A Simple NO Would Have Sufficed

The wife had to work (4) hours on Saturday and we are still surviving with only (1) car so I either could drive her to the pet store she was to be at or stay at home without a vehicle.  It turned out that I did not even have a choice as the son was invited to a birthday party at an hour between when the wife started and when she finished.  Since I would have the vehicle, it also fell on me to pick up birthday gifts.  I say "gifts" in the plural form as the birthday was for twin boys.  Since we just moved here and since we did not know the birthday boys that well, I (hesitantly) allowed myself to buy gift cards.

The wife was working 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM and the party started at 2:00 PM.  The pet store was a (30) minute drive and the party was at a place about (20) minutes from our house and (15) minutes from the pet store.  What all these details mean is that I had about (45) minutes to kill after I dropped off the son and before the wife would be ready (even accounting for drive time).  Since there was a Hobby Lobby near the pet store, the daughter (who was not invited to the party) and I decided to kill some time there.  Once the 3:00 hour approached we headed back to the pet store.

The wife was not quite finished so we hung out at the front of the store and made small talk with the pet store workers (all of which knew eerily too much about me having spent the last few hours with my wife).  We also talked with any customers, especially those who brought in their pets.  One of the last customers that checked out before the wife was ready to go was a man about my age with a large, hairy dog.  He was chatting nicely enough with the cashier, making light of the fact that his dog had grabbed a "snack" as they were going up and down the aisles that cost him $1.29.  As he was walking away from finishing paying the cashier and almost at the door, the cashier yelled out that the man had forgot his receipt.  She simply asked ,"Do you want your receipt?"  Now here a simple NO or YES would have sufficed (with a Thank You thrown in) but his reply was, "No, Obama would not let me claim it on my taxes anyway."  This reply was said with a hint of disgust (at Obama, not the cashier).  The cashier gave a nervous, "I have no idea what you mean but I am glad you are leaving" kind of smile and that was the end of that.

I had a few minutes to ponder the whole transaction before the wife was ready.  What was his point exactly with that answer?  Was he suggesting that previous presidents had allowed some sort of write off for pet toys and snacks and that Obama had come into office and immediately passed legislation that stopped this from being a possibility?  He just came off sounding like an idiot really.  I know that Texas is a red state and had voted McCain in 2008 and that the Dallas area is one of the only metroplexes that lean Republican but this guy was not doing any Texas Republicans any favor by flapping his jaw.  He could do those Texans who agree with him a favor by keeping his mouth shut.

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The Listening Project-Week 14

Well another week has passed by and I was able to get through a few more CDs in my listening project.  Despite taking a 1/2 day vacation on Wednesday, I was still able to get through 21 CDs this week but that still keeps me a scarce 4 CDs behind my 20 per week goal.  I managed to avoid buying any more CDs this week.  You can reference this blog entry for details about this project.  Here are the CDs I knocked off of my list this week.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
256	The W's	Fourth From The Last	10/24/2011	Yes
257	White Heart	Freedom	10/24/2011	Yes
258	Jon Anderson and Vangelis	The Friends Of Mr. Cairo	10/24/2011	Yes
259	Matt Redman	The Friendship And The Fear	10/24/2011	Yes
260	Charlie Peacock	Full Circle	10/24/2011	Yes
261	Michael Roe	Fun With Sound	10/24/2011	Yes
262	MC Hammer	The Funky Headhunter	10/25/2011	Yes
263	Eleventyseven	Galactic Conquest	10/25/2011	Yes
264	Cloud2Ground	The Gate <Beautiful>	10/25/2011	Yes
265	Ray Charles	Genius Loves Company	10/25/2011	Yes
266	Van Zant	Get Right With The Man	10/25/2011	Yes
267	Jacobstone	Glass Top Ships	10/25/2011	Yes
268	Various Artists	Glee - The Music, Season One, Volume 1	10/26/2011	Yes
269	Various Artists	Glee - The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers	10/26/2011	Yes
270	Sheryl Crow	Globe Session	10/27/2011	Yes
271	Delirious?	Glo	10/27/2011	Yes
272	Rick Altizer	Go Nova	10/27/2011	Yes
273	Michael W. Smith	Go West Young Man	10/28/2011	Yes
274	Crash Test Dummies	God Shuffled His Feet	10/28/2011	Yes
275	Rebecca St. James	God	10/28/2011	Yes
276	The 77s	A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows	10/28/2011	Yes

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs that I have listened to over the past week…

