First, about the culinary club! I'm finally starting this club, and it looks good. We had our first cooking demonstration tonight, about 12 people showed up, and it was a success! And my stir-fries tasted good too! Rock on! (hey, if you're interested, here's the website. Send me an email and I'll put you on the dlist!)
Second, I read this: "In Holland, there are twice as many bikes as cars" from here. I'm going to that country! I'm going there! Woooooo!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Speaking of a great concert:
Tally Hall is The Best.
Wow. They usually play "Good Day" to start the show- this time, they opened with the video to "Good Day" shown on a projector screen, then came out and played Freebird. The whole thing. It was so funny! The best part is, half their crowd is about 16 years old, so they didn't get it at all!
Halfway through the show, they decided to come out into the audience, so they waded through us to the back of the room, where they sat up on this ledge and played "Be Born" and "Spring and a Storm" (in the running for the best song ever) using acoustic guitars, bongos, and some weird accordioney thing. Oh yeah, then they played "Down by the Bay." You know, that song you sang in preschool. ("Did you ever see a ____, line that rhymes with _____, down by the bay?")
They are so good! If you are an indie record label, sign them now, because you'll make a whole lot of money when one of the big five steals them.
Wow. They usually play "Good Day" to start the show- this time, they opened with the video to "Good Day" shown on a projector screen, then came out and played Freebird. The whole thing. It was so funny! The best part is, half their crowd is about 16 years old, so they didn't get it at all!
Halfway through the show, they decided to come out into the audience, so they waded through us to the back of the room, where they sat up on this ledge and played "Be Born" and "Spring and a Storm" (in the running for the best song ever) using acoustic guitars, bongos, and some weird accordioney thing. Oh yeah, then they played "Down by the Bay." You know, that song you sang in preschool. ("Did you ever see a ____, line that rhymes with _____, down by the bay?")
They are so good! If you are an indie record label, sign them now, because you'll make a whole lot of money when one of the big five steals them.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Nevermind, that's a great concert after all
So AB concerts had 6 choices: Broken Social Scene, Spoon, Sonic Youth, My Morning Jacket, Blackalicious, and some other band I've never heard of. In my view, that's a 4/6 shot of bringing a pretty good show, with Blackalicious and the other band being the not-so-awesome choices. And they picked Blackalicious. Maybe I shouldn't say anything; I don't know from Blackalicious. But come on, any of the other 4 would be so cool.
But it turns out the opener is Andrew Bird! And I don't know about you, but to me, the concert he played out at Point State Park was one of the best concerts I can remember. That should be a cool show. Way to go AB concerts for appealing to everyone.
Of course, it overlaps entirely with an NPP show, but that's a different matter...
But it turns out the opener is Andrew Bird! And I don't know about you, but to me, the concert he played out at Point State Park was one of the best concerts I can remember. That should be a cool show. Way to go AB concerts for appealing to everyone.
Of course, it overlaps entirely with an NPP show, but that's a different matter...
Sunday, October 22, 2006
And another interesting question:
(prompted by a story Ram told me about Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu)
... if the Ultimate Power/Grand Being/God Of Everything became incarnated in certain people or things sometimes, would it be easier or harder to get a sense of the grand wonder of the universe? For example, you're walking down the street, and there's a mailbox, but the mailbox starts talking to you and you realize that it's actually God. Or if God were a person, like Jesus, except appearing more than once throughout human history. What if God were all over the place? Say, if He were prevalent enough that everyone knew at least 5 or 6 people who were actually God?
Would that help us? Make us less likely to mess with people, because they might be God? Make us realize that, no matter how miserable we feel, God is probably right around the corner? Or would that make God ordinary, and therefore no longer God?
... if the Ultimate Power/Grand Being/God Of Everything became incarnated in certain people or things sometimes, would it be easier or harder to get a sense of the grand wonder of the universe? For example, you're walking down the street, and there's a mailbox, but the mailbox starts talking to you and you realize that it's actually God. Or if God were a person, like Jesus, except appearing more than once throughout human history. What if God were all over the place? Say, if He were prevalent enough that everyone knew at least 5 or 6 people who were actually God?
Would that help us? Make us less likely to mess with people, because they might be God? Make us realize that, no matter how miserable we feel, God is probably right around the corner? Or would that make God ordinary, and therefore no longer God?
Saturday, October 21, 2006
I suppose, for post 200, this might be appropriate
I wrote this for my Zen midterm (the prompt: "write anything"). It was compiled in about an hour, so it's not The Best. Also, it wasn't written for people who read this all the time, so it's pretty much a rehashing of a lot of things I've said here- it might get repetitive. Read at your own risk.
The Dualism of Everything
A Western upbringing, Zen, sub-vocalization, lucid dreaming, and death- five different topics, right? Not necessarily. They’re all intimately related as facets of the grand dualism between everything. Everything has two sides, and the best way to live is to strike a balance between them.
I was raised in a traditional upper-middle-class American family. Two parents, two kids, three houses in increasingly upscale suburbs as the years passed. An excellent public school system, then a well-renowned Catholic high school. A lawyer father and a graphic designer mother. My family’s love and support, my tremendous education, and enough resources to fill my every material need prepared me to do whatever I want. Now I’m in a top-notch college, studying computer science. I could become an entrepreneur, start the next Google, and make billions. I could become a world-renowned researcher and develop the next algorithm that’s used in computers all over the world. I could go into politics, writing, engineering—maybe not literally “whatever I want”, but at least close. I have ambition, ability, dedication, and all sorts of other traits that sound good in a job interview.
That’s one side of the equation.
But people who go straight for the money, people who pursue fame and fortune, always end up sad, right? So there’s another side to life. It’s the unselfish, ambitionless, powerless, meek, content, and caring side. It’s the side that doesn’t care if you don’t get the job, or even if you get the job but royally screw something up- you’re appreciated anyway. The side that’s not so much about being yourself as it is about being nobody. Being part of the grand unity of everything. You’re not a special little cupcake; you’re the same as everyone else. But it’s okay!
