Part of this is going to be really hard...

This video seemed appropriate for this blog entry:





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Today, I was boxing things up in my faculty office and playing "Crosseyed and Painless" pretty loud. I looked up and noticed someone standing in my office door-window. I went to turn the music down, but before I could, I noticed that the guy was dancing. I opened the door.

"Just really liking the music" he said. He looked to be an 18-20 year old kid, standing there with a young woman about his age. I'm going to miss encounters like that one.

A little earlier, a former student named Alando (his nickname is "Smoke") stopped by. He wanted to know why I was moving.

"I'm going to be a dean," I told him, kind of sheepishly. He was full of questions--dean of what, where was my office going to be. I didn't realize that I was downplaying the whole thing until he blurted out, "Oh, you movin' up!" Yeah, I guess so.

I've been bugging Smoke to stop by and give me a chess lesson--he became a very good chess player in prison. I told him to find me in my new office.

"You sure you can have visitors down there?" he asked.

I hope so. I really do.

Obama's Message Box Grand Slam

"It's going... it's going... it's GONE!"

Here in the closing days of the election, in front of more than 100,000 people in Denver, Colorado, Barack Obama has made one of the most brilliant rhetorical moves I've seen in politics. It's an endgame move, one that is best suited for these single-digit days before the election. Referring to his opponent's economic policy, Obama said that the Bush years have been an 8-year experiment in what McCain is proposing economically. He then uses the "experiment" metaphor to proclaim that McCain's economic approach has "been tested" and "found wanting." That might seem like just another eloquent turn of phrase, but here's the case for why it's the most significant rhetorical construction of the campaign.

Message Box: The Baseball Diamond of Politics

On its own the construction above is impressive, but to appreciate how this rhetorical move is a "home run," you need to consider the following basic campaign principle.

Lesson #1 for any aspiring candidate or campaign person is what we call "the message box." The message box is to politics what the Punnett square is to genetics, and it works in nearly the same way. Imagine a large box divided into four smaller boxes--just like a Four Square chalk drawing on the playground blacktop. The square charts the intersection of four campaign variables:

1. What you say about you*
2. What you say about your opponent
3. What your opponent says about you
4. What your opponent says about your opponent

*for clarity and parallelism, I have deliberately avoided the reflexive pronouns required by these constructions (sometimes being an English teacher is a major liability).

For the Obama vs. McCain contest, the message box has been pretty stable and easy to recognize. I am sure you could fill it in yourself:

1. Obama says he is "The Change We Need" or "Change We Can Believe In."
2. Obama says McCain is "More of The Same" or that he "Voted With Bush 90% of the time."
3. McCain says Obama is "Not Ready," "Risky," or "Untested" (the McCain camp has been undisciplined about this square in the box, veering off into "Palling Around With Terrorists," and "Socialism/Socialist;" they have since noted that this isn't working and they are back on track).
4. McCain says McCain puts "Country First" and is a "Maverick."

The Grand Slam

So in honor of the World Series, I compare this rhetorical positioning to a "grand slam" in baseball. A grand slam, of course, is a home run that is hit when the bases are loaded. A grand slam scores you four runs: one for the hitter, and one for each of the runners on first, second, and third.

• First, it begins with Obama's strength, his percieved advantage on the economy.
• Second, it underscores his core message of change from the past 8 years.
• Third, it further ties McCain to Bush and the past 8 years.
• Fourth, it re-frames McCain's stated strength of being "tested;" the connotation of "tested" moves from "trusted and dependable" to "a failed experiment."

Office Audiophile

Okay, well not exactly audiophile. That's crazy money and energy.

But things can sound a lot better with these:

http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/the-mobile-line/headroom-total-bithead.php

Lost in Ann Arbor (and Sleeve Face)

It's true. I always get lost when I go to Ann Arbor. There is something about the place that jams my radar, gets me turned around. Todd and I saw the David Byrne show, which was... amazing. It was like the Wayback Machine. Seriously, the subtitle of the concert could have been "Steve & Todd's Favorite Talking Heads Songs." Three of my favorite records are Remain In Light, Fear of Music, and Speaking In Tongues. He played "I Zimbra," "The Great Curve," "Air." Lots more.

