i'll eat chocolate for money, and other tidbits

-random time, kids! woo hoo!

-speaking of random, ipod's have a feature called "shuffle" in which you can just let that thing play a random mix of either a particular playlist or your whole dang ipod.  i've written about this before (several times, now?), but shuffle is my favorite feature.  i have over 12,000 songs on my ipod, so shuffling randomly among them creates quite the diverse arrangement of songs.  it's like a personal radio station which only plays songs i like, with no commercials or annoying morning show hosts.  it is, in the truest sense of the cliche, all music all the time.  the only problem is that if you mess with your ipod, either to find a particular song, or to plug it into your computer to put more songs on it, the whole shuffle process starts over.  so i rarely get over a few hundred songs on shuffle, before i start a new shuffle.  i have this fantasy of letting it shuffle through the entire ipod.  probably not going to happen, but it's important to have a dream.  i'm currently on song 2868 of 12198.  that's 23.5%!  (while i figured that out, it went to song 2869).  the last few songs on WGRG have been:
poor old lu - come to me
patty griffin - stay on the ride
randy travis - promises
son volt - afterglow 61
breathe owl breathe - swimming
nick drake - one of these things first

you know what i love about my ipod?  there's something on there for everyone to hate. 

-tonight is the steelers final preseason game.  it's a little harder to get amped for this one, since most of the starters will be busy not getting hurt.  the game will largely consist of guys that are fighting for a chance to make the practice squad.  most people find this pretty dull and would rather not watch.  me?  GO STEELERS!!!!  LET'S DO THIS THING!  HERE WE GO!  i think you get the picture.

-on the way home from school yesterday, jack was trying to tell me about the fundraiser his school is doing.  the conversation had no context, so i had no idea what he was talking about.  here's how he tried to describe it to me:  c'mon, dad, you know what i mean.  those things that are fun for kids.  it's that willy wonka thing.  don't you remember?  i did one at school last year...that jump roping thing.  you know, a fun-raiser.  (at this point i finally realize that he's talking about a fund-raiser, but the willy wonka comment has me really thrown for a loop....what is he talking about?).  it's going to be really fun, dad, just think of it. (he's getting really frustrated now that i can't figure out what he's talking about when it suddenly occurs to me:  his school is sponsoring a walk-a-thon soon.  his teacher must have said this word to him and he heard it differently:  wonka-thon.  now, i chuckled about this, and he got really mad at me that i was laughing at him, so he probably wouldn't appreciate that i'm sharing it with all of you, so promise you  won't laugh.  but then we had a good time together imagining what might be involved in a wonka-thon and how that sounded like infinitely more fun than a walk-a-thon.  i'm thinking of participating in the milinovich wonka-thon.  if you'd like to sponsor me, let me know.  i accept milk, dark and all varieties of chocolate.

-the yankees are playing the red sox this week.  they've split the first two games and play again tonight.  the rivalry, which is usually so exciting, has lost a little oomph this time because it seems like a done deal that both teams will be making the postseason.  still, i loathe the red sox because i believe in my heart of hearts that when the serpent tempted adam and eve in the garden he was wearing a varitek jersey and spoke with a silly boston accent.  go yankees!

-did i ever mention that i finished the girl who kicked the hornet's nest?  loved it.  then i read 'catching fire' which was also very good.  i'm waiting on the third one from the library.  now i'm reading a steelers book (the ones who hit the hardest) and a book by n.t. wright called "surprised by hope.'  i'm also reading a david sedaris book (me talk pretty one day).  read, baby.  read.

-finally, i'll end with this video that a friend shared with me a few months back, and i keep meaning to share it here because it's good for a laugh, and sometimes we need a decent laugh at the expense of nature.  enjoy.