WTF EX

A couple weeks back, I was feeling the urge to listen to some new music. I have a tactic that I’ve used every so often, and since it results in awesomeness more times than not (like originally finding Anberlin many years back), I decided to give it a go once more.

I took a look at the upcoming release schedule for October over on Absolute Punk, picked a random band, looked them up on Wikipedia to see what type of music they played, and illegally downloaded the advance copy of the album (either on IRC or a torrent site; can’t remember which).

The band I picked was Pompeii. An indie rock band with influences of Explosions in the Sky and Phil Collins, with comparisons to Sigur Ros? How could I not like this band?!

I ended up downloading their new album (which just came out yesterday), Nothing Happens For A Reason. I knew things were going to be wonderful when the first track was titled, “Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads” (that’s a line from the end of the first Back to the Future movie, if you happen to be uncultured). Combine all that with the realization that I’m actually going to Pompeii on my honeymoon, the fact that “Pompeii” is a great song by Gatsbys American Dream…

Well, I have a new favorite album of the year thus far.

But here’s where it gets interesting. I saw that the band had been around for a couple years, and had a previous album released called Assembly. I quickly looked around, and saw that there weren’t any active torrents. Next I went to Amazon to see if they offerred it (both as download and as physical CD). I saw that they only had a couple left in stock.

I figured that since I already loved their new album so much, I may as well just order them both right there on the spot. Threw them both into my cart, chose the Super Savings Shipping, and had them the day after they shipped (which means I got the new album right on its release date).

I’m absolutely in love with this band and their music. I am so glad I went through the motions of my random downloading, because I otherwise probably would never have heard of them, nevermind bought two of the albums. If you’re interested, Assembly is $11.98 on Amazon, and Nothing Happens For A Reason is $13.98 on Amazon; neither of those are referral links, so don’t think I’m trying to make a quick buck, here!

For single songs, I tend to just download the most convenient DRM-free version, but for full albums, I’m all about owning the physical product. I still love opening a new CD, checking out the artwork (I mean, c’mon… look at those!), and knowing that I can rip it to any format and quality that I want as the years go on.

I am in absolutely no way trying to justify anything, or suggest that this is the typical situation or even the exception. Quite frankly, I don’t even give a rat’s ass what you think of what I did. All I’m doing is describing one experience I had. Was it beneficial to me? Was it beneficial to the band? Was it beneficial to anyone else?

Who cares? I just found two new albums that I love to death.

So I randomly started having an issue on my work computer this week where Adobe Photoshop CS3 would crash each and every time, without fail, when I tried to open or create more than one image at time.

Needless to say, this is slightly frustrating when you live inside these types of programs and need to… oh, I dunno… actually get some work done.

First thing I did was go through the painful process of uninstalling and reinstalling Photoshop. I had done a few things recently to the system, so I figured this might just be the best option. Set it to go, went for a long walk, came back, rebooted… same problem.

I really should have done my research ahead of time, because this is a known issue with an easy workaround.

Wait, what…? Photoshop crashing with more than one image open is due to printer availability…?! You’ve GOT to be kidding.

Maybe there was some work being done around the office that I didn’t know about, and whatever my default printer happened to be was moved or disconnected. Not having printed anything for days, I can’t say I noticed. Sure enough, when I switched the default printer over to something else,  ta~dah! Suddenly able to have more than one image open at a time, again.

Seriously, Adobe? We pay how much for this? Argh. If I could figure out how to do simple things in GIMP, I might actually consider using it.

So I had finished editing some stuff and wanted to burn it off to CD-R for transferring around. Don’t have Nero installed on this computer, and turns out I don’t really have anything installed over here for advanced burning.

OK, no problem. I’ll just go grab CDBurnerXP, since I don’t need anything all that special.

Whoops, don’t have the latest .NET Framework stuffage installed. OK, let’s go do that. Go ahead and download that first, and start getting it installed. It gets ready to finish up and presents me with the following:

PHEW. That’s a huge relief! I can finally disconnect from the Internet! I’ve been waiting for this day for years!

This is something I wrote elsewhere back in April 2008. I think it makes sense to re-post it here.

Seriously, internet. You using the word “emo” is getting a little old.

How about you pick another musical genre/descriptor at random and use it completely wrong for a few years? Maybe “Schlager“? Yeah, every time someone’s happy, we can say they’re “a schlager“. Maybe something even completely different and equally irrelevant, like “couch” (yes, the thing you sit on)?

That’s it! I’ll start using the word “couch” in the same type of context. It’ll so be the next big thing. It’s equally catchy and memorable.

I’m all for the evolution (modernization, even) of language… but could you at least put a little effort into it? Know what you’re talking about?

No, that’s asking too much.

SORRY FOR SUCH A COUCH POST. I’LL GO SLIT MY WRISTS AND BE REALLY COUCH. I’M SUCH A COUCH.

Yesterday I recorded (and today I edited) my first “professional” podcast… that is, the first episode of the new podcast we are doing at my job. It was incredibly exciting. I got to spend a little money on upgraded equipment from what I own at home (mixer, mics, etc.), get the troops rallied around the concept, develop show outlines and schedules, etc.

As you heard in the first podcast episode of WTF EX, some of the most important things Jeff and I thought were necessary for managing time were bringing in sanity and happiness to that mix. In this particular example, what makes me more happy than anything else is being able to take something I’ve learned and experimented with in my spare time over the last few years and apply it to work. I’m actually making money doing something I love, and on top of that, I’m spreading valuable information that will make the world a better place. I don’t forget for an instant that what I just said doesn’t happen to many people, and I’m incredibly thankful for it.

How about you all? Do you have any life stories / examples of something similar?

(BTW, if you’re reading this blog and haven’t responded saying who you are, you’re obligated to do so!)