Pimping the new MacBook

I got to unbox the MacBook provided to me by new employer on Monday. I have been in geek heaven pimping it out with the stuff that makes my work flow.

Firefox was the first download.  Customizations thus far – the Hover This! boomarklet, the Share on Tumblr bookmarklet, Feedly (thanks to Rob and Zoë for that one!) and the Delicious extension.

Also – Adium, TweetDeck, iTunes, Things, MS Office 2008, PhotoShop Elements, Last.fm, Xpad, and WriteRoom.

And I chose this photo of my dog for my wallpaper:

Scotia at 8 mos #3 taken by Leona Hobbs

Scotia at 8 mos #3 taken by Leona Hobbs

New gig: Director of Communications at Social Media Group

The news is out. I’ve accepted a position as Director of Communications with Social Media Group.  My gig at Tucows wraps this Friday, and I start at Social Media Group next Monday. I am thrilled to be working with Maggie, Kevin and Doug and can’t wait to meet the rest of the team.

To the good people at Tucows, and specifically the awesome folks of the Mighty Marketing Team, I wish you all the best for continued success.

Move is a four-letter word.

UPDATE: January 28 – all finished!

UPDATE: January 25. Only 5 more months to migrate then I can swap the DNS and cancel my paid account at Typepad. (w00t)

UPDATE: January 24. Giving some more time to this project. Also, I think I’ve settled on a theme.

UPDATE: December 13. I’m too sentimental for my own good. Sigh.

UPDATE: November 15. Yes. This indeed sucks. I’m manually updating all hosted images and links. Migrating photo albums to Flickr. Got as far as October 2004. Bleck.

Over the next while I’ll be moving my personal blog, Flackadelic, to Word Press from Typepad. Welcome to the future home of Flackadelic.

Playlist: Time to Pretend We’re Over the Ice

Time to Pretend uploaded by apropl

Time to Pretend by apropl

For your listening pleasure, here are a bunch of songs I’ve been loving lately:

  1. Time to Pretend by MGMT
  2. Fixed to Ruin by Sam Roberts
  3. Pâte Filo by Malajube
  4. Trans Canada by the Constantines
  5. No Name #1 by Elliott Smith
  6. I Stand Corrected by Vampire Weekend
  7. Resurrection Fern by Iron & Wine
  8. Jesus, Etc. [Live] by Wilco
  9. Oliver James by Fleet Foxes
  10. Unguided by The New Pornographers
  11. Over the Ice by The Field

Note: this post original appeared with a Mixwit player. Mixwit has since joined the dead pool.

photo: Time to Pretend by apropl

Phive for 9-May-08

Hey yo. Here I am with this week’s Phive.

[Note: this post original appeared with a Mixwit player. Mixwit has since joined the dead pool.]

1. Take On Me by Ah Ha

Take On Me by Ah Ha goes out to my childhood friends Mel and Jen (who had this  album on “tape”). On Sunday I met their husbands and adorable kids, we got caught up and had lots of laughs.

2. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt 2 by the Flaming Lips

Reflecting Spoon by ArtNow315

Reflecting Spoon by ArtNow315

This one came up on Party Shuffle tonight. Groovy. Love that Party Shuffle.

3. My Little Japanese Cigarette Case by Spoon

I’ve got all kinds of time for Spoon these days.

4. Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin (Live from How the West Was Won)

It is all about Rock Band. I adore it. Mr. Flackadelic (drums) and I (guitar) decided to play an 11-song all 90s set on Wednesday night. We got all the way to the final track (#11) only to have it be Enter Sandman which we totally pooched, thereby losing all the stars (points) gained through the first 10 songs. Good times. Good times.

We bought a bunch of tracks this week for Rock Band (from the comfort of our living room) stuff from Oasis, Radiohead, Fall Out Boy, Stone Temple Pilots…  The entire experience blows my mind. I can’t wait for more songs and artists to climb on board. Zeppelin is likely a bit far fetched, but we can dream.

