National Blog Posting Month keeps on rolling

National Blog Posting Month keeps on rolling uphill or rather left to right with this nifty tool called the NaBloPoMo! Randomizer

Just click the "view next blog" button at the top of the page to check out a random selection of participating blogs.



I'm having so much fun posting and visiting others who taken the thirty challenge to post daily for the month of November that I'm giving a random winner a $25.00 certificate from Thinkgeek.com amongst 30 other prizes.

NaBloPoMo blog for today: A Hole In The Fence

Bloggers Without Borders: Dresden

Our Bloggers Without Borders: Providing Humanitarian Aid road trip took the three of us - CeeElCee, Sista and myself to the land of Dresden, TN.

It was my first time to Dresden: Founded on the site of a Slavonic fishing village as a merchants' settlement and the seat of the local rulers, Dresden was from the 15th century onwards residence of the Saxon dukes, electoral princes and later kings.

wait... wrong Dresden...

According to the right Dresden TENNESSEE website "Dresden, the county seat of Weakley County, is located in the northwest comer ofthe State. Dresden is 121 miles northeast of Memphis, 65 miles east of the Mississippi River and 130 miles west of Nashville. It is located about midway between Chicago and New Orleans." Windy to the north and muggy to the south, but party time either way. Probably why the locals call the University of Tennessee at Martin a suitcase college.

As we made the right turn onto the path that would land us at Newscoma's front door, Sista (Sharon) Smiff had a childhood flashback:



Once we got the Tahoe back on the road, we pulled up and were warmly greeted by Newscoma, Rodent Queen, Sista Homer and her husband Squeegee Monkey and a nice lady with a real name - Tammy Lynette. I'm a dog lover so I was thrill to meet Jura, Mabel, Kirby and Duff.

They were so gracious and welcoming! Especially Mabel.



We heard the story about the 60 foot giant tree, which I personally think would make an awesome totem pole:



Being the risk takers we are, we marveled at the 60 lb. tree branches falling near our feet.

We went inside and I guess in Dresden, the custom after a big election is to break out some West Tennessee BBQ. Dresden is the hotbed of Tennessee politics; did you know that this city is the home of Tennessee's 46th Governor, Ned Ray McWherter (D), 1987 - 1995. He invented TennCare and has a beer distributor as well.



The West Tennessee BBQ was pretty good as the hogs are local; but we imported some cole slaw, green beans and pinto beans from the Mothership BBQ and the rave of the day: Sista's Pumpkin Gooey Cake. If we had a pickup truck, we could have gone down to Ned Ray's and pick up some Volunteer Beer.



The conversation was great with engaging personalities in the brief 2 hours or so that we spent together. I talked before about how blogging lends itself to creative and healthy outlets of expression. Writing, photography, music, interests, tastes, dogs, cats, kids... and even political viewpoints... the big surprise that catch many of us off guard is the byproduct of experencing authentic "community" defined as sharing, participation, and fellowship.



What a great day trip - Thanks to all for the wonderful Dresden hospitality and on behalf of those who know ya'll back in Nashville and the three of us, we deeply appreciate carving out the time to welcome us into your home, your beautiful city and your kind thoughts.

Bloggers Without Borders: We'll have to head east to Knoxville!

Here's a Flickr link Bloggers Without Borders for additional photos.

Bloggers Without Borders: Camden

Back in the old days when VW buses were in style, a "Road Trip" meant a head west, young man excuse to go anywhere with some semblance of purpose. Like seeing the Grateful Dead. And it usually was a car ride defined by the word "trip". The trip was not so much the journey but a feeling that you get after smoking too much or some guy / gal that tagged along being a real kill joy. Man, that dude was a "trip" or he/she was "tripping me out !" You dig?

Don't act so naive...

But we're all grown up and VERY responsible these days, so when CeeElCee put out the call for a road trip to encourage NewsComa recovering from surgery and visit the Rodent Queen, I said why not? Road trips are always fun, especially when the chance to converse, listen to road songs and get out of the house presents itself. After being up all night watching the election returns, I needed a change of pace from the election chatter.