So there’s the other side.
For clarity, let’s call the first side of everything “Western” and the second “Eastern.” I figure these labels are as good as any. I’ve considered “conservative” and “liberal”, but those have too many associations with current politicians; “masculine” and “feminine”, but that’s a whole different ball of wax; and “yang” and “yin,” but I’m not entirely sure if that’s the same idea, and I’d hate to appropriate religious terms and then misuse them a bunch. (Is it the same? Maybe I should start saying yang and yin)
The point is, I feel like I know the worldly, Western side of life, pretty well, but I’m downright befuddled as to the Eastern side. What is it? The Christian church (the only one I’ve really known- and I’ve seen a couple sides, Methodist and Catholic) tosses the word “love” out there, and just lets it fill the space. Love of God, love of one’s neighbor. The Christian goes to church every week to proclaim, or at least convince himself, that he loves God a lot. Maybe he’s got a nice family and some good friends too, and he can love them. But as half of life itself, that seems pretty shallow. I like to ski a lot, and I feel like it’s more than just a sensory pleasure. There’s some deep, Eastern significance to learning to do something well, and doing what you love, God and all other people aside. I think.
So how does this all relate to Zen? I don’t know much about Zen, or any Eastern religion, but it seems like they tend to revolve around the “Eastern” parts of life- becoming “one with everything,” losing yourself, finding nirvana. (Meanwhile, the Western religions focus on doing good works so St. Peter will let you through the pearly gates- again, working hard to attain something.) It seems like this Eastern enlightenment is something you can’t attain by working at it. Which is why it’s so hard for a Western kid like me.
When I meditate, there are constantly words going through my head. I feel like I haven’t thought a thing unless I’ve put it into words. Maybe this slows me down while I’m reading, maybe not- that’s beside the point. I see this sub-vocalization as just another way I try to control everything around me and work harder to get to the next goal. Also, while I’m meditating, why don’t I think about something useful to get something done, instead of wasting a half hour? See, I consciously realize that that’s nonsense- the point of meditation is to sit there and NOT do anything. But I can’t seem to tell that to my subconscious mind.
At any rate, I’m trying too hard, thinking too hard, and trying to develop a capacity to lose myself, to fully exist in a moment, and to love. So here’s where the last couple of points come in, and why I think I still have a chance at achieving some sort of happy balance in life. First of all, I had a lucid dream the other night. I didn’t do anything unusual- I went flying for a bit, and it was really exhilarating- but I remember thinking that I can’t concentrate too hard on any one thing or I’ll wake up and lose it all. I was able to exist in this not-concentrating-but-still-existing-and-enjoying state for a few minutes, and that’s the kind of thing I’d like to be able to do more. It was pretty euphoric.
Also, I’m somewhat unafraid of death, as came up in class. I’ve dreamt about dying a few times, and it’s always peaceful. I realize that, when I die, everything I’m trying so hard to accomplish won’t matter. I think that, the more I keep that in my mind, the more I’ll be able to accept the little things that come up, and the happier I’ll be.
Ultimately, it’s all about balance, just like everything else. Keeping my life in balance between the ambitious Westerner and the peaceful Easterner seems to be the key to happiness. But the more I put it into words, and the more I think about it, the more I just don’t get it, because there are some things you can’t figure out by thinking really hard. So I’ll stop now.
The Dualism of Everything
A Western upbringing, Zen, sub-vocalization, lucid dreaming, and death- five different topics, right? Not necessarily. They’re all intimately related as facets of the grand dualism between everything. Everything has two sides, and the best way to live is to strike a balance between them.
I was raised in a traditional upper-middle-class American family. Two parents, two kids, three houses in increasingly upscale suburbs as the years passed. An excellent public school system, then a well-renowned Catholic high school. A lawyer father and a graphic designer mother. My family’s love and support, my tremendous education, and enough resources to fill my every material need prepared me to do whatever I want. Now I’m in a top-notch college, studying computer science. I could become an entrepreneur, start the next Google, and make billions. I could become a world-renowned researcher and develop the next algorithm that’s used in computers all over the world. I could go into politics, writing, engineering—maybe not literally “whatever I want”, but at least close. I have ambition, ability, dedication, and all sorts of other traits that sound good in a job interview.
That’s one side of the equation.
But people who go straight for the money, people who pursue fame and fortune, always end up sad, right? So there’s another side to life. It’s the unselfish, ambitionless, powerless, meek, content, and caring side. It’s the side that doesn’t care if you don’t get the job, or even if you get the job but royally screw something up- you’re appreciated anyway. The side that’s not so much about being yourself as it is about being nobody. Being part of the grand unity of everything. You’re not a special little cupcake; you’re the same as everyone else. But it’s okay!
So there’s the other side.
For clarity, let’s call the first side of everything “Western” and the second “Eastern.” I figure these labels are as good as any. I’ve considered “conservative” and “liberal”, but those have too many associations with current politicians; “masculine” and “feminine”, but that’s a whole different ball of wax; and “yang” and “yin,” but I’m not entirely sure if that’s the same idea, and I’d hate to appropriate religious terms and then misuse them a bunch. (Is it the same? Maybe I should start saying yang and yin)
The point is, I feel like I know the worldly, Western side of life, pretty well, but I’m downright befuddled as to the Eastern side. What is it? The Christian church (the only one I’ve really known- and I’ve seen a couple sides, Methodist and Catholic) tosses the word “love” out there, and just lets it fill the space. Love of God, love of one’s neighbor. The Christian goes to church every week to proclaim, or at least convince himself, that he loves God a lot. Maybe he’s got a nice family and some good friends too, and he can love them. But as half of life itself, that seems pretty shallow. I like to ski a lot, and I feel like it’s more than just a sensory pleasure. There’s some deep, Eastern significance to learning to do something well, and doing what you love, God and all other people aside. I think.
