Cat tales, mr-row-ow
mood:    awake
Today is February 26. I got the Alice In Wonderland DVD from Netflix. I'm talking about the 1985 made-for-tv, parade of b-list stars version. When I was a kid, my mom got me one of those childrens' book on tape things of it, where you get a picture book and the tape together. I remember getting it as a get-well present on a day I was home sick from school.

Yesterday was weird. All kinds of snow and ice and slush. My co-worker couldn't make it in due to the weather, so I was flying solo. I don't know from percentages, but overall it was much less busy than a typical Sunday. The main roads were pretty well plowed by the time we were all heading home, but the sidestreets weren't. I think I've been lucky as I have not lost power or anything. I heard on the news that there was a community that lost their 911 service, so that's crazy.

For at least a week, I've had a bump on the bottom of my left foot. I assumed it was a splinter and that it would work its way out eventually. Saturday night I saw something but couldn't quite get it removed. Lack of proper tools. So, Sunday at work I got these tweezers and tried again. After several minutes, I got a good grip on the white splinter, and produced a rather sizeable shard. It was about the size of a (non-big toe) toenail clipping, but wider. I showed it to Jeremy and he thought it might have been made out of ceramic, like perhaps a bit of broken coffee cup. Quite the ordeal. I'm mainly just glad it didn't get infected.

Thinking back to September, it appears I went on a Cake-fest, adding in all their albums that I have. Also I got the Yes "remixes" album, which is interesting as a novelty but not maybe something I'd want to listen to all the time. Ok, then I found some more of those Bud Light ads for my collection. Rounding out the month we have a couple of iTMS acquisitions: the new Mars Volta, and the first Hold Steady. It was good times.


Just relaxing, like always
mood:    le tired
Today is February 23. Right now I am watching Drugstore Cowboy which stars Matt Dillon, who would one day become the owner of the highest volume unicorn dealerships in the tri-state area. Here is a chart for you.

Cowboys
NameYearStar
Midnight1969Jon Voight
Rhinestone11975Glen Campbell
Urban1980John Travolta
Drugstore1989Matt Dillon


1Rhinestone Cowboy is so far just a song but I wanted to include it on this list here since I always think of it.


in which i have a foodstuff-based rant
mood:    content
Today is February 14. Happy Valentine's Day to one and all. I received a very lovely rose and lily arrangement in a modern-looking red vase. Quite a surprise. (Although an even nicer surprise would be if ppl could remember to shut the patio door *all*the*way* when finished smoking. But that is another topic for another day).

Why do people act like dark chocolate is any good? And by "people," I mean "actors in ads for Hershey's Special Dark." Dark chocolate is NASTY and BITTER and a far, far inferior substitute for milk chocolate. There was also a "Stone Soup" comic where one of the characters said she only liked dark chocolate. WTF mate?! Semi-sweet is only even good when you put them in a cookie. Fer crissakes, quit pretending that dark chocolate is even remotely tasty when compared to milk.

August was a hot and spicy month, smoothed only by the sounds of Steely Dan and their brethren. I stumbled upon an amazon.com 4-for-3 promo, and treated myself to Katy Lied, Aja, and The Royal Scam. Oh, and Liza Minnelli's Greatest Hits. That was on there too. At some point in time (apparently just after midnight on 8/21) I realized I was missing "Something About You," a fairly rockin' Boston track. And someone at work told me about N*sync's cover of "Sailing" after I had mentioned their take on The Ultimate Song. Rounding out the month we have another D acquisition, this time Countdown To Ecstasy. I picked that one up hoping for more Yes-like sounds as heard in "King of the World," but it was pretty much just as eclectic, musically, as any of their discs. (Sidebar - I have recently discovered that "My Old School" is completely awesome after hearing it on Radioio70s)


Rach teh Ripper
mood:    accomplished
Today is February 7. It just clicked over the midnight so I was compelled to be honest with the date. Right now I'm watching A-1 doofus Dr. Phil invade Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Earlier in the evening I was importing some of my Hall and Oates records onto my computer. I did 1978's Along the Red Ledge and 1979's X-Static. I used this program called CD Spin Doctor that came with my Toast. It actually worked really well. I had a good day off today. Futzed around with Ojo Rojo, my Nabaztag/tag, did some grocery shopping, baked a cake. I even answered the door to the mail carrier while I was wearing my PJ's. She was thoughtful enough to carry up my Amazon order. I was supposed to have two days off in a row, which is always fun, but a co-worker called and asked me to trade. So we'll do a little every other day action, which will probably be OK. (And I can still go to band, so my charitable tendencies toward being willing to swap were a little more receptive).

OK, lemme do another month on the songs. Back in July, I was tasked with picking out some songs for a friend of mine to perform as her drag alter-ego "JD." I kind of went with an oldies theme. I thought "Love Potion #9," "California Girls" and perennial sing-along favorite "Run Around Sue" would all be good choices although I didn't have them in my lib. Then somebody at my house wanted to hear the Crash Test Dummies song, so I obliged. (That's also how I ended up with Baby Got Back, I'm pretty sure). The remainder or my additions this month were inspired by my then-burgeoning Yacht Rock obsession. All those songs are great. Except for some reason I've never gotten into the Loggins/Nicks duet, which is insane, since I like both those folks. I thought it would be pretty sweet if they did a YR ep that shows how they recorded it. Like Stevie was all pumped to record with a Yacht Rocker, but she was hoping it was Michael McDonald, and then she got to the studio and was irritated to find out she was to sing with Loggins. Not sure what the back story would be there; maybe she thought he was too much of a dick to Jimmy Mu-ssina. Anywho, just an idea. Keep it real, folks.


The Land of Rach: News Archive, CD Reviews