This has been a difficult month. Not long after the passing of my beloved grandmother, I received a call this week that my good friend Jillian “Jey” Edwards had passed. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have never lost a friend in this way before.

Jillian, who I fondly referred to as “Buttercup”, was 31… an age too young for such as talented, kind-hearted individual to leave this world. She was beautiful beyond words, kind to people and animals alike, and wanted to give so much to this world. One way she gave was with her music, writing deeply inspired guitar melodies and lyrics; and skillfully reciting them in song. She was an adept musician, massage therapist, rock climber, cook, and a budding swing dancer. She put all of her soul into her friendships, as can be attested to by all the people who felt her gravity and were attracted into her life. As this world is full of balance, there was a dark side to her bright persona. Jillian suffered greatly from a debilitating disorder that would cause her emotional suffering at times beyond what any average human could possibly imagine. She was courageous in battling for the stability and normality that most people unknowingly take for granted. During her bad times and good times alike, she and I would exchange music and song lyrics that had some special meaning to each of us. The night before her passing, I unwittingly emailed her the ColdPlay song Lost! in the hope that she would find some deep meaning and enjoyment in it, as I have. Little did I know how apropos it would turn out to be. Rest in peace, buttercup.

Lost! by Coldplay

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I took this photo after a family night out for dinner, during the time when Grandpa Marty was fighting lymphoma. This was one of the last times I saw them together under normal circumstances. Grandma Fernie helped him up the steps in front of their apartment, and they walked off together. I always get choked up when I look at it, because of the symbolism and the deep meaning it holds for me. Now that they are both together again on the other side, I feel it is appropriate to share this beautiful photo:

self·less -adjective- showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others

Dear Grandma,

I wanted to thank you for a few things. I know it’s a little late now, but better late than never.  Thank you taking me to the swimming pool and to the lake to feed the ducks a few years ago, when I was 8, and would come spend the night with you and Grandpa. I also want to thank you for cooking my favorite dishes whenever I would come over for dinner, and for playing with me in the snow and helping me make collages from the automotive magazines I was so interested in… for enjoying my baking, even though my kitchen skills had a long way to go… for teaching me how to play card games and how to speak my mind. Thank you for being a strong, upstanding role model, and for touching so many people in this world with joy and happiness even when they might not have thought such treasures were still available in their worlds. We shared a special sense of humor, you and I.
And even when you were on your sudden and untimely deathbed, barely able to speak or even stay awake, you still managed to put the people around you ahead of yourself– even making sure to ask if we had gotten the all-day parking pass for the hospital parking lot, so we wouldn’t have to pay extra. That was just who you were: beautiful, thoughtful, animated, strong, spirited, and selfless. You are deeply missed. I love you, Grandma.

Love,
Allen

I think this sums it up nicely:

All the banter about Fannie and Freddie is interesting but no one seems to be asking: how did the people in a democratic republic, the world’s largest economy, host to the world’s reserve currency, the only remaining super power, let their economy become solely dependent on the ability to process and reprocess debt on homes? How did we let our government legislate into being, through the GSE’s, the largest Ponzi scheme ever?

Check out the entire, excellent post: http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly08/alcoholic-US7-08.html

I had a burst of creative energy last weekend and put together a couple new music demos of progressions that have been in my head, and occasionally been plinked on my guitar, for awhile now. Check ‘em out. The new ones are Fade and Rising. I would like feedback as I develop these songs — so feel free to leave comments (on this post is fine), constructive critique, etc. Keep in mind that the purpose of demos like these are simply to give an idea of what the music might sound like. They are undeveloped, and currently do not include little niceties like vocals, musical bridges, intros, cool finishes, etc.

