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Saturday, April 21, 2007

Will it snow next weekend?

Nothing beats the feeling of cranking open the kitchen windows on an early Saturday morning, hot coffee in hand, and finally letting the air into the house after a long, long winter that refused to go away. Let's hope that Spring is here to stay.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Samsung and Shoegaze

Last month I ordered Samsung's new SanDisk Sansa Express. It arrived a couple weeks and I'm really enjoying this little device.

The combination of mp3 player, FM radio and microphone is pretty sweet. Its interface is very clean and bright and they even snuck in some fun animation when the device is charging (via USB). The only gripe I have (that others have as well) is that they put the lanyard loop on the cap end instead of the player end. But then again, the player end has a Micro SD slot for expanding the Sansa Express' memory. So I can't complain too much.

Amazon boosted the price by about $10 once it was released, but it's still worth it if you're looking for something around the same size as the first generation iPod shuffle. Compared to the shuffle, this definitely has more bang for the buck.

The first music I tossed onto the Sansa Express was Black Tambourine's Complete Recordings. How have I not stumbled upon this album by now? It's some classic shoegaze like My Bloody Valentine. Black Tambourine was a very short-lived D.C. band from the late eighties. Fun fact: The new Shins album namedrops the vocalist Pam Berry. This is some awfully fun stuff.

Black Tambourine "Black Car" (mp3)
Black Tambourine "Throw Aggi Off The Bridge" (mp3)

Sunday, April 01, 2007

First time on ice skates results in first time on butt wearing ice skates

I'm not sure how this is possible but I've lived in New England my entire life without ever strapping on a pair of ice skates. Until yesterday.

My first time on skates was eventful. I got the chance to have a private lesson with three-time U.S. skating champion Jo Jo Starbuck along with my colleagues on the ice at Rockefeller Center. We were in Manhattan for our annual kickoff meeting and got the weekend off to an early start with some pirouettes, coffee, muffins and wipeouts.