On the Turntable

My last couple On the Turntable segments listed the first 10 random songs that showed up on my Ipod and then the top 10 most played songs on my Itunes. This time I’ll tailor my list a tad by giving you my top 10 recommendations of the moment (not in particular order):

1. Gorillaz “All Alone”

2. Uncle Tupelo “Cocaine Blues” (live)

3. Lupe Fiasco “Daydreamin”

4. M.I.A. “$20″

5. Matisyahu “King with out a Crown”

6. The New Pornographers “My Right Versus”

7. Rasputina “You Don’t Own Me”

8. Red House Painters “Lord Kill the Pain”

9. Stereolab “Pack Yr Romantic Mind”

10. TV on the Radio “Mr. Grieves”

What on your fav list right now?

Winter movies are off to a good start

The Golden Compass is being made into a movie. I’m thrilled and hope they continue with the rest of the series. You can watch the trailer by clicking here. For those of you not familiar with the book, that’s Harry Potter for the cool kids. (Oooo, That’s right! I said it!)

Web finds that are too good to miss

Digg turned me on to willitblend.com, where you can watch a somewhat fanatical looking man attempt to blend all sorts of items in his industrial blender. Items are organized into categories like “Try this at home” and of course, “Do not try this at home.” I laughed and cried at the same time I watched the tester successfully blend a new Apple Iphone. Be sure to make some suggestions for future blendings. I’m thinking he should kick his concotions up a notch by blending up combinations. What happens when your Grandma’s thimble collection meets a slab of marble. Mmm, messy!

When you’re ready to move beyond mindless enterainment, be sure to check out Book Swim (Netflix for books). Postage is free and you can have several books out at a time. I am a fan of the library, but am not patient enough to put my name on a waitlist for the books I’m really interested in reading. I may give this a try. (Via Lifehacker).

Finally, I highly recommend checking out the newest addition to my daily site list – I’m positive it will be one of my favs. Zen Habits has loads of practical articles on making your life more efficient, mindful and pleasant, with out being too cliche or faddish. My present favorite read is titled How Not to Multi-Task. I know what you’re thinking: “This is the 21st century and multi-tasking is a necessary skill.” However, I’m starting to lean more and more towards the idea that dividing our attention between so many activities robs us of the chance to be fully mindful in our present moments.

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Today is my 6-month anniversay of quitting smoking. I gave up the sticks out of necessity last February when I found myself in bed with Pneumonia. Lucky for me, I had some Nicotine Patches on hand that the Colorado Quitline supplied me with for free. (You can reach them directly at 1-800-QUIT-NOW). Unlike many of my previous quit attempts, this time I can say I haven’t had a single cigarette, or even drag off a cigarette since the day I gave them up. Go me!

Healthy Living 101

After Julian prepared his dinner tonight, I pulled him aside for a quick talk about preparing healthy meals. He didn’t seem to think there was a problem…

On the Turntable

Last time I made one of these posts I listed the first 10 songs that randomly came up on my music player. This time I’m tailoring my selection to the top 10 most played. Here we go:

1. Ytcracker “The Legend” (Seriously??)

2. Joanna Newsome “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Crowie”

3. Feist “Inside and Out”

4. Ms. John Soda “Sometimes Stop, Sometimes Go”

5. Sufjan Stevens “Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland Illinois”

6. Sufjan Stevens “Come on Feel the Illinoise”

7. Ms. John Soda “-1-2-3-1234″

8. Ms. John Soda “A Nod on Hold”

9. Ms. John Soda “A Million Times”

10. Ms. John Soda “Outlined View”

I have a sneaking suspicion that my music recommendation should be Ms. John Soda’s “Outlined View”

What’s on your most played list?

Blog Reading Tips 101

A few questions from readers sparked me to point out a useful feature on my blog. Try holding your mouse over any of the links in my webpage and a “Snap Shot” of the link will show up with out you having to leave this site. The results look like this:

Another neat feature is that when I link to a slideshow of pictures, you can browse through them in the snap shot box.

Watch out Lifehacker, you’re in for some competition!

