by simon baird

Thursday, June 19, 2008

source of flowchart

i should have mentioned... it comes from here i believe:
http://toothpastefordinner.com/


poster


Tuesday, June 17, 2008

banjo etc

by popular demand here is a banjo status update. i have strings. ebay is good. i strung it up being careful to put the bridge back just where it came from. the little hooks were a little fiddly. i used a pin to help secure them. i was having trouble tuning it until i realised the bridge was about an inch closer to the neck that it should have been. so the poor banjo has been quite tuneless for who knows how long. i nudged the bridge into the right spot and now it sounds lovely. so i am using the G tuning. is that a good one? D/G/B/D (starting at the fat string, since i'm a bass player). the other thing is i'm missing the tuning peg for the fifth string. it's the little runty string at the top. stevie says he might be able to find it in his room. but he can't remember to look for it. so it looks like i'm either going to try to get a new one or go to his house one day with a metal detector. (i've heard he isn't particularly good at housekeeping).

in other news on the weekend i had a monster garage sale and sold loads of junk to strange people who visit garage sales. a guy across the road bought all my old video games and consoles for $80. this includes: sega megadrive (possibly broken) sega saturn, two (mostly) broken dreamcasts, a snes and a ps1 and miscellaneous games. (the gamecube and n64 sold at our last garage sale). also i sold the scooter. farewell you. we had our good and bad times. like when your keys when missing and no-one could figure out how to make new ones and then finally when i had a key they didn't put you back together right and i couldn't open the seat to put fuel in but it didn't matter because you stopped working after that and let me ride a push bike to work for oh about three months until you were back on the road just long enough to wear out your water pump propeller and overheat and wreck the cylinder and piston which i (stupidly) decided to repair only to have you stop working again with problems no mechanic in town could fix until my mate from work's friend sorted you out and you've been going pretty well ever since. like when you taught me how it feels to lean and accelerate though the little s bend on lindeman avenue and the time i made you go on the ring road bridge and i knew you had to be replaced by a proper bike. farewell.

no words

so i ordered my tickets via the uk web site. they're not here yet. they should arrive soon right..? this video on youtube has me in pieces. if they play this song (and they will) and they have those glockenspiels and those amiina girls playing strings (they will) and that brass band enters the stage (it will) i may explode into elemental particles. more here. ps, i didn't know my itunes had many wrong track names on takk. do a select all, advanced, get cd track names if you thought that song was called hufupukar.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

To the commenters on Lily Allen's myspace blog

Okay, I get it. You love Lily. She rawks and is teh best. We agree on that, but do you have anything else to say? Well?

Monday, June 09, 2008

thanks gmail (this is how much spam gmail saved me from in the last 24 hours)


A poem by Elora (age 6)

A poem that rhymes
Is an old timed
Is teeth and breeth
With very good treeth

palm creek highlights

Palm Creek Folk Festival was nice. Went there from about 2pm until about 9pm on Saturday. Serious people arrive Friday afternoon and head home Tuesday. I can see why. Bumped into lots of people. Fire dancing was pretty good. Missed the flumes and hannah hartman. :( Saw dave (the hardest working man in show biz) on his way from one gig to another. Hung out with gai and charles. Got an autographed cd from rosie burgess. There's a different vibe with the youth festival component. It's nice. More soccer moms and dads than hippies, but in a good way. Kids having a brilliant time. And some killer high school bands, though they needed a decent bass amp. I will lend them mine next time perhaps.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

no panflute

this flow chart can be applied to many things other than the pan flute. for instance:
  • shower radios
  • "crocs" or croc knock-off sandals
  • hacky sacks
  • tinted headlight covers
  • saxophonists
post your list in the comments...

Saturday, June 07, 2008

poem

night highway
visor up
no sound but wind roar and engine hum
no scenery
only road and oncoming headlights
senses alert
mind empty
alone

i remember to use high beam and the extra visibility gives me a little burst of exhilaration
my lips are sensitive to air turbulence variations
my cheeks are sensitive to fluctuations in air temperature
my left thumb is learning new controls

trusting the machine
trusting the road
not completely

Fwd: Audiosurf scoreboard alert - Dethroned: bye bye bad man

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Audiosurf Scorekeeper
Date: Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 5:52 AM
Subject: Audiosurf scoreboard alert - Dethroned: bye bye bad man
To: simon.baird@gmail.com

Audiosurf scoreboard alert - Dethroned!

You used to have the worldwide best score for: bye bye bad man by the stone roses

Now the Audiosurf player '-=[SSB]=- KirbyMan' has beaten you. Get back in the game and reclaim the top spot!

View High Scores for bye bye bad man by the stone roses

Friday, June 06, 2008

pics

the mayor made a speech

there were some cute choi kwang do kids

there was some maori poi dancing

and a band played