at staying in touch with you. So much of my life has been elsewhere for so long. But every time I come home I feel as welcome and as appreciated as always. You're a huge part of that, so thanks from the bottom of Mooney's happiness pie.

An open letter to someone you just can't handle right now...

2011-01-30T23:03:00.002-05:00

Dear NPR Music,

You used to be so great. Subscribing to your RSS feed helped me keep up on new music, see tiny desk concerts, and occasionally discover new artists. But you currently have some BIG problems with your feed.

First, repeats. I got 8 posts of the same exact story on the new Bright Eyes record. I know Connor Oberst gives you all kinds of grown up feelings in your pants, but come on. I saw it already. 7 times too many. Then they had the nerve to play on World Cafe a show who duplicates every feed item. So there was Bright Eyes two more times, and me, still not interested.

Second. Hipster central. Do you guys ever cover mainstream music besides Lady Gaga? I love indie rock. I own an independent studio/record label for goodness sake! But come on, it's like the "must have a strange beard" parade. I feel like I'm at the Newport festival every time I sign on to my reader.

Third. The jazz and classical beats are prolific. I love jazz, but I honestly can't handle the sheer volume of stories about obscure jazz players I've never heard of WITH NO ACCOMPANYING AUDIO. If you're gonna write a story about this one clarinetist who died in 1962 and tell me why he was so pivotal, let me listen to some pivotal recordings. Classical is similarly out of hand with the no-sound music journalism. The worst is the W.W.B.D. series. I don't care what Beethoven would like on the internet this week. I don't even care what music he'd dig (he was deaf). Also, YOU DON"T EVEN KNOW, so stop writing articles about it every week. That series sucks, and it doesn't ever seem to get more interesting.

Fourth. Sheer mass. You need weight loss. Heaven knows I support and love public broadcasting, but I'm the kind of person who opens my reader once a week. I subscribe to not a small number of feeds, but without fail, NPR music is responsible for 65-80% of the content. Which brings me to my biggest complaint.

Fifth. All or none. You have ONE, count em, ONE feed for articles. Even if I subscribe on All Songs Considered's page, I get the full NPR music feed. I could subscribe to just tiny desk for concerts, but once in a very great while, World Cafe or the NPR studios have something I'd like to see.

It's enough to make a music lover unsubscribe, which is I guess what this has come to. I'm sorry, I think we should see other people. And it is YOU, not me.

Jared

An open letter to the person who gave me my favorite memory...

2011-01-28T22:12:00.003-05:00

While this is probably also Danielle, I'm gonna choose a different memory.

Dear Anne-Kate,

I will always remember the night Elder Maxfield and I came home at the end of an exhausting day, ending an even more taxing week of the most difficult and disappointing kind of missionary work, to your voice on our answering machine.

We'd been "flushed into" an area where the prior missionaries had not been doing a whole lot of work (hence they were flushed out). I was a new zone leader, training a brand new missionary, and doing absurd full days of tracting to try and get just a few investigators in a fairly wealthy area of Birmingham where most people would sooner talk to their living room wall than to us.

Dinner that night had even been disappointing. I was served fish. Not deep fried catfish or something I could stomach, something freshwater with the head and scales still on it. I made it through dinner and our short member visit and got on my bike, but it wasn't more than a few hundred feet before I was prostrate and vomiting the whole mess into somebody's bushes.

When we got home and checked the answering machine, the first call was from our only promising investigator who had just been given a heaping dose of anti-mormon literature. He had called us to say he didn't want to visit with us any more. Then your voice came on and you said, "I've read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price and I believe everything and I'm ready to be baptized. Please let me know how soon we could do that."

Our mouths about hit the floor.

I think you probably feel like I'm the one who helps you to continue to believe, but I assure you, your call gave me a significant faith in the promises God had made me. Nothing I could do was giving us someone to teach. Then God gave us someone to baptize. And not just someone. One of my best friends in life, and a woman who taught me a tremendous amount about compassion and fairness and love.

May God always bless you with what you need and reward your diligent search for truth with understanding. May he bless you and Greg with health and strength and grace.

Worlds without end.
Allahu akbar.

Love, Elder Mooney.

Not an open letter...

2011-01-03T13:42:00.001-05:00

By the way, in case you missed it somehow in that last post, I'm engaged to be married.

An open letter to the last person you kissed...

2010-12-31T23:59:00.004-05:00

Hey Baby,

Great job moving from crush to fiancee in just a few short letters. Ok, so I’ve written them at a snail’s pace... I would have blogged more often but I was busy hanging out with you.

What can I say in an open letter about the person I love most in the whole world without sounding super mushy gross-face? Well, how about that you have saved my life? Because this is not too much of a stretch. If I had to guess how my life would have gone this last year if I had not met you, my guess would be kinda scary. Instead it has been day after day of unbelievable love, support, and affection. I love you so much. I think the world of you. You’re my best.

And now we get to be roommates!

Love Always, Jared

P.S. Happy New Year. "It's Friday, I'm in Love."

An open letter to someone you want to think you’re awesome...

2010-12-30T17:48:00.004-05:00

Hey neices and nephews,

Why would your uncle Jared, who is awesome, and has never cared who does or doesn’t think it’s true, care that you think he’s awesome?

Well, I guess that’s just the way of things. I think all your aunts and uncles want you to like them. You’re like our surrogate kids, with all the benefits of offspring and none of the responsibilities. We don’t have to raise you, we just get to play with you and see who you grow up to be. I want you to always think your uncle Jared is awesome, whether he gets a job at LucasArts or not, whether his girlffriend brings you cool stuff from India or not. Eventually you grow up enough to learn we’re just as flawed and fallible as your parents, if not more, but while you’re young we just all want to be your favorite.

I know you’ll all grow up to do amazing things and be amazing people. Just don’t grow up to quickly.

Love, Uncle Jared.

An open letter to someone I judged by my first impression...

2010-12-30T17:21:00.002-05:00

Dear Ben,

This should come as no surprise. I’ve often told you how my first impression of you was totally wrong... I thought you were kind of a minor league douchebag. That was a pretty off-the-mark first impression, since we became awesome friends in Boston and lived together for better than 2 years.

You rock. I miss living in the same place. I always played more because I lived with you, cause you always wanted to jam when we were both home. Hope things continue to kick butt for you with school and jobs and life... You’re missed out in Boston by many, many people.

Jared

“No Evie, I don’t know who buried your car in snow.”
(Dead pan face, snow shovel in hand)

“Wouldn’t wanna be kept away, just for the day, from your BAAHHHDEYYYYY.”

An open letter to the person who broke your heart the hardest...

2010-12-23T00:00:00.003-05:00

Dear _____,

You’re a _____ ______.

Love, Jared

Choose your own adventure style...
I'll do this one for real, but later...
You gotta kinda be in the right frame of mind to do this properly.

An open letter to someone who pesters my mind...

2010-12-22T01:51:00.002-05:00

Dear Connor Oberst,

I don’t know why exactly everyone loves your music. It still sounds pretentious and out of tune to me. Everyone tells me I’ll like it eventually, if I just keep giving it a shot. I’ve listened to all your albums several times. Eh...

Sorry, I tried.

Jared

An open letter to someone I wish I could be...

2010-12-22T01:33:00.005-05:00

Brian,

Thank you for writing and recording some of the most beautiful music of all time. Thank you for demonstrating how transcendent pop music can be if given thought. Thanks for God Only Knows, In My Room, Surfer Girl, and Don’t Worry Baby. Thank you for finishing "Smile". Thanks for Heroes and Villains, Surf’s Up and Good Vibrations. Thanks for "Lucky Old Sun", and for reimagining Gershwin. Thanks for Caroline, No. Thank you always for "Pet Sounds".

I have long admired your handy work. Even before I could appreciate the significance of what you did on a technical level (in the face of significant technical limitations), I could appreciate it on a creative one. You broke with conventions and proved that rock n’ roll can and should, actually, have no conventions. You made miraculous textures of sound that continue to elude me as a producer and engineer.

Your genius stills inspires me, your big heart still impresses me, and your voice can still move me to tears. Thank you Mr. Wilson.

I may not always love you,
but long as there are stars above you,
you'll never need to doubt it,
I'll make you so sure about it.
God only knows what I'd be without you.

An open letter to Santa Claus...

2010-11-22T17:47:00.004-05:00

I decided to sub this one out with my Christmas list. I always have stuff on my Christmas list that's specialized studio stuff and hard to explain. I joke that everything costs more than $1000, so it's hard to make a real Christmas list. While that's true, there are a lot of expensive pieces of equipment, there's always littler stuff too.

AES/EBU Breakout Cable for Octopre

Lynx AES/EBU Cable

Hosa AES/EBU DB25-XLR Cable

Auralex Diffusion Panels

Multi-Format Digital Output Card for Octopre

And a couple of the ones no one could possibly afford, just for fun.

Universal Audio 4-710d

Malone Design Works MC Desk

And if you wanted a personal slave for the rest of your life, you could buy me this.

I know, I'm not normal. Here's some normal person stuff...

Okay Computer on vinyl.
Lateralus on vinyl.
Foo Fighter's Greatest Hits on vinyl.
Black Holes & Revelations on vinyl.
The Unforgettable Fire on vinyl.
What's Going On on vinyl.

I know, even my normal isn't normal. Who listens to wax?

An open letter to someone out of state...

2010-11-21T21:07:00.003-05:00

Hey Kirsti,

You're actually living in Utah now, which is totally bizarre considering you've been "my friend in the Virgin Islands", "my friend who's going to Bangladesh", "my friend in L.A.", etc, etc.

One has to envy you're life of moving and shaking... nurse on the run. I have to wonder how permanent Utah is gonna turn out to be. I actually met you there. When we met later in Boston, it took an awful long time to figure out how we knew each other. I recognized your name, first and last and I knew we had talked at length, but it was truly bizarre how I could not place where we met. But we finally realized it was at the Riviera in 2001. I was our Bishop's executive secretary and because his interviews ran perpetually over-time we'd had at least one lengthy conversation.

I'm glad we became better friends over time out here. I have an extra sense of appreciation for my friends who think and live outside the box of being a Mormon. In some ways, I think they're the most Mormon people I know; because they don't identify that way, they just live their lives and the let part of them that's LDS manifest itself. I wish I could explain better what I mean, but I've always been attracted to Mormons who exist well outside the stereotypes of what Mormons are like.

I also appreciate our friendship, because I've always felt like we communicate well. When I was all weird and messed up after Annie, you helped me get things in better perspective. I don't know how many friends told me she was bad for me... lots, actually. But it made a lot of sense when you said it. It helped me wake up a bit, and see that I had a lot of positive things to offer that she never saw. Remember that time you were gallivanting in South America and I wrote you emails every week? I was glad I did that. It was good to be writing, more than anything, but I think we became even better buds because of it.

Anyway, you're missed by me, uncommonly. I hope the job and life are great in Salt Lake. I'll have to come see you soon.

Love, Jared

"I always thought Dave was hearing impaired... Turns out he's just an a$$hole."

"I am not a benevolent God."

An open letter to the person I miss the most...

2010-10-28T00:27:00.006-04:00

It's hard to really nail this down, for sure, but the person I probably think this the most about is Adam... who incidentally, is one of the people who would least appreciate the anxiety associated with an open letter. I'll take it easy...

Do you remember that one day we were sitting on the ugly brown vinyl couches in our living room, you on one, me on the other and I was aimlessly bouncing a plastic ball off of the wall? Then it suddenly took a bizarre deflection and bounced of two things then came right for you and you just casually leaned forward and head-butted it without changing the expression on your face. We just looked at each other and smiled, like, "Oh yeah, that just went down."

