Tag Archives: Monroe

Test Drives

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2010 Ford Taurs SHOIt’s been a rather interesting weekend. Went out with a few friends last night to GW’s in Chester, NY and got to drink a few nice cold pints of Guinness. It’s been 250 years since Sir Arthur Guinness founded the brewery in St. James Gate; which is in the city of Dublin in Ireland and brewed his first stout that would eventually evolve into the drink we consume today. To mark the anniversary of this momentous occasion we drank a few pints, told a few stories, and debated about music. Due to health reasons, I have restrict my alcohol drinking amount and that added a bit of extra air to the event. I feel that you always enjoy a good beer more when you consume it in moderation. This being a good example of why I feel that way. We ended the night appropriately enough with the infamous Chickenette sandwich at the Monroe Diner in Monroe, NY. A good time was had by all needless to say.

Skow and I managed to skip over to Washingtonville, NY and catch the Casket Architects as well during the course of the night. They were playing as the opening act for another band’s record release party. As usual, they were absolutely amazing live. We made sure to pick up their new album “Future Wounds”.

Today the local Ford dealer, Leo Kaytes, participated in the Ford Education Donation program call “Drive 4UR School” where you get a chance to test drive a Ford vehicle. Every test drive netted a $20 donation to the local school system in Warwick, NY from Ford and helps support the sports program. It’s a worthy cause (have to support the youth and help keep those kids fit) and how you can you go wrong with getting a chance to drive a Ford of your choice? I choose the brand new 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. Over 350bhp flows from a 3.5 liter direct injection dual turbo v6 engine to 19″ tires driven with AWD. The power delivery is smooth (I easily nailed 50 mph in about 4 seconds) though a six speed automatic. The roar of the engine is meaty and reminded me of my 2006 v6 Mustang on steroids in engine note. I was overall very impressed. So five minutes of incredible driving fun in a car that isn’t even available for sale yet, $20 to the school, and a win-win for everybody.

I also stopped by to watch my oldest daughter’s soccer game this afternoon along with my wife and youngest daughter, as well as, M’Weezy. She got to play goalie for the first time and made two nice saves. Her team lost 3-0, but overall they did pretty good (they won last week 2-0). The other team was a bit older and more seasoned. This is my daughter’s first year playing soccer and only her second game so she’s still a bit green, but she is learning fast. I noticed her defense skills were getting better and she actually played the whole game end to end without any rest (God knows I wouldn’t last 60 minutes). We’re all really proud of her in my family and I think it’s great she’s trying something new. She seems to really enjoy the game and is having a good time (which is the most important thing of all).

My youngest daughter has randomly (and seemingly out of nowhere) started saying the phrase “I’m nuts”. She must have picked it up on Noggin (she really watches nothing else). Nevertheless it was slightly funny to randomly hear her blurt it out without warning.

My wife, youngest daughter, and myself joined Skow, DJ SlipK, Aeryn Heather, and another friend at Cheryl’s Fried Fish and Soul Food in Middletown, NY. This was my first time up there, but Skow and SlipK have been raving about it for months. We were not disappointed. I had smothered pork chops, beans & rice, and potato salad. My wife had fried pork chops, mac & cheese, and beans & rice. My youngest daughter had the mac & cheese. The side orders filled a whole plate. Our pork chops were both huge. The food overall was amazing. The mac & cheese is the best I’ve had since my Mom’s homemade take on it. Outstanding. Definitely recommend it if you’re ever in the area.

M’Weezy stopped in today. We briefly talked about Pirate Radio. We’ll be lining up recording soon and starting to hash out a guest list. What’s holding us up is my orthopedist visit tomorrow. I want to know roughly how my schedule is going to look for surgery before I line a bunch of things up. Once I understand that time line I can start working on staging production around my downtime.

And that was my mundane, but very satisfying weekend in a nut shell.

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DF Pirate Radio – Cliffnotes (2006 Season)

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Cliff Notes – 2006 Season

* The audio clips between songs for Pirate Radio are actually DJ Digitalflood’s voice altered via computer software.

* The original advertisements for the various Pirate Radio episodes can be found in the Graphic Art section.

* An annual event since 1999, the Digitalflood Party takes place usually the first weekend of June. The first DF Party was held in 1999 and was completely non-alcoholic. After 2004 the party moved to a local tavern called GW’s. The beverages shortly there after were no longer non-alcoholic.

