Nervous Music

Nervous Music has moved!

2009-10-28T08:02:00.000-04:00

I've started blogging again, but in a new location at blog.nervousmusic.net. Update your bookmark and feed, if you wish. Read more about why I moved on the new site. Hope to see you there.

Apnea Monofin Mix

2009-09-05T20:40:00.000-04:00

I've had an idea for a good mix in my head for a long time. I've been too unfocused lately to actually mix it, though. So I'm just offering up the unmixed version. You'll have to pretend that the tracks flow together seamlessly until I'm ready to labor over some mixing software. I hope you enjoy it just the same.

Apnea Monofin Mix (1 hr 1 min; 103MB)

Proem "I Don't Know How To Tell"
Deru "Soulik"
Joker "Do It"
Martyn "Far Away"
Clubroot "Talisman"
Vaccine "Wishful Thinking"
Deru "Spot"
Joker & Rustie "Play Doe"
Zomby "One Foot Ahead Of The Other"
Burial "Southern Comfort"
DJ2000F "You Don't Know What Love Is"
Kode 9 "Curious"
Pinch "Angels In The Rain feat. Indi Kaur"
Disrupt "Bomb 20"

A Bug's Life

2009-09-04T20:16:00.000-04:00

Here's a great way to start off a holiday long weekend. A few minutes after getting home from work, I spy a small bug a few feet away on the wall. It looks a bit like a tick, but its body seems a little long for a tick. In any case, I go in for a closer look just to be sure. I'm just a few inches away and I scare it. It starts to fly. So it's definitely not a tick. And it flies right into my mouth and I promptly swallow it. Happy Labor Day!

The “50 Mile” Vegetarian Beer Dinner

2009-08-30T11:21:00.000-04:00

No, the beer wasn't vegetarian. But everything else was. We celebrated our 4 year anniversary last week at Armsby Abbey in Worcester. It has quickly become one of our favorite restaurants of all time. They consistently serve great, fresh, local food with an excellent rotating showcase of 20+ beers on tap.

On August 26th, Armsby Abbey closed from 6pm to 10pm to host 65 people for a 5 course vegetarian meal. All ingredients were sourced from farms and other spots within 50 miles of the restaurant. Accompanying each course was a beer from the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project based in Cambridge, MA.

The owners of Armsby Abbey as well as the couple behind the Pretty Things project made their rounds to say thank you and check in to see how the food and beer was treating everyone. Everything was remarkably good. A 5 course meal each with its own beer over 4 hours in a chilled, laid back atmosphere. A perfect way to spend a late summer evening.

It was so refreshing to see local restaurant and farm owners gather together for one special evening. I only hope they make a habit out of this kind of thing. Everything was delicious and you can see for yourself in the night's menu.

Two hailstorms in two weeks

2009-05-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

I'd like to think it's an auspicious sign of things to come, but I can't help but think that two hailstorms in two weeks is not a good thing. I witnessed a hailstorm while in central India in early May. And then just last weekend an even bigger hailstorm in central Massachusetts. What gives?

Water buffalo buffalo buffalo

2009-05-15T11:31:00.001-04:00

I just returned from a two week visit to India. It was my 6th time visiting the country, but my first time exploring anywhere outside of Chennai. This trip took me to Chennai, Delhi, Agra (the site of the Taj Mahal) and Bangalore. Quite a crazy trip, but very productive work-wise and it was very eye-opening to experience other parts of an amazing country.

I've posted lots of photos from the weekend side-trip to Delhi and Agra. I also took a bunch of (shaky) videos with a Flip camera including this one -- we were surrounded by water buffalo as we took a tour around Agra.

Fun with Words

2009-02-04T10:20:00.000-05:00

Using a new service called Wordle, you can create a tag cloud of your website. Neat!

What is a mote?

2009-01-20T18:49:00.001-05:00

Apparently a mote is a small particle or speck, usually in reference to dust, but can also refer to an atom. I learned this word through a new Windows game called Osmos.

In Osmos, you're a mote. And your objective is to absorb other motes to become the biggest mote on the block. I was drawn to this game for the same reasons that I was drawn to Electroplankton: simple yet mesmerizing gameplay along with its outstanding soundtrack and musical qualities.

Three artists provide the musical backdrop to Osmos: Gas (from em:t fame), Julien Neto and Loscil. All tracks fit quite well into the ambient, dreamlike nature of the game. I learned about Osmos from reading the blog of Mat Jarvis (Gas/High Skies) where I also purchased the remastered version of his em:t 0095 release.

Nice music from nice people. If you enjoy these tracks I advise you to also buy the albums. I've been exchanging emails with Paul from Microscopics who has been very friendly and informed me that although there are no plans to release the mysterious em:t 2298 album (love the cover art), some of the tracks will be released under the High Skies moniker.

Excerpts from Osmos soundtrack (zip), including:

Gas "Discovery" from em:t 0095
Julien Neto "Farewell" from Le Fumeur De Ciel
Loscil "Sickbay" from First Narrows

Happy mote-ing!

Dusty's Theme Song

2008-12-31T11:19:00.000-05:00

I have an addendum to my top picks for 2008. I can't believe I forgot about this one. Lindstrøm's Where You Go I Go Too was a fantastic little EP of 3 songs all clocking in at over 10 minutes each, with the title track almost pushing a half-hour. So maybe it's considered a full-length?

Regardless, it's a great piece of work that I've heard referred to as a collection of epic ambient disco revisionism. Listen for yourself as the ball drops. Happy New Year!

Lindstrøm "Where You Go I Go Too" (mp3)

It's the most musical time of the year

2008-12-06T17:15:00.000-05:00

A few years have passed since I compiled a formal list of my year's favorites. My "Tracks of the Week" are long gone and my podcasts also died quietly. A year ago I didn't reflect back on 2007 to pick my favorites because I didn't feel like I discovered much new music then.

This year is different. Particularly over the last six months, I found myself enjoying quite a few new releases. The majority of this list is electronic music, or at least influenced by electronic music. But I'd like to think that there's still variety to be found.

You can sample some of the albums yourself with a zipped collection I compiled.

Top Picks of 2008 Pack (~200 MB)

In order of enjoyment:

Move D & Benjamin Brunn - Songs From The Beehive - This one sailed into the #1 spot after I spent much of the summer listening to Move D's releases from the last couple years. This is quality electronic music that seems to bend a few different genres to be labeled with its own style Arthropod-house. Whatever that means.

M83 - Saturdays=Youth - French musician Anthony Gonzalez has quite a few releases that mix shoegaze aesthetics with lush ambient pop. This album is his heaviest nod to pop so far, and it's gorgeous. The beautiful sonic textures complement its nostalgic sounds of the '80s and is the most fun album on this list.

Burial - Untrue - I'm at #3 and I've already broken the rules. This album was released in November 2007, but close enough considering I've listened to this one the most of all releases on this list. The genre of dubstep hit its stride earlier this year and this sophomore effort from the mysterious London-based Burial is a standout. It even caught the attention of NPR's Song of the Day feature last spring.

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles - This album got some recent press too in a New Yorker article by Sasha Frere-Jones. For a while, I seriously considered placing this one at the top of the list this year. Although taking some cues from artists like Prefuse 73 and DJ Shadow, I found this to be the most inventive album of the year. It's a mess of sounds and rhythms, but after repeated listens it just gets better and better.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - New York City's Vampire Weekend self-titled album was on heavy rotation all summer long. I mentioned that the M83 was the most fun release of the year, but I might take that back and choose this one instead. This one isn't electronic music, it's pure indie rock with shades of Paul Simon's Graceland throughout. Considering its their debut, this is a really well-executed, charming effort that might be my album for summer 2009 too.

Bvdub - several releases - For recent dub techno, Bvdub is my favorite. I tracked down four of his mini-releases throughout 2008. Very relaxing, sublime music. I particularly enjoyed Dreams Of Red Chambers and Where To Now. A track from each is in the zipped pack.

Windy & Carl - Songs For The Broken Hearted - I already own eight albums from this Michigan duo, but I'll always pick up their latest because their output is consistently great. Call it space-rock, atmospheric ambience, or drone, they've never disappointed since they began recording in 1992. This gets the "easiest to fall asleep to" prize this year.

Newworldaquarium - Dead Bears - And this gets the "huh? not quite sure what this is" award of the year. It's clearly electronic music. The man behind Newworldaquarium is Jochem Peteri and he describes his music to be stuck halfway between hip hop and house. I agree and his production skills are fantastic. More quality electronic music from 2008!

HEALTH - //DISCO - This is an example of one of those rare occurrences where the remix album is better than the original. HEALTH's self-titled release is terrific and a loud mess of rock and electronics, but this remix album is slightly better with more dimensions. The video for "Crimewave" features a bloody zombie wandering around Toronto.

Various Artists - Round Black Ghosts - I'm rounding out the list this year with a dubstep compilation from the ~scape label run by Pole's Stefan Betke. Considering Betke's quality output in the past, it's odd that his contribution to this collection is probably the weakest track. But it still blends nicely with the rest of the dubstep artists here. The track from 2562 is a highlight as well as his full-length from this year entitled Aerial which didn't quite make the cut.

Happy listening and happy holidays!

Dub and Dubber

2008-10-25T19:15:00.001-04:00

Lately my listening habits have been focused solely on a genre of music called dub techno. I tend to get sucked into a certain style of music until I've run out of air. This happened about 5 years ago with a quirky brand of electronic music called tech-house or micro-house. And more recently I leapt back to the early 20th century to explore western swing.

Unlike earlier instances where I can't pinpoint how I was suddenly swept up by a particular genre, this time I can say I know exactly when dub techno got ahold of me. It was Thursday July 31st at 7:09pm. I was commuting home and listening to Boston College radio when I heard a track called "Distance" by Rhythm & Sound (mp3). I already had some Rhythm & Sound in my collection, but not their self-titled debut album. Looking back, the track isn't particularly mind-blowing. But for some reason it caught my ear and pushed me to dive into my dub techno CDs when I got home that night. Ah the wonderful Basic Channel metal tins from the mid '90s. Clever design, but the CD is left extremely vulnerable to scratches. Beautiful vinyl too.

