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Today I switched cars on the Sounder train. For the last few months I’ve been riding the 406 (since the 4-, 3-, and 1- series have wifi). They took that car out for maintenance so I moved up to the next available one. However, I wanted to check out the lead car so I love up to the very front of the train.

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Hey everyone, I’ve got a new cell number. My old one went to my “sister-in-law”. Shoot me an e-mail for the new number.

I was running late getting home and caught the last train South yesterday. I was 15 minutes early and walked into the first car marked with wi-fi access. Sounder car 409 smelled like someone’s had their ass explode in the toilet. It was horrible. I walked upstairs thinking it’d vent out eventually or perhaps get better when we started moving.

After 5 minutes of suffering and seeing people move in and then leave the car I decided it was too much. I packed up my bag and moved down one to the next car. OMG, to my surprise same exact thing. Slightly different but obvious that yet another car was filled with the stench of someone’s lunch time exploits.

I entered this car and left immediately and made my way to the next car. Success! And it had wi-fi access! Amazing to see three cars in a row with wi-fi on the Sounder.

Now I could browse Zzounds.com and check out the Android SDK.

I suppose I should apologize for the gross subject matter but I had to share. Public transportation has its moments!

If you are going to sit on a ferry or train and you have a choice between a table and non-table, please take the non-table unless you plan on using the table for more than a cup holder or armrest. Seriously; there are people with homework, laptops, a quick poker game, and other forms of productivity which would benefit greatly.

I’m feeling really tired but worse, I am feeling a bit down. I’ll feel better this weekend when I get to spend some time with the kids and working on some music. I should have had breakfast this morning. I am feeling famished.

My mom came over last night for some apple crisp and tea. It was nice to visit. She’s been in a reminiscent mood lately where she will talk about all her cousins and uncles. It’s fascinating to hear about the family, the after effects of the War, and how things change.

I have this odd feeling like with every child that I bring into the world I have let down the previous one. I am not sure how or what to make of this feeling, but it’s eating at me. I would like more children as I feel it is my duty to train intelligent future members of society who aren’t hypocritical, self-righteous hippies that are responsible for their actions.

Yesterday is rained. It was actually a grand downpour with thunder and lightning. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to walk in it and am glad my backpack is mostly water proof.

Oh man, I am ready for the weekend. Mostly because the last few weekends have been busy… and so will this one. Tomorrow morning I’d like to get up early and help my dad install a few light fixtures and a ceiling fan. I’ve mentioned to folks this feeling but recently I had the “my dad isn’t superman” moment. I suppose we all have those moments at various ages… but I was helping him put together a shelf and he was tightening some screws. He was sort of exerting himself and asked me to finish it off. I was griping in my mind. “If he’s having trouble with it…” type thing. I put the screwdriver head into the top of the screw and it turned. Had his hand start to hurt? Was this really too hard to drive in? My mind swirled as I realized that his powerful image I had grown up with flickered in my mind.

I drove home with tears in the corners of my eyes. Mortality had reminded me of its presence.

After I get done with helping my folks with the lights I’m going to sneak a quick trip to Fry’s to pick up a new power supply and IDE cable for my brother-in-law. His old computer needed to have 90% of it’s parts replaced so why stop there? Anyway, I figure if I pick up a PSU and cable for less than $50 including tax I’ll be very happy.

After that Crystal and I will be driving down to Aberdeen to visit some friends.

I’m feeling slightly ashamed of feeling that I’ll probably end up paying someone to install the components to my car stereo. I guess I’m at a point I’d rather pay someone to remove all the seats and carpeting to run cables and put things in their place. Interestingly, having a family makes you prioritize your time.

Maybe it’s not the crazy hard industrial techno with haunting female machina vocals I wanted to produce but I am incredibly pleased to share that Crystal and I worked out a song last night. She came up with the lyrics and basic structure while she was doing the dishes. I plugged in my keyboard, fired up my mixer and monitors, and started up Cubase and we were able to work through the verses, chorus, and bridge. Yes! Nothing has been recorded or anything… but we’ve got the chords, lyrics, and basic idea of the song worked out.

