World: Aaroneous

No Silly: Go Here!

2009-12-27T23:42:00.000-08:00

My site has moved: Go to http://www.aaronstrick.com/blog/

The 5 Christmas Songs I Like:

2009-12-25T02:37:00.000-08:00

Mile High

2009-12-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

I am writing this post from a plane right now. I took a picture that I am pretty sure accurately represents how I feel. This seat is insanely uncomfortable...

Anyway, I am about to watch My Cousin Vinny on Netflix Instant.

Booya!

Wanna know what it looks like to get wi-fi for free from Virgin America?

And it's pretty slow. I wanted to be part of gizmodo's little Mile High Club so I ran a little test on this bad boy. Results:

It's Like Hoth Out There!

2009-12-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

Weather report for Boston, MA coming in... It's like Hoth out there!!

Good thing I'm out tomorrow! Where am I headed? Let's see...

Let's just hope the hyperspace drive on my flight is working>>>

1...2...3...D!

2009-12-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: √
Beowulf : √
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D : √
My Bloody Valentine 3D : √
Coraline : X
Monsters vs Aliens : √
Up : √
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs : √
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince : √
G-Force : X
Final Destination: Death Trip 3D : √
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs : √
Toy Story in 3D : √
Toy Story 2 in 3D : √
Disney's A Christmas Carol : √
AVATAR : ...

I love 3D as much as anyone. Heck, I even saw Disney's A Christmas Carol and that was freakin' awful. Tonight, everything will change. James Cameron, I humbly submit myself to your glory. My heart is open. My soul is ready. My eyes, yes, both of them, are waiting...

This Is What Finals Do To Me! BOOOOOOOOOO!!!

2009-12-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Looking Forward to Looking Back

2009-12-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

During a little study break, I decided to do a little more Haifa investigating. What a surprise! If I ever start to get home sick, I can just look right back home! I'll just have to head on down to the San Francisco Observation Point!

Brian Long Skates

2009-12-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

My buddy Brian Long, who you might know from such things as Blongs Silly Toy, The Bike Ride, A Week in Photos, was just featured in a pretty huge skate video. I don't know too much about these things, but damn- it's actually pretty incredible to watch.

I recommend you watch the whole 20 minutes where Brian is scattered throughout, but if you don't have time for that, at least watch his section. It starts out with a little intro by fellow Terrier and beast skater Mark Wojda at 13:20... Enjoy...

Throwaway Edit (an online video) from wogelife on Vimeo.

Have fun in China buddie. Love from Israel!

Happy Chanukah!

2009-12-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

Today I saw a dude performing Adam Sandler's Chanukah song in the subway. People were loving it! Great! Anyway- here is how I celebrated:

Recognize that Chanukiah? That's the one from wikipedia! Amazing Ben!

Grate those potatoes! Be careful though...

OW! That bad boy bled for hours! Sorta like how you would have thought there was only enough blood for a couple of minutes... no... it lasted 80!

Success!

A Little Bit of San Francisco Sadness

2009-12-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

I was going through an English textbook for my English as a Second Language class and encountered a little San Francisco fun! Except it turned out to be not fun at all.

The book was published in 1993 and has this activity to help non-English speakers learn a little bit about that Present Perfect!

Aside from the authors' misspelling of Arguello, I thought this was pretty cool... That is until I realized 4/5 of these are no longer movie theaters! FOUR out of FIVE! Most movies don't even get ratings that high! (maybe that's why all the theaters closed...)

Still, I can't wait to get home... One week exactly.

Lip Dub

2009-12-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

A couple months back I had some guests from France stay at my apartment. This was fairly routine and I hardly would have even considered it blogworthy, but then things started to get just a little bit crazy!

A couple weeks back I was in attendance at one of the most significant meetings in Boston University history. Two bold and visionary students stood in front of the audience of about 25 and made a proposal: Boston University should be the first major American University to do a LipDub. What is a lipdub? We didn't know either, so they showed a little example:

A LipDub is where you choreograph a ton of people to sing a long to a song in one huge tracking shot. Like the rest of the people in attendance, I politely watched until about 2:00 in when OHMYGOD!!! The girl who stayed at my place was in the LipDub!! What a crazy coincidence! Not only that, I found out later, she directed the damn thing! It was a sign...

A couple days back I rushed from my last class of the semester (my last class of my Junior year in the US) to the center of our campus where we filmed our very own lipdub. I, of course, got the dignified roll of someone crawling on the ground over a trail of teardrops. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving '09: Part 3, The Activities

2009-12-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

I can pretty much break down this entire Thanksgiving break into 5 activities:

1. Driving
Duh and... who cares?

2. Eating
You already heard all about this.

3. Studying Economics

That's right. This Thanksgiving break I had the distinct pleasure of playing Monopoly, the greatest board game ever made* in it's birthplace: Atlantic City:

View Monopoly in Atlantic City in a larger map

That's right. I played Monopoly between the Boardwalk and Pacific Ave. Heck, we even parked our car on Atlantic Ave. I must owe someone money... Or maybe I'm on Water Works?

Did you notice that * where I called Monopoly the greatest board game ever? Here is where you get to find out why... We were driving along discussing our favorite board games when Kyle remembered one he played a while ago. He couldn't remember the name so he googled "top 10 best board games ever" where he found this list. At the top of the list, #1 in the greatest games of all time list, The Settlers of Catan!

We needed it! Perfect! Black Friday would begin in mere hours...

4. Shopping

Holy Jesus! 12:01 at the Hamilton Commons Shopping Mall was the most ridiculous scene I have ever seen. We could not even find a parking spot. The mall was entirely, utterly packed. Pushing, shoving, the likes! We went to a toy store. No Catan,

We went to Toys 'R' Us. There was a line around the block just to get into the store. I called because I didn't want to wait in line and the woman told me she couldn't get an available employee to check whether or not they had it because all employees were busy with crowd control... No matter, we entered the exit. The line to buy stuff zig zagged through every aisle in the store! I had to turn my body sideways to squeeze through the aisles. It was a madhouse!

Wow.

5. Settling

Toys 'R' Us in the end didn't even have the game. How could the worlds greatest game be so hard to find? Well, eventually we did find it in a Nerd Shop. Here is what he had to say about the Settlers of Catan:

Risk? That's what kids in Europe play when they're in 5th and 6th grade. Settlers of Catan? Now that's what they play when they start to play real games.

Damn Ted. From Friday at about 2:00PM until Monday morning at about 2AM, I Settled straight. No showers. Hardly any sleep. Maybe a couple hours off so I COULD DRIVE BACK TO BOSTON. But that is it, non stop Settlement. The greatest board game of all time.

Thanksgiving '09: Part 2, The Food

2009-12-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

What is the most important thing about Thanksgiving?

Appreciating what you have? No, I think Black Friday right after completely disproves this...

Seeing family? Yes, but not this Thanksgiving! I was in South Jersey, remember?

THE FOOD! Absolutely!

With that said, let me just rundown some of the things I ate down in South Jersey where, believe me, people know how to eat:

Pepe's Pizza:
Obviously, the best pizza in the country. Though not technically in Jersey, I would not dream of driving from Boston to anywhere south of Boston without stopping in New Haven, CT for some Pepe's. My father ate at Pepe's, my grandfather ate at Pepe's, my GREAT grandfather ate at Pepe's and my kids sure as hell are going to eat at Pepe's. White clam only! It has been my mission my last few years out here on the east to spread the pizza love.

Johnny D's Pizza:
Apparently, a South Jersey must. I thought Giga's Jumbo pizza's in Boston were big (28") but hah! 36" pies take the cake (or should I say pie!). If there was ever pizza 'Jersey style,' I'd have to say this is it. This picture is 2 slices.

WaWa:
24 hours. Convenience store items. Deli items. Pretty much the most brilliant place of all time, especially since they have their ordering down to a science... literally. You input everything you want on a touchscreen and a couple minutes later your sandwich is made. You don't have to even deal with the convenience store losers. Not only that, regulars brag at the speed they can order their favorite sandwich! They also have store brand quart sized lemonade-iced teas for $1.79!

