Patrick Says

So, tonight at bedtime, the oldest son (the 3-year-old) says to me:

‘Daddy, I want to be Darth Vader for Halloween.’

‘Okay,’ I reply, ‘why Darth Vader?’

‘Because he has the force…and he has a lightsaber…and he can make popcorn.’

‘Popcorn?’ I ask.

‘Yes, Daddy, he has those buttons on his chest.’

My son thinks Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, is a microwave oven. Well, he does have those buttons and maybe the Emperor does enjoy some Orville Redenbacher every once in awhile…

The other day, a discussion arose in my workplace about holidays. Which holiday has the best food? Which holiday is best for getting gifts? You get the idea. I thought I’d make my picks here on the blog. Why not? So, without further adieu, my list:

• Food - Easily Thanksgiving. I have to have the cranberry gel shaped like a can or I’m not eating. Christmas is a far-off second.
• Presents - Birthday. I know you’re thinking Christmas, but your birthday is all about you. For that reason alone, it’s number one. (I’m not even mentioning the cake.) Christmas is a close second though.
• Candy - Could go either way, but I give the nod to Halloween over Easter. I get two buckets from the kids and an extra bucket if the door traffic is light. Win-win-win!
• Love - Valentine’s Day is way over-commercialized, so the winner is your anniversary. For the same reason as your birthday, it’s a special holiday just for you (and one other person). Downside, of course, is you have to buy gifts, but some jewelry and some flowers should do the trick.

If you’re in China, you are not reading this blog. Apparently, nearly every blog is banned in China. NO FREE THINKING ALLOWED!

Check your site at Great Firewall of China.

Who on Earth gave the okay on this product?
Dill pickle and sunflower seeds? I’ll pass.

So I’ve been comparing services for free music. I’ve found two that are very similar, Pandora and Finetune. Both offer random ‘radio station’ type usability, but with differences.

Pandora offers you the opportunity to create stations around the styling of one or many artists or songs. Pandora then allows you to thumb up or thumb down each song that plays. This is really the big selling point as Pandora ‘learns’ what you like and don’t like and begins adjusting song selection accordingly. After a week of using Pandora, I had a pretty kick-ass station.

Finetune is very similar to Pandora with some notable exceptions. As far as I can tell, you can’t thumb any songs up or down on Finetune. But you can create custom playlists. With a minimum of 45 tracks and no control over the order, Finetune lets you build a station with defined tracks. You can also create random stations based on a single artist.

So, that’s a little about each service. I suggest you give them both a try and see if they meet your needs. Many months later after first discovering these services, I find I like Pandora much better. The rating system is a snap to configure and it constantly learns. My station now is near perfect and plays a lot of new music I end up enjoying. But they’re both free, so check both. Really.