Weekend Wrap-Up: 7/17 - 7/19

It was my last weekend in Seattle prior to the big trip so it was a busy one, here are the highlights:

• Had my final Pilates lesson, at least until my soon-to-be-certified teacher finds a permanent place to teach.
• Enjoyed a cup of coffee and a chat with my Pilates teacher at Victor's Coffee.
• Had lunch with my brother at The Brooklyn.
• Completed a merchandise return from Land's End at Sears because I figured it was easier than sending it back.
• Got a pedicure.
• Got lost in Trader Joe's because they moved everything around to optimize the space.
• Enjoyed a wonderful meal with our "Cooking Club" at a home on the Magnolia Waterfront.
• Woke bright and early for the trip up the hill to do laundry.
• Had breakfast at Queen Anne Cafe.
• Picked up a few things at Bartell Drugs including Vitamin B and Garlic in hopes of repelling the mosquitoes and other biting critters who just love me.
• Picked up BBQ fixins at the grocery store.
• Completed some household tasks.
• Tried out the recipe for "Poolside Punch" which we fell in love with at the Grand Floridian in December 2007.
  
• Spent the afternoon playing cards and enjoying the deck with Kat and Don.
• Don grilled up a feast of chicken breasts and fresh veggies.
• Woke early and started packing and organizing and knocking things off my to-do list.
• Had breakfast at the Bay Cafe.
• Vacuumed and washed the car.
• Met Kat in Bellevue for an afternoon showing of The Proposal.
• Walking to Barnes and Noble an picked up my much anticipated copy of Best Friends Forever.
• More organizing, packing and ironing.
• Added 140 songs to my iTunes Library and iPod.

How was your weekend?

iPod random ten

Idea stolen from Don. As usual my iPod is playing away on my desk and making the fact that I'm working today nearly bearable. I shuffled the songs and the first 10 to play (listed by song, artist and album):

1. Jezebel -- 10.000 Maniacs, Our Time in Eden
2. I Need You -- America, History: Greatest Hits
3. All I Need Is Everything -- Over the Rhine, Hear Music Volume 2, Songs for Long Narrow Stretches
4. Do You Wanna Dance? -- The Beach Boys, 20 Good Vibrations, The Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
5. Glasgow (KSER) -- Travis Harnett, KSER solo acoustic guitar
6. Shepherd Moons -- Enya, Pain The Sky with Stars, The Best of Enya
7. Together Forever -- Rick Astley, Whenever You Need Somebody
8. Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing -- Diana Ross & The Supremes, Joined Together: The Complete Studio Duets
9. One More Night -- Phil Collins, No Jacket Required
10. So Why? -- Carbon Leaf, 5 Alive! (Disc 1)

Believe it or not I'm more embarrassed by the Phil Collins than I am the Rick Astley. :-)

The Case of the Missing iPod

Last Monday I arrived at work and in my typical fashion I reached in my purse to grab my iPod so that I could plug it into my little speaker set and enjoy music in my office. But alas, there was no iPod in my purse. I removed everything else from my purse, no iPod. I assumed that I had left it on the little table in the entryway where I put my purse at night but when I returned home on Monday night it wasn't there. I looked in the usual places (atop the stereo, on my desk) and couldn't find it, so I assumed that it had fallen out of my purse and hence the long, painful search began.

The last time I remembered having it was on Friday evening. When I picked Don up at work it was plugged into the FM radio transmitter in my car. When we arrived at Yarrow Bay Grill I unplugged it and put it in my purse. Since my purse spent a great deal of time in both my car and Don's car over the weekend, I thought perhaps the iPod had slipped out at some point when it wasn't zipped up. So on Tuesday morning prior to heading to work I searched my car and NOTHING. I shot off an email to Don asking him to check his car and again, NOTHING.

I was now beginning to believe that it may be gone.