* It’s important you watch the Strongbad Metal episode at Homestar Runner in order to understand Vol. 2 Episode 5. Specifically the phrases “Summon orbs!” and “OMG! Wanna join my Guild?”.

* Recording a Pirate Radio show in a 20×20′ room with six people results in the temperature easily hitting 85ºF even on the coldest winter days as the crew would come to find out. Fans couldn’t be run (or AC for that matter) because it would have messed up recording, which only made things more challenging.

* Pirate Radio monologues have no script or set agenda. In general, the crew is told a topic and everybody kicks the idea around from there in realtime while recording. Sometimes you find comedy nuggets; other times you find jokes you wish that nobody managed to hear you say. Song mixing was also improvised as the guests get to choose the order of the tracks leaving DJ Digitalflood on his own to figure out in post-production how to make them flow.

* You can email Pirate Radio show ideas and song requests to DJ Digitalflood via the Contact form on this web site. Who knows, we might actually play it for you and give you the mandatory shout out.

* DJ Digitalflood does all his mixing on virtual turn tables and audio production software. He began doing computer based audio engineering in 1996 including formal training during High School and College on audio production.

* DJ Digitalflood’s dubbed his audio mixing style “Cut Like Crack”. The style is completely home brewed and developed by DJ Digitalflood himself. The term was first used by DJ Digitalflood in a bar conversation in 2005 when some people asked him what his music sounded like. The reponse: Like it was cut with crack.

* You can keep up to date on DF Pirate Radio by using the RSS Feed function in most audio management programs such as iTunes and Winamp. When a new episode comes out the program will automatically download it.

* MC Mary @ The Disco! played lacrosse through out all of High School and is a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do.

* A mysterious hum appeared in the monolouges during the middle of Volume 2 that DJ Digitalflood could not explain. It wasn’t until recording some mix tracks after the end of the season that DJ Digitalflood discovered the cause– the computer fans and hard drives would spin up during recording causing the desk that the unit was on to vibrate. The microphone (which also sat on that desk) in turn would pick up that vibration as a low tone hum. The result was the sound you hear during the silence buzzing along in the background oh so annoyingly.

* The Chickenette is a real sandwich consisting of a hard roll filled with three deep fried chicken tenders, a slice of fried honey ham, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and Swiss cheese. It comes with a pickle, coleslaw, and a side of fries (which are best with honey mustard). The calorie count is around 1,600 per serving. You can order it at the Monroe Diner in Monroe, NY.

* The sound clips used during Pirate Radio are collected via the Internet and include many popular movies including “Anchor Man”, “Napolean Dynamite”, “Tron”, and “Meet the Parents”. There’s also a lot of “The Simpsons” clips. The sound effects are also off the Internet from various freebie sites.

* Despite all the talk about drinking it is intresting to note that DJ Digitalflood was Straight Edge (including no caffeine, alcohol, or drugs) between 1994 and 2004.

* DJ Digitalflood went on hiatus beween April 2006 and November 2007 to focus on his new wife and later on helping out with their newborn daughter.

* Early in May 2006 My Space deleted DJ Digitalflood’s public musician account for “copyright violation” complaints. At the time of deletion, DF Pirate Radio had close to 4,000 friends. Today Digitalflood’s private profile is friends only and limited to those he knows in real life. The profile was one the top ten most popular artists within Orange County, NY for over four months.

* Digitalflood MP3s can be found all over the Net and have been distributed by other sites throughout the world. This includes the Pirate Radio shows.

* DF Pirate Radio accepts artist submissions for the show. Use the Contact page to find out how you can be featured on an episode of the show.

