I like music. You could say I love it. My Collection is nothing of a collector or anything so large you would have to catalog it. But its a good size one. I keep everything on a external hard drive for easy access and I keep only copies in my car in case of theft or damage. It’s not unusual for me to buy a CD online using MusicMatch or iTunes, MusicMatch being my favorite because it fits inside Windows Media Player. I feel very comfortable buying online. I have never been screwed by it, until I tried Napster.

I have been eyeing a band called Eels. So I decided to purchase their first album called Beautiful Freak. Being that I was going to purchase it anyway I thought I would buy it online using Napster. I haven’t tried Napster yet and I remember the good old days of the easy to use software that it provided. After registering with them and after giving them my billing credentials, I buy my album. After the painless download process I go to listen to the album but can’t. Why? because the licencing was not included in the download. I hate it when this happens.

You know, email support really sucks. I email the Napster team with my problem, thinking ‘no sweat, ill get this all taken care of’. I was wrong, very very wrong. They emailed me back with some instructions on how to make sure that my computer was ‘set up’ correctly. Needless to say, it was. After a couple of emails back and fourth they give me a number for there customer support line. This, I believe is nothing more than a single phone in a closet ringing. I have called them about 4 time. Each time I have been put on hold by the answering computer and left there for over 20 minutes. Is this a good way to treat your customers? In a net of fierce competition you would think they would want to resolve this quickly and easy.

I bought my album again and deleted the locked Napster one. This time I bought it from MusicNow. It also, is a service that plugs into Windows Media Player. They offer the usual pay service for music and radio streaming along with track and whole CDs. I still prefer my MusicMatch plug-in, being the main place I buy my music. The only reason I would buy from someone else is if they don’t have what I want. Kinda like the album I bought off MusicNow.

So in closing, I suggest you go some place other than Napster for you music downloads. There are others just as good and even better than the old Napster service. Try them all and choose for your self. — Oh, and I never got my money back from Napster for the bad album –

So as my adventures in basement cleaning advances I have found my long lost potters wheel. If you don’t know what a potters wheel is then let me explain it to you. Its a metal disk on a motor that moves in a circle, you place some clay in the center of the and with some practice you can throw a pot or a vase or a dish. I’ve had a potters wheel since highschool and i’m still not a pro. I also have a Kiln. Although, its a small kiln, maybe 11x8x9 in size. It does the job for what I like to do. If I ever make anything bigger than what I can accommodate then I can always take it to Maxfields Ceramic Supply. They have a kiln about the size of a walk-in closet. A kiln is a high temp oven you could say, I have a low fire kiln. Meaning it only goes up to about 1700 degrees. Talk about burning cookies. When your done with your piece you dry it and then fire it. After its been fired in the kiln it is ready to be finished. To finish the piece you could glaze it or even stain it. But what ever you decided it needs to be fired in the kiln. After putting the finishing touches on it then its done.

If you have any desire to learn to throw on a potters wheel then I suggest you go to your nearest Community Arts Center. Almost every one has a ceramics department and will have classes on it.

Oh and I found my Elton John CD! happy days!

Being Two and a half years old is hard I suppose. You have to wait for someone to pour your juice, wipe your but, and sometimes feed you. Knowing this, I set out to give my boy so lessons on being independent. At dinner I would watch as mom would hand feed him. I would watch and think, will he ever use a fork? – yes I know he is a still only 2. But I have seen kids younger than him use forks and their hands to feed them selves. Hell, I have even seen a newborn feed themselves pizza. Yes i’m joking. As I was saying I wanted to give my boy some independence. So I thought up a little thing to teach him how to use a fork. This is a bit graphic and I do regret teaching him a word like this. But it seems to have worked. STAB AND SCOOP. Yes I know the word “stab” is kinda bad to teach. But he is willing to learn how to use a fork. He can stab the food, then use a little wrist action and scoop it up. He normally stabs the piece of food so much it turns into something not so food like. So if your having some trouble teaching your child how to use a fork maybe you should try the Stab and Scoop technique.

Next trick. Teach him how to use a spoon with out turning it over.