The cup less full

I try to be flexible. I don't keep my schedule so busy that I can't adapt at the last minute to meet a friend out for a drink or go for an impromptu walk around the lake. I'm almost always game for grabbing a bite to eat and getting out of the house. And I seldom send things back or complain in a restaurant. I'll roll with the punches.

But one thing I just don't have much patience for is being shortchanged on my coffee. I know, I sound like Wilfred Brimley talking about his oatmeal here, and you're probably waiting for me to start bitching about how I remember when coffee was twenty five cents and the only way you altered it was with cream and sugar. But no, I'm not about to do that. When brewed correctly and served at the right temperature, the french roast coffee I get from my local coffee shop is worth every penny of the $2 price tag.

But for those of us who still order regular coffee and not a latte or mocha or americano or anything of that sort, cream has been cutting into our coffee. In a sit down restaurant they usually ask if you'd like some, meaning that they'll bring it to you. So that's okay. And at a fast food place, you have the individual creamers. But at a lot of coffee shops they've taken to asking you if you want room for cream. As if you're going to add so much cream to it that you won't be able to find any space for it if they forget to ask.

And too often they error on the side of leaving room. I'm constantly getting coffees that are closer to 3/4 of a cup than a full one. And it's not just at one shop. Maybe it's the economy. I don't know. I just want a full cup of coffee without having to send it back to be filled up all the way. I'm looking forward to old man moments when I'm 80 and can constantly bitch about shit and send things back and say how different things were back in my day. But c'mon, I don't really want to go there yet.

Cds, downloads, vinyl records, mp3 players...

I'm sitting outside on a gorgeous afternoon and things seem pretty okay. I got my taxes done and made out alright. Nothing owed anyway, which is quite a relief when you wait until the last minute like I did. And as much as I hate that whole "free money" thing that the vast amount of Americas believe their tax returns to be, I can't help but want to buy something. Stimulate the economy. Reward myself for being a good citizen and doing my part to keep the roads paved and our children in schools.

The first thing that really comes to mind for me is stereo equipment. Or audio equipment. But do you really call it stereo equipment if it's not going to go anywhere near your stereo? I was thinking about getting the 160 gig iPod, which was discontinued and is getting hard to find, and finally putting ALL of my music on one tiny little device I could keep in my pocket. It would be great for road trips, and as a friend of mine pointed out, backup in case of a flood.

Then I talked to another friend of mine about vinyl records. They're making a bit of a comeback. Bands are increasingly offering a free download of the album with the purchase of a record. So you can add the title to your mp3 player, yet still have something tangible, and some would argue highly superior, to play. I do have a record player, but it's not that high quality of one. For me to really get into vinyl again I would need to update.

For the few years leading up to Napster and the widespread use of mp3s, I frequented used record stores to stock up on various albums that caught my eye. It was a great way to complete my collection without going broke at $15.99 a title. And I liked the warm sound too. Especially with albums that came out in the vinyl era. That was how they were supposed to sound.

It's been about 10 years since I've bought a vinyl record, and all but a few of my records are still boxed up from a move I made in 2002. Recently I helped a friend sell all of her cds. 1500+ titles. It felt like product to her, and I suppose it's starting to feel that way to me too. I guess I am at the crossroads a bit. Do I keep buying cds only to rip them immediately to iTunes and hardly ever pull them out again? Do I go completely digital? Switch to vinyl only? Or keep doing what I'm doing?

Right now I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing. The path of least resistance. Buying less cds each year and downloading more, but still careful to get as close to that audiophile sound as I can on a budget for the artists I care for most.

But I still don't know if I want to buy that iPod or not.

Haiku From A Restaurant

Hennepin late night
Drink food walk home shelter sleep
In that order please

I'll be your IKEA songwriter

So I think I wrote a advertising jingle without really thinking about it, which is kind of cool. I'm a copywriter after all. But I've never had the opportunity to write a jingle.

They just don't seem that common these days. Sometimes you see them as tag lines like McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" or introductions like Budweiser's "Real Men of Genius." But usually when a song is used in a commercial it exists beforehand and is licensed from the artist. An exception is the twist Of Montreal gave to one of their songs to make it "Let's Go Outback Tonight." But the only full-length recent songs/jingles I can think of are the FreeCreditReport.com ads:



Mid-way through the month of February I was desperately trying to stay on track in order to get to the 14 song goal for February Album Writing Month. I was growing tired of the acoustic-based songs I was cranking out, and wanted to do something different. So I thought I would plug it in a bit and crank out some noise. Write something upbeat. Once I got the idea I ran with it, lacking the patience for conventional song components like verses, bridges and length, deciding to leave the song as is.

Now, the more I listen to this, the more I think it's a jingle. Swap out my voice for a more commercial sounding male voice. Something closer to Hanson than Jonas Brothers. Show them putting together furniture for lovely Swedish lasses. Then have the Swedish girls sing the names of the furniture in the chorus. And presto, a cutesy IKEA ad?