Audio dispatches from my Halloween Chipotle run...

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Tenor Tips!

Segway Gliding in the Rain

Today was the first day that it was both autumn and rainy at the same time, and it was somewhat harrowing riding on the Segway! An audio post follows...

Testing Jawbone on city street

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Testing the Jawbone headset

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Vote for your favorite personalized license plate!

I am registering my car in DC, and I realized that I can pick out a nifty vanity plate for just a pittance more. I've narrowed my choices down to these four (all of which are available), and I would love if you could voice your opinion in the comments!

I have a definite favorite, and I will explain my reasoning after the vote. (Don't want to do it beforehand because I don't want to taint the voting pool.) :-)

Office Space 2: Milton's Revenge

Now that I am getting out of the house every day and wandering downtown like a productive member of society, my mind has been active, and several neat little observations have bubbled up in my brain lately.

Unfortunately, also like a productive member of society, I am pooped when I get home and all I want to do is veg. So today is not the day that I will post those nifty observations on my Web site. However, you are in for a treat.

I have always been a fan of trailer remixes, and I just ran across a VERY well done remix of Office Space, turning this ingenious comedy into a rather effective psychological thriller. I present it here for y'all. Enjoy! :-)

Two Mile Jog... via Segway!

For those of you who have the curiosity to click over to my Fitness site (graph on the right will get you there), you know that I have attempted to take up running lately. Err, jogging. Using Google Earth, I mapped out a nifty 2-mile jog that happens to have a lot of hills, which sucks, but goes through my very pretty neighborhood, which rocks.

Because I can't bring you all on my jog, I have decided to bring my jog to you! I hereby present the 2 miles I have so-far jogged three times... VIA SEGWAY! Enjoy.



Edit: My goodness, that looks like Shiite after YouTube gets through with it... hmm. Well, I have reduced the physical size of the video so that might look a little better. If you want to see the original, come on over to my place! :-)

Public Anonymity has Lost its Lustre

I started a new temp job this morning somewhere downtown, and I decided not to take my Segway because A) it was too cold, and B) I like to scope out a work situation before I bring the Segway down. Are the sidewalks generally wide enough and not too crowded? (I don't like to use the Segway where the sidewalk is way too packed, like M St. In Georgetown!) Will there be a good place to lock it up during the day? And so on.

It turns out that this location is quite Segway-friendly. The sidewalks are wide and mostly clear even during the morning rush, and there are plenty of nice bike racks right in front of the building. (I used to be hesitant to leave the Segway parked outside all day, but I am pretty sure that if I double lock it -- U-lock and cable lock -- and set the alarm, it'll be okay.)

Since I started using the Segway, I started missing something that I didn't realize I would miss until it was gone: my Public Anonymity. I hadn't realized how nice it was to not be Stared At all the time -- until I started getting stared at ALL THE TIME. My loss of public anonymity was actually a major thing, causing me to not take the Segway out as much as I might have otherwise.

So, it's a funny thing... as I was standing there after work today, waiting for the D1 bus for 20 minutes and finally settling on the D6, which would mean a transfer on Wisconsin Ave. but at least it would get me out of the damn cold -- I realized that if I were taking the Segway, I could have been HOME by now. And that would have been awesome.

It seems public anonymity is not all it's cracked up to be. :-)

A bit of choral goodness

As most of you probably know, I sing tenor in the Choral Arts Society of Washington. As most of you probably don't know, we're singing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony this week (i.e. "Ode to Joy") with the National Symphony Orchestra at Kennedy Center. Most of you probably don't know this, because unlike in years' past, I have not flooded everybody's e-mail inbox with requests to Come To My Concert! Why? Eh, just hasn't occurred to me, really. The Core Group of friends who traditionally come to my concerts has dissipated somewhat, with everybody flung out to all corners of the globe, and so there's not much reason to send out a mass e-mail.

Tonight we had our final choral rehearsal (before we rehearse with the orchestra tomorrow), and for your listening pleasure, I was able to record a few snippets from rehearsal -- along with our conductor's energetic commentary and direction. It's a little soprano-heavy, as that's where the recorder was placed, but it's still fun to listen to. Enjoy!







Also, if you want to come, the Thursday and Saturday concerts are sold out, but Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. is still available.

I'd love to see you!

An Open Letter to BenKepple.com

Mr. Kepple,

As you may know, we at BeforeISleep.net are great fans of your online property, "Benjamin Kepple's Daily Rant." In fact, your property has been an inspiration, encouraging us to post even more frequently than we otherwise are inclined to. Since you have been such an inspiration, we feel that we can no longer simply sit back and observe while your heretofore fine blog continues its long and maddening technological decline.

We speak, dear friend, of your continuing lack of comments. You posted on this topic a while back, essentially throwing your hands up, saying there is nothing you could do because you don't know how to fix the comment feature. And so incredibly worthy topics, such as the recent discovery of a brain-eating amoeba waging war against our nation's swimmers, go UNCOMMENTED. As loyal BeforeISleep.net readers know, often the Comments section are as entertaining as the original post itself, and I'm sure that loyal Rant readers would relish the opportunity to wax at length on the comparative dangers of the futuristic brain-eating amoeba against the unspeakably horrid Guinea Worm (video here - jump to 7:15).

Comments also increase the popularity of one's online property. First, the ability to "leave a comment" engages readers in a way unaccomplishable by simply lurking in the shadows. Right now, the only way Kepple readers can comment on your blog entries is by e-mailing other random Kepple readers, or by posting a response on one's own blog -- both solutions are less-than-optimal. Second, when a casual visitor to BenKepple.com scans the entries, he will see that NONE of them has ANY COMMENTS. The constant "0 comments" gives casual visitors a very negative impression of the popularity of your site, and they will simply move on, reasoning that, if no one else listens to you, why should he?

To that end, we propose a solution. We, the proprietors of BeforeISleep.net, hereby offer to FIX YOUR GODDAMN COMMENTS. We are sure it is not as hard as you are making it out to be. We will, of course, require confidential details to your site (i.e. user name and password), and you of course are free to change the password just after we fix the problem, so that you need not worry about us having access to your site in perpetuity. We encourage you to contact us at your earliest convenience, while bearing in mind that this is a limited-time offer.

We look forward to hearing from you, so that your loyal readers will once again be able to engage in the time-honored tradition of Internet comments, as demonstrated in this lovely video (of which you are already familiar):



Cordially,
BeforeISleep.net