On Thursday, I had an accident in the Burbank Mall parking lot. I have no idea if that triggered what is happening now, or if the events are unrelated, but I am having a sequel to my initial kidney stone from last year.

Friday morning, I woke up with screaming pain. I could tell almost immediately that it was another kidney stone. Dammit! The pain lasted all day. I was trying to “man up”, and just work through the pain, but - damn. It was just insane.

Saturday. Wake up, and I was only slightly constipated (hey - don’t complain - this is a full disclosure blog - you will get details like that!). Yay. False alarm? Seemed like it. Went upon the daily routine.

Sunday morning, 4am. Woke up starving…and in extreme pain. Fuck. Spent most of the day drinking water and lemonade, eating (with, sadly, no food leaving my body - bloat!), and in agony. By mid afternoon, I was lying in the shower, spraying scalding hot water on my abdomen (kidneys). It was the only thing slightly easing the pain. By 8pm, it was too much. Unlike the previous kidney stone, I needed medical attention.

I checked in around 8pm, Sunday night. I was asked my pain level (1 to 10). It was a 5…and growing!

After waiting over an hour in extreme pain (my pain level was around 9), I finally got some pain meds. I say finally because of all my fun allergies. Thanks Mom for being allergic to most pain meds, and passing that along to me! Another 20 minutes, and I was finally starting to relax, though the I.V. hurt.

I guess we have finally hit the future. No x-rays here. A fancy catscan machine (Toshiba!?!).

After waiting for close to another hour, we finally got the results. “You have a kidney stone”. Duh! I know! Remember? I said that when I walked in! A 7mm stone (slightly bigger than a quarter inch) is currently trying to make it’s way down, but was lodged. Fun.

Thanks to my new friend Vicodin, I am typing this blog up. Sadly, thanks to my new friend, I am typing this. The explanation: The meds they gave me in the hospital were great, and got rid of my pain. That, sadly, is not what the doctor gave me to take at home. The Vicodin got me to sleep, but I woke up at 4am (again!) in screaming pain. Another round in a hot shower, and now I’m doing somewhat ok (at 5:06am).

I’m going to be a bit hit or miss online for the next few days. I will report when this thing finally passes, and I can hopefully be in a pain-free world again.

Fuck. Getting one of these damn things sucked. Now another one? UGH!

A few notes on the last picture. I grabbed the first shirt I could find to put on to go to the hospital. Figures it was Mode. And, as for the candy…it was on sale. $1 a pack. I’ll have treats for months. Hey - I deserve it. I’m friggin’ giving birth here!

So I went to the Burbank Mall on Thursday. I’m leaving Bed, Bath And Beyond and heading back to my car. I see a puddle, and thought nothing of it. Sadly, my Adidas sandals did not agree with the oil and water mixture of the puddle…

I slipped with my left foot, and ended up landing on my right knee. As I was falling, I could tell my right knee would end up nailing the pavement hard, so I tried to instead lean into my right fist, and have that soak up most of the fall. Sadly, I forgot I was holding my car keys in my right hand.

It’s a few days after. My right knee/leg is sprained, and my fingers are bruised. Even typing hurts.

Grrr…..

Stupid puddle!

Ok, so I put out the call on the official DM Forum, the Depeche-Mode fan forum, my Twitter and my Facebook accounts to all the Depeche Mode fans. Let’s hit Twitter with a LOT of #depechemode related traffic. Not “spam” per se, but let’s all type a lot about #depechemode.

And you know what? While we did not make the Trending Topics on Twitter, we all got DAMN close! According to hashtags.org, while we did not crack the “Top 10″, we did peak at a very respectable #17! Not bad for very little preparation, and doing minimal promotion. Imagine what would have happened if I had promoted the event on DM’s official Facebook profile (over 800k people)!

So, say you were one of the people who participated today (and there were a good size number of you all). Say you want to keep doing this. Well, it is easy to keep doing this…

EVERY time you send a “tweet” on Twitter, include #depechemode. You can type it #DepecheMode, or #depechemode. Just make sure you do not type a space between “depeche” and “mode” (#depeche mode - that is wrong!), and make sure there are spaces between what you type and #depechemode (I love Shake The Disease #depechemode). Also, for the most effect, DON’T mention the other Trending Topics in your tweet! A few people did that today, and all that essentially does is waste your tweet.

I might organize another Twitter Blitz soon. In the meantime, thanks to all who helped out on the experiment, and keep tweeting #depechemode!

Hey Depeche Mode fans. I am looking to conduct an experiment, and I need your help…

This is something that I, as a fan, am doing, and not something officially related to my “9-to-5″ job.

