Two In The Bush

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! 100% OFF!

2011-03-01T10:35:37Z

This will be my last livejournal post as I've moved my blog to my new website over at jonathanfield.com. Comments here are disabled (they were always just getting spammed anyway).

It's been a fun run! Thanks for hanging out, and hope to see you occasionally at the new spot!

Time Flies

2010-12-11T00:08:22Z

Got an email from a guy in Germany earlier this week telling me that the videos I had posted on the Vendetta website no longer worked. A quick look at my records indicated I had originally put those videos up almost a decade ago. Wow. And those were the new versions -- the original versions were posted in 1999 when online video was rare and anything you could find looked like it was filmed in a sandstorm.

Well the times they have a-changed, and I finally got around to cleaning up the Vendetta site to make use of 2005 era technology. Though I have had Vendetta on YouTube and Vimeo for a few years now, the website itself still featured the downloadable copies I had made back in the day.

Just think: when I put those up there was no YouTube. If you wanted to post a video online you had to host it yourself. And if it got too popular -- which happened twice with Vendetta -- your server would die.

I suppose cool little indie movies are pretty darn common these days, but I'm still proud of Vendetta 13 years later. What an awesome bunch of kids we were.

Sparkle Ponies!

2010-07-06T04:24:27Z

After a great month with wonderful people in Kansas, Florida, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, it was time to launch the much anticipated Sparkle Ponies album, "Crimes Against Humanity". It's been in the can since mid February, but I've been delaying things by being traveling around.

Here's the final front cover and back cover. We had a great CD release party on the 4th, complete with beer, bbq, pool, and of course lots of beautiful girls. CD's were complimentary at the party, but for the rest of you you'll have to either track me down for one or buy it on iTunes when it is available -- hopefully soon! I'll post here when Apple gets around to putting it up.

This album is really the brain child of David Lavezzo, playing under the stage name FREEDOM. I am proud of what I brought to the project as Cinch Dastardly. I wouldn't have thought of working on a surf rock album in a million years, so thanks Dave! It was a blast, and it sounds great.

I wonder if I should commit to another album of some sort next July 4th? We'll see.

Departure

2010-05-10T18:49:53Z

It's afternoon now. The banks are closed and I've got only to pack and return a few odds and ends to Alan and Donna. Eric and I will drive up to Joburg tomorrow morning with Nathi. After we drop him off, we fly to Atlanta, and then part ways as he goes back to SF and I head to Las Vegas.

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of fun and productivity. I am almost surely coming back next year, unless something comes up to stop me. I'll try posting some summaries of the stuff we did, but for now I'll just put up a link to a little educational game Eric and I made: South Africa Motor Tour. Give it a moment to start up from the black screen.

It's a simple idea -- just a way for kids can practice their lessons in a game format. The game is extensible, so teachers can add lessons. I've put in two "easy" lessons so you can see how it works. If you want to test your high school math and science feel free to try the other tests, but don't be surprised if it's harder than you remember.

In an attempt to give some replay value, each test has a specific destination, each with three pictures and three music clips. The game may seem pretty simplistic, but for the kids in rural areas here it goes over well. I was surprised by how much they seemed to enjoy playing it. The benefits of being without a Playstation, I suppose.

I have lots of ideas about how to improve the game, and I hope to add a significant amount of the actual curriculum, which I think is key to selling "learning games" to the teachers here. From what I've seen, I think it could be a very nice addition to the teaching process.

I feel like I could stay here another two months and find plenty more to do. The feeling that my skills can be so helpful here give me a sense of drive that I have a hard time capturing at home. I'll try to hold on to that energy until I can get back here next year...

Uncle!

2010-04-21T05:14:59Z

Okay, I was pretty impressed with myself for keeping up as long as I did, but now I must admit that I am 16 days behind in writing, and I only have 20 days left in Africa. That would mean to catch up and keep up I'd have to write almost double per day going forward. And I just can't do that. I've got too many other things that must be done!

I suppose I could stop being so verbose, but if I'm going to write things down I want to give them the treatment they deserve. There were so many adventures in the past 16 days! An amazing trip through Lesotho, the start of my writing educational software, another amazing trip to Durban, and of course all imbued with the many quirks that make this place such an adventure.

Currently, I'm in Joburg, having just picked up my friend Eric who will be finishing out the next three weeks of my visit with me. I look forward to showing him around and getting his help on the projects I've started.

The main two projects are related to a high school way out in the country, past Nquthu, further than Donna and Alan have ventured with their Macs. The principal there managed to build a computer lab with the school's own budget (as opposed to a education dept. grant), which is rare and impressive. It needs some work, though, and I want to get it in tip top shape. Then I want to put some custom educational software on there that relates very closely to the curriculum, and see if we can get the teachers using the lab regularly. It's going to take all our efforts to pull it off, so I'm de-prioritizing the journal.

I have bullet points for each day still, and some pictures. I hope to post them at some point, though probably not until after I get back. Hope those of you who have read have enjoyed so far! I certainly have!

Short

2010-04-15T19:50:19Z

After a morning of writing I go to take a shower and find there's no water. I guess that's South Africa's way of playing April fools on me? Not funny!

Luckily the owner's house is on a different water line (the city is apparently working on the one that runs to the guest house), and so they let me take a shower there.