Part of the enjoyment is the thrill of the hunt for these rarities. Because, after all, how much of this stuff do you really need to own? But over the last few months, through various sources like Beatport, eMusic, iTunes and some independent sellers like Polybonk and Juno, I've tracked down a mammoth amount of releases.

Dub techno is a blend of electronic music and dub which has its roots in reggae. One of its originators, owners of the Basic Channel label were interviewed in 1996 by The Wire magazine which offers a pretty good description of the music. In general, dub techno is downbeat, slow and warmer than traditional techno. Occasionally you'll have some singers involved, but primarily it's instrumental music. I find it a great match for driving, reading, or working on the computer. It's repetitive and discreet enough to work just fine as background music; but I find it rewarding when listening carefully too. So it's feeding my music obsession quite well.

It's been a long time since I've created a podcast and this could be a good topic for a new one. But I'm taking the lazy route and offering up some samples in a zipped bundle. If you follow the link, here's what you'll get:

Dub and Dubber Pack (~300 MB)

DeepChord Presents Echospace "First Point Of Aries" (The Coldest Season)
Mikkel Metal "Dromos" (Brone And Wait)
Convextion "Equanimity" (Convextion)
Deadbeat "Lost Luggage" (Journeyman's Annual)
Echologist "Midnight Dub" (Explorations Vol. 1)
Model 500 "Starlight (M 69 Original Mix)" (Starlight)
Octal Industries "Arrival" (Arrival/Departure)
Paul St. Hilaire & René Löwe "Faith (Vox Mix)" (Faith)
Rhythm & Sound with Willi Williams "See Mi Yah" (See Mi Yah)
Rod Modell "AbA" (Plays Michael Mantra)
Spectral Network "Part 4" (Defragment: Part 4-6)
Porter Ricks "Nautical Dub" (Biokinetics)
Bvdub "Always On The Outside" (Return To Tonglu)
Fluxion "Hiatus" (Vibrant Forms)
Ovatow "X - Dub II" (X - Dub)
Paperclip People "The Climax (Basic Reshape)" (Basic Reshape)
Substance & Vainqueur "Resonance" (Libration/Resonance)
Octex "Emergon" (Idei Lahesna)
Anders Ilar "Make Believe" (Everdom)
Monolake "Static" (Gravity)
Quantec "Infinite" (Thousands Of Thoughts)
Yagya "SnowFlake 6" (Rhythm Of Snow)
Atheus "Unendlich" (Unendlich/Drone 37 Hz)

If you're up for it, drop a note in the comments and let me know about your favorites.

Soup! (again)

2008-09-21T13:53:00.000-04:00

Has it really been over two months since I was last here? I guess things have been very busy for me lately. I just returned from a 10-day overseas work trip that took me to Luzern, Switzerland and Berlin. I arrived back in Boston to be greeted by the crisp, cool air that can only mean that autumn is upon us.

I'm trying to shake my second cold of the season. This second one was probably mostly my fault from being out way past my bedtime last weekend at Maria am Ostbanhof. A fantastic night of live music, but I don't have the endurance for the late night shows like I once had.

Now that I'm back, I think a good hearty soup is what I need to get back on track. So I think the menu tonight will include a new recipe. We'll see how it goes.

Chickpea Tagine with Cinnamon, Cumin, and Carrots

North African cooking often features cinnamon in both savory dishes and desserts. Carrots and raisins make this a slightly sweet stew that's best served with a dollop of sour Greek-style yogurt to complement the flavors.

2 Tbs. olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
2 14.5-oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
¼ cup dried currants
1 tsp. ground tumeric
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. honey
½ cup plain Greek-style yogurt
3 Tbs. finely chopped parsley

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 2 to 3 minutes, or until onion slices are soft.
2. Stir in chickpeas, carrots, currants, spices, honey, and 2 cups water. Cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Divide tagine among 4 bowls. Garnish each serving with dollop of yogurt, and sprinkle with parsley.

Beats and breakfast foods

2008-07-16T13:06:00.000-04:00

I always thought EMusic would be a killer. But it turns out that Beatport will be the death of me.

In unrelated news, I was driving through the center of my town today and noticed a sidewalk sign outside of the local greasy spoon. It was advertising "Cape Cod Pancaks." What do you suppose those are all about? What's a pancak? Does it come with lobster?

If you could live anywhere, at any time . . .

2008-05-31T11:08:00.000-04:00

Ever play that game? Trying to decide what era and what location you'd want to live in if you had your choice? Lately, I think New York in 1977 would be pretty incredible. Sure, a lot of people consider that to be one of New York's most dangerous and chaotic times. But you can't beat the music. I recommend catching NY77 when it's on TV. It inspired me to toss together this mixtape: WhenNewYorkWasNewYork.

Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, and Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling

2008-05-02T22:04:00.000-04:00

I've been searching for the best book for my upcoming vacation. I have a lot of unread books to choose from. They've been sitting dormant on my bookshelves for months (some of them have been hanging around for years).

But a new book popped into my possession today that will trump all others: Ballad of the Whiskey Robber written by Julian Rubinstein. Chris recommended it to me as we perused the Borders bargain bin, and he treated me to the book - thanks Chris!

I'm not sure how to prepare myself for a book with a back cover synopsis that starts with "Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant—if only Grant came from Transylvania, was a terrible professional hockey goalkeeper, and preferred women in leopard-skin hot pants."

What?!?

Like I said, thanks Chris.

Tempeh tacos taste terrific

2008-04-26T10:28:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was a blast. The weather was perfect and reminded me of the first days of warm weather in college, and short term! From the right field rooftop seats, we watched the Red Sox come from behind to beat the Rangers on Sunday afternoon. It was the first time I scored an entire game since I was a Cub Scout watching the Paw Sox.

Plus we enjoyed a great new recipe: Jamaican Curried Tempeh Tacos

The yellow curry filling, mustard greens (although we used baby spinach), and red pepper strips lend these spicy tacos the colors of the tropics.

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla, diced (1 cup)
1 8-oz. pkg. tempeh, cut into ½-inch cubes
½ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro
2½ tsp. curry powder
1½ tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 Tbs. lime juice
1 tsp. grated lime zest
4 6-inch corn or flour tortillas, warmed
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup curly mustard greens, finely chopped
2 Tbs. chopped peanuts, optional

1. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until onion is softened.
2. Stir in tempeh, pineapple juice, cilantro, curry powder, and ginger. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes, or until pineapple juice evaporates and tempeh starts to brown, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat, stir in lime juice and zest, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Fill tortillas with tempeh mixture. Add red bell pepper and mustard greens. Top with peanuts, if desired.

Bubble and squeak

2008-04-06T12:07:00.000-04:00

A fun new web app just emerged that lets you create your own mp3 mixtapes. Muxtape is genius in its simplicity. Although I wonder how long this little service will be able to stick around.

My mix is a showcase of my favorite dubstep ditties: nervousmusic.muxtape.com. It's heavy on the Burial tracks, but he's my favorite. Be sure to crank your bass for these gems.

So long Joe-Joes

2008-03-26T20:37:00.000-04:00

Out of pure coincidence while cleaning out the kitchen cabinet tonight, I discovered that my final box of Candy Cane Joe-Joes expires today. Well, I guess I have some serious eating to do in the next three hours.

What I've been diggin': Five things, the music edition

2008-02-24T17:51:00.000-05:00

A year has flown by since I last dropped a "five things" list here. So it's time for another list. And considering I've been consistently uncovering new music each month with my eMusic subscription, it seems fit to dedicate this go-round to music exclusively. These albums have been part of my soundtrack this winter.

All tracks are available at eMusic, except for the first one which you'd need to grab from iTunes Plus which is their DRM-free wing of their music store. Enjoy!

The Field "A Paw In My Face" - from the album From Here We Go To Sublime

Belong "October Language" - from the album October Language

Ellen Allien & Apparat "Jet" - from the album Orchestra of Bubbles

Japancakes "Blown A Wish" - from the album Loveless

Studio "Out There" - from the album West Coast

Soup!

2008-02-02T18:54:00.000-05:00

This recipe might not be the right choice for Super Bowl Sunday, so that's why we're making it tonight. This is our second time making Moroccan Harira and it's a fun alternative to the usual minestrones and stews that you might usually make.

This traditional soup is thickened with a tadouira—a mixture of flour, tomato paste, and cilantro—and served with lemon wedges. Because of the vermicelli, the soup may thicken when cooled—simply add a little more water or broth when reheating.

Harira
½ cup green lentils
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 15-oz. can chopped tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
½ cup vermicelli
Lemon wedges, for garnish

Tadouira
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
¼ cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 Tbs. tomato paste

1. To make Harira: Cook lentils in pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes. Drain.
2. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, parsley, cilantro, ginger, and cinnamon; sauté 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Stir in tomatoes, and sauté 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in broth, chickpeas, lentils, reserved tomato liquid, and 3 cups water. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 45 minutes, or until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally.
4. To make Tadouira: Whisk flour with 1 cup water in bowl. Whisk in cilantro, lemon juice, and tomato paste. Stir Tadouira and vermicelli into Harira, and cook 3 minutes, or until noodles are soft. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy while watching Casablanca.

Checkmate, you carnivore!

2008-01-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

Well, that was a month-long hiatus. I haven't had much to report here lately. Made it through the holidays with a nice vacation. Dove back into work including a trip to India, where I've returned with a massive head cold that's just starting to clear up.

One noteworthy item is that my New Year's resolution was to officially slide over to vegetarian status. So I've done that (with the exception of eating a few prawns in India, but who can resist them?) It wasn't much of a change for me. We've been eating mostly vegetarian food at home for a long time, plus I haven't had any red meat in close to two years, I'd say.

Oh, and I also picked up this lovely hand-carved white sandalwood and rosewood chess set while in Chennai. So I'll be polishing my skills over the next few months. Watch out Viswanathan Anand!

What was your craziest onstage moment?

