Mountain Nomad Chronicles

Drooling on my shirt

So I'm preparing to go on a 63 hour(rt) Greyhound trip through the frozen landscape of northwest Canada.  I'm very excited due to the purpose of the trip, but the mode of travel gives me pause.  When I was younger I would try and take a Greyhound trip every year.  It was all very romantic to me - the open road, being alone, sony walkman, stopping at dodgy diners, never knowing who was going to sit next to you and what their stories would be.  However, somewhere along the course of years and events, I developed a "thing" about being a passenger, probably due to being a passenger in too many accidents.  I also woke up one day and realized that Greyhounds don't have seatbelts?  Someone tell me why - I want to know.  The romantic notions are still there, now just coated with a light dusty film of irrational fear.  I hoping to brush some of that film off this trip - we'll see.  I'm also going to work on my "sleeping on the bus" skills, which I have never seemed to master.  Maybe I'll try one of those U-shaped travel pillows and cover my head with a blanket so no one sees me drooling on my shirt.  Let it be clear, I chose this mode of travel over the option of flying...I have many "good" reasons for this.  My wife thinks I'm crazy, maybe she's right.

Related to my conflictedt love of long-distant bus travel, my thing for:

• Airstream trailers
• Old-style country music
• Vintage cowboy shirts
• and old flashy signs on seedy motels, bowling alleys, and other gems of American culture

Link: Sacramento Signs [via Flickr]

Ahh, Democracy

So today is Canada's federal election.  I certainly like the fact that there are more than two political parties to choose from... still I feel like no party really represents me.  What's a guy to do?  Vote I guess and hope that nothing too terrible happens.   Darn, I'm conflicted...Right now I can barely figure what happening in my own life, who am I to have a voice in the future of Canada.  Maybe I'll vote for the political party with the longest name....wait a minute.  Yikes, on second thought, maybe not a good plan.  Oh well.  BTW, not to be too vague, I tend towards abbreviations whenever possible.

Site of the Day: Ephemera Now

Here's a great collection of mid-century prints, ad, pamphlets.  I especially like the Advertorium and Decor Sections.  Great for studying material history, mid-century design or just to reminense.
Link : EphemeraNow

New Episode of JerryTime

When I watched the first two episodes of Jerry Time, I really dug them so I shared the link.   Here's the next installment.

Link: Jailtime for Jerry

Lazy Sunday

I love weekends...you can decide not to get dressed, sleep in, make exotic food, veg out with HGTV, go on a cleaning frenzy, organize a closet, write in your journal, create a radio station just for you...listen - it's on whenever you are.

Link: Mtnnomad Radio

Pandora Part 2

So yesterday's recommended site was Pandora, an amazing site that allows you to create your very own streaming radio station based on artists you like and artists that are similar.  Well, trying to get through my podcasts  on my way to work what did I hear but Leo and Amber interviewing the creator of Pandora on their podcast Inside the Net.  Here's some other gems I found out about this service: 

• It's free with ads, $3/month without ads
• The station you create can be shared with friends
• By clicking on the album art you can rate the song, go it iTunes to buy the song, go to Amazon to buy the album
• New songs are being added all the time

This is the best and easiest way that I have seen to discover new music and provides the most efficient method to add to new tunes to your collection. 

Site of the Day: Pandora

Holy Smokes, this website is cool.  Pandora, by the Music Genome Project analyzes music you like and finds similar music and creates an online radio station to listen to.  There's been a number of sites that have tried to do a similar thing, but this one gets it right.  It is so easy to use.  Do yourself a favor and check this out. 

Link: Pandora

Here's where I found the Link: 10 Websites You Show Know About [via Eric Cogan's Blog]

Yeah, we all care

I'm uninspired and my HD gave up the ghost...although the new Intel Macs are finally announced.

Link: Intel Mac [via Apple]

Dusty Artifacts

I have a friend that has a knack for buying great gifts.  My sense of it is that she doesn't just buy things that are "cool", she finds a gift that contains in some way the essense of the person she is buying for.  Even though we live in a time of wasteful and often shallow consumerism, "things" can still hold great meaning and I hope that they always do.   We own "artifacts", things that, if they carry on after we are gone, will hold meaning.  They will hold in some small way our history, our essense and may hold great importance to those we leave behind, even those that may follow generations after. 

Along the strange and winding path of my brain, I thought about my friend and her gifts, our own artifacts and their place in family history and sometimes world history while my wife and I laid in bed last night and listen to a radio documentary about a suitcase that belonged to a little girl who perished in the concentration camps of Eastern Europe during World War II.  It was a powerful story.  Too good not to share...

Link: Hana's Suitcase [via PRI's To The Best of Our Knowledge]
Link to same story different narrative: Hana's Suitcase [via CBC]

Sober to Relaunch Itself January 5

The Sober virus has code within itself that is set to launch a rebirth on January 5.  Make sure you are up to date with your Microsoft updates, that you have an antivirus and that it has updated definitions, and that you don't open up any "weird" email over the next couple of days.

Link: The Next Sober Virus Attack [via CNet Security Watch]