• I think Frank Sinatra perfected that fine line of sounding credible both while singing "Softly as I Leave You" and making mafia-backed death threats.
• When I'm at work, I'm fine. I come home and late at night, I find myself coughing. I am worried that I am becoming allergic to not goofing off at work.
• The world needs another Cat Stevens. Willing to trade in the current one.
• I began yelling at myself because I had Van Halen's (or van Hagar to you purists), "How Do I know When it's Love?" in my head. I felt like I wasn't hard enough on myself.
• Related: how the hell did that song get in my head? It wasn't on MTV, VH1, the few radio stations I listen to (NPR BBC), and I've seen nothing Halen-related in a long time. I'm concerned it may be directly related to me giving up soda for lent. Crazy things have been happening. Crazy, non-carbonated things.
• Indie music: 90% crap, 5% a forceful will to believe that 90% is good, and 5% so freaking incredible, you tolerate the rest.
• I shouldn't be so general. When I say "crap" I mean kids who can't sing playing instruments they haven't mastered, recorded by engineers who don't understand levels or basic acoustics all rolled into one protective umbrella phrase: supposed to sound like that.
• After those last two bullets I have approximately 10 less friends.
• Reading " We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed Along With Our Families" and I'm asked by a nice enough fellow subway rider what my book is about. Is there a way of saying "Genocide" without a.) making someone uncomfortable; b.) not simplifying a very complex ethnic and geopolitical catastrophe; and c.) not sounding like a dick?
• The Decemberists "Bachelor and the Bride" has the best second guitar part of any other song. It just sneaks right in and augments the tempo, feel, and somehow softens a still-haunting song without sacrificing quality. It's remarkable that way.
• The Commodores had a great song called "The Night Shift" which I can't believe has not been covered by any other band. This song is near universal - from death metal to Dolly Parton.
• One of my friends drinks a ton of water throughout the workday so he can pee and have something to do. No it's not me. Not yet anyway.
• And finally, I'm thinking about starting some sort of clearinghouse for album names that are automatic hit records. Currently in the hopper: "Confessions of an Argonaut" "Flirting with Disaster's Sister" "That Giant Sucking Sound" "Beethoven Can't Fight" "Ordained & Ordinary" and the instant classic "Calling all Office Peers"

I was checking the blog to see if Christian had generated any comments from his post about not talking, which I thought was pretty good. Anyway, if you type in the address of this blog, and switch a letter on accident, you get THIS.


Needless to say, I was a bit surprised. I suggest giving it a good skim. I like the testimony quite a bit, especially the way it points out that the guy got his wife to spend a lot of time away from home and at the library. I see a second motiviation other than salvation here, buddy. I also particularly enjoyed the "THE SOON COMING CLIMAX" in big pink letters which could either refer to Jesus or Porn. Either way, congratulations, you've got a new loyal reader. The guestbook is kind of funny. Not because of content (well, OK some of it), but because there really is someone in Malaysia named Jessy.


What's the point of this? Well, this is a rambling lead in to my new contest, which is "Find the best one-letter-switch website, and we will compare the original to the misspelling". I am working on a catchier phrase.


If you don't play along, I guess it doesn't matter, as this is now officially one of my new past times that I will subject you to.

Says download Firefox. It is a much better and safer web browswer than its bastard cousin, Internet Explorer. Plus it's very customizable. I have added "Extensions" that have given me:


-Auto highlight and copy (no more ctrl+V)
-Gmail Notification
-Map It!
-Instant Dictionary (I am easily confused and have a limited vocabulary)
-Image Zoom (make pics bigger on the page)
-Tab Browswer features


What's really great about this is that it allows you to open Tabs in the browser. I am one of those people who like to open everything in new windows, but eventually the bar at the bottom gets all clogged. That doesn't happen anymore.


And if you're a tool like me, you can get "Themes" which are a lot like Skins are to Winamp. No word out if a Britney Spears Theme has been developed, but I will report to you as news becomes available.


Get administrator rights to your computer and kiss crappy IE good bye. Actually, don't kiss it at all. Just look at it, throw its shoes out the door, toss a 10 spot out after it, and say, "Go clean yourself up."