So how does this all relate to Zen? I don’t know much about Zen, or any Eastern religion, but it seems like they tend to revolve around the “Eastern” parts of life- becoming “one with everything,” losing yourself, finding nirvana. (Meanwhile, the Western religions focus on doing good works so St. Peter will let you through the pearly gates- again, working hard to attain something.) It seems like this Eastern enlightenment is something you can’t attain by working at it. Which is why it’s so hard for a Western kid like me.
When I meditate, there are constantly words going through my head. I feel like I haven’t thought a thing unless I’ve put it into words. Maybe this slows me down while I’m reading, maybe not- that’s beside the point. I see this sub-vocalization as just another way I try to control everything around me and work harder to get to the next goal. Also, while I’m meditating, why don’t I think about something useful to get something done, instead of wasting a half hour? See, I consciously realize that that’s nonsense- the point of meditation is to sit there and NOT do anything. But I can’t seem to tell that to my subconscious mind.
At any rate, I’m trying too hard, thinking too hard, and trying to develop a capacity to lose myself, to fully exist in a moment, and to love. So here’s where the last couple of points come in, and why I think I still have a chance at achieving some sort of happy balance in life. First of all, I had a lucid dream the other night. I didn’t do anything unusual- I went flying for a bit, and it was really exhilarating- but I remember thinking that I can’t concentrate too hard on any one thing or I’ll wake up and lose it all. I was able to exist in this not-concentrating-but-still-existing-and-enjoying state for a few minutes, and that’s the kind of thing I’d like to be able to do more. It was pretty euphoric.
Also, I’m somewhat unafraid of death, as came up in class. I’ve dreamt about dying a few times, and it’s always peaceful. I realize that, when I die, everything I’m trying so hard to accomplish won’t matter. I think that, the more I keep that in my mind, the more I’ll be able to accept the little things that come up, and the happier I’ll be.
Ultimately, it’s all about balance, just like everything else. Keeping my life in balance between the ambitious Westerner and the peaceful Easterner seems to be the key to happiness. But the more I put it into words, and the more I think about it, the more I just don’t get it, because there are some things you can’t figure out by thinking really hard. So I’ll stop now.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
iiiiiiironic
Headline: Freed Nazi guard is a man without a country
Story: this former Nazi guard, Johann Leprich, was found and we tried to deport him, but no other country would take him.
Last two lines: "Leprich was arrested in 2003 when authorities found him hiding behind a panel under the basement stairs at his family's home about 20 miles northeast of Detroit."
Whoa. Apparently what goes around comes around.
Story: this former Nazi guard, Johann Leprich, was found and we tried to deport him, but no other country would take him.
Last two lines: "Leprich was arrested in 2003 when authorities found him hiding behind a panel under the basement stairs at his family's home about 20 miles northeast of Detroit."
Whoa. Apparently what goes around comes around.
Friday, October 13, 2006
One down, one to go
Just handing in the first project for THE HARDEST. Networks is half done. It doesn't get any harder than that.
I still hate it for killing my last week. Also for some other reasons. But whatever... done now... no more computers!
I still hate it for killing my last week. Also for some other reasons. But whatever... done now... no more computers!
This is why I write down my dreams:
10/13/06: Gerrit was making some drinks. He had this bottle that said something like "Lake Trout" on it. I asked him what he was making, and he said it was a "One-Trick William." I said, "What's a One-Trick William?" He said (casually, as if this were something that everyone should know), "It's a vodka and fish."
Monday, October 09, 2006
Where's Dumbledore when you need him...
Geez. North Korea, come on.
Two books that I've read come to mind:
1. Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer- just some novel. But there was a really interesting part: these aliens come to Earth and say that, although they can travel throughout the galaxy, they haven't found many other living species because, as they say, there's only a small window of time that any species can be found by extraterrestrials. Why? Because of technology. You can't be found by aliens unless you've developed radio. However, after you develop radio, technology keeps increasing faster and faster until a super-atomic-bomb, powerful enough to blow up the whole planet, becomes common enough that anyone can get one. And, sooner or later, someone who's actually mentally insane (if not someone who's just really power-hungry) will get one and detonate it.
2. Harry Potter- life's tough. But then Dumbledore swoops in, with about 30 pages left, and saves everything!
Oh well. It's like they say about toast: 185 pieces of toast walk into a bar, and SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!
Two books that I've read come to mind:
1. Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer- just some novel. But there was a really interesting part: these aliens come to Earth and say that, although they can travel throughout the galaxy, they haven't found many other living species because, as they say, there's only a small window of time that any species can be found by extraterrestrials. Why? Because of technology. You can't be found by aliens unless you've developed radio. However, after you develop radio, technology keeps increasing faster and faster until a super-atomic-bomb, powerful enough to blow up the whole planet, becomes common enough that anyone can get one. And, sooner or later, someone who's actually mentally insane (if not someone who's just really power-hungry) will get one and detonate it.
2. Harry Potter- life's tough. But then Dumbledore swoops in, with about 30 pages left, and saves everything!
Oh well. It's like they say about toast: 185 pieces of toast walk into a bar, and SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Boycott 7up.
7up is now claiming to be "100% natural." It's all over their ad campaign.
Why this is false:
-7up still contains (a lot of) high fructose corn syrup, just like most sodas. High fructose corn syrup is like sugar, except it's distilled from corn in a factory. Sure, it came from corn originally, but that doesn't mean it's "natural."
-7up also contains potassium citrate. That's a chemical.
-To be fair, the drink is mostly carbonated water. That's not particularly natural either. But whatever- carbonated water, take it or leave it. The main issue is the HFCS.
Why this is bad:
-People might buy it, thinking it's actually natural, or even healthy.
