Sunday, January 21, 2007

This Radio Userland software has wreaked havoc on my aging Dell computer. After almost two years with salon.com, I do believe that it's time to move on. I'll be at: http://weirdhistory.blogspot.com/ And hopefully this easier blog tool will get the creative juices flowing once again. NTD 9:09:32 PM    comment []

Thursday, January 11, 2007

"It may take years to realize a dream But dreaming itself is an elevating experience." -Maya Angelou   NTD 9:51:50 PM    comment []

Monday, January 01, 2007

This Christmas my dad gave me a useful gift - and I'm not talking about the AS SEEN ON TV thingie still sitting on my sofa in its unopened blister pack - you know, the thing that one considers returning if the gifter rarely asks to see his/her gifts in action. He also gave me a smaller CD holder, the kind that might be more reasonable in my car than the massive 200-CD deadweight which I currently use. I say that I use it, but more often than not, loose CDs lie scattered in nooks and crannies. Occasionally, after a brake-testing close call on the highway, some formerly valuable rarity will be found beneath my gas pedal. And I used to love my CDs so dearly. Before downloading and CD copying, every disc was sacred. The bulk of my shop business involved used and new CDs. Some hung over college sophomore would need another case of beer for the evening, and voila! - a James Brown box set would appear on my counter, available for purchase. I hoarded oddities and beloved favorites. I continue to buy and sell, but only on Amazon and Ebay. My bricks-and-mortar shop has slowly evolved into a giftier place. The used books and CDs are all warehoused on shelves at home. And - like everyone else - I download, borrow and burn. The ipod sits on my desk - that's the next step in my musicological journey. It was so hard to give up most of my jewel cases, but I would look at my hundreds of CDs and realize that I had not listened to most of them in years. And I do not live in Championship Vinyl land, a la High Fidelity. I gave up my music snobbery a decade ago. Music's gotta be listened to. Collecting for collecting's sake is a luxury that I can't afford... and these days, what's the point anyway? Any 13 year old with a computer can find almost any alternative take, any former B-side. Record collections are becoming like stamp collections - interesting, but not a recommended investment. So I keep transferring my CDs into these cases, so that I will listen to them on the road. The car is the perfect listening room. And I toss most of the jewel cases (keeping booklets and inserts in case I ever want to re-case them). Today we're going to listen to 1950s-era Lefty Frizzell. And maybe Half Japanese. And a live Flying Burrito Brothers. Professor Longhair. The Fuzzy Sprouts. And whatever else fits into this CD holder my dad gave me. Thanks, Daddy. NTD  5:48:45 PM    comment []

Friday, December 29, 2006

This Christmas my dad gave me a useful gift - and I'm not talking about the AS SEEN ON TV thingie still sitting on my sofa in its unopened blister pack. He also gave me a smaller CD holder, the kind that might be more reasonable in my car than the massive 200-CD deadweight which I currently use. I say that I use it, but more often than not, loose CDs lie scattered in nooks and crannies. Occasionally, after a brake-testing close call on the highway, some formerly valuable rarity will be found beneath my gas pedal. And I used to love my CDs so dearly. Before downloading and CD copying, every disc was sacred. The bulk of my shop business involved used and new CDs. Some hung over college sophomore would need another case of beer for the evening, and voila! - a James Brown box set would appear on my counter, available for purchase. I hoarded oddities and beloved favorites. I continue to buy and sell, but only on Amazon and Ebay. My bricks-and-mortar shop has slowly evolved into a giftier place. The used books and CDs are all warehoused on shelves at home. And - like everyone else - I download, borrow and burn. The ipod sits on my desk - that's the next step in my musicological journey. It was so hard to give up most of my jewel cases, but I would look at my hundreds of CDs and realize that I had not listened to most of them in years. And I do not live in Championship Vinyl land, a la High Fidelity. I gave up my music snobbery a decade ago. Music's gotta be listened to. Collecting for collecting's sake is a luxury that I can't afford... and these days, what's the point anyway? Any 13 year old with a computer can find almost any alternative take, any former B-side. Record collections are becoming like stamp collections - interesting, but not a recommended investment. So I keep transferring my CDs into these cases, so that I will listen to them on the road. The car is the perfect listening room. And I toss most of the jewel cases (keeping booklets and inserts in case I ever want to re-case them). Today we're going to listen to 1950s-era Lefty Frizzell. And maybe Half Japanese. And a live Flying Burrito Brothers. Professor Longhair. The Fuzzy Sprouts. And whatever else fits into this CD holder my dad gave me. Thanks, Daddy. NTD  9:55:07 AM    comment []

