Dusty Chalk

And in approximately one hour, The Gathering will be streaming their new album for the next day (0:01 to 23:59 CET). That's assuming they are observing daylight savings time. Somewhere here, apparently.

I need help -- I now work in a place where I can no longer take elevators everywhere -- this is actually a first for me. So my little roller laptop bag is no longer sufficient -- I need a backpack or a messenger bag that will hold one or two laptops and all my manbag stuff. Any suggestions? My laptop roller bag can best be described as a "double-wide" -- or rather, double-deep. I also need to figure out a decent way to carry 2 or 3 sixes of beer tea. I used to strap them to the handle of the roller bag, but now I think I need a cooler with an over-the-shoulder carry handle. I'm thinking one of the more mid-size Red Oxx duffels (read: one step larger than anyone else's usual daily carry), plus something like an Otterbox for the laptop. EDIT: I could also be convinced of a backpack (for the laptop and associated gear) and a duffelish thing (for the drinks), if someone thinks that combination would work well. I'm afraid of getting two duffels because I'd be tempted to throw them both over the opposite shoulder, and then I'd be afraid someone would come across my decomposing corpse after having strangulated myself. I put together a spreadsheet of the Red Oxx bags so I could sort on size and price. That little monkey bag...er...I mean, that Kat Pack is pretty high value for the money.

That's pretty much why I don't play video games, right there.

Took the young'n to the vet. Cut my thumb on the cage getting him out. Doc comes in. "This isn't what it looks like." She procedes to tell me a story in which it was what it looked like. I laughed. Proceded to get a bandage. Told someone else later in the day, when asked what happened, "I donated blood...at the vet's office." They laughed. I let them think it was what it looked like. Weighed him, took his temperature, felt him up for his organs. He tried to hide by sticking his head behind the monitor. The rest of him was visible. It was comical. We both laughed. Still 16 lbs. "I wouldn't feed him any more. I mean, still feed him, I just wouldn't feed him more. And we should probably keep an eye on his weight." He is slightly overweight, so not shocked. But he still rips around the apartment, so I'm not putting him on a diet yet. I still need to get him a playmate. (BTW, for the ones wondering -- Linda kept Diego [kitten in my avatar, story is elsewhere]. I don't really have a problem with that -- I mean, I would have preferred to keep him myself, but she took care of him during his formative weeks while I was unemployed, and they bonded, and I saw that bond, and I want what's best for him, so...I let her keep him without putting up a fight. I know she will take care of him well. And she did say that Bobby was welcome to come over for future play dates.)

That sucks, Marc. Haj -- best of luck on as painless a process as possible, glad it wasn't worse.

That's one way to get more than 3 oz. of liquid on a plane... Glad it was only a close call, Wayne, I would have been mortified at the potential loss of my laptop.

Chris Hemsworth's smile, even visible at such a resolution, FTW.

No, you really needed to post that into the Fostex thread, so that Al could see it and buy it for hisself.

You never measured the Leatherheads, did you, Tyll?

Uh...no. Portishead will still sound like Portishead, and Justin Bieber will still sound like Justin Bieber. It's asking a bit much to expect headphones to actually transform one's music. If you want a huge step up, listen to better music. (Yeah, every once in a while I got to say this.) (Fish era Marillion might sound like Genesis, though. And I mean that in the best possible way.)

Oops, wait, wrong version... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_FaXMvrpsI

Yeah, but also that he didn't have, was the implication.

Those are a lot more than 2K, though, aren't they? I was actually trying to think of what the best closed currently-available headphones were, and I couldn't think of anything really top tier, like those or the Leatherheads. If I recall correctly, there was something else that sounded really boomy without adequate control (read: amplification), but can't for the life of me remember what. I'm sure there were lots of things. Oh, wait, I remember: the DT-770. I am not averse to a little EQ in those cases, though. It's easier to subtract bass than it is to add it, when it comes to headphones. Does Audio-Technica have anything out right now? Blue-Tin has the Raffinato for just under a thou, and the next one down is the 950 (which I vaguely recall prefering to the Raffinato). I did see JohnWMclean's post in the meet reactions thread over on head-fi, that's what triggered me to go look for comments here -- I didn't find any.

Damn, I wish I had US$2K to drop just to hear these... link

^ Dusty approves. Me: on a Devics bender.

Actually, Mosaic was probably their father.

Happy Birthday! (party favour noise)

Moar here.

Happy Birthday, Ian! (party favor noise)

Exhausted is a predicate adjective, therefore fucking is an adverb. Or an interjection. In the second, 'hell' is an expletive, so it'd probably be better to think of it as an expletive phrase. I'm not sure what the difference is between an interjection and an expletive, so don't ask me. I wasn't using two different words there for any particular reason.

Congrats to Chris and Stephen on their weight loss. I need to start exercising again, I'm tired of carrying around all this extra weight. Mike, your vacation pics continue to blow my mind with how awesome they are. I really need to plan a less urban vacation for my next one. Knucks -- I agree with what Wayne said. I was thinking it when you posted it: life must go on, just like I said to Chris.

Yeezh, Knucks. Just yeezh.

Okay, go. (Keep it to ones I can watch please, just so I don't get too frustrated.)