I just spend the day hanging out with Andile, her niece, and her nephew. The parents have driven to Tugela Ferry, an hour away, to pick up the grandparents. Later tonight they head off to a church somewhere up north for Easter. Andile will be taking care of the kids for the weekend.

The niece, who is nine years old, is named Nonkazi. She has opened up a lot since our first meeting, and now she's just a bouncing ball of charisma.

They've recently got a puppy -- just a few days ago. Nonkazi has named it "Baby Danger", which is a pretty cool name for a dog, methinks. The cute thing scurries around and nibbles at our shoe laces and pant legs continuously.

Originally we had planned to all have dinner at Andile's place, however her family doesn't leave until late, so we re-schedule for tomorrow instead.

Alan, Donna, and I hit a nice lodge in the center of town that I hadn't been to before. As nearly always, when there's lamb on the menu, I order it. Delish. A glass of red wine goes nicely. Quite good for a $10.

Umqombothi

2010-04-14T20:20:31Z

Andile is back in town for Easter holidays! After some more repair work at Enyanyeni I pick her up and we all meet at Raza's for his home made chicken tikka. Damn it's delicious, and we all chat with him as we eat with our hands. Afterwards he lets us into the kitchen to wash our hands -- it's not bad, but it wouldn't pass inspection back home. I'm beginning to think that dirt must taste pretty good.

After that we split up and just chill out. Andile and I watch some videos, goof off with photobooth, listen to the CD she brought me, and make fun of each other's attempts at dancing.

The CD she brought is Yvonne Chaka Chaka and includes her hit Umqombothi. It's a hopelessly catchy song that I end up humming for days to come.

Eventually we go pick up Andile's niece (9 years) and nephew (2 years), whom she'll be watching for the next few days, and bring them over for dinner at Alan & Donna's. They're fairly privileged kids for these parts: they live in a small but nice house, both their parents are working (not to mention alive and together), and the family even has a car.

Still, the kids haven't really used a computer before, and the girl says "I can't do it" at first. Alan convinces her to try playfully "You think you can't, but I know you can..." and a few minutes later she's drawing in kidpix with a huge smile on her face. The little boy is too young to do anything directed, but he reacts happily to the sounds and images that he gets by mashing buttons.

Alan suggests we send them home with one of the little black and whit Mac SE's. So I take one and set it up in the girl's room. She only has a nightstand, but she happily moves the radio off and on to the floor so she can have the computer there instead. She seems delighted. The only downside being that now her and her little brother start to clash a bit over who gets to use it. But she's a sweet girl and gives the little tyke a turn now and then.

With the assist...

2010-04-13T19:20:11Z

It's a simple day with two simple missions: find a cord to hook my iPod up to the car, and drop by the Enyanyeni school to fix up a couple more office PC's. The iPod cord is just a two-ended headphone plug, but I've got no luck at the three places I drop by in the morning. I was hoping to have it for my drive out to the school, but time marches on and so I drive out tuneless.

At Enyanyeni I spend most of the day working on the main office PC. I've just about got it down to a science now. Here's the process:

Step 1: physically break the security screw off the the machine by bending it back and forth until it fatigues and snaps.

Step 2: open the case and install a reset jumper to clear the BIOS password

Step 3: boot from custom CD to clear the Administrator password

Step 4: install MS Security Essentials, reboot into Safe Mode, and do a full virus scan

Step 5: replace any system files from CD that were killed in step 4

Once that's all done (it can take a few hours), I head back to Dundee and find the wire I need for my iPod at the fifth place I try. The only wire they have is five meters long, but it'll do the trick. I roll it up and stuff most of it under the radio. And now I've got tunes!

After a little writing at my place, Alan invites me over to meet with the young girl that the principal of Maceba has suggested for assistance this year. Her name is Celimpilo, and though she's a bit shy with the camera, she's friendly and well spoken in person.

We talk with her to get a sense of her commitment. She's in her first year at university, studying biochem and living on campus at UKZN in Pietermaritzburg. It's a huge change for her after growing up in the country. She says it's been hard to get up to speed with the other kids, but she did learn some typing and basic computer skills on the Macs at Maceba which has helped. Her goal is to work in the medical research field.

We all agree that she's a good candidate, and so we set her up with a laptop and a small stipend to help with living expenses, which I'll pay. Alan and Donna already have four other students in progress on a similar setup, one who is graduating this year. She thanks us and Alan drops her off at the taxi rank to head back to school.

Later at dinner I find out that Simangaliso has kindly made us a loaf of traditional Zulu bread, called ujeqe. The "q" is pronounced by clucking the tongue, and it's one of the harder Zulu words to say that I've come across. Yes, that's my attempt.

But it's not hard to eat! The loaf is steam cooked in a bowl, which results in a relatively moist and dense loaf that's somewhere between the texture of focaccia and a dim-sum pork dumpling. I dig it, and we eat it with some roasted chicken and tomatoes.

...A New Car!

2010-04-12T20:17:59Z

So my rental car has a broken CD player. And I just can't put up with that. It's not that I even spend all that much time in the car -- you can drive from one end of Dundee to the other in less time than it takes to listen to "Spirit In The Sky" -- but once in a while I do a bit of a drive and I miss my music.