There was also that time we were both telling Jemily how much my new DI lamp resembled a hookah bong. They were both saying it sort of did, but that wasn't the first thing they'd think of, and hardly an automatic reaction to seeing it. Just then Pace opened the door looking for Jason and you said, "Pace, what's the first thing you think of when you look at this lamp?" And he immediately said, "bong" without even thinking.

Anytime I was restless at 2 in the morning, you were not only up, but up for a middle of the night headphone-walk around South Provo. Or a Del-Taco trip. Or a bad horror movie. Or a drive up the canyon. You made Deadlocked a fun band to be in, because you were the one everybody liked. We danced to Canned Heat with Jason on days we didn't have anything to be up for and then went right back to sleep without a word. We road-tripped to effing Oregon with half the band and an OCD engineer we couldn't keep focused on a mix. We stayed awake practically the whole time.

We threw a heavy-ass tube organ in the river.

Miss the good times and the good company. I would seriously pay for you to live in the same place as me at all times if I could.

Yes, yes, y'all.
I kiss br***ts y'all.

Adam's behind me isn't he?
He's humping, isn't he?

P.S. I have like no pictures of you.

An open letter to someone I've drifted away from...

2010-09-14T23:30:00.002-04:00

Hey Julie,

(Look what they're doin to me.) Sorry, I still always here that song when I say that. "Drifted away?" Yeah, kinda. Which, by the way is like 212% my bad.

Remember that time you came to Boston to get married and my stupid work had me in the whole damn weekend? Yeah... I've been pretty bad about the whole contact thing. You're not the only one, but you might be the most neglected friend I have. Which is kind of lame, cause remember how awesome we were? Geez, I think people probably needed to dry clean the awesome out of their clothes after hanging out with us.

Did you know that your house was the first place I tried driving to without a map in Boston? And I only got crazy lost once. Anyway, not much to this letter. Just an apology for being incommunitado for so long. Let's chat soon and next time we're in the same state we have to hang, even if I have to quit my job (which I've become adept at of late, actually).

Miss your ruddy guts.

Mooney

An open letter to someone I wish could forgive me...

2010-07-28T01:01:00.003-04:00

Maybe she already has. Mostly background... Then some letter.

Katie was a sweet girl. And pretty rad. She was so cool, in fact, that I thought she was far too cool for me. (Which is crazy, cause I'm awesome, right?) Katie had such a cute face, with blonde hair in a rad little boy haircut and big eyes. She was hot, and sneakily funny... Like it wasn't immediately apparent but I think anybody who knew her was aware how side-splittingly hilarious she could be. I wasn't her home teacher, but I went with my roommate once to her house to home teach her. There was some moment where everyone paused in silence and she meowed. Like a cat. After we stopped laughing, we asked for an explanation, and she said every 4 minutes there's an awkward moment somewhere in the world and every 4 minutes a cat dies. While I doubt if this phenomenon is accurate, the decision to respond to awkward silences by meowing was pretty funny.

So, Katie and I were friends... kind of. We would say hi at church and stuff, and while I'm sure I flirted the whole time I knew her, it wasn't till right after she announced her mission call that she showed any real interest in me. I was understandably conflicted and yet not altogether unpleased. She was, of course, cute and rad. We didn't go on any dates, we just hung out and talked a couple times. Then she disappeared for a couple weeks and came by my house the night before she left for the MTC. She sat on my stairs and laid her head down on my chest. We didn't really talk much.

The next day she was gone. While she was, I wrote her letters. She went to Mississippi, which was dear to my heart, as 5 months of my own mission were spent in the Magnolia State. We grew very close through writing letters back and forth. And while we never even really got romantic in our correspondence, I realized that letters have a peculiar kind of intimacy. When she came home I was in AZ getting ready for my big move to Boston. I called her house to welcome her back and tell her I'd be in Utah in a few days to pick up some stuff, and that I'd like to see her. There was a lot of strange anticipation and nerves for me as we'd never really defined our expectations. We had certainly become quite close over the year and a half she was gone, but I was about to be moving 2000 miles away and we'd never even dated. I was hanging out with Adam (who also wanted to see her) when I picked her up. She seemed unusually well adjusted for a girl right off her mission. We had a pretty fun few hours hanging out and when the two of us were driving back to her house I explained that I was gonna hang out with Jason the next day and then take off for Boston. She asked me if I would call her before I took off so she could say goodbye. I agreed, and when we got out of the car she just kinda full on kissed me. I was stunned, but like I said, cute and awesome, so I kissed her back (although I'm not sure how well, as all I could think was, "Uhhhhh, what the crap is happening?"). After a similarly awkward hug (I'm a huge nerf), I said goodnight. Then I did the dumbest thing ever. I posted about it on my blog.

I called her the next day just to say I was already leaving town on her answering machine. And never called her again.

I've never before or since been such a huge douchebag.

Now a letter...

Dear Katie,

I'm a putz. I wish I could say you were the only monumental screw-up I have on my record, but that would be a lie.

True, we never talked about getting serious with each other, but we tore down a lot of walls through our letters and developed an intimacy that I should have had a greater respect for, even if I didn't wholly understand what it meant to you. The retarded thing is that I really liked you a lot. I wanted to see what we could be, but I let my whole Boston move and that kiss that felt like it came out of nowhere (that demanded some commitment of me) to scare the ever-loving crap out of me.

I did the most gutless thing ever. I made light of it (possibly even ridiculed it) on the freaking internet. And I dropped a courtesy call to say I was already gone. I shudder when I think of what a tremendous tool that makes me. I have derided so many guys for lesser shenanigans perpetrated against my girl friends. My only saving grace is that I realize that makes me a tool. I've wished I'd been ready and could have given you a real kiss. I've wished I would have called you and explained why I was so taken back and talked about it. I wish now I would have at least told you why I was so confused and scared and let you explain your affection. I had time for all those things. I lacked guts.

I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart for how I'm sure I made you feel. I can't believe I blogged that $#!+. I can't believe I never called you again. You were so deeply a part of my life. Your letters had been a light in my life that had been pretty dark while you were gone (for reasons that had nothing to do with you). You helped me understand and feel better about my depression and the need to medicate for it. You shared deeply personal things from your own life with me. I treated it all like crap and treated you worse. This is easily the worst thing I've ever done to someone I called my friend.

If you could ever forgive me I'd be so grateful, even if we can never have the same relationship we had before. I hope God has blessed you with great things and a happy life. I hope he always will.

Love, Jared.

Holy crap, I found a picture of you on google.
I won't post it though. I try not to use the internet for evil anymore.
You're still a hottie.
No offense to my current girlfriend, who is the most hot.
Ok, I'm done.
For reals.

An open letter to someone who helped me develop professionally...

2010-07-17T00:08:00.002-04:00

Hey Anthony,

Thanks for everything you did to help me get better at recording music. I really enjoyed so much of my time Avatar. The biggest thing I gained from my internship was confidence. I learned a ton, for sure, about mic placement, the various consoles, large session setups, and major-level analog recording... but these were all things a had at least a little under my belt. You were always eager for me to show you what I had, and you helped me feel like I had real strengths as a recording engineer and not just "adequate" skills. I'm glad you made me shadow Tio for a week too. While that was easily the most boring week I spent at Avatar, I learned a lot that is beginning to help me now as, God help me, I have become the studio manager.

Thanks for not using me as a runner or a coffee maker, but as an assistant. Thanks for inviting me to so many cool sessions. Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, and for including me heavily on Brand New's record. That was the treat of a lifetime and other engineers still ask me all about it. You did a fantastic job on the faders by the way. I thought Fred squashed it a bit too much, but that's just me.

So yeah, in short... Thanks.

An open letter to my grandpa,

2010-07-05T18:28:00.002-04:00

Hey Grandpa,

I want to thank you for the things you taught me.

You taught me how to shoot. If you remember, at first I couldn't hit anything. But rather than be painfully embarrassed that your grandson had like zero skill for marksmanship, you paid attention to how I was setting up and where I was missing, and you discovered that while I was right-handed, I was also left eye dominant. I can only wink my right eye, and so instead of getting a straight perspective down the sights, I was getting the wrong side of the stereo image, instead of a focused, mono image. You asked me to try shooting with both eyes open and then to try shooting left-handed. As soon as I set up left handed I started hitting everything I took aim at. It sounds kinda sad when I say it now, because I think I have lots of talents, but that was one of the first times in my life I felt like I was good at something. My experiences at school had been kind of hard that year and one of the things that was hardest was that I didn't feel good at anything. I sucked at football, basketball, kickball, and tetherball. I was being sent to "resource" (remedial math) with the retarded kids and seeing a shrink. A little success felt pretty freaking great at that point.

You taught me how to drive stick... the first time. My dad had to teach me again later, and I remember he was a somewhat less-effective, certainly less patient teacher. I loved driving around in the forest behind your property. When I got the truck stuck once, you didn't get upset at all. Instead, you said, "Let me teach you how to lock the hubs and use four wheel drive!" I never felt intimidated to learn new things, because I knew you would show me how to succeed at them. You taught me how to reload ammunition, use a lathe and a drill press, patch leaks in a rowboat, dig a trench, till a garden, grow tomatoes, cut firewood, weld, rig a tow hitch, and frame a building.

You taught me a lot indirectly too... I learned about being a good and loyal friend, respecting women, keeping good humor, being trustworthy and honest, and how to love the world around me. I learned that from watching you. I grew to love the things you loved. You loved music, poems, and stories. You loved dogs, and fishing, and shooting, and kids. You loved nature. You loved to create things with your hands. You loved hard-earned exhaustion.

I know why Grandma loved you so much. I mean, I saw you maybe 8 times a year and spent one summer living in your basement, and you were by far one of the biggest influences for good in my life. I loved you sooooo much. Grandma not only got to be with you all the time, she was your best friend. You were lucky to have her too, for the record, but I know you knew that because of how you treated her. Thank you for teaching me the most important thing there was for me to learn... how to be a really good man. I'm a slow learner, for sure, but I never forget the example you set for me. You're the person, on the other side of mortality, that I miss the most. The children of the stepchildren of a man's second marriage don't always get to have a very close relationship with him... Lewis, thank you so much for being my Grandpa.

Love, Jared.

A.O.

An open letter to someone I don't talk to as much as I'd like to...

2010-06-28T00:00:00.004-04:00

Hey Kristy!

What's up in Colorado? I think you're one of my most neglected friends. I don't ever seem to have time for a Colorado swing when I head out to Arizona and Utah. I have had the thought to call you and catch up so many times, but somehow the insanity of working nights and trying to run a business have overwhelmed me. You're not alone, incidentally, in fact, I regularly have friends in Boston tell me how little they see me. This is all truly unfortunate. I miss going to the park with you and talking about life. You're one of those who have had the frequent pleasure of listening to me ramble for an hour at a time on some subject before I finally say something really useful, which also happens to answer my own questions.

I miss hanging out on your bed during parties, and seeing how many people come and go from the room. I have the picture Diana took, of you, me and Pugs on your bed. It's one of my favorite pictures from Boston. I think you'd really have enjoyed the studio too, which didn't really get going till after you left. Then when you came to visit over the 4th, I only saw ya twice, on account of my lame-o job. I'm glad you like Colorado (it's a gorgeous state), and working for Santa Claus. You seem to keep drawing Boston people your direction (at least the ones named Katie). But please remember that even if we don't talk so much, this Boston person misses you lots.

The "Show Me" state... Ha!

An open letter to someone I'd like to meet.

