My Thermos

Well, here it is - Day 30 of November and the end of NaBloPoMo. And I did it!!

Or at least I will have once I get this thing posted. Which is actually very close to not making it. Worked until 9 and home at 10, so this will get in just under the wire.

Works for me though.

This sounded easy - just one post per day for the entire month. It actually ended up being much more difficult than I thought it would be. I started with a theme - each day I would write about something for which I am thankful. My wonderful Gina shared the same theme.

I ended up hating my theme, or at least actually having a theme. Finding the time to write a post every day is difficult, some days more than others. Sometimes I wanted to write about something else, or didn't think I could do my planned topic justice. So the theme got tanked and it was business as usual.

I look over my list of posts for the month and I think I did good. I never felt as if I "called it in" or posted any fluff - at least in the scheme of what my blog has always been like.

It was an interesting and enjoyable experience overall. Daily blogging is a goal of mine and one I hope I can continue. Doing this for a month got me into the habit and now each day is an opportunity to continue this path of success.

So I'm glad I did it - glad I finished it - and I am really glad it's over!

Congratulations to those that also completed this, condolences to those that didn't, and a big wagging thumb of shame to those who didn't even try.

Come back for more of the same tomorrow - but now pressure free.

SB

As I mourn a musical loss today, I wanted to counter that with a bit of new music that I have been really enjoying recently. I find most of my new music either on Yahoo Unlimited or on Sirius. I don't really seek it out or follow charts or trends or anything but occasionally I'll hear something that I really like. A few months back it was The Weepies and recently it has been Band of Horses.



This is the first song of theirs that I heard and I really enjoyed it. I played both of their albums (on Yahoo) and dug around online to find their website. Turns out they were in Chicago just the night before I found them - talk about bad timing.

The discovery of this band will lead me on a little musical journey and the chance to discover even more stuff that I might like. A bit of reading about Band of Horses and I discover that they did a previous stint with a band called Carissa's Wierd, and that one of the guys left to focus on a band called Grand Archives. I don't know anything about these other bands yet, but I'll read about them and give them a listen, and see where that takes me.

This ongoing discovery process is part of what makes me love music so much. Following a trail like this is something I've done hundreds of times before. Linking people together and learning these types of relationships has led me to discover some of my favorite artists - Gov't Mule, The Grays, Storyville, The Act, and loads more.

So I'm enjoying the new tunes, hope you enjoy it as well.

SB

A few years passed and they had a promo where you could upgrade to a new Series 2 and transfer your lifetime service to the new machine.  What a Deal!!  We jumped to the 80 hour version and were happy as clams (well, happy clams at least).

When we got rid of Comcast and got our DirecTV we opted for their TiVo DVR - it really was the main reason we went with them over Dish Network.  It had dual tuners, digital outputs, and a whopping 35 hour recording time.

What?  35 Hours?  Are you kidding me?

OK - I knew it was going to be that way, but I also knew how easily we could fix it.  I opted for the easy upgrade kit from the fine folks at weaKnees and we jammed that baby up to 144 hours.  Could have gone higher but that just sounded crazy.  We still had the 80 hour series 2 upstairs.

All was grand in TiVoland.  We had our season passes and wishlists set up.  We watched what we wanted whenever we wanted.  We stopped being slaves to our television.  We had no idea when anything was on - it was just there on the TiVo.



And then they broke.  First was the upstairs one.  We really didn't use it much so while it did bug me, it wasn't a huge loss.  I kept meaning to try to fix it but never got around to it - it just wasn't a priority.

And then tragedy really struck and the DirecTV one in the living room failed on me.  Just wouldn't boot up one morning.   This one hurt.  We lived and breathed this thing.  All of a sudden we had to worry about what was on.  We had to be sure to be home when things we wanted to watch were on.

It sucked.  It still does.  That was a few months back and we are still TiVoless.  I have them both in my office and really do plan on trying to fix them - they are just computers after all.  

But it means taking them apart - booting the disks in a PC, scanning them, etc.. and I just haven't gotten around to it.  One might say that if it was that important I would do it, but compared to trying to grow my business and support my clients I guess it does fall a bit short.

That doesn't make it suck any less being without them.

Why not replace them?  The series 2 has the lifetime service - buying a new one means paying a monthly fee.  The DirecTV model is no longer made - they and TiVo have parted ways.  We could get a new DVR from them, but not a TiVo (and yes, there is a difference)

I've been a TiVo evangelist for years - I still am.  I always tell people that it will fundamentally change your life and the way that you watch TV, and now that we have been returned back to the dark side, I feel even stronger about that.

I guess if they were still working I would have added it to my list of things for which I am thankful, but for now I'll just repeat - I Miss My TiVo!!

