Miscellany

Pandora rocks. I've said it before, but I really enjoy it. I think the definite way to go is to use the Quickmix feature. Alison has made the observation that when she listens to a station, the music all starts to sound the same. After hearing her make that remark, I began noticing the same thing. After discovering the Quickmix, I've mainly been using that, mixing three or four of my favorite stations and continuing to tweak the songs that get sent my way. It's reached a point now where every song that heads my way is one I really enjoy. I've been listening for the past couple of hours to my Quickmix and I've only booted a handful of songs, with only one repeated tune. So cool. As I tweak a few more stations, I'll add them to the Quickmix, thus giving me more variety, but still with songs I really enjoy. Oh, and one more cool thing about Pandora, (if you have an Apple): If you have the Airport Express, and if you use a freeware program called Airfoil, you can then send streaming audio like Pandora through your home stereo system. Now THAT'S cool! (Imagine that--a positive Mac comment. What's the world coming to?) My only frustration with Pandora has been the sound quality from only using the speakers on my computer and this could take care of that.

On a chocolate note, apparently when word got to the United Way offices about my auction item, the women in the office got excited and then began asking about "the chocolate guy." The wife of a guy I know works in the office and says he has a few women from there in mind for me when I'm ready to date. Apparently some of them will be at our concert and I'm thinking they'll be stopping at the chocolate table. Maybe it's true what they say about chocolate being the way to a woman's heart. I'll let you know...

On to a Netflix recommendation: if you're a fan of Shakespeare, I recommend the Canadian show called Slings & Arrows. I heard about it on NPR and thought I'd give a try. The story surrounds a Shakespeare company set in the New Burbage Theater. It's clearly inspired by Stratford and even uses some iconic Stratford actors such as William Hutt. It's not the tamest of shows--there's some sex and some dalliances here and there, but nothing lurid since it's a network show. The Canadians apparently can say the F-word on network TV however, which doesn't bother me, but in the interest of full disclosure I figure I'd let you know that you'll hear that once or twice per episode. It's a show that's really grown on me. The characters are believable and and most are likable, though there are a few that annoy me, but that just makes it more like real life, right? The production of a major Shakespeare play in each season is the backdrop to the characters and their lives. The production then becomes a foil for their personal stories and relationships which often parallel what goes on in Shakespeare. Each season's climax centers around the production of that season's play and I've had goosebumps watching and hearing Shakespeare's words unfold. It's reminded me how brilliant Shakespeare really was. I highly recommend it.

And finally, I think I'm done messing around with my blog. I liked the red, but found it hard to read, and the black background before was even harder on the eyes. Let me know if this is a pain on your eyes, will ya?