Tuesday night I searched my entire house. I had set my purse on my bed at one point over the weekend so I took all the sheets off the bed and searched, nothing. It has been in the kitchen, so I searched there and again, NOTHING. I had been working on the deck and thought that I perhaps set it on the arm of the couch since I had thought about plugging it into the stereo and never did and you guessed it.... NOTHING! UGH!

By Wednesday I was sure that it had fallen out of my purse at one of the places that we visited last weekend. So I began calling to inquire about it. I called Yarrow Bay Grill, Maltby Cafe, Bell Street Diner and Silver City Brewing. NOTHING.

Then it occurred to me that there was no identification or contact information on it. So even if an honest person had found it and wanted to return it they couldn't. Damn!

On Thursday I felt that I had exhausted all possible resources to finding it and began to accept the fact that it was gone forever. Work days were longer without it, my office was painfully quiet. Home life wasn't the same without it and I actually had to use CD's in the stereo. I have all the music on my laptop in iTunes so I wasn't sad about losing music just the method of being able to have all my favorite songs in the palm of my hand. Sure I could buy another one but I didn't want to, I wanted mine back.

Saturday and Sunday were sunny and busy and I had accepted the idea that my beloved iPod was never coming home again. I spent some time on the website looking at the newer options in the iPod world and thought that I would likely replace it in the coming week.

Then yesterday afternoon Don and I were at Rock Bottom playing pool and drinking some beer. Don was on-call for the weekend and had just received a call so we were quickly winding things up so that we could head home and he could handle the problem that had come up. I reached in my purse to get my "card wallet" (the wallet that I keep all the bonus, membership, point, punch cards for various retail establishments) and get the Rock Bottom Mug Club card out. My purse was stuffed since in additional all the regular stuff I also had my digital camera in there. I removed my wallet to give myself more space and reached to the bottom in search of the card wallet and felt something with a velvety texture. Could it be? I grabbed it and pulled it out and it was my iPOD! Oh happy day! Had it really been in my purse all this time? Unbelievable.

When Don returned from the bathroom he couldn't believe it. He thinks that I didn't really check my purse well. I swear that I did. I took everything out and actually shook it upside down. Upon arriving at home I plugged it into the stereo and enjoyed my tunes again. I'm so glad it has come home to me (even if it never really left).

I think instead of buying a new iPod that I need a new purse. One that is big enough for everything and has a zipper that will close when it's packed with stuff.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I can't believe it's over already. The highlights:

• Babysat the *cutest nephew in the world* on Friday night which involved a whole lot of *genius* behavior including banging one's head against the wall and playing Choo-Choo (trains), Beep-Beep, (cars) and ball.
• Speaking of banging ones head against hard objects, did you know it's a sign of superior intelligence, well at least according to my brother it is.
• Following babysitting Don and I went straight to Rock Bottom Brewery for some adult beverages and pool. We shut the place down (which I have never done) only to find that the garage where the car was parked was closed. Luckily the security guard was down shortly to let us in so we could spring Don's car and go home.
• Slept in on Saturday morning.
• Had lunch at Red Mill. Yummy!
• Watched Grey's Anatomy Season 1 on DVD.
• Babysat again on Saturday night and accomplished the impossible by getting him to go to sleep after only 4 minutes of drama tears.
• Reorganized my iTunes library and created several new smart play lists in an attempt to fully enjoy my library and listen to the 7,872 songs that have never been played.
• Uploaded pictures from Christmas to Flickr.
• Took down the outdoor Christmas lights.
• Completed a bunch of household chores and futzing.

How was your weekend?

iTunes Top 40

I just finished reorganized my iTunes library and the playlists that sync to my iPod in an attempt to better enjoy the 12,857 songs in my library. I have 7,872 that have never been played. I think that is because I listen to the same things/artists over and over and over and over again. I am interested to see how my stats on LastFM change over the next couple of months. Here is my Top 40 play counts as they stand right now, let's see what reorganization does to that.