Wii-b-Gamin’

Last Christmas Julian and I took turns standing in different Xmas shopping lines for a Nintendo Wii. We were one of the lucky few who got to take home a system. I spent a few days obsessively making different Miis (like Daria), but then the Wii crazi wore off and the games became forgettable. I still enjoy playing Big Brain Academy, but until today I hadn’t been really excited about any of the games coming out. Mario Kart for the Wii has finally been announced. Even better, you can play against up to 12 other Wii owners through the wireless connection. Doug and Tiff, we’ll be gaming together again!

Compliments to the Chef

Since the kids were gone for a few weeks, Julian and I snacked our way through most of the summer. This weekend Julian put his chef’s hat on and got back in the kitchen. Tonight he tried a new Indian recipe that is popular in most restaurants (but also not Indian, but that’s another post…) called Chicken Tikka Masala. He also whipped out some Naan. This meal is now in my top 3 favorite meals Julian cooks. It was so good that I can’t even remember what the other 2 meals are; I’m just sure there must be others.

(As I write this I am realizing Rookie is going to be livid when he finds out we didn’t send him an invite for Indian food. Sorry about that Rookie…)

Memories

After only one week I have finally finished uploading all the pictures from our Chicago vacation. (I do believe that is a record!) We packed many activities and many miles of sore feet (from all the walking) into those three days. My favorite site was from the top of the Hancock Observatory where we looked out from the 94th floor, 1000 feet in the sky. The kids keep talking about the original deep-dish pizza (a Chicago must) we had at Gino’s East. I’m more of a New York slice kind of person, but this place almost made me have a change of heart. I looked Gino’s up when we returned and found out they deliver all over the US. Looks like we’ll be emptying the kid’s piggy banks, trying to relive our experience.

You can see all our pics in my Picasa album here. I’ll be adding captions soon. The first pics were taken in Iowa City, where we picked Sylvia up before heading to Chicago. I always envisioned Iowa to be nothing but corn fields, but Iowa City is a really charming college town that reminded me of Boulder, Colorado or Eugene, Oregon, only everything was cheap-cheap. Iowa is now home to my favorite hotel stay ever (seen in the first few pics), at a bargain I still can’t believe. 

Dog-Sittin’

I have many trip-tales and pictures to share, but after rolling into my driveway at about 2 a.m. this morning, I’m a little beat. Plus (more importantly), as of yesterday I have a new nephew to spoil. He’s a tiny, cutie that will need to spend a couple more nights at the hospital. Congratulations parents!

Of course, my exhausted in-laws are at the hospital as well, which presented a great opportunity for me to snatch their puppy. Camus (Kuh-Moo) was put in his kennel (he’s really excitable) while I entertained the new pup, Jazz. Like every normal dog, Jazz loves puppy treats. I say like any “normal dog” because Camus has turned up his nose at every type of dog treat  I have attempted to feed him. This is my own fault, I know – he’ll happily chow down on cheese sticks, slim jims and happy meals. Today I found that Camus is motivated by jealousy. While Jazz performed several tricks for his treats, Camus was whimpering in his kennel. I decided to put Jazz away for a moment and show Camus that I still love him and on a whim, thought I’d make another attempt at feeding him a dog treat. Apparently I need to give him some company, because after watching me shower Jazz with attention and treats, Camus also gobbled them up. I have new hopes for him! 

LollapaLoser!

When I first started planning a family trip to Chicago for this year’s Lollaplooza festival I was looking at a line-up for last year’s shows. (I know!) My error was not discovered until I was fairly deep into the trip planning. I remained determined to make the trip work, figuring the show would be just as good, but after several looks at the schedule I’m finding myself pretty disappointed. Out of three days full of music (we’re only going for the last day) I only found three bands I’m interested in. Honestly, I think I’m most upset that I will have to sit through Pearl Jam’s headlining act. (Don’t even get me started.) My kids are all sorts of excited though, so that is good enough for me. After reflecting a little more, I don’t think any recent tour is going to make me as happy as the the last Lollaplooza I attended. (Self-reflecting on my reflection: I probably wouldn’t feel so old if I would just stop making myself sound old by making statements like that, right?)  

On a side-note, I was looking through the line-ups for Lollapalooza’s of the past and it is no wonder the festival took a six year hiatus after 1997’s musical catastrophe. What was Perry thinking?