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Current | Archives
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Saturday, September 13, 2003
San Jose Day
Four years today I arrived in San Jose. Here is a look at numbers
1 year in my current apartment
3 years leaving in downtown San Jose
4 years working for TiVo
5 years on the West Coast
This means something, but I am not sure. I only lasted one year in Portland, which I really liked and I have stayed in San Jose four years. I have never loved this area all that much. It makes me wonder what I want out of live
- Rich,
2:16 PM
Friday, September 12, 2003
Random Bloggs
Swimming for Dummies
I love the tagline for this blog, aesthetics of swimming & the cult of sadness
- Rich,
12:38 PM
Decline in CD Sales
I expect the headline " Decline in CD sales apparently unrelated to proliferation of lousy music" To be in the Onion, not the Mercury News.
- Rich,
12:34 PM
Ring of Fire
It is time to tip our had to The man in black. The world will never know another one like you.
- Rich,
12:10 PM
My Kitchen/Office
Just in case you were wondering, Here is the place where I do most my blogging.
- Rich,
11:41 AM
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Death of Friendster
The reason Friendster is redhot, is because it is free. I know none of my current friends will us it when you have to pay for friendster.
- Rich,
2:05 PM
More trash to throw away
I cannot figure out if Disposable DVDs are a good idea or not. My instinct tells me they are not. The worst thing is that it might drive regular DVD prices up.
- Rich,
1:59 PM
Musicans
Out of all the RIAA articles I read today, this one points out that not all artists agree with the RIAA.
My note to Steve Miller is make some new music that people are interested in. I could care less if your royalties are down. Many it is because everyone who wants your greatest hits album already has it.
- Rich,
1:44 PM
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Used Music
There is some question if people can resell the music they buy from iTunes. Apple says Reselling iTunes songs 'impractical'. In the article Peter Lowe says "Economically, I don't believe there is going to be much of a market for resold music...We just don't see it as that much of an issue."
What is this guy thinking? People sell CDs because they want money, not because they are cluttering up their house. I can easily see people selling iTunes 2 for a dollar. The question is will they have their full use? I think Apple needs to take account of this.
- Rich,
2:15 PM
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Me?!?!
I just described myself this way:
Half way between the Luckiest man alive and I have no idea what my life is about
Does anyone else feel this way?
- Rich,
8:02 PM
Favorite Toys
I was asked what toys were my favorites. I always liked the Fisher Price Little People. Of those my favorite was the Sesame Street Set. I really liked using Burt and Ernie's head to make shapes in clay. You could never get the clay out of the hair again.
- Rich,
5:12 PM
Creation
I keep on thinking to myself that I never create anything.
In the past 24 hours I have written 5 blog entries and 12 e-mails, but I am not sure that is creation. I am not sure how much of my creativity I am using?
- Rich,
4:24 PM
Work
I have been working on this project. I can't wait to hear what people in the world think of it.
- Rich,
4:21 PM
Second thoughts on R.E.M.
In Songbook Nick Horsby writes, " One can only presume that the people who say that there favorite record of all time reminds them of their honeymoon in Corsica, or of their family chihuahua, don't actually like music very much."
I thought about this while I watched R.E.M. I have been listing to R.E.M. since high school. They have been one of my favorite bands. I could mark my life by the albums they released. I know that I could attached these songs to thes moments of my life.
When I watched the show I realized that this. I was not thinking about those moments of my life. I was just thinking about the music. That is a good feeling. I have tried hard to not use music to mark my life. For the most part it worked. I think that Hornby is right about how people who love music think about music.
- Rich,
4:09 PM
DYK
I never knew that synonymicon is a synonym for Thesaurus
- Rich,
11:30 AM
Monday, September 08, 2003
Where is the outrage?
I can believe that Gray Davis said, "You shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state". I can also believe that groups would be falling over themselves to be outraged if he was a republican. I think that a lot more people should be upset about this.
- Rich,
11:35 PM
E-mail to Sad Salvation
I love when I get e-mail from people who read Sad Salvation. I like it even more then when they are people I have never met before. I am not sure what I should make of this letter. All I can say is that I am not sure I will find what I am searching for.
