The Longbored Surfer

4 Going on 14

2009-07-01T05:08:42Z

Cecilia recently complained about an earache. She's been swimming almost daily for a month, and I imagine she might just have some mild swimmer's ear… or maybe one of her dozens of dead rollie polies/pillbugs got out of its jar and climbed in there. Who knows? As I was thinking about my options of how to take care of her, I picked up and started looking at the newest Lego catalog. Noticing my diversion, she pointed out that “Looking at Lego's isn't going to help my ear.” You're right. My bad. Back to you.

G2 20090612

2009-06-13T22:27:01Z

It's the Year of MMIX, and you need to be making a mix. We've already talked about this. I don't just want say you need to make a mix, but I've now spun up the first disc to get this party started… or jam session. It's just shy of six months since I created the previous G2 album, but I'm back with another. Breaking from the norm, this album has less to do with my love for my wife, but more to do with a theme of music. I really aimed for music one could just chill out, lounge around, put this album on, sip a drink, enjoy some conversation and good company… and be perfect. Additionally, it'd be something that I think I could play if/when Maria and I sit out on the deck in the evenings together. There were a couple exceptions to that calmer approach, but for the most part these songs are right up that line of thought:

1	Juarez	Better Than Ezra	4:27
2	Cedars Of Lebanon	U2	4:13
3	Dirty Little Secret (Thievery Corporation Mix)	Sarah McLachlan	3:58
4	Something About Us	Daft Punk	2:14
5	(Bonus Track)	Cornershop	3:16
6	Edit	Regina Spektor	4:54
7	Put It Back Together	Fatboy Slim	4:37
8	Seven Nation Army	The White Stripes	3:50
9	Wish Coin (Go It Alone) [Diplo Remix]	Beck	3:46
10	Nothing Fails	Madonna	4:49
11	Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Refix)	Gorillaz	4:28
12	Stoop Kid	Soul Hooligan	3:28
13	Whatever Lola Wants (Gotan Project Remix)	Sarah Vaughan	4:40
14	Candlebum	Dishwalla	4:02
15	Back At Your Door	Maroon 5	3:47
16	Angels	Norah Jones & Wax Poetic	4:06
17	Angel	Jack Johnson	3:31
18	Matches (Acoustic)	The Format	2:04
19	If I Fell	Evan Rachel Wood	2:37
20	Selfless, Cold and Composed	The Sacramento State Jazz Singers	6:24

(the unfolded front cover)

Since this album was more theme-centric than amorous, I'm happy to explain a bit about the music. When I think of a lounge, in my mind I see a 60's or early 80's scene, with washed out colors and design typical of the era. I tried, but don't know if I nailed that quite perfectly with this approach. The folded front of the album up top obviously lets the letters bleed quite a bit.

The entire album was based on the first track, which is unfortunately not available on any online store I can find. It is, however, available on YouTube to listen to. I originally had this song, followed by Drugs or Me (Styrofoam Remix) by Jimmy Eat World, but remembered that song was actually on the G2 20070323 album (so not a candidate for this G2).

A lot of the tracks are songs that I enjoy, but other people might not. Some are clearly not in the same style as the rest of the album, and others are questionable in taste. The refix/remix of Clint Eastwood (track 11) is easily the standout tempo-wise, but somehow I think it works. I'm pleased with the overall combination of songs.

(the back cover)

The album's artwork came together really well.

Chunk was the typeface this go-around. Not only did it serve as the typeface, but as some of the inspiration to the layout.
I actually got the colors off of a layout for the Amputa Bangiz typeface - not a typeface I'm likely to use today, but the colors worked well (I found both this, and Chunk referenced in a recent Smashing Magazine article).
No, the giant dots don't perfectly flow around the bottom of the album. You'll just have to deal with that, since I wasn't trying.
A little bonus bit: instead of the usual song/artist separator of - I went for :. Lots of circles and dots on this one.

