Stop being lazy

Okay, I will.

Do you want to share MP3 files through flickr?

Fuck you Ed

On behalf of Mary Jo Kopechne and all the people who got ripped off by American Family Publishing "sweepstakes," I'd like to take a moment to wish the very worst for Edward "Ted" Kennedy and Edward "Ed" McMahon.

A drunken murderer and a fraud are finally getting theirs this week, far to late.

You are both big piles of shit, stacked high and deep.

I know for a fact that Irish Catholic's named Edward can be decent guys, but it doesn't seem very common.

Buying underwear

I bought some clothing from Ex Officio for my trip to Japan. I'm trying to travel really light and camp some places, Ex Officio makes clothes geared towards travelers and backpackers.

It is clothing with "features" like:

• repels bugs
• high SPF
• fast drying
• light weight/compressable

In particular I was buying fast-drying underwear, you can wash the stuff out in a sink, wring it out, and it will be dry in the morning. Buying underwear is an odd experience for me. You see, I am a large man. By almost any metric. However, I wear medium underwear. My waist generally varies between 32-34", and and at my lightest in recent memory it was a 31". I wore size small then.

I wear large or extra large shirts.

I guess that people who buy underwear just don't look very much like the people who model it.

New camera

I got my Panasonic TZ5 today. It is pretty amazing. I cropped this out of a picture I took in self-portrait mode. You can almost see my pores! That's some incredible resolution.

But it takes decent 720p HD videos as well. I think I need a couple more SDHC cards, but I don't think I'll have trouble finding them if I run out of space.

I got severe DOMS in my legs after working out on Tuesday. It is really odd to still be sore now, but I am. That kind of fouled up all my plans, which were anchored around leaving the house to work out.

Yeah, so the UPS guy arriving was the highlight of my week. Yay gadgets. Boo me.

Edit:

Oh yeah, I got a sample of these business cards I'm having made by this amazing craftsman.

Today...

I woke up incredibly early, for no good reason. I had a bunch of errands to run, and I needed to go to UCI, so I went in to work with my mother.

My first errand was to go ahead and drop ICS 6B at UCI. I had to get a signature from the ICS counseling office, but they were gone most of last week. After I got it, I walked out to the extension office, while I was there I also remembered to get an official transcript for UCLA.

After that I drove to REI in Santa Ana and bought this backpack.

Then I went to No Limits and did Muay Thai. I felt horrible the whole session. I've been having lower back problems, and I have a low level cold I think.

Went to UCI and picked up six boxes of Mother's Day gift bags from my mother's office, and then transported them across Irvine to the headquarters of a non-profit that runs shelters for battered women.

Came back to UCI and went to the AAR meeting. Fun.

When I got home Berkeley's welcome package was here. Also I got an email from UCLA saying I should apply from a scholarship from Sallie Mae. $1000-3800.

You can see the numbers below, Berkeley is still offering more money. I dunno, I'm pretty sure UCLA will come through with the cash when they realize I'm not getting a Cal Grant. Who knows though, if I don't hear anything this month I may just go to Berkeley instead.

Yeah, I'm crying with a loaf of bread under my arm.

I'm going vegan.

But not until after I've eaten one of every animal species.

Funny thing

I was in a computer lab, next to a girl who had a samsung blackjack, which is a pda phone running Microsofts OS. It is supposed to have calendar, todo lists...general pda features.

The thing is, she had a stack of little postit notes stuck to the screen. Like she had to write down all her reminders, because she didn't trust the phone. It became merely a postit note holder.

Why get a smartphone, and then use none of the features?

Well, probably because mickysofts os sucks.

I certainly love my blackberry. I think the iphone is decent to, but as usual MS is horrible.

Project Implicit

Project Implicit

This is damned interesting stuff. You don't know your own mind. This project (run out of Harvard) has a number of tests that will prove it to you.

Artist wanted

Looking for an artist!

I'm looking for someone to design a business card for me. I intend to have the cards made with a laser-cutter out of flourescent plastic. Example pictured:

I don't actually have a business, I'm a poor student. I just want a cool piece of original art I can give to people. All it needs on it is:

• My name: Spencer Fern
• My website: spencerfern.com
• My phone number: XXXXXXXXXX

Here is some info from the machinist I'm considering working with:

Spencer, I think I can even engrave a photograph on the card if you wish. I can convert most graphics files, no need to use AutoCAD but I can convert them too. Illustrator works just fine and I can usually import the images directly into Corel Draw which is the software aI use for about 98% of my applications. I am always looking for an excuse to "tinker" with the settings on the machine and try something new. Did you have anything in mind? I may be able to do up a sample card and mail it to you for comments. If you are doing the entire design youself and simply sending me an image I can reduce the price a bit. If you are ordering 500 I can include a volume discount as well. I am always excited to start on a new project. Thanks for the inquiry Spencer and let me know if I can send you a sample.