2007-12-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

Last month I summarized Yo La Tengo's answer to my freewheeling question. Now thanks to the great Boston music blog, Bradley's Almanac, you can hear it for yourself at about 2 minutes in to "freewheeling banter 11" not to mention the entire early show from November 15th. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Daft podcasting

2007-12-19T20:57:00.000-05:00

I have to get the podcast engine going again soon. It's been a nine-month gap which is inexcusable and the last one included my favorites from the beginning of the year. Here we are in the final stride of 2007 and I suppose my next podcast should round out the year with my other favorites.

All I know is that Daft Punk's Alive 2007 will top the list. Have you heard this thing? I stopped paying attention to Daft Punk five years ago, but wow, this live album from a June show in Paris is stellar. Check the video clip. What are your favorites from the year?

A mix of Snow (and rain)

2007-12-02T12:36:00.001-05:00

For those in New England, we have snow in our near future. The coastline will probably be a messy mix of snow and rain. But here in central Mass we could be getting anywhere between 3-6 inches, maybe more if the storm dips south a bit.

This won't be the first snowfall of the season, but it's close enough that it's time to pull out Coil's "The Snow." I've talked about this in the past and posted the track here before. So this time, let's go with a couple remixes both courtesy of Meat Beat Manifesto.

~~Coil "The Snow (Answers Come In Dreams I)"~~ (mp3)
~~Coil "The Snow (Answers Come In Dreams II)"~~ (mp3)

Holiday construction

2007-11-24T13:40:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Excellent food and some relaxing time with both sides of my family. On Thanksgiving afternoon, we took advantage of the unusually mild weather to wander the driftway in Scituate. The air was clean and it was perfectly quiet except for the rustle of marsh grass as we looked out onto Fourth Cliff and parts of the shoreline.

We drove around town and I was reminded of some areas I hadn't seen in a long time, including Veteran's Park where my name is engraved in a wooden walkway for donating and helping with its construction. We also saw the new shingles on my parents' house. The construction was done by one man and he did an outstanding job.

After a visit to my hometown, we drove to central Mass where we shared a lot of laughs over the construction of our gingerbread houses. I was inspired to put a keg of mini-pretzels to good use and make my own maze. At first I considered an all-Peep tree maze a la The Shining, but quickly decided against it with only one package of Peep trees. A few more photos after the jump.

Gobbling up music

2007-11-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

Man alive. This has been a big music month for me.

I've discovered new music and posted a few things here. I'm adding albums to my eMusic "Save For Later" list like a champ. I saw Yo La Tengo last week and will possibly hear some renditions of Steve Reich next week. And now I'm all set up with my new 160GB iPod Classic. The day has come -- and it didn't take too long -- where I can fit my collection (or at least the parts I care about) in my pocket...with room to spare.

Freewheelin' and fabulous

2007-11-17T11:02:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night, Chris and I saw an amazing Yo La Tengo show at the Museum of Fine Arts. It was my fourth (fifth?) time seeing them live and definitely the best. It was an almost-acoustic set they called The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour. The premise is quite simple: Play an intimate sold-out show to a bunch of drooling indie kids and between every song bring up the house lights halfway to chew the fat.

Yo La Tengo accepted song requests (and did a nice job of fulfilling most) and answered questions that were shouted out. Chris was egging me on to yell: "Why wasn't your fourth album double live?!?" Although an obscure reference from their "Sugarcube" video, it would've been pretty funny to ask.

I almost gathered the chutzpah to do it, but instead I shouted "What was your craziest onstage moment?"...thinking that would garner a longer response and a funny story (rather than a deep sigh and a shake of the head - sorry Chris). The lead singer Ira answered with a long, meandering story about how a friend of the band thought it would be a good idea to join them onstage for a song...naked.

Singing naked wasn't a dare; it was more like just something to do. The band gave in and let him. But once he was up there, shyness set in and he turned his back to the audience only to be staring at Georgia, the female drummer. Maybe not the most insane thing to happen to a band on stage, but a pretty humorous story. Maybe they'll have another crazy story after tonight's live performance on Saturday Night Live.

They then floated right into this...

~~Yo La Tengo: "Pablo and Andrea"~~ (mp3)

Oh yeah, and I should also mention they played a gorgeous rendition of one of my favorites:

~~Yo La Tengo: "Deeper into Movies"~~ (mp3)

My cameraphone photo is terrible. See better photos from closer fans with better cameras on Flickr.

The dubstep blues revivial

2007-11-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

The Red Sox are champs once again. We've set the clocks back. We've even had a snow flurry. It's only been a couple weeks since my last post but between then and now it seems like we've really started to slip into the colder season. I guess this means the holidays are right around the corner. I'll likely be staying put through the next couple months without any work travel in sight.

A couple big projects are behind me. They launched during October. Work is no less busy, but there's the tiniest bit of a calm right now until the next big roll-outs in January. As a result, I've started to do more things at home and in my personal life. Hey, I've even been able to discover some new music.

A friend at work turned me on to Elizabeth Cotten, a roots music guitarist with some unbelievable finger-picking skills. Her album Shake Sugaree is a wonderful listen.

In direct contrast, I stumbled upon a UK producer that goes by the name Burial. He has released two albums in the last two years to high critical acclaim. No one knows much about him. He's given one interview but doesn't make any public appearances let alone perform any live shows. Over the last week, the album Untrue has seeped into my brain with its mysterious and unsettling beats and vocals. He's breathed new life into the somewhat stale genre of dubstep, or 2step, or whatever you want to call it. Anyway, enjoy. It's like a soothing narcotic.

~~Elizabeth Cotten "When The Train Comes Along"~~ (mp3)
~~Burial "Archangel"~~ (mp3)

To sleep or not to sleep

2007-10-28T12:38:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a friend's house in Luzern where we watched the replay of Game 3 on NASN, the North American Sports Network. I was able to get through Sunday morning without hearing about last night's score. Not that the Swiss-Germans are running through the streets shouting Game 3's results.

Tonight is going to be tough. I'll be hanging out with people watching the Patriots on NASN. But can I stay up basically all night to catch Game 4 and the potential sweep?

Well, first of all, I'm all thrown off. I'm still a bit jet-lagged plus Europe set its clocks back last night, one week earlier than the U.S. So really I'm just 5 hours ahead at the moment which means the Pats game will start at 9:15pm. However the Sox won't start until 1:30am. UGH. What's a displaced Sox fan to do? Did I mention this is killing me?

Will it be a repeat of 2004?

2007-10-26T02:47:00.000-04:00

Let's see, is this going to be a repeat of 2004? Well, 0.0001% of me hopes not because I'm in Europe for work through Game 4 and it kills me that I have to catch up with the highlights the morning after. Sure, I could wake up at 2:30am every night to keep up, but there's no televised version here so it's a matter of breaking my thumb scrolling through the box score on my phone's tiny screen.

Meh...there's always the DVD version if things turn out in our favor. GO SOX!

Comin' down the mountain

2007-10-14T13:05:00.000-04:00

We spent yesterday in the crisp New Hampshire air hiking down Mount Sunapee with a few friends. We had the option of hiking up and down, or take a one-way Sky Ride, otherwise known as the quad chairlift. We got there late in the day so our only option was to ride up and hike down. Y'know it's more difficult hiking down? You find muscles you didn't have and, if you're like me, you slip once or twice on those double black diamonds.

Here's George!

2007-10-07T10:30:00.000-04:00

Years have gone by since I last set eyes on a Where's George bill. Where's George? was started almost 10 years ago by a friend of a friend with the fun idea of tracking the travels of U.S. bills online. When it first launched, I got a stamp and stamped a bunch of my bills and once or twice I encountered someone else's Where's George bill while getting change somewhere.

I haven't thought about Where's George in a few years, until I was at a wedding a couple weeks ago when I got a $10 bill as change with the familiar red stamp on it. A few hours later, in a different place, I saw another one! Who knew that Ludlow, MA was the epicenter of Where's George bills? I registered my bill, which traveled from Lynnfield to me, and now it's been passed off to Chris who may or may not have already used it. You can call me Aaron Burr from the way I was droppin' Hamiltons.

Oh yeah, and happy 4 years to Nervous Music.

Four digit deliciousness

2007-09-29T12:57:00.000-04:00

I'm neck-deep in testing a new financial web application we're about to launch later today. So I'm a bit blurry-eyed right now. But I did hit my 1,000th bookmark on del.icio.us. I don't know if this counts as any kind of Web 2.0 milestone or not? OK, back to testing.

Guid-Moc-Who?

2007-09-08T09:08:00.000-04:00

Say it with me: Guid-Moc-Shoe. Now pronounce it with me: Gweed-Mock-Shoo. The summer is over according to the calendar and I suppose this means we can no longer wear white too. But last weekend, over the holiday, we tried a couple new recipes (along with making homemade chocolate chip cookies) that turned out surprisingly well. Try for yourself:

Moroccan Spiced Salmon
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp curry powder
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt + pepper
½ tsp olive oil

Mix all of these ingredients together and rub onto a couple nice pieces of salmon and then bake or grill until it starts to flake. Remember, skin side down! I won't be making that mistake twice.

Guid-Moc-Shoe
3 fresh corn on the cob, preferably white, with husk
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
½ jalapeno, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 tablespoons wheat flour
¼ cup white wine
¾ cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup fresh tomatoes, diced

Don't oil the corn. Just toss 'em onto the grill for a bit to let them roast and char to your liking. Meanwhile, tumble the whole peppers with a little olive oil and toss 'em on the grill too (or you can stick 'em in the broiler for a few minutes). Let the corn cool and cut kernels from the husk. Put peppers into a glass bowl covered with wrap and let them sweat for a while. Once cool, peel and dice them.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, add onions, jalapeno pepper and peppers to some sizzling olive oil; saute for 3 minutes. Then add corn and celery and saute until celery is al dente. Add flour and stir until lightly browned. Add white wine and vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper.

The salmon and guid-moc-shoe are great with a little side salad of leftover vegetables from your late summer farm-stand escapades. Enjoy!