I call the rental car place and ask if I can do a trade. Turns out that I can, and I don't even have to make the 5 hour drive to Joburg: they have an office an hour away in Newcastle. They inform me, however, that the car I currently have -- the Hyundai ATOS, is actually a free upgrade that I got because they were out of the true economy ones when I arrived! It's hard to imagine a much cheaper car than this, but they inform me that if I want to do the trade I'll end up with a Kia Picanto: it'll have a working CD player, but I'll lose my air conditioning. After a bit of consideration I drive over to Newcastle and swap.

Kia Picanto vs. Hyundai ATOS

Pros:

- working CD + iPod hookup
- keyless entry
- tachometer
- clock in dash (Hyundai had no clock)
- stable rear-view mirror (Hyundai mirror vibrated)
- looks a bit slicker

Cons:

- no air conditioning
- all black makes it mo' hot
- no power windows
- no power steering
- fewer storage spots

I call it a win. Though even on the ride home I sweat against the seat until my shirt sticks.

As I'm leaving Newcastle I spot a new swanky-looking casino -- a little bit o' home right here! All nostalgic, I go in. It's on the small side, but more or less like every casino. Slot machines the world over use the same annoying sounds. It's relatively quiet, but this is early on a Monday afternoon.

I grab a steak and a beer at the casino restaurant where I chat for a moment with my waiter. He's from Rorke's Drift, a rural area somewhat near Nqutu. I'm a bit surprised because his English is flawless and his accent sounds slightly Australian. He spots my Zulu book and and says "Oh, that'll be hard for you! Like if I tried to learn Japanese!" I ask how many languages he speaks. "Let's see: English, Zulu, Afrikaans, Sotho..."

After I finish eating I write down some ideas for the game I'm planning to write for Simangaliso's 10th grade math class. I want to make something that is extensible, so that Simangaliso (or perhaps even other teachers), can add different types of questions to it. Maybe the teachers can prepare a file of multiple choice questions, and then insert them into the game.

But what type of game? What would appeal to the kids here?

My first idea is a Tetris game where you can only rotate/move the pieces after you've answered each question. Tetris is pretty universal in appeal. Then I think maybe that'll be too complicated for kids who have never played computer games before. My second idea is something like a driving game where you pass cars by answering question. Cars are a pretty powerful status symbol here, so I figure that would get them at least a little excited, though perhaps it's a bit too male oriented.

What about something like Farmville where you make money by answering questions and then customizing your land? That seems like it would be the most difficult for me to program, given that I don't actually understand the dynamics of the game, and I'd have to come up with a lot more creative content to give it depth.

I'll mull this over for a while and hopefully start in coding before too long. Suggestions are welcome.

Alan and Donna drop off another infected and malfunctioning PC shortly after I get back to Dundee. I spend the rest of the night cracking it and fixing it using my recently learned skillz.

Lazy Sunday

2010-04-11T20:13:31Z

I've got no Red Vines, no Mr. Pibb, and no Chronic (...les of anything), but that's not going to stop me from chilling out.

I'm up by 8:30, and I manage to stay at the backpackers reading and writing until almost 2PM. During that time I get a few days of my handwritten journal into the computer, I read more junk online than I should, I exercise and I have my usual breakfast.

A couple of older British ladies arrive at the backpackers' today. I'm a little embarrassed as when they walk in and we do our introductions as I'm sitting in nothing but a pair of shorts. I also haven't shaved in a few days so I look pretty scruffy. I'm sure I look exactly like the kind of thing they were hoping not to be sharing a flat with.

I eventually head out with a short list of things to get, but not too surprisingly Stok's Systems and the pharmacy are both closed. So is the little cafe that I keep meaning to dine at. So I go to Wimpy's again. Wimpy's isn't bad, it's just so... normal!

In an effort to be at least slightly healthy, I order a Sweet Chili Chicken wrap. When it arrives I take a bite and -- oh my: that must be the most mayonnaise I've ever had in a single mouthful! It's also got a ton of feta cheese, but its a very soft variety and blends with the mayo so I can't even tell where one ends and the other begins. I am a lover of mayo and a lover of cheese. I have never had a sandwich with "too much" of either before, but I must admit this is indeed too much.

Aside from that, the thing actually tastes pretty good. And here is one of the many advantages to traveling to faraway lands: at home I would immediately think "Ugh! Way too much mayo! Awful!" but here I think "Aha! So this is how they do a wrap in South Africa! What an interesting experience!".

I finish it off anyway, and I figure that later I'll order it again without any mayo. Hopefully that will get it more in line with my tastes. And hopefully they they don't just double the feta cheese to be nice.

I also have a cappuccino, which is better than what I'd expect for a cappuccino at a similar level restaurant in the US. While I drink I read a bit of my book, and write in my journal, even though I have a computer back at home. I write until the pen runs out of ink. Then I go buy some new pens and write a bit more.

Finally I head over to Alan & Donna's to say "hi". They're about to have dinner, and I sit with them and nurse a beer while they eat and we chat. There's nobody left at the school except for them, so the place is strikingly quiet. After dinner we sneak over to the playroom and watch the news in Zulu and then about 20 minutes of "Snakes on a Plane" before I head home.

That's right: Snakes.

On a plane.

