Who Dat?

Who Dat?
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Saints-themed iPhone wallpaper in place for tomorrow's game against the Patriots.

Auburn Football

Auburn Football
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Bought a football at J&M Bookstore quite similar to the one I used throw around as a kid with my dad on game days.

Auburn Pig

Auburn Pig
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

A pig donning an Auburn jersey in front of a BBQ restaurant.

Coke Can Santa

Coke Can Santa
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Adorning my in-flight beverage.

Airplane Photography

Airplane Photography
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The view from my window somewhere between Houston & Atlanta.

Christmas Trees At Night

Christmas Trees At Night
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

When we picked up our fresh tree from Lowes for the holiday season.

Post Dinner Football

Post Dinner Football
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

A glass of wine & the Texans vs Titans game.

Puggle Eye

Puggle Eye
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Getting up close & personal with Puggles. Thankfully he didn't eat my iPhone.

Golden Frog

Golden Frog
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

As seen at our local sushi restaurant.

iPhone Flight Tracking

iPhone Flight Tracking
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Plotting my dad's flight home last Thursday via the Airport Guide by iFly app.

Mogwai

Mogwai
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Bright light, bright light!

Tulane Green Wave

Tulane Green Wave
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Too bad that fierce snarl hasn't translated into more wins this season!

Magic Mouse

Magic Mouse
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

They had 3 left at the Apple Store this evening, so I decided to pick one up for use as a travel mouse during next month's flying frenzy for school & graduations.

Saints!

Saints!
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Although not pretty, the team moves to 9-0!

Tulane vs Rice Football Game

Tulane vs Rice Football Game
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Tough loss for the Green Wave, but still made for a fun Saturday.

Google Wave Invites

Google Wave Invites
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Still waiting for the Wave team to replenish my account.

Lunch at Grimaldi's on The Waterway

Lunch at Grimaldi's on The Waterway
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Patio dining on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

Fine Blended Scotch For Dogs?

Fine Blended Scotch For Dogs?
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Ok, it's actually liver gravy, but I like to think I've given Puggles discerning taste.

Puggles' 3rd Birthday Spread

Puggles' 3rd Birthday Spread
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The little guy racked up, & even scored some Guadalajara takeout as a bonus.

Grimaldi's To Go Menu History

Grimaldi's To Go Menu History
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

A little bit about its East Coast heritage.

Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria

Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The new Grimaldi's Pizzeria has opened next to Waterway Square. I have a deep affection for New York style pizza...mmmmm.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

An oil portrait of my dad from his Army days, taken on his birthday.

Wall of Honor

Wall of Honor
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The Veterans Day display setup in the lobby of my office.

Moving Down The Pain Scale

Moving Down The Pain Scale
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

As you can see, modern medicine has devised a very precise method of measuring such things. I will say, though, going from face 8 to face 2 feels pretty good.

Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Ida
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

I know Hurricane Season technically doesn't end until November 30, but come on, barreling into the Gulf this late is like going into a restaurant 15 minutes before it closes. Poor form, Ida.

JW / Electronica Classics 032: BT's 1995 Essential Mix

Photo Courtesy of Adam Jackson

This week's selection is particularly memorable, and not just because of Pete Tong's intro which seemingly reveals his personal stance on Essential Mix recordings. It's also notable because it's Brian Transeau's debut on the BBC mix show.

One of my first electronica album purchases was BT's "Ima" and I've considered myself a fan of his work ever since. His performance in New Orleans during the "Movement In Still Life" tour was also my first show at the French Quarter House of Blues way back in September of 2000.

While he's had a few artistic missteps over the years, *cough* ahem *cough*, he's also managed to put together some of the most moving electronic music arrangements in history, such as This Binary Universe (seriously, if you buy no other BT album, buy this one). Further, he's been involved in the development of a rather entertaining iPhone music app, called Sonifi.

His Essential Mix from 1995 gives an excellent representation of his earlier sound, and as an added bonus contains the "Sasha's Voyage of Ima" mini-mix from Sasha which was the highlight of Disc 2 of the Ima album. BT has been plagued throughout his career with accusations of being somewhat unskilled at mixing records, and this Essential Mix was even rumored to have been mixed by fellow DJ pal Guy Ornadel. It's then perhaps unsurprising that BT would feature a 45 minute long "track" (which is what "Sasha's Voyage of Ima" is classified as) in his two hour long mix, but said track really is fantastic music, so I'm not one to nit pick. The nearly two minute long crescendo of that track which ends at the hour and 35 minute mark of this Essential Mix is downright delicious.

