About two weeks ago, I received a letter from some company that I'd never heard of, designed to look like a "howdy-do" card.  The envelope contained a note saying that the company ran phone surveys on media usage.  It also contained a one dollar bill.  The dollar, the note read, was to encourage me to answer the phone and talk to them.

A few days ( Read more... )

I stood in your aisles
Surveyed your rows of music
And gladly joined the ranks of people
Clicky-clacking through CDs
Hoping for something to grab me
Reveal itself as new
In the back room of the old store in Rockville
Before you moved down the strip mall to take up new quarters
I recognized Carol Ann's friend
And talked to her
"You have to hear this band," ( Read more... )

For any of you about to fly, here are the newest screening guidelines.

Just doing my part to help.

Sitting at home after a lovely weekend, listening to the pleasant surprise of two weeks back:  a brand new album from Edie Brickell and New Bohemians.  Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars spent a ridiculous time in rotation in my CD player back in 1988, and I may be one of 25 people who think that Ghost of a Dog matched it for songcraft (and passed ( Read more... )

Scroll across the top of the England vs. Paraguay World Cup game:  "Do to World Cup coverage, "That's So Raven" will not be shown at this time, but it will return at its regular time next Saturday..."

Or, rather, the dreaded song meme.  Yes, I tend to steer clear of the memes, but I really like music, so this one seemed fun.  While I'm not a big lyrics person (great with melodies, terrible with lyircs), I'm still jumping on the boat.  Here's how it works:

1. Put your playlist on shuffle.
2. Post the first lines to the first 30 songs to come up ( ( Read more... )

Today is Brent's last day in the office.  The fun rumor going around the office is that Brent is leaving to be with his girflriend in Berlin.  Brent is, in fact, going to Berlin to be with his girlfriend, so that part is true enough.  The rumor, though, seems to ignore the obvious: Brent is not so much leaving to be somewhere as he is leaving to ( Read more... )

Yes, Pearl Jam deserved its own entry, and now it gets it.  Really, each San Diego day deserved its own entry, but there was not time enough to blog, so San Diego got smushed into one monster entry below.  Ah well ( Read more... )

Yes, I've just returned from the Pearl Jam concert.  Frankly, I wanted to title this post with something out of Yellow Ledbetter, since they closed with that, but given that all I can make out of the lyrics to that song are "oh yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaah, an you see 'em, and i know, and i know, i don't want to stay....," I decided to go with the far ( Read more... )

Well, it's official.  The last of my good work buddies to have entered the firm with me has just given his two week notice.  There are other people around who I am good friends with, and there are other people around who entered the firm with me, but as far as the overlap of the two groups goes I am the last man standing.  One has shipped off to ( Read more... )