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Today's soundtrack is Five Finger Death Punch: The Way of the Fist, a groove metal album that doesn't break any ground, but boy is it a lot of fun! I remember reading about these guys in a guitar magazine back in in '08, and I checked out this album shortly after. I'm glad that I did. This morning, due to a sudden bout of illness that's relegated me to sit quietly and try to keep down my ginger ale and soda crackers, I've had the opportunity to get myself set up for success i

Today's soundtrack is Supertramp: Breakfast in America, an album that really didn't click for me the first time I heard it, but the more I listen, the more its depth becomes apparent. It feels like an album that would be best experienced by listening to it on vinyl in a cozy room, reading the lyrics while listening to the tracks. This afternoon, I went in for my Precalculus 12 orientation. I'll be working pretty intensely on the lessons in an effort to complete the course bef

Today's soundtrack is Van Halen: Van Halen, a rock album that few people haven't heard. This evening, I'm working on the first lesson in the orange category on JustinGuitar.com, "Notes in the Open Position." Today's lesson covers the first four notes on each of the six strings of a guitar in standard tuning, descending from the high E to the low E. E E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab B B C C#/Db D D#/Eb G G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B D D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb A A A#/Bb B C C#/Db E E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab #VanHalen

Today's soundtrack is Bastille: Bad Blood, an album that one of my colleagues introduced me to quite a few years ago. It's so good: the rhythms are intricate, it's atmospheric, and all of the songs are super catchy. This afternoon, I wrote my final precalculus 11 test. When I got home, I checked online and found that it had already been graded, and my final mark had been posted... 97.5%! #Bastille

Today's soundtrack is Blind Guardian: Somewhere Far Beyond, the 1992 album by the German power metal masters. Everything they do is epic in the truest sense of the word. After doing my unit review yesterday, I'm ready to do my unit practice test in preparation for my final test tomorrow. My method is to do the test onto a separate piece of paper, check my answers, review any concepts that I've misunderstood, then go back and try any wrong questions again, until I'm satisfied

Today's soundtrack is Hillsong: United We Stand, an upbeat "praise and worship" album that all the members of the church band that I used to drum in were compelled to purchase when the worship leader decided that we were going to learn all of the songs on the album and play them identically to the album version. When we asked if the church could provide us copies so that not all ten of us would have to buy a copy at ~$15 a pop, we were told "No, but it's a really good album,

Today's soundtrack is Pavarotti: Notte D'Amore, a collection of love songs performed by the one and only Pavarotti. This morning, I'm learning how to apply my knowledge of rational equations (part 1, part 2) to real-world examples: I'll be writing equations to represent word problems, then solving those equations. According to my textbook, we can use rational equations to help us "solve a variety of real-world problems, including those involving motion, work, and proportions"

Today's soundtrack is dc Talk: Intermission: The Greatest Hits, the last album the group released before they stopped dc Talking in 2000. On the 18th, I learned how to solve rational equations; this afternoon, I'm going to try to finish up the assignment portion of the lesson. I found a video on Study.com that explained the steps like this: Find the common denominator Multiply everything by the common denominator Simplify Check the answer(s) for an extraneous solution I've co

Today's soundtrack is Sunn O))) & Boris: Altar, an atmospheric drone metal album that is a collaboration between two bands. My favourite track from it is "Sinking Belle," a soft, contemplative song. This evening, I started working on an industrial metal song inspired by Godflesh's song "Christbait Rising." #SunnO #Boris

Today's soundtrack is Swingset Champion: Therefore, an EP that I bought at a Battle of the Bands competition circa 2006; I later tried out for their band as a bassist. This evening has already been productive; I had a nice dinner with my family, then went out and shoveled the snow for half an hour. Now, I'm reading the seventh chapter of John Calvin's The Institutes of Christian Religion, "The Witness of the Spirit is Necessary to Make Certain the Authority of Scripture." We

Today's soundtrack is Tristania: Widow's Weeds, a gothic operatic metal album. I've been thinking about making some changes to my daily routine. I've realized that I'm spending a lot of time sitting at my desk working on improving myself intellectually, but I haven't been spending as much time in other areas that I have opportunities for growth, which are: Physical health Social engagement Time outdoors, and Time spent with family. Here are the actions I've taken so far: Time

Today's soundtrack is The Tea Party: The Edges of Twilight, a really good rock album that I was oblivious to the existence of until a coworker recommended it to me a couple of years ago. This afternoon, I'm working on the assignment portion of the lesson I did on adding and subtracting rational expressions with binomial and trinomial denominators. It took me a few hours, but I got it done! Next time, I'll be working on solving rational equations. #TheTeaParty

Today's soundtrack is Legend: Fröm the Fjörds, a 1978 album touted as being one of the first sounds the world would hear that would take us down the path of modern progressive power metal. In this post, I'm sharing my new song, "The Absurd Fingers of Albert C." It's based on what I've read so far of Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, specifically these two quotes: "This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that

Today's soundtrack is The Black Dahlia Murder: Miasma, an American death metal album with metalcore influences. I spent this evening installing Reaper onto my little laptop, then I wrote a song called "The Absurd Fingers of Albert C." Check it out here, and let me know what you think of it on Twitter! #TheBlackDahliaMurder

Today's soundtrack is Scars on Broadway, an album that I really enjoy musically and vocally, but I find its lyrical themes a bit repetitive. I'd like to sit down sometime and tally how many times throughout the album the words "f*ck," "dead," and "Jesus Christ" are repeated. I've just finished learning how to add and subtract rational expressions with monomial denominators; now I'll be learning to do the same with rational expressions that have binomial or trinomial denominat