* note Big Daddy there in the first picture... The fastest orderer in South Jersey

Medieval Times:
Up at the Lyndhurst Castle outside of New York City, they don't believe in utensils. In fact, they don't really believe in anything except that the best way to settle a dispute is to get up on horses and ride full speed at each other with long sticks until someone is dead! That and Jim Carrey. At Medieval times, they give a bowl with a handle and put soup in it...Good luck. Then they give you a half of a chicken on a plate with no fork and knife...Better luck. Oh yea, and its really dark... Best luck.

Other Things of Note:
Just because I don't have a picture, in no way to I want do discredit Mrs. Kahane's incredible Thanksgiving feast. I am wildly thankful of her family for putting me up for a week and providing me with some of the best Thanksgiving grub I have ever eaten including an AVOCADO and CRANBERRY SALSA!

Also, I would like to take this moment to acknowledge Natan's expertise in the field of the bagel and to rub in his face how incredible my everything bagel with scallion cream cheese and roasted yams was.

I also want to thank Kip Lombardo for his incredible Thanksgiving the Sunday before:

Part 3... the activities!

Thanksgiving '09: Part I,

2009-12-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first of a bunch of posts about this weeks thanksgiving break. I was down in Northfield, NJ, which for the people who don't know, is near Ocean City, NJ which is near Atlantic City, NJ. It's a pretty strange world down there I must say: the food, the sites, the activities... You'll hear more on all that later, for now, let me tell you about the basement I stayed in.

It is amazing. It is partitioned into into lots of sections. A bedroom, a non-room that is closed off into a bedroom, a tv area with two of the longest couches you've ever seen (like 8 seaters), a ping pong area, a bathroom, a billiard area, a gym area, etc.

I couldn't really ask for a better place to lounge for a week. And lounge I did. I made this little video as an homage:

More later.

Way Too Good Not To Share

2009-12-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

I typically don't like to repost stuff I see on gizmodo because about 90% of my readership reads gizmodo already, but this is just too incredible. Way too incredible.

Some thanksgiving break posts to follow.

Don't you wish...

2009-11-25T11:57:00.000-08:00

Don't you wish you lived in a world like this?

Or this?

SUNDAY: The Night Dancer

2009-11-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

What a day. From 11:00AM to 10:30PM I had no working phone, yet I managed to get down to Dick's Last Resort, to Harvard Square and to Northeastern and successfully meet up with the people I needed to see!

Most importantly though, was when I got home.

AARON FRADKIN

Did you see the text I sent you?

AARON STRICK

No, My phone has been dead all day...

AARON FRADKIN

Well, I have all this film equipment... Wanna make a movie?

AARON STRICK

I guess that'd be tight...

AARON FRADKIN

I wrote a script already. Wanna see it?

AARON STRICK

Yeah.

Both AARONS head inside and read a script. They subsequently get very excited and employ the help of Brian Levine, Dan Karel and Ben Pepin making an amazing movie with lights, dolly's and cranes.

Looking Up

2009-11-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Despite my ever overwhelming biz, I as able to make it out to the suburbs this week to peek those Leonid Meteors that everyone was talking about. Until about 5 minutes ago when I discovered that the same Leonid's back in 1833 were so bountiful that the entire Mormon population of Independence, Missouri took it as a sign to leave the community! I guess mid-November 1833 was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

Dang, anyway, mid-November 2009 was pretty awesome too. We went out to Wayland, home of l'roomé and Teddy BallGame to see some meteors. Here's the proof:

The Trade

2009-11-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

Now that I have camera, I feel like I is only post pictures... Me not sure if non-practice be good for the quality of my words's. It be good now I don't write much? Speak to me in comments! Does AaronStrick.com better now with most photos and not words?

My fraternity did concert! Thousands of people gived money to Judy Fund. Photos had:

I did golfs too! PowerUp Natan!!

I is gonna be checking Leonid Showers too!

Today in Photos, like I said, it's back!

2009-11-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

Nose to the Grindstone

2009-11-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it works for you, but when I listen to headphones while I study, most of the music just sort of disappears into background noise. This is not to say that what is on doesn't matter. In fact, the music is crucial because it sets the tone of the studying, but it is not specific.

Then, every once in a little bit, I find that I can no longer see the page, I only hear the music and I break away for the remainder of the song...

THESE ARE THE SONGS:

Note that they mostly come from a very specific subset of my taste.

Guess who's back!

2009-11-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

Most of you were unaware (because I have been fairly hush on the whole topic), but my beloved camera had to be replaced because the one I initially purchased had a loose piece that restricted the closing etc. etc. whatever.

Thankfully, New Egg is an amazing company and they sent my new one!

Here is the first photo. It features the ridiculous hodge-podge made up by the French couchsurfers, Teddy Ball Game, Natan and Franken:

More to come.

What Came In The Mail Today

2009-11-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

-1 Check from the government! Yay tax refunds!

-1 USB powered beverage chiller / warmer

-1 Information packet from the University of Haifa

-1 USB powered light / fan / air cooler

-1 issue of the latest Popular Science magazine

What a day indeed!

You just gotta!

2009-11-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting bit in esquire about the vampire craze... Anyway, you just gotta love this:

Photos of the Day: Day 2

2009-11-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

I don't think I'll be able to keep up daily photos of the day. That would be ridiculous!! I did however completely revamp my phone / keys / wallet / pen system to include the camera. Check out my day:

Just wait till Montreal!

Blongs Silly Toy

2009-11-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

To fully asses the situation, I popped on my trench coat and did a little investigating. Turns out, the Black Sided Tinman is an amazing device. Here is my first run of photo experimentology on the Brand Spankin' Tiger:

Biggest Surprise Today! / Blood Sweat and Tears

2009-11-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

I was so bummed today when my camera didn't come. That was before I didn't go to the library and start doing some fo real HW! Boom, no warning, roomie finds me with a box in hand. No way! My Camera! It's Here! AAAGH!! :)

But alas, it came with no memory card. I remember learning this lesson the hard way when I bought a batmobile toy with 'batman sold separately.' Curse those fools! 'And plus, I still have to finish this problem set and I have the intra-mural hockey game at 9:00! I won't be able to get a card tonight. No pictures.' :(

8:30PM: 'I finished! I think I can get to the radioshack before the game! I guess it means no dinner and I might be late, but I need this memory card. Ho! What's this? MegaSale at radioshack on memory cards?!' :)

8:40PM: 'There's the BUs. I better run and catch it. Good. I caught it'. :)

There had been many ups and downs that day. It turns out I was only arriving on time to a bitter playoff defeat to end my intra-mural career. Camera or no camera, this was not a happy event. On top of that, my my toe was bleeding and I had to bike home with my heavy backpack on. :(

It wasn't all sad, the first ever photo from my Best Snapshot Taker was able to capture the Blood, Sweat and Tears of our memorable season. :)

As soon as I got home, I started testing this ability. Could it capture the Blood Sweat and Tears?

New Eyes

2009-11-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Somehow, this weekend I managed to scratch my eye up pretty bad (notice scratch on left side):

No matter though, won't really be needing them anymore now that my life will be in either 12 megapixels or in 720p.

Obviously, more pictures to follow.

The Haul

2009-11-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Is that not the biggest mr. Goodbar you've ever seen? I don't even know why they make that product...

Later this week: better quality photos...

Ahead Of The Curve

2009-10-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Woody Jang prediction for big Halloween costume of the year: Max from Where The Wild Things Are

Guess what world. This here is a picture of me as Max from Where The Wild Things Are last Halloween:

(forget about the fact that my onsie is red, that was the only onsie I had access to)

New Toy

2009-10-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just now Seth and I were taking the trash out because there was a ridiculous roach infestationg. Alas, what seems like a curse, may be a blessing! We encountered a 55'' screen TV out by the dumpster. We began to move it, making a lot of noise when a kid came out and asked what we were doing. Turns out, it was his TV, he didn't wanted anymore because it occasionally froze.... OK...

