Andrew Bird - "Anonanimal"

I love this song. The lyrics, the backings, everything. I even like the subject matter. Andrew Bird, I love you.

Album cut:


Live cut:



I see a sea anemone
The enemy
See a sea anemone
And that'll be the end of me.

While the vicious fish was caught unawares
In the tenderest of tendrils
Underneath her tender gills

I will become this animal
Perfectly adapted to the music halls
I will become this animal
Anomalous appendages
A non-animal

Hold on just a second
Don't tell me this one you know
I know this one I know this song
I know this one I love this song
Hold on just a second
Don't tell me this one you know
I know this one I know this song
I know this one I love this song
I know this one

Underneath the stalactites
The troglobites lost their sight
Uh oh

The seemingly innocuous plecostomus
Though posthumous
They talk to us
They talk too much

See a sea anemone
The enemy
See a sea anemone
That'll be the end of me
Vicious fish was caught unawares
In the tend'rest tendrils
Underneath her tender gills and

I will become this animal
Perfectly adapted to a music hall
I will become this animal

Anomalous appendages
A non-animal

Andrew Bird - Not a Robot, But a Ghost

Another song from Noble Beast. This song is a collaboration between Andrew Bird and drummer Martin Dosh. I'm also a big fan of Minneappleton Dosh's solo work. This song is very rhythm-centric. I like it.



I run the numbers through the floor
here's how it goes: I crack the codes
I crack the codes that end the war
I crack the codes that end the war

I pushed a note under your door
here's how it goes: things come to blows
but we don't want this anymore
No we don't want this anymore
We don't want this anymore

I crack the codes, you end the war

I hear the clockwork in your core
time strips the gears till you forget what they were for
I push the numbers through your pores
I crack the codes
I crack the codes that end the war

How's my living, you can call
encrypted numbers on bathroom stalls
there's something burning it casts a pall
it's melting numbers right off the wall

I run the numbers through the floor
here's how it goes: I crack the codes
I crack the codes, you end the war

Andrew Bird- Oh No

I'm going to be posting a lot of songs from Andrew Bird's new album Noble Beast. I'm seeing him in concert on Saturday!! It's going to be a good time.

Here's my favorite song from the album "Oh No." This is the first song on the album.



in the salsify mains of what was thought but unsaid
all the calcified arhythmitists were doing the math
it would take a calculated blow to the head
to light the eyes of all the harmless sociopaths
oh arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths
oh arm and arm with all the harmless sociopaths
calcium mines were buried deep in your chest
oh calcim mines you buried deep in your chest
oh no we're deep in a mine
oh no a calcium mine
so let's get out of here
past the atmosphere
squint your eyes and no one dies
or goes to jail
past the silver bridge, oh the silver bridge
wearing nothing but a one-sie and a veil
oh oh deep in a mine,
oh oh a calcium mine
arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths
arm and arm with all the harmless sociopaths
in the calcium mines buried deep in your chest
oh the calcium mines buried deep in your chest
oh oh deep in a mine
oh no-- calcium mines oh no

What I need to know to be officially in the Ph.D. program.

The year after obtaining a masters or the second year of a Ph.D. program, a prospective doctoral candidate has two chances to pass what is known as a "Preliminary Written Exam." With this exam, you are officially part of the Ph.D. program. Your basic knowledge of your field is expansive enough and detailed enough to be all doctory and shit.

I had kind of forgotten about this. Then I received an email about the last exam for this year. It included this link: PhD Written Preliminary Reading List. So I printed it off... The topics are:

• Computer architecture
• Magnetics
• Computer Aided Design
• Software
• Optics
• Fields and Transmission Lines
• Power Systems and Power Electronics
• Communications
• Signal Processing
• Controls
• Analog and Digital Electronics
• Semiconductor Materials
• Semiconductor Devices

So basically, EVERY CLASS I'VE EVER TAKEN IN THE EE DEPARTMENT IS RELEVANT AND COULD BE ON THE EXAM!!

So, you have 4 hours, 14 questions, department supplied scientific, non-graphing, non TI-89 calculators. Questions are graded by the faculty that wrote the question. You must turn in the answers for three questions. Four questions may be turned in as well (top three scores will be taken into account).
3 pass, 0 fail = pass
2 pass, 1 fail = careful scrutinizing, possible failure.
everything else = automatic failure

Two chances. November and April.

I think I know how my summer is going to be spent!! Reading my old textbooks and taking old exams. That, of course, is assuming I pass my classes this semester :-p. Scary shit, man.

Bulimic Cats

"Evi puked all over the carpet this morning."