1. Harbor - Vienna Teng
2. Shasta - Vienna Teng
3. Drunkard Logic - The Fat Lady Sings
4. Hope On Fire - Vienna Teng
5. City Hall - Vienna Teng
6. You Dance – Eastmountainsouth
7. The Tower - Vienna Teng
8. Nothing Without You - Vienna Teng
9. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
10. Homecoming - Vienna Teng
11. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
12. Providence - The Fat Lady Sings
13. Feather Moon - Vienna Teng
14. Life Less Ordinary - Carbon Leaf
15. If I Had $1,000,000 - Barenaked Ladies
16. So Are You To Me – Eastmountainsouth
17. Forever My Friend - Ray LaMontagne
18. Streetcorner Symphony - Rob Thomas
19. Hard Times – Eastmountainsouth
20. Eric's Song - Vienna Teng
21. Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
22. Push - Sarah McLachlan
23. Winter – Eastmountainsouth
24. Dirty Little Secret – Sarah McLachlan
25. Enough To Go By - Vienna Teng
26. Chocolate - Snow Patrol
27. Celtic New Year - Van Morrison
28. A Girl And Her Horse - Carbon Leaf
29. Crooked Teeth - Death Cab For Cutie
30. Father & Daughter - Paul Simon
31. Unwritten Letter #1 - Vienna Teng
32. Whatever You Want - Vienna Teng
33. Blue Eyes Blue - Eric Clapton
34. The Atheist Christmas Carol - Vienna Teng
35. Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well - Mike Doughty
36. 1 Br/1 Ba - Vienna Teng
37. On Your Way – Eastmountainsouth
38. Blue Caravan - Vienna Teng
39. There She Goes - The La's
40. It Never Entered My Mind - Miles Davis

QotD: My Current Top Ten

Vox Question of the Day - What are your top 10 most-played songs currently?

All of my recently played tracks are Scrobbed onto LastFM.com and according to their records my Top 10 tracks in the last 90 days are:

1. Sarah McLachlan - Angel
2. Carbon Leaf - The Boxer
3. Mike Coughty - Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well
4. Ben Folds - The Luckiest
5. Vienna Teng - City Hall
6. Jimmy Buffett - Fins
7. Sarah McLachlan - Building a Mystery
8. KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
9. Johnny Lang - Anything's Possible
10. Vienna Teng - Harbor
11. Vienna Teng - Homecoming
12. Sarah McLachlan - Ice Cream

Originally posted on my Vox site. Full post moved here September 7, 2010 in anticipation of Vox's closing.

Punky's Dilemma

I have finally finished organizing my iTunes library. Everything is rated, playlists are made, now I just have to sync my iPod and I am ready to go. I have updated my profile at iTunes Registry with the new information. I have nearly 12,000 tracks! WOW!

I stumbled across some hidden treasures while sorting and removing duplicates. One is a favorite song of mine from the Bookends album by Simon and Garfunkel called Punky's Dilemma. I remember listening to this record as a child and deciding this was my song since my nickname was Punkie. Here are the lyrics.

Wish I was a Kellogg's Cornflake
Floatin' in my bowl takin' movies,
Relaxin' awhile, livin' in style,
Talkin' to a raisin who 'casion'ly plays L.A.,
Casually glancing at his toupee.

Wish I was an English muffin
'Bout to make the most out of a toaster.

I'd ease myself down,
Comin' up brown.

I prefer boysenberry
More than any ordinary jam.
I'm a "Citizens for Boysenberry Jam" fan.

Ah, South California.

If I become a first lieutenant
Would you put my photo on your piano?
To Maryjane--
Best wishes, Martin.
(Old Roger draft-dodger
Leavin' by the basement door),
Everybody knows what he's
Tippy-toeing down there for

It makes me smile every time I hear it!

Thank God it's NOT Tuesday

It's Wednesday which only means that Tuesday is over with! Tuesday rolls around once a week and turns out to be my least favorite and yet favorite day of the week. I know that is confusing, allow me to explain.