Almost anyone working in Office-America has used PowerPoint to create a presentation of some sort. There is an 80% chance that said presentation was nothing less than painful to the recipient audience — unless the author was one of the 20%’ers out there who are learned in the ways of PowerPoint zen. I have been an 80%’er in the past, and have created my share of eyeball bleeding, bullet-point-strewn, “good lord, when will this be over” presentations. However, now I have no excuse; and soon shan’t you either. Check out this fantastic PowerPoint presentation (somewhat paradoxically) on how to create great PowerPoint presentations. Talk about walking the walk…

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I know… it is a sad time for video resume lovers the world over. I admit it. I did it. I removed the video resume that brought me so much undue fame acknowledgment. I figured nobody would even notice, but mere days after I did the nefarious deed, my friend David Cohen relayed his tale of grief, that he had tried in vain to show it to a friend.

Why would I do such a rash thing, you might ask? Well, for one the video was over a year old - which, in Internet time, puts it in about the same bin as animated gifs and Ace of Base. Besides that, I am no longer looking for a job, and haven’t been since about a month after I posted the video. So to have an outdated video resume floating around seems counterintuitive. Oh, and I swore if I received one more YouTube comment approval notice for a viagra ad, porn site, or other spamtacular post on my work of art grainy webcam opus, bad things were going to happen. Very bad things. *dun-dun-duuuuuun*

Yes, I even made this abnormally cute, fuzzy thing cry. Ok, I admit it, I just wanted a good excuse to post the photo of this abnormally cute, fuzzy thing. Hopefully it will offer you some consolation in this matter. Enjoy.

My cousin’s five month old cocker spaniel puppy apparently took a liking to the taste of margaritas. At this year’s family holiday festivities we all turned around to find her slamming one down!

As with most “moments” these days, the incident was captured on video:

And here’s a paparazzi photo capturing her muzzle deep in the sauce:

After reading my friend Adam’s blog post about an unstable, emo minivan driver who doesn’t let his clear misunderstanding of the unwritten rules of the road stop him from being a model anger-management poster child jerk, I was in the process of writing a response comment and decided it was more suited to a blog post. Read his post first, and then see my response:

Admittedly, I get aggravated at times when people drive “too slow” in the far left lane, as it is universal driving code a weak suggestion that the left lane of a highway is reserved for Autobahn longers and Andretti wannabes, as advised by the signs that read “Slower Traffic Keep Right”. But, this second lane my friend speaks of is what is referred to as the “kiss-my-ass lane”, for if you want to travel 55 mph in that or any other lane right of the leftmost, that is your pedal pressing prerogative. I would like to see said minivan survive against the Porsches and Audis traveling the leftmost lane of the Autobahn. Good game, sir. Minivan FTL. But I digress… the small-statured minivan driver was clearly in the wrong and I give my friend a slap on the butt followed by a verbal “good hustle” for holding his ground in the no-man’s-land lane against this perpetrator of universal driving code.

His situation reminds me of the time on 400N when I saw an SUV driver pull out a hand-gat (looked to be about a .45 caliber handgun cum rocket launcher) and point it out the driver side window at the operator of a smaller vehicle who he had an obvious disagreement with moments earlier over left-lane speed. No shots were fired, but it was proof positive that there are people driving on my road who would benefit from professional counseling. I wonder how easy it would be to mount aircraft guns on the front of my car…

Amazon.com has finally debuted their new iTunes competition: AmazonMP3. Well, okay, it’s not the most creative name, but I am impressed thus far with the product offering:

• MP3’s encoded at 256 kbps - yes, that’s good. We like high-fidelity sound.
• DRM-free - translation: no copy protection, so you are free to put it on whatever device you wish
• 89 cents per song - for more than half of the catalog, and slightly more for other songs. I saw some that were 99 cents. That’s still way cheaper than iTunes’ $1.30 per song for DRM-free MP3’s

I downloaded a couple songs today and it was smooth as butter. The only sticky point for me was that I had mixed emotions about the downloader applet. I like it better than iTunes as far as it’s simplicity, but I can’t help but feel like it is not necessary. Anytime I have to install a program (or applet) on my computer for something as simple as downloading a music file, I feel like there is something wrong with the picture. Less is more!

That aside, I will be using Amazon to download my mp3’s. Thank you, Amazon, for listening to my consumer voice and giving me what I want: DRM free MP3’s at a reasonable price. Apple, please take note. Amen.