Fundue

Need to convince the wife you need a new computer? Just show her the old one is good for this.

A study you need to see

Now you know. It's all a government plot to control your mind.

This is some HOT sushi... wait, that's just the plate

Wow. This is unreal. I usually don't like sushi, but I'd be willing to try this, and of course my birthday is just around the corner. You think I'm kidding, click to see all the action shots. I hope those leaves are glued down. Must take a lot of focus to just lay there the whole meal. Side note... the picture show goes from this restaraunt to a place called 'Extra Virgin.' I couldn't make this up.

Thirty & Broke

Yikes.... this is really scary stuff. $100,000 in student loan debt.... Yowza.

Pictures of My New Condo

Check 'em out!

One of those days....

So I had one of those day today. Just kind of woke up on the wrong side of bed... Services at PRCC were ok, but something just felt out of step. I came home and got a call from my accompanist, who was sick and couldn't make it to mass later that afternoon. I had a little time to look over the parts for the songs I was doing, and switch out a piano heavy song for an accapella one. Then I got to church and was moving this big black wheeled cabinet that we keep all the micropones equipment in. It's about 6' tall and about 4' wide (did I mention heavy). As I was wheeling it down the ramp of the altar, a wheel came off. I didn't notice until it started to fall over the ramp edge and dumped the 15lb speakers that were on top of it off onto the floor. I was hanging on for dear life to prevent it from falling over. Miraculously there were two people in the church (it was really early usually no one there) who helped me get it upright. Boy was I spooked. So, no accompanist, and I nearly lost all my equipment, and almost got a monitor in the head. Something was just off. Forge ahead. So during practice I couldn't get one of our pieces to work, between spotty attendance and my inability to play piano while simultaneously singing bass, and tenor. So I decided I would do a meditiation piece in it's place. My drummer came, and he's an amazing musician... which was really helping out. We finished rehearsal, and I still had to pick a piece to do. Mass starts, going well. Homily time, I'm looking to see what I have on hand. I'm indecisive. Then I start listening to the homily and Fr. Don is talking about how our lives are gifts from God, to give back, and everything we are is his... And I have the perfect song. 'I'm Yours Lord' Kind of rocking, but it fits. So it's me and my guitar and i start, and then I notice drummer is hanging out and jams with me. It was awesome. Not only didn't we practice it, I hadn't played it in months. It just rocked. He's a great musician. Then we went into an amazing version of Deep Within, and my new clarinet player was awesome. The choir was singing with a lot of feeling, and then we did the last refrain accapella (I just decided to do it on the spot) but the drummer was filling space. It was awesome. Tight harmony, beautiful singing. Then we really rocked 'Freedom is Coming.' Here's the thing, in the middle of me being unsettled, i listened a little and found the right piece of music. Then some angels came and played and sang with me. They carried me, and God carried us all. Sometimes great music comes from chaos. And you never know what can happen in God.

Think Secret - Updated Mac minis arriving, details revealed [updated]

It's like they don't want me to by a mac mini.

Slow Wireless Network? Get some of this

Wi-Fi Speed Spray DramaticalIy Increase Data Throughput

Selling the house

So... I'm in the process of selling my condo. And of course all that goes with it. Painting, cleaning, de-cluttering, fixing little things I've been meaning to get around to. The place looks so nice, I don't want to leave it.

So I've been interviewing three agents. Two of them essentially came up with the same asking price. The third, who lives in the neighborhood (so I assumed she'd be very familar with the pricing etc) suggested a price.... wait for it. $100,000 higher than the other two realtors. Which would be great, but it would mean that my humble garden unit would sell for almost $35k more than the penthouse, and $130,000 more than the other garden that sold last year. I wish. Yikes. small mistake? good thing I did my homework.

Sex Retreat

No, seriously. The Jesuit group I work with, Charis, is sponsoring a weekend retreat on sexuality, 'Sex in the City of God'. I've worked with this group on several occasions, and highly reccommend them. This is their first attempt at this particular topic however.