No matter the reasoning, or excessive design babble, I hope you enjoy it, but I hope Maria enjoys it more. You still need to make a mix. Start.

The Junk Food Junkie

2009-05-30T23:13:58Z

While one of them frequently opts not to finish her desserts (and today said she was done chewing a piece of gum after no more than 2 minutes), the other is a pure junk food junkie. Unlike the song, Becky has no intentions of pretending that she likes anything else. She'll finish her meal (meaning she'll finish eating the parts that she wants, mashing around the parts she doesn't want, and looking at disgust at anything in between), then in her sweetest, nicest voice request cookies, cake, jellybeans, candy, juice, strawberries, bread and cheese.

She'll get quieter and keep smiling as her requests proceed. Don't be deceived by those requests for strawberries, bread and cheese, since she'll probably make her way back to the cookies, jellybeans, cake and candy… and probably some fruitsnacks. The other day I got a text message from Maria with the following:

Becky snuck a chunk of cake this morning. “Cake, num num!” is a nice give-away that you're eating some.

Turns out Becky had inched the cake platter closer to the edge of the counter, broke through the plastic wrap on the plate, and grabbed herself a fistful of cake. She might have gotten away with it had she not advertised her actions (though the Mini-Mayor, Cecilia, would have ratted her out in another .001 seconds).

Just this morning she got busted rifling through Maria's purse and shoving as many Altoids into her mouth as she could (the spearmint kind). I'm going out on my own here and saying that although Becky's self-soothing as a baby made her a much easier baby, she's so much more mischievous, audacious and selectively hard of hearing that her toddler tendencies are far more difficult to deal with than Cecilia. She's still incredibly lovable and fun to be around… as long as you're willing to bribe her with some candy.

Lots of Money and Tic Tacs

2009-05-06T02:51:53Z

Two quick stories. The girls were headed to the dollar theater today for a cheap activity. It happened to be near lunchtime when they were supposed to go. After Cecilia was told the plan, she opined that she would like to eat lunch at the theater itself. Only too aware of the utter waste of money that would be, Maria told her it costs too much money to eat there. Cecilia, in her obvious state of being a spoiled child, informed her, “It will be okay, Mom. Dad has a lot of money.” Right. A lot of money. And you're going to the dollar theater, on a gift card. Rollin' in the dough.

Becky is talking quite a bit. She doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense, but she's talking a lot. She'll tell you all about her fancy toenails and how Grammy painted them. And if that's not enough, she'll tell you again before you leave. And once more as you're leaving.

We have a little container of orange Tic Tacs in the car. The girls really like them, but Becky can't pronounce the name of them. When she asks for one, it sounds more like she's saying (pardon the language) “I wanna kick ass!” Because Maria and I both find it humorous, we'll deny the initial request, only to make her repeat it – which any child her age will do… over and over and over again, until satisfied. “Kick @ss! Kick a$$! Kick @$$!” Nice.

Cecilia may think I have so much money I can use $100 bills as tissues… but I have Becky trained to be a warrior, willing to do whatever it takes to get the goods.

The Year of the MMix

2009-05-05T07:04:21Z

You need to make a mix. It's that simple. I've wasted four whole months of one of the best years for the next thousand years. While looking at the artwork for (one of my recently linked-to items) Ben Folds Presents: University a Cappaella! I noticed the roman numerals for 2009 are MMIX. It struck me… The Year of the MMix. Your elementary school brain may have suppressed roman numerals along with other bad memories, but this isn't the year to let that get you down. I just can't let this year go by (nor the mention of school) – I'm giving you homework.

When's the last time you made a mix? Seriously. I'm not talking about firing up iTunes and letting it make you a playlist via iTunes DJ or Genius. I'm talking about a heartfelt “This song actually means something to me/us or I want to share it.” type of mix. Whenever it was, it's time to make another one. Honestly now. Don't think I'm just bringing this up once. I'll be harping on this for the rest of the year.