BOOYA

( I can't wait till I have a camera...)

Elana Levin

2009-10-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

I was so touched by Sarah's homage to everyone's favorite not-technically-a-teenager-but-definitely-still-and-always-will-be-teenager, that I thought I would do a little bit of the same:

(that's me in the light in the background)

I love you girl!

Ole!

2009-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's Mexico night over on Buswell Street!

Seth Hoffman cooked up some tacos that made my tummy take two ticks for tickle time! Ole!

The Bike Ride

2009-10-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

I think I had a post just like this on the Old World:Aaroneous. What is lost is never forgotten (most of the time). Anyway, as I previously mentioned, I went on an amazing bike ride with Blong. Here is the route:

View Untitled in a larger map

First Stop: L'Aroma Cafe

My favorite coffee in boston. They have little plastic things so you can plug your to-go cup lid spout. I've never seen that technology. They also have an incredible bathroom and nectar you can put in your coffee. They also price their coffee, so your final bill will be an even dollar amount eg. Medium coffee- $1.88 after tax $2.00 They do no wrong.

Second Stop: Long Wharf

A beautiful lookout spot on the harbor. Has a big open in area for riding in circles on your bike and some sweet benches. A big group of women asked me to take their photo. I did such a good job, they wanted me in a picture with them! Too bad I don't have that picture...

Third Stop: Ernesto's Pizza

This picture is at the wrong pizza place. But I like the photo and it is here to make a point. Regina's doesn't sell pizza by the slice which is really annoying. So poo to you Regina's, Ernesto's is better.

I went to Ernesto's 2 years ago during orientation (with all international kids who wanted to sit in this dumpy pizza place for an hour and a half plus because that's how Europeans are). I forgot how incredible it is. The best pizza I've had in Boston. Plus, one slice = a quarter pizza! I got chicken, bacon, tomato on the man's recommendation. He knows his pizza.

Fourth Stop: On the Esplanade

Always beautiful. I don't really have to say more.

I remember now why Boston is a great city.

This Week In Photos 10/27

2009-10-27T10:30:00.001-07:00

I'm getting a camera pretty soon. In preparation, I've decided I'll probably want to get a little recurring section started. I dunno if it will stick, but here is one week at least. I've been spending a lot of time with Blong and his DSLR so this will be an especially good edition:

Here I am in Times Square with DK:

This was on my trip to NYC to do a home stay with an orthodox family. Did you know they now have jackets with hoods that are big enough to cover big hats? There is all sorts of new technology to support the lifestyle of orthodox Jews.

Here is the amazing banana bread Katrina baked for me. Bless her heart (and her baking skills):

Here are some photos of the pumpkin carving I did:

This image is not that amazing (certainly not worthy of a 'This Week In Photos' section), but you can see a line in my hair left over from wearing a Yarmulke all weekend. Serious stuff...

There I am in the background making toasted pumpkin seeds! yum num num...

You know what I just decided? There is a ton of pictures from an epic bike ride that Blong and I also went on (because the weather has been amazing, unlike in New York this weekend where there were torrential downpours. Why was it raining so hard? If you ask the orthodox, it's because this weekends Torah portion was Noach [and the flood]). If I posted all the pictures on this post, that would just be too much goodness for one, so I'll do a whole separate post on that... I guess the 'This Week In Photos' system is flawed. This may be the first and last... Lemme know what you think.

Chuck E Cheese

2009-10-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how amazing Chuck E Cheese's is!

On The Menu:
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Apple Juice!

Every game there is now 1 token. That's right, even the most incredible of machines are 1 token. This includes the horse racing simulator (kenCHUCKE derby), the roller coaster simulator (that really feels like a roller coaster!*), even the purchase of certifiable ID's.

Take me for instance, not only did I jump over the Great Wall of China and win 12 X-games championships and counting, I saved over 30 endangered species. Also, my favorite animals are Elephants, Dolphins, Sharks and Zebras and guess what!! I've got the documentation to prove it.

*Doesn't actually feel like a roller coaster.

4 Things I Saw and Did Not Saw in NYC

2009-10-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

THINGS I SAW

1.The phone car:

2. My extended family.

3. The homes of my good friends over at WoodyJang.com and SamReiderMusic.com.

4. This pretty famous jazz pianist named Eric Lewis really drunk and scatting excitedly (that's jazz speak for talking jiberish musically, in case you didn't know). It was pretty sloppy. Somehow, this dude was able to play a cover of a Killers song in the White House. All the power to him. Check it out.

THINGS I DID NOT SAW

1. Art Brut- They were playing one night I was there.

2. Jude Law star as Hamlet. (The video would not embed properly, so here is a link)

http://ppc.broadway.com/shows/hamlet-jude-law/

3. Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig in A Steady Rain

4. Rembrandt's J'Accuse, A Streetcar Named Desire, or any movie that is... My brother and I walked around for hours trying to find one. Maybe we should have just checked online. Maybe not.

This (which wasn't playing when I was there) looks incredible: A dramatization of my the greatest live painting ever. Wow. I can't wait until it is on netflix instant!

Do I Look Tired?

2009-10-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

I am. This weekend I went down to Providence, RI with Pepin to see Slater and I hate that I didn't take any pictures... I didn't get to meet Emma Watson which is a shame.

Anyway, I haven't been posting because I didn't catch up enough on sleep and I have two tests this week so I am busy busy busy!

This is what I look like this week:

Hopefully I'll get some rest soon.

The World of Digital Collage

2009-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

AaronStrick.com loves art and AaronStrick.com certainly loves collages. This little bit here is about digital collageing and although my last post wasn't quite so collagey (however fun it may have been). Here is true digital collagiate image from Seth Hoffman:

He's not my only friend who is down with digital collageing though. Woody Jang put some pretty brilliant collages about religion up on his site a while ago for a little project he called In Google We Trust.

And if you don't feel like you can do this by yourself, maybe you should try this guys digital collageing program. I've been praying for an excuse to write about this little piece of software because I just can't even contain within myself the brilliance. Mind blowing. Amazing. Incredible! WOooO!OO!OO! [via Gizmodo]

This program takes the left and turns it into the right:

Grr.

2009-10-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

RRRAAGHGHGHGAAAHAHHH

OOOooO Fajitas!

2009-10-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

I thought Chef Kaz (hopefully more on this later, depending on if Fradkin edits his footage [sorry if you don't know these people]) was great (and I was right, great chili Kaz), but last night my man Kenneth mad me some of the best fajitas I've ever had (and I am a big time fajita lover [I hope all this bracketing isn't too hard to follow for you, if it is, you should try Java Programming])

Anyway, Fajitas!

Marinate that Chicken!

You go! Kenneth! :look at those colors:

Sizzle Sizzle

Drool...

Dios mio!

Here is what he had to say about them:

A little bit of Texas in Boston!

Also, while I was writing this post, :the lion sleeps tonight: came on pandora...?.

It was perfect for the fajita post, but shocking. Here is what pandora had to say:

"Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features rock & roll roots, r & b influences, heavy use of vocal harmonies, interweaving vocal harmony and extensive vamping."

Wow. All things I love. Especially interweaving vocal harmony.

Remember that I went to Vermont?

2009-10-10T09:47:00.001-07:00

This post took a while because a little someone I know named Kenny refused to get the pictures to me.

Let me give you the lowdown on this trip see. Kaz, Kenny and I leave Boston in the late afternoon to arrive in Stowe, VT at about 10 O'Clock. It is 27 degrees outside. It is freakin' September and this state is so ridiculous, that it reaches below freezing in the middle of September.

No matter though, a steamy homecooked brisket waited inside the cozy little schoolhouse ready to be devoured. Kenny was there, so obviously that was no problem. Look at the coze factor here:

That is a fat log with slits in it, and it is their staircase. Amazing. We play some trivial pursuit (obviously I dominate) and go to bed ready for a full day of work.

