Five on Friday

Today I'm going to feature Theresa Andersson, who just happens to be the Artist of the Month over at Voices to Hear.

1. Na Na Na


2. I'm On My Way


3. Mary, Don't You Weep


4. Find the Cost of Freedom


5. Hero

Five on Friday

Today I'm going to feature one family...The Thompsons.

1. Richard Thompson, father and ex husband.  For those not familiar with this man he is one of the greatest guitarists and writers in the music world.  This is one of my all time favorite songs ever.



2. Linda Thompson, was married to Richard and they performed together for years until they divorced and she went on to a solo career of her own.



3. Richard and Linda Thompson



4. Teddy Thompson is the son of Richard and Linda and has established a successful career in music for himself.



5. Kami Thompson is the daughter of Richard and Linda and has just started her life in the music industry.



If you'd like to join in, here are the guidelines:

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.

2. Go to Playlist.com to make your Set of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the Set, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.

2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.

3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.

4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Check it out at Trav's site.

Five on Friday

Local legendary singer Coco Robicheaux died earlier tonight, so I want to do my Five on Friday featuring Mr. Robicheaux.  For more on the man you can read on my Voices to Hear site.

1. Cottonmouth


2. Walking With The Spirit


3. Work of the Devil


4. Working Man


5. Time Has Come Today

Google +

I don't know if I'm just stupid or what but I find myself having more trouble doing anything on Google +.  I really want to use this but it just seems to be so difficult.  I'm really not a fan of Facebook but at least I can post and link and do things, on Google + I just seem to go in circles.  Is anyone else having problems?

Happy Birthday Dad

It's not quite midnight so I can still say that today would have been my Dad's birthday.

He died a little over four years ago from cancer.

You think in four years the loss would get easier.  But a day doesn't go by that I don't think of him in some way.  To be honest it didn't seem like four years had already gone by.  The amount of time was reinforced recently to me.  I was at Best Buy picking something up that I had ordered online.  They asked for my drivers license for identification purposes.  When the clerk handed it back to me I gave a glance at the expiration date, wondering when it was coming due.  In Louisiana a drivers license is good for four years and expires on your birthday.  This was back in July, a few weeks after my birthday.  When I looked I saw that my license had expried that year.

The last time I had renewed it was four years ago, just weeks before my Dad died.  I had to take a trip for work to Texas and my license was expiring and had to get it renewed before I flew.  The week I came back from Texas was the week my Mom called to tell me to get up there, my Dad was not doing good.

So it had been four years.

Four years.  I thought at first that couldn't be right.  He hasn't been dead that long, it wasn't that long ago.  Was it?  But I guess it was.  Time continues to pass and his death recedes into the past, if not in my memories.

One last thought of him I had recently.  Last month I had to drive to Alabama for a meeting for work.  Coming back I passed by the turn off from the highway that would have brought me to their old house when they lived in Mississippi before Katrina.  When I lived in Florida and came back to visit that was where I turned to go to their house.  A brief thought went through my mind of turning off and stopping by to say hi on my way home.  My Dad would have appreciated the unannounced visit and insisted I get something to eat and sit and rest before I continued on my way home.

Damn.

I still miss him.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs died today.  Few people in the last quarter century left such a mark.  Like Apple or not, the product that came from that company changed the world.  ITunes changed the way music is sold.  The Iphone changed the way we use our phones.  And who knows what the IPad will change.

I don't have an IPhone.  If Sprint had been an original carrier of the phone I probably would have made the plunge, but I've always liked Sprint and the people I knew that had AT&T weren't too happy with their services so I stayed where I was.  A brief side trip to the Pre WedOS, but it's been Android and Google as the phones for me.  Even now with the IPhone coming to Sprint I don't think I'll change.  I have a Nexus S and if anything I'll probably update to the Nexus Prime.  

