The Love Song

Of course, this is already more complex than today's love songs...

Flirting With Spring

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It almost felt like spring, or at least it did for a few days. A nice lunchtime stroll through campus, a walk away from the lab and from my work, serves as a reminder that there is life outside of work (and that it can be nice). It seemed that spring was around the corner.

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Of course, this is the pacific northwest, and as immediately as this weather appeared, it reverted back to the typical clouds and rain. Alas, it will be a while before it approaches the majestic conditions of a typical summer.

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Easy Listening

I'm not sure why, but music that I would categorize as "easy listening" makes me more productive than any other kind of music. I feel like if there aren't any lyrics then there are fewer distractions in the music. Of course, this is probably not as productive as working without music, but is definitely more entertaining...

Upgrade!

This past weekend I received my first (!) free upgrade to first class on my own! Finally being a lowest-tier elite has its perks! All you have to do is fly a leisure-traveler-intense flight, such as out of Las Vegas late on a Sunday, which, you know, we all do all the time...

/end sarcasm

Also, winter quarter sucks. It always seems to be the busiest, dreariest, and generally least happy quarter of the year. All this rain definitely doesn't help...

Daft Punk Fans: The New Beliebers?

Since the death of Turntable, I have since migrated over to plug. It's pretty similar to Turntable where you share your music with other individuals and they share their favorite tunes with you.

Towards the end of Turntable's lifetime and through my time at plug I've noticed a disturbing trend among some of the younger users. These individuals practically jizz over Daft Punk, much like weak little teenage girls obsess over Justin Bieber. And much like Bieber fans, these new-found Daft Punk "fans" will savagely attack you at the first utterance that doesn't worship their holiness. I can understand (though not rationalize myself to the extreme), albeit somewhat difficultly, that people can be enamored with a particular group or genre, but I don't understand why people feel the need to bash anyone and everyone who doesn't follow their narrow views. Too many young folks these days go around screaming that dubstep is the only music and that anything that doesn't have a drop is utter trash. (Personally I feel like if you only like dubstep because it obviously places the drop for you, you are not sophisticated enough to understand anything about music.)

/end rant

The Supposed Right of Way

A large portion of the country seems to feel that the pacific northwest is a somewhat more "progressive" society, full of hipsters and people who aren't downright buttoned-down and closed-minded. However, this doesn't mean that they are necessarily not assholes who believe that their self-worth comes above the worth of anyone and everyone.

I've noticed this a lot more as I get back into riding. While riding and other forms of non-solitary vehicular transport are more prevalent (in addition to exercising in general), a disproportionately large group of these people act as if they're above the law and above reproach. The prime example of this behavior is when the bike trail crosses any road.

When many bikers (and runners) reach these crossings, they choose not to stop and then just continue on through the crossing regardless of traffic. While some of these crossings have stop signs for cross traffic, most of these crossings just have a sign indicating that there is a trail crossing at that present location and no more. However, this does not stop the endless berating of these drivers who choose not to stop at these crossings that have no stop signs and let the bikers/runners pass.

It's quite obvious that those drivers owe the trail users anything and anyone who does stop at these crossings is only doing so out of courtesy, but yet it has come to the point where these runners and bikers, for some strange and unfounded reason, expect any and every car to stop at these crossings as if it were the law, and will actively curse out drivers who don't wait at every crossing to let everyone cross.

What is especially maddening about some of the cyclists here is how they feel like they're above all laws and that no laws apply to them. In many places it is illegal for bikers to use the sidewalk, so bikers must use the road and designated trails. That being said, many cyclists feel like traffic laws don't apply to them and bike around the streets as if they were pedestrians, with everyone yielding to their every whim.

What would be entertaining is to see these bikers and runners try to be "progressive" and everything in the LA area, where I started riding. I feel like they would be a lot more grateful for what Seattle has to offer them...

Fountain Pens!

The other day I bought myself my first fountain pen, and so began a new adventure. Pressing down on the nib to release the flow of ink seems so much more elegant than using a ballpoint or felt-tip pen, and the ink smells really good when it flows through the pen. I feel like once I get used to writing with a fountain pen, there will be no going back to the ballpoint. The only detraction thus far is that the ink in the nib will dry up when I leave the pen lying around uncapped, but I suppose that's part of the learning curve.

"Reduced"

One thing I haven't understood is the concept of foods being prepared the exact same, except as "low sodium" or low whatever, especially with items such as "low sodium" soy sauce and other condiments. It seems like the mindset of people is that they don't want to put on any less of a condiment because it will somehow make their food "inferior" because they put less stuff on their food.

I think this links back to the predominantly American mentality of excess, where bigger is better, and there is no such thing as too much anything. It seems like portion control and any form of self-control when it comes to food tends not to exist with many individuals, and these people seem to act like it's up to these food producers to reduce the negative impacts on their diets instead of taking matters into their own hands and becoming healthier eaters.

Occupying Yourself For Four Hours

It's actually not a bad movie...

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