Here is a picture of Kenny and I working hard.

Here is a picture of the ridiculous amount of wood we stacked.

Here is a picture of the three of us sitting on a pile of wood. It is one of the best pictures ever taken of me...

After a long day of hard work (about 11 hours), of stacking, of mulching, of seeding, of clearing, of hacking, of digging etc. we are ready to eat (remember, Kenny is there). We head into town and eat some of the most amazing food I've ever had at a place called The Whip @ The Green Mountain Inn... Oh my god...

We retire to an epic game of monopoly that I dominate at again and go to sleep.

What is a trip to VT without a a little pancake breakfast action? We went out to a nice little diner where we sat next to man literally named Dr. Danger. Props to Kaz for recognizing our little celebrity from the Mojo channel (yea, that is a real tv station). Props to the waitress too for recognizing him and getting him in our picture!

Here we are at the breakfast place with Kaz's dad (who I can't thank enough for taking us out and making VT amazing!) and with Dr. Danger (on the left looking suspect with his macBook pro).

And what is a trip to VT trip to the Ben and Jerry's factory? What an incredible place. Cheap tours, ice cream abound, crazy paintings everywhere, cows! and the flavor graveyard...

Check us out in front of their van!

Have you had Oatmeal Cookie Chunk? I never had it either. I never would have chosen it, but I got it for free... Very likely my new favorite ice cream flavor. Very likely.

Bottom Lines:
VT is my second favorite state in the union.
Hard work can be rewarding.
VT is way too cold.
Thank you very much Dr. Kazakoff for making everything possible, I had a great time.
Ice cream is good.

We sang a song on the way up that I think captures the epicness of this trip. Here it is:

The look even more like idiots than we did in Vermont.

Prowl

2009-10-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

On my iTunes, I have running playlists that I sorta keep in the back of my head and when I hear a song and think it would fit well, I toss it in. Most get built slowly, but one just reached 10 songs and I am pretty amped on it.

It's boring to actively listen to, but it's great to have on...

CLICKHERECLICKHERECLICKHERECLICKHERE

Look What I Did Now!

2009-10-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

I went to a Rockstar themed party this weekend so I thought I would really go all out:

Thanks Dan Karel for doing the deed.

Mafioso Invasion of Buswell Street

2009-10-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

It finally came. My w00t order is one of the most revolutionary game types I have ever played. Oh my goodness what fun:

An Hour of Work

2009-10-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Want to know what my crazy 6 hour work shifts are like? Perfect, I took a picture of myself every two seconds for an hour (and put the fps at 30) to boil down an hours worth of work to 1 minute.

Even watching this for 6 minutes would be boring as hell let alone working for 6 hours. Actually, it's not bad. You see what happens?

Sometimes you see my mouth moving pretty weirdly. That is me singing along. The isolation down here is intense. Here is what came on randomly in 1 hour:

Turkish Song Of The Damned- The Pogues
Bailamos- Enrique Iglesias
Dream About Me- Moby
Anne Braden- FloBots
Sunday Morning- The Velvet Underground & Nico
With A Girl Like You- Condo Fucks
Cut Sunday Snow- Sonolmoss
Caravan Girl- Goldfrapp
Maybe- Enrique Iglesias
Something In The World Today- Rancid
Jamaica Is The Place To Go- Charlie Binger & His Quartet
Birthday Cake- Cibo Matto
Innocence- Working For A Nuclear Free City
Closer- Kings Of Leon
Live Freaky! Die Freaky!- OST
Manipulation- The Black Angels
Tent Circles- Mesita

With the exception of the Rancid song that bursts in right between two relatively tame songs, this actually set a pretty nice mood for the hour.

Tips for Abroad.

2009-09-29T21:49:00.001-07:00

I received my abroad handbook today and it has many useful tips about surviving in another country. Allow me to share some highlights.

These are direct quotes from this publication. Here is a picture so you get an idea of what kind of book this is:

Keep in mind these are actual quotes:

On avoiding con artists:
"Be wary of smooth operators."

On arrival:
"Upon your arrival, you may experience an immediate sense of euphoria--everything that is new seems intriguing and exciting. Inevitably, the novelty wears off and shifts to a new and sometimes unsettling awareness"

On return:
"You may be concerned about how your family and friends will react to the 'new' you."

On Substance Abuse:
"If you experiencing any substance abuse problems, consider deferring your participation in an overseas program."

More on Substance Abuse:
"Leaving the country will not make your problems go away--if anything, they will worsen."

On travel:
"Be careful to observe traffic lights."

On protection:
"Be aware that it is common in some cities for thieves on motorcycles to pull gold chains off the necks of pedestrians."

On relationships abroad: (!!!!!!)
"Some countries do not admit that they have an AIDS epidemic. Assume AIDS is everywhere."

Now that I have learned these tips. I feel ready to travel anywhere.

Moby Show

2009-09-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

This is the best I could do photo-wise for Thursday's trip to MobyTown courtesy of @sethjhoffman twitpic extravaganza.

You can't see much, but you can see his still bald head and his vegan, sissy ways. You can even make out the bald head of his MobyClone drummer playing behind him. On stage with him was a soulful black woman who did all the 'ooh lordy, troubles so hard' kind of stuff, a skinny white girl with bangs who did the softer types of female vocals (a la Dream About Me, which unfortunately was not played). The skinny white girl was actually Kelli Scarr, the opening act who just stayed on through his show. There was also a chick bassist in a suit who didn't really do much beside play bass.

The music was great but there was no flow between the songs. Moby kept stopping to make snide comments and tell stories about why each song was his favorite of some subcategory (favorite to play live, favorite with female vocals, favorite all time, etc.) The best parts were the few times that he appealed to the 'ravers' of his past and put the guitar down, jumped on the bongos and just went nuts.

Bottom line, Moby is really annoying, makes great music.

Lumberjack. Vermont.

2009-09-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Vermont in a couple hours to go cut down some trees. Curious? Scope this map:

I headed on over to goodwill for the occasion and picked out a sweet lumberjacking shirt.

Hopefully there will be pictures of me up there with an axe, but I am not sure because I have no camera access. There is no TV either (obviously because it is Vermont) so hopefully I will be able to catch up on my book: House of The Scorpion (thanks Claire!)

It's Official! (Mazel Tov)

2009-09-24T14:32:00.001-07:00

I just officially was accepted into my abroad program. This is what things might look like in a couple of months:

Now celebrate with me!!

Sheer Brilliance

2009-09-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

This shirt.woot is freakin' brilliant.

[source]

By the way I am going to see Moby tonight at House of Blues! Should be incredible. More on that later.

Remember Gwen? Remember Gore Lieberman 2000?

Two Interesting Things. One Useful.

2009-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

I am working in the mail room at my school right now. A kid just came and picked up a package. Everything was going smoothly until he was just about to leave and he stopped and turned to me and asked: "Do you know what is in here?"

"What kind of paranoid freak is this?" I thought to myself. "Is he really accusing me of mail fraud?"

I realized a moment later when he asked me whether or not I liked basketball that he was really just opening up the conversation so he could brag about what he just bought. I am always wondering what people get, so I played along.

"Yeah, I like basketball," I lied.

"So you like Michael Jordan."

"Yeah" I told the truth.

"This is a piece of history." He crooned with a sly smile on his face and the package still in his hand above his head.

He proceeded to brag that he purchased a piece of the actual court played on when Michael Jordan pretty much won the NBA finals with a fat fever and the flu. Damn.

(this video is unfortunately kind of boring, but it has good demonstrative value).

2. A while back I spoke of firefox add-ons. I'm still pretty into them but it is rare that I find one that I just have to share. We'll here. This is pretty amazing. Especially if you are into stuff like Elefantitis or El Rincon Del Kik.

It is called Youtube to mp3. It does exactly what it sounds like. On your youtube, a little link will appear that allows you to download just the audio from any video in mp3 format. Amazing.

Update

2009-09-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

Hey! Shana Tova!

Things have just been going dandy. I've been cookin', workin' etc.

