Welcome to Sad Salvation. Day by day by day by day ... this is my attempt to make sense of the world.

Current | Archives

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Worth My Money

Since seeing the Decemberists I have been thinking about what which concerts I would go to. A lot of times I am not willing to spend my money to see a band. I like concerts, but if you go to too many they are not special. They are usually expensive and it has something to do with what is worth my money.

Bands That I would pay to see who I have not seen yet:

Ben Folds
Death Cab For Cutie
Postal Service
Modest Mouse
New Pornographers
The Hold Steady
M. Ward
Devendra Banhardt
Mike Doughty
Any Calvin Johnson Band

Bands that I would pay to see again:

Wilco
Decemberist
R.E.M.
Diane Cluck
CocoRosie
Bruce Springsteen

Dream Reunions:

Replacements
Neutral Milk Hotel
The Smiths

- Rich, 9:00 PM

Friday, September 16, 2005

Flickr

Old Town Prague
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

Flickr is becoming my visual blog. I do not what to say it is a photo blog, but it feels like something different. I am not taking pictures and writing about the pictures. Most of the photo blogs are people posting one really good picture and writing about the experience of that photo.

I am taking 40-60 pictures at a time. I find 5-15 that are worth posting to Flickr. I am posting five or six pictures at a time. Most of these pictures are not particularly good. Most of the pictures are of mid-level events in my life. I do not take pictures of the really important things, the really boring things, or work.

Through these pictures you can learn some of the stories of my life. You can get an idea of who I am and how I live. I think that is what my blog has always been about. I think you can learn things about me that I did not mean to tell you by looking at my Flickr account.

I know I have written many of these things before. I am now seeing how my Flickr account is starting to change Sad Salvation. I have been spending a lot of time on Flick lately. I am finding out that I am not writing about lots of the events that I am posting on Flickr. I am letting that stand as my record. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

- Rich, 6:23 PM

Dusting off the emergency Plan

Everything that happened to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast reminds me that I do not have a real disaster plan. I am not ready for a big earthquake hitting Northern Califorina. I do not have supplies and I do not have a plan. I really need to do something about this. I am usually bad at this kind of planning. I need to look into what I need to do and set up some plans.

I wonder how many of my other friends have no emergency plan either.

- Rich, 7:09 AM

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Six Years In San Jose

As of September 12, I have lived in San Jose for six years. As of September 15, I have worked at TiVo for six years. I have the familiar feeling of looking back on time. Those six years feel like much more and much less time all at once. I guess everyone feels this way. It is still something of a shock to me.

The moment clearest in my head of getting hired at TiVo is the moment I decided to move to San Jose and take the job. I was living in Portland at the time and I flew down to San Jose on my own dime to interview at TiVo. I flew to TiVo and back on the same day. The interview just left my head spinning. I could see how TiVo could take over the world.

I was offered the job at the end of my interview. I would be a contractor so I would have to pay for my own move. Moving from Portland to San Jose seemed like such a big jump. I loved Portland, but I had a hard time getting a job I liked. I felt like I was going to be a temp forever. I had a feeling in 1999 there was something important happening in the tech sector, but very little of it was happening in Portland. While I loved the city, I could not see a way for me to get ahead.

I cannot remember what I did that Saturday. On Sunday I went back to work doing tech support for an ISP. I sat down at my desk and looked at my computer. The second I looked at my computer I knew that I had to take the job at TiVo. The job doing ISP support was not bad, but it seemed like it was going to take forever to get anyway. I knew that I would be kicking myself forever if TiVo turned out to be something great and I did not take the job. By moving to Portland I learned that it is better to regret what you do and not what you do not do.

I do not regret moving to San Jose and working for TiVo. I am surprised that I have been working at TiVo so long. Some time in the next year I will have worked at TiVo longer then all the rest of the jobs of my adult life. (adult meaning post-college) TiVo has not taken over the world yet. I know there is a chance that TiVo will never take over the world. I still think my life is much better for have come to work at TiVo.

When I left Pennsylvania my first goal was to last a year. If I could go a year without having to move back to my parents I would be happy. I lasted a lot longer than a year. Currently I have no plans to leave California. It would take a really big change to move me right now.

- Rich, 6:33 AM

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Some kind of fame

File this under famous for 15 people. Okay it might not actually be famous just someone linking to my weblog. I just want to remind everyone that Sad Salvation has the best Monday Night Football/John Madden drinking game on the internet. When I say the best, I mean the only one I can find in Google.

- Rich, 8:12 AM

CocoRosie and Diane Cluck

I am happy to see that CocoRosie is the Salon.com Audiofile download of the day. I am even happier that Diane Cluck is featured on this track. Maybe this means I will get to see Diane on tour sometime soon. At least I would love to have a new album from her. I have already played the bits of the Diane Cluck CDs I already have.

- Rich, 12:02 AM

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Rock and Roll Good News

I found out today that Wilco is coming out with a live album, Kicking Television. I am pumped up for this album. I have heard so many Wilco bootlegs. I am happy they are finally coming out wiht a live album. I will be buying this as soon as it comes out.

- Rich, 1:21 PM

Monday, September 12, 2005

Her Majesty the Decemberists

Her Majesty the Decemberists
Originally uploaded by ldandersen.

On Sunday night I went to see the Decemberists at the Fillmore. It was a great show. I do not go to concerts very often. I am very picky when it comes to my time and my money. I saw a lot of free concerts in college and I never recovered from that. It makes it very hard for me to spend my money for a concert. On top of all of that, the Decemberist are really worth the money.

This is the second time I have seen them play live. I am still surpised how well they play live. They band really brings it live. They have great energy and power on stage. They are a great perfroming band. It is something different then what they record. I think that is why it is special.

The concert was extra special because it was the first concert I attended with Dreamgirl. She was totally geeking out at the show. The Decemberists are one of her favorite bands. It was great to be able to see the show with her. There are some Decemberists songs that we have been listening to a lot. Hearing those songs in concert made it extra special.

I want to say that I am 0 for 2 on hearing my song favorite Decemberist song live, California One Youth And Beauty Brigade. I know that this is not the favorite song of many Decemberist fans. I still want to hear this live.

Here is the Set List from the show
Sunday September 11, 2005 San Francisco, The Fillmore

Shanty For The Arethusa,
Sixteen Military Wives,
Billy Liar,
The Sporting Life,
Shiny,
Angel Won't You Call Me?,
The Gymnast High Above The Ground,
The Engine Driver,
Eli the Barrow Boy,
Red Right Ankle,
Grace Cathedral Hill,
Odalisque,
Song for Myla Goldberg,
The Bachelor and the Bride,
We Both Go Down Together,
The Legionnaire's Lament,
A Cautionary Song
Encore: The Chimbley Sweep

- Rich, 11:57 PM

Fly Eagles Fly

The Eagles have their season opener tonight. It is time to get ready for football. I am excited. It is always fun to watch football. I really think this might be the Eagles year. I think the conflict between TO and the rest of the team might be good. I do not believe that a team needs good chemstry, they just need some level of chemstry.

Check out Alien Laine and he latest version of the Eagles Flight Song, Fly Eagles Fly. It will give any Eagles fans goosebumps. Bring on the cheesesteaks, it is time for football.

- Rich, 4:46 PM

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Gas Is So Expensive....

Right now gas is so expensive in California that people are driving the speed limit. I never thought I would see that in the Bay Area.

How expensive does game have to be before people change their driving patterns? How about the cars people are buying?

- Rich, 3:49 PM

Current | Archives

Contact me