Bark Side of the Force

Another great commercial from VW and Star Wars folks... Now where is the SW themed GTI?!!!

Happy New Year & Return to Football Greatness

Last week was probably the best football game I've seen in a while. But the new year couldn't start any better. Bay area football has been bleak since the Debartolo's yielded ownership to the Yorks, since the great Bill Walsh passed away and since Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice have left the game. After a tumultuous 8 years, ups and downs, with the lone bright spot the SF Giants winning the World Series in '10, the Niner's are going to the Big Dance before the even Bigger Dance. NFC Championship, baby. Assuming that they win the next game, and they will, it will be the hardest road to any Superbowl ever. The Saints and their ultra high powered offense could not manage to hold on and kept on turning the ball over due to the Niner's opportunistic defense. The Saints may be viewed as the better team in most people's eyes, but with SF's top rated defense and overall team cohesion being lead by rookie head coach Harbaugh, they proved to be the hungrier team. As for the offense, Vernon Davis has put himself in position to be forever immortalized amongst the greatest and storied receptions of any game with championship implications. The Catch, and the Catch 2, were NFC Championship Games, hopefully the Niner's can do it again for their NFC Championship game. Davis' catch is being dubbed 'The Vernon Post', due to the nature of its play and pattern. He was only in single coverage and quarterback Alex Smith recognized the Saint's fatal mistake. The next teams are all offensive Juggernauts and all I have to say is this... Defense Win Championships A look back... The aftermath... Last weekend against the Saints Recap, 42 minutes of awesomeness... Legacy, History and Rising to the Occasion...

Occupying SF

"The four hundred richest people in America own more of America in terms of wealth than the bottom 150 million people put together." -Robert Reich

Ron Swanson Wisdom

I've been missing some protein in my diet lately, so I look to Ron Swanson for help and guidance...

Enough geekery... This is for a good cause, and even more geekery.

Randomly, I was watching some stand up on comedy central, one of my favorite comedians, Daniel Tosh was doing his thing. Since I haven't been keeping up on my favorite comics, I decided to look them up.

One of them is Aziz Ansari and his site is set up like a blog. A friend of his was diagnosed with acute leukemia and is of south asian descent. This hits home as I've had friends, and friends of friends diagnosed with leukemia as well, and for minorities, blood and bone marrow donor matches aren't as common, let alone the pool to select from. This makes the chances of finding a match even less. An old classmate of mine had leukemia, and thankfully, she had a bone marrow match available through her sister.

So I encourage all, to go out and enter them into the blood and bone marrow donor registry.

And that being said, and to tie this all together, Aziz and friends have posted this kick ass video...

Thoughts on my tank, tank, tank.

So it's been up for a couple months now and since I've placed the live rock, I've placed things in there exponentially to almost capacity. I think I can place a couple more rocks and corals, but I think I'm in need of a more effective clean up crew. The turbo snails are too big and tend to knock around coral frags and live rock from their places. I should try trading in the the larger of the two turbo snails at my local fish store.

The smaller cerith snails are godsend. The sift in and out of the sand, breaking up diatoms, algae and aerating it, feeding on any detritus. I can only spot 5 of the seven that I originally bought, but they tend to bury themselves a lot so it's hard to keep count.
My red skunk cleaner shrimp has molted three times since I picked him up and he's nice and healthy. I had a hard time acclimating the last one as it died due to salinity shock. Lesson learned. Acclimating crusties are the most difficult.



I've had a couple hitchhikers come in with some of the coral specimens. I've seen a baby brittle star. It has seem to have disappeared, since then. I'm considering getting more to help keep the plant clean. But they go hyper sexual and proliferate quickly and high numbers. They're not the most nice looking stars but they are cool to look at.
I've also spotted 3 additional stars that I can not classify. Two of the three have disappeared, but I'm sure will come up again if they grow larger. After of period of two weeks, I've found one of the stars, greenish in color, scaling the glass. That was pretty cool.

The green anemone was one of the first inverts I have bought and it has grown to take up a quarter of the tank. I'm considering bringing it back, but it's purpose is habitat for the clowns. I would like to get a smaller one. I'm considering trading it, or giving it to my dad for his tank (when he sets it up).