We're hiring!

2007-08-22T09:01:00.000-04:00

This is a shameless plug for a new position we're hiring for at my company. This site only gets an average of 27 visitors each day, but when it comes to finding the best candidate for the job, it's worth exploring every avenue. And the best people come from people you know, right?

Our company is looking for a .NET Web Developer.

Cultural Care needs a web developer who likes to write beautiful code and work with new technologies. We're a .NET shop, but we don't shy away from free and open-source software when it fits. Our focus is on ensuring a consistent user experience and we want our backend designed with this in mind. You will take ownership of projects and have the freedom to drive them from beginning to end.

More information about the position and how to apply can be found on our Careers page. Thanks for reading.

Street pigs

2007-08-19T07:47:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. But there has still been time to squeeze in some serious Pass The Pigs tournaments. And after the last 3 games I've played (all with different people -- in India, at work, and at home) I continue to be the reigning champ. Oh yeah! Play it online and practice your double leaning jowlers.

Photo booth fun

2007-07-26T20:43:00.000-04:00

Friends rented a photo booth for their wedding reception last weekend. Needless to say, we had some fun with it.

Heaven in a cone

2007-07-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper pie, I've been in love with JC's ice cream on route 53 in Hanover, Massachusetts. Actually, more accurately, I've been in love with their pistachio soft serve. It's the only thing I've ever had there. I could have two Thanksgiving dinners in a row and still make room for their pistachio.

You'd think that pistachio soft serve might not be very good, or at the very least, an odd choice for soft serve. But this stuff is beyond fantastic. It kinda tastes like pistachios but not really. It's not overly sweet. Its flavor is pretty mild but there's just something magical about it. Growing up, it was my real-life version of Willy Wonka's snozzberries. It was so good, it just had a fictional quality about it.

If you're ever in Hanover, I can't recommend JC's enough. Get yourself a pistachio soft serve in a cone, eat it while sitting in your car, and then go back for more.

It's good to be a Flickr-er

2007-07-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

One of my photos of Portland, Oregon was lucky enough to be chosen in a very nice online guide of the city. A photo I took in the Pearl District is now part of the third edition of the Schmap Portland Guide. They even have a handy little widget to drop onto your site if you'd like. Now I just have to wait until there's an online guide to king cobras and I'll have oodles of submissions.

Lots of cobras, no G.I. Joes

2007-07-12T20:34:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd get better photos from India up here. I just got a nice batch from my colleague who was there one of the weeks I was there. Lots of office photos of our team of developers, but there are also some fun ones of Mahabalipuram (1 hour south of Chennai) and snakes, snakes, snakes! Click on Mr. King Cobra to get to the full set.

So His Holiness goes to bed at 7:30...

2007-07-07T09:34:00.000-04:00

On September 21, 2003, Tom Waits hung out with the Dalai Lama at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. What would that conversation be like?

They were there for a benefit concert which also included Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet. The CD of the show, Healing the Divide: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation, is coming out next week and proceeds will go to the non-profit "Healing the Divide." When you buy a copy, you provide one year of health insurance for an impoverished monk or nun in a refugee settlement.

~~Tom Waits "Healing The Divide - Diamond In Your Mind"~~ (mp3)

Monkey prays. (Glue monkey’s hands together.) Show monkey walking along later. (Be sure to unglue hands first.)

2007-07-06T12:56:00.000-04:00

I knew there was a reason I've kept up my New Yorker subscription all these years. Every so often, you get a gem like Jack Handey's "My Nature Documentary."

389 miles shy

2007-07-05T19:23:00.000-04:00

I was so incredibly close to busting the 100,000 mile mark on my Corolla. I was about a half work-week away from doing so. That would've felt like some kind of accomplishment. But, alas, my Corolla and I were together for a mere 73,167 miles. At the beginning of the week, I traded him in and bought a new 2007 Hyundai Sonata.

Black was not my first choice. However, given the scarcity of the most popular colors this time of year, they let me drive away in my 2nd choice color but with the "premium" package at no extra charge. So I'm now sporting power seats, some steering wheel stereo controls, nicer trim, automatic lights, lumbar support, a trip computer, and 3 free months of XM radio. So far I'm really enjoying XM. I might opt for the $12.99 a month at the end of the summer to keep it going. There's this one channel called "Lucy" where I feel like I've traveled back to my late high school/early college days of alternative rock. That's fun to revisit every once in a while.

I missed good coffee

2007-07-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

I'm terribly jet-lagged but I'm happy to be home. I've been away for three weeks, first to Switzerland and then two weeks in Chennai, India. There are many more (better) photos to appear soon. But for now, I have just a few I snapped with my phone while away. More should be uploaded soon from my phone and then a really nice batch from a colleague's camera hopefully later this week. I saw tons of king cobras, gorgeous stone temples, and curious bulls wandering into the road.

Man, alive.

2007-06-08T22:25:00.000-04:00

Chris and I saw Jandek tonight. It made my teeth rattle.

Greatest. T-shirts. Ever.

2007-06-07T21:15:00.000-04:00

Drunken Bleachers notwithstanding, I've stumbled upon the greatest and most comfortable t-shirts in the world. As Dana Carvey's impersonation of Jimmy Stewart would say: The Worrrld. And they're now 20% off at EMS.

Musical masterpieces

2007-05-28T09:35:00.000-04:00

Last week, I hung out with my friend Chris and we were having fun playing music that we loved in college. We chatted about more recent bands too. Chris mentioned that the first Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album was a masterpiece in his eyes. And that got me thinking. What albums do I consider a masterpiece?

To me, a masterpiece would have to be an album that transcends being merely a set of really great songs. It has to have that unique combination of: 1) having a stunning collection of songs, 2) being likely ahead of its time, and 3) being possibly a genre-defining release. But I'm not sure if this definition quite cuts it. There's something more. The album can't be simply a personal favorite. It should be identified by others for its signficance. In order to receive the highest of high accolades and be called a "masterpiece," I think it needs to be validated by others too.

I, along with others, consider these to be masterpieces:

Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation
My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
DJ Shadow: Entroducing
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
Can: Tago Mago

Man, alive. What a weird list. So would these be my desert island discs? Hmm, well it wouldn't be a terrible start.

El Guaco

2007-05-27T08:17:00.000-04:00

This weekend is the unofficial start of summer, which means that our grill cover will be spending lots of time hanging over our deck railing. Last night was our first full BBQ dinner of the season - thai ginger chicken, grilled corn on the cob, and skewered peppers, onions and mushrooms.

But we started the night with our first-ever attempt at homemade guacamole. And it was fantastic. Here's the super-easy recipe to make your own.

Ingredients:
1 large ripe avocado, peeled, pitted
2 tsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup finely chopped red onions
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 serrano chili, seeded, chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Mash up avocado with a fork.
2. Add lime juice.
3. Add all other ingredients and mix, mash and blend well with your fork.
4. Serve.

It's simple and a great way to spend time while you wait for your grill to pre-heat.

Hey kids! Big Ben, Wagamama!

2007-05-20T12:38:00.000-04:00

We just returned from a brilliant holiday in London. It was a very nice break from work and celebration of Alyssa's completion of her school year. The weather could've been nicer, but meh, can't complain. The occasional rain showers and threatening skies didn't stop us from seeing and doing a lot. And eating a lot.

Despite England's reputation for sub-par cuisine, we ate some awesome food. We never did get fish 'n chips because we mostly opted for Asian meals. We had some tremendously good Burmese, Malaysian, Japanese, Thai, and Middle Eastern though. I can't wait for Wagamama to make its mark on this side of the pond. The first one stateside just opened a few weeks ago in Fanueil Hall. I'm sure more will be popping up shortly if the Boston one succeeds.

The "hop on, hop off" bus tour was a fun way to start our week, plus we took advantage of the free Thames cruise you get with the bus ticket. The Tate Modern was an enlightening way to spend an afternoon. I'm a big fan of twentieth century art so it was fun to come face to face with works by Duchamp, Dali, Warhol, and a room filled with massive dark red and black Rothkos. The Rothko room was definitely a highlight for me.

The Tower of London was interesting -- the White Tower being the best part. We didn't go inside Westminster, St. Paul's or Buckingham Palace; nor did we take a ride on the London Eye, but we saw them all and took photos.

Speaking of which, it was fun to post photos in real-time from my phone. I know a few of you saw them in (almost) real-time too and commented on a few. Sorry for the shoddy quality of some of the uploads. I blame that on the not-so stellar quality of the connection I had. Now that we're home I'm working on uploading the rest, so watch for those if you're interested. Click through for the set.

The Underrated Sophomore

2007-05-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

The first Portishead album, Dummy, is a masterpiece from the 1990s. But not much attention was paid to their self-titled sophomore effort. It's a hazy, captivating listen. Plus you can't beat an album that samples its own albums, like:

~~Portishead "Cowboys"~~
~~Portishead "Mourning Air"~~

It's always fun to rediscover old favorites. Have you rediscovered any fun albums lately?

Next time I'll mow straighter lines

2007-05-01T13:31:00.000-04:00

There's something awfully grown-up about mowing your own lawn. Last year, we hired a high school kid to come by. So today was the first time doing it myself. A big thank you to the person who invented the concept of self-propel.

Will it snow next weekend?

2007-04-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Nothing beats the feeling of cranking open the kitchen windows on an early Saturday morning, hot coffee in hand, and finally letting the air into the house after a long, long winter that refused to go away. Let's hope that Spring is here to stay.

Samsung and Shoegaze

2007-04-15T11:57:00.000-04:00

Last month I ordered Samsung's new SanDisk Sansa Express. It arrived a couple weeks and I'm really enjoying this little device.

The combination of mp3 player, FM radio and microphone is pretty sweet. Its interface is very clean and bright and they even snuck in some fun animation when the device is charging (via USB). The only gripe I have (that others have as well) is that they put the lanyard loop on the cap end instead of the player end. But then again, the player end has a Micro SD slot for expanding the Sansa Express' memory. So I can't complain too much.

