Headed Out

This guest post from Werner Rogers

I went to http://www.shopelectricityratestexas.com when we started our new business to find the best prices on energy. I knew that we were definitely going to need the best prices that we could get because we were going to be open 24/7. Being open 24/7 meant that all of the utilities would be running all day and not getting a break. Apart from the energy costs, I figured that we would only need to have two employees on duty for the night shift because of traffic volume. I worked with my accountant and business planner and figured out that if would be worth staying open all night. The only thing that I am worried about before we get the business up and running is finding good, reliable night staff that I can trust. I know from pervious experience that working the night shift can do really funky things to your body’s clock and your psyche. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our recruiter has great luck!

The Blackberry PlayBook 16GB 7 Tablet

This thing is like a mini computer, I've been using it instead of my laptop recently. [Which I feel a little guilty about] but it's just so convenient, small and fast. It's extremely high tech and appealing to the eye. It also didn't put a dent in my wallet either...

I'm going to have a good time taking this around to places, using it in front of people, it will turn heads. That's not my main concern with it though... This thing is fast, it's got a whole lot of storage space. I'm talking 12 gigabytes, I keep my music on here, school work, notes, read books, and browse the web... pretty much everything my laptop could do. 

Well, it's been about two weeks since I've touched my laptop and I feel like it's being neglected. Unlike others, this tablet is worth it! If you want to check it out, I advise going here: Blackberry Playbook. Last but not least, this powerful tablet is AFFORDABLE. Enough said, Blackberry has done it again... Groundbreaking technology. Hands down. Thanks a lot Blackberry!

I watch a lot of TV

This guest post from Doris Dillon

Sometimes I have a hard time admitting to myself how much T.V. I watch. It seems like there is always something to watch- no matter what the time or day. I used to only watch one or two shows, but one thing led to another and now I watch over fifteen shows pretty consistently. I know it’s a waste of my time, but it’s almost like the characters are my family now! For instance, when I watch “Grey’s Anatomy,” my heart goes out to Meredith and Derek. (Don’t you guys just love that show by the way?!) Meredith is just so commitment-phobic, and Derek is so patient with her. It reminds me of a friend of mine that is the exact same way with her boyfriend. I always go to: WWW.DIREC.TV to get all of the latest tidbits about what’s on and when. Although now that I have a TiVo it doesn’t really matter when things are on anyway! I guess I should probably feel worse about the fact that I watch so much television, but the shows that I watch are so good that it makes it hard to care!

A Definitive Pete Seeger Album

Throughout my experience of Pete Seeger song compilations, this one has the right to be deemed as the definitive topical song collection. Turn Turn Turn, Which Side Are You On? are all songs that he performed, the best out of all other that have performed them.

I studied a collection of songs assembled by Bess Lomax Hawes, who was a leading member of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie’s band, the Weavers aka the Almanac Singers. The collection of songs had such a range of topic. [I had access to them through a school I was studying at, I was probably the only one to go through these boxes of songs in several decades.] Bess Lomax Hawes was also the daughter of John Lomax and sister of Alan Lomax.
Bottom line, this album is more than a primer to the topical songs that were being produced during that era. It took guts to sing songs like these back during that time, when freedom of expression was muffled by the “red scare”, etc. Pete Seeger was eventually blacklisted, but despite his refusal to admit that he was a “commie” he landed his own television show called “Rainbow Quest” That included highly influencial singers of a younger generation…



There are more on youtube...

Dave Van Ronk. Happy Birthday.

It’s the folk singer, Dave Van Ronk’s birthday… here is a free song provided by Folkways & the Smithsonian.
http://soundcloud.com/smithsonian-folkways/green-green-rocky-road-by-dave
If you don’t really know who Dave Van Ronk is, he’s a brilliant folk musician who recorded several albums in his lifetime.

He taught Bob Dylan how to play the song House Of The Rising Sun. Before Eric Burdon & The Animals, before Bob Dylan, before Joan Baez, it was Dave Van Ronk. [There are some before him, but Dave Van Ronk deserves a heck of a lot of credit] He also gave Dylan a place to stay in the Village for some time, and also brought him up on stage at the Gaslight club. The Gaslight was a famous folk club in the Greenwich Village folk scene during the sixties.