Fish wise, I'm at capacity. The only fatality, was the mandarin goby. Which will always be a favorite, but I'm convinced that it is incredibly difficult to keep in a nano-reef set up. I bought copepod cultures on 3 occasions and he wiped them all out. I thought he was taking in the brine and mysis that I was providing, but true to his nature, he was a picky eater and ultimately starved to death. So until I have a bigger tank, with a refugium for growing copepods, I refuse to by another mandarin.

So the current line up:

Fish:
Diamond Watchman Goby
Gold Head Goby
Blue Neon Goby (Tank Bred)
Ocellaris Clown Fish (Tank Bred)
Black and White Ocellaris Clown Fish (Tank Bred)
Bangai Cardinal
Firefish (2)
Shrimps:

Red Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Snails:

Mexican Turbo Snails (2)
Cerith Snails (2)

Other Inverts:
Green Anemone
Assorted juvenile starfish (3)
Assorted Featherduster Worms (TNTC)

Coral:

Soft:
Blue Sympodium (2)
Taylor's Purple Tree
Kenyan Trees (3)
Evergreen Starburst Polyps



Assorted Mushrooms (Green, Red, Blue)

LPS:
Caulastreum Candy Cane Coral
True Red Flower Pot Coral
Galaxy Tooth Coral (2)

Refugium - Chaeto macroalgae

Coral Acclimating Notes

ACCLIMATION STEPS FOR CORAL:



1) The temperature in the shipping bag will be different than the temperature of your aquarium. Remove all outer shipping bags, leaving the last bag housing your coral sealed. Please float in the sealed bag all new specimens for at least 15-20 minutes.



2) Open bag and roll top edge of bag just enough to create an air pocket under the lip of the bag. The bag will float and not sink in the tank. Slowly add a small amount of tank water. Repeat every 4-5 minutes until bag is full. Lift bag out of tank and discard approximately half of the water. Return to tank and add more of tank water, keep adding until bag is full. Never add the shipping water into your aquarium.



3) Recommended: Now for the coral dip. Every coral arriving at our facility is dipped to remove any pathogens so as not to infect my system. We suggest you should do the same as a precaution against transferring possible pathogens into your system and to ensure coral health. Only use iodine on SPS and LPS. Do not use on anemones or clams. Please read the manufacturers instructions on the coral dip bottle for the proper dipping technique. Always remember to give coral a good rinse with tank water before putting in your system.





4) Now is the time to relocate the coral to its new home. Please grab the coral by the base/hard exoskeleton/plug/or disk/ using an aqua glove or similar glove if possible. Avoid touching the polyps or flesh of the coral. The coral may have an excess coating of slime from the shipment; a gentle shaking of the coral while still in the tank water rinse will help remove most of the slime before placing in tank.



5) Highly recommended to place coral on sand bed at this time. No matter what lighting situations too much light can cause coral to “sunburn”, or bleach quickly. Placing the new specimen toward the bottom of the tank under mild current for up to a week and monitoring its condition will help insure a healthy coral. Make sure the coloration and expansion of coral are perceived as good. After this timeline the coral can be placed in its final location in your aquarium. Even then monitor its response and “health.” You might need to find another home better suited to its demands. Observe the coral and all fish, make sure you do not have a tank inhabitant that does not like where your new coral is and picks on it. Also make sure your new coral has room to grow and will not be in a territory battle with another specimen.



INVERTEBRATE ACCLIMATION GUIDE



Crabs, snails, shrimp are typically very sensitive to salinity and pH especially during the acclimation process. They need to be acclimated very slowly using a drip method, over a period of approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours.



Empty specimens and water (if shipped in water) into a bucket. There may not be enough water in the shipping bag to cover bottom of bucket and cover the invertebrate. You may have to place something under one end of the bucket so animals are under water.




Use a drip line to slowly acclimate all inverts at a rate of 2-4 drops per second.



You can use air line tubing to function as the drip line. Simply start a siphon in the air line tubing then tie a simple knot in the tubing to slow the water flow. Tighten the knot to restrict the flow; loosen the knot to increase the flow to achieve desired flow.



A plastic air gang valve used can also be used for a restrictor of water flow.