• The W’s “Fourth From The Last": I think I want to be a fan of ska music but I cannot quite convince my ears.  I first heard this band during the Veggie Tales “The Rumor Weed” soundtrack so when I saw them on the bargain rack I had to buy this CD.
• Jon Anderson and Vangelis “The Friends of Mr. Cairo”: Jon Anderson (former leas singer of Yes) and Vangelis (Chariots of Fire) together on one CD on the clearance rack was too interesting to pass up.  I love Jon’s voice.
• Charlie Peacock “Full Circle”:  Think of this as a tribute album only with the artists inviting Charlie along for the ride.  He sings on every song and also has 2 new songs to boot!  An interesting CD.
• Michael Roe “Fun With Sound”: Michael releases about as many solo CDs as he does with his band (The 77s).  There is only a subtle difference and non fans probably could not tell the difference between his solo stuff and his band stuff.
• MC Hammer “The Funky Headhunter”: Yes, I own an MC Hammer CD.  Don’t judge me!
• Eleventyseven “Galactic Conquest”: This contains a favorite song of mine (“Happiness”) - Happiness is overrated | It always lets me down  | It's artificially inflated | She's a flirt and she burns me every time | Happiness is just a dream and nothing's what it seems,  I won’t go into why this song is one of my favorites in this blog.
• Ray Charles “Genius Loves Company”: I seriously considered buying this at full price when I saw it originally at a Starbucks.  Fortunately I waited and got it for $1 later.  Some other poor sap paid full price.
• (Reminder: Insert some logical reason why I own 2 Glee CDs)
• Crash Test Dummies “God Shuffled His Feet”: This band is so unlike any other band that I know.  The deep voice, the oddball choice of lyrical subject matter (from the singer’s asthma to his wondering how ducks tell which other duck is their wife).  A good listen anytime.

I am almost 1/3 of the way done (31.9%) and with any luck (and resolve on my part NOT to buy any more CDs when I am out shopping today) I should hit the 1/3 mark next week.

Jon

Joining the No Hang List

Last week I told you about my efforts to join the No Throw List.  I can tell you that Saturday came and went and neither my driveway (nor my front yard) contained a copy of the McKinney Courier Gazette.  I had my doubts that the No Throw List really existed or that it would work.  Time will tell if the thrower of these newspapers remembers our address or not.

Later in the week I opened my front door to find another unwanted item.  This time it was connected to my door handle with a rubber band and was a tall, skinny piece of colored advertising.  It was about 20” x 6” and contained advertising on both sides.  The businesses that were listed were as follows.

• Palio’s Pizza Café
• Pop-Ins Maid Service
• Auto Spa & Detail
• Roosters Men’s Grooming Center
• Urban Extreme Nutrition
• Pro Star Painting
• Total Tan
• McKinney Pain & Wellness Center
• Smith Monitoring
• Keller Williams Realtors
• Floor Hut
• Direct Appliance Service & Parts
• McKinney Martial Arts
• Saverful Door Hanger Advertising

I looked over all the ads and any coupons that were mentioned and did not see anything useful to me (though I could probably use the Total Tan product).  The last one on the above list seemed to be the originator of this unwanted and unasked for paper being placed on my property so I found their website and found an email address on the Contact Us section.  I sent an email that basically asked if there was a way that I not be included in future door hangings.

Much to my surprise I received a reply 15 minutes later noting their sorrow that I did not find their “product” (quotes added by me) useful and that if I was worried about WHO was coming to my door that they did background checks on the the people that distribute their door hangers.  They then asked that I provide my address as “We definitely do not want to distribute to any houses that do not want or appreciate our service.”

I did not care for the tone of the email (indicating that it was I who was strange for not appreciating this service) but I simply replied with my home address and a short note of thanks for the quick reply.

I am not sure why this type of thing bothers me.  But, who are they to have permission to come onto my property and affix things to my house?  Or, in the case of the newspaper, to throw things onto my property?  We are bombarded with so much advertising that I think there should be a line drawn somewhere.  I guess these 2 efforts are my own little line.  All I know is that 2 advertising groups have my specific home address now and I am not so sure that is a good thing.

Jon

The Listening Project-Week 13

Well another week has passed by and I was able to get through a few more CDs in my listening project.  Despite taking a 1/2 day vacation on Friday, I was still able to get through 21 CDs this week but that still keeps me behind my 20 per week goal.  Also, I bought 20 CDs at a 50 cent sale at Mardel’s so technically I barely tread water this week.  You can reference this blog entry for details about this project.  Here are the CDs I knocked off of my list this week.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
235	Haven	Age of Darkness	10/17/2011	Yes
236	KJ-52	Behind the Musik (A Boy Named Jonah)	10/17/2011	Yes
237	Jacob's Dream	Beneath The Shadows	10/17/2011	Yes
238	Todd Agnew	Better Questions	10/17/2011	No
239	The Normals	Better Than This	10/18/2011	No
240	John Waller	The Blessing	10/18/2011	Yes
241	Starflyer 59	The Changing Of The Guard	10/18/2011	Yes
242	Revive	Chorus Of The Saints	10/18/2011	Yes
243	Fair	Disappearing World	10/18/2011	Yes
244	Haste The Day	Dreamer	10/19/2011	Yes
245	Grammatrain	Flying	10/19/2011	Yes
246	Flyleaf	Flyleaf	10/19/2011	Yes
247	Whitecross	Flytrap	10/19/2011	Yes
248	Reba McEntire	For My Broken Heart	10/20/2011	Yes
249	Steven Curtis Chapman	For The Sake Of The Call	10/20/2011	Yes
250	Jonathan Pierce	For You	10/20/2011	No
251	Paula Abdul	Forever Your Girl	10/20/2011	Yes
252	Various Artists	Forrest Gump The Soundtrack Disc One	10/20/2011	Yes
253	Various Artists	Forrest Gump The Soundtrack Disc Two	10/20/2011	Yes
254	Undercover	Forum	10/21/2011	No
255	Blues Traveler	Four	10/21/2011	Yes

