Big long day of travel yesterday. Up early (why is it that my insomnia goes only when I set the alarm clock? As soon as I set it, I sleep like a baby.), and out into the cold (8 degrees!), and a swift 100 mile drive to the airport. Wait around a couple hours, and then up in the air. The straight through to LAX was pretty expensive, so I figured I would save my company some cash (like $400!) and take the one stop through Memphis. Plus, I get some extra miles for the old Elite status! Anyway, buy the time I landed in LAX, I had driven 100 miles, and then flown a total of 6 hours. Then I drove through LA traffic at rush hours. Yep, that's what my day looked like.
So, one last comment on the Grammy's last night. Looks like Kings of Lean won album of the year or something like that. My wife is a huge fan of theirs, and played that album non-stop. It actually grew on my, and I'm pretty happy to see it win. Maybe I'll post something from it in te next few days.
Well, it's late, and I'm beat. I am heading to bed. Enjoy the tunes. Oh, the title of this post, and the songs, come from Jack FM, a station I pretty much seem to get in every city I visit. Have a good Tuesday! Donnie Iris - Ah! Leah!
I arrived after a relatively event-less day, stopped into the office for a couple hours, basically to shoot the shit with some co-workers. Now, here is the interesting part. I normally would have started right in doing work and probably would have worked until late, grabbed something fast on the way to the hotel, and then worked some more until I went to sleep. But not since I applied for that job on Friday. I actually feel freer that I have in a long time, and instead, stayed at work for a little bit, didn't really do much, and then left.
Instead of grabbing something fast, I decided to grab a bite at Old Chicago, a place I really love to eat at, but usually am to busy to stop. So I drop in, and order up my usual local favorite, Sawtooth Ale. Here's where it gets even weirder. Instead of CO2, they are using nitrogen on tab. Now, outside of Guinness, which I don't really like, and hardly ever drink, I've never had a regular beer using a nitrogen tap. I'm not sure if I like it better or not. It was just an odd way to drink a beer. It had no bubble (actually it did, just very tiny ones) and the head was different (that's what she said!), and it seemed creamier and lighter. Anyway, I thought it was an odd experience. I may have to go back tomorrow night, and try it again, just to make up my mind once and for all. And if that doesn't work, I guess I'll go back Wednesday night as well!
Apologies for missing Saturday's post. This past week was a complete blur, and I got home really late Friday night. By the time I got home, I was pretty beat, and no offense, but the last thing I wanted to do that late at night was write a post out. So no post.
You'll notice that I've done away with the iPod thingy. I've always liked the slide player for a couple reasons. First, I like the fact that you can listen to only the songs you want, without having to scroll though. Second, I actually like the way it looks more. That's the first part of the make over. I'm still on the look out for a new theme. I've found a few that were close, and I have a test blog I'm testing with, but none of them look right, so the search goes on.
So, I am heading out on the road again tomorrow, but the great news is that I actually applied for another job at work. I'm pretty excited for the opportunity, and honestly, I need a change. I've already interviewed with the hiring manager, as well as the VP, so it's pretty much a done deal. The app is really a formality, something my company makes you do. So, within a few weeks, hopefully, these brutal hours come to an end, and I get my life back!
Today is a great, beautiful type of day, a day that no matter what, ends up great. Why, you ask? Because it's FLYDAY! And Flyday is goin' home day. It means that even though my issues with India are not fixed (and in fact, not even my issues with South Africa turns out to have been fixed!), today is the day I am heading home to my family. And ever though I have to be back on the road for the next few weeks, for a couple days, I can sleep in my own bed, relax in my own house, and feel normal.
On the upside, I had my second interview with a VP today, and it looks like the job is mine if I want it. Oh...wait, I may not have mentioned that part! There is a job opening here, and it's a lot better than the tedious crap I have to deal with on a day to day basis. It's a job on the engagement side of the house, so I would be dealing more with customers during the sales cycle. Making sure that the solutions we sell then actually meet their requirements, and will actually work and can be deployed.
Last but not least, notice the little image up there. I think Conan got screwed, and I honestly hope that NBC goes down in flame for it. I think it's not only fair to Conan, but to all the people who work from him. At the end of the day, Conan is going to be ok...he richer than any of us will ever be. But it is about corporate ethics, which now days is a contradiction in terms. Or, as Conan said last week, in America, you can do anything you want...as long as Jay Leno doesn't want to do it as well.
