Volcano music

Evidently those clever scientists are using music to predict when a volcano will erupt. Check out the link. It even has a 'volcano song' on it. Pretty cool stuff. Makes one wonder if music exists in everything. I, for one, believe it does.

Link courtesy of Coast to Coast AM

Volcano Music

Retreat Mind Playlist

Away on my 10 days of silence, sitting alone in a room,
deep concentration.

Some people wrestle with manic rivers of thought, too preoccupied
with attainment or the coming meal.

A musical disposition appears in front of me,
as both blessing and tormentor. Damming up the river is
easy.

A random song appearing from nowhere
is not.

On my meditation retreat, there was, on average, one random song a day that would appear in my mind during the quietness of deep concentration or during a 2hour walking meditation session. Here is a sample, by day, of songs that plagued my calm state threatening to unleash a hurricane of thoughts disturbing my illusory perception of 'silence'.

Day Uno(1) - Deacon Blues - Steely Dan

Day Dos(2) - Head over Heels - Tears for Fears

Day Tres(3) - Peg - Steely Dan

Day Quatro(4) - I want to know what love is - Foreigner

And on a long ass walking meditation Day cinco, much to my dismay, the Linkin Park song "in the end" popped into my head as I was walking up one of the many mountains. After those days I was able to keep it pretty quiet thankfully. The entire ordeal reminded me of one Zen retreat I was sitting where I had the song 'Maneater' by good ol' Hall and Oates on repeat in my head. So everytime I would ask myself a koan I would be answered with 'She's a Maneater!'.

Read the minds of bloggers around the world.

This site is crazy. It is a sort of search engine that allows the user to search blogs worldwide based upon a feeling. The lay out is pretty nifty as well. If you click on the 'murmur' section it continously lists different sentences from various blogs based upon whatever feeling you want. It is like having access to some sort of 'universal mind' allowing the user to read the thoughts of millions of people.

We Feel Fine

NOTE: thanks to Beesucker at Authentic Personality for the link.

Sleep Inn Play by Play

While working at my lackluster hotel job, there are many colorful characters whom I come into contact with. Not so surprisingly when people complain about this or that, whether it be about ants in the room or people making noise in the hall, they will blatantly ask for some sort of compensation for their inconvenience. Usually they just bitch, leave through the front door, and that is it. An elderly couple added a new dimension to the term complaint. I have never been handed a play by play rundown of a stay at this hotel until about a month ago. These two delightful individuals were staying at my hotel to attend the Mayo Hospital, which is located about 2 miles away. The first run in was with a tall, fat old guy who was drunk on his own anger and irrational. There was absolutely no pleasing these people. They had some sort of exotic bird in the room (yes our hotel allows pets). It seems that this bird was quite fragile because there were strict things that had to be done to keep it happy. Stuff like keeping the room at a certain temperature and keeping EVERYTHING on in the room so it would not get upset and afraid. It seemed like no matter what anybody would do, we just could not do it right.

I counted down each day waiting for the day that they would thankfully be gone. The only problem was that they continuously extended their stay night after night. Finally that day came that they would be checking out. I was contacted via telephone by a lady whom claimed to be this ancient couple's daughter in law. She was absolutely pissed that there was no manager to bitch at about the little bird. I apologized and fowarded her call to my manager's voice mail system. THEN no longer than thirty minutes later she showed up in the flesh at the front desk. She began yelling at me, saying that she was completely unsatisfied with what had transpired these past several nights and how it was unsatisfactory that there was no manager on board. I told her I could help her as much as I could, which wasn't much. I stood there listening, arms folded. She accused me on not wanting to help her because she could 'read my body language which said that I didn't want to help her'. I responded with a ' I am just listening to you, that is all.' Oddly enough she was accompanied by the lovely fat, old guy whom had bitched several days before. He never said one word. She then handed me a note and demanded I read it. SO I did. It is priceless. I had to make a copy of it. It is a sort of journal of complaints about the past days. Here it is in all of its glory, transcribed ver batum from the note(except for my little comments)

-Tues May 2, 2006

Check in was to be 1 room 2 Queen beds (note: we don't have queen beds so I paused immediately and said there are no rooms here that have this, so I don't know where they got this idea from) but was 1 room 2 double beds. Date was wrong also key cards didn't work(note: which happens when a cell phone or anything else touches them).