You're 20-something? 30-something? 40-something? 50-something? 60-something? I don't care. It's time. It's time to take advantage of the MMix year. Find a theme, start picking out songs, keep it to CD-length, burn a disc, print a track list, and for extra credit, give it to somebody. Here are some ideas for you:

The Soundtrack of Your Life – Very few of you were actually reading my site over four years ago when I posted this. I can't give a higher recommendation for a musical activity than this one. It really is very cool to make.
G2 mixes – More of you may have read my exhaustive documentation about these mixes which I continue to make for Maria. You probably shouldn't make a mix for her, but you could make one for somebody else in your life. I could almost guarantee you they would appreciate it.
Other themes – I just started making another mix just last week (right before this revelation hit me). I'm aiming for more low-key songs—one might even say chill-out music. It's gonna be slick.

You could do any of these (or all of these), or something totally different. The point here is to make a mix this year. I'd LOVE to hear back from you on this. Post a comment here. Put the track list here if you don't want to post it somewhere else. Get your friends to make a mix this year.

Making mixes isn't just for teenagers and bloggers still in love with their spouse.

Just What you Wanted - More Posts

2009-04-28T05:40:58Z

You didn't even need to ask. I could just tell by the way you looked at my site that you wanted more material from me. Sure, my kids are awesome, my wife is amazing, and you love reading my entries about other topics, but what you really want are links to other sites, so you don't have to read my original material. I read a number of things on the interweb, both through feeds as well as random surfing. I like to keep track of some of that stuff – stuff that is either of interest to me, or which I think others might enjoy (or both).

Previously, I used a service called ma.gnolia to keep track this stuff. Unfortunately, ma.gnolia went down in a flaming fire (they suffered massive data loss and nobody was keeping backups (me included)). Instead of using another third party, I decided to let Movable Type's awesomenessocity track my awesome links, right here on this site.

You may like the material, you may not. Subscribe to the feed and see what you think of it. The title leads you to the material, and you can see my own comments and sources where applicable. Additionally, I've incorporated the links into the site, and you may notice some changes as I work to further accomplish that. (P.S. Thanks to Andy Baio for answering some question about how his links work)

The Rains Came Down...

2009-04-16T02:05:30Z

…and they raised the roof – at least that's what you might believe if you observed Cecilia.

For those of you unfamiliar with the reference, there is a children's bible song about two men of variable wisdom levels, and the stability of their homes during inclement weather. At a point in the song the lyrics say, “The rains came down and the floods came up.” These words are accompanied by hand motions of sparkly-like fingers going downward (rain coming down), then your hands in front of you, with your palms upward, and raising (the floods coming up).

Instead of the usual gestures that accompany the floods coming up, Cecilia prefers to raise the roof. Not only does she still communicate the rising floods, but somehow the music gets louder, everybody in her vicinity starts to cheer, dance more with the beat, and make comments such as “w00t! w00t!” and “awwww ye-uh!”

(Unrelated, but related. While typing this up, I was reminded of one of my favorite intros to a fake commercial I've ever seen (albeit from Family Guy, a show of questionable content). Be sure to watch the first half of the ad for wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man and try to remember the opening line for all future sightings. You can/should skip the second half. If that link no longer works, I've saved the clip for posterity here. You'll need Quicktime to play it, which you probably already have.)

Adding & Subtracting

2009-04-14T03:42:12Z

No need to adjust your set. You're on the right site/feed. I can understand why you might be perplexed. It could be due to the fact I'm posting for the third time in as many days (when I went almost 2 months without posting previously). It could also be caused by Cecilia completing two pages of subtraction and another of addition in a kids workbook today. She's 4. That's weird.