More later.

This Is Going To Be A Great Semester

2009-09-13T01:37:00.000-07:00

WorldWide Monopoly

2009-09-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Obviously, this is one of the most exciting things the world has ever seen!

It's kind of hard to tell what that image is, but basically, Hasbro and Google.Maps have teamed up together to create a real life, worldwide game of Monopoly. Yes. You can purchase any street in the world and go hogwild all over it. You can even use Google.SketchUp to design your houses and hotels and place them there.

It launched today but I have not once been able to access the website because there is so much traffic. They repeatedly apologize for this on their blog, but apology or no apology, I still don't own Lomita Dr., Buswell St., Lombard St. or Infinite Loop. Now that's a fatty. Especially today...

I still can't even handle this.

Football Season

2009-09-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Football Season has officially begun. Today was the draft. Here's my official roster:

Payton Manning
Brandon Jacobs
Willie Parker
DeSean Jackson
Chad Ochocinco
Felix Jones
Heath Miller
David Akers
Eagles Defense
Michael Vick
Beannie Wells
Donald Driver
Arnaz Battle
Glen Coffee
Carolina Defense

Thanks to the commissioner Natan

Smell-O-Vision

2009-09-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to a screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the movie with Gene Wilder, not to be confused with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the title of the original book and the new Tim Burton movie).

This was no ordinary screening. This was in SMELL-O-VISION. That's right, an olfactory element was added to the show.

Basically, when we saw some fruity stuff, they blew fruity smells etc. Amazing. Oompa Loompas! WonkaWILD!!!!

Check out @sethjhoffman 's photo stream... Basically, the only reason to ever join twitter.

http://mypict.me/x2DL
http://mypict.me/x3c9
http://mypict.me/x4oO
http://mypict.me/x4tk
http://mypict.me/x5y7
http://mypict.me/x7zV
http://mypict.me/x89X
http://mypict.me/x8IT

Going Insane!

2009-09-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have a great new job on campus! I now get paid to sit near a printer and give people what they printed. Some days I have the pleasure of working with other people. Other days (like right now) I get to sit by myself in a basement for 6 hours going insane.

I did all my homework. Plus got a little ahead. I watched 4 episodes of Futurama. I ate a bag of chips. I listened to some music. Here are some favorites from today:

Beg, Borrow and Steal by The Rare Breed

Apparently there is some confusion as to who originally recorded this song. Pandora had it right, I don't know why are so defensive in this video. Anyway, it is fun two watch two old Jews rock this hard.

Lovingly Yours by The Mockingbirds

This song is the seed of the Pandora station that got this whole thing going. It's off my 'The Mod Scene (1962-1968)' compilation that blows out the water pretty hard. (Yea, I just yipped that saying off the horntail.)

Black Biscuit by Seth Kauffman

This dude's name is ridiculous because my roommate is Seth Hoffman, but that is entirely coincidental. Really, I was listening to this guys song on Pandora and I went to give it a thumbs up, only to realize I had already thumbs upped it on March 03, 2007! Guess I really like the song (because I rarely thumbs up stuff). Anyway, I looked all over the internet for the song and the best I could find is a 30 second Pandora sample of it. Turns out this Seth Kauffman character is great. His recent work is under Floating Action and Black Biscuit is the best song from both bands, but here is an enjoyable record / video.

Pretty much every Thursday I'll be coming out with these more extensive posts. So stay tuned!

Things I Miss 1/1

2009-09-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

I was planning on doing a bunch of posts on stuff I miss, but I am not sure that will happen. This video sums it all up pretty well though... Enjoy:

newPOLL

2009-08-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

AaronStrick.com is starting to get interactive! Vote in the poll on the right for your favorite breakfast... Who knows, maybe I'll even cook one for you:

Mexican
Italian
Californian

---------->

(don't ask me why I got so into these breakfasts)

San Francisco-Boston

2009-08-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

So, I am leaving in a half hour to go back to school. I'm gonna miss SF, so you should be prepared for a 3-4 part series of the things I miss...

But for now, here is a symbolic picture I had drawn at the SF Zine Fest of my roommate and me with the the Golden Gate Bridge and the Zakim Bridge (he is not that small in real life, though he is indeed smaller than me).

The Trilogy Is Complete

2009-08-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

Remember Mexican breakfast?

Remember Italian breakfast?

Well how about a little California Cuisine? Seeing as it is my last day here, I figured that would be a good idea.

Presenting: Toasted sourdough bread with avocado, shredded lettuce, and a poached egg topped with a homemade Habañero Thousand Island Dressing (made from Mayonnaise, Ketchup, the Habañero sauce Ben got me for my Birthday, and some minced homemade pickles).

Three great breakfasts. One great summer.

How About Italian?

2009-08-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

Remember mexican? Well how about a pumpernickel bagel with poached egg and last-night's tomato-sausage sauce topped with parmesan cheese?

Oh yea, and who won THIS Giants game? They did.

Poem

2009-08-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was going through some old stuff with my mother yesterday. Here is a poem we found that I wrote in third grade:

Fishy
We are fish. They take us and cook us.
We think they shouldn't take us, because we are beautiful as can be.

-Aaron Strick

What's for Breakfast?

2009-08-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

Oh. Is that a toasted pumpernickel bagel with black beans, turkey bacon, a half an avocado with a poached egg topped with Larry Strick's world-famous, homemade tomatillo salsa and served with a fried tomato and the habañero sauce Ben so generously gave to Aaron on his birthday [not pictured]? Yes it is.

And who one the Giants game? Oh, they did.

Maybe that is why I am fat...

Best Photo Of My Life?

2009-08-25T20:27:00.001-07:00

Yes, I really did take this photo.

AaronStrick.com

2009-08-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well dang... AaronStrick.com is in a transition period right now... Don't worry, it will be back. Now it will just refer you here though. Maybe that's how you got here. I don't know.

Greatest Commercial Ever Made

2009-08-23T23:29:00.001-07:00

I actually went and purchased the product specifically because of this commercial.
Just like that, with two other people.
Incredible.

If things go as planned, Ima learn how to play this and make a bomb cover. Better than Some People? I don't know...

(ps. I am back from LA, more to come...)

Fun Wordplay

2009-08-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

These are fun... I saved the best for last...

Alec Guinness = genuine class
George Bush = he bugs Gore
Margaret Thatcher = that great charmer
President Clinton of the USA = to copulate he finds interns
Princess Diana = end is a car spin
Ronald Wilson Reagan = Insane Anglo Warlord
Statue of Liberty = built to stay free
Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring = "Time's running past", we murmur
The United States of America = Attaineth its cause: Freedom!
Tony Blair, P.M. = I'm Tory plan B
Victoria, England's Queen = governs a nice quiet land
Virginia Bottomley = I'm an evil Tory bigot
War on terrorism = Swarm into error
Western Union = no wire unsent
William Shakespeare = I am a weakish speller.
Year Two Thousand = a year to shut down
a decimal point = I'm a dot in place
a stitch in time saves nine = this is meant as incentive
animosity = is no amity
astronomer = moon starer
circumstantial evidence = can ruin a selected victim
desperation = a rope ends it
dormitory = dirty room
funeral = real fun
intoxicate = excitation
mother-in-law = woman Hitler
parishioners = I hire parsons
schoolmaster = the classroom
semolina = is no meal
slot machines = cash lost in 'em
snooze alarms = Alas! No more z's.
the Morse code = here come dots
the earthquakes = that queer shake

"To be or not to be: that is the question, whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" = "In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten"

Strick Pickles

2009-08-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Me and my dad made pickles. Here is the photo stream (did I just make that term up?):

First soak the cucumbers in salt water for a night...

Then put hella spices in jars (more than just dill and cinnamon)...

Heat up the brine...

Put the cucumbers in the jars with the spices...

Don't forget to enjoy yourself along the way...

Pour the brine in the jars...

After letting them sit for a long time...

Cut em...

Enjoy!

ps. I'm still in LA, this is a timed post so people don't get bored while I'm not updating...