Folks, this is a very brief update today. I've been fighting technical issues at work, trying to troubleshoot global network issues, and it's a pretty tough nut to crack. I had issues getting South Africa to talk efficiently with the US, and I finally got that issue fixed today. Now, the second half is getting India to talk efficiently with the United States, and that's the tough nut. I've tried everything I know, and got no where, except to eliminate potential issues. So the next step is to call in the network people and let them figure this out.
All this has left my brain numb, and my body pretty damned tired. I am going to try to catch a few winks, and be back at it. Enjoy the tunes!
So, last of my Left of The Dial Posts. I really only scratched the surface of this great collection of tunes from the 80's underground. If you really want a treat, find a copy of it. Who ever put this collection did a nice job with a few exceptions. Some of the songs they picked by the California punk bands were not the ones I would have picked, but that cool. And the one stinker on the whole thing is definitely the Throbbing Gristle song. But over all, this one collection I do not regret having spent my money on.
So, this is a pretty short post...I'm going to leave to you the music. Life here is just 16 hour work days, waiting for Friday, when I get back on that plane that carries me home to my baby.
I'm seriously thinking of changing up the look of this blog. It's not that I don't like it, I just don't love it, ya know? As someone who has done a theme change on a few blogs, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be smooth as silk. But I'm looking to change up some things in the next few weeks, to make things more accessible, and to make things look better. I'll give everyone a heads up.
Unfortunately, I missed the football games yesterday, though I did catch some of the Indy game in Saturday. I guess I still don't have a team I'm pulling for yet. I guess to me, it doesn't make a huge difference. I like Indy, because I like Payton Manning. You can tell he takes the game seriously, and I respect people that have the ability to take a game onto their shoulders and come though. You just know that is Indy is down by less than a touchdown, with a few minutes left, that Manning is gonna make something happen. I like that cold blooded, put the dagger in the heart player who smiles at you, tells you what he's about to do, and then goes out and executes.
On the other hand, Minnesota has an old guy, and it's hard not to root for the old guys. Favre is 40 years old, a few years younger than me. And he's at the top of his game. I like that too. An old guy who shows the young punks how it's done. I like old guys who spit in the eyes of the cocky young punks..."You don't want to mess with me punk, trust me. I've forgotten more crap than you ever learned!" kind of guy.
But then again, I like the Jet's, and the history there...the old Namath Jet's were a little before my time, but I love the fact that they went back to the old logo and the old uniforms. But overall, I can't say I'm rooting for them.
And New Orleans, as much as I think this would be great for the city, I just can't get real excited about them. I haven't seem them play too much, but I like Drew Brees...he makes things look easy, kind of like Peyton Manning. I can tell you one thing...the game next week between New Orleans and Minnesota is going to be a barn burner. Last man standing kind of thing.
I'm going out on a limb here, but here is how I think things will play out. First, I think that New Orleans is going to beat the old guy in a game for the ages. Some obscene score like 42-35. Lots of points, and I think the old guy throws one too many interceptions at the wrong time, trying to make things happen. You can't do that against New Orleans and expect to win. While I would like to see the Jets win, I think they are a year away, and I think Peyton Manning tears em apart.
That would leave an Indy-New Orleans Superbowl. I just can't see anyone beating Indy. Now, let me hedge my bet here a second...while I don't think Indy will loose to the Jets, I do think if they do, the Jets will win the Superbowl. Just my two cents, and next Monday, we'll see how I did.
Happy Monday (if there is such a thing!) to you all. After a quick flight, I got all checked in last night. Of course, not before I made a slight detour to hit the raised floor to work on some equipment. I made pretty quick work of it all, and then headed to my hotel. Usually, I would be watching something like Cartoon Network, but instead, I did something I haven't done in years. I watched the Australian Open.
Growing up, I used to watch tennis all the time. It seems like yesterday watching all those great matches between McEnroe and Borg. That was some of the best tennis ever. I remember I was a HUGE McEnroe fan...the rebel in me like that fact he did what he wanted, damn the consequences. My sisters, of course, were Bjorn Borg fans. We would sit around and argue who was the better player, screaming at the little TV set we had. It was good times.
