The Jack Noodle Journal

So last night I get home and do a little more investigating to find out what the band Placebo had been doing since I had forgotten about them. Turns out they continued on with their work making the tunes without my listening. They even released an album last year. I ask K if she remembered the band Placebo and she says we listened to them so much that we wrecked them. I tells K they have a newish release and she says drop everything and go get it.

I went to my local CD hut and purchased the newish Placebo CD, “Meds”. Pretty dang good my friends. I can see now why we wrecked them. Pretty solid release all the way through. It’s an awesome listen in the headphones while riding the bus. I need to listen to it about 50 more times I think before wrecking it. My favorite moment so far after one and a half listens is the guest appearance by Mr. Michael Stipe on track 10 “Broken Promise”.

A couple of things I noticed when purchasing my CD this time:

First off, I skipped buying the special edition DVD version of the album. Sure it had some nice things on it, and I nearly bought it just to see Placebo play with The Cure. After my fiasco last year searching stores for the limited edition Goldfrapp CD/DVD I think I may be cured of that marketing gimmick. Sure it’s nice to see the videos and footage of the rockers but I really only watch it once and then just leave it in the double CD package that always breaks. I think that the next CD/DVD combo I get will really have to be special for me to plop down my extra 4 dollars. Maybe when the new NIN comes out this year.

The second thing I noticed about myself after my transaction was that I automatically raced home, opened the disc and downloaded the tunes to my iPod before putting it into our regular stereo. Hmm… yep. No turning back for this guy I guess. I do think I am done with purchasing from the iTunes store for a season. The Apple store doesn’t require enough of a commitment from the music fan. It’s too easy and I don’t think I appreciate the music as much when it comes to me that way.

The weekend was way too short. I think weekends should be extended one more day.
I’m going to write an official to see if we can get that on some sort of ballot.

The weekend was alright. No real monumental events took place.

A cat got ran over in front of the house on Saturday night. It was awful. I think I dwelt on it and thought about it too much over the last few days. It kind of bummed me out. That’s around the fourth critter to lose their life by car on that road since we’ve lived there. That’s why our kids are leashed up to the gills when they leave the front door. Pierre, the kitty stays inside. No outdoors for him. I wish more people would keep their cats inside in our neighborhood. You know the vet told us that cats don’t mind being inside 100% of the time.
Enough of that. Rest in peace kitty.

I started what now looks like a long process of backing up and archiving my files yesterday. I’m attempting to empty my external hard drive. I’m starting to think that I should just buy a new one and keep my old drive full. I burned 6 DVDs of old school work and other gems. That’s around 27 gigs of ones and zeroes. I have one folder of video work from school that is 25 gigs by itself. I don’t know how I’m going to get all that onto DVDs. Digital video takes up quite a bit of space.

I found some MP3 files during my file sifting. There were a couple of albums that are going to get added to the iPod.

Oh my gosh. I listened to “Without You I’m Nothing” by Placebo during my commute this morning. I forgot how great that album is. I think I’m going to listen to it again right now. What happen to Placebo? I think they are still at it. Why had I forgotten about them? I need to look into their newer work. They actually are better than some of the bands that I have been gushing about in the years since forgetting about Placebo.

Okay, time to start my Monday. Get some good work going.

hey yo!

What’s the dilly oh? I don’t know if you folks know it or not, but it’s FRIDAY!

First off, let me say happy birthday to the wonderful Martin. I know your special day isn’t today but your birthday weekend begins this evening. Time to party my brother. Martin is an old man. Second oldest member of the Super Friends. Hey Martin, thanks for moving away from Texas and into our lives. We are better for it. Thanks for putting up with Lianne.

I have been battling a cold all week. I think I have the upper hand today. I am still coughing and my nose is running, but I think I beat this thing.
I used sheer will power to avoid the full sickness. I also took some cold medicine that gave me two nights of weird dreams.

Hopefully nobody caught my germs while I was fist fighting with my snot.
I have been trying to sneeze into the bend of my arm, onto my sleeve because I have heard that that actually spreads less germs than sneezing on your hand does. This morning I tried that move while holding a pint of hot coffee in my hand and almost drenched my keyboard and monitor. I caught myself in time though.

The weekend!
We’ve got a few things planned.
Along with Martin, I believe that Kathleen is having a birthday weekend. Birthday fun for everyone! According to my good buddy K, Kathleen and Lynarra will be coming down to the Noodle Compound for a sleep over pajama party.

