Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Sit down and shut up PS

Apparently there's been quite a flap about AirTran throwing a family off one of their flights because the family's three year old was throwing an uncontrollable tantrum. Lots of folks are no doubt morally outraged ("She's just a child" and all that other bullshit), but I say, well done, AirTran! As a fairly frequent traveller, nothing drives me crazier than being stuck on a plane with a screaming kid who's parents who can't control them. I applaud AT's decision to have them removed; too bad other airlines don't follow their lead. AirTran also kindly refunded the Kaluszas' money and offered them free round trip tickets to anywhere (1st class, no less). The family declined and has vowed never to fly AirTran again.

Fine by me. But maybe this will teach them to keep their brat in check.

BTW, Ms. Kulesza is also four months pregnant, so apparently there's another demon on the way.

Be happier: Breed less.

Fait Accompli

So it's official. Susan and I are now cohabitants. We finally got all her stuff into the apartment on Sunday.

Man, does she have a lot of stuff.

Luckily, it's all nice stuff. With the addition of her accoutrement, it actually looks like adults live in the apartment (as opposed to my previous pad, which was furnished with the glorious early 90s "Ikea" look).

Anyway, right now the place looks like a hurricane has just swept through, but things are coming together. This is actually the fun part of moving: the organizing once all the crap is in one place. Unfortunately, I haven't been much help so far, as I managed to throw my back out on Sunday moving stuff about. Feeling better today, though, so I think I can begin to contribute a bit more. Gotta build some bookshelves and such; gonna get all "handyman" and shit.

In other words, I'll be lighting up my Dad's cell phone :)

Pumpin' at Chez Hudgins-Tretsky (Atlantic Ave division):

Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
(the first and the finest; no escape from the mass mind rape)

Armin Van Buuren - Shivers
(pump pump pump it up)

Amsterdam Ave - Kicked To The Curb
(hey guys, Danzig wants his band back; just kidding: this is great shit)

Tom Waits - Orphans
(using the collective powers of our wills, we can make him tour)

Rusuden - Formulae Remixes
(rip-and-re-arrangers, including End-fucking-user)

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Store in a warm, wet place

I'm not really a "vacation" kind of guy. I rarely take them and when I do, it's usually a long weekend. Call me a slave to the grind. Call me a pathetic homebody who misses his kitchen and his kitty after only a few days away. Whatever. If my latest vacation is any indication, however, things are going to change.

I just spent a glorious week in Roatan, Hoduras scubadiving my ass off. Seventeen dives in 6 days; usually three dives a day, although one day we went all aggro and did four. I can't overstate how much fun this all was.

We did two night dives, which were spectacular. During both, the dive master took us to the bottom and had us turn out our lights. After a few moments, we were surrounded by bio-luminescence, like a swarm of fireflies underwater. It was like sitting in a planetary, only the stars were microscopic organisms; absolutely beautiful.

We also did several deep dives, including one into a spot called "Hole In The Wall" that descends to some 300 feet. We stopped right around 140 feet, some of us staying shallower (i.e., me at 134), others going deeper (Susan and Marti at 139 and 150ish respectively). Always warm, always safe, always beautiful. One of these deep dives was the wreck of the Odyssey, which was sunk about 5 years ago. The ship was in great shaped, lying on its side at about 110 feet. We actually did a swim-thru of it, which was awesome.

Most of the shallower dives involved playing in and amongst the coral: canyons, swim-thrus, and overhangs; quite the adventure. We also did some drift diving, although it was more like "surge diving", as the current would pick us up, move us a few feet and then swing back the other way; like being rocked in your mother's arms.

It did rain quite a bit while we were there, but we were underwater most of the time anyway. It was also warm the entire time, so I didn't mind too much. Our cabin was right on the ocean, so we got to see some of the wonderful effects of the weather, as you can see here: wavey and rainy (taken right outside our house).

Susan also continues to come into her own as a diver. She's logged damned near an entire day's bottom time and is getting more and more comfortable all the time. She even followed my lead on the second night dive and turned out her dive light, content to follow those of our companions. Her buoyancy is awesome and she can go an hour on a single tank (something I couldn't do for a LONG time; much longer than it's taken her). I envision bunches of dive trips for us, both with company and without.

I did not take any pictures except for the above videos. Both Marti and Wouk, however, were quite the shutterbugs, so once I get their photos, I'll post a link to them here.

I want to go again right away, though.

Undersea sonic systems:

Armin Van Buuren - Shivers
(in da club!)

Mark Pistel - Pistel
(Consolidated honcho rips off Jack)

KMD - Black Bastards
(the nascent MF Doom)

The Red Chord - Fused Together In Revolving Doors
(take your head off faster than Barzan Hassan's)

Bong-Ra - Soldaat Van Oranje
(breakcore on the floor)

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Stumblin' into 2007

OK. So it's been damned near a month since I've posted anything. That's the way love goes (thanks, Janet). Fact is, I've been busy as hell. Susan and I are still in the process of moving in together. All my stuff is in the new place and we're bringing her things over in dribs and drabs, with the big stuff (like furniture) coming on the 20th.

God, does my butt miss having a couch.

Add to this the fact that we're headed to Honduras on Saturday and it's pretty much constant work and preparation. I'm more that just a little beat.

However...

I've changed a lot of stuff around. Signed up for the YMCA with Susan (we're officially a "family" to them) and opened a new checking account with WaMu. I'm sick of getting raped by Chase every month. $30 'cause I don't meet your minimum balance? Eat me. Also been trying to cancel my New York Sports membership for three days now, but my branch's computers have been down the whole damned time. I think it's just a conspiracy to keep me there. I will, after all, miss my Saturday double spin classes.

I'm particularly psyched about the Y, though, as they'll let my trainer see to me there. In fact, I'm having my first session there tonight. Man, am I out of shape. What with all the moving, being sick, etc., I haven't worked out in forever. I feel fat and outta shape. Guess I'll join all the other New Year's Resolution saps and have at it.

So, this marks the end of this ramble. Just felt like I needed to spout into the void about nothing in particular.

My headphones can whip your headphones with:

Tom Waits - Orphans
(three discs of awesome)

Magnetic Media - Bitchcraft
(hiss pop bang crunch)

Rammstein - Sehnsucht
(because S&M is more fun)

Redman - Dare Iz A Darkside
(right there with ya, Reggie)

Reign - Embrace
(proving you can rock out for 9 minutes without sounding wanky)