Maria was giving her a quiet activity to do during Becky's nap, and showed her how she can do math with jelly beans. First, Cecilia did two pages of subtraction by herself (sorry, that's the best photo I could get of it). After Cecilia announced she was done, Maria decided to give addition a whirl. Admittedly Cecilia could use some work on actually writing her numbers… but I think it's time to sit her in front of the TV for a few weeks, and turn on the most mind-numbing garbage I can think of… Yo Gabba Gabba, or Teletubbies. If we keep going she's not going to have anything to do in pre-school or kindergarten… or first grade. <sigh>

Polar Bear Victimized in Headline

2009-04-13T05:58:15Z

Currently the headline here reads “Polar bear attacks woman at Berlin Zoo” but let's take a look at the very first paragraph…

A polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time…

The woman did what? The bears are actively feeding, and the woman climbs a fence then jumps into their habitat, and we're blaming the polar bears for attacking her? Pay no attention to the pure stupidity of the woman, and her brave attempts to remove her genes from the gene pool… let's focus on the bears and the crazy ways they follow their animal instincts.

Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T19:16:38Z

I think it's an obligation to put an egg in every dye available, and make sure it turns into some sort of putrid color. I was pleased to see that today's version leaned more in the direction of purplish-slate, as opposed to poo-brown, like it usually does. The girls had a good time. Becky ate ”jaibeens“ while the rest of us went nuts with the dye. She likes jellybeans. A lot.

I wish we had twice as many eggs to dye, since I have trouble sharing with others. I'm looking forward to deviled eggs, or egg salad, or both. Happy Easter.

Update: My apologies for not posting a photo of the eggs. I didn't realize that it would be desired. Here you can see them. Unfortunately, the purplish-slate egg has gone the way of all the earth. Although I originally did the egg in the upper-right as a slightly patriotic egg, I was reminded of the review and mockery of Pepsi's new logo, and remembered how much I enjoyed this interpretation of their new logo. Off topic, but important. ;)

Photos, "Fi" and a side of... HIYA!

2009-02-11T02:48:18Z

I'm a bit overdue on posting about the girls. This time, I'll just focus on Becky.

Although I don't have anything very significant to share, here are a few items:

Becky is always busy. She's non-stop action as she runs around doing various things. It could be pushing her shopping cart, playing with a baby (and bottle), using the cash register, carrying purses, speaking gibberish, or all of the above… at the same time.
Becky initiated a high-five the other day, for what I believe to be the first time. She was a little wired, and was running around showing us how she can kick. After demonstrating that ability, she stuck out her hand (palm down) and asked for a “fi.” Close enough for baby talk.
Becky continues to be all about purses, shoes, babies, shopping – I think she's ready to be a teenager, except she's not a brat, and I have no desires to drop-kick her.
Becky is talking more and more. She doesn't make much sense usually, but she makes more and more intentional sounds/words as the days go by. My favorite thing to get her to say is “HIYA!” My next goal is to teach her to say “Go Spurs!”, ”Manuuu!” or "Toro, Toro, Torres!” (if I'm in a soccer/football mood).
Becky got her hair cut to a slightly paige boy style. This was a while ago, but I haven't posted pictures of her for even longer. I snapped the shots above earlier today.
Becky remains the master of destruction, yet she likes to put things away, throw things away, put things in the sink, the toilet, or various other places.
She loves to dance to A-Punk (which she calls "Aye Aye") and some other songs. This goes well with her dancing, or simple hand motions she'll do to Skidamarink, or wearing a blanket over her head (which she finds humorous).

