Music Counter update

Well, this week I finished up MP3 DVDs for both Elvis _and_ Yes. So the increase in the counter is significant. 15,000 songs and 975 hours of music. Dang!

Currently in rotation are: another Elvis MP3 DVD (full of lots of Christmas and Movie recording sessions), a Journey MP3 DVD (which is basically their entire catalogue... twice), and one of the many Napster era MP3 CDs which is labeled Vol 6... and I know I have up to 26 before I scrapped the volume numbering system. I tend to rotate three discs, listening to each for about 2 hours at a time. I found that when I started getting to huge single group discography sessions (like the 20 Kiss MP3 CDs) that I was starting to get burnt out very very quickly and was getting pretty agitated at work because of it. I like my job, so I found a way to remedy the situation.

Um... not much else new.

If you have time... go catch Devilcake playing the Hell City Tattoo Festival at 3pm at the Hyatt Regency Hotel (the MySpace says 8pm... ignore that). Food metal... acoustically!

S. . . l . . . . . . o . . . . . . . w R . . . . .a . . . . . m . . . . b. . .l . .e

I feel slow today. I'm sure that it has to do with being at work on Friday after being off Monday through Wednesday on our first family vacation (we went to Cinci, went to the zoo and fun was had by all). I dragged through yesterday as well. And I slept on the couch last night (due to some tasty but less than friendly food from PF Chang's and my wife's sensitive nose).. which actually... it's that big of a problem really since I actually slept until 6am or so... but I do have slight remnants of a crick in my neck. And of course it's dreary and rainy out. Blech. And I have to do not one but two status reports. And I feel like a big dope at work lately, wondering if I'm cutout for this crap. Everyone seems to think I'm doing an okay job though, so, I guess I'm not doing that bad. I feel like I'm sitting in some slightly cooled jello. It's not a solid yet, but it's getting there. I'm still able to move, but not with the greatest of ease. Maybe I'm slightly dreading looking at the Discover bill and reconsiling everything in Quicken this weekend. Maybe I feel bad 'cause I didn't get through getting all the home movies onto DVD before Mother's Day. I need to look at the can lights in the family room as well. 3 out of 6 are currently out and putting new bulbs in doesn't do anything. I hope there isn't a leak in my roof. That would suck. I really don't feel like doing these status reports, but I need to since, well, it's part of my job. There used to be plenty of time before the first build came for the new project, but it's quickly coming up now and half my team are noobs. They know some stuff, but they are still unsure of themselves. Plus, we have a gazillion high level docs to write. I need to get my brain back up to speed so I'm not looking at a whole lotta nothing where there should be tons o test cases. Later.

Buy and Sell... Buy and Sell

Sorry... been out of the loop for a while.

Lately there's been some buying and selling going on.

Oh... about a month ago we bought a new microwave, stove and dishwasher. Didn't sell the old ones (though I could easily have gotten 50 bucks each for them since all of them worked.) In the case of the microwave, while the new one heats better, it is a little bit noisier. Luckily, most stuff nukes in 3 minutes or less.

Last weekend, we bought a new 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. Yeah, I can officially be considered old now.

I put a couple things up on Craigslist this past weekend and can happily say that I sold 300 LPs for $75 to a nice old man who plans on giving them to his son-in-law as a birthday present. Hopefully the son-in-law likes them. Also, if everything goes as planned, the futon frame (the mattress was destroyed a couple of years ago) will be gone and I'll be $50 richer. Kinda, well not sad, but... something... to see that futon go. Probably because I know when I moved into my house in '99 that I paid $400 for that darn thing. It's a good frame, but alas, it's just in the way of everything so it had to go. I think in the coming weeks I'll start posting crap on eBay. I have waaaayyyy too many CDs and boxset n stuff (aka electronics from my circuit bending days). There's just not enough room in the house and I have too much stuff. I don't listen to but a third of the CDs I have and I haven't circuit-bent anything for at least a year and a half... maybe longer... so, it's gotta go.

Um... what else...

Oh ... I bought a laptop computer. Since all the computer moved downstairs, I figured the missus and I needed a way to quickly check email without having to leave the lil one unsupervised.

I've had massive allergies this year. They seem to get worse every year. And it sucks. But, it seems to finally be letting up. It helps that the tree that drops TONS of pollen appears to be done. No lie. Tons of pollen. It drops hundreds these little things that are about the size of a golf ball and they are loaded with pollen. M swept a bunch of them off the driveway they other day when it was still a little damp out and now I have a driveway made for Stryper, ala being nothing but black and lots of yellow streaks!

As far as the 'Music Counter' goes, I'm sitting at 14245 songs and a total listening time of 899h 59m 28s... juuuusssstt shy of 900 hours.

Oh... and I got a little raise at work. 4%. I'll take it. Could have been better, but considering my boss told me I got one of the higher raises, it certainly could have been worse. I just bought a minivan for crying out loud. I need gas money. I'll take it!

And holy poop! I just checked my checking account and I already have my stimulus plan money. Woooooooooot! And not a moment too soon. My credit card bill this past month is huuuuuge.