Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

Well I am back and up and running. I will post some pictures of my apartment some time. I am sad to say that I wasn’t admitted to WWU’s grad program for the fall (group interview didn’t go very well) but I am going to talk to them and see what I need to do for winter term. Until then, I will be looking for a job!

Well roumor is that I am moving down to Bellingham. Canada has finally kicked me out (so to speak) so I will be attempting to get a job and maybe even attend grad school back in the States. We shall see.

My birthday was great: I spent the day with some friends around Vancouver enjoying the lovely weather. My community group friends got me as a birthday / going away gift: one of our group pictures signed and framed, it is really quite awesome!

Tomorrow I move the rest of my stuff across the border and then head to Seattle so I am there for Saturday in the AM for the WEST-B test and then will get to hang out with some friends in the evening. Then back up the Vancouver to clean my current apt. Another busy weekend!

My internet should be set up next Monday so I will catch you then!

On this day…

1775 – American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies of the United States meet in Philadelphia and raise the Continental Army to defend the new republic. They place it under command of Cavalier George Washington of Virginia.

1838 – Birth: John Wilkes Booth, American actor and assassin of Abraham Lincoln

1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike.

1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.

1886 – Birth: Karl Barth, Swiss Protestant theologian

1899 – Birth: Fred Astaire, American singer, dancer, and actor

1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.

1940 – World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

1957 – Birth: Sid Vicious, English bassist (The Sex Pistols)

1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

1960 – Birth: Bono, Irish singer (U2)

1979 – Birth: Matt Jones

2005 – A hand grenade allegedly thrown by Vladimir Arutinian lands about 100 feet from United States President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but malfunctions and does not detonate.

So there ya have it, what an exciting day!

Once again I spent the weekend down in south Washington visiting with the family and having an early birthday celebration (Freaks and Geeks and News Radio on DVD, ’nuff said). One the way back up to Vancouver I went to The (North) Round 1 at “The Shop” and got to hear the lovely sounds from Tara Ward (of Late Tuesday), John Van Deusen (of The Lonely Forest), and Megan Slankard (from San Francisco) along with artist Scott Erickson doing two live paintings. The Rounds are always a fun experience (see bottom of post for more Round links) because the musicians are always layed back and just have a fun time performing and interacting with each other and the audience.

I should have said hi to John and Tara after the show, but I am never very good in those kind of sitations: small talk + people who just put on an awesome show + me = I come across as a buffoon. Top top that off, Dana Little was there too (who I, like a middle schooler, have a crush on) but I couldn’t actually say anything intelligent. It is amazing, but I can be somewhat eloquent if I want to be, that just never works itself into small talk. Eh, such is life, no biggie, still fun times.

All three performers were awesome! I had never heard Megan Slankard before but she had a cool acoustic folky thing going on, definitely check her out. Apparently she will be back in the Seattle area in a few months. Tara was as lovely as ever and had some great songs to share (including a few off of Late Tuesday’s new CD that will be out later this month (!!), get ready for their CD release show on the 25th of May – keep the date open). Her voice is always a pleasure to hear. And John was as great as John usually is! There is definitely a certain intensity when he plays with his band, but hearing him solo is quite a treat that I hope will happen more often.

Ok, enough of this jibber jabber, on with the pictures and videos (beware large file sizes)! (Click for larger versions!)

Read more…

Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island is a wonderful place to visit! I had the pleasure of camping at Bella Pacifica with some friends the other week and had a wonderful time! I finally got my pictures up so check out my Camping at Tofino page to see some of our adventures (they can also be viewed at flickr). We even got to see whales!

Gas prices are over $3.00 a gallon in the US. But of course everyone in the blogosphere (or anyone with a car) already knows that. (Although before I get into some discussion here, I would like to point out that the gas station near my house up here in Vancouver, BC is at $4.09USD per gallon [that is after converting from litres and from the, fairly strong, Canadian dollar], yes, that’s right, over $4.00!) There are two things I would like to discuss here. First is an article from washingtonpost.com called Going a Short Way to Make a Point. Second is an interesting suggestion for lowering gas prices.

Hypercubed linked to a washingtonpost.com article that discusses some of the hypocrisy happening in Washington (DC that is) in both parties.

“Since George Bush and Dick Cheney took over as president and vice president, gas prices have doubled!” charged Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), standing at an Exxon station on Capitol Hill where regular unleaded hit $3.10. “They are too cozy with the oil industry.”

She then hopped in a waiting Chrysler LHS (18 mpg) — even though her Senate office was only a block away.

My impression is that gas prices have very little to do with how “cozy” the government is with oil companies and more to do with the large oil companies greed. Yes, they could be taxed more, that could help, but the fact that the oil companies want more money and the fact that people in the US love their cars equate to high gas prices.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) used a Hyundai Elantra to take the one-block journey to and from the gas-station news conference. He posed in front of the fuel prices and gave them a thumbs-down. “Get tough on big oil!” he demanded of the Bush administration.

