Shutting It Down??

For anyone who's still reading, I'm considering shutting this blog down. My goal was to learn to create a blog but I've found that my time has been severely strained and I know I'm not updating new content regularly. I find that contributing comments to my friend Dan Brown's blog has also left me with very little distinct content to contribute here. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and all the best in the future.

Rockin'

OK, this is another of those,"Steve is getting to be a grumpy old man" posts but I've had this belief ever since I was a kid. I find it offensive when someone says they are "rocking out" to non-rock music. For example, the recently departed Michael Jackson sang, "Rock With You". Now, this is clearly not rock n'roll music, but yet he had a big hit with it. If you are going to "rock", there need to be loud guitars, a real drum kit, and some very loud amplifiers. This also goes for all the talk about "rocking out" to dance music, rap, hip-hop, etc. Umm, you may be jumping around but unless it makes you want to pump your fist in the air (see Springsteen, Bruce as an example of real rock n' roll ), you aren't really rockin' are you?

IMO, This Is Just Wrong

While watching the July 1 The Daily Show episode, we were treated to a clip about high heels for babies. OK, now we live in a semi-democratic, pseudo free market society, so I guess it's every parent's choice but does this not strike you as wrong?

During the same Canada Day viewing, we were subjected to uncountable re-airings of the promo for Lady GaGa's latest "song" and video. Now, women again have the freedom to do what they want, but when my wife looks @ the video & says,"who's the stripper??, it kinda says a lot about this performer's "talents". Ladies, if you are going to walk around with your lacy thong underwear showing and your belly button piercing right there, guys are gonna look and/or leer. I'm not saying I don't approve (as long as said females low rider jeans don't have a fat roll hanging over but women's lib is basically dead.

Summer Vacation & Other Observations

I'm on vacation starting Friday and was wondering. What are people doing for summer vacation breaks this year? There's been a lot in the press about "stay-cations" due to the economic downturn. Are you going away or staying close to home? We plan a few days trips but nothing elaborate. We're starting to see a lot of "discount" deals on Mexico trips advertised. Gee, I wonder why??

In unrelated news, I saw a piece on the local news about a woman who got an allergic reaction from a pair of flip-flops @ Wal-Mart for $5.00. OK, now she wasn't threatening to sue (obviously not an American) but the Wal-Mart rep said they pulled that brand of "shoe". Now, to me, if you pay $5.00 for your footwear, what kind of quality are you really expecting?? I know people who loves the Dollar Stores. Anything we ever bought at one of those places fell apart the first time we used it. Why don't they rename these places "Buy our Cheap Crap" stores? I will say you can get cheap deals on last minute birthday cards, in case you forget.

June-July is the dead time for the NFL. The last mini camps are wrapping up and come mid July, the rush to sign all those overpaid first round picks will start. There is talk of a rookie pay scale in the NFL (like that of the NBA) in which players need to prove that they can do it at the next level before making the big bucks. Sounds like a plan to me, especially with the volume of "busts" that each draft inevitably contains. Bigger concern is the looming uncapped year & possible strike.

Hope everyone has a great Canada Day holiday next week. Is it really unpatriotic if I consider a US day trip on July 1?

Gifts

As anyone who goes near a store or watches TV is aware, Father's Day is coming up this Sunday. Not long after that is my wife's birthday. Now, I loved my dad (RIP Ron) but I've grown really tired of what my friend Dan Brown calls "Hallmark Holidays", like Mothers' & Fathers' Days, Valentine's Day, Halloween, etc. I love my wife every day; not just more on February 14. I'm lucky too in that my wife & I are to an age where birthdays do not entail the need for surprises anymore. We each let the other pick out what they really want. In her case, it's a "road trip" up to Mary Maxim in Paris and Stockade in Guelph. It's a nice drive at the end of June.