Bust a Box & Braai

2010-04-10T19:41:30Z

So it seems that often when one volunteers to help, the specifics of the helping tend not to be so dramatic and glamorous. Like the Korean lady Grace that I met on the 22nd: she left behind a career in bioengineering to wash dishes and run bible study at a South African mission. The things that need doing are often fairly mundane. In that vein, I spend all day in my room fixing PCs.

Of course I'm not giving up a bioengineering career, but hey, it's a sacrifice to give up my ten hours per day of pointless internet surfing back home!

My room here is tiny; just enough for a bunk bed and a bit of floor to stand on while getting in and out. There are now three computers, two printers, and a monitor stacked in the corner, and I need some room to work. I take the bottom mattress off the bunk and stow it behind the bed, leaving a low particleboard bench for me to set up on. I put a folded blanket on the floor to soften the tiles, and slide my legs under the bed. I doubt it would pass OSHA standards, but it works.

After today I am fast becoming an expert in breaking into PC's. The Department of Education machines have a password on both the BIOS and Windows Administrator, so you can't really do anything. They don't give anyone at the school the passwords, and there's no service provided, so when something goes wrong, there's no way to fix it.

With my internet connection and Google, however, I manage to find instructions on bypassing these security measures: the motherboard has a "reset" jumper that I use to clear that password, then I can boot from a custom Linux CD that allows me to blank the Windows Administrator password. This is more computer cracking than I've ever done before, and it's damn fun. Maybe I'm breaking the rules, but it's for a good cause. Isn't that what they all say?

Once in, I can install new virus software and repair damaged system files. Over the course of the day I get all three machines back in working order. Such success requires a reward! And a reward I shall have: I call Alan and we plan a braai tonight.

Ah, the braai -- the ritual South African barbecue that many here do multiple times per week. We cast around and find that Simangaliso is free, so we invite him over as well. Donna brings some pumpkin curry, Simangaliso makes some stiff pap, a traditional maize-meal staple that's a bit like polenta, and Alan and I try to get the grill going for some prime rib and marinated chicken we bought at Pick-n-Pay. We meet up at the backpacker's and use circular stone the picnic table in the yard.

As seems to be the case whenever so-called smart people try to get a barbecue going without their familiar tools -- like a chimney starter -- we fail.

The backpacker's had a bag of charcoal and a couple of starter bricks, but even when Simangaliso finds a plastic cutting board to fan the coals, we can't seem to get them to really take. There's bits of glowing red, but not enough to warm my hand, let alone cook a steak. Eventually we realize by looking a little more closely at the charcoal bag that it must have got wet at some point, so I run out and get a new bag.

Once those fresh coals hit the fire, we're off! Sizzling abounds. The food is good, the night is cool and calm, and there are very few bugs. We even share a little red wine and some banana bread for dessert. It's a very good evening in South Africa.

Afterwards I drive Simangaliso home, to The Location. As he's saying goodbye, he instructs me not to stop at the stop sign on the way back to town because there have been carjackings. Then he calls me a few minutes later when I get home to make sure I made it alright.

It's still a very good evening in South Africa.

March 26th

2010-03-26T18:58:48Z

I've been writing a lot since I arrived in South Africa a couple weeks ago. I'm going to start posting today, and I'll try to post a little something every day. However I am going to do it a little different this time: I'm going to keep the posts "friends only", so that I don't have to worry so much about privacy in an increasingly connected society over here. If you want to read the posts, just sign up with LiveJournal (if you haven't already) and "friend" me.

I hope that my thoughts, however slightly filtered, are at least comprehensible. And maybe even enjoyable.

Feedback is most welcome!

Request For a Used Laptop

2010-03-08T17:53:57Z

I leave in just four days! I don't have much time to work this out but it has been requested by Alan and Donna that I try to secure a used laptop computer to bring to South Africa with me. One of their most promising students is Simangaliso, a fellow I wrote about on my last visit on a few occasions.

Apparently the laptop he's been using for his studies has died. He's in his last year of college and they were hoping to help him out. Nothing fancy, just a small Windows laptop that could run Office 07. Because the organization is so small, they do not have official non-profit status, so it's not tax-deductable, but I assure you there's no profit, and it will be put directly to good use.

If you've got something that would fit the bill laying around that you're not using, and that you'd like to donate, drop me a line at...

Update All set!

Blogging in Africa

2010-03-04T04:06:32Z

In just over a week, I'll be leaving for a second visit to South Africa. It's been three years. I'm looking forward to it, as my life here, while fun, hasn't been inspiring me the way it used to. I figure I should get out and just do something positive, and hopefully that will give me the energy and ideas to take on further challenges. Anything to save me from more days just wasting away online!

That doesn't mean I won't be online: I'm still considering whether I should undertake writing a detailed daily blog about my experiences there. I think that writing things down day-by-day last time set the experience much more firmly in my mind than if I hadn't done so. So perhaps I should do that again, to make the most of it. On the other hand my spending several hours each night writing on my computer may have kept me from other adventures... though I can't imagine what they might have been, as overloaded with new experiences as I was!

I think I'm leaning towards blogging it again, but we'll see how I feel when I get there. Another option presented to me by a friend's gift is to do it oldschool in a paper-and-graphite journal. That might be a fun way to go about it, though I worry whether I'll even be able to decipher my own handwriting, as out of practice as I am!