I think she's wonderful. Her energy and happiness are infectious, if she takes the time to finally open up to you. Too bad they can't stay like that forever. :)

Rediscovering Lego's

2009-02-01T05:03:53Z

Fine. I admit it. I've been playing with Lego's, as an adult, for a full two months. This posting is my final step in saying that I shouldn't be, nor have anything for which to be ashamed. Back in the day I really liked building Lego's. I stopped, for whatever reason, but at some point last year, I started noticing them again. I took the plunge and by the grace of my parents (and brother) reacquired my old Lego's. With a little help, I re-built all my former sets. From the best I can tell, out of the 26+ sets of Lego's I own (which total some 7,000+ pieces), I'm roughly missing about 40 pieces. I'd say that's not too bad for toys that have been in use for so many years. Although all pieces were originally in one bin, all mixed together, Maria was kind enough to help me separate them into colors, which made building the individual sets easier. Not only did I build all previous sets, but some kind souls have humored me, and given me even newer sets of Lego's, and I admit I'm in love. I knew there had to be some real Lego nuts out there, who would take this whole Lego thing to another level, and internet-ify Lego's, and I wasn't mistaken:

Peeron.com - Basically, a giant inventory system where people have logged the types and number of pieces in any given set.

PISCL - Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library. Just what the name might lead you to believe. Can't find the set of instructions to an old set you know you own? They probably have the instructions on here, and you can print to your heart's desire.

BrickLink - Buy and sell Lego parts and sets. This site is especially useful for completing your old sets of Lego's (and getting those 40 pieces I'm missing).

Of all the new sets out there, I'm the most impressed with the Creator Lego's. The standard practice here is two-fold: first, use standard pieces - pieces that aren't going to go out of production once the current big-ticket film leaves the box office. They use the pieces in new ways, and really make some things I never would have thought possible back in the day. Second, provide instructions for people to build 3 completely different models with the same set of Lego's. Previously, they'd give you just one set of instructions, and show pictures of other stuff they had built. Usually this made me jealous, since I couldn't figure out how to build those other things. This way, I can keep building, and the new set of Lego's doesn't get old. I'll gladly take old Lego's off your hands. If you have some you don't want, just let me know, and I'll happily accept them. I'll either add them to my collection, or meld them into Cecilia's little bucket of Lego's. Who knows if this is just a fad, or if it'll be a a re-found obsession. Either way, I still think they're really cool. (check out some photos of a set of Lego's Maria bought me for Christmas - The Green Grocer )

Converting Old Video Game Music

2009-01-24T03:57:14Z

I took the plunge last weekend into finally making some custom ringtones. I shouldn't have waited as long as I did to do it, since they're pretty fun to have (as long as they're not too annoying for everybody else to have to listen to). One of my major hurdles and goals was to be able to convert old Nintendo and Super Nintendo (SNES) sounds to a format I could work with. Since I doubt most of you will care about the details of this adventure, I'm not going to waste my time with a narrative, but will bullet this out. Read on if you are semi-interested, stop now if not. :) The handful of links I used (and things I learned) while doing this:

iTunes is now DRM-Free! What does that mean? It means all the music you buy from iTunes can now be played on any device (capable of playing AAC's, which are widely playable). Not only can they be played, but they can be edited, and cut down, and made into ringtones (you should upgrade your iTunes to iTunes Plus (there's a link over on the right-hand side)).
Rogue Amoeba's Fission - On my Mac, I found this application to be wonderfully awesome in creating those ringtones. Its ability to edit audio painlessly was exactly what I was looking for. It's a fast and efficient program and I would recommend it for any non-pro audio editing on your Mac.
Zophar's Domain will get you the sound files to your old Nintendo games. Want the theme song to the fights with Birdo in Super Mario Bros. 2? Bingo. Star power song from Super Mario Bros. 1? sure thing. Very handy site.
SNESMusic.org - The same type of files, except for all your favorite SNES games instead.
Learn to convert old school .nsf files to MP3's - Although the narrator comes off as a bit of a jerk, the method worked like a charm (sorry, you'll need a PC to actually complete the steps).
foobar2000 - Plays all sorts of file formats (on a PC).
Plugins for foobar2000 to be able to get you what you need. I ended up getting both the foo_gep and foo_adpcm plugins.
LAME MP3 Encoder - Possibly the best MP3 encoder on a PC, and essential for the aforementioned process.
If you're trying to play a .rsn file with foobar2000 and it's not playing, try changing that .rsn file's extension to .rar. It worked for me.