I’ve been turning over some ideas lately on what I could be doing to feed my hunger for creativity. Why can’t I just be satisfied with punching the clock, cleaning up photographs and making clipping paths all day? I’m starting to get restless at the office. Are people actually relaxed at their jobs? Can one be satisfied with their current position and not be constantly thinking about what’s next?

Perhaps I have been burned and the scar tissue is not allowing me to be comfortable. I have been in the work’s dried up, laid off, your job isn’t important, you suck position a time or two in the past (as long time readers of the journals can attest). Now I seem to be untrusting when things are actually going well and work is plentiful. Things are going good at the office and they are happy with my work, but I still feel like I need to be on guard.

I’ve also been wondering if being in production is something I could still be doing when I am 63. 63 is quite a ways away, but will I still be working at the same office in the same cube when I’m that old? When you ask yourself that question, the obvious answer is no. I don’t think it’s possible in my current line of work to stay in one place that long.

So if I’m not going to be at this office when I’m 63, what sort of path do I need to be heading down to be in a good place as an old man?

Gosh, after typing out that bit of business, I’m starting to think that maybe I need to calm down some.
I probably have a couple more years left before I need to start panicking.

I guess I’m awfully anxious I might be missing some sort of opportunity that is passing me by while my nose is in the monitor. Maybe worrying about staying up to date, onboard with the current software trends and tools is part of the game. Maybe all of you other kids that have at least one finger in some sort of tech touched field are as nervous as I am. I already feel like being in Photoshop 100% of the day has caused what little web coding and Flash skills I picked up in school to atrophy.

So what to do?

On the creative front last year I had a couple of projects I played around with. I should go back and review those posts.
I think when we last left off I was thinking about designing websites for mobile devices. I still think that would be fun but I am going to put that on hold for now.

The direction I’m going to head this year is towards digital video. For whatever reason I have been resisting the video world for too long. I’m now going to embrace it. Being here at the photo studio has actually rubbed my elbows up against video production a time or two. I went and shot a shoot and turned down some other video work. I didn’t feel I was up to speed to be a video guy.
I’m going to get up to speed. They would actually get video work here if they had a video guy.

I was schooled in the art of video production while in college and enjoyed it quite a bit. Hmmm. Of course I could do this. It might actually be pretty fun.

So that’s the strategy I am thinking about implementing. I’m going to become a Final Cut Pro wiz and go for it.

I’m going to be loading up the work hours this week. As much work as I can take. Get some overtime. I was thinking about it on Sunday and there really is no reason not to work as much as you can during the winter. There’s not much going on. You’re not going to be playing out in the sunshine, or going to a lake for a swim, why not stay in and make some money. Luckily there is plenty of work to be had at the office currently. We are quite busy. I worked a couple of hours extra yesterday and I’ll be working a couple of hours extra today.

I’ve got some plans. These plans require a quick burst of cash.
I typed up some strategies on Sunday. I’ve got a new scheme. I’ll post up my writings on this scheme as soon as I complete the current train of thought.

I was on a heavy metal kick yesterday. Thanks for that Martin and G. The hard rock really wakes you up in the morning. A couple of the many metal albums I listened to yesterday were the newish ISIS album “In the Absence of Truth” and the classic “South of Heaven” by Slayer. I’m really digging the ISIS. I have already acquired a couple of their earlier albums to check out. I think G is bringing in some of the boys from Brazil, Sepultura’s work. We’ve got the rock.

Right now I am listening to the un-heavy metal Porno for Pyros. Oh Perry how I love thee. Yes, we will make great pets.

Hey the President’s State of the Union is tonight. I know I’ll be tuning in.
I was wondering this morning while getting ready for work, what would happen if they put the should we stay or should we go issue in Iraq to a vote for the American people to vote on? They would never do that would they? This really isn’t a government of the people for the people is it?

Although, I guess we did technically get to vote on the Iraq issue when we voted for Bush in 2000 and in 2004.

Yeah Noodle, stop bitching. This is what the American people voted for. If you don’t like it move to Canada.

Good morning all.

Last night we broke out of our hibernation routine and went and saw the movie “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Oh my. Wow. It was pretty amazing.
It’s a strange amazing though. It’s definitely an unsettling movie. It’s a weird kind of unsettling though. I can’t quite put it into words.
I think it knocks you around a bit but in a way that is unfamiliar.

