- Top 5 Songs of 2006Â
- Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley: Truly one of the most uplifting songs ever written, Buckley took it to new heights in his 1994 cover of the Leonard Cohen classic. As I blogged earlier this year, I really like the way the lyrics in the first verse reference the chord progression. Hear it on the iTunes Music Store.
- Fett’s Vette by mc chris: This song introduced me to the nerdcore genre – how perfect is that? Written from the viewpoint of Boba Fette, this song is a buffet of Star Wars name-dropping. Too cool. You can hear it in this episode of a podcast I listen to often.
- Turn It Again by Red Hot Chili Peppers: A good pair of headphones; a warm, dark room and my iPod with this song on it. Close your eyes and get lost in John Frusciante’s guitar magic. The short sample on iTMS doesn’t do this six minute masterpiece justice.
- This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ To Glide by The Kings: Nothing summarizes my entire college experience quite like this song. Their 1980 album, The Kings Are Here is hard to find on CD, but this song is on several compilations including Sedated In The Eighties, Volume 5. iTMS only has a lame live version, but it may bring back the memories for you.
- Mull Of Kintyre by Paul McCartney & Wings: Famous among McCartney fans as one of the few songs that were never released on album, this song resonates with the Scottish countryside about which Paul was writing. I couldn’t find the original online, but I did find a version by Wings’ guitarist Denny Laine (the song’s co-writer).
Best of 2006: Introduction
Back in 2003 I started tracking my favorite albums via playlist in iTunes. Every time I found an album I really liked, I would drop it into the “Best of 2003” playlist. By the end of the year I had collected all of my favorites for that year.
In 2004, I felt so strongly about a couple of the albums that it occurred to me that it was time to make my list public. Unfortunately, I never found the time to write about it on my blog. And I couldn’t quite formulate a way to describe how an album would merit inclusion into my list. Thus, the Best of 2004 never received the treatment it deserved. Finally, at the end of 2005 I had some time to let my thoughts and words coagulate and trickle onto my computer when I blogged about the Best of 2005.
This year, the criteria for inclusion into the list is the same as last year. To be eligible, an album only had to be added to my CD collection in 2006, but not necessarily released in 2006. Some long-time favorites with which I had familiarity but had not previously owned on CD were only eligible for “Honorable Mention” along with a few others that didn’t qualify for the Top 10.
In order to make it into the Top 10, a CD had to saturate my listening time for an appeciable length of time. These ten CDs took up more than 75% of my listening time during the year, a clear sign of appreciation. Although I have ranked them, distinguishing between any two is very difficult indeed. When I obtained each it probably remained in heavy rotation at home, on my iPod and at work for several weeks, often receiving two or three plays per day. This is the quality level required to make the Top 10.
Over the next couple of days I’ll be writing three articles about my picks for Best of 2006. In addition to the album lists, I have added the Top 5 Songs of 2006. This year several songs really touched me but the albums from which they came were not good enough to make the Top 10 Albums. Since I couldn’t possibly make a Best of 2006 list without them, I added the new list.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: n/a
Weight lost: 50 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 8
Hours billed this week: 14
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Coverville, Corinne Bailey Rae by Corinne Bailey Rae
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, Suns at Mavericks, Comedy Central’s Roast of William Shatner, Dr. Who
Recent playing: Sketchfighter
Recently accomplished: Paid bills, bought Wii, finished Thomas’ “new” computer, created my Mii (which looks just like me according to all accounts)
Imperative To Do: Finish garage, finish old blog entries, call mechanic, rake, fix laundry room door, RMA old Tivo drive, Best of 2006
Cool Link: Wii for Christmas: Thomas and Graham opening their box of cash to be used for purchasing a Wii (which we did two days later).
Wiiquest, Part Eight
This morning Tina decided to call around the Targets before we left to spend our gift cards at Borders (thanks, Uncle Buddy). The first one she called in Fairview reported that they had units and, after some wrangling on the phone, they reserved one for us. Thomas and I jetted over there shortly after and successfully acquired our Wii! I bought ExciteTruck with it. Graham and Thomas have agreed to split the cost of an additional Wiimote, but they are still hard to find.
After the purchase, we met the rest of the family at Buddy’s house for lunch. We hooked the Wii up to Buddy’s TV and tried out boxing, golf, bowling, tennis and ExciteTruck. Part of the fun is playing but a large part is also watching other people play. Everyone enjoyed it before we were off to Borders and now home. Thomas is configuring the wireless internet connection and will probably spend the next hour setting up his Mii.
