Small Fish, Big Pond

Better than being stuck in line at Best Buy
Originally uploaded by Kerensky97

Time for a twitter “what I’m eating now” style post.

Chicken Pesto Pasta, with Roma tomatoes, fried mushrooms and asiago cheese. $10 at Faustina.
Spend Black Friday doing something fun.

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Even though it may never happen I think this is a great idea to help tie the western US a little closer together. Infrastructurist links a story thatmany metropolitan centers in the intermountain west are beginning initial studies for highspeed rail lines.

While in Japan I was amazed at how quick and efficient the Target=blank>bullet train (Shinkansen) system was. Of course having a rail pass that gave me the ability to get a ticket and go at anytime without worry of the price was a big plus but the ability to be anywhere I wanted in the country within just a couple hours was liberating. On a whim I went to a concert in Osaka during my Tokyo stay; it didn’t require much rescheduling since I could walk into station and be 515km away in less than 3 hours.

For more local comparisons that is the equivalent of traveling from here in Salt Lake City, to Las Vegas (580km) in about 3 hours.

By car that same trip takes 6-7 hours if you go legally, 5 if you go at 120mph (through mountains and winter snow). I flew to Las Vegas from SLC and factoring in typical airport delays along with flight time it also took 3 hours so really the time by train or air is the same between here and there.

SLC to Los Angeles is about double the distance. My cousins are in LA and when we visited them we’d drive 12 hours down there; basically leaving in the morning and arriving that night. Via bullet train we could eat an early breakfast in SLC, and be having lunch in LA, then be back to SLC in time for dinner.

Plus travel by bullet train is more comfortable since you get decent leg room and much more visually stimulating since you can actually see things as you pass rather than just the tops of clouds. But the main thing that caught my eye was an advertisement for the new N700 trains. Bullet trains are electric and the N700 uses 15% the amount of fossil fuels (or carbon output, my Japanese is limited) for the same Tokyo to Osaka trip.

That’s not 15% LESS, it’s 15% OF or in other words 85% reduction. In today’s “Green” world that is a nearly unobtainable goal in carbon reduction. And the trade off isn’t bad at all, a slightly slower transport but a much more enjoyable transport as well. The 15% carbon is still coming from something but since the trains are electric it’s entirely possible to use alternative electricity sources and lower that number further. After all its alt easier to squeeze the most efficient energy out of hydrocarbons at a plant rather than in an internal combustion engine in the train.

The only problem I can see is there are less populated cities across the west. The Tokaido line from Tokyo to Osaka passes through other huge cities such as Yokohama, Nagoya, and Kyoto. With a comparable distance Salt Lake to Las Vegas line the biggest cites passed would be Provo, and St. George. Obviously long distance commuter traffic will be much less, but of course running less trains isn’t hard at all. The planes only travel one or twice a day, with 15% energy reduction running three trains a day would still be more efficient per day. Plus as with Japan you can also run freight trains on the tracks in between bullet trains, although I’d hope that the US would change it’s rail policy and give passengers priority over freight.

Running from SLC to Denver could be complicated (but doable) by the Rocky Mountains but SLC to Vegas would be cake. Run it down past Provo, you could even run it on piers along the edge of Utah lake to keep from running through residential neighborhoods. Past Nephi run it out to Delta, besides connecting the most remote large city in the state it’s also the site of the power plant that powers much of the west from Salt Lake to Los Angeles and a perfect place to tap power for the electric bullet train. Then head south through Cedar City, St. George, and finally the straightaway to Las Vegas. Most land is relatively flat scrubland, and there are plenty of open places for wind farms to supplement the juice powering the rail line.

Another line heading west could pass Wendover, head to Reno then punch through the Sierra Nevada into Sacramento before ending in San Francisco.

I really hope that the future sees high speed mass transit lines tying the western cities a little closer together. Besides being a greener way to travel they could revitalize trade between western metropolises and boost usually remote cities the same way key refueling points on the transcontinental railroad did a century ago.

