World's oldest person dies in Netherlands at 115

Kudos to you!

This is mainly why I quit drinking, FYI.

My new self-recorded music, 'Sarah Unedited But More Edited':

Click Bandwagon's page for my (Bandwagon) new self-recorded song, 'Sarah Unedited But More Edited.' It's essentially the song, 'Sarah' with wind synth, the original lyrics, more harmonies, and a rap break-down. I'm kind of proud of the rap; it's a 5/8 time feel with the limerick rhyme scheme: AABBA. The rap is all beat-boxed and sang except the intsy-wintsy piano. Turn up your bass.

Sasquatch's Underdwelling Information Bananza

I think I know who this is! You've got to click the link and check out the picture and listen to Sas's audio clip.

This is way funny....isn't it....Cierzo's?!?! Bum bum bummmmmmmm!

And excellant job with photoshop!

Flattered:

The last picture on my 8/16 posting has 2 comments. Not so much the comments in and of themselves as who commented and therefore, who takes time out of his presumably busy and valuable day to read the mediocre crap I post on the Internet (this weblog)…that’s what I’m flattered about. I can only recall just posting a comment on his blog months ago. I’m flabbergasted. His blog link is to the right. Ch- ch- check it out. Neptunus Lex’s blog = James Cooley’s blog X 73! This makes me want to straighten up and fly right.

Solo. Solo, the Alabamians thought it was a new racing lawnmower. Badum bum.

Flight school….oh, flight school. Between scheduling, instructor, and the VERY frequent weather cancellations, I managed to make it through some of the most challenging, simulated emergency-saturated flights in flight school. Talk about walking and chewing bubble gum at the same time. Multi-tasking is NOT my forte. It’s not even my mezzo piano. I am frequently teased when conversing; I will, out of nowhere, completely forget what I was talking about. I’m usually thinking about something more interesting but sometimes I forget merely because I have to sort long sleeve from short sleeved tee shirts. So for me, having procedures ‘down cold’ is crucial. An example would be executing a procedure such as simultaneously maintaining a specific speed, navigating to a runway or farmer’s field, raising or lowering the landing gear (sometimes cranking manually), donning my oxygen mask, pulling circuit breakers, opening the canopy, calculating how high I should climb to make a field, and oops! watch that airspeed and angle of bank!

Yadda yadda.

I passed my check ride. One’s check ride portrays one’s ability to execute emergency procedures if need be, and to show the instructor that we’re ‘safe for solo.’

I flew solo. I had lofty plans of seeing how fast the plane could dive, opening the canopy, flying over Mobile Bay, etc. The weather was terrible so I was rushed to get my 4 required touch-&-go’s in. I landed in the pouring rain. After taxiing to my spot, lightening was striking every high point on base. Like sex in the circus, it was intense (read that out loud if you didn’t get it). All in all, ‘twas fun but rushed.

I am now in the aerobatic block. BUAH BUAP! This portion is much fun, has a small amount of studying!, and I get to solo a couple times even after 2 aerobatic flights!!! I, as a prospective Coast Guard aviator, am especially stoked for this block as I won’t be ‘pulling G’s’ in our rescue helicopters.

I got weathered out all week but I’ll be sure to let you know how kick ass it is.


Footnote: As mentioned before, I will frequently write weblogs when I have the time, well before I post them. This is to ensure that there is always something posted. Since I wrote the above entry, I’ve flown my aerobatics solos. They’re fun, though, with my extreme low blood pressure, g force induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) is a major concern of mine. As it is, I ‘gray out’ (first noticeable symptom that you’re on your way out) about twice a day just from standing up too fast.

WHO IS SASQUATCH?!

[James Cooley's Blog] 8/23/2005 03:17:04 PM: "Maybe Sasquatch? to me


"Bushes rustle to your left. You smell an ape like creature. You soundly hear a high pitched scream. uh oh it may have returned "


it's too funny that i have no idea who this is and Sasquatch won't give me any hints either.

From the below link. 

Pictures of Pennies

Thanks to Moose (see right for link to his weblog) for this awesome penny construction link. This is kind of a must-see.

Jessica Lawrence.

Jessica Lawrence, 17, is an alto saxophone prodigy. Apparently, she teaches her fellow students, as in, she's a teacher in her Wellesley, Mass school.

Keep your ears open for her.

Triathlon this weekend....swimming is for fish, not Jim.