2010-06-27T00:34:00.005-04:00

Dear President Obama,

You are someone I would like to meet. The main reason for this is that I have a theory about you I'd like to measure. I think you're both more and less complicated than almost anyone would have me believe, including yourself. You and the political organization behind you (by which I don't mean the democratic party), I mean your group of people, I think would like me and most of America to think that you are a misplaced idealist in a world of cynics, and that rather than agendas, you have principles.

And while I do believe those things about you, I don't believe them without a grain (or a shaker full) of salt. By which I mean this... I think you would like to do your work in the spirit of compromise and non-partisanship. I think hard-core partisanship has to some degree forced your hand, and you have responded like they tell us a "strong President" should, by working however you need to, to legislate and govern effectively. I have to admit though, to disappointment.

It's like this... I think there are four kinds of people in America, and I'm not gonna bother to put labels on them like party affiliations or meaningless monikers like liberal or conservative.

There are people who voted for you that wish you were more like Ghandi than a Chief Executive. That is, they wish you'd responded to partisan stonewalling from the Republicans, by refusing to dignify their game, rather than by jamming your agenda through on one side, by watering down your original plan. They'd say our country doesn't need the health care bill you passed, it needs the bill you actually wanted (that by all measures, could never have passed). This group of people didn't want you to stand up and declare a victory. They wanted single-payer health care and real cost control. They wanted the way of business for health insurers to change. They would rather see every legislative effort you make fall short, than see you wiggle, maneuver, and back room a less-effective bill, then claim a substantial victory.

There are people who voted for you who wish you'd grow a pair. Republicans not participating in the health care bill? Get in their face. Wall Street and Bankers lobbying hard against reform? Bring 'em on. Oil companies not taking responsibility? Make them pay. In fact, that's the exact image, I'd say that your press secretary would like them to have of your administration. So why are there still a lot of people who think you're playing softball against the Yankees? The fact is, while you've tried to be tough, where toughness is required, you're not scaring anybody. Well, you're scaring plenty of people who are just afraid of black people, but not the people you need to scare. If big money and big lobbies aren't afraid of you, that's a problem. It means you lack political muscle. These people want to see more shameless politics.

There are people who did not vote for you who think you're actively destroying everything that America is about. They're plenty scared of you. Maybe they're a bit racist, maybe they're not at all. Maybe they are just afraid you're rabid left-wing agenda is gonna take away their guns and tax them into oblivion. You think I'm dismissing these people, I am not. In fact, I kinda love these people, especially the ones from Alabama. And while you might think they should be more concerned about their failing schools, than the gun show loophole (and you'd be right), the fact is they have a right to be concerned about those things. Their way of life and their traditions are important to them. They need, and in fact would have more trust for, a leader who will work with them on the issues they see as important and then work on a way to help their states and communities improve their educational infrastructure and empower their youth.

There are people who did not vote for you that think you're weak. In fact, they think they smell blood, and they will pounce on your jugular the minute you expose it. Weakness is intolerable to them in a leader and they will happily elect a thousand men like the guy you replaced. They don't even care if he seems a bit stupid, as long as he wouldn't lose in a fist fight. They don't especially care if he's particularly effective or if he's ultimately being manipulated for someone else's purposes, as long as he doesn't appear weak. Some of these people are what you'd call the ruling class in this country, people who have purposefully sought and obtained all kinds of power. They especially, want to exploit the weakness they think they perceive in you.

I'm not gonna tell you what camp I put myself in, because ultimately it doesn't matter. The killer here is that all of us are right. People see a timidity that is really there. People see an aggressiveness that is really there. We all want you to be a level headed cooperator and we all want you to be a ruthless son of a biotch. You can't win, but you can lead. We all want you to lead us, even those that didn't vote for you. Do you believe that? I hope you do. You're not Stalin or Hitler (only Glenn Beck thinks you could somehow be both) and you're not Ghandi or MLK. Nobody thinks you are. I don't think if pressed, any of us would say we wanted you to be any of those people. We want you to be the President of the United States. Even those who hate you would prefer if you did a decent job till they get a chance to vote you out. The bottom line is if you lead us we will respect you. We will never all be happy, but we will follow. Don't be afraid to lead, don't be afraid to consort with the enemy. And don't be too proud to do either.

And call our damn Congress out for what they are and make them lead us too!

Sincerely and A-Politically,

Jared

P.S. Smile more. You have a good smile.

An open letter to my best internet friend...

2010-06-26T00:29:00.002-04:00

Dear Liz, Beth, or Elizabeth,

Being the only girl I know who actually goes happily, by all of them...

I don't suppose many people would be flattered to be identified as an "internet friend", especially when you've had as much real-life friendship as we have. But as I think about it, I don't have any other friends I knew so well online, before I knew them in real life, as you. If only it had been facebook, we could have told people how we met without the cloud of shame... but alas it was MySpace. I wish I actually still knew my login for that long inactive myspace account, cause I could go back and read the effing ton of mail we sent each other before we ever met. I also forget how we happened to become friends... did I add you? Did you add me? I feel like these are questions you'd know the answers to.

Anyway, thanks for proving for me that relationships seeded online, can bloom in real life. It always feels like a really long time between when we talk, as it usually is, and we don't talk as long or as passionately as we used to about subjects deserving little or no passion. I frequently remember one thing you said in frustration, that I think defines you down to the fundamental essence. I believe you were discussing sweet versus dill pickles, or something most people would qualify as equally banal...

"Uuuuggggghh. It's so exhausting being passionate about EVERYTHING."

And you were. Everything mattered. I hate to say this here, of all the places I could say it, but the saddest words I ever heard from you were uttered on AIM sometime last year when you told me you'd been pretty involved at work, and that you "don't really listen to music anymore." I started a music share after that which, while infrequent, lets me share music I love with people I love. I was sad when the first couple installments weren't ever downloaded from the server, and at one point when I added others to the mailing, I dropped your address. I don't know why I did that, actually... For the life of me, I can't understand why the fact you didn't take the music I offered you, made it hurt anything to just keep your name on the mailer. I don't know when I'll send again (can't remember the last time I sent one), but know that I just put your gmail address back on the list, and whether or not you get the time to download some music and listen to it, doesn't really matter to me. I friggin' love your guts, and that music is for people I love.

Love, Mooney

An open letter to an ex-girlfriend...

2010-06-25T00:42:00.004-04:00

Dear Tyler, err... Tay-tay,

I've thought many times about our 4 month relationship, since its dissolution at my hands several years ago. You were my first real girlfriend. I didn't date much in high school, got into an ill-conceived little something with a redhead just before my mission, and then went on my mission. About a semester into BYU, I met you and asked you out. Our first date remains one of the best dates of my life. We didn't even do anything particularly cool, we just hit it off so well. For the first time ever, making progress in dating someone seemed... well, effortless. Instead of over-thinking things, I just did what felt natural and we quickly developed a really good little relationship.

You were a great girlfriend too, you gave me a spectacular 22nd birthday, and I really can't think of much I ever didn't like about you. I was actually eager to see you after work and spend time with you. When we started getting serious though, for some reason, I broke us up. Actually, I don't think I gave you much of a reason, and the real reason wasn't a particularly good reason as it was. Basically, I had some stupid pre-decided notion in my head that I wasn't, under any circumstances, gonna marry my first girlfriend off the mission... as if life was ever one of those things that you could approach so mathematically. I hate math, so I have no idea why I let myself be directed by such an incoherent whim, especially on something that was important, like a person's feelings. I don't think I expected you to be as hurt as you were. I certainly didn't expect you to kinda hate me for a while and then move away and never come back, but that's what you did. Everyone in my life who had met you, from my friends to my parents, basically told me I was a huge idiot. I was too. I don't think, in hindsight, we would have actually gotten married. But I wish we had taken the route where we actually got to find that out together. As loving people is one the most important priorities in my life, I've never dealt particularly well with the knowledge that I've hurt some people deeply, who deserved much more care at my hands... You're one of those people.

I've often wondered where you ended up, and with whom. I went through a lot of relationships after ours, and most of them were actually kinda bad for me. Some were turbulent, some were hasty, some were mutually unhealthy. I am now 30 years old and unmarried. However, I am also in the best relationship of my life, and while I am not where I ever expected to be, I am where I want to be. I hope more than anything, that you can say the same. I'm sure you can. I regret little, as I don't think there is much use to regret, but know that I regret my ending our brief and happy walk together, before we got to look around any of the bends.

Love, Jared

An open letter to a stranger.

2010-06-24T19:32:00.003-04:00

Dear octogenarian driving the Buick in front of me on my way to work today...

Would you like another sedative?

Cause you weren't driving slow enough down the middle of two lanes, or swerving quite erratically enough to not fit neatly in to my pre-constructed stereotypes of drivers your age.

Your children should make an intervention for all of us, and take away your license and your keys.

-Jared

<---- The biggest thing you should drive.

An open letter to a washed up celebrity.

2010-06-20T01:47:00.003-04:00

Washed up celebrity seems harsh for the guy I'm gonna write this to. Andy Sturmer was the drummer and lead singer (interesting combination) of Jellyfish, a pop band that was briefly popular in the early 90's. Their 2nd full length album, Spilt Milk is one of my favorite recordings.

Andy,

I know most of the people reading this have no idea who you are. In fact, I'm not totally sure why I chose to write an open letter to you, which you'll almost assuredly never read. But I want to say thanks for some great music. As a recording engineer, I'm still finding inspiration in Spilt Milk. Most people credit Jack Joseph Puig pretty heavily for the sound and production value of that album, and while I'm sure it bears much of his genius, I know enough about the process to know that a producer or engineer can only reach amazing places with amazing musicians in front of the mics. Whenever I am given leave to get away with it, I still like to hard pan the toms like they are on Jellyfish records.

I've long admired your tastefulness as a drummer, I always like to point out to engineers, the drum sounds in That Is Why. They're usually impressed with both the sounds and the playing, and almost always comment on the great fill work in the pauses.

As a singer, I admire the power and personality of your voice. From playful songs like New Mistake or Brighter Day, to what are obviously more personal songs like The Man I Used To Be, He's My Best Friend, or Russian Hill, you always gave such a compelling vocal performance. I Wanna Stay Home is one of my favorite vocals ever. I actually have cried a few times before, when it comes to the bridge and that incredibly creative harmony comes in... "Well, I realize the weight that's firmly on my shoulders. I just try and find a place I can take a walk on my blind side."

I've kept up with your career as much as possible. I got a kick out of your work with PuffiAmiYumi and a bunch of your soundtrack and theme song work. But I always wanted to hear that vocal again, as more than a backup singer. When I bought L.E.O.'s Alpacas Orgling, I had no idea you were involved in the project. When I heard your voice come in on the second verse of Goodbye Innocence I yelled out loud, "Holy crap, I think that's Andy Sturmer!" It was so good to hear your voice again. I kept hoping you were featured somewhere else on the album, but was disappointed in that hope.

I get the impression you like to live behind the scenes nowadays and not make too big of a splash... It probably doesn't help that everyone who loves your work are continually clamoring for a Jellyfish reunion. I loved Jellyfish, but I don't really care if I ever get to see them play again, I have the records and will probably never get tired of listening to them, but I want to hear more you. Please, share the songs I know you're still writing. I'll even let you hole up in my studio for a few weeks and lay stuff down. The world of music needs more great songs, and you've written some of my favorites.

An open letter to my brother.

2010-06-19T00:01:00.002-04:00

Brian,

How you doing? We don't talk or see each other as much as I'd like. I live in Boston. My bad. I'm glad you're spending your last summer at the Y doing EFY. I loved EFY when I went and everybody told me I would have been a great counselor, but my audio jobs on campus always paid so much better, that it never made sense to do it. A couple of people you've known through EFY have moved to Boston though, and they pretty much universally assent to what I've always asserted... You're awesome, just like your big brother. Haha!

