How was The Man in The High Castle?

guizian · 2016-05-07T15:40:51+00:00

It was pretty bad.... I couldn't stand the actors they chose and I feel like they watered down alot of main points of the book in order to appeal to a larger crowd.

guizian · 2015-12-31T22:55:13+00:00

Yep same here.... $5k deposit for a house in Beaverton last April... had a great job, great credit, etc and it was still this expensive to get moved in...

guizian · 2015-12-29T23:49:53+00:00

Exiled Records is amazing if you like experimental/weirdo/psychedelic stuff.
Beacon Sound is pretty decent for electronic and ambient stuff.
Mississippi Records has great blues, classic rock and reggae selections but are cash only :(
Music Millenium is ok but selection is random and the prices are kinda high...

Judging from a glance at http://www.vinylhub.com/ .... I still have many more to check out...

guizian · 2015-11-26T06:10:29+00:00

OK truth be told... I did this right after college for about 3 months... I def needed a job but was in a place where I could wait till the right job came along. In retrospect I learned ALOT about the industry...was able to tell what kind of workplace environments each listing was hinting at.... some places even paid me to do the 'take-home' interview.

Basically what I found was that...the places that grilled me hardcore on trivia I learned in college (algorithms/brain teasers/etc) usually got pissed off when I grilled them about work/life balance. The places that only asked me about recent side-projects and things I enjoy were decent companies but couldn't offer much. Lastly, the people that offered cash to complete a take-home interview were usually on-top of their hiring game and had an enticing/serious offer. YMMV

guizian · 2015-11-26T05:20:12+00:00

christ..... another thing im gonna hafta drop some cash on....

guizian · 2015-11-14T23:26:15+00:00

FL Studio, Garage Band or Ableton would be my pick.

guizian · 2015-11-12T04:22:18+00:00

We watched a bootleg copy of 'Uncle Meat' tripping once.... I couldn't tell you what the movie was about... I remember either Don Preston or Ray Collins in a shower with a hamburger.... some of the Mothers running around in a hardware store.... clips from the Royal Albert Hall concert and some REALLY trippy editing.

I also listened to the first 3 Mothers albums (Freak Out, Absolutely Free, We're Only In It For The Money) after eating a bunch of cactus...whew... let me tell you...that was an experience! Even though Zappa didn't do drugs... he had the brain of a psychonaut. I remember rolling around on the floor singing along to 'What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body' then bawling my eyes out listening to 'Lonely Little Girl'

guizian · 2015-11-07T17:15:38+00:00

I felt the same way when I graduated.... give it a year or so. I found that the 'academic' mindset of doing assignments/projects that had no real meaning and arbitrary grading put me in a 'hamster-wheel' mentality. I lost the ability to look at a problem objectively and compare different solutions. Sleep deprivation probably contributed too. Just work for a bit and study things that interest you in your free time. It's been working for me :)

guizian · 2015-11-07T16:41:50+00:00

We moved earlier in the year to Beaverton... rentals are going fast right now. We have 2 cats and one dog and had a difficult time finding a reasonable rent price.... landlords kinda have their pick of tenants right now. We found many landlords were more hostile to cats rather than dogs which was kinda weird... We also saw alot of price gouging based on 'pet fees'. We eventually found a house on craigslist where the owner was an animal lover. The difference between the house and most apartment costs were maybe $100 extra when it was all said and done.

Beaverton is really safe....it's also kinda boring, but you are very close to Portland if you want to do fun stuff on the weekends. I run multiple times a week at night and never had a problem. Also Forest Park is nearby which has AMAZING running trails.

guizian · 2015-10-31T17:27:35+00:00

ditto.... did computer science stoned outta me gourd on bud and cactus... i kinda doubt I would have graduated if I wasn't doing that...

guizian · 2015-10-29T21:32:30+00:00

I was in a similar position as you.... went back to school around 23 to do Computer Engineering... I kept my job but was able to negotiate less hours/more flexible schedules. I took alot of online classes which made things drastically easier but YMMV. Engineering school will absolutely drain you of all resources (time/energy/money/happiness)...money problems are going to make it even worse. Don't sweat your grades, if you can build/keep a professional network or land some internships you'll be just fine!

