“Racing butterfly is so horrible. Right after that first wall I start thinking, ‘Why? Why do I do this to myself? Dumb, dumb, dumb.’”

“Right after I dive in I start thinking that.”

Zwan, made up of Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Matt Sweeny (Chavez, Skunk, and some other bands), David Pajo (Slint, Papa M, and some other bands), Paz Lenchantin (most notably A Perfect Circle, but he also played in some other bands), and Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins), was formed in 2001. They broke up in 2003. It was short-lived, but they made some really great music. The only album they produced was “Mary Star of the Sea” and it sounded like a happy, early version of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Good news, my friends. I will not have to tell you anymore about how Zwan sounds like. You can listen for yourself.

Mary Star of the Sea
Lyric
Settle Down
Declarations of Faith
Honestly
El Sol
Of A Broken Heart
Ride a Black Swan
Heartsong
Endless Summer
Baby Let’s Rock!
Yeah!
Desire
Jesus, I / Mary Star Of The Sea
Come With Me

If you haven’t heard yet, Mel Gibson has been arrested for DUI.

Gibson has had a previous DUI arrest in 1984, but went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the early 1990s to deal with his problem.

I kind of doubt that he was anonymous at the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. In fact, I bet AA saw a spike of “alcoholics” attending the meetings during that time.

This is Nick (and Gwen). Nick was a normal lifeguard who did his job well. He even taught swimming lessons.

One day, Nick decided that working at this pool was the crappiest job ever.

The only thing fun about working at the pool was jumping off the top of the slide.

But even that much fun didn’t make up for the all the drama and stress that working at the pool brought. He wanted to shoot himself every day because it was so horrible to work at the pool.

So instead of shooting himself, he quit.

The end.

You know it’s been too hot for too long when you start buying winter clothes because you miss them so much.

The other day the sound from my speakers stopped working. After doing several tests and trying to fix it without help, I decided to run a Troubleshooter. It turns out that the driver for the speakers doesn’t work anymore. So just go to Creative’s (the maker of my speakers) website, and download a new driver, right?

Wrong.

I found the driver download page and it leads you through a series of clicks to find the driver that you need. Finally I found my speakers, and it told me, “Sorry, but we no longer make drivers for your speakers. Would you like to purchase the new GigaWorks S750?”

No! I would not like to the purchase the new GigaWorks S750, but I would like you to make my driver work. Thank you, Creative. How clever and creative of you to make a driver expire after a certain number of predetermined days.

In the mean time, I’ve hooked the speakers up to my iPod. It doesn’t cut it though. I want to use Odeo, Purevolume, and 15 Megs of Fame.

Ridiculous.

Update
After going to my Motherboard’s website and installing a general audio driver that did not work, I decided to try a System Restore. Doing a System Restore worked. But I still have to go back and re-update everything that happened since the date that I restored it to. Ridiculous.

I was in California this past week. I stayed at UCSD for the weekend, then I went up to the L.A. area.

In L.A. I went to Disneyland, California Adventure Park, and Universal Studios, to name a few things. I also went to Newport Beach.

It was all great fun.

Click here to see some more of the pictures I took on the California Trip.

Monsoon Season is in full swing in Arizona. Last night the natural fireworks were a lot more fun to shoot than the man-made ones.

Title | Lightning Strike II
Camera | Pentax Optio WP
Exposure | 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture | f/4
Focal Length | 18.9 mm
ISO Speed | 200
Time Taken | 20:36 on 7/4/06

Title | Street Light at Midnight I
Camera | Pentax Optio WP
Exposure | 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture | f/3.5
Focal Length | 8.1 mm
ISO Speed | 200
Time Taken | 23:19 on 7/3/06