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Classic DF – 12/11/01

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December 11, 2001: [•] The Eastern Alliance has issued an ultimatum to al Qaeda forces; surrender by 8 AM local time or die. Meanwhile, US President Bush is marking the 3 month anniversary of the September 11th attacks today and has decided to release a videotape that definitively proves Osama bin Laden is responsible for that aforementioned attacked. [•] The UK will lead postwar peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan. [•] Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has entered a not guilty plea in his genocide trial. [•] China has joined the WTO. [•] The 2 major parties in Trinidad have both won 18 seats each in the 36 seat Parliament. [•] US military officials met with Somali warlords to discuss terrorism issues. [•] Kenyan authorities have arrested Ahmed Hassan Mursal for unspecified charges. [•] Colombia is trying to rehabilitate and educate captured rebel minors. [•] A fireworks factory explosion in Guatemala City has left 7 people dead. [•] Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo has apologized to his people for a government sponsored massacre 19 years ago. [•] Nauru has agreed to allow Australia to detain illegal immigrants in detention centers on the tiny island. [•] Saudi Arabia has begun issuing identification cards to its female citizens to prevent fraud. [•] The Syrian government has resigned to clear the way for reform. [•] A KFC/Taco Bell worker led several of his coworkers into the woods where he shot them in Malvern, Pennsylvania. [•] Norman Pyle McCann was killed when a 15-foot trench wall collapsed on him during construction in Rising Sun, Maryland. [•] The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry are the most often stolen autos. [•] The Lion & Lamb Project, an nonviolent toy advocacy group, has listed the top ten toys it sees as violent and thus harmful to children. [•] Everything is peachy keen up in space. [•] New high resolution images of Jupiter’s moon Io show incredible volcano eruptions. [•] Anonymous e-mail services are on the rise. [•] An international treaty will bring 30 countries into synch as far as copyright laws go. [•] Napster has signed a license agreement with Matador Records. [•] Oracle says that it’s software is unhackable. [•] The Interior Department shut down Net access by court order to protect an Indian trust fund. [•] Another hole has cropped up in Microsoft Outlook Web Access software that can allow unauthorized access to users’ accounts. [•] Can worms create a better fertilizer? [•] Retirees may not realize just how expensive long-term care is. [•] A new device makes facial defects nearly a thing of the past for newborns. [•] Court scribes are protected from libel just like journalists. [•] Life as an accused child porn trader sucks. [•] The Duh Study of The Day: Teens are as likely to trade music online as to seek health information. Isn’t that the point of the Net? [•] A new X-ray machine lets you see bone structure in real time. [•] Nigeria will be the first country to issue inexpensive generic anti-retroviral drugs to HIV and AIDS patients. [•] The New York DMV says that a National ID card wouldn’t be a big deal to issue. [•] Just down the street from me an idiot hunter almost killed a kid simply by being reckless. Please watch where your shooting before you fire! [•] 3 men plead innocent to a murder indictment in Monticello, NY. [•] Orange County Executive-elect Edward Diana defends choosing Justice Catherine M. Bartlett as his pick for county attorney. [•] Melvin Canales is charged with having sex with a minor, Jazmin Roberts poses as someone else, Town of Lloyd historian Dot Gruner is calling it quits after 15 years of service, a pedestrian drug down the street by a car has been identified as Bonnie Flores, 2 men held up the Country Convenience Food Store in Monroe, a basketball tournament will benefit the victims of WTC, Richard Beach gets 15 years for committing burglary, Joseph Rivera is charged with maliciously killing a cat, Daryl Watkins is charged with falsifying his ATV ID number, Milton Munroe is caught with stolen items, and Kenny Mitchell is put in jail for selling drugs. [•] J. Lo, Kid Rock, and Ja Rule performed at a USO show for US troops stationed in Germany. [•] Ocean’s Eleven may be a movie remake, but the music is all original. [•] Eminem’s boyhood bully is suing the rapper for using his name on a track citing that it ruined his potential rap career. Are you buying this crap because I’m sure not! [•] Google will allow you to look up Usenet articles all the way back from 1981 (Now, that’s a news archive). [•] Zacarias Moussaoui has been charged with conspiring with Osama bin Laden in the September 11th attacks. [•] Guns N’ Roses tickets for their New Year’s Eve Concert didn’t sell out in record time like last year. Frustration over lack of new material may be to blame. [•] Why the Acura RSX made Car & Driver’s Top Ten Autos list. [•] Microsoft’s Window Media format will be supported by some DVD chipset makers. [•] I love you wife and daughter! “Phew” Another busy day 🙂