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs that I have listened to over the past week…

• Haven “Age of Darkness”: I have to admit that when I saw that 90% off rack at Mardel’s I went a little crazy.  Since these CDs were already marked down to $5 each, the sale price was 50 cents.  My criteria for CDs at that price move down to cool album art, cool song titles, artists I think I might have heard of once, or familiar names as producers.  This one falls into the “I think I might have heard of them once” category.  Typical 80’s metal and worth another listen.  The first 10 on the list this week fell in front of where I am in my alphabetical trek through my CD collection and were all on that 50 cent rack at Mardel’s.
• Jacob’s Dream “Beneath the Shadows”: This one falls in the cool album cover art category.  Another great 80’s metal find.
• Todd Agnew “Better Questions”: This one gets a NO but I had heard of this artist as he appeared on a U2 tribute CD (covering When Love Comes To Town [poorly]).  It took 10 seconds of the first track for me to know that this was 50 cents not well spent.
• John Waller “The Blessing”: I actually sang a song off this CD in church once (While I’m Waiting).  I never put 2 and 2 together but his voice did sound familiar.  It turns out that he was the lead singer for the group According to John.
• Starflyer 59 “The Changing of the Guard”: I had heard of this band before but I did not realize that the main force behind it is the brother of the main force behind the group Joy Electric.  They sound nothing alike really but this is a good and sounds a bit like Dead Artist Syndrome.
• Fair “Disappearing World”: I had heard one song by this group as I had downloaded a free sampler from their label a few years ago.  I really like this song and the band sounds like a softer version of Jonezetta.
• Haste the Day “Dreamer”: I am not a big fan of metalcore (who needs to scream that much?) but it kinds of grows on you after a while.
• Grammatrain “Flying”: I wish this band released more than just 2 CDs..The lead singer did release a solo CD so at least that is something.  They don’t sound much like any other band I know.
• Flyleaf “Flyleaf”: Wow, awesome.
• Whitecross “Flytrap”: As much as I like the lead singer’s voice (think vocals like those of Ratt), I much prefer the CDs when their original guitarist was there writing the songs.  Once they parted ways, Whitecross just wasn’t the same.  I saw these guys when they opened for Bloodgood during the tour after their first album.
• Reba McEntire “For My Broken Heart”: For some reason I have 6 (maybe 7) Reba CDs.  This one has her version of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” (did you know the lady who played Mamma on Mamma’s Family sang the original?).
• Paula Abdul “Forever Your Girl”: Yes, I own some Paula Adbul CD’s.  Please don’t judge me.
• Undercover “Forum”: I remember buying this CD at a thrift floor in Spencer, IN.  I have some of their earlier stuff on LP.  I think they switched lead singers by the time this one was released.  Not good.

Well, I am 29.4% of the way through my project and still going strong.  If you do the math that puts me at 867 CDs in my collection (so far).  I don’t have any plans to visit any stores that sell CDs this weekend so maybe I can make more of a gain than the net 1 that I made this week.

Jon

Mail Forwarding

Greetings,

It was a momentous occasion today when the wife brought in the mail and we saw a yellow sticker on the outside of some of the pieces.  For anyone who has moved and had their mail forwarded you know that sticker.  It means that the US Postal System is working as it should and what's yours is now going to be your again.  We were particularly excited however in that we requested that our mail be forwarded starting 35 days ago and this is the first piece of forwarded mail that we have received.

Sometime around September 10th I attempted to complete the online version of the request for mail forwarding.  I have used this in the past and it worked fine so I was not concerned that I was only giving the post office 5 days notice to begin forwarding our mail.  In order to do this online you have to provide a credit card and they do charge you $1 for the convenience.  I paid a little more attention to the warnings listed in fine print that noted that if the forwarding form failed for any reason you would still be charged $1 (though you would be credited it later).  As I mentioned, this has worked for me in the past flawlessly.  This time however it was different (I am assuming you predicted this was the case).

Technically I was using a debit card but it does have a nice MasterCard logo on it and I have ran it as a credit card numerous times.  We have not had a real credit card for over 2 years so the debit card was my only option.  The first attempt failed but the error message was very non specific so I tried again with the same result.  There was an option to print our a form that was completed with the information I had punched in and only needed a signature and to be dropped off at the 46902 post office.  The wife took care of that the next day and all was well.  Or so we thought.

A few weeks went by and after we got all the boxes unpacked we still had no forwarded mail.  The paper we filled out said that it could take up to (2) weeks so I waited it out.  We typically do not get many pieces of important mail.  I do have (1) magazine subscription but I got it at a bargain price and I really do not read it.  Suffice to say, I was not too worried that mail was not showing up.  A few more days passed and I sent an email to the people living at our old address.  They confirmed that 1) they neglected to check the mail often (it is a long trek to the mail box) and 2) we were still getting mail with our name on it that was not being forwarded.  I had had enough so I called the 46902 office.  They checked the system and could find no record of our ever having dropped off a mail forwarding notification form.  It was possible but not likely that the Indianapolis facility (where the forwarding forms are all forwarded to) might have it and just be behind but our best bet was to visit the 75070 post office near us and try it from our end of things (a.k.a. starting over).

