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I served in the active duty U.S. Marine Corps for five years. That’s a simply stated, sometimes unbelievable fact. If you knew me before I enlisted, it was probably a surprise, to say the least. However, from the tears shed over a lack of biscuits and gravy at the Cracker Barrel to the day I received my official DD-214 in the mail, certain types of music and, more specifically, certain songs, have managed to assign themselves to my memories.

Here, after 5 years out of active service, I have found a need to revisit this portion of my time in and to really consider the implications of each piece and, in many cases, to even figure out why the song associates itself with a particular year. Although my voluntary visit with Uncle Sam was not always easily defined by the 12-month calendar, for the sake of digestion, I will process it that way for the duration of this post.

First, let’s start with 2000. My enlistment technically began somewhere in October of 2000, although I didn’t leave for bootcamp until the end of the month. Before I left, I was working a job at Donato’s pizza, where a fellow employee introduced me to Hieroglyphics, after mentioning my fondness for a Mudkids song: “Water to Earth (H20)”. Admittedly, I didn’t hook me at first but combined with Jet Grind Radio (thanks to Jurassic 5), I was on my way to Hip Hop Love. As will be the case for the remaining year, I will pick 5 songs which come to mind as the most associated with each year of my service. Ideally I’ll describe why they’re there, but don’t hold your breath. The “most associated” should (if it doesn’t, let it start) imply that the song is what comes to mind when I think of that year. By no means should it indicate what I perceive as any sort of artistic merit–I am 90% confident that the mean amount of musical importance of any of the pieces I am about to list lie nowhere near the work of Handel, Bach, etc. However, that should at least indicate that my true perception of musical importance is embedded in personal experience rather than any sort of objectivist scale. And that makes you feel how, Ms. Rand?

While I’d like to complete this tonight (January 7th, 2010, to be precise) I just don’t have it in me, what with school and such. Instead, I’ll settle for my first year, though it’ll be a mental fight to get it done.

2000 — This year is weird. Because I joined the Marines in the tail of the year, I have very little time to analyze. That said, I found myself telling fellow Lima company (the remainder of details escape me) of the wonders of Jet Grind Radio. On many a hump (“hike” to the majority of the world) I recounted Hiero, J5, and Mudkids lyrics. All else, aside from the occasional SolidStateRecords indulgence is a blank.

Artist — Album — Track Title
1. Hieroglyphics — Third Eye Vision — At the Helm
2. Mudkids — 4trackmind — Water to Earth (H20)
3. MG! The Visionary — Transparemcee — Scared As …
4. Hieroglyphics — Third Eye Vision — You Never Knew
5. Hieroglyphics — Third Eye Vision — The Who

Sure, let the repetition of Hiero sound like whatever you want it to. The rhythm went well with marching and listening to airplanes land. What else can I say? I’d been exposed to Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul through a few venues (movies and TV) but really, this was what I knew of hip-hop. Already I can tell how these next few years are going to play out…

2001 — A dark year at best. I’m flipping through iPhoto and DeadJournal to figure out just where I was for this year. I do know that towards the end of the year I was leaning more towards weird techno-esque stuff and rediscovering my love for heavier metal styles of music as I puzzled over the depth of the commitment I’d made and the four further years ahead of me as well as the choices I’d already made in my personal life. Through a chance connection in Intelligence School (I mean, who goes to Intelligence School and who doesn’t want to go there, based on the name alone?) I found out about the possibilities of R&B (Musiq Soulchild) and just how great the hip-hop scnee had been while I was in middle school. At this time, Tribe reasserted their greatness in my mind and found their way into my mind over and over again. Will, sadly, I did not notice the greatness of “Find My Way” until just a year or so ago, but there were many other timeless sounds in my mind.

1. Tribe Called Quest — Anthology (ouch, my lack of fandom shows here) — Keep It Moving
2. Tribe Called Quest — Anthology (it’s all I had, cut me some slack) — Award Tour
3. Tribe Called Quest — Anthology (…) — Scenario — Busta Rhymes, how you’ve changed!
4. Dead To Fall — Anything from the 5 song demo I received in a care package.
5. De La Soul — Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump — Ooh — Total low hanging fruit here, yet, it had my mind for at least a whole year. Why #5? I assign no numerical importance to the numbers, aside from their being numbers, of course.

