The Memories Are Slipping

I had the most brilliant idea for a blog idea tonight while I was on the phone with my Mom and even discussed it in detail with her. After hanging up the phone and eating dinner I can now no longer remember my exciting blog idea. I called Mom back, she is at a complete loss as well. Her motherly advice is "Now SJ, don't loose sleep over this. I will call you at 3 a.m. when I remember what it is". What would I do without my Mom who will loose sleep for me and call me with our forgotten blog topic in the wee hours of the night!

Enjoy ~SJ

SJ Cuts The Cable!

Yesterday was a monumental day for me on many fronts. One of the largest steps forward for me was my cancellation of my cable TV service. Now I am still going to use Time Warner Cable for my phone and internet connection, just not TV. I can live with no cable, but don't take my internet away! Canceling the cable has been an idea that I have been tossing around for several weeks now. I hardly ever watch it, and spend most of my free time reading or surfing the internet. When I do want to watch something on my amazingly large TV complete with surround sound I simply pop in one of the DVD's that I got in the mail from Netflix, watch one of the shows I downloaded from iTunes, or stream a show off from the internet. Ahh, the convinces of modern technology!

Enjoy ~SJ

Where are they coming from?

Ok, so I know I have written about this before, but my stats on Stat Counter are confusing me! Apparently I have gotten over 100 hits from some ifo Apple Store site. All of these people have come in and read my article on my experience at the Apple Store. I have scoured the website and can't find how people are finding me. If anyone know how or where people are finding me I would love to know. Just another one of the great blogging mysteries!

Jeepers, Creepers Where'd You Get Them

PEEPERS!

I fell asleep humming Lous Armstrong's "Jeepers Creepers" song listening to the peepers outside. To me, one of the first real signs that we are headed out of winter and into summer is the arrival of peepers at night. Between the light sounds of rain falling, the refreshing scent of fresh air coming in through the window, and the peepers, I had a wonderful nights sleep.

On a side note, ""Jeepers Creepers" is a popular 1938 song and jazz standard. The music was written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for the movie Going Places. It was premiered by Louis Armstrong, and has since been covered by dozens of other artists". (wikipedia)

Enjoy ~SJ

Great New Tunes!

A friend of the Music Man's suggested that I check out a website called Pandora Music. Turns out it is my new favorite website. Here is a quote from the website:

The Music Genome Project

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever.

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Since we started back in 2000, we've carefully listened to the songs of tens of thousands of different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.

It has been quite an adventure, you could say a little crazy - but now that we've created this extraordinary collection of music analysis, we think we can help be your guide as you explore your favorite parts of the music universe.

It truly is amazing! I plugged in a few of my favorite artists and within seconds I was listening to all sorts of new bands as well as a few old favorites. It is like listening to the my iTunes library on shuffle, but with music that I haven't even heard yet.

Enjoy ~SJ

Remember Me? Blogging Book Tag!

As I mentioned in an earlier post there has been a little game of book blogger tag. Beth won a book from Book Babie and passed it on to me. Well, the book sat on my night stand for a few weeks, and I took advantage of my vacation to finish it.

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella was a wonderful way to escape from my own world into the exciting and at times confusing world of someone with amnesia. The choices that we make in life to get ahead, and the lives that we chose to live our well laid out my Kinsella, and she is on my must read list for the rest of the summer.

In the fashion and blogging, I am passing this book on to another fellow blogger, Rach. I am sure that she will enjoy it as well. I have included the following directions along with our blog addresses:

Congratulations! You are the proud recipient of a well traveled book from a line of bloggers. You have been selected to read the book and pass it on to another fellow blogger. Once you have finished reading the book, please post a blog about it, including links back to the previous readers. Also, please post a comment on the previous readers blogs so that they can see how far the book has traveled!

Enjoy ~SJ

One More Bit of News

Ok, I know I have blogged a lot today, but I got a little behind on vacation. In my lack of email checking, I just discovered tonight the following email from my graduate professor in regards to my portfolio:

Hi! You passed!

Those two words sum it all up, I passed, and now I am officially finished with my graduate degree! What a relief! Anyone have any hobby suggestions for me?

Enjoy ~SJ

The Joy's of Vacation

I will have to admit that after getting caught up on all of the RVB blogs, it seems that we have all had very exciting and refreshing vacations, with maybe a little too much to blog about. Can't wait until we all get back to work when I won't have so many exciting blogs to read and stay caught up on. See you Monday!

Enjoy ~SJ

New Hit!

You've got to love Stat Counter! I got a new hit from a new country (or maybe it was Beth on vacation in Chile)! No matter what, it is always nice to see people reading from all across the world.

Enjoy ~SJ

Ice Out - For Real!

After spending an amazing week at the ocean in Massachusetts, the ice has gone out at Worthley Pond. I'm not sure what day it happened, but the view always amazes me for the first few weeks after ice out. Yesterday was no exception!

