That’s why in the video to her recent release, “Anyone But Me,” viewers initially see only brief flashes of her “alter ego” alongside the blonde, preppy version of herself that, in reality, couldn’t be any more opposite. “I’d change me if I could / if it could help” is the main hook of this dynamic song, all about managing the delicate balance of who you are with what you feel like others want you to be. I am not only a huge fan of Mandi’s particular brand of angsty punk rock heavily influenced by Amy Lee of Evanescence, but also her bravery and honesty. It takes major guts to bare all of that in a song for countless listeners to...
Every console generation pretty much had something. You had Track and Field on the NES, the incredibly expensive Lifecycle set for the Super Nintendo, and even games like Dance Dance Revolution really helped gamers get off of their butts to work up a sweat. But it wasn’t until Wii Fit came out back in 2007 that fitness games would become a whole lot more than just a simple gimmick. I’ve touched on my personal fitness journey a few times in the past, but I think it’s important to mention how important Wii Fit and the balance board was for me. Wii Fit became a part of my everyday routine and I lost a lot of weight and gained a lot...
You may find yourself living in interesting times. The world we knew two months ago is gone, and there is time enough at last, to finally go through those projects we’ve been putting off for one reason or another. Today, I wanted to explore and possibly repair an old unidentified typewriter that belonged to my late aunt for many decades. A small disclaimer though, I am not an avid typewriter collector or connoisseur. I enjoy looking at them and using them, but by no stretch of the imagination I want to claim to be an expert in their history or inner workings — I’m a hacker after all. What follows is a layman’s adventure into her first typewriter repair, an...
You may find yourself living in interesting times. The world we knew two months ago is gone, and there is time enough at last, to finally go through those projects we’ve been putting off for one reason or another. Today, I wanted to explore and possibly repair an old unidentified typewriter that belonged to my late aunt for many decades. A small disclaimer though, I am not an avid typewriter collector or connoisseur. I enjoy looking at them and using them, but by no stretch of the imagination I want to claim to be an expert in their history or inner workings — I’m a hacker after all. What follows is a layman’s adventure into her first typewriter repair, an...
ON MEMORIAL DAY IN 1948 A RAILROAD BERM BURST in the lowlands just south of the Columbia River and north of Portland, sending a swiftly moving wall of water over the edge and inundating the city of Vanport, killing 15 people, leaving 17,500 homeless, and essentially wiping the city off the map. Vanport had been hastily constructed six years before to house workers and their families building warships in the Kaiser shipyards of Portland and Vancouver. At its height it had had a population of 40,000, making it the second-biggest city in Oregon at the time. In the decades since, the disaster has been forgotten by many, lost in the march of “progress” (Delta Park and the Portland International Speedway now sit where Vanport once thrived)....
