A chuckle from a stranger

I'm up at my neighborhood coffee house with my laptop working on a software project. It's Tuesday night, so that means it's open mic night. The music is good tonight, as is typical. The first act is a regular guy with his acoustic guitar. He plays first every Tuesday night. He mixes original songs with some covers. It makes nice background music while working.

Tonight he played Spooky which has in it that 3 beat pause when the lyrics say "Stop". Well the first time he hit that spot I tapped on my laptop case 3 times with my index finger, filling in those 3 beats. Just wanted to do it for myself because I like to do that sort of thing. But this girl that is sitting at the counter nearby heard it, turned to look around the room, and chuckled quietly to herself. I don't know if she knows I did it - there are three of us in this area with laptops, and she can't see my hands from where she is sitting. But it still made me smile that I made a stranger chuckle.

I live for the laugh. It is a tough life, but someone has to do it.

Lyrics of the Day/Week/Month

Music is a big part of who I am. I can't make music, but I love to listen to music. I especially love listening to the lyrics and figuring out what the artist is trying to say.

Tonight while working at home on a project, I was listening to my favorite radio station. A song that I've heard a lot of recently came on. It's Can I Leave My Head by The Peculiar People Band. It's got a good hook, and some catchy lyrics in the chorus. I pulled up the lyrics on the band's website to see exactly what they were saying. My favorite part:

All the things that I believe
Are molded by the things I hear
But what I hear and what I see
I do not want inside of me

I’ll leave my head here with you
It’s all I can do
There’s so much garbage in my brain
It’s driving me insane
I need a change in my life
Another device that can change
The demise of my mind

Can I leave my head
Can I leave my head
Can I leave my head here with you?
It’s all that I
All that I can do
All that I can do
All that I can do with my head
Is to leave it here

I have an ongoing debate with a Christian friend of mine about the validity of Christian rock (alt. rock/punk/all genres) music. He is of the opinion that it is just another way for Christians to separate themselves from the world. I, however, disagree. Sure, some will do that. But others will use this new music as a way to reach out to others. Or maybe as a "substitute" for the world's music that for some reason is not a healthy thing for them. I love rock/alt. rock/punk music, but so many secular songs have lyrics or themes that I don't need to be dwelling on. It's much healthier for me to be taking in things of God vs. things of this world.

The lyrics above make my point. Especially the first passage:

All the things that I believe
Are molded by the things I hear
But what I hear and what I see
I do not want inside of me

This is exactly the reason I want to listen to Christian rock/alt. rock/punk music. What I hear and what I see shapes me - or at least has the potential to. I know what I want and what I don't want to shape me.

Another reason to love Netflix

I am a very satisfied Netflix customer. I was a member before Blockbuster had their dvd-by-mail service. Lots of things appealed to me and got me to try their service: a flat fee, handling it by mail, the "wishlist" of movies, and the fact they weren't Blockbuster.

Well, while catching up on the Hacking Netflix blog I saw this entry about how they are handling subscribers that are Katrina victims. The email said in part:

Dear Terry,

The U.S. Postal Service has let us know that postal delivery to your address has been interrupted due to Hurricane Katrina. All of us at Netflix extend our sympathies to you and your loved ones during this difficult time.

We want you to know that we have stopped billing your account and are in the process of issuing a refund of your last bill. When you are ready to resume your service, please visit the Netflix website, where you will have the option to restart deliveries. When you restart your service, your first month will be at no charge.

Am I benefiting from this? No. But I think it's a great way to run a company, and I'd like to think I'd do something similar if I were in a similar situation. And this makes me like Netflix even more.

iTunes wants to be my moral compass?

This summer I went to New Orleans with my church youth group on a mission trip as an adult volunteer. I must say I had a somewhat bad attitude the week we were there. It was in July, in New Orleans, and as it turned out I worked outside all week. On top of that, the place we were staying essentially had no air conditioning - meaning techincally it had A/C and I'm sure it helped, but I don't think the temperature ever got below 85 degrees even in the middle of the night. But by the time I got home it was a life changing experience. More on that in a future post.

All that was to lead into this - we are all aware of the recent hurricane and the devistation it brought the gulf states area. Today I got an email from iTunes. Yes, I use iTunes and have an iPod. Anyway, this email from iTunes proceeded to inform me that there are lots of people in great need, and it might be a good idea if I donated to the Red Cross. Now, when I saw the message in my inbox I was hoping it was iTunes telling me that for the next X days, they would take Y% of their proceeds from selling music and donate it to the Red Cross for disaster relief. Unfortunately, no. They just wanted to suggest I donate. I was all ready to start up iTunes and buy some new music. I haven't bought any music from them simply because I refuse to buy music in a non-portable format. But for this I would have made an exception and bought several old songs I was interested in having. As in a dozen or more. But instead they decided to be my conscience. By the way iTunes, are you still selling gansta rap?

They might never get any of my money now.