Just signed up for 'dis bitch:
Swim: One half mile in the Tennessee River point to point on two sides of a triangular course. Swimmers will enter the water in a time trial format one at a time at a 3-second interval. Swimmers will be seeded based upon their estimated swim times provided on the registration form. Estimated swim times are as follows: Advanced (under 15 minutes); Intermediate (15 to 20 minutes); Beginner (20+ minutes).
Bike: 12.8 mile course out and back on paved asphalt with a loop at the far end. Course has a couple rolling hills, but primarily flat and fast. No water on bike course. Recommend carrying a water bottle on bicycle. Sentries will be provided on the bike course.
Run: Course is out and back approximately 3.2 miles rolling paved asphalt utilizing the first 1.5 miles of the bike course. Water will be provided at transition and at approximately mile 1 and mile 2.2.

Thanks for the great shots, Corey. 

There we are, atop Fuji. 

An email from Corey who's doing Navy exchange. 1. I liked his Fuji write-up and 2. through comparison, he gives props to the CG.

I climbed Mt Fuji on Monday. Yes Monday, I still haven't done a days
work
since I left the drydock for Itempo back in May or June or whenever.
Today
was my first day of work actually, and they almost made us get underway
because of a big typhoon hitting here later this week. But the
aircraft
carrier got u/w, so apparently that means we can stay. Everybody ties
up
outboard of each other so only the ships tied to the pier could stay.

Anyway, I climbed that mountain, all 12,395ft. Actually the parking
lot is
at 7,000ft so I guess I only climbed the difference. I attached some
pictures I took from my fancy Japanese cell phone. They aren't great
because of the clouds but you get the idea. So at the top of Fuji
there are
a bunch of huts and stuff that serve ramen noodles and rice and beer.
So
while I was getting another beer I noticed the Coast Guard flag pinned
up on
the wall. So I thought I'd share that with all my CG friends...
12,395ft up
on Fuji hangs the CG ensign. I thought that was pretty cool, mostly
because
I was surrounded by Navy folks.

The picture with the sign is at the 7th station up the mountain side.
There
are 9 stations with the 9th being at the peak. At each station is a
small
shack that serves food and drink and you get your hiking stick branded
so
everyone will know how far you made it. I'd send better pictures but I
still use a camera that requires film so maybe I'll scan them someday.

Anyway, 1 day and the Navy is 10 times more screwed up organizationally
than
the CG. I had to fill out the same form 3 different times with the
same
person just to get computer access.

Fujisan. 

Candle Question Answered

Thank you to whomever answered yesterday's question with this encyclopedia candle link. I always thought that wax just melts and the wick is what was consumed. Nope. Wax, mixed with oxygen, is also a fuel. Depending on what part of the flame the fuel is in contact with, the residual is water vapor and CO2. So, to answer my question, I reckon that so long as there is wax in my aluminum bowl, there will be just as much scent.

Yes, this does give me a hard-on.  

Find-A-Human -- IVR Phone S... - Approved

You have Moose to thank for this. No more automation on your customer service phone calls!

Download - but pay for it!

I'm listening to Cream's 'Sunshine of Your Love' redone by Living Colour. It so rocks.

My Charts Position

Today, I'm #9 out of 116 on the Swing Jazz charts.

40 Year Old Virgin is all it's cracked up to be.

What a fabulously funny movie. I didn't expect to laugh harder than Wedding Crashers. 40 Y.O.V. just keeps gaining humor momentum throughout.

On a completely unrelated note, "You" by Blinker the Star is such a dandy ditty.

OUT.

'Roll'n' - my new song.

'Roll'n' by Bandwagon is my new swing jazz tune. Crank it.

Wow.

World Record Skateboarding Jump

This is so great!

Wild Coyote

Happy Couple Awaits Pregnancy Test Results

Alright, look. I try to keep this weblog somewhat clean and tidy. Similar to me stifling my explosion of laughter when Dale did an air-ass-wipe of Monsieur's ass behind his back in 7th grade, the funniest stuff is usually off color. Some of the videos on this site are a. beyond my capacity to watch and b. what gets you in trouble in the office. That being said, laugh.

Happy Couple Awaits Pregnancy Test Results

Tribute to the rock show last weekend...and to mohawks. 

Ultimate Metal Show!

What?! The Dillinger Escape Plan is playing in Orlando?! I’M THERE! Oh and those measly bands; Life of Agony, Dream Theater, Fear Factory, and Megadeth are playing too? Hmmm….I guess I’ll fly out.

ARE YOU KIDDING?! Gigantour pounds!