OK, now, am I becoming a "grumpy old man" for not embracing the "hallmark Holidays"? Should I be doing a big surprise for my wife? I've been considering a surprise gift, such as the DVD Box set of Keeping Up Appearances but that's about it. BTW, she doesn't read this blog so no worries about spoiling the surprise. What happens when you have to do a birthday gift? Is surprise still part of it?

Houston Football Players Not "Pussies"

OK, this one is under the cheap laughs catagory but my smutty mind enjoyed it anyway. NFL teams have just been given permission to sell advertising space on their practice jersyes. Click here to see which company wanted to post it's logo on the Houston Texans' practice jerseys.

Now, who's got the best pun to go along with this story. "Tight end" and "deep penetration" are too easy; let's see some imagination here folks!

Live Music - Wow!

Daryl has posted in the past about his love for live music and I can see his point. In the past week, we've been lucky enough to see 3 great live performances. We saw Harry Manx Friday night, Tom Wilson (fronting Lee Harvey Osmond) on Saturday in St. thomas & Colin Linden last night @ the London Music Hall.

All were great shows and even my wife said on the drive home,"we should go see more shows and take a risk on a few performers we haven't heard of".

That leads to to my question. Do you go to live concerts for bands/performers whose music you don't know? If so, what criteria do you use? Do you chose by venue (ie - that place always has my type of music so I'll try this band that is playing there)? Are there any upcoming live shows you're looking forward to? Sorry for the slowness of updates; as I warned you, summmer's almost here & my mind is turning to mush.

Nearly Summer

I can always tell when it's nearly summer because my mind basically starts to shut down. I have to work of course, but in terms of getting worked up, excited or even pi$$ed off, it just doesn't happen as much. Which means, it's harder for me to come up with things to blog about.

Once I finish work, all I can think about is going for a walk in the sun, wearing shorts & sitting on the patio with some BBQ'd dinner and a cold refreshing beverage. My mind goes into So-Cal mode (fortunately, no wildfires to go with it).

I'm not an NHL guy so the Stanley Cup playoffs holds minimal interest for me (I know that's sacrilege since I'm Canadian but I just don't care). There are too many teams now days. I mean, is anyone shocked that Phoenix couldn't sustain a hockey team, really??? Anyway, I used to be a bit of a hoops fan but that's kinda died out for me too since I got too old to play the game and since Michael Jordan retired after making that last shot against Utah (the comeback doesn't count; sorry).

Are you like me? Does your mind go on vacation even before your body gets to? Is there anything going on in the world of sports, politics or music that really has your attention right now? If so, I must have missed it while my mind was on vacation. Bring me up to date & thanks for reading.

Being Late

One of the things that drives me crazy is when people are constantly late for things. If you accumulated the time I've spent waiting for others, I think I've wasted days so far. All of us have been late once or twice for things; unforeseen stuff comes up, like the car won't start, etc. I'm not talking about that though. I'm talking about people you deal with who are constantly running behind and seem to accept it as normal. Have you ever dealt with someone like that?

In my experience, the only thing you can do is to tell them a time earlier than you want. For example, if you want them to arrive by 8:00, tell them to arrive by 7:45 or 7:30. That way, you'll have a reasonable sense of certainty that they'll arrive by 8:00.

Are you a late person, who can maybe explain to me why you are the way you are? If not, have you ever found any other creative ways to deal with this lateness in others? Or, am I just getting worked up over nothing and should learn to relax more? Tell me what you think & thanks for stopping by.

Upcoming Music

On the weekend, I picked up tickets for the Lee Harvey Osmond show in St. Thomas on June 6. On the 5th, we've already got tickets for the Harry Manx concert @ The Aeolian Hall . What a great weekend of music with 2 diverse performing styles. Tom Wilson , who's the front man for LHO, calls their style "acid folk", whereas Manx mixes acoustic blues with Indian influences. If you haven't heard either of these performers, I highly recommend them. Tom's played solo, plus was the leader of Junkhouse and 1/3 of my favourite Canadian group ever, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings . Harry seems like he releases a new CD every year (keep it coming please) and tours constantly. Watching one of his DVDs and seeing him playing the 20 string Indian instrument is amazing.