Dear Rich,
I am 23 years old and in the Navy. Like you, I'm a guy looking for answers, but it seems to me the answer that everyone seeks (ultimately) is to not be alone. Take religion. Why do we look for a higher power? Because WE think we want to know WHY. But you've seen Pinochio. When Pinochio first becomes animated and asks Japeto "Why this..." and "Why that...." Finally Japeto says, "Because." followed by, "Oh." But not only do we think we want to know WHY (ANSWER), we want that WHY to be TRUTH. You could ask me, "Why is the sky blue?" And I could tell you any number of answers.... but you're looking for the TRUE one. In life, we are all grasping for the singular gossamar thread of truth... and we are falling, and we slow or descent by grasping at whatever we may, all the while searching as we fall, day by day by day by day. One such thread to me is the concept of "winning and losing." Being how we cannot answer the mother of all questions, simple and yet profound, "Why?" We turn to competition, in sports, in the game of life. The dollar becomes our God, and those who can attain more the higher we "mere mortals" look to them.... until we esteem them with godlike status.... I noticed your web site about Bill Gates. And yet what does Bill Gates, the richest man in the world search for? I'll go on a limb and say he still wants something that for all his money, he still has not attained. We might look at Bill Gates as a "winner" and a homeless person off the streets as a "loser." But what if the homeless person is content (call me crazy)? By yours and my standard, the homeless guy is a "loser" in the game of life, but to the homeless person? To God? Maybe the homeless person has found God... and that is his answer. Bill Gates could very well still be searching for his. Here we are in a world of six billion plus people... and yet we feel alone. Even with things like TV and the internet bringing us closer together, we still feel alone. Some people then, turn to God. And when one believes, as we all have or have at least wanted to believe at some point in our lives, is a feeling of security... that when all of this, this life is over, it will not be in vain. You write, "I believe in the existence of God, but I have not proof. To me this is the wonerful thing about God. There is nothing that can be proved. If it could be proved the world would be a much different place. Even if there was proof out there, there would still be people that would not believe. I feel that I see God in things, like DNA, but that is still not proof." I believe in God too. I have no proof. And when it comes down to it, it is a leap of faith. I believe that in order to understand an infinite being such as God, one would have to be infinite. Doesn't it stand to reason that only someone infinite could understand something infinite? So I try not to ask "Why." even though my heart aches to ask. There is a reason why Jesus, for all his authority, for all the miracles (that I can't prove he did, I'm going faith here.) wasn't God Himself. Jesus was mortal, and though he represented God, only existence and non existence itself, taken into One idea can adequately express God. I suppose if Jesus were to come to us today and say he was God, people would ask him to prove it. Whether he turns water to wine, make the blind see, bring down a swarm of locusts, people would ultimately bulk at crediting him with Divinity. An alien. A mutant. Any number of reasons to explain the phenomenon, all except that he is God. We expect God to be more... as he is... he is EVERYTHING. The proof should be that you exist. Only you can verify that YOU exist. I could be a figment of your imagination for all you know, and so YOU must ask YOURSELF and look to no one else, except as a mirror, for what lies in you. There can be only one infinite being.... infinity is a circle, is whole. So is God. So even as you reflect on these words and take them for your own meaning... I tend to think that God needs the same thing we do. To not feel alone. What is a leader without any followers? Followers without their leader? The answer is alone. I think we give one another purpose... the ultimate symbiote relationship. I don't know if this makes sense.... I guess I write it more for me, and I know I feel better for having written it... as I hope you feel better when you write on your site. But I hope most of all, that you find your answers you're looking for. Good searching.
V/R,
FC2 Tercero
- Rich,
11:27 PM
Skittlebrau?
I am waiting for the TV version of the The Crazy Engineer Network.
- Rich,
2:13 PM
- Rich,
2:13 PM
Sunday, September 07, 2003
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Yesterday I went to see R.E.M. and Wilco at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. It is the first concert I have seen there. The sound is really good. The sight lines are okay but I had a hard time seeing the stage. I was toward the end of the seated area.
I was really happy to see Wilco open for R.E.M. This was a great combo of a show. I really wanted to see both bands. I felt happy that I am in one of the tour stops where this was the line up.
Wilco did a very good opening show. They put together a very straight ahead set. The first four songs covered their first four albums. They played a decent amount from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It was cool to see them play some of these songs live. The songs were not too much different from the album, just enough to make them interesting.
I talked with Cool Eric about the difference between an opening act and a headliner. An opening act just need to do a solid show. The opening act does not have to put any kind of theme to their show the way a headliner should. You have different objectives.
The R.E.M. show was cool, but it lacked something. Here you can find the set list for the Shoreline show. They started the show well. The rocked out a little at the beginning. They had real energy when the played.
At the show continued, R.E.M. did not do anything to make the show special. The live versions of there shows were not that interesting. They had a couple of really cool songs, but there was nothing that tied the songs together. It seemed like Peter Buck was only playing during the parts where he had strong guitar parts. It was like he played no rhythm at all.
It is not like there was anything wrong with the show, there was just not enough right about it. R.E.M. is a band that should be able to blow my socks off. I am just a little upset that they did not. I do not go to that many shows. I want the shows to be really good when I buck up for them.
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