Actually, I didn’t even know Life of Agony was on the bill until River Runs Red ‘poured’ through Hard Rock Live’s theatre doorway into the bar where we were schmoozing. “Sarah! Get your ticket! We need to take our seats! NOW!”

This concert was 7 hours long. We endured 5.5 hours of that. We had lower balcony FRONT ROW SEATS! Poor moshers; having to contend with sweaty, drunk, white trash, aging metalheads, Maiden-tee-shirt-wearing, and feet-hitting-backs-of-head crowd surfers. Not to mention your dehydration despite having to piss gallons and your feet and legs about to give any second. And that’s after hour 1 of 7! Nope, not us. Our air condish’d seats with great views and sound suited me just fine.

Life of Agony: Band’s always great. They played enough old songs to please the few of us who actually knew them. The singer, however, Mr. Rehab himself, has terrible stage presence.
1. If you’re not going to sing the song with original melodies, recall all the albums you sold, rerecord how you like it, and redistribute…free of charge.
2. If you’re going to embellish, cool, but do it well please.
3. Hold the mic up to your mouth. I know it sounds crazy, but trust me.

Dillinger Escape Plan:
I can not say enough great things about this band. I love them. I love them. I love them. If you’re not familiar with Dillinger, get familiar. You’ll notice that they are an acquired taste. Dillinger’s tough to swallow, especially hearing them for the first time at a live performance. They are the heaviest band I’ve heard, or at least care about. When I saw their Seattle performance 1.5 years ago, it stole the slot as Best Live Performance. They, no joke, showed themselves up!
Sarah, a liberal music fan, prefers more melodic songs with emphasis on vocals and uniqueness. I can’t imagine what it was like for her. She said, despite my warning of Dillinger being an explosion on stage, words could not prepare someone for their show. She mentioned, “I understand a band being capable of such a lively show once in a while, when they’re really into it. But the fact that they execute this presence EVERY SHOW….that’s noteworthy.”
Dillinger’s first song left the aging, long-haired metalheads in a frenzy. The Dream Theater geek next to me (who probably plays D&D, as all D.T. fans do) couldn’t handle Dillinger. The floor erupted. At first, concerned with the potential harm to the crowd and band members, Sarah’s jaw was to the floor, eyes wide. Her facial expression evolved throughout the 2nd song to more of a delighted surprise. Between slashing guitars, band members ending up on top of 6’-tall amp stacks at the end of songs, amps/monitors turned over, band members thrown down by their bandmates, tee shirts ripping, cymbals (with stands) thrown into the crowd, playing and singing while crowd surfing, technical playability/complexity, intensity, and nonstop band movement, we were enterfreakingtained! My heart rate just increased as I typed that.
To preserve set change time, Dillinger played on the right half of the stage. The entire left side was full of other bands’ members and roadies. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is commonplace at every venue throughout the tour. Dillinger rocked the hardest.
What’s comically counterintuitive is Dillinger’s clean-cut look. No tattoos, shorter hair, preppy clothing, but this MONSTER HEAVY SOUND!
They’re show is best summed up with the vocalist, Greg Puciato’s comment, “For those of you who know of us, it’s good to see you again. For those of you who don’t know us…heh heh heh…”

Fear Factory:
Heavy. Played well. Great song selection. Singing was clear, great sound. Drumming-superb as always. Rocked it very hard. They tied for 2nd with ‘deth as my favorite act. I did a whole lot of air drums during this set.

Dream Theater:
Freak’n Dream Theater… Dream Theater writes the soundtrack for Binary Code. My sister’s musician friends always used to say that it sounded like a computer wrote their music for them, just that these are the few guys in the world that are good enough to play it. True dat! I wouldn’t say it’s enjoyable to listen to. Impressive?, absolutely. Guitar and drum work is so amazing. I nearly fell asleep (that’s an intense diss; I did go to a waterpark all day prior to the show though).

Megadeth:
Dave Mustaine still has long hair. I don’t remember him ever cutting it; through thick, thin, and short-hair fads, it’s always been long. Dave’s the only original member nowadays. It’s sort of disappointing to not see David Ellefson playing bass anymore.
Megadeth played many old songs. Rust in Peace, Peace Sells, Countdown, …the likes… ‘Twas so good to hear all that old stuff and not get this new rock-like crap shoved down our throats. Their stage set-up was pretty sweet too. Symmetry must be a Dave Mustaine anal retention. Seriously. Double bass with matching Pearl and Megadeth logos, mic stands tripod’d the same, set lists the same distance from mic stands, about 50 Marshall guitar stacks on either side of the drums, and the bassist would always run to the opposite end of the stage when one of the guitarists would meander during his solo (so’s to keep a balanced stage?).
I give Megadeth an A- on this performance. Solid!

