by srhuston

Shuffle Along

One of those Facebook-y notes that doesn’t require a lot of thought!

  1. Turn on your MP3 player.
  2. Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
  3. Write down the first 15 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please.
  4. Choose 25 people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I’m betting that your musical selection is entertaining, or at least amusing.(To do this, go to “NOTES” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, enter your 15 Shuffle Songs, Click ‘Preview’ below to tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click Publish, the little blue box at the bottom of your screen).

I tend to make the “tag someone” part optional, though that’s usually out of sheer laziness.
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by srhuston

Whadda Day

David and I were wrestling earlier today.. much earlier.  He went down for his nap, and a half hour later wasn’t sleeping yet.  I went up, and he just seemed so out of it and tired; I read him a story and left the room again.  About two and a half hours later when he woke up, he was still lethargic and not moving much, and after a quick bit of poking and prodding we realized his left shoulder hurt to the point he didn’t want to move it.  Call the pediatrician, he said it could be one of a couple things.  Either something called “nursemaid’s elbow” which kids can even do to themselves, and requires a quick re-set of the elbow and he’d be fine.  Or it could be a soft-tissue thing, either a muscle pulled or a tendon stretched.  Or,  a broken clavicle.  Oh great.

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by srhuston

Did You Get The Plate Number Of That Truck That Hit Me?

Yesterday was supposed to be our last doctor’s appointment before the baby is born on the 14th.  We went, heard the heartbeat, confirmed a few things, talked about plans, and we were done – a little earlier than expected even.  David was home with my mom, so we could chat with the midwife about anything that came up and not be trying to wrangle him at the same time.  All finished, we got into my truck and headed to Halo Farms to get milk, and then head home.  We went the way I normally would, coming down Route 1 to the Warren St. exit, then head across the Trenton Makes Bridge (I’ve yet to pay a toll on the Route 1 bridge).  We were first in line at the light at Bridge Street, with someone on my left and a woman on a bike half in the street on my right; I remember this for two reasons, one being that I hoped she wouldn’t ride out in front of me but would get up onto the sidewalk instead, and second because I got to find out just how nice of a woman she is a few minutes later.  Light turned green, I started to move forward.. and the douchebag to my left started trying to race me.  He wanted to cut me off, because he wanted to be in my lane (because he didn’t want to turn left and get on Route 1, he wanted the bridge, and figured if he gunned it fast enough he could cut me off and not have to wait in line like I did.)  Whatever asshole, wait your turn.. that’s what I was thinking, until he started moving into my lane anyway.

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by srhuston

One Week Of iPhoning

Last Friday I got my new iPhone.  I’ve been playing with it quite a bit since then, and learning what it can (and can’t) do, and can honestly say I think I’ll never go back to a “dumb” phone again.  In fact I sometimes wonder how I got along as long as I have with the cobbled together methods I used to use for keeping track of things.

So, the phone is not really new – it’s a refurbished one – but it’s new to me.  AT&T offered a price drop on refurbished units, so with a two year contract they were now $149 for the 16GB model.  Considering I’d figured on a way to pare my library down small enough to fit that and not feel unhappy about it, and the price was now right – combined with my Sony Ericsson w600i being four years old – it was finally time to place an order.  It took me almost no time at all on Friday to get it activated and get all of my contacts and information into the phone to at least be able to use it for the rest of the day until I could spend some time tweaking the settings and getting everything just how I want it.  Using Google Sync to first get all my contacts into Google, and then sync them over the air with push notifications to my phone directly, that’s just beautiful (and much better than having to keep everything nice and neat on the laptop, and using bluetooth to sync with my phone, like I did with my last phone).  Having calendar items get changed in one place and that pushes out to my phone within a few minutes finally makes it worthwhile to use and keep a calendar of my day.  Yes, I’d been using Google Calendar anyway, and even have iCal on the Macs synchronized to those calendars, but I don’t always have my laptop with me so it’s hard to discuss availability with someone (or check my schedule in general) when I’m not in my office or at home.  And the fact that I can share calendars with Stephanie, so she can post events that she’s doing – or we can post family events on a calendar to see when we’re all planning something – means I also don’t have to “check with the wife” for everything if someone asks me what I’m doing next Saturday.

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by srhuston

To My iPhoney Friends: I Need Apps!

With yesterday’s price cut on refurbished iPhones (plus some other recent events and changes) the device is finally at a point where I can justify replacing my 3rd-gen iPod and Sony-Ericcson w600i, both slightly younger than dirt.

Since apps for the iPhone don’t necessarily have free trials, what ones do you use and why?  Which apps can you not live without?  Which ones did you buy and wish you’d spent the cash on a cup of lousy coffee instead?

by srhuston

When Did “Good Woman” Become “Bad Man”?

That’s the punchline to a George Carlin joke.  One particular word, a compound word really, which each part is fine on its own.  Why was I more tempted to put that in the title?  Because that’s what I thought when I found that this, and at least two other sites I run in one way or another, got compromised by a WordPress exploit some time ago.  Of course I didn’t even notice it at first, wasn’t until I wanted to change the theme on one of the sites.  Now I apparently have to change the theme on all of them, because those themes don’t exist anymore anyway.  Lovely.

I think I need a drink 😛

by srhuston

My Friends Are Disappearing

I’d intended to do another one of those Facebook notes, but I haven’t got to it yet.  I’m thinking of the soundtrack one mostly, that’ll be fun to put together.  No, tonight’s rambling is brought on by some photos I just looked at.  A friend posted photos she took from a wedding I attended, and I tagged a few other friends that I saw in the photos.  And one person I tried to tag, only he wasn’t in my friends list anymore.  I go looking around, and I can’t find him on Facebook anywhere.  There’s comments he’d left on another friends’ photos, so there’s proof that he was there before; but now he’s gone.  First a few months ago, I saw that Toni Kember disappeared off of Facebook, and other people that I know are friends of hers couldn’t find her there either.  Now Jon Lyon is gone too.  It’s a conspiracy!  They’re going to start charging us to remain friends with people!  Or we’ll have to pay a fee for every 10 friends after the initial 15!