I mapped out where the 75070 post office was and the wife was going to visit there the next time she had business that took her in that direction.  Low and behold though in a day or two we got a mail forwarding confirmation letter from the post office.  It confirmed the information that we had entered on the form (the one we dropped off so long ago) and gave us a confirmation number along with a number to call if we were having mail forwarding problems.  I called the next day (last Thursday, exactly 1 week ago from this blog entry) and after being on hold for 20 minutes or so (thank goodness for my headset) I spoke with a very nice lady who took down all my information (with the exception of the confirmation number that I tried to give her multiple times).  We chit chatted a bit about my father (who retired as postmaster of a small post office in Indiana) and then she said someone would call me back within 2 business days.

We were out most of Saturday driving around Dallas and Plano (and watching The Smurfs at the $1 theater) and when we got back home we had a message on our answering machine.  It was terrible quality but from what we could tell, our mail should be (or would be [or maybe already was]) being forwarded.  That was (5) days ago and today it finally happened.  We finally got some forwarded mail.  The date on the mail was from (10) days ago so that means that even before I called and complained the mail forwarding was already set up.  That also means that the mail did NOT forward for the first (25) days after we moved.  My mom is coming for a visit during the week of Thanksgiving so I will likely not get my non forwarded mail until then.  Oh well.

Jon

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Inconsistent Deposit Activity

I do not think I have mentioned this but I finally was able to win an auction for a Mac Mini.  I am using it to post this blog (and it was also used to post my last entry as well).  It took me many months as I was very picky (and very cheap) when bidding.  First of all, I did not want to spend more than $135 (including shipping) and I also wanted to make sure that the auction included the power brick (some did not) and the original install discs (many did not).  I probably bid and lost 60 auctions before I finally won one.  I had really given up hope of keeping the price under my budget but my persistence paid off finally.  I am using some blog software (free) called Qumana (hence the Powered by Qumana tag at the end of this post).

One thing we had to do because of our move to Texas was find a new bank.  The bank we used in Indiana only had branches in a handful of Indiana cities.  I get a deal though my work for many of the big banks.  Mostly that means I get the higher level checking account at a discounted rate or free.  Then I got a letter in the mail from Chase that offered $125 for opening a new checking and savings account and met certain other criteria.  There are so many banks near our house (including 3 Chase branches) so I had my choice.  If it were not for that letter I would likely not have chosen Chase (so in this case, junk mail worked).  I followed the included instructions and was soon on my way.

It took a few days to set up the connection to my current bank and confirm I was who I said I was but eventually I had made a transfer of funds and was set up.  Our first real deposit was the rent check from our renters back in Indiana.  It was a chance for the wife to check out one of the local branches and get a feel for our new bank.  When we were living in Texas previously, my employer had a credit union that I used.  Since my company was bought by another company, that credit union changed its name.  I was leaning toward it when the junk mail from Chase arrived even though there were several more layers of paperwork involved.  Anyway, I logged in to the Chase web site the next day to see if the deposit was recorded.  To my surprise, only $200 of the check was available and the rest was on some sort of hold.  It was still on hold a week later when I got another letter from Chase, and this one was not junk mail.

At the top of the letter in bold print were the words "Deposit Hold Notice".  It listed the amount being held and the reason...

the deposited check(s) is/are not consistent with the account's normal deposit activity

Huh?  Other than the initial transfer of funds to open the account, I have no deposit activity.  The more I thought about it I came to the conclusion that since this was my ONLY deposit activity then that made this deposit EXACTLY like my normal deposit activity.  This WAS my normal deposit activity!  Fortunately, I did not need these funds but the letter indicated they would be held for an additional week still before being released.  Since I will get a check like this every month, I decided to call the bank.

I explained the absurdity of calling this anything but my normal deposit activity.  I was trying to determine if this check would be held each month for 10 business days so I could plan accordingly.  The lady on the phone was nice enough and even called the check's issuing bank to see if they could confirm funds.  She came back on the line a few moments later and indicated that the issuing bank had a minimum dollar amount that they would confirm funds for and this was below that amount.  I joked that if this was to be the normal bank response then I would have to consider raising my rent (I think she thought I was serious).  After a bit more back and forth we ended the call.

So anyway, we got our debit cards.  I wish I could change my pin some other way than going into the bank (the ATM would not let us do it) and the little Visa logo looks funny to me (our last few debit cards were MasterCard) but other than that we are happy.  And there is the $125.  I guess that is payment for my frustration.

Jon

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Joining The No Throw List

Greetings,

We are settling in nicely to our Texas (leased) home and despite the fact thar our mail is still not forwarding (a subject for another blog) everything is working out pretty well.  I was able to get most of my bill that pay automatically updated to my new Chase checking account (another subject for yet another blog).  We got a notice in the mail from the Dallas Morning News that they were going to deliver the sunday edition for free for four weeks.  They did not ask my permission, just up and told me they were going to do it.  The first week's issue (despite being in a plastic baggy) was totally unreadable due to heavy rains.  The second free issue arrive this week and we perused the adds for a whole 15 minutes and then promptly put the whole thing in our recycle bin.