We’re working on tracks for a Christian rock/pop project we’re thinking of. It’s awesome to get some traction on this. We’re toying with the name Valley Avenue. Still not sure if that’s the album or the group. We’re sort of in discussion stage.

I’ve got an old Behringer B2-Pro microphone a friend gave me a while ago. I’d like to upgrade that to something like the R?de NT1-A. Also, I’ll need to get a pair of headphones like the AKG 271 and get an ART 4 headphone amp so we can start recording together. My office will definitely need some acoustic treatment. The vocals sound like they’re coming from inside a box right now.

This weekend Crystal and I celebrated our anniversary. We marked our seventh year of marriage. We had a really good time as my mom and sister watched the kids and we drove looking for a place to eat finally settling on Ruth’s Chris. We had a good time connecting, chatting, and really getting a chance to focus on each other. Having children limits opportunities, for us anyway, to spend time just relaxing together. The food and atmosphere were perfect for the occasion.

Yesterday I endured a lunch with my in-laws and a guest. It’s really about biting my tongue for an hour, eating, maintaining sanity with my kids, and then leaving. And it’s not because my in-laws are particularly horrible or unbearable. I just get tired of some of the things I hear. I know things are relative to everyone’s situation and that lessens the annoyance but most of the time it comes down to selfishness, delusion, and complete laziness.

The lies are probably the most irritating that are used to cover up things like what I’ve been talking about. Often people want to feel like they have this well established family that gets together for holidays yet they invest nothing into those relationships during the rest of the year. They don’t really want to get together for any other reason except when they need something.

I remember a time when Crystal and I lived our lives where they revolved around ourselves and during those times I remember thinking how little time I had to do what I loved. That never changes. We’re always busy trying to fit things into our lives. I think this is for everyone.

As I reflect on these feelings I realize that I too am guilty. I try to overcome my faults by seeing and addressing them; I wonder if there is any point in doing so. Everything truly is vanity. My silent phone and empty inbox drive home my loneliness that I deserve.

I brought my laptop with me in hopes to be able to do some browsing, reading, and writing before I get to work. I plug my laptop in, find the network which is very strong, and connect. And now I sit here on a supposed 11 Mbps connection having a horrible time getting Google.com to load. So much for wi-fi on the commuter train.

Maybe I missed some key detail about the wireless service. Like… setting up some sort of proxy. I actually fully expected to have to pay for a service like this. The fact that it’s free was initially wonderful. Now, sadly, I lack “paying customer” leverage.

Anyway, it’s been half the ride from Tacoma to Seattle. We just left the station in Kent and suddenly my pages are loading. A few minutes later and they are failing to load. What crap. My guess is some asshole is downloading something and ruining it for the rest of us. Or maybe the service is really this shitty.

Around me the train is actually filled up. I am glad folks are utilizing what is in my opinion one of the best commuting options on land.

I worked a little on my music last night mostly just loading and listening to cuts I’ve started. I want to actually finish a set of songs and put them together as an album or something. One problem I have is that my styles vary so much. Sometimes it’s orchestral, add some Middle Eastern drums, or dance, or hip hop, or rock and roll, or gospel. That seems like an awfully eclectic collection of works to put on one album.

UPDATE: It went a little better on my way home. I was initially getting pings of 2300 ms from google.com but eventually they settled down to fairly decent levels for browsing, e-mailing, and chatting.

I joined up a few days ago. Today I received a letter from Jerry’s dad which I’d like to share with you because, well, it says it all:

Hello Field Marshal,
Again, congrats on your choice to join one of America’s finest and most respected organizations; the NRA. Here are your stickers I promised you. Be careful.
As always,
E

Thanks for sending me the stickers! One was immediately placed on the rear window of my Mustang!