"Yeah, she always does that."

"Maybe you should put their food away, not have food out for them all the time. They don't need it."

"Yeah they do. Cats are like that. It's not like they're fat or anything."

"Well they're just eating and puking, eating and puking. You have bulimic cats and I don't like it."

Mom's Visit

My mom came to visit me this morning. After being delayed due to snow, she pulled into my drive way and called. After giving her the grand tour, I showed her my room. I commented on how one of my light bulbs had burnt out but that I wasn't able to figure out how to get the fixture apart. She of course found a stool and got it down. I ran and got some light bulbs and handed them to her. While taking out the burnt-out bulb, she dropped it. It hit her head and shattered all over the ground. I got the vacuum cleaner and started picking up the large pieces.

"Only here half an hour and I'm already vacuuming" she commented.

Next, we decided to go rug shopping, a hobby of hers. My dad always says that if she could, she would buy a new rug every day. We ventured to the Rosedale mall. After scoping out Kohls and JCPenneys, we decided to go to Herbergers. Mom decided that I needed a new bed spread, and then we could more easily match the rug to the rest of the room. When we finally found one I deemed "not too feminine" and of the colors of my choosing, my mother rushed to purchase it. We then went back to JCPenneys and found the PERFECT match in a rug. All told, I think she spent almost $400. "I'm not buying anything else for your new apartment" she said.



We came back home and set up my room. Looks great, dontcha think? Tara got back from her convention and we decided to go to dinner. Turned out that somebody from the neighboring house, with which we share a driveway, had parked in the end of the driveway, blocking my mother's car in. She cursed and said "They have a lot of balls to do that." Upon getting into the car she kept repeating "I wish I had my jacket." I finally told her I had one she could use in the trunk.

We decided to go to Kafe 421... quite possibly the best restaurant in Dinkytown. We stuffed ourselves. Salad, grilled bread, pasta... even a brownie and Greek coffee for dessert. Walking back to the car, my mom was glad she had my coat. It was windy, and the 3 block walk to the car seemed long. We got in the car and I handed her my leftovers while I started up and began driving. "OH MY GOD MY SHOE!!" she yelled. "What?" Tara and I both asked, giggling. "MY SHOE! MY SHOE IS BROKEN! MY FOOT HAS BEEN HURTING! THE STITCHING IS ALL GONE ON ONE SIDE!" She struggled to pick her foot up and look at her shoe. We just laughed and continued to drive home. "IT'S NOT FUNNY! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITHOUT SHOES?"

We got home, noticing the neighbor still had the driveway blocked. I walked to the other side of the car and opened the door for my mom (due to the broken locking mechanism). She sat there, looking at her crotch. "What? What is all over my pants?!" I looked at her and noticed her pristine black jeans were covered in some sort of brown liquid. "Adriana! Your food was leaking all over my pants! THAT'S THE LAST TIME I HOLD YOUR FOOD FOR YOU. Boy, am I glad I brought an extra pair." She finally got out of the car and I noticed there was balsamic sauce all over my leather seat as well. Laughing, I said "Mom, you were paying too much attention to your broken shoes. You probably were holding the food so that it could leak all over you." She angrily went inside.

Upon changing her pants, she said "My shoe fell apart, my pants got soiled? What next?"

We'll see. She's going to be here at least until tomorrow evening. I'll keep you posted.

Andrew Bird and the Bowl of Fire - "Eugene"

I've had this song stuck in my head since Wednesday. While "chillaxing" in our amazing basement living room, Tara, Dave, Moose, and I decided this was good music to smoke hookah to.

Bowl of Fire music is amazing. I wish that there were more videos like this on youtube. I also wish that there were more than three albums of this amazing band.

Did you know that Andrew Bird was the violinist in The Squirrel Nut Zippers? Now you do.




Studies have shown that we like sheep are prone
To sure fatal doses of malcontent through osmosis
But don't be sympathetic, just pass the anesthetic
'Cuz sheep are benign and on the young we will dine

Burn her pale blue shroud, and tread on her bones
The din of the boys club crowd, reveals we've always been clones
Oh this being true you know there's more than just two
In the cards are four aces so turn and shoot at twelve paces

Studies have shown that we like sheep are prone
To sure fatal doses of malcontent through osmosis
But don't be sympathetic, just pass the anesthetic
'Cuz sheep are benign and on the young we will dine

Burn her pale blue shroud, and tread on her bones
The din of the boys club crowd, reveals we've always been clones
Oh this being true you know there's more than just two
So tie up your laces for the gene pool race of races