Later on this summer, Home County Folk festival has another outstanding lineup, headlined by Jill Barber . Jill's style is completely different from the artists above, as it's almost 1920's French cabaret, but really soulful and enticing. Plus, Home County's free!

In terms of new CD releases, I'm not really seeing much to make me jump up & rush into the stores. Dave Matthews & Steve Earle both have new ones coming out and I picked up the new Bob Dylan, which I like.

Does anyone else out there have any upcoming shows or new releases that are exciting them? Or, are you like me and find existing CDs by artists you hadn't hear of to fill in your time?

I'm Soooo Confused!

Royal Canadian Air Farce used to have a skit called "The Confused Philosopher". Although I've posted one or two of these on Dan Brown's Blog on the London Free Press website , here are a few of my random observations of things that confuse me in modern life:

• When people go to Costco on a motorcycle, what exactly do they buy?
  
• If you are delivering fliers for lawn care, why would you leave one at a house whose lawn has a sign from another company already on it?
  
• If civic minded people want to "clean up" their downtown, where exactly in their town do they want all the drug addicts and homeless to go?
  
• Why does the "large" cup of soda @ Wendy's have the word,"small" printed on the side of it?
  
• If kids can't be failed in elementary school until Grade 6, doesn't that kind of make,"No child left behind" a slam dunk?
  
• I know that there is now "classic rock" and that there is very little big time current rock. So, does that mean that soon, we'll be subjected to "classic rap" and that current rap will become irrelevant?
  
• When Madonna has "the talk" with her daughter, does she just hand her that "Sex" book that came out in the early 90's & say,"let me know if you have any questions"?
  
• Are there any baseball players who DID NOT use performance enhancing drugs?
  
• Are there any rappers who DO NOT have a criminal record or is that just part of "street cred"?
  
• Why do golf commentators whisper?
  

Anyway, those are a few "top of mind" questions I've had in my warped mind lately. Do you have answers to any of these questions and/or have questions or your own? Post them here & thanks for reading.

Blues Fest

The other day, I stumbled across the Ottawa BluesFest website. It's got quite an impressive lineup of talent; many of whom I'd love to see (Lee Harvey Osmond, Colin Linden, Chris Smither, Blue Rodeo, Doyle Bramhall, Neko Case, etc.). I was wondering though if it's really appropriate to call it a "blues" festival, in view of performers such as KISS, Ice Cube, etc.? This is a common issue I believe, as festivals often play "loose and fast with the rules" in order to attract a broader audience.

What do you think? Have you ever made the trek to Ottawa for this festival? Are there any festivals that you've gone to that required a lot of travel? If so, was the attraction specific performer(s) or the overall festival? Should this festival rename itself to a "music" festival and drop the "blues" reference or is that just nit-picking on my behalf?

Work & Lack Thereof

Sorry that I haven't been posting more lately. Work has been extraordinarily busy and the weather in London is getting nicer. Between the 2, writing stuff here just hasn't been a priority.

One of the things that's occupied me is watching a co-worker get a severance package. This person is doing meaningful work, at a high level of performance and their skills aren't easily replaceable. Nevertheless, their job is being moved overseas. From a business level, I understand the rationale. Labour costs overseas are considerably cheaper and senior management become convinced that a worker is a worker (ie - skills can be re-learned and/or are transferable). Time will tell about that latter point in my friend's case.