Why bother telling you all this stuff, when 99% of you won't care? Because I want to aim for that 1% at times. It took me way too long to figure this out. You would think that somebody like me could do this sort of thing at the drop of a hat… but not knowing that final bullet point easily doubled my time on this project. Anyway, happy listening/converting.

Christmas Card 2008

2008-12-23T20:15:54Z

I'm afraid what will happen if I go after another design-centered posting here, but you're going to get it.

Luckily for you, this project only had one direction, and one result, and was fairly simple. At this point in time (+/- a few days), it's almost safe to say that if you haven't received a Christmas card from us, you're probably not going to get one. It may be personal, but it probably isn't, especially if you're reading this site. No offense, really. In any case, you can see the card, and read on if you are interested in its design.

Last year we tried to get the fall colors, but I think we failed. I don't feel we really captured the colors or the beauty of fall, especially for what this area has to offer, but instead captured a fairly cloudy gray day in the park. This year my goal was to really capture the beautiful fall colors, as well as some of the non-cityness in which we live.

Maria was the wardrobe specialist again, and although I didn't originally agree with the loud colors, I admit they ended up working very well, especially with the location. Becky (who was asleep in her car seat) and I scouted out three or four locations where we might be able to really capture the fall colors. Our final location was a fairly unknown park at the base of the mountains. It's probably more ideal for hikers and trail enthusiasts, but we found a great location. You can see the three original photos if you choose.

Overall, I felt a nice script typeface, one that would flow nicely with the seasonality of the card, and somewhat contrast with the roughness of the wood and barbed wire. To cut this part short, since I know most of you don't care, I ended up choosing Freebooter Script. Despite what the price may lead you to believe, I feel it's a fabulous typeface. I especially liked the ascenders and descenders, and the extra flare they added to the feel of the typeface. As Mary put it, she liked “the flow of [the letters]” (while doing a hand motion like she's writing cursive).

The last thing of note, or hurdle for me was the coloring. Last years card turned out a bit darker than I wanted. That was before I really started being made aware of color profiles. In layman's terms, a color profile is how a device (camera, monitor, printer) works with color. Just because you say “red” doesn't mean it's interpreted the same in every computer language. There are extremely geeky people out there, who sat down and agreed upon the definitions of colors, and now reference those definitions by name. What you see in one place isn't necessarily what you'll see in another, but these definitions/profiles try to make them all the same, and theoretically do accomplish that with fancy calibrators and stuff like that. Unfortunately, not everything references those profiles, so you still end up with fugliness at times.

To cut this part short as well, I did a number of tricks to try to get our pictures to be exactly what we wanted. I reassigned color profiles, photoshopped my children, changed layouts, and a few other things, just to get the final product to be lighter. The most important thing I did, however, was to run test prints. I sent my card to be printed in six different ways before I found the correct color setup.

I'm pleased with what we got, and thrilled the girls cooperated during what can be an unpleasant event. Despite all this techno-babble, Maria and I (and the girls) hope you each have a very Merry Christmas. What a special time of year to be reminded of such an historically significant event.

G2 20081225

2008-12-15T23:21:28Z

I couldn't wait. I'm excited for Christmas, and having completed this new G2 mix almost two weeks before the big date, I just had to bust it out. On the previous G2 I said I wouldn't wait so long to complete the next one. Not only did I improve on the previous time gap of one year, but this very well could be the closest together any two G2's have been since Maria and I were dating. As nice as you are to read these unimportant things, I imagine you're only wanting to get down to the music. Having previously knocked out the 70's on a G2 I wanted to venture even further backwards and tackle the 60's. All music on this ablum is from the Billboard Top 100 from the 1960's. Additionally, I couldn't decide which album cover I liked more, so I ended up going with two. I'll discuss the design of those further on. I've grouped the new covers in with the older ones if you want to sneak a full-size peak. I warn you now, I'm a little long-winded on this one…