Regardless of BT's mixing efficacy, the man is undeniably a skilled musician & producer which his nearly 20 year body of work clearly demonstrates.


BT - Essential Mix 1995-09-24
Download Link

01 - Kitaro - "Heaven and Earth (Land Theme)"
02 - G.T.B. - "Entropy"
03 - G.T.B. - "Sketchpad"
04 - B Tribe - "Nanita"
05 - B Tribe - "Nanita (Dub)"
06 - Sheila Chandra - "Zen Kiss"
07 - Riverdance - "Riverdance"
08 - Seal - "I'm Alive"
09 - Smashing Pumpkins - "Rhinocerous"
10 - Bernie Kraus - "Equator"
11 - Elastic Reality - "Casa De X"
12 - BT - "Relativity"
13 - Mary Kiani - "I Imagine (EMF Mix)"
14 - BT - "Sasha's Voyage of Ima"
15 - Cyborgasm - "Cyborgasm"
16 - Libra feat. Taylor - "Anomaly"
17 - Dean Evanson - "Forest Rain"
18 - Libra feat. Taylor - "Le Chakra Sexuel"

The Elixir of Love

The Elixir of Love
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The angled stage setup for this opera beared an uncanny resemblance to Super Mario RPG. Yes, video games shaped my world view.

Houston Grand Opera

Houston Grand Opera
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

A banner in the lobby of the Wortham Center for the last performance of The Elixir of Love.

House Party

House Party
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The keg of Newcastle at my buddy Alfred's Stock The Bar Party.

Auburn Homecoming On ESPN360.com

Auburn Homecoming On ESPN360.com
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

With only two games left in the season, both televised & one of which I'll be at, 2009 will be the first season in which I'll have been able to watch every single game.

Twitter Week In Review 2009-10-31 To 2009-11-06

@pineoaks Pictures or it didn't happen?

8:40 PM Oct 31st from Tweetie in reply to pineoaks

@pineoaks Doing pretty good since surgery was only a week ago. Gotta get off the meds soon, though. Make me wacky pants (yes, moreso). ;-)

8:56 PM Oct 31st from Tweetie in reply to pineoaks

Spent all afternoon compiling research & recommendations on the topics of SEO & social media for a new non-profit. Yeah, school project.

5:54 PM Nov 1st from Tweetie

Posted this week's JW/Electronica Classic: Desyn Masiello's 2004 Essential Mix; deliciously smooth prog house tunes! http://bit.ly/1WRRA9

7:26 PM Nov 1st from TweetDeck

Well that's weird. Just had this Facebook Captcha verification window pop up in Adium. http://twitpic.com/o1il9

2:53 PM Nov 2nd from Tweetie

Who Dat!

7:34 PM Nov 2nd from Tweetie

RT @mikemcguff: CompUSA retail store returning to Houston - http://is.gd/4Lvog

9:46 PM Nov 2nd from Tweetie

Had a brief trip to my office today for the 1st time since surgery so I could pick up a new company laptop, a decently spec'd out Dell model

10:07 PM Nov 3rd from Tweetie

Pretty remarkable video showing all the major Apple product announcements from the past 10 years: http://bit.ly/3iwH2f

7:44 AM Nov 4th from Tweetie

RT @ginatrapani: Laughing at @big_ben_clock. (tx @kiala)

11:07 AM Nov 4th from Tweetie

@dsilverman Any way you could ping your PR man Charlie @ Comcast about that 80/20 DOCSIS 3.0 rollout? http://bit.ly/3YIqSY '09 nearly done!

5:14 PM Nov 4th from Tweetie

@saralytle Probably an Auburn or Alabama hat/shirt/jacket given its calendar proximity to the Iron Bowl. ;-)

6:31 PM Nov 4th from Tweetie in reply to saralytle

The Google Dashboard stats border on scary if you're a heavy Google user. https://www.google.com/dashboard/

8:09 AM Nov 5th from Tweetie

@joshuatopolsky That's awesome. I still have these .mid's on a floppy from the late '90s. Who needs MP3s? ;-)

4:13 PM Nov 5th from Tweetie in reply to joshuatopolsky

Got a ton of work accomplished today, both w/work & school; there are only 29 days of class left, so it's crunch time!

11:02 PM Nov 5th from Tweetie

@rgremill I'll be rooting for you guys! If there was ever common ground between Auburn & LSU fans, it's a mutual disdain for Saban. ;-)

8:43 AM Nov 6th from Tweetie in reply to rgremill

I'm making it a Sinatra kind of Friday morning...nothing but the best is gooood enough for meeeeeeeee!