But I do have an Ipod and an Ipad.  Both are devices that I love.  The Ipod for my money is one of the greatest inventions ever, I have over 40,000 songs downloaded on it and I can carry my music anywhere I go.  The Ipad is something I'm learning to use more and more.  I'll go a few months and use it almost everyday and than put it down and not pick it up for another few months.  

Still whatever you think of Apple you have to admit that Steve Jobs left an impression.

Bert Jansch Dies

With the news of Steve Jobs' death his passing will go mostly unnoticed but Bert Jansch died today also.  According to Wikipedia Mr. Jansch was:

Jansch was a leading figure in the British folk music revival of the 1960s, touring folk clubs and recording several solo albums, as well as collaborating with other musicians such as John Renbourn and Anne Briggs. In 1968, he joined the band Pentangle, touring and recording with them until their break-up in 1972. He then took a few years' break from music, returning in the late 1970s to work on a series of projects with other musicians. He joined a reformed Pentangle in the early 1980s and remained with them as they evolved through various changes of personnel until 1995.

Bravo!

Five on Friday

Last week R.E.M. called it quits.  This has been one of my favorite bands for years.  I had the chance to see them in concert and they put on an awesome show.  Besides being one of my favorites the group has been one of the most influential bands in the last two decades.  As a college band they set the standard for other up and coming bands.  As a "legend" band I think they showed how to be popular and famous with class and dignity.  I'm sorry to see them go, but they went out on their own terms and as friends deciding to call it a night.

1. Everybody Hurts
Some people find this song too sentimental and sappy, but I think it was one of their most beautiful songs with some meaningful lyrics.



2. At My Most Beautiful
From their album UP which shows they were still making great music even later in the game.



3. So. Central Rain
Some old R.E.M.  Doesn't that guitar at the start make you think of the Byrds?  They look so young in this video.



4. Man On The Moon
This is when they were really popular, one of the biggest bands in the world.



5. Losing My Religion
My favorite R.E.M. song.  I just love this song.  The title refers to a saying from the south, I remember my Mom and some of her relatives using it.  When you get mad enough at someone you tell them "Don't make me lose my religion."

Ringer

So I missed the first airing of Sarah Michelle Gellar's new show Ringer earlier in the week.  I hadn't realized it was starting this week, most of the network shows start their season premieres next week.  A post by a friend on Facebook made me realize that I had missed the show.   Luckily their showed it again tonight.

So far the show is a hit.  It run its night and was one of the best nights for CW in three years.  And even better was that the show is good.  The first episode set up a lot and if you're not paying attention it can get pretty confusing.  I'm not even going to try to explain what's going on.  I'm just glad to see Ms. Gellar is in fine form and was great in the show.  Here's hoping that the show continues to grow and get better.

FIve on Friday

For full details on Five on Friday go to Trav's site.

My Five this week is songs from Joan Jett.  Recently I read a biographer of Cheri Currie, the lead singer of The Runaways, the all girl group that Joan was a member of.  And today I just picked up a copy of  Bad Reputation, a biography of Joan herself.  I've been a fan of Joan Jett since she was a member of The Runaways, so I thought today I would just present five songs from Joan Jett.

1. I Love Rock and Roll
I love this song.  Absolutely, completely, all-ending love this song.



2. Bad Reputation


3. Do You Wanna Touch Me


4. I Hate Myself For Loving You


5. And finally the Runaways and their song Cherry Bomb.

10 Years Ago...

It was a Tuesday.  I was working for Service Merchandise.  I was the Store Manger for the store in Slidell.  I was off for the day. Slidell is across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.  It's about an hour drive into the city, maybe less depending on traffic.  My plan for the day was to drive across the lake into Metairie and stop at Borders and CompUSA and a few other places.  Tuesday is new music day, so the new albums for the week would be out.  Bob Dylan's "Love and Theft" was scheduled to come out today.  I got up around early enough so I could get out of the house and on the road before nine or at least not too late afterwards.


