winter.and.other.irritations

It snowed last yesterday. Now that in and of itself is not really strange, in fact that is quite normal for Boston. Of course it is tough to deal with when you get calls every so often from friends and family who complain about the 65 degree weather and clouds as very cold. So I have accepted that even here in the second week of march winter is still very much in full swing and dumping frozen water from the sky from time to time. Braving the weather and going out to eat dinner with some friends I stop at Panera to pick up a couple of loaves of bread.

Fast forward to ice covered windshield and slippery driving conditions and I finally arrive at my destination sans my phone. I search the car with the light on and while calling the phone to see if it disappeared into one of those cracks you don't realize your car has until you lose something. So it is gone. I guess this would have merely been comical or irritating had this occurred at the end of January when I was about to get a new phone but now it means I signed a 2 year contract and have no shiny new toy to show for it. A pain, yes, but certainly not something to get overly upset about.

About 10 minutes after arriving we get a call asking for a pickup from the T stop and I go out in what is now borderline blizzard conditions (I would include a picture but you see my camera phone is probably somewhere in a drift of snow in Boston) pick up my friends. In the hop offering their thanks and appreciation. As we head back to the apartment, brake lights, panic stop and bang! So I rear end some guy driving his daughter home, excellent!

So that was my evening yesterday. It's amazing because the previous conversations about my day had included such words as good, even great and that I had accomplished a good amount. Hmm... Certainly I was being watched over as both vehicles were barely scratched and no injuries were reported.

Well, back to Soft Condensed Matter...

the.genius.of.ray.charles

After watching "Ray" I commented that I hoped there would be a legitimate soundtrack released with all of the music that was included in the movie. I also almost spent about $100 on iTunes to buy some significant Ray Charles music but I resisted. This afternoon my flat mate comes home and says, "Here, I got you a present." He tosses me a Trader Joe's bag surrounding something and closed with a rubber band in my lap. I open it to find not one but two CDs and they are none other than Ray- The official motion picture soundtrack and More Music from Ray. Indeed, two compilations of Ray Charles music and a couple of non-Ray selections that were in the movie. An interesting addition on the second CD are a couple of tracks that were recorded by Ray specifically for the movie in 2003 before he died. Very cool to say the least. There is also a "bonus" DVD in the "more songs from" package with a couple of old TV appearances which were fun to watch.

Anyway here is the list of songs now neatly tucked in iTunes and parked on the iPod with a 1 in the play count field.

Leave My Woman Alone

Lonely Avenue

Rockhouse Parts 1 & 2

I Believe To My Soul

Losing Hand

I'm Movin' On

But On The Other Hand Baby

Baby, It's Cold Outside - With Betty Carter

The Danger Zone

Busted

Makin' Whoopee

Let's Go Get Stoned

Drifting Blues

Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand (2003 Version)

Drown In My Own Tears/You Don't Know Me (2003 Version)

Every Day I Have The Blues (New Recording) - Chris Thomas King

America The Beautiful

Mess Around

I've Got A Woman

Hallelujah I Love Her So

Drown In My Own Tears

(Night Tiime Is) The Right Time

Mary Ann

Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)

What'd I Say

Georgia On My Mind

Hit The Road Jack

Unchain My Heart

I Can't Stop Loving You

Born To Lose

Bye Bye, Love

You Don't Know Me

Let The Good Times Roll

Georgia On My Mind

Nice!

someone.told.me

... that straight white men don't watch the oscars. I am assuming that there needs to be a qualifier added to that statement like, "on their own" or, "all the way through", or "including the pre-show". Anyway I just saw Ray and I must say Jamie Foxx really earned that oscar. Talk about a great performance and a great movie.