More Mullettes Music!

Holy aliteration, Batman! As promised, the Mullettes have produced some additional aural awesomeness for your listening pleasure. The entire list of demos is to your right.

If you've been paying attention, you might be saying, "Hey, Regis! There's only one new song on the Demos list!" And you'd be about 33% right. There is one entirely new-to-the-blog tune, and early number called D-U-N Done (it's slightly rough, although it has moments that click something fierce). Further, El Camino and One More Round have been enhanced from the previously posted versions. How so? Take a listen and figure it out for yourself, you slackers! Sheesh, can't you do anything for yourselves?

Stay tuned for more Mullette updates!

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Regis

Hump Day Happy Hour - Electric Six

Quittin' time is just about here, so it's time for another super awesome video of my choosing. This week, it's "Pulling the Plug on the Party" by another one of my favorite bands, Electric Six. If you've ever ridden in my car, there's a good chance you've already been exposed to the sonic awesomeness that is Dick Valentine and company.



Look at what you made me do,
Regis

Capitol Adventure Recap and Such

How are we doing out there, gang? I'm feeling pretty damn good today.

After a longer break than intended between re-finishing C25K Week One and re-starting Week Two, I eventually managed to get my butt out of bed and get to the SJHS track this morning. The run wasn't as bad as it was the last time I did it (of course, that was the straw that gave the camel shin splints), so that's pretty heartening. When I got there, there were two ladies that can charitably be described as broad walking a small dog (a big no-no) that probably weighed twice what it should have. So, naturally, the dog got picked up and carried half the time I was there. Seriously, this dog made Lizzie, my replacement whom we affectionately refer to at times as "Porky," look like a miniature pinscher Kate Moss.

Meg and I went down to Cheyenne for my cousin Cody's wedding this weekend. It was a lovely ceremony in a beautiful cathedral with a pipe organ and awesome acoustics (yeah, I'm a musician...). The reception was likewise a lot of fun, between my uncle's perpetual beer refilling and ecstatic dancing, my aunt doing tequila shots for the photographer, the flower girl (almost painfully cute, and she knows it) dragging the ring bearer all over the place, and a decent DJ that played Bille Jean - if only I actually knew how to moonwalk. Add in a lot of paisano, and you've got a pretty classic Michelena family shindig. Best wishes to the happy couple!

We went to Cheyenne by way of Laramie so we could see the old crew (at least, those that were still in town and not off getting drunk and hitting people with sticks). Thanks to everyone for the epic game of Phase 10 and helping me shatter Frank's previous high score, even if it means I came in dead last. Oh, and we averaged about 40 mpg for the trip (we took the Yaris).

In other news, James Dobson is being James Dobson, and Beaver and Steve (one of my favorite web comics) is going on hiatus. Lame.

It was "ice" knowing you,
Regis

Inaugural Hump Day Happy Hour - We Are Scientists

All right, so I've been kicking around the idea of a weekly music video posting thing wherein I put up some music that I dig that isn't exactly mainstream. I'll readily admit it's not the most original thought in the blogosphere, but if you don't like it, too damn bad (as my father told me many times when I was shorter).

For the first edition of what I'm calling the Hump Day Happy Hour (for lack of a better name), I give you the latest single from one of my favorite bands, We Are Scientists. "Chick Lit" is off their recent Brain Thrust Mastery, which has been getting some heavy play at the Etxe Michelena. Why? Because it kicks some ass, that's why. So pull up a barstool and enjoy.



Be sure to come back next week for more!

I will do this again,
Regis

Here We Go Again

After a long couple of weeks recovering from shin splints, I got back to the track this morning. I repeated the C25K Week 1 program and will do so once more before moving on to Week 2. It felt good to get moving again, especially after a couple of more or less concurrent weeks of downloading and processing LIDAR data for the main road of a new CBM pod.

LIDAR (Lignt Detection and Ranging) technology uses a laser to determine distance and elevation. For topographical purposes (what I'm using it for), the data is downloaded from what is essentially a large spreadsheet into AUTOCad, where it is then used to generate a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN), which in turn generates topographical contours. The TIN is also used to produce a road's centerline profile and generate the road's original ground cross sections; the original ground cross sections are compared to design cross sections to calculate the quantity of earthwork (cut and fill) construction of the road will require.

LIDAR is great because we can generate topography for any given spot without having to send out a surveying crew - particularly handy if additional topo is needed beyond what was originally thought necessary. The one problem with LIDAR is probably more a problem with the computers we use - the downloaded LIDAR for a given area is just too much information to use. As such, after spending hours (and hours and hours, if the project in question is big enough) downloading LIDAR into AUTOCad, we have to spend more time (not as much, but it can still be significant) thinning the data down to a manageable amount that is still acceptable for our purposes. (This made me think of the bit from South Park, wherein Jimbo and Ned explain their new justification for hunting - to thin out the numbers of local deer, rabbits, and other wildlife. "We're environmentalists!")

At this point, you're probably thinking, "Okay, that was very interesting, but so what?"

Good question. In the end, it just felt really great to get back in motion after sitting on my ass dealing with LIDAR (and more LIDAR, after finding out I needed a whole lot more when I received a fence line which was smack dab in the middle of the data I'd spent the better part of a week prepping) for the past couple weeks. Here's looking forward to more.

Thin our their numbers,
Regis

Another One Rides The Bus

Sorry to be posting so many videos rather than my own thoughts lately, but I can't resist the urge to share this link of unfathomable sadness: a McCain campaign outreach to fans of MTV Cribs. It has to be the most blatantly half-assed pander I've seen in quite a while. I don't suppose the Mac will be showing off any of his eight houses any time soon - it would probably make it a little difficult to pin Obama as the highfalutin elitist.

In other news, Kung Fu Panda gets two thumbs up from me and Cassidy, my sister's fiance's daughter. And don't worry, the missus and I will be seeing The Incredible Hulk in the near future.

"Take that, Hollywood!",
Regis

Heh

Here's a little satire for your workday:



If the label says it's food, that's good enough for me,
Regis

Check The Hands On The Clock

Ladies and gentlemen, to your right you'll see links to seven instrumental (that is to say, sans vocals) demos by Sheridan's favorite fictional all-girl rock band, the Mullettes. The girls are working on a few more of the tracks that I wrote for FAWM here at beautiful New Danger Dog Studio, so stay tuned for more updates.

So please, rock out with your cocks out (or in, it's really up to you) and let me know what you think!

Cum on feel the noize,
Regis

In Case You Missed It

I'd like to take this opportunity to raise my glass (actually, it's a mug of Throat Coat tea, but whatever) to Senator Obama, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for President of the United States. I was excited to caucus for him back in March, and you'd better believe I'll be even more excited to vote for him in November.

In case you missed it, here's his speech from last night after attaining the majority of delegates:



Yes we can!
Regis

A Dedication

Hillary, this one's for you:



Seriously. You lost. Admit it, and let's move on.

I'm Regis Michelena, and I approve this message.

Lame +1

My Couch to 5K experience is on hold, gang - two weeks in and I have shin splints. This is pretty lame in and of itself, but the icing on the cake was my simultaneous diagnosis yesterday of a sinus infection. You know what they say about when it rains, right?

In better news, I finally got my IOU Hawaiian shirt from my birthday last year this Friday. The shirt's surf motif fit in quite nicely with our preferred Friday music at the office, Cowabunga Uber Alles on XM 53. For a moment, at least, there was great rejoicing throughout the land.

I think it's time for more tea,
Regis