Musing

Atonal Reflections: Vol. I Splender - "Halfway Down the Sky" I've been rummaging through my wall of CDs lately and I've decided to start pulling out some of the discs I haven't listened to in a long time to see how well they've held up over the years. This ongoing "Atonal Reflections" column will chronicle each of these rediscoveries - the good, the bad, and the scratched-beyond-playable. The good will stay and work their way back into a regular rotation. The bad will probably be sold for pennies on eBay to make room for some new material. So far, the whole process has been really weird. Most of these have been in my possession less than 10 years, but some of them call to mind thoughts or events that seem lifetimes away. Take this album for instance. I have no idea what first lead to me to search for them on WinMX back in high school (WinMX! Seriously!), but I remember burning a CD-R with as many of their songs as I could fit on one disc. As ...

Observations on a 5 Month Absence or The Blog's Not Dead! Really! Most of you are probably already aware that we're now comfortably ensconced in our new home on the north side of South Bend. However, you probably weren't aware of all of the little things that came with the place. Let me elaborate. - We have a quarter of a million pounds of leaves blanketing our backyard. I've seen squirrels fall out of trees onto the ground only to drown with a loud rustle and a *poof* of brown oak leaves. Solution: Burn the backyard. Pros include the simplicity of the act and very little cleanup. Cons include simultaneously burning down the entire neighborhood along with the yard. Sarah and I are still discussing the matter. - Even a relatively new house can have little features that could use a replacement. Take for example our kitchen faucet. We have rather hard water, which had been leaving trails of lime and other minerals around the base of the handle. Yesterday I fina...

Strike Two for Yahoo or One Click Really Is a Big Deal Roughly a week and a half ago, I noticed that the Mail module on my My Yahoo homepage wasn't working properly. Clicking on a message no longer took me to that message, but to the intermediary "Welcome to Mail!" page instead. I was irritated, but I assumed it was a minor bug introduced by the rollout of some new feature, so I let it go. By yesterday, I had had enough. I let them know of my displeasure and this was the response that I received. Hello Joshua, Thank you for writing to My Yahoo!. We understand that you are getting problem to access mail directly from My Yahoo! old page. We regret to inform you that this will no longer be fixed in the original My Yahoo! since this version will be shutting down soon. However, this issue that you are currently experiencing has been resolved in the new version of My Yahoo! We encourage you to upgrade to the new version of My Yahoo! where everything you love about the origi...

Pop Culture + Math = Unexpectedly Funny or Another Piece of Genius From Slashdot Is there anything greater than parodies involving calculus-based physics? If you can stay as young (and cool) as these guys, you're doin' alright.

I Need A Box of XXXL's, Please or Idle Thoughts Before a Lasagna Supper While working the backroom today, I pulled down several packages of diapers. I was searching for the UPC when I noticed that they were labeled "Size: Jumbo." Really? "Jumbo"? Jumbo is fine for hot dogs and condoms. But if your baby needs to wear jumbo-sized diapers, you need to lay off the creamed fried chicken. Speaking of babies, I have a new summer job. I've got an internship in Elkhart with Crown Audio International, Inc. which starts May 5th. Sounds good to me - the politics of Target are well beyond bearing for only $7.50 an hour. I get to do something that's not only relevant but also interesting. Score! Which reminds me - I tried (and failed) to register for this fall's classes earlier today. I was mistakenly placed in the MET program instead of ME. So the professor I've been speaking with for the last month or so actually has no power whatsoever to enroll ...

Some Commentary on The Lord of the Rings or One More Reason To Love This Guy Tom McRae's self-titled debut album was probably the best purchase I made with some of the money I received this past Christmas. (Interesting side note - Like last year's best discovery artist, this album only cost me $4 used.) But this journal entry from his website doubles my appreciation for the man's mind: I have been watching “Lord of The Rings”, it sometimes helps to have a familiar film I can ignore playing in the background as I try to wring fresh chord progressions from the guitar, my mind momentarily distracted by hobbits and orcs. But something bothers me. The bit where Frodo visits Cate Blanchet who is Queen of something or other in some woody bit of Middle Earth ( you may have gathered by now that I’m not an expert) – anyway, she is momentarily tempted by the ring, and she goes all scary and her eyes look like mine in the morning, then she calms down, considers the little hobbit be...

A Semi-Stream-of-Consciousness Reflection on the Near Future or This Is Atypically Personal or possibly In Lieu of A Year In Review Growing older typically comes in steps. Birthdays arrive in regular intervals to warn you that you are one year closer to dying. Periodic visits to an optometrist always come with the news that your eyes are just a little bit worse this time - probably just enough to require a change in prescription. Every oil change is 3,000 fewer miles left on your vehicle's engine. Then there are bigger, one-time-only steps.      -You buy your first vehicle.      -You have your first drink.      -You go to college. *      -You get married.      -You buy a house. On and on and on. Sometimes there are bursts of steps all at once, a staccato burst of action not unlike the opening beats of "15 Step." I find that this is one of those times. Schools...

The 2007 Ho Media Awards Still Bringing You the Best Since 2002 If this ceremony was still only about music, I would say that this was the year of indie/alternative rock. Those who have said that I refuse to stray too far from those bands who idolize Oasis need only spin Feist's new album to realize that they are wrong. This was probably obvious to those of you who have followed the HMA's for any length of time, since this year I decided to broaden the number of awards to be given out when I first listed the nominations in November. Website of the Year - www.kingdomofloathing.com Let's face it: one month of playing this game and it will own your soul. I've been playing for two and a half years. You do the math. (Seriously, because I'm rather sick of doing math.) Book of the Year - Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora I'll admit it: I'm a hardcore fantasy/speculative fiction fan. Until this year, I'd never met a writer who could mix a good...