While we have 2 more weeks to go for that paper, there is another paper that would keep coming after receiving no warning at all.  Every Saturday afternoon, the McKinney Courier Gazette magically appears on our driveway (or perhaps our lawn [or perhaps the neighbor's lawn]).  From what I can tell, this paper is an excuse to provide us with advertising.  I have a problem with people who just think they can throw things in my yard without asking my permission.

We actually caught the person who throws these papers in people's driveways.  We happened upon a white pick up truck late Saturday afternoon.  Stepping back a bit from the fact that I am upset with this activity, let me say that I was very impressed with the speed and accuracy that this individual demonstrated as they flipped papers out of both the driver and passenger side windows.  I was too far behind them though to get out, get my paper and throw it back at them.

Back in Indiana we had this same problem with the Kokomo Perspective.  I would find this paper somewhere near my mailbox in the (sometimes) tall grass.  Since our mailbox was several hundred feet from our house, the paper was not visible from the front window and sometimes I would not find an issue until I mowed.  Anyway, I would get very upset (as I am want to do at times) when pondering this.  I mean, what right does anyone have to throw things in my yard?  If I did that I could be written up for littering, right?  Usually by the time I got back into the house I was cooled off (an advantage I guess of having a long driveway) but here in McKinney my 20 ft walk from driveway to front door is not enough time so I decided to do somthing about it.

After a bit of searching I found a contact for the parent company (American Community Newspapers) and asked (nicely) how I might stop receiving their paper.  I was quite surprised how quickly I got a response.  I was invited to join what is called the No Throw List just for the asking.  I gave her my address and just like that I should not be getting any more copies of this paper that I did not ask for in the first place.

Something about this whole set up still bothers me though.  Why is the default value = "Yes, throw unwanted, unasked for stuff on my property" and not "No, do not throw..."?  I am pessimistic that the newspaper delivery person in the white truck has the wherewithall to remember where NOT to throw papers.  I will have to keep you posted.  I hope it does not come down to me brining a lawn chair into the driveway on Saturday afternoon and sitting and waiting for them to throw something on my driveway and have me throw it back.

Jon

The Listening Project–Week 12

Well another week has passed by and I was able to get through a few more CDs in my listening project.  I did not bring my music with me when I headed into the office on Wednesday so I was only able to get through 16 CDs this week keeping me behind my 20 per week goal.  You can reference this blog entry for details about this project.  Here are the CDs I knocked off of my list this week.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
219	The Throes	Fall On Your World	10/10/2011	No
220	Margaret Becker	Falling Forward	10/10/2011	Yes
221	Geoff Moore	Familiar Stranger	10/10/2011	Yes
222	Three Strand	Famished	10/10/2011	Yes
223	Sixpence None the Richer	The Fatherless And The Widow	10/10/2011	Yes
224	Roxette	Favorites From Crash! Boom! Bang!	10/10/2011	Yes
225	Rascal Flatts	Feels Like Today	10/11/2011	Yes
226	Kim Hill	The Fire Again	10/11/2011	Yes
227	Faith Hill	Fireflies	10/11/2011	Yes
228	Pillar	Fireproof	10/13/2011	Yes
229	Michael W. Smith	The First Decade 1983-1993	10/13/2011	Yes
230	Steven Curtis Chapman	First Hand	10/13/2011	No
231	Thousand Foot Krutch	The Flame In All Of Us	10/14/2011	Yes
232	Richard Marx	Flesh And Bone	10/14/2011	Yes
233	Mad at the World	Flowers In The Rain	10/14/2011	Yes
234	Dixie Chicks	Fly	10/14/2011	Yes

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs that I have listened to over the past week…

• The Throes “Fall On Your World”: I started of the week with a NO.  I really want to like this band and I have listened to this CD many times since I got it and this group has a R.E.M. feel to it but not R.E.M. enough I guess.
• Pillar “Fireproof”: I remember exactly when I got this CD.  I was in the (now closed) big Christian book store in Kokomo and had a  gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket.  I asked the person manning the music section (a younger guy who looked like he might know a bit about new music) and asked him to point me to a P.O.D. like band.  He did not hesitate and pulled this off the shelf and handed it to me.  I really like this CD but none of their subsequent CDs are up to the level of this one.
• Michael W. Smith “The First Decade”: Ah, another best of CD where there are 2 new songs (the gall, to seem so confident that these unreleased songs would be so good that they deserve a place on a best of CD").  Still, a good CD.
• Steven Curtis Chapman “First Hand”: Another SCC CD that makes the NO list.  Sorry Steven.
• Thousand Foot Krutch “The Flame In All Of Us”: A gift from my son (after some heavy hinting to my wife and me pointing out where and when it was on sale).
• Mad At The World “Flowers In The Rain”; My favorite release from this band.  Last week I lamented what they had become after this release.  This week I got to enjoy it.
• Dixie Chicks “Fly”: The song “Ready To Run” is featured on the soundtrack to the “Runaway Bride” movie and is a good song but my favorite now (after listening to this CD to end my week) is “Sin Wagon” with its lyrics directly opposed to the “I’ll Fly Away” riff from the chorus.

A trip to Mardel’s is on the docket for today so I might just have to purchase a few more CDs on their clearance rack.  I am about 28% of the way through this project this far.