I loved being at the Y with you, even for a short time. I love that we both served in the Southern States. I love that we have the same sense of humor. Your trip to Boston and our brief jaunt to NYC is one of my favorite memories in the last 4 years I've lived here.

For all the ways we're the same, there's just as many ways that we are not at all the same. And I like those too.

I hope you don't worry to much about dumb girls who can't make up their minds. It took me way to damn long to learn the lesson that, if they can't make up their mind about wanting to be with you, they simply don't want to be with you enough. Trust me, it's better to know. Better to know that they know. There's an amazing girl looking for you that you just simply haven't run into yet. You will. God wants it for you too much to let it wait forever. Don't let Dad pester you, he just wants grandbabies.

Love you, bro.

J

D-D-Dirty South.

An open letter to my parents.

2010-06-18T00:35:00.003-04:00

Hey Mom, Hey Dad,

I think I could probably say a good deal more to you in a closed letter than an open one, but if there's something I'd want the internet world to know (at least the very small slice of it that reads this blog), it would be that while you guys were not always the parents I wanted, you were the exact parents I needed. I think all kids identify ways in which they want to live or parent differently from their own folks, and I'm no exception, but there are a lot of things you did particularly well.

While I had my own crises of faith, I always knew about your faith. I knew you were both deeply committed to the church and the gospel. I knew you were committed to each other. And I've seen enough of broken families out in this world to know, how important knowing that is to a kid. Your testimony helped me want to find my own.

Mom, you were always there for me. You cared about how I felt. It mattered to you that I had good friends. I knew you worried about me when I struggled to connect with other kids. I knew you prayed for me to find the people I could be myself with. I know you've prayed for me my whole life. When I have thoughts of giving up or letting life have its ruddy way with me, I only have to think of what you might be asking God for in my behalf. I learned you were a very intelligent woman. You chose to be at home with your kids, but you could have succeeded at many, many things. We're all grateful you chose to be with us. I look at my sisters and know they knew that about you too.

Dad, we've found a good place. You haven't always understood me, but I feel like you've always wanted to. I learned a lot about hard work and honor from you. I learned about duty and the importance of caring for others home teaching with you. I learned a lot about you through the letters you wrote me on my mission. That was hugely important to me. It was to Brian as well. I admire the way you work tirelessly. I admire the way you've dialed it back in recent years to serve in the church and spend more time with Mom. I will always be grateful for the college education you helped me acquire and the help in my career in the form of a Mac (which survived for 9 years) and my first Pro Tools system.

I think you both tend to focus sometimes on where you think to have failed us, but as far as I'm concerned, I think you turned out really great parents. I love you both very much. That is why I tease.

Love, J.

Long live the clan.

An open letter to my "crush".

2010-06-17T03:36:00.005-04:00

Or my girlfriend, as it were.

Baby,

You're one of the most pleasant surprises I've ever had. I don't know about you, but I think we're pretty freaking great together. Yay us!

I haven't seen you much this week, which, while it kinda sucks, always has a way of making me appreciate you more. This probably sounds kinda trite or stupid to third parties, I suppose, but I really think you're awesome. Thanks for recognizing my own significant awesomeness and enhancing it.

Love, J.

An open letter to my best friend.

2010-06-16T18:21:00.007-04:00

Who this is has always been a little up in the air...

It was Tyler growing up.
It was Brendan when nobody else liked me.
It was Mark in High School.
It was Jimmy on my mission.
It was Adam in college.
Then Jason.
Yancy in New York.
Ben in Boston.

All in all I think I most often say Jason. Way to curb the rest of the pack, bro.

J-

Thanks for always being such a great friend to me. In the particular time that I met you, I wasn't aware how much I would need a new friend. It wasn't long after we met though, that I realized we were almost more like brothers than friends. Whenever people ask how we met we relate a dorky story about a KBYU pledge drive and how you grew up in Washington with Death Cab for Cutie and I grew up in Phoenix with Jimmy Eat World, and how we both totally loved We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes and Clarity and listened to them all the time. And it was audiogeek love at first sound.

But while that's a fun story, I've realized that in friendship, (as with Love) common interests matter a lot less than we initially think. You quickly proved to have the quality I most admire and most strive for in my own relationships... loyalty. Your friendship was never conditional on anything. I'm a bit of a sinner. I struggle with a lot of things that other people find easier. Toward the end of my 3rd year at BYU I had my first "encounter" with depression. That was a tough adjustment for me and for most of the people I called my friends. All of my relationships changed somewhat. With Adam. With Emily. With Jen. I don't think anything really changed with us though. You were supportive and kind as you always had been and I never felt any undue judgement when you gave advice. I felt like you knew who I really was and you expressed almost effortlessly that I shouldn't settle for being less than that. When I left Provo for New York, there was a lot of things I missed and a lot of things I didn't. You and Adam topped the list of people I missed profoundly. When I came to Boston I made a lot of really good friends in a hurry. It was weird. I was riding some kind of high from doing something scary and unprecedented and simultaneously knowing it was the right thing for me to do. Boston was now my home and I was having a lot of success in making it so. For better or for worse, living in Boston changed most of my other friendships. I'm not as close with most of my friends back West as I used to be. I've been out of their lives for so long.

I knew you were going through a rough patch at home, when you came out to Boston for a vacation... in December. But aren't you glad you did... I count it one of the greatest moments of my life when I saw you and Pugs at Average Joe's and realized, "Holy crap... they might actually be totally perfect for each other!" You were. It was a high for me to attend your sealing, and I totally love you kids to pieces. You're the best couple I've ever known. I miss you all the time.

One more thing. Thanks for helping me pull my head out of another part of me enough to see what trying to be with Annie was doing to me. You never told me she was crap for me (even though she was), you just pointed me back to my self. Once I started seeing me again, it became clear that we were just plain meant for other people. A relationship takes work anyway and that one would have been an awful lot more work to save than to just cut our losses. At this distance, hindsight is better than 20-20 and I see perfectly that it wasn't much of a loss for either of us to go forward and find someone else.

I regularly wish you were here to rock out with, to work on recording projects with, to dance to Canned Heat with, and just talk to. Thanks for your friendship. It means a tremendous amount to me and I freaking love ya, brother. Rock, rock on.

Yes cup.

New Blog Project: An open letter to...

2010-06-16T18:14:00.002-04:00

I'm not gonna commit to this every day for 30 days, because I suck at commitments, but I like this "Open Letters" idea. I modified many of them to suit who I'd actually like to write letters to. Or at least the people who would be interesting to write to.

Day 1 — Your Best Friend-
Day 2 — Your Crush-
Day 3 — Your parents-
Day 4 —Your sibling (or closest relative)-
Day 5 — A washed up celebrity-
Day 6 — A stranger-
Day 7 — An Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend/love/crush-
Day 8 — Your favorite internet friend-
Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet-
Day 10 — Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to-
 Day 11 — A Deceased person you wish you could talk to-
Day 12 — A person who helped you develop professionally-
 Day 13 — Someone you wish could forgive you-
Day 14 — Someone you’ve drifted away from-
Day 15 — The person you miss the most-
Day 16 — Someone that’s not in your state-
Day 17 — Someone from your childhood-
 Day 18 — The person that you wish you could be-
Day 19 — Someone that you think about a lot—good or bad-
 Day 20 — The one that broke your heart the hardest-
 Day 21 — Someone you judged by their first impression-
 Day 22 — Someone you want to think you're awesome-
 Day 23 — The last person you kissed-
 Day 24 — The person that gave you your favorite memory-
Day 25 — The person you'd like to see right now-
Day 26 — A person you want to be there for-
Day 27 — A person who changed your life for the better-
 Day 28 — Someone that changed your life-
Day 29 — The person whose art has most touched you-
 Day 30 — Your reflection in the mirror-

I borrowed these for a session this week...

2010-05-04T00:47:00.002-04:00

And now I want them.

Bad.

This is a pair of vintage (WWII era) German microphones called Neumann KM-84's. They belong to my friend Curt Nickisch. Neumann is generally considered the best name in microphones. They're still a company and they still build some of the best microphones available. But I can state emphatically, without reservation, that vintage ones consistently kick the ruddy pants off new models.

Haha

2010-04-29T14:56:00.001-04:00

marriedtothesea.com

Frenchies.

2010-04-21T20:24:00.003-04:00

This image is of an absurd aspect ratio and you'll probably need to click it to read the whole thing...

I saw this on an ebay auction just now. Not sure why, but it made me chuckle, and remember the US Swim Relay team's interview after their stunning comeback win. The Americans said something to the effect of, "We heard the Frenchies talkin' some stuff... and decided we needed to show them what's up." Why we seem to constantly hate on the French is beyond me, but I have to say, the term "Frenchy" is definitely the funniest slur of all time.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

2010-04-07T11:56:00.001-04:00

Is funny. Not necessarily funny for comedic value, but funny the way all Wes Anderson films are funny...

The utter randomness that makes you snicker about something like a full minute after it happened.

The use of silence.

The mastery of awkward timing.

The way he makes the most dysfunctional relationships kinda brazenly so.

Above all, I think it's funny how that can make something funny.

Soooo....

2010-04-06T03:26:00.000-04:00

Dollhouse Season Two is dark.

I kinda love it.

The honk that launched a thousand snorts...

2010-04-05T15:30:00.003-04:00

Some of you who knew me in my first 2 years at BYU know that I had some level of weird-romantic involvement with 4 girls in a row who were all named Melissa. You'll also know I refer to them respectively as Melissa I, Melissa II, Melissa III, and Melissa IV. Melissa 1 was just cruel, while Melissas 2-4 were all crazy. While you might guess the funniest stories are about the crazy ones (and you'd mostly be right), my lamentable relationship with Melissa I produced at least one exceptionally funny moment...

On our first date (which involved an ill-fated canoe launch in Utah Lake), I asked Melissa to tell me something funny about herself. She answered by telling me that it had only happened two times before in her life, but that when caught in a truly awful fit of laughter, she had honked. "You mean like a goose?!!!", I asked, to which she said, "Yeah, kinda... it's really loud and horribly embarrassing, but it's really only happened in front of family and they can only tease you so much." I had two immediate thoughts:

1. Her family was obviously nothing like mine, cause I guarantee if one of us ever honked, the others would never let them live it down. If we can tease you for it once, we'll tease you for it for the rest of your life.

2. It is now my foremost aspiration in LIFE to make this girl honk.

After a couple months of hanging out, we were alone in her living room. I can't even remember what we started laughing about, but it was one of those times when you think you're gonna die from the pain in your sides. I didn't even think about the honk, it was just really funny and I loved her normal, everyday laugh, a ton. Then out of nowhere I heard this huge rapid inhale and the loudest, most ungodly HAAAAWWWWNNNNKKKK you can possibly imagine. It caught me so off guard I immediately snorted super loud. Then she honked again and I snorted again. Honk, snort, honk snort, like a goose and a pig getting jiggy with each other.

We were already in pain, but this brought on another 15 minutes at least of uncontrollable, rolling-on-the-floor laughter. When we finally calmed to silence and tears of joyous pain, she just pounced on me and we made out on her floor for like an hour... which was awesome. Sometimes still, when I get in an uncontrollable spell of laughter with someone, I'll hear the honk like a ghost sound effect in my brain and nearly pee myself all over again.

My day in great detail...