“You’ve been great. We’ve been Megadeth. Goodnight!”

New pump, helmet, bike computer, and tires. Mail in large boxes is so fun. I was STOKED!  

Christmas in August. Seriously happy dude here; the afternoon after I passed my check ride (for solo flight). 

New racing sneaks + new helmet + new 'puter = AAAhhhhtractive!  

Happy guy with his upgraded Serotta. 

Mick, Keith, Ron, Charlie, and Pops

My Dad's seeing his favorite band. Essentially, the Cooley's are rocking; my mom is trying to win Neil Diamond tix, Erin just saw a very-rocking Green Day show last weekend. I just saw The Mars Volta and System of a Down last night, not to mention the 7 hour long metal show last weekend in Orlando.

From my old man:
'...so he's making one ticket available to me for no charge. (These
outfits were selling tickets for up to $3300 a pair, and for other cities, for
up to $2500 for 1 ticket!) Incidentally, in NYS it's illegal to resell any
ticket above 1.5 times the original price, and the State Attorney General has,
in the past, gone after these guys when they can be tracked down - which can
be very difficult to do. The reason it's illegal is because these outfits can
pounce on a big-name event like this, purchase say 5000 tickets legally
through Ticketmaster in the first 30 seconds, and then having screwed all the
rest of us schmendricks out of a chance to buy ANY tickets, force people to
pay them through the nose for tickets. And with a bigtime group like the
Stones, no matter how much they charge, some chumps will buy the tickets and
fill all the seats. Fortunately for me, one such well-heeled chump is Tom
Rhodes. So, how ironic is it that the first concert I ever went to, even
before SPAC was built, was to see the Stones at Albany's Palace Theater in
April 1965, for $2.10! And here I am again - just move those decimal points
over.

Hi Moose.

Hi Kyle.

Newest music obsession:

Gran Torino

My Childhood Treehouse Fort:

Between teaching myself freestyle bike tricks in the neighborhood on my Schwinn Predator and playing kickball, my biggest childhood hobby was building trails in the woods behind my house. The woods fostered some intricate trails that had intersections, jumps, bank turns, the like!

I built some lean-to’s, shoddy forts, and camping areas. Nothing to write home about.

One of the trails had two birch trees on the left side and one on the right. My treehouse first started out as a platform using the 3 trees as footers. I rode my bike under the platform. No purpose. I decided to encase the platform from the ground up, like a garage for my bike. I lashed logs together to make for a more medieval look. Gathering all those damn logs was a total pain in the ass.

The platform had a urinal. I cut the bottom off a 1 gal milk jug, fastened a 3.5’ hose to the mouth, and nailed the puppy to a tree. The 4’-off-the-ground hose would dangle and urine would spray all over when I’d pee into the jug. Again, pointless, but totally cool.

The Drawbridge: Hinges were fastened to a base board that was spiked into the dirt. I used scary-looking railroad spikes. The hinges were nailed to a pallet which had a boardwalk nailed to the inside/top of the bridge. When the bridge was down, the beginning edge rested in a mound of dirt, like a ramp, for me to smoothly ride bike up and on to it. When closed, the drawbridge latched using those gate ratchets that are commonly used for pool gates. On pool fences, one would pull the top of the ratchet (fastened to the fence) and a bar is forced out of its latch position. The bar is screwed to the gate. In order to close the gate again, you can just slam the door shut, and the ratchet grabs the bar. So my bar was nailed to the bridge and the ratchet/clip portion was nailed sideways to the base of the platform. Dig? Now for the kickass part. Twine was tied to the top of the ratchet mechanism. The twine was fed through an old garden hose that ran from the treehouse, underground (about 2”), and up the trail about 18 yards. The twine was tied off to the bottom of a lever. The hinge of the lever was at ground level and the top of the lever was shaped like and used as a paddle. As the teenager rode by the paddle on his/her bike, s/he could merely lower his foot, knock the paddle back thus pulling the twine and releasing the ratchet, ride up to an already-opened drawbridge, cruise inside, throw the kickstand down, and pull the pull-cord used to close the drawbridge behind him/her. So sweet!

I started digging a moat around the treehouse. Pff! I gave up after 3 hours. Upstate New York and its abundance of trees is NOT conducive to digging. So yeah, the bridge went over nothing.


This Treehouse rocks!

Bobby Yang = Amazingly kick-ass.