The longest (in number of songs) single disc album created for Maria has these awesome tracks:

1	Stand by Me	Ben E. King	2:53	1961	52
2	Everlasting Love	Robert Knight	2:47	1967	90
3	Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)	Roy Orbison	2:32	1962	80
4	Finger Poppin' Time	Hank Ballard & The Midnighters	1:52	1960	40
5	Handyman	Jimmy Jones	2:04	1960	20
6	Another Saturday Night	Sam Cooke	2:40	1963	90
7	Baby Now That I've Found You	The Foundations	2:38	1968	83
8	Baby (You've Got What It Takes)	Brook Benton & Dinah Washington	2:47	1960	54
9	You Are My Sunshine	Ray Charles	3:01	1962	97
10	More Today Than Yesterday	Spiral Starecase	2:49	1969	50
11	My Cherie Amour	Stevie Wonder	2:53	1969	32
12	Everybody's Talkin'	Harry Nilsson	2:49	1969	73
13	Poetry In Motion	Johnny Tillotson	2:34	1960	42
14	Let Me In	The Sensations	3:05	1962	44
15	Let's Dance	Chris Montez	2:30	1962	60
16	You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby	Bobby Darin	2:16	1961	98
17	Let's Think About Living	Bob Luman	2:09	1960	94
18	Hooked On a Feeling	B.J. Thomas	2:48	1969	99
19	So Much In Love	The Tymes	2:09	1963	26
20	Midnight Mary	Joey Powers	2:28	1964	82
21	Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)	Ricky Nelson	2:18	1961	31
22	Rhythm of the Rain	The Cascades	2:31	1963	19
23	Sixteen Reasons	Connie Stevens	1:58	1960	18
24	I Love The Way You Love	Marv Johnson	2:36	1960	90
25	Bread and Butter	Newbeats	2:05	1964	24
26	Treat Her Right	Roy Head	2:07	1965	43
27	Can't You Hear My Heartbeat	Herman's Hermits	2:18	1965	28
28	Hold Me Tight	Johnny Nash	2:43	1968	37
29	Sunny	Bobby Hebb	2:44	1966	34
30	Wild Thing	The Troggs	2:35	1966	27
31	Sunshine Superman	Donovan	3:15	1966	38

There are a handful of things you might or probably might not care about. This album has…

The most number of songs on an single disc in all G1 or G2 mixes at 31. Previously that record was held by the first disc of the 1970's G2 (G2 20071012, which had 25.
The average/mean original chart placement and year of 54.7 and 1963.7, the median origianl chart placement and year of 44 and 1963 (which means just as many songs appeared below that position/year as did above), and the mode (or most commonly appearing) placement/year of 90/1960. Overall these stats say I picked songs fairly low in the charts, and closer to the beginning of the decade.
An average song length of 2:32, with #31 Sunshine Donovan pushing the high end at 3:15 and #4 Finger Poppin' Time slacking off.
Not a single Beatles song in what would be their prime time (since the band only existed in the US from essentially 1964-1970. Although moderately surprising that I didn't include any of their songs, the songs of theirs that appeared on the year-end charts were in too popular to include on a collection like this. I doubt I could pick just one song to symbolize them as a whole, which is why I've already included 13 songs by them across all 22 mixes. As a side note, it was very clear to me the impression The Beatles made on music during this decade (and forever more). 1960-1963 had a very peppy, bubblegum sound to it, and even in to 1964. I'm not sure how many songs The Beatles had released, but they did take up 10% of 1964's year-end chart and have a much different sound to them. It is mind-blowing how different 1965 and onward sound. I'm not sure whether to attribute that new sound entirely to The Beatles, but it is certain they contributed. You may not like them as much as I do (or at all), but it's hard to fully comprehend their impact on the music we all enjoy now.
18 out-takes. This might be the highest number of dropped songs from any mix (I don't usually keep track of these). Although I was slightly aiming for another two-disc combo, after plowing through all 1000 songs in the charts, I had 50 songs (which would have been a lot), yet only 131.6 minutes, when I needed another 25-30 minutes to fill a second disc. Instead of putting in unworthy songs, I knew if I could whittle the songs I had down to 80 minutes I would have one of my best mixes yet.
A near perfect album length of 79:56 (when using 2-second song gaps). Normally the discs I use claim to hold 80 minutes of music, so I was within 4 seconds of perfection. With as many out-takes as I had, I was able to pick and choose songs to fill that album as well as I did.
No lemons. Usually I put some joke songs on a mix, or a song that doesn't quite fit in. Although song #25 Bread and Butter might be considered that, to me it's more of a classic song. The ending songs on an album are usually the ones I consider more of a joke, or songs that don't fit the theme. Personally I view this album ending on more of a rockin' note as opposed to the smoother vibes (and cheesier lyrics) of songs #19-#23.
The original version of Handy Man. I always thought it was by James Taylor, completely unaware that Jimmy Jones (and Otis Blackwell) were the original artists. Although I thoroughly enjoy Sweet Baby James' slowed-down version, Jimmy's peppier quicker version is very fun. (Thanks to Wikipedia for the skinny on this song)
Two album covers, which has never happened. I'll soon detail that extensively.