Sometime before nine, my friend and assistant manager, Billy called me.  I figured something must be up at the store.  He just told me to turn the tv on.  What channel?  It didn't matter.  I had no idea what could be going on.  If anything I thought of something along the lines of the Challenger disaster.  


I had no idea.  


I turned on the TV and saw one of the World Trade Center towers in flames and smoke pouring out.  A plane had crashed into it.  While listening to it the station the second plane flew into the other tower.  I was standing in front of the television.  I couldn't move.  I just stood there, watching the scenes of destruction.  I don't know how long I stood there.  Somehow I found myself sitting on the couch, my eyes never leaving the screen.  I sat there, watching and listening.  


Finally I couldn't watch any longer.  I had to get up and go out.  I decided to still go across the lake.  I needed to do something to take my mind off the images I had just seen.  All the way over the water and into the city I listened to the news.  I ended up buying the new Dylan but it never made it into the player that day.  I'm not sure when I actually listened to the album.  I had to buy something at CompUSA.  I have no idea what it was today.  I remember very few people in there shopping and that it was just so quiet.  No one was talking.  It was like everyone was in a state of shock.


Driving home I took the causeway.  The Causeway was the longest concrete bridge in the world, I think there's a bridge in China now that's taken that title since.  But at the time it held claim to the longest such bridge in the world, going over the waters of Lake Pontchartrain.  The bridge is 24 miles from end to end.  


I was in the middle of the bridge, with no end in sight, water all around me and for a brief moment I thought that if there was any targets in Louisiana that the terrorists might aim for, the worlds longest bridge might not be a bad idea.  It really didn't take serious hold in my mind, it was too wrapped up in what was going on in New York and Washington, but there was a brief moment of panic.


As soon as I got home I was back on the couch with the television on.  The rest of the day was pretty much spent in front of the screen, watching what was going on.  I just remember the feelings of grief and sorrow I felt that day.  And later as I continued to watch the feelings of anger.  All that grief built up to an anger at those that did this.  While the anger has taken other forms, the grief and sorrow are still there.


Now ten years later I still feel that grief and sorrow.  I was listening to NPR and they had a young boy on that was around four years old on 9/11.  His grandfather was one of those that died in the towers.  He was talking about that day with his Mother and when he started to talk about when his Mother had told him that his Grandfather was in one of the towers and his voice was cracking with emotion I had to turn the station.  Even now, ten years later, it is so hard to see those images and listen to those stories.  


I really don't have anything more insightful or meaningful that you'll no doubt read or hear about that day on other sites.  All I know is that I'll never forget that day.

Five on Friday

Having problems with the playlist and it seems the internet today, so I'm just going to try and post some you tube videos for my Five on Friday.  Today I'm going to try and just post five artists that you might not have heard of.

Trampled by Turtles:


Caroline Herring:


Town Walsh:

Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra:

Ike Reilly:

The Ending of Fringe Season 3

*************SPOILER ALERT****************SPOILER ALERT*************************

If you haven't watched the end of last season, season three of Fringe, and want to, don't read any farther.  But if you have seen it I have a few questions.

When Peter vanishes at the end and the observers comment that Peter was not important, he didn't matter anymore and that was why he disappeared.

Excuse me though, isn't Peter the one person that is important as far as the two worlds are concerned?  If Walter hadn't kidnapped him in the first place, none of the destruction would have started on the other world.  If Peter wasn't there to go into the machine how did the two worlds come together at the end?  

I'm hoping, and reasonably sure, that they have explanations for these questions, but it makes me wonder.

Happy Birthday JJ

Today JJ would have been 23 years old.  My thoughts go out to his family Jason, Claire and Parker today.  

The God of the Old Testement

Click here and go read Michelle Backmann's statements about Hurricane Irene.  That's a pretty petty God if he's willing to kill people and cause that much damage just to tell the rest of us to stop spending.  Maybe he could have just sent a Western Union.

