The Name Is Yoshimi

Claire and I went to the Mall of America today. We were planning to go bowling, but the prices were ridiculously high, so we decided to play a little air-hockey and wander around a bit. We popped into Sam Goody, and I picked up the most recent release from The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Actually I got the DVD Version, but it has the original CD too. The packaging doesn't include the lyrics, which is disappointing, but the 5.1 mix of the album is quite an experience. It's my first new music of what looks to be an exciting summer. Wilco's A Ghost is Born and Dave Matthews Band's The Gorge are both due out in late June, and CAKE's Pressure Chief is in the pipeline. Hooray!

Since 1988

Happy sixteenth, Laura.

Construction Continues

I know there probably aren't too many of you looking at this now that it's summer, but if you're here and you have any suggestions on how to improve the technical aspects of this site, please leave a comment for me. I'm working on a variety of improvements, but I'd love to get a second opinion.

Rocker Reunion

I spent a delightful night with my dear friend Miranda Harren who is done with the Rock and spending a quiet summer at home before heading down to Tulane. We assisted my dad in making a homemade pizza from fresh dough, tomatoes, spinach, mozzarella, and sausage. We used pesto too, but it wasn't fresh. The result was quite delicious. Miranda and I were evenly matched in mancala, but I managed to win the five-way game of Hearts we played after dinner.

Two Birds

Happy twenty-first, Marget.
Happy twentieth, Rachel.

End

I've completed my spring semester. I'm half-packed and chilling out with Phish. The current song is, appropriately, "Free." I'll probably be a little quieter until I get to New York in July. I'll try to keep tweaking the format, so it'll be easier to add comments and see where other people have commented. Good luck to my friends at Eau Claire in the comming week.

Kingsford Responds

I just got the following email in response to my Mothers' Day complaint:

Dear Mr. Hepokoski:

Thank you for contacting us about our advertisement for KINGSFORD Briquets. Please be assured that your comments will be shared with all appropriate staff.

As you can imagine, advertising is an integral part of our company's operation, and we devote a great deal of time and research to it. The objective of any Clorox Company advertisement is to provide the consumer with accurate, useful information about a product in a manner that makes the message memorable. On those rare occasions when there is disagreement about an advertisement's content or impact, we appreciate the feedback we may receive from our loyal consumers. Such feedback is always kept in mind when reviewing future advertising.

Thank you again for your concern and for taking the time to contact us.

Terry Dittus
Product Specialist

Looks like someone at least scanned my letter briefly.

Déjà Vu

My mom sent me a very nice card wishing me the best during a stressful finals week. The front shows two penguins against a very glittery background. Stylin' to be sure, but now the glitter is getting everywhere. Apparently, I got some on my hands and then rubbed my face, so now I'm having flashbacks to the days after Dolliver Drag Night. For a whole week I glittered like some sort of fairy from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I hope this doesn't take a whole week to disappear.

Self-Portrait, 2003

Here is my photograph from the Langdon resident photo directory. In glorious black and white!

Under Construction. Again.

So, I signed in today to post about Mothers' Day, and Blogger was all different! There are some new features, and some stuff makes more sense, but it's complicated. I'll work on it, but probably not much until finals are done. Sorry if it looks bad in the mean time. I promise to make up for it in the mean time with lots of scrolling text.At least I'm doing better with this "Information Superhighway" thing than Strong Mad.

Mothers' Day

Kingford Charcoal has been running a Mothers' Day radio commercial through the past week or so. Its kind of a silly commercial; a guy gift-wraps a steak (fresh of the grill) and gives it to his wife. Okay, whatever. However, after the skit is done, a smooth sounding voice-over guy comes on and says, "Mothers' Day is here and its the perfect time to grill, so grab a bag of Kingsford Charcoal and head for the back yard. You'll get the great flavor of Kingsford Charcoal, and you'll keep Mom out of the kitchen, which ought to make any mother's day."

Ought? Ought? Does he mean that good mother should be thankful simply because her husband allows to step out of the kitchen for a while? What is this? 1953? Kingsford has gotten at least one angry letter. I'm just sorry I didn't write before today.

Happy Mother's Day, and to all the moms out there, thank you.

Level Zero

The elevator has served as a source of great amusement for me over the year. My basic theory about the Langdon is that if one examines floors 1-4 and 5-7 separately, they will find a 10-point gap in the average IQ. Perhaps it's around 98 in the lower floors and 108 in the upper floors. As a result, once an ascending elevator reaches 5, its generally safe to gently poke fun at the people who've already exited, assuming that they deserve it, of course. On Thursday night, the night of the Friends finale, some third-floor girls were talking about how many people would be watching the show.
--"A billion?" they wondered. "A trillion?" Then a look of confusion settled on their brows.
--"Wait...are there even a trillion people on Earth?" They looked at one and other. No answer.
--I decided to help out. "The earth's pop[ulation] is about six and a half bil[lion]," I noted, trying to be casual. They looked impressed. After a moment to process the information, the hypothesizing began anew.
--"So, I guess that means maybe two or three billion." I decided more help was necessary.
--"Don't forget that a third of the world is asleep, because of different time zones," I added. The looked at each other and giggled.
--"You've really thought this out, haven't you!" one exclaimed. I smiled, but was spared from replying as the doors opened at that moment and they danced out.

23:45

I can't look at that last entry without thinking of Grease, with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The gang is in the soda shop discussing women, and one of the T-birds asks, "What are you supposed to do with her for the other twenty-three hours and fourty-five minutes?" Not very PC these days, but what can you do?

Ray of Light

Over the course of the year, a rather tall apartment building has been under construction about a kilometer south of the Langdon. It's taller than any building between here and there, so I've had a good view of the process. About two weeks ago, they began adding a gorgeous copper roof, complete with arched dormers on all sides. It's very attractive, and will be fantastic once it oxidizes to that classy green. The only problem is that until that happens, my room gets bombarded with the intense amber light that reflects off of it for about fifteen minutes each morning. It's bright enough to hurt my eyes if I look directly at it. Oh, well. It's a small price to pay for such a spectacular view the other 23 hours and 45 minutes a day.

May Flurries

It snowed this morning. Big wet clumps of flakes fell all over Madsion. I went for a walk at nine as the rest of the campus recovered from the Mifflin Street block party. Melting snow soaked my shirt as I walked through deserted streets. It was quite the magical moment for a morning in May.

CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer

I attended a 9-hour class today, and I am now Red Cross certified in CPR and AED for the Professional Rescuer. I'm tired. On a more pleasant note, I met fellow Langdonite Rachel on the way back, and had a most excellent dinner with her at the Towers. If only the food had been as enjoyable as the company.