PhoneBoy Says

I plan on blogging lightly for the next few days. However, Gracie is currently amusing herself by jumping between mats at the gym…

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Gracie and her bubbles…

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What's your musical horoscope? (Put your music player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.) Inspired by Stephanie.

Party Shuffle on iTunes says:

1. Theme from S.W.A.T. -- Rhythm Heritage
2. Polka Your Eyes Out -- Weird Al Yankovic
3. Twister -- Weird Al Yankovic
4. The Night Is Still Young -- Billy Joel
5. Yer Blues -- The Beatles
6. I Got The News -- Steely Dan
7. Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock n Roll) -- Elton John
8. That's It -- The Cars
9. Keep Talking -- Pink Floyd
10. My Name Is Mud -- Primus

Yesterday I noticed a speed limit sign outside my kitchen window. It wasn't there before. It's for the road they've spent months putting alongside my house. They finished paving it a couple days ago. They've also put down guide dots for the road markings that are sure to follow.

Meanwhile, we are still in discussions with the powers that be about our fence we want to put up to keep our children from running into the road. Some improvements on that front, but the discussion is ongoing. It needs to hurry up and get resolved before the road is open for business, which I can't imagine will be much longer.

My dad, who goes by the name TechZilla, decided to accept my invitation to blog on Vox. All he's got up there so far is a picture. Anyone can do that just by filling out the profile. The question is: will he blog? Time will tell.

This is an email I received from a co-worker in Boston who is leaving the company and going back to his hometown. I thought it was amusing anyway.

Hey all,

I'll be leaving [company name withheld] soon and it is sad for me because I have really enjoyed my time here. I will miss a lot of people here that have become good friends. I could mention names but I think (hope) you know who you are.

I'm writing this email from the window sill outside of my cubical because someone liked me so much that they felt it necessary to grab my chair before it got cold (It's probably an "in memory of" type of thing). But I know they will miss me as much as I will miss them. (there goes my monitor now) I know it's tough to keep in touch (well, my favorite pen is gone now) but (oops, now my power strip is making it's way to another cube) I hope we cross paths again in the future. (I really didn't need that calendar anymore). I'm leaving because it's time to go back home. (Pardon me, If I drop off before I finish this email, it's because someone took my laptop power supply yesterday and my battery is getting low) Thank you all, for the times you have helped me out when I needed it. (There goes my coffee cup, and stapler). And I sure hope I help each of you in some small way while I was here. (I don't understand why nobody is taking any of my Steeler stuff)

I sincerely wish everyone at [company name withheld] the best and may we meet again

I hate good bye messa

In response to Ken Camp's "I see you" post. With apologies to They Might Be Giants.

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Several months ago, I had recorded a podcast for a "community tech podcast." They never ended up using the thing. I also feel their production schedule is a little too unreliable and ad-hoc. I had recorded the thing in Garage Band and still had the original project files around. I did a little editing/replacement of the voice and decided, what the hell, I'll upload it here.

This is a brief overview of Garage Band. When I was playing with this, it was like crack. Here I was, someone who knows jack about how to make music, and I'm making music. This is cool stuff, and it comes with every Mac.

Garage Band Demo Podcast

Also posted on phoneboy.com and on YouTube. Just trying to see what will work best for this.

PhoneBoy vlog 20060917

Music seems to have deep, personal meaning to me. I can usually associate a particular memory with a particular song or album that I am listening to. It might be the first time I listened to a song, might be a particular time in my life, or it might be something entirely different.

For example, I am currently listening to The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. I have plenty of memories of listening to this album in the dorms in high school. I also have a scrawling in the yearbook by a girl that quotes lines from the title track. Earlier today, I was listening to Factory Showroom by They Might Be Giants. While this is a newer album (by my standards anyway), I have a memory of me driving to a friends house while listening to this CD. I was coming back from my high school reunion and it was pitch black. Pretty much anything by The Eagles reminds me of my dad because my first singing in public was with my dad singing an Eagles song when I was three. I barely remember it now, though.

I seem to be fairly reluctant to listen to newer music, or at least music from artists that I don't know. Maybe it's because I don't have memories to associate to those songs or artists, making them have far less meaning. It might explain why I like some songs at certain times and not others--depends on what I am trying to remember or forget at the time. Music seems to be that kind of gateway for me.

My wife has somewhat different tastes than I do. She also, as near as I can tell, doesn't listen to all that much music. At least not anymore. Some of my musical tastes aren't child-appropriate. As a result, most of my music listening occurs when nobody is home or in headphones at night. Usually, though, it's not at all.

I recognize the need to bring more music into my life. The question becomes: how do I work it in? Having iTunes at my fingertips seems to help a lot, at least for the past few weeks. I need a strategy for this that is doable.