The process should take at least an hour to an hour and a half. It is best to keep the specimen submerged in water, even when transferring to your aquarium. You could possibly submerge the shipping bag into the bucket. Put the specimen(s) into the bag then place the bag in your aquarium. Carefully remove the specimen(s), and take out the bag. I know I said earlier no shipping water in your aquarium, but this will be highly diluted shipping water. I feel the benefit to the specimen staying in water will outweigh the issue of shipping water being in your aquarium. Make sure the specimens are placed where you can view them and make any necessary corrections. Such as with the astrea snail; if it lands upside down it cannot right itself. If not righted by you the snail will possibly die, or become a meal for an opportunistic crab or other tank mate.



Some invertebrates, especially snails may appear dead or lethargic even hours after they are placed in your aquarium, but will usually revive and thrive when proper acclimation procedures are followed.

Links for Coral Fragging

http://rettalbot.suite101.com/how-to-frag-coral-propagation-a55109

RIP Mr. Jobs

As far back as I can remember, my first personal computer was an Apple IIe. Which at the time was as good as it gets, but compared to coin ops and video game systems, paled in comparison to the latter. Being young, I was more into the graphics and the games. Becoming obsolete, I fell prey to the the atari and nintendo and later sony I converted to the PC and gaming consoles. I've always felt that PC's were superior to Apple products due to their price points and computing capabilities but as I got older I found that pure technological power is nothing without purpose. This is what Apple is good at. So my last two purchases have been Apple products. Granted, I'm still an everyday PC user, but my iPhone and I are joined at the hip and it is what Steve Jobs says, "My Life, in my pocket." My last big computer purchase was a macbook, and I'm not disappointed. I don't use it for games, but other applications and tasks as easy as web surfing. My main purpose was as a laptop computer for my wife, and for me to use with my Serato set up. I know I've just scratched the surface with it, and even though new tech is constantly coming out, as long as it does what I need it to do, I'm happy with it. Plus, the looks of the machines, as most Apple Products are the pinnicle of form and function, plus they all look sleek and sexy.

But enough of the company and more on my thoughts on the man. Sure the guy is a millionaire and super successful even at a young age. Some my hate on that fact alone, but you have to admire his guts. Having the forsight and to see the future, imagine great things and make them reality, and constantly innovate. It's a clear case of evolving or dying. Which is what I equate the iPod device in the digital age of music and opening a digital music store. Pure genius I say.

I'm not going to write a comprehensive bio on the man, because everyone knows who he is. What I am going to do,is post this video below, which is a speech he made at the 2005 Commencement for Stanford. He sums up his life and gives really good advice and then punches you in the face with a reality check. It's inspiring, scary and somewhat comforting. And in turn, I say thank you.

*Also, another important note. No Steve Jobs = No PIXAR. 'nuff said. I think the man was instrumental in a lot of things, happy things for a lot of people. You can't deny that.

Mariachi Band Serenading a Beluga Whale...

If I ever had a dream wedding, it would either be at Disneyland or at a kick ass aquarium, like say, Monterey, or in my backyard, Steinhart Aquarium at Academy of Science. Since both cost a grip, the next best thing would be Six Flags in Marine World, where there a no aquariums, but a dolphin/whale tank. It would be a little sad at a ceremony with a killer whale in the background in a small as tank, as the animal lover in me would rather see it released in the wild or in a place with bigger digs. I came across this video surfing and stumbled upon it at one of my favorite music blogs, soul-sides.com. I had to write something about it and reblog it.

As much as I love looking at marine mammals, as I'm more into the fishies, I do love beluga whales. They look so happy and dare I say it, cute. But a mariachi band serenading it, is just surreal. Festive, but surreal. And I think the whale likes it...

Friday Covers are BACK!

It's one of those slow days at work and I've been trying to write more lately. I'm on pace to break my record of 37 entries from a couple years back. Also, I've been reading a lot more lately. You can attribute that to Game of Thrones, and comic trades I've been picking up or reading at the local library.

Being that it's slow today I decided to bring back Friday Afternoon Covers, KNOWLEDGE! (FACK!) I just made that up now... haha.. I know it's stupid. But yes, on to the video, the song, and more importantly the artist.

