Blogging from iPhone
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in General on April 24th, 2009
I’m testing the WordPress application on my iPhone. It’s amazing what we can do with technology these days. Like I need another distraction.
Blogging, Distractions, and Broken Bones
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in General, technology on April 22nd, 2009
So it’s been a while since my last update. I had a blog post that I wanted to make a few weeks ago that never materialized that had something to do with the over-spreading of our Internet attention through Twitter, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, various messageboards, etc. Basically, I was caught in the vortex and didn’t get that post or any others completed. Oh well.
I also have been creating content for my job on a regular basis, so creating content for you freeloaders gets pushed down the priority list…. I kid! I kid!
OK, enough whining… Now to the fun stuff.
Another thing that happened in the meantime is that I broke my 5th metatarsal in my right foot playing flag football. You may ask yourself, “what is a man of your advanced age doing playing flag football?” And to that, I would say: “I have no idea, but I don’t think I should have been.”
If you happened to know me in high school, you’ll likely remember that I broke my foot getting my senior pictures made. That is not a good, masculine story. Now, 21 years later, I finally have a “manly” broken foot story. For this broken bone:
- I caught the pass.
- I scored the touchdown (it was probably -extremely- charitable, but I’ll take it).
Nothing like making a bunch of excuses, right?
16 More Albums
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in Music on March 18th, 2009
OK, I keep thinking of additional albums that could possibly go on the list in my last post, so here are some additional albums…
- October Project - s/t
(this is just an amazingly beautiful album) - Mae - The Everglow
- Anberlin - Blueprints for the Black Market
- Bob Marley - Legend
(reminds me of my honeymoon) - The Choir - Wide-eyed Wonder
(this means so much more now that I’m a father) - Collective Soul - Dosage
- Michael Jackson - Thriller
(didn’t really listen to the album as a whole that much but the singles were such a part of my childhood - Daniel Amos - Vox Humana
- Galactic Cowboys - S/T
(This was the first album I bought when I moved to Atlanta in 1991. Still one of my faves.) - Petra - This Means War
- Daniel Band - On Rock
- Kerry Livgren/AD - Time Line
- Shout - It Won’t Be Long
- Tourniquet - Stop the Bleeding
- Sixpence None The Richer - This Beautiful Mess
- 77s - Drowning with Land in Sight
15 Albums That Moved Me
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in Music on March 14th, 2009
So, I did this exercise as a “note” on Facebook. It’s one of those viral notes that essentially are lists that people make and then hope that their friends care about them. Many people make fun of these lists and wear it as a badge of honor that they don’t participate in these, but for some of them I really try to embrace them. The latest one that I actually care about is the 15 Albums list.
According to the note, this list should be albums that: “had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Also, throw cool out the window, there’s no need to declare ‘guilty pleasure’.”
So, I figured I’d re-post them here on the blog. (BTW, I linked the album cover to either the artist’s website or a semblance thereof.)
Enjoy!
1. 77s - Sticks and Stones: This album should have sold a million copies, even though it was just a collection of demos. Unfortunately Mike Roe sold the lost the rights to these songs since MT has shown up on TV since then.
2. King’s X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska: This album changed the way I listen to music. It sounds as relevant today as it did in 1989. King’s X could be the most under-appreciated band in the history of music.
3. U2 - War: This was the first album that I really really dug into and memorized every beat, guitar lick, lyric, etc.
4. Kansas - Drastic Measures: I wore this album out in the early/mid-80s. It seemed like an awfully dramatic album for a pre- to early-teen (probably no more than “War”), but I really dug the harmonies and it’s what got me into prog-ish art-rock music.
5. Counting Crows - August and Everything After: Adam Duritz was singing to me on this album. I listened to this album non-stop whilst trying to get over a girl that I thought I was madly in love with back in 1993. We had one whole date while she was visiting Atlanta from Pittsburgh. Not sure why that didn’t work out.
6. Stryper - To Hell With the Devil: This album made it cool to listen to Christian music. At least for this one particular album in this one particular 2-3 year span. 
7. Michael W. Smith - The Big Picture: Speaking of listening to Christian music, why don’t so-called Christian pop artists make albums like this anymore? It’s quite dated (80s) but I still love this album. Not much from MWS since the 80s, but, this one, I love.
8. DA - Darn Floor Big Bite: I didn’t understand much of this album when it came out, and I still don’t now. But, it was still way ahead of its time and is still a really good listen.
9. Mad at the World - Seasons of Love: Kind of an dark album that I listened to a lot after my cousin died back in the early 90s. It got me through a rough patch. Still good stuff. Kinda hard to listen to now though.
10. LSU - Shaded Pain: Speaking of dark. This one may be one of the darkest. I remember going on a date back in the late 80s with a girl from Blackshear and I was playing this album. When Mr. Knott sang “there’s an old man in my backyard, so cold is his flesh, it’s an ivory fire”, she told me she was getting creeped out and wanted me to turn it off. HAHA!
11. Undercover - Balance of Power: This ends the run of really dark albums… This album was another that was way ahead of its time. Gym’s (the guitarist) wife died during the writing and recording of this album so the tone of all the songs got really angry and depressed. But those of you with an artsy side will know that out of that intense emotion can come some of the best art. This album is absolute proof of that.