Buffy Returns

Ok, not really, but Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to TV this Fall in the CW show Ringers.    This is the show I'm anticipating the most.  It's a very complicated show, with Sarah playing twin sisters and one twin is missing and the other twin is pretending to be her.  Throw in some crime and someone trying to kill someone else and the FBI is looking for the sister that is pretending to be the other sister and already my head hurts.  But I'm truly hoping that they pull this off.  Ms. Gellar has been away too long.

More Ringer Videos

New Wilco

Sept 27th is going to be a good day for music.  Will Hoge's newest comes out and so does the new Wilco.  The video is "I Love My Label" written by Nick Lowe and a bonus feature on the new album.  And I guess Wilco does love its label.  They started their own label which the new album will be released on.

Instructions

When did it become common to put the minimum information needed in instruction manuals.  I remember years ago when I would buy some new piece of electronic the instruction manual would include how to set it up and than information on what you could do with said piece of equipment.  Nowdays you barely get enough information on how to set up your new item.  As little information as they can get away with giving.

And don't say you can go online to get all information you need.  I shouldn't have to go online to get what I need from buying something new.

And I'm looking at you Logitech Revue....

Five on Friday

Just going to make it under the wire today.  But here we are, with a new set for this Friday.  Will Hoge, one of my favorite performers, has a new album coming out next month so I thought I'd feature Mr. Hoge in my Five on Friday today.  This is the second time I've featured Mr. Hoge.  The first song "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" is one of my favorite songs by him. The other four are cover versions.

Will Hoge is a talented musician from Nashville.  His new album is simply called 7, which is how many albums he's released so far.  If you ever have a chance to catch Will in concert, don't delay, make sure you see him.  For a review I did of Will from Bonnaroo from a few years back you can read it here.

50 Years Ago Today

Timeline of the Deficit

Go here to see more about the government and the deficit.

Happy BIrthday Web

The world wide web is only twenty years old.  It seems incredible that its only been around for twenty years.  For more check out this link.

Five on Friday

This week's Five on Friday is in honor of the upcoming peace globes and the 100 reasons for peace.

Need a Vacation? Work for Congress

Have you heard the news that Congress has taken off their annual August vacation while leaving work behind that could mean close to a hundred thousand people may not have work till they, and by they I mean Congress, go back to work in September.

This got me thinking about how many days a year Congress takes off.  Not hard to look up.  Last year they were off 23 1/2 weeks.  Now there's only 52 weeks in a year if I remember correctly.  That means they worked 28.5 weeks out of the year.  Well, at least they worked over half the year.  Of course, not by much.  And of course they'll tell you that they don't take all that time off.  They're back home, working the home people, raising money to run, the usual etc and etc.  I don't know about you, but if I wanted to raise money my boss isn't going to let me take time off to go do it.

Last time I looked I worked 49 weeks out of the year.  I got three weeks vacation.  And I don't want to hear how many hours Congress put in recently with the dept ceiling fiasco.  Fifty hours or more weeks are normal for me.  And I bet to a lot of people.  You work what is needed to get the job done.  Not Congress.  They get the big in the news thing done....finally, but take off before they finish everything they should.

And how much money do we pay our esteemed representatives?  The average salary for a rank and file Congressman or woman is $174,000.  Now I don't know about you, but that's a bit more than I bring home in a year.  And they get an annual cost of living raise, automatically.  But they'll stop other jobs from getting a cost of living increase.  My Mom barely makes ends meet on Social Security and guess what?  The last two years she hasn't gotten any cost of living increases.  And I can promise you, her annual income is a lot less than $174,000 a year.

So looking at this I have to ask, who's the sucker here?   The men and women working for us have a pretty sweet deal, while we work our asses off and most of us don't come close to making what they make or getting off the amount of time they do.

(And one of the reasons Congress gets the time off they do is because in the beginning they needed the time to go home and work their farms.  And because before air conditioning Washington DC was brutal in the summer.  But guess what?  How many members of Congress take time off to go home and work the farm?)