I know that my friend is not alone. Many Canadians in many sectors of the economy are being hit with this reality. I personally think that this time, it's a little different for the following reasons:

• With most manufacturing and I/T moving offshore, where are the replacement jobs supposed to come from? In the 1930's Depression, when the economy improved, workers went back to manufacturing jobs that essentially existed before. That won't be the case this time.
• Jobs are being moved offshore because of cheaper labour costs. Unless we also export unions, does this signal the decline and/or end of much of our middle class?
• It appears that in some cases, the "bad economy" is being used as a rationale, but it's not the case for all companies. Many are still profitable, but (IMO) are using the downturn as an excuse to accelerate their outsourcing of jobs.
• Workers are not given the option to reduce their wages to compare with off shore people. They're just told that the jobs are going.
• Is it not a conflict of interest for senior management to be the decision makers that export basic workers' jobs but not their own? Surely, one could find some senior executive talent willing to work for less than what some North American corporate heads make?
• With corporations basically being autonimous (ie - not a citizen of any country), is there anything that our governments could/should be doing to retain these jobs? Should companies be offered tax incentives to retain their work force?

Tell me what you think. Have you had friends, family members or have you lost your job in the past year? Did the work move off shore, to the US or did the company just close? Does anyone have a good news story about finding new work at any sort of wage or skill level on par with what they were doing in their former jobs?

Thanks for reading and sorry for the delay in posting.

Do You Hi-Def?

Now days, it's pretty much impossible to find a CRT (tube) TV in retail. LCD and Plasma flat panels are the way to go, and for a lot of good reasons. Along with them comes the Hi-Def discussion. I can't tell you how many times I've been in Costco or other places and seen signs reminding consumers that they have to have a hi-def receiver to get the maximum effect from their TV. Apparently, people have been known to return their new purchases if they don't feel the picture measures up.
So, based on all that, do you:

1. have a hi-def TV?
   
2. have a hi-def receiver?
   
3. how much do you use it?
   
4. own a Blue Ray DVD player?
   
5. own any Blue Ray DVDs or just rent them?
   

We have satellite TV and have 4 receivers in our home. One is hi-def and the other 3 are not. We have 2 LCD TVs. We're not heavy hi-def users for a few reasons.

• Our house was built in the cable generation. To properly receive hi-def satellite TV signal, you need RG6 coax line running from the satellite to the receiver and on to the TV. Since we don't want to rip open our drywall, it means that we had to have new line run for the 1 hi-def receiver. It's just too much hassle to retrofit for us.
  
• We've had mixed results with our 1 hi-def receiver. It worked well for 11 months, then had to be replaced 2-3 times since then. Most companies provide refurbished boxes in such scenarios and based on our experience, I'm skeptical of their reliability.
  
• There is some extra cost. Each vendor is different but no one's giving away primo hi-def channels for free. If you don't pay an extra fee, it's buried somewhere in your cable/satellite bill.
  
• There's still that pesky matter of the aspect ratio. It doesn't matter if your TV is wide screen or not, it seems at some point, when you're watching hi-def, you're gonna have some black lines around the screen. I can't understand why standardization seems to be such an issue.
  
• There's so much content that isn't hi-def ready. US channels are still getting ready to go all-digital; let alone all-hi-def.
  
• I can't justify paying the outrageous Blue Ray prices for DVDs. I just can't. Maybe when they come down a bit. The players are starting to so we'll see.
  

Anyway, that's me. What are your experiences. Got any tips for the issues I've raised? As always, thanks for reading.

NFL Draft This Weekend

As most of you know, I'm a giant NFL fan. So much so, that I actually watch the first round of the NFL Draft in late April. The NFL's popularity has reached the point where the draft outdraws baseball regular season and basketball & hockey playoff games that compete against it in terms of TV viewers. Even I think that's sad, but it shows the NFL's dominance as the major sports league in North America now.
I don't have a favourite team but because I live close to Detroit, I always hope they'll do reasonably well. Obviously, 0-16 doesn't cut it and you have to feel for Lions fans. I really hope they don't take Matthews Stafford, the QB from Georgia #1 overall. There are 2 excellent left tackles sitting there, plus a solid LB that they could use. Their coach is from a system that likes to build from the lines out, so taking a LT, like Miami did last year, makes sense. Then again, who says teams follow common sense?
The thing doesn't start until 4:00 now, so they're obviously trying to let their fans get shopping, etc. done first, much like what they've done with moving playoff games on Saturdays so they start @ 4:30.
Do you watch any of the draft or is that too much for you?

