I'm doing a little remodeling at my condo. I've started with the bathroom. Here are the before pictures:

The pictures really don't do the color justice. Coral pink and teal. I don't like the vanity, but I don't have the money to replace it right now. Instead, I'm just gong to paint the cabinets. I don't know what I'm going to do with the floor. It's those vinyl peel n stick tiles. The previous owner didn't do a very good job of it. There are 1/4" gaps between some of the tiles. The new color theme is lavender and chrome. Do they make chrome floor tiles?

Speaking of Machines of Loving Grace, here's a poem for you:

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Richard Brautigan

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

I realize that posting this poem on a blog isn't a very original idea, but I like it. It's from the book "The Pill versus The Springhill Mine Disaster" writen in the late 60's

On Music (for real this time)

It was asked, What music does a female Engineer listen to? Since I graduated from High School in the mid nineties, most of the music I like is from that time period: Alice in Chains, Tool, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Black Crows, Sarah McLachlan, Stabbing Westward, Weezer, Counting Crows. The summer after I graduated I got a job at a small Land Surveying Company doing drafting work from 4:00 pm to midnight. Most of the people I worked with were kids my age that had taken drafting in High School. They introduced me to Rage Against the Machine, for which I am truly grateful. Sing it with me:

Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!

One of the guys I worked with, Fred, was really into Techno: Orbital, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Death in Vegas, DJ Shadow, Massive Attack (the theme song to House is Teardrop by Massive Attack), Tricky, and Machines of Loving Grace. I had such a crush on Fred but, being a socially inept nerd, I had no idea what to do about it.

When I went away to college, I made friends with a girl who lived in my dorm. She introduced me to Ministry.

Lately I’ve been listening to Cake a lot. It’s upbeat and helps work go by quicker.

I think that’s enough for now. I’ll post more on the subject some other time.

On music

The title of this post reminds me of my first year in college. I was studying Architecture at Kent State University in Kent Ohio. Because I had been a good student in High School and had high ACT and SAT scores (read: nerd) I was invited to be in Kent State’s “Honor College”. This entitled me to a small scholarship and the opportunity to live in one of the dorms set aside for Honor College members. I also had the chance to take certain Honor’s courses. For example, instead of taking a basic English class I could take an English Colloquium class. We had our choice of topics for the Colloquium and I chose “Myth and Religion”. One of our assignments was to read selected essays by Michel de Montaigne and write our own essay in a similar style. The style of the essays was sort of like this: the title would be “On (some topic)” and he’d start off on topic but then digress to something completely different. They were very “I think this that and the other and I’m right because I’m so awesome”. My essay was “On Books”. It started off about how my grandma had taught me how to read and how my mom refused to read the Little Bear books to me and somehow ended up about how I don’t like “neo-classical” architecture. I got an A.

About time for a new post, I guess. Today I'm avoiding housework by playing monopoly and listening to music. I'm obsessed with Tegan and Sara right now. These chicks rock

I'm new this whole blogging thing, so I don't know what to write about. My life is pretty boring. I'll I have is work and my recent interest in my health issues. I think that the health stuff may be a little TMI. As far as work, I enjoy the work but the job sucks.

The stat counter info for the blog is fascinating. Someone from Singapore found my blog from doing a web search for "upload wav file blog"

Anyone know where I could upload a wav file to so that I could make it play in the background here? I know the code to make it play. I just need somewhere to store the file. The file's only 320k.

Boring medical drivel ahead

I've recently started seeing a new doctor. She's been having me run around getting a bunch of different tests done to see what all is wrong with me. Since my father is diabetic, as was his mother and maternal grandmother, Doc sent me to have a glucose tolerance test done. The test went like this: I couldn't eat for 10 hours before hand. I had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am to get registered. Then they drew blood and had me pee in a cup. They ran a bunch of tests to see if the could do the glucose test. 1.5 hours later, they had me drink about 12 oz of a really sweet cola tasting beverage. 1 hour after that, again with the blood draw and the peeing in the cup. And again an hour after that. And once more an hour after that. The whole time I couldn't eat, drink, or leave the hospital.
Today I had an appointment with Doc to go over the test results. Happily, I have no sugar issues. To celebrate, I had a Twix bar and I plan to follow it with some baklava.

5 more payments til my car's paid off!