Enjoy ~SJ

Outrageous!

Gas prices have reached an all new outrageous high! Over $80 for about 22 gallons of gas! All the more reason to ride the scooter when I can.

Enjoy ~SJ

Spring Inspiration

After an afternoon of raking with the Music Man, I went around and took a few pictures of the spring bloom. It is amazing how quickly the seasons change!

Enjoy ~SJ

My Feet

SJ's feet on vacation in the ocean at Humarock. It was chilly, but worth the picture.

Enjoy ~SJ

Mike's Pastry

A trip into Boston's North End is never complete without a trip to Mike's for a cannoli or two. Mike's Pastry is the landmark pastry shop of the North End, and I have frequented it many times in my years of living in Boston. My Mom would always get excited when she would see me get off the bus from Boston with the trademark white and blue box, tied of course by hand with blue and white string.

On a trip into the city the Music Man and I met a dear friend for dinner in the North End finished off with a trip to Mike's. We were so full after our amazing dinner of seafood and pasta that the cannoli's are still sitting in the fridge awaiting consumption. I think I had enough calories yesterday just from standing in line at Mike's awaiting my turn at the large glass case, drooling over the overwhleming number of choices. In the end I got the ol' standby, some chocolate covered cannoli's, and some regular cannoli's, as well as a new treat, apple cinnamon puff pastries as recommended by the Mike's employee.


Enjoy (I know that I will!) ~SJ

CSI: Humarock, Special Felines Unit

So the Great Paper Mystery has had yet another hit! Only this time in another resort community. It seems that the Toilet Paper Shredder seems to enjoy shredding toilet paper during the night, while The Feeders are asleep. The list of suspects is getting shorter, and with the CSI Humarock team coming in this afternoon to do some feline claw analysis this case should be cracked by high tide.

Enjoy ~SJ

Apple Store!

Yesterday was my first experience with a real live Apple Store! Being an avid Mac user for several years (I kicked the PC habit a few years back for the stability and cool i-family of tools), I felt as though I had died and gone to heaven when I walked into the store! The first amazing "toy" that caught my eye was the new MacBook Air, which has been advertised that it can fit inside a manilla envelope. Well I think that you can fit that laptop in there along with several important documents, that's how thin it is!















The Music Man and I were at the Apple Store not for myself (although Santa should start taking notes), we were there to get a "tricked out" black MacBook so the Music Man can record his gigs and stuff. After over an hour of endless questions on out end, and wonderfully interesting questions on our personal shoppers end (yes, you can sign up for a time and have a personal shopper help you with your purchase!) the Music Man walked out of the store the proud new owner of his own Mac! It was an exciting moment! The best news that our personal shopper V told us is that an Apple Store will be opening in Maine within the next few months!














Enjoy ~SJ

VACATION!

I think the title of this sums up how wonderful I am feeling! I'm on vacation, doing some cat/house sitting in a wonderful little ocean community in Massachusetts. Only one saying comes to mind "Life is good"! The Music Man, Stanley, Phoebe and I all arrived last night after what seemed to be the longest day of school ever. Upon arriving the Music Man agreed (after we ran up over the dune and onto the beach) that we really were in paradise, and was thrilled that I convinced him to come down after school, and not Saturday morning. Phoebe had a very lovely drive down, and slept most of the time in her carrier. Stanley on the other paw, even with his new and larger accommodations still didn't enjoy himself all that much, what you have to go through to enjoy a little paradise ever now and then.














I thought that we were going to be "un-connected" all week, but I just discovered that we can pick up someones unlocked wireless signal. Thank the internet god, what would I do if I had no internet for a week! The Music Man is rationing my internet time, since it is vacation and there is a little slice of paradise waiting for us just outside the door!

Enjoy ~SJ

He's Too Fat!

The Music Man just called to inform me why Stanley doesn't like his cat carrier so much, he is just too fat to fit in it. Maybe this explains why he hates getting in it so much, and why he fights so much to get out of it. So, the Music Man being the new cat lover that he is, went out and purchased Stanley a new, larger cat carrier. Now I feel like one of those parents who has to go out and buy the oversized car seats because their child is obese! I guess my "little" orange boy is going on a diet, anyone know of a great gym for cats?


Enjoy ~SJ

Conant Lake

So while on my first scooter ride of the season I went for a little drive past Conant farm to take in the views of the newest swimming hole in Canton, Conant Lake.

















After enjoying the views I scooted over to D.U. to get my one gallon of gas for the scooter. I went all out for my little hot rod and got the high grade gas! At over 100 miles per gallon I can really splurge!














Enjoy ~SJ

Ice Out!

Here is the view from the Outlet at Worthley Pond!

















Just kidding! Here is the real view.















Enjoy ~SJ