On The Road Again...

2009-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

By the time you are reading this, I'll be on my way to beautiful LA, CA.

Stops should include:

Maybe more...

WeeklyTRACKS*8/18

2009-08-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

I was driving home and I was sad about being so old. I heard these three songs back-to-back-to-back and I had to post about nostalgia. I have trouble expressing feelings sometimes so I just stole Woody's thing.

Kid Rock- All Summer Long

The Smashing Pumpkins- Today

Kings of Leon- Use Somebody

It was a difficult car ride. Since I am copying Woody already, may as well have some of this!

The New Me

2009-08-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

I needed a change now that I am 20...

Watch this video for more...

Here is a photo of the haircut in action too:

It's my birthday!

2009-08-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

Now I am 20. (don't think I was blogging at midnight though, this is a timed post)

My Life this far: A
My Teenager years: A
Yesterday: B+

Back Baby

2009-08-15T13:07:00.001-07:00

Hey- I'm back. My main man Seth is with me and we'll keep you up to speed on what were doing around the Bay.

Here are some pics from Sin City though:

Leaving for Las Vegas

2009-08-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

By the time you read this post, I will have boarded a fight en route to Las Vegas, Nevada.

I will be back on August 12th.

That is all.

Oh, Snap! (seriously, my phone is broken)[update]

2009-08-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

Today I was in the middle of typing a text message but I had to get in the car so I put my phone in my pocket while open and I tripped while getting in and I landed in the seat funny and my phone snapped. It looks like this:

Currently, the keypad part of the phone is in perfect working order. I can dial and receive calls.

Unfortunately, the screen part of the phone is totally busted which means no screen access, no sounds, no notifications of any kind, so I have absolutely no idea when anyone calls or texts.

Amazingly, remember the 'upgrade?' Well, my bluetooth function seems to work and all my contacts are saved in the Prius, so I can totally call anyone while I am sitting in the car.

Also, when I wear my bluetooth device, I hear the beeping so I can totally take incoming calls while I am wearing my extendo-ear. So basically, until the HTC Hero comes out for Sprint, I'll be walking around like this:

Win for douchebags everywhere!

In the meantime, if you need to text me, hit up my google voice number. (909) ASTRICK.

UPDATE: THE PHONE IS NOW COMPLETELY IN 2 PIECES. IT IS STILL PARTIALLY FUNCTIONAL.

The greatest performance of all time.

2009-08-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

This video is mindblowing and absolutely worth the 10 minutes.

Sexy Boy

2009-08-03T22:56:00.001-07:00

I just watched 10 Things I Hate About You with my parents. RIP Heath. There is a scene when JGL is with his friend and they doctor some flyers to blow up another kids party. They toss tons of the flyers down the stairs and an amazing song comes on.

I found it, and here I am posting it...

Experimentavision worthy?

Also, here is a pretty tight Franz Ferdinand cover:

Sporty Weekend

2009-08-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Boy am I wiped!

Why? Well check out all the athletic stuff I did in just one weekend! (plus the very, very beginning of the work week)

1. Me and the pops went on down to Palo Alto to check out the Williams sisters in action.

Match 1: Venus Williams v Elena Dementieva- 6-1, 6-0

Match 2: Williams / Williams v Mattek-Sands / Petrova- 6-2, 6-2

It is hard to imagine anyone, anywhere could possible beat those two girls at tennis, but I guess people do... Amazing.

2. After, me and the pops went straight to Santa Clara to check out the 49ers training camp.

Needless to say, I won a raffle they were having and got some Hancocks (signatures that is...) from cheerleader babes. Also, I got this amazingly cool hat!

3. On Sunday, Me and Pepto Bismol checked the Giants out as they wrecked the reigning World Series champs, the Phillies 7-3... Can you believe it was a sold out game?

4. Immediately after, inspired by my journeys on Saturday and in high spirits from the Giant victory, Pepto, Dylan and I went for some Canadian Doubles...

Does this remind you of the old Star Wars posters too?

5. Loving the country club vibes, Pepto and I woke up extra early this morning (5:50AM) and hit the links. Guess what? I par'd a hole! I also completely blew 2 other Par putts that were easy and should have gone in. I was very pleased with my performance...

All this on top of a free Offspring show on friday night (thanks samsung and ATT!). Let me tell you, that was definitely a workout.

Upgrade!

2009-08-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Weekend in July Pt. 5: Bacon Explosion

2009-07-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

What did you have for dinner? I had a bacon explosion, recipe courtesy of my main man Ben Pepin. Here's what is up:

You will need:

2 pounds bacon
2 pounds sausage meat
hella seasoning
bottle of barbeque sauce

Step 1: Weave bacon.

Step 2: Cook unused bacon.

Step 3: Season your bacon weave.

Step 4: Spread sausage meat over bacon weave.

Step 5: Add cooked bacon.

Step 6: Load it up with barbecue sauce. Bubba's is our choice.

Step 7: Roll it all up. This is the hard part.

Step 8: Cover it in more barbecue sauce.

Step 9: Grill it for a long time.

Step 10: Enjoy with greens.

Trust me, the incredible flavor is absolutely worth the stomach ache.

Weekend in July Pt. 4: Shadow Puppet Theater

2009-07-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

One of the exciting things I did this past weekend was visit Red Hill Books for a shadow puppet show. When I was in middle school, I put on my own shadow puppet show about how Brer Rabbit outsmarted a lion by bringing him to a well so the lion got mad at his own reflection and jumped in thereby stopping any and all terror experienced by the animals.

It is sort of hard to explain how ridiculous the show is, so I'm gonna break the situation down into headings:

Description of Story Teller:

Do you see the focus in this man's eyes? His life is dedicated to shadow puppets. He lives in Humboldt County and every couple of months he comes down to the Bay Area to do a little tour of shows in bookstores in libraries, then he returns home. Whether he has another job is beyond my scope of knowledge, however I would recommend that he keeps it if he has it.

Whether he is the coolest man in the world is debatable; whether he has the coolest name in the world is not: Sean Powers. Sean Powers: Storyteller.

The coolest part about maybe the coolest person in the world is his musical instrument collecting.

His Instruments:

1. His 'Contraption' (A homemade brilliant thing)

Unfortunately, he didn't actually use this during the story. Ridiculous.

2. His Hu-Lu (a Chinese wind instrument)

He told a really convoluted story about how he bought it.

3. His Sanza.

His was made from a fish can and he says that in Africa, they play Sanza's as they walk from village to village

4. I can't remember the 4th, it must not have been that tight.

The Stories:
The first story was short. It featured a bird that hatches an egg. In the egg was a giant mouth with legs that talked about eating candy and how much it hated brushing teeth. Then a flying toothbrush forced itself on the monster and the monster changed his mind.

The second story was about a hungry turtle (the African Lore counterpart to the American Coyote [the trickster]). The turtle heard about the feast in the sky so he tricked the birds to giving him feathers so he could fly. He went up, ate all their food and they got mad so they took their feathers back and he was stuck on the cloud. He asked them if he could tell his wife to put the soft stuff from their house out, but they changed the message so his wife put the hard stuff from their house out and he jumped on it, shattering his shell.

His storytelling was like this:

"and then the birds were like... and then the turtle was like...etc."

All in all, brilliant show, wonderful day. Check his website here.

Weekend in July Pt. 3: Burritos

2009-07-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

As I said, I would be reviewing restaurants that I ate at this past weekend (including last Thursday). You may link to all of them later in this post, but there is a more pressing issue at hand.

While at Taqueria Los Charros with my good buddy Dan from out of town, I watched him struggle and toil with his tin foil wrapped burrito until it collapsed in a hot mess accessible only by way of Fork and Knife, two friends that I always hope not to run into at Mexican restaurants.

For this reason, I want to share this instructions that I ripped off of High Tech Burrito's website. While they do not pretend to be very authentic, they do a great job demonstrating how one should eat a burrito:

(by the way, this is a huge win for my html skills because I had to dig through source code and figure out all sorts of difficult problems.)