This was the second show of the tour, and I think you're gonna read about it. It was mostly Eno-produced 'Heads songs, not just the Byrne/Eno collaborations. He played a couple of great tunes from My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, another one of my favorites. The new songs were good, too. But a good part of the show sounded mighty like the film Stop Making Sense. He even played "Burning Down the [Freakin'] House."

There were dancers and backup singers. It rocked and it was funky. You're gonna hear about this, because it was the closest thing to a Talking Heads show that there has been in 25 years.

Saw Frank from the Art department there.

Before I met Todd, I killed time at Border's. I looked at a fantastic book. The idea behind the book is explained in the video below.



I have no brilliant thoughts about the election or your 401(k). It was great to jam like it was 1983 tonight. I'll sign off with one of my favorite lyrics: "Some people don't know shit about the air." So there.

Office Layout?

Standing Desk Solution

Perhaps this is what I need. It's about $200 and matches the finish of the other furniture I'll have.

Mural for my new office?

This is a 12" x 8" mural for west wall of my new office. It might be cool, or it might be overkill. Gotta go in there and measure, but I think it might be a neat way to go.

Feeling Smart About the Electoral Math

Six weeks ago today, I posted my prediction for the states that would be in play. You can read what I said then here. Mind you, this was before the financial crisis hit. This was one of the few weeks in recent months when McCain was up in the national polls, and the DJIA closed at 11,230. This is the map I posted:

Things are going just a little better than this right now. Essentially my map is correct, but FL, MO, and NC are in play (that was just inconceivable back then).

On September 9, the polls looked like this:

MCCAIN 48%
OBAMA 45.6%

Steve's Best Photo of 2008

It's gotta be this one of Delicate Arch taken in Arches NP last month during the motorcycle trip. Lots of people photograph this arch; Google it or type it in the search field at Allposters.com. I really like my image for a few reasons.

• I like the custom aspect ratio. The main reason I selected these dimensions was to get the cloud completely in the frame at the upper right AND to trail off directly into the lower right corner.
• I did some cool Photoshop stuff with this one
• I dialed up the saturation to more accurately capture that orange feel of the Entrada sandstone
• I "removed" three tourists from the picture. I used the magic eraser and fill tools. I challenge you to find where those tourists used to be.
• I "cleaned up" the sandstone in the foreground along the bottom. There were three very noticeable globs to guano there (yup, I used my computer to clean bird poop).
• It was cool to be there. We walked 1.5 miles up the sandstone. We had a great time.
  

G-Fab's Guide to Office Feng Shui

I start a new job next month. My new office, currently a conference room, recently got a fresh coat of paint. The paint... is purple. My new boss offered to re-paint it, but I think it should be fine. Here's why.

Call me crazy, but I have long tried to follow some of the ancient Asian "feng shui" principles in arranging my office. I'm not superstitious or spiritual about it. But looking at the list of 13 below, many of these make practical sense (forget all the supernatural stuff, such as "if you use your computer to generate wealth, put it in the southeast corner, etc.).

A. Purple As An Office Color

"Purple is also favored as a recommended color since it symbolizes high ideals, including truth and love. It is also the color of great achieving thinkers such as philosophers, dreamers, writers, and visionaries. Painting your office in variations of purple can increase creativity that in turn can bring on productivity especially in a dull or lackluster work area."[1]

B. Office Feng Shui Do's & Don't's

1. DO sit in the corner farthest from the entrance to the room to have a "command" position.*
2. DON'T sit in line with the door, as you will be in the path of negative energy.*
3. DO keep your back toward a corner or a wall for support. If a post protrudes from the corner or wall, correct it by covering it with a hanging plant's draping foliage.*
4. DO sit with a tall building behind you to provide the support of a "mountain" if your back is to a window.*
5. DON'T face away from the door if you are conducting business from home. Business will symbolically come to you through the door, so don't turn your back on it.*
6. DON'T arrange your workspace so that you look straight out into a corridor or see the stairs, storage rooms, closets, elevators, escalators, or toilets.*
7. DO put your computer in the North or West area of your office to enhance your creativity. Place the computer in the Southeast if you use it to generate income.
8. DO place an aquarium or tabletop fountain in the East, North, or Southeast. A small aquarium with black or blue fish in the North area of your desk or office will activate your business and career success. Guppies or a single arrowana are ideal for an aquarium made of glass and metal.
9. DO place a safe, which is usually constructed of metal, in either West or Northwest, which both represent the metal element. The safe symbolizes the prosperity and financial security of a business.
10. DO have a good balance of yin and yang when decorating your workspace. Balance light and dark colors, soft and hard surfaces, and smooth and rough textures in your choice of window treatments, furniture, and flooring.*
11. DON'T have any mirrors in your office, as they can reflect negative energy from clients to other people in the room. You should always maintain control over the energy in your office.*
12. DO treat the files in your office with respect. They represent your past, present, and future business.*
13. DO keep the cords to your office equipment well hidden. This elimate clutter and allows for the free flow of chi.*[2]

