Screen shot of radio station CD101.9 FM's website. The new site has a more chilled out lounge look to it now that they are calling themselves the New York Chill station. They still play the "smooth jazz" they are famous for.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
New York's CD 101.9FM is now a "Chill" station
If you don't already know, CD101.9 is a popular radio station that broadcasts out of New York City. They used to call themselves the "smooth jazz" station. The station has occupied one of my 12 radio station presets because it seems that the jazz genre is the only thing left to listen to that features musicianship. They have been playing instrumental jazz, vocal accompanied jazz and vocal songs turned into instumentals for years. RecentlyI was pleasantly surprised to find that they have begun to add in some "chill" to their usual jazz lineup.
So what is chill? It is a type of music that incorporates jazz, techno, hip-hop, sound samples and ambient styles. More commonly known as "chill out" music, there are many styles of chill that intermingle with each other: ambient, trip-hop, downtempo, lounge, progressive, acid jazz, space music. I have probably forgotten some, but the point is that it's a mixture of musical types more concerned with cool grooves and is not really heavy (there are exceptions). The styles overlap each other, and some of it fits into the jazz genre quite nicely.
I have been into this type of music for a while, probably since I got a cable modem. Once I had the power of high bandwidth, I could listen to high-quality streaming internet radio stations. I started out with a strictly ambient space music station then started getting into the stations that served up a mixture of downtempo, trip hop, and acid jazz styles. I made sure to listen to stations that either gave a playlist on the web or actually showed it in the text of the audio stream player. My favorite station these days is Groove Salad by SomaFM.com.
I started writing down the names of the songs and the musicians (not always considered "bands" in the traditional sense). The next thing I know, I am buying some compilations of chill out music at Borders. Although a friend at work introduced me to some ambient stuff and I had already bought a few space music albums, my first real chill out CD was the two disc compilation called "Winter Chill Vol.2" on the Water Music Records label. I was hooked. I started buying more comps, many of which happened to be on that same label... great stuff.
I put the file sharing programs to work and tried to collect more songs and continued buying CDs. The CDs I purchased started to be more band related... I mean that it was a CD by a single artist and not a compilation of various artists. I hit the mother lode this summer when I came upon a plug in for Winamp, an MP3 player, that allows you to record streaming MP3 broadcasts. The plug in is called Streamripper and it's awesome. As it records, it names the tracks for you including the band name and splits them into individual MP3 files. There is some overlap of the previous track, but hey... it's free music! I have about 20 CDs of MP3s recorded off the internet (each CD can hold about 10 hours of music). Some good, some bad, some really good!
I am mostly a heavy metal, hard rock, guitar virtuoso listening guy, but have gotten into female vocalists, jazz, classical, some soft stuff, alternative, grunge and even swing music over the years. When I talk to my heavy metal, hard rock listening friends about this chill out style of music, I always call it "that weird stuff I listen to."
I am glad to see some chill out artists getting main stream commercial radio play. CD 101.9 FM has started calling itself the "New York Chill" station and has begun rotating in music from Zero 7, Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation, Moby, Massive Attack, Mandalay, Nighmares on Wax, St. Germain, and Supreme Beings of Leisure. I know all these guys and own CDs by most of them.
I was also excited to hear songs by Thievery Corporation and Zero 7 while watching the movie Garden State. One of my favorite ambient groups, Delerium, has also had their songs make their way into a few movies and TV shows too. I would feel all hip for knowing this music that was used in an avant garde way in films.
So basically, I am excited about this. Music is so much fun, especially when you get bitten by the bug of a different style of music than you usually listen to. There are so many bands (check out this site) nowadays in so many genres, that the top 40 radio listeners are really missing out. Hey, they can have their Britney Spears... I sure don't want any of that... well... musically speaking.
So what is chill? It is a type of music that incorporates jazz, techno, hip-hop, sound samples and ambient styles. More commonly known as "chill out" music, there are many styles of chill that intermingle with each other: ambient, trip-hop, downtempo, lounge, progressive, acid jazz, space music. I have probably forgotten some, but the point is that it's a mixture of musical types more concerned with cool grooves and is not really heavy (there are exceptions). The styles overlap each other, and some of it fits into the jazz genre quite nicely.
I have been into this type of music for a while, probably since I got a cable modem. Once I had the power of high bandwidth, I could listen to high-quality streaming internet radio stations. I started out with a strictly ambient space music station then started getting into the stations that served up a mixture of downtempo, trip hop, and acid jazz styles. I made sure to listen to stations that either gave a playlist on the web or actually showed it in the text of the audio stream player. My favorite station these days is Groove Salad by SomaFM.com.
