So apparently, Phoenix and Tucson are on a collision course. It'll be interesting to watch over the next decade.




I just uploaded a bunch of new pics, which I haven't done in about two years. I also have a page on MySpace.

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It was a weird dream--


We did get attacked, it was live in the news. I knew the poison was coming. At first there were just explosions, and I'm not sure where they came from. It was futile, but I wanted to try to get out.

I got on the motorcycle and headed out of town. I passed these rows of houses that looked distressed and mostly abandoned. Everything seemed brown and colorless.

And then I looked over my shoulder, towards the ocean, and I saw it. It exploded near the ground and sent four large plumes of smoke up and out, like some kind of deadly flower reaching full bloom in ten seconds.

I kept on. It was just a few minutes later that the first of the little white pellets started to hit my skin. They were small and very light, and it felt like riding through light rain, except there was no water in the sky. The highway was completely crowded and it was hard to navigate. It was getting hard to see. The pellets were burning. My eyes were burning and I think I remember struggling to keep my eyes open...

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Anniversary time! I've been here for 6 years. Six years!!

This site has been through many people, several incarnations, a few different flavors of community, but it sure keeps me coming back. 'Tis a special place indeed.




Incidentally, and totally unrelated (and somewhat anticlimactic, I admit) I just started a page at myspace. Cuz I'm tired of having to say No every time someone asks me if I have one. Drop by and say Hi!

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I just completed a massive backup and reorganize project on my mp3 collection. I tallied the totals for the first time in a while and found that I have 126 Gigs of music. That's, like, a lot.

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The NAMM Show kicked ass, as always. I met another DMer, dsindel. It was great to hang out for a while. Dan autographed one of his CDs for me!




No photo can portray exactly how huge this trade show is, but I'll post a few. Perhaps if I posted a whole album showing several hundred merchants, you might get an idea, sort of.










Lots and lots of performances all over the place. This artist was showcasing a pedal that enabled you to add about 17 million effects to your voice. I wish I had written down her name, because she was extremely good.




The Anaheim Convention Center is an absolutely gorgeous building.




My favorite area of the convention center is the Arena, where all the lighting companies are. Just like everywhere else, the displays are quite elaborate. This section is so saturated with lighting effects it's disorienting.






It's not just instruments and musical accessories at the show, however. Take Jammin' Johns here, for example...




And if you could choose the way to go, this might be a good one:




The thing I always take away from these shows (aside from a hundred freebies and a stomach full of chocolate) is the realization that it's a really good time to be a musician. We're in a place where we have the luxury to be able to invest our technological advancements into art just as much as fields like medicine and military use. The music business itself might not be great, but as far as tools go, the options available to an artist today are enormous.

Already looking forward to next year.

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Ubuntu rocks!

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Have yourself a merry little Christmas and a spectacular new year. Whatever is going on in your life, in your neighborhood, in the world, I hope that today is a special time for you. Enjoy the people around you and the good things that happen intentionally.



^the paw... if you have cats, you understand. :]

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How does one go about exploring spirituality without subscribing to ideas that defy science?

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The fires are out, things are "getting back to normal." At least, for the people who still have homes and stuff.

Today I went back to the place where we watched the fire start. It's a different landscape these days.




There's new growth already, but it's going to take years...

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It's happening again. Southern California is on fire.

Almost exactly 4 years ago, over 300,000 acres (more than the size of Rhode Island) in San Diego County was scorched in multiple wildfires that burned out of control for several days. It was a scary time. And now it's happening again.

I was out on a hike at the Eagle Peak Preserve this morning. At about 1pm, we noticed smoke just a few miles away, over the hill.



This is what became the Witch Creek fire. It was at 10 acres when the first report came out. When we left the preserve, we headed to Julian for some apple pie, a few minutes away. By the time we arrived in Julian, the reports increased to 100 acres, then 500.

We had apple pie. Got back to car. 3,000 acres.

There's also a fire down by the Mexican border; this one started at 9:30 in the morning. It's the Harris Fire and up to 14,000 acres right now. It's already claimed one firefighter and many homes.

The reason why they're growing so fast is due to the dry and gusty Santa Ana winds. There were times during the hike that we could barely walk because the winds were so crazy.



There are multiple fires in the Los Angeles area again, as well. Malibu took a hit four years ago and it's getting hit again. I think that was the first one, because it started yesterday morning.

Driving back into San Diego (via a roundabout way, because the direct highway route was shut down), it's all smoke...

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