What you should do:
-Boycott 7up.
-Spread the word.
-If you're a real badass, also boycott Dr. Pepper, A&W Root Beer, Snapple, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Hawaiian Punch, Schweppes, Mott's Apple Juice, IBC, Stewart's, Nantucket Nectars, and Orangina. They're all owned by Cadbury Schweppes, which owns 7up.
-Also boycott RC Cola, Diet Rite, Slush Puppie, Clamato, Mr. and Mrs. T, Holland House, Rose's, Mistic, and Yoo-hoo. Cadbury Schweppes also owns them. But who drinks them anyway?
As they say, this chaps my ass real bad.
Why this is false:
-7up still contains (a lot of) high fructose corn syrup, just like most sodas. High fructose corn syrup is like sugar, except it's distilled from corn in a factory. Sure, it came from corn originally, but that doesn't mean it's "natural."
-7up also contains potassium citrate. That's a chemical.
-To be fair, the drink is mostly carbonated water. That's not particularly natural either. But whatever- carbonated water, take it or leave it. The main issue is the HFCS.
Why this is bad:
-People might buy it, thinking it's actually natural, or even healthy.
What you should do:
-Boycott 7up.
-Spread the word.
-If you're a real badass, also boycott Dr. Pepper, A&W Root Beer, Snapple, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Hawaiian Punch, Schweppes, Mott's Apple Juice, IBC, Stewart's, Nantucket Nectars, and Orangina. They're all owned by Cadbury Schweppes, which owns 7up.
-Also boycott RC Cola, Diet Rite, Slush Puppie, Clamato, Mr. and Mrs. T, Holland House, Rose's, Mistic, and Yoo-hoo. Cadbury Schweppes also owns them. But who drinks them anyway?
As they say, this chaps my ass real bad.
Monday, October 02, 2006
I just experienced one of those moments that makes life worthwhile
walking back from Wean. It was dark, it smelled so much like fall, I was listening to "The Mistress Witch of McClure (or, the Mind that Knows Itself)" off of Sufjan Stevens's "The Avalanche", and it was warm. Just thought I'd share, so it doesn't seem like my life is all doom and gloom. Really, it's pretty nice most of the time!
Friday, September 29, 2006
I need to chill the fuck out
First of all, hooray for Pittsburgh for having a "gallery crawl" tonight- there were some cool things downtown. I wish I had been with a couple friends instead of with an RA and other Margaret Morrison folks on a trip to the symphony; a trip that I attended because it was really cheap and a way to get some culture! The galleries were cool, though, like the Wood Street Gallery featuring some Indian dance and Future Tenant with some modern art, including various Iranian heads of state on a conveyor belt being poked by little pokers. And then we saw the symphony, which I'll give the classic review of "I can't really appreciate it, but it was neat."
But man. Sunday through Tuesday, all my free time was on Networks. Wednesday, grading; Thursday and today, Neural Nets. I might drop Neural Nets.
Reasons for dropping it:
- I'm not learning a lot, I don't think. It's all either going over my head (math blatz! 3-d calc?!) or is just a high-level overview. The homeworks are giving me fits- they're theoretically easy, but there's a bunch of dicking around with MATLAB. Lame.
- Maybe I'm overworked this semester?
- Doesn't really help me graduate. See, it's a CS elective (I need 1), and it's a cog sci elective (I need 4). I just want to make things as easy for myself next year as possible.
Reasons for keeping it:
- If I drop it, I'll have 3 classes + 2 StuCo's. That's a little bit silly.
- It sort of helps me graduate. (pulls up spreadsheet) If I drop it, and I don't accomplish anything next semester while I'm studying abroad, I'll need 10 classes to get both of my majors (CS and CS). If I do keep it, that number goes down to 8 (double counting). And it's really 7, because another class will double count. And I'm hoping I can take some classes in Europe that will count. So ... well, whatever. I don't know why I'm telling you all about my class schedule. I'll graduate, and it'll be fine.
But this week was a killer. And there's no break; it's right back into the mix with more Networks this weekend. The thing that's so tough about all this work popped into my mind while I was talking to my mom the other day. It's not because I hate the work- doing Networks is all right, except for the time pressure. (It's almost fun, because you can really make progress, and you can really get into it.) The problem is this: I keep compromising more and more who I want to be and what I want to do. For example: I haven't started this cooking club that I'm all about starting. I've been completely sedentary all week. Friends have been over here and I've been sitting in this dim basement doing homework. When people ask "how's it going?" all I can say is "well, I've been working on Networks..." geek geek geek geek Geek Geek GEEK GEEK GEEK!
But then, I had all summer to do what I want to do, and what did I do? Well, I had some fun, but I don't feel like I made the most of it. Mostly because my job was so boring, I felt listless all the time.
Solution: stop talking about doing stuff, and go do stuff! Well, it's Saturday night at 1 am, what can I do? (obvious answer: sleep, so I can do stuff tomorrow!) What I really need to do, though, is lose myself. Have you noticed the number of "I"s in this post? There are a lot! I feel like the more you think about yourself, talk about yourself, etc, the less happy you become. I need to lose myself at a party, in a game, in cooking maybe, meditation, some project that I like... and most of all, in other people!
But man. Sunday through Tuesday, all my free time was on Networks. Wednesday, grading; Thursday and today, Neural Nets. I might drop Neural Nets.
Reasons for dropping it:
- I'm not learning a lot, I don't think. It's all either going over my head (math blatz! 3-d calc?!) or is just a high-level overview. The homeworks are giving me fits- they're theoretically easy, but there's a bunch of dicking around with MATLAB. Lame.
- Maybe I'm overworked this semester?
- Doesn't really help me graduate. See, it's a CS elective (I need 1), and it's a cog sci elective (I need 4). I just want to make things as easy for myself next year as possible.
Reasons for keeping it:
- If I drop it, I'll have 3 classes + 2 StuCo's. That's a little bit silly.
