kylevalade

I think that kylevalade.com is officially ready for action.

Hehehehe

Heh, I was checking the stats for the roomies' sites just now and saw that someone using the South Dakota State Government network was apparently checking out the reference I made to America's greatest tourist stop: Wall Drug, South Dakota (Pierre lies to the east about 2 hours). Unfortunately it doesn't show any search terms, but I find it kind of cute to see that South Dakota is so invested in Wall Drug that it likes to see what people think of it.

Git 'r rdy

So apparently Megoez and I are leaving on our big road trip in like 10 days-ish. This would have happened earlier if Sus and Aviva hadn't dropped out last year. But, you know, I'm trying not to hold it against them.

Right now I'm trying to get some good ole road trip mixes goin' on. I'm thinking maybe having it mixed by region, but that might take far too much research. So far I only have the Piedmont blues, which is, I think, relegated to the Carolinas. But I'm not sure what else I could do. Of course, there's REM and the Allman Brothers for Georgia, and KHNO for the Russian segment, but I can't think of anything for, say, New Mexico or Mobile, Alabama. MLK Jr. speeches? I also haven't really gotten Megan's approval for this endeavor.

And then I was kind of thinking it might be fun to do some sort of blog. But it couldn't be some lame couples' road-trip blog with like pictures of Niagara Falls, because that would be stupid. And it couldn't be a blog filled with pictures and information about Wall Drug, because we aren't even going there. Corned Beef Sandwiches Across America? SPRING BREAK '010? Or maybe I could take a stand for colon cancer or see how much beer we can drink through any given 6 hour segment of road (to be determined by adding the digits of time and dividing it by the difference of the digits of time and then multiplying that by pi).

I don't know. The digital aspect of the trip is going to be a disaster. Any ideas?

Ideeuhz

Hai!

New Blog

My new job involves a lot of staring at HTML while I'm busy making mass emails with Exact Target, so I've decided to develop that staring and force it into something practical and make a new blog. Well, come to think of it, I don't know how practical blogs are, but I figure web development might be. The blog is under construction, though, like pretty hardcore. I have a background image in mind, but I haven't had time to make it, and my pirated Photoshop license just expired something "catastrophic" and Gimp is the weirdest program ever, and there's no RSS as of yet, and the padding between the header and the wrapper isn't so hot (in Firefox). I'm really tired, too. BUT, what I'm sort of proud of is the fact that if you make your window smaller, it all shrinks to fit the window!!! Pretty cool, huh? Well, it shrinks to a specified point, unless you're using IE, in which case, there is no point because IE doesn't support min-widths yet for some reason. Turns out that IE and Firefox/Chrome are super different. The differences actually blew me away, though I had already known that they were pretty different, and I haven't even tried Opera and Safari yet.

Anyways, check out KyleValade.com. The title so far is "This is Black and White", but that was originally just a placeholder, because the page was pretty much just black and white. I'm not sure if that will change.

Dammit, I'm going to bed. This daylight savings thing, sweet as it will be, might end up being sort of killer on Monday morning.

Happy daylight savings.

The Hegemonic Role of Physics 11 from the Mid-1700's Through the Early 21st Century

I didn't want to go anyways. So there.

Oh, C'mon

Sorry for another photo post, but it's pretty much the only exciting thing I've been doing aside from work. I've recently gotten pretty into Marco Breuer's photography and he had this one where he put hair on some paper and did something to it. I can't find the image right now and it's late so I'm not going to try that hard. So I kind of did the same thing - dipping hair into developer and then putting it on paper and then turning a light on and stuff. My first photogram, I guess.



Except for the background is unfortunately more pink than it looks here. I think because the light was on while it was in the stop bath.

Wait, so I got some more...

OK, so work called me...well, actually, I ended up calling them to see if I was working this evening like I usually do, and they told me that I didn't have to come in because nobody was buying any sandwiches. I actually hadn't thought of it, but it just occurred to me that the masses were probably eating some paczkis instead of sandwiches today. Or they were all in New Orleans or something. This is all based on the assumption that today was Mardi Gras, which I haven't confirmed yet. So anyways, instead of working, I went down to the darkroom again. And when I emerged, I was holding these high above my head. Very carefully, though, so I wouldn't get fingerprints on them.

I think they're cooler than the last ones. But, you know, that's just my humble opinion.

On RapidShare

RAPIDSHARE SUXXORZ!!!

I haven't been able to download anything the past 4 times I've tried (that's over the past few weeks). It keeps telling me that all the download spots are reserved for premium members.