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Classic DF – 7/27/00

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July 27, 2000: [•] Napster has been shutdown until their trial with the RIAA is over. Of course, now the RIAA realizes that centralized services such as Napster, which can be controlled, are going to be replaced with distributed systems like Gnutella that can’t be controlled. [•] The FCC is investigating AOL-Time Warner as a possible monopoly. [•] Four major health groups have found a link between exposing children to violence in the media and a growing propensity for violent acts by children. The MPAA has no comment (why don’t you try suing them LOL). [•] A new exhibit details the Armenian Holocaust that occurred during the early 1900’s. [•] North Korea has been inducted into Asia’s top security forum and recognized by Canada as a country. [•] Now that Milosevic has secured his power in Yugoslavia he has scheduled elections for September 24. [•] Muslim Filipino rebels have a released a German reporter. [•] Wildfires are the worst in four years. [•] Massachusetts has been hit by the West Nile Virus. [•] US agents intercepted a $40 million shipment of ecstasy in LA. [•] An ex-LAPD officer, Rafael Perez, has testified that six fellow officers shot two people and killed another for no reason and then falsified evidence to clear themselves of wrong doing. BTW Perez is currently under investigation for stealing cocaine seized by the LAPD. [•] A Russian flight control specialist drowned after drinking too much. I guess it took a rocket scientist to figure out that drinking and swimming isn’t a good idea. [•] CBS and three newspapers are willing to pay for DNA testing to see if a man was wrongly executed. [•] Edgar Adamson of the US Customs Service explained to a House Committee that many nations lack the laws to prosecute computer crime. [•] If terrorists took out the biggest nodes of the Internet then the network would fragment rendering it useless. [•] TRUSTe is running an ad campaign to make web consumers more savvy and understand that TRUSTe Certification doesn’t mean your information won’t be shared with anyone. [•] Take a look at how CERN is upgrading to 1 GB LANs. [•] Macromedia Flash 5 is out and it looks great. Flash rules 🙂 [•] X-Men: Mutant Academy looks like a great one on one fighter game. [•] Scientists are launching microbes into space to test if life could have survived an asteroid ride to Earth. [•] Removing damaged lung tissue can give temporary relief to emphysema patients. [•] A stomach cancer vaccine is in human trials. [•] Methoxsalen slows the breakdown of nicotine in the bloodstream and therefore helps people quit smoking easier. [•] UPN is changing its name to The Paramount Network. [•] Duh Study of The Day: Big ships are a major source of pollution. Dirty smoke emitting engines tend to be pretty big polluters. [•] The EPA is making nine refineries owned by BP Amoco and three refineries owned by Koch Petroleum Group pay fines and reduce toxic emissions. More refineries are expected to do the same soon or else face similar fines. [•] The Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico has been created to preserve 90,000 acres of land. [•] Another oil spill in Brazil is threatening beaches and resorts. [•] Norwegian whale meat is so contaminated with heavy metals that if the meat were soil it would be considered toxic waste. [•] A new wheelchair, the IBot, can do anything that someone without a wheelchair could do. Amazing. [•] Microsoft has reclaimed microsoft.org and proponents of Microsoft aren’t happy. [•] Bioware will be developing the first Star Wars role-playing video game for Lucas Arts. [•] Intel will abandon its Rambus only relationship when the Pentium 4 is released in 2001 as previously expected. [•] Cuba is now going online. [•] John Rudden of Monroe pointed a gun at a group of 13 and 14 year old kids after colliding with them on a bike path by mistake. He says he felt threatened. Okay then. [•] William Peoples has been sentenced to a year in jail for attempting to bury a puppy alive. [•] An escaped Otisville prisoner has been recaptured. [•] Drop one phone on kid’s head and the next thing you know you’re a child abuser. [•] Oakridge Shepherds in Williamsport, PA have been charged with selling sick animals and falsifying AKC papers. [•] EMS workers want the Town of Shawangunk to get 24 hour police coverage since it takes too long for Sheriff’s units to respond. [•] Did the police catch the wrong BMW? [•] A mother covers for her son’s possible raping of a girl, an illegally tinted car stop turns into a illegal gun and drug bust, a man dies in a head on collision when he tries to illegally pass a car, and police are looking for a thief. [•] Remember the live album that U2 wasn’t supposed to do from yesterday? Well, now they decided they’ll do it for a promo. [•] Prepare for Eminem: the movie. [•] Pras has formed a film company. [•] Digimon: The Movie is in the works and Len is contributing to it with a cover of Kids In America that should cause people to change radio stations rapidly upon its playing. [•] Attention ladies and gentleman– boycott the RIAA now! As today don’t buy another CD! [•] Kid Rock’s ex-girlfriend is suing him for slander. [•] Uncle Kracker is a dad. [•] Apparently the brick wielding homeless man who attacked a woman is still out there. [•] Cracker is back and touring. [•] Microsoft smashes a monster truck through a wall to stop piracy. Ummm… [•] Can the Duron beat the Celeron? [•] Cool your system down. [•] Maximum PC reviews the I-Jam 100. [•] Road & Track Briefs: Daimler-Chrysler says the PT Cruiser is safe; owners of Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires are having deadly crashes due to tire tread issues; and Mitsubishi denies they covered up customer complaints even though those complaints were found hidden in an employee locker. [•] Guitar.com teaches you how to play Phish style (Kevin’s favorite band). [•] Red Raven is going on vacation and won’t be posting (doh!). [•] Azazel, I love you! [•] Tomorrow we shall reconvene. Class dismissed.