I want to see if we, the Depeche Mode “masses”, can take over Twitter.

I don’t want to spam Twitter, but I do want to see if we all can talk about Depeche Mode enough to make #DepecheMode a “trending topic“.

So, here goes.

Monday morning, starting at 9am EST (eastern time), I want you all to log into your Twitter accounts and spend THE DAY “twittering” about Depeche Mode. Don’t spam, but just talk about Depeche Mode…a lot! Link to recent videos of the Tour Of The Universe on YouTube. Link to your favorite music videos (all available in the video area of depechemode.com). Put a link to your favorite songs on iTunes or Amazon. Just make sure you spend the day (and I mean the full day) “twittering” about Depeche Mode.

What’s the point?

First, I want to see just how much the “masses” can affect Twitter. If this works, I want to conduct a test afterwards to affect the Singles charts. Second, there’s something in this for you. For your time, and your “twittering”, I will reward you…but ONLY if #DepecheMode appears as a “trending topic” on Twitter. If I see that happen (find me on AIM to alert me - username “bratmix”), I will pick five random people on the list, and send them a Depeche Mode prize (promo CD, stickers, et cetera).

I want to see if we can really cause a trending topic to happen. And I want to do it without blatant spamming! I just want you to talk about #DepecheMode a lot.

Examples of what to “Tweet”:
#DepecheMode lead singer Dave Gahan is hot!
I love Shake The Disease by #DepecheMode
I’m watching Waiting For The Night from #DepecheMode new tour footage (tinyurl link)

Remember, starting at 9am EST on Monday, July 6th (and for the day, or until #DepecheMode is a “trending topic”), start Tweeting! Let’s get #DepecheMode noticed!

“Tweet” this to all your Depeche Mode friends on Twitter:

BRAT wants to do a #DepecheMode tweet test, and he needs our help: http://tinyurl.com/ms4p87

One of the things I do for one of my clients is to go and police YouTube. Basically, I go through YouTube every few days, and search for the latest uploads. If items are taken from officially released home videos, from their web site, or are literally just CD rips with a still image, I yank them. Simple. Boring. Life.

While searching, I stumbled upon this one girl, who made a few funny little clips about Depeche Mode. A small video blog. I don’t know…maybe it’s just me, but I found the videos funny. Lots of fans make fan videos, or sing along to songs, but I thought that these videos were just cute…and didn’t scare me like a lot of the fan clips do! So…I decided to reward the person with a DM Prize Package(tm)!

After a few emails back and forth, I got her mailing address, and sent her the new Sounds Of The Universe box set, as well as some other DM goodies lying around in my garage. The video is linked below.

Side Note #1
I actually do this more often than you would expect. I usually don’t talk about it, but I sort of have to mention it now since there is a video on YouTube, “outing” my charitable ways.

Side Note #2
Want to be a winner like Katrina? Soon, I will be re-introducing the goodies giveaway on depechemode.com. Watch the DM site for further updates…

Side Note #3
Some random pics of my garage, and DM goodies just waiting to find a new home…

View Katrina “Unboxing” Her DM Prize Package:
View View on YouTube

Nora, upon seeing the artwork for Depeche Mode’s Sounds Of The Universe, said it looked like a fondue set.

I guess that’s all I needed to get me going…

www.fondueoftheuniverse.com

A cheap fondue set, Testers model paint, some black spray paint, and a grey posterboard.

I have officially lost it.

In celebration of frying my last few overworked brain cells, my new theme song…

Napoleon XIV
“They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” (play mp3)

And if you’re truly adventurous, below is the original b-side of the 7 inch release. It is literally the entire song, backwards. Note the Italian sounding vocals at the end…errr…beginning…uhh…

Napoleon XIV
“!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er’yehT” (play mp3)

Now if you will excuse me, I am off to moderate YouTube trolls and MySpace spam.

AN ALERT FOR ALL DRUNK ASS, INCONSIDERATE, CLOSET-GAY, ED HARDY-WEARING, DOUCHEBAG BASTARDS (AND TUPPERWARE BREASTED, I-CAN-SEE-YOUR-RELIGION, DRIPPING WITH “THE AIDS”, TRAMP-STAMPED WOMEN)

Stop coming to concerts that I attend.

Seriously.

I am trying to hear a quiet part of the Nine Inch Nails show. Do you honestly think I give a fraction of a FUCKING FUCK about your life? I did not pay hard-earned money to hear you whine to your friends about shit. I did not drive hours on end to hear you and your drunk friends screaming “WOOOO!”, followed by “What is this song? I’ve never heard it.”

FUCK OFF!