2002 — Times get no lighter, save for my sudden love/discovery of Quannum via 7ak. Well, that holds true for the first portion of the year, anyway. Times got much better as they rolled on, yet, yet…

1. Lyrics Born — Pick something (Kazaa anyone? Don’t worry, I bought it more than once in the near future) — Balcony Beach — I am now okay getting older.
2. — – — Commemoration of a particular event that happened sometime this year and, to my knowledge, has not happened since. However, as I read this now (10 March, 2011), I have no idea what I was getting at here. Therefore, number 2 is gone.
3. Blackalicious — Blazing Arrow — Chemical Calisthenics: Cut Chemist is amazing. That I can understand what Gift of Gab is saying throughout is all the more amazing.
4. Blackalicious — Blazing Arrow — Feel That Way: This record dominated my CD player for almost an entire year. This song threw me into a haze of wonderful nostalgia of things I never knew.
5. El-P — Fantastic Damage — Deep Space 9mm: Sometimes we get into things we don’t or can’t understand. However, I understand that El-P’s work as a producer is awesome.

More years follow later. Although I’m sure it’ll take years to get there. Things to look forward to: Bright Eyes, The Faint, Indecision & Throwdown, and whatever else I can shoehorn into 5 selections.

Seriously, when did Chris Carrabba start selling (refurbished) phones?

I’m pretty much obsessed with data and finding new and meaningful ways to display it. Although I’ve not been able to devote much time to creating my own methods lately, I’ve seen several eye-grabbing examples. My favorite visualizations by far, however, are those which may lack some strong visual style but make up for it with startling information. Most recently, Gizmodo posted this great graphic illustrating how much of the Earth’s surface would need to be covered to provide solar power to the entire world.

Actually, now that I think about it, Gizmodo’s been responsible for posting/highlighting many of the images that have interested me lately, under their data visualization tag. In the past, though, makezine.com and O’Reilly Radar have posted some interesting charts but I’m afraid they aren’t as easily reached or recalled.

I enjoy reading things meant to make the reader really think. It’s even better when the effect is achieved accidentally. This morning, two articles grabbed my attention.

The first is a CNN article about Mr. Jalopy, a sort of Make: magazine hero. Aside from making some seriously cool projects (the world’s largest iPod & guerilla urban drive-in), he really hits the nail on the head when it comes to some of the easiest ways to start living in a more sustainable manner. His main idea is most quickly summed up in a (actually, just about any part of it) snippet from his Maker Bill of Rights article, (Make: Volume 4) also quoted in the CNN article:

…if you can’t open it, you don’t own it.

This really hits a key note in talking about sustainability that, I think is frequently forgotten. That is, sustainability does not solely encompass the environment but it also involves sustainable economic activities. As a rather extreme example, if one has to run out and buy a new TV because the remote broke or fork over twenty something dollars to replace the old remote, not only is the owner wasting resources in disposing of the old item, but they are also losing money in the process. If this process is multiplied for any number of items around the home, the person not only becomes a consumer of goods (a favorite term of the U.S. economy–search for ‘shopping’) but also a serious producer of some rather nasty garbage… e-waste.

But back to the finances and on to a second article. A recent favorite blog of mine, Planetizen, highlights articles related to urban planning, design, and, of course, environmentalism. This morning I saw they had posted an article from the Wall Street Journal that immediately grabbed my attention: Renting the American Dream. Whether I like it or not and without specifying who was paying rent, I have been living in more or less rented spaces for the better part of the last decade. I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t dreamt of owning a home the entire time. However, as time has passed and I’ve been increasing exposed to programs like Flip This House, What’s My Home Worth, House Hunters, Flip That House and the remaining 25(but shrinking)% of TLC’s lineup and all of HGTV’s lineup, it has come to seem as though the idea in owning a home in America isn’t to have somewhere for a family live and keep their earthly possessions safe. Instead, one buys a home as an investment, continually keeping track of how much money has been put in and the expected return, if it should be put on the market today. Now, in one case, this should present no problem. That would be when the people developing or upgrading a home aren’t living in the place that they’re seeking to flip. Otherwise, isn’t there a sort of pressure that comes about with living in your investment? Of course, as I say these things, I am sitting on the sidelines with no money stuck in a property of any sort. On the other hand, I have the freedom of, well, sitting on the sidelines. Back on track: I think it’d be great to own a home but the reason won’t be to do so as a way of collecting interest. If I want to make money on my money, I’ll do so in a more reasonable, if not safe manner: the stock market

