Man Skills Vol. 2

As you may recall I recently listed some my most embarrasing male deficiencies. I've set about to correct as many of those as possible. Now I'm not going to learn how to disassemble and reassemble a Chevy small block anytime soon, I did learn how to drive a stick today. It took me long enough, but now I can check that off my list.


Thursday I also mentioned seeing a guy pass-out, I figure I'll explain that little bit of awesomeness in more detail. I was at school for a meeting, and while walking down the hall I saw a kid sitting on the ground, looking really wan. The next thing I know his eyes rolled backwards and he slammed his forehead into the ground and then slid across the floor. I was surprised that his head did no bounce. I told someone in the nearest office to call 911, and then I went to my meeting. I probably should have stayed, but I was running late, and there were other people streaming out of offices and classrooms to help the kid.

Man Skillls.

I was going to tell you about the guy I saw pass-out and smack his head into the ground yesterday, but then I read these two blog entries and decided to treat you to some hallway horror stories Friday instead.

I've recently come to the conclusion that I've lived a much too coddled life. I can't do so many of the typical "man" things. I can't fix cars. I've never even changed a flat tire (never had to, AAA). I don't know anything about electrical wiring. I remember being in elementary school with kid that would build their own radios from junk lying around the house. I can't do much as far as wood working goes. I have built a couple of bird houses, a cutting board, and some other junk, but nothing working writing home about. I have told my girlfriend recently that I want to build a bat box, you know for bats. I hate bugs, and I want as many bug eating bats in my back yard as possible. The thing I'm most ashamed of. I cannot drive a car with a manual transmission. I've never had to. My dad drove a VW GTI with a stick until I was about 12, but since then only my brother had owned a car with a stick shift. I could, and will, ask him to show me, but I haven't had the time.

All that is bad enough, but I don't dwell on it. I'm sure that I could go my whole life without needing many of those skills, but I'd rather not. I want to build things. That's where these blog entries come in.

The first one is about a guy that took a stuffed cat, and wired into this old Police Interceptor so that the lights he put in the cats eyes would single when he turns. Check it out here.

The second one is the same guy building a 92lbs boombox from old car parts he found at a junkyard. They've included a video to whet your appetite before you read the how-to on the blog entry.

Deftones, Lupo's, Providence Rhode Island, 6/6/07

If there are two things the Deftones do well it is write and record amazing albums, and play extremely disappointing concerts. This was the third time I've seen the band. It is also the last. I understand that the bands first two albums were very heavy affairs that did little to separate them from the pack of other nu-metalers. However, since then they have put out three excellent albums that sounds almost nothing like their early stuff, in a good way. The first hour of the show I recognized maybe 3 songs (and I have all 5 of their albums), even the songs I knew I didn't recognize until well into the song. I was ready to leave the show after the first 30 minutes. I stuck it out, and the second half of the show was marginally better than the first. If I hadn't driven almost 2 hours to get to Providence I would have left. Had the show been in New Haven or Hartford I would have gone home. I just want to band to play the songs they write. If they want to continue playing only the really heavy stuff, then they should go back to recording the really heavy stuff. Is it too much to ask for a band to play the music off the album they are supporting? I think they played 5 songs from Saturday Night Wrist. If I told you half the songs came from the first two albums, I don't think I'd be exaggerating. I will not pay more than $18 in the future to see this band. That's right, I won't even pay $20. Speaking of $20, for that amount of money you could buy a pre-signed copy of SNW.

New Metallica

I don't know what to think of this. It is a lot better than anything off of St. Anger, which is a pretty easy task if you ask me. I could write a better album that St. Anger. But, it doesn't really sound like Metallica. I know this song, and another have been floating around on the internet for a while, but this is my first listen.

Blog wants to show Lexus the difference between a car and porn

Lexus has sued two pornographers for running a porn site featuring a character called "Lexus Cash" for fear it dilutes their brand. The auto blog Jalopnik is starting a campaign to make certain people won't EVER get confused. ;)


I signed up for Digg a little while ago, and I've been wanting to try this "Blog It" feature for a while. This seemed like a good place to start.



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