While there are many things one can say about the Los Angeles Metro, most all will come to a similar conclusion: it is absolutely filthy. Having ridden this public transportation for well over a year, i can he artfully say that this is indeed the case. Let me give you a short lesson on the nuances, nay, personalities, of the LA Metro lines.

The Green Line

well, the green line is actually quite nice. When it shows up. It's usually running late. Since the trains are supposed to come every 10 minutes, you'd think that there's be a chance of getting one. Somehow, no matter what time i show up, i'm always waiting for well over 10 minutes. ...It's a mystery! And this train is the only one that seems to 'break down' or 'have technical difficulties.' It's also the most susceptible to rush-hour crowds, as it services El Segundo, which is home to many respectable businesses and companies. I really don't have any other complaints about this all-star line. Compared to the next two, i'll take this kind of service any day.

The Red Line

Riding the lines you learn things. Subtle things that make it semi-bearable. Like where to stand when the train is full. Or where NOT to sit, no matter what. That one you learn real quick. The back corner seats. That's where homeless people run to first. They hop on at one end of the line, curl up into a ball, and stay there until the last stop. It's actually such a big problem that the MTA has implemented a policy to stop the train at the end of the line, put it out of service, and send a cop through to make sure that there are no homeless people left. If after a long, hard, work day you find yourself riding the red line, and the back corner seat is available, no matter how tired your legs are, don't take the seat! The seat has a permeating, unending stench to it. The fibers of the seat are chock full of outdoor goodness. The wall to the side, and the back of the seat in front of you are covered by a dingy sheen that can only be caked on filth and excrement. It's like a one-seat drunk tank at your local police station.
And speaking of drunks, this line takes most of those too. Since it goes through Hollywood, you get all the weirdly dressed kids going out to the bars and clubs. With their abundant piercings, clashing clothing and spiked hair, it's like a San Francisco bad dream. And many of them are loud and obnoxious, making it near impossible to read even one page of a magazine.

This line rides only underground, so these trains are a bit different from the rest. The windows are completely sealed. They don't get fresh air in them, and thus smells tend to linger much longer than they should. This train is also the most crowded train. 9 times out of 10 i stand on the way home, shoulder to shoulder with other people coming home from their work. Stuffed. Tired. The perspiration visible underneath most people's arms as they reach up to hold onto the railing. A few times the AC went out. And one time i'd swear the heater was turned on. It often feels like a bonafide cattle car - just a fun damp, sticky mess.
The red line cars are also always sitting in the dark (when they're not used), and are susceptible to things that go along with that environment. Just the other day, i was sitting in a seat next to the wall. Something on the wall next to my leg catches my eye. I look. It's a shiny baby roach, with long, flailing antennae. And by baby i mean like the size of a nickel instead of a half-dollar. Obviously the train is filthy enough for roaches to BREED on. I shudder and immediately get up. I stand in the very middle of the train, holding on to the railing. Maybe i'm being petty here, but I'd rather chance catching Hepatitis B from the toxic bacteria covered railings than have a roach crawl up my leg.
As the ride progresses, i notice a little girl on a seat next to her mother. She's obviously bored, and squatting in an almost pouncing position, with her chin resting on the edge of the seat. I look at her a couple of times. She's definitely bored. I look away. Then i turn back once more a few minutes later and i see her gnawing, licking the side of the seat. The plastic side; an innocent half-smile gleaming on her face. Bet you a dollar she's violently ill come tomorrow.

The Blue Line

Here we have a train that travels from scary Long Beach, straight trough the ghetto of Los Angeles and ends up in the city. On our daily tour, we get to visit wonderful cities such as Wilmington, Compton, South Gate and Huntington Park. That would be Ghetto with a capitol G. Here we have the worst of the three lines. Naturally the police frequent this line the most, and i constantly see people getting cited for 'forgetting' their tickets.

Here we have a cacophony of sights, smells and sounds that will make your head spin. The loud, rambunctious groups of teenagers with nothing better to do. The school dropouts who play their music on boom boxes strapped to their bicycle handlebars. The cluster-BEEP of people getting on and off the train while someone tries to cram just one more bike into the area directly in front of the door. The massively overweight black women practically yelling on their cell phones ".... mmmmmmmhhhhhmmmmm.... Ay towd dat bitch not to step..." The kids selling candy, and chocolate, and fruit and nuts for 'just 50 cents.' The near-constant stream of homeless people and beggars who use this as their main boredom killer. The bags/carts CHOCK FULL of cans & bottles that are dragged onto the train which create stenches so bad, you'd swear it was a rotting dead body in there. Numerous people around me cover their noses with their shirts, get up and walk to the back. And the inevitable streaks of god-knows-what liquid left on the train floor that leaked from at least one of the many holes in those bags. And of course, The mariachi music playing in the background just to complete the picture.
As for the rest, the people that ride this train are sad, quiet people, going back and forth between their low paying jobs and their gang-ridden neighborhoods.
It's not a fun line to be on, and the only time it's bearable is when there's no one's on it. Kind of like the only problem with public transportation is the public.

