Download This!

Personally, I don't buy a CD over 12 dollars unless it has: A. Over 10 songs B. They're giving something else I want away with a purchase or, C. Its a collectors item. So even if these goobers do this they still won't get my cash. In an article by Matt Buchanan from the Washington Square News he speaks of what 5 of the major recording labels are considering doing to iTunes. Apparently the 99-cent price tag just isn't enough. They're considering up to (you might want to sit down for this) $2.49 per song! I've felt from the beginning that downloading a song has it's drawbacks. For instance, I personally enjoy fighting the shrink wrapped packages open, in the process breaking the cheap plastic cases that contain the shiny discs that always somehow get scratched. Yeah. . . I love that. Maybe you're not picking up on my sarcasm. If not, re-read that section while rolling your eyes. iTunes is probably the best thing that ever happened to the recording industry. Heck, even worthless NPR is making a few bucks from the iTunes Music store. I hope Steve Jobs tells them to take a walk. There are a lot of people that will pay 99 cents a song who wouldn't buy if it were $1.05 and there's even more who won't buy at $2.49. Will they ever get it?

Imagination. . .The #1 Requirement for Employment at CNN

I haven't blogged in a while so let me first start of by saying how much I can't stand CNN. Even good news is bad news to them. Take this sampling for example: Yeah. Great news Iraqis agree things are better. . .BUT WAIT!!! What's this? The Kids are huffing glue! May God have mercy on the USA! We've corrupted their youth! But the best part is. . .that's it. No story. Not even a comment. I work on graphics all the time for invitations, web pages, whatever. The whole point of putting an image on a page is to draw attention to it. Why is it that every other graphic on cnn.com has a link to a story, and this one doesn't? Because they're not interested in just reporting the news. They want to shape opinion. Then there's the graphic for CNN's "Special Report" on The New Iraq. Where all the people run away from explosions, women always cry, little kids have crap on their faces and we fly away in our multi-million stealth bombers. What a load of absolute crap. If you want to find out more on this I highly recommend the book Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg ... In other news, we're refinancing our house which is turning out to be a surprisingly simple process. Maybe I'm just clueless but so far, it's not too bad. Thankfully, I have a good friend who knows just about everything you need to know about real estate who's helping us out. But we do have an appraisal in the next couple of days, so were hurrying to get all the bullet holes patched and painted. Okay so there's not any bullet holes but we are trying to get a few things done. And with the beautiful weather this weekend, it made it so easy to stay inside and do things like filing old bills and moving things out of our office so we can begin painting. Seriously, why couldn't it rain? ... We did manage to find time on Friday night to watch a movie. It was a, uh, well it was okay. I guess if you don't get creeped out by old people groping each other and otherwise engaging in activities that you'd rather not see old people engage in then, this was still just an okay movie. Through the whole movie there were times when I had to turn away or cover my eyes. I found it odd that I had the same reaction to this that others would have to a horror movie. It was definitely funny in some parts but I have to wonder, after hearing so much from the liberal press about how Diane Keaton plays such a strong woman in this film, why would a self-sufficient woman fall for a 63 year old, blotchy skinned womanizing he-slut? Is this the direction that the women's movement wants to go? We'll I guess I had them pegged wrong. "You go girl!"

"Come over for Dinner"

Holidays are great, the family gets together for dinner with 80 or 90 of our closest friends. Seriously, all together at Easter Dinner we had 26 people. Not that I have a problem with any of the people that came, it's just that it creates a few logistic problems, like trying to eat. Things that I overheard at dinner: "Could you pass the salt, and take your elbow out of my pasta salad." "Oh that's an interesting smell, what is that, Thyme?" "No, sorry, that's the Dog." Also, my mom has an obsession with the 50 Cent song, "In Da Club." Fortunately she only knows the first few lines, so she's been singing, "Go Todd, It's your birfday", while dancing the "cabbage patch" and proving to us all just how really white she is.

Family "Tie-downs"

I love my family. I feel extremely grateful to have "escaped" childhood without any major issues. Too many people I know can't say that. I think most parents usually have the best intentions in mind but, sometimes they do something that creates problems and resentment later on in life. For me though, I don't have any of that. Growing up the oldest of three boys, I spent a lot of time picking on my little brothers, at times, I swear the two of them had formed an alliance against me, hellbent on taking me down. I look back and can see times where I was just a jerk, and I think "Man I hope they don't come after me for that." I also remember times where we were a unit, a team, united by our last name, love for pickles, video games and each other. Time has passed, obviously, and now I look at my brothers and am very proud of the men they are becoming. They've developed into guys that I count as best friends. We've all got some growing to do but, we're on the right track. I credit that to my parents. God bless them, we've probably driven them crazy. We used to do things that would push them to the point of breaking and they'd still stand solid as a team. It's great to see them having more freedom to do things as a "couple" again. ***(I do have to add, as is required by 'firstborn' rule, that my brothers get away with waaay more than I ever did) Ben and Nate still live at home, and in time I'm sure, they'll move out giving Mom and Dad even more time to spend traveling, re-decorating the living room, dining room and kitchen for the 42nd time in three months. They've built a home that is inviting to us, our friends, girlfriends and extended family all feel comfortable hanging out at, it's a place that still feels like home even though I haven't lived there in over two and a half years. Yes, Kirsten and I are creating our own home but, there's something about being in that house with everybody around the dinner table or in front of the TV. So how have they done it? By being slightly insane, plus being able to laugh at things that would make others cry, and realizing that even when things feel out of control that God's got His hand on us, just like He always does. A tradition of love, laughter and enjoyment that I hope all of us boys can recreate in our homes. As an example of how 'skewed' my parents are I present to you, an email from my mother to my wife: ... From: Candy Smith Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 7:16 AM To: Kirsten Smith Subject: Hi Kir, We ran across this old picture of Josh, thought you'd like to see it. Much has been said about "tough love" for misbehaving children. Most of America's populace thinks it very improper to spank children, so we have tried other methods to control our kids when they have one of "those moments". One that we found very effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk. They usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our little car ride together. I've included the photo below of one of my sessions, in case you would like to use the technique. Love, Mom ... So yeah, sick sense of humor and all, I love my family and hope that anyone else who reads this takes half a second to express their thanks and love for their family. Josh p.s. Dad - Thanks for double checking those luggage rack straps.