I started writing down the names of the songs and the musicians (not always considered "bands" in the traditional sense). The next thing I know, I am buying some compilations of chill out music at Borders. Although a friend at work introduced me to some ambient stuff and I had already bought a few space music albums, my first real chill out CD was the two disc compilation called "Winter Chill Vol.2" on the Water Music Records label. I was hooked. I started buying more comps, many of which happened to be on that same label... great stuff.
I put the file sharing programs to work and tried to collect more songs and continued buying CDs. The CDs I purchased started to be more band related... I mean that it was a CD by a single artist and not a compilation of various artists. I hit the mother lode this summer when I came upon a plug in for Winamp, an MP3 player, that allows you to record streaming MP3 broadcasts. The plug in is called Streamripper and it's awesome. As it records, it names the tracks for you including the band name and splits them into individual MP3 files. There is some overlap of the previous track, but hey... it's free music! I have about 20 CDs of MP3s recorded off the internet (each CD can hold about 10 hours of music). Some good, some bad, some really good!
I am mostly a heavy metal, hard rock, guitar virtuoso listening guy, but have gotten into female vocalists, jazz, classical, some soft stuff, alternative, grunge and even swing music over the years. When I talk to my heavy metal, hard rock listening friends about this chill out style of music, I always call it "that weird stuff I listen to."
I am glad to see some chill out artists getting main stream commercial radio play. CD 101.9 FM has started calling itself the "New York Chill" station and has begun rotating in music from Zero 7, Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation, Moby, Massive Attack, Mandalay, Nighmares on Wax, St. Germain, and Supreme Beings of Leisure. I know all these guys and own CDs by most of them.
I was also excited to hear songs by Thievery Corporation and Zero 7 while watching the movie Garden State. One of my favorite ambient groups, Delerium, has also had their songs make their way into a few movies and TV shows too. I would feel all hip for knowing this music that was used in an avant garde way in films.
So basically, I am excited about this. Music is so much fun, especially when you get bitten by the bug of a different style of music than you usually listen to. There are so many bands (check out this site) nowadays in so many genres, that the top 40 radio listeners are really missing out. Hey, they can have their Britney Spears... I sure don't want any of that... well... musically speaking.
Monday, December 20, 2004
1st Snowfall of Winter 2004
So Long Island had its first snowfall early this morning. It wasn't much snow... just enough to be annoying and cause traffic tie-ups. I woke up at around 1:00 am for some reason and couldn't sleep, so I booted up the PC and took that screen cap (scroll down to see it). When I left for work this morning it was 14 degrees out and windy. The Ice scraper had its maiden voyage this morning.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Raccoons Evicted!
If you know me than you also know that for approximately the past 2 years I have had some unwelcome tenants in my house on and off. These tenants are not family members or even friends, but raccoons. A while ago, one of these little opposable thumb havin' buggers figured out that he could bend the slats apart on the roof vent that allows air circulation through the eaves of the house. He also learned that he could climb in through this opening and have a warm dry place to hang out.
This little dude must have shared this info with his friends, because since we trapped him and dropped him off at a local park (hopefully far enough away), we've had to trap other raccoons that decided to try out the accommodations over my 2nd floor bedroom ceiling. They come and go and each time they decide to leave I breathe a sigh of relief.
So why not just close the vent up? Good question. The main electricity hook up enters right near the vent opening and nobody we have called wanted to fool around near the LIPA hookup while 25 feet in the air on a (probably very conducive to electricity) ladder.
This last time was the straw... I'd had enough! Every morning at 5:30 am the thing would make all sorts of noise over my head. A few times it sounded like it was about to dig through the sheet rock ceiling. I was getting ready to try closing up the hole myself, electricity or not! My Dad came up with a better idea. We could cut a hole in the ceiling of the second level. We decided to do this in a closet so we wouldn't make the house look like too much of a wreck. I was elected to climb up in there and close up the hole from the inside by screwing a wire grating into the surrounding vent frame. Simple... right? Easier said than done is more like it.
Here's how it went... First I drew some lines on the closet ceiling to try to make a somewhat neat cut in the sheetrock. I grabbed a sheetrock saw and started cutting. Got all 4 sides done and lifted the cut section out and down. I had one of those masks over my face and my safety glasses on. That sheetrock dust makes a big mess. Anyway, I pushed back the insulation and suck my head through the opening, three D-Cell Maglite in hand, and looked for any remaining critters. It was like that scene in Aliens. Luckily, nobody was home. They must have bugged out when I started cutting through the ceiling. I say "they" because I could hear two of them moving around up there the night before.