RestauranTouring
Taqueria San Jose
High Tech Burrito
Bettys Burgers (THIS ISN'T MEXICAN!!!)
Taqueria Los Charros

(by the way, for those using google reader, see the actual post)

Weekend in July Pt. 2: The Most Ridiculous Place I've Ever Been

2009-07-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, you've seen these gosh darn bumper stickers all over the place and have always assumed you were missing out on some amazing surf culture mecca that everybody west of the Mississippi reps harder than their own congressmen.

Turns out, you'd be way off. Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, California is not a surf shop. It is not a record store either (as my dad thought); it is actually the most ridiculous place I have ever been.

It is a circular area in the boonies of Santa Cruz where gravity is completely zoinked and your brain goes absolutely insane.

This picture does a pretty good job of showing you the ridiculousness, but you can also see pictures of me doing cool leans here.

I used to say that a visit to Muir Woods is the best way to spend 5 dollars, but I now believe that Mystery Spot is more amazing (plus it has redwoods).

Weekend In July Pt. I: All Over

2009-07-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I did a ridiculous amount, and drove all over the freakin' place. This post marks number 1 of a series of posts dedicated to this fantastic weekend.

Feel free to look at this google.map to see all the places I went.

View Weekend in July in a larger map

Places Include:
Restaurants:
Taqueria San Jose* (not on map because I went on Thursday) [San Rafael]
High Tech Burrito* [Mill Valley]
Betty's Burgers* [Santa Cruz]
Taqueria Los Charros* [MountainView]

Places and Events:
Sonnen BMW [San Rafael]
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk* [Santa Cruz]
Mystery Spot* [Santa Cruz]
Red Hill Books* (Shadow Puppet Show) [San Francisco]
Production of the Bacon Explosion* [San Francisco]

*means you will see more about this on aaronstrick.com, Restaurantouring, or World:Aaroneous in the near future.

What a wild weekend it has been.

2009-07-26T13:07:00.001-07:00

This post was done from my phone. My non-iPhone dumbphone. Amazing technology. If i could do picture mail, i would have put a pic up too. Sent from my Dumbphone

Google Latitude Reps Mill Valley

2009-07-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Google release their new 'Google Latitude' for mobile devices today. Basically, it's a way you can know exactly where your friends are at all times. Now you will know for sure when you weren't invited to hang out...

I guess surprise birthday parties as we know them will cease to exist.

You can learn more about it here:

Anyway, in the little sample uses, Mill Valley gets a hard rep so I added myself to the mix! Fred wants to hang out with me!

Summer Bummer: On TV

2009-07-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

What do Bill O'Reilly and I have in common?

1. We're both Terriers.

2. We're both are on Fox News.

Check me out at 1:00

BTW...Fail on Fox News for not allowing embedding. I am sorry you have to leave my site.

Cardboard Tube Fighting League

2009-07-19T20:18:00.001-07:00

CARDBOARD TUBE FIGHTING LEAGUE
This is an actual organization and today I participated in one of their tournaments. I got owned in the first round by a ridiculously scary dude with crazy hair and a gas mask...

One of my friends did pretty well though. I tossed together some of the footage. I hope you appreciate the ridiculousness of the situation.

Also, you can see more pictures of the dueling along with other fun summer photos here.

You can also see a review of the food that fueled my duel here.

And just so you know, this font comes from this fantastic experimentavision post.

BookArt: Awesome (who knew?)

2009-07-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

W00t knew! I have to credit the w00t blog for turning me on to this, but it is freakin' incredible. It is basically the reason stumbleupon should exist...

Check it out here.

Yay Sunshine

2009-07-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Remember the Cryptids?

2009-07-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

I previously posted about the Cryptids. You were probably a little confused on what it was... This video probably won't help, but check my epic-slowmotion-one-footed-hop at about 1:30.

Find more videos like this on CryptoZoo

Science.

2009-07-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of WoodyJang.com

Coke+Mentos from Woodrow Jang on Vimeo.

Another angle to come.

Geekiness to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL

2009-07-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Two incredibly exciting, yet incredibly geeky events have just happened in my life and have come together in the most absurdly fantastic way.

1. I received an email from an excited friend (Dardashti) who I will now quote:

"Lastly, I think text macros are making a huge come back, and I'm highly in favor of it.

           `/shddmddddhymmmh.                                      
                                    `odhhhhhhoyyydhhhhdds:`                                   
hhhhhhhdssyyyoohdhhhhdms:                                 

                            `-:+oosooomdddhhhdyosys+odhhhhhhhmhh/                               
`+dNMMMMMMMMMNmddddddmdyyyhdhhhhhhhhhmhhh`                             
sMMMMMMMMMMNddhhhyyhhhhddddhhhhhhhhhhmhhhh                             

                         .sdmNNMMMMh::------:+shdhhhddddhhhhhmdhhhm`                            
                            ````:yo/:::--------:/oyhhhhhdddhmdhhhhm`                            
                                /s+/:::/++/--:++///+shysoosshhhhhhy                             

                               `o-       `/oo+.`     `/o:---:+hhhd.                             
                               s`          y-          .y-----:yd:                              
                               y  y/`--.   y     `:`    o/--/--y`                               

                               -+.`o+::/++/h     -s`    y:-od:o/+                               
                                -yoy-------/o`        `++-ooo+hoh                               
                                :o+yo+/:----:+/:-..-:/+:-o+-/hh.s                               

                                /y/:://+oo++++++////::--:/---d-:/                               
                              -o/::::::::::::://oo+/-----:+++h-``                               
                             /o:::::::::::::::::::/+o/---:/os/+/                                

                            /o:::::::::::::::::::::::os---:/y::s                                
                            h:::::::::::::::::::::::::s+--:-:/s.                                
                            ./+/+osy+++o//+o++s+/ooo::/y--+yo:`                                 

                               `..:h` `s``:+  +- .oy::/s---s.                                   
                                  /y/::s-.:o.-++:+s/::y:---y`                                   
                                  o+/://////////:::::s+----h                                    

                                   .:o+::::::::::::+s/-----h`                                   
                                     `:y+//:::::/+o/-------y`                                   
                                       y:/++++++/:---------oo:.                                 

                                     `.h------------------:ohyy-                                
                                   `+ooh----------:://++ooo++//y-                               
                               `..-s+hy/-------+yooo++++////////y                               

                             `syyhd+/yh///////osh///////////////syo/:.`                         
                        `.-/+ohhhmo/ssh-----:yo/oy////////////+oddhhhhys/:-.`                   
                    `.:sssds///+oy/yo/oo   .o+///h+///////++osyhsyhhhhhmosyhyo/.`               

                  -oydymsyy//////+y+///y. -s+////+h//+++osoo++h+///+osydyhhhhhhyyo-`            
                .ohhdysmyh///////h+////+y+o///////ossoo+/////h+///////hyhhyhhhhhyyhy/`          
                y/yhmyys+/////++hs+/////dyso/////////////////d///////shydsdydyyyyso+oy:         

              `:d/oyo+///////odhdhhhh+/+hsso/++oossssssssoo+/d//////yhydyhhyy////+oshsy.        
             :o/s+///////////mhhhhhhm+/h+////hsooosssso++ooy/d//////oddyhhsd+//os+/-:oh-        
           .o+--:h//////////+mhhhhhds/+h/////ddossoooosood+y/ss//////+ydyyho+os/------:++`      

          -s:----+y////////oyyhhhyoss/h+/////dd++syys+++oy+y//h////////+yy+so/----------/o-     
         :s-------+s//////+d///////so+h//////hd++ssys+++h+oy//+h/////////os/--------------o/    
        .s---------/y+//+ss+//////oy/h++/////hsy++oo+++yo/oy///oy//////+s+-----------------o/   

        y:----------:ossh+///////ss/oyhss////h/syoooosy+//os////oy+///os:-------------------y.  
       .y------------:ss+osso++oy+/+h/+o/////h//+oooo+////os/////+yo+yy:--------------------:s  
       :o-----------+s+/////++++///h+////////h+//////////+so///////ohsoho--------------------y  

       :o---------:so/////////////yo/////////+ooosssssssoo+//////////+++h--------------------y  
       `y--------/y+/////////////yo////////////////////////////////////y+-------------------/o  
        ++------:h//////////////ss+//////////////////////////////////+y/-------------------:y`  

         o/-----y+//////////////hysh////////////////////////////////+y:-------------------:s.   
          ++---:h//////////////ss/o+///////////////////////////////+h:-------------------/s.    
           :o:-oo//////////////h///////////////////////////////////h/------------------:o/      

            `/oyo//////////////d//////////////////////////////////s+-----------------:o/`       
              `do//////////////d//////////////////////////////////h---------------:++/`         
             `osh//////////////dosy//////////////////////////////y+-------o-----+s/.            

