Old News
Nov 26, 2003 10:42 PM - I own a Ford car. Some people know this. It's an old-ass 1985 LTD. I've had it since late Spring 1999. It had about 47,000 miles on it when I got it, and it's at around 120,000 now. OK, so it's got its problems, like the power windows in the back are broken and don't quite close, so I get a nice draft in the car. And the heat doesn't quite work right. OK, and I blew the speakers. Anyway, it still runs rather reliably. My car has been in the shop once this year, when the exhaust system fell off. It cost about $250 to fix and took a day. I have a friend with a 1997 Volkswagen who has had his car in the shop three times in the last year, for around $600 each time. The last time was when his driver side door lock broke. He had to have the car towed and then it sat in the shop for four days while the mechanic waited for the parts. Why did it have to sit in the shop waiting for door lock parts, you ask? Because the genius who designed the alarm system decided that you can only disable the alarm from the driver's side door lock (or the trunk, but that one was already broken). Once he finally got the car back, he had to take it in again (three times) to get the transmission fluid checked and topped off, because it's a sealed system which you have to put up on a lift just to check. Oh, and he had to call the dealer where bought the thing 70 miles away because the mechanic disconnected the battery, which reset the radio. Unfortunately, the previous owner took the card that had the reactivation code he needed.
I have another friend with a late model Stratus. She has also had her car in the shop about three times in a year or so, with each trip costing several hundred dollars. I'm not even sure they ever really figured out what was wrong with the thing. It's got a screwed-up computer or something.
So anyway, yes, my car is a piece of crap, but it lives in my driveway, not at the mechanic's. Also, I know people like to down on Fords, but here is a list of things I've never had to do to any of the Fords I've owned, that I have had to do to other cars:
- Take the alternator off the engine to change the spark plugs.
- Climb under the car and remove the exhaust pipe from the manifold to change a stuck starter solenoid.
- Unbolt the cooling system reservior to change a headlight.
That said, I did get hit by the faulty ignition module thing, as have many many Ford owners. But I've never injured myself changing the headlights (ask me sometime why it is I don't like Chryslers...)
Jan 5, 2003 12:06 AM -
I'm back from my week-long trip to New York City, and once again faced with all of the normal problems of life in Syracuse: laundry, loads of cleaning, annoying neighbors, work, an empty refrigerator. In other words, the usual. There will be more about the trip later. Particularly record, show and restaurant reviews.
First, I would like to say something about the annoying neighbors. We've (we being my brother and I) been living in our apartment for about 17 months. We never had any real problems with the neighbors until recently. A couple of months ago, some new people moved in downstairs. Our apartment is above the laundry room and their apartment is next to that. First, they left a note on the laundry room door: "Please don't slam the door." Fine, easy enough. Then they left a note on our apartment door: "Please turn down the stereo in the back bedroom after 10." So I put the speakers up on crates to keep the bass from bleeding into the floor. And I tried to not crank it up too loud late at night. Someone ripped down the sign on the laundry room door. Another went up. That got ripped down. Another went up.
A few weeks ago, she came banging on my door at about 9:15PM. I didn't answer, but when my brother came home he found a note on the door bitching about the stereo. Fuck them. It wasn't even 10 yet. I came home to find a note up in the laundry room: "Please don't do wash from 10pm to 7am. This is an office rule check with Lori." What the fuck? This is from the same woman who monopolized the washer one night doing like six loads while three other people in the building waited to do their loads. People who have jobs. Unlike her.
When my brother got home, he told about how, a day or two after I left, she turned everyone's power off except hers. One of the guys upstairs went downstairs and checked the breakers and all were off except one. My brother's girlfriend was almost late to work because of it. And probably some other people in the building as well. A bunch of people complained at the office and the woman across the hall from her has started a petition to get the woman thrown out of the building.
The time for sitting down has ended. It is time to stand up. To stand up and hang signs. The vicious sign campaign has begun! Let the signing commence!
Second, I had the extreme pleasure of driving home in the massive snowstorm we had here in the Northeast last night. I was almost hit by two different semis. The first one was in the left lane while I was in the right. I was going a little bit faster then he was when he decided he wanted to be in my lane. I gunned it and drifted over into the shoulder, barely managing to get past him before he ran me off the road whereupon he proceeded to honk his big truck horn at me. Nice. He almost runs me off the road and then has the bad taste to honk at me. This was in Pennsylvania on I-380. Later, outside Cortland, another one came flying up behind me. I was, at that point, driving wherever there were ruts in the snow and I probably wasn't entirely in my lane. The truck came flying up behind me in the right lane. I had to speed up to keep him from rear-ending me and consequently almost lost control of my car. He continued to bear down on me, flashing his lights. I struggled to keep my car from sliding and he finally slowed down enough to allow me straighten out and pull over so he could pass.
