One Hit Wonders

A fun little recap of "one-hit wonders" over the past 25 years (groups that had one hugely popular song and then nothing else):

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/74387/chart-watch-extra-one-hit-wonders

I LOVE one-hit wonders, in fact I have an entire playlist on my iPod made up of just that. I don't like them BECAUSE they're one-hit wonders, I think I like them because they're unique and often don't fit into a typical category or sound. The same is true of groups that occasionally do a song that is totally out-of-character for the group. The biggest example that comes to mind is "Friday I'm In Love" by The Cure - I don't generally like music by The Cure, but I liked that song. And I generally don't like stuff by "Cake" either, but they did a whole album ("Comfort Eagle") that was completely different than the rest of their stuff, and I loved it.

There was even a (fictional) movie made about one-hit wonders, called "That Thing You Do", one of my all-time favorite movies, about a fictional 60s band called, appropriately, "The Wonders" and their quick rise to and fall from stardom. Fantastic movie and I love the song too.

So, one-hit wonders...we salute you!

Prime

Yes, today is my birthday, and in mathematical terms I'm "in my prime" because my age is now a prime number :) I won't tell you which one, but if you know the general range of my age, you can probably guess.

A shout out to my friend Amber, who was born on the exact same day and year as me, in the same state, and born 3 minutes after me - we didn't know each other until a few years ago, and have been birthday buddies ever since.

One of the perks of birthdays for me is that by registering my email address with the 3 main coffee shops I go to (Caribou, Starbucks, and Dunn Brothers), I get a free drink on my birthday. Which means I have to have 3 coffee drinks on my birthday. But you can never have too much coffee right? So I started the morning with a Caribou White Chocolate Mocha...79g of carbs...I haven't had 79g of carbs IN A DAY since I started the Atkins diet 22 weeks ago (btw, I've lost 28 lbs now!) My body may go into sugar shock...I don't plan to get 3 mochas, I'll use the other drinks for something less sugary.

I am fortunate my birthday landed on a Wednesday this year because this week I have class Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, Rochester PrideFest (IBM table) Saturday, not to mention work and homework. And given that we're leaving next Thursday evening for Maine for 5 days, I have two papers for school to have done before I leave, plus a project on Tuesday. So...I'm going to enjoy today! Early dinner with my cousins, later dinner with my friends.

OK, the sugar is setting in....too jittery to keep typing... :)

Electronic Rights

An interesting article about a trial going on where the prosecution is arguing that the defendant is required to decrypt their hard drive:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20078312-281/doj-we-can-force-you-to-decrypt-that-laptop/

This is another case of laws not keeping up with technology - a problem that's going to get more and more prevalent as time goes on. I personally think that encryption is out there, it's going to be everywhere, and the government trying to stop it, have backdoors, or force a defendant to have to decrypt something isn't really going to work.

Good thought for the day

Thanks to my most previous mortgage consultant, Dan Bieber, for this one (and btw, if you are ever looking for a mortgage person when buying or re-financing, I'd highly recommend Dan Bieber, he was fantastic to work with!)

"If you have a tendency to brag, just remember it's not the whistle that pulls the train." - O.F. Nichols

Dallas!

Oh boy...I hate to admit that I'm WAY more excited about this than I should be....

http://news.yahoo.com/era-dallas-headed-tnt-next-summer-184534705.html

I grew up watching Dallas with my parents and grandparents, I remember people having "Who Shot J.R." parties during that season. I watched them again when TNN re-ran them in 1997, and more recently on TNT somewhere around 2007. At some point I want to get the DVDs when they get dirt cheap.

Why do I like this show? Much of the later seasons aren't even that good - after "the dream season" it went downhill quickly, and the last season shouldn't have even happened. But it still has this quirky 80s appeal...and it's about as opposite of reality TV as you can get, so maybe that's another reason I like it. Or maybe I secretly want to be a Texas oil baron (yeah right!)

Anyway...I don't have satellite or cable anymore, but I'm guessing I will be able to stream it from somewhere this fall.

Happy 4th - freedoms that we fight for

I wish everyone a safe and blessed 4th of July today as our country turns 235 years old. I have many wonderful family memories of past July 4th days as I know many people do. (For those of you not in Minnesota, I hope you have as nice a weather weekend as we have had here, today looks to be absolutely beautiful!)

I saw this article among CNN's headlines yesterday, about a soldier, Andrew Wilfahrt from Minnesota who served and tragically died in Afghanistan. He was very intelligent and highly respected and liked by his superiors and peers. He was also gay, and is believed to be the first gay soldier to die in combat after the lift of the DADT military ban by congress.

Just this summer, the Minnesota legislature voted to place an amendment on the 2012 ballot to bar same-sex marriage in Minnesota (and a reminder that there is already a Minnesota law that bans same-sex marriage on the books). People like Corporal Wilfahrt, gay Americans who are serving (and dying) to protect our country's freedoms are not allowed to return home and have the freedom to marry the person they love. They are barred from the very freedoms they are dying to protect. I hope people consider this next November when they're casting their ballots and voting on this amendment.