CeeElCee and I have the ability to stay tied to the office via our Treo smartphones, so driving up to Dresden, TN was very feasible. And it was the right thing to do; when a blogger needs some encouragement, do as the Baptists do - Fun, Food and Fellowship! So we hop in the Tahoe and met up with Sista Smiff, fresh from live blogging the CMA Awards.



Funny how much the three of us all had in common, with the mutual friends and places we've labored at. Stories we could tell!

Sista forgot to pack an extra bladder for the day trip, so we pulled over at the next rest area. This particular rest area named the Patsy Cline/Chet Atkins Rest Area in Benton County was part of the Music Highway. The rest areas and weigh stations along this stretch of highway from Memphis to Nashville are all named to honor a musician who is either a native of, or lived near, this stretch of Interstate 40.



The sign on the wall tells us that in 1988, "the Tennessee General Assembly Memphian Ward Archer, a businessman and musician, elisted the support of Memphis State Senator Steve Cohen and Jackson State Representative Matt Kisber to sponsor the legislation. The designation recognizes the role of West Tennessee in the growth, development and burgeoning popularity of American music."

We made the turn off of I-40 to Camden and saw a sign pointing to Country Hooters (burgers, babes and brew).



However Sista was sharp enough to see a small sign to the memorial for Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas, pointing to the site where their plane crashed March 5, 1963.



Detour over to Sista's site where she has more about Patsy Cline...

Here's a Flickr link Bloggers Without Borders for more photos.

More later...

Bloggers Without Borders

Don't you hate it when TV news stations throw the big tease out - Coming up next on the BoneHead News at 10... Bloggers Without Borders.



Err, stay tune as we head west to the great land of Dresden, TN to provide humanitarium? ... humanitarian aid and examine the political toxic waste spill from yesterday's Senate election.

Walking & Photo taking at the same time...

On the way back from the airport, I thought I park the car downtown and get 45 minutes of walking exercise in. Walking and stopping to take in the "visual textures" of what Nashville has to offer downtown thru the lens of a camera prove to be a nice change of pace.



Here's a graphic of (I'm told) Getchen Wilson / Chevrolet ad on the side of the Gaylord Entertainment Center from a perspective of a child. (Shame on me - I don't know my country singers - thought it was Sara Evans.)



Also quite a stroke of Irish luck to see this green car parked behind the closed Seanachle Irish Pub on Lower Broad.



It's a shame that the murals will disappear once the building is renovated for the next tenant.

My new source of music

I've talked about the Napster service before where for a set price of $9.95 a month, I get to "rent" my music, via downloading selected titles and listening to my library of songs on 3 different PCs as long as I'm a subscriber. Napster FAQs $5.00 more will let me transfer the music on a player "to go".

Napster is a great service in that I can sample full length versions of the songs versus 30 second snippets at the iTunes store. On my PC, I've downloaded nearly 60 gigs of music from Napster. But with my move to an iMac last December, my feasibility to use Napster has waned as the service is Windows specific. I have discovered a lot of great music via Napster's excellent search engine whether by song, recommendations or by artist. For someone stuck in the seventies with classic rock and a mixed bag of tastes (passing on rap, hard rock and today's country), the most consistant venue that is available to me is WRLT - Lightning 100, a progressive station here in Nashville. Other than WRLT, I'm five years behind the curve on today's popular music. Besides, my focus and livelihood is more bent on smartphone software these days rather than music, so I will fall behind.

Some favorites that I discovered on Napster? Sarah McLauglin, Dido, Norah Jones, Annie Lennox, Suzanne Vega, Beth Orton and Nelly Furtado just to name a few in the female category. Now I've heard Annie Lennox's Diva album with the song "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass", but the beauty of Napster is the ability to download the entire album or for that matter their entire catalog. Hear a great song on the radio? Download the whole album.

Like a particular song? "The Water Is Wide" has 10 popular versions out of a 136 selections! So I can hear Karla Bonoff's popular version redone bluegrass style. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon? How about the reggae version by the Easy All Stars - Dub Side of the Moon.

There's the Rhapsody music service as well, which is appealing as it works on the Apple platform. Similiar to Napster, the fee is 9.99 per month.

I haven't had the desire to sign up for Rhapsody, mainly because I'm playing my collection of songs through iTunes that I've transferred from CD's - there's 9615 items, 27.8 days, 42.29 gb of content plus podcasts. So I think I got enough to listen to while working away at the iMac all day at home.