But tonight I watched a match between a couple Russian women, Maria Sharapove and Maria Kirilenko. What a fantastic match. But here's the thing...women tennis players are SO much better looking than they were in the 80's. I mean, Chris Everett was considered cute, but I never thought so. Tracey Austin? Face for radio. Martina Navrilatova? Seriously, great player, but no beauty queen. So today's women's game is great fun to watch, and great fun to look at. Don't take that the wrong way...I respect the daylights out of these athletes. Tennis players are some serious athletes. I know I've pretty much been able to excel at any sport I've ever tried...pool, table tennis, glof, bowling, football, basketball...hell, I was even a pretty decent team handball player in high school (we only played in gym class...but man, I seriously love that game!), but tennis is a sport no matter how hard I try, I just could never make it work. Ever. So hats off to these women...the are not just beauties, they are some world class athletes!
Last night I was sitting talking with my lovely wife about various things, when the conversation somehow turned to what I used to watch on television growing up in Northeast Ohio. I can still remember some of my favorites. Every morning as a kid, before we headed off to school, we would sit and watch Captain Kangaroo. Then it would be off to school. Once I got home, there were three shows on that I never missed. The first was Ultraman, I think, which was followed b Johnnie Sako and his Flying Robot. Then of course came Speed Racer. It was a great lineup of after school television for an 8 year old boy in the 1970/71.
We lived with my grandparents in Akron, in a decidedly ethnic, eastern European neighborhood. Every Sunday, after church, I remember my grandfather would watch the Gene Carroll show, and the Polka Varieties. I faintly remember details of the shows, so I looked them up on YouTube, and sure enough, there there were. It was very nostalgic for me, and I watched and watched. It was kind of cools to see it all alive on the sceen, as if the past 38 years barely happened. Funny how that happens.
But by far, the best memories I have from when I was a kid was watching the Hoolihan and Big Chuck show. It was the best way to spend a late Friday night possible, and it was really the only time I was allowed to stay up late as a kid. the show was a local legend...anyone who grew up the Cleveland area knows all about the show. The sketches were corny and weird...the Kilbasa Kid, the Six Dollar Ethnic Man, Ben Crazy...I could go on and on. And the movies they played were equally corny...old B horror movies from the 50's and 60's. Of all my child hood memories, these are probably the best, and most cherished.
Jeez, the world seems a little upside down right now. When you hear of a 7.0 earthquake, you expect that it happened somewhere in Asia, or California. But on an island near Cuba? And a 7.0 at that, with a couple after shocks of 5.5 and 5.0. That's pretty powerful stuff. Here's hoping that the damage is minimal, and the lost of life lower that they are reporting on the tube.
Then I read where Google is shocked...shocked I say...to find out that the Chinese government breached the accounts of political dissidents. Wow...the Chinese not holding to their word. Imagine that. And Google's answer is to stop censoring search results. I'm sorry, but it's pretty reprehensible that they would have practiced censorship at the request of a repressive government. I guess money is money. Still, I'm of the believe that information, like thought and speech, should be free. Nothing irritates me more than a government that censors it's people, press and dictating that those that want to business with them censor themselves as well. OK, enough politics. But on the brightside, I guess my blog is now unavailable to 1/4 of the worlds population. And yes, I have had visitors from China.
So, last day this week for the Left of The Dial posts for this week. I'll be back with a few more next week, but in the meantime, I have some stuff set up that I think you'll all love, so come on back tomorrow!
How can it be Monday, and I'm already tired, exhausted, and ready for a couple drinks? I think it's something to do with winter...I'm looking out my office window, and it's been snowing pretty steady the whole day. Which means I need to do some shoveling some snow, which means I need to get my snow blower up and running. On top of that, I just hate the fact that it's dark until 8 in the morning, and then it's dark again by 5:30. Compare that to the summer, when it's light by 6 am, and then stays light enough to golf until almost 10!
On another note, I guess Mark McGuire finally admitted he did steroids when he played baseball. First of all, I hate to tell the cheating scumbag this, but no one believed him when he said he didn't. I've been around enough juiceheads enough to know when someone's juicing. Him, Sammy Sosa, Bonds...the list goes on and on. All scum bags, all cheaters, and all of them deserve to have their stats ripped from the record books, and none of them should be allowed anywhere near the hall of fame, nor should they be allowed anywhere near the game of baseball...a lifetime ban, on the order of what they did to Pete Rose. Just saying.
