CDs listened to today:

• Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Flute
  
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
  
• Olivier Messiaen: La Mort du Nombre
  
• OK Go: Oh No
  
• Thomas Adès: Arcadiana
  
• Johann Strauss: Tales of the Vienna Woods, disk 1
  

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Totally Hits 3
  
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates
  
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
  
• Herbert: Scale
  
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances (WoO 13)
  
• Johann Strauss: Tales of the Vienna Woods
  
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
  

This is the definition of irony.

I was watching an ABC news report about a program in Michigan where a medical school is re-training laid-off auto workers for jobs in nursing. Of course, the health-care industry is on the rise and the report mentioned that experts predict a shortage of nurses of the next few years. Meanwhile, the staggering growth of the cost of our nation's health care is one of the key factors that's been crippling the American auto industry (well, that and the fact that they make cars that most people don't want--but cost more for less quality). So naturally, these folks are jumping to the growth industry… The one that helped consume their former employers. Some days, it seems like our health-care industry is going to swallow our economy whole; that we'll all wind up doing nothing but working to take care of each other, rather than making things.

CDs listened to today:

• Kai Winding: The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones
• Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets, disk 5
  

You've got to be kidding me.

I was checking the Apple site to see when my new iPod Shuffle was shipped and saw the most absurd thing. The shipping method was "DHL/US Postal". And what does that mean? It means that DHL was paid to truck my package from Elk Grove, CA to Union City, CA and then hand off the package to the Post Office distribution center. Google tells me that's about 105 miles, so they pay DHL and then DHL gets a branded mention because Apple got some discount?

CDs listened to today:

• Marie Barker Nelson: Hodeeyaada
  
• The Spinanes: Manos
  
• Charles Wuorinen: String Trio
  
• Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No. 4
  
• Various Artists: Awesome 80s, disk 2
  
• OK Go: Oh No
  

So I got fed up with one of my iPods.

I have an ancient, first-generation iPod Shuffle--the long, white one that came with a lanyard. It was ridiculously expensive ($99, I think?) and only has 512 MB of storage capacity. Outside of the capacity that usually only holds five or six hours, it also lacks a clip like the newer iPod Shuffles. With Apple now introducing a new third-generation Shuffle, I decided to move and get a refurbished second-generation while I can.

It was the lack of a clothing clip that really began to annoy me.

CDs listened to today:

• Paul Hindemith: Symphony in B flat
• Nine Inch Nails: With Teeth
• Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
• Public Enemy: Apocalypse '91…The Enemy Strikes Black
• The Guillemots: Through the Windowpane
• OK Go: Oh No

CDs listened to today:

• George Crumb: Night of the Four Moons
• Louis XIV: The Best Little Secrets Are Kept
• William Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and Experience
• OK Go: Oh No
• Forward Russia!: Give Me a Wall
• Johann Strauss: Tales from the Vienna Woods, disk 1

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 5-9
• Olivier Messiaen: La Mort du Nombre

CDs listened to today:

• Ernest Bloch: Symphony for Trombone Solo (Armin Rosin, soloist)
  
• Juliana Hatfield: Hey Babe
  
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 1-4
  
• Olivier Messiaen: La Mort du Nombre
  
• OK Go: Oh No
  

I cherish an oddball story about Dairy Queen Lime-Ade.

A few years ago, I was bicycle touring on the Oregon Coast (really, a lovely ride and I can happily recommend it). One of the great things about the small towns on that route is they all have Dairy Queens next to the highway as you enter or leave the town. When you ride all day, you're allowed to have all the DQ you like, so it's nice that they make it so easy.

I stopped at one DQ (Gold Beach, I think?) and was standing there, perusing the menu. You see, I was in the mood for a Lime-Ade, but didn't see it on the display. The woman behind the counter asked me if she could help me, so I observed that I didn't see Lime-Ades on the menu. She told me that DQ doesn't have Lime-Ades and that DQ has never served them. She spoke with the authority one has when one feels absolute certainty.

