http://www.bengarvey.com/ Original Acoustic Rock and more from the Philadelphia area. en-us http://www.bengarvey.com/images/header6.jpg http://www.bengarvey.com/ ben@bengarvey.com http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1091 You may have noticed a few crazy things going on here this weekend. I'm migrating the site over to Wordpress and saying goodbye to Postnuke for blogging purposes. I'll still keep it installed, because Odd Man In relies on it. If you want to check out a preview of the new site, check it out here. I was able to successfully import all my old posts, so now all I need to do is move the comments. Update: Switched back for now because it broke Odd Man In. For some reason the modules.php page uses index.php. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1090 This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. But it's probably only funny if you've watched Transformers. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1089 As a promotion for the new Simpsons Movie, you can turn yourself into a Springfieldian using Simpsonize Me. Evidently a ton of people have been using it and clogging up the tubes, so be patient. I finally got it to work this morning and with the help of GIMP I made this scene of my family. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1088 Wow, I was surprised to see this today. Hey everyone, This is the third bulletin that I have sent out about this. I want to make you all aware that Tina and I know that the Lord has called us to sell the shop. He has told us that our season here is over. I will be attending seminary in the fall. It will take me three years to get my Masters of Divinity, but at that point I will be able to be a pastor. Tina will be heading back to engineering after a few months home with the baby. Thank you for all of your support. If you are interested in buying or might know someone that is, please give us a call or message me. Our number is 856-906-3494. Thanks again. Peace and love to you all, RandyThe Treehouse was a labor of love for Tina and Randy and it's sad to see they weren't able to swing it into a permanent job for them. I can't imagine how tough it would be to keep a coffee shop open. Maybe Grooveground would consider moving to the better location. Anyone interested in buying it? http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1087 A few months ago Facebook opened their site up to anyone and I signed up, but didn't do much with it. Since then a few of my friends have added me and I've been messing around with it a lot more. It's so much better designed than myspace it's scary. Myspace has to be the buggiest, worst looking site on the Internet. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1086 Jake has a bonfire every year at his house and what originally started as a case study in laziness turned into a family tradition. He didn't want to haul any wood to his bonfire, so he told everyone to bring their own logs. My cousin Anna asked if she could decorate hers and rest is history. It's now a full on competition to see who can bring the best log to the bonfire. I got a little carried away this year. As in, carried away to the emergency room. I don't want to completely reveal my original log idea in case I decide to do it next year, but it involved drilling large holes. When the accident occurred I was actually working on Jeanne's log when the drill bit slipped and cascaded nicely across my left thumb, tearing into skin, muscle, and an artery. Blood was seen and a trip to the hospital ensued. Ten stitches later I finished my log and won the contest anyway, lobster claw and all. Click here to see a picture of my hand after they stiched it (cell phone cameras are great for recording valuable history like this). It's gross and that's why I didn't post it out in the open. I just got the stitches out today, but it will still be a few weeks before it's fully healed. Update: For those that wanted to see the log, here it is. It's a crime scene log with some of my actual blood on it. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1085 Mr Wizard passed away at 89. Three of his experiments are absolutely burned into my mind. 1. Boiling water in an enclosed container will cause it to explode. 2. An experiment where he had a kid try to suck water through a straw several stories high. 3. Obviously: Ping pong balls and mouse traps. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1084 Doritos has a promotion going on right now to name their new flavor. They're selling it in a black bag with the code name X-13D and I'm here to tell you it's gross. I bought a small bag at Wawa and my first thought was "relish" as in, "Doritos came up with relish flavored chips." As I ate a few more I figured they must be going for a cheeseburger flavor, but nothing could overpower the relish or pickle flavor. So thumbs down on the X-13D (or my name for it, Assburger with extra Relish), but thumbs up on the cool promotion. The power of user collaboration is spreading to the consumer culture. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1083 Last night I stopped into Justin's open mic at the Roadhouse in Barrington and played a decent set of 99%, Ralph Wiggum, I Hope I Die on the Moon, Big Dipper, Here Comes Your Man, and The Genius of it All. Tony and Steve from work stopped by to enjoy South Jersey and all it's glory. When telling Tony about it earlier in the day he Googled Roadhouse and found this gem from a karaoke night: I'll be disappointed every week this guy doesn't show up. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1082 Scott from mars-red has been sending out about an email a day about the Pipettes show, but it wasn't until about 1:30PM that I realized it was today. The lawn was about to get mowed at my house when it started raining, so I headed over to mars-red to check out the show. The Pipettes are some sort of neo-60's girl pop group. They were polka dotted dresses and are backed by their band, the Cassettes. Their wikipedia bio is interesting:The promoter, performer and guitarist Monster Bobby formed the group in mid-2003 with the intention of reviving the traditional Phil Spector pop sound and giving it a modern twist, after noticing the reaction girl group songs got during his DJ sets[3]. In collaboration with singer, poet and photographer Julia Clark-Lowes, who was inspired by Bill Drummond (and Jimmy Cauty)'s The Manual [1], he recruited friends from and around the local music scene[2]. The group have been called an experiment in manufactured pop, although the members' take is that they manufactured themselves. [3] [4] The male backing musicians (officially called "The Cassettes", although members have emphasised that the band is officially a seven piece) rarely appear in interviews or promo photos, adding mystique and emphasising the role of the singers. The three frontwomen wear polka dot dresses and synchronised choreography is a major part of their live shows, whereas The Cassettes can be seeing wearing yellow tank tops with their initals sewn onto them. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes About 100 people turned out to see them play three songs in the rain, but luckily they had a few tents set up. I liked it and I'm happy for mars-red that they were able to land such a big band. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1081 Saturday night a few of us headed out to see The National at Johnny Brenda's in Northern Liberties. I'd never been there before and was thoroughly impressed with the place. Matt Beringer called it "a mini Radio City Music Hall." The National - Abel Opening up was Bear in Heaven, who had a similar sound to the National except on vocals. Overall it was a much better pair up than last year's infamous tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The National plowed through a long set of songs mostly from Alligator and Boxer. I just picked up Boxer from mars-red and so far I like it more than Alligator. It seems like the band has finally figured out how to play around Beringer's voice. The National - Mistaken for Strangers I thought the National sounded great, although some kept shouting for more vocals. I don't think the sound traveled to the bar area as well. Update: The BM Rant was there and here are some great photos. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1080 I saw this on TV tonight while Jeanne was watching Oprah. Hilarious. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1079 I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts. - Orson Welles http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1078 As most of the OMI players know, things with the game have been pretty screwy lately. This is because of my computer being out of commission and my (semi) automatic way of making sure the shots go through. Well, it looks like my host now supports cron which is great news for OMI players. I will no longer have to rely on my home PC to engage the shots since the signal will come from the server from now on. Hopefully yesterday's 4 hours between shots won't happen again. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1075 I ordered my new computer parts last night. Here are the specs! Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail PNY VCG7900SXPB GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail MSI 945P Neo3-F LGA 775 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AMD2667-2G2K-R - Retail Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D/BEBE - OEM Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply - Retail SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19" 4 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1074 Two and a half years ago I finished Neal Stephensen's Cryptonomicon. I liked it, but it took forever to finish. Well, fast forward to today and I just finished the prequel, Quicksilver. I got the book for my 27th birthday and it took me a year and a half to finish! I probably never would have read it, but the free chapter included with Cryptonomicon sold me. Damn you. Not that Quicksilver wasn't good, but it's almost more impressive as a thing. I can appreciate a mountain without having to climb it or a bridge without having to jump off it. I'll be 80 by the time I finish the whole series. Typically I flop between fiction and non-fiction, and I just started reading the Selfish Gene. Usually the fiction goes by faster, but in this case I'm devouring it. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1073 So far I'm not 100% sold on the new Arcade Fire album, but they were great live on Saturday at the Tower. Don't get me wrong, Neon Bible is very good, but it doesn't have the repeatability or depth of Funeral. I still think Funeral was the best album of the last few years, so maybe it's not fair to compare the two and half of Neon Bible is as good as anything on Funeral anyway. It's the other half that pulls it down a little and it goes to show you that a bad song is worse than two good ones. We'll see how it stacks up in a year. The show, however, was great. The only songs they left out from my wish list was Tunnels and Wake Up, but all I needed to hear was Laika to make the trip worth it. It's one of those genius songs that sound like no other band could have written it. In other news my webhost upgraded a bunch of stuff on the server and it broke a lot of stuff. I'm very close to pulling the plug on postnuke and switching to some other CMS or blogging software. Right now I'm leaning towards Wordpress, which I've used at work and like. Any suggestions? http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1072 Last night I stopped by the everlasting Treehouse Open Mic night hosted by Rich. It's great to see it continue and as far as I know they've been having one for at least 6 years. A lot of new performers (except Bob Michel) were there and most were entertaining. I don't remember most of their names, but I liked Jesse and the guy playing John Cougar Mellancamp covers. He was a dead ringer for Without a Trace's Anthony LaPaglia. I had a really interesting conversation with Leon who spent a year or so in Iraq and Rob gave me some tips on beer brewing. Bob Michel told me plays Sudoku to stave off premature senility. Crazy dancing girl didn't stop dancing for the entire last hour of the open mic. I noticed a lot of stores right near the treehouse closing or about to close, like Paris 679, the Antique Store, and the game store. It's a shame because those were some of the best in town. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1071 Any south jersey mechanical engineering students looking for a paid summer internship? Email me. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1070 I'm writing some JavaScript at the moment and you know what it needs? 1. Multiline strings 2. An inline concatenation operator such as += Anything else? http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1069 Happy fifth birthday GameShow! You still find a way to frustrate me daily. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1068 Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 was released today. It's the greates email client I know of, so check it out. I'm not sure what all the improvements are, but so far I see message tagging and a cleaner interface. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1067 I really love Google's personalized home page. Log in and you can add various little widgets to your home page like a To Do list, calendar, wikipedia search, weather, etc. Check out this screen cap of my page: http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1066 It looks like my PC just barely outlasted Kurt Vonnegut. After a power outage I found that it won't boot up anymore. The power turns on and I can hear the drives kicking in and the fans turning, but nothing makes it to the screen. No error beeps either, which tells me it's either the motherboard or part of the power supply that is bad. I thought it might be the CMOS battery, but my friend Steve convinced me that it would still boot up with a dead one. The good news is that my hard drives are probably ok, and even if they aren't everything should be backed up on my external drive. So... do I buy the same motherboard and rebuild my current machine? If I upgrade the MB I'll probably have to buy a new processor, RAM, and video card, so we're already talking hundreds of dollars. http://www.bengarvey.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1065 Damn! Kurt Vonnegut died at the age of 84. He was the best.