Cool Album Covers

I think this is another post that will date me but remember when artists came out with really cool album cover art? When you bought the Molly Hatchet album as much for the medieval violence cover as for the music?

With mp3s, etc., the potential for album art is reduced and IMO, many of the current CD covers just don't cut it. Just off the top of my head, these are some of the album covers I'm talking about:

• 
  Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (hey, that guy's on fire!)
  
  
  
  
  
• Steve Miller Band - Book of Dreams (Pegasus with multicolour wings)
  
  
  
  
  
• Supertramp - Crime of The Century (prison bars in space)
  

Whatever happened to this concept? What are some of the other great covers that I missed in the samples above & why? Do you think the less flamboyant covers are a way for record companies to save money in the mp3 age or do people just not care now?

My Favourite Place To Buy CDs

As I ranted in an earlier post, I far prefer the CD to mp3 computer files. To that end, for those who are already not aware of them, may I recommend The Beat Goes On as a source to get good deals on used CDs, DVDs and video games. They also carry a selection of new copies of top new releases. They have locations throughout southwestern Ontario and will ship to pretty much anywhere. One of the things I most enjoy about them is their web presence. Their site lists their inventory but also allows you to create a wish list of titles you're looking for. When any of their stores gets a copy in, you get an email and can have it shipped direct to your home or to your local store. The shipping cost is $1.00 on the price higher than the tag price in the store. Their staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Plus, with today's economy, who isn't looking for a good cheap deal? I should add that they take trade in titles and give you cash or a slightly greater $value in store credit. Finally, their frequent shopper card can get you free stuff after you buy like 12 items. I am afraid to know how many cards I've gone through.

Anyway, check them out. It's amazing some of the really hard to find stuff I've seen traded in. For example, several years ago, someone traded in a used CD copy of the "No Nukes" show from 1980. Unbelievable find. I've seen copies of Indio's "Big Harvest" (goes for like $50 on Ebay, when someone sells one), etc.

Where do you buy your CDs? Do you prefer new vs. used? Ever shopped @ The Beat Goes On? Let me know & thanks, as always, for reading.

Recording TV Programs

I love TV. There are far more programs on than I can watch each day so like many people with busy lives, I record many shows. For the past 20 years or so, it's been the VCR. Like most tech, it started out pricey and became super cheap, as alternatives started to appear. Now, you can't give them away on Kijiji or at garage sales. That's because new digital alternatives have come out and are starting to come down in price. I just wanted to offer my 2 cents on the various alternatives out there and get your reactions and experiences.

• The PVR (Personal Video Recorder) is the one most people seem to be going towards. These are usually marketed by your TV supplier (cable or satellite) and allow you to record programs via easier recording methods to a hard disk drive (HDD). If you have satellite, in order to watch 1 show & record another, you have to have 2 lines going into the PVR from your dish. This can be a hassle for those of us living in houses with existing cable wiring.
  
• The DVD Recorder comes in 2 flavours. With or without an HDD. Personally, I love the DVD recorders with HDD. So much so that we have 3 of them (and yes i know how sad that is). The biggest downside to a DVD recorder without an HDD is that you essentially are replacing VHS tapes with re-writable DVDs so you are max'd out at 6 hours of recordings. Our DVD recorders have 160 GB and 250 GB HDDs so we're basically limitless. The big advantage of this for us is that if you record something and like it, you can edit out any commercials, etc. and write it to a DVD for re-watching later.
  
