Life of a Nerd

Life anew

2009-07-17T13:52:37Z

This week I took the next leap forward in trying to give myself some semblance of a 'life'. I've begun attending open mic nights around Boston and I've even performed at one. It's a new thing for me and quite scary. I'm not particularly good at guitar or singing though my abilities have progressed to probably about average. I'm not good, but I'm not painfully bad.

Over the next couple of years I want to develop these skills. I hope to one day to be actually good enough where I'm not embarrassed to invite my friends. Lots of these open mic night things have a featured performer who does a few extra songs. I hope to get to that level.

I've dropped guitar lessons in favor of voice lessons, which is still my weakest but most improving skill. my voice teacher is very good and patient.

Attending open mic nights also gives me an avenue to be at bars, but with a purpose. I'm not the kind of person that can easily mingle in a bar setting just for the purpose of socializing. Being able to meet other musicians, talk about music, and see these people at many different places around Boston makes me feel like I'm a part of something. On top of that, I have a good opportunity to get a feel for the city in which I live and I feel like I'm making an investment in myself by working to be able to comfortably perform in this setting.

If anybody wants to form a flight-of-the-conchords-esque duo, let me know :-P

alive

2009-02-18T15:40:33Z

Hey LiveJournal, I'm alive, really.

an observation

2008-10-10T14:58:14Z

I've noticed a very interesting change in the way I listen to and appreciate music recently. When I listened to music back in high school and college, I'd listen to the lyrics and I'd get much more attached to melodies than rhythms. I remember that I'd have memorized all of the lyrics to all of my favorite songs.

What's interesting is that recently I notice that I am listening more to rhythms and chord progressions rather than lyrics. I noticed how strange it was that I didn't in fact know all of the lyrics to my recent favorite songs.

I've also noticed that I've changed is that the more I get into guitar, the more I listen to 'dude with a guitar' genre music like Iron and Wine, Bright Eyes, stuff like that. It's an interesting transformation

scottious @ 2008-09-17T16:08:00

2008-09-17T20:10:20Z

There are some days when I really don't feel smart. Today is one of those days.

More divisive politics!

2008-09-03T20:54:29Z

Politics gets me fired up sometimes. One issue in particular is the issue of sex. Republican's have a long history of being mostly afraid of sex and trying to discourage it at every level. It particularly bothered me that Sarah Palin favors abstinence only education, is against offering birth control in schools, and is obviously against abortions.

Her daughter is 17, unmarried, and pregnant. That says one of two things:

1) She didn't teach her daughter the values that she holds so dear
2) Those values aren't effective in preventing teen pregnancy (or presumably STDs)

Don't worry, everybody, Palin assured the public that her daughter will get married to the father. Great, we're supposed to believe a shotgun wedding is really the solution to this issue? Don't insult me.

A recent study shows that an abstinence pledge only delays intercourse by 18 months on average. Maybe it's about time to face the fact that we're all just human and sex is a part of our lives. Another study shows that not providing contraception will only mean that teens will just have unprotected sex rather than no sex. Bristol Palin is a case in point. Let's grow up and not treat sex like an icky thing that we only do to make babies.

The conservative stance of pro-life really should be called pro-birth. To conservatives like Palin, all that really matters is that every possible baby that can be born is born. Anything less than that is murder. It doesn't take a genius to point out the glaring flaws in this way of thinking.

The GOP seems to proudly be the party of ignorance which is too bad for people who are fiscally conservative and are somewhat forced to vote for this BS. It's as if they wear their ignorance as a badge of honor and proudly flaunt in the face of contradictory evidence and logic. I'll never understand this.

Take the creationism vs. evolution 'debate.' It seems absolutely absurd that elected officials can literally get in front of a state senate or education board and say, "GUYZ SRSLY EVOLUTION IS BUNK WE ALL KNOW IT WAS MAGIC LOL READ THE BIBLE" Yet, our current president as well as Sarah Palin comfortably say this.

Oye... that is all.

Politics: It's divisive!

2008-08-29T19:32:19Z

Let's talk politics for a second. Rather, let me blurt out some stuff that's on my mind.

The Democratic National Convention was really good this year. I was impressed to hear from Hillary & Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Biden, and of course, Barack Obama. I thought all of the speeches were well done. At the same time, I am glad that Obama chose Biden, I think they'll make a good team.

