You know, I was going to start this post off with a rant about how much local radio really bugs me. Then, I thought better of it. I try not to do too much insulting these days.
What made me want to rant about radio? Was it the years and years of listening to the same five songs on repeat all day long? No. Was it the fact that I have to constantly change the station I am listening to in search for something that comes in better? No. Was it how I listened to cheesy commercials for about twelve minutes out of my twenty minute drive to Glastonbury a few days ago? Bingo.
I swear, they started playing commercials the minute I got on Rt. 2. When I got off Rt. 2, the commercials were still going. There is just no reason for this. I mean, if you want to sprinkle a few in here and there, that’s fine. It’s what you have to do. To run them back to back for a quarter hour, that’s just crazy. No wonder no one has anything nice to say about that whole section of media anymore.
Gee, I guess I did have a rant after all. But it wasn’t bad. I don’t hate radio, I hate the commercials. Especially the idiotic local ones. Like where a car dealer has their kid doing the talking…”My daddy wants to you come down and buy a new Subaru…” I mean, seriously?
I do like John Tesh. He’s my favorite.
Anyway, since I got so frustrated the other day, I thought I should do something about it instead of complaining for the rest of my life. I decided to order two “6ft 3.5mm M/M Stereo Audio Cables” from Amazon. They were a total of $5.86 delivered. Not bad. I got one for me and one for the lady. They arrived a few days later.
I know I talked about my new Droid’s music playing capabilities. What I didn’t know was that both of our cars have nice little auxiliary jacks just waiting to have something plugged into them. How did I miss this for a whole year? She has an iPod and we actually bought a different adapter a while back. All she needed was this cheap little wire.
6ft 3.5mm M/M Stereo Audio Cable
Auxiliary jack in 2008 BMW X5
You should have seen us out in the garage the night we got these new audio cables. We were like little kids on Christmas morning. We had both stereos up nice and loud. So loud, I jumped on one of the hoods and started dancing. Okay, didn’t happen, but it was an enlightening experience realizing the capabilities of what joy this could bring.
I listened to my Droid in my car the next day. It was perfect.
I told you I was going to write about how to upload music to the Droid in my last post. I mean, getting songs over onto this thing is one of the great features, right? By the way, I was laying on the hammock this most perfect afternoon listening to some tunes through the new Droid. I must say, the quality is right where it’s supposed to be. I use real headphones, so my results are probably better then some earpieces out there.
Okay, let’s get to uploading some music files over to the Droid. It’s actually very simple once you figure it out. Here are the steps:
1. Plug the micro USB cord into your Droid.
2. Pull down the “notification menu” and you will see an area that says, “Ongoing – USB connected – Select to copy files to/from your computer.”
3. Select that area by touching it with your finger.
4. You will be presented with the next screen that says, “USB connected – You have connected your phone to your computer via USB. Select “Mount” if you want to copy files between your computer and your phone’s SD card.”
5. Press “Mount”
6. Now, on your computer, open the “Computer” folder.
7. Open the “Removable Disk” folder. In my case, it was drive H:
8. Next, open the “dcim” folder.
9. What I did was to create a new folder called “Music” and copy my songs into that folder. You can arrange them any way you want. The Droid recognized that and I have been listening to music ever since.
Oh yeah, you will obviously need to open up the “Music” app and play around in there. That’s where all your music is. Questions? Comment?
I took a few pictures to help explain the process.
Micro USB plugged into the Motorola Droid
Droid notification menu with USB connected box showing
USB connected box on the Motorola Droid
Opening the removable disk folder on computer
Opening the dcim folder on computer
Creating Music folder and filling up with songs
One last thing. If memory serves correctly, I think I had to “Unmount” before any songs showed up in the Music app. I forget, but I think that’s what happened.
Okay, so last night I figured out how to get some music on my Droid. It’s really easy. If you need help, let me know. Perhaps I will even write a post on how to upload music to the Droid. Who knows. What I do know is that I now have a music player.
This evening (actually just a few minutes ago), I was reading an article about how developers of Droid apps saw an increase in downloads yesterday. One such app that saw a big uptick in downloads is a music player created by Pandora. When I read this, I said, “Hmmm.” I hadn’t really thought much about a music player on a PDA that actually streamed music from the internet. This opens up a whole new world.
I visited Pandora to see what it was all about. Apparently, some geniuses discovered a way to find music that is similar to what you like. Basically, when you visit their homepage, you are asked to type in the name of a song or group that you like. Then, Pandora will find music that is similar to what you typed in and start playing it. I typed in “Days of the New” and was happy to hear “Alice In Chains” and “Stone Temple Pilots.” After that, I heard some Days of the New. Where have I been? How long has this site been out there? It’s pretty awesome.
I haven’t tried to play any music on the Droid from Pandora yet. I downloaded the app and was warned that this service downloads some pretty hefty data, so I should be sure that I am on an unlimited data plan. I know I am, but I am going to give a call over to Verizon tomorrow just to make sure. Can you imagine listening to music that streams from the internet on a cell phone? Now, can you imagine that this music is what you actually like? That’s huge.
I played a little tennis this morning. I didn’t know if I was going to make it, because the weather was kind of rough out there. I gave the club a call about 45 minutes before the clinic started and they let me know it was “on.” If I tell you one thing today, let it be that I love all-wheel-drive. This is like the tenth time I spun all four wheels going up the driveway. I keep doing it because it’s so much fun. This X5 freakin’ rules. I drive around in the snow like it’s nobody’s business. It also has descent control, so when I want to get back down the driveway, all I do is push a button.
I showed up on time, but the others were late. That was fine with me, because it gave me a chance to become acquainted with the ball machine. Man, about 5 minutes with that thing and I was whooped. I really need to get out there more. The older I get, the worse it becomes.
