Ramblings in Obscurity

It's beginning to look a lot like....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:24:00 +0000

It's July - so no surprise to get the first email from the company I order Christmas Cards from. No pressure to order though - this is an Exclusive Preview. I'm sure they'll remind me to buy soon enough.

Although the temptation to order early and send my sister her Christmas card in September may be hard to resist. :)

Classical Music galore...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:44:00 +0000

OK, I have a new addition, and it is Magnatune

I had first found them through a podcast.   I was searching for Classical music podcasts as a way to listen to new composers and all.   I picked a Magnatune podcast at random and added the feed to my playlist.   An hour of classical music, with a short self-ad between tracks.   Very nice.

Then one day I heard a song I had to have, so I actually went and checked out the web site, and found it to be a pretty good deal.    $15 a month for all you can eat.   That's right, you can download any and every album they have. No limits.   No DRM. Great quality.   Artists get the money, and best of all, no RIAA.   Their company slogan is We Are Not Evil, and they seem to live up to it.

They also have New Age, Ambient, Electronic as well as Rock and Alternative, but I haven't gotten to all those yet - too sucked into the classical music.

Check them out.   You can listen (streaming) to everything at their site for no cost.   But if you're into on line music sources, especially one kind to the actual artists, check them out.
A sample album is below. The song fandango got me hooked on the site.    And if you're on itunes, look for Magnatune - they actually have 47 different free podcasts, based on genre and even specific composers...

Enjoy

Boccherini Fandango Box by Bezdin Ensemble

Things I read

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:31:00 +0000

Astronomy Photo of the Day blog. Name says it all - a different astronomy picture every day. A variety of images from the heavens - stars, planets, celestial events. The photo in the link today is a close up photo of the sun - very nice...

There's a Sale at Korvettes!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:53:00 +0000

For some unknown reason, my family used to line dresser drawers with newspaper. Mom can't remember why, we just always did. For posterity's sake, I never changed mine out in all these years.

Now that the old dresser is gone, the paper is headed to the recycle bin. But some interesting things happened 30+ years ago, and since then

Korvettes , Gran Central, read's and Caldor are just some of the many stores that are gone.
They're not called Master Charge or Bank Americard any more (who knows their new names?)
8 track player with record player for only $150. $20 will get you a pocket camera. Chickens for 49 cents/lb. A VW Rabbit will set you back $4,400, but a Chevetter is only $3,800
Taxes, Jobless benefits, Veterans, Middle East Unrest are all in the headlines
You could get a 5 room apartment for around 400/month., but being a receptionist will only get you $10K/y
You could get a bank CD at 7.8% (those were the days)

History passed down.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:59:00 +0000

If you read my last post, you know I have some new bedroom furniture arriving this week. My first 'adult' bedroom set as my mother put it. But let's reflect on my old piece...

This is my old dresses. Simple 3 drawer wooden dresser. Been carting it around all my life. Literally.

I actually have a first memory of it. I came home from school one day and mom was in the back yard refinishing this piece. I was excited to get something new. It was probably her way of saving a few bucks on new furniture. (OK, who else remembers re-stringing venetian blinds? :) I don't remember where it came from - I don't remember it being in our basement. I'll have to ask. This piece was her old dresser. She and her older sister had gotten a matching set when they were little kids.

So at the age of 12 I got a new dresser, and it has been with me ever since. Growing up through high school. At the point in college where "my stuff" finally came to Boston, the dresser came with me. Been a part of my bedroom through quire a few apartments, and has managed to survive all the moves in-tact. And never really thought about replacing it before.

In my last place I had a high boy that I had found on the curb and re-painted, but this dresser remained. It was built well. The finish was still holding up. And, well, it has been in the family. And those who know me know I'm not exactly a fashion plate or a clothes horse. The drawers were big enough to hold t-shirts and shorts and such. It worked.