*some of these are difficult to do; I've starred the ones that I've always been able to do. I don't think keeping a fish tank is really an option here! We had a safe in the EA office, but I have no need for one now!

SOURCES:

[1] http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-feng-shui-office.html
[2] http://www.essortment.com/career/fengshuicolor_tqnr.htm

Greg Is Watching Me

Despite the tagline of my blog ("disposable writing that doesn't get thrown away"), I now have at least two RSS "subscribers" for this blog. Greg is the newest one, so here's a short video I made of him and Brady launching his sailboat last year.





The soundtrack to the video is David Lindley's "El-Rayo X," which is just perfect for the jerky, fast motion video. Greg told me that he nearly died aboard the Mahdi this summer (or, more accurately, overboard the Mahdi), leaving Brady to sail away like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. Glad you're safe ashore, mate!

Palin Playlist Problems

Mixtape Pals:

Early on, I was really interested in the pre-show playlists at campaign rallies (the primary version of the Obama playlist I assembled is yours for simply asking). As Joshua's Radiohead/Ink Spots observation from our blog shows, the tracks chosen by "acts" to pump up the crowd are telling. The following paragraph from an article on Palin today is interesting:

The McCain camp has encountered some playlist difficulties this year: Heart, John Mellencamp, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Jackson Browne, and the Foo Fighters have all asked that the campaign stop using their songs on the trail.

On Thursday, Palin expressed satisfaction with the latest musical selection. “I don’t think we’ve ever had intro music by AC/DC before. That was kinda cool,” [Palin] said. “In fact, we were on the bus today, we were making a list of who are some celebrity singers who could come out and help us and gosh, for the life of us, the pickings were slim there.

Slim pickings, indeed!

G-Fab's "Dark Side" Mix

*

You wanna know my occupation?
I get paid to rock the nation.
--Kool Moe Dee

The other night, as part of a thought process, I made a Muxtape-style mix called "G-Fab's Dark Side Mix." It was fun. You gotta kinda hear it to get it. No playlist until you listen.

I will tell you that is has 80s old-skool rap, econo punk, 70s Motown, Japanese pop, Canadian retro-synth, Welsh popcraft, vintage Radiohead, ZZ Top, DEVO, and a harp solo.

I also included one of the most beautifully crafted pop songs ever. Makes me cry every time I hear it.

*Photo footnote: d. boone (1958-1985). d. boone is not the source of the quote.

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okay, due to underwhelming demand, here's the playlist:

G-Fab's Dark Side Mix

1. Imperial Theme (Short) / John Williams
2. We're Through Being Cool / DEVO
3. You Haven't Done Nothin' / Stevie Wonder
4. My Radio / Solvent
5. Take Our Test / Minutemen
6. Got Me Under Pressure / ZZ Top
7. I Go To Work / Kool Moe Dee
8. Blowing Bubbles / Call and Response
9. Happiness / Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
10. Just (You Do It To Yourself) / Radiohead
11. My Time Is Running Out / The Juan MacClean
12. Pull Up The Roots / Talking Heads
13. Happy Ending / Pizzicato Five

Keith Jarrett: Keyboard Genius

I was working as a line cook in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college when Bill, an older fellow cook, told me I had to listen to Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert. Prior to that, I had gotten hooked on Bill Evans and wanted to know who was making that kind of piano trio music now (now being the mid 1980s). That's how I got turned on to Jarrett's Standards trio with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock.

Wow, that was a long way of saying that I am re-discovering Jarrett tonight by listening to his Shostakovich Fuges on piano. The guy is just a genius.

A Fork In The Road

Been preoccupied by a potential career move. The market tanking doesn't help. Neither does the fact that my home value may have dropped by 1/3 since we purchased it 8 years ago. Other factors. Thinking.

First, I have to be offered the job, though.