And now, every time that I visit my local DQ in Denver and have a Lime-Ade, I think of that woman and know that she's wrong!

CDs listened to today:

• Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Flute
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
• John Adams: Shaker Loops
• The Beatles: Rubber Soul
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Olivier Messiaen: La Mort du Nombre
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sechs Lieder
• The Didjits: Que Sirhan Sirhan
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around

Is this just a Denver thing?

A year or two ago, I spotted the Mazda 5 and thought it was something of an ideal car for me (replacing the Subaru Forester as the car I crave most). And now, in the last few months, I've started to see more and more of the Mazdas. They really are a bit like those tiny minivans I saw so much of in Europe--especially the Mercedes-Benz A class. The only drawback I see is that the Mazda doesn't seem to offer all-wheel drive (a plus for the Subaru.

So, last night, I saw three 5s parked on a single block. Coincidence? Or are they really getting popular here? Or are they getting popular everywhere?

(edit: In November, 2012, I bought a Mazda 5. I wish it got better gas mileage, but am otherwise happy with it.)

CDs listened to today:

• Kai Winding: The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates
• Herbert: Scale
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dance (WoO 13)
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
• Olivier Messiaen: La Mort du Nombre

I finally got to replace my ancient iMac (a seven-year-old G4), courtesy an OK bonus at work. After suffering along with a machine that wouldn't run my newish 160 GB iPod Classic, I managed to get an entry-level MacBook. Of course, the first thing I had to do was soup it up with extra memory and a bigger hard drive, adding 25% to that base-model cost.

Macs are well-known, so I'll spare you all the usual descriptions in favor of a few of my impressions that you won't see in the various web reviews.

I miss having a full keyboard. It's not just the lack of a ten-key pad, but having both a delete and a backspace key. And the fact that some of the function buttons are forced into double duty is not a thrill. I've never used a laptop extensively before, so I wasn't fully prepared for how much I'd miss the extra keys.

I paid to get a copy of Apple's iWork software suite, their version of office software (word-processing, spreadsheet, presentation). After opening my Excel-formatted budget spreadsheet, I immediately wanted my $50 back! I've already installed Microsoft Office for Mac and as always, it's the best software I've ever seen from the Redmond giant. Better than the Windows version!

I bought the Apple remote for the laptop and have been running the computer's included Front Row software occasionally. That is a sensational feature. I've stopped using Front Row in favor of running iTunes with the remote. It works great and I love being able to turn off the music from bed without getting up. Makes it easier to fall asleep.

It's nice to have BitTorrent, after finding that there weren't any compatible clients for my old computer. I might use it now and then, tee hee!

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Awesome 80s, disk 1
• Charles Wuorinen: String Trio
• Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets, disk 4
• Various Artists: Totally Hits 2

I see that the new chairman of the Republican party isn't helping much.

In addition to seeming like an innately awkward fellow, Michael Steele seems to be a natural for preserving his party's image: out-of-touch with rising issues. Check out this report about a radio interview where he managed to say some startling things. My personal favorite is that he's aligned himself with the wing of his party who insist that the changes in the Earth's climate are not only natural, but that the climate is cooling. He bases this on the fact that Greenland is called "Greenland", so it must have been warmer in the past--evidence of global cooling.

Um, it's people like these that remind me how poorly educated Americans can be. Mr. Steele, the people who discovered Greenland called it that to deceive others and attract more people to their new island. The last time it was "green" was when the climate didn't have China, India, Europe and the USA pumping out carbon dioxide faster than the plants can absorb--but you'll just take that as proof of global cooling, won't you?

Oh! Wait! I'm sure that Mr. Steele will also gladly confirm the Earth is only 7,000 years old, so that evidence from older times is clearly fake in his eyes…

CDs listened to today:

• Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet
• William Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and Experience
• Marie Barker Nelson: Culinary Concerto for Clarinet
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
• Spice Girls: Spice
• The Guillemots: Through the Windowpane
• Miklós Rózsa: Tripartita for Orchestra

If you've ever thought that nationalizing a business is a good idea, here's the argument against it.

