Joanna the Imp
joanna.org

July 19, 2006

My work day started off with "Tear-Stained Letter" by Jo-El Sonnier. Fantastic song. The best thing about it, though, is that it always makes me think of Greggy at the ripe old age of 2 or so...dancing his skinny little diaper-clad behind off every time he would hear that song. That one and "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. Heh. And, now he's all grown up with good MCAT scores and applying to medical school. How can that possibly be?

Greggy's applying to medical schools and I'm getting email messages from high school buddies reminding me that it's been 26 years since we graduated. The pain of it all. Ugh.

July 18, 2006

It's so darned disconcerting. My name is posted outside my office. So, every Tom, Dick, or Harriet (must be P.C.) that walks past my office knows my name. We have about 600 students in our department. About 200 of 'em are grad students. I only work with about 20 or 25 of the grad students and know almost none of the undergrads. (And, let's be frank here: I have trouble keeping up with the 25 I work with 'cause they're mostly from foreign lands and have names that take a bit of time to settle into my addled brain.) But, I'll be walking down the hall and see a person who is undoubtedly a student in our department. I recognize that person as such 'cause I see 'em in the halls from time to time. But, I don't know 'em. 'Cause I don't work with 'em. But, they'll say, "hi, Joanna," and walk on. And, it's downright disconcerting. They know my name 'cause it's posted prominently outside my office. I say they should all wear name tags. That seems fair to me.

July 13, 2006

I was transported directly (do not pass Go, do not collect $200) to high school a few minutes ago when my iPod presented me with "Beaujolais" by The Alan Parsons Project. Stereotomy was actually released shortly after I graduated from college. I bought the cassette and the album when it came out 'cause the album came with a see-through colored vinyl envelope (blue-green on one side and red on the other) that would change the appearance of the album cover. 'Hard to explain. I guess some photos are in order:

[Stereotomy alumb cover images]

The top image is the album cover without the vinyl envelope. The lower left shows what it looks like through the blue-green side (it has a sticker slapped on the outside) and the lower right shows its appearance through the red side. Pretty wacky, eh? I just had to have the album. I bet I only played it two or three times, though, since I didn't have a turn table in my car! Heh. (I did listen to the cassette a lot, needless to say.) Once I started my CD collection, I went to pretty great lengths to make sure my APP collection was complete. The CD, just like the casette, did not come with the cool vinyl envelope.

Getting back to high school. The Alan Parsons Project was the main band I listened to back then. So, whenever I hear an APP song, I think of high school, regardless of whether or not I actually heard the song in high school.

I just checked and found that I have 114 songs by Alan Parsons and The Alan Parsons Project on my iPod. For a very long time, my APP collection far surpassed any other artist. Not so any longer. Here are the top 10 non-Alan Parsons artists on my iPod:

Yikes! My buddy Cyrus joined us for dinner the other night. At the ripe old age of 12, he's very impressed with the number of songs on my iPod. He commented that he'd like to have my iPod. And, I pointed out that he'd probably only like about 5% of my collection so it would mostly be wasted on him. After thinking about it for a moment, he decided it might be even less than 5%...more like 1%! But, I don't think so. Despite the fact that the bulk of my "high-volume" artists are made up of Folk and Country artists, only about 60% of my entire collection has that make-up. Surely, there are 50 or so songs in my collection he might enjoy, eh? It seems highly likely.

My, but I can ramble, eh? I was just gonna point out that an Alan Parsons song played on my iPod. But, that wasn't good enough. No. I had to dig out the old album and snap photos. And, then things just took off. Kinda scary the way the old brain works. Ah well...

July 11, 2006

iPod song of the day: "Ladies For Compassionate Lynching" by Chumbawamba. Yep. Really. Heh heh.

And (this has nothing to do with music, by the way), from Baseball Crank: Our Long Nightmare is Over. 'Made me laugh.

July 10, 2006

"Lovesick Blues" by George Strait. That's how my day started out today. I really really like George Strait. And this song always makes me wish he'd do more re-makes of the classics. Sigh...

