My latest song obsession

I've been listening to this one over and over. It's really a rather wistfully sweet (and funny) love song. Considering that the singer is an evil homicidal genius.

Jonathan Coulton sings "Skullcrusher Mountain."

I love Jonathan's music (you may remember his other song I've talked about, "Code Monkey"). You can download this particular song for free from Jonathan's website here (although he does welcome paypal donations.)

See his other music available, some for free and some for a dollar a song, here.

Oh, and props to kijjohnson for introducing him to me.

Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club is returning for 2008

From Wizrocklopedia:

The Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club has several bits of exciting news to report. Through the help of twelve Wizard Rock bands, they were much more successful than originally predicted and were able to raise $13,000 to donate to First Book. Also, to add on to the excitement, Harry and the Potters have decided to continue on with this collaborative venture and have announced that there will be a Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club for 2008. This year there are eleven bands contributing to the club. Head over to the club’s website for more information and a full list of the bands contributing.

I subscribed last year and I was happy for the most part, enough so that I immediately re-signed up for this year when I got the word this morning. Some of the CDs I never listened to again (and a few were genuinely wince-worthy like the Hungarian Horntails. I mean, I know he's a cute little boy and everything, but . . . ouch), but really, 11 CDs for $50 (last year's price; this year it's $60) was a pretty good buy, including some CDs with some really good songs. And at least some of the bands in this year's line up I enjoy a good deal (specifically, Gred & Forge, The Whomping Willows, and Catchlove). And it's money for a good cause.

Anyway, I pass the news along in case anyone is interested. Membership in the club is limited, so don't wait too long to sign up.

Beating back entropy with a stick

Gah, the house is an absolute mess. As it frequently is this time of year.

No karate tonight, because the dojo was having their winter carnival (a marketing thing; kids are encouraged to come to the dojo for a night of games and demonstrations and to bring their friends, to encourage them to sign up. I didn't volunteer to help at the carnival although the girls did. Poor Rob has the job of cleaning the dojo tonight; it's a disaster, with the debris of a whole night of games (plastic wrappings discarded all over the floor) and pizza boxes and juice containers all over the place.

While the girls were at the carnival, I did a hard weights workout by the FIRM to make up for not having karate. I'm trying to get back to the weights, which I'd let slide between the gall bladder surgery and starting bicycling. I was pleased; I haven't done a FIRM workout in ever so long, but I didn't find it too hard. I guess the karate has been giving me a lot of leg strength. I hope I'll feel a nice ache tomorrow.

After picking up the girls again, I came home, did the recycling, did some stuff to clean up my office, and sorted through and cross-indexed the Christmas cards received, checking them against my address list.

But, oh lordy, lordy. The house really is a terrible mess. The girls have been feeling a bit overloaded with homework, and Rob's preoccupied with starting his new job. Consequently, the girls are blowing off their chores, and Rob's sleep schedule is out of whack so he's letting things slide, too. I plan to whack away at it a lot this weekend. Getting it into better shape will help me feel a lot better.

Sometimes (she looks around wearily) it just sorta seems like too much work to keep up with my own life, you know?