I've tried eMusic, but they focused on mainly independent and indie stuff, but I didn't have that much patience to or earspace to go fishing.

Check them out -
"Start downloading your FREE MP3s today and take two weeks to decide if you like eMusic. If you're not 100% satisfied simply cancel before your trial period ends and there's absolutely no cost. Keep the 25 FREE MP3s as a gift just for checking out eMusic."

Speaking of podcasts, another good source of discovering new songs is Coverville, "a podcast, produced three times a week, that focuses on cover songs - a new rendition of a previously recorded song." I highly recommend adding Coverville to your podcast list - some of the music is uneven, but there are some real gems to be discovered.

Here's a quick snapshot of the available music download services ...

I'm quite familiar to the whole eCommerce mechanism of digital software downloads - that's the business I'm in with Palm and now WindowsMobile software for smartphones, but when it comes to music, I cherish having the real physical goods in my hands. I often thought about making a late night trip down to Tower Records to see what's left of their inventory before the doors finally close.

So what is my new source of music? It's a good mix of the old and new - YourMusic.com

YourMusic.com is a music subscription service that is simple and inexpensive. All CDs are just $5.99 each. Plus, shipping and handling is always FREE. Such a deal.

You commit to buy 1 CD a month, which goes into a queue just like Netflix. Each month your CD ships, with tax and your credit card is charged. You can unsubscribe anytime and also buy any CD in the catalog for $5.99 each. What I like about this service is I'm getting the real CD, not a digital download. BMG is the brains behind YourMusic.com. Long and short, it's a throwback to the record club days. Except you pick the selection of the month.

The catalog is pretty decent too - at $5.99 a pop, I can fill in my CD collection and enjoy the classics as well. So for my first month, here's what's coming in the mail:
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (my first queue selection for November) $5.99 + .55 tax = $6.54
And three selections from the catalog at $5.99 each plus 1.65 tax - total $19.62
Suzanne Vega - RetroSpective: The Best Of Suzanne Vega
The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies (Remastered)
Joni Mitchell - For The Roses



Each of these CDs (without the art or permanent, physical CD) would cost at least .99 per song at iTunes or $9.99 per album ($11.99 for the Vega album). What makes the deal even sweeter are the double albums in my queue - still at $5.99 each. Hate paying full price for a less than satisfying album? How about a used copy from the flea market - even worse -

$5.99 is my sweet spot. Yup, I reliving my twenties through YourMusic.com

Do the Budweiser Wave

Last night during the Colts/Patriots game, this Budweiser commercial aired. I turned to Mrs. WonderDawg and yelped, "THAT"S AWESOME!" Apparently it's been out for awhile, but hey, I must have had my head in the fridge at that time.

Thanks to Google, I'm able to find out How Did They Do That???

"The Budweiser Wave TV ad was made using only 300 actors, just like the Carlton Draught Big Ad. Massive Software's artificual intelligence-based 3D animation systems were used to make up to 97,000 actors. By modifying Massive's Ready-to-Run Stadium Agent, Method Studios placed a digital character underneath each card that would behave with all the randomness and realism of a real individual in a stadium scenario. Method Studios were able to add believable characters, such as spectators and football players on the stadium field, at the last minute without practical elements or new shoots."

The rest of the story at Duncan's TV Ad Land

Why I love BBQ and Marketing

Three photos that express my love for BBQ and Marketing...







However, one minor detail... I think that their website is not open for business - If this is the correct ViJay Sales.

What's Your Big Idea?

Does your idea need a push? Watch the video...



The Big Idea is an exciting new prime-time series on Sky One which, in partnership with Vodafone, is aiming to discover the next great British invention or business idea.

The winner of The Big Idea will win an incredible £100,000 to help them turn their idea into reality. The prize will enable them to take their idea to market and set themselves up in business. In addition, Vodafone will be providing free mobile communications to the winner for their first year in business.

Greetings from Nashville

Southwest Airlines's mural "Greetings from Nashville" is still intact after all these years downtown behind the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Notice the dog in the car to the left...



I think he'd rather be at home.



(the window was down and it was 60 degrees... otherwise I would have gone ... ballistic.)