Is Japan’s culture dying

Originally uploaded by Kerensky97

I’ve been reading "Dogs and Demons" a book which points out some of the cracks in Japan’s seemingly perfect image. In the process of modernizing since World War II Japan has forsaken much of its historic beauty and style for the sake of being what they now define as modern.
I was noticing that this restaurant looks much more "Japanese" than alot of the places I ate in Japan. At least as far as Japan’s traditional Edo style is concerned. Even from the outside it looks more Japanese than concrete and steel rectangles that define modern Japanese architecture.
It doesn’t show in this pictures but the front is even planted with Japanese maple, now a brilliant red.
Its quite a statement when a Japanese restaurant in the US has a garden not seen outside of a Temple in Tokyo.

Playing Foursquare

Originally uploaded by Kerensky97

Lunch at Kyoto again. This teriyaki donburi is massive, with the california roll I dont think I will finish.
Yay for the weekend!

Gathering of Scions SLC
Originally uploaded by Kerensky97

I got a letter in the mail about a Scion gathering today. I used to be in an Xterra club so I thought I’d check it out and find some other people enthusiastic as me about the car. There were some really good looking scions with some impressive work done on them. I’ll have to see if I’m willing to dump money into it like I did the Xterra.

The good looking tc on the end is mine BTW.

Having the wherewithal to buy tickets to Flogging Molly before the show I was actually able to get in this time since they regularly sellout the venue, a few outside weren’t so lucky and resorted to begging for tickets. It’s surprising they’ve grown this much considering the first time I saw them play In SLC they were just an unknown band on tour with Bouncing Souls people were waiting on to finish the set and get to the main act. Now they’re huge.

They’re touring with Hepcat an old school Ska band that has been around forever but doesn’t release a whole lot of new CDs. And frankly I enjoyed the Hepcat portion of the show more than Flogging Molly. I like energetic ska music like Suburban Legends but sometimes some good ska music to just chill out with is great. The two lead vocalists Greg and Alex were great at setting a good mood to groove to some great ska.

I made a point to go buy a couple Hepcat CDs at the swag table before the post Molly rush crowded the place too much. I was surprised to see Flogging Molly was smart enough to have a credit card reader that their table to run cards. I make a point to bring plenty of cash to shows but I always see countless others who don’t have the experience to plan ahead and end up passing on buying merchandise. Considering how much the artists make off merchandise sales at a show I’m amazed more artists don’t bring card scanners.

I usually don’t have any problems with the staff serving drinks at In the Venue/Club Sound; the servers are usually pretty nice and take care of people well. This time I was pissed however, I think we can all agree that people who cut in front of line when there are 20 people waiting to get a drink are the scum of the earth and deserve a special place in hell. Especially the ones who give that smug look at you after they get served as if to say, “Suckers!”

And what can you do? When I got close enough to the front I’d give a, “Hey!” with a thumb over my shoulder to the back of the line; but even then most people got their drinks anyway, and the people in line with me just looked at the floor and saved their criticisms for muttering under their breath when the line-cutter moved on. Mandy Patinkin does a great job of how we all wish this kind of scenario would usually play out:

But even with people shouting that they shouldn’t be cutting Club Sound’s barmaid Carrie served them anyway. So if line-cutters are assholes that deserve to be kicked out, what does that make her for being the staff that serves them anyway?

I’ve noticed this problem alot in the service industry that goes along with the “The customer is always right” proverb. Some jackass ignores the implied or posted rules but the staff helps them anyway because they don’t want to risk losing a single sale. But what about the 20 other good rule-obeying customers they just alienated by helping somebody that cut in front? Logically a business proprietor would tell the rule breaker to fuck themselves and an lose the 1 bad customer and better serve the 20 good customers, instead in the vein of “The customer is always right” they commonly serve the asshole and screw over the majority.

The sad part is that people put up with it anyway like sheep. Even after remarking, “I can’t believe she’s serving them even though they obviously cut!” I watched a girl leave a substantial tip anyway. Well I’m sticking by my response to the girls comment, “I’m closing my tab, not tipping, and never buying a drink from here again.” Although that’s a lie, I did leave a tip on my recipt:

“Tell Carrie not to serve people who cut”

If a business provides bad service they should receive a bad tip if any at all. They’re lucky we don’t walk out when the staff symbolically joins in the “Suckers!” slight given to the people who waited patiently for them to do their job.

