Smashing Magazine : A design blog with tonnes of great lists and topics.  It’s generally pretty insiteful and the comments aren’t all crazy.

The Weather : Yup. Bears.

My To-Do list : This has been great to have, but it never seems to be emptied.  Blargh.

Bookmarks : I have a few sites which I visit almost obsessively.  I’ve given myself even easier access to bitmetv.org , hattrick.org , Dinosaur Comics , Indietorrents and my spam filter.

Boing Boing : A list of cool things that gets sent to me about every 10 minutes.  They didn’t post my RTFM Jesus T-shirt, but I’m not bitter.

Torontoist : Thankfully there’s a blog about Toronto… whew. I was worried.  Truthfully, it’s really well done and informative.  I love you Toronto.

A List Apart : The designers best friend for all websafety and proper design goodness.  Drop this in a conversation with designers and they’ll tell you what their t-shirts mean. Here’s a hint: It’s either ironic, a pun or a play on words.

Design FCKR : This site pushes some cool content and some awesome design.  I’ve found a tonne of great artists through it’s feed.

Pixel Acres : Another really helpful little design blog.

xkcd.com : An awesome web comic full of nerdliness and love.  If you don’t understand a certain comic, read the comments to feel horrible about yourself and to be bashed by jerks. The comics are great though.

AchtungDavey : My friend and fellow ST writer Dave’s blog.  It’s updated daily and for that reason alone it made my netvibes page.  Oh and ’cause it’s usually interesting in a what my friends are doing kind of way.

CBC and BBC : News.  You gotta keep up with what’s up.

BBC Football : Following the English Premier League  has never been easier.  These guys play way to often… it’s awesome.

Digg : All the tech news you could need.  Here’s a few themes to get you going : Isn’t Apple wonderful? Can you believe what Micro$ucks did today? Isn’t the Wii going to fail? Plus the comments are usually great too…

Well, that’s what distracts me on a daily basis.  I used to have pitchforkmedia.com on there, but their feed was messed up and it was annoying.  Anything else I should add?

They have the internet on computers now.

It’s reassuring to hear him on the line, and that’s all I need from his calls.  It’s as though I’m saying to myself “Yup, he’s still alive” and I like to think that he gets as much from leaving a message on my machine as he gets when I actually answer and just grunt “uh huh” as he tells me the same stories time and time again.

One day, he will call with a real problem and I’ll hear the anxiety in his voice on the recording.  I’ll probably feel guilty for not answering (well, more guilty than I already feel) and I’ll call him right back.  I’ll lie and say that I was just coming into the house as we was leaving the message, and we’ll talk for hours.  He’ll know I was lying, but he won’t care because he got to talk to me in the end.  After all, the end justifies the means.  I read that in a book he got me for Christmas a few years ago.

One day, I hope he will call with really good news and I won’t feel guilty at all.  I’ll listen to the message over and over and over again until my machine is almost worn out, and then I’ll call him.  I’ll tell him the machine is broken and act like I didn’t hear the message at all just to hear him share his good news all over again… fresh.  He’ll know I was lying, but he won’t care because he got to talk to me in the end.  That will be a very good day.

Today is not that day.  A few minutes later, the phone rings again and his voice sounds shaky and upset through the hiss and static of the machine.  Today (like most days) he has a problem and his problems are mine.  In a few minutes, I’ll call him back and go through the routine of listening to him, offering some advice that he’ll ignore, and then listening to him again.  He just needs someone to listen.

So, for the few minutes I have before I call him back, I will collect my thoughts, relax and prepare myself.  This is never easy, but in the end I like that he needs me.  After all, the end justifies the means, or so I’ve read.

I’ve been accused of being a music snob, but isn’t everyone? Everyone judges music based on style and image without hearing it to some degree.

It may not be a popular or terribly deep genre but seeing third wave ska in concert is always a lot of fun.

Whose house?

Why do bootleggers insist on using FLAC format? If they’re not getting it directly off the soundboard, the quality isn’t going to be that great. A lossless format won’t make a difference.

