One Hit Wonders

Some musical artists have a long career and they are forever changing up their music.  Love her or hate her, Madonna is a good example.  She's been around for a very long time.  

Then there are the one hit wonders.  Basically one hit that hits the world big time and then we either don't hear from them anymore or they just have a string of crappy hits.   So many examples, so little time to list them out. 

Right now, the big hit is Gangnam Style.  I'm impressed by Psy as he's broken into an English market with his K-pop.  They have left the song in his Korean language...that's huge!  Of course, everybody is horse hopping everywhere and singing "hey, sexy lady..." and whooping in all the right places. 

In Korean culture, he's not a one hit wonder as he's been around for a while.  For the English market maybe.  But even if he is, I'm totally impressed at how he has amazing crowds watching him and totally cheering him on.  

Don't believe me?  Check out this video of 80,000 strong singing Gangnam Style with Psy at a free concert.  Yeah...wait until you get to the 50 to 59 second mark.  That crowd is big.  

I'm sure with all that horse hopping that night, Koreans thought they were having an earthquake.  

Band

As my oldest daughter is learning ukulele, she mentioned something about joining band in a later grade.  She was thinking about what instrument to play.  We talked about different options that would be available, but ultimately, it's up to her.

For band, I actually chose to play a trumpet as there weren't enough trumpets in the band.  As a parent now, I can look back and feel extra sorry for my parents.  That instrument was loud and I had no issues about playing it loudly.  Many times, I'd try to find ways to play as loudly as I could.  And I can't say I was great.  So they had to deal with loud mediocre music.  Lucky them.

So for my sake, I hope they choose a cool if not quieter instrument.  

Bike Rack

I was looking through the local flyers and was thinking about buying a bike rack...maybe a thule bike rack as the price seems right.  

But, I think I'm going to change that decision.  I took the girls out for a bike ride today.   Suddenly my oldest is freaking out while riding.  I'm a little further away watching so I have no clue what is happening. 

When she finally got to me, she showed me her hand brake.  The whole hand brake on the handle bar broke off completely.  Well, that bike isn't going to be any use now.  Why buy a bike rack?   Save myself a couple of bucks. 

Trunk

I love my car and the trunk space that it has.  But a lot of time, 1/3 of it is already filled up!  I have my emergency car kit, snacks and water just in case my kids and I are stuck in traffic for a long period of time and even a blanket.  

Seems extreme.  But you just never know what can happen.  I remember this one day going home, it took me 3.5 hours because of some terrible accident.

But I have to downsize or something.  It actually is quite ridiculous how full my trunk is when I don't even have groceries in there.  

Winning Part II

Well, in previous postings I mentioned that I had won a contest for a cream and gift card, but that it turned out to be a mistake.  I went on to their Facebook page to see what other crazy comments people writing on there.  

Wow.  Some were seriously going to sue the company.  Some were completely upset and had no problems in writing those comments down.   Some were downright nasty.

Fast forward to a couple of days after the mishap.  The company sent a small sample with a $1 coupon.   I was happy to just get a sample as it's a product that seemed good but I wasn't ready to fork out a ton of money for something I didn't know was good or not. 

Fast forward another couple of days, I get an e-mail and a letter stating that the company is giving me a full sized sample.  SWEET.   Going to the store to get my full sized sample!

I have to admit that I'm actually quite impressed by the company.  They took the bad press seriously and then corrected their mistakes on their technological side.   And the gave out full sized samples to thousands of people because of this mistake.   Maybe it doesn't cost them much to give out full sized samples, but it's got to be a dent in their budget.  

Like I said, I was thrilled at just getting a sample so I could test it out.  Getting a full sized sample, way more awesome.  

And because I'm nosy, I went back to the Facebook page to see what comments people were saying about getting a full sized sample.  Let's just say that I shake my head at some people.  While they continue to moan about not winning and sharing their misery, I will happily take my sample home and enjoy it.  

Music

Well, my one kid has come home with her school instrument. I am so thankful that it's not the recorder. I remember the squeals and the hell I put my parents through. Instead, she's come home with a ukulele. AWESOME. I love that instrument. And it sure does remind me of Hawaii. Her playing...well, not so much yet. But it's moments like this where I hope that she will get awesome at the instrument, my youngest one picks up something and then I pick up my guitar and we jam. I'd love to get some recording software like Propellerhead Reason to record our musical jams. Then I hear the plucking of a note on her ukulele and my other one banging on the piano. It's going to be a while before we jam together.

Office Move

Well, the news is official.  I'm moving to my new digs on October 29th.  I'm thankful it's not Halloween...I mean, I have to get home to give out candy to all the kids around the block!  Priorities!!  

The floor plan will be shown to staff very soon.  I'm slightly nervous of what the plan will show.  I know I won't get a window seat.  And that's totally fair since I don't work in the office as much.  Those that have to go in and have no choice but to go in should definitely get the great seats.  I used to work there so I know how good the view is.  

I'm more worried about who I will be sitting by.  I really like my area right now because it's quiet. Everybody is working at a certain rhythmn, phone calls and conversations with other staff are not loud, people can concentrate in their area due to the quietness, people are respective of each other's space.  LOVE it.  

It's pretty hard to give up that quiet and space.  Some people are just more invasive of my space which I'm not fond of, or take up more time than is really needed.  But it is what it is.  I will make the space work for me.  In order to stay sane, I just have to.

Definitely not the end of the world.  But some changes up ahead for sure.  I will definitely miss the great area that I'm in now.