PhoneBoy Says

I've previously had a personal blog on Vox (it's still there, for now), but I've decided to restart the blog over here on phoneboy.info, which I bought a while ago but wasn't using for anything. I'm no longer fond of the "roach motel" that some of these "Free" blogging services are (i.e. you can get your data in, but you can't easily get it off). I wanted something I could easily get the data into--which Wordpress blogs certainly allow for--but also get the data out of if I desire.So what will be here that isn't on phoneboy.com? Non-techie stuff. Interesting photos I take when I travel. Other things that don't really have a home, but I want to keep track of for slightly longer than an ephemeral tweet. I'll think of something for it, I'm sure.

I recently went through the exercise of taking all my mix tapes that I made in college (or shortly thereafter) and created playlists in iTunes based on them. I, in theory, get all of the joy of a playlist I personally created without having to carry around those old cassettes with better sound quality to boot.Of the music I have ripped into iTunes, roughly 10% of those songs ended up on my mix tapes. Some songs made appearances on more than one mix tape. For fun, I decided to list out all the songs that appeared three times or more, combining different versions of the same song. Whether or not you want this potentially disturbing view into my psyche roughly 15-20 years ago is another matter ;)6 Appearances

• Murder by David Gilmour
• Desperado by The Eagles

5 Appearances

• You Don't Love Me Anymore by Weird Al Yankovic
• Take the Long Way Home by Supertramp
• Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Private Investigations by Dire Straits
• Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

4 Appearances

• Victim of Live by The Eagles
• Walk of Life by Dire Straits
• Summer '68 by Pink Floyd
• Soul to Squeeze by Red Hot Chili Pepper
• Sirius/Eye in the Sky by The Alan Parsons Project
• Save a Prayer by Duran Duran
• Pretty Little Ditty by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• On the Turning Away by Pink Floyd
• On Every Street by Dire Straits
• Higher Ground by Red Hot Chili Peppers (a cover of that great Stevie Wonder classic)
• Brain Damage/Eclipse by Pink Floyd

3 Appearances

• Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
• What God Wants, Part III by Roger Waters
• Wasted Time (Reprise) by The Eagles
• Terminal Frost by Pink Floyd
• Taste the Pain by by Pink Floyd
• Sorrow by Pink Floyd
• Sheep by Pink Floyd
• Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits
• Right Now by Van Halen (one of the few post-David Lee Roth songs I actually like)
• Oh Life (There Must Be More) by Alan Parsons
• The Logical Song by Supertramp
• Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh
• Let There Be More Light by Pink Floyd
• Hollywood by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• High Hopes by Pink Floyd
• Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd (though in one instance, I used the Primus cover, which is also cool)
• Give a Little Bit by Supertramp
• Family Man by Pablo Cruise
• F.M. by Steely Dan
• Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac
• Days are Numbers by The Alan Parsons Project
• Crime of the Century by Supertramp
• Come in Number 51, Your Time Is Up (a.k.a. Careful With That Axe, Eugene) by Pink Floyd
• Closer by Nine Inch Nails
• Castles by Red Hot Chili Peppers (yes, it's a cover of the Jimi Hendrix Track)
• Breakfast in America by Supertramp

A lot of memories of my youth involve sitting around and listening to music. Of the various forms of entertainment I had available at the time and well into the mid-1990s, it was the only thing that was truly available "on demand."One of my first memories is me getting up to my mom's turntable and putting on Dark Side of the Moon, second side. I liked Money, what can I say? There was a cassette tape of that album and Wish You Were Here that I had for many years and subsequently wore out I played so much. I never bought records, as by the time I could afford them, they switched to CDs, but I did buy some music on cassettes.I have a few things on cassette that I never managed to buy on CD, but most of the cassettes that I still have are either mix tapes I made or albums that friends gave me. That's how music was "traded" back in those days--you made a cassette of a friend's album or CD and gave it to them. Don't worry, I eventually bought most of the stuff on CDs.In fact, I bought quite a lot of CDs--something close to 200 of them. I've got a couple of booklets of them. I've even bought CDs recently (as in the past year) for stuff I wanted to truly "own." Perhaps I'm old school in that when I buy something with money, I like to get something physical in return. At least when it comes to music.Earlier, I ran across a blog post that referenced a video showing how the Pink Floyd song Money was put together. That led down a YouTube-induced rathole that led me to a video that talks about the making of Dark Side of the Moon.It got me to thinking about something it seems I rarely take the time to do anymore--listen to music. Not as a background to some other activity, but as an activity in and of itself. I used to do that for hours, well into my college years. Sure, it was background at times as well, but there's something about putting in an old album and just kicking back and relaxing.A good record album--particularly a concept piece like Dark Side of the Moon--is like a good book. It tells a story, it makes you use your imagination and makes you think. Unfortunately, Dark Side of the Moon and other Pink Floyd albums are the gold standard for concept albums, and even low-quality "concept" albums are few and far between.Part of that is few bands know how to do it. These days, though, people don't buy CDs (though I hear vinyl records are making a comeback). People are buying their songs for $0.99 a pop on iTunes, Amazon.com, or getting it as part of a subscription.Of course, with a wife and family, my life is simply not conducive to sitting around all the time listening to music. Some of it isn't exactly kid-appropriate. Then again, I heard the word bullshit in Money at a very young age (not to mention other naughty words in other songs) and I turned out ok. Maybe I should kick back and listen to some music more often ;)