- It sort of helps me graduate. (pulls up spreadsheet) If I drop it, and I don't accomplish anything next semester while I'm studying abroad, I'll need 10 classes to get both of my majors (CS and CS). If I do keep it, that number goes down to 8 (double counting). And it's really 7, because another class will double count. And I'm hoping I can take some classes in Europe that will count. So ... well, whatever. I don't know why I'm telling you all about my class schedule. I'll graduate, and it'll be fine.
But this week was a killer. And there's no break; it's right back into the mix with more Networks this weekend. The thing that's so tough about all this work popped into my mind while I was talking to my mom the other day. It's not because I hate the work- doing Networks is all right, except for the time pressure. (It's almost fun, because you can really make progress, and you can really get into it.) The problem is this: I keep compromising more and more who I want to be and what I want to do. For example: I haven't started this cooking club that I'm all about starting. I've been completely sedentary all week. Friends have been over here and I've been sitting in this dim basement doing homework. When people ask "how's it going?" all I can say is "well, I've been working on Networks..." geek geek geek geek Geek Geek GEEK GEEK GEEK!
But then, I had all summer to do what I want to do, and what did I do? Well, I had some fun, but I don't feel like I made the most of it. Mostly because my job was so boring, I felt listless all the time.
Solution: stop talking about doing stuff, and go do stuff! Well, it's Saturday night at 1 am, what can I do? (obvious answer: sleep, so I can do stuff tomorrow!) What I really need to do, though, is lose myself. Have you noticed the number of "I"s in this post? There are a lot! I feel like the more you think about yourself, talk about yourself, etc, the less happy you become. I need to lose myself at a party, in a game, in cooking maybe, meditation, some project that I like... and most of all, in other people!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Pizzeria Uno, and Exercise
Item #1. Pizzeria Uno is now "Uno Chicago Bar and Grill". The chain that used to be a decent pizza chain is now the same as every other mediocre restaurant. Applebee's, Max and Erma's, TGI Friday's, Ruby Tuesday, Red Robin, Fuddrucker's, Chili's, ...
The name is the same. The decorations are the same- assorted crap from the crap factory that must exist to produce crap for these kinds of restaurants. The menu's the same- all sorts of fried shit appetizers, the same dozen sandwiches, the same dozen entrees (served in huge portions), and a bunch of dumb froofy desserts and drinks. Oh, and a couple of salads (read: iceberg lettuce with a couple of cute "theme" toppings) for the "health conscious." The prices are the same- you will spend about $12-15 including tax/tip. They even have a beer brewed "especially for them!" that's so bad that our waiter (who was very honest) couldn't even recommend it. Geez. Everyone who wants to open a restaurant franchise should have to first fill out a questionnaire that says "why do you want to open a soulless food-mart instead of a restaurant with personality?"
Also, Pittsburgh, get places to go after 11pm besides bars!
Item #2. Doesn't exercise, as it's become in the modern world, seem so artificial? Like you live your life, except you take an hour out every day to go to the gym, and maybe you run on a treadmill- a machine that lets you expend extra effort to go nowhere. Maybe you lift weights, just so you can put them back down again. Drive your car to the gym to ride a stationary bike. Somewhere in the last hundred years, humanity got so good at survival that we didn't have to expend physical energy to survive anymore, and so now we just expend physical energy because we have to. What the hell?
And the idea that this would become a chore- like you have to go get your exercise every day. Like "brush my teeth, take a shower, expend energy." But the alternative- not exercising- is even worse, because then you just get sedentary and lazy. I mean, I guess the real alternative is to find a sport that you really enjoy, and then you'll just exercise for its own sake.
The name is the same. The decorations are the same- assorted crap from the crap factory that must exist to produce crap for these kinds of restaurants. The menu's the same- all sorts of fried shit appetizers, the same dozen sandwiches, the same dozen entrees (served in huge portions), and a bunch of dumb froofy desserts and drinks. Oh, and a couple of salads (read: iceberg lettuce with a couple of cute "theme" toppings) for the "health conscious." The prices are the same- you will spend about $12-15 including tax/tip. They even have a beer brewed "especially for them!" that's so bad that our waiter (who was very honest) couldn't even recommend it. Geez. Everyone who wants to open a restaurant franchise should have to first fill out a questionnaire that says "why do you want to open a soulless food-mart instead of a restaurant with personality?"
Also, Pittsburgh, get places to go after 11pm besides bars!
Item #2. Doesn't exercise, as it's become in the modern world, seem so artificial? Like you live your life, except you take an hour out every day to go to the gym, and maybe you run on a treadmill- a machine that lets you expend extra effort to go nowhere. Maybe you lift weights, just so you can put them back down again. Drive your car to the gym to ride a stationary bike. Somewhere in the last hundred years, humanity got so good at survival that we didn't have to expend physical energy to survive anymore, and so now we just expend physical energy because we have to. What the hell?
And the idea that this would become a chore- like you have to go get your exercise every day. Like "brush my teeth, take a shower, expend energy." But the alternative- not exercising- is even worse, because then you just get sedentary and lazy. I mean, I guess the real alternative is to find a sport that you really enjoy, and then you'll just exercise for its own sake.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Seeking restaurants
Hey, I'm the restaurant reviewer for the Carnegie Pulse. How about that! Check out my masterworks at The Carnegie Pulse.
The problem is, I need to know some more places to review. They need to be either new or otherwise unusual. For example, I can't review Fuel and Fuddle. ("It was good. It was half price. It was crowded. I wish I could drink beer, because they have quite a selection.")
I've reviewed Chipotle, the Green Mango Noodle Hut, and Little Asia- they don't have to be gourmet establishments. In fact, as much as I'd love to review gourmet establishments, I think that Carnegie Pulse readers would rather know about places they can actually go to more than once a year: places that are relatively nearby and relatively cheap.
