I bought my 43rd song from iTunes tonight (since last April when the store opened). I wondered if a person's buying patterns said anything about his/her taste in music--for instance, here's my list so far:

1 Chamber of Horror by Rick Wakeman
2 Crime of Passion by Rick Wakeman
3 Statue of Justice by Rick Wakeman
4 One of These Days by Pink Floyd
5 I'm a Believer (Radio) by Smash Mouth
6 Buried Alive by Rick Wakeman
7 I'm Not in Love by 10cc
8 Undun by The Guess Who
9 The Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini
10 Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
11 Tiny Dancer by Elton John
12 Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters by Elton John
13 Christmas Celebration by Roomful of Blues
14 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan
15 White Christmas by Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters
16 Merry Christmas Baby by B.B. King
17 A Visit from St. Nicholson by Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio
18 MacArthur Park by Maynard Ferguson
19 Drift Away by Uncle Kracker (Doobie Brothers cover)
20 Do You Believe in Magic? by The Lovin' Spoonful
21 Atlantis by Donovan
22 In the Mood by The Glenn Miller Orchestra
23 Nostalgia by Yanni
24 What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers
25 Hold the Line by Toto
26 Sweet Talkin' Woman by Electric Light Orchestra
27 Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
28 Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) by Bruce Springsteen
29 What a Wonderful World (Single) by Louis Armstrong
30 Sara by Fleetwood Mac
31 Procession by The Moody Blues
32 The Story in Your Eyes by The Moody Blues
33 The Ballroom Blitz by Sweet
34 Fox on the Run by Sweet
35 Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears
36 It's My Life by No Doubt
37 Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows & Vanessa Carlton
38 She's Right on Time by Billy Joel
39 No Surrender by Bruce Springsteen
40 Stay Up Late by Talking Heads
41 Darlington County by Bruce Springsteen
42 Downbound Train by Bruce Springsteen
43 Baby, I Love Your Way (Live) by Peter Frampton

Apart from the Christmas songs, some of these are my musical tastes, but some are just me filling holes in my CD collection with songs I never owned. Some are old songs from my childhood that I'd only heard on the radio. One I bought for my wife (marching band stuff--can you guess which one?).

They're all songs I enjoy though, so I guess they stand for my tastes, for better or worse. Of course, some artists aren't yet on iTunes for me to buy, like Spandau Ballet--but like Kevin said, deservedly so.(grin)

Denise and I just finished watching the extended DVD "bootleg" edition of Almost Famous. It's truly an awesome movie. I can't quite put my finger on why, unless it would be the tone and feeling of the film, and the amazing performances of Patrick Fugit, Billy Cruddup, Jason Lee, Frances McDormand, and of course Kate Hudson. Cameron Crowe really outdid himself with this one, although Say Anything was one of my top twenty as well (I haven't seen Vanilla Sky yet).

It's one of the best movies I've seen in recent years--in fact, it has to be in my top ten. I highly recommend it, even if you can't get the extended edition (hey, I got it for $12 on Amazon with $2 shipping from the Used and New--and it was brand new, factory sealed).

My dad came out of his surgery successfully. They put two stents in one artery, another stent in a second artery, and left the third artery for next week. If it was anyone else, or any other practice, he probably wouldn't have had the option to get the stents instead of having oopen heart. As it is, he has about run the gamut of this technique--Dad has five stents in now, and one more next week. He's feeling better already, though. His one artery was over 95% closed (almost completely closed, the doctor said) and once the stent is in you feel better immediately with the restored blood flow.

More later--I'm wiped, and I just had to fight the snow all the way back from Philly to home...

Take a look at this. Amphibious party time!

On second hand, the price tag may be just a wee bit out of my league...

Drew and Alyssa told me today on the phone that they got "cool spinning motor toothbrushes" because the dentist said it would be good for them.

Man, someday when I grow up I want cool, spinning, motorized toothbrushes too. Turbocharged, even. With, like, chrome trim and stuff. Yeah--that would be awesome.

(Y'know, the sad part is that when I wrote that last paragraph, I began to hear it in Strong Bad's voice. I'm becoming too conditioned....)

In a relative sense, of course. It looks like only one cord has torn free on the valve in his heart--there are a number of cords holding the valve in place, like a parachute. So they think that he's better off with what he has than trying for a replacement valve. So they don't recommend open heart surgery for that issue.

The other main issue is that all three of the main arteries leading from his heart are partially blocked--about 70%. The good news is that two of them are in straight sections of their respective arteries, and the other blockage is not curved very tightly. This means that he has the option to get three stents instead of open heart surgery with bypasses.

With stents, they stick a tiny cylindrical cage on the tip of an angioplasty balloon and insert it up an artery from his leg. When it gets to the right spot up near his heart, they expand the stent and it stays there, becoming the new artery wall with new tissue growing around it. With open heart surgery, they break open your chest to reroute your arteries. Both are very successful, but three guesses which one my dad is opting for.