Speaking of frightening driving situations, who thought it would be a good idea to allow the maniacs who drive cabs in New York City drive SUVs?
NP- Medeski, Martin and Wood - The Dropper
January 28, 2002 - Moved again. Quite a while ago, actually. This page is now available at http://home.twcny.rr.com/nineninjas/. Of course you knew that if you're here.
May 21, 2001 More new stuff is up. For one thing, there are three new pieces in the Writings section. And by new, I mean that they have never appeared on this website before. Also take a look at the new, improved Tape List, sporting a new design that I'm working on for the nineninjas website, which will appear when it's good and ready.
April 19, 2001 The page is up again, in another new location. An actual domain is forthcoming. No promises as to when, though. Anyway, I'm in the middle of a massive reworking of this space. I hope to finally have all the sections in the music area finished, and maybe some more writings up, if I can find anything worth reading, that is. The tape list is actually current for once, but it still could look a little better. I'll get on reformatting it soon. And maybe I'll update my want list while I'm at it.
Apart from that, there will also soon be the Slice of Hell message board, and I don't know what else. I'm thinking...
I'm thinking I really need to find somewhere else to put this page, because it takes eons (really) to upload pages to Homestead because they want you to use their site builder. But I don't like site builders, because the pages they produce look crappy. Since I'm the kind of geek that not only doesn't use IE, I also don't always use Windows, I'd like people using all different browsers and operating systems to be able to look at this. Why they'd want to, I don't know, but I want to make sure they can. :)
Feb 13, 2001 I'm still reworking this thing. I pulled down the Indecision pages off of the Fink Squad site. I should probably rework the FS site completely as the band is broke up and all. But then, I don't really want to spend the time doing it because the band is broke up and all. Anyway, the last CD will be out at some point soon, I hope. I have to go back into the archives to get a few things, but I haven't had the time.
Not much else to report. The MP3s might be coming off of the discography soon. And I finally changed the Quote of the "Month."
Dec 29, 2000 It's back. Like you really care. Anyway, this site is back on the internet, now at http://nineninjas.dyn.dns.org. But you probably knew that, didn't you.
Anyway, on the news side, this page hasn't been updated since I last took it down, but I'll get on it soon. The Fink Squad is still broken up, and will continue to be. I'll probably change the page to a kind of historical thing for anyone who may care and leave it up for a bit. I'm working on new stuff, but nothing concrete as of yet. I'm still looking for a proper job. If you would like to give me one, you can email me, although you may want to look at my resume first..."
Oh, and my etree server is no longer up and is not coming back for thje foreseeable future. Check out my tape list if you want to set up a mail or internet shn trade.
June 7, 2000 More new features! A production discography of all of the things I've been involved in producing since 1995, available from the recording page, complete with MP3 files of selected tracks. I'm not sure I want to admit to being involved in anything earlier than that.
I'm also attempting to update this page to include style sheets. This is a pretty invisible process, although, you might notice little things moving around or changing colors. I also need to tidy up the front page.
June 3, 2000 The new website has only been up for a day and already there is an update. Wow. The recording link in the music section has been activated, so now you can listen to a few songs from some of the bands I've recorded. Neato, eh? Also available now: the boring version of my resume. Up next: the "interactive" version of my resume and the badly needed update to the Fink Squad web page.
Also available now: A provisional anonymous browse login to my etree server. This will take you a directory full of info files for all of the shows currently on the server. Note that one cannot download shows using this login. Check etree announce listings for login info and watch this space for an automated login form.View server contents.
June 2, 2000 - It's back! Too bad for you, eh. This webpage and all that goes with it is back on the web at http://reseda.yi.org. But you knew that, didn't you? Some of the things to be added to this page very soon. A new, properly updated tape/CD trade section (the list is pretty current, now, but the intro pages are still hard to read), a section about my etree server also located at reseda.yi.org, an update to the Fink Squad website, and more stuff in the music section. May it happen sooner than the move did.