Amazon boosted the price by about $10 once it was released, but it's still worth it if you're looking for something around the same size as the first generation iPod shuffle. Compared to the shuffle, this definitely has more bang for the buck.

The first music I tossed onto the Sansa Express was Black Tambourine's Complete Recordings. How have I not stumbled upon this album by now? It's some classic shoegaze like My Bloody Valentine. Black Tambourine was a very short-lived D.C. band from the late eighties. Fun fact: The new Shins album namedrops the vocalist Pam Berry. This is some awfully fun stuff.

~~Black Tambourine "Black Car"~~ (mp3)
~~Black Tambourine "Throw Aggi Off The Bridge"~~ (mp3)

First time on ice skates results in first time on butt wearing ice skates

2007-04-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how this is possible but I've lived in New England my entire life without ever strapping on a pair of ice skates. Until yesterday.

My first time on skates was eventful. I got the chance to have a private lesson with three-time U.S. skating champion Jo Jo Starbuck along with my colleagues on the ice at Rockefeller Center. We were in Manhattan for our annual kickoff meeting and got the weekend off to an early start with some pirouettes, coffee, muffins and wipeouts.

It's a humbling experience to completely wipeout in front of your work friends. Jo Jo took me under her wing for about 10 minutes until I think she realized I was a lost cause. But thank you for your advice, Jo Jo. Sticking my butt out not only makes me look ridiculous but apparently it doesn't stop me from wiping out either. Click through to my Mobile set for other NYC photos including a blurry photo of my left arm on the Today Show and an R2D2 mailbox.

OpenID and IconBuffet

2007-03-22T20:32:00.000-04:00

I'm a fan of IconBuffet. There are lots of icon sites out there, but none have the quality and unique spin of IconBuffet. Every month, I get a new free set of icons dropped into my email account. I can then share icon sets with friends and they can share sets with me. So I have a nice collection of around 20 sets now. Everything from Taipei Monkeys to the wonderful Super Modena Bros.

The company just relaunched their site for the better. It wasn't bad before but they have a nice blog forum now and a few new features that are very clearly explained (like how stamps and tokens work so you can get your mitts on more icons). But what I'm also impressed with is their use of OpenID. This is the first site I've come across where I've actually been able to use my Open ID. So that's just fun to be able to use it.

Granted, there are some major hurdles that OpenID will need to overcome in order to become a smashing success. I really like the concept of it and I hope it doesn't die out. But given its rate of adoption (by AOL, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Firefox to name a few of the big players) I don't think we have to worry about that anytime soon.

So go create your OpenID and sign-up for IconBuffet. The former might prove very useful to you. The latter might not be useful at all except for changing your Desktop's Recycle Bin into a koopa shell.

Why the kids invented the YouTube

2007-03-19T20:55:00.001-04:00

During this month's podcast, I featured a Brooklyn band called Grizzly Bear and one of their songs "Knife." Now see it performed a cappella by the band as they stroll down a street in Paris. You can really find anything on YouTube.

And if you enjoyed that, check out the band crammed in a Parisian bathroom performing a very haunting tune called "Shift".

Nervous Music Podcast 010

2007-03-18T16:26:00.000-04:00

The Best of 2006 music list ain't happenin'. It's already late March, I struggled with compiling a list at the top of the year, and it's just not going to happen. I didn't pick up a lot of new music last year but I'm finding that I've already stumbled upon a few new releases this year that are noteworthy. So this edition is the Best of 2007...so far.

It's been several months since my last podcast, so this one's about 10 minutes longer than usual. I'm making up for lost time while at the same time cramming as much music into one edition as I can. I've selected five new albums to spotlight and you'll hear a couple tracks from each. Unfortunately Garageband maxes out at 999 measures (ack!) so it's split into two mp3s. Sorry about that, but I just didn't feel like paying for the Garageband 3.0 upgrade to get 1999 measures. So we're going to party like it's 999 instead.

Nervous Music Podcast 010 - Part 1 (32 min, 37.1 MB)
Nervous Music Podcast 010 - Part 2 (8 min, 9.6 MB)

Like I need another pair of headphones

2007-03-17T09:28:00.000-04:00

I have more sets of headphones floating around than I know what to do with. Earbuds and headphones that came with iPods, CD players, shuffles, DJ equipment, work headsets, and gifts. My favorite, of course, will continue to be of the Bose variety. But soon I'll have another pair.

This was a terrible segue to say that I just pre-ordered the new SanDisk Sansa Express from Amazon. I don't really need another music player, but this one really grabbed my attention because of the combination of: its features (direct USB connectivity, expandable microSD slot, FM tuner and built-in mic), its quality (SanDisk is 2nd place in portable music marketshare and has an excellent reputation for memory products), and its reasonable price.

It's Windows only and doesn't support AAC which is a bit of a drag. But I think it'll still be interesting to try out and see how it stacks up to its competitor, the iPod shuffle. I'll pop back here in a month to let you know all about it.

What I've been diggin': The almighty five things

2007-03-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

I'm finding myself blogging less and less these days because 1) I don't have the time, and 2) most of what I'm finding that's interesting is showing up on my del.icio.us list. But every now and then I think about what I've been digging and then lists emerge. Like this one.

L.L. Bean Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer: This was a Christmas gift from my parents and I love it. It's the bee's knees, as they say. Each morning now, as I stroll into the kitchen I can catch a glimpse at the time, the indoor temp and the outdoor temp. OK, so that's nothing revolutionary. But did I mention that it measures to a tenth of a degree and it's devilishly stylish? Hey, if I don't have to peer out a frosted window in hopes of catching the mercury level that's probably covered in snow anyway, I'm happy.

IZZE Sparkling Juice: Call it what you will - a refreshing, healthy beverage or Red Bull for wussies - but I like it. I just discovered 4-packs of the stuff at Target for $2 (on sale). There's no refined sugar, no caffeine, no artificial anything. Just fruit juice and sparkling water. I love the flavors they have, and I'm drinking a clementine one right now!

The new Trans Am album: Trans Am formed in 1990 in Washington D.C. and some friends and I are big fans of their second album Surrender to the Night. It's a wonderfully schizophrenic mess of angular rock, sweeping synths, and playful instrumentals. Since then, the band really hasn't produced a gem like their sophomore effort. Over the last ten years, they've dug their heels into politically charged albums that had a few great tracks here and there, but mostly the albums were: meh. Their new release Sex Change, however, is a return to their roots. Does it trump Surrender to the Night? No. But see for yourself. It's a fun ride.

~~Trans Am "North East Rising Sun"~~ (mp3)
~~Trans Am "4,738 Regrets"~~ (mp3)

Getting organized: Or more accurately, "getting things done" has kept me sane these days. Yes it's ultra-nerdy and I never subscribe to those "get fill-in-the-blank quick" schemes, but this one actually works and is quite adaptable to the geek lifestyle. So I've been getting all kinds of organized with my GTD books, Remember The Milk lists, Google Calendar, index cards, binder clips, plastic trays for In, Read/Review, and Next Actions, new Outlook folders like ".Next Actions" and ".Waiting For", manila folders, a hipsterPDA, and my trusty (and unabashedly geeky) label maker. All of these things equal a clearer head.

New ways of keeping up with friends: Blogs, Gmail IM, Twitter, social networking sites like LinkedIn, feeds like Flickr photos, Last.fm, Amazon wishlists, ... It's all very wacky. I've caught up with friends in the most random of online places lately. I take a photo of ice fragments on the Charles with my phone and moments later it's on Flickr and a friend across the country comments on it. The strange thing is that this phenomenon is starting to feel natural.

Play it again, Sam (for the first time)

2007-02-26T20:51:00.000-05:00

Last night, rather than sit through hours of awkward acceptance speeches and glimpses of Jack Nicholson's shiny bald head, I opted to spend my Oscar night watching what has come to be one of the greatest films of all time, Casablanca, for the first time. That's right, I've never seen it before. Shocking.

Of the top 100 films on the list published by the AFI in 1998, I've seen 60 of them which isn't bad. But you know what is bad? Of the top 12, including Casablanca, I've only seen 3.

Oh, and by the way: Rick never says "Play it again, Sam." He says: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. Play it!" Ilsa says "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'" But no "Play it again, Sam."

My love for tacos and music

2007-02-24T08:59:00.000-05:00

As a quick follow-up to my previous post, this morning I discovered another recent referrer to my site through Google. I think I have a new favorite: "bringing tacos back song."

This raises all sorts of interesting questions:

Is this a real song?
If so, what does it sound like? It must be awesome.
What genre of music could it be?
Where have tacos gone? I wasn't aware they ever left us.
I'm sure there are many, many more questions I should be asking here, but my brain isn't awake enough yet to think about the unlimited possibilites of tacos and music.

[UPDATE: I have a new new favorite: "twin peaks audrey's dance free download freshly squeezed." OK, so this would be much more random if "Freshly Squeezed" wasn't a track on the Twin Peaks soundtrack. But still, you have to agree that this is a silly search done by someone in Finland.]

Get Clicky with it

2007-02-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

If you have a website and you're interested in finding out more about your visitors, I recommend Clicky. It's free, it's simple to implement and it offers feeds on visitors, referrers and pageviews that you can subscribe to. My web host offers some basic stats on my website traffic and every couple months I take a peek at the top downloads. I know there's probably only about ten people that read this site on a regular basis, so why do some of my mp3s and podcasts have 60-70 unique downloads a month?

So I turned to Clicky for answers. People have arrived to my site through the silliest searches. And I'm sure the same thing is happening for your sites too. So it's fun to check it out.

United Kingdom - Google search for footy footy footy
Finland - Google search for footy footy footy
United Kingdom - Google search for Mr T's commandments blog
Greece - Google search for Origins Skin Diver Body Wash
Spain - Google search for can I keep you november blessing unknown album
France - Google search for nervous music
Singapore - Google search for nervous songs
Spain - Google search for morricone "dedicato al mare egeo" blogspot
Serbia and Montenegro - Referred from searchlores.org
Brazil - Referred from killingfloorblues.blogspot.com

And a whole ton of strange ones from the United States.

