Anxiously Awaiting

Couple of new CD’s have been ripped and added to my archive. I deleted all the CD’s that I didn’t own in my iTunes collection, and I have been buying the ones that I really want to keep or listen to a lot. I don’t buy music off iTunes because I dislike DRM, and the only archive format option I have is Apple lossless–not my beloved FLAC. I’m back up to around 1500 songs, all archived to FLAC and then encoded to NeroAAC thanks to vmWare fusion and an uber small Windows XP install. All 1500 of those songs fit on my 8GB nano (7.41 GB total), and they sound great through my Bose Tri-ports.

Anyway, here’s a list of my new arrivals. I’m excited about having Demonhunter’s self titled album again. I remember listening to that entire album during long runs right after I graduated from high school. I never knew how much I missed it =).

Chris Tomlin - Arriving
Muse - Showbiz
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
Def Tones - Around the Fur
Sevendust - Animosity
Sevendust - Home
Demonhunter - Self Titled
Demonhunter - Summer of Darkness
Demonhunter - The Tryptic
Demonhunter - Storm the Gates of Hell

I still have a couple of albums that I want to pick up sometime soon. I have a huge amazon wishlist with all the music that I want, but I should be able to knock it out pretty quickly if I buy about 3-5 or so CD’s a month. If anyone has any good band recommendations based on my wish list feel free to post.

I went home last weekend to see the family and check up on the blueberry bush that my grandpa set out when I was little. We used to have four, but disease and not having the time to take care of them cut us down to only one. I think it would be awesome if Dad planted four or so more of these guys (hint hint) next spring. I love growing things, and I wish I had the space here in ATL to have a mini garden. There’s nothing better than fresh, home grown tomatoes!

Wow it’s been a while since I last posted. I guess that means I haven’t bought anything cool–thank the Lord for restraint–or nothing interesting has happened.  I was cruising the archives of my little virtual space here on anxaw, and I found some old posts that I would love to revisit. So, dearest reader, follow me chronologically back to the times of research labs, ghetto housing, and working IT at a law firm.

A Memorial to the Unnamed. Read the riveting tale of a heroic golden algae eater, and how he likes to hide behind rocks.

Dude, Where’s my car? Remember that time my car almost got stolen? No? Details inside.

A personal struggle. Nothing profound here, just Jduv vs A Tie.

W32.Bobber. I wrote a virus and installed it on a co workers machine–well, sorta ;).

Whaaaa? The adventures of jduv as related to lottery commercials.

So I was almost in a rap video. Apple bottom jeans, boots wif da furrrrrrrrr!!!111

I hope to produce more of such epic content sometime in the future. Reading through these has inspired me to write more. Hopefully I can write a couple of those posts that I have been promising to produce–such as my theorem 1.1 post, and why I like console video games over PC video games. Guess I’ll get cranking!

I have been looking for good set of closed around-the-ear headphones for a long time. After reading tons of reviews I settled on a set of Bose Tri-Port cans. These are not noise canceling headphones–I didn’t like the idea of having to change batteries regardless of how long they last.

This was quite possibly the best sub $150 purchase I have made in a long time; right up there with my Boss TU-2 Tuner. Pair these babies with my recently procured Apogee Duet audio interface and you are enveloped in a world of aural ecstasy. Bass hits are punchy and deep, highs come through clean and crisp, and mids are pronounced, but not overbearing and muddy. The Tri-Port’s are quite comfortable to wear, and they block out some ambient noise; my new best friend during coding sessions at work =D.

You know who I’m talking about. The insane person in tight, odd looking pants riding a bicycle on the road that you are tempted to get your friend to push over as you fly by them at insane speeds.

In the interest of personal fitness–and not to mention saving approximately 1 gallon of gas a week, I bought an Orbea Onix road bike last month. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to ride it much with my recent sickness and flights to miscellaneous parts of the US for work. Nevertheless, I love my bike.

Before you slap your forehead while shaking your head vigorously and exclaiming, “He’s going to kill himself the crazy fool!” let me explain that I have a helmet and I do not ride on busy roads that don’t have a bike lane. This means that roughly 75% of my commute to work in the mornings is on sidewalks, which just so happens to be illegal in GA since bicycles are legally recognized as vehicles. If I am stopped by a bored cop I’ll take the ticket, because there’s no way I’m riding in the road on Brekinridge. I drive pretty crazy fast on that road and I get passed like I’m standing still.

So far, the ride to work is relatively fast–less than 10 minutes on a good day–as long as there is a car in front of me at red lights. Apparently I don’t weigh enough to set off the sensors. The ride isn’t terribly tough either. I spend most of my time in a low gear riding at about 15-25 mph on the main sections of road that I take. My bike is incredibly fast, even with a 200 lb. dood riding it.

In the interest of protecting myself and my cycling/motorbiking fellows, please do me a favor: watch out for cyclists. Don’t worry. I’m no green crusading destroy all SUV’s hippie, and I had the same disdain for “That Guy” as you before I became one of them, but as gas prices soar to over $4.00 a gallon I hope you realize that the mpg rating on my Onix is, well, infinity. Please do me a favor and curb your impatience, watch for hand signals, and don’t honk at me. I already know I’m good looking.