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Read Warm Bodies on my flight from Boston to Seattle. Quick, fun read with a little different take on what the post-Zombie-Apocolypse world might hold.

x eleventy billion!

I went to Lauren's 10th reunion Saturday night. The total turn-out was 13 (9 class members, 4 significant others), out of a class > 140 people. Pretty pathetic considering there were 20 definites and 30 maybes, and about half the class lives within a half hour of their home town. Not that I can say much... I haven't been to any of mine, either. And I burned 25,000 Hilton points for the hotel room. I don't know if I should be mad I used the points for that, or happy it didn't cost me any money!

Anna Calvi - S/T

Apple Bumper and no screen protector. Went case-less for 6 months with my 3GS before getting my 4s. Went with the bumper because it's easy to get off to use my ōlloclip lenses and prevents the back and front panels (and camera lens, which is a softer plastic) from getting scratched. I've had it since Oct, and knock on wood, still looks brand new.

Started The White Devil by Justin Evans yesterday. Was doing laundry and hadn't started anything since finishing Blackout. I can't remember anything about it, having bought it ages ago, and just pulled it up on the Kindle. It's kind of fun going into a novel not knowing what's going to happen.

Saw Nellie McKay last night. Small venue (124 seats), great crowd and amazing show. She was endearing, quirky and very, very funny. I love live music, and that goes double for such a talented, natural musician who can do so much so well!

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die I'm officially in the blacklash to the backlash mode... Is it a perfect album? No. Does it reach the heights of "Video Games"? Not consistently. But I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the album, regardless of the authenticity of her persona. Her S/T first album (pulled from iTunes, not hard to find elsewhere) is also solid. And I've seen countless live performances where she does quite well, so who cares if she was nervous and tanked on SNL? Anyway, if people have held off for whatever reason, it may be worth giving a chance. Beautiful melodies, strong vocal performances, admittedly uneven lyrics and a pretty varied soundscape (in a good way) await.

It really didn't disappoint. The first book is incredible, but it spends a lot of time creating the world in which it takes place. I was worried with the 2nd book, because it seemed to lose its way a little. For me, anyway. But it certainly set up the third book incredibly well. I love good follow-up books because you already know the characters and can spend more time on the plot, action and sublties...

I've been in a bit of a rut and just went on a tear buying new music in the last few weeks. The Norah Jones disc was a big surprise. I liked it a lot more than expected, and is probably my favorite of the group so far. Though I've only given Ms. Apple's disc a few listens so far. Thanks, it's good to be back. It's been a busy last year, but that's no excuse for my extended absence!

My recent purchases include: Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel... Metric - Synthetica Sigur Rós - Valtari Regina Spektor - What We Saw from the Cheap Seats Garbage - Not Your Kind of People Norah Jones - ...Little Broken Hearts Not a bad one among them...

Yeah, in a series full of amazing characters, she manages to stand out, which is saying something. Kind of bitter sweet... I had a lot of trouble deciding how I wanted to finish the book, knowing it was the end of a trilogy. I wanted to plow through, so I could find out how things shook out. But I didn't want it to end too soon, either. I just plowed through, anyway. I <3 reading!

Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...

The D700 arrived last night and she was pretty much blown away with its low-light performance, even with her DX lens on it. I bumped up the shipping on her new lens (50 1.4D) so it will arrive today. The improvements from the D70 are staggering, though I'm still pretty happy to be getting my camera back. Thanks again, and enjoy the 800!

New Metric... Synthetica.

I figured you already know... Otherwise it would've been an intentional heads up! Got a few chapters in last night... So far, so good.

Finishing up Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I'm in a weird spot because I really want to read my next book (Mira Grant's Blackout, the final book from the Newsflesh Trilogy, which showed up randomly as I had forgotten about the pre-order). I've really enjoyed AL:VH, as I have all of Seth Grahame-Smith's work. But knowing Blackout is out there has made me feel a little rushed since I kinda want to get through it.

My mother just got the FedEx return box, and she submitted her request over three weeks ago, so there's still hope.

That's pretty impressive. There was another machine aluminum dock I was considering last year, but I like the looks of this one significantly more.

Well, the Harmony One is only $9 more from Amazon. So at least that's an option if that deal doesn't come back around...

Lights - Siberia Fun, synthy, noise-filled electro-pop.

AppleTV. It's nice to want to watch Netflix and NOT have to wait 30 min for the PS3 to update.

She was amazing. Her ability to play her songs live is amazing. About 80 min of looped cello in an old church with amazing acoustics... How can you go wrong?

The wife and I are at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge to see Zoë Keating. Really excited. Haven't seen her since probably '05 when she was still playing in Rasputina.

Anyone here having issues with their 4s battery life? Mine's been great. My 3s had an issue after the upgrade to the final release of iOS5, with only 3-4 hrs on a charge, but it was fixed by deleting and recreating my email accounts. Nobody I know with the 4s has had an issue, but it's all I keep seeing in the news.