Google search for saxaphone music to copy off your computer
Google search for floogie silliest
Google search for music about sloths
Google blog search for white faced capuchin
Google search for then along come two they got nothing but their jeans
Google search for Kids these days, they listen to the rap, with their hippin' and their hoppin' and their bippin' and their boppin', so they don't know what the jazz is all about!
My personal favorite: Google search for "christopher walken" "white paper"

Hey! Google Reader

2007-02-10T09:13:00.000-05:00

Since the post from Jess a while back, I've been eyeing Google Reader but I haven't had the time or energy to make the jump. I was a devoted Bloglines user for many years, and then I switched, on a whim, to Newshutch. Newshutch was more web2.0-y and "nicer" looking with its logos and AJAX-ified behavior. But it really isn't much above what Bloglines can do in terms of functionality.

Now it's time for me to make the leap to Google Reader. It gave me the excuse to finally organize my pile of entangled feeds into categories. Up until now, I've just been reading down the list. There was nothing wrong with that. I liked jumping from one random bit of news to another - like, "hey! the shins have a new one coming out in january!", "hey! i can buy a 1GB flash drive with rebates for $8!", "hey! firefox has an addon to strip out unnecessary exclamation points!!"

Yes, I begin almost all thoughts with "hey!" these days.

Hey, anyway, Google Reader will still let me browse this way with its nifty "All Items" link to display all of my unread feeds in one view. So I trolled through my 400+ feeds and did some housecleaning. Chucked the expired feeds (in some cases replaced them with the newest feed if it existed), and took a hard look at those feeds that I never read. Whoosh...into the trash they went. So I'm down to a slimmer 248 subscriptions at this writing.

Two articles in particular are responsible for pushing me over the edge to switch: LifeHacker's Getting good with Google Reader and the Get More From Google Reader Guide that I stumbled upon.

If you haven't at least given Google Reader a test drive, I'd recommend that you try it out. The Greasemonkey script that inserts a "Feeds" link into your Gmail menus is ingenious (and I'm sure Google is working on an official release) and the Firefox Notifier is another way that you can make your feeds a part of your day without them getting terribly in the way.

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's OK too. Hi.

Costa Rica coffee

2007-02-03T14:34:00.000-05:00

Lots and lots and lots of coffee beans. It'll take me a while to get through all these bags. There's no point to this post. I'm just playing with the cameraphone.

A penny saved is a penny useless

2007-01-27T13:30:00.000-05:00

What is it about throwing away money that makes us feel so guilty? When I say "throwing away money" I don't mean it in the figurative sense of -- I just bought a subscription to Omaha Steaks for a vegetarian. I mean actually throwing away money.

On my way out of the grocery store this morning, clutched in my hand, I had the receipt from my $1.99 purchase and my change: a penny. Without much thinking I just tossed both into the trash. But a wave of guilt washed over me as I briefly thought about digging that penny out. Of course I didn't. But besides the illegal nature of my act, what's the big deal?

Pennies should be outlawed anyway. They serve us no good. I wonder how gas stations would handle it? Would prices jump up and down a nickel? Although the real question is: What was my $1.99 purchase?

Monkeys, monkeys, oh did we see the monkeys

2007-01-19T19:57:00.000-05:00

Things around here have been quiet lately because, well, I haven't been around. We recently returned from our honeymoon. Yes, it was about a year and a half after the wedding, I know. But we had a fabulous time in Costa Rica.

We spent the first half on the Caribbean side in Puerto Viejo and the second half on the Pacific side in Manuel Antonio/Quepos. We couldn't choose a favorite - we loved both. They were very different from each other. Apparently it's the wet season on the east coast and dry on the west. So yes, we had lots of rain in the rainforest the first few nights, but clear blue skies the rest of the time.

We were totally impressed with the fantastic food, especially in Puerto Viejo. But what I can't stop talking about is the wildlife we saw, especially my friends the monkeys. There are three kinds of monkeys in the areas of Costa Rica we visited, and we spotted all three. But that's just where the wildlife begins.

We also saw: howler monkeys, white-faced capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, two-toed sloths, three-toed sloths, hawks, kincajous, bull ants, agoutis, raccoons, jesus christ lizards, iguanas, geckos, hermit crabs, black crabs, sand crabs, pelicans, vultures, toucans, fish, fish, and more fish, deer, cats, stray dogs, stray horses, skinny cows, donkeys, oxen, hummingbirds, butterflies, beetles, toads, poison dart frogs, cicadas, bats, mosquitos, and a frightening black widow spider.

Click the sleeping sloth below for all of our photos.

You've got your tempeh in my tofu!

2007-01-02T17:40:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we discovered another wonderful restaurant. This time it was the Garden Grille Cafe in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Why are all the best spots a serious drive for us?

The atmosphere is cozy and the waitstaff friendly (albeit very slllooowww, which is really my only gripe about the place). The walls are covered with art from around the world - think Ten Thousand Villages if they opened a cafe.

I started my meal with the miso soup which had an interesting twist. It was served with a slice of crusty bread topped with black and white sesame seeds and anise seeds. The soup itself could've been warmer, but it was chockful of nori and tofu and was delicious. While I wolfed down my soup, Lys enjoyed her carrot ginger apple juice. My beverage of choice was a large pear lemon ginger juice. Their drink menu is pretty incredible -- a wide assortment of unique beers and wines, plus some amazing-looking cocktails that mix organic liquors and fresh fruit juices. Someone at the table next to us ordered the mojito which was the size of a big gulp.

We also ordered a simple appetizer of chips and salsa/guacamole. Boy, did we wait a long time for it to arrive. It ended up showing up along with our entrees. We weren't too happy about that, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The salsa and guacamole were among the best I ever had. Served with warm chips, we dug in and there was no doubt that both dips were made fresh just moments before. If they had arrived earlier, we would've stuffed ourselves on the appetizer leaving no room for the main meal.

The entrees were fantastic. My mixed grill was insane. I counted ten different items on my plate, including tons of grilled vegetables (eggplant, summer squash, sweet potatoes, onions, red peppers, portabellas, and asparagus), chipotle BBQ seitan, brown rice, a side of mixed greens, and a little silver pitcher of a sweet soy sauce. I definitely went overboard with my choice. Lys's entree was a little tamer but no less delicious - sweet potato risotto cakes.

I did my best to clean my plate, but I already snuck a peek at the dessert menu and knew I had to leave room. We both got vegan chocolate desserts. I had the mousse, she had the cake. Meng, oh meng. Both went so well with our excellent mugs of coffee.

The vegan icing on the cake was the moment our meals arrived and John Coltrane's A Love Supreme came over the speakers. That lilting intro saxophone riff was all I needed to make this one of the most perfect meals we've had in some time. (Ahem, except for the slllooowww service. But I'm not too stuck on that.) There's no doubt we'll make the 42 minute drive again sometime soon and anyone who'd like to meet up in Pawtucket, just let us know. Who knew the town that holds the record for the longest baseball game had other things to offer?

Nervous Music Podcast 009

2006-12-31T09:37:00.000-05:00

This is the warmest December on record in Boston. I think we had about 17 consecutive days of above average temperatures until this weekend. So let's conjure up a bit of snow with my ninth podcast. I missed the seasons greetings window to get a holiday podcast up here. But I'm still able to squeeze one final edition into 2006. A safe and happy new year to you all!

Nervous Music Podcast 009 (31 min, 36.2 MB)

Coup Fourré!

2006-12-30T08:29:00.000-05:00

I totally forgot about this game until I stumbled upon this picture the other day. I loved playing Mille Bornes as a kid! These are the original cards I had. I wonder if I still have them?

It's all about the social networking, meng

2006-12-29T12:12:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I attended a web conference in Boston. It's an annual thing, and this year focused on the emergence of the whole web 2.0 shamomo. Some of the speakers summarized the web 2.0 concept by talking about user-generated content, web services, improved interfaces and social networking. They gave numerous examples of successful sites that are participating in all of these things; Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Google Maps, to name a few.

When it comes to social networking, I'm surprised they didn't mention Last.fm. They've been doing some very interesting things lately. I've been using Last.fm for about a year now and I generally thought it was neat when it first came out. Through the use of audio player plug-ins, your listening habits get sent to Last.fm via a method that the company calls "scrobbling" so that others can peek at your playlists.

I've always liked their website. It's clean, very functional and fairly customizable as it lets you rearrange parts of your dashboard just how you like it. But last night I discovered that Last.fm has released a more dynamic application aptly called Last.fm. They say "with Last.fm on your computer you can scrobble your tracks, share your music taste, listen to personalized radio streams, and discover new music and people." Sure, it does all of this but the interface it has is quite ingenious.

I'm taken by its online radio features and the ability to share preferences with your friends. Through the use of tag clouds you can hone in on a particular station by artist or genre. If you're not interested in streaming radio, there's a tab that renders information about what you're currently listening to using Winamp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, or whatever your weapon of choice. Last.fm then takes things the next step by allowing you to tag music you're listening to, recommend a song to another user, mark songs if you love them or want to ban them, and more.

All of these features let you dig into the music further. The Last.fm application connects your current song with tags, similar artists, and top listeners on Last.fm. So from there you can dive into the site deeper for more music. It's a great way to discover new artists and new songs from the artists you love.

I know there's similar stuff out there like Pandora and Musicovery, but I'm just impressed with the route that Last.fm has taken with their application. They went from a neat concept to something much more. It'll be interesting to see where they go next.

[UPDATE: And of course, like every other website, Last.fm has a badge you can stick on your site.]

Celebrating an overlooked pioneer

2006-12-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

Who knew I grew up in a town where radio really started? WBUR has the story. Sure, Marconi technically invented the concept of the radio broadcast, but all that he accomplished were some blips and bleeps when he transmitted morse code. But it was Reginald A. Fessenden who delivered the world's first voice radio broadcast from Marshfield, MA in 1906. And the broadcast took place 100 years ago today!

There's going to be a little celebration around noon today to commemorate the broadcast. We might just try to swing by and dance to Handel's "Largo."

