Music Adventures

Three things for this post:

Internet/Mobile Music - if you haven't checked out Grooveshark yet, you're a complete loser.  Checking out Grooveshark may not help you with your "loser-ness," but it will make you much more informed about internet music.  My guess is that you and your friends all still "YouTube" songs that you want to hear.  That's dumb.  YouTube is for videos; Grooveshark is for music.  Not only does it have a great selection of music, you can create playlists, store songs in your Grooveshark library, and download a mobile app for these phones (psych! not the iPhone).  To get full functionality on the site and the mobile app, you will need to sign up for a "VIP" account - a reasonable $3/month.  Even without the VIP account, it's much better than any other online music streaming site.

old logo - CD + cool blue circle = iTunes 10 logo

Social Music - iTunes 10.  But more specifically "Ping."  I'm not too sure how Ping works yet, but I did sign up last night.  I guess you can follow your friends, favorite artists, and people you don't even know!  So it's like Twitter + iTunes = Ping.  Since there are millions of people with iTunes accounts, it's a good concept, but we'll see how it works out in practice.  I'm not sure why you'd want to know about the musical tendencies of people you don't know.  Final thought - which sounds less masculine? "I just pinged!" or "I just tweeted!"

Good Music - If you're a fan of Iron & Wine, Brand New, Kevin Devine, Manchester Orchestra, Colour Revolt, Dear and the Headlights, or Winston Audio, you need to listen to Right Away, Great Captain!  Check out the first song on their album "The Eventually Home" on Grooveshark.  The band is a side project of Andy Hull, the lead singer of Manchester Orchestra, and has produced two of a planned three total albums.  All three are written from the viewpoint of a 17th century sea captain who caught his wife cheating on him with his own brother.  The third album is planned for release later in 2010 and supposedly begins at the point in the story where the captain is standing over the dead body of his brother who he has just killed.  Sounds strange, but the music is well written, well performed, and definitely worth a listen.  I mean, how many bands do you know are completely formed around the character of a 17th century sea captain?

P.S. - Another song worth your time is (Fork and Knife) by Brand New.  Listen here and check out the amazing lyrics here.

That's all for now.  Check out my new photography blog while you're surfing around the internet.

The CEO Said "No!"

As you all may have noticed, I haven't posted any pictures or updated at all regarding my promised trip to Eindhoven, Holland.  That is partially due to the fact that my trip got canceled, and partially due to...  Actually, it's 100% due to the fact that my trip got canceled.  After reviewing the list of people who the company had planned to send to The Netherlands (which is the same country as "Holland" in case any of you were confused - kind of like Canada and "America's Hat"), the CEO decided that they didn't need as many people as was initially thought.

My co-worker, Eric Lisle, got the nod and is currently overseas.  Why did they cancel my trip and not his trip, you ask?  Mainly because my plane ticket was $600 more expensive, but keep in mind that they already decided that they didn't need as many people as they had planned to send.  I've gotten over it, despite the decision to outline some positives and negatives of not going to Holland (seen below).


Negatives:
-  I had already begun studying Dutch quite intently.  I know how to say "September," "rainy," and "black pepper" thanks to the Dutch app that I have since deleted from my iPhone.  Dutch pronunciation is really strange - I think I'll stick to Spanish and Japanese.

- I had already contacted everyone I know who had lived in the Netherlands, been to the Netherlands, thought about going to the Netherlands, has a Dutch sounding name, or who had seen a Van Gogh painting at some point.  They were a big help in preparing me for my non-existent trip.

- With regards to money, I added (and have since removed) a $5.99 feature to my iPhone plan that allowed me to make calls while overseas for only $0.99/minute.  And I canceled a wedding photography gig this weekend that would have paid me $300.  My company now owes me a trip to Holland and $305.99.

- I spent a couple hours (on and off) packing on Thursday night, as well as a couple hours (on and off) unpacking last night.  If time is money, then my company continues to rack up the debt.

- Finally, I didn't get to go to Holland and rub elbows with the CEO, the COO, and lots of Dutch people.

Positives:

- I get to watch the Blackhawks-Sharks Western Conference Final playoff series.  You might think this isn't a big deal.  You might say, "Why are you even thinking about hockey if you've got the opportunity to go to The Netherlands?"  On the first point, you're wrong.  It is a big deal.  On the second point, it's not like I would turn down the trip to watch hockey, but now that I'm not going, I DO get to watch it.

- My fantasy baseball teams won't be neglected.

- I get to spend two weekends with my girlfriend, who unknown to me has her own blog.  We wouldn't have seen each other for 6 weeks if I would have left!

- I'll get to attend the 4 golf lessons I would have missed while i was in Einhoven.  So far my 6-iron has really improved, but my woods still need lots of work.

In summary, the difference between going to The Netherlands and not going can be summed up in the below pictures.  Instead of taking pictures of Amsterdam like the one on the left, I end up taking pictures of my ingenious idea to heat up my poptart on my beverage warmer.  Oh well - I guess I'll have to wait till the next "opportunity of a lifetime" rolls around...