You probably thought I forgot...
... that this Blog even existed. :P

I apologize for the fact that it's been well over a week since I last posted, but I've been extremely busy with a lot of relatively mundane things. :P

Probably the most exciting thing going on is that I got paperwork today to have my 6-year-old be tested for her school's gifted program. They'll be testing the weeks of March 15 and March 22. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

And we're still waiting for our tax refund from Uncle Sam. Probably the earliest we'll see that will be within the next 1-2 weeks. I've been busy doing some cleaning around here while waiting for the refund check (which is a big part of what's kept me so busy for the past 9-10 days that I was prevented from posting here).

Our internet radio station & chart website are also growing. We've added a "New Music Showcase" to our station's lineup (with two airings every Wednesday). Listenership has been going up, as has views to the website. This was all made possible by the fact that my online subscription to Variety.com (a source for some of my Digital Media FX stories) was going to be doubling its subscription price on March 15. Since dFx is still showing no signs of coming back on-line anytime in the near future, I decided that paying double the price for the subscription just wasn't worth it. So, we are able to divert the money we were paying into Variety toward a better package at Live365.com for our internet radio station. We now have a "broadcast scheduler," so we can do several specialty shows, and we can set them to air whenever we want (provided that we have a playlist on the server for it to work from). We also get advanced listener statistics (my favorite of these is the "Geo Stats," to see where listeners are coming from). The U.S. is the country that comes in first place; currently in second place is Japan, and in third place is Singapore.

We've gotten a big package of music this week, and we have another one waiting for us at the post office. Should be able to pick up the second package tomorrow.

Hmmm... not much more that I think I need to mention right now. I'll try to post again... well, sometime (hopefully it won't take me another 9-10 days!)

Just Some Updates...
I apologize for taking a week to post here again. This week, my 6-year-old is off from school on "mid-winter break" (with her around, I have less free time than usual). I'm still getting used to this "mid-winter break" business... when I was a kid, the only time you got off in February was one day from President's Day, and then you went right back to school. Around here, not only do the kids get President's Day off, they get the whole week off.

Not a whole lot to report at the moment, other than the fact I'm starting to go crazy with my 6-year-old being home so much... it's making me dread summer vacation. :P

Just got some more info on the upcoming Jem DVD release... special features and cover art. This site has the info.

Also, my internet radio station is doing its next "sneak preview" chart broadcast tomorrow night at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST. If you can, please tune in... more info can be found at the chart & station website.

For what it's worth, last week's countdown extras were:

Great Big Sea - "Fast As I Can"
Boy Meets Girl - "Waiting For A Star To Fall"
Darren Hayes - "In Your Eyes"

A shameless plug...
This is something I mentioned last week, and I decided I'd say something about it again for anyone who may actually be reading this Blog.

Mine & Dan's internet radio station will be having our next "sneak peek" chart broadcast tomorrow night at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST. You don't need a broadband connection to listen... all you need is a 28.8 kbps connection. For more details or to get a link to listen to the station, visit: https://www.angelfire.com/music5/aeschtunes

For what it's worth, here's what last week's countdown extras were:

The Alarm - "45 RPM"
Deborah Gibson - "Raise The Roof!"
The Cure - "A Few Hours After This..."


On a different note, I forgot to mention that my brother-in-law is unemployed again. The company that has been getting him temp jobs cancelled their contract with the company my brother-in-law was temping at in the middle of his assignment, so he is no longer temping there. :( I really hope the situation for my brother-in-law and his family can improve soon.

My top albums of the 1990's...
To follow up yesterday's post about my top albums of the 1980's, here's my list of my top albums of the 1990's...

Early 90's (1990-1993):
Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey
Depeche Mode - Songs Of Faith And Devotion
Depeche Mode - Violator
Debbie Gibson - Anything Is Possible
Debbie Gibson - Body Mind Soul
Nelson - After The Rain
Nirvana - In Utero
Nirvana - Nevermind
P.M. Dawn - The Bliss Album...? (Vibrations Of Love And Anger And The Ponderance Of Life And Existence)
P.M. Dawn - Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience
Queensryche - Empire
Roxette - Joyride
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Wilson Phillips - Wilson Phillips
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Off The Deep End

Mid 90's (1994-1996):
Celine Dion - Falling Into You
Erasure - Cowboy
Erasure - Erasure
Garbage - Garbage
Debbie Gibson - Think With Your Heart
Deborah Gibson - Deborah
Moby - Everything Is Wrong
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Bad Hair Day

Late 90's (1997-1999):
Aqua - Aquarium
Depeche Mode - Ultra
Garbage - Version 2.0
Madonna - Ray Of Light
Moby - Play
Prozzak - Hot Show
Savage Garden - Affirmation
Savage Garden - Savage Garden

Jem DVD release date!
Rhino has finally announced a release date for Jem: The Complete 1st & 2nd Seasons... March 30, 2004!

It'll come out about a week after my birthday... :)

And now for something a little different...
I've been feeling pretty nostalgic recently, and decided to compile this list of my favorite albums from the 1980's. I've broken it down into three eras (Early 80's, Mid 80's, and Late 80's). Obviously, the Late 80's is going to have the most (since I was a pre-teen and early teen during those years), and the Early 80's list isn't going to have much. This list does not include greatest hits albums.

Early 80's (1980-1983):
Billy Joel - An Innocent Man (unfortunately, I only have this one on cassette... but I'd love to have a CD copy!)
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
Madonna - Madonna

Mid 80's (1984-1986):
Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
Madonna - Like A Virgin
Madonna - True Blue
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A. (an album that my sister and my parents have, but I don't! I really need to pick up this CD at some point...)

Late 80's (1987-1989):
Cher - Heart Of Stone
Debbie Gibson - Electric Youth
Debbie Gibson - Out Of The Blue
Janet Jackson - Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
Madonna - Like A Prayer
Roxette - Look Sharp!
Dirty Dancing soundtrack


Hopefully in the next few days, I'll also be posting my list of favorite albums from the 1990's...

Finger Update...
I was able to take off the "finger sock" today... and I'm grateful! It was so hard trying to get my housework done today without getting that thing wet or dirty. I'm now wearing a normal Band-Aid, and so far everything seems to be OK.

But all I know is... the sooner this injury can completely heal, the better.

I guess you reap what you sow...
Or maybe it's just karma.

Last Saturday, I had managed to injure my 3-year-old's finger in a door at Quizno's. Well, last night, my 6-year-old managed to cut some skin off my finger while trying to hand me a pair of safety scissors. Two hours later, when I couldn't get the bleeding to stop, I went to the emergency room to get my finger looked at. They managed to get the bleeding to stop, and now I'm wearing a big bandage on my finger (I don't know what the technical name for it is, but I'm calling it a "finger sock" (because that's what it looks like)). I have to wear it until tomorrow night, then I can take it off and put a regular Band-Aid on.

With the bandage on, I can't use my right index finger (the one that was injured). This injury has made me aware of just how much I rely on my right index finger (although I'm left-handed).

The quest for the missing sock is over!
I finally found my 3-year-old's missing sock! :)

Turns out it fell behind the dryer. I have to re-wash it though, since it was sitting in a dusty area overnight. :P Oh well... at least I found the sock. :)

It wasn't so bad after all...
It turns out that I didn't break my 6-year-old's dresser drawer. What happened was that when I was pushing down on her jeans so they'd all fit in the drawer, I managed to knock the bottom loose. Dan was able to push the bottom back into place, and everything is fine now. :)

But I still haven't found my three-year-old's missing sock. :(

Now if only I could kick this cold that I've had for a week... :P