Laura has been talking about a treadmill lately, so I have a feeling that is going to be making its way into the basement. There are days when we can’t walk because of the weather. I tell her that I have an allergy to the whole “exercise at home” thing. I have seen basements full of rarely used equipment all my life. I have to give her credit though, she is beating up that Bowflex. I have never met someone who actually does what she says like this. Amazing.
Tennis was fun. There were only three of us, plus the pro. Small groups are always a good time and we used our time wisely. I am still practicing my forehand, so things are a little weird, but I expect to get it one of these days. I remember back when I was on the swim team over at the town beach. I was the worst one in the whole group at freestyle. I was doing 22 second laps. I went to visit a family friend in Long Island with my father one weekend and practiced swimming in their pool. When I came back, I was doing 16 second laps. I remember the look on the coach’s face…”WHAT?” That ended up being my best stroke. I’m tellin’ ya Mike, I’m tellin’ ya.
In between other things for the past few days, I have been painting the purple room. If you forget what the purple room looks like, you can check it out here. It’s the one that’s purple. I decided to get off my duff and start painting upstairs of the house. It took a while, but I’m doing it. I cleaned out the room, painted it and then moved my office in it tonight. Here, you can take a look…
Office
Oh, you know I went down to the flooring place in town. I was going to go all out with the top floor, one room at a time. I was first going to put down new carpeting in each room, then I lost heart at during my visit. I brought back samples of pre-finished hardwood. It only took a few hours for me to completely change my mind and lose all motivation to turn this into a multi-week project. If we ever want to re-do the floors, we’ll do them. For now, we are only going to worry about paint.
By the way, can you believe I have that much stuff in the little office? Geez.
Now that the old office is cleaned out, we can start painting in there. After that, the bedroom and finally, Laura’s office. It will probably be spring by that point, so I’ll be outside for the rest of the season.
After I was finished moving all the furniture, I went downstairs to grab myself a glass of Brandy. I must tell you, after tasting that Scotch, I have admitted that I am a Brandy man. It’s the whole, “after dinner” thing, I think. It’s just the way I am. I don’t need any more hair on my chest.
I did a little looking around and decided that perhaps someone should buy me a nice bottle of Christian Brothers XO Rare Reserve Brandy. I would really like that. If you want to just drop it off, cool. If you want to meet me someplace, I can do that, just let me know when.
Finally, let’s talk about music. I am done organizing my albums into nice, neat folders on my computer (backed up, of course). I have a whole slew of them and they are mixed with most of Laura’s. She still has a while to go. As I was sitting here in the new office tonight, drinking my Brandy, I decided to cruise through some of the folders. I knew what all my albums were, but there are some of Laura’s that I really am not all too familiar with.
I first listened to one of my favorites, Christopher Cross. Then, after that was done, I opened one of hers. I listed to the first part of the first song and decided to give it a chance. I was in the middle of working, so I didn’t notice all that much after that, until the third song. It was “Days Of The New – Enemy.”
Now, I know you are chuckling under your breath, mumbling that I am not as “hip” as you are when it comes to music. You’re probably right, but I have already gotten over it. I really like the song and I would like to share it with you. Enjoy. (You’ll have to click here to see it. They disabled embedding.)
When I work at home, I usually sit at the computer in silence. The TV might be on in the other room, but generally, there is nothing going on. Every so often, I remember to click a few music files that I have on computer.
Last year some time, I ripped about 50 CDs onto my computer. When I play the music while working, it really lightens the mood. My head turns to so many other things besides just work.
Last night, Laura was watching the movie “Great Expectations” in the living room. It has a pretty good soundtrack. I was just doing some site upgrades which requires a lot of uploading and downloading, which can get boring. I decided to listen to some “Steve Perry” from his greatest hits album.
Every time I listen to this album, I start off with the song, “It Won’t Be You.” It’s pretty laid back and relaxed. Steve Perry is a very talented artist…if you are a “Journey” fan, you know what I am talking about. It’s the kind of music that you close your eyes to. It brings you somewhere else. I remember a few times while I was living in Atlanta with my friend Rob, I would lay on the floor with my headphones on listening to something good. One time, Rob came home from work and had to step over me. He told me later on that he knew I was in the zone, so he didn’t want to interrupt me.
Music changes people’s lives…it’s a wonder that I don’t listen to it more. After listening to a few songs last night, I was so inspired to write about it right then and there. I was way too tired, so I decided to wait until this morning.
One of my most memorable times ever listening to Journey was the ride from Ocean City, MD. I was around 18 years old and had finally talked my friend, Craig, into taking the trip with me. It was about 9PM when we got in thte car to drive South. We stayed in Ocean City for a day or two and then drove straight out of town North on Rt.1. This is a really nice drive by itself, but the conditions of this drive made it even better. Craig was in the passenger seat, just looking out the window at the ocean to the right. I was looking out the other window to the fields on the left. It was around 7PM. There was a huge rain cloud directly over us making things wet, but to the left, you could see the line where the clouds stopped and where the sun started. The best part of the trip was Craig’s “Journey – Greatest Hits” CD. We listened to all the greats…”Who’s Crying Now,” “Don’t Stop Believin’” and everyone’s favorite, “Wheel in the Sky.” It was nice to drive with no talking while listening to the best music out there. It really made the trip.
We made it up to Lewes to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to Cape May, NJ. This is a really cool ferry that cuts a lot of time out of your trip, if you want to stay on the coast. You get to drive your car on it. At the time, I was driving a 1985 Honda Prelude with some decent sound. Since the ride takes about an hour, I opened the doors and let everyone else listen to a little Journey as well, even if they didn’t want to. That was one of the greatest trips of my life and the music played a big part of making it so great.
