Cave Cuniculum...

Latin. Means "beware the rabbit."

Monday, May 22, 2006

Spare some time, gov'nr?

Wow. Last post was on the 9th of this month; now it's the 22nd. Holy crap. You blink, and it's two weeks later...

So what have I been up to? I'd love to say I've been sitting in a comfy chair, drinking a martini whilst evilly stroking a cat and perfecting my plans for world domination...but nothing so glamourous.

For the past two weeks I've been working 10+ hour days at my day job. The downside is obviously the lack of sleep due to the extended hours. The upside is that I'm developing a healthy flourescant glow. If this goes on much longer, I'll be able to blind mere mortals simply by stepping outside on a sunny day.

In addition to this, this past weekend was my first "production" weekend at my nifty new freelance gig. Friday night I went directly from my day job to the freelance job. All told, I worked for sixteen hours...not including drive time. I was back again on Sunday, having used Saturday for various errands that I couldn't get to during the week.

Essentially my days have been:
1. go to work at the gluteus maximus of dawn.
2. work, work, work...
3. ten(or more) hours later, head home to feed/water myself/wife/cats/assorted houseplants.
4. collapse into bed, attempt to sleep before alarm goes off at 4am.

Funny thing is that back when I was a college student this sort of thing didn't phase me. Now I need to mainline caffeine just to be remotely functional...

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Opening Pandora's Box

Not literally. If I had, we'd all be swimming in demons and Republicans and other assorted weirdness by now. I'm referring to this.

Pandora is a streaming online music service with a twist. Enter an artist or song, and Pandora will play that selection along with others you may like. Granted, it's hit and miss, but you'll probably discover some new stuff that you'll like along with your old favourites.

In my case, I entered "Flogging Molly" as the artist. They're an Irish punk-ish band, blending traditional instruments (tin whistle and bodhran) with electric guitar and screaming vocals. Pandora pulled music from Flogging Molly along with similar artists such as The Pogues and Shane MacGowan and the Popes, but it also pulled artists such as The Mekons, Anti-Flag, and Hamell On Trial. It also pulled an artist that I can only describe as celtic bluegrass - Swingin' Utters.

It's not perfect, mind you. Along with the selections above it pulled Steelheart - apparently an '80's metal band, from the sound - and Guns 'n' Roses. Definately miles away from the artists I mentioned in the previous paragraph, and I'd personally rather be administered a rabid porcupine enema than listen to the unintelligable screeching of Axl Rose.

All in all, not a bad little service - and, provided you can tolerate some audio ads, it's free to use. Definately worth listening to when you're working overtime at five in the morning...

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