So, all that said, I think my next target is the Silk Elephant in Squirrel Hill. It's relatively new. After that, I don't know. Let me know if you have any ideas! (particularly non-Asian places, because that's 3 in a row. But let me know Asian suggestions too.) And if you'd like to come along, let me know that too!
The problem is, I need to know some more places to review. They need to be either new or otherwise unusual. For example, I can't review Fuel and Fuddle. ("It was good. It was half price. It was crowded. I wish I could drink beer, because they have quite a selection.")
I've reviewed Chipotle, the Green Mango Noodle Hut, and Little Asia- they don't have to be gourmet establishments. In fact, as much as I'd love to review gourmet establishments, I think that Carnegie Pulse readers would rather know about places they can actually go to more than once a year: places that are relatively nearby and relatively cheap.
So, all that said, I think my next target is the Silk Elephant in Squirrel Hill. It's relatively new. After that, I don't know. Let me know if you have any ideas! (particularly non-Asian places, because that's 3 in a row. But let me know Asian suggestions too.) And if you'd like to come along, let me know that too!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Big Ideas
with capital letters. That's what my mind's been on recently. The "what is it all about" sort of thing. Let me explain the last couple of weeks. Actually, I'll back up to the summer. I started reading a couple of interesting books- The Book and the Tao of Pooh. I've probably raved to you about them both. Talking to various friends; Beej, Ram, Julie, and others that I think are interested in the same ideas. I've also been reading some more entertaining but still philosophical stuff like Tom Robbins and The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. Most recently, it's been a book called "Voluntary simplicity" from Gerrit.
The point is, I don't know a darn thing about things in general, much less big "why are we all here" sort of things. I'm trying to list how I started asking questions. I don't know if it's anything about this year, this summer, maybe it was last spring, or what, but my old world view wasn't cutting it.
It wasn't a terrible world view: I was comfortable with myself, mostly comfortable with others, and comfortable with the path my life would be taking. It was pretty Western/masculine/worldly/individual/Yang, though. (if there's one thing I know, it's that there's a grand duality in the universe, and just about everything has two sides, and the middle is usually the best way to go. That seems to be a sort of universal truth, at least on some level, and it makes a hell of a lot of sense.) It was a fine world view, but "nothing to excess", as the ancient Greeks through Fr. Ober taught me in freshman World History in high school. And the whole thing started getting to me, the one-sidedness of my existence. Even the idea of Love as the ultimate good, which was fine for me for a bunch of years. For some reason, I generally decided, over time, there must be something more.
This all sounds like I embarked on a Grand Spiritual Adventure. I haven't really changed my life at all. Besides enrolling in a Zen Meditation StuCo. But the point isn't whether I say "I'm embarking on a Grand Spiritual Adventure", because saying that I'm doing something big is just a label. A label that lets me say "Look at me, I'm improving myself! I'm attempting to make myself better than anyone else, because now I'm spiritually cool too!" Which may be what I'm doing on a subconscious level, but consciously, I'm trying to avoid that. If I start to sound pretentious about anything spiritual, don't even listen to me, because I'm entirely missing the point.
Anyway, so what is this Eastern view? I don't know yet. To say "I am reading about Eastern religion" is like saying "I went to a restaurant in America." There are so many different kinds. But I think they all have a few universal truths, or maybe even one universal truth:
The way to be is to lose yourself entirely and become one with everything.
That's the quickest way I can summarize what I think I know about it. This oneness with everything shows up a lot: as nirvana (Hindu, right? Buddhist too? Shows what I know...), the Tao, enlightenment. Even as heaven in Christianity, although the Western conception of heaven seems nothing like the Eastern. For Christians, it always comes across as this place in the sky where you go when you die, if you've been good. But really, it's the same thing, just worded differently.
Okay. So there's some background. Last last Sunday I had quite an experience, which I'll leave appropriately vague. Hi potential employers, hi Mom and Dad! Nah, my mom and dad are probably cool. The point is not the details of the experience, because it doesn't change you. It just stirs up emotions and thoughts, like dredging up the bottom of a pond. (thanks, Ram, for the analogy)
I had expected this to leave me on an all-time moment of clarity, where I would realize more and more that all is one and one is all. I thought I would realize how little of an individual I am, and how it's meaningless to even refer to myself as an individual, or even as myself.
Well, one thing was right: it gave me a sort of moment of clarity. I stood on the roof of the Slanty Shanty, and I wanted to breathe in the entire world. Everything was so vivid! And here's the thing: I felt so optimistic about my future. I saw a couple of the high points of my life laid out before me (Colorado, December 2004; NYC, August 2006; the Alps, January 2007) I went back inside and sat down, and felt so thankful to everyone and everything. Thank you, by the way; if you're reading this, I probably know you, and I want to thank you. I had a pen and paper, and I wrote something along the lines of "if I get nothing else out of this, it'll be sincerity." I felt like a child again; it was euphoric. It's like when you realize you couldn't have made it without someone, and you just break down and cry in gratitude, but that person loves you so much, they were just happy to help. Except it was directed towards everyone.
Okay, so I also helped make a fort out of Aaron's bed (Aaron was puzzled to see how his bed turned out), listened to electricity (it sounds like little mice!), and had a stare-down with a Kurt Cobain poster. But the point is, it was a tremendous experience.
But how so? It was tremendous in a Western sense. Wow, I felt great, and life seemed like one ever-growing pyramid of fun! But I felt individual. I felt like Mufasa AND Simba, standing there and saying to myself "Everything the light touches is our kingdom", where "our" was a use of the royal "we". I'm the king of the world! ...thanks to all of you who helped me get here.
This was frustrating. My life doesn't need more Western materialistic greatness. (Don't get me wrong, it does need some. I'm not saying there's no place for a Western point of view. But it should be half of your view, not all of it.)