Well, perhaps more news tomorrow. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and my dad has an almost obscenely quick recovery like the last two times ('91 and '99).

He's avoided open heart twice now by getting stents (the first time in 1991, when he talked his way into being part of the original research study for stents with Johnson & Johnson). This time, we dont' yet know if he'll have a choice. It really depends on his test tomorrow and what it tells about a valve in his heart. Regardless, I think he should consider retiring. He's almost 63, although he looks waaaay younger. He's working all kinds of crazy hours at his job, and the stress seems to be getting worse there every year.

Hmmm. Re-reading that last sentence, maybe I should think about retirement too.

Sorry I haven't posted regularly in the last six months--work is still crushing us. We hit over two thousand tech requests for the 03-04 school year at Christmas break, a 21% increase over last year (and a 71% increase over 00-01, the last time we added any tech support staff). So it's pretty grueling (I tend to work at night from home, since I can connect to the the network from there--so time for the weblog has been cut down). Luckily, my boss is awesome and we're putting two positions in the tentative budget for next year to handle the extra load. Hope they get funded.

At any rate, here's a great site to see which presidential candidate you match best with:

http://www.presidentmatch.com

Try it even if you're Republican--the results may be interesting!

Strange but true news story: Boy crawls into stuffed animal game machine, gets stuck inside.

Thanks to Neil Gaiman for the link.

So I say to Alyssa and Drew at the dinner table, "OK, you guys need to settle down now. You're at the dinner table--sit straight and eat right."

They giggle.

I try again. "I'm serious. If you don't settle down, I will punish you. I don't like it, but I won't hesitate if I have to. I actually feel very sad when I punish you, even though I act angry."

And, as I look at Drew, I hear Alyssa behind me: "Good acting."

You know, as a parent you completely lose control of situations like these when you bust out laughing.

Drew: Daddy, can I take my stick horse to the farm show with me?

Me: Your what?

Drew: The stick with the horsie head on it. The one I play with.

Me: Oh, OK. Maybe, Drew. Why?

Drew: Because Mommy said no, and then she told me she didn't want to talk about it again any more.

Me: Hmm. Something tells my that no matter how many times you ask each of us, I know what my answer will be now.

(I know what side my bread is buttered on...)

You know, it's out for Windows now too--I have it on my Mac and my Windows XP machine. It rocks, and the iTunes music store is great. Check it out--hey, it's free. My dad installed it one night and burned his first CD of songs from the iTunes music store the next morning.

http://www.itunes.com (click on the downloads link)

Drew (in conversation): Yeah, Daddy. We need to see that movie, the really cool looking one.

Me: What movie?

Drew: You know, the cool one (pauses for dramatic emphasis)--Scarfield.

Me: Wow--what action film is that?

Drew: Daddy! The one we saw on the computer with the cat. You know, Scarfield!

Me: Ah--Drew, I think you just came up with a much more interesting movie than the one that'll be in the theaters...

It isn't just because of the "Daddy, I'm still hungry. I just really wasn't into the pizza."

Or (showing Drew how to draw something) "OK, Drew--watch and learn."

Look at how small it is.

I'm watching that poker show on the Bravo network (for lack of anything better to do--it's basically on while I'm on the 'Net). Man, that Mimi Rogers is a real poker player. Denise didn't believe me that Mimi was Tom Cruise's first wife way back when (for, like, ten minutes).

Cool.

Just take a look at this guy's life.

I picked up a movie for the kids Friday--it was an obscure title from almost forty years ago called The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Wow--was it that long ago? It was a nice flick about a man who falls into the ocean and becomes an animated fish--you know, the kind of thing that happens every day in real life, right? I first saw it when I was four, so I thought the kids would like it. Drew asked a lot of questions, so I knew he liked it. Alyssa said it was weird and it would never happen in real life, but she liked it.

One odd thing--I don't think the two female roles in the movie would ever pass in today's society--they're both "stay at home and wait for the man to get things done" roles (at least the Ladyfishg role is). It's funny to see how things were taken for granted then.

Bob's Predictions for 2004 (and his wrapup for 2003). Bob's always a good read.

I don't know if they're irritating, but it's interesting to see phrases enter the lexicon.

I keep forgetting that 2004 is already here--it seems like the new year just blended in with the one just past....

I have to say, this is the most relaxing vacation I can remember in years. We did nothing but nest at home and with family--it's the first time in a year that the house has become halfway decently clean.

Even work has been a vacation these past two weeks. We got some critical projects done without the @#$#@ phone ringing off the hook. No one in the halls to flag me down with a million questions while I'm desperately trying to get something finished. Ahhhh.

I'm ready for the roller coaster to begin next week. Of course, by Tuesday I could have a completely different viewpoint.