            `ysod+/////////////hssy+/////////////////////////////d--------y:---:/s:             
            :o-yMNdyso+////////oy////////////////////////////////d-------:y/++:/+/o+:           
             s/oMMMMMMMNmmdhhssshooooooooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyd+-----+ooh::ys:/oo/s          

              -/yNMMMMMMMMMMM+:::::::/+MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMdssssssssssd:---+s--o+--h---h+/          
                  ddmmmNNNNMMy::::::::+MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmsssssssssssh+--:o--:h--h--:y            
                  dhhhhhhhhhhddhyyyyyydddddddddddddddddddddddddddddm++o/:-:s+/ss+++`            

                  dhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhm.  .:://:.               "

2. Another friend lent me his old copy of 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' which I am about to play pretty much not stop for a couple of weeks.

Every so often, two less extreme things combine to form something so extreme, that you cannot even believe that something so wonderful could possibly have come from two such lesser things. Take salt for example. Sodium and Chloride are both awesome, but who could ever believe they would combine to make salt! Or how about water and corn starch? Mentos and Diet Coke (more on this later)?

Here is what I want you to do (if you have a mac. If you have a PC, you're outsky):

Open up Applications>Utilities>Terminal

Copy and paste this command into the program: telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

Hit enter.

Watch and be amazed.

Here is a preview of something you might see:

Enjoy! (and in case you didn't know, that is Homer Simpson)

More on Baby Gramps (palindromes)

2009-07-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

A very serendipitous (great word) thing happened to me recently. It involved palindromes and an old songsman named Baby Gramps.

As a child, my elementary school had a completely awesome book that I read all the time and loved so much. It was called: "Go Hang A Salami, I'm A Lasagna Hog"

This book featured all sorts of palindromes! Some I remember include:
Tahiti Hat
'Nora, A raft!''Is it far Aaron?' (one very near and dear to my heart).

So, the other night, I went to this Baby Gramps show that you've now heard so much about.

I struck up a conversation with the man and discovered he is a palindrome man himself. He told me a fun one that he claimed to have made up about the actress Lana Turner.

'Anal sex at noon taxes Lana'

I then tried to impress him with the best one I know, 'go hang a salami, i'm a lasagna hog,' but he quickly dismissed it as one he knew.

He had a little more fun with words claiming:

'She was a farmers daughter: all the men knew her' [manure]
'She was a moonshiners daughter: he made me lick her' [liquor]

When I got home, I couldn't remember the exact palindrome he gave me (the one I have provided: 'anal sex at noon...' might not be the one he told me) so I looked for more information about Baby Gramps and palindromes online.

It was then that I made the most shocking of discoveries!

It turns out, on multiple websites (here and here), 'go hang a salami...' is actually ATTRIBUTED TO BABY GRAMPS! He wrote that! And I tried to impress him with it!

Apparently, 'Tarzan raised a Dezi Arnaz rat,' is by him too. Pretty good work!

Earthquakes, Grandpas, and Walkers of the Night

2009-06-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

After an evening of general debauchery, including a failed attempt at attending a sold out local indie show (My First Earthquake), and an exciting concert put on by an old Miami wordsmith with a steel guitar (Baby Gramps)[more on him later], we indulged in a little stop motion entertainment.

See it here:

Gorwalth and Heinsttën: Walkers of the Night

Note: The music you hear is Franck's Symphony in D minor. I heard it on 102.1 the other day and was inspired. You'll be sure to here it again in more of my works, it is the only classical piece I have truly enjoyed. In fact, I even called the station to find out what it was.

Note the controversy:

Wikipedia
Sitting in on a rehearsal under the baton of Jules Garcin, where the players were resistant and uncooperative, Conservatoire director Ambroise Thomas is supposed to have remarked in reaction to the second movement (and quoted by Vincent d'Indy, in his biography of Franck) "name a single symphony by Haydn or Beethoven that uses the English horn!" (This may well be apocryphal and used by d'Indy - who was firmly in the Franck camp - to mock the conservative Thomas, since Haydn had very famously used English horns in his own Symphony No. 22, "The Philosopher".)

Wild, I know!

(909)ASTRICK

2009-06-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

Maybe you've heard about it. Maybe you haven't. Maybe you saw it on woodyjang.com and were kind of confused about it.

It? GOOGLE VOICE of course!! How awesome is this... Now, when I get voicemail, I can embed it into sites:

(it was not an incredibly successful test, but it's working wonderfully now...)

So try it out, give me a ring:

Forgot about Blingo? (firefox addon BONUS)

2009-06-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hey!! Remember back in the day when Sammy Go won a $150 visa gift card? Well I have know idea why I stopped using blingo, but I sure have started again!!

For those who don't know, it is a search engine that (was powered google) is powered by yahoo (so you get all the same results) except each time you search, you could win a prize. A kid I know won $150... My mom won a movie ticket...Legit... Hella people win!!

Anyway- Ya'll should sign up here (because if you win, I also win!)

BONUS!!

I don't know about you, but when I want to search for something in google, here is my process:

⌘ + L (highlights address bar)
tab- (puts cursor in search bar)

This process takes me about a quarter of a second.

This means, in about a quarter second, you can enter for a chance to win fatty money, or movie tickets, or amazon gift cards, or whatever. Just add Blingo to you search engines.

It's true, the searches don't look like google searches, and they look worse than they did in 2006, but I still think it's worth it!

Film.

2009-06-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here is how movies get chosen in my house:

We didn't watch movies for a long time because my parents were on a Boston Legal binge. 5 Seasons. James Spader. Candice Bergen. William Shatner. When it ended, my parents were jonesing so hard, they netflixed the cast and the result was a lot of ridiculous movies.

1. White Palace

A young, advertising big shot, James Spader, with a dead wife falls in love with a poor, middle aged, fast food worker, Susan Sarandon and he is embarrassed to introduce her to his shallow friends (Jason Alexander). Good thing she has an estranged fortune telling sister to give him advice! Ridiculous.

2. Pretty in Pink

Again, rich guy falls in love with unlikely poor girl. His friends (the Spaderman himself) is a huge ass. Side note, Sarah and Elana joined us.

3. Rich and Famous

One Smith college girl (our lady Candice) moves to California with a man who secretly loves the best friend who remains in New York and becomes a famous (but not rich writer). Candice gets jealous, writes a book and gets (rich and famous) but her life falls apart while her friends fetish for younger men spirals out of control until one of the men actually ends up with Candice's daughter (a young Meg Ryan). Somehow this movie was over 2 hours long...

While waiting for other netflix DVD's, we resort to my Dad's Frank Sinatra Box Set:

4. The Pride and the Passion

As someone on IMDB so eloquently put it: "Schlep that Cannon" Carey Grant is a British man, Frank Sinatra is a Spaniard and the two of them spend 2 hours trying to transport an enormous cannon from one part of Spain to another bickering over Sophia Loren all the while.

It has been a strange week...

Thank goodness we have had incredible popcorn! Yes, this is literally an ear of corn that you put in a paper bag into the microwave and it just pops like crazy. Check it out:

My mom accidentally took a video.