I'm going to be there for two months. I'll be doing the same basic stuff I did last time, to start, though my uncle has suggested that if I see any new and interesting projects come up I should branch off and do them. That sounds fun and scary... two things I tend to like.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the people I connected with last time to see how their lives have progressed, and make more good memories.

Strangely, I think I'm in a more subdued state than I was last time. I was a bit crazy with shaking off enormous work responsibilities when I did my last trip. I was exhausted yet somehow energetic. This time I feel a little less energized. How that will effect my trip I don't know. Perhaps the energy there will get me in gear. That's what I'm hoping, anyway.

Until then, I'm just hanging out and taking a quick visit to Kentucky to see the state of the Zappos warehouse and the people within. I haven't been there in 3 years either. Should be a fun weekend... and then off I go.

Guns, Germs, and Romance

2009-12-21T00:22:00Z

Flying in to Boston I watched the in-flight movie 500 Days of Summer. Really enjoyed it. It's a story that touches on notions of coincidence and fate in love. Highly recommended it if you like quirky, bittersweet romance.

After the movie I was reading my book club book -- Guns, Germs, and Steel. It's about the development of societies around the globe over the past 10,000 years or so, the resulting clashes, and possible reasons for the course that human history ultimately took. It's dense stuff, but I am enjoying it so far. I am the one who suggested this book for the book club. My fellow book club members Lisa and Christa are, as of yet, skeptical that they'll find anything in it to enjoy.

Anyway, at some point I got up to stretch my legs and noticed that a girl in the row in front of me had the same book on her tray table. I was a bit surprised -- even though it's a pulitzer prize winning book, I'd say it falls far short of being terribly common.

In the movie 500 Days of Summer we'd all just watched, there's a part where a chance question by a passer-by about a book one of the characters is reading leads to them falling in love and getting married. And with that setup, here we were. I tried to nonchalantly get a look at the reader.

She was a slender medium-blonde haired girl, probably just a few years younger than me. She had her hair pulled back simply, revealing a cute, attractive face, adorned with thin black rimmed librarian glasses. She wore no makeup and didn't need to. She was the quintessential secretly hot bookworm girl. She was talking quietly with a girlfriend.

I considered this for a moment as I sat back down and continued my read. The flight was almost done and I figured there might be a chance to say "hi" as we disembarked.

On the ground as we all got up her friend spotted my book, which I made sure to keep visible as I got my stuff together. She whispered to her pretty librarian friend, "Look! That guy is reading the same book!" And then with a quiet laugh, "It's fate!". I could only just barely hear their conversation, which was not intended for me, so I didn't look over. The pretty librarian girl simply replied "Yeah, right."

A moment later the friend asked me to get her jacket down, which I did in as friendly and manly a way as I could muster, hoping that she'd mention something about the book I was still prominently holding. At this point the pretty librarian girl had long since put her own book away. Then there was a bit of a hold up as an older lady had some trouble getting her bag down, and I offered to help her. After things started moving again the pretty librarian girl said "thank you" to me, presumably for helping the older lady. Then she headed down the aisle and out herself. I walked out behind her.

I thought that maybe I'd say something to her as she waited by baggage claim, but after walking behind her for a couple minutes on the way there, I decided not to. She never glanced back. I lost track of her a few moments later.

Oh well -- she was probably just reading it reluctantly at the suggestion of some annoying book club guy anyway.

Vodka Tasting Party!

2009-10-19T00:12:36Z

The morning after my first full-scale vodka tasting party was not nearly as painful as I feared it might be. Here is the full report!

The Tasters:

Alex, Austin, Crystal, Dylan, Me, Pawel, Sotheavy

The Contenders:

Belvedere $26.99

Grey Goose $25.99

Effen $25.99

Absolut $18.99

Skyy $14.99

Vitali $6.99

The Method:

Double-blind(ish) tasting, each participant ranks all vodkas, from best (1) to worst (6).

Our vodka experts were invited over for a Saturday afternoon cookout. After the meal we gathered inside for the tasting. I prepared official ballots for the participants. You will note that the ballot lists Ketel One, but this was swapped out for Effen, which Pawel had brought.

(I am amused by the fact that the invite said "if you want anything besides meat and vodka, bring it!", and Pawel brought more vodka. It is for such reasons that we are friends.)

I set out 42 glasses, and Sotheavy helped me label each set "A" through "F" with little stickers before filling. Then, while people played Beatles Rock Band, I filled each with about a half-shot and wrote down which was which. This would normally make it a single-blind test, but I honestly forgot which vodkas corresponded to which letters by the time I was done. I think this officially qualifies as double-blind-ish.

Here is a picture of the spread.

We all did our tasting at the same time, but not in a structured fashion. Chips and lemon wedges were available for palette cleansing. The goal was simply to rank them according to personal taste, not by price or match to the "correct" vodka.

Nobody did them as shots. We all spent a good amount of time going through the process, tasting and re-tasting, adjusting our rankings. I would estimate the group spent about 15-20 minutes working on it.

After everyone had their ranking finalized, it was time to view the results!

And the results are... (drum roll please)

Vodka Rankings (lower numbers are better)

#1 Effen (2.6 avg rank)

#2 Vitali (2.9 avg rank)

#3 Absolut (3.0 avg rank)

#4 Belvedere (3.1 avg rank)

#5 Tie: Grey Goose & Skyy (4.7 avg rank)

Here are the person-by-person rankings.