5. California Waiting by Kings of Leon (from the Holy Roller Novacaine EP)

A personal fave to end this week’s list. And with that, I’m out for the night.

photo: Reflecting Spoon uploaded by ArtNow 314

Phive for 25-April-08

[Note: this post original appeared with a Mixwit player. Mixwit has since joined the dead pool.]

micro fireworks by Pixel Addict

micro fireworks by Pixel Addict

Up first on this week’s Phive is an acoustic version of Fireworks by the Tragically Hip. This goes out to the Belleville Bulls who are headed to the Memorial Cup after they annihilated the Oshawa Generals 11-0. From the Belleville Intelligencer:

The Belleville Bulls blasted their way to the OHL Final – and a bonus berth in the 2008 Memorial Cup tournament in Kitchener – with a spectacular 11-0 demolition of the Oshawa Generals Wednesday night at Yardmen Arena to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference championship series 4-1.

They love their hockey in Quinte.  I’m heading down to Bellevegas tomorrow to visit friends. Maybe I’ll pick up some Bulls swag to wear around T.O. A flag for my car perhaps?

Next we’ve got Up Against the Wall by Peter Bjorn and John. These guys have been ubiquitous over the past few years. This track was used in Levis commercial; Young Folks was the iTunes 2007 song of the year; the band has a best t-shirt according to Rolling Stone … I’m starting to get a hankering for some new stuff.

Mr. Flackadelic requested My Valuable Hunting Knife by Guided by Voices be played as part of the Phive. His first request was something by Iron Maiden. [vetoed]

I don’t know if you’ve been watching (maybe too busy playing), but Guitar Hero and Rock Band are a major distribution channel for music.

Primotech: “…sales of Guitar Hero and Rock Band brought in more revenue in 2007 than digital music downloads from services like iTunes. The two videogame franchises made their respective publishers $935 million USD combined, while digital music sales came in at about $835m.” (via Tumbleona)

This week, Doolittle by the Pixies and The Cars by the Cars were added as full playable albums to the Rock Band juggernaut. So, track 4 on this week’s list is Wave of Mutilation by the Pixies.

Finally, today marks the one year anniversary of our trip to the Coachella Festival. For the final track, here is Willie Nelson (one of many acts we saw at the festival) with his cover of  Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come.

photo: micro fireworks by Pixel Addict

Friday Phive for 18-April-08

[I'm using SeeqPod for today's Phive. If you don't see the embedded player, here's a handy link.]

SeeqPod – Playable Search

"Aw wicked." says the Q104 DJ at the end of this live acoustic clip of True Patriot Love recorded live at  the Halifax rock radio station. I too think Joel Plaskett is wicked. I really dig his most recent album Ashtray Rock. He’s up first on this edition of the Phive. Did you miss me?

Next, is Can’t Stand Me Now by the Libertines.  I heard it on my drive to work this morning (cranked up  loud with the sunroof open natch). I’m an easy mark for jangly guitar work.

I’m giving the latest album, Magnificent Fiend from Howlin Rain some time these days. It is *so* very retro. According to Rolling Stone:

"A psychedelic cocktail of Crosby, Stills and
Nash, the Faces, the Damned and author Raymond Carver. "Everyone
dabbles in the history books to get their licks," says [front man Ethan] Miller, "We use
the same roads and highways. But the weather, lights, cars and people,
they’re never quite the same."

I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash is here for its pure pop schmaltzy goodness and for springtimey happy vibes and because I had a bit of a breakthrough this week. I’m dedicating it to Brian from CopyBlogger who sent out three tweets yesterday that resonated with me big time:

Number 1: “You see things and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say ‘Why not?’” ~George Bernard Shaw
Number 2: "
   
      “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau
Number 3: “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” ~Yoda

Last but certainly not least is All Day Love Affair by Cee-Lo Green. This track dates from his 2004 solo album, before Cee-Lo hooked up with Danger Mouse to become Gnarls Barkley. I hit repeat twice when this one came on this car this morning. It was perfection on a bright sunny Friday morning.


Yeah the sun is shining.
Looking like another wonderful day.
Look for my CD collection. Trying to find some good music to play.
While I am getting ready to face the world doing what I must do.. no sugar..
Nothing compares to waking up this morning to you.

Have a good weekend kids. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.