Happy Festivus!

2006-12-23T08:23:00.000-05:00

Today's the day. Happy Festivus everyone! I'm off to rig up the aluminum pole, participate in the "Airing of Grievances," and battle it out in the "Feats of Strength." Festivus for the rest of us!

Smart design + attention to detail = iHooked

2006-12-17T14:37:00.000-05:00

The iHome series of products, created by Sound Design Inc., really are marvelous inventions. Given the tasteless onslaught of iPod accessories and add-ons this year, the ability to cut through the glut of junk on store shelves and offer something of real value is impressive. Which brings me to the point of this post: I love the iHome iH7R.

Sound Design promotes it as a "home system for your iPod" but it's basically an alarm clock on steroids. What I'm really loving about the iH7R is its fine attention to detail, like:

The packaging is quite nice a la Apple products
The ability to both play an iPod as well as charge a Shuffle at the same time using a second dock
An expansion speaker to put on the other side of the room (or bed) to get a fuller stereo sound
A handy remote control whose snooze button doubles as a dimmer button to incrementally dim the display at night
A dual alarm so you can set each alarm time with your choice of buzzer, radio or iPod
Date and time already set properly out of the box
Line out and line in for various uses
Auto-adjust to daylight savings

And you're wondering about the sound quality, I know. It's surprisingly bright and clear. It has a built in EQ to adjust your highs, mids and lows. Of course it can't compete with the crystal quality of the Bose Sounddock, but it holds its own as an impressive little device.

Computer and music stores have been riddled with iPod gadgets for a while now. Often the stuff takes up whole wall displays. Now we're finding that every kind of shop is jumping on the iPod bandwagon - I got my iH7R at Linens 'n Things with a 20% discount coupon (an early Christmas present to myself).

If you're looking to expand the possibilities of your iPod but don't know how to wade through the iCrap, let me steer you in the direction of the iHome products. The combination of smart design and attention to detail has me hooked.

Chilly when it's chili (wait, strike that, reverse it)

2006-12-09T13:21:00.000-05:00

One of our favorite spots to eat is the Sano Cafe in Worcester. It's connected to the healthy, organic food store Living Earth. We're there at least once a month and on the way out we always pick up the newest copy of their magazine Living Naturally! The latest issue has a super simple chili recipe which we tried out last weekend. It's such a lazy man's recipe, but it cooks up great. The steps are basically -- cut up some stuff, throw into a pot, cook. Here's the skinny:

This makes four 1 ½ cup servings.

2 19 oz cans of red kidney beans, drained
1 large onion, diced (approx 2 cups)
1 yellow pepper, diced (approx 1 cup)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 oz can of tomatoes, chopped (with liquid)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 ½ tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp cayenne (adjust to taste)
1 tsp salt

Now the fun part. In a large pot, add all ingredients. Mix ingredients, cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Difficult stuff, huh? Delicious, though.

Cold Stone craziness

2006-12-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

I'm such an idiot when it comes to choosing mix-ins at Cold Stone Creamery. The first time I ever got ice cream there, my combination was cotton candy-flavored ice cream with raspberries and Twix. I swore never to be that stupid again. But history repeats itself and tonight I got vanilla ice cream (tame, I know) with blueberries and Kit Kats.

I'm an idiot, but at least not a big one. When I got home I discovered the hard drive on my desktop PC went south. I've got a backup. It's not exactly a current backup, but it's good enough. Anyone know any good deals these days for desktop Windows PCs?

If it's not Scottish it's crap!

2006-12-03T16:04:00.000-05:00

I popped into Newbury Comics today for the first time in a long while. I picked up two albums on sale for $10.88 apiece (gotta love those Newbury sales). Both are from the early '80s, both are from Scottish bands, both are jittery post-punk, and both are quite good.

Orange Juice (of Glasgow) and Josef K (of Edinburgh) are two short-lived bands who recorded around the same time as each other and defined the sound of artsy, independent music in Scotland. Orange Juice's The Glasgow School and Josef K's Entomology are each packed with 20+ songs. Orange Juice has received some attention lately from bands like Franz Ferdinand who've dug them up from their country's back catalog. But so far, I think I'm enjoying the Josef K album a little more.

What I'm not enjoying, however, is the free CD that the woman at the register slipped into my bag. It's a sampler with new songs by Slayer, Helmet, and Sammy Hagar which just further reinforces the fact that if it's not Scottish it's crap.

A pair of Scottish post-punk tracks for you:

Orange Juice "Breakfast Time"

Josef K "Radio Drill Time"

What I've been diggin': (Yet another) five things

2006-12-02T16:57:00.000-05:00

Here we go. Another short list of items I've been really enjoying over the last few months. I've done this before. Twice actually. But it's been a year since the last time. So I thought I'd share with you a few things I've been diggin'.

Chris & Tim's Atomic Energy mix: Friends Chris and Tim produced a wonderful mix in early 2005 and I just recently re-discovered it. Wow. What you see on Tim's blog just scratches the surface of the full mix which is much longer. From Wanda Jackson to Charles Mingus to Sheldon Allman, Atomic Energy bounces from the sincere to the silly. Woven between songs are samples from the U.S. Department of Civil Defense instructing you how to prepare for the "big one." A very enjoyable listen. Timmay, Chris, any chance the full mix can make an appearance online somewhere?

Giftbox: I know I rambled on about this one before, but I'm using it again this year and it's keeping me sane during the holiday shopping season. Giftbox keeps track of your family and friends' purchases. Nice features include the ability to distinguish between what you've bought and what you have in hand (for those online buys). You can associate a gift with multiple URLs for the comparison shopper in you. Plus, you can keep track of gifts you want to receive and send thank you ecards after the holidays. I won't be using the ecard feature, but otherwise Giftbox has completely replaced the tattered shopping list that used to be crammed in my wallet.

Candy Cane Joe-Joe's: I'm hooked on these Trader Joe's cookies and it appears every other blogger using Blogger is too. Trader Joe's makes a fine (more healthy) alternative to the Oreo in the form of its regular Joe-Joe. But they blew the doors off the dessert Datsun with this one and you can't beat the price at $2.99 a box. The crushed bits of peppermint candy cane mixed with the filling is what gives the Candy Cane Joe-Joe its pizazz. Disagree with me if you want. I'll be over in the corner stuffing my face with them.

LogMeIn.com: LogMeIn is a free service that let's you remotely access other computers. There are lots of products like this out there, but here's why this one's better than others like RealVNC. First, you don't have to fiddle with firewall ports and other networking settings, it just works. Second, the software is not bloated - no spyware, no advertising - and the local computer uses just a Firefox plugin (or Java applet) without the need of installing any client software. Third, the free version is just that, 100% free for life (well, technically my account says the license expires in 2010). Pro versions include lots of bells 'n whistles but the free version has been just fine for getting me out of jams at work when I try to help out remote staff. The local PC can be on any platform, but the target PC must be running Windows. Ahh well, you can't have everything.

Firefox 2.0: Some browser power users continue to bicker about which web browser is king: Firefox or Safari? I enjoy both, but given that I hop daily between platforms, Firefox is my weapon of choice. Released in late October, the second version of Firefox introduced some slick new features that 1.0 lacked. I'm certainly no power user, but I'm spending a lot more time these days adjusting my browsing experience than I used to. Putting a web browser on this list is a cop-out, I know, so I'll stop here. On a related note, I could also go on and on about the wonders of del.icio.us, but I know I'm late to the game on this one too so I'll shut my mouth.

Turkey Day and Black Friday

2006-11-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you have a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving. I certainly know I can't wait 'til the turkey's sliced around 2pm today. And don't forget about all those great deals tomorrow. With sites dedicated to Black Friday, like dealplumber, there are just tons of good deals floating out there tomorrow. You can find loads of stuff for under ten bucks; everything from super-cheap USB drives to LCD dartboards and Barbies. Go crazy, pilgrim.

Season of the Shock

2006-11-21T11:15:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. Time when you wrestle off your coat only to get the shock of your life when you touch the light switch. And it really does seem that each shock is worse than the last. *Pffzztt AAH!* is the mantra of winter, and I have to say I'm not really looking forward to several more months of this. But the season of the shock reminds me of a great Yo La Tengo song, so here you go.

Bonus track: Yo La Tengo "Season of the Shark"

Who's your favorite monkey?

2006-11-19T12:34:00.000-05:00

I think I'll have to go with Monkey Maximus, for obvious reasons.

Nervous Music Podcast 008

2006-11-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness I raked all the leaves off the lawn yesterday. It's absolutely pouring outside today and the forecast predicts another three days of this. New England autumns can be gorgeous or they can be downright rainy and miserable. Luckily we have the indoors, warm clothing and some music to pass the time.

Nervous Music Podcast 008 (32 min, 36.8 MB)

Scaredy Jack

2006-10-27T06:51:00.000-04:00

Meet Scaredy Jack. He lacks the steady hand and attention to detail of Jess's jack-o-masterpieces. But mine has eyeballs.

Thunder Noodle vs Drunken Noodle

2006-10-25T06:31:00.000-04:00

Oh man, we found an awesome Thai place last weekend. The restaurant we usually go to has been wearing thin and we've searched high and low for better Thai in the Worcester area. We discovered a fantastic spot in Milford called Mango Thai Cuisine.

It has a wonderful atmosphere with large intricate mango paintings on the walls. The floral-print booths looked awfully comfy (although with the Saturday crowd we were lucky to get just a regular table). Speaking of tables, their placemats are pretty amusing -- a glossary of Thai herbs with cartoons of dancing children. The staff is super friendly as they dash around in their bright green Mango shirts. And the food, oh the food is just spectacular. I think the Thunder Noodle gives the Drunken Noodle at Bamboo (on Comm Ave) a run for its money.

Aside from the Thunder / Drunken / Spicy Noodle, I also judge Thai restaurants based on whether they serve fresh spring rolls for an appetizer. I'm not talking the deep fried torpedos packed with wilted cabbage. I mean the light and airy rice paper-wrapped veggies and shrimp. Mango's fresh spring rolls are excellent. We finished off our meal with the mango and sticky rice dessert, an item you don't see on many Thai menus either. The drizzled coconut milk on top was a nice touch. Again, we were mighty impressed.

