wanna know what the hell's taken me so long to update? (probably not, but since you're already here… )

reason #1 – New Spider-Man game for PlayStation

this is probably the best Spider-Man game I've ever seen. there are some quirky things with it, but it's generally just great! I've been vegged out for several days in my off time playing this excellent game. (brian pointed out a little while back that I hadn't yet fessed up to being a comic geek. well, I think this post will remedy that.)

reason #2 – OmniCom 3.0

brian found this earlier last week, and almost immediately after he'd shown it to me, I was online attempting to download it. four days later, I paid the shareware fee (& I never pay shareware fees).
    this little beaut is a comic book database program that's pretty much the closest thing we've found to exactly what we'd been looking for. it's a great program right now, and from what the programmer's told me, the next release should be even better. the installation routine in the last release (3.0) is a little wonky–you pretty much have to install it where it wants to go (ie. you can't choose a directory)–but if you just let it do it's thing you won't regret it (and the author says he'll do his best to fix the install problems ASAP, so you may not even have to worry about it). If you're looking for a program to catalogue and track your comic collection, this is it. don't look any farther. the author seems like a great guy, the registration (a measly $15) was promptly delivered, and he's been very open to some of the ideas we've presented to him for the next version of the program.

now, go get 'em!

wow. what a weekend. i'm sure it'll lose quite a bit in the telling…

i went up to chicago to see hey mercedes play their first show and record it for transmission3000. on the way, we're cruising up interstate 65, i'm somberly reading a book, and then bam! the brakes are on, and this semi in front of us is locking them up. this car comes flying out of the median (at first i thought it was some crazy-ass cop) general lee style. jumping across 2 lanes of interstate. it didn't hit pavement until the breakdown on the right-hand side of our lane. it hits the pavement and then flips over in this crazy barrel roll up into some thick shrubbery. this is quite a shock at 10 in the morning, as you might have guessed. we pulled over and scrambled out of the car, frantically calling 911 on the cell. we were met at the scene by some crazy trucker with a fresh tracheotomy, and we couldn't understand a damn thing he said. luckily, the lady was alright. she was just massively shaken up, and rightfully so. kids…let that be a reminder to wear your safety belts.

we ended up getting into chicago without any further carnage. things proceeded well. we ate some amazing chicago-style pizza in this deceptively nice hole-in-the-wall. got stuck in chicago-style traffic. the usual.

we got to the venue and got to set up nice and early (not like when we went up to do one of the last braid shows…), and the show went off without a hitch. i got to meet up with my friend jack from boston that i only get to see about once a year, so that was good. i also got to meet the guy from one day productions. all in all, a great show. and to document it, we have one hell of a nice recording. look out for it on transmission3000 sometime before the end of this week.

special thanks to jessye and megan for putting us up for the night on saturday. they're really great girls and it sucks that i don't get to see them more often. i did leave my pillow at their house, so maybe that'll be a good excuse to get back up there soon.

and now i'm back home again…

been a couple days since i updated (and i'm still more frequent than matt), so i thought i'd catch up on the major events around here. first off, i've actually been avoiding posting to the site for fear that i may launch into one of my trademark rants. it seems that quite a few people are interested in transmission3000, including bands that i can't stand. i've basically had moral dillemmas about the future growth of transmission3000 vs. what i really want it to be. i won't name names, but needless to say…well…whatever.

i spent last night in indianapolis. i went up there to see the casket lottery and small brown bike. it was a great show (waxwing is incredible. seriously…) until the pa blew out and we had to forget all about recording just to hack equipment together to get the show back in progress. everything worked out in the end, and everyone had a rockin' time. i'm looking forward to seeing all those guys next month at the bloomington fest. maybe we'll see you there as well.

tomorrow morning it's off to chicago to see the first hey mercedes show. i'm pretty fuckin' excited, especially since stacy let me here a promo of the new polyvinyl ep that comes out next month. good shit. really solid.

have a good weekend. i'll try to update from chicago…

I started out this past week doing pretty well, updated three times in two days… kinda fell off after that.

to follow up on my last post, the next day I was once again working a little late, and once again ran into the janitor in the bathroom before going home. this time he was rather more friendly, he actually spoke to me, and he seemed to be in better spirits. I wanted to tell him that I thought he was doing a great job, but I couldn't figure out how to say it. I guess even despite my last post, you just can't really tell these people that you appreciate them without sounding like a bastard. probably the best way to respect them and show your appreciation, I guess, is to just do your part to not make their job more difficult than it needs to be. clean up after yourself, don't smear shit on the walls, don't piss in the floor, don't pump the soap dispenser out all over the counter, don't put an entire roll of toilet paper IN the toilet.