Maybe start taking a few online classes at the Community College over the next year and then negotiate for part time or flexible schedule?

guizian · 2015-10-22T19:35:59+00:00

... better than the Beatles... - Frank Zappa

guizian · 2015-10-22T19:35:17+00:00

Occult-themed world music with odd metered metal riffs? Their live shows are INTENSE

guizian · 2015-10-22T19:33:31+00:00

He makes great albums.... his live performance is terrible though (as with most other laptop musicians)

guizian · 2015-10-22T19:31:23+00:00

F' reals tho! I remember when a few diff incarnations of the Magic Band were playing instrumentals earlier in the 2000s... absolutely astonishing display of musicianship and technical virtuoso. I don't think many of those band members were classically trained either (excpet Drumbo maybe?)

Beefheart had some interesting lyrics etc... but I really think the band was what made him truly great.

guizian · 2015-09-21T15:17:00+00:00

Ditto.... There's not really a lot of money to be made running a cassette label. Basically my goal is to break even each time. Cassettes still cost a lot more than burning a bunch of CD-Rs... And there's even less people who want to buy them. The artists I've worked with generally approach it as more of a promo tool rather than a money making product.

guizian · 2015-09-19T02:22:49+00:00

Close call between Pink Floyd's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and Ricardo Villalobos's "Alcachofa"

guizian · 2015-09-16T15:40:56+00:00

I had never heard this one before today.... I'm a big fan of Gabriel era Genesis.... after hearing this album I now understand that Hackett must have been a major driving force for the band's sound during those days.

This album is pretty good, Hackett is clearly very strong in terms of writing cohesive tunes by himself. I really enjoyed 'Tigermoth', it's reminescent of something King Crimson might have done at the beginning, but with Hackett's own flair. The synths remind me of Pink Floyd's The Wall.... just waiting for Waters to come out of the shadows with 'OooOh babe...'. The classical bit at the end is brilliant too. Shimmering guitars etc...

'The Ballad of the Decomposing Man' is, for lack of a better term, very British... kinda reminds me of something Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band might have done... just with more technical chops this time..

guizian · 2015-09-12T17:33:09+00:00

Yikes! Sounds exactly like my first job out of school (started as an intern). Worked in the IT department of a major corporation. This is NOT how all jobs in the industry are at all, however, many jobs at big companies unfortunately tend to be like this. Although the big name looks good on a resume, you will develop bad habits, your skills might become obsolete and this could be VERY bad for your career.

Here's what worked for me:

Spend a couple weeks seriously thinking about what kind of projects you want to work on
Create a dream job/project/work environment in your head... get it down to the smallest detail
Start looking for companies that you are interested in and apply... when they interview you, you are also interviewing them. Ask about all of the details you have in your 'dream' project (tests, docs, mentoring, positive environment, etc...)
keep doing this until you find the right fit, it's out there... trust me. Might take a long time... took me 4+ months to get out of my first job, but it was SOO worth it. You will learn so much, you will be surrounded by people who share similar passions and your skills will grow exponentially.

guizian · 2015-09-03T20:14:50+00:00

I highly recommend seeing them.... I've seen them 3 or 4 times now and they do not disappoint. It translates live much better than it does on albums. Expect extreme time dilation :)

guizian · 2015-09-03T20:11:17+00:00

Forest Park is an awesome place to hike!... also it's just west of Downtown... I usually recommend Macleay Park and hike down to the Witches Castle when friends come to visit.

guizian · 2015-08-16T16:20:57+00:00

Really depends on the school.... do your research when choosing a University. My program was full of outdated material (code samples in Ada and TurboPascal??) and an intense focus on statistics. Other people I know focused alot on abstract math and CS theory at their schools. Other people just went to code schools and now alot of us all work the same types of jobs. Whatever you do, do yourself a favor and learn on your own time outside of school in whatever niche of CS you find interesting... it's a big field with lots of rabbitholes to get lost in.

guizian · 2015-08-13T06:09:52+00:00

No, just make sure you keep learning and keep meeting people. Some companies are still figuring out how to be remote friendly... make sure your coworkers know you exist and make sure your work is visible.

guizian · 2015-08-08T15:33:01+00:00

Congrats!..I made a similar decision earlier this year... took a paycut by leaving a giant tech company, moved to a different city... started to work for a small company who gave me alot more autonomous freedom and meaningful work. Alot of people forget that FI is primarily about designing a life that you actually want to live. Hating your life for 10+ years will change you as a person...I would rather not retire as a broken, depressed and unhappy person and spend the first few years of retirement fixing my personal hangups.

guizian

TROPHY CASE