Some interesting features might be:

• An interesting or useful stencil.
• Something that will remind people of me, or perhaps even an image of me.
• http://www.spencerfern.com/search/label/pictures might give some inspiration.
• A design that people will want to keep, even if they think I'm a douchebag.

Aside from the contact info, I'm completely flexible on the design. You may have to work with the machinist to tweak your design so it works with the laser cutter. Dana Bishop at http://mamacoke.com/ is who I'm currently planning to use. I'm offering $120 cash. Please send me an email with some samples of your work and ideas. sfern@spencerfern.com

Strange phone call.

Usually I don't answer unknown numbers. But I broke that rule and was greeted by a song.

"Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you"

I was getting ready to hang up, and a sort of computerized female voice said something. Unfortunately, I already had the phone away from my ear so I didn't understand what she said.

If you have caller ID blocking, hit *82 before calling me. That turns off blocking. Otherwise, fuck off, I'm not answering. Blocked numbers are at least 75% bullshit.

Oh, and that song is fucking creepy.

Okay

I'm going to leave that post up. Everyone needs a monument to their own stupidity. I could certainly use some humility.

Speaking of that, I just got back from muay thai, and I was in terrible shape, and I tweaked my lower back a bit. For maybe the tenth time. That's what I get for taking two weeks off, although I was genuinely ill for one of those weeks. The second week was just me being me. The OLD me. Hah. New me is back in action.

Okay, so now I'm just rambling, to push that other post down the page.

Blah.

Contemplating...

Deleting the post below. There were some emails that went with it....
Shameful.
Amor fati.

I think I'll leave it up. Anyhow, I blame The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It was on one of the HD channels, and at the beginning he says, "I'm going on an overnight drunk, and in a week I'm going to go kill the shark who ate my friend."

That made it sound like a splendid idea.

Crazy people

El Toro and the 5 freeway is a crazy-people mecca.

This lady was screaming at the demons in her mind as I drove by.

Devil

Yes, I am the Devil's advocate, but at least I represent him pro bono.

Bandos

I was watching the beginning of the Orange Bowl, and they were showing the cheerleaders and the marching bands.

They held a closeup on the face of a guy playing a tuba or a sousaphone. I couldn't tell which, it was mostly out of frame.

However it could have been completely out of frame, and I would have known it was one of the two. It is like they invented the instrument just for big fat guys.

I picture, somewhere, some time in the distant past, a high school marching band leader looking out over his flock of spindly nerds, lanky dweebs, and skinny geeks, and suddenly realizing that tubby goobers were sorely under-represented.

He probably took his dilemma to a metal worker, who was sympathetic, as they tend to be tubby goobers themselves, and a few weeks later, the marching tuba was born.

EDIT: okay, UC berkeley, you guys win the title

Tired

I think I tend to get a bit of delayed sleep phase syndrome.

My bedtime has progressively gotten later over the holiday, so I'm trying to set it straight.

Last night I took 75mg of diphenhydramine (benadryl) to get myself to bed. It worked and I conked out about 9pm. This morning I tried to get up at 8am, finally dragged myself up at 9am, and made a quadruple espresso.

Well, although the listed half-life of benadryl is 2-8 hours, I'm still a bit groggy over 16 hours later, despite all the caffeine. Biological half-lives are not as reliable as isotope half-lives. I think I've gone through this before, and I didn't quite remember...so maybe if I post it here I won't be so dumb as to try an anti-histamine to help me sleep again.

In fact, I probably forgot how groggy it made me...because it made me so groggy. I think that is why people drink so heavily, sure we all know hangovers are horrible, but I think the lingering effects of alcohol prevent you from really remembering the horribleness in a concrete way.

I get the strangest mail

I have got the following promotional mail on the same day:
- Orange County's Pacific Symphony features Bobby McFerrin
- KCRW Public Radio Program Guide
- 12 Issues of Playboy for only $12

I also used to get mail from the AARP.

Funny thing of the day

People who move their lips when they're reading.

I now plenty of people who are much smarter than me who do this, however it makes them look like they just learned the alphabet.

Gifts for me!

I don't envy the hordes of people pacing the aisles of shopping places around the world, looking for that perfect gift for me. I'm very hard to shop for. What can you buy for me that I can't already buy with my vast fortune?
A 200' yacht?
A Ferrari?
A summer home near the Sea of Tranquility?
Immortality?
I already possess all these things.

Instead, consider donating to some of the charities I support.


This is the leading group that ensures that governments don't take of the internet, kick out the weird cool people, and sell the leftovers to monopolistic corporations.



These guys help small business-people in the developing world get loans. Who would give loans to people who live in areas that suffer from corruption, instability, and poverty? Why YOU of course.

KCRW
This is the coolest radio station in the history of ever. They also have a lot of podcasts and streaming content.

I got this idea from this boing boing post.

Naturally, you could also look at my wishlists.

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