• TiVo is very popular in the US but I suspect won't be as popular here. What I don't like about TiVo is that in addition to buying a TiVo recorder, you have to subscribe to their service that gives you on screen guides, etc. I think it's somewhere between $12.99 and $15.00/month. TiVo also promises to help you buy choosing shows to record for you, based on your previous recording choices. That could fill up your HDD fast if you're not careful.
  

Now, I'd like to hear from you. What do you use to record TV? Do you record a lot? Had any good/bad experiences with any of the digital recording devices? If you're interested in the DVD recorders with HDDs, I can give you my experiences with a a couple of different models, but didn't want to make this post too long. Or, maybe you're "old school" and still rely on the trusty VCR? Let me know & thanks for reading.

Yawn-Golf

Rosie O'Donnell once quipped that golf was,"men in ugly pants walking". To say I find it boring is an understatement. This weekend, the Masters will dominate TV screens for fans of the sport. I'm always stunned by the popularity of this sport. While I acknowledge that it take skill to play the game, I still fin it elitist and mind-numbing. I saw a post on Dan Brown's blog recently in which a reader remarked about a cheap rate of $20.00 for a round in the spring, at a public course. $20.00??!! I can get the same amount of exercise walking around my neighbourhood for free. And that doesn't include the cost of clubs, balls, clothing, shoes, etc. I guess I just don't get the appeal. Can anyone educate me?

That Really Sucks.

I do not consider myself to be a prude. I swear regularly and often. Adult content doesn't bother me. Having said all of that, I find it interesting and somewhat sad that the word,"sucks" has become a standard part of our vocabulary today. Kelly Clarkson has a hit pop song called My Life Would Suck Without You. I first learned the term in grade 7-8. It's a reference used to insult people. Guys use it to imply that the person (usually another guy) is gay or a loser, such as "suck me", "you suck", etc. It's a reference to oral sex and is marginally homophobic also. Nevertheless, it's now a part of our culture. On last night's 6:00 news, people commenting on the April snow storms said,"it kinda sucked". So, my question is, why is it necessary to bleep Jon Stewart on cable's The Daily Show but OK to let kids, amongst others, refer to fellatio indirectly on the 6:00 news?

People Are Pigs!

So, we go to Costco today for our regular Saturday shopping. By the end of the experience, my already low estimate of human nature has been driven through the floor. First, we have the person who left their buggy on the grass beside our parking spot because it must have been just too much like work to push it over to the buggy coral 20 feet away. Then, you have to find a buggy without all the sample cups, Tim's cup and flyers left in the basket. I guess these lazy bums figure what I want to do is clean up after them. Then, you get inside and shop. OK, now I've been known to take a free sample occasionally but for God's sake, GET OUT OF THE WAY so other people can get past you. Oh and the old "I'm taking one for my friend who's over in the next aisle"; do you really think anyone believes that?
Once, on a previous excursion, I saw a kid knock over a stack of shirts. When the kid went to pick them up, his parent exclaimed,"no, don't do that. That's HER job" (referring to the staff member folding clothes at the next table. True par rent of the year candidates there. Maybe people think that because it's a warehouse concept (ie - lower prices), that they can use lower levels of social skills?
Have you had experiences like mine? Ever said anything to the offenders? Have a nice weekend all & thanks for reading.

Cutler Traded To Bears

Profootballtalk.com amongst others, is reporting that Jay Cutler was traded to the Bears from the Broncos for 2 #1 picks and a 3rd rounder, plus starting Bears QB Kyle Orton. The Bears get Cutler, plus a
5th round pick. It's always hard to justify 2 x #1's for a player; even an established one. The Bears have never really had good WRs so we'll see if this makes them a serious contender. The Broncos are now in full fledged rebuilding mode. Do they take a QB in the draft or trust that recently-signed Chris Simms is the answer? IMO, the Broncos backed themselves into this corner by letting it out that they were trying to trade Cutler and get Matt Cassell back in early March. When it fell through, the new Broncos mgmt. team could never kiss Cutler's a$$ enough to help him get past the snub. Da Bears better hope Cutler lives up to the hype and potential he showed in Denver.

