My 20 Truths

I first saw this 20 truths post from Amber Naslund via Twitter. which not surprisingly was inspired by friend and former colleague, CC Chapman. I thought it was a great idea and figured I'd take a stab at what 20 truths were on my mind that day. Here we go:

1. I have historically not been a good listener, but I’m working on it.
2. Having kids really does change your life for the better. Whoever came up with all those cheesey sayings about it, they weren’t lying. 
3. Sometimes adults need babysitting too.
4. I wish old friends kept in touch better.
5. You grow fonder of your family as you grow older. I wish I knew that when I was younger.
6. People too often forget that marketing is all about the customer. If you're not listening to them, get off your high horse.
7. The world is full of great presenters and great thinkers. Unfortunately, the world has a very limited supply of great doers.
8. You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family...unless you’re a celebrity visiting an under-devoloped country. I’m still happy with mine.
9. I must really like both my job and my house because my commute really limits the amount of time spent with my daughter.
10. You grow much more comfortable with yourself the older you get.
11. If YOU are lucky, then YOU are involved in that luck. So i guess YOU actually do make your own luck.
12. Squirrels are an evil animal.This screaming squirrel has to scare you.
13. When I think about death, it scares me. That’s why I enjoy every day to the fullest and dont sweat the small stuff.
14. Everyone has secrets.
15. If you have been there a while and some people you work with don’t feel like family, there’s probably a better fit out there.
16. Not sure who or where I’d be without ever meeting my wife, but I’d definitely be worse off...and with a horrible wardrobe.
17. I really like making people laugh. When they don’t laugh, I don't like them.
18. I still think I had the talent that would have allowed me to play a sport professionally, if I truly had put in the effort and work ethic into the right one. That part is kind of important.
19. Life would be depressingly different if film and music were never created.
20. I don’t care if other blog posts inspire me to write a blog post. It’s called inspiration for a reason. 

Is Pending Fatherhood Making Me Sentimental?

Every now and then, I've been known to track some of my commute's set lists as I ride home and tune from radio station to radio station.  I know, I'm strange.

Well, I tracked a commute this week and it was quite different than most. I was listening to songs that I would skip right over in past situations. With brief intervals of sports talk radio, the songs were:

• Father Figure - George Michael (Tough to pass up a song from this album)
• Kiss from a Rose - Seal (I have never once listened to this song before)
• Sometimes When We Touch - Dan Hill (Ditto. I swear)
• We’re Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
• Blurry - Puddle of Mudd
• Pride (In the Name of Love) - U2
• Halfway Gone - Lifehouse
• Heaven - Bryan Adams
• 1901 - Phoenix (I feel like I ended on a good note)

I don't know how to quite explain my music interests as they're all over the map, but I would typically not listen to the majority of these songs during a normal commute. Am I getting softer in my old age? Is pending fatherhood making me become a little more sentimental? Are my music interests changing yet again? After looking at the above list, I'm hoping it was just a full moon 'cuz I don't know if I could listen to that group of songs very often.

Video (and Internet) Did Not Kill the Radio Star

A recent tweet by a friend that runs the barnerblog, a blog about his thoughts on music and more, motivated me to share my love for music.  All kinds of music. Even teen pop.

A one hour commute can lead to many things - catching up on phone calls, car karaoke, marketing ideas, and the horrible habit of texting/blackberrying at stops in traffic or lights (no more carexting is my newest New Year's Resolution as I'm not sure yet how I'm doing with the first one). With a commute an hour long, many have recommended I get satellite radio. 

No thanks, people.  Typically, people are critical of it, but I've always been a fan of good, old-fashioned FM radio. And with the variety of music that I'm interested in, I'm able to continously find what I want.  Mix in a couple sports talk radio stations and a little NPR if I'm really desperate and an hour of commute time goes by in no time. 

Maybe everyone else is just looking in the wrong places or listening to the wrong stations. More likely is the fact that you don't like the wide variety of music I do. When I say I like everything (but country), I mean it.  You hear that phrase all the time, but I'm serious.

Here's your proof. In my commute home one night, these songs were all played on the radio, different stations of course. This legendary commute set list was sung by none other than yours truly. 

• The Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
• Pearl Jam - Just Breathe
• Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
• Ke$ha - Tik Tok
• Matisyahu - One Day
• Taylor Swift - Fifteen
• Muse - Uprising
• Aerosmith - Dream On
• Miley Cyrus - Party in the U.S.A.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
• Pearl Jam- The Fixer

Now, that is some variety. It was quite a run of songs that I wanted to listen/sing awkwardly to. After the first three, I had to start keeping track. I even tweeted how shocked I was about the first and how this blog post would eventually be forthcoming (2 weeks later).

In my commutes, I've seen this string of "listenable" songs happen a lot. Now, I'm not saying I'd download all of these on iTunes, but I'm pretty sure at least six of them are on my iPod.  Call me out for singing horrible pop songs, but don't tell me that radio is dead.

Two Recent Car Commute Set Lists

I am always amazed by the vareity of songs from the radio that I tend to listen to.  The two set lists below were from some recent commutes, of which I have a long one. Many days I end up listening to sports talk radio, but there are others where I lean on the radio to pump out some good songs.  Both of these rides were at the end of the work day, when it is even more appreciative to wind down to some good music.

There were a couple songs in both, Blur's Song 2 and the G6 song. The first is a blast from the past and the second is just so damn catchy, but both were and will be overplayed, respectively. Otherwise, the sets had some great songs from the alternative 90s (Soundgarden, Jane's, Pumpkins, Melon, R.E.M. ,Sublime) and some great new music (Bells, Yeahs, Killers, Weane, Florence, Death Cab). A few randoms sprinkled in there and we have ourselves two sets of 10.

 Car Commute Set List #1

• Far East Movement, The Cataracs and DEV - Like a G6
• Taio Cruz - Dynamite
• REM - It's The End of the World As We Know It
• 
  Image via Wikipedia
  Blur - Song 2
• Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
• Jane’s Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
• Sublime - Santeria
• Blind Melon - No Rain
• The Killers - Mr. Brightside

Car Commute Set List #2

• Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body
• Blur - Song 2
• Keane - Somewhere Only We Know
• Soundgarden - Pretty Noose
• Taylor Swift - Mine
• Far East Movement, The Cataracs and DEV - Like a G6
• Black Eyed Peas - The Time (Dirty Bit)
• The Fray - How to Save a Life
• Florence and The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
• Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock