All posts by lance

Optical storage and my trip down memory lane…

general

If anyone asks me what my favorite band is, I’m usually at a loss to tell them. A better question to ask is, “what bands do you always buy new releases from, without having heard any samples from the album” – which is a wordy question, I’ve been sitting here staring at this question, wanting to cut it down, but I can’t… so there. Anyway, one of the bands that fits into that category is Poster Children from Champaign-Urbana, IL. There’s a point to all this, I swear, I’m just wordy today. Anyway, so the Poster Children do this semi-regular Internet Radio show from their basement. I listen in occasionally, and one evening a while back they were talking about optical storage, and why it’s not a good format for archiving because of the high failure rate of the media over time. Yes, the Poster Children are geeks (two of them were computer programmers before starting the band), but they got me thinking about the need to reorganize and reburn a lot of my archived data. So, I’m sitting here going thru “Lance’s Big Ol’ Binder O’ Discs” and I’m finding the most interesting stuff. Apparently I’ve kept a lot, if not all, of my work from about ’97 on CDRs. I’ve only gone thru one disc so far, and I’ve already found all these chat transcripts that I worked on like six years ago. It’s totally fascinating reading all this stuff I wrote, and kept records on. I even found these job evaluations I did for people that reported to me, that I had totally forgotten about. I also found these event summaries that I’d churn out following online chats we’d do with celebrities. The copy is actually a lot funnier than I’d remembered. Apparently I’d just sit at my desk and rip on the celebrities and the kids in the contests, and then send out these summaries to the whole department. It’s kind of weird now to read about what I did then. They’re like little mini-diaries of a day at work, but all centered around the chats. Weird stuff. I can’t wait to see what else I find.

© 2003 permalance.com
PIX OF THE DAY: Other nostalgia hanging on my board at home.
© 2003 permalance.com

Welcome home

general

So I went back home for a little pre-Thanksgiving celebration last week – my grandmother’s 100th birthday. That’s why I couldn’t ride to the reopened WTC station last weekend. I got back on Tuesday evening, and promptly collapsed (15-hour drive thank you). The past couple of days I’ve just been unpacking, relaxing, catching up on e-mails, the norm. This afternoon I decided to make a trip to the post office to pick up my mail – yes indeed, I’m the proud owner of a PO Box and was it ever stuffed. After I crammed all the magazines & bills into my bag, I was going to walk back to the apartment and relax some more, but the Hoboken PATH terminal was just sitting there staring at me, so I decided today was the day.

I hopped onboard a World Trade Center bound train and was lucky enough to get the “railfan” seat — this is the first seat in the first car with a window facing out the front. The first part of the trip was as I had remembered. They even had the Christmas tree in the tunnel (Caisson 3 upper – I think). Once we were past Exchange Place though, wow. It was super bright in there. I guess they added more lighting? Or maybe because the tunnel has been refinished, it’s brighter, less dirty & reflects more light? I dunno, but it was bright. You could make out all the details. And then all of a sudden *bam* you’re outside. The train just pours out into the “bathtub” and this totally weirded me out. It’s just bizarre. I can’t really explain it properly, but you’re in the dark tunnel, and then all of a sudden you’re outside where you’re not supposed to be. And then you just kind of ride around the base of the bathtub, and you can look up and see the buildings above, and the big truck ramp that decends into the pit. It’s weird. Especially if you were a regular rider of the pre-9/11 PATH. The station is bright & airy. It’s very minimalist, which I like. The only decorations really are these huge photo murals on the walls that are overhead shots of the financial district, and street grids. They’re essentially monochromatic, each mural alternating either red, white or blue. Also among the murals are quotes about Manhattan from famous folks, none of which I can remember right now. Once you get off the train, and go up one level, the layout is very simliar to the original. The big, long esclators are where they used to be. I had forgotten how deep the station was. I went up to ground level and you pop out across from the Millenium Hotel & Century 21. I’m still a little weirded out. Not in a bad way, just in a “woah” way.

© 2003 permalance.com

PIX OF THE DAY: The Woolworth Building framed by the WTC PATH Station shell.
© 2003 permalance.com

© 2003 permalance.com

PIX OF THE DAY: The WTC PATH Station shell.
© 2003 permalance.com

Overslept by 4 hours

general

So I had planned on waking up at 7:30 so I could get in to work early to finish up some projects. This morning, I open my eyes, thinking I’m up too early because the alarm isn’t going off, and as my eyeballs slowly shift into focus, 11:41 is revealed on the clock. Doh. So since it’s the middle of the freakin’ day and the busses aren’t every five minutes, I’m into the office by 1pm.

Here’s the nice thing – no one noticed. Which begs the question, how long would it take for someone to notice my rotting corpse sprawled out in the kitchen?

First post. Woot.

general

Yesterday I had one of those NYC days I’m supposed to be having, and should have been enjoying these past few years, but for one reasons or another, didn’t. It was a full day. Up early to work on a vid shoot in Central Park all day. Off to a concert – caught the opening act and left before the headliners. Then capped off with an unplanned two-person roof party in SoHo. I feel like I’ve been in a coma for the past few years. Someone wake me the fuck up. Anyway, it was an awesome day that was chock full of lots of great little moments. I miss the little moments. Too often in the past I’ve just gone through the motions of the day, in a stupor, numb. I’m getting better I think. I hope it’s not just the alcohol doing it.

Of course today I’ve been sitting on my ass. I have a lot of work, personal & job, to get done in two days. And of course I installed this blog today. It went in without much of a hitch. By the time anyone actually reads this, I would imagine it will be styling, but as it is now, it’s in bland, default color, template mode.

© 2003 permalance.com
PIX OF THE DAY: Xmas lighted CD rack in office. I’m stuck here, now you are too.
© 2003 permalance.com

Push pins

livejournal

So I skipped work today, because… well, why not really? But to justify it out loud, I wasn’t really feeling all that great, and I didn’t have any really important meetings… and I really needed to clean my apartment. So thpthpthtp.

So I went out to buy some supplies, namely bulletin boards & pushpins so I can have a place to put all my scraps of paper. Of course as soon as I hung them, I decided – damn they need memorabilia. So I found my ol’ MTV bag o’ history. Its got a bunch of stuff in it from my glory days at the channel. So I started finding all this stuff that brought back all these memories. A ton of laminates, a bunch of 8×10 glossies I stole from the press cabinet… a bunch of really cool artwork I found at the office from back before I even worked there – a lot of conceptual stuff for the first website and even the AOL site (before there was an MTV.com). So now my board is filled with stuff… no scaps of paper, but a lot of stuff with a lot of memories. Fuck, I loved that job. I mean it sucks there now… there’s no heart of soul going on. Just a bunch of hipsters & wanna-be’s making twice what I was when I started and only doing a quarter of the work. But fuck it was fun then. It sucked too, but it was rad. Quake or N64 for half the day, then shove 8 hours of work in at the end of the day. Miss working with all my friends from back then. We’re all scattered around now – still a ton of us floating around the Viacom machine.

My job now is good, and the people are really great, but that was a special time back then. I want to love a job again. But for right now the autographed pictures of Debbie Gibson & AJ Langer looking down on me will have to suffice.

Speaking of My So-Called Life, I went to a focus group the other day for the show, where they showed a bunch of 15 yo girls a couple of episodes. They all thought it was from the 80’s. WTF. I feel old.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Poster Children – “Western Springs”

worst commute ever

livejournal

Actually, I count myself lucky. I wasn’t in a subway or an elevator. Did you see me on TV? We were the crowd of 35,000 people waving at the helicopters as we waited for ferries to NJ. You know, suprisingly most people were pretty chill, and I met some really nice folks, that still had their senses of humor entact the seven hours after we started waiting. So standing for 7 hours, then walking a couple of miles on the Jersey side – not a bad deal really. I’d like to give a couple of shout-outs:

  • Poland Spring – diseased or not, I really like your water. Plus you deliver cheap to my office. I grabbed several bottles of your refreshing H20 on my way out the door and myself and the people that were passing out in the line next to me appreciated it.
  • The English Mum – thank god for the Brits and their fucked up sense of humour. I’m so glad I was standing next to you. There’s a reason wit rhymes with Brit
  • The Cute Couple on the Ferry – you two were nice subsititues for the Brit when we got separated.
  • PSEG – for turning on my electricity at 3am in the morning exactly when I was thinking to myself, “if I sweat anymore, this normal mattress will become one of those waveless waterbed mattresses, and while kinda cool, that would suck.”
  • Parents in another part of the country – who were more than happy to relay news from CNN to me and 35,000 of my closest frineds.
  • NYPD, FDNY, PAPD, NJ State Police, Weehawken PD, Hoboken PD, Red Cross – yeah. In case you guys didn’t know this already, you all rock.