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Good Lord! Have I been playing blog hooky for going-on-two-weeks?? What can I say? Experiences can trump online journaling. Mostly I was ringing up Christmas customers in my alter ego world of shopkeeping. There was a bumper crop of clueless male shoppers, thank heavens. Taxes will not be kind in April, since I have never been one to plan for profits and investments. But there are worse problems, and I remember the last decade of multiple credit card balances. I am grateful. The Man in my Life and I worked on New Year's Resolutions as expressed through made-up words. My primary goal is to de-pound. Bardification and Gymnotics run close seconds. Both daughters are home and my house is the usual post-holiday chaos (and not so different from the pre-holiday chaos, honestly). I have to get busy with things that do not involve resting on upholstered surfaces. NTD 1:56:49 PM    comment []

Friday, December 15, 2006

The New York Times reported today on the Cenus Bureau's 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States. It held a variety of depressing statistics - among them the growing evidence that Americans continue to demand ever-larger spaces so that they can generate greater amounts of waste while getting fatter every year. College freshmen described their primary personal objectives in the study. In 1970, the goal of 79% was to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. 75%  said their primary objective was to be financially very well off in 2005. In the late seventies, I decided to major in Russian history with a minor in art history. I have laughed at the impracticality of my decision many times over the years. Honestly, I have no recollection of taking a single class with the idea of creating a profitable career for myself. And I was among the lowest of lower middle class - no one in my mother's immediate family had ever graduated from college at the time. Looking at the 1970 statistic, I am reminded that I was not unusual in my viewpoint. Like most college students then, I just wanted to learn. These days my daughter - a senior at UGA - has combined her love of learning with a definite vocation in mind - her degrees in Spanish and French will enhance her ability to use the eventual nursing degree abroad. But I - the liberal arts casualty - remind her to stay focused on employability. The 21st century is a different universe. Accumulating a crushing debt via credit cards and student loans is frightfully easy these days, while I didn't even have an American Express card until I was heading toward thirty. The shift toward runaway consumerism is depressing. My managing editor at the paper is a recent college graduate; the advertising manager is still in school. They're nice, bright guys... but I think that their hopes of big financial payoffs for enduring college are probably unrealistic. College is not a technical school - and the vo-tech down the road is teaching the skills that might make the real money. The managing editor drove a truck, making beer deliveries to bars, before he took this job at the paper - and he admits that selling beer is where the money is. No college required. My friends who teach at the university lament the growing lack of intellectual curiosity among the students. So many of them don't want to learn - they just need a passing grade in order to get that degree. One professor was sitting at a coffeehouse with me earlier this week, waving her arms around as she described a student body obsessed with their SUVs and their consumerism already. They'll mostly head back to Atlanta one day and join the circle of interstate traffic that commutes from suburban McMansion to major corporation and back again as they chase their golden carrots. I hope that they take a little time at some point to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. Planet Earth would appreciate it. NTD 8:56:35 AM    comment []

Thursday, December 14, 2006

"The point is, you see...that there is no point in driving yourself mad trying to stop yourself going mad. You might as well just give in and save your sanity for later." -Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe, and Everything   NTD     12:04:12 PM    comment []