Wiiquest, Part Seven
Bedtime: 2130
Awoke: 0430
Target Store: Fred Meyer, 164th Ave, Vancouver WA
Arrival: 0500
Place in line: 1
Wiis Available: 0
Target Store: Fred Meyer, Mill Plain, Vancouver WA
Arrival: 0515
Place in line: 1
Wiis Available: 0
Last possible day before Christmas. The freight guy came out at the first Fred Meyer and let me know there were none. Contrast that with the second Fred Meyer where the operator refused to put my call through until after they opened. Why are you even answering the phone?
I borrowed an empty Wii box from someone at work. I’m going to get 250 one dollar bills today to put in it and then we’ll wrap it up with a note.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: n/a
Weight lost: 51 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 5
Hours billed this week: 21
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli
Recent listening: Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Coverville, various Christmas songs
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, Everest: Beyond the Limit, It Takes A Thief
Recent playing: Sketchfighter
Recently accomplished: Waited in line, dried van carpet, paid bills
Imperative To Do: Buy Wii, finish garage, finish old blog entries, call mechanic, build new computer for Thomas, rake, clean garage, fix laundry room door, RMA old Tivo drive, Best of 2006
Cool Link: Pandora: Discovering more music you like
Wiiquest, Part Six
Bedtime: 2330
Awoke: 0430
Target Store: Fred Meyer, Wood Village
Arrival: 0500
Place in line: 1
Wiis Available: 0
Target Store: Target, Division
Arrival: 0700
Place in line: 2
Wiis Available: 0
I called all the Fred Meyers and none of them received any units. There was little hope for Target, but they have a later opening time, so it was worth a try. This afternoon I’ll call the GameStop stores and tomorrow morning I’ll do Vancouver Fred Meyer again.
Wiiquest, Part Five
Bedtime: 2130
Awoke: 0430
Target Store: Fred Meyer, 164th Ave, Vancouver WA
Arrival: 0530
Place in line: 3
Wiis Available: 0
Target Store: Fred Meyer, Mill Plain, Vancouver WA
Arrival: 0615
Place in line: 3
Wiis Available: 0
I could have waited in line at Circuit City until their 1000 opening time, but Tina had physical therapy at 0800. Tomorrow is going to be Part 4 repeated.
Wiiquest, Part Four
Today was freight day for Portland Fred Meyer stores.
Bedtime: 2100
Awoke: 0350 (20 minutes before alarm)
Target Store: Wood Village Fred Meyer
Arrived: 0430
The trucks arrived at about 0530 and left an hour later. At about 0630 I called the Glisan Fred Meyer to get directions in case I needed it as an alternative. Expecting to get the phone system, I was surprised when a real person answered and put me through to Electronics. They told me they had no Wii’s, but I now had a great idea. I called Electronics at the Fred Meyer where I was waiting and asked if they had any Wii’s. They did not. Next I called two more to find the nearest and to get the lowdown on their inventory.
The nearest at 148th and Division said they would not complete freight until after 0800, so I motored over there where I waited with a small crowd of about 10 people. There were six in line when I arrived, but there were others that later got out of their cars. There was no orderly line and I could see that it had the potential to turn out badly. At 0700 the store manager let us in and gave us the lowdown. They did not expect to have freight completed until 0830. They would not hand out numbers (which has been customary in all my experience with this) until they knew if they had any. If they did have any, they would award them based on a lottery system. Needless to say, the woman who was first in line at 0500 was more than a little upset.
Fast-forward to 0815 after extensive browsing of the very small electronics department. The inventory clerk informed us that they had received no units.
Tomorrow is Circuit City freight day and Fred Meyer will have another freight day on Friday. If nothing else, I was able to figure out a better plan for Friday based on today’s experience.
Vital Statistics
Bike odometer: n/a
Weight lost: 44 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 5.5
Hours billed this week: 4
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli, Feminism Is For Everybody by Bell Hooks
Recent listening: XO by Elliott Smith, Either/Or by Elliott Smith, The Lost Christmas Eve by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Jimmie Rodgers, Not For Kids Only by Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Recent viewing: Sportscenter, Bengals at Colts, Eagles at Giants, Medium, Discoveries This Week, Man vs. Wild
Recent playing: Sketchfighter
Recently accomplished: Sorted and stored computer stuff in garage, attempted to RMA hard drive (Seagate website messed up), reorganized workbench in garage, waited in line, called many Wii resellers
Imperative To Do: Buy Wii, dry van, finish garage, finish old blog entries, call mechanic, build new computer for Thomas, rake, clean garage, fix laundry room door, RMA old Tivo drive, Best of 2006
Cool Link: A Charlie Brown Scrubs Christmas