Bobby Yang plays ERUPTION on the violin :: Unrivaled ROCK VIOLINIST

Watch this video. When you're done, cut the trailer on the url and go to his site. Recognize the background Radiohead?!

Talking Dog:

A guy is driving around and he sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog
for Sale."

He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy
goes into the backyard and sees a labrador retriever sitting there.

"You talk?" he asks.

"Yep," the Lab replies.

"So, what's your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was
pretty young, and I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my
gift, and in no time at all, they had me jetting from country to country,
sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog
would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years
running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't
getting any younger so I wanted to settle down. I signed up for a job at the
airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious
characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was
awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm
just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars." The guy says.

"This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"Because he's a liar. He didn't do any of that shit."

New Bandwagon song entitled, 'Toltec.'

Bandwagon - Toltec - my new jam. Please ch- ch- check it out.

You and your ‘Air-typing!’ (Fist shake).

If you ‘air-type,’ for the good of the computer-communicating world, please stop, WE KNOW YOU’RE QUOTING A COMPUTER-BASED CONVERSATION!

“Omigod! I was talking to Billy last night on the I.M. and he was all ‘omg, fyi, brb, ttyl, lol ;)…yadda yadda yadda….’” ALL THE WHILE MAKING THESE MOCK TYPING MOTIONS WITH HIS/HER LIMP WRISTS AND STUPID DIGITS!

Look, if you preface any conversation with, ‘I got this email and I replied with:’ or ‘On IM, we said:’ or ‘I posted this really Emo bulletin post on MySpace that said:’ WE ALL KNOW YOU TYPED YOUR CONVERSATION. If you want to look like a Y2K ass, then be my guest, air-type!

A-ha experience:

Flash Games & Movies | Family Guy

I just bought these new totally sweet velcro sneakers today at Wal*Mart. I had to show you the radical treads. There, you can see, is the 'IMPACT ZONE.' Where the tow flexes, however, resides the cleverly named, 'FLEX ZONE.' Eff yeah!!!! 

The Arctic is a bit dry and cold. To quash The Arctic results with the panhandle. 

1,000 Apologies.

Look, my brain is numb. My entries have sucked lately; just accounts of my mundane life. Here's my excuse:
It's a current goal of mine to travel every other week. I'm not married and I don't own a house so as far as flight students go, I'm as wealthy as possible. Here's the thing, I travel, and it pounds, then I return. The return is the problem. I then study and if I'm lucky, I fly. For example, this week I've been on the brink of soloing. I have 4 more flights, then I solo. Do to scheduling snafu's and weather, I've studied for the same flight ALL....WEEK.....LONG... Hence, my brain is going numb. It's like this: if my brain activity (creativity, mood, happiness) is on the y-axis and x-axis is time, the graph would be depicted as a damped oscillation (as opposed to a divergent one). And to make this graph even more aeronauticool, this damped oscillation has positive dynamic stability. This means, if kept in Milton, FL forever, my diminishing sinusoidal oscillations will approach a flat line, and I will become as unintelligent and uninteresting as the Panhandle layperson. Yikes!

"Rock and Roll Hall of F." 

Apparently entitled: 'Jim - this is a poem!'

It's no coincidence that this author shares the same birthdate as Dr. Suess. Braintwisters...


Afternoon already?
Yep, just after two.
And what do you know?
I'm thinking of you.

But for you it's only one.
Two isn't for an hour more.
But then you can say to me
What I said in the paragraph before.

But then for me it will be three
And you'll be thinking of me.
And I'll be thinking of you
Because, for you, it's only two!

Parallel Play

The sandbox has grown.
The swing-set is lonely,
Despite you dangling
From the trapeze & rings.

I dig and build and climb;
You follow suit right there.
We play together,
But not with each other.

This space between us
Is powers of 10’s of miles;
Rivers, hills, and highways.
But still just N2 and O2.

Racing Rats bridge the gaps
Of what was once just sand.
We’d sculpt a castle together,
For now, it’s mere parallel play.

TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS

I just looked up his/their lyrics. As a musician, I rarely give a damn about lyrics and ‘the message.’ I always get distracted by the music. Not only do I love his lyrics, but I need a dictionary and a spare brain to wrap my head around these so-intuitive lines.

My favorite T. L. & t. P. songs:
Biomusicology
The Angels’ Share
Counting Down the Hours
Timorous Me
Me and Mia
Since U Been Gone (a Kelly Clarkson jam with an ounce of the Ya Ya’s.)

Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone ain’t bad either.