SB

As you may recall, I started this NaBloPoMo (or NaBlahBlahBlah) with the intention of writing about things for which I am thankful. You may also recall that I abandoned the theme (although not my intention of completing this month of daily posting)

But I think I want to return to that theme today and discuss something that I just decided I am thankful for, and that is YouTube

If you go through the archives here you'll see that I frequently post video content from YouTube - nearly all of it of the musical variety. I guess there are other things there but I would have no idea what - that is all that I go there to view.

Over the last couple of days I have spent a lot of time there browsing through what is seemingly becoming the greatest musical video repository I have ever encountered. I never cease to be amazed at what I find posted there. Sure, you have to funnel through a bunch of crap, the short clips recorded on cell phones, mislabeled clips, etc... but it is worth it when you find stuff like this:

David Gilmour - Mihalis

A great tune from his first (self-titled) solo album.

Santana - Samba Pa Ti

Quite possibly the greatest song ever written. Just Beautiful.

Marillion - He Knows You Know

Classic footage from the Fish era - circa 1983. One of my favorite bands.

Elvis Costello - Alison

Amazing video of his first television appearance. Fantastic that this is available even in it's damaged condition.

Robert Randolph - The March

One of the most exhilarating performers I have ever seen.

Storyville - Good Day For The Blues

I love this band.

Chris Squire - Hold Out Your Hand / You By My Side

Cool clip of Yes bassist extraordinaire performing a couple of tracks from his outstanding solo album. Also features a young Bill Bruford on the drums.

Allman Brothers Band - In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed

Featuring Duane - 'nuf said

Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush - Stories of a Hero

An amazingly talented player. We had the pleasure of seeing him perform a year or so ago and he just floored me. Glad to have you back Frank!!

Little Feat - Fat Man In The Bathtub

Still a fun band but would have loved to have seen them when Lowell George was still around. What a huge loss.

This is just a sampling of the stuff I have found and bookmarked, and even going through them to compile this list led me on a journey through related videos and such that I almost didn't get this posted in time. Every time I visit I find something new.

So if you're a music fan head on over to YouTube and just search for one of your favorites. You might end up being just as thankful for it as I am.

Enjoy!!

SB

I have a site bookmarked called MusicOrb that features a listing of Musical Birthdays for each day. I don't check it often but sometimes when I am at a loss for something to write about, I'll look to it for inspiration.

Today was one of those days.

But I don't want the desperation that led me to this post to diminish the very real Happy Birthday wishes I send along to John McVie of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac fame.


Continue reading "The Chain" »

We saw the movie "The Pursuit Of Happyness" over the weekend so I was going to write about success. How working hard and having a desire to succeed can lead to great things.

But today I am not sure I believe that.

So instead I thought I would share something funny - hilariously funny actually. Bring tears to your eyes funny.

Sometimes you just have to laugh.



SB

Yesterday I mentioned that I had registered the domain name ithermos.com due to some people searching for mac thermos on my blog.  There was a bit more to it at the time but it all sounds so silly now.  Today I realized that I have 6 domains that are coming due for renewal soon.  I think I have a problem and am obviously in need of some sort of intervention.

Hi my name is Scott and I am addicted to registering domain names.

(Hi Scott....)

I currently have 27 domains registered.  Some are for business, variations on my company and such.  Others are personal. I own my name and various internet nicknames.  These kind of make sense to me, at least I can justify themselves pretty easily.

The rest of them are the ones that scare me.  These are the ones that are usually accompanied by some sort of plan - be it for a new business, another blog, a community site, or just because it sounds cool.

Some highlights:

ithermos.com - I already covered this one.  I really have no idea what to do with it.

Jamminestjams.com - I actually have plans to start a multi-author music blog here.  If you look, I have a default drupal installation there.  This is one likely to go live eventually.

Ondifferentstrings.com - This one will go live eventually as well - it is slated to be a collaborative effort to promote and inspire entrepreneurs.

spikeandme.com - Was going to be the design end of my consulting biz.

thefretboards.com -  Message boards for guitar players.  I actually put up an SMF community as a learning / test experience.  The boards are still there.  The time and traffic to make it successful are not.

tinypeopleonfood.com - I looked for the post on pownce that inspired this one but couldn't find it.  Was a picture of small people on a strawberry and we joked about how it would spawn a website.  I'll get to it eventually.

upsidedowncats.com - I originally registered this one for a photo site like catsinsinks.com or stuffoncats.com but it is now being used brilliantly by my wife for her blog.

I've tried not to register anything for the last couple of months, and it really is getting harder to find something anyway.  I was going to register panjandrum.com of all things and was surprised that it was already claimed. 

So what domains do you own that are sitting unused?

SB