Best Canadian Group IMO

For my money, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings are the best Canadian band today. Composed of bluesman Colin Linden, rocker Tom Wilson and folk performer Stephen Fearing, they came together as a tribute to their mutual idol, Willie P Bennett (RIP). They've recorded 5 CDs, plus a "Best Of". Although they're all good recordings, for me, their standout CD is BARK. If you haven't heard these guys, I encourage you to give them a listen and tell me what you think. I was lucky enough to meet Stephen when he appeared in London recnetly and he said they're in the begining stages of recording a new CD, which will likely be out next year. Can't wait guys!

CD or MP3??

On his London Free Press blog, Dan Brown has raised the issue of the future of the CD, with the growing popularity of mp3s. I have over 1,200 CDs. I might be able to fit their contents onto an Ipod Classic (120 GB or the no longer sold 160 GB) but why would I want to? Imagine the amount of time and work involved. Portable devices are great, if you're on the road all the time, but I work from home so it's a mute point for me. I'd like to address the bigger issue of the popularity of the mp3 file.
IMO, much of that popularity has been driven off file sharing webistes like Limewire, etc. I'll cut to the chase; if you're getting your music through file sharing, you're a thief and should be treated accordingly. if you like mp3s for their portability, fine. Pay Itunes or some other legal site. Pay for what you are listening to. We all get upset when we read about AIG employees getting bonuses while their employers got $US bailouts but they at least had a contract which entitled them to it. You steal music via file sharing because you can and because you're unlikely to get caught.
The other thing about mp3s is that they are computer files. I hope all of you are making backups of the stuff you have because if your Ipod and/or computer dies, you've lost it all. I sincerely doubt Itunes will just let you re-download it all with no charge.
Beyond the file sharing issue though, I have yet to hear an mp3 file sound as good as a CD track. That's the basic nature of mp3s; you can fit a whole bunch of them on an Ipod, etc. because the PC files are smaller. They're made smaller by reducing the sound quality. If I'm going to listen to music, I want the full range of sound but maybe that's just me.
Now, in fairness, I own a 6GB mp3 player (not an Ipod). I copy the music I really like onto it and use it only if I'm travelling to Toronto on the train, etc. I only copy from CDs that I've paid for (so the artist got their fair cut) and I never make them available for file sharing.
If you are OK with crappy sound and can rationalize stealing from the artists you pruport to love, or if you pay for it, that's your choice. CDs to me will become a "niche" market, like LP's still are. BTW, what's up with the popularity of LP's? Those things scratch so easily.
The CD is by no means perfect. The text in the booklets is too smalll and the plastic cases crack but you can replace the cases and you can get good deals on used CDs at places like The Beat Goes On ; a personal favourite of mine (more on them in another post). Until they stop making CDs, I'll keep buying them, but that's me.
Tell me what you think. Thanks for reading.

How Smart is The Bellicheck Coaching Tree??

A few years ago, Bill Bellicheck was hailed as this amazing coach, winning numerous Super Bowls, etc. Several of his assistants; Charlie Weiss, Romeo Crennell, Eric Mangini and recently Josh McDaniels, all got head coaching jobs off the Patriots' success. Now, it's not so clear if it was the "system" or the coach. McDaniels, the new Denver coach, wanted a New England guy; Matt Cassell to be the Denver QB and it leaked before they got the deal done. Ex-New England personnel guru Scott Pioli got the deal done first & Cassell is KC's starting QB. McDaniels now looks like an ass in his QB's mind and is in the middle of a messy divorce with his former starting QB over it. Now, Cutler needs to grow a pair and realize that everyone is expendable on any team but it's hardly the great start McDaniels would want. Romeo Crennell got fired in Cleveland and the Browns are systematically undoing all the draft picks, etc. of his time. He got replaced by Mangini, who had been fired last year after the Brett Favre fiasco. Mangini is hardly the "Manginius" that appeared in a cameo on the Soppranos a few years ago. Weiss is on thin ice @ Notre Dame. There were rumours of him being replaced with Jon Gruden but I assume the Golden Dome couldn't have stood that much taking the Lord's name in vain if "Chucky" had been hired. Bellicheck now doesn't have Pioli either and we'll see how well he does. Success, like fame, is fleeting it appears.

