1/07/2004 12:00:54 PM|||Brian Fending|||

CATCHING UP

Okay, so this entry has, admittedly, a poor working title. It'll probably stick, too. There were several to choose from and enough has passed in the past two months to make any one of them insufficient. So I chose one of the shortest.

On the subject of this section, I've said it in the past, but now I mean it - no more falling behind. I have a specific set of goals for 2004 and I aim to move toward them every day. So there. I'd much rather that than have to apologize.

READING

In my downtime from the worlds of computing and drumming, which have been consuming just about an equal share of my thoughts these days, I've been reading. Okay, now that the collective gasps have cleared, let me recommend a couple of books written this century. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri: awesome, awesome narrative. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken: The Democrats don't control American politics because they never consulted with the likes of Franken, a quickwitted, unfailingly well-spoken advocate for not just the left, but for telling it like it is. And how is it? Read the book. Lastly, I'm reading, in tandem, a book which my wife would not like me to reiterate here, another titled Written on the Body and lastly The Homebuyer's Kit. Written is inspiringly witty to the point where I need to interrupt Rachel to read a particularly well-crafted paragraph, then realize that it was WAY better in context. But she's read the book - how do you share something like that? I guess that's why we read fiction together sometimes. (Hurry up, Rowling.) Homebuyer's has a lot of good lingo and practical advice, some of it a little TOO practical, the way Reaganomics really does work in theory, but can't justify actual spending on The Star Wars Program. (?) At any rate, we're looking for houses in North Buffalo. Let me know if you hear of anything in Parkside!

ACCOUNTANCY

Anybody have a good accountant they'd like to share? They'd need to deal with two people, each with full time jobs, one with a DBA business & the other with a separate consultancy, not to mention my regular musical incomes. (I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining or bragging here. As one friend put it to me recently, "You got high-class problems." Amen.)

GEEKY HELL AND iTUNES

Okay, so I got DSL at home. A little while after the new computer came (yay!), I was waiting longer for dialup connections than anything else (boo!), so - surprise - DSL. I got a small network installed after two dead ports on the Lynksis (DIE, CISCO, DIE!!!) router got me barely up & running with the remaining pair. And at the *other* office? Just a little 3Com HomeConnect hub and DHCP gets me through the day with an NT workstation and my little 12" Mac. :)

Now for the fun part, and GOD I hope you didn't stop reading around that Cisco reference.

Apple fully deserves the Time Magazine Invention of the Year Award for the iTunes application/service/revolution. Just $0.99 gets you a track off one of more than 300,000 albums. And not crappy albums, either. I was able to preview pristine tunes from Donald Harrison to David Bowie in seconds and the client for managing your tunes before you burn them to CD - now for Mac *and* Windows - is just plain awesome. They deserve every bit of praise for their spirit of innovation and investment in consumers looking to avoid the thirteen bad tracks that seem to come with every release these days.

LISTENING

Speaking of great tunes, ever heard any Keith Jarrett? How about recently? And vintage 1974??? :) Ken Kuriscak floated me the album with As Long As You Know, You're Livin' Yours on it. Man, is that some great stuff. (I checked: It's not on iTunes, so find it in an old-fashioned store...) That, G Love & Special Sauce, Jurassic5 and some really cool Oliver Nelson is what's been hogging my ears lately. VERY cool stuff.

CHRISTMAS CARDS. OH, THE CHRISTMAS CARDS.

I told you this entry's title could have gone any which way. Well, I blame the weather on this one. It wasn't really snowy until days before Christmas, so we didn't afford time to send our holiday greeting cards until it was too late. So we didn't. It's not that we don't like all of our friends and family that *did* manage to scrape together a few minutes to send us cards, it's just that we're, well, lazy. Not BAD lazy, mind you, and Rachel would probably say that it's a certain level of thoughtful procrastination with fait accompli attached. But she, being all literate and such, *would* say that. I just apologize and promise to do better. But not until muuuuuch later this year. (At least on sending cards. Priorities, you know.)

|||109171021995154571|||Catching up and listening