contrary to reports, i did not go to Petoskey and decide to settle down there for good and abandoning my blog. besides, they did have internet access there, so that wouldn’t explain the 19 months of non-activity.

nor was i taken in by a family of yetis. yeti families love youtube and have a remarkably high adoption rate of broadband access. it’s true, look it up on wikipedia (translation: “i loved your vlog entry about britney’s downward spiral!”).

i have, however, been pretty busy. here are some of the things i’ve been up to since my last post:

- went to Petoskey
- went back to Petoskey
- went back to Petoskey (loved it that much)
- went to a bunch of other places, including Portland (twice), Miami (twice), Boston, Houston, San Francisco, Lima (Ohio, not Peru), London (England, not Ohio), Chicago, Norfolk (VA), Minot (ND), Tampa, Omaha, St. Louis, Ann Arbor (twice!?), Hawaii, Los Angeles (twice?), Des Moines, Rapid City (IA), and home.
- coincidentally, home is now different as well. i bought a house!
- got roughly 19 haircuts all at the same time.

ok, so it’s a lame excuse — “i was like, so busy, man. i didn’t even have time to update my blog or watch mythbusters.”

no, the most likely reason is that i’ve been too lazy to update my blog. and as much as i’d love to say that i’m going to turn a new leaf and post every day, that probably won’t happen. but hopefully i’ll be posting more frequently than every 19 months….

Petoskey for two weeks. Anyone need anything?

i made all the necessary preparations:

- sandy bought me an automatic fish feeder, which i tested thoroughly before leaving for break. it fed my fish twice a day, rather flawlessly. that’s more than i can say about my manual feedings.
- i bought a timer from radioshack to make sure that the powerhead and hood lights would turn on at 8 AM, and off at 6 PM.
- i did a water change and filled the tank to nearly full.

i came back from christmas/new year’s on monday, jan 2, and the tank looked just dandy. the fish was a little shy, but doing fine (and sandy claims he grew), water levels were a little low, but i had plenty of water that i could add.

on the 3rd, i mixed the salt and water, and added it to the tank. i ate dinner, did some work, and then left for bowling.

i came back from bowling, and half of the water from my tank was seeping into the carpet. the fish was freaking out, the snail was holding on for dear life. the crab was just hanging out as usual, though.

somehow, a foot-long crack had developed on the bottom of the tank. luckily, i had a 10 gallon tank sitting around, so i scooped up as much water as i could, and put the critters in it. kev and i carried the tank outside (which was no mean feat, mind you — a cracked 30 gallon tank filled with 30lbs of sand and 15 gallons of water on a rickety stand is not for the young professional on-the-go), dumped the water, sand, and pitched the tank.

luckily, my team lead mark, who gave me the fish tank in the first place, was willing to take all the inhabitants. i managed to miss the snail in the murky water, though, and now i fear he’s taking a long, long nap.

so ends my escapade with saltwater fish. i’m considering cycling the 10 gallon and getting my royal gramma back, but he may be better off in mark’s 75 gal.

having to move a large tank was the reason i hesitated setting this one up — if i had to move out of this apartment, it would be an enormous pain. and while i suspected moving the tank would be a hassle, i didn’t think it would be under these circumstances.

IMG_2248
Originally uploaded by disposableparts.

check out my fish tank, circa a week ago. in the meantime, i’ve lost another snail or two…sadness.

fishies!

it’s finally here…and here.

make sure you read the testimonials (reviews).

i still can’t get over this:

lightningdrink.com

why am i not slamming a six-pack as i write this? why am i not mailing in for his free dvd? why am i not jamming out to his euro pop-chart smashing album? is this the reason why i’m not a neck-snappin’, hand choppin’, wrist breakin’, ponytail sportin’ international superstar?

all signs point to ‘yes’.

tuesday night i did not go bowling. ordinarily, this would be a cause for concern and perhaps a couple of tears, but not this time. tuesday night, i went to the starlight theater to see the white stripes…and holy shit they were amazing.

i always knew jack white was a great guitarist, but he completely wowed me tuesday night. he played ‘death letter’ on an acoustic electric guitar, and completely ripped the crap out of it. i’m not ashamed to say that i just about soiled myself, he was so good. you could definitely tell that the white stripes don’t need much work in the studio; they’re one of those bands that doesn’t fool around with pitch control or funky synth crap. i bet their producer loves them. he probably sits in the studio, patiently waiting for them to finish, while smoking a cigarette. after they finish their song, he grinds out his butt. “print it! now let’s get out of here, i’m famished.”

admittedlly, jack white doesn’t have the most pleasing voice, but who cares? he does what he does extremely well…so if his high, scratchy voice has turned you off of the white stripes, give them another listen. they’re worth it.

meg white impressed me, as well. i never thought she was a great drummer (she gets the job done, nothing fancy), and i still don’t think she’s great. she is, however, the most entertaining drummer that i’ve seen. watching a 5′ petite woman bounce up and down, and beat the crap out of the drums was worth my ticket money. the amount of sound that she produces is astounding, and she makes it look like fun. one moment, she’s got one hand on her hip, while keeping the beat on with her other and the bass drum. the next minute, she’s going completely nuts. freaking awesome.

if the white stripes are coming around your neck of the woods, go check ‘em out. their new album’s ok, but definitely give ‘white elephant’ and ‘white blood cells’ a listen. that’s rock. eat it, scott stapp.

…do as the missourians do.

last week, i went to the demolition derby at the platte county fair. it was pretty much everything that i expected and more. i’d say there were maybe 800 people there, and other than me, tey, and sandy, i didn’t see another non-white person there. the guy directly in front of us was wearing a confederate flag baseball cap, and his beaten up nokia 6100 had a confederate flag cover on it. classy.

the demolition derby was pretty much what you’d expect it to be — beaten up cars smashing into one another, in a mechanical gladitorial battle to be one of the last three still standing (running). the second-to-last heat had a car flip over on its side, which was pretty amusing. i’m pretty sure i inhaled enough exhuast to make my lungs the equivalent of a 70-year-old chain smoker’s. i hear iron lungs are in this season.

i brought my camera, but then later realized that it’s totally useless without the memory card. whoops.

what a bummer — cnn pulled the video off their site after just under a week. did anyone happen to capture it? a double-chocolate chip cookie for whomever can hook me up.

anyway, here are the pictures that i mentioned.