I arrived late to a recognition dinner for the group, and Jenene asked me if I had plans for the summer. I should have suspected something right away. I have some plans, but nothing grandiose, no month long escapes to Italy. So when Jenene asked if I'd do music for the summer retreat, I agreed. Not making the connection that I'd be doing music from 70's porn flicks....

Ok I admit, that part was my idea, but it could be an interesting retreat, and we'll have some fun with the music for sure. And I can't wait to see what kind of a crowd it draws.

That one's going on my resume.

Brain Fart Theater

Well, I pretty much packed a year's worth of brain farts into one Mass. I forgot to tell the priest that there was no Gloria, accidentally banged the strings during the gospel, forgot to turn the guitar on for another song, and after reminding the cantor to announce the number of the mass parts I played over the top of her.

Wow. Just not my day. Couldn't seem to get the brain and body working together today. God was teaching me humility.

Good vs. Great Marketing

Good marketing: I found a locksmith's business card tucked into the window seal of my car.

Great marketing: If I had found it inside my car.

Free m4pia

It was only a matter of time.... Not before someone broke the copy protection, but before I stumbled onto it. hymn -- decrypt iTunes and iPod music / unprotect AAC files (m4p --> m4a)

Isn't that just normal pay then?

"Under the terms of Mr. Zander’s signing agreement, he’s entitled to a base salary of $1.5 million, a bonus of at least $2 million and incentive pay worth at least $3.8 million.":

A bonus of at least $2 million? Umm... if he has to receive at least $2million is it still a bonus? I'd be willing to give up my salary if I had to receive a bonus of $2 million.

Hold 'Em Poker Pub Crawl

You won't lose as much money as Vegas, and you will be inebriated. Festa Hold 'Em Poker Pub Crawl.

Brian, you coming to town?

Timely Dilbert

Half the people in our room our moving out of their cubes into a
different department. Hopefully Scott Adams can see my future.

Proving once again Dilbert is not a fictional series but, a documentary.

The Most Useless Tech Support Response Ever

Automated responses are one thing, but for goodness sake, at least answer the question. Here's my original email:

Why can't I use the home media features with TiVo?
I want to use these features and will not continue
subscribing to DirecTv when I move later this summer if I can't
have them.  When will they be enabled?

And here's DirecTV's response:

Dear John,

Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear that you are having
trouble with your DIRECTV System. You may be able to answer
your question by referring to your owner's manual. If you
don't have an owner's manual, you can find a copy on our web
site at DIRECTV.com/manuals.

If you can't find the answer to your question in the
manual, please call 1-800-531-5000 and select the option for
technical assistance.

Sincerely,

Frederick
DIRECTV Customer Service

How useless is that? Suddenly I think the folks 'stealing' the satellite service might have something.

Pope Joke

As in the Pope made a good joke. And if you've ever visited or traveled via Train in Italy and Germany, you'll enjoy it.

The Pope also shared a joke after apologising for arriving late. "The Germans are used to punctuality," he said. "I have become a bit of an Italian."

Full article here

Konfabulous?

While reading an article on Mac's upcoming Tiger release in Time, I noticed a link to Konfabulator! Not saying who pimped who here, but some of these widgets look kind of cool. Check them out, let me know what you think.

Swingers

Yeah baby! I still got it. After answering the call from John Predny, and filling in as a lead at the last two Swing I classes at Old Town School, I went to their graduation night at the Green Dolphin. I admit to being a bit rusty, but picked up a lot of new moves, and actually helped the ladies practice a bit.

All in all, it was a blast. I forgot how much fun that could be. My favorite part was learning a bunch of closing moves with dips. Soooo much fun. Now I just need more chances to use these moves.... Too bad life isn't more like a musical. You know, the kind with happy endings, pretty girls, and me getting both at the end.