2010-04-04T02:46:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I decided I was gonna just tickle my fancy for the rest of these "in great detail" posts, cause to describe more than one day in great detail would be (a) arduous and (b) boring. Seriously, my whole year? Nobody wants to read that crap. I sure as hell don't want to write it. But I figure I could tell you about my Easter Sunday in fair detail without boring you. I think.

I woke up at 7:45am, showered and dressed in my new suit (I just bought it the other day at an incredibly bizarre store with purple velour and blue leather suits in the windows... I was very hesitant at first, but it turns out they have normal-people suits too) and picked up Danielle in Newton. We drove to an area of downtown Boston called Copley Square. We found parking quickly (and free on Sunday) had a quick breakfast and waited outside the beautiful Trinity Chapel to be let in for their Easter Mass. The service was beautiful, and the music was fantastic. Trinity has a spectacular organist and an instrument to match. It has antiphonal (at the back of the hall) pipes for the organ music equivalent of surround sound. I've always tried since my mission to take part in Holy Week with the larger Christian community in some way. Especially when we Mormons have General Conference on Easter, I feel like we tend to miss out on the tradition that most of Christianity has, of remembering the last week of Jesus mortal life, and proclaiming the joyous news of the Lord's Resurrection with our fellow Christians. After the mass we drove back to my house where my roommates had general conference up on the projector, and several friends over for a bbq. We ate good food and enjoyed the morning session. I took a nice nap between sessions, played a little guitar, then watched the afternoon session. Danielle and I then headed to an Easter dinner with the raspberry cheesecake brownies we made last night (when I say we, I mean, I bought the ingredients and Danielle did all the cooking). Dinner was great, dessert was too, and I even ended up telling the Melissa-One honking story to the sister missionaries.

Don't worry, if you're unfamiliar with that story, I'll tell it tomorrow...

Anyway, then Danielle and I finished Season One of Dollhouse... so addicting. And that was my Easter Sunday. How was yours?

Another tickler of the fancies...

2010-04-03T23:22:00.001-04:00

A youtube video... well 4 of them.

2010-04-02T01:02:00.003-04:00

Warning... 16th Century Adult Language.

A website...

2010-04-01T00:52:00.000-04:00

If I'm ever a Billionaire, THIS is what I'll buy...

A recipe...

2010-03-31T01:43:00.003-04:00

I think it's mostly a problem of people over-thinking it, but there’s a serious lack of good biscuits and gravy out there. This is how they do it down in the Bible Belt. Not for the faint of heart. Stroke-inducing cuisine, here.

Da Biscuits
 2 cups self-rising flour, 1/4 cup butter or lard, 1 cup buttermilk.

Preheat oven to 500. In a mixing bowl, make coarse crumbs of the butter and flour. Add the buttermilk blending with a fork just until the dough comes together. Very sticky. Spread the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead gently, folding the dough 8 to 10 times. Press into a circle that's pretty thick. A full inch thick is good! Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter. Place the biscuits on baking sheet so that they barely touch. Bake until they look and smell amazing (roughly 10 minutes).

Da Gravy 
1 lb. fresh sausage, roughly 3 tablespoons of bacon drippings, 1/4 cup regular flour, 3 cups whole milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper.

In a large cast-iron skillet (required), brown the sausage at a medium-high heat. Keep all the fat in the pan. Add more fat... Better fat... Bacon fat. Also add the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly until flour browns. Slowly add milk. Keep stirring. Bring to a boil, then simmer for one minute stirring occasionally. The gravy thickens as it cools. Pour da gravy all over dem biscuits.

This is, my girlfriend will testify, the only kind of gravy I should ever try to make.

A hobby of mine...

2010-03-30T01:04:00.001-04:00

In the last several months my vinyl collection has grown a lot, and while I doubt I'll ever be a real vinyl collector, I am very proud of my little library of analoguey goodness. The truly funny part is my turntable died before I bought like half of these, and I haven't bought a new one yet.

A talent of mine...

2010-03-29T23:48:00.004-04:00

I actually wondered for a long time if recording music was something I was actually good at, or something I just liked to do. I of course, love audio and I had found a confidence in my skills at least when focused on film sound. But frankly, for much of the time I've been interested in making records, I've been surrounded by people who were better at it than me. (Jason, Ryan, uh, everyone I worked at Avatar with) My passion for music is similarly pretty strong, so I've thought a lot about whether I'm good enough at music to "masquerade" as a recording engineer.

When I thought about it a little more I realized I was from a bit of a different background. I began in recording at MCC where my first class was entirely on analog tape. In my second semester we "got to move up to digital" tape. Only just before my mission did I ever really experience using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) in software form. After my mission, I went to BYU. It was actually incidental that I got a Pro Tools job on campus. I wasn't even applying for it. I was applying to be a TA for Comms 101 and my teacher asked me out of nowhere if I knew Pro Tools. Well, then I started at KBYU where I met Jason. I got better at ProTools, but the couple projects I recorded in school, I was ultimately not that happy with.

I've realized more over time that I actually just kinda suck at mixing in the computer environment. I've always been capable of getting good recorded sounds. In fact, I've become a bit of a tone freak (complete tweaker). I just wasn't great at mixing, at least absent a console. As fortune would have it, I'm unexpectedly on my own at Dirty for the next few months, and I'm hoping that as I've been forced more heavily into mixing music in Pro Tools, I'll get better at it. I already notice some progress on day one.

Tickled yet another time...

2010-03-28T23:57:00.001-04:00

It tickles my fancy to let you know about a blog I contribute to with my friend Luke. It highlights awesome things that we find on Netflix' Instant Watch.

It's called GuessWhatTotallyBadassThingIJustFoundOnInstantWatch.com

You kids with Netflix should check it out.

An art piece...

2010-03-27T23:32:00.001-04:00

How very Mormon of me, I know, but possibly my favorite painting of all time is Arnold Freiburg's (Book of Mormon paintings) depiction of George Washington called "The Prayer at Valley Forge". It's a beautiful rendition of a beautiful moment in history and a reminder of the faith of the General of the Army of the Potomac.

And yes, there were 4 prepositional phrases in a row there.

A song that makes me cry or nearly...

2010-03-26T00:02:00.004-04:00

I pretty nearly cried the first time I listened to "What Sarah Said".

What Sarah Said (Directions DVD)

Death Cab for Cutie | MySpace Music Videos

I'm emotionally unstable and there are a handful of songs that can get tears out of me if the timing is right.

A fanfic...

2010-03-25T13:36:00.003-04:00

I've always heard there's awful fanfic out there that makes your favorite stories, well...

Sexy.

Well, it's even more awful in reality than it sounds in theory. This is the first Transformers fanfic I found...

World's Worst is accurate.

A nonfiction book...

2010-03-24T12:59:00.001-04:00

Ha, at least in a manner of speaking...

"The Mixerman Diaries" as they were called when being published monthly in an industry periodical called Tape-Op, are about a freelance recording engineer who gets "chosen" to record the debut album for a major label bidding-war* band. The label insists the band work with a big name producer, and the band consents but insists that our hero be their engineer... Two members of the band know him and they expect him to act as sort of their ally in the recording process.

He essentially documents the daily nightmare that it was to work on this record with the band and the label, and shows along the way just why so much of popular music is total crap. The band is a nightmare. They hate each other's guts and they haven't even toured yet. "The singer is vain and pretentious. The guitarist is a chronic depressive. The drummer is 'dumb as cotton' and the bassist is merely mean and petty, making him the only one that Mixerman can stand."

While it's uber-entertaining to a recording engineer it's widely readable and a fascinating behind the scenes of the bad, the worse, and the ugly of the record industry.

*= In the days when the labels ruled the record industry (with an iron fist), top prospects were often fought over by different labels. Ironically, the lion's share of the bidding was actually the size of the loan the band was to be fronted upon signing. Which is actually to say, the biggest dollar amount was actually what the band had to recoup in sales before they made even a dime. Musician's were courted with debt... Amazing.

A fiction book...

2010-03-23T00:10:00.001-04:00

Currently reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Danielle lent me it and is certain I'll love it. It's really good so far. While it's not a sci-fi book, but the main character's affinity for genre literature has made me want to read a bunch of sci-fi... most immediately to read the rest of the Dune books.

Tickling my fancy again...

2010-03-22T00:55:00.002-04:00

I just barely saw the video for this song long loved...

A photo of me taken recently...

2010-03-21T23:38:00.001-04:00

Me at the studio during a recent recording session.

A photo taken over 10 years ago.

2010-03-20T14:14:00.002-04:00

This is the only thing I've seen in digital form that old... had to scour my friend's facebooks for it too. I look ridiculous, but of course all of us do.

A photo I took...

2010-03-19T00:26:00.002-04:00

It ain't nothin' special, but Ben is making one of those Ben faces.

A photo that makes me sad/angry.

2010-03-18T13:03:00.003-04:00

This photo makes me both. Also recognizing there are thousands of boys like this 13 year old Ugandan who are forcibly recruited to militias in African conflict zones like Uganda, Zimbabwe, Chad, Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, and the Congo. This happens on other continents too, notably in Columbia, Cambodia, and Chechnya. And that's only by standing armies... Displaced Palestinian children all over the world are recruited by organized terror to make the "ultimate act of faith" and strap a bomb to their bodies.

A photo that makes me happy...

2010-03-17T15:26:00.005-04:00

Yeah, I had a hard time narrowing the field. Forget narrowing the field. These photos make me happy. They're in a totally random, nonsensical order.

Taken by Trisha's folks on our white trash roadtrip to a nascar event in NC. I have a huge, disgusting mullet.

Taken by my little brother at the top of the Bunker Hill Monument (while I was contemplating throwing up).

Taken toward the end of an absurdly fun trip to Palmyra.

Ben and I at a 1920's themed party.

One of a series. Taken on Jason's famous trip to Boston. (The one he met his wife to be on)

Taken at Jason and Pugs' wedding. Yancy, Jason, and I are remarkably handsome fellows.

Taken on my visit to the Virgin Islands to see Kirsti. There are wild donkeys on St. Johns. They like bagel bites.

My mom and Grandma watching the Sox at Fenway.

This is what my friend Danger does when you try to photograph her.

Gina asked me to write on her cast. So I did.

2 of my nieces. Taken on my phone. Totally cute.

The day I came home and found David, Ben, and Bryce piling snow against Evie's door. I of course, joined in.

Danielle in Providence.

Taken from the old North Bridge on my little brother's trip to Boston last summer.

Jenny Owen Youngs, Bess Rogers, and Allison Weiss a few nights ago in Boston.

The after pic of the dessert sampler my gf and I pounded at Finale in Harvard Square the other night.

Timothy on Halloween 2007.

My 27th Birthday Party which for some reason was like 80% girls.

Megan getting a love tap from Paul Revere on a visit she and Christina made to Boston.

Taken in the harbor on my first trip to Boston, when I fell in love with the city. Seth, Tim, Marie... good times.

Funnest night of the summer I lived in NYC, hands down.

The day I bought my Strat.

I don't remember what inspired this impromptu rock out, but I jumped really high in the air.

My Pride and Joy 1969 Fender Rhodes.

Whatever tickles my fancy...

2010-03-16T23:42:00.004-04:00

Happy Birthday, Katrina.

And Happy Saint Patty's, Boston! I feel like the parade in Southie needs House of Pain as a guest.

My favorite quote...

2010-03-15T23:58:00.001-04:00

Is actually song lyrics from my favorite song...

"And this is what she said gets her through it...
If I don't let myself be happy now, then when?
If not now, when?"

My favorite book...

2010-03-14T22:22:00.000-04:00

My favorite book is Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

My favorite television program...

2010-03-13T00:51:00.002-05:00

The greatest television comedy ever. I will not hear arguments.

