blog.bagaki.com

On this Hindu New Year take some time to remember your roots and look for new beginnings. But always remember your love of NMR.

[audio:http://mywebspace.wisc.edu/kjkolonko/web/Hooray.mp3]

No this isn’t a story about me and my rekindled friendship with an old professor, this is the story of my really crappy Tuesday.

I woke up and rolled to look at the alarm clock, 3:06AM. “Damn, it felt like I slept for longer than that” I thought to myself, having fallen asleep only a few hours before to the fading sounds of internet television. I rolled back over and closed my eyes hoping the next time I opened them would be at the sound of my alarm at 9AM. I felt like spoiling myself and thought I would sleep in for a change.

I lied there trying to fall back to the wonderful world of REM sleep. I was hoping to be whisked away to one of my breathtakingly realistic dreams in a land of craziness where people wear hats for shoes and hamburgers eat people. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen, not today. I rolled back over and looked at the clock… 4:18AM. I already knew it was going to be a long day. I started planning the day, figuring a nap after lunch to make up for the lack of sleep I wasn’t getting at the moment. I checked the clock again, 5:01AM. Now it was to the point where I was deciding if I should get up or keep trying for what would be four measly hours of sleep. I would give it one more shot. No dice. I checked the clock and saw 5:36AM and though heck with it and got out of bed.

I stumbled into my office and fired up the beast of a computer that was sleeping so peacefully. I figured if I can’t sleep I might as well be productive. I wrote out my goals for the day and ground up some coffee.

It was a very productive morning indeed. I updated a couple of websites, among other things, including www.bagakienterprises.com, which is now standards compliant.

It was around 11am that I started to feel the need for a quick nap. I crawled into bed and just started this amazing dream where I was…. RING, RING, RING. It was a business call and I remembered that I had changed my voicemail over the weekend as a joke and I couldn’t have an important call be sent to that kind of message. If Mr Bagaki new that a client heard some goofy message I would be hung. I jumped up and took the call, time of day: 12:11PM. I did a bit more work and around 1PM turned off my phone and reset my message. I was finally going to get the now much needed nap before finishing up my tasks for the day.

I woke up at around 4PM. The afternoon sun was beating in and had warmed my apartment to a balmy 82 degrees. I jumped to open my bedroom and office windows. I walked into my office and approached the window. As I reached to open the window I felt water squish up through my toes, a lot of water, too much water to not be a problem.

I quickly checked the radiators for a leak, nothing. “Oh shit, it happened, the freaking water is seeping in.” I ran over to the computers, the water was worse over there. My biggest fear. I had to move all of my equipment, and fast, from the corner that was taking in water at an alarming rate. I could literally watch the water spreading across the carpet.

It took me only 30 minutes to disassemble my office network of servers, routers, workstations, monitors, and countless feet of speaker and cable. It’s funny because initially when I moved in it took over 12 hours to set everything up, and there I was hucking 65 lb monitors into my bedroom faster than Bruce Jenner in the 76 Olympics.

I was lucky. Even though all of my cables and wires were sitting on a saturated carpet they hadn’t been there for long. I was able to wipe everything down and nothing (that I can tell at this point) was damaged.

So the next 3 hours were going to be spent sucking water from the carpet, gutting my apartment and moving most of what I had in my office into another unit across the hall that happened to be vacant.

By the time the maintenance men arrived there was a considerable amount of water saturating the carpet and a small lake pooled outside, draining into my office. When the shopvac arrived we sucked out 15 gallons and couldn’t keep up. It was coming in as fast as we could suck it up. Luckily there was a couple of guys outside moving snow and diverting the water away from the building which was now starting to slow the flow of water into my office.

So here is the worst part, excluding the 10+ hours it is going to take to set everything up again and the two days of downtime, a professional cleaning service came to clean up the water damage. They sucked out more water and by this time the lake out back was flowing away from the building and the leak was being patched. Apparently the chimney outside my apartment had separated from the foundation and water poured in the gap. So after ripping up my carpet and underpadding, which will all have to be replaced tomorrow, the cleaning service used some nasty chemicals to prevent mold and mildew from forming. The smell from this is sickening. I don’t even want to think about how it is poisoning me. Not only that but they set up three large blowers to dry the floor and walls.

So long story long lets skip ahead to after I went out for dinner. I got home about 8:50PM, exhausted and ready to climb into bed and relax before getting a good night’s rest. I threw in a movie and started to doze off. The chemical smell was starting to permeate my bedroom now and it was making me sick. I finally started to doze off at around 9:30 only to wake up at 10:30 sick from the fumes. Even with the windows open my apartment wasn’t airing out. I started looking at my options. Sleep in my car, sleep at the apartment across the hall on the floor in a sleeping bag, or get a hotel room. Mabe I could sleep on someone’s couch. Nothing sounded as good as my own bed. So I went for a walk to get some fresh air. That felt good. So now here I sit in bed at 2AM Wednesday morning unable to sleep typing this long winded and often rambling story about my bad day.

