Podcadst Episode 2

Hey all. As promised, here is the second episode of the FamilyCast. Enjoy at your leisure. I also just recorded the third episode which will come out soon, and I successfully kept it to about a half hour so that's good. Anyway, the link to download episode 2 is right here. Enjoy. I have commanded it.

The Deuce

First of all, let me apologize to Robert, Christine, Lynnette, and Paul (and anybody else who didn't know). The big news is that Megan is pregnant with baby number deuce. We found out just before Christmas and shared the good news with the family members that we actually saw over the holiday. We would have called all the rest of y'all, but we all got sick over the break, sicker on the drive home, and even sicker once we got home. So yeah, we have all (yes, all of us) consumed large amounts of lemon/lime alligator helper and taken long naps. We hope to be on the mend soon, but there's still a lingering nausea over the whole house.

Anyway, look for the second episode of the podcast to come out soon. I actually recorded it before Christmas so it makes no mention of pregnancy. It's actually a bit out of date and only slightly shorter than the first episode (I've been trying to keep them around a tight half hour and have failed in each attempt). I'll be recording a new episode when I'm a little less queasy. So look forward to it.

I Started a Podcast (Which Started the Whole World Crying)

That's right people. As a Christmas present to my family (provided that they actually like it. If not, it was all an elaborate joke that you would have to be British to enjoy) I started a podcast. I figure it's actually easier than writing in the blog and it'll be easier to consume as well.

Rather than writing in the blog, I think it'd just be easier to do a podcast once a week. I record myself telling stories, relating anecdotes, and generally doing all the thing I do on the blog just in audio form. I even came up with jingles and drops to make it more like a radio show and less like me going blah blah blah (though there is a significant amount of blah blah blah). Anyway, I encourage you to give it a listen and lemme know what you think. You can download the first episode through this link.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the picture above, that's my high tech podcasting setup. If it looks like the arm from a desk lamp with a soup can bolted to it, that's exactly what it is. My kingdom for a shock mount.

Anyway, enjoy episode 1 of the podcast. I have episode 2 recorded as well and I'll drop that when you've had a chance to absorb the first one.

Family Christmas Favorites

Hey everybody. I hope all ya'll enjoyed the Christmas music. Yes, I really went into overdrive this year. If any of you feel like you still have room for more, I gots what you need.

There are a few Christmas albums that were special to me as a kid. We played them over and over year after year and I developed a fondness for them that goes beyond my general love of Christmas music. All of these albums have long since gone out of print. I have never included any of the songs from these albums in the mixes because they don't fit genre-wise. So I figured I'd upload them while there's still a few days 'til Christmas when you can enjoy them.


When you click the link below, you should see three albums you recognize and one you don't. The one you don't recognize is the Christmas album that was passed down to me by Elder Heywood (my grandpa) on my mission. I listened to it for two Christmases in Cambodia and it really takes me back. Anyway, here is the link:

Family Christmas Favs

Lemme know if you have any trouble getting them. (Yes, those are the albums pictured above)

This Year's Christmas Mixes

For the past seven years I have been compiling Christmas mixes for my family and friends. At two discs per mix and roughly 22 tracks per disc I have supplied well over 250 fantastic Christmas songs for your listening pleasure (that doesn't even include this year's mix). Only lately has it dawned on me that I may have oversaturated the market. For most of you 250 Christmas songs are more than enough. As for me, I still have over 900 more mix-worthy Christmas songs that have not yet been used and will acquire even more this year.

What I'm getting at is this: this year will be the last time I'll push my Christmas mixes on you. I'll still make a mix for personal purposes year after year. If you want a copy of future mixes, all you have to do is ask, but I will not be peddling them as I have done in years past.

All that business out of the way, I have decided that this is the year to not just saturate the market, but completely flood it with more Christmas music than you will ever know what to do with. Below are the links to the individual mixes. If you need help downloading or unzipping the files, click here or click the link at the top of the blog that says, "How to Download and Unzip Files". Feel free to download as many of the mixes as you want. Share the links with friends and family if you so desire.