Stupid April Fools!

My wife & I hate April Fools jokes. This is basically because we are the brunt of them. Jokes in general, if played on someone else, are funny to the joker, but not to the jokee IMO. Hey, if you like April Fools jokkes, go for it; just keep it away from me. I don't need the additional stress.

Music

In my book, popular music is in free fall decline. I'm trying not to sound like a grumpy old man but between American Idiots Idol and rap music, the quality just isn't there in general. What happened to basic rock n'roll? Who's the next Springsteen, Eagles, etc.? Commercial radio stinks. Oh, you can still find good music; you just have to look much harder. I personally use sites like amazon.com (look for a CD you like and then find links to similar artists) or satellite radio stations like CBC's Adult Alternative, which is available on Star Choice, channel 915. Most mainstream music played on the radio today is either 10 years old, or karaoke remixes of previous hits. As Stephen Fearing said at a concert I recently attended,"The difference between a Canadian singer songwriter and a medium pizza is that a medium pizza can feed a family of 3". Sad but true.

NFL Labour Unrest

The Profootballtalk website does a much better job of keeping up with all NFL happenings than I can. One of the stories that they cover is the potential labour unrest in the NFL come 2011. What I'm more concerned about is the potential uncapped year in 2010 and what it might mean for my favourt sport.
For those who aren't aware, the NFL has a "hard" salary cap. That means that team can only spend so much on salaries each year. This ensures that you don't have a system like baseball, where a few teams buy up all the top players. Every fan has a resonable dream of his or her team compeeting for the Super Bowl. The current labour deal ends in 2011 and 2010 is scheduled to be an uncapped year. The union has said if things get to that point, no salary cap would be accepted in the future. To me, this has the potential to spoil the goose that laid the golden egg. I really hope cooler heads prevail and they get a new deal worked out before 2010.

The Economy

Dan Brown and I have both blogged previously that people are neither inherently good or evil; they are inherently greedy. Nothing proves this point more than the current bad economic times. Cases in point include:

• GM CEO receiving $23 Million to leave his job
• AIG Employees accepting bonuses, despite the bailout funds and negative publicity
• Automotive employees not understanding that excessive wages are contributing (but not the only cause of) the Big 3 Failings
• Corporations quietly outsourcing jobs to India, China, Brazil and Argentina (amongst others)

There are many more. In the end, we have only ourselves to blame. We all want to retire with lots of savings from RSPs. RSPs are often containers for Mutual Funds. Mutual Funds are basically a bunch of financial "experts" gambling on which stocks will go up & down. How does a stock go up? The compnay makes more proffit than last year or makes a better "widget". The common business practice nowdays seems to be to cut costs to raise profits. Great; but that's done by outsourcing jobs; possibly your job or my job But hey, your RSP went up in value right?
A publically traded company must make more proffit than last year. Just making a proffit isn't good enough in "the shareholders' eyes". Privately held companies don't have to do that. They have only to answer to the owner(s) of the company. As my dad used to say, if you go to the bank, they will guarntee you x% return on your money. None of the mutual fund companies, etc. can guarntee a return. You may not make as much as the statistics show you will with stocks, but you have a guarntee and unlike our friends in the US, our banks are nation-wide and far less likely to go bankrupt.

First Post

This is my first post on this blog. It's my intention to update it regularly with my thoughts and observations on various topics of interest to me. My personal favourite discussion topics include

• NFL football
• Politics
• Music

I'll do my best to update it regularly.