I put a fan in the window in the office exhausting the air which seems to be working fairly well. Fresh air is being drawn in through my bedroom into the office. At least I don’t have any fumes in here anymore and can sleep in my own bed if my body would let me. I wish I had some Nyquil or something to knock me out, but so it goes. To cap the night off I made a cup of tea to settle my stomach and help me fall asleep. I forgot about it steeping and now it tastes like shit. I’m still drinking it out of fucking spite.

What a day. You know I didn’t even bother getting angry. All I know is I better win the fucking lottery today after all this shit. Then I can buy a hose and soak the whole fucking apartment just for fun.

Here are a few pictures I took after I got everything moved out of the water.

And as a special treat, here is the message from my voicemail if you were not lucky enough to have called and heard it.

[audio:http://blog.bagaki.com/images/2007/03/bagakidotcom_audioblog_2007_03_14.mp3]

Hello loyal readers and passerby’s, I’m off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of work. Mr Bagaki has unlocked my shackles and is releasing me from my basement prison for a few days to celebrate work for a bit. I’ll be off recording a seminar, which will be pretty fun because I get to play with a very expensive camera. Not only will I be working but I will also be evaluating the equipment at hand to see if it is something bagaki.TV may want to purchase. I actually have to prepare a freaking report for the big cheese upon my return. This is what I think of the cheese.

[audio:http://blog.bagaki.com/images/2007/02/cheese.mp3]

The story behind the cheese

I will try to make a few remote posts, maybe use the boss’ blackberry if I can. I just don’t want crippled thumbs, because then what do you have? Until we chat again I wish you all the very best, but don’t worry, I’ll see you again real soon.

Since my last audioblog contained a bit of profanity, and we all know the f-bomb blasting from your work computer’s speakers isn’t cool, we cleaned this one up at bit. Please enjoy my tribute to Otis Redding.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/audioblog dec 2 2006_mixdown.mp3]

Wow, the weather has certainly taken a change where I am these days. Highs in the teens, wind chills near zero degrees or below up north. I am sure glad I am apartment squatting in a more southern region than I claim residence…. at least for the week. (Props to the apartment’s rightful owner, I am indebted) So I was digging in the archives and realized the last audioblog was in August. That is just not acceptable. And since Mr Bagaki was on my case about new content, I thought a remote audio blog was the answer. Plus I have been too busy the past few days to even make a single post. (I know there is going to be a pistol whipping for that) So in my moment of despair I decided to pump out a remote audio post. The sound quality isn’t near that of the fine studio that Mr Bagaki provides back in dog patch, but it will do for now. I just hope big boss man doesn’t start requiring I carry around the fancy mic, I already have too much junk with me.

This has been meteorologist Gurt Luhrman.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/audioblog_dec1_2006_FINAL.mp3]

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/2006_08_10_thetenth.mp3]

Today we present to you… the sound it makes. Enjoy these fine sounds taken from the natural world we live.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/2006_08_02_thesounditmakes.mp3]

Please take a moment to visit today’s sponsor: kevinsemlak.com

Back from the dead, bagaki.com presents…
The Audioblog

This will be the first of 31 daily audio clips inspired to spark interest in the site, the format, and ignite our creativity. Suggestions, comments, and ideas always welcome. Interested in becoming a guest on the audioblog, let us know - we can make it happen.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/2006_08_01_bulbous.mp3]

Headlines from around the world, straight into your ear canals. You better pay attention, it just might pertain to you.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/2006_05_14_headlines.mp3]

Meteorologist Gurt Luhrman takes you on an adventure cruise with his weather forecast. Thursday: partly cloudy, high around 62…

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/2006_03_30_weather_forecast.mp3]

Do you find modern ring tones annoying? Are you tired of hearing “la cu ca racha” or some terrible rap song every time someone gets a call? NOW YOU CAN FIGHT BACK!!! That’s right folks, download this wonderful ring tone and piss off everyone around you.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/ringtone_010.mp3]

Are you bored with the ringtones out there today? Are you tired of hearing 20 second songs and TV show themes every time someone gets a call? WE HAVE THE SOLUTION. That’s right, for absolutely no cost to you; we are bringing you this once-in-a-lifetime-offer. We are giving you the opportunity to download our ringtone #446 for absolutely FREE!!! We only ask of you that you tell a friend. If you promise to tell at least one other friend about this ringtone, you can have it at no cost or obligation to you. Let’s make this world a better sounding mess, lets use bagaki brand ringtones. Please enjoy on the LOUDEST ring setting!!!

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/2006_02_11_manspelt.mp3]

The Year of the Bagakimus

Celebrating another year of bagaki, we would like to take this time to reflect on our accomplishments over the past 12 months. Looking forward, we hope to continue with the momentum generated by the events of 2005 and hope to make 2006 the best bagaki yet. Happy Bagakimus from everyone at bagaki.com

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/bagaki_dotcom_2005_1228.mp3]

BiggPappa Apologized for rude link. After posting a link to a photo of a woman urinating in the snow, biggpappa contacted us to offer a formal apology to any and all readers he offended. You may listen to the apology by clicking on the link below.

[audio:http://bagaki.com/lib/audio/blog/bagaki_dotcom_2005_1207.mp3]