Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in treesandtrees' LiveJournal:

Thursday, January 18th, 2007
10:24 pm	What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." The Midland   The Northeast   Philadelphia   The South   North Central   The West   Boston   What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz (Comment on this)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
10:10 am	This article about OMG THE CHILDFREE HOLOCAUST kinda rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if I plan to have children or not, but it's weird how people turn plans to not have children, to a pledge to not ever have children or even think about it at any point in the future, to a rather violent hatred of other children and adults involved with children. It strikes me as somewhat paranoid that this crowd thinks that there's some sort of particularly strong focus on parenthood and baby-having. People are obsessed with their kids and expect me to be obsessed First off, this is probably at least partly instinctual. If we assume for a moment that babies and TV and sports and how drunk you got last weekend are about equally boring in absolute terms, one might expect the prospect of genetic propagation to tip the scales somewhat. But this aside, people can be pretty self-absorbed, so my wager is that the people who think their babies are of unprecedented interest to others were convinced prior to having children that they themselves were pretty fucking amazing and interesting. Given the hubris of the childfree authors in the article, one might surmise they they are unable to deal with the paradigm shift of having conversations where the primary goal is talking about oneself to ones where the goal is talking about one's baby. Also note that this problem of self-importance is not limited to childfree/childcaptive interations. Condescending parents don't take me seriously when I say I don't ever want kids Certainly, there's some self-preservation going on here; maybe people with kids realized they've passed a point of no return and want to think that not being able to do adult things at will is inevitable rather than a choice. Plus, what person with kids didn't doubt their parenting potential or desire at some point? It is a phase for some people, and if you get through life without bearing children, you'll definitely be bucking a trend that's been going on for some time. Not that that's bad, people just may not get it, which is fine because it's your life. Every one of my ancestors had children. I might not. It doesn't make me smarter or more sophisticated, it's just another possible outcome of being. It's a choice that people won't understand, but some people don't understand why I live in the central city, bike to work, or can't seem to eat Oreos in moderation, and I don't understand why some people drink to the point of shitting their pants or vote Republican. I hate to write so much and end by saying I don't think the topic is newsworthy, but....it's really not. Shit. (all this goes out the window when the GOP finally gets around to outlawing birth control, of course...then it's time for the fetus bombs) (Comment on this)
Friday, July 21st, 2006
12:13 am	crabs and precious stones await So, we're going to a friend's wedding in Baltimore (actually Bel Air) in August, and I think we scored a killer hotel room at the Admiral Fell Inn. This appears to be where the action is, so I am super mega turbo excited. Plus, the Twins are in town that weekend, so I have someone to root for while checking out Camden Yards. The only other bit of info I've got going on is that I'm doing a presentation at next Tuesday's Ruby Users of Minnesota meeting that I need to crank on this weekend (since I'll be at a conference all next week). Things I'd like to get more done on before summer's end (or sooner) 1) get bike tire on. this is easy; i'm just lazy. 2) finish garage wiring 3) finish some rough music demos, at least the bunch that i've started there are more, that's just the stuff i'm anxious about now. (Comment on this)
Monday, July 17th, 2006
11:57 pm	sick day miscellany Was sick all weekend and stayed home from work today. Was kind of depressing, although I'm sure the bunnies and Animal Crossing: Wild World appreciated the respective spans of attention they received. Reasons to feel good despite being sick: Second best shoe deal of the weekend: Lacoste Carnaby Retros at the Nordstrom rack, reg. $84.99, sale $59.99. They're actually brown in back, not green or blue, but the brown looks much classier anyway, IMO. Best shoe deal of the week, also from the Rack: Allen-Edmonds 'Dryden' Oxford (black), reg. $295, sale $69.99. Holy shit, these are hot. To paraphrase Torii Hunter, what am I going to do now that I've got man shoes? The MLB Extra Innings preview had heretofore allowed me to watch some ugly Brewers losses. Then Sunday's win over the Diamondbacks wasn't televised. Would I get to see the Brewers kick some ass without paying $130? Answer: yes. Felt cooped up in the house all day, so we went to Burrito Loco and dined in the beautifully serene evening weather. Turns out they have half-price dinner entrees on Sundays and Mondays from 5-10, so you get a pretty significant amount of decent Mexican for like $5. (At 10, they have margarita and Cuervo specials, so we need to time that one better next time so as to maximize the pseudo-Mexican awesome). Now I just need to get better... Current Mood: awake Current Music: fan motor noise (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 6th, 2006
11:40 pm	chris capuano Complete game shutout. 55 points for my fantasy team. Baseball ninja. Don't care if it's against the Cubs. Also: Brewers 2.5 games out of first? If they have pitching for the second half, watch out... (Comment on this)
11:30 pm	guy on craigslist wants to mow your lawn Two observations: 1) this is apparently a great way to get girls if you're a middle-aged fat guy 2) i'm kind of shocked that the Strib woul even acknowledge the presence of craigslist given its superiority for selling things and finding sex partners, but i suppose they did manage to not include a link anywhere. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 19th, 2006
