it’s a slow spin
carrying leaves to the ground
what once caught the sun
spins to earth rusty brown
it’s a slow spin
from the first kiss to the dirt
what once caught the sun
spins to earth

remember the sunshine in our eyes
gloriously wasting youth
we convinced ourselves that we were wise
after barely tasting truth
I can’t remember just what happened
but I remember 8 am
when I woke up in the sunshine
the world slowly began to spin

we will not be remembered in this world
barely time to uncurl, then we curl and fade away
and I am losing my memory in this world
slowly spinning to sleep, dreaming of the day
when we spoke the night away…

it’s a slow spin
carrying leaves to the ground
what once caught the sun
spins to earth rusty brown
it’s a slow spin
from the first kiss to the dirt
what once caught the sun
spins to earth

it’s a slow spin
burying leaves

“Puppylicious” Yes, a remake of the Fergie tune for our new puppy…

“Don’t You Haunt Me Baby” done to the tune of Don’t You Want Me by Human League. It struck me as a funny idea because I can list out all the things my wife swears she’s gonna haunt me over if I do them after she’s dead: #1. If I get another wife … the list has grown from there…

“Whimpers Carry” done to the tune of Voices Carry by Til Tuesday. And, of course, “I Know What Dogs Like”… I gotta get out of the 80′s puppy parodies!

My email client journey began way back in the days of Eudora (fancy version) and, more often than not, Eudora lite. I still miss some of the great functions Eudora provided and, apparently, am too lazy to figure out how to reproduce them since. Eudora had a sweet template reply system! My next stop was Pegasus. Pegasus could do most of what I loved about Eudora but it was a bit more clunky too. I also had the brief but required stint with Netscape’s Messenger (ah, remember the good old days when that aol trial disk was worth it just for the Netscape browser?), then on to a couple of webmail solutions (that totally scorched hundreds of my emails more than once when a corrupt message locked the entire folder up- I forget the names but there were a couple of early ones that really soured me on the webmail approach). Finally, I succumbed to Microsoft’s full on internet assault and began using Outlook Express along with IE. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though and 4 or 5 years ago (I think?) I switched completely over to Thunderbird.

Now, I should go on record here as saying that Thunderbird did a really good job most of the time. The search functions & auto-complete all work like I want them to and it normally got the job done… until recently. Like most people (I’m guessing) I have a bunch of email addresses. And these email addresses reside on more than one server with more than one operating system & configuration. Gmail does a pretty good job of roping them all in together and it’s a great solution for my phone but that route just isn’t going to cut it for me (back to the old webmail scenario I don’t relish). Anyway, everything was hunkeydorey with the bird until, starting a year or so I think, sending and receiving email started taking a long time. Gone were the snappy, quick-as-a-flash replies and inbox checks- I found myself waiting 30 seconds or more just for the client to communicate with the server. It was irritating, but definitely not a deal breaker by any means. THEN, I needed to add three new accounts (with more on the horizon) from a brand new server. Nothing special: all the normal server entries and authentication as far as I could see, BUT… it didn’t work. I wrestled with the settings, checked and double checked everything, searched online for a solution then finally gave up. I thought to myself “It’s a shame but I guess I can just link all the new addys to my gmail account and only access them online or on my phone or with the messy gmail integration back into Thunderbird itself. ” Goodness! Too many steps for something that should be so simple and straightforward!

Well, if that’s where the story ended you wouldn’t be reading this long, drawn out post right now. One night (which would be tonight actually) I decided to give a pre-installed program on my computer a whirl with these new accounts. I’m using Windows Vista and it came packaged with a little email proggy I’ve never even bothered to look at: Windows Mail. I don’t know the history behind this program but I believe it was created in 2006 by Microsoft as a quick & dirty replacement for Outlook Express (part of the Vista package). I’m beginning to think it’s actually quick & clean though! Here is my experience thus far…

The program fired up fast! No unnecessary feature bloat at all as far as I can tell. There is a calendar included but it is also super clean and quick.  Setting up my new email accounts was ridiculously simple (as it should be) and once I had them associated with the program I fired off a couple of test emails to and from the accounts with Thunderbird open on the other end. I expected total failure.

As usual, T-bird took its sweet time sending the test emails. I flipped over to Windows Mail and hit send/receive and guess what- the test emails came through lightning fast! “This is too good to be true.” I thought, “Especially for a Microsoft product!” So, I sent test replies back and I didn’t have to wait a second before they were GONE. Surely they didn’t actually make it through whatever snags had been hanging up my Thunderbird email client so easily! Then, I switched back over to Thunderbird, checked for mail on all accounts… waited the mandatory 30 seconds or so… and shabam! My test replies were there! How? Why? I don’t know & don’t care. I just need for it to work!

I took the test a step further and entered all my other email address information into the Windows Mail account list and, you guessed it, the thing worked like a charm. I’m going to give it a full test run for a few months just to see if this snappy program continues to delight.

I may be typing something different in a week or two but right now Windows Mail gets a big two thumbs up from this surprised email junky!

*I just googled Windows Mail and discovered that Microsoft actually started paying attention to the nimble, little program and released a newer version with more features [read: performance sucking bling]. That figures. The new email client is called Windows Live Mail. One of their additions is integration with their chat app. I don’t plan on going near it anytime soon.*

Oh yeah, I need to plug a few new sites while I’m here (sorry): medical supplies, remote control toys, camping supplies and pet supplies. Ah, almost forgot- another sinner and water filters

I should come clean though- insurance is probably last on my list of worries. Whatever the premiums, we don’t ever want to have to actually use it. But I remember being 16 too… I had my first wreck within 2 or 3 months of getting my license. Yep, it was my fault. I was so nervous about how my dad would react that I tried going to bed before he got home from work. When he heard about it and saw the damage he said something like “Well, you get one mistake… don’t let it happen again.” Then he followed up with something about how I was going to be responsible to pay the higher auto insurance rate from then on but I never saw the bill. I didn’t have another wreck for a long time either!