Arrested Development.

Although British comedies "Man Stroke Woman" (starring Nick Frost of Sean of the Dead/Hot Fuzz fame) and "The Armstrong and Miller Show" have had me quite in stitches lately.

My favorite movie...

2010-03-12T02:47:00.005-05:00

This is similarly hard to nail down, but if required to choose one, I always have to say Ingmar Bergman's "Winter Light". It's a story about a small parish Priest who is steadily losing his faith. On a particularly hopeless winter Sunday, the weary Father only needs to tell a suicidal member of his flock why one must go on living... But he finds himself only venting his own deep-seeded anguish and despair. Distraught by the long-past death of his wife and the demands of an affair he has no affection for, he is tormented by "God's silence." It is a foreboding film that is often identified as a masterful argument for atheism. Indeed, Bergman was an atheist for most of his career, and arguably made this film (or the trilogy [loose term] it is part of) while he was first casting off the shackles of his strict Lutheran upbringing...

But this film has always oddly strengthened my faith. In fact, most of his very weighty films have taught me something about the beauty of humanity even in the most depraved or pathetic conditions. He's easily my favorite filmmaker and let's face it... Kurosawa is a hard one to edge out. When Bergman died a few years ago, I actually wept. Part of the why had to do with his last film, "Saraband", a touching, unusual "sequel" to an earlier film called "Scenes From a Marriage". "Saraband" had the unmistakeable ring of hope and love. He told a story remarkably similar to his own, and in the end... if I can borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, he allowed his characters to be "Surprised by Joy".

I heartily recommend any and all Bergman films, but especially Winter Light.

My favorite song...

2010-03-11T01:36:00.002-05:00

There are like at least 6, but I have to say it's really 2 songs constantly swapping places in my mind.

The first is Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds masterpiece "God Only Knows", which even two Beatles have called the most beautiful song ever written.

The second is Jimmy Eat World's "For Me This is Heaven" from Clarity.

Just a heads up that I'm gonna try and blog every day for a month.

2010-03-10T18:53:00.002-05:00

These shirts COME dirty.

2010-02-09T16:15:00.004-05:00

The studio has new T-Shirts. 10 designs available. Have just the logo or one of four phrases, including...

"Music done right, is music done DIRTY"
"Everybody needs a little DIRTY in their life"
"DIRTY never sounded so good"
"DIRTY and completely shameless"

Girly Tees in white or unisex in military green or chocolate brown. They're high quality fabrics. A bit pricey, but we're only makin 6 bucks per shirt so help us out and show your pride in Boston's best studio. Love that Dirty Water (Sound & Music).

Official Dirty Water Sound Merch Store. Dooo it.

Even more vinyl.

2010-01-30T14:31:00.002-05:00

Now I just gotta get them home in my suitcase without bending them. Not sure if I should trust the TSA or just ship them. Deluxe Edition of Robert Plant & Allison Krauss' "Raising Sand", Pearl Jam's "Ten/Ten Redux" LP, and Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream". Be jealous of my analogocity.

Audiophile/Guitarist Pornography...

2010-01-12T12:02:00.001-05:00

Jason and I used to joke that the Sweetwater Catalog that lived next to our toilet, was our version of porn.

...I was turned on pretty much all the way through this movie.

Hey everybody, this is my girlfriend...

2009-12-17T00:21:00.012-05:00

And by everybody, I mean anybody in my life who hasn't met her... But of course, this post is actually for my mom, who, though she knows lots about Danielle, never quite gets tired of hearing it.

So Danielle is from Minnesota, about an hour West of the twin cities. She's a Senior at Wellesley College, an ivy league women's college about a half an hour West of Boston. Wellesley's campus looks a little like the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During the Fall months it is pretty much the epitome of beautiful New England. She's a major in French and Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Africa. She has plans for graduate studies in Nurse Midwifery.

Danielle and I met at our recent Adult Education Conference. Neither of us stayed for very long, and we only talked for a couple minutes. I would have probably never asked her out actually, if our mutual friend Sean hadn't called me and told me she'd brought me up in conversation and that I should ask her out... cause frankly, she didn't seem at all interested when we met. He gave me her number and what do you know... she was really cool.

She came with me to the Do It Your Damn Self! Film Festival that my friend Lumina was organizing. It was really fun and totally relaxed. She was interesting and easy to talk to, so after the festival we went to Not Your Average Joe's for dessert and I asked her over after her meetings on Sunday. We watched a movie and then, as they say, I did my duty.

I have to say, I'm a little surprised that we've been dating a month. In most ways, it seems even faster than that. But we also have a surprisingly comfortable relationship for the amount of time we've been going out. Now we get to see how we handle not seeing each other for 6 weeks...

We Do WHAT?!!!

2009-11-30T19:04:00.002-05:00

Kind of really want this shirt.

Awesomey Music Week.

2009-11-07T22:04:00.002-05:00

So this week could've sucked hardcore. I worked obscenely late two nights, but I also ended up (by good fortune) getting to attend several concerts. On Wednesday I got off early enough to catch Elizabeth & the Catapult at the Paradise. On Thursday I worked late, but had enough sit time to run over and catch all of Jenny Owen Young's set and part of Mae's set at the Middle East. Then on Friday, my friend Linda invited me to the Swell Season show at The Berklee Performance Hall. You know who Swell Season is if you've ever seen the movie "Once". This was easily one of the best concerts I've ever seen... no joke, and I've been to a lot of concerts in my day.

Now I just need fun. to come back (they were last here in April) and my life will be complete. P.S. This video is lame until the pinatas start to sing. I want a video for At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)"

More Vinyl. Some for me, some for you.

2009-10-30T13:59:00.005-04:00

Nate Ruess of The Format's new band is called "fun." On Dog Problems, Sam and Nate tapped Roger Jospeh Manning Jr. (a hero of mine from Jellyfish, Imperial Drag, The Moog Cookbook, L.E.O. and Solid State Warrior) to arrange a few songs. On fun.'s LP, "Aim and Ignite", Roger arranged the whole album. It's pretty wild, with huge Brian Wilson-esque arrangements, channeling other influences of Nate's like Queen, The Beach Boys, Bowie, or Electric Light Orchestra. Highlights are All the Pretty Girls and At Least I'm Not as Sad (as I Used to Be).

So, anyway, I purchased the vinyl from hellomerch and they mistakenly sent me two copies. I only paid for one. So I called them up and they said to keep it. I already own the album digitally, but like most vinyl nowadays, these came with download codes. So I have for those who may want them:

A cool 180-Gram transparent color vinyl of "Aim and Ignite". (Which I'd prefer to give to someone who actually listens to wax, or is already a fan of "fun.") Pay the postage and it's yours.

And two download codes for legal ownership of this album. Let me know if anybody wants.

Why do I live in New England? Why DON'T you?

2009-10-25T21:59:00.015-04:00

After church in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. All just with my iphone camera.

Revival Tour: Jenny Owen Youngs

2009-10-21T15:26:00.004-04:00

Monday night Ben and I went to the Middle East in Cambridge for the Revival Tour featuring, among others, Jenny Owen Youngs. It's been a couple years since I've seen her play without a band. She was awesome enough to play "Here is a Heart" for me, albeit reluctantly. Here she is with Revival organizer Chuck Ragan, former frontman of the punk band, Hot Water Music.

She also played "Voice on Tape" with Chuck's fiddler, Jon Gaunt, who frankly, tore it up all night.

She's back at Middle East on November 5th opening for Mae. Who's in?

Another music post, but it's my own.

2009-10-14T18:15:00.002-04:00

I've been involved in the recording, writing, arranging, and producing of music for roughly 15 years. For about a decade of that I have owned my own recording equipment and for the last year, a full blown professional recording studio. I've worked on records for Willie Nelson, Billie Joel, Brand New, Muse, Dashboard Confessional, Ryan Adams, and John Mayer.

And this week I finally recorded some of my own music. Not music for a band I was in, not music I helped write or arrange, my own music...6 songs worth. It's just scratch tracks for now, but it's further than I've ever gotten before. Some of the songs are really old and most reflect stages of my life that no longer represent me, but they're things that came out of me as I was developing into the person and musician I am now.

Anyway, I've finally begun and I'm really proud of myself for having done this much. I have another 5 songs to scratch track and all of them to finish and who knows how long that will take me, but one day in the not too distant future there will be music for you to listen to. My music.

Jared

More records.

2009-10-11T00:06:00.004-04:00

On conference Saturday I found a bunch of great records and like a man with no force of will, dropped a hundred bucks on vinyl. What is it about having to own beautiful recordings on analog?

Finally, some dog problems.

2009-08-23T00:03:00.005-04:00

I've been after the Format's last LP "Dog Problems on vinyl for the longest time. It had a very limited release on vinyl and while I downloaded the album it's first day on emusic, and have since bought the CD at least twice, I missed the boat with getting the vinyl. Now the band is broken up and the pressing is out of print. I asked my sister to try and track one down at some indie record stores in Phoenix (the band was from the valley), but she had no luck. She did find me a vinyl copy of the Snails EP and made it my Christmas present. Thanks Erika! Anyway, the other day I finally convinced someone at vinyl collective to sell me his copy for way over market value. But overpaying or not, it's mine at last and it sounds delicious.

Transmitter 'Awesome'.

2009-08-19T19:20:00.002-04:00

So sometime last week I ordered my favorite songstress Jenny Owen Youngs' new album. I bought it on Amie St. when it was released, but for certain records, I have to have the physical cd too. Since I blew my money when she came to Boston on a sweet 7" vinyl and poster combo, I still hadn't bought the cd. It came today with a note from her mom, that's right, her mom thanking me for the purchase. The envelope also burst open with little paper sharks, a shark sticker, a button, and some gummy treat that I'm fairly sure was a shark before it melted in the Boston summer heat into a gooey indiscernible mass of orange sugar. I only have one thing to say, "No, thank you Jenny Owen Youngs' mom. Thank you for the treats, and your daughter for the beats.

We're your friends, we're your friends, we're your friends to the bittah end (the bittah end...)

2009-07-16T19:53:00.002-04:00

Be our friend. Be a fan.

Dirty Water Sound & Music on Facebook

Dear tim@waves.com

2009-07-14T17:21:00.001-04:00

Ok Tim, I'm attaching a PDF printout from Pace with my RMA case number.

As we just spoke on the phone, you probably picked up on the
frustration I have with waves over the hostage plan you guys always
seem to put me through with this software. The bottom line is I own
it. I paid for it in full through a licensed dealer without discount.
I pay a yearly fee (called by you the WUP) to keep that software
current. When I called waves a month or so ago concerning the lost
iLok, I was told that since my WUP was current and I'd obtained an RMA
case number, I'd be supplied with temporary licenses for my bundle
until the needed documentation from pace arrived at waves, at which
time waves would send me an email instructing me to visit a page on
waves.com and enter in my iLok account info. After that process, I
was supposed to receive permanent replacement licenses. This was
explained to me in detail. The email never came and when I enter my
iLok info next to my version 6 licenses, it comes up saying the iLok
(the serial number of the old one SN 00025B9C) is reported stolen.
But I have a new iLok (SN 000A4636) registered with that account to
which I should be able to download new permanent licenses.

It puts a very bad taste in ones' mouth when every interaction with
your company consists of being told you need to buy something else in
order for your software to remain your property. That impulse is
seemingly so profound that I've had sales reps and technical support
personnel start demanding I buy something before they've even heard
out my issue. I'm providing you all the documentation I have now,
because I've become used to having evidence demanded of me at every
turn with waves, that I do in fact, own the software. I know plenty
of people who use your software illegally, but I own it properly and
legally and have 4 times the headache in maintaining the ability to
use it, as the criminals who pirate it. Something needs to be
rethought here.

