Tags: old+97 on technorati, delicious, flickr

I'm in the middle of a tedious project, finally ripping all of the unripped CDs that we own. This has been going on for almost two weeks now and I can see the end. There are three stacks like this or so left to rip, plus anything we root out of the cars or the kids' CD players.

My great-great-grandfather looks on disapprovingly (he was a plain-spoken sort, that one), at this digital frippery.

"Why can't you just be happy?" he says, "All this foolishness, you haven't been in the war, nor worked double-shifts over glowing, molten glass at the glass factory."

"At least I'm not posing with a drawing of a horse, nor dead. Yet," I mutter, out of range of his hearing, of course.

There's some pasta/play-doh sculpture at hand, as well, thanks to my girls.

You can poke your snoot in if you'd like to see the titles on the cases.

Tags: compact+disk on technorati, delicious, flickr

Do you know what ten years of the National Geographic weighs? I don't know exactly, but it is a hell of a lot. Ask me how I know, go ahead...

A vast expanse of yellow spines was standard issue at homes and schools during my childhood. We read them in school, pulling from shelves and shelves of them to wonder at heretofore unseen... wonders. At the neighbor's house, we witnessed the sagging shelves, slowly succumbing to the slick magazines with the beautiful photography. And the message soaked in: "As an adult, you must have them too. Along with those boxes of baseball cards that you will surely buy, once employed, you must bring the National Geographic into your home."

In 1996, I finally had a home life and an end to my life as a corporate road-warrior. Every day: home, pick up the mail, walk the dog, nod at the anonymous neighbors. Time to get the National Geographic!

And it came and came. We were so not worthy. It looked great there on the coffee-table, often unread, but very eye-catching nonetheless. We couldn't keep up. The dense and serious articles on topics of great import: the origin of species, ancient civilizations, space-flight, global warming, peak oil... "hey, wait a minute, where are the natives, the tigers, and the dusty artifacts?"

The magazine and I suppose the Society itself by extension had become a liberal bull-horn, decrying fossil fuels, our terrible effect on this Earth, the plunder of non-white civilizations, and the social costs of body fat. Yes, body fat was a cover story.

The dunning letters, just daring us to let our subscription lapse, were the final straw. Every single month, renew, renew, renew.

And now as we need the space for a growing family, it is surprisingly easy to just let them go. "Hope my back will hold up long enough to get the crate of them into the car," I muttered.

We did at least drop them at the recycling center. Yeah, we love the Earth, too.

Tags: rectangle on technorati, delicious, flickr

Stevie Ray Vaughan's uniquely eclectic and fiery style sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre - a leading light in American blues. STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN LIVE: PLAY HARD & FLOOR IT! showcases the guitar master's career with some of his finest performances caught on tape. Airs Friday, September 7th, 8:30pm, Sunday, September 9th, 10:30pm and Wednesday, September 12th, 8pm

You know how I love Stevie Ray.

Tags: guitar on technorati, delicious, flickr

It's a Peter F. Hamilton lovefest!

Tags: books on technorati, delicious, flickr

I heard two of my favorite old country songs this evening on... wait for it... XM:

• El Paso, by Marty Robbins
• I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, by Hank Williams.

The first is a longtime favorite, maybe back to elementary school, where I heard it on record player at my dear Grandmother's house for years. I still have a scratchy cassette copy of it that also includes old country greats such as Lynn Anderson and Johnny Horton. I cold probably find a CD of it or even nab just that song on iTunes, but it really wouldn't be the same.

The second was heard occasionally, but not dear to me until I'd really discovered Hank Williams. He came tumbling in the wave of discovery that carried Johnny Cash, Joe Ely, Doyle Bramhall and the like to me. Now look what I've become.

Tags: music on technorati, delicious, flickr

Some pre-bed XM brought me Under The Milky Way and a button click brought it to me again.

Time enough for sleepin' in the grave!

Tags: bagpipes on technorati, delicious, flickr

Technorati Tag: photos

Tags: on technorati, delicious, flickr