Patrice Pike @ Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival

So, this isn’t really much news, because I’m pretty sure Patrice Pike was established to play at Michigan Womyn’s Music Fest long ago.

But it gives me a springboard to explore the amazing mass of talent this woman unleashes.

Patrice Pike is a super-chick hailing from Austin, TX. She’s got a much award-winning songwriting capability that she flexes in one of my personal favorite songs, “Hopeful Morning,” co-written by Wayne Sutton. She owns the pop-ish folky genre, and even puts claw marks in the rock genre. Ultimately not “right” for the band whose third member/lead singer was decided in CBS’s reality show Rock Star: Supernova, Pike remains unhindered and as full of kickassery as ever, having been given positive reviews throughout the course of the competition and advice to take on a solo career.

Oh, and did I mention she’s bisexual? No shock to me or anybody who knows my musical preference, of course. I must be doomed to falling in love with the music of bisexual and gay women everywhere.

So, run out, pick up a CD or two of Patrice Pike (I personally recommend her with her band, Black Box Rebellion, on the CD named Live at the Brushwood Lounge). Also, be sure to arrange a stop by the music fest in August should you live in Michigan. I want pictures and videos.

10 Reasons Why I Hate Albuquerque as of Saturday

So, the boyfriend and I jumped on a plane early Thursday morning (I think like 7ish… but that’s early to me). Around 11 AM after a whopping 50-minute flight, we landed safely in…

drum roll…

Denver, Colorado!

And that’s exactly what this post is about, for the most part.

So, being spoiled by the absolutely breathtaking city that is Denver, I present to you: Ten reasons why I hate Albuquerque as of Saturday.

Requisite note: I really, really loved Albuquerque until Saturday.

Requisite note 2: Yes, we did arrive in Denver on Thursday, but I didn’t enjoy it until Saturday.

Unnecessary note 1: I dislike suburbs. A lot.

And on with the story:

I hate Albuquerque because…

1. We don’t have cows:

SO AWESOME!

When we showed up and I pulled out the phone, there was a girl standing there fingering the cow’s mouth (yes, that does sound dirty, so I’ll leave it worded like that). She ran out of the shot. I told her, “No! Stay in there! I can just say we made a friend while we were here.” She was like, more or less, “No!”

Camera shy?

I think yes.

2. Pete’s family isn’t here.

Yes, Jeanie, since you read this apparently, this is here for you. Call me when you see this. We’ll have a chat.

In all unseriousness, and yet perfectly sincerely, I was completely overwhelmed by how nice and not-afraid-of-me everybody was (the exception being one of Amber’s two dogs, Otis. I’m seriously not trying to hurt you).

The line-up:

Myria*, Pete’s baby sister and the whole reason we were going to Denver in the first place (Oh yeah, and I didn’t take any pictures at the graduation… I’ll get some eventually. Maybe.)

*Myria has absolutely amazing photography skills. We stole a lot of pictures, including one that was super-high-quality and on display, of the Hard Rock Cafe at the 16th St. Mall. And a whole bunch of black and whites that were printed many times just in case. If you would like to view her work, Myria Hoppal Photo has some great examples.

Matt, Myria’s boyfriend. They picked us up at the airport.

Shortly after, we left for Amber’s house.

Amber, Pete’s middle sister, is the shortest (barely), nurse-iest (by a long way – she was trying really hard not to yell at me about infected cuts), and also the one I spoke to the most, I think. This is probably mostly because Myria was busy getting her presentation ready on Thursday and busy with her dogs, Jasmine and Mecus, the rest of the days (they found some anti-freeze… Thank goodness they’re both doing just fine). And Jeanie, Myria’s and Amber’s mom/Pete’s stepmom/my future stepmom-mother-in-law-thing, was busy getting Myria’s presentation ready on Thursday and busy with Myria’s dogs the rest of the time.

Amber and Jeanie were hanging out at the kitchen table (which is probably insanely smudged now… Sorry, Donny) with Jim, Pete’s (and Myria’s. And Amber’s. And Tabi’s. And…) father. Shortly after, Donny, Amber’s boyfriend returned home and… I didn’t have to meet anybody else for at least 10 minutes. Donny’s parents, Helen and George, showed up with their dog, Theo, AKA Devil Dog, who is (I’m not sure at all what breed he is. I just kind of assume most dogs around their family are miniature Australian shepherds and if they don’t fit the loose description then I guess…) after googling, a pomeranian.

The next day, Friday, I met Tabi, Pete’s older sister, and her husband, Dion, who didn’t speak more than three words, which I would have loved to accomplish myself, but I failed, Kassia and Dylan, their children (Pete’s niece and nephew, if you’re having as hard a time following this while reading as I am while writing), Peggy (who makes absolutely incredibly cookies) and Harley, Jeanie’s parents, Jeanie’s uncle Lauren (he’s grrrreat), and Jeanie’s aunt Betty, who I am very bummed we didn’t get to go out to lunch with. Matt’s parents came up to visit as well from Ft. Worth, Texas. Their names are Debbie and Ronny.

So, in short (hah!) I really like the people there. Or at least around 10ish of them (I don’t want to count).

