Crasymaker

If you get a chance, head over to my sister’s site and leave her a congratulatory comment for passing the State Board of Cosmetology exam. She is now an official beauty maker. For real, she was at the top of her class and passed with flying colors. I am super proud of her, however, I never had a doubt that she would become anything less than excellent at whatever she chose to do. Congratulations, Katie.

PS- She cuts a mean mullet.

Dammit! Every year I buy Christmas lights for the house and every year I always end up having to go back to the store for more. This year I decided to play it smart and measure the front of our house. I got out the tape measure and discovered that it is exactly 48.5 feet from one side to the other. When we got to the store I noticed there were two icicle light lengths to choose from. 18 feet and 13 feet. 18+18+13=49. Perfect! Right? Wrong!

This year, it wasn’t the length that screwed me up. After putting up the first 18 feet, I opened the second box only to discover that this package held lights with WHITE wire. The first strand had green wire. The last box also had white wire. For Christ’s sake, DO PEOPLE REALLY HAVE A PREFERENCE?!? And if so, why in the hell do you pretty much have to read the fine print to discover that there is a CHOICE?!? So this year has proven to be no exception. Back to the store for more lights. Merry Freakin’ Christmas.

UPDATE: I’ve gotten several comments and emails about this topic. Most are informing me that the green wire is for your Christmas tree and the white wire is for your house. I don’t believe I have ever seen icicle style lights on a Christmas tree so that pretty much ruins that theory. For a second there, I thought maybe the green wire was for bushes/shrubs, however, there are an entirely different style of lights for bushes/shrubs besides icicle lights. Yeah, I am pretty sure icicle lights are reserved solely for decorating your house, therefore, the mystery remains unsolved…

After nearly ten years of serving up the best in independent label music, Clunk Records is closing it’s doors for good and I am partially to blame. When Charlie called me the other day to ask if I would come up with one final Clunk t-shirt design because December is the last month that the store would be open, I felt my stomache nearly drop to my knees.
I buy all of my CDs from Clunk Records but that’s not the problem. The problem is I can’t remember the last time I actually bought a CD. And it’s people like me who have contributed to the end of a decade-long run of one of the best music stores ever.

There’s a whole slew of topics that arise when considering buying CDs vs. downloading but for me, I am kind of surprised at how much I have adopted the latter, given my possibly abnormal passion for music. I was always the first to argue against the iTunes music store when the topic arose. My main concerns were that when downloading music you don’t receive the artwork that came with the original CD, you don’t have the right to play the music on as many computers as you want to and you don’t even get full quality music because MP3s have been compressed to accomodate the need for a smaller file size. So why is it that I have all but completely dropped the habit of buying actual CDs?

I suppose it’s because all three of my main arguments against downloading MP3s are no longer issues for me. At some point in the last couple of years, I have become annoyed as hell with CDs. Much like vinyl records became a huge pain in the ass to store/carry/play, CDs have taken on the same pain, at least for me. And as for the booklet that I was so worried about, I have no idea why but I couldn’t care any less about looking through those things anymore. Maybe it’s because I am so much busier these days than I used to be or maybe it’s not me at all. Maybe things are just changing and that’s all there is to it.

As far as not being able to play your downloaded MP3s on as many computers as you’d like, I have already discussed the workaround for that issue and as amazing as it sounds, I don’t give a crap about MP3s being of a lesser quality than CDs. I’m sure it has something to do with just being used to hearing music at a lower quality but even if that’s the case, who cares?

I haven’t changed my habit of listening to music nearly non-stop, but I have definitely changed my means of acquiring and playing it. And with that change brings the downfall of things like CD players, small CD manufacturing companies and most unfortunately, small music stores like Clunk Records.

I’m not sure what else to say except that I am sorry Chris and Charlie and thank you for ten (eight) years of supplying me with music that has not only helped to change my life but also the lives of most of my friends and family.

…my ass.