-Wednesday May 3, 2006

Had to be at hospital early and did not have breakfast. Returned late to a room with the air off, the TV off and the lights off. We have to leave air, lights and TV or radio on for our bird. Complained at desk. Also key cards did not work.

-Thursday May 4, 2006

Went to breakfast no eggs available and oj out. Waited 30 minutes and still no eggs after telling girl who was stocking breakfast. Room was okay on return, lights, TV + air on.

-Friday May 5, 2006

Breakfast coffee was so strong undrinkable(note: keep in mind that the coffee at our continental breakfast if brewed EXACTLY the same way all of the time). Apples in basket were going bad. The girl was stocking so much food in bins that the lids and doors would not shut. Went to hospital. Upon returning to the Sleep Inn, key cards did not work again. Upon entering room. Air was left on BUT lights were out and TV was off. Because air was on and lights off room was cooler than desired for our pet. We had also left notes to leave air alone and DO NOT turn off TV and lights. Complained at desk again!!!!! (note: this is the best entry in my opinion, at this point I am holding back laughter)

-Saturday May 6, 2006

Went to breakfast. No eggs again. 3 packages of oatmeal, same apples, no orange or apple juice (note: which will happen when you push the wrong button on the juice machine). Rather than continuously checking and stocking supplies, the girl over stocks or doesn't stock at all. When she restock she puts new item in front or on top and leaves old items behind. ADVISED THE Desk NOT TO ALLOW any one in room.

END NOTE.

What would you have done in my situation? I shook my head and said,"some of these things are beyond our control. We do not know what the 'ideal' temperature for a bird is....Come on some of this is ridiculous."

And so passes another day in the exciting world of the hospitality industry. She ended up getting, I think one or two free nights...all because of a little bird and its loneliness. One curious thing to note is that while this lady was describing this bird, she made sure to mention the price that the bird was purchased for in hopes that I would then understand her plight. So my question is: If a bird is worth 3000 dollars or is free, does its price make its life more or less 'special'.....?

The Blood Rain is Back

A sign of the times?

Blood Rain

A 70 Year Mineral Addiction

Don't have enough money to feed yourself? Try this:

Massive mineral consumption

A possible solution to feed the world's hungry: Tell them to eat a moutain.

Vocal Nausea

It can be said that Hell is a state of mind. In this case, hell is infringing upon mine. I stand amongst the hospital patients consuming their continental breakfasts, spying a tearful farewell. A terminal patient slated for surgery at the Hospital getting his head hugged and stroked in a consoling fashion; this may be his last week as a resident of earth.
All I can hear, in addition to the overly dramatic repetitive mexican soap opera music blaring from the lobby tv mixed with Elton John favorite 'Candle in the wind', is blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Seems an overly ambitious, albeit nice, employee has been infected with language nausea. As a result, my ears bleed from a constant sonic onslaught testing my patience and mood. I cease to hear instead listening to the tone and basic sound that is being uttered. I hear not the words sputtering forth, only reacting to the tone of voice answering with the stock responses of 'uh huh', 'sweet', and 'wow'. Inserting a little laughter as a reaction to theirs if necessary and they will continue seemingly unaware. The question is do these people, stricken with the debilitating disease of motor mouth nausea, realize that they are not being listened to? This leads me to conclude that they talk as much as they do as a probable reaction to not being listened to in the first place, probably for the majority of their life.

Enter conspiracy mind: I think that this person is an alien. Why? A strong attatchment to Star Trek. I think that this alien is here observing and studying me along with the rest of the human race. This is the reason for the constant chatter as well as odd looks and awkward demeanor. The spewing of words is a way to constantly measure the reactions that humans have to the perpetual word train testing such things as body temperature, voice timbre, and facial reactions. Exit conspiracy mind

Thank you conspiracy mind for always providing such entertaining ideas about things.

Hotel hint #543
When residing at hotel, Scout the room for bugs, such as a centipede that was found in one of the rooms here. Any spotting of bugs should be brought immediately to the attention of the staff. A free room will more than likely be awarded to the lucky tenant (see hint # 152).

Hotel hint # 152
When checking into a room at a hotel, seek out the knowledge of whether or not the hotel has any sort of 100% satisfaction guarantee. This can lead to all sort of free or discounted things.

Hotel hint # 1
Contrary to popular belief, hotel room rates are somewhat negotiable. The original price quoted usually can come down anywhere from 5-20%.

"Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."

"Uh, huh."