Flotsam

A picture worth a thousand questions...

Always wanted to know how to whistle using your fingers? Google can tell you how.

A shout out to WegBlog, who were interested in my note on traffic problems in front of the Dulles Wegmans. Cool blog!

I was tagged by Norman for the "Musical Q&A" chain letter.

1. Total volume of music files on my computer: 3819 mp3 files. We have an extensive CD collection, which is 100% digitized for placement on Heather's iPod and my Rio Karma
   
2. Last CD I bought: Meteora, by Linkin Park
   
3. Song Playing Right Now: Word Play, by Jason Mraz
   
4. Five Songs (or Albums) I listen to a lot or that move me: With the mp3 players, I don't listen to albums per se much anymore, but here are the three top songs recently.
   • Unwell, by Matchbox 20
     
   • Poison Well, by Insolence
     
   • Word Play, by Jason Mraz
     
5. Tag 3 others:
   • Villa Santiago
     
   • Ben, whose choice in music I will find interesting to see, 'cause he's just cool that way.
     
   • Northern Crown, who has done me the honor of including me in the ODBA
     

A little more information...

After re-reading Norman's original post, I decided to add some additional information. My influences musically are my mother, who always listened to classical or opera, and my dad, who liked classic rock, but also would pick up and enjoy new rock. My parents got me a CD player when I was in middle school (they were still pretty new then, and the stores had very small CD sections, at least in Steuben County, NY), and got two CDs, Best of Kansas (I thought a band named after a state sounded amusing, and ZZ Top's Greatest Hits, on Dad's reccomendation. I never enjoyed listening to my music in the car - Dad was pretty tolerant, but otherwise it was obviously not a popular choice. In high school, I was into Metallica and the grunge wave. When I got to college, I was exposed to speed metal bands like Pantera and Helmet, and I found them entertaining. Since leaving college, I've enjoyed the rap-metal fusion bands like Linkin Park, and have broadened my musical perspective to bands that are less heavy.

I still can't listen to my music if I think anyone might be listening. It's like pulling teeth to play a song for my wife even. I don't know why - I need to get over it.

I hope we have a long year, with a great bounty of tropical storms. Why, you ask? Well, if we have fourteen of them, then I will get Tropical Storm Nate, and, God Willing, Hurricane Nate.

I was quite envious of my former officemate Alex last year when Hurricane Alex was in full force, and someone taped a sattelite picture of it on our door.

I just found the PostSecret site through Ann Althouse, and after reading through all of them, I am left distinctly disturbed.

Thirty years ago to the minute I was born.

I think Heather would enjoy this dissection of a grammatically-challenged elected blogger. (via Malkin).

So now Robin Hood was gay too (via Redstate)? What will these wacky welsh people think up next?

I was reading this tale of bad neighbors, and it made me feel very thankful. While we strongly dislike our neighbors, and I have been known to think very unchristian thoughts about them, they do not sound nearly as bad as the people described here. Here is a good "bad neighbor" story from Rich, the neighbor of my in-laws (none of whom bear any resemblance to the story). And god knows, we have never had anyone as bad as these people (Warning: gross imagery) here.

Alerted to this by Blogdex: World Jump Day. People sure are stupid, eh?

Roanoke is getting a Starbucks (hat tip: Sic Semper Tyrannis). So, what does the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce have to say about this?

I'm all in favor of kids having empowering action figures, but I think this is excessive (hat tip: Malkin). And Hillary hasn't had a neck that wrinkle-free since before 1992.

Is nothing sacred? Revamping Bugs Bunny seems so sacreligious. There's something that smells very poochie about this.