Seinfeld Fans

I know a lot of my family members are big Seinfeld fans. This comedian Frank Caliendo was on the radio this morning and I thought he was really funny. He does some really good impressions and so I looked him up on YouTube and found this Seinfeld parody that he did. Check it out, he's pretty good.

Baby Powder!

Fun with baby powder.

Top 25 Most Played

I have been listening to a lot of music lately, several hours a day while at work and during the commute. I have also been keeping track of my "play counts" for about a year now. I keep all sorts of information about each song that I have on my iPod, Play Counts, Skip Counts and Ratings etc.... This makes it really easy for me to make Smart Playlists based around that data. For example, I have a playlist that always takes the 25 songs that have been played the most. It's always a good playlist for me to hit when I am driving home in a bad storm and I don't want to skip tracks while driving because I know I am going to like all of the songs that come up. It's dynamic so as I listen throughout the day the songs may adjust on and off that list as the play counts go up and songs that I haven't played drop off. I thought it would be fun to publish some of that information so everyone can see what I have been listening to. So for the past year, here are the 25 songs that get played the most on my iPod.

Song Name - Artist - Album

1. Jambi - Tool - 10,000 Days
2. Here it Goes - Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
3. Firefight - Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
4. The Velourium Camper I: Faint of Hearts - Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3
5. Big Casino - Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
6. Rosetta Stoned - Tool - 10,000 Days
7. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness - Permission To Land
8. Sober - Tool - Undertow
9. Watch The Sky - Something Corporate - North (Japanese Import)
10. The Pot - Tool - 10,000 Days
11. Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
12. All I Need - Live - Songs From Black Mountain
13. Mad World - Gary Jules - Donnie Darko (Soundtrack)
14. Home - Live - Songs From Black Mountain
15. Breakdown - Mae - The Everglow
16. Brink of Disaster - Mae - Singularity
17. The Crowing - Cohhed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3
18. I'm Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys - The Departed (Soundtrack)
19. Setting Forth - Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild (Soundtrack)
20. Rise - Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild (Soundtrack)
21. Crazy 8's - Mae - Singularity
22. Sun - Mae - Destination: Beautiful
23. A Sorta Fairytale - Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
24. Friend Of The Devil - Counting Crows - Greatest Hits
25. Is It Just Me? - The Darkness - One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back

So there you go. As you can see I have some favorites (Tool, Jimmy Eat World) and some other just random songs that I obviously liked enough to play more than anything else. I bet the list is almost completely different a month from now, with some regulars still up there. That's how it goes, I go through moods and depending on my mood I listen to different stuff. With my play counts starting to get pretty high on some songs, it could be a while before they drop off the list.

So from that list here are some recommendations.

Tool - 10,000 Days.
This is such a great album, a lot of regular Tool fans despised it, but I despise most regular Tool fans. If your willing to listen to something with an edge, check it out, keep in mind that it's not for everyone.

Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
In contrast to 10,000 days you would wonder if it's the same person listening to some of this stuff. It is and I like to think I have a pretty diverse taste in music. This is a really good album as well, a lot of pop rock type stuff, nothing that will hurt your ears and nothing that's too different than other Jimmy Eat World albums, but it's just good music.

Live - Songs From Black Mountain
I used to be a big fan of Live in high school and stopped listening to their past few albums because I just didn't like those albums, they just weren't very good. This album is a return to what made me like them, just good rock songs. You can tell the band is a little older and more mature, this is a great album and it's got really good production value. I highly recommend this album.

Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild (Soundtrack)
This album I haven't had for very long, but it's got some great music on it. It's a little more mellow and folksy than a lot of stuff I listen to, but it really is good music. If you are a fan of the book or the movie you can really feel that the music goes along with the themes found in the other Into The Wild mediums.

OK, so let me know what you think in the comments, share some of your favorite songs that you have been listening to in the past year, month, or few days. Hopefully I can find some cool, new music to listen to.

iPod Touch

So I wanted to write a little bit about my new gadget, the iPod Touch.  If you had asked me two weeks ago if I was interested in an iPod Touch or even an iPhone I would have told you no.  I got interested when they bumped the capacity to 32 GB and added a bunch of cool features, such as Mail and Google Maps. 
I have had mine for a week now and I really like it.  It connects to Wi Fi so easily, we have a network at work and I have it at my house so I can be connected any time.  The touchscreen is a little difficult to get used to, but once you get used to it then it becomes really easy.  In fact, I am typing this blog post right now, on my iPod Touch. 
The Mail and Calendar functions make the Touch much more like a PDA and the Google Maps feature, with GPS locating, negate the requirement for a GPS.  Of course Music, Movies and Pictures can be viewed and replace the need for an iPod, so it's a very versatile device that replaces the need for many things.  Of course if you go with the iPhone than it replaces your need for a phone, PDA, GPS and iPod.  Of course when your bored there is always the integrated You Tube and other various Internet Web Apps. 
If your interested in an iPod for just playing music, the Touch is not for you, it's much more than an iPod.  With the price point you have to know that your getting more than an iPod or you are seriously overpaying.  It's much more expensive per GB than any of Apple's other iPods.  If anything it just makes me want to get an iPhone then I could use all the cool features all the time, not just within my Wi Fi area.  But I need more capacity than 16 GB's (The most available on the iPhone right now), with a music library of almost 50 GB now, 16 just isn't going to cut it. I had a 30 GB iPod before this one, so it was a small step up for capacity and a large step up for usability.  But if they bump up the iPhone to at least 32GB, which they are sure to do, T-Mobile better start worrying because I am going to start saving my money. 
Now that I do have my iPod Touch and can Mobile Blog from it or my cell phone, hopefully I will get on the ball and make posts more often.  Especially now that UTA is offering free Wi Fi on buses and the upcoming FrontRunner, which I will be using.
Any other iPod Touch or iPhone users feel free to post your opinion, or anyone else for that matter.

Mobile Blogging

So this is my first mobile blog post made entirely on my cell phone. This text took forever to type. But its pretty cool.

Update: Now that I am at my computer and it doesn't take an excruciatingly long time to type a message, here's the real story.
Mobile blogging is cool! I stumbled upon it the other day while browsing my blog from my iPod Touch (My cool, new gadget that I am sure you will hear more about), but essentially I can blog from anywhere at any time.
I can send blog posts through email or text on my cell phone, and as you can see above I took a picture with my cell phone, typed a text and then posted it on the blog from my cell phone.
This means, for better or worse, that I will probably pick up the pace of my blog posts, now that it's significantly easier to blog and post pictures on the go. I know I have been slacking lately, but look for more posts to come soon. Any time I am bored, which I am little bored at work today hence the cool cell phone picture of me above, I can think of something clever and post it.
I am sure the rest of the bloggers out there in my network will pick up on this and will soon be making mobile blog posts of their own.
Let me know if any of you have any cool blog tricks to share.

Valentines Day

We had a special Valentines Dinner last night, Brooke, Hailee and I had dinner by candlelight. Then we had a cookie decorating activity. Hailee and I mostly just ate frosting and candy while Brooke actually did the decorating. Hailee had a few special "Valentines Cupid" deliveries last night and I think with all the candy, this is shaping up to be one of her favorite holidays. Although we couldn't get her to say Happy Valentines Day, she kept saying Happy Birthday and trying to blow out our candle.

Too Much Sugar!!

Welcome Home Bryce

It's a little late but we want to welcome Bryce home from his mission
in Brazil.

Update: This post was made entirely on my new, super cool, iPod Touch.