Today I was a bit confused about McCain's VP pick. Sara Palin? Really? This comes from the man who constantly attacks Obama for being inexperienced because god forbid we have an inexperienced person as our commander in chief. Yet, McCain has successfully invalidated all of his 'experience' attacks by picking a younger, far less experienced VP. What happens if the 72 year old McCain has his Melanoma return and dies in office? Mr. McCain, this was a strongly irresponsible choice. Never did I think that the VP spot would be a publicity stunt. For all of that, does it even help? Does McCain think that the former Hillary supporters are just hungry to vote for a woman regardless of the party? I hope that the American people can see through this charade.

sup

2008-08-29T17:46:45Z

Hey folks, how's it going?

scottious @ 2008-08-04T09:34:00

2008-08-04T13:59:46Z

Hello LiveJournal Land.

OKAY SOME LIFE UPDATES.

I HAVE STARTED GUITAR LESSONS and they are going well. I am learning a lot and I'm very glad that I finally took the plunge. It's nice to finally have a road map for getting better at the guitar. On top of this, I've been giving a lot of thought into my hobbies and how I should proceed with them. As I've mentioned before, I have far too many interests than there are time for in a day so clearly I need to make some choices about how to invest my time.

I'M MOVING ON SEPTEMBER FIRST, COME VISIT ME. Well, the six months at this apartment have been treating me well and it was an amazing learning experience. I definitely have a sense of how much things should cost and what my standard of living can be if I live alone. That being said, I realize that living in the area I do is probably not worth the extra money I'm paying. By moving to Brighton (just north of the mass pike about a mile from where I am now) I can save easily about $400-$500 a month and live in a house. I'm moving in with Zack, Chris, Ken, and Dan into the bottom two floors of a house. It's a very big 6 bedroom place. I'm very excited!

I'M GOING TO BUY A NEW CAR SOON. Honda Civic probably. More to come.

FREELANCE WORK SUCKS, SAYS ME. Still working for a real estate company in my free time as their only software developer and it's kinda of a pain in the butt and kills any free time I might have had. I'm aggressively trying to finish the job to free myself from this.

THAT IS ALL FOR NOW.

NEED ROOMMATE

2008-07-17T03:24:43Z

aaaah, so is anybody looking for a place to live in Boston? I have a room that needs to be filled by sept 1st. If you have any friends who are looking for places, let me know!!!

Wanted

2008-07-07T16:36:25Z

What does one do when life's monotony leads to a lack of desire? The answer is obvious: you gotta find out that you have a superpower and go on a killing spree.

That's the life lesson that Hollywood is trying to sell us. Yes, and we all seem to buy it. Why do so many movies emphasize sitting around until the universe gives you your secret hidden ability that will make you happy instead of actively seeking it yourself?

Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about the movie Wanted. For a summer action flick, it's very entertaining. I actually quite enjoyed the main character and the action.

What bothers me, though, is that there are not enough movies where something other than a quick fix solves all of our problems or replaces them with super-hero problems (waaaa I'm not the BEST assassin, just AMONG the best). Spiderman and the Matrix did this too. Maybe American's like seeing stories about people who's lives were instantly transformed. Who knows.

Dreams

2008-07-01T17:35:00Z

This is what happens if you run then drink a bunch of Tang before bed:

Dreams.

A series of horrifying dreams in which I was slowly losing everything I own to a force that was smarter, faster, and more clever than I. I was in a first story apartment and my room looked much like it does now. I came home one day to notice that somebody had broken in and stolen a bunch of stuff. I was freaked out because all of my most valuable possessions were taken and I couldn't cope with it. However, I did still have a couple of computers and a small LCD monitor so I reckoned that it wasn't so bad.

The next day, the same thing happened right before my eyes, while I was in my room. I couldn't see how they were stealing all of my stuff but it was happening so quick and they were always 3 steps ahead of me. I now had nothing. The only thing left was my Mac Pro with no cables and no monitor to hook up to it. I was scared and cold. The next day I was alert and ready to catch the thief. I noticed a bike and a ladder outside of a window and I figured that's how they've been sneaking in. However, I quickly realized this was a decoy. For what seemed to be hours, I was losing a battle of wits with the thief who was hell bent on taking EVERYTHING I own.

I eventually did encounter the thief who I quickly found was physically much bigger and stronger than I. I had to run away to live or risk being torn apart my this large man.