Jon

Altered Prayer

Well, we have been back in Texas now for 3 or so weeks and all is well.  We are really enjoying the weather.  The kids are enjoying the neighborhood and making friends.  The dogs even seem happier save for McKinney who is still full of puppy-like enthusiasm and is oblivious to most of her surroundings.  Everything still is in that new phase (house, neighborhood, church, friends, higher speed internet, etc) so I took this opportunity to introduce a few new things in our family life.  One of these new things involved mealtime prayer.

On day a while back during church service, our (Kokomo) pastor had mentioned the concept of praying after a meal rather than before it.  He is a Jewish roots kind of guy so I am sure that this concept has its origins somewhere in Judaism.  There are not many food prayers in the Bible per se (probably because there are not many stories that have their setting around mealtime).  I guess my point is that we have always prayed as a family before a meal out of tradition rather than any deep religious study that I did.  Over the years it just became a habit I suppose and I had concerns that our family (especially our children) were not getting the full meaning so I mixed things up a bit.

Let me say first off that it just feels downright weird eating first without praying.  We each find ourselves sitting with our food in front of us waiting for something to happen when we realize that it is ok just to begin eating.  Once we have a bite or two in our mouths all is well and we enjoy the rest of the meal like we normally would.  Then the end of the meal comes.

First of all there is the timing of it all.  Each of us needs to remain seated at the table until the last person (usually my son) is done eating.  We might get up to rinse off our dishes and place them in the sink or dishwasher but after that we return to our seats at the dining room table and await the “after the meal'” prayer.  As awkward as it feels here at home, eating out at a restaurant is doubly awkward.  I can just imagine the looks we get as people see empty plates in front of us as we take the time to bow our heads and give thanks.

This change of pattern has caused us to forget praying altogether a time or two thus far but I suppose that is understandable.  Old habits die hard.  The kids have prayed before the meal since they were old enough to grasp the concept of prayer or thankfulness so this is a bigger change for them than me (I spent the first 20+ years of my life never praying with my family, before meals or otherwise).  At any rate, it has accomplished one thing.  We do concentrate on being thankful more and I suppose that makes this experiment a success.  We will see if we revert back to our former ways or not.

Jon

The Listening Project-Week 11

Well another week has passed by and I was able to get through a few more CDs in my listening project.  I set a new weekly record by listening to 28 CDs this week.  I am still behind my 20 per week schedule but made up less ground than you would think since I visited1/2 Price Books and bought 11 move CDs (and a book for good measure).  You can reference this blog entry for details about this project.  Here are the CDs I knocked off of my list this week.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
191	White Lion	Big Game	10/3/2011	Yes
192	Various Artists	Double Take	10/3/2011	Yes
193	Chris Taylor	Down Goes The Day	10/3/2011	Yes
194	Sometimes Sunday	Drain	10/3/2011	Yes
195	Project 86	Drawing Black Lines	10/3/2011	Yes
196	Mad at the World	The Dreamland Café	10/3/2011	Yes
197	Seventh Angel	The Dust of Years	10/4/2011	Yes
198	White Heart	The Early Years	10/4/2011	Yes
199	Curious Fools	Electric Soul	10/4/2011	Yes
200	Jars Of Clay	The Eleventh Hour	10/4/2011	Yes
201	Top	Emotion Lotion	10/4/2011	No
202	Mariah Carey	Emotions	10/4/2011	Yes
203	Tait	Empty	10/5/2011	Yes
204	Charlotte Church	Enchantment	10/5/2011	Yes
205	Holy Soldier	Encore	10/5/2011	Yes
206	Downhere	Ending Is Beginning	10/5/2011	Yes
207	R.E.M.	Eponymous	10/5/2011	Yes
208	EDL	Every Day Life	10/5/2011	No
209	Stellar Kart	Everything Is Different Now	10/5/2011	Yes
210	Charlie Peacock	Everything That's On My Mind	10/6/2011	Yes
211	Geoff Moore & The Distance	Evolution	10/6/2011	Yes
212	Stellar Kart	Expect The Impossible	10/6/2011	Yes
213	Jackson Finch	Experience	10/7/2011	Yes
214	Bette Midler	Experience The Divine	10/7/2011	Yes
215	Jonah 33	Extended Play	10/7/2011	Yes
216	Al Denson	The Extra Mile	10/7/2011	No
217	Extreme	Extreme II - Pornograffitti	10/7/2011	Yes
218	4 Him	Face The Nation	10/7/2011	No

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs that I have listened to over the past week…