Jeff Schroeder is the new guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins. Honestly, I’d rather hear new material from his old band (California dream-pop/shoegaze greats, The Lassie Foundation) than his new one. An even bigger surprise is Corgan’s choice for the new bass player (google Halo Friendlies)

It’s amazing how much good headphones can change the sound of music for the better.

Run’s House.

Post-Rock is a genre that’s fairly easy to play poorly but very tough to perfect.

Yes, A Special Christmas Box is funnier than Lazy Sunday. It’s disappointing that there are hundreds of ripoffs on YouTube and I can’t seem to find the original versin of Lazy Sunday to link to. ** Warning: The link above contains mature but hilarious subject matter. **

Remember when emo could refer to good music (see Sunny Day Real Estate).

I hate it when bands exclusively use myspace and don’t maintain their own precense on the web. MySpace symbolizes everything that’s wrong with the Internet. It’s like someone thought Geocities was a great idea and wanted to make it easier for everyone to make horribly designed pages.

Have I mentioned how cool the guys I ride with are? Again, I need to note that this isn’t compiled because of them, because they are great.  What great guys.

After a day in the salt mines, everyone is excited to get home.  The return trip isn’t nearly as difficult.  With my coworkers, we solve the worlds problems, make fun of the amazing snake car which we followed in to work earlier that day or we discuss the worst thing of all… work. What we should be doing is “getting the party started quickly… right”?!

The traffic is just as bad, the weather still sucky but this batch of songs will make sure none of that even matters.

Again, it is necessary to note that this is my list and my current batch of musical ornaments.  I know there are tonnes of songs in the pantheon of music which would work on this list, but for this time right now, these made the list.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Servo : As soon as you get in the car, look over to your riders and ask if they are ready to go home.  They’ll be annoyed and say of course.  If you do it in time to the start of this song, the effect will be genius.  There’s no way I could pull that off.

The Minders – 357 : A driving song if I’ve ever heard one.  A catchy hook, drenched in tonnes of effects with a constant beat and distant lyrics.  Whoosh.

Jon Rae & The River – Best of My Time : Remember on the drive in, that one guy didn’t really get into any of the songs and he was quiet when you said you hated modern country music? Well, he probably won’t like this either, but there is a twang here.  Plus it’s fitting: ” Well some of these folks don’t undestand, what a hard days work does to this old man…” Graphic Design is tough work, people.

I’m From Barcelona – We’re From Barcelona : If you’ve ever wanted to sway back and forth and clap to a song with your new commuting friends, this will do it.  You can’t help but bop around.  It’s all about brightening the day here and IFB works like a charm.

The Go Team – Ladyflash : In the middle of traffic, it is often very easy to get frustrated.  Thus, I’ve neglected any music which might enflame these raging on the road senses and I’m going to push for some upbeat dancey music.  Believe me, if some songs came on, I would go nuts and drive over all those damn little cars with my huge ass truck and they’d all deserve it and no judge would prosecute and if he did, I’d drive over… um, see?

LCD Soundsystem – Jump Into The Fire : Have you detected a pattern here? I’m trying to blow the roof off this here joint, yo.

Ratatat – Nostrand : Building. Building. Building. SMACK! I’d make a fool of myself if I played this song because as soon as it hits, I have to do somekind of white-guy arm/hand wave which looks like I just tried to push the button which made the awesome happen.  I don’t care.

Germans – Pogos Abenteuer : Hopefully the traffic has let up a bit and you can get some speed going.  This track will make any day better, plus the beginning starts really quiet so you’ll confuse everyone.  You can’t help but be reminded of some awesome 8-bit game from your youth!

GirlTalk – The entire Night Ripper album : No, I’m not giving up or getting lazy, this is really the best way to finish off the drive.  Believe me, if the people you’re riding with don’t like this, drop them off where ever you are.  Make them walk home. Seriously.  Ok, don’t but give them a good hard stare and tell them to change their ways.

Welcome Home.