And, much much later in the day: "Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelberg. Heh heh. I can't remember the last time I heard that song. It always makes me think of college, though. I can't imagine why. I guess the song came out while I was in college. But, I don't know that I ever really listened to it that much. I'm pretty sure I never owned a tape by Dan Fogleberg (back in the dark ages before CDs). I suppose it could've been on one of those "Soft Rock of the 80s" collections...or something like that. I think I actually bought the version on my iPod from the iTunes music store in one of my nostalgic fits of fancy. Heh.

The mellow Dan Fogelberg tune was immediately followed by the up-beat "Vamos a Bailar" by the Gipsy Kings. So, all was put right. Whew.

And, now...as I get ready to leave for home, "Dirty Little Secret" by Sarah McLachlan is playing. We've gone all somber. Is it a sign? I'm gonna say it is, post this, and head off to Central Market to get some fixin's for homemade soup. Toodles...

June 29, 2006

One of the absolute best things that can happen to a person is to get to work, start their iPod up, and be presented with s song from the bluehouse. That's what happened to me this morning. What a way to start the day. Yes!

And, you wanna know what the next song was? "Lonely Girls" by Lucinda Williams. Life is good in the land of my iPod.

By the way, I'm wearing my tie-dye smiley face t-shirt today. I do that in order to lull my enemies into a false sense of security.

By the way #2, I have no idea what that means. I'm just feeling silly. Maybe it's the big smiley face I'm wearing.

Later in the day my iPod presented me with "Blame it on Your Heart" by Patty Loveless. "Someone's gonna do you like you done me, honey. And, when she does you like she'll do you, it ain't funny. You'll need some sympathy, but don't be callin' me. Hey, blame it on your lyin' cheatin' cold dead-beatin' two-timin' double-dealin' mean mistreatin' lovin' heart." Heh heh heh. 'Gotta love that song!

June 27, 2006

The fire alarm went off at work today. But, it only rang three times before going silent. I was asked a couple of years ago to be the fire marshall for my floor. That means, I'm supposed to walk around and make sure everyone evacuates. I wasn't sure what to do since the alarm stopped ringing. My duties were only vaguely sketched out to me when I was asked to take on the job of 4th floor fire marshall. Since I wasn't sure, I went ahead and told everyone to leave. Only two were on their way out. By the time I got downstairs, the only people outside the building were the ones I'd told to leave. So, I checked in the office and sure enough, the receptionist was sitting at her desk. I asked her what was up and she said it was a false alarm. I don't really know what that means. Was someone working on the system and they set it off? We're always warned when there are plans to work on major building systems so that we aren't surprised if there's no hot water...or if the fire alarm goes off intermittently. No such warning today. Shrug. I went back out and told everyone they could return to their offices. Then, I sent a note to the building safety officer and asked for clarification on what I should do when the alarm sounds for but a few cycles. Sigh...

June 25, 2006

My phone just rang and here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hello.

Anonymous woman: Is this the place where y'all sell kayaks?

Me (laughing): No. Sorry, this is a private residence.

Anonymous woman: Oh, sorry. Bye.

Heh heh. Kayaks? Ahhhh...I'm still laughing.

June 23, 2006

iPod note for the day: as I type, "Billy Bayou" by Jim Reeves is picking up the mood in my office. "You're walking on quicksand and you walk slow." Heh heh. I cannot stop smiling.

June 16, 2006

Uh-oh. Now, we're in trouble. Mom has started blogging!

June 14, 2006

I'm working late today and just had one of those goofy iPod moments. A couple of oldies that really make me think of my childhood and those reel-to-reel tapes Mom used to make just played back-to-back. The songs? "Rollin' with the Flow" by Charlie Rich and "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." by Donna Fargo. Heh. I'll wager most of you have no idea what either of those songs sound like. And, that maybe you've heard of Charlie Rich. Maybe. But, you have no idea who Donna Fargo is. 'Gotta love it!

By the way, if you go to that Donna Fargo link above, the song I mention starts streaming as soon as the page loads. As of this posting at any rate.

By the way #2: As I was about to post this, "The Fireman" by George Strait started playing. Sigh...what fun. 'Makes working late seem not so bad.

June 7, 2006

Hijacking Haditha by Michael Yon. Please read the whole thing.

joanna@joanna.org
URL: http://www.joanna.org/archive/Jun2006-Jul2006.html
Last updated: July 19, 2006