But it's not going to stop.  Until we as a people tell Congress that we're tired of them being part time representatives.  I want someone representing me in the Nation's Capital full time.  And everytime they don't vote for a cost of living raise for social security they need to take a pay cut.  Let them try and live on what they want to slash even more so now.

It's just a shame is all.

I Blog For Peace

I blog for peace because my Father would have wanted me to.

I Blog For Peace

I blog for peace so parents won't have to make walls like this in their home.

Google TV

Logitech just dropped their price from $250.00 to $99.00 for Google TV.  I would never have even thought of buying it at the first price, but now at its new price it has me thinking.  Does anyone have Google TV?  Is it worth the price?  I'm curious about it and wonder it it is something that I'd use for more than just watching tv shows.

What Are You Watching?

I really think network TV is behind the times.  With a regular television season being 22 weeks they should divide the year up into two seasons.  Forget about the summer of reruns and failed pilots.  Have a winter season and a summer season.  Some of the other networks have taken advantage of the lack of new shows during the summer.  You see new shows on USA, FX, Fox and some of the other networks.  When will the big three (or are they even still the big three) going to follow form?

Actually this post was going to be about what are you watching now that we are in the midst of rerun season.  Are you watching the same shows again?  Or are you watching some of these shows on the other networks?  I'm watching "In Plain Sight" on USA and this is one of my favorite shows on any network.  Also "Royal Pains" is a fun show.  And I've just gotten in "Breaking Bad" in the last few months.

What are you watching?

Five on Friday: Magic

In honor of just finishing reading the latest Harry Dresden novel my playlist this week is songs with "magic" in them.  Go to Trav's site for more Five on Fridays.

If you'd like to join in, here are the guidelines:


1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your Set of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the Set, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Go forth and enjoy music!

New Harry Dresden

The newest novel in the Harry Dresden series came out this week.  I know Travis will be excited by this news.  I normally don't buy many hardcovers, they're just too expensive, but this one I had to get now.  I didn't want to wait the six months or more before it comes out in paperback.

Captain America the Movie

Ok, I have to admit right up front that I was worried about this movie. From the bits and pieces I read about the movie I wasn't all that thrilled.  I wasn't all that thrilled about Chris Evans as the hero.  I wasn't that thrilled about the costume.  Can you tell I wasn't that thrilled about the move?

That is until today, when I went to see it.  This is a really good movie.  The scenes of Evans as Steve Rogers before he became the Captain are some of the best.  I have to give Mr. Evans credit.  He makes this role his own.  They take a character that was always about more than the flag on his chest and recognize the ideals Captain America stands for.

One of the great scenes in the move is when Dr. Eskerine asks the puny Steve Rogers why he wants to join the Army, "to go and kill Nazis."

Steve's reply "I don't want to kill anyone.  I don't like bullies."

Now that's Captain America.

I Hate Apple

Why do they have to make it so hard to transfer music from one computer to another.  I purchased a new computer and am trying to get my Itunes library from the old one to the new one.  I have it all saved on a back up and loaded that on the new computer, thinking I had solved the problem.  Nope, it looks like of 22,000 songs only about 4,000 have downloaded onto the new computer.  Everytime I've changed computers it's been such a hassle to get my music from one computer to the next.  It's late now and I have to get up early so I'm going to stop fighting it and try it tomorrow night.

Five on Friday

Today I go back to what will hopefully be a regular Friday occasion. Five on Friday, created by my friend Travis of Trav's Thoughts. The object is to pick five songs. All on a similar subject, by the same artist or whatever reason. I picked one of my favorite songs done by five different artists. "I Shall Be Released."

If you'd like to join in, here are the guidelines:


1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your Set of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the Set, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Go forth and enjoy music!

The Final Flight

"Touching down on the Shuttle Landing Facility's Runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:57 a.m. this morning, the Space Shuttle Atlantis brought to an end an era of 30 years of manned space exploration."