But like my last post said, I saw something new in the store and that got me thinking... On top of this dresser I had put a shelving unit that held 'stuff'. And after a dozen years in this apartment, I realized the stuff just sat on the shelf, and I was getting tired of that. The bottom drawers, while nice and deep, were almost too deep. I was packing so much stuff in them it was tough to find anything. (I have up the used high boy when I moved, so I had fewer drawers.) I also had my old 'pantry' shelving unit form the old apartment, now in the bedroom serving as a t-shirt rack. Functional, but too easy to fill up with stuff I didn't wear much. And the clothes got awful dusty being in the open all the time. So while the new furniture 'hit me' in the store, part of me was looking for a change.

The chaos of my 'old' bedroom.

After Mom gave her blessing to me getting rid of the old piece, I felt uncomfortable giving it away on craigs list. I had this horror of some college kids getting and trashing this old (officially antique?) piece. The family is spread out now, so I couldn't just haul it to someone's basement. And with a lot of furniture available so cheap these days, to actually haul it to Connecticut wouldn't have been worth the money - you could buy your own 'new' decent one for the $100 bucks a pickup trick rental would have cost.

On a lark I emailed a photo to a friend form work - he and his family had recently moved into a new condo. It was a smart alec "Hey, you want this" email. And was surprised when "sure" came back. Come Monday I had to ask if he was serious - which he was. The dresser in his daughters room was rescued form the curb (I can relate) so he was happy to have some nice furniture for free. I emptied it out (yes, I found some clothes I had forgotten about). Cleaned it up. Did some repair on it - which was kind of fun. Got to put my 'fine woodworking' skills to use. Funny - I repaired one of the glide supports inside, and the top drawer works better than it has in years. A quick car trip that weekend and it was his.

So the dresser that's been in my family for close to 60 years has a new home. Perhaps his daughter will live with it and take to off to college one day????

Marlee T. poses with her new dresser.

Time to grow up?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:59:00 +0000

I was in the mega furniture store a few months back, primarily looking for a new chair for the living room. In shopping I took some time to wander around the other departments, including bedroom furniture. just kind of wandering around not really looking at anything. Then I saw it. The style. The color. The lighting. The bedroom set I almost had to have.

Not like I needed anything new. What I have works fine. So I took some photos and kept it in the back of my mind. Then mass announced another sales tax free weekend, and I figured it was time to either fish or cut bait. Buy the pieces or stop thinking about them.

And think about them I did. Is Mission style furniture, which a style I really like. Solid oak construction with a nice cherry stain. Cedar draws, dovetail construction and European (full extension) drawer glides. All very enticing. What I have is a low boy dresser (3 drawers) and a shelf that used to be in the kitchen in my old place, and now holds t-shirts and jeans. Hey, it's functional and easy access to everything. Should I take the plunge? Was it time for - gasp - grown up furniture?

Long story short, I took the plunge. it may seem odd, but one of the holdups was the current low dresser. It was my mom's growing up. When I was a kid my mom had refinished it and it's been mine for over 30 years. Kind of tough to let go of a family heirloom. So one night I call mom to say hi and all, and anticipated discussing the possibility of getting rid of the old family piece. (given my family is scattered across the country, and the abundance of cheap furniture these days, there really isn't anyone to pass it on to. So I'm talking to mom about the me maybe getting some new furniture. She immediately comes back with "you're almost 46 and you're finally getting some real furniture for that bedroom?". That pretty much sealed it.

So I've ordered a 6 drawer high boy and a slightly larger highboy with door. Some pics are below. This past weekend was the big cleanup of the bedroom (blog about that later). Now that I'm committed, I'm psyched about the new stuff showing up. I love the design. it'll go well with a piece that I'm keeping. And it looks like they're piece that will last. Let's hope all goes well.

Here are the two pieces that'll be here next week....

Harvesting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:36:00 +0000

OK, I'm behind in the blog again.

Ate my first and most likely only harvest of the corn this year. Ears were small but quite tasty. The garden is a bit strange this year. Maybe the soil just exhausted soil - we haven't had good compost delivered in 2 years, and I didn't get any manure or such. So the corn stalks were a bit shorter, but I got corn. My neighbor has really tall corn, but no ears. Maybe it's just global warming.