The next day, I felt so lethargic, I'm lucky I didn't turn into a big plastic bag of Frosty. Not just lethargic, though; will-less. I didn't want to do anything or see anyone. It was a terrible feeling, and I don't know if it was due to the previous day, the previous year, or just a random bad day. Everyone irritated me, and everything bored me. I still don't know why it was, only that it's been turning up a couple times in the last couple of weeks. It doesn't make any sense; it's not like all my friends graduated (some of them did, but most of them are still around, anyway) or my job/major seemed pointless (now I have some direction for the first time in my college career).
So there have been ups and downs. Maybe I'll add more details later, or more thoughts on things, but to avoid having 3 straight 6-hour sleeps, (and it's only week 3!) I'm going to bed. Good night!
The point is, I don't know a darn thing about things in general, much less big "why are we all here" sort of things. I'm trying to list how I started asking questions. I don't know if it's anything about this year, this summer, maybe it was last spring, or what, but my old world view wasn't cutting it.
It wasn't a terrible world view: I was comfortable with myself, mostly comfortable with others, and comfortable with the path my life would be taking. It was pretty Western/masculine/worldly/individual/Yang, though. (if there's one thing I know, it's that there's a grand duality in the universe, and just about everything has two sides, and the middle is usually the best way to go. That seems to be a sort of universal truth, at least on some level, and it makes a hell of a lot of sense.) It was a fine world view, but "nothing to excess", as the ancient Greeks through Fr. Ober taught me in freshman World History in high school. And the whole thing started getting to me, the one-sidedness of my existence. Even the idea of Love as the ultimate good, which was fine for me for a bunch of years. For some reason, I generally decided, over time, there must be something more.
This all sounds like I embarked on a Grand Spiritual Adventure. I haven't really changed my life at all. Besides enrolling in a Zen Meditation StuCo. But the point isn't whether I say "I'm embarking on a Grand Spiritual Adventure", because saying that I'm doing something big is just a label. A label that lets me say "Look at me, I'm improving myself! I'm attempting to make myself better than anyone else, because now I'm spiritually cool too!" Which may be what I'm doing on a subconscious level, but consciously, I'm trying to avoid that. If I start to sound pretentious about anything spiritual, don't even listen to me, because I'm entirely missing the point.
Anyway, so what is this Eastern view? I don't know yet. To say "I am reading about Eastern religion" is like saying "I went to a restaurant in America." There are so many different kinds. But I think they all have a few universal truths, or maybe even one universal truth:
The way to be is to lose yourself entirely and become one with everything.
That's the quickest way I can summarize what I think I know about it. This oneness with everything shows up a lot: as nirvana (Hindu, right? Buddhist too? Shows what I know...), the Tao, enlightenment. Even as heaven in Christianity, although the Western conception of heaven seems nothing like the Eastern. For Christians, it always comes across as this place in the sky where you go when you die, if you've been good. But really, it's the same thing, just worded differently.
Okay. So there's some background. Last last Sunday I had quite an experience, which I'll leave appropriately vague. Hi potential employers, hi Mom and Dad! Nah, my mom and dad are probably cool. The point is not the details of the experience, because it doesn't change you. It just stirs up emotions and thoughts, like dredging up the bottom of a pond. (thanks, Ram, for the analogy)
I had expected this to leave me on an all-time moment of clarity, where I would realize more and more that all is one and one is all. I thought I would realize how little of an individual I am, and how it's meaningless to even refer to myself as an individual, or even as myself.
Well, one thing was right: it gave me a sort of moment of clarity. I stood on the roof of the Slanty Shanty, and I wanted to breathe in the entire world. Everything was so vivid! And here's the thing: I felt so optimistic about my future. I saw a couple of the high points of my life laid out before me (Colorado, December 2004; NYC, August 2006; the Alps, January 2007) I went back inside and sat down, and felt so thankful to everyone and everything. Thank you, by the way; if you're reading this, I probably know you, and I want to thank you. I had a pen and paper, and I wrote something along the lines of "if I get nothing else out of this, it'll be sincerity." I felt like a child again; it was euphoric. It's like when you realize you couldn't have made it without someone, and you just break down and cry in gratitude, but that person loves you so much, they were just happy to help. Except it was directed towards everyone.
Okay, so I also helped make a fort out of Aaron's bed (Aaron was puzzled to see how his bed turned out), listened to electricity (it sounds like little mice!), and had a stare-down with a Kurt Cobain poster. But the point is, it was a tremendous experience.
But how so? It was tremendous in a Western sense. Wow, I felt great, and life seemed like one ever-growing pyramid of fun! But I felt individual. I felt like Mufasa AND Simba, standing there and saying to myself "Everything the light touches is our kingdom", where "our" was a use of the royal "we". I'm the king of the world! ...thanks to all of you who helped me get here.
This was frustrating. My life doesn't need more Western materialistic greatness. (Don't get me wrong, it does need some. I'm not saying there's no place for a Western point of view. But it should be half of your view, not all of it.)
The next day, I felt so lethargic, I'm lucky I didn't turn into a big plastic bag of Frosty. Not just lethargic, though; will-less. I didn't want to do anything or see anyone. It was a terrible feeling, and I don't know if it was due to the previous day, the previous year, or just a random bad day. Everyone irritated me, and everything bored me. I still don't know why it was, only that it's been turning up a couple times in the last couple of weeks. It doesn't make any sense; it's not like all my friends graduated (some of them did, but most of them are still around, anyway) or my job/major seemed pointless (now I have some direction for the first time in my college career).
So there have been ups and downs. Maybe I'll add more details later, or more thoughts on things, but to avoid having 3 straight 6-hour sleeps, (and it's only week 3!) I'm going to bed. Good night!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Burrito controversy!