Analysis

A closer look at the results is interesting. Turns out that Vitali took the #1 spot more than any other vodka (3 times), but also appeared near the bottom on two lists, bringing down its average. Effen only made #1 once, but made nearly everyone's top 3. Absolut got the #1 spot on two lists.

Grey Goose never scored better than #3, and got multiple 5's and 6's. Skyy was very similar. Belvedere was all over the place, appearing in nearly every possible position.

Austin, henceforth known as "The Vodka Kang", came the closest to ranking the vodkas in order of pricing. His only swap was putting Skyy below Vitali. This only lends to his apparent vodka expertise, since before the tasting began he announced (with sincere disgust) that Skyy was the nastiest vodka in the world.

Sotheavy came closest to ranking the vodkas in reverse price order. Her only deviation from that was to put Belvedere at #2, which nicely placed the least and most expensive vodkas as her top pair.

So that's the story with the vodkas. But as as to the people, who won? That depends on your definition of "win". It could be that Austin won with his accurate price-based ranking. It could be that Dylan, Pawel, and Sotheavy won, by discovering they never need to pay more than $6.99 for a bottle of vodka again.

Personally I think we all won, because we ended up low-res and belting out Rock Band songs for hours.

Aftermath

While playing Rock Band, I made up a few fresh strawberry martinis using each person's favorite vodka. (Just mash up a couple fresh strawberries, vodka, and a little lemon... shake with ice, strain and serve)

I think Rock Band went until just after 10PM or so. Then a few of us went out and met up with some other cool people to try the Sunset Carnival. Upon arrival, though, the carnival was shutting down -- before 11PM on a Saturday. This unfortunately puts Henderson on the Lame-O map. We went to Hooters instead and bought a plate of 50 wings. Probably more enjoyable than the carnival anyway.

Seems like we all had fun and learned a little about our vodka preferences. I have heard of no deaths or killer hangovers stemming from the day's activities. And that spells success.

My Final Vodka Thoughts

So it seems that different vodkas do taste significantly different to me. I was skeptical of this early on in my vodka drinking career, since the flavors seemed to range only from "rubbing alcohol" to "good rubbing alcohol". But I've done a few tastings now and as much as I hesitate to admit it, there are definitely some that cause more pain than others.

There is no "ultimate" vodka; everyone seems to have different tastes.

For me, good vodka is as neutral as possible... something with no more taste than water and the burn of the alcohol. I hear that in some of the traditional vodka producing regions this is not the case: vodka is supposed to have distinct tastes reflecting its ingredients and preparation.

I am not a traditional vodka producing region.

Despite years of evangelizing the ultra-non-premium Vitali, it turns out that I really don't like the taste of it at all. But my specific claim that it was "just as good as Grey Goose" seems to to have held up.

I did a little non-blind taste test myself a few weeks back, with Vitali, Smirnoff, Absolut, and Ketel One. Absolut was the surprise clear winner during that test, even though I had never taken it seriously before. The other three seemed noticeably more cringe-worthy to me, even the well-respected Ketel One.

I was surprised to see that Absolut surfaced as my #1 again. I find it an almost pleasant drink. I will consider it my personal benchmark vodka going forward.

For me, the difference between Absolut, Belvedere, and maybe Effen was pretty small. But the difference between any of those and Grey Goose and Vitali was huge.

My original premise, that vodka price is not a good indicator of taste, seems to be holding up so far.

But then, if you're throwing it in a mixed drink, who really cares?

Some may argue that the measure of a good vodka is not only in the taste, but in how one feels the next day. A valid concern -- however my understanding is that vodka has only three things in it: water, ethanol, and impurities. Some degree of hangover is certainly caused by the ethanol, but this is not variable and so is not to be judged. Any significant difference in hangover effects then must be due to the impurities. And I am going to propose that in such a simple beverage, taste is a decent indicator of impurities.

I'm skeptical of hangover causes anyway -- I think it's got a lot more to do with the total quantities of alcohol and water in your body over the course of the night than any particular type of alcohol. With all the crazy things we put into our bodies daily, blaming the fractional percent of vodka impurities for headaches seems a bit of a stretch.

However, anyone who would like to perform a scientific test of hangover effects from different vodkas receives my full encouragement, and deepest sympathies.

Pause and Rewind

2009-09-30T22:48:10Z

Whoops -- I kind of dropped the ball there on blogging about my album. But it was for a reason: I decided that I need to update my personal site which hasn't been updated since roughly 2000. I want to have a sort of central place for the stuff I make and then I'll return to blogging about my album again, possibly in a slightly revised format. I hope to have that worked out within a month.