I guess I’ll start shopping around for insurance next year. Maybe Geico or Allstate (or that other one- oh yeah, Progressive) can lure me from our State Farm account? I’m definitely hoping they fight for it! And we’ll do our best to keep from using them.

Now the Kindle Fire has been released and I’m wishing I had waited a month or two. And for $199 ??? I’m going to read some reviews before getting too jealous but really, $199? AND it syncs all your old Kindle content. I bet you have to have a data plan for it though. There’s gotta be some catch. Surely the free 3G (like I get with my other Kindle) would be too costly for them on this one. (Update- apparently 3G was too tough to swing on the Kindle Fire.)

I don’t think you can lose with any Kindle choice though, really. And, to be honest, if I was going to buy one today I’d probably buy the cheapest (super light) one with no keyboard. I never use the keyboard! As I’m writing this the price is just $79.00!

http://www.a-1appliance.com/models/whirlpool
http://www.a-1appliance.com/models/frigidaire-electrolux
http://www.a-1appliance.com/models/general-electric
http://www.a-1appliance.com/models/maytag

it seems to me that we’re like pinballs in this game
like some sort of living abstract modern art
like kites that got away on a warm, windy day
taking everything for granted from the start

I’m reading death for dummies
and living like a zombie
waiting for the worlds to collide
if you look at my eyeballs
I’ll look at your eyeballs
and we can both pretend to see inside

I wish I had a drum half as hollow as my head
I wish I had a wish or two that wasn’t stupid
the genie in the lamp will just laugh at me instead
and ask me if I really thought that he was cupid

it seems that we’re like time bombs with no display
no way to anticipate the final minutes
and I really hope I’m set to blow before you go away
because I can’t imagine life without you in it
…if my life was a game my dear you’d win it

I’m reading death for dummies
and living like a zombie
waiting for the worlds to collide
if you look at my eyeballs
I’ll look at your eyeballs
and we can both pretend to see inside

and you’ll be happy till you’re mad
you’ll never cry until you’re sad
we’ll be perfect for each other
till we perfectly discover

we can’t be satisfied

we’re born in the hospital
clicking our heels
there’s no place like home
there’s no place like home
we’ll die in the hospital
clicking our heels
there’s no place like home
there’s no place like home

I’ll hold you till my arms decay
enough to let you run away
everything’s yours if you just ask
doesn’t love just make you laugh

and I’ll be happy sometime
over the rainbow of the blind
these things are better left unsaid
it’s getting late, it’s time for bed

we can’t be satisfied

we’re born in the hospital
clicking our heels
there’s no place like home
there’s no place like home
we’ll die in the hospital
clicking our heels
there’s no place like home
there’s no place like home

I’m not enough for you
I never could be
and you’re not enough for you
much less for me
why should we act like it’s a mystery?
this is humanity
reality

we can’t be satisfied

we’re born in the hospital
clicking our heels
there’s no place like home
there’s no place like home
we’ll die in the hospital
clicking our heels
there’s no place like home
there’s no place like home

maybe it’s more honest
maybe it’s just more bleak
I know where they’re coming from
maybe I’m just a sneak

I’m agnostic about many things
don’t bother with the sin test
I don’t know why and I don’t know how
and I never trust the dentist
…unless… I’m in pain

I outgrew Santa Clause
and so did my dear sister
my kids never thought to trust
in a freaky bunny for easter

maybe it’s more honest
maybe just a clean break
but I’m dying- we’re all dying
is there no hope to forsake

I’m agnostic about many things
don’t bother with the sin test
I don’t know why and I don’t know how
and I never trust the dentist
…unless… I’m in pain

there’s no room for liars anymore
on my mysterical plane
there’s no room for liars and thieves and dentists
unless I am in pain

Well see how long my add runs in this direction.

Anyway, I was fooling around over there and what started as an experiment just may become the new *official* page for my latest music jaunt. http://smallestgiant.weebly.com

I know I mentioned a set list here but I’ve already done it there so… And it’s just covers anyway!

We’ve got 4 shows under our belts (5th one is tomorrow night) so we’re still pretty young. Actually though, in “band years”, we’re probably 9 or 10. LOTS of bands NEVER see 5 paying gigs! I guess I can feel good about that… & keep on truckin.

Anyway, here’s an interesting page from the FairTax proposal:
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=calculator

But enough of that yucky yuck. The World’s Smallest Giant is getting ready for the world’s smallest gig and it just might change the world (in the smallest way of course). We will be sporting, you guessed it, the world’s smallest PA so… that has me concerned from time to time. Oh, while I’m at it- no party is too small for us to entertain so email me and we’ll get there. We’ll play for 1 person even (as long as we still get paid mind you). We also do arenas… I’m just sayin, you know.  Times are hard. Gotta scrape up that tax money! Once our first full set is in stone I plan on posting it here. Sometimes things don’t work out according to plan though so don’t hold me to it.

Federal and State Tax Preparation Service Price: 14.95 Online Tax Preparation Service

Anyway, I like our duo/band/whatever name: The World’s Smallest Giant! Think of all the jokes you can squeeze out of that fancy moniker!