Although I found several candidates, I really liked this Amiga envelope as well as this HMV envelope. Allow me to disect each one individually:

Amiga

Obviously derived from this Amiga record envelope I really liked the feel of this cover. It shows a man playing music for a woman, who is obviously her own safetey hazard, as well as enjoying the music. Although it has a slightly older feel than the 60's, I knew I could redraw it, and make any additions for the additional real estate on the back. I found the Bodoni typeface to be the perfect replacement of the original Amiga type on the front, and cheated with the Blue Highway typeface to do the smaller type. Although the details are lost in almost anything but the original on-screen version, I attempted a small bit of aging and weathering on the illustration. If I actually owned something like Mister Retro's awesome Machine Wash Filters, I could have pulled off a true weathering/aging.

On the tip of a friend, I decided to draw the backside of the same people for the back of the album. I knew I would have to draw the back of their heads, and change some layers, but had more fun in drawing another arm for the lady, and the front of the car. The track listing is far from special, and you'll see it similarly carried over to the other album cover. I could/should probably spend more time on these details, but no matter which way I spun it 31 songs is a long 'ol list.

HMV

Strongly inspired by the previously mentioned HMV recored envelope, I aimed for this one that I felt was more fitting to the sixties. I love this envelope, with the shapes, colors and especially the printing techniques. If you zoom in really close to the photo, you can see the gloriousness of imperfectly aligned printing plates. Allow me to illustrate:

Notice how the yellow and blue are overlaped to make the green, yet don't quite line up perfectly? Notice how the black is similarly printed, yet the red didn't quite match up? It's those little details that I really enjoyed and tried to propogate, not just in the pattern, but anything. On both the front and back Blue Highway did the job (this was the original album to use it, then I used it additionally on the Amiga album). I also knew this color pattern I could easily continue on my own. For this reason I did the full front cover, not just the front viewable area. Also, with little effort I could make a back cover, and have it not be the same as the front:

Again, although I really liked the man/woman in the Amiga car, I felt the HMV envelope was more fitting to the 60's. I kept working on both figuring I would decide on an eventual winner as I got to the end, and obviously just settled on going with both. I enjoy the working on the artwork (as you can tell), so it didn't hurt my feelings to do both

I don't have much more to share, but I hope you enjoy the music, and maybe find a song you've never heard that you enjoy, or at least are reminded of an oldie-but-goodie. What a shame that this stuff is starting to fade off of the airwaves. What a pleasure it was to make this album, and all for the most special person in my life. Maria, I love you. Merry Christmas, two weeks early :).