  - CNET News

Comic Con

Right now, even as I write these words Comic Con is going on. It's been about 8 years since I've been and it's grown more than I can imagine.  When I went than it was huge, now it's something that people are waiting in line for literally days to get in to see some of the programs.

I am sorry that I missed the chance to see Sarah Michelle Gellar's appearance.  If I'm right this is her first showing at the con.  Now I might have waited a few hours inline to see her.

Twenty Years Ago

There are a few incidents that you remember for all your life. Most people refer to where they were when JFK was shot.  I was a little young to remember that.  But I do remember the day of the first Moon Landing.  I sitting in our living room, our neighbors were over, it was considered a big thing.  We were all watching.  (This picture is actually of Buzz Aldrin stepping down to the surface of the moon.)

I really don't understand how people can't see the importance of this act.  How much as a race we stepped forward that day.  This is one of the cornerstones of my history.

A Game of Thrones

I didn't watch the HBO show of "A Game of Thrones", mainly because I don't have HBO.  I will be looking for the first season when it comes out on DVD.   From what I've read of the reviews they say it is excellent and it stays true to the source material.

Which is what's important.  I have read the books in the series, starting when the first one "A Game of Thrones" came out what seems like half a life time ago.   (And two more books to go in the series.)  The novels by George RR Martin are some of the best fantasy novels I have ever read.  I have to admit I'm not a big fantasy reader.  I know it's heretical for me to admit, but I've never read "The Lord of the Rings."   Never saw the movies either.  Most fantasy bores me.  But with this series Martin has done what I didn't expect.  Interest me in a fantasy series.  

It's a complex story with many characters and when I say no one is safe I mean it.  Just when you think one character will the main  focus he gets killed.   When you're cheering one character on because he seems to be the good guy, he'll do something that will make you re think your thoughts.  When you're booing what has to be the bad guy he'll do an act that leaves you wondering what's going on.  But none of these acts or deeds are out of character.  That's what makes this series so good, no one is all good or all bad, they have facets of every emotion just like real people.  (There are one or two characters though that I might call just plain evil, but mainly because they think of on one but themselves.)

All I can say is that if you haven't read this series yet give it a try.

Amazing

We Have To Pay Taxes...

....but evidently if you make enough money you don't have to pay any taxes.  Exxon Mobil, which keeps raising our gas prices, paid no taxes even though they made a profit of over 19 billion and they got a refund.  Go read about other companies that make a fortune in profit and pay no taxes here.  Something is seriously out of whack with our government in this case.

I Can't Believe It

Just when I think people can't be any dumber I read something like this.

More on Teachers

Teachers

How important are teachers?  If you think about it we entrust our future to teachers but we treat them like crap and pay they so little.  This video is one of the most inspiring videos I have ever seen.

Quiz

Here's a quiz to see what you know about our government.  I made a 24.  Go take it here.

Good Guys?

I have been and still am a big fan of the current President.  There are so many things he has done right and continues to strive to do right.  There are some things I disagree with.  But this is so wrong, so unlike anything I would have imagined he would have consented to.   And he has to know what's going on.  Yet he does nothing. If there's one thing I know, we here in the U.S. of A. are supposed to be the good guys and I know sometimes you have to do things you don't like to fight the bad guys, but there has to be a line that you don't cross.  Or you're no longer one of the good guys.  Being on the side of good has to mean something.

Shame on you, Mr. President.

Happy Birthday to Fats Domino (A Day Late)

Yesterday Fats Domino turned 83.  About ten years ago I saw him perform at an outdoor concert.  Two guys helped him walk to the piano bench and he looked pretty frail and old.  But once he sat down at that bench and starting playing the years just vanished.  He outplayed everyone there.