9:43 AM Nov 6th from Tweetie

RT @csukach: RT @USArmy A moment of silence is planned for 1:34 PM CT - please join us in remembering those who lost their lives.

9:44 AM Nov 6th from Tweetie

Blue Six's "Beautiful Tomorrow" is perhaps my favorite Friday feel good album of all time. I'm smiling already. :-) http://bit.ly/15C8bY

12:35 PM Nov 6th from Tweetie

Shorter day of work let me catch up on class lectures in the PM; worked on editing a video for my final project in the evening...yay iMovie!

9:48 PM Nov 6th from Tweetie

Excellent Article On Social Media Ethics

I just shared this link with my ethics professor via e-mail, but thought it was notable enough to post here, too, as I believe it raises some very poignant ethical questions.

I'm a pretty strong advocate of social media & a fairly heavy user of it, but this article will likely make me take pause the next time I think about whipping out my iPhone to snap a picture when I witness something newsworthy. It's important to self-filter some things, even in times of crises like the Fort Hood shootings or the Iranian election protests. Deciding "what" to self-filter in an age of social media permeation represents one of the most interesting ethical questions of our time.

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/07/nsfw-after-fort-hood-another-example-of-how-citizen-journalists-cant-handle-the-truth/

Daily Communications Portal

Daily Communications Portal
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Adium & Tweetie...the bread & butter of my social graph.

Sofa Pet

Sofa Pet
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

He stayed in this position for an hour today just observing me as I worked.

Corporate Latitude

Corporate Latitude
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

My new Dell work laptop atop its temporary stand, a stack of business school textbooks.

Tulane Box

Tulane Box
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The rear of my desktop computer from my undergraduate years.

Birthday Card

Birthday Card
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Since it was his birthday card that came in the mail, I thought it only fair he got to choose what to do with it.

Temporary Mission Control

Temporary Mission Control
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Finally got a couple of computers setup in my new home office amidst the unpacked boxes. Only a short term solution while I pick out new office furniture, but it's nice to be back on full keyboards & external displays.

Trout Almondine

Trout Almondine
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Ash & my mom whipped up a great New Orleans dish for the Monday Night Football game of the Saints. And as an added bonus? Bananas Foster for dessert!

Patio In The PM

Patio In The PM
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

The Fleur De Lis chair catches the last bit of sun.

Paparazzi Puggle

Paparazzi Puggle
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Caught by surprise!

Twitter Week In Review 2009-10-24 To 2009-10-31

Testing out the developer preview of Google Chrome in Snow Leopard. Super snappy so far, and no browser blow-ups. Looks promising.

10:22 AM Oct 24th from Tweetie

Renewed my Flickr Pro account for the 4th year in a row; ironic that Yahoo has gotten more money from me in that time than Google.

11:03 AM Oct 24th from Tweetie

@mwikkid Hope you have a nice time in Houston, man. :-)

11:18 AM Oct 24th from Tweetie in reply to mwikkid

Sitting down to watch the Auburn vs LSU game with Ash, my mom, & Puggles...War Eagle! :-D

6:25 PM Oct 24th from Tweetie

Another tough football Sat for JW w/the Auburn & Tulane losses; hoping the Saints & Texans can salvage the weekend 2 weeks in a row!

10:06 PM Oct 24th from Tweetie

@mintyone Certainly not a notable showing for my Tigers this evening. They need to find a way out of their malaise! Congrats to your Tigers.

10:14 PM Oct 24th from TweetDeck in reply to mintyone

@brianthiggins I use VMWare Fusion 2 on both my MBP & Ash's MacBook, although I'll be upgrading each to version 3 on Tues for Aero support!

7:27 AM Oct 25th from Tweetie in reply to brianthiggins

Posted this week's JW / Electronica Classic: John Digweed Live at Pawn Shop WMC 2007; a personal running favorite! http://bit.ly/prKFx

9:27 AM Oct 25th from TweetDeck

@brianthiggins I used Parallels in early '08, but not since. Fusion seemed to squeeze out most power. Fusion also updates more frequently.

9:41 AM Oct 25th from Tweetie in reply to brianthiggins

Ack, doesn't look like the Saints game will be on TV this afternoon here in Houston. Might need to track down *cough* alternative broadcast

11:06 AM Oct 25th from Tweetie

RT @CaliLewis: Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media - http://bit.ly/4dnNRf

8:03 AM Oct 26th from TweetDeck

Naturally my office's remote access functionality would crater on my 1st work day post-surgery. Come on Citrix tech gods...toss me a bone!

