iPod redux

OK, so my daughter confiscated the iPod!

She decided after about a day that she really did like it and thought it was cool, especially cause now we were going to let her download music from iTunes.

So I decided to get myself another iPod. I went and got a 2mb black iPod.

Well the first one was a bit of a problem ... I spent hours trying to get it working, byt my computer wouldn't recognize it. I reloaded the iPod, removed and reinstalled software, everything. I finally concluded that the iPod itself must be corrupted. I was hoping so, at least, instead of the problem being with my computer.

So I took it back to Best Buy the next day, they ran diagnostics, and sure enough, it was fried. And without blinking an eye, they told me to go get another one.

So I got the second one, and it works fine. I'm really enjoying dumping music into it.

Now my son wants one!

-Zube.

Funny

Overheard Conversation of the Day:

Twenty-year-old female 1, in serious tone, no smile: "That's funny."

Twenty-year-old female 2, ditto: "SO funny."

They meant it, too.

-Zube.

Amused to death

Time to vent.

At work, we're watching the NBA playoffs on TNT. And I'm talking about how I hate their studio show, which consists mainly of Charles Barkley being an idiot and people talking over each other.

Others around me tell me that they LOVE that show, how they think it's entertaining. I say if you find after-hours talk by a bunch of drunk people spouting half-thought-out opinions entertaining, then more power to you. Among the more insightful things on TNT: a long-running "gag" video of a fat guy dancing with Charles Barkley's face grafted on. Hi-larious.

When did the pursuit of "entertainment" become the highest goal of mankind? or of Americankind, anyway.

I like entertainment, music, etc. (as you realize if you've read any bit of my blog). But there's got to be time to meditate, reflect ... THINK, for God's sake.

I know the NBA studio show isn't a big thing, but it bugs me when this is what is held up as a good idea. TV itself is full of junk, and entire channels are devoted to such junk (Spike, for one). Why can't they give you thoughtful information? Why do we need this kind of mindless stimulation 24/7? What the heck happened to reading? What the heck happened to thinking?

What the heck?

-Zube.

iGot an iPod

My daughter won an iPod last February for coming in first at a Science Fair that 1) she HAD to enter, and 2) she hated. Imagine her surprise when she won 1 of 2 grand prizes!

Except that the grand prize, an iPod, wasn't handed to her then. "Soon," she was told.

So, almost 3 months later, they finally delivered an iPod Nano (1GB ... wish it was bigger!). And she then delivered to me. She doesn't really want one, she's still more into CDs than downloads. So I bought her some software that she really wanted, dealing with computer graphics. Turns out she's REALLY good at that, so it was a good trade.

Anyway ... my first items on the iPod? My Disneyland box!

-Zube.

Dirty dozen

Ok, so I pushed my Disneyland box set out to 12. I downloaded more Tomorrowland tracks that I found.

The main one was the Michael Jackson show "Captain EO," a 3-D movie that played at a theater in Tomorrowland right below Space Mountain. I remember liking that movie, but Jacko gives me the creeps now, so I decided I wouldn't bother.

But a friend I work with, who has given me DOZENS of DVDs he's burned, has asked to borrow that set and copy it. And he's a big Disneyland fan, too. And he turns out to be a fan of Captain EO. Which I didn't have. So I went back and added that track, plus a few others, to flesh it out.

So I did hit the magical 12 CDs. And I have 2 parades so far, so I'm about halfway there to making a 13th CD. Maybe soon.

-Zube.

Another obsession ...

OK, so as you can figure out, the Beatles and Christmas are two of my time-eaters ...

Another is Disney. Specifically, Disneyland.

Last summer, it was the park's 50th anniversary, and back then, Disney released a 6 CD box set with music and sounds from the parks. It's still available. It mixes current and old attractions, so it is a nice document of things long gone from the park.

But it wasn't enough! There were a lot of tracks that were left off, for some reason. I already had some tracks they used, others from old "Official" CDs, and others from a system Disneyland used to have that let you burn your own tracks from their library of music and sounds. Plus, what ticked me off most is that no CD had just one "land" on it. If you wanted to listen to just New Orleans Square, you had to start halfway through one CD and go to another. Same with Tomorrowland.

So I started putting my stuff together, then I found this site, which let you download even more stuff not on the box set.

So long story not so short, I've just finished compiling an 11-CD set. One CD each for Main Street USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country. One CD for Fantasyland and another for a combined Fantasyland/Mickey's Toontown (which didn't have enough going on to make a full CD), and THREE for Tomorrowland (that land has had the most changes in 50 years). Plus one CD for Christmas at Disneyland. Too bad I couldn't stretch it out to 12 CDs, huh? Maybe someday, if I can find some more parades.

... Pretty pathethic, huh?

-Zube.

I have nothing to add.

Which is why I went ahead and posted.

-Zube.