Packed And Ready To Go!

This is me for the next 27 months 

How does one pack for a trip that lasts for 2+ years? It definitely takes a bit more planning than a weekend getaway. For me it starts with a detailed packing list. Thailand is hot year round, so all my warm weather clothing stays home. There's this thing called "riap roy", which I believe is their version of business casual, so I'm bringing what I consider to be an excessive number of polo shirts. (three)

Actually, I'm bringing very little clothing, as almost any apparel can be purchased there for dirt cheap. Thailand is notorious for their knockoffs. My focus has been on bringing items that I'm not certain will be available, or my favorite versions of them, like my plastic cutting boards and wooden mixing spoons. I've stashed two quality kitchen knives and a Magic Chef carrot peeler. I even squeezed in my salad spinner. I'd bring my blender, juicer, and food processor if I could. Obviously my priority is with kitchen tools.

I believe I am packing light, as I only have one large suitcase, a duffel, and my laptop bag. I could carry on my duffel and check another large suitcase, but it would be a huge pain to get around. A few other specialty items I made room for:

500 GB Hard Drive: Not only is it handy for backing up important files from my laptop, but I've caught wind of a flourishing black market hard drive exchange among peace corps volunteers. You never know when you might meet someone with decent taste in movies and music.

Trail Running Shoes: I limited myself to just two pair. I figure I can pick up some cheap road shoes there. Additionally I am bringing my hydration pack, about 5 pounds of GUs/electrolyte tabs/etc, and my Garmin watch. There are a lot of runners in the PC community. Looking forward to running some races with them.

Big Boggle: One of my favorite games. The letter cubes are also handy in the classroom.

Handheld GPS: I was so glad I brought my geocaching gear with me to Japan, so it was a no-brainer to bring it with me to Thailand. Hiking is more fun when there's a treasure hunt along the way.

Portable iPod speakers: I've lost track of how many trips and countries they have been with me. Perfect for listening to music around the house or on the beach.

Crossing my fingers that both bags make it to my final destination. I'm off to Seattle in the morning, and then Thailand on Saturday.

Top 50 Albums

As promised, this is my list of my favorite albums. I used almost the same formula as before, but instead of multiplying the score by hours of music, I added 10% of the total minutes of the album. So if the album is 49 minutes long, I added 4.9 to the score. Here are my current Top 50 Albums:

1. Florence + The Machine : Lungs
2. Beck : Guero
3. Black Keys : Brothers
4. Page France : Hello, Dear Wind
5. Mindless Self Indulgence : If
6. Sufjan Stevens : Invites You To Come On Feel The Illinoise!
7. Elliott Smith : New Moon
8. Death From Above 1979 : You're A Woman, I'm A Machine
9. Morcheeba : Parts Of The Process
10. Be Your Own Pet : Be Your Own Pet
11. Decemberists : The Hazards Of Love
12. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club : Beat The Devil's Tattoo
13. Natalie Portman's Shaved Head : Glistening Pleasure
14. Beastie Boys : Check Your Head
15. Grand Ole Party : Humanimals
16. La Roux : La Roux
17. Queens Of The Stoneage : Songs For The Deaf
18. Marilyn Manson : Antichrist Superstar
19. Gossip : That's Not What I Heard
20. Brian Jonestown Massacre : Take It From The Man
21. White Stripes : Elephant
22. White Stripes : White Stripes
23. Beastie Boys : Ill Communication
24. Tegan & Sara : So Jealous
25. White Stripes : White Blood Cells
26. Duke Spirit : Cuts Across The Land
27. PJ Harvey : 4-Track Demos
28. Eagles Of Death Metal : Death By Sexy
29. Nine Inch Nails : The Fragile
30. Arcade Fire : The Suburbs
31. Dandy Warhols : Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
32. Bass Drum Of Death : QB City
33. Dandy Warhols : The Dandy Warhols Come Down
34. Beck : Midnite Vultures
35. Apples In Stereo : Tone Soul Evolution
36. Kills : Midnight Boom
37. Nirvana : Bleach
38. Wolfmother : Wolfmother
39. Sufjan Stevens : The Avalanche - Outtakes & Extras From The "Illinois" Album
40. Franz Ferdinand : You Could Have It So Much Better
41. Beulah : The Coast Is Never Clear
42. Strokes : Is This It
43. M.I.A. : Arular
44. Avett Brothers : Mignonette
45. Jeff Hanson : Son
46. Incubus : Morning View
47. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club : Baby 81
48. Franz Ferdinand : Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
49. Thao With The Get Down Stay Down : We Brave Bee Stings And All
50. Boy Least Likely To : The Law Of The Playground

I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below.

Top 100 Favorite Bands

When I was younger, I used to spend days creating Top 100 lists of my favorite bands, using various criteria to determine what order to put them in. Eventually this task became so overwhelming that I gave it up.