Darkroom BAM

I've been in my darkroom for about 10 hours over the past two days. And I managed to get a couple of things that I thought were okay. Except that the whites were mostly grey which I didn't realize until after the pictures had dried. I guess Photoshop could change those whites right quick, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to do that yet.

So here is the better part of what I've been working on...

This one (^) and the first one are actually from the same negative, if you couldn't already tell.

And this one is from the same negative as the second one...this is just zoomed in on the right side. Why didn't I just put the similar ones together? Well, because they didn't show up next to each other in the selection window and I would rather type this out than drag and drop their images now.

Anyways, I'm pretty excited about these and the ones that will be coming later. Let me know what you think!

PS. I didn't realize how small those images are. Maybe I'll put up some larger ones later.

PPS. The rotation on those was pretty arbitrary. It was kind of hard to discern the bottom from the top.

Al-Qaeda6969.com

Wait, and I'm serious, I want to make an Al-Qaeda6969.com. The rival religious group will be AL Qaida, headed by the radical fanatic Al-h'Ands.

A New Era in Song Titles

Let it be known that one day an album will be made wherein the song titles will all be based off of song lengths interpreted as area codes. Thus, a song that is 3 minutes and 13 seconds (3:13) will have something to do with Detroit, MI (or Grosse Pointe). Or the title of something that is 5 minutes and 86 seconds in length will deal with St. Claire Shores, Harrison Township, Roseville, or the rest of Macomb County, MI.

New Blog Idea???

So I was reading the newspaper today and it was talking about a recent US/Yemen attack on al-Qaida operations in Yemen. It then went on to say that "Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said in a statement, dated from last week and posted online Sunday, that the first airstrike was conducted by U.S. jets."

Essentially, one of these days, I think an al-Qaeda blog is in order. I tried to see if al-qaeda.blogspot.com was open, but of course someone took it.

Chicago Brick Glass

N. Washtenaw and W. Medill

I'm sure you can guess whose apartment this is.

Muzak

I was just listening to this song and thought that it was pretty. It's kind of a compromise between static and Arvo Part.

It's by The Holy See off of their album Fucking Physics and is called "Untitled 03" - 299kbps.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ETTJKY2L

Blogblogblogblogblogblogblogblogblgoblgoblogblgobblog

I just found this blog via the Postcards' myspace page. I haven't really flipped through it yet, but it sounds way awesome. It's gotta have something good. The premise of the blog is that this guy works at a radio station and is given CD's by Canadian bands that are fated to never make anything of themselves, and these are the ones that he likes most or that stand out to him in some way. It might be notable that the Postcards are included in this list of ne'er-do-wells, but perhaps not.

http://weirdcanada.com/

Run Lola Run!

So now that I'm back home again, there are many interesting and exciting events. One of them is that there are coyotes roaming our windy suburban streets. The mangy curs have eaten a couple of dogs that were blocked in by those electric perimeters. The dogs can't get out or they get shocked while the coyotes are free to get in. So the coyotes saunter on in and eat the dogs, but not before dragging them outside of the electric fence and into the street. It's very insensitive. I actually saw one of the coyotes tonight, it was my first glimpse of wildlife since Dirk. I called the cops to report it, but I think they thought I was drunk, but I was really just tired. Anyways, it's kind of a scandal because some people are afraid of letting their dogs outside. Others think that those people are just being soft. Our faire citye will soon collapse. Regardless, there was a survival article in the Grosse Pointe News today. I am going to quote the entire thing because it is so ridiculous. It sounds like how Don Delillo would have written in high school. Oh yeah, and keep in mind that this article was on the front page.

December 24, 2009
Kathy Rinaldi walked around the corner of her house and into the stare of the coyote that had just tried to eat her dog.

"There he was, standing big as life, bold as can be," Rinaldi said.

"Get the hell out of my yard," she yelled.

The coyote stood a moment longer.

"Not even afraid."

Then he took off.

"They trot like a horse," Rinaldi said.

That is definitely my favorite part of the article. There are American values and chills. There is also some ambiguity as to who is saying "Not even afraid." Is it the woman? Is it the coyote? Who knows. Anyways, the rest of the article is as follows.

She and her husband wrapped their injured dog, a 13-pound, nearly 3-year-old Havanese named Lola, in towels and rushed her to a 24-hour veterinary clinic.

"She has about six puncture wounds and a laceration," said Rinaldi. "She's lucky to be alive. She has to be on antibiotics for two weeks."

The attack happened at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, in the Rinaldi's illuminated, unfenced backyard on Belle Meade in Grosse Pointe Shores.

Lola had just been let out, hooked to a leash so she couldn't roam, before bedtime. Rinaldi had just sat back down inside the house when the dog cried out.

