Archive for January, 2010

Excitement has changed.

January 18th, 2010 | 1 Comment | Personal

Today (January 18, 2010) my wife Kristi and I heard something no one else has ever heard before: The heartbeat of our child! It was one of those profound moments I’m sure I’ll never forget. Today we’re starting to tell people the news. Below are some thoughts from before we wanted to break the news.

January 12th: My kid is making facial expressions and possibly sucking his or her thumb. He, she or they are the size of a lemon.

December 29th: Today Kristi found out that her cravings “haven’t even started yet”. If that’s true we’re in big trouble.

November 27th: I’ve always been a bit of a nerd; and nothing was more exciting than finding something new. A new idea, a new toy, or a new piece of the work-flow process. It’s all over. This week I ordered a new Mac Book Pro and new Google Android phone. Sure, I’m happy about it; but it’s not that big of a deal. I’m going to be a Daddy. No gadget / computer / website / music / anything will ever excite me like it used to. Family is colour, all else is sepia tone.

Top5 Tracks for the week of 01/13/2010

January 13th, 2010 | Comment | Top5

  1. Spoon – Written in Reverse
  2. The xx – Islands
  3. Dead Weather – I cut like a buffalo (version II)
  4. David Bowie – Man Who Sold The World
  5. Social Studies – Casanova Part I & II

2009 Releases

January 7th, 2010 | Comment | Music

I feel that last year I was slightly less in touch with music than normal.

This may be largely in part to not living in my own place for the last quarter (and thus going really gently on the Internet bandwidth). My last.fm account shows me listening to comforting and familiar songs over the last 12 months, and so I don’t really have ten albums listed in my top ten; even when I went easy on myself and allowed older albums in.

I love getting retrospective and making lists; and I especially benefit from other lists. Pitchfork does an annual wrap up where I generally discover something awesome that I missed. The best find so far is a band from the UK called The xx. If you feel like I’m missing something else comment me up, and drop a link for streaming.

Favourite band of 2009: Dr. Dog

Top Ten (discovered) 2009 Albums:

7. Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts
6. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
5. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
4. Lackthereof – Your Anchor
3. Menomena – I am the fun blame monster
2. Los Campesinos! – Hold on
1. Dr. Dog –  Easy Beat

Top Ten 2009 Songs:

I gotta think about this…

Top5 Tracks for the week of 01/07/2010

January 7th, 2010 | Comment | Top5

  1. Feist + Beck – Weighted Down
  2. Bear Country – Liars and Deceivers
  3. The xx – Crystalised
  4. White Rabbits – Percussion Gun
  5. Them Crooked Vultures – New Fang

New Years Resolutions

January 4th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

Well, Twenty Ten is here. Last year was the shortest perceived year of my life. Twelve months ago my resolution was simply to “Be Better”. This is ridiculously subjective, so at the risk of sounding shady I will call it a success.

This year my resolution is to “Be More”. So far so good.

Included in my mental list is more writing (namely for sixrevisions.com, and other maybe eventually journals in my field) as well as more time away from the computer.