For today's selection I picked a favorite Cure song of mine, Just Like Heaven, from the classic 1987 alternative brit-synth pop/rock album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.



The artist covering this great song, is just as great. His name is Goh Nakamura and he's a local. He's super talented and a really nice guy. I used to go to a lot of his shows at Ireland's 32 in SF on Geary back in the days. He is involved at a lot of the functions at KSW, Bindlestiff and local other Asian Organizations, which is how I found out about him. His acoustic guitars and soft vocals were a great departure from all the punk rock, hardcore and distorted sounds I was used to listening to all the time. We shared a great love for the Beatles, and he would often do covers at his shows. One time, during a set he busted a Bubble Bobble solo on his acoustic and no one picked it up but me... I was a fan ever since.

He's very versatile, and despite all the covers, he's a excellent song writer and lyricist. One song that pops in my head is his ode to Natalie Portman. And all of us geeks LOVE her... Here's a video of that song.



He's gone on to release a couple albums and even star in an indie film, Surrogate Valentine, that has been recently featured at various film festivals all over. He's a real bonafide star! But even though I haven't seen him in a while, he still the nice down to earth guy I've known. And incredibly gifted...

Here's a trailer for Surrogate Valentine:

Surrogate Valentine Trailer HD from goh nakamura on Vimeo.

PIXIES ARE BACK!!!!!!

In the top 5 list of things that can make me squeal like a little girl, the Pixies rank roughly at number 2. (Probably after Zoey D. or The Beatles) For me, when the Pixies reunited back in '02, I cried like a little girl and nearly fainted like I was at a New Kids concert. But I assure you, it's all about the music and it's that good. The steady beats, complex lyrics, the fast and slow/ loud and soft dynamics that define and pave the way for the grunge sound, yet still retain that semi punk/indie rock feel. They are the most important indie rock band to ever grace the stage in the modern era of music. I truly believe that.

I can remember the first time... It was actually the Breeders that I was into first. And they only had one song that I really liked. But I loved Kim Deal's voice. When I learned of her involvement in the Pixies, it was game over. I was overcoming synth pop fever and dabbling into hardcore, and punk pop and even some hip hop due to its popularity at school circa '91-92, but I always wanted to be different. I found the Pixies, and it's be sonic ear love from that moment since.

I opened my email and got a message from the Pixies mailing list for their Lost Cities Tour. I saw that they will be playing in NAPA!!!! FREAKIN' WINE COUNTRY! 10 minutes away from my ghetto ass town Vallejo! That's freakin' awesome... I told my wife that the Pixies are gonna be in our neck of the woods... and she knew that we were going for sure. I wanna call up Joey and see if he wants to hang out! I'll offer my pad to Frank Black and co. You hear me Kim?!!! I'm only 15 minutes away! Show is November 20th. I'm there... To anyone out there in the internets, you're welcome to join me...

Joe Bataan comes back to the Bay Area!

I was surprised I was able to get tickets this late. The show will be at Yoshi's SF this Saturday. This will be my first time seeing Joe Bataan, the King of Latin Soul (who is half afro-filipino, btw) and also my first time at the Yoshis in the SF location. I usually go to the Oakland spot and the last time I went there, I saw the legendary Arturo Sandoval with some good friends of mine.

Joe Bataan makes a rare SF appearance, his second since since the late 90's. And it's about time. Joe Bataan made his run in the Latin Soul scene from the late 60's up to the 80's when he decided to disappear from the music scene and dedicate his life to children back at his community in NYC. According to British music journalist James Maycock, "Bataan is the undisputed king of Latin soul, the bridge between black soul and brown rhythms." He was a pioneer of various genres of music including boogaloo, Latin soul, salsa, and hip-hop.

Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides.com wrote a comprehensive article on Bataan here.

Joe Bataan will be performing at Yoshi's SF this saturday June 25th at 8pm and 10pm. I'll be at the 10pm showing... Holla!

Here are a couple of his songs:

This applies to the bay as well... not only WF but Berkeley Bowl as well!!!!