Walking to Work

Before Kathy and I got married, I lived very close to work. Using an online map tool, I now realize that my house was just under one mile from the College. I often walked to work or rode my bike. Being honest, I drove much more often than I should have--mostly because I had to leave campus for something or go to a meeting after work.

Well, I have been doing this bike/bus commute thing. And it occurred to me that the downtown bus stop might not be too much further from the College than my old house was. As it turns out, they are almost identical walks.

What does that mean? Well, no excuse for not taking the bus... even when the weather turns bad. Rain and snow might be a drag, but cold should be no problem. So how about it. Get up, check your schedule and the Weather Channel, then do the bus route.

I could do more iPod stuff. Podcasts and the like.

SR

4:53 p.m.

Just had a realization that makes me feel stupid. When I first moved to Flint, I moved into an apartment building downtown. It was on the corner of Wallenberg and Second St. directly across from the bus station. Repeat for emphasis: directly across from the bus station. I almost never drove to work when I lived there (getting my car out of the carport was actually kind of tough).

I should ride the bus more often. A lot more often.

Goodbye Muxtape

I made 19 Muxtapes. I loved them. There used to be links here and you could listen to them. Muxtape is dead. I have removed the links.

Goodbye, Muxtape.

JSB's Keyboard Thought Pumps

I failed miserably at piano lessons; my attempts to maintain two fluid melodic lines in the most simple counterpoint was a disaster. For some reason, however, listening to music where two ore more musical ideas are developed and elaborated in counterpoint has always helped me think and work. I discovered this specifically while writing my dissertation at the Troy Public Library. I purchased a cheap Radio Shack CD player and headphones and helped myself to the library's CD collection as I worked. That's when I became really attached to Bach's organ works, and fell in love all over again with his masterful counterpoint. So what's a "thought pump?" It's my bastardization of Daniel Dennett's term "intuition pump," which is a term he uses to describe philosophical thought experiments. Dennett is brilliant.

I own two complete sets of J.S. Bach. Today I burned a 7 hour CD of music that is great for working at my desk. It contains:

• Two Part Inventions
• Three Part Inventions
• French Suites
• English Suites
• Clavier-Ubung
• Goldberg Variations

All pieces are played on a modern piano (harpischord and clavichord are not great for working, and people aren't able to tune them out when you answer the phone or have a visitor. I'm very much enjoying these.

Thanks for all the tunes!

This is an appreciation post for my pals who constructed "motorcycle mixes" for me last month. Click here for pictures and details about the trip. As I posted earlier, I rented a 750-pound iPod for my Utah trip. It was fairly cool to have music on the motorcycle; for most music, the fidelity was decidedly Close 'N Play (and if you don't know what that means, you're making me feel really old!). I didn't have time to make mixes for myself, so I just had a few random mp3 discs with decent motorcycle music: Led Zeppelin and The Meters topped the list (I have fond memories of opening up the throttle while listening to "Kashmir," "Trampled Under Foot," "Afrika," and "Here Comes The Meter Man."

Highlights from the Great Mixes by Larry, Philip, and Kim

• Leaving Moab early on a chilly morning, I was traveling behind my Dad thinking how wonderful it was to be doing this again when "The Boys Are Back In Town" came on.
• Turning onto the Bicentennial Highway as "Switching to Glide" poured out of the speakers--I laughed so hard, I nearly fell off the bike.
• Passing one of the few 55 mph speed limit signs (most roads are 70 mph or 75 mph in Utah) as "I Can't Drive 55" came on. Fantastic, Larry!
  
• Climbing altitude in the Cedar Breaks National Monument during near-peak fall color to the dramatic sound of Jimmy Eat World. Deeply moving for some reason. Awesome, Philip--thanks!.
• Leaving the uncomfortably-upscale town of Springdale in Zion National Park at 25 mph as Deee-Lite's "World Clique" boomed from the bike; got plenty of looks from the touristas. BTW, plenty of Obama signs in Springdale--the only place in UT I saw them anywhere.
  
• Zooming past the LDS church in Toquerville just as the Utah Saints started chanting their name and representing. Another FOTBLAO (Falling Off The Bike Laughing My Ass Off) moment. Great mix, Kim!
  

There were many more, but I can instantly put myself back in these particular moments (and I think I represented all three of your mixes). Thanks again--it really was cool to have your music with me.