Tuesday is *meeting day* at work. All of the recurring meetings for my team happen on Tuesdays which means that the bulk of the afternoon is spent in the conference room. I used to enjoy this time because it was a chance to connect and share ideas with my co-workers. However over the last few months the focus of the meeting has changed and now sitting through the meetings is pure pain and torture. Yesterday I spent 3 hours and 15 minutes in the conference room and was so annoyed, exhausted and drained by the time I came out that I couldn't even explain to a co-worker why it was so utterly annoying. The good news is that I am not the only one who feels this way and yesterday everyone interjected their commentary about their disdain for Tuesdays. I have hope that in the future my Tuesday's may not be so bad.

The reason that I love Tuesdays... Gilmore Girls! I went home last night and made one of my favorite dinners, poured myself a glass of wine and sat like a total bum on my couch and watched Gilmore Girls. It is the only night this week that I can sit and be a total bum on the couch and I enjoyed every minute of it.

So maybe I have to endure the torture of Tuesday meetings to truly enjoy my *bum time* on Tuesday evening.

==========

Today is National Coming Out Day. I didn't know this until I heard about it on my favorite radio station on the way to work. I didn't know there was a National Coming Out Day but I really like the idea. Evidently it has been an annual event (on October 11) since 1994 and is sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. There is a theme every year and the theme selected for this year is "Talk About It" because every time learn more about one another we get closer to equality.

==========

In college someone once told me that the official colors for *Coming Out* were purple and green. I wonder if that is true?

==========

After weeks of experimenting and trying different plug-ins for Audioscrobber I have finally found one that works with my iPod! Until yesterday none of the songs that I listened to on my iPod were transferring to my LastFM page and now they are. I downloaded the jscrob plug-in several months ago and thought that it didn't work so I removed it from my computer. I tried it again last night and it does work but I didn't configure it properly the first time. After you finish installing the software it prompt you to read the "read-me" file which I didn't do until last night and finally realized the mistake that I was making. I configured it properly and it works, imagine that! I so happy! :-)

Guilty Pleasure Confession

Urban Dictionary defines guilty pleasure in the following 2 ways (with spelling errors corrected).

1. Guilty pleasure
Something that you shouldn't like, but like anyway.

2. Guilty pleasure
n. to describe a certain substance or activity a person enjoys, and often practices, while said person morally believed or is informed that the substance or activity is abnormal, improper or incorrect.

I have also thought that a guilty pleasure is something that you enjoy but realize that it is a total waste of time, energy and money. I was thinking about guilty pleasures when I chose to sit on my couch and watch TV last night instead of doing my laundry. My justification to myself was that the CW was showing an encore of the season finale of Gilmore Girls. I saw the episode back in May when it originally aired, but I missed the last minute which was *the cliffhanger moment* that is so typical of the Gilmore Girls. I wanted to be completely “up to date” when the season premiers next Tuesday.

With all that said, I don’t consider Gilmore Girls to be a “guilty pleasure” in my life. But my recent behavior is beginning to make me wonder. I have recently started listening to several unofficial podcasts about the Gilmore Girls. I am amazed that someone could be so obsessed with a television show that they would create a studio in their home and then create a podcast weekly just to talk about it. I continue to tell myself that I think that these people are stupid and I can’t believe that they are so obsessed, yet, I continue to listen.

I think I realized that I was no better than these fanatic fans when I found myself on the elliptical machine at the gym on Saturday morning and was listening as this husband and wife team described how they longed to visit Stars Hollow (the make-believe town where the Gilmore Girls live) and how they are going to plan their summer vacation to California next year so that they can visit the set at the WB. I can’t believe anyone would do this and therefore I keep listening. It’s like the car accident on the highway that you just can’t help looking at. I find this level of commitment to a television show utterly fascinating. They do know it’s a TV show right?

So I will keep enjoying my guilty pleasure as long as it doesn’t turn me into a totally crazed fan.