There’s nothing new in it and yet it feels like everything is new and unusual. Like when you were a kid going to a friend’s house from school that you didn’t know very well. An overnighter that your parents arrange and your friend’s neighborhood is in a different part of town that you hadn’t really spent time in before. Your friend’s toys are all ones you don’t have, the neighbor kids that come over are weird, and maybe the friend even has cable channels that your parents wouldn’t necessarily want you watching.

If you were planning on seeing Pan’s Labyrinth, stop reading this rambling and get in line to see it right now. I think it damaged my brain into thinking I was a movie critic that needed to articulate it’s greatness for the readers of my newspaper. I won’t say too much more about it because I don’t want to taint your experience.

I will say though that I definitely know what that warning, “contains scenes of intensity that may not be suitable for all viewers” you read on the backs of DVD boxes or before TV shows means now. Once again though, hard to put your finger on in the words department. I mean, I am a fan of the “Saw” movies and loved “Devil’s Rejects” so why would I be squeamish? Pan’s is nothing like Saw or Devil’s Rejects. I don’t know why I mentioned them now. It’s not a gruesome movie. I think that what makes it intense is the juxtaposition of the fascism elements and the childish fairy tale elements. I think that was the point. It’s a strange combination of story elements that dance together perfectly. There are some brutal scenes in it though that will make the Dark Crystal, Harry Potter crowd pissed.

I’m saying too much now. I should stop and let you see for yourself.

Yes. I am in the middle of doing up some good chores. We are going to get the Noodle Compound cleaned up folks!

Uh oh. K just got back from the dog park. I’m going have to get back to working now.

I was in the middle of washing the dishes. Then I’ll be vacuuming. I would love to get the junk heap that is the computer lab in order, but we’ll see.
I need to make a list of things I need to do. I was big on lists while in school. I should start that up again. One of the things on my list will be to get my computer files in order. I need to empty out my portable hard drive and clean off my older computer. I need to get that stuff burnt onto DVD. I also really, really need to back up this here journal.

Okay, back to it.

Well, there were a few patches of slush and icy spots left on the ground on my way in to the office this morning. There was some sort of moisture coming down when I headed inside. It was a misty, fog, drizzly moisture. I wonder if it is going to freeze up? I think it’s a few degrees too warm to freeze. I’m already tired of our week of winter.

We Oregonians don’t do well with freezing weather do we? Everybody went nuts this week. There were car crashes everywhere. People spinning out, pretending to play pinball with their cars. People sliding their sleds down hills and into traffic. Drunk parents dragging their kids behind their trucks and slamming them into brick walls. Hospital emergency rooms filled with weather related injuries. And oh yes, a snowball fight that ended in a stabbing.

Nice.
You crazy Oregonians are freaks.
Thank God we only have one week of freezing weather a year.

No sledding for this guy. I played it safe. I inched along the icy sidewalks and avoided children with snowballs.

K had 2 days off from work. Adding those 2 days to her Martin Luther King holiday, that gave her a 5 day weekend.
Sweet.
No such day off luck for me.
I did oversleep an hour on Thursday.

Now it’s Friday! WOO HOO!
I’m looking forward to this weekend.

I came to a realization yesterday at lunch while looking through the Willy Week with my work chums. We were looking for upcoming concerts that we wanted to attend. I realized that I am now officially in the midst of my winter hibernation. None of the concerts coming up could woo me out of my cozy winter cave. It would really take quite a bit to get me out of the house on a cold weekday evening. I have no desire to leave the house once getting home from work. Hiding out. Maybe I will awake from my slumber come spring.

There are a couple of movies out at the theaters now that I am going to force myself out of the house for. The first one we are going to see on the big screen is “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the second of course is “Inland Empire“. I am way excited about both flicks.

Hopefully they will give my cold winterized heart a jolt of inspiration.

Yes, a touch of the doldrums is present. A tad blue.

I actually just thought of a new scheme and direction that has lifted my spirits somewhat this afternoon.

We’ve got snow! Hold on one second. Let me look over my cubicle wall to see if it is still snowing.
Yep. It’s still coming down strong.

I was an hour late into this office this morning. The commute was a snowy gridlocked mess.
There was a bus that slid across the road blocking traffic.
The bus I finally got on had to drive down Belmont the wrong way on the one way to get through.
I made it on the bus just in time. I think they stopped them up after I got on.
I had to wait a long time for the MAX. The yellow line was shut down due to some sort of frozen something or other.

The snow is gorgeous.
I was bummed that I didn’t have my camera with me to take pictures of the snow falling downtown.