Christmas Mix 2011 Disc 1 This is Disc 1 of the standard Christmas mix. If you have enjoyed previous mixes, you should enjoy this one as well. I have hand-selected the very best songs in my collection for your Christmas enjoyment. There are a variety of styles represented, but it meshes pretty well.

Christmas Mix 2011 Disc 2 This is the second disc of the standard mix.

Country Christmas Disc 1 Country music is like raisins: people either love it or hate it, which is why I've been cautious about including any country in my standard mixes. Because of the large amount of country Christmas music I own, it was only fitting that I give it its own mix. There are modern country singers as well as old timey ones. If you like country, you should like this.

Country Christmas Disc 2 If one disc of country Christmas isn't enough for you, how 'bout a second?

A Non-Anglocentric Christmas: Old School Disc Much like country, not everyone likes hip-hop and r&b. This first disc is dedicated to 100% solid gold 1980s and 1990s Christmas hip-hop. If you like Run DMC, Snoop, and other such rappers, you'll dig this.

A Non-Anglocentric Christmas: New School Disc If you like hip-hop and r&b, but want something a little more up-to-date, this should scratch you where you itch.

Christmas Mix Greatest Hits Disc 1 If you missed out of any of my previous 7 Christmas mixes, this represents the best of all those mixes. This is the best of the best of my Christmas music.

Christmas Mix Greatest Hits Disc 2 There were so many good songs on my past mixes, I couldn't whittle the cream of that crop down to a single disc.

Classy Christmas Maybe all this newfangled music just ins't your bag. Maybe you'd rather have a classy Christmas with Bing, Dean, Frank and other Christmas crooners from years gone by. Done and done.

A Heavy Metal Christmas This is probably my favorite mix of the year. It's mostly power metal, but there are a few other subgenres represented. If you're a metalhead, this is for you.

What Did I Do to Deserve This Christmas? If you are a glutton for punishment, this is your mix right here. I have compiled the very worst Christmas music in the universe. Each song is more horrific than the one before it. If you enjoy MST3K, this is for you. I also did introductions for each track so you can appreciate the badness of each one.




I hope you enjoy this year's Christmas music. Also, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I don't normally hear anything about my mixes, and I want to feel like I'm not just throwing this out into the void.

Being a Winner

Over the years I have been to many sporting events, concerts, and other events in which prizes may be thrown or shot out of cannons into the crowd. I have never caught such things for several reasons: 1) I am usually sitting in cheap seats. Even with the aid of a T-shirt cannon, very seldom does a prize reach the elevations where my seats are normally situated. 2) Girls throw like girls. More often than not, there are no pneumatic cannons available for the delivery of prizes to a crowd. I attended a Phoenix Suns game in which the cheerleaders hand-tossed shirts into the crowd. Most of the shirts were distributed to the expensive seats where free shirts aren't needed. Those girls threw like girls. 3) I don't consider myself to be particularly good at catching things. I'm not horrible at it, but in a crowd of 20 or so people who may be competing for the same airborne prize, I'm not so arrogant as to suppose that I would be the most catch-skilled member of the group. These factors being the case, I have never caught T-shirts, knick-knacks, foul balls, flying pucks, or other such prizes...until last night.

Megan and I took Leah with us to the Pima homecoming football game last night. The stands were much more crowded than they normally are, and we didn't sit in our normal seats, which are much closer to the field. At one point, the cheerleaders began flinging little foam footballs into the crowd. Most of the crowd stood and began yelling for the cheerleaders to throw something their way. I remained seated because I had a certain bugaboo on my lap. As I sat there, I saw a little blue prize peek its nose over the outstretched arms of the standing crowd. Due to its high vertical trajectory, I could see that I had a legitimate chance to catch it. I was holding Leah with my right hand, so I lifted my left hand (a hand I don't trust to do the most menial of tasks. My left hand is pretty stupid. It's a wonder I ever learned to juggle) toward the oncoming prize. I placed my hand directly in the flight path of the ball, and none was more surprised than I when while sitting with a baby on my lap and using a hand I don't trust to hold beverages I snagged the ball in mid-flight and brought it in like a falcon on a mouse. It seems such a little thing to catch a mini foam football that probably represents a per-unit cost of less than 10 cents to the pep squad. Be that as it may, I'm still dubbing myself a bona-fide winner.