I was freaked out. If we dream about what fears us the most, then I seem to fear losing control of my life and having it all slip away from me right before my eyes.

Either that or it was a dream induced by a chemical imbalance caused by too much Tang and far too much sweating.

Freaking amazing run

2008-06-28T20:19:25Z

Yesterday I made an awesome running route that's almost exactly 5 miles. I ran the whole thing and it was really fun!

My Running Route

Giving back

2008-06-24T13:48:21Z

BEING SKEPTICAL often comes off as being cynical. I realize that my personality is often driven by tearing down rather than building up. I try to tear down misconceptions, challenge widely held views, and argue. However, in the tearing down process I rarely offer something in place of what I attempt to debunk. Perhaps out of fear of being wrong or to bullet proof myself against attacks against my own views. I think my new philosophy in life should be "For everything I tear down, I must offer something in its place and allow equal criticism of this new view."

And now for something completely different.

I've found two things recently that have made me stop and wonder. Both appeal to my sense of adventure.

First thing is a blog I found about two guys who ran across the USA. Rain or shine, these guys dropped everything and ran 25 miles a day to get across the country. It's amazing to read their blog and the things they encountered while running from New Jersey to the west coast. This is the sort of thing I'd be really interested in doing. Weather running or cycling, there's a large appeal to overcoming this obstacle.

Next is a story I saw on BBC News about a man who is auctioning his life away. He's selling everything from his house, cars, trial at his job, introduction to his friends, jet skis, and everything in his house to the highest bidder. He says, "On the day it's all sold and settled, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all." What a great idea. It's just such a perfect way to literally start a new life fresh with no baggage at all (no pun intended!).

RIP George Carlin

2008-06-24T01:12:40Z

A great man has died today.

George Carlin was awesome in many ways. I was particularly fond of his 'nothing is off limits' form of humor. Truly a comic legend. RIP.

words.

2008-06-16T19:22:07Z

THANKS TO EVERYONE who said happy birthday yesterday!

I SHOT THE SHERIFF but I did not shoot the deputy. This guy shot the deputy.

UNSURPRISINGLY, CALIFORNIA LEGALIZES GAY MARRIAGE. This restores my faith in this country. I predict more are to follow!

MY HAT is starting to rip and it has inherited this disgusting yellow hue. I'm guessing it be inches away from being a biohazard.

CNN.COM HAS A HEADLINE ABOUT KITTENS BEING THROWN INTO TRAFFIC. That makes me sad.

FINALLY I BOUGHT THE 4TH EDITION D&D PLAYER'S HANDBOOK. Awesome.

scottious @ 2008-06-10T22:54:00

2008-06-11T02:54:54Z

I'm happy. No reason. That is all.

XKCD

2008-05-21T19:47:44Z

XKCD's fan base has grown to the point where it incorporates people who have no idea how to interpret his sense of humour and have no idea what half of his jokes mean. As a pretty loyal XKCD fan, I'm somewhat annoyed by this.

Proof of this is in his latest comic about geohashing. There was a somewhat negative backlash about it on digg. I understand people's frustration that every monday, wednesday, and friday, the xkcd comic will inevitably make it to the front page despite the fact that some aren't really that good.

Digg users mostly complained either because they didn't understand HOW 'geohashing' works or WHY anybody would ever want to do this. If you're one of these people, you're probably not an xkcd fan.

First of all, geohashing is a pun on geocaching. GeoCACHING is like treasure hunting with a GPS. GeoHASHING is just a way to make local calculations of zones where people can meet up or go for a random adventure using a GPS. Think of it like this: there's a 'Munroe Zone' that extends from Logan Airport to just west of Worcester and from Rhode Island to Manchester, NH. Within that zone, everyday the stock market opens, a new random point (perhaps a 'Munroe Point'?) will be generated. Using the fact that the stock market is not predictable and MD5 will generate hashes that do not cluster, he has very effectively created a way of creating random daily Munroe Points that are equidistant in the longitude and latitude. A Munroe point will never be more than 60 miles (roughly) away from you at the absolute maximum and that's very rare.

Haven't you ever wanted to go somewhere random but didn't have any ideas about where to go? I like the way he used computer nerdiness to solve this problem. It's not meant to be practical or solve a 'real world' problem. It's supposed to be fun. Digg users who commented about how stupid it is don't it.