• White Lion “Big Game”: The only CD of the 11 that I bought this week that fell in front (alphabetically) of where I am in my project.
• Chris Taylor “Down Goes The Day”: I really like this artist.  I have his first (this one) and third CDs (which begins with a W).  I probably got them both on a clearance rack at the Christian bookstore in Kokomo a long time ago.  Every CD since after these was not on a regular label.
• Sometimes Sunday “Drain”: I think I paid close to full price for this one.  Tooth and Nail records (a Christian alternative label) had just started and I took a chance on a lot of their earlier releases.  Some were OK (like this one) and some where not (Joy Electric review is coming in the R’s).  A very “we want to sound like Nirvana but can’t quite pull it off” vibe is what I get from this release.
• Project 86 “Drawing Black Lines”: More angriness (started with Sometimes Sunday).  Screaming more than singing.  Still, when in the right mood, a nice CD.
• Mad At The World “The Dreamland Café”: I am not sure what happened to this group.  They started off all synthesizers and computers and then (CD by CD) morphed into whatever this CD is (alternative folk?).  Anyway, I kept buying their CDs hoping for a reproduction of their 2nd CD (Flowers In The Rain which I should get to soon).
• White Heart “The Early Years”: In my 70 CD haul at an Indiana Goodwill store, I grabbed 5 or 6 White Heart CDs not realizing that 2 or 3 of them were tireless “Best Of” releases where the record labels were just trying to squeeze one more dollar out of this band who changed labels often enough to allow this sort of thing.
• Top “Emotion Lotion: I think this is another one of my CDs that we accidently bought.  The daughter had a school project that used CDs for wheels on a little car that they were making.  Rather than wasting blank CDs, I sent the wife to the pawn shop and she grabbed 4 CDs randomly from the 50 cent rack.  When we dismantled the car I kept the CDs.  Now I am paying for this decision and this CD gets the first of the 4 NOs this week.
• Tait “Empty”: Formerly with DC Talk, Tait (now lead singer for the Newsboys) released a few solo CDs.  I remember thinking (when DC Talk broke up) that we who were fans of the band might get lucky and have 3x the CDs (if they all released solo stuff).  I did not quite get the level of release that I was hoping for but this is still pretty good.
• Charlotte Church “Enchantment”: I bought this for the daughter.  You have to be in the right mood to listen to it (or have it come up in some sort of crazy project).
• Holy Soldier “Encore”: Fans of this band know that they released 2 awesome hair band CDs and then changed lead singers and drastically changed their sound.  So, it makes total sense to release a 4th CD that contains a concert with BOTH lead signers.  As they trade duties and go back and forth on genres it gets a little dizzying.  Oh, and the final song (and I am NOT making this up) is Pat Boone covering on of their songs off their first CD.  Still, there is one new song and that makes the CD worth owing.
• Stellar Kart “Everything is Different Now” & “Expect The Impossible”: This is one of my son’s favorite bands.  We drove to Illinois once to see them in concert and he still talks about it.
• Charlie Peacock “Everything That’s On My Mind”: Love Charlie Peacock (and have mentioned that before in this project).  This CD features the most guitars of any of his releases to my knowledge.  The song “Monkeys At The Zoo” has some penetrating lyrics.
• Jonah 33 “Extended Play”: A 5 song EP that I picked up a a festival that they were performing at a few years ago.
• Al Denson “The Extra Mile”: All my Al Denson CDs were picked up in a 70 CD haul at a Goodwill store that I mentioned above in the White Heart notes.  If I could undo one thing…
• 4 Him “Face The Nation”: …I would go back and not buy the Al Denson and 4 Him CDs that I got that day.

Well, I am almost back on track for my 20 per week pace.  That puts me on target to be done by May of next year (assuming I don’t buy any more new CDs).  I do have one more coming in the mail that I know of at this time.

Jon

A Confusing Guarantee

It has been a while since I have blogged about a random thought.  My apologies to those of you who are going through withdrawal.  We are settled here in our new Texas home but at the end of the day I just have no desire to sit back down in front of the computer and dedicate 20 minutes to blog writing.  I only manage to report my progress on my CD listening project and then abandon this blog for another week.

Evidently we do not have a dedicated place to house the toilet paper at this time in our new house.  Of course we always have a roll in the toilet paper holder but I am talking about the extra rolls here.  Those in the embarrassingly large mega packs that consume a large percentage of the space in our shopping cart while at the Super Target.  Currently these rolls are sitting on the back of the toilet in the bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom.  Some of the packaging caught my eye and upon further review I leaned in and saw this guarantee…

Sorry for the poor quality, the lighting is not that great in our bathroom (certainly not enough for reading but that is a subject for another blog).  Anyway, evidently toilet paper rolls have gotten so large that fitting them into standard holders installed in bathrooms is a problem.  Evidently our brand of TP felt it necessary to guarantee that it will fit our holder.

I looked on the internet but could not find anything online about this guarantee but I did find that Charmin offers (free of charge) something called the Charmin Extender that will assist your smaller roll holders if they are not up to the job. This page appears to be abandoned as even the links about it on the FAQ page do not work.  The fine print on the back of our product (yes I read it, but not near the toilet as there is insufficient lighting) simply states that you can get a refund (allow 6 – 8 weeks) if you are not satisfied (it does mention specifically that you had to be dissatisfied about the roll size).  I guess our holders are sufficiently big to hold these MegaRolls (phew).

Jon

The Listening Project-Week 10

Well another week has passed by and I was able to get through a few more CDs in my listening project.  I made up for a few bad weeks and was able to get through 23 CDs during the week.  I am still behind my 20 per week schedule but thus far I have not purchased any new (to me) CDs this week.  You can reference this blog entry for details about this project.  Here are the CDs I knocked off of my list this week.