Writing

I don't want to jinx anything, it's only been mainly the last few days, but I feel good about it, but I've been writing on this blog again.   Last year was a bad year for me as far as writing on here went.  I had less than 135 post for the entire year.  Lots of things went on last year and I have no idea if any contributed to my lack of writing.  Maybe it was just a year of recharging my batteries and getting back to it.  I only write on here because I like it.  I like writing about whatever hits my mood at the moment, maybe last year I just didn't have a lot that struck my mood the right way.  Well, hopefully I'll be writing here more.  And other writing too.

New Lucinda Williams

March 1 sees the newest album from Lucinda Williams drop.  The album in Blessed.  For my money Lucinda is one of the best song writers we have currently working on there in the music world.

The Final Mission

I truly believe that space exploration is very important to us as a race and it'll be a shame if we stop our reaching towards the stars.

Happy Birthday Tootsie Roll

On this day back in 1896 an Austrian immigrant named Leo Hirschfield created the Tootise Roll.  He named it after his daughter's nickname.  

Salaries

Ok, I seem to be on a roll with linking.  Go read this.  Now as far as I'm concerned the people that should be making the most money are teachers, police officers and fire fighters.  And sadly they seem to some of the lowest paid jobs.

Men and Abortion

Go read this article, I think it makes a lot of good points.   I was driving somewhere the other day and I noticed the license plate in front of me was Pro-Life.  It made me wonder if there is a similar license plate for Pro-Choice people.  I think I know the answer to that.  Pro Choice doesn't mean you think abortion is always the right decision, it just means that at least there is a choice.

BORDERS CLOSING

I just left Borders, the bookstore that's closing.  It was packed, something it never was before this.  The disccounts are only 20%, which when they weren't going out of business you could find a majority of stuff at that markdown.  If these people had shopped here before maybe Borders wouldn't be going out of business.

Grace Potter Concert

I should be posting a review of tonight's concert by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals right now.  She performed at the House of Blues tonight.  The trip over was an effort in patience.  Traffic was terrible.  When I finally made it into the city I get behind a house and carriage.  I follow his all the way up the street and he suddenly stops and wants to back up.  The only problem is that I'm right behind him.  Somehow I manage to get around him and we're finally parked and on our way to the HOB.  As we walk up to the box office I see a young woman standing on the side holding up a sign that reads "Need Two Tickets."  So I guess you can see where this is going.  The show was sold out.  I know, I know, I was stupid for not buying the tickets ahead of time.  This was a show I was really looking forward to.  I've been following Grace Potter for a few years now and she's fast becoming one of my favorite performers.  I think her album of last year was one of the best of the year.  And I missed her show.

Just to give everyone an example of how good she is, here's a clip of her in performance.

Mumford and Sons, Avett Brothers and Dylan

Just in case you missed this at the Grammys.  Some amazing music.

In Memory of PFC Jason Estopinal

On Feb 15 2010 Pfc Jason Estopinal was killed in Afghanistan. 


FOREVER YOUNG from James T. Dunn on Vimeo.

Books on Ipad

I've had my Ipad for over a year now. When I first got it I used it a lot, mainly because I was traveling for work and it was so easy to use. I had downloaded a few books on it and read them in my hotel room. I found myself using it to even update my blog, it just easier to use than my laptop. But after I got home I found myself using it less and less. I used it mainly to play that Friends word game. But recently I downloaded a couple books and read them. Part of me finds it so hard not to have the physical book, but that's just my old fashion ways. I really liked having two books and reading them were so much easier on the Ipad. And I'm updating my blog, which is something else I haven't done in awhile. The two books I read....two from the mystery series Karin Slaughter, a great series which is worth a read.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Super Bowl Commercial

I know I haven't been on for awhile, but I plan on coming back.  But I had to put this up, I love this commercial.

Jan 29-30

Accident

Great way to start the new year.  I was in a car accident coming home from work tonight.  Everyone is safe.  Not sure how much damage was done to my car, the passenger side is punched in pretty bad.  It was drivable.  The other car had a little damage on his bumper, it was a Chevy Avalanche.  And the worst part is that it was my fault.  Stupid stupid stupid.....