I know that tips are shared among servers and bartenders so good servers at Club Sound are punished as well. Which is too bad since I know two of them are great bartenders and deserve big tips, hence the “Tip” on the receipt that a coworker’s bad decisions are costing them as well and they should set her straight or do themselves a favor and replace her. Because the tip they lost from me is nothing compared to the fact that I refuse to get drinks there from now on. I’m not a frequent customer but losing $15-20 each time I go is more substantial than their share of one nights tip.

That may seem a bit extreme but really it’s more of the straw that broke the camel’s back, the $14.40 price above is for TWO draft beers, and one of those was Coors Light (All other taps were dry at the time, I had no choice); I could get 3 pitchers at Cheers to You for that price. So fuck Club Sound, their overpriced drinks, and lousy service. I’m never buying a drink there again and I recommend you do the same if only to send a message that a tip line on a receipt is no guarantee that you actually deserve the tip.

Back to the concert.

After 30minutes in line I missed Flogging Molly’s opening of course. I was one of the first in line when the last band ended too. I’m sorry for those behind me, they probably missed half the show. The crowd was out of control; people crowding around the bar entrance were jumping up and down or moshing and they’d invariably bump into people coming out with drinks in their hand then complain about it. “Screw you, you jumped into me, what did you think would happen?” I slid into a relatively calm corner and watched the show.

I have to say Flogging Molly is great but I think alot of the music is better listened to as it is on the albums. That is more introspective, music and not “mosh-pit, kicking and shoving” music. Songs that are introspective ballads on the albums were sped up to bouncing high-energy songs, and high energy songs from the albums were so high tempo it was hard to sing along with them. I almost feel sorry for poor Bridget Regan working a fiddle at that speed. She must have massively strong arms to play shows like this every night.

Speaking of which it was great that the normally bad sound mixing at In the Venue was good enough that the fiddle and penny whistle sounded really good. I noticed that Rancid the night before had good sound too. Did In the Venue get a new sound guy or has he finally figured out how to mix for the site?

It was a great show but the crowd that Flogging Molly gathers is kind of an irritation to me. A UK friend at last.fm once mentioned how all Americans pretend to be what they think of as “Irish”. Maybe a bit of an overstatement, we’re not all like that, but Flogging Molly sure draws that crowd. It’s almost like they’re there because they think it gives them some tie to a non-existant Irish heritage even though Flogging Molly is a US band playing Irish-American Punk and far separated from traditional Irish music and culture. It’s the same crowd that claims the reason they drink too much is because “I’m 1/16th Irish!”. No you’re just a drunk. The same crowd that think all Irish people dance like Michael Flatley or Riverdance even though Flatley is American. I actually saw some girls in the crowd doing their own approximation to step dancing during the show!

Most kiddies seemed like they were there for the scene and not the music. Whenever the word Irish came out of Dave King’s mouth a loud cheer would go up regardless of the context. But when there was a reference to the seminal “Irish-Punk” group The Pogues less than half the crowd cheered or understood who they were. Earlier when talking to a self described “Huge Fan” of Flogging Molly I asked if she liked The Pogues or The Tossers as well and all I got back was a blank stare. I think alot of the self professed diehard fans here were those group of newbies that like them because it’s cool in American to claim to be Irish and listen to Irish-American music. Which is fine so long as you don’t start to confuse yourself into thinking that it really means you know something of or are connected to real Irish culture.

Other than spending 30 minutes waiting to get an overpriced beer it was a good show, with Hepcat really being the highlight of the night in my mind. Flogging Molly was overrated. They were still great, I only say that in context of the fact that all the kiddies coming out of the show were acting like it was a transcendent experience when it wasn’t. It was a good show, but I’d hardly agree that “I could die happy now”, as I overheard somebody say on the way out.

CDs Purchased:

7-11 has brought on NHK’s mascot for their new slurpee promotional campaign.

I think it’s interesting that this made it across the ocean. Sushi and other Japanese cuisine makes sense because being the melting pot it is America adopts the cuisines of anybody who has moved here. Anime has been growing for a while and you only have to watch one Hayao Miyazaki to know that they can go toe to toe with the Disney machine in terms of quality animated productions.

But Domo hasn’t really got more than an internet meme about kittens, masturbation, and a wrathful god. Seems kind of surprising to be used as a marketing tool in the west.