Just watch the congressional palaver regarding executive bonuses at the insurance giant, AIG. Most of it is massively insincere posing, just public play-acting. These same legislators had the same information as the Bush administration and the Obama administration, but they work quickly to find fault elsewhere (yes, you Mr. Boehner, and you, Mr. Frank). "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Just ask yourself this: would you really want to see these people have the authority to direct a large business? I'm not saying that the Joe Nacchios and Ken Lays of the world are necessarily better, but they can't be worse, can they?

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 6-9
• Paul Hindemith: Concertmusic for Piano, Brass, and Harps, disk 2
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
• Forward Russia!: Give Me a Wall
• James MacMillan: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 1-5
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope

CDs listened to today:

• Jack DeJohnette: Parallel Realities
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Ernst Bloch: Concerto Grosso No. 1
• P.J. Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
• Paul Creston: Symphony No. 3
• Jack Logan: Buzz Me In

CDs listened to today:

• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances (WoO 13)
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
• John Adams: Harmonielehre
• The Beatles: Yellow Submarine
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Flute
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Quintet

CDs listened to today:

• Charles Wuorinen: String Trio
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Kai Winding: The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates
• Herbert: Scale
• Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Flute

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Totally 80s, disk 2
• Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
• Christopher Rouse: Flute Concerto
  

CDs listened to today:

• Nikolai Myaskovsky: Symphony No. 3
• Britney Spears: …Baby One More Time
• Christopher Rouse: Symphony No. 1
• Various Artists: As Seen On TV
• The Guillemots: Through The Windowpane
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
• Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets, disk 3
• Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Flute

CDs listened to today:

• Steven Mackey: Tuck and Roll
• Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
• William Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and Experience
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances (WoO 13)
• Forward Russia!: Give Me A Wall
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 4-9
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances (WoO 13)
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious

CDs listened to today:

• Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 1-3
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances (WoO 13)

CDs listened to today:

• Marc Blitzstein: Airborne Symphony
• P.J. Harvey: Is This Desire?
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Paul Creston: Fantasy
• The Living End: Roll On
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances (WoO 13)
• The Zutons: Tired Of Hanging Around
• The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
• Paul Hindemith: Concertmusic for Piano, Brass, and Harps, disk 1

CDs listened to today:

• The Beatles: Help!
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets, disk 8
• Deerhoof: The Runners Four
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Herbert: Scale

CDs listened to today:

• The Guillemots: Through the Windowpane
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Charles Wuorinen: String Trio
• Kai Winding: The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones
• John Adams: Grand Pianola Music
• Herbert: Scale

CDs listened to today:

• Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 2
• Various Artists: The Antidote
• William Bolcom: Songs of Innocence and Experience
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates
• Various Artists: Totally 80s, disk 1
• Herbert: Scale

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 7-9
• Ronald Roseman: Double Quintet for Woodwinds and Brass
• The Soup Dragons: Hotwired
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates
• Forward Russia!: Give Me A Wall

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 1-6
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates

CDs listened to today:

• Living Colour: Stain
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Witold Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 2 (Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting)
• Nine Inch Nails: Further Down The Spiral
• The Zutons: Tired Of Hanging Around
• John Adams: Phrygian Gates
• Thea Musgrave: Chamber Concerto No. 2
• Herbert: Scale
• Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush The Show

CDs listened to today:

• Georges Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 2
• De La Soul: De La Soul Is Dead
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra)
• P.J. Harvey: To Bring You My Love
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Hans-Werner Henze: Symphony No. 7

CDs listened to today:

• The Guillemots: Through the Windowpane
• Charles Wuorinen: String Trios
• Kai Winding: The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The String Quartets, disk 5
• The Beatles: Beatles For Sale
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material