So the corn was tasty. I've had spinach and peas - I'll get to those pics. The Swiss Chard is ready to harvest - perhaps pics of that shortly..

And if you can't garden yourself - get to the farmers market. Local is always tastier. I'm going through farmers market blueberries like they're going out of style :)

Tea! I need my tea!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:34:00 +0000

Boston Restaurant Talk blog reports that Tealuxe in the back bay has closed. it was a great little shop that no only sold loose tea that I bought a lot of, they had a nice cafe here with tasty sandwiches. There was always a line for iced tea in the summer. BRT says they lost their lease - I wonder if the LL raised the rent or some such - that's happening a lot in Boston even with the slowing economy.

Nonetheless it'll be a loss for the neighborhood. Tealuxe still has a harvard square location, but it's not just around the corner any more....

Alchemilla

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:27:00 +0000

If you're in Boston tonight -head to Downstairs at the Middle East (Central sq) to check out my buddies and their band Alchemilla. (ms) (fb) for their CD Release party. Guitarist Joe used to work with me before he moved on to the lucrative world of iphone development. But that didn't put a damper on the band, as their latest release Chasing Ghosts clearly proves.

I had seen the band last year sometime and liked their sound, so picked up the new CD sight-unseen when it came out to support the guys, and I wasn't disappointed! This isn't "hey, check out my friend's band" kind of music. The songs are rock solid. Some great guitar work. And of course the vocals of Kat will just bowl you over. OK, I'm not a music reviewer, but they knocked my socks off.

If you can't make the show, check out their latest CD on Amazon (or itunes) and give them a listen - you don't be disappointed. Good Life and All the Same are my faves at the moment. If you can make the show - see you there!

How early can you get

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:58:00 +0000

So in an email dated June 30 Crate & Barrel wanted to let me know about their great back-to-school "must haves". I guess we should be glad they waited until school was actually over?

Things I Read

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:49:00 +0000

OK, let's entertain you with another blog that I read; Picture is Unrelated. It's a completely useless blog that just has bizarre pictures. Some people in compromising positions. Some strange art. And some just... strange. Check it out - you'll wonder why.

Classic movies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:35:00 +0000

Wow - can't believe I haven't blogged in 2010 yet. I keep thinking of cool things to write - then I see something shiny on my desk and my attention is drawn elsewhere :)

Well, let's start with a fun new YouTube series. Actor Steve Hayes has started a new video series Tired Old Queen a the Movies. Steve uses his dramatic flair to make classic movie recommendations. If you like old movies, want to know what you should rent form Netflix, or jsut like to see some great entertainment, it's a fun video series to watch.

His latest video recommends Mildred Pierce, one of my favorite classic movies. Great story and wonderful acting by Joan Crawford and Eve Arden. Check it out!! On some browsers the embedded video below gets cut off. If so you can find it on YouTube here.

Some good Holiday music

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:00:00 +0000

I'm always interested in finding new and unknown artists. If you're willing to listen to a lot of music, you can find some really great music; usually for short money as they get started and try to establish themselves.

The web site Amie Street is one of my favourite places to check out new music (hmm, i should blog about that :) One recent find has been Caleb Collins.

He's got a Christmas album out, simply called Christmas. Mostly standards, but he's put a nice twist on them. Some nice ballads. A big band style 'let it snow'. A swing version of 'God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen". But what's even better - it's cheap. Right now only $2.50 for the whole album; and a large chunk of the money goes to the artist himself. Plus, on AMIE, you get to listen to a long sample of each song before you buy. Check it out now - the more people buy, the higher the price goes...

Check him out.

And you thought just the movies were bad

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:39:00 +0000

The LA Times re-investigates movie theater popcorn, and still comes up disappointed. Guess it's a good thing that the teeny tiny child size popcorn bags are now $5 and not worth my dollars.