The original Domo TV commercials:

Yesterday it was 85 degrees outside and I was in shorts and a t-shirt. Today its 40 in the valley and Timpanogos has snow on it.
I guess that’s a sure sign that our Indian Summer is over.

When bands come to town they seem to come in waves, and always in fall for some reason. Thursday was Rancid at In the Venue with Authority Zero and Resistor Radio.

I saw Resistor Radio a few months ago when they were here and they’re really good, not at all what I’d expect from the “local bands” that usually open shows. It’s not going to take long before they get more popular; in concert they have alot of energy and even though they only have one indies EP out (currently unsigned) it’s a good disc with some really good music.

I’ve heard a bit of Authority Zero but always as part of a compilation disc like “Warped Tour ‘03″ or something so I’m not really up on their music. I was amazed! The band has great energy and reminds me of going to shows back around the 1998-2002 timeframe when I was listening to alot of bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly who’s music was going from “walk to run”.

It made me nostalgic for those days of being 20, in college, spending the nights partying with my friends, and catching punk shows as often as my low paying job would afford me to. And like Less Than Jake, Dropkick Murphys, and Street Dogs it’s always great having a lead singer (Jason DeVore) that focuses specifically on singing and getting the crowd riled up. Not that leads with a guitar aren’t as good but there’s something to be said for climbing around the speaker stacks encouraging the people on the balcony to get moving.

Although as much attention that is paid to the lead singer and guitar players it was the drummer (Jim Wilcox) that I thought was really amazing. People always groove the the guitarists grinding away on the axe but if you watch the energy, speed, and precision that a drummer cranks out during a highspeed punk song you start to realize how much talent it takes to get a good drummer.

In The Venue isn’t being as big of dicks as they have in the past. The bouncers were a bit more relaxed and were helping people have a good time rather than playing the “Respect my Authority” game with the people who paid to be there. Even tossing out bottles of water to the kids in front and in the pit (water which had to be bought in back at the “21 and under” bar near the entrance. Giving water out is probably good insurance against possible lawsuits from kids with heat stroke too but before they seemed comfortable to watch you suffer or add to it.

Rancid was off the Friggin’ hook this time. I was a bit critical of them last time they played here because they were so joyless and un-engaging with the crowd. Enough to officially declare they lost the position of my favorite band to Street Dogs.

That tired, old Rancid didn’t show up to play this time.

Instead in their place was a powerful veteran Rancid that came in to show everybody why they’re arguable once of the most influential punk bands in the 1990’s and 2000. Ok, they’re a bit past the time where they could climb up and do backflips off the stacks but they could belt out their definitive punk anthems with and energy that shook the walls. And even though Tim and Lars get plenty of acknowledgements it’s the bassist Matt Freeman that I think really deserves alot more attention. Bassists and Drummers are often relegated to the background but watching Freeman’s technical abilities is amazing at times, keep an eye on his hands when you see these guys and imagine trying to do the same while making it look easy.

There was a good mix of old songs from “…And Out Come the Wolves” for all the causal fans here to see legends, plus a good smattering of songs of the newest album “Let the Dominoes Fall“. Tim and Matt’s ska influence from “Operation Ivy” showed through at times, plus they slowed it down for a few acoustic songs from the new album (be sure to buy the deluxe version so you get the acoustic disc!).

Alot of my favorite songs from Let the Dominoes fall we’re played. “East Bay Night”, “Last one to Die”, “New Oreleans”, and the tribute to the troops (which hits home especially hard for me) “Civilian Ways”. Finally after coming back out for the encore Branden Steineckert (drums) came out in a Real Salt Lake football* jersey, probably given to him by the team who had VIP seating for the show. Lars came out the San Jose Earthquakes jersey on, obviously staying true to his home team. But it’s nice that they had some fun with the local football team.

I’m glad that the definitive punk band Rancid can still perform, I was afraid after the last show that they had passed their prime and were in decline. Luckily it seems that they were just having a bad night that one time. Although no matter how they play live Rancid is still one of the few bands that I can quite honestly say that each consecutive album has set the bar higher than the one before it.