However in the interest of keeping up my main hobby, which is procrastinating, I haven't been working on redesigning my site for the past few weeks anyway. Here's what I have been up to:

Celebrity Guess Who

Teaming up with The Reverend Brendan Powell Smith who had created a series of fun celebrity-guessing party games over the past year or two, we put together a web version that tests your facial recognition skills and your pop culture knowledge at the same time. My first bit of serious programming in over a year, and my first AJAX project ever, I had a lot of fun making it. I managed to get drawn in enough to pull an all-nighter or two!
All-Day Buffet

I just returned from about 34 hours at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas, where I rented a room for two nights (just $36/night!) and joined my friends Lisa, Dave, and Cheryl for an all-day buffet pass (just $25!). We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner right there. As gross as that may sound to some, it was actually wonderful. There's no gourmet food at the Excalibur buffet, but what is there is well-made and very tasty. Between meals we talked up a storm, played games at the midway, had free champagne, hit the pool, Dave played in a poker tournament, and they all did some general gambling as well. Sophie stopped by for a bit, but could not bring herself to do three buffet meals in one day. I can't say I'd do anything like that again any time soon, but I enjoyed it immensely and seem to have gained only 6 lbs.
Tickets to South Africa

I committed and bought tickets to South Africa for next spring! Eight weeks from March to May. I got a real connection to that place on my last visit, and I've wanted to return ever since. A and D continue to go every year and work in the schools there, and it looks like this year I'll have both the time and money to go help again. I continue to be amazed at how little we understand about what makes a healthy society function, and yet how much we take it for granted. I don't have any insight into it myself, but I want to observe close-up the struggles of a society on the cusp to see what I can learn.

Oh, and the latest TV show that will receive the J Field Death Touch (tm): FlashForward. It just premiered, I like it and I am curious to see where it goes. That means, without question, that it will be cancelled before resolving. You heard it here first.

Nocturne

2009-09-02T15:47:11Z

Over the next few weeks I am going to post about each song on my album in turn. The posts will include the story behind each song, some notes about the recording process, a streaming copy so you can listen while you read, and for the truly curious I'll be putting up the GarageBand files as well.

I think the Garageband files might be interesting for anyone who is recording with GarageBand themselves; to see how the sounds were created and the songs constructed. If you know anyone who might find it interesting, spread the word.

Without further ado, here's the first song on the album, and the first song I recorded for the album...

This past March I went on a two week road trip up the west coast and back with my friend Lisa. We had a great time cruising in her RV, yet I was depressed for most of the trip. I had been going through some dramatic changes over the previous several months, including a divorce, and I had yet to see the light. I'm not sure how apparent this was to her or to the people we visited along the way; I kept it to myself as much as possible. There's sometimes a strange contrast between the interior and exterior.

We got back to Las Vegas in late March, and I remember the first night home I was very glad to be back. Though the trip was absolutely great, there was a part of me that was uncomfortable ignoring my depression for all that time. I didn't know what to do about it, but being back in the house alone I felt awful, yet relieved to be able to let myself feel awful.

One thing was sure that first night home: I couldn't sleep. It was in this insomnious state that I went into my studio for the first time in several months and picked up my guiltar. In the unlit room I plucked out a few unplanned notes: the spare opening guitar line of Nocturne. The resigned simplicity of it and the pacing resonated with me, and so I decided to record.

I knew I wanted the guitar to sound very distant, and slowly approach the listener. Even though the style of the song was very different from what I normally do, it came pretty naturally. I had the intro, first verse, and bridge section recorded in a couple hours.

I felt right away that I wanted the song to be the opening to an album -- not that I actually believed I'd record a whole album at the time; I'd had more than a few false starts on such things over the years. But I liked the idea of setting a tone of sleepy melancholy and then exploring that through several songs. Maybe an album about one lonely night from sundown to sunrise.

I had so much unfinished music I'd accumulated over the years, but I thought to myself that I'd let go of the past, and write all new songs. They'd be more atmospheric, darker, with a deliberate pacing. An album that you could listen to while falling asleep. And then as the morning light came, I went to sleep myself, having completed the first half of the tune.

I let the half song sit on my iPod for a week or two before recording the second half. I listened to it often while driving around in my car. I seem to use the car as a secondary listening room; a way to see how the songs sound when played out in the real world. My car just has a stock stereo, and it's good to hear what happens to the mix on a non-ideal system. But just as importantly, driving around puts me in a different frame of mind from being in the studio, so I get different insights into the music. Eventually I went back to the song and added the second verse and the ending.

The only part that gave me any trouble was getting the last vocal section right; the part that begins at around 2:18. But even that came together relatively easily.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the reaction to this song, which has been very positive. It is a little shorter and simpler than most of the other songs, and in some ways I thought of it as an intro rather than stand-alone. But several people have named it as their favorite tune on the album, so I guess it works well in any case.

Technical Notes:

Like everything on the album, Nocturne was recorded with a relatively simple setup: a MacBook Pro running GarageBand 09 via a Tascam US-122 audio/midi box. Vocals were recorded through a Sure Beta 87.

For instruments: I used a relatively new Schecter electric guitar, the only electric I currently own. My bass is an old Peavey Dyna Bass (in passive mode) bought used around 1993. The keyboard sounds were from GarageBand using my old Ensoniq as a MIDI controller.

The drums on this song are a loop from one of the excellent "Jam Packs" that I got for GarageBand. For years I avoided loops, considering it cheating. But in the past couple years I've got over myself and decided to serve the song over my ego. I found this rhythm loop fit perfectly, and I added only a few fills of my own and the percussion during the second bridge/finale section.

Here is the Nocturne GarageBand file. You'll need GarageBand 09 to open it or, I am told, recent versions of Logic Audio can open GarageBand files too.

