A full time supporter of iPods

I added another new iPod to my collection - this time the 32G iPod Touch.  I already had one of these (a 16G version), but Karen has taken quite a liking to it.  So I transferred my old one to her and got the updated version.


This is now my fifth iPod.  I started with a Mini, received a Shuffle as a gift, then went for the square little Nano (with video!).  The iPod touch seemed like the perfect version - a mini computer in my pocket, with movies and music.  So one with a bigger hard drive, updated software and better headphones can only be an improvement, right?


Somebody has to keep Apple in business.

Thoughts on Richard Nixon

I finally got around to seeing the movie Frost/Nixon.  It is very well done; though it took me a little while to get past the background on David Frost (which turned out to be an absolutely necessary set-up for what was to come), the interview scenes between Frost and Nixon were riveting.  Frank Langella's portrayal of the President is stunning, not because he looks or sounds just like Nixon (he doesn't), but because he channels his very being so well.  You lose sight of the fact that these are not the real interviews.


We lived in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., when I was growing up.  I was in my early teens when the Watergate scandal broke, and I still vividly remember my father taking me to stand in line outside the Senate Office Building where the Watergate hearings were being held.  We eventually got to go inside for our 15-20 minute period, and I watched carefully as Senator Sam Ervin led the committee through its hearings.  I don't remember who we saw testifying, but I remember being there.  And I remember all the subsequent events very well, right up to the moment that Nixon announced he was leaving office ("Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow"):

One key moment caught me in the movie.  When Nixon is finally breaking down, admitting in his own way that he had done wrong, he says something about how bad he felt about all the young people who would be turned away from politics because of his actions.  That is me, spot-on.  I was very interested in politics - in fact, I did end up majoring in political science in college, and I worked all four summers of college on Capitol Hill (though not directly for any politicians).  After Watergate, I didn't really want to have much to do with politicians or politics.  I saw the entire business as corrupt and wanted no part of it. 


When I headed to law school, it was to California, as far from Washington and its corrupt political process as I could get.  Even today, I see politics and politicians in a bad light.  Yet only now do I realize that it is almost entirely due to Richard Nixon.  


(Side note - Nixon helped fuel this further by choosing our Governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, to be his Vice-President.  That didn't work out so well either.)


It is interesting, so long after the fact, to have a realization like this.  Just another example of the power that a good movie-maker has to tell a story the right way.  If you haven't seen Frost/Nixon, it's a good rental choice.

Black Friday shopping

So this is something I always avoid -- shopping on Black Friday.  Today it seemed particularly hyped by the media, but I am about to take two trips to the East coast and needed a nice winter coat, so I decided to brave the crowds.  


I remember one year I actually went to the mall on this Friday and literally could not find a parking space.  This year, not so much.  I arrived around 9:00 am (no, I did not go out for the first store openings at 4:00 am!).  No problem parking, no huge crowds.  The mall was busy, but manageable.


Prices definitely were low.  I found some very nice shirts at very low prices.  My search for a coat took a bit longer, but I ended up with a nice Joseph Abboud wool coat for quite a discount.  And I managed to snag a few DVDs for Christmas presents, just $3.99 each at Target.  (I do think the end of the DVD era is coming very soon.)


Everyone talks about electronics being the big sale item for Black Friday.  I went to a couple of different electronics stores and didn't see much.  These days, electronics are so heavily discounted on a regular basis that the discounts I did see just didn't seem very enticing.


So I considered my trip a success.  I followed it up with my (now) daily visit to the gym, and I didn't feel so bad when I sat down to some delicious turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce leftovers later in the day.

Who wants pie?

Another delicious Thanksgiving dinner last night.  My personal contribution was homemade cranberry maple muffins and sweet potatoes (from the farmer's market) covered with mini-marshmallows.  Sarah (home from college for the weekend) and Abby decided it was time to make the pies for dessert.  Here they are collaborating at the stove:

Sarah made two delicious sets of crusts, and then put together a beautiful lattice cherry pie.  Abby took one of Sarah's crusts and made a coconut cream custard pie from scratch:

I only wish I had had more room after all that turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's hoping you are as thankful this year as I am.  Thankful for my family and my friends, and looking forward to a very joyful holiday season.

Oh, and course, thankful for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:

Charles Dickens

One of my favorite quotes is from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens:

I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.

I once found the quote on a Mary Englebreit gift card:

I like to send this card to people who have just had a baby, usually with a note that says "I hope that your child brings you as much joy as my children have brought to me."

Changing the music in my car?

With a long commute, good music is important.  I use my iPod a fair amount, but I don't have the largest collection of music, so it can get repetitive.  That is why I have XM radio in the car.  It's just a little device, but it gives me a wide range of choices.  And given how much I do drive, the $15 a month charge seems fairly reasonable.


When I am on my computer, I often listen to music via Pandora.  This online program lets me pick my favorite songs or artists and create "radio" stations that play similar music.  So I can have one that is classical piano, another based on Elton John, another based on Rosanne Cash.  And I can combine different stations into a "quick mix," which gives me more variety.


I realized the other day that the Pandora app on my Droid cell phone works just like the program on the computer.  And since it is mobile, I can easily use it in the car.  So I am testing out Pandora as a free substitute for XM radio.  


It's an interesting option - not sure which I will choose.