I've always figured that streaming music online was more of a pain than it was worth, so I've never really been very invested in any of those types of services. And then I saw a recommendation for Mediamaster.com and decided to give it a try - since it was free.

First, I read through all the terms of use to be sure I wasn't going to get stung by the RIAA if they decided come down on the users of the service. I'm pretty sure it's safe. I then created an account and ripped and uploaded several CDs to my account pretty easily (the ripping part is up to you, but the upload client is provided by Media Master).

I can't really say how this site compares to the multitudes of others offering similar services (many of which charge your for the use of their servers), but Media Master's interfaces are pretty intuitive and the quality of the streaming audio is good. It stutters every now and then, but that's probably more due to the spyware I have running on my PC than it is Media Master's stuff.

Here's a sampling of the albums I've uploaded. Yeah, it's a bunch of 80s music for the most part. I'm old.

I still don't dare use this service at work - I'm afraid the network nazis will come down on me hard if they see me listening to music online. I'm surprised they still haven't blocked the most massive bandwidth-hole on the interwebs: youtube.

And this has nothing to do with Mediamaster or online music, but I've been meaning to mention it for weeks...


The real reason a Sony hi-def TV costs so much: mis-spent R&D

Sony had a slick, glossy insert in the Sunday newspaper several weeks ago. I usually flip through anything computer or electronics related in the Sunday newspaper's junk section, so I took a minute to look this one over (well, that...and the cover caught my eye).

At a glance, the marketing spiel didn't look like anything all that remarkable, but as I looked closer, I noticed something unusual about the technology Sony was selling for their new cameras.

So, if I understand the point of this technology...a photo of someone with a goofy grin is always better than a photo without a smile? Even if the subject of the photo actually looks better in the non-smiling photo?

Can you say unnecessary technology?



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I actually had intended to do a monthly update of the stuff on my reading shelf - and have managed to take a few photos of the books on the shelf over the past few months (it was looking a little messy in July), but I just never quite got around to putting anything up here. There was that whole "slacking" thing...

I've been reading Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown for the past couple of months. I'm almost finished now, but it hasn't taken a "couple of months" to read because it's a voluminous tome with hundred and hundreds of pages or even because it's dry or difficult to get through - though the beginning was a little slow. The real problem is me. I just haven't been reading as much. And I'm not exactly sure why, but it kinda makes me sad.

You'll notice (from the photo) that most of the books that were on the shelf in June are still there now, so I'm not going to say much about those. While not many books have been removed from the shelf, there are a few new additions. I did finish Mouse Guard Fall 1152, The Woman Who Wouldn't, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and started Shalimar the Clown which wasn't even on the shelf in June.

Here's what's new:

• The Ancient by RA Salvatore - I've really enjoyed the other Salvatore books I've read (another collection of his stories has been sitting on the shelf for months), so I'm sure this will be no exception. This book appears to be the sequel to his The Highwayman that I read several months ago. Oh, and it's signed by the author. Cool.
• When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris - Though they are technically non-fiction, Davis Sedaris's other books have never failed to make me laugh. His colorful memories of childhood are the right out of the Hollywood "painful but funny family movies" playbook. And his stories may even be true - who knows?
• Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie - Having never read a Salman Rushdie book before buying this and The Enchantress of Florence, I guess was taking a little bit of a chance on the good opinions of other people (Neil Gaiman quoted a Salman Rushdie interview about how nonsensical people are who insist on making everything "Politically Correct," and I decided he was an author worth reading, so I started picking up his books. I haven't been disappointed.
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie - I don't really know anything about this book, but I'm sure it will be good.
• Travel Team by Mike Lupica - I've never read a Mike Lupica book, and I can't think of a single sports-related book that I've ever read, but this book was referred to me by the guy at the local Italian Ice stand (he was actually reading it at the time) so I figured I'd give it a shot when I saw it on the bookshelf at the Crown Books that opened up down the street.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni - I've heard nothing but good things about this book, though I failed to pick this one up in hardcover when it was available, so all I have is a trade paperback. I'll get around to reading it eventually.

While I haven't been reading "real" books much lately, the kids have been showing an ever-increasing love of reading. I tried to encourage reading the Harry Potter books during the summer, but it wasn't until school started again that it was decided that they were worth reading. And now it's hard to get either of them to put their books down (the other series of books that we have to pry out of their hands is the Tinker Bell & her fairy friends stories from Disney).