About a year ago I decided to give it another go, but I wanted to use the iTunes song ratings as a prime factor in my ranking formula. So I've slowly been working my way through all my music, awarding each song a score from 1 to 5. I should mention that for me, a score of 1 is an average song. Anything that is below average I delete. I do not keep every song from a band or album, simply to maintain a complete collection.

I'd estimate that 75% of my music is comprised of songs rated 1 or 2. Another 20% are 3's, and the remaining 5% are 4 and 5. I created a simple formula to determine each band's score. It is as follows: (A+B) x C = D

A = Sum total of all song ratings from a band/artist
B = Total number of tracks I own from a band/artist
C = Hours of music I own from a band/artist
D = Band/artist score

I realize this penalizes bands which have music I have been unable to acquire yet. As I continue to add music to my iTunes, I will update this list. As it stands now, this is simply a snapshot of my favorite bands based on the amount of their music I choose to keep and listen to on a regular basis.

I welcome all comments and/or angry rants about why your favorite band ranks so low or is off my list entirely. I plan to do a later post on my favorite albums, ranked in order.

1. Beck
2. PJ Harvey
3. Elliott Smith
4. Sufjan Stevens
5. Brian Jonestown Massacre
6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
7. Beastie Boys
8. Nine Inch Nails
9. White Stripes
10. Dandy Warhols
11. Nirvana
12. Apples In Stereo
13. Black Keys
14. Avett Brothers
15. Jesus & Mary Chain
16. Smashing Pumpkins
17. Radiohead
18. Kristin Hersh
19. Gossip
20. Portugal. The Man
21. Decemberists
22. Of Montreal
23. Belle & Sebastian
24. Marilyn Manson
25. Delinquent Habits
26. Doors
27. Sleater-Kinney
28. Morcheeba
29. Jack Johnson
30. Pixies
31. Black Sabbath
32. Blitzen Trapper
33. Mindless Self Indulgence
34. Prodigy
35. Queens Of The Stone Age
36. Spoon
37. Beulah
38. Tricky
39. Franz Ferdinand
40. Led Zeppelin
41. Cold War Kids
42. Offspring
43. Incubus
44. Travis
45. Cure
46. Smiths
47. Cat Power
48. Devendra Banhart
49. Shins
50. Death Cab For Cutie
51. Okkervil River
52. Depeche Mode
53. Muse
54. Tool
55. Morrissey
56. Portishead
57. New Pornographers
58. Cuff The Duke
59. Supergrass
60. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
61. Mazzy Star
62. Fruit Bats
63. Beatles
64. System Of A Down
65. Throwing Muses
66. Rage Against The Machine
67. Kills
68. Alela Diane
69. Strokes
70. City And Colour
71. Snow Patrol
72. Feist
73. Death From Above 1979
74. Coldplay
75. U2
76. Red Hot Chili Peppers
77. Rogue Wave
78. Nada Surf
79. Rolling Stones
80. Fiona Apple
81. Cult
82. Badly Drawn Boy
83. Band Of Horses
84. Ben Folds (Five)
85. Page France
86. Matt Pond PA
87. No Doubt
88. Thievery Corporation
89. Wolfmother
90. Dr. Dog
91. White Denim
92. Hives
93. My Morning Jacket
94. Breeders
95. Voxtrot
96. Belly
97. Iron & Wine
98. Brendan Benson
99. DeVotchKa
100. David Bowie

Top 15 WORST Movies of the Decade

No fancy posters and stats for this post. These films aren't worth it. You can seek out more info on them when you have absolutely nothing better to do.

In order to make this list, a film not only had to be terrible, it had to make me ANGRY at having viewed it. They have no redeeming value. I want everyone involved with the production of these abominations to be severely punished. I want people who like these movies to punished.

Obviously, I had to chose from films I had the misfortune of seeing. I realize there are perhaps hundreds of other movies I could have added to this list. Hopefully I dodged a bullet by not seeing them, so please don't add comments asking me why this or that POS movie didn't make my list. If I didn't see it, it's not here.

Please DO add comments that defend any of the titles listed below...

...so I can make fun of you and your terrible taste in film.

These are in order, with #1 being the worst film of the decade.

#15 Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)

#14 The Cell (2000)

#13 A Day Without A Mexican (2004)

#12 Battlefield Earth (2000)

#11 Georgia Rule (2007)

#10 Little Nickey (2000)

#9 Speed Racer (2008)

#8 Running With Scissors (2006)

#7 The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

#6 The Brown Bunny (2004)

#5 The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (2005)

#4 The Polar Express (2004)

#3 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)

#2 Don't Mess With The Zohan (2007)

And the WORST movie of the last decade? (and Oscar winner for Best Picture to boot)







#1 Chicago (2002)