12. Splender - Halfway Down the Sky: This one isn’t so much dark as it is cynical, especially toward the fairer sex. Listening to this album was very cathartic for me when getting over a particularly heart-wrenching relationship.
13. Rez Band - Silence Screams: Super heavy and awesome blues rock. A little dark. Speaks a lot of injustice and man’s inhumanity to man. Rez tended to focus on that quite a lot.
14. Allies - s/t: Hard to believe that the singer that made “Butterfly Kisses” famous would be the singer on one of my favorite rock albums of the 80s. Bob, what happened to you?
15. Steve Taylor - I Predict 1990: Extremely well-crafted album that made me aware that there are freaks out there that just hang out at Jim Morrison’s grave.
SH
To Kindle or Not to Kindle
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in technology on March 4th, 2009
OK, so I’m not a big reader. Anyone that knows me knows that reading a book requires a lot of dedication and determination on my part. So, purchasing a Kindle from Amazon (their electronic book reader) was never even on my radar.
Well, today, I read online that Amazon offered a free Kindle iPhone application that turns your iPhone into digital book reader. Of course, being the “free app addict” that I am, I grabbed it. Then I logged into my account and it sent me to the web to start shopping and selecting books for download.
My first complaint: there are no free or sample books, pages, or partial books. I would have thought that the application itself would have come with some sample publication (a public domain book or something) just to show how it looks and operates to the uninitiated.
My second complaint: the only free content on the Amazon Kindle page is the Amazon blog. This includes every other blog they offer, which are numerous, including some of the most popular like Boing Boing, The Onion, Slashdot, etc. Why are people paying for this to be downloaded to the Kindle when it’s essentially an RSS feed that any news reader can suck in? Who gets this money anyway?
Well, I’m not giving up on it just yet. I want to see what the big deal is. So, I subscribed to the Amazon blog. (Note: my Amazon account is not recognizing that I’ve logged in on my iPhone yet, so I may not get to test it anyway.)
We’ll see.
SH
Starbucks Gives Me the Jitters
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in Dining, General on March 2nd, 2009
I’m a bit of a coffee snob. However, I don’t typically buy a lot of coffee (my pa-in-law is in the biz and supplies me)… but, I do buy the occasional cup out and about at a Starbucks or similar coffee joint. In the afternoon, I try to either drink decaf or half-caf, just to keep the afternoon jitters to a minimum and to assure that I will actually sleep at night.
Today, I had a couple of business meetings at Starbucks and discovered that they no longer serve decaf after 12:00 noon… What the…?! They say that it’s to decrease waste. I understand that business decisions have to be made, but for real… are more people drinking decaf in the morning as opposed to the afternoon? I guess the statistics spell that out, but I think it’s crazy.
To today’s Starbucks location’s credit, when they told me of this fact, they gave me a free cup of decaf Americano. That was a nice jesture, but I’m still perplexed. Oh well… I guess the financial crises facing companies these days cause them to make tough decisions.
Maybe I’m taking this a little too seriously… nah.
SH
PS - Starbucks is now selling instant coffee.
The Best and Worst of Humanity
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in General on March 1st, 2009
I crashed my car on the interstate on the way home from work on Friday. It was scary and potentially hazardous to my health. But, alas, God saw fit to bring me and everyone involved out unscathed. I was bumped (a la NASCAR) in the rear fender going about 60 mph on a wet interstate in Friday afternoon traffic. Spun out and almost hit head-on with a Mustang. He was able to veer off and we just hit corner-to-corner. The rest of the traffic was able to avoid us. The guy that started the accident kept going. For the purposes of this blog post, this driver represents the ‘worst’ of humanity.
Now, after the dust settled, I was able to get my car off the interstate along with the other car involved. At the same time, three additional cars pulled off. All three of these guys got involved just out of the goodness of their hearts. They witnessed the accident and chose to get involved. These three guys represent the best of humanity. Even better, these three guys were: one white guy, one African-American, and one Latino. No stereotypes here.
Honestly, living in a major metropolitan area, I’ve come to terms with the notion that people will generally stay as far away from other people’s lives as possible. That video of the old man getting hit by a car that made headlines sometime back (because of people completely ignoring him) contributed to my distrust of humanity: link to the video (warning: it’s a little disturbing).
I’m still really ticked off about that truck that drove off… but, I can get over that. And for the guys that stopped to help… Thanks.
SH
Let Me Google That For You
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in General on February 25th, 2009
I work in a service industry (marketing / branding / technology) in a client service capacity. I was recently turned onto a site that sums up a surprisingly large percentage of what I do on a daily basis. It may not be as much as 50%, but it’s far more than I care to admit. This site is Let Me Google That For You. So many of the requests that I fulfill could be accomplished by a quick Google. Don’t tell my clients though… 
SH
The Colonel
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in Television on February 24th, 2009
This is hilarious. Jimmy Kimmel has some of the funniest sketches on TV.
SH
The Elms’ Interesting Take on Recording an Album
Posted by Chief Hogwasher in Music on February 23rd, 2009
The Elms is a band that I like quite a bit. They are actually streaming the recording of their forthcoming album on their Web site: theelms.net. Check it out.
While you’re at it, check out their previous album: The Chess Hotel.
SH