Friday, May 05, 2006

Dis an dat...

What kind of crap is this? I don't have to work and it's cloudy? Yesterday was golden, today is dross. I hope, at least, tomorrow is nice.

Okay, I feel better.

Just a few thoughts...

My job is pretty boring. There's not a lot to it, that's for sure. Okay, that's not entirely true. There is a lot to it, but the basic day-to-day is pretty easy. So, I have long chunks of time that I now fill with Boris (my little black iPod).

Boris and I have a bit of an arrangement. He plays me what I want to hear and I do my best not to scratch his face. It's not as easy as it sounds, by the way.

I'm not sure how Boris feels about my listening habits, but I usually listen to whole albums instead of shuffling tunes. It's just easier to put something on and not worry about fiddling with buttons. Since, I have too weird a collection of music - everything from ABBA to George Strait, Gang of Four to The Clash, Black Flag to Mahler - I wouldn't even want to deal with the mix that would hit my ears. I know, I could make some playlists, but I'm too lazy for that.

Anyway, big chunks of music it is. Last night, it was Nouvelle Vague and Mark Knopfler...I was in a mellow mood.

The best part isn't the music, even though that's pretty awesome. The best part is that Boris can be a bit of a professor. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I have to say that I love this technology. It can be an incredible learning tool and it can be entertaining. I've been through lectures on most of the early Byzantine emperors, for example. I also listen to a weekly surfing podcast, chock full of stoke, dudes, and Bettys.

A couple of nights ago, I listened to a discourse on the Diamond Cutter Sutra by a well-know Buddhist monk, Lama Zopa. Before that, the Dalai Lama tried to teach me to deal with feelings of anger...it's taking some time to sink in.

Today I found some more that I liked. Useful Sounds is a podcast done by a German girl, Nicole Simon. Useful Sounds is in English. It's fun to hear a European take on things and her accent is great. She's got another one that she does in German, gnak.de.

In the cast I just heard she talks about how un-Continental the American continental breakfast is and laughs at herself for mispronouncing soccer as sucker.

Another German one is Sushiradio.de. I just found a crazy good accapela group through this podcast, U-Bahn Kontrollore, and that made me happy.

Of course, I'm still a fan of Annik Rubens and her Schlaflos in Munchen podcast, but hers are all pretty short ones - usually about three minutes. Sometimes short is nice, but other times only a big, long one will do. What? No need to perv out now...

Seeing this on the screen, I'm confronted with my utter love of commas. I can't, it seems, get enough of them. It's possible I've even used some of them properly. Only a copy editor can tell for sure.

13 comments:

tshsmom said...

I wish I could listen to an iPod while working. Tuning out disgruntled customers would be nirvana!

The Zombieslayer said...

One question though. Why Boris? Named after Yeltsin? Natasha's spy partner? Some other reference that's going over my head?

Shawn said...

Tmom - Yeah...those darn customers can be pretty pesky.

ZSlayer - Not entirely sure...but once I figured it out, it seemed like a good name for him. I never doubted he was he and I suppose he could be named after the Russian rocker Boris Grebenshikov.

By the way, two of my hard drives were named Boris and Natasha before they got upgraded to bigger ones and now they're Sigfried and Roy.

143 said...

I too, love commas, and I, being such a huge, unapologetic fan of said commas, enjoy using them inappropriately and whenever possible, especially to create longwinded, uninteresting, and irrelevant comments on the blogs of like-minded, comma hearting folks. Comma, Comma, Comma...

(Comma induced coma starting now)

Shawn said...

Bits - That was, in a word, commatastic! I heart comma girls.

Laura said...

"Boris and I have a bit of an arrangement. He plays me what I want to hear and I do my best not to scratch his face. It's not as easy as it sounds, by the way."

I got a great case for mine, it's hard plastic that covers the face and leaves the ports and the wheel open. I beat the hell outta mine too - and the case helps.

Laura said...

whoops, that link was for the nano case - they make them in Boris' size too.

Shawn said...

L - I've got a flip front case for him that is pretty cool. But, I carry him in my back pocket all the time and that's enough to rub parts of the case across his face. Mostly he's got some scuffage in a couple of spots. A hard case would definitely give more protection.

143 said...

I forgot to mention that I used to think there was a Culture Club song that went...

comma, comma, comma, comma, comma-chameeeeeleon

A lizard that loves to punctuate. Genius level lyrics.

Shutting up now...

Shawn said...

Tee hee...

Miranda said...

*brings you some sunshine and a rainbow* Sorry for the clouds!
You can have my sunshine if you take the heat with it ;).

Shawn said...

Okay...fair dinkem. I'll take the sunshine and the heat. Thanks.

The Zombieslayer said...

Ha ha. Good hard drive names. Natasha by the way is kind of sexy.