My Chipotle review
Burrito snobs
Hey, they linked to my article! And failed to miss the point that I'm reporting on a FAST FOOD RESTAURANT! Rock on, guys, you sure know the most about burritos! Hey, here's another article you should write: Harry Potter is not as good as Faulkner, and therefore England is a literary wasteland.
There it is: I'm gaining notoriety in the blog circuit.
Real post is still to come... whenever I get a free couple hours.
Burrito snobs
Hey, they linked to my article! And failed to miss the point that I'm reporting on a FAST FOOD RESTAURANT! Rock on, guys, you sure know the most about burritos! Hey, here's another article you should write: Harry Potter is not as good as Faulkner, and therefore England is a literary wasteland.
There it is: I'm gaining notoriety in the blog circuit.
Real post is still to come... whenever I get a free couple hours.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Post coming soon
It's been quite the weekend. I'm still trying to fit it all into my head, and figure out how best to put it on paper.
It sort of made me ask myself, Where does that highway go to?
And then I asked myself, Am I right? Am I wrong?
And then I asked myself, My god!...what have I done?
Okay, so that turned into quoting "Once in a Lifetime," which continues to surprise me with how good it is. The whole CD, "Remain in Light," is fantastic! Wow! Been a while since I found a CD to gush about. Well, besides Belle and Sebastian's "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" and the Boards of Canada's "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country", but you already knew that about the first one and the second one is just an EP.
But next time, less rock, more talk! Stay tuned, faithful readers!
It sort of made me ask myself, Where does that highway go to?
And then I asked myself, Am I right? Am I wrong?
And then I asked myself, My god!...what have I done?
Okay, so that turned into quoting "Once in a Lifetime," which continues to surprise me with how good it is. The whole CD, "Remain in Light," is fantastic! Wow! Been a while since I found a CD to gush about. Well, besides Belle and Sebastian's "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" and the Boards of Canada's "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country", but you already knew that about the first one and the second one is just an EP.
But next time, less rock, more talk! Stay tuned, faithful readers!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Wish it was free and all mine
How to become an ordained pastor
You may have heard about AOL's leak of a whole bunch of search records. Some dudes searched through it all and found the best searches. Credit Grubb for finding this.
You may have heard about AOL's leak of a whole bunch of search records. Some dudes searched through it all and found the best searches. Credit Grubb for finding this.
Monday, August 28, 2006
When we all become robots, this is how we'll talk
I was just thinking about conversation today, because I noticed that the professor who I'm TAing for had a unicycle in his office. I wanted to ask if he rode a unicycle, what kind of experience he has, if he juggles (because the two are often related), etc. But how do you start that conversation? And then what?
On a note that seems unrelated but is actually related: a rules engine is a cool thing. Sometimes they're also called Expert Systems. Maybe there's a distinction between those. I don't know. Anyway, here's how it works: you have some facts, and you have some if-then rules. Each rule triggers when certain facts exist.
For example, I could have the following rules:
1. If I have a dollar, I should buy a can of Arizona iced tea from Entropy.
2. If it's cold, and if I have a hat, I should put the hat on.
3. If I have a drink, and if I'm thirsty, I should drink it.
And I have the following facts:
- I have a dollar.
- I'm thirsty.
- It's cold.
- I don't have a hat.
Then rule 1 will trigger because I have a dollar. Rule 3 will then trigger because then I have a drink and I'm thirsty. Rule 2 will not trigger because all of its conditions weren't met.
That's what I know about rules engines, in a nutshell. Anyway, they're cool. Supposedly, this is how the human mind works, according to ACT-R theory. That was the basis for the "cognitive tutors" that I sort of worked on all summer.
Back to conversations:
I want to start this conversation. So I just want to throw out there this fact: You have a unicycle in your office. He would probably have a rule in his mind that says "If someone mentions the unicycle, say that I belong to a unicycling club." Then I'd have a rule that says: "If someone tells me that he belongs to a unicycling club, do the following: ask how long he's been doing it, and ask if he knows how to juggle too." Etc.
What happened instead? I said "Do you ride a unicycle?" The other two people we were with sort of giggled as if it were a stupid question, because why the hell else would he have a unicycle in his office? The conversation derailed from there.
Point is, rules engines are pretty neat. And if that's how the mind works, that's simple, elegant, powerful, and therefore beautiful.
On a note that seems unrelated but is actually related: a rules engine is a cool thing. Sometimes they're also called Expert Systems. Maybe there's a distinction between those. I don't know. Anyway, here's how it works: you have some facts, and you have some if-then rules. Each rule triggers when certain facts exist.
For example, I could have the following rules:
1. If I have a dollar, I should buy a can of Arizona iced tea from Entropy.
2. If it's cold, and if I have a hat, I should put the hat on.
3. If I have a drink, and if I'm thirsty, I should drink it.
And I have the following facts:
- I have a dollar.
- I'm thirsty.
- It's cold.
- I don't have a hat.
Then rule 1 will trigger because I have a dollar. Rule 3 will then trigger because then I have a drink and I'm thirsty. Rule 2 will not trigger because all of its conditions weren't met.
That's what I know about rules engines, in a nutshell. Anyway, they're cool. Supposedly, this is how the human mind works, according to ACT-R theory. That was the basis for the "cognitive tutors" that I sort of worked on all summer.
Back to conversations:
I want to start this conversation. So I just want to throw out there this fact: You have a unicycle in your office. He would probably have a rule in his mind that says "If someone mentions the unicycle, say that I belong to a unicycling club." Then I'd have a rule that says: "If someone tells me that he belongs to a unicycling club, do the following: ask how long he's been doing it, and ask if he knows how to juggle too." Etc.
What happened instead? I said "Do you ride a unicycle?" The other two people we were with sort of giggled as if it were a stupid question, because why the hell else would he have a unicycle in his office? The conversation derailed from there.
Point is, rules engines are pretty neat. And if that's how the mind works, that's simple, elegant, powerful, and therefore beautiful.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)