The first thing I noticed when I got up there was the smell of animal. I am lucky that the smell never made it down into the bedroom. The second thing I noticed was just how little space there would be to move around up there. The third thing I noticed was a pile of raccoon poop about 2 stud sections away from where we cut through. I could see this after I set up the work light.
I now had to drag myself about 20 feet across the studs carrying a screw gun, screws, the wire grating, a wire cutter, a flashlight and a walkie talkie (gotta have one of those... this was a serious mission after all). Once I made to the end of the house, I had to cut the wire grating to fit. Then I had to contort myself in every which way in order to screw it down. I crawled back without turning myself around... that was tough. Avoiding the pile of nasty was a top priority. We had planned on putting up some bug screening as well, but I didn't really feel too hot about going back in there. I went back with the screening and a staple gun only to find out that the piece of screening was too small to do its job. I stapled it up anyway just on principle.
Then it was time for the nasty... I had to clean up the pile of coon waste. This was gross. I used my Dad's German army surplus entrenching tool as a shovel and scooped it into a bag. We got rid of the bag, put an air freshener up there and closed up the hole.
So the next night I come back from my company Holiday party to find that the little buggers have tried to get in through the other vent at the other side of the roof. The next day I closed this section off with wire screening from the outside after I made sure nothing was in there. Haven't heard a peep from up there since.
Whew... what an experience. Good thing I ain't claustrophobic. Those little guys are cute, but that cuteness only goes so far when they wake you up every day for a month straight at 5:00 am.
Scroll down for photos...
This little dude must have shared this info with his friends, because since we trapped him and dropped him off at a local park (hopefully far enough away), we've had to trap other raccoons that decided to try out the accommodations over my 2nd floor bedroom ceiling. They come and go and each time they decide to leave I breathe a sigh of relief.
So why not just close the vent up? Good question. The main electricity hook up enters right near the vent opening and nobody we have called wanted to fool around near the LIPA hookup while 25 feet in the air on a (probably very conducive to electricity) ladder.
This last time was the straw... I'd had enough! Every morning at 5:30 am the thing would make all sorts of noise over my head. A few times it sounded like it was about to dig through the sheet rock ceiling. I was getting ready to try closing up the hole myself, electricity or not! My Dad came up with a better idea. We could cut a hole in the ceiling of the second level. We decided to do this in a closet so we wouldn't make the house look like too much of a wreck. I was elected to climb up in there and close up the hole from the inside by screwing a wire grating into the surrounding vent frame. Simple... right? Easier said than done is more like it.
Here's how it went... First I drew some lines on the closet ceiling to try to make a somewhat neat cut in the sheetrock. I grabbed a sheetrock saw and started cutting. Got all 4 sides done and lifted the cut section out and down. I had one of those masks over my face and my safety glasses on. That sheetrock dust makes a big mess. Anyway, I pushed back the insulation and suck my head through the opening, three D-Cell Maglite in hand, and looked for any remaining critters. It was like that scene in Aliens. Luckily, nobody was home. They must have bugged out when I started cutting through the ceiling. I say "they" because I could hear two of them moving around up there the night before.
The first thing I noticed when I got up there was the smell of animal. I am lucky that the smell never made it down into the bedroom. The second thing I noticed was just how little space there would be to move around up there. The third thing I noticed was a pile of raccoon poop about 2 stud sections away from where we cut through. I could see this after I set up the work light.
I now had to drag myself about 20 feet across the studs carrying a screw gun, screws, the wire grating, a wire cutter, a flashlight and a walkie talkie (gotta have one of those... this was a serious mission after all). Once I made to the end of the house, I had to cut the wire grating to fit. Then I had to contort myself in every which way in order to screw it down. I crawled back without turning myself around... that was tough. Avoiding the pile of nasty was a top priority. We had planned on putting up some bug screening as well, but I didn't really feel too hot about going back in there. I went back with the screening and a staple gun only to find out that the piece of screening was too small to do its job. I stapled it up anyway just on principle.
Then it was time for the nasty... I had to clean up the pile of coon waste. This was gross. I used my Dad's German army surplus entrenching tool as a shovel and scooped it into a bag. We got rid of the bag, put an air freshener up there and closed up the hole.
So the next night I come back from my company Holiday party to find that the little buggers have tried to get in through the other vent at the other side of the roof. The next day I closed this section off with wire screening from the outside after I made sure nothing was in there. Haven't heard a peep from up there since.