And now the list of those now on the shitlist:

  • cell phone companies – yeah, i know, lack of power… capacity… but it’s been 2 years, you haven’t upgraded yet?
  • NY Waterways – thanks for the free trip but it would have been nice if you could have at least secured a bullhorn from someone and let us know what the plan was, that would have been great.
  • Loud bitchy lady – you’re the only person I heard complain loudly all day, and considering it was about the fact that we were letting a little girl having an asthma attack up to the wrong of the line ahead of you… yeah, we know you’re tired. So are we. Go on a diet and shut the fuck up.
  • me – for only having perishable food in the house.

    • blah.

Happy 4th

livejournal

Had an interesting night hanging out with drunk strangers on my roof. They collectively thought I was a “good man” that is until I told them, “no thanks, I don’t want to go to the strip club with you” then one of them called me a pussy. Somehow going to a strip club with drunk, sunburned strangers doesn’t seem like a patriotic outing… Did get some interesting pix though.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: “Kick Out The Jams” – MC5

New digs

livejournal

I really love my new apartment. I love my new hood. I’m a very content Mr. Pants tonight. Of course Verizon is fucking me on the DSL front… but that should sort itself out soon. Also very excited – many new albums are headed my way this week… and GTA Vice City for PC finally. Let the decapitating of the virtual assholes begin.

Okay, LJ was being a bitch for a while, so now I’m finally finishing this entry…

Anyways, symphoNYspace is also having a bunch of Sci-Fi double features the next few weekends – Clockwork Orange, 2001, Forbidden Planet, etc. Just gotta remember to get tix.

$1

livejournal

I just saved myself a whole dollar! I saw an errant one dollar charge on my Visa bill. Just out of curiosity – and boredom, I called the bank and said, “Couldn’t figure out what the deal is with the dollar. Any ideas?” The guy said, “Sure.. you see… um… paid in full, paid in full, paid in full, paid in full — you always pay in full.” “Yep.” “Okay then sir, we’ll take that dollar off there. Is there anything else I can do for you?” “No – thanks.”

Woo – I rock.

I also talked my landlord into letting me stay 3 extra days so I don’t have to move during the week.

Tomorrow I’m going to start taking in my bags of change to the bank and open a savings account. Yes – I’m a pain in the ass.

i’m so tired i’m delirious

livejournal

[ mood | exhausted ]
[ music | Fun Lovin’ Criminals – “View Belongs to Everyone” ]

why the fuck do we have to relaunch the site big every year. blah. it’s 9:30pm – i’m still at work. and they decide to hand me an assignment yesterday, due today, to write up all our web entries for an award show conference that everyone in the group is going to, except me because i wasn’t budgeted. fuckwads. and like these awards are annual, so why the hell did they wait till yesterday to hand me this shit to write… not like they didn’t know it was coming. so did it get done? fuck no. on the plus side, the band i was doing a fan site for is dumping their old site, and making mine the official one… no money, but it’s not much work, and maybe i’ll get swag – it’s actually kind of fun. for now. and now i’ve got some wack-ass freelance gig this weekend that, if i actually get paid, will be almost three’s weeks salary for two days worth of work. but i’m soooo fucking tired.

Well f*ck

livejournal

[ mood | uncomfortable ]
[ music | Division Of Laura Lee – “Need To Get Some” ]

Ugh. What a buzzkill. I come home from a fun evening out drinking to find a note under my door from a neighbor in the building. He was robbed yesterday, and apparently there have been other burglaries recently too. Blah. He’s moving out as soon as he can. Ugh. Now I find myself looking at apartments too. Blah. Blah. Blah.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives @ Mercury Lounge

livejournal

[ mood | hungry ]
[ music | The Soundtrack of Our Lives – “Sister Surround” ]