"It was almost like a human scream," Rinaldi said. "My husband and I flew up. I opened the door. She was scooting around from the backyard to the patio. She was holding her leg up, bleeding and howling."

Rinaldi said the vet who treated Lola was the same one who tended the Cavalier King Charles a coyote killed two weeks ago on Dodge Place in the City of Grosse Pointe.

"The vet said these animals (coyotes) are capable of getting over fences to attack their prey," Rinaldi said. "The vet told me I may have been fortunate to have Lola on a leash because coyotes usually just grab them and run."

She's been seeing coyotes on the street for about 2 1/2 years.

"We have tons of small dogs on this block," Rinaldi said. "The coyotes are ready and waiting."

She also frequently babysits her nearly 2-year-old granddaughter.

"I'm afraid to have her in the backyard," Rinaldi said. "She's little, too. A lot littler than a coyote."

Rinaldi feels guilty for putting Lola at risk.

"My husband's been telling me not to put her out on the leash at night by herself," she said. "That's what I did. She was like bait. My wish is that (people) know they can't leave their animals unattended in the yard."

Rinaldi said her sister-in-law on Oxford near Holiday in Grosse Pointe Woods sees coyotes regularly.

The sister-in-law suspects Holiday has become a coyote corridor linking open spaces at the country club in the Farms and Lochmoor Club in the Woods.

Here is a picture of our little champ:

And to be honest, I don't know why they even bothered to mention 2 year olds. I also didn't really know what a coyote was. Here is a picture:

Vicious, eh?

Source: http://www.grossepointenews.com/Articles-i-2009-12-24-241162.112112_Dog_survives_attack.html

Well, I Guess That's It

So I handed in a whopping 6000 word essay to my professor last night - the first of 5 missed homework assignments that I was planning on handing in this weekend. I woke up this afternoon to this glorious email, informing me that my days of university are over, as these "precises" or "preces" (I'm not sure which is the proper term, it was misspelled on the syllabus) were the only things I had left to write before I started packing for home.

Also, I had managed to get a 25 or so percent on my exam, which was 22%. These precises were a weekly deal and worth 28%. Frankly, I think that the professor's expectations were insane.

Here we are. PHIL498B - Intensive Kant Seminar. Email from Prof. VZ:

Kyle,
you have managed to miss even the absolute deadline for late submission of precises. As a sign of good will, on a basis of rough reading I am giving you 50%. But that is it!
V.Z.

Funny, right? It makes me think of a movie about high school in the 80's.

I better get those old AP scores ready to send to the university.

Baby, It's Cold Both Inside and Out

I woke up late this afternoon after finally watching Duck, You Sucker! which was so good, I kind of want to watch it again even though the movie is almost three hours long. But I also downloaded The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, so I should probably just watch that instead.

But anyways, I woke up this morning, right, and it was pretty cold outside. My sister told me that it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit here. I wasn't able to verify this, as I was still in bed. So I was lying there cold and unwilling to get out of bed even though it was dark already, and I was lying there, right, just lying there in bed kind of cold, right? And you know when you're lying there in bed, just lying there like everyone does every once in a while, and you start to get hungry, and then you have to pee, but you're lying there, and you just want to keep lying there, so you don't get out. Well let me tell you, among other things, I started thinking about food. So I asked myself: "Kyle, what do you want for dinner?" And I answered myself: "Why, Kyle, a big pot of chili sounds right delicious." So I kept laying there for a little while going over the ingredients that I might need, and then I got my computer and brought it into bed with me, and then I went on facebook and checked my email, gmail, and Reader. And then I thought: Jenny's blog has a delicious looking chili recipe, made even more delicious by the fact that she put some coffee in it. So I called for Dirk to help me out of bed, and he brought me my pants and helped me put them on and told me to dress warm on my way to the grocery store.

So...that's the chili down below. I pretty much used Jenny's recipe except I think I put in a lot more tomato than she did, using a large can of whole tomatoes and a large can of diced tomatoes. I also only used one onion. And I added some cumin and spicy red pepper flakes and sour cream. Oh yeah, and I also threw in some ground beef. Medium lean.

It was pretty delicious, but maybe a little too sweet? I'm also not sure if I'd put in all of that cinnamon again. But delicious. I even tried her suggestion of making some cornbread (from Matt's leftover Trader Joe mix) and that was delicious too. Delicious. Delicious.

In one of these pictures you can see how my burner has a hat.

On Sonneteers

YO SHAKESPEARE SHOULDA WRITTN SOME SONNETZ BOUT SHORTYS, 40'S N BLUNTZ.