October 12, 2005

iPod Update. I realized yesterday that I purchased dead iPod with American Express. Meaning I have an extra year of warranty coverage in effect. Wasted no time in filing the claim last night. Hopefully they'll just reimburse me. Regardless, I'm planning a midday visit to the Apple Store. Amex in hand of course.

09:10 AM | Comment (3)

October 10, 2005

As luck would have it, my full-size iPod died yesterday. Please join me in a moment of silence of the premature death of one 20GB click wheel big boy.

That's better. The autopsy hasn't been certified yet but all signs point to a case of congenital hard drive failure. Crashing and assorted erratic behavior eventually deteriorated into a permanent file system error message. (Sniff.)

Something tells me I'll be running to the Apple Store Wednesday morning. Wheee!

10:40 PM | Comment (4)

October 09, 2005

Here's a fun meme suggested by my pal Brittany (sadly another link-less friend). The drill is rather simple. Go to musicoutfitters, and do a search for the year you graduated from high school. One of the first links should be a list of the top 100 songs from that year. Copy them to a editing program then indicate how you feel about them:

-Bold the ones you actually like (understand that the word "like" in this case means, at the very least, you wouldn't immediately change the radio station if it came on.)
-Strikethru the ones you loathe.
-Italicize the ones you consider to be guilty pleasures.
Leave as plain text, any you can't remember or never knew
Finally, underline your one favorite

Here's my take. Keep in mind that while I am picky, 1980 was a terrible year for popular music.

Top 100 Hits of 1980

1. Call Me, Blondie
2. Another Brick In The Wall, Pink Floyd
3. Magic, Olivia Newton-John
4. Rock With You, Michael Jackson
5. Do That To Me One More Time, Captain and Tennille
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen

7. Coming Up, Paul McCartney
8. Funkytown, Lipps, Inc.
9. It's Still Rock And Roll To Me, Billy Joel
10. The Rose, Bette Midler
11. Escape (The Pina Colada Song), Rupert Holmes
12. Cars, Gary Numan
13. Cruisin', Smokey Robinson
14. Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl, Spinners
15. Lost In Love, Air Supply
16. Little Jeannie, Elton John
17. Ride Like The Wind, Cristopher Cross
18. Upside Down, Diana Ross
19. Please Don't Go, K.C. and The Sunshine Band
20. Babe, Styx
21. With You I'm Born Again, Billy Preston and Syreeta
22. Shining Star, Manhattans
23. Still, Commodores
24. Yes, I'm Ready, Teri De Sario With K.C.
25. Sexy Eyes, Dr. Hook
26. Steal Away, Robbie Dupree
27. Biggest Part Of Me, Ambrosia
28. This Is It, Kenny Loggins
29. Cupid-I've Loved You For A Long Time, Spinners
30. Let's Get Serious, Jermaine Jackson
31. Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer, Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes
32. Sailing, Christopher Cross
33. Longer, Dan Fogelberg
34. Coward Of The County, Kenny Rogers

35. Ladies Night, Kool and The Gang
36. Take Your Time, S.O.S. Band
37. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough), Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer
38. Too Hot, Kool and The Gang
39. More Love, Kim Carnes
40. Pop Muzik, M
41. Brass In Pocket, Pretenders
42. Special Lady, Ray, Goodman and Brown
43. Send One Your Love, Stevie Wonder
44. The Second Time Around, Shalamar
45. We Don't Talk Anymore, Cliff Richard
47. Heartache Tonight , Eagles
48. Stomp, Brothers Johnson
49. Tired Of Toein' The Line, Rocky Burnette
50. Better Love Next Time, Dr. Hook
51. Him, Rupert Holmes
52. Against The Wind, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
53. On The Radio, Donna Summer
54. Emotional Rescue, Rolling Stones

55. Rise, Herb Alpert
56. All Out Of Love, Air Supply
57. Cool Change, Little River Band
58. You're Only Lonely, J.D. Souther
59. Desire, Andy Gibb
60. Let My Love Open The Door, Pete Townshend
61. Daydream Believer, Anne Murray
62. I Can't Tell You Why, Eagles