So today, I continue on my series of Left of The Dial posts. I've also got some other goodies lined up for the rest of the month. No idea how many people book mark this page, but take my word for it, your going to stay around and see what's coming!
Ever have the prospect of something happening, something really really good, and you just hold your breath in anticipation? Almost scared to think about it, because it's so good, you don't want to jinx things? Well, my friends, that's exactly what's happening to me. And if it driving me nuts, it absolutely killing my wife!
It's no secret that I'm not exactly happy with my current position. I mean, it's a job, and I am very very good at it, but I would love to move on. Well, last week, not one, but two, and possibly a third, opportunity presented itself to me, and all three is a step up. One is actually more of a huge leap than a step. The job I really am waiting for would move me out to San Francisco, and give me a monthly living allowance, and a car allowance. And since my wife is from California, and she has a new grand daughter out there, she is very anxious at the prospect of this deal happening. I've had one interview already, and as basically told I was a perfect fit. The second position is one with an old peer of mine and that's really a formality, just the details need to be worked out. One of those details...going out to San Fran with a monthly living allowance.
Then on Friday, out of the blue, I received another honor. My company has several business units, seven to be exact. I was told that I'm now one of seven IT Architect profession leads. So, lots of things in the works!
For the next three days, I'll be doing more Left of the Dial posts...lots of great stuff coming up, so be sure to come back!
So, in case you haven't noticed, I don't really use this blog to talk about music, per se. Instead, I generally just talk about what ever comes to my mind. It might be what ever is happening at work, or what's going on in my life. Or something interesting I read. Mostly, this is really like a diary, and the music I post here is kind of the soundtrack of my life. I'm pretty sure most people who visit the site never really even read it. No matter. Whether you enjoy the music, peeping into my life, or both, as long as your happy, I'm happy.
Having said that, I read an article yesterday on some upcoming technology that promises to be amazing. Before I get into it, I have to tell you all I am a geek. I have a degree in electrical engineering, I work for probably the largest technology companies in the world. I routinely over see projects that are in the hundreds of millions to multi-billion dollars. In my personal life, I try to leverage the power of technology to make my life more convenient. One of the things I use a log is voice over IP, or VOIP. I have a nifty little Plantronics Bluetooth headsets that I can multihome (or connect) to both my laptop and my cell phone at the same time. My work provides VOIP for free through our instant messenger suite. When I'm on the road, I use it all the time for conference calls and such. It saver my cell phone bill and works like a champ. In fact, between my laptop and my cell phone, I rarely use a good old fashioned telephone anymore.
When I was heading over seas to work in Europe, I was tempted to buy one of those MagicJacks you seem on TV. It's a nifty product that I've been tempted to buy for my home. I have a couple co-workers who have one, and who love it. But the need to plug in an old fashioned telephone to it just kind of bugs me. A lot. So I've thus far resisted the temptation. That was, however, until I read this article yesterday.
Seems they now have a little product that will allow your cell phone to make VOIP phone calls, by intercepting the outgoing call, and placing it over the internet. Very cool! Now, my first thought was that this is illegal, and the cell companies will sue them into the ground. However, the MagicJack folks make a very good point. The cell companies bought the cellular bandwidth out in public, but they did NOT but the airwaves inside your home. So, for now, this seems on the up and up, and they are planning to release it in the next few months. I want to go to there!
I am on my way home as you all read this. This has been an exhausting week, for sure. The biggest surprise is that even though I have been doing 16 - 18 hour days all this week, I've still managed to keep the music coming! :-)
If yesterday was horrible, today was a lot better, albeit a lot busier. My first visit to the raised floor of the year, and things were kind of a mess. I made some mistakes last year, and today they kind of caught up with my. With everything I had going on, I somehow requested the wrong servers to be racked in the wrong spot. Crazy. Plus, I had forgotten some pretty important requests I should have gotten done before I left for Christmas break. Such is life. It just means that I had to work extra long last night to get caught up. But now that I am, I'm like that little beaver there...just chillin with a drink, listening to some tunes, and hanging out in my glorious hotel room. This is the life.
Last day of the Left Of The Dial Posts for now. I have a lot more to post, but I got some other stuff I want to get to first. So probably next week, I'll post a few more of these.