K got a snow day. She doesn’t have to go in to school. I talked to her on the phone and told her to take some photos. We need to post some pictures of the snow for the Baltimore kids to look at.

It’s hard to work with all this winter wonderland excitement.

I think that the weather people cried wolf one too many times. Nobody believed that we could have an icy commute. Did the weather people even predict this? I didn’t hear anything about the storm coming. This 2007 blizzard caught them with there pants down.

Talk around the water cooler is that the commute home tonight is going to be even worse than this mornings.

I’ve got a few topics on the ole mental burner today.

First off, “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd is a freaking awesome album. I love it. I listened to it on my good ole iPod earlier today. It sounds great through the headphones. If you haven’t heard it then listen to it soon. You could probably even check the record out at the library. Do they still check out records? One of my favorite tunes on the album is “Welcome to the Machine”. I am such a rocker.

This morning I was thinking about how crazy it is how quickly I became addicted to listening to my iPod during my morning commute. I remember sitting on the bus just a little while ago thinking how those drones plugged into their headsets were missing the sounds of life and the morning bus ride. No more. I am here to tell you that headphones during the commute is the only way to go. I didn’t realize how much crap was getting in until I tuned it all out. Just not being able to hear lame ass cellphone conversations is reward enough. It was weird at first not being able to hear my surroundings. It’s kind of strange, but I don’t actually have to hear to get to and from work. With the hearing plugged up I am making sure to look around more often. I would sure hate to get ran over by a car that I couldn’t hear because Snoop Dogg was turned up too loud.

With all of my geek attention focused on the iPhone this week I forgot to talk about my new work machine. Yep. The boss man bought some of us new computers to start the new year off with at the office. It’s pretty sweet. Talk about a great way to boost worker morale! I am now writing this post on my brand new duel processor Mac Pro tower. It has 5 gigs of RAM! 5 Gigs. I can’t really wrap my brain around that much RAM yet. My first home Mac had 8 Megs of RAM. I was excited when my second home computer had 256 Megs.

This is my first experience with the new “Intel inside” Macs. So far so good. Believe it or not, there have actually been a few hiccups with this machine. It stopped working twice yesterday and dumped my work. I have noticed a few things kind of dragging in Photoshop. I am eagerly awaiting Adobe’s CS3 so we can really see how Photoshop is supposed to work on these super computers. My Wacom tablet was acting kind of wonky also. I had to download the universal binary version of the tablet’s driver.

My last topic I’m daydreaming about today is schooling. My good buddy G has been turning over the idea of looking at going back to school. I’ve been snooping over her shoulder here and there, sampling some of the catalogs. Man oh man, that shit is expensive! I’m sure I’ve said it here before, but really, education should be free. I would love to keep going to school but the idea of adding to my already mammoth student loan bills makes me sick.

This year I am going to be my own school, start my own course and be my own professor.
Here are the text books that I am currently reading for my class:

1.) “The Education of an Art Director” Edited by Steven Heller

2.) “The Business Side of Creativity” by Cameron S. Foote

3.) “Designing for Small Screens” by Studio 7.5

Okay, save the money you are planning on giving the school, give me half of that, buy these text books, come on over Monday morning and I’ll be your professor this term.

Holy moly!
Have you seen the news on the new Apple iPhone?
I watched the Apple keynote at the office. Man, I am mesmerized.
I’m sure thousands are writing about it in the blogosphere now.
I won’t be adding too much to the commentary except a dropped jaw.
It’s almost ridiculous really.
A very cool device.
It’s totally sci-fi.
There’s got to be a catch. Can it really do all that stuff? There must be something wrong with it that hasn’t come to light yet. Maybe not?
I’ve heard grumblings already about the high price.

As frequent visitors to the journal can attest to, I have been looking into the mobile world over the last few months.
The conclusion I came to a few weeks ago was that mobile stuff was cool but I was going to wait 18 month before committing to anything. Boy was I right on the money with that prediction. Could you imagine how annoyed I would be right now if I hooked up with another smart phone?

I probably won’t rush out in June and buy the 1st generation of the iPhone but maybe I’ll be on board a year from now for a later generation. There has to be a few bugs for them to work out right?

What does this mean for folks that want to design websites for mobile devices? The mobile version of Safari that comes with the iPhone reads pages in a regular as they come way and zooms in when you need to read. Will Apple blur the line between pages designed to be viewed on a desktop and pages designed to be viewed on a cellphone?

I think it will be interesting to see how the current mobile device manufactures will be affected by the iPhone over the next few months.