THURSDAY January 29th 2009 (Update)

Don't know whether I will have time to post in the next couple of days (lots to do before flying to NC). If anyone needs to get in contact with Jake Serwatka, please direct your correspondence to Nik Patantyus.

So I'm making these You Tube videos available for you to watch all in a row. They encompass an almost 2 hour forum with Ian MacKaye.

If you know me, you know that I have a lot of respect for this man, but you know, it's easy to respect someone who thinks the same way as you.

WEDNESDAY January 28th 2009 (Update)

We're getting ready to go to NC and hoping that we have someone to watch our little doggie (80 lbs--maybe not so little).

So, the Polaroid people are calling it quits, but these people are putting in 100,000,000 euros to get us some film (and they're trying to make it better than the OG stuff from Polaroid). Interesting to read:

WEDNESDAY January 28th 2009

John DiGenni has this new thing with the funny t-shirts and funny comments and funny business:

Buy a shirt--Johnny needs to eat tonight!

Because, seriously, who doesn't have Sea Isle City pride?

TUESDAY January 26th 2009 (Update)

Wow, what a rant below... I wrote that late last night after a long day of writing (re-writing) my paper on seawater N istopes in nitrate. So exciting!

Found this on the internets--looks really fun!

And I also saw that Barack gave his first TV interview to an Arab news channel (Al Arabiya). This guy knows what's going to save us from the crazy people out there (I hope he can also save us from the crazy people right here).

Yes, I ripped both of these postings from Andrew Sullivan's blog here.

TUESDAY January 26th 2009

You see, I've got these plans, you know?

I have ideas, I squirrel them away, but they don't go too far away (usually), and I expect that I will act upon these ideas (or they will act upon me) sometime in the future.

Over the past year, my painting has slowed and my hunger to write music again has grown. My plans are that when I move back to NJ for my post-doctoral jobbie job, I will have some more time (well, maybe, hopefully?) and I will have more room for my instruments and I will play them more often! When I have these instruments out in the open, I will force myself to learn a ton of cover songs. You see, it's so annoying when people know you can play guitar and they ask you, "HEY! YOU! PLAY A SONG FOR ME!" and I can not.

I'm a sucker for that question--I want to please them, I want to be their monkey, I want to make them dance, sing, do something. I pick up the guitar and... I... got... nothing. Well, not "nothing" because I will always remember the two songs that Zeus and I first learned to play. But no one wants to hear Bad Religion's "World War III" or the Minor Threat version of "Stepping Stone".

Ok, maybe someone wants to hear it, but I sure as HECK don't want to play either of those songs because I played them 100s of times with Zeus as we struggled to grasp that thing we did.

That first year when I was learning guitar (senior year of high school?) I made myself learn a new song every night, but they were all simple punk songs (example: The Descendents' "Suburban Home") and I never played them again--they were lost from my head.

Funny story, once I asked Seth Wood to teach me how to play Husker Du's "New Day Rising" (I often asked him to show me how to play songs, which reminds me that I can also play Fifteen's "Petroleum Distilation" thanks to him) and he just laughed at me... it is only one chord for the whole song. I wasn't paying too much attention on that car-ride to 78th street.

The reason for all of this reminiscing is that I just came across this album where this guy covers a whole bunch of Springsteen songs on his acoustical guitar. I was surprised that he ("they" actually) covered some of my favorites too (Bobby Jean being one song that I wanted to get in my quiver). You can download all the songs from the album here (don't know how this all works, but try it out).

MONDAY January 26th 2009

What I do when I say I'm working:

Wiggle matching.

FRIDAY January 23rd 2009

So much has happened this week, that I can't believe it's only the 23rd. I would have guessed that it was the 27th or something.

Lots of photos and yes, UCLA was a fun trip. Interesting people up there although not many people interested in my research per se. And driving 6.5 hours with no radio is no fun, but calling lots of people on my hands-free set made the drive back much more enjoyable. I can remember talking to Johnny, Libby, Dump, Charlene, my mom, Bob, (maybe some more that I can't remember), and I called a whole bunch more people who didn't pick up. Like the notoriously unreliable phone-picker-upper Chris White.

I CALL YOU OUT CHRIS WHITE!!!!!!!!!

What a week, what a freakin' WEEK!

Can you believe this stuff? Can't make it up.

We finally had some waves here in San Diego.

And there was the little thing happening in Washington D.C. YES WE CAN!

The Prez knows how to throw a Shaka (EAT IT DIGENNI!)

And

And in lesser, but nevertheless exciting news, the two TV shows that I like to (really like to) watch finally came back with new episodes. Lost and BSG.

MONDAY January 19th, 2009 (update)

As the hours that the Worst.President.Ever. has left in the White House dwindle away, I am busy getting tubed, preparing a talk, and perusing Craigslist (always). I found this brilliant piece of salesmanship there:

Some of my favorites: "sprinkling of magic mixed with Panda Souls" and that one of the search terms includes "Tom Selleck like mustaches" and "felony battery charges for wave abuse"... actually there's a lot to love in this ad... click on the image to make it bigger and click here to see the ad.

MONDAY January 19th, 2009

That swell from the last posting eventually came in and some fun waves were had by most (if not all) and I found a new place to hide away from the crowds and still get super fun waves.