At the risk of putting way too much in one post, I’m going to cut this off at two. Look forward to reasons 3 through 10. Don’t worry. I’m tired of writing this already. I just want to show off the fact that I actually like my someday-family.

The Most Addictive Songs You’ve Never Heard

At the risk of a way too long title (though I’m a fan of those…), this is officially:

The List of 20 (and growing) Most Addictive Songs You’ve Never Heard, But Should

I will try to keep it short, sweet, and to the point. I’ll leave it up to you to find them on youtube, hype machine, project playlist, or Amazon (Unless you’re a pirate. Arrrrr) and leave it at this. These are in no particular order, and one of my favorite songs is close to the middle, so note that.

1. “Foundations” by Kate Nash
2. “Night Reconnaissance” by The Dresden Dolls
3. “Sugar Cube” by Porcelain and the Tramps
4. “Painted by Numbers” by The Sounds
5. “Breathe Me” by Sia
6. “Snail Song” by A Particularly Vicious Rumor (Note: anything by them is addictive)
7. Cover: “In The Air Tonight” performed by Anousheh Khalili (Available for free eargasm on her myspace page)
8. “In This Life” by Delta Goodrem
9. “Virginia” by Tori Amos
10. “The First” by Tegan and Sara
11. “Après Moi” by Regina Spektor (Don’t deny that you pretended you could speak Russian after hearing the bridge…)
12. Cover: “The Unforgiven” performed by Apocalyptica
13. “All Over Me” by The Danger Flowers (From the Loving Annabelle (2006) soundtrack)
14. “Shutterbug” by Veruca Salt
15. “Hopeful Morning” by Patrice Pike (This one’s hard to find, but worth it)
16. “Shy” by Ani DiFranco
17. “Freedom” by Melissa Ferrick
18. “Run Baby Run” by Garbage
19. “Where I Stood” by Missy Higgins
20. “Mystery Achievement” by The Pretenders

Now, keep in mind I chopped off about 15 songs total in reviewing this list, because they were way too popular to keep true to the “You’ve never heard” bit.

That said, I feel I’ve done well. With every song on the list, I’ve either listened to it way too many times for my own good, most of those times within the first week of knowing it, or I’ve spent hours upon hours searching for some way to find it (“Hopeful Morning” is a big one for that criteria, along with “Mystery Achievement”).

Some people with a very ecclectic musical taste may have heard all these, but I’m sure most people will find at least one they haven’t heard.

And yes, I know, I have an awesome taste in music. You can tell me, but it doesn’t need to be said.

Ten Reasons Why I Couldn’t Come Up with 10 Reasons

Web application Second|Brain helps you organize your online life by providing all the content you choose to import in one place.

Said content can include (but is definitely not limited to) bookmarks from del.icio.us, microblogs on twitter, digg, your own posts at wordpress, your feeds in gReader, flickr… The list goes on.

Thus, here’s a list of ten reasons why you should use Second|Brain (I know, I’m very anti-linkbait):

1. It will save you massive amounts of time. You use an RSS feed reader for your blogs, right? Well, this is an RSS reader for things you liked when you read your RSS reader.
2. It’s in Beta. Hence, it’s buggy. The only way they’ll ever eliminate any bugs is if you report on them!
3. You can win a MacBook Air.
4. You can follow both me and Alex over at Blogsessive. Awesome, right?
5. Because I don’t think I can list ten reasons, but I’ve already given you three awesome ones and one linkwhoring one.
6. The community is still relatively small, and you have a chance to become an oldbie on a fantastic website. Imagine you were one of the first thousand people to sign up for StumbleUpon. Wouldn’t you feel entitled to some kind of ego?
7. Because it’s free (as in beer).
8. AAAAAAA A AAAA AAA!!!!
9. ?????
10. Profit!

Now, all this being said, there is some criticism of things like this, which I have wanted to say for a long time. And I think I said it rather well (don’t you agree?) over at Blogsessive (I think Alex may be a little frustrated as well):

I signed up for Twitter about two weeks(?) ago, and I think I used it for about two days to talk to a friend I have in Alabama. Think I’ve logged in once since.

It’s not that I don’t like these things; I think it’s more what all these webapps are suffering from, and that’s “done it before.” Even being able to mention three off the top of your head is a major problem, and that’s even leaving out Pownce.

I hear so many great things about these sites, and I put them on my “I’ll try it” list, try it, and then don’t really see anything particularly impressive. Maybe it’s just because I’m not a huge fan of “microblogging” (in case you haven’t noticed, I like to talk… a lot.).

But most likely it’s because I hear so many things about how great X is and how it’s better than Y and Z, but I don’t really want to take my foo over to yet another bar, if you know what I mean. It’s happened with digg, del.icio.us, stumbleupon… I’m trying really hard to return to these things, but I just don’t have the patience.

I’m also not the biggest fan of this whole “Web 2.0″ buzzword thing we’ve got going on. It’s not that I’m not enjoying the buzz just as much as everybody else. It’s just that it requires a lot of effort to keep up with, and I’m lazy beyond reason.

Maybe I’m just getting too old for this stuff, when I’m just now nearing the edge of 18? Is it possible to be jaded with the internet?