Eliminating all my tangential quasi-ranting, this quote sums up my main idea which resonates with the original article.

In France, Germany, and Switzerland, renting is more common than purchasing. There, most people invest their earnings in the stock market or squirrel it away in savings accounts. In those countries, whether you are a renter or an owner, houses have use value, not exchange value.
(WSJ)

I simply think that list bit is the best and should be the basis of reframing our economic discussion with respect to the housing market: use value, not exchange value. Instead of looking at our homes as a profit making item and seeking the craziest loan terms that maximize our future potential profit (short-term) we need to begin looking at a home as a long-term shelter for our families.

While I recognize that this is far from a coherent argument for anything, it’s a start and, for the amount of time I dedicate to highlighting these types of articles and ideas, I’d say it’s about halfway decent.

Favorite quote of the week from the blogosphere comes from daddytypes, a sort of dad-gadget blog with a heavy hatchback/wagon leaning–not unlike myself. The quote not only tells one where to go to buy an Accord wagon but also offers a solution to our healthcare issues:

And if you want a Honda Accord Wagon, you’ll still have to move to Europe. Where they also come equipped with free universal health care, standard!

Snoots are pretty great. Just ask Mark Burnett, (LA Times)

the strobist, or…

ME! (Daily Bruin)

In the line of such language abuses I witness in the Marines (“behoove of you”, “summer football is now in succession”, and my continuing dislike of “orientate” come to mind) I do not like word irregardless in the slightest. It sounds bad and takes away from any meaning the speaker or writer was trying to convey. Sincerely, I’d find its use acceptable only if one were talking about excessive irrigation continuing in spite of water use restrictions; it would be a fun sort of alliteration, yes?

Its most recent appearance suprised even me: NPR. See the part by John Nofsinger of Washington State University. I know that NPR can’t be responsible for how their guests choose their words, but still, it was hard to hear on a news venue that many (rightfully) consider to be legitimate.

Although its existence is somewhat verified at dictionary.com: irregardless, the very last portion makes the word’s standing in proper grammar quite clear. Additionally, Grammar Girl has a good bit of information. (And the comments have a ton of snark! Heaven forbid anyone have a typo in their posts!)

The craftiness of the photographs on this site are just wonderful!

http://www.paintalicious.org/2008/11/20/thomas-allens-book-art-photography

Ginger ale: bottle two is complete! The flavor of this batch is much better, with very little yeast taste (filtering helps when pouring) and plenty of gingery-spicy goodness. I ended up using:
3 tbsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 cups simple syrup (1:1 water to sugar ratio)
Juice 1 lemon
1/4 tsp cayenne
And whatever amount of water it took to fill the bottle.

Although I made sure to let off less pressure before it went to the fridge, there still wasn’t enough fizz for my taste. This seems to be because the yeast isn’t fully processing the sugar. Next time, I think I’m going to make a concentrated base, as seen on instructables (link will be here soon) and go back to fresh ginger, just a lot more of it!

I’ve just placed ginger ale batch #2 in the bottle and it the bathtub. Although I stuck to the same recipe that didn’t work so well before, this time I properly measured the simple syrup, used ginger powder (a lot of it) instead of fresh ginger, and added a little secret kick. Hint: it’s cayenne. The only step I’m concerned about is the initial de-carbonation before it goes into the fridge–I’ve got to remember to let as little off as possible!

I’m guessing it’ll be 20% awful. Only time will tell.

~24 hours to go.