CDs Bought:

Authority Zero
12:34

I already have all the Rancid CDs.
Although while I’m on the subject I want to mention that Rancid is following the method I recommend for maintaining physical CDs in this digital climate (wow that article was 2 years ag0):
-Releasing singles of key songs that will appear in the forth coming album as they’re written.
-Then when the album comes out with those singles, plus some new songs (that aren’t filler).
-Plus releasing a “Limited Edition” of the album with additional bonus tracks and a DVD of the music videos and/or live footage.

This is why indie labels are maintaining while the dinosaur big four are dying.

*Football being the world famous game played by kicking a BALL with your FOOT. Not the often confused American game “HandEgg” where and EGG shaped ball is carried in a players HAND.

While surfing around in Google Earth I was tracking the portion of the Bonneville Shoreline trail I hiked from City Creek to Hogle Zoo. I was thinking it would take me in front of the giant “U” on the mountain but it went behind it. While tracing the path I noticed an odd structure hiding up one of the valleys that looked like some old pioneer structure.

What the hell is it? (View Larger)

I have an odd curiosity about old abandoned structures across the west, I always wonder what it was like for people who lived and worked in those places. We quickly forget but this entire state was once the “Wild West” you hear about in movies. That wild west doesn’t exist anymore but we live right here in the middle of it. Ever since reading “The Time Machine” I’m occasionally curious what would happen if I were to travel along the fourth dimension. A seemingly mundane location may be a very exciting and different place in the past or in the future at least from our perspective in OUR present time.

People never look forward into the future from a building you live or work in; you may wonder what the future holds but you never really wonder who or what will be standing in our place a hundred years in the future. I bet never in a million years would a person working in this structure ever imagine that in the future somebody would spot it from a satellite image, navigate to it using a GPS enabled wireless phone, take pictures using a filmless digital camera, and upload them to worldwide communication network for others to see.

Anyway I was trying to figure out what this building was and the internet came up with a big fat blank. I decided that one lazy day I’d use it as an excuse to discover something new in here at home.

It’s barely accessible from the road due to housing on either side staking their claims to the area. As I was coming back out a local homeowner was walking his dog past and wondered what I was doing taking pictures. He didn’t even know there was an old structure back there and wandered up as I headed back to my car.

This is what the building looks like from the ground.

This is the description marker on the building turns out it’s a Lime Kiln and this is Limekiln Gulch, named for all the Lime Kilns that used to be in it. This restored one was one of three. The lime created in the gulch was a key component in early construction of the buildings that makeup Salt Lake City, everything from plaster and construction materials to antacid food additives.

This is what got me curious from the satellite image.

Pretty nice view of the valley from here. You can see why people are always building expensive homes up here.

I wonder what that guy in the picture on the plaque saw when he was looking over the same city in his time? I wonder what he’d think if he could see what I see, and what would I think if I saw the city 100 years from now?

This was originally a bunch of individual posts but I wanted to keep it all as one. When posting from my phone it’s easiest to post with a single picture each time so rather than a separate post for each picture I want them all together (in chronological orger from top to bottom.

Wasatch wild Raspberries [liveblog]
Up behind Brighton right now. Wild Raspberries are ripening, I’m suprised to see them, the wild strawberries never have berries on them.
Too scared to eat one, I was taught at a young age not to eat berries in the wild.
White = Poison
Red Clusters = Dangerous
Red Single = Usually safe
Blue = Safe

Cool beautiful Stream [liveblog]

This is why I took the day off work. The summer went by too fast I never was able to get into the mountains or Southern Utah to go camping. I miss hiking around ice cold mountain streams surrounded by alpine flowers and green ferns.

You can’t tell from the picture but there is also a cool draft flowing past my legs from the tumbling water coming down the mountain. And the rushing sound of the water drowns out everything else.

Twin Lake Reservoir [liveblog]

This was the goal for the afternoon. If anybody else has a desire to head up into the mountains I suggest you make a point of it this weekend. Remember its already September, the summer is unofficially over as of Monday (labor day).

Twin Lake reservoir must have been two lakes before they dammed it up for water storage. Really wishing I had remembered my real camera now. You can see the full waterline around the reservoir, at the end of the summer alot of the water has been let out to feed the lawns and trees of all the buildings down in the Salt Lake Valley.

Its amazing how full of life this place is [liveblog]
Ok I’m going to have to consolidate all these posts into one when I get home. I’m probably swamping my own page and any aggregator I’m on (sorry everybody), but I need to get some thoughts out in the open.