Tuesday was officially my last day at Nokia. However, it was also the day that I started fully transitioning to Check Point Software. I signed all the various forms and non-disclosure agreements, read through the employee manual. One of the forms--the I-9--requires an "authorized representative" of the company to look at my passport and sign. For me, this meant a trip to Seattle, which fortunately, didn't take too long mid-day.The other pressing goal of the day was to get my laptop transitioned from Nokia to Check Point. This involved a hard drive swap and a lot of phone calls to Check Point's IT staff to get appropriate passwords, reset locked accounts, and generally get up and on the corporate network. After all that, I'm in and mostly working, though there are a few nagging issues.Meanwhile, I am getting acquainted with the new policies and procedures, reading the various Intranet pages, and otherwise acquainting myself with Check Point. In the morning, we get the benefits orientation. Shortly after that, a call with my new boss :)

When I was about my son's age, I was in Cub Scouts. One of the things you inevitably do in Cub Scouts is build a Pinewood Derby car. Or, rather, your father mostly builds it.

My son is not in Cub Scouts, but we are doing something similar through the YMCA. We are doing a group campout an d one of the activities is a Pinewood Derby.I have no illusion here that my son wants to do most of the hard work. I know at that age, I didn't. What I did ask him to do was come up with a basic car shape, which he came up with. I then went to work cutting the block of wood into something approximating the shape he drew.

I never took shop class. I don't know the first thing about wordworking. I barely have any tools for this stuff. However, I am determined to turn this block of wood into a car.After some sawing and sanding, here is the result. It is not completely smooth--there are some divots I still need to even out--but it vaguely looks like a car!

More work on the car tomorrow.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily ShowFull Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I can't help but listen to this Ronald Reagan speech from 1964 and realize how much of this applies today. The examples he gives are dated, of course, but are still relevant today. Government is growing increasingly bigger, more wasteful. Social Security is insolvent. Our budget is nowhere near balanced. We are spending far more than we're taking in.

Unfortunately, none of the politicians today come anything close to espousing or upholding the ideals in this speech. Then again, I'm not sure Reagan was able to carry out the ideas here, either. Despite great leaders like Reagan who state otherwise, the political machine simply won't cede control to the people.As much as I think President Obama is trying to help by bailing out various industries--including the banks and homeowners over their heads--I believe that the best course of action is to simply let these industries fail. The government can instead fund FDIC and pay off the depositors in these failed banks--the real victims of these economic problems. American ingenuity will fill the hole left by these failed banks and other industries.The older I get, the more I firmly believe that the government does not know what is best for anyone except the betterment of itself.

A friend of mine did this and I thought it was cool. Do this: Google "<your name> needs" and write out the first 10 results that complete the phrase.

1. A haircut

2. To rest and evaluate

3. A new website

4. A long overdue bath

5. Kato Unitrack layout with 19.25" radius (WTF is this?)

6. Scams Letters from Dating Scammer Svetlana Shestakova

7. $21441 to live here

8. Knoppmyth

9. Free streaming MP3s

10.The PhoneBoy Blog :)

When people say it rains a lot in Seattle, they might envision the kind of weather we've had the past couple of days, which is to say fairly constant and sometimes heavy rain. Having lived several winters here, I can tell you that while it is not unusual to have periods of heavy rain, it's not usually this constant.The additional 2 inches of snow we got on Sunday quickly became a non-issue thanks to rising temperatures and all this rain. However, the Puyallup River is now flooding, so it's causing some problems in the area, though nowhere near me, thankfully.Global warming? Doubt it. According to Professor Don J. Easterbrook, who is in the Dept. of Geology at Western Washington University, suggests we just exited a 30 year "Global Warming" cycle and are now entering a 30 year "Global Cooling" cycle. These ~30 year cycles go back ~500 years--well before we humans started causing the large-scale CO2 emissions that are supposedly killing the planet!In other words, we can expect more rain and snow here in Seattle over the next few decades. Great.

This morning, I awoke to the news that Nokia is selling their Security Appliance business to long-time partner Check Point. It wasn't what they told us was going to happen, but given the current economic conditions, this arrangement is the best way forward for everyone involved.Meanwhile, between the official meetings about the announcement and people wanting to talk to me about it to exchange thoughts, I was on the phone for several hours. After all the talking, and finally some breakfast, it was time for action: shoveling out the driveway.The driveway had accumulated about 6 inches of snow thanks to this year's snowmageddon. After last night's experience getting the minivan stuck in the snow (my fault), shoveling the driveway was now mandatory if we were to leave the house anytime soon. I started this process around 11:30 this morning.A little after 3, the driveway looked like this:

You can't see the part in front of the garage, but that took much longer than I anticipated. At 4:45, I was almost done, but the daylight was rapidly leaving:

By 5:30, I finished the last of it and declared victory!

Of course, during this time, I had to take a few pauses to take Advil, drink liquid, and rest for a few minutes. The occasional neighbor would stop and talk to me as well.