So basically the Metro is overall not a pleasant experience. It's kind of comical, however, during times when you're not in immediate danger of sickness, infection, mugging, or all 3. You should try it sometime. Seriously.

I double dare you.

Kissing robots?



I don't even want to hazard a guess at what comes next...

What happens in McDonald's, stays in McDonald's…

another great one from BentObjects.com

Due to my fam being away for an extended visit in Minnesota, i've had a significant amount of free time. To myself. I've been doing nothing but sitting around watching movies and screwing around on the computer. And it's everything i ever thought it could be!
Being a huge technology & Sci-fi fan, yesterday i pulled a double feature and saw two great sci-fi movies. One a thriller, and the other more of a standard adventure.



Both of these movies were simply fantastic, but D-9 really hit the nail on the head. I had NO idea where that movie was going, and it had me at the edge of my seat a few times. The theater was TOTALLY PACKED, and some of the scenes drew massive gasps and cheers from the crowd. And when it comes to fast-paced sci-fi action, nothing beats the big screen.

So these movies really got me thinking. HOPING, in fact. Technology moves fast. Real fast. Will I ever live to see the day when nano-mites are used routinely to cure cancer whilst simultaneously cause mass destruction? Or perhaps space ships of the future that have astounding visual/neural interfaces and hover capabilities?
Unfortunately, probably not. There's no question that we have come a LOOOONG way. The internet is barely a decade old (as far as semi-mainstream use goes), and already we have access to billions of pieces of data literally at our fingertips. Cell phones have shrunk from cinder-block size to smaller than a deck of cards, while simultaneously being able to access the internet, play music & TV, and schedule your life. The next 10-20 years of technology will astound us, with gadgets being commonly used that no one has yet even though of. But unless we make some significant gains in understanding the physics of the world around us, I fear that the awesomeness that I experience on the screen will be just that: a dream.

I can't believe it's been a year since i've built my PC! The thing has been running like a champ ever since. Except when i had video card problems. My computer kept locking up whenever i ran any 3d application. It would completely crash, making the 'machine gun' sound. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time. Turns out my graphics card was not getting enough juice from the Power Supply. So i had to get me a new one of those. It was pretty expensive, but power supplies are one of the most important (and most overlooked, obviously) parts of a PC. This fatty will last me for a very long time. And yes, it has racing stripes.


Antec TPQ-850 850W Power Supply ($169.99)

In addition to that, i've made some small incremental upgrades over this last year, most notably the Hard Drive. I decided to bite the bullet and get the FASTEST HDD available. It's only 300GB, but anything i need to store, i just throw on the server. It's pricey, but there will be no compromises for speed!

Western Digital SATA VelociRaptor 300GB 10,000RPM 3.0Gb/s ($229.99)


SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner SH-S223Q w/LightScribe ($27.99)

Latest Benchmarks:
- 3DMark06 : 15,591 @ 1280 x 1024
- PC Mark 05 : 10,674
- Cinebench single : 3,281
- Cinebench multi : 11,467
- Cinebench graphics : 6,543
- Everest Mem Read : 8,390
- Everest Mem write : 8,485

I used to have a cat.
Czas was his name. And that cat loved boxes. Whether he'd be sitting in them, or playing hide & go seek, boxes seemed to provide an endless source of entertainment for that crazy cat.

Now there exists a new reality when it comes to boxes. And that is Alexander.
Boy, does my boy loves boxes. Just like Czas, for some reason its more entertaining to play in the box than next to the box. And there's an added bonus if you can fit your toys in there with ya. Don't believe me?







Seriously... isn't he ADORABLE! (and he doesn't shed). But i imagine that this game will decline in entertainment value proportionally to the speed of Alexander's growth. He'd better get the most of it now!

I hate environmentalists.

There. I said it. Not a fan at all.
It's not so much their fanatical condemnation of anything un-natural so much as their predilection for stupidity. Their misplaced anger leads to a general hatred of technology and progress. This, combined with their aggressive lobbing and misinformation campaigns, ends up leading to really, REALLY bad policy decisions based on pure junk science. Ahem, "Cap & Trade you back into the stone age"...
Now don't get me wrong here. I'm all for the environment. Just not at the expense of humans.