I can't help but think that his improved attitude and friendliness towards me was some form of positive karmic feedback as a result of my contemplation of him, his position, and my presenting my ideas and trying to engender respect for him and his fellow "menial laborers" among the readers of this weblog.

in other news, the site we're working on at my new job has slipped by yet another "deadline," but we'll hopefully have it up this week (people are thinking it might go live tomorrow, but that hope is probably unfounded). If it goes live, I'll link it in here, so you guys can go check out the demos for a laugh or two.

since I hardly ever include a link, I'll just post this one here for your surfing pleasure. my apologies if I've posted it before.

today's bipolar update is dedicated to admitting it's okay to like nirvana. seriously. i've been listening to a mix cd of all of my favorite songs of their's, and nothing beats it.

adam at kempa.com has some interesting links posted today, including one weird-ass ebay auction…

something that will have me ostracized from the indie community: the new deftones record is really good. there. i said it. kill me now. they also have a pretty nice l'il website.

one more solo?

not much going on today as i sit in the hell i label "the workplace." it looks like one of the jobs i applied for wants me to come in for an interview. i'm trying to get a totally different position than what they're offering me, but i think i'll agree to take it anyway. it's still more money than i make here. i also have another job i'm working on that i just found out about today. maybe that one'll pan out, and my whole "not exactly what i wanted" thing will be moot.

looks like adam has posted some amusing work anecdotes over at kempa.com. you should check it out. i always do.

after matt's insightful article on janitorial workers yesterday, i figure i have to write how i think his whole article reminded me of the part in fight club where they laid down the law…"you do not fuck with us." i think if more janitors and people in the service industry took this stance, the world would be a better place. or maybe a tad bit more violent.

i know it's short, but i'm frickin' hungry. leave me alone already…

I've just been struck by something… you know how it is when you're going through your day as you normally would, then for some reason, some normal event stands out and causes you to think about life, the world, existence, etc…

I'm getting ready to go home, shutting down my computer, washing out my coffee cup, and I see the janitor guy in the breakroom. I say hello, and get no response other than a general (not really thrilled) look. which makes me think about the necessity of those "unwanted" jobs in our society. now that I have a good job, one that I'm (so far) happy with, and in fact have been searching for for years, what about those people who don't have the jobs they want, what about the person I, at one point, was?

the thing is, our society, our world–as it is today–could not exist without these people doing these things. if all the janitors, bus drivers, stockers, delivery people, street cleaners, etc. just up and decided to quit, our whole society would fall apart at the seams. we have to have these people in place, unhappy or not, to maintain what we've built up. when I think about it, I know I would'nt be happy as a janitor, probably not anymore than our janitor is. I would be resentful of the well-paid staff of the company of which I would be a vital, but largely underappreciated and underpaid, part. I would be resentful of the people who work normal hours, not thinking once about me, or the mess I'll have to deal with when they leave for the night. the trash I have to pick up, the floors I have to vacuum, the toilets I have to scrub. I would be resentful, and unhappy.

I suppose there must be some people out there who enjoy janitorial type work, enjoy being able to do their job when the place is shut down and quiet, to be able to work pretty much at their own pace, taking breaks whenever they like, having time alone away from the family. in some ways, I guess it must be even desirable, but probably most people in those positions are not (necessarily) there by choice.

I'm not suggesting some great outpouring of our gratitude for these people, since I don't really know what we could do, if anything, that would make things better/easier/more enjoyable for them. I guess, I just want people to think about it, and understand that without these people doing these jobs, we wouldn't be able to do ours. and if one of these people is reading, well I guess I just hope you know that you are appreciated, you are respected, at least by me. I certainly couldn't do those jobs, but I am glad someone is willing.

well…as you may have already read in matt's blog over there, our #1 search string so far this month is: 250lb women.

first off, i want to state for the record that i think this is sick. sick depraved shit. i know you're out there. i know you are coyly searching for fat chick porn and then linking over to us. well whoever you are…fucking quit it. you're driving me nuts. fuckin' sicko.

anyway…i now have an even faster computer. i spent the day installing a new processor and setting everything up correctly. shit that should have been done the first time around, but whatever. so i'm blazin' along. now all i need is that damn dsl connection…

just because i haven't mentioned it lately, kempa.com has been updated quite a few times in my absence. you know…we went with blogger so that it would be easy to update this thing on a regular basis…looks like we're still just a bunch of lazy bastards.

went and saw the national acrobat play on sunday. they played with a whole host of other bands, but after they played, i left. i was hungry and getting a headache. i guess that's the way things go. i did, however, pick up their newest cd, "the national acrobat is, for all practical purposes, dead." it's quite amazing. you should give it a shot if you haven't already.

that's about it for tonight.

stats pages can be quite interesting, as we've found out here at bipolar. our number one search string for the month, the one phrase that has lead more people to the site than any other is… "250lb women." go figure. i'm going to have to start working in slutty xxx phrases more often in my hot steamy discourses. funny thing is, I don't remember ever having written anything about 250lb women, nor do I remember my perverted friend brian (next door porn site just for you. have fun!

in other news, I had an interesting trip to Bloomington this past weekend, perhaps I'll tell you about it later.

first off…sorry that i haven't updated this thing in while. my best friend in the universe, guy kelly, just got back from two years abroad. needless to say, we've had some catching up to do.

the casket lottery breezed back into my town this weekend, and it's always nice to see those guys. too bad i don't get to see them often enough. we got to hang out and shoot the shit and all of that goodness. people were rocked. pictures were drawn. comics were bought. all in all, a damn good time.

since we're on the subject of friends and the distance that separates me from some of mine…i'll finally be able to see my friend jack again when i head up to chicago at the end of this month to see hey mercedes play their first show. so if you plan on being there, seek out this handsome guy, and tell him how much you love his weblog.

special note to conner: fuck you fuck you fuck you. i do too update this shit every now and then. thanks for reading, man.

::end transmission::