Well I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Mine was pretty quiet but that was a good thing. I got a gift certificate to Barnes & Nobles (Thank you to you know who). And that has already been put to excellent use at their 50% off after Christmas sale. This is my written haul:









and, not covered by the GC, a DVD by the director of Head On!

All the best to everyone as we knock the door down to 2009!

I like Out Of Our Depths new album cover art and the play on words incorporated into it.

Sad but true as opposed to Facepalm.

I'm giving a second listen to Talpa's second album "When The Somberness Becomes A Game". Talpa is the psy project of a classical trained musician who happens to be a Serbian soldier and it is some of the most experimental and unique music I've heard in a long time (since his first album actually or maybe the first Eskimo album). The track "No Choice" is fantastic, with some sick sick sounds. 'Good City' and 'I Feel Nothing' and "Still Dreaming" are also excellent. The album is a joy to listen to from the point that it is a sonic adventure, encompassing a huge variety of influences and soundscapes, and as much fun as it is to listen to, I have a real hard time imagining how it would work into a set. But it IS a REALLY fun listen while I'm online.


Also gave another listen to Dino Psaras' "Where Words Fail Music Speaks". First, I love that title. For me, music has such a deep component of conveying emotions that I often find hard to put into words. I've always loved music and when I first started listening to psy, I knew I had discovered the music that resonated with my soul, moreso than any other style of music. It still does fifteen years and counting. It is hard for me to imagine what my life would be like without music - I probably would not still be alive today in all seriousness. Back to WWFMS, this is the grinding, pulsing trance with detailed sound design I would expect from him. There are guest appearances from Wrecked Machines, Deedrah, Dimitri Nakov, Michelle Adamson, and Space Cat. The track "Firewall" is so awesomely good I can get past the Michelle Adamson vocals (I think she is getting over exposed in the psy scene) . "Questions" is another great track, as are both versions of the title track.

The disenchantment is already starting and it is exactly what I expected, but hoped would not happen. Obama was labeled a communist by some on the far right and now his fellow democrats are lamenting that he has not appointed 'a single true progressive' in his Cabinet. He will be crucified by both extremes, when what I have seen so far bodes well for those of us anchored in some degree of reality. Centrist or moderate positions are the most likely to garner the support necessary from both sides to at least begin making meaningful change. They may not be as flashy or exciting, but compromise rarely is. And the sooner we stop polarizing and realize that only by working together will we begin to improve the lot of all people, the better.

AN INTERROGATOR SPEAKS is a thoughtful opinion piece on the 'deeply flawed' interrogation techniques used in Iraq and why they do more harm than good. The author is cut from the 'moral fabric' we could use a lot more of in our military. Worth a read.

Signs of the Times....

I hope this is not where we are all headed. Or this actually. But with this coming soon, who knows.

Finding Forgiveness is a five part feature article from The Oregonian newspaper, focusing on a member of a news aggregater site I frequent. It was interesting to see the pieces come out over the past week and the responses on Fark. It is quite long, but the writing is very good and the story is compelling. I felt good after getting through it.

This weekend (Sunday 2PM @ the PUC Church Sanctuary) is the memorial for Trevor Murtagh.

And an early Christmas present arrived for me:
A little Acer AspireOne Netbook to go around the world with me. So far I'm having fun with it.

I had a real hard time not laughing out loud at this piece. The subheading alone caused me pain as I tried to contain my response. So I can put off refilling my prescription a little while longer. Yay to life!

Thanksgiving well wishes to everyone

All day long we have watched the fog bank ebb and flow, never quite engulfing our house on the ridge. Now that the sun is setting the fog will be victorious and take the ridge for the night. The banquet of food has been decimated by fourteen hungry people and we are looking at slides from the 80's and some are groggily lounging on the couches. Soon, I'll be heading to Roseville for the second round and to help Scott and Donica move into their newly purchased home. So as I sneak away for a few minutes here and contemplate how much I have been blessed in my life, I also have to pay close attention to what is happening out there in the rest of the world. Two of the places I will be spending almost 5 months over the next two years are in turmoil.

Anti government protestors hoping for the ouster of the current Prime Minister in Thailand.

India's Muslims in Crisis: The Attacks in Mumbai

Even if the world is hemorrhaging towards an apocalypse, I still have VERY much to be thankful for and God continues to give me peace.

Americans Fail a Basic Test of Their History and Institutions presents the findings of a large scale study on civic literacy. The results are atrocious, but not surprising from a society that is entertaining itself to death. "Widespread ignorance of our nation’s history and institutions is a worrisome sign for our nation’s future. As we shall see, today’s Americans share the conviction of the Founding Fathers that civic education is important—and they are right in this conviction. Respondents who score in the top third in civic literacy, the survey shows, are more likely than those who score poorly on the test to participate in the civic life of their communities and country." The gap between the results of our elected officials and the general public is hard for me to believe. It is scary actually. A brief quiz variation of the study questions is here to see if you can do any better. I really hope so, because the bar is set very low. I was somewhat disappointed that I got 81.82% but it gave me an opportunity to brush up and get the correct answers to the ones I missed. And that lets me learn for the next time. After reading "The Dumbest Generation" and seeing items like this, I can only think that reading is the greatest skill we can pass on to others. Instilling a love of reading opens the doors to lifelong learning, promotes and expands the vocabulary, gives you insights into history and culture that even in today's 'small/flat world' most people will have no other opportunity to experience. Plus it is just so much fun. Really it is (I can not imagine a life without books).

Today I spoke with my boss and we set a final work day for me. I will continue working until the end of February, take a couple weeks off and then head out to Guam to start my world trek. That gives me time to make sure my dad's estate is in proper order, probate is closed, and my mom is taken care of before I leave. Hopefully, if things go well, Gabe will join me in New Zealand, I'm guessing in June now, but that has gotten more nebulous since he is twitterpated and his back issues have yet to be adequately addressed. Right now I'm planning like I'm going on my own and we will see how the rest of it works out. The airlines will only sell tickets out to 12 months from the current date, so I'm only able to get the first third of the trip covered right now. I guess that would give me an out in the case Gabe does not come at all and at least as far as China before I would have to make a definite decision.