The RMA number is SI1338987
My iLok.com account name is theheadroomaudio
My waves account name is Mooneyrocks

My email is headroomaudio@gmail.com
My phone number is 617-555-7786.

Please just get the software I bought from you years ago, and pay you
again every year for, licensed to my new iLok.

Jared Mooney.

Hahahaha.

2009-07-10T13:51:00.002-04:00

Summer Fun Quota: Progress Report 1

2009-07-01T16:59:00.001-04:00

So far I've had a pretty fun and interesting summer. Some highlights:

Before she left for the summer Katie Danger and I went out to Fort Warren on George's Island in the Boston Harbor. We ran around exploring the caverns and passageways for a few hours.

One day Victoria and I went to the Boston Children's museum. We got badges certifying the fact that we were the creepy adults here without any kids... but other than some skeptical looks from parents, we had a great time. We climbed up this sweet suspension sculpture, put our whole body inside a bubble, made samurai helmets, rolled around in wheelchairs, learned about kinetic energy, construction, flight, camping, and chroma-key (green-screening). Plus we got in totally free. Way to go Victoria!

My first Walden visit of the season was foiled by the Lexington Police. We decided that the beach might be easier to pull off and drove to Nahant, only to be pulled over again. That cop was way cooler though and told us where to go that we wouldn't be caught. Unfortunately the ocean was absolutely arctic. And all of us were too wussy to go in. Oh wait, except for Katie Ball who walked straight in and went all the way under. We were all a little astounded at her nonchalant walk in-walk out. Also Katie and Bree had their "who's robot is better" dance off again and as-per-usual, Katie's was scary and Bree's was ridiculously bad.

Weekend before last I headed down to Washington DC for a Saturday morning freelance job at NPR National. I finished around 3 and headed back to my hotel in Northern Virginia and then went to dinner/goofed off with Katie Danger for a while in her home town. She kicked my butt in basketball and pool, though she won the latter mostly on account of my scratching the 8-Ball every time. Story of my life.

Sunday morning I drove down to Norfolk for my nephew's baptism. My sister's family was moving only a couple days later to Southern Utah, so it was good to spend a little time with my only family on the East coast before they left. Even though they were still a good 12 hours away from Boston, I'm gonna miss my sister and nieces/nephews. It was nice to have them out here.

It's been raining a lot more than it ought to during the summer so far, but expecting a little clearing last Saturday, we went to the beach. We were gonna head to horseneck, till we got delayed by moving David and by 1ish it wasn't worth driving 2 hours anymore, so Ben, Brian and I went to Nantasket. It was foggy and the tide was so high, the beach was just rocks. The wind coming off the water was cold, but the water itself was surprisingly nice. I went in for a half an hour or so to swim and boogie-board. Then we found a warmer spot with a little sand and played some frisbee. We stopped in Quincy for some Southshore beach-front food, and headed home. Ben and I then went to the studio to start recording our 8-song split together. It's a little weird, but I am glad I'm forcing myself to record my own music for once. I've owned a pro-recording system for 9-odd years now and this is the first time I've really done that. It's going pretty well. So far, I've played everything, including drums, and even Ben agrees it doesn't sound half-bad. Ben's stuff sounds great too.

The studio has been markedly more busy (with paid projects). I'm wrapping up Mike's EP (In which I became pretty heavily involved), and Ryan is working on a record with his friend Mandi. The biggest part of that though is a film project I've been working on for the last couple months, but I've also been working a lot less than I should. So now I'm playing catch up, having to finish several weeks worth of work on a much faster timetable. My procrastination skills have apparently not faded much since college. In college I could just b.s. my way through a test or essay though... The film will either sound good or sound not good.

This coming weekend will be my fourth Independence Day weekend in Boston. I love the 4th here. I'm convinced it's the best place in the world to be on America's birthday. K-Dub and Leah will be here too, which makes things even more awesome. And if that wasn't enough I'm going to the Red Sox game that afternoon. Having more fun than one should be able to on this schedule? Check.

I'm alive.

2009-06-06T02:14:00.002-04:00

It's time for the obligatory...

"Hey, sorry I haven't blogged in like 8 months. I was just, you know living real life for a while and got sidetracked from what's really important... virtual life."

Followed by the...

"Let me try to give you a brief but informative summary of goings-on in my life during my prolonged blog absence."

1. My studio is sorta finished. (I'm convinced the "sorta" will always be there) But we record a lot more than we used to. People actually pay us, and drag our feet though we may, we finish people's projects. At the moment I'm (sound of feet dragging) finishing Mike's album and (sound-to-picture of feet dragging) doing foley on a feature film called Love on the Rocks. The first question people have when they hear you're working on a film is, "What kinda movie is it?" (a question filmmakers hate). I'd have to call it a dark-comedy. Meaning, in this case, that it starts really dark and ends really funny and it's kinda hard to tell where it changed over. It's a winner. It's being entered into Sundance, so hopefully it's a winner there too.

2. My church burned down. There's been a lot written about it online, but I've never really gotten to the point of recounting it in writing yet. It turned out to be an emotionally and physically exhausting experience for me, but it also helped me draw myself back toward the church more. Logistically it's actually given me a bit of a break. I'm a ward clerk, which usually occupies a huge amount of my time, but we've been waiting for a replacement computer for a while, so I haven't been quite as busy as usual. That honeymoon will so be over when we get one and have to count like 5 weeks of tithing and do a few months worth of membership work on one Sunday. The last couple of weeks we met at the First Church in Cambridge Congregational. They have been very warm and friendly to us and very kind to share their beautiful sanctuary. We just signed a lease at the Harvard Divinity School to use their chapel and adjoining facilities for a year while the Longfellow Park building is reconstructed. It will be immensely nice to get back to some kind of normalcy.

3. Work is work. I've had good weeks, I've had bad weeks, I've had weeks from hell. The lack of predictability in my shift is simply maddening sometimes. Fail to assert yourself and you'll be totally abused. I might have some NPR freelance coming up in DC which is always nice for a change.

4. I've been dating a lot of different people. Mostly just getting to know a lot of different girls out here I didn't know. There's one person I'd really like to be dating, but sometimes that just doesn't pan out (maybe it's a non-phase coherent stereo source). Stupid engineer's joke for Jason. Other than that I'm kinda crush-less at the moment. And increasingly ok with that.

5. Music is an increasing part of my life again. Well, the writing/making of it, that is. Having the studio has facilitated my creativity and I'm getting ready to officially record some of my own music for the first time. I have recorded myself before but it's never gotten past scratch tracking before I decide to scratch the idea completely. We'll see how it goes this time. My roommate Ben is gonna do it as a split with me 4 songs each, so that might help motivate me to finish it. As you might imagine, this increase of musicliness makes me happy, even though I write depressing music.

6. I realized my purpose in life is to love people. I'm good at it. And people's love is sometimes the only thing in this world that gets me by. I've been staving off my depression for weeks and feeling very close to being overwhelmed by it. I keep it at bay, in part, by loving people. My head was made for reasoning with people, my ears were made to listen to people, and my arms were made for hugging people. Pure and simple, I need people to care for. I'm glad to have that...

Geez, I need a girlfriend, huh?

Mmmmm. Food that looks like guts.

2009-05-12T17:32:00.000-04:00

Jenny Owen Youngs - Clean Break from Jenny Owen Youngs on Vimeo.

Thanks J.O.Y.

I know I'm already celibate and all, but...

2009-05-04T11:23:00.002-04:00

I really have to wonder how facebook ads decided this was a winner for my page, especially cause the other ad was a dating site.

I always thought becoming a Catholic would let me sin more freely, cause you know, you just confess after every date and you'll be ok. (I am aware of the contradiction in that line of thought) But then becoming a monk just negates the only motivation I've ever had to become Catholic.

This is why St. Francis of Assisi is rolling over in his grave.

Boston Spring.

2009-04-25T23:01:00.002-04:00

I'm sure pretty much every Bostonian who reads this will have had as fantastic a Saturday as I. The weather was perfect and this city bursting into bloom is ridiculously beautiful. I woke up early to help out in cultivating and planting the beds for the church garden. It was fun. I came home and slept a bit, then I went out to the esplanade (a series of parks along the bank of the Charles River) with my guitar and played for a few hours. Everybody in Boston seemed to be out jogging, riding bikes, rowing, sailing, walking dogs, or sunbathing. It was a good time. I walked down to the hatch shell and actually just grabbed a loose chair on stage and started playing music. Some people stopped to listen. Most just kept walking. Eveyone looked happy. It's amazing what the sun does to people after a New England winter. I actually think I appreciate the summer more now that I live in Boston, because we go through all the seasons.

It makes you appreciate new life. There's so much new life in my life these days.

After the esplanade I stopped by the studio, but it was too nice to stay and work, so when David called to invite me to a bbq at Christina Sullivan's I shut down ProTools and headed to Waltham. I ate tons of delicious food and then we played some fiercely competitive wiffle ball and watched Snakes on a Plane. It's every bit as lame as imagined. Also the Red Sox beat the Yankees in game 2 of the current 3 game series. If we shut em out, we'll be up 6 games. Now we just have to catch up Toronto.

In case you wondered.

2009-04-23T18:26:00.001-04:00

I had a fun Patriots Day.

Autopilot to hell.

2009-04-01T17:16:00.003-04:00

Hahahahahaha, THIS is gonna make for some good times. I love when Google decides to bring unasked for convenience into our lives... I predict this bombs within months.

I love the remark that, "Two Gmail accounts can happily converse with each other for up to three messages each. Beyond that, our experiments have shown a significant decline in the quality ranking of Autopilot's responses and further messages may commit you to dinner parties or baby namings in which you have no interest."

I'm not kidding, I'm turning this thing on right away!

Happy Dirty 2009

2009-03-04T01:30:00.003-05:00

Well it's here. The end of my 20's. I have to say I'm absolutely oodles happier than I was last year, and last year I had a girlfriend (which I suppose actually has a lot to do with why I'm happier this year). Ouch. Oh well, live and learn.

I've been listening to the song '29' by the Gin Blossoms for the past few days and have to say it pretty well sums up my feelings on the occasion. The video's a lame attempt to sync up the album track with live video. But the song is there.

I'm blogging late at night because I actually am spending my birthday in DC and the weekend in Norfolk with my sister's family (nieces and nephews!!!). Which means early flight. Love you guys. Thanks for everything.

Facebook knows their market!

2009-02-24T00:54:00.003-05:00

I will not be potty training my kids with the cougar fight song...

Incidently, I recall all my scout leaders waking us up in the mornings on campouts by singing "Rise and shout, cougar-women are out", at the top of their voices.

A-Roid, and the bigger problem.

2009-02-10T15:45:00.008-05:00

The nagging steroid controversy in major league baseball exploded this week when after a players'-union consented drug test from 2003 which was supposed to remain confidential was leaked to Sports Illustrated, Yankees second baseman Alex Rodriguez appeared on ESPN's sportscenter to admit that from 2001-2003 he regularly took "a banned substance" to enhance his performance. The purpose of the players' union's consent to the 2003 test was to demonstrate there wasn't a need for outside regulation and that steroid use was not a widespread issue. 3 other current Yankees players have already admitted to past steroid use, and once-thought future Hall of Famers Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens face mounting accusations that they have regularly doped.

I was thinking about how similar this fiasco is to the financial meltdown that came to a head in October of last year. Banks and financial institutions have insisted for the 2 decades since the savings and loan debacle, that they require no outside regulation or accountability to function. Economic philosophies arose giving praise to the free market and the self-regulation of widespread greed.