Here's a fun political site to keep you up to date on the Obama administration's (feels so good to write that) nominees:

It's pretty great and it's updated with regards to each nominee's status.

Here's some fun photos from New Year's Eve:

Rock 'N Roll Wildness on NYE

Night Marchers with John Reis' stand-up thing going on

The next morning we started packing the car and Jake decided that he was not going to be left out of this trip... not even half way packed and the dog is comfortable.

Somewhere near the Compton exit on the I-5, Jake starts getting crazy in the back of the car... we come up on this strange island between the 5 and the exit and that's where we pull over to let Jake do his business.

We get to Scott and Allison's and it is cold outside, so they put together a wedding present (from Scotty P.) to keep warm. Jake and I kept the firewood stacked high.

Brooke and Jake dancing.

The soon-to-be wedded people at breakfast. Scott is showing off his really cool 2 dollar bill.

FRIDAY January 16th, 2009

So, there's a bit of hype out here on the west coast about some new swell on the way... the local news is talking about it and I saw some guys working out on the beach yesterday in preparation for this swell. Crazy what happens out here.

Here's what the scientists have to say:

See how small it is in the "Data" part of the graph? Here's what it actually is:

Tiny. The smallest I've ever seen in January out here. It looks like it's going to get crazy in the next couple of days...

WEDNESDAY January 14th, 2009

A week from tomorrow, I will be giving a talk at UCLA. Two weeks from tomorrow I will be in North Carolina to celebrate my friend Jaime marrying the lovely Carrol. Later in February it's off to Tahoe for Scott's bachelor party. Busy.

And now, an extended metaphor:

You and two of your long-time friends are riding surfboards during one of the best days of the year. The waves are much bigger than average, much more powerful, and you're feeling out of your league. Intimidated.

You're freakin' scared.

But you've been riding these surfboards for years, you've ridden scary waves before, and there are people of lesser-skill riding these waves just fine--you want to ride these waves, but you're not sure you can. You warm up by taking some of the smaller waves and you proceed to dodge the bigger waves.

That's when it happens--the best wave of the day rolls in and it is headed right towards you. You're ready, you're prepared, you've warmed up, and now is your chance to take the next step... and you hesitate. If you don't start paddling really quick, you're going to blow this (maybe your only) chance. A lot of thoughts are running through your head--I might break my board, I might get hurt, it might close out...

So, what do your friends do? Do your friends let you sit there while this good wave rolls right by?

No.

They start screaming their heads off telling you to, "GO GO GO GO! YEAH YEAH GET THAT GET THAT LOOK AT THAT ONE IT'S THE BEST WAVE OF THE YEAR WHAT ARE YOU DOING START PADDLING!"

And that hesitation you felt begins to ebb, that fear begins to fall away, and you turn and start to paddle.

In conditions that are less threatening, your friends might tell you to paddle for a wave you cannot make, just so they could see you get destroyed. Hey, it's fun for everyone. But these are serious conditions and your friends are pushing you because they know your skills, they know your history, they know what you can handle, and they know that you need to take this chance or you'll regret it afterward.

That's what friends are for. Don't get mad at them for doing their job.

This has nothing to do with the aforementioned metaphor, but it's cool.

TUESDAY January 13th, 2009

Dog shedding. My world:

SUNDAY January 11th, 2009

I guess some people back in the Philly area are happy today? Something about the footballs? Very excite!

You ever get those emails that say stuff like, "You know you're from South Jersey when a fun night out consists of hanging out at the WaWa imitating Flo everytime she says, 'thank yoo-ooh!' ".

Well, you know you're from the Philly area and are about 30 years old when you know what this TV show is (i.e. this show "Star Stuff" was produced and only aired in the Philly area from the early to mid 1980s). My Saturday mornings at this time period consisted of waking up super early (6am or earlier), making myself breakfast (cereal of course), and sitting down to watch all the morning cartoons. This show led off the day with super-realistic special effects produced in the local CBS studio:

I'm re-posting the video from Brooke and my wedding because Brian Herron says he never saw it:

FRIDAY January 9th, 2009 (cont.)

This site is amazing--they collect angry notes and post them. Example:

And this 17 year old kid (really?) from Georgia is an amazing photographer:

FRIDAY January 9th, 2009

This band is so good, it hurts. You people back in PA/NJ should take care to go see these two guys get crazy:

1994! That drummer is drop-dead crazy. I'm in love with this band and when I say, "love," I mean L.U.V. love.

I haven't been posting because I wanted to post photos in chronological order... but I'll just have to dig into the archives and see what we have... oh, ok. I have some other stuff to tide you over:

It's turns like these that remind me why Brian Herron is Scott Soens' favorite surfer (from Avalon) to watch.

Kristopher "Zeus" Zuccato, P "Underdressed--as usual" Rafter, and PJ "I used to be Republican, but now that I'm poor, I'm a Democrat" Logan.

TUESDAY January 6th, 2009

Oh hey yeah so good so great let's go somewhere neat let's get somewhere fast let's get.

A bunch of new photos, but I'm not ready yet--should be doing science in the 2009 'cause I'm supposed to graduate or somethin'... thought the artistically-inclined-and-supportive would like to see this guy's paintings--blew me away. He keeps getting better:

Happy New Year--that last one was just plain terrible.