Or Facebook should just send a notification to people to say “Hey, your friend deleted their account, so you know…”  Yeah, that’d be nice.  At least I’m assuming that’s what happened anyway – that, or I’ll need to cough up $10 if I ever want to see Jon alive again.

by srhuston

Delectable Delights

My wife used to run a home business selling jams and jellies, mostly at craft shows in and around where we lived.  It was a lot of fun.. well, she enjoyed the making of stuff, and I kinda enjoyed people watching at the shows themselves, we both hated setup & breakdown and the associated moving of crap from point A to B to C to B to A.  But anyway, with having a little boy running around the house, and a little girl on the way, there just isn’t time to keep up with it anymore.  So instead of throwing out all the canned stuff that’s sitting waiting to be sold, she’s offering it at these prices:

Available for $1 each
12 pints Green Tomato Pickles
5 pints Garlic Dill Pickle CHips
11 pints Cucumber Relish
4 pints Corn Relish
6 jars Peach Jam
4 jars Merlot Jelly
4 jars Carrot Cake Preserves
1 jar Blueberry-Raspberry Jam
2 jars Cabernet Jelly
1 jar Hot Pepper Jelly
2 jars Chardonnay Jelly
2 jars Ranier Rose Jelly
4 jars Seedless Raspberry Jam
4 jars Kiwi Jam
4 jars Blueberry Jam
6 jars Blackberry Jam
2 jars Pumpkin Pecan Butter
1 jar Moscato Jelly
6 jars Island Topping
2 jars Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
1 jar Very Berry Jam
21 jars Salsa (not sure how hot it is)

Available for 2 for $1 (4oz jars)
3 Chardonnay Jelly
2 Champagne Jelly
10 Mint Jelly
4 Merlot Jelly
1 Sauvignon Blanc Jelly
3 Hot Pepper Jelly
1 Cran Blueberry jam

If you’d like any of this, then contact me through whatever means you know (Facebook, email, comments on my website, etc) and I’ll get her your information.  Cash, check & credit card accepted :>

by srhuston

Take 5

Another one all about music – that’s the kind of chain thingy I can get behind.  Hey, at the very least, they’re getting me to post stuff on my website again (link on my website, to my website – seems silly until you relaize the people who would click it are not reading this on my website 😛 )

List your answers and tag your friends to compare and contrast your tastes.  Answers do not have to be in any particular order.

  • 5 favorite artists or bands
    1. Rush
    2. Genesis (Hackett-era mostly)
    3. Yes
    4. Pink Floyd
    5. Led Zeppelin
  • 5 favorite singers
    1. Freddie Mercury
    2. Jon Anderson (Yes)
    3. Stevie Wonder
    4. Peter Gabriel (Genesis, solo work)
    5. David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
  • 5 songs that make you really happy
    1. Stevie Wonder – Superstition
    2. Yes – Mood For a Day
    3. Rush – 2112
    4. Genesis – Los Endos
    5. Dire Straits – Walk Of Life
  • 5 favorite sad songs
    1. Led Zeppelin – The Rain Song
    2. Moxy Fruvous – The Drinking Song
    3. Yes – Time And A Word
    4. Johnny Rivers – Memphis
    5. Rush – Nobody’s Hero
  • 5 favorite “guilty pleasures”
    1. Vengaboys – We Like To Party (some may know it as the old guy’s song in the Six Flags commercials)
    2. Taco – Puttin’ On The Ritz
    3. Starship – We Built This City
    4. Baltimora – Tarzan Boy
    5. The Bee Gees – Run To Me
  • 5 favorite songs with a person’s name in the title
    1. The Turtles – Elenore
    2. Genesis – Lilywhite Lilith
    3. Pink Floyd – See Emily Play
    4. Elton John – Roy Rogers
    5. The Beatles – Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
  • 5 favorite covers
    1. U2 – Everlasting Love
    2. Me First & the Gimme Gimmes – Elenore
    3. Elliot Smith – Because
    4. Yes – America
    5. Moxy Fruvous – I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You
  • 5 artists or bands who should fade into obscurity
    1. Madonna
    2. Bon Jovi
    3. Bruce Springsteen (yeah, I’m from Jersey, and yeah I’ll catch shit for it – I DON’T CARE 😛 )
    4. Puff what’s-his-face
    5. Biggie dude that got shot
  • 5 artists or bands you miss most
    1. The Who
    2. The Grateful Dead
    3. Freddie Mercury
    4. Genesis (the early lineup – Gabriel, Hackett, Banks, Collins, Rutherford)
    5. The Mamas & The Papas
  • 5 artists or bands who don’t get the recognition/airplay they deserve
    1. Old Genesis (before “Trick Of The Tail”)
    2. Gentle Giant
    3. Old Rush (before “A Farewell To Kings”)
    4. Asia
    5. Yes
by srhuston

Pseudorandom Music

This is enough fun that I could do it for a few hours.. maybe I’ll make a post with a bunch of them later.

  1. Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.  The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
  2. Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations” or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.  The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
  3. Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days.  Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
  4. Use Photoshop or something similar to put it all together.
WINK - Eternal Summer in the Grateful Heart

WINK - Eternal Summer in the Grateful Heart

WINK was the Wikipedia article, the quote was “There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart” by Celia Thaxter, and the image is here.