Case and point. I live in Burbank. I work in El Segundo. 5 days a week. It's a distance of about 30 miles. However, it's Los Angeles. And it is the #1 most traffic congested city for the last two years running (Forbes). That doesn't bode well for my commute, which runs about 1 and a half hours driving each way. In an attempt to dy MY part for the environment (and save a little money on gas) i have decided to commute via Metro to work.
As i'm sure you've read that the LA Metro isn't the most pleasant ride , it's the least i can do.

Ok, so what does this have to do with California? Oohhhhh, let me tell you.

Suck Reason #1) The Metro
I leave my car at the Metro station parking lot when i go to work. It's a PAY lot. They charge me $3/day just to PARK there. You'd think that would be enough. Oh no. They've got to wring some more $$ out of you. I come home to my car last week after a particularly grueling 12 hour day and there's a ticket on the window. Yes. A ticket. For what you ask? Expired License plate sticker. Can you believe this? I'm paying to park, and am no where NEAR my car, and they cruise around just LOOKING to give people tickets for whatever they can dig up? What a bunch of crap.
Cost of ticket: $75.

Suck Reason #2) The DMV
Ohh.. these goons. If you've ever had to deal with the DMV then you know that government efficiency can be summed up in one word: POOP. Their hour-long waits aside, California requires you to register your car every year. In Arizona, it was every two years, which saved you time and hassle. Not so in this Golden state. They like to piss you off annually.
For the second year in a row (you go DMV), i didn't not get a renewal form in the mail. And since i don't freak out and obsess about such ridiculously minor things as the color of the stupid tag on my license plate, it expired by two weeks. Yes, i'm such a deviant i should be locked up.
So i go to the DMV, wait half an hour, and then proceed to window 16. I need to pay for 1 year of car registration. $102. Oh, looks like your tag expired less than one month ago. Late fee. $80. Great. I'm done, yes? NO!! Since my truck is built before 1998, i need a smog test. So i payed, and i'm still not registered? Correct. No new sticker for me. All i need now is to get pulled over by some money-grubbing LAPD ticket writer for driving with expired tags. Then it'll probably be another Benjamin straight from my wallet to this silly state.

Suck Reason #3) Emissions Stations
Unlike the other FORTY NINE STATES in the Union, we Californians, who like to drive Priuses and replace our Smog with magnanimously copious amounts of Smug, have stricter emissions standards . This means that we froth and seethe at any visible/audible sign that another car's engine is running. This shallowly rooted belief has caused Smog-test-Only Stations to sprout like weeds and gave rise to an entirely new industry almost overnight. Imagine. Hundreds of stations whose sole purpose is to tell you whether your car is worthy of being in the 'Golden' State. They aren't allowed to fix anything, mind you. Just to test. It would be like having one set of schools teach kids, and having another set of schools for the sole purpose of giving them exams to test what the first ones taught. Unbelievable.
I take time off of work to drive out to one of these blights on our landscape and have my car tested. 45 minutes of emissions testing: $51. And I'm sure you can guess what the result is. FAIL. I kid you not. Oh, but I can come back and they'll test it again for half off. Wonderful. But do you do the repairs? Nope.

Suck Reason #4) Repair Shops
I call up my local Firestone shop and tell them that my car failed Smog testing. He asks what failed. The Engine? Nope. The Catalytic converter? Nope. The Fuel pumps/lines/spark plugs/anything remotely related to the functioning of a car? Nope. My car failed the Evaporative Control test. This test is specific ONLY TO CALIFORNIA. No other state requires this test! The EVAC system basically collects any gasoline vapors from your gas tank and pumps them back into the engine. It's a fine idea, sure. But my car just failed this test. Even with my minimal car consciousness, I can understand this basic system. Just a couple of seals is all. How much could it be to get it fixed?
Quote: $600. No joke.
This is a fully functioning automobile. They're not replacing my gas tank. They are not rebuilding my engine. My transmission is fine. They are swapping out a pipe that goes from the gas cap into the gas tank. One pipe. Just one. Six HUNDRED dollars.
Of course I tell him f-no, and now I'm sitting here bitterly typing my complaints about a State that is one tectonic plate shift away from flooding a little bit of sense into all these idiots. I’m not sure what my next move is, but whatever it is, just to bring things full circle, the environmentalists will make sure it costs me dearly.