So, I have let you all down by not letting you know sooner that my Wii is indeed on ebay. Here is the link in case you are interested, some of the proceeds will be donated to me, while the rest will go to me. Hey, I paid good money for that thing, not to mention the time commitment involved just to get my hands on one. Happy bidding!

I have, as always, been thinking about the concept for the next Ring of Scribes album.  I commenced work on the album with the notion that I wanted to do something based around the sky as a metaphor for transcendence, so I started by searching for religious concepts that might help me form a more cohesive idea.  In my research, I came across jhator, the Tibetan sky burial.  Though it’s certainly the most disturbing religious ritual I’ve ever studied (from the point of view of Western ideals), the premise behind it perfectly captures the essence of my thoughts for the album.

The idea of Tibetan jhator is that the body is no more than meat once life has ended.  Monks are charged with disposing of the body, which they do by dissecting it, pounding the bones into a mash, adding flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and feeding it to a species of vulture known as the “Eurasian Griffon” (a beautiful bird from the pictures I’ve seen).  Once the body has been completely consumed, the vultures take to the sky, and the body is carried up with them.  There are several rather harrowing eyewitness accounts on the internet if you care to read more.

Anyway, this will be the central metaphor of the album.    I knew I wanted to do a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky,” and after studying jhator all of the other songs have fallen into place.  Other covers will include the Beatles’ “Flying,” Tom Petty’s “Into the Great Wide Open,” and the Foo Fighters’ “Next Year.”  I’ve written seven new originals for the album, and I’ll be using two of Alex’s songs that haven’t been recorded yet.

I know it sounds like it could be ghastly, but I’m going to forsake the more grisly parts and focus on the post-ceremonial aspects of the ritual.  It’ll be released next August.

We have a counter provided to us by feedburner that tells how many readers this blog has. Lately the number has stayed right around 8. As far as I can tell, not all of those can be Ben and me, so I am wondering who else pops in occasionally to take a look at what we are up to. Speaking of what we are up to, Ben is hosting a Halloween party today that has been taking up a lot of his time. As you will recall, I hosted a Harry Potter party back in July, so I know exactly how it is. After the party is over though, we will get back to work. We are slowly but surely creeping up to the release of our biggest recent web project, and I think if you stumble across this blog, maybe we could make arrangements so that you can get an early look, or some bonus incentives above and beyond that of the sites regular users. We’ll see. Anyway mystery people, thanks for dropping by.

I have heard that all good things come to an end, but I was hoping that the Lexus GS would always be one of the top models for reliability. The only reason I have ever hoped this is simply because that is the car I plan to get if I ever strike it rich. I realize that most people, including me, work day after day at not-so-glamorous jobs in order to pay their way through life. But I have always been a dreamer, and I have really hoped that one day one of the projects that Ben and I are constantly involved with will pay off. I certainly hope that Toyota can work on my schedule, because so help me if they don’t bring the Lexus GS back to the high standard of reliability that it has been at these past years, I will probably buy one anyway. They’re just so cool.

I have created an interesting way to sell ad space for a website. Here’s how it works:

Each week I post an eBay auction for the ad space. When the end of the week occurs, the winner of the eBay auction gets the ad space. Then, I post another eBay auction. At the end of that auction, the winner of it gets the ad space and so on. So, the auctions are for a weeks worth of ad space. That way, people can pay as little or as much as they want for the ad space. Pretty cool huh.

I currently work 40 hours a week for a company that makes legal software. I am also carrying 12 credit hours in school. Ben is doing the same, but he also has a wife and two kids. I don’t know how he does it, because this schedule is really starting to get to me. At least Ben and I have our web project to look forward to. I am excited to get it off the ground, but even more excited to get all of the add-ons done. When it comes down to it the website we will put up is like thousands that are already on the net, but the extras that we will add are what will make it unique and fun to use. I am glad to be involved in something outside of work and school because without it I would probably die. There is also the hope that it could make some money, and alleviate a less than ideal financial situation.

Everyday I am reminded of how I bought into the wrong technology. I bought a Nintendo Wii, when I should have bought an iPhone. After careful consideration I have decided that my Nintendo Wii will go on the eBay auction block this week. I would love to raise enough money for an iPhone, but I guess we will see if a Lightly Used Nintendo Wii with Tons of Extras can make over $400. I think that people had better get them now to beat the Christmas prices. Interested? I will put out a link to the auction when I get my Wii on eBay.

I currently attend a state college that is trying to become a university. The change over has already and will in future cost millions of dollars. Luckily because we are a state run school this fine college has been able to squander, waste, and lose their money for years, but the government is giving us more for the change. I must admit, I have been forever baffled by the lack of funds at this particular institution. I find it strange for a few reasons: 1. There are 18,000 + students who attend fall and winter semesters, and 8,000 who attend spring-summer. The total tuition per student is 2,000 with fees included. The school also brings in revenue from sporting events, donations, apparel and paraphernalia sales, etc. This means that minimum they take in 100,000,000 in revenue per year. 2. Many of the teachers are adjunct and earn a measly $1600 per class. So one of my smaller classes with 40 students cost the school about $5,000 in a semester, while the students pay about $20,000 to be in the class.

So the real question is why do we waste so much money? I wish the government would at least try to run its operations as a business, where you must make a profit to stay in the game. I also wish that I didn’t have to hear the sob stories from teachers and administrators about how there is no money, and how lucky we are to be getting an education for so little.

If you were looking for a point to all this I am truly sorry. I just wanted to throw it out there.

I thought I would put out a public service announcement in place of my usual drivel today. To everyone who has puchased an iPhone since the $200 price cut, do yourself a favor and sell it on ebay. “But I can’t” you say. Au contraire, you can and you must. The iPhone ebay market is still rediculous. Last time I checked you could get over $100 for you iPhone if it has been run over by a car and crushed to an indestinguishable pulp, more than the cost of a new iPhone if your screen has been damaged beyond repair, around $450 if you iphone is used, and if you iPhone is new and unlocked, you can get around $600. So please, if you have an iPhone that you paid $399 for do the only thing that makes sense: sell it for $450 plus shipping, buy a brand new one, and pocket the difference.

The other night Andy and I watched the movie “Disturbia.” My wife didn’t want to watch it because she had heard it was scary, so we decided to watch it. It wasn’t scary. One of the scenes consists of the main character’s friend running through the murderer’s house. The friend is holding a video camera as he runs, so you can see what is going on. The part that I find intriguing about this part is that after he friend comes back the main character is looking at the poor quality video that is on the camera and somehow zooms in beyond the possibility of the resolution of the camera to see a dead body whose face is visible through some vent holes. Unless he’s working for the government, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have access to any kind of software that do what he did.