1938 – 2012

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Happy 4th of July!

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Pun intended. Not only are we experiencing wind driven rain, but there’s now a tornado watch on the menu, with a side of hail served over severe thunderstorms.

So, I’ve switched gears. I’m no longer trying to be upbeat. Now I’m listening to this…

(Turn your volume up. I think this just may be Ray Charles’ soul channeling through a skinny white dude.)

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It’s been raining for two days; and now we’re under a severe weather watch for this afternoon into tomorrow morning, with the potential for high winds and violent thunderstorms.

I don’t mind thunder, but lightening scares the bejesus out of me. It scares the bejesus out of the dogs too, and we usually end up piled on Mr. Kewlstuffs lap. It’s not like we have any control over it; it’s a scientific fact that the laps of the fearless become a magnetic field during electrical storms. But hey, at least I’m not afraid of the vacuum cleaner.

So I dug around in my favorites this morning and pulled out a feel-good song. This video always takes me to a happy place, even in the face of impending storms…

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So, if you’re reading this, congrats, you’ve survived another year. And if it took you less than a week to stop dating shit with 2010… here’s a virtual high-five.

I’ve been up since 5am. Had dinner assembled and in the crock pot by 6. Tonight we’ll be dining on a pork roast buried under a sauerkraut-apple-onion mixture with just a hint of brown sugar. It amazes me that anything that smells that bad can taste so good. And when I tell you it smells bad, I mean even the dogs are offended. Actually, two of them are offended, the third wants to roll in it.

Now I’ll spend the remainder of the day waiting for the cable guy to show. I switched us over to satellite a couple of years ago and Time Warner has been trying to woo me back ever since. A TM rep actually showed up here the other day with their standard $99/month offer. But we all know that the price skyrockets after that first year is up, and I wasn’t convinced it was worth the hassle. So when I didn’t contact him the next day, he appeared at the door again with a new offer; $79.99 a month for the first year and $99/month for the second year. Sometimes it pays to play hard-to-get.

Before I sign off, I leave you with my favorite Four Seasons tune… ‘cuz any day’s a good day for some Franki Valli.

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I heard this track for the first time today. The video stinks, but I love the tune.

ETA; Okay, I heard it again last night, and this time I maxed the volume. Then I went and pre-ordered the CD.

If Led Zeppelin and The Grateful Dead had a baby, this is what it would sound like…

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I’d bet this is what heaven sounds like…

it’s so rich, so pure, so flawlessly executed; it darn near makes me cry.

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9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980

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I listen to Canadian radio station 107.1 for their “Psychedelic Sundays.” They never disappoint.

This past Sunday I was backing up some files on my computer, not paying a whole lot of attention to the radio, when the music stopped me in my tracks. They were playing It Makes No Difference by The Band. I’m a huge fan of their music and have several of their tracks loaded on my Zen. How I missed this one is beyond me… it’s the kind of tune that makes you lean back in your chair, close your eyes and just listen.

So, I added it to my music library and transferred it to the flash drive I use with my docking station. Or so I thought. It never played. I checked the flash drive and sure enough, it’s listed, it just won’t play. Some poking around in my files and I realize that at least 1/3 of my library was downloaded in WMA format, but I never realized it because the Zen plays them all. This particular flash drive only recognizes MP3 format. And I have a boat load of this particular flash drive.

Crap. I have no way to convert them.

More research. At first it appeared that the only way to do it was to purchase a converter or subscribe to a service. But eventually, buried deep in the bowels of Google search, I found a solution; If you burn your tunes to a CD, then upload them back to your library, it converts them to MP3 format by default. And it does work. Pretty kewl, huh?

And here’s The Band -

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You should know that if you were lucky enough to have seen Tragically Hip preform in Toronto this week, I am pos-O-tively GREEN with envy.

They’re going to be within driving distance here in June. I’m hoping we can fit them in……

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