My little corner of NV

Posted by Matt Rose Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:19:00 GMT

For those of you who are curious about what I'm saying when I talk about my Storage Space in NV, here's a sattelite view of what I'm talking about


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Somalia's beaches

Posted by Matt Rose Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:25:00 GMT

I bought my mom a book on the world's most dangerous places. Because she's been to most of them. So I was entertained by [this article] in Foreign Policy magazine entitled Top Tourist Spots Americans Can’t Visit

I spent every friday (Muslim Holy day) at the beaches in Somalia when I lived there in the 80s.

Mogadishu’s Beaches

Location: Somalia’s east coast

Why you should go: The beaches that separate Mogadishu from the Indian Ocean rank among the most beautiful stretches of sand in the world, say many of the very few Western travelers who ever venture there. Coral reefs teeming with fish are easily accessible from the shore (although tourists pursuing aquatic leisure should leave all valuables at home in case their boat is hijacked by pirates). Back in Mogadishu, visitors can find virtually anything in the city’s outdoor markets—except peace of mind. A 2004 Economist article noted that hand grenades go for a mere $10, and other popular items include antiaircraft guns and mortars.

Why you can’t: Because a good day in Somalia is the worst day of your life almost anywhere else. The constant state of anarchy, lawlessness, and piracy is usually enough to deter most folks from traveling to Somalia, the world’s third most failed state, according to the 2007 Failed States Index. Michael Sailor of intrepid travel agency Abercrombie & Kent perhaps puts it best when he says that Somalia is “not exactly a top-of-mind recognition for a travel destination.” The U.S. government does not maintain any consular presence in Mogadishu, so an American in trouble is likely to stay there. Most troubling is the fact that with little recognized, governing authority in Somalia, simply identifying which of the seemingly endless string of warlords and criminals has just kidnapped you is an important first step in negotiating your release. Still, the water is lovely.

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New to my blog: Poetry interpretation

Posted by Matt Rose Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:57:00 GMT

Jane Hirshfield upon hearing the news about the vandalism of Robert Frost's cabin in the woods, and the unusual sentence given the vandals, posted the poem in question. I think it's past copyright now, so I repost it here.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I.
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I haven't read it since high-school, and I read it entirely differently now than I did then. For me, back in high school about being different, choosing "The road less traveled"

Re-reading it now, it seems almost wistful. The subject of the poem is reflecting on the one choice, that seemed almost inconsequential at the time. At the time, he thought " Oh, I kept the first for another day!" Then in the very next line he says " Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back."

We all make potentially life-altering choices each day, and each one, no matter how minor it seems at the time, can have drastic effects on not only your life, but the lives of all the people you effect.

The final lines of the poem I read entirely differently now, with the first line of the final stanza setting an entirely different tone.

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blogging from my iPod

Posted by Matt Rose Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:04:00 GMT

blogging from my new ipod touch. Mer and Colin's wedding was very nice

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13 years later

Posted by Matt Rose Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:14:38 GMT

When I got my first apartment with Einoch, we ended up running a sort of shelter for the little siblings of some of our friends. This is a picture of Jocelyn, Jill, Einoch and I who all ran into each other at Einoch's B-day

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Einoch the Unhappy Hippie

Posted by Matt Rose Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:18:00 GMT

This picture cracks me up, I think einoch looks so sad because he worries all his ultra-hip emo friends now have proof that he's a dirty hippy

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Andrew Vincent is a golden god.

Posted by Matt Rose Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:36:00 GMT

Here's the proof.

I Just saw this ad on TV.

If you like his song, you should go check out his website, or buy a CD

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Best. Rider. Ever.

Posted by Matt Rose Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:10:00 GMT

And I mean that in both senses. 

I've been in a band (never one that could get away with a rider), and I've done sound crew and stage crew stuff since I was a teenager.  In that capacity, I saw a lot of riders.  None were as funny or as informative as this one. 

I've always felt Road Managers lived between a rock and a hard place.  Their entire livelihood depends on how someone else "feels" on a particular day.  All they can do is have everything set up so that the performer has the best environment possible.  Which means they have to be the most demanding motherfuckers.  This manager obviously is comfortable with the fact, and has fun with it.

Favourite quotes:

1 X KORG 2000 DIGITAL RACK TUNER.  Digital in the sense that it works via an electronically generated number system, not digital because it only works if someone holds it together with their fingers.
For the sidefills, can we have two great big enormous things please, of a type that might be venerated as gods by the inhabitants of Easter Island, capable of reaching volumes that could provide the power for a Monster Truck Rally.
Can I just sat that we like to keep it as clear as possible, especially at the front?  My insurance doesn't cover me for allowing Rockstarts to fall off the front of the stage. [ ... ]  This way, Iggy can run around in his customary manner, like a crazed running-around-type-thing, and we can all relax in a haze of self-satisfied panic.
NO YAMAHAS and NO BLEEDING DIGITAL or I will chop it into a hundred pieces, and each of those pieces I will chop into a hundred pieces ... so that's like, er ... tenty hundred?  Anyway, then I will douse them in petrol and burn them.  In accordance wuth local and national guidelines on the burning of bits of shit mixer, of course.

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The economics of the Peloton

Posted by Matt Rose Wed, 23 Aug 2006 03:54:04 GMT

This article is one of the best explanations of why cycling is at once the most interesting, and the most boring of all sports. Plus, there's two stories in it that had me laugh out loud. Pack Mentality

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The hi-tech knitter

Posted by Matt Rose Wed, 23 Aug 2006 00:15:01 GMT

I thought Liz and Jen would get a kick out of this: You can now get knitting patterns through itunes

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