Monday, May 28, 2007

An exciting weekend for sports?

Not in the Geohouse. Here is today's poll from ESPN.com:

Which Memorial Day weekend sporting event are you most excited about?

-Nextel Cup series at Charlotte

-Indianapolis 500

-NBA conference finals

-UFC: Liddell vs. Jackson

-Stanley Cup finals, Game 1

Too bad I can't vote "None of the above."

Hey, training camp for the NFL can't be too far off, can it? Or the time of the season when baseball really gets exciting. Patience, patience.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Music to my ears

I read this with some interest.

Makes good sense for Amazon to try this. Since there are three iPods (one Nano and 2 Shuffles--a first and second generation) in the Geohouse, iTunes is the music provider by default. Yet to have to buy the music exclusively from iTunes is sometimes limiting. Since I lean toward tunes that are older and sometimes obscure, not every song I desire is available through iTunes.

Now, if Amazon will offer music I can buy, download, and play on my iPod, they'll get my business. (Not exclusively, mind you. iTunes will still be my music store of choice. But having more than one choice, plus some competition is definitely helpful.)

And the argument about file sharing? Steve Jobs addressed that one in this posting. Good point. I buy my CD's legally, and they are not protected.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. It looks like the large music companies will have to defer to the changing times.

In the meantime, I plan to spend some time this weekend using my USB turntable to digitize some tunes from my vinyl collection. No copy protection there, either.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

I've come to the conclusion...

...that I am, in fact, not a redneck.

Given that I was born (and lived some of my formative years) in Texas, and exhibit a "glorious lack of sophistication," (Jeff Foxworthy's definition of redneck), I vacillated between whether I was one or not. Sometimes I took one position or the other, depending on how I would benefit.

But this week, I am convinced I do not fall on the redneck side of the line.

The defining moment? When I saw Dale Earnhardt, Jr's news conference a few days ago (the one where he announced he is leaving DEI.) My reaction: Who cares??

Actually, nothing about NASCAR interests me. I've never watched one of their races, I don't follow the standings, and I could only name a few drivers off the top of my head.

That seals the deal. I remain more comfortable in jeans than wearing a tie, I enjoy outdoor activities, I drive a pickup, I continue to consume beer, and I am often caught listening to country music.

But I am not a redneck.

I'll settle for being a good ol' boy.