I'll be posting about the title track, "Drift" in a few days!

iTunes

2009-08-26T17:23:44Z

As of yesterday, my album is now available in iTunes! Yay!

I think it's amusing that I ended up with a "Parental Advisory" label, but I've only got myself to blame. Without too much thought I flagged "So Hard" as having explicit content when I was adding it to CD Baby. So there you go.

Over the next couple weeks I'm going to blog about each song on the album, and I'm going to release the raw GarageBand files. Crazy? Perhaps -- but I hope it'll be interesting for some people to poke around and see how the songs were put together. I'll try to give a little insight into how and why they came to be, as well.

The songs are available for free download in my July 4th blog entry, and you are welcome to grab them. If you find yourself replaying and enjoying the songs as much as other songs you've paid for, please buy a copy from iTunes, or if you want a hard copy CD, buy one from CD Baby. Otherwise, please feel no obligation!

Honest reviews on either site are also appreciated!

Drift Cover Art

2009-08-19T21:10:04Z

Oh, yes: the album has cover art now. I actually put together most of the cover art the same night I finished the album, back on July 4th. I was originally going to release the art at the same time as the songs, but I thought it needed some additional tweaking so I held it back. Anyway, here is the final cover art, in large-ish form:

All that plus on-disc printing is included with the physical CD. I'm pretty happy with the quality I got from "Disk Makers. The first batch of 50 is mostly gone already, but then again I gave most of them away. Now that the rest are for sale, we'll see if I need to print up any more :)

You can buy one at CD Baby.

Thanks to Sophie for the photographs and creative feedback!

Available For Sale

2009-08-19T07:42:55Z

Finally the album, both as a CD and a download, is available for sale:

Drift at CD Baby

You are of course welcome to simply listen to the copy that I've posted here, but if you'd like to show your appreciation, or if you want a hard copy CD complete with album art and printed lyrics, you buy a copy there.

Sincere reviews are appreciated! Feel free to post your thoughts on that page.

Through CD Baby I should be on iTunes and Amazon eventually, though they've been less than clear about how and when that happens.

Once it's up in iTunes and such, I'll be posting a song-by-song log of my experiences and thoughts recording each track.

My Album

2009-07-04T19:14:08Z

Well here it is. My first complete album of music since I collaborated on the 3 Honkees back in 1994.

Yes, It's been 15 years.

I've done music in that time. Lots of it, but on and off. I never had the time or discipline to record a complete album until now.

Without further ado:

Jonathan Field - Drift

1. Nocturne
2. Everything Is Wrong
3. Drift
4. Paper Time Machine
5. So Hard
6. Don't Make Me Any Promises
7. Pretty, Sad
8. I Still Care
9. You've Got To Start Somewhere
10. So Long

Download a zip of MP3 files here (39MB)

It's all me and only me. Everything was written and recorded in the past couple months as I aimed for the arbitrary deadline of July 4th. I have lots of thoughts about the process and the finished product, but I just pulled an all-night session and it's time to catch some sleep before some friends arrive for a bbq in a few hours.

It's a pretty varied collection of songs. Hopefully you can find a few songs to enjoy, and not many to hate :)

Happy 4th!

Party Pics

2009-05-19T18:26:58Z

Yay! Got some pics from the party. Thanks Crystal!

Birthday!

2009-05-18T20:21:41Z

I just had a great birthday week. Sophie came out and we spent a night at the M resort since I had a good coupon. Then we went to the Mirage to see LOVE and spent a night there too. In a rare moment of true Vegasdom, we hit the casino floor and threw about $100 into the machines. We walked away with just a little over $100, so not too bad.

Then we spent most of Friday buying stuff for a pool party & birthday bbq for Saturday. It was a combined birthday for myself and my good friend Christa, who was also born on this lovely week in May. The party was a big success with some 40 people rocking out by the pool, snacking on cookout food, and generally having what appeared to be a good time. I'd never thrown a party that size before, so it was fun to see it all come together.

Currently, this is the only picture I have from the party. But that works.

Sophie was an amazing help with the party -- making some super Korean Beef and managing the kitchen area for much of the festivities. And the guests were wonderful people that not only brought a great assortment of sides, drinks, and desserts, but they also cleaned up afterwards, too. The next morning upon waking I only needed to sweep the floor and carry out a bag of trash.

Then on Sunday there was _another_ birthday for pal Sotheavy. A big group went to Hostile Grape for delish wine and cheese time.

And now it's Monday. I'm 36. What to do?

Bacteria

2009-04-23T19:02:32Z

I found this presentation pretty mind blowing:

Bonnie Bassler on Bacterial Communication

I kind of love the TED conference; at least the web available video portions. It stimulates an exhilaration in me similar to the way Wikipedia often does. I should hop over there more often, whenever I worry that the world is getting stagnant.

I'm in Rhode Island, for my first niece's first birthday. Visiting with the family and chilling out. And obviously watching videos online :)

Belvedere	$26.99
Grey Goose	$25.99
Effen	$25.99
Absolut	$18.99
Skyy	$14.99
Vitali	$6.99

#1 Effen	(2.6 avg rank)
#2 Vitali	(2.9 avg rank)
#3 Absolut	(3.0 avg rank)
#4 Belvedere	(3.1 avg rank)
#5 Tie: Grey Goose & Skyy	(4.7 avg rank)