"A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation's largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter"

45

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:07:00 +0000

Well, another birthday month has come and gone. (The 13th, for those of you that missed it). It’s nice that it often happens close to the Columbus day weekend. All went well, even though it started off with a little excessive imbibing after Friday’s dinner – but a tasty drink and cute boys, well… I ended up going out every night of the weekend, so I think I birthday’ed enough to justify the actual day (Tuesday) to be relatively regular and boring.

I must say the Internet age makes things interesting. The Birthday celebrations began on October 1, when I got a flurry of birthday emails from restaurants and stores that had my day on file. Some had some nice coupons, so saving a buck or two was nice. Cards are pretty much dead except for my immediate family. Being a computer guy myself it doesn’t faze me. I’m just happy to still be remembered. So over the weekend I got plenty of email well-wishes, and a flurry of Facebook Happy’s from all my FB buddies near and far. The strangest ones being some more robo-emails at midnight Monday as Tuesday EST officially kicked in – I’m not sure why the Eudora help forum or Apple Insider really wanted to wish me a happy – but I guess “the only thing worse than being talked about” and all…

So this was 45 for me – half way through the decade. Studies say this is the “unhappiest” decade in most people’s lives. The exuberance if youth is gone, and the “don’t care, you’re still alive” of the later years hasn’t kicked in yet. Not sure where I fall in that yet. I certainly don’t feel old, except for the knees (paying for all those skinned knees as a kid maybe). By now I do realize the whole ‘work’ thing is overrated, but aside from the occasional lottery ticket there’s not much you can do there. :)

I'll end it with a great column by Charlie Brooker, a columnist from The Guardian, a newspaper in the UK. (That's Charlie's byline pic at the top of the post - I love that cheeky look :-)

Grocerie$

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Sometimes it feels like this is what my neighbourhood is turning into....

Brrrrr

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:27:00 +0000

OK, I finally caved. Home nursing a cold today, and when I got out of bed it was chilly. it had gotten down to 60 in the apartment. So for probably the earliest time in the past 11 years, I turned on the heat this morning. (The latest in the season was 2 years ago - a warm fall let it go until December 12th.)

Since right outside Boston got some snow today, it's time to dust off the French Toast Alert system on the bog.

Things I read

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:09:00 +0000

The There, I Fixed it blog. A collection of fun pics, proving again that reality will always be stranger than fiction...

Pimp your ride

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:16:00 +0000

A company called Dub has dedicated themselves to making your ride even hipper than it is now. Tire rims that spin independent form the wheel are so 2008. What you need now are LED Display lights for your cars wheels. That's right, Pimpstar can turn your ordinary wheels into rolling LED billboards.

Now you can be the hippest dude on the block. Let your wheels tell people something about you! Be patriotic. be hip. be sexy. Be cool. Turn that dull ride of yours into the talk of the neighborhood.

It's scary what technology can do in the wrong hands :-)

Smile of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Today's comic from Real Life Adventures

I have doors!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:12:00 +0000

Yes - My cabinets finally have doors! Installed Monday, the kitchen takes another step toward completion. Not that there are doors on, I have to say they look a whoel lot better thnan open cabinets. A nice wood tone, matching the older lower cabinets.

And they're actually paneled doors - that's a real frame with a real panel in them. Thought Ikea would have been solid or something a little more generic. They have a 'soft close' hinge as well. You swing them closed as if to slam them, and it'll stop short of slamming and then ease closed. Nice, but it will take some getting used to. if you try and hand-close it all the way, it'll start resisting as you get close to the cabinet. And of course if you swing it closed without enough force, you get get an almost-closed cabinet door. After a few days I'll probably be used to them.

Some nice looking things to. Looks like actual wood. (The cabinets themselves are just laminate. The finger joint looks nice, and I actually have pulls this time - the old ones were jsut 'pull open from the bottom corner', so this is a nice change. Only thing left is the microwave. That should be next week...