Cliff Claven

He's always been one of my favorite characters from the 80's era of network TV. Cheers is an awesome show. I take pride in knowing a lot of useless facts. Something Cliff Claven is good at as well... AND, as my friend Chris knows, I can do a pretty good Cliff Claven impression. His appearance on Jeopardy is one of my favorite episodes of Cheers. His answer in the final round is vintage Cliff Claven. And really, sometimes, I feel like I have one of those moments every once in a while, especially after starting out quick and building a lead of some sort.

You may recognize his voice, the actor John Ratzenberger. Some little or known facts depending on your pop cultural knowledge, or knowledge of useless information...

-He plays an Imperial Officer in Empire Strikes Back

-He's in Superman II

-He's played various voices in EVERY Pixar animated feature.

-He's the 4th most successful actor in Hollywood in terms of total box office totals and surprisingly, he's the most Oscar nominated actor... ever....

-He's Cliff Claven!

Here's his Jeopardy appearance on Cheers.

I know this guy!!!!!

This is my friends, Jericho. He is the drummer from on of my favorite local bands, the Skyflakes. Here's his day 2 appearance on Jeopardy. It's always been one of my dreams to be on Jeopardy.... Go Jericho!






Update: On day 3 Jericho, came in third at $1000. His 3 day total came to $54602. Still, not to shabby for a 3 days of work! Congrats and Well done!

Game Of Thrones

After watching the first episode of Game of Thrones on HBO I decided to pick up the book. And I'm blown away... If you think it's all Lord of the Ringsy, it definitely is not. The title suggests it all... Simply, it is a game for the thrones. There can be only one, and everyone else loses in the struggle for power. Some don't want it, some lust for it and everyone in between is pawn. You can say it is very similar to what happened in the early days of English monarchy. Very volatile... There is some hints of magic, but it really isn't explored... yet. I almost shit a brick when I saw there was 5 more books and they are super long and epic! And 2 more in the works. More books to put in the reading queue I guess!

So far my favorite character has to Jon Snow, the bastard son of the main character. You can tell he's an outsider with no purpose in the family. He then goes off to join the Night's Watch. An outfit who's main purpose is to monitor the activities at the 'Wall'.

So many subplots, it's a little confusing with all the characters but the story is good one so far. I look forward to seeing how it unfolds.

Get Well Buster

News is pretty old. I went to this dreaded game against the Rays. It went extra innings after a improbable rally leading up to a tied score in the ninth. All in a matter of seconds, Buster's season ended. I wish he gets better soon. It's gonna be a long season, and chances of repeating aren't looking good. Especially with the dismal offense the Giants have been displaying. Hopefully, everyone picks it up, especially with Belt coming back. My other concern is that Whiteside or whoever they pick up to fill in catching duties, can handle our pitching staff. Panda, we need you!!!!

Part of my childhood...

Three+ posts in one day. Tis a slow day at the Office. When I put the guitar down, everyone and their moms dreamed of being a DJ. Inheriting a lot of records from my aunts and uncles and listening to my own punk/metal/hip hop records I was exposed to a lot of different styles of music. When the battle DJ/turntablist scene exploded in the 90's it always came down to the X-men (Executioners) of the East and the Best of the West, the Invisbl Skratch Piklz. It was Needle dropping and beat juggling, body tricks and scratching. The flare and craaaaab skratch was barely out and it opened a whole lot of doors to the DJ scene. Here's a video of an unofficial battle between the two crews, at the eve of the ITF Battle Scene. This was the Rocksteady Reunion in NYC circa '95-'96 I think.

The ISP set combined respective sets and ended in the Klamz of Deth routine.

Dunder Mifflin is Part of Sabre

One of my favorite moments in The Office (US Version). Pure comedic gold.

KUSF lives...

Writing this short blog right now, I decided to tune in to KUSF. Of course, and for your information, It's dial is no longer 90.3 FM, but with the sale to USC it's strictly online. It's a very storied station, much like Berkeley's KPFA, college radio is starting to go the way of the dinosaurs. Not a lot of outlets on the radio these days for indie music and long forgotten obscure classics.

Here's a link to the live stream...

http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/mini.cgi?station_name=kusf&site=PLR-kusf&tm=5826

SF's own Ty Segall showing support and playing a couple songs.