Speak to Me

I can't feel too bad about my current dilemma: my fancy new apartment is so big that when I have the stereo on in the living room, I can't hear it in the kitchen.

I need to get a little speaker dock for my iPod. The speakers on my laptop don't cut it and I am tired of plugging and unplugging the thing and moving it with me from room to room.

I think I've narrowed my choices down to:
Philips DS7550 Fidelio Portable Speaker Dock about $130


Yamaha PDX-30 Speaker Dock for iPod and iPhone about $150


Bose® SoundDock® Portable Digital Music System $400


I'll probably go with a cheaper model since I think I need to replace my speaker speakers too. I've had them for about a decade and they were scavenged from my friend C's garage. I have no idea how long they were there or where they came from. I keep getting a lot of static from one of them to the point it is hard to listen to anything.

I really hate shopping for stuff like this. The online reviews from "normal people" are pretty obnoxious with lots of sniping back and forth. Who knew that Bose could raise such hackles and stir such emotion?

Rock 'n Roll Never Forgets?

I've been busy and feeling pulled in a lot of directions.

Latin Paleography class.
Latin study group.
Staff training and evaluations.
A couple dumb dates.
Scraping wax build-up and scouring old kitchen floors.
Unsticking windows and ungunking pipes.
Being hot and lazy.
Out-of-town company.
Out-of-town me.
Impatiently waiting for my couch to arrive.
Artfully arranging my bocce balls into bowls.

Reading, music, relaxing, thinking, writing ... those things have all been shoved aside and I'm feeling really crabby about it. The past month has brought some great things too though... many of them culinary. The Eat to the Beat dinner was a lot of fun and the food was great. The chefs were inspired by music from London Calling and Paul Kahan was awesome. I've also gone to birthday brunch for my friend A. in the restaurant in an old library branch, gone to a Clandestino dinner (kind of like a rave for foodies), and took my sister to Jam,the new brunch spot around the corner.

Shoe Polish

I've dyed my hair.
Actually, I've had my hair "glazed."
Like a doughnut.

This is the first time since I was 17 that I've colored my hair and it is pretty subtle. No one has even noticed at work.



None-the-less, I feel far removed from classy Grey Goddess Emmylou and in touch with my Siouxsie Sioux side. I've also been thinking about a high school friend, M, who used to dye her hair black and had the knick-name "Shoe Polish." M. loved Joy Division and every time we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts (which we did fairly often now that I think of it) we would go to the Northern Renaissance section to look at a portrait we thought looked like Ian Curtis. I really need to get back to the DIA to see who the artist was and to spend some time with the Diego Rivera murals.