1:52 pm	berry weiss Berry Weiss goes year-round Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss, a fruit-flavored seasonal beer, will now be available year round, the Chippewa Falls-based brewer said today. Berry Weiss, launched in 1996, was initially available April through September. But its growing popularity led Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. to extend the season through October in recent years. Leinenkugel Brewing, an independent operating subsidiary of Miller Brewing Co., is making the beer available year round in response to an online vote by consumers at leinie.com. this is horrifying. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 27th, 2006
3:09 pm	I bowled a 155, 150, and 188 yesterday. So that's awesome. I think I bowled a 427 series once when I was 12, so now I'm only four pins away from matching that. That's progress. Also, it would be good to actually beat the team we're playing against more than half the time. But I guess that's secondary to drinking and wearing communal shoes. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 9th, 2006
2:56 pm	Re: BB Mountain (m4m) Saw Brokeback Mountain yesterday. I enjoyed it (other than Jake Gyllenhall's horrible 80s moustache, anyway...that pretty well harshed my mellow), really, but more in a "that was interesting and thought-provoking and all-around well-executed movie" way than a "OMG it was SOOO GOOD" sort of way, which resulted in some ridicule from my movie-going companions. Like I said, I liked it. These two guys fall in love. There isn't a lot of context because they're not the most articulate fellows and they encounter forces that they wouldn't want to talk about even if they did understand them, but they keep coming back to each other for reasons ranging to pragmatic (they enjoy having sex) to foolishly-yet-believably idealistic (idealized view of other based on hurried and sporadic encounters, etc.). This all should sound familiar, of course, because these themes are a staple of pretty much every tale of forbidden love. And this is where the magical aura of this movie falls apart for me; it's the logical evolution of a long-extant story, so it seems silly to talk about how groundbreakingly brilliant it is. Its best quality is an engaging sincerity that permeates every aspect of this film, but I think it'd be equally valid to just say the whole thing was rather dull in the end. Certainly it's no Million-Dollar Baby in this respect, and much of the visual detail of the film's location would certainly never get stale, but the reality is that the film's intentions seem rather modest (save for roles like Heath Ledger's, which seems precision engineered for Academy acclaim). It's an old story with a new twist, a beautiful and noteworthy film that was well worth my time but doesn't really take the kind of chances I associate with truly great films. IMHO, of course. (Comment on this)
Monday, December 19th, 2005
5:17 pm	aaaaagh waaaaa i didn't update anything ever in november. and needless to say, we're a little behind. we did record demos for a few songs and otherwise documented various other ideas, though, so, you know, progress and all that. we moved stuff upstairs and i found my camera, too, so maybe someday i'll take a picture of that. studying for my networks finals for the next two days, though, so it sure won't happen before wednesday morning. however, i would like to propose a new salutation. fluffy tails, everyone. it's winter, what else can i say other than that i'm not asleep Current Mood: blah (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 3rd, 2005
11:02 am	day 3 - signs of progress i'm rather pleased with my little temporary studio space in the basement. i took the ER-1, 414mkII, a mic, a stand, my monitors and some cables down...it's everything you need and nothing you don't, pretty much. we laid down a reasonably phat groove yesterday. i'm gonna jam on it a bit and try to find the proper words before saturday. i thought of a potential guitar part to alternate with the one nicepersonality thought up, too. and i want to record an as-of-yet untitled roots-rock song once the drums get here. and maybe do some painting </span> Current Mood: ditzy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 1st, 2005
2:58 pm	we're going to record an album this month. it's not NaSoAlMo because it's me and </a></b></a>nicepersonality though since nobody i know reads this and thus will not know if i quit halfway through, it seems like a good thing to lj about and maybe daily updates will keep me all focused and stuff would that i were not painting my house and taking a graduate course c'est la vie though (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 30th, 2005
10:02 pm	paint paint paint football paint paint fried rice paint but ol' mexico was okay even though it has the stupidest name ever and the packers lost again my dreams will surely flourish in the twilight dusk. ripe currant is a bit red, though. wahaha i can't wait until this is come (Comment on this)
Friday, October 28th, 2005
2:43 pm	home sick today, but i guess it's really more for my coworkers' sake than for my own well-being because i've spent much of the day preparing the bedroom for painting. if it's not too much, i'd like the newly-painted rooms to bring about a new era of peace, creativity, and, oh, i don't know, camaraderie, maybe? the colors, they make me feel warm and full and bright and then people don't get bored and walk away, wondering whether i left my soul at the title company, or the EE/CSci building, or the Willey Hall men's room and wondering if the ER repeat they missed to go get tacos was a good one. or something like that. in any case, they'll look pretty hot, so i guess i can't lose. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 9th, 2005
2:07 pm	... ... (1 Comment |Comment on this)