Author: Kevin Carver

Lake Psychology and Death Cab

Today I bought the new Death Cab album, and it got me thinking. Why? Why do I buy music? It’s ridiculous if you think about it.

Not in the “you can steal it for free sense,” I believe that is wrong.

But more so the, “I want to own this because I feel like I should.”

There’s this lake-front house that I like to look at when my wife and I take scooter rides–close to when the sun sets. It’s the most incredible home I’ve ever seen. It has this European-cottage/cabin/castle look to it; big but not enormous.   (more…)

Jam Nights, Potlucks, and Parties

I went to a house potluck-party-social gathering thing tonight after work. It’s hard to describe because, well it just is.

A friend I’ve been hoping to hang out and jam with gave me an invite that I couldn’t resist. The 9-hour workday tempted me into bed, but I didn’t succumb. I grabbed the wife, a loaf of bread, a sweet potato and headed out the door.

It was at an old house in the middle of downtown, only a few blocks away from where my wife and I live. I never got a home address but I knew the general area and I knew what to look for: a picture perfect produce department VW Bus. And lone behold, there it was—parked on the corner of a picture perfect produce department house. As I parked, live music bled into the street and serenaded the surrounding houses. I had a feeling this would be fun. (more…)

The “Five Step Check Method” for Mexican Food

Want to know how I review a mexican restaurant? Of course you do!

Here’s a review to the newest Mexican restaurant in Coeur d’Alene. I’ll be using my patented 5 step check method I like to call: “Kevin’s 5 Step Check Method.”

Spoiler: finally, I have found a decent meal around here.

The Five Step Method

1. Do you remember the name of the business? Believe it or not, in the world of fine Mexican foods, if you answered “yes,” that is a bad sign. You should never remember the name. The best places are the ones you tell your friends about, and when they ask you what it’s called, you say: “that taco truck on 4th,” or “fatty Mexican burrito place on 7th.” If you remember the name of the business, it more than likely means they are trying to sell you an image or a brand name, over delicious and unique food. I have no idea what the name of the new restaurant I went to today was. I do know it was delicious and it’s over on Appleway.

5 out of 5 (more…)

Short Story: I Will Find Her

The following is a short creative writing project for one of my English classes. The directions were to write a first-person narrative of someone descending into madness.

I Will Find Her

Today I will find the truth to where she is hidden. That beautiful diamond, that glorious beacon of hope, that wretched chameleon of comfort who was once mine. In distress I seek for her. From a safe distance, she watches, she laughs in my misery. Through the narrow door of luck, she escapes my clutches again, and yet still more… again.

Tonight, tonight her discovery will be made. I will find her. And if not, if the eve is ended with defeat once more, then the plague of her memory will continue to reside incessantly in my brain.  And the search will become a hunt, no a crusade! I will find what was once mine; I will find what belongs to me.   (more…)

The Sufferings of Math
Warning: Unless you are particularly interested in math, education reform, or something of that nature, you might not enjoy this particular reading. It is a little long and I don’t expect many people to read through it. However, I thought it necessary to post since so many friends thought it an interesting topic. To make the reading more fun, I’ve posted some Simpsons pictures along the way (apparently they reference math all the time). As usual, I’d love some feedback. 
 

The Sufferings of Math

           It would be too easy to suggest that if most college students could live without math, they would. Though not a favorite course to many, the benefits for learning basic principles, building upon those principles, and challenging the brain to give solutions can be easily seen. While it is healthy to challenge the brain, these “exercises” are often assigned far past their initial usefulness and far into exhaustion. The problem isn’t the math itself but the obsession with it, not the usefulness, but the focus. Will students actually use the math they are studying, or will they easily forget it as soon as they stop applying it? If so, is it all for nothing? Since the breach of our modern college system, these reoccurring questions have been inflicting suffering to almost as many students as there are degrees. To find a true usefulness of math, I suggest that we stop solving for x, and start asking why. When we do, the society of math will have answer to the cold fact that there really is no long-term benefit for the students invested in these higher-level classes. That really, most post college jobs only require basic math principles. Instead of having students endure through the current math system, the concentration of college math should be better tailored to the end result of the student’s degree, the job field. (more…)

Record Store Day

It’s April 16th, you know what that means! Happy Record Store Day!

The music shops don’t open for another couple hours, but in many ways, I feel like I went to the best vinyl shop in town last night, my grandparents.

My grandparents just moved up from California, and as it turns out, my grandfather was an avid record buyer back when. I’m talking 4 or 5 boxes of LPs, 45s, and 78s. I almost cried it was so beautiful.  (more…)