If you happen to find yourself wandering down I-495 and you pass Milford and Medway, hop on the Exit 19 off-ramp and hit Mango Thai Cuisine. It's just spectacular.

Nervous Music Podcast 007

2006-10-22T18:43:00.000-04:00

It's time to get Hallowe'eny. I'm bouncing back into my...ahem...monthly routine of podcasting with a selection of spooky tracks. What's really scary is that I'm into my seventh one and the quality still smells like rotting pumpkins. Ah well, trick or treat!

Nervous Music Podcast 007 (31 min, 36.2 MB)

Your moment of zen for today

2006-10-21T12:05:00.000-04:00

There's just something sublime about a Garfield cartoon with no dialogue.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

2006-10-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

I've taken a couple days off from work, and before I step away from the computer for a few days, I must post this wonderful little article from Wikipedia. It's not only a fantastic use of the English language, but the Wikipedia link itself is just one of the coolest URLs out there. What's the dumbest Wikipedia article you've uncovered?

Peering through my window again

2006-10-01T19:57:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned before that I'm no stranger to musical coincidences. Last week was no exception. On three separate occasions during my commute I heard a song on WZBC that I was just listening to the night before. No joke. Three times this happened to me. Monday morning was Coil; Wednesday was Wire; Friday was Yo La Tengo. What can that possibly mean? And on one of my commutes home I heard Moses Allison's (fantastic) "Your Molecular Structure" which I listened to last weekend.

This is such a strange set of coincidences because generally I've been remiss in my music listenin' lately. This is primarily due to my aging iPod. It's on its last legs. Sadly, it has developed a condition where it seizes up for exactly 2 minutes at random intervals. The music keeps playing, but the controls are frozen, and if the song reaches its end, it won't continue to the next until the 2 minutes pass. Seems like a known bug in the iPod Minis. Not too much I can do about it. I've been living with it for about 6 months now and recently realized it's time for an upgrade.

The new 80GB iPod arrived at our doorstep a few days ago. Setting it up proved to be a very long process. Moving lots of music over to my laptop, re-ripping CDs in AAC to conserve space, and cleaning up tags took hours and hours and hours. But I'm finally in business. 1,100 albums and over 13,000 songs. Do I need this much on one device? Of course not. But now I can say that half of my collection can fit in my pocket. It's a welcomed upgrade to my 3rd generation iPod which will still join me on my commutes with its trusty FM transmitter. But I'm sure it will be retired as soon as I can get the new one rigged up in the Corolla.

Hrrmmm...Now I have some serious catching up to do with my collection.

Sliding into Fall

2006-09-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

August was a great month. A few weeks ago, Alyssa surprised me with a wonderful birthday bash. Family and friends visited for a delicious BBQ and a few rounds of croquet and bocce. The weekend after that, a small group of us braved the Kennebec River on a Moxie raft. Nate and I were dumped into the rapids while onlookers pointed and laughed (thanks all).

Alyssa and I celebrated our one-year anniversary a couple weeks ago too. That was a wonderful weekend. So August was a fantastic month. Busy every week; busy every weekend, and no time to post updates here. I woke up this morning to a drop in temperature by about 25 degrees since yesterday. In just a few short hours, summer bid adieu and fall is here to stay. It feels like we've quickly slid into a new season so maybe that means I can flip over a new leaf and spend a little more time here posting photos and the usual nonsense this month.

Nervous Music Podcast 006

2006-08-04T17:55:00.000-04:00

After a brief hiatus from the podcasting, I'm back. It's been hot, steamy, humid, and at times oppressive. It's August. So this edition is loosely based around summery songs. I've defined summery by finding tracks that don't sound half-bad in the car, windows down, zipping along some highway or country road somewhere (take your pick). As long as you pull up to a red light blaring the Sammy Davis Jr. and get disgusted looks from other motorists, I'll know I've done my job.

Nervous Music Podcast 006 (32 min, 37.1 MB)

Shameless plug for job opening

2006-08-03T18:23:00.000-04:00

Work continues to be busy. That's why there hasn't been a whole lot happening here these days. But guess what? I'm hiring. So maybe that means I won't be as crazed if there's a little help around here. If you know someone who might fit the bill (or have any questions about the opening), I'm all ears.

Thingamagoop

2006-07-26T21:31:00.000-04:00

My birthday's next month. Who wants to buy me a Thingamagoop?

What is it exactly? I'm not sure. I forget. Maybe I need some of these Instant Decaf sticks instead!

Ouch!

2006-07-22T10:20:00.000-04:00

When we leave The Schroed alone for 20 minutes, this is what happens: He shimmies his way under the couch, finds a manufacturer's sticker half-dangling from the underside, and adheres it to his chest. Now that's about as silly as a friend who sticks Newcastle beer labels on his forehead and yells, "Hey! I'm a Newcastle!"

Look, I'm not asking for a terabyte

2006-07-18T19:55:00.000-04:00

I'm still waiting to be able to put my entire music collection on one device. So when is this 100 GB iPod coming out that rumor sites have been hinting at for over a year now?

Hrrnnpphh. I guess nothing is due out soon.

What made you think the cat photos would ever stop?

2006-07-08T18:52:00.000-04:00

Now that we have cat #2, does that mean you'll be seeing twice as many cat photos here? Well, maybe. I have a few new ones to share of Schroeder from last weekend. Simone's gradually warming up to him. It'll take some time. I'm leaving for a week tomorrow -- working in our Swiss office again. So hopefully by the time I return they'll be best of friends and even helping out around the house. That would be nice.

The Great Garlic E-scape

2006-07-07T06:38:00.000-04:00

We are very excited about the organic farm share we signed up for this summer. From mid-June to October, I'm receiving a weekly bundle of produce right to my workplace thanks to Three Sisters Farm in western Mass. For the last two weeks, each Thursday morning, I get a call from the front desk telling me about my bag of fun. So far, it's been lots of leafy goodness: lettuce, mesculin mix, bok choy, plus a healthy dose of snow peas, snap peas, and podded peas.

Last week also brought an interesting twisty tendril called a garlic scape or garlic shoot. They appear in the summer before the garlic bulbs themselves are ready. We used them like we would a head of garlic - chopped 'em up and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil. They have the flavor of the garlic without the intense bite. A very nice mild flavor to them.

Soon peppers, tomatoes, and other fresh veggies will be in season. Plus Chris tells me the cucumbers are fantastic. Well I just can't wait for that!

Spoilt Victorian Mario

2006-07-03T10:22:00.000-04:00

Every day, The Story of the Fall lists a new Fall song with review. Neat concept. It's just starting out, but give it a few months and you'll have a nice selection of tracks from them to browse.

I also stumbled upon a Javascript-based version of Super Mario 3. So far, it only includes part of Level 1-1 but it's pretty nifty.

So how's that for two random links for your holiday weekend? Not enough to hold you over while waiting for the fireworks. But that's OK, you should be outside playing bocce anyway. Happy 4th!

Meet Schroeder

2006-07-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

It's official: We've named him Schroeder. He's two months old and a bundle of hyper joy. Simone's not quite sure what to do with him yet. She's generally OK unless he comes within about two feet of her, then the hissing begins. No throwdown fights yet, but we expect some on the horizon as they get closer and closer to each other by the day.

He's just the cutest little thing. Between the alpaca photos and kitten photos here, I feel like I'm trying to compete with other sites out there.

You can certainly expect more photos of Schroeder up here soon... if he sits still long enough to be more than a blur on film.

U Can't Touch This list of videos

2006-06-27T21:52:00.000-04:00

Feed your 1980s craving with over 1,400 music videos from the decade that brought you A Flock of Seagulls, Afrika Bambaataa, and Adam Ant. And that's just looking at the "A"s. Yeesh.

And for something a little more recent, check out Royksopp's fantastic Remind Me video.

No podcast; new pet

2006-06-21T08:58:00.000-04:00

Usually by this time of the month, I already have a podcast ready to go. But I think I'm going to take a mulligan in June, and put together something for July instead. Things have just been too darn busy lately. But here's some exciting news: We're getting a second cat. This time, it's a kitten, about two months old named Rufio. We're likely going to change his name. We have a short list of contenders right now but we're thinking Oliver.

We're doing our best to prep Simone and we think she'll actually take the change quite well if we do this right. He'll eventually be a friend for Simone to play with because she gets intensely lonely when no one's around these days. So we're hoping all of this will be a good thing. Plus I've never had a kitten and that's just going to be fantastic, right?

We'll be welcoming Rufio/Oliver into our home next week. I'm sure there'll be lots of new photos here soon - oh joy!

Drinking from the firehose

2006-06-10T10:30:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if the phrase "drinking from the firehose" falls into the category of corporate-speak the same way that "touching base" and "thinking outside the box" do. But I'm going to use it anyway. Lately, I'm continuing to drink from the firehose.

The traveling has calmed, but the workload continues to be up there with the number of innings played between the Paw Sox and Rochester Red Wings in the Spring of 1981, i.e., a lot. In fact that was the longest professional baseball game ever played. I think I still have the commemorative cups (even though I wasn't there). Paw Sox won 3-2. Woo!

Hey, speaking of beisbol, I'm going to my first Boston game of the season tonight. The night game of the doubleheader against the Texas Rangers. Looks like we'll be seeing Beckett take the mound against "Way Back" Wasdin. Should be a good game at soggy Fenway, if the weather holds up. Let's hope Youk can keep his forearm away from pitches tonight. And let's hope Trot keeps up his hitting streak. Giddy up! Beisbol!

[UPDATE: OK, so we didn't see the game yesterday. But the makeup was today, and it was clearly the best of the weekend bunch. Sox down 2, and Ortiz faces a 2-2 count with 2 on and 2 out in the bottom of the ninth. Does he smack yet another walkoff home run? You bet he does! Sox win in dramatic fashion 5-4. Woo!]