8:15 AM Oct 26th from Tweetie

Sheesh, upgrading VWare Fusion to version 3 made this morning WAY more complicated than it should've been; get your license servers fixed!

8:13 AM Oct 27th from Tweetie

An entire stack of saltine crackers can disappear before you know it.

11:16 AM Oct 27th from Tweetie

Spent my day inside z/OS inside Citrix-ized Windows XP inside Windows 7 inside OS X. It'd almost seem silly if it wasn't how I did my job :)

4:57 PM Oct 27th from Tweetie

Busy with work today, but spent the PM playing around with Windows 7 in VMWare Fusion 3; Windows 7 really pops w/the Aero features enabled!

9:58 PM Oct 27th from Tweetie

Giving the installation of Ubuntu Karmic Koala a whirl before doing some homework this evening.

6:55 PM Oct 29th from Tweetie

Dear health anomalies, I have more willpower and/or gadgets than you, so quit screwing with me. Love, JW. XOXO :-)

6:29 PM Oct 30th from Tweetie

@csukach Thanks Chris, almost there...just some minor speed bumps. And willpower/gadgets always win out in the end, right? ;-)

9:08 PM Oct 30th from Tweetie in reply to csukach

@rgremill Looks like it's on ESPN GamePlan PPV so also ESPN360.com for free if you're on Comcast http://bit.ly/14RQKO & http://bit.ly/2k1O0h

8:17 AM Oct 31st from Tweetie in reply to rgremill

Here's a live webcam view from my backyard. Crazy Halloween-loving neighbors! http://bit.ly/13F3Ra

10:18 AM Oct 31st from Tweetie

Wow, Google Maps has lot / property division line overlays in residential areas now.

1:17 PM Oct 31st from Tweetie

Great win for Auburn...War Eagle!

2:57 PM Oct 31st from Tweetie

JW / Electronica Classics 031: Desyn Masiello's 2004 Essential Mix

This week's selection is one of those mixes that seems to sound as fresh on the 1,000th replay as on the first. Dare I say it's also one of the most danceable selections out of all 31 currently in the Classics series.

I've never had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Masiello perform live (he doesn't get to the southern US much, aside perhaps from Miami...which isn't even really "the south", but I digress) though I've been a fan of his work for a number of years. His collaborations with fellow DJs Demi & Omid 16B under the collective moniker "SOS" have also yielded delicious results, such as their Balance 013 compilation and the notable SOS Boat Party cruises around Miami & Manhattan. I intend to feature a recording of one of those cruises as a future installment in the Classics series.

In the meantime, enjoy this wonderfully smooth two hour mix from Desyn Masiello.

Desyn Masiello - Essential Mix 2004-10-03
Download Link

01. Krak + Smak - Keep on Searching
02. An-2 - Venus
03. Serge Santiago vs Kano - It's a War
04. Ethan - In My Heart (Edit)
05. Rex The Dog - Prototype
06. Unknown - Unknown
07. Scissor Sisters - Mary (Mylo Mix)
08. Deep Dish - Stay Gold 2004 (Unknown Mix)
09. Arcade Mode - Your Love (Sebastian Ingrosso Remix)
10. Jakatta - One Fine Day (Livio Romanian Re-Edit)
11. Unknown - Unknown
12. Harry Peat - Affrodizziac (Asad Rivi Remix)
13. Diego - Intermezzo
14. Sebastian Ingrosso & John Dahlback - Lick My Deck
15. Bush 2 Bush - Soulshock
16. Asad + Tangun - Untitled
17. Leftfield - Not Forgotten (Edit)
18. Inner City - Pennies From Heaven (Edit)

Western Jack-O-Lantern 2009

Western Jack-O-Lantern 2009
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

It also yielded some delicious roasted pumpkin seeds.

Tulane On ESPN360.com

Tulane On ESPN360.com
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Good to catch the Green Wave in action, even if it entails a bit of a routing by LSU.

Halloweened Out

Halloweened Out
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Puggles just couldn't hang any longer.

La-Z-Boy Dreaming

La-Z-Boy Dreaming
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Once the tax return comes in the Spring, this chair will be mine...oh yes, it will be mine. So comfortable!

Pepper In A Tough Economy

Pepper In A Tough Economy
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

For scale, that little pepper is only slightly larger than a quarter. Papa John's feeling the pinch!

Rainy Day Lounging

Rainy Day Lounging
Originally uploaded by Juston Western

Nothing like a stuffed baseball to prop your head upon.