Not a bad show. My feet were sore, I was hungry, I was hot, and my shoulder starting bugging out, but I really enjoyed them. NYC sucks though. It’s fucking embarrassing, no one makes any noise during concerts till like 3 or 4 songs in. It’s like we’re all asleep and can’t be bothered. I guess it’s all the Kool Kids too busy posturing, or the pseudo-lesbians pretending to be dreaming of damp beaver. I yelped and hollered and clapped when I wasn’t in pain. Any other fucking town goes nuts 10 minutes before a band hits the stage, and by the first note whether it’s off-key or not, goes apeshit till the third encore. NYC just politely claps till we get good and ready to enjoy ourselves. Eh. Fuckers. The lads from Sweden put on a nice poppy show, with some juicy little rock elements. At one point, the lead singer dood said “man, it’s quiet. well, we like it quiet, you can hear the music.” Hope he meant it Anyway, towards the end most of the people in the front were bouncing so that’s good. And now I’m recalling a conversation I heard while getting in the door, something along the lines of, “yeah, only 90 tickets were let out to the public” which if true, might explain the quietness. The place was probably packed with Kool Kid Industry Folx on plus-ones. Eh. Fuckers.

You know the one thing worse than B. O.? A shit load of flowery perfume on a girl that’s standing between you and the vent in a club. It could’ve been Shower to Shower or some similar shit. It smelled powdery whatever it was. Maybe she was having a not-so-fresh kind of day. I should probably lay off.

Fucking one of my discount CDs from Virgin last night was trashed… big ass split in the CD… had to exchange it today, but they were super cool about it. Laid receipt down on the counter with the broken CD and a replacement and the guy was like “Cool. Thanks. Here ya go.” A helpful customer service dood… who woulda thunk it.

Personal day tomorrow to receive some “freight” at the old homestead. I told one previous boss at the channel that, “oh yeah, not in tomorrow” and she’s like “why didn’t you tell me sooner” and I just pointed down the hall to the VP, my new boss and said “I told her a while back.” I wonder if my old boss knows she’s my old boss yet? Our company is whacked.

Today was a good day

livejournal

[ mood | amused ]
[ music | Johnston, Freedy – “The Lucky One” ]

So I went to my lonely little PO Box this morning to see if there was any mail. There hasn’t been since I “purchased” it… basically because nothing has had time to be rerouted to it… but what awaited me this morning? What was the first thing to grace the insides of my first PO Box ever? TICKETS!!! Tickets to my favoritist band ever… it’s the little things…

Went out after work today with my friend Starky. We had some food, and then went over to a variety show at Surf Reality. One of my buds from the office was performing a a solo sketch. It was fucking hilarious. Many of the other acts were good too… and weird… very weird. Starky and I decided to use our inner weirdness for evil now, and produce more VIDEOS and evil things.

I also picked up some CDs and DVDs at Virgin with my fat-ass coupon book (10 bucks off 50 buck purchase, among others!). Now I’m going to eat crackers and watch the Oz I Tivoed last night.

Young, dumb punks

livejournal

[ mood | happy ]
[ music | Camper Van Beethoven – “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” ]

Saw Camper Van Beethoven tonight with the chainsaw. Excellent show. I wasn’t a huge CVB band – liked ’em, but didn’t own anything, but I thorougly enjoyed myself there. There were a couple of idiots there moshing to slow songs… you think you’d get the point when you and your friend are the only ones acting like jackasses, that maybe you should shut the fuck up and sit down… but alas. Later we saw them standing in line at coat check. I didn’t think punks would take the time or pay the money for coat check. It was very confusing.

Other than the young, dumb punks, Chainsaw and I were the youngest ones there… and oddly enough the shortest. I’m 6’0″ and I still couldn’t see the stage… we were in the land of giants. We moved for the second set, and were upfront which was very enjoyable.

Next week I’m gonna check out Bona Roba with Courtney, and then Soundtrack of Our Lives & Division of Laura Lee by my lonesome.

Interpol

livejournal

[ mood | tired ]
[ music | Interpol – “Stella was a diver and she was always down” ]

So I had this really surreal experience tonight. My friend was kind enough to get me on the guestlist for Interpol at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Great show, save for some morons shouting out dumb lines you know they’ve been practicing for weeks, but the lads were in fine form… very tight. Much more enjoyable than the last time I saw them. Anyway, afterwards everyone split for a nearby hotel to watch their performance on Letterman recorded that afternoon. So there I am in a crowed hotel room in Weehawken, staring at a shitty TV watching a band I’d just seen live, performing on Letterman, and clapping at the TV, while the lead singer was hiding out in the bathroom. I would’ve been hiding out in the bathroom too… I’d hate to see myself on TV.

Anyway, great live show. Fine appearance on Letterman. Very odd evening.