2008-05-19T23:18:32Z

My fellow humans,

If any of you have Twitter accounts, please let me know what they are. My username is scottious. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Scott Daniel Frazer

scottious @ 2008-05-19T10:31:00

2008-05-19T14:31:44Z

"The new retro logo at Starbucks is stirring controversy. The logo shows a mermaid with partially-covered breasts.

A Christian group based in San Diego called The Resistance says the logo looks like a naked woman with her legs spread like a prostitute.

The Resistance is calling for a national boycott of Starbucks.

Starbucks says the logo is appropriate. It'll be around for a few weeks.

The logo is based on a 16th century Norse woodcut of a two-tailed mermaid."

....
......
........

Seriously?

Why you should visit me.

2008-05-01T13:03:53Z

THE BIG NEWS TODAY is that Zack and I have upgraded our apartment. The reason why you should come over and visit is because we now have:

1. 46" 1080p LCD TV
2. PlayStation 3 (also a Blu-Ray player!)
3. Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, and 2 other games
4. 3 controllers

sweet, dude.

scottious @ 2008-04-16T19:55:00

2008-04-17T00:13:08Z

Anybody else hear about this Expelled movie? Looks hilarious.

I WOULDN'T MENTION IT other than the fact that there are actually commercials for it on TV.

THE COMMERCIAL PORTRAYS Ben Stein all sad and betrayed because no one will listen to him about creationism, then it makes science look like it's persecuting the creationists because of their beliefs.

BEN STEIN IS SITTING IN A CLASSROOM and asks a professor, "Excuse me, but where did life come from?" or something to that extent and the professor looks BAFFLED like he's completely unprepared for such a mind-blowing question. He scratches his head obviously outwitted by the amazing Ben Stein. As we all know, evolutionary biologists never see that sort of question coming. They always avoid it because they KNOW the creationists have them beat.

Complete. Load. Of. Crap.

IT'S KINDA FUNNY IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. Creationism started out as the cool kid in school. Then, evolution came along called it out for all of its BS. So, creationism was feeling blue and tried getting a makeover so people would like him again. He even changed his name to "Intelligent Design." Evolution then made Creationism look even more stupid. Sad and confused, Creationism resorted to attempted slander on evolution by calling it 'Darwinism' and saying that everyone who sides with 'Darwinism' is a Nazi (seriously, it's in the movie. I'm not kidding, they make a Reductio Ad Hitlerum argument).

WHAT CONCERNS ME THE MOST is that people will probably see this and feel bad for Creationism when in reality it doesn't deserve a single ounce of scientific merit. It's not mean to say that, and I think this is one thing we all must publicly agree on.

I URGE EVERYONE to make sure no one takes this movie seriously. For the sake of science!

scottious @ 2008-04-14T13:13:00

2008-04-14T18:27:25Z

THIS SATURDAY I'LL BE BACK IN BOLTON. I'm going to be house-sitting for a week while nobody is home. It's odd, but I'm actually quite excited about this. I remember how incredibly eager I was to get out of the house and I'm still glad I did. However, I still like our house in Bolton and it's nice to visit when nobody is around.

IN OTHER NEWS, MY FREELANCE JOB IS GOING WELL. I just got first month's payment. Hooray unadulterated income. Boo taxes. Now the question is: do I invest wisely or get a sweet TV? Hrmmmmmm....

CHIPMUNKS ARE ADORABLE AND I WISH THEY'D SIT ON MY SHOULDER. It's true. I'd name it Obi-Wan Kenobi and teach it acrobatics.

SKEPTICS IN THE PUB NEXT MONDAY. Be skeptical. Question everything in good company and with beers. Good times. The Asgard 7-10, April 21st!

Neck Beards and Skepticism: A Causal Relationship?

2008-03-25T13:47:45Z

Before I talk about last night's Skeptics in the Pub meeting, I found a great memorial to Gary Gygax by MIT students: http://www-tech.mit.edu/V128/N14/graphics/gygax.html. RIP Gary.

Last night was the first meeting of the Skeptics in the Pub which Ryan and I went to. Most of it was a talk from a Harvard Biologist about genomes, antibiotic resistance, natural selection, and evolution. I found him very engaging and funny with liberal use of LOLCat-like pictures. I was interested to hear how he disagreed with biologists like Dawkins and Gould. Even in disagreement, though, there was respect that even though they might disagree, they're all fighting for the same cause.

