The Jack Noodle Journal

I have this whole week off for Thanksgiving break. It has been pretty nice and relaxing so far. We have a full schedule this weekend. Our holidays are usually busy. This year it looks like Thanksgiving is going to be more eventful than Christmas.

The table will be set for 17 here at the Noodle compound on Thursday!

K has to work up until Thursday. G and I are hanging out. He is lifting up the vent cover and putting stuff in the air duct right now.

I am starting a mental new year’s resolution list (list in my head… not a list of sanity plans for next year). I’ve got a couple of items already going.

One of my resolutions for next year is to do more writing in this here journal. I think I was a bit off of my game this year. No real reason for it.

I had read an article on the nets (which I am unable to find or remember the location or proper keywords for again of course) about how there are billions of blogs out there currently, but their numbers are seeing a slight decrease with the rise in number of Twitter users. This makes sense to me. Blogging is definitely more difficult than tweeting or facebooking. It’s easy to get your blogging and journaling fix taken care of in 140 characters and be done with it. More effort is required when sitting down, thinking about and typing up a journal post.

I have been doing a fair amount of facebooking and twittering (not as much as some on the tweeting front) but I am going to beef the blog input up alongside.

Yeah, I’ve got a few schemes planned for 2010. January plans and resolutions for the year are always refreshing and entertaining to dream up. Who cares if most of the schemes don’t make it to April?

Hey look at that. We are nearing the end of the year. Time to get some end of the year lists going eh? Making my musical best of list has often been a fun pastime of mine. I don’t think I did one last year. I think my best of 2007 list was in the form of a mix disc. Hold on let me check.

Ah, here is a reflection on 2008 and here we have, I believe, the 2007 albums of the year mix. mmm good stuff.

Wait, is it too early to start up end of the year lists? We still have a month left.

Well, as far as the Noodle picks for best albums of 2009 goes, I may be at a loss again this year. I need to think about it a bit more I guess. I will probably craft a best of 2009 mix disc like I did in 2007. 2009 may just go down in history as the year I stopped buying music. (shhh!) No, between sampling albums on MySpace, checking CDs out at the library and the kindness of strangers, I have saved a lot of money this year.

I really dug into jazz this year. None of those albums were released in 2009 though. I’m finishing up the year getting into heavy metal, also not from 2009.

The reason I got going on the lists thing was because yesterday I started listening to and checking out NPR’s All Songs Considered list of top 50 albums of the decade.

The first decade of this new century is coming to an end? I guess it is. Kind of snuck up on me. Time to get some best of the decade lists going.

The NPR list is pretty good. They are calling it the 50 most important recordings. Game changers. Okay. It kind of feels like 50 is leaving something out. It’s hard to remember back to some of the albums released over these 10 years. It’s a pretty detailed series and they’ve got some good write-ups defending their picks. I hope to explore the site a bit closer here in the future.

I own 23 of the 50. Not bad Noodle!

“Oh isn’t he cute with his new cellphone. Remember when we first got our smart phone, Martha? Ah yes, those were the days. We were so young then and full of hope. We felt like we could do anything with the help of our new phone”.

I know. I feel a little silly blogging about my new cellphone. Oh man, blogging about my cellphone is just what those giant multinational cellphone companies and network service providers want me to do isn’t it? I’m playing right into their hands!

Of course many of you have been Blackberried, iPhoned, Smart phoned up for several years now and the wonders of carrying the internet in your pocket and having a phone that does more than just make calls is old hat to you.

I had been watching you guys from the sidelines.

Remember how excited you were though the first week owning your new phone? That’s where I’m at now. I have been messing around with my new phone nonstop since I got it last week.

Doing weird things like using the voice navigation Google mapping thingy to drive home from work. Downloading free apps that I have no use for. Looking up weird questions with easy answers on Wikipedia just because it’s there. Changing and making new ringtones. Creating the perfect background wallpaper. Seeing how long I can stay off of my home computer. Waiting around for people to call me. Calling people for no reason other than using the phone. Talking on speaker phone. I have been playing a game for hours where jewels keep falling from the sky and need matching up into lines of at least 3 before the time runs out.

It’s strange now, but I realize that I don’t actually talk on my phone much. Lots of texting. Oh yes and now I have my email and instant messaging on the phone. Who needs to speak?

I also realized that I don’t do much on the internet that can’t be done all on my phone. I’ve got an app for my Wordpress activities, my Twitter tweeting, and my Facebook booking. Oh yeah, I downloaded a Netflix app for my Netflcking yesterday (no, no instant view).

It’s pretty fun being able to update Facebook instantly with photos and such from wherever I happen to be at any moment.

Okay sure. Reading regular everyday web pages on the phone’s small screen is still tough and not as good as reading pages on a nice big monitor. Oh yeah, I can get Youtube nicely on my phone but not much else video wise. No episodes of LOST yet. I’m sure there’s a way to download them to the phone.

I also need to get a mobile version of Google reader or some other good RSS reader.

I really like the video camera quality and ease of use on my new phone. The stills are a tad shaky but it’s got the same 5 megapixels my Canon has (hmm… time to get a new camera).

Oh yeah, what phone did I get you ask? Well, I got the new Droid phone from Verizon, Google and Motorola. I think it’s pretty cool. Do I think it beats the iPhone? I don’t know. Probably not. Again though, enough with the who’s better than who stuff. Just enjoy which ever device you got and let’s all just get along.

Oh… The little green light is blinking. That means the notification bar is telling me that I have new tweets, instant messages, emails, and Facebook status updates to read.

Feeew! got to run.

I suppose I should also try to squeeze some work in at the office today too.

Hey there. This is my first ever journal entry done entirely from my cell phone. Well I actually looked up how to do it properly on the computer first and then all cell phone.

I wonder if the old timey me of 2001 would have ever thought this was possible? We should go back in time and ask him. That would blow his mind!

Yes my friends it is raining cats and dogs out there right now!