I’ve been editing the All Things Azeroth podcast for a few months now. I took on this duty for a few reasons. For one thing, it’s a fun challenge to take a bunch of someone else’s audio (each episode consists of anywhere from two to six different files) and mold it into a coherent piece. More importantly, I do make some money for my time, and money is good. As the show’s tag line states, All Things Azeroth is indeed “your World of Warcraft podcast.” And I’ve never been a World of Warcraft player. That is, until today.
The middle of California is a transitory place. A lot of stuff and people pass through/over San Luis Obispo. Just the other day, we saw a formation of military helicopters flying over the city, on its way to somewhere north of here. Earlier this week, while sitting at her desk, Jen heard an unusual sound coming through the window. She looked outside and saw a blimp, cruising southbound through the sky. She grabbed the camera and took these photos.
Some searching reveals that the slogan seen on the blimp’s side is being used in advertising for MetLife. Jen also recorded this short video.
I’m glad she did because, as you can hear in the video, I couldn’t even see the blimp.
Since Jen lost her job last fall, there have been a lot of financial ups and downs for us. Before her unemployment benefits finally kicked in last year, I had a consultation with a local attorney’s office about filing for bankruptcy. My thinking was that, if we could clear out our unsecured debt, that’d free up enough cash to make it possible for us to, you know, continue living indoors and eating food. The big problem we had at the time with filing for bankruptcy was that we would have to file against ALL of our debts, including our mortgage. The lawyer’s office I spoke to at the time said that, as long as we continued to pay on the mortgage, it’d be unlikely that the mortgage company would care about the bankruptcy. But there was still a chance that they could get antsy and decide to take some action against us. It was a calculated risk, but a risk just the same. Jen’s unemployment checks equalized our household income shortly after that and the talk of bankruptcy was abandoned.
Last year, I wrote about how I was trying to save some money on my monthly expenses. At the time, I was able to get my cell phone and home phone bills lowered. Since then, I’ve upgraded my cell phone to an iPhone, and that’s caused the cell phone bill to go back up. I found out earlier this month that AT&T has reconfigured its iPhone rate plans for data, and the company is now offering a $15.00/month plan for users who transfer less than 200 MB worth of data over AT&T’s network. I downgraded to this new plan from the $30.00/month “unlimited” plan I’ve had since I first got the iPhone. I checked my statement for last month, and found that I only used about 25 MB, so 200 MB should be fine. Also, AT&T only counts data that’s transferred over their 3G network, so when my iPhone’s connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, that doesn’t matter.
This configuration wouldn’t work for everyone, and AT&T has received a lot of well-deserved criticism for the nature of its restrictive policies in relation to the iPhone. But I’m glad that the company is now offering alternative rate plans to the original $30.00/month plan. Saving money is good.
Earlier this week, I made a pot of beef noodle soup. It turned out pretty good. Here’s the recipe:
1/2 pound lean ground beef
beef broth (7 cups, substitute part water is OK)
chopped onions (approx. 1 cup)
chopped celery (approx. 1 cup
chopped carrots (approx. 1 cup)
can cream of celery soup
1 1/4 cups noodle pasta (rotini, egg noodles, etc.)
salt/pepper/seasonings
Directions: Brown ground beef and onions in soup pot. Drain. Add beef broth, celery, carrots and seasonings (I used some sea salt, ground black pepper, chili powder, garlic salt and oregano). Heat until boiling, stir occasionally. Continue to boil about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the overall broth level. You’ll want it to go down some, but don’t let it get too low. Finally, add pasta and cook per package instructions. Once the pasta has cooked to your liking. remove soup from heat. Ladle into bowl(s), serve. Makes about six servings. Also, if my calculations are correct, a bowl of this soup is about 250 calories.
Seems like most of the music blogs I subscribe to cover more about the business side of music than, you know, actual music. The constant erosion that the Big Music Industry has endured over recent times has left a lot of pundits with a lot to talk about. But after awhile, it just feels like a bunch of hot air. If I see another infographic about converting social-media contacts into T-shirt sales, I think I’m gonna have to punch my monitor. I gotta wonder if everyone who’s interested in making music in this new, broken century, just spent a little more time on their craft instead of worrying about how to maximize value from their e-mail lists, we all wouldn’t be a little better off. But I guess if they’re not getting record deals anymore (unless they can appeal to the tween/soccer mom/guys who drive tow trucks sets), hopeful musicians have to do something. But where does it end? I remember being in bands during the rise of the mp3, and hanging out on muso-centric message boards. The chants of, “We can all self publish! The Internet will be our distributor!” were frequent and sometimes exciting. But nearly ten years on, it seems like only a handful of artists/bands have really managed to build a worthwhile following outside of the Big Music Industry that (apparently) everyone loathes.
Last year, Jen won a piece of artwork as a prize in a contest held by All Things Azeroth. The print was made by Cadistra, who produces a World of Warcraft-related webcomic, and also sells Warcraft-inspired artwork through her website. Jen’s been wanting to get this artwork framed ever since she got her hands on it. Thanks to a generous birthday gift she received last month in the from of a Michaels gift card, she was finally able to do just that.
The complete frame, including the artwork. I had to take this at a bit of an angle to avoid glare. That’s why it’s cropped kinda funny.
Last Wednesday, Jen and I had lunch with our friend Stephanie. Today, Stephanie is moving to northern California (“the moon” as she laughingly called it), and we wanted to see her before she has to leave. We had a great time getting caught up with her and learning about the new job she’s taken that precipitated the move. I originally “met” Stephanie through Twitter, and we got to meet in real life at the first-ever (and pretty much only?) SLO Tweetup. All in all, I wish we had hung out more often, and we did try a few times. But life often has its own designs when it comes to plan-making.
This bit of audio was recorded while I was out for a walk last Monday afternoon. It contains a monologue about my feelings on “creators vs consumers.” I also give some thoughts on trying to achieve balance in life.
Last Saturday night, Jen and I went to a concert at Downtown Brew here in San Luis Obispo. The bill contained three acts, but we were there specifically for the opening band, Loomis & The Lust. We saw these guys a few months ago at another local venue, and we really enjoyed the show.