The talk was tinged with a healthy level of anti-creationism and anti-intelligent design. At this point it's almost like beating a dead horse, but the crazy ID people have recently made a movie called Expelled to try to push ID.

Mike concluded his talk by saying "Two thousand years ago, a man died on a cross. Two minutes ago, somebody died from a bacterial infection." This is an interesting way to put it in perspective.

It was great being around so many other skeptics. I am looking forward to the next meeting!

comic.

2008-03-10T01:06:29Z

baaaahahahaha, awesome new web comic about skepticism I found recently called Cectic. Here's an example: http://cectic.com/069.html

I'm so glad I found this!

Also, there's a 'Skeptics at the Pub' meeting March 24th in Cambridge. If anyone will be in boston and is looking for something to do, please let me know! I definitely plan on going!

I'm a very bad influence

2008-03-04T20:33:03Z

1. smoked.
2. consumed alcohol.
3. slept in the same bed with someone of the opposite sex.
4. slept in the same bed with someone of the same sex.
5. kissed someone of the same sex.
6. had sex.
7. had someone in your room other than family.
8. watched porn.
9. bought porn.
10. tried drugs.
TOTAL SO FAR: 6 (maybe 7 depending...)

1. taken pain killers.
2. taken someone else's prescription medicine.
3. lied to your parents
4. lied to a friend.
5. snuck out of the house.
6. done something illegal.
7. felt hurt.
8. hurt someone.
9. wished someone to die.
10. seen someone die.
TOTAL SO FAR: 13

1. missed curfew.
2. stayed out all night
3. eaten a carton of ice cream by yourself.
4. been to a therapist.
5. been to rehab.
6. dyed your hair
7. received a ticket
8. been in an accident
9. been to a club.
10. been to a bar.
TOTAL SO FAR: 21

1. been to a wild party.
2. been to a Mardi Gras parade.
3. drank more than three alcoholic beverages in a night.
4. had a spring break in Florida.
5. sniffed anything. (I'm assuming drugs?)
6. wore black nail polish.
7. wore arm bands.
8. wore t-shirts with band names
9. listened to rap
10. owned a 50 Cent CD.
TOTAL SO FAR: 23

1. dressed Gothic.
2. dressed girly.
3. dressed punk.
4. dressed grunge.
5. stole something.
6. been too drunk to remember anything.
7. blacked out.
8. fainted.
9. had a crush on a neighbor.
TOTAL SO FAR: 26

1. had a crush on a friend.
2. been to a concert.
3. dry-humped someone.
4. been called a slut.
5. called someone a slut.
6. installed speakers in your car.
7. broken a mirror.
8. showered at someone of the opposites sex's house.
9. brushed your teeth with someone elses toothbrush.
TOTAL SO FAR: 31

1. consider/considered Ludacris your favorite rapper.
2. seen an R-rated movie in theater.
3. cruised the mall.
4. skipped school.
5. had surgery.
6. had an injury.
7. gone to court.
8. walked out of a restaurant without paying.
9. caught something on fire.
10. lied about your age.
TOTAL SO FAR: 38

1. owned/rented an apartment.
2. broke the law in the police's presence.
3. made out with someone who had a gf/bf.
4. got in trouble with the police.
5. talked to a stranger.
6. hugged a stranger.
7. kissed a stranger
8. rode in the car with a stranger
9. been harassed.
10. been verbally harassed.
TOTAL SO FAR: 41

1. met face-to-face with someone you met online.
2. stayed online for 5+ hours straight.
3. talked on the phone for more than 4 hours straight.
4. watched TV for 5 hours straight.
5. been to a fair.
6. been called a bad influence.
7. drink and drive.
8. prank-called someone.
9. laid on a couch with someone of the opposite sex.
10. cheated on a test.
TOTAL SO FAR: 48

Grand Total: 48

If you have less than 10.. write [i'm lame].
If You Have More Than 10.. write [im still a goody goody].
If You Have more Than 20..write [im average].
If You Have More Than 30..write [im a bad kid].
If You have more than 40..write [im a very bad influence].
If You Have more than 50..write [im a horrible person].
If You Have more than 60..write [i should be in jail].
If You Have more than 70..Write [i should be dead].