For those wondering

My computer at home is still hosed, so other than occasionally getting on shadesong's machine, I'm still not reading LJ at home like I should. I may be able to get a logic board from my boss though. But yeah, I've got a lot of LJ catching up to do each morning. :-)

Free MP3s

Amazon has a surprisingly decent collection of free MP3s up. Some of it's utter shite, of course, but they've got a nice chunk of Bad Religion, the Hives, Tom Waits, Alison Kraus, Rancid (no Op Ivy or DHC, though), Dropkick Murphys, NOFX, and selections from others (including Tanya Donelly's latest, which isn't exactly up to Belly or Breeders standards, but would be perfect background music on Gilmore Girls, and has the line, "every day brings a new breed of jackass," which should be my work .sig file). Most of it's stuff that fans are likely to have, but it's still kinda nifty. Some categories (punk, folk) are better stocked than others (comedy), and their categorization leaves something to be desired (Rancid is under punk but not ska, even though most of the cuts are from ". . . And Out Come the Wolves"), but there's still good stuff there.. You can browse them all at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468646/ref=m_mh_mn_dd/104-7412353-0076721

Monthly comics order

For those who care about such things, this was our Westfield order from their December catalog, annotated, of course.

( What we ordered )

Birthday wishes

Happy birthdays to elorie and kkraven. I also have a boss and a co-worker with today as a special day. Four folks who are guaranteed parties on their birthday every year!

New Year Reflections

So, I don't particularly believe in doing New Year's resolutions, per se, because they strike me as as empty promises that people make in the heat of the moment, and never really intend to keep (and yes, rollick, you can consider this my answer to your mini-poll from yesterday). I also won't be doing a summary of the past year (other than telling anyone foolish or bored enough to care to re-read my LJ), or the list of fives, mainly to avoid having to decide which events or people are more worthy of mention than others. If you're my friend, you know it. If you wonder if I consider something important, just ask me.

That said, I think the beginning of the year is a great time to evaluate things. And I'm fully aware that the beginning of the year is as arbitrary a date as any other one, but it's a nice psychological break point.

So, with those caveats in mind, here are the things I'd like to work on next year:

( New Year's ramblings and introspections ahead )

New Year's Blasphemy

Well, in the South this is blasphemy, at least:

I should love New Year's Day. It's a day off from work, and there's nothing on the tube but football.

Why don't I?

Because it's college football! I'd rather watch Bowling for Dollars.

Could be worse. Could be college "baseball" (nothing played with a metal bat qualifies as baseball).

Scary thought

Ask the average "punk" today to name a punk rock girl, and s/he is much more likely to say Avril Lawhatsername than Poly Styrene.

non-LJ blogs

This post is primarily for me, as a way to compile a list of non-LJ blogs that I want to read. Frankly, if I can't have something fed into LJ, I tend to forget to read it daily, so I'm hoping that by putting the links somewhere accessible (I may even put them on my userinfo page), I'll remember to read them more often. Of course, with RSS feeds, some blogs (like Tom Tomorrow's and Wil Wheaton's) are available on LJ. As far as I know, none of these ones are. If they are, let me know! :-) And please feel free to add any blogs you think I'd like in comments.


Sarah Dyer: http://www.jinjur.com/diary/ (note -- Evan Dorkin uses LJ, at least. :-)
Neil Gaiman: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp (LJ feed not working right now).
Peter David: www.peterdavid.net
Elayne Riggs (longtime writer about comics): http://elayneriggs.blogspot.com/
Mark Evanier (Writer of Groo): http://www.povonline.com/main.htm
Teresa Nielsen Hayden: http://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/
Patrick Nielsen Hayden: http://nielsenhayden.com/electrolite
Raphael Carter (not updated in ages, but she wrote one of the few cyberpunk books that I can stand):
http://www.chaparraltree.com/honeyguide/
That's the short list I have so far. Anyone else of note keep an online diary?

(no subject)

Our boss just gave us the green light to get out of here, so I'm heading out in a few minutes. Which means I may not got a chance to respond to some of your comments for a bit (though I'll probably be online at least a bit tomorrow morning), but I really do appreciate everything that's been said already.

Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone!

And Holy Shit! Is this really my ninth post of the day?