I did make a dent in the stack of comic books that was awaiting my attention.

I've just finished the Lords of Avalon series that was on the stack. It had a very interesting "events after the fall of King Arthur" type of story (based on a real book that I've never read) and had very well drawn and colored manga-style art. The rest of the stack is mostly unread Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica series comics now. Most of the others have been read (the stack is currently even smaller than what you see in the photo).

There. I've rambled on about my reading shelf. Mission accomplished, Ms. Clack.



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It's been five months and the void is still here.

Not a day goes by that we don't think about something else we miss about the boy or remember some way he made us laugh.

It's been several weeks since I've mentioned my little underwater friends - and there was even a death in my fishy family. You'd think that would have brought me to my tear-soaked keyboard to lament the loss of another pet, but...it was an event that just kind of came and went. Beavis (that was the now-dead fish's name) is buried in the backyard next to Mr Fish the goldfish, but my fear of a fish tank pandemic has subsided a little since the tetra died (the tetra didn't get a burial, he was found half-eaten and was quickly disposed of). The last time a fish died, I thought the fish-death was indicative of something bad going on in the tank and I was really worried about the other fish following him to his un-watery grave. But when nothing happened, I became much less concerned. So death #2 came and went without a mention.

But now that I've mentioned it, I guess I should at least tell you who Beavis was - a fish-eulogy of sorts.

Beavis was a Chinese Algae Eater - one of a pair purchased to bring the exploding algae in my tank under control. The pair quickly brought the brown algae spreading across my tank under control and were soon reduced to scavenging whatever scraps of algae they could find growing in the tanks. Butthead, the larger Chinese Algae Eater, was a bit of a bully to little Beavis and would chase him around the tank whenever he saw him. So Beavis was reduced to hiding anywhere he could to avoid Butthead's attention. We considered taking Butthead back to the fish store so Beavis could have some peace.

And then the Algae Eaters must have come to some sort of understanding because Butthead started leaving Beavis alone for the most part. And Beavis actually did more than hide behind plants, inside the pirate ship or beside the heater - he swam around and hunted for algae while Butthead was around.

Sadly, Beavis's new found freedom didn't last long. Not long after Butthead started leaving him alone, he was found dead in the same spot we found the Neon Tetra. Unlike the tetra though, Beavis's eyes and stomach hadn't been eaten, so I fished him out and took him out to the fish graveyard in the backyard for a proper burial (don't ask - it wasn't my idea).

Other than that, things are going swimmingly with the denizens of the tank. Buddy the Betta continues to swim around like a crazy fish, the Mystery/Apple snails have hatched and can be found crawling all over the place in the tank, and the tetras and shrimp are all alive and well. Speaking of the snails, I accidentally knocked the pink eggsack off the side of the tank and it sank to the bottom. Being on the bottom of the tank didn't seems to hurt the pink eggsack, though - it appears that most or all of the snails hatched and are alive and well. The white mystery eggsack that was growing inside the lid just sorta dried up and died to I peeled it off and disposed of it.

The pregnant shrimp has gone from looking pregnant to not-so-pregnant a couple of times, so I'm not so sure that that's what she was. She's probably just well-fed. Or she's letting her baby-shrimp loose and the fish are eating them all. I dunno. I still only have three shrimp, so I doubt any baby shrimp have been introduced to the tank, but what do I know? I saw a shrimp-skin on the bottom of the tank this week with antenna and legs, so I thought for sure it was a dead, mostly-eaten shrimp. But then I spotted all three shrimp alive and well. I'd seen their skins on the bottom before, but I hadn't ever noticed legs or antennae on them. Weird.

The plants haven't been flourishing quite as wildly as they once were, but they are still growing well (the fish really seem to enjoy swimming thorough the underwater jungle). The little sprouts that were poking up throughout the tank seem to have lost interest, unfortunately. I think they're all being eaten by one of the critters in the tank (they love to munch on those banana plants).

That's probably more than enough about my fishy obsession, but if you need more, here you go...

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book will be available soon. I've got my signed copy reserved at Mysterious Galaxy.

Whee!



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