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Classic DF – 7/21/00

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July 21, 2000: [•] Happy Birthday to my Mom! She was 50 years old yesterday. I love you Mom and congratulations 🙂 [•] The US House has passed a lift of the embargo of food, drugs, and travel to Cuba. [•] The US allowed infamous Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann to avoid capture for 4 years. [•] Stephen King will release the first shareware (pay to keep it) book. [•] Tom Welch (no relation to me) and David Johnson have been indicted in trying to bribe Olympics officials. [•] An earthquake hit Mexico City. [•] Augusto “I’m a lying scuzzball” Pinochet claims he never ordered any murders. Yeah, people are just making it up… sure (lying jerk). [•] A fire broke out in Mesa Verde National Park forcing an evacuation. [•] A gunman in Los Angelos shot himself. [•] Lots of tomatoes and no one to buy them. [•] Heroin deaths are up. [•] Namibia says it has to club 60,000 seals to death in order to preserve fish stocks, but wildlife activists say that its just because they want to sell seal balls to the orient for sex potions. [•] A new technique allows both strands of DNA to be analyzed at the same time. [•] Another study has labeled Napster as good for getting people to buy CDs. [•] Sega has stepped up its fight against software piracy and is closing down web sites hosting illegal games for sale. [•] Think you’ve seen the new G4 cube design before? You did. Back then in 1989 the design was called NeXT. [•] Computer enhanced “smart toys” may be the next big thing for Christmas. [•] Scientists have created man made diamonds so close to nature’s that even the atomic structure is nearly 100% of the real thing. [•] The West Nile Virus has come to Orange County, NY. [•] We want you for the Carnie Reserve. [•] A rape attempt was averted when a family shined its car lights on an attacker. [•] Once upon a time a student brought a pipe bomb to school and now he realizes it was stupid. This story even has a happy ending. [•] Monroe wants to add a K-9 cop to its police force. [•] Five people were caught smuggling drugs into the Orange County Jail. [•] A wanted child molester from Chester will see air time on American’s Most Wanted. [•] A missing man was found dead, a woman has been charged in stabbing her husband to death, and a street party is a brewing in The Times-Herald Record Briefs. [•] The new Palm M100 and VIIx have been announced. Both look very promising. [•] The first AutoCAD virus has been found. [•] The last British Ford Escort has rolled off the assembly line. As a proud driver of 3 generations of Escorts I can only say its a sad day in the motor industry, “sob”. [•] The cult of Mac continues. [•] A kid found a deep fried lizard in his Burger King Kid’s Meal. Yummy. [•] The NYC brick attacker has confessed. [•] Make money now! Sell stolen items back to their owners! [•] Creed has nicely told Fred “I’m a really big fat ugly loser” Durst to shut up and to stop thinking the world revolves around his fat ass. [•] Woodstock 99: Fans started the fire, but the promoters supplied the kindling. [•] Secure CRT 3.1 is out and if you shell, then you need. [•] Road & Track Online says that Nissan is upping its production in the US and GM is developing smart collision prevention systems to avoid crashes all together. [•] Learn the guitar styles of Tattoo The Earth. [•] Azazel, I love you! [•] I don’t know who is really into emulation anymore. Back in the day it was a big deal to play video games for Nintendo on your PC and such. Now it’s kind of a mute subject and played out. If you really want to get into some hard to configure stuff check out The Amiga Emulation Page. Since most of the ROMs have been removed they are hard to find, but that’s part of the fun. [•] Big news from the fish bowl– Heike has been banished! Now, this really starting to heat up. Did you see the shower cam? Pretty hot stuff 🙂 [•] Bored? I’m not going to be March 22nd. That’s when Azazel is due to give birth 🙂 And better yet– with my insurance it’s free! Talk to you either Monday or Tuesday. Keep it peachy.

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