In other news, I finally graduated from Ithaca College after three-and-a-half years of torture. So now I have a degree (in Television-Radio/Audio Production) and I need a job. If you would like to give me a job, please send me an email.
May 30, 1999 - Hey, I added some stuff in the music section, and I moved most of the old news to its own separate section of hell. Click on Wassup? to find it if you must.
May 29, 1999 - Oi! The Fink Squad website is now up. Click on the logo below to check it out, eh.
May 18, 1999 - Look! An actual update! Amazing... Not a really big one, but it is something. Yeah, so anyway it's been a long week. I went out of town to pick up my new car (1985 Ford LTD Brougham) in hot, humid Florida and to attend my sister's wedding in Henderson, Tennessee (where?). Unfortunately, I also ended up making a surprise detour to Montgomery, Alabama to attend my father's funeral. His plane crashed about a mile short of the runway at the Tallassee Airport (of which he was the manager.) I'm half considering scanning some of the articles about it. Maybe... Probably more likely if I get copies of the airport articles, too, because they're way cooler, you know, because they're not about a guy dying and all. Oh, and somehow I managed A's in Gov't & Media and Critical Journalism (amazing), and also made the Park School Dean's list. Don't know how that happened.
I have the scanner up and running now and I scanned a few photos from my last birthday and stuck 'em up on the Photos page. For those of you who are here looking for the Fink Squad page, that isn't quite the address. It also isn't quite posted yet. Look down below for a link, which should be active in a couple days. I updated the links page, so everything should lead to a real place. Also coming soon, Old News section, so you don't have to read loads of this old crap on the front page, plus also a bunch of photos from my four months in London.
May 9, 1999 - Finally posting this damn page. I've been too busy over the semester to think about it. So, with that in mind... Links page still needs updating, there's probably some stuff that isn't there any more hanging out. Music page needs to be updated. I have a few RealAudio files ready to go, but I haven't written linking pages yet. 'Twill be done soon, I swear. Tape list definitely needs to be updated. Will be done after I get back from my sister's wedding next week. Other than that, there are some other tinkerings I'll be doing over the summer, plus I may get the band web page up some day before the end of time.
January 11, 1998 - Up too late, should be sleeping. I'm just starting to think about updating this page. I have no internet provider right now, so who knows when this will be back up. Maybe I'll put it on IC's server. Maybe I won't. I'm back from London, broke, semi-homeless and my girlfriend is on the other side of the freaking planet (Singapore, to be exact). And my car is falling apart. It really hasn't been my week. On the up side, although the Indecision reunion didn't happen, the return of the Fink Squad is imminent. Look for a brand new web page here soon, plus a limited edition retrospective CD and new single out in the spring. Also look for bitchen new sections of this page, including one on my time in London.
August 3, 1998 - Don't ask. Too much to do, not enough time. I'm listening to Black Flag. If the world ended tomorrow, I wouldn't be too upset, except I never got to see Chaos UK or the Meatmen. Two weeks until I leave for London, but I barely care. Oh, well. Go see Yolk at the Haunt on August 6. No real updates to the page in a while, too bloody bad.
July 6, 1998 - Here I am languishing in the aftereffects of X-Day (which was pretty quiet, actually. I spent the morning strapping my exhaust system to various other things on the underside of my car. Six weeks until I leave for London and the damn Indecision shows still aren't booked. One of us should get off our butts and do that... Last I knew, all the links worked except for the music link. If I ever remember to take the disk with all the files on it up to school so I can copy them over (it's a Mac disc), I'll have some MIDI files there. For now, though, there is nothing. And I still haven't finished all of the improvements I wanted to include. So sue me.
June 7, 1998 - Right now, nothing. I just moved, my car works now, and I'm spending time updating the bloody web page. Damn, I need a life. Watch this page for new stuff. I have a bunch of ideas, but not a whole lot of time. Hopefully sometime before I leave for England in August I'll have the web sites up for the Fink Squad and Abalienation. We'll see. Right now, watch for the photos section to get up and running. Following that will probably be another minor facelift for the front page (as I learn one or two more stupid HTML tricks and also get off my butt and implement some of the ideas I already had) and then the Fink Squad site will follow. Also, some time in June will be the Indecision Reunion page (probably up before the Fink Squad site proper.) I'm also considering adding a small list of upcoming shows in the area, but I'm not sure I want to bother. Email if you have an opinion on the matter. Cheers!
PS: I think all the links work properly now.