Here - enjoy what I have all over my NIN recording from last night:

douche
Live, Irvine, California, May 20th, 2009 (play mp3)

Today, I grabbed Nora, and my little digital recorder, and drove to Irvine. Yes…Irvine. Definitely not my first choice for a concert venue, but at least I got to see Nine Inch Nails.

As you can see from the picture above, the 5D MkII would have been wasted where I was sitting (and you thought I had hookups for tickets - HA!). There would have also been the risk of me using the 5D MkII as a weapon against the drunk Ed Hardy / Affliction ASSHOLES who felt that their conversation was much more important than my enjoyment of the show. Between asking them to shut up, and telling the drunk fat bastards who kept seat hopping in front of me and Nora to move so she could see, the concert experience was not “great”. Great set from Trent, but the assholes, mixed with the crap seats and the lack of closed circuit screens for about 90% of the show (thanks a lot, Irvine), made the experience a bit “meh”. I won’t even mention the three hours of 405 traffic, or the fact that my stomach was not in the best of shape for the duration of the show. Oh well…at least I got to see Trent. Plus, my recording of the show turned out a hell of a lot better than I expected it to…at least, until the assholes started running their mouths off. Again…oh well.

Terrible Lie
Live, Irvine, California, May 20th, 2009 (sample - play mp3)

Thanks to Trent Reznor for allowing fans to record. Sweet!

I just received a DVD-R (actual DVD-Video format, not just a data disc) of some video to upload.

Stupid disc would not rip for crap! “DVD Player” would play the disc, but it appeared to be playing nothing. The Finder window for the disc said “0 items”! Using the Terminal to read the disc got me this:

BRAT:SONY_DVD_RECORDER_VOLUME brat_mac$ ls -al
ls: .: Permission denied

WTF!

How about the permissions of the disc? Hmmm:

d–x–x—

WTF! Why would a DVD-R standalone burner burn a disc like this!!?!?

Fine. Brute force:

BRAT:SONY_DVD_RECORDER_VOLUME brat_mac $ cd VIDEO_TS
BRAT:VIDEO_TS brat_mac $ ls -al
total 5921600
dr-xr-xr-x 2 brat_mac brat_mac 456 Jan 2 2004 .
d–x–x— 3 brat_mac brat_mac 88 Jan 2 2004 ..
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 12288 Jan 2 2004 VIDEO_TS.BUP
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 12288 Jan 2 2004 VIDEO_TS.IFO
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 98304 Jan 2 2004 VIDEO_TS.VOB
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 36864 Jan 2 2004 VTS_01_0.BUP
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 36864 Jan 2 2004 VTS_01_0.IFO
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 1073709056 Jan 2 2004 VTS_01_1.VOB
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 1073709056 Jan 2 2004 VTS_01_2.VOB
-r-xr-xr-x 1 brat_mac brat_mac 884240384 Jan 2 2004 VTS_01_3.VOB
BRAT:VIDEO_TS brat_mac $ cp VTS* /Volumes/*Mode

Logic on this: All DVDs have a “VIDEO_TS” directory, so I changed directories to where
the disc said there was nothing, and - viola! - there WAS something! A simple copy command (cp), and now I have the DVD.

A huge F U to Sony for making a machine so user UNfriendly!

I want my 20 minutes back!

So, to all of you hitting this blog from a Google search for “SONY_DVD_RECORDER_VOLUME” won’t rip, try this (on a Mac):

* put the disc in
* open “Terminal”
* Change directories to the disc (most likely “cd /Volumes/SONY_DVD_RECORDER_VOLUME”, without the quotes)
* Change directories to the VIDEO_TS folder (”cd VIDEO_TS”, without the quotes)
* Copy the VOB files to another drive (”cp VTS* ~”, without the quotes - that would copy the VOB files to your home directory)

Hope I saved you some headaches!

A nice shot using the 5D MkII. This is 10:30am in my computer room. Note no overhead lights. I have the natural light from the blinds, and on the Jerker desk (I already know the jokes - please stop) I rigged up some cool running Dioder lights from Ikea. So what’s the problem?

THE MESS!

I am a neat freak. You wouldn’t know it from looking at that picture though. My desk is cluttered! My computer desktop is cluttered! My home office is stacked to the ceiling with discs and tapes that are still waiting to be archived. I don’t get any free time for myself anymore. Literally. I’m actually compressing a web clip while typing this!

I need a maid.

I don’t need an intern. I don’t need someone to do the work, because by the time I explain how to do the work, I could have done it already…twice over. I need a maid, to seriously give this place a proper scrubbing, and sort my crap!

You think I’m lying? Try looking at the picture above, over-exposed (in Photoshop)…

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go try and walk three feet from my desk without tripping over something…