Yeah, thanks. How are we supposed to take our law-makers seriously when they are all talk (not only that, but the talk seems to be of the ad hominem “Bush’s fault” sort)? Here are just a few of the cars driven by our representatives:

Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) hopped in a GMC Yukon (14 mpg). Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) climbed aboard a Nissan Pathfinder (15). Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) stepped into an eight-cylinder Ford Explorer (14). Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) disappeared into a Lincoln Town Car (17). Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) met up with an idling Chrysler minivan (18).

Such fuel efficient cars they have! And one of the most blatant hypocrytical statements comes from Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) who has a Ford Explorer XLT and complained that Bush:

remains opposed to higher fuel-efficiency standards.

Ok… so, even if that is true, how are we to believe that he isn’t opposed to higher fuel-efficiency standards?

I personally think the hypocrisy extends much farther than our politicans. In this case it seems that our representatives actually represent much of the sentiment and lifestyle of many Americans. We love to complain about gas prices and yet still continue to drive giant vehicles that are horrible gas guzzlers. I have been driving a lot lately so I really shouldn’t be complaining because it is my choice to do that driving (although, thankfully my car gets over 30mpg) – but of course I am being hypocrytical here because I do still complain, believe me, I know I am no better than anyone else I am talking about here.

My point is this: in order for things to change two things need to happen: 1) we need to be able to beleive that our law-makers are serious about making change and actually walking the walk and 2) US citizens need to stop complaining, stop blaming the scapegoat, and actually do something to initiate change. This leads to my second discussion point. I hope you are still reading.

Sally forwarded an email offering a suggestion to help lower gas prices. It looked fairly interesting. I have no idea if it can actually work, but it is something anyway. It is important to understand that the one day “don’t buy gas on a certain day” does not work at all. It is like putting a band-aid on … I don’t know… something really bloody… and large… We need to look at the systemic issue and not just the surface. Possible solutions are to simply drive less, use more fuel efficient vehicles, or just don’t drive at all. If enough people do that, things would have to change. The other means of attack would be aimed at the oil companies. Of course, anything effective could not be anything like the one day protest. Apparently the email/idea was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive and came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton (this, of course, cannot be confirmed). Snopes reports that this does not work, but I think it is worth a try.

Here is the idea (from the email):

For the rest of this year, DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

Simple, eh? Note: in Canada, don’t use Esso gas as that is an Exxon company.

Now what? Well this doesn’t really work if just a few people do it. Pass this around. Copy what I said, trackback, whatever, just do it. If you want the email that is being passed around, I will send it to you. Snopes suggests that the only way to lower prices is to reduce how much we buy. I think this is completely valid: buy better vehicles, buy less gas – this is always good advice. That being said, when we do buy gas, buying it from non-Exxon companies seems to make sense. What do you folks think about this?

Resources:
Gasbuddy: current gas prices all around the country.
Washingtonpost.com – Going a Short Way to Make a Point
ExxonMobile Corporate
Wikipedia – ExxonMobil: info on the company (largest publicly traded company in the world, 6th largest overall (in 2000))
Snopes – Urban Legends Reference Pages – Gas Out

Stuff:

I am back in the ‘Couv after a long and enjoyable weekend. My interview at Western went well, I think. Somewhat discouraging is that there were 45 applicants but only 20 to 25 get in. I think I have decided that I will definitely be moving to Bellingham (despite the lack of jobs) regardless of being accepted to the masters program. If I don’t get in I will just apply again in the winter. Now I just need to find an apartment in Bellingham.

The parents’ move down to south WA went well. They have lots of stuff… Their new house (that they are renting until they find a place they like) is nice but I just can’t get over how close the houses are. I can’t imagine ever buying one like that. Also, now it takes 5 hours to get there instead of 3, so that kinda sucks. Oh well. I think I will be heading down there this weekend again for an early birthday weekend and a trip to Powell’s Bookstore (without any money, mind you).

Music:

I wanted to mention a few shows that are coming up that you should attend:
May 6th: John and Braydn (of The Lonely Forest) will be at The Crocodile with others. 21+, $7, 9:00pm. Unfortunately I don’t think I can make it to this one, but you should!
May 8th: John Van Deusen (of The Lonely Forest) and Tara Ward (of Late Tuesday) will be at The Shop at 3rd and Snoqualmie in Mt. Vernon, WA. Doors @ 6:30pm, $3-$10 suggested donation. I will be there!
May 25th: Late Tuesday has a CD release show! The Viking Union at WWU will host @ 8:00pm, $7 general/$5 students. This is a benefit concert for Lou Gehrig’s disease. I am pretty sure I will be there (can’t see why I wouldn’t be)!

And speaking of Late Tuesday‘s CD release, they are preselling their newest album Drowning out Love at their website. Cost is $15 and if you order by May 9th, they are offering free shipping. The CD should be shipped by the end of the month, so order up! They also have a few samples from the new stuff available in their music player at the top of their website. Stop by and I hope to see you at their CD release show!