Whew... what an experience. Good thing I ain't claustrophobic. Those little guys are cute, but that cuteness only goes so far when they wake you up every day for a month straight at 5:00 am.
Scroll down for photos...
Thursday, December 09, 2004
AZ Trip
I have been inspired to start "blogging" by a recent trip to Arizona. I have recently taken up the hobby of shooting and firearms collecting and because of this, attended the Basic Defensive Pistol (#250) course at the Gunsite Academy. The Academy is located about 2 hours North of Phoenix in Paulden, Arizona. Don't forget to look at the photos at the end of this post.
There were a lot of "firsts" with this trip. This was my first ride on a jet (and incidentally, my first time traveling at 35,000 feet at 560MPH). It was my first time being so far away from home. Up until this point, I had only ever traveled 300 miles away by car. This was my first time traveling far enough to be out of my time zone. Pretty amazing considering that I am 28. Obviously this was my first time in Southwestern USA. Hmmm... what other firsts? Well, it was my first time ever seeing mountains and other beautiful desert scenery. First time driving somewhere where the speed limit was 75MPH! It was my first time shopping in a Safeway grocery store and my first time eating Sonic burgers (mmmm... banana milk shakes). It was my first "real" vacation, even though it was an educational vacation. I was up by 6:30 AM every day. Many of the things I learned at Gunsite were "firsts" for me as well.
If I gave a review of the Gunsite Academy 250 course by explaining what we did each day, there would be waaaay too much to write (and read). Instead, I'll try to touch on the course concepts and techniques and what I learned. The course consisted of classroom lectures and range time practicing the techniques. As luck would have it, northern Arizona was experiencing record low temperatures... and so was I every day out on the range! I used my first owned and favorite pistol for the course - my Kimber Custom TLE II .45 cal 1911. I used my Wilson #47 (7 round) magazines and the supplied PMC 230 grain FMJ cartridges. My equipment performed flawlessly.
The course started with a safe firearms handling lecture and the principles were continually drummed into our heads. Much emphasis was given to the Four Rules of firearms safety:
1. All guns are always loaded
2. Never point a gun at something you are not willing to destroy
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and ready to shoot
4. Always be sure of your target and what's behind it
The course was very "real-world" oriented. They were not teaching us to be cowboys or vigilantes, but preparing us to possibly save our on life one day when the only person we could rely on at the time was ourself. Last time I checked, there was no cop guarding the door to my home 24 hours a day.
The best way to insure your safety is not to get into a life threatening situation. Awareness and proper mindset were stressed and ways to keep you out of a gun fight were discussed. Let's face it, the best way to survive a fight is to not be there and to cheat as much as you can should you find yourself in one. There's nothing wrong with running away either! Distance is your friend.
The first day on the range, they changed my firing grip. I had to get used to it, but now it feels more natural. They were very big on economy of motion and fostering muscle memory during firearm manipulation. We were to taught to do things in the most efficient and simple way and that same way every time. This muscle memory is especially crucial during the draw where you must quickly bring a possibly life-saving piece of equipment into action. We were taught to draw in 5 steps which became 1 motion by weeks end. Whether firing from a kneeling position or after a 180 degree turn, the weapon only ever "cleared leather" or was re-holstered while you were standing upright, facing the target. This was strictly enforced. The instructors watched us like hawks to be sure we were being safe and practicing proper shooting form.
We were encouraged to keep our ammo supply topped off in our pistols during drills at any opportunity we could. It is easy to lose track of your round count, even when you are calm... better to replenish when you can. Oh yeah... always grab the new magazine before removing the half empty one! Always press-check your pistol. Always rack the slide with your support hand, thumb facing you, four fingers contacting the slide behind the ejection port. This was important, because the same motion is used during the clearing of weapon malfunctions (jams). They got us used to doing things one way that would apply to several different situations.
Another focus was sight alignment and trigger control. Line up your front sight with the rear and press (don't pull) the trigger, then ease it back to it's reset point. I had trigger control problems and shot low all week even though I understood the concepts. I also tried a little too hard and shot a little too fast. You can't miss fast enough to get a hit - that point was driven home for me during that week. Once you stop firing, you must assess the situation around you and avoid developing tunnel vision in the immediate threat area.
You could spend months getting the basics down of firing quickly from the holster and hitting your target where you want. There wasn't enough time for everyone to become perfect shots... we moved on a little each day, building on what we had learned the day before.