63. Don't Let Go, Isaac Hayes
64. Don't Do Me Like That, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
65. She's Out Of My Life, Michael Jackson
66. Fame, Irene Cara
67. Fire Lake, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
68. How Do I Make You, Linda Ronstadt
69. Into The Night, Benny Mardones
70. Let Me Love You Tonight, Pure Prairie League
71. Misunderstanding, Genesis
72. An American Dream, Dirt Band
73. One Fine Day, Carole King
74. Dim All The Lights, Donna Summer
75. You May Be Right, Billy Joel
76. Hurt So Bad, Linda Ronstadt
77. Should've Never Let You Go, Neil Sedaka and Dara Sedaka
78. Pilot Of The Airwaves, Charlie Dore
79. Off The Wall, Michael Jackson
80. I Pledge My Love, Peaches and Herb
81. The Long Run, Eagles
82. Stand By Me, Mickey Gilley

83. Heartbreaker, Pat Benatar
84. Deja Vu, Dionne Warwick
85. Drivin' My Life Away, Eddie Rabbitt
86. Take The Long Way Home, Supertramp
87. Sara, Fleetwood Mac
88. Wait For Me, Daryl Hall and John Oates
89. Jo Jo, Boz Scaggs
90. September Morn, Neil Diamond
91. Give Me The Night, George Benson
92. Broken Hearted Me, Anne Murray
93. You Decorated My Life, Kenny Rogers

94. Tusk, Fleetwood Mac
95. I Wanna Be Your Lover, Prince
96. In America, Charlie Daniels Band
97. Breakdown Dead Ahead, Boz Scaggs
98. Ships, Barry Manilow
99. All Night Long, Joe Walsh
100. Refugee, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

10:34 PM | Comment (3)

October 06, 2005

I'm amused by all the twittering over Apple's upcoming product event. The grapevine seems convinced that a video iPod is in the offing. Most anyway. Personally, I'd plunk down my cash with Think Secret because if you think about it, Apple has a habit of dropping subtle clues about the products into the event invites. Take the previous one. "1,000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again," that invitation said. At the time, most pundits expected the iTunes phone to be the big news. In hindsight of course, here we go again could only mean the iPod nano. This time, our friends down in Cupertino have repurposed the line Steve J. reserves for the really big announcement just before the curtain rings down on yet another Macworld Expo keynote. Now what is Apple about to ring the proverbial curtain down on? That's right, the Power PC era will be coming to a close soon so logically the announcement on the 12th could be the last hurrah for the processor.

01:56 PM | Comment (1)

October 05, 2005

My husband has been known to be a bit compulsive at times. He hates running out of certain things. Or even coming close it seems. Tonight when I came back from my run, he was unpacking some groceries. I was surprised to see three packs of IceBreakers because I thought I'd remember seeing a few in the bathroom drawer where he stashes them. When I questioned his need for more, he assured me he was about to run out. Curious about whether I remembered correctly, I went upstairs and checked the bathroom door where he keeps his stash. Sure enough he only had nine packs left. Poor baby, how could I have questioned his need?


09:44 PM | Comment (3)

October 04, 2005

Are you wearing black? You should be since news broke this morning that Nipsy Russell will rhyme no more. I must confess that I'm a bit surprised to read of his notoriety as a standup comedian. Like most of my generation, I was unaware he even had a career outside of Goodson-Todman Productions.

03:21 PM | Comment (0)

October 03, 2005

Since I'm on the product endorsement roll, how about one on the opposite side of the price spectrum. P&G's aptly-named Magic Eraser is just that. For about a dollar, those scuff marks and grime that stubbornly resist conventional cleaners simply disappear. Magic indeed.

10:54 PM | Comment (1)

Pretend like that week plus gap didn't happen, okay? Okay, so the rest of the Passat test went swimmingly. I drove around a lot. Imagine that. Sadly, VW came to collect it at exactly 23:55 into the 24 hours. After a few questions (I had to give an opinion, imagine), they left a gift bag containing a commuter coffee mug and a $10 Starbucks card in their wake. Imagine, I'd have happily paid for my own gas and given them ten bucks to play with a brand new model for a day.

So to summarize: 2006 Passat = a surprisingly cool ride. Even the nuevo Teutonic styling is growing on me. If you are in the market for a large sedan, you could do worse.