The premise of that stance, is of course that the individual institutions will regulate each others' behavior instead of cooperate and encourage fraud and cover for each other. Just like in baseball, the players' union insisted there wasn't a problem and that the minimal steroid use is confronted and managed by the individual clubhouses. But the problem was there and it wasn't being internally addressed. Rodriguez put it, "it was just the culture at the time". Economists warned for years that the pattern of trading on mortgage backed securities and selling defaulted commodities on Wall Street was a bubble, and eventually all bubbles burst. The fact emerged the same, that rather than keep each other honest, the banks, lenders, traders, appraisers, and credit agencies went to bed together. And we're now suffering the fallout of their unsanctimonious orgie of greed.

How many times do we need to see this philosophy up-ended before we realize the truth that the natural man is an ememy to God and to his fellow man? He will seek his own by competition or by cooperation, whichever offers him a higher yield of money, pleasure, and power. These are my thoughts. Except for one final one...

...Yankees suck!!!

I have this plan.

2009-01-25T00:52:00.003-05:00

It's a secret plan and it's been brewing for a long time. And it's almost time to tell you my plan, but not yet.

Not quite.

The world isn't ready, but it's rarely prepared to have its mind blown. So why wait?

Paul didn't wait.

Soon children, soon.

Oh Wow.

2009-01-13T23:06:00.005-05:00

One of the shames and scourges of our culture is direct marketing. The fact that there are people who read direct ads (like the one I've included below) and don't immediately laugh them off for general absurdity, over-generalization, fantastic claims, or tragically bad grammar says sad things about our species. One of the sad realities of the increasing Googlization of the internet is that we get hit with it a lot. For example I just had open an email that regardless of subject, had the words 'friend' and 'ex-girlfriend'. I couldn't resist clicking on this ad just to see how lame it was. That, and I'm ok with this advertiser losing a little more money to Google Ad-Sense for my click, so I can entertain my blog readers.

Geez, who knew it was so simple? There was a secret, waiting here for me, just two more mouse clicks and an open invitation to spam me away and I never knew it.

To all the girls who ever left me... look out, you'll soon be BEGGING to be with me.

Owning it.

2009-01-01T22:29:00.002-05:00

Update:

Studio... done. Well, close enough.

Holidays... spent in Boston, but not altogether unpleasant.

Girls... still suck, but I'm trying to work around that by not making the supposition.

Winter... still the only thing that tests my love for this city. I have a snowblower now, which makes it less tedious (and less back-breaking) to shovel our driveway. I'm going home for a friend's wedding tomorrow, so Arizona should provide enough relief to get me through a couple months. Then I'll go somewhere else.

New Years Resolutions:

1. Make more money with the studio than I spent building it.
2. Have a healthy, mutually rewarding relationship with a girl that makes my life easier instead of harder. This doesn't necessarily mean a girlfriend.
3. Try to be less negative about work.
4. Cut down on the swearing and try to focus on being "an example of the believers".
5. Get out of debt and save $5000.
6. Find a Masters program and go back to school.
7. Pray daily and visit the temple at least monthly.
8. Tell my friends more often how important they are to me.
9. Forgive and FORGET.
10. Love more of my life, more of the time.

With God's help, I'm gonna own this year.

Courtesy of SuperPoop.com

2008-12-22T14:21:00.001-05:00

Hahaha!

Catch up time.

2008-12-08T02:47:00.004-05:00

I'm a slacker.

Some would use the term procrastinator. But that's not the whole problem. I tend to ignore the things in my life that irritate me until they cannot be any longer ignored. This can be problematic when those irritants add up and submit your plate number to the RMV for nonrenewal, and when later, because the nonrenewal notice was irritating enough to warrant the ingorance treatment, you get pulled over and cited for driving on a 4 months expired registration.

Sometimes those things sit in the corner of your room with the near new rosin and unfettered bow, mocking your inability after 4 months to play the cello at all.

Sometimes they sit in the fridge and go bad because I ate at fast food and restaurants all week. Then you look in Sunday only to discover your only real food is under myco-conquest.

I have been ignoring other things in my life too. Most of them more important than parking tickets, rented instruments, and fungus laden sandwich meat. As usual, eventually the Lord puts me in my place. Strangely, this was accomplished less by the usual descent into depression and self-loathing this time, and more by a gentle reminder of something good. He let me feel the Spirit this weekend. Over and over again, I was rewarded by simple modest whispers of assurance from the Holy Ghost. I'm blessed. And despite recently enduring some of the most challenging periods in my life, I have every reason to be happy.

Tonight I enjoyed many friendships. It's good for escapist slackers like me to have those friends who always love and accept you even after long periods of pulling away. I often think I have no one, only to be reminded almost instantly that I have so many dear and vital friends who don't give up on me.

Aloof.

2008-11-13T11:52:00.002-05:00

Heya folks (meaning those who still read this),

Sorry for my aloofity. I've been distant from everyone, and the first thing to go is usually the blog. My life in the last month in a nutshell...

Studio. Work. Studio. Stress. Studio. Trying to date. Studio. Being broke on account of the studio. Construction at the studio. And the studio.

I have actually blogged about that a bit at http://www.dirtywatersound.blogspot.com for those who are interested.

Soundproofing.

2008-10-27T11:59:00.007-04:00

So the studio is coming along slowly. We have the largest of the soundproofing walls completely framed. The two foot top sections (trusses) take about 5 times as long as the rest of the wall, because we more or less have to be exact in our measurements for the wall to stand straight and have a tight seal against the blocks and rubber that decouple them from the floor and ceiling. The idea is to build a very dense wall inside the existing wall to cut down the STC or sound transmission coefficient to practically zero at high and mid frequencies and to reduce low end transmission to negligible amounts. To accomplish that we place a layer of highly absorptive foam rubber over the studs and conventional insulation, then two sheets of drywall, and a rigid fiberglass product generically called 703 covered with fabric. So after passing through an inch of rigid fiberglass, 1 and a quarter inches of sheetrock, 6 millimeters of high density foam rubber, 7 inches of packed fiberglass insulation, and another half inch of sheetrock, the amplitude of the sound waves has died enough that 2 feet of dead air and a conventional wall will do the rest. The hardest thing is that we really will have no idea how much we've reduced the STC till the wall is finished and we place a drum set or guitar amp inside and rock out. Here's some pics.

This is kinda like God sanctioning my vote...

2008-10-21T15:45:00.003-04:00

I'm a republican. And I've wanted John McCain to run for president for almost as long as I have wanted General Colin Powell, the former Army Joint Chief of Staff and former Secretary of State, to run.

General Powell is more qualified to make an endorsement than any man I can think of. He has served in some official capacity under 5 U.S. Presidents. He has been in the Situation Room for hundreds if not thousands of hostile national security situations. He knows the temperment and judgement that should be displayed by a commander in chief and I think no one can doubt he is fit to judge the foreign affairs and national security readiness of a candidate.

General Powell stated his dismay with Senator McCain's campaign in the plainest rhetoric, and echoes my concern about the campaign's efforts to align Senator Obama with people's fears about terrorism. He defends the honor of Muslim Americans and Islam as a religion of legitimacy and peace. He assesses, I think rightly, that Sarah Palin is not qualified or prepared to be President in the event that that might become necessary, and he acknowledges Barack Obama's level-headed approach to leadership.

Even if McCain had remained true to his views and values, and run an honorable campain, a Colin Powell endorsement of Barack Obama would have made me think twice about voting for McCain. That's the level of respect and deference I give this man, and even now, when I thought I could be no more sure that Obama was my man, the words of this great soldier, republican, and statesman make me even more sure. God bless the United States of America.

The (nearly) Exhaustive "What I did on my vacation" List.

2008-10-11T03:55:00.003-04:00

Flew to Utah.
Attended Priesthood session with my little brother.
Ate Arby's/talked chicks.
Crashed on Soundmaster Graham's futon.
Delayed trip to AZ.
Said hi to Richard and Mike.
Went to Sunday afternoon session.
Supped with Jason and Pugs.
Saw also JuHu, Kylee, & Sean+Wife.
Drove to Provo.
Met Brian's girlfriend, Lexi.
Introduced her parents to my compulsive need to see the score.
Screamed at the TV all through Brian's birthday party.
Resigned myself to it finally ending in the 12th.
Slept on a vinyl mattress.
Bought new scriptures and too many church books at BYU.
Registered as a Massachusetts alumn.
Realized how amazing BYU's campus & facilities are.
Remembered how little money it cost to live in Utah.
Checked out Velour and the studio I never finished.
Took Al to lunch at Cafe Rio.
Ordered shredded pork burrito enchilada style.
Consumed it with exultant joy.
Read about Mormons as Vampires in BYU studies.
Tracked down Adam.
Threw frisbee.
Wolfed burgers with Adam and Scott.
Listened to Book on Tapeworm.
Rode to the airport.
Checked phone compulsively through 9 innings.
Found a TV I could switch off Monday night football.
Shouted really loud when the Sox won.
Ran into Laura Heaton.
Talked to Laura Heaton for half the flight.
Recalled what a radfaced hottie Laura Heaton is.
Landed in Phoenix and rode home with Mom.
Hugged mom & listened to Dad rag on Obama.
Had breakfast with Mom.
Sat with Grandma & listened to Uncle Rick rag on McCain.
Listed my Hammond Organ on Craigslist in Phoenix.
Watched "Choke" with Mark.
Acquainted myself with April.
Debated economics and political philosophy with Mark.
Slept in.
Had my eyes examined.
Got new prescriptions for glasses and contacts.
Shopped for new suit.
Made a QwickTrip run.
Sampled Red Hots Flavored Smoothie.
Passed.
Enjoyed Horchata Smoothie.
Finished watching Gone Baby Gone like 7 months later.
Road tripped to Snowflake.
Toured my sister Lori's house and property.
Picked up my niece Brenna from school.
Chilled with Lor, Delv, and Bren.
Mocked the contestant on Deal or No Deal.
Discussed Howie Mandell's baldness.
Returned home from snowflake.
Stopped at Someburros for Pollo Fundido.
Cringed through a Lifetime drama about an FLDS Polygamist Ranch.
Sold Hammond to a guy that actually knows how to play it.
Roamed the house for wireless signal.
Helped deliver the Hammond.
Ordered new contacts.
Sought out Sourdough Jack and Pete's onion rings.
Caught up with Kylee.
Dined with Gary & Holly, Joel & Jenny, Kevin & Andrea, Mark & April.
Pondered how all of my friends are married and I am so not.
Wandered around Mesa Arts Center with Laura 'Reverend' Heaton
Hooked up late with Jen and Emily.
Loved not working.
Missed Boston and Boston friends all the while.
Coming home soon.

The astute may notice I used a different verb for every line. Which is hard if you consider how much “eating” and “meeting” I did.

Why is Snowflake, AZ so windy?

2008-10-10T13:33:00.002-04:00

Because Holbrook SUCKS and Showlow BLOWS.

Ha!

Well, many of you will see me this week.

2008-10-04T01:27:00.003-04:00

At least it's to be hoped you will.

I am in dire need of this time off work and it will be good to be home. I will no doubt, desperately miss my Boston home while I am gone. It never takes too long away to seem like too much time away. Beanies, hold down the fort and see if you can persuade Winter to stay off a little longer, I still need to swim in Walden at least once more. Utards, I won't have much time with you but will try to make the best of what I have. Zonies, this is my last vacation till March when I'm going overseas, so let's party like it's 1999... except for the part where I was on my mission in a freezing apartment in Mississippi.