#	Artist	Album	Date	Again?
168	Kerry Livgren	Decade - Disc 2	9/26/2011	Yes
169	Duran Duran	Decade	9/26/2011	Yes
170	The Alarm	Declaration	9/26/2011	Yes
171	Steven Curtis Chapman	Declaration	9/26/2011	No
172	Chris Rice	Deep Enough To Dream	9/26/2011	Yes
173	John Elefante	Defying Gravity	9/26/2011	Yes
174	Jon Anderson	Deseo	9/27/2011	Yes
175	Chatterbox	Despite	9/27/2011	Yes
176	DeGarmo & Key	Destined To Win (The Classic Rock Collection)	9/27/2011	Yes
177	Aerosmith	Devil's Got A New Disguise: The Very Best Of Aerosmith	9/27/2011	Yes
178	Out Of The Grey	Diamond Days	9/27/2011	Yes
179	The Chemical Brothers	Dig Your Own Hole	9/28/2011	Yes
180	Adam Again	Dig	9/28/2011	Yes
181	Jacob's Trouble	Diggin' Up Bones	9/28/2011	Yes
182	PFR	Disappear	9/28/2011	No
183	Circle of Dust	Disengage	9/28/2011	Yes
184	Sixpence None the Richer	Divine Discontent	9/29/2011	Yes
185	Mike Stand	Do I Stand Alone	9/29/2011	Yes
186	King's X	Dogman	9/29/2011	Yes
187	Steve Camp	Doing My Best - Volume 1	9/30/2011	Yes
188	Steve Camp	Doing My Best - Volume 2	9/30/2011	Yes
189	Aerosmith	Done With Mirrors	9/30/2011	Yes
190	White Heart	Don't Wait For The Movie	9/30/2011	Yes

Here are my thoughts on a few of these CDs that I have listened to over the past week…

• Kerry Livgren “Decade – Disc 2”: This is where we left off last week.  This disc contains the rerelease of AD’s first album “Timeline” along with other songs from that era.  I saw Kerry Livgren and AD in concert at a festival in Wilmore, KY a long, long time ago.
• Steven Curtis Chapman “Declaration”: One of two NO’s this week goes to this CD.  While I like some of SCC’s stuff, this is not one of them.  I have sang quite a few songs by this artist as specials at church.
• Chris Rice “Deep Enough To Dream”: I attempted to sing “Clumsy” (a song from this CD) in church once.  The awkward metric of the verses was too much for me and it did not go over well.
• John Elefante “Defying Gravity”: I have mentioned before in this blog series how much I love John’s voice.  So awesome.  The facts that he is a good keyboardist and song writer don’t hurt.
• Jon Anderson “Deseo”: The (former?) lead singer of Yes, John’s voice is unique.  My first album from him was a Christmas release that I only have on LP (the CD versions of it go for $100 on ebay).  He is out there religion-wise (compared to my upbringing) and some of his songs reflect that.  Still pleasing to listen to and very much in the world music genre.
• Chatterbox “Despite”: Another Christian industrial genre release that sounds like all the rest.  It hits the spot when I am in the mood for that style.
• The Chemical Brothers “Dig Your Own Hole”: I do not have many CDs in this style but this is fun to put on as background noise when puttering around the house.
• Adam Again “Dig”: I love this band.  The lead singer passed away a few years ago so they are no more.  I first saw them at the same music festival that I mentioned above in the Kerry Livgren notes.  They had literally released their first album that day and I headed to the artist tent and bought the LP.  This one is their 4th release.  A very unique sound and one of those bands where the lead singer’s voice perfectly matches the sound of the band.  This album is a little dark (especially “Hopeless, Etc”).
• PFR “Disappear”: For some reason I have 4 CDs by this band and I fear that they will all get NO’s when their turn comes.  This release has the distinction of being on Squint records (the beginning home of Chevelle and Sixpence None The Richer).  That did not help it though.
• Circle of Dust “Disengage”: So much like Chatterbox…so much like every other Christian industrial CD I own.
• Mike Stand “Do I Stand Alone”: I have this album set off by itself but technically it is on the same CD as his other release “Simple Expression” as part of a CD re-release.  My anal retentiveness split it up in my collection but I held off recombining them for this project.  Mike is the former lead singer of The Altar Boys who were one of the first Christian punk bands.  I have most of their releases on LP only so they will not be listed in this project.
• King’s X “Dogman”: Such a unique sound but I only have a few CDs by them.  I have a cassette and a few of their releases from my short subscription to eMusic.
• Steve Camp “Doing My Best – Volume 1” and “Doing My Best – Volume 2”: The last of the Best Of CDs this week (there were 6 in all).  Volume 2 is the more rocky of these two discs.  Steve was a guest speaker at a youth camp I attended one week in my youth and a very down to earth guy.  He did a concert as well with only his piano (unplugged I guess).  Ah, memories.
• White Heart “Don’t Wait For The Movie”: This is a pretty hokey release but it did introduce their new lead singer (and former roadie / bus driver – it is an awesome story if you research it).  White Heart later changed their name to Whiteheart which really messes with my anal retentive head when organizing my mp3 collection.

Well, I am about 23% of the way through this project and still going strong.  I do find myself looking ahead 10 or 20 CDs to see what the week will be like.  Next week starts off with groups like Sometimes Sunday, Project 86, Mad at the World, and Seventh Angel so it should be interesting.

Jon