The picture right there pretty much sums up my day today. Somehow, everyone in the state of Michigan forgot how to drive in snow, and that meant that a drive to the airport that should have take an hour took 3 hours. I probably saw a dozen accidents, most of them enough to cause lane closures. Most of the 3 hours was spent doing 15 - 25 MPH. And the weather wasn't even that bad!
Fortunately, I left my home this morning really early, thinking that the security nightmare would be the biggest of my worries. Turns out that I needed every bit of that 5 hours I gave myself, because I made my flight with 10 minutes to spare. Today was a horrible travel day...maybe the worst I've ever had.
Today, I'm on my way to Boulder. About the only great thing about me traveling so much last year is that I was able to become Platinum on Delta. Last year, I did about 120K miles (halfway to the moon!), took 36 business trips, and spent way too many nights in bad hotels. But, like I said, I made Platinum last year, and that means that most of the trips I take now I get bumped up into first class. But here's the thing...even though I made all those trip last year, I am still on some kind of watch list...go figure. But what that really means is that if all these new airport security rules are a pain in the ass to most people, they are absolutely BRUTAL on me. Here's an idea...instead of putting a guy named Jim Smith through all this extra bullshit, keep a better eye on guys named Umar Abdulmutallab, whose father actually told the CIA his kid wants to blow up a plane. You know, just sayin'.
Today, I start a new series of posts based on the excellent CD-Set, Left Of The Dial: Tales From The 80's Underground. It's an album that I've had on my iPod for a few years now, and it's one that any true music fan need grab a hold of. LOTS of great music in the set, and many hours of listening pleasure coming your way. So you will NOT want to miss these posts. I'll do some this week, and some next week. I think you'll all enjoy!
Last day of the one hit wonders for now. No worries, though, there have been a ton of one hit wonders over the years, so there will be no shortages of them for more posts in the future. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I have some great music lined up for the next few weeks!
It's colder than hell here, and I gotta tell say, cabin fever is really hitting me hard. I live so far out in the boonies that there's not really a lot to do. Unless of course, your into freezing your ass off doing winter sports. There are a lot of people here that are into snowmobiles, and while I'm sure they have a lot of fun, I just can't imagine anything I would want to do less than jumping on a snowmobile, and going really fast in the winter time. Same goes for skiing. If I could go snow skiiing in Key West, I would so be into the sport. Don't get me wrong...I love watching winter sports, and I can't wait for the Olympics to start. But right now, I'm pretty bored, and can;t wait for summer.
The worst part about January 2nd is the realization that there isn't another holiday until May. That means no day's off unless I take some vacation. I can deal with that...I usually don't take a lot of days off anyway. But still, 5 months with no holiday? Give me a break. Maybe we should invent one...I mean, it's bad enough that it's winter out, and cabin fever sets in. But to not have any days off? That's unfair.
The second day of one hit wonders finds a pretty big variety. Everything from 70's rock to 80's hair metal, to 90's alternative. I think today is a pretty decent selection, but my favorite is definitely Soft Cell's Tainted Love. I remember when that song came out...I was a senior in High School, and had just gotten a new girlfriend. This song was one of our favorites. 1981 was a pretty decent year, though I can't believe it was almost 30 years ago. If I close my eyes, I can still remember parking with her, listening to great tunes. I eventually married (and subsequently divorced) that girl, but that a story for another time!
Happy New Years everyone. New year, new decade, new music to go with it. I've lined up a couple posts of one hit wonders from the past 30 years or so. I've always thought that the term one hit wonder was pretty subjective in that every band that has ever been labeled a one hit wonder has a fan somewhere that would argue that point with you. I always use Modern English as a great example. If you just listened to mainstream radio in the 80's, you would think that they only really had one hit, Melt With You. But if you listened to any underground or college rock station, you would know that Modern English had a pretty good run. But, since the label one hit wonder is a mainstream label, I'll just go with the criteria that the band only had one mainstream hit.
On a more personnel note, my vacation is coming to an end, and I've got a lot of work waiting for me when I get back. In fact, I already know that I have two trips coming up, both to Boulder, CO. That's not a bad thing, for sure...some of the best beer I've ever drunk is from the Boulder area. I'm hoping that I don't do as many trip this year as I did last year. Last year, I was gone for 36 weeks. Trust me, there is nothing glamorous or sexy about business travel.
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