Sitting by the lake here is very peaceful, except for a few other people at the other end of the lake the only noise is the birds, distant rushing water, and the occasional fish jumping out of the water.
The lake is full of fish, most just little 3in long bottom feeders but when the sun comes out the water becomes clear as glass and you can see everything down to the bottom.

The fish are migrating southward end of the lake right now (who knows why) and move in a school of thousands just like in those nature programs on public TV. But here instead of the ocean it’s all contained in an area the size of a small living room. They weave around the rocks on the bottom as one giant mass, shimmering like a field of grass waving in the wind and dispersing in a rush when a larger fish comes rushing at them.

I wish I had an HD camcorder to capture the movements, its hypnotic.

Definition of a babbling brook [liveblog]
Its settled. I’m getting an HD camcorder so I can record this, loop it, and make it the background for my computer. Nuts to those videos of a crackling fire, this is much more soothing.

I know it’s kind of nerdy but it’s cool that my phone camera registered that the phone was on its side taking this picture and uploaded it to flickr with the correct orientation. I was afraid it would show up on the net on its side in landscape rather than upright like this. Technology really can do some amazing things, even when you’re up in the mountains getting away from it all (Brighton providing 3G for snowboarders in the area deserves some credit too for keeping me connected everywhere I wander.

[

Subject: Fire
Originally uploaded by Kerensky97

"Dear sir/madam, I am writing to inform you that a fire has broken out..."

Smoke has Utah valley down to only a couple miles visibility. Its odd being in the foothills and not being able to see all the mountains. The question is where is it all coming from?

The New Harmony fire is too far away to be this bad (unless it got alot worse). The Schofield fire is downwind (unless thw wind is blowing an odd direction). The only other option is the LA Fires but its rare they get this much smoke 700 miles away unless the wind is just right and the fires are massive.
Anyway the sunsets should be blood red for the next couple days.

If you live in a dry area be careful.

Here's the link for the people who didn't get the joke of the subject line (IT Crowd Rocks!)]]>

Just a reminder, since I forgot and just now barely remembered; the day after tomorrow is the live broadcast of Rifftrax doing “Plan 9 from Outerspace”
Get your tickets for your local theater now.

If you don’t know what Rifftrax is: It’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 except they’re doing it now with current big budget movies, not old episodes from the 90’s with B movies that are out of copyright. And it’s the same cast of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett (Mike, Tom, and Crow). Head over to the Rifftrax link above to get a feel for it. The Empire Strikes Back riff was one of the best!

If you’ve never heard of Rifftrax or MST3K I pity you. The good thing is that you have tons of hilarious entertainment to catch up on now.

Also if you’ve never heard of either and you’re about to skip to another webpage take this opportunity to go out and see Plan 9 from Outerspace, widely regarded as the worst movie ever. Not only is this a chance to see it on the big screen, it a chance to see it made fun of by people who have been doing this for nearly two decades.
What better way to spend a Thursday night? (I mean for those of us who are single)

Toots and the Maytals in Salt Lake City
Originally uploaded by Kerensky97

Another Twilight concert. I need to start putting my attendance for these in last.fm but I never know I’m going till just minutes before. It’s great those few times that SLC starts to show some semblance of a nightlife.

After the show chilling out with the night crew downtown reminds you that any where YOU are is where "the party’s at".

Everytime I read that title it think of "WALL-E"

Anyway I know all the downtowners already know this, but for a computer geek like me that doesn’t get out to socialize with flesh and blood people as often it’s a revelation.

You can goto a free twilight concert, then to Cheers for $5.50 pitchers, then next door to Eva’s for $4.50 pizza! I spend more money at home when I cook dinner and watch some stand-up comedy on the Computer. Talk about a cheap night out!

Anyway the Pizza I got was the "Pig the three way" and Matt got the "White Pizza" with artichoke hearts (names might be a bit off). Those pizzas would cost $10 anywhere else, they were delicious!

If you’re feeling like you need to get out, take in a free show at the Galivan on Thursday, hop between Murphy’s and Cheers for drinks afterwards, and sober up over a killer pizza at Eva’s to end the night. You won’t regret it!

…unless you add in a fourth step, go home with that scary chick that was
clinging to you all night. I can’t be responsible for that.