Now, all this being said, I still feel there’s room for more of these sites, with a little ingenuity and innovation. I feel Second|Brain has done this. Rather than just cloning Twitter, they seem to capitalize on all the clones, allowing all these clones to be fed into one concentrated area.

Thank you, SecondBrain, for not following the trend. I applaud you.

So that’s it. Head on over to Second|Brain and be welcomed to the rest of your 2008 life!

Cleaning By the Pros

In an attempt to get at least some of the odors and stains left by our two dogs out of the carpet, I resorted to the good-ol’-fashioned googling to come up with some sort of way to make our carpet “so fresh and so clean.”

Gathering from many sources I’ve since forgotten, I have come up with quite the list, including methods for removing the stench of cigarette smoke — a task many of us know and “love” so well.

Note #1: If I say “vinegar” I mean “white vinegar.” Baking soda from hereon refers to sodium bicarbonate. Vodka means only clear, unflavored vodka. Salt is more than likely whatever form of table salt you have lying around.

Note #2: For any of these methods, it is advisable to test in a small, not-visible area of your home. If any adverse reaction should occur, it is a lot better for it to happen in the corner than on every square inch of your home.

On Carpet

Pee stains from (presumably) your pets? Smells horridly like smoke?

The methods include:

• Sprinkle some baking soda all over the offensive-smelling area. I also saw this used for upholstery like couches and chairs. Let it sit for up to 24 hours, and ideally, no shorter than at least a few hours. Good idea to do this before you sleep or go to work, then vacuum it up later.
• On your carpet: If your fireplace has spilled soot onto your carpet, you may also toss the salt onto your carpet, and then vacuum the area later, after maybe an hour.
• Salt, coincidentally, is also useful for soaking up odors from your carpet, just like baking soda. I assume a mixture of both would be effective as well.

Cleaning Your Walls

No, those white sparkling walls won’t always be so shiny with a smoker in the house. Not to worry, you can fix that “easily”:

• A solution I found was one part vinegar to four-to-eight parts water, with a scoop of baking soda poured in. However, I recall in chemistry learning that a base (baking soda) reacting with an acid (vinegar) produces CO2, water, and salt. Thus, I wonder if this solution is actually equivalent to salt water, with maybe a little vinegar or baking soda left. Either way, put this into a spray bottle and then scrub the walls with a sponge.
• Should it be about time to move and your walls are covered with holes, a plaster made of two tablespoons salt and two tablespoons corn starch with enough water (about five teaspoons) to make a very thick paste should do the trick. Simply fill in the hole, let it dry, possibly sand down and rough bits, and paint over it. This should be more effective than the “toothpaste” method, as toothpaste has a habit of “bleeding” out through new layers of paint.

Cleaning Your Chimney

Methods:

• While your fireplace is going at it keeping your house warm, you can occasionally toss in a handful of salt. It helps to loosen up some of the soot in your chimney, and also makes a dazzling yellow flame.

Got odor in the air?

Plenty of things had entries for sucking odor out of the air.

All these things left out overnight, or up to a week, had the claimed effect of removing bad odors:

• A bag of charcoal left open.
• A bowl filled with vinegar left sitting out, uncovered.
• A bowl of citrus peelings.
• Coffee grounds wrapped up in coffee filters, tied, and left sitting around on something (Note: Coffee stains, so be sure the ground do not get wet or come into contact with whatever you’re deodorizing. I think leaving them in a filter should work fine, but you may also desire to put that into a bowl or on a piece of plastic wrap).

There exist a couple preventative measures on cigarette smoke. To help keep the offensive odor from returning, get a deep ash tray and pour a good amount of baking soda into the bottom. Use this pit to extinguish your cigarettes, and be sure to keep them under as much as possible. Additionally, the baking soda will help to suck some of the remaining odor from the air.

Be sure to wash your ashtrays very frequently (i.e., maybe nightly). Keep air circulating, being sure to open your windows and doors as often as possible. Another method is to smoke in front of a window fan which is set to move the smoke outside. So long as your smoke doesn’t have time to sit inside, the odor shouldn’t become so unbearable so quickly.

Now, some of these sound a little strange, and I haven’t tested most of them, save the carpet ones (we lack a fireplace, and our walls should be fine… for a while).

However, I can vouch for using salt and baking soda to help with pet stains. I wiped up as much moisture I could with some old rags, sprayed off-brand glass cleaner on the spots, used a very small amount of liquid dish soap in a lot of water and sprinkled it on the area, scrubbed until I thought my knuckles were going to fall off, then patted down the area to get most of the wetness out, poured more fresh water onto the area, patted it down again, making sure at least most of the soap was out (I know, it was kind of a stupid choice, but it had citrus in it as well — too tempting) and sprinkled salt and baking soda on the area. Twenty hours or so later, I woke up, and while the area isn’t exactly beautiful, it is dry, a lot less yellow, and it smells absolutely amazing. I plan to do this again the next time my parents are in town, when I’ll have the opportunity to vacuum.

As you can guess, there are many, many more ways to do things. In the planning is a part two for how to clean common bathroom fixtures using cheaper household items than, say, 409.