A photo that makes me happy...

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...

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...

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...

My favorite book is Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

My favorite television program...

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...

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...

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.

These shirts COME dirty.

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.

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...

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...

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?!!!

Kind of really want this shirt.

Awesomey Music Week.

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.

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?

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

Revival Tour: Jenny Owen Youngs

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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...)

Be our friend. Be a fan.

Dirty Water Sound & Music on Facebook

Dear tim@waves.com

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.

Summer Fun Quota: Progress Report 1

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.

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.

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

Thanks J.O.Y.

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

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.

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.

I had a fun Patriots Day.

Autopilot to hell.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Hahaha!

Catch up time.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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?

Because Holbrook SUCKS and Showlow BLOWS.

Ha!

Well, many of you will see me this week.

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.

From the 2 or 3 times I've watched the show...

I'm totally smarter than a 5th grader.