I'd like to discuss the different drills we did during the week. Over and over we did what was called the "school drill". This drill started with two head shots from the 3 yard line. Then we moved back to the 5, then 10 then 15 firing controlled pairs from the draw each time. We learned 3 ways to draw and kneel and fire. These techniques were later added to the school drill at the 25 yard line. We learned how to turn 90 degrees, draw and fire on a target - the same from a position where our backs were to the target. We learned how to fire and sidestep. We were taught how to shoot while holding a small tactical flashlight (in 2 positions). Let me just say that I love my night sights! We were taught how to clear weapon malfunctions (3 types) and actually created a jam to try out one of the clearance techniques. The class also practiced El Presidente drills (3 targets, 2 shots each, reload, 2 more shots in each) and Dozier drills (rapid fire at 5 targets, 1 shot in each).
We had been working with pneumatically controlled targets from the second day on that would turn and face us then turn back. Near the end of the week we started working with the simulators after a lecture and video on close quarters battle and house clearing. I admit it... I was a little freaked out by the thought of those simulators... of messing up I guess. When I finally did it though, I couldn't wait to do it again. We ran two indoor simulators and two outdoor ones. Students did one of each on Thursday and received constructive criticism. We ran through one of each on the following day trying to improve based on the critique of the previous day. I did pretty well on the second day of simulators. I am glad I did because my scores on the target shooting were pretty bad. Oh well... what are you gonna do?
It was a great experience. I met a lot of nice people and the instructors were great. The range master was Mike Hughes. We were also instructed by Ted Ajax, Bill Go, Alice Rogers and the (in)famous Louis Awerbuck. Each instructor had valuable lessons to teach. I have a lot of things to practice on my own now. I think I am attending the 350 course next year. Gotta make sure I'm a better shot before then.
Check out the following photos...
My first post!
Hi All,
Well here is my first ever post to my first ever blog. There has been a lot going on lately that has made me want to vent somehow and this seems like a good way to do it. Unfortunately, some of those things I would have liked to comment on are old news by now. For example... our recent political election and the preceding campaigns.
Other things are ongoing and I'm sure I'll have a lot of material to comment on. Certain aspects of our commercialized society are consistently annoying. The war on terrorism will be going on for a while and I'm sure there will be a lot to comment on in that area. The media will always aggravate me as long as there are newspapers, radio programs and TV shows. The entertainment industry (that "industry" word conjures up thoughts of heavy machinery and smoke stacks belching pollution into the air) is a constantly superficial and fuel for the fire of commentary.
I have become slightly political lately due to my interest in firearms and shooting sports. I have recently become a firearm owner and am enjoying the new hobby. Too bad it seems to be such a taboo subject in the "Blue State" where I live. In typing these benign words, I feel a bit strange... like people will get the wrong idea about me. Yes, I support the 2nd amendment and believe all people have the right (not granted privilege) to protect themselves, but I am by no means a revolutionary vigilante militant.
Well... I am gonna try this out. I am gonna try speaking my mind in a semi public forum. Please ignore all grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. This is supposed to be fun for me and you so if you see a mistake, please move on. Take everything I say with a grain of salt knowing that I am an overall down-to-earth nice guy. These are only my opinions... but what do I know?
Well here is my first ever post to my first ever blog. There has been a lot going on lately that has made me want to vent somehow and this seems like a good way to do it. Unfortunately, some of those things I would have liked to comment on are old news by now. For example... our recent political election and the preceding campaigns.
Other things are ongoing and I'm sure I'll have a lot of material to comment on. Certain aspects of our commercialized society are consistently annoying. The war on terrorism will be going on for a while and I'm sure there will be a lot to comment on in that area. The media will always aggravate me as long as there are newspapers, radio programs and TV shows. The entertainment industry (that "industry" word conjures up thoughts of heavy machinery and smoke stacks belching pollution into the air) is a constantly superficial and fuel for the fire of commentary.
I have become slightly political lately due to my interest in firearms and shooting sports. I have recently become a firearm owner and am enjoying the new hobby. Too bad it seems to be such a taboo subject in the "Blue State" where I live. In typing these benign words, I feel a bit strange... like people will get the wrong idea about me. Yes, I support the 2nd amendment and believe all people have the right (not granted privilege) to protect themselves, but I am by no means a revolutionary vigilante militant.
Well... I am gonna try this out. I am gonna try speaking my mind in a semi public forum. Please ignore all grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. This is supposed to be fun for me and you so if you see a mistake, please move on. Take everything I say with a grain of salt knowing that I am an overall down-to-earth nice guy. These are only my opinions... but what do I know?
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