Of course now I have to put things back in place. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of stuff I haven't used in ages, but who empties their cabinets and cleans them out. Maybe pick up some of those mini-shelves for the smaller things inside. such excitement :)

Getting there - cabinet frames are up

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Well, the cabinets are almost there. Late last week the missing cabinet (over the sink) was installed and they were all attached to each other. The doors should be installed early this week, meaning I can finally clear stuff off my dining room table and start to put everything back into it's place. I guess Ikea doesn't keep every style of door in stock - you can get any of several styles for each finish. I did have some basics on the shelves since Tuesday when the last cabinet was installed. just enough to cook with and make dinners without running into the living room to get things over and over, but cleared them out again so nothing gets knocked over during door installation. Not sure when Microwave is due.

The old cabinets were just screwed into the walls. These cabinets are attached to a bracket. As you can see, many lag bolts have been used to attach this bracket to the wall. The screw sticking out is where the 'late' cabinet was installed. it's eventually attached to another bracket in the cabinet as such

The sides of each cabinet are attached to such screws on the bracket. So every vertical piece pretty much isn't going anywhere. I don't think these will come off the wall. (those silver brackets are hidden by grey snap on pieces, as seen in the first picture.) I have to say there's a certain convenience to not having doors on cabinets. but I don't want anyone to see where the potato chips are, so i guess it's all for the best ;-)

The blogging world

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Kitchen Catastrophe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:37:00 +0000

It was supposed to be a quiet Sunday afternoon.

I was sitting at the desk, puttering on the computer with the game in the background. Then I heard a crash in the kitchen. A real dish crash, like the dish rack had toppled over or some such. I hopped up and went to the kitchen door. It all happened in slow motion.

The far corner cabinet had come off the wall and was pitching forward as it came off the wall. That one held the glassware which was cascading onto the tile floor. The crash I heard was the 'nice' dishes on top of the cabinets beginning to smash on the tiles. The first cabinet was bringing the others with it. The small cabinet over the sink came next, carrying the rest of the 'nice' dishes. This was followed by the main large cabinet, containing all the rest of the dishes. The sound was deafening. It ended with half the next cabinet coming down, dumping a cadre of cookbooks onto the counter top.

When it was all said and done you just kind of look at the mess and take it in a bit. Glad I wasn't in the room at the time, but wondering if I could have 'stopped' it if I were in there. Although being barefoot and in shorts that may not have been the best place to be. Called the LL who said he would pop over. He said it had happened before; but when he came over he confessed he hadn't seen it that bad. From the looks of things the screw came out of the wall with the first cabinet, and since they were all screwed together the rest of the screws couldn't handle the rest of the weight...

LL and I picked the cabinets up and brought them outside. He took some measurements for new cabinets, which I may get before the week is out. Given the opportunity I've asked him to install a microwave over the stove. That'll let me get a larger fridge when the time comes.

Took a few hours (on again off again) but the mess is cleaned up. Some bread crumbs had opened up and a bottle of vinegar had smashed, which made a sticky mess of things. Have several trash bags of shattered dish ware. Must have been quite a smash, as there was a lot of glass pretty much ground to dust. Broom, vacuum and damp mop has taken care of everything and kitchen floor has returned to clean. I think the most annoying part was the neighbours never came down to see what the crashing was. nice to know people care...

The final tally of survivors - one drinking glass, three mugs, and four 'nice' bowls. Interestingly enough, almost all my 'every day' dishes survived. I got them at a supply sales place - they're dishes that would be used at a diner. Guess they make those a little more durable. Oh, and because all the cabinets pitched forward, a piece of stemware that was on the dish rack was completely untouched.

Guess I get to do some shopping...

You can find a few more photos here

Don't rush me

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:50:00 +0000

Wow. Haven't blogged in a while. A short one for now. In Boston we haven't really had summer hot weather yet. But non-summer is right around the corner!

- July 3rd, I was in Target. The outdoor furniture section was gone, replace with the Back To School kiosks. If you want to torment your children, take them to target now for that back-to-school shopping experience :)

- Today (July 14) my email from Maggiano's (local restaurant) reminded me to book my holiday party now - "Holiday dates fill in quickly!". The email had Christmas ornaments on it and everything...

sigh.