Rachel Ober
Life & Times of a Female Software Engineer
I Will Never Be The Same – Standby
Jul 27th
I Will Never Be The Same - Standby
“Standby” is the freshman album from “I Will Never Be The Same“. The man behind the band is newcomer Josh Atchley. From the band’s website, he details that through a year and a half of writing, playing, production and marketing, he has started from scratch to create the apocalyptic sound of “Standby.”
Atchley is the write, lyricist, and sole album band member (except for help on some of the drumming) which reminds me of Trent Reznor solo efforts with his band Nine Inch Nails. Atchley and the live band members of I Will Never Be The Same have started touring the album on the west coast (sadly, I have yet to see anything performed live or on video by the band.) He has dreams of touring the band across the country and hopefully, around the world.
His live band members include of course himself, Josh Atchley (Vocals, Lead Guitars, Keyboards), Brittany Bao (Keyboard/Synth), Taylor Haycraft (Guitars), Francis Ten (Bass), and Adam Waldon (Drums). Haycraft and Ten are also of the band “West Indian Girl” that specializes in some serious psychedelic music, not my cup of tea but check it out if interested!
The album starts with the contemplative “Prelude” and segues into the powerful “I Am Not The One.” “Worldless” exhibits the eminent warnings from the previous tracks and then glides into the electric “Starfields.” Atchley apparently is a fan of fire and includes two tracks alluding to the destructor, “Burn” and “Set Your World On Fire” have much grittier vocals but keeps to the beauty of the album. The other tracks on the album include thoughts and missives to another, the speaker alone and recalling the past. “Eyes Turning Black” is like the final chapter of the story, the world has died with everything with it. The sense that someone has died and the life you saw in their eyes has “faded to black.” “Superloop” is the ending thought that concludes with “Cry Little Sister,” a cover of the “Lost Boys” soundtrack theme by Gerard McMann and Michael Mainieri.
My favorite tracks off this album are “Worldless,” “Starfields,” “Last Goodbye,” “Eyes Turning Black,” and “Cry Little Sister.”
Here is a full track listing:
- Prelude (1:42)
- I Am Not the One (4:18)
- Worldless (3:25)
- Starfields (4:39)
- Burn (4:46)
- Speak (4:14)
- All For You (5:48)
- Last Goodbye (5:45)
- Set Your World On Fire (5:34)
- Eyes Turning Black (5:29)
- Superloop (5:27)
- Cry Little Sister (5:00)
You can pick up the album (electronic download only as of now) via your favorite electronic store: Amazon.com, iTunes, Fixt or eMusic. Also be sure to check out the band’s MySpace (if even just to listen to the music I talked about here), Facebook Page, and Josh even has an entertaining Twitter account as well.
And there you go, my first attempt at an album review! 
Check out this album and let me know what your thoughts are.
Necessary Evil
Jul 27th
So some back story…
I’m trying to write a site game going on another domain http://landofrhul.com and also I write silly fantasy stories on the side about this fantasy world I’ve created. To keep my mind somewhat organized in what I’ve created as dogma, I keep a wiki of concepts, characters… etc. The only wiki I’ve ever been somewhat pleased in was MediaWiki. If you’ve ever tried to dance with this beast, I am sure you will agree with me that it is a very ugly girlfriend and you wish you never looked under that hood.
Anyway, I haven’t really found anything I liked better so a while ago (I’m talking years) I installed it on my DreamHost server and tried to use their one click install robot to maintain it for me to try and keep what little sanity I have left.
Short story, that robot suck balls because after a few updates the actual site was unreachable because the database and code got unsynced and the shit just hit the fan and I was graduating last year and I just didn’t feel like dealing with that mess.
Actual photo of scene
Today I finally spent a little time while eating lunch and was able to recover some of the data from the RhulWiki. Thankfully, I found an old version of MediaWiki, installed it, and loaded it with the old database and it seems everything is intact or semi intact. (Good news for me.) I have a bunch of information up about individual species and that’s kind of the primary source of information for a bunch of stories and stuff.
Whew. I hate MediaWiki but it’s kind of a necessary evil for what I want to do, I really needed a decent wiki to draft information on stuff I was writing. Now I gotta move the old pages to the new database I set up with the most recent software. I don’t know if I’ll ever update the software again after this mess.
The Bad Side of Cute
Jul 24th
An ugly cupcake enacts his revenge.
I thought I’d write a short post on a very awesome web comic. I first heard about Kawaii Not from a present for my last birthday.
Do you like cute? Are you sure you like cute? Do you like sick humor? Do you like cute things with sick, twisted humor? Then you’ll love Kawaii Not!
One of my favorites...
Kawaii Not started off as a webcomic done by Meghan Murphy who does some neat-o looking vector graphic-y artwork. It involves everyday objects anthropomorphized into cute objects doing sometimes innocent, sometimes grotesque, things.
In 2008 she compiled together 100 of the strips and included them in her book, Kawaii Not: Cute Gone Bad.
So check out her site and let me know which perverted cute object story is your favorite. 
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Jul 17th
Harry and Pepper are no longer on speaking terms. Photo: CBSNews.com
OH NO. Stop the presses! Mother Nature has pitched us another curve ball.
Just when the world was getting comfortable to the idea that homosexuality indeed DOES exist in nature and that it wasn’t just some fluke that humans made up, the world’s favorite pair of gay penguins have apparently BROKEN UP.
Pepper and Harry were in a loving relationship for 6 years at the San Francisco Zoo’s “Penguin Island” and were even given an abandoned egg to hatch, nurture and raise together. Known to take long walks by the water side and spend hours gazing into each other’s eyes while preening, they were the epitome of happiness and a favorite among zoo guests.
This all changed after a secret chance meeting with a recent window, Linda. After her mate, Fig, died earlier this year, Linda quickly set her sights on the unsuspecting Harry.
Harry’s conflicted heart drove him to attend a Christian homosexual recovery camp and overcome his “homosexual desires” to return to a sinless life. He returned to the burrow he shared with his mate of 6 years and emotionlessly stated that their relationship was over.
A violent confrontation among the love triangle proved to me emotional and stinging, a triumphant home-wrecker waddled off with Harry and a wounded Pepper was left with an empty burrow, and heart.
Help Send a Blogger to Antarctica
Jul 17th
Meet your new room mates!
Mostly doing this so I can mimic Mr. Brandon.
There have been other “blogging” contests (like the one to win the “Best Job in the World”) out there but here is another one to amaze you.
Would you ever want to go to Antarctica? No, me neither. But apparently this guy does.
Quark Expeditions is searching for an official blogger to join a voyage to Antarctica. I’ve thrown my hat into the ring. When it comes to travel blogging I think I’m the guy for the job.
Getting to Antarctica is pretty simple. I need to have the most votes by September 30. I will probably need several thousand to win. If I win, you’ll get a front row seat to view Antarctica through my eyes and my camera lens, and as always, you’ll be able to ask questions and make requests to me directly. If I win I’ll even do a video of me doing snow angles in Antarctica.
All you have to do to vote is visit my page on the Quark Expedition contest site and click on the button that says “Vote for Me”. That’s it.
